MMA Fighting - HOAM | Confidence Levels In Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler, Makhachev vs. Oliveira 2

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

There's a massive fight on the table between TUF 31 coaches Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler, but with Dana White's recent comments, McGregor not being in the USADA pool just yet, amongst others, do you have a lot of confidence in this fight being made? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on whether or not the bout takes place before the end of the year. Additionally, listener topics include the confidence levels in Charles Oliveira getting a lightweight championship rematch with Islam Makhachev after his UFC 289 performance against Beneil Dariush, Arman Tsarukyan's seemingly long road towards title contention, the UFC Vegas 75 main event between Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier, predictions for UFC pay-per-view main events for the final stretch of 2023, 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: 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 of 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. But it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MAFighting Twitter Space you can hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter

on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. Hi, everyone. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for joining. us on another edition of the program. There's obviously a lot going on this weekend with three big cards. Well, two, one really big card, one medium-sized card, and one less than medium-sized card. We have Bellator 297 tomorrow.

That's the big card. UFC Vegas 75 is the medium-sized card, but it's actually pretty good. Like if you look at that lineup, it's a pretty good lineup. I'm into it. There's a lot to like there. Compared to most of the Apex offerings, I'm a fan of it. We got Marvin Vittori versus Jared Kandineer, a very middle-weighty main event. But I think it's a good main event.

I think it's a good main event. We have two rank guys. They're fighting for position. They're fighting to kind of keep their spot. Doesn't appear like either of them will be. be getting a title shot with a win, but the positive of all of this is that we're not knocking off any contenders. We're not just chucking somebody in there with a vet to knock him out a title contention. It's just two highly ranked guys fighting. And I like that a lot. I'm a fan of

that. And plus the rest of the card is really solid. We went and looked at it Jose Youngs and I yesterday. By the way, there's going to be a preview show for the Bellator card, the UFC card, and the PFL card dropping on YouTube on the podcast network at 3 p.m. Eastern time. So stay tuned for that. But this UFC card's pretty solid. We got Armand Sarukin on there. Not the kind of fight we want to see from him. He's fighting Joachim Silva. And good for Joaquin for stepping up to the challenge.

We got CLD, Christian Leroy Duncan, Armin Petrosian, Pat Sabatini, Lucas Almeida is a friggin' banger. I love the Nicholas Bota Manuel Torres fight. I love the Muslim Salikov, Nicholas Dobby fight. Hione Barselaus, Miles John's good. Good fight. Jimmy Flick, trying to get back on track. I believe this is the last fight on his contract. So there's a lot on the line for him.

Now that he's out of retirement, there's just a lot to like about this car. Ronnie Lawrence, Daniel Argeta is fun. Modestis Bacoscus is back. Zalgas Zuma Gulov and that incredible head of hair. He's back at it. This is a pretty good card. This is a pretty good card.

The Bellator card is the most interesting of the weekend, in my opinion. And then we have the PFL on Friday as well. Anti-Delijah versus Maurice Green, the main event. And with Maurice Green on the card, one would suspect that one John Jones might make the trip to Atlanta to support his teammate. We got Larissa Pacheco back. She's fighting Amber LeBrock in the co-main event.

We got Biaggio Ali Walsh. Another AMI fight. PFL really pushing him. Aspen Ladd in a must-win situation. Not a bad card. The weaker of the three, if we're being honest, but it's still not a bad card. So there's a lot going on in the world of mixed martial arts.

And we're here to talk all about that. So if you guys got thoughts, comments, questions, bring them on, see a couple people waiting. It looks like Crystal is in. This would be a first time. I don't know if it's for real or if it's, a mistake, but, Crystal, hello. You're muted right now.

No, I think it was a mistake. Well, if it's not, come back. Please. Love to hear from you. Four Corner Sports. Hello. Hey, good morning, Mike. So, you mentioned Jimmy Flick entering the last fight of his deal. Now, I guess if you were, like, cornering him or coaching him,

would you advise him to seriously consider going out of Bellethorne? Just because now that Bellasert ended opening up, have, what's the quote, bigger and better opportunities as to maybe potentially reaching a title shot over there. Just because after his loss to Charles Johnson, I had high hopes on him before retirement and then losing to Charles Johnson.

I just thought that it eliminated a lot of the final. But, yeah, instantly ran through my mind. for the I'm in the Sruki It sucks That nobody wants to fight Come in I kind of heard

His media days Come And how He mentioned I think It was Grant Dawson That didn't want to fight him Dan Hooker

Was one of the names And Are we going to come To a point Where he's getting Like the Islam Treatment Where

He's gonna be Having to take Like these Unranked And he fought Drew Dover And stuff like that Is he going to be

Taking that same Avenue And what it seems Like Just because He fought a gamron. He fought, what's the , what's the called, Izma Gullah.

And those were all very challenging fights, and they're the ones that actually stepped up, but it doesn't seem like no Porre, no Darius, or no Gajee, has any interest on putting their name in, you know, in the Armin's Ruki and sweepstakes.

And I'm actually intrigued that this card is coming up. I know you're not a fan, that's at 10 o'clock, but prediction, what time you think this this card's going to be officially over. I'm predicting maybe around 1.15 a.m. But that's all I got to say.

Thanks, Mike. Yeah, it's going to be a late one. Six fights. Plus we get Vittori Cananeer. You know that's going five rounds. But I guess there is the chance that a lot of these other main card fights could finish quick. Because we got a lot of finishers on this card. We got a lot of exciting guys, a lot of get-or-get-got guys on this card.

So maybe it ends 1230, 1245, but I'm thinking probably right around where you're thinking, 1, 115. And it's just a matter of like when the Salikoff-Dalby fight kicks off because there's six fights on the main card. So it'll be a late one. But I like to be positive as much as I can. And the good news is we get an ABC card next Saturday.

So while we have a late one this weekend, we had a late one last weekend, we get a super early one next weekend. I think it's a 3 p.m. main card in Jacksonville. So sign me the hell up for that. I'm good. I'm good there. And then it's on to July 1st

in the Sean Strickland, Abis Magamadoff made event, and then it's on to International Fight Week. But this card, like honestly, if you're going to give me a 10 p.m. main card and a six-fight main card, you could do a lot worse than this. I do like this card quite a bit.

The Serucan thing's interesting. It's just, like, it's just tough, man. Like, everyone knows how good this guy is. I often wonder what his career trajectory would be right now, had he gotten that decision against Batush Gamron. And I've talked about this fight a million times in the show. It was my favorite fight of 2022. I've watched

it a million times. Every time I've watched it, I've scored it for Sirukian, but it's not like a robbery or anything like that. It was just a super high-level fight that was really, really close. But I thought Tarukian won that fight. Then Tarukin

would have got the Darius fight, and who knows, that would be really interesting if he beat Darius. He might be fighting for a belt right now. It's crazy to think about. But he gets the side of a splitie. And now he fought to Mir is Isma Gulov, which is a tough matchup.

And now he's taking an even bigger step back against Joachim Silva. And Joaquin is a fine fighter. He's fun, but he gets cracked a lot. So it could be kind of like a showcase for Strzegian, which I'm expecting this to be. But I think a good thing that happens

this past weekend is that Benile D'Arreouche got finished by Charles Olivera. And I think Benny's out there as an option for Surukian. I think if Surukian wins this fight, go to Abu Dhabi, if Benny's getting that itch, and I think as the competitor that he is, he will have that itch to get back in there as soon as possible. It was a quick fight.

So, yeah, short-term, he's going to be sort of healing his wounds for a little while, but get him back in Abu Dhabi, where he beat Matush Gamrott. We'll see if he could beat another guy, and if he beat Saurukyon, he's still got a long road ahead of him. But that's a good step to stay in the UFC's good grace has taken that fight. So I think Benny's right there for him. I think that's an option. I think Fiziv could be an interesting option. I know they're both managed by the same side.

But it seems like Fiziv and Gamron might be circling each other. So in the grand tosses, like, we don't know. Like, fighters come up to the microphone. and they say things. And we don't know what's real and what isn't. Like, I'll take Serokee and it his word, but we haven't heard from the other side. Maybe Dawson, maybe the timing didn't work out for Dawson or something.

He needed a couple extra weeks. Who knows? He threw out some other names as well. Maybe it just didn't work out for the opponents. Timing is everything in a lot of respect. So, but he gets Joachim Silva and we'll see what he can do. The Jimmy Flick one is really interesting. I don't know.

I mean, if he loses Bellator certainly an option, but if he wins, he'll be two and one in the UFC. The Cody Durdin win has actually aged pretty well. Flying triangle, that was a sick fight. Great performance. Everybody was high on him.

The UFC was going to give him Figgie Smalls or Francisco Figurato, not Davidson, but Francisco. Flight didn't end up happening because Jimmy retired. then they offered him Jeff Molina, then they get him Charles Johnson. I think the Molina fight would have been a lot more interesting. Johnson is just, Johnson actually came out and looked really good in that fight, but at the same time, Flick hadn't fought in two and a half years.

So maybe he's knocking Rustoff. I think this fight will tell us a lot about Jimmy Flick and where his future is. But you have to think if he goes out there and delivers a good performance, the UFC really likes them. He's got a great personality. He's got a really interesting story. I think the UFC will keep him around, and I think he would want to stay around.

But it's a big fight for him. If you want to stay in the UFC, he has to win. Or at least put on a really fun fight, but I think he has to win this one. But we'll see what happens. Like I said, this is a good car with some interesting storylines. Barbarusa, hello. Good, how are you?

I'm good, I'm good. I just want to point out the thing that's been, insane for the last couple of days about Charles and it should be in Brazil. I know he did his thing and he fought Islam in Abu Dhabi, but I think the last fight in Brazil didn't do quite a good case for Brazil to make a fight there and they threw things at Morino, who's the nicest guy. Emirates is not quite the homeland for Mahachie because it's like 80% foreigners. And we saw Connor McGregor treated like a king right there, and it's not like this big of a disadvantage. This is the first point.

The second point is the dilemma of the lightweight division. And as we see, Islam fought for the title. A lot of people saw him as not deserving. And then he defended it against another division. But still, we don't have a number one, clear number one contender for the title. And the big problem is that you have three guys at the top five who fight each other. And we might have a bigger problem in the future because we can. and see Max Holloway going up in the division,

and he was going to fight one of them. And if he wins, then you have four on now Oliver, and he deserves it, five people who are not going to fight backward in the latter. It's everybody saying that this is the division with the most potential, but we don't see any guy. Like you said previously about Arman, He should be fighting for the title, but still, we say a lot of potential,

but I see it's a very long shot for you guys to fight for the title. Thank you, Mike. Yeah, so Oliver, of course, as he should. He should say, yeah, I'm fighting Islam. This fight needs to happen to Brazil. That's what you should say. It's not going to happen. If he wants to fight for the belt, he has to go back to Abu Dhabi and do it.

That Abu Dhabi card is the Islam Makachaf card. They're building it. it for him. He's the headliner. He's the dude. That's where it's going to happen. If he's going to fight for the belts, if he wants that title shot, he's got to do it in Abu Dhabi. He's not going to have any other option. That's just the way that it is. And mostly for the reason that you brought up. This, like, look, a lot of people like to say Bannamweight is the best division in the sport. I've seen some people in the space actually tweet out, it is not even a discussion that Bannamweight is the best division in this sport.

And that is just wrong. If we're talking potential, Bannam weight has probably the most potential. I'll say that. There's just so many guys. A lightweight is the Cadillac division. It's the marquee division for the UFC right now. The bigger names, the bigger fights,

everything's at $155 right now. I know John Jones is a heavyweight and he does big numbers for the UFC. I know his fight with Cyril Gahn did great numbers. But all the bigger names, the biggest stars, they're at 155. They're at 55. 100%. It's not 35.

It's 55. 55 is the marquee division for the UFC. I always say that the Bannamweight division, like lightweight is like the Hulk Hogan's, the ultimate warriors, et cetera. Bannamweight is the Intercontinental Division, the Mr. Perfix, the Brett Harts, the Working Man's Division. That's a 135 is.

And that's a great place to be. You're probably going to get, you can't really go wrong most times at 135. So I call it the Intercontinental Division. And 155 is the Star Division. That's where all the biggest fights come from. Those fights are always going to headline, no matter what.

Banimate Wade is never going to headline over lightweight. There's just not enough. star power there. Maybe if Sean O'Malley wins the belts, that could change things, but I don't know if it does. I don't know if it does. We have to see if he beats Aljo and then whatever his next

title defense is, we have to see how that does on pay-per-view, and then maybe there's an argument, but there is no argument right now. 155 is the division. And the big problem is, because you have those names and that star power and this is a business and you want to make as much money as possible, getting to

a lightweight title shot might be the toughest thing in the sport right now. Getting to a UFC lightweight title fight might be the toughest thing to do in all of MMA right now in the UFC. It's a long road. Adieu Daryush had to win eight, nine fights

just to get to a fight where if he won, then he would get the title fight. Loses to Charles Olivera, and now in my opinion, unless something insane happens, he's never getting a title shot. He is not getting a title shot. Unless he wins like

six more in a row and the division just plays out in a way that favors him, he's never fighting for the belt. And that stinks. But that also just tells you how difficult it is to get there at 155. You don't get a ton of opportunities to climb the ranks. And if you do, you got to make him count. Matush Gamrock got that chance, came up a little short in a fun fight. It's going to be a long road for him to get there.

Fiziv has a chance. Fiziv, but he got his opportunity. he lost to Justin Gaichi. No shame in that loss. And I think his stock rose a little bit in that fight. A lot of people actually thought he won that fight. But he didn't. So now it's going to be a longer road for him to get back to a title shot.

And you look at Sirukian. Look at his road. He's got to fight all the way back to Joachim Silva. Maybe he gets the Darius fight. Maybe he doesn't. But it's going to be a long time until he gets that opportunity that B'Neal Darius just got. So it's a tough getting a lightweight title shot in the UFC, especially if you're not one of the established names,

is so difficult to do. You have to make it count. Tony Ferguson never got a undisputed lightweight title shot. After all the wins and all the things he did in his career, he never got his chance to fight for the undisputed title. A lot of it had to do with bad luck, but he never got the chance to step into the octagon for the undisputed title. And when he had the chance,

He fought for the interim title against Kevin Lee. He won. Couldn't get the Habib fight going. They gave another interim title shot against Justin Gaitch, and he lost. And now look at what his career has been. It's just so difficult to get there. So to me, it's the Cadillac Division. It is not Bannamweight.

Bannamweight's still very good. It's probably number two. Featherweight's on its heels, in my opinion. Featherweight does not get enough credit for being a great division. But lightweight, getting to a lightweight title fight in the U.S. see is so hard. It's so tough. CV, hello.

Joe, Mike. So is Vince Featherweight like the Honda division then? Like, it's the reliable? It's like the Toyota Camry division. It looks good. It's got enough power.

It's got some nice features. And it's going to get you where you need to go every single time. So yes, featherweight is the Toyota Camry of of MMA, of UFC division. Agreed, agreed. Yeah, I just want to make this quick, man. Early thoughts on the Ian Gary and Jeff Neal matchup.

If I remember correctly, does A.K. get an op-no point for that? But, yeah, that's a really good matchup. Like, if Ian Gary takes out Jeff Neal in the first round, is he, like, one fight away from the title shot? And I just want to say, 2.92 is looking like a really solid card. like hopefully there's no injuries from here on there but yeah it's for me uh thanks and great there but i thought that fight made a ton of sense name value wise but kevin's booked and it's all good but if they weren't going to do kevin holland this was the second best bet this was

the second best option on the table and i and i think AK does get a not no point for that i think a lot of other people do as well. But if it's not Holland, Jeff Neal is the fight. That is a fun fight. Neil, it wasn't Neal. It wasn't Magny. Magny was already booked.

He's fighting Phil Roe. There's no guarantee he wins that fight. And if he loses, then the callout just makes no sense at all. But I love the Jeff Neal fight. Great fight. Where it takes him with a win, I'm not really sure.

I don't think they're going to rush him too fast. So I don't know. Maybe they do a Wonderboy fight. if he beats Mitchell Pahanna or maybe he did you do the winner of that fight regardless. That would make sense. But I love this matchup. Great addition to the Boston car,

which is coming along very nicely. We just found out that Natalia Silvas fighting Andrew Lee on that card as well. It's shaping up to be a good one. It's shaping up to be a good one. And I love that fight. With MX Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining,

means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. 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. Let's go to Kathera. Hopefully I pronounce that name correctly. Kthira, are you there? You're muted right now. Ketheera, are you there? All right, we will move on.

Let's go to Tabi. Tabby, are you there? Unmute yourself and we got you. Tabby? Can you hear me now? Yeah, I got you. I'm good. How are you? Great.

I'm not sure if you talked about this, but did you already talk about the main event for the UFC? For Saturday? No. Yeah, so what are they fighting for? I mean, other than getting paid, but realistically, we don't see them fighting for the title as long as Erastani as the champion. and they also were beaten by Rob.

So even if Rob becomes a champion, and I'm seeing them, we matching them. Are they fighting for maybe the winner would get like, comes out in Abu Dhabi or something? Like, I don't know what's the point of this fight. Ah, so that's actually an interesting idea. That is an interesting idea. Maybe.

It's possible. But to me, this is just one of those fights where you're just fighting for it to maintain position. But I like the fact that they're putting a fight like this together. Because you could throw like, like the DDP Whittaker fight drives people crazy. Because DDP, like he's going to, more than likely he's going to lose to Robert Whitaker. And then what do you do? And then this is he fight, this rivalry they've built just kind of goes away.

So to me, I would just give him DDP the title shot. Like let him get in there and fight for the belts. Let's just see what happens. He's probably going to get highlight reeled. But still, that's a star making. I mean, Izzy's already a star, but that's just make Izzy look like an even bigger star. And then we could just have these other matchups that make more sense. But now we, at least we're not sacrificing a contender in a fight like this.

And I kind of wish the UFC would just put together more fights like this. Like I like stakes. I like stakes a lot. But sometimes you just got to throw high-rank guys in there to fight each other. where we're not eliminating any contenders or anything like that. So I'm fine with it. This has the makings of a very middleweighty five-round fight. But Vittori is just tough as hell.

Canadiere's a good fighter. And the betting odds suggests this is going to be a really close fight. I'm leaning Vittori. This kind of screams Vittori 48-47 to me, but I actually think this could be a lot of fun. I don't think it's going to be Vittori Costa-esque. But I also don't think it's going to be like a Christophejok-type of middleweight fight either. I think we're going to see these dudes chuck them a little bit.

And Canaanare hits like a truck, and Vittori doesn't get knocked down or hurt at all. He is a freak of nature. You could throw a ATM machine at Marm Vittory, full bore, and he ain't going down. So I actually think this is going to be a pretty fun fight. So we'll see how it all plays out. But yeah, they're just fighting to kind of maintain position. But hmm, the Hamzat. idea that's fun that is fun look at this ben davis holy smokes i completely agree with her

analysis on this main event by the way i mean babe ruth couldn't crack that chin of uh marvin but i want to i want to get your thoughts on my uh one of my favorite fighters on the card juggis juma gulov getting the comeback going and that hairdo i got to get your comment mike So there's certain points for fighters where they can turn things around like real quick. And I think, I think Zalmers has, he's got a little buzz to him right now because of the hairdo. And even though he didn't get to fight on which car was that? Wasn't that long ago? Was it two?

288, 288. even though he didn't fight he got over big because of the hairdo now he's fighting Felipe Bunes who he's won two in a row he's a Pitbull Brothers guy his record is not all that

impressive if we're being honest he's what three and four in his last seven he's coming off a nice finish in his last fight but Zuma Gulov needs a win and needs one badly this guy has been snake bitten on the split

on the trips to Splitty City. Goes to Splitty City. You want to have a nice vacation. You want to have a good time. You want to come back with good memories. And Zalgus' trips to Splitty City have just not been good. Flights were delayed. Rental car had a flat tire.

All sorts of bad juju. The Jeff Molina fight was real close. The Charles Johnson fight was real close. You can make cases that Zalgus won both of those fights. But this is a pretty good matchup for him. If he's going to get back on track, if he goes out there and gets a finish, we're going to be talking about this guy. He's going to be one of the top three storylines coming out of this card

because people are getting into him because of the hairdo. You got to, if you got a gimmick, go with it. Go bananas. And if you can get a gimmick over and then have a nice performance in the cage, you got something. You're cooking with a little gas. So, yeah, let's see if he can get back on track. This is a good matchup for him.

And if he wins and does so impressively, goes out there and gets a quick finish, we're going to be talking about him a bunch throughout the next several days. Let's get old Pat in here as opposed to young Pat. Hi, old Pat. What's up, ma'am? Braillea. Oh, cool. Yeah.

What's on your mind? Oh, I don't know. You were talking up Jeff Neal before I just don't write him. You're what? I don't write him, Jeff Neal. You don't, you're not a, I'm not a fan. Why? I just don't think he gets it done, like when it matters.

I mean, look, he, uh, I appreciate that. Look, Jeff gave Shafkat Rikmanov some hell. He gave, and I came on this show many times, and I'm not alone on this, who felt that Jeff Neal could be competitive with Shafcott Rachmanav. That he could give Shafkot some problems. That Shafcott wasn't just going to steamroll him in the first round. And he didn't. Jeff cracked him. Jeff had a good accounting of himself.

Is Jeff going to be a world champion? Probably not. But is he a very, is he a solid welterweight? Yeah. Go back and watch this fight with Balamah. How well did that win age? He beat the hell out of Bala Muhammad. That was a one-sided, almost, I'm not going to call it a master class,

but it was pretty damn close. Jeff can fight, man. He's gone through a lot. He's gone through a lot of health issues. He's gone through a lot of stuff. And it seems like he's getting it together. That Shafka fight was great. It's a great fight.

And this is a really good test for Ian Machado, Gary. I love this fight. And we'll see what happens. If Ian can't win, it's no shame in losing to Jeff Neal. There's no shame in that whatsoever. But if he beats Jeff Neal, that's a big win. That's a good step up. It's a great leap forward.

You could beat a guy like Jeff Diel. Let's go to Yusuf. Let's see if we can get him. Yusuf, hello. Just with regards to what's going to happen with Islam Vakashav in his next fight in Abu. Obviously, a great performance by Charles this weekend. And Dana has hinted, obviously, at the rematch between the two. But I'm not convinced that that's the fight to make,

given that, you know, there's bulk waiting in the wings. The fight coming up against the area, obviously, Leon waiting in the wings. You know, not sure what's happening there, why, you know, there's no announcement for Leon. So, you know, what do you see happening in October and Abu Dhabi? Do you see the child rematch or do you see it potentially being a Leon versus Islam matchup? They've called for it. It might be too early for Islam to go up, but, it's just maybe even the BMF belt like you know the winner of the BMF belt

I know it'll be a short turnaround for whoever wins that one but what's what do you think is going to happen in October thanks thanks man so Charles Oliver is in the driver's seat right now I am not ready to guarantee anything in the UFC but he's in the driver's seat if Charles Olivera is good to go and he can turn around and fight in October he's getting the shot. Unless the only thing that there's two things that could that could mess this up.

One, one of the things you mentioned. If Volcanovsky just runs Yaiyre Rodriguez, which I don't think he's going to do. I think he's going to win, but I think Yai is going to get his shots in. It's going to be one of those who won the battle,

who won the war type of fights. Of all the fights on the schedule right now, yes, Ria Geichi is a great fight. Love it. It's going to be a barn burner. It's super fun. That card is great. But as like a mixed martial arts fan, as someone who wants to break down like high level MMA, Volkanowski versus Yair is about as interesting as you can get. Can't wait for that fight. But let's just say hypothetically, Volkanowski just runs Yair, finishes him in the first round, lands a big shot, drops them and taps him or something. And Volk gets on the and cuts a scathing promo saying, Islam, let's go. Maybe Islam's on the crowd. Maybe he tries to jump the rail or something.

That could knock Oliver out of the driver's seat. But again, I don't think that's going to happen because I think these two are going to beat the hell out of each other for 25 minutes. I think Volk will win, but I don't think it's going to be a hard fight and a tough one to bounce back from that fast. But Volk is another guy that could take. take him out of the driver's seat.

The other one, to me, and this is a little out of left field, we have, I have very little confidence in a lot when it comes to Connor McGregor. Because we have no idea what the hell is going to happen. And I'm not saying Connor's the guy. I'm not saying that. Well, let's just say Connor continues to play this game of, am I going to fight, am I not going to fight?

if Charles is hesitant at all and Connor is a mystery and he's like missing an action and won't get back to the UFC there is a real world where the UFC gives good old Mikey Chandler a call to step in and fight for the belt it could have he's he's on the ultimate fighter

they're pushing him to the moon they're getting them out there on television they love Michael Chandler. And Michael Chandler has been the ultimate company guy. This would be kind of a travesty, if we're being honest, but it is a possibility. But Oliver is in the driver's seat. If Oliver could fight in October, he's getting the shot.

Volk could knock him out of there if he runs the Aeer, which I don't think is going to happen. And then if something happens with the Connor Chandler fight and Oliver is like, yeah, October's too soon, they're going to give Chandler a ringy ding ding ding. The Leon Edwards idea, I just know. Please, for the love of God, do not do that. Oliver, like, Islam's got to fight somebody at 55.

He's got to fight a lightweight. I know he's already beat Olivera, but he's got to defend the title against somebody in his division. Please. And then the winner of that probably gets the winner of Justin and Dustin. Let's just run off some defenses in your own division. Like, I don't even want to see Volk fight for the lightweight title anytime soon. And the next year, both guys win all their fights, all their title defenses.

Run it back. November and December of 2024, run it back. Each guy wins two, three fights, boom, do it again. But going back to the well now after we just saw this fight in February, I don't think we need to see it again. Let's build this thing up a little bit. But Oliver is in the driver's seat. My guess is he gets the fight.

Patty, hello. doing. Good. So it was pretty cool hearing Max Holloway yesterday on Ariel, especially when he was kind of talking about what he could do at 155. I'm wondering who you think is the stylistically the best matchup for Max Holloway at 155 and the worst stylistically. I don't really think there's like a really bad stylistic matchup anywhere from Max Holloway,

except for maybe Volk because they've just spent so much time in the cage together. I think Volk beats him every single time. I think the fight looks exactly the way that it did last year if they fought seven more times. But I don't think there's really, maybe Islam, but Max is a really good take down defense. I don't know. The fight I've been, like long time on to the next one,

listeners have heard me say for the last couple of years that the dream fight for me is Max Holloway versus Justin Gage. That's the fight I want to see. at some point before these guys right off into the sunset I have to see these two guys fight each other that's the one I've been clamoring for so Dustin Porreier

and if he fights Dustin again I'd be cool with that and fought Connor again I'd be cool with that like there's so many fun fights at 55 and Holly doesn't need to fight for titles he doesn't even need a belt now if you want to do I've been one of the kind of the negative nancy's when it comes to the BMF title

because I just think it's dumb the way they did it the first time, one-time thing and then it's dead? No. If this is going to be a thing and we're going to like make this a gimmick title and actually defend the title, Max versus the winner of that fight would be sick. Would be sick.

That'd be awesome. I know the winner that fight's probably going to fight the winner of Islam and Charles or whoever Islam fights, but at some point, you do Max versus whoever the BMF champ is, put the belts on the line, make it a thing. If you're going to do the thing, do it right.

But Max versus Gagey is the fight I've always wanted to see. And I hope we get it sometime. And hopefully Max goes up sooner rather than later, because that's what I want to see. But him and zombie seems to be a thing, and I kind of think that's the fight we're going to get. And then maybe move up to 55. Viking, hello.

Good, how are you? How about these? last fight against Islam. So Khabib made statements about him in Eagle Eclipse and Ali as well. And Charles was on fire after that. They got him with the trash talk. Then Islam's take down. You know, Charles was saying that I'm going to give him my leg when the fight starts

and he can't take me down. So that made him frustrated. And after that, the knockout. So right now, he learned his lessons. So what kind of Charles Olivera are you expecting if they fight? And the Abu Dhabi crowd as well. So basically he was bullied and they got him. They just were in his mind.

So what kind of Charles Oliver are you expecting if they fight again? And the Armand Sarukhan thing. Actually, I am with him with the statements was made by him that he just beat the MIRIS Mogulov and he should have been in the top five after that win. but he stayed at number nine, I guess, the Arman Sarukyan. So if he wins this fight, so do you think they'll move up Arman Sarukin? Thanks a lot. And what about the future of Arman Sarukin in the top five? Thanks, man.

Will he move up? Maybe slightly? Maybe they bump him a spot. just kind of depends on the performance. I guess, I mean, if he just goes out there and I think he's going to knock out Joaquin Silva, I don't know if it's going to be the first round or maybe in round two. I think he's going to end up knocking out Joaquin Silva. I think he could beat Joaquin pretty much anywhere.

If it's a jit-suituit fight, Neto BJAJ probably has a slight advantage, but overall grappling, I would probably favor Amran Sarukian. Where do I have Sarukian ranked in my rankings? I'm at seven. I am at seven. I have him just behind Usman Ramagamadov who I have at number six.

It's Makachev, Olivera, Poria, Darius, Gachi, Usman, Armaghomedov, Sarukhi, and Fazeve, Chandler, Gamrod, Dawson, Turner, Frivolta, Moikano, and then someone else is going to take

the last spot because I had, I had, I don't know, OAM still there. What am to talk about? I'm getting confused with Brennan Lockman. So, yeah, I have OAM at 13, Favola at 14, Moikano at 15.

So I won't move Surukia up in my rankings. He won't go above Usman or Magam Adoff. Could he go up a spot in the UFC's ranking? Sure. But again, he's going to have a tough road because the risk reward is just not there to fight him. But I do feel like the Darius fight is a possibility. He goes out there and just

just wrecks that'll BJJ on Saturday, which I predict he will, and then just calls out Benny and cuts a good promo on him. I think that's a fight he can get. So I would like to see that. Do I see the Olivera-Mock-Jef fight going any differently? Not particularly. That matchup on paper is just an awful matchup for Olivera.

And I said it heading into the first fight. I ended up picking Olivera, but it was mostly just like I pick against this guy all the time and I'm not going to pick against him anymore until somebody actually beats him. But as I said a million times, everything on paper told me that that fight was going to go almost exactly the way that it did.

Did I think that Machachev was going to set up the finish by dropping Olivera? No, I didn't expect that to happen. But I just don't know how much better this goes for Olivera. I will say this. I'm sure he took a lot away from that fight, and seeing how he fought against Spineal Daryush, you saw improvements from him.

He was a lot more aggressive off of his back. He was making Daryush work a little bit. Darius is having success down there, but Oliver seemed completely in control. Didn't really seem all that in control in Abu Dhabi last year. It seemed like he was getting frustrated, like you said, a little bit. But Oliver kind of knew right. away that if this gets back to the feet, I'm going to, I'm going to melt this guy.

He had a great start, landed a big head kick early on, and they tied up against the fence. Darius had double underhooks. Kind of a takedown, but also I think Oliver just kind of accepted it and just pulled guard more than anything. And Darius had his moments, and Mokachev would probably do better. But that aggressive side, not settling. That showed me something. The guy continues to get better.

That wasn't just a, hey, I'm Charles Chaos Olivera type of performance. That was a, even at this point in his career, an evolved version. That's a guy that's still getting better. I was super impressed from what I saw. And all that, let me just say this, because I've seen it since Saturday, this whole Benile Dariusia's overrated shit is just wrong. Come on now. stop with that.

Stop it with that. This was Charles Oliver being great, Benil Darius being a really, really good fighter, and Oliver just being better on that night. Had a great game plan, figured it out, didn't get flustered, and won. And that's the guy

that needs to show up at Abu Dhabi if he wants to have a chance. Although I don't, I'm not going to pick him. I'm not going to pick him. But I'm intrigued by it. I'm more intrigued by it than I thought it was going to be. after watching that performance against Darius. But we'll see. We'll see if that's even the fight they're going to make.

We're getting pretty close. Like October's coming. This could be a very interesting second half of the year for the UFC with some of the fights they're putting together. We got Volcan July rules. July frigging rules. We've got the big boxing fight on the 29th, same day as 291. That card's ridiculous.

That's probably the best card on paper. we get international fight week that's a really good card Volk versus Yahir rules I'm very interesting interested in the Moreno Pantosia fight can Moreno turn it around

and get a win over a guy that has two wins over him two dominant wins over him and then we get to August Boston's coming together nice we'll see what the Sydney card looks like by the time that's all put together and then we go to Abu Dhabi

then we go to MSG and then we close out in December with maybe Chandler versus Connor and we don't even know what's going on with like Jamal Hill yet Leon and Colby are going to fight sometime before the end of the year like I know 289 on paper was not great and it ended up exceeding a lot of expectations which is good it's what you want

but I think the second half of the year is going to be magic. Honestly. Yeah, we're going to have to deal with the occasional apex card that is not the greatest. Sure. We're going to deal with a couple of those in July.

But I think the pay-per-view offerings the rest of the way are going to be really, really solid. So there's a lot to get excited about. Blumen. Blumen, are you there? Yes, I'm here. What's up?

I was wondering what's your opinion on the third quarter of the year, how it will play out. I don't know if you heard Tim Simpson on Ariel yesterday, but it seemed like Erie versus Jamal is said to be a headliner. Of course, we have Jones versus Miozich, Connor versus, what's the same, Chandler, and all those fights probably getting pushed to either November, December, and sounding as if all of those fights are going to be headliners. Also, Leon versus Colby. So how do you think that would play out?

So let's see. October, we'll get Mokachev Olivera. Maybe we get Jamal Hill on that card. Maybe they do Jamal Hill, Yerie in October. Again, Yeri's such a wild card. We just don't know how bad that shoulder is. We can hear, listen to interviews and all that stuff. It's just a matter of can you get cleared.

That fight is really interesting to me. I really want to see that fight. But we're running out of space. I kind of feel like it's going to be, it kind of has to be in Abu Dhabi for it to really happen. August would have been great. That being the main event. And then having Sterling O'Malley is the co-main event,

damn. That's a great one-two punch right there. So October, Islam Olivera, I would have a heart. I don't know. I kind of feel like Machchyev has to be the main event for that card, even though there'd be another title fight. But who knows?

Maybe they'll switch it up. I don't know. November, my prediction, John Jones-Stepey, Leon Colby. That's what I think. And then December,

if they can't do Chandler-Connor, then you could do, do Jamal Hilliery in the main event. That's a damn good main event. I don't know. That December card is kind of the wild card. It all depends on Connor. Because if Connor calls the UFC and says,

I want to fight at MSG, he's going to fight at MSG. And they'll do Jones-Stepe Bay in December if they can get that fight together. And I would expect that Leon Colby will be the co-main event of whenever that fight actually happened. So Connor fights, they're not going to do a title fight with it.

Connor will be the main event. They'll just put a fun co-main event in there and have at it. But yeah, Jamal Hill is kind of the, it's kind of been the odd man out, just waiting for Yeri to come along. But we do have a big fight July 29th between Janbovich and Alex Pereira.

So if Yeri can't make it back, the winner of that can fight Jamal Hill. I want to see Jamal Hill fight again. After that performance, it's going to cover to Chera. I want to see what he can do now. I'm in. I'm in on the Jamal Hill game after that performance. There's a lot of people who feel like, yeah, he's not really the real champion because Yeri vacated.

Let's answer those questions. No matter who he fights next is going to be an interesting challenge for. him. Whether it's John or Pereira or Yuri, it's going to be an interesting challenge for him. It's going to be a tough fight for him. And if he can look like that again against either of those guys,

you got something with him. You got something with them. But this last half of the year is going to be fun. But where does Connor fit into this? Will he fit into it? Where does John Jones fit into it? Will he fit into it?

These are all big questions that we do not have answers to right now. But hopefully we get those answers soon. All right, we are done. Thank you all very much. Great calls. Great insight. Much appreciated.

Lots coming up today on the YouTube channel, on the podcast network. We got BTL live 12.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We get a remit. Oh, look at you, D.C. Betts. Wait until the last second. Because you know, I'm just going to bring you in. What's up, ma'am?

Hey, Mike, you got me? Yes. Okay. Man, I wasn't even expecting to get in real quick. Okay, so what am I going to ask? I'm trying to remember what my question was from I was going to ask you on Tuesday. Okay, you probably already touched on it, but what are your thoughts on the, on if Connor doesn't end up fighting Chandler and does end up going for Charles Olivera? because I keep messing around with my friend.

But I think it is true that Conor, I mean, Charles is turning into the Brazilian Connor McGregor. You know, at least over there in Brazil, he's, you know, no one's close to Connor status, but you know what I mean. He's getting there. So just your thoughts on that if you haven't already touched on it. Thank you, my man. Have a heck of the morning.

I mean, I would love to watch Charles Oliverer fight Connor McGregor. I just don't think it's going to happen now. You build this whole Ultimate Fighter season around him and Chandler. And the only reason people are really watching the Ultimate Fighter is to see these two guys fight at the end of it. So to do all that and have them not fight each other and have Connor fight somebody else is just, I don't know, just weird. You're going to put these guys through all that.

You're going to have people sit through another season of the same fucking show over and over again, the same format, everything. and then not have them fight each other. I don't know. I think honestly, I'm never 100%, like I said, I'm never 100% confident in anything

that has to do with Connor McGregor and him fighting in the UFC. But I feel like, I feel more confident than not that this fight's going to happen and that at some point in this season, they're actually going to announce the fight. I think that they have a date already.

That's what I think. I think if you go into that, war room, I think they have the fight locked and loaded and ready to go. And I know people are concerned about Usada and, oh, he's got to be back in the pool for six months. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. They could do an exemption.

They've done it before. They could do it again. They can do it again. So I'm not all that concerned about it. Like, I don't think that's going to be the holdup. I think the hold-ups is going to be Conner's relationship with the UFC. Is he getting everything he wants? Is he going to play a hard ball?

I'm not too concerned about the USADA thing. Doesn't seem like Dana White's all that concerned about it. Because any time you ask him about it, he's just going to say, good, I'm glad I don't have to deal with that anymore. If you have questions, ask Jeff Novitsky. But they can use an exemption. They could say they did it with Brock Lesnar. And that dude was on all the gas.

And they did it with him. They could do it here. So I do think this fight's going to happen. I think they have a date set. And I do think at some point during this season, maybe probably the last episode, after they square off the finalist and then they will square off Chandler and McGregor.

Or, yeah, they'll square those two guys off. They'll probably announce the fight. but to go through all this and not have a fight at the end of it is just tough that'd be tough but to your point i do want to see connor in olivera fight at some point i think that'd be just a sick fight but we'll see if you fight chanell we'll see if connor even comes back down to 55 maybe if he beats michael chaner one 70s fighting for the welterweight title like he's fighting for the belt he's fighting either leon or colby that's what's going to happen.

There is no meritocracy when it comes to Connor McGregor. You go and win a fight. Connor says, I want the 170 pound belt. They're going to give it to them. They're going to give them the chance anyways. But I, I, if I had $5 of supplemental income to put on whether this fight happens at the end of the year, I would bet the $5 a little reluctantly, but I would bet it on, yes, this fight does happen before the end of the year. They'll figure it out.

they'll figure out a way to get it done. Okay, now we're done. BTL, 12.30 p.m. Eastern, Jed versus AK, Mr. No Gray Area versus the Prince of Positivity. 3 p.m. Eastern, YouTube channel, podcast network. You get to hear Jose Youngs and I wax poetically about Bellator 2397, UFC Vegas 75, and PFL5 for a little triple header preview show. and then it's a we get a fun weekend ahead of us folks a lot of mixed martial arts action i really

love this bellator card we'll see if patricio pit bull can make some history huh but thank you all very much have a wonderful rest of your day and as always have a heck of a morning the vox media podcast network