MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz, Tony Ferguson's UFC 274 Media Day, More

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

With the UFC war room screenshots taking social media by storm, could we actually see a fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz this summer? That question is discussed on an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning with MMA Fighting's Mike Heck, along with if the matchup is as one-sided as many people seem to think it will be, and if it's a smart move for Diaz to take the bout. In addition, listener questions include Tony Ferguson's memorable media day ahead of his UFC 274 fight with Michael Chandler and what an "El Cucuy" win could mean in the division, Rose Namajunas' legacy at 115 pounds as she prepares to defend her title against Carla Esparza, Francis Ngannou's future with the UFC, a potential fighter's union, 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

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 talk to Allison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma at other people? I don't even know how to answer that question. Alison After Nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

All right, everybody, it is Thursday, May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, 2022. It is a heck of a morning here on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. We are live. We will be broadcast shortly thereafter on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. I hope everyone's having a fantastic Thursday. There's a lot going on in the world of mixed martial arts. I didn't even know where to begin. I honestly don't even know where to begin

because there's so much going on. Of course, we get UFC 274. This has been just a insane week for fight news, potential fight news. I have some insight on a lot of these things. So we can talk about that. We could talk about Tony

Ferguson going scorched earth. I will be talking about that to kind of kick things off. We'll be taking your calls. And then a very popular name on this show for some reason. I mean, not saying that disrespectfully, but For a guy that's not ranked in the top 15 in the lightweight division, a lot of talk about Grant Dawson.

A lot of talk about Grant Dawson on this particular program. And the good news is Grant Dawson is going to join us around 845 this morning to discuss his big win over Jared Gordon, what he wants next. Apparently, another fight is in the works. At least that's what he told my good friend James Lynch. So we'll see what's going on with him. We'll get his thoughts on the two big lightweight fights at UFC 274, the title fight, Tony Ferguson versus Michael Chandler, so forth and so on.

So excited to have an actual planned live guest on the program. And we're going to do that this morning. So let's talk about Tony Ferguson, shally? Holy cow. Talk about a media day that I will remember for a long, long time. That was unbelievable. Tony Ferguson, after about a year away, just walks into the media room. He's like, A.C. Slater, Unsaid by the bell, he takes the chair.

He flips it around like he's about to crush a hamburger and french fries at the max and just sits down, says, what's up, Fers? And then just gets after it. No one was safe. Everyone was catching strays from Michael Chandler to Dana White to the UFC. Nobody was safe. Tony Ferguson just let loose. You could see about a year, probably more, a frustration just falling off of his shoulders.

You could just see it. And he was getting freer and freer, the more he said. And he has created quite a stir. It was unbelievable. Sometimes you'll hear fighters show up to these media days, and they'll express a little bit of frustration. we've seen guys like Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, they go up there and they just don't give two Fs

about whatever comes out of their mouths, and that's just who they are. But it's very rare that we see a fighter do what Tony Ferguson did before a big pay-per-view, before a big fight, knowing that he's going to have to share that stage with Dana White the very next day.

And I will say this. First of all, if you haven't watched this media scrum, as soon as this show is over, go to the NBA Fighting YouTube page and watch it because it is pretty unbelievable. It's like 24 minutes worth every second. He has like one eight-minute answer,

which is just fire. The guy is just incredible this week. But now, like normally, I groan upon a UFC press conference. I'm just like, oh, God, really. Especially after a media day when we have already heard from these fighters,

and we're probably going to get somewhat of the same questions. I will say the UFC 273 press conference went pretty well. I thought it wasn't horrible. This one, I was feeling like this, it could be pretty bad. But I am fascinated. Super fascinated about what's going to happen today. When you have Tony Ferguson, you have Michael Chandler, you got Dana White. That's the main event, those guys.

And of course, you get Jesse Gage and Charles Oliver. I'm sure they're going to get after a little. little bit. Rose Dammiyus, Carlos Sparza will be super respectful. They'll get a couple of questions. But it's going to be the Tony Ferguson, Michael Chandler, Dana White Show. And I'm here for it. I am here for it.

I don't know how Dana's going to react because you know Tony's going to get asked about it. And hopefully Dana gets asked about some of the things he said about boxers being overpaid, the going out of business sale, Tony Ferguson comparing him to a drug dealer, comparing his company to drug dealers. I mean, this is, this was some, some media to escrum. So highly recommend you go back and watch that. I am much more interested in this fight than I was heading in. I was super interested in anyways.

I don't care about the losing streaks. I don't care about any of that stuff. You get Tony Ferguson and freaking Michael Chandler fighting. And then, by the way, credit to Michael Chandler too. He did a fantastic job. Just be a Michael Chandler. Just motivational speaking tour Michael Chandler. saying the right things has the answer for everything sold the fight put tony over in a big way

the guy just gets it both guys did a tremendous job gaiti did a tremendous job it was just one of those media days where i was just like damn it i wish i was there there are a million follow-ups i would love to have asked so that's obviously huge UFC 274 it's going to be a lot of fun we have war room screenshots of potential fights for UFC 276 for UFC 277, UFC London. It created quite a stir

because of that interview Dana White did with the pivot. All this going on, of course, the one that really stuck out to everybody was Hamzat Shemaya versus Nate Diaz

in a co-made event spot. I will say this. That interview took place. It wasn't like that interview took place on Monday. The interview took place it was like a week and a half. maybe two weeks ago.

So just like every other card, just like even Saturday's card, card subject to change, war room names on poster board likely to change. Obviously, we have confirmed some of these fights already. Others we have not. Others, there's legs to them. Others, there doesn't seem to have any legs to them. But we'll talk about whatever does you want to talk about. And again, we got Grant Dawson coming up around 845 this morning

to talk all things lightweight. vision has been going over Jared Gordon and more let's get right into this thing if you guys want to ask a question chat some of a may let's get after it let's go it's Thursday it's fight week Christopher kicks us off this morning what's up Mike good yeah not bad man um I'm gonna let everyone tackle the Tony stuff and and that's all really exciting and I'm kind of coming in with a little bit of an off topic one and a bit of a fun one um so I'm watching rising right now there's a rising landmark show and we just had a grappling tag team match to happen.

So I guess my question to you is, what would be your dream grappling tag team match? Dream grappling tag team match. That is, like, MMA. Dream grappling with MMA fighters. Does like Pachecha count because he's an MMA fighter? That's a good. No, that's cheating. You have to pick someone who isn't.

Because it's cheating. He's got an MMA fight. I know, I know. It'll be like, well, you can, I guess you can have like Gary Tonin and Bichita. those guys. Yeah, I know what you're saying. We'll limit the roster. I feel like Jed Mishu is a perfect person to answer this question.

I know he's here. If he wants to, thank you, Christopher, if you want to jump in. I mean, man, that's a really good one.

I feel like, I don't know, I kind of want to see Ronnie Yaya in there somewhere. I know it's not like a dream one. I know it's not one that's going to sell like a bunch of pay-per-views, but that dude is super legit. Claudio Poyas with his ridiculous kneebars would be a fun name to add in. And then, I mean, you got some of the legends as well.

That's a really good question. I got to think about that because, I mean, you're only giving me four. Hmm. I got to think about that one. There's a lot of exciting ones. I feel like Islam Makachev would be a lot of fun. Throw him in there. You get the Habib factor in his corner.

hell throw Habib in there I know he's not like he's a tremendous grappler I mean he's just gonna take you down and smush you he's gonna be tough to beat I have to think about that one

I will answer that tomorrow when I do a little bit more making me think Christopher how dare you Tristan Gordette What's up buddy I think Wonderful

That's great My question is I'm going toward Rose Namai Yunus Do you feel this narrative, and I get the sense, especially to listening to everybody on M.A. fighting, that there's still, I think you said it, where Rose still has to do more.

Like, if we look at Valentina Shepchenko, we're like, there's no doubt she's the best, you know, probably the best woman fighter pound for pound, one will argue because, you know, she's dominated her division. But with Rose, I think there's still, there's still questions, right? Because, okay, you have to fight against Carla.

Carla beat you the first time. Now can you get revenge? Then we still have questions if she could beat this version of Jessica Androge because, like, you know, Jessica Androge beat her got the title. And then she came back and got the title back. But we were like, yeah, it was kind of close. Like, you know, I don't know too many people felt that she won that second time with Jessica Androge.

And this version of Jessica Androge, they need to fight again to see. what's really, who's really the best at this point. You know, and we already saw the rose saying, no, obviously, I'm the best. And I mean, I'm like, that's true, because a lot of these girls, like, twice or multiple times over. So do you feel that narrative that she's like, man, listen, she's still got to do more.

I got to see her fight these women again and make sure we could crown her the best strawweight champion ever. So I want your thoughts on that. And then with Tony Ferguson and, Michael Chandler, with Tony Ferguson, this is also this narrative where, because I'm not going to lie, I'm thinking about how I'm like, Chandler's going to like just get in this, like, it's going to be Tony Ferguson with no issue because, I mean, my thought process is with that, with Chandler's like, when he touches you, when he clips you with right hand, you're going down. It's just his dad powerful

and then people are starting to worry about Tony's chin and all the punishment he's taken, especially, you know, the way he fights, it's like, that's not going to hold up for a while. So people are just like, like, you know, Ferguson, he's great, but I expect Chandler the witness fight. But then the way he was talking to the media, you start to question yourself. You're like, hold on, maybe he's going to come back out here. We're going to see the Tony Ferguson of old. So just your narrative on those two points and just love to hear your thoughts. Thanks, Mike.

Thank you, Tristan. For the first part of the worst obvious, I thought that was really interesting stuff. I thought her media day was really fascinating because you never really hear her talk like that. Talking about legacy, talking about being the greatest of all time in her division. Like you never, anytime she's got those questions, she has like a professional Kevin Costner and Bull Durham kind of answer. Well, you know, you got to take one fight at a time and do all this. but she brought this up on her own. She brought up the legacy stuff on her own.

She feels like clearly she's the best right now, still needs work to be the greatest of all time. I think of her, but if you want to make the argument that Rose is the best straw weight of all time, I mean, it's not a hill I'm willing to die on. You can probably make a compelling case for that. I think beating Carla will certainly help that. I think a convincing win over Jessica Androge would certainly help that.

And that's why I have been such an advocate that no matter who wins on Saturday. Although, I mean, if Carl wins, it's 2-0, I don't know, maybe the UFC tries to run that one back. They like to run these things back real quick depending on how they go out. I mean, if it's a close split decision and it's controversial, the UFC will probably go back to that well. But what I would like to see is Androge get the winner, no matter what. I understand we have Marina Rodriguez in there. I understand we have a big fight coming up with Yuania and Chezek and Chongwe Li. going to run that one back. But you got to understand this. What those two women put themselves

through in March of 2020, when they had that all-time great fight, it's very, I mean, they're going to be out, they're going to be out a while. Like, they're probably just going to do this a very similar thing. I mean, I don't know, maybe Zhang Wei Lee kind of approaches it the same way she approached the Rose fight and will wrestle a little bit more. I doubt it. I think being in that crowd. I think the crowd's going to be ruckus in Singapore. I think they're going to be ready to go. That energy is going to be there. They're going to be excited, fired up.

I think they're just going to get after. They're going to beat the hell out of each other for 15 minutes. And it's not like that's something they can come back and two months later and fight for the belt. So just give Androge the winner. It's a fresh batch of with Carla. And if she fights Rose again, you got a compelling trilogy fight. Andrade slammed her on her head. It became the champion.

second fight, I thought Rose won, but the momentum at the end of that 15 minutes was clearly in the favor of Just Gonjj. I want to see that fight again. I really do. And I understand the people who are just like, oh, man, Rose just fights rematches all the time, two, you know, part two is, part threes. I get it. But I feel like, especially if Rose beats Carla, those are the two best straw weights of the world. Rose, Jessica Androge, let's do it. Let's see who the clear winner is. Let's see who the better fighter is. And if Rose wins the fight and wins it convincingly has all the momentum in the end, she makes a great case for being the goat showing. She's right up there. She's right up there. She's got two wins over Yawani and Jacek.

But I think just for her legacy to like, I just think she wants to cement it. Like I'm the one. There is no debate. There is no conversation to be had. I'm the best. I'm the greatest ever at 115. But Rose just seems hungry. She seems into the sport. And it's refreshing. It's refreshing. We don't like to see Rose Domiyudis doubting herself

or falling out of love with MMA. We've been there. But I feel like these last couple of years, I feel like her first run as champion, the way that it ended, made her sort of take a deep dive into her love for the sport. And I feel like she's overcome that adversity.

I think that's huge for her. Her confidence has risen. that's a scary thing and I thought Carlos Sparza was very relaxed at the media day that was one of the things I was looking at how was she going to handle it sometimes those lights can be really bright

the media obligations could be a lot it's been a while since Carl's been in a title fight remember what happened the last time she fought you on the Jacek and that was one of the most vicious brutal women's championship fights you will ever see You want to just put it on, Carla, something ferocious. It's taking a while.

It took her a long time to get over that. It took her a long time to get over that. But we'll see. That's why they fight. There's a story there. This fight should have happened a while back. Even before Jean-Weley got the rematch, ended up being a really close competitive fight.

Second time we're out in MSG, but I would have liked to have seen Carla get up before. Black Friday is here at IKEA, and the clock is taking one safe. You won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves to cozy at-home essentials, all the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait.

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That's going to drop on our YouTube channel. We talked about the three big fights. He's under the radar, low-key bangor. But Tony Ferguson, man, we are both very fascinated to see what this division looks like if Tony Ferguson beats Michael Chandler. This could shake things up in a big way. I understand that Ferguson's on a little bit.

bit of a Schneid right now. I get it. But if Tony Ferguson goes out there and beats Michael Chandler, let's just say Michael, because here's how I think this fight could play out. Because I think there's a case to be made that Tony can win this fight. He's got to have to go through hell to do it. And I know, Tristan, you brought up the people questioning the chin, questioning the durability and all that stuff. You can't really question the durability because the guy is super durable. And Michael Chandler hits really hard. No doubt about it. it. But so does Justin Gachey. And Tony Ferguson took like 300

punches to the face like real hard shots. That was one of those fights where I was just I was almost, I almost cringed watching it because you're in the empty arena in Jacksonville and all you hear is just leather hitting face

over and over again. It was a surreal, gnarly experience watching that fight because Justin Gachie landed some big shots. Let's not forget, Tony landed some big shots in that fight too. He, probably the hardest, one of the hardest shots landed in that whole fight came from Tony Ferguson. So he's got, he's got a little pop too.

But I like Tony's approach to this fight. He's just not giving a crap. Loose is a goose. He's going back to the old school, going back to the old wrestling coach. I feel like he tried to do a little too much. He was trying to do different things, trying to bring in bigger names, work with Freddie Rose. all that stuff. And Freddie Roach is a legend. Not taking anything away for him.

But Tony Ferguson is a guy like, it's like Rocky Balbo and Rocky 3. Okay? You got to go back to the old school. You got to go to the gym where the weights are rusty and gross. And there's no air conditioning. And there's just sweat. And there's no music. None of that stuff.

No cell phones. No social media. Going back to the grind. And I feel like Tony's done that for the last year. It's a really interesting fight. And if he beats Michael Chandler, despite his issues with the UFC, you know the fans are going to be super behind this guy

to the point where the UFC is just, it's kind of like Nate. It's kind of like Nate Diaz. Like eventually you're going to have to give this guy what he wants because it's good business because people want to see it. Do you imagine Tony Ferguson? I think Michael Chandler's going to get after Tony in the first round. It's going to land a big shot.

I don't think he's going to like drop Tony hard or anything like that, but I think he's going to have Tony in like a little bit of trouble, but Tony's durability could be the factor here. If he can get out of that first round, he can weather that early storm and extend this fight. He's got a chance to win. I think he's got a chance. But he's got to get out of that first try.

He's got to extend it. He's got to extend it. I'm super intrigued by it. If Tony wins, man, whoo. 155 could be real interesting if he wins this fight. despite the Schneid and everything. Because people are going to be clamoring for a big fight for him. And if he gets another win, he can be fighting for the title.

It's crazy to think about, but it is possible. Of course, we got to walk before we run. And we've got to see what's going to happen. But I'm all in on that fight. I'm all in on Rose Carla. I cannot wait for the main event. By the way, Charles Olivera. Shut up to Media Day.

of like a hundred million bucks. Everyone's wearing t-shirts and shorts and jeans and Charles Olivera. Good old Chuckie Olive's showing up with a suit. Looks like he's getting married. Looks like a million bucks. He looked like the freaking champion of the world.

Love that. Love to see it. Charles, the consummate professional. Justin just firing out things. Can't wait for that fight. It's a good card. Those top three fights are outstanding. Yeah, we got Joe Lowe's on Donald Serroney,

who had excellent media instruments as well. So we got a couple of DMs in Instagram, one of which had to do, and if you guys want to jump in, we got Grant Dossack coming up in about 20 minutes. He should be joining us. You guys want to jump in with questions, jump on in. Had some questions about the leaked fights,

the screenshots of Doom, if you will, for the UFC, and got a question about some news that that came out yesterday. So I will address those right now. So as you guys have seen, Dana White did an interview with the pivot. And yeah, he talked about boxing and stuff like that. But the biggest thing to come out of that interview was there's some sneaky smart dudes out there who are just like, oh, they're going to the war room.

Let's pause the video and take screenshots and zoom them in and see what the UFC's thinking for some of these fights. and the big one was obviously July 2nd International Fight Week UFC 276 and we saw some of the big fights that were on there we saw Israel out of Sonia versus Jared Canada

in the main event spot I will say I have heard that that is about 98 and a half percent done at this point okay so get ready for that expect that I told you guys

about a month ago I told you guys I told you guys one of the early episodes of the show that's probably going to be the main event. It was too early in the game for me to be like, yep, that's definitely the main event, but there's a good chance that was going to be the main event. Then we had Sean Strickland versus Alex Bejana,

getting moved up from July 30th, July 2nd. We confirmed that. Then we had, what was the other way? I have to pull it up. I got to pull it up. But we also had, shot O'Malley versus Pedro Munoz, we confirmed that already.

So, yeah, here it is. Sorry about that. Lauren Murphy, Misha Tate's already there. We got that one. But the big one is Hamza Tchamai F versus Nate Diaz. And that was the one that really stood out to everybody. And people had,

people were feeling certain ways about that fight. They were like, what the hell? Really? No way Nate takes that fight. They're messing with us. It's a conspiracy. UFC did this on purpose, so people would screenshot it and talk about it, yada, yada, yeah.

Fight is clearly... I don't even know where it is, but I know Helani talked about it yesterday on his show. I could tell you this. There's some truth to it. I wouldn't be... I wouldn't be going to the UFC website to buy your tickets in hopes to see that fight.

But there's a... There's some... smoke, as the kids say. There is some smoke to that one. That I know for sure. But not done. If I were to guess, I don't know. I don't know. I'm trying to say, like, trying to pick a side here. I don't know. This is 50-50 as it gets. This is a C-South fight. We're right in the middle. Is it going to go one way? Yes, one way, no. We're 50-50. At best. So there's that. July 30th. John Jones, Steepi Mietchich.

I know that was on the board as well. People are all excited about that. I wouldn't get too excited about that. I would be shocked. I would be shocked if we get that fight July 30th. Now, who knows? Money talks. Maybe, maybe the UFC offers both these guys just a floppy trillion dollars

and they get it done. I don't think it happens. It might. I mean, who knows? Maybe there's an offer that can't be refused. but I would say unlikely for July 30th. What's going to headline that card? I don't know.

One fight, potentially, that came out yesterday. My good pal, Ariel Hawani, said that the UFC is discussing the trilogy fight between Alexander Volcanowski and Max Holloway. And what Halwani reported was July, speaking of, July 2nd, UFC 2nd, UFC 2nd, UFC 2nd. 76, that's the front runner. July 30th is like second place.

So either way, this fight's probably going to happen in July. I have learned more since then. I'll just go ahead and say it. Here's what I know. July 30th, probably off the table. So put that, take that however you'd like,

people I've spoken with July 2nd is pretty much zeroed in for that fight. Not 100%. Penn has not hit paper, but I would expect that fight to happen July 2nd. This is a crazy sport. And until both guys are in the cage, nothing is certain.

But from people I spoke to who would know, July 2nd, prepare to see that fight. So there you go. That's the update on that. Let's get Corey MMA rules in here. So I'm just ranted. I don't want to talk for another 17. minutes for our grant gets here. Corey, what's up, buddy? Just make sure you unmute.

Corey, are you there? Hi, yeah. There we go. How are you? Hi, Corey. Hi. How are you? Yeah, I wanted to know, as far as like with Justin, is he serious with the talk that he's been doing during interviews? Because he seems to believe that, like, Charles couldn't match him on the feet, that he's not going to be able to take him down. And we've seen Charles take people down like the Kevin Lee fight. It was a double leg there. We've seen a body lock when it comes to Tony Ferguson. And even when he fought

Dustin, it really wasn't a takedown. It was more so Dustin was trying to evade him. And he just needed that little bit of space to get around his ways to get to his back. So is this just him trying to hype himself up

or hype up the audience for pay-per-view? or does he really believe that, you know, that he's going to win and there's nothing Charles can do on the feet or on the ground with him? That is a great question. Thank you, Corey. That is a great insight. Yeah, I mean, that's one of those things where you wonder if it's gamesmanship

or if you truly believes that. And I think if you're a fighter, I think if you're just engaged you, you've got to have a little bit of crazy to you. You have to believe. You have to believe in these types of situations. And maybe Justin believes his take down defense is that good that Charles won't be able to take him down. And there's still this narrative about Charles Olivera that when the going gets tough, he runs for the hills. I just don't get it.

I don't know why this narrative is still there. After the Michael Chandler fight, after the Deso Porei fight, why are we still saying this? Why is this still a thing? Justin Gagey at the press conference, or excuse me, the media day yesterday said that once a quitter, always a quitter. Something to that effect. Why? Why?

We have seen Charles Olivaura get into some trouble these last couple of fights. It's only made him better. Now, as far as the takedown thing goes, that's a very interesting part of this fight. Because if Charles Olivera takes Justin Gagey down, and improves his position, which Charles Oliver could do that against anyone. This fight could be over real quick. It could be over really quickly.

Because we saw what Habib did. Habib got him down. He could have done literally anything he wanted. And he showed mercy. He literally showed mercy. He was like, nah, I don't want to break his arm. We'll do the triangle instead. We'll do this.

I mean, Habib did that. And Habib is just a monster. And Habib is a great grappler. Well, Habib's Jiu-Jitsu is not where Charles Olivares is. Charles Oliverer's Jitsu is better than Habib's. So I'm curiously what happens if this fight gets to the ground. And here's an interesting narrative to this fight as well. Jessica Gage has to worry about the takedown.

Charles Olivera fights like no one's going to try. It's crazy. So when people break down Charles's fights, it's just, it's interesting because you watch Charles strike, he strikes like very few in the UFC do. Because he feels like no one has the, as Mick Foley always said in WW. No one has the testicular fortitude to try to take him down. And you can see when he strikes,

That he's got that confidence that no one's going to try. No one's going to try. So all he has to worry about is just striking. Right. That's a weird thing about Twitter spaces is if somebody calls you, it just literally knocks out your entire feed, and it frigging crazy. I understand why they're calling.

It's the vet. My dog had a little procedure yesterday. They're probably checking in on him. But he got to wait until after 9 o'clock, people. Gotta wait until after 9 o'clock. But yeah, Charles Alvair, so much confidence. in his feet right now. He knows no one's going to take him down.

He's just going to worry about striking and defense. Listen, Charles Oliver said he ain't scared. He's going to go right in there. He's going to collide with Justin Gachey. I believe him. I think that's what we're going to see. I think it's going to be really exciting.

Charles Oliver is going to get kicked in the legs a billion times. He's got to get cracked. Charles is going to crack back. Charles is probably going to get hurt at some point in this fight. And if he could survive it, that's where he's the most dangerous he can be. such a good fight such a good fight really looking forward to it

again if you guys are here you want to jump in you got questions anything you want to talk about hop on in grant dawson is expected to join us in around 10 minutes so I will keep a look out for him

I don't think he's I don't think he's on Twitter all that often I don't actually I don't remember I really ever seen him on Twitter but I have been told that he will be here at 845. Waking up bright and early for us for all of you. So get excited for that. All right.

Again, please feel free to chime in and ask questions. Let me just pull up the rest of the card. Belator's got an event too. Belator's got a card tomorrow. Belator 280. You got Ryan Bader versus Czech Congo. We got Yol Romero back in our lives. Taking on Alex Plizi.

Lorenz Larkin versus Kyle Stewart is on that. card and honestly I have to look at the rest is UFC 274 Oven St. Prue, Shogunha, Donald Sororone Joe Lozahn, wraps up the main card. Randy Brown versus Chaos Williams

come on now. That fights phenomenal. We got Francisco Trinaldo, Danny Roberts, that should be crazy. Macy Chesson, Norma Dumontz. Big one at 145. Low-key bangor alert. Brandon Royva

versus Matt Chanel, holy potatoes. Blagoi Evenoff, Marcos Ruggosuria de Lima. That's two heavyweights slapping bellies at each other. That should be all sorts of fun. Andre Fialho versus Cameron Van Camp. Tracy Cortez is back

versus Melissa Gatto. Real interesting fight at 125. Clayton Rodriguez, C.J. Vergara. You know, that's going to be fun. Lupi Gaudinez is back. She actually took a little bit of time off. How about that? Digging on Ariani Caroleu.

And then Journey Newson versus Ferrii Garcia will be the quote-unquote curtain jerker for this card. And it's pretty good. It's pretty solid. Those top three fights are outstanding. Seroni Lozon is just going to be chaos

until it's over. And then OSP Shogun is just going to be here to go. By the way, props to Shogun for telling us all what we already knew that his 2005 was the best year of Eddie fighter in the history of the sport. And I'm with him on that.

Well said, Shogun. Well said. If you're bored, if you're a newer fan and you have, UFC Fight Pass or anything like that, go watch old Shogun Hua fights from the early 2000s. Do yourself a favor. Do yourself a favor.

And go watch Shogun do the damn thing in the early 2000s. his 2005 was insane little nog or big nog excuse me Antonio Rogirio no Gera wins that fight

oh but I'm sorry I gotta go back you further he had a a stomp knockout in the first round in February 2005 against Hiramizo Kaniara that he soccer kicked

stopped Quentin Rampage Jackson two months later he beats Antonio Roger and O'Gera via decision in June of 2005. August 2005, knocks out Alastair Overeem. August 2005 knocks out Ricardo Arona in less than three minutes.

That was his 2005. And at that time, you hear some of those names and you're like, you think about like the current version of them, these are guys that were like just murdering everybody at that time. And Shogun beat him all from February to August of that year. In a six-month span, he beat over even Arona on the same night.

Pride was awesome. God, pride was awesome. Shogun was so good. God, he was so good. He still is. Still is. But, man, just go back and watch Shogun 2005. God, is that fun.

I think that is the greatest year in M.M. History. But there you go. No one has questions, no one has anything. You're going to let me ramble this whole time? What else we're going to talk about? Hack the holidays with the PC Holiday Insiders Report. Try this PC Porquetta.

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All for just $18. Okay, okay. Try the season's hottest flavors from the PC Holiday Insiders report. Please feast responsibly. What else are we going to talk about here? We can talk about Bellator. There we go. Tim, God bless you.

What's up, buddy? Mike, can you hear me? I can. How's it going? Pretty good, yourself? I'm doing great. What's up, my man? Have you or has anyone talked about the whole Nate Diaz-Hamsat-Chimaif thing?

What are your thoughts on it, my man? So I've read a bunch of banter on Twitter and stuff about it. I mean, I kind of get it from the fact that, like, they want to keep Hamzot active. And I bet Colby is, I don't want to use ducking, but I'm certainly thinking Colby's not rushing to sign a contract to fight Hamzot. But, God, that's just awful for Nate Diaz. I see people saying that he's going to, you know, always tough and he's got the best chin and he's got sneaky jujitsu. But no, Hamzat's going to dump him on his head and beat the crowsy. out of them. So I just wanted to know your thoughts on that and the likelihood that we even

see that fight because that's just, that's one of the stranger matchups I've seen that they wanted to make. Thank you, Tim. As I, we did sort of discuss this earlier. This is one important key, there's one important piece to this puzzle that you did not mention, which is why there is some actual smoke to this. This is not just some random, conspiracy, the UFC trying to set up everybody and say, oh yeah, watch what we're going to do right now. We're going to post these screen. We're going to let people grab these screenshots. And we're going to get people talking. And sorry, multitasking right now. This is real. There's now, like I said earlier, do I feel, do I feel confident that we're going to see this

fight on July 2nd? If he gave me 100 bucks and said, Mike, you have to bet it on something. I'm getting it on no. But there's some smoke to this fire. That I can't say. Now, you mentioned keeping Hamzat active in things like that, of that nature. And this is the kind of fight that would actually make sense for this scenario. Because Hamzat gets the rub, gets to stay active, gets put on a big card, great. But here's the thing about, here's what makes this fight so interesting.

I think Nate Diaz is just frustrated. I think at this point, it's just like, I don't give a shit. Who I fight. I want out of this company. I want out. Give me whoever you want. I don't give a shit. You want to give me Shemaya?

Fine. Give me Hamzat. Just so I could get out of this company. I want out. Nate Diaz has been asking for a fight since his last fight. him and Dustin Porier are like, let's go. Let's go, let's do it.

Everybody wants it, but it's not being made. And it's the contract thing, because Nate has one fight left. And the UFC is like, okay, we'll give you the Dustin fight, but you got to sign an extension. You got to sign an extension.

You got to give us four more fights. And Nathan is probably like, no way. I can't give you four more fights. Get the hell out of here. So this might be the compromise, if you will, to get Nate back in there. Gets Hamza at the rub. Nate gets his last fight. UFC's probably like, all right, we'll throw him in there with Hamza.

We'll have Hamza just run his ass over. Here's the thing about Nate Diaz. Hamzaa can run him over. He can win a decision. He can finish him. It doesn't matter. Nate will find a way to spin this in his favor. And then he will go off and he will box Jake Paul and make a gazillion dollars.

So when Nate's might is just like, all right. And credit to Jedbushu, because this would be the greatest moment in the history of combat sports if he did this. Nate takes this fight. They make the walk. Nate gets after it. They face off. All that. You ready?

You ready? Fight. And Nate just like sits down, taps out, walks out of the community. He should see you later. Flipping the birds to everybody. How friggin' awesome would that be? That'd be the greatest thing ever. But I don't know.

I don't know if it happens. Maybe it does. But seeing that fight up there, there's some smoke. There's some smoke. All right. We'll take a couple more as we await the arrival of Grant Dawson. We got to get out of here at 9 a.m. on the dot, by the way.

because apparently everybody fighting is like, Mike, we're going to let you run the desk this morning. I don't know what they're thinking. Let's get West Worldwide Engineering Services. That's what it says. What's up? Let's get on mute.

Hello here. I hear you. What's up? Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thanks for giving the flow. Yes, I'm calling from Cameroon from Africa. Oh, nice.

Yes, yes. I wanted to talk about the situation of Gano. I wanted some, if you know about his situation now at BFC, if, about this contract. If there's been, like any movement on it? Yeah, yeah. Because for us, yeah, in Africa, it will be a very, a very, a loss.

If Gano no longer fights for UFC. because we have very high hopes here to see the UFC here in Africa. So I wanted to know about the situation of Nguan. And for us here in Africa, it seems that the fighters in UFC, the other fighters, they are not very united with the deal that GANU has with, with the UFC. It seems that Gano is alone with his

deal with the UFC. He has for more money. We are not seeing the other fighters having the same idea as him. So we are very we are worried here. So I wanted to know.

All right. Thank you very much. Yes. Yeah, listen. this is the story in my opinion this is the most interesting story of the entire year how is this all going to play out

will the UFC and Francis and Ganu come to terms I don't know there's been no movement since all this I thought it was an incredible moment to see Francis and Ganu

in that ring with Tyson Fury to have Tyson Fury put Francis over for Tyson Fury to want this fight this is massive this is massive. Now I get it. As a fan, especially where you're at in the world in Cameroon,

having a UFC event in Africa is just going to be massive, and I think it's going to happen when I have no idea, but the UFC, Dana White said it many times that is one of their goals to have a show in Africa. And Francis in Ghana would be a major part

would play a pivotal role in making that happen. It would be a bigger deal with Francis on the card. However, Francis has to look up for number one. And Francis wants certain things. He feels like he has been disrespected. Now, if you go back and watch his interview with Ariel Hawani after he beat Cyril Ghan,

I mean, that's everything you need to know right there. Just all the stuff that this man had to go through before fighting Cyril Gond. And he still won on one leg. He went out there and beat Cyril Gond on one leg. with wrestling. He won. He shut up everybody. He got everything in his favor.

He bet on himself. He went all in. On a fight, he probably shouldn't even have taken at the end of the day. And he won. So now he's got the chips in his favor for as long as he wants. Actually, not as long as he wants. Because come January, he's free to go and do whatever he wants. And it seems like Francis kind of,

It seems like Francis wants to stay with the UFC. Seems like cooler heads are going to want to prevail at some point. But now we have this Tyson Fury thing. And if you're the UFC, just let him do it. Just let him do it. Negotiate your little piece of the pie. Let the man do it. This is a fight that's not going to happen like tomorrow.

It's a fight that might happen like next summer or the end of next year. It's not something that's going to happen immediately. So make a deal. I don't see how this is a bad thing for the UFC but if he loses a boxing match Tyson Tizer Ferry who cares you backed Connor against Floyd and only I mean

honestly anybody who knows anything about boxing knew that Connor had no chance to win that fight like literally zero chance and you did that like at least like at least Francis has like a puncher's chance like he can land something big and maybe he's not going to

but at least like you know we can see these two guys face off and we're like all right this is something this isn't Canella Usman this is this is somewhat interesting we all know how it's going to end

but it's interesting and it could make a lot of money it will make a lot of money and the UFC can get a little piece of that so if I'm Hunter Campbell if I'm the brass here's it I'm thinking listen dude

we're gonna give we're gonna let you fight Tyson okay we have to figure out this heavyweight championship situation we gotta figure out what we're gonna get john jones a steep baby itchich in the in the cage for the interim title before you fight tyson fury you have to fight the winner that fight first you get your m may fight in you get your knee all squared away re-sign the steel you give me one fight and in writing

we'll let if you win or lose doesn't matter i mean if he loses that's kind of a risky thing because I don't know how much pizzazz the fight has if he loses but maybe it's still there but if he beats it just say hey and you go on and he could go on and fight Tyson Fury that's how I would do it but

again the UFC's super freaking petty so to answer your question no movement at all and as far as the other fighters go listen to my in go listen to my interview with Joe Lozahn. Joe sums it up perfectly. He's not anti-fighter.

He's a realist. He's a realist. We all want these fighters to be paid more. All of us collectively. Everybody in this room want fighters to make as much money as possible. But there's a way to go about it. Joe Lozan gets a lot of shit for saying some of the things that he says, but he's not wrong. Francis is going after his piece of the pie.

other fighters are going after their piece of the pie. Very few are saying, I want everybody to be paid. And just look at the UFC roster. There's a small percentage of fighters who are big stars and have actual negotiating power and wiggle room. Probably 500 of these fighters have no power at all. If they make a stink and they say, I want more money, the UFC will say, okay, go find it elsewhere. You're cut. you're out of here.

And that's the fear that a lot of these people have. Because the UFC provides opportunity. They don't guarantee you anything. And if you go up against them, when you're making 15 and 15 or whatever, this cut your ass. Because they'll find somebody else

who will come in and take that money and be happy about it. We've seen this a million times. Title fights, championship scenarios, where you have Fighter A versus Fighter B, they're negotiating with both sides. Fighter B says, now I want more money. And then Fighter C comes in and says, screw that guy.

I'll take it for less than you were going to offer Fighter B. Okay, done. We're in. That's why a union's never going to happen. That's exactly why. That's the issue. And these things aren't going to get short up anytime soon. I would love a day before the day I die in Paris.

off of this earth and have my final heck of the morning for the topic to be the fighters have come together for an association for a union of some kind that would be lovely that would be a lovely thing unfortunately that's not going to happen so i'm not going to hold my breath so yeah stupid fighters should have come out after they made freaking they sold a company 4242 billion dollars and said, you know what? Let's come together now and they didn't and here we are. Brian, what's up, buddy? What's going on, Mike? Thanks for taking me.

I just really want to talk about the Nate Diaz and Humzot. I think this is a terrible terrible look for Nate Diaz. If you watch his fight against Mazvedal or even against Leon, the power discrepancy is just pretty noticeable. I think

he has a decent chance of actually get put out in this one. And also, Dominic Cruz, Cheeto Vera, UFC needs to make it happen. I think Dom is just holding on a new spot in the rankings that, frankly, I don't think he's at at this point of his career. That's all for it now. All right, cool, man. I appreciate that.

Here's the thing. Yes, I think most people would think it's a terrible matchup. Nate probably is just like, ah, this is dumb. But at the same time, like, Nate doesn't care. Nate just wants to be out of the UFC. So if it means going in there and fighting Hamzad and having the chips fall where they may, he's okay with it. He's fine with it.

It is what it is. He's cool. He just wants out. And if it means fighting Hamzad, he will take it. He will take it. And he will find a way to spin it. Like if he lands one big shot, like he'll just come on and say like, oh, Hamzaat cheated or do something like that.

And guess what? People will believe him. People will take his back. And then he'll go on and box Jake Paul and make a whole bunch of money. So yeah, it's, listen, Martin. Nate's a tough dude. Nate's a tough dude, and maybe he can weather the storm or whatever. Like, he's had good nights, he's had bad nights.

He got beat up by Leon Edwards for 24 minutes and then landed one punch. And it changed the whole fight. And all we're talking about is Nate. Nate has this incredible way win or lose to have his stock rise no matter what. And somehow, some way, even if he fights on Zamaath, guess what? His stock's going to rise. Because he'll get the, just think about it this way. It's a terrible matchup for Nate, at least in a lot of our eyes, right?

Just Nate taking this fight, people are just going to be like, oh, man, you gangster, you absolute savage. You're taking this fight, props Nate, props to you. His stock rises just before he gets into the cage. And then whatever happens to the fight, it's just cherry on top of the Sunday. Nate is playing with house money when he fights homes on. No matter what happens, nobody cares. he can take an L we'll still give him props for even accepting this fight

and then he goes on to boxing or goes on to whatever he wants and then that's where things get real interesting because what's going to happen with Connor from all accounts he doesn't have a lot of juice left on his deal either another couple of fights Carter runs through those two

he becomes a free agent he's out of the UFC just think of the business that can be done outside of the octagon we can get conor nate three outside of the ufc and guess who gets all the money those two guys ufc doesn't get a dime so this is going to be really interesting i would i mean listen i'd love to see it there is like i said there is smoke there far from done it's a thing but we'll see what happens because like i like i said up a little bit earlier i don't because I know I'm the old war room screenshot there.

That was solicited as the co-made event. That's a massive fight. But from what I understand, when it comes to where that co-made event will lie or what will fill it, the reports came out yesterday that Alexander Volcanowski versus Max Holloway 3 is going to take place sometime in July. And from what I was told early this morning,

super early on my way to the gym, July 2nd is the bullseye. Not done yet. Penn has not hit paper yet. But I know it's torn between July 2nd to July 30th. And from what I understand, all that weight has pretty much shifted to July 2nd. July 30th, really not on the table right now for that fight. Was being discussed.

But as of right now, must have happened like late last night. All signs pointing to July 2nd for Volcanowski Holloway 3. What does that mean for that rest of that card? I don't know. We've already reported and confirmed a whole bunch of those fights. Yeah. So that's where we're at right now. We're waiting on Grant Dawson.

I don't know if he's coming. I'm speaking to a member of his team right now to try to get him all in here. But we'll see. We only got a few more minutes. So we're running out of time here. Let's get Sebastian in here. Sebastian, what's up, buddy? What's up, brother?

What do you think about? What do you think about Chito Veras' performance? Gito was fantastic. The guy is a zombie. Dude, it's super good. It's got to be so frustrating to fight that guy. I can't imagine what Rob Font was going through. I mentioned this the other day.

I was doing the show live from an auto repair shop. I was getting new brake pads installed on my car, walking around the parking lot doing this show. And the point I made was there was another guy that was walking around on a phone call. And if I walked up to this guy, this random dude, and I punched him in the face 270 times, and he just stood there and danced in my face, how frustrating is that? That's this got to be the most frustrating thing ever. And Rob Faw, a professional fighter, who's a tremendous striker, unbelievable boxer,

was hitting Cheeto up. He was just hitting him hard. And Cheeto didn't even have him wealth in his face. Chito was like ready to go another five rounds. Cheeto is real good, man. He's a, he's a scary guy. He's a scary man. So, I don't know.

Loved it. Love to see him in Dominic Cruz. I know someone mentioned that earlier. That would be a tremendous fight. I mean, Cheeto could fight anybody right now, and I'm in. Cheeto versus Peodor Jan. I don't want to see Cheeto versus Marab. I just feel like

I don't know I feel like Marab is just a nightmare for pretty much anybody and I feel like coming off a win like that you probably shouldn't have to fight Maraub but even you know Cheeto Corey Sanhagen rules too

I mean it's really no bad answer here there is one bad answer someone was saying Song Yidong do the rematch no no he's so much further ahead of Song Yudong right now Song Yudong versus Rob Font makes plenty of sense to me.

All right. Let's, who? Who has the feed? What's up, buddy? I want to ask your opinion about the next fight of Tommy Aspinall in London. How do you see his chances of winning? And if he wins, is he the next for the title?

Tommy Aspinall. Tommy Espinal. Tommy Espinal. It's a great fight. It's a great fight. Love it. Place is going to be electric. Curtis Blades is a tough out.

If he goes out there, it beats Curtis Blades. Hmm. I don't know if I'm confident enough to say those next fight will be for the title. It's kind of tough. Because this division is just, there's so many questions right now. Where's John Jones fit?

Where does Stipe fit? Where does France de Ganu fit? We kind of have to wait and see how things play out. Tommy Aspidal puts himself in a tremendous position with the win over Curtis Blades. to think the winner of this fight is probably going to fight for the title in their next fight. Curtis, I don't know. It kind of all depends.

There's too many questions right now to be confident in that pick, but Tommy Aspah puts himself in a really good position if he goes out there and beats Curtis Blades. He goes out there and runs Curtis Blades over. He makes a compelling case, puts himself at at least a backup situation. But again, we don't know what's going to happen with the current heavyweight champion. We don't even know if Francigano's ever going to fight the UFC again. we don't know. We have no idea. And then if Joan Steepa happens in September,

the winner of that would fight Francis. So it could be a while for either of those guys fight for the belt, but great spot for Tommy Aspinall. He gets another hometown fight. He'll be the hometown hero. And I think this is the kind of test that we've been waiting for for Tommy Aspinall. And I love how we just continuously call him Tommy Aspinall now. Like he's an eight-year-old child, but I'll never call him Tom again. and it's all because of the UK fans singing that song.

He'll always be Tom Pasadol for the rest of his career. All right. So apologies for everyone expecting Grant Dawson. It does look like it's going to happen. And I need to get the hell out of here because, again, M.A. fighting is telling me that I have to run the show on the website. And yeah, they're playing with fire right now,

but I'm going to do the best I can. But thank you all for checking. By the way, we're back again tomorrow. Get your questions and your stuff ready. okay because this is your show tomorrow's a free for all Friday we're going to get after this thing Jed Bishu versus Ben Duffy from Sherdog on BTL today live at 3 p.m. Eastern. I can't even begin to tell you how many people have reached out saying, oh, you got to do Jed versus Ben Duffy.

Well, that's what's going to happen. Talk to Ben last night. He's in. So for all the hardcore BTL fans who wanted that matchup, you're going to get it. Jed versus Duffy. 3 p.m. Eastern, live MMA fighting YouTube channel. Exciting stuff. Of course, the press conference going down later on today.

Jose Young's, Sean Al-Shadi, they are on site in Phoenix. We will have you covered for all that. So enjoy another busy day in the world of mixed martial arts. Have a heck of a morning and a heck of the rest of the day. Thank you all so much. 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.