MMA Fighting - HOAM | Could Bobby Green Embark On Jorge Masvidal-like Run With UFC Austin Win?

Episode Date: November 30, 2023

In 2019, Jorge Masvidal went from respected, gritty veteran, to megastar and world title contender, seemingly out of nowhere. Could Bobby Green find himself embarking on a similar path should he pick up another big win this weekend? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses Green's upcoming bout with Jalin Turner this Saturday at UFC Austin, and if a win can help push Green to a Masvidal-like run with the UFC in the loaded lightweight division. Additionally, listener topics include the Beneil Dariush vs. Arman Tsarukyan main event, the UFC Austin card as a whole, PFL renewing with ESPN, Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington at UFC 296, Tony Ferguson's chances against Paddy Pimblett in their upcoming bout, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe 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 Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

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

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

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Hello there, everybody. I am Mike Heck. Hope you're all having a tremendous, tremendous week. There's a lot going on. This weekend in the world of combat sports, we have some boxing, but most of us here are MA fans. We have the UFC's return to the Lone Star State. UFC Austin coming up on Saturday.

this card is real good. It's real good. It's just a, from start to finish, it's just like a slow build, and then it gets real good, and then it gets better, then it gets better, then it gets better.

It's a super good card. Definitely in the discussion for the best fight night card of the year, at least on paper, with the fantastic main events that I'm looking forward to, Benil Darius versus Armin Sarin,

I think you all know at this point how high I am on Armand Sarukian. I have been on the Sarukian train for a long time since before he's even in the UFC. I said before he made his UFC debut, I do think that this guy is going to be fighting for a title, if not becoming the lightweight champion. And this is a big step for him. He's a huge favorite to defeat Benile Darius. that minus 310, I got to say, as high as I am on Armand Sarukian, if I was a betting man, if I were to place wagers on this card, I'm probably betting Benile Daryush at plus 250.

I just think this fight, I completely agree that Surukian should be the favorite. Minus 310 just seems super wide to me. It just seems like a really wide line. I feel like there's definitely a ton of value on Binald-Daryush, but we'll see what happens we get jalen turner bobby green bobby green in the news yesterday uh so was arm and sarin sarucyan and his team and let me just pull this up real quick it all started with uh bobby green sort of putting some instagram stories up basically saying that armin sirukian and his team started with him and things happened and all sorts of craziness and then bobby green's

team put out a statement, Arridium Sports Agency run by Jason House that said, quote, during a media interview earlier today, Arridium Sports Agency client, Bobby Green was unprovokingly accosted and attacked by a member of Armands Rukin's team

at the UFC host hotel. Bobby tried to avoid the conflict, but he was put in a position where he had to defend himself and his coach from the larger aggressive group. So, yeah, some madness in Austin. There's always like fights in Austin anyway, so it kind of it tracks. But Bobby Green versus Jalen Turner, very interesting fight.

We'll see if Jalen Turner can make the 155 pound mark. Rob Favre v. Davis at Figuero. Holy Spokes. What a great fight that is. Sean Brady, welcoming Kelvin Gasolam back to 170. I don't know if you guys have seen the journey on social media for one Kelvin Gasselm. But dude looks in great shape. It looks ready to hit the scales tomorrow.

and we'll see if he can make it. But he seems in great spirits. Seems like this is a movie should have made a long time ago. And he's still pretty young. He's still pretty young. Only in his low 30s. So he's still got time. But it's a big fight.

Big one for Sean Brady. A lot of people have sort of jumped off the Sean Brady train since the Blah Muhammad loss. Some have jumped off even before that after the third round against Michael Kiesa. So we'll see if he could bounce back. He hasn't fought in a hundred. hot minute. It'll be over a year since we've seen Sean Brady. So we'll see how he looks against Calvin Gassum. Clay Gwita, Joaquim Silva, you just know that's going to be just a hectic affair. As will Puna Soriano, Dustin Stoltzvist, someone's going to sleep there.

Misha Tate, Julia Avila, Zach Reese, Cody Brundage. Don't think that one's going to the cards. Jekar-Close-Solecki is an interesting fight. You know Steve Garcia and Melchizio Costa is going to be wild. This is a good card. It's just a super good card. And I am looking forward to it. And then later on that night, we got BKFC. And this card's ridiculous too. Mike Perry versus Eddie Alvarez.

Ben Rothwell versus Todd Duffy and Bear Knuckle? Holy shit. That's insane. Jimmy Rivera versus Jeremy Stevens. Beck Rawlings, Christine Faria. And then the list goes on. on. A lot of recognizable names on that

BKFC card. So this is going to be a fun weekend, everybody. We got a lot of college football conference championship games. So if you're a sports fan, this is a damn good weekend for you. And yeah, so we'll talk about that. Some news in the business and television

distribution space in the MMA world as well. PFL is staying with ESPN. They inked multi-year extension. They announced it via the Hollywood Reporter. And looks like the relationship's going to stay the same. They'll have linear programming, lineal programming, pre-fight, post-fight coverage.

They'll obviously have the PFL paperview Superfight Division on ESPN Plus Paperview, which is expected to have France and Ghana who compete on it, Jake Paul, an MMA fight. And no word on what's going to happen with the Bellator brand, yet. But a lot of people seem surprised by this. I don't really seem all that surprised by this. I'm sure this is a drop in the bucket for ESPN. I'm sure they're not paying PFL a whole bunch of money like they're paying the UFC. I'm sure this is more of a partnership than anything. And if you're ESPN, why the hell not? Why the hell not? Take a chance. We're going to see how this pay-per-view thing works out. You got Francis. You got Jake Paul. Take a shot.

see if it works out why not curiously how the the UFC is going to react to this uh their television deal is going to be coming up not that long from now anyways i think it's maybe i think it's like maybe they have another year or two with that um and you know they're going to go for uh for a pretty pretty penny once that gets shopped around too so yeah so that is what has happened today and i want to hear from you guys now so let's get after this shit and let's do the damn thing. Tristan, kick us off. Mike, can you hear me? Yes. Mike, my question

is towards Julia Alvia. I watched her, I believe, post-fight scrum, and I really, if she beats Misha Tate

and finishes her, I really feel the UFC's going to push her, And God willing, I mean, they need her. I think she's become very important for my estimation. She has the personality. She has the charisma. I think she could create a rivalry against Julia Peña and the other, you know, women that are in the top five or so in that women's bandweight division.

because I think she really could put new blood into that division. Because I know we've talked about it in an nauseam about how bad that woman bandweight division is. But I think she's going to be a key player. I just see it in her. I just see the charisma. I think she's fun. She's the coolest nicknames, The Raging Panda. I really think this is her time.

This is a very important fight. And if she goes out there beats Misha Tate. in emphatic fashion and just an incredible win right there. I really believe the USA is going to push her. I think she has it all. What is your thoughts about Julia Alvala and where she could possibly push this woman's Banswick Division because they need it.

Thanks, Mike, for everything. Thanks, man. Yeah, I love this fight. I love this fight. And I remember when we confirmed it and put it out there, people are like, who cares? some people were like who is this abula girl and I get that because she hasn't fought in a long last time

it's been two and a half years since the fight with Julia Stoliorenko and she is like she's had some pretty bad luck since signing with the UFC Julie's been on my radar for a long time her first pro fight was Marion Renault in 2012 and then she took quite a few years off and then just came back. She's just a super fun fighter.

Like, she's just super fun. She's never, ever in a boring fight. She just goes after you. And she signs to the UFC. She fights Panty Anzad and just, it's just reckless in, like, the best possible way for 15 minutes. It just kind of beat the hell out of Panty Anzad. And then she was booked with Carol Hosa four times.

And then she was, She ended up fighting Gina Mazadi on short notice, and she just killed Gina Mazzani. 22 seconds, just punched her a thousand times and took her out of there. Like, she is really fun. Then the Nika Montanio stuff happens, and Niko wasn't getting into there with anybody, but they kept booking her with her, and that wasn't happening. So she took Zajari U. Banks on super short notice, and the fight didn't go very well. She just got tackled for most of that fight.

and then she gets Stoliarenko win and we haven't seen her since because she went and had a child and she was dealing with some injuries as well before that happened she was supposed to fight Raquel Pennington at the end of 2021 and then she had like a really bad knee injury

which I talked to her about and then she got pregnant and became a mom so I love the matchmaking here because Amisha wins they're obviously going to give her a little bit of a push and if Julia wins

That's a great win on the resume, and they'll push her. But I think you're right. I think if Julia goes out there and just runs Misha Tate, they will push her because they don't have anybody. They really, this division stinks. It's so bad. And they need players. And Julie can be a player.

The problem is, like, I just, I'm so curious about this fight. So curious to see how Julia looks. so curious to see what happens if she can't get a quick finish because Julia lost some prime years during this layoff. She's 35 now.

A little bit younger than Misha, but she's 35. So we'll see what happens. I think this is a great fight. I think this is one of the more interesting fights in the entire card, and I'm very much looking forward to it. So we'll see what happens.

and it's going to be fun. Just one question, what's how it's going on here? We will have BTL today, 1230, normal show. We'll do the video thing. We'll be live on YouTube. Jed is back. Shaheen Al-Shadi is back. We'll have a lot to discuss.

We'll talk more about the PFL championship event and the vast improvements that need to be made there. And there's a lot of them, I'm sure. It'll be interesting to hear Jed and Shaheen's presentation. perspective on that. We'll talk UFC also. We'll talk BKFC. We'll talk about some of the other news and notes going on in the sport. So it should be fun around

12.30 p.m. Eastern time. And we'll have some fun. We will have some fun. But yeah, it's going to be a fun little stretch here for the UFC. We got this card

that we have UFC Shank Vegas, which when I found out that the main card is going to be at 10 p.m. Eastern, I wanted to cry. I was like, come on, man. What are we doing? Why is this happening? I would have preferred,

it's starting at 4 a.m. Then 10 p.m. Eastern. That card's at, let me pull that one up. Let's pull that one up. Let's see we're at. And then obviously it's on the, we'll be knocking on the door of UFC 296, which, Jesus Christ, that card is awesome. Let's see. UFC

Shang Vegas. Song Yidon, Chris Gutierrez, Anthony Smith, Khalil, Roundtree. I liked that fight a lot. Sumiderji, Alan Nassimento, Andre Munez,

Jun Jung Park. Love that fight. Hackparas, Malarkey, Jansung Park versus Shannon Ross, Tatsuro Taira. Finally getting back in there.

One of the top prospects at 125 pounds against Carlos Hernandez. That fight's going to be crazy. Kenan Song is back versus Kevin Jussetz. Stephanie Yeager Luana Santos, Ryan Dos Santos, the former Invicta Adamweight champion, makes her UFC debut against Tolita Alencar to kick off UFC Shang Vegas.

So we got Austin, which is great. This card is okay. And then 296 rules. So a lot to like here. A lot to like. CV, go ahead. Morning, Mike. Heck of a morning.

I just want to talk about Ian Gary. Do you think, out of all the fighters in the UFC, he has like the lowest approval rating right now? Like, he's on the headlines for all the wrong reasons. And I agree with you with what you said the other day. I think the press conference for 296 is going to be absolutely god-awful. Thanks. So, yeah, it's going to be god-awful for me. Like, I truly hope that, like, it's one of those things where,

Oh, you know what? I probably won't have to cover it because I'll be in Orlando for the Jake Paul card. I think Ariel is going to be there as well. But, yeah, dude, that press conference is going to be awful. Now, there are some people who are going to enjoy it because people love chaos and love just absolute anarchy on that stage. And I get it. if you're giving me the choice between what we had for 295 and what we could get for 296, boy, they're both kind of bad for their own reason.

Because 295 was like the complete opposite of what 296 is going to be. And that was not really thrilling at all. But 296 is just going to be nuts. And it's going to be a whole bunch of stuff. You know, Colby's got a whole bunch of Ian Gary stuff ready to go. I'm sure Leon's going to have some Ian Gary stuff ready to go. And then there's Patty and Tony. and it's going to be just wild.

It's going to be crazy. Ian Gary's approval rating. Yeah, it's probably, it's not good. It's not good right now. I have to, like, look, I don't, the whole thing with, with his wife and all that stuff, like, I'm not going to touch that. I don't really care. I've met and spoken to Ian,

Many times, he's been nothing but great to me. I've spoken and met his wife a few times, and she's been nothing but nice and great to me as well. So I'm not going to get into any of that stuff. I'll let whoever wants to get into it, get into it. Not my cup of tea. What I will get into is some of the other things that have been said about him. Firstly, it all sort of started with the Leon Edwards thing, that Ian Gary was training at Renegade with Leon Edwards and was basically asked to leave the gym.

And both guys have kind of given their sides of things. You get one side than the other and somewhere in the middle is the truth. And I tend to side more with Leon for a lot of things because when, and this is the good and the bad of being savvy with production and social media. and doing all these things because he and Gary, as a young up-and-comer, understands the importance of this stuff, understands the value of production and all that stuff.

The problem is when you go into somebody else's gym and you are training with the champion of your division and you're bringing in cameras and filming everything, that's not good. That's not good. Leon Edwards is getting ready to fight Colby Cuffington in a huge fight for him. And if he wins this,

fight, like it could potentially open different kinds of doors for him, where he gets to put a lot of like the old guard behind him and face newer challenges. But if he loses to Colby, like this is tough. Like the division changes forever. And he probably doesn't get another title shot anytime soon. So there's a lot on the line. So I get where Leon's coming from. And then, you know, a lot of the other fighters have mentioned similar things. And I am with that. on that. Like you, I totally agree, especially when you have fighters in your own division, who you could potentially fight to be bringing in cameras and all that stuff, if that's what's happening, not very good. That's, that's not a good look. And I totally understand why a gym

would be like, nah, you can't, you can't do that. Either, excuse me, either lose the cameras or you just can't train here. So I get it. I totally get them. And then I just think there's, you know, other people, like Sean Brady was talking about it as well. Some people just don't really know. either. So it's just, yeah, Ian is not in a great place headline-wise right now, but you know what changes everything? Going out and winning fights. Doesn't matter. Ian Gary goes out there. It's going to be a tough couple weeks for Ian Gary. It's going to be a tough couple weeks. He's going to go to media days. He's going to have to deal with it. He's going to have to sit through that press conference and just get battered by Colby and other people as well.

but he goes out there and just wreck shop against Vicente Lucke. I'm not going to say people are going to forget about it, but they're going to kind of forget about it, and it's going to be about, oh, shit, this dude's really good fighting. And at the end of the day, that's really all that matters? Because there have been people in this sport who have done some heinous shit, but you go out there and win, and it's like none of it matters. So, yes, right now his cue score is not great,

but he goes out there and just beats the shit out of Vicente Lucke. and has a tremendous performance on last pay for the year, it really doesn't matter all that much. So, yeah, it's going to be a tough couple weeks for Ian Gary. And if he loses to Vicente Lucay, Youser, it's going to be a tough, it's going to be a tough holiday for him. It's going to be a tough holiday for him. But like I said, winning changes everything, and we'll see.

But as far as the other stuff goes, I ain't touching that shit. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep.

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With Amex 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. Let's go to Edward. Edward, go ahead.

Edward, you're muted. Edward. Hello. There we go. Yes, I have you. Hey, man, I hear you. First time here. Man, I love MMA.

I just enjoy listening to it. Y'all talk about it and everything. Enjoy all facets of it. All three of my sons are wrestlers in high school. One of them is a state champ. The oldest one is Christopher's a state champ. We love it, man. Just glad to be part of it.

The podcast here, man. Thank you for calling on me. Yeah, absolutely, man. Do you have any questions or anything? Anything you want to talk about? Well, actually, man, yeah, by the oldest one who just won the state championship in Georgia here, he wants to go and actually pursue a career in the MMA. He wants to go to Las Vegas, and I'm hoping maybe you guys can help me out by giving me some,

maybe a name or something I can get in contact with, so send him on his way to start his journey of life. Well, that's cool, man. Thank you, Edward. I appreciate the kind words. best of luck to the wrestling family. And that's awesome, man. That's awesome. I mean, Vegas is a pretty damn good place to go.

Pretty damn good place to go. I mean, there's a couple of really big gyms, obviously. Syndicate with John Wood is a gym that's obviously very big. You can't help, but you cannot ignore the success that Extreme Couture has had. Eric Nixick, the head coach over there. you can't really go wrong. You can't, with either of those gyms. Basically, what I would say is, you know, just talking to fighters about this in the past,

I would probably take a trip. Check out both. Check out both. And see how he does. You know, see how he meshes with each different coach and different group and all that stuff. I'm sure there's different ways to get in there and try it. out and go check it out. But yeah, I mean, Extreme Gator is a great gym. They're very welcoming from what I understand. He might get tested a little bit, especially if he wants to go with like

the pros and stuff. I don't know if he wants to do that right off the bat, but yeah, I would probably just go in there and just try to work with both. There's other gyms in Vegas as well. And just give it a shot. See which one he messes the best with and kind of go from there. But yeah, that's awesome. Like I said, like I've been saying for a long time, you think the evolution of the sport is like at its peak now? We aren't even close. We are not even close. Because we got, you know, state champion wrestlers. We got kids who are like 10 years old right now who are state champion wrestlers in their own right, some are national champion wrestlers at a super young age that are only wrestling to get ready for a career in MMA. I've talked to kids. You know, kids of parents that I do CrossFit with

who are wrestlers. They travel around and they compete in these big tournaments and they want to be MMA fighters at like 10, 11 years old. It's crazy. It's crazy to think about. I was 10, 11, years old. I'm like, I want to play, I want to be either be a game show host or professional baseball player. I wasn't, certainly wasn't thinking about getting punched in the face for a living, but it's a whole different world now. Also, I'm old as ho. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Big Mike. What's going on, man? What's up, brother? Question. So, in the recent win for Jason Jackson, being the Walterweight champion at Bell Tour, I just wanted to see what you thought, how he would

fair with the UFC Walter weights. And I don't know if you listened to the interview with Brennan Allen when he was talking about Ian Garingen just knocked out or put to sleep

in one of the sparring sessions and someone alluded that it was Jason Jackson that put him out. But no one's obviously going to say anything for those reasons. But you just want to get your thoughts

on that man. Appreciate you. Yeah, man. Jason Jackson. Look, Jason Jackson of the UFC would be really interesting because he trains with like half of the top welterweights. Like Usman, Lukey, Gilbert Burns,

like all those guys have spent a lot of time putting over Jason Jackson and the importance of the role he has at Kilcliffe. dude is I gotta say of all the like moments that have happened this year

and there are a lot of them and you react to them and you have different emotional feelings for all of them but Jason Jackson beating Yaroslav Amasov and performing the way he did and getting a championship belt

wrapped around his waist honestly if somebody who has been interviewing and talking to Jason Jackson on and off for seven years now I mean, that is friggin' cool, man. He has come so close to so many big things only to, like, come up short or, like, bad luck has happened. And then it just seemed like it took him forever

to get to a title shot. And then he wins it, and it's just, fuck, man. Like, it's just poetic that Jason Jackson is the last... Him performing like that is the last thing of that old iteration of Bellator. That's frigging cool, man. That is freaking cool. How would he do in the UFC?

I don't know. I don't know. Dude is super solid everywhere. He's got incredible fight IQ. The dude can punch. He can grapple his ass off. He understands the opposition so, so well. Is he always the most exciting guy to watch?

No. But does the man know how to win? Yes. So, yeah, I think it would be kind of interesting. And then I saw the Brett and Allen thing about Ian and some other things. Again, I don't know. I wasn't there.

So let's see. I want to pull this up because I saw this the other day and I haven't really talked about it. Don Davis tweets out in just Don Davis fashion. Nine weight classes, which company wins five to prove it has the best fighters. Let's see.

So heavyweight, he proposes, Ngano versus Jones. That's interesting. 135 Mix versus O'Malley. Interesting fight. I think people just look at it on paper and think Mix just washes Sean O'Malley. I don't think that's the case. I would probably pick Mix, but I think that fights closer than people think.

145 Pitbull versus Volkadovsky. This is probably the easiest pick of all. Volkadovsky just runs Pitbull. 155 OAM versus Machachev. Dude, come on. That's Macha Chapp all day. Magamad Karamov. Jackson versus Leon Edwards.

I'd probably pick Leon against both. Yeah, I'd pick Leon against both. Eblen versus Strickland's. Again, interesting fight. A lot of people would look at that on paper and think Ebbled all day, but Strickland is tough as hell, man. It's a tough fight. Nemcoff Pereira, again.

People probably look at that on paper and say Nemcoff probably runs over Pereira. Again, I don't know. Decava Deceva versus Whaley Come on Whaley runs That's not even close Kayla

Pacheco or Cyborg versus Pena At 1.45 It doesn't really seem all that fair If we're being honest First of all Payne is not even the champion

I think the UFC probably wins a lot of those But it's close It's super close Shout out to Don Davis for kind of changing course a little bit too. This whole I think

Don kind of understood how people reacted to the co-leader bullshit that he said we're already the co-leader by making this move. We have Dana White worried with this Bellator acquisition, which is absolute horseshit too.

But at least after the card, Don Davis tweeted out PFL 2023 Championship, perfect end to PFL Chapter 1, who became the number two MMA Global Company in the first five years. Perfect start to PFL Chapter 2 will become MMA co-leader in the next five years. So at least he's changed the tune a little bit. So I respect that, but I still don't think that's going to happen in the next five years either.

And if this all doesn't work, then they're not even going to be around in five years, in my humble opinion. So this is going to be an interesting five years. That's for sure. Henry, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Have a morning. Long time no speak. I just want to start on bone nickel because as a prospect, I'm pretty high on him,

but I kind of, I feel like a lot of people aren't talking about the factor that his body's probably pretty damn beat up already from wrestling. And although I feel like he has a super high ceiling, I don't really feel like he's long for this MMA world. Yeah, so I was just wondering, where do you think he'll be by the end of 2024 and is he going to be fighting? I'm going to guess it's going to be at UFC 300 next. Also on a personal note, I've been having a bit of a rough time recently and I just want to thank you guys at the MAA fighting crew just for constantly putting out amazing content and being such a comfort blanket.

I lost my best friend on the 18th of November and I hit and run at 24 years old on the night of the Allen Craig fight. I've just been going through a terrible time there. I know Vikings been honest about his struggles here and I just want to say thank you to you guys for always putting out amazing content and just being incredible people. Paul. Yeah, you're great at your jobs and you're really appreciated. And yeah, thanks to everyone in this room. I love you all. Love MMA. Peace up. Man, I'm so, godly, I'm so sorry to hear that, man. And I appreciate the kind of words. And yeah, hearing that stuff like makes my day. But again, I'm so sorry that happened to you and that you're dealing with all that and thoughts of prayers go out to you and everybody else.

who are friends and family of your friend. That sucks, man. That's horrible. Tough to transition from that. Bo Nickel. So here's, I've heard a lot of people sort of bring this up to me. I got a lot of DMs about this too. And like I talked about before, we're doing the,

we're already getting buy-sell suggestions in for the end, for the 2024 prediction show. A ton of Boe-Nichael questions already. about where he's going to be in 2024 and some people brought up some of those points too maybe his body is not ready for this MMA world, etc. I actually think Bo has been pretty smart here.

It just doesn't... Like a lot of people when he came in was like, oh, the UFC is just going to push him and he's going to have three fights. I started listening to the 2023 prediction show. One of the questions that was, by sell questions was Bo Nickel would be a top 10

UFC middleweight by the end of 2023. And AK bought it. I almost bought it by elected not to because I thought he was going to have to fight three or four times and I didn't think he would get one, that sort of volume schedule and two, I didn't think he'd get a name

kind of good enough to at least put him in that consideration. So I ended up selling that one. but Bo just getting a lot of momentum from the two wins and then saying like you know what I don't care how much momentum I lose I'm taking the rest of the year off I'll fight first quarter of 2024 none of that stuff matters I'm not in a big rush that tells me that he is very smart that tells me that he understands his body

and that tells me that's maybe a little bit of truth to what you said there Henry that maybe he's thought about that he's thought about the wear and tear and the mileage he has put on his body with wrestling and competing at such a high level that he doesn't want to be like Kevin Holland and fight four or five times a year. He wants to pick his spots and kind of do the thing. Now, there's talks about, there's a lot of things in mind. Like, so UFC 300 is a question I keep getting?

Like is Boehnickle fighting UFC 300? Apparently he's saying that. But you have to think as well, like I've talked about over the last couple weeks on the show when it comes to locations of pay-per-views. March could be in Miami. Sean O'Malley already tweeted out Miami for him and Cheeto, which would be awesome.

And I have a feeling, especially with how Dana White has talked about Miami on certain interviews. I know he did the sit down with the full send guys and talked about how Miami is like the new L.A. It's like the new hotspot. I think the UFC is probably going to make that a regular stop. I don't know if it's going to be every single year,

but I think after the success of 287, I think it's probably going to be once every 18 months, at least that they go to Miami. So if that's the case, like Bo Nichols from, he trains an American top team. So him fighting in Miami would be a pretty easy trek for him, would it not? So maybe he fights on that car, maybe 300. Either way, I think people are going to be interested to see who he fights.

Look, there's a fight coming up on Saturday between Prudas Soriano and Dustin Stoltzviz. and I think whoever wins that fight, I think that's the perfect next fight for Bo Nicol. I see a lot of people throwing them up there. They want to chuck them right in there with Anthony Hernandez. I'm like, come on, man. Guys got two fights. You beat rankings-wise,

probably the two worst middleweights in the division. And you want to throw them in there with fluffy? Come on, man. There's no need to rush him. So, yeah, first quarter, maybe early second quarter for Bo. and I think any momentum you may have lost by the layoff, we'll come right back because they're going to matchmake for him appropriately.

There's no need to rush him. Daniel, go ahead. Thanks for taking me. I have a question about Hansa Chimaev, and didn't he mention that he liked to fight Alex Pereira and a light heavyweight, And is this, in your opinion, is this more like this typical Hamzat talk?

Because in my opinion, his last performances, he left more question marks in my mind than that I can see him doing this or be successful in this kind of fight. And do you think Dana is maybe supporting this idea? or is he maybe should he fight another guy in the light heavyweight before he gets a title shot? And what you would recommend for the carrier, the next steps for Hamzad. Thank you, Mike.

No, he's not going to fight Alex Pereira. No chance. Zero chance. He doesn't even have like a, like, he moved up to 185 and fought a welterweight. and like you said left more questions than answers. So I think this is just Hamzat doing what he's been doing, just staying in the news, staying in the cycle, keeping his name top of mind, which isn't like a terribly bad idea.

But no, he's not going to get that fight. He's not going to get that fight. What I would guess for him is, my guess, him and Paulo Costa in Saudi Arabia. I have no insight to this whatsoever. So don't be like, oh, Mike Hex reporting this. No, I'm not reporting anything. I don't know.

But if I was putting together the schedule for 2024, Shemaya of Costa would be the fight to make. And I think Saudi Arabia would be like a very safe spot to put that fight. If there's any real travel issues for Hamzad, don't have to worry about it with them going to Saudi Arabia. And at this point, after watching everything that happened with Inganu and Fury and all that, sports washing, like, who cares to those people, they roll out the red carpet for the athletes and they make it a very big deal. So, yeah, that'd be a damn good one. I know D.C. was saying maybe do Mokachev and all there on that card, but it's fight night. Do you want to put Mokachev on a fight night card?

I mean, you could because you're going to get a whole bunch of money. But I don't know. But either way, I think Shemayev Costa should be on that card. For sure. That's what I would do. But no, he's not going to fight Pereira at 205. Pereers got, like, Perrier's got plenty of options at 205, and Shamiyaf ain't one of them right now.

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Henderson, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Anderson. Hey, Mike. Hey, Mike. Good morning to you, man. I wanted to call in because some news just came out about PFL and ESPN signing a multi-year deal. And I look back and I made a prediction before PFL signed Francis back in May.

And I said, first they're going to sign Francis. Then they'll buy Bellator. and then they'll convince Disney ESPN to go all in on them and to not resign the UFC. So that was my prediction at the time. And then they signed Francis. They bought Belator and now they have a multi-year deal. I believe it's all PFL regular season playoffs and championships plus PFL paper views. So not Bellator and not PFL international.

national events, but the main heart of PFL is going to be on ESPN for the near future. So do you think the final element of my prediction will come true and that ESPN will at some point decide either soon or whenever their next contract discussion is? UFC is way more expensive for them to keep them PFL. And if they put money into PFL, they can have even more control. and they don't have to deal with Dana and Vince McMahon and all this craziness that goes on with the UFC, they can go to the PFL where there's no elbows,

it's not as bloody, and they can get more bang for their buck. So I wanted to hear what you thought about that. And also I'm really excited for this card coming up. And I think it just goes to show how much better the UFC is and how much better they aspire to be when there's actual fans in attendance. So have a great morning.

Thanks, man. Do I think your prediction will come true? I'm going to say, but if it does, it's not going to be because ESPN got out of the UFC business. It's because UFC got out of the ESPN business, if that makes sense. ESPN, even though they're paying so much money to the UFC,

like let's be honest now if the UFC didn't sign with ESPN and they put out ESPN and they put out ESPN Plus do you think they would have 75% of the subscribers they have? Do you? I wouldn't subscribe to it though

to UFC like the UFC is making them like their pay the UFC is making a ton of money off ESPN but the UFC is also making ESPN a shit load of money like ESPN Plus is thriving because of the UFC. It's not because of the extra programming and stuff.

Like that's just bonus. But like it's all because of the UFC. It's all because of it. They have millions and millions of subscribers. And I can damn well assure you that it ain't because of the PFL that they have these subscribers. It ain't. It's not at all. It's not at all.

And if they announced tomorrow, hey, we're out of the UFC business. We're just all in on PFL. I will guarantee them to you that 60 to 70% of subscribers are out. Out. So I think ESPN probably got a deal with PFL. When you have Francis about to fight, you have potentially Jake Paul about to fight. It is completely worth the risk. to throw a little bit of shekel on the PFL for another few years.

Because why not? Why not? Their ratings have been pretty decent on television and on the streaming. But, I mean, the PFL aren't bringing in new subscribers. They're just bringing in MMA. Like, MMA fans who already have it to watch the UFC are like, oh, PFL's on ESPN Plus, I'll watch. You know what I mean?

So... Yeah. It's worth the risk. It's worth the risk. And if, and I, I will tell you right now, when the UFC's TV deal gets to a point where they can negotiate with everybody, if the UFC leaves ESPN, it's because they're making way, they're going to get so much money on this TV deal. It's not even funny. Like, so much money. And ESPN, I think we'll be willing to pay it. but there could be others out there that are willing to pay more. But if that relationship dissolves, it's not going to be because, well, Dana, guys, we're all in on the PFL now. We're all in. You guys cost too much. We're going to take this relationship away.

It ain't going to be because of that. It's going to be because the UFC is like, hey, Universal just offered us a floppy-de-c billion dollars. Can you match it? Nah, man, it's too much. All right, peace out. Like that's, that will be why that relationship would dissolve. It wouldn't be because, oh, no, we're going with the underdog here. Not you guys.

No, because that would be a terrible decision, considering how much money they have both made each other. Four course sports, go ahead. Hey, Mike, I totally agree with you when you say that 65 to 75% of subscribers subscribe for ESPN plus because of the UFC. originally, I don't know if you remember, the ESPN Plus was putting out really good content, especially with the 30 for 30. But now they have it on squat,

and I feel like they got very, you know, you know, just lazy and just allowing, what's it called, the same nonsense units to develop because nobody really watches what's it called places and stuff like that. The majority of the subscribers really do, you know, chime in just to see what's happening with the UFC. but what I really wanted to talk about was this weekend's fight, Davidson Figurato versus Rob Fon.

I feel like that's the fight that might end up winning a fight of the night. How long do you predict the fight end up going? And I feel like Davidson Figuero is going to be a smaller fighter. I feel like he's in a very awkward position because he said he has a tough time cutting down to $125. but he's going to be too small to fighting 135ers. How do you project like this fight going? And if he wins, do you see him having some success in the division long term? I love this fight.

I'm intrigued by it. But I'm with you. I think Rob's a pretty big guy. Like when you stand next to Bannam White, you don't think they're that big. Rob's pretty big Bannamweight. He's a pretty big dude. He's going to be way bigger than Figurato. Way bigger.

Right now, Rob Fon's minus 135. I think there's tremendous value on Rob Fon in this fight. Could Figgi just be, Figgi's obviously going to be healthier because he has a fight at 125. They have the same token. Like, he's going to be the smaller dude. And I don't think he can finish Rob.

I don't think he can knock Rob. Rob out. I think Rob could definitely knock Figurato out. I think there's so many ways Rob could win this fight. Now, if Figueroa were to win this fight, he's going to have to tackle Rob Fon a bunch and try to keep that man

down, which is not going to be easy to do. I'm sure Rob took a lot away from that San Hagan fight. I'm sure it's something that he's worked on. But Font is the better striker. Fon's the more experienced guy in this weight class. Fon's going to be the bigger guy. athleticism.

I'm not really sure. I think we're going to kind of see how it plays out. But Figgi, with this whole thing with Moreno in this entire run, like, Fingy took a lot of damage in those fights. Like, he took a lot of damage in those fights. And Rob hits harder than Brandon Moreno does. So I think Rob's live for a knockout. I think he's live for, I mean, there's,

I think there's tons of value on Rob Fonda minus 135. I think he wins this fight. I don't think Figgie, unless Figgie can, unless Figgie just wrestles him a whole lot and is able to keep Rob on his back, I just don't see a world where he wins his fight. I just, I don't. And this isn't New England bias.

This is just my eyes telling me. It's going to have a really hard time getting inside of Rob in terms of landing strikes. Fob can keep away of this jab. And then when Figgie gets inside, I think Rob has a lot of like really crafty tricks to make you pay for that. Just asking Adrian Yanias about that. You know, Rob is bigger.

Getting to Rob and trying to get inside there. Yeah, Yonis was having some success, but Rob figured him out, turned it into a hockey fight almost, able to kind of plumb the back of Yanya's head and land those short little uppercuts. Like Rob is nasty, man. I think this is a really tough fight to enter 135 with. They should have went right to the Cody Garbrandt fight, but Cody's already booked.

They get that, but yeah, we'll see. But I think Rob's going to win this fight. I think Rob's going to win. But it's a good matchup. Yes, what's up, Paul? Hey, how are you? Good. Good morning.

I just wanted to know if you guys already talked about Robert Whitaker, because I saw a post on, I think it was Twitter, where he, it was a screenshot where he posted, I guess, him training and then he tagged Apollo Costa in that. Do you have any, I guess, info on that or is that a fight you could see happening soon? That's all, Mike. Maybe. If I'm Rob Whitaker, why would I ever take that fight?

Why would I do that? You've already been down this road before and then the fight didn't happen. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Who Rob's going to fight, to be honest? dude throw him in there with Ikema Alaskaroff that's the fight I want to see like let's test Alex Gareoff like big time and see what he can do

like let's just see let's just see Rob's fought pretty much everybody else I'd rather see Costa fight Chamaif than Whitaker but who knows I just don't know if Robb's basically said like why would I try to do that again to myself and then not fight you know what I mean so I'd be kind of shocked if that happened, but who the hell knows? Viking, go ahead. Yes, Viking. I just came here to share my thoughts.

Just going through a very bad situation. I'm going through an OCD, obsessive, obsessive-compulsive disorder. Life sucks right now, so much. I'm not even touching anything, anyone. not even shaking hand if someone visit my house I clean the space it's too much I'm washing my hand more than more than 50 times in a day luckily you are you lives in the US at least you have something over there not here being so very bad very very bad situation man I'm telling you this because I think I

consider you as my brother. So that's why I'm here and all the listeners. They are very good people. Thank you. Sorry to hear that Viking. Hope everything turns around for you, my man. And we're all cheering for you. We had somebody calling earlier and shout you out for being, you know,

open and honest on this show. And I think we can all appreciate that, man. And we're all rooting for you. We are all rooting for you. That is for sure. We have Absualia and then we have Nicholas and then we gots to go. So Abswalia, kick us off. Let's go rapid fire.

How you doing? Yes, so just two questions. My first question is about Dan Hooker. I would definitely love to, you know, see him run his fightback with Bobby Green. When the Bobby Green wins or loses on Saturday, Saturday night. But if they don't end up making that fight, I would be interested in maybe seeing him fight, you know, Renato Mokano or maybe Grand Dawson or someone around those lines. Because, you know, realistically, he's not going to be like a contender for the division.

I mean, he's not that guy, but he's definitely good enough to be a gatekeeper. I think he can rack up a few wins, makes him between matchups. Another question I have, this is about Hamzaa Jemayev. Let's say if he wins the title, presumably next year. and Shafka Rakhmanov wins a title next year and maybe both sides rack up won the two title

defensive. Do you see the UFC possibly making a potential superfight out of this matchup between those two? Because we know the fans have long term year for a matchup between both of them. They find skills and styles go hand-to-hand really well. It's basically

like a classic grappler striking type of fight. And, you know, obviously to, I think that's One of those fights we could surprisingly even get the non-MMA fans invest into the fight. What are your thoughts on that? Maybe. Maybe. I don't know.

Again, now we're back to, you know, champion versus champion fights. And trick is two plusy. Golly, man. Been doing so well. You've been doing so well. And then you had to go out and see. say the thing that just made me so upset. I'm going to go after the 205 pound title after I beat Sean Strickland.

Why? Why? Why do we keep doing this? Jesus. But, you know, on the Schofcott-Hamsat train, yeah, maybe, but again, if Hamzot wins the middleweight title, he's got plenty of dudes to fight. And if Shafcott wins the welterweight title, he's got actually one. way more guys to fight. So could it happen someday?

Sure. Do I care right now? No. If Shofcott, like, if Shafcott wins the welterweight title and then has like five defenses, and then it's just like, okay, I've done everything here. Now I'm going to go up to 185. I'm relinquishing the welterway title.

Then sign me the fuck up. But this is his whole, hey, I'm going to go up to 185. But if I lose, I'll still defend this belt. No, I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it. seen enough of it. Damn you, Connor McGregor for ruining this all. I would rather see Schafton run off like a dozen title defenses at Welterweight. That to me is way more cool. I'm not going to go on the soapbox and talk about this go crazy again, but stop it with the, as soon as I win

the belts, I'm moving up. Like, stop it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Nicholas, go ahead. Hi, man, what's going on? What's up, ma'am? I was just wondering Bobby Green if he wins this Saturday does he have a possibility to get into the top five at the end of

2024 it's a big shot for him now and hopefully he gets it done thanks man yeah someone mentioned yeah as well you mentioned maybe when Dan Hooker comes back rebooking the Bobby Green fight I kind of feel

Look, look, I'll just kind of combine them here. If Bobby Green wins, they're going to push them. They're going to push them. I think, especially with everything that happened yesterday, they'll probably get a book Bobby Green against Armand Sarukin. Next, like, no matter what happens, I think that kind of makes a lot of sense. You probably have to keep teams away from each other.

But, like, even if Armand beats Bineal and Green beats Turner, like what else is armand going to do? Because he can't fight for the belt. I don't think Porre is going to fight him. I don't think Chandler's going to fight him. I don't think he's going to kind of have to just fight whoever and win in order to stay where he's at. And Bobby Green gets a big step up. Like we've been talking about this for years.

Others at the site have as well. If there's a guy in the UFC right now, that can have a Mossadolish run. It's Bobby Green. It's Bobby Green. People like Bobby. He goes out there and beats Grant Dossett and Jalen Turner back to back. Like, he's off to the races, man.

The UFC's got to push him. And I would have bet. I would have taken Bobby Green over Dan Hooker anyways because I just think Jalen Turner took a lot out of him in that fight. And unfortunately for Mr. Dan Hooker, when he is ready to come back, he's probably going to have to fight Benoit Santanyi, and yikes, that could be a rough night for him.

I like Dan a lot, and he showed so much grit in that Jalen Turner fight. Like, I mean, just blown away. I've gone back and rewatch that fight. The amount of damage Dan Hooker took in that fight and was able to just grit it out and just outdog Jalen Turner was so impressive. I just don't know how many more times he could do that

before the damage catches up to you. And I would have picked Bobby Green over Dan Hooker a lot, mostly for that reason. But yeah, Bobby Green, Dan Hooker's going to be a fun fight and Bobby wins. They're going to push them. They're definitely going to push them. Top five end of the year,

none of that even matters. None of that even matters. Rankings don't matter with Bobby Green. Eddie, go ahead. Eddie, are you there? it's not going through uh bounce out bounce back in we'll try to get you in uh martin go ahead martin just unmute yourself sorry there we go i got you what's that man um kamar ozman what do you think stays at middleway or one last one at uh well or wait

it's good question because that could actually be the answer for robert wittaker is ushman just remove yourself altogether, not from the room, but just undo your request to speak and then re-request. Usually that works. Because right now it's not connecting on your end. I think Usman's going to kind of wait and see what happens December 16th. Because if Colby wins the Welterweight title, I wouldn't be shocked if Usman stays at well to wait because that fight could happen folks it could happen it absolutely could usman's already got two wins over colby colby wants that one back and if colby wants to play the i ain't fighting anybody but kamar usman game the ufc seems to listen so i think he'll wait and see

i think there's a part of him that kind of hopes leon wins so he can just stay at 185 but yeah Usman Whitaker is fond. You could do that. But if Colby wins, he might find himself in a title fight. So I think we're going to have to kind of wait and see what happens there. Eddie, do we have you now? Yes, hello. I just wanted to ask, I'm going to the, I got tickets to the U.S.

296, so I'm going to go to that on Saturday. I just wanted to know if for the Friday ceremonials, is it free? We're going to how to pay to get in. and then also hot take but I think Tony Ferguson's going to beat Patty Pimbled 100%. No doubt about it. Thanks, man.

Yeah, it is free. The press conference is free as well. That press conference is going to be absolute ridiculousness. So, yeah, I mean, for that card, I'd probably go to everything. Just experience it at all. I'm sure there'll be other things happening.

I think there's a Power Slap event. So probably, I don't know, that's your cup of tea. Go to freaking Power Slap. Hopefully you don't have to pay to go. But yeah, ceremonies are free. There'll probably be some meet and greets. Just do the whole thing. Experience it all.

But $296 should be awesome. Cannot wait for that card. What a great way to end the year. and I got to tell you, the Tony Ferguson beating Patty may seem like a hot take to you, but from the DMs I get, excuse me,

not really a hot take anymore. A lot of people seem to think Tony's going to go in there beat Patty. And to me, this has been a funny year where just like the things that weren't supposed to happen, happen

Tony going out there and beating Patty would be one of the funniest things that has happened this year. It just would. And I don't mean that like because I did, you know, dislike Patty or anything.

It's just, when we say like things are funny, it's just, it's funny for like the UFC. Because like what made Sean Strickland beating Izzy so funny is that the UFC went in there and was like,

there's no chance Sean Strickland's going to win. We're going to make Izzy fight, Sean. He's going to win. And then we'll do the DDP fight. And then Sean just goes in there and just drubs Izzy for 25 minutes. That's what's funny. Sean O'Malley knocking out Al Jermaine Sterling.

I mean, that's kind of what the UFC wanted. But like all these plans, like Aljo wins. He's going to move up to 145 and then the division gets normal anyway. So like even if Aljo wins, like they could still get what they want. And Sean O'Malley's like, nah, just got to kick him to the face. And I'm just going to knock out Aljo and win the belt. just going to knock him down and just beat him. And we're sending Al Jetta 145 to have to earn his spot

as opposed to like booking a fight with Volcanovsky. Like funny, just funny things. Patty losing to Tony would be probably at the top of the list. I just don't know what would be like it more insane. And there's a path to it. But Patty's done some media. I think he's actually handled himself pretty respectable. He has a great read on things.

He's not wrong when he says it's a lose-lose for me. He's 100% right. That was the first reaction I had with that fight is that there is no way Patty can win in this whole situation. He can win a fight and get a green mark on his topology page, but he ain't getting anything from this. He loses, he just lost to a wash Tony Ferguson. At least that's how people are going to brand it.

And if he beats Tony Ferguson, yeah, he just beat a wash Tony Ferguson who's lost six in a row. There's not a lot to gain here. And he sees that. So which, like, my whole thing was, how is Patty going to approach this fight? Is he going to be super respectful and be real and be honest about it? Or is he just going to go full heel turn and just put, not put, not put Tony? I don't even know.

Like, you're just going to go full heel and be like, I'm going to kill this dude and put him in, put him in retirement home. It doesn't seem like that's the direction. But honestly, I kind of think that's what he should do. Because even if he loses, like, if he goes out and wins, then it's like, people are going to boo the shit out of him and then they don't want to see him get his comeuppins. And then his next fight is like must watch as opposed to, he just beat Tony. It's probably going to lose to the next guy.

You know what I mean? So, but Patty is handling this well. He's putting Tony over. the one really negative thing I've seen is just kind of what everybody else is saying is like why is he working with David Goggins? He thinks it's stupid. But as far as like the fight itself, he's been very respectful.

So that's the approach and that's fine. Oh boy, oh boy. Tony goes up. It beats Patty. Jeez, Louise. That would be absolutely insane. All right. We got to go.

Thank you all very much. Appreciate all the calls. Appreciate all of you. We'll be back tomorrow. 10 a.m. Eastern, we'll do it again. I'm not sure when the UFC Austin Wayans are happening, but maybe we'll talk about them live. I don't really know.

We'll have a preview show tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern to get you ready for not only UFC Austin, but the violence that will ensue in Salt Lake City with the BKFC card. And then Saturday, people's pre-fight show, post-fight fun. We may even do like a watch, like a little virtual watch party,

watch-along thing for the top two BKFC fights. And just have some fun, you know? Just have some fun for the first weekend in December. But don't forget, BTL, 12.30 p.m. Eastern should be a lot of fun. Lots of discuss with Jed and Shaheen Al-Shadi. But you're all the best. We'll see you tomorrow, 10 am. Eastern for the live show. Have a great rest of your Thursday.

And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.