MMA Fighting - HOAM | Could Charles Oliveira Win At UFC 280 Get Khabib Nurmagomedov Out Of Retirement?

Episode Date: July 29, 2022

The vacant lightweight title fight between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev at October's UFC 280 event is one of the more fascinating matchups of the year, but could the result lead to another massive showdown in the future featuring former champion and UFC hall of famer Khabib Nurmagomedov? On an all-new episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on the possibility Nurmagomedov could return to the octagon should Oliveira defeat Makhachev in Abu Dhabi. In addition, listener questions include the future of Nick Diaz, Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz, Julianna Peña vs. Amanda Nunes 2 in the main event of UFC 277, Valentina Shevchenko's next move, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster,

the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Everybody, it is Friday, July 29th, 2022, and it is indeed a heck of a morning live on the anime fighting Twitter spaces. You'll be able to hear the show in its entirety on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network.

Happy Friday. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for joining us. And we love Fridays on the show because there's a free-for-all Friday. And, of course, we are on the eve of UFC 277, which goes down tomorrow at the Metroplex in Dallas, Texas, the American Airlines Center. Two title fights, solid main card. Very excited for it. Main card's excellence.

prelims should be a lot of fun, some competitive matchups. But the main card's really, really good. And the more we get closer to tomorrow, the more excited I am, the more intrigued I am for this main event between Giuliana Pena and Amanda Nunes. We're going to have our official live weigh-in show coming up at the top of the hour. So that's why we're starting a little bit early today. So I appreciate your patience. I appreciate you jumping on a little bit earlier.

And Fridays are the best because it is a free. free for all Friday. And that means we can talk about whatever the hell you want to talk about. If we want to talk about tomorrow's card, we can do that. If we want to talk about other stuff, we could do that. You want to talk about whatever you want. That's why we are here. And we will be here for the next.

Hold on one second. See, this is what happens when we do things a little earlier because there's a lot happening. I tease something earlier this week that is apparently coming to fruition. Big fight at 145 pounds. Hopefully I could reveal that officially from the MMA fighting perspective while this show is going on. But you may have already seen it on social media.

But let's get into this thing. Let's go to the peeps. Let's go to Intacob. I hope I got that right. If I didn't, then I stink. And my bad. Are you there?

Make sure you unmute. And I think we'll be able to get you. Hello, Mike, can you hear? Hello, I have you. Yes, sir. Sir, I have a comment about one UFC 277 and a question about some other fight in UFC 280. Okay, go ahead.

About Juliania Pena and Amanda Nunes fight. I believe Amanda Nunes will win comprehensively and it will be a knockout. and probably in the second round. But I wanted to ask about the Islam Makachib and the Olivaa fight. What do you think about the odds because it looks like Makachiev right now is a slight favorite. But given Olivera's history and the kind of game plan he carries, the aggressive game plan, which Islam is not used to.

So what do you think about that fight? And thank you. Oh, thank you for starting to show off tremendously. Yeah, I mean, tomorrow, Pena Nunes is going to be interesting because on paper, it was on paper, it looked the same the first time around. From a martial, mixing of the martial arts perspective, Amanda Nunes should beat Giuliana Pena 99 times out of 100. but Giuliana doesn't

go in there to mix the martial arts Giuliana Paney goes in there to just have a fight she goes in there to fight people and she is a dog man and that is such an advantage that she has she is so durable she just gets right after it

it's just amazing to see how tough she actually is she took a beating in that first round against Amanda she looked a little flustered going back to the stool but then Rick Little and the team said exactly what they needed to say and then she just came out and was just

landing that jab over and over again and got Amanda off her game. Amanda started turning it, Amanda started brawling, which is not something you see all that often. We saw it a little bit in the Chris Cyborg fight. But Giuliana's going to win those dog fights more often than not.

It doesn't matter if you're Amanda Nunes or anybody else. So it'll be really interesting to see you would have to believe that Nunes is going to come out. be a little more methodical. She was having a lot of success with leg kicks in that first fight. If you watch the first round of that first fight, she was beaten up Giuliana's legs and Julianna wasn't even trying to check him.

So I would expect Amanda to come out and do that. If I'm Juliana, or if I'm Amanda, I'm trying to get her out of there quick because the longer this fight goes, I think the more it favors Giuliana Pena. So I'm just, the more I think about it, the more I watch past fights from the two of them, the fight just continues to get more interesting. And who knows, every fighter for the most part has had a foil. Sometimes someone just has your number.

Maybe stylistically, maybe from a fighting in a martial arts perspective, maybe one fighter is better than the other. But sometimes in this crazy sport of ours, someone just has your number. and maybe Juliana is that fighter for Amanda. But we'll see what happens. It's going to be an interesting fight. I don't even have an official pick yet. I'll reveal it on the preview show,

which I believe we're doing at 2 p.m. Eastern on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel, but I honestly, I've been going back and forth with this one because Amanda should win this fight every time. But Giuliana is just such a dog, man. She's just such a dog. She's so tough. She's so durable.

And she's just one of those fighters. You would just want to go after? And then you realize that you just can't put it away. It's crazy. It's just crazy. So I can't wait for it. And as far as 280 goes, I love all there versus Machachev is the fight I am looking forward to the most this entire year. And this is one of those sports where that you could say those things.

You could say that sentence multiple times. But good grief. This fight is so good. It's so good. I cannot wait. and people just again, just sleeping on Alvara, sleeping on Oliveira. A lot of people just feel like Mokachev's just going to just wrestle him to death, and it's going to be an easy win for him.

I don't think so. I don't think so. I think Olivera matches up tremendously stylistically. What Mokachev does really well, he does extremely well, but Oliver is just such a smart fighter. He takes a beating, but eventually he gets a beating, but eventually he gets. the fight to where he wants it to go and he just keeps winning. So I cannot

wait for that fight in that card. That car just continues to get better. We saw Caitlin Chukagian versus Manon Fioro has shifted to that card as well. That card is just ridiculous. Just ridiculous. Let's go to Michelle. See if we can get him.

Wheel is spinning. I don't know if it's going to connect. We'll try. Oh, there we go. I think I got you. Are you there? I can't hear anything you're saying. jump back in and I'll get you in let's go to Don and then we'll go to Teller me Hey what's going on Mike how you doing that heck of a morning

Too sweet day all that jazz Indeed So yesterday I don't know man my service was cracking out or whatever And I had another question But now I can build upon it because it's freestyle Friday And you'll rest of the mark which I love So I got to thinking about it

I was like Ty Toie Vossam man I would love for him to win the world title, the heavyweight title, because it would just be crazy. You wanted a good feel, good moment. He's a lovable guy. He's so over, big baby face. So I got to thinking about when Mick Foley

won the title on Raw, like for the first time when he beat the Rock, and it was like crazy. He was during the Monday Night Wars. Nobody expected it to happen. Who do you feel like, it's probably already happened in your eyes in the UFC? But who do you feel like had that Mick Foley title win

where it's like, wow, nobody thought he was going to win that? Would you say it was the Matt Sarah win when he beat? George St. Pierre because George Pair was on one when that happened and it was shocking. But who for you gets the Mick Foley? I can't believe he won the title award, takes all the viewers away from Nitro and puts them on raw to watch it. Who did that for you? Have a great morning, man.

Have a great busy day. I know y'all got a lot to do, man. And thanks for everything you do, man. Have a too sweet day. Thank you, sir. Yeah. To go to the Tai Tui Bossa point, I agree with you. I thought, like after Taito Vasa and Ato Derek Lewis,

I was like, just find a way to put this guy in a title fight. I don't care. Just do it now. Whether you just throw them in an interim title fight, because, I mean, even back then, even all, most of last year, we were talking about where does John Jones fit? Are we going to do John Jones versus Francis Haganu? Like, how are we going to do this?

And then the beginning of this year happened. We saw everything that has happened with Francis, with the contract and beating Cyril gone. And it's amazing how quickly this sport moves on because January March or February March, all we were talking about was Francis. All we were talking about. And then Tyson Fury had his big win

and Francis is in the ring. And then the contract talk started again because of the Tyson Fury thing. Heavyweight is kind of a mess right now. It seems like we're in the midst of like a little mini tournament going up, but it's still kind of a mess. Like we don't know what's going to happen with John. We don't know what's going to happen with Stipe.

We certainly don't know what's going to happen with Francis. I actually feel, and I have no insight on this, I feel like Francis will end up sticking around. And I think maybe the UFC will find a way to get him that Tyson Fury fight because why the hell not? That's just good money for everybody involved. As far as the McFully question goes, the first one I thought of was Matt Sarah,

but that's not the one I'm going to go with. I'm actually going to go with Holly Holm on this one, because I feel like certain people felt that Holly matched up stylistically really well with Ronda Rousey. But I just think the reaction, the big arena, the fanfare that it got, and the fact that we're, we talk about Matt's, we talk about Matt Serra GSP a lot, especially when it comes to upsets. We talked about, you know, Giuliana Pated beating Amanda Nunes. And anytime there's a big underdog heading into a title fight, we always compare it to Matt Sarah because it's just like one of those weird things. that happened in history. But I think the Holly home win over Ronda Rousey just stands out more.

It's just one of those like Sarah winning is a great moment. And it's a historical moment. But Holly head kicking Rhonda into another universe is like one of those iconic moments. And I feel like Mick winning the WWF title at the time against the rock was like an iconic moment. Because we've had like we've had some great like Daniel Bryan was like the underdog that that won. And it was such a cool build to get there. It was just kind of out of nowhere. It's just organically grown.

But if we think about like iconic title changes, Mick Foley is at the top. And I feel like Holly Holm is probably like the best comparison to that. But great question. I'm definitely an old school wrestling mark. I think pro wrestling today is pretty terrible. I know everyone seems to like it. But I've tried to watch some of the programming.

I think it sucks. I think it's awful. All right. Let's try to get Michelle in here again. and then Tilarami, you're on deck. Which are you there? Yep, I got you. So I want to talk about the Nunez versus the Pena fight,

and I feel like she can't, and Nunes cannot do what she did the last time and bro, because I think that's what Pena tried to draw her into. Like, she faded in interviews, like when Nunez might get into a dog fight, that's when she looks more vulnerable. And I think as well, like her gas tank went in the first fight, it was clear to obviously see that it went.

And also, I feel, like with Olivera versus Makashv. I think I'm picking him Olivera so far, but if he does win and just say he knocks him out in Abu Dhabi, which is obviously Islam's backyard, I really hope he calls out

Habib, because I know he's been talking about it. Like if he beats Makashiev, then he's going to call the former champion. And it would be really interesting to see how Hobie would react to that because he's an apology, he just got knocked out. So yeah, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think it's pretty clear what Amanda does,

want to do. What I'm curious about is what happens if Amanda tries to slow the fight down and Giuliana gets super aggressive. Because Julia is not going to sit back and have a kickboxing match, which is why I think Amanda having all that success in the first round with leg kicks is such an important tool in this fight. And who knows? Maybe Juliana and Rick Little worked on checking leg kicks this camp. I doubt it because the six-jitsu fighters don't really check leg kicks all that often. So I'm curious to see what the approach is because if I'm Amanda Nunes, I'm light kicking her for 25 minutes and just picking my spots, treating it more like, I don't know, like the Holly Home fight, maybe even slowing it down like the Germanda random fight. But Julia Paine is a good wrestler. She's got good top control.

But so does Amanda. So that makes things really interesting as well. So if the leg kick start to work and Amanda does start to slow down a little bit, will Juliana turn up the volume? And if she does, how will Amanda react to that? That's what I'm curious about because there's no way Amanda is going to just sit back and have a mid-range kickboxing match of the man of Nunes because she will just get swept on the scorecards.

It's not going to go well for her. And Giuliana knows that. But what's going to happen when Giuliana gets real aggressive and gets in her face? That's what I'm really looking forward to seeing. As far as the Habib thing, I don't know, man. I think Oliver is focused on, I think Oliver took this fight not to fight Habib. I think he took this fight in Abu Dhabi. We knew this fight was going to happen, but he took it on this specific date, on this specific card,

and this specific location because he wants to fight Connor McGregor. And I think this is a scratch your back. You scratch ours. It's kind of a situation. and I think of Olivera goes out there, beats Islam, finishes him, he's going to go for the red panty night. And don't get that money, son.

And then maybe if he goes out there, bolts Connor, then maybe he calls out Habib. I just don't think Habib's going to come back. I just don't. Like, I'd love to see it. Oliver Habib is really interesting stylistically, but I just don't think he's going to come back. I think he's, I think Habib is like a legit man of principle.

when he says something and for the reasons why he walked away from the sport, I just think it's going to take, I don't know what's going to take to get him back because you know the UFC has offered him a floppy trillion dollars, and that still wasn't enough for him. So I don't know. I don't know if anybody can get some back, but if there's one guy who could do it, it probably is Olivera. I just think he's going to need some more wins under his belt before that happens.

And Islam would definitely be a good one to have. But I just, I mean, my gut tells us. he's not coming back but maybe he does A.K. thinks some crazy. He thinks Halib's definitely coming back. Let's go to Talarmie. Talarmie, are you there? Oh, mute.

Try it on mute. Hey, how you going on, Mike? How's it going? Yeah, not too bad. Great show you got going tonight, mate. Thank you. Tonight here anyway. Yeah, so Tusi's covered some ground tonight,

haven't you? I heard a bit about Tytoe Vasa. He's a bit of a loose cannon, isn't he? He can turn the fight around at the drop of a hat. He sure can.

And he's fun. Everybody likes Tai T2 Vasa. Absolutely. Yeah, it's one thing about Australian MMA. It has come a long way in the last five to ten years, isn't it? It has.

And if the UFC the UFC better have a card there the first quarter of 2020 because if they don't they're doing it wrong yeah yeah there's no doubt about that look I'm sure that they'll line something up at some stage pretty soon I was just looking before

and I was just doing the Twitter out and I noticed the fight between O'Malley and Yan and I thought yeah that's a bit of a step up do you think for O'Malley a little one thank you yeah um well thank you telling me i love i love everything about it love everything about it

it's it's the best fight shot o'malley can take right now in my opinion i would love like i feel for pedro munoz and all this because he's the guy that got poked in the eye and now he's going to watch shot o'malley potentially fight for a chance to fight for the title in a lot of ways and but for umalley like this is a win-win situation because if he goes out there and is at least competitive with Peodor Yan and loses, like he doesn't lose anything. He loses nothing in this situation. Now, if he goes out there,

it just gets blasted and bolted quick, yeah, it stinks, but we chalk it up to a step-up of competition. But if he goes out there and beats Piotr Yan, that's massive. So O'Malley, in a way, has already kind of won because he's even taking this fight and the reaction that you're giving

and a lot of other people are giving, like that's kind of a victory for Sean. But I actually, like, I think this fight is, I think this fight is interesting just because of how range you O'Malley is and how slow of a starter for the most part, Piotr-Jon is. And I know that's not like, it's not like Sorodian-esque where it's just, for Jan, that first round is, it's not like he sits around and just gets hit.

He uses that round to do some, make a lot of movements and just try to get information and try to determine where to go in the second round, try to establish the weaknesses and establish holes and establish ways that he could enter and just kind of change things in his direction. If I'm Sean O'Malley, the range is there, but eventually Yon's going to figure it out. Like, he's that good.

And I know some people, because I've been saying from the beginning, if you're O'Malley, just empty the chambers on this man in the first five minutes. Like, just work on that cardio, treat it like Rocky versus Clubber Lang 2. You go out there, you have three you know you have six minutes to just unload the tank and get this man out of there

and i feel like that's the approach shot o'malley should take it this fight yeah the range and the reach is always there and some people give me crap for that he goes oh he's just so much longer you can just have a kickboxing match that's just not true that's just not true pierre yan is ready for everything and pejorian can figure everything out on the fly he's so good him and volkenovsky are two of the very best in the sport when it comes to making in-fight adjustments Jan is tremendous at that. Go watch the Corey Sandhagen fight. Go watch it.

Go watch a lot of his fights. He adjusts so well. Even the Al Jermaine Sterling fight. He adjusted pretty well in that fight. It was close and he lost it, but he adjusted pretty well in that one. He's so good at infight adjustments. And Jan's going to have a little bit better of a gas tank too because this is a three-round fight.

It's been a while since Piotr Yon's been in the three-round fight. So, yeah, I like the matchup. I think it's a great opportunity for shot on Malley. And I don't think he can lose very much from this unless he gets absolutely rocked and just run over in the first two minutes of the fight, which I don't think's going to happen. I think if Yon's going to win, he's going to win a decision or he's going to get a late finish. But if I'm on Malley, just get after it. Just go get after it and get yours in, son. And just because even if you go out there and you have a great first round and you lose a decision, like it's okay.

Like, it's not that big of a deal in the long. run in the long and the short of it. And if he wins, like, what if he goes out there and finishes Jan in the first round? Like, that's massive. That's so big. So I love the fight. I think it makes all the sense in the world. And for Jan, just looking at the landscape of this division and who's booked and who isn't, this is the best fight for Jan as well. It's a big name. I love it. I love everything about it. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious will throw for my sister. This gold watch for my

partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners find fabulous for less. let's go to jesse jesse are you there yeah i was in the middle of connecting hey uh so first all i just wanted to comment you guys were talking about the maca cheb oliv olivara fight i feel like this is the mama universe making up for the ferguson and marga made of mishaps like this matchup is just as good as those ever were we're finally getting a very similar fight so i'm looking forward to that but i had two questions for you um if you

If you win's on Saturday, do you think Shibchenko moves up to try to get that second title? And then what do you think about Cedric and Dumei coming over as the kickboxing champion? What do you expect from him and how big of a sign it? Because I feel like it's not really being talked about a lot. I feel like that's a huge signing for the UFC roster. Yeah, man. I love the Dume Bay signing. It makes all the sense of the world.

We're seeing the success that some of these high-level kickboxes are having. an MMA and Darien Weeks is like the perfect matchup for him because Darian ain't going to shy away from a fight at all. He's going to get right in that guy's face. Yeah, he might try to make it ugly a little bit, but he is not going to fear Cedric Dumei at all when it comes to just getting into a scrap. So I love the signing, love the matchmaking. And yeah, this is a big deal. But this is one of those things. Like Pereira signing was a big deal, but mostly because of the storyline that was already underway with,

Adasanya. So, I mean, people already were aware of Pereira in the MMA space. And plus, we saw Pereira just absolutely annihilate people in LFA, like with some scary ass knockouts. I think Dumbay, I think the hardcore is know exactly who he is, but it's an opportunity for him to just show up on that card and make a statement and let people go back and just check out his kickboxing pedigree after the fact. So I'm really looking forward to that fight, really looking forward to seeing what he could do in the UFC. It's a great signing. And there's no other card that makes sense for him to debut on outside of I mean this is the one so love everything about it's great if pain you wins i think chifchenko's next fight's going to be a 125 i think she's pretty much said it herself it's going to be

125 she felt like she was even when she fought talos Santos that she didn't put on a lot of weight after the cut and she felt like she was basically outsized by like 15 or 20 pounds in that fight and i think that might be concern of hers right now. It's something that, it's something that, and let me just, and let me just say that I can't, I can't reveal this yet. I can't reveal it, but I talked to somebody yesterday that could make this division really interesting for Valentina. Really interesting. I can't tell you yet just yet, but I talked to somebody who's going to make, who could make things really interesting for her. So stay tuned for that. Hopefully next week or the week after, I can reveal this news.

I'm kind of under an embargo right now because of how this all came together, but really interesting stuff. So I think there would be a chance to put that fight together if the UFC wanted it, but I don't think, I think 125 is actually really interesting right now, and she's got challengers. She's got challengers coming.

Fioros fighting Chicagian. If Manon wins that fight, she could step up a fight for the belt. Santos is still there. And then we have this next crop of fighters, and who knows, maybe there could be some other names that could be itching to get in there and have an interesting fight with one of the best fighters ever. But I don't think Valentina goes up just yet,

maybe sometime next year. But I think the Taos Santos fight kind of gave her some pause on that. But I can't wait to you guys see what I'm talking about. Let's go to Tocke. Hi, Toke. Thank you for a great episode of BTL yesterday. Damon Jackson was amazing. And I want to give him a shine with my question.

So I have two questions. So the one question is, is he officially weighing in today? Or is he just cutting weight like a madman? And the second question is, which of the four possible fights on this card would be best suited for his traits. That's it. Hmm.

That's a great question. I think, I mean, I think all of them would work out for him, but if you guys missed this, this is the best. This was just the best. Damon Jackson comes on BTL. I talked to, he mentioned Ed Cap. Ed Cap is a tremendous PR guy, one of the best of the business to work with

in terms of like lining up interviews and stuff like that. So I reached out to him because we're a little short staff. I may find a couple guys on vacation. And I was like, do you have anybody who would want to jump on the debate show? Because he's helped me out bringing on some fighters. And he was like, Damon Jackson will do it. I said, cool. And we had, like, other fighters potentially lined up for it.

Brandon Royval was going to do it, but something else popped up. And he couldn't. There were a couple other names in there as well. So, Sean Al-Shaddy steps in on basically like two hours notice and does the show. And then if you missed it, Damon Jackson does the entire show on the treadmill. the whole show for like an hour. He's walking on an incline on the treadmill and then for the final round, he runs.

Like he does the final round running and doesn't like lose breath at all. It's incredible. And he gave his thoughts and like they were clear and concise and he was on the treadmill the entire time. He changed BTL forever. And it's amazing. It's amazing.

I think Rafa Garcia would probably be like, the best fight for him, just because Garcia is just such a scrapper and Damon can have those kinds of fights. I think he matches up okay with any of those guys if we're being honest, but I don't know. Any of those guys would work.

But Damon is just, he changed BTL forever. BTL will never be the same after what he did yesterday on the show. If you haven't seen it, go to our YouTube page and check it out. It's a fun episode, and he's on the friggin' treadmill the entire time.

And Sean Al-Shoddy knew he had no chance of beating him. Let's go to last. Try to get to everybody here. Las, how are you? Just make sure you're unmute. Hello. There we go. Hey, buddy.

I'm all right. On Amanda Penas fight, I think the first fight, Amanda, like, she just lost it a bit. You know, like, she could have gone with the way she went on with the first round. But, you know, her career has always been on knockouts or submission. And she tried too hard in the first fight, and she got stopped quickly. you know, I think it needs to be different this time around. I think she needs to fight at her pace

and not let the crowd get into her head, you know, like when, you know, like trying to get her excited to like try to knock out, knock her out because she was just swinging a lot in the first fight, you know, like the second round, she was just swinging, and before you know it, she got tired of. I don't know, so my question is, like, the Kamsats and Nidias fights,

I want to understand, like, why was that fight made? Because, honestly, like, is it just for the money or I don't know, like, I don't really get the fight comes out and Nate Diaz? Thank you. Thanks, man. I mean, I think we all kind of know why this fight happened because it's the last fight on Nate's deal. Nate did want it, but I think Nate was just kind of like, I don't care, give me anybody.

But I'm telling you, right, like, Nate, back in April, Nate asked for the fight. He asked for months, and this is what he got. But I think he probably saw the writing on the wall. Like, I'm not going to get, I'm not going to get any sort of layup fights. I'm going to have to fight the toughest dude you got. And this is what happened. So the bill to September 10th is going to be incredible. It's going to be super fascinating.

As far as the Giuliana fight goes, like, we have to remember one thing. Giuliana Pena for years called her shot. She said this was going to happen. she came out and said, I'm going to fight this girl. She's going to punch me in the face a bunch. Then she's going to get tired. And then I'm going to beat her.

And she said this the whole time. Like Giuliana literally called her shot. She said, I am the foil. I am her foil. I am the one who could thwart her because I can take everything she throws at me, which not a lot of girls have been able to say. But Juliana has always had the confidence that whatever Amanda Nunes does,

I can take and I can give it back. And that's exactly what happens. happen. Like, Juliana Pania basically said this was going to happen, and it happened. So she deserves all the credit in the world. And yes, Amanda Nunes, did she have an off night? I don't, I don't know. I don't know. But Julian had the perfect game plan and she told everybody what the game plan was, and she went out there and won. And it was an incredible moment. And we'll see what happens here. Like, again, like Amanda has to slow this fight down. She has to fight a little more, I don't want to say boring, but a little more technical.

The leg kicks are going to be huge in this fight. They were scoring in the first round. Those leg kicks were very effective in round one in the first fight. But Juliana got knocked down a couple of times. Amanda thought she had her on the ropes, and Giuliana just showed how durable she is. She's just unbelievable with that durability. She's got a chin on her, and she is tough as hell,

which makes the second fight just interesting. Because, like, I don't know. Like, I honestly don't. as Jen Mishu wrote an article for M-May fighting paths to victory talking about this fight. And we talked about a little on BTO yesterday as well, that this is not Sarah GSP-ish. This is Connor Nadeish, where, like, Nunes was like Connor. She went out there, had a great first round, thought she was going to go.

He thought he was going to go in there, just dock Nate out, get an easy win, and then Nate turns it around and gets the submission. And then the second, like, I feel like, and then the second flight, like Connor tries to slow it down, and then he just couldn't do it the entire time. Like, try to throw leg kicks. He dropped Nate a bunch of times, but then Nate turned it around,

and they got real gritty down the end. I expect this to be somewhat similar to that fight. I thought it was a great comparison from Jed. Like, maybe not from a historical perspective, like not from like a superstar perspective, but like the styles and the fights and how the first fight translates to the second, I think that's a more apt to,

comparison than the Sarah GSP one, which I've been hearing a lot as well. I thought the comparison was great and made a lot of sense. So I think we're going to get a war tomorrow. Like I don't think this is going to be Amanda going out there and just putting the boots to Juliana and be like, see, told you I had an off night. I think this is going to be a fight where Amanda gets off to a good start. Maybe wins the first two rounds. Maybe Giuliana gets some momentum in round two.

I think three and four are going to be real interesting. And I think we're going to get down to the fifth. And we'll see what happens then. But I think this is going to be an absolute war to close the show tomorrow. I can't wait. And I can't wait. Like I said, the more we get closer to that to tomorrow, the more intrigue I have for this fight, the more excited I get. And I was excited for it from the jump.

Like after the first fight ended, I was like, I can't wait to see these two fight again. Because you knew that's where we were going with this. And Giuliana just got that, still has that chip on her shoulder and the championship on the other one. And Amanda, it's been a long time. to see an Amanda kind of vulnerable and on the chase. And who knows? Like this could be it. Like this could be the last Amanda Nunez fight.

We don't know. We don't know. So enjoy it, my friends. I think it's going to be fun. Let's go to Fab. We'll go for like 20 more minutes and I've got to get out of here. Fab, how are you? Mike, good morning.

Can you hear me? Okay, I'm talking to you from my car. No echo or anything? Oh, you're good, brother. Perfect. Awesome, brother. Hey, good morning. Heck of a morning to you, man.

Hey, I want to talk to you about a couple things, man. First of all, shout out Kevin Holland. I heard he's in the chat here. So shout him out. Shout out Trailblazer. We love that, man. Can't wait to see him back in the cage. Bless up.

Second of all, man, I know I had been asking questions about breaking in the industry, man, just to give you some updates, man. I launched that substack, just writing content. First article was covering XMMA. So had a good time, man. And, yeah, just looking forward to posting more stuff, man. excited. But question-wise, this was posted on Twitter today, and it made me think,

fighters that bring their children to the fights and seeing Amanda this week on Embedded and she always has Reagan there and all that, how can that affect a fighter psyche? There's several examples of it. I mean, I think of Juliana as well. Juliana seems like she's even more doubt than when she has her daughter there. So what are your thoughts on that, man? Really, that's it, man. Again, hope you have a great day, man.

Loving the coverage. Yesterday, VTL with Damon Jackson was awesome, man. Keep it up. Thanks, man. And congrats on launching the substack. Yeah, there you go. Just stay consistent and keep doing it, and you'll be good to go. Bless to you as well from Kevin Hollins.

Great stuff. I honestly, I don't know, honestly. I do have a kid. I know that fighting and playing like men's league softball are two totally different things. But I know like if my kid watches me play anything that I want to play better. So at least to me, I don't know how it would be in a fist fight in front of my kid. But I mean, at least to me it makes you want to set my game up a little bit. Now, fighting is a whole different thing.

So I honestly don't know. Some thrive on it. Some don't. Like I know Adrienneana's. was talking about having his kid in the same general area, but more so that after he fought Tony Kelly, he could go back and hang out with this kid. So maybe there's just some comfort there knowing that,

hey, I already had to spend so much time away from my kid for this training camp. The only time I got to see him was like for a few minutes in the morning that I'd go train all day, just knowing that after this fight I can go back to the hotel and I can see my kid. There's probably like a comfort level there. But as far as, you know, kid-based, being in the building, getting locked in a cage and fighting another human being, I could not tell you what that feels like. No clue.

Let's go to Naven. Are you there, sir? Hey, buddy. So I wanted to speak about UFC and the main event of this UFC 277. So actually, UFC is advertising that this is the biggest rematch, but they are doing actually zero promotion for this fight. I don't see anyone even interested in this fight. It is we who always follow UFC who are willing to watch this rematch. But if you see the marketing point, no one is actually interested in this main event.

And everyone is underestimating Amanda and overestimating Peña. I feel like she didn't win it. Amanda actually gave up. Because if you see her resume and the first round of that fight, she actually got beat up but eventually she herself gave out I don't see Peña winning this week

I am going with Amina on this cool man yeah I listen you're not alone on this a lot of people feel the same way and as I said at the beginning of the show you put these two fighters on paper skill for skill and Amanda should win this fight 99 times out of 100 and maybe this is maybe Peña that was the one

who knows maybe it isn't maybe it isn't maybe it isn't Maybe pain is durability. The fact that she's not looking at this as a mixed martial artist, but as someone who's just getting into a fight, into a scrap. And who knows? Like, there have been a few fighters who have not had a foil. Like, even John Jones, like, had Dominic Reyes. And most people, to this day, feel like Dominic Reyes beat John Jones that night.

And it was at a point where, like, no one thought anybody could beat this guy. Habib's had some hadn't really had a tough fight towards the end of his career. Olivera has. But just every so lot, you know what? Like on any given day, on any given day, someone might have your number. Maybe Julian is that fighter. I don't know. Stylistically, they're just so different.

It's just who can implement whose game plan. Julian's going to keep getting in her face. If this fight gets extended, can Amanda keep up? The gas tank is huge in this fight. That was a huge difference in that first fight because Amanda had Juliana hurt. She kind of underestimated the durability of Giuliana Pena. She emptied the tank. And then come round two, once Giuliana got off, she just, she had nothing left.

And Julian had just pieced her up. Obviously, Amanda's going to try to slow this one down. There's no doubt about it. But what happens if Giuliana is just like, I ain't doing that, just gets at her face. This is why this fight's interesting. It's an interesting fight. I'm 50 Like I'm torn on it

Like Amanda should win Like everything about this fight on paper Screams Amanda Nunes is the better fighter But Julianna is a dog man She just is Let's go to Duba Duba are you there

I don't hear you All right try again Let me go to the comments here real quick Straight Killer in a softball league Anyone know what time the way in show is 10 a.m. Eastern, top of the hour there you go let me go back to this

let's go to Aaron Aaron James we're gonna try to get the there's five people request him and try to get to all you before we get out of here Aaron what's up Good morning first of all

it was good I was just asking to see if you think Nick has a title shot in his future at all Nick who Nick Diaz my bed

Nick Diaz? Yeah has a time title shot in his future? Yeah, or you think he should just like think of retiring, you know? Um, the answer to the Dick D.S. fighting for a title question is absolutely never. I'm not going to say, well, I can't say never, but I will say no. He just, I don't know, man.

I, he, it was, like, that whole, that whole comeback was just the most, wasn't that the most bizarre thing you've ever seen? Because you remember when, I think it was like 2020 towards like the end. end of 2020. And all those pictures started surfacing of Nick cutting to 170. And he looked like a million dollars. Remember that? Just shredded.

Did a weight cut. It was fine. And we're just expecting this like Nick Diaz 2.0 to show up. Then he gets booked with Robbie Lawler, which is the perfect fight to make. And then the fight goes up to 1-85. And then we just kind of see what he looks like. like we don't know what went into that maybe there was a lot of injuries could have been i don't know but then we saw him fight and like nick went in there and like fought his ass off and then robbie just took over and heard him and nick was like no mass i'm done so title fight no

no do i think he fights again maybe i don't know but if he if he fights again it's just got to be it's got to be it's got to be like a fair fight I don't know what to do like it was one of I honestly don't know what would make sense it would have to be like another vets have to be like a one

I don't know I'm not holding my breath but no no title fight no title fight let's go to James hi good morning Mike I'm sorry, I'm so laughing over the Nick Diaz question. That was awesome.

That was beautiful. But yet the main event tomorrow, kind of watching a lot of tape on Amanda, I really think kicks to the midsection is going to be a big factor in this fight. And I really hope you're right. I would love to see a five-round war. But, man, who knows?

And on a USC 279, I mean, we all know that the U.C. is not going to do Nick Diaz. I'm sorry, Nate Diaz, any favors. I thought of something that I think would be amazing if the U.C. actually did it. What if Jorge Mosbidl steps in as a replacement, not for the main event, but for the co-main? Because the co-main will be Shokhov-Rokhtanov against Colby. And if something happens with Chimaya that he can't make it, you throw a rock. Nachmanoff in there against Diaz, get the little Diaz bump,

and then Mosbydal can step in, and Colby can get his revenge on Mosbado for the club incident in Florida. And Mike, I don't know if AK is going to be on the Way-In show, but wish I'm a happy birthday from all of us. Thank you, and have a heck of a weekend and a heck of a morning. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, man. Of course, AK will be on the Way-N show.

that is like that that's what he does this job for us for these way and shows he loves the way in shows this is like this is like uh this is this is like his birthday if you will it's like his birthday because he gets the host the way and show yeah i i don't think any of what you said is going to happen colby will never fight i mean not going to say never but there's no there's absolutely zero chance colby would fight shop got rachman off absolutely none no chance i would say this though if for some reason like if we find out like next week let's just say next week we find out that Hamzot can't make it

September 10th, but Nate's going to stay on the card. Like, I think they would slot Colby in. Colby would be the guy. Colby would take that fight and the UFC would kind of look at Colby to be like, all right, Hansa can't go just take him down and beat him up for 25 minutes and call it a day.

Like, the one thing I do agree with you on more than anything is that the UFC's not going to do him and do Nate any favors. So if for some reason something happens with Hamza and he can't make it, Colby would probably be the guy. They would throw them in there with a guy like that and just try to make it as miserable as possible.

I do think we're going to see, I'm curious to see what they do with this last remaining spot, like this co-made event spot. I think you have to have some kind of contingency plan in place. Like this fight is so big and it's going to do so well on pay-per-view that you don't need a co-made event. You should probably have one, but you should probably have one more. in case something happens. Like I've been saying for a while, like,

throw Dustin and Chandler on there. Because if something happens, like, you could do Dustin versus Nate, you could just pull him up and do that fight. You can do Chandler versus Nate. Like, whatever. Whatever. But you have to have a contingency in place for both of these guys because you just never know what's going to happen.

If you lose this fight, you're screwed. Like, if you lose any, like, if that fight doesn't happen since September 10th, you're done. Like, this card is just not good. I love me some Chris Barnett, but Chris Barnett versus Jake Collier, like, I can't headline. You can't do that.

I don't know what they're going to do. They got to have some sort of plan in place. You would have to think welter weights would be involved. I don't know what Ma'at. I don't know if Maas would all be a part of it. I don't know if Colby would be a part of it. Colby ain't fighting freaking shopcott. Because, like, that's, there is literally no reward to fighting Shafcott for Colby.

So, yeah, I don't know. I would like to see a co-made event in place some way somehow. But if we're saying positive, what's up, buddy? I just want to say shout out to you and the MMA fighting crew for getting me lit up in the comment section of my podcast for suggesting that Tony Ferguson should fight Patty next. That was dope.

Second, we need to find out what your softball set line is. need to know what those RBIs are, homie. And third, leave Beast Boy alone. Leave my boy alone. There was no question. Just heck of morning. It's Friday. Hope you have a good weekend.

Everybody in the chat, everybody listening in. Hope you have a great weekend. Love y'all. Peace. Thanks, buddy. My softball line, listen, I'm a serviceable player. I am a serviceable player. I am an infielder.

I can play it all. When I first started on this team, they had me in left field. I can run my ass off in left field and make plays. I'm a better infielder. I was like a shortstop, pretty much my whole baseball career and a pitcher. I played a lot of second base this past season, played the final playoff game at third base, which is never fun because everyone just hits the ball

is a thousand miles an hour at you. But I made pretty much all the plays over there. I'm a number two hitter. So my job is if the leadoff hitter doesn't get on base, I do. If the lead off hitter does get on base, I send him to third. So if he gets a single, I'm putting the ball down the right field line. I'm going to hit a little laser beam down the right field line. He's going to get to third. We're going to have second and third for a number three hiter. If I need to hit the ball over the fence, I will. I hit like nine home runs this year.

If I got to do it, I will. But I'm a serviceable guy. That's why they put me in the two spot. My average is very high. It ain't pretty. It's very weighed bogsish. If you're an 80s baseball fan, just look up Wade, even if you're not. I don't drink beers like Wade Boggs, but I certainly look at hitting like Wade Boggs, if that makes any sense. So, yeah. Let's go to King Cat, and we'll go to Tristan, and then we'll see if we have time for any more because they were waiting. King Cat, how are you? Hi.

Hi. Hi. Sorry. Hello. Hold on. It's okay, boy. It's okay. That's what you get when you have a picey-pound dog. All right. Heck of a more. What a great first thing to be calling in. So my question is around paper viewpoint.

So as a big supporter of women's in the day, I'm plenty on buying this pay-per-view to support the female-led, you know, headliner. But I got to thinking, I'm like, so who gets paper-per-viewpoints? How is that determined? Like, does Amanda get it because she is a champ? do Kai and Moreno get it? Like, how does that work out?

And do the media know that beforehand? That's a good question. I will never, ever, ever, for the rest of my life, get the sound of your dog out of my head. That was amazing. Paper three points are mostly for the main events. Mostly, even the champion's going to get them. I'm sure Amanda's getting them as well.

I'm sure Moreno and KKF are going to get maybe a little piece, but it'll be mostly the main event. Juliana will get that championship money. She probably gets more of the perks, if we're being honest. But yeah, it's usually for the main event. It's usually for the champions. I'm sure Amanda will get a piece of it as well, being a path of the main event. But I'm not really great with that stuff, but they'll do okay.

Like, they'll do okay. Is this paper you're going to do bonkers? No. Is it going to do worse than 276? Yes. Is it still going to do over $250,000? yeah I think it will. I think the UFC is I think the UFC has enough hardcore fans right now where they don't need a lot of the casual audience to do to pull a decent size number. Like I think this will do three to four. I think this will do like 300,000. Like I think I think 300,000 sounds like a reasonable number. I think it's very possible. So yeah, and both women will do okay. I think both are doing a great job selling it. And let me just say this. You know who else should be getting pay-review points? Anthony Smith should be getting pay-per-view points because this is this.

This guy, this guy is selling the hell out of his fight. Is he not? I love this chip on his shoulder. Him and the chip on his shoulder should be getting pay-per-view points because he's doing a tremendous job. He has made that fight way more interesting in my eyes. All right, Tristan, quickly, because I've got to go. I got to jump on this way and show.

I don't want A.K. to be mad. How are you? Okay. How are you doing, Mike? Just want to talk about Bo Nichols season three. I mean, what, season six. Week three. Now, if he goes and dominates and has a great performance, is he like one of the few that has only a little bit of pro experience going into,

if he gets the contract into the UFC, he'd be actually two and no making his debut. I mean, I looked, I think Max Holloway, he came into the UFC with only four fights. and it made his debut against Dustin Poitier back in 2012, started off a little rough, I mean, got three straight wins, lost his two fights, and then went on a tear on his way to his title shot. I mean, Bo Neckle, will Bo Neckle actually do something unprecedented

where if he goes on a tear for three, four years and you actually get a title shot, probably the guy that had the least experience heading into the UFC actually pulled something off where he goes on a run and it actually challenged, like, is if he's still there for the middleweight title? I mean, Bo Neckle might be, again, I am saying this with a caveat, like, that may never happen. But I'm just saying, would that be unprecedented if he did something like that, in your opinion?

Thanks, Mike. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, I think Bo is probably the main event name on this Contender Series season. A lot of, I mean, there's just so much upside to this guy. just an incredible athlete, 26 years of age, he's been working on the craft for a little while. He's got the very short amateur run.

He's got the one pro fight. He's just such a freak athlete, man. It's like a very cheat-cote thing. Jedmishu says it all the time. Athleticism is a cheat-cote in MMA, and Bo is one of the best. Bo immediately would be one of the best athletes in the company, just as soon as he gets in there.

But here's the thing. I almost want, like, I expect Bo Nicol to win, and I expect that even with Dana's speech on Tuesday, that Bo just getting a victory will probably get him signed. But it wouldn't crush my soul if they just gave him a developmental deal either way. Like, even if he wins in a minute, like just developmental deal him. And just let him fight as often as he wants, whenever he wants, for the next. next freaking, you know, five or six fights. Oh, hold on a second. All right.

Now we can reveal, because we officially confirmed it. I know you guys probably saw it. Big fight at 145. I teased this the other day. I was already well aware that this was in the works, but we just didn't have a date. Edson Barbosa versus Iliott-Its-Aporia. October 29th is a, it is in the works.

It is targeted. Both fighters have agreed. It is going down October 29th. Told you guys would like that one. Ily Tuporia sticking at 145 to fight Edson Barbosa. That is going to be a banger. So there you go.

So look for that soon on M.A.fling.com. All right, I got to get out of here. I'm about to get yelled at. I have to jump on this way in show, which you can do too. Just jump on the way and show right now. Head to the M.A. fighting YouTube channel.

We're going to go live, Jose Young's, A.K. myself, E.K. C. Leiden. We're just going to have some fun for the next couple of hours. So join us over there. Thank you for joining us here. Appreciate you guys jumping on earlier. We'll have a preview show 2 p.m. Eastern, live on the MMA fighting YouTube channel. And we could have, like, sort of a video version of this program on our YouTube channel tomorrow.

I believe we're going to go live at 515, heading into UFC 277, another edition of the People's Pre-Fight Show, which I am looking forward to. What a week it has been on the program. what a week it continues to be for combat sports and for the UFC, UFC, UFC 277 going out tomorrow. Join us on the Way-in Show. If you're here at this live, you're listening on the podcasting network. If you're bored, go back and watch the frigging way-in show if you want to.

But we'll see you all later. Have a great rest of your Friday. And as always, have a heck of a morning. You have a podcast network.