BTL | Arman Tsarukyan vs. Colby Covington, Song Yadong Gets Big Win, Ben Askren Returns

**Mike Heck** (0:01)
You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:09)
Live from MMA Fighting Studios, this is Between the Links. And now, your host.

**Mike Heck** (0:23)
The iconic voice, Sylvester Lin, welcomes you to a brand new edition of Between the Links. Happy Tuesday to us all. We are back.
We missed you guys. We haven't seen you in over a week. Last week was a little crazy, obviously. We had the town hall with John Martin, and a lot of great feedback on that, which we really appreciate. And then Thursday was a travel day for me, headed to Dallas for RAF 9, and there's just so much happening. There was weather stuff, all sorts of craziness, but we didn't want to have you wait too much longer. We're back, I am Mike Heck, and joining me to answer your questions and provide nothing but the hottest takes in all of MMA, the one and only Jed Bishu from mmafighting.com. Hi Jed, how you doing? Are you recovered from the rare Friday to Saturday all-nighter to watch UFC Macau?

**Jed Meshew** (1:17)
You know, I didn't watch it all night, so yes. Mike, really the important question, I think the thing that everybody is wondering, do you think you ended John Martin's career in the town hall, or is he going to succeed in a way that other PFL heads of state did not? I believe to my core that you are directly responsible for Don Davis getting ousted from the PFL.
So credit to John Martin for knowing that and being like, I can do it. I won't get fired if I go on the show.

**Mike Heck** (1:53)
So you know what's like really funny? Cause now I think about this. All of the town halls that I've done, two of Don Davis, Don's no longer with PFL, Jonathan Coachman, no longer with PFL, Darren Owen from GFL.
We know what happened after that. They have just-

**Jed Meshew** (2:11)
It's still coming. It's fine. Don't worry about it.

**Mike Heck** (2:13)
I mean, in theory, I guess.
But you know, so far so good for John. I mean, this is definitely the most positive feedback I've gotten from one of these for sure. Like John stepped up and answered questions and yeah. I mean, it was pretty good. I had a good time.

**Jed Meshew** (2:29)
You are the Madden curse of MMA. We gotta find a way to get a town hall with Dana White and then we'll really be cooking the gas.

**Mike Heck** (2:38)
He would never.
It's a hot, it's a very hot seat. It's a very hot seat. I would love that.

**Jed Meshew** (2:44)
Sometimes you ask very difficult questions like, what's your favorite fight of all time? We love you, Don.

**Mike Heck** (2:52)
Yeah. You're the bad. That would be very fun. Yes. Listen, Dave Feldman, if you want to sit in the hot seat, we'd love to have you.
And yeah, I think he'd be great. Honestly, I think he'd be great.

**Jed Meshew** (3:04)
You don't run scene town hall.

**Mike Heck** (3:06)
We've not done a bronze in town hall. We should do that though. Maybe him and Izzy. I think maybe both of them there.
Chad's very honest, though. He'll just tell you, like... I mean, anytime I talk to Chad Braunstein, he will be like, listen, I am not literally going to answer a question or announce anything unless it's like done, done. So there'll be really no surprises or anything when it comes to this. But once it's done, done, he lets the world know, such as, you know, Ben Askren, a year after a double lung transplant coming back to wrestle Belal Muhammad at Raf 11 in Milwaukee. I already just, I just booked my travel for that. So I'll be there for that. Obviously the main event of that is Colby Covington versus Arman Tsarukyan. So that is building up to be quite the event as well.
You know, we're here. Thoughts on this? I'm sure we'll get Arman Colby questions, but let's talk about the Ben Askren side of things. I did not see this coming in a billion years. I just don't know why anybody would even expect this to come. But here we are, Jed Mishu. Ben Askren is wrestling. And apparently it is a one time thing. He's just one and done. And then he's going to go back to coaching and helping to grow RF. But what was your reaction to this news?

**Jed Meshew** (4:25)
I don't love it. But as I thought more about it, I'm like, it's fine. Because when it's announced, you're like, Ben Askren was extremely close to dying like a year ago. And everybody knows the story. Everybody has seen some of the like really harrowing photos of the situation he was in. And so credit that he has sort of overcome that and come back. But you do wonder like, is he physically capable of doing this, particularly against somebody who is not also, and I'm not saying that Ben Askren is enfeebled at this point. I just don't know. I think he's okay. I've seen some videos of him over the past couple of months, coaching and doing light training. But it's still like a concern of, there's a gap here between some light work on the mats when you are coaching kids versus, I'm going to be in competition. But the more I thought about it, it's like he and Belal Muhammad know each other.