MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Conor McGregor Takes Aim At Tony Ferguson, Volkanovski vs. Holloway 3, Gaethje vs. Oliveira

Episode Date: May 6, 2022

Conor McGregor had a fiery response for Tony Ferguson on Thursday after the former interim lightweight champion's memorable UFC 274 media day scrum. On this episode of Heck of a Morning, it's a Free-For-All Friday as MMA Fighting's Mike Heck takes question about McGregor's response to Ferguson, how Dana White will answer when asked about "El Cucuy" next, the trilogy fight being agreed upon for UFC 276 on July 2 between featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, where Holloway could go if he loses for a third time to Volkanovski, who Khamzat Chimaev could fight next if fights with Nate Diaz or Colby Covington aren't put together, where Rob Font goes from his loss to Marlon Vera at UFC Vegas 53, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 8 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Workday, moving business forever forward. the Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Friday, May 6th, 2022. It is a heck of a morning here on MMA Fighting's Twitter Spaces. And soon to be on the M.A Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for joining us. We are on the eve of UFC 274, which should be quite the event.

The top three fights are fantastic. the other main card fights are really interesting in their own ways could be fun, could be really sad if we're being honest. You just get a good competitive card, but the top three fights are just tremendous.

Of course, if you're a fan of Bellator MMMA, there in Paris, France, Bellator 280 goes down later on today. I believe the prelims start at 1230 PM Eastern Standard Time, which is right smackdown, in the middle of the UFC 274 weigh-ins,

which, by the way, you can watch live on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel at noon Eastern. This is like A.K.'s Christmas. He had to take two days off to prepare for this. This is what he lives for, these types of things. The Toronto Raptors, rules, and way-in shows. All right? But this is a free-for-all Friday.

So if you're new to the show, it means Fridays, they're all you. we're going to talk about whatever it is you want to talk about. We can talk about 274. We can talk about Bellator. We can talk about big fights. You talk about whatever you want. But I need you.

Because I have nothing prepared today. I have nothing prepared. I usually don't have anything prepared. I usually have an idea of what I'm going to talk about. But today I got nothing because it's your show. It's a free for all Friday. Okay. Don't make me talk about Uspen Canelo and Henry Sohudo.

I don't want to do that. I'm going to get fired up trying to be calm, cool, and collected. today. All right. Let's get into this. Dax, you were the first in line, my man. What's going on? So I got two questions. One done as quick, though. Don't worry. So I've been hearing a lot of talk about how if whoever wins in the main event on Saturday, whoever wins, they're just going to get run over by Islam later in the year. Why is that such a guarantee? you know Charles Alvera I'm a huge fan of and he's beaten way better competition than

Dan Hooker and Bobby Green so why is that just a guarantee even the sports books and the other thing is why does Dana just keep going to these southern and western New York places come to some Midwest some Canada cards you know

that's about it Daxia, man. Thanks for kicking us up. Yeah, you know, I was thinking about that the other day as well. Listen, Islam might be the best lightweight in the world. But to your point, we don't really know that because he hasn't really been tested. He hasn't really gotten that big time test. Now, this is through no fault of his own.

It's not like he's out there calling out Bobby Green. And this is no disrespect Bobby Green because Bobby Green's an absolute gangster for stepping up and taking that fight on short notice. this is no disrespect to Dan Hooker. He was, I mean, and at the same time, he was supposed to fight Benile Darius before he ended up fighting Bobby Green. Benil got hurt. That was a massive fight this year. Remember when that fight was booked?

How we reacted to that? Something tells me, because a lot of people feel like Islam's just going to get the winner of this fight, I don't think so. I don't think so. I think Islam will fight in October, and I would not be shocked. if the UFC just went back and rebooked

Vidiel Darayush versus Islam Makachath. And there's no guarantee Islam wins that fight. There's no guarantee Islam wins that fight. That's a very competitive fight between two surging guys who quite frankly aren't appreciated enough. One of those two guys might be the best lightweight of the world. Who knows? So we'll see.

Yeah. I mean, Islam's good. But he hasn't fought a top five win yet. So if you wanted to make the argument, even like I said after the Bobby Green one, he should have just got the title shot. He probably should have got it before even being booked with Benile. I just think you just got to give the man a shot. He got some buzz.

I feel like he'd be favored against anybody. He'd be favored against Oliver. He'd be favored against anybody in this division. He's the favorite against every guy in this division right now. But I still need to see a top. five win on his resume before I can confidently say that he is unequivocally the best lightweight in the world. And as far as the UFC's travel schedule, look, data has said this for the last year. We're going to Texas. We're going to Florida. We're going to Arizona. And we're going to Vegas.

We can sprinkle in somewhere else. Cool. They ended up in Columbus, Ohio. They're going to Austin, Texas, but now things are starting to get back to normal. So they've been to MSG. They're talking about the July 30th card. I mean, if you looked at the war room screenshots there, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, all seem to be in consideration for that card. And I know you want a card in Canada. Dana did mention that Toronto is on the list of places they're trying to get to this

year. So there's not a lot of things that Dana says. that I take completely seriously, if we're being honest. But Dana talking about cities that his promotion is going to travel to, yeah, I buy that. I buy it. Christopher, good morning, my man. Heck of a morning, Mike.

How's it going? Indeed. What's up for me? Not much, man. Yeah, firstly just wanted to, I kind of never do this. I just wanted to thank you guys for what you do with heck of a morning. And it's like, for me, it's 1pm in the UK. So I tend to listen to these on my lunch break.

So they kind of help me get through today. So yeah, thank you for that. What I wanted to come in today and ask you is actually about the Melissa Gatto and Tracy Cortez fight. Just wondering, what are your thoughts on that fight? How do you see it going? I mean, Gato's opened up as, I think she's still a slight underdog going into the fight. I think she might be better than Cortez. I mean, she might be better on the ground.

She's definitely great off her back. I think in the striking department, she probably has Cortez beat. So I'm just wondering, like, yeah, what is your read on that fight? Do you agree with the betting lines and how do you see it going? Thank you, Christopher, for the question and the kind words. Love hearing that. That's why we're doing this show. It's weird.

When I do this, I'm just like, oh, man, people have to wake up at 8 a.m. And then I don't even think about the folks in the West Coast who are like 5 a.m. or even further west. Like if you're in Hawaii, it's like, I don't know, like 3 a.m. right now. I don't know. I'm not good with those kinds of time zones.

But so right now, according to our good friends at Drafking sports book, Tracy Cortez is a minus 145 favorite and the comeback on Melissa Gatto is plus 125. So to me, this has 50-50 fight written all over it.

I think Gato, I don't know. I think Cortez doesn't get enough credit. I think she's solid. her wrestling is really good and here's the thing she is a big 25er she's a big 25er she's very

muscular she's very athletic she's most of I think all but her last fight in the UFC we're at 135 and she was ragdoll and girls at 135 so she's strong she's tenacious and she has a lot to fight for

and she has a lot to fight for most of Gato is just is just really good so to me from a betting perspective this is this is dog all day. It's not like my official pick, but if someone's forcing me to put action on this fight and put it on one of these women, I'm putting it on Mosegato at Plus Money because I think it's a 50-50 fight. I think it's very close.

This has split decision written all over it. I'm going to go Mosegato to get the win here. But again, I know, like, I know this comes up often. And oftentimes there's some semblance of truth to this. You got to remember where this fight's taking place. There is going to be a very pro-Tracy Cortez crowd in Phoenix. And it depends on who's sitting in those three chairs. Okay?

Because oftentimes the crowd can sway how judges view fights. So Tracy Cortez swings and misses a punch by 11 feet. the crowd is still going to chair because she threw a punch. So we got to keep that in mind. Having said that, I think Melissa Gatto will win. I think we'll all come out of a feeling like she won like 29, 28, and then we're going to get a split decision. And I guarantee you that either myself or my best friend A.K. Lee,

who is sitting here right now just preparing himself for way in fun, is going to call up the judge and be like, what friggin fight were you watching? but I think it's going to be a close competitive, hard grueling fight. Give me the underdog to get it done. Mike Feinson. Mike and Mike. A lot of mics in the request line here.

Mike just make sure you're on mute, man, and fire when ready. Hey, how's it going? Good. Listen, I got two things I wanted to ask you about. The first one was, and I'm sure somebody else has mentioned this, but I listened to all that Tony Ferguson has washed discussion, And I mean, the optics of the last three fights aren't great. But look at the competition.

You've got the two guys fighting for the belt and another guy who hasn't lost in five years. One of those fights, the Gaichi fight, if that second round is 15 seconds longer, it might be over. So I don't like the 4 to 1 line on Chandler in that fight. And a lot of that, you know, there's an emotional element to that too where there's nothing like a Tony Ferguson fight week. so I want to see the guy continue. I want to know your thoughts on that. And the second thing, I'm wondering if you had any intel

into when the start of the next season of Contenders series would be. Thank you, Mike. I appreciate that. To answer your second question, my guess would be July. I don't know. I don't know if they'll do it.

Like, maybe late June. I don't know. That'd be a great... If they did the first Contender Series card on International Fight Week, that'd be pretty damn cool. But as far as like an exact date of when we're going to start, not 100% sure.

I assume that the next Nevada commission meeting, there will be hopes to get all those cards approved by the commission, which they obviously will. So it's going to be at the freaking apex. It'll be a summertime thing. I don't know if they'll do, I don't know if they'll do the two-parter again. the one thing I don't want to happen to the contender series is that it gets completely watered down.

Last season, AK can understand this. I know he's listening right now. He, AK, is our tough guy. He's our ultimate fighter guy. All of us, none of us want to cover the ultimate fighter. AK is all about it. Let's go. Give me some tough in my life.

How he feels about the ultimate fighter, I have always felt about the Contender series. I love the concept. I think there's ways to improve it. Like, instead of just releasing fighters, I would love to see fighters in the UFC on like three-fight losing streaks, headline a contender series card, winner stays on the roster, and the losers out.

Like, give them a chance to fight for their contract. I love that idea. I love a tournament concept for the contender series to kind of spread things out a little bit. There's ways you can improve it. but to me, top has just been so watered down. It's the same show.

It has been for 30 freaking seasons. We're still wearing basketball jerseys for Christ's sake. It's the same show. It's the same show. Now, I don't want this to happen to the Contender Series, and I don't want every fighter who goes in to a Contender Series fight that wins to get a contract.

Like the first two seasons, seasons of contender series, it wasn't just like you had to go there in their win. You had to go and knock everybody's socks off. There were certain fighters who got like quick finishes on the contender series that got contracts that probably shouldn't have. And there were fighters on the contender series who got dominant decision wins who didn't get contracts because they didn't get finishes or they went for takedowns too late in the fight. Brandon Locknane, perfect example. Probably should have got a shot in the UFC. Anthony Romero, perfect example. Probably should have got a shot of the UFC. Austin Vanderford

for sure should have been signed in the UFC. I think we understand why he didn't get signed, but you understand where I'm going to this. I just don't want contenders here to get watered out. I don't want to see, let's do six weeks in the summer, take a month or two off, and then come back in the fall, early winter. I don't

want to see that. Just go on an eight-week run and call it a day. Give away your contract and be done with it. And I'll watch it because I love it. For your first question, Mike, Tony Ferguson. Yes. look, the Tony Ferguson is watched thing

it's a very popular narrative. Yes, the level of competition has been incredible. Here's the thing that war, like, I understand the level of competition's incredible. He's had his moments in the Justin Gaci fight, like very few. He's still super durable. I mean, he took an absolutely hellacious beating

in that Justin Gagy fight. If you guys have it, like if you're newer fans, like if you just got into the UFC, and like the last, I don't know, year maybe, and you didn't see the fight between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gagee at UFC 249. You want to watch something that is just

the most gnarly thing you've ever seen. That's probably the fight to watch. This is one of the early shows where there's no crowd. They're in a huge arena that seats like 18,000 people, but there's literally nobody there. And you hear, like, you literally, excuse me,

can hear every shot that lands. It's like, it's very bizarre. It's very bizarre. And you just, you kind of, you kind of were achy and sore after watching it

because you almost felt every shot Gachy was landing on Tony Ferguson. And these weren't like pitter-patter shots. These were hard, ferocious strikes that this man was landing

on Tony Ferguson. It was unbelievable to watch. I've gone back and watched it since because I'm a sicko, but I'm telling it, like, it's just really bizarre. And fighting Justin Gathe He's never easy.

It's never easy like when you're actually fighting Justin Gichi, but it's never easy after you're fighting Justin Gagchi. Just ask the guys who have fought Justin Gachi. Win or lose, except for Habib. But you understand, like Eddie Alvarez, perfect example. Eddie Alvarez beat Justin Gagey, but his career was never the same after that. Tony Ferguson, career has not been the same. Tony Ferguson hasn't won around in three years.

Keep that in mind. Like, he hasn't even been competitive. I will say this. Tony Ferguson, despite the losing streak he's on, despite how people feel about him, is the star of the week. And it's not even close. I don't like to go by,

I mean, math does a lie and numbers don't lie. Just go to the MA Fighting YouTube channel and just go down, look at the views. Anything Tony Ferguson is involved in is killing it. Absolutely killing it. His media scrum is like a half- a million views right now. Him just staring down Michael Chandler,

making an ankle pick, has like well over 200,000 views right now. Tony Ferguson, without question, is the star of UFC 274 fight week, and it's not even close. He is so far ahead of everybody else. That's what makes this fight really interesting. And I like that Tony Ferguson is so loose.

He doesn't look like he's frazzled. It doesn't look frustrated. This week has been Tony Ferguson. It's a festivist. It's a festivist for the rest of us. He's got the poll, the festivist poll. He went to the media day, had his airing of grievances. And on Saturday, Festivist isn't over until Michael Chandler pins him. So for Tony Ferguson, he doesn't want Festivist to end. Maybe Festivist goes on for a long time. And I'm very curious what happens if Tony Ferguson wins this fight. If Tony Ferguson can get out of that first round and extend this thing and go to the late rounds, go to round three, fight gets real interesting. and if he somehow goes in there and stops Michael Chandler like in round three,

I'm very curious to see where he goes. As much as the UFC might not be a fan of him right now for the things he was saying, they also understand that they are running a business. And if Tony Ferguson is a top five most popular fighter on their roster, which clearly a number say that he is, how can you ignore that? What kind of fights would he be up for? Or they could just be jerks and throw it.

and just throw them in there with like Islam Makachep or something. But nobody wants to see that. So that's a really interesting fight. Plus 290? I mean, I can't lay, I could never lay minus 380 on Michael Chandler. No offense. I like Michael a lot. I could never be confident laying minus 380 on Michael Chandler.

But I don't know. I don't know. Definitely the most interesting fight. Like the main event's fantastic. Stylistically, I'm super intrigued. I think it's a super close fight. But in terms of, like, outside of the two title fights, I mean, this isn't really going out on a limb here,

but I'm so fascinated by more Ferguson than Chandler, by a long shot. Black Friday is here at IKEA, and the clock is ticking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-havs to cozy at-home essentials, all the little and big things you need to make.

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Let's get another Mike in here. Mike Lawson, perhaps. Hi, Mike. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, sir. Hey, Mike, heck of a morning. Indeed. Two quick things for you this morning. I wanted to know how, what you're doing.

actual pick was in the Justin Gagey Charles Olivera fight. Sorry about those GPS. And the second thing is I'd like to know your take on Rob Font, Cheeto Vera. I heard many, many shots and many takes. People comparing Rob Font saying that he's actually outscoring him and outlanding him and everything like that. But, I mean, a perfect example was at the end of the fight when you looked at both of their face. I mean, Cheeto didn't have skin.

And I heard one of your takes, and you said that, you know, he had freakishly leather skin. I don't think that's the shot. I think Rob Fon was just hitting him with little pillow pads. That's the same thing almost with, like, with Jose Aldo. You know, he outlanded him. But, again, at the end of the fight, I mean, Jose was a little beat up. But nowhere near, like, all these other fights, how Rob Fon's been looking at the end of it. So, um, just wanted to hear your pick and actually your take on seeing if he's a gatekeeper.

You know, maybe it's a little bit early to be calling him that, but looking at the top five of the bantam weights now, I don't see anyone that he could be right there. And, you know, at the spot that he's at, I think he's ranked at seven, a little bit, you know, below him, those are pretty good fights. I'd actually be interested on seeing him run it now with, uh, with, Dominic Cruz, possibly for his next fight after he's taking a good long breakoff. I'd like to hear your picks. Thanks. Thanks, Mike.

The Oliver Gaitchie won, I will admit, this one has me torn up. I've lost hours of sleep this week thinking about that fight because I know at some point I'm going to have to choose a side, whether it be on the Way & Show or the preview show. as of right now, 8.23 a.m. Eastern time, I'm leaning towards Charles Olivera. But that could change very quickly. It's just one of those fights where it is super close. And yeah, I don't know. It's just one of those ones where you see lanes and each lane has sort of an obvious answer. Charles Olivera starts landing takedowns on Justin Gaichie. He's going to win.

he's going to win. He's going to submit Justin Geichi. He's going to retain the title. If he cannot get takedowns, and this fight stays in the feet, as good as a striker, is approved of a striker and his explosive of a striker

as Charles Oliver has shown to be during this long win streak he's on, he does not want to go leather to leather with Justin Geichie for all that long. Because nobody does. That's just not a good strategy. Now there's certain fighters who are just like,

throw a strategy out the window, you don't think I can knock this guy out, watch what I do. I don't recommend that, and I don't think Charles Oliver is necessarily going to do that. Although I do think he's going to get into some wild exchanges because he doesn't have to worry about Justin Gachey trying to take him down. Justin Gachie has to worry about Charles Oliverer trying to take him down. Now, this is not going to be one of those fights where, and we can't compare Oliver's wrestling to Habib's wrestling,

because they're just, I mean, it's not even a close thing. Habe's wrestling was so much better. But Alvira does have some good offensive wrestling tendencies. He does things very well. So I like the fight. I like a lot about it. It's very interesting. And I have no idea what's going to happen.

So TBD on the official pick, which reminds me, watch the way in show, which I probably still won't have a side yet. But definitely watch a preview show at 3 p.m. Eastern. And I'm going to have to have one by that. The font vera thing, listen, there have been there have been many examples of there have been many examples of guys getting punched in the face a lot

and not really being marked up. Max Holloway against Calvin Cater is a perfect example. Calvin Cater took a record amount of shots in that fight. But he also landed the most strikes he's ever landed in his career in that fight to that point. And Max Holloway didn't even really look like he was in a fight. There are certain guys who just wear it well. Oh, Rob Font certainly is not that guy.

Marlon Verr clearly is. Rob was hit them with some good shots in that fight. It's not like, yes, there is some certain, like, deazness to him where he's just, let's just land punches and bunches and things like that and not, you're not throwing 100 miles an hour. But Fon was landing on him. Fon was definitely landing on him. Vera's a freak.

He is a freak. And he's a bad man. There's something to that. how frustrating must that have been for Rob Fawn. You do this one thing so well. Everybody knows you do it so well. Marlon knows you do it so well. And he gets right into the thick of it with you.

And he just absorbs everything you do so well. Not only was he absorbing them. He was smiling. And not like a, hey, you got me. I'm just pretending like it didn't hurt smile. He's throwing the, this rules. do it again, dude, because all you're doing is making me mad, kind of smile.

And then he's dancing, he's pretending to surf in there. Like, how frustrating is that? You're hitting this guy with 200 strikes, and he's just smiling and he's dancing. That's got to be the most frustrating thing in the world. So I don't know if I'm ready to call Fon to Gatekeeper. I think Rob Fon has done this year, or over the last few years, has been pretty remarkable.

and I'm not just saying that as a New England guy. He had some big wins. He was in a really good spot. He beat Joseo, though. He might have been fighting for the title. Like, that's how, that's how close he was. It's so close.

Let me pull up the, not the rankings that truly matter, but the UFC rankings. Rob Font number seven. So let's see who he could fight. Cruz is interesting. I would like to, I mean, Cruz Vera would be a lot of fun.

Let's just do Cruz Frankie Edgar at this point. Like, I know a lot of people want to see Jose Aaldo, Dominic Cruz. I mean, it would be cool. Like, I'm not going to complain about it. I'm just not as high on that one right now as a lot of people are. Like, I'm in, sure, but not my first choice for Jose Aldo. Joseo should be fighting T.J. Dillishaw or she should be fighting for the title. That's, that's it.

The Dominic Cruz fight will always be there. Not always, but Dominic Cruz doesn't seem like a guy who's going to retire anytime soon. Like I bet we get two or three more years of Dominic Cruz. Jose Alton doesn't win the title. That fights there. And if he does win the title, celebration time. A lot of people are going to be happy. I think the fight for Rob Font is after some time off, is Song Yidong.

That one works for me. Sean O'Malley would be a good one if he beats Pedro Munoz. Because Sean's not the most active guy. We're not going to see Sean fight every three months. So if Sean beats Pedro Munoz gets a finish, he can call out Fob Ront again. And that's one that would make sense. Jack Shore would make sense.

It's got to be a step back for Rob, but I definitely want to see some time on the sidelines. And I know with the team he is on, with the New England cartel, and he's got Tyson Chartero there, Tyson's going to make sure he takes his time. Tyson's going to make sure that they go to the PI

and they get the brain tested and all those things are done correctly. He's going to do that. So Fountain's going to be a no rush to come back. And I hope he takes all the time he needs. I'll be shot. I mean, if we see him in December, cool. I would prefer we don't see him until like next year. Because he's taken a beating in two straight fights.

The Jose Aldo fight, this fight in particular, some pretty vicious beatings. His face looks like hamburger meat. So we'll see what happens. I mean, I know Ricky Simone is one of that rematch, but I just don't know if that happens. I don't think they're going to give Rob anybody ahead of him right now. Unless, like, no one fights Marab.

Because Rob's not going to say no to Marab. He'll fight anybody. Even Marab. But I don't even know if that fight, how much that fight does for Marab. That would be a good hashtag. Hashtag Marab, Rob. Right, AK? Huh? Huh? What do you think? All right. So it's 830. Oh, Matt, come on in. Come on in. You're in and then you're out. This is your show, people. Don't make me, don't make me going to Suhudo rant. I'll do it. I will do it. So, funny story. And just to show you that I'm not afraid to do any of these kinds of things. I used to host a karaoke show. I used to host many karaoke shows before I got into this side of the business.

and I went to one show that I hosted in Waltham, Massachusetts. And it was at a bar that you wouldn't think had karaoke because it was kind of like, kind of shiasty, kind of place you didn't expect karaoke to happen. Some leather cuts, if you will. So do this karaoke and there's people there, and no one's saying. So I went up as the host and I sang Rapper's Delight for nine minutes in change. And it was horrendous. It was so bad.

And I threatened that I would sing that song over and over again until somebody came up and saying, within seconds people were singing. And then they sang the rest of the night. So don't test me, people. Don't do it. Let's get Kevin in here. Picture of the dog will get me every single time. Kevin, what's up, buddy?

Hey, what's up, Mike? A heck of a morning to you. Indeed. Hey, so I was just curious to get your thoughts. I watched Tony's press conference yesterday. He was really, seem to be coming at Dana and the brass of the UFC. I just wanted to get your thoughts on that and see if there will be any retaliation or if you've heard if Dana's responded at all.

Kevin, thank you very much. Listen, we're going to, this is not, all I'm going to say is get used to it. Because this isn't going to be the first time. It ain't going to be the last. We're going to be hearing more of this. I don't know if they're just... I'm not surprised. And we'll see.

Dana wasn't at the press conference yesterday. Didn't get his chance to respond. I'm sure we'll hear more from him on Saturday after the event. Maybe we won't. Who knows? Maybe he's just that angry. But no Dana at the presser. John Anick looking like $10 million once again up there doing the damn thing.

I hope John Anick is making like $10 million a year doing what he does because that man deserves it. We'll see how Dana responds. If you watch between the links, we had Jed and Ben Duffy give their Dana impression about how he would respond to that question. Of course, Dana doesn't show up at the press conference. But he wasn't in Jacksonville either. So maybe he's just like, nah, I'm not going to the press conference anymore.

I'm just going to hold off. I'll take another day. you can do whatever he wants you got a floppy trillion dollars so we'll see but good on Tony he's free he's loose and he wants to say what he's going to say

there he is the man with the best theme song in MMA New York Rick, good morning are you there sir I'm here I'm here there he is hi buddy you can hear me

I can okay it says my mic is off that's why I was confused It was. It was like going in and going out. It was weird. Thanks for having me on, as always. Two quick things. I just want to say, thinking about UFC 274, I get that you're torn on the Oliver Gaci fight.

It seems like many are, but I want to help you make a decision here. I want to help bring you to the side of the underdog Justin Gaci. By just pointing out, I know the stats are there for Charles Olivera's offensive wrestling, but I think if you watch the fights, you'll kind of see that he's not, somebody who's shooting across the cage for takedowns. He's not somebody who's really aggressive with that. And if he was, quite frankly, I think Justin Gachie would be able to sprawl those. I don't think he's going to be out there spamming and trying to take it to the ground.

I really think this is going to play out in Justin Gachie's favor and be in a zone and be in a realm where he's able to initiate the offense. And then with Tony Ferguson, I know that's one where you were kind of teasing maybe a little bit of a look at the underdog. I'll caution you just to say, hey, look back at even like, I know it's been a long time since he won, but even look back at those wins. It's Cowboy Soroni, it's Anthony Pettits, it's Kevin Lee. It's been a long time since Tony Ferguson has beaten anybody who's having any current success, and that would probably be the RDA fight.

So it's been rough sledding for Tony. I wish him the best. It would be great to see him get a win here, but I'd caution against even thinking that he has much of a chance here against Michael Chandler. And then lastly, you open this can of worms, so I will have to humbly request that we get a little bit of rap with delight now, karaoke, to wrap this thing up. I'm having too much fun here in New York, Rick, so I can't do that.

We got people requesting, so we don't need to do that. I'm not, like, here's the thing about Gatia Oliver. I don't think Oliver is going to be shooting from across the moon to land takedowns. I think things are eventually going to get against the fence where Alver is a very strong guy. If he wants to get this to the fence, he can. And that's when I think he could go for his takedown. So that's where I think he could be effective.

I think he could answer Justin Gage's leg kicks a little bit as well. Maybe that gets him off balance. He could set some things up. I don't think Charles Lover is going in there looking to land 17 takedowns tomorrow. I think he's going to obviously use his striking to get there. I think he's going to get in close. and I think when action gets to the fence,

there's a very good chance we see Charles Oliver go for takedowns. I don't think he's going all out for them. But again, what I find so interesting about Charles Oliver's offense is that he has zero fear of getting taken down. Zero. Like, look at his, look at the way he strikes. He's upright.

He literally has zero fear. He has to focus on basically one thing, offense. And some defense, too, but not defensive wrestling. He has to worry about, like, just defensive striking defense. It's a pretty powerful tool.

That's some straight-up G confidence right there. It's like this guy does not have, this guy has never going to take me down. But it's still an interesting fight. Again, I'm 50-50, I'm torn. It's just a matter of if this fight goes to the ground. If this fight gets to the ground, more than once, Oliver is going to win

and he's going to smit Justin V. It doesn't happen. I think we all know what's. going to happen. It's super close. Clearly the betting values on Justin Gagie, and this is without question. Listen to Jedd and G.C.'s new podcast, by the way. No bets barred. They talk about this fight in depth. Lots of, lots of opportunity here. If you're going to take Gagchi and dog money, take it. And then if you're going to take Gagchi

a dog money, just go for the T-KO prop, the KOTKO prop. It's there. And then Jet even suggested you could hedge with the Charles Oliver a submission prop. So you could be at plus money on multiple ways of this fight. The betting value, clearly with Justin Gagee, especially in a fight that's this close.

Clearly with Justin Gagee. Ferguson fight, listen, my official pick is probably going to be Michael Chandler. But who knows? I like Tody's mindset. I think mindset means a lot more in the sport than a lot of other people do.

And I like where he's at right now. But he's in a spot where here's a thing and it's this is not a knock on Chandler because it's a super exciting fighter but if Ferguson wants to make this his fight

and the crowd gets behind it Chandler's gonna do that Chandler's gonna be all in like if Ferguson does something is like let's do this and the fans erupt and they stand and share Chandler's gonna be like okay let's do it

I'm not here for a long time I'm here for a good time straight to the top let's go so it just depends will Chandler fall in to a Ferguson trap. I'm just, let's make the fans happy and get into a, I mean, the Justin Gachy fight,

it was not supposed to happen like that. It was supposed to be really good, but it wasn't supposed to be that. But Chandler got caught up in the moment, and Chandler gets caught up in the moment. Can he do it again? We'll see. A hip, hop, inhibited, a hip hip hip hip hip,

you don't stop. Patrick, what's up, man? Mike. Yo. I said a hip, hop, a hippie. I think of a ragged another bang, bang, buggy. What's up, fuckers? What's going on, man? So, yeah, Tony Ferguson,

I think all real fight fans right now are really rooting for him to just kind of recapture a little bit of what we love about him in the octagon. especially this, you know, this week, all the press stuff. Like, he's going against the ultimate company man in Michael Chandler. And so it's, it's, Tony Ferguson is the type of character that is amazing in the UFC. The people that, that I think the fans really like is someone whose personality is turned up to 11, you know.

But Tony's like such a weirdo that he's already at 11, so he's turned up to, like, 13 but it's not like it's not fabricated you know that's um and i guess shanler's a little bit the same like he's just kind of a corny cheesy goofball every man and then he turns that that up to 11 as well so maybe you know i think he's doing he's doing good with his um with his character too but um yeah i just really want to see tony when i just want to put that out there into the universe um i'll tell you mother heckers and i got a couple other things I just wanted to say, yeah, in the beginning when, like, the Gitchie Ferguson fight was so brutal, man. Like, at first I loved the empty arenas and the Apex Center because you got to pick up on all that you could hear the coaches so clear.

Like, remember Devin Clark's dad? You could just, you had that raspy voice. And you could pick up on a lot of things that you didn't hear. and so it was fascinating, but in the octagon violence, it was almost too much. It was so uncomfortable. We could hear people kind of,

like Glover, when he was putting the beat down on Anthony Smith, you know, he was like apologizing to him. You know, he was like, I'm sorry, man. And you could just hear all that stuff. It was crazy. And the contended series, I also really love the contendant.

tennis series. And the guy who's fighting on this car that I've been talking up to some of my friends is Clayton Rodriguez. He had the fight against the kid from Staten Island, I think was a CFFC champ. But he is nasty. He has a nastiness about him in that fight where he is almost kind of like a Marlon Vera thing, you know, like he just controlled the range

so well, like he fought so long for the flyweight weight weight class and when he connected, it was just like you could tell that he broke the spirit of that dude he was fighting and, I mean, that dude at heart, he fought the whole time. He didn't

get finished, but I just wanted to put it out there that I think that that kid's going to be something good in that division. And that flyway division just kind of keeps getting injected with new talent. And also Olivera. I think Olivera is going to win.

I think he has more paths to victory. And there's no way that in some of the exchanges that happen, like Justin Gucci kind of falls back as much as Trevor Whitman tries to get him out of the brawler mentality. In a fight, you kind of go back to what is in your heart. And Gachie is like, you know, a brawler at heart. And he's going to get inside, want to go into some dirty boxings, throw some uppercuts, and Oliver's going to grab him. At some point, it's inevitable. Oliver is just going to grab him. And he's just going to big brother him like he's done to everyone

in the last few fights, man. No one has. has looked as dominant on the ground since Kabib, in my opinion. And so the Islam-Oliver fight is going to be very interesting. And then we'll see if maybe he can beat Benile, and then he'll just be the Ali killer. He's just going to kill, like, line up all the Ali's lightweights, and just olivara is just going to become a legend. So that's my fired up Friday.

There you go, man. Patrick, thank you very much. very spirited. I enjoy that. Just to briefly go on the Toady Ferguson thing, win or lose, I just want to see the man go in there and have a fun, competitive fight. I want to see him win around

or at least be competitive at a round. That's what I'm looking forward to. I'm looking for those two guys, just get after it. Just get after it, have a fun fight. I think we're all just looking forward to a fun fight. I just don't want to see Michael Chandler just run him over. It'd be great for Michael Chandler, of course, but I just want to see Ferguson in there,

competitive, have his moments. Just a good spirited fight, you know? That's what I want to see. And I have a question for all of you. Back to rappers a late. Have you ever went over a friend's house to eat and the food just ain't no good? I mean, the macaroni soggy and the peas are mushed

and the chicken tastes like wood. What do you do? That's a conundrum. Matt, what's up, buddy? What do you think about this whole Max Holloway and Volk 3? What do you really do with Max when he loses in this third fight?

And then, you know what? I also do want to say, if you really just take Henry Sehudo's face and all of his antics out of it, I am excited as heck to get this man back in the octagon because I honestly think he's great to watch when he takes his personality out. Thank you, Matt. You have done it. You have hit the trigger word. And we will get to that in a moment. Just so I can clarify things that I've been saying already because I've been hearing about this quite a bit.

Anyways, yeah, it's, I'm just getting right into it. I don't even remember where your first question was because you said the trigger word. It's like Pee Wee's Playhouse and they say the magic word and everyone starts screaming. That's where we are right now. I'll remember the first question that I go into this. Let me just say about Henry Sehudo. If this man comes back in fights, I will be very happy about that. I think he's that good.

His resume is tremendous. The guy can scrap his ass off. he just annoys me and that doesn't take part in anything I just don't care until he actually fights I don't care until he fights somebody

realistic in his wheelhouse right now now if he's in Bellator if this is Bellator he's fighting for the title right away okay he's fighting for the title right away but this is in Bellator

this is the UFC this is business and as much as Henry thinks it's like a $2 million pay for you buy draw. He's just not. He just isn't. He's not at all. It's not even close. But if Henry comes back and fights a Cheeto Vera, fights a Marab, fight somebody in the top five, earns his title shot that way, I will come on this show, and I will praise Henry Suhudo. I will write a poem about him. I will write a poem about Henry Suhudo on this program. If he just goes in and fight somebody, it's going to be a very short poem, by the way.

maybe a haiku. But, you know what I'm saying? Like, show me something. Show me something. I know you're good. I know your resume is fantastic. Stop talking. Just go fight.

Go fight somebody. You're not fighting for the tight, for either belt right now. Okay? Featherweight is gone. Never, it's not, never going to happen. It's not happening right now.

And you're probably not getting the Sterling fight. You're like third or fourth in line right now. Go fight somebody else. You just need one win. You just need one win. Go fight Rob Fon's. Go fight anybody. Just get one win and you get a title shot.

But you've got to get that one win. And thank you, New York, Rick. Volcanofsky Holloway. I mean, my gosh, coming out with just throwing hammers at Max Holloway. Yeah, I don't know. If Max Holloway doesn't be Volcanowski, I mean, if it's a close fight, just run it back again. I know New York, Rick, can't agree with that.

We have the two best featherweights of the world. We want to do a best of seven? Let's give Max another chance to win four straight and win the best seven. I can watch those two guys fight a thousand times. But if Volkovsky goes in there and does what he did to the Korean zombie, I mean, that's just ridiculous. That's just ridiculous. We're talking about, I think right now Volko is,

I think we have number three pound for pound in our rankings. If he goes out there and just massacres bad, Max Holloway, we're having a different conversation. It's a him and Usman conversation for sure. And I think we're already having that conversation. We're definitely in the beginning stage of that conversation. But I love that fight. I had somebody asked the other day,

why is Volcanoes taking this fight besides being a badass? What do you mean why? It's the biggest fight for him by far right now. It's the biggest fight. Who else is he going to fight? This is the one. This is it. So do it.

Go fight him. You got two wins over them. You're going to be on international freaking fight week. This is a big deal. This is a big deal. You're probably going to be the co-man event to Israel out of Sanya. On one of the big cards of the year, this is a great spot for Volkinovsky. And there's hype around this one.

I cannot wait to see it. I do feel Volkinovsky won the first two fights. I thought the first one, there's no question at all. There's no debate. Second one, there's a debate. It's one of the closest fights you will ever, ever see. and is one of the most underrated fights in a history of the UFC. It does not get enough love and attention.

It really doesn't. That fight is so good. That is about as good of a fight as you will ever see in terms of just competitive fighting. This is not just to gauge you versus Michael Chandler, but it is high-level chess match MMA at its finest. And I highly recommend you go back and watch that fight again. Keep the scoring out of it.

If you're a Max Holloway fan and you're just, Still dying on the hill. Fine. But just go watch the fight for just how good it is. Because it deserves better. That should be a Hall of Fame fight. That's how close that fight was in my eyes. Ahid.

What's up, buddy? Long time, no speak. It's an afternoon here, but how you doing? Wonderful, my man. Thank you for chiming in. What you got? A couple things. All right.

So just engaged. is an arrogant, entitled hypocrite. It's funny, right? Like, he's at the media day. He's talking about how Charles Alivaira is a coward. It's funny, right? Because he says, what do you say? Once a quitter?

He said, once a coward, always a coward. He said, oh, he made the decision to quit before. He's still dying on this hill. He's still trying to beat that dead horse. And it was just crazy to be because he tapped against Tabin, which is fine, by the way, like, I'm sure, like, a lot of the human population would do the same. But that's what a tap is. A tap is essentially, you quit. Like, that's it. You don't want to fight anymore. And then he obviously went unconscious, but that's, that's what happened.

And you know, either, like, I think he's taking way too many shots to the head, or he's so self-absorbed, or it's a combination of both, because, yeah, like, he's accusing Charles making this accusation. he's made the decision to quit. And like I've never quit like from Justin, which is just not true. Secondly, he doesn't deserve, he'd never deserve this title shot. Like, Isam Marka Chenev had seven in a row and it was or actually had more. And it's crazy to me how like Whitman was saying on the countdown like, oh, we should have got the title shot before Chandler. I'm just like, wait.

Just because you were the last guy to get your ass kicked by how, that means you get a title shot. So that's like, let's give Ally a quinter a title shot. Let's give Dustin. Like after just one win too, it's like, there's talks of Connor getting a title shot after at Charles or for loss. And Gaghi's flipping out saying, oh, I'm going to throw a dolly. I'm going to do this.

And I'm just like, bro, you don't deserve one when Mark and Chiv's sitting right there. You don't, you had one win. You lost the least amount of time against Habib, out of all of his title fight. It's crazy. So I don't get his mindset, but in terms of the fight, I don't know who to pick. I had Gaichi. I'm still going to lead towards Gaichi, but I hope Charles gets the job done off. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

And the second point is about Tony and Connor. Like, Conner's a hypocrite too, because Conner's talking about how Tony needs to hold himself accountable. He needs to say, oh, it's my fault. like I need to like say it is it because of me that's like that it's just rich coming from someone who surrounds himself with yes men all the time and just does all these stunts and also as well the reason why Connor mentioned him is not because of what he said to Dana though I might have been partially but it was because twice Tony mentioned Connor and paradigm he mentioned something called Mike I want you to explain this for it like because I don't know as much about the Miller you Yarlah act, I might be pronouncing it wrong. Like, it was about how an agent can't compete at the same sport as the same sport issue. And like paradigms corrupt. Like, Adam Keran says, like, people talk about Ali, people talk about Graham Boylitt.

Like, paradigm is so corrupt. Like, Aldi might be the face, but Connor pulls a lot of the strings. And I know Tony was under paradigm. And I think that might have been the reason he was screwed over a little bit earlier on in his career. And that's what Tony was alluding to. And obviously, Connor just takes that so personally. You know, Connor wants to like, that's what Connor was trying to bite back at. Yeah, it's just like rich coming from Connor.

And it's just funny as well how all one thing is about the fan boys. Everyone's saying, oh, he lost against Olivera. He's, you know, if Khabib came back, Khabib would smash him. Yeah, now. Yeah, now it's funny. Like, everyone wants a piece of Tony now. But when he was on that win streak, no one dared to mention his name. He had to wait a year, not because he refused fights.

It was purely because no one wanted to fight him. He had to wait for that interim title. And it's Kevin Lee. It's just BS, like this whole thing with Tony. I hope Tony gets the job done. He looks better. He looks and feels better. But he was screwed by Dana and Paradig.

They're just corrupting. Try to sue the crap out of Manipakia too. Yeah, screw them. And yeah, that's it. Damn, Ahed. Never messes around. Aheded always brings the flame throwers out on this program. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm not really going to...

The way Justin Gagie is approaching this fight, I'm not going to attack him on it. You got to say certain things. This man is getting into a cage to fight another man who might be the best fighter in his division. He might be the best fighter in the world. So if Justin Gagee needs to say these things to fire himself up, so be it. You know, that's the way it is. Like sometimes, like there have been times where I pitched in high school where I looked at a batter and he was like a cleanup hitter and he was like an all state hitter. And I told him that he sucked.

Like sometimes you got to do that. I knew he didn't suck. I knew he was really good. But sometimes you got to say things to like fire yourself up. And maybe that's a Justin Gage he needs. he was also complimentary of Charles Oliver. He felt like Charles was a very tough challenge in this division. And he said that if he goes out there and beats Charles Olivera,

it would be the greatest accomplishment of his career. So, I mean, you could say the things you want to fire yourself up. But at the same time, he's still also putting Charles over in a way. No one does this better, by the way, the Michael Chandler. Michael Chandler is pro wrestling 101. You have confidence in yourself, but yet you put over your opponent in his. his abilities so that if you win, it's a bigger win. And if you lose, you're lost to a good guy.

You can't go out and say this guy's a piece of shit and he's terrible because then you look like an idiot if you lose. So Chandler, Chandler should teach a class on this because he's so good at it. And the Connor thing, I'm not going to get into the paradigm stuff. I will say this, though. You did make one other point of heat. I think it's just Connor sees a path to victory. Connor versus Tony Ferguson

It would be a humongous comeback fight for him What did not? People would care People would be super Super invested in it One way or the other So yeah Connor's probably planting a couple seeds

All right We're gonna take these last three calls And we're gonna get it's out of here I'm gonna try to get a workout in Before this media day starts Or not media day, Wade show Henderson what's up buddy? I

Before I start I might have a problem I speak bad in English because of my disability. If anyone don't understand me, feel free to ask me to repeat the questions. So my question is about Jim Eiloh, does he deserve and diet? Did he deserve a title shot? If he fought for the belt right now, I don't think anybody would be completely upset with that. He's certainly done enough.

Again, I'm going to go back to this again because I think this is the right idea because now we're seeing these fights get put together for International Fight Week. We don't know what this July 30th main event's going to be. They might headline this with Nunes versus Pena at this point, but it doesn't seem like, I mean, maybe Kamar gets back in there,

but doesn't seem like Usman's getting rushed back for one of those July cards. Can we just do my idea? My idea is so much better. Can we just stop? Let's just do what I suggest, okay? I don't think Shama of Diaz is going to happen.

Clearly, I don't think Shami of Colby's going to happen with everything going on right now with the whole Mazadol situation and the court situation. Can we just do my idea? Let's just do Leon Edwards versus Hamzat Shemayev for the interim welterweight title. Let's just do that. It's a huge fight for both guys. Usman gets the winner.

It's a glorified number one contenders fight. You just slap at a belt on it and you're slapping a few extra bucks at each of those paychecks, which I am always in favor of. But just think of what that win means for both guys. And what it means for Usman, because it's a much bigger fight. nobody seems to care about Usman versus Leon Edwards. It's a competitive fight. It's fine.

Leon has done enough to get himself an opportunity to fight for a championship. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's Usman's title. Let's just do the interim title fight. You could headline a card. You're throwing, I mean, you're just chucking title fights at the wall right now. multiples on all these cards. Eventually, and the UFC runs into this from time to time, you're going to run out of shit to do.

You're going to run out of title fights. Now you got one. Now you have one that you can headline an event with. And then the winner goes on and fights Kamara Usman in a unification bout. And by the way, that fight becomes much more massive. If Leon Edwards beat Tom Zachimaiath, this fight with Kamar Usman becomes, I mean, a hundred times bigger. and a hundred times more intriguing.

And if Shemayev wins, I mean, somehow the height becomes even bigger. Just do that. Let Uspen take his time off. If he wants to try to get this Canelo fight, I think it's the dumbest thing in the history of combat sports. But do you? If you could somehow land that payday, good for you, Kamaro. I don't think it's happening. I don't think it's happening.

But if you need time off to spend with your daughter, and he's the most active champion in the company right now. At least he was over the last year or so. He wants to take some time off. He wants to come back in November, December. Cool. Like, go ahead. But let's book this big fight in between.

It makes all the sense. So I hate interim titles are mostly stupid. But in this case, it makes sense. And it's not out of disrespect to Kamar Usman. You're just making Usman more money. Because whoever wins, the fight automatically becomes bigger. if Shamiyaf wins, it's a massive fight. It's probably the biggest fight you can make in this division right now.

And if Leon wins, guess what? Now that's the biggest fight you can make in this division. So let's just do that. Think outside the box a little bit. Come on now. Yes, I do think Shamiyaf could fight for the belt right now, and no one would be upset about it. Except for Leon Edwards and his family,

but that's a way to make Leon happy too. Harry, what's up, buddy? Just make sure you unmute. Hell, hey. So what do you think of Chaos versus Randy? Because I'm kind of like torn like who's going to win that. I know it's like a fight that like is like really under the like that no one's really talking about. I mean, it's not even like a feature, but I just want to like where you guys thinking.

Especially like, yeah. That's a great fight. I love Chaos Williams versus Randy Brown. It's a great fight. Right now Chaos Williams is around a minus 120 plus 100. But it's exactly right. I figured this would be lined. Figured Chaos would be the favorite.

I'm leaning Randy Brown. I think he's got more ways to win this fight. I think Randy is starting to reach his potential that I've, even before Randy got into the UFC, I felt that he had on the regional scene. I like the fight. I think Randy has enough. I think his length is going to give chaos and problems,

but chaos can end this fight in one strike. I think Randy's learned from his losses. And his losses have been, that have been pretty wild. I'll lead Randy Brown a plus money. Close fight. 50-50 fight for me. In a 50-50 fight, I'm going to lean the plus money side.

So give you Randy Brown. Unanimous decision, I think he gets it done in a very competitive, grueling fight. And by the way, it's under the radar as that fight is. Brand Royvo is fighting Matt Chanel on this card. That fight freaking rules. That fight rules. I love it. Brain Royvall is just chaos.

And it is potentially a.k. The year. of the Rodog. We'll take Brian and Tristan that we get him out of here. Brian, what's up, buddy? What's going on, Mike?

Two things really quickly, I guess. Why don't people talk about Marab, kind of like how they talk about Islam, as kind of the possibility of being kind of a uncrowned champ possibility kind of thing? And also, what's your opinion on Eagle FC and Ali's, I guess, positioned there and his relationship with Kabib,

and it being a little bit of kind of red flaggish with his own fighters in there and his hand in the business a little bit. I just wanted to hear your opinion on those things. Thank you, Brian. Yeah, man. The Eagle FC thing. I mean, it is what it is. I have so many questions about that whole situation. But no one's stopping it.

So, I mean, nothing I can say or anybody else writes or anything like that is going to change a damn thing. but we all know what's going on. We all get it. We all get it. It's another promotion. There are things that I like that they do. There are things that I absolutely hate that they do. But it is what it is.

We are in the spot, and we just kind of have to deal with it. Now, it gives other fighters the opportunity to fight. Clearly, some of the matchmaking is dominant's MMA favorable. I mean, that's clear as day. saying anything that's a that's a mystery here in any way, shape, or form. But yeah, Tristan, wrap us up, my man. Send this. All right.

Hey, Mike, how's everything? So. Wonderful. All right. So I want to, I need some clarification on some certain things. And plus my question here. So on June 25th, we have Armand Sarukin versus Msuzuzhouen. I need to know, I don't know if they're going to make that,

hey, are they going to make that the main card on the, fight, is that going to be, is that going to headline that card? Because also, um, Shot Car, Rock Monter versus Neil Mackney's on that card. I don't think they're going to, I don't think that's going to headline the car. I'll be shocked. But, or if they're going to get another, they're going to add another main, you know, big name on that UFC Fight Night card to headline it. I want to answer on that.

And then I also want to talk Greg McElipsy right now is now between a rock and a heart right now because he was calling off for Tony Ferguson or either Michael Chandler. Now, I don't know with the results of that fight, I don't know if he's going to get that fight now. And he's probably, you know,

left holding out in the cold. Now he's like probably left out on the cold. If I was him, I would have been in Vegas, I mean, in Arizona right now, like, ready to cut the promo and be like, y'all, I want the winner of this fight because he's trying to move up the rankings to try to get a title shot.

you know now he turned i know he probably had to turn down that he turned down that arm in sarukin or gamutri fight because he said he's like i'm not fighting down i'm not fighting down i'm trying to get a tell shot i want to fight up um if he said if he was 24 he would have took the fight the sur rican or gamer fight but now i don't know what's going to happen he and he's not you know he's been you know now he's been quiet he hasn't said anything so he may have to take he may have to fight down regardless so you know your thoughts about that because he's he's left out on a code on this whole thing. All right. Thanks. Thank you, Tristan.

By the way, for Brian, I forgot to mention Marab Duolish, really. Yeah, I think, listen, I think everyone kind of used Barab, like Makachevish, but I think Machachevish, but he just got more. Like, he just gets more fights. And people somehow, it's not that they forget about Marab, but I think people understand. Marab is just not fun to fight. I've been saying this for like four years now. no one no one's going to be excited to fight Marab and I know there were some certain things that came out

the Dominic Cruz thing I think there is potentially discussion about that from what I understand that is not the direction the UFC is currently going I know a report came out yesterday that he's fighting Corey Sanhagen there's absolutely no truth to that report at all

so don't get too excited about that multiple people have told me there's absolutely no truth to that so throw that away as well. And then to go to you, Tristan, I don't, I mean, I love Suruky on Gamrod. It's a great fight. I don't think it's a main event. I love Schaqfkot-Rakbato versus Neil Magni.

I don't think that's going to be a main event. So what are we going to do to headline that card? Crap if I know. I have no idea. I don't know. Let me look at the heavyweight division. Let's see what's like left there that hasn't been booked. I mean

I mean we're we're grasping here so that's what that's June 25th that's a week after they travel to Austin we get Cater versus Emmett that's a pretty damn good main event there and then the week after that

is UFC 276 which is going to be gigantic so we are going to have ourselves a somewhat bizarre main event So I'm going to say I'm going to take a shot in the dark here I'm going to say

we are going to get Jessica Andrage versus Marina Rodriguez might be too sure to notice but we're going to get something like that that's that's going to be my guess Androge could turn around quick Rodriguez wants a title shot although if Carlos Barsa wins yeah I think

you know what that's my that's my guess that's my guess because I'm looking at all these other divisions and I don't know what the hell they're going to do I honestly don't know what they're going to do looking at welterweight yeah I don't know it's a tough one

and then Greg and Gillespie yeah man he's just kind of a victim of his own circumstance he's got that uh so hoodoish vibe to him where I don't know like I get you want to shoot for the stars and hope for more

I mean, you're the number eight guy in this division right now. You want to fight up. But you've got to stay active, man. Like, you've got to stay active. You've got to beat a Surukian or a Gamrod. Like, that's kind of where you're at right now. I don't know what you do. He's not getting Ferguson.

RDA's booked. Chandler's booked. He's not getting that fight. Maybe he gets a loser. I don't know. And everybody else is booked. Like, what do you expect? You're not getting the Connor fight.

Fiziv is booked. So literally like the The next rank guy that maybe you could get is Dan Hooker Which I think Dan Hooker is kind of in a similar boat as him

But in like in a different way Like Gillespie's winning Yeah I don't know I don't know man He's in a tough spot He can't be as picky That's for damn sure He's got to take a fight

He's got to get active He's going to get people remembering who he is. Because not a lot of people do. It's unfortunate because he's an exciting guy. That fight with CDF is wild. But, yeah, I mean, it's going to be a hooker, Redell kind of fight. I mean, if I were him, I would stay ready. I would stay ready.

If something happens with Fiziv or RDA, I would be ready. Maybe he fights a Moikano? I don't know. I honestly have no idea. I don't know what they're going to do. but yeah, it's kind of in a tough spot. But listen, okay, we are done. I gave you a lot of time.

And thank you for making me not just do the show by myself. Thank you for coming up with great questions. Thank you for making me not sing Rappers Delight 14 times here. Although we did have some fun with that, didn't we? And we're going to have more fun in about two and a half hours. Because the man, A.K. Lee, is going to guide us on a journey through UFC 274 way-ins, guide us on a delightful journey.

We're going to have fun. We're going to talk some fights. We're going to answer your questions. We're going to see all the drama at the scales. Hopefully there is no drama. And hopefully these guys just get in, get out, make wait, and get it done. No drama.

No penalties, no fines, no nothing. That's what we want. So that's noon Eastern until 2 p.m. Eastern until whatever it ends. then we're going to take a little break, a little lunch break, if you will, 3 p.m. Eastern. It's the preview show live on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel, which will be going on at the same time as Bellator 280, by the way. I'm going to be a very busy man. I'm going to have to multitask.

I'm watching Bellator host of the preview show. There's going to be doing a million things. So we're going to have a lot going on here. M.AFighting.com. Stay with us. We get you covered. And if you missed the early portions of this show, you're going to catch it. You'll be able to catch it on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network.

Probably it's in the next 25 minutes. So thank you all very much. Enjoy the rest of your morning. And we will see you at noon Eastern, M-A-Fighting YouTube channel for the live UFC 274 Way in show. I am Mike Heck. Have a heck of a morning, everybody. 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 lot. pause that refreshes.