MMA Fighting - HOAM | Did Dustin Poirier's Legendary UFC 299 Performance Earn Him Title Fight vs. Islam Makhachev?

Episode Date: March 14, 2024

Dustin Poirier took a super difficult fight against surging contender Benoit Saint Denis in the co-main event of UFC 299 and delivered an incredible highlight-reel knockout that sent the MMA community into a frenzy. With so much going on at lightweight, and champion Islam Makhachev needing an opponent for potentially as early as June, did "The Diamond" punch his ticket to one last opportunity at undisputed UFC gold? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on Poirier's performance, whether he will be next for Makhachev, and his incredible run as a 155-pounder in the UFC. Additionally, listener questions include the booking of Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal in a boxing match June 1 and the pros and cons with the bout, Sean O'Malley's big win over Marlon Vera, Colby Covington's response to Ian Machado Garry, if Curtis Blaydes gets the fight with Tom Aspinall for the interim heavyweight title with his win over Jailton Almeida, 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 to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco 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 to Ghosts in the Machine

available now, only from Audible. All right everybody, it is Thursday, March 14th, 2024, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live. Once again, on the M.A. fighting Twitter space, you hear the show.

entirety shortly thereafter on the MAFUDdy podcasting network what's going on everybody i missed you all i am mike hack welcome back to the program it's been a while since we spoke like this we talked for like an hour on saturday just kind of like a poppin uh but we haven't actually done a show that started on twitter and went to the podcast network and well over a week i think last tuesday was the last time we had done this because last week was just absolutely bananas with the travel and Joshua and Gano on Friday, UFC 299 on Saturday. There was just so much going on that there's just no possible time frame, no way we could have actually made it work.

So glad to be back. Couldn't do Tuesday. I got to tell you, last weekend clobbered me in a number of ways. obviously with travel and talking so much and just all the work, really. Just fatigue, honestly. And then, like, my voice is just cooked if you listen on to the next one on Sunday. So I was already dealing with that. And then by the time I flew home Sunday night, I was just feeling rotten.

And when I woke up Monday morning, it just got worse. Tuesday was even worse. just had nothing. Absolutely nothing was basically in bed for two days. It was pretty rough, but just kind of took a lot of antibiotics and a lot of medicine, and we battled through. And now I still sound a little weasily, but we fight through. I am now a functioning human being, and that's good.

So now we can talk about all the stuff that we didn't get a chance to talk about on Tuesday. like what happened on Friday night. Anthony Joshua just blistering Francis and Ghanu. That was tough to watch. It's going to be interesting to see where Francis goes from here. Just was not, I don't think Joshua winning was a surprise. He was probably not as big of a favorite as he should have been. But to see him just go out and cold in Gano like that,

I just didn't expect that, especially so early in the fight. So that was like the tale of like, oof, this is a rough start to the weekend if you're an M.A. fan. And then we fast forward to Saturday, and it was like a whole different ballgame. Great card, $2.99 delivered in so many ways. We started off the main card with Peodor Yan, just reminding people that he's still very good at this fist fighting thing.

We had the incredible comeback win from Jack Della Madelena against Gilbert Burns in a fight he was clearly losing, about to lose, 30, 27 on two of the scorecards. Gets out of a tough position, lands the knee from hell, just obliterates Gilbert Burns, knocks him dead, and a huge win for JDM.

Then he calls out Shafcott Rachmanoff, which gangster, gangster-ass move right there from Jackie Three Names. Then we got the debut of Michael Venom Page. I mean, I've never seen a guy silenced Kevin Holland before in a fist fight, and boy, did he do that. That was unbelievable.

wasn't the fight of the year? No. Was it the worst fight of all time? No. I've seen both of those takes for some reason. But it was right in the middle. He hit Kevin Holland really hard, a whole bunch. Kevin had nothing for him, completely frazzled him. And pretty solid debut for Michael Venet. He came out to the Undertaker theme, which I thought was pretty cool. And then we get to the Coimate event. Dustin Porre versus Bedouin-Wa-Santini. This is my main event. This is the fight I was looking forward to the most, even more so than the main event. And boy, to this fight deliver everything I had hoped for. Benoit Sonsigni, just going in there like a freaking grizzly bear, Dustin Pori weathering the storm, gets himself

in some trouble. I thought for a second, Benoit Santany was going to rip Dustin Porre's arm off. Porre survived the first round. Round two, these guys start battling. Porier's jumping gillies, left and right, hits BSD with the big shot, jumps at Gilly again, and we're like, oh my God, what are you doing? Stop jumping Gilly. They get separation and then Poré just colds Ben Wausantanthini. And what a moment that was for the diamond reminding people just who the hell that man is. And everything he has done since has just been absolutely unbelievable.

from the post-fight interview, the media scrum after, his interview with Ariel in the MMA hour, just A-plus stuff from Dustin Porier. Now the big question is, did he just jump everybody? Is timing going to be his best friend? Is availability going to be his best friend? Will he be getting a title shot off of this win?

If Islam Makachev really wants to fight in June, I'll tell you, Dustin Porier is in the freaking driver seat right now with all the goodwill and momentum he has right now, since Saturday night, I don't think anyone's going to complain if Dustin Poria gets his last title shot in June against Islam Makachap. But what a freaking performance. Cash two bets at once. Cash the, well, at least the parley fodder continued by two seconds.

The over one and a half hits. And the dog bet on Dustin Poria hits as well. And then we get to the made event. Shot O'Malley just dominates Marlon Vera. Very one-sided. Vera did have his moments. I saw some people on Twitter and I think they're just trolling. And I don't mean this to be disrespectful to Shawna Valley at all.

I saw somebody on Twitter and it got a lot of traction saying that this is the greatest title defense of all time in the UFC. I had a snicker at it and then I realized that Twitter is just really dumb sometimes. And the blue check marks when used properly are great. But when you have takes like this and they know what they're trying to do, somehow they're making a bunch of money off of it. clearly this is not the greatest title events of all time. Far from it. But it was really, really good.

Like, Volcanovsky, when I saw the tweet, I was like, man, Volcanowski has like three that were better than this. Chevchenko has like two or three that were better than this. And that was just like off the top of my head. But this is really good. Like this is a one-sided beating from Sean O'Malley. It was a near perfect game. I'm not going to call it a perfect game because Verre did land some shots.

He didn't land a vicious body shot at the end of the fight. But this was like O'Malley took a no-hitter into the knife and then he gave up an infield single. So this is pretty damn good for Sean O'Malley. A lot of people were wondering, like, could Sean go out there for 25 minutes and have as close to a perfect fight as there could be? And that's what happened. I actually thought Sean was going to win by decision.

I certainly didn't think it would be that one-sided. Marlon didn't do a whole bunch, but I think a lot of that was due to Sean switching stances, the movements, all the different strikes, the shots of the body, the shots up top, that knee that Marlon Vera ate was unbelievable. And it's, there's just a great performance against, you know, a low-rank guy, but what he did to Marlon Vera was really impressive. Like, you've seen Marlon Vera hit 300 times in a fight by Rob Fon. You see Marlon Vera hit and go to wars with a lot of people, and he doesn't wear it at all.

He looked like a different human being after this fight. And that was very, very impressive. Marlon Vera cannot be finished. It's impossible. No one can finish this man. So kudos to his grit and toughness. But Sean O'Malley gets it done. Calls out Ilyat to Poria.

Told you guys, that was going to happen. I knew he's going to do it. Wrote it in print. That's what he's going to do. Went over. Not very well at all. some people think it's a great idea i hate it you already know how i stand on this i've heard from both sides of the camp like mike this is awful and i've also heard of mike you got to strike while

the iron's hot no you don't you don't topporia has guys to fight you can run it back with volkenovsky i'm okay with that there's bovzarev loyaf there's brian ortega there's other guys ilia can fight and then shahomali has marab right there and that's a pretty big fight right now Marab is over. People want to see it. And I get to tell you, one thing I, the biggest thing I took away from Sean O'Malley's win was that I think a fight with Marab is really interesting now. I didn't think so, like heading into this year. Like heading into the year and heading into this fight, I'm like, all right, well, he's going to go beat Cheeto and then he's going to lose to Marab.

Like, the Marab fight's not going to be close. I think it's a close fight. I think it's a close fight. I think it's very competitive. And Sean can beat Marab Duwis, really. So I hope that's the fight that we get. That's the fight we should get. And that's all I really have to say about that.

I'm sure you guys will chime in as well. Other great performances from $2.99 as well. We've had some announcements. We've had a lot of time to digest the Jake Paul Mike Tyson news. We didn't really talk about it here. Talked about it a little bit on Saturday. We talked about it a little bit on the watch party Friday. for the Joshua and Gano card.

Had Mike Perry on that on the show to talk about that as well. So we can talk about whatever you want, guys. I'm ready to turn it on over to you. And we will begin with Tyson or Tyson. Go ahead, sir. Hey, Mike. How you doing this morning? Good. How are you?

Good, man. Good. This is the second week in a row. My work schedule allowed me to call in. This is crazy. Excellent. I got three quick questions for you. My first two are related to $299, the prelims actually.

So Curtis Blades and Jelton Ameda. First question is, how likely is it that Curtis Blades would get that Tom Aspenol fight? You know, for a long, I really like Curtis Blase. I'm not a huge fan, but I really like the guy. For a while now, I've kind of compared him to, like, Belal Muhammad. like title shots is just hard to come back for these guys you know especially when francis was was heavyweight champ you know Curtis had the two ls against him you know him holding that belt Curtis was never going to get that third fight and you know when francis vacated um I was kind of happy

for blades and then john won the belt and that fight wasn't going to happen um so that's the first question the second question is going to be um jailton or meta with him losing I know we kind played around with the idea of him headlining that Brazil card. Just kind of what are your thoughts on that? What's next for Almeida? And then the third question is, what's your reaction to the fight band announced the boxing match between Nate Diaz and Jorge Mazzvedo?

All right, that's all I got for you. So Curtis and Jelton and then Mazzvedal D.S. Thanks, Mike. Thank you, sir. I kind of feel like Curtis as a, I think Curtis probably is the best chance of getting a title fight now than he's ever had. Because he's been in positions where you could look at Curtis and be like, dude, what else is this guy have to do? Give him a title shot.

But, you know, as you mentioned, it's either Sipay has the belt or and he's got D.C. waiting or D.C. has the belt. And he's got somebody else waiting or Francis, who obliterated him twice. And there wasn't really a lot of interest in that fight. right now it seems like tom is interested in that fight Curtis obviously wants it I think there's a mutual respect between the two guys the only other guy I think that could be in play is Cyril gone but honestly I'd rather see Curtis get the fight

I'd rather see Curtis get the fight Curtis has done everything correctly he took this fight he got injured couldn't take it they rebook it for a pay-per-view gets in a big spot a lot of people were dead doubting him. I thought Jailton was going to submit him in the first round. He survives it, made adjustments, had a pretty good game plan, lands a big shot, and then just obliterated Jailton

Alveda. Calls out Aspinall, I think it makes all the sense of the world. Now, timing is going to be everything here. When does the UFC want Tom Aspinall to fight? The UFC is going to Manchester in July. That's where all the rumor and innuendo is right now. It is not going to be a pay-per-view. It is going to be a fight-night card unless they change something dramatically. If the UFC is willing to do a title fight,

it is an interim belt. If they're willing to do an interim title fight in the main event of that card, then I think it's a no-brainer. I think it is an absolute no-brainer. You do Tom Aspinall, you against Curtis Blades, back in the UK, same region of the world where the first fight took place,

and we'll see who the real man is. And I think that'd be a great main event. So I think Curtis has a real good chance if it happens on that card. If it doesn't happen on that card, it's definitely not going to happen to 301 because it makes no sense. So I think it's a good chance. I think it's a good chance it happens. And I also think Cyril Gahn shot himself in the foot with everything he, did after that win against

Sergei Speedback. No call out. I'm getting the title fight. It's mine. All that. I shouldn't have to fight this guy or this guy. He just handled this poorly and I think he's going to have to take another fight before

that. So maybe they do Cyril Ghan versus Sergei Pavlovich or somebody like that to see if he gets that. But I think Blades is in a really good place right now. I think that performance put it in a good spot and them going to the UK, Manchester, I think it puts him in a good spot.

Almeida, man, I don't know. I mean, he gets sick around at heavyweight and kind of just hope that Curtis doesn't win the belt because they ain't running that one back if Curtis wins the belt. But, I mean, who do you throw him in there with?

There's also the option of does he just drop back to 205? Because I think he's a friggin' problem in that weight class. I think the path of the title is way shorter at 205 for him. But, I mean, he put out a bunch of size. He's filling into the heavyweight frame. He was well over, he was 240 pounds heading into this one.

So it's tough to say, man. It's tough to say. I'd give him like, I mean, if the UFC and Jelton are invested in his heavyweight future, then I'd probably throw him in there with like a Sergei Speedback or something. just let him get a win and go from there. But I really don't know what he's going to do. Is he going to go back down? It's going to stay?

I don't know. The Diaz-Mazid all fight, it's fine. Look, I have questions. The date is very strange to me because there's a lot going on that day. And they seem very confident that it's not going to matter. I think it's going to matter a lot. depending on the timing of this card and depending on what UFC 302 looks like because at all indications as of right now June 1st is going to be UFC 302 which is going to be in Newark and unless

they start this Diaz Mazadol card like super early and the main event walks happen at like 9 p.m. Eastern ain't nobody watched it. No one's paying 80 bucks for it. That's for sure. sure. The date is super confusing to me. I was thrown off by the date. I knew the fight was happening. I've been telling you guys for a month and a half that that fight was going to happen, which is a matter of crossing the T's and dotting the eyes. The initial report came out that it was going to happen in March. I told you that probably wasn't going to happen. I knew about who was promoting it, the same ones who promoted the Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul fight. I knew that was in play. I knew that game bread and real fight were obviously going to be a co-promotional

part of the deal. So I knew all of these things. I also knew that the initial spot for this was going to be Las Vegas. They were thinking about Vegas trying to make it happen. They wanted to put something together like kind of quickly. It didn't really pan out that way. So I think LA's actually a really good spot for it. I think everything about it is great. I think it's going to do good numbers and I think people are going to care. The problem is, and when I mean good numbers, I don't mean like pay-per-view buys. I think people are going to go and buy tickets, and I think they're going to draw an audience. Paperview buys, I'm just not sure. I'm just not sure. Depends what, like, 302 looks like. Now, if we get like, 302 is, because like the last time

the UFC was in Newark, that card was not good. It was the Al Jermaine Sterling, Henry Suhudo card. We lost Charles Oliveira, Benial Darry. She may end up getting. in Gilbert Burns versus Bala Muhammad, a fight that you already know how I feel about that matchmaking was horrendous, it was dumb, and it made no sense, just throw on that card willy-nilly on less than two weeks notice.

It didn't sell a single pay-per-view, didn't sell an extra ticket, it did nothing, but put Bala Muhammad on the shelf, wondering and waiting if he's actually going to get this title shot that he was promised and still hasn't gotten it yet. So if 3-02 is just a throwaway, then I think it's going to do okay.

You get the, there be a fight on there as well. Like, it's just a tough date, man. It's just a tough date. So that is my biggest pause of all of this. Because I knew the fight was happening. It was just a matter of when and where. Man, they just, June 1st is a tough date. It's a tough date.

Any other week, I think they would have been fine. But we'll see. We shall see. how it all plays out. Fights fine again, but, man. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything.

So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now.

Alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross-training Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. Let's go to CV. What's up, CB? Hey, Mike, can hear me? Yes, sir. Hey, heck of a morning. Just want more of your thoughts on the Porreya versus BSD fight, man. That fight was a ridiculous. It felt like a horror movie. You know, you got BSD just stocking down

Porier. And I felt like I felt like we all kind of knew that Poyer was going to win. Just because, you know, he's been through so many wars throughout the years. But I think BSD's going to get better from this. And yeah, and Poyer is still the man, man. Just want more your thoughts than that. Thanks. Yeah, it was, uh, the fight was everything I knew it was going to be. BSD, like, looked real good for a while. Porre is just a friggin' dog. And I was on Porre from minute one. If you go back and listen to the reaction, I picked Dustin Porier. I said, my pick is going to be him. Experience matters in a number of

ways, especially in a five-round fight. Especially in a five-round fight. You put Dustin support against any of these young guys. I'm going to pick Dustin Poria against pretty much all of them. Because he's just been there so many times. And you're right. BSD is going to bounce back. But it's just, you can see BSD start to kind of get tired. I know he talked about, you know, being dehydrated, talked about having an infection. I think. I don't speak French. And I know you can go to like Google Translate, but that doesn't always tell the whole story. So I don't know exactly what he was trying to say. But I think, you know, people saw the potential staff infection on his, on his forehead. People were talking about that.

But I'm not taking anything away from Dustin at all because I still think that fight goes the same way. I think BSC tries to go out and clobbered. Porier, Poirier weather's the storm and then Porier gets him out of there. I think my actual – let me see what my actual pick was like on our – staff picks. I think I had Poiré, K-O round three, but let me just make sure.

What did I have? No, I had Poir-E-K-O-Round 4. Yeah. It was a great fight. BSD will be better. Porre is like the people's champ right now.

Everybody loves him, and he deserves it. So many people are counting him out heading into this fight. And now he's probably going to get a freaking title shot. So good on him, man. Good on Dustin Porier. One of just the, not just good guys in the sport.

One of the great guys in the sport. Great character, great person, tremendous fighter. And after listening to a portion of the ranking show on my way to and from the gym this morning, there's a really legitimate conversation right now about where Dustin Porier ranks all times. at 155 pounds. And he is undoubtedly top 10 at 155 ever. Like if he's not on your top 10 list, you probably are doing something wrong.

You can make a compelling case right this second that he is top five ever at 155 pounds. Just look at this man's resume. Look at the guys he's beaten. Just look what he's done over the years. He's beat them all. He didn't beat Habib. he didn't get the undisputed title,

but he's beat everybody. He's beat everybody. And now he gets a chance to fight Izamakov. I'll tell you what, man, Justin Pori goes out there, beats Isamakachev, he is stamp it, exclamation point, the second best 155 are of all time. And he will end his career that way.

He will go in history that way. I don't think anybody will touch him at that point. this performance made me reflect a lot more on what this man has accomplished. And I highly recommend that if you guys are bored, or if you have like a sick day, or if you have extra time on your hands, you just want to lay around and do something and watch fights, just take the Dust & Porreux rabbit hole.

Just take a trip and go through his last, excuse me, go through from when he lost a car, Connor McGregor when he was a featherweight to his move to lightweight all the way through BSD. And you will not be sorry. You will get such an appreciation for this man, especially for the newer fans. Like if you just, if you just started watching Dustin Poirier when he got the two Connor fights down the stretch, like you've missed out on so much. You really have.

So highly recommend it. This guy is a legend. all-timer, and this performance just puts it over the top. You don't see a lot of guys in his position. Not only fight backwards

because, you know, kudos to Justin Gachi, he did the same thing. Justin Gachi went back and fought Raphael Fiziv, got a win, it was a great fight. Poria went way back

against the guy like no one wanted to fight. It was like, yeah, dude, I'll bet, I'll fight him. And yes, he played it smart, did the public negotiation with the UFC, and probably got himself an extra bag.

And the guy just, he's just so good at this. So kudos to Dustin Poria. He frigid rules. Let's go to four out sniper. Yo, can you hear me, Mike? Yes, sir. Hey, heck of the morning. Glad to have you back on this heck of a morning.

I also wanted to pile on to the Dustin Porier love. I could not believe my eyes when I first saw the betting line. It made no sense in my head. I mean, I just didn't get it. I was mind blown. I think he was a plus, what, almost 180 or something? like that. And this betting line was the same as when Benoit fought Matt Provola. And clearly, Dustin Poria and Pravola, much different fighters, much different skill levels. So I was so happy when

I saw Dustin Gill out there and get the knockout win. Benoit will be back. He's a great fighter. He just needs to tighten up on a few things from what I saw. But as far as that, that's it. I also wanted to ask you, do you think the UFC would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn't do Wonderboy and MVP. That seems like the fight everybody's asking for. And that seems like the next move for MVP. So just wanted your thoughts on that.

Agree with everything you said about Dustin. Agree with everything you said about Ben Wasanasi. Ben Wasnanti needs to learn some defense. And that was like another big point in this fight is that PSD is a grizzly bear. He's just going to keep coming.

But he's also just going to run through a whole bunch of damage. He's got very little defense. He's just full speed, all gas, no brakes, and you're going to beat a lot of guys fighting that way. You're going to overwhelm a lot of people. You're just not going to overwhelm the top of the best division in the sport. It's not going to happen. You're not going to do it against guys who have fought other guys many, many times who have done

the same thing. You're just not going to be able to do it. He's got to shore up his striking defense. He's got to learn how to conserve his energy a little bit more. Yes, he is exciting. Yes, he is must watch TV. but if he wants to be a top 555 or if he wants to be a guy who fights for a world title someday,

he's got to shore that stuff up. I got Dustin Poria at plus 170. I was a little regretful because I could have got him a little bit higher, but what's 10 points? Who cares? But I got him at plus 170. I was thrilled with that. I was just happy that we hit the over one and a half

so we could cash that big parlay at the end of the night. I had a really good betting night on Saturday. I was very happy. The only bet I lost was I lost Gilbert Burns, but it wasn't like a bad bet in hindsight. It was actually a great ticket to hold until it wasn't. And I lost Marlon Vera plus five and a half points because that's why I was not close.

But those are sprinkle bets, all the bets that I was confident in that I placed some good money on. All hit. My biggest bet was Burns, JDM over two and a half. Boom. Nailed that. MVP dog bet. Nailed that.

Duss-Poye dog bet. nailed that, hit both by parleyes. It was a good night. It was a good night. Now, MVP, I don't think this fight's happening, guys. Like, I know a lot of people want to see it. I mean, maybe the UFC like kind of forces it,

but Wonderboy was asked about this as soon as MVP was a free agent. And what do you say? Nah, man, we trained together. We're buds. Like, it's not happening. And then even MEP was like, he didn't say exactly the same thing, but he was just like, he basically is saying what I'm, what I've been saying, what most other people who have watched these two guys fight have been saying, it is going to be, that is going to be an awful fight.

Like, it's going to be bad. It's going to be bad. There's going to be like 15 strikes thrown in that whole fight. That ain't going to be fun. It's basically like Wonderboy fighting himself. but just like a sleaker, a little bit younger, slightly more athletic version. I don't think it's like all you, like honestly,

this would be the UFC's version of MVP Paul Daly where like you want it so bad and it gets built up and then you get it and you're just like, oh, that's it. That was what we like built all this up for. I don't think it's that good of a fight. I really don't. I would rather see MVP fight. So on to the next one,

Vicente Luque is fighting Guaki and Buckley March 30th. I think Vicente Luque is going to win that fight. And even if he doesn't, whoever wins that fight versus MVP is fun because both those guys are going to go right at it. And we're going to see MVP do the thing. And if it's Vicente Luque, especially like this version of Vicente Lucke,

he's going to mix in some, he's going to mix in some takedowns. like we're going to really get to see how good MVP is in that fight. So, Lou Ge's a great pick. I wouldn't be shocked if they bump him up even higher. I think they're going to kind of, I'm not going to say they're going to fast track into a title fight.

But as I was saying heading in, if he went out there and just obliterated Kevin Holland, like there is a real world where he would have jumped over everybody. So I think they're going to be very cautious. I think the matchmakers kind of see what MVP, Wonder Boy would look like. And even MVP sees it. Even MVP himself sees it.

Guys, it's not going to be fun. And he's right. It's not going to be fun. And plus, they do have a relationship. I just don't think this is the fight we're going to get. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But I don't, I'd be, I don't think we're going to see it. And I think we're better off for it.

I promise you, I think we're better off for it. Let's go to Ethan. Yes, sir. For you. One about MV. I was super impressed with his performance against Holland. I thought he looked awesome. I was just curious, what did you think about his planned walkout that he told us about

on the MMA hour? Would you have been into that idea? And then another one I had that kind of popped into my head watching all the highlights of Dustin's career, watching the Connor knockout over and over again. What do you think are some moments that took place during the COVID era that should have been in front of a full arena? Because I think like Dustin Porey knocking out Connor would have been insane in an arena. So just want your thoughts on that.

Thanks so much and have a great day. Yeah, God, there's a bunch of them. There's a bunch of them. I mean, Francis Knocking Out Stepe is probably right up there. Justin Gaci, Tony Ferguson, would have been right up there. I mean, just, man, 249 in general. Calvin Cater, like thumping Jeremy Stevens with that elbow. Imagine that in front of a live crowd.

like the, Jolly. He would have been so over there. There's a bunch, man. Was Halloween Cater in front of a crowd? I don't think so. That would have been a fun one in front of a crowd. Yeah, there's a bunch.

It's a great question. It's a great question. MVP looked good. It was a good performance. I mean, again, he, I had a dog bet on MVP. I didn't feel great about it, but I felt pretty good about it.

Because here's another. thing when it comes to Wonderboy. Wonderboy an MVP fight so similar that when they end up fighting like shared opponents, the fights are going to look very similar. Like we saw Kevin Holland fight Wonderboy, and he got run in that fight.

I know he hurt himself, but I don't think that would have changed a thing if he didn't break his hand. Like Wonderboy just figured him out real quick, pieced him up, and just beat the hell out of Kevin Holland. Like to the point where his corner was like, All right, dude, enough is enough.

This is just getting out of hand now. And it was a pretty similar fight, except MVP actually frustrated Kevin Holland to the point where he just stopped talking. I've never seen Kevin Holland so frazzled before. And you saw it right after the first round. He goes back to the corner, his corner's trying to tell himself.

He's just like, do you hear what I'm saying, Kevin? He goes, yeah, he's just way faster than I thought he was. And that was the story. Kevin Holland is toughest shit, man. That guy is tough because MVP was clipping him with some big shots in that fight and was able to come through and went to a decision.

So, yeah, good, good solid outing. It was a good debut. As far as the entrance goes, yeah, I would have loved to have seen it. I'd love to see all the fighters get the chance to have some fun entrances. Like, do you ever see just needs to open things up and have a little bit more fun?

But Dana was asked about the press conference. Do you want to see more dancing and, like, cool entrances? You're just like, no. No. I don't want to see it. I think we need to see more of it. It's fun.

Let these fighters express themselves a little bit more. But it's just not going to happen, unfortunately. Once in a while, we'll get it, but that ain't going to be our world. It's unfortunate. At least I've got something. Boating for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time.

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With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Trevor, go ahead, man. What's happening, Mike. How are you? Hope everything's good. 299. What a card. First and foremost, I can't remember the Cuban's name from the undercard. I don't even want to pretend to know how to pronounce it.

But how far do you think he can go being 35 years old, just now getting into the UFC? I know he's got devastating power. But how far do you think he could go? And my second question is, do you think 70? 99 will be a fair price for the Jorge Mosvedal versus Nate Diaz boxing match. I know it's got a little bit of a lower price right now on the promo. But do you think this is actually going to do well on pay-per-view? Appreciate you.

Have a good Thursday. Thanks, man. You're speaking of Rebellis to Spain, who shout out to John Anick for letting us know that Rebellis, when he had his fighter meeting, wanted to Americanize the name a little bit. So Rebellis to Spain is what he's going to go with as far as the broadcast and everything. Yeah, man, I told you all. Watch out for this cat on the people's pre-fight show. I sung his praises.

I put him over. This dude just, he has the death touch. I mean, we talk about fighters with power in the heavyweight division and all these other divisions. But man, all this guy has to do is touch you once and you're done. It's crazy. Adrian Yanies jumped on the Joshua Angano watch party with us and we were talking about 299

and he was bait he watched rebellious like Caged side for his last three fights at Fury FC because he was cornering other guys and was just telling us about the death touch this guy has and a lot of people were kind of like dumping on his record be like oh he thought a bunch of oh and oh one and oh guys but the guy he beat the viral knockout that he had like four seconds

that basically punched his ticket to the UFC is a guy that most people who are fans of regional MMA down south, especially in Texas, the guy he beat was like, all right, if either of these two guys are going to the UFC, it's going to be the guy that Rebellis beat. And the Rebellis touched him once

and finished him in four seconds. His three previous fights were 19 seconds total. And then he goes out and beats a UFC guy in 18 seconds in his debut. Now, shout out to Josh Farisian for, just trying to get or get got, trying to get shot out of a cannon,

which you knew one second in the fight. You knew how this was going to play out, kind of slipped into it, left his chin wide open, he got clipped, rebellious, just takes a step backwards and just drops him and finishes him.

Like, it was ridiculous. Dude is ridiculous. His ceiling, how high can he go? Tough to say, but I kind of think, like the UFC saw the buzz he got. I think they're going to try give him a little bit of a boost.

And let's be honest, guys, heavyweight is not a good division right now. They need life. They need some people. So who do we chuck them in there with? Jen said Chris Barnett, and I was like, no, no, no, no, no. How dare you? That's ridiculous.

Don't do it. But at this point, we don't need to rush him too quickly. Like, I know he's 35, but in heavyweight years, he might as well be like 27. Let's throw them in there I said Austin Lane Let's just put him in there with Austin Lane A little Florida on Florida crime Let's get after it

And Orobel is Cuban Does have some like ties to Miami Austin's obviously from Jacksonville Those two are just going to stand there And chuck them at each other Until somebody falls I think that's a fun one And then if he goes out and wins that

Then go from there just give him some more strikers. Then we could start looking at the taffas and guys of that nature. And eventually we could test him from there. But right now, let's just have some fun with the guy and see what he can do. Let's just get him out there and get some highlight reels and build him up and see if the fans can get behind him. There's no need to rush this guy. He's only 5 in 0.

Yes, he's got combat experience with the Taekwondo background. From what I understand, members of his team have been telling me, like, yeah, man, this guy's pretty good on the ground too. hopefully we don't have to see that anytime soon, but there are people who train with him and have seen him in the gym who say like, yeah, his ground game's pretty good too. And if that's really the case,

and he's going to be a problem. So, yeah, I know he called to be on 300. Dude, if they just threw him into Austin Lane on 300 just for shits and gigs, like I ain't complaining about that. Fights are going to last 18 seconds. So I'm in for that. The $799.99 price tag for Paul Diaz. We talked about this a little bit, or not Paul Diaz,

Mazadal Diaz. Look, I don't hate it. The problem is it's the date. The date is, it's just a bad date. June 1st is tough because you get the Betabita's, better beat a fight. On top of that, that is expected to be UFC 302. And if that card is any good, like if we get Islam Makachep

versus Dustin Porre in the main event for that card because I know Islam wants to fight in June. If they throw Islam Porier on that card, Mazal Diaz, it's not going to sell anything. It's just not. It's going to do tremendous traffic for us because no one's going to buy it. But the best they could hope for is that,

and I don't want this to sound wrong, or it sounds like bad but it's just the nature of the business and the beast. Islam versus Porier is like a 700,000 by pay-per-view because of Porier being a star, Islam is a star as well. You get two stars fighting each other

and the storyline behind Porre fighting for the belt for the final time is it's just what an incredible story would be. So that's got to do tremendous on pay-per-per-view. They need to hope that and I know Leon Edwards is

is emerging as a star. He needs a star in the UK. But they need to hope that Leon Edwards versus Balaamah is the main event for UFC 302. Even then, I still think the UFC is going to like clobber them in buys, but at least they'll get something. At least they'll get something.

There are a lot of like casual, not like hardcore level MMA fans who would rather pay $80 to watch Mazadol and Diaz fight. and watch Bilal Muhammad fight for a title. It's just the way that it is. So I guess that's like their best hope right now. But if Islam Poria headlines that card, they're toast.

They're toast. And the price tag, like, we'll see what the rest of the card looks like. We'll see what other names are on there. I don't think it's going to be that fight and then just a bunch of no names. I would expect, you know, Chris Avila to be on that card. I would expect some names. Honestly, I would expect some names. Maybe we get like an Anthony Pettis or something.

I think you're going to get a bunch of names on there. But we have to see how the rest of it shapes out. But, yeah, the date is a concern for me. Four quarter sports. Hey, so I wanted to get your opinions on the Gilbert Burns fight. I know Gilbert Burns, I think last time I checked, it was he had maybe like a minute and 40, seconds because he was winning the fight i i had um up two rounds to to none on jdm and the whereabouts on

jdm was really good so like it was like all or nothing at that point um i'm very interested like where does gilbert burns career goes from here is he get is he kind of solidified as that top five gatekeeper and uh yeah for for for for this week I mean, what are this stakes really for the main event? I mean, I know it's a fun fight because ties on the card. I think this fight was originally supposed to be on 298. And I just feel like there's not many storylines or much at stake on this weekend's card. Thanks, man.

Let me pull up this weekend's card. Where Gilbert Burns goes? yeah, I guess. Like, he's probably, it's probably, like, a top 10 litmus test now. I think that's kind of where he goes. I think Gilbert Burns versus,

man, I don't even know, like, who he would fight. Who would he fight? I mean, him and Jeff Neal makes a lot of sense. Like, two guys on back-to-back losses, one decision, one finish.

I'm okay with that. That's kind of where he is. He's just kind of in, like, vet fights or, you know, litmus test fights. you know i think like if uh you know a guy like michael morales keeps going out there and getting big wins like that's a guy who could get in there with burns at some point like not now i mean you got to for morales like

he just beat jake matthews like you throw morales in there with like a neil magny next and if he beats a nail magni then we start looking at like a gilbert burns type but walter wates is such a strange division now it's we need to get some movement in there We need to get Leon fighting somebody. Shafcott's there, waiting and ready. Bilal is there. Should get the next shot. But Shafcott is, to me, and a lot of other people, like the uncrowned champion.

He just needs his chance. JDM's coming up. John Brady's coming up. Now we got MVP in there. Morales. Nichols-Dalby's looked real good. Randy Brown has found something. Joaquin Buckley's looked real good.

Like, we got guys coming right now. So I think that the youth movement is starting to come along. So it'll be interesting to see where Gilbert goes from here. As far as, I mean, there's like no stakes in the main event. I think like everything's on, it's just kind of everything on Tai Tui Vasa right now. I think all the stakes are with him. I think he needs to win this one. Like losing four in a row is tough, man.

I know he went through three in a row and then went on that run and almost got to a title fight. but, I mean, of all the losses he's had during this run, I mean, and no disrespect to Marching Tibera, this would be the worst loss of his career. This would be the one where she's like, man. And Marching Tabor is like not a horrific loss, but it would be the worst. Look at his losses.

JDS in 2018. L'Goy Ivanov, which in 2019, like, Lagoi was looking real good. Sergei Spivak. did not age great. And then he beats Stefan Shrew. He beats Harry Hunsucker. He beats Greg Hardy.

He beats Augusta Sakai. He knocks out Derek Lewis. And then his last, Cyril Ghan, Sergei Pavlovich, and Alexander Volkov. Losing the Taibora is tough. Like, that's tough.

So I think all the stakes are on his, on his end. And it's mostly like if this guy wants to be relevant in the division again, I mean, I'm not saying he's irrelevant because the fans love him. but four in a row is a tough place to be so hopefully you can go in there i think if he i think

there's a very good chance he can get tiby or out of there real quick but if this fight gets extended if we start sniffing like seven minutes boy it could get tough martin just kind of sitting on him for a while and the rest of the card no no there's like no stakes here yeah there's like none i mean i i i you can make a case that the only fight that has like high level divisional relevancy and not even like at a big peak are the two women's bannamweight fights. Kanzad Chesson, Josiann Mnunes and Chelsea Chandler. I think they're the only ranked fighters on the card outside of the heavyweights.

I think this is going to be like a decent watch. Like Brian Battle Anglosa is a co-bate event. Like it's going to be a fun, like a good scrap, but co-made event? Kennedy and Chichuco fighting Ovin St. Prue? Like, what are we doing here? Christian Rodriguez-Isaac Gilgarians are going to be fun as hell. There's no stakes there, but it's going to be fun as hell. Gerald Mirrashat, Brian Barbarian is going to be fun as hell.

It's good to have Mike Davis back, the town levy. Like, these are, there's a lot of fun fights on this card. Ode Osborne, Jafel Filo is going to be fun as hell. Josh Kulabal, Danny Silva, is going to be fun as hell. A lot of fun fights. But stakes, not a ton of them. Not a ton of them. uh let's go to abswalia

second hello my yes so mark uh hecker morning just have a few questions i want to ask firstly this brazil card upcoming um 301 wait let me refer to my sentence

this upcoming 301 brazil card that's about to happen in two months time as of now i know we have nothing really set in stone in place but i'm really concerned for the possible outcome this car i'm not expecting anything super spectacular great but i just really curious what is the ufc direction with this whole thing because it's just kind of like a big fuck you to the to brazil fans for the derrick louis elmita card and you know last year's two a three card which looking back was a pretty decent

card despite not being the most platable on paper i'm just curious like do you think they could try and squeeze in the jelton and mehta you know just some of the other brazilian fighters who at the Red Leads have a little bit of a name just to please their friends because look I like the Paul Craig fight with Chow but I'm not... It's whatever. It's just another middle-way fight. I really think they can do better.

Pantorja headlighting the card is not the most exciting but I wouldn't mind it. I think it gives the opportunity to put you know, possibly Mahmahman McKeyev in the spotlight or you know Stephen Elkhag if he gets the title shot. Another question I have is, you know, I'm sure we're seeing about the recent discourse on Kobe Compton, Ian Gary. If they do end up making their fight, when and where do you see that happening?

Do you see it being a fight night headliner or could it be a pay-per-viewed, you know, main card event? And just one last question. I'll make this one quick. This was about, just from the fighter's name here. This was about just watching them. right now. Yeah, so just about

Adasanya, I know a lot of people are talking about this what I'm drinking. Do you think the U.S.C. might try to just do that fight, an international fight, where either they can't do Connor, or do you reckon it's something

they can do later on down in November? That's all I have a great day. I don't know. Is he won? Not really sure. We don't want to start. Yeah, 301 looks pretty rough. I just, I don't understand what the UFC is doing here for a number of reasons.

One, like, believe me, I love Mousa Marvin Sarukin v. Charles Olivero. But, like, would it be the worst thing in the world to just push that back off of 300? Like, I don't want that to happen, but, like, would it be the worst thing just to add a little sizzle to that card? I don't think it would be. It's a little too late. Like, that was announced. Like, we knew we kind of knew they were going to Brazil for that May 4th date. They just didn't make it official until I think it was the day of 298, which we knew, by the way, like, just the plans all changed with the Pereira-Jama-Hilthing.

Because as I was telling you guys, like, Pereira, I kept saying, like, oh, is Pereira. is going to fight a 300. I'm like, no, I don't think he's going to because I kind of knew they were going to put him at 301 against Jamal Hill because they were going to freaking Brazil and that made all the sense of the world. But then they rushed it to headline 300 because they needed a main event that would blow our socks off. But in reality, you could have just done Justin Gacy versus Max Holloway as the main event and no one would have complained. Nobody would have complained. It would have been fine. We still would have of the two title fights and all the other bangers, it would have been fine if that was the main

event. Or they could have just said, Connor and Chandler, go fight at 300. No one about it an eye at all. But the UFC's booked themselves on a corner and instead of giving a really solid main event for 301, they gave it to 300 and now they booked themselves into a corner. I'll tell you which one was like the head shaker of headshakers. Um, if you, you watch the watch party, I knew what the final UFC 300 fight was before they announced it. And I knew they were going to announce it at $2.99. And I was puzzled by it. Because I had found out and confirmed it, but basically we were told, like, guys, they're going to announce it tonight.

So there's no need to report it. And when people say that, like, we're not going to be like, no, dude, we're going to be first. No one gives a shit anyways. why is Hanata Moikano versus Jalen Turner happening at UFC 300? Why? What is the point? Love the fight. But you're going to Brazil three weeks later.

You have Hanata Moikano who has gotten so over. Why not just booked that at 301? Why not just book that at 301? Put rebellus to Spain at 300 against anybody. Let him light some dude up at 300. And put Moikano versus Turner at 301. What are we doing here? What are we doing?

I have no idea what they're going to do now. You can't put Jelton Almeida there. He just got brutally knocked out. He can't fight there. I don't want to see that. It gets brutally knocked out by a big-ass heavyweight who hits really hard and then have him turn around two months. I don't want that.

We don't even know who freaking Pantosia's going to fight. Is he going to fight? Mahayev. Is he going to fight Roy Vol? again. Like, what are we going to do? I have no idea. I mean, maybe you throw Michelle Pereira on that card, but, like, who's he going to fight? I don't know. Yeah, I think it's not going to be, it's not going to be a great card. It's not going to be a great card. I don't know what they're going to do. I think if Jailton beat Curtis, they would have probably done Ask it all. Jailton

is the main event of that card and then just don't pantosia with anybody. And then I thought they were just going to do Pantosia versus Binal Copp, because Capp would at least say some pretty gnarly things to rile up the Brazilian crowd. But now Binal Cops booked, they're doing the Nicolao fight to main event at the world's most famous

Apex April 27th. So this thing is just a mess, man. It's just a mess. I don't know what they're going to do. I honestly don't know. So we'll see. The time's running out, man. We're less than, what, less than,

a little over seven weeks away from 301, we have no main event. Let me see. Let's see what 301 looks like right now. I know we have Kyle Barallo versus Paul Craig, but Anthony Smith, Vitor Petrino, that was a nice little edition. Joaquin Silvich, Car Close,

Alessandro Costa, Kevin Borjas, Deoni Barbosa versus Ernesta, Kara Kate, journalist of Brito, Jack, Shorts, good fight. I mean, looking at it, it's not horrible,

but we're just, this is a fight night card, like a really good one. Ellis Brenner versus Mick Tebeck Oralby is awesome. That fight friggin rules. I don't care if you co-main event with that one. That fight is frigging awesome.

So, that's seven fights. We got to fill this thing out and still don't have a main event. So, yeah, we'll see how we'll play. out. I mean, it's not awful, but there's just nothing that's like, we have to buy this.

We have to spend another 80 bucks after UFC 300. And then the Ian Gary Colby stuff, yeah, I don't know if you guys put it. Freaking Colby. Colby goes on Twitter, breaks his silence about Ian Gary puts up this, hey, we'll do this, but you have to do these three things. And I don't really want to go into the whole promo because it was very Colby. But I think that's the fight they make. I think that's the one that makes the most sense. I think there's some things Colby said I thought were very interesting. There's a reason why you want to fight me because I'm the biggest star in the division.

But if you're Colby, what are your options right now? You could fight Shafcott. And I think he knows full well that that fights super duper tough. Or you could fight Ian Garry, who is very good and still could be a tough matchup. But at least, like, if he fights Gary and he beats Ian Gary, he's going to get a lot of fans back that have jumped off because people just don't like Ian Gary, and I think it's a little ridiculous.

I mean, you could just like or dislike people, but there's this outright hatred for Ian Gary amongst the people. And the reasoning behind it is a little silly and ridiculous. But I think that's, like, the best he could do right now because he's nowhere near a title shot at this point. and I think like the best fight he could get with the most momentum and the most attention he can get right now

is probably Gary and it's a fight he can win. It's a winnable fight against an over guy in the division. I think it's no, I think kind of think it's a no brainer for Colby and I think that's the fight that does happen and I think you do it an international fight week. I think you do it then.

It's a good main card fight for international fight week. and usually they put Ian and Gary on all these big cards anyways. Throwing an international fighting. It's a great one. It's a great one. Especially if Connor and Chandler and a pad lighting, damn good featured bout or Colmain event. Can you even do five rounds?

Who gives a shit? Do Connor and the main and Gary in the Coal Main? That's pretty damn good. So, yeah, I don't think they're going to, like, fight. night that one. That's a paper remand card fight. Yeah, and I think

international fight weeks a perfect time for it. So we'll see how it plays out. I think that's the fight to make. Makes the most sense. You can do like MVP in Gary, but I don't really want to watch that right now.

I think Gary is just too far ahead at this point. Let's just give him the Colby fight. See how he does. If he loses, gives a shit. And if he wins, that's a huge fucking win

against Colby. So I like the matchmaking there. So, all right, we are done. You guys all rule. It's good to be back. Sorry if I coughed a couple of times. The voice is a little shoddy, but we're battling through.

We will have a BTL. 12.30 p.m. Eastern. So if you're listening live, a little over an hour's time, obviously we have a ton of shit to talk about. It'll be myself. It'll be Jen Mishu. And it will be, our old friend

Shaheen Al Shadi joining the program always fun we haven't really heard from Shaheen about anything that happened this past weekend I know he was a little

under the weather as well so we'll get his thoughts in a lot of different things and I got to tell you my friends I know some of the things were T's slightly on the MMA hour yesterday the road to UFC 300

on MAAFighting.com tremendous website oh boy is it going to be fun it is going to be a fun time everybody we have a lot of cool stuff planned and I think you kind of could get the gist of what's happening for the watch party for UFC 300

if you watch the MMA hour yesterday I mean it's not like officially official but I think they kind of set the table just a little bit I think you know what's about to happen And if it happens, it's going to be the best. It's got to be the best. So stay tuned for all of those announcements. Stay tuned for all the fun stuff we're going to do.

And stay tuned for BTL, 1230 on the YouTube channel. We'll be back tomorrow, free for all Friday, 10-15-ish Eastern time. We'll do it again. But until then, have a great rest of your Thursday. Have a heck of a morning, everybody.