Thanks to the fine people at Substack, I can now jump on here and tape a quick 20-minute emergency podcast whenever something comes across my timeline that makes me want to tape a quick 20-minute emergency pod.

UFC News @UFCNews

Robert Whittaker (@robwhittakermma)'s step-by-step journey back to a shot at the UFC middleweight title at #UFC271 ⤵️:

The Journey Back To The Top For Robert WhittakerThe Path That Led “The Reaper” Back To The Doorstep Of The Middleweight Title At UFC 271ufc.com

So in light of the ESPN MMA tweet about the UFC Middleweight Mount Rushmore and my subsequent tweet about Robert Whittaker’s record in the division, I thought I would jump on here and break it all down a little more, touching on:

how Whittaker’s lone loss to Israel Adesanya has changed the way people think about him
how we tend to do this thing where if you’re not the champ, you can’t be considered great
how we conflate popularity and presence with success, when the two are not the same
how there are too many times where we don’t do all the research, gather all the information, or present the full context
and how I’m willing to have these conversations and discussions with anyone that wants to have them, always

Whittaker is a phenomenal talent, regardless of whether he wins or loses on Saturday night, and even if he becomes the unquestioned silver medalist, that’s still really goddamn good!

Check out the pod, get in my mentions on Twitter or the comments if you want to discuss further.

Enjoy the fights tomorrow!

Keyboard Kimura

UFC 271 Emergency Pod: Don't Forget Robert…