MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Glover Teixeira's Chances vs. Jiri Prochazka, Listener Hot Takes, Sean Brady Joins the Show

Episode Date: May 26, 2022

Glover Teixeira may be the champion heading into his UFC 275 matchup with Jiri Prochazka, but not many people are giving him a chance to retain. Could that be a little bit shortsighted? On this episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck pumps the brakes (for the most part) on the open scoring debate, deems it the first annual All-Star Weekend for the sport, and opens up the lines to discuss Teixeira's chances to defend the title against the always-exciting challenger on June 11, spicy hot take predictions for the rest of the year, Valentina Shevchenko's chances to become a two-division champion, if Jon Jones will compete in 2022, desert island fighters, and much more. In addition, UFC welterweight contender Sean Brady (55:39) provides an update on when he might return, talks two top-10 fighters turning him down, and his Fury Pro Grappling match with Ben Saunders this Saturday. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 8 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to Aero Pembers on equipped flights, sponsored by Bound. Conditions apply. See air Canada.com. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Thursday, May 26, 2020, and it is indeed a heck of a morning here on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. We are live.

And for those listening on the podcast network, we're obviously not live, but you're still listening. And we appreciate you, however you're listening, whether you're live with us or if you're listening after the fact. And if you are listening on the podcast network, you get some bonus stuff that the live listeners don't really get. Because Sean Brady spoke with him yesterday afternoon. And it was a great conversation. He's going to be grappling on Saturday against Ben Saunders. Fury pro grappling should be a pretty fun event.

And the man is looking for a fight. He said he's been turned down by not one, but two fighters in the top 10. He did not reveal those names, but he's pretty frustrated. He's pretty frustrated that he cannot find himself a fight. He cannot find himself an opponent inside the top 10 coming off the biggest win of his career against Michael Kiesa.

I know was it a performance that he was all that particularly proud of, but a win is a win. Kiesos is the top 10 guy, and Brady is looking for a fight. And so many people ask about him on onto the next. one and this show what's going out with him who's he going to fight etc etc try to get some answers unfortunately he doesn't have any and we probably you all of you listening probably know as much as he does right now so if you're listening on the podcast or if you want to listen after the fact

if you listen in live you'll get that conversation but here's the deal I don't know about you but I'm sick of open scoring talk I'm sick of it I don't want to hear it anymore I don't want to talk about it. Not saying I don't want to ever talk about it again, but I don't want to talk about it right now. I'm sick of open scoring. Like, at first I wanted it.

I thought there was some value in it, but now it's just the more I talk about it, the more I just don't care. So I feel like if we just took a normal route to this program, we're eventually going to find our way into the open scoring conversation. And listen, This is the people's morning show for MMA fans. So if you want to talk about open scoring, that's fine.

But this is not going to be one of those shows where we're just going to talk about open scoring for 45 minutes. It's just not going to happen. So what I wanted to do is I am christening this, this particular week, the MMA slash UFC slash Bellator. this is the all-star break. This is the all-star break. So today I am calling this the beginning of all-star weekend. All right?

I know this isn't a formal thing, but I am making this up myself. I am doing this myself. So today on Hekka-a-Morning, I'm going to allow you guys to hop in. You can crown your award winners thus far through pretty much five months of the year, almost the midway point.

So if you have a nominee for knockout of the year, submission of the year, fight of the year, fighter of the year, et cetera, we will take those suggestions. Also, if you have,

this is what I'm really looking forward to more than anything else, if you have hot takes, if you have hot take predictions for the rest of the year. For instance, perfect example, Jed Michoud last year, I said make your boldest hot take prediction

and his boldest hot take prediction was Giuliana Pena was going to beat Amanda Nunes and win the Bannamway title. And that hot take, bold prediction, aged very well because that is exactly what happened. Giuliana Pena defeated Amanda Nunes and became the Bannibal. So we're just going to have some fun. And by the way, BTL, we're actually going to draft all-star teams. We're not going to have a battle.

We're not going to do a one-on-one thing. It's going to be me. Jed Mishu. and AK and we're just going to draft our all-star teams for this year so we're going to have some fun. All right.

So let's get into this thing. And of course we can talk about everybody's you want to talk about. But let's just have some fun. A little can't have like a 90-minute show. My kid is moving on up in his schooling. He'll be starting third grade next year.

And today's is the last full day of school for him. So 9.15 a.m. Eastern. and got to go over to his school and watch that all unfold. And I made a really tactical error being a parents because those who are parents that are listening right now, if you have kids who go to elementary school especially, you know how difficult it is to get your kid out the door to actually go to school. Like when they're at school, they love it. But it's just getting their asses out the door into the school. So I told my son that, listen, this last week, if you go to school, you get up, you get dressed, you do your thing, you get out the door, and you don't give me any shit.

I didn't say that to him, but that's how I was feeling at the time. Then I will wear a suit to your graduation. Like, I'll wear a suit jacket, a tie, everything. And these kids remember everything. So this morning I go and I wake him up and he goes, hey, don't forget to wear a suit to graduation today. So I got to dress up in 95-degree weather and probably very little air conditioning. And that should be fun.

We're going to kick things off with Justin Moore. Justin, what's up, my man? How are we, Mike? How are we? Oh, fantastic. Just got back from jihitsu training and getting ready for bed in Australia. Excellent.

I've got a couple of spicy ones. My hot take is that Volcanovsky's going to finish Max decisively. maybe I'm biased because I'm Australian, but that's what I was just going to say, I was just going to say, hmm, not really a bold take coming from, from a guy with your accent,

but listen, that is kind of a bull tape going on finishing that all over. Got a dream, got a dream big, mate, got a dream big. I love it. And my MVP of the year is,

is Polo Costa and his Twitter. Why is that? I mean, explain it for those who don't know. Polo Costa is, genuinely insane. There's something going on there. I've been following it religiously now because the guy is, I think

he's actually nuts. I'd probably just never seen anything like it. So yeah, if you could just, if you could explain what the hell's going on with Paula Costa, that would be fantastic. Justin, you are the man. Thank you very much. Listen, you are asking, if I could figure out,

if I could dive into the mind of Paulo Costa and somehow form and like a logical explanation for you, that I'd be getting like a Nobel Prize. I'd be celebrated today. They'd be having ceremonies across different major cities in the United States and beyond if I could figure out the answer to that question. But I mean, I don't think there is an answer to that.

I like the spiciness of the Volcanowski take, though. Going out there, I'm picking Volcanowski to beat Max Holloway once again. I thought he clearly won the first fight, and I know the second fight is one of the closest fights you will ever watch. The more I watch it, the more I'm confident in my, in how I scored it watching it live. Volcanovsky won, 4847. I mean, incredibly close fight.

People talk about Holman-Vierre being a close fight and being a quote-unquote robbery and stuff like that. That Holloway Volkanowski-Holkhovsky Holloway 2 is the closest fight you will ever. watch in my opinion. And it is a great watch. It is a tremendous fight to go back and rewatch because it is so good. It is so fantastic. And it doesn't get enough credit for being so good and so fantastic. So I would highly recommend, especially before this third fight on July 2nd, go back and watch that second fight because it's amazing. The first fight is just, it's fine. Volkovsky just a great game plan and wins. But just seeing the adjustments

Hallaway makes from fight one to fight two, and then just seeing the adjustments Volcanovsky makes in the second fight between rounds two and three and beyond, just incredible stuff. Incredible stuff. So first spicy hot take for the rest of the year, Volcanovsky

finishes Max Holloway at UFC 276. That'd be huge. And it would definitely make the pound-for-pound discussion much more interesting, wouldn't it? I see you, Dana Spite. You're on deck. Julio Rivera.

You're up, my man. How are you? I'm not bad. How are you? I'm great, my man. What's going on? I have a really good question for you. I wanted to ask you Tuesday,

but if you had to pick five matches that you could make cross all different platforms, like UFC, Bellator, what would they be? And then my other question is if you had to put all your money on it and you have to pick between Curtis Blades and Tommy Aspenhall,

who are you picking to win that fight? And I'm going to... And I'm going to listen. Golly. All right. I mean, you're making me think early in the morning. Let's see. How would I do this?

I'll tell you one fight I would absolutely want to see. It would be... it would be Adasanya Gagar Musassi. That's one of them. Certainly one of them. I got to think about this one. I got to think about it. Give me some time.

Maybe I'll think about it. Maybe I'll answer this like straight up tomorrow. I can guarantee. I mean, I'll, I guarantee you Musassi Adasani makes my list. For sure. The other ones I have to think about. You can definitely do some really fun stuff at 35. you can do a lot of fun stuff at 35.

John Linnaker and, I mean, John Linnaker against pretty much anybody in the UFC's Bannamweight division would be really fun. I would like to see, I have to think about this one. That's a great question. And then Blades Tommy Aspinall, if I have to put all my money on it,

God, I'm leaning Curtis Blades in that fight, but it wouldn't surprise me if Tommy Aspinall won that fight. I'll put it that way. But I have to, If I have to pick one, like right now, I'm putting it on Curtis Blades. I just expect him to, I don't know.

I just think the experience, I think his wrestling, I think, a lot factors in the big fight. Yeah, he's on the road. Yeah, he's in England's hometown crowd. But I think Curtis Blades kind of likes that. I think he's enjoying the heel role, so to speak. And he will certainly be the heel in that fight. So yeah, I would go with that But I'm going to go

Might as well keep this conversation going If you guys are Jim, but we're just, we're talking like spicy hot takes For the rest of the year Because I'm christening this all-star weekend For the UFC For the major North American

MMA promotions. I know KSW has a card. I know Cage Warriors has a card. I get that. I know. But there's no UFC. There's no Bellator. So instead of just talking about open score,

boring for the next 10 days. I figure we'd have some fun. Now, there's no skills competition or anything like that. But at this point, we're calling this. It's not officially the halfway point, but we're calling this the all-star break for the major approach. Because the UFC is going to be off and running. So we're just going to take really hot takes.

AJ McKee, Max Holloway, I think, would be one on my list as well. So I think there's three. I have to keep thinking. 155 would be interesting. I kind of want to see Patricia Pitbull, Michael Chandler again, if we're being honest. I don't know, I got to think about it.

I have to do some digging because this is a really good question. I want to give it the justice as deserves. Mike Sveinsen. Good morning, sir. How's it going today? Great. Good. All right, so here's one for you.

One of these two people is going to join the UFC's multiple weight class champions list. That's going to be Valentina Shevchenko or John Jones. One of those things will happen in 2022. I like it, Mike. I like it. I think both of those are very possible. John Jones is probably the more interesting one because we just don't know when the hell he's going to fight.

And you would have to think that the UFC, just based on the schedule, the UFC really wants this John Jones-Stepe fight. But you're talking about two guys who are very difficult to get on the same page. UFC and Stepe have had struggles getting on the same page over the years. The history is there with John Jones. which is always interesting.

So I don't know what's going to happen there. I'd fully expect that fight to happen, but I wouldn't be shocked if it didn't. So John Jones, John Jones, becoming the interim heavyweight champion. Do we count that, though? Do we count that as a two-division champion

if it's an interim title? I don't know. We have to kind of play that one out. Valentina Shifchenko, I think there's a very good chance she fights with the Banimweight title. That was one of my early predictions, AKs on the line.

We do the onto the next one predictions for the year where we take listener questions and we try to answer them, which are really interesting. They're basically buy or sell questions that are just all over the place and then we try to predict our champions

at the end of the year. And I picked Valentina Shipchenko to be the Bannamway champion and the flyweight champion because you have to think if Valentina beats Tyler Santos June 11th. I mean, what else is there to do?

Now, the one thing that could get in the way of that is if Misha Tate beats Lauren Murphy July 2nd, but maybe that's something they could turn around really quickly. Like if Misha goes out there and gets a quick finish or something, maybe we can turn both those women around. And maybe Tyler upsets her. I don't think it's going to happen, but, I mean, it could. It's fighting.

Two people getting into a cage. Something weird might go down. But I think Valentin has certainly got a very good chance to be, a two-division champion and do it simultaneously and could probably defend both titles. I like those picks. 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 Allison 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 at that?

people. I don't even know how to answer that question. Allison after Nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify. Toke Girding Jensen always likes to bring the spiciness and this is the perfect show to bring it to. Toke, how are you? In the forest, it's very beautiful and stuff. I got very mad yesterday, but I'm not going to talk about the aerial MMA hour because that's a head's department. That's not mine.

He's better on the soapbox than I am. So instead, I will go with a hot take. And, you know, I'm very biased on Danish. So, you know, that's what it is. But my hot take is Mark Madsen will fight two times this year, two more time, sorry. And he will enter the top 10 of the lightweight rankings. The only rankings that matter, the MMA fighting rankings. Wow.

See, I like it because you were very accurate with the only rankings that matter, Token. I'm not surprised. If someone was like, Mike, I'll give you $50. You can tell me what Toc's going to say. I would be $50 rich right now. Yeah. But, you know, I will let, I will let, I'll let a head take on the aerial being. Okay, I'm going to say very shortly.

I will keep it short. I don't think that he's doing his journalistic diligence with actually treating each side of the argument the same. And that's what was my problem with yesterday's episode. So, yeah. I will let ahead. I know he will talk about this when he comes in. I just know how ahead normally is.

So I will let him take that. Thank you, Tulk. I appreciate that. Yeah, here's the... The open scoring thing, it's like, I get where it's coming from and I get where a lot of people are coming from. I get it. I get it. And the Ia Quinta interview, so just a little peek behind the curtain, for those of us who are kind of on the schedule for the MMA hour, we get the lineup and then we all sort of jump in and say like, all, I'm going to do this.

I'm going to pay attention to this interview. I'm going to write about this, try to find angles for this. So when I saw the lineup, I knew exactly where the show is going, as probably most of you. They were going to talk a lot about open scoring. In those who have been listening to this show from the beginning, Ally Quinta was on this program, and we literally had the same conversation.

We had the same conversation. It just was a little bit shorter. I asked, but I didn't really like, It wasn't a 30 minute conversation. It was like 10, 15 minutes. Al basically said everything he said yesterday. And that was it. And Al's not going to budge.

He's just not going to budge. He mentioned, I get what you're coming from. The open scoring thing, there's just multiple sides to it. I don't care anymore. I mean, if all the fighters come together, if they all come together and they collectively bargain and they collectively bargain and they come to an astounding agreement that we need to have open. scoring or release open scoring is an option, then I will welcome it with open arms.

But until that happens, I feel like we're just wasting our breath. We're just wasting our time with this conversation because it's not going to happen. Like, I just, it's just not going to happen. And it doesn't really do much. There's examples where it'd be like, yeah, it's kind of cool to see where these guys are at, but I also understand where I like which is coming from. The man has competed at a high level for a long time. And his big point is, hey, if I go out there and I have a really good round and I think I won it and I'm like, I want to at least approach this next round thinking, okay, I won the round.

But if you're telling me that I lost it, like, that stings. You only have the minutes they sort of overcome that. You have a minute in the corner. You're trying to deal with your corner advice. You're listening to your coaches about adjustments that can be made, what you did well, what you didn't do well. and then you find out you lost the round that you thought you won. Like I totally get where else coming from in that situation. And I also,

I also don't like the fact that the judges could know, and I've said this before and I'll say it again, I also don't like the fact that the judges can know how the other judges score. You know what I mean? Like if I'm a judge and I score 10-9 for Fighter B, but the other two judges scored at 10-9 for Fighter A, half the second round, I'm thinking to myself, what did I screw up?

What did I do wrong? It's just like the, and I compare it to a baseball umpire, let's just say, first base umpire blows a call at first base. It's a bang, bang play. They got it wrong. And I know there's replay now in Major League Baseball,

but you know what I'm going to get. Let's just say the whole place is erupting and yelling at this umpire. You suck what a terrible call that was. At some point, that umpires will be thinking about that call and they're going to make it up somewhere i feel like that's we would have a huge problem with that with judging too like we're flashing the score and everybody can see and the other judge knows how the other two judges scored around they're

going to be thinking about that the whole time oh did i get that wrong did i screw that up i don't know i think there's way more issues with open scoring than just saying hey let's just try open scoring. I think there's a lot of issues with it. But we'll see, maybe someday. But I don't want to talk about open scoring unless that's what you want to talk about. But, Tok, I get where you're coming from. Harry Lewis, good morning, sir.

Just make sure you unmute. Am I good? You're good, man. How are you? I'm kind of, I know with the Card in Singapore, I'm kind of confused where the whole to share Pahachshk is going to go. I think either one of them can win. we haven't seen Uri's, like, jihitsu, like, in the U.S.C.

I'm not saying it's bad, but we just haven't seen it, and I guess, especially against someone. So I kind of want to know where is the M.M.A, like, where are you to get? M.MA fighting writers, like, predicting, like, where do they personally, who do they, like, you, Alex or Shawnee think will win that fight? This is pretty much a toss-up. I mean, I don't know. Yeah, it's a great fight. Thank you, Harry. Now, for those who have been following my work since Mr. Cheshirea became the champion,

I have said from minute one, since probably five minutes after Cheshire won the title against John Behovic, that Glover Cheshire is going to submit Yuri Phrashka in the first round. He's going to submit him in the first round, because all he needs is one takedown and he wins. One takedown. That's it. One takedown, he'll win.

Now getting that takedown is going to, be very difficult. Very difficult. Because Yuri Prahashka is a freaking animal. He's a madman. He's a maniac. But if Glover gets him down, the fight's not going to be lasting much longer. We saw what Dominic Reyes did.

Dominic got him down, mounted him, put him in a really bad spot. Dominic's got solid jiu-jitsu, but nowhere near the level of Glover-Teshirea. If Glover gets him down and gets dominant position, this fight is not going to last much

longer. But again, getting that takedown is going to be difficult because Yuri is doing the right things. He's going to the right teams. He worked at Fight Ready for a little while. Fight ready can change things very quickly when it comes to defensive wrestling and defensive grappling. But I don't know how much of a change that can make in that short a time period when you're fighting a guy as experienced and is tremendous on the ground as Glover-Teshirea. Now, I know that there are many on M.A fighting staff who disagree with my take. But I also know that there are a couple people who are digging into the tape. They're watching a little more.

And they think that there's a chance that I'm right. But I know I'm making a bold prediction. I'm jumping on an underdog here, even though he's the champion. It's not the most popular pick, but I'm going with it. And I'm sticking by it. And I've been making that pick since October 30th of last year. But now I am honored and privileged to welcome in my best friend. A.K. Good morning.

Mike, my best friend. Great show so far, as always. I was summoned. I mean, I heard, I just, I know my name was mentioned that I, I, I, multiple times, obviously. But about about the Tashara, the Tashka fight. So I thought like, oh, someone's asked, because they were asking you, like, what does the staff think? And I'm like, that's a bit of a silly question to ask. Like, you can't speak for all of us, you know.

Right. I mean, I have no problem with you speaking for me generally. we agree on almost everything right but uh and even in the even on the even on this we agree i i've been pretty strongly pushing for to share being kind of you know overlooked um you know people just assuming like you know immediately after he beat young blockerbitts people were like well he's holding he's holding holding the belt for year time for year to get that title shot and become the champ and i'm like whoa okay hold on like their year is great but like like like yeah he's great but like like like we said, that that gap in Jujitsu is just so big.

I think as far as we know anyway, like I was saying, who knows that Phrashka could be like frigging Damian Maya down there, but we just haven't really seen it. Maybe I haven't, you know, my Pohashka knowledge is not as extensive as it should be. But yeah, I'm with you. I think, you know, it's pretty clear to share has the biggest advantage here with the grappling. That said, there is a large athleticism gap, I think, at this point.

This is putting it, you know, probably putting it kindly, given their respective ages, given that Clover has never really been, you know, the most explosive fighter, though obviously a great athlete for, you know, for his age and for what he does. So I totally understand why people are on the other side and just see, like, the first round knockout for Hachka. Because as much as you and I say, well, you got to get that one takedown, it's definitely an easier said than done proposition. And while that's what I foresee happening, I could so easily see, like, one or two takedowns

getting stuffed, even one take down getting stuffed. And just like a 30, like, Uri might only need a 30 decent seconds on the feet to put, to put Glover down. So I'm just, I'm just playing a little devil's advocate here because I'm certainly, I like Glover. I'm somewhat rooting for him, despite him being a New England guy, but, you know, what can you do? He's made his choices.

I won't judge him on that. It's worked out very well for him. But yeah, I did want to weigh in just because they asked, you know, This is Harry, I think. Harry was asking what we thought. So there's my two cents on it. There he is. A.K., just coming in with the spiciness as always.

And listen, I'm with you, A.K., I'm with you. Getting that takedowns can be very difficult. But all he needs is one. All he needs is one. And the fight will be over shortly thereafter. We'll take a few more. Joe. You're up, my man.

What's happening? It always cuts out, Mike. So you always put the mic on. and I can never hear you tell me I'm up. I just wanted to comment that Andy Foster and New York, Rick, absolutely slaughtered or butchered Ariel in the open scoring discussion. And it kills me as an Ariel fan that he completely disregards the debate. And then I was really tuning in or chiming in for hot takes.

I think the parlay of the year is Jared Canaanier, Lauren Murphy, and Max Hollywood. I think that that is the parlay of the year to make. That's my hot take. Damn, I like it. I like it. That is spicy. Lauren was here a few minutes ago. I would love to have heard her thoughts on that,

but I'll probably converse with her at some point before she fights Misha Tate. But yeah, there's a lot of people who feel like Misha's just going to run Lauren over. I just don't see that. I think it's a very close competitive fight. I think it's going to be one of those fights where, I don't know, it's going to be one of those split decision kind of fights, I think. I think it's going to be a dog fight.

This is Misha cutting down to 125. Lauren's been at 125 for a while. She's in tremendous shape. She's fought her ass off. She got her way to a title fight. She learned a lot from that Valentina of Shevchenko lost. By the way, not to, like, pat myself on the back or this has nothing to do with me, by the way. And I don't like to typically plug things that I've done in the past, but I'm going to do so.

here. If you want an example on how to handle a tough loss in a big time situation, go back into the MMA fighting YouTube archives and watch my interview with Lauren Murphy after she lost the Valentina Shepchenko. Just incredible stuff. Really incredible. It's so refreshing. One of the most refreshing interviews of my career. The honesty, how realistic she looked at the fight, everything. And then just finding out some of the things she went through during fight week, which she wasn't using as an excuse at all. But just overall, the way she handled it, the way she joked about being in there with Valentina,

the greatness that Valentina brings to the table. I mean, it's really refreshing stuff. It really was. It was incredible. So if you're bored, go back and check that out. It's really good stuff. Let's get Tristan in here. I know he's been waiting a little bit.

Tristan, what's up, buddy? Hey, Mike, how's everything? Good. All right, all right. A couple of things. I don't know. I don't know. It looks like this is going to happen.

Caitlin Chikagian is going to be facing Manila Faro on that September 3rd card in Paris. So I don't know. I think, I don't know that's been officially confirmed, but it looks like that's been added to that card. It would be a great fight, though. And then I guess my comeback fighter, probably so far this year has to be Calvin Cater.

The way he looked in January against Jekaze, I mean, it was just phenomenal. Shout out to Tyson-Channier, the way he prepared Calvin Cater and took his time. So props to Cater, and he's going to fight Josh Emmett next month, I believe, June 18th. So shout out to him. He's my comeback fighter of the year so far coming off that, you know, Halacious beating by Max Howley. So good on, kudos to him. And then just your thoughts on the next week's card,

Aaron Bladfield versus JJ Aldridge, your thoughts on that. And then as well as, and then also Jeff Molina, his fight against, I think Zuma Gulov. Just your thoughts on those two fights. Thanks, Mike, and have a heck of the morning. Thank you, Tristan. I have reached out and asked about the rumored Chukagian Fioro fight. as far as I know that is not done yet that is being discussed

from what I understand but it is not done yet that is what the UFC would like clearly Caitlin Chukagian set the table for that by saying that French chick I think that's a great fight I think that's a great fight

and to do it in France is the right place to do it I like everything about it from what I understand that it's not official yet but it is being discussed let's see Calvin Cater I like that pick a lot

I like that pick a lot, especially if he goes, if Calvin Cater goes out and beats Josh Emmett again and does it decisively, I mean, he's probably the winner. It's going to be really tough to beat him for comeback fighter in the year. After the Holloway loss and everything he went through and just getting back in there, the Chikaze win, fighting Josh Emmett, probably earning a title shot as well. I mean, that would just be gigantic.

And, yeah, a lot of credit to Tyson Chartier for keep it, Because Calvin's, I've known Calvin for a long time. That lost to Holloway. It wasn't, yeah, it's sucked to lose and he hates losing. But I think what would suck the most for him is that he had to, he had to wait. He had a wait to get back at the gym. He had a wait to get back in train. He had a wait to get back and fight.

He had to wait so long. And Tyson knew how tough that was going to be to try to keep him sort of on the bench, on the sidelines. Like, just relax for a little while, relax. because cater just just wants to go go go go go go all the time and tyson is a great job keeping them in line and tyson is just a great coach a great manager keeps a very small circle that's why their team's very small you got cater and fonts and you get a couple other guys like i know his management stable is a little bit larger but with that cartel they got up-and-coming fighters like tom pagi the Rulo and some others as well, but they just do such a great job over there.

So I can't wait for that Cater Emmett fight. I don't think that's being talked about enough. There's a lot on the line in that fight. I really love it. And if Cater wins, yeah. I like him for frontrunner for comeback fighter. Yeah, for sure. Let's get Terrence Leverett in the building.

Terence. Hello? What's up, buddy? Hey. So I had more or less not necessarily a high take, but I just wanted to remind us for the fighter of the year. Not the fighter of year. Not the fire of year. Excuse me to knockout a lot of the year.

Blown to Mali. And the other thing that I wanted to talk about is what will bring back tough. And I think it belongs in Asia. So when it comes to tough, I think the 105 division is the future. The last good season in my opinion was the 115 introduction. And I think going over Asia and recruited. would be great. And another idea that I haven't pledged out

is tough gym wars where, like, you have smokers or something like that in the gym. And more or less, you have somebody come over from another gym, let's say, for example, American Top Team in Sanford and Hawaii, if you have somebody come over from another gym, like,

hey, I want to challenge your person to get into the house. And I think that will introduce people to all these different gyms across the country. and I will be in the I don't know It's just my thought

I wouldn't hear what to say Thank you Terrence And thank you for trying To fix the Ultimate Fighter And I mean listen Here's the thing We talk about open scoring

And all that stuff Fixing the Ultimate Fighter Is actually easier to do But seems more impossible Than implementing open scoring Just do something fun With the Ultimate Fighter Try

Try I talked to Sean Brady yesterday and if you're listening on the podcast, you'll hear that a little later. He had a freaking teammate on the show and he could only watch one episode of it. His freaking teammate was on the show. He watched one episode.

What does that tell you? He didn't go back and watch it again. He said no hurry to watch it. He had a freaking teammate on the show and he didn't want to watch it. Do something. You want to do some gym wars? That'd be kind of cool.

They pick like, they pick like 16 fighters or whatever and they could just go to the other gym just challenged the other fighter that's on there, that'd be awesome. And can we not do basketball jerseys anymore? Because that'd be cool too. I mean, and I kind of like, I kind of like the 105 idea.

I think that'd be great. I don't know how much of a hurry the UFC would be to add another division, but you add a 105 division? Maybe Laura Sanko competes in that. That'd be cool. Something fresh, something different. I don't know.

Tough needs a lot of help. But luckily, the Contender Series is coming back, and hopefully we kind of veer back to season one of Contender Series. We're not every single person who wins a fight gets a contract. I don't, my hopes are not high for that, but I would like for that to happen. We're a little tougher. We're a little more lenient.

We're a little more strict with who we give contracts to. Patrick, you are up And then we'll go to Sweet Pete MMA And then we'll go to Brian To wrap things up Patrick, what's up? Patrick, I don't hear you

Oh, wait a minute How about now? I try again if we can get you Sweet Pete Are you there, sweet Pete? Can you hear me? All right. Try again if we can't get you in

Sometimes it's internet connections And all sorts of silliness. Indigo. Do you a row, huh? We got you. I'm glad you can squeeze me in. I just, Sam Alvey, got a fight booked again,

somehow. I'm probably the opposite of a Sam Alvey fan just to keep a PG. But is this like kind of I sound a little crazy saying this, but potentially a winnable fight for him? Oleg Shatuck's like, he's good. But, I mean, what is he lost?

He's lost three out of, or, yeah, three out of his last five. And he hasn't really blown me away. Is this his, is this Alvi's last fight? Can this please be Alvi's last fight? Thank you, Indigo. Yes, he is fighting, he is welcoming Mikhail Olexeyech to the middleweight division, which a lot of people have been saying this is the place he should, should have been for a long time. Kind of an undersized 205er.

I like, yeah, Olexeytch is just a fun guy to watch. He just brings it, he just comes forward, he gives zero Fs about anything and just gets after it. And I, I like watching this guy fight. I think him at 185 is going to be really interesting. If Sam can just slow him down, if Sam can take it to the ground, he's got a chance.

He's got a chance. I don't know how he's going to, how Olexeyer is going to handle the weight cut to 185, but I feel like his size actually works out just fine. mine to do it. So I like the fight. Sam, I don't know. I don't know how many fights he has left in his deal from what I, from what he's saying,

the UFC's going to let him fight it out, whatever that is. I don't know if it's one fight or two fights, but I don't know. I don't know. Sam's such a nice guy. I hate to like disparage him or spurts his name in any way. But, hey, listen, the guy gets it. He knows where he stands. He's probably as surprised as anybody that he's sticking around and getting it

fight. So he's got the wear with all to know where he's at and how people probably view him. So, yeah. Hack the holidays with the PC Holiday Insiders Report. Try this PC Porchetta. Crackling, craveworthy. You gonna eat that? Who are you? I'm the voice for the next ad.

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Try the season's hottest flavors from the PC holiday insiders report. Please feast responsibly. Let's get Brian Fairsteen with Clark Griswold, I believe, in your avatar. Yeah, that's Clark Griswold next to my Christmas tree. Got a nice big cut out of them. I just have a question about, or on your opinion, on the women's strawweight division since we got the on a fight. Win this fight.

They give her another title shot. Yawanna is, can you hear me? Yeah, I got you. You got me back? Okay, sorry about that. With Whaley coming off, I believe, two losses to Rose, I think, were his last two. Yawanna hasn't fought in a while, but she got that big name draw. She's probably a decorated champion of the division's history.

The Rose fight being, you know, a little bit of a snoozer. And Maria Rodriguez, I believe her in as far as a fall, like two years ago, three years ago? and she already beat her. I mean, what do you see happening after this fight? Do you think they give it to Androge, since she had that nice finish recently, or Yawanna wins? Like I said, she has the name value. What do you think happens regarding maybe the outcome of this fight or, you know, just moving forward?

Yeah, I mean, I think if Yonah wins, she gets the shot. I think here's the thing. Like, what Carla Sparza has done has been tremendous to. to come back from losing to Eauana the way that she lost, to get back to winning the title, no matter how you feel about the fight with Rose, I mean, it is,

it is what it is. But she won and she's the freaking champion, and life is good for Carlos Sparse. It really is. In a lot of people's minds, I felt like she deserved the shot, but I feel like this road to complete this circle, she's got to beat Yolana.

She's got to do it. She has to beat her. I feel like the circle isn't complete until she does that. Because that was a vicious beating, Yuanah put on her. And I know it took her a long time to get over that fight, to get past it, to the point where she didn't even want to talk about it.

She didn't want to talk about it at all. But now she's going on Ariel's show, and she's saying, I want that fight. Let's go. Give it to me. So I think if Yonah wins, they will absolutely make that fight. If Juana loses, if John wins,

I wouldn't shock me if they do. did John Wei Lee versus Carla Sparza but I would say Jessica Andrade should get it. I think Jessica's earned it. I think she's... Honestly, I think she's the best straw weight in the world right now. I do. I think Jessica Androch is the best straw weight

in the world. Even though Carl's the champion, I think... I think Andrade would be a heavy, heavy favorite of that fight. And I think Andrade's in line for a big fight no matter what. If you want to beat Zhang Wei Lee, I think Yuan will get the title shot.

And then they'll do Andrade Nami Yunus 3. We'll put that to rest. And then if Zhang Wei Li wins, I think Jessica Androsh is a very good chance of fighting for this title. So we'll see. New York Rick, anti-open scoring. What's up, buddy? Maybe, perhaps.

Twitter spaces can be a pain in the ass, as you can see. Let's try this again. Mr. New York Rick. we got to hear from your realtor. I think you agree with your realtor. Is that accurate? It clipped. I missed the first part of that, but whatever the question was, yes, I agree with my realtor,

best realtor in the business ally, Quinta. No matter what you are asking me, the answer is yes. A heck of a morning, Mike. Two things for you. One, I just want to say that caller, Joe from earlier. I really like the cut of that guy's jib. Just smart dude clearly, probably super handsome just got to give it up for joe uh second question uh second thing slightly

inspired no actually i'll say very inspired uh by the launch of our colleague uh jed meshew's new podcast damn they were good um i was curious if you were stranded on a desert island and the only thing you could watch was the fight catalog the fight library of one fighter who is that fighter Oh man, that is a great question. Hmm. God, that's a great question. There's so many. Because you have to weigh out so many things.

There's exciting fighters. There's fighters you grew up being fans of. There's fighters who all their fights were exciting. And then the tail end of their career was pretty rough. Because I have to say, the guy that I watched MMA here and there, I got into it at times, then I left it at times and focused on other things. And when I was probably 17 or 18 years old, ultimate fighter comes on. And Diego Sanchez, I was so enthralled by that guy.

I just thought he was such a goofball, such a weirdo, but he was such a good fighter. So he'd be in the conversation. Just, I mean, Uri's just a great choice. I don't think he's going to beat Glever to Chera, but Yuri, watching Uri fights is just super fun. You know, I'm going to go, God, this is hard. I got to think about this one. I'm going with Shogun.

I'm going with Shogun. I would just go watch his 2005 over and over again. 2005, 2006, those early years. I'm going to get all nostalgic, learn more about Shogun and appreciate what he did for the sports before getting booed out of the building, which is just an awful shame.

How dare you, Phoenix? How friggin dare you? All right, we'll take two more. Sweet Pete, can we get you in? Just unmute, and I think we're good. There he is. Hey, can you hear me? I got you, man.

I got a hot take. I think by the end of this year, Sugar Shana O'Malley is going to grant that rematch to Cheeto Vera and be in the top five in the Bantamweight Division. So you're picking him to be Pedro Munoz. With a fight of the year.

Sugar, Sean O'Malley's going to grant Charle de Janeiro, Marlon Cheeto Vera putting him into the top five. You're breaking up, but I got you, sweet Pete. I got you. He's predicting shot O'Malley

Cheeto Vera 2 will happen that shot O'Malley will, is that funny that shot O'Malley has the power in this situation, yet ranked higher and has a better resume. That's just the weirdest of the sport sometimes.

But I like that take. I think if Sean Amalley beats Pedro Munoz is a very good chance the UFC goes back to that well. I can see that being I don't know, because Sean does wield some interesting power and he has a very interesting yet very intelligent approach

to his career. Where if he doesn't want to do something, And he doesn't think something makes sense. He's just not going to do it. And if the UFC's pissed off about it, he doesn't care. He does not care one bit. Because O'Malley Vera would be a tremendous fight night main event.

And maybe if there's a crowd involved, maybe if they did a fight night in front of a in a sold-out arena somewhere in the U.S., maybe O'Malley would be up for that. It would have to take some more money, maybe a larger contract. But if they're going to run that back, it's got to be five rounds. It has to be five rounds, at least a potential five rounds.

This can't be a three-round fight. This can't be just the opening bout on a main card of a pay-per-view, unless it's just the greatest pay-per-view of all time. But that's a fight nightmate event in front of people. And not in, like, Columbus, Ohio. Go back to Dallas or go somewhere else. Go back to Phoenix and do a fight night card in Phoenix and give Sean that sort of hometown rub.

I think that that's the kind of thing that will entice him to say, yes, let's do it, five rounds. Let's fight the guy that I never thought beat me, but now he's beating great guys. But the animal age is so interesting right. I don't know what they're going to do. There's so many fun fights you can make at 135 right now. And there's other guys that are coming up the ranks right now

that want big fights. They're going to have a hard time getting them. Look at Song Yadong right now. Song Yadong is coming off some big wins. Freaking Marab can't find a fight. Who wants to fight that guy? It was very cool hearing Dominic Cruz mentioned Marab saying that

these are the kinds of matchups that he's looking for. So if I'm Marab and I'm his management, I'm hearing that, I am on the horn with the UFC right now saying, hey, Dominic wants to fight August 20th, on pay-per-view, sign me up. Let's go. It's a race to fight Dominic Cruz right now. All right, Patrick.

What you got? Mike. Patrick. How are you? Wonderful. What you got, Matt, So congratulations on the wedding anniversary. Thank you, sir.

Tomorrow, big day. I want you to go for that performance bonus this weekend. No UFC. Let's go. And I think that you'll... All right, so the Glover take... You know what I say to that take? To heck with you.

To heck with you and that take, you were just jealous of Jed's pain you take, that Jed got so much glory for, you know, picking that right that you decided that you got to get on the other side of the funnest best fighter in the UFC. And, I mean, Erie has forged his body into a weapon. He has sharpened his elbows into swords and battle axes. His feet are maces. He is both a hero from an 80s action movie and the villain simultaneously. He is a Viking. He is an alien.

He has an antenna coming off at the back of his head that beams spiritual warfare energy into him. he transmits into violence in his limbs. What else can I say about him? I like Glover. I think that's an amazing story, but he's going to get retired. I'm sorry. He's going to get retired.

And Yuri has three rounds of pure hell that Glover is going to have to get through. and I'm not going to totally unvalidate your take that if Glover does get him down, they're dry in the first round. That is a good possibility that he could get submitted. But I think Yuri's got some bounce, man. I've watched all of his fights, and he's hard to hold down because he just harnesses his Chi. And he, you know, he uses everything he has. He's a pure fighter, man. He's the best fighter in the UFC. I just had to come in with that. And my hot take is that he will be the

BTL champion at the end of the year. Goodbye. Thank you. By the way, Patrick, let me, let me just say this. Let me just say this. If Jedmishu wasn't on BTL and had to give that take, he would have never given it. So let me just throw that out there. My Glover take was not a take. This is what I said immediately after he won the title. Immediately. I said he was going to submit Yuri Prahashka in the first round. And I love Yuri. I, Yuri's on that, I mean, the Desert Island question that New York Rick asked, if I'm stuck on an island, I have to watch a certain fighter's catalog for the rest of my life. And that's all I could watch. Yuri's in that list. The problem is, Glover just sees one takedown. He just needs one.

And getting that takedown is going to be very difficult because of the chaos that man brings to the table. But this is not me put on the spot saying give a bold take. This is what I said immediately after Glover Bion, Beambulhoevich, immediately. So we'll see. June 11th, questions are answered. And Ahid, it was probably not going to be the BTL champion. All right. I got to get going, but I have to get Viking M.A. in here.

My kids are about to become officially official. third grader. So let's see if we can get Viking MMA in here. Do we have you, sir? Just unmute. Maybe we got you. All right. It doesn't look like we have them. All right. So that's it. But luckily, we'll be back tomorrow. We will be back tomorrow. Yes, it is my anniversary. My kid still has to go to school. He's a half day. So I could do the show. I'm taking the rest of the day off, honestly. But I will be back tomorrow. 8 a.m. We will do this again. We got BTL coming up 3 p.m. Eastern. It's myself, AK Jed Mishu

We're dubbing this All-Star weekend. All-Star weekend. No open-scoring talk. None of this. We're going to give the judging conversation and open-scoring a break. We're going to give it a breather. And we're going to draft All-Star teams.

That's what we're going to do. We're just going to have some fun. We're going to mix things up. We're going to take our minds, our MMA minds elsewhere. 3 p.m. Eastern Live. M. May fighting YouTube channel. And for those listening on the podcast network,

my interview with Sean Brady coming up right now. Good stuff. You can watch Sean Brady grapple on Saturday on UFC Fight Pass. It gets Ben Saunders. So that should be a lot of fun. And when is Sean Brady fighting in the UFC again? I don't know. But we'll get his take on it right now.

Thank you all for listening. Have a heck of a day. Have a heck of a morning. We'll see you tomorrow, 8 a.m. Eastern. for those systems on the podcast network. By interview Sean Brady starts right now. All right. Sean Brady is here, ladies and gentlemen.

He has been the subject of one of the more popular topics on heck of a morning. A lot of questions about what could be next for him on onto the next one. It turns out what is next for him is another grappling match this Saturday, Fury Pro Grappling against Ben Saunders. And while that will certainly scratch an itch, people are certainly ready to see you back in the octagon, my man, and I'm sure you want to see yourself back in that octagon more than anybody else. How are you? I'm good, man.

Yeah, like you said, it's going to scratch an itch, but I really want to get a fightbook. And I have people hitting me up every day, like, what's next? I'm like, you literally know as much as I do. You know, like people who have, who don't know anything, I know exactly the same. So I've been offered to people in the top 10. I don't want to say names, but I've been denied a couple times by people. So I'm kind of in a weird spot. You know, I want someone in the top 10, the guys who are above me, they want guys ahead of him.

So everyone's kind of sitting on their spot, essentially. Yeah, so it's kind of what's going on. We're in limbo, just trying to figure out who could be next. And yeah. But luckily, I get the grapple this weekend. scratch a little itch, have a little fun, make a little bit money. And yeah, and then hopefully by then I'll have something, but who knows. Okay, so you were offered two guys in the top 10.

You don't want to say specifically. You said yes. And then they went back to that person you were offered and they came back and said, no, I want to fight somebody in front of me. I'm assuming so. We just, I know that they offered two people me and we never heard anything back. so you know how that goes and listen like i don't i don't blame people you know i understand how this game is played like even me if i'm looking at the rankings i'm nine when i beat

kiesa he was six i want to fight all the way back either word so you know like i i get it it's uh at this point it becomes like it becomes like a game you know you've got to make the right moves but uh i just want to fight at this point man i'm i'm tired of sitting around i've been cleared from my injury for a little bit while now and I was hoping the fight in July it's looking more like it's probably going to be August hopefully so I'm just hoping I'm hoping I'm hoping and praying but it's all good though I'm in the gym every day literally three like I have a grapple match this weekend I grapple this morning I'm going to go to striking class tonight I'm still training as if I had a fight you know

I'm working on working on everything getting better everywhere and it I'm just excited to get back in there and show the fans what I've been working on well I'm excited to just catch up with you because we didn't get to speak after the big one over Michael Kiesa because you know what, Sean, you know what happens in my industry is that people like myself and people like the great James Lynch, one of my great friends in this industry, we're talking to you guys for years on the come up before a UFC debut and then all of a sudden you beat Michael P.S., Michael Kieson. All the Johnny Come Lately's come knocking, don't they, Sean?

You're doing interviews with Luke Thomas, Ariel Helwani. And I didn't want to bother you, man. I didn't want to bother you. But listen, in all seriousness, I was very happy to see that because that had to have been pretty cool for you. What was that like for you? Like getting some well-deserved attention, get the name out a little bit more. You were red hot after that Kesa win. It's funny.

I was talking to someone yesterday, and I was talking about you and James specifically. I was like, these are two guys who always, like, since I was like early on in my stage, would always hit me up and I've been doing interviews with you guys forever. and uh because a lot like i have all kinds like not the biggest names but people hit me up like you get the most random people hit everyone want you on their podcast like people with like three followers so i don't really do much but i'm like james and mike i was like i'm always going to do their stuff you guys have looked out for me when i was nobody so i appreciate but yeah after that fight um it got kind of weird again you know like i beat yesterday he was six it wasn't my best

performance. I broke my nose in the first round. Couldn't fight the way I wanted to. It should happen. It's literally a fistfight. You know, anything can happen. You can't prepare for that. But then after that, everyone was booked in the top 10. So I'm like, you know what? This is a perfect time. I'm going to go get my nose fixed. I got that done. And literally since the day I got cleared for that, I've been training and we notified the UFC because it was right after Ballol and Luque fought. The entire 10 was wild. open. Everyone, nobody had a fight. I'm like, all right, like, I'm healed. I'm ready to get into a training camp. Like, let's go. And here I am two months later. So still, I truly thought it was

going to be me and Luque. After he lost, I was like, he's six, I'm nine. He's still a huge name. He lost, but he's still, I think, one of the best guys in the division. And then I was leaving, my dog's laying right next to me. I was leaving the vet with my dog. And I pulled up phone and it's Brett Akamoto announcing Jeff Neal and Vicente and I was just like fuck and so and yeah so and that's kind of where we're at now when were you actually cleared what was like a month ago I think or a little before that I had my surgery the beginning of March I had to take off for about a month But the cool thing about, so I only got my septum fixed.

Like I didn't get anything like cosmetically done. So it's only like a month recovery. But after a week, they pulled these stints out of your nose. I was running, lifting in like five days. I just couldn't do contact. So I couldn't do contacts for like literally only four weeks. After those four weeks were up, I was back in the gym. I'm still wearing a headgear, like being smart when I'm sparring.

But I've been back to full training for probably like eight weeks now. And yeah, I mean just every day on social media, seeing who's getting fights booked, seeing who's not getting fights booked, waiting for someone to call me, waiting for God to give me a sign, wait for someone to give me some fight news, you know, but it'll come eventually. How does it feel? Like, is it a huge difference, the nose and the breathing? Like, does it feel better than ever now? So I broke my nose.

I'm 29. I broke my nose first when I was 19. and I broke it like multiple times since then. It's usually never even in like a fight or sparring. It usually honestly happens in jiu-jitsu. Like people go in front like just someone like spazzing out. Like you get hit with like an elbow or like a knee. So I've got my nose crunched so many times from how you can see.

But they fix the inside and I can breathe out with no problem. So I do a lot of my conditioning now, all nasal breathing. And it truly like no bullshit. It makes a huge difference. I've heard people say, like, it didn't do much for them. It did a lot for me. So I'm looking forward to putting this sniffer to test. I'm trying to put it to work in the octagon.

So we'll see. So now you are, like we say, you're scratching the itch. Ben Saunders, formidable grappling opponent on Saturday. What is the mindset like heading into something like that compared to an MMA fight or, you know, a UFC fight? I'm sure it's vastly different. But what's sort of like the fight week mentality, the grapple? a weak mentality compared to a UFC fight. I actually, I have to cut a little bit of weight.

So I'm not, I haven't started yet. I have to, I have to be 85 for Ben because I didn't realize how we were trying to find somebody. And Ben, I guess, reached out to them before. And so we're like, hey, like, this was like three weeks ago. They were thrown in all together. I was like, I'll go against him. I was like, he used to fight at 170. He's tall.

He's not going to be. I was like, let's just throw it at like 190 or 195. And they came back and said, like, he won't. around like 182 and I was like holy shit so we're doing a catch weight ball we're doing it we're doing it at 185 I'm like in the 90s right now so I'll cut like five or six pounds that day no big nothing compared to making 170 but like I said it's literally I grappled this morning I'm going to go sitting this on in a little bit and I have striking tonight because I'm not going to just do complete I grapple so much so I still want to be working on my striking and doing all my other shit and

shit because they're going to call eventually. And I want to be making sure all my, everything's in line for my striking and doing all my drills and doing all my shit. So today, today will be my last striking class tomorrow. I'll grapple, cut a little bit of weight. And then Friday we have way in. So it's super light. I have like 10 teammates competing on it.

Like, it's going to be fun. It's grappling. You know, I do it. I do it every day. It's an eight-minute match. Like, it's going to be fun. and it's 30 minutes from my house, you know, it's in my backyard. My friends would be there.

My parents would be there. So it's going to be cool. You beat Craig Freakin-Jones in grappling. That's crazy, man. What was that like for you if somebody who grapples all the time? It was I looked at the rules. I knew my attributes. And I was like, listen, I'm winning.

Like, I'm going to beat this guy. I might not submit them, but I'm going to use these rules to my advantage. I'm going to stay on top, stay heavy, not get swept, not get submitted. it and I'm going to and I'm going to beat Craig Jones and I didn't it was it was fun um but yeah like you said uh beating him was a big deal but now I'm going to go out like I'm looking to I want to submit Ben so that's my plan I'm sure he's coming to do the same to me but I got eight minutes to submit him like usually in our rounds of jiu-jitsu I'm trying to submit the person as many times as possible I only have to submit him once and then it's over so I'm going to come out hot

trying to submit him and enjoy the night with my my team and my family like I said we got so many guys competing we got like younger kids we got black belts we got purple belts so fury's going to put on a good show for these actual jih Tzu guys to to showcase their skills so it's going to be cool so once that's over we're going to be we're going to be on the horn with the match bakers let's get something going and you've it's been interesting because you were booked with ball at one point and you know he's kind of rolling along now then there were the kevin lee fights on the books and you know that those are there none of those really came to fruition and then just kind of looking at the UFC rankings right now.

Yeah, Mazadol, he's a spot ahead. Might be a little tough with the legal stuff. Yeah, Wonderboy is ahead of him. No opponent. Lukai's booked. Bilal is there. Burns is there. Shemaiif is there.

And then it looks like UFC wants to do Uspen Edwards for the belt. But who knows? Who knows what's going to happen with Usman? When he can go, when he, you're going to be able to come back. So what do you think makes the most sense here? I would fight any of the guys you just named. You know, like, I know, I know Wonderboy. I know that's not going to happen.

He doesn't want to fight another grappler. And I got so much heat online for calling him out. And I'm like, dude, I'm nine. He's right ahead of me. Like, what am I supposed to do? Not try to fight a guy ahead of me, you know? And everyone's like, just look, little wonder boy, go fight strikers. I'm like, this isn't kickboxing.

This isn't moitai. This isn't karate. Like, you got to fight guys who grapple. Your job is to not let me take you down. And you're like, for you to stay. on your feet and if I take you down and get back up. So I'm not even touching the Wonderboy thing anymore because

people have been roasting me online. I would love that fight. I would love the Ballal fight. I would love the Mazurah fight. And then once you get ahead of that, it's kind of like Gilbert's high up there, you know, he just fought Chimae. I've watched, I have so much

respect for Gilbert. I think he's one of the best guys in the division. He wants a big name and I get that, but I would love to test myself against him if he ever gave me that opportunity. So yeah, that's kind of where I'm at. There's guys available. It's just getting them to say, yeah, and I get it. Like, I'm number nine. I'm kind of, I'm a little bit far back in the rankings. I'm undefeated. There's still some questions about me. So some guys are kind of like a little iffy about taking the fight. But

someone's going to have to say, yeah, eventually. Someone's going to have to get some food on their table. So we'll see. I find that so bizarre that you got roasted for college. out Wonderboy. It's not like you said, hey, Wonderboy, you suck at fighting. Let's go. Like, it was very respectful call out. Literally the nicest call out ever. Like, I didn't say anything bad about this. And that's not who I am, you know. And it's funny. A lot of people tell me, they're like, you got to start doing this. You got to start doing that. You got to start talking shit. I'm like, I'm not going to

change who I am to get a fight. It's going to come. It's going to take me longer to get where I want to go. But I've been like that my whole career. Like you said, I've had St. infections. I've had fights fall out. I've had a lot of shit happen in my career, you know, and but at the end of the day, I'm still undefeated. I've won all my fights. It's worked out for me in this point. I'm not going to take any shortcuts. It's going to take me a little little bit longer to get where I were to go, but I'm not going to change who I am to get a fight. Can you even like pretend to talk shit? Because if you came out in an interview and started yelling and screaming and calling somebody out, I'd probably text you and be like, what the, what the

what the frig is that, dude? Because that would throw me for such a loop. No one's like, Me and my teammates, some of my friends, like, we roast this shit out of each other all the time. So the day when it comes, when someone starts talking shit, I'm going to, like, people are going to see it. And you're not going to see it just from me. Like, my, I got, like, teammates who are, like, waiting to roast people. So it's, it's going to come. I'm going to fight someone and they're going to be like a shit talker. And it's going to get interesting online.

But I have to get someone to accept the fight first. You mentioned your team and your teammates. your gym is crushing it right now. You're starting to get in the conversation. Andre Petroski gets the win, and he kind of got the ball rolling. But people forget about you guys for some reason. But you guys, I'm defeated in the UFC right now

with the current crop of talent. Are they not? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it started off. I got signed. Pat Sabatini got signed. Jeremiah got signed. And then Andre switched over to our team.

And then he got signed and went to the ultimate fighter and then eventually got signed to the UFC. So we're doing good, man. We got, like I said, we have a small group. We actually, our group's getting huge. Like, we have, we have amateurs that, like, I've seen beat up UFC guys, you know. So we have some really, really good guys coming out. And that's how it was for me when I was younger.

When I was an amateur, I was training with Paul Felder, Jonathan Webb, all these higher-level guys. And that is what made me who I am today. So we got some really good guys, and we got a really good team. And it's two coaches. We have Daniel Gracie and we have John Marquez. John Marquez doesn't get talked about much because he's not big on social media. Like if you follow our pages, Daniel's always on social media, posting a lot. John's like our striking coach and he's our MMA coach too.

He's very behind the scenes. Like, but he's a huge, huge factor in our team and he's doing good things. He literally, he lives in the gym. Like me and him clicked right away because he's like me. We'll call each other once we leave the gym like, hey, like we did this go, we did that go, but we can work on this. I'll be watching film on potential opponents. He's watching film on potential opponents, so we got a good thing going. And like you said, Pat's right there.

He deserves a big opponent. He's 4-0 in the U.S. scene. Not many guys are talking about him. I think he'll be ranked soon, hopefully after his next fight. So, yeah, it's exciting stuff. Yeah, you guys are killing it over there. And this division is really interesting right now, especially up the top. And now we saw Shamiath just kind of get that.

incredible burst of a push now Shafcott Rachmanoff looks like he's getting a nice little push go ahead same thing with Hamza people after I said something about Wonderboy and then I said something about Mazur and all these other guys are like why don't you call out Chamaif I'm realistic with shit

he just beat the number three guy he's not they're not making that fight and then you got these fans writing fight Luque and I'm like ripping my hair out I'm like, take four seconds, go on tapology and see that these guys, and even like people were writing Rock Mono. I'm like, go do a little bit of research before you come on these fucking fighters pages talking shit. Go look and see next opponent.

Magni and Magni's fighting Rock Mono. I can tell you June 25th. And then Jeff Neal and Lucke are fighting August 6th or August 9th, one of those days. Like I know every single date. I know the guys were matched up. To my opinion is either getting a title shot next or a number one contender. He's not fighting me, you know? Like, it's just I have realistic expectations, but these fans are fucking, if you can call them fans, these trolls are ridiculous.

It drives me fucking crazy. Like, if you want to get me fired up, like, I would want to strangle what, like, the shit did these people say, like, I want to grab them. Like, I just want to tell them, like, I could literally, they're like, oh, all you want to do. was lay and pray on somebody. I'm like, I could literally kill you and you couldn't do anything about it. So, like, I could literally hold you down and you couldn't do anything about it.

So it's drives me crazy. Oh, I lost you for a second. Yeah, you got me? Yep, you're on fire. You're scared Skype. I know, my phone started to go. But, like I said, people just need to do a little bit more research, you know?

And then even at then I was looking at the leech, I was like, you know what? if I'm going to take a, because he's a guy that denied me a few times too. I'm like, you know what? If I'm going to take a step back, I was like, I seen he was available. Boom, a day later, he's got an opponent. I'm like, what the fuck? So, yeah, it's, it's, it's, and then Porrier gave me a little, a little something online.

I'm like, I'll fucking fight Porreier if he wants to move up and nobody wants to fight him, you know? At this point, I'll fight someone's grandma. Like, I just need to get a fight. like I need I need something so maybe you can fight Michelle Paheda you can fight Michelle Pahara there you go yeah and even that I'm like I really want someone in the top 10 you know but it's going to come to a point where I'm going to need a fight so we'll see

we'll see what happens what did you think of Pomsop versus Gilbert Burns that fight was a freaking battle huh it's great yeah it was a great fight And but same thing with Hamza. Like, people were thinking like he like was this monster and he is, don't get me wrong, but he's human. So like I seen people

giving him shit online after his fight like because he had a tough fight. I'm like dude what like we're fucking human beings like people who just think where these like robots. Like we have families and shit like we got parents we got kids like people like and they just want you to go in there and

fucking die. And if you don't do it, then you're like, you're an upset. So, but no, it was a great fight. I kind of thought it could have went either way, to be completely honest. If they were said Gilbert, I was completely fine with it. But Hamzok got it. And yeah, it was a great fight. Yeah.

And then even over the weekend, Ponsonibio and Michelle Pierre, that was a great fight too. You know, there's been some, this division's super stacked. So I know eventually I'm going to get a fight. So let's, you mentioned a couple of fights that are very close. this is a debate that I didn't want to ask you about, but everyone's being asked about it, and everybody's talking about it, and it's driving me crazy,

but these two words are like, you're talking about ripping your head out with fans. These two words back to back are causing me to rip whatever hair is left in my head out. Open scoring. Open scoring. This has been a thing, every week, it's a freaking open scoring tweet.

I get it. I understand why people want it, but most people seem, like, in your eyes, is that something you would want if you had the option, or does it not matter? Is it not something you're willing to kind of rest on that mountain with? Because there are people who are just like, it's open scoring or death. And you know what I mean?

Open scoring means everybody knows what the score is going. Like if I won round one, it's like everyone knows, right? Is that essentially what it is? Like everybody would know that who's winning the fight up into that point. And then the and then so for me, I would honestly, like it, but I'm not going to go out of my way to argue with people online, you know, saying, I'm sure there's pro, I'm, I, to be completely honest, I haven't, like, dove, like, too deep into it.

But from what people are saying in the, to say that they don't like it is that a fighter would stall if they know that they're ahead, I could see that, but then you can also argue back where it's like, you can have two fighters stalling no matter what if they, if one thinks that they're up two rounds and the other one thinks they're up two rounds. So at least in the open scoring scenario, you know, like, I'm up two. Or it's one-one, so then they're going to go at it. I don't know if open scoring is the answer. I think something definitely needs to change.

And apparently none of us know how to score MMA fights from this past weekend. Because I'm watching something. I watch some fights and I'm like, this guy clearly won this fight. And then they say the other guy's name. And now everyone's coming out, like, D.C. and all of us, like, we're like, dude, we're all fighters. And I guess we don't know how to score fights. Like, maybe we all need to take a step back and go read the rules or do something

because there's a lot. I didn't watch the Holly Home fight. I'm too tired, but to sleep. But people are going fucking nuts about that online. There was two fights on that card that, like, Ponziabio, and that one was close. It wasn't a robbery in it. It could have went either way, I thought. But I thought Eric Anders won his fight.

I really thought Eric won his fight. So there's a lot of these close fights where we got to, I guess, figure out what's supposed to score the most damage. Is that what it is? That is, yeah. And then take downs, I guess come into it, control, and then stuff like that. Yeah, I don't know. it's a tough one. Yeah, because for me, like I said,

sometimes I watch some of these fights. And then it's also, too, some of us are biased. Like, if you like a fighter a little bit more, because I've watched fights, and then I went back and rewatched them, and I've had completely different opinions. Like I remember when Al Jo and Peter Yan,

right before that fight was about to happen, me, my coaches, and a couple of guys, we went back and we rewatched the first fight. And in your mind, you're like everyone's like Aljo got fucking set on fire we went back and rewatched it and I because I remember I was like

I think I remember it a little bit differently I went back and rewashed it he didn't get blown out of the water like people really said like there was rounds he might have lost but there was rounds he might have won so your mind plays tricks on you in the moment it's hard to

just stick to something and I feel like that's what a lot of people do when they watch a fight at first and they're like this is how it went I'm sticking to it. Instead of like humbling yourself, go back, rewatch the fight, and then give an honest assessment of what you think. That's why I think a lot of us really should be doing. And I think gambling factors into it too. Like if people bet money on, people bet money on Holly Holme, they're lighting their streets on fire. But if they went back and watched that fight again

a second time on Sunday, which I did. I didn't think it was a robbery, got torched for it. And then I went and watched the fight again on the next day. And I think I scored it for Holly. at live 4847, but I didn't think it was a robbery, Vieira one. Watch it the second time. I scored a 3-2 Vieira. Watch it the second time. And look, you're man enough to say, like, all right, a little bit different, you know?

Like, people, people get so stuck in their opinions or, like, they don't want to go, they can't admit that they were wrong with something. Like, but you're 100% right about the gambling because I'll battle fights. And in my mind, I'm like, I know that the motherfucker lost. Al, I'm like, please, please go this way. Please go to the show. There's so many, there's so many different factors, you know. And then different states, like, I guess there's different rules.

And then, so there's so much different shit. I think a lot of things have to be changed. But who knows where there's so many problems. Like, no one knows where to start. If they do open scoring, which I don't care if they do or not. If they do it, yeah. My one thing is that none of the judges can know how the other judges scored the round. Like everybody else in the world can know, but the three judges cannot.

I agree. Because like, let's just say you, me and Paul Felder are the three judges cage side. And you and Paul scored for Fighter A and I score for Fighter B. The whole time I'm thinking, as I'm watching round two, I'm thinking, wait a minute. How did they score for Fighter A? What did I do wrong? And maybe like in baseball, when there's a close play at first base, the umpire has the quote unquote makeup call. Maybe I have to like, I have to veer the other way just to make it even.

and make up for my apparent wrong scorecard. Yeah, I wish to get the eraser. Nah, this guy won. Yeah, I agree. That's a good point. I'm down. Like, fuck it, do it. But like you said, there'd have to be certain, like, do it like that, though.

Like, you can only see, everyone else can see, but the other judges shouldn't see it. And but then there's, I, do these judges have TVs in front of them? No, right? Like, I'm pretty sure they're just watching it through the cage. there's so much shit that you like it's hard that you can't see on certain angles like there's punches that it might land but you it looks like it landed on the arm or it didn't land like if you throw like a barrage of punches you're like damn this dude just got pieced up but realistically the dude block like every punch so I feel like these rat like the judges need to have like TVs of like all angles because at the end of the day they're making the most important decision like you're they decide if you're going home with both of your paychecks or not or more importantly that win or that loss on your record so yeah i just think there's got to be some big changes 100% i i think that's big part of it the win in the show just one flat fee let's just call it the day and then we don't have to worry about like the scoring doesn't we're not

up in arms as much for you guys you know what i mean if everything works out because i know how much the fighters count on that second paycheck i get it 100% hell yeah and like you said even more almost more importantly than that if you don't don't win your fight, your money stays the same. You don't get the next, you don't get that step up an opponent. And then like your contractors, there's so many different, you know, there's so many different factors. So a lot of rides on that.

100%. I think the fight should be even better if, like you said, if there was a flat purse, you're, you might go in there and fight a little bit, might do a little bit different things if you know, like, guaranteed, you're guaranteed this money. Whereas if you're like, shit, I got to go play this little bit safer because, I got Brent do next month. I got to do this for my kids. I got to do that.

So there's a lot to place to know it. 100%. Sean Brady grappling this Saturday. Check him out. Fury Pro grappling. Oh, by the way, back to the judge. Real quick. Didn't CFFC try to do something different

where they put, like, they didn't actually institute this, but they had the three judges case side, but just as like an experiment. They put three judges, like, in their own soundproof room and to watch them? Yeah. Yeah, they had them in the back.

I think Ricardo Almeadow is actually, one of them. They had them in the back and they were secluded from everyone just so the crowd, because the crowd can play, if you're in like someone's hometown, like the crowd plays, then they know it too. So I think they stopped it because I think they were funding it on their own and it got kind of, it could get expensive. They were hoping that the state would pick it up, but they just never did, you know, experiment. Like people were saying experiment with the contender series. Why not? Go to another state and just do it and just, what's the worse it can happen. It sucks.

All right, cool. Just don't. And have the normal judges there, but have like another set of judges and compare the cards at the end. See what comes up. Try open scoring. Just try things, you know. Yeah, you got 900 shows. Just do it. Do a freaking looking for a fight or anything.

Who cares? Do one or two shows and just see what happened. Do the ultimate fighter. At least you're trying something different with the ultimate fighter. I would actually probably watch an episode of the ultimate fighter if they did open scoring, because at least it's an evolution from season one. I mean, you probably watch Petrosky on there because he's a freaking character, but good grief.

I can't believe him if I hate the ultimate fighter. I will admit, I only did watch recently, Petroski, and I actually watched last week's Muhammad, Ushman's brother, just because I seen there was like some confrontation, so I just wanted to see how the fight played out, but to be completely honest, I'm not tuning back in. It's terrible. Not a fan. It's a horrible show. It's a horrible show.

Now, if Khabib and Tony were the coaching, I would tune in for that. I'd watch that, yes. Outside of that, I'm not tuning in. Yeah, that's why you do open scoring. Just do it there. Who cares? They're exhibition fights. That's even another example of why you should do it.

But we can talk about this for another hour, Sean. Don't miss Sean Brady. Fury pro grappling this Saturday taking on Ben Saunders. And hopefully, July, August, hopefully before the leaves start to change colors. Sean Brady is back competing inside the hallowed octagon. Sean, always a pleasure catching up with you, a man. I'm glad your nose is all better. I'm glad you're cleared and ready to go.

And best of luck to you on Saturday. I appreciate it, bro. Thanks. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.