MMA Fighting - HOAM | Brian Ortega's Intriguing Return At UFC Mexico City, How Merab Dvalishvili Got Himself Over

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

Brian Ortega returns from a long layoff due to injury as he steps back in the octagon in a rematch with Yair Rodriguez in the co-main event of UFC Mexico City this Saturday. What are the biggest questions you need answered this weekend in regards to the return of "T-City?" On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the five-round bout and what is at stake for Ortega in the matchup. Additionally, listener questions include Merab Dvalishvili getting himself over with the fans without a ton of promotion behind him, the UFC 300 main event between Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill and the reaction it has gotten from the public, Dana White's relationship with the media and if he seems fully invested in the current UFC product, and much 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 to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter 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 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 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.

To the Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Thursday, February 22nd, 24, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter Space, you hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody?

I am Mike Keck. Hope you're all having a great week. It's going to be a super busy weekend in the combat sports world. We got KSW. There's boxing, lots of MMA. We have a really solid

UFC fight night card in Mexico City. Brandon Moreno versus Branden Royval, the main event, five-rounder, the rematch. Speaking of rematch is co-main event, Yaya Rodriguez versus Brian Ortega, the return of T-City for the first time since their first meeting at UFC Long Island.

Daniel Zell, Hubert, Francisco Prado, great fight, Raul Rousse, Jr., Ricky Terseos, Yasvin Hadeghie versus Sam Hughes, Manuel Torres, Chris Duncan. And the list goes on and on. This should be a fun watch. It should be a fun watch. It's a late start. time, but it's a fun watch. And then, before that, we have PFL versus Bellator champs.

I don't know how to feel about this card. I want to, I want this to be the greatest card of all time. I want this to be successful. I want this to do 500,000 pay-per-view buys. Unfortunately, it's just not going to happen because the card is not great. asking people to spend $50 on the card, which is not great, is going to be a tough hang. And as I've said many times, I am very hard on PFL.

I'm probably harder on PFL than any other promotion. Because I just don't, like I don't take them all that seriously. Like I really want them to do well. Just like I really wanted Bellator to do well. And it just didn't click. And this card, while, like, it's, it's okay. And there's a couple of like bangers on here.

50 bucks? Come on, man. Like, we weren't even, like, we were on our Slack channel just like talking about this. Once you found out the price was, I'm true. Like, this is a true thing. I threw out an over under of 4,999 buys. And I think that's the number. Like, I think that's the number.

it's just going to be tough Henan Ferreira versus Ryan Bader Impa Casgani versus Johnny Ebblin like Ferrer Bader could be okay but this screams Bader Czech Congo

in Paris it just screams that to me unless Ferreira like just catches Bader quick could be a tough one Impagos Agonai what a story he has been after getting posterized, like no other fighter in the history of the sport by Joachim Buckley

goes up to 205, becomes a millionaire, wins the PFL light heavyweight tournament, when's the season, and it's awesome. It's a great story, and he's going to fight Johnny Ebblin on Saturday. I like him because I'm saying and I a lot.

I think this fight is not going to, going to go well for Mpikasag and I at all. I think this is going to be one-way traffic for Joddy Eblen. Petitio Pitbull was supposed to fight Hesus Manate. I love that fight. That was probably the best fight on the whole card. That is off. Now he's getting Gabriel Braga, who's a fine fighter. I just, I mean, maybe Braga pulls it off. I don't know, but I just think Pitbull is a way better fighter. And then the other, like, really interesting, stylistic fight on the card was Jason Jackson versus Magamid and Magamad Karamov, and now that fight's not happening. We get Jason Jackson versus Ray Cooper the third. I don't know. I don't

know. Vadim Nemcoff, Bruno Capulosa, I don't think that fight's even going to be competitive. I think Vadim Nemcoff's really, really good. And you could do this fight at 355 pounds, and I still think Vadim Nemcoff wins it. Tiago Santos versus Joel Romero. man like I don't know what to think like death fights I think Romero's going to win

but it's going to be like a staring contest for most of it and then Ramirez going to land something big in round three and probably finish him or he just wins a decision but I guess it's like edge of your seat staring contest Clay Collard Age McKee rules Aaron Pico

Henry Corallis 2 on like six days notice and Corrales is to travel all the way to Saudi Arabia on a Monday for this fight to happen. First fight was incredible. I just don't know if we get that again, although we might, because Coralus is kind of probably have to go for Broke here. Yajaliyaliyah, Ali Walsh, making his pro debut, Clarissa Shields against Kelsey DeSantis. And then we get some local fighters.

I mean, it's just, yeah, it's just fine. I don't know what to say. I want this to go well for PFL. I really do. But this is a tough one. And even like the Bellator return card in March is a tough one. It's just the same thing. Like it's literally just the same thing.

That was like the big promise that we were given. It's going to be a new Bellator, new look, new feel, new faces, new voices, new everything. We're just going to. We're just going to do it. it different. We're going to do it better. It's the same. Like, it's the same thing, at least on paper. Man, I'm just, I really hope this is, I really hope this all goes better than it all looks on paper. That's all I want to say. But lots to talk about, we can talk about that. We can talk about whatever the hell you want. Let's get after it. It will start with Viking. Viking. Viking, it's not

connecting for some reason. Oh, wait a minute. Got you now, I think. Tell me about the picture because my girlfriend was so pissed that you did not comment. You said you want to be to comment here. That's why I didn't comment. You said you were waiting my response on Thursday.

I listened to you. I told her that and she said that I was about to work on the background, but I was in so hurry to show you that picture. So she's so pleased. on who's so pissed about that? That you released it?

Yeah, yes. Okay. So, yeah, is there anything else? I'll react to it, for sure. She just wanted to hear your thought, but she's, right now she's working, so I'll be your, I'll be your personal.

Okay, you get past this on. but thank you Viking anything else or is that it? That's soon all right thanks buddy yeah so Vikings girlfriend drew a picture of me and it's awesome

it looks just like me it looks just like me and I honestly and I don't know if I've talked about this before I friggin hate pictures of myself hate them I'm terror like like if you try to take a photo of me

it's awful like I'm just awkward as fuck. If you ever watch show like how I met your mother and like Barney Stinson could be like choking on a piece of cheese and they take a picture of him and he just, he looks like nothing's wrong. I'm the complete opposite of that. Complete opposite. But swap, you nailed it. You nailed it. I'm looking forward to the finished product. That's the only reason in common. Viking said wait till Thursday to comment. But it's great. You can tell it's me. I showed it to my kid and he was like, Daddy, that's you.

And he's big into art as well. And he draws really well. But he's also a little bit critical. He put it over. He was very happy with it. I was very happy with it. It looked great. So shout out to swap.

Tell her, I can't wait to see the finished product. See the background. I'm ready to see the whole thing. But so far, so great. And it was awesome. So I appreciate you SWAT very, very much for doing that for me. It's great stuff. My kid loved it.

Well done. 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10. Really, really appreciate that. Let's go to Ethan. Ethan, hello. Yes. Yes, I can't.

So I got two quick ones for you this morning. First up, got to talk about UFC 300. I love talking about UFC 300. So with the announcement of the main event, I was just thinking to myself, like, obviously we heard Izzy and DDP just didn't line up for DDP. So if Izzy was open and we're moving Alex off 301 anyway, why not just do Izzy versus Alex?

Like that feels like more of a 300 fight to me rather than Alex versus Jamal. And then with 301, what the hell are we going to do with this main event? Like there's nobody open. All of our Brazilian talent is booked, it seems like. So of course, we have Pantone. But Pantosia, but Pantosia can't sell by himself. So, like, if you had to guess, what are they going to do?

Like, you could do, like, Rocky, I guess. You can do the middleweight fight or, I don't know. Do you ask someone like Ilya to do a quick turnaround? Just want your thoughts on that. Thanks a lot. And have a heckful morning. Thanks, man. Yeah, I mean, look, at this point, if Izzy's going to fight on 300,

it has to be with DDP. Like, you can't, you can't waste that one again. And if you have to wait for it, then you just have to wait for it. if this is the main like if for some reason and at this point I have very little faith that Connor McGregor's fight

like everything I'm being told Connor Chandler like if people are just basically telling me like if you could bet on it bet on Connor Chandler happening at International Flight Week on June 29th but if for some reason

that fight doesn't happen international flight week put it on that like I'm okay with that you cannot waste this one again and honestly is he coming off of I mean, he got thumped by Sean Strickland. That fight was not close.

And throwing him in there with Alex Pereira, I don't think's going to go great for him. I don't. No, not much of a weight cut for Alex. I mean, it's still a weight cut, but he's not cutting to 85. Like, just everything lines up so badly for Izzy. So, and if he loses that, he ain't getting the DDP fight. That's the biggest fight he can get right now.

in my opinion. So waded out, and we get Jamal versus Alex, which, look, I know Jamal Hill was giving people shit about being negative about it. And I think I'm with Jamal to a certain extent. Like, what Jamal said about it is, like, how I felt. Like, this is a great fight. as I said if I could watch three to five fights

in 2024 that I have to see this is one of them this is one of them the problem is the expectations were so high right they were so high

for this main event to be to deliver and all of that and a lot of it was on the fans early on because we talked about this a lot everyone was like

shitting on 300 because like with a lot of the fights that were coming together. Ah, this is not 300 this is not 200. This is not 100. And I'm like, dude, relax. Everybody chill out. This is going to be a stacked ass card. Trust me. It's going to be stacked.

There's not going to be a shitty fight on here. I guarantee it. And then people's expectations over the next several weeks started to even out a little bit. Started to even out. And then DDP beat Sean Strickland becomes champion and we're thinking to ourselves, all right, we're going to get DDP is

a UFC 300. DDP was saying, yes, let's go. I want 300. I want this. I want that. And then we're getting no announcement at all. And then we're getting nothing. And we're just waiting for this to happen.

And I still think expectations were still like they were high, but they were a little bit better. And then we keep hearing, guys, guys, I'm telling you, put. your fucking seatbelts on. Make sure you're wearing a belt on your pants, your socks, and your shoes. Because when we announce this main event, they're all going to fly off. Your socks are going to be blown across the street with this announcement. And that's what we kept tearing. Guys, I'm telling you, it's coming.

It's going to be something. And then we get Alex Ferrer v. Jamal Hill, which, by the way, is a tremendous fight. but not my socks were on my shoes are on like a bath row flew on my body when this fight was it out i thought about this the other day because i had a drive from i had a drive to florida i played golf with mike perry yesterday that video is going to fucking rule i could tell you that right now it is incredible it is super fun shout out to jed bushoo for making the trip too and and helping us film. But this main event, especially on this card, and not all of you are going to get this reference, but if you have driven up and down the East Coast, if you have driven from anywhere

from South Carolina north down to Florida, then you're on 95, this announcement was the Georgia Peach World of UFC 300 main events. And what I mean by that is you see the sign. for it. And I can't even begin to tell you how many trips me and my family took to Florida. And we were like, we have to go to Georgia Peach World. We have to stop here. It looks like the most magical place on earth. It looks like the most magical place on earth. The dog will love it. The kid will love it. The family will love it. We'll get to eat peaches and fudge and chocolate and goodies. There's a farm and there's animals and all of it. Like it's a perfect place to stop on the highway of I-95.

One day we decided to stop at Georgia Beach World. It was not what we thought was. This magical place was basically just a store next to a gas station, but the peaches were still delicious. The food was incredible. The fudge was awesome. It was all good. But you were expecting more.

We were promised more. We still got really good stuff, but it just wasn't what we expected. That's what this UFC 300 main event is. It's still really good. And if you go there and you buy stuff that they advertise, you're going to be happy with the purchase. But if you were expecting a big farm and pumpkin patches and apple trees and vineyards and a big petting zoo, just a big acreaged area, you don't get that.

And that's what this is. still very good, but my socks are so on. My shoes didn't even unlace with this announcement. But it still doesn't mean it's going to be bad. I still think this is like a, if I'm rating it out of 10, it's like an A minus, which is fucking good these days. A minus is a damn good grade for a UFC pay-per-view event. If 298 was like a B-minus, a B, this is an A-minus A.

Easy. Easy. Not one bad fight on there. There's still one to be announced. I have no idea what it's going to be. But we'll see. We'll see. It's still going to be really good, guys.

I promise you. I know this thing didn't land the way we hoped, but it's still really good. I think you guys are going to enjoy it. Boating for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo.

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Lee, do we have you? Hey, Mike, how you doing? Good, how are you? Pretty good. I've just got two quick questions. One, with, you know, everybody's kind of seeing it with how Dana's not really, seeming like he's into the UFC promotion anymore.

How much longer do you think we have before Hunter Campbell takes over as, you know, Dana's full-time replacement? And then two, if Alex's, you know, with how Alex's Pereira is going on this kind of run, I know he lost to Izzy,

but I know he's saying he wants to do the quickest turnaround in history, how would you feel if he did, like if they did make the Aspinall-Pere fight for 3-0. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Have a heck of the rest of your day. Yeah, so that was something else that got mentioned.

Like, what are we going to do for 301? And that's what I think is I was going to talk about. I figured I was going to get a question about it. Alex Pereira wants to fight a 300 and then turn around a flight of 301. And good on him for saying that, but I would be stunned if that happens. I just don't see a world where he just 16 seconds Jamal Hill. I mean, it could. He could just kick him in the leg a whole bunch.

and maybe Jamal just kind of collapses with maybe that Achilles is in 100% healed or whatever. I don't know. But I just don't see that happening. And even if it does, like, who's he going to fight? I mean, maybe Uri or Rackage would turn it around. I don't know. I don't know. I wouldn't do Asphidal on that card because what I would do for 301, if it could happen,

we got 299 coming up in two weeks. in 16 days Jelton Almeida is fighting Curtis Blades and I think if you're the UFC you are hoping Jeltsin Al Mada wins that fight because then he could do Jailton Al Mada versus Tom Asfadol for that interim heavyweight title in the main event and I think that's fine. You do that and you do Pantosia

and somebody else like dude Almada versus Asphidal is redonculus that's crazy. I think that would make people happy if we get that fight. But he's got to take care of business Jelts and Almeida that is. and Curtis Blades is no joke. This is the big test.

This is the one we all wanted to see. To answer your other question about Dana and Hunter, Hunter is the guy, everybody. I don't know if you guys, like, Hunter's the dude. Dana's the face, but Hunter is the guy. Hunter's running the company right now from a business perspective. Like Dana's doing the deals. He probably has a lot to do with the sponsorships.

But when it comes to, like, putting, fights together and getting people on board, it's Hunter Campbell that's doing it. Ilya, after the Josh Emmett fight, that was the final fight on his contract. Not a lot of people knew about it. Who flew to Spain to get that deal done? It wasn't Dana. It was Hunter Campbell. Hunter is the guy.

If you're wondering, like, who's the guy who puts these fights together? It is not Dana White. Once in a while, Dana will come through and put people over the goal. But it is Hunter Campbell. He is the guy running the company right now. And Dana is the promoter. It's been that way for a while. Hunter is there.

When will Dana be done? I don't know. I think he's going to do this until the day he dies. I think he's going to do it forever. And I think a lot of his motivation right now is, I can't even tell you what it is. But I think a lot of it is like to stick it to the media.

They just, he's just, I'm not going anywhere. You know what I mean? Like, I think there's a piece of that. You look at him at, like look at him every day.

Every day he's on Instagram, finding some sort of headline that he disapproves and calls it out. That's what he does. But look at the difference between UFC Dana and Power Slap Dana. It's a totally different cat. It's a totally different guy. It's like the difference between. UFC Mike Perry and BKFC Mike Perry.

UFC Mike Perry was like, all right, I got to go in there and like, I don't want to fucking talk to anybody or talk to the media or do anything. I'm just on a mission to win and be a fighter. BKFC, Mike Perry is a star with a big smile on his face who's motivated to be a fucking star. And that's just, I don't know. And look, I don't blame Dana for that. He's been doing this forever. Like how many more, like what is a challenge to him

from a UFC business perspective. What is the next challenge for him? They've won. He's won. PowerSlapp is at least a different thing. Like, oh, I want to do this thing that people think won't be popular and I'll make it popular. And he's doing the businesses, doing the hollerhead and he's the happy dad, he's partnering with the knelt boys on a million things. He's playing blackjack.

Like, dude seems like he's living his best life right now. So, I don't know, but you can tell, like, he's just not, just not as into it anymore. And he doesn't have to be. He doesn't have to be. I don't need, we don't need Dana at the press conference, like the pre-fight press conferences. John Anick does an incredible job. He should be doing all of them. And Dana should be doing the post-fight press conferences.

Like, what they did for 298 to me was perfect. It was absolutely perfect. let Anick be the guy. Let Anick be the voice before the fight. And when the fight's over, Dana goes down and he answers the questions. And that's it. How long is it going to last? I think it's going to last until he physically can't do it anymore.

And I still think there's part of this that excites him. I still think like the Tuesday matchmaker meetings, like he's enjoying it. Like goes in there and he gets ramped up a little bit. But just the rest of like the promoter stuff, I think he's kind of. of over it. Power slap is like a whole different post-fight press conference. People are asking him about hands of blackjack and just like not real questions, just fun questions that he just wants to shoot the shit about. And that's fine. That's totally fun. But burnout's real and it's, I don't even think he's burnt out. I just think he's like, okay. I just don't feel, I don't know, there's not a lot of,

there's not a lot for him to accomplish here. I mean, they've won the game. They're in fucking ESPN. They're making a billion dollars a year. Dude just won the game. Like, he has fucking won the game. Cash to God. Go ahead.

Hey, Michael. I gotta say his famous bald bitch. Okay. Let's go to Toke. Tote, hello, my friend. The voice for one and a half weeks. So, uh, that's basically. to be why I've been gone. So up is down, left is right. CLC is better than Destiny's

child. And Dana is putting his full weight in approval behind Marab and Leon Edwards. I mean, this world is crazy, upside down. What do you think made him kind of get behind Marab after all this time? Because, and just to say that he is next. Because, because, you know, Kind of for me, he didn't have to do that. I mean, I don't see who else could overtake Mirab. But is it just the Marab? He saw the metrics lately on Marab's Instagram and how he dismantled Henry Sehudo, of course.

Is it just that he's now a bigger commodity and he's more over than before, even without UFC's help because they have not helped build Maraub's cachet, I guess. So, yeah, that's basically it for me, Mike, and don't go chasing waterfalls.

What about your friends, Toke? What about your friends? I mean, you nailed it. I don't really have much to add to that. I mean, Marab got himself over. Did you hear the reaction he got in fucking Anaheim? Like, he was the most popular fighter on the card. And that, I mean, what can you do there?

Like, what can you do? If you're dating, you just have to take it. Even if, like, you don't, you have to take the win. Marab got himself over. The social media stuff was incredible. Everything he did. And even, like, even for me, I didn't think we'd get here. I thought Marab was going to take the Balal route.

forever. But Marab is showing personality. He's funny as hell. The videos are great. And he did this all on his own. Without any promotional help whatsoever, Marab did it on his own. And the fans appreciated the shit out of it. And the pops he was getting all week, you cannot ignore that. As, you know, as stubborn as you can be sometimes, you can't ignore success. You can't ignore it. And Marab has won 10 in a row and people give a shit now.

After the Peyot-Rion fight, nobody cared. No one cared. They cared. They were like, damn. Like, he ran over Peotter-Yon. Like, nobody does that. We're impressed. But then it turned into, well,

fight your friend. No, you don't want to fight your friend? Well, you know, I feel. if you don't take fights. But I think Marav has just been on fire. He's handling it perfectly, and he got himself over, and he put himself in this position.

He made himself undeniable is what he did. And kudos to him. He did a great job. Good on him. And I'm excited to see what happens. I don't know what's going to happen with Sean O'Malley. I can assure you, Sean O'Malley's not going to call him Mara.

I feel pretty confident in that. And again, I don't think he's ducking Marab. I think he sees more value in Marab now than he did before. I think he looked at Marab as an interesting challenge, but a guy that draws nothing from a business sense. Dude wants to fight dudes who draw interest and can make him more money. And he didn't feel like Marab did. It went from like, nah, I don't need to fight him to, yeah,

if I have to fight him, I will. if Sean O'Malley goes out dusts up Cheeto in two weeks time he ain't call him Maraubo he's calling fucking Iliots pour you out he's going to do it and it's not going to be good and or he's going to call it like Jervante Davis or something

dude's going to try to get a bag that's just the nature of the business right now but I do think he ends up fighting Marab and that fight's real interesting that fight's real interesting. There's a lot of people out there that think Marab is just going to dust up Sean. I think that fights more competitive

than you think it is. I think O'Malley's striking prowess could give Marab problems. Marab is a little reckless on the feet. And Sean's got pretty decent takedown defense. And if it gets to the ground, he's a squirly son of a bitch down there. I mean, if this turns into a Marab

sprint and he just starts not giving O'Malley a second to breathe and he's able to land a bunch of takedowns, it's Marab's fight to lose. But when they get in those striking exchanges, there's going to be a ton of openings for Sean, a ton of them. So that is a much more interesting fight than people think it's going to be. But good on you, Marab.

You have done it. And I honestly think Bilal Mohammed should be number, I think Marab should be number one on Bilal speed dial. Ballal should be blowing up Marab's phone five times a day. Help me. How did you do this? Can I do the same? How should I approach it?

One million percent. And yes, Leon Edwards getting some props too. Didn't think we'd live in that day. Another guy who got himself over did it on his own. He became undeniable. And then you offered him three names for UFC 300, none of which for Balal. And it's fucking insane. it's crazy.

But now Leon will probably fight Bilal. And I think with this putting of Leon over, I think Leon will kind of have the power to decide when and where that fight happens. Maybe it happens in June. Maybe they do it 302. I'm okay with that. Do it in Newark where people just hate Balal. Remember the reaction he got when he fought Gilbert Burns?

He is not a very popular fella in Newark. So you could do it there, but we'll see how it plays out. But yes, what an interesting turn of events. Jaystab, go ahead. Hernandez versus Ikron fight. I really want them to reboot that because I think that's a real good fight. So anyway, that'd be all. I'd love to see it.

I think Anthony is past that now. Even though I think Ikra-Malaskaroff is a top-10 middleweight in the world right now, I think he beats a lot of guys in the top 15. I think he beats a good chunk of guys in the top 10, even with just a small UFC sample size. I am that high on Icarat. The problem is getting him in the octagon or getting his opponents. Dudes just had a little bit of bad luck.

So they have given Icrum some opportunities here. They booked him against Paulo. Well, they announced him fighting Paula Costa. And what did I tell you? Like literally the day after on this here program. There's no way that fight happens. No chance. And it didn't.

And they gave him like some other opportunities. I think Nasorine Imovov got hurt. And he ended up fighting somebody else, Worley Alves, and just dusted him. But this is a great fight. I love the matchmaking here. But it's unfortunate. So I think Anthony is on to bigger and better things, at least as of right now. And Iqram, I mean, Iqram you could do.

like a Roman Delizze or you know even if you want to do like Gregory Rodriguez type like that's fine but before Ickram gets back in that conversation he's got to get in there and win Anthony went in there and won and beat a really good guy beat a guy who's on a four-fight finish streak looked really good doing it

fun ass fight and I think Anthony I think people are starting to recognize how good Anthony Hernandez could be at 185 pounds so yeah I think Anthony has separated himself from the pack. Would I like to see it? Of course. Of course I would like to see it, but I don't think we're going to get it next. Give me Hernandez versus Jack Hermanson next. I'm fine with that. I think he's earned a fight like

that. Brent, go ahead. Hey, Mike, you can hear me, right? I can. I am also calling to talk about Anthony Fluffy Hernandez. And basically how much I enjoyed his interview on the MMA hour yesterday. Like, he is a really interesting guy for this modern day or for this day of UFC. Like, he didn't even know who Ariel and the MMA hour was. Like, it was pretty funny. Hearing him talk about his upbringing, you know, scrapping as a kid and all that stuff. Basically recommend anybody who didn't listen to that interview, go check it out.

And, yeah, that's pretty much all I got. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, at this point, like my role with the site has changed because of the MMA hour, which, by the way, as I've said, many, many times, I'm not complaining about that. I got to go, I get to do some really interesting and fun things. I get to talk to you guys three times a week, which is awesome. So I don't do as many interviews as I usually do. Like, I pick and choose. Like, it seems like from now, like I'll get a fighter here and there, but it just seems like my role is, let's do an anic chat before a pay-per-view. Let's do a

Lorisanko chat after the pay-per-view. And people seem to like, that. And I like doing that as well because they're not interviews. They're just discussions. We hit record and we talk about stuff that's going on. And that's the world I want to live in more than anything. So, but as a, as someone who has done a lot of interviews and someone who has had to book shows, I'm always curious to see what that lineup is going to look like. And I know what the lineup is before all of you guys do because we find out what it is. and I need to know beforehand because if I do book interviews

I don't want to double book. So if I, let's just say, like I had Anthony Hernandez booked for today, but Anthony's going on the M.A. I'm not going to talk to Anthony too because it's going on the MMA hour. Why would I do that? So I was just waiting and hoping

that Anthony's name would pop up on that lineup. And it did when I saw it. And I was like, thank God. because people are going to see what this guy is all about. I've been talking to Anthony Hernandez for years, four years, and he is a super interesting guy. I did like a quick chat with him the day after that crazy-ass submission win, like out of nowhere.

I got talked to him like right after. It was the day after, and he was just off his rocker. It was incredible. He's just a super interesting guy. and I'm glad he got that spotlight, glad people got to get to know him a little bit more, especially the newer fans. He's fun.

He's fun across the board, and I think the skill set is catching up. His pace is unbelievable. He's going to be tough to be. He's going to be a very tough out at 185 pounds. That's why I say, like, give him a Jack Kermanston. Let's see what he's got. Like, if you want to be a tough out,

want to see if a guy in the middleweight division is a top 10 fighter, you give him Jack. And if he beats Jack, like, guys who beat Jack or Manson usually go on to do big things for the most part. So let's throw him in there and see what he's got. And if you beat Jack Ramanson, then we, like, just think of the fucking fights we can get what Anthony Hernandez. We can be living in a world where we get Anthony Hernandez versus Hamza-Chayev. Anthony Hernandez versus Robert Whitaker.

Like, those fights are awesome. them. So give him to me. But we got to get, let's give him a rank guy, let's give him a step up. He's earned it. Give him Jack Herbanson. I don't even care. It's at the fucking apex. Do it. 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 Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. Four corner sports, go. Hey, I'm really interested for this, for two of the fights outside of the main event on this card. The co-main event, Rodriguez versus Ortega, because I was there in attendance to see that live and um really in going into that first fight ortega was a heavy favorite i think he closed

down on like a minus 190 maybe minus 200 and yeah you had the advantages on the feet um you know striking wise to speed you know watching it again on tape it just felt like ortega you know still you know allows himself to be like a human punching bag up until he can you know establish and of grappling control and I feel like what's it called as he's getting older and you know less time in the octagon that maybe possibly ring rust I feel like you know these deficiencies that he carries will not get any better so I feel like for Rodriguez you know is a favorite coming into this card I don't know you know what's your opinion on that the second thing I wanted to talk about the card was Roe Rose's Jr. versus Ricky Terseusio's

how long do you see that fight lasting I feel like this is a very favorable matchup for Rao Rosa Jr. I know that he's a big star. I remember hearing Jose Young saying that he's very famous over there. And this is, you know, a very good matchmaking that Hunter Campbell did. And then lastly, I saw then Nate Diaz posted a picture of Leon Edwards when he ended up pointing at him saying train to go. It really makes me wonder, you know, like if you would have finished Leon Edwards, how different the Lansom. of the USC would be right now because obviously Leon would have never got that title shot and you know it makes you wonder like who would be at Walt's weight you know as a champion now especially with the the whole landscape of the USC that's all I got for you thanks uh yeah it's interesting but they didn't finish them so it's tough to go down that rabbit hole and then even then like what if Leon doesn't kick Kamar Usman in the face and the

fifth round. Like we're still, we're probably still in a world where Kamara Usman is the welterweight champion through either of those things. So, but Leon did it. Leon did it and delivered one of the craziest moments we've ever seen. Raul Roes Jr., Ricky Terseos, let me see what the betting odds are. I think Raul Roos Jr. should win this rather easily. It's just a terror, like this is a really tough fight for Ricky. Roller Rouser Jr. minus 2.18.

I actually think there's value there on Roller Roses Jr. I think he's just going to get a bunch of takedowns. And I think he probably submits Ricky Tersios in this fight pretty quickly. So I would say within the first six minutes,

it's just, Raul's really good. You know, you had the step back against Christian Rodriguez, who's really good fighter, just has a hard time making weight. And I think Raul learned a lot

from that fight, and now he's going to fight in front of his home countrymen, place he's fought many, many times in Mexico City. I think he should do just fine here. I think he should do just fine. It's good matchmaking. Like, he's just going to shine more than likely. And then the line flip on Yair and Ortega, that doesn't surprise me. Ortega is off a long layoff.

But there has been money coming in on Ortega from a betting perspective all week. What I looked at it earlier, Yair was, I think it was like Monday. Yair was like a minus 180. Now he's down to a minus 148. So I think people are starting to find some value on Brian Ortega. I just never, I try to avoid Brian Ortega fights altogether from a betting perspective because you just, you never know what guy's going to show up. All the times I've seen Brian Ortega fight, I don't know how good he is.

He could be great. he could be just a fine fighter who overachieved. I don't know. I truly don't know. And this fight got a whole lot more interesting because of what happened on Saturday night

with Ilya winning the belt. And I think if Yaiyar wins, they're absolutely going to make that fight next. And they should. Bright Artega wins. Could they go that route? Sure. I mean, if it goes out and just wrecks Yaiir, it's going to

to be hard to deny him. But I think if your mobsar of Lov, you're hopeful that you're hoping Brian Ortega wins and wins in a like a bloody, a bloody battle where he's out for a hot minute. I think that's what you kind of hope for. But it's a good fight. I think, yeah, you're wins, but again, I have no idea what to expect from Brian Ortega. Emswalia, go ahead. So, Mark, Mark, I go morning. Two questions. Firstly, there's a lot of, one more announcement for USC 300 it's yet to be made if I'm not wrong based of the reports it's not a main card fight but it's a prelim fight do you have any

insights on that what they're possibly working on and if not do you still have any matchups you would like to see regarding that whether it could be from the flyweight division or the maybe the Walterweight or whatnot for me personally I I would love to see them put Kai Carlin-Carpre on there. I think that's the perfect fight to make, in my opinion. They don't really have a flyway mills fight on that entire card as far as I know. And, you know, they're probably going to do a really big, massive press conference for this event alone. So let's see.

You know, they're going to trash talk, be a little bit of hype up for their fight, whatnot. I love that. Another thing I just want to ask or kind of briefly touch on was a convoyat early by Dana White with his, I guess, purpose now. as a promoter. I still think he does have very big determination goals he wants to achieve for the company. He keeps talking about UFC Africa, you know, places like U.C. Spain, Mexico, you know, with the whole PI, one do the, like all the, I guess, the Mexican independence and the sphere stuff.

Like when I see him talk about that kind of stuff, I can see that's a very determined and motivated man who will do whatever it takes to make the biggest event. Like he comes from very genuine passions, right? And he also still mentions how he wants to grow the sport, but especially the brand of you see big and put out more stars. Like I saw this from his interview yesterday with some NFL player, I forgot his name, but he played with the Patriots. He's a really good friend of the day.

Julian Edelman. Come on. Yeah, Julian Edelman. Yeah, that interview, yeah. That was really good interview, by the way. But he was talking about how, like, you know, he wants to build more momentum for the sport because he feels like there's so much that he's envisioned since 2000.

one that they have yet to achieve. And I can see that happening. I do agree with a lot of things. Everyone really says, because he definitely doesn't have the same grasp he used to, like maybe compared to five or six years ago where he was really genuinely invested in the press conference stuff. But I still think that man wants to do as much as it can

before he hangs the gloves. And I think he can do it. I really believe he can. If we have come to a point where the U.S. was ever become bigger during COVID win, but I think no one expected it. Absolutely no one. And, you know, even things like, you know,

Abu Dhabi becoming a yearly thing, Madison Square Garden being a headline. I think he can do whatever he wants, and he's definitely going to pull those things off. I definitely can see that. Thanks, man, that's all. I have a great day. Maybe.

I don't know, man. Like, you can't, you can't just look at him and be like, dude, he's all in on the UFC. You can't. Like anybody, even the, even the biggest Dana White fan can't look at Dana at a press cop, like at a post-fight press conference to be like, yeah, this guy is all in on the UFC right now. You can't do it. You can't.

And that's fine. Again, he's in his 50s. Dude's won the race. He wants to just be happy doing stuff. And that's okay. He's earned that right. but again you cannot watch a build to a power slap event compare it to the build to a UFC event and think it's the same it's just not

like that Dana is fucking that's like the Dana you saw before the Connor McGregor Floyd Mayweather fight and even then this is 2016 even then we're like holy shit where is that guy been. We've been waiting, we've been searching for that guy for five years. Like, this isn't a new thing, guys. This isn't a new thing. This has been going on for like a decade. But now there's, there's just more and more people. I'll tell you what would really help in this, in this thing, okay? I, and I've been thinking about this. And I, look, I, I, I don't think this is ever, ever, ever going to happen. but this is what I would want to do if I was afforded the opportunity.

I would love to sit in a room with Dana White. He can film it. I can film it. Who gives a fuck? And we just talk about the relationship between him and the media. That's it. And we try to work it out. Because there was a time where Dana and the media worked side.

by side, we're tanned in hand. And it's not that like we helped each other, but the passion on both sides was there. It wasn't like the UFC versus the media. It wasn't Dana versus the media. It wasn't the media versus the UFC and Dana. It was more of a collective sort of understanding of how to build the sport. And what a lot of people don't know, especially the newer fans, even fans that came in during like the tough era or even the Connor McGregor era is that when Dana and the

Furtigda's first spot the UFC it was not them that kept this sport afloat it was the media that kept this sport afloat it was the sure dogs and the the the undergrounds the OG sites like those were the ones that kept this sport alive in terms of getting people interested and excited It was always, and in the end, we all want the same thing. I want to be able to call my friends who cover other sports and tell them, I fucking told you so, this sport is way bigger than you thought it was going to be. I want to be able to tell these, I would love to make those phone calls and say, stick it up your ass, you were wrong the whole time.

because when weird dumb shit happens, I have to hear from them. You guys all, see, your sport is always what I thought it was. And I have to hear the bullshit from them. And I'm like, well, I can't really argue with you because it's right there. There's no defense.

I would love to be in a world where the UFC in International Flight Week and big tent pole events are mentioned in the same sentence as the NBA 5. finals and the Super Bowl. Like, that's a world I want to live in. I would love to live in a world where PFL is like a viable threat. But they are so far away from it. It's not even funny.

I want the sport to be as big as it could possibly be. And I think my idea of just getting in a room with Dana and just, I want to know his issues. I'll tell him mine. We'll figure it out. two Boston guys in a room, things are going to get a little heated. But in the end, it's going to be like a fight outside of a Boston bar where you just go in there, you throw some hands.

And at the end, you just can be like, all right, cool, we're done. Respect. And then maybe something can come out. I think Dana is, especially with like some of the things that I've seen on like Instagram and stuff, like the whole Izzy Homestat rumor that he shot down, like none of the actual MMA media sites reported that fight. Like, we didn't report that fight. Junkie didn't report that fight.

I mean, maybe they did. I don't know. We sure as fuck didn't. Like, we didn't report that. You can't paint everybody with the same brush. And I think there's a world where we could all live in, it's never going to be harmony. But Dana also has to understand that, like, if you want to be compared to these other sports,

then the coverage has to be fair and impartial. It can't be all glowing and it can't be all negative. You have to find a middle ground, but you need to be able to do both because that's what happens

in every sport. And it seems that Dana wants positive PR 1,000% of the time. And it's just not realistic. It's not that he wants it. It's almost like he demands it. And it just doesn't work that way.

Which is kind of funny to think about because Dana grew up in Boston. I guarantee you we listen to Boston Sports Radio like I did. Like every other male in Boston over the last 40 years, listen to sports radio and listening to the hosts, talk good when things are good and talk bad when things are bad. When good things happened, we put it over. when bad things happened, the fans shit on it and the host shit on it. What's the difference? Are we not the same?

Why can't we? Why can't the coverage be negative if bad stuff happens? I don't understand. And that's the whole miss here. That's the whole miss. Even the whole COVID thing. The video that the UFC put out, you guys am sure remember that video, AK was a part of that video, where it was presented as the media tried to kill the UFC during COVID,

when in reality, that was not the case at all. When they announced that they were going to go ahead and do this, all we wanted to know is, okay, great, it's not that we don't think you can do it. I just want to know how you're going to do it. We just want to know how. What are the protocols going to look like? How is the testing going to work? When do you test?

How often do you test? What if somebody gets COVID? Like, these are just questions you ask. These are just normal questions. No one was like, oh, the UFC is, I mean, there are some people out there that cook the UFC and like shame on you and stuff. The New York Times is of the world. They did that. But for us, like, even, like, all those clips they used in that video were just like, they just twisted it around.

Like, they didn't hear the whole thing. Were we worried about potential risks? Sure. But all we wanted to know is what it was going to be like once they got there. We were concerned about the safety of the fighters and the media that were covering the goddamn events. That's all. And it turned it to, oh, fuck the media. They're trying to kill the company.

Come on, man. It just got so out of hand. It really did. It really just got out of hand. Like, this is sports. this is how it works. If you are, if like you're just an MMA fan and you're never a fan of other sports,

go leave MMA for six months and go follow another sport, I will guarantee you. You will come back here and be like, okay, this is not as bad as, this is not the same. It's way more negative in other sports. Trust me, it's way more negative.

but it's honestly a 30 for 30 on Dana's relationship with the media and getting like both sides of the story would be incredibly fascinating. It really would. But hey, I laid out, I'm laying it out there. Dana and I in a room, I'll be the media spokesperson. We just chat. We ain't going to talk about anything else. We're just going to talk about this. When did it start?

When did your relationship sour with the media? Why do you paint us all with the same brush? And I want to hear what he has to say. Like we never get an answer. It's always, so why do you hate the media? Because they're scumbags. Well, why are they scumbags? I just don't fucking like them.

That's not a reason. I want to know why. How did it start? I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I would do that in five seconds because we never got an actual answer. Matt, go ahead. All right. So I have two things. I'm going to tell you about one fight that I'm excited for next week.

And then I'm going to tell you about one thing that just grinds my fucking gears, Mike. So I'm really excited for the Matt Schnell versus Steve Ersig fight next week. Matt Chanel is a fucking dog, and I cannot wait. All of his fights are always a blast to watch. And the thing that really grinds my gears is that let's say that, You know, I want to take y'all's advice and not watch a card live. And I want to go back later and watch it. If I go to my ESPN Plus, it tells me the exact length that every fight is. And that drives me fucking bananas.

Because if a fight, if it says it's the last 12 minutes, it's obviously not going to go past the second round. It's like watching a football game and knowing exactly what's going to happen. It's like, what is the point? I am just such a fiend that I have. have to watch it live. I'd hate it when it's getting ruined. But that is just something that grinds my gears is that ESPN ruins the content for anybody who hasn't seen it before. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how to avoid that, honestly.

It just depends. Like, if it's, like, if it's UFC Austin, I'd watch every single fight. Like, I would just go find the actual card and watch it, start to finish. I would just go watch it. But like an apex card, like, we saw like a couple weeks ago. which is not good. That's one of those ones where I would prefer to just be like, okay, what are the fights I need to watch?

Because I don't think I want to sit through seven hours at this. And so I guess there's like pros and cons to both. But if I'm new, I just try to avoid it all together and just, I don't know how, like, ESPN Plus, like the only thing I've really done is just, oh, this golf tournament's on. All right, I put it on. or the UFC's events about start. All right, I'll put it on.

So I haven't really, there are very few times I've actually like gone back and like, oh, I need to go find this specific fight the day after and watch it. I usually kind of get the gist of it. And that's sort of the beauty of social media too. It's like, I kind of know what already happened. And it's, I'm okay with it. But different strokes for different folks. I would see if you could just avoid that all together and watch the entire card.

But I don't even know how you can do that. and yes, I agree with you, Matt Chanel Steve Versaig is great. Someone asked you earlier about what I think the other fight for UFC 300 is going to be. I have no fucking idea. I honestly have no clue. Santino, go ahead.

Hey, Mike, I have a good morning. How's it going? Good. I just got a couple things. I want to touch on 298. We've got a lot of time to talk before 299 and 300. I heard someone mentioned, and I had to leave before, so I apologize if I missed.

I'm going to mention about how Maraub, came a star in my opinion. I think he had one of the most wow moments that I've seen in a while when he picked a two division champion, a former two division champion up on his shoulders, waving on the crowd as he does it. Like he picked him up like he was a toddler and then walked him across the ring. If it was a wrestling match, I would guess a holy shit chant would have blown through the roof there. But that thing, that was insane to me. I think that got him over so much and Dana saw that made him undeniable also dominating those last two rounds um so marab is is the man for that uh i think the the gary fight i thought gary won i didn't have a problem with any of those

three judges scorecards i thought one and two were very close those rounds i thought three was clear gary i don't understand why everyone has to say robbery in a close fight it's kind of get into a cry wolf situation where we can't really use the word anymore because it's getting overplayed. I wanted your thoughts on those two. And then the last one I had was the Volk fight. I haven't watched it again, but during the fight, I picked Volk to win. I love Volk.

I thought he looked pretty good, but even though I gave him round one on volume, I thought Ilya looked really good in that first round. He looked better than Volk. He was controlling the middle of the Octagon to me. He had Volk on his back foot a little bit. His head was exposed a lot more. Volk was getting in shots, but it just looked like Ilya was very explosive on every hook that he threw. And while he was missing, it wasn't that far.

And I was getting nervous because I did bet on Volk. And I was like, it seems like it's only a matter of time because Ilya looked really good. Just wanted your thoughts on those couple things. Have a good one. Yeah, man, Marab looked great. The moment would suck. I mean, that's the stuff people talk about. I mean, Maraba's already over and already looked like a star anyways, just all week with the reactions he was getting.

But then to do that to Henry Suhudo, like he deflated Henry Sehudo, like literally. And we still don't have any word like on whether or not he's going to retire or not. I would say I'm probably like 50-50 on it, but I don't know. This is not much for Henry anymore. It seems like Henry doesn't seem like the kind of guy that just like wants to have fun. fights. Seems like Henry wants to be a champion. And his road is going to

be a super long one. And I don't know. I'm not going to let's say. The Ian Gary fight, I scored it, I mean, I haven't gone back and rewatched it and I don't think I'm going to. It wasn't all that thrilling.

But it was still like, I thought Gary looked good. I thought Gary looked really good. I did. Was it the most exciting fight of all time? No. But man, that kid is something when that cage door closes. Now, when he has a microphone in his face, I understand the trepidation people have when it comes to that. I get it. I get it.

He's not for everybody. Totally understand it. But it's very hard to look good against Jeff Neal. Like even Shafcott had problems with Jeff Neal. Shofcott ended up winning and that fight ended up being incredibly fun. But it is hard to look really good against. against him. It's very difficult.

And I thought Ian fought a very smart tactical fight. People just hate him. People just hate Ian Gary. I don't know why I was a robbery either. Even if Jeff Neal won, I would have been like, eh, don't necessarily agree with that, but in close fight. I scored it 3027 Gary,

watching it live, doing the watch party, which is very difficult to do. Because you're trying to like, you can't just sit there and say nothing. and stare at the screen and not say anything. You have to like try to speak and be entertaining because no one wants to watch you just sit there watching the fights. They want to know what the fuck's going on.

So it's a little tougher to score, but three was clear, Gary. Two was close and one was super close too. I just thought, I think a lot of those shots Jeff threw, and looked like it landed, didn't. And I think Ian landed a lot more than people thought it did. That step and knee, those short little elbows he was throwing,

those are landing every single time. But they were so quick, people kept missing it. But I think a lot of it is, one, the gambling community. Gambling is so big in MMA right now. I think a lot of people took dog shots on Jeff Neal, and I actually don't blame you for that. and two people just hate you in people say they're

I don't know if you're going to get a lot of robbery talk if it was 3027 Jeff and then yeah I thought I thought Volk looked really good I thought I thought Ilya looked really good too in that first round Volk started off great Ilya turned it around

Volk got a read started getting some momentum and then round two Volk looked great but you could see Ilya getting closer and closer and as soon as Volk's backwards against the fence it was over and I think Volk kind of saw that coming too we'll take two more super duper quickly

emo go ahead hey Mike heck of a morning I follow you on Twitter so saw you playing some golf with Mike Perry so I don't know if he's joining the team but congratulations on your first African American on screen team member and my question

for today was a lot of the talk around UFC 300 has been the main event that is disappointing, but I want to hear your take on the main event because I actually think it's pretty one-sided. It seems like it's going to be a striking battle. One of the strikers is a former world champion kickboxer.

So that's about it. Have a good one, Mike. It's a great fight. I love the fight. Again, I've been super high on this matchmaking. Just for every any other card.

I just, I don't know. There's a part of me that feels like Jamal Hill is coming back too soon. And if that's the case, like, Alex Perey is going to beat the shit out of him. Like, it's going to be bad. I just don't understand why we have to rush this fight. 301 would have been perfect for it.

But here we are. I'm picking Alex Pereira right now because I just, I have those questions about Jamal Hill right now. But Jamal can hit really, really hard. And we've seen Alex Pereer get deaded by Israel out of Sanya. So could Jamal Hill knock on Alex Perr? Of course he could.

But that's my biggest thing about this fight is I just good on Jamal, man, for coming back as quickly as he did from an injury like that. like most people that I know who have had torn Achilles, like they're out for a year. They're out for 14 months. Some are never the same again. And this is nine months after he tore his Achilles. Coming back and fighting Alex Pereira of all people,

that's a lot to ask for. And Jamal's going to make a whole bunch of money. He's going to make a lot of money to fight at UFC 3. So good on them. But I have concerns. I have concerns. And the Mike Perry thing was just fun. You're going to see more of that, too, by the way.

I know we filmed one with Chris Widman and never aired. I think I explained why. There's just too much going on with it. And I had to film it all myself and do everything by myself. Luckily, with this one, we had the great Jed Bishu come out and help film it. and then Jed got to play some golf with us as well. But it is, whatever you think this is going to be,

it's probably better. Because it's great. It's just really fun stuff. And I'm excited to look at the footage that we shot from the golfing. But it's going to be good shit. And then we'll end with Baylor. Baylor real quick, and then I got to go. Okay, so I have two questions.

in this upcoming fight with Max Holloway and Justin Gache, who do you think has more to lose? And then also with Pereira talking on the MAA hour yesterday, do you think there's a real possibility that he gets a couple wins, defense his title at light heavyweight, and goes up and gets a heavyweight belt? Thanks, Mike. The second question, we'll see.

I don't know. Again, I think you guys know my stance on this, well enough at this blade. I don't want to see it. I could care less about champ champs. Maybe it's nothing to me anymore. It's just so overdone now. I want to see,

like I am more interested to see if Ilya can get seven title defenses than I am if I'm if I'mauporia can win the lightweight title. Like I'm so much more interested in that. You know what I mean? And I'm, like at least in Pereira's case, like he's in the bigger weight class,

And I'll say this about everybody. If Pereira wants to do that, more power to them. But vacate the title before you do it. And then I have no problem with it. Vacate the belt. Go up. Go do your thing. You do that?

I have no problem. Islam wants to go up to 170 and fight Leon Edwards for the welterweight title. Great. Go get it. But vacate the lightweight title. it doesn't change anything. It changes nothing when it comes to the stakes

and how people view you. Well, he's a two-division champion, but he didn't have him at the same time. Nobody is going to say that. They're going to be like, damn, this dude just went up in division, vacated his belt because he was so confident that he was going to win

that he gave up his other title and did it. Like, that's so much more impressive to me. So much more. Because if you go up and you'll lose and you still have that belt, you have something to fall back on. But if you put it all on the line for that move up, like there's just so much, it's just so much cooler. So much cooler.

So sure. Perey wants to go up. Cool. But just vacate the other belt. Just vacate the other belt. All right, I got to go. BTL coming up in an hour's time, 12.30 p.m. Eastern time. Jed will be back.

You'll be joining us from Tampa, Florida. And coming back to the program from the multi-time award-winning MMA program, Morning Combat, Brian Campbell will join us. Im and Jed, I'm sure we'll get after it quite a bit as we'll react to 298. We'll react to the 300 main event. We'll talk Mexico City, PFL versus Bellator. Again, no questions about BFL versus Bellator in a single one. What a time, my friends. What a time.

But thank you all very much. We're going to do a show tomorrow. I don't know what time yet. So stay tuned. I technically have the day off, but we will do something. It's either going to be late morning or early afternoon. So I don't even know if I'm going to even put out a teaser time. I just think we're going to do it.

So we'll see you sometime tomorrow. But until then, have a great rest of your Thursday. And have a heck of a morning, everybody. Thank you.