← Joe Rogan Experience Review podcast
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This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace.
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Last year, I went through many different life changes. I needed to take a pause and examine how I was feeling in the inside to better show up for the ones who need me to be my best version of myself.
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When you're navigating life's changes, Talkspace can help. Talkspace is the number one rated online therapy, bringing you professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatry providers that you can access anytime, anywhere.
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Living a busy life, navigating a long distance relationship, becoming a first stepfather, Talkspace made all of those journeys possible. I could speak with my therapist in the office. I could speak with my therapist in the comfort of my home. I was never alone.
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Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off your first month with promo code space80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com save $80 with code space80@talk space.com you're listening to the Joe Rogan Experience Review. What a bizarre thing we've created now with your host, Adam Thorne. Might either be the worst podcast or the best one. One go. Enjoy the show. Hey, guys. And welcome to another episode of the JRE Review. Bit of a special episode this week we are reviewing the recent UFC Paramount fight that just took place last Saturday. This was UFC's first fight on Paramount. I know a lot of UFC fans are wondering how it was gonna go. I am joined by the expert that is Eddie from Pure Evil mma. Welcome aboard. How are you, sir?
- [01:45]
B
I'm doing good. I'm doing really good. You know, this wasn't just a show. It was really just, you know, a realignment of how MMA is consumed in 2026 right now. It really wasn't a debut. It was just a declaration of rebuilding the spectacle. And there's a lot of people out there that have their opinions, which I. I just cannot wait to dive into. So thank you for having me on this episode.
- [02:09]
A
Oh, it's a pleasure. Yeah. I mean, this card mattered before a punch was even thrown. So it was UFC 324, and it wasn't just another numbered event. It was the first real test of the UFC's new Paramount plus era. No traditional pay per view, lower barrier to entry, and new broadcast partner. And immediately you could feel fans watching with two minds at once. Is it better? And what's the catch? I know I was doing it. And what was your first impressions? Ed?
- [02:45]
B
This is the most amazing Thing I do want to discuss a little before, some of the things that did happen before that made me a little nervous going into this new era, but at the outcome with the two voices. I think the fights really, they roared so much louder than, you know, we, we tried to interrupt. You know, a lot of the ads. People were upset about the weight cutting, the walkouts that weren't there. There are a lot of things that we need to get used to. But with any new adventure, we need to chop down things and we hope that Paramount is going to be listening. You know, a big thing about this event was the new launch, and we lost Amanda, we lost Kayla. So everyone was in a panic, but at the end of it, the fights were roaring louder than any ad could ever interrupt.
- [03:41]
A
For sure. For sure. And, and yeah, and who was that guy that passed out of the Wayans too? What was his name?
- [03:50]
B
So that guy, he actually took a face plant right in the middle of it. Brutal. It was actually. Yep. What was his name?
- [04:00]
A
I had it written down. I can't find it. But either way, that was, I mean.
- [04:05]
B
Just think how devastating Cameron Smotherman that took that face plant. You know, weight cutting is such a big issue. You don't see it usually on camera, usually going on backstage. It's extremely dangerous. And you should know, you know, there's a high risk of concussions when you're cutting all that weight. Kidney damage, you know, in 2015, we lost Yang Jiang Bang from heart failure. 21 years old, five and one record, one championship. But no one really covered it because it wasn't the ufc. They tried to brush this away. And I think the way that Dana reacted to this, because then again, there was another pitfall. We lost the co main event. Now we have this right here at the, at the weigh ins, we all heard Justin complaining about money. So Dana tried to dish it out, obviously backstage being like, we're going to give out 25k, which I appreciate because you're seeing what these fighters go through. Oh, yeah, there's little battles that are won way before you even get to the weigh ins.
- [05:06]
A
For sure, for sure. And I mean, think about what that poor guy went through to get to that point. He's done all of that training, matched up with his fighter, you know, everything that he's been doing for weeks and weeks and weeks all through camp, did the brutal cut, obviously did a lot on his cut to get to that point. So much so drove himself to the point of that pass out and then whack done over all of it. In that moment, I mean, devastating. And not just that humiliating as well. The poor guy.
- [05:46]
B
Well, not only that, you got to think of it from the ufc, from Paramount, you know, the, the big heads, what they're seeing, how to address it. And I think the way they came out with it, there was a lot of different things going on. You know, the money, bonuses, his fight was called off, you know, Michael Johnson with the betting odds. There were so many things that were just out of tune. I think the UFC did an actual good job addressing everything at the end of it, but there, there's a lot to say here.
- [06:14]
A
You know, the commercials were definitely a surprise for me. I mean, that stood out immediately. And what was it mostly like? Was it dodge Ram pickups between every, like, bout, nonstop, non stop?
- [06:35]
B
You want to see the fighter walkouts? That's one of the biggest things. If you go back to UFC 189, right, you think about that. Conor McGregor, Chad Mendez. Oh, yeah. Aaron Lewis, sing out Chad Mendez. It made a spectacle. We had Sinead O' Connor sing out Conor McGregor. And I'm getting chills thinking about it right now.
- [06:55]
A
Massive.
- [06:56]
B
Dude builds to the story. And Paramount, they base everything. If you saw all the previews before they launched this, it was about the story that comes with mixed martial arts, and we got a ton of that from this. But a huge factor. You take away something like a walkout, you want to judge the energy, you want to see how the fighter is looking. You know, taking that away is something I hope that will change. And I think Paramount is actually listening because there's people out there like MMA Joey saying this was a disaster. You know, there's, there's people out there, you know, they have their complaints, but, you know, life is a five round fight all the time. Nothing is perfect. You know, we're in an imperfect world. You don't just go in looking for a good camera shot, looking good in front of the camera. The noise is, is so loud, but when you hear your own heartbeat in between it all, like we saw in that main event where the blows didn't mean anything, you just felt the energy and what it really means to be a mixed martial artist and the true entertainment of what it represents was what we got.
- [08:05]
A
Yeah, 100%. And, you know, there were gonna be differences, of course. I think, I think what was difficult for people is you only ever expect the differences to be positive, right? You just like, okay, is it gonna be better? Right? Everything has to be better because it's moved and it just isn't going to be that way. I expected actually it to be clunkier. I thought it really ran smooth. I thought there was a fairly smooth transition. Now, yes, the walkouts were weird. Yes, there were a bunch of ads, but I already knew there would be a bunch of ads. How the heck else were they going to make their money? I mean, how much did they spend on this? Like, 7 billion. That's not cheap.
- [08:55]
B
They're saying that they're taking away the octagon ads in the center, which was a huge distraction. If we go back a couple years, I mean, decade. I'm getting old doing this. I have so many memories where you have people walking out with condo Condom Depot on their chest and stuff like that, which Dana was so against.
- [09:15]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [09:16]
B
You know, even, you know, little ads right before. Imagine being a championship fighter and having to hear about the new movie coming out from Boosh Buffer right before your fight or monster. And, you know, you got to add it in somewhere. I do get that. You got to make. But taking away the walkouts, I think a lot of fans are really upset with that. But like you said, you got to expect it. You got to expect stuff like that for sure.
- [09:40]
A
But either way, I mean, look, it was a star studied event. That was something that was really cool. This may have had the biggest set of celebrities. We've had an event for a long time. Not surprising. I mean, this is a big event. First Paramount. I mean, who was that? Travis Barker was there. Who is the Kardashian? Who's his wife? Which one? Which one of the Kardashians? Chloe?
- [10:08]
B
Pete Davidson. Was Pete Davidson there?
- [10:10]
A
No, I didn't see him. Chris Rock was there. Chuck Liddell. Good to see him. Miles Teller, Steve Aoki. Pretty awesome. Some fighters. Alex Pereira. Who else did they have? Oh, Khabib was there. Pretty dope to see Khabib. Yeah, surprise. Connor didn't make it, but I guess he's just too famous to give a shit these days.
- [10:36]
B
But here's what. Here's what I got to say about when it comes to celebrities. Something that Paramount could think about adding to these events. You remember back in the day, Eddie Bravo would do in between. You'd be like, oh, I think the round is a 10, nine for this guy. You know, now we have Dean Thomas. I would love to see them bring in fighters like rivals. Like when Jon Jones is fighting and DC is doing commentary, you're more in tune to what the commentary is actually talking about.
- [11:03]
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- [13:29]
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That was a huge thing that people were talking about as well was the commentary. I think there's a lot of reasons that you could bring in all these people that are cage side these celebrities and do something with it. Especially the fighters there. You know if you had Habib cade side he fought Justin, if he sat in that would have been would add a little, you know, a little spectacle there.
- [13:51]
A
Yeah, for sure. I think having Khabib would be awesome and anytime they have fighters in commentating, it's really good.
- [14:01]
B
It could go either way.
- [14:02]
A
It can, it can. But a lot of them are pretty good these days and you know they train him up really well. You know Dean should talk more as well. I really love his input. They just don't give him much of a chance. They let him talk like, one time in a fight, and every time he jumps in, he immediately nails it. And I'm like, let that guy talk more. I don't know why they don't give him more airtime. I guess there's. Because there's three of them already, but Daniel Cormier is always waffling away, so I would say cut him by, like, 30%. No offense, Daniel, and give some other people a chance.
- [14:40]
B
Here's the other thing, too. With the commentary team, we didn't see Kara Bryant. We didn't see Helen Lee. A lot of these faces. I remember back in the day when they cut Stitch Duran, when. When they cut the backstage team with let's Rock, and I forgot his name. He's been on my show. Those are staples that fans return to see. When you have people that you recognize all the time and when you don't have people like Kara Bryant there that you're used to seeing, I think it does take away. They added some new people, and it does feel a little off. There are kinks to work out, but there's a lot of things that they could just, you know, they hold grudges a lot, you know, especially with the Stitch Duran thing. So I feel like there's a lot of movement here, and I feel like Dana, for once, is actually listening to what people have to say. This is probably his last hurrah. The UFC will not be the same without Dana, and the fans is a huge part. Another thing I love seeing was the social media aspect. I was worried if they weren't going to bring in people like my boy Big Marcel chiming in. You see the little Twitter things in the corner?
- [15:47]
A
Yep. Yeah.
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B
Those are huge parts for engagement. And what makes you feel even more included.
- [15:53]
A
Sure.
- [15:53]
B
So I think that, you know, people had a couple things to say, this and that, but for all in all, we got knockout finishes, we got amazing fights on this pay per view, and I'm excited for what's going to be coming next, but if we rewind a little bit, we're used to all these things happening. You know, it's easy to pick out the things that are going wrong, but people don't tune into what's been going. Right. What did you actually enjoy about this card? Like, what was one thing that was actually surprising? Like, oh, they did a. A good job.
- [16:27]
A
Well, I mean, just the lineup of fights, I mean, the card itself was stacked, I felt like. And, you know, even with the fights that dropped off, they still held the card together, and, you know, with a. With a stacked Card like that, you know, you were going to get some good fights. Some of the undercard fights were fantastic. I mean, luckily, I had enough time to watch the whole thing. I had the whole day. You know, my wife knew that I was going to actually do a pod on the entire ufc, so she gave me space to watch the whole thing, which was also part of my plan to have that time. So I really need to start reviewing more ufcs, because it's just gives me space to do that and some great knockouts. Right. I mean, just really across the board. Yeah. I can't say more good things about. I haven't seen a UFC that I've enjoyed that much for a long time. Even with the little changes that were happening with Paramount. I mean, me personally, because I was in it more as, like, an examining body rather than just even a fan. I was like, I know I'm going to talk about this and kind of analyze what's happening. So I wasn't being too negative with the changes. I was like, mostly I watched it with a big group of people, so I was mostly curious to see how they were responding to it and. And just trying to take it all in. Everybody seemed super happy with that event and the fact that nobody had to pay for it. It's like, that's got to be a fucking win right there. Come on.
- [18:10]
B
I mean, people, right when this card was announced, they were like, why is Justin and Patty the main event? And I think back, you know, I saw another influencer being like, patty Pimlet's an influence, an industry plant. And I'm thinking back in my head, going back years before Patty was even signed, if you remember, with Cage warriors, he had the chance, the opportunity to sign with the ufc. He said, I wasn't ready. He was a big star, huge star over there. Same place Conor McGregor came from. And he took his time, built his way up to this point. And then, you know, the ufc, they know what they're doing. When they say it's going to be an interim fight, you know, the fans are going to react and be like, oh, it's an interim fight that we don't care. They do that on purpose. There's things like that they do on purpose here, and it didn't take anything away. Even after when Justin was, like, throwing the belt, it just adds to the spectacle that is the ufc, because you look at the WWE and the success they had going back to the prelims, we had hockey, doing that promo cut, which. Did you. Did you see that promo cut? When he was talking like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and then he threw in that one liner about that athlete. I was like, oof, Oof. But that's what the fans love. They know what they're doing there to get that reaction. So were you upset about the interim title? I mean, this really didn't matter to me.
- [19:34]
A
No.
- [19:35]
B
This was a championship fight at a championship level.
- [19:39]
A
Well, look, man, I'm British, so watching Patty fight is a big deal. And getting. Getting like, you know, half of Liverpool stoked for this fight. I mean, there were so many guys from Liverpool there supporting Paddy, and, you know, a good USA verse, England matchup is always solid. Of course I was supporting Paddy. I love Gagey. I'm a big fan of him as well. But you. I've got to support my countryman and. But generally, you know, whenever I watch a ufc, and this is why I love the UFC so much, it's like, even when I go into a fight and I'm watching it, even if I have a favorite, I'm always cheering for the person that wins or the person that. That displayed the. The best skill, the best heart and just overcame. It's like that's always who I'm cheering for at the end anyway. And so there's never a loss for me as a fan because it's always a win. Right. Whereas, you know, I've got Broncos fans that can't leave a game. When the Broncos lose, feeling good at all, their whole weekend is destroyed. That doesn't happen with me with UFC ever. So, no, it didn't matter that it was interim. I mean, to me, that it's as much of a world title as is anything else. And it was amazing to see Gaethje win it. I mean, you know, he's older now. This definitely would have been towards the end of his career, while it still is in a sense, but it gives him another run. I think Paddy is a stronger man because of it. You know, he's learned a lot. And one thing he's definitely learned is don't play into Gaethje's game. And I think that's going to help him a lot in the future, because if he ever gets overconfident like this again with another fighter that's very strong in a particular area that Paddy is just not quite that elite in, then Paddy's gonna fall back on what he is best at, which is grappling and submissions and, you know, his ultimate strengths, which I really wish he had played into a bit more. He. He just didn't lean into it. And here you could tell his punches did not have anywhere the impact that Gauges did.
- [22:11]
B
There's a thing, you know, especially when he's ducking out of the way, you know, you think you're escaping by sliding out through the cage right there. In the first round, Justin catches him. He did not expect. The way that Justin was moving here was amazing. Patty, an amazing fighter. But I've seen Justin ringside back when there was World Series of Fighting, right before the UFC even signed him. I even interviewed him years and years ago, which I discussed with you. You know, this is a guy. And even back then, backstage at Foxwood Casino, I was like, when are you going to sign with ufc? He says, well, World Series of Fighting is paying me the best amount of money for where I'm at right now, and. And that's what I want. And now here you have Justin. Like you said, at the end of his career, he has the opportunity to actually speak up and say something, have an impact. You also have the opportunity for a rematch with Patty, which builds up a whole new spectacle of something exciting. Like you said, the country that Patty is from, everyone comes, even the Americans. We followed both of these guys for so long. That's the beauty of what the UFC has to offer. I've been ringside for regional fights.
- [23:22]
A
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- [25:30]
B
Come into the UFC, have good luck, bad luck. You know, Brendan Allen, Bilal Muhammad, before he was champion, I interviewed. That is what makes this exciting because I personally, I struggle with my mental health a lot. You know, to get out of bed, to feel motivated. I look into that with the stories, and it's really inspiring when you actually see what these guys go through. You know, when the crowd is so loud, but you just feel your heartbeat, you don't count the punches, but you feel something special inside. That's that spiritual awakening that I love. That represents the Ultimate Fighting Championship. And this is what that was. Ultimate Fighting. We had finishes, we had storylines. I think this is a great start. Moving to 2026. This was the perfect main event, no matter what anyone has to say. But then again, I would have loved to see Amanda go in there, you know.
- [26:30]
A
Yeah, that was a bummer. That one got canceled for sure. It's. And it's kind of surprising to me, the schedule, have you seen it? They're literally, it's almost like every weekend they're gonna do a UFC fight. And I, I can't even make sense of how they're gonna pull that off. I mean, it's almost overkill. Like, I don't even know how I'm going to be able to keep up with the UFC anymore. And I almost, I mean, I probably haven't missed even a couple of UFCs for like a decade. And now I'm going to have to because there's just going to be too many. I got to do some stuff on a Saturday other than watch ufc.
- [27:15]
B
You know, my boy Big Marcel, he post up or Kaposa, which I'm good on with Twitter. You guys can follow me at X Evil Eddie X on there. You know, a lot of these things are posted on there. You look at the schedules and the roster that the UFC has, the Paramount plus feature. Back then we had UFC Fight Pass. You didn't know where it was airing FS1. It was on Spike TV, the Paramount. You have all of these fights to access all the ultimate fighters, there's so much content out there in this day and age, it's hard to keep up with a 10 second video. The UFC that is now, that separates them from Bellator, pfl, World Series of Fighting, is because they're so active. It gives them a chance to get in there with new fans. And I think that the, you know, the streamers, like Jake Paul, you know, people can say what they want, but I think that they did such a good job bringing a whole new generation in right now.
- [28:13]
A
Yeah.
- [28:13]
B
And it's peaked at the perfect time where Paramount is affordable. You know, we don't make much money hour to hour. This is affordable. You could watch it wherever, you know where it's going to be. So I'm not too upset about it, but it is difficult to keep up with all the new names, this and that, especially with all the drama online, you know. But some people live for that. Some people, that is the reason they wake up in the morning.
- [28:38]
A
Yeah, I mean, dude, it probably was, I would say, five years ago now that I realized I couldn't keep up with all of the fighters. It used to be that there wasn't a fight, like someone would bring up a fighter, I'd be like, oh, yeah, I know who you are, who they are, when they fought last, what they're about. I would know their fights, but, you know, there just wasn't that many to keep track of. Now people become champions and I'm like, I don't, I can't remember like one of their fights, you know, or I just miss some of the undercards, or I'm not ashamed to admit it. And I still watch a ton of them. And it's just, it's the, the, the divisions are just deep now.
- [29:26]
B
I think that's a major issue right now. When we go back, we look at Ronda Rousey, Conor McGregor era, go back even further. Chuck Liddell, Rampage Jackson. Right. Right now we don't really have anyone to fill in that gap. You could say Justin Gaethje. If I go to the mail, if I go to the bank, if I go to the store around the corner, people don't know these guys. A lot of die hard fans barely know all the champions right now or half the fights they went through. I think that is a huge issue. So what do you, what do you think is missing? Because it's not the ufc, it's not social media. You know, there's so many things that distract us. And you look at somebody like Suga, you look at somebody like Patty, they Get a little sparse. But what is the jump to make someone like my mom or my dad, my sister tune in? You know, there's something missing.
- [30:15]
A
Well, you know, a big part of it is something like this going over to Paramount, making it more accessible, you know, I mean, when there's a paywall, like a pay per view, that obviously is shutting people out, right? So now there's no excuse. People can get to it. Also, I love the way that Paramount has a setup. I don't know if you spent much time on the app. It's brilliant. Like, forget Fight Pass or ESPN plus bullshit, whatever all that crap was. You go on now. You can split it up into literally go year by year, but you can go to every single ufc. You can go to every single fight. I mean. I mean, I. I could spend all day on that. Seriously, like, if you gave me one thing to look at, I could just, you know, give me a flight to Australia that's 14 hours, and just give me the UFC app on that, and I'd be in heaven. I would just watch that constantly. One fight after it's laid out so nicely. And that's a really good way of kind of breaking it down as it comes for, like, comes to just keeping track of, like, who the champs are and what, you know, they. I don't know, they just need to be putting up, like, who the hell is the top 10 more often. You know, sometimes they throw it up at the end of the fights, like, somebody wins, and they're like, oh, they here probably move up to top five now, and they switch them around and they show kind of who's in the top 10. Just do that more. Keep us, like, kind of more up to date, whether they put it on the UFC Instagram, whether they're showing it during the fights, like, just flash it up for a second. Show us who is the top 10 of each division every now and again. Just so people are kind of. You know, it's all about education, right? Remember Joe's role and why he. Why Rogan is so important and integral to this sport and why he's done so much for the ufc. Because, unlike other commentators in other sports, everyone already knew the rules. Everyone knew what the hell was going on in football before the commentator got there. The same with soccer. The same with baseball. Well, that wasn't true with the ufc. He literally would teach people Jiu jitsu while they were watching it. I remember when I first was watching the ufc, I didn't even know what a triangle or an armbar was. He would teach you. He'd be like, setting it up for a camorra. Camorra is when you do this, this and this, and you're like, oh, shit, I know what a kimora is.
- [32:54]
B
Excited about it. And then when you see it the.
- [32:56]
A
Next time, two weeks later, someone's doing it, and you're telling your buddy, you're like, oh, he's getting a kimura. And that guy's like, I don't even know what a kimora is. And you're just like, well. And you're taking credit for knowing. It's just that Joe told you so. There's a training aspect, right? It's all about that education. The more the viewer knows, the more invested they are in what is going on, the more invested they will be in the ufc. And it just adds that much more to the whole experience.
- [33:27]
B
It adds more impact. For a physical sport, that's all about impact, right? That's. That's the missing gap there for sure.
- [33:34]
A
For sure. Did you hear that or see the Mark Smith bit, the referee when they had to carry him off?
- [33:43]
B
I did see a clip of that afterwards. He sprained his ACL or something like that. Yeah, right.
- [33:50]
A
Yeah. Freak injury, dude.
- [33:51]
B
It.
- [33:52]
A
I mean, that's not the first time that's happened. You know, Bruce Buffer, like, blew out his ACL or something while commentating. He slammed his leg down, you know, 360, right. Something. And it's like, man, to say this sport is dangerous. You can't even be a referee, an announcer without damaging yourself. But there we go. Hopefully Mark makes a swift recovery. And that. That's brutal to even see the. Again, some of the undercards I really enjoyed. That was a great lineup. Some brilliant fights down there. And, you know, some of the. Some vicious animals that I can imagine are going to be main event fights fairly soon. Some that really stood out. Let's see who was really good. Josh, that was great. Anything stand out for you and the undercards?
- [34:53]
B
Well, you bring up the Hokic fight. There was a point in that fight, he had like 65 punches to zero.
- [34:58]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [34:59]
B
You know, on a tearing spree.
- [35:04]
A
Yeah, that was wild. That was absolutely wild. I mean, just some really cool things.
- [35:10]
B
Also, the Gutierre versus Paula fight, you know, that guy, he had such a build up of, you know, beating everybody. We never saw him leave the first round. We were getting a little nervous, then boom. We had three buzzer beaters right there in the prelims. People getting paid left and right. But I do want to address something here. When we do discuss these kind of fights. We can't forget the hall of Famers like Dom Cruise that got inducted to the hall of Fame right in the middle of the prelims.
- [35:44]
A
That's right.
- [35:46]
B
He's a true legend. For anyone that doesn't know wec, ufc, Taurus, acl, was out for two years, came back to fight TJ Dillashaw with Team Alpha Male. Always the enemy.
- [35:59]
A
Yeah.
- [35:59]
B
Story gives me chills still to this day. I think that was a great induction for Dom Cruise there.
- [36:06]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Well deserved as well. And you know, he's. Some of my favorite clips are him and Michael Bisping talking mad shit to each other, which they even did in the post fight panel. And I think he accused Michael Bisping again of interrupting everybody, which is one of my favorite things. Those two together, you can tell they're really good friends, but the. That they talk to each other is just brilliant and, yeah, super well deserved. And it's just so great to see. I mean, you know, and just like the leagues as well, that's another thing. They should. They should put out the. The whole list of. Of the inductees. It's like, I don't think many fans could name all that many people that have been inducted into that thing.
- [37:01]
B
You know, here's another sad thing. You have somebody like Frank Shamrock I interviewed not too long ago, I think, at the beginning of last year, you know, undefeated champion for the ufc, still doesn't get inducted to the hall of Fame. I don't even know if there's an actual hall of Fame that you could go to. Like, I've been to the Basketball hall of Fame, Baseball hall of Fame, Cooperstown, the ufc. That. That's definitely something I would like to see them expand on and also not have so much sassiness against people who actually deserve it. Like the last Rogan episode you were talking about with Benny the Jet. A lot of people don't even know who he is.
- [37:34]
A
Yeah, well, if you listen to Rogan, you do. I mean, he talks about. Talks about him a lot. I mean, Rogan's a huge fan, but you're right. Yeah. There are just certain people and I don't know. I think Dana's relationship with Shamrocks is. Is kind of similar to the. To Tito's almost. Did Tito ever get inducted?
- [37:57]
B
I'm not sure. They had. They have a huge beef after he wore that T shirt and they were supposed to allegedly fight.
- [38:03]
A
Yeah, yeah, that would have been interesting. But it was kickboxing only, right? He wasn't. Tito wasn't going to be able to grapple.
- [38:13]
B
Yeah, well, Dana White also used to manage Tito, used to manage Chuck Liddell and all them before. You know, if you remember, Dana White had to leave the east coast running from Whitey Bulger back. So there's, There's a. There's a long history of things that are totally interesting, but the one thing I do want to discuss here is the UFC White House upcoming. Derrick Lewis on this card had expectations, was upset that he was an underdog. Goes in there, somebody like Derrick Lewis, he gets the fans attention. This was a big loss for Derrick.
- [38:46]
A
Lewis, and I know it was a bummer.
- [38:48]
B
It's really hard to swallow.
- [38:50]
A
Yeah, he just didn't get going. He couldn't pull the trigger. I mean, Waldo is. He could just. He had the range, he had the movement, and Derek just couldn't get one off. He just couldn't close the distance. He kept swinging big bombs and was just doing no damage. He was just hoping for that one big haymaker, and he was, you know, putting everything into it. All his eggs in that one basket, and it wasn't going to break through. I kind of feel like the way he went down at the end, he realized he wasn't getting anywhere. And no disrespect to Derek, but it looked like he kind of gave up a little bit, honestly.
- [39:30]
B
And we've seen that before in fights with Derrick Lewis, where it looks like he's about to give up and then, boom, knocks you out.
- [39:36]
A
Right.
- [39:37]
B
That's what makes the Ultimate Fighting Championship Ultimate Fighting Championship. Because, you know, he does have that heart to put on to get a finish. So if you look at the Figgy versus the Magnum fight, one thing I posted on Twitter was this is something that is an issue for the ufc, like we were discussing a minute ago with not known champions. You have people in there that are just getting, you know, decisions, not putting on the most exciting fights. Yeah, Normaga Madoff beats a former champion. But do we remember that compared to the knockouts that we had left and right, the. The heart that was in there, like, there's things like that that make a fighter special, that separate the UFC from other leagues. What did you think about the. The figure nurmagomedoff fight? Was it enough for you to remember, even at the end of the month, what. What do you remember from a fight is. Is the question here. You remember the heart, the grit, being at the edge of your seat?
- [40:34]
A
Yeah, usually. Usually for me, it's like when they're putting it all in, you know, if There's a lot of stalling, a lot of circling. You know, if when people are putting themselves in dangerous situations to finish fights, that stuff always stands out because. Because it looks scary. Anything that looks scary when people are being safe, even when they're dominating, it's just not, I don't want to say forgettable, but it can blend into all the other fights when people go at them, go at their opponent and, you know, put themselves even really in dangerous positions by trying out wild things. It's why Jon Jones is always amazing. And I don't want to say that he necessarily is always putting himself in a dangerous position, but I mean, his spin at a time when you don't think so for throw out an elbow, he'd do a flying knee when it doesn't even make sense. But he pulls it off. You know what I mean? He just does it and you're just like, whoa. It's that stuff that really captures me. I mean, you know, take the Arnold Allen Gene Silva fight, where at the end he just like decides to stand on his back for some reason and just hop off. It's like, yeah, it's like the whole rest of that fight, it kind of take it or leave it. Even though it was a great fight, they were really hammering each other. They were doing some solid work. It was. It was a great fight. But you throw that in at the end and even when most people were like, well, that was stupid. Why even do that? Well, I'll tell you why. To do that, it becomes one of the most memorable moments of the night. And that that counts for something, really does. Remember, this is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but this is also entertainment, ladies and gentlemen, and that is a real thing. If Conor McGregor taught us anything, that is a real part of this.
- [42:29]
B
And I've said this a lot over the years on my podcast, that, you know, 70% of what makes a fight rememberable isn't even the fight itself. It could be the post fight speech where you see these fighters, they go in there, they put on an amazing fight, but they just don't know what to say. You could blame it on the past being like, oh, they didn't know English very well. They need to learn. No, if you know what to say at the end of a fight, people will even remember that, you know, it's a huge part of this generation as well, to gain more eyes. There's money to be made. There's a reason why there's no more pay per views, because there's other ways we could make money. And I think that's something that Paramount needs to hone in on, especially. We got the easy access. We got promotion for big cards. You know, there's so much to look forward to. The UFC White House card. Everyone that doesn't even watch UFC knows that's coming. So with that being said, I want to know what would be the fight on that card that you would want to say.
- [43:30]
A
For the White House card.
- [43:32]
B
For the White off of this card? If. If one fighter deserved a spot from this card to be on the White House card? Who do you think?
- [43:39]
A
I mean, if Patty had won, it would have been Patty, right? I mean, for me, but he didn't. So I have to say no, you don't get it. You don't get that of those that won. Yeah. I mean, probably the most interesting for me is going to be Gagey. But who you gonna put him against? I'm really gonna be pumped to watch. Probably the champ, right? I mean, bring him back and once he sorts everything out with his. What was it, his ex wife or his wife, soon to be ex wife. Yeah, I mean, that's. That's doable. I mean, look, if they can stack that whole card with title fights, then that will be amazing, right? But it won't be the fight that I'm necessarily tuning in to the White House card for. I'm tuning in for John Jones versus Pereira. I'm tuning in for if they can get Conor McGregor to fight anybody. Right? It's going to be those sorts of fights is what's going to be pulling us in.
- [44:49]
B
There were rumors Conor McGregor, Jorge Masvidal could be on that card. You know, you bring up Jon Jones, and I do want to say something, because people do give him slack. One of the greatest of all time. Never lost except to Matt Hamill. Never lost a fight since he was, what, 19 years old in the UFC coming out of here in New York. Unbelievable that is, to last this long.
- [45:11]
A
Yeah. I mean, he truly is the goat. And even his loss to Matt Hamill was a disqualification. I mean, he was pounding, beating the brakes off him. I mean, it wasn't even worth even the idea of a rematch because he was just smashing him.
- [45:28]
B
Well, Tom Aspinall was trying to beg for a fight with.
- [45:32]
A
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- [46:24]
B
Podcast Jon Jones and what I said it's not about rushing your meal to get. It's not fast food. This is the highest level, the championship level. Jon Jones needs time to get ready. Know his opponent. Yeah, Tom Aspinall wanted the fight, but Jon is the one who can pick and choose. He is the actual goat of the ufc. He is the mainframe. And yeah, you could say it's not, you know, he's not active this and that, but he puts on, he has to be on that White House guard.
- [46:55]
A
Oh, for sure, for sure. And you know, I mean, it's probably going to be his last fight as well. I mean, he's going to step aside and let. What's his name, Stevenson. That, that new guy, that's just an absolute murderer. Just step up and just start walloping. Look, Jones versus Aspinall. Would I love to see it again. Yeah, Brit verse versus an American. I think Aspinall is excellent. You know, he's so tough. But what is John got approved at this point, there's just nothing to gain for him on that fight. Nothing. He needs to just go out blazing glory with another win against a champ. I mean, it only makes sense for him to come in and just smash Pereira and then leave. That should be it. If he does it like that, then quits, then rides into the sunset, that will be the most legendary exit strategy of all time. If he does anything else, it's ego and I'm sure he'd be making a mistake. I do not need to see Jon Jones get knocked out. I don't need to see it.
- [48:14]
B
Doesn't need to extend the longevity of. That's why Habib, you know, there's an argument that Khabib's one of the greatest of all time, but I have a lot to say against that. There's so many other fighters, but he did exit at the right time, which was smart, which is what puts him there.
- [48:30]
A
Just like Gsp did, you know, and then GSP even came back for that one fight. Moved up a weight class. All those years later, you know, beat Bisping, beat him in style, like, took him out fast, which was unbelievable. Rear Naked Choke. I mean, the whole thing was just so epic. Retired again. I mean, excellent. So he did it right. Khabib did it right. Jones needs to do it right. And I hope other champions in the future start doing the same thing. You don't need to just stay in there and get completely destroyed. I mean, I wish other champs had done the same. Fedor. I wish Fedor had done it like that. I mean, man, if he just finished on top, it was so brutal. Watching him towards the end of his career, just getting flatlined by people, it just. It's heartbreaking. I just. It still makes me sad, honestly, especially.
- [49:31]
B
Losing the people like Matt Mitrione and Bell. I mean, Bellator used to do such a great job with promotions. You know, their biggest fight was Kimbo Data 5000, you know, and right now, it feels like the UFC is pulling all attention, and it feels like everyone else is kind of dying off right now, and it's kind of sad to see.
- [49:50]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Well, let. Let's finish up with a couple more. I want to cover Rose. Nami units fight. What did you think of that? Because there. There was. It wasn't a bad fight. I mean, Rose, you know, she's taken some shit recently. I mean, what was it? I think her last fight or fight before last was just terrible. And she came back and at least was actually fighting this time, and a lot of fans thought she did enough to win. I mean, it was close. What was your.
- [50:30]
B
What.
- [50:30]
A
What was your feel and takeaway on that fight?
- [50:33]
B
When you're fighting at the highest level, it's so difficult, especially if you're battling mental health. If you're battling this outside, they have distractions. I thought Rose went in there, did her thing, and there's. There's a lot of people that will say she should have won that fight. But you're fighting at the highest level, you're getting older. It's difficult to see. You know, I might be a little biased because I've watched her grow up since the Ultimate Fighter. I've watched her little videos with Pat Berry. I've watched the whole thing on both. It makes you care. And if you look at it outside of it and take all of that away, you gotta remember this is the highest level. It's so difficult to get a finish even at that level. You know, people it's second, third, fourth, fifth. You know, that's still the highest level. You might as well be champion. So I take nothing away from Rose. I do want to see her get back in there, but that's the. That's how it goes at that level. If she's not prepared or got knocked out or submitted in an awful way, I would say. I would never actually say hang it up to a fighter. That's not for me to say, but I think she did what she went in for.
- [51:43]
A
Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't agree with you more, honestly. And then the last fight on the main event card that we have not covered is Montana's own Sean o' Malley and Song Yadong. And you know Sean, what a legend. Okay. Great to have him back in there. I mean, Song Yadong was stout. That guy is just a ball of muscle. He looked terrifying. I mean, but you see Sean next to him, and once again, Sean just has so much reach, so much length over these guys, and he's so fast, so precise. It's so difficult to get close. He moves so well. I mean, man, it would be a nightmare to spar with Sean o'. Malley. I just couldn't imagine how frustrating it would be. I just feel like he could punch and kick you from every angle. You would never even get close to him. It would be just terrifying.
- [52:46]
B
There's an expectation for somebody like Sugar Sean o', Malley, because going back, if you look at his very first fight, he threw one punch, and it was a spinning back fist, I believe, and got the knockout. His whole career has been situations like that. This is a guy that dives deep. He's different. He's got the face, tattoos, the hair color. He's taking psychedelics and training, smoking. He's somebody to watch. He's a spectacle. But just like betting, you can make one bet on your favorite football team, soccer. But when you build a parlay and try to picture this, when you're fighting like Sean o' Malley throwing these random things, these surprising. It's more difficult as you build up that parlay. So when you get to this level and then you finally lose, you take it in, and then you get a little humble from that. I think Suga was actually smart here. He did what he needed to do to move forward, gain the confidence back. Because a lot of these guys, when they lose a fight, they're never the same again. I saw Suga show up, did what he needed to do without doing too much, and I'm excited for him to move forward here because he's somebody that the UFC and Paramount can build off of.
- [53:55]
A
For sure. He looked great. And, you know, actually, now that I think about it, going back to your question, I'd love to see him on the White House card. He'd be the guy. Yeah, I don't know why I blanked on that earlier when I answered that question, but yes, him, after that performance, you know, it, it was just very calculated. He was playing it safe, but also super technical. He was going for the win. He wasn't doing anything stupid. He was really composed, took the guy seriously, knew he was dangerous, respected him, and, you know, picked him to pieces. And by the end, it was just very, very clear that Sean was just a much better fighter and that power that song had just wasn't going to make a difference. And yeah, it was very clear to the judges by the end of that.
- [54:50]
B
And especially with the layoff, you have to consider that the UFC being the ultimate fighting championship, unlike boxing, you're not getting warm up fights to show off and get. You're jumping right back into the fire. I think they did a great job on this and going to the ufc. White House guard Suga would be a perfect person. However, I don't want to, I don't buy into the rematches. I'm so tired of the. The rematches for a title. I'd rather see them fight someone interesting. It doesn't mean that much to me. Even the rankings at this point, it's give or go. I think it comes down to the right matchmaking.
- [55:26]
A
Yeah, I mean, look, the UFC 324, it felt historic and not because it was perfect, but because it showed where the UFC is headed. The fights delivered. The main event absolutely delivered. The fighter pay improves and is real and it's meaningful. But the broadcast needs some refinement and fast. All the fans are going to turn away, I think. Well, some of them will through frustration. We're going to see what happens moving forward. I think Paramount has a real chance to make this excellent. I think that there's signs of huge improvement from what ESPN plus was doing before. It's going to do so much for the fan base. So many more people are going to have a chance to watch it. I don't know about you, but it's going to save me about $1,000 this year on pay per view. So I'm happy, I'll tell you that much. And many other people are, for sure. Yeah, I'm excited for it. And Ed, it's been a pleasure having you on. We've been talking about getting this together for some time, and I think 2026, we're going to be doing quite a few of these recaps and Rogan MMA reviews. So, yeah, first of many.
- [56:44]
B
Let me end with this. Like I said at the beginning, you know, this wasn't just another fight night. It was the day the UFC actually flipped the script, you know? You know, with everything aside, in the end, UFC 324 wasn't just a debut, it was a declaration. We're rebuilding the spectacle of combat for a new era. And like all great revolutions, it stings a little on the first pass. So we'll see what the next one has to bring for us. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. It means a lot and I'm looking forward to the next one. You guys can follow me on Twitter x Evil Eddie X and hope to talk to you guys soon.
- [57:21]
A
Love it. And excellent. And after that, thanks for listening and we will talk to you guys next time.