MMA Fighting - HOAM | Aljamain Sterling Eyes Featherweight Move, UFC 284 Promotion, More

Episode Date: February 3, 2023

Should Aljamain Sterling defeat Henry Cejudo in their targeted title fight in May, the current UFC bantamweight champion says he will likely make the move up to 145 pounds. While some fans have been harsh to Sterling for his comments, this shouldn't come as any surprise as he's been pondering this move for quite some time. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to Sterling's potential move to featherweight and whether or not — if he beats Cejudo — if he should wait to fight Sean O'Malley before making the leap. Additionally, listener topics include the UFC's promotion for UFC 284 and if it's not getting the attention it rightfully deserves, the crowd at UFC 283, Bellator 290 storylines, why Johnny Eblen has the most to gain and lose during the busy weekend in MMA, UFC Vegas 68, Cory Sandhagen vs. Marlon Vera moving to the main event of UFC San Antonio in March, 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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It is Friday, February 3rd, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. You hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter on the MMA. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a wonderful week, a wonderful start to their Friday. As always, a lot going on in the world of mixed martial arts. Tomorrow, Bellator 290, UFC Vegas 68 fights are back in our lives from two of the top

promotions in the world. We got some news last night that we can talk about because people had been asking, on this show and others. What is going to be the main event for the UFC's return to San Antonio, Texas on March 25th? And last night,

we got our answer. It is going to be the fight that was scheduled to headline the February 18th card at the apex. Corey Sanhagen versus Marlon Vera.

That has been shifted to the main event of UFC San Antonio. And that brings up another question, which we can talk about in a little bit. What's going to headline that February 18th card? Because right now that is kind of up in the air. I can give you some insight, at least to the best of my knowledge, on where that might be going.

But interesting move. I think a lot of people understand the move. There's been sort of a revolt once that fight was put on the books, Sanhagen and Vera. Having it at the apex, people were not overly thrilled about that. They felt like a fight of that magnitude. Two guys like that deserved a bigger stage, and they got it. The timing of it is just a little strange because we're 15 days away from that fight happening.

And from what I understand, these fighters found out Monday or Tuesday that it was being shifted. so you're training, you're preparing to peak at the right time, and then all of a sudden it is brought to your attention that, hey, guess what, now you have to stop everything you're doing, we're pushing everything back like five weeks more or a month more. And I can understand if the fighters are frustrated about that. I can also understand if fans in Las Vegas bought tickets to that card at the apex. and I know it's not your typical arena,

but if you've seen the reports, it ain't cheap going to those apex cards. There were people, and I've seen comments and things that were screenshoted that are pretty pissed off that this is getting moved, especially with the timing of it all, because people had spent lots of money on tickets

to watch it at the apex for that fight in particular, and now it's sort of just being taken away from them. So I feel for those people, that's for sure. happy for the San Antonio folks. I know there were talks about Raquel Pennington Arrani Aldana headlining

that card. As I told you, there wasn't much to that. It was being talked about like very preliminarily. That's not even a word, but you know where I'm going with this. But that's as far as it went. There were no contracts. There were no actual agreements. None of

that. So the shift has been made and here we are. So February 18th, we don't have a main event right now. We don't have a main event. I'm going to pull up the card right now. It seems, I don't know, and this is the UFC, so you never know what's going to happen.

But if we're looking at this card right now, there it is, February 18th, we have Jim Miller, Gabriel Benitez, we have William Knight, Marching Pratchie. We have Tyler Santos, Aaron Blanchfield, Nizim Sadekaw v. Evan Elder, Juan Camillo Ronderos versus Clayton Carpenter, Lena Lansberg, Myro-Berana Silva,

OSP Philippe Lins, A.J. Fletcher, Thumba Garimbo, which Thambe Garimbo has an incredible story, by the way. Josh Peresian versus Jamal Poges, Zach Pauga versus Jordan Wright, Jamers versus Cusane, Ascaboff. So that's the card right now. It seems kind of obvious.

If we're just pulling up one fight, it would seem like the Tylos-Antoe-Blanchfield fight would be the favorite to headline. So obviously, once this news came out, that was one of the first questions on my mind, who was going to headline this. So I have reached out to people. Nothing is set. Nothing has been decided upon yet. There are conversations about what's going on. But from what I am told, Dana White is going to announce what this main event is going to to be in the next day or two.

Apparently, he's going to announce it. And I don't know if they're going to bring something else in or if they're going to bump that one up to the main event. I would love to see that fight be the main event. I think that's a good one. Talasanto's coming off that tough fight with Valentina Schenko. She fought Shevatschenko, but as well as anybody has ever done. And almost beat her.

She didn't, but she almost did. And Aaron Blanchfield is one of the top prospects in the sport right now. So that'd be a great made event. It's just a matter of, again, this fight's a little over two weeks away. It's 15 days from now. These two ladies were preparing for a three-round fight. You would assume that if it's going to get the main event spot, it's not going to be a three-rounder.

It's going to be a five-rounder. So there's hurdles that need to be crossed, I would assume. But from what I'm told, Dana White is going to announce what the main event is going to be for that card. So I wish I had some answers for you. I mean, just looking at it, we can assume. that if any of these fights are going to get the bump, it's probably that one, but nothing is confirmed as of right now.

So I don't know if Dane is going to jump on YouTube and social and start screaming bloody murder to make this announcement, but from what I'm told, Dane is going to make that announcement himself. So we will see. But this is a free-for-all Friday,

so you can talk about M.A. We can talk about whatever you want. We get a lot of pro-wrestling questions here on these Fridays. I don't care. what we talk about. So Zeke is in line, ready to go. What do we got, buddy? My man, Mike. How are we? Good. How are you? I'm right. I'm driving on this free for all Friday. I hope I'll keep it short and sweet. First things first, I want to hear your prediction for

Leon versus Usman. I guess it would be three. The second rematch for the belt, of course, coming up soon in London, I believe. And then I got a question for you. Did I read this correctly? I know I did, so I'm just going to procrastinate and go on and on about it. Did Al Jermaine Sterling say he doesn't have a fight left in the Bannonweight Division besides Henry Suhudo? Is he missing the big bag in Sugar Sean O'Malley? The easiest fight for him, at least, stylistically, in Sugar Sean O'Malley?

Like, I'm a Sugar Sean guy, but, like, I feel like Aljo with the wrestling would just walk through Sean. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know, man. What's going on with that? Just absolute marketing biz on Aljo's part. I feel like he could, you know, take down Henry, maybe even take down Sean and then move. But we'll see. What do I know? Like, have a heck of a week, all right? Thanks, man. So, I mean, Usman Edwards just, it's tough. It's a tough fight to call right now because it's just Leon Edwards, if there's one thing Leon has said in the built of this fight that is incredibly accurate,

it's that if Kamara Usman thinks this is going to be the same exact fight as the last time, he's dead wrong. And I agree with that. It's a whole different situation. This is Kamar Usman for the first time and a long time being the hunter. This is him going across the pond to Leon's territory. He's going to be the big time heel in this season.

situation to Leon Edwards, who is going to be the ultimate baby face here. And he's coming off of a brutal and vicious knockout loss, which I don't care who you are that's going to affect you in some way, especially when you're jumping back in against the guy who knocked you unconscious with a kick around the world. So I have questions in lots of them, but Kamar Usman is a competitor. guy is a competitor. He's also not the youngest man in the world. So I do have questions. I'm going to favor Usman, but I'm not all that confident about it. Like maybe early on, I was just like, yeah, I think Usman's going to win. And by the time we get to March 18th,

I might have a different opinion on that. But to me, I took a lot away from the first fight. I know was at altitude. This is going to be different. So I'm leaning Usman, but, But I just honestly, like, it's just someone who wants to see this division unblock itself in a lot of ways. I think it's better for the division if Leon wins because it opens things up a little bit more. We get to see some of the names that fought for the belt before, get their opportunities again in different matchups. I just feel like Usman has fought pretty much everybody except for Bilal Mohammed and Hamzaa Chamaif. Homs out, we don't know what the hell is going on. And we don't know what's going on with B'all.

I know his manager said they're working on a fight between him and Colby Covington, that they might be the coaches of Tuff, which I tweeted out yesterday. Apparently they're going to have, this is going to be like a 47 week season, and they're going to have two new coaches every week, because it seems like a third of the roster are all in consideration to coach this frigging show. So hopefully we get some answer soon. Maybe they do B'Lah.

versus Colby? I don't know. Just knowing the history of Colby Covington, I don't know if that's the one. Like I think Colby would, I would favor Colby to win that fight. So, I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. But I think Leon winning opens things up a little bit more

and we get some different variety tie. As far as the Sterling thing goes, yes, he said that, and he's been saying this for a while. I don't know why this is any surprise to anybody. He's been saying, I don't have a lot of time left at this division. I'm going to move up.

I'm going to let my boy Marab get his shot at the belt because he ain't going to fight me and I'm not going to fight him. We knew this is coming. And you talk about the bag fumbling. Aljo fumbled that bag, and we've talked about this a million times, Aljo fumbled that bag as soon as he beat T.J. Dilleshaw.

He should have been all in on O'Malley from Jump Street. And it didn't do it. He did the whole, I'll fight this dude, I'll fight this dude. He was making weird jokes about Cheetah he fumbled that bag 100%. He should have went right for O'Malley, right off the bat. He tried to change course, and maybe he listened to this show,

because everything that I said about the Henry Sehudo comeback, he started saying and that he should put the focus on Sean O'Malley. It was just too little too late. That's why it is so important that when you have that microphone in that moment, that you know what you're going to do with it. Chale Sun has been preaching this forever. The next fight begins as soon as the previous fight ends. He should have got on the mic, called out O'Malley.

O'Malley, you beat Yon? You're next, bro. Let's go. Boom. That would be the fight we'd be getting right now. But instead, it got left up to a media member asking Dana White about what's next for Al Jamein. He throws out Henry Sehudo's name, and then here we are. Aljo also said, because this was an interview with the Schmo that they did in Las Vegas.

and Al Jemaine Sterling basically confirmed our report. They were targeting that fight for April 8th. And now it apparently is going to be on that May 6th card. And from what I understand, Henry Suhudo is not happy about that. He wanted to fight April 8th. But apparently that one's getting pushed back. Henry's in Columbia right now. Al Jermaine's about to go to Columbia and get the stem cell thing done.

And at the end of the day, the Mazadal Gilwood-Burn's fight got made very, very quickly. And that's sort of why, because it's tough to announce a fight like that and make it official and then say, oh, by the way, Al Jemaine and Suhudo can't fight till next month. So I think they're going to give Al Jermaine like another month to try to get this all squared away. Hopefully the stem cells work. Hopefully he's healthy and ready to go. They could do that fight in May. And my guess would be if they can't, if for some reason Aljo needs to push back more, I think Henry's going to fight. in May no matter what.

He'll probably fight O'Malley instead. Maybe they do an interim title or whatnot. But Sterling's been saying for a while, he's going to move up to 145. And I think he's just a massive dude. He's so big. I don't know how he makes 135 at this point because he's just a he's a month. He was so much bigger than T.J. Dillishal. I thought he was going to pick T.J. Dillishal up and eat him.

That's how big, that's how much bigger he was. And he's going to be a, he's going to be gigantic against the Hudo. O'Malley's interesting because O'Malley's one of the bigger guys at 135. But Sterling's been saying this for a long time. So this is not a really big surprise. But yes, if you're asking if he fumbled the bag, he fumbled that bag right after UFC 280, when he didn't, after he beat T.J. Dilleshaw,

when he didn't call O'Malley out after that went over Peotriot. Let's go to QP Prime. What's up, QP? I'm not hearing anything. Try again. Maybe find a better connection. Squid Vicious. It's been a minute. What's up Squid Vicious?

You're muted right. There we go. What's that man? I was just wondering with the Whitaker fight falling through in Paula Costa's contract kind of in limbo. You think we're going to see Apollo Costa fight announcement soon? I mean, we're talking about mysteries out there. One being Hamzaa Chimaeuf. Paul Koss is another one. I have no idea what this band is thinking right now.

Apparently, this is what he has said. There's sort of a ticking clock on his contract where if the date expires, he becomes a free agent, but I don't think it's going to be the same exact thing as Francis. I don't know if the UFC is just going to be like, okay, you're free and clear. They'll probably have a match period and stuff like that.

So hopefully cooler heads will prevail. I do think Paul Costa would benefit from a change of scenery. Him being in PFL would be huge. Him being in Bellator would be huge. He's a name. He's very popular. But at the same token, as exciting of a fighter as he is, I don't think he's going to be fighting for the belt again.

I think those days are behind him. I think this division has kind of passed him by a little bit. So, yeah, I don't know what's going to happen with him. Him and Shama if would be a great fight. Like if we're just trying to give him some extra money and he wants to leave the UFC, throw him in there with Hamzat. I mean, Hamzaa needs to get a win at 185.

That'd be a fun. That'd be fun as hell. That'd be fun as hell. I would prefer that over Hamzaat versus Nate Diaz. That's for damn sure. But that's not a bad idea. I have no idea what's happening with this band. Him not fighting Robert Whitaker.

some call it a miss I think it's pretty smart on his part to play this game, stay relevant. That Robert Werderker fight was not going to go well for him. It just wasn't. That's a terrible stylistic matchup for Paul Costa. Not saying Hamzat's any better, but Hamzaa would be a little more

buzz behind that one. And I don't know what the hell that man's going to do, but we'll see. Oh, Jordan, what type of news? do you have for me today? All right, no fake news today, Mike. Apologized for the dupe yesterday.

That was the best. That was an all-time moment. So I just wanted to touch base. This weekend for Bellator is an awesome card for these young up-and-comen fighters to showcase their skills. And I think one of the guys that's from Wisconsin, Dante Shiro, has an awesome,

awesome bout up against Neiman Gracie this weekend that I just wanted to get your thoughts on if it's, I don't know how much you've seen him fight, but he's one of those that's an exciting fighter and prospect. He's good, man. I mean, he's, I think the word exciting

and fun is is probably the right words. He gave Logan Storley some fits, man, in his Bellator debut. I mean, Storley ended up winning a splitie, but got to finish at his next fight and then got submitted in one of the craziest submissions I've ever seen in September. So I don't love this matchup for him stylistically.

I really don't. But again, maybe Neiman Gracie will just be like, hey, I love standing up and just throwing punches. And that's the type of fight that he wants to compete in. I don't know if that's the case after Neiman got destroyed in his last fight. But yeah, it should be fun. It should be fun. It's probably not going to the judges.

It's probably, I'd be stunned if it gets out of the second round. But big opportunity for him. It's a big spot. This card's great. This card is really good. This is one of the best Bellator cards start to finish that they have put on in a long time, maybe since before the pandemic. They've had some big main events and some big fights.

But top-to-bottom fight cards, this is a good one. There's a lot of interesting things on here. There really is. And it starts from the third fight up. Jalon Bates, Jornel Lugo, really interested to see how that fight plays out. This is by far the biggest test of Jailon Bates' career. Dary in Caldwell, can he snap out of it?

I interviewed him. He's just in a whole different place right now. I'm very interested to see how he attempts to bounce back against Nikita Mikhailov. is Deanna Avzargova the real deal. I think this fight is a little early getting someone like Alejandra Lara

but I'm not a matchmaker. I don't know. I feel like it's a little too much too soon, but we're never going to know the answers to those questions unless we actually do it. But this one kind of has that like Bellator matchmaking trap set written all over it.

Like we've seen in the past, like some of these up-and-coming prospects who have highlight reels and get over big on these prelims, get much, much lesser competition. And then when people are like, well, we got to give them a little bit of a push, they throw them in there with someone who might just be a little bit out of their league. So I'm curious about that one.

Grant Dale Carl Alpertson is a good one. Max Roshkopf back in the spotlight. Let's see how he does. Good match with Chris Gonzalez. Steve Mari, Ali Azif is ridiculous. Two undefeated guys. Zayef is an Olympian. and former PFL champion hasn't fought in a long time.

Steve Marry's a really good up-and-comer. Henry Corrales is back, who loves to play spoiler against some of these guys. And in this case, fighting Akhmed Magamatov, Lorenz Larkin versus Mukamed Berkimov. I remember the first fight. Larkin was starting to cook a little bit. He's starting to figure things out.

Ends in a no contest. I don't know. It was one of those ones where, like, we were flirting with the DQ line, and it was very, very close, but it didn't happen. So curiously if Lorenz can keep this winning streak alive. We mentioned the Gracie fight. Sabah Masi, Brennan Ward is ridiculous.

We got Bader and Fador, final fight. But to me, the man who could, the man whose stock could rise more than anybody's is Johnny Eblon. It's Johnny Eblon. Johnny has a chance to become a star tomorrow night. Now, if he goes out there, if we talked about this, BTL, we talked about this on the previous show. He goes out there and takes Toccoff down and just kind of like smothers him for five rounds. That's cool. He's still the champion. Make that money,

son. But that's not going to do it. I feel like this fight's going to be more exciting than, like, I think this is the best fight of the weekend. From like an MMA fan perspective on paper, I think Johnny Eblen, Anatoly Tocoff is the best fight of the weekend. The most interesting fight of the weekend, it's the best matched fight of the weekend. No doubt about it. But this is an opportunity for Johnny Eblen to get over in a whole different way. It's going to be on CBS. I think Anatoly Tokhov's takedown defense is really, really good, somewhat underrated, if we're being honest. So it could lead to these two dudes just throwing hands and just throw in absolute beasts at each other.

And if that's the kind of fight we get, I favor Johnny Eblen to win it. And I know Tochhoff's got more experience, and I know Tochhoff can crack too. But Johnny's a different animal. And if Johnny can turn this into a fight where it could be exciting and we could get a potential highlight reel and he gets it, his stock is going to rise through the roof.

It's a very important fight for Johnny Eblen. Not just for wins and losses, not just for the title, but this is his chance to get over in a different way. So I think he's got more to gain and more to lose than anybody else on this entire car. So, and I feel like Johnny Eblen

is going to thrive in that situation. love that fight, can't wait to see it. And I feel like we're going to get a lot of stand-up in that one. I could be wrong, but I feel like a lot of the wrestling is going to negate itself unless it gets extended. If we get to four and five, this could be a Johnny Ebelin take-down show

in the championship rounds, but I think we're going to see these two slug it out a little bit more. So big spot for Johnny Eub. I love this Bellator card. It's tremendous. With MX Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too.

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Let's go to Joe. Joe, hello. Hey, Mike. How you doing? Good. Doing well. I wanted to know, what do you set the over-under ad for Derek Lewis's weight today at Wains? Ooh, that's a good question.

Are these... Oh, sorry. Jump back in, Joe. Jump back in, Joe. If you hear me. Let's see. There we go. Well, I pull this up.

Did you have another question, Joe? Yeah, I was just going to say, are these pictures real that I've been seeing circulating on Twitter of Derek Lewis looking very thin? Or I'm not even sure if those are. Yeah, they are. I mean, if you watch his media day, I mean, you can see in his face.

you can see it in his face he looks like he's slimmed down he's taking it very seriously you never hear derrick lewis talk about lack of buzz for a fight and how people are talking about him and excitement levels other people have outside of his small circle for his fights but he's talking about it a lot because he's busting his ass i'm trying to think there was one fight in particular where he slimmed down quite a bit. I don't know if it's the Blades fight. I don't remember what it was. There was one fight where he

worked with my man Lou Geordano. Was it 244? Or maybe 247? Because he was under, he was like 261 for that. Yeah, he worked I know he worked with the great Lou Geordano for the Blagoi Ivana fight. He lost a bunch of weight and he looked great.

He's still waiting at 265. Next fight is 265. 61 and a half. Then he was back to 265, 263, 264 and a half, 265, 265, 264 and a half. I'm going to say over under 261 pounds. Because even though he's trimmed a bunch down, that just means his weight cut, his weight cut is not going to be what it normally is. So I still think he's going to be in the 260s. So I'll say 261 is the over under. And yes, photos are real. Anthony, hello.

Good morning. Yeah, I just want to talk about these fights this weekend. I'm actually really excited. I think there's a lot of fights. I think anybody who's a fight fan should just be glad that these weekends happening and spoiled. You got that amazing Bellator card. Again, dude, agree.

That joint-out-Lugo fight is what I was really hyped for. I was supposed to see it in Chicago. And those road to the UFC cards were actually really fire, man. I loved watching them. I'm watching the one Friday night fights right now. I love one championship. They got the best strikers in the world, hands down.

Some, they make for crazy entertaining fights. Most of it, I sometimes catch myself on a Saturday night. God damn, this dude just got knocked out. I catch myself sometimes on a Saturday night. I'm like, fuck, man. Like, this UFC card got diluted from that

fire-ass one card last night. and there's women's boxing. I've actually been really interested in Warran, and Sarano, Katie Taylor, last year, and Urs de Shields, those are the two best fights regardless of gender in boxing. And to have Scott and Nicholson to add to that,

it's pretty tremendous. And that's all, man. This weekend, what would you set the over-under on BK commercials? Have a good. Oh, man. BK commercials on the ESPN Plus broadcast. God, it's got to be 15 to 20.

I'll say 20. Because you get the same spot set like every single time. I don't know if it's like that for everybody, but it is for me. It's the same spot set. I love me to Michael Kiesa. He's one of my favorite people in the sport. but during like the pandemic and like the tail end of it

I was just like I can't stand this dude anymore because it was just him and Gaichi like over and over again every single spot set it was Kiesa and Gaichi every single one it was so crazy yeah there I mean those are just rough and when like it drives me a little crazy like you want to chuck in a spot here and there like if you have spots you need to fill like I'm cool with it But we pay for this platform.

You know, I don't need to see two minutes worth of commercials every single break. I'd like to see the fighters walk out. I'd like to hear what the coaches have to say between rounds on these cards. More than we get. Yeah, we're going to get that BK commercial a ton. And even though the UFC card is not great, it's pretty bad, especially with it being in the apex. There's a lot to like this weekend. The boxing card, you mentioned a man of Serrano's back.

Scott Nicholson's back. She's somebody to watch for sure. I think she can be a star in women's boxing. And there's a few of them right now. I feel like we're in a good spot for women's boxing. We're getting there. We're not anywhere near where we need to be, but I think we're taking some big steps.

And I think the Serrano-Taylor fight was a big thing that helped that out. But Scott Nicholson, I mean, she's just super fun. And she's a fun fighter, great personality. She can get over big. It's a big opportunity for her. Like we said, the Bellator card's great. one's going on right now, which they don't even tell people that it's happening again. But yeah, there's a lot, there's a lot of fights this weekend, that's for sure.

And for the first time in a long time, it feels like the UFC is kind of in the three-row vehicle of life. I feel like the UFC is in the third row right now. They're in the third row. Belator sitting shotgun, boxing probably, at least amongst us, boxing's in the backseat, and I think the UFC is kind of in the third row. We had to push the button to get those seats to fold back up so they could squeeze themselves in. I think that's who we're at right now. And that's okay, because we got 284 next week, and we get one of the biggest fights in a long time,

one of the bigger, more historic fights in UFC history. So, Viking, hello. Viking. Hello, Mike. How are you? Good. How are you? I find you said that you are off for Friday and you were here.

It's nice. It's 9.30 and it's a good time to stay in this space. Absolutely. And one more thing. I just wanted to apologize for the other day because, you know, I was coming back from work. I just met some dumb fuck kids and they were shouting. there was a traffic. Dude, it's cool.

All good. It was so annoying. I like the ambiance. That's why this show is fun. Sometimes you're driving, sometimes you're walking in New York City, sometimes you're walking in busy places. It happens.

All right. But that was annoying. So much annoying. You know, lots of people here must have been angry on me. So that, that and, yes, this speedway versus Derek Lewis card, we have one Indian fighter in the prelims, you know, Road to UFC. My best friend, him and that fighter, they are in the same gym, and he said that he's a good grappler, has a good grapple,

round games so this card is this card is fun for me I'm not going to watch in the main the main card so and I just want to talk about Bilal Mohammed and Gilbert Bern's situation so what do you think to you see they both have been chirping about each other on Twitter and I just have a question about Ali why he is not making that fight with Gilbert because you know Bilal and Gilbert they both have they both have done enough to make their name I mean the grappling and wrestling scenario so if both of them fight each other then one of them has got I mean definitely got a shot for title so is that the UFC is doing or or or

Or what do you think, why Ali is not able to make this fight? Or UFC doesn't want to get involved between Bilal and Gilal and Gilbert Burns. I just don't like him. I'm not a big fan of Gilbert Burns, but still I'm asking why Gilbert Burns and Bilal is not fighting. Because if Bilal wins, there is no denying that he's going to get the title shot. Thank you. Yeah, it's interesting. That would have been the fight.

That was the fight I would have made is Gilbert versus Bilal. But like we've talked about, the original plans for April 8th was doing the two title fights. It was going to be Pereira versus Adasania and then it was going to be Sterling versus Sehudo. The location is still kind of up in the air. but Friday, this past a week ago, when Dana made those announcements, I was told that Mazadol versus Burns was going to be the co-main event for that card. And I was also told that in a perfect world, Sterling and Sehuda would still take place on that card. But as we have found out, that's what they wanted.

Sterling needed a little more time. They gave it to them. That's why they went fast on this Burns Mazda. all fight because birds just fought pitched a perfect game, took zero damage, and with the front runner being Miami, it just made perfect sense to get Mazadol

on there. And those two have been chirping, that fight's been on the table for a little while, been offered to both guys multiple times. That's the one they went with. You got to sell tickets, you got to get people to buy the pay-per-view.

So yeah. And if Leon Edwards beats Kamar Usman, that flight has a whole lot more significance, doesn't it? What does this do for? Where does this put Balah Muhammad? I have no idea. I have no idea. And this is an Ali thing because the DFC approached Ali and was like, look, we're

going to do, we want Balal versus Burns number one contender fight. He would put it together. Like, his guys have fought before. But he's also notorious for putting out information that may or may not be accurate. Like the Bilal Colby thing in the top. thing. I would, I just don't see a world where those two guys would coach tough. I just

don't see it. And I don't know if Colby comes back and fights Bilal. I mean, maybe he does. If the money's right and the opportunity's right, if they say, hey, you go out and beat this guy, you get a title shot, maybe he'll do it. Because I think he would be, I mean, he's going to be favored

pretty significantly against Belaw Muhammad, I would say. But I wonder if Bilal is the backup for the main event. I don't know. I honestly have no idea. So he's very, he's in a very interesting spot right now. Because if he doesn't get this Colby fight, and if he doesn't get Hamzat,

and Leon Edwards beats Kamar Usen again, boy, is he in a tough spot? Because whoever wins, whoever wins the Burns-Mazdal fight, he's getting the title shot. Jorge Mazadol beats Gilbert Burns, and Leon Edwards is the welterweight champion, by the time that fight happens, that is going to be your next title fight. It will blah is going to be pissed and he should be.

But that's the fight they're going to make because there's story and it's going to do 500,000 more pay-per-view buys. And the casual audience will be invested because of the three-piece in the soda story. That's the fight they're going to make. 1,000%. So if I'm Belaw Muhammad, I'm getting my ass to London. I'm weighing in as the backup. And I am hoping. and praying that Kamar Uspin beats Leon Edwards.

Because I don't know, I don't think he's going to get Hamzot. Maybe he gets Colby. I just don't know if I see it. I don't know if Colby comes back for that. Maybe I'm wrong. Of course, I reached out to Colby when I saw this information, but Colby isn't talking to anybody right now. So we'll see what happens.

We will see what happens. Carcax. Francis Inganu. Hello. Yo, can you hear me? Yes, sir. All right, so this might be like an old question because it was about the last pay-per-view.

So the thing is, everybody left after the main event, and that's when Cooper wanted to retire, which kind of pissed me off because everybody, like nobody was there, right? And it literally just sounded like three people clapped or something at the background. So I just wanted to, you know, hear your thoughts about that. And, you know, when you look at the amount of damage he took,

not only in that fight, but his whole career, and to do that to him, it's, I don't know. I don't know if UFC should even consider going back to Brazil. I don't know if I'll go that far. I was, I mean, you could see. Our own Guillermo Cruz was in the building for that card. And I know the UFC loves to tout the sellout streak and all that,

but even David Shaw, when he went up to speak with the media, he didn't even say it was a sellout. So it seems like the ticket prices were really high and they couldn't sell it out. So maybe not your typical hardcore MMA Brazilian crowd. I'm sure there were some, but it certainly, and I was doing the watch party, but I was watching the prelims a little bit too. And there were certain fights where the crowd was into it. And then as the main card went around, and even at the beginning of the main event,

when they announced Glover to share his name, it was not the time. type of reaction that I expected. It just wasn't. And I think a lot of those fans just kind of treated it like your hometown team. It's playing, let's just say it. Like, for instance, if I will go to a Red Sox game and the Red Sox just getting the doors blown off of them and it's like the seventh inning and it's like eight to nothing, Yankees, probably going to get my ass out of there, beat the traffic.

So I get it from like a. sports fan perspective, but just all in all, the crowd was just not what I expected. I thought they were going to be electric. I thought it was going to be not quite London this past March, but something kind of close to that. They've been without a UFC card with fans for a long, long time. I expected more energy, more craziness. We didn't get it.

So I think they'll try again. I don't know if they're going to bring a pay-per-view there, but they might do like a fight-night card there, maybe in a different place. I don't know. I mean, the card was perfectly lined up for that area. 17 Brazilian fighters on the card. There's at least one in every single fight.

Yeah, it was tough. It was just a weird card overall. It was a fun one. Like watching on TV, it was a good card. A lot of moments, a lot of storylines. But all in all, just, yeah, kind of fell flat because the crowd just wasn't there. They didn't sell it out. J-Sat, hello.

You too. What is your bold prediction for these Saturday fights? And also, my second question is, is a hot dog a sandwich? That would be all. Hot dog is not a sandwich. I don't know what to call it. It's kind of in its own class, but it's not a sandwich. bold prediction

I'm looking at the UFC card I mean just based on the betting lines I would say Derek Lewis knocking out Sergei Spivak would probably be the most bold prediction I could make for it honestly because he's a pretty big dog right now

Belleter card oh man like anything I say is not going to be really bold I'll say Lorenz Larkin beats Berkimoff and stops that that long winning streak. I'll say Lorenz Lark and gets it done. That'll be my bold bell to our prediction.

It's going to be a tough fight. It'd be a tough pick, but yeah, I'm not going crazy here. But yeah, that's it. That's it all go top of my head and just kind of looking at the betting lines right now. Let's go to Jonas. There's four of you waiting. I'll get to all of you. Jonas, what's up?

Hey, Mike. I have two questions for you. So my first question is, I don't know if you, you answered this question or not yet, but how do you feel about the promotion for Islam in Volk? There's like one more event before it, and

there's been like not a lot of PR and promotion for it, which is very weird for a champion versus champion fight. I've never seen like, you know, like the lack of promotion on Twitter or

YouTube or anything. It's very weird. Just one of your thoughts on And another question, would you think that UFC would do anything for Black History Month this year? Because I know last year they did something with with, what's your name, Angie Hill and another fighter. Yeah, just one of your thoughts on that. Thanks. Yeah, I think, and I just want to double check my word. work here.

I know I'm pretty sure the UFC posted something on social media about it. I'm trying to scroll through there was a lot of awful power slap bullshit that I'm trying to go through right now. But I know I saw something about it. Yeah, I would

assume, there you go. February 1st, UFC announces the launch of its annual celebration of Black History Month in which UFC will commemorate. 8 the achievements made by African American and black UFC athletes. So there's a whole post on their website about it. During February, UFC will highlight the personal stories of these athletes, past and presence, while celebrating their significance of promoting and growing UFC in the sport and mixed martial arts.

So yes, that is a thing. I would assume they're going to talk a lot about it on the card tomorrow. And that's good. That's very important. They should do that. to address the other question, I have to say this. And I am blown away by the response to this.

Like, I really am. I'm really blown away by everyone being like saying that there's a lack of promotion here. Because what is the difference between this and like every frigging card for the last several years outside of like a Connor McGregor fight? It's literally the same thing they always do. it's the same thing now was there a awful television show that they're trying to get off the ground attached to these things no however if you just take those tweets and such out of the equation the build to 284 is exactly the same as 283 it's exactly the same as it was for 282 281 might have been a little bit more because they're in new york and it's a big deal and msg and all that stuff but for for the most part, this is what we get. This is what we get.

Why? Because most people in this room right now, and most people who cover the sport and are fans of the sport, already know this fight's happening. The UFC does not need to convince us to watch Islam Makachev fight Alexander Volkinovsky. They don't need to, and they know that, because we're all going to watch the damn card. But at the same token, this fight as great,

as it is, this fight is for us. This fight is not for the casual audience. I said this yesterday. If I went to my local grocery store right now and I just found 20 randos who I think might watch fist fighting and I walked up to them and said, hey, you excited for Islam Makachchev versus Alexander Volcanowski? They would throw a watermelon in my head because they'd be like, what the fuck are you talking about? That's just, that's just where we're at right now. That's just, that's just, as we're at. This is not a casual audience fight. This is a hardcore MMA fan fight. This whole event

is that way. The card, if you look at it, is not great. It's not great. We lost some doozies. We lost Whitaker Costa. We lost Perez Kayakara, France. The main card is not great. The main event's

great. Interim title fight is fine. J.D.M. Randy Brown's good fight. But the rest of the main card is not spectacular. They're just not going to drive a lot of casual viewership to this one. They're not going to do it. So they're probably going to focus more in their promotional attention on 285. The casual audience, for the most part, knows who John Jones is.

So they're going to put a lot of the promotional buzz behind that. The other point I'll make, and I said this on the preview show yesterday, go back and watch any MMA content, go watch the MMA hour from 2016 a week before the fight week for UFC 202, which was headlined by Connor McGregor, Nate Diaz, too. I remember having a podcast that some people listen to, but not a ton, and I brought this up. the promotion for this fight is non-existent and it's the two biggest stars at the time in the sport and the answer that everybody got, I know Ariel talked about it on the AMA arcs

I went back and watched it is always the same and it's going to be the same for this car too. Once fight week gets here, and we get to Media Day and Embedded's come out and countdowns come out and they do the face-offs and they do the weigh-ins. By the time we do the previews,

show next Friday, we're all going to be jacked to the gills for this card. But the UFC is making a floppy trillion dollars with this ESPN deal. They don't need to promote any more than they have to because they've already won. They're getting all this money every single event they put on. And pay-per-view buys just don't mean what they used to. None of that matters. It's why the numbers aren't really public anymore. Some you get. Some are. reported, but for the most part, the paper you buys are just a cherry on top of the Sunday. It's just getting to the venue and putting on the card and selling tickets, especially for a card like this.

We're going to Australia. You got Volcanowski, Australian in the main event. Their main goal is selling that arena out. That's all they care about. And if we get a good pay-per-view, push cool. But that's not their top priority anymore. Their top priority, especially for this one, sell this. venue out. Let's get a good gate. You're getting money on the broadcast anyways, lots of it.

And if we do 500,000 pay revise, it's awesome. I don't think this one's going to get 500,000 pay revise. Even if they promoted the shit out of it, I don't think they're going to get 500,000 paper revise for this card. I don't. And it's mostly because the hardcores are going to watch and the casuals are going to go to sleep and get ready for the Super Bowl the next day. That's what I think. So I understand a fight of this magnitude deserves a lot more buzz. I get it, but this is no different than what the UFC has been doing for years, for years. I think 285 will be a little different. 2.86 will be a little different because of the London thing. But it's usually like this. And honestly, as spoiled as we are with all these cards, this is a problem.

is a reason why there's just way too many fight cards because we can't even focus all of our attention on it because we have this card on Saturday. And it's at a weird time. So the American audience, most of us aren't even going to watch it. We're going to watch Bellator and we're going to call it a day. And we're going to watch it the next Sunday. We're going to watch it maybe on Sunday. Or just not watch it at all and just get ready for 284. So I get it. Like, I get why people are saying this, but this is not any different than how the UFC has been promoting cards for a long time now. It's all about Fight Week. Let's build it up on Fight Week.

They'll drop countdown. They'll do Embeddedds. We'll have meaty day on Wednesday. Press conference Thursday. Way ends on Friday. Ceremonials Friday night. And then it's on to the card. And by the time we get to Friday, we're all going to be excited about it.

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FPL, hello. Hello, I have been on your spaces before. So, you know, I'll come to the content of the fight. I understand, you know, this card does not sell any pay-per-views. I completely agree to it with respect to the Australian card. Coming to the fight itself, I mean, I have heard some of these few other fighters, you know, saying, yes, Wolk has a chance. Alex may get it done.

I see this as one of the most lost-sided career fights ever in MMA history. Do you see it contrary to what I see? Because according to me, it's just a one-sided fight. I mean, there's nothing in it. Do you think Alex has even 1% chance in this fight, considering what Islam Mahachab has in his artillery? Do you think there is even a fight over there? Yeah, I do.

I'm picking Islam to win. but I think Volk I think Volk definitely has a chance I think Volk definitely has a chance Islam's going to get him to the Islam is going to take him down I mean there's just no doubt about it he's going to take him down he's going to take down anybody

he fights but Volk is very good at getting back to his feet and I know a lot of people are like well he's the featherweight champion he's going to be outsized eh he'll be like shorter and Islam will be somewhat bigger but

folks are a pretty big guy. Like he's a pretty like wide built up dude. And he's been focusing a lot on just adding muscle and extra calories. And this dude is a friggin athlete in a half.

He is like a plus plus athlete. And athleticism, as we talk about in MA fighting all the time is a cheat code. And Machinchev is a plus athlete himself. So if Volkanowski can keep this standing, this is going to be an interesting fight.

Volk's a crafty dude. He's maybe, I think, is the best fight IQ in the sport. It's not just that he's the best fighter in the world. I think he's the best fight IQ in the sport. His ability to make adjustments in the middle of the fight, just nobody does it like him. Nobody.

Go watch that second Max Holloway fight. That's everything you need to know about who this guy is. If Volka, if Islam has a big, big first round, he takes him down and just kind of sits on him, beats him up a little bit. Volk's going to have an answer for that in round two. To at least somewhat, it won't be as easy. I'm picking Machachev, but I don't think this is a, I don't think it's a blowout. I don't. I don't. I think

if, if we get late in this one, I would favor Mokachev. I would favor Mokachev. because if it gets late, that means he's winning rounds, he's taking both down, he's making him work really hard, and as great of an athlete as he is, Mokachev is on top of you for like nine minutes over the first 15,

it's going to wear on anybody. I don't care who you are. But I'm fascinated by it. I can't wait to see it. I honestly can't wait to see it. I feel like Mokachev will win, but I do feel, on paper, this is, like for the Olivera fight, I was, I've said it on the show a million times heading into the Olivera fight.

Everything on paper tells me that Islam Makachev should dump truck Charles Olivera, run his ass over. The only chance Olivera had is if he just continued to be as chaotic as possible and landed something insane. other than that Machachev was like one of the easiest picks I think I might have picked Olivera just because he's just a nut and I don't know how he's done it to this point and every time I pick against him

he's like losing badly and then somehow wins and I just kind of made a point to myself like I'm just not going to pick against Oliver again until he loses so that's why I went the Olivero but like I said a million times everything on paper told me that Machachchev was going to kill him. And that's pretty much what happened. I don't have that same feeling with this one.

It's from a stylistic perspective. I feel like Mokachev will win, but I think he's going to have to work a little bit more. This is a tougher fight stylistically for Mokachev than Charles Oliver was. So we'll see. I understand the confidence for Mokachev. And there's, you ain't alone, FPL. You're not alone. I've heard a lot of people say that Mach Jep's just going to run him over. It's going to be one-sided. This will not be competitive. But I don't know. I don't know. I see

it a little bit differently. Aaron, hello. Aaron. I don't hear anything. Maybe try to get a better place service-wise. Della Higgins. Hello. Hey, Mike. I just want to thank you

for calling Power Slap for what it is, which is the stupidest shit of ever seen in my life. I was so happy to see that the ratings tanked this week. And I think if the UFC is serious about wanting to be as big of a brand as the NFL, I think they're crazy to attach this corny freak show to their brand. And the only good thing I see coming of it is that the pay-per-view will mean that I get to see Marab versus Jan and not go to bed at 1 a.m.

So that's all I got. well said yeah the i would have bet i would have bet any amount of money that the ratings would have gone back to normal there's just without without aEW that show is not doing a hundred thousand people sorry it isn't without aEW that show is not doing a hundred thousand people may be bold, but that's true. Like, to me, that's the truth. And the only reason they got such a bump last week is because of what AEW put together.

They built a card paying tribute to a professional wrestler that tragically passed away and after the network would not allow AEW to pay tribute to this man and allow his brother to wrestle on the show because of something that Jay Briscoe tweeted out over a decade ago was ridiculous.

And there was a fan revolt for it. And to Tony Kahn's credit, the man who runs AEW, he was able to get Warner Bros. Discovery to let Mark Briscoe not only wrestle on that show, but be a part of the roster. And they put him in there with Jay Lethal, there's a relationship there they put it in a great spot and they built a great card setting it up

and a w's ratings typically are they start red hot because the big bang theory does like a million plus even in reruns and that leads in a w and they have like a really good starting point and then depending on how they how the show shapes out typically what happens is they start strong and then they just plummet throughout. Like they'll usually start around a million, and then by the time the show is over, they're down to like 800 and something thousand. That show in particular, last week,

they started over a million and they ended just under a million. They only lost, like, from a total perspective, like 10,000 people from start to finish, which is not typical for AEW. So I knew that that, number was going to be up. And it was.

And then AEW did 9,000 last week, which means and I feel like I'm the best audience to gauge the ratings for professional wrestling, especially AEW. Because I always give it a chance. I'll start at 8 p.m. Eastern.

I'll watch what the first segment is. I'll give it like a half hour, 45 minutes. If I'm into it, I'll keep going. If I see fucking Chris Jericho, I'm like, oh, and I turn it off. And I'm done. And if I see the rest of the card and like MJF is not going to be featured, then I don't watch it. And I'm gone. And I feel like how the quarter hour breakdowns shake out for AEW is like exactly how I watch it.

Because I'm like I'm trying to give it a chance because everyone tells me how great it is. And there are some shows last weeks in particular was fucking great. This week's show? Not so much. There were some good matches, but it wasn't enough to keep me awake for two hours. I watched for like 45 minutes,

and I was like, eh, I'm done. And plus there was a part of me that's like, normally I'll just fall asleep with the TV on, but I don't risk it because I don't want to wake up

to power slap being on the TV. So if I'm done with AEW, I turn the damn TV off. But that's what happened. And I feel like that that's, what we see ratings-wise now, like 275, 280, that's going to be the norm unless AEW just puts on a blockbuster.

And I would love to see the quarter hour breakdowns for the show for Power Slap on Wednesday because something tells me it started off pretty strong coming out of AEW and then those numbers just tank. They have to. How could anyone in their right mind sit there for an hour and watch that show? I just don't. There's probably 10,000 people. in the world that would do that.

So, I don't know. But it was, I, there was a sigh of relief. I will say that when I saw the ratings went back to where I thought they were going to be. Crabbs hello. Heck up in the morning. First time, long time. Happy birthday, okay, all that.

We talk so much about what's wrong with the UFC and the state of MMA in general. I'm thinking of bloody elbow. So I wanted to change things up and ask you, Mike, what would your dream main card fight night new england look like i'm just thinking four or five thank you oh okay well uh is a fight night or a paper view that's the question it's a good question i mean cater has to be on it i know he's banged up and he might not i mean it seems like from from all accounts it seems like calvin cater is healing it

pretty freakish level right now. But I'd be stunned knowing his team and who is around him if he fights any time before like November. I would do Calvin Cater versus the winner of Edson Barbosa versus Billy Q. I would put Rob Fond, Andrea and Yottis on that Boston card too. But I'll go, because Rob's got a fight on that card, 100%. Rob Fon v. Dominic Cruz. then you have to have a title fight on there.

Apakaport has got a fight on that card somewhere, probably on the prelims. That's weird. Like the Boston, all the Boston cards have had, like, weird headliners. Like, we got Cruz T.J. Dillishaw as a main event. We got Connor McGregor in a main event

against Dennis Siever. We got Chale Sunnan versus Shogun. No, that wasn't it. Was it Chil Salaun v. Shogun? I don't know. We've had weird main events in Boston. And then we had the pay-per-view. We had Stipe A versus Inganer.

That was pretty freaking cool being there for that. And then we also, we were also treated to the wonderful James Tony Randy Couture fight in Boston, too. Remember that? Yeah, it was Shogun versus Chil. Yep. August 2013.

I was there for that. It was Shogun versus Chil Sun. Chil submitted him in the first round. That was the Travis Brown, Alasdaro, Overeem card. That was the Connor Max Holloway card. That's right.

It was so long ago. Wow. So with Boston, it could be anything, but Fontenkater have to be on there. I have to think about that a little bit more. I will work on that one. Four-on-s-s-a-Mik.

What do you got? Just real quick. I was just curious. Looking at Al Jermaine Sterling's record, I think he's got a pretty impressive one. I think he's severely underrated even as a champ, which sounds crazy to say, but he doesn't get a lot of the respect that he deserves.

With that being said, how many more title defenses do you think he needs to break into that top three list of all-time bannam weights? And who are your, well, actually, who is your number one bannam-weight all-time? That's it. Thank you. that's a great question i would probably go dominic cruz

but he's at a weird career tj's up there i mean if sterling's not number three he's damn close he i mean look i completely agree with you he does not get the credit he deserves um part of it is people don't like his personality uh i don't really understand why And it's so weird. Most of this turned for him after 259 when he won the belt. Because it gets brutally illegal need. Everyone says he should win an Oscar for being an actor when that was a brutal knee that should have been a DQ.

And that's what happened. Won the belt. And then everybody was like, you know what, Al Joe, lean into it. lean into this shit that's what you got to do lean into it and you know what he does he leans into it and then he gets hated even more and then he comes back and he fights pieterianne again after he's supposed to fight pieter yon in october of 2021 at ufc 273 the dude has a serious neck injury couldn't fight gets even more shit for that and then he fights yon in a last april ufc 273 UFC 273 beats him.

Close fight, but he beats him. And then he fights TJ, who showed up with one arm and Sterling just beat six shades of shit out of him. And because TJ is an asshole, Sterling gets the blame for it. Now, Al Jain perfect. I'll tell you that right now.

We started the show talking about Al Jermaine Sterling and how he fumbled the bag because he fumbled the bag with the Sean O'Malley. it. And now he's going to fight to Hudo in a much tougher matchup. I'm still probably going to pick Aljo

just because I just, I don't know, until I see Henry fight, I have a hard time picking him. And Aljo's just going to be two weight classes bigger than him. And he's just a freak athlete. And I just feel like he's, he has come into his own, for sure. But he could have fought Sean O'Malley. He could be fighting Sean O'Malley next.

he would get the bag and then he could move up to 145 which is what we've been telling the man to do in the first place. You beat T.J. Get on the mic. Call out Sean O'Malley if he beats Piotr Yonner

is even somewhat competitive with the man and you get that fight. You make that bag and then you get out. And you let your boy Marab fight for the belt. But instead after UFC 280, he's like, I don't care who the UFC gives me. Had the bag.

And then he fumbled it. And then he tried to change course. You know what? Sean's the fight. Sean's the money fight. Yeah, no shit. We told you that. Everyone's been telling you to call him out.

And now you lost it. So as a fighter, he deserves better. But has he made big mistakes as a prize fighter? Yeah. He sure has. And he beats a hoodo. I don't think, I mean, look, fighting O'Malley would be cool, but that's another big-ass weight cut he has to do.

And he walks around like 170, 175. That's a big weight cut to 135, especially at his age and where he's at, he's 33, going to be 34 in July. How many more of these can he do? But he's gotten a lot of shit for saying that I'm going to fight to Hudo and then move up. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't understand.

Rips and Picks. Hey Mike, can you hear me? Yep. Yeah, I got you. Rips and Picks. Hey, Mike. Can you hear me? Yeah, I got you. Rips and Picks!

I hear you, man. I hear everything you're saying. Some reason he can't hear me. Well, there you go. We will have some stuff coming up on the site. I believe Let me get the exact time for you. Let's see if we can get Rips and Picks back in here.

Do we have you, Rips and Picks? Hey, Mike, take two. Can you hear me? Yes. Perfect. I just got two quick questions since it's free for all Friday. I'm not sure if you got the card pulled up in front of you, but, you know, this feels like a card this week that it is geared so much towards, obviously, the Asian fighters.

I know it's supposed to, you know, be in Korea, but I'm just curious if you think, you know, what Asian fighter you think has the best chance of losing? Because pretty much every single Asian fighter, starting with Tatsu or Tyra to Park to Jen Yong Kim, you know, all the way up through the main card with Kino Shita, Doho, Choi, Don Jung. Every single one is a favorite. Just curious if you think, you know,

which Asian fighter has a chance of losing or if you think every single one of them is going to win. And the last one, just a funny, random one. How is Sergei Spivak's last name spelled? on Google it's with a C Sherdog it's with a K Tapology it's with a C UFC it's with a K

I mean does anybody know We have with a C We have with a C or C I guess they're both acceptable We have it as a C S-E-R-G-H-E-I S-P-I-V-A-C That's how we have it

In all of our stuff That's how tapology has it That's how we spell it Um, let's see. I think Kino Shida is going to win. I think Diu Choli is going to win. Um, I mean, some, some of the fights, it's like Asian fighter fighting Asian fighter. I think Rania Nakamura will win his fight against Toshiyomi Kazama.

So I would probably go with him. Um, I think Kiyan Song Park's going to win. So. Sionguk Choy is probably on that list. I think Jun Yon Park's going to beat Dennis Tallulian. Tutsu a tire is going to win. Gian Kim is interesting. What is the betting line on that?

Wow, she's a minus 275 favorite. That seems minus 280. Wow. I was not ready for that. Like Mandy Baum's not a world beater. She's got potential. she hasn't shown much in the UFC. I thought that was kind of a weird signing, if we're being honest,

because she only had one fight for Bellator, and then just she got outright signed to the UFC, and lost to Lipski and lost to Victoria Leonardo. But Gian, Gian Kim's fun. Lost a close one to Jocelyn Edwards. Catcherra fight, I thought she won. She lost the McCann fight, lost the Alexa Grasso fight. She showed something in the Kassam fight.

I just don't see a world where she's a minus 280 favorite over anybody. Like I would favor her to win, but damn, she's like, she might be minus 300 by the time this fight happens. That's weird. Didn't see that coming. So, yeah, I do think Giann Kim's going to win, but. I think Nakamore is going to win. And I think, what was the other one I said? Hiansung-Parks going to win.

So by process of elimination, Siyanguk Choy and Toshiyomi Kazama will be my two answers to that question. So, all right, we are done. In about 15 minutes, you can head over to the MMA fighting YouTube channel because we're not going to have a UFC way. and show. We're going to have a Bellator 290 weigh-in show because Mr. 3024, the man with the baddestash in

M.MA, E. Casey Leiden, on site in Englewood, California for the official Bellator 290 Wayans. And he will be there. And of course, it is his birthday after all. Alexander K. Lee will be the voice behind the Bellator 290 Wayans. So that weighing show is coming up at the top of the hour.

We will be back tomorrow. Time TBD, I'm not really sure when it's going to start, but we will have a People's Pre-Fight show live on the YouTube channel right before Bellator 290 kicks off. And we'll do sort of a combo talking about the Bellator card and the UFC card, answering your questions from beginning to end. And then following the Bellator 290 card, we will have our post-fight show.

So a lot to look forward to, a lot going on, multiple events, multiple fights. If you're a fight fan, this is a pretty damn good weekend for you. It really is. So thank you very much. Appreciate you. Enjoy the rest of your Friday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.