MMA Fighting - HOAM | Bo Nickal's Ceiling; Is Dominick Cruz Being Completely Overlooked Ahead Of UFC San Diego?

Episode Date: August 11, 2022

Bo Nickal made the most of his opportunity on Dana White's Contender Series this past Tuesday in Las Vegas, but how high can he go in the UFC's middleweight division? On an all-new episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to Nickal's quick submission win on DWCS earlier this week, White's decision to not sign him right away — even though it's pretty obvious what's happening here — and why the whole thing seemed a bit strange. In addition, listener topics include the Marlon Vera vs. Dominick Cruz headliner this Saturday at UFC San Diego and why it seems as if Cruz is being completely counted out by fans, Erin Blanchfield vs. Molly McCann being booked for UFC 281, whether or not that means Paddy Pimblett will compete on the card as well, Islam Makhchev's recent comments, 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 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 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 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 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. Thursday, August 11th, 2020, and it is a heck of a morning live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces, shortly thereafter, on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. It's nice to be back. I wish I was feeling 100%. I am not, but I figured you got to start somewhere. You got to walk before you run. And it's been a rough week. But big shout out. Thank you to all of you guys who have sent well wishes. And I appreciate that very much. But a lot going on. We obviously didn't have a show on Tuesday. Reason for that is if you guys listen to you.

The post-fight show following UFC Vegas 59 on Saturday. I told you I was feeling like I got hit by a truck, and it just happened out of nowhere. All day Saturday was feeling all right. It was a crazy day. So it was just the perfect storm, if you will, because I told you the story about getting the Mazadol interview on Thursday and how crazy that all was.

And then Friday I went to the, I caught FC4 card in Savannah. It was amazing. It was a good card, good finishes, a lot of good talent. And then Saturday, I, which is also a crazy story, my wife just out of the blue got a phone call from a private school here in this area. And they offered her like this full-time teaching position, teaching math and science. It was like literally just out of nowhere. She put in a resume for a part-time job like seven or eight months ago.

And then they called her, we're like, well, we actually have this like full-time teaching job for you. But school starts in like a week and we need you to say yes now if you want it. So basically she said yes. So that Saturday, I just went and like, just me and my son went to help my wife like set up her classroom since school freaking starts in like a couple days. And everything was cool. I was like, oh, I need this, this, and this can you go grab it? So I'm like, okay, so I run down to the car and just car won't start. And I'm like, what the hell?

It's the battery. I can tell it's the battery. I'm like, this is just wonderful. We're stuck and no one can help us. Luckily, a nice gentleman who works maintenance at the private school saw me all flustered. It was like, what is going on here? I told them, drove me to get some jumper cables. We jumped the car, drove it to a place to try to get a new battery.

Everyone's like, yeah, we could help you up, but you might get the car back like Tuesday. I'm like, no, can't have that. That's just not going to work. End up going to an auto zone. Guy sold me the battery, installed it for me. It was amazing. Great customer service. It was wonderful.

So help her out, pick her back up and go back home, take my kids swimming, get her. getting ready for UFC Vegas 59 and we do the people's pre-fight show and then like 20 minutes after the people's pre-fight show ends, it's like

this tornado of awfulness just hits me. I feel, my wife is like oh, what does it feel like? I'm like, I feel like I'm two degrees and 200 degrees at the same time. Everything ate,

it was just awful. I got through the whole card, did the show, and I knew, I already knew, I already knew what was about to happen I already knew that I had to go get a test,

and I knew I was going to test positive for COVID. I just knew it. And sure enough, that's what happened. Like, I did the test. The test, like, laughed at me. I just, like, looking at the test, it tested positive, just staring at it, even enough to do anything. It just tested positive.

That's how sick I was. And it just got worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. And now I'm just at the point where I'm like, all right, it's been the five days. I'm bored out of my mind. I don't care what I have to do. I'm going back to work. work. I can't take another day off. I can't sit in this room any longer. I just can't. So here we are.

And before I get to the calls, here's what I want to talk about because everyone's been talking about this. Everyone's been talking about, it got a lot of interaction, but I want to talk about the Contender series because I got to sit back and watch the Contender Series on Tuesday, watch the card. It was okay. There's some good finishes. But of course, the Bo-Nickle fight happens. And this This was what it was all about, right? We were all waiting for this Bo-Nickle fight to happen. I spoke to Bo in Vegas, told me it might be a fight, might be two on the contender series. So, like, the result of it shouldn't be that surprising.

But he goes out there and just bolts Zach Borago in a matter of seconds, didn't even break a sweat. It was easy-peasy. Went through this band like butter. It was nothing. then he doesn't get the contract and everyone's just kind of up in arms about it now the first thing that i thought was like okay this isn't that big of a deal like he told me he might have two contender series fights it's all good my issue and then i tweeted out if i'm bellator like i'm calling this guy and offering him a floppy trillion dollars because why not and it was met with like mixed

reviews. Some people like, oh, come on, you don't understand what's going on here. Which way I do understand what's going on. At least I thought I did. And I mean, it turns out like we're all right. Like we all know what's happening. But the logistics of it all, excuse me, don't need you to hear me, coughing. But the logistics of it all just seems really strange. And here's why. You have this card. Dana's given out contracts. Then he's not giving out contracts. Like, Wojik didn't get one. Clayton Carpenter got one, which I agreed with. I think he's super talented. Eric Silva obviously got one,

even though it was like one of the biggest mismatches in the history of the show. And then Jamal Pogues gets one, which like, listen, I'm happy that these guys and gals are getting opportunities. Like, good for Jamal. He's a UFC fighter and all that stuff. But especially after that whole speech that Dana White gave after the first episode

of the show of, like, it doesn't matter what you've done in your career, Tuesday night, you need to show up and you need to prove to me you belong in the UFC. And to me, that performance did not tell me that at all. I didn't think it was that great of a performance. He got the win, but he held back. Like, that was the performance. If it happened on the first season, Dana would have laughed at.

It would have been like, no, you're not, no, you're not fighting for my organization. So they offered Jamal Pogues a contract. And then the way it was just like, and then Bo Nickel, yeah, we'll give him another shot on this. What? It just looks so weird to me. The look of it all, it just seems so bullshit. And I get it.

Like, I understand what's happening here. We all know what's happening. We all know that he has already signed. We know this. We know this. But just the way that it looked to me, I was like, well, is he signed? Because he's certainly not being treated like somebody who's been signed. Just say it.

Like, stop with all the games, dude. Like, just stop. We see right through it. Stop it. Just say, listen, we signed this guy like four months ago. He's a UFC fighter. He's basically on a developmental deal. He's here.

We're going to give him another contender series fight. Then we'll put him in the UFC. But we've already signed him. So don't worry about it. Like, he's in. Just say that. What are we doing? It just looks so weird that Jamal Pogues,

who probably shouldn't have gotten a conversation. contract, gets one, and then we go to Bo Nickel, who had just the best performance of the night, doesn't get one. It was just, it was just so weird. And again, I understand what's happening here. And all these people be like, oh, well, I did this interview with this guy, with Abe Kawa, and he told me that this, I know, I'm not stupid. I know what's happening here, but it just looked bad. It made Bo look silly. Jamal Pogues, you're in, but Bo Neckle, no, you have to fight again. It just seems so silly.

But we all know what's happening. It's all semantics here. It's all dumb. Bo's going to fight again. And we understand why. But just just act like we're not three years old. That's all.

Just act like we're not three years old. Like we don't know what's happening. And we'd all feel a little bit better about things. Wouldn't we? I would. Let's get into things. It's hard. to talk that I thought it was going to be.

So hopefully you guys have lots of questions. Let's go to Tristan. We will begin with you, my man. How are you? Oh, man. I'm sorry that you got COVID. I was thinking, like, you weren't going to work for the rest of the week and be like, I'll see you next week.

So I wasn't really sure what was happening, especially when you missed Otno. So glad you're hopefully getting better, road to recovery, and everything's all good. can you hear me i can hear you yeah i'm just meeting myself in case i cost okay okay um yeah the bo-knuckle thing like you said the look of it was silly i'm i'm listening to bo-knock i'm high on this guy i think he's gonna i have the same feeling about him like i do with shopcombe romano he's gonna beat a lot of your favorite fighters in that middle-weight division i'm sorry i'm saying it now probably it's a hot take, but I think he's going to beat

a lot of your favorite fighters in that division, so that's my take on that. A couple of thoughts here, too. We saw a couple of bookings. So Aaron Pico's booked. Your thoughts about that.

Usman de Mecometta is booked to fight a Patricia Pickball for the title, which was stunning. I was kind of surprised about that that he was going to get that quick. I thought he was going to at least get an

have to get another fight but here we are I just want your thoughts on that matchup and then also wants your thoughts it looks like it's confirmed by Aaron Blanchfield that she'll be fighting Molly McCann UFC 281 at MSG so your thoughts on that matchup and that's about it Mike thanks for everything have a heck of a morning

thanks buddy yeah a lot to impact we'll start again with the nickel thing my favorite my favorite response to my tweet on Tuesday was well he's only 2 and 0 of course they're not going to sign him what the hell are you talking about are you serious

they signed Greg Hardy off the contender series yeah they did kind of the same thing they signed Danielle Wolfe Daniel Wolfe to a full-on contract after her contender series fight and it was not a good one

it was a pretty it was a bad performance she won it was her pro debut and they outright signed her. So don't tell me this, he's only 2 and 0 because his precedent set that way worse fighters with less experience

have been signed off that show. That was like hilarious to me. Daniel Wolf gets signed, but golly, how dare we even think about signing Boe after a 2 and 0 start to his pro career. It was just, all things just dumb. It's just the UFC. at times making trying to treat us like we're children like we don't understand what's happening

and just it's just the just the way it looks that's all um but yeah that man is gonna be a problem um yeah you know what I'm saying what else oh the Bellator stuff yeah um Aaron Pigo Jeremy Kennedy is the perfect fight was the was the fight to do before I know Kennedy had some things he was dealing with, but this is the perfect fight. I think Aaron's going to win. And it's a good car to put them on. It's going to get the hometown rub, so to speak. Gets to be on the car with A.J. McKee.

It's very cool. Yeah, that card's shaping up to be real nice. Oostin Amaga made up getting the title shot against Fitzgerkey Pitbull. Interesting choice. I thought there were a bunch of different ways we could go with this, especially now with AJ fighting at 155. But man, Belator not wasting any time. Tufig Bessai, just curious to see where he ended up in this whole conversation.

Because it seems like, at least in a lot of people's eyes, like Oosman was behind multiple people, not in my eyes. I thought, I tweeted after Ousman's big win, his last fight, that I think Ousman could win the title right now. And I'm predicting he is going to win the title. I think he's going to beat Patrickie Pitbull. I think he's going to win. I think he's that good. I think this guy's the real deal. And I think of like all the,

there are multiple nomadamated prospects that are really solid. I think he's the best one. This guy's a problem. And I think he's going to win the title. And I think he's going to be the champion for a long time. I'm very high on this man. And then the Blanchefield, Molly McCann matchmaking.

It's interesting. it's kind of a head scratcher, if we're being honest. It's kind of a head scratcher. But I got to say, here's the thing. Like, JJ Alderidge was looking pretty darn good against Aaron Blanchfield. And Blanchfield ended up coming back, capitalized on a mistake, got the submission. But a lot of people just feel like Molly's just going to get steamrolled here. I don't know if that's the case.

I think it's a good fight. Like, I'm picking Aaron to win, but I feel like this is a closer fight than a lot of people think it's going to be. So we'll see. I like it. I like the gusto from Molly, and it's a big opportunity. It's actually like, it's kind of head scratching in a way where it's just like, huh, we're going to throw Molly in there with someone like Aaron Blanchfield. Aaron's basically a home town fight for Aaron because she's from New York,

and she trains with that team, with Frankie Edgar and everybody like that. It just seems like kind of a weird one, but the same token, like, this is good matchmaking because it's a win-win. Aaron wins. She gets the big rub against one of the stars of the division of Molly McCann if Molly wins,

and people understand, like, how good Aaron Blanchfield actually is. So, yeah, interesting piece of business. 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. Goaltenders, 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 Tread Plus at OnePeloton.ca. Let's go to Sivaram Perhaps Wheel is spinning Oh, there you are Are you there? It's awful.

It sucks. I don't wish it upon anybody. Sure, because I got hit by COVID last year, man. It's a hell of a month for me to recover. It taken me three months to recover from it. And you should take care of

post-COVID implications, Mike, because there could be a lot of implications attack your health after recurring from COVID. Okay. Coming to the, my point is, what do you think of Tony Ferguson going to Jackson Wink? And who you got on this weekend? Is it Cheetah Vera or Dominic Kreuz?

That's it, mate. And I hope you get well soon. Do you go ahead. Thanks, buddy. Yeah. Yeah, it sucks. Still feeling pretty crappy, but I can't, I just can't lay down and, like, do nothing, like,

anymore. I can't. Went outside, walked the dog this morning. Like, it just felt good to, like, be outside. It's just, man, I just can't sit around. I just can't. I go stir crazy. but thank you

Tony I mean listen here's the thing Tony Ferguson is not like a full-time Jackson Wink fighter he's still kind of bouncing around checking out like what works out I know he's basically just trying things out

and it's a good place to start I mean Brandon Gibson's always I think Brian Gibson's a great coach I think they're all great coaches it's a good place to start I'm sure he's going to check out other places as well Yeah, it's cool. I don't know if he's going to stay there or end up there,

but we'll see what happens. As far as this weekend goes, I love the fight between Cheeto Vera and Dominic Cruz. Cheetos has been out of tear. Dominic is just such an interesting cat. I feel like, just based on what I've seen, I feel like a lot of people just feel like, oh, these guys just need to show up. and Cheetahe-Berr is going to win.

I don't know, man. Like, I think Dominic Cruz is being slept on in a big way here. I think Cheeto-O-Berrera is great. I think he's looked sensational. He just, I don't know. I just feel like Dominic's just being completely overlooked here. So we'll see how the fight plays out. I think Dominic's got a real good chance to win,

especially if he gets off to a real good start. If he lets Barr get off early, it's going to be a long night for him. But I think it all comes down to Dominic Cruz just doing Dominic Cruz like things. Getting off to a quick start, getting out to a lead, not letting anything crazy happen, and he's just got to avoid the big shots.

If it's just like a stick and move type of scenario, he's got a chance to win. But if he goes in there trying to brawl Cheevera, it could be a really rough night for him. I don't have an official pick yet. A lot of people just screaming that this is going to be an easy win for Cheevera, I just don't think it's going to be. I think it's a much closer fight.

Let me see what the betting lines are right now for this one. Where are we here? Minus 2.30. Cruz is almost a 2-1 dog. I think there's value there. I definitely think there's value. there. Lucreuse is really good.

It's a great fight. It's an excellent main event. Excellent main event. Let's go to Drake. Drake are you there? Make sure you on mute. There you go. Hey, Mike. How's it going? All right, my man. So I just was kind of curious on your take of the Super Paperview

PFL proposal between Kayla Harrison and Chris Cyborg. I'm personally not interested in it at all I wanted to see if you'd think if they'd fight at 1.45 or maybe a catchweight situation or 155 I don't really see what they'd be fighting for

that's all I think Yeah it's I don't know man I don't know The whole thing's just so confusing Because like because it seems to like here's what it seems like to me it's like cyborg is quote unquote a free agent but i don't think she is like a full-on free agent i think she's kind of like a restricted free agent where she's still probably tied up at least for a little while like she can't just go and sign with somebody

like i think they probably gave her belator probably like gave her permission a box um they were probably like yeah go ahead no problem But I don't think they could, I don't think she could just go sign with the UFC or sign with PFL like right now. I don't, I don't think she could. And if I'm cyborg, like, why would I even leave Bellator? Like, why would I even leave Bellator? What's the point?

You're getting paid really good money. You're going to be, you're treated, she will not be treated better anywhere else. Then she will be with Bellator. She got treated like shit in the UFC. She'd probably be treated like, she wouldn't be treated like shit in PFL, but she wouldn't be treated as well as Kayla, would be, will be treated in the PFL. So like if, and she doesn't have, I mean, basically,

cyborers are a pretty cool gig right now. She gets to go box if she wants to. She gets to make lots of money to defend her title against better competition than Kayla's fighting, but still not tremendous competition. I mean, it's a pretty good gig. It's a pretty good gig. And I honestly think that, like, if the PFL actually gone on the phone and, like, called Coker and, like, tried to work out a deal to put this fight together, I think they could do it.

But I'll tell you, I'm telling you right now, and Chris has said it herself, and I've talked to Scott Coker about this, the PFL has never once, not once, picked up the phone to call them to try to put this fight together. Not one time. And if they did, no, I mean, I've been Bellator's lying and Cybor's lying and Coker's lying. But that's all they've said from the get-go. That's all Scott Coker has said from the beginning. Pick up the phone and we will try to have a conversation and making this fight happen. But no, everything is being done on social media. It's kind of unprofessional.

Everything's being done on the media. It's not being done like business is supposed to be done. And I blame the PFL for this. We've heard both sides. We've seen how Don Davis is bed. We've seen how the PFL goes out there and they kind of talk trash. And they kind of put people down. And they, it's, I don't like the way they're handling it.

It's, if this fight doesn't happen, it's completely on the PFL, in my opinion. Just because of how they're handling the entire thing. I mean, like I've said, I've talked to Scott. We've put out graphics. We put out videos. We put out everything. We put out articles about it. And what they're saying is pick up the friggin' phone

and we'll try to put this thing together. But if you're going to sit there and talk a bunch of shit on social media, like, what do you think we're going to do? Just be like, oh, please put this fight together. We would love to come work with you guys. Pick up the phone, set up a meeting, and maybe this fight will happen. But the problem is, I don't think anybody's going to buy it.

Like, I think some people will. I think those who This probably does Less than 200,000 pay-per-view buys Like wait If it does 200 I'd be stunned It's a cool fight

But like now what Like then what do you do? I don't know This whole pay-per-view model They're trying to put together I don't get it And I'm curious to see what they're going to do With the finals here

Because there's talks about maybe doing Pay-Perview For the PFL Finals And if that's the case, eesh, please don't do that. Please, for the love of God, don't do that.

Just do what you're doing. Paste the product nicely. And I think you're going to be okay. Don't try to do too much. Excuse me. Julio, are you there? Good morning. How are you?

Good. So for Bo Nickel, is it actually, is it a thing that he is signed? Because I'm assuming other promotions were like salivate. salivating, realizing that Dana didn't sign him. It was my first question.

And then second, I'm assuming Patty's going to be on the same card as Molly, just because they made her fight official. Because from what I see, the one has been who has been riding Patty's wave the hardest as Molly, because every time he gets on the camera, she's there. Every time he wins, she runs into the cage. You can tell, like, she, she needs to write his wave. Like, Patty doesn't need Molly to be there, but she's always writing his wave. And I'm just saying that's probably why she got the most, you know, attention.

So I'm assuming Patty's going to be on that card. Yeah, I mean, it's very possible. I would be stunned if he's not. I know they both have been, at least Patty that I remember, I was kind of hesitant to fight an MSG because of taxes and all that stuff. but I'd be stunned if I'd be stunned if Patty's not on that card. And the Boehickle thing, of course Boe Nichols signed.

He has to be. He has to be. Otherwise, none of this makes sense. None of this makes sense if he's not signed. And they should sign him. They should have. That was the thing they do. But just don't treat us like we're idiots.

Just say we signed him already. This is his developmental deal. Just say that. We're not stupid. Like, we're not stupid. Just say it. It was just for me to, like, that tweet got a lot of attention where I was just like, if I'm Scott Coker, I'm picking up the boy.

It just looked so strange that Jamal Poges gets the contract. And Dana had to, like, really fight for those words to come out of his mouth. And then he's like, and now let's go to Bo Nicol. We're going to give another shot here. What? What? It's just so silly. and it poegs does and here's the thing if pokes doesn't get the contract i don't know if we're having

this conversation seriously because that was what it was like to me i'm like we're going to give this guy a contract who god bless him that post fight interview the emotion they came out of him fantastically clearly that win meant a lot to him but at the same time like the performance was not a contenders it was not a contract worthy performance it was not it wasn't it wasn't If that performance happened on the first fight week, Dana would have freaked out, and he would have not gotten a contract. He wouldn't have. So to go from that and then to the Bo-Nickle thing, that's why I was like a little strange. And maybe I was just a little delirious from being sick or whatever.

But that was like my first thought. I'm like, okay, maybe this guy isn't signed. And then you think about it and you hear Dana in the post-fight and just having conversation with people. he's clearly signed. It just was such a weird look. Just be honest and just tell us that he signed. They signed him. Like no one's going to blame you.

No one's going to be like, oh, man, the UFC, what a bunch of jokers. They sign this guy, but then they're putting him on the contender series. They could be giving this spot to somebody else. No one would have said that. They would have been like, I get it. We're slow rolling him a little bit, putting him on the contender series. because guess what? The Contender series is a promotion.

It's its own promotion. DWCS is an actual promotion. It's like your minor league system in a way. Like, who cares? Who cares? No, what it cared. But, oh well. Let's go to Omer.

Homer, how are you? You got to unmute, Omer. I don't hear you. All right, try again, my man. Let's go to Victor. Victor, are you there? Hello, can you hear me? Yes.

Okay, so this is regarding the upcoming event with Cheeto Vera and with Dom Cruz. Besides the main event, do you really feel like there's any other watchable fights on the pay-review? For it being a paper view? It's not a pay-per-view. Oh, it's not a pay-per-view? No, it's a regular fight night card. Okay, because I swear last time I seen it, I thought it was advertised as a pay-per-view. And if it was a paper-view, it would have been one of the worst pay-per-views ever.

Yeah, this is not a pay-per-view. This is just outside of the apex. But it's in a crowd in San Diego, but it's not a pay-per-view. It's a regular flight night card. Right, right. Okay. I have a... All right.

Have a good day, man? Okay. All right. Watchable fights. Yeah, there's a few. I mean, this is not a co-made event, but this is what we call a second to last fight, but it's a good one.

David Onama, Nate Landware. Gerald Mirschar, Bruno Silva's fun. Angela Hill, Lupi Godinez is fun. Nina Nunes, Cynthia Calvillo. O'Day Osborne, Tyson, Nams. anger. I mean, on paper, it's better than last week's card. It's better than last week's card, in my opinion. Well, yeah, that's close. Yeah, I'll still say it's better. Because last week's card was like main event, co-main event, and that was really it. Um, this you can kind of like sprinkle in some stuff.

and again, we talked about this on the post-fight show. For those who were just like, you owe this card an apology, we don't owe it. We didn't know that card in apology. It was good. It was good. It over-exceeded expectations, but on paper, it was not a great card. And just because, like, you go out there and get all finishes does not make it,

like a great card, it just made it a fight with all finishes. And it's fun when that happens. And sometimes you get some. Sometimes you get some highlight reels, but not all finishes are created equal, if that makes sense. I don't know. It was fine. We enjoyed it. We try to find positivity as much as we can, and I went over-delivered.

We'll see if this one does as well. Omer, do we have you? Make sure you're on mute. Homer, are you there? There we go. Got you. Hey, sorry. I don't know what happened last time.

It's all good. Hey, Mike, I've been listening to you for a little while. I was wondering if there's like a... I know this might not be completely related to the topic at hand, but is there anything that MMA fighting has, like, related to internships for journalism or PR work or anything like that? Not that I know of. I mean, maybe there is, but I have no idea.

Do you know who had contact to find something like that out? All I could say is, like, if there's stuff available, It'd be on the Vox website. That's all I know. They don't really tell us much. V-O-X, yeah. Oh, and then also about, I'm going to have a question about the Gerald Murschard and Bruno Silva fight. Do you think there's any way that Gerald will eke out a decision if he doesn't take him down?

Because I think if he tries to stand with Bruno, it's going to be a pretty quick night for him. Maybe. Listen to that. Gerald Mierschard, Gerald Mierschart's a dog, man. That guy is a dog. He's been doing this thing a long time. This is what? Fight number 50, I believe. Let me just check.

Yep, this will be the 50th pro fight for Gerald Mershart. Guys got records all over the place. And he could submit Bruno Silva. He could definitely submit Bruno Silva. So, yeah, I would strongly suggest that he doesn't have a stand-up battle with Mr. Silva, but GM3 is, GM3's real good.

He's real good. So, yeah, I like this fight a lot. It's very interesting. If he stands with Bruno, it's going to be a rough one, but I'm sure he's well aware of that. And if it gets to the ground, it's going to be real interesting. Like the match-up. Let's go to Vinny.

Vinny, hello. Are you there? Let's make sure you're on mute. Benny. I'm here. I'm sorry about that. I didn't know you called mine. There we go.

I didn't know you call my name. Yeah, I have a quick question. So you think Dominic Cruz is really going to be Cheeto Vera? I mean, Dominicruz is a dog, and he can fight. Cheater is a dog, but he doesn't fight anybody really, except for Shane O'Malley. But Shane O'Malley got hurt on that fight. So I don't know. looking for answers here.

I mean, I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say that at all. I think Cruz is being completely overlooked here. I will say that. Like, if you have, if I have to make a pick right now, I'm picking Vera, but Cruz is, Cruz is live, man. Cruz is live. Like, I wouldn't, like, the Song-Nudong fight, a lot of people felt that Cheetah won that fight.

And that one's kind of aged pretty well. considering the wins that Song Yudong has put together since then. Jose Aldo? I think that's a worthy name to be on the resume. Frankie Edgar is a worthy name to me on the resume. Rob Font is a worthy name to be on the resume. So, yeah, man. I think you're kind of downplaying the resume on Marlon Vera.

And I think as long as, like, this seems like so simple, but if Cruz can keep this thing if Cruz can not just if Cruz can avoid just getting dropped if Cruz can avoid what what happened with Rob Font I think he's got a chance to win this fight

it seems just so obvious but I think if we're talking about if we're going like volume for volume I think both guys could throw a ton of it I think Cruz could probably throw a little bit more could be a little more elusive but Vary's got that very could change things with that power

I mean just go look at the numbers of the Rob Font fight font was just font was landing a lot of stuff but Vera just needed one Vera just needed one any Tram anything else you want to add to that

Vinny Vinny we'll move ahead boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes What? Sounds like Ojo time Play Ojo Great idea.

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I don't know what happened with us, but I guess it's nice to see you back. What's going on? You got to unmute, my man. All right, I tried to bring you in. Don't say I didn't try. Emilio. You're there. Mike.

There you go. Hey, first of all, happy to be back. And second of all, I hope that you're doing good. And I wish you a speedy recovery. COVID sucks. But yeah, you already know that. Everybody knows that. Yeah, so.

It sucks. So I got to call. So first of all, Vinnie, the disrespect on Cheeto Vera is out of this world, man. I mean, I know that he, like, he fought Jose Aldo. I know that he lost, but he didn't completely get styled on by Aldo, at least not what I remember. Disrespect on Rob Fond will also not be tolerated. And obviously, you mentioned Sean O'Malley, the Sean O'Malley win. I don't know, man, I think Cheeto is, I think Cheeto is the real deal.

I don't think it's going to be an easy fight against Cruz, not by a long shot. He's just that type of fighter that even though he's way past his prime and he does more commentating them fighting these days, he can still be a really bad stylistic matchup with his crazy footwork. So I'm excited for that one. I think it's going to be closer than people think, at least, you know, people who favor Cheeto, generally speaking. Yeah, but I just, so that's the first thing that I wanted to say. the second one it's got to do with I'm a couple of cards late I guess you could say but I just wanted to say because I remember like a month and a half ago something like that I came on this show and I I talked a lot of shit about James Krause v. James Kraus but hey I'm Mexican

and that Brandon Moreno win meant the world to me, meant the world to a whole country. And so I will come on this show and I will publicly apologize and I will take back everything that I said because Brandon looked freaking good. And a lot of it, I think, is also due to James Krause. So sorry about that, James. If you're listening, probably not, but you never know. And lastly, I wanted to ask you something about that same card as well.

What was it? UFC 277, 278. And specifically, you guys were talking in the post-fight show about some tweets that Megan Anderson made concerning the event and concerning James, you know, acting as coach for Brandon, but I went on Twitter on her Twitter and I couldn't find anything. I couldn't find on the Twitter sphere, like anything at all about this. So I just wanted to, you know, ask you, like what exactly did she tweet? What was the, what was she making a fuss about? Yeah, because I can't find any info, not only on Twitter, but online in general. So yeah, that's it, Mike.

Thanks so much for everything that you do. Like I said before, I wish you a speedy recovery. And have a heck of a morning. Thanks, ma'am. Yeah, so basically she said, I don't know, I haven't really sought it out since, but someone threw it in our Slack channel. But it was basically saying something to the respect of, hopefully branding gets more than one pad session.

like per week or something. I don't know. It was something to that effect. I don't remember what it was because it's been a while now. It's been a few weeks, but yeah, Megan tweeted out like some basic shots at

she basically like, she was talking about like her preparation for the fight with Amanda Nunes for the title and apparently she didn't get enough work or one-on-one attention or but basically was like hopefully got Brandon got more attention than I got, essentially.

But it was in more of a nudgy kind of a way. And then the James Krause thing, good for you. Good for you. That was very nice. Very nice. I remember being so stunned hearing that rant a couple months back. But yeah, all right, let's try getting Viking MMA back in here. Let's see.

We're trying, man. We're trying. There he is. My friend, Viking, are you there? Yes, sir. Welcome back. I thought you hated me. Absolutely not.

Even, you know, I'm just here just because my girlfriend told me last night that Mike got ill and he's not feeling well. So I'm here to wish you a very good health, man. Thank you. Thank you. And I have a question about what they say about money fights. I mean, why sometimes fighters choose to do money fights instead of fighting for the title. And, you know, what if they get the belt and then they will learn more? I mean, the brands and sponsorship and all the other stuff.

I mean, how much they get in the money fights or you could say, Kahnemar-Might or fight? what's the giver tech figure? That's my question. And have a good and healthy life, mate. Thank you, buddy. Viking MMA, back on the show. Love to hear it. Yeah, I don't know.

Listen, I mean, it's a strange thing. Everyone wants to make as much money as possible, especially in fighting, especially in contact sports. You only get, that window's only open for so long. and the window only opens so wide. So you got to try to cash in as much as you can. And it's tough.

It's tough. I mean, everybody wants to get things done as quickly as possible. That's the way it is. Like even health plans and stuff like that, like weight loss and, you know, getting in shape. Like if you see two ads where it's like, hey, realistically, if you follow this plan over the next 18 months, you're going to look really good if you follow this. to a T. And then you turn the page and it's like, hey, if you take these pills, you could lose 10 pounds in like two weeks. You're going to be like, oh, two weeks. That's pretty cool. I'm going to try to do that. Even though realistically there's like very little chance that happens,

but that's just the way that it goes, right? You want to get as much money as quickly as possible. And sometimes that means getting to the belt. Sometimes that means does, sometimes means sometimes means getting the star rub and sometimes it does. Like if you get the chance to fight Connor McGregor or fight for the title, most people are going to pick the Connor fight because that's just guaranteed money. It's just Mullah, baby. And Connor provides it. That's why Dustin Porier could have fought Oliver or Michael Chandler for the vacant title

back in May of last year. And he chose the Connor fight, which I don't blame him. He should have taken the Connor fight. end up getting the title fight anyways. So he got to have his cake and eat it too. Fortunately, cake wasn't as delicious the second time around because Charles won that fight. But just the error that we're in, man,

got to try to make that money. And as you know, as we've been talking about for years, it's not easy to make a lot of money as a fighter right now. It just isn't. All right, we'll take a few more because I just don't know how much more I can I can speak for. I'm trying, but I'm muting a lot.

And good thing, because you don't want to hear what's happening over here. Toke! What's up, buddy? Hello? Watched the M.MA hour yesterday, I was excited to see that Chris Cybrook was on. So I was like, okay, we're going to get some exciting MMA news.

And we were not. Instead, we got the news that she's going to box, which is fine, and she's going to box a woman who has lost her last nine, I believe, last nine fights, if I remember correctly. And what is her end goal here? Is that to fight Katie Taylor in some sort of weird matchup? Or, yeah, what's her end goal?

And I also want to say, I apparently, I feel like I'm one of the only one in the world who has avoided COVID for two years. So I'm sorry to hear that you're going through this man. So, yeah. good recovery to you and i hope you have a good day thanks buddy yeah i mean i've i've been to like multiple events i went to i went to i remember i went to going to bkfc in tampa last summer and like all the fighters on the card got covid and i somehow didn't um went to the jake paul woodley two card in tampa a lot of people got covid i didn't went to

to International Fight Week. No COVID there. And then just randomly I get COVID. I don't know. It's a stupid thing. Stupid infection. Stupid virus. It's dumb.

And I hate it. And feeling like this stinks because my job is like speaking and talking. And I can't even do that. And it drives you frigging crazy. But yeah. I don't know. I don't know about this side. But like,

she wants to go boss. and something she wanted to do for a while, so I guess, like, good for her. And someone said yes to it. So, yeah, I mean, awesome. But, like, I don't think anyone's going to go out of their way to watch it. I'm not. Like, I'm glad she's happy, and, like, I'll surely be Googling who won,

but it's just, I will say this. I am glad she's not fighting Katie Taylor now, because that makes absolutely no sense. So maybe this league, I don't know what. what the end game is. I have no idea. But I would like, I mean, I feel like we're going to have to see that Kayla fight at some point, but go do your box, go box, do your thing, and then we'll see what happens. But this is what she's wanted to do for a while. Good on her for getting what she wants.

I don't know how much interest is going to be there once the fight actually happens. But good on her. This is what she wants. do, then I'm happy for. Beal, are you there? All right. Not bad. So I was on Twitter this morning before a heck of a morning started

and I've seen a bunch of comments that Islam Makachev made on the DCRC show and he's saying stuff like the fact that Charles called for the McGregor fight was embarrassing. And now he's got me all fired up.

The disrespect, Charles Oliver has had one of the strongest schedules of fights that anybody has had. And, like, you know what's embarrassing is that Islam Makachev, I believe he said some things that he doesn't think women should fight in MMA. And, you know, I just can't have that. Sorry, Mike. I'm a little fired up this morning. Hope you have a good one.

Hope you feel better. Take it easy. Thanks, buddy. All right. I like it. Hey, listen, Islam is, Islam is becoming a pretty entertaining guy. Going out there and saying all these things. Now, there are some things that he's right about and there's some things that he's wrong about.

But I don't have an issue with, I don't have an issue with the Connor thing. I don't. Everybody wants that fight. Oliver has done lots of favors. It's going to Abu Dhabi for this fight. and like I've said before if this happens in Abu Dhabi that means McGregor is in play

and I really think he is in play not for Islam I think he's in play for for Oliver. Oliver wins that fight probably happens at least I at least that's what I think and now they have a card in Brazil

coming up in January I don't know if McGregor will fight him in January in Brazil but I don't know there's lots there's options there for Oliver. Who cares who he wants to fight? Who cares? Go make that bag, son. Go make that bag.

Let's go to Kay Faye. Kfei, you're there. Yes, sir. Sorry about that. I feel your pain, brother. I am actively going to get teeth pulled here in the next couple hours. So, oh, no. Here's my thing

for today. if Marlin beats Jesus, I can't think If Marlon wins this weekend And Sean O'Malley wins Do they fight And from there Is that a number one contender fight?

Because I'm hearing people say If Sean wins this, he gets a title shot And I don't know if I buy it. That's all I got. Happy birthday, A.K., feel better. I think there's a very strong possibility of that. That's probably the direction I would go. You'd have to think, at least at this point, if Jose Aldo beats

Marab next weekend, he's fighting for the belt. And he should. He should. If he, if Aldo beats Marab and then Sean O'Malley beats John and O'Malley gets the title shot over Aldo, I'll be pissed. I'll be pretty pissed off. Because to me, Aldo should have got the shot over Dillishai

anyways. So, yeah, I mean, just do five rounds. O'Malley versus Vera in front of a crowd on a fight night card, like one of those travel fight night cards. I think that's perfect.

Winner gets a title shot. I think that makes perfect sense. Now, if Marab wins and Aljo wins, we have a different conversation. Maybe O'Malley gets there. But I don't know.

A lot has to happen. It's kind of a wait and see, but that's where we're at. All right. Let's go to Brian. Brian, are you there? What's up, Mike? Welcome back. How we doing?

Thank you. All right. So as usual, I'm going to talk about Boston real quick because I looked up the TD Garden schedule, and it seems like there's an open slot on that Saturday for October 29. I don't know if you had any updates about it. about that and then a quick question this off off the rails you have three brothers right yes all right so one of your brother's name is brian yes all right so my brother i got three

brothers i'm brian my oldest brother's mike what are your other two brothers names because mine are kevin and barry that would have been hilarious if uh they were so i it's all bees uh billy bobby brian those are the brothers And then there's me. I got the namesake. I got the patriarch. The patriarch name. I'm the junior.

So yeah. Billy's the oldest. Bobby's older than me. Brian's younger than me. We're all like shaped and built and all act differently. I'd say like me and Brian are the most alike. But we're all, I don't know. We're all together.

and beverages are slung, it is a good time being around the hex. I can tell you that. We are a good time. Like if there's a family wedding going on, it's a good time. We're crushing it. We're out there crushing it.

Life of the party. Definitely the life of the party. It's fun. It's fun being a heck. We are a bunch of weird Boston Irish folk. And then as far as October 29th, I would say probably not for Boston. I would say next year. Let me just kind of take a gander real quick.

Yeah, I think they'll probably just go back to the apex on the 29th. Because they're going to be in Abu Dhabi the week before. And who knows? Like maybe they'll travel again. I don't think they will. I think they'll just go back to the apex. they'll do like back-to-back apex cards and then they'll do uh then they'll do MSG in a couple weeks so a couple weeks after that Boston I don't think maybe next year that's what I'm hoping for

all right let's go to Alexie Lexi are you there make sure you on mute yeah it was good there we go I got you what's up that was first time listening to her by the way oh thanks all right so A fight court that's happening this weekend. Cheeto had like a slow start in this fight against. I forgot who it was. The last, oh, fun, yeah. You think it's going to turn out differently?

What else the bell rings? That's the question, man. I mean, Cruz comes out pretty quick, tries to establish himself. I think it's going to be a good fight, like a good methodical, technical fight. And just the talk that everyone just feels like Cruz is going to get, just run over here. I mean, maybe it happens. Maybe that's what happens.

But Cruz is a very elusive guy. I'm sure he's been studying Vera for a while. And it'll be interesting. Like if Cruz can avoid the big shot, just stay on his feet in these rounds, it's got to be real close. Like, we could be going to Splitty City. But I think I'm really interested to see how it works out.

The footwork of Cruz, the intelligence of Cruz, and then just the absolute dog in Cheeto Vera. It's going to be a good fight. I love this. I love it. Love the main event. All right. We'll take two more. I got to get out of here.

Let's go to Money in the Bank. All right. What's up, ma'am? And two things I want to talk about. The first is I'm in complete agreement with you on the Dominic Cruz Verifai. I think people are actually giving no credit to Dominic in regards to the way stylistically this fight may play out. His footwork is something that Vera hasn't seen yet. And if Dom haven't missed a bag to the first two rounds, which Chil is typically a slower starter, he would possibly win a third round.

So I'm actually putting my money personally on Dominic Cruz. And secondly, the next fight I wanted to talk about was I'm excited to see this, this girl, Yasmin Jaregi. I've actually watched a bunch of her fights, and I'm really impressed by her boxing. I mean, she's got, like, that typical Mexican boxing style for a female, and I'm trying to get your, you know, your takes on, you know, what she might be able to do with the strong weight division in the UFC.

Yeah, man. Another, another nice addition. Yeah, she's, she doesn't go out there, she doesn't go out there and go to decision very often. She goes out there and just gets girls out of there real quick. Yasmin Urigui. I'm trying to look like, yeah, I mean, she's ranked highly. She's strong.

Like two first round, last first round finishes and three of her last four. A lot of fights for Cambodji Global. She's a killer. So I'm excited to see her fight. I'm excited to see her in there. And let's see what she can do against a Yasmin Lucindo. I have to admit I'm not as familiar with, but I'm just looking at her thing.

Seven wins in a row. Another finisher, so it should be a fun fight. I would say more of the upside. Wow, Yasmin's only 20 years. Yasmin is only 20 years old. So I'm intrigued. I have to dig a little deeper into that one. All right.

Last one, I'll go to Esteban, and I got to get out of here. Esteban. Hey, Mike. How are you? morning how you doing doing all first of all before i get my question i want to say you just talked about splitty city you said the other day mohamma kai if his green but his green will turn to gold and then you talked about um if you want to hold your breath for a dc comeback i would let that breath out so what i want to say to you mike is get merch get shirts tote bags with all these great lines you

will make money good sir license to print money mike license to print money now um What I wanted to talk about is, I don't know if you saw this, I'm pretty sure you did, Dominic Cruz in his pre-fight press conference. I think it was a few days ago. He talked about D.C. and him being a golden flucker. Whatever you want to hear, he will say he'll make you believe whatever you want, he'll make you love him. And I got really pissed off by that because it seems like I know Dominic is always talking about all this. You know, he's always talking trash to other people and stuff. And that's, you know, the Dominic we know and love.

But at the same time, you know, he's actively antagonizing his co. workers and why would you do that if you're in the booth with these guys that you're talking trash to and somebody on twitter said oh he just wants dc's john in the main booth with rogan and bisming but or annick sorry but i mean i just i don't know why he would say that and i know dc came out and said don't get it twisted he's my friend yada yada yada but i want to hear your take on that because i got really pissed off by hearing that and i hope you'll feel better mike thanks Thanks, buddy. Yeah, I mean, listen, Cruz, excuse me, Cruz is,

uh, Cruz is who he is. He is unapologetically Dominic Cruz. He was asked about it. And that was the response he came up with. I didn't love it. Wasn't a huge fan of it, but he doesn't give a shit what I think or anybody else thinks. Who knows? Maybe he cleared it with D.C. ahead of time.

Because I'm sure Cruz knew he was going to be asked about it. I'm sure he's going to think he's going to be asked about it for the rest of his career for a long time. Yeah, I didn't love it. But I think Cruz is actually a really good commentator. I actually enjoy him very much. Was it him? The combination of it was either, I think it might have been Anna Cruz and Felder did a fight night car not too long ago. and I thought that was an excellent combination.

But I'm trying to remember. I think Cruz adds a lot to it. They're all different in their own way. And Cruz is just one of those guys. Yeah, I didn't love it, but that's just, that's Cruz, man. You know what, I lied. I can't leave my man A hang in here. So we'll go to him and then we'll get out of here.

A, how are you? Hey, what's up? What's up, man? I wanted to know what your thoughts were on the bout order, especially regarding the women's fights, because we have the two Yasmin's who are fighting for the first time in the UFC. We have Ariane Lipski and Priscilla Casuetti who aren't ranked. And then the two other women bouts, they are ranked fighters.

Angela Hills ranked Nina Nunez and Sintico Video. What's going on there? Thanks, man. Yeah, it's a weird lineup. I'm trying to sit. Let me see what the actual, see what the actual lineup looks like on the UFC website right now. Let's see.

Yeah, I think it's pretty much the same. Anjahil Lupi is the future prelim. Okay. Calvio Nunes is early on the prelims. I mean, it's probably just a mix of getting people in the building and, I don't know. we get a couple of debuts in the featured spot. I'm sure Hill and Godin is aren't upset about it. I'm sure Calvio and Noon is aren't upset about it

because it gets them out of there. Gets them out of there for the night a little quicker. But not the way I would have put it together. But that's just me. I will say this. I am happy that we're back to like normal start times for these fight night cards. Main card at 7 p.m. Eastern.

one, two, three, four, five. Still a six-fight main car, which I'm not a fan of. And then prelims are 4 p.m. Eastern, which is, I mean, listen, it's not a bad card. It's not a bad card. Could be laid out a little better, but it's not too bad. But, all right, I got to get out of here. My voice is toast. We're not going to do a live BTL today just because I'm just not doing it.

Okay. And then, so me and Jett are just going to do like one of our roundtable, BTLs. We're just going to hit record and go. I'll just go for as long as I can. And then hopefully tomorrow, I'll be back here tomorrow. We'll try this again. And hopefully I'll be around for like the preview show and stuff like that. If not, someone else can handle it.

And that's totally okay by me. But thank you all for listening. I wanted to give it a shot and see if my voice can hold up. I'd say probably was like a six out of ten. And I appreciate all the callers. I appreciate all the well wishes. I appreciate all the kind words. And hopefully over the next few days,

I will continue to get better. And we'll be back to normal in no time. But until tomorrow, everybody, I am Mike Heck. Have a great rest of the day. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.