MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Is Alexander Volkanovski In Vacant Lightweight Title Discussion With Third Win Over Max Holloway At UFC 276?

Episode Date: May 13, 2022

If Alexander Volkanovski can defeat Max Holloway once again this summer, could he be factored into the conversation to face Charles Oliveira after that for the vacant UFC lightweight championship? On this week's Free-For-All Friday edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck takes questions about Volkanovski's potential to challenge for a second title should he be victorious for a third time against Holloway at UFC 276 on July 2. In addition, listeners chime in regarding Islam Makhachev and Beneil Dariush and whether or not the UFC should still go forward with plans to make that bout to determine the No. 1 contender in the division, the face-to-face interview hosted by Daniel Cormier with Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo, a hot take surrounding the Carla Esparza vs. Rose Namajunas fight at UFC 274, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 8 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Very spooky. 2022. And it is indeed a heck of a morning live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. And soon to be heard across the globe on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. There's something special about a Friday, even when you cover MMA. Friday's just just a fun day.

maybe Friday the 13th kind of changes things up a little bit, but not for me. I'm a happy camper on this Friday. It's a little rainy, a little dreary here in Hilton Head, South Carolina. And I got to tell you, a lot of people are upset that it's raining. I'm not upset that it's raining. I am a horrible seasonal allergy sufferer. And in Massachusetts, where I lived for my entire life until August of last year, You only had to deal with allergies for like three months.

Here you got to deal with them freaking all the time. It's like nonstop allergy season. So I'm just a mess. So I probably sounded like all congested. My face is on fire like every single day. It's a little rough. But this rain will kind of wash all that crap away, at least for a couple of days.

And I'll feel a little bit better. But you're not here to hear about my allergies and what I'm allergic to seasonally. You're here. to talks of MMA. And this is a free-for-all Friday on this Friday the 13th, which means your questions, your thoughts, your takes all morning long, whether it be about UFC Vegas 54 tomorrow,

headlined by Janbovich versus Alexander Rackich, could be about Bellator 281, which is headlined by Michael Venom Page versus Logan Storley, or the interim welterweight title that's going on, this afternoon in London, England. Paul Daly's final fight, Leota Machita versus Fayette Edwards on the card as well.

It should be a raucous crowd, which is always fun to be a part of. We still have the aftermath of UFC 274. I was going to say 254, but 274. What's going on with Charles Olivera? What's going to happen? We have a whole bunch of new fights that are signed and booked for,

UFC 276, whole bunch of fights just throughout the summer that have been signed, sealed, and delivered, or at least are in the works. There's a lot to talk about right now. It's a very interesting time in the sport of mixed martial arts. So request, let's get this going. Don't make me talk to myself for an hour because that's just going to be probably a boring show for all of you. And I mean, I can hear myself talk forever, so it'll be fine for me.

And don't forget, I see my best friend Alexander Kay Lee in here, noon Eastern, I believe. the UFC Vegas 54 Wayans. We'll actually be doing a live show. Jose is going to be there. AK and I will be basically doing some radio style commentary in the background, and we're just going to have some fun. And then we get a preview show right after that.

So it's going to be a very busy day, and it all starts right now. It all starts with you, Tristan Gordat. You are the first voice on the program this morning. How are you doing, Mike? What's going on? Yesterday I was listening to BTL. And Mike, I got to agree with Jed Mishu on this one, man, about Alexander Volcanozzi.

Like, dude, just, I got it. I don't want him moving up to lightweight to fight Charles Oliver right now. Listen, we still got more work to do in that featherweight division. I mean, there's fights that still want to see him against. He's going to go against Max Holloway. Okay, after Max Holloway, there's some other fights that I'm interested in. Brandon Teter versus Yayao Rodriguez, you know, you want to fight that, get the winner of that.

I mean, if you want Calvin Kater's going to be fighting, fighting so he's going to be, I believe he's fighting Josh Hammond. You know, so there's more matches to make up in that Featherweight division that he needs to, I don't want to see him fight. You know, in other people, Bryce Mitchell, Bryce Mitchell is like two fights away. He's about two fights away, and you're very high on him.

And you saw what he did to Edson Barbrosa with that chain wrestler. I want to see Volcanozzi to deal with that. So I think he has so much work to do. There's nothing. I know I'm going to be the old man, get off my lawn. But there's a reason why George St. Pierre, you know, that people love him because he went on that run. He was like, next man.

Now, it was a different time, but next man up. That's all I want to hear from Bokanasi. What? This is because here's a thing. Israel is sign. He's like, I want to dominate this middleweight division. Next man up. Ooh, I'm fighting January 10th, okay, done.

Next man up. I want Bokanowski at that point where you're going, I'm running a featherweight division, and then later on, all right, let me go to lightweight. Let's do the double champion. But for right now, he's got work to do. I don't want to see him face Charles right now. Charles, listen, Charles said he's going to fight until December.

Let him fight, you know, December. Like you said, Islam. Now, I know Jed wants Islam and Charles. I wouldn't be, I wouldn't mind that either. But Charles was like, listen, I'm going to fight in December or January. Okay, have Islam fight B'Neil in October and Abu Dhabi. Okay. And then January

2023, have that fight. Fight is big. Let's do this. And that's that. I mean, you know, these guys got to be, I mean, listen, again, I'm going back to back in a day where it's just like next man up, next man up, next man up, next man up. But it's different now. You got, you know, you'll see how they build fights.

Do people want to see it? You know, I know, it's all about the pay-per-view. It's all about the building the hype and things that nature. but as for Vokonovsky Fokoniske should have the mindset of Israel Adasani right now and saying, next man up, next man up,

I'm going to dominate this federal weight division, next man up, I'm going to beat all these guys, and then to the point where you beat all these guys and there's no one left, okay, now I'm up to the lightweight. Because the thing about it, if he goes through all these guys, he's got to, what, 7-8-9th street defending the title, and, you know, I know,

I know, doesn't want to hear this, but you get to the point where Alex Wokanaki, is the greatest, you know, featherweight champion ever. I mean, I can't say Jose. He was saying Jose Alba. But Jose, Jose did his thing and bought bantamweight. But he's going to have the sake to claim that. Moken actually, like, I'm the best featherweight champion ever in the UFC

because I beat all these guys. So that's my thoughts about it, you know, with the whole thing, okay? So I just want to hear your thoughts as well. Go ahead. All right. Tristan leading us off with some heat. Yes, I have advocated that Alexander Volkovsky should be at least an option for Charles Oliver. Now, there are some things that come into play with this whole situation, okay?

One, Volcanowski has to beat Max Holloway on July 2nd. 100%. Obviously, we're not going to remove that fight, and that's a very big if. Two, the guy is 11 and 0 in this division. He's beat Max Holloway twice. He beat Jose Aldo. He beat Chad Mendez. He beat Darren Elkins, who was on a run.

He beat Jeremy Kennedy, who was on a run at the time. He pitched a perfect game against the Korean zombie. I mean, this guy has done everything you have asked of him. And he's always had that mentality of next man up, next man up, next man up. But, I mean, we're going back. Here's the issue with this division. It's a very deep division. In about two years, featherweight is going to be really interesting when we have Arnold

Allen in the title discussion. We have Bryce Mitchell in the title discussion. We have Ilya Tuporia and the of loyabs and guys like that. All those guys are going to be in the mix, and Volcanowski is going to have a whole bunch of different kinds of challengers, which is why I'm saying now is probably the time to do it. Because you listed off a lot of names there, Tristan. You listed off Calvin Cater.

You listed off Josh Emmett. You listed up Bryce Mitchell. And there's other names that I mentioned as well. But here's the thing about most of those names. You're looking at several fighters who are not. not all that active. Bryce Mitchell especially. Bryce Mitchell could be, is a super talented guy. I could see a world where this guy fights for a championship. But I could also see a world where he doesn't fight for a championship for like three years because he's not that active. He gets,

he's so good, but he gets hurt in like every single fight. It's like a year between fights every single time. And it's rough, man. It's rough when that happens. So we're not quite ready for this second, this next generation of featherweights to come up. Josh Emmett, Calvin Cater winner is probably the next guy in line. But again, we're looking at two guys who are not overly active. And what is Volkidoff he wants this year? He wants to be active. He wants to fight three or four times this year.

Does he get guaranteed that fighting the winner of Cater versus Emmett? I don't know. Because something tells me with the durability of those two guys and the way those guys fight, I wouldn't be shocked if this is the last time you see either of those guys this year. Unless it's a quick finish, but we're talking about two guys who don't really get finished all that often. And if they do, it's a horrific fashion. So we're talking to, I mean, this could be a case where Volkadovsky, let's just say he beats Holloway. He's waiting.

He's waiting all this time to fight. And he just wants to fight. So if all of error is ready to go And you still want to do Makachev versus Dariusia October Which I am an advocate of doing Because again, while I understand people wanting Islam To fight for the belts

And it's I wouldn't be upset about it It's a very interesting fight The UFC is thinking about this In a way that I would think about it We're building Islam up We're putting him in a position where there's There's no doubt about it

There's no doubt about it Because what happens if they book this fight right? Let's just say they book it in September, and Oliver runs over Machachep. What's everyone going to be saying? Oh, man. See, he should have got that top five win before you put him in a title fight. Too quick, too soon.

So there's just options. All I'm saying is if you're going to do this Volkadovsky fight for the lightweight title thing, you do it now. Because in a year when the Mitchells and the Tuporias and the Avloyves and all those guys come up, He's going to be very busy. He's going to be active. He's going to have a lot of interesting challenges ahead of him.

Right now, yeah, it's a new matchup. Yeah, Cater's a new matchup. And both of those guys would probably earn a title shot with a victory on June 18th. But I'm just saying, like, this is not, this is me having fun. This is me saying, UFC, let's think outside of the box. Let's get Chuckie Olives a fight. Let's try to make this man happy. Let's get Volkadovsky a fight.

Let's try to make this man happy. And if Volkinovsky loses to Charles Oliver right now, it's not the end of the world. look at what happened. Look what happened with Max Holloway. Fought Dustin Porier. He lost four rounds, clearly. But it was an exciting fight. And Holloway stock didn't drop it all in that fight. Not even a little.

And the same thing would happen to Bolkadovsky. He went in there. They had an exciting scrap for as long as it lasted. Volkadovsky wins. He's a two-division champion, which is a great story. And if he loses, it's not a big deal. Unless he gets absolutely trucked. I don't think you get absolutely trucked in that fight.

I would favor Oliver to win, but his stock doesn't drop all that much. All we're doing is moving this division forward a little bit. We're still doing Islam versus B'Neil. Winner gets the title shot. That's just my thought. I could be completely wrong. That's just an option for me. That's an option.

It's not gospel. I'm not going on draft king's sportsbook, our good friends, where everyone should be placing their wagers and saying, this is what's going to happen. This is just a thought, an interesting thought of thinking outside the box while we let the rest of this division play out. Let's see what Islam does against B'Neil. If he beats B'Neil, then again, right now, there's a frontrunner, but we're also like, what about this guy? What about this guy?

What about this guy? This guy has a case. If Islam beats B'niel, there is nobody else. It's Islam and no one else. There is no, oh, what if Conner comes back? There is no what if Conner comes back. That's it. It's over.

It's Islam and nobody else. That's just an out-of-the-box idea that I've pondered. Plus, Volkovsky just wants to be active, and I think this guy deserves anything he wants at this point. He's one of the best fighters in the world. He's top three in my eyes, pound for pound. He's one of the top three best fighters on the planet. Let's get our man Chris in here.

Christopher, what's up, my man? How you doing, Mike? What's up, buddy? Yeah, all good. in keeping with the theme of lightweights, I was just wondering what you think would happen to Michael Johnson if he loses this weekend, because obviously he's on a four-fight skid.

Can you see him getting cut, or is there still value in Michael Johnson? Thank you, Christopher. What's crazy to say, I'm going to say something that a lot of you may not agree with, but I'm going to say he doesn't get cut if he loses, because he does still have value. I don't know if Alon Patricke is the guy that would create the value,

But there are, but for like a guy like, I mean, I know Terrence McKinney has a fight, but when you have a guy like a Terrence McKinney who is making moves in the division, got people excited, pairing him up with a guy like Michael Johnson, doesn't hurt you. You're favored against a guy who was the top 10 lightweight at one point in his career. And a win over Michael Johnson, despite the skin that he's on, still has some sort of value. People look at names as much, if not more, than records.

So I still think there's some value there. It's not like Michael Johnson's fighting five times a year, and he's taking spots from other fighters on other cards. We don't get him that often. So I don't think he gets cut. I mean, you can make the argument. He could maybe just say I'm done. I think that's more likely than the UFC cutting him.

But again, I just think there's a value. He's not there that often. And, you know, he's in a perfect spot to put young talent over. Kind of an interesting matchup here, but I don't know. I think Patricke has a, has a good chance to win this fight, and it wouldn't shock me and Michael Johnson won this fight. Alam Patricke is the kind of guy who likes to step on his own foot in these fights, and

Michael Johnson is just wily enough to take advantage of such a thing. I mean, what at honor this is? The best friend hopping on in. Oh, I'm live. Oh, it's weird. It cut off your last comment you're going on about Alan Patrick and Michael Johnson, so I didn't hear the end of it. Hello, hello, my best friend.

Good morning. Good morning, buddy. Good to have you. Good to have you. Good morning to you, sir. I really, I just want to call them to say you've been doing a spectacular job with this show. I mean, my goodness, you are on the grind all the time and cranking out this high-quality work. And I think you are like the perfect morning MMA person.

I don't think anyone would, right? I don't think anyone would disagree. That's my question. I mean, I asked a question. That's it? That's really interesting. Well, thank you, A.K. I appreciate that. And, yeah.

A couple things. One, are they not asking if Alan Patrick might get cut if he's a bit up there in a. I think his job is on the line more than, I think his jobs are on the line more than Michael Johnson for being honest. Neither guy has won in a long time. I think I'm talking, and I should have written this down, but at least I think a year, a couple years for both guys. Anyway, Mike, you know I'm usually the prints of positivity. but I did want to ask you kind of a fun question

it may be other people won't think it's the same way obviously the biggest bummer of the weekends was the Rose Navajunis Carlos Barza rematch the less said the better I think we've all kind of had our two cents about it

and you know nothing is not a lot nice to say about it and the interviews that have come out after have kind of even made it worse what was the Mike what would you say was the second biggest bummer of last week, and I'll throw out three options. Ray Cooper, missing weight by an exorbitant amount,

and just being outclassed by a very good and talented Carlos Laos. The Ryan Bader Czech Congo rematch, which would have been the talk of the worst title fight of the week if the UFC 274 co-made event hadn't happened. Or the Ovenstain Prue and Shogun Huah rematch, which we all hoped would go differently than the first fight, and it did, but not in a good way. So of those three, what would you say?

It was the second sort of worst, or most disappointing thing that happened last week. Thank you, A.K. I mean, my gosh, what a tremendous call right there, my best friend coming through. I'm going to choose other, which has to do with option C. I'm just going to, I'm going to piggyback off a man, Shaheen,

the people booing Shogun. How dare you? How dare you? That was the second most disappointing thing. And in fact, you can make a strong case that that's the first most disappointing thing from the weekend. Listen, I know the fight was not, how should I put this nicely, aesthetically pleasing. But I just think we, I think we created this image for ourselves that we were just going to see two guys have kind of a slow fight and then somebody is going to land something. and that person who got landed on would fall down

and the fight would be over shortly after. Unfortunately, we didn't get any of that. And that's probably the fight we should have expected, but I just think we went in with such a positive mindset. It was the Shogun. We were saluting Shogun throughout the week. We're flashing back to 2005, one of the greatest years of the history of combat sports

for any fighter, if not the greatest. In my opinion, it's probably the greatest. Match that 2005 up against any other fighter's year, especially at that time, strength of schedule, where these guys are at in their career, batch that up against anybody else. You'd have a hard time. You have a hard time making a case against Shogun for what he did.

So I think we've reflected a lot on his career. We were proud of the accomplishments that he put together. We felt like young fans again, especially those of us who watched pride and love pride so much. And just to see the Phoenix crowd just boo him out of the building. As bad as that fight was, it's just, come on now. Come on. Even in, like, the WWF, when Hulk Hogan can't even run the freaking ropes,

we still cheered the guy. We knew this guy couldn't work a lick, and we still cheered the guy, because we respected what the man did earlier on his career. And, listen, OSP has not engaged in any sort of fun fight, at least on his end, in quite some time. So, listen, this is the fight we probably should have expected. It was disappointed here, Shoka, getting booed. But all those other picks that, okay, were quite disappointing.

Because I was on Bellator duty on Friday, a week ago today. And I had to watch that fight, and I had to recap that fight. And it was like two paragraphs long for 25 minutes. It was just Ryan Bader did this. Second round, he did the same thing. Third, more of the same. Fourth, the same thing. Fifth, Congo came out aggressive.

But then it was the same thing. And Bader won the fight. next thing. It was like 87 words, a whole fight for 25 minutes. But yeah, all those things are disappointing. Boy, it was such a roller coaster of a weekend, wasn't it? Because the highs were really high and the lows were super freaking low. We know you love the thought of a vacation to Europe.

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TV actor to cult member. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma at other people? I don't even know how to answer that question. Allison after nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify. All right, let us move it. Let's get our man, Wildlife Fight Club back on the program. Good to see you, my man. Good to hear from you. What's up? Make sure you're on mute. There he is. Good, man. I appreciate you, man. You got the best talk show in the morning for sure. So I just want to touch on a few things we talked about this morning, get your thoughts on it. You know, I'm a big fan of Charles. I think he's, man, I'm super high on.

I think he's one of the best fighters at that weight class, maybe ever. I mean, if you look at his track record. But I think I personally, and I don't know about you, I kind of maybe undervalue or don't appreciate Islam enough. If you look at the people he's fought at the high level and how he's done it, it's pretty amazing. I think after the Armin fight, maybe people got down on them because, you know, Armand stepped in, but Armand's a stud too. But I checked the odds this morning, even before jumping on the show, and the opening odds for Charles versus Islam is anywhere from like a minus 275 to minor favor against Charles. I think that's the biggest challenger over champion odds ever in Vegas history. If I'm not wrong, I'd have to recheck again.

So yeah, I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. Islam somebody we're underappreciating as an MMA community? or is that just what's your thoughts on that? Appreciate you, man. Thank you, Wildlife Fight Club. I don't think we're undervaluing and under appreciating Islam.

The problem with Islam is, and listen, he has done everything he's needed to do here. He's got out and fought these fights and he's won. And for the most part, he's done so in dominant fashion. Yes, the Armon fight was interesting. But that win aged, maybe as well as any win he has on his resume right now because we've seen the fighter that Armand Sarukyan

has become since then, and we see what Armand Sarukyan is going to become over the next few years. And in my opinion, and I've said this before he signed with the UFC, Armand Sarukian will be a UFC champion. There is no doubt in my mind that this guy will win the championship. And I think he gives Islam a lot of problems on a full camp when he's ready to fight for the belt, like a year and a half, two years from now,

when, because it's going to take Armand a little while, because again, kind of throwing him in the mix of guys like Marab de Wallis-Willi, guys like Romanov right now who's on his way up, he's going to have a hard time finding fights. There's not going to be a lot of guys in the top 10 who are going to be like, yay, let's fight Armand Sarukyad. I want that fight. From what I understand, the initial plan was to do

Cirukion versus Gregor Gillespie. on that June 25th card and Gillespie for some reason didn't want that fight. I mean, I don't know for sure what his thought process was, but I know that fight was on the table. It didn't happen and now we get Matush Gamrott, which is

a ridiculous fight. Absolutely insane. I hope that one headlines that card because I don't know what's got a headline at this point. There's I mean, there's certainly some options you could throw in there, but I mean, I wouldn't mind giving those guys the rub, giving them five rounds, because

that is a five-round worthy fight, in my opinion. But for Islam, again, the one knock on him, and this is not his fault because he's gotten these opportunities. He's been matched up with these guys. The fight just hasn't happened. He's been matched up with RDA. The fight didn't happen. He's been matched up with Bidiel Darius, and the fight hasn't happened. Here's the thing.

Islam has a very good chance of being Charles Oliver. But if you're going to crown Islam, let's make it as big as. as possible. Let's not cast any shadows or doubt upon it. If he wins the title die, yeah, we're going to be like, all right, dude, this guy's the best lightweight in the world. And it's an interesting fight right now. 100%.

It is a super interesting fight, and you can make a strong case that Islam is the top guy in this conversation to fight Charles Oliver. No doubt about it. But in my eyes, let's just give him one more win. And this is a

recency by a sport. Let's give him the Darius fight. If he goes out, it beats Daryush. There is no other discussion. There is no other name. Cotter, no. None of these names matter. It's Islam and no one else.

And that fight becomes much more interesting if he beats Binald Daryush, which he has a good chance of doing. And what happens if Binal Darius wins? I feel like Benile Darius is the, if we're asking who's being undervalued and overlooked here in this conversation, it's Binele Darius, and it's not even close. It's 1,000% B'Neill Darrier since being overlooked here.

Seven fight win streak. His strength of schedule is better than most in this conversation right now. Islam has done it in such dominant fashion. But so has been ill. So has been ill. He's just been hurt. And it seems like he would be ready to go in October. I think this is the fight that happens.

I don't think the UFC is going to go away from this fight, especially if all of air is not going to fight until December. You're going to see Islam fight banil. I think we're going to see that in October because Islam's fighting on that Abu Dhabi card. He's not waiting for the title shot in December. He's going to fight in October. And then knowing Islam, he's probably going to think he's just going to run over. Good deal.

And then he can fight for the belt after that. So, I mean, I don't see an issue with waiting. One more fight. One more win. Get that marquee win. Shut up everybody else who says, well, he doesn't have that marquee win. And then you fight for the belt. And it's a bigger fight.

Like I don't, I, I, I don't know. Jed's probably going to disagree with me. Everyone's favorite, everyone's favorite voice, Mr. Doe Gray area himself, Jed Bishu. Hello, sir. Hey, Mike, first time, long time. Just, just wanted to weigh in here on your slander of Islam Mogachev and trying to deny the best lightweight in the world, the title. It's not a great idea.

mainly because, you know, in concept, Mike, I just disagree with you entirely because, you know, you never know what's going to happen. And if we decide, or by we, if the UFC decides that they really want to stick to this and then Islam fights meal in October, well, that's a quick turnaround for a potential December fight. You already spoke about it, but Alexander Volcanowski is making overtures to go up to the lightweight, you know, try and get a second belt. So if they don't strike now while the iron is hot, there's a scenario where Islam beats the hell out of Benile Darius, which I think most people expect, and has gained very little other than shutting up some of the Internet's worst people. and now we're stuck waiting another year until he fights the winner of Oliver Volcanovsky or God forbid Volcanovsky Connor for the lightweight belt

or something like incredibly stupid and it would be the same thing as the Habib thing all over again where Habib was the best lightweight in the world like four years before he got the title so that's my big take love to hear your thoughts you have a great you have a heck of a morning sir thank you jed and shockingly he he disagreed with something i had to say listen here's the thing halib had to wait for a long time to fight for the

title but it also made him a bigger star if that makes sense it took unfortunately we were missing the best years of hubib's career in my opinion because i don't think he's hit his he even hit his prime or even probably even close to it so we missed out on a lot But, yeah, we had to wait a little while for Habib. But once Habib got the title, I mean, obviously some interesting dominoes fell into place for him with the whole Connor situation and the Dolly incident and all that stuff. So, I mean, that clearly enhanced things a little bit. But at the same token, you can't deny that Habib became, when he retired, he was a massive star. He was a big star.

They played the waiting game. And you can make a compelling case that it paid off, that it paid off here. And again, I just, I don't know. I just don't know if there's a huge rush. Like, if you do it now, like, first of all, the Volcanovsky idea comes into play because there's no way that UFC is going to wait until December to have Olivera fight. There's no way. Olivera, you know, he missed weight.

He got stripped of the title. He is right now the best lightweight in the world. You can't argue that. I mean, maybe you could sit there and be like on paper. Maybe you feel like Islam is bigger. but here's the other thing that I mentioned earlier what if they just go ahead and do Islam versus Olivera? What if they go ahead and do it?

And let's just say Olivera goes out and just runs him over. Let's just say Makachep gets a big takedown, slams him, landing ground and pound, and then Oliver catches them in something crazy, submits him in the first round. What's everyone going to be saying? See? This is why you shouldn't be given him the title shot.

Doesn't have a top five win. You rushed them in too quick. See? there's always that way of thinking in MMA. But if Olivera goes out and beats Daryush in October, which I still believe the UFC is going to go that route, there's no question, there's no con, there's no nothing. But no one's wrong here.

No one's wrong. If they go ahead and just pull the trigger on Olivera versus Islam, cool, I'm in. I'm intrigued by that fight. I am. But I just want to see what happens if, I just want to see Islam against Islam. And I think the reason why I want to see that fight so badly is because I feel, like I said, before we took this call.

I feel like Darius is kind of getting the short end of the stick here. Because he's certainly in this conversation. He's earned the right to be in the conversation. But guess why? He's not being mentioned at all except for maybe scoring a fight with Islam, which is kind of nuts, considering the run of this guy is on right now. And I had somebody reach out to be saying, like, how much you pay in there? Or how much is Darius paying? He's paying me nothing.

but one of the questions you got earlier is Islam being overlooked here. No, I don't think he's being overlooked at all. It's just a matter of do you want to just give him now or when he beats Darius? That's what people say. Like, if he fights Darius, Darius is no chance of beating him. That might be true. But I don't know. That's why I want to see the fight.

Like, let's just make a clear cut number one contender. Winner fights. That's it. You can do a whole bunch of different things. I mean, the Connor idea is dumb, but it's good business. It just is. As much as we'll complain about that fight being made, it's tremendous business for the company.

But I just don't know if the UFC's going to let Oliver wait until December. And let me just throw this out there. Oliver is like, I'm fighting in December and I'm fighting in Brazil in December. No, you're not. Because the UFC's not going to do you any favors right now. They might give you your pay-per-view points. They might treat you as a champion, but they're not going to do you any favors.

They're not going to let you wait until December, and they're probably not going back to Brazil for a pay-per-view in December. I would be surprised if that does happen. But we'll see. There's a lot of questions to be answered in this whole situation. That's for sure. Let's get the Humble Kid in here. What's up, Humble Kid?

Just make sure you unmute. Hey, how's it going? How's your morning going? Wonderful. How are you? I just had putting out any statements about, like, you know, what they want or calling for that Islam fight or even calling for that Charles fight. And I just feel like there's so many moving pieces that, like, so many things can go right, but so many things can go wrong. Like, the Max Holloway fight.

What if Max Holloway wins? What if Benil just starches Islam? You know what I mean? There's so many different parts. And I don't think Connor or Diaz is going to fight at 155. and I don't think the UFC is going to Brazil because of COVID. And I just feel like there's just so much confusion. Like, who knows what could happen?

It's really, really just craziness. Yeah, and that's a tremendous play right there because we could all sit there in fantasy matchmake all we want, but we have no idea what's going to happen. We literally have no clue what's going to happen. Olivera wants this, Islam wants this, Vidal wants this, Connor wants this,

Chandler wants this. I mean, everybody wants different things. Everybody has different timelines. Everybody has different. I don't know. It's just a strange situation. And this could go a million different ways. This could go a million different ways.

And this is why I say, I had a conversation with the gentleman who gave me a bunch of crap about the Olivera being stripped as dumb thing. Here's the thing about the show and about these types of discussions. None of us are wrong. None of us are wrong. If you feel like Oliver being stripped of the title is dumb, fine. If you feel like Olivera being stripped was justified, fine. It's okay. It's your opinion.

It's your opinion. That's it. I mean, I'm not going to argue if you say Islam is the guy and there's nobody else. Cool. I think Islam is the most interesting fight for sure. But if we're looking at it from a business perspective, how can we make this the biggest fight possible? You give Islam one more win and it becomes a bigger fight. especially if he beats a guy like Daryush.

If Darius wins, he slays the beast in Islam, that fight becomes much more interesting too. I mean, there's no wrong answer here. Connor sliding in is a, from a meritocratic standpoint, makes literally no sense at all. It's really stupid idea. But from a business sense, that pay-per-view does over a million buys,

and it's probably the most bought pay-per-view for the UFC all year long. So there's arguments to be made for a lot of different things. Even Chant, like, even though we just saw this fight, if you threw Michael Chandler in that slot, maybe there'd be a collective, like, sigh and a groan at first because we just saw this fight. But in the end, we go back and look at Michael Chandler's four fights of the UFC, and we'd still be excited about it.

Let's be honest, we'd be excited about it. Even though he's probably the lowest ranked on this list to get this fight, we would still be excited about it. The guy has created that sort of buzz behind him, And it actually wouldn't stun me if they went that direction. But I don't know if they will, but it wouldn't stun me if they did. Let's get Patrick in here. And I see you, Henderson.

You're on deck, my man. Patrick, what's up? Mike. Patrick. What's up, kid? What's up, dude? What's going on? That guy, yeah.

I'm good, man. So the humble kid is a good person. to follow because, you know, Benile Daru, she's very humble. He's not really a needle mover. I think you give him the immediate title shot. I kind of agree with you. Give him the immediate title shot with Charles Olivera. If somehow he wins, now he's got that belt. That makes any fight with him moving forward in this division that much bigger. Because right now the needle movers have all lost. You've got Justin Gaichi, Dustin Porreier, and Michael Chandler. They've all had recent title shots. It's going to take some

manipulation to get them back up into championship contention again. Unless, what if you put Michael Chandler against Islam? And then you just immediately, that's the winner of that fight goes on to Abu Dada. I don't know about the timing. If Olivera could fight Darius sometime this summer and then

Abu Dhabi comes around. you could put Islam versus Chandler there. And then by that time, you've got a whole bunch of other, this whole next tier of fighters, the Fizives, the Gillespie's, the Glamrots, and Sarukians have worked their way up now into fighting some of these other needle movers to get Gaechi, Porre, potentially, to get up into that main event headliner spot, championship fight contention spots.

And also, I just wanted to have me or anyone talk about, I was watching the PFL briefly, and I was really surprised for them to cut to the announcers and see A.J. McKee rocking a PFL shirt, talking about just, you know, doing some analysis for them. it seemed like a very interesting move by him. So have a good Friday, man. Thank you, Patrick.

Yeah, I mean, the AJ thing was kind of bizarre. I remember watching that live as we were doing the UFC 274 preview show and rock of the PFLT and everything and they put him on the broadcast, which is, listen, AJ McKee, smart move doing that. He got people talking. I don't know. He's trying to boost his profile a little bit. And he's saying the wrong.

right things. He had a little scrum afterwards and said that he's not done at 145 like he said. He kind of walked back those comments and that he wants to fight Pitbull again for a third time. And I mean, that's obviously the fight to make. Just run it back for a third time. Just put a stamp on this whole thing and then we can go from there. I don't know what AJ's contract situation looks like right now. I have no idea. It seems like he's got, I think, two more fights, maybe three. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens after those couple of fights. I don't know if there's another Champions Clause if he wins the title back.

I would certainly hope not because he was already in one, which extended his contract. So hopefully they don't re-extend it again. But AJM-EQ will be a very interesting free agent. And that fight with Pitbull, if they make it, that third fight, biggest fight of his career, 1,000%. because this guy was probably the most coveted potential free agent in the sport at the time outside of maybe Kayla Harrison but Kayla re-signed with PFL

but AJ was probably at the top of that list considering where his contract was and then he went out and lost that fight and I know people thought it was close I know people who bet on A.J. McKee are going to say that they're going to go to the grave saying A.J. McKee won that fight. I would say he didn't win that fight. I watched that fight now three times

and I feel like Pitbull won all three times. 48, 47, the last two watches. The first watch I had a 49-46 Pitbull. But close fight, it wasn't like Pitbull blew the doors off him, but he won the fight. And now Agent McKee is in a very interesting spot, especially with this contract where it is right now. I would assume Bellator is going to make him a big offer, but if he doesn't beat Pitbull the second time in this third fight when they actually make it, boy. talk about a guy who entered the year with high hopes, with everybody wanting him,

one of the big names on the free agent market. The UFC probably looks at him like, look what he did, Michael Chandler, look at the star he became. Maybe we could do the same with AJ and McKee. But his stock clearly dropped with that loss to Pitbull. It definitely did. So we'll see what happens if they book a third one.

But yeah, it was interesting to see him on the broadcast for sure. Hendo Slice. What's up, buddy? Your business doesn't move in a straight line. Make sure your team is taken care of through every twist and turn with Canada Life savings, retirement, and benefits plans.

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slash employee benefits to learn more Canada Life Insurance, Investments, Advice. As same to you, my... So I love the show, and part of the thing I love so much about it is like the call-in nature of it. I grew up in New York with like the schmooze and Mad Dog and all that and just getting these wild takes from the public. And then someone like you can kind of tell us if we're completely crazy or maybe just a little bit crazy. You know what I mean? And so I got one of those takes about the Rose fight because I had a feeling something weird was going to happen going into that fight because they just known each other for so long and as far as it's about to get married, you know. And I was thinking, what if they had some sort of like, we always hear about like gentlemen's agreements, you know, like this will be a standup fight or like don't attack my knee or something like that.

what if they had some sort of agreement like just don't strike too hard like don't hurt each other too too bad and and maybe it wasn't like a fix or anything but maybe rose thought she was winning and then with that in mind as well she just like didn't really want to strike as much because of that relationship I haven't really heard people talk about that that much so I just felt like maybe she just thought she was winning and was like, all right, I can just get away with this and everyone can be chill. And so what do you think? Totally crazy or maybe did it have a little effect? Wow. That is, yeah, that is, that is quite the take. I don't even, I don't even know how to respond to that. And I don't mean that in a bad way, because I don't know. I honestly don't know. I'm befuddled, Henderson. Henders Slice, you,

you left you without speech here. I would say it's probably not the case, but I mean, maybe, maybe there's a little bit of truth in there. I don't know. I don't know. That'd be an interesting question to ask Rose or Pat Berry. I mean, it would have to wait 55 minutes for the actual answer to that question, but I think we would, it would be an interesting topic.

Wow. Didn't even really think about that. maybe they had the Sean Michaels, Rick Martel SummerSlam deal where they just couldn't punch each other in the face. I don't know. Old school wrestling fans would know what I'm talking about. But very interesting

positive spin on a fight that was not very positive. I like it. Let's get Ryan Robinson in here. We go from Henderson to Robinson. What's up, buddy? Yes, sir. I can hear you. What's happening? Now I can't hear you. Now I can hear you.

What's up? All right. Okay, hear you? What's going on? Okay, sorry. Perfect. Wow, way better. So I was wondering about, I don't know if anyone asked this. So someone did, I'm sorry, I've been dealing with family in between my morning get-up. So you just mentioned a little bit ago, Gillespie.

I don't hear anyone practically talking about him. and his last fight was absolutely amazing. And I don't think people really talk about that. That grappling match was outstanding. And I want to see him fight. But he keeps, I remember, I know he's done some interviews recently saying, like, he will only fight up. I feel like he's about to get the Leon Edwards treatment,

where he just kept saying, no, kept saying no, kept saying no, and then they just take him out. And I don't see anyone ahead of him who's really going to be willing to take a fight with him because he's not flashy, and almost everyone ahead of him expects someone flashy, it seems like. What are your thoughts on where he is going, and do you see the UFC pulling him from the rankings? Thank you, Ryan. Yeah.

I don't know. It's, it's, I mean, the only, I got to look, I mean, let me just pull up the rankings real quick. Pull up the UFC rankings as well. Pull up the only rankings that truly matter, which is the M&A fighting rankings first and just see where we have Gregor Gillespie. And then we'll take a look at the lightweight one. Greg Gillespie number nine in our rankings. And I believe he's the same. in the UFC rankings.

No, he's number eight in the UFC rankings. So, yeah, he's in an interesting spot because he kept calling for the Tony fight and now Tony's ranked below him. I wonder how he would react to being off for Tony Ferguson now. Have you got off for Tony Ferguson in his next fight? Is he going to say no because Tony Ferguson is behind him?

I have a super hard time believing that. RDA booked. Vaniel, kind of out of the discussion right now, but maybe booked against Islam. Chandler's not going to fight Gillespie, although that'd be an insane fight. There he had Machachev, Gaecchi, Poria, Al Dara. He's just in a spot where like, and here's the thing.

He was on a nice run in the UFC. But not that long ago, two fights ago, he got colded badly by Kevin Lee at UFC 244. And I was there. That was an unbelievable knockout. That's a highlight real. That's a Baba O'Reilly knockout. What I mean by that is, If you go to UFC event and they play Bobbo O'Reilly,

they play some of the best highlights of UFC history, the crowd amped for the main card. That is a Boba O'Reilly special right there. Kevin Lee, the overhand right to that nasty head kick. And that was two fights ago. The CDF fight was crazy. That was a great fight, great performance. But CDF is, where is he right now?

It's even ranked? He's not even ranked anymore. So, CDF's not ranked. That win was just a crazy fight, but it doesn't age all that well. The Kevin Lean knockout actually aged a lot better. Gillespie's just in the tough spot. He has to fight.

The man just has to fight. He wasn't getting the Ferguson fight at the time, because where's the value for Tony Ferguson? Not much. And from what I understand, he was in the discussion to fight Armand Sarukyan. I don't know how those discussions went. I don't know.

But from one account, he just said, no, I'm not fighting this guy. I want to fight in front of me. And you know what? I don't blame him. I don't blame him for not fighting Armand Sarukyad. Because I think, like I said before, I think Armad Surukyad is going to be the lightweight champion by 2024.

I really do. He's got to get his opportunity when he gets he's going to win. I don't care who he fights. Of course, he's got a tough fight with Matush Gamrod. I think that fight's going to be insane, but I think Surukia will win that fight. Yeah, Gillespie's in a tough spot, man. He's just got to fight.

He just has to fight at this point. And he's just got to take anything. that is, I mean, he's got to take anything that's come. Like, if they offer him like a Dan Hooker or something, I'm sure he's not saying no to Dan Hooker. If something happens before the RDA physique fight and he gets a call, he should probably say yes. That's just kind of where he's at right now.

He's just got to fight. He's had two fights in almost three years. He fought in November of 2000. The Kevin Lee fight was November of 2019. We didn't see him again until May of 2021. And that was the, and we haven't seen him since. So it's been a year. We're over a year now since we've seen him fight.

He's got to get in there and fight. If he wants to move up the rankings, he's got to get a little more active, especially in this division, because some of these young bucks, these killers are going to pass them by, and it's going to happen quickly. Let's get Finocliff.

I don't know if I got that right, but I did the best I could. Phonetic spelling. Let's see. We got the wheel spinning. I don't know if we're going to, oh, make sure you have to mute. Let's see if we got them.

Final clap, are you there? Yes, I'm here. Good day. Good day. I would just ask, good day. I don't know if you were thinking, same thing, but I think the best option for Charles Oliver assistance now

is the Islam's, Islam's rule or something. They are the best chances that can take that title from him. And if they can't do it, I think Khab should come out of retirement. and take a fight to Olivera. I don't know what you take on that. Thank you, Finalcalf. Listen, you, like I said, many times,

you can make a very strong case that Islam is the guy. My case is, let's get him one more win. Let's do the Daryuz fight, and if he wins that fight, then it's a no-brainer. He's the guy. I know my man, A.K., who is in here, has been on the road of advocation, if you will, for all roads leading to Habib coming back,

in fighting Charles Olivera. And what's the best way for that to happen? You book Olivera versus Islam. If he goes out there and beats Islam, winning street continues on. We're getting close to Habib's UFC record in terms of consecutive wins. Will that be enough to compel Habib Nirmagavadav to come out of retirement? Now, if he doesn't beat it, if he beats Islam, maybe Habib needs to get one back for the squad, if you will. But I don't know.

It's like go west. Maybe AK's the king of wishful thinking. But I think that's probably the best chance we get them back is if Oliver goes out there and just stunts on Islam, which, boy, that's it. That's a big if. That's a big if. I want to see that fight.

I'm very intrigued by that fight. But I want that fight to be as big as it can possibly be, if that makes sense. Because I think that is sort of, I think that is the road that we're on. It's just a matter of how quickly we want to get to it. Do we want to just drive 100 miles an hour to the road? Or do you want to stop and look at the Grand Canyon first,

look at the beauty for all that it is, and then do the fight. Either way, we're going to get to where we're going to go. It's just a matter of how quickly we want to get there. Is it going to be, do we take a plane there, or do we take the National Lampoon's Vacation Road, where we're in the family truckster? And it takes us a long time to get to where you need to go,

but eventually we get to Wally World, and there's some hijinks and adventures along the way. Let's get Jimmy Wang Yang in the chat. Jimmy, what's up? Just make sure you unmute. Mike, how you doing? Jimmy, what's going on, man? I'm good. How are you doing?

Tremendous, tremendous. Yes. So I just wanted to ask, I know we have all this excitement about Charles and the lightweight difference. which is supposed to be. But has anybody talked about the Bandaway Division? And did anybody see D.C. drop a video with Al Jemaine and Suhudo sitting right across from each other? Anybody excited about that?

Oh, Jimmy, you said the magic word. You said the magic word. You said Sohudo. I can't believe you did it. I cannot believe you went there. Good Lord. How dare you? I'm just joking.

I mean, first of all, let me talk about the lightweight division here real quick before we get to Badaway because I love talking about the Bannamweight Division. I know A.K. loves to talk about the Bannamweight Division. The U.S.C. has, I don't know why this hasn't been really brought up that much. The U.S.C. is a really fun opportunity right now. They could do like some kind of a tournament here. I mean, there's so many ways we could go about this.

We could have so much fun with this situation. So that's just another option we can throw out there as well. As far as the Banimate Division goes, as far as Henry Sehudo goes, God, I'm so tired of talking about this man. I still don't care that he's coming back. I don't care that he's standing across from El Jermaine Sterling because D.C. set it up. I know the relationship D.C. has with Sehudo's manager and all of that. And I'm sure that that contributed to this thing being put together. I don't want Henry Sehudo sliding into a title shot.

I don't. I just don't. I still do not care that he's coming back. I still do not care. It has gone over like a fart in church, this entire situation. It really has. He left the UFC high and dry, and before the night was over, after everything the UFC went through to put on a card,

all of that, their minds were racing. Data White went to the press conference immediately after Henry Suhuda retired and said, okay, he's gone. Piotr Yan's going to fight for the title next. Okay. Now, if it was anybody else, if there was most champions in other divisions, that's not happening. In this case, Dana was ready to move on before the night was over. So that's that.

Will I be happy if Henry Suhudo becomes a player in this division and actually fights? Yes. Do I think he should fight Al Jemaine Sterling first? No. Get him in there. I want to see how serious this man is. I want to see how serious he is. Fight Cheeto Vera,

fight Marab, fight one of those two guys. You go in, you fight one of those two guys, and you win, I will come on this show and I will spend an hour praising Henry Sohudo

for doing those things. I will. And I've ripped on him for this entire time that he's announced the comeback. You want to know why? Because he has floated this idea in front of us the entire time

and nobody has. cared at all. Competitively, resume-wise, the guy is unbelievable. I will give him that. He has accomplished a lot in combat sports. The gold battles, the championships, the guy left at the wrong time.

He was just about, he was probably another two wins away from getting over that hump to being in that position where he could retire and say thanks for the cheese, give me more money and the episode of been like, okay. But this is one of the all-time great blunders in

MMA history for a fighter, who is that good to just walk away at that time thinking he had power, he had none. And I still don't think he has any power here. So cool, him and Al Jemaine got into a room. And I'm sure Aljo's thinking

yeah, cool, this would be a fine fight. Sure. But, I mean, do you think of Al Jermaine Sterling versus Henry Suhudo? Headlines a pay-per-view? It's doing more than 300,000 buys, maybe 400,000? That's a brand buy, by the way. This past Saturday's paper view did reportedly 400,000 buy. You think Henry Suhudo being in a main event fighting

for the Bannonweight title is going to do any more than that? Absolutely not. It might do worse. It might do worse. It's an interesting fight. But again, I want to see if this man's serious, and I think he kind of owes it to the UFC to show how serious he is by fighting a contender, by fighting a dangerous contender. You won Aljo? Beat his boy. Go beat Marab. You beat Marab?

I will drive you to the airport to fight Aljibade Sterling. But until that happens, don't talk to me about Suhudo fighting for titles. He's not a big enough draw to get there. Yeah, he's the king who gave up his crown, but you're going to show me something.

You get T.J. Dillashaw, who's winning fights. I mean, he didn't really beat. Corey Sanhanger, but technically it's a win. The drug thing. Joseo. I mean, Joseoaldo, you're telling me that Henry Suhudo, after quitting,

after leaving the UFC high and dry, that he deserves the right to leap over Joseo? Get out of here. Get out of here with that crap. Absolutely not. Go fight Cheeto. Go fight Marab. You do that.

You win. I will come on this show. And the very first thing I should say, I will say is Henry Suhudo, fights Al Jermaine, Sterling for the Bannamway title, do it now, I'm on board. I'm driving the train if that happens. But if you're really going to come back, if you're really going to do this,

show everybody you're serious about it. Because I get where the UFC's coming from. He could very well go in there and fight Aljo, win the title, and guess what? Do the same thing again and just say, peace. I want more money. I'm out of here. I'm getting 100% where the UFC's coming from. And I 100%, and I don't say this that often.

I agree with Dana White. I agree with the pettiness here. 1,000%. So not interested in that fight. If it happens, yeah, I'll watch it, but Dillashon, although deserve it more than Zahudo does, in my opinion. Zahudo has to go out there and just prove that he's serious about this. Go fight a dangerous guy on our streak, a dangerous contender.

If you beat Marab, you got a story because you beat Al Jermaine's guy. and if you beat Marlon Vera, kudos to you, man, because that's a great win. It'll age very well. Just go fight somebody else, then fight for the title. That's it.

That's how I feel about it. Let's get motivated Andy in here. Maybe not. Maybe motivated Annie was not motivated. Maybe he's a Henry Suhudo fan. I don't know. All right. Just like at your local dive bar,

this is last call. Motivated Andy. Let's see if we can get him in here. There he is. Good morning. Henry, why you got to agree with Dana? Hey, hey, I completely agree with you. He screwed the pooch,

shat on the bed, and to say something, but wouldn't it be fun? Wouldn't it be fun, though, to see Henry go out there and win and just kind of do it all over again and ruin everything for the UFC for a little bit? I feel like everything.

What does he ruin? He ruins nothing for them. You ruins nothing. I know, but it just, I mean, I'm starting to agree with everybody. It seems so sterile now with the apex. I want to see some weird goofy fights. I want to see Henry versus Wolk. I want to see, I don't know, just something.

Instead, we're getting another interim title match with Brandon Moreno and Kai Kar-France after Davidson won it like four months ago. I don't know. It's just, it's starting to seem recycled for a fan that's been willing. watching for a minute and then it's like oh just apex and then maybe we get one on the road i don't know i just want some chaos i don't know i appreciate that listen i i i invoked the chaos clause for ufc 274 and and i like chaos but i like i'm like jessie i like controlled chaos if you take me out of that element then you know all all bets are off and and i get uncomfortable but the sohudo thing it's

like if there's i see a few women in here as well let's just say you are dating somebody for a very long time and they're telling you that you're the one i'm going to marry you we're going to get married we're going to spend the rest of our lives together and then a year goes by and then two years go by then three years go by and you're waiting for that ring to come flashing out every time you go out to eat and guess what it doesn't what are we doing here what are we doing you're going to show me you're going to give me that commitment. I need that bling. Put a ring on it.

I don't believe you. Eventually gets the point where you're just like, golly, how many times are you going to say this and then not actually do it? That's how I feel about Henry Sotom. I want him back. It's a guy who likes competition. I want him back.

But just stop teasing us with it. Just come back and fight somebody. And don't play this game. game where if I don't get a title fight, I'm not fighting, then don't fight. Then go back to what you were doing. Go back to commentating Eagle FC cards. Because that's hilarious. But come on, man.

Come on. Just go fight Cheeto. I will have so much respect. And I think a lot of other people have so much respect. If he's just like, you know what? Aljo, I'm coming. Volk, I'm coming. Let me fight this guy.

Let me fight this guy. It seems like 35 is the place to be. I don't think he's, I don't think he's getting a shot at 45. I think Volkadovsky beats the hell out of him. I don't think that fight's even all that competitive for being honest. And this is not, this is not a knock on Suhudo's abilities to compete. I just think Volkadovsky is that good. I just think he's that good.

I don't know if anybody's going to beat this guy. I just don't. But show me something. Go fight Marlon Vera. It's a winnable fight for Sehudo. I would favor Sohudo to win that fight. But it's a tough dog fight with a guy who you can't hurt. You can't rattle Cheeto.

You can't hurt him. You can't do anything. But I still pick Sohudo to at least win a decision in that fight. And then on the other, and then we got Marab on the other side who's just a, he's a freaking robot. He's the Terminator. You can hit this guy as hard as you can. Like, you might wobble him, but he's got to come back. those are the two fights for Sohudo.

One of those two, and then you're good to go. And then there's no more questions. There's no more doubt. We know you're serious, bro. The ring is on the finger. We have a wedding date set. We know we're heading down the aisle. But put the ring on the finger first.

Put the ring on the finger first. Right now, Sehudo needs to go to the damn jewelry store, one step at a time. Get in the car, drive to the jewelry store. Pick out the rock. Let's just go there. Start there. But you can't be acting like the rock's already on the finger because it's not.

Well, with that being said, thank you for listening, everybody. He had to say the name. He had to say the name and got me onto a tangent with at the end of the program. So just a reminder, a man AK who's on the chat right now, who's just hanging out with us, him and I will be going live noon Eastern on the NBA Fighting YouTube channel, our man Jose Young's in Las Vegas right now. We'll be bringing you coverage of the UFC Vegas 54 weigh-ins. So stay tuned for that.

That'll go until about 2 p.m. Eastern. And then we'll take a little break, a little lunch break, if you will. 3 p.m. Eastern preview show for UFC Vegas 54 goes down on the YouTube channel. So stay tuned for that. Then we'll have your coverage of Bellator 281 MVP versus Logan Storley, interim welterweight title. and then tomorrow the latest kickoff to a People's Pre-Fight Show I think we've ever done because we have a 730 Eastern pre-LIM start time for U.S. Vegas 54, so 7 p.m. Eastern will be live for the People's Pre-Fight Show,

taking your questions all the way up until the first two fighters enter the cage and they're being introduced. They will have the press conference, then we'll have the post-fight show, and then AK and I are back on Sunday for On to the Next 1. So a busy weekend ahead of us, and it all started here. Thank you very much. of your Friday the 13th and have a heck of a morning everybody. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.

You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.