Rory Gets It Done!!! (Hour 1)

Live from the play show, get out over the ostentatious studios of the Infinity Sports Network here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor, 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to another week and a Monday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all great local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 375, the free Odyssey app, and of course, as always, streaming on YouTube.

888-710-4ISN is the number to jump on in, 888-710-4470. You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb. That is Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. What a day yesterday. It was in the golf world. Steve Sands from the Golf Channel. He's going to join us coming up at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific time. And we'll also be joined by Chael Sonnen, who does a great job. The former UFC fighter was all over the UFC 314 coverage in Miami, as that ended up being an epic card for the UFC with Volkanovsky.

And then also, you got to see Patty Pimblett just absolutely destroy Michael Chandler. So, we'll talk to Chael coming up 40 minutes from now. Steve Sands from the Golf Channel will join us at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 Pacific time. But let's start with the golf. We'll sprinkle in some Nico Yamalayeva now leaving Tennessee, and we are 10 days away from the NFL Draft. So, we'll squeeze in some golf and some NFL conversation as well. But we start off with the Masters. What a sensational Sunday that was.

And if you're about drama, if you're about the theatrics of what sports is about, yesterday really gave you everything that you wanted. So, you go into that Masters Sunday and you had two big time names right at the top of the leaderboard with Roy McElroy having a two-stroke lead over Bryson DeChambeau. And I walked into Sunday thinking to myself, if you put a gun to my head, Roy with the two-stroke lead or Bryson DeChambeau to get the job done, I was going to take Bryson. Because Bryson to me, the last two years or so has really changed his public perception and his public image. He went from being a guy that we knew could hit the ball a million miles far, but also he was someone years ago that didn't have the best personality.

And he got in his own head with the whole incident with Brooks Koepka, and he didn't treat the fans well, and he was really insufferable and unlikable. To see the transformation of Bryson DeChambeau with what he does on YouTube, the way that he interacts with the fans, the fact that he actually has a heart and a soul and he showcases his personality, I would have thought that Bryson would have been ready for the moment. But not only was Bryson not ready to go win his first ever green jacket, he got a gift handed to him early too where the tournament clearly was not over after the first hole on Sunday. But with that being said, you had Rory McIlroy up two strokes, Rory McIlroy, who hasn't won a major championship since 2014, has never won at Augusta. All the pressure, all the attention is on Rory McIlroy. And let's be real, Rory McIlroy is tight and he's tense and he starts off his round with a double bogey, Bryson pars, and you're squared even.

Where the two-stroke deficit that Bryson DeChambeau was looking at is now dead even. But then to see what was going to happen after that, how Bryson was not ready for the moment, Bryson crumbled, Bryson looked human on the golf course, compared to his normal robotic self where he just hits the ball so far and you're like, oh my goodness gracious, I'm in awe of what I'm seeing. But we were situated in a point in this tournament where not only looked like Rory was going to win, it looked like Rory, who was up three or four strokes, was going to run away with it. And then Rory splashes and Rory McIlroy at one point, he was dead even with Ludwig Oberg, Justin Rose, and then obviously himself. And then he was quickly able to regain that lead and you're thinking to yourself, okay, he's going to find a way to survive and he's going to find a way to get the green jacket and he's going to find a way to complete the career grand slam. And how many times yesterday did you look at your TV when you were watching this at Augusta and you said to yourself, Rory's going to choke, Rory's going to win, Rory's going to choke, Rory's going to win, Rory's going to choke, Rory's going to win. It was a never-ending rollercoaster ride of emotion for one Rory McIlroy, who through the entirety of it, he looked as tight and tense that one could be and you felt like the green jacket was literally slipping out of his hands. And then we take you to 18, where on 18, how many times have you seen Rory McIlroy, and this isn't Stu golfing, this isn't Samtor golfing, this isn't Zach Gelb golfing, we miss a five-foot punt, so be it, right?

It happens. That's not automatic, but a five-foot punt for a golfer in the class and realm that Rory McIlroy is should pretty much be automatic. And he misses those five-feet putts, like, all the time. But he's on 18, the graphic shows on CBS, for the career grand slam for a guy that has not won a major championship since 2014. He's not only going for, of his first major championship since 2014, it was to complete the career grand slam. And the ball wasn't even in the same zip code, it looked like, as the hole, he missed it, then had to hit the next putt, and you get Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy in a playoff.

And let's be real, when you are going to that playoff, you have to think Justin Rose is winning. Because Justin Rose, who had not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, not eight, not nine, but ten, ten birdies on a final mass surround Sunday. And I know he was waiting, right? He was practicing because he had the electric end on 18 to put himself in contention.

He was on the verge of completing a two-part story. One would be one of the greatest comebacks we've ever seen in golf, where we got to see him open up the tournament as your leader. Chris Oliveira, one of our bosses here, he popped out in the newsroom on Thursday, he was glued to the golf, and he said to me, oh, good to see Justin Rose at the top of the leaderboard.

I go, eh, you know, whoever usually leads after day one usually doesn't win this tournament. And to be fair, heading into Sunday, he was five under, right? Five under, nice honorable showing, but he wasn't expected to win. I didn't think we were going to have a Masters Sunday where we were going to be discussing Justin Rose. It seemed like going into the day, it was going to be Rory up against Bryson, and then Bryson just quickly faded.

And once Rory, who kept on having the victory in his hands, and then he just kept on throwing it away, it opened up the door for a little bit for Ludwig Oberg. You then also got to see Patrick Reed, even with the late eagle, make a late push. But Justin Rose, just birdie after birdie after birdie, and ten of those birdies, out of the ten birdies he had on a Sunday, eight of them came from hole seven and on. So this was an unbelievable finish for Justin Rose, and you get to the playoff hole, and you get to 18, and you replay 18. And I'm thinking to myself, Justin Rose has all the momentum.

Justin Rose should win this. But finally, Rory McIlroy, who had a few eagles in this tournament, right? He had his biggest moment. And he called it the most rewarding moment and the best day of his golf career, because on 18, after Justin Rose already found the green, and he had a chance at a birdie putt, but it probably wasn't going to be likely, Rory McIlroy hits an incredible shot and puts it so close to the jar. And then finally, Rory made the putt that won in the championship.

It is wild. Just explaining this in the last nine minutes, I could take you ten different ways, and we could talk about 9,000 different things of storylines from that Sunday at Augusta. But the coolest part and the lasting memory, and I'm not even the biggest Rory McIlroy fan in the world, if I'm being honest with you. Maybe it's because I'm a Tiger guy, and Tiger was my first true golf love. And then Rory, right when he really did rise, he was the guy that was going to challenge Tiger, and he won those four major championships.

So probably part of that is just natural rivalries. Why I always did like Tiger, and I wasn't the biggest fan of Rory. And then Rory had a great stretch of popularity for me when he basically told LivGolf, when we cared about the PGA Tour and LivGolf, to go screw and basically go bleep off. But then it was almost just clear that the PGA just took great advantage of Rory McIlroy. But with what happened last year, the 11 years it's been since winning a major championship, and then on Sunday, with all the eyes and all the pressure on you, to see someone rise and fall, rise and faceplant, get back up off the ground, faceplant again, get back up off the ground, about to get the green jacket, stub your toe, and then find a way to take that green jacket and run into the clubhouse with it, and not only get your first ever green jacket, but also complete the career grand slam, and then see him immediately collapse when that putt went in. And the emotion just coming out of his body and the tears, right, it was probably a lot of relief and tears of joy, too.

It was a very cool moment to see. And I understand, right, you could say, Zach, you already had four major championships. So if he didn't win another major championship, he's still going to go down as one of the all-time great golfers. There would have been a yeah-but, though, because Rory's only 35. But how much, how long he's been in the public spotlight, it's nuts that he's only 35, right?

Like, that's something that makes you just say, oh, hold on, wait a second one more time. But for him to, with how close he's been since 2014, to get that moment, and it also not just be, right, like, if he went on the U.S. Open to the PGA Championship or the Open Championship, it would have been yet awesome. Rory won his first major since 2014, but he doesn't have the green jacket.

But he doesn't have the career grand slam. To have those two moments line up where he wins his first major championship since 2014, and it also happens at Augusta, it makes the frustrations, it makes the choke jobs that he's had through the years, through the last 10, 11 years, be oh so worth it and oh so sweet. Because I know a lot of people, right, Alex Myers joined us on Thursday, and he said this is the best chance Rory has at winning the Masters.

You know, I would hear those things, and I'd be like, yeah, I kind of will believe it when I see it. Because I've been through this road before where Rory's getting hyped up and Rory, we're told, is going to win, and then he just doesn't deliver. But with how many ups and downs, and this was a roller coaster ride, that you're going up and then you get to the top and it flips you upside down and then you come down and then you go back up and it flips it upside down and you go back down and you back up, to see him end on the top of the mountain yesterday with the green jacket in hand, even though I'm not the biggest Rory McIlroy fan on this planet, it was pretty neat.

It was pretty cool. And that image, right, not only puts him in a special category, in a special fraternity, an elite fraternity in the golf world being one of six players to ever complete the career grand slam on the men's side, right? Like, that's unbelievable.

That goes without being said. But that's still one of the greatest monkey off your back moments that you'll ever see. And I know some will say, oh, but he's won major championships before. But think about the pressure and think about how many people doubted him, including me, gave up on Rory, right, completing the career grand slam and, right, a lot of people saying, oh, I'll win another major championship, but it probably won't be out of Augusta. Think of all those emotions and all those things that were said. And to have those moments line up with him not only winning his first major championship since 2014, but it being out of Augusta, it will go down as one of the iconic monkey off your back moments in the history of sports.

That's how special it was yesterday. And also, how many times with golf did we say, oh, we wish we would see some emotion. We wish we would see these golfers be human.

We wish we could see them be humanized a little bit and not take it so seriously and not be so tight and not be so tense. And I'm watching yesterday and every moment Rory was failing because it wasn't the greatest round of golf, obviously, that he's ever played. I'm sitting there going, he just can't deal with the pressure for a guy that's been in the spotlight his entire life. He can't deal with this attention at this golf course and what is on the line.

And it's almost like that commercial where they they on the fishing rod, throw down the dollar bill and then pull it back up. That's what it's been like for him at major championships and also at Augusta. And even though it didn't look like he was going to latch onto that green jacket in the playoff hole in that second shot where he sets himself up perfectly, he was able to finally get that moment. And the outpour of emotion was so cool. And I'm not saying I didn't expect him to be happy. I'm not saying I didn't expect him to lose his mind. But with how tense and tight he was all throughout the day and how many times he had the green jacket flash right before his eyes and then disappear, I really didn't think we're going to get this moment and him immediately collapsing.

It's one of those images that you're going to remember. Like when I was watching it yesterday, it kind of felt like I know LeBron already had two championships at that point. But how LeBron came back down three one up against the Warriors and immediately fell and had the Cleveland. This is for you moment because that was the most important championship of LeBron's career for Roy McElroy.

That's kind of my comparison, right? This was the most important championship of Roy's career because not only does it give him his first green jacket, it completes the career grand slam and it's already a guy that's so established. It's already an all time great golfer. But this one meant something so much more. Just like how for LeBron. Yeah, one of the two championships was nice in Miami, right? But it meant so much more for winning it in Cleveland. And that was going to be for LeBron, whether it was success or not. In Cleveland, when he returned was could he win a championship for Rory? Even though he'd already be considered an all time great golfer, just like a LeBron would have been considered all time great basketball player.

This makes him whole, right? This is the missing thing that was on his resume, and he fulfilled it yesterday in what was a crazy day. The roller coaster ride for Rory McElroy, the ups and the downs, and it did not look like he was going to win several times. But for him to find a way, this makes him whole now as a golfer because you complete the career grand slam and you do something that most of us thought you were never going to do.

And that was when at Augusta, which has been a house of horrors for you. Zach Gelb here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll take a break. Jal Sonnen is going to join us coming up in 30 minutes from now at 3.40 p.m. Eastern time. We will recap UFC 3.14 with him. But when we return, an interesting development with Niko Iamaliava and what we thought was going to happen at the end of the week last week has now drastically changed.

Where will Niko Iamaliava land next? We'll give you a thought or two on that when the Zach Gelb show continues in five minutes. I am usually pro player with how often the player was screwed in college athletics.

But with what has transpired as it is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network with Niko Iamaliava from last week until now, it's almost like Niko Iamaliava played himself. Sometimes you think you know what you're doing in life, right? Sometimes you're adamant. Sometimes you make a controversial decision and you make a move that is not popular.

And then there's a little voice that goes off in your head that eventually quickly tells you, uh oh, what did I do to myself? But when the toothpaste is already out of the tube, it's extremely tough to put that toothpaste back in the tube. And I think what's going on here, and this is where I don't have sympathy for Niko Iamaliava because I got to be fair here, I got to be consistent.

Once again, I'm for NIL, I'm for the transfer portal. I think there's things that have to be cleaned up. But as I said numerous times, when you go to college, college is about making decisions. Some of the decisions are going to be right and some are going to be wrong. And you're going to learn from those mistakes. I am all for players having the ability to leave if they don't want to be there.

I'm all for the ability for players to legally be making the most amount of money possible. But when you put money into this situation and you have the freedom to transfer so easily and in the college football schedule, you have opportunities to leave twice in a calendar year, you're going to have kids that are going to have voices in their head and they're going to have other people in their ear and they're going to sometimes make the wrong decision. And in this case, with Nikoli Amaliava, who had a fine season last year, right? He was good. He was solid, but he left you wanting more. He had a strong start. It was a little sloppy in the middle. Had a decent finish, a good finish, some moments at the end of the year. And then in the playoff game, him and the Tennessee program, right?

And they weren't all that fantastic up against Ohio State. So for Nikoli Amaliava, and now since this is such a contentious situation, people are going to talk, people are going to slander his name and more and more is going to come out. But you made your bed.

Now you got to lie in it. And I'm not saying that Nikoli Amaliava, if he thinks he's worth more, shouldn't go fight to go get more money. But there were lists that were made before we knew any of this that were going on. And just because you make a list doesn't mean that it's right. But there was a list, you know, two weeks ago, I remember we talked about it, top 10 quarterbacks entering this college football season and Nikoli Amaliava wasn't on it.

So from what I gather and who knows with NIL what numbers are true and what aren't. But he was making about two million dollars to be at Tennessee. Two, two and a half. He wanted four. So in the last week, from the things that I've read, I guess he told his offensive coordinator that he was probably going to hit the portal. So if you tell your OC maybe that he thinks that he's doing right, right by the university, he's telling them and he doesn't talk to anybody else. How do you have a conversation with your head coach? And I know Tennessee is not going to paint him in the best of light, but for this to be a situation where he doesn't show up to spring practice and there's a great unknown of what was going to happen right before their spring game. And it's like, oh, what's going to go on with Nikoli Amaliava? And then Tennessee basically took their program back and said, we're not playing these games. We know you're hitting the portal.

So go. But for Nikoli Amaliava, when you hit the portal, especially with how much tampering goes on and right, let's not be foolish here and don't think that a kid just hits the portal and then all these schools come calling. And then that's when they start having the conversations. It's like the legal tampering period in the NFL. You know, when you could start to talk, you don't think conversations happened before that? Because how can deals be agreed upon verbally the moment the legal tampering window opens a second in? Use your brain here, folks, because agents talk to the teams. It's because tampering goes on. And the same thing happens here with the transfer portal window when it opens up that Nikoli Amaliava, you would think already has a deal done somewhere. But that's the thing.

I don't believe that this was as clear and obvious as what it should have been. And there's a rumor out there. We don't know if it's true or not. But supposedly, Nico's father was shopping him around or Nico's camp was shopping him around. And Dan Lanning called up Josh Hypo. Remember Dan Lanning, Oregon, Big Ten. He was like, hey, just so you know, Josh, people in Nico's camp are coming to me asking me about Nico. So a big sentiment on Thursday or Friday when this stuff came out, right.

I thought to myself, maybe I was naive because I didn't realize how ugly this was at the time and how much we didn't know. I sat there and I said, well, if he's making two, two and a half million dollars, we all know how how much the SEC loves their football. Doesn't some booster, doesn't someone run in the collective, they find a way to go get him another million and a half or two million dollars?

I was like, how hard line is it just to get to four million? Can you get in the ballpark where he'll be content with that? And obviously, Tennessee, I'm not saying they couldn't have done it, but they didn't want to do it. So I think Nico thought maybe two things, one which is starting to be less and less likely. I think he believed that he would just be able in a snap of a finger, be able to get the four million from Tennessee or somewhere else. Now, he's not getting that from Tennessee, but you want to know how you already lost this? Because the first article that I saw, potential destinations for Nico Iamaliava, people mentioned Oregon.

Now we know that's not happening. People mentioned Notre Dame. If we're being honest, Notre Dame was just in the national championship game.

You got Jeremiah Love, right, the running back. Yeah, I'm thinking to myself, if you go to Notre Dame and you're Nico Iamaliava, it's not a bad situation. But now, supposedly, Notre Dame isn't interested in Nico Iamaliava because of the price tag. I think they were paying, I read somewhere online, one and a half million for Riley Leonard.

So if one and a half million went to Riley Leonard, and quite frankly, I'd rather have Nico Iamaliava than Riley Leonard, and I think there's more upside with him, I don't think you're getting from one and a half to four. And remember, he was already making supposedly, from what we know, two at Tennessee. So this is one of those situations where it goes from over the weekend, I read one article that's like speculating Oregon and Notre Dame, and then I see a graphic today, which is just a sad graphic. Like, I understand Tennessee hasn't been the greatest football program in the last 15 to 20 years. It's still good old Rocky Top, it's still in the SEC. And just a disclaimer for people that don't know, because this is a spring transfer portal window, he can't transfer this go around to another SEC school. So all the SEC schools are out the window. But the graphic today from On3 Sports, when it was like the latest intel on Tennessee's transfer quarterback Nico Iamaliava, here are the three teams, Tulane, UCLA, and UNC. If Nico Iamaliava, and I know Tulane, you know, progresses a football program, but if he goes from Tennessee to Tulane, we know it's all about the money, but how much money is Tulane going to be able to get you?

And if you tell me you go from Tennessee to UCLA, that's a downgrade. Now, selfishly with what we do, I would like to see him go to UNC, because you got Belichick there, and Belichick needs a quarterback. But, I just read right before we got on the air for this segment, this is On3 Sports, because UNC has been that projected team now, that's been the hot team today for Nico Iamaliava.

This is from On3 Sports, Intel. Bill Belichick will be a known buyer in the quarterback market this spring, as Pete Nacos reports that Iamaliava's asking price of four million dollars could be too much for North Carolina. So you're leaving the SEC, you're leaving the SEC because I guess Tennessee was giving you two million, you wanted four. You can't go to another SEC school, and is UNC, is UCLA, is Tulane going to give you what you wanted?

This is just clear what's going on here. This is a kid, right, who now is in a professional world, even though it's amateur sports, and I say that in air quotes if you're not watching us on YouTube, and he's listening to his old man, and his old man isn't looking out for the best interest of his son. And if that's the priority, just go get the most amount of money possible, I'm all for that. But are you doing what's the best for the growth and the development of Nico Iamaliava as a football player? Because leaving Tennessee and right now basically having no plan, if you don't land at Oregon, which it doesn't seem like you are, or Notre Dame, it's going to be tough to spin this in a good way, and who even knows if you do land at UNC or UCLA or Tulane, that's not better football. Let's be clear, it's not better football, it's not a tougher environment, it's not better competition for you, but you're probably not even going to get more money, or that much more money, than you would have got if you would have stayed at Tennessee. And I read an article via The Athletic, Summit Tennessee believed that Iamaliava's decision is not his own, but that he's following his father's lead in pursuing the most financially lucrative landing spot with less regard for the fit on the football field or the timing of his exit, Iamaliava will have to learn a new offense to gain the trust of a coaching staff in roster with just a month of practice in preseason camp, a rarity within the sport.

Here's what I would say to Nico Iamaliava, you're your own man now. I'm not saying you can't use your parents as a resource, right? I've used my parents to bounce things off of them from time to time, but still, ultimately, my parents will say some things that I like and I agree with, some things that I think they disagree with and they don't understand what I do necessarily now, and that's coming from someone that has a dad in the radio business because of how much the business has changed, and ultimately, I make my own decision. I'm not saying don't use your parents as a resource, I love my parents.

I use them as a resource all the time, I bounce ideas off them all the time. But ultimately, their opinions are slanted one way, they see things one way, and I think when you make a decision, you talk to multiple people in your family, outside your family, in the sport, outside the sport, and then you have to make your own decision. It seems here, though, that Nico Iamaliava is letting his dad make every decision for him, and it is backfiring in an enormous way. You're going from Tennessee to now it looks like neither Oregon or Notre Dame wants anything to do for you. Who even knows if you're going to make more money to do what? Link up with Bill Belichick, and we don't know how Bill Belichick's going to be in college, I believe he's going to be successful, but is he going to have more success than Tennessee?

Probably not. You're then going to what? Go to UCLA?

Tulane? Come on, like what are we doing here? This just doesn't make any sense. And this is why we need more rules and we need more structure in college football. And you have two transfer portals. I think that's too many.

I would just have one. And also, I wouldn't allow any of this stuff to go on in season. And when you make the college football playoff, this stuff goes on in season.

I'll play the audio later, but Josh Pate does a great job. Josh Pate's college football show, and one of the best voices in college football, he was saying that Nico Iamaliava and others were trying to get raises in the middle of the playoff, and they almost didn't even play in their playoff game up against Ohio State. Like none of this makes any sense. And once again, I am pro players getting paid. I am all for the transfer portal, but there's got to be some more, there got to be some rules here.

There got to be some regulations here. And also, Nico Iamaliava, you can make your own damn decision. I'm not saying don't use your father, but your father is ruining your college football career right now. And maybe your pro career too, because you were fine last year, you weren't great. But let's be real about that too.

A lot of us didn't even have a top ten entering this season as a college quarterback. Alrighty, we'll take a time out. This is Zach Gilbeshaw on the Infinity Sports Network. Chael Sonnen's going to join us on the other side. He was all over the UFC 314 coverage. We will recap UFC 314 with Chael when we return.

Update time first. Here's Zach. UFC 314 was bleeping awesome in Miami, and the coverage was excellent of it as well. I enjoyed the commentary from Chael Sonnen, and he's kind enough to join us right now. Appreciate the time, as always.

Thanks so much for doing this. And how you been? How have I been? I'm still famous, and I'm still rich.

I mean, every day is kind of a good day, not for nothing. I absolutely love that. Patty Pimblett. You know, there's times I watch him, I can't stand him, and then a moment like what happened up against Michael Chandler, who I like, it makes me gain a lot of respect towards him, because people keep on doubting him, and he keeps on proving people wrong.

I think his image has really changed the last two years since the Flash Gordon fight, which I still thought he shouldn't have won. But what's your view now of Patty Pimblett? Because I'm starting to become a fan. First off, you and I share a brain. Like, everything that you just said right there, I have said or thought.

So let me just tell you my personal experience. I thought Patty was in a little over his head. When he comes out, and he not only beats Chandler, but he beats Chandler at his own game. He gets on top, and he pounds out Michael Chandler. There's a real wow moment, and there's even a time to tell a guy, hey, I had this one wrong.

Well, Patty happens to come up where I'm at. He gives me a hug. He's very gracious.

You never know how a guy's going to treat you when you've been calling against him all week, but I did think he was a little overmatched. He couldn't have been more of a gentleman, which is not what I thought. He had a very sweet tone. The first thing he does is he checks in and wants to ask me how my family's doing. Like, he's limping to set. He's the fighter of the night. They are chanting his name, and I don't know him.

We meet, and he wants to know, how is your family doing? I mean, I will just tell you, you look at a guy differently when a guy does something like that, and he was hurt by the way, Zach. I mean, he was limping. His face was busted up. That was an absolute bludgeoning both ways. And Patty's about it, because you meet some guys that are bullies. They can only give it. Patty gave it as well as he took it.

Absolutely. At his apex, because I still think people are trying to figure out what he could be as a fighter, and as we said, Saturday, it moves the pendulum in a big way, and now people are wondering how big this could get. At his absolute best, what do you think Patty Pimblet could go on to accomplish in the UFC?

Interesting, right? Because, like, the comparison out there is Conor McGregor. Can Patty be a box office draw like Conor? And that's hard to imagine. Conor transcended cultures.

He went into movies, and people followed him over to movies. That's a very rare and hard thing to do. But the UFC only plays certain venues. I mean, Patty's going to have a shot at MSG the same as Conor did. Conor sold out MSG, but I'm telling you now, so will Patty. So then you start to just have box office draw. Who could move more t-shirts?

I mean, what kind of staples are we going to put in place to start judging these two? But yes, Patty the Batty is a bona fide star. He is a box office draw. Dana White could book him and sell out any arena in the world, and there's probably only five guys in history you could say that about. And we know he's always had the entertainment factor. You go into a Patty Pimble fight, the entertainment factor's there. But now it's nice to see the entertainment factor being met with what goes on in the octagon. And hey, well said.

Again, that's the thing we didn't know. I thought this was a regional kid. He's got a weird haircut.

He says something funny to the microphone. He can sell some tickets kind of around England. He's not a main eventer, but you do things right, and you can make a few dollars with him.

That's not true. This is a legitimate title contender. We don't know what Patty's going to do next or who his next opponent will be. But there is a consensus that whatever is next for Patty, he's one away from a world title shot. Whatever Patty does next, if it goes his way, he will be fighting for the belt. And I can't sit here right now, Zach, and assure you that he's not going to win that damn belt. Chael Sutton here with us right now on the Zach Gelb show.

I'm never good in terms of like, what's next? Like, this guy wins. Who should he fight next? When I heard the names that were getting thrown out there, Gaethje was one that was resonated with me. What's the name that maybe resonates with you the most for the next Patty fight? Alright, so he calls Dustin Justin, meaning Gaethje Poirier. He calls Charles for Oliveira, and he called a guy a helmet, which is an insult I had to look up.

And it's rather funny, frankly, called Sarukian. Now, I only want to list that because if any one of those guys wants to fight, all they got to do is go to Twitter right now. If any one of them accepts, whoever the first to accept that fight, Dana White will give them the fight. But I'm going to tell you now, none of those guys are going to accept. Like, Patty is still in that spot that's very dangerous, where he's a big mouth and he's a sportsman, but the crowd hasn't quite accepted him for the badass that the fighters are now finding out he really is.

I mean, I would guarantee none of those four guys that got called out are going to respond. And, you know, what do you do with Patty next? Again, the one thing that we can agree on is whatever's next will lead him into a world title fight. But I'm not willing to rule out who he calls Mr. Hand Sanitizer, Ilia Taporia. Something is going on with Ilia. You would assume an undefeated world champion would fight for a world championship, but they haven't made that announcement. And they've held that announcement for something. I'm starting to hear behind the scenes, they were waiting for the outcome of Patty Chandler, and now that that's happened, let's see what happens with Ilia Taporia.

By the way, I always appreciate, it doesn't matter who you're sitting next to, and it doesn't matter what platform you're on, you're always willing to stir the pot a little bit. You sit next to Dustin Poirier and say that, hey, it could be Poirier up against Max Holloway for the final fight of Poirier. A lot has been speculated off of that.

What do you actually know about the likelihood of that being Dustin's final fight? Zach, I didn't know I was leaking inside information. Like, I'm a guy you can tell things to, I know what secret, what hasn't been revealed. No one told me that was a secret. So I go out and I tell the world, man, it's going down in Lafayette, it's going to be Dustin's last fight, it's Max Holloway. The only thing I don't know is if they're going to put up the BMF belt.

Dustin comes and grabs me, tells me that he got in trouble by the UFC because they assumed that he fed me that information, and then I went and leaked it. Those conversations never happened. I don't know where I got that news along the way. I'll stand by it. I'm right.

All those things are happening. I'll even add to that claim, they're going to put the BMF up. It'll be Dustin's last fight.

There's a chance that Dustin takes the BMF into retirement, which would retire the BMF. But as far as any of that information ever actually being told to me, nah, I guess it wasn't. I read it somewhere, I believed it to be true, but it turns out it is.

It's all true. So you heard from Dustin. They thought Dustin was leaking that information as you were sitting next to him, maybe like at a break or something. Does Dana give you a call and says, hey, what the heck are you doing, Cheo Sonnen?

No, it wasn't to me. I mean, I got it fair play. They went to Dustin and they go, hey, what are you doing? Your partner just leaked all your scoop. Are you going to think we didn't know where that came from? I've known this for a couple of months, though. It actually, and I thought that Max had called him out. I thought that Dustin had accepted while he was working the desk at ESPN. Like, I feel like this whole story played out before us. I thought everyone knew.

I thought a venue was booked and tickets were on sale. Like, I just found out that that at this point is still protected information. Wow, that's epic.

Cheo Sonnen here with us. What am I supposed to do? Like, I'm not blabbing it to you. I already blabbed it.

I didn't know it was a secret. I love it. Diego Lopez and Volkanowski, what a fight that was. That was a brawl. It was epic. And man, really a big moment for the sport, too, because some people, it felt like, and I'm a very casual UFC fan, I love it. I've become a big fan the last few years, but it seems like a lot of people that used to sell me on the UFC were kind of doubting the product.

I thought the card was awesome at a final, a great final fight. I would not kick a man when he's down. And I'm talking about Diego Lopez.

I would offer a hand and get him up. But to discuss that, just what I saw. I saw Diego Lopez, who is the world's next best thing. He is the rightful number one contender. But I saw him bring a left and a right hand. Pure Western boxing he brought into a mixed martial arts fight. I can count the amount of takedowns he tried in 25 minutes on one hand because the answer is zero. I can count the submission attempts he tried in 25 minutes on one hand because it's zero. He didn't grab the fence. He didn't even kick him in the nuts. He didn't throw one elbow, one knee. He threw three kicks. He made it a Western boxing fight for reasons that I don't know.

He's a very skilled young man. And when he goes back and watches it himself, he's going to be frustrated. And he's going to say, why didn't I bring my tools?

Why didn't I bring the agreed upon rules that they allow me to use? And I don't know why he did it. And he got picked apart because of it.

I'm Jewish so I think it goes without being said. I love what John Silva did to Bryce Mitchell. What was your reaction on that fight by the way?

Bro, I love that you're not afraid to talk about it because everyone, this was the elephant in the room on Saturday. Bryce made a big mistake. So we decided like as a group, we're going to punish him and here's the punishment. But the one thing that we all also understood is Bryce gets the jump on Silva. It's in many ways going to vindicate a horrible moment. So there is this massive tension in the room.

It might have been the most important sporting event that was going on anywhere in the world. This script had one way it could go and it had to go the way that it did. And I will just tell you, there was some nerve-wracking points. I mean Bryce comes out first off. It turns out Bryce is pretty tough but then his kickboxing looked pretty good. Silva stayed very composed. Kept a game face even as his leg was taking some shots.

Ultimately Silva beats Mitchell at his own game. Which is the ultimate punishment by our industry standards. So the world is in the place that the world should be in. But I will tell you, there was a tension in that building my friend.

What kind of tension do you mean just wondering? Like if you're justifying Hitler, which is what Bryce Mitchell did. You know, I'll clean it up here. You're a jackass. That's the nicest way I could say it on the radio.

What kind of tension do you mean? Period. No, period. That's what it was. So you've got the tension of people going, okay, if I cheer for Bryce. And I want to cheer for Bryce because I've chosen to believe he didn't have evil in his heart. He's a dumb hill jack. That's what some people believe.

But if I cheer for him, I could still give the perception that I'm with him and I'm not. So it was just one of these things where things got weird. He made some apologies. Some of them were pretty heartfelt.

I'll just share with you. So some people wanted to give him a benefit of a doubt. But either way, you could not openly be seen in front of people on your feet clapping as he comes out.

You just can't. It was the ultimate villain role. This had to happen. And it had to happen with the knight in shining armor who happened to be called John Silva had got to make him pay.

And the world didn't know how to discuss it. Like people, you're being as candid as anybody's been on this. He's an a-hole.

That's what I think. The guy's an a-hole, right? Like it's not a mistake. He said what he said. There's no justifying it. The guy's a jerk. And you got to pay.

When you do things like that, there's some kind of punishment. We as a group selected this was it. And I'm just saying there was a worry that perhaps we had the wrong guy. Perhaps Bryce could get over. And that really would have created a very socially awkward moment.

It would have. And it was the best ending possible that Silva just basically ended him. And it looked like he didn't want to stop. Anyway, Chell, appreciate the time as always. Thanks so much for doing this. By the way, Silva might have been the second performance of the night only behind behind Patty.

Silva really stood out. Yeah. Zach, thank you.

I appreciate the time. By the way, before you go, before you go real quick, there's a joke going around. What is six feet tall, charming and disappears in an instant? Me? Oh, that's how he did it.

That guy is awesome. Well, let's be real. I'm six foot four. I am charming, but I won't disappear. I may disappear in about 30 seconds.

Then we'll come back in five minutes. But that's a good job by Chell Sonnen. I thought his connection just went out, if I'm being honest there. And I'm like, oh, he jumped off the show when he said I got a joke for you.

I was like, oh, where's the dumb button? Well, how Warren Sapp left the show compared to Chell Sonnen leaving the show. I like what Chell did right there. That was awesome. We could have had him on for another 15 minutes. I didn't get to the stuff about Michael Chandler as well and the aftermath of how we deal with Chandler. Great stuff for Chell Sonnen. This is the Zach Gelb Show, Infinity Sports Network.