MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Does the UFC Need To Add Dustin Poirier vs. Nate Diaz Co-Main Event To UFC 278 Lineup?

Episode Date: June 17, 2022

With the UFC announcing the UFC 278 main event on Aug. 20 between Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards for the welterweight title in Salt Lake City, does the event need some extra sizzle with a Dustin Poirier vs. Nate Diaz co-main event in order to entice fans to purchase three UFC pay-per-view events in a less than two month span? That question is discussed on an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning with MMA Fighting's Mike Heck. In addition listeners submit questions in regards to the UFC Austin main event between Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett and whether a title shot could be on the line for the winner, Jose Aldo vs. Merab Dvalishvili, the return of Daniel Rodriguez, the depth of UFC 276 from top-to-bottom, which UFC prospect currently has the highest stock value, and more. 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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Everybody, it is Friday, June 17th, 2022. It is indeed a heck of a morning. Live on the NBA fighting Twitter spaces, and shortly thereafter, so will be uploaded on the NBA Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a heck of the morning. All things considered, I am. The Celtics just sucked last night.

They decided not to show up. They turned the ball over 587,000 times. And they lost to the Golden State Warriors who were just much more disciplined, much more fundamentally sound and frankly they gave a shit and that's why they won the series. So it'll be interesting to see how the Celtics can bounce back from that.

It's got to be really tough because they just didn't show up. Credit to Golden State, I'm not trying to take anything away from them. But the Celtics best game against Golden State's best game, I think the Celtics win 70% of the time. Like I really, really truly do.

But they just, they pissed it away. They pissed it away. And that's what makes me as upset as I am about this whole thing. And Golden State's a great team, well-coached. Obviously, Steph Curry's a monster. Andrew Wiggins was such a difference maker. Probably the difference maker in the entire series, in my opinion.

Without Andrew Wiggins, this series doesn't go exactly the way it did. I can tell you that right now. But Steph showed up what he needed to. Dremont, as much as I hate to say it, showed up when he needed to. And the Celtics big players just didn't. They just didn't. Jason Tatum had a horrendous series,

just really, really terrible. And that's it. Now we don't have to talk about the NBA for quite some time. We could focus all on MMA, baby. So part of me is relieved that we could just go back to the way things were. And that's what we're going to do here on this free-for-all Friday. And what that means is it's your show the entire time. Nothing but your questions, your topics.

you lead the discussion and I'm very excited about that so let's not waste any more time no more self-expanser unless you want to talk about it let's get to Tristan Gordette he will kick us off because we didn't get to get to him yesterday what's up buddy hey Mike how's everything good yeah just one quick thing on the Celtics

it's hard with Tatum I don't because Tatum is weird like is he too laid back is he not intense enough like but some games he's like oh he's incredible he's intense the other games you're like, yo, where's Tatum? So I don't know, I can't figure him out. Hopefully he could get over this and get back to the finals.

Yeah, too much pressure, I think. I think he put way too much pressure on himself. And he just wasn't, like, loose and free out there. Like, I understand, like, some people thought he was maybe too loose. I thought he was tight as hell. And it showed just, I don't know if he's banged up. I don't know what was wrong, but he just didn't have it. And the Warriors had it.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, off to next season. We'll see what happens. Yeah. I want your kind of two things, two questions. I want your assessment on Cater versus Josh Emmett. I'm leaning towards Cater for the win because I just, I trust Tyson Chattonnier to come with a real game plan to stay away from Josh Emmett's power. you know, because that's the concern. Like, it's once Emmett hits you in the chin, you're going down. So I think, I think Tyson Chattanoir is going to come with a good game plan to negate that.

I just want your thoughts on how you're looking at it towards those two. And then my second question has to go with, what's his name, Demir Isma Gula versus Goudalazen. I was listening to No Bet Barred with AK and, um, Jed Mishu, and Jed Mishu feels like he's smoking mirrors. Not only that, he said, he felt that, um, Shafcombe Rockmano, who fights next week is smoking mirrors that at some point, they're going to, they're going to lose really bad. And I was, I was just like, I was just down in the dumps. I just like, come on, Jed, you're killing me, man.

I don't want to hear nothing. I don't want to hear that. So what your, what your thoughts on those two? Because I'm like, man, maybe I got to start thinking like, A.K. And just temper my expectation. I'm like, listen, I'm just going to just, you know, just laying back and see what happens. So just your thoughts on those two questions. Thanks, Mike, and have a heck of the morning.

Thanks, buddy. Yeah, the cater, Emmett fight, I think the betting lines are pretty spot on here. Cater's a minus 230. Emmett's a plus 1.95. I think it's perfectly lined, honestly. Cater is just such a good volume striker, very smart. He's a better boxer than Josh Emmett by a pretty significant margin. Emmett certainly has the equalizer with the power, but Emmett can wrestle his ass off.

So I wouldn't be stunned if Emmett actually took Cater down on this way. That actually might be his best path to victory here. Yes, he has the power. Yes, he's knocked dudes out. But Calvin Cater's a different breed. He is durable as hell. And you saw him pretty much every fight he's been in the U.S. UFC, this dude can take a shot.

He could take a beating, and you can't put this guy away like that. You just can't. Giga couldn't do it. Jeremy Stevens couldn't do it. Max Holloway couldn't do it, even though he landed 7,000 strikes. It's going to be really tough

for Josh to put Cater away. And I go back to the Dan Egey fight a little bit because a lot of people thought Ege won that fight. And the big difference was Ege's durability, his volume. He was able to mix things up, able to sort of even things out with volume versus power.

And it was a super close fight. And I think Cater's even more durable than Dan Egey, if that's even possible. But it's real close. It's definitely a conversation. So I think it's line right. I think Cater in a five-round fight. Been there before.

Emmett hasn't been in a five-round fight before, at least not in the UFC. I like Cater's shit. Oh, no, that's not true. Jeremy Stevens. I'm wrong about that. But it's been a minute. And we all know how the first one went.

So, yeah, give me cater via decision. The Isma Gulaf, Shavkat thing. I listened to that episode. It's not like, I don't think he said exactly what you said, Tristan. I think he has, there's a feeling that he's just waiting for the other shoe to drop. That he doesn't think it's smoking mirror. but he feels like it could be. So he just needs to see a little bit more.

I think that's what he was trying to say. But he is Jed, and Jed doesn't mess around. He's never on the fence. He's Mr. No Gray area for a reason. But that's what I got out of that, because I did listen to that on the way to softball playoffs last night. And yeah, I love that fight. I think, honestly, this is a great card.

I think that is the best fight on the entire card. The stakes may not be there. It might be two guys that a lot of people don't know all that well. But Isma Gulaf Kutatsalate is the best fight on the card. It's the most interesting fight outside of the main event on this whole card. In my opinion, it's just so good. I'm curious to see who that guy is going to be. Because 155 is just ridiculous.

Clearest values. Welcome. Mike, I want to apologize for the guy that runs my account and came across like a dick. the guy who else from the account I came across as slightly a dick but I was the first tweet and then he just took over from there and he's an asshole so I it's all good man

I chewed him out a little bit oh dude don't even worry about it hey listen sports that's what we do he didn't say anything over the line well and I also think you can't kick a you can't kick a Celtic fan while he's down that's not nice I think a lot of people would disagree with you

but that's okay I had like a couple of small things so the first thing was I was really interested in the song Yadong booking with Corey Sanhagen and I'm a little worried because I think song he's only 24 I know he has a lot of fights

but he's really young and I think to put him in there with Corey Sanhagen so early I think that's something that may prove to be a mistake in his career the USC in their booking I think I don't mind them going a little slower with him.

I know he just fight Marlin and that's a tough fight, but it seems a little early. And then because it is free for all Friday, I have a question that is totally not related to anything. I know people throw around the term paper viewpoints a lot, and I have a basic understanding of what that is. Can you explain a little bit like what the nitty gritty, like what that looks like,

is every fighter getting the same, that type of stuff. I'm really curious about. Thank you, Clarist values. Good question. First of all, the Sanhagen-Sung-Yadong-Yodong booking, not done, being discussed. I don't even know if it's gotten to verbal agreement stage, but I think it's close. If Big Marcel reported it, then I believe there's plenty of smoke to that fire.

So I would expect that there's a very good chance that fight happens, main event fight, so why would Sanhagen not take it? I actually like the booking if that's the way to go. because a lot of people are very high on Song Yidong, especially after that last performance, a lot of people felt like we got to give this guy step up. Maybe we run it back with Cheeto Vera.

People think this guy could be a title challenger at worst, honestly. He knocked out Marlon Maraerais, did it quickly. A lot of people thought this was going to be the kind of fight that Marlon was going to bounce back with and he just ran Maraul Maraeris over. Like gave Marlon no chance to get even going. at least in Marlon's previous losses

for the most part he was able to get something going he would land a big shot he would have his opponent hurt at least get something moving in that first round in those first couple minutes and Song Yadong was like no

he just ran him over what a streak he's on right now the Kyler Phillips fight I'm sure he learned a lot from Cody Stamen fight I think was kind of a weird one but then bouncing back to Casey Kenney Kenny's real tough able to get through that one

And then back-to-back finishes of two really tough guys, Julio Arsay, Maral Marais. I know he's been on a little bit of the Schneide, but Corey's lost two in a row. This is the kind of fight he needs. I like maybe doing Sanhagen Fond, but Fawn's probably going to be out for a little while after that Cheeto Verra loss. So, I mean, who else is there, really? You can do, I mean, San Hagan's a hoodo maybe, but I mean, literally this is probably the best thing you could do right now with who's a lot. available. If Corey just is like, I don't give a shit, let's just fight.

I like it. San Hagen's probably going to be favored. He just needs to get a win. And if he loses, yeah, it stinks. And some is super young. He's had some losses in the past. And he's gotten better from them. So I like the book.

The paper viewpoints thing, the terminology, I'm not really sure. But for the most part, main eventors, champions. That's why they're in that spot. That's why they're the main event. The main event is what sells pay-per-views. And that's why the fighters do media and they go out and they do all these different interviews and they go on social media and they promote the fights because they want people to buy them so that they can make more money.

And I don't know what the actual percentage is. I'm sure they just get a piece of every pay-per-view that's bought. Numbers, percentages, facts figures, no clue. but that's what it means to be a champion. I forget who told, who said, I think Abe Kawa, when I interviewed him a few years ago, was like being,

the road to being a champion is hard, and once you're the champion, that's great, but it's after you defend the title is when it really, it could be life-changing. That's when the real money comes in because you get pay-per-view points. And right now you want pay-per-view points because the UFC has gotten to

sort of that WrestleMania level, where, yeah, if Connor headlines, you're doing a million. If certain fighters headline, you're doing seven, eight hundred thousand. But for the most part, doesn't matter who headlines. You're doing four to five hundred thousand pay reviews no matter what, just because you have those three letters attached to it, UFC. I'm sure Prahashka, Tashara, did four to five hundred thousand, or at least three to five hundred thousand.

That's solid for that main event. Because Yuri, people are still going to know him. I think things will change in that aspect and think we'll see Yuri pay-per-views do better numbers. Overall, I think a lot of people saw Yuri probably for the first time on that card against Glover. And if you did, holy cow, you're a fan forever now. But yeah, that's what it's all about. You want that main event spot. You want to be the champ.

So you can get those points. But I don't know how much they are, what the percentage is already of that stuff. But you want to be in that spot? That's for damn sure. All right, Toke. Good morning, my friend. Hello, buddy. I'll spare you my Stephen A impression where I skip,

where I swap Cowboys in Celtics. But I'll go to a real free-for-all Friday question. So, you know, we have all these arts that we mix, to call it mixed martial arts. to know which special combat sports is kind of the, what should you say, the worst one to be a specialist in when you go into a MA. And what I mean by that is, who's best off? Is it one, is it a boxer, a Muay Thai guy, a kickboxer, a jujitsu, whatever?

And then I want you to take the worst one out of that. So that's all I had. All right. Interesting question. So if we're relying on a specialty, it's got to be the boxer, right? I mean, at least with, at least with moitai slash kickboxers, you can, even though AK hates this, you could still somewhat mix the martial arts with that. You can box, you can kick, you can do all these different things, elbows, knees, et cetera.

If you're a boxer, I mean, it's one trick pony. You just like if you're Glover-Deshirea and you fight a boxer, you just tackle them and you win. So I would think that's just off the top of my head without really taking down and analyzing. I would think just a straight boxer, hashtag James Tony, I think that goes and shows you everything. So I'll go with that route. At least with Jiu-Zitsu, you have a huge advantage of a fight gets to the ground. At least with boy tie, you could kick and elbow and knee. you're a little more, you get more avenues in that aspect,

but boxing for the bobbisbite, you're just throwing punches. And that could be very successful, but you get to a decent level and you find anybody you can wrestle you. That just is a rough-ass night for you. You may have heard of the sex cult nexium and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack. But she's never told her side of the story until now. People assume that I'm like this pervert.

My name is Natalie Robamed. And in my new podcast, I talked to Alice. to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma to other people? I don't even know how to answer that question. Allison After Nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify. Let's go to Four Corner Sports. What's up, buddy?

Yo. Hey, I, what's it called? I wanted to say I was disappointed at the thought it's lost, but after watching the game, after watching the game, after watching the, series. I do think you guys need a point card in order to get that next level. I think that you had a solid victory, but I think you just, you just make a point card and I think you're solid because of something they're wrong. I wanted to ask you two things. One, I know you interviewed thousands of fighters, right? I want you to name, like, your top three fighters that you

wish to sit down for dinner and actually interview. It could be past, current, or up and coming. and then lastly I know you spoke about Emmett and Cater I wonder or know like both have durable chins but like at what point you think that might eventually wear off because both of them well Emmett hits harder right Cater is just a monster I mean he's gonna apply pressure and him being led by Tyson Chartier

I think that it might favor Cater on winning but I just want to know like how many you know fights do they have in their career possibly before like that two wears off because he always has a special with Mac Pahlway and eats a lot of punches but you know that's just something I always was thinking about

thanks Mike have a good one thanks buddy yeah I agree with the point guard thing they need some depth as well if we're talking about the Celtics they need guys off the bench who could actually you know

do something because God white was horrible last night Peyton Pritchard just can't do anything just brutal. They need some depth. Yeah, and I agree with you.

You need a point guard. Robert Williams, when he's healthy, good Lord, he's going to be a great, great piece to that puzzle. Like, tremendous. He's only going to get better, so I'm excited for that. The cater, Emmett question,

like Emmett's been rocked. Emmett's been hurt in fights. He's been wobbled in fights. You know, Cater has, too, but I feel like Cater's chin is better. Eventually, it's going to catch up to. It's just going to. father time beats all

and especially if you're a guy like cater who just can run through the fire but look I mean there are certain fighters who could just take beatings forever and that's I mean that's just such a Cater's just such a Boston guy I mean that's just how it is

Boston guys like just growing up in the area we'll just like they just fight anybody and they could just take a beat and you're either gonna win or lose that's just the way it is you're gonna go on, you're going to have a brawl. And it's very rare that fights in Boston end in just one-punch knockouts. Everyone's durable. Everybody has chins. Everyone can scrap. It's just, and then they drink beer afterwards. They're all, and they're buddies. So it's very rare that you just

see someone getting colded in a fight in Boston. It's crazy. But, yeah, eventually it's going to catch up to them. How long from now? I don't know. A couple years. But cater's not the most, neither guy is like the most active guy Cater I mean he was out for over a year after the Holloway fight and rightfully so but he could have come back sooner Emmett was out for a long time

after the Shane Burgos fight which is a crazy fight but Burgos was I mean outside of the Burgos fight I mean Burgos would look great in that fight that fight was awesome and Burgos won 80% of it

he just got watch He got dropped a couple times. That was the difference in the fight. And what's even crazier is that Emmett's tough as hell too because he got super injured in that fight. I mean, just a laundry list of injuries. So I can't wait for it. I love the matchup.

I think it's lined perfectly. I think cater's a minus 2.30 favor for a reason. And he should be. But Emmett's no slouch. Love the matchup. Big fan of both guys. Can't wait to see it. The interview dinner thing?

Hmm, that's tough I'll go with DC Just because He's kind of a bucketless guy I talked to him For UFC 220 for like two minutes And it just wasn't enough DC would be golf and dinner

So I'm going to cheat a little bit I think Bisbing would be one That I think would be really fun and cool And And I'll go Yuri I'll go Yuri Perashka I mean, how interesting is that, dude?

I bet he's got thousands of stories that we've never even heard, and they're all probably better than the next, or better than the one before. But I got to think about that. Off top my head, I'll go to those three. D.C. Bisbing, stories for days. I'm sure Yuri's got maybe even crazier stories of both of those guys. Maybe Bisbing's got them both beat,

but I'm sure Yuri's got some crazy shit. Jimmy Wang Yang. What's up? A heck of a morning, Mike. How are you doing? Good. How are you? I'm good.

I'm good. So first, I have to do this. I am a Laker fan. So Watson, last night's game, you know. Ain't too mad at what happened. But I also thought the Celtics was going to win. So I'm shocked a little bit, but I think they'll bounce back next year. I think it's a good young team with a lot of good things to build on.

So y'all going to be good. Y'all going to be good. I expect to see the Celtics back in the finals next couple years, at least the next couple years. But I remember yesterday, I forget who, but somebody was talking about Aljo and how he sometimes get booed and stuff. I think he got to lean into this villain role.

I think that's the best thing for him. If he just lane, like forget if they cheered me or whatever because how everything went down or he got neat in the face, people. Like, come on, how do you fake that? but I think now he just has to lean into this villain role because the way he fought against Jan, I think he fought him like a villain.

Like, I'm just going to take your back and there's nothing you can do about it. And I don't think there's a lot of people that's going to be able to deal with that. So I think I like Alger. I think he just got to lean into that villain role. I think he just got lean into that villain role. He'll be good.

He'll be good for a long time. Have a good morning, Mike. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, I mean, I think Alger's done a good job with that for the most part. The problem is he fluctuates. He leans into the villain role for like 70% of the time, and then he goes back to the other role 30% of the time.

You can't have it both ways. Aljo was, because I was in Jacksonville for UFC 273. Everybody was talking about Hamsat Shamiath and Gilbert Burns. It was the Shemai Fis show. Burns was just the guy who's going to run over. That's how everybody felt. Can't wait to see Shemai Fis run over another dude. dude, that was the talk of the events.

That was the talk in Jacksonville. I saw anybody on, like, randos that I saw on the streets or, you know, sitting eating dinner or whatever at the hotel. That's all they want to talk about was Shamiya. As the fight of the top three fights, the fight I was least interested in heading in was Jan Sterling. Because I just, I was like, I basically saw the first fight. I saw Yon pulling away.

Same thing's going to happen, maybe even worse. But as the fight week went on, I got it on Tuesday. After Media Day on Wednesday, Aljo made me believe that the fight was going to be closer. And then the press conference happened. And then ceremonial weigh-ins happened. And throughout the week, Al Jermaine Sterling, playing sort of the heel role, made that fight way more interesting. Yang did his part too a little bit

but the intrigue that built throughout the week for that fight was all on Al Jemaine Sterling he did a tremendous job making people care about that fight because when that fight was announced it was met with multiple moans and groans really we just saw this we don't need to see it again

or on the other side all right Jan's just going to put this to bed he's going to run Aljo over this fight's not even going to be close it's not even going to be competitive and Aljo comes out and builds it up sells it got me super hooked on it

and then wins it there you go and now it'll be curious to see how this T.J. Dillishaw build goes because T.J. not really well liked in his own right is it going to be like a heel versus heel? Is someone going to

assume the baby face roll? I don't know. I don't know. Aljo's still saying the fight's not signed. We never reported the fight was signed. We just reported it was in the works. It's being discussed. It's being targeted, which means this is what the UFC wants.

Both sides know about it. Both sides are not saying no to it. That's what in the works means. Sets means pen has gone to paper. It's done. So in the works, targeted means this is what everybody thinks is going to happen. This is the direction we're going. This is what was offered.

we didn't say no someone said yes maybe both sides said yes but contracts haven't been signed yet that's what those terms mean so I think this is the fight that will end up happening I know Aljo's saying give me more money and he should get more money I don't disagree with him on that but you gotta be careful

you gotta be careful you don't want to get too crazy because the UFC will slap that eye word across that division so fast Aljo's head will spin and they did it already they did it they put an interim title in the line months after Aljo won the title and he was scheduled to fight on that card

and his neck was bothered him still banged up and they did an interim title fight and if Aljo wants to play ball if he wants to play hard ball at the UFC and he wants to jump over that line a little too much guarantee you the UFC will do it again

and maybe they'll do Sehudo Dillishaw the interim title god will that make me sad but i think that's the fight will end up happening i think cooler heads will prevail i think a alga will get a little bit of a bump and there you go that'll probably end up being a co-made event to something i don't know what it's going to be maybe stepe john jones who knows my favorite irishman mayonnaise face mcflanagan what's up buddy

mayonnaise are you there mayo All right, try again, my man. Let's go to Prediction Strike. Hello. Make sure you're unmute and we're good. Hi, I'm here. What's up, buddy?

I was just curious, who exactly would you invest in kind of like a long-term career here? Like, if you had to pick like one fighter, a couple months out, like, I guess kind of, I've seen a lot of people talk about like Patty Pimble and Jordan lead a lot recently on our page. where they just think that Jordan Lee is going to absolutely torque on Patty.

But would you say that's like a better type? Like would you actually be interested in investing like Patty, for example, would you just be like, I'm staying completely away from his stock because I think Jordan is going to torque on him. Hmm, that's an interesting question. I'm going to, I'm going to go about it the way I think you're going about it. And on that sense, like, Patty, I would invest in Patty only if he's fighting in London.

I like the Leavitt booking. I think Paddy's going to win. I think Patty should be favored to win that fight. Just because he's got more experience. He's a little more well-rounded. But Levin's real good on the ground, and he's a sneaky little bastard, which makes him really interesting in this fight.

But I favor Patty to win. If this fight happens two years from now, I might not feel the same way. but in the long term, like, I'm investing on this guy. He's going to be a top five, fight for the title, be a champion kind of guy. If that's how I'm investing, I am not investing in either guy. I like Jordan a lot. Very nice guy.

I don't see Jordan fighting for a title. I certainly don't see Patty Pimblet fighting for a title. And he shouldn't. That's not why he's there. Patty Pimble's not there to win world titles. Patty Pimble's there is to put asses and seats in London, which is where he should fight for the rest of his career. every fight he has should be in London

against a guy that he's going to be favored against. That's how it should be. Do not move this guy up at all because I just don't think he wins. I don't think he beats anybody in the top 25 at lightweight right now. And that's not saying he's bad. It's just lightweight so good.

It's just such a ridiculous division. Now, which leads me to the actual answer to my question and I think anyone who has followed me for years and has followed me since I've gotten M.A. fighting. I think you all know probably what my answer is going to be. The answer is Armand Sarukyon. That is the answer. That is the guy I'm investing in. And I've basically verbally invested in him for the last five or six years. I knew after I saw one of his early fights that this guy was going to be a UFC champion at some point. And he's getting there. He's got a big fight

next Saturday against Batush Gamrott, main event five rounds, can't wait to see it. But Serukian is a pretty sizable favorite in that fight for a reason. Let me see what it looks like right now. Where are we right now? Minus 240 for Armand Surukian. Come back on Gamrod plus 200. That fight's awesome. And I think this is lined.

I think there's still value on Surukia on minus 240. I think he's that good. And I'm super high on Matush Gamrod. Really high on the guy. I just think Syrukion is a real deal. I really do. That's my investment. Easy.

Easy. All right, Mayo, do we have you? Mayo's face, McFlan again. What's up, Mike? Can you hear me? Yes, we got them. Well, yeah, you got me. I had to miss my meeting again,

and it's becoming a problem. I'm going to need you to write me a note to get out of this shit. Done. Okay, good. I'll check my email. Nonetheless, what is the, and I know it's not,

you're not looking at it too deeply yet, but what's the low-key banger of the international fight? white card that I can kind of grab onto and be invested in. Thanks, Mike. Heck of a morning. Thanks, buddy. Man, that's a tough one.

Because this card is ridiculous. Let me just pull it up. But I remember looking at the lineup the other day and was like, are you kidding me? This card is absolutely insane. So here's, listen to this fight card, okay? main card Adasadi, Canaanerineer,

Volcanoffi Holowicz, Strickland Paheda, Misha Tate, Lauren Murphy, Pedro Munoio, Sean O'Malley. Freelims.

Brad Radell, Jalen Turner, which, by the way, is the correct answer to this question. Robbie Lala, Brian Barbereda is on the prelims.

Just guy, Macy, Barber, prelims, Ian Gary, Gabe Green, good prelim fight. I know the promotion is very high

on Ian Garrid. These are the early, early prelimbs. Uriah Hall versus Andre Munez. Early, early prelim. You know what else is on the early, early prelims? Jim Miller versus Bobby Green. What?

Brad Tavar's versus Drickus Duplase. The second fight of the card. And the first fight of the card is a bangor too. Jessica Rose Clark, Jesse Jess against Julius Stolia Ranko. This card is insane. They're all loki bangers. Because it has to, I mean, there's really no, actually, there's really, there's really no Loki bangers. They're all, they're all bangers.

Ian Gary Gabe Green is going to be a rumble. I love that fight. That's excellent matchmaking right there. But the answer is Brad Riddell, Jalen Turner. Love that fight. It's not going to get enough attention with everything surrounding it. But that fight's going to be a banger. Brad Radell needs to win bad.

Jalen Turner has looked sensational. Love the matchmaking. Love the fight. that's a low-key banger but god there's somebody to choose from here it's a ridiculous card james you're up terence you're on deck kirkland you're after that what's up james oh there we go good morning mike there we go good morning buddy hey uh excuse me but i'm going to take a little victory lab we talked about san hagan and uh song yodong yesterday and i saw that there's uh it's in the works

And I know that fight isn't official yet, but I'm kind of patting myself on the back there. And I know you mentioned a Rob Font yesterday. I just didn't mention him with Corey Sanhagen because I feel like that poor guy just needs to heal. Just let him heal. And then he can take the winner of Pedro Munoz and Sean O'Malley, which I know him and Munoz have fought before. I believe it was back in 2017. Pedro submitted him in the second round. and I'm sure Rob would just love to get that one back

if he's able to get past Sean O'Malley. And usually we're just talking about the International Fight Week card. Potentially, if we get four championship fights in the month of July, which one are you looking forward to the most? Me personally, man, I cannot wait for Car Car, France, and Brandon Moreno.

Their first fight was just a banger, so much fun. And then we potentially get two more rounds of that. Like, man, sign me up. And Mike, once again, man, thank you for all that you do. Not just have a heck of a morning, but have a heck of a weekend, man. Thank you. Thanks, buddy. Yes, congratulations.

If that fight is official, we, AK and I, I'll talk to AK. I'm sure he will agree with this. We will give you a very coveted otno point if that is the fight that comes to fruition. So good for you, good call, and I love the match up. I agree with the farm thing. take some time. Tyson Chartier is a tremendous coach, manager, mentor,

and always looks out for the health and safety of the guys. Money aside, opportunities aside. If his guy ain't right, they're not 100% or as close to it as possible, they ain't fighting. And that's why I just have so much respect for Tyson

and just sort of flies under the radar at this small stable. But I agree. As far as the four title fights Moreno Kai Kar-France is great Adasani Kananier is actually I'm very intrigued

by that fight I think Cannadier could give Adesania more problems than a lot of people think he will I'm picking Adasani to win that fight but I think he's going to get tested for sure but the correct answer and the only answer is

Volkanowski Holloway 3 that is the only answer and I say this I say this almost every single episode, go watch that second fight. Go watch the second fight. Don't even score it, okay? Because I know every time we watch it, it leads to an argument. Oh, Holloway won. Oh, Volcanovsky won. Oh, Holloway got robbed. Volcanovsky shouldn't have won that fight. By the way, I've watched that fight probably 35 times now, and I've scored it for Volcanovsky every single time. But again, I get where you're coming from if you're saying Holloway one. But forget about the scoring. Take the

Judging out of the picture, just watch the fight. Don't score anything. Just go and watch it. It's a masterpiece. It's a masterpiece. It is mixing of the martial arts at its finest. And then go watch Pietro Jan, Jose Aldo from that same card if you want to. Because that is also an underrated classic.

That doesn't get enough credit. Just because of the way it ended. Because Jan took over in the championship rounds. It finished in brutal fashion of the fifth. But the first 15 minutes of that fight is insane. It's bananas. Yes, it's Volcanovsky Holloway 3. I will be there.

I can't wait to be there. I'm very excited. We have just have so much fun stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks, which, by the way, let's break some news right here. Let's break some news right here. Because next week, you're not going to get this show three times a week. You're not getting it Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. You're getting it four days next week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

So we're going to give you like the long weekend, let you digest everything that happened on Saturday. And then we're going to go four freaking days in a row, baby. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And then I will keep you posted on the schedule for International Fight Week. I can already tell you that the Tuesday show of International Fight Week, I will have to do from the airport because I'm flying out. at 7 o'clock in the morning on Tuesday, but I have a layover in Atlanta.

So it's like an hour flight to Atlanta, maybe less. And then my connecting flights like at 11, I think, to Vegas. So we're going to roll like probably around 9. So we might roll a little bit early. But I'll keep you guys posted on that. But next week, four shows, very pumped.

Let's rock and roll. Terrence Leverett, my man. How are you? How are you doing, Mike? Good. I missed the first 15 minutes. so I don't know somebody talks about this already. But what are your thoughts?

I know you are into pro wrestling as well. We kind of talked about it a little bit, I think yesterday or before yesterday. With Vince stepping down and Stephanie who was on a break, just wind up taking the reins of WWE. And then as well, I looked at it as something that could happen to Dana White. I'm pretty sure you've heard all the rumors and stuff like that. So how much of a fake deal is for WAB being that they're a publicly traded company now and stuff can't be swept on the rug. And I'm pretty sure like plenty of people have like dirt on him.

And if they want to overthrow him as the president, they can easily bring up something and the board will dismiss him as like the president of the company. And how much would that impact us as fans? Thank you very much. I feel like that. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, I mean, the Vince thing's crazy. Like, I want to say that I'm surprised, but I'm not because, and I hate bringing this up because it's just, it's just awful the whole thing. But after the whole Bill Cosby thing, nothing surprises me anymore.

Like, literally nothing surprised to be. So there you go. That's as far as I'll go with that. But the Vince thing is just, yeah. I mean, this is what happens at a publicly traded company. They're going to do an investigation. Vince steps away as he should. Stephanie comes in, which is crazy because Stephanie was taking a basically a diminished role to what she had before.

I think, you know, with everything that happened with her husbands, the health issues he had, and, you know, being a mom and just everything, her schedule is in general, all that. She probably just needed a break. And she tried to take one. she gets sucked back in in a bigger role. So we'll see what happens. Apparently Vince is going to be appearing on Smackdown tonight. And I'm probably going to watch it.

I just want to hear what he has to say. I wouldn't be stunned. It's probably just going to, it's probably just going to regurgitate the press release. But who knows what he's going to say? What's crazy about all this is like, remember, by the way, I think pro wrestling stinks right now. I know a lot of people come out and they say, oh, it's the best time to be a pro wrestling fan.

Absolute horseshit. You couldn't be more wrong. It's almost unwatchable. There are some good things. No doubt about it. MJF is great. He's fantastic. Must watch television.

But WWF is horrible. God, it stinks. Raw's awful. Smackdown's horrendous. NXT sucks. It's all bad. It's all bad. A.W.

Pretty awful, too. They have moments, but just it's... There's options as a wrestling fan, but the products all stink. They all suck. It's not fun to watch at all. Many I'll watch every year. But yeah, I mean, we'll see what happens in this whole thing.

It doesn't sound like it's going to be good. John Lorditis is also a part of this thing, and it wouldn't stun me in the least if it just all falls on poor Johnny Ace, but I don't know. We'll see. Time will tell. Unfortunate situation, but I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not. Kirkland, good morning.

Hey, good morning. How you doing? Good, how are you? I'm doing great, man. Thanks. So I wanted to kind of address some. I commented a few days ago, a handful of days ago, on onto the next one, that Jack Della, who I'm just going to leave it at that, because I can never finish his name should face Sean Brady which was met with disdain and I've digested that and completely

understand why Sean Brady deserves a better opponent. And I'm also from Lafayette, Louisiana, which makes me a huge homer for Dustin Porriere, who Sean Brady, of course, shouted out on Twitter a few days ago and said he was looking for a fight. And Dustin, of course, is red in the face with asking for, you know, almost anything. And, yeah, he's looking at August 20th. This could definitely use some help. My only concern is Dustin, you know, will tell anybody that he prides himself on being a prize fighter.

And I love Sean Brady as well. I think he's an amazing competitor. But he's kind of from a matchmaking perspective, the completely wrong person is. if you want to, you know, keep Dustin's fire burning for what that's worth after losing Oliveira. But of course, if you wanted to kind of feed them to the sharks and really bolster up Sean Brady, it would be the perfect match to make from the USC's perspective, depending on who you want to kind of bolster.

So I was just curious as to who you think has more, you know, headroom or more, do you think it would be worth Dustin being the guy that gets Nate or a comparable opponent that's a striker-based person that's not going to rear naked choke him like I'm sure Sean Brady would. Or do you think that they're just going to use him as the meat for the rightful, you know, still has the O and I think could be a champion in the next matchup if he was so given that matchup in Sean Brady. So just curious what your thoughts on those were. Thanks so much and have a good morning.

Thanks, buddy. Yeah, there's no chance Sean Brady, Dussipori happens for the exact reasons you just said. Where is the rule outside of just saying, outside of just fighting, that's literally the reward he gets from fighting Sean Brady. He gets nothing from it. If he beat Sean, nothing happens.

And if he loses, which you probably will, it just knocks him back some more. though, oh, he's so tough for taking this fight. It's just, it's just a bad, it's just a bad loss. Sean Brady's just going to take him down and smush him. And there's nothing to you can really do about it, unfortunately. Brady's huge. So, like, Porre is a big 55er, but Brady is a giant welterweight.

Like a gigantic welterweight. It's like 200 pounds. Dude is massive. He's just got to take Porre down and smush him. That's not fun. Nobody wants to see that. It'd be great for Sean Brady's career, Nobody wants to see that.

So I think they're going to go poor. Like, here's what I have no insight into this. And with Nate, you just have no idea. It's all up in the air. It's just anything can happen, flip a coin. I think we're going to get poor ideas on August 20th card. Why? Because they need it badly.

That card needs that fight. It has a main event. Sure. Usman Edwards. Is it an interesting fight? Sure. Is it going to do 500,000 pay-per-views? No.

it's not going to Usman is great I think his personality he started to shine at least it has in the last couple of years I just I don't know it's it needs how this card needs help bad you need a co-main event

I need a one with some sizzle I don't care what it takes you get poor ideas on that card because this one is going to absolutely need it Usman's not carrying this card by himself especially on the other end. It's just not possible. And let's also keep in mind,

we're coming off July, right? We have a pay-per-view in less than two weeks, $75. Then we have another pay-per-view, four weeks after that, July 30th, that's another $75. So for the hardcore of the hardcores, they'll buy both of those cards because they're interesting.

And now you're asking these fans to turn around and spend another 75 bucks on Usman Edwards without a, I mean, just a solid, like really impact-generating co-main event, which is why I think they're going to try to do Porre Diaz. I think they have to. And I think Pori and Diaz are in a great spot right now. They're in a great position. But yeah, Pori Bray ain't happening.

It's just, why would Poria take that fight? So I agree with you. let's get gary in here brentz you're on deck and then we'll go to alex you guys are on fire today gary what's up how's it going mike good so uh i have a hybrid basketball mama question in honor of the choke job in the garden um if you could have any softex player past or present fight in the ufc heavyweight division who would it be because after last night for me it's Robert Williams, no doubt. For sure.

Yeah, it's Williams. Hey, maybe it's Big Baby. Maybe it's Big Baby Davis. Big Baby's going to fight on that Jake Paul card at MSG. Did you guys see that? I don't know who he's fighting, but he's supposed to be fighting on that card. I mean, Robert Parrish, Mikhail is tough as hell. But the correct answer, and he wouldn't be a heavyweight.

I don't know. Maybe it would be with a little bit of help. But the correct answer is Larry Bird all day, every day. Larry Bird would be like the Danny Sabatello of MMA back in the 80s. Because Larry Bird could talk smack with the best of them, and he could back it up. And the dude is just a gamer. When the lights are on and the pressure's on, Larry Bird is the man. So that's my choice.

Larry Bird has dropped some dudes on the court. It's Larry all day. that's it Brent what's up buddy make sure you're on mute there we go my question

is why do you think the light heavyweight division is in the condition that it is is it like still recovering from the reign of John Jones you know it was like the marquee glamour division for so long but now I feel like heavyweight

is quite a bit more interesting thank you very much and heck of a good morning. Thank you. I actually disagree with you on that. I think light heavyweight is really interesting right now because here he's the champion. The fight with Glover is insane.

We have Janbojovich, which creates a really interesting international opportunity. We have Anthony Smith, Magamundankalaya. We get guys like Jamal Hill on the way up. We have, let me just pull up, let me pull up the only rankings that matter here. and just see what we have at light-heavy weight.

Because I think light-heavy weight's really good. It's more, it's not more interesting than John, but it's interesting in different ways than when John was champion. So Glover, Yuri, Behoovich, Rackich, which is tough. Anklei-because, because Rackett will be back, for sure. Ankeliath had these bits, big fight. We get Dominic Reyes there, who's, going to take a next we get guys like

Paul Craig, Jamal Hill and we get other guys coming up at 205 I think it's strong I think it's in a really good place big thanks to Pahashan to share for putting on that fight and Pahash can be in the champion but I think as long as Pahash is the champion

it's a really interesting division and I think the biggest loser at all this right now unless he just absolutely mauls and runs over Anthony Smith I think Magamann and Goliath is kind of the biggest loser in this whole situation. And he's probably the best,

there's a valid argument, he's the best fighter in this division right now. But in terms of intrigue and styles and what people want to see as fans, and you want to build Yuri up at this point, do you really want to throw him in there with Ankelyath he beats Anthony Smith by unanimous decision? Probably not.

Just not that thought of a fight. Yuri Yan is a great fight. That's crazy. Yuri Glover 2, crazy. Yuri Anthony Smith is more interesting in the eyes of most casual fans than Ancolaev. And Ankelaif, again, I think Ankelaif might be the best guy in this division. And I think once Ankelaef, I think Enkuliaf will eventually win the title. When he gets a title shot, he's probably going to win.

And when he does, he'll probably be champion for a long time. Because he's that good. We have some breaking news, friends. Tony Kelly who is probably the biggest villain on this UFC Austin card in a lot of people's eyes

getting ready to fight Adrian Yannes. He has missed weight by a pound and a half. 137.5. Use the box and everything else. 137 and a half. Misses weight.

Yikes. Bad look. Very bad. look. Let's get Alex in here. And then Patrick, you're on deck. Alex, what's up? Make sure you on mute, buddy. There we go. Are you there? Alex. All right, try again, my friends. Patrick, what you got? You're muted. What's going on here? Patrick, I can't hear you either. I don't know what's going on. Let's try Roops. Rupes. Are you there? I can't hear anybody. What the hell's happening? All right, try again. Everybody you try. Everybody you try.

try again Brian Cashman, save us. Are you there? Michael? There we go. I hear you. What's up, buddy? Indeed.

All right, I got a couple things quick. So when the UFC comes back to Boston, then we're going to see Mr. Hack in the building. Probably. All right, good, good. No guarantees. I'm not in Massachusetts anymore, but probably. Gotcha.

Next thing. When you release, a podcast, right, for say, heck of a morning. Do you go back and listen to it like the next day? And have you heard anything about Daniel Rodriguez or Wonderboy?

Because they've been quiet lately on social media and everything. And the last thing is ahead is like the Balal Muhammad of takes. He's got to start pointing all of his takes at Jed Michoud calling him out for a BTL matchup. Let's get this.

done. That's all I got to say. Heck of a morning to you. Thank you, my friend. All right, we got callers to work, so very happy Brian coming through in the clutch. Trying to remember all that just happens in that call. D-Rod and Wonderboy. D-Rod and Wonder Boy. No news on D-Rod.

I thought he'd be back by now. So I'm not really sure what is going on with him. He had a pretty nasty hand injury. and yeah, I don't know when he's going to be back. I think the man James Lynch talked to D. Rod not too long ago, so you might want to go find that, go follow Lynch, and check out that conversation. I haven't talked to D. Rod since it's probably like December, maybe. November, December of this past year, and he said he was going to be cleared by January, February,

but here we are June, and not there. Not there. Brian, tag back in. Tag back in. If you can. I don't know why I forgot your other question. I think I was just so flustered by, I was so flustered by having like five callers in a row not come through.

What was the other question, Brian? No, it was about Wonderboy. And then do you listen to your podcast back? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep, that was the question. All right, thank you. No, I don't. Some, I mean, if I do,

it's very rarely. Very rarely. If it's like an interview I did and it was just unbelievable, I couldn't get out of my mind. Like I'll go listen to it, but for the most part, I don't go back and listen to my stuff

because, or anything that I don't listen to old. I just, I just can't. It's just weird. I've heard, because I was in radio for five years before making the full-time transition in MMA, I've heard my, my voice way too much. I've heard my own voice way too much from and even like before. If you listen to the MMA, I know it's back now, but even on the MMA hour, my voice is on the

MA hour every single freaking show because I did the Rick's Picks theme. And then now I'm on the M.m. Hour every week too, because Rick's Picks theme and then the on the nose theme. So I mean, and then when I was in local radio, just driving around because we owned a cluster of stations and pretty much any station you turned on, if there was a commercial break, you heard my voice at some point, cutting a commercial.

So yeah, I don't go back and listen to much. If someone gives me some criticism or, you know, if there's something that maybe I missed or that was in my head that maybe I should have done this, maybe I should have done this,

I might go back and listen real quick, but for the most part, once it's done, it's done. And we move on to the next. We'll take a few more. All right, Patrick, Alex, we'll try you again. Patrick, what's up? Hey, Mike.

We got you. There we go. Yeah, Twitter faces is wonky, man. Stupid. Well, I'm just catching up here. I was wondering who won the main event of 275? Depends on who you ask. Now, listen, we know who won?

We know who won. know who won, Patrick? We all won. That's the answer. All right. And so Glover did take down Yerry and then Yeri still won, right? Dude, we're move. We're way beyond. I'm just confirmed. Way beyond it. I'm just catching up here. Okay. Listen, it happened. It happened. I think next week, uh, I don't think there's time to do it now. I think it's a good idea, a little exercise for everyone maybe. We should draft the all Salt Lake City. Boreathon. Like

Curtis Blades on there. Caitlin Chukagian on there. Just decision machines. Boring-ass personalities. People that would fit right in in Salt Lake City. You know, John Stockton's, Carl Malones, Greg Ulster Tags, Jerry

Sloan's. And there's nothing wrong. I mean, the Utah Jazz, like, they always have a reputation for being boring but they were good you know they made it to the finals they're good right now and they're still kind of boring but anyways i think that maybe next week some someday we should pick a time and uh draft the all salt lake city boreathon and uh um let's see i think the lokey banger on uh because it's really low key is the the drickis de plesse uh versus uh brad tiberis just because I think Brad Tavares is just tough, man.

And it's going to be a test for DePlessy to see if that one-shot power can take out, can take out Tavares. So I'm interested in that one as the super low-key banger. And I had something else, but I forgot. It was going to be a pun. I think it was a pun with your name or something. I don't know. I'll remember it. and come back next week.

All right, buddy. Thank you. Always love Patrick. All right. We're going to fire through these, okay? Listen, I love all of you, and I would love to stay here for another 30 minutes with you,

but I can. So I'm going to tag it as many of you as I can. We've got to just fire these questions out, all, right? Fire them out. Alex, you're up. All right, can you hear me now? I got you. Well, first of all, heck of the morning to you, Mike.

Since it's a free-trall. Friday. I think it also a quick, different kind of question out there for you. I heard prediction strike was on here earlier talking to you. And I'm actually a big user of prediction strike. So I have curiosity, have you ever heard of this company before? And if so, what are your thoughts on it? Thank you, Alex. This is the first I've heard of them. And I have no thoughts. It was a great question. I will look into it, though. I will look into it more. I have not I've not checked them out before. But I saw the name.

They haven't been on the show before. So we got them in there. But I will look into it. Zombie Fight fan. You're up. Unmute. Hey, Mike. This is Nick. I'm actually from Salt Lake City. Just wanted to say I take umbrage with Patrick's terrible draft idea.

We deserve a good card. Just to keep in mind. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. I understood. He did drop the Oster tag, which was awesome. Yeah, that was a nice deep cut. I'll take it.

But any fights rumored that you think might end up in Salt Lake City, I saw Marab and Aldo was mentioned. I don't know if that's official or anything, but any information to be possible. I'm not super stoked about them, me. Thanks, man. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, we confirmed Maraub and Aldo

has at least been verbally agreed upon. So mark it up. If it's on MMA fighting, it's legit, bro. But yes. Greg Ostrateg would be awesome on that card. Maybe Bobby Maximus. Maybe they bring Bobby Maximus in. The 43-year-old man from the Ultimate Fighter.

He's from the area. Court McGee's fighting. Well, maybe they turn court around quick. He's from that area as well. I know he's not. He'll sell tickets. I know it's not going to present pay-per-view draw or 75 bucks. But you got to get Poria Diaz on that card.

You have to. You've got to do it. You've got to do it. I love Maraub Aldo. Great fight. you got to get poor ideas on that car you have to got to do it roops hello i hear you can you can you're mike all right how's going buddy uh i just got i just got a little a little debate with my buddies who who has had a harder fight um in like their last i'd say

seven eight fights kelvin gaslam or dan eagays thank you you mean like strength of Yes, yes, yes, that's what I meant. Sorry. Okay. Hmm, that's a good question. Let me look it up. Let me just look them up real quick. That's an excellent question. And I think you could probably make an argument for both guys.

Let's see, we got Calvin Gaslam. Last, Canaaner, Whitaker, Heinish, Hermanson, Till, Adisania. I decided he was a title fight. I'm going to take that one out of the equation. So we'll go Till Hermanson, Heinish, Whitaker, Canaaner. I'm taking that out of the equation because Dan Ege didn't have a title fight. So that's pretty solid strength of schedule right there. Dan Ege.

Dan Ege. Since, wow, since 2020. Last two years. Mirsad Bechtich. Edson Barbosa. Calvin Cater, five rounds, by the way. Gavin Tucker, zombie, Emmett, Mavzar of Loyaf. Wow.

That's close. I'm going Danny Yeg on this one. I'm going Ege. I'm going Ege. Tough, I mean, listen, Gassel had a tough stretch. Cannesair Whitaker, top notch. The Hermanson and Till 1. Good fighters, but.

If Loyav, I feel, is tougher than both of those guys. Emmett, probably tougher to both of those guys. Zombie, Cater. Yeah, I think E. Gay. By a nose. It's close, though. It's a great, great, great question. Erfam, you're up. Are you there?

There we go. Hi, hi, bro. Hi. How are you? Good. What you got? No speak English only 30, sorry, sorry

Okay No, it's all good, it's all good Thank you for listening, appreciate that Viking MMA, tagging you in Real quick, what you got? Wheel is spinning, can we get them? Can never get them on the first try, I don't know why Maybe, oh, wait a minute, we got them

Hey man, how are you? Good, what you got? I just want to ask about the decision system and the fights for actually robberies. You know, I mean, not every fight they call robbery is an actual robbery, but there are some fights. And, you know, UFC is not answerable for anything. They don't give an answer for anything. Just some YouTubers and analysts, they are saying that this fight is robbery.

and there are some actually robberies. And as you said earlier that being the road to be that number one contender, it's so hard and the fighters, they sacrifice, and they do everything to be there. And after that, the champion gets the W. And even if that's a robbery, then what is the solution for the robbery? and I think they actually need to reconsider that fight and they're just an injustice for the fighter. You know that doing everything to be there and then the fighter fucks them up and sorry for the language, but what is the solution for that?

I mean, the fighters doesn't get a lot of chances to be there after the fight. they have to go back and do some hard fights or I don't know but that's just injustice and what is a solution for that and UFC is not giving any answers or taking it in a consideration that that is something should change should be changed thank you buddy um I mean listen there's not much you can't change and the UFC can't change it because it's not up to that them. It's about the commissions. The commissions run it all. They supply the judges. They have their rules. They have their criteria. Yeah. Now, again, the word robbery gets thrown out quite a bit. I'll give you a couple of examples if you're looking for actual robberies. Michael Bisbing versus

Matt Hamill, robbery. There's a couple, Diego Sanchez, Martin Campman, robbery. Robbery. Diego Sanchez versus Ross Pearson might be one of the most egregious robberies of all time. Those are just a few examples. I know a lot of people feel BJ Penn, Frankie Edgar Wadden was a robbery. But Campans had some robbery. Jake Shields, Martin Camden. Martin Cavins did on the wrong side of a couple of robberies if we want to go that routes. But, I mean, the ones that really stick out that are like, oh, my God, you're kidding me?

Bisbing Hamel Sanchez Katman Sanchez Pearson There's another one Joe Warren Joe Warren had one in Bellator Galvow I think it was I don't know those are like

robbery robberies So go check those out All right we're going to Head, Dax, Alec and then we're out of here Ahed, you're up Okay, cool. So this is the perfect, I've just got questions, no rants today. Question one is about Demir and Guram, because I don't know much about them.

So can you talk us through exactly what we can expect from this matchup and why they are so exciting? Because they seem like the literal dark horses. And the second one, just leading off the first one, is to do it. Do you think there's a whole new wave of Russian, Uzbekistan, like Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, Dan fighters that are going to come into the UFC. I'm not talking about Marka Chieva, Chamaev or Shavkat. I'm talking about 75% of the male champions being from these regions. Because it just feels like there's a whole load of them in the PFL and in Eagle FC and in Brave

that are just really good. That Russia is just that fighting nation, not just the wrestling, but the boxing as well. That Uzman Namakamadov, it seems terrifying. I just want your thoughts on that. Thanks. Thanks, buddy. I love this Isma Gulov, Kutatsalate fight. It's outstanding.

Isma Gulov is a super well-rounded guy. On the feed, he's strong, obviously, because of that pedigree where he comes from. Tremendous wrestler, great entries, great takedowns, great control on the ground. Katata Latsay is a grinder. He's more of a striker, but he could take things down. He's got a very strong top game as well. I don't know, man.

It's just, it's a 50-50 fight. It's a 50-50 fight. I have to look at the betting odds, like how I'm actually going to look at this, because I look at things like, I have $20 and I have to drop it on one guy in a 50-50 fight. But something tells me Gu-Rom's probably going to be the favorite in this fight. I could be wrong.

Nope. Isma Gulaf's favorite. Minas 170. Who does it say plus 145. I favor is Magulov to win. If you're going to bet on this fight and you're looking for value with Demir, I'd probably find a decision prop somewhere. I bet it's a plus money, but close fight. I think his Mugulov's going to win, but it's going to be a man.

It's going to be tactical as all hell. Can't wait. And then your other question, there's a very good chance because of that style, that chain wrestling, that just, Golly. So tough to stop. Dax, you're up. Hey, Mike. I just wanted to get your reaction to two quick pieces of news. First, the glory takeboxing with the Russian athlete thing. I don't know if you've seen it this morning.

And then also Ascar Mosarov. I forget his name, getting released, and then retiring two days after, whatever. Oh, man. So, yeah, I didn't see the glory thing. I'll have to go check that out. The Mazurov one is just kind of, it's just so crazy. I mean, the whole thing, the last couple weeks, that guy is one of the most interesting stories of the year.

Just while the record continued to change, his name changed. I mean, all this stuff happened. And he deserves all the criticism he's getting. every bit of it. And he's trying to, oh, the media is twisting this and the media is doing this and they're doing this and all this stuff.

No, you did it. You did it. And there's tangible evidence of all of this. You think Jay Petrie, who I believe has a law degree is a lawyer? You think he's just going to print something

that's not true without actual evidence? Come on, man. So, golly, what a change. What a change of fortune. signs with the UFC. It's got this great record. Then the record diminishes, that it diminishes some more and then continues to diminish. And then he just gets bolted by Alonzo Mena Field and now he's

out of the UFC. It's the right move. Everything was done right. It was kind of funny at the same time. And I try to be a positive guy, but I don't feel bad for the guy. I don't feel bad for him at all. hopefully gets his act together and can live a happy and healthy life outside of the sport. But guess what? He's going to be back. He'll be fighting MMA in the next before the year is out. All right, Alec. Take us home, buddy.

Take us home. Heck of the morning, Mike. Appreciate you taking my call. So looking forward to the trilogy between Max and Volcanowski, three of the last five title fights at 145 since 2019 will have been between those two. So we have two fights coming up, which, you know, look like they will produce a number one contender between Yair and Ortega and then Kater and Emmett this weekend. So my question is, what direction do you think the UFC will go?

And do you think they will pit the winner of those two fights against each other to produce a number one contender? or do you think they'll just take one of the winners, whoever has the best performance out of those two fights? The problem is, you know, Max and Bolkinowski have both beaten all four of these guys recently. So what direction do you think UFC will go in? And overall, who do you think the next title challenger will be at 1.45? I'm sorry. I muted myself, and I didn't unmute.

But I was giving you props for a great question. And it was something that I was pondering myself. I don't know, man. Like, I can't get off the fence on this one because, like, let's just say Calvin Cater grows out there and just washes Josh Edmund. I'm not saying this is going to happen. Well, let's just say that happens, right? And then we're all like, wow, Calvin Cater's the guy.

He's next for the belt, right? What if Max Holloway beats Alexander Volcanovokovsky? Then it's all for not because we know what's going to happen. We know what's going to happen from there. They're just going to run it back again. And guess who's not going to complain about that? This guy right here. I could watch Volcanovsky and Hallway fight a thousand times,

and I will never complain about it. It's just one of those just matchups that is just so close. They're so close to each other. I love it. So we have to kind of wait and see what happens to all these fights. Honestly, now, if Kate, I'm predicting Cater will win a decision tomorrow. And it'll be pretty impressive. I think he's going to win 4946.

I don't think it'll look like the giga fight, but similar where he's going to take some big shots. He's going to walk through him. The volume will add up. I think he can probably hurt Emmett a little bit as well, get him kind of moving back. That step-in elbow of Calvin Cater is a thing of beauty. So I think we'll see that a couple of times.

So I lean Cater. So let's just say Cater wins by decision. And let's say Volcanowski. beats Holloway by decision, then it all depends. If Yaya Rodriguez goes in there and does Yaya Rodriguez things, whether he finishes Brian Ortega or just wins a super fun decision, I have to lean Yair but both fights are huge.

It's a trial for everybody involved. I don't think Ortega can get back in there, especially after the Volcanowski fight. I know people look at that fight in a certain way. I think it was one of the great title fights. It was one of the great rounds. Round three was one of the best rounds ever. But the rest of the fight, Volkinovsky dominated by Artiga.

It was one-way traffic for 80% of the fight. So I don't need to see that again. We saw what happened when Ortega fought Holloway. That was a beat down. But I mean, Ortega will probably be back at some point. But I would knock him out. It's a three horse race. It's Cater, Emmett, and Yair.

I would favor Yair if everything goes the way. I think it's going to go over these next couple weeks. All right. We got to get out of here. AK and I, we're going to do a best friend's edition of the UFC Austin preview show, 3 p.m. Eastern, live on the M.A. fighting YouTube channel. It'll be up on the podcast feed after that.

tomorrow 3.30 Eastern, AK and I, I believe once again, and Casey, the People's Pre-Fight Show, answering your questions up until the first fight. Well, post-fight show after, AK and I, on to the next one on Sunday. We'll record that podcast only. And then next week, no show Monday,

which we haven't done anyways. But we're going four times next week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 10 a.m. Eastern, right here. on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. So thank you all very much. I appreciate it. This week has been phenomenal.

You guys have kept me on my toes. Excellent questions. You guys keep showing up, showing out, and I couldn't be more grateful. Thank you so much. Have a great Friday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. A 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.