MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Aljamain Sterling vs. Jose Aldo, Romanov's Historic Betting Line, Raufeon Stots Joins the Show

Episode Date: April 29, 2022

Should the UFC go with Jose Aldo as the next challenger to Aljamain Sterling's bantamweight championship? On this episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck leads a 'Free-For-All Friday,' taking your calls about a potential Sterling vs. Aldo bout and whether or not Aldo should get the shot over T.J. Dillashaw, Alexandr Romanov heading into his UFC Vegas 53 matchup with Chase Sherman as the biggest betting favorite in UFC history, the main event of Saturday's card at the APEX between Rob Font and Marlon Vera, how to improve judging in MMA, more MMA fantasy draft chatter, and more. In addition, the brand new interim Bellator bantamweight champion Raufeon Stots (1:13:10) joins the show to recap his third-round stoppage win over Juan Archuleta at Bellator 279 this past Saturday to capture the title, why he hopes Danny Sabatello defeats Leandro Higo in their upcoming grand prix matchup on June 24, Sergio Pettis, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 8 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR 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

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Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to AeroPen members on equipped flights, sponsored by Bound. Conditions apply. Caircanada.com. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. It's Friday, April 29, 22,

and it is indeed a heck of a morning here on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces and soon to be on the MAA Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Like I said, it is Friday. I love Fridays. Fridays are wonderful. And it's a free-for-all Friday here on heck of the morning,

which means we turn the show over to you. You create the topics. You create the discussion points. Maybe we banter a little bit. I'm basically going to answer your questions. I'm going to get your thoughts on stuff. Maybe react to some of the things you say. And we're just going to get after it for the next, I don't know, however long. You decide that too. Probably an hour at the most, but you guys decide. We've had free for all fries that went 90 minutes. We've had them that went 75 minutes. We've had them that have gone 45 minutes. So up to you. There's a lot to discuss, as always.

Of course, the UFC is a big event. Well, I mean, big might be a little bit of a stretch, but a fun event. Tomorrow, UFC Vegas 53, fantastic main event. Very much looking forward to Rob Font versus Marlon Cheeto Vera. That is a fantastic fight. Very excited about that. We can continue on with the MMA draft discussion we had yesterday. So if we missed the show yesterday, we had a conversation based upon a draft that we did over at m.mapfiting.com on our podcasting network, on our website, which you can go back and read, where myself and four of my colleagues, we selected five people on a draft.

So the question I had yesterday was, if you were an MMA promotion and you could pick anybody and you had the first overall pick, who would you select and why? We had some very interesting, some very interesting conversations based on that. We also have Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano coming up tomorrow. That is fun. Jake Paul and Eddie Hearn were kind of having some banter yesterday. Eddie Hearn just dropping verbal elbows on Jake Paul said, I mean, just being honest with them. It's like an uncle or dad, like being honest with a kid who says, you know, I want to be this or I want to be that. and you want to sort of motivate them to do their best,

but at the same time, you realize that your kid's probably not going to be that. So, I mean, that that was pretty much the speech that we got. We found out that Casey O'Neill is out of her fight at UFC 276 against Cheska I. Macy Barber now stepping in, which is a very smart move on her part, if we're being honest. I like that move. She probably has a very good chance to win that fight. PFL had their event last night. And can I just say I like the PFL like with their event?

trying to do. And again, another night that was paced not awfully. The featherweight division, the heavyweight division, it's just not exciting. It's just not exciting. It's just not.

But let's get right into this. A free for all Friday. I mean, I got to bring him in. Who better to set the tone? This is the, how should I do this? The Kenny Lofton, the Kenny Lofton. The Kenny Lofton of the show.

You have to lead us off. Hit a single, steal second, a bunch of a third, and then you're scoring on a sack fly, Jedmishu. Well, first, I don't appreciate your statements about my company's heavyweight division. As we've discussed, we're adding Tommy Aspinall. Going to add a little bit of spice. It's going to be great. Second, I'm only calling in because I would love to hear your thoughts on Mr. Cole Strange

Bill Belichick's absolutely insane first round pick out of UTC. Oh, man. So let me just let me just say this, Jed. You can call back it if you want, if you want to banter about this. So I play I play men's league softball. And let me just say this. I consider myself a pretty good shape for just about a 40-year-old guy. I work out.

I lift weights five, six days a week. I've run a few days a week. But men's league softball is like the only time that I feel like I'm like sniffing 40 because I'm sore as hell right now. Play two men's league softball games. Play middle infield. I bat second. So I run a lot. But I feel like I'm a thousand years old right now.

But anyways, it's beside the point. I have like two people on my team who are New England Patriots fans. So I always show up to the game and I wear Red Sox hats. And the Patriots fans will come up to me and they will say, and they're young. They're like in their early 20s. They do not have the Patriots experience of being a fan like I do. They have not been through the pre-Drew Blentzo days where they couldn't win anything. They couldn't even win like a dodgeball game against a seven-year-old Boy Scout troop back in the early 90s.

They just couldn't. So I was there for those days. I was there for the dynasty. I was there for all of it. And these kids come up to me and they say, are you excited for the draft? Who do you think the Patriots are going to get? I'm going to say someone you don't expect.

Oh, that good? I said, no, that bad. They're probably going to pick a guy that should probably go in the fourth round or they're going to trade the pick and get like a fifth and a six round pick. Oh, no way. They're going to go after O.J. McDuffie, whatever's name is the really good cornerback. They're going to get a corner. I'm like, they're absolutely not going to get a corner.

Do you not understand what the Patriots do in these drafts? They take what you think they're going to do and they flip them upside. down. They do this all the time. And what do they do? They drafted offensive guard that should have gone in the fourth friggin' round. A strange pick, pun completely intended. The guy might be good. I mean, listen, they have drafted linemen way too early in the past and it is sort of paid off for them. But come on now. This is a, this is a shit draft to begin with in terms of who could actually help this team. And you went out and you drafted a guy that you could have gotten and the third or fourth round.

It's insane. It's absolutely insane. You know what we need? We need shot all shoddy of Showtime MMA to be in that back office, drafting for the doing on Patriots. Because Sean, and I'm not going to tell you why, but Sean officially won the MMA fighting draft.

He officially did. And I'm not going to tell you why he did, but he did. But to answer your question, Jed, sucky draft pick, but par for the course. for the New England Patriots. Christopher, what's up, my man? The street continues. You're like The Undertaker.

How you doing, Mike? Good, how are you? You're not bad, man. I just got two questions for you today. I think the first thing I wanted to kind of, I guess ask you about is what you think Grant Dawson's ceiling is, and do you think he's better suited at 145 than 155?

Obviously, at 45, he was quite big. 55 it just seems like he probably just It's like a run-of-the-mill Lightweight not in terms of talent, but in terms of his size So yeah, I just want to get your opinion on what you think of ceiling is Secondly I know you said the PFL featherweight It's boring

I was wondering if you watched the Rio G kudo fight And if you thought he won I thought the decision Went the wrong way So I was wondering what your opinion was Thank you Christopher To address the second question Yeah it was super close man

It was a super close fight. Brandon Locknain is a good fighter, and he's got a decent ceiling. But it's weird about him, because for a long time, we talked about Brennan-Lak-Nain being like one of those straight-up hosed guys from the ultimate fighter.

It's like it was an absolute travesty that the UFC didn't give him a contract. But I have to say, the more he fights, and maybe this will change, the more I feel like, you know what? It wasn't as egregious of a decision as I thought it was. He's a good, he's a fine fighter.

But especially like on those seasons, those early seasons of the show, they're looking for, they were looking for stars. They were looking for things like that. And Brennan, personality-wise, very, very fun cat, very good dude. Good fighter. But I remember, I mean, it was just crazy. Everybody unanimously. And I was one of those people, too.

Like, how could you not give this guy a contract? Guy did the media tours, did everything right. But the more he fights, the more I'm like, eh, maybe, I mean, maybe it wasn't as egregious I thought. They still should have given him one, but it's not one of those highway robberies that we have seen in the past with guys like Anthony Romero and even like Austin Vanderford and some others. As far as Grant Dawson goes, Grant's a guy that's been on my radar for a very long time.

I think I did my first interview with Grant Dawson in 2015. He's fighting for Victory FC. And then he was going on to fight for Titan FC. And the dude is just running people over at 145 pounds. And then I remember there's a stretch in like 2016 where he was dealing with like a lot of personal stuff. I think like his him and his longtime girlfriend at the time had broken up. but there's a lot going on in his life. And he ended up getting bolted in like 30 seconds in a fight on the regional scene.

And then he just kind of got his crap together. He just snapped out of it. And he hasn't lost since now. 145, he's just a massive featherweight. I mean, a gigantic featherweight. But super talented guy. And I think the move to 155 is the right one. I mean, I just don't imagine at this point in his career.

What is he, like 28 now? Yeah, he's 28. Just turned 28. 28, he's not getting down to 45 anymore. He's just not. He's just too big of a guy. And if you actually, like, see him in person and you stand next to him, you wonder how he could have made 1.45 in the first place. He's just a massive, massive guy.

He's got a lot of talent. The Ricky Glenn fight was interesting. I think he's going to learn a lot from that fight because Ricky's a dog, probably the most, well, not the most experience, but probably the most experienced guy at big level MMA that he's fought in his career. Yeah, I'm going back and looking at it for sure. So Ricky Glenn's a dog. He's a grizzled vet. It's one of those fights you just have to learn from. The Santos fight at 155, I think he learned a lot from as well.

But here's what I'm really interested in this fight. Because Jared Gordon is tough, man. This is another dog. The Rogue Grant Dawson has got to take at 155. It's not going to be an easy one. These are the kinds of fights you're going to have to take. The Ricky Glens, the Jared Gordon's, these tough veterans who are just never going to go away.

and Jared's one of those guys. Jared has been through a lot in his life. He's been very public about that. But Grant Dawson has also done something I never thought he would do. Never thought this is possible. AK is on the line. And I know how he feels when we make our listener picks about the James Krause cheat code, Glory MMA.

Grant Dawson was like the guy. He was like the, the homegrown student. teacher, coach, up-and-coming guy, he was Glory M-M-A. When I thought of Glory M-M-A, I thought of James Krause,

and I thought of Grant Dawson. There are a lot of guys who have come through there. There are a lot of guys who are staples there, but Grant Dawson, to me, was Glory M-M-A. And he's not there anymore. Went to American Top Team. So he did his entire camp at ATT, him and his girlfriend now,

another fellow fighter named El Wegman. They moved to Coconut Creek. They moved to the Miami. area. They're ATT fighters now. I like the move for him. It's a change of pace. It is surprising. But it's not

it's just a surprising move. I'm not surprised to see people cross-train and go to different gyms, but to straight up move from glory to ATT, I mean, listen, didn't see it coming. So I'm really interested to see how that fight's going to play out. Now we have sort of a

Miami or South Florida Gym versus South Florida Gym Radwick's, I think Jared Gore is a Sanford guy. I know he cross trains a lot in that area, and now Grant Doss is an ATT guy. It's going to be a grueling fight for as long as it lasts. And obviously,

the longer this fight goes for Jared Gordon, the better. But we'll see what happens. It's a big opportunity for Grant Dosses. And he's at this point now where if he's going to go on a run, because he's made bold proclamation since I've talked to him.

Let me get to the UFC. By this aid, By this age, I'm being the top 15. By this age, I'm in the top 5. This age, I'm a champion. If he wants to hit that last goal or any of those previous two goals, it's got to beat Jared Gordon. He's got to do it now.

That run has to start now, especially in this division. Let's get Zeke in here, and then we'll get my man Tristan here. We have a bunch of you. Indigo, Mitchell, you're all coming in here. Zeke, what's up? Free for all Friday. Welcome back, Zeke, for the week at least. but Mike or the man, I always tune in when I can on the podcast for them.

If you guys don't, you guys are obviously just missing out. I will be quick and short. First thing first, I want to join into this little draft thing. And with the 99th pick in the all UFC MMA, heck of a morning, BTL draft, Zizek Select, give me Sean O'Malley. I honestly think that if you're going to go off a star power and putting butts in seats, if you're going to draft Patty Pimlet, he isn't really the best fighter. but yes, he's going to put butts in seats.

I think Sean O'Malley, if you don't leg, kick him hard, is a very good fighter. I think he's definitely going to be, you know, within the top 15 in Banimoy, you know, for the years to come, whether it be five to seven, hopefully he stays healthy and does make that rise at the top. We'll see if he does get that fight with Pedro. But yeah, that's how I start off my promotion late with this pick. And secondly, Mike, I am interested to see what you think about our fight night main event. I am not going to lie. I'm super excited for Font versus Mr. Vera.

I think this is a huge opportunity for Mr. Vera, especially coming off of that, you know, early stoppage of Sean O'Malley. He's got all the hype train, all the, you know, KO kick of, I don't even want to mention it, Alexander. I'm thinking to you right now, I won't mention who Vera just knocked out. It's like, you know, an invisible creature. But, yeah, very excited for that. We'll see if he can contain Fon's jab up the middle

and maybe cruise to a victory. I'm very interested to see how this fight plays out because their ad dog price is very interesting for some betters across America. But yeah, I will shut up and interested to hear your preview of the main event. Thank you, Zique. Yeah, Sean O'Malley was one of those guys

that we all collectively agreed that we're all surprised. Nobody drafted them in our draft in the top 25. Because Sean is one of those guys that in a fantasy sports kind of a draft fits the mold perfectly. He's young. He hasn't hit his ceiling yet.

People like him. He's got value. He wins almost all of his fights. He's a great draft pick. And will we do this draft next year? I think Shot O'Malley will probably not get out of the first round of the next draft for being honest. We'll see who he fights next. I do like the Pedro Munoz idea.

And usually when Sean O'Malley asks for something, he gets it. But I don't know. Maybe you won't. Maybe they'll... The relationship between Sean O'Malley and the UFC is kind of rocky. They both just, I don't know, that it's not on the same page.

And Sean has been very vocal about how he wants to pursue his career and wanting more money, and we know how the UFC feels about that. They don't give you promotions. They don't give your raises. They usually frown upon things like that. So who knows? Maybe they'll give Sean O'Malley like the toughest match if they can't.

Maybe they'll throw him in there with Marab or... throw him in there with somebody like Ricky Simone that's just going to just put on a grueling pace on him. As far as the main event for tomorrow goes, I love the main event for tomorrow. It's tremendous. It's an excellent, excellent main event. As Jose Young likes to say, and probably will if he's on our preview show, this is a high-level martial arts competition. Right now, looking at the betting lines via our friends at Draf King's sportsbook. Rob Font, minus 125 favorite. Some money is coming in on Marlon Vera from yesterday. plus 105.

50-50 fight for me. I have questions more about Marlon Vera than I do Rob Fon. So I said this yesterday. From a betting perspective, this is a doggar-pass situation. Unless you're going to parlay, unless you're that confident, Rob, and can parlay him across the board. I know minus 125 isn't like the steepest line at all, but I just feel like there is some value in a 50-50 fight on anybody with plus money.

Even at plus 105. My official pick will be robbed font by decision, but it's a close fight. Like, it's a really, really close fight. I'm curious to see what Marlon looks like in this fight because it's a five-rounder. Because he was losing the Frankie Edgar fight until he won it. That third round was, things start to turn the corner from Mar-em-theller.

Usually loses the first round. he usually loses like half or a little more than half of the seconds and then he turns it on in the third. Is he going to pace himself in that way? Is he going to come out and lose the first two rounds and then come out midway through the third and then try to take over in four and five? I don't know.

This is his first time doing this in the UFC. Rob Font, third straight fight doing this in the main event spot. Cody Garbrandt, he ain't going to get tired. Went five rounds with Josealdo. And again, for those who want to learn more about judging criteria in MMA, Rob Font versus Jose Aldo might be the absolute best fight to watch when it comes to how to judge a fight in 2022. Because, again, you look at statistically and you haven't watched a second of the fight, you go to UFC stats and look at the stats, Aldo versus Fond and hadn't watched a second of it,

you would have thought Rob Fond beat the hell out of Jose Aldo for five rounds. because Fahd just lit him up on the stats. But that doesn't matter. You can land 55 unanswered strikes, but if you get knocked down with the big right hand, you lose the round. And that's what happened. So this is a great fight.

Really look forward to it. This card is not bad. It's not bad. Arlowski, Jake Collier. I know that's Jed Mishu's people's main event. Andre Feeley, Joannison Brito is interesting. Brito is a bright prospect, but they're throwing that man, the wolves right off the bat. Dawson Gordon's good.

Let's see if Tristan Connolly can stick around and beat a grizzled guy like Darren Elkins. Of course, when Gerald Mearshard fights, sign me the hell up fighting Christoph, by the way, can we give Gerald Mearshardt some more credit? This guy went in there with Hamsat Shamaev looking terrified. Like, he'll probably tell you the same thing. Walked to that fight, looking like he was. scared of death, and he got knocked dead in 16 or 17 seconds. And what does this guy do?

Bounce is back unbeaten since. What a year he had in 2021. This fight with Christophev Jocko is very interesting. We got Gabe Green, Johann Lanes. We got Mike Breeden, Natan Levy. Francisco Figurato's back. It's Daniel Lacerda. Gina Mazzani shot at Shana Young.

And we get the UFC debut of Tatsuro Taira, A flyweight, a lot of people are excited about taking on Carlos Candelario. Tyrus Fun, man. I spoke with him the other day. What a nice guy. And by the way, for the gamblers out there. Some UFC history being made on the bookend. Alexander Romanov, the biggest favorite ever in a UFC fight, aka, listen to this.

Alexander Romanov, a minus 2,200 favorites. against the returning Chase Sherman, plus 1,100, biggest favorite in the UFC history. I've been able to confirm that, but I've never seen a UFC line minus 2,200. I've seen like minus 1,400s, 1500s with like Nunes and Schiuchenko fights. Never have I seen a line this high in the UFC. You may have heard of the sex cult nexium

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Good morning. Mike, how you doing? Good. My question is, because you may have to explain this to me because I don't know how this works. So like you just said before, you were watching the PFL and you were, like, not really interested because you're just like, listen,

I'm assuming that the mindset, when you look at the PFO where you're just like, these guys are not, the competition is not great. You know, these fighters are not really, really that great. And we know with the UFC, they have partnerships, right? They have partnerships with LFA, they have partnerships with cage warriors or cage fury fighting. and they're able to, you know, get the best talent.

And you see, like, the difference of competition. That's why, obviously, we, you know, you guys, we always focus on the UFC because of the level of talent. With Bellator and PFL, what is their process of getting talent? I don't know, like, if Bellator or PFL have partnership with regional promotions where they could, like, inherit those type of fighters that could, raise the competition. And I just, it doesn't make sense me. I don't know how they do it. Like now they were, they were able to homegrown Aaron Pico and AJ McKee and fighters of that nature,

but still that just not getting better, better fighters where it could raise the competition where it makes you, you know, when you look at Belator, you're like, oh, I know this guy, oh, I know this guy. Oh, this guy is great. This guy is amazing. So like, how does that process works with Belichael? I don't know how Scott Coker does it. I don't know how they scout fighters and things of that nature. So like if you, I always, you know, you give this example, like with basketball, I know A.K. Lino's, but Toronto Raptors and the Miami Heat, for example, those guys can't get, pre-agents don't usually come to them. So what do they have to do? They have to build through the draft. But what they do is they look at every nick and cranny of how to find talent and then develop them

and they become good teams and they get to the playoffs year after year. And obviously you need that superstar and they were able to, and the Toronto was able to get that with Kwai Leonard and they won championship but they they you know obviously that's good management good front office to find to look everywhere they can to get better talent so i just just explain to me how it works with bellator and pfell how they get talent and how they could possibly raise the competition so we could watch those organizations like my goodness like look at the talent they have now so just take me through that process for how that works between pfl and bellisor especially those two organizations thanks fine

Thank you, Tristan. So I will say I'm not all that familiar with the PFL free agent signing process. I would assume that in a lot of ways there's like some bellatorisms to it where they will take chances. They will take a lot of them. Sometimes those chances pay off. Other times we have to kind of wait and see. Kayla Harrison, perfect example. Clarissa Shields, perfect example.

Like they'll take these chances. And they'll take on some of these fighters. like Brennan Locknain and other fighters that are in the news. And they're smart with that. Like Brennan, like the whole contender series thing, he goes on the media tour and people really caring. What does PFL do? They lock his ass right up.

That was a smart move on their part. Very smart. Now, what Bellator does is they kind of do things in a similar fashion. They will homegrow very talented wrestlers or very talented amateur fighters that had really good amateur runs. they feel that they can grow and become champions in this organization. Sometimes they have amateur experience.

Sometimes they don't. And I actually think Bellator and whoever their matchmakers are, whoever builds their rosters, I can tell you it's not Scott Coker that's doing this scout work. I can guarantee you that. But they do have a staff of matchmakers and a staff of, I guess the matchmakers are kind of talent scouts as well. You have seen the same way.

And they do a really good job of like finding. good prospects. They do. Like I, like Brett Johns was out there. I thought that was a really good signing. And then they went in and Brett Johns debuted against a guy who actually

right now, and I told you this is going to be the case, has turned up to be a really good signing for them. And Danny Sabatelo, they're really good at just getting guys at the right time who still have some gas in the tank. Enrique Barzola is a super underrated guy. He had a decent,

a really solid run the UFC and he probably still had some more gas left in that tank at 135 but they let him go belator scooped him right up they're also good like the jared skugginses of the world like i liked those signings sometimes they work out and sometimes they don't it's just it's just the way it is they they're very good at scouting like on the doorstep sorts of fighters now they're not necessarily a feeder league but they have good relationships with the management team so let's just say like a fighter is wanting to get in the UFC

and they win like three regional fights and the UFC hasn't called them Belator will just call them and offer them some money but just just look at some of the guys that they have sort of developed within this organization they've done a really good job of doing it like Grant Neal is one of those guys Alex Polizzi's

one of those guys like these guys are climbing up the ranks and then we look over at guys like Romero Cotton Dalton Rosta these are talented fighters they're very talented fighters you got Austin Vanderford. Another example.

UFC didn't want him. We'll take him. Smart move, especially with the attachment to his wife. Johnny Eblen could be the middleweight champion this summer. Fighting Gaygar and Musassi in June. I'll tell you what. I had very little faith in John Salter beating Gaygarne Musassi.

I had very little faith in Austin Vanderford beating Gaygarne Musassi, with all due respect. Johnny Eblen is more, I think Johnny Eblen is going to be more competitive with Gayguard, then both of those guys. And then they got guys like, Jason Jackson has always had incredible upside. He's starting to find it now. Jason Jackson was always that guy that like,

okay, here we go. He's on this run. He's going to go to the UFC. He's going to go bananas once he gets there. And then right when he got that opportunity, something weird would happen, or he'd come up just short. And now he's probably a win away from fighting for a world title.

Logan Story. I mean, the list goes on and on. They're very good at planting seeds. And, you know, some of the other signings, like, are just necessary. Like, Yancey Mederras worked out great. One fight deal turns out great. Nick Newell, they've done things like that. Kyle Stewart just got a multi-fight deal with Bellator. So, I mean, I don't think it's the roster that hurts Belator.

I think Bellator is a fine roster. It's the promotion. It's them, like, telling people, hey, you, MMA fan, we have a card. coming up on Saturday or Friday. You don't have to go to it. There's no airport in Thackerville, Oklahoma, but you can watch it on Showtime or the Bellatory YouTube channel in Canada.

But just tell us the fights are happening. Make us care. Don't give us a voiceover from stupid John McCarthy telling us about these fighters. No, that's not going to do it. that's not going to do it keep john in the commentary booth he's not a voiceover guy he's not a promo guy gee who's a better promo guy who's going to get you more amped for a big card

john mccarthy or ron freaking perlman easy it's not the roster for bellator it's the promotion pfl could just have some fun now pfl could do anything they can put anybody on their roster. They're on a big network. The smart cage, whatever. We can joke all about this freaking smart cage. But they can just have fun. They can do things that we're not going to question. I love the Kayla Harrison

bounty. I love the Kayla Harrison, spin the wheel, make the deal. Make a fight with one arm, tie behind her back. Like, let's just have some fun. PFL's there. It's cool. It's hit or miss. The pacing, it's all about pacing for PFL. Belator's good a good roster.

But PFL least tells you that these fights are happening and you know when they're happening and you know where they're happening let's go to mitchell good morning let's make sure you unmute hello there you go can you hear me yeah so my question is regarding the heavyweight division like what would you do regarding matchmaking because obviously you got jones militich gone aspirin or two vasa that what would you do regarding the much make it. Okay. So, as you may have seen,

I mean, I think it kind of works itself out at this point. You have to believe that the UFC is just going to wait on the interim title thing until they can get John Jones and Steepa on the same page. It seems like John's ready to go. Steep A wants to wait until September, which is fine. I'm willing to wait a few extra months for that fight

to happen. And I actually, maybe I'm the principal. positivity, I feel like we're going to see it. I feel like when the leaves are starting turn color and starting to hit the ground, we're getting that crisp fall air. We're going to be on the road to a John Jones steepe fight.

So I'm very happy about that. I think that makes sense. I think we're going to get Curtis Blades and Tommy Aspinall. Tommy Aspinall. Probably in July. I would guess on that London card, either at a main event spot or a co-made event spot. But that's what I think happens.

Like we get Blades Aspinall, and then we'll get Cyril Ghan versus Taito Ivasa in September. Because I believe, this hasn't been announced yet, but it seems like all signs are pointing towards the UFC making their debut in France. And it's looking like the fall. So if that's the case, we do Cyril Gond Tommy Aspinol, or not Tommy Aspedal, Cerogon versus Tai Tivasa. And I'm trying to think like how I would actually do this. it's probably the yeah it's probably the way to go it's probably the way to go

now how I would actually do it is I would put I don't know I just want to see Ty Toie Vasa fight for a title I just want to see him fly for the belt just because I just don't think he's going to get another chance

because I think he's I think he loses to all three of these guys I think he loses to Cyril I think he loses to Tommy Aspinall and he does it definitely loses to Curtis Blitz. It's a horrible matchup for him. But man, what a story would be if Taito Vasa

goes out there and fights Cyril Gahn in Paris and beats him? Oh my lord. It's actually probably really smart matchmaking because Cyril Gahn is going to get this great, great ovation, this great pop,

and people are going to be pissed if Cyril Gahn loses that fight. But then he loses the Taito Ivasa and even like the Houston, even the, even the Houston faithful who were there for Derek Lewis, even they shared tied to Ivasa. How can you not like that guy? It's actually pretty smart on the UFC smart.

So that says I think will happen. September or excuse me, July, I think we're going to get Tommy Aspinall versus Curtis Blades. Not announced, not a done deal. That is being discussed. That I know for sure. If the UFC goes to Paris, I think we'll do Cyril Gan versus Taito Ivasa,

maybe August, September. if they do go there, and then we'll get Joan Steepay in September. That's how I booked the heavyweight division right now. And Derek Lewis fighting Sergei Pavlovich, very interesting fight. Didn't see that one coming. That was not, I'm definitely not going to not no point for that one.

Indigo. Hey, Mike, how are you doing? Good. First day, I just wanted to shout out MMA fighting. You guys kill it every time you and A can out know, and Jedd the BTL champ and everyone else there. Secondly, I'm really glad that you brought up Alexander Romanov because it's kind of wild to me that he was like a minus 1,400 favorite last week. And now he ballooned all the way up here.

I don't know how that happened. And lastly, Casey O'Neill is out of her fight with Jessica I with, I think it was a torn ACL, if I remember correctly. And Macy Barber is stepping in. do you think that she's in a position to take a fight like that now? Should she take it slow? Or, like, what is, what, what, is this smart for her? Interesting question. I appreciate that.

Yeah, the Romanov thing is super interesting. I think people, I think people just saw the photo, like the new improve Romanov 2.0 where he's like 240 and like 6% body fat, which is, you know, being generous there. But dude's looking, looking svelte, looking shredded. It's a scary dude. Now he's in shape, just doesn't feel like he's going to get tired. Like maybe he did in the Wanaspino fight. It's not going to gas out.

Maybe the cardio is just getting better and better. Listen, Chase Sherman, Chase is a dog, man. He's hard to get out of there. Listen, Romanov's going to win the fight. But, yeah, massive lines. I'm not surprised. I think people maybe saw like the eat that, the health scare

for Sherman they felt like maybe he was in a tough spot heading in now we're adding a potential health scare to the mix let's just throw all our money on Romano Romanov which is wild I don't know man when you see betting lines like that I don't know it makes me think like what could happen if the underdog actually wins

like what if Chase Sherman beats Alexander Romanoff that would be freaking wild absolutely insane as far as your other question goes macy barbara listen i think macy barber is kind of in a weird spot right now where she was already given to put you over fight we're gonna we're gonna fast track you we're gonna give you a fight against like a top seven fighter and we know you're gonna beat her we as the ufc know you're going to beat roxan modafari so we're gonna give you your chance

you go out there beat a former title challenger a fighter a lot of people know, a top 10 fighter, and then we're going to boost your ass up there. We're going to fire you up the rankings so quickly. And what happened? Roxanne beat her. Injury aside, say whatever you want. It is in the books as a Roxanne Modifari victory.

So what that does is that puts basically in a position where every fight you have from now on is going to be a difficult one. That's why I was very high on the idea that if Aaron Blanchfield beat J.J. Aldrich, June 4th, you got to throw Aaron Blanchfield into that Macy Barber fight because that's a tough fight and I know this is kind of like two fighters and that second crop of flyway contenders but at that point like the time for Macy

to get these kinds of fights against a veteran that she'll be favored over it's over they're long gone you had your chance you didn't come through now an opportunity comes around and you have Jessica I who is on a three fight losing streak I believe and this is a very very very

very winnable fight for Macy Barber. This is smart on her part. This is very smart. If I was like the entire, like it's just timing worked out great because Macy just fought all the other 125ers are booked or injured that who else was it going to be.

Macy steps in, says yes. I'm sure she didn't even hesitate. This is very smart at her part. Now, if this is a different fighter other than Jessica I, I might question it. Like let's just say like Viviani Aurozio was out of her fight with Andrea Lee, I wouldn't recommend Macy's stepping in fighting Andrew Lee.

But fighting Jessica I have had it. Smart move. I assume Barb will be by the time that fight starts a minus 275 favorite. Not counting Jessica eye out of this fight because Jessica's been in these situations before where we think this new up-and-coming prospects is going to run them over. And then Jessica comes out and gets a win. I don't think that happens here.

but I think this is very smart on Mesa's part. Motivated, Andy. Good morning. You got to unmute, my man. Sorry, man. Andy. There was a delay. I was questioning your motivation.

There was a delay. Mike, Nick, it's Friday. Don't question my motivation, man. I got a bang in family matchup this weekend between Rob Fott and Cheevera. My question is, though, so Chase Sherman against, I'm forgetting, his name, but the biggest Romano. Right, Ramonov coming in. I saw

it at 2,500. You said 22, I'm sure it's going to come down closer. I mean, the only lines that matter are our friends at Draft King, so it's 22. But there are, we're at 20, there are lines, depending on where

you look. I mean, there's minus 1,800s, but there are minus 2,500s out there. So my question is, Are you going to throw away $10 putting it on Chase Sherman? Because I see that and I'm like, man, you know what? I just won't eat pizza tonight. Maybe I get a couple grand off of this. Because these odds are insane.

This is exactly how it looked like whenever it was Shane Adopsin against a gopova. I just put like 15 bucks on Shane Adopson. Like there's no reason why you shouldn't. The odds are too amazing to not just a little bit of throwaway money. like come up big i don't know is it just me am i just like i don't know just willing to throw away cash that i shouldn't because this is just too juicy i just can't i can't not take a little bit of action that's like the degenerate gambler in me i don't even gamble like that i just see it and i go at plus 2,500 can i really not do it you're probably thinking to yourself man like i have this

feeling and if you don't put it on and then chase wins you're going to be so mad i mean i had it with shana i had it with shana i was just like agopova like at that point that was her first ufc fight shana dobson had lost three in a row i believe and i was just like well i mean shana dobson has been losing to good people it's not like she's been losing to nobodies and then agopova was just kind of raking in the wind before it ever happened she was like bad-mouthing shana dobson saying like I'm going to first round finish whatever and then she goes out punches herself out and I'm just like are we just I don't know I don't know the odds are probably right draft Kings is amazing but I don't know it's that itch that itch that man I could be missing out

on you know 2K off of a pizza I don't know I uh listen I I'm I'm sure that you are not the only one having these these thoughts i don't know listen this is unprecedented territory this is unprecedented territory we're seeing a ufc fighter as a minus 2200 favorite we've never seen this before that modern ufc that's for sure we've seen valentina shivchenko up like in in fights with with people we knew she was going to be and she wasn't even near minus 2200 this is wild Listen, if you got $10 If you have it and it's not going to hurt you If you have like another 10 for the pizza

Listen, what you should do is you should go to the grocery store And just buy like, you know, get one of those bobbly pizzas Like make it yourself or there's companies out there You can buy a pizza for five bucks Just buy a large pizza for five bucks Throw it in the oven, 425 for 16 minutes And just eat the crap out of it It's not going to be your local pizza

to shop, but you're still going to get the pizza taste, and then you still have, like, another five or ten bucks to throw on the dog Chase Sherman at plus 1100. I mean, why not? I think we all know what's going to happen in this fight, but you never know. Chase could land a big shot. And Chase has literally no pressure on him. This guy was released from the company, like two and a half weeks ago.

He's released for, like, three days. And then he gets a call. Hey, you want to fight this dude on like five days? No, he's like, okay, I'll fight him. And here we are. Chase Sherman getting an opportunity, he has no pressure on him. Literally done. Because what happens?

What happens? He goes out, he's making double what he made in his last fight. He signed to a four-fight deal, although we all know that doesn't mean much. He's expected to lose. and what's not the beauty of it, but the beauty of it is like, Romanov could punch you hard and he could beat your ass,

but he's probably just going to choke you. You're probably just going to go out there. You're going to get belly-to-belly-suplex. You're going to get choked, and you're going to make double the money you made in your last fight. And everybody expects you to lose. So, you know, not a, I mean, it's not a great spot to be in, but not a bad spot.

It's nice, there's nothing scary than a guy who's nothing to lose. And Chase Sherman literally has nothing to lose. Because even if the UFC is just like, we're going to release you again. This is a weird time. Another heavyweight fight could fall out and guess who the first call is going to be to. Chase Sherman.

This guy's getting nine lives, Toke, doesn't he? Doesn't he, Toke? Nine live Sherman. What's that, buddy? Yeah, Mike. There was a bit of a delay there. As someone else hid it to as well.

So I don't really have anything on this odds thing other than this banana peel. pricing as I mean, the pricing is such that Alexander Romanov might just slip on a banana peel and you get your value. At this point, the value is on Chase Sherman. So bet on that or bet nothing?

Okay. But what I wanted to ask you is the draft is not over. You know, and the interesting day is always day three because you want to see, okay, who are teams going to go after to, you know, who has the tools but haven't put them together yet? And you had your fighter draft. So I'm just asking you, who would be your Mr. Irrelevant?

Who would be your seventh round pick? You know, the guy that he has all the tools, but he has not put them together yet at all. But I'm going to take a flyer on him, and he's going to be my future if everything works out. for me it's Adrian Yanis if he lasts that long but I'm wondering what you think about it

that is a great question I like the Adrianianna's pick although I don't think he'd last into the seventh round see this is interesting because I have to think about some of the characters

if you will of the players involved so we've already drafted five I don't think Sean Malley gets out of the six. Maybe Yonis could make it to the seventh. That's not a bad pick. What I'm going with right now?

Just off the top of my head? Because I don't think anyone's going to take him. I'm taking Claudio Poyas with my seventh round pick. I honestly don't think anybody's going to take him. I don't think any of the other guys are going to take him. And there's some value there. And he's getting it together. And if he loses a fight, like, it's all good.

You can just bounce right back. but that's not a bad way to look. But yeah, it's a good question. Can't really go wrong in that spot. I like the Adriana's pick. I think Chris Gutierrez would be good. Muhammad Baha'iath was a guy I almost looked at in the fifth. He's a guy that's probably not going to get out of the sixth or seventh round.

You know what? That's a no brain. If Muhammad Maha'iath is there in the seventh round, I'm taking them. Like, without even hesitating. Because I do believe Mohamed Maha'iath is going to be a two-day. division. He's going to be the flyway champion. He's going to be the Bannamway champion.

He's that good. He's that talented. He is the definition of a blue chipper. He's that good. I'm telling you, this guy is that good. If you're buying stock at a fighter, you go bananas on Muhammad Mahayev right now. All right, we'll take a couple more.

Hot Take Higgins. Free for all Friday, my man. What's going on? Apparently there's a delay on my end. I don't know why. So apologies if you're hearing a delay. I don't know if that's affecting this. Oh, hot take.

Let's get Tim in here. Tim Montfels. What's up, buddy? Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Has anybody talked about the back and forth between Jose Aldo and Al Jemaine Sterling on Twitter last night? No has, and I'm so happy you're going to talk about it.

I'm very happy you're interested to talk about it. So I just wanted to hear your thoughts on the matchup. I'm not mad. I wouldn't have been mad if. I saw Dilla Shaw get the shot. I scored the Sanhagan fight for him. It was really close. I am not mad at anybody that scored it for San Hagen,

but I think Aldo's fighting just about as good as anyone in that division right now. I think, and the narrative is that stylistically, he matches up really well with Sterling. I think he handles his pressure really well if he comes forward, and obviously his takedown defense is really good. But I just kind of want to hear your thoughts on the matchup, and if you had any early predictions moving forward, because from what it sounds like, the fight's getting pretty close to getting signed and done. So I'm excited about it and I wanted to hear your thoughts on it.

Listen, Banim Wade is a very fun division right now. There are lots of options for Al Jermaine Sterling and he knows it. And he's liking this. He's liking this right now because you got Aldo, you got T.J. And you even got Henry Sehudo. Now right away, I'm taking Henry Suhudo out of this discussion. Because, again, if you watch BTL and if you listen to, to this show or any other show, I'm standing on my little soapbox. Nobody cares that

Henry Sehudo is coming back. Nobody. Al Jermaine probably cares because he feels like you can win, but I'm telling you right now, more people are going to care about Al Jal Jal Jal, than they will Al Johenri Suhudo. Nobody cares that Henry Sehudo is coming back. Nobody. And you know what I've learned that I was actually wrong because I said that one thing people care less about or less engaged with other than Henry Sehudo and other than the ultimate fighter is the Kamar Usman Kenel Alvarez chatter. And you know what? I'm wrong. More people actually care about Usman Canello than they do about Henry Sehudo coming back to fight in the UFC. Nobody cares that Henry's coming back. Literally nobody.

Except for Henry, Ali, and Henry's coaches and teammates and immediate family. That's it. That's it. Until he actually gets in there and fight somebody. Now, he gets in there and fight somebody and actually gets in there and the cage is locked. He actually throws

a punch. Then I'll be like, okay, he's back. But again, he's not who he says he is. He thinks he's Connemer and what he is is like, he's got the drawing power of like and this is no disrespects I think this this person is phenomenal

and a tremendous fight so he's got the drawing power of like Jessica And Raj but he thinks is Connor it's crazy it's crazy but anyways as AK knows

on our onto the next one prediction show we always go through and we pick our champions who we think are going to be champions in each individual division at the end of the year my pick for Banimay was one of the first

Joseoaldo. So selfishly, I hope it is Joseo Alto because what a story that would be. Joseo Alto ended the year of Our Lord 2020 as the Bannamite champion. I feel like it balances out the world with positive vibes. I feel like there's a lot of negativity in the world and I feel like just that visual of Joseoaldo holding a Bannamite champion or holding a UFC title in 2022 would just kind of balance it out. Now I don't want to sit here and crap on Al Jermaine Sterling, I'm not. This is, this is, I'm not supposed to be really a fan, but I think we're all sort of in agreement,

even if Al Jemaine Sterling was the most likable guy on the planet. And we all 99% approved of Aljo. Everybody loved his trash talk and his demeanor, which by the way, I do. I thought Al Jermaine Sterling did such a tremendous job during the entire UFC 273 fight week. He turned, he changed me completely on that fight. because I was like, eh, all right, they're going to fight.

It's two good band. The two best Bannam weights. I already know how this is going to go. Yon's going to go out there. He's going to run him over. And by like Thursday, I was like, you know what? Aljo's got me convinced that he could win this fight. And he did such a good job.

But just, I think everyone just the nostalgia in them just wants to see it happen. Just wants to see Jose hold that title. What a cool moment. What they should do, I've been saying this for a while now. Just do Dilleshaw versus Aldo make it a big fight, five rounds, headlines of fight night, co-main event, you can do five rounds on a pay-per-view. Who's not, like who's going to complain if T.G. Dillishar, Jose Aldo, five-round fight is a co-main event on a pay-per-view.

The answer is nobody. That answers all the questions. So Hudo isn't getting the title shot. So just throw those two guys in there. Five rounds. Let's go. give him five round money, winner gets Aljo. That's what I would do.

But if you're giving, if it's like, we're having a matchmaker meeting and saying, nope, we're not doing that. One of these guys has to fight for the title. Selfishly, I'm giving it to Jose Aldo. But if we're looking at it from a meritocratic standpoint, we're looking at it from how will the UFC brass do this? They're probably going to give it to T.J. Dillishaw.

But where does that leave Jose Aldo? I don't know. All right. We're going to take two more. going to take KRL, that we're going to take my man, WFC. KRL, what's up? Make sure you unmute. I know we're on some kind of delay.

I don't know why. What's up, buddy? You unmuted, then you mute it again. No, I don't know what's going on. I hear Joe Rogan's voice, like I'm going to crazy. Yeah, you're very muffly right now. I don't know what's going on. We'll try again another time.

Wildlife Fight Club. Send us home in a good way, my man. What's going on, brother? What's up, man? First of all, I appreciate you doing these, man. You're one of the only MMA personalities that get on here and do these. And these are awesome. I look forward to them every morning.

Appreciate that. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Oh, no. The year or did they just go, fill out of these paper and go? Because I was thinking, wouldn't it be better at these guys like doctors and a lot of other professions? They had, like, continuing education hours where every year they had to do so much time, dedicated to the actual sports so they know what's going on?

So to be honest with you, I miss like the first half of that. You're talking about like judges and refs? Yeah, just like, so like the judges are sitting over there. They're like, oh, what's the triangle? Like, do they actually know what's going on? Or they have to do anything to learn that? Interesting question. Thank you, Wildlife Fico.

We're trying to get Carol in a minute. Listen, I don't know. Like a lot of these judges come from a boxing background, and they, just do what they need to do to judge MMA. But a lot of them don't even know how to judge a fight. Like, just listen to a UFC broadcast. Daniel Cormier, one of the greatest fighters to ever fight, has no idea how to score a fight.

Like literally no clue. He has no clue what the rules are. He doesn't know. Like he knows the basics, but he doesn't know like what's a, like, what deciphers a no contest? Like, what's a no contest? What's a DQ? what leads to both of those things.

Like he doesn't know. He does not score. And Michael Bisbing, God bless Michael Bisbing. You could say what you want about his commentary. I actually like Michael Bisbing as a commentator. And I know he has struggled with the judging and the rules and all that stuff. But at least Michael has tried. At least Michael has tried.

He has tried to learn. John Anick has tried to learn. All right? And I think John Anick is the gold standard for all of sports play. by play, if we're being honest. And the fact that an NFL team or, not the team, but like, that a network that broadcasts NFL games

has not contacted John Anick as a freaking travesty, if we're being honest. But DC doesn't even seem to try. It just drives me nuts. And again, I brought this up before about judges' referees. Who in the blue hell wants to be a judge or a referee right now? Where's the incentive?

I mean, maybe there's some incentive of being a ref, there's literally no incentive to be a judge. Who wants to judge? That job sucks. It's terrible. You get absolutely annihilated if you make a wrong decision. Or even if you make the right decision in someone who bet against the person that you scored the fight or bet for the person you scored the fight against.

They're just going to crush you. They're just going to crush you. And if you have a 29, 28 for one fight, we're not going on Twitter with a virtual at a verbal and a written standing ovation for you saying, wow, that Adelaide Bird, that's the best 29, 28 of the night.

Give her a bonus. It's a thankless, shitty job. It's awful. There's no fun. And then the PFL comes out and they're like, you know what, we're going to do open scoring and we're going to do a computerized and all the stuff. No, you're not.

And enough with the open scoring conversations, it's gone to the point where I just don't care. Like I literally don't care. If you do open scoring, fine. If you don't, cool. I do not care about open scoring at all. State by state by fighter.

Just talk about the fighters. If the fighters want it cool. If they don't, I don't give a crap. It does not matter. Enough of the open scoring talk. We've been talking about this all too long. And we all know, especially in the UFC, it ain't going to change.

We're not going to get open scoring in the UFC. It's not going to have it. happen. Even if they go to a state that allows it, the OEC is going to be like, nah, we're cool. Al-I Quinta sold me on that forever. For a little while, I was on team open scoring, but even Al was like, it takes the drama

out of it. Like, if you know who's winning after two rounds and you watch the third round, like, there's no drama. There's drama in the two guys standing there waiting for Bruce Buffer to announce their name or Joe Martinius to announce their name. And I agree with that. I agree with that.

I understand the needs. and I understand why people would want open scoring, but it is not a hill I'm willing to die on ever. All right, let's see if we can get KRL in here. Can we get this to work? KRL, got to unmute. Can you hear me? There we go.

It was super weird. As soon as you let me in, whatever video was up on my Twitter would start playing. So I'm hearing like a fight happening, all of a sudden as soon as you try to let me. So sorry about that. What I wanted to say was regarding Muhammad Bakayev, who I am super high on. But the guy that they're bringing in to fight him, I mean, it sounds like they're bringing

it, like usually when they bring in a guy to fight, it's like up-and-coming prospect, you know, it usually could lean more towards like a squash match. Of course, like, it's never actually that, that bad. But they're bringing in this guy, Charles Johnson, who I know you know from LFA, who is a stud. His only losses are to Brendan Royval in the LFA and this other guy who's been really successful

and brave. I don't know if Mekiah's winning that, man. I really don't. So I'm really excited to see. I expect that the lines are going to be super juice for Mekiahs, just because his first fight was so impressive. I think he's going to end up

being a minus 200 favorite. And I think that's logically, that's ridiculous. This other guy is in such a huge streak. He's super long, super fast. He's a Tiger Muay Thai guy who's super excited to see what happens because this is going to be a big step up in my opinion. Well said, KRL.

I get where you're coming from. I think Charles Johnson is... The fact that he wasn't signed to the UFC was kind of a travesty. But I'm... I think this is a... a fun fight. Like, for anyone who feels like Baha'iath is just going to go in there and just run him over in a minute, you're crazy.

Having said that, I do think Baha'i F wins not easily, but I feel like he's going to win Doeuvre. Like, I honestly, I think he's that good. I think he's that good. Because if you put, if you put Charles Johnson in a fight with Cody Durden right now, I'd favor Cody. I would favor Cote. I would slight lean on Cody Dirted, right?

now but it's like but it's a fight like if i got charles johnson like plus 125 i'm taking charles johnson in that fight just because the the odds are there and they're in my favor and charles is unknown and i just think well i think mahyap is the future of this division i think he's the future he's going to be the future of the bannamweight division i actually think he's that good i think he's going to beat charles johnson and if he's a minus 200 i think he's going to cover that line with spades and he probably i don't know if he finishes johnson but i think he covers a minus johnson and i think he covers a minus 200. I think this is just a good fight. I think Charles is

going to be there. I think Charles is going to have his moments, but I think Baha'iif's going to win and maybe take some big shots. It's going to be one of those things. We're like, damn, that guy's tough. That guy's real tough. Taking two more. We're going to do this real quick. Get the underground

rhino in here. Hopefully. Hopefully get this delayed thing all figured out. The wheels spinning. Can we get the rhino in here? There he is. Hey, bud, all I wanted to say is when it comes to the judging thing, so what do you want UFC and MMA to look like in 10 years?

You know, with all the judging problems and the scoring systems, is this the same thing? We want to just play off of boxing rules, listening to everybody bitch and moan about all these crazy scoring systems, or do you want to change anything about it? I mean, in all reality, we barely know how to score a fight because we can argue all these rules and control time and who's pushing forward in aggressiveness. and what's a strike that's hard, what's a strike that's a, you know, really wobble the guy and stuff like that. You know, we can have those discussions. But what should we really change in the next 10 years besides just going off this damn boxing system that doesn't really fit our sport?

See, and that's the question. Like, how do we fix it? Because you could talk about things internally, like the judges that we have now. Like, what if we put them in, what if we put them like outside of the arena? Like, what if we put them in the back with monitors? and they just send in their picks. We have somebody watching them. Like, take the crowd out of it because we've seen,

we have seen a crowd, just a crowd, determine outcomes of fights, just by the way they reacted to things. There have been Diego Sanchez fights where he just throws a punch. Like, just throws a punch. Misses by 7,000 feet. But the crowd's like, yay, good punch, Diego. And the judge is like, ooh, that must have been something.

10-9, Diego, even though he landed like two significant. against strikes. That's the things that drive me crazy. But I don't know. Again, the honestly, the way to change this is you make, you make being a judge like a job anybody would want to do. Because nobody wants to be a judge. Like, if you're a judge now, you're like, you're just a judge. Or you're probably in like a crappy marriage and you just want to get out of the house. Because why else did you want to judge? You can't, you can tell. Just look at the faces of these judges when they're sitting at those seats. none of them smile no one wants to be there

they're just there it's like oh this is my life I wonder what the internal dialogue is with themselves as they're driving to the arena to judge these fights oh boy I am living the dream right now I'm about to get absolutely annihilated

on social media after I make a really terrible 2928 scorecard it's just I don't know there's no incentive to being a judge there's just none. Like there's literally zero. And that's why we have the boxing scoring because all these judges like freaking boxing judges.

They're just like, hey, you want to work overtime and cover this MMA event? Okay. Do you know what you're doing? I've watched the UFC once. Okay, you're in. Here's $150 or wherever they pay these judges. There's no incentive to do it.

That's why we're not going to get the best of the best. At first, like I thought, maybe we just get fighters in there but at the same time I think my best friend A.K. Lee told me this and I actually agree now the more and more I think about it, it's tough because there's this camaraderie between fighters and being

around these fighters like in person and stuff it's very clicky. It's very fraternity base. So there could be some biased stuff going on. There could be some things where it's like, oh yeah, I know this guy. I train with this guy. I'm picking him. I don't care what happens.

I played softball yesterday. The umpire was like friends with the other team. So we got hosed on like eight calls. And it pissed me off. But that's what, I mean, that's what could be like as, you know, with, with fighters being judges. I mean, there are some fighters who are just individuals and are on their own and they don't care what anybody thinks.

Like, I think Vince Pichel would probably be like a tremendous judge. He doesn't give any Fs. Even if his best friend's mad at him, he wouldn't care. Like, those are the guys you want to judge. But I would love to have. sort of an NFL system where what we need on these UFC broadcast is we need to help educate.

So we need to bring in somebody that actually knows how to judge. So like this would actually be great for John McCarthy, okay? I'm just, I'm saving Bellator. This is what we're going to do. John McCarthy's out of color commentary. He's done.

See ya. Goodbye. We'll bring somebody else in for color commentaries. Plenty of options. Belator's got some great personalities. where John McCarthy would be tremendous is because we see his scorecard

pop up all the time and then he's just like, yeah, I scored a 10-9. Oh yeah, I scored a 10-9. Yeah, he landed a couple better shots.

Like, John McCarthy would be over like Rover if he just came in between rounds and justified his scoring for 30 seconds. Hey, I scored this a 10-8 for patchy mix. Here's why. And then maybe the commentator could be like, oh, yeah, well, why don't you score the second round for Al Jemaine Sterling if you're going to get patchy mix to 10-8 round?

Boom. But still, like, that's what we need. And then John can explain. And then the UFC can do the same thing. Just bring somebody in who could be like, yeah, I scored at 10-9, here's why. Or I scored at 10-8, here's why. And then I think fans would get a better understanding. Now, I will say this.

I have noticed this year, there have been some egregious and some really shitty scorecards. but I will say that I feel like in some of these fights where we feel like there's going to be home cooking or things going the other way, we've gotten things right. Like the Benson Henderson, Benson's win against Islam Mominoff is a perfect example. Because anybody who is at least,

and I'm not a judging expert at all, but at least I'm trying to figure out how this works. And Benson Henderson getting the nod there made perfect sense. to me. But if you watch Islamamadoff fight Brett Premis, I thought Brent Primis, despite being taken down in all three rounds, I thought he won all three rounds

against Islamomanov. Because he was on his back, he was going for submissions, he was landing damage from his back, he should have won the fight. Because Isla Amadov just landed three takedowns that did nothing but take elbows to the top of his head.

So Brent Primus should have won that fight. Benson Henderson should have won that fight. And he did. So they got it right there. And there are other cases where there's some bad scores, it is what it is. I feel like that has gotten a little bit better, but I just think we need to educate fans more. I think a lot of the uproar and a lot of the people who get upset about things, like I have said many times, I'm getting crushed for it,

and I don't know why, that I thought watching Patricia Pitbull AGM A2 coming out of that fight, I had, there was no question in my mind that Pitbull won that fight. There was none. None. And the only people, and then I realized that the only people who are mad at me about that were either AJ McKee fans or they bet on Agent McKee. Or they bet on Agent McKee. And they're mad that they lost money. Go watch that fight by itself with no commentary. I guarantee you will see. And I watch it twice after.

You guys watch it on Friday or that Friday night. I watch it Saturday morning. No commentary, no nothing. I scored it four rounds for Pitbull the first watch, and I watched it the second time. I still wouldn't hate a 49-46, but I scored at 48-47 surely for Pitbull. He won the fight.

There's no controversy, in my mind, in my eyes. I have to watch her that way. All right. I got to get out of here. Chinma, you get the final word, my man. Are you there? All right, we didn't get them. All right.

That's it. See, it's one of those things right that where we'd go for like 30 to 45 minutes and we end up going for 72 minutes. So you guys are awesome. Thank you for bringing in all the questions. By the way, I never even mentioned this, but I'm going to mention it right now.

For those who are going to be, if you're listening right now on the podcast network, you're going to get something more than the people who are here listening to, okay? Not only do you get these rants and these conversations, but for the podcast listeners, you get yourself an interview with the brand new interim.

Bellator Bantamweight champion, Raffian Stats. He joined me. I spoke with him the other day on his victory tour, if you will. And we talk about the victory everyone on Archiletta, Sergio Pettis, and we talk about the big fight between Danny Sabatelo and Leandro Eagle that's going down June 24th. By the way, Raffion Stats is hoping one guy wins over the other. And the answer may surprise you. So that interview coming up, you're listening to the podcast network in a matter of seconds.

But that's it. By the way, preview show live 3 p.m. Eastern, M.A. Fighting YouTube channel talking U.S. Vegas 53. We'll probably talk some Taylor Serrano as well for the boxing enthusiasts. And then Saturday we'll have the people's pre-fight show, post-fight show, all that fun stuff. There should be a fun weekend in MMA. And then don't forget next week, it's kind of flying under the radar. We got UFC 274. We got Charles Olivera versus Justin freaking Gaichi

for the lightweight championship of the world. We got Rosnami Unis coming back against Carla Sparza. Finally, Carlispares gets her title fight. We get Tony Ferguson versus Michael Chandler. Yes, we get Shogun OSP, but we still have those other three fights, and that's a gift that keeps on giving. So we'll talk about that a lot next week.

But until that, everybody, have a heck of a morning. Have a wonderful day. If you're listening on the podcast network, Rafihan Stats joins us right now. All right, ladies and gentlemen, let us say hello to the brand new Bellator interim phantomweight champion, Rafion Stats. It is amazing to have this conversation because if memory is seriously correcting, is maybe an hour after the news was reported that Rafiom Stats signed with Bellator, him and I spoke, and then we haven't spoken since.

Oh, yeah. We speak as the interim band and weight champion of the world. At least you are anyways. How's it going, man? Going pretty good, man. I'm back in Houston. I'm on my victory tour pretty much. I stopped by my gym at Houston Metro and Houston to, like, say, what's up to the guys?

And yeah, so I'm just chilling, man, living life. Got Adrian and Cameron Smotherman over there hanging out. We're going to go to lunch. There you go. So I mean, how does it all feel? I mean, it seems like, I mean, what is it? It's Wednesday as we record this right now. So it's been like, oh, five days since you became the interim band and weight champion since that knockout of Juan Archeletta. How does it all feel? Man, it feels good. You know, it was, it's setting and finally, you know, that I'm the champion. You know, I did everything for a reason. And, you know, I spent like pretty much five days kind of with my family. We were in, we just stayed in Hawaii for a little bit and hung out. We're at. Sweet dream. Yeah, I guess we want a sweet green. But, yeah, we just chilled out with the fan for a little bit. And, yeah, now, I mean, I feel like a champion.

I'm ready for the next task now. You know, I'm ready for the next opponent. So feeling good. There's a very competitive fight through two rounds. Very close. I knew this was going to be a very close fight. I felt like I felt like you were finally starting to get all, like, all the respect. like the betting lines were big time in your favor.

I also felt that in a weird way that Juan Archoletta might have been the overlooked, most overlooked fighter on the roster heading into the weekend. Did you feel that as well? I definitely felt that. I mean, I was even like surprised that I was the favorite, you know, just given, you know, like people hadn't really known about me for that long of a time.

And Juan is like a former champion. He's, I think, challenged for the belt or multiple belts, like three times. you know what I mean? So, and he's always, he's always exciting, always a tough fight. I think he's, I mean, he's 25 and three, I think it was, you know? So, like, he was, like, arguably one of my toughest opponents today. So I'm, like, surprised, you know, that I was the favorite.

But, but, yeah, so I definitely think he was overlooked. How did you feel the fight was going after two rounds? Like, I know you're in the fight. It's hard for you to score each individual round in your head, but how are you and your team sort of seeing it after 10 minutes? Me, myself, I feel like I was like down. I could have been, it could have been one-one, but most likely I was down just because he was like controlling,

he was controlling me on the cage. He got me down once, but he was like, he had more cage control. I had more damage. I feel like my shots, I had them like cut and bleeding from the side of the head, but he was definitely, he had more control. And my goal or my plan was in the beginning to just kind of keep everything kind of straight down the middle, keep everything straight. But then also, you know, I knew he had like a really big gas tank where I expected his gas tank to be like a lot better than it was maybe. So I was not like I just wasn't wrestling as hard.

You know, I was just just trying to conserve my energy and then I was going to like kind of like pick it up in the third round. And hindsight, you know, I probably should have done more to like win those, those early rounds. But I definitely think I was down. So you throw the kick, Marlon Marius-esque, if you will. He runs into the knee. He goes down in a heap. And then you just jump on top of him, start landing those ferocious elbows.

And then the fight is stopped shortly thereafter. When he went down, what are you thinking? Because it's one of those situations where you're throwing something, it lands in a different way. And then he goes down. are you just like, oh my God, what the hell just happened? Yeah, no, I went out, my foot landed back. I kind of see him do that like little stanky leg motion or whatever.

In my head, I'm like, kill. I got to go and get him. I got to get him right now. So I think I like, as my foot landed, I like trying to throw a right hand. And it like barely grazed him and he still went down. And I just went on top and I was like, okay, I got a freaking. just decapitate this guy. Like in my head, I was like, his head has got to fall off before I get off of this dude.

Yeah, so that was going through my head. So I knew he was hurt, but I didn't know how bad he was hurt, and I wanted him to be out of there. I also kind of knew that I was like down in the round. So I really wanted him, you know, I wanted him to get out of there and make a statement. You certainly did. I know he protested the stoppage after, but he actually, he went back on social media not long after and was like, nope, referee made the right call. Well done. What did you think of him sort of protesting? We're just like, yeah, when you're talking about her? He like, I went over to say like,

hey, man, good job, man, good game playing at the beginning. And he was like, yeah, I mean, I wasn't out. That was bullshit, you know, good fight, but I wasn't out. I was just like, I mean, you wasn't in. You was like, I feel like he was out, bro. But I didn't say nothing, you know, because I'm like, I don't really know what to tell you. I'm going to go celebrate, I guess. I don't really know what to tell you. So, but yeah, I just thought it was, I also thought like, you know, I've been there, you know, when you don't really know what happened.

You've been knocked out, you know what I mean? So, yeah, I just was like, you'll find out, I guess later, you know. I didn't want to say, like, oh, no, you was not, I'm not going to argue with you right now because you kind of, like, you just had a dramatic experience. you know, I don't know. I mean, taking the belts away from it, biggest one of your career? Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, yeah, I would say so.

You said something that was super interesting after the fight when you were speaking to the media because someone mentioned the I word of interim and you're like, I'm fine with it. Like until I'll hold the title until Sergio is ready to come back and then, you know, hopefully everything falls at a place and we fight and we unify the title. So can you expound on that a little bit? Because a lot of people were kind of surprised by that. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I have, like, train with Sergio. Like, Sergio is, like, responsible for my kick.

He's, like, responsible for, like, a lot of the techniques I do, you know. And he says the same thing about, you know, a lot of the techniques he do. So, like, like, he's my boy and I don't want to, like, if you have a brother, you don't want to fight your brother. like if you don't have to, you know what I mean? So it's not like, it's not like for business, business-wise, yeah, I'll fight him. And I understand, you know, that has to happen. But it's not something I'm like jumping into, you know, I got to fight somebody.

That means I got to take something away from where I got to hurt somebody that I like. You know what I mean? It's just not, that ain't fun to me, you know? Like, hurting somebody I don't know. Like, that is the blast for me. But so, yeah, so that's where I'm. I'm like, and then also for me, best case scenario for me is that we both get kind of broke off a lot. We get paid a lot.

We like it does a lot for both of our legacies. You know, it's like worth something at the end of the day. And I was willing to fight them in the first round of the tournament. I wasn't ideal. You know, I would rather it be like the last fight in the tournament because then I know, you know, the winner gets a million dollars. And, you know, thank you. and then, you know, he also goes on and does, like, big things. And, but what's up saying?

And Serge? Yeah, sir. Yeah, Serge. So, like, I was willing to fight him, but, you know, it wasn't like something I was just like, like, oh, I can't wait to fight this guy. You know what I mean? So for me, the interim just means, you know, when we do fight, it'll be bigger fight. You know, it'll be champ versus champ. I would have just won the million dollar tournament.

And to be honest, like on a like popularity, like scale surge is a lot more popular to me. Like a lot more people want to see surge fight than want to see me fight. So like I feel like I got some work to do also like just like bring bring some eyes to the fight. You know what I mean? I feel like he has a lot of eyes on him already. And I'm not like really doing justice.

I'm just kind of like, you know, I was. there at first. But now, like, I'll have, I'll have a belt, you know, I'll have the Grand Prix champion title behind me. Serge will be Sergio Pettis, the one and only, you know what I mean? The comeback of the year guy. And I feel like it'll be worth, you know, more if we fight now. But again, like when it happens, when he heals up, when he's ready to go. I feel like the two biggest stock boosts maybe of the entire year took place this past weekend. You on Saturday, the promo you cut with John was great. And then a man who you could be fighting next, Danny Sabatello, who also got a tremendous promo, had a dominant win over

Jordan Al Lugo. He's getting ready to fight Leandro Ego on June 24th and the winner that will face you. Have you watched Sabatello's fight yet? And I'm sure you've seen the clip of the promo and everything. What do you think? I haven't watched the fight yet. I still got to watch it. I just watched patchy and I'm also like trying to like balance family time but I watched Patches and her Gucci's fight

and a little bit of Barzola But yeah I got to watch I got to watch Sabatelos But I've seen the highlights And you know he looked He looked really good

Boy no did I watch Sabatollos? I might have watched Sepatollos I think I did watch Cappetellos But I fell asleep No No it was

No I did No I did watch Sattapitello's. But yeah, it was it was really good. Now, he's really good and he talks a lot, so I'm excited. Like, I want, I hope I get to fight Stabatello, to be honest, you know. He's, he's really good on the ground, you know. He obviously sucks on his feet, but he's really good on the ground. So that, that'll be super, and I know he's going to talk to shit. So that'll be fun for me. I love talking. That'd be fun for me. You got to bring you to Mohegan for that fight so you could square off of them after.

Yeah, like that would be amazing. With that platinum blonde hair and the shade. I love that. I would love that his slim head, slim head. I would love to, I would love to fight Danny Sabotello. No, I mean, he's also somebody that I can like behind, not like it. I don't know him personally, but I feel like from afar, I can get behind, you know, not liking the guy. So I'll probably go with that.

and be able to, you know, drive some extra motivation. There you go. Last thing for me, I know you're spending some time in Houston with the friends and the fam. I don't want to take too much more of your time about to go get some lunch. But what's interesting about your story is I feel, and it's funny that you trained at Extreme Couture because you were in the same room with Chris Curtis for a while. And I feel like your two stories are so incredibly similar that the UFC pass on you guys, that you were at these crossroads in your careers.

Yeah. He ends up in the UFC. He's having a tremendous. this run, you end up in Bellator, now you're the interim Bannon Way champion. If you could go back like five years, maybe even more, would you do exact same way or would you change a thing? You know, I feel like the time I spent, you know, kind of like hating MMA or hating the UFC or I feel like those times, those formative years of me training was the best for my growth later on. And I don't know if I would be where I'm at now, if it wasn't for those. So I would

probably do it the same you know um I probably make some better money decisions if I could but um I would probably do it the same just because I feel so comfortable with like whoever I fight and whatever I do just because of the way I train trying to get there um if I would if I would have gotten maybe in my opportunity sooner you know who knows if my work ethic or everything would have been kind of the same or if I you know it would have took it took for granted um you know the opportunities that I got. So I would probably do it the same. Well said.

And of course, the man who put me on your radar years ago was Gerald Mearshardt, who he's getting ready to fight this weekend as well. Yeah. Any words of wisdom for Mr. Mearshard? I mean, he's had 7,000 fights, so he probably's heard it and seen it at all,

but maybe a motivational speech, if you will. Yeah, Gerald, he don't need no wisdom because he gives me all my wisdom. He told me once that a musk rat was a musk rat when I thought it was a raccoon or a beaver. He's just a savant of knowledge. And I know he's going to go out there and, you know, dominate and freaking, the guy better not go to the ground with him because he's good at putting people to sleep. Unlike Bill Cosby, he don't use pills. He used his hands.

I'm ready. I'm ready for Gerald to freaking, freaking knock the doors down and, and dominate. Well said. Rafian, you are the man. Congratulations. Enjoy the celebration tour, if you will. The interim bantamweight champion of Bella Tour MMA. Looking forward to seeing you fight either. Leandroigo, I'm actually selfishly hoping for Sabatello as well. Me too.

Later on this year. I want Sabatello, really. I do. Congratulations, man. Thank you for your time. All right. Later, man. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay.

Only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.