BTL | Jones vs. Aspinall Officially GONE? Is UFC 316 Good? Merab-O'Malley 2, Barber's Late Scratch

MMA Fighting

Vox Media Podcast Network

Sports News, Sports, News

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2025

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's been a wild week in the world of MMA, and it began this past weekend prior to the scheduled UFC Vegas 107 main event between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber, when the latter was forced to withdraw at the last minute due to a health emergency — and that was the beginning of the road to UFC 316 fight week. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel reacts to the fallout of this past Saturday's headliner getting scratched, both fighters' comments since, and if it could be a massive fight for the UFC in the future. Additionally, they'll discuss Tom Aspinall publicly saying he's the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion and wishing Jon Jones the best in his "retirement," if the fight is officially off of life support and gone altogether, UFC 316 as a whole, if the card is good, Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O'Malley 2, Julianna Pena vs. Kayla Harrison and the rivalry growing by the day, and much more. Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew and multi-promotional commentator Ben "The Bane" Davis. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠ Follow Jed Meshew: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@JedKMeshew⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben Davis: @BenTheBaneDavis Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:09.0	Live from M.A. Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links.
0:16.2	And now, your host, Mike Heck.
0:21.6	The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links. Yes, we are BTLing again on another Thursday. This time, a little later in the afternoon. And man, it's been a pretty crazy week in the world of
0:40.2	m-m-ma who knew that ufc Vegas 107 would create such long-lasting storylines but not only that
0:47.8	tommy aspinall is out here saying stuff ufc316 is two days away A lot to unpack with that one. Lots to discuss,
0:56.7	and we have ourselves a good old-fashioned BTL bout this week. And contrary to my horrific
1:02.3	editorial skills, I will not be hosting and playing the game at the same time. So it's been
1:07.8	updated, as you'll see right now. But let us introduce the combatants.
1:11.4	First, he's Mr. No Gray area.
1:13.8	He's the hot take kid, the co-host of the watch parties, Mr. No Bet's Bar,
1:18.2	the climber of all climbers, the freaking Edmund Hillary of the MMA space from
1:24.1	Mammat Fighting.com, Mr. Jedmishu.
1:27.0	Hello, sir.
1:28.4	Now, that's a good one.
1:29.9	I need you to add another one because people are starting to listen to me now, Mike.
1:34.1	I am the chief consultant for all people.
1:37.6	I was wearing my PFO shirt earlier today and tended to wear it on this fine program
1:42.3	and then lunch got in the way and decided not
1:45.1	to wear a stained shirt here. Tom Asperall, I hear doing a thing I told him to do literal
1:51.6	months ago. Everybody's just doing what I say now and the sports better off for it. Happy to be here.
1:58.5	And his opponent and joining us for the first time in an official capacity, he did do a run-in
	...

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