MMA Fighting - HOAM | Final Countdown To Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje 2, Spence vs. Crawford

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

If you're a fan of combat sports, there is certainly a lot to get excited about, including UFC 291 and the fascinating rematch between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, the compelling boxing match between Errol Spence and Terence Crawford, Bellator vs. RIZIN 2, and more. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck takes listener questions about all three events, some of the betting lines for UFC 291, Poirier vs. Gaethje 2, and more. Additionally, listener topics include Israel Adesanya's next move, and if the stars could align for a third meeting with Alex Pereira — potentially for the light heavyweight title — the chances of Tony Ferguson retiring if he loses to Bobby Green on Saturday, Aljamain Sterling being one of the most disrespected champions in UFC history, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

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

The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. It's Friday, July 28, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show at its entirety shortly thereafter, on the Emily Fighting Podcasting Network.

I am Mike Heck. Happy Friday, E.D. Because we are on the eve of UFC 291. We are on the eve of Spence Crawford. We're kind of on the eve of Bellator versus Rising 2. That's going to start late tomorrow night and carry into Sunday morning. There's a lot going on. There's a lot going on.

We have the official UFC 291 weigh-ins going. down at the top of the hour. You can watch live on our YouTube channel at 11 a.m. Of course, my best friend, Alexander K. Lee will be hosting. Casey Leiden will be there. Jose will be there on site in Salt Lake City for all the fighters stepping on the scale. So buckle up. It's going to be a crazy weekend in the world of combat sports. Today is Friday. You know what that means on the show? We could talk about M.MA. We could talk about all the stuff going on this weekend. We can talk UFC 291, whatever you want.

And it's also free for all Friday. So when I say we can talk about whatever you want, we can talk about whatever you want. It doesn't have to be MMA. It could be other stuff. Whatever the hell you want. So let's get into this thing. Eini, meeny, Miny, Mo.

Rafi Sports, you are first in line. How are you, sir? Good morning, Mike. How are you doing? I'm good. Me too, man. What's going on? Yeah, so I want to ask you two questions regarding UFs 291.

First, I want to know your co-main and main predictions. And second question is, whoever wins the co-main event, who should they fight? Do you think they should fight Yiri Posker for the vacant title? Or if Alex fights maybe like at the Sunni Light Heavyweight, what do you think? Thanks, man. So what makes this card so good is that, I literally have no idea what's going to happen in either the main or co-mate event. Like the main event's just going to, it's so evenly matched.

I think Porre is slightly more well-rounded, but Gaichi can offset that with his striking and his chaos and everything he brings to the table. So it is such a good fight. If I'm betting on this fight, I'm betting on whoever the underdog is. So I believe Justin Gachie's the slight dog right now. Let me just pull it up real quick. If I had to, if someone was like, Mike, here's 20 bucks, but you can only bet on the money line for the main event. Yeah, Porreya minus 145, Justin Gage plus 125.

I'd put it on Justin Gagee. If the role to reverse and Gathe was the favorite and Porreier was the dog, I'd put it on Porreier because it's just the value is there. But all things even, 50, 50, 50 odds. I lean Porier. He won the first one. I just think he has slightly more ways to win. So I will lead him, but it wouldn't shock me if Justin Gage won.

He really wouldn't. And the co-mate event, right now it's even money, minus 110 across the board. Everything on paper is telling me that Yombovich should win this running away. It won't be the most thrilling fight. We've ever seen if that's the case, if how I feel on paper plays. out. However, I got a hunch. My gut is telling me that Jan Belhovic is going to dominate like 12 minutes of this fight and then Alex Pereira is just going to cold him in the third round. I don't know why I have that feeling. I just feel like the stars are aligning for just an absolutely

insane fight between Alex Pereira and Yuri Perashka for the vacant title. And to answer your other question. Yeah, I think the winner, I'm not 100% convinced the winner gets Yuri for the vacant belt. I mean, a Pereira wins, he's going to win by spectacular knockout. So he'll definitely get it. If Behoovich wins, it really, I think it depends on how he wins. If the fight is fun and Beholyovic wins a decision, I think Dana will have no problem going up to the press conference and saying that. But if it's a slog, if it's a slow burning Boehovic fighting

just real, real smart and just taking Pereira down over and over again and grinding him out for a 30-27, I don't know if Dane is going to go up there and be like, yeah, it's definitely Jan Behovic. But I don't know who else it could be.

So my guess is the winner gets Uri, but I'm not 100% convinced on Jan. It all depends on how he wins. It's got to be somewhat entertaining. I will say that.

let's go to derrick derrick hello hey how's it going mike um so i don't want to take credit for this question because yesterday i was scrolling online and i saw somebody else ask it but i thought it was interesting um fury and ganu box october 28th and john jones and stepe fight november 11th in your opinion which one of those fights sells more pay-per-views thanks man i mean probably it's probably john jones it's probably john stepe and if they do add because they're going to stack the hell out of that card like they always do when they go to msg if colby leon or edwards covington champion first pal if they do leon colby as the co-mate event it's got to it's got to it's got to clobber it i think fury and gano will do okay i don't think it's

going to do like a million pay-per-views i mean they'll build it up but there will be interest there i will certainly watch it i think even the people are like oh this is stupid i think 30% of those people who think it's stupid are going to shell out the money and watch it anyway just because they're so intrigued and everyone's going to be talking about it and i think the price point for Fyri and Gano's going to be important as well. If it's like 40 bucks or something, if it's

like half the price of a UFC pay-per-view, I think that'll help. But John's a draw right now. Stepe is still a really big name. If they do Leon Colby on there as well, I will lean $2.95

getting the better number. But the problem is we'll never know. we'll never know we might know we might get something about Fury and Ganu but we ain't gonna get shit about Joan Steepa we won't know what the actual numbers are but as far as like interest levels

like what fight what event will do like better traffic wise if I had to guess like on the website I think Fury and Ghana is gonna is gonna do better mostly because I don't know

if everyone's going to want to shell out the money to watch it, but they will pay attention on the site. Some of these boxing cards do insane numbers on the website. It's wild. It's wild. And that fight just seems like one of those crazy fights that'll do really well. But I do think UFC 295 does better overall if we ever get those numbers. Let's go to Eric.

What up, Eric? Bernie Ferguson because he's getting old and he's the, you think he's going to retire and? And I agree with you. I think Justin, I think it's going to be between, it's going to be a good fight between Justin Gage and Dust Giori. I think Dustin Poyer is going to have the better win

because he has a better boxing. And yeah, and that's it. Bye, guys. Yeah, I mean, Pory is just a better defensive fighter than Gachi. But Gachi just, Gagee throws those light kicks. and you can try and prepare all you want for them, they're still going to hurt like hell. And Gagchi did a great job in the first fight

to laid in the light kicks. Poria could barely stand. Heading into the fourth round before he got the finish. He just laid at a big shot. But Gagia was doing really well in that fight. I'd like to see Poria. Like, Poria has started to kick a lot more.

His leg kicks are real good. Something that he's developed over time. And I think Gaiji he's kind of susceptible to the body a little bit because he's got that high standing guard. So I think Poria can roast the ribs a little bit. I'd like to see that out of him. If you're like someone who's betting on Poria, you'd probably want to see him go to the body as much as possible in this fight.

And the big factor to me is, and I know Justin Geichi is really good defensively when it comes to grappling and wrestling. He's just not great getting off of his back. If Porre could get a take down and mix them in, he probably is going to win that round if he gets one, but that's a big if. So love that fight, cannot wait. I honestly have no idea what's going to happen.

Will Fergus or retire? Probably not. He's just, I mean, the dude is out of his mind right now. And even if he goes out and gets melted by Bobby Green, I don't know, Ferguson can win. Like, he's got a chance to win this fight. Like if I'm betting on this one, I'm definitely betting Tony Ferguson. Plus 310, I feel like this one should be lined a little bit closer.

Tony's losing to the cream of the crop. I don't really count the Nate Diaz fight because it was the last second thing. All the chaos of 279 and maybe like Ferguson just, you know, he says he didn't take Nate seriously. He got a, he probably got a big bag to switch around and be the main event. So I'm sure he was just satisfied with that. But we'll see. We'll see. Tony's doing what he always does on fight week.

He is generating interest. He's saying crazy shit. And Bobby Green is a really good dance partner. So I think by the time tomorrow comes, even though we could be sad at the results and we're going to be watching with like one eye open, I do think by the time that fight gets there,

we're going to be like, oh my God. Like, let's see what's going to happen here. But no, I don't think Tony's going to retire. If he goes out there and it just gets knocked out of it. like to see him retire, but we don't get good things in the sport more often than not when it comes to that. Four quarter sports. What's up? Hey, Mike. Heck, good morning. So I have a couple things. One, I have a feeling that Ferguson might end up winning. But what's the line on Ferguson winning by submission? Just because I feel like, yes, even though I think in one of Bobby's Green's most recent losses, he got knocked down. I'm not assuming that what's the cold.

Ferguson will be winning by that fashion. I feel like the only way that he will win is by submission just because I feel like Bobby isn't out of volume with him and he's going to end up putting out more than Ferguson. And I feel like in this stage of Ferguson's career, I feel that the only way that Ferguson will be able to win is if he catches Bobby on the floor, you know, with a guillotine or rear-naked-chok, or something on that nature, forcing Bobby to tap out.

So I'm interested on that line. What's the line for Ferguson to win by submission? Second thing I wanted to talk about is Justin Gage. Now, I know he said that he's not great getting off from his back, but the most important thing is for him to be taken down. And I was rewatching the Habib fight, and I felt that Habib, you know, how to work a little bit

to get Justin Gatheon onto the floor. But I don't feel that, you know, Dustin's probably going to shoot for a lot of takedowns. Maybe might be in the first round just to offset, you know, the rhythm. But I feel like if Gagy can really implement those leg kicks really early, you know, that can, you know, take away a dynamic of,

of Dustin Porrier. And then lastly, I forgot where I heard it on enemy fighting. But I remember somebody ended up suggesting what's it called Sergei Pavlovich versus what was it, Tom Aspinall, you know, for the MSG card. You know, if they do make Connor McGregor versus Michael Chandler for December, why don't they put that fight on that card? And, you know, what do you think is the likelihood that they make MSG a three-title

of fight card having the vacant light heavyweight title on that same card, you know, with John Jones-Cpe and the potential of, Colby Covington versus Leon Edwards. All right, thanks, Mike. So if they do a third, I think if they do a third title fight on that card, it's not going to be the vacant light heavyweight title. It'll be the vacant

women's Vanemway title. DuPena, Pennington as the first of three title fights, then do Leon Colby, then do Joan Steepa, because you may, the Connor thing is just so weird. You kind of have to plan to not have him,

and if you get them, you could just kind of work around it. I think you need to kind of just keep that vacant title flight ready to go. Whether, I mean, if Connor can't fight in December, you need a compelling main event for December. And I think if Yuri, especially if Alex wins, if they do Yuri versus Alex, like, that's a big ass fight. And that's why people get excited about. So, yeah, I don't know. Maybe they'll do Asperl Pavlovich at MSG kind of makes sense.

I mean, if that's, if you have the three title fights, that fight on there and then you add one more. That's a ridiculous main card right there. There's a lot on the line. We'll see what happens to the main event again. I don't really know what's going to happen. The Tony Ferguson by submission prop according to draft kings plus 1,200. Tony Ferguson by decision plus 650. I think there's value on, I think there's a little bit of value on both of those.

Like if you're going to bet on Tony Ferguson, instead of like putting a unit on Tony Ferguson straight, just put a half unit on Tony by submission and put a half unit on Tony by decision. Because there's a way Tony can win this fight by decision. If Tony just comes out and just goes guns blazing, the issues he's had hasn't really been cardio-related issues. So I don't think that's going to play a huge factor in this fight.

But if he could put a pace on Bobby Green and start to wear him out, there is a path. there is a path there. And on the flip side, if you're going to bet Bobby Green, don't take the straight line. Bobby Green by decision is plus money, plus 120. Bobby Green by K.O. is plus 165. You get more value there than what is he?

Minus 380 or something? I think he's the biggest favorite on the whole card. So something to look into. Let's go to Siviram. A lot of people lined up. I love this. I love this. Yeah, Bobby Green, minus 380.

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First of all, are you a Marvel fan or a DC fan, Mike? I guess both. It all depends. If my kid wants to see something to be there, then I'm in. No problem Because I just watched it The Flash movie And it was an amazing movie

I don't know why it's filed at Box office That's one thing that I want to talk about And coming to the MMA I'm really excited To watch the fight between Price Mitchell versus Danny Gay And Game Road versus

Fiji I really thought I really think the Dannyay is very dangerous dangerous fighter when I watched the fight between Nate Detrain versus Danny Gay. You know, Bryce versus Toporia match played like, you know, he said that he's suffered from the cold or favor or something like that. Price is mostly a wrestler, a 70% mixed with a reservoir with 30% boxing. Danny Gay, we all know how he got a one punch, one punch power knockout.

So I really very excited to watch that fight. And as same gamut as a good grappler and a reservoir. And when it comes to the physio, he's an excellent boxer with a 190% take-down defense. So it's very intriguing to watch those fights. And I want to know what's your thoughts on those upcoming fights between them. And coming to this main event on this weekend, I'm a big fan of Tony Ferguson. because he's the reason that I've started to watch the MMA in 2020 when the COVID is going on, this lockdown is happening.

So when I started to watch all Tony Ferguson matches, he started to lose on his five losing streak. So I am pretty much waiting to see at least he's winning one match. But he's saying that he's going to be a lot. and the five-match winning streak and getting a title before retiring. A lot of fans saying he's suffering from CTE, like those things, like those things. But either way, as a fan of Tony Ferguson,

I can't support that. But if he gets to do that, it could be written as a fantasy, like a lot of things like that. And that's about my thoughts. And the fight between Justin Gasey and Dustin I had a dream that Justin Gere is going to beat

Dustin Porre. I'm a big Dustin Porre fan but he get on to win the lightweight title by baiting Islam Mark Chow. It was my dream back when the fight was

announced back two months ago. That's it, Mike. Damn, powerful dream right there. I'd be nuts if that all happens. Yeah, I mean I'm not like DC Marvel. It's not my thing.

but like my kids into all that stuff. We haven't seen the Flash yet. Saw the preview, saw Michael Keaton as Batman, and I thought that was pretty cool, but I haven't seen the movie yet. Yeah, a bunch of fights we confirmed yesterday. Danny Gay versus Bryce Mitchell is one of them, September 23rd. Raphael Fizzis versus Batush Gamrott will headline that card.

Great fights. I'm bummed that that card's going to be at the apex, but that's kind of what we're going to get. But both really interesting fights. Love them. We also confirmed Giga Chikaze versus Alex Kacaris on the Singapore card. That's a great fight too. Good to see Giga back.

Good to see Kassaris getting a guy with a number next to his name. And we'll see what he can do with it. So, yeah, all really good fights. I love that Fizivin Gamrod to get the main event treatment. Much deserved. That is going to be a fight that is. the anticipation is going to build the closer and closer we get to it. There's no doubt about that. And I think Tony Ferguson, you know, I think there's a soft spot for Tony Ferguson with a lot of fans,

whether you became a fan during the pandemic or you've been a fan for a decade. I think Tony's one of those guys that most people enjoy watching. And that's, you know, it's kind of like BJ Penn in a lot of respects. Mej was the best fighter in the world at one point in his career. Pound for Pound. Then he loses the lightweight title and he's just taking weird fights and just getting bolted by people. And it was just getting sadder and sadder and sadder to watch. And maybe Tony can pull it off tomorrow. Maybe he can do it. I don't know.

But I mean, if he just goes out and just gets blasted by Bobby Green or Bobby just lands like 170 significant strikes in a decision win, it's going to be tough to watch. It's going to be tough to watch. four out sniper how you doing man hey i'm good how are you good hey just real quick for you what are your thoughts and expectations on the card going down this weekend uh i look at it from my perspective and i'm pretty excited for every single fight on the card and then also if i gave you $50 or a hundred bucks whatever uh what would be your best bets for this weekend that's all my hmm this is like look i'm not a gambler uh um um this is like look i'm not a gambler uh

But I would assume those who are, it seems like a tough one. It seems like a tough one to bet up if we're being honest. This is just like value hope, really. I mean, I would probably bet Derek Lewis. I think he's going to win. I mean, if he loses to Marcus is Jerry to Lima tomorrow, this will be by far the worst loss of his career. Like, by far the worst loss of his career. I feel like Derek's going to win this fight.

I feel like it's lined up for him to do it. I know Ruggieri de Lima is pretty durable. Doesn't get finished a whole lot. But Derek Lewis just says lunchboxes and he can finish anybody. So I think there's value on Derek Lewis at plus 190. That line just continues to get steamed up. Let me look at this line real quick. What is it?

What, where is? Where are you? There you go. Jake Matthews versus Darius Flowers is a good little parlay piece. fight doesn't go to the distance. I know it's minus 300, but if we're going to put together a little chalky parlay, I don't think that fight's going to the cards at all.

Either Darius Flowers is just going to run over Jake Matthews in 90 seconds, or Jake Matthews is going to tap them at the end of the first round or round two. That's just kind of the story of Darius Flowers' career. It's just a lot of value, man. I mean, maybe Miranda Maverick, Priscilla Kachua, over two and a half, I would probably take a look at. I think Gabriel Bonfim has a really good night against Trevin Giles.

This is just tough, man. These are tough. I think it's just a lot of dog plays, really. You just look for value on these close fights and try to get them. Like, Kiesa had a dog money plus 120. I do think Kevin Holland could win, but you're giving me Kiesa plus 120, who has a distinct path to victory.

not a bad look. This is just a really tough card to bet on. Michelle Pereira, dog money, isn't a bad bet, even though he's a really tough guy to put your money on. I don't know, man. This is a tough one. This is a tough one. Listen to no bet spired. They'll tell you.

They'll tell you what to bet on. And I don't think they're really confident about a lot on this card, I would have to say. Maran, hello. Maron, are you there? You're muted? Can you hear me now? Yes. How are you, sir? I'm good. You okay?

I'm good. So I have two questions for you. And first is Hamza and Pocosta is a common event. And second, is Matt and Jake Paul doing enough to promote their fight or have they done enough to promote their fight. That's all. Thank you. So as of now, Hamzat versus Koss is the Koss? homemade event. I think it's a damn good co-made event. By the time we get to that fight card, I know there's a lot of Charles Oliver fans that come into the space all the time.

And I know Charles is over like Rover. He's becoming one of the big stars of the company. I think there'll be excitement for that, but I think all eyes by the time we get to 294 are going to be on Shamaif and Costa. So I think that's a perfect homemade event. That's fine. Like normally they more oftentimes they not than not they bring two title fights over but golly but shami of cost is going to be so much heat on that once you get to

media days and press conferences it's just going to be insane so that I think that'll be a fine co-main event I'm intrigued to see how they fill up the rest of the card we got Muhammad Mahayah versus Tim Elliott Ikram Alaskarov versus Naserdinimov

they need more that's for sure I wonder if like maybe Piadryon fights on that card against somebody on the rise. We'll see. Are Jake Paul and Nate Diaz doing enough to promote it? Yeah, I think so. There's like not much. I mean, they're also very smart.

There's not much you could do right now. Like, there's not much you could really do. I know the fight's next week, but they're putting out stuff like Nate's doing more media than I think I've ever seen him do leading into a fight. So, yeah. But again, I think by the time we get to next week, I think things will heat up. Things will heat up.

I am intrigued by it. I really am. I know a lot of people like shit on it and stop covering Jake Paul, whatever. And I'm going to be there. I'm going to be in Dallas. So I am excited about that. Obviously, the MMA hour crew are all going to be there as well. So we will be, we will have a big team.

on the ground in Dallas. But I think like once you get to workouts and once we hear from these fighters and see them face off, I think things will start to heat up. But I mean, what's the point of like going crazy with promotion right now? Get 291 coming up.

You get Spence Crawford coming up. Unloading the clip on promotion right the second doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But people are still talking about it. So they're doing it off. And then next week I think they'll really start to wrap it up. I think Jake Paul's Netflix doc comes out. So that's not going to hurt either. So I think they'll be okay. I think they'll get there. Uh, J-Stat. Hello.

See you. What's up? Yeah, another dog play that I like is actually in another sport. You could get Spence at a plus 125 right now. I'm actually picking him to win. I know that's a 50-50 fight, but I just think Spitz had fought the better competition in my opinion. So yeah, that'd be all. Yeah, the value is on the. the underdog. It's the same way I look at the main event right now. If I have to bet on the main event of UFC 291, I'm betting the dog, whoever it is.

Because they're so, in my opinion, so evenly matched. It's a 50-50 fight and you're giving me 25 or 15 to 25 extra points on either Gatiae or I would take it in a heartbeat. I think that's where I lies. And if this line flipped over the next 24 hours,

I would pick Porier. But I just think that's just a value play. more than anything. Let's go to Cole, that we'll go to CV, that we'll go to High Pugelist,

and we'll go to Mike, and there's a whole bunch of you. So we will, we'll get to everybody. Cole, hello. Mike, I couldn't help, but when I was sitting down to watch the press conference yesterday

and realized Dana wasn't going to be there, I had a little panic attack because who the hell is going to be the guy to ask, all right, who's got the first question? So I just want your quick thoughts on like, what do you make of John Annick being like an infinitely better

promoter for those kind of things. But him just by saying one sentence, you're like, we got two of the best motherfuckers up here. Let's go. Like, that's it. That's all you gotta fucking say, Dana. Like, he doesn't even do that. So I just want your thoughts on that.

Yeah, that's all I got. So I've been saying for well over a year that John Anick should be hosting all the press conferences. He should be hosting them all. I know it's cool to get Dana up there. And you want to ask Dana questions. but if it's not related to the fight,

then Dana ain't going to answer him. So, like, what's the point of him being there? What's the point of him being there? He'll obviously promote the main event, and he's got things in the can that he'll say. But John just speaks from the heart, and he just gives a shit way more in those types of situations. I'm not saying John should be, like, the promoter of the UFC

and, like, run the company, but John should be hosting the press conferences. He's so good at it. He's so good. He looks like a couple of Billy. Speaks well. Dude, get you fired up. He gets you fired up way more than Dana does.

Way more. So, yeah, John should be hosting all of them, in my opinion. And Dana can still be on site and face everybody off on Friday and all that fun stuff. Obviously, you don't put John up there for the face-offs, but you put Dan up there for the big ceremonials. Dana does the post-fight presser, but Annik should be the press conference guy. He should be the pre-fight press conference dude. He gets it moving.

He allows things to breathe. John's a great host. You can't just promote. You have to host. You have to know when to let things carry on if fighters go back and forth. You have to know when to stop it. And John's a pro when it comes to that. It's just a whole new era.

People want drama. People want certain questions asked. And, you know, five, six years ago, Dana would allow some of those questions. Like Kevin Holland and Mazadol, what happened at the hotel? Like, Anik isn't going to stop that question from being asked. Anick's going to allow an answer to be given. So I just think he's better in those spots. He's better in those spots.

Those press conferences are infinitely better when he's there. I love it. Let's go to CV. TV, you're there. Oh, Mike, heck of a morning. You too. No, no MMA questions for me. Just one quick question.

Thoughts on the Jalen Brown contract, and do you think he stays as a Celtic for the rest of his career? Thanks. The rest of his career? No. No. I mean, if they keep giving him supermax, as he will,

but I don't know, it all depends. if he wins a title during this period, then he's playing well and he gets Supermax again, maybe. But look, this is a business. This is, I mean, the money, the amount of money being thrown around in the NBA's and absolute insanity. So it gets to the point where loyalty doesn't really matter anymore. Like, Patrice Bergeron just retired as a Bruin.

And he was a Bruin the entire time. It just doesn't happen anymore. It's very, very rare. Maybe in the NHL you get it, because the money isn't the same. There's more loyalty in the NHL. NBA, it's just like, give me the money, man. Give me the money. And you can even see like the types of contracts being offered to certain players.

Like, who the fuck wants Kyrie Irving on their basketball team? But yet he's still making a floppy trillion dollars, even though he is a massive issue. for every team he plays on. You can be as talented as you want, but if you don't gel, if you're not ready to put the team first, then, like, who gives a fuck?

If you don't win, nobody cares. But it's good. Now, we just got to get Tatum locked up for the foreseeable fiduciary. We've got to keep both those guys. You have to do it. And you just have to, those two guys are musts for the next four to five years.

Keep those dudes together and just keep bringing in new guys. and see what sticks. Eventually, something is going to stick, and they're going to win a championship. Maybe multiple championships. But those two guys are the pillars, and would just keep bringing in new dudes to build around them,

and eventually we'll get the right grouping together, and we won't be talking about the Miami heat, running them off the floor. We'll be talking about them putting the absolute boots to Miami in the playoffs. Hi, Pugolus. Hello. Hello, how's it going, Mike? I have a couple questions. My first question is kind of a hypothetical

because a lot would have to happen for this fight to happen. But what do you, or do you see a world where Alex Perea gets the title and Adasania fights him or moves up to the title to fight him for like a champ champ status basically? and or do you even think Adasania would want to fight him? And my second question is, what do you make of Michael Bismay's comments

about Tom Aspinall or John Jones not holding a candle to Tom Aspinall after his fight with Marchion Tybura? Because, I mean, obviously he was a little biased about the honest comments, but do you see anything from his last fight that would show you that he can even,

or he's even on the level of John Jones. And basically my final question is, the Aerospace and Terrence Crawford fight, everyone's making it out to be a 50-50 fight, but Terrence Crawford is 35 years old, and he's a smaller guy. So I think the fight should be leaning towards the aerosvence, but that's all.

I think. Yeah, that's another, yeah, much like the 2.91 may, like the, if I'm betting on that fight, I'm betting on the dog. I do think it's closer to 50-50. I understand where you're coming from with the youth and all that. I know level of competition is a part of this conversation as well, but it's just going to be sick. It's just going to be such a good fight.

To the Aspedal Jones thing, look, I, there's, the ceiling on Tom Aspenall is so high. I just am not ready to anoint him just yet. I am confident in saying that of the three guys on the come up right now, Pavlovich, Jailton Almeida, and Aspinall, I feel like of those three, the guy who has the best chance to fight John Jones is Tom Aspinall. One, he speaks English.

That doesn't hurt. to Aspinall is huge in one region of the country is getting bigger globally starting to get over we're seeing his personality shine a little bit he ain't there yet but if there's a guy that's on the come up that John will be like hmm

I can see dollar science here it's not Pavlovich it's not Jelten al-Meda it's Tom Aspenal 100%. We didn't learn a whole lot from Tom Aspenal against Marching Taibora? Like, the result was not that surprised. I didn't think it would be 73 seconds.

But I didn't see anybody predicts Tybora winning. And on the other side of that, I didn't see anybody predicting Tom Aspinall getting a finish outside of round one. So this was perfect matchmaking. This is perfect matchmaking. Let's get Tom a win and a big finish.

Let's send the crowd home happy. That's exactly what they did. That's exactly what they did. With Tom, we will learn more in his next fight. If he does that to Cyril Ghan, damn, you got something. If he does that to Pavlovich, damn, you got something.

I'm just, I'm, look, Bisbing is, like you said, there's a bias there. They have a relationship. They're tight. Bisbing gets a little excited at times. And he's also under, Visbing also understands that

hot takes sell right now. And that's a super hot take. To say that John Jones is all the candle to Tom As well is ridiculous. It's just a ridiculous statement. It's insane. John's the best fighter ever in most people's minds. And what, like, I'm just not quite,

I'm just not there. I do think we will live in a world where those two guys fight each other. but that's where I'm at. It's a little premature in my humble opinion. 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,

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I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. It's just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious wool throw for my sister. This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate.

for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners? Stop wondering, start gifting. Winners find fabulous for less. And then... Yeah. Hey, I just had a quick question. I was looking at, I was trying to figure this out for myself,

but I just couldn't, so I'm asking you, the Risen card, Bellas for Risen. Does it start? It's not on tape delay, is it? Because I'm looking at Risen's website, and it says, like, they're letting people in and the building. building and those are Japanese.

It was written in Japanese. So I was like, all right, they're saying they're letting people in the building at 10 a.m. And it starts at 12 in the afternoon on Sunday for them. So that would be live for us, would it? Or not? I don't know. Thank you. So I believe it's going to be aired.

I believe it's going to be live because they're going to do. So basically the Bellator versus Rising card is going to be like the prelims for the actual event. So Bellator versus Risen is going to go first. That's going to start at 11 p.m. Eastern. I believe it's going to be live on Showtime. The Risen card itself, I don't think it will be on showtime.

I don't believe it's going to be on showtime. I think it's on Fight TV. I think it's something you have to buy on Fight. But Belator Risen is going to be on Showtime. It's going to air live at 11 p.m. Eastern. It's just tough, man. Like, it's just a bummer. Because, like, I'm going to watch it.

Like, I liked the car. I liked it better with Petriki versus AJ in there, because AJ's the biggest star in the company. They just locked him up. He was going to get a great win over Patrici Pitbull. I think A.J. McKee was going to absolutely truck Patricie Pitbull. And it would have been a good thing to keep building in this Grand Prix. I like Satoshi a lot, but I don't know how that fight's going to go.

I friggin love the, the Hora Gucci Takahashi fight. Absolutely love it. That should be the main event. It should have been the main event even with A.J. on the card, in my opinion. Love that fight. I like the Watanabe Veda-Artega fight. Must win for both ladies in my opinion. Danny Sabs

is always fun. Fight Magamad, Magamadav. That's a really interesting fight. And then Lorenz Larkin, Andre Koreshkov, too. That's a fun fight. Like, this is a good card. The problem is no one is going to watch this card live. very few people. No one's going to see the first two fights

because everyone's going to be watching UFC 291. Everyone's going to be watching Spence Crawford. And by the time 291 ends, it's going to be like 1 a.m. Eastern. Maybe you'll get to watch the last two fights. I'm not going to watch it until like Sunday afternoon. When I'm at the airport ready to fly home after the watch party, that's when I'll watch the card.

I'll go back and watch it. I'll probably know everything that happened, but you just got to be like, It's just tough timing, man. Like you could not have picked a worst day to have this card. You just can't. You cannot have picked a worst time. And then the rising cards right after that.

Yeah. And that'll be fun too. Asakura versus Karamov. Hiramasa versus Monarch, Joleta. Izawa Lopez will be fun. Say Zawa is really good. Patricio Pitbull's fighting Suzuki now. We got Toping Messiah on the card.

There's a lot to like there. There's a lot to like. Super Risen. It'll be a fun watch. It'll be a fun watch. Just the timing, man. It's just tough. It's going to be,

look, there are people out there. If I wasn't doing everything else, like after 291, I would watch a live. I'd probably watch both. live. But right after 291, like we get the press conference stream. I go back to the hotel. We got to do the post-fight show, all the

stuff work-wise afterwards. So I'm just, I'm just going to miss it live. I'll go back and watch, but if you got it in you and you can hang and watch everything and you get a real good night's sleep and watch it all, I think you're going to be happy. I think Bellator Horizon 2 card is really good.

Super Rise 2 is going to be super fun, because every rising card's super fun. I kind of wish it was like the next day. Like everything was the next day. But that is what it is. Matt, what's up? I wanted to say, I am very glad that this Bellator Rising card isn't on tape delay. I mean, I understand it's like on the worst night possible,

but I'm glad it's not on tape delay like it was last time. I mean, that just totally ruins the experience, in my opinion. And, you know, one thing that I've been wanting to say for a while, but I hadn't been able to get in is I think that the disrespect towards Aljo as a champ is just the worst. I mean, he's pretty active as a champ in the grand scheme of things. I know that he did have a little bit of a layoff for the surgery. But, I mean, besides that, he seemed pretty active. And, you know, I was watching Dana talk after one of his fights.

was like, oh, yeah, I mean, oh, it was the Pantoja fight. He was like, well, we can't go ahead and just give Pantosia a fight right off the bat. I mean, he's got to go home and rest with his family. That was a fucking war. It was like, what the fuck do you think Aljo just got done with Henry? So, I mean, for me, I just think that the disrespect for Aljo is just insane. And I hate it personally. I mean, I think that he is a good champ for 135.

Is he the best? No, but I think he's a good champ for 135. He might be the best, though, which is crazy. He might be the best Banimate champion ever. If he beat Sean O'Malley, I think he breaks the... He's tied for the most... He's got the most consecutive title defenses.

He's tied for the most title defenses in the division. And if he beat Sean O'Malley, he's on... He's by himself. And I know it's... Like, he's had a super weird run. Totally get it. Wins the belt by DQ, which I still don't understand why Aljo

gets blamed for that. Like, Piotr Yan had a choice to make. He made it and he paid for it. it's the rules. You can't knee a fighter while he's down. And you can't knee him in the face and expect the dude to come back after working forever to actually get a title shot.

So I still don't get why people give Aljo shit for taking an illegal knee to his fucking face and winning the belt. It's not his fault. Those are the rules. And it's not his fault. He took the illegal knee. And then from there, it's just been super, weird. I thought Aljo clearly won the

rematch. I was there. Close fight. Kind of a weird fight. But I thought Aljo clearly won. The T.J. fight was... The T.J. fight just rubs me the wrong way. And again, it has nothing to do with Al J.

Stirling. That is a UFC problem. Because why was T.J. Dillashot getting a title shot when Jose Alto was right there. Instead, you give Jose Aldo Barab de Walsh, Schm. that whole thing drives me insane, drives me up the wall. And then after watching Stillishat enter the cage with one shoulder and just get, I honestly think Aljo would have lit him up anyways,

but just seeing how that all played out, like really pissed me off. Like, it really made me mad. So again, not Aljo's fault. He took what he was given and he won. And then he fights a hoodo. I thought Alger clearly won the fight. There's some weird judging going on. But again, it's just been a super weird rug.

And even if he goes out and just runs Sean O'Malley, is he going to get the credit for that? Well, O'Malley wasn't that good to begin with. Like, I could see it. I could see it. I could see it coming. And then, yeah, I think, look, Aljo's going to be one of those guys. like DJ, like DC, where he will be much more appreciated when his career is over.

DC hung around a little bit too long, won the heavyweight title. In hindsight, if you walked away then, like, what a perfect time to walk out. Then he loses the two steep fights. And at that point, like the heavyweight division was being held kind of hostage. We were just seeing the same three guys over and over again. We tried interim titles. We tried all sorts of craziness. and then Francis changed that

that whole narrative when he knocks Depe out. But, yeah, Alge's just one of those dudes. And I'm really interested to see what's going to happen here. If he beat John Ovalia, I'm probably picking, I'm probably getting to picking him to do so. He says he's going to vacate and go up to 145. What's the UFC going to do?

Are they just going to give him a title fight? Or are they going to just do, are they just going to continue to the sleep disreferred? respect the man and not give him a title fight something tells me he's not going to get a title fight they're just going to chuck them in there with like a lawyer of or like iliotsiphorre or something is like yeah you beat this dude then you get title shot unless volk like stands by his side but yeah alger's just underappreciated does not get the love he deserves the run is super weird and no matter what happens with chan o'malley it's just going to continue to

be super weird. But I'm with you, man. He gets no love from the UFC. It's like DJ and Tyrant Woodley. Like combined the two runs and how they were promoted and how Dana always spoke about those two guys. Aljo's like the middle ground between those two. It's insane.

It's nuts. James, hello. Hey, my heck of a morning to you. Very quick on the Aljo thing. I always thought he was disres. respected because he didn't continue after the illegal me. I could be wrong on that, but that was kind of my feeling always on it, but he definitely should not have continued.

I don't think he was acting like a lot of people think, but I just have two quick questions for you. Me personally, I always get nervous when we kind of go to new cities. I know we went to Utah last year, but I always get scared over the judging. But in your opinion, what is the best state? athletic commission-wise. Kind of curiously here. I always thought it was Vegas,

but Vegas has definitely had their problems lately. And also with the Elon Musk and Mark Zucker thing, I think I speak for all of this where I just really don't care. But if you got to see two celebrities fight in an MMA setting, who would you pick? For me personally, we've seen them fight with words on BTL, Brian Campbell and Jed Mishu.

I think that the build to the, that fight would just be awesome. Fight itself might not be that good, but we'll have some great press conferences. Enjoy the fights, Mike. I can't wait to watch you guys on the watch party tomorrow, and everyone have a heck of a weekend. Thanks, buddy.

Thanks, man. Dude, BC and Jed would be fun. Jed is trained, though. Jen does have some training. But BC, I think BC and I are kind of cut from the same cloth, where it ain't going to be pretty, but we're scrappy as shit. and BC reminds me of a dude that's like ridiculously scrappy and we'll just

just do whatever he's got to do to win but that would be fun it's right it's I know they're like trying to like pretend to be buddies and even though the rock weighs like a million pounds more Rockvin Diesel for sure those two guys fucking hate each other and I still believe to this day

they hit each other so that'd be fun I kind of hope Zuck Musk happens now because I want Zuck to just put the boots to Elon. Just put the boots to him. And just do pink slips for social media sites. Put Twitter on the line. Put it all in the line so when Zuck wins. We can go back to Twitter.

We can go back to normal. Because like how could you just, how could you ruin something like this? It's so bad. Every decision that he has made has been an awful one. But do I think the fight happens now? Do I think the fight happens? No, I do not. Best commission is California by a mile.

Andy Foster does a great job over there. We get fighter payouts, which is always nice. They seem to be on the cutting edge of rules and regulations, and they just do it right. So it's California by a mile on that. Someone asked earlier about, and I forgot, but it just kind of hit me right now, someone asked earlier about do I see a world where we get Izzy Alex 3 at 205

if Alex wins the title and the answer is yes absolutely if Alex beat John and then Alex beats Yuri and wins the title that fight is going to happen it's going to happen if Izzy wins two more fights it all lines up that fight is 1,000% going to happen is he's going to go to 205 and try to get that second title again

I think it's going to happen sooner or rather than later I don't know what's going to happen with Izzy now it seems like the Strickland fight could be a thing so from what I kind of gather like look it's again don't be going out there and be like oh my saying it's done it's not done it's not done but from what I understand

because I know someone asked about this yesterday Izzy DDP what Izzy said was, I think the UFC, from what I understand is the UFC wanted to take like one more stab at DDP to see if it could happen, it doesn't look like it is. It seemed like there wasn't a lot of interest to do in the Shirkland

fight, but over the last day or so, it seems like there might be interest again in doing that fight because they're running out of time. So it could happen. It seems like we might do it now. But nothing is done. Nothing is officially offered

yet. And things could change tomorrow. Who the fuck? Fuck knows. But it went from, yeah, maybe we do this to, nah, we're not going to do it to. Maybe we have to do this. And that's kind of where we're at right now.

Still at a standstill, but Strickland even tweeted some stuff out yesterday, kind of talking about it too. So let me see if I could pull up the tweet. Somebody would let me know about it. Let me just say. Where are you? UFC history. Sean fight this good guy on two days notice.

Sean fight this guy we want to be the next big name in the top 5 if you beat you. Sure. Sean, we might have you fly across the world on five weeks notice to fight the champion. Sure. So it looks like, Sean's saying that it might happen now. So Izzy will probably beat Strickland.

They'll do Izzy DDP. And then after that, it just seems like Izzy's going to go to 205 regardless, but if Pereira is the champion, they're going to go to that well real quick. We could live in a world, folks, where we get Izzy versus Yuri too. And Jesus Christ.

That's insanity. All right. Last call, we've got to go to Latino Heat. And then the Wayans are going to be starting at about three minutes on the YouTube channel. So I want to make sure you guys can go check that out. So Latino Heat, take us home. Hello, good morning, first of all. But my question is, do you ever believe Verizon will ever be a well-renowned name, MMA promotion?

I think they kind of are. look, they're not like a, I mean, there's certainly not the UFC or Ballad, like they're not in the top four. You know what I mean? But, Risen to me is like,

there was a, I don't like pro wrestling is huge now and there's like more of a boom. But pro wrestling in like the mid to late 90s, I mean, that's where it was at. Like WCW was killing it, WV was killing it.

We had a lot of good shit on the independence. We had ECW. ECW was crazy and they did different things. It was more fun. They had the blood and gut stuff, but they also had like really good wrestling. They were like the under, sort of the underground powerhouse that was a brand

that most hardcore wrestling fans knew. Risen reminds me, and with a much better business structure, they remind me of like what, what ECW was in like the mid to late 90s, where the hardcores love them. Their cards never let you down. If you want to go there live,

it's like like a bucket list kind of a thing. Like I'd love to go to a Rise and show. Like a New Year's Eve show, that'd be a bucket list thing to do. And like I said before, it never lets you down. You go watch a Rising card. You're like, damn, that was fun,

especially the big ones. The Super Cards, New Year's Eve. They're just awesome. but will they become just this global powerhouse? No. And you know what? I kind of don't want them to be. I like them the way they are.

Fighters want to go there. They want to go and fight for them. Like guys who just don't cut it in the UFC but are really fun, go to Risen. Look at John, look at what John Dotson's done. Dude's loving life right now. Why not Chalet is doing really well.

Like I know he's still a really good band. but he loves fighting in Japan. It's just a cool different thing. I've talked to like over the years, I've talked to like you have former UFC fighters who got released and you're just like, well, what do you want to do now? And all of them say, without hesitation,

well, I would love to do this, but if I had the choice, I would go fight in Japan. I'd go fight for Rising because they just want to experience that. And there's something different there. So no, do I think there'll be like, in the conversations with the ones and the Bellator's and the PFLs and the

FCs, no, but I don't want them to be out. When you try to get too big, that's when you start running into problems, just like ECW did. ECW tried to become too big. They got on TV, and then everything fell apart. So let's just keep them, they're very, rides pretty damn successful over there. People, they go out and sell out Saitama all the time,

and people love going to those cards and fans who go and watch it, love it. So it's just another option. It's a different kind of a vibe than watching UFC or Bellator or, you know, one's a different kind of vibe. Not for everybody, but it's a different kind of vibe. PFL, with all their shortcomings,

and boy, there are a lot of them, they do something a little bit different. And difference's good. Difference good for all of us. I know it's tough to keep up with everything, but I kind of like Rise and just be in the, just a fun, hardcore promotion in a lot of respects. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

All right, everybody. Thank you very much. We are done. You all are the best. So Wayne's going on right now. Check it out, M.A. Fighting YouTube channel. So we'll see everything that goes down there.

We will have a UFC 291 preview show live on the YouTube channel. 2.30 p.m. Eastern time, 11.30 a.m. Pacific. It'll be myself, Shaheen Al-Shadi, and my best friend, A.K. Lee, talking all things, UFC 291. Tomorrow morning on a plane to New York, we will have the People's Pre-Fight show before UFC 291, 545 p.m. Eastern, myself and E. Casey Leiden. And then on to the Vox Media Studios, joining up with my man, G.C. for the UFC 291 watch party. I cannot wait.

It is going to be incredible. I don't feel like shit. I don't have strep throat, which is even better because that's what happened the last time I was there. So I'm going to be jovial and ready and excited and fired up. AK and I would back on Sunday for on to the next one. And then I fly home and then Monday I'm home. And then Tuesday off to Dallas, myself and the entire M.M.A. I recruit to get you ready for Jake Paul.

versus Nate Diaz. We've got UFC Nashville next week. There's just so much shit going on. So thanks for sticking with us. No show Tuesday, by the way. Just can't make it happen. It's a travel day. So it's just impossible to do.

So we'll be back on this show. Likely Thursday? I don't know. We'll figure it out. I'll let you guys know. But thank you all very much. Enjoy the fights this weekend. Have a heck of a morning.