MMA Fighting - HOAM | Dana White's Absence From UFC Events Impossible To Ignore

Episode Date: July 12, 2022

It was very difficult to ignore the fact that during UFC 276, and all of International Fight Week, UFC president Dana White was nowhere to be found. On an all-new episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck was asked to give his thoughts about White's lengthy absence from promotional events and what it could possibly mean. In addition, listener questions are answered about White's $250,000 birthday gift to one of The Nelk Boys and the internet's reaction to it, Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira, a potential Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev lightweight title fight, Rafael Fiziev's incredible performance against Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC Vegas 58, the loaded bantamweight division, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide.

Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster, 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. All right.

Hello there. It is Tuesday, July 12th, 2022, and it is indeed a heck of a morning live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. And shortly thereafter, you will find this entire program on the NBA Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Keck. Thank you for joining us. Hope everyone's having a fantastic Tuesday. We are a few days removed from UFC Vegas 58. And while it was kind of a tough hang, if we're being honest, we did get quite the performance from Raphael Fiziv, who has proven to be a big problem.

in this loaded UFC lightweight division with a fifth round stoppage win over Hafiel Dosanjos and a lot of people were complaining about the stoppage, but after looking at all the angles, I don't think you complain about the stoppage. That was a fantastic stoppage for Mark Smith, no issues whatsoever. And it's a huge win for Raphael Viziv. There are a lot of fun options for him. Could be Justin Gaichie, could be Dustin Porre, could be Michael Chandler. The options are plenty for.

for just a super fun fighter, super fun talker in Raphael Fiziv. We are days away from UFC Long Island, which is a big event, big card. Beyond ABC here in the United States, the main event is a big one at 145 pounds between Yayae Rodriguez and Brian Ortega. Yaya Rodriguez was on the MA hour yesterday and said that with the victory, he was promised a title shot from the UFC,

and that's probably what a lot of us expected anyhow. If he goes out there beats Brian Orteg, he probably gets a title shot over Josh Emmett, which kind of stakes for Josh Emmett, but this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. It just shouldn't be. And I'm very happy that we get some early day MMA on Saturday. Prelims start at 11 a.m. Eastern.

I'm very excited about that. And the main card starts at 2 p.m. Eastern. and it's a pretty solid car. There's some bangers on this one. And I'm excited to talk about it. I'm excited to talk about Zeeves' performance and the lingering effects of

UFC Vegas 58 and whatever it is you want to talk about. So I get some people lined up. If you want to hop on in, raise that virtual hand. We'll get rocking and rolling. It will kick things off with Mr. Tristan Gordette. Tristan, how are you?

Hey, Mike. How's everything? man. Good man. Just a quick question. Are you, is everything situated as far as your power and everything? Because I'm like, man, this is getting concerned here? Is this going to be a recurring issue for you? I certainly hope not.

I mean, I've been here for almost a year and it sort of just started. Like a lot of times, like we get some pretty nasty storms down here. So that's fine. Thunderstorm and it wipes, wipes us out, that's fine. But Sundays on the next one, it was beautiful out. It was beautiful.

The problem is what I think kind of hurts is I can walk to where the energy company is. I can literally walk there. So maybe they're doing like tests or whatever just at random times and we just happen to have to deal with it. So I don't think it's a recurring issue.

I just think I'm in some, I just had some bad luck lately with that. That's all. And what about the internet issues? That's been situated as well? We are fixing that as we speak. We are dealing with that. The problem is I move command center 4.0 into the garage,

which is being remodeled into the new studio. And we're moving around the router. We're adding a booster. So all that will be fixed. Okay, okay. Please bear with me, everybody. I promise that it will all be fixed. Okay, okay.

Good, good, good to hear. A couple of things. I've got to say, I'm really excited because I'm going to the Long Island car pumped up for that, especially that Charles Dordane versus Shane Burgos, that's probably going to fight of the night. Somebody's going to be, there's going to be some medical suspension on that fight right there.

So I'm really hyped up for that. Going back to UFC, Vegas 58, a couple of observations. I saw that RDA took his gloves off. So I was like concerned. I was like, is he about to retire? But obviously nothing happened, whatever. But I'm wondering if he's pondering retirement at this point

because, you know, he's 37 years old. He just got knocked out, and then I did ask that question, was he going to be durable enough for this fight against Paziv? I'm going to find out that chin couldn't hold up any longer once he got hit because Paziz hit's very hard. And once he got the chin, it was, you know, it was downhill for there for RDA. So I want your thoughts on that.

If you think he's probably pondering the time at this point, or do you think he's just going to continue? Also to Syyukukukov, what your thoughts on him? I thought that was a wonderful performance against Ronnie Lawrence. He was just absolutely phenomenal, completely dominated. So where do you see him in his prospect as far as the deep divisions band to Wade?

Do you think something's there or do you feel like he's just not there yet or whatever the case may be? So just your thoughts on those. And, you know, have a heck of a morning. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Tristan. Yeah, Burgos-Jordane is a banger. Can't wait for that fight. Love it.

There's a few bangers on here. I mean, Ricky Simone, Jack Shores, a great fight. I wanted the Billy versus Bill fight, but we still get Bill Al Jail, Herbert Burns, which will be fun. Dustin Jacobi Down and Jung will be fun. There's some bangers on this card for sure. But Burgos, Jordane is one of those ones that I think everybody has circled at the top of the bill. As far as R. Diego's, I mean, I don't know if Honda is the right word, but I'm sure it's crossed his mind. like what else do I have to offer because you have to feel,

and I said this on the preview show and on this show last week, this one I did that on Saturday much more than Fazeve did for the exact reasons that you mentioned. His title hopes were sort of hanging on by a thread, even heading into that fight, even coming off the performances in his last couple of fights. But he really needed this one. He didn't get it, lost to just a better guy.

And it's not like he got run over. It was a competitive fight. One of the judges had at 2-2 going into the fifth round. I don't think that's an egregious scorecard at all. You can make the argument that it was 2-2 heading into the fifth round. So it was close. RDA hung in there. Fiziv's takedown defense held up.

His gas tank held up. And that was the big thing about this fight. Fizizizu is just a tank. He is just a tank at 155. And he hits so hard. He's super quick. His striking is just so dynamic. This guy is a problem.

And that take-down defense. is just outstanding and it held up throughout the entire fight. As far as Saudii club Hawkorma, oh, with the retirement thing, there's a chance he gets the Connor fight. I think there's a strong chance that he could come,

he could get the Connor McGregor comeback fight. I think it makes sense now. They matched them up for 196 before RDA got hurt. They brought in Nate Diaz. We got that whole story. But RDA coming off this loss and everything,

you feed if you're going to do it now's the time i guess but so maybe he's holding out hope for that but we'll see what happens because if he does he better hope he gets that conter fight because if he doesn't he's probably getting like siruki on or somebody like that or gamrod and either of those fights are just nightmares for for rda in my opinion so maybe he gets the conter fight we'll see what happens but as far as uh sidey club hawk romanov man that guy is a is real good. He out Rodney Lawrence, Ronnie Lawrence, definitely didn't see that coming.

I knew he was a good fighter, but I definitely didn't expect that. I definitely didn't expect him to just chain takedowns and just frustrate Ronnie Lawrence like that. And Ronnie Lawrence made a statement on his Instagram stories after that he probably had some sort of,

you know, was dealing with some different things. And yeah, he do want to make excuses because of it. And yeah, great performance. The fight to make is, him versus Victor Henry. I'm very excited. Not Victor Henry, but Victor Henry is a guy that's definitely in the mix.

135 is so good. It's so good. Maybe he gets the loser of this Ricky Simone Jack Shore fight. I'm very high on him. I'm very high on him. Really excited to see where you can go. You do Montel. There's a lot of different directions you go with this guy.

So very excited to see what happens with Hakuramanov. I know Terrence McKinney spoke very, very highly of him, and he wasn't wrong. That was a great performance. Let's go to Siveram. Siverum, let's see. The wheel is spitting. We're trying to connect.

Are you there? Hello, sir. Quite a sometime. I really liked what your people views on the MMA. So my doubts about the two weight divisions. One is the lightweight division and another one is the welterweight. So what do you say about the, who should call me, fight next and

what about the Charles Olivera situation is he going to fight with the Connor or is Dana go is CEO of EFC Dana White going to give a chance to Charles to fight with a corner

or is he going to give a chance to the Islam and between you know Connor or Islam and number one country Dustin or I don't know what to make of those that lightweight division because

it's been stacked at very hot from 1 to 10 and also coming back to the welterweight so Kamaru Osman is ruling those, that division for a long time so I think the only person that can close to beating Usman is the

Colby because recently in a UFC 277 I witnessed that Volk dominated the max in that Trialsje fight So I do think that Colby deserves to fight again with Usman, like another match

to complete that saga. So I don't think Usman can dominate Colby like Wolk did to Max. So I do think that Colby will have somewhat chance to beat Usman in a trial fight.

Thanks, man. Yeah, great, great points. Colby, I mean, Colby, it's tough right now. I'd love to be able to give you an answer on what's next for Colby, but I just don't know. He's dealing with everything with Mazdal and everything that happens in March and Miami Beach. So I've said this a million times and I'll say it again. A lot of people feel like, oh, Colby's scared to fight Hamzat Shamaif.

That was the fight that the UFC wanted. They wanted a headline this particular ABC card wherever it was going to be. They wanted to make Colby versus Hamzot the main event. Dana White talked about it many times. Right after UFC 273, when Shamiya beat Gilbert Burns, he said, this is what we want to do. There's an ABC card coming up in the summer. This is the main event we want. But we're dealing with all the stuff with Mazadol.

And now there's talks of brain injuries and things like that from that alleged attack from Mazadol. So it's tough. I have no idea what's going to happen with Colby at this point. But for those saying that Colby was scared to fight Shemayef, I just don't believe you. That's just not right. And I think Colby would have taken that fight in five seconds. And it was just a big opportunity, only because if he had, if they had booked that fight, it would have been, there would have had it been a contingency in place that the winner gets a title fight. Because Colby, the fight is, it would have been a big deal, a big fight and Colby would have loved it.

But at the same time, Colby would have wanted a little something, something in return for taking that fight. and a title shot would have done it for him. And I agree with you. Colby's the second best welterweight in the world. And in a world where Kamar Usman does not exist, Colby is the champion right now. He's the best welterweight in the world

in a world that does not involve Kamar Usman, in my opinion. I think he's that good. And there's a lot of people who felt like Colby beat Usman in the second fight. He just got off to such a slow start. He definitely won the second half of that fight. But the third round was the toss-up,

One and two, it seemed pretty clear. Three was the toss-up round. Four and five were clearly Covington rounds, in my opinion. But three, it just, Colby just got off to a little bit of a late start. That 155 is just a mess. It's so fun, but it's such a mess right now. I don't, I'm not going to say Connor is out of the running,

but I think the Connor thing is contingent on Olivera fighting Makachaf first. So it's clear what the UFC wants to do. They want to headline that Abu Dhabi card with Mokachev versus Oliver for the vacant title, which is fine. If that's the direction they go, cool. But if I'm Mokachev, I'm not a fan of going to Abu Dhabi and fighting Mokachev. And he's already talked about it.

He's not a fan of it either for multiple reasons. He wants to be sort of viewed as the champion, even though the weight miss and all that stuff. He wants to be treated like the champion. He's already had to fight Gaichi on enemy soil. And now he would have to fight Makacheph on essentially enemy soil in Abu Dhabi. It's a tough. That's a tough one. Talked about the judging in the past.

And I know, like, more recently than not, the UFC sort of brings in their own, like, some of the Vegas judges, some of the well-known judges. But other times, like UFC 242, for example, they bring in the locals. They bring in local judges from the UAE. and sometimes they could sway things in a way that not a lot of people love. So if I'm Olivera to take that fight, there's got to be something in place that would make it worth this while. And I would say, hey, if I'm the UFC and I want Oliver, take this fight, listen, you got to take this fight. If you win, that we'll give you Connor. But I think he doesn't get Connor unless he fights Lockachia first.

And most notably, in October, in Abu Dhabi, otherwise I don't think he gets what he wants. but we'll see. 155 is kind of a mess right now, but it's super fun. And hopefully this gets worked out before the end of the year. So we can move forward and just book a bunch of fun title fights. Black Friday is here at IKEA and the clock is taking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-havs to cozy at-home essentials, all the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait.

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Conditions apply. See Air Canada.com. Let's go to my man Clearest Values. What's up, Clearest Values? Good man. All right. So I have a question for you because, first of all, I don't necessarily believe that Dana's just like on a chill vacation. I think he's pretty burnt out, which is understanding.

he's been doing in a long time. And I was kind of curious if you've heard anything or if you have a feeling like we're kind of coming towards the end of him on the helm and maybe Hunter gets a call soon. Because I remember in an interview he had said he had someone in mind that would replace him. I think it's pretty clear that that's Hunter Campbell. And I'm a little curious if you think that's actually coming sooner rather than later because it seems like he's not really interested. I would be curious if, you know, he was pressed if he could tell.

you what country Rafael Fazeva's from. Or if he knows who probably is getting the next, if he knows who Manon Fioro is. Like, I don't know that he knows these contenders and if he's even interested about them. And I think a good example of that is what's happening in lightweight. I think if Dana, we're on his game,

we're on top of everything. I think we would be seeing some of these top contenders fighting some of these up-and-coming guys. But I don't see that happening. You know, Charles basically clear it out the veterans in the lightweight division, you know, unless you want to put Benile Dariush in that category, there's not really any of those lightweights that have, except for, you know, selling pay-per-views with Connor and maybe Dustin also sells some pay-per-views. None of those guys are really

bringing anything new to the lightweight division that we haven't already experienced and haven't already kind of, you know, for lack of a better word, juiced, you know. You got everything from that last squeeze and I'm a little curious what you think is. going on here because it seems like he's not interested anymore. Thank you, Clarice Values. Yes, that's an interesting point. We were told at 276 that it was a vacation. And then Cowboy said that he was dealing with some family stuff.

So I honestly have no idea. I have talked to somebody who gave me sort of a theory about it, but I am not at liberty to discuss that because I don't have enough information. So I have, honestly, I have no. idea. Like, I can't 100% say what's going on. Um, there might be some truth to that. I don't know. I honestly have no idea. It just seems weird that of all fight weeks to miss, like not going to Singapore, you know, dealing with the, you know, son's 21st birthday. I get that. As a, as a parent myself, I know Dana got a lot of crap for that, but as a parent myself,

I get, I get that. Sometimes you have to, even though you love work. and you love your job and you know you're the face of it in a lot of ways like i i get it if it's my kid's 18th birthday or 21st birthday or his birthday in general i'm probably skipping out on something if it means that much to my son 100%. So i get that i don't give him a lot of flack for that one i don't i know he's very pumped and i know i want to support for singapore paperfits a very big deal i get it but i get it i'm totally fine with him not going to that and then some of the other events okay, now we're starting to get a little weird. Like it started like with the Jacksonville card because he wasn't at the press conference.

And John Anick was hosting the press. Listen, John Attic, I love John Attic. He's the man. So John Attic hosting press conferences is totally fine with me. I know you want to see Dana up there and I know you want Dana to ask question to hear, get questions asked to Dana and what his responses are. I get it. But Anik does a great job just intro way of making it about fighters.

And a lot of times that's, that's, that's, something that drives he a little bit crazy about Dana. Like he's just such a powerful figure that he almost takes away from the fighters in certain respects. So it's nice seeing an addict up there. Gives a nice intro.

Welcomes the fighters. Welcomes everybody to the press conference. He's just there trying to, he's just there as the face and he will lead things in the right direction if things start to go astray. But not being at 276 international fight week like to anything.

that was weird that was weird the press conference fine 278 press conference fine but not at the that's somewhere like uh-oh and then not at the event at all it's just i don't know i hadn't answer for you but i have no idea has he checked out i don't know i don't know he's got that he's sort of got and i know the situations are a little bit different out but he's sort of got in my eyes, he sort of has Vince McMahon vibes to him where he ain't leaving until you have to carry his dead body out of there.

But I don't know. Maybe he's just like, yeah, I've kind of had enough of this. And with the matchmaking and stuff and knowing the fighters, it's not really his, it's his job to promote. But it's not his job to make fights or control that narrative. It's his job

just to be the face and I don't know. He's the promoter. not, you know, at times he's a very good promoter and at times he's not a very good promoter. He just craps on the fighters a little bit. Listen, he's out living his best life right now. He's out hanging out with the Nelke boys and giving him a quarter million dollar birthday presents.

So do you, buddy. Do you. Let's go to my man, Mikey Bats. Mikey Bats, how are you, my man? Make sure you're on mute, Mikey. Mikey! Try it, my man. We'll get you ready.

in. Let's get Don Cousan in here. What's up, Don? What's up, Mike? Hope you have a lot of morning, all of that stuff, man. So I wanted to talk about changing gears. I wanted to talk about Sadiq Yusuf fighting Giga Chikaze, which I am so excited for. I am a little bit of bias on this. I really wanted to know your opinion on it, on the fight itself. What's your opinion on their two fighters and just, like, them fighting each other? a special bias to this because I actually went to high school with Sadiq. I went to high school with him and his brother.

I know. And like I remember being a freshman, like walking through class, you know, looking like a dweeb and just hearing on the announcement, oh, congratulations to Sadiq Yusuf winning national wrestling championship and all, just all this stuff. And then like now, like, you know, just hearing him win competitions and stuff and then now seeing him like on the UFC here in Bruce Buffer call his name, like people are in my neighborhood. his fights every week every time he's fighting everybody from high school meet up and watch it and

we just we just pushing for that man man man it's crazy to think that in a in a different world maybe he might someday have a chance to fight both that is crazy to me just like but um yeah man i want to know your uh your impressions on all that man have a too sweet day and all that stuff man heck of a morning thanks dodd great fight love it big fan of both guys Sudeek's good, man. He's a good fighter, and they're giving him opportunities. They gave him the Arnold Allen fight. Came up a little short, I think it was a five-round fight.

Sudec would, may have hung in there. So good win against Alex Kizra's, and now he gets Giga Chikaze. Giga got, listen, I'm going to say this truth. He got whooped by Calvin Cater. That was a one-sided thrashing. So this is the fight to make. This is absolutely the fight to make. I love the matchmaking here

I'm high on both guys Giga I think we realize I don't know ceiling but his ceiling is still high but Cater just put it on him and he could basically do whatever he wanted to Giga in that fight

and so he could wrestle man I think that's going to be a big a big thing in this fight I think he's going to have to and I'm sorry AK sorry so he's going to have to mix the proverbial martial arts here and if he does that, he's got a very good chance to win this fight.

Giga's really good, really good stand-ups. Take-down defense is actually really good, but if you mix things up nicely, you can beat Giga, as Calvin Cater showed. By the way, if you are sort of a newer fan and you've only watched maybe the last season or two of the Contender Series, I highly recommend that if you want to watch the best fight ever in the history of the Contender Series,

go back to July 24th, 2018. Sadiq Yusuf versus Mike Davis, the best fight in the history of the contender series. It is phenomenal. It is a banger. It is the best fight ever on the contender series. It's fantastic. So, Dik Yusuf, what a unanimous decision,

but those two guys beat the hell out of each other for 15 minutes. It was fantastic. Go check that out. If you want to learn a little bit more about Sadiq Yusuf, go watch that fight. is incredible heart. He's tough as hell, and he's a really good fighter. So I love that fight. That's September 17th card starting to come together nicely. The main event's great. With Corey Sanhagen's song you dong. It's a good one. Good main event, really good co-main event.

Let's go to Mikey Bats. Let's see if we can get him in here. Mikey, we got him. How you doing, man? Really good to meet you two weeks ago, and I can't believe it's already been like 10 days. Take me back. I know, right? God damn. It flew by just like that. that. How's everybody doing? It did. Yes, we're good, man. What's up in character, Alex. Alex is cool, man.

Yeah, that's a good card we got coming up this Saturday. I'm really excited for Emily Dukot's UFC debut. She's kicking off the card. So there's actually all the female fights on the card, I feel, are a decent consequence, to say at least. And really interesting

that Yair is apparently promised to Tasha. We know if that thing ain't on paper, I can only throw it as far as it can go. So I think it depends on how he performs. I mean, if he puts on a five-round stinker against Ortega, he ain't getting a title shot, but who knows? As far as the lightweight title picture, I mean, I appreciate where Charles is coming from,

but if you're going to call yourself a world champion, you've got to travel the world, brother. What better statement to make than to go to Abu Dhabi and smash Islam in front of all those people? You know what I mean? Like, he's already basically, like I said, he did the enemy, keep doing the enemy tenors before I think. Because the thing is, if you want to be a draw,

you got to do, there's some things that you got to do to be a draw. And one of them, just go to the end of the story and beat people up. So as far as Conner is concerned, I use them out of case. Just go fight Magidol. Make all that stupid cocaine money and just go away.

I mean, I'm looking forward to the fight. It's just that he's muddying up the water, and I'm just, like, tired of it. So just go chase that, fight with Mazuradol and do whatever else. fight a contender like, well, Pavel, like you just mentioned, brother, that'd be fun.

Yeah, so that would be all for the morning. Thanks, guys. You're out. Thanks, buddy. There's Mikey Bats. Yes, I got to be Mikey Bats in Vegas. Really good dude. Yeah, Saturday's car, yeah, the female fights, Emily Dakota is on a tear

right now. She's finding her stride. Jessica Pene, after the really long layoff, has been, has looked pretty solid. So that's a good fight. Lauren Murphy Mish Tate's a good one. Michelle Waterson, Amanda Lamos, she's a good one at 125. So, yeah, I like a,

I like a lot of that fight. Yeah, it's at 125. Yeah, I forgot about that. It is at 125. So, yeah, good fights. The card is very solid. The Yairth thing, I mean, listen, Yayae's getting the title shot if he wins. And I know

it's prefaced with, unless he drops a stinker, but what is Yaya Rodriguez? ever drops a stinker. That guy doesn't do stinkers. Brian Rottigga doesn't do stinkers either. So that fight's going to rule. It's going to be fantastic. And if Yair wins, he's going to get the title shot.

Because the only other options for Volcanovsky or Josh Emmett, and I don't think Josh is getting the title shot, just because not a lot of people thought he won his last fight against Calvin Cater. A lot of people felt Calvin Cater won that fight. Wasn't an emphatic win. Wasn't that type of win where you're like, you know what? Have to give this guy a title shot. I just don't see it.

I just don't see it. And the UFC has never once said that Josh Emmett is the guy. They've never said it. They've never said it. So I honestly believe that if Yayair wins, he will get the title shot because they just like him. He's an action fighter. And not saying that Emmett isn't good, Emmett probably deserves it from a meritocratic standpoint more than Yair does. But they're going to give it to Yairier.

And that doesn't leave Josh Emmett out in the cold because, He could fight Max Holloway. He could fight. He could fight somebody else. Just get him one more win. Do something emphatic. Make it unexcusable. Make it so there's no doubt.

Undoubt. No doubt at all. And he didn't do that against Caldicator. So Josh, I like, Josh is such a positive guy, but he's kind of always been like two steps ahead of the curve. From a realistic standpoint of where he stands in the division. And he's right there. He's on a great run right now.

But he's always kind of been like, yeah, if I win, I should get the title shot. Even if he was like ranked number 11 or something like that. He's always sort of had that. There's nothing wrong with that. You've got to believe in yourself. But I just feel like, yeah, you're just going to get the shot. And then 155. I don't know.

Oliver doesn't feel like Islam has done enough to earn the shot. And there's a lot of other people feel that way as well because Islam's on a great run. But again, and I've said this a few times. I get where people like that are coming from. His best win is Dan Hooker. Dan Hooker is Islam Makachev's best win. Yeah? I mean, that doesn't get you a title shot.

The dominance of everything, like him just smushing everybody, makes the fight intriguing, but a lot of people feel, and Dana Wahey said this many times, he wants to... Darius get the fight with Islam. And maybe that's what happens.

Maybe that's what happens. Who's going to complain about that? I wouldn't. And again, if I'm Olivera, I'm like, I don't want to go to Abu Dhabi. If it's about the belt and he's just like, no, I want a neutral territory. I don't want any chance that I get hosed by a judge or anything like that.

We'll fight. And there's talks about going to Brazil. Talks about the UFC going back to Brazil, maybe like end of the year, early next year. And he probably wants to be on that card. So if you're Olivera, unless the UFC says, hey, please take this fight.

if you win, we'll give you Connor. I don't think he goes to Abu Dhabi. Honestly, I don't. And if they book that fight, it's because there's a contingency in place like, dude, the Islam will give you Connor. Other than that, he could just let the other guys fight, and then he can just fight the winner, wherever. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Do you? And I'd be certainly, if they did Makachep versus Darius for the vacant title, I'm fine with that. And then Olverick can fight the winner? No problem. issues with that whatsoever. I know Michael Chandler's trying to sneak his way in there and maybe he does. I don't know. We'll see what happens. But if they book, I will say this, if they book Bob versus Chandler and just leap over Darius, I may have a few things to say about that.

I like Chandler a lot and I think it's actually an interesting matchup, Chandler versus Mockachev, but if he just leaps over Darius, that's, that's pretty rough. Let's go to Roe. Roe are you there? What's up, buddy? Hey, Mike, how good morning to see you? I actually wanted to get into the Nelp boys getting like a quarter mill and just get your thoughts on that because I think that's like utterly ridiculous considering how much he pays these athletes.

And yeah, that's pretty much it from me. And also shout out to AK for the shout out on to the next one. I know you guys had a tough episode there, having to redo it, but I appreciate you. Still giving me a shout. That was really cool. doing an episode anyways because I know how frustrating that could be. But yeah, have a heck of a rest of the day.

Thank you, sir. All right, so here's my thoughts on this. I had a feeling this was going to be asked. Let me just get, let me just get comfortable here. I don't care that Dana gave $250,000 to a member of the elf wise. I think that's just like insane. Like, it's not like,

how long has he possibly known these dudes for? Like a couple of years at the most. and we're just throwing out, hey, happy birthday, bud, here's a quarter of a million dollars. That's just,

like, it's just insane to me. Like, I have a hard, like, I'm not cheap, but like, I have a hard time,

like, give it out $100 for like a, you know what I mean? Like, I never got, like, $100 gifts. I got, like,

$20 or like $10. Like, my birthday, my parents can be, like, a $25 dollar Dunkin' Donuts gift card, and I'm fine with that.

That's, like, awesome to me. So I go to Duncan's every day and, a nice coffee. I'm drinking one right now. Watch this. Listen to this. It's delicious.

That's a great gift. My parents give me a $250,000 gift card to Dunkin' Donuts. I'd be like, holy smokes. Are you serious? That's just nuts. I have no issue. That's Dane his money. It's not like he's going to the UFC bank account and pulling that money out and paying it to fighters. Pulling it out and giving it to the elk boys and not paying fighters. That's one thing.

an issue Dana should have the wherewithal to be like, hey, Nelkboy dude. And I'm not that, I mean, I know that Lekboast is popular, but I think Kyle is his name. Hey, Kyle, here's your $250,000.

Don't post this shit on Twitter because it's going to make me look like an asshole. And Dana just doesn't say that. He's just, go ahead, post that. Like, as popular as the Nuck Boys are, everyone's going to see this video. Everyone's going to see it and everyone's going to react to it. Why would you do that?

Why? Just give them the 250. Just give them the 250K. Move on. Just give it to them. It doesn't even post it on social media. You look like an idiot. What do you think the reaction is going to be?

You think people, like, you don't think anybody's going to pick up on this? You don't think fighters are going to react to this? You don't think fighters are like texting other fighters right now. Be like, you see this shit? like it just makes it just makes everybody look silly and the elk boys are who they are and you know they want the clout that Dana gave him $250,000 I get that but I mean it's just dumb

Dana should have just been like here's a gift you are my friend I treat my friends well but don't post this thing on social media because it's going to make me look like an idiot and heads here we are and data is just like yeah post it go ahead show the world how rich I am that I'm just giving away $250,000

to a guy that I met like a year and a half ago. It's just crazy to me. I don't have an issue with the gift. I honestly don't because it's Dana's money and he can spend it however he wants. He wants to donate some to charity, which he has done, by the way, the Bryce Mitchell thing.

Dana is a man of his word. He gave the $45,000 to Bryce Mitchell and the charity he supported. Thing with Mike Malott, Dana does that too. Dana has that kind of money. we could just throw it around to charities or give gifts to friends, and that's fine. This is what you do. If you have that kind of money and you want to treat a friend to a quarter of a million dollars,

go right ahead. That's your prerogative. But you got to be smarter than that, then especially like Dana should know better at this point. Like you have to know that when you post this video that people are just going to look at it and say, oh, fight or pay, fighter pay. Lewis Smolka comes out and says, Hey, fighters, what are you doing? Unionize.

Unionize. Get together. Band together. So, I don't know. It shouldn't have been on social media. Dana should have the wherewithal to be like, hey, asshole, take this off social media now. Because you make me look like a complete idiot. You make me look horrible in this situation.

But Dana didn't do that. Dana is who he is. It's his money. You can spend it however he wants. I have no issue with the gift. I have an issue with him just being like, yeah, put it on social media. let the world see that I gave you this ridiculous gift to a guy that I've known for, I don't know, a couple cups of coffee, maybe.

It's just, I don't know, don't have issue with the gift, have an issue with the video being on social media, and Dana just allowing it because that's just dumb. And I have no issue if any fighters have any problem with it whatsoever. But again, let's just keep it mind. This is Dana's money. He can go to the bank and say, hey, I want to make a withdrawal of $250,000, put it in cash, put in these bags,

make sure you put the bands around them, so I give it to my friend the Nelk boy. It is what it is. Let's go to semi-casual MMA, perhaps. The wheel is spidden. All right, hop back in semi-casual M.A. We'll get you in there. Let's go to Peter or Peoter.

What's up? Hey, good morning, Mike. How's it going? Good, how are you, sir? Good, thank you. So just to, this is my real question, just to piggyback off of kind of what you were saying, I completely agree with how there's no problem with the gift in general. If they're buddies and all, like, that's great.

They have good partnership. And I'm actually a fan of the Nulk Boys and obviously UFC fan too. So I like them kind of linking. But you got to think in the circumstances of Dana being absent from the past, you know, a few weekends of events. People are already wondering where he is. And then the first thing you see with Dana in the back in social media is him handing over 250K to the elk boy who, let's be honest, he probably doesn't even need that money. He probably has enough, probably well off.

But not the best look for Dana. I think I agree with you. He's got to keep that off social media and just keep it, you know, buddy, buddy like, yeah, happy birthday. Anyways, my real question is revolving around the aftermath of UFC 276 with Izzy. So it seemed like right off the bat, Izzy was pretty much like, yeah, we all know who the next, you know, contender is going to be, is going to be Pereira after he just knocked out. Strickland. What are your thoughts on that matchup? Given the history, obviously, it's a completely different sport now, but going back to the glory days, those two have a history.

Pereira obviously understands how Izzy fights. He might not, uh, Izzy might not be able to settle in as well as he does against the guy like Cannonier against Pereira. I think it's a really interesting matchup and honestly, um, it gets me very excited, even though Pereira's only had three fights in the, in the UFC. Thank you, sir. Um, listen, it's got to be, the build to the fight will be fun. The UFC will tell the story.

It'll be great. There's the past. Uh, but I will, there are things that Izzy says in these scrums, in these press conferences and all the stuff that I don't agree with it all. Like, I could not stand the, you could never do my job, but I could do your job, bullshit. I hated that. I thought that was just dumb.

And I think it was pointed towards one particular media member because Volcanofsky pointed to one particular media member during his post-fight press conference after he beat Max Holloway. And I think those are kind of hand in hand. I don't have a chore, but that's just kind of the, initial read that I have on the situation. But don't say that stuff. That's just dumb and it makes you

look foolish. Secondly, I let, again, the story's great. It'll be fun. There's a very good chance that the fight turns out exactly like this Canaan Air fight. Pereira is

a powerful dude. He hits hard. He's very sneaky. He's very good. He's a very good striker, but he's also very opportunistic and he's very patient. So there is a very strong possibility that we see another fight very similar to what we saw at UFC 276, where you have two guys looking to make their move and waiting for one to go first and counter, counter, counter. I'm wrong.

Maybe this is the one that just gets his pissed off. Maybe Pereira being in his first UFC title fight, maybe he'll just be a little more aggressive and an Adasanii can counter and have his moments. So I don't know. I'm open to the fights. I would love to see it. I'm curious stylistically, but I'm also keeping in mind that we're boxing match, which could be fun from a stylistic perspective. but it could also be just the same kinds of fights you've seen from Izzy. Remember, winning is everything.

Now, if you want to be, if you want to have a seat at the, at the big table with all the superstars, you got to go out there and you have to make people want more. You want to end your fights in a position where people want to see the next fight. And people want to see this next fight with Alex Pereira. No doubt about it. But if he beats Alex Pereer, then what are we looking at here? So it's a big one for Izzy. View him.

I think it could be fun, but there's also, we have to keep ourselves in a realistic place where this fight could be another just point kickboxing fight. And if you go back and watch the two kickboxing fights that these two guys had, I thought Adasana, you won the first fight. He was winning the second fight until he got caught. So, yeah, it could very well happen that way. So let's just, we want to be positive.

yes. And some people like the mid-rage kickboxing matches. A lot of people didn't like what they saw at UFC 276 and that's fine. But we have to open ourselves up to the possibility that it could be two guys circling around looking to counter the other. It's very possible. Hack the holidays with the PC Holiday Insiders Report. Try this PC Porchetta. Crackling, craveworthy.

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Good morning to you, Mike. How are you? I just want to ask you on the Dustin Porier I'm sorry Dustin Jacoby fight against Suu Yung Suiyiyang, hold on second I forgot his name I was looking at the fights between

the idea and hollow I'm sorry, yeah your eye year and my apologies it was Dustin Jacoby against the Udao Young Oh just Yeah, what's your thoughts on that? Because I think that's going to be a big fight as well.

Thank you, sir. Love the fight. Dustin Jacoby's on some kind of a role right now. I know he was a little banged up heading into his last fight, which is why he feels he didn't perform as well as he probably could have against Mitchell Olegzecich, who I believe is also fighting on this card? Or no. Is he on this card?

No, it's not on this card. He's fighting on a different... I think he's on the August 6th card. But Dawan Jung can crack too. Both these guys can crack. Very excited to see it. It's a good one at 205. And I think this is the one where I think Jacoby's sort of knocking on that door of getting a number and getting a big fight.

And I think the UFC is just kind of giving them one last test. He won seven in a row in MMA. He's undefeated in the UFC. He's had some tough tests in a lot of his fights. So I like the matchup a lot. It's a good one at 205. Semi-Casual MMA? let's give this a whirl.

We're going to go for another 15 minutes or so. What's up, buddy? Hey, Mike. Just quick question for you. I know you're from Massachusetts, and I know that that drive down to Long Island is pretty tough, but I saw the tickets for the event are going to be about $100 with the fees.

So would you, if you were a broke college student, do you think that it's worth it to make that drive down there this weekend? Have you been to a card before? Not a UFC one. I went to Bellator a couple weeks ago. Okay. Good question. I would say yes.

I would say yes, because this is probably the one, right? If you wait for a pay-per-view, the next one probably in your area is probably going to be at MSG, and that's going to be way more expensive. Plus, like, here's the thing. You can get an early pregame on, get some breakfast, go right in, watch these fights, and then when it's all said and done, it's going to be over at, like, before 6 p.m. Eastern. What is yours? you get to tell your friends like hey i went to a ufc card and i could still meet you out for beers

afterwards it's a pretty good night you tell your girlfriend we can go on a date i can go to these ufc fights with the boys and then go on a date with you after or you can come with me to the ufc and then we'll go to dinner afterwards and this is a pretty good great main event you get some bangers of fights on here you got weeks that matter you get shamed burgers charles jordan i mean There's a lot to lake here. It's only $100. You're not going to get that for a lot of these pay-per-views. I can tell you that right now.

So, yeah, I would go. I would go. I'm in South Carolina right now, so way longer overdrive. But, yeah, it's going to be a fun card. It's going to be good. Let's go to Viking MMA. Viking MMA. I usually take some minutes to connect here.

Viking are you there? There we go. We got you. Hey, why? Are you planning to visit India? If you are, then I'll do your hospitality. No big deal. Maybe.

I mean, if the UFC goes there and my bosses say, hey, want to go to India? I have one more question. One more question. Who's going to win if Islam and Hamzat fights in you'll see if you answer is Islam then skip you can skip the question and

go to the listener Wait Islam fighting Hamzat is that what you said? Yes Interesting Interesting question I mean I probably have to go with Hamzat because

I mean he's just going to have a massive size advantage isn't he Skill for skill It's I mean that's I don't know. I don't know if that that fight ever happens. I would favor Hamzai right now, but I don't know.

Something to, uh, something to ponder, I guess. But that's, that's interesting. I have to think about that a little bit more. I have to dive a little bit deeper

into that one. But I would favor Hamzae right off the bat just because of the size discrepancy, but it's funny. I would actually, I wonder like Islam versus Izzy, how that would go. And, like, Jed and I have talked about this on between the links,

about what happened if, um, if Habib fought Israel-Otisanaana, like what would happen. And we both would favor Habib to beat out of Sadia. And I know Ali has talked about that as well, but he feels like hoping you would finish Autosanian in three rounds. I don't know if you would finish Autosanian in three rounds, but I think you would beat out of Sanya.

Let's go to REL. What up, Ra? Mike, how you doing? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm good. So I'm going to actually piggyback off that last question, but I'm going to take out Islam and I'm going to throw in Shaft.

Um, Raqmanah, Raqmanah. How would a fight between Shavkat and Chameh would go? And then what did you think about Fiziv calling out Justin Gates? You think that's a fight that he could get down the line or maybe in a couple months? And then why isn't Islam? like I know a lot of people say he need you know that top five win to get the belt I mean to get the title shot so why isn't anyone like why isn't he getting booked like what where's the what's going on like what is people ducking him or is it just he wants

he's only going for the title fight or nothing else thank you have a good morning wait wait you broke up a little bit what was that last question again oh why isn't Islam getting in bulk for like any fights like in the top five like I know people say he needs a top five fight so why isn't he getting you know that fight that everyone say he needs so he could get the title shot or is it his own you know I just want a title shot or I don't want nothing is it that or like what's going on okay cool so to answer the last question I feel I feel like the UFC wants Islam in that main events in Abu Dhabi whether it's against olivara or against air you against Chandler or whoever.

I feel like just the area, them going there, they want to book a special card for the fans over there. I feel like Mokachev's going to be on that card either way. So whether they book him in a title fight, whether he gets Oliver, he's part of it, or he just fights Daryush in a like a straight-up contender fight. I mean, I just think they want him on that card. I think that's what they're looking at.

Either way, I think if it's up, to them. They're going to try to do the Oliver fight on that card. Can they get it? Not sure. I don't know. I don't know how they're going to, what they're going to do. I don't know if Oliverer is going to say yes to fighting in Abu Dhabi. I don't know. But it'll be very interesting to

see what happens. The Shafka Shamaa fight, I feel like we're going to be getting we're going to be talking about the idea of those guys fighting for for quite some time. Again, that's tough

that's a 50-50 fight in my eyes both guys can strike both guys can wrestle both guys can grapple both guys have incredible top games boy I think the build of that fight is going to be incredibly fun just incredibly fun

can't wait to see what happens if those two guys get booked I wouldn't expect it to happen anytime soon I would say shopcott will probably fight before Shamiyaf does. That's just kind of how I look at it right now. But I'm excited to see who he fights next. Don't give him Wonderboy.

Don't do that. No, no, no, no, no. No, don't do that. I feel like if Usman beats Leon Edwards in August, I think they're going to do Shafkat versus Leon Edwards. That's how I feel it's going to go. Let's go to Chris. What's up, Chris?

Hey, Mike, I got to say, I've got some beef with you today because... Oh, boy. I was listening on Sunday to onto the next one, as I always do. And I know you guys had the technical issues. But as I'm getting toward the end of the episode, you drop a little nugget there, and you guys don't even talk about how it looks like Christoph Jocko and Brendan Allen are going to meet in the Octagon,

I assume for a main event on a pay-per-view to see who is the number 16 middleweight in the UFC rankings. So I just want to know, can we expect an emergency episode once it becomes official and will you and A.K. Lee, happy birthday, by the way. Are you guys going to break down how you think each fighter matches up against Brad Tavares so that the winner can fight for the number

15 spot in the UFC rankings. I love that question. That is fantastic. So as AK and I like to like to talk about, we consider Christoph Jocko the middleweighty, middleweight champion of the UFC, which is basically like the number 16 guy. Again, I haven't 100% confirmed

that this is the fight, but Brennan Allen has publicly stated it, so I feel comfortable at least saying, because this was said by Brennan himself. Brandon Allen spoke to my good friend James Lynch at the UFC Hall of Fame red carpet And he dropped a nugget to James at October 1st He's already signed the contract He's fighting Christop Jocko

It will not be a made event even though it should be because the stakes are very high baby The middleweighty middleweight championship of the universe Between those two guys It's the right fight to make It will not be the main event October 1st But it'll be a fun fight at 185 pounds and good opportunity for Brennan. That last fight he had was a dog fight.

A lot of people felt like maybe he lost that fight, but I have no problem with people saying he won. I actually scored it for Brennan myself. But yeah, it's a good fight. Christoph is just, and I hate using the word gatekeeper because it feels like disrespectful, but I feel like Christoph is like the court begee of the middleweight division. What I mean by that is if you're going to be a guy

who's going to make a run at 185, you have to be able to beat Christopjako. And if you can't, then you can still have a very successful career in the UFC. You might not be fighting Adasana, you're fighting the title. But if you beat them, then we know we could 14, 13, maybe we could set you up for opportunities to climb that ladder. I feel like Yako is the ultimate litmus test at 185. I think each division has one.

And I think, like, I feel like Walterweight is like two of them. you got court McGee you got Neil Magni who are very good fighters but it's a great litmus test to see how good a fighter actually is and how far they can go so I like the fight

I think it's good matchmaking I dig it we'll see who will become the middleweighty middleweight champion we'll go to Amelia and then we're going to go to Terrence Amelia what's up oh no

I hear nothing I hear basically what your your profile photo is a ninja. You're quietly here. I know you're here, but you're just very quiet. Hop back in, I'll get you in. Terrence.

Good morning, sir. Morning, Mike. How you doing? Good. Good. I just thought of a random question. So, of course, we have, like, gaps in weight classes where, like, people say they should be, like, a 125. Oh, not 125.

More or less, like, a 195 and as well as, like, a woman's atom weight and stuff like that. Could you name, three or four fighters who will fare well if they either dropped the weight class or went up a weight class. For example, like if Gasolam got his diet under control went back down to 170, I think it would be a problem. And then a lot of the actual women who are in strong weight are really atom weights, but they have no choice but to fight up at straw weight. So that's all the questions that I have for you today. Thank you. Thanks, buddy.

I mean, I think Kevin Lee is probably like the best example. We finally get to see him at 165 in Eagle FC, and I feel like that's a good weight class for him, even though he had a tough time with Diego Sanchez, but he was hurt in that fight, so I'll give him that. I feel like Wonderboy, if there's like a 175, I think that'd be a really good spot for him, because he cuts a lot of weight.

I feel like RDA would do well at 165. I feel like Chris Wybin would do well at 195. I feel like, even like, even the guy like Carl Roberson. Like Carl Roberson would be like a perfect 195 fighter because he's too small for middle eight, or he's too big for middle eight.

Like he has a hard time getting to 185, but he's way too small for 205 as you saw against Kennedy and Chichuku, who just looked like he was 100 pounds heavier than him. But 195 would be good. None of that's going to happen, unfortunately, in the UFC. We're not going to see that. And then it's Adam Waite.

There's a lot of fighters who aren't in the UFC who could do well at Adam Weight. And then just in the UFC, like Michelle Waterson is a 105er. Carlos Sparza is probably not getting down to 105, but technically, like, overall, she's probably a 105er, but she's sort of built herself up to be a 115. Genue Fry, another one who could fight at 105. I mean, I'd love to see the 105 pound division in the UFC. I think it would be super fun.

And I think 105 in me, like if they just booked a 105 division right now, it's way more interesting than the women's band and weight division. Like immediately, before a single fight happens, for a single punch is thrown, the women's atomweight division in the UFC would already be more interesting than the women's band and weight division. All right, Emilio, take us home, my man. Take us home.

Please. Hello. We got you. We did it. Thanks, Mike. We did it. Yeah, it's good to talk to you again. First of all, a heck of a morning to you and everybody else in this beautiful Twitter world.

So my question is basically about Saeed Nirmagometov. I feel like not enough is being said about him as a quote-unquote prospect. I mean, I know that he's 30. I mean, to be honest, I was surprised when I did a little bit of research and I found out that he was 30. Do you think it's because he doesn't have that O in the defeat record compared to other of his Dagestani compatriots? Do you think it's because of that that he's not rated as highly?

Is it the age? Is it the fact that he lost in the UFC? I think he lost to Haoli Barcellos, which is not a bad fight to lose. But I guess it's going to be some sort of Dagestani superpowered prospect. You got to beat pretty much everybody in the UFC up until the top 15, especially in a division like Bantamweight. So I don't know. I just wanted to hear your thoughts on what is his ceiling? What do you think is his ceiling?

I mean, if he's going to make a run to the title, then he has to do it. do it now. You could say, I mean, he is in his prime, but I made him very, very highly. And I think that he could definitely make some waves in the top 10 at Bannon Wade, even though I think he's not there yet. Yeah, he's definitely not there. But I think he will.

Thanks, Mike. Keep doing what you're doing. Appreciate you. And have a heck of a morning. Thank you, sir. Heck of a morning to you as well. I like Saeed Nabogamadov. The guy's good. That win over Cody Stam

was gigantic. This was a good performance against a really tough guy. So unfortunately, I think he's going to be in a position where he's just going to have to fight really tough outs for a little while until he's eventually going to, it's going to get to the point where you just can't ignore him anymore. So I want the Victor Henry fight. That's the one I want.

Sayy Narbaghameh Madov versus Victor Henry. That is the fight. As I said on to the next one, I was waiting to say Victor Henry's name, find the right matchup for him, and I feel it. with Syed Nermaga Madov. The guy's real good. And I think a lot of people,

I think the Nirmaga Madov name helps in a lot of ways. And I feel like in Saeed's case, it kind of hurts them because not a lot of people know, like he's not, he's not, like they have a relationship, but they're not related. He's not related to Habib and,

and all of those guys. And he's a completely different fighter than all those guys. Like, he can, he can wrestle. He can, apple if he needs to. But it's like plan C for him.

The dude could strike his ass off. He's a striker. He's a kickboxer and a really good one. And a lot of people like don't really know that. And I think the name kind of hurts him a little bit because he's tied into them, but yet he has no ties with them. It's just coincidentally the same name. He's got like friendship ties, but not family ties, not blood ties.

And he's not like the Dagestani wrestler. Naraga Madov. off. He's, uh, I'll kick you right in the face, Nirmaga Madoff. And that's always fun. But he's good. I'm excited. He beats Victor Henry. I think, uh, hardcores know that we can push this guy a little bit. All right. Two last quick ones.

We're going to go to Zach. We're going to go nab and that we have to get out of here. Zach, how are you? Zach. Here we go. Zach, are you there? Yes. What's up, buddy? No, not much.

What do you got? No, nothing. All right. Don't know why you requested, but thanks for listening. Nevin, what do you got, buddy? There we go. Hey, buddy. So I would like to follow up on your comments regarding the Bantamway Division.

So instead of pushing two Nirmar Gamutows, why don't they face each other? And the winner can go ahead for the top contenders. Hey, listen, that, that, Navin is a great idea. A lot of people on onto the next one suggested that. And the UFC could actually do something, you know, fun. Like, they didn't do, have any fun with the, uh, the Raphael-Hafel battle at all. And you could do this one and you could just tagline it. There can only be one.

Just like a lot of the Otno's suggestions put out there. Nirmagamato versus Nirmagamade Up that actually probably might actually be the best idea if they could do and I know

I just mentioned like the name kind of hurts them in that respect but in that situation it wouldn't because I mean

it'd just be good I like that idea you can have some fun there can only be one Banimate Nirmagamato and then you do a little promo video but the UFC won't do that

they'll just randomly announce it on the ESPN flight center nobody will know about it until like five days before the fight's actually supposed to happen. But don't worry. We have you covered. We'll think of fun things to do right here at M.A.

fighting. All right, I got to get out of here. It's a busy day. We have a lot going on. We have the Jake Paul press conference. Apparently he's fighting somebody, but maybe he's not fighting anybody. But he'll be at the press conference at MSG today. Manisturano will also be at MSG today.

Ariel Hawani, our own Ariel Hawani, will be hosting them. the press conference. That goes down at 1 p.m. Eastern. We will be covering that. We will be recording a couple of podcasts today. One is the ranking show, which I'm very excited about. I will be a part of the rankings show panel with AK and Shaheen Al Shadi. I believe Jed Mishu will be joining us as well.

I will also be a panelist with AK on Jed Mishu's show. Dan, they were good. We're going to take a look back, a retrospective, if you will, on the career of one Donald Cowboy Surrey. now that he is officially announced his retirement from the sport. So we'll take a look back on that. That's going to drop, I think, tomorrow at some point. But the big news, 4 p.m. Eastern, live on the M.A. fighting YouTube channel,

one-on-one, Ariel Hawani speaking to one Nathan Diaz. And I'm sure he has a lot to say, and he will say it 4 p.m. Eastern, MMA hour, special edition, special Tuesday episode, 4 p.m. Eastern. Ariel Hawani speaks with one Nate Diaz. So busy day here at MAAfighting.com. Hope you guys stick around. Hope you guys follow along with everything. We appreciate it.

Have a great rest of the day. And as always, everybody, have a heck of a more. You're the best. Media Podcast Network.