MMA Fighting - HOAM | Countdown To UFC 285, Reaction To Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez Signing With BKFC

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

UFC 285 has shaped up to be an incredible lineup on paper, which will be headlined by the vacant heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane. While that fight is outstanding and fascinating, there's a lot to like in terms of questions and storylines on the rest of the main card, and on the prelims. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses Saturday's lineup, the burning questions surrounding the main event, Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso for the flyweight title, Bo Nickal's debut, why Geoff Neal could give Shavkhat Rakhmonov a bigger test than most believe, and more. Additionally, topics include BKFC signing former UFC champs Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez, their upcoming bouts with Mike Perry and Chad Mendes respectively, Jake Paul's loss to Tommy Fury, 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: 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

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I am Mike Kat. Hope everyone's having a great week. And if you're in this space, how could you not be having a great week? Because we are on the eve of the eve of, in my opinion, one of the best UFC cards top to bottom. that we have had in a long, long time. And in the main event, in my personal opinion, the most intriguing fight we have had in a very long time. And I know Volcanovsky versus Makachev was an intriguing fight.

And there were a lot of questions surrounding that one, but I think there are many more questions surrounding the return of John Jones, as he gets ready to take on Cyril Gahn for the vacant heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 285. That main card is absolutely spectacular. It is incredible. We got Valentina Shifchenko defending her title, looking to make it eight title defenses against Alexe Grasso. The return of Shafcott Rachmanoff, taking on Jeff Neal,

his biggest step up to date, Matush Gamrot versus Jalen Turner. We got the UFC debut of Bo Nickel against Jamie Pickett. And even the ESPN prelims are fun too. Cody Garbrand, who had just an incredible media day scrum yesterday, very raw, very emotional, very honest stuff. He takes on Trevin Jones and the featured prelim. Derek Brunson versus Drix Duplase, Viviani Aroosio versus Amanda Hebas. ESPN prelims kickoff with Julian Marquez versus Mark Andre Barrio.

We're having kind of an internal discussion about this because we've been talking about the middleweightiest middleweight title and things. and the evolution of said middleweightiest middleweight title. And we don't know if Brennan Allen kind of fits that mold anymore because he's a ranked middleweight. Maybe this fight could determine who actually is the middleweightiest middleweight champion. Then we got Ian Machado Gary against Kanan Song, which is a weird fight. I don't understand why this fight's happening, but it's happening. And then we have Mauna Martinez, Cameron Simon, Jessica Penne, against Tavis.

Habitah Ricci, Farid Basharat, looking to make it 10-0 against Amon Blackshare, and Esteban Rivavich takes on Loik Rajabov. I'm going to get that name right eventually. And this card just frigging rules. Normally 14 fights is like, ugh. But, I mean, 10 of these 14 are really, really good. So I am excited for this card. On top of that, we got some big news yesterday.

in the world of BKFC land, Dave Feldman goes on the MMA hour and announces that Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez have both signed with the promotion. They both have their first BKFC fights, and they're taking on very familiar names, fellow former UFC fighters. Luke Rockhold is going to fight Mike Perry in April,

and in the co-main event of that card, we're going to have Eddie Alvarez versus Chad Mendez. Holy shit. Didn't see that coming. Did not see that coming, but BKFC is just making moves. And maybe the sport is not for you.

I totally understand that. It's not for everybody. But damn, they are making strong to quite strong moves. They are signing big names. They are putting on fights that people are interested, interested in, whether they watch them or not. And what a year they are having in terms of fights and moments and free agent signings.

They're doing it better than Bellator is doing it. They're doing it better than PFL is doing it. They're doing it better than the UFC is doing it. If we're being honest, there is just so much interest in BKFC right now. It's incredible. It really is. Wow. just I was stunned when I found out that information.

We had to keep it under lock and key until the announcement was made, but I found out on Tuesday what was going on, and I was like, oh my God. And I didn't even know about the fights. I had heard Lou Grockle, Mike Perry, was probably going to happen, but I didn't know Eddie Averas was going to fight Chad Mendez until I heard of yesterday. Just craziness, absolute craziness.

But there you go. A lot to talk about. We do a BTF later on. today. A fun one. Jed Mishu will be back in action. He's going to take on a fighter, a fighter who had one of the all-time great appearances on the show and did an incredible job, was incredibly professional, and a guy who I could see on the broadcast desk in the future. And ironically enough, he just fought this past Saturday and got himself a performance bonus. So, Selecki is going to join the show once again to try to follow up on his just incredible

showing his first time around. And hopefully, Mother Nature cooperates. So we don't lose power in the middle of the show like it did the last time Joe was on. And last time Joe was on, it was the day we found out Mike Perry was fighting MVP and BKFC. So every time Joe comes on, there's always some wacky BKFC news we have to react to. So let's go to you guys and gals and see what is on your mind on. A very fun fight week.

Four Corner Sports is first in line. Let's go. Hey, Mike. So I saw Dave Feldman announced, you know, Rockwell versus Perry. Do you think that's the correct move for Rockville to go to BKFC? I just feel that, you know, there's nothing padded over there. Mike Perry is, you know, he's going to hit hard. I don't see this going in the right direction for Rockhold.

I can understand Perry. Alvarez, you know, going in that direction. But I was very surprised to see Luke Rockhold to signing a fight with BKFC. And as for the Co-Mean event, I mean, I'm expecting Valentina to win. It's just a matter of how she's going to be able to do it. But how quickly do you see her competing in her next fight? And do you feel like it's certain that Aaron Blanchfield will be that next opponent and when do you think that

time table will be? All right, thanks, Bank. So we'll start with the BKFC stuff. I mean, look, Luke is he's a prize fighter. He wants to make money. He wants to make money and wants to make as much as he can. And

I'm sure Bellator floated an offer to him. Not sure if PFL was in play or not, but BKFC came incredibly correct. And now he's going to fight Mike Perry. to me like it was i i get where you're coming from but at the same token what would you rather see would you rather see luke rock hold take on a smaller mike perry in a stand-up fight where he can

throw a bunch of punches or would you rather see him go to bellator and fight johnny ebblin and just get mauled for 25 minutes so you're kind of picking your poison here um what's crazy about this is BKFC is just one of those types of combat sports where sometimes you just got to go in there and do it and you realize maybe this was the path you could have taken all along. Like Mike Perry was born for BKFC. He was born for it. Like he was he was that guy. Chad Mendez looked really good. Seems like he was kind of bred for it a little bit. John Dotson is looking incredible. in there.

It's not for everybody, but maybe this, maybe Luke will be all right. I don't know. To me, like, I would rather see, because if Luke signs with Bellator, he's fighting Johnny Eppelin. And Johnny's going to kill him. Johnny's just going to take him down to beat his ass.

And I know that comes off a little bit disrespectful, but that's what would happen. And which is why I was actually calling for Johnny just to call out Luke Rockle because that is the biggest name he can fight right now. So there's no other direction to go with him. Like you can't sign Luke to Bellator and then just chuck him in there with some rando who lives in Temecula, California. You got to, for the price tag, you got to use his name to get guys over.

I don't have a big problem with it. I don't have a big problem with it. I mean, maybe come April 30th or the day after that car, maybe we'll feel a little bit differently about it. But we'll see what happens. Luke was going to fight anyways. Luke was going to fight no matter what.

I probably have a little more of an issue of Luke just fighting in general, but I would actually kind of prefer him to have a stand-up fight with Mike Perry, who Luke is going to be much bigger than come fight night. and there's no threat of him being taken down and somebody sitting on top of him and punching him in the face. So I'm okay with it. I'm fascinated by it. I don't know what's going to happen. I hope that what I just said ages well, but we'll see.

And as far as Valentina goes, again, like I try, I just don't see. I don't think Valentina is going to break much of a sweat in this fight. I like Alexa Grasso. She's a good solid hand. She's on a nice run. She's a good fighter. She's fun to watch. But she is just,

she's about to get mauled on Saturday. And I think Valentina is going to come in there really pissed. And with that big chip on her shoulder. And the problem for Alexa Grasso is, she is good at everything, but Valentina is way better than her at everything, and Valentina is much stronger than her. And Alexis Kryptonite, if there is any,

is when someone just out-physicals her. And Valentina Shivchenko will be able to out-physical her. I just don't see this going well for Alex de Grasso. I think Valentina is going to finish her probably in the second or third round. We're going to have an Androge type of performance, I think. And maybe the summer? Maybe she'll come back in July, August.

Maybe do an international fight week. Give Valentina that shine. Throw on the international fight week card. If you do two title fights or three title flights, Chichengo versus Blanchfield is a great fight. Like I am so much more interested in Chufchenko versus Aaron Blanchfield than I am this fight on Saturday. and if the fight goes the way I think it will,

then I don't think Chevy will be on the sidelines for too, too long. So yeah, that's what I think. And who knows? Maybe Alex Scras can prove everybody wrong. I just, when I like watch fights back and just see, like, the Tatiana Suarez fight is the one that really sticks out to me. because Tatiana just bolder just out physicaled her

just chucked her around and beat her up and I just feel like Valentina is about to do the same thing to her I can't get that Suarez fight out of my mind and I don't think this one's going to be much different but look she got to a title fight she got to fight the best of all the best woman's fighter in the world maybe she'll have her moments but yeah this is just a really tough

tough matchup for her stylistically. Let's go to Yaya. Yaya, hello. What's up, Big Mike? How you doing, man? Good, how are you? Good, good. Yeah, so I know everyone else, just as much as I'm excited about this card, but I really

wanted to ask about Shavkat and about his potential. He's 16 and O, an amazing fighter. If he wins this fight with Neil, do you think this makes him a championship draw, or do you think if Neil beats him, this helps him kind of get up the ladder. Appreciate you. I mean, it's a big fight for both guys. The thing that's going to hold Shafkat back is, and this is something he can work on, but he's got to be able, like the difference between Hamzat and Shafkot is they're both like really good.

They're both really physical. They're great fighters. But Hamzat could talk and sell himself to multiple audiences. And Shafcott just doesn't have that just yet. I mean, Shafcott is a hardcore fan's delight. But right now he has no casual appeal. Hamzat does.

People know whose Hamzat is. It's the grocery store test. I went to the grocery store right now and asked 25 random people who Shafqat Raqmanov was. Maybe one will know who he is. But I would say five to 10 know who Hamzaa Shamaif is. That's probably an issue. And that's one thing that's going to kind of hold him back because there's just not a ton of casual appeal to him. But if he goes out there and just mollywaps, Jeff, Jeff Neal, like he's done to everybody else, you can't ignore him anymore.

It's one of those things. Now, I will say this. This to me is maybe the most, look, Jones gone is spectacular. It's so fascinating. I think I have an idea where the Shefchenko fights is going to go. We all know Matush Gamrod v. Jalen Turner is going to be great. Bo-Nichael probably will do Bo-Nichael things. But outside of the main events, this fight to me is the most interesting on the card.

Because I think most people, when we saw this matchup announced originally, and I felt this way even before it got canceled the first time and rebooked, that Shofcott was just going to dump truck Jeff Dien. He was just going to go in there and wash them. And the more I've gone back and watched Jeff Neal fights, the more I feel like this fight is closer than people think it is. I think this is a really good fight. I think Shafcott's going to win.

I do think Shafcott's going to win this fight. But do I think that he is going to go in there and just ragdoll Jeff Neal like he did to Neil Magny? I don't. I think this fight's closer. And there's certain fights that I've gone back to to try to watch. Like the Neil Magny one was, you know,

Neil Magny was like vintage Neil Magne in that fight, vintage, where he just did Neil Magne things and sometimes that just wears on you. And at that point, you know, Jeff was kind of in a tough spot. He was dealing with a lot of adversity, all the illnesses and stuff

kept him out for a while, then he got kind of pieced up by Wonderboy, and then you have to go back and fight Neil Magni less than five months later. He got his stuff together. He got healthy. Had the great fight with Ponsonibio, beat the hell out of Vicente Lucke. But there's certain fights that I've gone back and watched, and I was like, oh, this guy, this guy's a little tricky trickster. So if there's one fight, I want you to go back and watch.

And this was something I heard Jed Mishu talk about a couple of days ago. go back and watch Jeff Neal versus Belal Muhammad January of 2019 and we all know how good of a wrestler Balah Muhammad is we all know how good of a gas tank he has in terms of like MMA wrestling

Bilal is really good and he could not do a damn thing to Jeff Neal he couldn't touch the man he could not touch the man and they have different there's different wrestling styles between these guys

but Jeff Neal's like really good takedown defense. And the thing about this fight that intrigues me is that Jeff is also a very durable guy. Jeff could take a shot and Hamzok can hit like a truck. There's no doubt about it. But Jeff can take a punch. He's got a really good chin on him. And one thing about Shafka that we haven't seen yet that we might see in this fight is what happens if he sees a thing. third round. What happens if this fight becomes a dog fight? What happens if in certain points,

he's the hammer and it doesn't work? And Jeff is able to stay on his feet and able to thwart some takedowns. The betting line is interesting here. I think it's a, I actually think it's a little wide. I think it's a little wide. Shafcott's a minus 500 favorite. I don't think he should be that big of a favorite. Now, I could be wrong. Shafcott could go in there and just truck Jeff Neal like he's done to everybody else. And would I be like completely shocked by that? No. But would I be a little surprised?

Yeah, I would. After going back and watching Jeff Neal, like past Jeff Neal fights, especially to Bala one, I'd be, I'd be a little surprised that that happens here. Again, I am picking Shafcott to win, but I don't know if he's going to have a minus 500 type of performance against a guy like Jeff Neal, who seems to be coming into his own again, healthy and ready to go. So I think this fight is better than people give it credit for. And if Shafkat wins, this is a really good litmus test for him.

We're going to see how good he really is. And if Jeff Neal could beat Shafkot Rock Monoff, boom. I think Jeff gains more here than Shafkot. Because if Shafkat wins, he's going to be in that sort of Surukian, Marabish type of territory. I mean, Marab's getting big fights now, but he wasn't for a minute. because people don't want to fight them. The risk reward just wasn't there.

But I think people look at Jeff Neal a little bit differently. But yeah, the more I like look at this fight, the more I weigh it, weigh it down, and the more I watch both guys, the more interested I am in this fight, the more my mind changes that Shafcotch is going to pick him up and kill him. I don't think that's going to happen here. I think Shafcott's going to win,

but I think he's going to have to work for it. I do think he's going to have to work for it. But man, even that fight's more interesting now than it was a couple of months ago. Boarding for Flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. 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.

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I need to sprinkle myself out throughout the year. So I actually only call in when I have something, some passion at heart, right? So, and today, I, the thing that I wouldn't, okay, I'm going to use a stupid phrase. The thing that grinds my gears, right? I was, I was a podcast host of an MMA podcast in Denmark at some point. one of the

one of the like staple listeners like DM'd me about this car and asked how the hell could they bump Drick's de Plessis and Derek Brunson for

whoever Bo Neckle is so what I want you to do I want you to explain to the casual fan what the draw of Bo Nicol is I know exactly what it is he. He

looks like the prototype. He has all these accolades. But I just want you to explain to people why he's already a draw at 3 and 0 and why he's already a bigger draw than Trickers the Pleiss. I'm sorry, he just is. But just explain to the casual fan, like the guy that DM'd me, and explain Bo-Nickle, the phenomenon, the main card opener of this card. Thank you, Mike. I mean, it's pretty easy. It's pretty easy. Like most, most MMA fans, even the fans that jumped on board during the pandemic, probably heard Bo Nichols name at some point because he was such a great collegiate wrestler

and won national titles. Penn State is a dynamite program, all of that. But here's the difference between Bo Nickel and DDP. the UFC has actually promoted him. Dana White has been promoting this man. International Fight Week. Perfect example. Out on Radio Row for the day.

They brought out certain folk that they wanted to push. One is that boxer that fights on fight pass all the time. I forget his name. But Dana is kind of like his promoter. That's one. And the other was Bo Nickel. They brought Bo out to talk to everybody. So on the Fight Pass show, he was doing interviews to all the media

and revealed that he was going to be on the contender series. And the UFC wanted him out there during the biggest week of the year. Drickus Duplice was not one of those guys. And he just kind of have to work his way up a different way. There are very few newcomers that get this. promotional push that the UFC and Dana has given. And Bo is one of those guys. He's freaking, I think two and O is a pro, maybe one and O is a pro before he got the contender series fight. And on top of that, Bo was getting a lot of, yeah, he's one of no. Bo was getting a lot of accolades

just from people at ATT. Like he was getting over in a big way. And once the UFC got a hold of him, Which, by the way, they signed him before those contender series fights. They basically developmental dealed him, and then his two developmental deal fights are going to be on the contender series. And they built it up beautifully because all the hype was on that first bow-knickle fight. When people were talking about the contender series, all the hype was on the bow-nickel card. Went out there, washed his opponent.

Then he didn't get a contract, and everybody went bananas. Everybody went bananas. Everybody. Oh, how dare you not give this guy a contract? Bellator, call this man up. And I fell for the trap for a minute too. And then I realized I was like, this is brilliant. This is going to bring this guy back.

And people are going to watch that car too. And they're going to spend the next several weeks talking about him. People dogg on how the UFC raises their prospects. Like Bellator does a great job like building up prospects. When the UFC finds a prospect that they are all in on and they want to promote them, they do a great job of it. And Bo is a perfect example of this. And then it all comes down to, you know, what do we do?

How do we build this fan? We give him two very, very great, like very good stylistic matchups where he probably won't even break a sweat. And then for his debut, we chuck him on a main card. And we feed him, we feed him Jamie Pickett, which stylistically, this is a horrible matchup for Jamie. But I will say this, you never know.

You never know. I think this is a good matchup. I think this is a good matchmaking. I think this is the right way to go. I know a lot of people are like, let's just chuck them in there with a top 15 guy right now and see what he could do.

He'd probably do really well. Let's, that's what they're doing here. They have been on the bow-nickel train for a long time. And as soon as they got them, they promoted the hell out of them. They flew him out to Vegas, special guests for International Fight Week.

He was that guy. And they're going to build him. He's their next middleweight project. Their previous middleweight project was Alex Pereira. Different situation. Alex wasn't really a prospect, but they signed Alex Pereira with the sole purpose to build him to the Adasanya fight because of the rivalry, because of the kickboxing and everything they had him before that. and they're going to do a similar thing with Bo Nickel here, but they're just going to give him probably favorable matchups

for the next couple, and then they'll test them a little bit more. But yeah, if the UFC wants to get fighters over, they can. And they're doing it right now before. Like Bo Nickel is so over right now, and he hasn't even had a UFC fight yet. The UFC can do it, but they just choose who they want to do it with.

And that's pretty much the big deal here. again, this is the grocery store test. I guarantee you I could go to the grocery store down the street and ask who Bo Nicol is. And people are going, I will find one or two people who know who he is. If I ask him about Drick's 2 plus C, they will not know anything about them, man. They'll be like, who the hell is that? But Bo, I think they will know because the UFC actually promotes him and pushed him. So that's the big deal.

That's why he's on this main card. And DDP isn't. let's go to Mikey Mikey hello hey what's up Mike how's it going brother good how's it good what's up hey what's going on guys um

listen I'm gonna go on them so I'm really ran after like the last three seconds I'm like why do MMA fans do this all the time why do they always act like they have it all figured out better than the UFC as if the UFC hasn't been doing this shit pardon me for the last 20 years

and have been successful in doing it and it always makes me laugh. And we've talked about this before, too. It's like, M.A fans will never give the UFC the credit they deserve. And this isn't me trying to show for these thousands. It's just, can we just call a spade a spade, you know? They're like, oh, the UFC just relies on stars that became big elsewhere.

I'm like, what? Oh, Ronda Rousey. Ron de Rousy wasn't that famous when she was in Strike Force. She was famous to MMA fans, but not to people. She became famous in the UFC. you know oh look rockold he was a strike force guy none of you people watched him in strike force no one casual people did not watch him in strike force very few people remember he beat jockey then he showed to the ufc now everyone suddenly knows the guy right maybe pride fighters

were probably more famous before going to the ufc but like all this their stuff oh bull why is because it's the chris curtis argument right i feel other than fighters themselves anime fans need to like relax about card placements because what are you people talking about? Are you going to stop watching the card because somebody's not in the main card? Oh, my favorite. Oh, this fight should have been here. This fight should have been there. Yeah.

Even I might agree with some of it. Even if I agree with some of it at the end of day, are you not going to watch? Are you really going to pretend that you're going to skip the whole card because they put, you know, Driscoe's duplicity in the prelims instead of the main main card? Did you guys forget that all prelims are shown on TV now, that the ESPN side of the prelims, they're like, hey, can we get some good fights on here too? Also, and this is not often, but a factor that nobody talks about enough is like, oh, well, this fight should be here next to this.

I'm like, you guys do understand that sometimes on a card, multiple people are from the same gym. Why on earth would you put fighters from the same gym fighting consecutively? that's where remember when Trevor Woodman was like, oh no, I like that Justin Gatchee opened the main card against Michael Chandler, so that way I wouldn't have the Gachi and the Rosefight back to

back. Like, use your brains, people. Sorry, that's it for me now. Mike, you're here in Vegas, right? I'm going to the presser today. I'll see you. So, are you here? I am not in Vegas now. Oh, dang. Ah, well, whenever it says, I'll see you around, man.

All right. Take care, guys. Have a good day. Thank you, sir. Yeah, I mean, there's certain times card placement bothers me, for the most part, it really doesn't. I think this card is actually constructed perfectly. DDP, like, even for his July fight, he was on the prelims. He was on the main card for 282, but that's because he fought Darren Till. If he didn't fight Darren Till, he wouldn't have been on the main card.

DDP has star potential. He's just not there yet. Now, if he goes out there and runs over Derek Brunson, that's going to help his case for sure. But, yeah, Bo's just over, man. The UFC promoter the hell out of him. They made him really interesting. And they put a lot of pressure on this man, and he asked for it.

But what I like about Bo, too, is that he's pretty realistic. Like, he'll cut the occasional promo. and say the occasional thing that makes people think. But for the most part, it's like, it's pretty real. And we'll see how he does. But Bo Nichols debut is a big deal on this card. It just is. It's a bigger deal than Drick is 2 plus E fighting Derek Brunson,

who, let's be honest, the man hasn't said a lot of things that have convinced me that he is like all in on mixed martial arts right now. This guy's had a foot out of the door for like a year and a half now. But I do like this matchup a lot for both guys. Because Derek Brunson is, Derek Brunson has been that guy who, if you have a surging up-and-comer, you throw him in there with Derek Brunson,

you think he's just going to go in there and roll Derek, and then Derek has like an A-plus performance. I don't think that happens here, which is I think Dirk is a little too chaotic. He's the better athlete. He's more in his physical prime right now. But if Derek has a good night, this is a really interesting fight, but more people are going to watch DDP fight Derek Brunson than watch Bo Nickel fight Jamie Pickett.

That spot, like that, that ESPN spot, especially the featured prelim spot, that's a money spot. If you're not in the main event or the co-main event, that's where I would want to be because you're going to get all the eyeballs on you. Much more than the pay-per-view broadcasts. Like John Jones' return is going to be a big deal, but this isn't going to do like a million paperview buys. but well over a million people are going to watch Cody Garbrand and fight Trevin Jones. That's how they construct these cards. And plus, they probably think Cody and Trevitt are just going to go in there and blast each other out. And if there's people on the fence that are thinking about buying it, but maybe haven't pulled the trigger yet,

that fight might actually get them over the hump. Yeah. I think people, card placement. it is what it is and there are certain fights hi double a what's up you too I've got three what do we do with

flank fighter off after a bit matchup so what do you think they should do with Cody Garbrand if he wins what do you think they should do with DDDP if he B fronton and what do you do with

Cyril Garne if he loses the main event that's all from me everyone you're all awesome take care of and have a great day. Peace. So Sierra Gond will probably fight Sergey Pavlovich because I think Curtis Blades is going to beat Sergey Pavlovich. I think that's like a tailor-made fight for Curtis Blades. So that's what I think will end up happening.

Cody Garbrandt, I am siding with Jed on this one. Cody will fight Davis and Figaro. Figgi will make his Banimoy debut and he will fight Cody Garbrant, a fight they tried to book before. and those two are just going to absolutely throw bombs at each other. So that's what I think will happen there.

DDP? I think he fights Brett and Allen, win or lose. That's what I think they're going to do. I could be wrong. I just, yeah, I think that's just a good fight. I'd like to see that fight. I think Brennan Allen's a tougher fight for DDP than Derek Brunson is right now. so that's that's how I would do it

I'm not a matchmaker I just am one on Sundays and speaking of that AK and I will be live this Sunday following UFC 285 for a live edition of On to the next one on the YouTube channel it'll be a lot of fun Viking hello Oh Mike King Jr. How are you?

Good, how are you? I'm good I'm good and just want to I'm not talking about Benile Darius, Charles Oliver a fight. Do you think it's sort of injustice to Benile Darius when he would see us through Hathrivim with Charles Olivera, when he's so close to the title fight? and if he loses to Charles Olivera,

we all know he's not going to get another title shot. The suitable fight for him would have been Rafael Fizi instead of Charles Olivera. So basically, UFC trying to get Charles Olivera win, I think. And the other thing I want to talk about is Luke Rockhold, I will be so happy seeing Mike Perry trucking Luke Rockhold because I literally don't like Luke Rockhold and Mike Perry is going to truck him.

The other thing I want to ask about what I want to say about when Hamza Chim, I have got switched, would switch to Kevin Holland when Niediaz and Hamza Chimae was about to fight and

you and J. Meshu was were always were already convinced that Keev in Holland

is going to knock Hamza Chimai so this Jeff Neal and Shaukhadraqmanau fight do you think it's the same kind of fight

just like Hamza and Kevin Holland thanks a lot brother yeah so people love to bring up that the reason why I picked Kevin Holland in that fight and Jed was with me on this was not because Kevin Holland was the better fighter by any stretch of the imagination it was because

you have to I don't care who you are and Hamza is just an anomaly when it comes to this that man had a horrible week. I mean, just a terrible week in Las Vegas. Terrible. Everything that happened, the near fights in the back, just getting negative press left and right,

missing weight by a million pounds, losing a layup, he would have killed Nate Diaz. The UFC did him a favor. that was a Hamzaa Shamaa favor that was hey we're gonna we're gonna guide you into a title fight as simple as possible

and he missed weight by a lot like it wasn't like he missed weight by a half a pound he missed weight by almost an entire weight class and I just felt like man you just fumbled the bad like he I mean it's one of the biggest bag fumbles I've ever seen now he went out there and dumped Kevin Holland

no doubt about it but I just this is a mental thing. I was like, well, I mean, this whole week has just been downhill for him. Let's just ride that train. And I, hey, right hand up. I was wrong. Hamza didn't care. Like, the man just didn't care that he missed weight.

He didn't care about the rest of the week. And then he went on the mic and he just cut a heel promo. He didn't care that everybody, like, disliked him. Didn't care about any of that shit. Most humans would. He didn't. He doesn't care about anything. He just wants to win fights and hurt people and finish them quick.

And yeah, that did not have any effect on him. And I didn't see that happening. Do I compare this fight to that? No, totally different circumstances. I am picking Schofcott-Rachbanoff to beat Jeff Neal. What I'm saying is I don't think this is going to be the type of fight where Shafcott just picks Jeff up, dumps him, and beats the shit out of him from beginning to end. I think he's going to have to work for this one more so than any of his other wins.

Because Jeff's really good. I just don't think Jeff's getting enough credit. I am not picking Jeff Neal to win. I'm picking Rock Motov to win. This to me has, if we're going to make a better Hamzot comparison, the better Hamzot comparison is this feels more, and it's not, I don't think it's going to be exactly the same. This feels more like Hamzot versus Gilbert Burns than Hamzaat versus

Kevin Holland. This feels like a good litmus test. This is far and away the best guy he's fought stylistically. Far in a way. This is not even a conversation. Jeff Neal is the toughest fight Shafcott Rachmanoff has ever had, and it's not even close. Shafcott is going, I'm picking Shofcott to win. Picking him. But I think he's going to have to work for it. That's all I'm saying. I've watched a lot of tape on both of these guys. especially Jeff Neal. That Blah-Mahmet fight gave me a little bit of pause. Still picking Shafcott.

Still picking him. But I don't think it's going to be the same Shafcott just absolutely annihilating him. I do think Shafkot's going to win. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to Lux Beauty and Fragrance sets. Our special selection has something for every style and price point.

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Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. J.D. Hello. Mike, what's up, buddy? Can you hear me? Yep.

Awesome, awesome. Hopefully I don't sound like I'm on top of now. No, you sound like you're underwater a little bit, but it's all right. I guess I can't win. All right. So, hopefully Jed is able to make it to BTL today. Thanks, man. Yes, Jed will be on BTL today. I'll probably ask him about Darren Till, but that's not really one of the top.

There's just so much shit to talk about. and we can't have a two-hour show. I'll probably get Judd's reaction to it. Maybe I'll do that right off the bat. Yeah, I think that's probably what I'll do. That's probably what I'll do. I mean, Gamrod Turner, I think, is just going to be wild. Like I said, I am intrigued by Rachmanoff Neil

because I do think Neil is going to be able to give Rockmonoff a bit of a test. but Gamrot Turner is going to be ridiculous. That fight rules. I can't wait to see it. I'm stunned by the betting odds here. I didn't think it would be this far apart if we're being honest. Where are we at here?

I looked at it yesterday. I was like, huh? All right, it dropped a little bit on draft kings. It dropped a lot on draft kings. But most of the other sites are where they're at. most of the other sites outside of Draft Kings have Batush Gamrod as like a minus 225 favorite in this fight. I feel like that line is super wide.

But Draft Kings has Gamrod down to a minus 170. I would probably squeeze it a little closer, 160. But I can't wait to see how Jail and Turner reacts. And I can't wait see how Gamrod reacts to a guy is big and his physical as Jailen Turner. that's the intercontinental title fight on this card love that fight let's go to raffy sports raffy appreciate your patience man how are you all good man i'm good and you good so i want to talk about ufc 385 but before before i talk about that i want to ask about

jake pole and tommy free didn't yeah if you watch the fight do you think now jake pole is a legit boxer or has he been exposed? And the second is about the FC 285. Everybody's talking about Bonacal fight going up and DeRicus and

Derek won going down. But what about Ian Gary being on the prelims? What do you think about early prelims? Sorry, early prelims. Even worse, what do you think about that? And can you give me a predictions of the main event? Thank you, Mike. Have a good night.

The Ian Gary fight is weird. Like that fight makes literally no sense to me. I just don't, I don't get it. I don't get this fight at all. I really don't get it. Like, I'm not trying to dogg on Kanan Song here, but this is a step back for Ian Gary. I'm not saying Chuck Ian Gary in there with,

you know, Nico Price or anything, although that would be fun. But Kanan Song was just not, like anywhere near the kind of fighter that I was expecting Ian to fight next. Yeah, I just think it's the matchup. You know what I mean? I think they're trying to get people to tune in early. And maybe it's just because of the, you know, the Irish, the European crowd,

like they want to just get them on early so people can watch. Maybe it's that. But yeah, this is a weird fight. It's a weird one. I don't love it. I mean, I, besides Bo Nickel,

uh, Ian's the biggest favorite on the card, and he should be. It's crazy. Yeah, I don't like this fight at all. But Ian will win and have his moment. Hopefully he gets to have his moment with Joe Rogan and cut a nice promo and go from there.

But this guy's really good. He's only going to get better. I like that they're not just rushing him up, but this one just seems like a step back to me. So I don't love that. The Jake Paul Tommy Fury thing is like, let's be clear, they are both not good at boxing.

Even Tommy, like, they're both not good. They're both not good. I thought Jake Paul was like less bad. And I thought Tommy Fury was like pretty bad. And Tommy's is not as bad as I thought. And Jake is more bad than I thought, I guess. I mean, look, this fight is what it was.

This was not going to be a technical masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. But I mean, look, you've got to take your hat off to Jake Paul, man. Like, you have to. Whether he gives a shit about his skills. The fact that he has put himself in this position and people give a shit, like no matter what and the preliminary numbers on that card or like a half, he says about a half million. I talk to some folks too.

It's going to be around there, if not a little more. I mean, people were into that shit on Sunday. They were. And I will admit that one grew on me because I was not, I did not care at all until maybe like, the Thursday before, maybe the Friday before. And I was like, you know what? I'm probably going to go ahead and suck it up and watch it.

But Tommy was the better boxer. That's it. I mean, he just was the better boxer. He's not good. But he's just better than Jake at boxing. I don't know what they're going to do, honestly. I honestly have no idea. I don't know if they're just going to run it back.

I don't know. I don't know. main event prediction i'm just not there yet i'm just not there yet i was with cyril for most of this build i'm leaning more daily towards john jones but i will have my official prediction on the preview show tomorrow i will

make up my mind but if you ask me right now i'm picking john jones how i don't know um i'm looking at this i'm looking at this fight like I have $20 to spend and I have to put it on somebody. And I understand there's value on C.R. Gondett plus money. But New York Rick says this all the time and I completely agree with them.

If you're going to get the opportunity to bet on a guy who many feel is the greatest to ever do it and you're going to get a bit minus 155 odds, you may never get this chance again and you're willing to suffer the consequences. of it. But the more I go back, the more I look at it, the more I watch John fights, like the more I've gone back through the catalog of John Jones, the more I feel like he causes more problems for Cyril gone than I initially thought. I talked a lot about Cyril being really good in the clinch and John getting a lot of his takedowns in those tight spots. And John doesn't really even show that part of his game that much. But John is excellent.

the clinch. And you have to like kind of go back and see it because he just uses his length so well. And that's what's won him a lot of these fights. And doesn't really have that big advantage here. So he's going to kind of have to get inside, but he's actually really good. But I still have a ton of questions about John. The know not about it. But the more I think about it, the more I lean John, but I haven't made my decision to you asked yet. I will get off the fence tomorrow, 3 p.m. Eastern. I assure you of that. We'll go to Boss, and we'll go to PJ, they'll go to Anthony. Boss, hello.

Hi, man, how are we doing? Good, how are you? Yeah, good, man. I've just got two questions. Obviously, with the main and when you were touching on, I just want your opinion, is this the worst fighting category at the moment in the UFC? Because in terms of there's only Garnay and Meertich that I can see

as challenges for John Jones, there's no one else in that division for me. That's my opinion. and the second question, what do you think of the two brothers, Javed and Farid Basharat? I know they're both one beating. What do you think of them too? I'm very high on Javid Basharad.

I'm very high on his brother too. So it'll be nice to see him get in there and make his debut. They're both really good fighters, very solid hands. Yeah, I like both of them a lot. I like both of them a lot. Javid, I think, is... Javid's going to be like a top

I'm pretty confident he's going to be like a top 10 guy at worst might even ascend higher than that but at worst he's going to be a top 10 guy. Maybe Farid will be the same. But yeah, we'll see how he does tomorrow. Or on Saturday, excuse me. And then the other question

is heavyweight the, like I think you're asking if heavyweight is like the, I don't know if it's the weakest, but the less deep division in the UFC. God, no. 205 by a long shot. It's not been close. 205 is just,

yikes. It is a tough hang. It's a tough, tough division. That's a rough one. 205 is, it's kind of interesting right now because Jamal Hill looks so good. And Yeri is hurt.

and we're wondering when he's going to come back and I'm interested in a Jamal Hill-Gurie fight but man, Ankleif is tough to watch. He's good. Jan is knocking on the door of 40. Rackage coming off a loss. Anthony Smith is there

who's, oh, I like a lot but I just don't think he wins a belt. Cryloff maybe Span might be the dude. Johnny Walker is so hit or miss. Like I think span might be like the most interesting guy right now but yikes 205 is tough 205 is a tough division yeah 205 is far worse in my opinion uh let's go to pj

pj what's up man hey what's going on my um yeah so i live over here in the uh carolinas where uh regular sports book betting is illegal at the current moment. So we have to use this here, Daily Fantasy, in order to get in on the action, which kind of sucks. So basically it's like a, you pick like five or six fighters and you put some money down, you get into a pool of people and finishes, get you more points, etc. So I have Schenko, I have Bonnacle. I'm a huge fan of Derek Bruncester. I'm a huge fan of Derek Brunson. I think it's going to be a bad day for Wilmington for Jane Pickett and Brunson, even though Brunson's one of my favorite guys, but I know you can't be super biased when it comes

to personality. I wanted to hear your thoughts on the Brunson fight because I'm on the edge, and I wanted to know if you have any fights in mind on this card that you think, could be finishes like uh and there was one more fight on the very bottom uh i heard somebody on m m m a f or yeah talk about it on the youtube page uh estabon or something and um yes sorry and uh that that's it though for me thank uh yeah i mean i've i think i've done like one of those lineups and i actually cleaned up. I did really well. Because it's not like the top...

I'm not really all that into it, but it seems like, at least when I won, it wasn't like the tippity top fighters that got you the wins. It was the sort of darker horse ones. I think, so obviously, Schifchenko and Bo are probably the highest of the high.

I'm sure Shofcot's probably up there too. Yeah, I think DDP is going to beat Derek, I think Jalen Turner has a lot of value because he's the dog and I'm sure he's lightly priced. So yeah, it's not a bad one. That'd be a pretty good pick if you need a darker, like a dark horse. So I'm going to kind of fly under the radar. Yeah, it's not a ton of value everywhere. So you're going to have to like, you're going to have to be crafty about this.

You're going to have to pick someone who's probably going to lose, but at least be competitive. I wonder where like Julian Marquez sits Mark Andre Barrio I feel like if Mark Andre Barrio wins he's going to win a decision but if Julian wins is going to finish so MAB might have a little bit of value and then if you have to take a

like if you have to take an interesting dog shot to like fill out your lineup I would never bet on Trevin Jones to beat Cody Garbride I think that line is way too valuable on the Cody side because I think he's just barely a fit like a what is he? 165, like that's crazy.

I feel like this one should be lined a little higher the more I look at it. But Trevin can crack, man. Trevin finished Mario Batista, and that win has aged really well because Mario's been on a roll. So, yeah.

It's tough, man. This is a tough card to, like, pick that lineup because you got to pick two tippy top ones and then trying to fill out the rest is going to be really tough. But I think there's some interesting names out there. Anthony, take us home, my friend. I just wanted to give some pushback on some guy who called earlier saying that the card placement does not matter.

Maybe I'm under the Chale School of Thought, but card placement is the only thing that matters. Rankings do not matter. And he said maybe the coaches aren't back to back. Well, Shavkat is in the third spot, so they wouldn't be back to back over there in Clilcliffe. Also, Eric Nixick not too long ago, I think on the, Eamov Strickland card. He coached the last three fights all back to back. So maybe that was just Trevor Whitman's old ass

trying to get a breather earlier. Yeah, I don't know. I just feel like the card placement doesn't matter. I mean, you go to a comedy show, you don't see Joe Rogan performing before Ari Shafir, you know. And I saw a big up this weekend, you know, big card. I'm looking at this card and I'm like, hmm, there's, I don't really,

I'm also under the school of thought of pick winners when I'm betting and I'm looking at all these underdogs and I want to give them paths to victory but I mean I don't know the only dog I'm really looking at is the first one Lloyd Rachmanoff that guy was apparently kicked off the tough series so we'll see how he does but yeah that was all just the pushback on the placement of the card what do you think yeah I mean there's certain there's certain times where I think at matters but I don't think the UFC got this one wrong. You know what I mean?

I don't think they got this wrong. Like I know in terms of like rankings, which you say, and I agree with you, rankings don't mean anything. That's why like DDP versus Derek Brunson is like a fine, it's like a good prelim fight.

It's going to get ratings on ESPN, which the partnership is, yeah, it's the pay-per-view and it's ESPN Plus and all that, but like ESPN would like to have their television ratings at a pretty solid spot, right? You know what I mean? So there's certain cases.

There are certain cases. Like Chris Curtis, we talked about this in the show. Like, I feel like Chris Curtis is in a better spot fighting Calvin Gassum as the featured prelim than him opening up the main card. He's not getting pay-per-view points. He's not getting any of that. This is about getting over and trying to become a star.

And that's how you do it. You get more freaking eyeballs on you. And if you, if somehow, like, the UFC has this ability to, um, has this ability to figure out,

like, when the pay-view buys come. If that featured prelim, all of a sudden, like, goes through and it's a fun fight or great finish. And then all of a sudden, they get like 15,000 extra buys or whatever it was.

Um, there, going to be, they're going to be like, oh, cool. Like, maybe we have something there. So I do, like, there's, there's certain cases where I completely agree with you, but there's certain cases also where I'm just like, eh, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Like, the fight night cards, like, does it really, like, if you're not in the main event of those fight night cards with how they're put together, does it really even matter? Does it really even matter? I've talked to a ton of fighters who were ranked or just outside of the rankings who have fought on

those fight night cards that have told me like i want to be the first fight on those cards so i can get the hell out of there i just want to like go in there and fight and be done and enjoy the rest of my day um that's how they are um there are certain times where it's unfair and it feels weird but uh there are certain cases where the fighters are like oh man like i wish i wasn't the coleman event. I wish it was like the second fight of the of the cards like get the hell out. It just all depends. The UFC crafts these pay-per-view cards in a certain way. The first fight is typically one where outside of the Chandler Gagy one where things got swapped around. But for the most part, it's like we're going to put a fight in the first spot where someone is just

going to get run off, just run out of the octagon. Real quick. really effectively violent, just a big finish in the first round. Like get the card off to a great start with a big finish. And then we go from there to, let's put a banger up next. And that's where we're getting.

And then let's get another banger in there. Let's spread things out. And then we go to the co-made event and the main event. So I actually think the main cards lined up perfectly. Like I understand some people want like rankings, the meritocracy and all that stuff. They want fights that mean something towards the rankings. But again, rankings don't mean anything.

They don't mean anything. It's just a nice, shiny number that just is next to your name. That's that. All right. We are done. We will be back tomorrow. We'll do this again. Free for all Friday plus.

I'm sure we're going to have a lot of UFC 285 stuff. Join us at 1230, about an hour and a half from right now on the NBA fighting YouTube channel. BTL. It's going to be fun. Lots to talk about. And tomorrow's a be a busy day. We'll be here at 10 a.m. Eastern. Then the way and show. Actually, no, we're not going to be here at 10 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. Ooh, I forgot about that. I'm going to figure something out. So tomorrow is a very strange day for me. I got roped into DJing at my kids' school tomorrow. They're doing this like field day color run event and I got roped into hosting and DJing it and playing a bunch of music

and watch a bunch of kids run and get paint thrown at them. So that's what I'll be doing until like one Eastern and then we got preview show and all that stuff. So maybe we'll, uh, I will let you know. Maybe we'll do like a heck of an evening or something. Or maybe we'll just do it on Saturday. I don't know. I'll let you guys know.

But I just thought of that. I'm glad I talked, talk that all out. So thank you all very much for joining us. We will figure something out to get another show in this week, whether we just do it Saturday during the afternoon or we do something tomorrow night or something. But then off to New York Saturday morning. I got to wake up super early for that. Watch party.

This is going to be a busy-ass week and a busy-ass weekend, everybody. So thank you very much for joining us. Appreciate it very much. have a great rest of the day and as always have a heck of a morning. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line.

But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.