MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Is Aljamain Sterling Being Overlooked Ahead of UFC 273 Rematch With Petr Yan?

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

While most eyes seem to be on the welterweight featured bout between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 273, Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan made quite the case for themselves during Wednesday's media day in terms of generating interest. On this edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck takes calls surrounding that rivalry bout to unify the bantamweight title, Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev, other sleeper fights on the card — which includes Vinc Pichel vs. Mark Madsen getting bumped to the main card — and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 8 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello there, everybody. Welcome to a heck of a morning here on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. So we recorded this show live. I will say this. I'm in my hotel room in Jacksonville. We had some technical issues

at the beginning of the program. I mean, it is absolutely downpouring right now as I record this, but there's some different things going on with my headphones and the application on my phone just for some reason. It just kept like muting in and out. So there's some awkward moments in the show as you're trying to make it happen.

We just got to bear with it. We get a fight through it, and I appreciate your understanding with that. So a couple things, something that didn't really end up on the live show when it was all said and done are the fighter birthday. So that's how we're going to kick up the show this week. Let's talk about the fighter birthdays. Let's say happy birthday to Michael Venom Page, who is 35. He's getting ready for a big fight for the Bellator Walter Waite's interim title.

against Logan Storley next month. So stay tuned for that. That should be an interesting fight. Andre Fialho is 28 years of age. A.J. McKee, the Bellator, featherweight champion of the world, gang rate fight Patricia Pitbull. Next weekend.

The rematch, and by the way, and we've talked about this before, no one's talking about it, which is silly. And I don't know who to blame for that, but no one's talking about that fight, and it's a big one. But he's 27 today. So have birthday, Jim McKee, and Maria Agapova is 25 years of age.

In terms of what happened on this day in history, some significant things have happened on April 7th in history, including four years ago. UFC 223 went down. April 7, 2018 at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York is the culmination of one of the all-time craziest builds, craziest fight weeks, and the history of the sport. In the end, when it was all said and done and the opponents were shuffled and all things happened,

the main event of that card was Habib Ramauga Madov versus Ally Quinta for the vacant UFC lightweight title. As you recall, she talked about this on the program. Last week, it was supposed to be Tony Ferguson versus Habibn Mabagamatov, and then it was supposed to be Max Holloway versus Habibn Mawagamatov. And then Way and Day for Holloway, he was deemed medically unfit, so he was removed from the card. They talked about maybe Anthony Pettis getting the fight, and then his fight against Michael Kiesa ended up getting scratched, and Pettis didn't make championship weight. So, Al-Iquinta got the title shot, and Al goes the distance. Habib wins the fight. The title reign

of Habib Narbaghamade Up begins, and what a reign it was. But that's not the big news story of that week. Big news story that week was what happened with Connor McGreg. him showing up to Brooklyn, the Dolly incidents, the team assault with the bus, everything. And that sort of changed the card a little bit because Artem Loboff was scratched from the card because of his involvement in the incident. He was supposed to fight Bruce Lee Roy, Alex Caceres. Michael Kiesa was supposed, like I said, he was supposed to fight Pettus, but he was pulled because he got a bunch of lacerations from the broken window. There was a flyweight fight.

What was that? I'm trying to remember what it. Rayborg Brandon Moreno. Rayborg Brandon Moreno was supposed to take place to this event too, yeah. But that fight was off the card as well because of the Dahlian said. There's glass shards in Rayborg's eye.

A fight couldn't happen. And then Connor gets arrested in the court and everything that happened. It was just a freaking crazy card. Rose Domi Unis defeats Yuanian Jacek. In the rematch, she retains her title. Hanata Moikano defeated Calvin Cater, unanimous decision in the featured boat.

Zabit Maghamedh Sheripov. Getsh. Getschnerner gets a decision winner of a super impressive performance against Joe Lozahn, second round TKO, Dr. Stoppage, and then Caroline Nicole Kovic got a big win. Olivia Aubin Mercy got a TKO against Evan Dunham, Ashley Evan Smith, beat back Rowlings,

Devin Clark defeated Mike Rodriguez to kick things off. Fighting the night on that card. Zabit versus Bokka, Giac, obviously. Go back and watch that. It's crazy. And then performance of the night, OAM, Chris Gritzmacher.

And then also on this day in history, in my opinion, and still will be, and it's going to take something incredibly impressive to defeat this pick. The biggest upset in UFC history took place on this day in 2007,

15 years ago. Matt Serra shocked the world and became the UFC Worldthaway Champion, knocks out George St. Pierre in the first round. 7 to 1 underdog or 7 to 1 favor for GSP And he becomes the freaking champion of the world

How about that? Obviously got the knockout of the night Back then when they were doing performances bonuses like that Kendall Grove got submission in the night for kicking off the main card Darshoke win over Alan Belcher and fight of the night was Roger Huerta versus Leonard Garcia That fight won by Roger Huerta via unanimous decision So

We will transfer over to the last Live feed that a lot of you heard on the Twitter spaces. Again, apologies for the technical difficulties. Apology for the intro getting cut out. So, you know, we know what we'll do to make life easier. We'll take a short break. We'll take a short break. When we come back, we'll get back into the live feed.

You'll hear the calls that we're taking during the live show. And we'll be back tomorrow. 8 a.m. right before the official way-ins, before we go live on the YouTube channel. We'll do a quick addition of this program as well. We'll take your calls and everything like that. So I am Mike Heck. We'll be back in a matter of moments, and you'll hear the phone calls that we took on heck of a morning on m-mafighting.com.

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See Air Canada.com. Ariani, hello. How are you? Hello? Hello? Yes. What's going on? I'm just listening.

So you have nothing? Oh, nothing. I'm just waiting for the fights. Oh, okay. What fight are you most excited about? The popular UFC fighter, my friend. Which is who? Holy Holmes. Amanda Nunes.

Okay. All right. Fair enough. Liottomashida. All right. All right. Excellent. Well, thank you for listening.

I appreciate that. Let's bring in, we had our good friends, Zique. I don't know what happened. Let's bring in Denai. Denai? Hello. Are you going on?

What's going on? Just thinking Aljo's going to have a good night. I don't know why, but I think he might fumble into a sub or something. I don't know. Have you felt this way the whole time, or was this something you saw along the way, maybe at the media day that got you thinking that way?

What about Aljo and the way he's approached this fight makes you feel like he's going to pull off the big upset and defy the odds here? I think it's his body language and how he had to handle the situation, you know, because he can kind of lie to himself if he wanted to and, like, kind of have to beat himself on Saturday. But I think, well, one, he looks shredded right now. So there's no denying that.

But I think it'd be sort of good frame of mind. Like anything is possible. Yeah, I thank you, Denai. I actually agree with you. I will say this. And I'm not trying to be a jerk or be disrespectful. The build to this fight has been a little cringy. I actually was kind of going into Saturday feeling like Pierojohn is just going to just have a really good night.

But I'll tell you, after that media day yesterday, I think the biggest thing that stood out to me was how Al Jermaine Sterling his confidence levels, the way he's approaching this fight from a mental perspective. Dude is on fire. He's got a big chip on his shoulder. He might not admit he has a big chip on his shoulder, but he certainly seems like he has one. And then Piotr-Yon is doing a great job building this fight as well as sort of the monster in this fight.

And Al-Ramein has something to prove in terms of not. only himself, but to all the doubters out there. I mean, the way things have turned for both fighters since that first fight and the DQ is really, is really fascinating. So I'm excited for the fight. I would say I'm not, I don't think it's surpassed the Bern-Shermaia fight in terms of intrigue, but I guess if we're talking about superlatives, this is the most improved when it comes to how much I'm looking forward to this one, because those two guys crush it at Media Day, and I am here for it.

Let's bring in our man, Zieg. I think we're good now. Zieg, good morning. Mike, good morning to you, man. Shout out. Alexander K. Lee in the Twitter space's crowd, okay? One of the, uh, they're fighting faithful for sure.

I mean, you two kill it on the, uh, the, I don't want to ruin it. Post fight, uh, no point show. I don't want to ruin the real name, but, uh, let's get real. You're pulling out my heartstrings this morning, man. Why are you talking about Zabit Maghamedish Apparov? I don't want to ruin his name, but arguably one of my favorite fighters. Okay, I miss the spinning back kicks to the jugular.

I miss all of the fancy and funky fight techniques that he brought to the octagon. My question to you is, A, will we ever see him again? I know all the hype and all the stories and all the media that covers say we may. We might not. Maybe he lost the love of the game. And then my other question to you is, how did Al Jermaine Sterling is such a rock? I mean, I know he looked huge last fight, okay, but I think his game plan here is to really clench and try and take down Yon.

With that being said, I'm very interested to see if he could actually get him taken down. I think that's going to be the biggest, you know, cue mark for Mr. Sterling. If Sterling can contain Yon on the ground, maybe stabilize him a little bit, I think he's got a better shot. if he can maybe even catch an early sub. I think Pidion is just a robot, man. He's one of those, like, seasoned veteran pitchers that whenever the fight gets longer,

he registers what you're doing and what you're trying to do to him laughs and says, all right, this is how we're going to beat you, and just comes forward, like, that robot that he is. So I can't wait for that fight. Obviously, it's, you know, championship fight, co-main event. Mike, what do you think about that one?

and will we ever seize that beat? I hope you're killing it down there in Jacksonville. And, yeah, I mean, hey, we're only two sleeps away from this card, so let's get after it. Zeke, you're just, you're firing me up right now on this Thursday morning. As far as this Abit thing goes, I mean, it's 50-50 at best. I have no idea. There's, like, literally nobody knows. It's one of the big mysteries at MMA right now is this guy going to fight again, which is wild.

He's so talented. and so many people feel like this guy with a win, like maybe one win. If he came back and got one win, he would fight for a title. In fact, you could even, like, there are people who would argue that if he came back, like, right now, if he called his manager, if he called the UFC and said, I want to come back right now, maybe he fights the winner of the main event on Saturday between Volcanowski and Korean zombie. I don't think he jumps over Max Holler, but you, but you say, where I'm getting at. The UFC would probably

feel like he is qualified for a fight of that magnitude, which is so crazy. It's just so crazy. He just was running through people and having good performances of the Catholic Cater fight was a good test for him because he started off so strong

and then Cater sort of took over down the stretch and if that was a five round fight, I'm pretty confident that Cater would have won that fight. But at the same time, like, he's a super prospect. The guy is an absolute super prospect. And his brother is a really good prospect, too, for Bellator. But I would say 50, 50 at best versus a beat.

I honestly, I have no insight to this whatsoever. No clue. Sterling and Jan, again, those two guys did a tremendous job at the media day, building intrigue for this fight. And I do agree with you, Zieg. Like, Aljo is getting counted out. And I feel like Jan has a very good chance to win this fight. I just think he's the more complete guy.

And the longer the fight goes, I think the more it favors Piotr Young, because he's just not only a robot, quote-unquote, like you say, he's just a tremendous fighter. He's so well-rounded. And he's a guy, if you notice, like the Corey Sanhagen fight is a perfect example. Even the first Aljo fight is a really good example of this. The more, the longer the fight goes, the more acclimated to the opponent he becomes. He just gets so much more comfortable inside the,

Cage with the opponent. It's almost like he takes the first seven or eight minutes to just let the numbers add up in his brain. It's like a calculator. It's like a human computer in his head. And once he figures out movements and tendencies

and all that stuff, that's when he comes alive. That's when Jan comes off the leash. But I think Sterling has a chance. He's going to have to be, he's going to have to be at his very best, which I don't know how he's going to feel with this recovery and the next stuff because there are some fighters

who have come back from this injury and have come back fine, but more often than not, it's tough. It's a tough comeback. But if Aljo can come in there and compete like a Bryce Mitchell and just get yon against the fence and just chain takedowns for 25 minutes, he could win this fight. That's his path to victory. Now, if this is a in-space sort of kickboxing, like your typical the definition of a mixed martial arts bout, A.K., I know, listen to this A.K., I'm sorry. If we're mixing the martial arts, I think Piotr Yon wins this fight.

But if Al Javane turns this into a like a Vince Pichel kind of performance where he's just being frustrating and he's chaining takedown. If he goes in there like a Bryce Mitchell or like a Colby and just goes for takedowns, first one doesn't work, go for the second one. Second one doesn't work for the third one. If he fights like that, he's got a chance to win.

He's got a chance to win. But that's a lot, man. That's a lot. You're asking a lot. And I'm, I mean, kind of a spoiler, but I'm going to the on to win. But I will tell you, just after listening to Algeman Sterling talk yesterday and him answering,

my questions and stuff, fights closer than I originally thought. I will say that. As we'll bring in the casual fan on a heck of a morning. Perhaps the wheel is spinning. Casual fan, what's up? Make sure you unmute. Casual fan. Five, four, three.

Yeah, I like, hey, what's up? I like. Hey, how are you? Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. So, my question is that it's, I mean, it's mostly around Khamsat Chimaya. So I think, I mean, it's pretty obvious right now that there is a reason why Leon versus Khamaru's one has not been announced. So I do feel there is a very, very high possibility that if Kamsat wins against Burns, in whatever way, most probably feel.

If it does, it is going to be pretty much in a devastating fashion. If he's able to do that, I have a feeling he might jump Leon and might face Kumaru, because I don't think there's anyone else left. Colby and Kamsat is not going to happen. I don't think that's going to happen. Most probably, I think we are going to see Chimae versus Camaro next. And he's going to leapfrog Leon. I think that's what I feel.

What do you think? Thank you, casual fan. Yes. I mean, that was the subtitle of Tuesday show. Will Homsat, Leapfrog Leon Edwards with a win on Saturday. Again, kind of like the whether or not Zabit will come back or not conversation. It's 50-50. And I know some people are like, well, Dana White said that Leon's getting the fight.

Since when? Like, since when has things that Dana White has said become gospel? Like I understand he's the president of the company, but if you go back over the last few years, how many times has Dana White said something and it didn't happen? It's a lot.

It's several times. And you cannot tell me that if this fight is not done, if the ink is not dried on that contract. Because here's the thing, Ousman's injury in the hand and the sort of unknown when he can come back, is it going to be July, is it going to be August,

like all that stuff. that is such a detriment to Leon Edwards right now. The fact that this fight has not been signed is a huge detriment. And again, I've said since this show began a week ago, I feel like the show, I mean, I'm acting like the show's been going on for 100 episodes, but if you are Leon Edwards team, you are, I mean, you're up right now on the phone with Hunter Campbell, saying, bro, we need a contract. We need something.

because if that fight is not officially announced, by the time Hamzat Shemayev walks into that octagon on Saturday, I'm with you, man, there is a very good chance, a very good chance, especially if he goes out there and does with the odds, what the betters, the gambling community feels like Shemayev is going to do, if he goes out there and just runs through Gilbert, I mean, you've got to give the people what they want.

And unfortunately, for Leon Edwards, it will not be him. It will not be him. everyone's going to want to see how will Hamzat match up with Kamaru. You've got to throw him in for a title fight. If he goes out there and just runs through Gilbert Burns, the public is just going to go bananas for this guy. And no one's going to want to see Leon get this title fight, except for maybe his team and his family.

And it's not fair. The meritocratic way to do it is to give Leon a title fight and then have Hamzot fight the winner. I just don't know. I'm not fully convinced that that's the case. Even though Dana said it, I'm not fully convinced. I'm not. So we'll see what happens.

But obviously that fight is really interesting. Let's bring in Der Pate. Der Pate? He's got the Godfather image. I can tell you that. Good morning. Good morning. Yes, the Godfather from Germany, hey.

Hey. So if Hamzad manages to run through Burns, But there's the point. I don't think he will run through Burns. I think Burns is the first real opponent for Hamzad to prove Hamzad. You know, it's like Burns is, I think that the odds are very strange for me, to be honest. I mean, like Hamz had a good hype train, but I think Burns could. could stop him.

Thank you, sir. Yeah, I mean, listen, this is why this is the, and I know Ariel is like, I created the people's made, and there's probably truth to that, but this is the people's main event. You ask, I mean, I've talked to people around here. I've talked to fighters, other media members. I've talked to some coaches, some managers out here.

All eyes are on this fight. This is the fight. This is the one everybody is most interested in. Can Hamzat pass the litmus tests? because a lot of people felt like the Lee Jingleon fight might have been the litmusest, but now we're going from Lee Jingleong to Gilbert Burns, a guy who, if you recall, was seconds away from defeating Kamara Uson. He had Uzman rocked.

He had him hurt in the first round. And if he was a little more patient, we could be talking about Gilbert Burns being the Walterweight champion of the world right now. Obviously, that didn't happen. It is what it is. But that's such an interesting. fight. It's such an interesting fight. I will tell you one thing, though. Here's, here's sort of an outlier to me. And I've stood next to the man. I've seen him in person. I've walked by him

many times over the last day and a half. Hamzaa Chamaif is a monster. He is a gigantic dude. I don't know how he makes 170. I know he struggled in his last fight. I have no idea how this guy makes 170. He is a friggin monster. He's huge. And look at that video on the UFC's, I think it's on the UFC Twitter page. You can see sort of the first meeting between

the guys. Hamzad is just so much bigger than Gilbert Burns. He's so big. And I know Gilbert has really put a focus on his strength and conditioning and trying to get bigger and trying to get stronger. Hamzat is a giant. He is a huge

welterweight. Again, I don't know how he makes it. I don't know how he makes 170, but he's going to try tomorrow. And of course, my best friend who is on listening right now, Mr. Alexander Cayley will be hosting the way and show. That might be the most interesting story of the entire thing. Can he make

the wait? And if he doesn't, you know, I actually had somebody bring this up to me yesterday. A manager in this business night that I truly respect last night. And he asked the question, like, what if what if Shami misses weight? I know we don't want to,

We don't want to think in negative terms like that. But what if what if he misses weight? Because we saw him struggle to get there for the Jingleong fight on Fight Island. What if he misses? What if he comes in at like 172 and a half? If you're Gilbert Burns, do you just kind of take that as a win and walk away and get your show money and just like ride off into the sunset? Or do you still take this fight? So I'm curious about that.

I think honestly, at the end of the day, it doesn't seem like Shemayev is struggling or is all that concerned about making it. But it is a question that's a fair one to ask right now. What happens if he misses? What does Gilbert's new then? Does he take the fight? Does he not take the fight?

Because if he doesn't, that's a win for him either way. But I think the fans would be pretty pissed off. Like Joey T. I'm sure Joey T. If something like that happened and Gilbert didn't take the fight, you probably wouldn't be too thrilled. with that but again you get a you got to focus on number one but uh what do you want to talk about good how you doing mike so one fight that i think i wouldn't say sneaky but i think could

finish within like two and a half i'm looking at gall versus malat i noticed in milots fights wins or a loss besides his one draw has been all first round and then like mickey gaulsum the same thing most of his wins are within two rounds and under so how do you really think that fight goes because i know both are very good skill of bjj artists is but But I know Malat's a Raya Faber training partner, and I know he's striking maybe a tad bit better. But I don't know if maybe Malat has the better BJJ. So, like, I don't know if maybe someone gets caught on the hands

because Malat has got knocked out by Diwabadoo, but I don't know if Gaul has the necessarily striking of Moabado because Mwabu is a freaking nature with his size. But besides that, another one more thing before I go, Shami if he runs through Burns, it would not shock me if he jumps over, Leon Edwards, but another thing is, if Burns gets by Shemayev, yes, it's a big one. He stopped the hype train, but I don't know if he gets a title shot right away.

Maybe he waits for a match with Kobe. Yeah, and that's the question. I honestly don't think enough people are asking. It's all about what happens with Shemayev wins. And I get it, like when we subtitle these shows, the last one. I mean, like I said, will Hamzat leapfrog, Leon Edwards, with the win. Unfortunately, like, for Gilbert, he's in, I'm not going to say he's in a lose-lose situation because getting the Hamzat rub right now means something.

It is significant. But at the same time, you also sort of have this, the way MMA fans look at things. It's almost like you have, I'm not going to say, like, I don't know if excuse is the, is the right word, but there's almost like a built-in thing here. maybe it was just too much too fast. Kudos to Shemaya for taking this fight. Gilbert just proved to be the wily veteran. He's got more experience, been in bigger fights, yada, yada, yada, yada.

So in a way, like, it doesn't hurt Shemaya all that much if he loses. But how much does Gilbert gain from a win right now? Because he's probably not getting a title fight if he does win. And if he loses, like, I don't know. It's just kind of a weird spot. for him to be in right now. But I'm with you on that.

Mickey Gall, Mike Milott, interesting fight. A little spoiler alert. I spoke with Mickey Gall yesterday. So that interview will be coming to the MMA fighting YouTube channel relatively soon. So stay tuned for that. Mickey was in great spirits. I've been speaking with Mickey Gall since before he was in the UFC. I think after he was on the looking for a fight show,

the Dana White Show and he called out CM Punk. I think I was the very first person he interviewed with. And I've been interviewing Mickey for, I mean, literally, since he was a one and no pro. Never met in person. Never ever met in person until yesterday. First time. And we met. We had a great conversation.

And he is about his content and is happy and comfortable with himself as I've ever seen him ever. he's at Sanford and May. He's training with Gilbert Burns, training with Ian Gary, Michael Johnson, guys like that. Jason Jackson has really helped him a lot. Just speaking with him,

looking in his eyes and just seeing his demeanor. The dude's in a good spot. Mike Mollat's really good. The dude is a grinder, good fighter, very solid. I like the fight. I do think this one probably plays out on the feet.

uh if we're being honest but we'll see it's it's a good fight and i don't think it goes to the distance i'm with you i think we're gonna uh oh i'm sorry yeah technical difficulties today i don't know why like my phone continues to like mute on the spaces over and over again i don't know why it's super frustrating i just realized that uh so a couple things the yeah the over under 500 000 buys It's going to be close. I think it goes over. I think the Hamzat factor puts it over. I don't think we get to a million.

But I think the UFC is kind of in a place right now where unless the card is just absolute dog crap, it's going to do 500,000 buys by itself. Like the brand, the UFC brand, I think it invokes enough interest. I'm curious what July is going to look like in how they build those two pay-per-view events. Because as we talked about on Tuesday, it is very expensive to be an MMA fan. It really is. It's very expensive to be an MMA fan.

And how will people sort of gauge July when there's two events at $150 to spend? Having said that, I feel like this, like just being here and just seeing the vibe and just seeing what's around me and how people are feeling about this card. This one has, this one has UFC 199 vibe. to it. And what I mean by that is it's a good card. You get two title fights. There's a lot of build behind the Shamaa Burns fight. But if we're being honest here,

if you're looking at two main events, if you're looking at Volkanowski, Korean Zombie, which I love that fight, and then you're looking at the Charles Oliver Justin Gachey lightweight title fight. If you had to choose one, which one are you choosing? I think

95% of the people are going to choose the latter. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's no disrespect to Volcanowski or Korean zombie. It's just the Gaichi factor. It's just the Olivera factor. It's just that divisional factor. I think if we're weighing the two,

if you can only watch one, you're probably watching 274 just for that fight. And plus Rosedomunes on the card. So I feel like 274 outdo 273 in terms of pay-per-view buys. But there's a, there's a 199 vibe to this card where it's going to be, I think there's going to be a lot of people who are like, okay, I like it. I'm interested in it. I want to know what's going to happen, but am I going to smack this on 75 bucks for it?

And I have a feeling that by the time the post-fight show happens, those people who chose not to buy it are going to be kicking themselves in the ass. They're going to be thinking of themselves, damn it, I should have bought it. That's the vibe I'm getting right now. And I've kind of felt that way in the buildup. But after seeing everybody's energy out here, I mean, I really feel that way. I think this is going to be a special card. I do. I think in the aftermath there's going to be a lot to talk about.

All right, we're going to take two more calls, a very busy day. Let's bring in Tim Monfels. Tim, good morning. Mike, how's it going? What's that, buddy? I just wanted to get your preview and prediction of a couple of fights this weekend. I haven't heard a whole lot of people talk about with Tisha Tori. and McKenzie Dern and then Garsino and Tibera.

Thank you, Tim. Appreciate you. Sounds like you're listening to the car and kudos to you. That's like the dream I've had for this show. So Jarsino or Tibera, I mean, listen, actually, in an interesting way, I feel like both fights are kind of, we can kind of break down both fights exactly the same.

If Tibera takes Jarsino down and can get takedowns and establishes wrestling, it's going to be a long night for Jarsino. And I know Jarzini is working on the wrestling and trying to improve it, especially from a defensive standpoint. He's just, I mean, listen, it's a lot. It's a lot to learn at this level. And to have to really learn it and try to establish that side of your game,

this early, like at this point in your career, it's tough, man. It's super tough. But again, and I kind of look at the Torres-Durne fight the same way. And it's kind of a cop-out answer. And it's kind of the, you know, the on-paper look at it. but there's nothing, I mean, that's what it is. The fight stays on the feet. Jarzino wins.

Tybor can crack too, but if the fight stays on the feet, if it's a in-space kickboxing match, Jarzino will win that fight. With the Dern Torres fight, same thing. Torres can defensively wrestle and stay on her feet and not engage in grappling or engaging clenches with McKenzie Dern. If she gets to keep this on the feet and just throw strikes, she got a very good chance to win this fight.

Antisha's in a great place too. Great place mentally. Her confidence is on a whole new level. She talked about that at her media day scrum, talking about how she has gone with a sports psychologist and it's really helped her with her confidence. And I feel like McKenzie has a lot of confidence too despite coming off the loss to Marina Rodriguez.

So I think both fights you can kind of look at if we're trying to keep it simple here, stays on the feet, Jarzini Otisia. if the fight hits a mat, it's Taibora and McKenzie Dern. The problem with McKenzie is, and I think Tisha is aware of this too, and she's very defensively and she's a vet. McKenzie's just one of those fighters that if she just gets you down, I mean, it may be over within a minute.

She's just that good. She's that good. And you feel like you can prepare for it, but when you're on the mat with somebody at that level, it can be overwhelming. It really can, no matter how many fights you have. So both fights I look at similarly, if we're striking

it's Jarzini Torres if we're grappling we're going the other way. All right I'm going to take I'm going to take two more. I've got to bring in Chris Martin. Chris, good morning. Good morning, Mike.

What's up, buddy? Talking about that Jarzino Tabura fight, are you surprised that they didn't put that on the main card instead of the Pichel Madsen fight since

the UFC loves to start main cards with a banger and with Madsen's heavy wrestling style it seems like that has a potential to maybe be a bit of a snoozer excuse me really good question I

I knew this is coming at some point because this has been a very popular discussion this year has been card placement and belt placement on these cards I actually like I think I think what the UFC has done is correct. I like the Mattson Pichel fight. I know Matson, Marka Madsen

has a very wrestling heavy game and oftentimes it could be discouraging to fans. But at the same time, he's fighting Vince Pichel, who is a freaking animal. And this is going to be a dog fight between those two guys. Like the Marka Matson-Claeghita fight was

a fun fight. He's fighting a vet who just has that dog in him. And I feel like this is going to be a very similar fight. And I know see, here's one of these here's one of these fights where if you look at stats and you look at numbers, they don't really tell the story. Vince Pichelle,

and I actually talked to a member of his management team yesterday about this, if you look at the U.S.C. stats, and this is what I saw the other day, and I don't know if it's 100% accurate, so I'm just kind of trying to play up my memory here. Vince Pichel, his takedown defense, 25%. 25%. So if you, so if, with,

What that means is if you try to take down, if you attempt four takedowns on Vince Bichelle, you will take him down three times. But the problem with Vince is he gets up. He gets up. He doesn't do, like, he doesn't sit there and just defend takedons. You take him down, you get a sense of confidence. He lures you into a false insecurity, and then he gets up. And then you take him down again, and then he gets up again.

And then you get on top of him. You improve your position. and then he scrambles. He gets back to guard. He gets back up again. Like Vince is a dog. I love the fight. I actually think it's to be a really good fight.

Definitely his fight in the potential. I dig it. The Jars you need a Taibora fight. I understand why this one is not on the main card because this one kind of has potential to be a snoozer. If these two go out there and just start slinging, it'll be a fun one because it's heavyweight. but I have a feeling that Tybor is not going to want to play that game.

It's going to want to take Jarzanier down and just kind of grind them out. I don't know if that one gets a finish. I think Tybor probably wins a decision here. But I think in the long run, and this is just my vibe, I feel like we're all going to be happy with the decision the UFC made to put this fight on the main card over the heavyweight fight. Let's get no-name MMA in here. Good morning.

A couple of little things. So yeah, Frozen Strike versus Tybalt. I think is going to be a sleeper. I mean, Tyberra is a wrestler and Frozen Strike. He waits until the last round. I think that placement was perfect, in my opinion. Besides that,

yeah, I think for either person, if Burns or Chamea win, they get Kobe. I think another thing that I will disagree with you on is this, if Chamey of loses, I think the luster is gone. I think we really take a step back and go, yeah, we might have overshot here. He was ranked 10.

We gave him Lee. He destroyed. If he destroys Burns, he has to leapfrog Leon. I mean, there's no besides the 10-fight winning streak, and I'm being completely hypocritical here. But besides the 10-fight winning streak, which is insane, Leon is what the people want. I mean, I mean, not Leon, uh, Hamza. Hamzaat is what the people want. And if he goes out there and he dominates,

it's hard to argue against somebody who's dominating, absorbed. I've seen two different things. Two or one strike, four strikes attempted against him with him landing like 220 or something like that. It's hard to pin up a guy like Leon who struggled against Nate at the very, well, he didn't even struggle. He steamrolled Nate. but the message out of it is

Nate almost had you. So that's what Hamzot's doing. It's like, Nate almost had you. Why are you even putting my name in your mouth? I don't know. That wasn't even my question. Sorry. Dana White on Jake Paul's Impulsive show

a couple of weeks ago or a week ago said that he had the next one up in line after him for president of UFC. He said that a lot of people would know who he is and that it wouldn't be D.C. Do you have an inkling of who it would be

100? I mean, we know Hunter Campbell, we know McManor and Sean Shelby, but that's the whole hierarchy of the UFC that I know, or that's known to me. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, no name of me. The Colby thing, I mean, I think if Gilbert wins,

there's a chance the UFC tries to make that fight, but this is definitely a difference between trying to make it, and it actually happening because I don't know, I just don't know what Colby's interest is in that fight. I mean,

if the UFC can present it to him as a number one contender fight and like if you win, you get that third fight with Camaro, maybe he takes it. Shamiyev is interesting because maybe like, there's a,

like I said, there's a very good chance the UFC could just be like, sorry, Leon, and just jump Homs out up there. But if this fight is done, and honestly, like the UFC is presenting it is presenting themselves and moving forward as if this fight is done.

But again, we haven't seen a graphic. We haven't seen it announced. And in today's UFC, if you don't see that, like if this fight is not officially announced, then it's not 100%. It's not. And that's why I've been saying this for months now. If you are Team Leon, you're going to get that from 95 to 100. You have to do it quickly, especially.

if Shamaika goes out there and wins. In terms of the Dana replacement, no idea. I don't see. I have no clue. Maybe, I mean, the UFC has some delightful people that work for the company.

I have no idea. Literally no clue. All right. I'm going to take one more. I don't know. Maybe I'm lying. Who knows? This is a very busy day. Christopher.

What's up? what's going on? All good. Just before I asked my question, I only just jumped in now. Have you had any questions about open scoring? I don't want to tread the water. No, we have not.

We have not. So kind of like a fun question for you, like a true or false. Ten years from now, do we have open scoring in the UFC, yes or no? No. I don't think so. Yeah, neither do I.

You're the man, Christopher. Almost every show you, Colin. So last night I hit dinner with with Jose and John Morgan and we talked about this. We talked about open scoring and there is we could have very easily gotten into a debate about open scoring. But my conclusion and it has been sort of this way from the beginning, I don't care. Like honestly, I do not care. There are a lot of people who are so passionate about this conversation on one side of the other. You're either pro open scoring or against open scoring, and those are who are on that side of the fence, I mean, they vehemently just battle it out against the other side. I could not care less,

honestly, at this point. Like, if it happens, cool, like, if you want to try it, all right, but I don't care. It is not an arguable point. I don't think it changes anything. Like, it makes fights, like it makes fighters believe it makes fighters sort of see where they're at but i think for the viewer i don't think it does anything i actually think it like ruins the allure of it all because if a fighter goes out there and wins the first two rounds and you know that and you see how the third round plays out unless it's a 10a like there's no mystery there so from an entertainment perspective it doesn't do much but i mean like i get but i'm not a fighter either i'm not a fighter if I if we think the judging is is suss as uh as the cool one say if we think the judging is suss

i would understand people wanting to know where you're at but even ally quinta when he was on the show last week and talked about open scoring was like i kind of like not knowing i kind of like the mystery behind it i i kind of feel how how i'm performing i know whether i'm winning or losing and there's some intrigue to that, at least for him. Now, how would like the Ian Garys of the world view it? That's an interesting discussion. The 21, 22, the up-and-comers, do they want open scoring, this next generation of guys? I don't know.

Honestly, I don't care. I really don't care if it happens or it doesn't happen. It'd be cool to just, like, see it play out, but I don't think we're ever going to see in the UFC. Even if they go to a state. where it's commissions that it's an option. I don't think the UFC does it. Tristan, what's up, buddy? Mike. I see Mr. A.K. Lee is in here.

Probably. Oh, here we go. He probably heard. He probably heard. He'd be going at him the other day, but it is what it is. I will not take blatant disrespect for him on Blancho. That's all I got to say about that. Besides that, let's two real quick,

and then I'll let you speak about this. All right, for the McKenzie. If McKenzie Dern versus Tisha Torres fight, if McKenzie wins, I don't think she moves up or moves up or anything. I think she's going to stay where she's at because the person that's lurking in the background and people better start, you know, looking on to this. And that person is Tatiana Suarez. Now, she, there's a piece up on her on the MAAfighting.com on site that, you know,

she's testing at the knee. She's hoping that she'll be back for July for International Fight Week. She just needs one fight and she's getting a title show. That is just, that is a fact. That is not even like, that's not even an opinion. That's a fact because of the amount of competition she's beaten. She's a ain't known. She's beating top people.

We're talking she beat Carlo Espaza and she beat, you know, Alexa Grasso. So, you know, what do you think about that? Her lurking in the back from the National Railweight Division. And then my second question is about Shopcombe Rachmano. Where do you, with Shamaid, when Shami, Shami wins, you know, is he in a better position for himself to be like, okay, because people already asking questions to Rachmanov about Shemaya, that fight happening?

And listen, I think that fight is going to happen between him and Neil Maggi. That fight is going to have, that is, because they've already verbally, they haven't officially verbally agreed, but on Twitter, they, he's, he's calling for that fight and he's like, all, let's go. And, I mean, listen, man, if Rachmano beats Neil Magny. and then he goes and let's say he fights Brady and beats him back-to-back wins like that i mean he's gonna everybody's gonna be like oh oh here we go this is what they're waiting for so just your opinion of that those two uh those two situations right there all right thanks

thanks buddy appreciate you tristan and i have and even a k at times we have a like a fun little rivalry with tristan gordat he's a he is the ultimate onto the next one fan and we appreciate him very much for that. So the Tatiana Swarer's situation, you're probably right. If she fights her, if she is a straw weight, that's the question. Because even when she was thinking about coming back

a little while ago, it was going to be at 125. And she was actually booked for her. After, who do they book her with? It was at 125. I know this, I'm pretty sure if that's what it was. I got to, now you make me sit down. I've gone from pacing around in my hotel, room to now having to sit down and Google things.

That's what the show is all about. Where are we at? All right. So, and I believe that when she comes back, it would be at 125. Now, it all depends sort of where, Roxanne Mottafari. All right, she's booked with Roxanne for UFC 26 in September, and then she had a knee injury, which is why that fight didn't happen. That was at 125.

and I would guess that her next fight will also be at 125. So it just depends. Like maybe she goes to 125 and she just feels amazing up there. And she's like, nah, I ain't cutting that extra 10 pounds anymore. Then obviously the stakes raised a little bit at 115. 115's interesting. And I think Tatiana could really make things fun at 125. I mean, 125 is a developing division.

We have these. we sort of have like the established veterans who are up there right now and then we have this this new crop the aaron blanchefields and the casey o'neal so forth and so on but now you put taty and the swores in the mix with the misha tates makes things a little interesting makes things a little more a little more fun at least uh for for interest levels when it comes to pay-per-reason trying to book big fights so yeah i i mean kind of TBD on that and then the rock Monoff Magni situation. So, okay, so I'm, I mean, we had a conversation, so I'll talk it.

So that fight, that fight is being discussed. That is, that is one thing I can tell you, that fight is being discussed. It's being discussed for June. It is not done. I would say to put it in Helwani terms, I think we're over, we're over midfield. We're over midfield. I'll say that. no contracts, nothing like that.

I would say we're probably on like the 47-yard line, like heading towards the end zone. So not 100% confident in it, but it's heading in the right direction. I will say that. So the UFC is interested in that fight. The fighters are certainly interested in that fight. It is a, from what I gather,

it's kind of a business thing. You know, if it's, if it makes dollars, it makes sense kind of thing, as it should be. but there is interest there in making that fight, and it could happen, and it could happen as early as June, but nothing to report, nothing to write about,

but that fight is being discussed. All right, Indigo. You have the final word. How are you? How are you doing? I'm a little bit sick, but other than that,

I'm all right. Yeah, I was just a crush in me, so I'm going to do you. I just had a quick question about, It's a little bit related to this upcoming card because I know that DuPlesi had to... He had the Hernandez fight and then the Gasolm fight and those didn't work out.

And Andre Munez also, Uriah Hall, had to pull out of their fight. And I know they were matched up a few months ago. And I think that fight's so good. So I think that they should do that again. I think that Munez is a real dark horse in the division. Like, if he gets a hold of you, it's, you're pretty much done.

Yeah, I, uh, I completely agree with you. I think, I think there's, uh, there's a lot on both of those guys. Both of those guys are very interesting, uh, very interesting up and comers in this division. Yes. So de Pleistie was offered that fight with, with Muniz. There was actually preliminary talks about trying to make that, trying to put new knees and bump him up a week and make, put that,

on this card this week. Obviously, that didn't happen. And then there was talks about maybe just putting it on next week's card, but DuPy said no. And I don't blame him. I honestly do not blame him at all. I put this out there for the world to see on Twitter. I do not blame this guy at all.

To go through everything he has gone through from opponent to opponent to opponent, all these different styles, all these different fighters. and then you're asking him when he's supposed to fight on this massive card and he's got all these different opponents and he gets matched up with with Calvin Gasselam, a guy who is one half of one of the craziest fights in the history of the division. And then you're asked to bump back a week to fight Andre Muniz. Like there's no reward there. There's no reward for Drickus DuPla C. If he wins that fight, it's like, cool, you want to fight.

And the hardcore fans understand that that that would be a really good. good win. But like the casual audience has like they they they wouldn't understand. So to me like the risk reward factor, the percentages, they don't line up. They just don't line up for me. They don't. So I have no issue with what, with Drick is turning down that fight. I'm with him. I would have turned it down too. If I was a manager, I said, nah, dude, we're not doing that. You're trying to run, you're trying to make a move in this division. And now we're going to put you in there with a very stylistically difficult matchup with a guy who is a dark horse,

a guy who could be fighting for a world championship in two years. What, like, what is he, like, what would he gain from beating Andreemunez? Like, he would get a ranking spot in the UFC rankings, but like, what does that mean in 2022? I mean, it would get him a spot on the only rankings that matter. The NBA fighting global rankings.

He'd be mentioned on, The ranking show. But that's legitimately, like, the biggest thing that could happen. There's just no reward outside of just getting the second half of your paycheck for fighting a guy like Andreemini. So I'm completely with Jerkis-Dupleasy. Well done. His management team, his coaches, all that. You guys made the right choice.

I'm with you. But with that being said, it is a busy day. We're getting out of here. And what? Wow. It is, I mean, it is downpouring in Jacksonville. It is absolutely just crushing rain out there. I can't even see out my window right now.

That's how hard it's raining. So what a day? And I got a flat tire last night. So I have to go take care of that right now. And I'm glad to see that it's a freaking thunderstorm out there that I have to drive through to get my tire fixed. But we are done. Tomorrow, we're back.

8 a.m. Eastern. And it's kind of like the Way-In show, pre-show, free for All Friday, taking all your questions, getting ready for the Way-N show, which will be hosted by my best friend, Alexander Kaylee. Jose and I will be on site for the Way-ins. And we got the press conference going down today as well, which should be super fun, I hope. We will have Volcanowski, Korean Zombie, Sterling, Jan, Burns, Shemaiah, and I believe Mackenzie Dernsey Tisha Torres will be there as well. So we will have coverage of that. We will be there. And that's it.

We get some fun stuff coming. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but there's a couple of very fun things in the works over the next two days. One of those things could happen in the next couple of hours. And if it does, it'll be super cool. I can tell you that. As far as BCL goes, we're not going to be doing video for BTL this week,

only because of the scheduling and everything going on. But Jedd and I, we're going to go back to sort of the old school one-on-one roundtable where we just hit record and just shoot the breeze. You guys seem to dig that when time is not on our side, and that's what we're going to do. So looking forward to that. Stay tuned to the M.A Fighting Podcast Network, not only for this show, but for that show and all the other stuff we're going to be doing this week. So thank you guys off for listening.

Thank you guys off for waking up early. I am Mike Heck. Have a heck over the rest of the day. We'll see you guys later on at the UFC 273 press conference. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.