MMA Fighting - HOAM | Adesanya vs. Pereira 3 Next? Plus, Reacting To Fallout Of UFC 287
Episode Date: April 11, 2023Israel Adesnya made his moment count when he slayed the dragon that is Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 287 this past Saturday. While the finish was emphatic, does that mean there needs to be spa...ce between a third fight between the longtime rivals, or should the UFC get right back to it? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck states the case as to why Adesanya vs. Pereira 3 should happen next unless the latter himself says that he's moving up to 205, and why no other matchup makes sense at the moment should Pereira have one more cut to 185 in him. Additionally, topics include Gilbert Burns' win over Jorge Masvidal, Rob Font knocking out Adrian Yanez, Khamzat Chimaev's next opponent, where Dricus Du Plessis sits in the middleweight title picture, Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Peña 3 being announced as the main event for UFC 289, and 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. 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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All right, everybody, it is Tuesday, April 11th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning.
We are live on the MA fighting Twitter spaces.
You can hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network.
Thank you for joining us.
I am Mike Heck.
We are coming off of a very busy, very storyline-filled UFC 287 event, went down to Miami this past Saturday.
We have a new slash once again middleweight champion of the world.
His name is Israel Adasania.
Knox Alex Pereira unconscious in round two.
Little rope-a-dope action.
What a win.
What a performance.
What a fight.
Adasania is the champion once again.
Gilbert Burns defeats Jorge Mazadol.
Mazadol retires.
Rob Font knocks out Adrianianas.
Kevin Holland knocks out Santiago Ponsonibio, 18-year-old Raul Roses Jr., loses his first fight,
and a whole bunch of other stuff happened.
It was a crazy event.
Obviously, the watch party was a lot of fun.
The reaction to Adasani's knockout has gotten a lot of attention from all of us,
especially Miami, Vice, G.C.
doing that swim move that I just can't even put into words.
And it was just a fun time.
It was just a fun time.
I was feeling a little rotten heading in.
I talked about it a little bit on onto the next one and some other things.
But I am feeling a little bit better today.
A lot of people have reached out how I'm doing.
I feel a lot better today.
Rested a lot yesterday.
Got a good night's sleep last night.
So not 100%, but probably like 95.
so I'm feeling pretty good.
But, man, UFC 287 was fun.
Adisani gets it done.
And now there's like a big question going on.
And to me, this doesn't seem like much of a question,
but I'll certainly be happy to get your reactions to all of this.
Do we go back to the trilogy?
Do we just, or whatever we're calling the fifth fight?
Because to me, this is a no-brainer.
We have to do it one more time.
We have to do it one more time.
Pereira finishes Adasania in November.
Adasana, he finishes Pereira.
The second time around, to me, you got to strike while the iron's hot.
You're not going to have a lot more time to do this.
I know Pereira is a massive, non-human-like person
who probably shouldn't be fighting at 185.
He's just a giant human being.
But again, until I hear Alex Pereira say,
I'm done at 185, I'm moving up,
I think we have to do this one more time, don't we?
doesn't need to be something we go back to right the second,
but November, December, who does, like,
it's just the most compelling fight you can make right now for either guy.
It just is.
I don't understand why people are just like,
nah, let's do other things.
No, why would we do other things right now?
I'm more interested in seeing this fight now than I was heading into this rematch.
And I'm more interested in seeing this fight now
that I was heading into UFC 281,
despite all the storylines.
I'm fascinated by it.
We got to see the adjustments out of sign he got to make,
and now we get to see the adjustments Pereira tries to make coming off of a loss
after winning the first three fights.
I just feel like we have to do it.
And there's no clear-cut guy right now that just isn't.
You got Robert Whitaker, and it kind of sucks for him,
and he has to sit on the sidelines while all this happens.
we have Jerkis Duplessi who to me I don't think he has earned a title fight yet
he's gotten a couple of nice wins but beating Derek Brunson and Darren Till to me
doesn't get you a title shot it just doesn't you got to do a little bit more
if you want to do DDP versus Robert Whitaker to see if that's the fight if he's that guy
I'm cool with that I'm fine with that some people are saying let's just give Hamzaat the
title shot, don't necessarily buy that because we don't know what this guy's going to do.
He keeps flip flopping. Is he going to be 170? Is he going to be 185? Dane is saying 185.
Hamsat saying I could still fight at 170. There's just too many unanswered questions.
So when you have another massive fight that just broke last year's MSG gate in Miami, I just don't
see how this is even a question right now. Unless, like I said, Pereira comes out and says,
I can't make 185 anymore, physically can't do it.
I'm moving to 205.
Maybe I'll see Izzy up there someday, which is fascinating in its own right.
But until I hear those words, I'm going to be beating the drum to just have these two guys fight again.
And I know a lot of us are sick of the immediate rematches.
I get it.
I get it.
But this is different.
This is different.
Say story rivalry.
This is a fascinating approach.
the stylistic stuff, the chapters that have already been written,
it's fascinating.
It's the biggest thing you could do for either guy at the moment.
And if Pereira is going to cut to $8.85, he's only going to be able to do it one more time.
And if the longer you wait, the less likely it's going to happen.
So that's what I think.
Maybe you guys feel differently.
But let's go into this thing.
Let's see where you have to say following UFC 288.
47. Four quarter sports, hello.
Hey, so coming into this morning, I was thinking about maybe allowing Izzy to fight
Alispera for an immediate rematch.
But I don't think that Izzy's next fight should be Alispera.
It should be Alisner's next fight.
Like, sort of do like what they did with Daniel Kornier, when he defeated the Sipi, you know,
given somebody else.
and then when Alex is ready to fight again, you know, what's the quote,
they can have that match lined up.
I think you're right.
I don't agree having Drickis has a title match just because I feel like he hasn't deserved it.
I feel like maybe fight Sean Strickland or something of that nature,
but it seems like there is a little bit of momentum building up that maybe they should allow
Drichis to fight because who else is next?
I mean, nobody wants to see a third time of Robert Whitaker fighting.
Nobody wants to see him fight Marvin Vittory.
Nobody wants to see him fight, you know, pretty much anybody.
I mean, Drickis is just new blood at this point.
And Homsut hasn't deserved it.
I was thinking Homsat from a dollar standpoint, because that would definitely sell.
But Drick has makes the most sense.
They both seem like they don't like each other whatsoever.
Alex, I think he needs to take some time off.
I think maybe him fighting towards the ending of the year makes more sense,
just because that was a nasty knockout.
It was unlike, you know, the beating that Izzy ended up receiving it at MSG.
But I just do feel that Izzy should fight somebody else.
I don't feel like what's the quote we should dismiss, you know, having a trilogy into the UFC.
I just think that we'll have it this year.
But I think that just how when Alex is ready to return back into the Octagon,
Izzy likes to be active.
And that's one good thing about Izzy.
So I think that should be next, in my opinion.
And then also, I wanted to ask to you, you know, as anything came up as for with Sam Hughes in her comments, I know you guys put it out there on NMEFighting.com, that she admitted that her boyfriend ended up placing a $1,000 bet on her when she was a plus 400 underdog.
I mean, first thing that came to my mind was like, man, like, why you're revealing too much information?
That's something that shouldn't be necessary.
It was kind of like cringing to the year
just because it's like, man, you saw what happened to James Krause
and James Krause has been MIA ever since.
So here's that.
And then lastly, I said it on the pod last week
about Rob Font having the tougher, what's it called,
bike background, just the test that he ended up getting to that point
as opposed to Adrianianas.
And it did pan out.
I mean, experience does matter.
You guys said on the watch party, phenomenal watch party.
I actually watched it on Sunday when I was working just to, you know, see what I missed.
But, you know, Adrian Yannis needs to, you know, he'll bounce back from it.
But I just think that Rob Fon's experience really did matter in that.
And Janus needs to move the head a little bit more.
I mean, he did get hit a lot.
I mean, he was hitting Fon and Fon, you know, all the wars that he's been through throughout the years.
the it did show on his face and i would have favored yon as if the fight would have went longer but
you know rob fun is sneaky good and i i love what i saw but i just want to know what do you
what you thought about all three points all right thanks mike have a good and see you so the sam hughes
thing don't know much kind of on the the aftermath of that um i know like the fc prehist
athletes from betting on fights, including betting on themselves, but that includes
coaches, managers, handlers, trainers, family members.
I don't know if boyfriends falls into that.
Honestly, I don't know.
I didn't really have time to really look into it because as it was happening, we were getting
ready for the watch party, so it's not something I had time to really dive into.
But, yeah, I don't know if boyfriends, non-hundred,
husbands are allowed to do that.
But yeah, she probably shouldn't have said that, that's for sure.
I don't think she's got to get punished.
I don't think she's going to, like, get fired or lose her job or anything like that.
I don't think there's going to be any sort of repercussion.
But is there a world where she probably got a stern talking to after that?
Yeah, I would say so.
I would say so.
As far as the, yeah, the Rob Font thing, that was the same thing that I've been saying for the entire
built to the fight. Yana's super talented guy. Rob's super talented guy, but Rob's losses were to the
cream of the crap. To Josealdo, to Maro and Vera. And it's, yeah, he got beat up, he got dropped,
and he got hurt by both of those guys, but it's not like he was a fish out of water in either
of those fights. Just a level of competition that Rob has fought. It was night and day compared to
Adrian Yannas. And you just can't put a price tag on fighting the best fighters in the world,
which Adrian hadn't done to that point.
And I loved Rob's strategy.
I loved how he threw the jab,
but if he missed, he would do sort of a collar tie with his hand.
If the jab overextended,
he would just grab the back of Adrian's head
and sort of turn it into a dirty fight,
which was nasty stuff.
And the fight went pretty,
I didn't think Rob was going to knock him out,
but the fight went pretty much the way I thought it was going to go.
and Rob gets the big win.
And as far as
Izzy goes,
I have no interest in the DDP fight right now.
I know Jed Bishu feels differently
because he thinks he would be hilarious,
but I don't, like,
I don't think that fights,
I'm not going to say it's not competitive,
but I would heavily favor Israel
Avassani on that fight.
Heavily.
And maybe I'm crazy,
but I just,
I need this in DDP do more.
Again, it's almost the same thing.
Like, I respect
GDP beating Darren Till
but Darren Till is just not the same dude
and Derek Brunson has a foot out the door
so it's not the same
to me it's I value those wins
the same as I value Gilbert Burns beating Jorge
Mazinol
you know what I mean
like I didn't give Gilbert probably could have gone out there
and just I don't know
we'll see if they go that route fine
but again that's going to have to be
like man we desperately
need a main event for a card.
So like, let's try to put something together featuring one of our big stars.
But yeah, I don't, I just don't love that fight.
I think the build is going to be awful.
Who's the more, who supports their country more?
There's going to be ugly things said about each other.
Yeah, I just don't love it.
I would rather wait and just have out of sunny fight prayer at the end of the
year but we'll see what happens let's go to king cats hey mike glad that you're feeling better um
question about the nunez pena fight that was officially uh announced uh on the card
what are your thoughts about that i mean i know personally i kind of wasn't looking forward
to it um especially after what nunez did to pena i mean 5043 you know um
I read in an interview too that Amanda was thinking it was going to be Aldana,
but the UFC said Pena.
So what are your thoughts on it?
And why do you think that they chose the Pena rematch over Aldana
when it seems like they're really trying to build up their fan base in Mexico?
And it would make sense to have Aldana, you know,
going up against a champion and having that potential to get a belt.
So what are your thoughts on that, Mike?
Thanks.
So this is a weird one.
The reaction to it is about what we all expected it to be,
because I just don't,
I think this is kind of a desperation move, honestly.
There's at least some story there.
You could tell the story that Pena beat Nunes
and that Pena had a moment in the rematch,
but I think most people would know
who actually watched that second fight,
that fight was not close.
It was not competitive.
and it was just a fun beating that Juliana Pena took.
I think we talked about this on the post fight show right after.
It was the most compelling one-sided ass whooping we've ever seen
because Panyi was tough and she showed her gusto
and she threw up a triangle and an arm bar at certain points
and it gave us like, oh, maybe she has this,
even though she wasn't even really close to getting it.
It's probably slightly the bigger fight than the,
or Eni Aldana fight just because of the history, but
tough hang for Vancouver, man.
Tough one.
But there's just nothing else.
I mean, there's just really nothing else.
Unless Adasanya wants to visit Vancouver in June and fight DDP.
I mean, that's the only other way you could do that fight is just to make this one seem
better.
But yeah, I mean, look, they can't all be 285s and 285s.
87s, we have to have cards like this sometimes.
We're going to have two pay-per-views in July.
We're going to have the International Fight Week card.
Dana wants to do a second one in London,
which we would assume would be the Leon Colby card.
So, I mean, it is what it is.
If this was not, the fact that it's headlining is why I think it's happening.
if this was going to be if they're going to do this on international fight week and they're going to do right now it's volkenovsky yair that's kind of slotted as the top fight even though that's not a hundred percent official just yet if that's if they're going to do amanda nunez in the co-main event spot you could do nunez versus aldana because you're not trying to use nudes to necessarily sell pay per views but in this case you're kind of using nunez to sell pay per views and the best way is to kind of put her in a rivalry place put her in a position where you're not going to use
where she has actually lost to this person.
And you can tell that story,
even though the hardcores understand how the second fight went,
it understood what happened the first fight.
So it is what it is.
The reaction to it is kind of what we all expected it to be.
And that's going to happen.
They're going to have to stack the deck below that, I'm sure,
or else it's going to be a tough sell for the pay-per-view buying audience
for 80 bucks.
Wonderboy Pereira's fun,
even though that fight's not done done yet.
Danny and Nate Landwehr's great,
and there's other, like, interesting things happening,
but you're going to have a tough time selling
a lot of pay-per-views, especially when you're telling fans,
hey, you're going to have to drop 80 bucks twice in July.
So once in a while, you have to have kind of a throwaway,
and that's one of them.
But we'll see. Maybe painting could do it again. And shut us all up.
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Annie, hello.
It's a bit noisy out here.
Is it noisy?
Yes, then...
Is it...
If it's okay, then I'll just make it quick.
Sorry, but now, I'm in a cafe.
You know, if I was Sam Hughes's boyfriend, you know what I'd do?
what I'd do, I'd speak to Sam Hughes, you know, like behind the scenes and stuff, and draft an
emotional tweet saying that, I mean, write maybe two or three days before the pay-per-view,
that Sam Hughes and I've broken up and then placed a bet. And then after, you know, the whole
match is done after we get our money, we can get back together, you know, just a little bit
of theater of sorts. But what I actually wanted to talk about is, you know, come in,
I mean, I don't want to be this negative Nancy.
You're able to hear me, right?
Yeah.
Is it clear?
I got you.
I don't want to be this, I don't want to be this negative Nancy over such a really nice card,
such a really nice, you know, good results.
And, you know, it was a memorable card, to say the least.
I understand that you were a bit disappointed with Adasania's comments about
MMA media in general.
I mean, no one feels good if, you know, they sort of put your occupation or your job down
and just to make it look as if their job is way more riskier and way more, you know,
important than yours.
It's not how it works.
I feel like every job has its own worth.
Every job has its own ups and downs.
As in like, I'm pretty sure, like, you know, it took you a long,
time and like a lot of effort to be where you are like you know you know but I think what
Adisania was actually referring to a couple of troll jobs you see I don't know if you remember this
but you know there is this guy called MMA guru and I think a video I don't know if he was putting
on a map or if he actually meant it after Mirab Davavhavhhhhhhhhhhh Bita Pita Yan he was like man
this guy's not going to fight for the title he's just choking up the difference
vision and he said something on the lines that I hope Nadav Devalich Bally gets paralyzed or
something like that. That's a big no-law. I mean, I know it's funny coming from a guy who told
you to do some matchmaking to end Paddy Pumblitz career, but that was lifehearted, wasn't it?
I wasn't talking about, you know, Paddy getting injured or something. But things like that,
I just feel like people who sit behind the screen and talk shit like that, as in because of what
they do, I feel like the legit media people, I mean, the legitimate journalists, like people
like yourself, people like, you know, Ariel, New York, and, you know, and even Jeddahs well,
I guess. And, you know, I think you just feel the brunt of it because of troll jobs like that
Eminemate guru and a few more that I can't remember the name so. How bad is it that you think
that an MNA fighter should get paralyzed just because
he's not letting you get the match you want to watch.
You know what I mean?
I think Israel wants to say that, you know,
we put our lives on the line
and be a bit respectful when you write things.
You don't have to be, I mean, you can be critical,
but, you know, don't talk shit like that MMA guru.
But I think there was nothing wrong in what MMA fighting,
or, you know, the majority of the media did,
if you know what I mean.
This is what I wanted to talk about.
and I'm sorry about the noise again.
All good, man.
Yeah, I mean, that kind of annoys me the whole,
I could do your job, but you can't do mine.
Look, Izzy's obviously got the money and the resources
and he could do certain things that we can do.
But, like for instance, and I'm not, I'm not,
trust me what I tell you, I'm a very humble person.
And the feature I did last week on the Fury FC thing is he ain't doing that.
Sorry, he just isn't.
Now, if he wants to do opinions and do fight breakdowns, I'm sure he's great at that.
Could he do interviews, absolutely?
But there are certain things he can't do.
I can't fight.
He's right about that.
He could do our jobs in certain senses, and he can have his own show and answer questions and do all that stuff.
Yeah, you could do that stuff, but he can't do everything.
Maybe he could learn over time, but he acts like he could just quit his job and just do this job.
And I just don't think that's true.
There's certain people he could do it for, and there's certain, like you said, there's certain
opinionated things that he could do.
I mean, really, anybody could just turn on a video camera and say things.
You can do it.
But, yeah, and that's the problem.
like painting us all in the same brush.
Like Dana White has done that a million times.
That drives me crazy.
And people like to do that all the time.
But yeah,
that it just like annoys me, but I get it.
Like it is what it is.
It doesn't like hurt my feelings.
I just joke about it more than anything else.
But I don't know.
That's the road you want to take.
That's the road you want to take.
Colby does that too.
Oh, real journey.
He just rags out air and stuff.
Calls me a real journalist with a real journalism degree.
And I've told Colby this a million times before in the past.
I'm just not going to correct him anymore.
I don't have a journalism degree.
I don't.
I've said this in other interviews.
I don't have a journalism degree.
I learned how to do this along the way.
I've learned what I've made mistakes and I've learned things,
but I'm very journalistic, but I just don't have the degree.
So, yeah, all of that's just kind of funny.
But man, the city kickboxing guys sometimes, they just, they play that role.
Volk does the same thing sometimes.
Oh, you all doubted me.
All of you, all of you picked against me.
Wouldn't only like two people picked against them.
It's just, but look, I say this all the time.
Calvin Cater has told me sometimes fighters need to find chips on their show, to put
on their shoulders
and sometimes you need the chip
for a fight and sometimes you need it for after the
fight and Izzy and Volk
need to have that chip all the time
but yeah the whole
some of it just take it a little too seriously.
You can't lump us all together.
You just can't.
Let's go to Cooper.
Cooper, hello.
Cooper.
You're muted.
Sorry, Mike, I was muted.
First time caller here.
and this isn't a question about 287.
Me and two brothers and a good buddy of mine
got tickets to head to New Jersey for UFC 288.
We're fired up about it.
I guess I'm just curious and wondering
if you have any recommendations
and what to expect from that.
Thank you and have a blessed day.
Yeah, I mean, if you're,
I assume you're from the area, so
if this is your first UFC card,
I would go and do it all.
I would go to the press conferences.
I'd go to the ceremonial way-ins.
I would do the whole thing.
I would do the whole thing and just enjoy the week and try to make the most of it.
I don't know if we're going to do this.
I'm working on it, but my plan is to,
since it's in Newark and it's not a far drive or a far ride
or a big distance from the studios where we do the watch parties.
My hope would be that I will come in Friday morning, like super early Friday morning,
get there in time to be part of the morning weigh-ins, help Jose out there,
help out with Ceremony Wayans after, and then maybe do like a little meetup with the peeps,
maybe get G.C. involved, and we just do a little fun little meetup.
Like, I think that'd be cool.
Not sure if we'll do it in Newark or like over the line.
New York, but we'll figure it out.
But if there's things happening, I would just
recommend taking in everything.
Taking it all and just
get the full experience.
And just have fun.
I'm pumped.
They'll be able to check that out and
get to experience it.
Hopefully the fight card delivers
for you. I think Sterling Sohudo is interesting.
I think the co-main event's fun.
Mike.
We're good. What's up, Babs, Waya?
Hi, so I just want to talk regarding
the middleweight division and its future.
So in my opinion, I think this would be the perfect time
to actually set up the Hamzaa Chamaif and Ardistania fight,
but guarantee Hamza does need a win first.
And I think the best win he could get is definitely Robert Whitaker
or Marvin Vittoria.
Those are the two greatest middleweights after Adisania.
They've only lost to the top best.
Duplessis, I think he needs to prove himself as well,
fight maybe catania you know because that's a good fight and that will definitely set the stone
all he can fight again marvin vittori who's marching more younger around the same age group
um you know and obviously we know we know we're hamzad and ad sania that will definitely do
big pbs and it will set the stage to see if hamzat really will become the champion of the
weight class and i just want to finish you with this um do you think humzac can still make
1-7 in the future.
Maybe there's a case,
hey, if Kobe was the title in July,
would Dana consider Hamza,
you know,
being that he did,
he did beat the rank number two,
Burns at the time last year.
They could give him the title shot
and Skipper of Balala or Burns himself.
Let me know your thoughts on that.
I don't know.
I think if Hamzaat's going to fight a 185,
I think he's going to stick there for a while.
Because that's the whole thing,
the flip-flopping and the weight management
and him saying,
I'll do this.
Oh, no, I'll go to 205.
No, I'll do this.
Like, that is actually hurt Hamzot's career in a lot of places.
Like, if he just kind of picked a weight class and stuck with it, we might be having different
conversations right now.
Yes, Humzad versus Izzy would be big.
I would not do Hamzaat versus Martin Vittori.
I would not do Hamzaat versus Robert Whitaker.
I think Hamzot has the right idea, as does the guy who I think he should fight.
Just get him in there with Paul Costa.
Let them beat the shit out of each other.
like that's a tough like i think homzad's going to win but there are a lot of people who feel like
paul costa has a chance in that fight so let's just do that do it in october they have the plan
just do that if hamzad gets a win over paul costa give him the title fight that's it
hamzot is so much is so much more over than drickus duplice is right now that it's not even
funny how much more over hamzad is than ddp ddp should have to fight
Martin Vittory.
DDP beats Martin Vittori.
Give him the freaking title shot.
But that's a big ask.
That's a big if.
So that's the fight.
DDP, Martin Vittory, love that.
Hamza v. Paul Costa.
Love that. Personal.
It's going to be one of those fights that can carry an entire card.
It's going to grow an interest all week long during fight week.
By the time you get to Saturday, it's the fight.
everyone's going to be talking about, even over what the main event's going to be.
Just do that.
And then if we still don't have a full clarity, you can do Homsat versus DDP.
That's cool.
But DDP probably needs to earn it a little.
DDP clearly has to earn it more in the UFC world than Hamzaat Shamaif does.
100%.
Let's go to Mikey.
Our emotions drive, what the things that we want to do.
like first everyone's sick of rematches,
but if it's the right rematch,
we want it.
And it's just, listen,
I'm not saying that I wouldn't mind Alex
and Izzy running it back three times a row.
But if we want to keep,
because if they run it back and Izzy wins,
or if Alec wins,
then the middleweight division will still be in the same place it's at.
So I just want there to be some room to breathe.
You know what I mean?
Giving Driscus a title shot now,
actually is one of those things where you kind of like you pay you pay the toll right give him the
title shot early and depending on how he performs then that will dictate about what his contendership
can be moving forward is there a chance he gets smokes sure but if we're going to prolong it
and the same result's going to happen what's the difference you know what I mean because what you
risk is you risk burning out all of these matchups too soon I'm
I mean, I'd rather, it's like, this isn't similar, but it's like, remember when
Cinello fought Floyd Mayweather?
Floyd Mayweather took that fight at the right time because he knew Cinello wasn't as
well around as he could have been now.
So he took that fight so he could say, hey, I'm going to give this kid his loss.
When everyone knows that they should probably have a rematch, but he never did it because, you
know, Floyd, Floyd's very astute that way.
But that's how I see it.
If you give Driscus a title shot now, if he wins, obviously there's the obvious result.
If he wins, then, you know, there's that built the storyline.
But if he loses, you can at least chop it up to, well, okay, he probably got a title shot too soon.
And then you can build his way back up.
Because, again, that's how you let the division keep flowing.
Because then we have situations like Amanda and Juliana, which I personally am not fond of, obviously.
And the only reason I'm not fond of is because, again, there was no room in between.
If Amanda defended the title against Iranian and beat Iranian and said, okay, here, fight Julianna again, that'd be fine.
three years in a row, that's what's really tough, you know, because, and especially with the
manner of the way these fights are ending, I mean, Alex and Izzy both stopped each other, you know,
they weren't like two consecutive, like, razor-close split decision if we could go,
man, that was so close. And yeah, I argued in the first fight that Izzy was winning,
had had gone to decision before it get knocked out, and that, you know, merited the immediate
rematch. But at the end of the day, both fights ended up stop. Stoppage. That's another thing, too.
People need to stop being disdrained about that.
It's like, oh, Alex deserves an immediate rematch.
Why?
He didn't even defend the title.
Izzy had five title defenses and was winning that fight
and then got stopped in the fifth round.
That was way more justification for an immediate rematch than what Alex did.
And I respect Alex, but come on.
You know what I mean?
So that'll be all for me today.
Mike, be kind of one another.
There's just no appetite at all for Izzy versus DEP.
There's zero appetite.
None.
but there's lots of appetite for Izzy Pereira 3.
Like I said, I'm more fascinated by Izzy Pereira 3 than I was Izzy Pereira 1 and Izzy
Pereira 2.
I want to see you one more time.
And here's the thing.
If you don't do it now, it's never, ever going to happen.
This is not a back pocket fight.
Pereira is getting older.
He is a giant.
His days of making 185.
if they're not over, he's got one more cut, and that's it.
And then the only other way you can get back to this is you have to hope that Alex Pereira can win the light heavyweight title.
Because if he can't, they're never fighting again.
That's it.
They're never fighting again.
So do you want them to fight again or do you not want them to fight again?
This is not a fight you just headline a fight night card with.
it's got to be a title fight and the stakes have to be high.
That's it.
If you're going to do it, you have to do it now.
Because Pereer is going to have to move up physically to 205.
Does he have one more cut in him?
That I don't know.
But who knows?
Prayer could come out tomorrow and be like, look, I'm done at 885.
I'm moving to 205.
And then we move on.
But until I hear Alex Perrier say those words,
this is the only fight you can make.
DDP just can't, you can't give him a title fight.
after beating Darren Till and beating Derek Brunson, who was half retired.
Now, I'll give you this.
If they booked DDP versus Martin Vittori for June or July,
and DDP wins that fight, guess what?
Okay, that changes things a little bit.
You beat Martin Vittory, you deserve a title shot.
Or if you want to throw DDP in there with Robert Whitaker, cool.
Because you can't give Whitaker out of Sondi right now.
You could do Hamzot.
Like you could do it.
I don't want, I would rather see Hamzok get a win.
But if we are completely moved on, if we are completely moved on from this rivalry,
then just give it to Hamzad.
Just give it to Hamzad.
But I don't think we're done with this.
And we have to do it now.
Otherwise, you need a lot of other things to happen.
That's why I'm mostly in on it, because I just, I have to see it one more time.
and if there's a chance that Pereira can make that cut one more time,
then we got to do it.
We got to do it.
Just do it for the end of the year.
If you have to do an interim title in the process just to move the division along, fine.
I don't care.
Do GDP Robert Whitaker for the interim title.
And no, we're not in the same position as we are, depending on the result, because that's it.
It's two to one.
We're done.
Pereira wins, yeah, maybe relinquishes the belt and moves up to 205.
So what?
If Adasani wins, cool, he put the man behind him.
We're done with this.
Then he can fight whoever he wants.
I think we have to strike now.
Let's go to Massume.
What's that, Massum?
Hi, Mike. Hope you're wrong.
I wanted your opinion on his Kio finish.
Would you say it's up there with the Sman versus Leon's finish on the second fight?
Yeah, that's it.
Um, aesthetically, yes.
Shockwise, no.
Because I predicted to Adasani who's going to knock him out in the third round.
So I wasn't, I think it was just maybe the way that it happened was kind of weird
and that he just deaded Pereira was kind of strange.
But I wasn't, it's just the moment, how it happened was surprising,
but it happening was not surprising because I predicted that Adasani was going to finish him.
but yeah i i think the leon knockout is just it's going to be very difficult to top that knockout
where it's just like oh if this one's over let's just call it a day let's change the channel
and then you find out you change the channel and you missed that knockout you know what i mean
so i don't think it's the same but both very impressive i think otisanya probably has
the K-O of the year.
He's the front-runner at the moment.
I know it's only April,
but considering the stakes
and the magnitude of the fight
and everything that has happened,
that's probably the knockout of the year so far
in 20-23,
and it's at worst going to be in the top five.
Well, what a moment, how it all transpired.
He's just dead at the man.
Incredible stuff.
Incredible stuff.
Let's go to Brian.
Hey, hey, doing.
Good.
I have to give you a shout out for your boy, Rob Fawn from Boston.
Impressive win.
I love watching Rob.
He's one of my favorite fighters, so I just wanted to shout him out.
But I had to touch on two things, including the middle weights.
And I think I agree with you completely.
I think it has to be a third.
I'm not even one of those people that mentions the two kickboxing fights.
I think it's pretty obvious kickboxing.
Pereira's had a better career.
Izzy's going to have a better MMA career.
But I think we just have to see the conclusion of this.
Both fights were so close to the other guy winning.
At times, I think, too.
Pereira, obviously not as close as he was in the first fight,
MMA fight, but, I mean, had him against the fence multiple times,
battering his legs.
I don't know why any MMA fan wouldn't want to see this again.
I'm shocked Dana doesn't want to see this,
but he also has Colby fighting for the welterweight title.
And then the other thing is if they do want to get Homs out of shot
and they want it quick and the Costa route's kind of too far,
I think they should probably match him up with Gasolm.
I feel like Gasolm's a guy that could turn around in two, three months here.
perfect matchup for Hamzot. It's someone respectable. It's someone with a former title shot.
And it just gets a number next to his name. So I just kind of wanted your opinion if they would pivot to that.
Thanks, Mike.
No. It's too risky with the Kelvin Gasolm fight. Now, we're all very happy to see Kelvin come back and have the fight that he had.
Him and Chris Curtis just beat the shit out of each other. And Chris is not happy about all that.
He's been tweeting up a storm. And I don't know how to feel about it.
Um, he was in there.
Dude was in there.
The headbutt changed a lot.
Do I think if that headbut doesn't happen that Chris 100% wins the fight?
Eh,
eh,
don't know.
But yeah,
a lot of people have pointed out how,
how Chris has been sort of handling all this.
Um,
maybe not sportsman like in a lot of people's minds,
but that's kind of how Chris is.
Like,
he just,
he's always been like this.
And some of that, and I've told this to him in past interviews before he signed with the UFC,
a lot of people feel like his social media presence and him saying the things that he has said on social media
about the company and about certain fights and about how he's handled losses and certain things.
That has kind of kept him out of the UFC for a while.
That's how a lot of people have felt that. I've asked him about that.
And that's just who he is.
That's just who he is.
When he has things on his mind, he just says him.
and now some people that will say
some more heinous shit that's on their minds
than what Chris Curtis is saying,
but that's just how Chris has been.
He's been that way for a while and
makes him feel better.
And sometimes people feel it's like kind of a detriment.
That's why he kind of kept him out of the promotion
for as long as he's been out.
But that's just who he is.
He's been like,
I've been friends with Chris,
Curtis on Facebook for years and I've seen a lot worse than what we're seeing on Twitter.
So, but the question was more about gasoline. It's just too risky of a fight, man. It's just
way too risky. Now, my other option would be Sean Strickland's because that dude's showing up.
Sean is showing up to fight. And doesn't matter if it's, they booked that fight in five seconds,
five months or five weeks or five days. Sean Strickland is showing up to fight,
Hamza Atchamayev. Let the chips fall where they may. Will the buildup be fun? Depends on who you are.
Will it be classy? Probably not. Will Sean Strickland show up to fight Hamza at Yamai? You bet your ass he will.
So if it ain't Costa, Strickland is one B for me and Strickland will show up and try to fight that, man.
He will not say no to it. It will be no hesitation from him. He will fight Hamzaa Tchamiaf.
whether it's in Abu Dhabi or Las Vegas or in an alley behind a 7-Eleven,
Sean Strickland will be there.
And you can't say the same about Kelvin.
Not saying he'd be nervous or scared.
I'm not saying that.
It's just Kelvin has been snake-bitten with a lot of bad luck.
And so is Hamzot, if we're being honest.
And you're asking two guys who have been kind of risky
in getting into the cage to fight each other, it's tough.
it's a tough sell for me cv hello cv yo mike can hear me yep what's up man yeah i just want to add to that too
um like if we're not taking any like rankings or any states um into account uh with regards to the
middleweight division i think uh gasillum versus ddp would actually be a a fun-ass fight but um my
question is uh with kevin holland um i know we kind of think like he's just going to be
like a fun sights kind of guy but uh what do you think about him actually being like a top
type guy in world two eight um like based on all like his like interviews and stuff he seems like he
kind of like mellowed down a bit like he's still loud as hell but i don't know he seems like he's got
like a like a good head on him now so um yeah what do you think about kevin holland becoming like a legit
player i mean he's certainly talented enough and he's
certainly got the personality and people like him or don't they react to him one way or the other
could happen i'm not ruling it out but i just feel like i just don't feel like he's a top five
welterweight i mean wonder boy beat the breaks off of him and i know the hand injury and all that
stuff but wonder boy wonder boy booted him he beat him pillor to post and if you're having if
And this is not me saying like Wonderboy's bad or anything.
Well, Wonder Boy is also 40.
Was just knocking on the door of 40 when that fight happened.
And Wonderboy blasted Kevin Holland.
That fight was not competitive.
It was fun.
But more of it was Wonderboy just putting the boots to Kevin.
And it was Kevin's toughness and his durability that kept him in that fight as long as he did.
I just don't know if Kevin's that guy.
try to middleweight and when you have like elite grapplers in there like would you pick
Kevin Holland to beat Bilal Muhammad right now I don't think I wouldn't would you pick him to
be Gilbert Burns no probably not would you be picking me be Colby no I mean those are the guys
I mean those are the dudes I didn't even pick Kevin to beat Santa I pick Ponzi no it's not being
just like Kevin's just Kevin's a very solid hand and like some some guys just don't need belts
and they don't need rankings like I I compare Kevin Holland to Derek Lewis like could he get to
a title fight sure would people want love to see Kevin Holland win a UFC title like what a cool
one would that be sure but we're not kind of confidently pick him in those fights we just want to
see Kevin fight and show up on fight week and have a microphone in his hand like that's what we want to
see. We just want to see him fight.
So if he gets there, it'd be pretty cool story, but I don't think we need to see him there,
which is why I think wins and losses don't really matter for Kevin, just like they don't
really matter for Derek Lewis to certain extent. Like Derek getting rolled by Sergey Spivak,
that one hurts. That one was a tough one. But Kevin's just there and people want to see him
fight and he's going to make a lot of money whether he fights for belts or not so my on note my
answer the next one pick was we get d rod fighting ian machado gary next month on that i believe it's
on that chariot card winner of that fights kevin holland both those fights are awesome or awesome fights
those are co-main events on fight nights you could headline a fight night with either of those
fights in my opinion with kevin's name so maybe he can get you guys you can get a fight night with the one
get there. I'm not ruling it out all together, but I just don't know if he can't. Like,
would you pick Kevin Holland to get Sean Brady right now? I wouldn't. He called O'Kiesa. I like
that fight. That's an interesting one. That's an interesting one. But I don't even know
if I'd pick Kevin in that fight. I don't know. Black Friday is here at IKEA and the clock is
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Julio, hello.
Hey, good morning.
So for all the cringiness that Adasanya says,
him pulling out the bow and arrow after he knocked out Pahado
was probably one of the coldest things I've ever seen.
I just wanted to start off with that.
And then as far as him saying that, you know,
he doesn't keep score, he settles them.
I kind of, I'm back and forth with that because it kind of feels like, you know,
when you're playing a pickup game in sports, like, I don't know, soccer or basketball or
something, you're just playing around, but you keep, you're losing, you're losing until
you're at the end, somebody's like, oh, last goal or last shot wins, and then you end up
winning, right, but you were getting beat up the whole time.
Like, it just kind of seems like, you know, until he finally won.
Now he's saying, like, oh, this is done.
Like, no, it's not done.
and there should be a rematch.
But at the same time, I feel like,
I feel like Paheda did kind of leapfrog
his way to the title shot because of Adisadur,
because of the history they had.
So just kind of back and forth on that
I wanted to hear your take.
So thank you.
Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what happened.
But we knew that was going to happen.
We've talked about it before.
The UFC was brilliant in getting,
in getting Pereira in that spot.
Matchmaking was perfect.
Threw him in there with like the worst middleweight on the roster.
Got a highlight reel.
Then you threw him in there with like a top 20-ish dude.
Had a tough fight.
Gets the win.
Then he gets Sean Strickland,
a guy who was going to put the spotlight on that fight more than anybody else.
Goes out there and just knocks out John Strickland right into the title fight.
Like it was brilliant.
And then he won it.
And they beat the man, finished them in New York, massive card, lots of people.
Then they fight again and the build was intriguing.
Everything was fun.
And then Adasani knocks him out.
So I just, yeah, for Adasania just to be like, yeah, this is done.
We're over with.
I thought that was weird.
I thought that was weird.
Adasania is a prize fighter.
How could Adasania possibly think that that's not his, the biggest fight he could,
get right now. It's the biggest
fight you can get right now. It's not even close.
It ain't
DDP. And I think
Hamzat, there's a case to be made, but I still don't think
Hamzat's a bigger fight than
a Pereira fight right now.
So I found that, I thought that was a little weird.
I thought that was a little strange.
YVMZ, hello.
Hi, Mike. Heck of a morning. Two questions here
for you.
What did you think about
Blohovic wanting to get the rematch and avenging that loss.
I think that one would be pretty interesting.
I don't know if the same outcome would come out of it,
but wanted to get your thoughts on that.
And who do you got for Henry and Zahudo?
Thanks.
I think Blohovic is trolling,
and it's a tremendous troll.
Loved it.
I loved it.
That was great.
Not going to happen.
But if you're Bohovic, shoot your damn shot.
and if it's about scores and trying to settle them,
Boloovich's timing was perfect because Boloch has a win over him.
I just don't think if there's a world he can make $185,
or he probably would have done so already.
But no, that's, I love, I love the troll job.
A.K. suggested if Pereira does go up to 205,
no, that's somebody else.
But you could do Pereira, Behoovich.
You could do something else, but AK wanted Pereira versus,
a collo roundtree which is just a ridiculous fight but yeah i don't think it happens i don't see
bohovic moving to 185 but to me it's a troll and i love the troll there's a tremendous one
and as far as uh sterling sehudo and picking sterling more on that as we get closer but i just
think sterling is going to look and feel like these two-weight classes higher than henry sehudo
trying to get Pella in, but it ain't going through.
So we'll go to John, then we'll go to Patrick.
John, hello. John, there you go.
Can you hear me right?
Yep.
All right, so I was just, I had a suggestion for you guys,
for you guys next break in the cycle,
I'm sure you guys were already recorded this one.
Have you guys thought about putting a limit
on how recent somebody's win was?
Because everybody always talks about the fact that A.K.
I would think that I put like a three-year limit.
You guys already have the 18 months of competing.
A three-year limit for the last time somebody won a fight.
That's it?
Yeah, I didn't really hear that.
I think it was just like ranking people based on when they won their last fights or something like that.
So yeah, we do have an 18-month limit on.
inactivity.
So that's why like steep A's not ranked.
That's why John Jones wasn't ranked for a while.
That's why like Yawani and Jachik wasn't ranked for a while before she came back.
We do have an 18-month thing if you're inactive.
And yeah.
So that's how you do it.
And then you can you can use your rankings however you want from there.
Like Colby has dropped a bunch of spots in our rankings.
I think he dropped like another spot after this past.
ranking cycle.
So,
there you go.
Let's go to Patrick.
Heck of a morning, Mike.
How are we doing?
We're good.
What's up?
First off, I just wanted to say,
man, everyone needs to be like Joe Pfeiffer.
I doubted that man very heavily
in that fight against Gerald, and he surprised
me very, very happily.
I was very pleased with that performance.
So I just want to say, everyone needs
to be like Joe Pfe. But two,
what are your opinions on Ballol
saying that he might move up to 185 for a fight with Hamza or Sean Strickland.
Is that just talk or like, is he just upset?
I don't know.
I just think that's kind of like ridiculous in my opinion.
Yeah, I don't know.
Piper looked good, man.
Like that fight was going one of two ways.
Either Piper's going to knock.
That's the way I saw it.
Piper is going to knock Mier Shard out in the first or Mier Sharr was going to submit him in the
second.
That's how I saw it.
Piper got the big shot.
That was it.
Gerald was done.
Piper gets the big win.
I like Joe.
He's a good fighter.
It's not that I picked Mierchart,
but that was mostly because I needed a move to make
to try to be different.
And if Mier Shard could get out of the first round,
gave him 10 minutes with a pretty good opportunity to win.
So, but yeah, Piper colded him in the first.
And not colded him, but he knocked him out.
And Mier Shard was done by the time he hit the floor.
that fight was over.
He was just waiting for the referee to stop it.
But yeah, Joe looked good.
As far as Ballal wanted to go to 185,
I mean, sure, if that's what he wants to do,
okay.
He could fight Strickland, I guess.
An interesting one.
Hamzad, 185 would be interesting too,
but I think more people would rather.
That's the problem with Bilal.
Like, he could say I want to go up and fight Hamzaa at 185,
but there are just too many people
that the fans would want to see Hamzat fight at 185
or even 170 more than Belal.
Like him, Hamzaaf fighting Paula Costa,
you ask 10, you ask 100 MMA fans,
which fight they'd rather see,
98 of them are going to say Paula Costa.
And that's just kind of the problem with Bilal.
Good fighter, he just can't get over that hump.
We're like, people just are,
we have to see him fight.
We have to see it.
And Balas about as over as he's ever been right now.
But then you go out and say like,
nah, I'll just go to 1-85.
And then it's just like, oh, boy, here we go again.
I don't think that was the right thing to say.
Just focus on Gilbert or focus on Shafkat.
And he just, the other thing is, too, like, it was, hey,
I'm going to slap Colby in the face.
He's the dude.
No, I'm not fighting Shafcott.
Oh, no, maybe Gilbert Burns.
No, you know what?
How about Kamar Usman?
That's it.
I'm going to fight Kamar Usman at 170.
Cool.
And now I'm going to 185 to fight Strickland.
You got a bitch to make up your mind, man.
You're all over the place.
You're all over the place.
We talked about this on BTL.
Who does Bilal Muhammad have to beat for people to remember the name?
And I said I had the right answer.
The correct answer is Bilal Muhammad.
He needs to beat Bilal Muhammad.
He needs to stop his mind.
from going in 18,000 different directions.
Because that's why he's in the position he's in now.
But hopefully he gets one of the 18,000 things he wants.
Alan, hello.
Alan, are you there?
You're muted.
All right.
Can you hear me?
Yep.
Hey, heck of a morning there, Mike.
First time caller in.
I got a two for here for you, one strange and one serious.
Serious one.
How long do you think John Jones retains heavyweight before retirement?
and my goofy one, would you like to see a, what was it called,
Siamese boxing match between the Paul brothers and the Diaz brothers?
That's all I got. Thanks, Mike.
I mean, yeah, let's go.
I'd watch the hell out of that.
Fight Circus, get those guys on the phone.
Let's make that thing a reality.
John Jones, how long will he retain until he retires?
I think he'll fight Steepay and then probably retire after that.
that. I don't know if it's like a full-fledged retirement, but probably more of like a, all right,
I'm out until something more interesting or something else compelling comes our way.
Because there's just as much for him that's going to get him up. Like, do you think he's going
to give a shit about fighting Sergei Pavlovich or Curtis Blades? No. I don't think so.
There's just really nothing after steep, because that's why the steep fight's even happening.
Because this is the one John wants for his legacy. Now, she has.
Al Shadi
our wise wordsmith
put it out there that
well you know what maybe he'll
take one more to like tie the record
for most
heavyweight title wins
or something like that maybe he'll fight a couple more
to just get that record
but at that point like he'll just kind of pick
and choose who he's going to fight
so
but to me I think he'll just go
and beat Stepe and
just be done
for the time being
until something else happens.
I don't know.
Even Dana White's saying the same thing.
But I'm surprised that
Surprise International Fight Week
doesn't seem to be a thing
between those two guys.
That could change.
But it kind of felt like John and Steepa was like
kind of the no-brainer for July.
It seems like Stepe's in.
Dana White said at the press conference,
like John won the fight and he's kind of disappeared.
And I don't know.
John's a different kind of cat.
since July might be too soon.
And then he called Steepie out on social media
for not sounding in July.
And Steepa is like,
what you talk about dude?
I'm here.
We'll see you in July.
And now there's like no talk of that fight at all for that card.
So it's very strange.
And hopefully it happens.
But after that,
I just don't know what else John will want to do.
Because I don't think any of those other names
that Heavyweight get him excited.
Which to me is why we're getting, is why UFC Charlotte kind of flipped a little bit.
Instead of getting Anthony Smith versus Johnny Walker as the main event for UFC Shiler,
we're getting Jailton Almeida versus Jarsenia Rosen Strike as the main event.
And I think this is the, this is the Jailton push.
I think they're giving them the push.
I think they think John is going to fight Snipe and then be done.
And we're going to have another vacant title situation or at least need an interim title put up.
and I think they're giving
Jelton the big push
because I just don't see
I mean it's not saying
Jarzini was zero chance against Jelton
but
I think Jelton's probably going to kill him
in a fighting stance
he's just going to take him down
he's going to sit on him and he's going to beat him up
I don't think that fight goes very well for
for Jarsini Rosenstrike
and it just seemed kind of strange
that they
switched that main event
but that was like the big
read I got is like, all right, this is the Jailton push. They're giving them the push. They know
something we don't. They don't think John is long for the heavyweight title run at the moment.
So let's give Jelton the push and see what he can do. Let's go to S. Ahmed. Hello.
Ahmed, hello. Ahmed. All right. Let's get Viking in and we'll see if Ahmed get through one more time and then I got to go. Viking hello.
Hello. What's up, man? How do you got?
Everything is fine.
As they're saying, I mean, Dana White and UFC's,
that they are going to open NPI and they are looking forward to go to the Africa.
So, as we all know, lots of fighters from Africa,
they are going to be heavy strikers and less grapplers.
So how you're saying then getting a success in a success in a success in a
C when you need to be on nowadays, I mean the modern day UFC era,
you need to be a perfect mixed martial artist if you want to be successful.
So what's your thoughts on that those fighters are,
And if they are not going to be successful, the UFC, Africa, they're not going to be that kind of, you know, draw or something like that.
So what's your thoughts on that?
Thanks a lot.
I mean, that's probably why they're opening the PI.
Try to get them the right coaches, write different things to try to round out their games a little bit.
So, yeah, I mean, if they're building the PI there, that means they're.
invested in the area and invested in the potential talent that's there and the holes in the games,
they can at least try to fill them in some way.
So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see when they actually open it up.
Cabello, are you there?
You're muted.
Cabello, right?
Four on sniper.
Yep.
Hey, so I don't think too many people predicted Raul Roses suffering his first defeat this weekend.
I wanted to know what were your thoughts on the matchmaking
and why don't you think they fed Raul at least three or four
I guess Kanji would call him?
Why didn't they do that?
Why did they give him a guy who seems to be pretty legit?
Yeah, this is, I read this one pretty wrong.
I mean, I felt like Christian could be competitive in this fight
because of his grappling ability, his ability to stay patient.
But the weight missed threw me off
and there are a lot of other things that happened
where I was just like, man, maybe Raul is just going to run them over.
I gave a lot of praise, and I still do.
I usually give a lot of praise to the matchmakers.
I think as a whole, they're not great at developing talent
unless they singularly pinpoint a fighter.
That they're like, all right, this is what we want to do with this guy.
We want to get him from here to here.
How do we do that as quickly as possible?
So I thought maybe they just saw something in this matchup
that we didn't see.
And that has happened a lot.
And that didn't happen here.
That didn't happen here.
Christian Rodriguez shut a lot of people up.
And good on him for the win.
But again, him missing weight hurts this win a ton for me.
It does.
It does.
Yeah, he got the MMA hour rub and that's great.
But it would be, he'd be over much more had he not missed weight.
You got to get that shit under control, man.
You can't.
Or just move up.
You can't keep missing weight on these big opportunities.
You've got to get it together.
So to me, the wind isn't as, it's not as impactful to me because he missed.
It's more on Raul.
It's more on Raul than it is.
It's more on Raul losing than Christian winning.
And a lot of that has to do with him missing weight.
He's got to figure that out.
because he's good, he's a solid hand.
And he was right.
Pick the right matchup.
Cameron Simon, let's go.
Give me that out.
No point, baby.
All right, we'll take a couple more,
and then I really have to go.
We'll try getting Pella in.
The wheel of death is spinning,
so I don't think it's going to happen.
Yep.
No connection.
Casey, Casey, you're there.
Yo, what's going on?
What's that, man?
Hey, so one thing that,
about the weight that you were just talking about,
I really think the UFC has got to do some of these weight classes, man.
I mean, like, it's just so dangerous.
Like, you see these videos of these guys cutting all this weight
and how much they have to lose.
I mean, like, bro, like, freaking looking at,
who's the guy that is he thought
bro can't even think right now
yeah like bro like how the hell is this got getting down
to that weight
like it's just crazy man
and like the competition
with where it's at right now
and the competition level of the UFC
I think it would just be better for the
supporter if they just did it in like 10 pound
increments bro I mean I just think that's just like
the best way to handle it and that's really all I
I want to hear your thoughts on that.
And then Izzy, I mean, bro, I mean, like, this guy is just,
he's one of my favorites probably of all time.
I mean, like, there's just not a lot.
Like, he is just so different, man.
Like, the way that he won and just the way his fights have always played out,
like, dude, he's just a superstar, man.
And, like, thank God he's in the sport right now.
Because when the Gano being gone and this and that, like,
there's one guy Israel out of Sonia that you can point to that you know
it's just going to lay it all out there and just put on an absolute show man and
just love it so appreciate you letting me speak and uh I just want to hear
thoughts on the on the weight thanks man yeah I mean
look we need more classes I think it's pretty clear
um I also think it's pretty clear the UFC isn't going to change anything
so yeah I mean look Pereira knows he's got a lot of weight to cut
and we saw those images of him sitting in the sauna like two, three weeks out before the fight.
And he made it.
Made it on the nose.
He made it.
And he makes it every time.
That dude's making weight.
Christian Rodriguez should be making weight.
It's just tough, man.
And it's not like that fight was, it's not like he had three weeks to prepare for this fight.
He had a long time.
That Rose Rodriguez fight was one of the first fights booked for the card before you even.
knew what the main event and the co-main event was.
That fight was on the card.
You got to get better at it.
You got to make weight.
But yes, I don't want to see guys cutting
ridiculous amounts away, but some guys can do it.
Even Pereira's making it.
Prattie, I'll go to you,
and then that's it. What's up?
Who should fight Israel next?
It's Alex Pereira.
It's Alex Pereira. Run it back now.
You got to do it now.
Otherwise, it's gone.
It's not a back pocket fight.
it's now or never.
Well, maybe not never, but you have to hope Pereira goes to 205 and wins the belt.
And Adasani just gets totally bored.
Otherwise, this rivalry ends there and doesn't seem like the right place to do it.
So, all right, I got to go.
Thank you all very much.
Zieg, I see you there.
But we're going to have to wait until Thursday.
But as soon as you jump in, you cut everybody.
So thank you all very much.
We'll be back Thursday.
10 a.m. Easter, we'll do it again.
We'll have a BTL on Thursday.
And we'll be getting you ready for UFC Kansas City,
headlined by Max Holloway versus Arnold Allen.
And guess what, folks?
We have boots on the ground in Kansas City.
And guess who it is?
Jed Michoud.
That's right.
Jedmishu will be at Media Day.
He will be at the press conference if there is one.
The flowing locks of Jedmishu will be in Kansas City.
So, very excited.
Thank you very much.
Back on Thursday.
Have a great rest of your Tuesday.
And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.
The Vox Media Podcast Network.
