TUF Enough - The Ultimate Fighter: Team Grasso vs. Team Shevchenko Aftermath Ep 12

all right hey everybody so this is definitely something a little bit different here you know the stream goes live and you don't see the traditional intro that we do that will play in just a little bit but before that does Zan and I want to be here to dis discuss something with you guys that kind of does need to be talked about this little situation involving this week's episode of The Ultimate Fighter so Zan and I all of a sudden earlier today uh were recording this on the Monday on the 19th see a couple of tweets that go out that kind of connect with this week's episode the first one comes in the morning early afternoon in which Zig rasa is basically going to be fighting Nathan Fletcher this Saturday so that situation I mean we you kind of got a feeling maybe from watching the show Zig was not going to get cleared and I should clarify that we are going to talk about some things that you know usually we go through the show we talk about story lines and stuff we are going to mention things that we do talk about on the actual tough episode itself but this is a situation that we need to lay out and be clear about everything that's going on because it does affect us ites does impact us the Z situation not so much but then hours later another tweet comes out which basically says con offley is gonna fight Myron Santos Point Blank before tomorrow's episode uh pardon me before tonight's episode even airs uh what is it we're recording this at about 7 o'clock Eastern on Monday so we're still plenty of hours away from the episode and now this episode's results the ultimate aftermath is basically spoiled out and spoiled out by somebody who's pretty irresponsible has been called out before and is a pretty much a clout Chaser yeah that's uh that's the right way to put it I mean um I mean this guy as as the MMA Community knows is very Infamous in this in the space for storing things up he likes to uh he likes to shoot out fight news that sometimes is real with which it been sources him he's been credited before then there are other times where he chooses to tweet things and run with them that end up being total falsehood and this was just another one of these instances of him trying to get engagement and see how many people could could notice what was really going on and uh I mean I'm just gonna say it I've been I've been in the space for kind of as as you you have a few more your on me but I've been in the space long enough around the 5year mark to know that there are just certain things you don't do in this instance of him leaking the results um the the the day before the episode at the time that we're recording this is just really disappointing and all runs because the season takes a long time to produce and edit and shoot obvious this show that we do is nothing remotely close to that but Tom and I still have to sit here we still have to watch the episodes we still have to analyze them and we still have to make sure that we're putting the content out um in a Tim man every single week yeah so our process and you know what will be front forward I think since he wants to be this guy crazy Kev MMA Kevin if you want to call him I just want to call him right now if I'm gonna be really blunt with you since he wants to throw down and be this way let's let let's give our fans a little Peak behind the curtain as to what goes on so we actually have a deal with ESPN we are on a mailing list and we get the screeners every week and we watch the episode and we watch and analyze like you say Z and then we break it down we do all of this on Monday same day that we do our normal MMA Outsider show and then we put everything together to air on the Tuesday that is the 11:05 p.m. Eastern streams that you guys see every week after tough and and Z don't even forget a couple weeks ago we had a crazy situation where Barcelona game caused all of ESPN's programming to push over which caused the Serena Williams documentary to push over and and I don't think tough even started airing on ESPN at night till 11:30 and we actually went behind our scenes to push our thing off our show off until 12:30 a.m. eastern because we also you know we watch it once and then we watch it again because we live tweet everything so we can be with you and watch alongside you every single week because we freaking love this we love what we do in terms of talking M and especially in this case watching tough I know that I know sometimes tough isn't everybody's cup of tea but Zan and I have been on a record about how much we have enjoyed this season and yeah and and see and piggy back off that and I'm proud to say we're one of the few podcasts that actually does a live uh or reaction stream that you see with other types of reality TVs so this is nothing new but this is sort of unique spin a hey let let's try to fill that nobody else is doing which is recapping every episode of The Ultimate Fighter after erors every single week so as part of our little deal for this screening we have a deal in which it is embargoed until Tuesday 11:00 after tough finishes airing that also plays into why we had the whole hubub a couple of weeks ago with the ESPN pushover so you know we are going through our process like normal and that's why we put everything out Tuesday night at 11:05 gives everybody five minutes to process everything and then come over to the ETB Network to watch then you have this here so the zig situation I that's one that's one thing you know if something happened you know a fighter tweets something out or posts something or somebody finds something out or UFC Fight Pass puts an error up there fine you know what it's okay because like Zan like I said before we kind of had a feeling I I talked about it last week a little hunch that something was going to happen in which Zig may not have may not have fought and Nathan Fletcher we kind of had a feeling last week too given the circumstances of his removal from the season but but for this idiot this to go oh well since the zig news already came out and I figured maybe put something okay this show could have gone four ways it could could have been myON Santos uh it could have been my Santos zigg uh Edward Cooper Jr guer M Tores who could have been his opponent kof Le's opponent this Saturday so just because you find out somehow some way let it be some UFC staffer being stupid and putting out such a big error on Fight Pass or because I don't know Zig does says something or whatever you know that's one thing but look there's still three different directions that it could go so for you to put that out there is insanity and like Zan you mentioned you have mentioned you know stuff about Kevin you have mentioned some of the sins that he's had and you've apparently had a personal interaction with him before right I had a personal interaction with him in a private conversation where I just respectfully said you know dude I don't like the way you're infiltrating the space you're doing some things wrong that I wouldn't do if I was first starting out again and you're making yourself look B by trying to you know pull Scoops that people have worked really hard to obtain that they get paid um um fulltime to Summer only freelance like myself you're you're you're taking away opportunties from people who are literally in the business you or just or just someone within account and maybe maybe a couple of sources and that's probably and that's probably it and for him to say I'm not do please I mean look at this I mean are we the biggest the MMA space here no but you look what you're doing like you said s just you know maybe you have a couple of sources here and there but clearly this is not your first time running a foul about morals and ethics you just had a whole controversy involving this guy a couple of weeks ago where he was asking some really uncomfortable questions to a female MMA fighter we have he is Infamous if you guys don't know him he is Infamous for posting interviews with Fighters after they have fought I'm not talking about a postf fight interview I'm talking about pre fight interview pre fight interviews weeks after they fought and sometimes it's of guys or or or girls for that matter who have lost so I get that you're one man and you you know I get it we have stuff here at the network you know where things can get crazy and things can get lost in a shuffle but for you to do this on a consistent basis I mean come on man have you never heard of a deadline I don't the the the the moral of the story is don't be like him the moral of the story also is if we partially ruin the episode for you a little bit we you do sincerely apologize gen this guy ruined it for everybody so no true and the thing is look I get it again I get it tough is not everybody's cup of tea oh It's just tough it's just a semi-final fight but number one I think we respect our agreement with ESPN in which we're putting off our stuff you know getting it beforehand but putting it off until after it airs with everybody I think we have fostered some sort of sense of community when we get to watch this stuff with everybody and see people liking or responding to the live tweets that we put out hell Zan we have had interaction we have seen the likes of Robert Valentine and Myon Santos themselves interacting with our tweets and basically that's another thing we respect the freaking fighters who sacrificed their time on their show on this show were probably held to their own ndas and everything like that all that including no um including no contact with the outside world except the uh family calls you see literally none and respecting the process because like Sam we talk like you just mentioned the production that we do is probably nothing compared to the production that all those behind the scenes people at the UFC do every for all that time rather that tough is being recorded and produced and post produ post-produced like all the hours that they spent and that's why I also said I'm frustrated because look I get it I get the rules of Journalism have changed and I get the rules of you know media MMA media and the social media era have changed and that's why we have this Kevin that's why we have all these different content creators with these weird thumbnails or these outof control left field takes because that's just what the game is now these days right I don't care what the game is I don't care what rules there are or what aren't when you put the time and effort like we do when you put the time and effort like those behind the scenes people do at the UFC and this is what happens before the final episode of the season it's ridiculous so maybe people might think I'm being a little over the top or I'm being ridiculous because of some tweet but you know what this is how I feel it's true it would be the same uh it would be the same thing if for example um in the NFL let's say a quarterback was hurt and I had close Pro proximity information within the team but I was told not to disclose it do do you think I could do you think I would risk my potential career and disclos it the answer is no I'm not gonna I'm not going to do that so and I think it's even worse if somehow this guy didn't get a screener because in that case somebody did something even worse just as bad rather oh I think it's even wor worse than not having a screener this is like next level bad if that's the if that's the if that's the case and if and and if there and if this was as a result of a screener well actually partially as a result of a screener uh you know I know we're talk we've talked recently about litigation with the you know UFC and such and but you know what I hope if if this was the result of a screener and he just blabbered it out I hope the UFC and ESPN come down hard on you my friend yeah I hope oh I hope oh too I and it's it's it's very well said it's disappointing to see that this was the case um I mean again as you just alluded to hours time weeks fights you name it it takes a long time to put that show together number one and number two to have an error for a certain time period right during during the summer leading up to the coaches fight like Tom could you imagine if the if the if the weak was that if the weak was that the coaches were fighting and or um and or taking B the other and not fighting that would defeat the whole purpose of the entire show well we had that scare earlier in this season where we were questioning everything about you know Valentina and Gro and if they were going to fight so I mean it's just such a frustration man like honestly I don't understand it if you like just think of it from a fans perspective imagine being a fan and then seeing that tweet it's like why did I waste my time yeah ex why did I waste my time number one and number two um it it tempts me to not want to tune into the show BEC as you know all you have to do is go on the second this is the second year in a row we've had a spoiler now with tough at some pivotal point in the season that's right it's it's ridiculous it's honestly the most insane thing and again look I I'm just frustrated man like come on for all the I know we have not as I was going on you know I know sometimes you know we say oh this was a bad episode or with had question but we respect every fighter that freaking goes into that house and respect every fighter that you know is able to dedicate their time and all the sacrifices that they make so I mean come on for their sake too like this is so freaking stupid yeah I think about think about the families of the fighters who lost if the if they're the if they're the first people to see the week without watching the episode could you could you could you imagine how they feel that someone's dad husband Uncle won't be competing in the finale is anyone is anyone is is anyone going to remotely take that angle is I haven't because I haven't seen it yet so I will that is that is that is that that is insane and I'm sure and I'm sure you probably 100% agree with that and also just because we're talking about public tweets I'll bring up Jason's Jason H Holmes he says spoiling a reality show isn't cool as one there are a lot of people who worked who worked hard behind the scenes producing that at the show why disrespect their hard work just so you can get some clout two you can get into a lot of trouble spoiling reality show don't behave this way and say you aren't you aren't doing this for clout because clear you clearly are and the thing is s I remember when Jason and Kevin had their original spout had their original um you know Tiff and honestly I wanted to give Kevin a chance because you know I said okay maybe he's adjusting to the game or something and he needs to learn the rules and such but at this point I mean I've I've lost any sort of respect I probably will never give Kevin another chance again I I don't care about him I don't care about his little clout chasing I've personally already blocked him on social media now I I I even blocked him but he doesn't follow me and you could us that I will never be following him because he will because he will never learn so and and and by the way to put spoiler but then you know with a little Red Alert stuff but then you know I mean look at this look he doesn't put many lines between spoiler and what the spoiler actually actually is and he still puts a photo of myin in the Tweet like come on that's not doing anything for people you know oh avoid the spoiler for sure 100% like come on then so I I think I've gotten everything I needed to get off my chest I don't know what about you Zan um I think so too and and Ju Just wanted to say we're sorry that this isn't the original intro but we feel this had to be addressed um I it's I guess that leads me to saying we we um we now welcome you to the final official episode of of up where we will recap um The Ultimate Fighter Team rasa versus Team jenko episode 12 in the way that it was supposed to be done before this whole mess so I guess we can stand by and take it away from here yep you know we've live tweeted we chose to live tweet the episode out anyway in the best way we could possible because we've enjoyed this we're going to continue to enjoy it and we'll take it with you to the end to the finale at fights on Saturday so that being said roll the intro the following is a special present of the empty the bench podcast [Music] Network welcome to Tough Enough a recap and breakdown show from the MMA Outsiders following every episode of The Ultimate Fighter season 32 team grao versus Team Chev chenko presented by playback and now here are your hosts Tom Albano and Zan Bando all right here we are Zan the tough season is officially in the books outside of the two finale fights that we have on Saturday you know it's it's a little sad it's a sign that Summer's over but we we've had a hell of a ride and I think that ending sequence with the video package uh from the UFC basically sums everything up what a ride it's been with this tough season and Dana's words at the end too just about this crew and you know the adventures they had together the most International season the tough and some fantastic fights we had this tough season it was you know for those of you who missed it I would recommend dinging it because this was fun yeah and I mean if it's even just binging it for the fights I think it's worth binging I mean this is probably one of my favorite tough seasons and recent memory I think you got to go back to probably Seasons 25 through 28 or 29 as really the last time you could say that you en we enjoy the season I think for me personally I got I gotta go back to the Daniel Cormier step miic season that was a very long time ago now but that was the last season where I really felt invested in the show um this one obviously I was super invested in this because we do this every week but just the level of the level of class and respect from all of these cast members and how good a lot of this Talent was this season was something that you know I think uh I think we can't take for granted because every single tough season has a different storyline and some tough seasons are better than others and some tough seasons are worse than others and thankfully the 2020 for talent pool was good enough to where the fights delivered and sometimes you know that's what turns people off the show is you know or sometimes the talent pool isn't always that good but nevertheless though um it did it did its job and as Dana White alluded to at the very end of the episode the best always rise to the top when when it comes to the show and I think we have potentially the four best fighters in the house competing this weekend so I'm excited to jump more into it with with you and so much more on this last Edition before we do that though just wanted to quickly remind all of you to be sure to like follow And subscribe to the empty the bench podcast Network we just were passed at 840 subscribers so um if you like this uh this um this extension of the MMA Outsiders if you will with tough enough uh if you like the MMA Outsiders um literal show if you like any of the content on the network be sure to like comment and subscribe as it helps out the algorithm a ton and be sure to share it as well again go to youtube.com GTB Network and that's where you can find all of our content you can follow the network across social media at ETB Network and of course you can follow the MMA Outsiders at MMA Outsiders ETB on every social media including Tik Tok so a lot of exciting stuff going on with this show a lot of exciting stuff going on as well on the combat side with the flagship show and it's overall been a very positive summer when it comes to fight coverage even if the uh even if the it's haven't always been what exactly has been promised Tom is there anything else you'd like to add yeah we got to shout out our friends over at playback so tough enough yta fighter team team Gro versus Team shevchenko aftermath has always been and is as we're closing out the season soon and everything else here at the G to the bench podcast now we're get presented by our friends over at playback watching sports is more fun with others but we spend too much of our time watching alone playback is a virtual space where communities can stream live sports together everyone perfectly synced up careers can hop on stage deliver their on play-by-play analysis and commentary and invite viewers up for Q&A playback makes watching sports fully interactive and a social experience from playing fantasy sports reing your favorite players and teams and watching with the commentators and communities you care about win or lose sports are best enjoyed together join our community by going to playback. TVV Network to find out more including our live stream schedule just last night you had Dan triber and uh tant and Tony doing uh another edition of their WWE Raw watch along streams uh they'll be on the air again Friday night for Smackdown I think they're going to do another Raw SmackDown double header next week as well uh we're also looking at potential uh with football season coming around fantasy you know a little fantasy show on playback where we're going to do a whole live draft I think the plan for that is Thursday the 29th but we still need finalize it's probably going to be early evening uh hours of Thursday the 29th but finalize a time hopefully soon yep uh but that'll be fun but that is for football talk right now it is time for tough talk uh so let's jump right into it and Zan you know considering that a certain somebody out there on social media decided to throw a spoiler out there before the show aired which infuriates me but I have no idea how he managed to get his hands on the information you you know somewhat hopefully fair game but at this point no point in Bowling punches let's just jump right into it zikam manes rasa was ultimately pulled by the Nevada State athletic Commission on the day of the fight they had talked about it at the start of the show that you know you saw you saw Valentina and Zig in zig's um little fight preparation there was all this concern he still had to meet with the commission uh Valentina tried to get zig stain light and you know because of all the questions about his condition um ultimately though on the day of the fight they they arrived to the UFC Apex they're in the locker room waiting to go and then all of a sudden Jeff Mullen s the Nevada state commission pull Zig and Valentina into a meeting and say they're not going to clear Zig no official reason given other than we are not going to risk the health and safety of Fighters which on one hand I guess and it was quote andot based on the information that they had gathered right so I mean on one hand I get it but on the other hand you know he got cleared by a third party doctor he got cleared by a UFC doctor not one not not and doctor but two yeah yeah exactly the UFC head physician the doctor that we saw on the show I don't know what other information that they had and I wish they would have had more of an explanation for us for us to explain why they pulled Zig but I mean come on man that I I feel like this was one I get it health and safety but considering the circumstances I don't know man this this bothered me a little bit and I my heart kind of broke for Zig because the way they edited the show man it was a real Heartbreaker where zig's talking about how he's One Step from his dream and the very next segment is the one where he gets pulled and he basically said you know if in the span of two minutes his dream came to an end yeah um this was devastating for sure this is something that we feared would happen last week there was that 3% outlier CH I told you I said I said the commission's going to get involved the commission's GNA screw something up and of course and saac pulls their typical whatever and it's like but here's my other question I'm sorry Zan here's my other question I forgot to mention before because even Valentina said on the show why wait until the day of the fight why wait until he's about not just not just wait until the day the fight minutes before the fight right before you're gonna make the walk like why why did it need I get giving him every single possibility at the last minute but if you were going to pull him why didn't you just pull him the day of weighin why didn't you just pull him two or three days before like I I don't get it yeah why you make them go why' they go through all that hell yeah what makes it even worse too is I mean and I know it's not directly related to him on on the banner here but Edwin gooper even admitted he's like I waited for no reason yeah well well that goes to my point that I think the plan had been Nathan Fletcher and then on last week's show we find out oh Nathan Fletcher's just been walking around with a broken leg yeah it's pretty wild that nobody caught that but um that's another that's another story for another for another day I guess or potentially ever never again I don't know when when when when we would address again but nonetheless though I just I don't sometimes I don't understand this commission it's like okay UFC 303 we can call an audible on on less than four hours notice and have uh of um and if Diego Lopez still fight but uh we can't but it'll take us but it takes us the day of the fight to pull somebody yeah the information we have I don't I don't know and I'm sure you were surprised too but the lack of uh disappointment from Dana White about this was very very telling I I thought he was going to go off or something I I I I thought oh too but maybe maybe he did and maybe producers were like yeah this isn't really a good look we're we're going to have you tone it down a little bit it could have been the case I OB have no way to prove that as I was not in the room I hope I hope one of the people at the one of the press people at the Apex this Saturday goes up you know ask Dana hey you know what was it like detailing everything that happened with z for sure and what was the most disappointing part was you know he was he was partially um one of the guys that I thought had a legitimate chance to make it to the finales or to see that he's no longer going to be able to compete in the finale and I guess we can uh I gu we can I'll say it um Nathan Fletcher versus zigg is confirmed for Saturday so at least um at least zigg is still going to fight but it's not going to be in the circumstances that we we we thought it was going to not under the circumstances that we thought not with the big tough winner contract that we thought look but at the same time I think d and Company kind of realized the crappy situation Zig found himself in the crappy situation Nathan Fletcher found himself in and this is basically the make good sign them both and their first fight can be against each other on the prelims of the card yeah and thankfully um another another good nugget from you there but thankfully too the show was recorded early enough to where both guys still had an ample amount of time to heal so at least the fight is happening and at least the UFC didn't do their old scho live uh live where you knew where you knew what was going to happen as the fights were happening so man to think about that one tough Live season which honestly if you look at the names on that tough Live season those were some pretty good damn good names but just the format was the format just did not work no no it C we didn't but I think um I think the biggest loser in this whole thing outside of outside of rasa is myin because he had to on the Fly basically get ready for a brand new opponent so now do you want to review yeah somebody and somebody on his team so they kind and the thing is they kind of alluded to it earlier in the show you know all the foreshadowing because Alexa myON had their little um confessionals if you will if we're going to do the reality show talk um about oh what would happen if Santos had to face G Mo Torres because you know from grao standpoint oh no the second week in a row my heart's gonna break having to watch you know my two guys go at it and Santos I mean Santos talking about a bond that he formed with Torres the two of them ring together and everything and then they would have to face each other and well surprise surprise come the come the replacement time yeah it's G M Torres yeah and he was down and ready to take the and so was myin so obviously takes two to tango so they were able they were able to get in there and do their thing it was just a bizarre it was it's a very bizarre sequence of events and uh something I didn't mention just a minute ago but I knew once Valentina was pulled to the back that something they said they were getting pulled yeah I was like I was like I was like oh no here we go here's the here's the 3% outlier I was I was this Zen can I be honest with you I yeah what happened was um what's it called when Zig said you know I'm like one step you know about said something about making his dream a reality and the next minute what the ne the five seconds later got called in by the commission I said yeah this is it they would not have edited it the any other way like that was just they they edited that for heartbreak they really they really did and you could tell too I'm sure you picked up on it but you could tell too even during the weigh-ins headed this fight the the the dramatic transition in music was just astonishing they the music they used on this show and the way they FLW flowed the music and you know also the way they juxtaposed the music seriously seriously seriously like this this show man like like we not we're not even just talking about this show from a Fighters perspective anymore now we're just talking from a production standpoint wild stuff wild yeah oh well speaking of wilds and speaking of wa you know this episode just was full of just full of twists and turns we kind of had a tease of it last week there was all this concern about myON himself even making weight for the fight at one point I think it was a couple of days before we and he weigh in what like 151.50 he was like five and a half pounds over yeah five and a half over and here's s that moment at that moment in time I don't know about you but at that moment in time of the episode I'm like this whole thing is gonna get switched up like I'm sitting there Zan sorry I'm sitting there and I'm like oh God tell me tell me it's gonna be like what I said last week tell me all of a sudden we're gonna get Torres versus Cooper Jr seriously which which by the way if that fight ever take place in an alternate universe I would pick Tus To Be Cooper Jr but that's too also just going back to uh this for a second I think the reason ultimately that Torres was picked you know I kind of alluded to it last week I think Cooper had the better fight but Cooper had also just fought before the semifinals Torres had been waiting after you know he he lost week one to roie Roots so I I guess if Fletcher was out Torres was going to be the next healthiest option right and healthiest you have to use that in the lightest way possible because at that point we had no idea what was going on so yeah and and then than got even crazier when Santos did end up missing weight first missing by two pounds gets an hour and it comes up a half pound heavy now ultimately what they were going to do maybe give him one more shot they were going to do what we've seen a couple of Fighters do this year already and shave the head and shave off their hair in order to make the weight which would have been very well possible Dana even said it on the show but Valentina and this was when rasa was still planned to fight they actually stopped the commission and said no he's fine we we trust this and that that that was classy and I thought it was the right way that they should have handled it did you what did you think that was and this is not the first time we've seen Valentina do something like this remember that fight where both Fighters Miss weight and Valentina was like let's just do a catch we like just keep things simple like I hope Zan and I kind of alluded to this you know I kind of said this a couple of times already on the show when Valentina hangs up the gloves finally I hope that some gym maybe it's her own gym takes her in as a coach and I hope the UFC maybe keeps her around in some sort of advisor capacity because the way she has handled herself this season you know you can talk about the crazy training methods you could talk about the no water and stuff but she has and you can talk about even the craziness you know is Grasso Valentina 3 even gonna happen but Valentina has is one of the classiest fighters that I think we've that we've seen in terms of seeing her outside of the cage and you know it's clear that despite the crazy trading methods the fighters on her team have bonded with her and like have a connection with her in a way you know that not everybody gets not all the different tough Fighters get that kind of connection with their coach it seems like Valentina has really given them a good experience so 100% I hope I hope there's something for Valentina once her time competing in the cage is done that's that's what the rub I've gotten off of it 100% I couldn't have said it any better myself and we'll get to it near the end of the episode but the quest that both of these two coaches have shown you know rivalry aside in the cage has been very very uh admirable I think it's I I think it's pretty cool it is all right it's time for spoiler warning all right there's our last spoiler warning for the season and ultimately if it is after all that craziness myON Santos who is going to end up going to the finale after all and yes in guess you were truly thought at the beginning of the Season that he could go to the finale I did y did so I mean the fight itself ultimately Zan I know they talked about dominating all three rounds but round one definitely was Santos he stumbled Torres about like a minute and a half into the fight he was Landing the better shots Torres one point did lock him up he did score a Tak down and tried to go for a choke but and it was it was it was two L there was a 40 seconds left in the round or something like that yeah if if this like I don't think he even got the sunk that choke in was on the back until maybe 10 seconds left in the round if if he had done that like halfway through the round Torres could have gotten the Finish but it was too late right right exactly um I think to you could have added argument for Torres in round too because he did come off strong early he did take the strong flying knee from Santos but I think Torres did manage to press and pressure but then Santos got right back into in round three dominated there so I know Dana kind of I think it was Dana who alluded he had a basically 3027 uh Santos I had a 2928 Santos okay yeah I yeah I mean I thought the fight overall was mostly down at by Santos I think you can make an argument either way and still be okay with either scorecard yeah I said I probably would have gone the more conservative approach uh with you in said 2928 but I would have been I would have been okay with either one I mean Santos one either way it's the 109 mus system so Santos yeah he did everything he was supposed to do he used his striking which led him to success in the Edwin Cooper fight as well at the very least though he did win rounds one and three and that's the most important part exactly so that takes us to our finale fights we know what we're gonna get so this Saturday we've got our two finale fights they've actually made a little switch up originally as of the time we're recording this uh as the time we're talking about this the plan had been that it was going to be the two tough Knights leading off the main card that's been changed update in an update from Damon Martin that came out on Monday uh had Edmond shabazi and Anil Magny opening up the card and then it's going to be the two tough fights starting with the featherweight finale Australia's KH offley versus Brazil's myON Santos on all team Gro finale so team Gro gets the win on the featherweight end and Zan who do you think of that between these two you know you mentioned his name you talked about how he was your pre-show prediction do you think you still think myON Santos ends up winning the finale and this this is gonna this going to be a very close fight um I could see this even going to the third round if he can avoid um if he can avoid uh offley standup game I think I think he could get I think he could get a third round sub or or win a very close weekend decision this is the one fight where I think you could flip a coin and be happy with with either outcome because these two are studs these two are UFC ready uh they've shown a lot of Promise uh this season but I think Santos is gonna be a little bit better what do you what do you think I think I think these are two great Fighters I think like you said two great Strikers but I'm probably going to lean to Santos in terms of you know in terms of his defensive ability when it comes to grappling I think even in terms of the offensive ability a little bit too so I think Santos and he kind of showed it with the Cooper fight he showed it with this fight against Torres and You know despite the weight miss you know what he was able to do on such short notice with such uncertainty heading into this fight that really won me over with Santos plus Santos we've seen his devastating striking on the regional scene so I'm gonna go with you I'm G to go with Santos on this one okay all right and then on the middleweight front we've got USA's Ryan loader hold on forgot to put the coaches on there and then on the middleweight front middleweight Finale Fight in we've got USA's Ryan loer from The Lone representative from Team shevchenko taking on Switzerland's Robert Valentine from team grao who Dana White has said probably had the strongest run of almost any tough participant through tough tournament oh for sure I mean this is the inspirational story in loer versus the stud that nobody wants to fight in Valentin there's no way this fight goes the distance first off what do you think yeah no no way this fight goes the distance I think loader will probably give a little bit of a challenge in terms of grappling but I mean Zan we saw Valentine pull off a armar submission from out of nowhere and inside arm bar last week against Patty and then before that we saw him run through an opponent um Giannis in mere seconds I I don't think like I'm sorry to say but I for loader's perspective I think he is you know he is an inspirational story and it will be such a feel-good moment if he pulls off the upset here but it's going to be an upset for a reason like Robert Valentine just is too good Dana is hyping them up so much I can't help but feel that Valentine is probably going to get another first round finish to claim the contract yeah I'm 100% with you there I think the only way ler wins he is if he survives the early storm and maybe tries to keep it on the floor as much as he could if he and do that I think he gets finished early but yeah I like a first run TKO finish for uh for Valentin as well to become to become the newest uh member of the 's middleweight Division and the newest uh middleweight finalist in tough history so it looks so it looks like we're both predicting that it's going to be an all team Gro win basically but um even this is not in the graphic I'm still sticking with my A2 early prediction that sh of jeno gets her Flyway title I am too I'm very very excited to preview that fight as that fight gets closer so just as a reminder for all of you August 24th is the tough finale fights the co- main event of Riad season UFC 306 noj UFC 2 will will finally be the the tough coaches fight the first tough coaches fight in two years uh Gro shenko 3 we've waited almost or to see it literally almost a year to the which is crazy it took place September 16th of last year it's taking place September 14th this year and this has been definitely a very fun tough season it's been a blast being able to do this with you this was definitely a great cast in the season that I'll remember and uh this is how the ultimate fighter is supposed to be good quality competition with good quality fights overall very a very good a very good season I thought yeah like I told you last week Zan I I hope at some point they manage to do another International tough season because the way that they went about this season and the talent here it deserves it but we're not completely done yet because this season has been so good and because of some scheduling stuff here at the network we're going to give you one more edition of Tough Enough next week same bat Time same bat Channel 11:05 p.m. next week Tuesday August 27th where we're gonna there's where we're gonna finally close the book on this tough season one more episode of tough enough for all of you where we'll recap the tough fights we'll talk about this season and there maybe we'll do a little more infold preview of uh grao shenko 3 yeah I'm very much looking forward to the season finale special with you to put a bow on uh of 32 and uh this was definitely a fun Venture I'm glad that we were able to do this throughout the last 12 weeks or so and I think it'll be cool to put a bow on in my personal opinion one of the best tough seasons in recent memory and uh it was it was it was good to see because um this rivalry between raso and chenko had to be uh renewed at some point and I really do believe after watching this season in full and watching every minute of every EP of these two coaches were made for this cast and I think that on some sort of underrated with somewhere on some Forum it's going to be it's going to be listed in at least the top 15 best tough seasons of all time as I think it has um them aing to be mentioned with some of the most legendary tough seasons of the past just simply because uh the fight quality was that's just me and I may be hyping up the overall season too much but I genuinely genuinely enjoyed it so yeah I generally did too all right but that's going to do it for our second to last edition of tough well our last Edition that coincides with an actual tough episode so thank you for being with us all along the way hit that like button subscribe follow us across social media at MMA Outsiders ETB us tell us if you want and it's renewed tell us if you want to see us for season 33 if you yeah we've done it two years now and this season definitely has gone a lot better than last season season in terms of just not just our end but in terms of the fight itself I mean Zan we're getting the tough 32 coaches fight report we're getting the top 31 coaches fight that's true that's true are we ever gonna get the tough 31 coaches fight I mean we we discussed that on um the most recent edition of the MMA Outsiders just check that out true true uh but yeah subscribe to us youtube.com network help us keep continue our climb we just past 835 subscribers uh of course listen to our Flagship show the MMA Outsiders wherever you get your podcast and of course shout out to our friends over at playback who have sponsored this special limited live series from the from the MMA Outsiders and Zan is there anything else that you want to add just want to quickly mention to please enjoy the tough finale fights is the only come around once a year it's a little bit unfortunate for the participants that will be competing and if that it remains the UFC Apex as of tough seasons in the past it you usually was to step up to the Pearl with the palms or something but this time the venue will REM in the same so with that being said I'm enjoy the fights next weekend be sure to tune in to our postseason wrapup show next week and of course continue to Countdown the days to the Flyway title uh Trilogy between Alexa Rosell and Valentina chenko and I believe that that's all I have yep so for Zan I'm Tom we'll see you next time for the last edition of season two of Tough Enough take care everyone take care [Music] oh