MMA Fighting - Heck of an Afternoon | Aljamain Sterling's Victory Lap, McKee vs. Pitbull 2, Adrian Yanez Joins the Show

Episode Date: April 14, 2022

Aljamain Sterling's victory lap is continuing on following his decision win over Petr Yan to unify the bantamweight championship at UFC 273, but is he going too far? That question is presented on a brand new edition of Heck of an Afternoon with MMA Fighting's Mike Heck. In addition, listener questions include the promotion of Bellator 277 on Friday headlined by the rematch for the featherweight title between AJ McKee and Patricio Pitbull, as well as the light heavyweight grand prix finale between champ Vadim Nemkov and challenger Corey Anderson, the UFC's return to Las Vegas this Saturday with UFC Vegas 51 headlined by Vicente Luque and Belal Muhammad, plus UFC bantamweight Adrian Yanez hops on to discuss when he may return to action and if a fight with Sean O'Malley would be possible for his next appearance. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 8 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Show will return to normal time the rest of the week. 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

Black Friday is here at IKEA and the clock is ticking on savings 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. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca. slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. We know you love the thought of a vacation to Europe. But this time, why not look a little further?

To Dubai, a city that everyone talks about and has absolutely everything you could want from a vacation destination. From world-class hotels, record-breaking skyscrapers, and epic desert adventures, to museums that showcase the future, not just the past. Choose from 14 flights per week between Canada and Dubai. Book on emirates.ca. today. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. This Thursday, April 14th, 2020,

and normally this would be a heck of a morning, but it's a heck of an afternoon here on M.M.A. fighting's Twitter spaces, and if you are not able to make it live, the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network, I am Mike Heck. Hope you're all having a fantastic week. Technically, I am on vacation right now.

I have the week off, but I wasn't going to leave you guys hanging. I didn't, you can't just start a show and then just stop it because you're on vacation, you're covering events. You're just got to make this thing happen. So happy to be here. We're going to go for about 40 minutes today. I don't know. It all depends on what you guys are up to.

I see some big time celebs joining us right now. A couple of the big prospects in the UFC. Adrian Yannas is here. Jeff Molina is here. A lot to be excited about is. it is Thursday. We're still sort of feeling the hangover effects

of UFC 273 this past Saturday in Jacksonville. What an event it was. We've talked a lot about Hamzat Shamiyaf and his incredible fight with Gilbert Burns, just an all-time classic, and people saying that Shemayf's stock has somehow dropped after that performance.

And if you want to make the argument that maybe slightly, his invincibility factor may have dropped, sure, but I think we kind of talked about that enough. What we really haven't talked about is the greatness of Alexander Volcanovsky, but what I think has been a really cool after effect of UFC 273 is this sort of venomous comeback tour, this I told you so, tour from the undisputed UFC badamway champion Al Jermaine Sterling.

And I got to say, some people don't live. like what he's doing, I absolutely love it. I love it. I love how he's just calling everybody out, taking everybody to task. If you doubted him, if you picked against him, if you said he was going to get rolled over by Piotr Yan, he's calling you to task on it. He's calling everybody out, quote tweeting everybody, setting up apology letters that he already filled out for you. You just got to sign and check off the box. But I am, I mean, I am loving it. Nobody is safe. He's just rolling over Jonathan Coachman, the Big John McCarthy's of the world,

the Josh Thompson's of the world, just running them all over. And I can't say I'm mad at it. I love it. Absolutely love everything Al Jermaine Sterling's doing. So we'll see where he goes from here. Is he going to fight T.J. Dillashah? Is he going to fight J. D'Elechah?

Are the UFC going to do what I want them to do? And book Aldo versus Dillashah, number one contender fight, winner fights Al Jermaine for the title. Then what do you do with Pierre Young? Do you match them up with Marad de Walsh, really? I would kind of like to see that. But we'll see what happens.

A lot going on, of course, this weekend. The UFC is back. Another card. It's going to be a tough one to match. If we're being honest, it's going to be tough to outdo UFC 273, but they're going to give it the old college try. The welterweight division will take the marquee as Vecente Lucke will look to continue his reign of terror against the surging below Muhammad.

Big fights. Big fight right there. Stakes are pretty high. I don't know if either one of those guys, Leapfrog Shemaiah, or even Leaprox Gilbert Burns or anybody at that point? I mean, they're probably just fighting to cement their place in this division,

but you have to imagine that if Fesente Leuke wins and does so impressively, he's probably closer to a title shot than Bilal. No disrespect to Belal Mohammed. I just feel like Vecentee Luka is just the way he's doing it, the finishes he's getting, just the pure dominance, the violence of that man.

is putting out there. I mean, it's just, the dude is rolling, but props to blow Mohammed as well. Card is, it's not too shabby. Not too shabby, but again,

I think we're going to be feeling the effects of UFC 273 and everything that happened there because it was such a memorable event. And then, of course, we got Bellator 277, I believe, going down this Saturday as well. The rematch for the Bellator featherweight title

between A.J. McKee and Petrae and Petricio Pitbull. Interesting card there. That's a big fight. But again, and I say this about Bellator all the time. I love Bellator. I love the people who work there. They have a really good roster.

But no one is talking about this. The card is being poorly promoted, if we're being honest. But it's actually happening this Saturday in San Jose. Actually, it's tomorrow. What am I talking about? See? You see what I'm talking about? You see what I'm talking about.

It's actually tomorrow at San Jose. Bellator 277. I'm on vacation. My days are all mixed up. But we got McKee, Pitbull, too. We got Vadim Nemcoff taking up Corey Anderson. The finals of the light heavyweight Grand Prix title on the line. Aaron Pico is back against Adley Edwards, Timothy Johnson, Linton Vassell, Tyrol Fortune, Rakeem Cleveland,

and a lot of other fights on this card. But I wish Bellator did a better job promoting this one. But we're going to open up the lines to you guys. whatever you want to talk about, jump on in. We'll make it happen. I know Dana Spite was there. So if you want to talk about Al Jemine Sterling's victory lap, well-deserved victory lap, we can talk about that.

You want to talk about Belator? You want to talk about Belitur. You can talk about Belichetor. We can talk about Luca Muhammad. Whatever you want to talk about, lines are open. Raise your hand and we'll get after it. And we'll begin things with Dax. Dax, what's up, man?

Hey, Mike. So I was wondering how your... pound for pound list. Because I haven't had Usumann at the top ever. You know, it's been on to Sanya. But does both sort of jump either of them? You know, obviously we got top three, maybe four with Ngano, maybe, but we're just Volk at with, you know, especially a great, dominant finish.

Thank you very much. My wife's phone is ringing in the background, so pardon me for that. Let me pull up my rankings from the only rankings that truly matter, the NBA fighting global rankings, hanging tight for one moment. And let's see where I have, Mr. Volcanovsky. So heading into that fight, my top five pound for pounds, M.A. Fighting's global rankings,

Usman, Francis Ngano, Israel, Adasania, Volcanovsky, Oliver. So I had Volcanovsky at number four. Does anybody have Volcanovsky ranked higher than that? we have one one rankings panelist who has Volcanovsky at three but I will say I probably will have Volkanowski above four

come the first week in May so like last week of April we will go through the rankings we will redo them, go through the pound for pound I don't think Volcanowski is going to jump to number one but he has a there's a conversation we had for it and even having Volk at number four heading into this fight I thought about it and I was kind of like I felt like I was right some days.

Other days I felt like I wasn't right that maybe he should have been higher. But I'm pretty confident. I mean, I'll have to wait for a couple weeks before he actually sit down and I actually go through these rankings. But I'm pretty confident to say that Volcanovsky will not be number four

come May in my pound for pound rankings. He will probably be three. Maybe he'll be two. I don't think he'll leapfrog Usman just yet. But if he goes out there and gets another win, maybe before Rusman does. There's a conversation to be had,

but he's good. He's real good. I've been very high in Volcanowski for a while. I felt like he hasn't gotten the respect that he's deserved for quite a while. I feel like that respect is starting to come. I feel like the Ortega fight was a good start for the respect tour.

I feel like this performance against zombie, this near perfect game that he pitched. I feel like that did him a lot of favors. So he's four of my pound for pound now, but he won't be after. after the first week in May, I'll be a little bit higher. Let's bring in Christopher. Lots to talk about here.

Christopher, how are you? Yeah, I'm good, Mike. How are you doing? Good. What's up? So I guess my question for this episode is I'm really, really, really high on Vadim Nemcov, have been following him since he was in Rising. Where do you have him in your kind of, in your light heavyweight rankings?

Because for me, I don't know if this is a hot take or not. He's at the very least top three in my age. opinion in terms of quality. So I'm just wondering where do you have Vadim Nemcov and how do you see the fight against Corey Anderson going? Great question. That is a fantastic fight on this card

that is being kind of poorly promoted, if we're being honest. I have my pound for pound rankings over. Nemcoff is in my top 20. I am at number 19. But you could probably make a strong case that you should be higher than that. I have Nemcoff number four in my light heavyweight

rank because they have Glover Tashira, Yuri Prahashka, Jan Belhovic, Vadim Knav, and then Corey Anderson right behind him. But Nemcoff could be above Lojofich, that's for sure. I don't know if he's above Prahashka just yet, but if he goes out there and just rolls Corey Anderson, it makes a compelling case, and vice versa, if Corey Anderson goes out there and puts it on Vadim Nemcoff, wins the Grand Prix, wins that title, wins the million dollars,

he probably moves out above the top five as well. He'll definitely be number four at the very least because Nemcoff's a spot above him. But then I have Ancolaev, Rackich, Phil Davis, Anthony Smith at 9, Dom Reyes at 10, Paul Craig at 11, Santos 12, Jamal Hill 13, shoeface 14, Ryan Bader 15. So Rikis could change quite a bit once we get to the end of the month. But this Bellator card is pretty, I mean, it's pretty solid. I mean, you got great main events, you get a tremendous co-main event. I got to pull up the odds here. I'm curious to see what the odds look like.

Because again, we're in a position where this card has not been promoted the way that I would hope. So A.J. McKee is a minus 265 favorite. Come back on Pippel is plus 215, according to our friends of draft kings. But Dean Memcoff, minus 150 favorite. Come back of Corey Anderson plus 130. How did that line open? Yeah, minus 160. Now it's minus 150.

So not a ton of movement, but that's good. That's what you want, these betting lines. You want money coming in on both sides. Slight lean on Anderson in terms of the money. And what else we got here? Aaron Pico, obviously a minus 1,000 favorite over Adley Edwards. Aaron Pico is starting to fight like the Aaron Pico that we all hope to see when he first came in. He's just running through guys, just dominant wins.

Justin Gonzalez, the last guy he fought, is a super, tough guy, a really good prospect, and he just kind of ran him over. I mean, Justin's a tough guy, but Pico basically had his way with him. You could have made an argument for a 30-26 in that fight. He looked fantastic. Linton Vassell, Timothy Johnson, Vassell is a slight favorite, minus 130, Gaston Belanos, minus 365, Daniel Carey plus 280. And then we get some, we get some decent prospects on this card. Cool. I mean, we have a couple of like, minus 800s. Bobby Sorodio the third minus 800. Theo Hagg minus 720,

Laird Anderson minus 510. So I mean, you're getting the typical Bellator sort of prospects. You try to build them up a little bit, but they're still massive favorites. But man, I kind of wish you still had that Aaron Pico, Jeremy Kennedy fight because I really liked that one.

That was a doozy. Let's bring in our old friend, Lactagon. Locktagon, what's up? Hello. I have a afternoon, Mike. It sure is. How's it going?

Good. So last time I asked you about Drickus, I am big into the South African scene as a native myself. And I was just wondering, is there anyone else besides Drickis, Don Madge, Pumi, and Kuda, who you can see taking over from South Africa? Ah, you're asking me the million dollar question here. I have to be honest. Full disclosure. not my, like, not my region of the world that, that I'm paying tremendous close to. I mean, there's some DC.

I mean, I think those are probably the 1A, 1B. Imagine Drickus. I mean, Drichus is really good. I mean, imagine if we got him on that car, we were so close to getting him and Calvin Gasselm on this car. We were so close to getting him and Chris Curtis on this car. We were so close to getting him and Anthony Hernandez on that car, which that fight actually looks really interesting right now. If you look at it,

if the UFC went back to that well and tried to book it, I'd be all in on seeing Anthony Hernandez get that test because when Hernandez comes in as a dog, he comes in and he fires. So that fight with Josh Front was great. Josh is a really good prospect as well. But yeah, I think you're looking at the two best right now. But maybe the contender series,

maybe we see some up-and-comers coming through. I don't know. We'll see. But I think those are the two guys. And Don Madge, obviously, you'll be fighting for the PFL, and I'm excited for that. I mean, talk about the celebs coming in. Sean Al Shadi joining us. What an honor and a privilege.

Hello, sir. I'm so glad. I'm a West Coast guy, so I'm always waking up and he's here. And I'm going to listen to this back. So it's so good to finally participate, my man. What's going on? Not much. You got an afternoon.

You got a little lucky. I played a little golf of my father. Then I got rained down 11 holes in. and now I'm back here in a room talking to you. So it's a great day. What was the best hole on the course? Do you get any birds? No birds.

I shot 42 in the front. I was playing really well. Then I got a bogey. And then I hit my two shot on 11 into the sand trap. And then it's just downboard and everybody goes. Fair, fair. I'm Arab. I live in the sand when I golf.

Like I can't, I can't miss it. It's just I find it every time. So I'm sure you've already. hit a little bit, but Bellator versus UFC this week, and I'll just start off there. Best, best card, but got to be Bellator, right? Yeah, I think, I mean, I don't know if it's a no-brainer, but I think, I think the, I think more eyeballs are probably on the UFC because not that the UFC is done a tremendous job, like putting this card in front of our faces, but I think they've done a better job that Belator has.

So I think top to bottom, if we're looking at fight for fight, Belator has the better card, but I think more people will probably pay attention to the UFC car, which is kind of sad if we're being honest. See, I agree with you, and I wonder, is that an indictment of the way that Bellator has sort of handled this thing with AJ McKee over the last year, right? Because, like, objectively, that's the best fight of the weekend.

I think most of us would agree, like him versus Pitbull. But if you look at, like, the last, I don't know, what is it, like, eight, 10 months since he beat Pitbull in July, like that felt like the layup of all layups. That guy is your homegrown stuff. you built him up from the ground up. He finally conquers, you know, this greatest bellator fighter of all time, does it with ease. You put that guy on the daytime talk show circuit, and you put every microphone

possible in front of his face, and then you give him a fight a few months later, and you keep this momentum going. And it feels like they did the wrong thing at every possible way. And like, he's almost forgotten now this week. Like, it is bizarre how much people are sleeping on a guy that might be the best non-UFC fighter in the world. 100% agree. In fact, I thought the card was Saturday.

That's how badly they promoted this. I start off the show saying, oh, we get two events on Saturday. And then I just looked, I'm like, oh, yeah, it's tomorrow. So that goes to show you how much they've really promoted this card. But yeah, that's the biggest fight of the weekend. And the best fight of the weekend is probably the co-main events between Nemcoff and Corey Anderson. But again, I mean, I covered the sport for a living. And I still thought the card was on Saturday.

So that just goes to show you. But I completely agree with you. AJ McKee should have been on Good Morning America. He should have been on all those shows after he won the title. And the biggest piece of business that he got where a camera was upon him or the aftermath of some incident happened was the Jake Paul Tyrod Woodley rematch. When him and his team almost got in a fight with Diaz and their team, that was like the most we saw AJ McKee since he won the title.

And it wasn't even a Bellator thing. It's just nuts. It's crazy. The way they're handling this whole thing, man. It's crazy. He was a ghost. He's been a ghost for the last, like, year. Like, the,

and just the way that we ended up with, right? Like, like, I love this fight. The pit bull fight is a great fight. But the fact that we're running it back at 45 when it was right there. It was set up last July, right? Like, he beats Pitbull at 45, does so with these. Pit bulls already, the lightweight champion as well. Move up, challenge for that second belt in the rematch.

Like, that's such a fascinating dynamic. Like, when have we seen something like that? where one guy beats the champion and then he moves up and fights the same guy 10 pounds heavier for a different belt. All the different questions that would come into that. Like that would have been so insanely compelling. Like where do you feel? Are you happy with how we've ended up here with this rematch at featherweight? I appreciate you, my man.

Am I happy? I mean, I guess, but I just, I don't know. I feel unfulfilled with the build and everything. They should have just ran this back of 155. too much time had passed. So Pitbull is like, eh, I'm just going to give my brother

the chance to win the title. And I guess maybe Belator is thinking, but wait, maybe we get it. If Petricio can't do it, maybe Patrici can stop the McKee train, which probably not. I mean,

Patricio has proven to be the better, more complete fighter for being honest. So, I mean, you have some sort of story there, but, I mean,

I've talked about this a million times. Belator dropped the ball. Agent McKee should have been on the desk with Amanda Gear, every single event, put that man over, put that man on the camera and just put him over as a star

put him over as a star he should be at every single event like he should have been at the Academy Award should have been at the Grammys like that band should be red carpeting everywhere he's your star and now you got him going on different shows you got him going on the MA or saying

you pay me a million dollars a fight and they'll stay with Bellator what if you just gave him the red carpet treatment after he won the title you might not have gotten that coming out of his mouth so I don't know if he's long for Bellator. I don't know if Belator's long for him is probably the more appropriate statement. So let's move on. Yeah, it's it's just awful. It's just really awful the way they're dropping the ball here.

When you're a forward thinker, you don't just bring your A game. You bring your AI game. Workday is the AI platform that transforms the way you manage your people, money and agents so you can transform tomorrow. Workday, moving business forever forward. City Holiday Insiders Report. Try this PC Porquetta. Crackling, craveworthy. You gonna eat that? Who are you?

I'm the voice for the next ad, car commercial, but I noticed that show-stopping roast and... Help yourself. Mmm, designed for indulgence. 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. Let's bring in Noah. N.P. Mike, what's up, Mike, heck, what's going on? So I have two questions and a hot take for you. So the first question is I'm going to my first Bellator show at the Mohican Sun for the Musassi fight. And I've already been to UFC 268 at the Garden.

So I kind of want to see if you could like break down the differences in experience between going to UFC show versus a Bellator show. That's question number one. question number two for bellator's card this saturday what's your low-key banger of the week because mine is crutchmer versus lombardo lombardo looked great at the pfl show and crutchmer's been killing it in belator so very excited for that one and then the hot take there's only one person at 170 that can beat um that can beat chimayev and his name is vicente luke also shout out to Adrian Yanis, I see you in the chat. What up?

I appreciate you, M.P. I mean, that, I don't know how hot of it take. I mean, it's a little spicy, but it's a, listen, Vicente Lucke might be the most underrated guy in the UFC right now. I mean, the violence that man puts forth on a, every time he fights, it's just incredible. It's really incredible. And yeah, that's what happens sometimes when you have these sneaky good guys

that are flying under the radar. I know Sean is a huge Vicente-Luke advocates, and many should be. He's that good. So, yeah, we'll see how we would do. I mean, what would happen if Shamiya took him down and just got on top of him with that big, huge, massive body it is, we would see.

But knowing Shemaya, if knowing what we saw against Gilbert's, probably wouldn't go in there and just sling hands with Fecentee-Luke just to test it out and see how it would go. But maybe not the best strategy. But I'm very interested to see what Shamiav looks like in his next fight, whether it's against the winner of this fight on Saturday, or Colby or however the UFC moves forward. I'm with you on the low-key-banger for this Bellator card.

I think Crutchmer-Lombardo is probably the correct answer. I want to see where the betting lines are. I'm sure Crutchmer is pretty sad. Minus 2-60. For a Crutchmer fight, that's not as big as he usually is. So, yeah, that's probably the low-key-banger on this card. And then in terms of just the viewing experience from going to a Bellator to a UFC, I don't know.

Mohegan's interesting because they will do their best to put on, they'll put a lot of New England fighters on that card and they'll put them on early. So you might see, just depending on how ticket sales go, you might see the place pretty full real quick because they like to, I mean, it's a ticket selling business. So they put their popular, try to give as many popular local fighters on the card

so they can sell tickets and fill it up and try to generate some buzz for the rest of the card. But the prelims just go so fast. It just goes, boom, boom, boom, boom, fights over. There's a post-fight interview. By the time they're walking back up into the back, they're already bringing the next guy out. And then they're bringing the next guy out.

So the prelims go really quick. Sometimes they go a little too quick. So you're sitting there, and you notice this watching the broadcast, too. Sometimes you'll sit there and there'll be like 40 minutes between the last prelim fight and the first fight in the main card. And it's probably better being there alive because you go stretch your legs and use the restroom or go get another beer or whatever. But when you have the viewing experience and you're watching it,

you have to look at, you have to look at Josh Thompson and listen to his analytics for 45 minutes. And that's just a tough ask for being honest. But yeah, have fun. And you get Gagar Rousasi in the card, which will be super fun. Let's get Mikey Bats in here. Are you there, Mikey Bats? Mikey, are you there?

We'll try that again. Let's bring in our man, Zeke. We know it's not a Twitter space is unless Zieg shows up. Zeke, what's up? Mike, can you hear me? Yes, I can. How are you? What a heck of an afternoon we're having.

You know, I usually, I get stumbled by his 8 a.m. Start, so I missed Monday. So I got to start off my reaction immediately from 273. Then I got to ask you a Bellator question, and then a personal question. I want to know what's going on down there. It looks like you having some fun down there in the Carolinas.

But first thing first, I'm so hurt. I thought Dana White would just blow in smoke up of everybody's butts. I thought that this Humzot Chimaya versus Kobe Covington matchup was, you know, a lose-lose situation for kind of the both of them. And now it looks like we're going to have my worst nightmare because Kobe is probably my heart favorite fighter and Humzot Easily, my mind favorite fighter. Without being sad, I think he has the, you know, highest potential currently right now as a prospect in the UFC.

what is your thought process when this does get pen to paper? Is it going to be ABC? Is it going to be fight week? Is it going to be later than that? Could it even be a December pay-per-view? When do you think we will see this match-up? Yeah, you made a really good comment before that I want to comment on. Corey Anderson and Nemcoff is easily the banger the weekend in my eyes.

I've been rep in New Jersey and Mark Henry for a while. I absolutely love when Corey Anderson goes in there and bangs with the big boys. With that being said, he really doesn't have much to lose right now. Obviously, Nemcov is the favorite at the moment. But when Corey goes out there and has fun, it's dangerous. This is going to be a real, real, you know, slasher of a matchup at heavyweight, at light heavyweight. And I agree with you.

I think Velter is doing a horrible job of promoting this card. And then lastly, sight seeing one day golf and the next day. What else is going on with the heck adventure down there? I hope you're enjoying your vacation. Shout out of him. to fighting. Shout out Andre and Adrian Yarnes in the crowd. And yeah, thank you guys for having me. Thank you, Zique. Always a pleasure. Yeah, I think if the UFC had their druthers, you do that on ABC, five-round fight sometime this summer. If they do it in July, great. I mean, let's just build

July up, make it a massive month. You got an international fight, we kicking things off. If you want to do an ABC card, that is a gigantic fight to do it on ABC, Shemaiah v. Colby. five rounds. You got to see what Shamiyf can do in a five-round fight. And I'm curious to see how that would go if Colby can sort of weather the early storm. This fight gets midway through the third round and on. How will Colby cope? Does he still get enough energy?

Does he kind of figure out the size discrepancy? Because Shamiya, like I've said many times, seeing Hamzaat Shamiyev in person, he's a giant man. He's humongous. I don't know how he makes 170. Literally. have no idea how he makes 170. He's just so much bigger than a welterweight, but he does it.

It'll be curious to see how Colby handles the first couple rounds. His chin is proven to be quite strong, but what's going to happen when he's getting hit with those hammers early on? Because you know Shamiov's going to go in there and try to get him out of there early. But if he can't, what's going to happen down the stretch once you get in those championship rounds? Because if Colby can start landing takedowns late,

boy, that's going to be an interesting fight because he could frustrate just about anybody in there. That's why he's the second best Walter White in the world, Shemayev included. The Bellator, yeah, I mean, again, the Bellator card, not tremendous. Corey Anderson. I don't know if I agree with Corey Anderson. There's nothing to lose here.

I think he has a lot to lose it for being honest, because he's been waiting for this. He's been waiting for a title shot. He waited for it, the UFC, didn't come. So we had to go through this entire Grand Prix to get there. He's made some good competition. And a lot of people's minds, we had a caller earlier

who believed that Vadim Nemcoff might be in his eyes the best light heavy weight in the world. And Corey's talked a lot of crap, but I will say this. I am enjoying this new version of Corey Anderson. This Corey Anderson that just doesn't give a crap anymore. He's not going to do any extra media.

He's just going to live life, hang out this family. When it comes to fight week, he's just going to do what's required of him. And he's just going to go in there and have fun. and he's obviously become a great fighter because of that. He's looked fantastic since he's gone over to Bellator. His last couple of performances have been great. So you can't fault the man for wanting to spend time with his family

and trying to take the negativity that the sport can bring out of the equation. He's just having fun. Just having fun. He's cash and checks. And now he has the chance on Friday night or tomorrow night to become a world champion and defeat a guy who many consider to be a top three, 205 are in the world. I love the fight.

I think it's the most intriguing matchup of the weekend. Obviously, Pitbull McKee, too, is the biggest fight, depending on who you ask. But I think, like, the most interesting fight in terms of how it plays out is going to be that light heavyweight fight.

It's just a really interesting fight. And if Corey Anderson goes out there and just steamrolls, Vene Nemcoff, like he did to Ryan Bader, we're going to have to have a conversation on the ranking show come the first week in May on where Corey Anderson sits at

205, where he sits in the pound for pound discussion. I have Nemcoff number 19, but Corey Anderson will make that list if he wins his fight. And then in terms of what I'm doing on vacation, just basically I'm right back a week and a half later where I started my Jacksonville fight week.

Drove out to my parents' house. My wife and my son were with me this time. Went out, woke up, played some golf this morning, came back, hopped in the pool. My kids out there. He's like a little fish. and we're just living the Florida life. That's why I'm in such a good mood.

So let's get Mikey bats. Let's see if we can make this work this time. Mikey. Mikey, you're there. What's happening? I can hear reverb. I know you're on. All right, Mikey.

You can try again. If we can get you back on, Mikey, try again. We'll make it happen. By the way, for those wondering, I know I said we're going to do a live BTL this week. Not going to happen. Too much going on. Jedmish, you and I are going to record a roundtable edition.

We're just going to hit record, shoot the breeze, recap 273, talk about this weekend. We'll make it happen. So that'll be up not long after this. Come on, Mikey. Mikey! Do we do it this time? Oh, man. Mike, you're just trolling me, buddy?

I might have to get Adrian Yannas in here to save the day. Adrian, get in here. Mike, you're just laughing at me? What's going on? The love of God. Adrian, come on. Let's get you in here, unless you're driving, then don't do anything that'll get you in a car accident.

We don't want that to happen. Is Adrian got a fight lined up? Oh, there he is. There he is. Let's bring Adrian Yannas in here, one of the bright prospects at 135 pounds in the UFC. Adrian Yades, make sure you unmute, my man. How's it going?

Oh, okay, yeah. I was like, what's going on? But hey, what's up, guys? Thank you for all the shoutouts, bro. Brothers, man. Thank you. That felt awesome. I was like, oh, nice.

I'm getting called a celebrity. This feels good. How's it going, man? Everything's going great, living, loving life, man. Everything's phenomenal. I love it. That's what we like to see. So what's going on with you?

We haven't heard any fight news, at least to my knowledge. Do we have, when are we looking to get back in there? because you are a very popular selection on our matchmaking show on to the next. Man, I've been waiting to hear something back. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting. I've been asking for about... I probably should be saying if I've been asking for about seven weeks already,

and every week has been like, it's been like, oh, we'll get back to you this week. We'll get back to you this week. And that's not necessarily due to anyone's fault because, like, this week there's a complaint. It was like this week and last week, It was like, they just got bombarded with a whole bunch of stuff that just came out of nowhere. So, yeah, I can't go dive.

I can't dive too much into that right now because, like, I don't know if they're releasing any of that information. But, yeah, I've been waiting, having waiting. Still training and all that stuff because I wanted to, I wanted to fight in May. But now it's kind of like creeping up on May. And I'm like, I still haven't heard anything. So I'm shooting for June, if anything. So no names, no nothing as it right now. But, yeah, still waiting to hear something back.

All right. Well, I mean, I know you want to get back in there, maybe May, maybe June, but what if we did July, Adrian? What if we did July international fight week, UFC 276? And we do this fight that everyone seems to be asking for. Adrian Yanez versus Sean O'Malley. Everyone seems to want it, Adrian. This is a very popular pick. Is this even being discussed?

right now. Is this a fight that you think could happen? And if so, what are the chances that it would happen? Like, if I gave you a scale, on a scale one to ten, what are the chances that you think your next opponent will be shot? Oh, man, that's, I would say that's probably not, it's not high because there's not high because, man, yeah, I don't think the UFC wants to do that fight right now like if that makes sense because i because he asked for it we've asked for it and it's just not the direction that i don't think they want to go as of right now because yeah every every every talk of my manager is sean he's john so he's like oh he's asking for you know my manager's like yeah we're not scared of that we can sign that fight right now but they're like no we want to

continue to build each other so i'm like all right whatever but also i'm not going to also they're not giving me the option to renegotiate the contract if I fight if I fight oh maly because I know that that fight is going to bring bigger books so I would need more money for that but yeah I don't I don't see that being as a big possibility right now I would want it but it's still all up in the air with everything all right well if you had if you had your druthers in a realistic world who do you think you'll end up be fighting like give me a couple of names who you think would kind of fit that mold right now man I have no idea like I because

Because if I had the option to choose anybody, it would probably be someone like Julio Arce, because I know he's going to bring it. Like, I know he's going to. Oh, yeah, that'd be a good one. I would like that fight. Honestly, and probably someone like, I know it's kind of out of my range a little bit right now, but probably something like Song Yidong as well because I feel like we just, it'd just be instant fireworks, so I would want something like that.

What about Chris Gutierrez? No, that'd be fun. those fights are fun. Anybody, almost everybody mentioned, mentioned a name is always a fun fight. And I'm just like, yeah, I'm down for that too. Like, I'm not saying no to anybody.

All right. Last thing before you, I'll let you go. Some other callers are coming in and I'll let you enjoy listening and you can be the celebrity hanging out. But we had a fighter on the show once before. His name was Ally Quinta and he brought this up. And this has been a big topic of discussion. I will say this personally, I don't care.

But I'm curious to get the fighter perspective on this. open scoring, yay or nay, and why? Yay? Just because if you're, you may be, you might think you're winning a fight,

but then all of a sudden the judges come out and you're like, they don't know what the hell they're looking at. It just makes it be like, oh, they think I'm losing this fight, so I got to go out there and put on a better performance instead of like, some fighters, I don't personally think like this.

I want to get to finish every single time, but some fighters, they're like, oh, I won the first, two rounds, let me coast, then they go out to the decision, they end up losing. So it's like, all right. Like, whenever I fought Davey Grant, I would have kicked into another gear if I found out another judge was giving it, like, gave Davey a round, like, two rounds and all that stuff.

I would have pushed it up another notch, you know, try to hit that little gas tank a little bit further. It's like to put heavier shots. So I would, yeah, I would love open score and just see what judges are thinking. And yeah, I think it would be a good. edition but you know it's fine the way it is right now but open scoring will probably kick it up a notch you go helwani you get another fighter on your side adrian you are the man we are excited for uh when that date comes around and opponent d tbd whoever that is you know it's going to be a fun

one so a jad appreciate you jumping on my man thank you have a going all right there he is the great adrian yannes a man to watch in just an absolutely insanely deep division 135 pounds We're going to take two more. We're going to get on out of here. Jay Gabrew. Or Gabrew? I don't know. Hopefully I got it somewhat close.

Jay, how are you? Just make sure you on the mute. Hey, what's up? Mike. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Yeah, so I usually always miss the 8 o'clock show because I actually got class, but I'm finally making it to this one. And I wanted to say, first, with Al Jermaine Sterling.

I was ruined from the whole time, and I wanted him. to win and I'm happy he won. But I think right now, because with the recent comments he made with, like, about Big John, I think he should kind of take it down a notch because he's trying to, he's making it seem like he won every single round

and like he dominated the fight, but it was actually a really close fight. And so I think he's still getting a bit offended and he's like backing himself up, which he has the right to do and he should definitely, he should definitely glow up with the belt. But I think he should kind of, I kind of realized that it was a pretty close fight and he gave up the two rounds.

I just wanted to make that comment because after what he said about what Big John made what said about him. And I also wanted to bring up, I never got to see Jose Young's Alexio Lennox 60th win, like poster of wallpaper. I never got to see it anywhere. Do you know where that's at? It's probably on Twitter and Instagram. So if you go back, you might have to dig a little deep to find the 60 wins on Twitter. Instagram, if you go on Enemy Fighting's Instagram,

you should be able to find it, but that thing was launched and fired, and I think I quote tweeted it because it wasn't just a victory for Jose Young's, it was a victory for us all, and we really wanted Jose to have that win because he made that graphic,

God, 14 months ago, maybe, maybe a little more, and you finally got it out there, so it was very happy for him and happy for Alexiolanic and for all of those involved in the 60 win graphics. And then with the Algeman-Sterling thing,

with Big John, I disagree with you. I love everything Aljo's doing. If you say something, he sees it, he's getting after you. And I love every bit of it. And Big John came out and said, oh, there's no way he won that first round. Go back and watch that fight again, Big John. Go back and watch it again.

Watch that first round twice. Watch with the sound on and then watch it with the sound off. I know that you are a focal figure in the rules and scoring and refereeing and all that. I get it. But the more I go back and watch that round, the more I feel like Sterling won it. And maybe John has better knowledge of this game than I do.

But to go out and say that there's no chance, there's no way Sterling won that first round, I think you're crazy. I think you're a little crazy, Big John. All right, let's try this one more time with Mikey Bats. Can we make it happen? If not, Tim, we go to you for the final word. The wheel is spitting.

Can we make it happen? Can Mike and Mikey get after this thing? Mikey are you there? And the silence says no. We'll try again, Mikey. Wake up tomorrow morning. We'll make it happen. All right, Tim.

Final word, my man. Mike, what's going on? What you got? How are you, sir? Not bad. So I just wanted to hear your thoughts on something, and it's not super relevant with the fights that have happened recently. but I hear a lot of talk about what's next for Dustin Porre.

I know for the longest time it was him and Nate Diaz going back on Twitter. That kind of seems to be dead for whatever reason. It doesn't seem like the UFC wants to make it. And now I hear some things which kind of pointing to the quadrilogy, I guess, with Connor. I also saw someone say recently on Twitter that they'd like to see him and Gilbert Burns at 170, which I think would be awesome. So I just kind of want to get your thoughts on what you would like to see next and what you actually think is going to happen next for Porier.

That's a big question right now. I mean, I don't really know. I know they're saying the nay fight is dead in the water. I'm not willing to go that route. I would say it's like 75% done. Because who knows, Nate Diaz is just an interesting figure. He might just have his manager call the UFC tomorrow and be like, hey, if you pay me this amount of money for each fight,

I'll re-sign for four more fights. They'll just give them the dust and fight like the next day and put it on the books. But man, this is tough. I think it will end up being the Connor one. I know they want to try to do Connor Nate 3. I don't think either guy would honestly be all that interested in that right now. It would be a big money fight,

but you have two guys close to the end of their contract. They're going to want to try to book that fight themselves, do it outside of the UFC. You could do an MMA fight. You could do a boxing fight. and they would just do massive numbers, make massive money, and those two get to keep all of it.

So there's a very good chance you see that happening down the road. I think the UFC will try to make a play to make that fight happen, but I don't think it will. So, yeah, I think they'll probably just do Jorge and McGregor, depending on when he's ready to come back. If he's ready to come back and like, I don't know, if it's sometime this summer, August, very possible. even Porre on Twitter is like,

yeah, I think that's what the UFC is going to try to do. And if you're Dustin Porier, what are you going to do? Say no to main eventing a card against the biggest star in the sport. After you know you have his number right now, after finishing him twice in a row, and I would favor heavily Dustin Porre to win a third fight.

If I'm Dustin Porre, if that's what the UFC wants, then you wait. Then you wait and take that fight, get that win, get that rub, get that money, son, get that money. All right. That is it, everybody.

Mikey Bats, you tried, and I don't know what happened. But maybe we'll try again tomorrow. We'll back tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. Eastern, Kekeba morning, live right here on the MA fighting Twitter spaces. And as soon as this ends, I'm going to put this right up on the podcast network. And then Jedmish you and I, we're going to record a little roundtable-ish edition of BTL. We'll get that going, recapping UFC 273, talking about the cards. this weekend for Bellator for the UFC and all the comings and goings

and this crazy sport, we all love so much mixed martial arts. So thank you all for jumping on. Big shout out to everyone who jumped on and gave their thoughts and gave their opinions. Big shout out to Adrian Yannas for jumping in for a few moments to give us an update on what's going on with him. So I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day.

Have a heck of an afternoon, everybody. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.