Full transcript
0:00Ilia Tapora versus Justin Gachi part two
0:03is an idea that was floated
0:07two days ago by John Anick. I have been
0:09overwhelmed at the resistance. People
0:12don't like this idea. First off, John
0:15Anick just brought it up like he was
0:17just sharing stuff. You know, I'm behind
0:18the scenes and I overhear things. I
0:20mean, John was just mentioning
0:21something. It wasn't like breaking news
0:22for one. people picked right up on it,
0:24but then they picked up on it
0:27to to shove this in the face of the UFC
0:29before this went any further.
0:32This is unjust. This is a terrible idea.
0:34This match should not be happening.
0:37This is the the the greedy corporate
0:39machine. This is about money. This is
0:40not about competition. Like, I mean, any
0:42way that you want to skin it. And I got
0:44to tell you, I was so surprised for a
0:45couple of reasons. First off,
0:48when did that become a secret? When did
0:49it become a secret that potentially it
0:51would be Gachi versus Ilia part two to
0:54start with? Secondly, bad idea.
0:58You you have the undefeated
1:01champion of the world, who by the way is
1:04champ cuz he was the 45 lb champion. But
1:06by the way, if it wasn't for paperwork,
1:08he would have been the 45 lb champion,
1:10the 55 lb champion, and the BMF champion
1:12simultaneously. Oh, by the way, do you
1:14remember a moment ago when I said
1:15undefeated? And this is before we come
1:17down to number one ranked
1:19pound-for-pound. So this is Ilia Tupora.
1:21Historically when you have somebody in
1:22that spot who by the way was a 3 to1
1:25favorite historically not only in MMA
1:27but in boxing as well we call it an
1:30upset. Now if you get finished corner
1:34stops it knocked out technical knockout.
1:36If you get finished in some way
1:38historically speaking particularly in
1:40boxing that's more of a justification.
1:44you will then usually say he got caught.
1:47I remember when Rose had to rematch Yana
1:51because Rose beat her so handily like
1:53the world couldn't accept it and it went
1:54in that same category of Rose caught
1:57her. I remember Rose had to rematch way
1:59Lee
2:01because Rose caught her. I mean the
2:05finish
2:06doesn't historically work against the
2:09rematch. It works in favor of that
2:11argument. I get that we have a different
2:12situation here, guys, but I'm just
2:14sharing for you. What else would you do
2:15with them? I mean, I I I brought you
2:17guys this idea and I I must tell you, I
2:19didn't get near the traction that John
2:21Anick did, but I brought you guys idea
2:22way back when Ilia was completely
2:24silent. Gi said, "Hey, look, I'm not
2:26going to do anything for the rest of
2:27this year. I don't know if I'm ever
2:29going to fight again. I am resigned to
2:31the idea that if I do fight again, that
2:33will be the last time that I fight. And
2:35by the way, I'm not going to do any of
2:36it till next year." I remember telling
2:37you guys, we've got these arguments and
2:39we have different guys making their
2:40moves, but one person we still have to
2:42hear from is Ilia Taporia. If Ilia
2:44chooses that first interview as his
2:47platform to demand what he gave Gachi a
2:50shot at the light heavyweight
2:52championship, lightweight championship,
2:54right? I just it it would seem that we
2:56would have to at least listen to that.
2:57Now, in the meanwhile, lots has
2:59happened. Patty the Batty has this
3:00incredible comeback. Max Holloway, who
3:03couldn't be a bigger star, gets a jump
3:05on Connor. We can't pretend that Charles
3:07Olivera doesn't exist considering he's
3:10beaten Gachi before. Managameov
3:13might be coming to the plague rally. A
3:16lot of things have happened, but
3:20what do you do with Ilia?
3:23And the biggest resistance it was it was
3:25it was twofold. It was one that just
3:26from a matchmaker standpoint that match
3:28is not justified.
3:31Yes, it is. Excuse me. Yes, it is. Ilia
3:38has had more championships than Gachi,
3:40which is very hard to say considering
3:42Gachi's been an intim champion twice, a
3:44BMF champion, and an undisputed
3:46champion. As great as Gatei is, Ilia's
3:49record is greater. I'm only sharing that
3:52from a competitive standpoint, that's a
3:54very weird position to take, but but
3:57this was met in conjunction with safety.
4:02it. That is not a healthy thing.
4:05That is unhealthy
4:07to put Ilia into a cage with Justin
4:10Kichi. Okay,
4:13nobody I think has the rhetorical skills
4:15to argue against that. We can agree that
4:17this sport isn't good for you. We can
4:19agree that this is a contact sport. But
4:21of the options, isn't Gachi the safest?
4:25I mean, don't forget, as scary as Justin
4:28Gachi is, there's two guys in the
4:31division who've not only beat him,
4:34they've stopped him. Like, if you're if
4:35you're going to tell me that Ilia should
4:37not go into a world title fight, Ilia
4:39should have to build. He should build,
4:41not just have to. From a competitive
4:42standpoint, it's the right thing to do.
4:45Put him in there with a lesser guy.
4:46Okay. But there there's two guys in the
4:48division which are very likely matchups.
4:53Ilia has been in there with both of
4:54them. Charles Olivera and and Max
4:56specifically, they're lower ranked than
4:59the champion.
5:00They proved in head-to-head competition
5:02they're better than the champion. So for
5:04the safety of Ilia, we should give him a
5:05lesser opponent, which by the way puts
5:07him in there with a more dangerous
5:09animal.
5:12I'm lost on that. And I don't know that
5:15I contend that John Anick is right. I I
5:20don't know that they are truly
5:23considering Ilia and looking to do that
5:25match. I don't know that Justin Gai is
5:27completely right with what he gave us,
5:28which is I'm not going to fight until
5:30next year. I mean, if you look at the
5:31calendar, next year sounds like a really
5:33long time, but if they don't announce
5:35the fight in the next 4 to 6 weeks, that
5:38automatically pushes us to next year.
5:40I'm I'm just sharing for you. I don't
5:41know. Is there enough time that Serukian
5:44becomes the guy or that Hufi gets to
5:46jump on Sukqian and that's the direction
5:48we go? Which still leaves us with the
5:49problem of okay then what do we do with
5:51Ilia? I mean you can be the world's best
5:53fighter. Ilio put you on a stretcher.
5:56You can be the BMF. Ilia Taporia will
5:59put you on a stretcher. This is not a
6:01guy that you you you take lightly. So we
6:03can't put Illy in there because it it
6:04was such a contact sport against Gachi
6:06and we loved it and it was so great. Oh,
6:08by the way, if you do talk from a
6:10business standpoint, yeah, they did
6:11bigger ratings than anybody else. That's
6:13true. What else would you do? I mean, if
6:15you're if you're coming in from a safety
6:16standpoint, I I always get a little bit
6:18unclear as as to where you stand. And
6:21I'll hear people say that and they're
6:22always talking about the more famous
6:23guy. The more famous, more popular, more
6:26notoriety that a guy has is the one that
6:28we got to look after and the one that we
6:29have to build and we have to take care
6:31of. Okay. So, are you suggesting we then
6:33let him go in there and squash somebody
6:35else? What about that guy? That guy's
6:37got a family, too. That less popular
6:39guy, that less well-known guy, that guy
6:41that less people are going to tune in
6:43and watch. He He's still got the same
6:45issues. He's still got the the the 10
6:47fingers and toes and he'd like to
6:50go home in one piece after this, too.
6:52So, your suggestion is that we look
6:54after Iliot. Why? Because he's more
6:56famous. That's it. Because he's more
6:59famous, we're going to put him in there
7:00with a lesser opponent that he can go
7:01and beat up and get his timing and get
7:03his confidence back. That's a weird
7:05argument. Which, by the way, you're not
7:06the first to make. I mean, this argument
7:08gets brought up every single week. Every
7:09time you ever hear anybody, whether it's
7:11a manager, a trainer, a fan of the
7:13sport, talk about build, or I got to
7:15build this guy. It's a nice way of
7:17saying, I'm going to send somebody else
7:20in there to take the lumps. This dude,
7:22Ilia, isn't going to hit harder against
7:25Gachi, but he's not going to hit softer
7:27the night that goes off and it's against
7:28Gachi either. Somebody's going to take
7:30those bumps.
7:33And I've I've I've always been lost on
7:36that idea. And I think that this one is
7:37maybe a little bit more glaringly
7:40obvious. Like Ilia versus Justin Gachi
7:42is not just an idea.
7:45It's the right idea. It's clearly the
7:47right idea.
7:49Anytime that an undefeated champion goes
7:52out and gets upset when he was a 3 to1
7:54favorite, it screams rematch. When he
7:57gets finished in the fight, now I look I
7:58I realize when you're reading something
8:00on paper and you go, "He got finished.
8:01He got caught." If you go and watch that
8:02fight, I get it. I get that we're
8:04talking about something different from
8:05the competitive standpoint. I'm just
8:07trying to emphasize and impress upon
8:09you.
8:10History says if you get stopped that you
8:14got caught, it's more helpful to get a
8:16rematch. There was no justification
8:18competitively for Rose to rematch Yana.
8:22There was no justification competitively
8:24for Rose to rematch Way Lee. But because
8:26it happened and ended by stoppage and it
8:29was so fast, it got chocked up to she
8:32got caught. I have no problem with any
8:35of this. I'm just I'm just reminding you
8:37of history. Like before we go and look
8:39like somebody's doing a favor for Ilia,
8:41that's a surprise because this is not
8:43this is not only a fight that you can
8:45do, it's the fight that you should do.
8:47We're going to have to come off of why
8:48we aren't doing that fight, of which you
8:50could have good reason. Parody is one,
8:53just sharing an opportunity is one.
8:55Keeping morale and motivation high in
8:56the back so that others see there's an
8:58opportunity and I can aspire to do it
8:59and it's not just these same couple of
9:01guys up in the loft that pull the ladder
9:02up behind them, which happens so many
9:04times. There's a number of reasons to
9:06get on with it. I'm open to them all.
9:08The right match to make is the world
9:10champion against the next best guy.
9:12That's where we're at. the sitting world
9:14champion against the company's most
9:16decorated guy, Ilia Tapora, who was
9:18ranked number one in the world
9:19pound-for-pound, who was the king of his
9:20division, who was the king of a
9:22different division, who have beaten the
9:23BMF champion, who by the way beat the
9:26guy that you're claiming Ilia shouldn't
9:28be locked in there with. This isn't a
9:30matter of how do I get to Gachi and
9:32Ilia. The entire argument if you're in
9:34the war room is how do I not make that
9:36fight? How do I tell Ilia Tap toi in
9:38spite of everything that you done and
9:40every ass that you whipped, in spite of
9:42the risk that you took after being
9:44removed from the ring, you got to build.
9:46You got to come back, you got to work
9:49your self to the spot. Are you talking
9:53about the championship spot? The spot
9:55that he allowed Gachi to share with him.
9:58You're telling me I has to earn the
10:01right to get back to the very belt that
10:03he handed over?