MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Is Justin Gaethje Overlooking Charles Oliveira? Marlon Vera's Title Hopes, More

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

Could Justin Gaethje be overlooking Charles Oliveira ahead of his shot at the UFC lightweight title this Saturday at UFC 274? That question is discussed following Gaethje's recent comments ahead of this weekend's pay-per-view event in Phoenix, Ariz. In addition, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck recaps Marlon Vera's biggest career win over Rob Font at UFC Vegas 53, along with Katie Taylor's split decision win over Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden, while also taking listener questions about Vera's title hopes, why I seemingly don't seem to care — at least, at this moment — about Henry Cejudo coming back and how he could learn something from Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson's fight against Michael Chandler, the ongoing social media saga involving Canelo Alvarez and Kamaru Usman, 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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We are live, and then shortly thereafter, we will be on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Hope you having a great day. Apologies for the later start time. A lot going on in the life of yours truly. Right now I am at an auto repair shop getting my brakes checked out, hopefully getting brakes replaced, and I wasn't going to leave you hanging. So we're going to do a show. I don't know how long we're going to do the show for,

maybe a half hour, maybe a little longer. I don't really know. We have a lot to talk about because we're coming off a very busy weekend in the world of combat sports. We have a massive pay-per-view coming up on Saturday. UFC 274 in Phoenix, Arizona. We get two title fights. We have a very interesting lightweight matchup that a lot of people are very excited about

between Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler. Made event for the lightweight championship. We have Charles Olivera defending against Justin Gaichi. And for the strawweight championship, a rematch. This time, Rosnami Eunice is the champion, and she will be defending against the former champion. and the inaugural champion. Carla Sparza.

Finally, Carla Sparza gets her shot. So it should be a very fun card. Very much looking forward to it, of course. MA fighting will be on the scene around Jose Youngs. And Sean Al-Shadi will be there, bringing you all the goods from Phoenix, Arizona. But this past weekend was a lot of fun. It was tremendous.

We had UFC Vegas 53, breakout moment for wow I see the heavyweight champion of the world francis and gano in the room right now hello francis hope you're having a a wonderful day sir and feel free if you want to jump in here we would love to talk to you sir but anyways marlin vera great moment against rob font that guy is an absolute zombie because rob faunt nah frances left rob marl vara's just a zombie you got hit by rob font a lot. I mean, an absolute ton of times. In fact, it was historically

the greatest striking discrepancy for a unanimous decision in UFC history. Rob fought outlanded Marlon Vera by over 100 significant strikes, but Marlon Vera did all the damage. So, here's the thing. If you want to go back and

these cars driving all over the place, you want to go back and learn how to judge a fight in today's UFC, in today's world of MMA, the new standard of judging, or at least the refreshed standard of judging, go back and watch the last two Rob Font fights, and those will tell you exactly how to do it, because Rob Fon outlanded both of those guys by a significant margin and landed some good shots, but Marlon Vera with the big knockdowns, Jose Aldo with the big knockdowns,

Rob Fon looked like a different human being. at the end of that fight. And Marlon Vera didn't even look like he was in a fight at all, which is just wild to think about. It's a tremendous performance from Marlon Vera. Well done. And then across the country on the East Coast, Madison Square Garden, just an absolute tremendous fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.

Unbelievable stuff. The atmosphere was incredible. And there are very few times where I cover this sport, and I'm watching an event, and I get that fomo, that I'm like, damn, I wish I was there, wish I was there to see this all happen and experience it all. Last year, I felt it when Brandon Moreno won the flyway title, that moment in Phoenix, the crowd just going absolutely bananas. It was just like, man, like, what would that have been like to be in the arena?

And just feel that energy, because that was an incredible moment. and then just watching everything that happened at MSG between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, I got the FOMO. I got the FOMO in a big way. And Katie Taylor gets the win, super close, super competitive fight, and now he gets to do it again.

In fact, they can just fight each other for the rest of their careers, and I'll be a happy camper because I'll watch that every time. And if they can do that in Ireland, oh my gosh. It's going to be hard to top that environment in MSG, but good grief. those two ladies would probably get it done if that fight took place in Ireland. So very busy weekend at MMA, in combat sports, boxing. By the way, I have to say something because I don't really look at comments all that often.

But once in a while, I'll go and look at the podcast number since I host like 815 shows on the network. I just see how people are rating them and see comments and things like that. We had one person actually jump in our ratings review section of the podcast. and they said, we need to stop talking about boxing. We need to start covering the real athletes that fight in MMA. Now, I have a big issue with that statement because you are coming out and you're saying that what Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor did on Saturday was not real? Like, they're not real athletes?

What a friggin' joke. What a friggin joke that was. I read that and I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. you take your one star and you stick it where the sun don't shine, son? Golly, I could not believe that I read that this morning. What a joke. But anyways, I see a lot of people waiting patiently to give their thoughts

on whatever is going on in combat sports. If you want to talk about Saturday, you want to talk about this Saturday, you want to talk about some other stuff, I'm all ears. Let's go. Christopher. The Undertaker Street continues on, my man. How are you? Mike, how are you doing, man?

Wonderful. What's up? Yeah, I'm kind of curious what your thoughts are on the news of Dan Hooker announcing that he's not going to fight again at 1.45. And kind of what I wanted to parlay that with is Grant Dawson on the weekend was amazing. I came in here last week and I said that, you know, I'm not too convinced about him at 155. Shut me up completely because Jared Gordon is an impossible. guy to stop and Grant did exactly that, right? So I guess my thoughts are, what do you think about pair and those two together, Dan Hooker and Grant Dawson?

Or another thought would be, how about Grant Dawson against Bobby Green? Kind of getting the rub of Bobby Green's popularity. Maybe you could put those guys like doing like a main event of a fight night or something like that. Just wondering what your thoughts are. Thank you, Christopher. Always great insight. The Dan Hooker thing, I guess.

it he makes perfect sense because he's in the exact same boat in either division so if you're in the exact same boat in either division why go through all the hell to drop to 145 when you don't have to you know what i mean why go through that you're in the same boat you're going to fight a killer either way so if you're going to fight a killer you might as well be in the best possible position that you could be in in terms of your physical health that cut to 145 cannot be easy especially at this point in his career. He made it against Arnold Allen. The fight was crazy. He got stopped. So either way, he's either going to fight just an absolute, he's either going to fight like an Iliate to Poria at 145 or, as you mentioned, a guy like Grant Dawson at 15 who, I just don't

see a ton of 55ers in the top 15 that are going to be super excited to fight Grant Dawson, especially after that performance. I have been, I'm one of the first people on the Grant Dawson train. I've been hyping that kid up since he was on the regional scene. I knew how good he could be, and I still don't think he's hit his ceiling yet. So, yeah, Dan Hooker versus Grant Dawson makes a lot of sense to me. Bobby Green, yeah, you could do it. I don't know if it's a main event.

I just don't think Grant has that cachet just yet. I think a couple more wins. Maybe you put him in that boat, but Grant's a great fighter. We just got to get people just need to get to know him a little bit more, and I think people are after that performance against Jared Gordon, but people have got to get to know the personality, know who he is a little bit more, get a couple other big wins.

But I like the Dan Hooker idea. That'd be a good one to kind of get him over that hump. Tristan, Gordat joins us. What's that, buddy? Hey, Mike, what's going on? First of all, what's going on? I don't know what's going on, but, like, I was listening to Otno. and like kind of the stain

the disdain that you have for Henry Sehudo I mean I'm like whoa I'm like I'm saying about where is this coming from I mean I don't know this I don't know this because I remember Jose Young's was just like you do remember he

you know he was double champ and you were just like I'm not having it man I don't care about this guy like no like I've never seen you this way where you were so disdain about Henry Sehudo I was pretty taking a back, but I love it.

I was stunned. But my question is, with Justin Gichi versus Charles Olivera. I read the article that I think Jedman Shoe said with Gaichi issuing a warning about Charles Olivera that, I believe Gatchi said that he's going to make him quit just like he's had, just like Olivera has, you said, you know, quit in previous fights before. But do you think he's looking, do you think Gaiti's looking at this fight the wrong way? Like, I don't know, I feel like he may be underestimating Charles that he feels maybe like Olivera hasn't got past those issues of where we've done, we've probably seen him try to find a way out.

And he's deciding that, you know, I'm going to make him do that again in this fight coming up on Saturday. So your thoughts on that fight and how the approach Gachi is taking. All right? Thanks. Thank you, Tristan. And let me just say, there's no disdain for Henry Suhudo. It's just that I don't care. It's just that I don't care.

I don't care that he says he's coming back. I don't care. Until he actually gets into the Octagon and fights somebody, I don't care that he's coming back. I hated the retirement. It was just the worst timing for it. I think for some reason, he expected it to be, like, met with so much more sadness. But nobody cared. It was over in two seconds.

The UFC didn't even really, like, care. Dana White immediately said, okay, Pieter Yan's going to fight for the title. We're done. We've already moved on. The card was, like, the card had just ended. It wasn't even the next day before the UFC had moved on from Henry Suhudo. So you can't expect me to be all that in thrott. And then what is Henry Suhudo done since he retired?

I'm coming back to fight this guy. I'll fight this guy. I'm going to beat up Volcanovsky. I'm going to beat up Yon. I'm going to beat up this guy. I'm going to beat up. No, you're not. No, you're not.

You haven't beat up anybody. You haven't fought anybody in the last two years. When you get in there and you fight somebody and you take a hard fight, like if he goes out and just says, you know what, I'm not going to fight for the belt. I'm not going to get $42 million a fight like I think I'm going to get. I'll go fight Marlon Vera. I'll go fight one of these guys and prove to you that I should be fighting for the title,

that I am the best band-a-way in the world, that I'm one of the best combat sports athletes of all time. You do that. My tune changes. My tune changes. But until you actually get in there and you fight, I'm keeping the same energy, bro. I'm keeping the same energy.

I don't care. I don't care. I don't care until you do it. So that's how I feel about Henry Suita. As far as Justin Gaci, Charles Lover, man, I thought after the Dessuporier fight, we were over this narrative that Charles Oliverer was a quitter. I thought we were past that.

I guess not. I guess not. Justin Gachi sure doesn't seem past it. And I get it. I feel like if there's anybody who could take any fighter and make them feel super uncomfortable and put him in a decision-making point with like, do I want to keep fighting this guy

or do I just want to be like, eh, here's a way out. I don't want to do this anymore. I feel like Justin Gachie's the guy that you would have those thoughts against more than anybody else. But I don't know. I don't think he's overlooked at him. I just think maybe this is mind games.

This is just tried to sell a fight. I don't know. But I love it. I love the fight. These two guys don't even need to do media day. They don't need to do a press conference. They didn't need to do anything. Just weigh in.

Show up to ceremony of way-ins, face off, and then fight each other on Saturday. And that's all I need. These two guys are not going to get on the microphone and talk trash and sell a million more pay-per-views. There's not. Just get in there and fight. I don't care.

about any sort of other buildup for it. The fight rules. It's one of the best fights of the year. I can't wait to see it. Can't wait to see it. At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and

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Business. You may have heard of the sex cult nexium and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack. But she's never told her side of the story until now. People assume that I'm like this pervert. My name is Natalie Robamed. And in my new podcast, I talked to Alison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual sexual? trauma to other people. I don't even know how to answer that question.

Allison After Nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify. Let's get Tadjic Bay in here. Of course, we see his tweets on the broadcast about 50 times every Saturday. Hello, sir. Good morning. Hello, Mike. Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. Yes, Mike, you're one of the very few MMA journalists that I actually listen to and follow closely. So, just want to take a moment to, you know,

give you kind of a token of appreciation for what you do and how you report news. Thank you, sir. Yeah, as far as Dawson Dosson versus who was the suggestion. I think it was Dossin and then Bobby

Green for a possible main event. No. Not Dawson. Dan Hooker. With Hooker 155, like I think the problem right now is maybe Dawson is one fight away from fighting hooker and hooker kind of like his role as the gatekeeper is already kind of affirmed with his recent setbacks but I think what makes sense is the battle of the veterans if you put actually Hooker versus Barbossa they have already fought and they both will be

comfortable at want to settle the score at 155 that's kind of I think the match to make as far as the Dawson I think it's a little bit too premature to push him towards the top 15 of the weight class. I mean that's I think it's a little bit hard of a matchup and a little bit too early for him. And one comment about Hill versus Hermanson. Hill versus Hermanson is a co-main event for UFC London. I'm not sure why the fight has been announced but it has not been confirmed as the co-main event. So that's maybe something that you can do in the report because a lot of media outlets are reporting the fight happening but nobody's reporting that it's a the co-main event.

Thank you, Tadig Bay. Appreciate the kind words. Yeah, Till, I mean, I have a hard time believing that Tilling Hermanson is not the co-man event. The reason that maybe the UFC hasn't confirmed that or anybody else is maybe they got something else in the works. I don't know. But that's the assumes co-main event.

That's just, that's a great fight. That's great matchmaking right there. I feel that's really the fight for Darren Till. Like, I feel, and this is no disrespect to Jack Herbanson because I think Jack Manson is a very good fighter. But if Darren Till is got to get a win against a top 10, top 12 middleweight, it's got to be against Jackermanston. I feel like he matches up pretty decently there.

But a lot of the other middleweights, it's a tough, it's a tough hang for Darren Till. It just is. But he has taken a lot of time off, which I think is a great thing he's been doing. He's training with Hamzad and the guys over at All-Stars, which is another very smart move on his part. So yeah, I'm looking forward to the fight. We'll see what happens. Darren Till, I think the closer we get to that card, obviously the London crowd, the atmosphere, UFC London is the best events of the year so far. Like, it's not even close. That was the most enjoyable, just incredible stuff. So I think the closer we get to that fight, the more

excitement, the more intrigue we're going to have, more on the Darant Till side. Can he get back in the wind column? Can you have an impressive performance? And he's doing it in London. So the crowd's going to be absolutely going bananas for him. You couldn't ask for a better situation if you're Darren Till trying to get back on track. As far as the Grant Dosser that goes, yeah, I mean, listen, I actually don't even remember who I suggested he fight on the next one at this point

because they all just so, they blend together so much. But the Barbosa idea is not bad for Dan Hooker, excuse me. That's not a bad one. Yeah, that would work. like the Charles Jordane fight, I think that makes good sense for Edson Barboza. Charles Jordan versus Edson Barboza. I love the callout. I love the, we're going to fight till somebody dies,

mentality he has. So, listen, if they do Edsebarboza versus Dan Hooker, I'm watching the crap out of that. If they do Edson, if they do Dan Hooker against Grant Dawson, I'm watching that. If they do Dan Hooker versus Bobby Green, I'm watching that. Dan Hooker against anybody, I'm watching it. and then Dawson yeah maybe he needs another win before he gets that fight but again i just don't know if there's going to be a lot of top 15 guys who are going to be like yeah grand dawson let's go that

sounds like a ton of fun can't wait to have a big huge probably welterweight guy who fought at 455 now getting comfort at 155 who has changed training camps who will just take me down and get on my back for 15 minutes that sounds like fun so i think i think doss is going to have a a little bit of a tough time. Find in a fight. Now, we have to also figure out there's, if you follow the great Daniel Rubenstein, one of my favorite managers on Twitter, there seems to be a little conundrum at 155 as well,

because Armand Serukion, again, another 155, who I think is going to have a hard time finding himself some fights. He's supposed to fight on June 25th. According to Daniel Rubenstein, the fight has been offered to Gregor Gillespie, which I actually like that fight a lot. He feels like Greg Gillespie is not going to take the fight.

And they said if Greg Gillespie doesn't take the fight, they're going to do Sarukion versus Batush Gammrot, which is ridiculous. So either way, so we kind of see how that plays out, see where Brad Riddell fits in all of this stuff. Yeah, 55 is just a lot of fun.

Let's get my man Toke in here. Toke, what's up? Oh, yeah. Don't be there. There is. What's up, buddy? I'm just here to say that I know the reason that Durenthill has not been mentioned as a co-main yet. Because there are biggest stars right now in England.

Like, if Patty Pilder Brooks a fight, he's the comain, no matter who it's against. And, you know, okay. Yeah, and what I will say is no matter who he fights. it will be the co-name. And my thought is, you know what, Damir Hatsovich just had to put a lot of a fight because of visa issues. Those visa issues are probably not the same in England.

So just put Patti Pimplet on with Damier Hartsovich and just have it as a co-main so the crowd can go wild for that after they've already seen Darren Till lose in the third to last fight. What do you think about that one? Wow. Holy cow.

Just no faith in Darren Till. Unbelievable. Yeah, I mean, listen, you, here's the thing about Patty Pimble. This has been a, there's a truck pulling in, so excuse the background noise. This has been a point of contention for a while. How do you book Patty Pimbleau? Do you, I suggested, if you're going to give him a push, like if you're in the Patty Pimbleau business to shoot him up the ranks,

I like the Alexander Hernandez fight. I think it's a fight that Hernandez is kind of favored in, but it's closer than people think. Plus, you're doing it in London. Plus, Alexander has shown that when there's a lot of pressure, when there's a lot of trash talk, when all that stuff, sometimes he falters a little bit. And maybe this could be an opportunity to shoot him up the ranks.

But if you're going to just book Patty for the sake of booking him, who cares? book up against anybody. You want to do Hatsovich? Cool. You want to book up against a contender series guy who got starched in a minute? Cool. You book Patty Pimbleau like you're booking an episode of WWF superstars in 1992.

You put him over. You give him a squash match. He gets punched in the face a couple of times. And then he goes out and gets a finish in the first round. The crowd goes a banana. That's how you do it. You just put them over. I don't think the UFC's in the business of trying to launch

Patty up the ranks and make him a title contender because that's not smart. What you do with Patty is you just give him squash matches. Put them over. Let him fight in London every single time and just put him over. Give him Ramon-up Sherman-esque matchups and just let him win. Let the crowd go crazy. Set up the main event. No problem with that.

But I don't know. Patty Pimbley against anybody. probably a featherweight who is on a two-fight losing streak. That's how you book them. Let's get functionally crazy Chris in here. What's up, Chris? Good. Good, man.

I got my little quick fire list here and I'll take up any time. I just wanted to know your thoughts, if any of my little short list here that you remember or stand out or just to put the thought out for anybody listening. It is weird that Suhudo gets, like, I guess he got the credit when he was here, but it is weird how they were just like, all right, see you, Henry, thanks. Even Habib, one of the greatest, if not the greatest

of all time, said on Tyson's podcast, Henry is above me because of his Olympian status. So it's just funny how, yeah, everyone's just like, all right, bye, Henry. But I'm in the same thing, like, until I see him fight, who cares, but, you know, he is an Olympian, so I will always give him credit for that. The weird drama with the Usman-Kinello shit,

such a stupid fight, but just because I saw like highlights from Jake Paul and Eddie Hearn and all this other stuff. So it kind of came up and I know that's still kind of a buzz. It is stupid. We would all watch it, but it is really, really dumb. I still don't understand that. If anyone has not seen it, Eddie Hearn trolling Jake Ball is one of the funniest things I've seen in the last week because finally someone in a cool, calm, collected manner just gives it straight to this kid and tells him how it is. Like, look, bro, you're doing okay, but you're not who you think you are. And he just, it's hilarious. So do you all yourselves a favor. and go watch that clip.

And as far as the card coming up, I just wanted to get your thoughts. I have a feeling Justin's going to get tapped again, and I hope that doesn't happen. I think Rose may run through Carla. I don't know if I'm a fool for thinking that. I don't know if you saw on the, the whatever they call it,

the fight week promos, but Tony said he's focusing on rest of the race for this match against Chandler. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm hoping Shogun wins in Rukkah. I'm hoping, I don't really care who wins who can retires. But I both require. Thanks, man. All right.

Functionally crazy as always, Chris, I appreciate it. Yeah, the Suhudo thing, listen, I am not, when I say these things about Tehudo is not taking away from what he accomplished in his career. Because he's accomplished a ton, like a ridiculous amount. And he's a, he's a great fighter. He's a great fighter. His resume is unfreaking believable. The problem is he left too soon. Like, just when people were starting to come around to the greatness of Henry Suhudo,

like they were actually getting over the cringiness a little bit after the Cruz win, we were like, okay, that was a great finish. You know, you could call it what you want. You could say, you know, cruise was. past his prime, whatever. There's still a great win. It was still on a huge card. It was a big moment for him.

And then to go out and say, I'm done. And the reason I'm done is because I want a gazillion dollars. And then he leaves. And then, like, I mean, the UFC completely no sells it. I mean, completely no sells it. Like, it was nothing. Dana White had moved on. He probably moved on before he left the octagon after putting the belt around Henry's waist.

He was done. And then for him to just keep calling people out, with no intention of coming back, like I was just over it. I'm over it. I'm over it. Come back and fight somebody else. You're not fighting for, maybe they give them a title fight. I hope they don't, honestly.

Come back, fight Marab, fight Cheeto Vera. Go fight those guys. You get a win over either of those two guys. I shut up. I tell whoever you fight for the title. I will come on this show the Tuesday after you, fight either of those guys if you beat them and say there's nobody else henry suhudo fights for the title next but until he does that i'm keeping the same energy i don't care i don't care

i don't i just don't care the usman canella stuff is just hilarious at this point it's so funny it's just hilarious ousman's like trying his best and i'll give him that but jed miss shu put out like a perfect tweet he's just getting bodied in these tweets like real bad and then he has to go to the what if we uh what if we're locked in a room together who's coming out a lot we're not talking about that we're talking about boxing we're talking about two guys in a squared circle boxing we're not talking about a boiler room brawl like we saw the undertaker and mankind do in the 1990s we're talking about a boxing match and oosman's not beating canello nobody's beating canello nobody especially not kamar

was in a boxing match. And I'm all about guys getting paid and making that payday, son. I am. Make that money. But only if it makes sense. Like Francis deGano like Tyson Fury, we all know how that boxing match is going to go. We know Tyson Fury is going to box Francis and Ganu's face off.

But we kind of are intrigued by it. We're still intrigued by it. And here's the thing. Tyson Fury wants it. Tyson wants it. He started this whole thing. He wants to fight Francis and Gung. on him. Canelo wants nothing to do with Usman. And it's the easiest money he will ever make in

his career. And he wants nothing to do with it. What, like, what else do you need that, what else needs to be said? What else needs to be said? Now, if it happens in Usman gets a big payday, cool, I'll probably watch it. But I already know what's going to happen. But Canello doesn't even want it. Canello Alvarez, who will make probably a hundred million dollars, in some way with sponsors and everything to have a quick and easy night at the office doesn't want it. That should tell you everything you need to know.

Let's get Brent in here. I know Brent's going through some stuff right now. What's going on, man? By the way, I am a fan of the satrical MMAF pressure. website and it's amazing brentz that somehow you have gotten people who cover this sport to actually take your stuff and turn them into real news it's pretty fascinating stuff brentz how are you just got to uh unmute oh oh i've done it now all right thank you

i appreciate it uh it's that's a compliment i appreciate it it's hilarious It's hilarious. Yeah. To be honest, only real people that actually post the content as real news,

I wouldn't necessarily call them real news. It's just like accounts, like sort of media accounts that want to be news accounts because if you was real news account, you actually post real news. And it's like,

It's just a simple check. Like, you can easily Google something. And if it's been... 100%. Yeah. And if you have a bit of knowledge, you know you got... Your souls, may have fighting, maybe a junkie or BJ Penn.

There's the big ones. Obviously, got bloody elbow and other stuff. But you know which ones is more reliable one if you're actually a fan, you know? Right. We know Stephen A is not coming out saying he's going to knock out your road. No. know this. No, no, no, definitely not. But yeah, I mean, I think mostly it's like either like big Instagram is they're the work, Instagram and TikTok off, you know, to you, but they're like

generally fans that do that. Realistically, people do fall for it sometimes, which I mean, I think in a way he holds actual news because if you fall for my account, once, twice, three times, then when you actually see a real news, you'll be like, let me double check, let me click on the article, which helps the real news in a way, if you think about it. I mean, maybe I agree to agree, I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying. Yeah, something like that, I guess. Yeah.

I mean, I was listening to the Seudo talk and everything, and what I would say is, so if, if, you're in a job, right? And you don't think you get paid enough. What do you do? You either quit the job, which he can't really do because he's on the contract, right? Or you sort of retire until, and you make your case to make more money, I guess, right? And we all know Dana doesn't like when champions retire without, like, like the case in the belt and stuff like we happen with GSP and others like. He hates it. So, I mean, that's part of the reason why he did the sort of sort they don't really care, I guess. I mean, listen, here's the thing.

You mentioned George St. Pierre. When George St. Pierre left the UFC and he retired and he left, we still want to see him come back. We still ask him if he's coming back. we still bring up these fantasy fights to him. Why? Because we want to see him come back. Because he hasn't talked about coming back for three years or four years or whatever. Every single time, Kabar Usman defends his title.

If GSP went out on Twitter and was like, hmm, maybe I'll come back and beat up that guy. And then we'd do interviews and be like, nah, I'm not coming back. Like we'd feel a different way about GSP. Same way with Habib. Every time Habib does an interview, when are you coming back? When are you coming back? When are you coming back? Habib's like, I ain't coming back.

I'm going to coach my team. I'm going to run my promotion. That's it. I'm done. Stop asking me. I'm not coming back. It makes us want him to come back. We miss him.

We miss him. Henry Suhudo was retired for about 11 seconds before he started calling people out. Like he's not giving us a chance to miss him. And what's crazy about this is that he's, He's actually becoming a really good coach, like a really solid coach, one that I have a lot of respect for. He's doing a great job. But again, it's all about, I'll come back and beat this guy up. I'll go up 155 and beat this guy up.

I'll beat up Alexander Volcanovsky. No, you're not, because no one cares. No one cares. Silence is everything. Silence is golden. Just like going to see your favorite movie. You don't want to hear a bunch of people chirping about the movie. You want to watch the freaking movie.

And then you want to talk to people about the movie after the fact because they were quiet during the movie. And that's what we want from Henry Suhudo. Just be quiet. Just go coach. Collect champions at your gym. Do your show. Talk about the news of MMA. Stay involved in the sport.

And just don't talk about coming back for a year. And then guess what? A year from now, when you show up at a UFC event and you're doing media, what's the What are we going to ask you about? When are you coming back? What are you coming back? Make us miss you, bro. We want GSP back.

We want a B back. Because the way they're handling it. Again, if Henry comes back and fights, cool. But I need to see it first. I need to see it first. And stop reaching. Just get in there and show it. Like Dana has basically said, like, yeah, come back, dude.

But like, you're not fighting for the title. Go fight one of these other killers. get a win at 145, then we'll talk about fighting for the title. Go get a win at 35, then we'll start talking about fighting for the title. Just do that. Just do that. You have a path. It's laid out for you.

And Dana's petty as hell. He ain't going back on that. He's not. If it's up to Dana, he ain't fighting for the title next. Maybe Aljo is just like, I ain't fighting anybody else but him. But what do you think is going to happen there? Dan will be like, okay, we'll put two other guys in there. The train moves on.

It keeps moving forward. That's all. Listen, again, let me reiterate. Everything Henry Sohudo has done in his career from a competitive standpoint has been tremendous. Unbelievable. The resume is incredible. He's got wins over.

He beat Demetrius Johnson. I don't think he won that fight, but he has a win over DeBetri's Johnson. He ended the streak. The guy's incredible. He became the Bannamai champion. defended the Bannamway title. The guy's done incredible things. Gold battleist.

He's done it all. But what he hasn't done is become a huge star, and not even close to the place he thinks he's at. He's just not. So I hope he does come back. I really hope he comes back. But I hope he does it right. Don't say you're coming back and then sit on the sidelines

if the UFC offers you three or four fights with top five Bantamweights. Take a fight. Take a fight. fight with either of those guys. It's not going to be easy, but the respects that you will get from fans, media, I mean, you get it. You'll definitely get it. I'm going to take a few more.

Again, I'm at the card, the auto repair shop, so I can't stick around that much longer. Zeke, what's up, man? Gentlemen, well, I guess my man, Mike. I mean, this is awesome. Gentlemen. Man. All right, so I want to go over to the main event this weekend, and I want to talk to the main event next weekend coming up, and then I'll let you go on this beautiful.

heart for morning. Wow. Cheeto Vera is a goddamn killer. I mean, you guys mentioned it on the show, and I think you guys mentioned it on the recap Monday. You kind of watch this guy grow up. You know what I mean? Like he kind of made the same exact mistakes as I guess you could say, the guy in our main event this weekend coming up did Charles Olivera. He got in the UFC at a young age. He developed his game to the point where you have no idea what kind of different strikes he's going to throw at you. So my question is, does Cheeto Vera have a chance? chance to win the championship. Do you think he has that type of run in him?

My second question is, I think Justin Gachie is, if Dustin Poir is an America sweetheart, I think Justin Gage might be. I think a lot of people love him. He's obviously one of the most fantastic fighters to watch style-wise, because he's just going to stand in there and not take your shit and just come forward with different combination. Do you think that Gachie has a puncher's chance better than Chandler? Or do you think that Mr. Charles Oliver?

which is, in my opinion, honestly, is arguably one of the most underrated fighters in this promotion. And I think that he has a way better chance against Justin than he did Dustin. And we saw what happened against Dustin. So once he gets him on the ground, in my opinion, I think Charles is light years ahead of the both of them. So I guess I answered my question for me. But for you, what do you think about Mr. Vera's future? And what do you think about Mr. Gaichi and Alivaira on Saturday? I will shut up and listen.

You are the man, Mike. Let's have a heck of a week. Thank you, Zeke. So, Marlon Vera, yeah, the dude is an animal. And the best thing about the most effective thing Marlon Vera did on Saturday was get punch in the face. I'd get punched in the face a lot. Because you have to believe, like, if I walked up to somebody right now, and there's like a couple of guys standing outside. I'm never going to do this, by the way.

But if I walked outside right now, and I see this gentleman. that's probably 50 feet away from me. And I walk up to him. And I punched him 270 times in the face. And he just stood there and danced in my face. I'd be like, what? I would just kind of stand there and be like, okay, respond. I'm done.

I mean, it's just ridiculous. Marlon Vera didn't even look like he fought anybody. I watched him on the MA hour. Didn't have a mark on him. It's insane. And he got hit the third most. times in UFC history. Think about that.

And it didn't phase him at all. And then Marlon with the kicks, the body work, everything he did. He was just so patient. He picked his spots. He knew they would come. It's a brilliant game plan. Not that I would recommend getting punched

270 times in the face in a five-round fight is an effective game plan, but in this fight in particular, it worked. His durability, his ability to take a shot and not even be phased, like not even a little. It was such a weapon in this fight.

It's hard not to get frustrated. And then you can see as the fight went on, Tyson Chardier is giving Fon's advice in the corner. He's telling him, do this, do this, do this. And Fanch's like, no, man, I'm going to go in there and punch this guy in the face because I'm hitting him. I'm hitting him. I'm rob freaking Font. I'm hitting this guy. Eventually, he's got to fall.

He's got to falter. But he didn't. and that's frustrating. That's going to frustrate the crap out of you. So his future is very bright. I don't recommend him taking that much punishment over the next few years, but it's working for him right now. It'll be interesting to see where he goes next.

I do like the Dominic Cruz idea quite a bit. I hate the Joseo callout. It makes absolutely no sense. It's a horrible callout. You already lost that fight. And it wasn't that long ago. So why go to that well now? I didn't like it.

Didn't like the call. Like the cruise call out quite a bit. So if you want to go that route, cool. They match him up with Peoria and I'm in. They want to match him up with Corey Sanhagan, I'm in. Bears are in a really good spot right now. I saw a lot of people, some colleagues of mine as well, suggest that he should fight Song Yidong.

Why? Why the Song Yidong fight? I understand it's a loss and like you have to deal with. that and you felt like you won that fight, but it doesn't seem like Marlon there is all that interested in running that back right now. Marlon's the type of guy that like, he doesn't care about the decision. Like he moves on quickly. In his mind, he won that fight. So in his eyes, he beat Song Yudong. He doesn't need Song Yudong. Now, Song Yudong would love to fight him again because he's up like five spots on him. And I would like to see that fight again someday.

But I think Song Yudong versus Rob Fon's the fight to make. Not anytime soon. But if Song gets another fight, gets another win. Rob takes some time off. Do Song Yidong versus Rob Fon. That's a fun fight. My one's just too far ahead of him at this point. And by the way, not that it matters, it was the early stage of the pandemic.

That fight between Vera and Song Yadong came together very quickly, and it was at Featherweight. So you could always say that, well, that wasn't a Bannamoy fight, it's a featherweight fight. I think it's kind of stupid, but you had that in the back burner if you need it. All right, we're going to take like, Three more. I promise you Thursday and Friday, we're just going to go bananas. We'll go as long as we need to, but I'm going to get rolling here.

Maynay's face McFlanigan. Never thought I'd say those words today, but especially all in a row. But here we are. What's up? Are you there? Maynays face McFlanigan. Are you there? Hello, Mike? Hey, what's up? Hey, goodness. Happy to be on heck of a morning. You've already talked about it a little bit, but what is Cheetos skin made of? is my first question. And the second question would be, what is the path you see possible for Tony Ferguson? Is it quick sob? I don't think it's decision, but you might think differently. Let me know.

I will shut up and keep driving. First of all, let me just reiterate how much I love the fact that mayonnaise-faced McFlanagan is calling from the car. Exactly how I drew this show up. People driving to work calling in, sports radio, baby. mild air skin is made up of something that scientists have not discovered yet he's a freak the guy's a freak in the best possible way as a combat sport this athlete so i don't know if how long this uh scientific breakthroughy skin can last but uh it's serving him well so far it's serving him well tony ferguson michael chandler listen i've said this many times i know tony's getting up there in age chanler's not a young buck himself but i feel that of Tony Ferguson, who is a very durable guy,

if he can get out of the first round, here's what he probably needs to. He needs to get into 47 minutes. Pretty happy about that. We'll be back Thursday, 8 a.m. Eastern. We'll do this all over again. We'll probably just take your calls the entire time to make up for it. And you know we're going to do the same thing again on Friday.

The Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.