MMA Fighting - Heck of a Morning | Nate Diaz Calls Out UFC Once Again, UFC 278 Lineup, UFC Austin Fallout, More

Episode Date: June 21, 2022

Nate Diaz is taking the UFC to task once again, but is the promotion going to do anything about the latest gripe from one of the sport's biggest stars? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to Diaz's social media callout of the promotion and what could be done, In addition, listeners bring up topics such as if UFC Austin is the current frontrunner for event of the year in MMA, American Top Team coach Mike Brown wanting to see Dustin Poirier compete at welterweight, the current UFC 278 lineup and if it's a card fans will spend $75 on, which second generation fighter will compete in the UFC octagon, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. This week, the show will also take place on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. 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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Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca. Black Friday. Ikea. Bring home to life. Well, hello there, everybody. It is Tuesday, June 21st, 2022, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces and soon to be on the MMA fighting podcasting network. I am Mike Heck. Hope you're having a wonderful start to your week.

It is first day of summer, which is exciting stuff. So happy first day of summer to everybody. It is a beautiful Tuesday morning here in South Carolina. And I am excited to talk with all of you about all. all the crazy happenings in the wonderful world of mixed martial arts, including this past Saturday, we had ourselves one hell of an event. UFC Austin delivered in spades.

It actually over exceeded the already very high expectations that everyone seemed to have for it already. And in the end, Josh Emmett gets the biggest win of his career, gets a split decision nod against Calvin Cater. He wants a title shut. he might get it, but things are going to have to sort of fall into place perfectly for him to get that. He's going to need Volcanovsky to win next Saturday at UFC 276,

and he's going to need Brian Ortega to win probably very impressively a couple weeks after that. Then he has a chance. Other than that, he's got a lot of options. There's still a lot of interesting options for him. Maybe he fights Holloway. Maybe he fights the loser of Ortega Rodriguez. Maybe he fights the winner of that fight. I mean, there's a lot of options.

There's a lot of places he can go. I know there's a lot of discussion about how the fight was scored and whether or not it was a robbery. Listen, I will say this again. as a whole, watching the fight, it was super duper close. Incredibly close. And by watching that fight and just seeing how it all played out, you cannot say that it was a robbery. You can't say that. You can't just look at the fight as a whole, score it how you scored it, and then say it's an absolute robbery that Josh Havitt won the fight.

Now, is there a conversation to be had because of how. one judge scored the fight. I don't think it's completely egregious to at least have a conversation about it because Chris Lee, in all honesty, look at Chris Lee's scorecard. I wouldn't say that Calvin Cater got robbed. I'd say he got screwed. Chris Lee hosed Kevin Cater by scoring that fourth round for Josh Emmett. That is a horrible scorecard, really, really bad.

and I would love to hear how Chris Lee saw that fourth round for Josh Emmett. There weren't a lot of clear rounds in the fight. One was super close, could have gone either way. Two was super close, kind of could have gone either way. Three seems like an Emmett round. So that was kind of clear. Four was the most clear round of the fight. And it was a cater round.

It's not even close. Five, you can make an argument for Emmett. In fact, watching it live. in doing the live blog for MMA fighting. I scored the fifth for Emmett. Upon the rewatch, I scored it for Cater. Round one, watching it live and doing the live blog for M.A. fighting. Scored it for Cater, watching it back.

Scored it for Emmett. So either way, I scored a 48, 47 for Cater. But that fourth round, man, Chris Lee scores that fourth round correctly, and Cater wins the fight. So Cater's not going to come out and complain about the judges and feel like he got robbed or anything like that. but he has every right to feel a certain way about that scorecard

and how Chris Lee scored that fourth round. But neither here nor there, as a whole, I scored a 48, 47 for Cater, watching it live, scored it again 48, 47 for Cater watching it again. But it's not a robbery. It's not a robbery. However, Chris Lee turns the conversation from not a robbery into maybe there's a discussion to be had.

There have been way more egregious robberies in the sport. We talked about it last week. but if I'm Calvin Kater, I'm probably a little pissed off at Chris Lee right now on this Tuesday morning. Before we get to the calls and I see a bunch of you lined up, we're going four days this week. We're going four consecutive days. So every morning this week we're getting after it, 10 a.m. Eastern. Tomorrow, Thursday, Friday, we're going all four days. Get excited.

Is this going to be a permanent thing? Probably not. At least off for right now. Next week, I don't know what the hell we're going to do because. I will be in Las Vegas for UFC 276 in International Flight Week. I can tell you next Tuesday show will be at like 9 a.m. Eastern instead of 10 a.m. Eastern. Because my flight from Savannah leaves at 7.05 in the morning. And then I just take a short flight to Atlanta.

And then I'm in Atlanta for like two hours. And then I fly to Vegas after that. So in between like during that layoff, that that lay. off or the holdover, if you will, then we're going to do the show while I'm in the airport before I have to board the next flight. But the schedule will reveal that as I understand what the schedule is actually going to be because I have no idea. I have no idea what the international fight week schedule is going to look like.

But that's next week. Let's talk about this week we can talk about UFC 7 to 6-10, whatever the hell you want to talk about. And we will begin things with clearest values. How are we doing? What's up CV? Good. How are you?

I'm hanging in there. It was a really amazing night of fights this past weekend. I was really impressed. I went into it with high expectations, but the finishes were absolutely wild. I want to kind of hear your thoughts specifically about how the UFC should, because I think there needs to be some kind of addressing of the whole D.C. Phil Hall situation, obviously, like, nothing serious, but I think there needs to kind of be a response with expectations for if you're covering one of your fighters' fights,

like, you know, there was a similar thing, you know, whenever Felder covers Sean Brady and those Philly guys, I think there needs to be some sort of precedent to them not announcing their own people's fights because, you know, I think there is some clear bias there. And I think it kind of, the product, I think, suffers when that happens. I want to hear your thoughts. Interesting. Yeah, I mean, I will say this. in the past it was a huge problem. It was a huge problem.

And there was a, I'm trying to remember who it was. I don't know if it was Brady or, or somebody else. But at one point, like, Felder excused himself from a broadcast. He was just like, nah, not going to sit here and watch one of my teammates fight and try to keep things down the middle. And he sort of excused himself in the broadcast, which I get. why he did that, but at the same token, it kind of sucks because Felder has such a good mind for the sport. I actually think Felder is the best

fighter color commentary going right now. And I don't mean this as a knock or a slate or anything like that. I think they all present different things. But I feel like where Felder started to where he is now, he's fantastic. Love the post-fight interviews. Love everything he brings to the table.

I think Michael Bisbing has improved quite a bit, especially when it comes to scoring and judging and things like that. He has a better grasp and a better understanding. He's trying. D.C. I actually thought D.C. did a really good job on Saturday. I thought him and Cruz fed off each other really well. That trio of D.C., Fitzgerald, and Cruz, they were really good.

I had no issue with anything. I thought they were fantastic. and I actually thought DC during the D.Rod win fight, it was the best he had done in terms of being a color commentator in a fight that involved somebody from A.K.A. I actually thought he did a really good job. I thought he called it right down the middle. I thought he was very, he praised Phil Haas.

He put him over. And then Phil just got a little upset. Phil even apologized, felt he was in the wrong, was a misunderstanding. He thought D.C. went somewhere and made a prediction for the fight and picked to, no pun intended, win. And Phil Haas had an issue. So, D.C. said, you're back to the wrong horse.

D.C. is like, no, dude, I don't pick fights. And then it was over like a second later. And then he went back at the press conference and said it was a misunderstanding. Said it was his fault. And then said, jokingly, D.C. don't beat me up. So I think it's getting better. there was a, it used to be a huge problem. I don't think it's as big of a problem anymore,

but I do think the fighters, you know, need to keep that, especially some of the newer guys. They bring somebody new in. If they bring Anthony Smith in there to be a color guy or Michael Kiesin there to be a color guy, just something they have to keep in mind. But I think it's actually improved, if we're being honest. Let's get just simply Rob Carcax.

You're next, and then Four Corner Sports, and then Tristan Gordet. What's up, Just Simply. Hey, Mike, how you doing, man? Good morning, my brother. How's everything? What's up, my man? I'm good.

How are you? Good, man. Yeah, I was, well, I mean, two things. One small thing about the D.C. thing. I feel like that's a common thing for some reason where people feel comfortable to go up there to disrespect the man, which I don't know why that is. But I wanted to talk to you, Mike, specifically about the Charles and the Islam thing. I just want your take on what you think, because I've been hearing rumbings about them fighting in October. I just can't see again, I feel like Islam is biting off a little more that you can chew.

I mean, I don't see how he's earned it. I mean, I was looking at his record yesterday as well as Charles Alaver. I mean, Charles Alvara, he fought some studs before he got the title shot. I mean, the people that are, you know, at least names we know, whereas Islam, I mean, he's on this windstreet, but who is he fought? I don't know. What do you think about the whole thing, Mike? Thank you, sir. Yeah, I mean, the thing about the Islam fight is, for me personally, that's the fight I want to see.

I'm way more intrigued by that fight than I am with Connor, which is the fight that Oliver wants. And I get why, because hashtag prize fighting, you take the fight that makes you the most money and you have the best chance to win. That is the definition of prize fighting. I think actually I think Colby Covington's done, you can feel how you feel about Colby,

but I think Colby has really done the prize fighting thing really, really well. people know that. He's smart with his callouts. He's smart with planting the seeds. Is he fighting the best guys? No. But is he making a lot of money and drawing interest? Yes.

And he's winning a lot of those fights. The only guy is really losing to his Uspen. And he's very competitive with Kabar. He was in both of those fights. But if I'm Charles Olivera and the UFC comes in and says, hey, you could fight Islam in October in Abu Dhabi. if I'm Charles Oliver, I'm saying, nope, not doing that. Why would I, why would I go there?

Why would I go to his home turf essentially to fight a guy that I don't even really feel I need to fight right now? You know what I mean? Like a lot of people feel like Islam is the best lightweight in the world. I get why you feel that way because of just how easy he's making these fights look. He's just running over guys. He's just making them look silly. but the knock against him is he doesn't have that signature win, that win that's just like, all right, it's a no-douder, it's a no-brainer,

there's the guy. His best win is Dan Hooker, and I like Dan a lot, but Dan's on a top 555er. He's not. So to me, like, I have no issue if they book Islam versus Benile Darius for that October card. I have no issue with that whatsoever. And if you want to, listen,

They throw interim title fights out like it's nothing. It's like you're running a 5K and there's somebody on the side. There's all these tables or running a half marathon or a marathon. And you got people over there with like these cups cups of water to hand off. It's like the UFC has tables on the side of the road as you're running a race and they just hand out interim title fights. In this case, I would have no issue. And it's not disrespectful to Olivera. we're basically just anointing a official number one contender.

The fighters are making more money. It's a title fight. And then in turn, it makes the lightweight unification vote against either Makhachev or Daryush, just a bigger, more fascinating, more intriguing fight because you have two champions going up against each other. If they went that route, I'd have no issue with that whatsoever.

You would not get complaint one from me. but if I'm Oliver, I ain't going to Abu Dhabi to fight Islam. That's, he's not doing it. And he shouldn't. He just fought Gingchi in his hometown as the champion. And I understand Miss Wait, whatever. But that's what Carter was supposed to be in Brazil. If I'm Ovalera, I ain't fighting, I ain't going to Abu Dhabi.

I'm going to Brazil or I'm going to Vegas. I'm going somewhere that's at least neutral. And I do want to see Oliver Mockachev. but I would have no issue if they did Mockachev, Darius, and just slapped one of those BS in terms on it, because it makes sense. It's fine. It's not Oliver, you're a wuss.

We're just going to send you a message. No, you're just putting a fake title up. And paying the guys more money. I got no issue with that whatsoever. And that's a fight I want to see as well. And a Mokachev wins, makes the actual unification, but way bigger. There's no excuses.

There's no complaining. This guy got his signature win. Give him the title shot. That's it. but the match of itself fascinates me but no matter what they do I'm fine with I would be stunned if Olivera takes that fight

in Abu Dhabi stunned absolutely stunned let's get Carcacks in here then four quarter sports then Tristan and then we're just going to fly through these Carcax are you there Oh yeah can you guys hear me I got you what's up all right

So I just wanted to get your take on the current state of the featherweight division. And so Holloway is about to get his third title shot. I was just thinking, do you think he calls it a career if he fails to get the title this time around? You asked me if I think Holloway will retire if he loses the Volcanowski? Well, I mean, it's his third fight against Volkanowski, and he never really had the best chances in the library division whenever he fought at 155. So I don't know. I was just thinking maybe it just caused a career.

Okay. Thank you for the question. I would say slim to none that happens because Max is always fighting because he wants to. It's not a, I mean, sure if he wins the title, he's going to be excited about that and that'll be a cool feather in his cap and stuff like that. But if he loses to Volkadovsky, there's still a lot of interesting matchups for him. A ton of them. He can just fight fun fights. he doesn't have to fight.

He makes a ton of money outside of the sport. He makes a ton of money at the video gaming stuff. He's killing him, man. He's killing the game. He's a star. This guy is a star that transcends past M.M.A. A lot of people do Max Holloways outside of M.A. And that's a great thing for him.

That's a great thing for the Max Holloway business. So, no, I don't think he retires. He's still pretty young. he's old in fight years, I guess you could say, but he's still a pretty young guy, and he's a competitive dude. He's just going to fight the big fights and the fights that interest him. So if he, I could see him going to 55. I've been wanting to see Max Holloway, Justin Gaichie from Jump Street.

That's the fight. After Holloway beat Calvin Cater, that's the fight I've been going for. Holloway Gehie, let's go. That fight friggin' rules. I would watch the crap out of that fight. And it would challenge Holloway in the way he wants to be challenged. I don't think Holloway cares about the belt. Like, it'll be cool to have it.

But Holloway will not be defined by a championship or losses to Volkofsky. Those first two fights. First fight, again, I thought it was a clear win for Volcanowski. I think I scored a 4946 for Volk. Was it the Allo Barnburner that we kind of hoped it would be? No, it was just a very smart game plan from Volcanovs. Now, the second fight is tremendous. It's outstanding.

UFC 251, just a game of inches. Again, I've watched that fight probably 50 times by now. I've scored it for Volkovsky all 50 times. But I get why you think Hallway might have won the fight. The fight is awesome. It's so, so good. And I can't wait for this third fight. But no, to answer your question, I don't think he will retire.

I think he'll just maybe go up to 55. Just going to take fun fights. Just fun bouts. because that's all he needs to do. And he'll make good money doing that. Four quarter sports. You're up. Hey, Mike.

So I wanted to get your perspective. So with Cater now losing, right? I was looking at, you know, which, by the ways, haven't got booked anytime soon. And what's your opinion on, this is what I put for, no, what was your opinion on

Calvin Cater possibly matchmaking with Bryce Mitchell. That's what I selected for Otno. I mean, I think that would be interesting only because Mitchell, he's not a person that's very active and then, you know, the New England card sell better than anybody in the media. You know, they're going to take the time on recovering

and then making sure that cater is close to 100% before he takes another fight. Also, between Joaquin Buckley and Adrian Yannis, who do you think, ceiling, rose? I know both these fighters, ended up fighting for the first time in front of fans. And I think it's about time that the UFC had Buckley and Yanis fighting in front of fans. And I think moving on forward, they should.

And while you guys were talking about D.C., the one person I actually would love for the UFC to have on commentary on fight nights is Laura Sanko. Like, when is that going to happen? It's a great question. I completely agree with you. Hopefully, hopefully this year, I have no insight to this, but hopefully. Hopefully they get her in for a fight night this year. Just do it. Do it already.

She's tremendous on the contender series. She was great on the road to the UFC cards. And she's just great anyways. She's a fantastic ambassador for the sport. She knows what she's talking about. And the UFC is going to have to pull the trigger on that at some point. It's just how do you get her in there? Because you get all that you get, you get fighters who have signed on to be color guys.

Maybe we just, they step aside and give Sanker a shot. I would say we'll get an apex fight. card at some point, maybe like one of the last ones a year maybe, but I have no insights of this whatsoever. Sanko's great. She deserves all those opportunities. No doubt about it. With the cater Bryce Mitchell matchup, I mean, I'm sure that could be an option. I actually think it's going to be cater of Lov. I think that's the way to go. After that went over Danny Gay, I felt like if Lov should fight the loser of this past Saturday's fights and you may have heard of the sex cult nexium and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mac.

But she's never told her side of the story until now. People assume that I'm like, this pervert. My name is Natalie Robamed. And in my new podcast, I talked to Allison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma at other people? I don't even know how to answer that question. Allison after Nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify.

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Precision crafted to navigate every corner of my mouth, all for just $18. Okay, okay. Try the season's hottest flavors from the PC Holiday Insiders Report. Please feast responsibly. apologies okay i see a lot of emojis that's good all right you guys are maniacs thank you for hopping in sorry about that i have no control over the power just dumb just dumb god summer's already off to a bad start all right now let's try this tristan are you there yes mike i'm here can you hear me oh

thank god thank god what's up buddy hey listen um i'm I want to go back to the Cater and Emmett fight. You saw the rewatch, right? I saw the rewatch. Did you listen to the corner at the end of round three with Chardier and Cater? Did you listen to that? I mean, I know Tyson was telling him to pick it up. Right.

But, yeah, I mean, didn't change how I scored it. And when I watch these fights back, I mute it. so I could watch it for what it was. But the big difference was, at least to me, and I actually felt it was closer to 49-46 Cater than it was 48-47 Emmett. Just because I felt that Cater's defense, especially the defensive guard,

was such a major factor. I feel like he deflected or took a lot of Emmett's best shots to the arms and the shoulders. I feel like Cater didn't take as much damage, as people thought he did. I agree. I agree with that, too. Because the thing is with Charity A, he was,

because remember, Cater was in the plane, he's like, he's loading up. And then, but then Charterier was like, you got to keep going. Use the one to, keep going down. Like, walk him down, keep putting the pressure. Because I remember Cater was doing this to Jacazi. But the thing is, I don't think Cater was worried about

Jacazi's power, because he was like, yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to get hit, but it's not going to really affect me. With Emmett, it was a totally different situation where he was loading up, and I think he might have been worried about the power getting clicked. So, but he did listen to Chardier's instructions, because in that fourth round, caught that spinning elbow that just rocked Emmett

and then caught him with, I think, a right hand, you know, so where he clearly won four and five, but then at the end of fourth round, Charterier was like, yo, you got to keep going forward because we don't know how this way is going to go. When Oxus, Texas, you know, we can't let this go to the city, So like it was like kind of a conundered to me, which way should Cater go? Should he, you know, obviously he's going to listen to Tyson. He trusts him and he did listen to his instructions.

Because the thing is, I think that somebody said, I don't know who said it in the broadcast or somewhere else, but I felt Cater won, but people felt like Cater should have done more. And I just wanted your respect, do you think Cater should have done more, even though we thought he won? And just to do what he did against Jikaze. Again, I know they're two different completely fighters, and it was two different things, where, again, Cater wasn't worried about the power with Chikaze, but he was a little bit worried about the power that was coming back to him from Emmett.

So just your insight on that. Thanks. Thanks, Tristan. Yes. I get where you're coming from. I think a lot of people feel like Cater could have done a little bit more in that fight to just make it a little more emphatic. and that's the thing.

And you want to, one thing Dana White has said that has always been true is that never leave it in the hands of the judges, you never know what they're going to think and how they're going to score things. And what was funny about the whole thing is that a lot of people are like, oh, Texas is gun to Texas and all that stuff. But it's not like, maybe, I don't know,

maybe throughout the card there was like some local judges, but for the most part, it's the same old folks. Sal Di Amato, Chris Lee, they were all there. It's mostly just the typical guys that Jeepsie's fights. But Chris Lee's scorecard was atrocious. It was so bad. And it cost Calvin the fight, but in the end, Cater could have done more. It was a little more emphatic.

And I think he'll be the first one to tell you that. Hopefully I get the chance to talk to him in Vegas. I think he's on the fighter list. So I'd love to get his perspective on it. And spoiler it, I think he's going to say, listen, the judge, the Danes is never leaving the hands of the judges. It's on me. He'll probably take the blame for it himself.

And that's probably what I'll end up saying. But good competitive fight. I thought Kater won. Most people seem to think Kater won. But it is what it is. It's not a robbery. It's only a conversation piece because Chris Lee scored the fourth round for Emmett. And had he scored the fourth round correctly,

Cater wins that fight. So not a robbery, but to say that you can't have a discussion about whether or not he got hosed, if you're saying that, strike the word robbery from your vocabulary when it comes to this fight,

you're wrong. You're wrong. You have every right. You have every right to bring that up because of that scorecard. You've every right to say that word if you want to. Now, I don't think it is a robbery.

But when you have a situation like this where one judge scored the clearest round of the fight for the wrong fighter and that round had it been scored correctly would have led to the other to losing fighter actually winning the fight it is not egregious to say it's a robbery

because of that one judge. It's not. And if you feel differently, you're probably wrong about that. All right, Zeke, you've been very patient. What's up, buddy? Good morning. morning, Mike. How are we doing this time?

I'm doing a little better. My mild heart attack is no more. We're back. We're fresh and we have Wi-Fi and power, so we're good. I hope that Duncan's tasting great this morning. If not, we'll have the heck of the morning now that I'm here, of course. I got something to take us off of the rails completely because I have a little side story dash, you know, one fighter I want to know what the heck is going on. And then talk to me about this July 2nd, not July 2nd, actually.

I'm not going to jump the gun even though I'm the hype boy. We're going to go to June 26 and we're going to talk about, I'm actually going to talk to you about Shafkat, Rachmanoff and Neil Magny. I mean, is this man, Shafcott Rachmanoff, the next thing?

I mean, this guy's a freak. He looks like a robot. I only see highlights. I mean, he put, who was there, you just put somebody into the shadow realm,

who had absolutely no business being in there with him. If I, uh, butcher his name, I'm sorry. I'm not going to give it a go, but I did see that clip. I mean, hey, I guess they want to kind of make this year two for Humzat if, you know, all the hype and continues to win is definitely something that you like to say.

So I guess what is your thought process on Shopcott, Rachmanoff, and maybe a little prediction for Saturday? And then secondly, this one is coming from absolutely right field. So Kobe Covington is obviously wrapped up in this Jorge Mazdaal mess. Who really knows what the heck is going on there? However, it seems to me he doesn't have an issue calling out Dustin or Bilal or mentioning them. However, when Humzat gets mentioned, it seems Kobe is a little CT-ish and Jorge hurt his head. And is this a tactical plan or am I just thinking too deep into it? Does Colby really want to fight, Humsat?

Will that fight ever happen? I feel like the UFC would have already booked it if it was going to. And then I totally just saw this tweet two seconds ago. I think it came from the M.M.A. fighting account. We're in the same spot when Nate Diaz we've always been in. What the heck? All right, I'll shut up. have a heck of a morning and uh yeah you guys got to be in here all the time i know we had a little

foots but this show is awesome every single morning you get to shut up you get to listen to mike even though his boston southics aren't you know NBA champions they're co-runners up this guy knows fight this guy knows fighting this guy's also a great goddamn guy thank you mike thanks buddy i have to send you a check for that review right there and you used heck like a dozen times in that rant, which is tremendous. Let me address the day. I mean, listen, the N. A.D.S. situation.

I mean, what else can be added to it for the love of God? I mean, this whole thing is stupid. It's dumb. It's ridiculous. It's petty as hell. And you got to be if you're a successful entity like they are. But they don't need Nate Diaz. They don't need him.

if you don't want him to fight or if you don't want him or you're not going to book him or you're not going to release him like what's the point you're making all this money anyways you don't need Nate does it stink that he could go off and fight Jake Paul

and they'll do pretty damn good business sure it does does it stink you might lose out on the trilogy fight with Connor McGregor sure it does but at the same time you had five or six years to make the trilogy fight and you didn't do it.

So you got no one to blame but yourself. Oh, we could use this any time. It's like a joker. It's like a wild carded poker. We can just pull us out of our pocket and just use it any time. You didn't use it. You didn't use it.

And now, Nate has one fight left in his deal. Eventually, he's going to find his way. Hopefully he gets out of it because the UFC's making so much money and they don't need him and they will continue to make so much money without him. Him and Connor could do.

the trilogy fight on their own and make all the money and I know that's the whole thing about what the UFC's trying to do right now. They're trying to make sure that the trilogy fight between him and McGregor happens in the octagon and not outside of it because Nate's not an idiot. Connor's also not an idiot. Connor doesn't have a lot of meat left on his contractual bone. So when Connor's out and Nate's out, they could just do the fight anywhere, any how they could play checkers, chess, they can play a game of four square and then fight. And I would watch all of those things. I watch McGregor and Diaz talk shit to each other and play four square. Who wouldn't? They can play rock paper scissors. They can arm wrestle. They can play slap hand. They can do all

these things and we'll watch the hell out of it. And the EFC knows that. So they're going to, I don't know what they're thinking. It makes no sense. They just need to let him go or just give him a friggin fight. You want to book him against Shamiyev. Book him against Shemai if. Nate will fight him. Nate will fight Shimaev. He'll gladly go in there, win or lose, and just march his happy ass on into the squared circle to fight Jake Paul or whatever else is out there for him. Because there's a lot out there for him.

This whole thing is stupid. UFC is petty as hell in this whole situation as they are in most. But this is dumb. Just let the guy go or just book him a fight. If you want to squash him on the way out or at least try to, go ahead. And he's fine with that. he's fine with that speaking of the shemaiah thing i don't agree with the colby has cTE when it comes to shemaiah because i've talked to colby about shemaiah multiple times and while it's not his first

choice again he's a prize fighter take the biggest fight for the most amount of money and the easiest path to victory not saying that dussiporier is an easy fight but you would have to favor Colby pretty significantly against against Dustin. You just have to. That wrestling pace, there aren't many who can deal with it. And Colby would be a huge favorite against Dustin.

I would pick Colby to win that fight. Most would pick Colby to win that fight. And it would do bonkers numbers. It's a prize-fighting type of fight. And I truly believe that after UFC 273, had we would not be dealing with this whole Mazadol situation, everything that's happened, And I think he would have fought Shamaa.

I think he would have fought him. And I think he would feel he has a chance, he would have a chance to win that fight. Because of that relentless pace, you saw Shemaya fade a little bit in that fight. You still fought his ass off and it was awesome. But you saw Shamiah fade a little bit. And if there's one guy you can't fade against in that division,

it is Colby because he will make you pay more than anybody else. Because he doesn't stop. He doesn't fade. And it would be a huge fight. And Colby understands that. He understands that. Would it be his first choice? Probably not.

But would he take it if the UFC offered it and said, hey, this will be the main event of an ABC card? He would, I think he would have taken it. Obviously, he's not going to take it now, because I don't know what's going to happen

this whole situation with Moss at all and citing a brain injury and things like that. And again, I don't know. I haven't seen any scans or anything like that. I have no idea. I have literally no clue. but if this thing goes to trial with Mazadol, we'll get all that information.

But I don't know. And as far as Rachmanoff goes, the answer is, is he the real deal? The answer is we'll see. I feel like he can be. I feel like these performances against Oliver and Perseris

and that knockout against Carlson Harris is unbelievable. But Neil Maggi is the guy. Neil is a gamer. And when no one wanted to fight Shemayev, Neil was raised in his hand. No one really wants to fight Rockmanoff. Neil raised his hand.

There's very little reward here for Neil Magny if it would be Chafcott, Rockmanov. But there's an incredible risk. I give Neil all the credit in the world for taking this fight. And you can make an argument that this could have been the main event. I think the UFC got it right with this main event, but I'm

very fascinated by this Magny Rockmonoff fight. And if Rokmanov does to make me what he's done to these other guys, we got a player and we got a legit player and a guy who will be fighting for the title in the next two years. No doubt about it. All right, Jimmy, maybe we can get you in. We've tried so many times. It was such a cluster F and here we are. Jimmy, what's up? Mike, how you doing? I'm better now. I'm better now that we have power and things are going smoothly. Right, good, good.

So I wanted to go back to the Olivera. Actually, a couple things. I wanted to go. back to the Olivera Islam thing. I think people I keep hearing people say they don't want it. Islam needs to get a test this and like I keep hearing this right but what about the fact that

nobody wants to fight him? Because I keep hearing also everybody I don't want to say ducking I'm not going to disrespect nobody but nobody's jumping at the nobody's trying to jump in the octagon with Islam so then what do you do? Well if nobody wants to

fighting, you get the champion. And how can you be mad at that? How can you be mad at Islam when nobody wants to fight Islam? That's not his fault. And then with the whole, I think, was this UFC Austin card not the best card and maybe the last 10 years? Am I wrong for saying that? From first fight on prelim to last fight of main card,

was this not the best card in like the last 10 years? Thanks Mike have a good morning Thanks buddy It was great It was a tremendous fight night card It was excellent What a back-to-back The UFC had between 275

All the storylines that came out of that This card It was tremendous What a run they've been on And this card's great The whole stretch of upcoming events Are really good They're really strong

This was a great card I have a feeling London's edges it out in the overall grand scheme of things because that crowd just made it. That crowd just made that event. And the Austin crowd was good. They were on fire for Adrian Yannes. They were on fire for Kevin Holland.

They were on fire for a lot of things. But that London crowd and what came from that event and the reactions that Tommy Aspinall and Patty Pimbled and Molly McCann and some of the local fighters got and that card delivered too and this is a sport where it's just this just happened

let's give it all the hype and praise in the world and this is the card that deserved to be in that conversation 100% it was awesome we knew it was going to be good and this thing delivered UFC London we felt like okay it's cool they're back in London some local fighters we know the crowd's going to be hot

and that event was fantastic very good very very very good. So it's close. I edge out, I lead with London slightly just because of the atmosphere and everything that came out of it. But Austin is in the conversation and that was clearly a top 10 fight night card of all time. It's in that discussion for sure. Let's get Gary in here. What's up, buddy? Can you hear me, Mike? Yes, sir. So this one's actually a bit of a personal question. I don't mind. I was listening to Odd No the other day.

And you mentioned how you have two older brothers, but you also mentioned how you are Michael Heck Jr. So my question is, was your father just waiting for the perfect son to name after himself? Oh, man. That's the best. Well, I mean, I feel like I was going to be the last one, I guess. I wasn't because there was another boy that came along, my little brother Brian. But it's funny because I look exactly like my dad in a lot of ways.

I lost the battle of the follicles like my dad. My other three brothers have hair. I do not. I lost the battle a few years ago. I've accepted it. And I am relishing it. And I take that straight razor, that thick to my head proudly every two days. Me and my dad fighting the battle together.

Yeah, I don't know. I think they felt like, okay, this is going to be the last boy. This is it. Which is continue the namesake. And then they're like, let's go one more time. This is got to be a girl. There's no way. They could get at four boys in a row, and alas, another heck brother.

We're a fun time, too. Like, you get us in a room on a bar stool, at a table, chit-chatting. It's a good time. We go off the rails. It's hilarious. Let's get motivated Andy in here. Hello, motivated Andy. bad look continues after moving to the West Coast

time slot for the show. First your Celtics go down and now your internet and everything else. That's what you get. Has anybody talked about how good to tell you Silva this past weekend? Like it was... Not on this program. She was tremendous, though. Okay, I'm just making sure because

like that shit legit gave me goosebumps. For a UFC debut, how good she looked. And apparently she was supposed to make her debut. you like two years ago um do you think her next fight she deserves a ranked opponent i just i don't know i'm just i'm just in awe of her performance maybe i'm bick riding a little too hard but i mean that shit was just so good yeah man she was she was outstanding she was one of the stars of the night no doubt about it she was tremendous jaz and jazzevizius is a tough fighter and she put the boots to her in an impressive way.

So I was very impressed by that performance. She hadn't fought in over three years, so she used her time wisely. She was supposed to make her UFC debut January of last year against Victoria Leonardo, who got her, got a contract off Dana White's contender series,

Silva had a withdraw. Manon Fioreau subbed in in her UFC debut. And now look, it actually worked out great for the, UFC. Because yeah, we could have got Silver earlier. Then we got Fioro, who's a win away. If she beats Jessica Andrade, she's fighting for the title in very short order. Like a year and a half, she could be the number one contender for a championship

in this division. That's pretty damn impressive. We had to wait a little longer for it, but now we got the debut of Natalia Silva. We got her in front of a crowd. The fans got to react to her. and she beat the hell out of the Jazz and Jazz Depezeus. That was an impressive win. Great performance. Am I willing to give her a ranked guy, gal, excuse me? Let me take a look at the UFC rankings. They're not the rankings that matter most, like the MMA fighting rankings,

but it is how we probably have to gauge this whole thing. So here's the bottom tier of the top 15. Joanne Wood at 10 Calvio at 11 Calvio's booked already Wood's not booked Jessica I is booked Casey O'Neill is on the shelf

Macy Barbers fighting Jessica I Aaron Blanchfield at 15 I don't want her fighting any of these fighters it's just too soon I would still I would favor Joanne Wood to beat her just because of the experience

she's been into big fights and I don't want to throw her into that spot just yet. I want to give her, like I said on to the next one, Montana de la Rosa seems like a perfect opponent because that's a good step up. It's a good test. Everybody knows that Montana de la Rosa is

that watches the UFC. Montana presents interesting challenges on the ground. She's also improved her striking immensely. And she'll get in there in scrap. She's shown that she'll get in there and just throw down. But she's really good on the ground. Her wrestling's outstanding.

So it's a good fight. I think that's probably the direction we go. We want to give Natalia a nice little step up, but we don't want to push her too fast. We don't want to throw in there with Aaron Blanchfield or somebody of that nature. Not just yet. I feel like they have something with her,

and it's best to kind of milk it. This has Amanda Hebas vibes written all over it, and I love it. 125 is this women's 125 division is a lot of fun isn't it it's not 115 that's the marquee division no doubt about it but 125 is way more interesting than 135 i mean it's it's miles away we're not even on the same continent with how interesting 125 is compared to 135 workday knows there are two kinds of people in business backward thinkers and forward thinkers. And when you're a forward thinker, you need an AI platform that thinks like you do.

Built to evolve with your organization, Workday reimagines how you manage your people, money, and agents for long-term success, bringing all your most valuable resources onto one powerful platform so you can add value even faster. Workday, moving business forever forward. Let's get Squalay MMA. Good morning. What's up? Good morning, Mike. Heck of a morning to you and everybody.

So. You too. Thank you. I am looking at an article from M.M.A. fighting, and it says Carla Sparzer argues Marina Rodriguez deserves a title shot over Zhang Wiley. Now, I do think there's some truth to this, Mike, meaning I think Marina has done a lot more than Wellie Zang. But do you think Carla has a leg to stand on? Because we all know that Dana likes money fights, and he would prefer Zhang,

over Marina to get the title shot. Do you think Carla can pull this off as a champion and get the opponent that she wants, or will Dana force her to fight Wellie Zang? Good question. This is a bit of very interesting discussion since UFC 275.

Carla Sparser does have a like to stand on if she was in Bellator. Unfortunately, she's at the UFC. She does not have a like to stand on. She will be fighting Zhang Wei Li. And I'm sorry. She will probably have to fight Zhang Wei Li on Zhang Wei Li's timetable as well.

I know she doesn't want that. She feels I'm the champion. You're fighting on my timeline. I don't see it happening. Zhang Wei Li wants to fight in October in Abu Dhabi. I'd be stunned if that is not the direction the UFC goes here. I just would be stunned. She doesn't, you haven't defended the belt yet.

the rose fight did not leave a great taste of people's mouths. I mean, you don't have a lot of leverage here. I think she's fighting Zhang. It ain't good. But listen, let me just say this. Carla's not ducking Zhang. She ain't afraid of Zhang. She'll fight her.

She'll fight her. And she will have a game plan working with Oyama and all those guys, Alex Perez, et cetera. They will have a game plan to try to beat her. And she will go in there and give everything. she has. 100%. Not going to duck her.

But from a meritocratic standpoint, she's not wrong. Marina Rodriguez has done more than Zhang Wey at least. Zhang lost twice in a row. She entered that Yonah fight

on two losses. One, she got bolted real quick by Rose. The second one, she changed everything, went in there, caught Rose, in my opinion,

on a bad night. and didn't beat her. And then she fought Yawanna, who hadn't fought in over two years after that. So, I mean, and it is emphatic, she looked, and that might have been

Zhang's best performance ever. She looked ridiculous in that fight. And there's just no, there's just no way Carla's not fighting John Wei next. Just no way. But the other option is, maybe the UFC just says,

this is the fight, Carlos says no, and the UFC just says, screw it. it's going to be Zhang versus Marina for the interim title. Because they would do that. They'd do it in a second. They're doing an interim flyweight title fight

between Brandon Marino and Tycar, France, and Davis and Figurado's hurt. The dude is injured. And they still went with an interim title. So if they want to do a Jean-Wea-Lean title fight in October, they'll do it with or without Carlos Sparse. Let's go to Australian talk. We saw some Australian talk.

We saw some Australian talk yesterday at the UFC press conference with Israel Adisanya, Alexander Volcanowski, and Kikar, France. And hopefully we see a UFC card in Australia sooner rather than later. What's up? Hey, mate. Good-day, Mike. Thanks for doing the show. It's my first time checking out one of these

Twitter spaces. Absolutely love it. Appreciate it, mate. It's a real global audience. I've got a couple of questions for you, buddy. Yes, sir. Who's the first second generation fighter we're going to see in the UFC? Is it going to be Bisbing's son? Or who's on the horizon there, mate? I know lots of fighters would prefer their children not fight,

but I know lots of boys or watch their dads or moms fight in the UFC become champions, and the apple might not fall far from the tree. Interesting. Like, hmm, I like that question a lot. What? Maybe, God, there's a few. I could cheat and just say A.J. McKee. I mean, I would have to ask Jose Young's because he probably gets up top of his head, but there might be, we may have already had a second generation. I don't know. I could be wrong. A.J. McKee could be one. Maybe Bisbing's kid. Maybe Rampage's son. Rampage's son is having himself

and quite the run thus far. Yeah, I don't know. It's a great question. That's a great question. Clearst values, do you want to chime in on this? Just on Anderson Silver Suns also kind of, like the video that's really good. Yep. Yep, thank you.

Yep, that's a good one. That's a good one. Jimmy Wang Yang, you want to chime in on this? Yes. Hello? Mike. Yo, do you want chime in on that? Yeah.

What about Kimbo Slices' son? I believe his son is also in MMA. I don't know if he... I haven't checked his record, but I know Kimbo Slicer son fought has fought before. True. Record not great.

Record not great. Do you want to add to this Australian talk? Maybe? There we go. Okay. I guess a follow-up then, Mike, would be. I think it was Connor that said

precision beats power and timing beats speed. With that in mind, mate, Israel Adasania's going to be fighting Canaania. Obviously, Izzy's got phenomenal striking capabilities. Pretty much he's the top dog in the UFC for his striking prowess. But Canineers are a bloody diesel engine, mate. Is he just going to blast Adisania and almost try to implement the same strategy that Yarn did against him when he took him on at 205. Yeah, I mean, here's, I feel like this fight is a lot closer than people think it is.

I feel like a lot of people think that Adasian is going to go in there and run through Jared Kandiniere. I don't think so. I think this could be, I think this might be Adasani's toughest middleweight fight to date, honestly. Canada Air is great. He is great. Good wrestling. His leg kicks are ridiculous. Those leg kicks are such a game changer.

Such a game changer. And I'm sure Adasani and his team are well prepared for that. I'm sure Eugene Baraman has watched thousands and thousands of minutes and hours of footage on Canaaner and style he brings to the table. Boy, oh boy. I actually think this is a really good fight. I favor Adasania. I think Adasania will find a way to get it done. But Kennear's going to put him through some problems,

I feel, in this fight. Adasania very confident. Feels like this says, as he said, Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin vibes written all over it. Maybe that's what happens. I don't think so. I think this is a great fight. I can't.

very excited to be there live as well all right we're gonna we have Patrick Dom Emilio Ahid J and Taylor all right that's how we're wrapping this up and we're gonna go through these as quickly as possible Patrick you are up Mike my in yo you're on all right uh I think that was the best card on on American soil since Usman Covington, Madison Square Garden

with the Barnett wheel kick in the Harlem Shuffle when he came out. I think that was the this last Saturday's car was the best since that one. But we got Salt Lake City coming up

so I think Salt Lake City is definitely going to overtake Austin but it was cool to see Joe Rogan in the crowd. That was like, that kind of elevated it as well. So we just at work and had some other shit. I forgot. I'm going to listen.

Yeah, I was a good card. I liked it. 275 was obviously not American soil, but that was a great card. But 275 reminded me a lot of $199 where it's one of those ones where you're on the fence. Do I spend the money even though I'm intrigued by it? and those who did were very happy and rewarded for that. And those who didn't are not happy and probably pissed off. They didn't get it.

So, yeah, I mean, the card was friggin awesome. It was outstanding. All right, Dom, you're up. Emilio, you're on deck. Yes, sir. Hey, how you doing? So I was watching cooking with Volk the other day. And Izzy and Volk referred to themselves as the greatest featherweight

and the greatest middleweight of all time. and I was wondering how close you actually think they are to that. Like, I think they are quite close. Like, Volk beat Aldo and Izzy beat Silver, albeit not in their primes, so I don't know how much you can take from that. And secondly, do you think that ultimately it will take both of those fighters leaving their divisions for them to suffer their first loss? Or, you know, Izzy's already lost at, like, heavyweight,

but you think ultimately he's going to be unbeaten and a middleweight the same for Volk? And cheers for the show, man. Thanks, man. No, they're not, they're not number one. Adisania is closer than Volcanovsky right now, just in overall terms, amount of defenses, the resume, things like that. He does have the win over Anderson Silva. Although Volcanowski does have a win over Jose Al, though,

and he's got two over Max Holloway. So they're both close. I think they're still a little bit of a ways away, but they're close. I mean, I think Volcanovsky, personally, I think Volcanovsky has a case of being the best fighter on the planet right now. Overall, pound for pound, even over Usman. He has a case.

And if he goes out there and just, I think I have, what do I, I have to, let me pull my rankings real quick. I always forget, do I have him two or do I have him three? That's always the question. Which, where do I have them? Men's pound for pound. I have Volkanowski number two. I have Volkinovsky number two.

If Volkinovsky wins July 2nd in less than two weeks and does so emphatically and impressively, spoiler alert, Volkanovsky is the new number one. And Usman hasn't lost or whatever. But Volknovsky, I have Volknovsky had a case at the end of last year and he'll have two wins, two title defenses, before Usman makes his first of the year. And Usen was super active before that,

so I'm not taking anything away from him. But good God. Volcanowski is just so good. So good. So yeah, the more I talk myself into it, the more I think they're close. I think Aldo is the best featherweight in the world, even above all time, even above Holloway.

I think Holloway's in second, but I think Volk in the all-time Convo is real close, and he's getting closer to both of those guys. It's getting closer to both those guys. And Adasania and Silva are super close, too. I mean, there's a lot of comparable stuff between the two guys,

because Adasania, when he's on, when he has exciting fights, they are super exciting. And when they're not exciting fights, they're just not that exciting. And Anderson Silva, Adasania hasn't really gone the silver route where Dana White just freaks out in a press conference

because of an Adasania fight, but yeah, man, they're close. And I'm just so high on Volcanovsky. I'm high on Adasania, too, but I'm so high on Volcanovsky. And what's scary about Volk is, I don't think we've seen the peak of his powers yet. All right, Emilio.

There you go. What's up, buddy? Hi, Mike. Hello. Can you hear me? I can. Okay, great. First of all, heck of a morning to you.

Second of all, so I've got three points, the first one being talking about second generation fighters. I don't know why, but I've always thought, I mean, there's no real indication other than my imagination pointing towards this. But Max Holloway's son. I don't know why, but I can, I mean, the guy is, the kid is really, what's it called, photogenic. I mean, he doesn't really care about, you know, being in front of a camera. I can see his dad's charisma rubbing off on him. I mean, I've never heard him say anything. And the guy just looks hilarious.

The kid looks hilarious and pretty cool, too. second talking about UFC Salt Lake City or so UFC 278 well all due respect to Salt Lake City

why is the UFC doing a paper view there you know I've been to Salt Lake City myself it's a city but I mean the card is looking amazing

So my very first direct question for you, Mike, would be if for some reason the event had to be relocated, where, like, and you were deciding where the event was going to be relocated, where would you do it? And second of all, my last point, my last question would be, well, Leon is finally getting a title shot. that is a miracle. I mean, who would have thought that was going to happen after the late drama against Nate?

Everybody, including myself, and I know a lot, a lot of the peeps from the MMA fighting family were saying that he was going to, there's no way that he can afford to wait. There's no way that he's going to get the title shot next after what happened against Nate. So, yeah, so then my second question or last question would be, what is your early prediction for Usman versus Edwards? Thanks again, Mike. Keep doing what you're doing. Peace and love. And yeah, have a heck of a morning.

Thanks, buddy. Yes. First thing, mini-blest charisma for days, no doubt about it. Secondly, you've seen wanting to go to Salt Lake City for a while. they can put on any card they want, people will go. I disagree that this fight card is amazing. I mean, it's fine. It needs help, though.

Uspen Edwards, cool. I mean, you got Paul Costa Luke Rockhold on the card, but we're talking about two guys who aren't the most reliable in that sense. Although Marab is a really interesting fight, Alexander Romanov on the card against Marching Tibora, fine. but I mean the rest of it's just it's fight nighty and I don't mean this in like a disrespectful way but this is a fight night card

outside of the top three fights and even you can make an argument that two and three are fight nighty main event kinds of fights woods and saldania oichi uhcrii lang j perrin Tyson Pedro Harry hunsucker Victor Alta Marano

versus Daniel de Silva Lucy Poudilova versus Yan'an Wu AJ Fletcher, Anglusa, Amir al-Bazi, Francisco Figurato, Jared Gordon,

Leonardo Santos. Like, this is, this is fine, but it's not amazing. They need help. This is dust. Throw Dustin Nate on this card.

Then it's awesome. Then it's awesome. But it needs it. This is not going to do well on Paperview as it stands. It's just not. It's going to do okay. It'll do what some of the others have done, but this is not going to do a million paper rebodies. I'm going to come close. So I'm going to come close. And my prediction is Uspin wins a 50-45 decision over Leon Edwards. And let me just add to this real quick. I never said Edwards wasn't going to get a title shot. My idea for this whole thing, and he could attest to this. And I

I've been saying this for eight months now, I think. The UFC screwed this whole thing up. Should have done Edwards Shamiyev interim title. That's how you should have done it. Because then people would care much more about this Usman Edwards fight. If Leon beat Shemayev, then Leon went and fought Ousman. Whenever that fight happens, it's a million times more intriguing. It does well on pay-per-view.

As it stands now, it's just, this is a. it's just a fine it's a card it's a paperview card with a title fight main events with the best fighter in the world right now you get cost of rock hold which is interesting but a lot of people don't like either guy

and who knows I mean who knows what will happen like will a fight even happen although Marab is great it's weird but it's cool and then the rest is just like I said it's very fight nighty I love Ramanov

I think the guy's going to fight for the title. But yeah, I think it's just there. The rest is just a bunch of, like a lot of contender series guys. And again, I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but look at 275. But again, 275, top to bottom wasn't tremendous on paper, but it ended up delivering. We lost the fight. This is okay.

276 is better. 277 is way better. So we'll see. All right. I'm taking Jay and Taylor, like I said earlier, and then I got to get out of here. Oh, and I hate two. I'm sorry.

Hey. Jay. Yo. So I have two things. One is with Mike Brown from American top team. He said that he doesn't want Porre fighting at 155 anymore unless he gets another title shot. And he wants him moving up to 170. So if that's going to happen, who do you think the UFC should match up with Porre to be a favorite?

Because I was looking at the ranked opponents. and the only person I could think of is maybe Mazvedo, but he doesn't want to fight. Mosvedo, since his team team. So I want to get your opinion on what 170 he should fight if he wants to match that up. And second thing is, I want to talk about 1FC real quick and

how they saw that they booked Aegean Amorice and DJ again. And now that DJ is more aware of the knees to the ground, do you think he has a chance to beat Ajauna Marais now? And I want to get your take on that fight. So thanks, Mike. have a heck of a morning there.

Thanks, buddy. The correct answer for Dustin is Nate's. That's the fight to make. It has been the fight to make. It has always been the fight to make. And yet, they're not making it. Everybody wants it. Like, literally everybody wants Dustin versus Nate.

Everybody wants it. Everybody wants to see it. The UFC won't make it because they're being petty assholes. It's just dumb. It makes me upset. But that's the fight to make. Do it at 170. Let's just make it happen.

That's the one. anything else I mean nothing really stands out I mean he's not gonna fight for the belt it's probably gonna be a dog in most of these fights

maybe Wonderboy somebody like that I don't know but do the Nate fight for the love of God all right he Taylor you're on deck sorry

sorry it is I'm warning my time's on, but anyway, okay, so firstly, with the second generational thing, I've got the right answer. It's, you all talk about guys, you should have been thinking about the gals, specifically the daughter of a former UFC heavyweight champion, Frank Mears' daughter, Isabella Mir. Ooh, great one. That's probably the one that everyone's talking about her. Yeah, that's a great answer. She's very young.

That's probably it. And now, Mike, I've got to bring something up. And it's a sad topic. I can't believe I have to bring this up. But I don't know. It's about glory kickboxing. Someone brought this up earlier, like on a previous show. Do you know what I'm talking about Mike?

I'm going to tell everyone else anyway. Yes. So I'm going to bring up. Yes. Unfortunately, it's so horrible that. So for people in the call that don't know what's going on, glory kickboxing has fired, has fired all. fighters for one reason and one reason only because they're Russian. That's it. And there's

not much to say on that apart from that's pure discrimination. I just, I'm actually just lost for words. I don't even know like this is a full-on sort of like bullshit virtue signaling type move from Glory. And they've given a bullshit reason that, you know, oh, it's too hard to book fighters and whatnot. That's pathetic. We've, you know, to see these. people penalized purely because of a nationality is nothing sure of horrendous. And also this includes, and it shouldn't matter as much because whether it's a champion or not to penalize someone on the nationality is horrible. But that includes firing their champion.

I like heavyweight champion. His name's Artem for the life of me. I can't pronounce his second name. But his name's Artem. He has a win over Alex Pahara. Okay. And they fired him. I'm just shocked at this sort of like move, this virtually signaling move.

Like you don't see this again. Like we talked about this before, Mike, of how, you know, the UFC and ESPN MM picked and pick and chose like Marina Morose and left out Balin and Palestine. It's the same thing here, bro. You don't see this type of thing with like 10 years ago, 20 years ago with the British and Iraq or Israel and Palestine. But Russia and Ukraine, they want to force it down people's throats. It's pathetic. And again, with the whole Nate Diaz thing,

I think it's so sad. Like, like you said, Mike, you were being nice. Like, so I'm going to cut it to chase. This card is pathetic. This card is kind of like from pay-per-view card. This card shit. Mike, you're trying to be like, like, like, I know, Mike, you're like really nice,

but I'm just going to say how it is. This card's bullshit. Like, you've got three notable fights. Like, and then even then, Rockhold is a liability. Costa is going to turn up. much about. Jose and Marab is a hardcore matchup, but that's it. It's not something that jumps out. And like you said, Mike, if it was Chimaiven and Edwards as the main event, I guarantee

you keep the rest of the card the same. It doesn't matter because you have Chimayev on the main card. It doesn't matter. You can put them in fucking Antarctica. It doesn't matter. But it's so everyone said this already. And you know, and you've said this. Diaz, this whole situation is petty and disgusting. And people have also said as well, I hate MMA fans so much. They say, oh, you declined Chimai back in October, though. Firstly, Chameh was a rising star back then, but Chimai didn't add any, you know, like, why would Nate take that fight?

And also, as well, Chameh is a middleweight that kills himself to make welterweight. Like, when you've got dust in there begging in August, Nate, begging, just let them make that fight and you'll get more money. It's horrible the treatment that's being done and yeah, I'm just horrified at everything. To be honest, thank you, Mike. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, I mean,

the glory thing is just insane. The Bell and Mir pick is tremendous, by the way. Excellent. Bigfoot Silver's got a daughter who fights as well. Anne Ribeiro is her name. I don't think she's turned pro yet, but some Amy wins.

She's someone to probably keep an eye as well, but Bellamere is probably the best answer. All right, Taylor. What's up, buddy? Hello, Mike. I hope you're doing okay. Firstly, he stole my thunder. I was going to go for the Bellamere pick.

But two things to talk about. There was Randy Coutterterterson. I'm not sure if he's still active, but I remember he got beaten up by Patrickie a few years ago. He might be a bit of a wash now. And then secondly, the, who's this? Randy Coutor, son, Ryan or Rylan.

Oh, Ryan. Yeah, yeah. I don't think he's fighting anymore. And then secondly, I want to talk about the state of the lightweight division and a proposal for you of how they can fix this awful circumstance where there's a top 10 that you just can't seem to get into it and there's all these killers on the cusp of the cusp of the cusp of the rancin that can't get an exciting fight. But it's like this main event that we've got at the weekend, it's sort of, sort of feels like it's come about

is no one else good's going to fight these two guys so we may as well just put them together with Sourke and Gamma so I'm pitching to you an eight-man tournament the future of the lightweight

all these killers at lightweight like Demir, Guam Alvarez Mike Martin all these killers that have got like these great records

like 13 and 5 records put them in an eight-man tournament together put like the semi-finals say on the pre-final prelims of a lightweight title fight and then put the finals

just like a five round fight on a lightweight card make a big tournament for him, promise like a number five rank it, get him a bit of traction that way because they're all going to struggle to fight up. Look at Greg Gillespie. Fantastic fighter, but he doesn't stand a chance of getting

a fight ahead of him really and his star power is sort of falling because of it. Yeah, I mean, see, here's the thing. Here's the thing why your idea won't happen. Because the UFC doesn't like to have fun at all. So that's why it's not going to happen. That would be a fun idea.

We'd all be happy and thrilled about that idea. But the UFC doesn't like to have fun, and we're not going to have any fun with that, unfortunately. So, yeah, it's tough. Lightweight's kind of, lightweight's fun, but it's a mess at the same time. And, yeah, it's just not going to happen. I wish we could get something like that,

but it ain't going to happen. All right. 30 seconds each for Vinnie and Viking Mbe. Vinnie, go. Sorry, I can barely hear you. I just wanted to ask about the Adrian Yanis fight last weekend. What was the beef on all that? And also wanted to ask you about the guitar ending.

Is this Chris Lee, the new Tom, all the model, or the motto, whatever is the last name is? yeah i don't know man it's uh it's a pretty horrendous scorecard really really terrible and it costs calvin k to the win it costs calvin k to the fight so if he wants to be pissed he he's every right to be but yeah all right viking m may close us out 30 seconds because we got to go hopefully you got your uh everything squared away over there spinning it's spinning Five more seconds. Five, four.

There we go. Go. Good. What you got? We got to get out of here. So make it fast if you can. Yes. Actually, I was knowing that you were going to say that.

But I just want to say one thing, that you are a good man. You are a good human being. And most of all, whatever you're doing, you're doing in the right way. And I think you should do whatever you're doing on your own. I mean, you're a great analyst and other things. Thank you. Thank you, man. I appreciate that.

I appreciate the kind words. I am very happy where I am, very happy with the MMA fighting squad. I feel like we are a well-oiled machine over here at the flagship website for mixed martial arts. I feel like we got a little bit of everything going on. Everyone sort of has their lane. We all travel that lane very effectively. And I feel like there's more that can be done. And there will be more done.

And I'm excited for all of that. But I appreciate the kind words nonetheless. But we got to get out of here. First of all, for those of you who have jumped in not only one but two different links, I really appreciate it because I didn't plan for the friggin' power to go out, but the friggin' power went out. So we had to stop the first stream, jump on into a second stream. And now I have to edit, and it's going to be a pain in the ass.

But I appreciate all of you guys and gals jumping in here with me going on this long journey with us. And guess what? We're back tomorrow, a rare Wednesday edition of heck of a morning. We'll be back tomorrow, 10 a.m. Eastern, Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern. Friday, 10 a.m. Eastern. on the road to a very busy weekend. And then on the road to Las Vegas, I cannot wait.

I will be there. I've never been to Vegas in my life. And what a fine time to make that first trip to Sin City for International Flight Week. So thank you very much. Have a great rest of the day. And as always, have a heck of a morning. You crazy animals.

You a 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.