MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Aljamain Sterling's Potential Move To 145, Askar Mozharov's Record Keeps Changing, Danny Sabatello Joins the Show
Episode Date: June 3, 2022Aljamain Sterling has discussed possibly moving up to featherweight to make way for teammate and friend Merab Dvalishvili to get a title shot with another win or two, while this weekend's UFC Vegas 56... event features a debuting fighter with a pro record that continues to change. On this episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck answers listener questions about Sterling's potential move to 145, along with UFC newcomer Askar Mozharov's frequently changing record ahead of his fight with Alonzo Menefield this Saturday at the APEX. Listener topics also include Arman Tsarukyan's ceiling, pound-for-pound rankings, UFC Long Island, Gregor Gillespie, and more. In addition, Bellator bantamweight Danny Sabatello (1:03:23) returns to the show to preview his Bellator 278 grand prix matchup with Leandro Higo, talks Dana White doing him a favor not signing him off of the Contender Series, Bellator's 135-pound roster compared to the UFC's, his distain for Higo, and much more. Beginning next week, you can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 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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All right, everybody. It is Friday, June 3, 2022, and it is indeed.
a heck of a morning.
Live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces,
shortly thereafter,
on the MMA fighting podcasting network.
And if you are listening on the podcast network,
you get some bonus content
because at the tail end of this thing,
if you're listening on the podcast network,
a conversation with one of the rising stars
of Bellator, MMA,
a guy who about two months ago,
made a significant leap in the eyes
and the hearts and the emotions of MMA fans after his performance
in one of the play-in fights for the Bellator Bantamweight Grand Prix.
He is officially in the Grand Prix now,
and he will be fighting Leandro Ego on June 24th at Bellator 278.
In beautiful, in Scenic Uncisfill, Connecticut,
the one and only Danny Sabatello will join us.
And as expected, absolutely on.
fire in this conversation. We covered a lot of stuff over the 25 or so minutes that we spoke
and the guy is ready to not only beat Leon Juerreigo, but beat Rafion Stotz and beat everybody
else in his path. And if he does that, he makes me look like a genius because I went on a show
and the video is out there for the world to see that not only did I pick Danny Sabatelo to beat
Jordan Al Lugo, I picked him to win the entire Grand Prix and maybe I'll look foolish, but maybe
I look like a very smart person.
And that doesn't happen often in my life, but that'd be a nice moment for me if I could be smart.
So hope you're all having a great day.
We also have some news about this show, and I'll leave it up to you.
Do we want to get that out of the way, or do we want to just get into the show and then do the
announcement?
I don't know.
If you want to do it now, just throw a little piece emoji up, and we'll just do it now.
It's not like earth-shattering news, but I think it's.
It's going to be pretty cool, and it's going to get, all right, I see a few, so F it as the kids say.
Let's go.
So, for those listening right now at 8 a.m. Eastern Time Live, this will be the last time that you will do so.
Because I started the show that wanted to do a sports radio platform.
I grew up in the Boston area, as a lot of you know.
I'm a diehard Boston sports fan.
and what I used to time as a kid and as an adult before I moved out to the Western part of the state is I loved Boston Sports Radio.
Loved it.
And by the time, I always wanted to be a game show host, but by the time I was like 18, 19, 20, my dream job was to host a morning sports radio show and just take calls and listen to your opinions, give my opinions, and just converse with the fans in a sports radio type atmosphere.
beer. This is kind of that, but I don't get a lot of complaints about the show. A lot of people
have really liked it. The podcast numbers have been great. A lot of people have been hopping in
here and doing the damn thing. And I appreciate that very much. But the one thing that I've been
getting complaints about is that the show starts too early, that people and the rest of the United
States don't get the chance to really participate in the show because it's 5 a.m. in California or
6 a.m. and other parts of the country. And this is obviously an East Coast catered show. And
MMA doesn't normally do that. So to make everybody happy, I've spoken with the powers that be.
And what we're going to do, starting next week, starting Tuesday, is we're going to push the show start time back two hours.
So we're going to start things at 10 a.m. Eastern, 7 a.m. Pacific. And we're going to do it that way.
Because I want more people involved.
I love all the same voices, but there are other people who want to get involved.
And I hope that you guys can still get involved, the ones who wake up early and all that stuff.
And we'll make it worth your while.
So it'll be a little bit of a change.
But I think this will be a better fit for everybody.
We'll show.
It will still be on the podcast network.
There still talks about doing the show five days a week.
We haven't gotten there quite yet.
But that is in the discussion phase as well, but at least for the time being starting Tuesday.
and then moving forward 10 a.m. Eastern start time for the show.
So we'll have more people in here.
We'll have more banter, more discussion.
And there you go.
Like I said, not earth-shattering news, but some news, nonetheless.
The decision was made yesterday.
I'm announcing it here.
That's what we're going to do.
So thank you very much.
It is a free-for-all Friday, which means it is your show.
We're going to do whatever the hell you want.
And we're going to talk about whatever the hell you want.
So if you want to talk about tomorrow's UFC, Vegas-56 car, we can talk about that.
You want to talk about Mazadal McGregor.
You want to talk about Poria Chandler.
You want to talk about the Boston Celtics showing heart, showing adversity.
There were people already writing the Celtics.
Damn, eulogy after the third quarter of that game last night.
And the Celtics come out and run over the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter.
One-nothing lead.
Absolutely massive victory for your Boston Celtics.
They are up one-nothing.
And they're going to go up two-nothing on Sunday.
They're going to go back to Boston, up two games to nothing.
So that is not a spoiler.
That is facts, my friend.
Well, it is a spoiler, if you will.
Well, it's not a prediction.
It's a spoiler.
Shout up, Paul Heyman.
All right, let's go to the peeps.
You don't want to hear about me talking about the Celtics.
CRJ will kick us off on this free-for-all Friday.
You know me, you know me.
What's going on, free-for-all Friday?
Mike, I think moving the show back two hours, smart choice.
And good on you for making that choice.
Here's my question.
How many more times is Stephen Thompson going to fight in the UFC?
That's an interesting question.
Thank you, CRJ.
I would say, hmm.
I would say we have a few years left at Wonderboy.
Just because of the way he approaches the sport.
Yes, he's got goals.
They're very lofty.
He still feels that even at this point in his career,
that he could still fight for the belt.
I love Wonderboy.
He's one of the guys that early in my career,
when he was rising up through the ranks,
gave little old me a chance to interview him,
and I've been interviewing him for years and years ever since.
We built a relationship over the years,
just, you know, a very good guy.
But I think it would be unfair of me,
and it would be a little weird of me to say that,
yeah, this guy could,
this guy's going to be fighting for the belt at a year.
Now, Stranger Things have happened.
We've seen Michael Bisbing at horrific lows in his career battle his way back to fight and eventually win a UFC title.
So it's not out of the realm of possibility.
I just feel like the book has been written on how to beat Wonderboy right now.
I understand why people were sort of lambasting Sean Brady for calling out Wonderboy Thompson.
and I don't blame Sean for calling him out
because he's trying to rise up the rankings
and Wonder Boy is ranked ahead of him
and Wonder Boy just fought below Muhammad.
Wonder Boy has made a career of fighting these guys
that are up and comers and trying to get past him
on the way up the ladder.
So I don't have a problem with the call.
A lot of people did have a problem with the call out
because they just don't want to see Wonderboy fight wrestlers anymore.
But the problem is if Wonderboy wants to fight for a tight,
and wants to get that Bisbing story of being in a tough spot,
being beat,
dominated in his last fight by Bilal Mohammed,
got beat by Gilbert Burns,
clearly he's going to have to beat some of these up-and-coming guys.
And Sean Brady,
if Shafcott-Rach-Modoff beats Neil Magny,
you best believe Shokkoff will be looking at Wonderboy as a potential opponent.
So, I mean,
but Wonderboy also just does it because he wants to fight.
It's not a money thing.
It's not, you know, he'd love to, if you get to do something,
you might as well try to be the best at it and try to win a title.
But if Wonderboy just got fun fights the rest of his career and fought for,
I think Wonderboy could fight for another three years.
It's not like he's cowboy circa four years ago when he was fighting,
cowboy was fighting five times a year.
Wonderboy fights once, maybe twice a year.
And you put him in the right matchups, I think.
There's still value.
People still love Wonderboy.
When I interview Wonderboy and it goes up on our network, people watch it.
People love the guy.
And I get it.
I get it.
But I don't know.
It just depends on what he wants to do.
Does he want to climb the ladder and fight for a title or does you just want to fight
and have some fun in there in between everything else he's doing in his life?
Because he's got a lot going on.
He's got the YouTube channel.
He's got all the shows that he does.
He's got the karate school that is very successful.
He's still doing the damn thing and picking the kids up from school on the bus and
driving him to the karate school to do martial arts and kids programs and stuff like that,
the guy is like a superhero when it comes to role models in MMA.
I think he's got some time.
It all just depends on what he wants to do.
If he just wants to get in there and compete and have some fun, you could get three more years
out of them.
It wouldn't shock me to see even longer.
But it just depends on what he wants to do.
If this is just about glory and becoming a world champion, maybe not.
but if it's about just getting in there and competing
and just doing it because he likes to do it,
I think you get a little bit of a,
I think you get some time with him.
I think we get some time left for Mr. Wonderboy.
Let's go to Jay, Gabriel.
Jay, what's up, buddy?
The speaker thing is on, but I don't hear anything you're saying
for some reason.
Try again.
Now try on muting.
Maybe it'll work.
Yeah, sometimes, this is the one thing I don't like
about Twitter spaces once in a while.
with AK yesterday to just once in a while that happens try again i'll get you back in here
as you bring in Miami Mike i think i know what he's going to want to talk about and i welcome it
Miami Mike what's up buddy heck of a morning mike most heck of a morning to you after seeing
those Celtics come back from absolutely nowhere bro i've been telling you they've been doing it
the whole time to the heat and they did it again in the fourth quarter again to the wow to the
dude i just don't know what to say this about the celtics man what are you doing behind the couch behind
while you're watching the tv man because there's got to be some kind of juju you're putting on them
or some kind of something because again it's on a heck of a morning and they have some crazy crazy
comeback numbers to talk about bro and i could not stand i have my co-worker we were watching the game
last night and the thing chirping chirping chirping chirping in my ear the whole night bro and i'm just thinking
Mike Eck was probably having the time of his life in the fourth quarter, man.
Anyway.
It was amazing.
Yeah, it actually really was.
It was.
I was impressed.
My jaw was dropped.
I had a question for you about your pound-for-pound rankings on the MMA fighting.
Pound-for-pound, what would you kind of describe as being pound-for-pound on this list?
Is it somewhere as the person that's ranked two can beat the person that's ranked six if they were all like presumed the same weight with the same, you know, that their skills that they carry now.
But if they were all the same weight, is that what it counts as?
Or am I thinking something off?
Yeah.
So truth be told, I love being part of the MA fight.
global rankings panel. They are the only rankings that matter, in my opinion. I think there is more
due diligence and time spent and the right things happening behind the scenes in order to put
these rankings together. And what's good about us is that we all have our own opinions. We all look at
things differently. Like one panelist will view one thing in one way. One will view it in another
way. But normally the top fives and stuff are all identical. They're all pretty much exactly the same.
they should be. The one thing I cannot stand about doing rankings and talking about rankings
is pound for pound because you can look at pound for pound in a whole different light.
You can look at it in a multitude of different ways. Everyone has sort of their own definition
for pound for pound. Some of them are accurate. Some of them are just weird and wrong. It's just
like the goat debate because it's all just based on how you feel. There's different context.
There's different ways you can look at it.
I think right now it's pretty clear that Ouspin is the guy.
I think what he's done over these last couple of years being as active as he has been,
I think it's pretty clear that he's the guy.
Now, going from there, that's when things get really interesting.
Because right now, Adasania is number two in our rankings.
Volcanovsky is three and Ganu is four.
Charles Oliver is five.
And then we kind of go down the list and we're looking at right now Max Holloway is six,
Algebra and Sterling is seven,
Steepa is eight,
De Soporier is nine,
Glover-to-Share is 10,
and on and on we go.
It's very easy to do pound-for-pound
for maybe the top five,
maybe the top 10,
but we're ranking top 20,
you kind of just throw a dart at that point
because you can make arguments
for a lot of those guys.
You can just slot people in,
and it's way more difficult for the women,
mostly because there's just not enough women fighters right now,
that are on good streaks that are winning impressively.
So those get a little tougher.
And even just individual rankings with the women's rankings are tough too
because it's just such a crapshoot a lot of times.
Like some women are on streaks and then some lose two or three in a row,
but we realize that they're really good.
And then you have the Jessica Androges in the world
who could be the number one ranked fighter in two divisions right now.
I mean, not over Valentina,
but you could rank Jessica Androgy in two divisions.
and you could put her, you can make a strong argument right now
that Jessica Androge is the number one straw weight in the world.
I put, I gave it to Esparza, but if Jessica Androge and Carla Sparza,
if that was the next fight, let's just say they booked this fight,
it's happening in August and we know about it, it's happening.
Jessica Androge is a massive favor to that fight.
I would pick Jessica Androge to run over Carla Sparza.
And this is, this is no disrespect to Carla Esparza.
I just feel like no matter who Carla fights in her next fight,
she's going to be a gigantic underdog
unless she gets in the Marina Rodriguez fight.
And even then, I would probably pick Marina to win,
even though Carla beat her the first time,
but that was one of those split decisions on this run
that we question.
We're not sure, you know,
it's one of those controversial ones.
And she had a couple of them on this run.
And what she has done has been incredible.
But the pound for pound rank is like,
I feel like it's just,
it's just kind of what you think.
But I feel,
I feel like the top fives, maybe even the top tens are pretty easy.
And then from there, you can make cases for a lot of these women.
Let me just pull up mine real quick.
I will open the box, if you will.
So I've, I've, Ousman number one, Volcanovsky number two,
Inganu, number three, Oliver number four, Adisadi number five.
But Adasadi can go out there and just beat the brakes out of, off of Jerry,
cantonyer and he could move up and Volkanowski could go out there and finish Max
Holloway and if he goes out there and finishes Max it just puts on another perfect game
performance there's a I could I could probably bump Volcanozky up to one just because
of the activity the performances if he goes out there it just runs Max Holloway over
I'm probably going to put him as the number one Popper Pound guy but I feel I feel like even
putting, I feel like you can make the case.
Volkadovsky is number one right now.
But I'm not willing to go up on that, to go on that limb just yet.
But if he goes out there, runs Max Holloway over, even if, you know, there's a very good
chance he could be the number one guy.
But yeah, that's just kind of how I look at it.
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Let's see if we can get Jay back in here.
Jay?
Hey, Mike, what's up? Can you hear me now?
There he is. What's up, buddy?
Hey, so first I want to congratulate you on Boston.
Then I take back what I said last time because they went on that first game.
Let's go.
And so I wanted to talk to you about two things.
One is, first, you, when I was watching BTLU, Jed, and Damon definitely got me hyped on.
I forgot his name, but the newcomer facing Alonzo Menafield and his fabricated record.
And obviously, he talked about if Marab ever gets into the title picture, he's going to move up to one of the first.
I wanted to get your opinion on how do you think he would do at 145?
I would definitely want to see a matchup between him versus Yair or Ortega.
I think that would be like a great match between those two.
And yeah, and have a heck of a morning, man.
Thank you, Jay.
Yes, the Celtics were incredible in that fourth quarter.
Just in like even quarters.
They were great in the second quarter.
They were great in the fourth quarter.
and what was crazy about that game,
like I never lost hope in that game
because Golden State played about as well as they could have played last night,
and the Celtics are still in it.
At half,
like after that first quarter,
the way that Steph Curry was shooting,
like the Celtics should have been down by 30.
And somehow they hung around.
And I knew if they could just not get run off the floor
and be down by 20 coming out of that third quarter,
they had a chance to win.
So, um,
Southics are just,
that's,
they're just that team.
They're super tough and they just don't deal with it that much and they can battle back through everything.
The fighter you're talking about is Ascar Mazarov.
And it's a guy that's been mentioned on our show a few times.
I think our man Joe, all I do is UFC talks about him a lot.
But this is, golly.
This story is something else.
If you haven't read this yet, go find Sherdog.
Jay Petrie is the one who actually wrote the story
because he's the guy who runs the fight finders for Sherdog
which compiles the records
and he did a deep dive on Ascar Mazurov
about different names and padding of records
and fights that were counted that shouldn't have been counted
and wins that weren't actually wins
I think starting this week he was like 26 and 9
or something like that and now
wherever you look
he's 19 and 12 because they went back and they looked at his fights and like he he used different
names like his stepdad's last name and his first name so like he fought under multiple
different names like his story is go find that article on sherdog that j petrie wrote about
askar mazorov it's so fascinating and this has actually been probably the most interesting
storyline of the whole week because i'm i'm a positive guy i do my best to try to sell
these cards to you.
And I like the fact that this card is an afternoon card.
Prelims start at 1 p.m. Eastern.
I love that.
4 p.m. Eastern main card.
I love that too.
But, I mean, we're being, we're being just wrong if we're saying that this is like a great
card on paper.
It's, it's a fight.
This is a fight afternoon card.
This is a, it's an okay card.
Like there's, there's good fights.
Like, Aaron Blanchfield is kicking off the, the entire thing.
fighting J.J. Aldrich, and that's a good fight, but why is it the first fight on the card?
Sometimes, like, the UFC just puts, like, Jeff Molina's fighting Zalgazzoomagal. That's a good fight.
Tony Gravely, Johnny Munoz will be a banger. Benoit St. Denis, let's see how he looks coming back after that vicious beating he took at his debut.
Damon Jackson's back, who's been looking real good lately. He's fighting Daniel Argeta, who is a real good fighter, but he's also stepping up a weight,
on short notice to make his UFC debut LFA Banimite champion.
That's an interesting fight.
Joe Selecki is one of the nicest guys in the sport.
Alex Silvas should be some real fun grappling exchanges there.
So I'm going to try and say you this as best they can.
Felice, Harry, Caroline Nicole Vikavich, just such a randomly put-together fight.
It's a rematch that nobody has ever asked for, but we're getting it.
And we got it announced like a week ago today, which is bizarre.
but suddenly because of this whole
Mazurov story
it is probably the most fascinating fight on the whole
card now because is this guy like
for real because he's lost like seven wins this week
and picked up like five or six extra losses
on his record on these
sort of fight finders on these different
tapology hasn't been 19 and 12
Sherdog has him in 1912 like it's just crazy
the whole thing is just nuts
it's just wild and it's a fun
little storyline. I'm actually going to talk to John Anick later on today. And, you know, we like to do the
paper view previews, so to speak. I like to get his thoughts on different things. People like when
John and I chit-chat, if you will, and we're going to do that. He's a very busy man. He's in
Vegas right now. He's about to do the way-ins in a couple of hours. Then we're going to talk a little
bit later, and then he's going to call the car tomorrow, and then he's off to Singapore for that
for UFC 275 next week. So the man's going to be a world traveler. He's a very busy man, but he's still
going to give me some time, which I really appreciate.
But I'm going to ask him about that and just see what he says.
And then looking at the rest of the card, Ode Osborne, Zeruk Adashev should be fun for as long as it lasts.
Pollyada, Botelio, Karede Silva, yeah, Mike Trezano back, Lucas Almeida, sure.
Co-made events good.
Danny Yee versus Mobb, Zar of Loyoff.
I mean, I'm very high on Mobsar of Loyaf.
I'm still very high on Dan Ege.
So that's a really interesting fight.
And the main event is what it is.
This is just a heavyweighty, heavyweight main event.
The UFC loves doing these heavyweighty, heavyweight made events.
Volkov, Rose's Strike.
I mean, who knows?
Maybe these guys will just go out and just blast each other and we'll have a highlight real finish.
But this could be a very methodical five-round decision for Volkov, too.
So we'll see.
This is a free-for-all Friday.
So if you're just joining us, this is your show.
You're asking all the questions.
You're laying out the topics for us.
So hop on in.
Let's have some fun.
Tristan Gordette.
How are you doing, my man?
Hey, Mike, what's going on?
How's everything?
Heck of a morning.
See you?
Everything is wonderful.
Yeah, I know.
He's taking a victory laugh, I see.
That's okay.
It is, but it is.
All right.
I just got to, guess, I guess I got to take it.
Well, it's all good.
It's all good.
It's all good.
I can't believe I missed this.
Your friend in the media,
James Lynch.
had interviewed Armand Syruki, and I was like, what?
And I...
I don't know what happened there.
Mike, you there?
Yeah, we got you. We got you.
Sorry about that.
Do you think with Armis Syracke?
I did not.
You're still breaking up. I'm having a hard time hearing you.
Can you see it?
I did not see it. I know he did. I have not watched it, though.
Yeah, you're...
It's tough, it's tough audio, man.
Sorry, can you hear me?
Yeah, now I can hear you.
Okay. Did you get to watch that interview? I'm sorry.
I did not get to watch it. I know James interviewed him. I've not had the chance to watch yet.
Oh, okay, okay. Well, very interesting. He trained, I guess, from the interview, he trained this time in Vegas for this fight against Scam Rock coming up. At that time, this was like a week ago. At that time, Sauru Kian didn't know if he was going to be the main event. Now, obviously he is. It's going to be five rounds. And he said this guy, he's going to be.
ready.
You know, I just, and one of
interesting things he had said was
he says if he beats Gamrod,
one of the things in the interview
was interesting, he said he wants to
renegotiate. He has three more fights
left on his deal. I didn't even know,
you know, he revealed that.
So he said, right then and there,
you know, he kind of laid out
his plans where he said, if I
beat Gamrod, I want to, A, I want
to renegotiate my contract because now
I'm probably, I just beat one of the top
prospects and now I'm going to get I want to fight some you know some big names and we kind of laid it
out where he wants he wins this he wants to fight probably in October maybe on the alb-dbby-dove card and get a
big name and then and then next year fight for the title so he's like man I'm ready you know so I was
like you know what do you think about that what his plans are again I'm listen you made me a believer I'm
got the battery in my back about Sarucan.
I think he's going to be champion at some point.
You know, I know we've talked endlessly about
Sarukin, but what do you think about that?
Like his plans and what he wants to do
and what the outlook is for that.
Also, too, I mean, kind of also roasted Gilepsy.
I was like, oh, I was like, man, Glepsy.
You messed yourself up, man.
And, you know, so he was saying, you know,
because he talked about, you know, he did get that, you know, he did act for that fight against
Gilepsy and Gilepsy turned that down. And then he was like, well, if I beat, if I beat, if I
beat Gamerant, I'm going to probably pass him in the rankings. And then he's going to probably
ask me to fight him because I'll be above him. And he was like, kind of gave a, you know,
a really bad jester against Gilepsy. So, you know, that's, that's really interesting. So, you know,
again, just go over your thoughts about Sarukin's outlook and where he wants to do.
I know his manager, he shares the same manager as Rahmanah, Raphael Faziv.
So I don't see, and mind you, both of those guys are fighting on the same card.
And if both of them win, they could probably both negotiate their contract because they're being, you know, beating big names here.
So, you know, just your thought, your outlook about Saracan, what his plans are.
and, you know, at some point, we both think that, you know, he's going to be champion.
Like, so heck of a money.
Thanks for everything.
And I just want to hear your thoughts.
Thanks.
Thank you, Tristan.
Yes.
Look, I mean, the guy's smart.
That's the way you do it.
It's not about, it's about making, this is prize fighting.
You got to make that money, son.
And he's smart.
And he's advised by great people.
I think, I think Danny Rubenstein and the crew over there, Ruby, they do.
a fantastic job. Syatt
does a great job as well.
They are very good at what they do
and I don't feel like they get the credit that they deserve.
And that roster
is legit
because you got Sarukyan, you got Fiziv,
you got Rachmanov, you got Pejotryon,
Michael Kiesa,
many, many others, guys on the come up,
some PFL fighters, some Belator fighters, et cetera.
They got a loaded roster and they're doing
the right things. Now, it's not
is loaded up in terms of numbers as some of the other talent pool is like, you know,
they don't have the same amount of fighters as like an alley or in Rydium and that's fine.
Look at Tyson Chartier.
Tyson Chartier, they have a very small circle of fighters in that group.
It's probably like a dozen of them.
But that's just different managers.
They do things in different ways.
I like Surukiat's approach.
He's going to fight Matush Gamrot because,
like you said, and I'll listen to James interview.
I like James Eliza,
one of my favorite people in the industry.
He's a friend of mine.
But I like how he's approach to this.
He did want the Gillespie fight.
That was the fight they wanted.
That was the original fight they were offered.
And it was basically,
I think I told you on the show probably about a month ago,
that that was the option.
It was either going to be Gillespie or it was going to be Gammert.
And if it was Gammarot, we knew why.
It's because Gillespie turned it down.
And Gillespie has come out since and said that he turned it down.
he only wants fights with guys ahead of him.
So if Surukian wins, you best believe he's going to be ranked ahead at Gillespie.
And maybe that's the fight they do after that.
But it won't be a fight that's going to be in New York or anything close to Gillespie.
It wouldn't shock me to see Gillespie-Sirukian in Abu Dhabi.
So more caters to Syruquian.
And if he goes out and beats Gamrod in a five-round fight, he should renegotiate.
because he's got to get these big names.
And even Gillespie is a tough fight.
And it's not that big of a name.
But if he's going to take that fight,
if the UFC offers him that fight again,
yeah, renegotiate, get more money.
That's what you need to do.
So I like the outlook.
It's exactly what he should be doing.
And like I've been saying for several years now,
Armand Sarukian, in my eyes,
will be the UFC lightweight champion.
And he will be there very soon, I think.
He will be there very soon.
2024, that guy will be a world champion.
It has been a minute.
A hid. Let's go.
Let's see. Do we have him? Do we have you ahead?
Unmute. You know how to do this?
How are you, my man?
I'm good. I'm good.
I missed the last two shows.
I've had some announcement. I had no idea.
What I've got to say? I've got a couple things.
Armand with because obviously the guy before talking about Armand Sarukin.
Yeah, he's good.
Gregor Gillespie just absolutely crapped the bed like Amber Hurd.
So I don't really like for him.
He's talking about, you know, Tony Ferguson.
He tried to chase Tony and it's like, but he ran away but didn't want anyone else.
It was just, it was pretty sad.
But yeah, like I think Armand, yeah.
I watched that fight with Markerchev and it was clear like, yeah, this dude's, this dude's talented.
So I want to, yeah, I think he is actually one of the best.
He could end up as one of the best for sure.
I think lightweight is full of big personalities and some of those people in the top 10 aren't necessarily like in the top 10 should be in the top 10.
But I'll leave out that with Connor like Connor and Masvidal because I didn't get, I was late to the party.
I want to say, um, I think it's a path.
matchup, it's a mirror matchup. Think about it. Old washed up sucker punching fool against
old washed up sucker punching fool. It's like the Spider-Man meme, right? It's two guys. They're
the same. They're just the mirror match of each other. So I think it makes perfect sense.
And I guess the next point I want to make is it's so crazy. And maybe it's just me.
did everyone realize that Canbozos and Haney is this weekend?
Like, was it just me that just,
because I saw like the post at the start of the week and it's like,
oh, it's fight week.
I'm like, oh, okay, it's this weekend like down.
And then I've seen posts,
but then I almost like forget that it's this weekend.
Like the promotion like kind of sucks.
I'm not even joking.
Like I've seen more of Biggie Boy,
like Rosenstrike.
you know,
Roses strike going on
Ariel show saying,
oh,
it's unfair that
John Jones and Miyochich
get the title show.
And I'm like,
Brum,
it's unfair.
And, like,
listen,
you're saying Jones doesn't,
and Miotches don't deserve
the title show.
You don't deserve a main event.
Dude,
you,
you,
like,
you and Volkov don't like,
listen,
Jardin,
you really don't deserve a main event.
Like,
you didn't deserve that
last main event against
Augusto Sakai.
That was like
how you got that is
beyond me.
You don't deserve this one.
So I don't know why
I'm seeing Biggie Boy in my feed.
But like back to Campos
Haynie, I just think like boxing.
Dana said, and I don't know
if it's like as some of the boxes
get paid a lot of money, but
Dana was saying like boxing's a broken business
and man like there's a side to it.
There's like an argument to him and I
really feel I've been thinking about this
that boxing
and actually a bit
like this isn't really combat sport
like pro wrestling
like it's sort of riding hard
on the legacies
of its legends
okay like as in
we'll stick to focus on boxing
like boxing is just riding hard
on the legacies of Ali
Tyson and the fact that it was
the largest combat sport for a century
right like hasn't got
sugar Ray Robinson
Roy George Jr.
Just the whole shebang
and I just think that's what it is.
It's so crazy again that
I just didn't realize
that it was happening this weekend.
I feel like,
and I know Ariel,
Ariel posted like a close-up
of Cambosos and Haney
and it was so cringy.
Like I know like people
ride around in their groups
in everything like in any sport,
whatever like their cliques.
Something about boxing.
I was listening to the
close up and you just had these
dorks on either side saying
and still he's too small
he's too small it was one of the cringy scenes
I just think like
boxing has just reached this point
you know yeah it's just like
past its expiration
not past this expiration date like I was saying
before it's just sort of you know
relying on the legacies and that's
just it's got too many belts
it's just a bit silly at this point
and
And like it just makes me wonder if MMA like had reached his popularity, like say do you think
Mike if MMA and boxing switch sides so MMA had reached this popularity before boxing,
that boxing would even be anywhere near as popular as now?
So that's the first.
And do you think like when Dana eventually retires because for me it's not like I'll probably
watch still watch MMA because of how deeply entrenched I am.
you probably will, Mike, and some of the other people in this group might.
But I feel that it's not just MMA, it's the promotion and specifically how the UFC does it.
Like the countdowns, embedded, all those amazing promos.
So do you think that when Dana White retires, like, as an MMA will even be the same,
especially, like, at the highest of levels?
Yeah, just to want to know your thoughts on that.
Thank you, go ahead.
You are the man.
it's amazing you are like i always know
that you're about to go off on a tangent when you start with
it's so crazy and then you chuckle and then i know it's common so i put my seatbelt on
and i go along for the ride and you never let me down i feel like
i think the ufc's just got to be fine like obviously dana is
in a lot of ways the face of the promotion
i know the fighters are and maybe that's like kind of part of the problem in a lot of
for fighter pay and stuff like that because Dana is the face of the company like Dana
Dana draws numbers but Dana White says something people want to know what the man wants to
say and he wants to know why he's saying it and there are times like there are times like pay-per-view
weeks the UFC does a really good job of you know with the embedded and the countdowns and all
the different things and we'll see those probably starting this weekend for UFC 275
but a lot of these fight night cards like they they don't promote that well it's just
It's just the same stuff over and over again.
Now, when they travel to, when they go to Austin in a couple weeks,
I'm sure it'll be a little bit bigger, a little bit better.
But these apex cards, a lot of times, it's just there.
They're just kind of throwaway cards.
And this is a perfect example of a freaking throwaway card.
But it's still what I'm going to watch.
There's still some good in there.
But it's a throwaway card.
This is like we had a week off.
We're excited.
We got a chance to miss the UFC.
We're about to go on this incredible stretch with really,
intriguing main events and interesting cards.
And this one's just kind of there.
This is, it's fair for me to say that of the next 10 cards on paper,
this is probably the worst of the 10.
And this is no disrespect.
This is just the way that it's laid out.
That's, some of them are great.
Some of the fight nights are excellent.
And some of these cards are not great.
And I know what most people are going to say,
this card might have some good fights and some good finishes and stuff like that.
And we'll see people on Twitter.
We'll see people on the desk
backstage saying,
okay, see, this is why you never judge a book by its cover,
but the UFC is just fine.
Like, they don't really need to promote much anymore.
The UFC's like WrestleMania.
They're not like the WW.
It's like WrestleMania.
Like, I will watch WrestleMania every year,
no matter how shitty pro wrestling is.
Because in a lot of ways, pro wrestling sucks.
WWE sucks.
It's a horrible product.
Their shows are junk.
But I will watch WrestleMania every single year.
It's just a brand.
It's WrestleMania.
I don't care about anything else, but I care about WrestleMania.
The UFC has become a brand.
UFC.
And we've been hearing it for years.
I train UFC.
MMA is UFC.
Like, my dad still thinks that MMA and the UFC are two different things.
Like, MMA is a sport and the UFC is a different sport.
That's the UFC has its own brand.
So in a lot of ways, they don't have to go crazy promoting because people are just going to watch.
The people are going to watch, you're going to watch.
And if people don't watch, like, they don't really care because they're getting the same amount of money anyways.
They're getting that guaranteed money.
So I think that the show will go on when Dana leaves.
It'll be weird.
It'll be big news for a while.
It'll be weird not seeing Dana go off at these post-by press conferences and doing all these interviews with the same people heading into these cards.
But I get where you come from the kid.
I mean, I didn't even know.
I forgot that fight was this weekend, too, until I looked on social media at halftime of the Celtics game.
started seeing clips of the face-offs and the back and forths between the two guys.
Like, I totally forgot that that card is happening.
So it's crazy.
And then going back with the Surukian Gillespie stuff and Gillespie chasing the Tony Ferguson fight,
quick story on that.
This is probably, I don't know if it was a year ago, maybe a little less.
A little less a year ago.
It was probably like nine months ago.
I had an individual hit me up on Instagram
and said,
Gregor Gillespie's fighting Tony Ferguson
on this date.
And I was like, how do you know that?
He's like, trust me, I know.
Because I'm tight with one side.
I know this.
And I'm like, all right, I'll look into it.
And of course, I look into it.
Team looks into it.
And basically the response we got
from the other side of the table, so to speak, was this fight will never happen.
It's never going to happen.
So, Gillespie was chasing, I guess chasing the fight is kind of an accurate term.
And I get it.
Like, you want to go for the biggest fights with the biggest names and you feel like
this is the most winnable fight.
This is prize fighting.
I get it.
But some fighters are in that position more than others.
And I feel like Gillespie is not really in that position.
Like, it wasn't long ago.
It's still kind of etched our mess.
memories that Gillespie was getting knocked unconscious by Kevin Lee at UFC 244 at MSG.
And that was a knockout that if we're looking at where Kevin Lee's career has gotten since then,
that loss did not age well at all.
It's a tough loss.
It's a highlight reel.
It's one of those knockouts we're going to see on B-roll packages,
highlight reel packages about why the UFC is such a crazy company and why watching our
product is so crazy and anything can happen, we're going to see Gregor Gillespie go unconscious in
every single one of those videos until the UFC is no more. Until I'm dead and buried in the ground,
that highlight reel will always be there. And that wasn't that long ago. It's not like it was
12 fights ago. This was like three fights ago for Gregor Gillespie. So that memory hasn't escaped us
yet. So what's the, there's just no, for a Tony Ferguson or anything like that, there's this
no reward fighting Greg Gillespie right now. It's just it's the risk reward is just not there.
You have the reward has to outweigh the risk even by like one percentage point.
51 49. Okay fine. Like I might be reluctance to say yes, but if the reward outweighs the risk,
okay, five, even a little bit. But it's like 9010 the other way for Ferguson or any of these
bigger names, any of these guys ranked ahead of him. It's just a weird spot.
offer him to be in. And that just goes to show you just based on that DM and reporting in general.
It is so important nowadays. And if there's any up-and-coming journalists that are listening right now
and you want to get into this field and you want to break news and report news and things like that,
it is so important, especially nowadays in modern mixed martial arts that if you get,
and I get, you know, oftentimes like I'll dig.
One of the worst parts of my job, one of the things I just don't like.
And there's occasionally you get like the rush of being right and being first and stuff like that.
I hate chasing down news.
I hate it.
Not like confirming news.
Like if someone else breaks it and I can easily confirm it, like I don't have a problem with that.
But like chasing down fight news and things like that, like it's just, again, risk reward.
Like the juice is not really worth the squeeze when it comes to breaking fight news.
but if you are in that game,
if someone sends you a message
and says this fight is happening
and you trust that sort,
you don't just report it.
You have to get the other side.
You've got to get multiple people.
You can't get multiple people from the same side.
You have to get multiple people from different sides
because I, like,
and I look at it this way,
there is a time in my career where I was like,
I just, you know what,
I'm starting to build these contacts.
I'm going to start being first on everything.
And then I realize that oftentimes it doesn't matter.
When you look at who reports things,
you don't care.
All you care about is that it's happening.
Like there'll be,
some will break the news.
Elsewhere,
we'll confirm it and then we'll write it up.
And we didn't even report it.
We just confirmed somebody else's report.
And like our traffic is better.
At the end of the day,
nobody gives a shit who reports it.
But the way I look at it is I would rather be the last person on earth
to confirm the news and be.
right, then be wrong.
That'd be first and be wrong.
And we've seen that a lot.
We've seen people just throw out fights that are just not true.
I can't even begin to tell you how many times people have laughed when I've been like,
I just saw this on Twitter that this guy's fighting this guy and I'll reach out to a manager
and they'll respond like LOL.
Like, come on, dude.
Be better.
Be better.
Multiple people, multiple sources, get both sides, then report it.
you're confident.
And it doesn't matter if you're first.
Who gives a shit?
None of that matters.
It doesn't matter.
We're just happy.
Like the Sheabergos-Charles-Jordane fight.
There's multiple reports, multiple dates, multiple locations.
And sometimes I have to go out because people ask me about certain fights if it's happening.
If it's true, you know, maybe I built that trust, so to speak.
And I hate going on Twitter and saying, like, hey, you may have seen this report.
It's not.
I hate doing that, but when you get certain things happen and you're like, multiple people are hitting you up.
Oh, this fight's a bangor.
Oh, this fight's a bangor.
Like, UFC 276 is going to be awesome.
Now you got this fight.
You go out and you do your due diligence and you find out that that's not right.
It's not right.
Like the fight ended up happening, but it was not on the right date.
There was reports that it was going to happen in Paris.
Then there was reports that was going to happen at UFC 276 and none of them were right.
It was happening July 16th.
And it's uncomfortable to have those conversations with the fighters
when you're trying to confirm this news or the managers
because it's out there and people are talking about it and explodes
and people get fired up.
And it turns out that it's not wholly accurate.
And it puts the fighters in kind of a tough spot.
So, yeah, if you're going to break news,
if you're going to put that stuff out there,
yeah, you want to be first.
You want to go on a major website and have your stuff sourced
and have ESPN source you.
Like, it's a cool thing when that happens.
It is.
But what if you're wrong?
It's tough.
It's tough.
I've reported things that I know we're right
and have been told by very powerful people
that they're not right.
And I was like, well, then everybody told me wrong.
I'm sticking to my guns, and it turned out I was right.
like sometimes that happens
and I remember like early on
breaking news and stuff like I
like it's stressful
it's stressful early on because you know you're right
but you think about like what if I'm not
even though you're confident
you lose sleep over it
and you just wait for the UFC to put the poster out
and you're like whew
all right I was right
and now I'm just at the point where I'm like
I got both sides I'm good
I don't know just a little lesson
I don't know why I went off on that tangent, but there you go.
All right, we got a few more minutes.
Anybody else wants to jump in, hop on in.
If you're listening on the podcast network, Danny Sabitello joins us a little bit later on.
So check that out.
And if you miss the beginning of the program, some news, this show will continue on.
We love doing the show.
You guys love doing the show.
But if you missed it earlier, the one complaint I get about this show is that it happens too early.
So we're going to change that.
So starting Tuesday, moving forward 10 a.m. Eastern start time.
Okay.
So for some of you guys who are losing sleep just to come on the show and let your voices be heard, you don't have to worry about that anymore.
You can just sleep an extra couple hours and then you can hop on and give your takes and do all that stuff.
And that's great.
So that's what's happening.
It's been something that's been in the works a little bit.
We're just kind of testing this show out to see how it's going to work.
and the numbers have been great live,
I think they could be better live,
and I think part of the problem is,
which is so early in the morning,
and I don't blame those people for complaining or, you know,
saying what I get it.
Totally get it.
So we're going to rectify that by pushing it back.
It'll still be, quote, unquote,
a heck of a morning in the United States
in many parts of the world,
but we're moving to 10 a.m. Eastern, starting Tuesday.
So get excited.
And that it'll still go up on the podcast network and nothing else changes.
We might actually go more times a week, but stay tuned for that announcement.
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Let's get Tristan back in here.
What's up on?
Mike, I just want to say I'm going to be at that card, the Long Island card,
the Yaira versus Brian Ortego card.
So I'm pretty right.
It's my first event.
I've never actually been to a UFC event.
So I'm going to actually...
Really?
Yeah.
This is the first time.
I was like...
Because what happened is, like, me and my friend, my colleague at my job,
he was just talking about it.
Like, we were talking about this.
And he was like, yo, I think they're going to do,
I think they're going to do a card.
UFC's going to do a card in Long Island.
I was like, you think so?
He was like, yeah, I'm telling you.
A couple of days later, they announced it.
And I was like, what?
I was like, dude, we got to go because, like, I've never been to one.
I actually, the only thing, I've been to the Ceremona Wayans for the MSG card.
That was when kind of McGregor faced Eddie Alvarez.
I think Tyrone Woodley had fought on that card.
Wonderboy.
Yeah, yeah, he fought Wonderboy, right.
And we actually, yeah, we actually went to the ceremonial way in.
It was insane.
We had, oh, man, you know, and Ireland, the island people came out for its kind.
It was, it was insane.
They were actually hanging around the hotel to wait for fighters to come in.
It was interesting.
I mean, Eddie Albert has almost gotten to fight with a fan, which is crazy because the fan,
disrespected his wife and like any
ever has had enough and went out to him
went out to his face and started screaming at him
which is insane I couldn't believe what was going on with that
so that's the only kind of like the
UFC vibe I've been through
so this is going to be very exciting on the car
and I lost my mind when I found out
a Charger Dane and fighting Shane Burgess
I think somebody said it on the Otno show
that was one of their picks
I don't think it was me because
but I I know because I wanted
to see Jordane versus, I was cool with Jordane versus Barbosa, but that's not going to happen.
So this, but this is going to be great.
I'm so excited and pumped.
Hopefully I'll see one of you guys out there because I know you said somebody, you have guys
out there that's going to be covering the fight.
I don't know who it's going to be, but I'd be pretty stoked for that.
But also another question I wanted to ask, Al Jermaine Sterling, his, he said that a couple of
fighting, he's going to probably move up to
featherweight, excuse me.
And he's going to make way for Marab de Vilegevili
to go and fight for the title.
So I want your thoughts on that. And like,
what do you think with
how Alchamie would win the featherweight division?
I mean, that's a lot to ask.
I mean, he's got killed in that featherweight division.
So I want your thoughts on him, you know,
speaking on that. And do you think Marab is the contender
that he will win the title at some point?
All right, thanks, Mike.
Thank you, sir.
Yes, the Long Island card is very solid.
Really good main events.
The card's filling up nicely.
I liked that Emily Tocote is now getting her shot with the UFC after kind of running rough shot through Invicta.
So she's going to fight Jessica Penny.
That card's coming together.
I know the UFC, like, kind of release some other fights that aren't actually official.
I'm going to pull them up just to kind of look at that card.
where are we that is the Ortega Rodriguez card
so right now it's Ortega Yayae
Asker Asker off Alex Perez
Ricky Simone Jack Shore
Which I mean Jack Shore not fighting in London a week later
It's kind of dumb but it is what it is
Michelle Waterson Amanda Lamos
Bill Algeo Billy Quarantello
That fight friggin rules
They still have Penny 14o but that's not the case
It's not Penny Dakota
Dwight Grant, Dustin Stolzvist,
Dustin Jacoby, Daun, Young,
Jun, Punisoriano, Dalchalungambula,
Herbert Burns, Hussein Ashgaboff.
Watch out for Hussein Asgabov, by the way.
Dude is a monster.
That's a great fight,
finally making his debut.
Match now, Suba Gererjius Fawn.
The one fight that seems to be kind of a question mark right now,
Phil Roe versus Abu Bakar, Nurmaga, Madoff.
From what I understand, that fight is not done yet.
it's being discussed
at a preliminary stage
but if you go to the UFC stats website
that fight is listed there but it's not completely done
so that's a pretty damn good
card and then we got Shane Burgos and Charles Jorday
and joining the fun as well so
good stuff that's a good card good first
card to go to and I
like it a lot it's an ABC card and it's
going to be an early start time card it's going to be an
afternoon day of fights
and I love me some
afternoon day of fights especially
after these pay-per-view
weeks where
good Lord
we're working and I'm not complaining
about this I'm not complaining about
this but
the pay for you nights where
I'm working until like 6.30 in the morning
and they get like an hour of sleep like
I'm not complaining I like it but
if I had my choice
we mixed in a couple of afternoon cards
I actually liked when the UFC went to Boston
a couple of years ago
and they did a Friday night card
I liked that a lot like mixing the
occasional Friday night card. There's nothing wrong
with that.
We can mix things up a little bit,
but that's a good card.
Now,
the Sterling thing,
I get where he's coming from.
If Marab makes that move,
he's going to step aside for,
for his buddy Marab de Walsh Willey
and move up to 1.45 and give Marab
his chance to win the title.
I think it's very admirable of him.
I think if it gets to that
point,
we'll see what happens.
I don't,
I mean,
I think they're not going to fight each other.
So it's just not going to happen.
but I think I think Marab's the dude.
I think he's the guy.
I think he's so good.
And I think if he gets a title shot, he's going to win.
But it's just going to take him a long-ass time to get there.
Because remember we're talking about risk or reward?
And eventually we're going to get to the point.
And we're kind of seeing it with Islam Makachov as well.
Eventually, it's just going to be undeniable for Marab.
You're just going to have to fight him.
But you see it now.
Like he's having such a difficult time getting,
somebody to say yes to him.
A really tough time.
And I don't blame them.
I don't blame them.
Marab is a nightmare matchup
for almost everybody in this division.
It's a tough fight.
And
there's not a lot of reward there.
It's not a lot of reward
fighting Marab de Walsh, really,
but super high risk.
I would favor Marab against most guys in this division.
So I always thought
I thought Piotr Yia was an interesting idea.
It looks like Jan and maybe Chito Vera
are kind of circling each other
At least they're trying to on social media
But yeah, I think Marab's
I think Barab's very good
And I'll throw
If they're gonna do
Jan and Vera at some point
Maybe in October
Be a good fight for Abu Dhabi
How about Suhudo versus Barab?
How about that?
If I see a fight poster
With those two guys on it
I'm going to title the next heck of a morning
the Henry Sohudo praise episode
because that's what I think you should do
I think you should fight Marab or Jan or Vera
fight a contender first, get a win
and then go fight for the belts.
That's what I think you should do.
But if he does that,
if he goes and fights Marab to Walsh, Willey,
that dude is a G
and I will take back all the,
I mean, I'm not going to take back everything I said up.
wrong about anything that I've really said about him.
But if he goes and fights to Barab,
I will praise him to the Nines.
But Marab's tough,
and I don't know who the hell's going to fight him.
Dominic Cruz said he would fight him.
So if Marab's willing to wait until like August or September,
he could get that Dominic Cruz fight.
And that'd be a big one for him.
That'd be really interesting.
I would,
I'd be very intrigued by that matchup.
Let's go to Majed 1.
Let's see if we can get a man.
in here.
Hello, sir.
Make sure you're unmute and we will get you in here.
Nope, he's gone.
All right.
Last call.
Last call for alcohol.
Let's go.
What do we got?
Anybody else have anything to say?
If not, we're going to get on out of here.
All right.
So here's the deal.
3 p.m.
Eastern.
We will have the UFC Vegas 56 preview show
live on the MAFUDD YouTube channel.
But before that,
Let's get Kenneth Stogner in here.
The wheel is spit in.
Can we get Kenneth in here?
That would be awesome if we could.
Oh, man.
Try again, Kenneth.
I don't know why.
Twitch spaces do better.
Do better.
But yes, preview show 3 p.m. Eastern.
It will not be a long preview show.
But yeah, that's going to happen.
And then tomorrow, 12.30 Eastern time.
We will do the People's Pre-Fight show, taking your questions.
Basically, it's this show, but in video form.
And then we'll probably do like a little bit of a watch-along.
We're going to watch the Aaron Blanchfield, J.J. Aldrich fight together.
So that'll be fun.
So that'll go, that'll begin at 12.30 Eastern Time.
Then we'll have the post-fight show.
And then Sunday on to the next one, the usual stuff.
We're back, baby.
We're back.
UFC coverage back after a successful first-ever all-star weekend.
All right, let's try to get Big Joe the Don in here
to give us the final word.
Big Joe, are you there?
Yo, what up?
What's up, Big Joe?
Not much, just chilling.
I'm really stoned.
woke up, see you had a space on.
I love MMA.
I said I got to check in.
What's up, man?
Yeah, that's good.
Well, I appreciate that.
And hope you're being stoned is treating you well.
Hope you are eating the right breakfast
to accompany that.
And we have some breaking news.
How about this?
Some breaking news from our friends at BKFC.
John Dotson has signed with BKFC.
How about that?
Former longtime UFC competitor, Johnny Dotson, BKFC.
How about that?
There you go.
I like, and that's going to be another cool thing
about pushing the show back to 10 a.m. Eastern is that
we could react to these kinds of things.
So a lot of times we miss them.
We got the Patty news,
the Patty Jordan Levitt news,
right before the show started,
or I believe,
right as the show began.
But a lot of times we miss out on this stuff
because they don't announce it
until like a couple hours later.
So at least pushing it back to 10 a.m. Eastern moving forward,
we'll be able to react to this stuff a little bit more.
But there you go.
John Dotson, get that triller money, son.
Apparently there's boxers who haven't been getting that triller money,
but John Dotson trying to get that triller money.
Let's see.
Let's see it when he makes his debut.
That June 24th card is coming together pretty nicely for BKFC.
Jimmy Rivera is going to make his debut.
We get the Beck Rawlings-Briton-Heart rematch on that card.
We get some, I believe there's some interim title fight or vacant title fights.
Mike Perry is supposed to fight on that card.
So we'll see what happens.
And I believe Paige Van Zand is supposed to fight in July when they go to England.
But we'll see what BKFC could do for the rest of the year.
But John Johnson is there.
All right, we got to get out of here.
I don't want to get in trouble.
You know what?
I'm going to take one more.
Screw getting in trouble.
Got a new voice here.
Winston, maybe.
There we go.
Unmute.
We got you, Winston.
Oh, man.
We lost him.
Sure space sucks today.
All right, we're out of here.
Thank you all very much.
Miami, Mike.
I love you.
We're going to go.
Thank you very much.
Have a great weekend.
We'll see you later on for the preview show.
Have a wonderful Friday and as always have a heck of a morning.
Godspeed, everyone.
All right, let us say hello once again to an individual who has made me look like a brilliant,
brilliant man in this MMA media space.
He was a little over a year ago.
He joined my show.
It was called What the Heck.
This man jumped on the show for M.A fighting.
I brought him on.
He was about to make his Bellator debut against Brett Johns on a week's notice.
And I told you guys to remember this gentleman's name.
You laughed at me.
You made me look foolish.
He's going places.
I'm telling you, you weren't believing me.
So Bellator puts their Grand Prix together, and I said on many shows,
Bellator needs to make this a 16-man tournament or a 12-man tournament.
Get this guy in there.
And you people said I was crazy.
And then the Bellator Hawaii events go on.
I go on the Bellator Zone podcast with Marcel Dorf and Santiago.
Not only did I predict this man would deliver a one-sided performance
against the previously undefeated Jornal Lugo,
but I went out on a limb and said that this man is going to win the entire Grand Prix,
and you laughed at me, and you made fun of me.
But then, my friends, he delivered the performance.
I said he would.
The promo afterwards steals the show.
And now my quote-unquote bold prediction doesn't seem as bold these days, does it?
Of course, he has another test, June 24th, taking on his good buddy,
Leandro Ego.
Let us say hello to Mr.
Daddy Sabatello.
Hello, how are you looking like a million bucks?
Thank you for allowing me to pat myself on the back for a few moments and steal a little bit of that shine from you.
Yeah, absolutely.
And listen, it's not just you that thinks that I can win this tournament.
I know a lot of people were laughing in the beginning, but everybody at American top team and my close friends and everybody that's really been following the sport in depth knows that I can fucking win this tournament.
But I'm doing great.
Just got done with practice.
Had sparring today five hard rounds.
I'm ready to beat the fuck out of ego, June 24th.
You know, who knows if it'll actually go five rounds, but I'm ready for it to go five rounds.
Well, it's great to have you back. You get the toothpick in the mouth. Every time you come on here, there's a different element to the wardrobe. We get the hair. Now we get the bandana, sunglasses. And now we get the toothpick. Every time, man, do you plan this or just kind of happen out of nowhere?
Now, I kind of roll with it, but I like spicing things up being different than all these fucking boring other guys.
You know, I think along with the trash talk, I'm just the most electric guy in Bellator right now.
Whether it you want me to get my fucking head knocked in or you want to see me dominate and knock someone else's head in.
I think everyone's invested in when I fight.
And I think this fight specifically against Leandro Higo, June 24th is going to be no different.
I think everybody's going to tune into this fight, half wanting me to die in there, half wanting me to kill Higo.
so I'm just fucking looking forward to this shit and beating the shit out of them.
There's no chance this motherfucker beats me either.
Well, I mean, you sort of mentioned it.
People view you as the most electrifying guy in Bellator.
It took a little while to get people on board, but you know what?
They're getting on board now, especially after the win against Jordan Al Lugo.
They were impressed with the performance.
The promo you cut afterwards had everybody talking.
But that wasn't a surprise to me because you've come on the show multiple times and you've cut identical promos.
And I was just like, you guys are just getting the tip of the iceberg now.
You're just getting the beginning of this.
And now you're in this Grand Prix officially with the chance to win a million dollars.
So what has life been like since the win over Lugo, the promo, all of it, all the attention
you're getting?
This is what you saw this coming.
But now I feel like the ball is rolling officially here.
Yeah, life is smooth sailing.
You know, I knew this was going to happen.
But, you know, this is a crazy sport where anything happened.
So you just kind of got to enjoy it.
You know, I did expect this.
And anything short of what's going on right now would be a disappointment.
But at the same time, man, you got to fucking enjoy these wins.
I have two really good wins in Bellator, one being Brett Johns, the other being
Jornell Lugo.
So I am very happy with beating them.
And not just that, my fucking performances.
You know, again, the one over the first guy I fought, Brett Johns was on five days notice
and I went in there and I dominated him.
That next one is against an up-and-comer, Jornell Lugo, A&O, undefeated, a lot of steam behind
him.
And I straight up beat the shit out of him.
So, yeah, life's been good.
I got another tough one, June 24th.
against this jujitsu guy that people are saying um june 24th and i just think it's going to be no
different than the other ones i'm going to go in there and i'm going to fucking smash him
you know i'm very prepared for this one uh going into fight camps you have these guys that
simulate the fighter you tell your teammates hey this guy's a moitai guy simulate a moitai guy
you know if he go for about five six weeks now i've been simulating his style before i spar i go
to my partners and I say, hey, fight me really shitty because that's what he goes going to do.
He's a shitty fighter.
So I think I'm more than prepared for in three weeks in the Mohican Sun Arena.
And yeah, I'm just going to fucking take his lights out.
This is another fight where I really don't like the guy.
He misses weight all the fucking time.
So he's very disrespectful to the sport and I got to punish him for it.
You know, it's not going to be another first round knockout, first round submission.
This is going to be one where I want to fucking torture him.
I want to give him fucking stitches, make him bleed, drag him in deep water, and then fucking
finish him, but I need to torture him first because I don't like this motherfucker.
You've mentioned the weight cutting thing. Are you concerned about that? Are you concerned that
he won't make it or do you not even care really? Listen, either way, I'm fighting that motherfucker
June 24th. Even if he doesn't make weight and sometimes if you don't make weight by a certain
amount, maybe like past five pounds, I don't know the exact amount. The commission doesn't allow it.
That's fine. Then I'll go fight him on the street. Either way, me and him are fighting June 24th.
If he misses weight by a little, I'm still going to accept the fight.
If he misses weight by a lot, I'm still going to accept the fight.
You know, the bottom line is this guy isn't very disciplined.
He's not a man.
You know, when you say you're going to do something, you fucking do it.
He doesn't do that.
This hasn't been one occasion.
This is multiple occasions.
It's disrespectful to fighting.
So I'm going to be the guy to maybe hopefully I want him to retire after this.
You know, I want him to have a hard way cut.
Make the weight.
Don't make the weight.
I don't give a fuck.
I'm going to smash the guy either way.
It doesn't matter to me.
So, yeah, I'm not putting too much.
spot into it. I don't think he'll make the weight. You know, this is also 135. It's not 136.
He misses weight at 136. So again, yeah, it doesn't matter. He's going to go in there fat.
Maybe he makes weight. Maybe he doesn't. It doesn't change any outcome. I fucking dog his ass.
And my goal is to give him between 21 and 29 stitches. And I think I'm going to do it.
From the beginning, you have loved this particular matchup. You loved it before the Lugo fight because
you knew he could be on the other side of things. And you've said that he sucks as a fighter.
And you've said that about a lot of people throughout your career for being honest.
But you've also said during media day and other things that you think he sucks as a person.
Is that because the unprofessionalism or there are other things that maybe people aren't aware of?
Yeah, man, you know what, whatever field you're in, if you're going to say you do something, you do it.
And I think with this specifically, it's a hot topic right now in MMA about weight cutting issues and all that.
We don't have a weight cutting issue in MMA.
We have a bitch issue.
We got people that say that they're going to make the fucking weight that no one is forcing.
them to say that they're going to make weight. They say that and then they don't make it.
Well, what the fuck is going on here? I think there should be more of a penalty if you miss weight.
You know, if you look at my career, I started wrestling when I was four years old. I've never
missed weight in my entire life. I can't even fathom it. It would never happen. Will never happen.
I think these people that say that they're going to fucking make weight and don't. It's just terrible
and they need to be punished for it. I think when he misses weight and he has to pay me my 20%,
that's not going to be enough. I'm not a money guy. I'm a fucking kill guy. I want to
fucking kill him. So yeah, I don't like him. He's very disrespectful. And I think people think he's
got a lot of good jujitsu moves and I just don't see it. Maybe he's got a little bullshit guillotine,
but I even think his guillotine lacks some skill set in it. So yeah, I love the match up.
I think he's just a lazy individual as it is. I think he's going to break in there and I can't
fucking wait. If you were made the commissioner of MMA and I know it's like a weird title and
everything considering there's different commissions, they have different rules and all that,
what would be the penalty for a miss weight if you were running the show?
Make this fight 10 rounds so I could fucking kill him.
And if I don't kill him, then I get to take out a gun and shoot him in his fucking head.
You know, I think there's no acceptable reason to miss fucking wait.
But yeah, if I was the commission, I'd say, hey, Higo, if you miss weight, we're making this fight 10 rounds.
And Danny Savatel can do whatever the fuck he wants with you.
We're not going to stop it.
Even if you tap, we're going to have him keep going.
Even if you get knocked out, he's still going to keep pummeling you.
If we're up to me, the worst punishment there is is torture.
You know, again, it's the same thing with this fight.
I don't want to go in there and just finish them right away.
I want to torture this motherfucker.
And that's the best thing that could happen.
Throughout this whole process, Bellator even took the opportunity and they have locked you up with a new multi-fight deal.
That had to have made you very happy, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
I kind of saw that coming, you know, just because you look at all the eyeballs on me and how I'm electric.
You know, one thing is I'm not just a trash talker than shitty at fighting.
and I'm not just good at fighting in a shitty trash talker.
I'm the whole package, you know, and that's very rare in MMA right now.
You got a lot of guys that will talk a lot.
They kind of suck at it to me.
I don't know.
I think everybody's corny.
But, and then if they suck at talking, but they're a good fighter or it's the other way.
With me, it's a full package.
I mean, I go out there and I'm talking shit outside the cage.
I go in the cage.
I'm still talking shit.
And then I fucking dominate.
And it's not a boring fight.
I slice these guys open.
That last fight against Jornel Lugo, I was slicing them open.
I went in there and the canvas was gray.
I left and the canvas was red with his blood.
My blonde hair was red because of all his fucking blood.
I think it's exciting for the fans from start to finish.
Once you start promoting this fight, it's fun because I love talking shit and that's just who I am.
And then in the fight, it's fun because I'm beating the fuck out of these guys.
And everybody wants to see someone get tortured.
You know, when you're going in there and I'm walking in the cage, people are saying kill them, die.
You know, people just want to see blood and that's what I provide.
Is there anybody in the sport that talks trash to your level?
Is there anybody else you look at and you say, all right, this guy's not bad.
He's not a Milo, he's not bad.
Nope, I don't think so.
I think, of course, you know, Connor McGregor, I don't know if he's still in the sport or not.
But kind of McGregor and Chale, and obviously are probably the OGs of talking trash.
But, you know, sometimes I do think it's a little forced on their end with me.
This is just who I am.
We could be playing pinball.
I could be having a thumb more with you.
I'm going to trash talk to you.
That's just how I am.
And then you got Henry Sehudo.
who's just like cringe. I don't really get it. I don't see how people like his trash talk.
I don't, I think it's corny and I don't even like watching it. But yeah, I think I got the best
trash talk in the game, but I don't even like it to talk trash. I don't even like to call it
trash talk. It's just Sabatello talk. I just say what it is. I say I'm going to beat the shit
out of Leandro Higo. That's not trash talk. It's a fact. I'm going to beat the shit out of
Leandro Higo. What do you want for me? You know, there's nothing that is going to deter me from
talking trash. There's nothing that's going to determine me from being Danny Sabatel, the Italian
gangster because that's just.
I am and I know you just got to be authentic in this sport when other people are talking trash
and you could tell that they're not really trash talkers. It just doesn't come out right. With me,
I'm always going to be me and I think I'm the best trash talker and the best sabatelot talker.
This deal had to put it over the top because I remember one of the first questions I asked you
before the Brett John's fight and you were getting ready to cut an unbelievable amount of weight
that you still have not revealed publicly how much weight you cut that fight. But we discussed a couple
different times if Dana White not signing you off the contender series was him actually doing you a favor
and you said ask me in a year or two so here we are a couple fights in couple fights away from
potentially being a millionaire new multi-fight deal did he officially do you a favor do you want
to say thank you to Dana White right now yeah absolutely you know I think this is the best shoes that
I could ever be in you know I got a chance of not just a million dollars I don't really care too much
about the money. But being that Bellator champion, and to me, Belator has the best bantamweight.
You look at the depth of our bantamweight tournament in this fucking tournament, and it's insane.
You know, all these guys are just straight killers. And then you look at the guys in the UFC.
And I think they're, you know, they're really deep, but I think I'll take our top eight against
their top eight. So obviously, this is a good move for me. But, you know, if I were to go back,
obviously it'd be dumb to say, I wish he didn't take me because in that time, I really wanted him
to take me. But it just worked out.
out the way that it did. And I'm very fortunate that I'm with Bellator because that man,
I love Bellator. And everybody that's in Bellator, it seems like really likes Belator. The good thing
about being at the best gym in the world, American top team is that we got so many fucking guys
in the UFC and so many guys in Bellator. And I'll tell you what, there's a lot more positive
talk about Bellator than there is in the UFC. And that's a purely main theme it is across the board.
You know, everybody loves Bellator. I don't know about UFC too much. They're not really talking
too good about it and I don't know too much about the other promotions but yeah I love being at
bellator thank god Dana didn't take me then because you know the good thing is kind of McGregor
kind of made the UFC and I think I could do that to bellator so I think I could get it even bigger
getting a huge name in bellator and just making bellator just the best and baddest by far promotion
and I'm looking forward to do that well you don't you obviously don't have to give names but
what are the UFC fighters saying that is not as positive as the bellator for
fighters. You know, a lot of things, not just pay, which obviously Bellator is paying more than the
UFC, but just professionalism and then getting fights. Everything's a little tough right now in the
UFC. I don't want to get too into depth or sell anybody out. You know, one thing I'm not as a rat.
I'll never name names or anything like that. But even you just check across the board, go on Twitter,
go on Instagram, or just talk to these UFC guys. And I think more guys in the UFC are not as
satisfied with their promotion is the guys in Bellator.
You know, you talk to these Bellator guys and they're all like, man,
Belator runs a great fucking show.
They pay me well.
Everybody's nice.
Everybody's respectful.
They do all the right things.
And I'm not so much people can say that about the UFC.
You even joined Twitter since this last win.
I got to say I'm shocked.
I was quite surprised to see that.
I thought there's one fighter who would never be on Twitter.
My money would actually bet on you.
What inspired this move to to hop into the crazy world?
Twitter because it's yeah Bellator really wanted me to get a Twitter and I'm not just gonna not
listen to them so I had to get it along with the fans they really wanted me to get a Twitter
but I haven't had Twitter this whole time you know believe it or not I got a bit of a temper I always
thought that if I got on Twitter and I and I saw a guy talk shit to me I try to find him and try
to beat the fuck out of them and that's just not good for anybody you know I don't want a lawsuit
on my hands from someone guy saying fuck you on Twitter but I was afraid that was going to happen
It potentially still might happen if somebody is going to call me out and talk shit to me
online.
You know, it never sits right with me.
I always lose my cool.
But I don't go on to Twitter that much.
You know, that's the thing.
I don't want to get too involved in it.
You know, I don't give a fuck if people care about my lunch or, you know, this isn't
the Kardashians.
This isn't fucking bullshit.
I'm here to beat the fuck out of people and get in their fucking head.
That's it.
I don't care about any of that.
At the end of the day, I don't really give a fuck about Twitter or Instagram or any of that.
So I got to stay off it a little bit because I know if I start reading these comments and I see Joe Schmoe is saying that I'm a piece of shit.
I'm going to go to his fucking location, find out where he works, camp out in the fucking parking lot and beat the fuck out of him.
Throw a brick at his fucking head.
And again, I don't want that to happen.
That's not good for me.
That's not good for him.
But yeah, I'll be tweeting a little bit here and there.
But for the most part, I'm staying off all that bullshit.
Why the shock this world handle out of all things.
at could have you at Danny Sabatello at the Italian gangster you went with at Shock This World and a lot of people wondering wondering why.
Yeah, Shock This World has always really been my theme growing up. I even had a shirt in high school that said Shock the World.
When I was a wrestler, I faced the guy that was a returning state champion and national champion.
And I was a big underdog my junior year and I beat him.
And then the next year after that, he also was ranked again ahead of me, even though I beat him the previous year because he won Nationals again.
and again, I want the slogan, shocked the world, and I beat him again.
You know, so my slogan has always been shocked the world because I've always been kind of an underdog,
but now it doesn't really fit because I'm not too much of an underdog.
You know, the odds for this fight haven't really come out yet, but I don't think I'm going to be an underdog.
So I might have to switch it up.
I might have to go to the Italian gangster because, you know, when I beat the fuck out of Higo,
I don't know if I'm going to be shocking too many people.
I think people that understand the sport know that I'm going to go in there and just beat the fuck out of them.
So yeah, maybe we'll get a little change here and there.
Maybe we'll switch it to the Italian gaiter.
But for now, I just want to shock the world.
But, you know, the problem is I'm just getting bigger and bigger.
And people are just investing their time in me actually studying the Italian
gangster, Danny Seppatoll and saying, oh, my God, if he wins, it's not a shock.
This is just what's going to fucking happen.
So, yeah, we'll see.
Obviously, you and Higo had spent a lot of time on that meeting today.
I think the two of you guys are on there more than even the main event between your
teammate Johnny Evelyn and Gagar Busasi, which is going to be a really interesting fight in
its own right. But as you saw, ego doesn't think too highly of you either, which I'm sure you're
okay with. But he spoke to our own gear. May Cruz MMA fighting recently. And he said this.
This is something. Let me just pull it up. It's always that same boring stuff with him,
laying on top of guys and leaving no marks on their faces. He won't intimidate anyone in the
Grand Prix, it's just that. He's no different than anything I've ever faced. Every fight I had in Bellator.
was against wrestlers except for Dantus and Bundejas, LFA, all wrestlers too.
Nothing new to me.
Daring Caldwell was an NCAA champion.
Aaron Pico, I've been there before.
If he comes with that same game, he'll eat a knee right in his mouth.
So he stops talking crap.
If he shoots the way he always shoots, he'll eat a knee right from the get-go.
I will smash him.
I'll do to him what he thinks he does to everyone else.
He'll get a taste of his own medicine.
Your response.
Yeah, he's a fucking idiot.
He's just not an intelligent guy.
I for him to say that he has a knee waiting for me.
Now I know his fucking game plan is to try to time a knee.
So he's an idiot.
Obviously I can make adjustments now.
And now that I know that he's going to be waiting for a knee, I can make my adjustment,
which I'm not going to fucking say in case he's listening.
So yeah, in case he is listening, go fuck yourself ego.
But yeah, he's an idiot.
I guess he has fought other wrestlers.
But again, I mean, that doesn't mean anything that not all wrestlers are the same.
And yeah, he was acting like he didn't know how to speak English.
on that press conference just because he knew I would get in his head. The guy probably speaks
fluently in English, but he's a little pussy. He's a mental midget and he knew I would get in his
head. So yeah, I mean, he could say what he wants. He's a fucking retard. I don't understand how he
would say those things. I think he even knows that he needs to get lucky in this fight. If it goes five rounds,
there's no fucking way that he wins. I got way better conditioning than him. I got way better stand up than
him. I got way better ground than him. I think he needs either a flashy knockout or some type of
bullshit submission, but my game is just too good. I'm too aware. I'm too skillful everywhere for that
to happen. You know, I'm going with guys like Pedro, Munoz, who have probably the best guillotine in the
UFC, or if not one of. And I feel that every day. I know when that's coming. And if I can adjust
that with Pedro, then there's no way this guy can get a guillotine on me. So he's an idiot. I know he's
talking trash now just because I am. So again, you know, this isn't.
this isn't comfortable to him this is foreign territory to him he doesn't really trash talk i know
i'm already in his head for him to just switch up his ways and start trash talking is kind of funny
i know that i i change these guys you know when you fight danny sabatel you change who you
are if you've never talked trash in your life ever inside or outside of m mma you talk trash when
i fucking am fighting you because you got to change your way so it's just funny i'm his daddy i
dictate what he does i already have him talking trash so i'm already in his head
Of course, where Leandro Higo goes, normally Captain Eric Albarcine is not far behind.
He'll probably be in Mojigan.
Have you ever met Captain Eric before?
Have you ever chatted him up?
Nah, I know he is.
And I know if he starts talking trash, I might smack him too.
I don't know if he's talked trash about me or not.
But of course, I'm all about loyalty.
I expect my coaches to have my back.
His coaches will probably have his back.
So if he talks any smack, I'll smack him too.
But yeah, I never met the guy.
Maybe he's a good guy.
I don't know.
but I do know that he's my opponent's coach, so I fucking hate him.
Of course, not only is the spot in the semifinals on the line and a step closer to the
million dollars, which I know it's not about money for you, but a title shot is up for
grabs here.
The winner of this fight will fight Rafion Stats for the interim Bannamway title, which the last
time we spoke, you said the interim title in your eyes is the actual belt.
So how much does that factor into the approach of this fight?
Are you even thinking about that right now?
Are you just focused on June 24th and just focused on ego?
Yeah, I'm not focused on that too much.
just because I think the Stats fight will actually be somehow even easier than this Higo fight,
even though this Higo fight is just going to be very easy.
I don't think Stats provides any danger in terms of finishing.
Higo kind of does with his bullshit guillotine.
So I think that one's going to be easy.
I don't think about that too much because that'll just be a walkthrough.
So I got to just focus on Higo for now.
Sometimes when you get in trouble as you start overlooking these opponents and all that shit.
So my mind is on Higo.
But of course, I'm not stupid.
I know that belt will be on the line that next fight.
And that's the most important belt there is.
You know, Sergio Pettis is a bitch.
He's a pussy and he couldn't fucking even make it into the tournament.
So I'm not even going to entertain him being the champion.
Everybody knows the winner of this tournament is the Belator Bantamway champion.
I mean, there's no two ways about it.
I bet Sergio at the end of this should probably even admit it.
If he was a man, he would admit it.
Sergio should come on here at the end of this tournament say, hey, he's a bitch and that the champion is the actual champion.
So yeah, it'll be nice to get that belt. It'll mean I'm the actual champion. I know that Sergio will then want to become the champion and face me after I win the tournament. And then that will even be an easy fight. So yeah, I got to take care of business against ego. Fuck him up. Obviously then fuck up stats and then we'll see whoever it is in the finals. But again, whoever wins this tournament is the champion. I spoke to Rapha on a couple days after he knocked out Juan Archeretta. And he told me he's rooting for you to beat Leandro ego. He feels like he could find ways.
to easily dislike you. He hasn't had really the chance to talk a lot of shit, but he feels like
if he fights you, he will get the chance to do so. And he's always wanted to do that. And he said
he would love to fight your quote, highlighter headed ass. So your thoughts on that. And what did
you think? You said he doesn't have a lot of finishing ability, but he went out there and he
did something that no one else has done before to Juan Archelaide in his last fight. Yeah, but he got
lucky. If you were watching the fight, he was losing, at least in my book, he was losing. And then he
went to throw a head kick, but Juan was a little too close. So it wasn't even the foot or shin
that caught him. It was the knee. So it was a sloppy kick. Juan obviously got a little bit too
close. Raffan didn't plan that. You know, again, he got lucky. I think Juan was winning the
fight. I think if that knee didn't happen, Juan would have won the fight. I know Stats does talk
trash. I think it's fucking terrible. That guy's a stuttering king. I know he called me a highlighter
head, which is cute. You know, that's adorable. And he probably had that scripted as well.
But you know what? I can't, I can't bang on the guy too much. You know, at least he's trying
these other guys that aren't very good at all at trash talk kind of sucks, you know. It sucks
going against ego when he doesn't even speak English allegedly. Just because there's no banter
back and forth. There's no rhythm in it or anything like that. So it will be nice to talk trash
against a guy that speaks English and does want to banter back. But I don't think he's good at
trash talking and I don't think he's good at fighting. You know, a lot of people are saying that he's
the favorite in this tournament. Cool. I'm glad that I get to beat the shit out of him before he even
makes it to the finals. Yeah, I think that will actually be an easy fight. You know, he's a south
paw. They say it's a little bit more difficult, but I think the takedown and everything that
had kicked, the punches are even easier on a south paw. So I'm looking forward to that fight,
but again, I can't think about it too much. Got to beat the shit out of Higo, June 24th with
the Mohegan son. And then I will beat the fuck out of Stats. And I think that will be a very quick finish.
with me and Stats.
Well, who do you think we'll be meeting you on the other side of this?
I don't even don't want to look too far ahead, but this is like way far ahead.
This is just you being an analyst right now.
Patchy Mix is there.
You got Magamadov and you got Enrique Barzola who are going to fight right before you guys
fight.
Who do you think you will end up facing in the finals here?
Yeah, for sure will not be patchy mix.
He sucks.
He only's got one thing.
When he gets your back, he gets that triangle in and it's hard to get out.
But I don't think he's going to get anybody's back.
his stand-up is atrocious, his ground game and ground-and-pound is pathetic.
Again, when he gets on your back, he puts that figure four in and then just like goes
asleep. There's nothing to do there. I mean, it's boring as fuck. So I think the winner of this
Barzola against Magamatta fight, I think will be in the finals. And, you know, this is fighting,
so it's chaos. I'm going to go with Barzola. I think Barzola makes it to the finals.
I know it would be a pretty big underdog against this Magamad guy. But I think that's going to be a very
close fight. I think if they fought 10 times, five times Barzola wins, five times the Magamatov
guy wins. So I'm just going to go with Barzola. Who knows, I don't really look at that other side
of the bracket. I know either way, one of those guys is getting fucking smashed in the finals. I think
in terms of skill set, my side of the bracket is a lot harder with me and Stats there because people
think Stats is the favorite. So yeah, no matter who it is, it doesn't matter who the fuck it is.
It could be Barzola. It could be patchy mix. If it gets a miracle, it could be Magamatoff.
It doesn't matter. The bottom line is I'm going to go in there and I'm going to win the
title. I'm going to win the belt and I'm going to do it in fucking spectacular fashion.
I think I just dominate these guys and it's going to be fun to see.
You know, again, I don't go in there and I just beat them.
I leave no doubt that I'm the better fucking fighter.
You know, I don't go in there and I get like, oh, yay, a quick finish.
I just knocked them out real quick.
No, I want to fucking torture these guys.
I want to beat the shit out of them and I need to make him bleed.
So fourth round finish the torturing to Bell, Tuesday 8 June 24th.
That's the prediction.
you're sticking by this one this is we're going with yep fourth round tk o and he's uh sleep for a couple
minutes too i want to elbow him in the fucking face as i'm elbowing him i want the rough to slip on a banana
peel so i can get a couple extra in there i want blood to be spraying out i don't just want
blood in the first row i want blood in the third row that's another goal of mine i want to have blood
spewing out and i want the fans to actually get you know a little glimpse of this fighting
shit you know what i want they're paying their hard earn money to come and see a show and i want to
give them a show and i want to give them blood to take home so fourth round tk o against tgo and it's
be a fun fucking fight. Well, you have, you have painted quite the vivid picture right there,
Danny. And we look forward to June 24th, man. See you back in there against Leandroigo,
chance to get yourself a title fight against Rafian Stotz later on this year. So thank you for
the time as always. Congratulations on all the success, man. I know you're just getting rolling,
but it's coming, man. I think you're feeling the wheel spinning and the momentum is shifting in your favor.
So we'll see you on June 24th. See you can keep that momentum going. Thank you for the time as always.
Absolutely. Thank you.
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.
