MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Dustin Poirier vs. Nate Diaz Is Right There — Why Hasn't the UFC Booked It?

Episode Date: May 19, 2022

Dustin Poirier wants it. Nate Diaz wants it. The fans want to see it. Everybody seems into a potential Poirier vs. Diaz matchup, but for some reason, the UFC isn't putting it together. Why? On this episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses that, along with other potential options for Poirier is the promotion ends up putting him on the UFC 277 card on July 30. In addition, other topics include if Henry Cejudo should get an immediate title shot in his expected return to the octagon, the potential of a Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev vacant title fight, Khabib Nurmagomedov's thoughts on Oliveira's current run, Dana White's Contender Series returning in July, and much 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

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. May 19th, 2020, and it is a heck of a morning right here live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter Spaces, and shortly thereafter, once the show wraps up, we'll be live on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Keck. Hope everyone's having a wonderful day, a wonderful week. I don't know where you guys are listening from, but right here, where I am at, right outside of Hilton Head, South Carolina. it is going to be a really hot day. And I know what some of you might be thinking. If you're familiar with the area, you're in South Carolina.

Of course, it's going to be hot. Yes, it's usually this hot in July, August. But we're about to break some records today. So I cannot wait to play some men's beer league softball in 97 degree heat later on after BTL today. I'm very excited about that. I'm a sweat off like 15 pounds. So I'm very excited. but you guys don't want to hear about that.

You guys want to talk about mixed martial arts, and there's a lot to talk about. We have UFC Vegas 55 coming up on Saturday, headlined by Holly Holm versus Ketland Vieira. Pretty important fight at 135 pounds, especially with a potential rematch coming up between Giuliana Pena and Amanda Nunes. If Giuliana Pena wins that fight,

this fight in particular could have some weight, some bearing on the division and where this division might be going. I feel like Holly Holmes had 835 title shots. And if she wins, that fight on Saturday, she's going to be in the mix. That is for damn sure. But she's been out for a while. Caitlin Vieira's looked pretty good coming off the win over Misha Tate. And then we get the all-violence classic between Santiago Ponsadibio,

Michelle Paheda, another all-violence classic, Cheety and Chaguani versus Disco Tador. Main card's pretty solid. And here's what I like about this card the most. What I like about this card the most is a couple of things. 11 fights, nice tight 11 fights, prelimbs start at 4 p.m. Eastern, 6 prelim fights, which means we're going to fly through them. And then 7 p.m. main card start time, five fights. We'll be doing the preview show at, or the post-fight show, like 9.30 p.m. Eastern time.

that's awesome that's how all these fight nights should be they should always be that way 4 pm prelims 7 p.m. main card that's awesome people say that this card is terrible I don't think it's terrible I think it's a pretty solid fight night card isn't the strongest name value wise probably not but there's some good fights on here there's some interesting fights on here we get paciporta against jelton almeda someone's going to shine in that one Omar Morales Euro's Medich is going to be a like of fun. Jonathan Martinez, Vince Morales would be a lot of fun. We'll see the return of Chase Hooper. See if you can get back in the

wind column against Felipe Colhires. And Elise Reed and Sam Hughes is just going to get out there and do the damn thing. They're going to throw hands at each other. And it's not a bad card. It's really not a bad card. Then we got Friday or tomorrow. Eagle FC is back.

Eagle FC 47. There's a... I just I just like Eagle FC. I don't... I mean, there's... I have a million questions about the promotion, some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that I don't love. I don't like a lot of the matchmaking. But listen, it's fun.

It's a fun, listen. If Henry Suhudo is on color, we are in for a fun night. We could create some kind of drinking game, I'm sure, when it comes to that. And then another topic that's going on is, who is Dustin Porre going to fight on July 30th? And is Dustin Porier going to fight on July 30th?

The man has come out publicly and said, I want to fight on this date. I don't care who it is. Who is it going to be? We had a listener suggest on Tuesday, maybe Islam Makachev should just say, you know what? You guys are saying that I need a top five win.

You think that there's doubts that I should be fighting Charles Olivera? Guess what? I'll fight you, Dustin Porre. I'll fight you July 30th. I'll get you that top five win. And then I'm going to go on and fight for the title. So there you go.

There's some options. So we can talk about all those things. We can answer the question, Dustin Porier versus question. Question mark, question mark, question mark. You can talk these cards this week. We can talk about whatever you want. It's your show.

Tomorrow it's going to be all your show. So the rant that you're getting here, the rant you've got the end of Tuesday show. You're not going to get that on Friday. We're just going to turn it over to you guys. Unless there's some just big, massive breaking news. So let's get right into this thing. Let's start with, it's not deadly.

First word, my man. Make sure you unmute. What's up? It's not deadly. Are you there? Make sure you unmute. it's not deadly yeah I'm here

wait on I'm doing something I'll talk in a bit you'll talk okay alright we'll pull him out let's get another mic in here Mike Lawson Mike what's up buddy heck of a morning Mike

heck of a morning bro you damn right what's going on kick me off but I got two things to ask you the first thing are you ready for

Triple C to become C4, bro. C4. And the second thing is, are you ready for the heat to go up two games tonight, bro? I will hang up and listen. I mean, listen, it's supposed to be a heck of a morning and you want to start off the show with that trash? How dare you?

I'm ashamed to share the same first name with you. I'm just joking, kind of. listen, the Henry Suhudo thing. Listen, I've been against this Henry Suhuda. I mean, not against the Henry Suhudo come back. I just haven't cared at all about it because I need to see this man compete.

And I know Captain Eric, who I like a lot, was on the MMA hour yesterday, and him and Ariel had buried the old hatchet. And Eric believes that Henry will fight for the championship, either the probably the Bannamway title first. That if he wins, maybe go up and fight for the featherweight title. And if he comes back, like, that's great. That's great that he comes back.

But I also understand the hesitance the UFC has here. I know Ariel was asking Eric about why hasn't the UFC embraced this return? Because he tried to, he screwed him. He left him high and dry. Beats Dominic Cruz and then just says, I'm out. And I should give me all the money in the world. I'm not fighting again.

You screwed the company. And you know how the UFC reacted to it? They didn't care. They're just like, okay, Piadriyan's going to fight for the title against somebody. We've already moved on. Like I said before, I'm hesitant to get excited about this

because I just don't think the buzz he thinks he's going to create with this comeback is actually going to happen. Is there interest? Are people talking about it? Yeah, maybe. but this isn't anywhere near. Like when John Jones actually comes back,

when we're serious that he's coming back, we're feeling like he's really coming back. We're going to be a gazillion times more interested than Henry coming back. But like I said, if Henry goes out and fights a Cheeto Vera or fights him a rob or fights somebody like that, gets a win,

I'm happy. I will come on here and praise him. I will say come get your title shot, go up to 45 if you want. I don't care. Do whatever you want to do. But I just need to see him fight somebody. I don't think he should walk into a title fight. I don't think he should.

If I'm the UFC, I wouldn't do that. What's the difference? What's the difference? You put Aljo against Dilleshaw, or you put Aljo against Aldo, or you put Aljo versus Henry Suhudo. Is it a clear? is it clear that Henry Sehudo will draw more than the other two guys? I don't think so.

I don't think so. I think Joseo probably outdraws all of them, if we're being honest. Suhudo would create some interest and we'd talk about a, we'd break down a pretty fun fight, but it's not like Sohudo is going to give them 500,000 extra pay-per-view buys because he probably doesn't. He probably gives the same, if not less than the other two guys. So, I mean, it is what it is.

I hope he does come back from just a competitive standpoint, but I just don't, I don't want to see a world where he's like, I'm fighting for the title or I'm not fighting at all, and then he doesn't fight. I don't think he has that sort of leverage. And I know Ali has a great relationship with the UFC, but I think Suhudo left a really bad taste in their odds. And I don't blame the UFC for being hesitant on this.

So go fight Cheeto Vera. I would favor Sohudo to beat Cheeto Vera. But that's a tough, grueling fight. And if he beats Cheeto, then, there's no questions. Let's just get him in there and fight. By the way, the subject's going to beat up on the heat. They might not have Al Horford. That sucks not having those two guys, but it looks like Marcus Smart will be back, and that's going to make a big difference. All right, let's try this again. It's not deadly. All right, what do you got?

First of all, you're a bit for taking my mic off. Second of all, you're 45 years of wait. Get a real job, man. You fucking suck. You're talking to yourself, you know that? I'm talking to you. yeah you're not anymore get out of here you're not deadly I'm not 45 years old trust me and I tell you this not 45

and I'm not talking to myself have you listened to the program what a dumb ass MJ you're up Tristan you're on deck can we get MJ in here all right the wheel is spinning try get MJ we'll get MJ

we'll get you in here. Let's get Tristan here. Tristan, what's up, buddy? You want to try to hurt my feelings like that other asshole? What was that all about? Like, dude, people relax. It's not that serious. What is going on? Guys just getting off, getting up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, I guess. What is going on? Jesus. Anyways. He calls, he says, he says, I'm a bitch for taking him off Mike, but he said he had something to do, and then he was going to come back. later so I said come back in but who gives a shit what's up buddy you got me swearing now you

all right go ahead um I want to get into here with a man of newness here um so I did um I did read the article with uh Jeremy Cruz

on her on his interview with her and then um a couple of things on this so it was very interesting how she was saying you know it was time for we heard to leave the gym and what was part of it was the Kayla Harrison and then her you know just leading her to get out of AT&T and start our own gym is always something that she always

wanted to do anyway with that what what she has to say it makes me believe that the featherweight division is not going anywhere and that I I have a real strong feeling that Kayla Harrison is going to come next year to the UFC but you know and she would they're going to, those two are going to fight. Also, with this too, with her upcoming bad against Julia Pena, you know, listen,

I really believe that she's going to get that belt back because of her last fight, she went, and that Jed Mishu had came with that article back in February that, Nuna's heading into that fight. She wasn't herself. She was dealing with COVID as well as with injury.

I think, and she couldn't push it back. She says, I didn't want to push the fight back. You know, I didn't want to do that. So, you know, I just went in there and did the best I can. Now, nothing to take away with Julian Payans win. But, you know, this is, this fight is going to be very important to see where both are at as far as Amanda Nunes and Julia Payne. Junior Panion has some pressure on this fight.

She's got to show that this wasn't a flu. And, I mean, I just, I don't think. To be honest, I don't think Pena is better than Nunez. And I think she's going to lose that belt, and, you know, Nunes is going to get the belt back. And that's going to set up everything, put everything in motion between Nunes and Kayla Harrison for that fight to happen. Kalasen wants, I think Kellenson is going to definitely come to the UFC because of legacy.

And she said she wants to be the best. She wants to be all the good fighters. She wants to be talked about more. She's, you know, she talked to Ariel about this, and it was really messing with her head. So, you know, I just think this part is definitely going to happen. I really want you your thoughts on that. And then also, as well, heading into this fight on Saturday, we have Ushuros Medish versus Omar Morales.

You know, people forget. Menace just came into, you know, a young prospect coming into the UFC. And, you know, that's a good fight with Morales. I know he's coming off that loss against Jail and Turner. And we got, and Jail and Tournament may have to start being, we talked about more because he is huge for this division

and he's on a huge win streak here. I'm getting concerned because he's going to fight Bradfordale. He goes and then with Bradredale starches him. He's going to be ranked and he's going to be concerned. And listen, I'm with you with Armand Syrucant but he

probes a lot of challenges. So, you know, that's going to be interesting. I want your take on that as well. So you know, we'll see We'll see what's going to go on and just like to hear what you have to say, Mike. Thanks a lot, man. Thank you, Tristan.

A nice, fun, positive caller. We appreciate that on this program. That's normal we get. We get one or two assholes every once in a while, but very, very rarely. A lot to unpack there. Listen, the Kayla Harrison thing is interesting. There's two sides to every story. Gare may God, Amanda Nunes aside, and you can go check that on M.A.

fighting.com and very interesting take from the featherweight champion the former bannam way champion so i mean there's all there's really only like four people on earth who know the actual story there and none of us really know what actually happened so i'll leave that at that as far as the cala harrison going to the ufc thing i there's a chance but i just legacy has to matter but as ally quinta is on the line as he would say too is important as legacy is legacy doesn't pay the bills. Legacy doesn't buy your vacation homes. Legacy doesn't buy your dream car. Money does. Money does. And UFC is going to be able to pay Kail Harrison some money. Sure. But Belator is going to be able to pay her more money. And you can make a strong argument that if

if Belator re-signs Chris Cyborg, which if I'm them, I think you have to because, I mean, come on now. Belator is, Belator struggling. now and they need as much star power as they can muster. If they can somehow keep Chris Cyborg, wait it out for a year, just give Cyborg those fights, just get her over, let her win, pay her, all that good stuff. And then you can bring Kayla in, boom, that's a big fight. And that's a huge legacy fight too.

So she gets to have her cake in a year too. She gets the legacy and the money. And then her saying, I just want to go out and beat the best fighters in the world, At 45, like, who are you going to beat? The best fighters in the world of 45 are Nunes and Cyborg. That's it. I mean, you could fight Macy Chesson or Norma Dumont,

and I'm not trying to take anything away from those two women, but, I mean, there is really no featherweight division. Bellator, we're lapping now. Chris Seibor is starting to lap, so I don't know. It's going to be really hard, and it's going to be really hard. And it's going to be really tough to build up a 55 pound division as well. You got 45ers going up to 55. You just have some big hulking women who just fight a 55.

There's not a lot of them. So it's going to be interesting to see what happens here. Kayla, I mean, Kayla won her last fight. She won rather easily, but it wasn't the most impressive performance. So we got to keep an eye on our next performance. Something tells me that she's just going to steamroll, whoever that might be. But we'll see. That's why they get in the fight.

Talk about pressure on Giuliana Pena. There is some pressure there to prove it's not a fluke, but at the same token, she's kind of playing with house money here. If she is just somewhat competitive with Nunes and loses, if she has moments and loses that fight, she's probably going to get another crack. They're probably going to do a third fight.

So while there's pressure there, you just want to put Amanda behind you. She's kind of playing with house money. As long as she doesn't get run over, if she just has moments and it's competitive in some way, way. I don't, I don't, there's not a ton going on at the women's ban and weight division right now. This is a very good chance that they would just do a third fight. We'll see. And as far as Morales and Eurus Medich goes, that's just going to be super fun.

Two guys who like to get after it. And Euros Medich is, uh, as Jen Bishu likes to say, he's, uh, he's a got or get got kind of guy. He either just gets run over or he runs you over. Those guys just go out there and finish fight, so that should be a really fun prelim on Saturday. Workday knows there are two kinds of people in business, backward thinkers and forward thinkers. And when you're a forward thinker, you need an AI platform that thinks like you do. Built to evolve with your organization, Workday reimagines how you manage your people, money, and agents for long-term success. Bringing all your most valuable resources onto one powerful platform so you can add value. even faster.

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Let's get Toke Girding Jensen in here. My man. How are you? Joe, but I have one small bone to pick with you. Because for me, you have talked about this

Porier Wonderboy idea as if it's a thing that could actually make sense in some universe. And for me, no matter the result of that fight, you get issues. So what I mean by that is if Dustin Porrege goes up to 170 and fights Stephen Thompson, who is on a losing streak,

and a bad one of that, if he goes up there and loses, what do you do with him after that? Then he goes back to lightweight, but he goes to the back of the line because he's coming off a loss. And if Wonderboy loses, well, he might be out of the company at that point. because he's had that bad of a losing streak. So I feel like that fight is a breaking case of emergency thing where, oh, we don't have a main event we have to do this

because it creates a lot of problems no matter the result of the fight. I wonder what do you think about that, though? Hold on. I'm not letting you off that easy since you said that a bone to pick. Listen, here's the thing. What is wrong with just, like, having a fight with very little stakes? Just two guys fighting each other. It doesn't have to have implications. And I also don't think that if Wonderboy loses, he's going to get cut from the company

because Wonderboy is beloved in the UFC. Sure. He loved the guy. And maybe he's not going to be the champion, but Wonderboy's name still has value. You can use that name to possibly propel other guys. Maybe he slows them down, but people will still be clear. If Wonderboy somehow goes on a three-fight winning streak, just goes out and wins three fights in a row.

People are still going to be wondering, what's going to happen if you ever fights for the title again? So if he goes out and fights Porre, like, it's just a cool fight. Like, it doesn't need to have implications. Like, Porre, they're both in similar spots right now. Like, Porre could find himself in a fight with, like, Michael Chandler, and maybe he's two wins away from fighting for the belt,

or something like that, because his division's kind of in shambles right now with no champion in Olivera and Islam and Derrush and all these other guys that are, that are waiting right now. And then with Wonderboy, he's far away from fighting for the title. So it's just two guys looking to fight and fill in a spot on the card. That's why I think it's okay.

It's not the most sensible matchup. But if you have a guy in Dustin Poir, who is a star for you, who just wants to freak and fight, then just let him fight. Just let him fight. If he wants to fight Wonderboy, just let him fight Wonderboy. Who cares? Fights don't happen in a vacuum, though, because people will then refer back to that fight as, oh, he's coming off a loss, or now he's lost four of his ass five or whatever it is.

You really think people would go crazy over that? They'd be like, oh, my God, like, now everyone's going to be asking to do this. This is a special case. Yeah, but, you know, Wonderboy Thompson, if he loses to, I know it's a good lightweight, but if he loses to a lightweight after the losses he's already had, his stock will drop. He got knocked up by Anthony Pettis. I know. He's already experienced the worst of it.

What else could go wrong? So now you want him to go down and fight unranked people with the status he actually has after that? Because that's where he's going. No, but that's where he's going if he loses again. Maybe. He's going to be a stepping block. I mean, who's to say he's not? I hate using stepping stone, but what makes you think he's already not in the litmus test discussion right now?

He's already lost his fights. He's already there. So why not? This is fun. Let's milk the cow while we have milk inside. You know what I mean? So you don't see a downside to this at all. I'm not saying, like, it could create like a little bit of confusion, perhaps,

but it's not like we have two guys who are one win away in their respective divisions for fighting for a title. It's just two guys who fans like and like to watch fight, just fighting. Is the number one contender in Lightweight, not one win away from another title fight? Is that what I hear you say? Not Wonder Boy. Wonder Boy. on a one. No, I'm talking about

Dustin. Maybe. That win. I mean. Dustin's probably like sixth in line right now. It's Olivera. Machachev. There's Daryush, Chandler. Connor is in this discussion as much as we like it no matter how we feel about it. And then you have Porre. So Porre, while he has a name, and if guys,

it would just have to be a lucky thing for Porre. Porre is got to fight and get wins. Yeah. Porreier is going to fight. It's one Connor, one more Connor win away from another title fight. Maybe. I don't know. It all depends what happens. Because, again, if all there is not fighting until December, then who cares?

And I don't think Poet really cares about that either. I mean, he just wants to fight. The man just wants to fight. He'll fight it. And what sense does him and Nate make if we're making this, this argument here? Because Nate's not fighting at 55. He's already saying he's not fighting at 55. No, but Nate is beyond rankings.

Nate is beyond rankings Wonderboy is not I mean Wonder Boy is not a draw in the same way that Nate is Well yeah that's true No he's not No I know you're you're not lying

You're not lying there But at the same time Like Wonder Boy is still Wonderboy still draws interest Trust me what I tell you Just going behind the curtain If I do an interview With Wonderboy Thompson and put it on YouTube

It's gonna do like tens of thousands of views It's gonna do like 50,000 views It's people like Wonderboy he creates he's nice he's just he's the anti-m-m-a fighter in a lot of ways where yeah yeah about trash-jack he's just a nice guy it's just two nice guys fighting i mean it's i get where you're coming from i'm not saying you're totally wrong but to say that it's not an option is i don't know i feel like it's okay for this case let's just have two guys get in there and fight doesn't have to be for any stakes other than one man wins one man loses okay well i've set my piece and it's fine

We don't agree on this at all. But I guess thank you for discussing it with me anyway. Yeah, you're the man, Toke. I appreciate that. Listen, sometimes it's just okay for guys to fight each other. Let's just have a fight. Dustin wants to fight. I mean, listen, there's plenty of ways you can go.

And just think about the options that are actually there for him, right? Chandler probably isn't going to be ready to fight July 30th because of the injuries he suffered in the TOTI fight. Tony's not going to be available to fight. Islam, if he just volunteered to fight, then he can knock off potentially a top five opponent that people say that he's missing right now. I'd love to get Al Ia Quinta's take on this

if you want to jump in Al, with this lightweight division and where it all stands. Maybe Alia Quinta wants to fight Dussiporia. That's a fun fight. There's, and if he just wants to get in there and fight, like the fight to make, and I think we can all agree on this, is just do Duster.

and Nate. Just do Dustin and Nate. That fight, both guys want it. Both guys have wanted it for months. Let's just do that. I understand it's the business and we want to, we don't want to just let Nate come in and fight and go off into the sunset. I get it. But just let the freaking guy fight. Let's make some money. Let him go out. The UFC is going to make all this money anyways. while it stings to lose a star, it's not going to affect the bottom line of the UFC at all. They're still making that sweet, sweet, sweet ESPN money. It's guaranteed money. If Nate goes off and boxes Jake Paul, so what? Yeah, it stinks.

It's not like Nate fights every three months. He's a star and he draws and people get excited for that. I get it. But you're still making this money whether Nate's there or not. So just have him fight. Dustin. Give Dustin what he wants. Make one of your homegrown stars happy? What the hell? I just don't understand why this fight hasn't been made yet. I don't get it. I don't get it. And I appreciate the bansertoke. It's crazy. We're even talking about this right now. It's insane. We're even having

this conversation right now. And we're not talking about Dustin Poirier versus Nate Diaz. Two guys who want this fight. They've wanted it for now five months. Even beyond that, they were scheduled a fight before. They're going back and forth. They both want it. Do it July 30th. You can do it on the August card. You're going to freaking Salt Lake City. You're going to Utah potentially. That's the frontrunner right now. You're putting on an event. They're hoping Ustman will be back by then. But if he's not, poor A.D has to be a pretty cool main event. It's something. But I just don't understand why this fight hasn't been made. Let's get Indigo in here. Indigo. What's up?

Oh, hey Mike, how you doing? I'm wonderful. I'm doing great. Beautiful weather out. Yes. I just have a couple. Firstly, I want to say no bats barred. Easily one of the best things that MMA fightings put out in a long time.

Not saying that the other stuff's bad, but I just think that GC and Jeter, like, they're such a duo and they're so big brain when it comes to making plays and stuff. So shout out to them. Shout out to Ally Quinta. And I just had a quick, it happened earlier this month. They had like a swath of releases. Devante Smith and, you know, Zurong specifically. That's someone who I was really high on. I understand he missed weight for his last fight.

But I understand that they want to make space for these 10 and 10 contender series contracts. But they're letting go a lot of. good talent. Do you think that, I mean, obviously it's probably a good business decision for them, but maybe I just feel bad for these fighters getting released, but I'll hang up and let you talk about it. Sorry, Mike. Oh, it's all good, man. It's the unfortunate part of this business. And one of the things I kind of don't like about the business, because you could sign fighters to four or five, six fight deals, and they can lose two fights and they're gone.

But if they win two fights, sure, they could possibly renegotiate, but if they want to go and take their talents elsewhere, they cannot. And it's just kind of a weird thing for, quote-unquote, independent contractors when, you know, they can be cut on a moment's notice. It's a lot of the guys and gals who get released are, for the most part,

for the most part, they're under the same, contracts that they're going to be replaced by. There are others, sure, that maybe, like, Liz Carmouch was an interesting example of getting released. And listen, there's 600 freaking fighters on the roster. You're about to embark on a 10-card contender series season where last season, 39 fighters got contracts. 39.

39 fighters got contracts on the contender series last year. even if even someone who lost a fight got a got a contract last year about the contender series my friends I miss how there are actual not saying there aren't stakes in the contender series but I feel like there are certain times where like the first season you had to go out there you had a steamroll people

you had to go out there and put out an impressive performance like a really impressive performance and even then it was hard to get a contract now, especially that last season, there are certain weeks where there were guys who didn't get contracts that had a good argument to get them, and then there are certain weeks where all you have to do is win.

All you have to do is win and be in a competitive fight, you get a contract. Getting to the UFC was, I'm not saying, it's still very difficult to do, because even though there's 600 plus fighters on the roster, there's still tens of thousands of more fighters, probably more around the world that have the same goal.

But it just used to be a lot harder to get in. And a lot of the... Let's be fair. A lot of the fighters who got contracts probably weren't UFC ready yet. I missed the days of the developmental deal, like William Knight got, where he would get a win

he would get a finish and be a crazy fight, but they realized that, listen, this guy's still a bit green, he's still got work to do, but we like him a lot. So let's give him a developmental deal. And William Knight loved the developmental deal because he could fight as often,

whenever and wherever he wanted. If you wanted to go fight for CES, yes, he could. He wanted to go fight for CFFC, he could. He wanted to go fight for LFA, he could. And he could do it anytime he wanted. He could still make the money in his developmental deal, but he could fight as often as possible. And when the UFC feels he's ready, they could bring him up.

And they did that. Or they put him back on the contender series. They gave him another shot. And then they brought him up and he ended up fighting a month later. But I missed it. Chase Hooper got a developmental deal. There are other fighters. There are fighters in the contender series who,

Josh Perugian. We were talking about Josh Peresian. Josh Peresian goes out on the contender series, gets a super quick finish. And then he doesn't get a contract. And they put him on the ultimate fighter. Hey, here's your reward. You get to go on the ultimate fighter.

And he goes to the Ultimate Fighter, which is probably a miserable experience. He, I think he loses in the house in his first fight. I haven't watched the Ultimate Fighter in like 10 years, but I think that's what happened. And then after the Ultimate Fighter, he goes on the regional scene, wins like five more in a row. And then he goes back on the Contender Series, gets another first round finish, and then he gets a UFC contract. It's just crazy. But to kind of answer your question about the releases, yeah, that's kind of what they're in, but I wouldn't be shocked to see more coming

because contender series starting July 26th, I believe, going through early September, 10 cards of 50 fights could be 50 new contracts. At least we're going to see over 30 new fighters on the roster. Plus, we're going to get two more coming off the ultimate fighter,

probably more. So, yeah, it's a tough spot. UFC's in that 1980s, W&E, Mente, where we're not here to pay you, we're here to give you an opportunity to be paid. And that works for WWE. UFC's making a just a ridiculous amount of money right now. They can do whatever they want.

Let's get Joey T in here. Joey. How's it going, Mike? Good. The end of the answer to your thing about the Parisian ultimate fighter, he did get into the house, lost first round, pretty much got rag dog laid on, lost my decision but one thing i'll say about the contenders series i do i don't mind it but i wish

dana i have a feeling that the ufc almost i don't want to say they get pressured for each episode that at least sign at least one guy but i do like if they give a lot of the prospects more delve mental deals or even you saw for parisian or you saw for maybe for future fighters hey look we're going to give you another fight see what happens like they did for that one Brazilian guy that came in one by early finish, and then he recently fought on a fight night card. But one thing I would like, honestly, is, you see most

these processes, they're still young and in a career. I would love to go through, like, the ultimate fighter. I wish they had more seasons like that. Better coaching around coaching staffs and and, oh, what else I was going to bring up? But, yeah, pretty much about the whole contentious shit. I love the 10 weeks, but I just have a feeling

since, you know, now there's 10 weeks. I have a feeling at least they're going to have the least sign at least one guy per episode maybe for pressure to bring in more talent for each division. But I just, one thing I would love, there's talent at the weight class, but I would love the UFC to maybe do a couple episodes on the contender or even like a full season to fully on the ultimate fighter to actually develop the lower weight for women.

Because I know they brought them in at first. They didn't have overall high expectations. They brought in Ronda. You know, Ronda helped the women's fight game develop. of them, but I would love them just to actually build up each women division a lot better to help bring in more views for the UFC. I appreciate that.

Listen, yeah, if they did one fighter getting a contract with a contender series, it's five, but five, six every episode, and listen, there are some episodes even early on where

you're just like, damn, there's some talent. There's some talent. And if you follow a lot of the regional scene fighters. I'm still following it, but I don't follow as much as I did earlier in my career because I have to do 418 shows every week, which is fine. I'm not complaining about that.

I love doing it. But you just know. Sometimes you look at the actual fight cards and you know that, okay, if this guy wins, he's probably getting in because he's a stud. And there are certain fighters where you're like, why are they even fighting on the contender series?

This should already be in the UFC. and there are certain fighters that fought on the contender series that would have been great in the UFC and the UFC just passed on. And there are certain ones that there have been a few. Brennan Locknain was one. I remember the heat that was that the UFC received and Dana White received for not bringing him on

because he went for a takedown at the end of the fight. Anthony Romero, another example, who looked really good in his fight against Mike Breeden and went for a takedown in the third round. Breeden was hurt really bad in that fight. He was basically on one leg because the leg kicks and all that.

He was tired. He was battered and goes for a takedown doesn't get a contract. Austin Vanderfer didn't get a contract. And there are other examples like that. And then there are fighters who are like two and oh and they beat a guy who was like one in one and he gets a contract.

It didn't look all that tremendous in getting it. And then they have all these other opportunities too because sometimes they have to fill these looking for a fight cards. We start with Joseph Holmes. Joseph Holmes got a submission win on the contender series. They put him on a looking for a fight card and he went out,

treated his opponent accordingly, and he got a UFC contract. So, I mean, there's lots of avenues where up-and-coming fighters can get these opportunities. Now they're doing, my man, J.HK reported this first, but now they're doing a road to the UFC sort of tournament type thing

where it's almost like the Contender Series but just in the Asian market ahead of UFC 275. So they're creating all these avenues but still it's not costing production value, sure. But a lot of times the UFC just has their own venues for this stuff.

So it's a good investment in a lot of it. So the Ultimate Fighter, God, it's, I mean, it's, can we talk about the Ultimate Fighters? God, the Ultimate Fighter. Ultimate Fighter. I just, I would just love to see a world where the Ultimate Fighter evolved in any way. It's literally the same show.

It's the same show. The first season was so interesting because they didn't really understand what they had. They changed the rules a little bit. They're doing all these different things. I was so fascinated by the first season of the Ultimate Fighter. I watched every episode. And I was in MMA, but I wasn't like fully engulfed in MMA like I am now or where I was maybe 10 years ago,

but I watched every episode of that first is the ultimate fighter. I was a huge Diego Sanchez fan. Me and my buddies were in high school as the show is going on. We're all called each other, just talking about how much of a weirdo we thought Diego Sanchez was, but we were so fascinated by it. And Chris Leibon's getting hammered and fighting everybody all the time. It's just such an interesting cast of characters that were on the show.

And it was cool. And now I feel like all these years later, nothing has changed. We're still wearing the basketball jerseys. All this stuff is exactly the same. I feel like there's ways we can approve this somehow. I don't know how, but I literally have no interest in watching the ultimate fighter at all.

I just, I don't. I'm not going to stop my day to watch the ultimate fighter. I'm just not going to do it. I'm happy for all of those who got involved, who got the shot, good for them. Good for them. If it gets them to the UFC, I'll applaud them.

I'm happy for him. But me as a viewer, I'm just not into it. I'm just not, now, if you do the Tony Ferguson Habib idea, I might watch. I might watch if you have Tony and Habib coaching against each other. That was a really interesting thing. They came out of the MMA hour and Tony talked about it. Habib responded to it and said he would do it.

That would be interesting. I'd watch that. Get a heed in here. Always interested to hear from my man of heed. What's up, buddy? Come on, it's been a while. I'm good. How are you?

I miss you, buddy. I know. I miss you. It's mutual. It's mutual, you know? Like, I just got to recharge, you know. And like, so to get things off my chest, you know, I've said it before. I said it again, we should have gone with your idea, Mike, of Edwards and Chimai for the interim belt.

Why is Edwards fighting, like, for this belt? I don't know. Like, we just know. like he's going to lose. I'm picking him to lose and I'm British and this is no hate to Edwards. It's just like, come on, my like, are he serious?

Like, Usman is at the top of the pecking order? He's just going to do the same. I don't think it could be a stoppage or might not be a stoppage. It might just be a repeat of the same, the first fight. Like, Usma takes him down and just like touches him up a little bit. That's what Usman might resolve to. That's his bread and butter. That's anything he say he tried that same stunt.

against Masvidal the first time because he didn't have time to prepare. Obviously, we saw what happened in the rematch, but in the first time, didn't he didn't have much time to prepare. He had to take that fight on short notice. So what did he do? He went back to his bread and butter, the wrestling, just the clinch, outgriving somebody, and he got done. And, you know, like, with Uzma being prepared and with the better striking, man,

like, yeah, like, I'm just picking Uzman again. Edwards doesn't deserve a thing, but whatever. And like, I just want to talk more about that arrogance, the pure arrogance from the Magic 3, Makachev, Ali Abdulaziz, and Habib, because what, it was like back to back to back as well. It was so comical on ESP and MMA. Like, if I, Ali, the cone, pointy-headed little prat, it's so insane to me, right? how he's like, I respect Olivera, but I think, what do you say?

I think Markachev and Benil should fight from the vacant lightweight title. You little crap. It's always his guys, right? And I understand he's a manager. I understand that, okay? I get that. But you're there the line between promoting and being a little prat like he is saying, oh, but he hasn't beaten Benil or Marketsam.

And it's so crazy like Markerchev. like Marka Chavez just so, what do you say? Charles isn't a professional. Like what about Habib? What about your boy, Habib, who missed weight, who not only, like, he missed weight, he didn't turn up to fights against Cowboy Soroni. And he missed weight that resulted in him not turning up to fight Tony Ferguson, right, at UFC 209. What about your boy, since you care so much about professionalism?

Not to mention as well, I think it was MMA, like, fighting that broke the news. I don't know if it was AK Lee, like about Mark Ratner, like already spilling the beans. Like we know. So we already know that the whole system was bullshit. When the biggest star in MMA, the biggest voice, Joe Rogan, says it on like as in the biggest guy like that Dana likes when he's not afraid to call it as it is on his podcast, that it was bullshit, the entire thing that Charles is the champion. Because unless you're sure 100% 110% sure that Charles was that Charles missed weight and was 155.5 pounds because of this the tiniest margin if you if you're not 110% sure Charles is the champion you don't know like and we know

like this is BS that this is the thing we know that Charles was shoot like the scales weren't calibrated right Charles was screwed but market chev is going to talk all that smack like Oh, like Charles is a professional. Again, Habib, we know Habib missed weight. We know, again, I believe Tony when UFC 209, like, Habib had, like, he had Turib to missou. It's a meme, but we know he did it. Like, and then he didn't make way.

And then, and he's talking about how I had to go to the hospital and stuff. Like, I'm not trying to clown on some, but I'm just saying, like, don't talk about professionalism. And then it comes to Habib, like, Habib did an interview as well with ESP and MMA. It's like, I don't know whether they've all dominant MMA all have like a script to read off, like, as in so they can all talk the same crap. But like Habib, and I didn't expect this out of Habib, because I actually like Habib, at times, there's times I thought I'm not a fan of some things that he does. But it's his fan boys that I hated, not Habib, but something Habib said that rubbed me the wrong way was he said, oh, Charles isn't the undisputed champion because he has. hasn't beat a Makachev.

I was undisputed because I was like, because what? Because what? Your last two title defenses is the same as Charles. You beat a Connor that was just like that everyone seems to be able to like. I mean, this dude is looking, I don't know what's happening with Connor.

I think he's a bit of a coward talking smack to Tony. When he didn't, he never mentioned Tony's name, Mike, not once. He used paradigm and I know I said this. I don't care. I'll say this again.

He used the paradigm. He hid behind paradigm. So he didn't have to fight Tony. He never mentioned Tony's name once when Tony called him McNuggets, but he's saying it now. So we got a coward in Connor. Of course he'd be Allied Quinters, like, great fight. And I'll put up a great fight.

I know he's in the chat right now. But I just mean, like, bro, if you had two title defenses, it's like, come on, like the same as Charles. You didn't stay in there long enough. How can you insult Tony or anything? anyone else who stays longer to fight harder competition. Like that's what happens when you fight harder competition. That's not an insult to anybody.

That's what happens. You see this in Muay Thai and kickboxing. They have a hundred fights, which results in 10 more losses, 20 more losses, 30 more losses. Why? Because they fight more people.

It happens. So when you leave, for whatever reason, I understand your father passed away, and I'm sorry for that. But for whatever reason, you leave after such like a shorter amount of time of course like of course like your record might be better of course there's a chance now you did well but for you to crap on charles and say oh he's not

undisputed when he has like similar title defenses to you you're full of crap you're you're absolutely full of crap like it just shows you and also DC DC abusing his position to push Mark Kchev into title shot abusing his position and ESP and MMA is pathetic Yeah, like it's just so sad But, but you know, D.C. is just another issue But it's all those dominant MMA people

F all of them, they've all got a script I like Binald Dariush and maybe a couple other people who seem nice. But the rest of them, they've all got a script And it's pathetic. Ahid. I missed you, pal. Good grief.

he was let off the leash and just ran ragged good Lord that's quite the quite the take right there yeah I mean there there are certain things that I agree with

for sure the media tour with everybody sort of saying the same thing you're not wrong about that I mean I don't necessarily agree with that hasn't beat Islam hasn't be been a Neil thing yet.

But I'm really interested to see what happens. There are certain people feel like Islam is guaranteed this title shot. And I still don't think, I still am not on that camp yet. I wouldn't be surprised if it happens. But I wouldn't say it's 100%. I wouldn't say it's 100%. But I also have no insight to this. But I also feel like if ever, if the UFC believes that Islam is the guy,

I just, I think he's got to get that other win. That's why I'm not opposed to him just saying, you know what, Dustin, July 30th, you need a guy, I'll fight you. Then he's got his top five win. There's no questions. The list that's like five people deep right now who could fight Olivera goes down to one. He fights Darius in October, does that same thing. List goes down to one.

I just don't know if Olivera is going to fight in October. And if I'm Olivera, I'm taking a little bit of stance. All these fights are on the. road for him. He was supposed to fight Gaichi in Brazil. Didn't happen, and he had to go to Gaichi's hometown and fight Gaichi, and now you're going to send him to Abu Dhabi to

fight Islam? I just, I don't know. I understand the weight miss, and he's not the champion, and maybe he doesn't have all the leverage, but I still think in most people's eyes, even in Dana's eyes, that he is in their eyes the champion. Now, what I'm more curious about is how are they going to treat him like a champion?

Is he going to get championship money? Is he going to get pay-per-view points for whenever he fights for this title. I don't know. So I was pretty critical of the UFC, and I was pretty critical of the whole situation. I thought the all of everything was dumb. But I also understand why people are like, no,

rules are rules, and it is what it is. But if there was an issue with the scale, I know there wasn't an issue with the official scale, because it's all checked and calibrated and rechecked all that stuff. Now, Mark Ratner also said that he thinks the other scales, the one in the back and the one at the fighter hotel, there might have been some tampering with those scales. He's not ruling that out at all. But just to clarify that whole situation, the scale that they actually stepped on was correct, checked, rechecked, and that's the only thing that the commission has to

deal with. That's their scale. That's the scale that's used. That's the only one they're responsible for. The other scales that the UFC brings, the one is in the back, the ones in the hotel, the fish has nothing to do with those. Nothing. So the whole thing's interesting. Joe Rogan said that Oliver got screwed. There are a lot of people who feel that Oliver got screwed.

And we'll see what happens with it. Mike wants some more. Hi, Mike. Welcome back. Unmute, Mike. Oh, Mike. All I got to say is you got to get a heed on BTO. That's all I got to say, man.

that's all I got to say him and Jeb Michouds. Fireworks. It'd be a three-hour show. Mike said, I'm moderated, dude. You got to moderate. Mike said that. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to boot you. By the way, we're going to have a little

a little Jed versus UFC fighter on BTL today. It's going to be Jed Mishu versus Billy Quarantillo. Should be a lot of fun. Billy Q wants to step into the virtual BTL arena and go one-on-one with Jed Mishu, and that's going to happen. 3 p.m. Eastern, live on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel.

I have to try to keep these two from strangling each other. But Billy Q's a classy dude, and Jed is a classy dude, too, who just has fiery hot takes. Let's get Hussein in here. And I think this might be it. Hussein, what's up, man? Hey, not much.

First of all, this has been a lot of pound-for-pound talk, and I feel like we've been missing out on one fighter who's really, like, deserves the hype. He's undefeated. He's a mauler. I can't believe E.K.C. Laden hasn't been considered for the pound for pound, number one. I'm just flabbergasted and insulted.

And on a more, on a different note, do you think Volcanowski being in Australia, not putting on the, like, the showy performances are what is what's hindering his chances to become, like, number one, pound for pound? like if he lands a no look jab kind of like Max Holloway did in that fight against Kater with some kind of performances like that boosts his chances.

I mean, I don't know how much better he needs to do from the last performance against Korean zombie. Dude went out and pitched a perfect game in that fight. That was an incredible performance. He was, he just ran him over. It was a perfect game. He went out there and did whatever he wanted for, over 15 minutes took him into the fourth round just beat that man up that was an incredible performance

from volkanowski that's the kind of performance he needed he went out there and pitched a perfect game one of the better performances in a title fight in my opinion it was fantastic there have there have been probably there've been better ones but wire to wire the way that volkadovsky performed man that was something but we also have to remember usman is been in that sort of situation as well where he went out and won decisions wasn't finishing guys that obviously changed with the gil of burns win with he beat colby there were some questions there i didn't have a big issue with the stoppage i understand why colby did he still kind of had his wit to them but he also took a bit of a beating in that fight but the gillard burns finish was

impressive the way he knocked out hoare mazadol that changed things up when you get finishes that changes the narrative a little bit. I think I, Volkovsky, number two in my pound for pound behind Usman, is two or three. I have to go back and look. I don't have time to look right now, but he's either two or three.

But he's so good. He's so good. That fight with Holloway, I can't wait for. I cannot wait to see that third fight. I can watch those guys fight a hundred times. I'm hoping to be out there for that. TBD, stay tuned. Hopefully we'll have some good news on that front.

Because as long as I've been covering the sport, I've never stepped foot in Las Vegas. Not even for a layover, nothing. Never been to Vegas ever. And that would be a hell of a time to get the first look. International Fight Week, Hall of Fame, all that fun stuff. Big card.

Coming up on July 2nd, UFC 276. Hopefully we can make it happen. Shouldn't know in the next week or two if it is going to happen. But that's it, everybody. I have to do like a million things. I'm actually running the desk as well, so I can't continue on. We are done.

I appreciate everybody who has jumped on here. And we'll do it again tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. Eastern. And by the way, I'm not going to say it yet because it's not done, but there is a chance. There is a possibility. If we can keep this thing going At the rate that we're going right now

With the amount of downloads on the podcast network The amount of people who jump in here Just checking it out throughout the day If we can keep this going At the rate we're going right now We might be able to expand this bad boy Into a daily thing But that's on you guys

I'll keep coming I'll keep showing up You guys keep bringing that heat And maybe we can do this every day But we'll see what happens working on that. Lots of stuff in the works right now. But we're out of here.

If you guys are just checking out the last half of the show, the rest of the show is going to be up on the podcast network and probably the next 30 minutes or so by 9.30 a.m. Eastern Standard time. But until that, everybody, I am Mike Heck.

Have a great rest of the day. The Vox Media Podcast Network.