MMA Fighting - HOAM | Conor McGregor vs. Leon Edwards? Plus, Usyk vs. Fury Instant Classic

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

Leon Edwards discussed the possibility of a fight against Conor McGregor later this year if both men can emerge victorious in their scheduled bouts, and McGregor gave his stamp of approval on the idea as well. If McGregor beats Michael Chandler at UFC 303, and Edwards defeats Belal Muhammad at UFC 304, could that be the next welterweight title fight? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on the likelihood of that fight being made if everything falls into place, and the alternatives if either were to lose. Additionally, listener topics include the greatness of Olesander Usyk's victory over Tyson Fury this past Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Lerone Murphy's big win over Edson Barboza in the main event of UFC Vegas 92, PFL seemingly losing buzz by the day, where Patchy Mix ranks at 135 pounds worldwide after his split decision win at Bellator Paris this past Friday, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays and Thursdays 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 Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine,

available now, only from Audible. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Tuesday, May 21st, 2024, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter space. You can hear the show and it's a entirety. shortly thereafter on the NBA Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody?

I am Mike Heck. Hope you're all having a wonderful start to the week. We are coming off a very busy weekend in the world of combat sports. Of course, the fight that led the way, the fight that stole all the attention and rightfully so. Tyson Fury versus Alexander Usik. And what a freaking fight it was. Incredible.

Lived up to the hype. In fact, I think it exceeded the expectation. a roller coaster ride. And this thing was was outstanding. It was a tremendous fight. In the end, Alexander Usik proved he is that dude. And what a freaking fight. What a performance.

Alexander Usik, at least today, is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. And in a couple of weeks, he won't be because boxing is real dumb. And they're going to do the dumb thing and take one of the belts away from him. and it's really silly. But at least for now, he could say he is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. They are going to fight again in October. And I'm counting down the days because I cannot wait to see the rematch. I was so excited to see the first fight.

I'm way more into the rematch now because I want to see the adjustments that Tyson Fury can make. And I want to see the adjustments that Alexander Usik can make. Tremendous fight. Tremendous performance from Usik. What a story he is. A lot of people have him as the number one. won't pound for pound boxer in the world after that performance. I'm probably not in that camp, but top three for sure, I think it's, without doubt,

he's at worst top three in the world, pound for pound. But just awesome, just incredible stuff. What a fight. If you missed it, you missed out. And I really don't know what else to say. But if you missed out, you probably watched the UFC card, which was, uh, probably the most okay card of 2024. I mean, on paper, this is probably the worst card that the UFC had put together in 2024.

I think that's pretty fair to say. There are no stakes, very little storyline. Main event was, you know, an intriguing matchup. We got to see Lorone Murphy sort of do the damn thing. And he looked great against Edson Barboza. but just the rest of the card was just kind of there at best. Chaos Williams did Chaos Williams things. Timber Garimbo won one of the worst fights of the year.

It was awful. He even admitted himself. Adrian Yannes did exactly what the UFC set him up to do. Just knocked out Venetia Salvador, as most expected him to. Angela Hill, probably the MVP of the card, getting her first mission win of her career, which is crazy to think about. mounted gilly on luana pinero tom nolan gets his first ufc win umar sai gets his first ufc win

melissa gato with the body punch as uh it's it was referred to i'll call it the heart punch uh gets a win over tamaris vidal abu smogamadoff wins a decision against warli alvas definitely didn't see that coming but it happened ariani cornelosi wins a disqualification against Pierre Rodriguez due to intentional headbuts and you can feel however you want to feel

about Cardalosi and her position in the fight and how the fight actually ended. But if you are out here saying that a DQ was the wrong call, then you're just dead wrong. That is 100% of disqualification. It should have been a DQ. And Pierre Rodriguez has nobody to blame

but herself. She can call Arianeiatic Carnalosi a coward all she wants. Fans can call her the same. Doesn't change the fact that she deserved to be disqualified. And she was. And it's just been kind of a tough couple of months for Pierre Rodriguez. Aletangi Lee gets a win.

Vanessa Demopoulos gets a win technically. But I don't think she won that fight. And you're talking to somebody who cashed a big underdog ticket on Vanessa Demopoulos. So I was okay with that. I just saw some value and I took a shot. But that was the only bet I made on the weekend. So yeah, that's what happened. And then, Jesus, on Sunday, Sunday's just a weird show, a weird day, because AK and I are doing on to the next one.

We're seeing Terry Cruz, the actor, and Anderson Silva sort of go back and forth on Instagram that they're going to fight each other on June 15th. And we're like, what the hell is going on here? Then we sort of did what we're supposed to do in these situations and we reach out and we try to figure out what the hell's going on. and we had heard rumblings probably a week and a half ago that Anderson Silva versus Chale Sondon in a boxing match was probably what was going to take place. We had confirmed partially that that was the plan, but we did not fully confirm it,

and then we were basically told on Sunday as all the rumor and innuendo was going on that they were going to announce Anderson Silva versus Chal Sondon in a boxing match on June 15th, and they were going to do it exclusively on Globo, which is a television network in Brazil. And lo and behold, we're getting Anderson Silver v. Chale Souten 3 in an exhibition boxing match,

kind of a 90s fighting movie motif where it's like 700 rich people showing up in black ties to watch these two dudes box each other. It's sort of being billed as Anderson Silva's final fight, not in his career, but his final fight competing in Brazil. and who better than Chale Sondon, who Anderson

Sylve has so much history with. Their first fight is going into the UFC Hall of Fame later on this year. So just a nice little addition to the story. And I just don't know how to feel about it. Like I totally get it. I understand what they're trying to do. The fact that as of right now, you can't even

watch it in the United States is pretty crazy. But hopefully they change that, so everybody gets to watch it. Because at worst, it's going to be hilarious. It's going to be really funny to watch because either it's just going to be full of shenanigans. It's going to be very pro wrestling-esque or Anderson-Silvish is going to beat the shit out of show sudden with 12 or 14-ounce gloves. And it would just be kind of, I guess, somewhat compelling television, but I don't know. But let's talk about whatever the hell you guys want to talk about. Let's get into it.

And I would love to hear from all of you. So, Abzwalia, go ahead, kick us off. what is on your mind on this Tuesday? So, Mark, heck of morning. Firstly, I just wanted to say that Fury and Yusik fight was fucking awesome. It was one of the best boxing matches I personally have seen this entire year, probably in the last three, four years. I was actually really glad to see, you know,

there'd be a boxing card in general that actually was pretty decent for most part. Maybe, you know, you might disagree with me, but I think it was good for the sport. and I also think this also only proves how much of a big deal of boxing is even compared to the biggest UFC fight that's not really maybe U.C. 300 or Connor McGregor, John John Nish. I just want to ask one question, but it's kind of going to be framing to maybe two small separate things, but it's one question. So this is about the middleweight division. I just want to ask firstly of all, if Sean Strickland beat Polar Costa on June 2nd, who should he find? fight next to the loser of Hamza and Whitaker or maybe someone else are the winner of

Canada near Imov where do you think you see should go in that direction and just to also kind of ask in addition to that with the rankings of that division you know with the with the three major fights they're going to be playing in that division next month how do you see the rankings possibly changing in I guess any direction depending on who wins and what that's all I have have a great day So I agree with you on the boxing thing. It was like the entire card. Even though it was a UFC fight night length, it started at 10 a.m. Eastern.

And I think the main event ended right when, I think it started right when, ended like right when the main card for the UFC was started. So it was still like an eight or nine hour card. But the fights when they were happening were good. They were enjoyable. They were fun. they're just really sloggy broadcasts at times where it's like 30 minutes between fights

and it's just we have to talk to everybody we have to go to backstage to this person then we have to go to this desk and then we have to go to the north desk and then we have to go to the northwest desk with these experts and punts like just get to the fucking fights man that's all we're here for

and then we're right near the main event Michael Buffer comes out and he's got the microphone and we're ready for the cool intros And then the broadcast team's like, we still have a little more entertainment before we get to the main event. And I'm like, no. And then they had a performance, which was fine. But it was just like, come on, let's get to the fights. The entrances were cool as hell, though.

Like big time, just felt huge. Ussick's entrance was unbelievable. I was ready to go by the time those two guys got into the rig. It was awesome. Everything about it was cool. I can't wait for October. I'd like to see them maybe take a fight or two away, speed up the process a little bit,

make it a little more viewer-friendly in terms of watching it, but all in all, when it was over, I couldn't wait to talk about it on the post-fight show. It just could not wait. It was incredible. And I think New York Rick kind of nailed it on the post-fight show and even on the MA hour yesterday. High-level boxing, big-time boxing is better

than the anything the UFC can put together. It just is. There's just a bigger feeling to it. There's high level boxing, and then I agree with everything else, New York, Rick, sort of listed it. It's high level boxing, high level MMA, mid-level MMMA, low-level MMMA,

mid-level boxing, low-level boxing. When boxing is at its best, it is better than anything else going. But boxing not at its best is lower than anything the UFC or mixed martial arts brings to the table. That was New York. Rick's essential take, and I completely agree with them.

As far as the middleweight division goes in the UFC, I think it's pretty easy. Sean Strickland beats Paul Costa. He's going to have to wait three weeks to figure out what goes on in Saudi Arabia. If Robert Whitaker beats Hamzaa Chimayev, Sean Strickland's probably getting a title shot. He's probably going to fight either Israel-A dreg, is 2 plus C. That's what we sort of figure will be the fight just because he's the bigger name. There's questions in a lot of people's minds about the DDP fight. He beat the hell out of Israel, out of Sanya.

There's a story there. But if Hamzot wins, he's fighting for the belt. So then it's just kind of, what do we do with Sean Strickland? No one on this planet wants to see him fight Jared Canaanier again. I don't think many people on this planet want to see him fight Nasor D. Niamov again. So if Whitaker beats Hamza, do we do Strickland Hamza? I don't know. It's hard to answer right now.

It really is. I feel like Canadiere is going to be the odd man. for quite some time, unless just a bunch of weirdness happens, because he got his title shot against Izzy, it did not go well. And even with all these middleweight conversations we've had over the last year, certainly over the last eight or nine months since all the chaos happened, with Strickland becoming the champion, we never mentioned Jared Kennedy's name.

And we always have to remember that he's in this division because he was gone for so long. And now he's got a fight with Nassar Deneemabov, who is sort of like a lower rank. ranked guy and I don't think he gains a whole lot from this other than just sort of maintaining his spot so yeah we're going to have to wait until June 22nd to kind of see how this all plays out but at some point I want to see Sean Strickland versus Humza at Shemayef that's the fight I was hoping they were going to make to begin with but certainly okay with Strickland Costa for five rounds and then Whitaker Shemayev is a fucking banger super intriguing fight so it's good to be in the

middleweight division, especially at the top right now. Riley, go ahead. Mike, heck of morning. Just to piggyback off the boxing stuff, that was an absolute banger of a fight. I was actually home for my dad's birthday over the weekend, and he's like a casual boxing fan. The last fight he watched was the trilogy, Tyson Fury versus Deante Wilder, which was probably the best boxing match I've ever seen. And then I watched Usak Fury with him over the weekend. So the last two fights I've watched with him, crazy.

Maybe I should start watching boxing with my dad more. But I wanted to ask you, I kind of hate to even ask this because it's sort of like a casual question. But Leon Edwards yesterday, he was talking about if he or when he beats Bilal and if Connor can beat Chandler,

is that a possible fight to make? You know, people call out Connor every single week. I mean, we had Buckley last week to four-year weeks before. Everyone's calling out Connor because they want the money fight. But I sort of feel like that kind of makes sense. Like, obviously

Connor doesn't deserve a title shot if he beats Chandler, but UFC championships or title shots are never based on merit. I just think it makes sense because if he wants to get gold again or touch gold again, he's not going to

do it at 155. and although I don't get me wrong, I definitely think Leon would beat him. I think it's like a, like semi-possible. I mean, we saw Nate Diaz, heard him before. So you never know. I just wanted to know if you think that fight is on the table.

Should they both win or if that's just, no, never. Thanks, Mike. And have a good one. Good luck to the Celtics tonight. Thank you, sir. Is that fight on the table? Like, is that a fight that could happen? Absolutely.

Connor beats Michael Chandler. He will get any fight he wants. This is not Leon Edwards' decision to make. This is Connor McGregor's decision to make. And I feel like if Connor wins, he's got to get a title shot, which would suck for Shafkat Rakmanoff because he is the man, in my opinion, who is the uncrowned champion of that division.

And if he has to wait, that's going to kind of suck. I will also say that it below Muhammad beats Leon Edwards, Connor McGregor is not fighting Ball-Mohamed. I don't think he would care at all about that fight. So, Connor would try to find other big fights to possibly get. And then Shafkat would just fight Bilal and probably win the belt. And we go wherever we need to go. But yeah, we have to see how this all plays out.

All starts with Connor winning June 29th against if he beats Michael Chandler. And if he does, if he wants to fight Leon Edwards in Madison Square Garden, what's Leon Edwards going to say? No. of course he's going to be all over that fight. So, yeah, I think that's very possible. Very, very possible. I don't think he fights Bala.

If Bala wins the belt. I don't think that fight would interest Connor at all. But if not, he can go fight Max Holloway and go fight Justin Gahey. He can go fight. Shit, he can go fight Islam. I don't want to see it, but no doubt that would be a gigantic fight. So, yes, it's not really a casual question. It's something that is probably going to happen if both guys win.

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Conditions apply. DJ Jeff Fresh. What's up, man? You just got on mute yourself. Bam. Hey, good morning, bro. What's up, ma'am? Hey, can I break some news with you right now? Sure.

Mike, right? Yes, sir. Oh, man, I love MMA fighting. I love Ariel and I love you. Listen, bro, I picked a fight with Phil Rowe and he backed down. I've never thrown a punch in my life, but I was trying to fucking, oh, excuse me, I was trying to learn how at Fusion XL, his gym out here in the Orlando area where I live. but they trespass me from the gym.

So now I had to meet Mike Perry on the street when he was drunk instead of at the gym. I was trying to go to Newark, but money is a problem because I'm fresh out of jail because I cause problems sometimes wherever I go. Probably related to Dustin Porrier, so I'm rooting for him against Mahachshif. My land that I shall inherit is in Abbeville, Louisiana,

and my last name is Sellers. just like the great Peter Sellers, the comedic actor. So you can ask DP if he knows any sellers in Lafayette, and the answer is probably yes. Same with D.C. and Alan Joban, my Lafayette family. So, yeah, I picked a fight with Phil Rohey back down, so I'm not going to be in Phil Rose Corner. I'd still love Julian Williams.

He's my guy. I do not love the owner, Edwin, of Fusion XL. I wasn't allowed to join the Jungle, you know, with Felicia Spencer and them. Because I'm at a jail in my probation, I'm currently wearing an ankle monitor, which tends to draw a lot of attention along with just my behavior being a stand-up comedian and a DJ and everything else and just causing scenes. So I'd love to chat more with you, bro, maybe with Ariel, maybe some other time.

It would be awesome if I could get some help going to Newark, because I'm freaking evicted and dealing with an ugly divorce and things. But yeah, dude, I have a lot of information. I'm originally from Austin, Texas. My Cajun side of the family's from Lafayette area. I'll probably be on Joe Rogan soon. He and I have a lot of mutual friends. But Joe made me very upset.

He and Elon and Zuck. They all took over my old city, bro. Austin, now I can't live there anymore. It's like San Francisco with all the homelessness and the rent and everything. So when I go on Joe Rogan, I'm not going to kiss his butt like you all would. I'm going to give him a peace of my mind. All right? Austin ain't weird no more.

You know, you know, Matthew McConaughey and all these guys that were shooting days and confused when I was 12 right down the street from my house. All right, all right, all right. Austin ain't weird no more, bro. I'm going to make Orlando weird. We're going to make Orlando great again, all right? And Mike, let's talk again soon, man. I got a lot more information where that came from, including about the police here in the state of Florida. But don't worry, I'm going to be governor.

I'm going to fix it all. This is DJ Jeff Frisch, also known as Coach Sellers. Jeff Sellers 25 is my other X account, but you can find me on Instagram, and I'm really tearing up LinkedIn right now. It's very ripe for disruption in LinkedIn. And of course, Instagram, bro. Hey, have a great day, dude. Thank you.

I got to tell you, when I woke up this morning, didn't think I'd have that conversation. But shout out to you, DJ Jeff Fresh. Shout out to you, my fellow DJ brother. Well, you're still active. I retired not that long ago. But yeah, but someone who has frequented Orlando a few times over the last six months, Orlando's plenty weird, my friend. It's plenty weird.

Always has been. And if you're out here telling me that Orlando's about to get weirder, then, boy, oh boy, that's going to be something. But, yeah, all the best to you. And if you get on Rogan, then I'm going to listen to the hell of that. It's going to be an interesting listen, that's for sure. Let's go to Lee. Hello, Lee.

What's going on, Mike? Shout out DJ Fresh, Jeff Fresh, you know. But yeah, I just had two quick questions. One, I don't know if you've seen Carlos Oberberg maybe talking about in an interview before he fought recently. He was talking about maybe stepping in with if someone pulled out of the Jamal Hill fight with, not Men of Field. Colio Roundtree.

I just wanted your take on that, and what do you think if he gets that fight or not, since, you know, Roundtree popped. And then two, if Belau loses to Leon, what do you think his future is with, like, his positioning and nobody really wanting to fight him? And, yeah, those are my two questions, man. How can you rest of your day?

Yeah, I saw that. Ulberg said he would be willing to step in, and fight one of those two dudes. And I don't hate it. Would Jamal Hill be interested in fighting Carlos Oldberg right now? Not really sure. I think he has more of the power in this conversation, being the former champion,

one half of the main event of the best, one of the biggest cards in UFC history. So I'll be curious to see it. We haven't really heard from Jamal when it comes to this situation. So I'm wondering what the UFC is, is going to do here? Are they going to keep Jamal in the card? Is Jamal versus Carlos Olberg,

like a big enough co-main event? We've recently seen Ian Gary and MVP kind of go back and forth. And when we talked last week, I obviously was not aware of the Cleo Roundtree situation. But everything that I had heard when we talked about this on Friday was, I would be surprised if Ian Gary fights a UFC 303, based on what was happening currently in the division and on that card all right. ready. Now that

Kalil Roundtree is off the table, and if Jamal Hill wants to take some time off, or he wants to wait to rebook Khalil Roundtree, because based on what Khalil is saying, and based on knowing Khalil a little bit, I don't think Kalil's going to put that

out there and be a liar. I don't think he's talking shit. I don't think he's saying something and then he's going to get a two-year suspension or anything. I kind of feel like I'm going to take Khalil Roundtree at face value. If that is the case, and it seems, seems that it is, I don't expect Khalil Roundtree to be sideline for too long. I expect him to maybe get like a 60 day suspension, maybe a three-monther, if that,

and then be able to rebook a fight. So it's kind of all up to Jamal Hill, what he wants to do. But if they lose Jamal Hill versus Cleo Roundtree, yes, it's a Connor McGregor card. But it's still international fight week, and you need to have something else on there. this isn't like a January 17th Cona McGregor card. This is your WrestleMania season essentially. This is your big week, your fan expo, Hall of Fame.

I'm sure they're going to do some big stupid power slap thing. Like you're going to dress this thing up. You got to put something else on there. And if it's Ian Gary versus MVP, that's a pretty damn good co-main event right there. So the next, I don't know, a week or so is going to be real interesting. To see what happens here. Maybe we get a Dana White shouting into his cell phone video announcing a new opponent for Jamal Hill

or maybe announcing Ian Gary versus MVP or Ian Gary versus whoever. So, yeah, don't really know. And if Balal loses the Leon, man, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what he's going to do. Because he's kind of like, he's kind of fought everybody already on the way up here. I mean, he'd have to fight. Maybe they'd do him and Colby somewhere.

I don't know. He'd probably have to fight like Ian Gary. He'd fight Ian Gary. He'd fight the MVP's. He'd fight the JDMs. The Joachim Buckleys, the Michael Morales's, those guys. That's kind of where he goes. He becomes sort of the...

I know it's not like the same comparison, but the Caitlin Chukagia. if you will, where he's going to just sit there and try to defend his top three, top five spot against all these hungry newcomers. And if he can win five or six more in a row, maybe, depending on who the champion is, maybe he gets another crack at it. But yeah, this is normally I don't say this about a challenger, but it's about his must win of a title fight for Bala Muhammad than I can honestly remember. He kind of has to win this one or else he's,

This is going to be a problem. It's going to be in a tough spot. This is the complete opposite of Sean Strickland fighting Israel at Asana. The complete opposite. Belaw needs this one. This is how, this is, it's so interesting seeing Leon and Belaw because Leon was in the same exact position when he fought Kamara Usman. The first, well, the second time, I guess, technically.

When they fought in Salt Lake City and Kamara Usen was doing Kamara Usman things. And then Leon Edwards kicked him in the face. One kick changed the trajectory. of the sport in a lot of respects. And had that kick got landed, Leon Edwards is not fighting for a belt for a very long time. And Ballal is pretty much in the same position right now.

The UFC, the timing of that kick was perfect because the UFC, how they treat the UK, they really want to get back there, they want to travel to different places. And Leon over there is a superstar. Tom Aspinall is a superstar. Balal, I mean, yes, you have Abu Dhabi.

and places like that, but it's kind of not the same. So, yeah, big one for Bala Muhammad. And I think he's got to at least have that realism in his mind that he kind of has to win this if he wants to ever become a UFC champion.

Left lane, go ahead. What's up, Mike? Can you hear me? Yes. All right, cool. No one, I don't think, if I've heard correctly, has mentioned Lauren Murphy yet, and I wanted to give him some love.

I'm going to keep calling him the miracle. I'm not calling him the Iceman. We do not reuse legends names from 15 years ago. That's not what we do. So he's going to stay the miracle. But he had a really good performance. And I actually picked Barbosa going into the fight. So I was really impressed with how he looked.

I honestly just didn't think watching his previous fights he was that good at striking. And I'm not saying that he's a max holloway in that division and that he's a top five striker at featherweight. but he definitely looked a lot better than we've seen him before and he mixed in the grappling and he looked pretty good and apart from that one-up kick where things got hairy for a second he pretty much dominated 24 and a half minutes of that fight so really impressive performance

my honor suggestion was Kelvin Kater I like a Josh Emmett fight too a Dan Ege fight I know he's booked but like these kind of guys work not a guy that you need to push like super high up the rankings I'm not looking at no top five guys but I do think Lauren Murphy is a dude that if pushed correctly,

like I'm not saying he's a star potential guy, he does give me a lot of sort of Leon Edwards vibes in a lot of respects, not a major finisher, a guy that, you know, you got a couple finishes in there. Like, you know, when Leon got that really early finish in like 10 seconds or compared to when Murphy gets that big knee over, was a Mach run, I think. Like those kind of similar respects there of like a guy that almost fights to level of their opponent and that doesn't really look tremendous and no one's kind of hailing them as like a future contender until they're one fight away from a title shot or something like that.

So I think that's the boat we could see Murphy and maybe a little bit too early to put him into that category. But other couple brief things, just some quick fight, not major fight announcements, but some fights that I thought were pretty cool. Fayed Basharap as Montel Jackson is on the Saudi card now. Saeeda Madhamedov pulled out against Montel Jackson, which is unfortunate because that fight was good too, but I like the Basharat fight. And then Sharon Magamatov's got a new opponent to Jolton Latterbatch.

Just looking at his record, I don't imagine he's that good. A couple other minor ones, the road to UFC finals on that Saudi card too. That should be a pretty fun card, of course. And yeah, Lerone Murphy, what do you think about him, his future in the division? And I know you talked about him on Otno, but who would be a couple other options that you would like to see him against next? Thanks, Mike. Yeah, I've been high on Lerone Murphy for a while, even before he got into the UFC. I love the signing when he finally got in, stepped in to fight Zubaira.

And I thought he won that fight. They called it a draw. It is what it is. and then he goes out and finishes Rukar Hamas and he gets a decision win over Douglas Silva Day on Drogh. Then he knocks out Makwanamir Kani

and then we lose him for two years almost, like a year and a half. And he comes back and fights Gabriel Santos is a tough fight. Not an easy one. And wins a splitie. Got tested in that one and people started to fall off a little bit.

I think the Josh Kulabai one probably opened people's eyes back up because that was a great performance against a really tough. tough dude. And then this performance against Edson Barbosa, I think people got to see just who this guy is. He, the way he uses his range is unbelievable. I think he has like a 73-inch reach. He, he strikes and throws punches like he has an 85-inch reach. It's insane. It's insane. He was like punching Edson Barbosa from halfway across the cage. She was using Go-Go-Go Gadgettarm.

It was unbelievable. And he was hitting him with everything. He punched Edson Barbosa 230 times in that fight. It was a great performance. It was a great performance. Yeah, I would love to see him fight. I think cater is the way to go. I think that's the perfect fight.

Give Josh Emmett to Diego Lopez. And we'll have these up-and-comers in the division trying to make a stand against these vets. They don't see what they can do. You know, I like that a lot. Saudi Arabia coming together a little bit. I love Fareed Bashar a versus Montel Jackson. Yes, Sayy Narragamatov was interesting.

I would have picked Montel Jackson to win that fight nine times out of ten. This one is, like, it's rare that we get the better fight, and I feel like we have the better fight here. Because Farid's real good. I have questions about him, and anyone who's followed me since jumping over to M.A. fighting even before that, you all know how high I've been on Montel Jackson. and kind of like Lorone Murphy in a lot of respects. Anytime he starts to get momentum,

we don't see him for a while. We don't get to see him like two, three times a year, like most of these fighters at 135 in other divisions. So big fight from Montel. If he can hand free Basharat, his first loss and do it in Saudi Arabia, that's going to be freaking huge. So love that fight. And what else do they add to this?

Yeah, Shara versus Joyleton Luterbach. Dude's been fighting forever. He's got a billion fights. I think he's fought for karate combat. I mean, he's fought everywhere. Kickboxing's been PFL for a little bit. Cage Warriors. I mean, this guy's been everywhere for the last 15 years fighting probably.

So, yeah, good for him. Good for him. He's 31 going on like 48 in fight years, but it's not a lot of. a good little run right now. Not a nice little run. What was the last time he fought in the May? Oh, for Brave. So one, two, three, three,

four, four-fight win streak? Yeah. Hey, at least Shire's fighting. I think that's what people wanted. So, yeah, we'll take it. Let's go to AK, not the enemy fighting AK, but another AK.

Maybe. We're getting the wheel of doom. 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 rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no.

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All right, we'll move on for the time being. Four on site. So Mike, can hear me? Yes. Hey, heck of a morning. Real quick, I wanted to ask you actually about Angela Hill. So I, you know, saw the performances weekend. She got a, you know, a nice finish, nice submission.

And I went to her Sherdog, and I noticed she's got a total of 30 fights. And I believe, like, 25 or 24 of those were all in the UFC. She fought a few times into Victa. and I think her first fight was the only fight that was outside of the UFC and Invicta. And she's now 39 years of age, but she seems like she might, you know, be reaching her peak as far as performance. So I just wanted your thoughts on her career because that's not normal. You don't usually see a fighter, you know, one fight in, boom, they're in the UFC. And then like 10 years later, they're still in the top 10.

So what are your thoughts on her career and what did you think about her performance? Yeah, it was impressive. It was impressive. looked real good. She's had a crazy career because she just kind of like fell into this. She had a moi,

I think she had like one Muay Thai fight in like 2012 or 2013 or something and then transitioned over to MMA and then after one MMA fight, she's on the ultimate fighter. She's on season 20, the ultimate fighter with the best straw weights in the world.

Most of them. I think most hardcore fans knew that, yeah, these are all really good fighters, but the best draw weights in the world are not on the season, which would be Claudecadalia and Joani on Jacek, as was proven once the season was over. But basically, her second MMA fight ever was against Carla Esparsa on the ultimate fighter. Then she goes to the finale and wins. And then she fights Tisha Torres. Then she fights Rosedama Yuniz. And we're just like, what the hell, man? Like, and it just all happened so quickly, just going in there and fighting these absolute killers.

And after she lost to Tisha, now Tisha Pennington, and then losing to Rose, she is, she's out of the promotion. They release her. And people are kind of surprised by that because they saw her talent. They saw that she was fun. And she goes to Invicta and just starts running people over. over at Invicta. Picks up four wins. She wins the title at 115 and everyone was like resign her. And the UFC's like, bet, I'll resign. We'll resign her. And it was like the perfect

timing because Invicta was, this is 2016. This is when Invicta was was pretty red hot. It's not really that way now. We're kind of pondering what their future is going to be. I know there's some people who are sort of falsely reporting that they're done. They're planning on a return, but it's just a whole different world now from when they were on flight pass and stuff like that. And Angela Hill just goes in there and wins belts, and then she comes back and she fights Jessica and Giraj, and they just beat the hell out of each other.

It was a great fight. They had a fight of the night. And then she beats Asher Yoder, and then she fights Nina Nunez and beats Marina Morose. And then she was like, she kind of goes on that, a nice run and then in between all of these wins she's basically losing all these contentious split decisions to the Courtney Casey's and the Claudea Gdalia's, the Michelle Watersons, Amanda Lamosh, and the list sort of goes on and on and on.

And she's fighting everybody. She's going in there and fighting everybody. She fought his tours again. She gave Amanda Lemosch a super ass tough fight, which, At that time, when she fought Amanda, everyone thought she was like the next big killer. Amanda went out and fought for the belt, but a lot of people thought Angela beat her, fights Verda Jandaroba, fights Luby Godinez and beats her, fights Emily to Cody and beats her, fights Nisi Goams and beats her, submits Luana Pinero.

Yes, McKenzie Dern kind of beat the shit out of her, but I think if they fought like nine times and on any other time in both of their lives, I would probably give Angela more of a chance. She just got a really angry pissed off McKenzie Duren that night who just hit her a bunch and learned how to, at least for that fight, learned how to shoot doubles. So it's been an interesting run for her. Questions we've had is like, could this lead to, could we be living in a world where in the next year to 18 months,

Angela Hill fights for a UFC title? Seems kind of strange to think about, but let's look at what she did on the microphone. A realistic callout to Jessica Andrage, who yes is coming off of a couple of wins herself, who has fought for the belt many times, who has been in these big positions, who is a well-known commodity division,

and who has fought Angela Hill before, and they put out a fight of the night seven years ago. if they booked that fight and Angela Hill beats her she's what a win away from fighting for the title like I'm not ruling this out and what a story that would be so yeah 39 years of age

she looks better than ever that was an impressive performance now she's getting submission wins she's 12 and 13 in the UFC but she's won four out of five and she's beat like really good fighters Lupi Godinez is a great win. That one just continues to age tremendously well.

Emily to Cody at the time was a great win. Genesee Goemes, great win. That's a great win. And then going on submitting a lot of Pinero. Like, what a story. What a story. Good for her. So very impressed with what she's doing.

We'll see if she gets the Androge fight. I did not suggest that for Ons to the next. Next one, I suggested. Tap at the Ritchie. But, dude, you want to do Angela Hill versus Jessica Andratch, too? Totally down for that as well. Other news? Connor McGregor did some talking yesterday.

He did some sort of live chat and said a few things. Mention Leon Edwards says, that's the fight. if he beats Michael Chandler and Leon wins had some not so nice things to say about Iliate's Poria. Feels like Max Hollow he's going to beat the hell out of him. But here's what Connor had to say about the current state

of his contract with the UFC. June 29, September 5th, and then December. That's what McGregor said in terms of what he wants to do. Three bouts this year. Now I'll say this, God willing, because life has showed me sometimes different with injuries and madness take place.

Please God, three bouts, June 29th, September 5th. I don't think he's got the right date there. And then something tasty in December, end of the year. I have two fights left in my UFC contract. We're currently in negotiation stage with the UFC. Let's see what happens. Let's see what takes place.

Connor also added, I'm happy to get one in this calendar year, a fight before my next birthday. Very, very happy indeed. Then straight away, I'll be back for some. September the spear is going on. Mexican Independence Day, we're already looking for opponents for that. I love the D.S. Trilogy for that one.

I've said that publicly. There was water put on it almost instantly, but who knows Diaz and Mazdal are fighting in a boxing bout? I am looking for opponents. So, Connor McGregor, saying that he is in conversations with the UFC already. I truly hope he does not resign. I'm not saying forever. I'm saying before his deal runs out.

but I think he also knows that the only way he's getting three fights in 2024 is if he does re-side. Because if he fights Michael Chandler and then doesn't resign and only has one fight left on his deal, the UFC is going to

delay this process for as long as they possibly can. I know what some of you were thinking, oh, why would they do that? Why would they leave the biggest star in the history of the sport on the sidelines? Never thought I would say this into a live microphone, but I'm going to say it right now. They don't need Connor McGregor right now.

They do not need Connor McGregor. It's great to have Connor. And basically, the best thing the UFC can do right now is to make sure Connor doesn't go anywhere else. He doesn't go to PFL, that him and Nate don't do the trilogy outside of the UFC. Basically, the UFC just needs to play defense here. That's really all they need to do. Just think of what they're doing right now. biggest fight night gate ever with a card headlined by Derek Lewis versus Rodrigo Nassamento.

They're pulling those kinds of gates with that main event and that fight card. Because let's be honest, while we enjoyed the fight card, it wasn't good on paper. It just wasn't. There were a couple of fights where we're like, yeah, it's going to be kind of, of a cool fight. But then we realize Rodrigo Nassimento Mento is in the main event.

They are doing such big business right now that they will flourish with or without Connor. It'd be good to have him, but mostly they only need the best presence for Connor as a member of the UFC roster. Sure, you could try out about

there and it's a big deal, but it's mostly to keep Connor away from everybody else. They're just on fire. They're just on fire right now. So they've gotten themselves to a position where they do not need him. But it would be interesting just from what we're trying to do here and as a website and on shows and all of that. The MMA space is a much more interesting place with Connor McGregor as a free agent.

I'd be curious to see what the hell happened with that. Who's going to sign them? Is PFL going to offer him a billion dollars a fight? I would if I were them. and yes, I know there are fighters who are complaining and have come out publicly and said that they're getting kind of fucked over by the PFL, which to me is just like, are you surprised by this? Like when Don Davis went on the M. May hour and said,

hey, we're going to take care of everything. Everyone's got a job. You believed him? It ain't right. None of this is right. But this is the sport. This is what is the sport has become. And it sucks, but this is what it is.

And PFL needs to do something. Because I had suggested Josealdo, go just give Josealdo all the money. Get them over there and have them fight patchy mix, which is crazy because we didn't, like, not one talk, like one. And this just goes to show you everything that happened over this past weekend. Even in my intro with all the stuff that happened, I mentioned Anderson Silva box. Chale Sunnan in an exhibition fight before, by 49 minutes, Bellator Paris. It took me 49 minutes to even remember that card actually happened. It's mind-boggling how little buzz that organization has right now.

Just no buzz. Zero. They're in a worse place now than I think they have ever been as a promotion. even with absorbing Bellator and having the names on their on their roster now outside of Cedric Dumbay they got nothing they have nothing right now it's insane how little buzz they have and if they didn't have Cedric Dubei doing Ced Dubei things no one even remember that Bellator Paris even happened I thought Patchy Mix lost on Friday.

I thought Magamad Maga Mada beat him. I scored that fight 49-46. I went back and re-watched it. Guess what? I still scored it 49-46 for Maga-Mand-Magamatov. Still scored it four rounds to one for him. And this has led to a whole other debate of where Patsy Mix is. Because there was a lot of talk heading into this fight that he was the best ban of weight in the world.

Worldwide, this includes Sean O'Malley, this includes Rob, this includes everybody else at 135. As good as those guys are, patchy mix is better than all of them. And while I agree he deserves to be in the conversation, I couldn't get there. I just couldn't get there. Because, I mean, just kind of look at the resume right now. Just look at the guys he's beat. He's beat some good dudes. Don't get me wrong.

Let's pull up Patsy Mix's resume. He's 19, now he's 21, since 2020, lost to Warren Archiletta, beat Albert Morales. I was actually there for that fight. Be James Galaher. Missed Wade for that one. Beat Keoggi or Gucci, good performance. Beat Maga Men, Magamatov, beat Rafian Stats, beat Sergio Pettas. Good wins.

Good wins. I think Sergio Pettis is a little bit underrated, but I think he's, probably, like, even when Sergio was the champion, even after the performance he had against Pitbull, I had Sergio Petas, like, the seventh or eighth best band-a-way in the world, which is still very good. But just to put him as the best band-a-way in the world, I just couldn't get there. And then he fought Magamah Maagamah-Mad-up again. And I was just like, okay, he should make...

I also think Magam-Magam-Magam-A-Mag-A-W is tremendously underrated. but I also don't even think Maga Man Maga Mada Madaf is a top 15 Bannam weight in the world. I don't. I think he's the top 25 Bannam weight, which is really good considering how deep this division is. And I thought he lost. I thought he lost that fight. I think to me, and a lot of people were like, well, Patch you just didn't have it. He had an off night.

I don't think he had a bad night. I really don't. He looked a little off, but I think Magamend Maga Mada Madov found holes. and capitalized on them. And he hit Patchy Mix a lot in that fight. And I went in to this year, especially after what I saw at UFC 299, and especially after what I saw at UFC 299,

and I've said this before, I felt Sean O'Malley would beat Patchy Mix in a fight. I would pick Sean O'Malley to beat him. And after this Magamahma'amada fight, I feel more confident than ever. But again, this is not a shot on patchy mix. It's just a level of competition. He's fought good dudes.

I just don't think he's the best band I'm waiting in the world. I haven't thought that yet. And unfortunately, until he fights somebody of that level, we're never going to know. Which is why I keep saying, PFL needs to sign Jose Aldo. Catchy Mix versus Josealdo, we're going to get some answers. We're going to get a few more answers in a fight like that. Patchy makes is going to have a really tough time taking Josealdo down. Patchy makes him have a real tough time hitting Joseo

and at the same time, he's going to get punched and kicked a lot in that fight. And if patchy makes him go in there and beat Josealdo, okay, I'm willing to listen to your best band and wait in the world conversation. Still don't know if I'm there, but I'd be willing to feel pretty confident that, all right, he's one, two, or three, and I could say that confidently. But look at, like, just look at who he has available to him right now. Look who he called out.

He called out Leandro Ego. No disrespect to Leandro Ego. But like, come on, man. Like, PFL needs to go out and do something. Go find somebody for this man to fight. Because Leandro Ego ain't it. What are you going to do? I mean, you could throw him in there with Danny Sabs,

because Danny Sabs will sit there and talk a bunch of shit. But we kind of feel like we know how that fight's going to go. So go get Jose Aldo. Go do it. Or just let Patchy go. Let him go to the UFC. And then we'll really see what he's got. Like these are the fun.

Like these are just the unfortunate natures of PFL and Bellator where they're at right now. Zero buzz. Nobody cares at all. And the best fighters on their roster have nobody to fight. Catch's got nobody to fight Johnny Eblen's got nobody to fight It's crazy They have Francis and we know why France isn't fighting right now

And you know obviously he's going through a ridiculous time right now And he could sit out forever if he wants at this point They sign Jake Paul and say he's going to fight Nothing there Yeah, Clarissa Shields had a couple of fights Amanda Serrano hasn't had an MMA hasn't fought for PFL yet And it just keeps signing all these names and then like all the buzz they generate is just,

it's just silly buzz. Like Dakota Ditchava, like they have something there, but it's almost like unfair how they're doing it. Like she's got something. They have a potential star in her. But the way they're presenting her is just bullshit because Liz Karbush is one of the five, six or seven best fly weights in the world.

she has to fight like all the toughest fighters on the road to the playoffs. Liz Karmouche could win her next fight and not make the playoffs because of her strength of schedule. And Dakota Dichiva, who's probably like the fifth or sixth best flyweight

in that tournament, they're just giving her like the worst fighters so she could become a star and I get that's what you try to do. But then just like don't even put her in the tournament. I don't know. They're doing so much wrong right now. They don't see it. They think they're already the co-freaking leader.

Oh, look at what we did. We signed Paul Hughes over the UFC. Best free agent in the world. And they chose us over the UFC. Well, no shit, because you're paying them more. The UFC's not going to give Paul Hughes that kind of money. But now, now there's a real free agent. Not saying Paul Hughes is not a real free agent.

This is a great signing. PFL had to sign him. But can they get Joseoaldo? Can they win the Joseo Aldo sweepstakes? They can try. They can offer Joseoaldo whatever they want right now. They have that Saudi money. They have deep pockets right now.

They want Joseoaldo. They could get him. And they could offer him an amount of money that the UFC is just going to be like, Jose, we love you. But no, we're not paying you $2 million a fight. Not happening. Enjoy. Then you have something to brag about.

Like truly. But they are just, they're diving. They're sinking lower and lower and lower. And it sucks because I don't want this to happen. We need them to be good. We need them to be compelling. Competition is great. We need somebody who could actually nip at the UFC's heels a little bit.

We need this to happen. But unfortunately, no one's going to be able to do it. It certainly don't think it's going to be the PSL. Four Corner Sports, take us home, my man. All right. So yesterday, Ariel ended up having Leon Edwards on the show. That was very insightful. I wanted to ask you, so if in Mike's Hex's perfect world, right, if Leon retains the title,

Connor ends up winning on June 29th, right, who would you rather have? and also Dustin wins against Islam, who would you rather have Connor, you know, fight? Would it be the tetralogy between him and Dustin and him trying to revenge that loss because you know that Connor, like, he said that he wanted to get that one back? Or would you want to have Conner and Leon at MSG?

I know Connor said something that he wanted to fight three times and fight Nied Diaz. Like he had, like, open-mapped out Mexican Independence Day and December. But what would be your perfect scenario? All right, thanks, Mike. I mean, my perfect scenario would be Nate, but I just don't think that's going to happen. I don't know, maybe.

Nate's the answer. I mean, Nate should always be the answer. Plus, I want to see Shafcock get his shot. I want to see Leon versus Shafcott if he beats Ball. But if Connor wins and Leon wins, they're going to fight each other. That fight's going to happen. that fight's going to happen.

If Connor calls out Leon Edwards, he's getting it. Plain and simple. Especially if he resigns. Because Connor could just say, all right, man, I'll do it, but you got to give me the title fight against Leon. As I said earlier when we talked about this,

I don't think if Balal wins, he's not going to fight Bilal Mahab. I don't think he's going to take that fight. I don't think he has any interest in it. But then he can go for Nate. He can go for Dustin if Dustin somehow beats Islam. he'd go fight Islam. Even though we think,

I think we all know how that fight's probably going to go. It would be humongous. It would be gigantic. So, perfect world would be Conor Nate 3. The other perfect, like the true perfect world is that Connor becomes a free agent.

And we get to see like him test the waters a little bit and see what his worth is, see what Turkey wants, to do over in Saudi. Maybe he'll just book him and Connor and Nate over there and just pay them both like a floppy trillion dollars to do it. And plus, I want

to see Shafkaafe in the belt. So, I don't know. But what is my brain telling me is going to happen if Connor wins? He's going to call Leon. And if Leon beats Ballal, then Leon's going to get the red penny night, probably. Do they do it at MSG?

Maybe. You do John Jones v. Stipe. you do Conner-Cregor versus Leon Edwards. Golly. That's going to be a bonkers pay-per-view. It's going to do tremendous business. We'll take one more cook-home. Bar-Berosa, God ahead. Bobarissa.

Bobarissa, do we have you? Nope, we lost you. Okay. Well, there it shall be. All right. So, thank you very much. Thursday, as always, no show. We will have a BTL.

AK and I are doing a onto the next one Q&A. We already got a ton of really good questions coming in. You deadline tomorrow around noon, Eastern, to submit your questions. So you'd submit your question. Same way. You'd submit your matchmaking suggestions

for onto the next ones. We're going to do a little Q&A. There's some questions you would get here. There's some weird questions, and that's the way we like it. So send them on in. noon eastern tomorrow will be the cutoff because we're going to record that show sometime tomorrow. And then we'll do BTL Thursday. Friday, we'll be back here. We'll do another one of these. And then no UFC this weekend, which is pretty damn cool. I'm okay with that. It'll be the long weekend. And then get ready for MRF and all that fun stuff.

And then we'll be on the road to UFC 302 for Isl Mokachev versus Dustin Porier. Can Dustin Porrier pull it off? Can he check off that final box in his career and become the undisputed lightweight champion in the world? Boy, does he have a mountain to climb. But if he does it, holy shit. So that's going to be a fun-ass fight week. And that means the watch party will be back.

So lots going on, everybody. Lots going on. We appreciate you. We'll see you back here on Friday. Have a great rest of your Tuesday and have a heck of morning, everybody. Only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first?

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