MMA Fighting - HOAM | Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O'Malley, Fabian Edwards Joins the Show

Episode Date: May 9, 2023

Aljamain Sterling defeated Henry Cejudo in the main event of UFC 288 this past Saturday to retain his bantamweight championship, and becoming the first champion in the division to defend the belt three consecutive times. Sterling is now on a collision course with Sean O'Malley in a massive bout at 135. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck recaps UFC 288, along with Sterling's big win over Cejudo and how the fight was scored, and the upcoming matchup with O'Malley. Additionally, listener questions include Belal Muhammad's win over Gilbert Burns, if he'll get a title shot in his next fight, Yan Xiaonan's finish of Jessica Andrade and a potential championship bout with Zhang Weili, Kron Gracie's performance, Movsar Evloev's future, and more. Plus, Bellator middleweight Fabian Edwards joins the program to preview his Bellator Paris main event matchup with Gegard Mousasi, discuss his thoughts on champion Johnny Eblen, his brother Leon Edwards' mindset when it comes to a potential fight with Colby Covington, 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,

but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, The Downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible.

The Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Tuesday, May 9th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety. Shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting. Network. Happy Tuesday to all of you. I am Mike Hack. Obviously, we're coming off a very busy weekend in the world of mixed martial arts. We had one championship on Friday. Demetrius Johnson retains his one, they called a flyway title with secondally abandonway title against Adriana Marias.

We saw Roberto Soldech shockingly lose and get finished. Sage Northcutt, had a successful return to the fight space, getting a first round submission. And then the following night, we had UFC 288. And Al Jemaine Sterling retains his Banimway title, split decision win over Henry Sehudo. Some of the weirder scorecards you may ever see in your life, one judge scored it for Henry Sehudo. After rewatching the fight a couple of different times, I just don't know how you can do

that and one judge actually scored the fifth round for aljermaine sterling which makes absolutely no sense and that judge had he scored that fifth round correctly we would be having a completely different conversation right now we'd be talking about henry sohudo as the ban on way champion but in the end the right fighter won aljermaine sterling retains his title and now he appears to be on a collision course with one sugar shan o'm Dana White wants that fight to happen in Boston. Looks like August 19th is going to be when that card takes place. That seems to be the targeted date.

You know me. I'm very excited. We don't get a lot of high-level MMA events in Boston. So hopefully I get the hot tag to go back home and get to cover that one. But be that as it may. We also saw some pretty good fights on this. this card, some really interesting pieces of matchmaking. And we saw some great performances.

Bala Muhammad, super short notice, one-sided win against Gilbert Burns in a fight that I've talked about a million times. This card did not need that fight. They could have waited to put that fight together. But in the end, a somewhat injured Balaahmahad defeated a somewhat injured Gilbert Burns. I don't use the injuries or anything like that as an excuse. I would have picked Balaahma'amah to win that fight if you gave those guys four months

notice. We talked about that on the show. But one side win for Balal, and he is the contender in wait right now because Leon Edwards is more than likely going to fight Colby Covington next. And Balah Muhammad, as of right now, is expected to get the winner of that fight. Will that happen? That is a totally different question altogether. But as of right now, I feel pretty confident that Balal is the man in wait. The only hindrance to all of this in my opinion is if Connor McGregor fights Michael Chandler anywhere in the neighborhood of that Edwards Covington fight. Because you know that if Connor beats Michael Chandler, he's probably jumping the line. So we have to prepare ourselves for a potential world where that does happen. Great performance

from Jan Jan Janan stops Jessica Andrade just over two minutes. What a performance. I know some people were a little down on the stoppage. I guess I get it, but it is what it is. We've seen way worse. Mavzar of Loyav gets the win over. It's just an absolutely game. Diego Lopez, what a friggin fight that was. And Charles Jorndane beats Cron Gracey.

I don't think Cron Gracie is long for this UFC world, if we're being honest. Big win for Matt Frivolta stops Drew Dover in the first round. Kennedy and Chichuku looked incredible against Devin Clark, gets the standing gilly. Cass Williams-Rolando Badoia had a great fight. Badoia has improved immensely. That was a fun fight. A lot of people scored that one for Bodoia.

Don't have an issue with it. I scored it for Cass Williams watching it live. Verna Jandrova, big one of him, Rida Rodriguez. Paca Porta takes a step closer to the John Jones rematch. Iqram Alaskaroff. Dude is a problem. Knocks out Phil Haas in just over two minutes. And Claudia Ribero kicked the night off with a second round TK a win over

Joseph Holmes. So we'll obviously talk about that. I am told that later on in the program, we're going to be joined by a special guest. We have another busy weekend upon us in the world of mixed martial arts. We have obviously the UFC in Charlotte on Saturday. Let me just say this, something that I tweeted out on Sunday. That Charlotte card starts at 1130 a.m. Eastern. I mean, just music to my ears makes me feel so happy. But before that, on Friday, Belator returns to Paris, France. Bellator 296 or Belator Paris is someone somewhat known as. The main events in the middleweight division will be former champ, Gaygard-Musasi,

taking on Fabian Edwards, the brother of UFC Walterway champion Leon Edwards. I am told that Fabian Edwards, one half of that main event, is going to hop on here and chat with all of you and all of us to preview that fight with Gagard Musassi. Not sure when that's going to happen. Somewhere 10.45, 11-ish eastern, I'm told. So looking forward to chatting with Fabian Edwards. And you guys can certainly ask him questions as well.

So let's get to the callers. Let's get to all of you. Four Corner Sports was first in line. So we will begin there. Hello, Four Corner Sports. Hey, good. Good morning. So I know I kind of tweeted at you about,

Chrome Gracie's performance. And I know on Friday, I did say that what's going to happen if Chrome Gracie loses, but we need an APB for him. Well, I don't think anybody in this chat is going to want to have an APB for Chrome Gracie with the way that his performance was. I know we had a similar performance earlier in the year with Claudio Puez versus Dan Hooker, but this just topped it off. And as frustrating as watching that fight was, I mean,

Gracie was, it seemed like Gracie was trying to fight as of this fight was being held in 1903. And him fighting very limitedly, him being away from the sport for four years. I mean, I thought he would have tried to improve the striking. But it just was very putrid to see, you know, just one fighter actually trying to fight and another fighter just trying to just focus on trying to bring somebody down and use that as his only method. to try to, you know, maybe gather a win. It was a horrible watch. I didn't like it at all.

I know a lot of people on Twitter, a lot of people that I was with watching the fight as well, weren't pleased and we're wondering why was this on the main card? I mean, I knew why it was the main card because of the last name and the cachet that the Gracies have when it comes to mixed martial arts and in the UFC. But I wanted to know what way you thought about that. The main event, what's it called?

I had it, Al Jameen, round one, was it Al Jail 1, round 3, and round 4? I don't know, some people had it, you know, Aljo was it called round 2, and Suhudo was it called round 3. I want to know how you had it. I just felt that what's it called, Henry's going to have a very difficult time, you know, dealing with feather weights. if he really does want to have to go up. I do like to match up with him fighting Marab,

but even at this late stage in his career, I do believe that Marab will get the better of Henry Sehudo just because of he's in a chain wrestle. I know that Sehudo isn't trying to, you know, stop a lot of those chain rustlings, but I think, what's the quote, Mara being more active fighter and Henry being a little bit older, I just think that that plays into a factor.

And I just don't think Henry Sadoot was in the get very much well success. And one of my last points is I wouldn't be surprised if Leon Edwards versus what's it called? Kobe Covington gets pushed in a little bit earlier. I know everybody says October because that's what Leon says. But do you think it's possible that Kobe Covington versus Leon Edwards actually gets booked sometime in the summer, like maybe August or September? just because the UFC has never really had Leon's back, and I don't see why they would actually have them now, you know, after everything that they have put them through.

All right. All right. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. Yeah, I mean, look, I understand why the Chrome Greasy fight was on the main card. It was one of the more talked-about fights on the entire card, like, leading into Saturday. And we all just thought, like, there's no way it's going to go the way that it actually went.

And then, sure enough, it went the way. way it actually went. So the one thing that kind of irks me about all this is that Charles Dordane is getting like zero credit for the win and Charles did a good job. Charles did a good job when Gracie was pulling jumped guard a bunch of times and was able to stay out of trouble and he just kind of beat the hell out of Cron Gracie. So good win for Charles Dordane. I don't know what you do with Cron Gracie. I love the Ryan Hall fight idea if you want to give him one more chance. It's like, why the hell not? If you're going to throw them in there with anybody,

I feel like Ryan Hall would be the guy. So, sure, we can do that. Aljo, I don't know. I've gotten, like, different reads every time I've watched it. Watching it live, I scored it 48, 47 for Sterling. I think I gave the first two rounds to Al Joe. I might have given three to Suhudo, and then four to Aljo and five to Henry.

But again, that's watching it during the watch party, and there's so much going on with me and G. and Rob Font was there, so we're trying to get him actively involved in the conversation, so you can only do so much. Re-watching it, I watched it twice. I watched it yesterday, and I watched it Sunday morning.

Sunday morning, I scored it 4-1 for Sterling, 1, 2, 3, and 4, and then Sehudo wins 5. And then I watched it yesterday, and I went, I changed it up a little bit more. Sterling 1, 3, and 4, I gave Sehudo around 2. and I'm pretty happy at that card.

1919 heading into three, I thought Sterling won round three, Sterling clearly won round four, and then Sehudo clearly won round five. So that's how I scored it. Where Sehudo goes, I don't know. I like the Marab fight for the, just kind of where he is.

Like, that is a hard fight to call for. I will say this. There is a part of me that's like, Corey Sanhagan probably deserves that Marab fight, especially if Aljo is to fight. shot O'Malley in August, I'm picking Al Jha to win that fight. And then if he vacates the title,

what do you, I mean, I don't know, it's very weird. It's very weird. If Sean O'Malley wins, like Henry Sehudo could find his way into a title fight, I don't know. But maybe Corey Sanhagen can just get the winner of that fight for a vacant title or whatever.

I don't know. But Corey Sanhagan should be 100% in the mix here. And as far as the Leon Colby stuff goes, I actually talked to Colby yesterday. That interview will be coming up on the YouTube channel, probably sometime today. Colby wants August. Colby wants August. He feels like doing it in Abu Dhabi makes absolutely no sense.

I kind of agree with him on that because that's usually a card for a lot of the fighters who get over locally. Like if you're going to do a welterweight title fight on that card, it's not Colby, it's Bilal. Like, Bilal would make more sense. But Belal's not going to get the title. So Colby wants August. Maybe you do it on that Boston card. It's a pretty damn good events. Colby Leon main event and then do Aljo

versus Sean O'Malley in the Colmane. That's a pretty damn good one-two punch right there. So we'll see what happens. That interview with Colby is pretty interesting because he put over Al Jermaine Sterling. Put over Al Jermaine Sterling in a nice way. So stay tuned for that. Let's go to Toke.

We don't get to hear from Toke very often. Hi, Toc. be often enough. Oh, I need to come on more. Okay. So I'll start with a few congratulatory statements. And the first one is going to be aimed at you, Mike. I'm sorry. Congratulations to Jason Tatum for going for the MVP. And let's talk about this weekend, though, because we have a few people that actually did something great this week. We had Bilal Mohammed, who finally, got over somewhat, not enough, but, you know, he won the bargaining championship championship, which is he's going to be the guy that if you see they settle on a date for Leon Edwards and Colby Covington. And either of those decide, hey, I'm going to try and hardball the UFC and say that I'm not going to go on this date. Belalla is going to get the call. We have a seen the UFC be hard on the UN Edwards by removing his ranking and stuff. I wouldn't put it past

them to take the belt as well. So I will say this, Bilal, he's ready in the wings. And I know exactly why they did it on this date. It's so they have, so Belal has the same timeline. And what was the other one? Oh yeah. I want to congratulate Dana on making the most nonsensical argument I've ever heard, which is the power slap numbers. And I know you don't talk about power slap. It's fine. I'm going to do it, and you can do with it whatever you want. I work in social media.

Whatever that guy on the side said about concurrence and all this other stuff, fluff words, mate, that doesn't equal anything. So saying that power slap gets more engagement than all. of those sports combined? I mean, he makes Chatsri look clever with his lies. And he even, Chachry at least pays Nielsen to publish his lies. Not the Nielsen of sports of social media, which was famous nonsensical quote. So that was basically it.

Good luck to your Celtics. Maybe don't let Tatum shoot too many three throws. See ya. Or how about you call it? time out every once in a while. That wouldn't have been a bad idea. But I don't want to get into that. I was, I was not happy watching the end of that game. I was at a local establishment in New York watching it. And there were some Philadelphia fans that were there as well. And there was some smack talk. Very respectful. But when the Celtics pissed that game away in OT, I was like, oh, now I have to hear it. And hear it, I did.

So hopefully they bounce back. I saw this are clearly the better basketball team. It's just a matter of you got to put them away. You got to have that killer instinct. And they just don't seem to have it in this postseason, which drives me absolutely insane. Just absolutely insane. Yeah, Ball is in a good spot right now.

He's in a good spot for a number of reasons. One, he is not making the money that Leon and Colby are making. So you're right. If something happens with one of those two guys and they want to move forward with this division, Bala will get the call, probably do it for cheaper than either of those two. And Bala will say yes, because that's just the kind of guy he is. But yeah, so I guess in that sense he's in a good spot. I would say if you're Bala Muhammad, you want this title fight to happen as quickly as possible.

Because like I said, whenever that Connor McGregor-Michael Chandler fight happens, if I'm Bala-Mohamed, I am freaking out watching that fight. if we already have that title fight and the next one isn't booked 100%. The day thing was hilarious. Now, here's what I'm going to say. He might not be wrong, but it all just depends on what he's actually trying to say. If he's talking about like Twitter and Instagram and some of this other stuff,

there is no effing way that PowerSlapp is generating more views and more interaction than all of those sports combined. Can you make a case that they possibly could have done more than maybe one of those sports? Maybe because that is a social media product. That is not a television product. So when they signed the deal with TBS, I thought it was the stupidest thing in the world. Because it's not a television show. It's not that at all.

Nobody cares about the stories of these guys. No one cares that they all lived in the house and all of that. Nobody cares. That's why the numbers were awful. Awful. They were so bad. At AEW gave him so many gifts and they just pissed it away. Now, if we're talking just Rumble, maybe.

Maybe he's not lying when it comes to Rumble. but there's just no way any of that other stuff makes sense. It's just not, there's no chance. There's absolutely no chance. But I don't know, maybe that day when they had the live broadcast, maybe that day they did better than everybody.

I don't know. But it's just maybe on that platform. But there's no, I mean, the other stuff, it's just, it's ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. But Dan is very good at like taking more, words and like spinning it where it's completely wrong, but there might be like a sliver that he's telling the truth, but just on like one platform. And there's different things about it,

different speed bumps and roadblocks and all that stuff that we don't take into account. But to say all of social media, that's a bunch of horseshit. And I think everybody knows it. Let's go to Eric. What's up, Eric? My dude, I thought, yeah, it's true. I thought Henry Suda one, but. But if, yeah, I think Almanan's going to have, I think Sean Amel. Adjim is a tough matchup for Sean Amali because of his long range and stuff. So, and I think Henry Cirodo is going to take one more, to give that Mara up fight.

And, yeah, and I'm proud of Malamah too. But if Connor and channel happens, bro, I don't know what's going to happen with him. So thanks, guys. Yeah, if that fight happens, like I said, anywhere in the neighborhood of that title fight and Connor wins, he's getting the next shot. It will not be Blah Maha'amah, and he's going to be pissed. And he should be pissed, but that's just the nature of the beast. That's why we always say do the thing. And doing the thing is so important to help get yourself over.

And he doesn't do the thing all that often. He wins fights, and that's great. But you've got to have the full package. And I thought Balal was, I thought Bilal did a good job in the post fight. Jedbissue didn't agree. I thought it was fine. He didn't overshoot himself. He didn't do anything crazy.

He just said, Leon Colby doesn't matter. You're both going to get it. And that's fine. Like, that's what he should say. That's what he should say. I think he did a fine job with that. So, I just don't see Sohudo winning the fight.

I will say this, though. If those guys fought again, I would be really intrigued by it. I'd be really intrigued by it. I would probably still pick Aljo again, but I think Sohudo is going to go back and rewatch that first round and see the opportunities he squandered, because he squandered some opportunities in that first round.

He admitted it himself. And I think he could have been a little more aggressive. I think he was winning a lot of the striking exchanges down the stretch. And I thought Sohudo looked good. I thought he looked good in the fight. but and so Hudo's just not a very quick starter and I think Al Jermaine Sterling took advantage of that

but it was a good fight even the rewatches were really fascinating to watch but we're never going to see those two guys fight again but if for some reason we did I would be I would be intrigued to watch it again see what kind of adjustments Henry can make if those guys fought 10 times Aljo

ain't winning all 10 of those there's no way I would say Aljo wins six or seven but he ain't winning all of them. It was a good fight, real good fight. Really enjoyed it. Boarding for Flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what?

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Conditions apply. Let's keep going. Brian. Hey, Mike. How you doing? I just had a question. One, when it comes to, of Mosar of Loyaev. I was kind of, and this is kind of sad,

because Diego Lopez had a great performance, but I'm, like, still looking for more from him. I don't know why. Maybe it's the finish. I don't know what it is, but what do you exactly, like, see next for him? I missed on to the next one, sadly, so I probably could have got my answer there.

But I'm just curious on kind of how you see his route for him, because he has 7 and O, but, like, it just seems different than, like, kind of similar to Arnold Allen, but in a different way. Like, I'm just, like, to take a guy out that he, he like had to take him on. I just think that showed a lot less of what a Vloyve can do than like what Lopez could do personally. That's just me though.

And then also do you think that it's basically official that Zhang and Jan will have like a kind of UFC China fight night again? Or do you think they're going to try to make that a pay-per-view? Because I think that's, that worked out like perfectly for them. So I just wanted your opinion on that. Thanks, Mike. I think if it was up to them, like if they could do it and do that fight in China, they would do it in a heartbeat. I just don't know if they're going to be able to put it together that quickly. Either way, whether it happens in China or happens in Boston or happens anywhere,

that is the fight to make. 100%. You have to put that fight together. That has to be the title fight. So, yeah, what a performance from Yan. She, I didn't think she was going to, I thought even if she won, she wasn't going to get herself into a title fight, but winning that way, undeniable now.

You have to give it to her. And you have to make that fight right now. so good on her and nice way to get it done the avloa thing is interesting it's just a whole different fight man like it's just a whole different fight dude stepped in on short notice just preparing for bryce mitchell and he's preparing for a certain style and then he gets dago lopez which was a mystery to a lot of people like you can only prepare so much for a certain fighter even if you feel that you're a minus 900 favorite against him and dago lopez showed up man he should showed up.

I was in some tricky spots, but still, you know, even rewatching that fight, I think I scored it 29, 28 at the time. I think one of the judges gave it a 3027, and I don't think that's a terrible card. He did the job. He won the fight. There was no controversy whatsoever. It was just a risky proposition for him. But again, as we talked about on the show last week, the dude just needs to fight.

He needs to get out there and get reps. Can't just fight once a year. you have to get out there and show it. So to me, I want to get him a step up. And as I said, on onto the next one. You mentioned he's in the same spot as a certain person. And that's the person I want to see him fight. I want to see him fight Arnold Allen.

Let's see what happens. Let's see a Mavzar can step up to the plate and make something happen. Love that fight. That's the one I want to see. Dude's got all the talent in the world. But yeah, I'm with you. I think we want to see him kind of. I mean, look at Janjohn-un.

Hadn't had a finish at all. And then showed up against Jaskand-Draj, and she just-and-draged, Deshondraj. There you go. I think that's what Mabzar needs as well. Tristan, hello. Hey, Mike. Can you hear me?

Yes. Hey. I, even though Balah won, and he did say he had an ankle injury, I, that brings me back to, and I'm still thinking about what's going to happen with Shopkaad-Rachman. I don't know.

I don't, I've, because also too, Gilbert Burns is getting an extra on the shoulder, I believe, to see what's going on with that. If Gilbert needs surgery on his shoulder, he's out for the year. Now, I don't know who Shafqqad is left to fight. And mind you, Shafqad doesn't fight very often. He fights once, twice a year. I mean, I know the other week, you want him to fight three or four times this year. I'm like, I'm like, whoa. But, I mean, I don't know what you do with Shafka.

I don't know. What do you think their plans that the UFC asked for him? I don't know if he fights Kamara Usma because Usman wants Hamzaat Shamaev, but Dana says, I got to talk to Kamara. If you want Hamzaa, he's going to have to fight him at 185. He's not going to fight him at 170 because I don't think Dana trusts Hamzaa to make 170. It just doesn't, it's not feasible in his mindset the way he was talking. So I really think it puts Schofkan such. a limbo here.

What's going to happen to him and what plans the UFC has for him? So what's your thought about that? And then also, too, where are we up with Michelle Pietta and Wonderboy? Is that fight still going to be re-booked for another date or is they're just going to describe it all together and have Wonderboy fight somebody else or maybe have Michelle Peiato have fight somebody else? What's going on with that? Thanks, Mike.

Yeah, I mean, the latest I heard was they're trying to. to rebook it for another date. Don't know when. But you can throw that fight on any card and it just gives it a boost. Yeah, as far as Shafcott goes, I mean, I think probably the best he can hope for right now is that Kamar Ustman will kind of keep that same energy that he has towards Shamiath and transition it towards Shafkat because I don't think Shemayev's going to fight Kamar Rusman. Dana was kind of open to it, but only at 185. and it's just kind of asking a lot of Kamar Usman, if we're being honest. And Kamaro certainly ain't getting a catchweight fight.

I'd be interested in Kamara v. Shofcott. But again, if that fight can't happen, then, I mean, I don't know what you do. You just get him out, get him an opponent. Get him somebody. Sean Brady's fighting Jack Della Madelena at the International Fight Week card. Maybe the winner of that. if it's like a quick fight or something. You can do, I don't know how much

Kevin Holland would be interested in fighting Shafkaa Rakhmana, but just the name alone and how Kevin will build that fight up. That's another interesting one. But just you got to get him out there. You got to get him out there. He's at the top of people's minds right now. It's just a matter of keeping him there.

But yeah, he's in a weird spot. Shafka probably lost out more than anybody with that whole thing, but we'll see how it goes. Michelle, hello. Hello, Mike. So basically, I don't know if you've spoke about who dover's fight, but I just want to, like,

kind of talk about what I said last time regarding, like, obviously I said he had the best chin in the UFC or one of the two, him in the Tory, and then he got TK-Hood, basically. And then obviously for failure, he called out Paddy Pimlet, and I don't think that's a good fight for Padi,

because I know that Pervolo, and for Follah, and possess his good power. and yeah, I don't think. And I think Paddy's a fraud. But what's your opinion on that fight if you've not mentioned it already? Thank you. Yeah, good call.

Good call from Favola. I liked it a lot. Timing may not be on his side, unfortunately, because of the injury to Patty. Patty sort of responded to it and said he would take that fight because that's the easiest path to the top 15. And he's probably not wrong. And this is no disrespect to Matt Fribola.

This is in all respect to the lightweight division, just how damn good it is. The UFC is not going to throw Patty in there with Armand Sarukin or Grant Dawson or anybody of that nature. They're probably not going to throw them in there with Drew Dover. Maybe they throw them in there with Fribola, but I don't know. It just seems like that fight, if it's going to get made, it's not going to get made for quite some time. So I think for Volo probably end up fighting somebody else and let the chips fall where they may. But good fight, good performance. I kind of see where Dover was coming from with the stoppage.

But all the rewatches, like I have no issue with the stoppage at all. Drew has been in big trouble in a lot of his fights and was able to battle through. So I think he was just looking for that vet. Come on, give me a chance to recover. but didn't seem like that was going to get much better for him. Mattrable, it just looked incredible. And if you can get Matt back in that New York, New Jersey-ish area, you throw him on all of those cards

because he looked like a freaking star on Saturday. Yeah, if you can get the paddy fight, jump all over it, but it doesn't look like that would happen anytime soon. What's up, Zolia? Yes, I've just got a few questions I want to ask. Well, firstly, regarding the main event, things are really good even. As I did say last week, I knew it was going to be a big wrestling match. And I have to say, Al Jermaine Sterling did a very good job on the wrestling end.

He showed a lot of his unique grappling skills. He showed a lot of different techniques. Henry Sohudo came with great adjustments. And I also liked the fact that Henry was attacking in the striking field with Al Jermaine. Because Al Jermaine had the upper hand in that. So I think props to both of them. I just want to know your thoughts on how do you see the Sean O'Malley fight? Al Jopain fight play out.

And also, when do you think that Jamal Hugh, Uri-Prahaska fight will happen? That's all I have to say, man. Have a good day. The year, I mean, I just don't,

we don't know what's going on with Yuri right now. So it's hard for me to say. I hope we see it sooner rather than later because that division, like nothing's happening at 205 right now. Just nothing. And I know we have Anthony Smith, Johnny Walker coming up on Saturday,

but even then, it's like nothing's really happening. So we kind of need that fight to happen and get put on the books. And for those two to actually fight each other for this division to kind of have some kind of direction. Because late heavyweight is not a great division. That fight between Jamal Hill and Yuri Prashka is going to be incredible. I can't wait for that fight whenever it happens. But really needs to be done.

And Yuri is just such a question mark right now. We don't know when he's coming back, what his shoulder looks like right now. Uri seems to be the forever optimist, which I appreciate. But again, like I've said before, and I know Dana has since been like, well, I need to see this guy get a high-level win first before he fights for a title. I would not be shocked to see Alex Pereira step right into a title shot at 205

if Uri ain't ready to go. I mean, nobody wants to see Jamal Hill fight Ankiyaf for, I mean, maybe the Belhovic fight would be a little more interesting to the casual viewer, but the Alex Pereira fight would do pretty well on pay-per-view. So if you can't get Yuri, I think Alex Pereira would be a fun, entertaining possibility as, like, the plan B. But yeah, I have no idea. No idea what is going on with that, man. Sterling O'Malley, I'm picking Al Jermaine Sterling.

I do agree with Henry Sehudo, because Henry said if Algerl can't take Sean O'Malley down, it could be a long night for him. I mean, he's probably not wrong about that, but I do think Al Javier Mellon will be able to take Sean O'Malley down. Sean is pretty tricky off of his back, but Aljo's just so big and strong and very smart and calculated when it comes to those situations. I'm sure when they prepare for Sean O'Malley, they'll be preparing for a guy who's really good off of his back.

So I think the opening odds were Sterling was a minus 240 favorite. I think that's about right to open. I think that's probably about right. I think by the time they fight, I think Sterling will be around the minus. I don't know. Maybe he'll end right around the same because I do think there is a,

now people are kind of skeptical of Al Jemaine, even still, and people love Sean O'Malley and they see him as a live underdog. I think Jed Mishu said on the first part of the ranking show is listening to this morning that he hasn't quite gotten there yet, but he's inching more towards, Sean O'Malley beating Al Jermaine Sterling. And I think he also said the same thing about Henry Sehudo

beating Al Jermaine Sterling, but by the time he watched enough tape and got to the fight, he changed his mind and went Aljo. It's a big fight. I think minus 240 is about right at this moment for Al Jemaine Sterling. CV, hello. Yo, Mike, heck of a morning. Hope you had a great weekend. I was going to ask another vibes check ahead of game five tonight.

night but um yeah i was just gonna ask will joe mazula call a time out tonight but uh i guess we'll find out um but yeah i just want to comment um i know everybody's saying how the lightweight and the ben's band weight division's the most exciting uh i want to put stock and i want to jump on the women's uh strawweight bandwagon uh especially yon chanan i think that was a great finish and i think that brought like a lot more excitement to the division and also shoutouts to uh Stamp Chertex with the body, body kick, K-O from one. We'll love to see her in the UFC one day. That's it for me.

Yeah, I mean, I'd love to see Stamp in the UFC too, but I just, I don't think her personality can shine as much in the UFC. Like half of her, like a big chunk of why people love her so much is the big entrances. And, I mean, she can still dance her way to the Octagon, but she's not the same. It just will feel a little less, a little more empty. Not doing it on a stage like that. But man, stamp is legit. That body kick was ferocious and nasty.

Yeah, the, look, Shrally Division's always been the most exciting women's division. Like, the fights really, very rarely ever let you down. They're all fun. I just didn't expect Janjan to go in there and just melt Jaskanjad. I don't think anybody saw that coming. I don't think when people were looking at the lineup that the one who could sit there and have the highlight of the night,

I don't think Jan Janan was the fighter in anybody's bingo card, if you will. And damn it, she did it. But that division has always been fun. It's always been a fun division. It's lost a little bit of its luster because some of its depth has gone. Like a lot of the,

some of the straw weights have moved up. Others have moved on. Rosnamu Yunus is always sort of a wild card. so we don't know when or if or who she's going to fight. Carlos Sparza was the champion for a minute and that fight with Rose just really put a damper on things. But Stridewight's always been fun. It's probably the fights always deliver.

As far as depth right now, it's probably not as deep as 125. 125 is probably the deeper division. There's a lot of up-and-coming emerging contenders, but 115's not that far behind. So, yeah, great win for Janjohnan. And, man, that fight with Zhang Wei Li is going to be big. It's going to be big.

So good for her. It's just really good stuff. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice, yes, we deliver those. Tendors, no, but chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber

Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs, with personalized workout plans, real-time insights. and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go.

Explore the new Peloton cross-training treadplus at OnePeloton.C.A. J-Stat, hello. You too. I believe Parker Porter should get the next shot over Steepie, but that is all. Let's go. Let's go. Thank you.

Oh, that was it. Look, Parker, listen, Parker Porter. Panka freaking Porter That's like I actually went I actually went back and and rewatch that fight

again Sunday morning it is delightful even the rewatch is delightful Braxton Smith is just just watching that man throw punches like he is just ready to kill people is the best

and then he just kind of faltered and died and Paca just beat him up. I don't know. And just hearing like Braxas Vits say like he's basically training himself was just really weird. Like why is he getting a call? If he doesn't have a team or anything,

it just seemed very strange. But great win from Paca Pata, great post-fight speech as well. Even an escrowmi said like you can't get rid of John Jones in that fight because, I mean, anybody who fights John Jones on the regional scene that is still actively competing, that's going to be discussed. So, good win.

I jokingly said he should fight Sergey Pavlovich in the co-main event of the John Jones steep A car, but that's not obviously going to happen. But good win. Good win. We will be joined by Fabian Edwards in a matter of moments, I'm told. But let's keep the files going and go to the... Hey, what's going on there, Mike? How we doing?

Doing fantastic. You yourself? Good. Right on. So I heard you earlier talking about being in that bar with a couple of Philly fans. I remember back in the day I'm a longtime Seahawks fan. I was in a bar where it was me and one other guy. The rest of the bar had Denver jersey on in 2014.

And then we proceeded to smack the ever living shit out of Denver, 43 to 8. But either way, so Sugar Sean, man, win or loss, I mean, if he loses against Aljo, where do we think he goes? And then in that Sugar Town fight, everybody's doubting them just like they did against Peter Yon. I think Sugar Tons is going to surprise a lot of people. And then if Connor does take the W at 170, I think I don't want Colby to win the title, but I think either way, Colby or Leon would be a very entertaining presser with Conner on the side. I just like to hear your thoughts on that. That's all I got.

Thanks, Mike. Have a good of a morning. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, that's going to be a tough hang for being honest. Colby and Connor. It's going to do giant business. But, boy, the build to that fight is going to be rough. I will commend the UFC, or I will give them credit,

because I did not want to see any sort of a build between Al Jermaine Sterling and Henry Sehudo. We saw like the DC thing where it was, like, like the double call and DC was conducting the interview and that was just awful. I was like, oh my God, we still have like six more weeks of this crap. But luckily they kept those two apart. Press conference was awful, but we got through pretty quickly. And then the fight was over and Suhudo is, I thought he handled the,

that was one of the more fascinating post-fight press conferences that you will ever see with Henry Suhudo. You're just seeing a guy who put it all on the line. came back after three years and wanted to just do something that no one had ever done before and just watching him in the moment come to terms with a loss, but still trying to find positives in it and trying to get other people to sort of provide those positives. I mean, it's just we could sit there and we can critique fighters all we want, but we have to also understand like this is what they do. This is their living.

They have goals and dreams and aspirations just like any of us. And when you see a high level competitor like Henry Suhudo come to terms of the loss the way that he did, like you just got to feel for the guy. Like you can like the guy. You can like the cringe and all that, whatever. But just watching him like kind of come to terms with that, it was just like, man, just hurt your soul a little bit. You know what I mean?

But that is what it is. All right. We're going to take one call for, we're going to take one more call, Barbarusa. and then we have a special guest that's going to join us in a matter of moment. So Barbarusa, hello, what are you got? You're muted. All right. And he's not there.

Okay. So let us welcome in one half of the main event for Friday's Bellator 296 card. He will take on former champion, Gagard Musassi, five-round middleweight contest, Paris, France. Let us say hello to Fabian Edwards. Fabian, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. How's everyone doing? We're doing great, man.

So thank you for joining us. We are just a few days away from this big fight with Gagard Musassi. And I guess the first question I had for you was, what was your reaction when you found out that Gagard Musassi was going to be your next opponent? Not a big reaction. I expected it. You know, I expect for me to fight Missassi because he just came off a lawsuit. and I'm on the way to a title shot, so yeah, I wouldn't surprise by it.

Not surprised by it. And obviously, you've been preparing for this guy. You're coming off the win over Leo de Machita. You're coming off the win over Charlie Ward. And kind of seeing what Gagar did in his recent fight when he lost the belt to Johnny Eblen, what were some of the big takeaways you had from that fight? I'm sure there's a lot of things that you saw that you're going to be able to use to your advantage in this fight. But what were some of your takeaways from Musassi's fight?

Johnny Eblon? My takeaway was, I was a kiddo secret until after the fight, you know what I mean? Don't give too much away, but I can't give the game plan away, but yeah, Johnny, he exposed a lot of holes that's been there in Missathe

for a lot of years, you know, so I know Ms. Sassi's saying he never showed up and all of that, but Johnny just fought a smart fight, you know, a lot of lateral movement and stuff, and yeah, we look to, we look to add to that, you know, like, yeah.

Were you surprised at how that fight went down? Did you think it would be more competitive to that than that? Or was that something you expected? No, I was. I was shocked as everyone else. You know, I thought it was going to be a close to fight. Or I even had Gayguard to win the fight. So I think Johnny shocked a lot of us, and I think Gary God himself was shocked.

But he's trying to play, downplayed, that's saying I wasn't prepared and all of that shit. But that's just how you fight. And obviously Johnny exposed him that time. So do you think after coming off this loss that Gaygard is going to be like more prepared? Obviously coming off that loss, he wants to get back to that title. I'm sure you want to run that back and get that bad taste out of his mouth. But are you expecting the best Gaygar Musassi possible on Friday? Yeah, I hope.

You know, I hope. Otherwise, the short night, you know. So, yeah, I hope it's the best gay guard. And yeah, that's it. And by the way, we're speaking with Fabian Edwards, who takes on Gaygard Mosasi. in the main event of Bellator Paris on Friday. So the peeps here have questions for Fabian Edwards.

Please go ahead and hop in and he will answer some of these questions. Obviously, it's media day today. And you guys had the press conference already, right, Fabian? Yeah, yeah, we had it, um, this afternoon. So yeah, morning. Yes, and how did you enjoy that? What did you take away from the experience and being able to share the stage with your opponent? Is that all right?

You know, just matured, you know, gay guys, not. really like, it's not really a talker like that. So, um, I didn't really expect much from it, you know. It's good to look into his eyes and get a feel and, yeah, that's about it. And now, of course, Johnny Eblen after his win over Toakov said, listen, I'm eyeballing this Gagar Musassi, Fabian Edwards fight. I'm going to take on the winner. So if you win this fight, like, it's a no-brainer.

There's no other fight. You and Johnny Eblen are fighting for the title. Are you not? Yeah, when I win it, when I win it, I'm there for a fine for that title. you know and I'm taking that title off him I know he'd been going around saying the B Smed away and all that but yeah when I win his fight I look to take that off him you know

yeah that'll be a big fight but we should probably do this fight in London right for London Birmingham are you doing in Birmingham? Yeah she's like in Birmingham yeah that would make some history for Birmingham so yeah I'll be trying to push for that that would be absolutely massive

and so how do you see this fight playing out? What's the, I don't know if you're in the prediction game, but what's, what's the thought process that plays out on your mind when it comes to this fight on Friday? What are the headlines going to read when we're writing this thing up? The headline going to read Fabian defeat or dominate Mississippi, you know, that's it, win. That's the whole, the mindset, just win by any means necessary, by any means, you know what I mean? I'm going on with that win. And whether that's a finish or that's a clean five-round fight,

but I'm getting my hand raised at the end of it, so that's it. Where does this put you overall? Like, you beat Gagar Musassi. You're knocking on the door of a title fight. Where do you think a win over Gagart puts you, like, in the overall global rankings at 185? Like top five, top 10, higher? Where do you think a win over Gagart puts you in that competition? Yeah, let's put the top 10, top five middleweets.

You know what I mean? a lot of people, before he lost his title, everyone was saying he was the best middleweight and all of that in the world. So when I go in there and I defeat him, I want to have that same respect put on my name as well. I mean, you could be in a position where at the end of the year, you and your brother will be world champions.

Is that something you guys talk about at this stage in your careers? Yeah. You know, it's a thing. You're the dream and it's close. You know what I mean? It's a very close dream. My brother has achieved his goal belt. I'm two fights away from achieving mine.

And yeah, I'm doing everything in my power to make sure I achieve that, you know? Yeah, and obviously there's a lot of discussion about Leon right now. Should he fight Colby Covington? We just saw Belal Muhammad get a big win right now. And we haven't really heard from Leon since. And I don't know what sort of insight you can provide us. But he seems to think that Colby should not be getting a type of. title shot right now that he has to go out and get a win and maybe that's something that

can be discussed but we'll all coming off that win on Saturday. Where is his mind sort of at right now? Is he coming to terms with a possible fight with Colby or is he still kind of hesitant about that idea? Obviously, anyone can get it, but Colby don't deserve it. You know what I mean? I know a lot of guys and they think he deserves it, but when Leon was sitting on the sideline due to our fights being cancelled and having COVID and all of that, he was taken out of the

rankings, you know what I mean? Kobe sat on the sideline, refusing fights or whatever, he was going through. He comes back, beats him Masterdell, and all of a sudden he deserves, you know what I mean? It's just, from our point of view, he's like, Leon had to work hard to get his shot, and now Colby's lost twice to the ex-champion, and now he deserves a shot from beating Masterdell. I think it should be Belar versus Colby, and the winner those two get a shot at my brother, you know? Do you think that the Colby fight is bigger in terms of box office than a Balah Muhammad fight right now?

Or do you think it's kind of 50-50? Yeah, probably bigger. You know, Kobe likes to talk a lot of shit and all of that. So in terms of that, yeah, it's bigger, right? But, like, my brother's not fucking scared of fighting anyone. He's just fought one of the goats, you know what I mean? I beat him twice. So he's not a factor of, I don't know if I like this guy because I'm scared.

It's just he's had to graph hard to get to his position. And Kobe had done for call in terms of the last couple of years. So that's the only thing that the road was the right way, you know. And how motivating has Leon's run been for you? Just see it. Because Leon had to take the long road, right? He'd take the long road. At one point he got taken out of the freaking rankings because of the Hamza Tchamai of situation.

And then he just silenced everybody. He knocks out Kamara Usman and then comes back and wins a decision in London and looks like a massive star doing it. And now you have this big fight. you're knocking on the door of a title shot yourself. Like how motivating has that been for you? I'm very motivating. You know, I'm very motivating.

But yeah, that's it. You know, like to see it happen from hometown, but then to see it happen from a family member is just surreal. You know, so, yeah, it just makes us confirm. Just believe in the team. You know what I mean? Just believe in the team, believe in the coaches. Put your head down and work and you can achieve it.

And yeah, that's what I'm out here to do. all right let's see uh i see some people hopping in so if you have questions for fabian edwards one half of friday's bellator paris made of any takes on gaygard musasi hop on in and we'll bring you in and you guys can ask fabian edward some questions call do you have a question for fabia yeah oh it's it's a ufc related question is that not okay go for it whatever you want to ask so i just want to get a quick gauge on what what kind of percentage would you put on on Connor Chandler happening this year and where was that percentage

you think about like three weeks ago I'm just kind of trying to gauge if you guys think that this fight is getting away from happening this year or still has a big possibility of happening that's all I got Thanks man I'll actually address that later Let's keep the questions for Fabian at this moment

Abzwalia do we have you? Do you have a question for Fabian? Hi Fabian I just got a question regarding the mindset that you're going in heading towards this fight what type of without giving your game plan away what type of um fighting style are you really particularly focusing on with your opponent and how do you intend to tackle and how many rounds you see yourself you know possibly finishing or ending this guy that's all i have been best luck in your fight thank you all um part i've been working on the most um i think all you know all of it all of it all of I think this camp for me being mainly focused on just being the best version of myself.

You know, and that's it. I know Missatis seem to think the wrestling part ain't up to scratch or anything, and he doesn't look to take it there. But I'm ready in all areas. You know, I really do think I'm better in all areas. And when I turn up on Friday night, like, everyone will see that, you know? So, yeah. Are you enjoying Paris right now, Fabian?

What's the atmosphere? Like, are people just fired up for this card out there? You know what? Me and my team have just been here walking around laughing. You know what I mean? Like, we haven't really been, we're not really the type of team to sit down and be all moody and deepen our thoughts. You know, we know we've done the work.

So we're here. We, yeah, just enjoy Paris. The weather's a bit shit, you know what I mean? But like, the nice building, the nice food. I was like I enjoy too much off. But, yeah. That meal after weigh-ins is probably going to. be just delightful.

Let's go to Adib. Anthony's on deck. Let's see if we can get a deep in here. Adib, do you have question for Fabian Edwards? Fabian, how are you doing, man? I do, man. Okay. Yeah, I'm good. Yeah, so, I mean, heading into the Kamar Uisman fight,

Leon Edwards was seen as a big underdog. Do you feel the same way heading into a fight against Gagal Musassi, one of the biggest kickboxing legends? And do you take the same energy that Leon had? into this fight and once again we're all rooting for you mate, good luck

yeah, thank you for that yeah, I feel that way you know, obviously in terms of probably the media and stuff

but me and my team don't feel that way you know and that's all that matter you know we're fully locked in like I say the work's been done

the work has been done I'm super confident and I'm not just saying that for just for the sake of saying it I am really confident and calm and yeah

I'm just really ready to turn it on you and I'll put a show one and get that win. All right, I'll take two more, and then we'll let Fabian do his thing. Anthony, do you have a question for Fabian Edwards? Yeah, I was just wondering, it feels like after Leon won the first one against Usman,

it feels like we started hearing about you more Fabian, and we saw you destroy Charlie Ward and started talking title aspirations. Did you feel like you, you gain something, like a level of confidence or something, or do you think it's just a perfect timing with you and your brother? That's all. Yeah, definitely gain some confidence from it. You know, I'm training my brother. My brother has obviously said the level I'm at, you know. So that gives me confidence. And yeah, all the rest of the question, sorry?

Yeah, it was just, you know, the confidence you took and do you feel like you got personally sort of a boost from what Leon's been able to accomplish in your own right? Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, I feel obviously that shine light. Because obviously, one of us do you do well. We all do well, you know what I mean? It's a family affair between us and the coaches. So I was to buy Leon going out there and doing well.

That's shining light on me, my coaches. And, yeah, just to the kind of show to the world, we knew what we were doing was good. But just to show to the world what we're doing in Birmingham is the right thing. And, yeah, I look forward to doing the same thing. Well, you get the opportunity to show the world once again this Friday, Bellator Paris, the main event against former champion Gagar Musassi on your quest to becoming a world champion in your own right.

So Fabian, I appreciate the time, man. Thanks for joining us and all the best to you this week and in the fight on Friday, man. I appreciate it very much. I appreciate everyone. Thanks for that, yeah? Thank you. All right, there he was. There he is.

Fabian Edwards. Main eventer. big fight with Gagard Musassi on Friday. I'm curious, like, hearing some of the questions. I'm curious what the betting odds are here. Gagar Musassi minus 275, the comeback on Fabioid Edwards plus 220. Interesting. Interesting.

Let's go to YVMZ and that I'll address one of the other questions from earlier, and then we get to get out of here. So why VMZ? Hello. Hi, Mike. Heck of the morning. Two quick questions for you. Do you like, wanted to get your thoughts on Brandon Moreno against Henry Sehudo.

I think that one would be an interesting fight. I don't know if it'd be for the flyweight title, but wanted to get your thoughts on that. And two, do you know anything about the event coming to Utah? Thanks so much. I don't. I saw Marcel reports that there's discussions. I've heard the saying that they want to go back to Utah. after the event from last August, I believe it was,

when Leon won the belt. So it wouldn't surprise me if they went back there. I don't know if they're going to get a full-fledged pay-per-view or if they'll get like a fight-night card. I'm not really sure. Yeah. I don't really know. It's a great question.

But we'll see. I'm sure we'll get some info on that sooner rather than later. Adib, hello. Are you there? Hey, hey. You're there? Yeah, can you hear me? Yeah, I got you. What's up?

Yeah, yeah. So I've got a question. I mean, you guys have seen recently, in regard to the Belator fight, you saw how Johnny Eblum really dominated Gagal Musassi. Do you kind of see this as an over-de-hill giga-musassi coming in now, or do you still think he has something left in the tank? Because, I mean, he's had so many fights over the years, and he's, I mean, his record is insane for a fighter. So what are your thoughts on that? I still think Gaggar Mosasi is at the top, not at the top of his game, but he's still a top 85er. I would pick Gagard against, you know, a few of the top 15 in the UFC right now. But you make a great point. He's 37. He's got almost 60 MMA fights, not to mention the other combat sports competitions he's had. And he's taking on Fabian Edwards, who seems to be hitting his athletic peak right now.

he's only, he just turned 30, so he's got a long way to go in, in terms of his athletic prowess. And as we've seen, we've seen statistics like crazy. I know the higher weight classes, it doesn't really mean as much. But when you get to that 36, 37 range, you just start to fall off a little bit. Like father time is undefeated for a reason, whether it's Henry Sehudo or anybody else. So I, I'm not saying he's like done. but to say that he's not the same guy that he was is not an unfair thing to say, but who knows?

Maybe Gayguard will take what happened with Johnny Ebelin, and that'll give him a new fire that we didn't know was there. So I guess the answer to your question is we'll find out on Friday. But Musassi is, the betting community seems to be with Musassi. He's a pretty sizable favorite heading into this fight. So if you want to get back to a title fight, he's got to win this one. And I'm sure he wants that rematch of Johnny Ebel.

I'm sure he's got a very bad taste in his mouth with all of that. So I guess we'll see on Friday. I think he's still fine, but he's not the same guy. Yeah, four-out sniper. Hello. Take us home. Hey, heck of the morning, Mike. Just real quick, two quick questions for you.

I've heard noise about Al Jermaine being or possibly being forced to turn around as soon as August comes around, August, September. Do you think the UFC is going to try to force him to turn around that quickly. And also, if that fight does happen around that timeline, who do you think it favors more? Do you think it favors Aljo or

Shana Mallet? Yeah, I mean, I don't know, force is the right thing because Aljo was in the MA hour and he said September. He said if he had his druthers, he would do it in September.

Usually the UFC pay for you in September is like a second week. So it would be like a three week difference because Boston is August 19th, at least that's the targeted date. So it's not like he's being forced to jump in like three months earlier or anything. It's like three weeks. Would that probably be a little sooner than Al Jal would like?

Sure. But at the end of the day, this is the biggest fight for Al Jermaine Sterling right now, especially at 135. There's no bigger fight for him. Will it be the main event? It could. That one could definitely carry a pay-per-view. At worst, at least after talking to Colby yesterday,

Colby once August. So he could be, that's a big event right there. If you do Leon Colby and then you do Al Jermaine Sterling, Sean O'Malley, holy smokes. Like that is going to do well on pay-per-view and it's going to sell all the tickets at the garden too. I can tell you this. I have been asked about many cities in many areas around the world

about when the UFC might be coming there. by far Boston is the leader in the clubhouse when it comes to when are they coming back here? When are they come back here? I get DMs and questions all the time. Boston is far and away

the most asked about city when it comes to that. And that play like Boston's ready. Boston is ready for a UFC card. It's been a while. October 2019 was the last one. That was the Dominic Reyes, Chris Wyden card.

And that play. place was full from Jump Street. And Boston comes out. They come early. They're energetic. They're a good crowd. They're going to come out for that one. That's for sure. But I don't,

I still think it favors Algebra and Sterling whenever they fight. But I could be wrong. I could be wrong. We'll see. One more thing I'll address before we get out of here. Someone asked about the Connor Chandler thing. do I have, I guess, confidence that it'll happen this year? Yes. Yes.

I do. And if you're Connor, you definitely want this fight to happen soon or rather than later, especially with the Leon Colby thing coming up. For the exact reasons I just talked about earlier. Bala Muhammad winning that fight puts him in a great spot. But like I said, if you're Balaal and they do Colby Leon in August, and then they somehow book Connor Chandler in September

or somewhere around there you are going to be nervous and you should be so I feel like it'll get done this year I don't know anything about this honestly like I haven't seen any clips or anything like that and I know Dana's talked about it a little bit

but I've talked to some people who are aware of what happened on the on The Ultimate Fighter. And basically people have told me, and these are people who are kind of like me when it comes to that show. It's just like, ugh, the Ultimate Fighter again.

It's been the same show for 30 seasons or whatever. They feel that once that show starts and the weeks and the programs continue to run and the stories they're being told and Connor and Chandler begins to brew and brew more that by the time that season ends, everybody covering the sport, watching the sport,

that's going to be the talk of the sport, is that fight. I don't know anything further, but everyone's like, wait, when that season comes out, like people are going to watch it. Even me. And I already know what happened.

So we'll see. But I think once Connor ends up on that screen, you start doing his thing, I think people are going to be hankering. for it and clamoring for it and it's going to be a huge fight this year. I would probably put on, I would probably just keep it for December at this point

because we got some big ones coming up. Jones and Steepa is going to do November. Let's just put ourselves in a in a decent spot for December because that December pay-per-view last year was not good. It was not very good. We got Patty Pimble of Jared Gordon as the commain, which ended up being like a fight people who cared about.

But we got Magamette Anka-Lyaf, Janbovich, in the main event, and yikes. December's usually one of like the tent pole paper views. And that one, I think the UFC has to kind of make it up to the peeps this year. So that'd be a good time for it. So all right, everybody, we are done. Thank you very much. Big shout out to Fabian Edwards for taking some time out to join the program.

make sure you tune in to Bellator Paris. I believe the prelims start around noon Eastern on Friday. It'll be a day card. So we're going to get blessed with a couple of day cards this weekend. And that just makes me so happy. So best of luck to him. Interview with Colby Covington will be dropping on the YouTube channel shortly. So stay tuned for that.

And I will be talking to Brent Primis a little bit later as well. He is part of the lightweight ground. free matchup this Saturday at Bellator Paris, taking on Mansour Barnwe. And that should be a hell of a fight. So looking forward to chatting with him. And looking forward to chatting with all of you on Thursday. We'll be back. 10 a.m. Easter, we'll do it again.

But until then, everybody, have a great rest of your day. And as always, have a heck of a morning.