Full transcript
0:00Ilia Tupora is ready to fight. Great.
0:03Saw that coming. And by the way, one
0:05thing sidebar, I was really afraid to a
0:07degree that he was going to take another
0:09long break.
0:11Guys tend to do that like what whatever
0:14their history and their process is, they
0:16tend to duplicate that and move forward
0:19in the same way. And I went through like
0:21this personal crisis. So it wasn't
0:23necessarily something I would bet on
0:26that well that same thing's going to
0:27happen again. But the idea of taking
0:30time, even if that personal crisis had a
0:33byproduct, which was removal from the
0:36sport for a period of time, I thought
0:38when Hillia fought Justin, it was so
0:40clear that that is what bit him in the
0:42ass. The fatigue and exhaustion and as
0:45rough and as far and deep as that fight
0:47went
0:49was predicated largely on the idea that
0:52Ilia had not been out there in a
0:53meaningful amount of time. So, the fact
0:55that his comeback statement, which we
0:57all thought would be a call out, it
0:58would be a judge, a lot of the things
1:00that I just said, a lot of excuses that
1:02I just gave for him that he would give
1:04for himself as a way of justifying, put
1:06me back in there with Gachi, he can't do
1:08that twice. So, Gachi has said, "I'm not
1:11fighting until 2027," which believe it
1:14or not isn't that long, isn't that far
1:17away. And he also said, "I don't want
1:19rematches.
1:21I don't know if I'm ever going to fight
1:23again. I might be retired right now. I'm
1:25going to think about it. We keep this
1:26belt while I think about it. Decisions
1:28I've already made 2027 at the earliest.
1:31New opponent. All right. Now, that's not
1:35how this sport works. Nobody gets to
1:37pick their opponent or moreover pick who
1:39isn't their opponent. Like, we're not
1:41going to land at who does Justin fight
1:43next by a process of elimination of guys
1:46we wish that he would fight, but that
1:47they don't fit into the criterium that
1:49Justin spit out on a.com.
1:52But it's still something to take into
1:53consideration, right? When we don't have
1:56other information and we're forced to
1:58work within the information we have,
2:00even if we dispute that information.
2:03All right, Dana White went on Jim Rome
2:05and Dana White was not of the mindset
2:08that Justin Gate is considering
2:11retiring. And I'm with Dana. That whole
2:15gate basking in the glow of glory
2:18considering retirement is behind us.
2:22The whole Justin Gates you won't fight
2:23until 27. I think it's been agreed upon.
2:26Like that didn't seem too unreasonable
2:28of an ask. Would he do a rematch with
2:32somebody? In this case, I Yeah, I think
2:34I think that's possible. So, the way
2:36Dana handled it was this. He told Jim
2:38Rome, "There's a lot of money left on
2:41the table for Justin Gachi. There's a
2:43number of fights left for Justin Gachi.
2:47many things still left to do
2:52that I will incentivize him to do.
2:55That's important. It It's important that
2:57the very first part of Gachi's mind we
3:01return is the rematch idea in
3:04conjunction with the if I do it one more
3:07time that will be my last time idea.
3:11as a promoter and as great as Justin Gi
3:14is whoever they give him. Insert a name
3:16Patty the Batty. Insert a name Ilia
3:18Tuporia. Pick a name
3:22who's Manurv.
3:25If they if they come over and they beat
3:27him,
3:28I apologize. If they come over and they
3:31fight and somebody else comes in and
3:34they pick up the championship and they
3:35are now the champion, but they didn't
3:36get it from Gachi. They didn't touch
3:38Gachi. They got it because Gachi sat
3:40down and walked away.
3:43Whoever that person is is going to have
3:46an asterisk next to their name. There's
3:49a big part of our community, by the way,
3:51I mean, a very loud voice within our
3:53community
3:54subscribes to what I just said that if
3:56you get the belt from somebody, but it
3:58was the wrong guy, the right guy
4:00retired. I remember in ' 85, guy that
4:03ended up walking around with the belt.
4:04People were saying, "Well, yeah, that
4:06was St. Peters, though." And I watched
4:07this happen to my own friend Daniel
4:08Cormier in the absence of Jon Jones.
4:10Yeah, you're the champion of the world
4:12cuz Jon's not here. Like it it's one of
4:14these things. So if Dana is laying a
4:16little bit groundwork on Jim Rome to let
4:19Gachi know, hey, we'll let you know
4:21what's next, but we're still looking at
4:23next and next after that. We're looking
4:25at you
4:27as this upandcomer type with a lot of
4:30things to prove and we'd like you to
4:32stick around right here and prove them.
4:35I think that that's a massive step in
4:37the right direction. What I don't like
4:39is discluding or disqualifying Ilia on
4:43the mere
4:45notion that he's already had Justin Gai
4:48the the no rematch part. We got to get
4:51away with that cuz Ilia is a meaningful
4:54contender. Max Holloway beat Justin
4:56Gatei. To act as though he shouldn't
4:59somehow somewhere along the line get a
5:01shot at the belt again as long as Justin
5:03has the throw him is just not right.
5:04Charles Olivera has beaten Justin Gai.
5:07To act as though Charles can't do
5:09anything enough times or well enough to
5:11call himself qualify himself for a
5:14number one contendership because the
5:15belt is being held by Gachi who said no
5:18rematches. That's just not right. I
5:21think it's a matter of what order do we
5:23do them. I think that Justin might want
5:25some protection himself. I mean, under
5:28the scenario that Justin Gates is to go
5:30out there and fight Ilia Tuporia and
5:32lose, right? He's only it's only going
5:34to go one of two ways. He wins or he
5:36does not win. But if he was to go out
5:39there and lose, I think that Justin
5:40would like ahead of time somebody to
5:42guarantee him an immediate rematch.
5:45If he's going to risk it when he doesn't
5:47have to, if he's going to do this same
5:50name twice, which he's been very clear
5:52he does not want to do. if he does that
5:54and they now split outcomes. They go to
5:56the trilogy fight. The UFC does not
5:58generally make those kind of deals ahead
6:00of time.
6:02In boxing, they do. In boxing, that's
6:05built into your contract. But if that
6:07could be worked out, I do believe that
6:09Justin Gateu will make an exception to
6:11his own rule. I think that he will go
6:14out there and compete with Illy again. I
6:16think that Justin is going to have to
6:18come to a conclusion sooner rather than
6:20later,
6:21which is just you've been here too long.
6:23You've beaten up too many guys. Max is a
6:26top guy.
6:29Charles is a top guy. Ilia is a top guy.
6:32Patty the Batty is a top guy. You're
6:35going to have to face a top guy. And
6:38yeah, it's going to be a rematch. Even
6:40if we speed the paperwork and get Uzman
6:43over here quick enough, we're probably
6:45not going to put Uzman right into a
6:47title shot unless Justin Gai puts his
6:50feet down and says, "I will not fight
6:51anybody that I've fought before."
6:55And I don't think that's totally what
6:57Gachi meant. And I don't think that Ilia
7:00should be punished, kept out of a title
7:02shot, punished for being such a good
7:04fighter. And that's what that would feel
7:06like
7:08if Ilia Tapora fights again. Ilia Tupora
7:11is clearly the number one contender.
7:13Now, I have always thought that we're
7:14going to look to the winner of Hoofi and
7:17Serukian, whoever that might be. But
7:19it's feeling as that fight gets closer,
7:21it's feeling that our assurance on that
7:24is getting less and less.
7:28So ultimately,
7:32where is the wind blowing? And it
7:33doesn't mean that's where the the
7:34storm's going to touch down, but where
7:36is the wind blowing? Listening to
7:38Justin, listening to Ilia, listening to
7:41Dana on Rome, pulling out pieces and
7:43putting them all together, it feels to
7:46me like we're going to see Gachi versus
7:49Taporia part Still.