MMArcade Podcast
Robert Whittaker PREDICTS UFC 304! | MMArcade Podcast (Episode 45)
What is going on everyone? It's Robin Johnny. Welcome to Episode 45 of the MMRCade podcast. Brother, we're back. It's been a bit. We are back and it has been a bit. I just want to say, I'm sorry, Johnny. I'm sorry to all our fans, subscribers and listeners. I've been having a lot of dental work done the last month or so. I've been having a lot of problems. They surfaced a little bit before last fight, but fortunately enough quelled down during the fight and then after the fight, it's just something I can't avoid anymore. That's why we're kind of dropping the episode later in the week as well. Johnny was messaging Johnny telling him, "Mate, I can't do it my face is twice the size it used to be." It has nothing to do with the donuts I've been eating. Two Rob's credit as well. I also moved and that's why I was out for a couple of weeks, you can see my new setup right now, which is kind of cool. You've made fun of me for my previous one. I had to step my game up. I will say, so a couple changes for me. First one is finally got the new PC setup. State of the arse rig. Big thank you to Aftershock, designed it through them. They helped put it together. They brought it to me. You'll see on my socials, a lot of things I'm going to be putting out just highlighting how cool it is. I'm sure I'll tell you how cool Max graphics games are in the greatest portion of the episode, but yeah, shout a huge shout out to Aftershock for making that work. No longer is the camera freezing on us. No longer is it kind of getting janky, having to unplug USBs, plug in USBs, pull out the controller. Everything's working the way it should be. And second part, my man, finally got that Starlink as well. Oh, legit. You finally got it. I did. No more bad internet. Mate, I should have done it years ago. So good, man. It's so easy to set up literally. It arrived in the mail. I plugged it in, had it sit on my front lawn and I was, I was gold, like to aggregate. And then I had a sparky put it up on the roof on the weekend and I'm with the rest of you guys now. Like, you know, I'm like with the rest of civilization on the web. So I'm very happy with that, man. Dude, that's all I remember when I came to do your setup with the camera and everything. I was like, you should check out Starlink, man. I'm telling you right now. That's awesome. It's the same reason why I don't use Amazon very much is because I'm very impatient. Like the idea, like delivery that two weeks, my stuff. I mean, I'll make new and I'm very much like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, even if it's kind of janky. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. Well, look, better PC, better internet. The boys are back. If you are new, please subscribe, like if you enjoy the video. But today, big episode to return to Rob, we've got our predictions for UFC three or four and our breakdown in Manchester, that card at a ridiculous time for you UK fans. It starts at like what 11 p.m. It's kind of crazy. By the time the main event will come on, it's probably going to be like four, five in the morning their time. So cut us to them for showing up to that. So UFC three or four predictions. We've also got some rule changes in the UFC that we're going to get Rob's opinions on plus game news and everything. So if you enjoy this video again, like, but let's get into these UFC three or four predictions, starting in reverse order with the main event, Leon Edwards against Balal Muhammad for the welterweight title. Finally, Balal is getting his opportunity, Leon coming in with 22 wins, three losses. Of course, he had the two wins against Usman. He had the one win against Colby Covington, Balal Muhammad, 23 win, three losses, very similar record. And he's been on a tear, recent wins against Gilbert Burns, Sean Brady, Vicente Luque, Steven Thompson, and a bunch of others. I think he's on a nine fight win streak or something like that from memory. Rob, what are your thoughts on this? And who do you think is going to win? Yeah. So I guess, like, finally, we're getting that Balal Muhammad title title fight, okay? It was a meme for a long time. But how do I approach, you know, the predictions to this fight? So I can see like two possibilities. First one, Leon Edwards just being too good. I think the caliber of fights Leon Edwards has had different to Balal Muhammad's. I think fighting, you know, fighting that, that Usman twice is huge, especially when he fought in the first time, like, that was, that was good, Usman, right? Fighting Colby, like Colby is a nightmare for everyone. And he was just able to shut him down, like, so well with, with, with spectacular spacing and just really, I'm not going to call it stock standard, but traditional classy striking, you know, it's very hard to find a hole, especially, you know, if we compare it to when he fought Nate Diaz, right, and we saw that hole get exposed in the later round or fights before that. I feel like he's tightened up to a whole degree further than he was then. And especially in that last fight, I was so super impressed that I've just how, you know, clean he was. There wasn't really anything to pick apart. There wasn't any holes or glaring weaknesses, or, or, or points of to exploit for Colby. And I find that sort of fight going to be hard for Balal Muhammad, who, who like, well, he's not spectacular at any one field. You know, he's kind of, he's just really high level at all of them. In my opinion. Okay, people are going to smash me and come and say, he's amazing. I think that he's amazing at everything. But I feel like that's his, his greatest strength, he's that he's kind of well rounded, you know, very, very well rounded. He can take the fight any direction to get the win. I find he's going to have, I think he's going to have trouble trying to push that sort of game plan only in Edwards, because I feel like Leon Edwards, especially in the last few showings, has shown that he is like very well rounded and utilizes the strength of his striking to capitalize everywhere else. Yeah. No, that makes a lot of sense. And look, we, we technically do have a fight of theirs that we can try and compare. This is not the first time that they fought. This is technically a rematch. It ended in the fashion that it did with an iPod unfortunately in the second round. But when they first fought in that first round, there's no denying it that that Balal was losing. Balal was absolutely losing. Leon Edwards won that first round quite convincingly, wobbled him with the high kick as well. So I know it's only one round and look what happened with Edwards and Usman, right? He won in the last round and he became the champ. So anything can happen, especially in a fight rounder, but going off what we can, Edwards was winning that. From my opinion, Edwards is just better striker. He's a sniper. He's long. He has good range. He's more technical. He obviously lower output and lower pressure than Balal. But when he hits, he makes a count. I think this is probably going to go to decision. I just don't see either guy getting knocked out. But I just think that Leon Edwards is the better striker. You made a good point, Balal. He's good at everything, but I just don't think he's as good at striking at Leon. And I don't know if Balal is going to try and wrestle. He's been training with Habib. But Leon Edwards, look what he did against Usman. He did pretty well with his takedown defense. So it's a tough one, man. It's a really tough one to call. On a point you just mentioned of Edwards not having a great amount of pressure. I think it's opposite. Okay. All right. Because it's hard to understand from an outside perspective, but controlling the spacing that the way Edwards does is so instrumental in creating not only in creating pressure, but like an anxiety driven thought process of the stresses that he can hit me, that he's kind of there the whole time. And that's one of the things I really appreciate when Leon Edwards fights is that he's spacing mate. It's sensational. He's always in range. He's always in threat range. And imagine being in threat range for 25 minutes. Like the dude can hit you at all times. You have to be on at all times, not to mention when he does land shots and hurts. I feel like that sort of pressure creates mistakes. And we saw that in their first pairing. And I don't know, I feel I'm not ruling Muhammad out. I think he's a sensational fight. But I just think that comparatively in their showings, like up until this point, we're going to have to see below Muhammad bring something to the table we haven't seen yet. Yeah, I agree with that. To beat Leon Edwards. And that might be a determination and grit that bull through Leon Edwards striking and kind of takes him into deep waters, kind of like what Drickis did against Strickland. Or we're going to have to see like a level of wrestling that Edwards hasn't prepared for even against Usman or Colby. You know what I mean? Like we're going to have to see something to change the dynamic. Because from what I can tell from their pairing, it's like, you know, I'd have to lean towards Edwards. No, I agree. I'm definitely leaning towards Edwards. I just think he's better on his feet, he's better with his hands. But Lull can try and utilize the ground game, can try and take him down. But Edwards is just so much better in his takedown defense. He's so much better in his wrestling going toe to toe with Usman for two fights, you know, however many work rounds it was. I just, I don't see Balal doing anything better or more than what Usman tried to do against Leon Edwards. And don't get me wrong, Usman took down Leon Edwards, but he still had a pretty good showing, especially in that second fight. The way I see Balal winning is just keep going forward more volume, more pressure, and winning it on the scorecards. That is the path that I see Balal can take to victory. But ultimately, I think Leon Edwards is also going to get it done probably by decision. I don't see anybody getting knocked down in this fight. And I don't, but I don't think, I don't think Muhammad has that game. I don't think he has the game that can just absorb shots and push through enough to do that to Leon Edwards. I think Edwards is like snipes just too well. Many spacings too good. I think he mixes his hands and feet up like really well. Again, how tough. He can't take head kicks, teeth kicks, calf kicks the entire fight. Yeah. But two Balal's credit. I know people don't like the guy. I know he has a bit of a boring fight style. I mean, people were saying similar things as Leon before Leon knocked out Usman, and that completely changed his career, right? Leon had a lot of fights that went to decisions, similar with with with Balal. But you saw what Balal could do when it comes to his hands against Sean Brady. I mean, wasn't Sean Brady. He was undefeated at that stage. No one thought that he could win by a TKO KO, but he did. There is every chance that Balal could close the distance, getting close. But I'm with you. I just don't see it happening. I think Edwards is too much of a sniper and he's going to get it done over the five rounds. Yep, I agree. So that is our prediction. Leon Edwards to beat Balal Muhammad. And then that just opens up the welterweight division, Ian Machado, Gary, Chefcat Rachmanov, JDM is in there as well. Let's see what happens. But next up, dude, every time, every time Aspenov fights, I don't know what it is. I get this level of excitement, this anxiety. Do you remember how we fell with Aspenov versus Pavlovitch? I was on edge that entire fight, and we're going to feel this bloody way when Aspenov versus Kurt displayed strangely for the heavyweight interim title. But Tom Aspenov, 14 wins, three losses. Of course, he beat Pavlovitch, KO in the first round, he beat Ty Bora, TKO in the first round. And before that had his loss to blades with the knee injury, but then he submitted Volkop before that, TKO, it's Bevark. Kurtis blades, 18 wins, three losses, had a very impressive win against Jelton Almeida with those Hamaphis. Previously, he did lose to Pavlovitch, and then he had that Aspenov win. I keep using the air quotes. He beat Christa Dachau, Dachau, I think I pronounce it, and obviously Rosenstruck as well. So Rob, very exciting fight. I'm so pumped for this one, probably the fight that I'm looking most forward to in this card. But what do you think about Tom Aspenov against Kurtis blades? I'm a big fan of Kurtis blades, a big fan of his fire soul, and he's one of those. He's the top fighter that I, when I pair him against other heavy weights, I don't know how he loses. You've said that before, yeah. I don't know how he's ever the underdog, or reason to be such a big guy, big strong guy, and to have that level of wrestling, and cardio, and output. Yeah, I find it like he gets caught. That's the only way he loses. He gets caught by these big dudes, but more often than not, like, and I don't know, I don't know if his fight's solid. That's led to a level of predictability, and you can see those bigger guys capitalizing on that. But I think he's going to have trouble this fight. I'm a big fan of how Tom Aspenov moves. I think the fact he's so light, but can hit so hard in such a generally slow division, is going to give Curtis blades a lot of trouble. It is so hard to take someone down when they're a lot on their feet. It is so hard to take someone down when they move away quick, when they're on, when they're peppering you, when you know they can knock you out, when it's going to be a nightmare of a fight for Curtis blades to try and close that gap, and I just don't see Curtis beating Tom in a stand-up fight. No, I looked up the stats, so all but one of Tom's UFC fights have ended in the first round, and the one that didn't ended in the second round. Someone's getting knocked out in this fight, and in my opinion, I agree, he's probably the one that's going to be knocking out Curtis blades. It was probably going to happen in the first, probably going to happen in the second. He's just scary, fast, and powerful for a guy that sighs. Tom, he made Pavlovitch look small, and he was so bloody quick on his feet, the way that he got those shots in, the way that he knocked out Pavlovitch, who, let's remember, I know Pavlovitch has lost again since then, but he was the spooky man of that division. Nobody wanted to touch Pavlovitch with a 10-foot pole. He was knocking everybody out left, right, and center. I think I said that I expected Pavlovitch to win that fight, but Tom Aspenold blew me away with how quick he was. If Curtis can maybe survive the first round, maybe, and then utilize this wrestling game, because we know he has a phenomenal wrestling background, maybe that can be his path to victory. But Tom can turn it on him there, too. It can submit people, too. How often do we see that as a heavyweight? He's just so good, bro. He's so bloody good. He's trying to do to as a kid. I watched the UFC. Is it the embedded, or whatever it is? His dad was teaching him Jiu Jitsu, ever since he was a kid. It's not just a big heavyweight that can throw. I think Curtis Blades has got trouble this fight. Yeah, so do I. Like I said, it's so hard to take someone down that moves as quick and as nimbly as Tom does, especially with the output and the striking accuracy that he does. If he can't close, I don't see him beating Tom in a stand-up fight in the open. So, yeah, I'm going to have to back Tom here. Again, it is a little funny for the interim title, but it's better than nothing, right? I just don't get it. I just don't get it anymore. I don't think about it too much. I don't know, man, but I'm going to be very excited for this fight. I think I'll be sitting on edge. I might have a similar feeling to how I felt when asked when I was first Pavlovitch, when they put their hands on each other's shoulder. That was just so intense, man. Can't wait for this bloody fight. But next up, we have Snop Bobby Green anymore, Rob. It's King Green. King Green against Patty Pimlet. Lightweight fight. Keep saying Bobby Green. King Green is 32 wins, 15 losses. Recently, of course, he had that dominant victory against Jim Miller at USC 300. He was knocked out against Jalen Turner before that. Patty Pimlet, 21 wins three losses. On paper, he's on a bit of a streak, right? He had a win against Tony Ferguson. He had a very controversial win against Jared Gordon. Jordan Levitt as well with a rear naked choke. What do you think about this fight, Rob? Was it King Green now? He literally, legally changed his name. He's now King Green. His first name is now King. Yeah, fuck, he's a Tekken character, man. [laughter] I don't hate the name King. It was like a nickname or alias or something like that. It's King King Green now. Does he keep his nickname or is he just King Green? Is he King Bobby Green now? I don't know, dude. I'm not going to get into it. You do what he wants. Mate, I'll say. Patty in his last fight, I thought that first round of his against Tony Ferguson was unbelievable. I thought that his fall from grace was the best thing to ever happen to him, because he came back with a vengeance to prove something. I don't know. I don't see that version of Patty losing to King Green. I think King Green is very dangerous. He's obviously got a good skill set, and he's been in the game for such a long time, but he gets hit. If he fights a guy that can continuously output the work that Patty did in that first round, he might have trouble. He might have trouble. I don't know. It's an interesting one, because I keep going to the fact that Bobby's getting a little bit older. He was knocked out pretty viciously against Jaylen Turner, though he did turn around against Jim Miller, but Jim Miller was also getting on an age as well. I am going to that fact that Bobby is a little bit older. Look, Patty should win. He's younger. He should be on his march to the title. He's on a streak. He should be the one that wins. If he can't beat Bobby Green, who's at this stage in his career, he's got no hope to get a title shot in my opinion in the USC. Bobby Green is the ultimate gatekeeper. I will say, though, Jim Miller had his moments in the first round. For a memory, I thought he did win the first round. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he had Bobby had Green on wobbly legs at one point. He had hurt him. Patty in that first round against Ferguson was... I thought it was a really good showing. That's not to say, Ferguson obviously isn't the version of Ferguson. Seven years ago, but I don't know. It was a good showing. I'm probably going to go, Patty, just because I think, like I said, that four for Grace that he had, the mentality, the mindset that he's come into, the way he looked in his last fight, I think that level of focus can get a W against Green, at least a decision win. Yeah, I know Green has pretty good wrestling defense, but if Patty can survive getting knocked out by him, I just don't see... Patty is a pretty strong dude. I don't see him getting knocked out by Green. He can take shots, too. He can take shots, and of course, he's greater grappling. He could submit Green. We don't know what might happen in the second round and the third round, so I think the odds are actually backing Green to win this. I think they're in his favor, but to be honest, I agree with you. I'm leaning towards Patty. He knows that he needs to win this, and I think that's going to drive him to actually get the job done. So both of us going for Patty Pimlet, let's see what happens there. This one is interesting, man, if it ever bloody happens, but Mohammed Makayev against Mantle Cap, flyweight division, fight. Mohammed Makayev is undefeated 12 wins, zero losses. He had a recent win against Alex Perez, and before that, Tim Elliott, Mantle Cap, 19 wins, six losses. He's on a four-fight win streak. Recently, he beat Felipe Dossantos, a UFC Sydney. Were you there for on that one, Rob? Do you remember how about that fight? It was such a good fight, such a fun fight. I watched it recently, but what do you think about this fight? It's a wrestler against the striker. It gets a very exciting dynamic striker. What do you think about it? Yeah, I guess. I don't know. The rest of us strike debates, like as old a time, in my opinion, I think it's easier to defend against wrestling, to get a defensive game against wrestling than it is to get an offensive game against wrestling, or you know what I mean? Or than it is to get a wrestler into an unoffensive striking game. I think the easier option is learning how to defensively wrestle. I feel like half the problem with learning defensively wrestle is spacing and creating that space of threat. But I don't know. I don't know. I don't know where to stand on this. I think I recently watched Mohamed Makayev's fight against Alex Perez. And dude, Mohamed Makayev, as good of a wrestler as he is, he shot so much, and he was snuffed out of those takedowns by Alex Perez. Alex Perez just knew how to sprawl, knew how to snuff those takedowns, and he wasn't that successful on the ground. He still won the fight, don't get me wrong. And I know Manel cap is definitely doesn't have the takedown defense that Alex Perez has. But if he can do even half of that and then just beat Makayev up on the feet with his hands, then I think he's going to be well on his way to winning this fight. I think Makayev needs to trust his hands a little bit more. Like, I don't think he's a bad striker. I think he might not be able to stand too often with Manel cap. But if you can use his hands and then go for the takedown, instead of constantly just going for the takedown like he did at Alex Perez, I think he'll have more of a chance in that regard. But I'm really wanting to lead towards Manel cap because I think Manel cap is just fun, is dynamic, he's exciting, he's really good with his hands, he's really good with his flying knee. I'm going to say Mohamed Makayev keeps trying to go down for a takedown and he's going to get hit in the face with a flying knee. That's my prediction. But this what? Or it'll be off a little bit, it'll end up, he'll end up on his back and he'll be held down for the rest of the round. Well, if he gets taken down, he'll be down for the whole round. Like Makayev will not land cap up, he cannot get taken down. I agree. And it's only a three-round fight, right? So like, he can't keep getting taken down because you only have so many chances. If it happens once, he's probably lost the fight in my opinion. But let's see. So who's your official prediction? Is it Makayev? You know what? I'm going to go with cap as well. I'm going to go back to strike his man. Look, you and I have picked all the same fighters that this this card. The last one. Great mind, single line. Absolutely. Arnold Allen against Giga Chikaze in the featherweight division. Arnold Allen, 19 wins three losses. Look, Arnold Allen has had a couple of losses, but he's not just fighting bums, man. He's fought Mobsoye Evloev, Max Holloway. Before that, he had a string of wins against Calvin Kader, Dan Hooker, Siddique Youssef. Arnold Allen fights only the best, especially recently. Giga, on the other hand, not as high of a caliber of opponent. 15 wins three losses. Recently, he had a decision win against Alex Casaras, but before that, a pretty bad decision loss against Calvin Kader. Before that, he beat Edson Barbosa and Cub Swadson. What do you reckon, Rob? You like you like your Chikaze, don't you? I was going to say, it's very hard to bet against Giga because I like him. It's cool, dude, and I'm biased. I don't know if I mentioned this at the beginning of the podcast, but I'm biased. Every pick, every pick, everything that I say in any fight is not objective. That's why I always lead with I feel. I think I clear myself with that. Arnold Allen, I feel like his rise to the top was a little fast. I feel like his TKO win against Hooker really catapulted him to that upper rationalon of the division. That kill is up there. It is a crazy division. Fighting Max Holloway is the pinnacle of the division. You fight Max Holloway, you more or less can win a belt in the division. He might be in. He hadn't had a great amount of high-level fights before that. He didn't work his way up to Max Holloway. He started having those high fights to enter the club and then go to the top. Which is what you've got to do sometimes, but I feel like he, especially in that Holloway fight, we saw some holes that need to be patched up a little bit, especially when it comes to spacing. Again, I say spacing so much to episode. Just when it comes to controlling that space, that distance with guys that know how to strike because Allen brings a level of threat with his hands that needs to be respected, but it's kind of wild. Whereas Giga, it's tricky with Giga because I feel like some fights I think he should shoe in, he has a really rough time with. Then some fights that I think are made. I don't know how he's going to get this done. He clears it in speedrunner fashion. I think this is going to be a bit of a test for Allen. I think it's going to be a bit of a test for Giga because I don't know. I don't think Allen has great, because we saw Holloway utilize kicks against Allen very well. Allen loves those slugfs, loves those punch-ups, but Giga, I want to see him utilize his kicks. I want to see him utilize creating a level of threat with a lower half of his body because I think that is an angle Allen needs to learn to reinforce, to move up against those high guys that can strike holistically. That's kind of where Giga needs to lead the fight to start taking advantage of his full arsenal against those high caliber dudes, those threat level guys. Yeah, for me, I really do think that Giga needs to work a bit on his cardio. Like if he's going to come at the first round guns blazing, we know how good his kicks are, we know how good his straight is. If Arnold Allen can weather that storm, get into the latter half of the second round, get to the third round, he's very, very well-rounded. If he can pressure Giga enough, he could get the job done in the end. I just believe he has fought the high caliber of fighter and I think he's due for a win at some stage. I am leaning towards him beating Giga because I don't know Giga, he doesn't fight that often. I don't know how much he has actually worked on his cardio and Allen's not going to go away. He's not going to go away. He's going to be there to the end. Getting in a slug fest, again, he's well-rounded. He could mix it up. He could take him to the ground, just outwork him, out pressure him. So I'm slightly leaning towards Arnold Allen, but this is the Pikmi. It's a 50/50. And you know what I will say, Allen is so good at that. He stays in it with knockout level power for the whole time, but I'm going to go with Giga. That's going to be the differentiating factor for us with this card, the decider, which should be the first fight on the main card. So those are our predictions for USC three or four. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Let us know your predictions, but rather next up, let's talk some UFC rule changes. So this has seemingly been in the works for a while, but we've got some big changes, two big changes to the rules for mixed martial arts for UFC that are going to be adopted, I believe, from the 1st of October. So first up, 12 to 6 elbows gone. Like the ban against them are gone. 12 to 6 elbows will be allowed. There's no more. Is it a different freaking time when the clock is going to be allowed, which I think is the right call. And then the second change, they're changing what is considered a grounded opponent. So I believe before, and some are correct me, if I'm wrong, I believe before that if you had any kind of like actual pressure with your hand, you were considered a downed opponent, but they've changed the rule where it doesn't matter whether you're your hands on the ground or your feet are on the ground. The only way you're considered grounded is if there's any other body part which is touching the ground like your knees or your elbow or whatever it might be. It can't just be your hand, you can't just keep touching your hands on the ground and say that you're a grounded opponent. Specifically, this is what the rule says. So I get it out there. A fighter shall be considered grounded and may not be legally need or kicked to the head when any part of their body other than their hands or feet is in contact with the canvas or the ground. So Rob, what do you think about both of those changes to the rules? I think it's great. I think the 12 to 6 rule was a bit weird to begin with. Like you said, it was weird because you could do that style of elbow as long as your hand was facing a different time on the clock. As long as it wasn't like... If you're on the ground, you could do it. Yeah, exactly. As long as you're not pointing your heaven to hell, like it's all good. And that's weird. I never got it to begin with. I think this grounded opponent rule change is good. I think we're heading in the right division direction of bringing in those soccer kicks back. But I think it's going to be really good. I feel like now you've got a pretty clear definition on what is grounded. You can't cheese it because there was a lot of guys up in the UFC that get wrestled up against the fence and so they're not needing the head put a finger on the ground. And it was weird. It's like don't play the rules like that. Not to say that I'm better than doing it myself. Nah, dude, 100% I'll play the rules if I have to. But I'm glad that it's been cleared up. I think it'll be cool when guys get rocked and they're moving back and they put a hand on the ground to stand back up and then you can kind of chase that finish a little bit more. I think it'll just add another level of excitement to the game. I think it'll feel more natural. I feel like the rule sets moving into a more natural vibe of combat. And we just don't get situations. As much as I've given my props and respect to someone like Algermain Sterling, right? I think what he did after that controversial win against Piero Rion was incredible and no one can doubt his legacy now in my opinion. But now we get away from situations where fighters just have a hand on the ground to avoid getting need or kicked in the face. And it's a clear rule. Like that's what I really like about it. It's any other body part aside from your feet and hands, any other body part. So the referee shouldn't have any issues trying to determine that on the fly. I say that. I'm laughing because you are emphasizing any other body part. You don't have that many body parts. You're put on the ground. It's true though. Is it proper pressure, whatever the hell? I can't remember what the previous war was. If you're grounded, you're grounded. What would get you rocked? What would get you a 10 count in boxing? He's grounded more or less. By the way, on the whole 12 to 6 thing, apparently this will allow someone like John Jones to appeal his previous loss for doing the 12 to 6 elbow. And apparently he's going to do that. No, are they allowing what retroactively? So what I've seen, and this was from Ariel Hawani, apparently the commission, people on the commission told him that John Jones should try to overturn the decision. Apparently, it's a possibility not to say that it'll happen, but it might apply retroactively because of the circumstances and how that fight ended, because it was so clearly ended in a 12 to 6, and there was no other extenuating circumstances. I'm not saying I agree with it, but apparently it opens the door for that. We could see John's loss taken off his record. But that is it from the UFC perspective. The real changes, the UFC three or four, are you good, Rob? Do you need to go to the bathroom? I'm good. I'm dehydrated, so I can probably make the rest of the episode. Hell yeah. So let's get to games news, not much happening this week, but I do want to get your opinion on one thing, Rob, because you've played a little bit of Baldur's Gate 3, and at least you've tried. You've tried to get through the whole game, but you've played a lot of new characters. No, dude. And it's not just that. I get so burnt out on a story, like my proper burnt out. I've never gotten through Act 1. I get to a really late part of it. I'm just like, before I get bored in some murder hoboing everyone. Well, I'm interested to know you're depending on this. Apparently the CEO of Larian, right, there was a previous stage where they wanted to work on a bigger franchise to try and get their credentials up, work on a bigger title, which means more budgets. It's better for the developer and whatever. And they had a few choices or a few things or a few games and franchises that they wanted to pick. And Ultima was one of them. Baldur's Gate, of course, was one of them, and they ended up doing that. And Fallout was one of them. And he was saying that we were close to picking Fallout if they were able to get it over the line. Would you like to see a Fallout game by Larian? Is that something that interests you? It's a hard one because I know, like, you haven't got through the game and the story is very heavy for you. Yeah, it's tricky. Tricky. It's hard because Fallout to me, Fallout is what it is now, right? And any deviation from that? Like, if I want to play a Larian game, I play Baldur's Gate. I play a Larian game. To me, Fallout is now its bit Bethesda game studios. Many things that I would like to see improved about the series. Not everything is perfect by any means. But now it has its own identity. And that would be changed up completely. Like if City in worked on a Fallout, it still very much feel like a Fallout game. But if Larian did, I'm worried it would take it completely in the other direction. I feel like if I wanted to play a top-down, turn-based shooter, I'd play something like XCOM, or I'd play something like Wasteland is two. You know what I mean? Wasteland is two is kind of like Fallout, if it were turn-based, top-down. Like, have you ever played Wasteland is two? Do I play Wasteland is two into the OG Fallout? I mean, that's what they are, right? Yeah, like it's... Yeah, I don't know. I wouldn't be super interested in by any means. I would definitely give it a go because I would just like to see more Fallout games to be fair. But it was interesting. I want to see like another Divinity. Oh yeah? Yeah. I liked Divinity 2. That was their launching platform, like really that like blew the socks off a lot of people. What got them moving in the Baldur's Gate. Divinity 2 is really cool, man. They might go back to Divinity because they're not doing another Baldur's Gate game. I know that for sure. So I don't know what their next game is going to be, whether they want to do another Divinity or just a new IP entirely. It's going to be interesting what happens. But the next topic that we have for games news is according to sources from Windows Central, Xbox Game Pass could get a cloud-only and ad-supported tiers and potentially the return of a family subscription option. So the cloud-only game pass tier would mean that you won't need to own a console. It should be on the cheaper side. It would allow you to purchase digital games from Xbox. And then they might introduce a family membership, allowing five people. I think they tested this in the past where it was five people could access one subscription for a higher price, kind of like how Spotify does it. Rob, does this interest you at all? Like, I don't know if you're actually subscribed to Game Pass, but... Yeah, well, my kids are. Okay, so you do pay for it. Yeah, I don't know how it would work. You'd have to have good internet, wouldn't you? Yeah, good internet. And it would just be an app on your TV. Like Samsung TVs, I know they have this for sure. They have an Xbox app. It would just stream and you wouldn't have to have a, you know, buy a game or you can buy it. Of course, they have that option, but you could download it if you want to. But I think it would just be streaming. So you would have to have very, very good internet to make that work. Yeah, no, I'm for it. I think it would be good, like it'll stop it. People having to buy consoles. Yeah. And yeah, I'm curious to see how it would work. I don't think I can really visualize it working too well right now. Definitely not in Australia. Yeah, I can't see it happening anytime soon. But if it works the way it says on the box, then all for it, because I think I just accessibility is huge, especially for the guys that can't afford, you know, consoles with their own. And the fact that you can share amongst people, like, I know that's like sharing Netflix accounts is pretty big. So I just don't know if I'm ever going to be that person that wants to, just as a general thing, subscribe to Game Pass. Like, if I want to play a game and I like a game, I'll just buy it. And I tend to not play that many games anyways. So if I get a Game Pass subscription, like over the course of a year, how many games am I actually buying? Probably a handful. So I think it'd be the same value, if not less, versus a Game Pass subscription where I'm paying all this money every month, which has increased in price, mind you. And I'm still not playing that many games anyways. I feel it's for people that don't have as much money and that want to play a bunch of games and have the time to do so, you know? You see, and I think that's where the market changes. It's like, yeah, you don't have kids. My kids live on Xbox Game Pass. Like, they are downloading and deleting and changing games. I kid you not probably five times a day. Right. And you would never buy all of those games for them. No, they'll return a game and download a new one, like, constantly made constantly. It saves me so much money for them to have like a taste. Because the kids don't know what they want. They don't know what they like. So they can just have a little taste of everything. It is great. And like, if my kids like it that much, then I commit to it and apply it for them, you know what I mean? So that when it eventually gets taken off Game Pass, they, you know, don't cry. Fair enough. Well, look, it depends on the user. Of course, there are so many different types of consumers. I think for me, it's just maybe at a different stage of my life, I would get Xbox Game Pass. But that is the game's news. Next up, we've got what we've been watching, playing and reading. Rob, what have you been doing in the past few weeks? Okay. You go first. You go first. So I finally finished Final Fantasy 16. Oh, wow. Dude, it's such a long game. And they're all so long. They're all so long. And I got, you ever get to a point in a game when you're playing it? Well, like initially you'll do all the side quests, you'll do everything. I'll clear a map before I move on. You get to a point where you're like, all right, I'm just going to do the main quest now. Because once I've done the main quest, I'm not going to play the game more. I don't need every side quest. I don't need every weapon or item or upgrade or whatever. I'm just going to finish it, enjoy the story, and then that's it. And I've finally done that with Final Fantasy 16. It's been on my list for so bloody long. And I'm just glad to be done. So I finished Final Fantasy 16. No, that's awesome. I get, I try to, I try to, I usually drop games before I get to that point, because if I, if I finish a game, without doing everything, I won't feel satisfied. Like, I won't. Like everything, everything. Everything, everything. Like, it's not like 100%. It's just like the, the roadmap that I have in my head of like what I need to do to, to complete the game. Fair enough. You know, I have to do it a certain way. And if I don't do it that way, then if I don't follow through with my plan in my head, then I just would not be happy. That's fair enough. I mean, I think it depends on the game. I think when I started to try and play games and that kind of methodical manner, where I'm like, I got to do every quest and have a checklist or whatever, I start not enjoying it. I remember I recently tried to do that with Starfield. And that's not how I played games in the past when I was a kid before YouTube. I just, like, I played the games, did the quest that I wanted to. And when I was done, and I was done, that's why I don't do achievements anymore. I just don't care. I just don't care for that stuff, you know? Yeah, I've never really gotten behind achievements. But like, so like, it's super important for me to have like a character in my head of what, of like who I'm playing. That's why it's so important for me to be able to create my own character because I have to have to be able to visualize what this character is. And then I play him out throughout the game. And it's not just that game. It's every game across the thing, which is why I kind of always just hop back into all the old games because I'm remaking characters. And yeah, but continued, please. No, I mean, so I finished that. And then I've been just watching a couple of anime here and there. My hero is still going. I am also watching bongo stray dogs, which I'm enjoying. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. And that's probably about it for me. I mean, I've been so bloody busy with the move for the past month, hadn't had much time for my shots. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I'm glad that that's done. But how about you? Okay, myself. I've been playing projects on board a lot with my friends, like during the week I had my teeth were pretty bad and had my wisdom taken out. I was just playing Zomboid. I don't know if you have if anyone's ever played projects on board, it is the best zombie simulator game I've ever played. Cool. Ever. Like better than Daisy, World War Z, better than stated decay to which is really good. But it's it's made it has a graphics of like the original Sims, but but but but it is like the details and the gameplay loop and just the mechanics behind it make it so good for that sort of play. Okay. But non multiplayer, I've just started up another character in Dragon's Dogma 2. Oh, really? Okay. So my internet was out I think a couple weeks ago and I played my Dragon's Dogma character and it didn't get saved to the cloud and then I got my new one and I didn't have any data. So I was like screw it. I sat again and and I'm really obsessed right now with archery, not just in this game in all games, just like ranged options. And I don't know. Archery is so much fun in Dragon's Dogma 2 man. Like I don't really enjoy it. Like there's and there's hilarious moments like I'll be shooting Cyclops and you know how it does that drop kick that Cyclops a I feel they call Oga. Yeah, it does like a drop kick. And picks you to do a drop kick. No matter what distance it's at like me a hundred meters away. It'll get to you with that drop kick. It comes at me like a missile dude. Like drop kicks me and my dude just ragged us because I've got no health nothing. It's a it's been it's been fun. I'm actually looking forward to jumping into it after this episode. That's true buddy. So I've been I've been enjoying it. I followed so I made a porn and my wife was terribly angry with me about it but I made a porn and followed like if you go to YouTube you can go beautiful pawns and they have like a list of like really because I'm always wondered how do these guys get their pawns looking like supermodels. Mine always mine are always the same. They're just like super stocky storage dudes and no one hires a storage dude. Okay, so I followed one of those things. It takes like 10 minutes to like because it's got all the numbers you need there to make the perfect beautiful porn. I made one and pro all all that it's confirmed for me is that everybody on Dray's Dog were to were just a bunch of simps bro. Every time I rest in it in like seven people have hired us. It is great man. It is great. I love and I'm running around dude with no mage for archers. Like there's no heals. There's no heals here that buddy. If we can't shoot down whatever is going to kill us we die. But you know what the hardest enemy in the game is for us right now? Wolves. Really? Because dude you can't pin them down. It's super hard to like I'm using the controller to free game and I'm terrible with it. So I'm missing all the time. I wolf their fast. I grab like a wolf coming grab me by my ankle and drag me off and like like yeah they'll stagger our shot. It's so hard. Like wolves are the worst enemies for us right now. But that's okay. I'm having a lot of fun with it. Like yeah you always pick such funny ways to play games man. Dude I'm having a lot of fun playing with four archers because like my pawns the whole time is just gone. It comes to my attention that we have that we're all of the same location like shut up. They can't be repeating themselves. Like I get it. Shut up. I feel like yeah we're archers. This is the archer. We are the archer team like relax. All your pawns are the same gender that will have comments about that. Like leave me the hell alone. All right. Yeah but if if if like if all your pawns are women you know what you're doing dude. You're not going to call you out for it. It's good. Good. Good. It's a reality check. But no it's so like I said I'm looking forward to jumping into that. After this episode. Reading. That was a really good book I was reading the other day. But I've just been picking up books like the next book in certain series. That's why Amazon kindles so good because you can go on. It's got like a tab there that says continue where you continue what you've read last or something like that. Yeah. And it usually comes up with the next edition of books. Right. But that's cool. Watching. I've been watching the latest season of anime. Yeah. There are only like two three out at the moment. Last season there was a there was a pretty good one. Kaju number eight was pretty cool. Kaju Annenberg was great. So good. But I can't help but feel like it hit that like um that like I don't know what style it is like maybe teen style that's shonen or whatever it's called. Whereas like the main character even though he's a 30 year old he's kind of like a Naruto believe it sort of character. Yep. You know what I mean. Yeah. Whatever. Konosuba. Still hilarious. Love Konosuba. It's so good. Yeah. Um what else was I watching? That's really. I just kind of really all I was watching then. Yeah. Konosuba is still on my list. The stuff that I'm slowly working my way through after finishing Demon Slayer and everything. Yeah. I'm trying to what like I'm looking at the latest thing. I usually just end up watching this the the latest season of anime. Yeah. I think I think a new blue lock season is coming out. I really like blue lock. I don't think you like sports anime but I I definitely enjoyed it. Yeah. I don't love it. Yeah. I like the new second season of Goblin Slayer was out. I don't know if it was last season. Was that good? Dude. So good. Goblin say is. Goblin say is the best. I got to work my way. I just got to get past that first episode. Oh dude. Who cares? Like he's an animal. Like he's so good. He's literally the the doom guy of the anime world. I think he's my idol. He might he might be my idol. Actually. I'm trying to see. Uh do you do you end up watching that that that gaming one where dude wears a bird mask? That was good. Oh that one was so good. Uh Shangri-La Frontier. Yeah. I loved Shangri-La Frontier. I was obsessed with the anime that was like a video game. Like that was the whole point of it. And even though this one they knew it was a virtual reality game and it wasn't like this is real stuff. I love Shangri-La Frontier. I like I like their direction with it as well. Hell yeah. But um did you watch uh Sword Art? Yeah. Oh no. I haven't watched Sword Art Online. That is that is next for me I think. You got to you got to try Sword Art Online. I really liked it. Yeah. I just I didn't want to like go too heavy on the one style of anime because then I'd get burnt out on it. That's why I swapped to bongo stray dogs and I'm enjoying that. Like you know like the investigation crime aspect but some people have powers is pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. I just I got bit burnt out with how many characters are too many. Yeah. I don't care. I do. I love my hero academia. I forget who who's named what? Even demon slayer. I'm like what are the what are the freaking 12 kizuki named or whatever. I don't like it either or that. It's really you do need to get to my hero though because it's like genuinely really good. Too many people. Too many people. Fair. I don't think I can. I don't think I can. But they all all their story arcs is that like they're all being developed at least they're doing that. No one's being forgotten about. Yeah but I don't want I don't care. I just want to sit. I don't care. I want to see one point of view. That's it. I just want to see one dude become a god and that's it. It's probably not for you then. But that is what we're watching playing and reading. Last segment as always is questions. If you have any questions let us know in the comments below. First question and to be honest Rob there are about 10 of these. 20 of these. I've lost count but this is one from Alicia Fernandez 2625. Can I get a link to Rob's hoodie? Everyone wanted to know are you going to be releasing that white hoodie the reaper hoodie that you're wearing now last episode. So many comments. Yeah it was it was a limited edition but because of the feedback I think we're going to do another drop soon. So stay tuned. Save one for me. Next question we have is from at Dunham question. Have you seen the Dragon Age Vale Guard gameplay and if so what did you think of it and also what is your opinion on game franchise is changing art style from one game to another. Did you see Dragon Age Velga? No I'm looking up right now. So people were so against it initially because the initial trailer that they had the art style was so visually different to the previous game to acquisition and then they released the actual gameplay and it was more fitting. Definitely still different but more fitting to the previous game. I haven't played in acquisition so I need to it's actually going to be the game that I play next after Final Fantasy 16 but I think it looks all right. Like the the proof is going to be in the pudding once the once the game comes out. I'm looking at it now. I can see. Do you see what they mean? Yeah what game does this remind me of? Avowed a little bit. I don't know if I played about. No it's not out yet but like that's those are the vibes that I'm getting. Kind of like Sea of Thieves? Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah it's a good point yeah but are you watching like is there like a CGI trailer and then there's a gameplay? I'm watching the gameplay. Yeah okay. It's still I can still see the Sea of Thieves. Yeah yeah. This this toughest art style always comes across to me as kitty. That's fair. That's fair enough. I don't know why but I am a huge fan of Dragon Age. Dude I really wanted to play like I have all the Dragon Age games. I want to play them but apparently the first game runs like Dollcrap on PC. So I might just play Inquisition and and I know I know the originals are so good but if I can't play it on the PC I can't play it. So yeah yeah next question is from @DavidChug514. My question for the next podcast is who of the upcoming contenders in middleweight or other weight classes or anyway class do you see is having a future threat to contending for a belt apart from Steve Ursik he looked amazing versus Pantoja. Love your work guys big love. I've got my answer written down there you might have the same one as me Rob but anyone else come to mind? It's a hard one. It is. It is. It is. It is. If I so I'll say my answer now because I think this is the obvious one across the board it is Chefcat Rakmanov. I think welterweight division I think he has a very very good chance against either Leon or Belal. That dude is finishing people left right and center. I think he has a really good chance against either of them. Of course Steve Ursik you mentioned that. I thought Steve Ursik if he didn't try and wrestle and grapple with Pantoja and that last round he would be the champion right now. So he's going to be a champion in the future. I think Chefcat will be a champion in the future. But aside from those two, I don't know. It's hard to say. I'm going to say myself. I'm still the plan still to get that belt back and I think I have every chance to pull it off again. I've got to ask you. Have you been seeing what Sean Strickland has been saying about everything? He's pretty much been saying that, why does Rob deserve a title shot? Blah, blah, blah, blah. I've earned it. I think I screen shot at something and I sent it to you. People were roasting them in the comments especially because of how he got the title shot initially against Israo. From memory, other fighters were injured. Results went certain ways and he was just offered it in Sydney and he did happen to win. But it's not as if he's had this amazing record and he couldn't defend the title. So yeah, I don't know, man. I think you two just should just fight for that. Because like, Nastadim Imavov is also already set to fight against Canoneer, I believe. So whatever other fighters there to make, that's my opinion. Next up we've got is H-Soul 10. Rob, are you going to play Path of Exile 2 in November? Definitely, definitely. I'm not a huge on seasons and I'm sure they'll go through it. It's a seasonal game sort of thing. But I've got a bunch of mates that love it. That'll definitely be on the jump. Probably going to get a little FOMO if I don't jump on it. And part of things like the character building system is just great. As a guy who loves character building and putting in spec points and designing characters, you can spend hundreds of hours. And they had a hideout system. I don't know. Definitely, definitely. By the way, I forgot to ask you, why haven't you played Shadow of the Earthry? What's going on? Mate, I started a new character and then I just, like, I don't know, I'm just not, there's other games I want to play right now. I'm torn a little bit. I want to keep playing Dragon's Dogma 2 right now. But also, a game, Norland, just came out. It's like a Rimworld-esque colony simulator. I don't know. It looks really cool and I want to play that. It's just not the highest on my list to do. But I am going to play Elden Ring soon. And when I do, I'm going to play a Boberian. Have you seen those builds? No. It's like I said, theme of the month is archery. Boberian is just great bow. One shotting everything is mad. Do you have so many level 150 characters, you couldn't play the day I'll say whenever you want? Nah, I'll start again. I'm like coward. I actually deleted, I deleted my main character that I finished the game with. Did you have to? Because you ran out of safe slots or you just fell off? No, I just, I just wanted my new main to be in slot one. That's so stupid Rob. That's a dumb reason to leave the save off. He had 110 hours on him. Oh, why? But I feel, I feel good but doing it. Fair enough. It makes me feel complete. I got so addicted, man, and it happened with the main game too. I got so addicted to Shadow of the O3. I just had to stop playing. I finished it, but I had to stop playing. But anyways, last question is from Alexis with an E who changed her name because I think I mispronounced it in the in the previous episode. Hey guys, I really loved shooting into them. I go podcast so much love from Detroit USA. I have a, would you rather question for you both? I don't know how to answer this one. Would you rather have to chew a random piece of gum from under a random table for 30 seconds or drink a glass of hot chunky expired milk? Oh, random gum for shorter. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I know. No, because you're not getting sick from that in all likelihood. There's more of a chance to get sick from the milk that's expired. No, off milk won't make you sick either. It's a fact. What? Are you speaking from experience here Rob? I'm pretty sure it's a fact or it might be moldy bread. That's one of them. But I'm pretty sure I'll survive. How big's the glass? Like we're talking 200. Like we're doing like normal gum. What if what if the gum you choose has hepatitis? Like no, my luck only gets something like outlandish disease and die or not be able to walk in sunlight anymore? You know what I mean? I don't know. Don't be able to walk in sunlight. This is an African video game. No, it's a what if it's a would you rather question, like relax? I don't know. I don't know. I did both. Like I dipped the gum in the middle. Neither one is really killing it for me. I just don't want to get hit B. That's okay. Fair enough. I just I don't see you nine times out of 10. I don't think you're going to get sick from the gum. I think you might actually get at least your stomach is going to be turning and you're probably sitting on the toilet after the milk unless you like are you're allowed to vomit afterwards to get it out your system anyways? I don't know. It would just be gross in the moment. But that is it. That is episode 45 of the MMRcade podcast. Thank you. It is good to be back. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Again, subscribe if you're new and Rob, do you have any closing thoughts? No, I just want to say thank you to everyone who again, I'm sorry for the delay in starting your back up and there'll probably be another delay when I get my more root canals next week. But thank you to all our subscribers and listeners. If you're new, please like, subscribe, join the crew. We would love to have you and yeah, peace. Take care guys.