MMA Fighting - HOAM | Final Countdown To UFC 284; Plus, Amanda Guerra Joins the Show

Episode Date: February 10, 2023

We are one the eve of a massive champion vs. champion fight for the UFC lightweight title between Islam Makhachev and featherweight titleholder Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 284. With just weigh-ins left to get through, the final countdown to the pay-per-view event is on. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck talks the big fight between Makhachev and Volkanovski, along with the star-making potential of the bout for both guys. Additionally, listener questions include what could make 2023 the biggest blockbuster year for the UFC ever, how Conor McGregor factors into that, Francis Ngannou's options in boxing and MMA, other notable bouts on the UFC 284 card including the interim title fight between Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett, Jack Maddalena vs. Randy Brown, and more. Plus, in a podcast exclusive, Bellator MMA desk host and CBS Sports reporter Amanda Guerra joins the program (1:16:54) to discuss her career, how she found herself on the desk for a major MMA organization, Bellator providing a family atmosphere, being in attendance for the final fight of Fedor Emelianenko's career, memorable moments between John McCarthy and Brennan Ward leading in the latter's big moment at Bellator 290, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the M.M.A fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show at it's a tired of it thereafter on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a wonderful Friday. We are on the eve of UFC 284 and the big title fight between Islam Makachef and Alexander Volcanowski. We all know the stakes. We all know what is involved.

The fight rules. It's going to be massive. UFC's return to Perth. I'm very excited for it. Don't forget, watch party tomorrow. 9.45 p.m. Eastern, myself, my man G.C. It's going to be very festive, I am told. So make sure you tune in for that. It's going to be a lot of fun. A couple of things I want to reveal before we get rolling here. If you're listening on the podcast feed, if you're listening live, you're not going to get this, but if you listen after the fact, after we do the whole sports radio thing here, you will hear my interview with a man. I talked to her yesterday. She is the desk host for Bellator MMA.

She was on the desk this past Saturday. And she does just a fantastic job. She's in Phoenix for the Super Bowl and gave me almost a half an hour of her time during just an incredibly busy week. And I could have talked to her for another two hours about broadcasting and other stuff. But she's awesome. So you'll get to hear that conversation afterwards. And then later on today, we're still. figuring out the time, I think it's going to be 3 p.m. Eastern for our live UFC 284 preview show.

It's giving you myself, my best friend, Alexander Kay Lee, and we will have a very special guest joining us, someone who probably has some insight to these two fights for the most part. Mr. Calvin Cater is going to join us. He is going to hop on in and preview the main event. He'll preview the co-made event for the interim featherway title between. Yaya Rodriguez and Josh Emmett. Of course, he fought Josh Emmett last year, lost a pretty controversial split decision. So we'll get some fighter insights, some featherweight insight from the Boston finisher himself. And of course, he's the headman over at Combat Zone MMA, and they have a big card coming up in a few weeks. And Dana White and company, they're going to be there to film

looking for a fight. So a lot going on for Calvin Cater. We'll talk about his injuries, see where he's at with that, and so much more. So let's get into this. I think we've gotten all the things out of the way. It's a free-for-all Friday. We can talk about UFC 284.

We could talk about MMA. We can talk about pro wrestling. We can talk about anything. So let's do the damn thing. Toke is first on my list, so that's where we're going. Toke, hello. on your Boston accent when you asked them. So that got him going.

But anyways, what I want to talk about, I want to go a bit off the rails. Not a lot. I just want to know from you, what would it take for this to be the biggest UFC year in their history? What I mean by that is, of course, we know when we talk about the iconic years in UFC, we talk about, you know, 2016 with Clana McGregor, champ champ stuff, all that jazz. And I just want to know what could UFC,

what would it take for the UFC this year to top that? Would it take two John Jones fights and two McGregor fights and Adasagna twice maybe or something? What would it take for this to be the biggest year in terms of big fights for the UFC. That's just what I want you to elaborate on.

Have a heck of a Friday, Mike, and a heck of a weekend when you get there. Thanks, buddy. So the cater thing is pretty funny because I reached out to his manager last night because we were trying to figure, the schedule and the time difference with Perth and all the things that are happening,

I mean, the press conference last night, I think it was like at 3 a.m. Eastern time. So we obviously have people staying up for that, and then we have the way-ins. They're at different times. So there's only so many people who are actually like on. So it's just a matter of getting the pieces put in place. And AK jumped aboard.

So I was like, eh, but you know, maybe I'll try to get a fighter on. So I reached out to Calvin's manager at the great Tyson Chartier. And I was like, would Calvin be interested in hopping on a preview? I figure he would have some really good insight. We'll talk about his combat zone card coming up. And said, alas, this morning he goes, Calvin's response was, Tell your little brother, I said, I'm in. Because apparently me and Tyson look alike because we have bald heads and not a ton of facial hair.

But I thought that was very funny. And I responded with, thanks, big bro, to Tyson when we confirmed. So, yeah, that was very cool. Oh, man. It's got to be as far as like box office and big fights for 2020. to be one of the biggest years ever. I mean, I think they're off to a pretty good start. Getting John Jones back is obviously a step in the right direction.

Getting Connor back is a huge step in the right direction. I would say, I don't think you're going to get two Connor fights. I mean, maybe. Maybe he goes in there and just melts Chandler in 30 seconds and doesn't suffer a lot of injuries. And maybe they can squeeze them back in for another one before the year is over, potentially a title fight. So I would say that would be a big thing.

Connor beating Michael Chandler, that fight happening before the winter solstice would probably be a good thing. And then trying to get Connor back potentially for a title fight, whether it's deserved or not, that would be pretty big. Another thing that I think would be helpful in terms of box office and interest. and a lot of you may not agree with this, but I'm telling you right now, this would be massive if it happens. If Leon Edwards beats Kamara Usman and Jorge Mazadol beats Gilbert Burns,

that is going to be a gigantic fight. And that's the absolutely, unequivocally the fight they're going to make. If they can get Hamzaa Shemayev in there against Colby or Whitaker, and then Hamzok gets a title shot in either division, that's going to be huge. I think keeping him active is going to be very big.

and those are probably like the bigger storylines involved. I mean, they have stars, and I probably just named the majority of them. They have very popular fighters, but like Max Holloway is a very popular fighter, but he's not, he's probably not going to be fighting for any titles, probably not could be main eventing any cards

that are on pay-per-view. He's obviously fighting Arlen Allen, so it would be a very tough fight. So I think that would help. In terms of like actual newsworthy storylines, man, this is, I mean, 2016 is the craziest year ever in MMA. I know Aeros talked about it on the MAA. I've talked about it here. That'd be just a tremendous 30 for 30.

A tremendous doc just on Connor Nate, that whole thing all the way up until maybe the end of the year when Nunes beat Ronda Rouse. that was it was just a gigantic year for the company so big so many memorable moments then the company was sold everything that happened with ufc 200 and john jones and all that um it was just a crazy newsworthy year and i feel like this one if the box office can kind of match the potential of some of these news stories 2023 probably has the best chance of catching 2016 and what i mean by that is I know the Dana thing happened on New Year's Eve, and that was a huge story. It's kind of gotten swept away a bit, but that's still a very big story. And then we still have to figure out what's going to happen with this whole James Krause situation, which is still developing and ongoing. And I have a feeling once that gets all finalized, I think that story is just going to be mind-blowing.

when it's all sent and done, but there's still like a lot of pieces that need to be put together in this, and it could take, it could take some time. It could be a thing we may not even get a resolution on before this year is over. So, yeah, as far as fights go,

I think what I just mentioned would be big. Getting Connor in there twice would be huge. He's obviously the biggest star in the sport. And then who knows what they do with, in the free agency department. Maybe, who knows? Maybe Francis goes in boxes and comes back. I mean, that'd be pretty friggin' big.

Maybe Nate Diaz has a change of heart. And he wants to come back. I don't know. But as far as the fights go, I think what I mentioned would be very helpful. And then we'll just kind of go from there. Let's go to Mikey. Hi, Mikey. Are you there?

Yeah, what's up, Mikey? How are you? There we go. Good, how are you? Good morning, everybody else. I just had to turn my speaker off and put my mic back on. But actually, yeah, I just wanted to, rip off a little bit from what I spoke of yesterday.

Obviously, I don't know if you watch the presser. I just finished watching the presser. And again, I know it's like a false equivalency of sorts, but man, when you watch the presser and you see the turnout for that, and then you hear the rumblings on social. Is this card promoted enough? I'm like, in Perth, it seems like they did the job. That place is going to be nuts during the card.

If it's any indication, there were a lot of people at the press conference. It's like almost, I use this term loosely, Conner-like, you know, where it was like, because the last couple of presses I've been to here in Vegas, not the most, you know, not the most robust amount of people there. This, that's, that, they, it looked like half the arena was filled for the press conference. And let's be honest, not a lot really happened in the presser. I mean, you have a bunch of guys who are kind of really vanilla in terms of their mic skills and promo skills.

Of course, you know, Volcanowski's over soaking in all in, but relatively, you know, none of those guys are trash talkers but in that crowd there they were fiend in for for obvious reasons they haven't had the card anywhere in Australia in about four years but yeah man it's going to be interesting to see the atmosphere fight night or fight morning there because it's going to be nuts and you know people keep again keep bringing up about the promotion it's like I think the UFC did their job man that place is going to be sold out and as we talked about now as far as the big commercial year for the UFC I think it's such a loaded question right because it almost feels unfair because 2016 haven't been, you know,

lived that, I don't know how many newer fans are around, but if you were around then, that was kind of one of those perfect storm things. I mean, you had, you know, Brock Lesnar coming back and the John Jones thing, you know, getting exed out of UFC 200 at the last second. I mean, there was a lot of things that occurred that you didn't foresee happening that were just kind of like

it just fell into, you know, heck, even the Nate Diaz, Colin Regger's up. That just fell into everyone's lap. I mean, that wasn't supposed to happen that way. I mean, and to try and prognosicate that for 23, to try to replicate it feels so unfair because the best thing about MMA is when stuff we don't plan on happens, you know? I mean, and you just touched on it.

I was going to get to that. It's funny how everyone, a lot of the reaction to the Gilbert Burns, Corey Moves, all the things like, why is that fight being made? Gilbert's a better fighter, all exactly. And it's like, the point is, for. Mazvedal. It's in Miami. It's set up, and I use that term loosely, set up in terms of like, it's now time for Jorge to, you know, come up clutch. He's going to get a title shot if he beats Gilbert Burns. I have no doubt about it because it's like when you see how it's set up,

it's clearly set up for him. And plus, as I've always argued, I wouldn't even mind it if he actually got the title shot right now against Leon Edwards, because again, you want to say he's lost three in a row, that's fine. But those three losses in a row were to Kamaru and Kobe Cuffington, you know, by comparison, he does, he has a just more justifiable argument for getting a title shot off losses than Connor does, you know, because Conner's losses are just like random, not random, you know, he lost to Dustin Poir and all that stuff, but it's like random, his is too, you know, inconsistent. It's like he fought cowboy, then he fought Habib, and took a year off, all this other stuff, and then fought Dustin Poet twice, and it's like, you know,

but Jorge, Jorge, was actually fighting consistent. contenders, you know, so I don't, I don't see why he wouldn't have gotten a towel shot. Do I necessarily think it's the right call? No, but we also can't stop ignoring the elephant in the room, which is being able to draw his merit. It just is. In fight sports, in combat sports, being able to draw attention matters. I don't care how many losses. You know, and within reason, we're not talking about a person on a six-fight losing streak. You know what I mean? Like, Jorge's fighting the best of the division. He's losing, but at least he's fighting the best. And that's a lot better than some people on winning streets fighting nobody's.

You know what I mean? So that'll be all for me today, guys. Have a good one. Be kind. Thanks, man. Yeah. I mean, I don't think if Jorge, if Jorge wins and Usman wins, I don't think that fight happens. I think Mazadal, if Mazadol wins, he'll probably fight Leon Edwards no matter what.

So if he wants to Leon fight and he wants to get a big opportunity, beating Gilbert gets him there. So I think if he wins, he'll fight Leon no matter what. And if Leon beats Usman, then they'll fly for the belt. But if Usen wins, they're not going to do, I don't think they're going to do Usen Mazol 3. Because I don't think it goes much differently than the first two fights, if we're being honest. And as far as the promotion goes, I mean, we've talked about this a lot. This is just what the UFC has done.

They are not under promoting this card compared to the last few pay-per-views. They're just not. 281's a little different. They're in New York. It's MSG. it's a whole different thing. A lot more star power across the board, if we're being honest. More casual appeal.

Don't have a ton of that here. This is a card for Perth. This is to sell out the building. And the hardcore fans are in. And that's how the UFC promotes a lot of things. They know the hardcore fans are in. They know we're going to watch, especially these fights. And at the end of the day, when there is casual appeal,

then you will see more promotion. When Connor fights Michael Chandler, they'll be promoting that fight for three months. Like when they actually announce a date for that, they're going to promote the hell out of it. They've been promoting the John Jones-Cer-O-Gon fight more than this one. Why? Because people know who John Jones is. They don't know who Islam Akachev is. They don't know who Alexander Bolkanovsky is.

The casual sports fan has no idea who those two guys are. Now, I will say, because of the greatness of those two guys, they deserve better. They deserve better. And if you want to get some casual appeal, embedded and countdown and all that stuff, we have very short attention spans. So if you want to do like a three-minute clip on social media, talking the rise of Alexander Volcanowski, even when he won the belt and go through the Holloway stuff and the perfect game against zombie

and then the even more perfect game against Holloway in July, cool. You want to tell the Mokachev story? Cool. but you got to do a little bit better putting these two guys over because at the end of the day you want the winner of this fight to become a star

to get casual appeal and if Malkachev wins I don't think he'll get that but if Volkovsky wins there's a strong chance you could get that so I think it's important to tell their stories even if it's not like buy this pay-per-view right now

put a little clip of Volk put them over put a little clip of Mokachev put him over I think these two guys deserved better. But as far as like pay-per-view promotion goes, it's the same. It's exactly the same as it has been for years. It has been. The only thing that is different about this is that you're seeing a bunch of power slap stuff because they want to try to get that over.

And like I said, to me, I feel like this is not a TBS paid them to be on the spot type of thing. This is a UFC paid TBS to be on that spot type of thing. so they want that to succeed so that at the end of the day they can get money to be on that network moving forward. Not a great start for them. The latest ratings came in and I knew as soon as I saw AEW's ratings, it was going to be a tough hang for PowerSlapp and I think they had their lowest ratings ever. They were like 68th, which is just not good. Not good.

They're losing people every week. So without a strong AEW in the AEW, show was pretty bad. I mean, they had some, the MJF match was great, the Daniels match was great, but everything else was just bad. And I apologize

for those who wanted to see the ratings tank. And I feel like I'm part of maybe like 15 or 20% of people that were part of that 275,000. I fell asleep watching AEW. And I woke up and PowerSlapp was already over. So I, unfortunately,

was part of that rating scale, but I didn't watch a single second of it. So that's where we're at right now. But the promotion is the same. I mean, they've literally been doing this since the ESPN deal, unless there's a ton of casual appeal, which this one does not, but we'll see what happens. Let's see if Volcan get over and become a big star. With MX 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. Okay, only 10 more

presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line, but first there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. Rafi, hello. Hey, Mike, how you're doing?

Good, how are you? I'm good. So my question for you is, how do you see tomorrow the Volcanova's a fight going and what about the co-main

Josh Emmett versus Yaya Rodriguez? I feel pretty confident Yaya Rodriguez will win. No disrespect

to Josh Emmett just getting to this point. He's gone through a lot, just a slew of injuries over the years. He's been at this

for a while and I remember when I first started getting into the sport and started covering it and doing interviews. One of the first interviews I had was with

Uriah Faber. it's probably like one of my first eight or nine interviews. He gave me some time and he told me about about this guy on the come-up named Josh Emmett. Wait till he gets to the UFC. I'm telling you, this guy's incredible. His skill sets amazing. He's just had a lot of bad luck with injuries.

And it's been like that his entire career. So to see him get to this spot, being a co-main event, being a title fight, massive for him. I just feel like, yeah, year's better. I feel like I don't think Josh, I mean, Josh hits like a, Josh hits like a truck, but I think Yaiyir has been in there with guys who hit harder and hit more often.

And I feel like his durability will hold up. And I feel like Josh Jemann gets hit a ton. Like I feel like he gets hit a lot. Even though he's gotten more defensively savvy as each of these fights have gone on, I do feel like Yaya has the advantage. And I feel like Yaya is going to get a finish in this fight. I think Yaya could go to the body here.

because Josh, Josh isn't a large, like, tall man, but he's a bricked out guy. And he's getting up there, man. Like, he's getting up there in age. And this could be like a nasty spitting back kick to the liver type finish. But I will go with the IA.E. Rodriguez, the main event. I'm leaning Mokachev. I just think the size is going to be too much.

Like, I know Volk is strong as hell. And he's, he's fought welterweights. He's fought welterweights. I just feel like, I don't know. I mean, I have been leaning more towards Volk. I feel like as the breakdown and the time has progressed, I feel like Volk has more ways to win than just, well, if he keeps it standing, he'll win. I think there's a little more to that.

It just depends. Makachat, you're talking about two very patient, high IQ fighters who don't take a ton of risk and when you have that someone's going to eventually make a mistake and Volk is so good at fainting and catching people off guard and making people guessed wrong and he's so good at that especially with his with his striking it's amazing and Makachev is just a gorilla man once he gets a hold of you he gets a body lock on it you're going down like you're going to the ground. There's nothing you can do. Now, can Volk get up? I think he'll be able to do that for a little while, but I think his time goes on. We'll see how his body holds up. We'll see how

that gas tank holds up. I will lean Makachev because of the strength advantage and being bigger and having that capability and that style to just wear on dudes. I don't think he's going to go in there and try to knock Volcanovsky out as much as he says he's going to. I think that's a pretty bad strategy, if we're being honest, but I do think Makachchev will end up winning a decision, but that could change by tomorrow because each passing minute, each passing day, I look at Volkanowski as someone who can create an incredible moment. So Henry, what's up?

For morning, man. You too. Yeah, I just want to start off with with speaking about Israel Adasano because I feel like he's kind of had a weird career in terms of his star trajectory because obviously in 2019 he looked like he was off to the moon after the Whittaker title win and the Gastilin fight but obviously the Yo-Romero fight

didn't help and then he went back to the Costa fight and it was all kind of strange and I could never really gauge sort of what level of star is he was and I feel like this ties in nicely to what he's going to do post Pereira rematch because if he loses

is he going to be in that territory where he's in that Max Holloway kind of like no man's land like where does he go does he move to 205 does he stay at 185 so yeah i'm just kind of interested to see your thoughts and where is he would kind of go does he fight like the roman deliz days of the world or yeah i'm kind of curious to know about that thanks ma'am yeah it's i mean it's good question the thing about the thing about at asanya is that he's fought like everybody he's like when we talk about cleaning out divisions

We talked about this a lot on BTL yesterday. I think everybody loves this main event tomorrow. Jed Mishu doesn't love it, love it. I think on paper he likes it. It's a compelling matchup, but he just feels like it's too soon to do this fight because in his eyes, champ champ fights and moving up divisions

and taking these kinds of chances, you should have to clean out your division. So there's nobody left before you do that. And Adasanya has almost, that outside of his long-time nemesis. And he'll get the chance to get that one back. And if he wins, they'll probably do a third fight, depending on how it goes.

Like if Adasani just goes out there and just melts Pereira in the first round, that's a different story. But if it's another battle and they go to a decision or something like that, and Adasania wins, they'll probably do a third fight. So it's, if he loses, though, yeah, that's when things get interesting. I know, I mean, Drickus Duplice is on the way up. It's probably going to be one of those guys. I don't know if it'll be Roman DeLizze, but I think they see something in DDP.

I think they see, I mean, maybe he gets an Andremenis or something like that. I don't know. But, yeah, he's going to be in a really interesting spot if he loses again. And I think a lot of people are picking Alex Pereira to beat him again. I haven't really made my decision yet. My gut tells me Pereira just does it again. Like sometimes just as good as you are, some people just have your number. But I think, I think Adasandia is probably well aware he needs to put his foot on the gas a little bit more, be a little more of the hammer.

And I think if he does that, he's going to have a lot of success in this fight. But we'll see what happens. James, hello. Hey, heck of a morning to you, Mike. And early, happy birthday, too. Thank you. We're almost there. Right. And what, you're 40 knocking on the door.

Oh, yeah. I'm about to pick that lock right. Well, someone that's getting close to 40 himself. Hopefully your body's in better shape than mine. But I have a little idea that you and G.C. can do tomorrow for the main event. Maybe each one of you guys pick a fighter, and then the loser gets a smash kick in the face in honor of your 40th birthday. Just an idea throwing out there for you. But watching that press conference this morning, is there a better crowd in Australia?

I know London's up there and there's probably some other ones you can throw up there as well. But that crowd just seems electric and can't wait to kind of hear them on Saturday. And I know that you're kind of an NBA fan as well. So I got to ask you about LeBron's making his shot to become the all-time leader in point. Is it a big deal that Anthony Davis set down? It's a big deal, no big deal. Is the media making it a trying to make a big deal just for talking points? Just curiously hear your take on that.

And once again, Mike, happy birthday and enjoy the fights tomorrow. Have a heck of a morning. Thanks, man. Yeah, I don't think the cake smash is going to happen because all that does, it's a cool moment, but it also creates more work because then we have to clean it up and don't want Ariel walking in on Monday to like a bunch of cake frosting all over the floor. That ain't fair.

We have some fun things planned. G.C. is about as festive as it gets. He goes all out. All I have to do is just get there and G.C. just does so much work behind the scenes. All those guys do and I really appreciate that. It's going to be a lot of fun tomorrow. Still working on

something else, but I can assure you, we have two guests in line. The return to the watch party of Shaheen Al-Shadi he will join us for the co-made event, the interim title fight, and then New York, Rick will join us for the main event as per usual, and we're going to have some fun. And we'll see how it all plays up.

The Australian crowd's on fire, and we kind of expected this. We're hoping for more of this from the Brazilian crowd, and we got some of that in the build. We felt like they were rowdy, they were into it, and then by the time we got to fight night, they just didn't show up. A lot of it had to do with, like, the area of the card, a lot of it had to do with the ticket prices and all that. I don't think that's going to be an issue here. So, yeah, they're going to be rambunctious and ready to go.

And I think that kind of an atmosphere just makes any fight card better. Just makes any fight card better. Just like pro wrestling. When the crowd's into it and they're all fired up, it just makes all those shows better. And I feel like this crew will do just that. Four-Courner Sports. Hello. So, Shahino, Shottie's going to be one of the guys.

for the watchword, you said? He will. He will be joining us for the co-made event. I'm sure that man is ecstatic after we traded Kevin Durant towards the son, so hopefully he's enjoying that gift.

He is. What was I wanted to talk about? So, yeah, yesterday I asked about RDA for, what's the call? Trying to call out Bala, since Bala was making call out towards you know, he went

to fight Colby, Hobbs on it. RDA ended up retweeting saying, what about April? And Bala ended up saying I gotta pull it up exactly. I think it was Yeah, we too. Yeah, he just said, no, I'm trying to get a title shot. So, nope, thanks, but no, thanks, but no,

thanks, essentially. What do you think is next for RDA? I mean, he's in a weird position. He's always wanting up and down. I mean, the man takes the toughest fights out there. And what's like the, what's next for Colby at this point, if, you know, if Homs of goes up towards 185, I mean, he's going to be like in that, in like that weird position where he's going to be out of it.

I mean, what's next for Colby? All right. All right. That's what I wanted to ask. Thanks. I mean, I don't know. Colby, Colby is such a mystery at this point that until Dana White does his live thing in studio and announces something, I just, I don't know if he's going to, I don't know

when he's coming back or who he's going to fight. It's just, I don't know. But the longer, the more time that passes, the tougher the road gets. And that kind of leads me to RDA because the road ain't going to get much easier for that, man. I can tell you that right now because something tells me, and I have no insight to this whatsoever, but this is what my guess is. If Shafkat Rakabot Rakhvah Mottup just trucks,

Jeff Neal, which most people expect him to do, that could be the fight. They could do Shofcott versus RDA. I mean, RDA is not really in a position where he could say no. So that could be where he ends up going. And that ain't good for him. It'd be very good for Shafcott. But Shafcott's just going to have a hard time getting fights.

He's just going to have a real tough time. But guys like RDA, guys with names, former champions, that really aren't in positions to, to have power plays really where they could be like, nah, I want a guy in the top five. Artie doesn't really have that clout. But he has that name that can help get Schofcott over, and I think the UFC recognizes that.

So that might be the direction that he ends up going. But to your shot, man. I respect it. But that fight did nothing for Bala Muhammad. Just nothing. Todi, hello. Hi. What's up, man?

What's up? What do you got? What are you got? I'm doing a Q&A show, so ask a question, I'll answer it. Oh, okay. What's it, what does it take to be a UFC fighter? I don't want to know. I don't know.

I'm not a UFC fighter. But if you listen to the M.A. Hour and you go on our YouTube channel, there are many interviews with fighters that'll tell you all about it. Let's go to Emilio. What's up, ma'am? Yeah, hi, Mike. Thanks for having me. I got a couple.

Actually, I got one question, and that is basically, it's concerning the main event of this coming event, Islam against Volk. Specifically regarding Islam, what do you think his star power is? Because, I mean, Kabib, you know, when we talk about Islam, Islam, Kabib is usually not that far off from the conversation. And I feel like Khabib had a lot, like a couple of sound bites, like really good ones before the Conner fight. But so he was kind of a star in the making. And then the Conner fight just kind of just catapulted him to the stratosphere.

I just want to know your take on Islam's star potential. I mean, he seems like a relatively charismatic dude. I mean, yeah, he uses a lot of the tropes that Khabib did, you know, like smash this and whatnot. But I don't know. He's kind of grown on me, I have to say. So I want to hear your take on that. I mean, maybe with a potential conrified down the line. I mean, do you think the UFC would even make that?

I don't know. Just wanted to get your take on that. And also, yeah, with all due respect to the main event and the core main event, we all know who the real, like the people's main event, the real main event of this card is. Paca Pota, baby. That's it. Have a heck of a morning, Mike. Yeah.

Talk to you later. Thanks, buddy. Paca Porter, baby. I was telling G.C. that I'm pumped. We get a Pocka Porter fight on a watch. watch party and could be the only time ever. So this could be a very historic moment for all of us involved. But I'm looking forward to to that fight and watching Parker Porter just put on a pace.

Like it's just amazing the pace this man puts on. When you look at like his image and his physique, you don't think he puts on the type of pace that he puts on these heavyweights. But he can do it and that should be fun. Islam's star appeal. I mean, there's certainly interest in the man. Habib helped with that. There's no doubt about it. I think Habib got people over the hump

in terms of getting this fight on people's radar. Like, Habib's the one who called out Volkanowski after Makachovsky after and then Makachov just kind of did the thing after and built it up himself. The problem is, I don't think, like if Volkanovsky goes out there and beats Islam, like his, he's got to be a star.

He's got to get the rub. It's going to be massive. I don't think Machachev's going to get the same. I think Machachev will, in most, like the hardcore fans' eyes, he'll be, he'll be the dude, the number one pound for pound. It'll be number one pound for pound in everybody's rankings. But then, but I don't know. Like, what if John Jones goes out there and just melt Cyril gone?

Then there's going to be a case for him. to be the pound for pound guy because in a lot of people's eyes, he was the dude before he took all that time off. So, but Volk, I don't think, I don't know. I don't know. I feel like, like, Mokachev's, I'm not going to say he's in a lose-lose situation. I do feel like if he wins, he's not going to get the credit he deserves. He's going to get the, well, he's a featherweight, not that impressive.

Like, there's going to be a lot of people who are going to say that. And that's just not fair. but if Volk wins he's the dragon slayer and he's the man and he's going to get a reaction that is going to make him look like a superstar so i don't think this fight does that for makachev i think it helps in terms of moving him out of the sort of shadow of habib i think it's a nice step forward from that but this will not be i don't think this is a star making fight for makachev but I certainly think it could be for Volk.

I think Volk's kind of trending in that direction anyways, more than Makachev. But if Volk goes out there, wins his fight, yeah, he's off to the races. And I think Makachov can get there. I think there is certainly intrigue. There is charisma there. But I don't think this is a star-making fight for him.

Unless he just, unless he creates a highlight rail, unless he goes, if he goes out there and just knocks Volk out in 20 seconds, that's just going to be ridiculous and unexpected and nobody saw that coming. And that would be a huge moment for him. That's going to give him a step forward. But I don't think that's going to happen.

All right. Let's go take a journey to Degenerate University. Hey, Mike. I just kind of wanted to talk about, I felt like maybe like four years ago or so, it didn't really seem like any fighters were active on social, creating content, podcasts, whatnot. But now it feels like almost every fighter has some sort of social presence,

or is at least attempting to kind of be content creators, podcasts along those lines. So I just wanted from like a media perspective about that shift, right? So now fighters are becoming the content creators and almost asserting themselves into the media that way. I just kind of wanted to get your take on that, how you feel about that. Is that pressure from agents? Is that pressure for them to find a source of income?

come outside of fighting or just all the factors that kind of go into that. Yeah, it's an interesting time and I think it's very smart because they can't. I mean, obviously with all the sponsorship deals and the apparel deals, the opportunities to get sponsors for fights during fight weeks, they're not there anymore. They're not there anymore. Now you can go out and get sponsorships outside of it and do these things. and any chance you can pad your bank account, you got to take it.

And a lot of fighters, like a lot of fighters that I've talked to in particular about this very thing are just like, some love doing interviews and some will be happy to do it and they understand the platform and they just want to talk to people who understand what's going on. And then there are others that are just like, well, if I'm going to talk about the fights,

like I'll just do it myself and try to reap the benefits myself. And if you're a bigger star, you should do that. Like Izzy's channel, DC, I know he's on that. to fight her anymore. We started with Bisbing, So Hoodo's doing it, a whole bunch. And they should do it. They should do it. And on top of that, I think it's good reps. It's good reps.

Because your career ain't going to last forever is a very short window. And maybe you just love the sport so much that you may not want to fight anymore, but maybe you just want to talk about it. Maybe you want to be on a broadcast team. Maybe you want to be on the desk for the UFC. You got to do these things to get reps. And yeah, like in a lot of people, like, there's a shift everywhere. There's always shifts in whatever space you're in.

And like, think about it from my perspective. Like when I got to MA fighting, what I was doing then is much different than what I'm doing now. I wasn't doing shows like this. I was doing the interview show. I was doing, it was what the heck. That's what it was called. I forgot. We did what the heck.

And it was basically like a prerequisite. recorded interview show that we just blasted out all together. And I was the interview guy for a while. And I would host the other, I would host Btl and do the preview and post show and stuff like that. So that has really changed. But then Ariel came back and it kind of shifted things for me. Like what do I have to do?

And it was easy. It was pretty easy. Like still, I could still do interviews when I want. We tried some different things to see how they would play out. And it turned out what I enjoyed doing more was, doing this show than doing interviews. And I still do them, but I'm a little more choosy about them.

I'll do certain things. Like if Bellator has some interesting stories, I'll do those. If there's certain names that come my way, I'll do them. And you just got to shift with it. So, and fighters are learning that themselves. There is, this is a baby of a sport. And although the sport is growing at a ridiculous pace, it's nowhere near where it could be.

And the opportunities in the sport, there's going to be a lot more of them in the next five to ten years, depending on what happens with these organizations. Can PFL maintain the momentum? Can Belator maintain momentum? Can one do what they need to do? Will there be a new promotion that emerges and does something?

And if that happens, that's good for everybody. It's good for the fighters. It's good for the media members. is good for everybody. So yeah, I think they're very smart to do this. And some are very good at it. Some are not so great at it. But again, it's about the reps.

It's about practicing and getting better and figuring out what works for you. So I think it's very smart. I don't think there's necessarily pressure on them to make more money. I just think to them, they're especially the bigger stars, why go do interviews when you can just talk about the fight yourself? and make money doing it. So yeah, I think it's a, it's an interesting shift. I'm surprised it didn't.

This is a shift that took so long to get here for being honest. But it's a good question. And a lot of people are noticing that as well. New York, Rick. Hello. Heck of a morning, Mike. How are you?

Good. How are you? Fantastic. Just happy to be here. One underrepresented, I heard you talking about you know, the potential gain and loss for Islam Makachev and being in a difficult position. I agree with you and I can appreciate that position. There's one under-discussed or under-appreciated element of this that I think has kind of flown under the radar, which is the top pound-for-pound spot is often not up for grabs,

is often not available because whoever is in that spot tends to stay there until they lose. That's just the nature of how that's gone. Once somebody becomes established, it's very hard to kind of shift them off that position. So from Islam Makachev's perspective, I think it's brilliant to be fighting Volkanowski, regardless of whether he'll get credit for the individual win. What he's essentially done is removed Volcanowski from the top spot if he wins, and now he will be implanted there for a very long time, theoretically, unless he loses. Now, you raise the John Jones point.

I could see a world where if John Jones comes back and goes on a nice run that he could supplant Islam at the top, assuming that Islam wins. But I do think it was brilliant strategically to kind of eliminate the number one pound for pound potentially to put himself in there. Because as I said, movement at that very top is very difficult. And by eliminating Volcanowski, he could hold that spot for a long time. Something that Habib, his mentor, was never really able to do until the end. he could get that out of the way early. So I think that's strategically interesting. Along those same lines, when it comes to the actual fight itself,

and this was the discussion I was having with our colleagues, Jed Mishu and Casey Leiden, Liden, Volcanowski tends to get credit as very smart and like an expert strategist, whereas Islam Makachev doesn't. But if you look at the tape, if you study them, I would dare to venture that Islam is just as strategically masterful and just as smart as a strategist when it comes to the fight game. Why do you think that is?

Why do you think that Volcanovsky tends to get that credit, whereas somebody like Islam wouldn't? That's a great question. And I feel like these are the, if we're talking fight IQ, these are the two best in the sport right now. these are the two best to me. I think that it's a little more prevalent for Volk because, like, especially with the recent run that both guys have had, like,

Makachev's just killing everybody. Like, he's just murkered him. His fights aren't really competitive at all. But with Volk, like, we've seen him in some wars. Like, the first two Holloway fights,

I thought the first one was, clear, a clear win, but you saw the fight IQ and Burge. You saw different movements. You saw strategy sort of changed. The elements of his game change. And then he saw it again in the second fight. You saw it more so in the second fight, where he lost the first two rounds, and he had to figure it out on the fly.

Like Holloway looked freaking amazing in those first two rounds. And then Volt just shut his ass down. And we got to see it. And we got to see it. And we got to see it. And we got to remember it. and especially when you break down a fight that that was that was that close that was so divisive because I remember the first time that like I just got blasted on social media

when I got on them fighting was all I said was Volcanowski beating Holloway was not a robbery and holy smokes I got absolutely annihilated And if you go back and watch that fight in its own vacuum, it's not a robbery. Volk won that fight. Volk won three, four, and five. Got killed for that. And if you go back and watch it now,

you'll see why. You'll see the adjustments that he makes. So I don't, I'm with you. I don't think Machachev gets enough credit for that because he just kills everybody. So his fights are not competitive, while Volks are a little more competitive. Not the last two fights.

The last two fights, Volt just blew the doors off of Creighton zombie. And maybe three fights. Like he made a mistake in the Ortega fight, almost got caught. But every other minute of that fight, Volt was beaten the hell out of Brian Ortega. And then he made a mistake. But the last, I mean, then the zombie fight was incredible. And then the Holloway win was unbelievable. That might be the best single performance I've ever seen inside the UFC's octagon.

gone or ever in the sport like individual performance from start to finish that was that's a perfect game the man pitched a perfect game and mokachev hasn't really needed to pitch a perfect game uh he's happy just going out there and striking out the first six dudes and the team just is like all right i'm done we already know where this is going so it's a it's a little bit different um yeah i and and i agree with you on the pound for pom think it's very smart it's very smart it's very smart. And I think the timing of this is perfect because if Makachep did this 18 months ago, it's not as,

it's not as clear cut. And he's probably not the number one guy if he beats Volk. He's probably the number two guy because Usman's up there doing his thing. But what's been interesting about doing the ranking is that we have these conversations and we saw the pound for pound spot being disputed many times over the last 18th. months because Usen was the guy and who was just beating everybody and then we saw Volcanovsky emerged and seeing the

types of performances he was putting on. I might have been the first person to put Volk above Usman. I could be wrong, but I was quick to do that. I was quick to put Schifchenko over Amanda Nunes, even though Nunes, and this is even before she lost to

Juliana Pena. I just feel like reps and wins and you get an inch closer and closer to that, spot. If the number one pound for bound guy hasn't fought in 18 months, but the number two pound for bond guy has fought three times and got three dominant wins, you're getting the spot. You're getting the spot in my rankings. So, and then I think a lot of people jumped on board after that. And you could have made a strong case for Adasania getting that spot too, because he cleaned out a lot of his division. It was getting dominant wins. It may not have been the most

aesthetically pleasing, but they weren't really competitive fights. But this is this, the timing is really good. The timing is really good. But it will be interesting to see what happens if Jones comes back and has a great performance, how long people will say Machachev is the pound for pound number one. Or if Usman

wins back the welterweight title. I don't know. But I think strategically right now, it is a good move. It is a good move. Fighting Volcanowski right now does far more for his Lamakchev than fighting Benil Darius. And he's kind of the lone man. out and it ain't really fair, but

this is a better move for Machachev and his future. 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

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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 tread plus at OnePeloton.C.A. Brian, hello. Hi, Mike. How you doing? So two things I wanted to touch on.

One, I kind of want to go into a pass a little bit. I had a baseball coach always tell me you need a reality check. And I wanted to thank you for giving me that two weeks ago because I made the fatal mistake of believing a fight that was not on the MMA fighting website. And thank God we got Cheeto and San Hagan for the San Antonio, UFC fight night. So I wanted to apologize to the best website on the planet, mMAfighting.com. And that was a good reality check.

So I thank you as well. But my question here, what would you say is the biggest sleeper? I know it's like the typical question. I'm on this Australia card. A lot of fun like contender bouts, but for the most part, not too many big names. Which one besides like, you know, the JDM, Randy Brown, Rudeboy fight, are you looking forward to the most? Thanks, Mike. that is a good question um i think a lot of these like i think a lot of these fights are going to be fun

there's not a lot of big names there's not a ton of big names on it there's not a ton of stars on it um but if you just take that out of the equation you're gonna have some fun competitive fights so let me just pull up the card and let me see what uh what really stands out to me that's got to be really fun i mean croup manofield's gonna be they're just gonna beat the shit out of each other. These are going to be two men, two men just throwing hands and feet until somebody falls.

Malarkey Prado is going to be fun. That's going to be a fun one. Clitzen Rodriguez, Shannon Ross, I think we'll get a quick finish there one way or the other. Kulabal Baghdasarian's going to be pretty fun and interesting, especially if it goes deep.

And then obviously there's a lot of story with the Tyson-Padro and Modestus Poccus fight. but I would say to me Marlarchy Prado is going to be fun because Prado has that sort of Bruno Ferreira

to him where he could just come in and just knock that dude out and it'd be kind of a shocker undefeated guy hasn't fought like the who's who but just goes out there and has a moment so there's a chance there but Crut Mena Field

I just feel like is guaranteed five minutes or less and I hope I didn't just jinx it but but I feel pretty confident that one's not getting out of the first five Barbara Roussea hello hi Mike I hope you are having a nice day I want to ask you about Francis Singano I see I saw that even right now he was called out by what's his name the guy who lost two times. Water. Exactly.

And he's in a very good spot right now. And the call-out was really great. One fight in boxing and the other fight in MMA. I don't know if he's going to hold to his word. But he's in a very good spot. He was called out from the three most famous heavyweights right now. on the other. You have Tyson Fury and Joshua, it was not directly, but by his manager. And now we have Wilder. I think he's in a very good spot. If you were his manager,

what would you advise him, which fight to take? I think the Wilder fight is the best one, because he will automatically have two fights. He can make money. And any fight is more possible to win. I know it's a little chance for every fight because it's a boxing, but better than Tyson, Tyson, Fury, because it's going to be really bad for him. And the second part, do you think he should wait for to sign with anybody till the Jones and Cyril Gunn fight happened? Because if Cyril Gan wins, he can talk to the casual media. I know the hardcore fans know that MMA maths don't work, but he can say, you see this, this is the greatest of all time in MMA, and I've beaten the guy who beaten him, this is why his talk will rise and he can

get a bigger fight. Thank you, Mike. Yeah, so the second part, I don't think it really matters. Like, if Gahn wins, I think that's not great for Gano. like yeah it boosts his stock a little bit um but bengano's not the kind of guy has to be like congratulations son it's not not really his style he'll he'll be classy about it and say congrats your you're you're the champ but you're not the undisputed champ because i'm that dude he might say that um as far as him signing like i don't know i saw someone point out that uh one of the

pfl reps i think it was peter marie i forget maybe was an insider and they're like they're saying that the talks with Francis are going really well. And then people were reacting like, I got a bunch of like DMs about it. Oh, it seems like he might go to PFL. I mean, if you're a promoter right now of any MMA organization or, you know, even if it's BKFC, and you are asked about Francis and Ghanu and you've had any conversation with him at all. Like if you texted him high and he texted you high back, you were going to go to the media and be like, oh my God, we had just had the greatest conversation ever.

So you could put the pressure on everybody else. You want to keep everybody else guessing right now. So of course. Like if him and Peter Mari just like ran into each other at Starbucks and Francis said, hello, Peter, and he said hello back, if I'm Peter Mari, be like, yeah, the talks with France are going great. They're so positive right now. That's what you should be doing.

So I don't know where he's going to sign. I do feel like Bellator is the best place for him because of the. the Showtime boxing. So if you want to scratch that itch, they can. And Showtime has co-promoted and joined forces with big names too. So it's not of the realm of possibility that they could maybe get a Deonti Wilder fight or any of these other ones. So I would say Wilder is probably the best choice for him right now.

I mean, you can't go wrong either way. But him Wilder are just going to stand there and throw heavy hands at each other and someone's going to fall. And then Gander's probably not going to. to win that fight. I don't think Wilder is going to fight him in MMA. Like, I think that's just a thing to say. I don't think, I mean, why would he do that?

Why would you do that? You give Deonté Wilder four years to prepare for that. And Angana will just take him down and sit on him and beat the shit out of him. Like, why would he want to do that to himself? That makes no sense. So, yeah, but you're right. He is in a very, very good spot right now. I'm curious to see where that ends up for him.

Let's go to Brock. What's up, Brock? Brock, are you there? Let's try Missoum. Massum are you there? If I had you, then you muted yourself. Massume, you're muted. Hi, I want to ask if Max Holloway, I mean, Volkanowski, becomes, beats Islam, and then he moves up a division to the,

World away and then becomes a champion does he leave the featherway and Max Holloway becomes champion and could you see him leave and yeah thanks man no I don't think he goes up to

170 at least not anytime soon I know he said like I've been talking about this for a while I know he says that he wants to keep boat divisions busy and he wants to stay active and he wants to go back and forth. I just don't see it. I just don't see it.

Why would Volcanovsky, after beating Islam-Lakachev want to go back to 145? Why? I don't, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. So he could say what he wants, and he should say that. And I think a lot of these fighters speak with their hearts, and their heart tells them, I'm going to go bounce up and down. I'm going to be that person who goes up and down divisions and I never stop until I'm done. I just don't see it.

Like the biggest fights for Volkanowski are at 155. They're, they're, they're, you can name it almost anybody at 55 and they are bigger fights than Yair or Josh. Those are co-main event fights for Volk right now. They just are. And I'm not trying to say this to be mean. but it's a star potential. If Volk has the choice of fighting Connor McGregor or

Dustin Porre or Michael Chandler or Justin Gaichy or those guys at 155 to make all that money in a main event spot, why would you go back down? Why would you go back down? That's why I think it's very smart to do this

interim title fight because if Volk does win and he does stay at 155, which my guess would be he would, then you have a champion. If Josh Emmett wins, he's the champion. If Iro Rodriguez wins, he's the champion. On the island and Max Holloway are going to fight. And if no matter who wins, they'll fight one of those dudes for the title.

And I think that's better. I think it puts the division in a better place. And we can just move on. But yeah, I don't think he's going to 170. maybe he'll try it but that's something that's going to happen down the line like Volk's not a young buck so if he's got to do it the clock's ticking but he's got to rattle off some defenses at 55 first but all the money fights are 55 for him all of them he might he might get the chance to fight Connor McGregor why would he want to go back to 45 I don't

understand Anthony hello yo heck of a morning you just wanted to ask question because I kind of I was thinking this this pound for pound is on the line but is it really like saying Volcanowski goes out there and loses a split decision or maybe it's like two to two going into the four or going into the fifth like maybe he doesn't lose that pound for pound in my eyes he wouldn't and uh oh yeah prayers for New York rig man ain't nothing wrong with him he just got he just got mysterious frank this week Oh, man. That's funny. Look, I think if it's a close competitive fight,

the UFC is going to present it as such that Makachev is the number one guy. But that doesn't mean he's going to be the number one guy in the NBA fighting global rankings. I guess, I guess unanimously. If Mokachev wins, I'm probably putting it in number one. I feel pretty good about that. you beat the top dude you get the chance to fight him you take the spot i have no issue with that

uh there are some people who are going to question it especially if it's a competitive fight but i think mokachev will be the guy and that's cool it's not saying bulk can't get it back and then again once john jones comes back he goes out there and just beats the hell out of cyril gone and finishes him in the first round who even knows if his own will be the number one guy anymore in most people's eyes. So it's got to be an interesting conversation. Four out sniper. What's up?

Oh, you're breaking up like crazy. Hello? You're right here. Can you hear me? Yep. Yep. I got you. I have a question about

a five or a five. I think somebody else, the question is I'm going to ask, when it comes to Jack Delam, Matalena, I kind of expect him to go out there and put Randy Brown away fairly quickly. Would you throw him into the top 50s?

Would you and then push him in the top of the team? Thanks, man. Yeah, dude. He's, if, if JDM goes out there and melts Randy Brown, he's getting a rank guy. I mean,

this is, to me, this was perfect matchmaking because Randy, Randy Brown's really good. Like, he's really good. the betting odds on this one are shocking. Minus 305 for Jack Delamadalena.

The comeback on Randy Brown is plus 255. I think this fight is much closer than that. I would favor Jack Delamadena. I'm probably going to pick him to win, but this is not plus 255. To me, I don't think so. Like if you're looking at this from a betting perspective, unless you're going to parlay,

unless you're so confident, that JDM is going to win and you want to put him as like a parlay piece. I mean, there's no value on Jack Della Madelana from betting perspective. All the values on Randy Brown. All of it. All of it.

Because I just think this fight's much closer. I really do. But if he beats Randy Brown, if he goes out there, it puts him away quick. Yeah, he gets the top 15 guy. And let me just pull up like my rankings right now. I would chuck them in there with,

I don't know. man. I don't know if Neil's ranked anymore, but like Neil Magny would be a good, would be a good one. Or you could just go crazy. Maybe you could throw him in there with RDA. Guy like Vicente Lucay. I don't know.

There's lots of options. But if he goes out there, because again, much like Volk, if Jack Della Madelana goes out there and just puts Randy away, he's going to look like a superstar. That place is going to go absolutely insane for him. He's going to look like a star. And people are going to demand. something bigger for him. So, yeah, it's a good spot

for him to be in, but I don't think this is a fight that's that wide, as wide as the betting arts, I'll just suggesting. I think it's outside of the main event, I think it's, I mean, the co-made event's interesting,

but I think this is much more competitive. I don't know. I don't know. This is a really good fight. I don't think it's, it's definitely not minus 305 to plus 255 to me. Max, hello. Lone Wolf will close with you.

Oh, Mike. Thanks for fitting me in the show today. I appreciate it. I just want to ask about a fight on the card between Josh Kulabal and Melsik-Baghnessyri. And if anyone had asked about it prior, I kind of hopped in a bit late, so I apologize. But yeah, I think this is quite an evenly matched fight

between a good old Melsig and Kulah out here. I bet people who had just hopped in the UFC in the last year, you probably don't even know who Melsik is. but guys are straight killer you know find out of Ronda Rousey's gym but I wouldn't let that anyone wouldn't let that fact haze anyone's vision on how good Melso it can be

but cool about it's gotten really sneaky over the last you know while or so you know I wouldn't have picked him as my star candidate when he got in the UFC but now he's you know rattled off all of his victories since you know coming in with a loss so yeah what do you think about this fight I think Nelson can maybe pull out the win but cool about sneaky

so anyways thanks for the time brother cheers yeah I agree with it's good fight. Really competitive fight on paper. I think if being fair, I think Melzick dodged a pretty significant bullet in October. I mean, breaking your hand is not good, but he would have had to fight Joe Anderson Brito in October, and that would not have been a good matchup for him. This one is a much more competitive fight. It's on a pay-per-view card. It's going to be in front of a crowd. it's a much better spot. And I think when you look at actual talent development,

when you're trying to promote a sort of greenish MMA fighter as a young UFC up-and-comer, I think the road he has taken has been almost perfect to go from Colin Anglin, who's a tough out, to Bruno Soza. That was a hard-fought matchup. And now he's fighting Jopulabal. I actually feel like the development is, It's perfect.

It is a perfect next step for him. And Josh is really good too. And I kind of feel the same way about Josh. He's a fun dude. He's a fun fighter. And it's kind of tough for him because, I mean, you have to debut against Jalen Turner. That's a tough draw.

Then he gets Charles Dordaigne and pun completely intended. That was a draw too, like an actual draw. And then he gets Shilandir and Becca, that's a good win. I think that's a win that's going to age pretty well. And then the Sungwu Choi fight was a lot of fun. So, yeah, I like this fight. It's very competitive.

And it should be a good one. All right, we'll take one more, and then I got to go. So we'll see if we can get lone wolf through. If not, we'll go to crypto. You know what? I'll take crypto too. But no more. Hello, can you listen to me?

All right, I can't get lone wolf through. So crypto gets in. now I can't get crypto in what the hell man can't hear me Mike no crypto ain't getting through either rips and picks can we get you in

we're failing miserably what's up Mike can you hear me hey Mike can you hear me I can't get you in either all right I think this is the the MMA gods telling us we need to stop so yeah good stuff everybody

really appreciate it we will be back at 3 p.m. Eastern. It is confirmed. Oh, Jesus. Oh, boy. It has been a minute. We got to do it. We got to do it.

And he got through. So it's meant to be the return, the long-awaited return of a head. It's a heck of a morning. Holy shit, man. When was the last time you were on? It's been a while. Yeah, I've been busy.

I've been busy doing other things. I like, you know, there's a world outside. you know like we all go to m m m a escapism right but the world outside m m m a what's up man yeah it's all good like i want to i'm here to give my prediction for ufc 284 um i think alexander vokinovsky finishes mark a chive i really do i think um and i think everyone is highly underestimating Volcanovsky and I think everyone is just approaching it wrong. I think they're thinking about this wrong. You know, they just, I'm like, I remember in October last year I called it. I said Mark and Chev would be Olivera. Why? Because Jiu-Jitsu has significant flaws. Because I, I,

I ranted about this last year. I said, like the Gracies, they picked and chose their opponents in the development. And then that led to flaws in the development of Jiu-Jitsu. And I said, Sambo can expose that. But the thing is, it's like with Alexander Volcanozky, the guy he's brought in to help him, it's not Jiu-Jitsu anymore. He's brought,

for those that don't know who haven't watched the countdown, he's brought in Craig Jones. Now, for those that don't know who Craig Jones is, he's very funny, but he is also one of the elite of the elite of submission grapplers. Notice I said submission grappler, not Jiu-Jitsu,

because like these guys, from ADCC, they're built different. Specifically the ones who trained, who used to train with John Danaher, GSP's old Jiu-Jitsu coach, they're built different. And Craig, I've been really impressed with how he talks about submission grappling, how he's so open and the criticism of Jiu-Jitsu and they give up bottom position. They want to sit and play guard. And he talks about how, you know, if you can get up, get up.

If you can go to Turtle or referee's position, go there and try and stand up. So I really feel like he is going to be a huge part of Volcanovsky's career. So Volkanovsky's win against Markachev. You know, you have to remember Jamal Hill, you know, he somehow got our full mount under Glover to Shira, you know. And all respect to Jamal, but I think Volcanovsky's a different like beast, a different brand of a human being. So I think like for him, when you're facing a specialist, you don't have to be as good. in their area. You just have to be good enough to neutralize them or to surprise them and then go back to your preferred specialty the way Jamal did. And I think Volcanovsky can do that as well.

And also, again, against Ortega, he defended those submissions, right? Why do you think that was? It wasn't just because of Hart. It was like he defended four submissions. It was because of Craig Jones, right he got out of all of them so i really believe that uh i really believe vulcanoste gets it done because he's got craig in his corner it's different and because he's also got the hickman brothers helping him as well yeah i think um i think alex get to done and new and even a surprise submission probably um possibly um yeah that's it i love it i love the gusto i just have so many questions. Like I just want to see, like, it's going to be real interesting if Volk starts shooting. Like, if Volk just takes him down, like, that's going to be, I'm going to be like, oh, okay.

Now, now we got something. Because he might just get, I mean, you could just take him down and get him, you can just stand right back up and be like, all right, I can do this too. There's a lot of layers to this fight. Like I said earlier, this is not a, this is not as simple as, well, if Volcanovsky can stay on his feet, he'll win. But if Mokachev gets to take downs, he'll win. It's not that simple. There's a lot more to this fight. And I can't freaking wait for it.

And we're going to talk about it even more at 3 p.m. Eastern when the great Calvin Cater joins myself and AK on the live UFC 284 preview show, 3 p.m. Eastern. Join us for that. I will be off to New York. First thing tomorrow morning. the watch party so i'm very excited about that uh we will have a people's pre-fight show at 515 p m eastern time tomorrow i believe it's myself and e k c liden and then the watch parties at 9.45 p.m. eastern and then we'll have all your post-fight press conference stuff because hosea is in perth we'll

have a post-fight show a k and i'll be live on sunday morning for on to the next one for matchmaking and just buckle up, everybody. Just buckle up. It's going to be a fun, fun weekend for UFC 284. So if you're listening live, thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Have a great rest of your Friday. We'll see you at 3 p.m. Eastern.

And if you're listening on the podcast network, you can now hear my interview with Amanda Giera, the desk host for Bellator MMA. Really enjoyed this conversation. I think you will as well. Thank you very much. We'll see you tomorrow. Have a heck of a morning, everybody.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, I am very excited about this conversation. I have a lot of respect for this individual. She's been killing it on the desk for Bellator MMA. She did a fantastic job on CBS this past Saturday night at Bellator 290. And there's so much I want to talk to her about because I am such a broadcast geek myself that I just want to talk broadcasting and everything that goes on in this space.

So let us welcome in Amanda Gere, who is in Phoenix, for the Super Bowl, and she's kind enough to give me some time in the middle of her extremely busy schedule, which I appreciate a lot. Amanda, thank you for doing this. How are you? Of course. Yeah, I'm good. A little tired. I'm a little tired. We got into Englewood on, so today's Thursday. We got to Englewood on Wednesday, and then I came straight from there to Phoenix. So just a couple more days to go, but it should be fun. It should be a good Super Bowl. And then, of course, coming off the show on CBS was a lot of fun.

So like I said, there's so much to talk to you about. And I guess right off the bat, how long have you been in the broadcast space? So, gosh, since I was 22. So I started a journalism major. I went to Oklahoma. And then I started doing news. And I did news for like 10 years. And I hated it.

It took me a long time to realize how much I hated it. And it was never excited to search for stories and do things like that. Like I like talking to people and I like the broadcast industry. And one day I just went into my news director's office and I was like, hey, I think I'm going to quit. And so I quit news and I just walked out. I didn't do anything really for like six months. And I tried radio and it was still radio news. And I was like, okay, so news is definitely off the table now.

I've tried two mediums. It's not going to work. And so I wanted to work in sports and I had always dreamed about it. I thought I was too old. and got started too late and everybody knew the thing is working in sports, whether it's fighting and MMA in these sports, people who are in that industry know everything about it. And it is so intimidating to be in that arena. But I mean, I think you hit a point in life where you're just like, look, either I play the safe route or I go after something really fun.

So I called every sports person in Dallas I knew. And I said, are you hiring? And the Texas Rangers baseball team hired me for a little bit. And I had a friend who worked at ESPN. And so we sent my tape to CBS. And that's how I got that. And I can be, yes, I don't know if I should say the full word, my knowledge of how much I knew about every sport. But it was enough to get the job offer and then I just kept studying from there.

Amazing. So if this was like five or seven years ago, whenever you had this sort of aspiration of like, I'm just going to go into sports and do this. And someone just asked you all these years ago, Amanda, what would be more likely getting to cover the Super Bowl and go through that whole week of craziness or be in the MMA space running the desk for a major organization? What would have been the MMA for sure?

Like the furthest thing from my imagination. Yeah, I would have never, ever anticipated. And the way the whole thing came about was crazy. But it's been one of the biggest surprises and delights of my career and life. The Bellator family is family. They're so close that it is, I can't believe they weren't in my life before this. I love them so much. Well, I mean, you brought it up.

It's a crazy story. So I, and I'm trying to get the timeline accurate just to just to be sure. Because you've been a part of the broadcast team and on the desks for like 14 or 15 months, right? Like November. Yeah, more than a year. I think my first one was, I know it was in October or so we're in 2023. So it was up in 20. Was it the Chris Cyborg fight?

Yes. Yes. I was to live in California so I could head over to the stadium pretty easily. Yeah, I remember that card. It was Chris Cyborg, Sheneid Kavanaugh. I think it was Belator. It was either 271 or 272. And I remember they were in Hollywood, Florida.

And they go to the desk, and I see Josh Thompson there. And he's been there for a long time. And then I see you there. And I remember thinking, all right, I've never seen her before. And then you just went out there and you delivered. and you were pro. And I think I even reached out to you after that card and gave you props privately because I thought you did such a great job.

And in this space that is very, very difficult, no matter who you are. And you handled it in stride. But so tell me the story. Like how did this come to be? How did this MMA thing and the Bellator thing get on your radar? It was so it was crazy. Yeah. And I appreciate you saying that because the way my boss at the time put it,

we had a group meeting. He's like, we're asking this girl to jump on a train that is moving at 250 miles per hour and to understand everything within a very short period of time. So I cover, we cover all sports at CBS, literally every single sport. And we all have things we like, right? Like, you know, I love NBA drama and I want to cover that or college football and whatever it is. And my co-host, and I love him dearly, did he is not into the fighting world? So I started taking all the fight segments with like our guys like BC and Brian Campbell and Luke Thomas and stuff like that. And, you know, I didn't really understand it all that much, admittedly, but I'm good at asking questions. And so, you know, we wanted to the guys who sat next to me or even, you know, some of our

experts and analysts or the guy who runs their podcast, I was like, hey, I need help with this. And I mean, the great thing about like the world of MMA where it's so different than any other sport is it is just that person. Like there is no one else. There's not a team. It is just that person. And so to put aside so much of your life and to dedicate so much of your life to being in that spot, you have to respect that. So every person who steps into the cage has a great story. And you're rooting for them one way or another just because of the sacrifices and the time and commitment that they've gone through to be there. So I loved it. And then I guess they were looking for a new co-host for Josh, at least for why my boss called me into his office and he's like,

hey, the Bellator show is coming up. They'd want to know if you'd be interested in doing the desk segment with them. I was like, okay, well, tell me more about it. He's like, it's one, maybe two fights and then they'll see where it goes from there. And I think I had two weeks, maybe, maybe until the fight was going to happen. I said, we'll send me some shows because I want to look at it not from a fan perspective, but from a broadcast perspective. Like, what does the host do?

How much are they talking? Do they write their own stuff? Do they not? And so I looked at it and I was like, okay, I think I can do this. But I'm going to need, you know, help. And it was just the terminology.

Like, world of MMA fans, they terrify me. Soccer fans may terrify me a little bit more. Because, like, if you get something wrong, they will let you know immediately. And the names,

you know, Normanda Medov, I can say that now. But in the beginning, you're just like, I didn't, what is this? You know, how do I work with this? And so I know from a broadcast perspective, like lean on the people who make it simple. And that's how I got through the first show was just make it simple.

And I'm good at storylines. And I think as a viewer, Josh is there and Big John and moral, they can talk tactics, right? They can talk all the details in the world. Like this guy's good at submissions, this guy, whatever. Um, my job is to sell their stories. And that part is the same across the board, whether it's news or sports or MMA. And I could do that. So that's kind of how it went down. And the first show it really well, they asked me to do another one. And then they, um,

offered a year contract. So, you know, it's been a lot of fun. That's amazing. And so like what was, I know you had to do some, you had a couple weeks to prepare. And, you know, I love the analogy. This is a 250 mile an hour train that you're just kind of. popping into, but we're, we're, I know you're reaching out for help you wanted to get up, but were people trying to warn you at all? Like, look, these, these MMA fans, they can be pretty ruthless. And if so, like, how are you able? I think, like I said, I think you did a good job, but where people trying to tell you like, just try to stay calm, but you know what? If you mess up, they're going to, they're going to crush you because that's just how these people are.

No, I mean, I think I knew that already. We had had one instance where somebody I knew, did an MMA segment and they butchered several names. It was not me and I'm not going to say this person is, and it went viral because it was so bad. So I think learning from that experience and watching people go through that. And like I said, there are certain fan bases for certain sports that are ruthless

and the fighting world is one of them and soccer is probably my other one. I'm so scared of soccer fans. I'm so, so scared. But no, no, everyone's, and that's the thing about that. fellow tour family and going into it was everyone was there to help no matter what I needed. And they have an incredible research team. So we have a guy named Corey and he puts out research packets on every single fighter before we go into a show. And so it has their whole background,

their gym, their record, you know, whatever their background is as far as like BJJ or whatever. And then he does interviews with them. So I can rely heavily on those notes. So I was, able to put an perspective and I wasn't going to talk about something I didn't know about. Now I can talk about that a lot more. Like I'll know the details of the fighters or they're fighting backgrounds and, you know, they're stylistically, you know, how they match up with one another. I know that a little bit better. And I go to ATT, I talk to King Moe, I talk to Johnny Emlin, like I bugged these people and I talk to John and Josh constantly of cross. And Josh and I would do phone calls before like a two weeks before a fight you'd hop on a phone call and I'd write down everything.

So yeah, everybody was really kind. Nobody tried to warn me. I think I already knew enough that I just needed to play it safe. I mean, that's in any industry. Like keep it clean, play it safe. And then you can add on a little bit after that. I feel like you and Josh actually, you have a really good chemistry together because, you know, look, I've been kind of critical of Josh on the broadcast over the years. But I feel like you have loosened him. up in a whole different way. Like, you guys vibe very well. He just, like, he's very knowledgeable. And he adds so much to the content because he's a freaking former world champion. So how could he not? But I feel like, and I feel like he's got a good broadcast presence. And, you know,

he's not the worst looking human being to look at either. So. It's, it's, it's, it's Tom Brady-esque. Yeah, it's ridiculous. But the one, but I feel like he's just much more relaxed now. And I feel like you've done a great job of just flowing with him and he feeds off you really well. Did you notice right away when you met Josh that you guys had really good chemistry? Because it's undeniable on the screen that you guys just feed off each other really, really well. Yeah, I'm trying to think like even when we first met, if there was ever an awkward moment, I don't think that existed. And it might have helped because I wasn't paying attention to the fighting world when Josh was fighting.

So sometimes when you meet athletes are really well-known people, if you're not so familiar with their background, sometimes it works in your favor because you just see them as a person, right? So I just saw him as like, hey, you're my analyst. And I want to know more about you, but I'm not going to put like, I'm not going to make your head any bigger than it is, you know? Very nice hair, Joshua, very nice hair. And so we were friends, we became friends first. and we work really well together.

And like I said, it's the whole family, and it's kind of one of those, you know, they'll give you, can I say, S-H-I-T? You can say whatever you want. They'll give you shit. Like, you give them back shit. You know, it's a lot of, like, horsing around and stuff like that.

And I could see where, and like I said, I didn't watch him when he was fighting, and I saw a different side of Josh than the one that was on camera. And I've had this experience before with people where the person you see off screen is much different. I mean, he is the kindest person. And he's so nice to everybody and non-judgmental.

And just like wants the best for everyone. He will go out of his way to talk to anybody, like whether it's a fan or if it's just somebody working in a restaurant. And he's just so kind. And I think when he was on air, it was a little stiff. And so my job, and this is part of the job, is like to pull that softer side out of him. And it's also very difficult for a former athlete to jump into the broadcast world.

Like I've been doing this like 15 years at this point. And I've seen it with tons of the former athletes. And they really, really struggle with it because you're not used to coming at it from that side. So I think that's where we were able to work well together. And like I said, we're really, we're all very, very close. Anointly so. So then I made a right. After a fight, I'm like, cool, don't want to see you guys for a couple weeks.

And it works out that way. Yeah, so it's good. But this is obviously taking you into these whole different places and into these big moments because you got to be there for Fador's final fight. Like, you were sitting when he was walking out, I mean, that walkout gave me goosebumps just watching him on my little television in the office here. It's ridiculous. You're right on top of it.

And, you know, his legacy and everything he brought to the table, what most long, time fans would say about him. And I've said this many times in the lead up to the fight, like just seeing, even seeing him on television and person, there's just a mystique about this man that not many others, not only in MMA, but just in the sports world have never had. Like the skills, the resume, it's all really impressive, but it's the aura that's like that dude right there. That's a different kind of dude. So to experience that during his final fight week and just kind of see that moment after the fight with all the legends bidding him a farewell. What was that experience like for you?

What was that like to be around for the final time? It was incredible. First of all, I didn't feel deserving because, you know, sometimes when you get these opportunities, you're like, someone else should be doing this. Like, I don't deserve to do this. I haven't been covering this long enough to be able to say, hey, you were there for faders last fight.

It was incredible. The whole week was incredible. The lead-up was incredible. So we do fighter meetings, obviously. We do it two days before the fight. because way ends, everybody's trying to cut weight. So we do it the day before that. And you're right, like he does have this mystique.

And when he walks into a room, everything changes. The energy changes and you kind of become more serious because he's a fairly serious person, but it's always fun when he can joke around. And he's always been like that. Just whenever he's walking like through a hotel or something, I mean, he just has that aura about him. And so what I think was nice.

So this is my first and last fator fight. I never covered him on the card before. But he was so at peace. And even in our fighter meetings, you know, he said, like, somebody asked him, like, how do you be? Oh, my God. He was the guy he went up again. Now I'm like, almost said Johnny Epplin, but it wasn't. Ryan Bader and he just he just laughed and because I think he knew like there's not there was not

going to be a huge chance for him to win that fight. We were joking after like how much training did he actually do going into it or was like he just eating a hamburger like two days before. I think that he needed a way to end his career and and this was going to be it. And and he just laughed when somebody asked like, how are you going to beat him? And he goes, I'll tell you after it's done. you know, but talking about, he got emotional talking about his legacy. And, you know, looking back on your own career, and he's not a man of many words. And he said, I love it when people come up to me and say, I got into the world of M&A because of you.

And like the Fador team, team Fador that he's built, he's like, I've had kids that I've watched become champions. And I really believe like that is what he sees his legacy that he's created. more so than his own records in the cage. It's what he's done outside of it. And then, yeah, just to see those legends there with him. I mean, when he laid down the gloves, like, I don't know if you noticed, like,

Big John does not get emotional. And he, like, you could hear his voice crack in that moment. But it did make you realize, like, how old he was with all the legends behind him. And they all look like they should be, I feel like a golf course or, like, sitting back having some bud lights. like, you know,

they're talking about their old knee injuries. And you're like, this guy was doing it this long. Like, he's one of them. And he's been doing this for so long. So it was just, it was an incredible moment. And I loved after, he did his press conference and he went into the hallway.

Every reporter who was there, he stood there and talked to every single one of them until they were done asking their questions. And that speaks a lot, I think, to his character and who he is. And he had a smile on his face, the whole time. We don't see smiles from Fador a lot. And he could not stop smiling. And I think that's just to make everybody really happy knowing where he is in his head now taking this next step in his life. It was incredible. Yeah. I love the legend's idea. There was a part of me that kind of

felt a little icky about it because I didn't think the flight was going to go well for him and that I just didn't want to see him like get knocked unconscious and then have to stand up. have the moment, but it didn't happen that way. Like, he got beat up. He didn't get, he didn't get knocked unconscious. Like, he was fine. But immediately, you just saw it. Like you said, he was like 20 pounds lighter. He just, the smile never left his face because it was over. He got to turn the page. And it was just kind of a surreal moment to see it. Like, this is probably the happens, wins, losses. If you ever watch Fador fights, like back of the day, he would have these iconic moments and he would just go like this little fist pump and walk away. And that's it.

One. Just the one. Just the one. And now he's just, he's smiling. He's happy. Like, this is the most emotional we've ever seen the man. And it's because his career was over. It was very surreal to watch.

And you were in the building watching it all happen. And I will say, I mean, we had contingency plans. That was the most unknown part of the show. And especially on CBS, where on Showtime, we don't have commercial breaks. On CBS, we had to take commercial breaks. But it was, okay, if he wins, if he loses, if he's knocked out, like how do we who do we talk to first like if he loses do we talk to Ryan first and then him do we talk to him first and then Ryan like there was a lot of it and I will say like I had the same reaction from you and they initially

said they wanted all the legends to come in the cage and it was Scott Coker's idea and I will give him credit I love that moment so much more than I thought I would I thought it was going to take away from Fador and it just it's I think it helped visualize his legacy because we can put up full screens and we can talk about it but to see all of those guys and I mean he's beaten basically the Hall of Fame and the careers that they had and they showed up for him. Like, I don't know if we've ever seen a fight or attire that had that many other fighters show up to pay their respects to someone like that. And it was a group. I think you could see the camaraderie. And that's something we don't see a lot because you never see all these guys

together. So that was a moment. I loved a lot more. So credit to Scott Coker, because I had the same reaction. I was like, I don't know if I like this. And it turned out really well. Yeah, I love concept of it all because, I mean, you've been around sports long enough, football, basketball, whatever. A lot of these sports do such a great job remembering the past and giving credence to the players and the athletes that brought us to where they are today. And I feel like in MMA, these fighters don't get the appreciation that they deserve once their careers come to an end.

So to see everybody come together and Scott having the wherewithal to salute Fader like that, I thought the idea was absolutely brilliant. to put them together. And it ended up being a really great moment. That photo is, I need that framed and put my fake, my fake wall back here. I need it. It was just an incredible moment. And it just capped off a very good night for Bellator because Johnny Eblen, who you mentioned

earlier, that man is a problem, like of epic proportions. And I remember saying this about LeBron. And I'm not comparing Johnny Ebel and LeBron James, but maybe he will be. All time. NBA scoring later, Johnny Eaple. safe it, you know, but he's like 13-0-0. But I remember when LeBron was like, you know, the fourth, fifth, sixth best player of all time in people's eyes. And I'm like, you want to the scary thing about this guy is? He's not as good as he's going to be. He's still going to get better. And that's how I feel about Johnny Ebblin. That guy is a problem. And then Brennan Ward, who, you know, fell into Wenglander like myself, been watching this guy for so long. And it was just an incredible moment to see everything he's gone through and left the sport for all this time, overcame some Heymans came back and had this moment, first win ever on CBS for Bellator. I feel like his stock rose tremendously on this card.

Johnny's as well. What did you make of their performances? Because you want to try to make stars out of these events. And I feel like you're on the precipice of two of them right now. Yeah. And it's hard to start. I'll start with Brennan Ward just because he kicked off the night. So this is my second, no, my third Brennan fight.

I was there for his initial return and then the one before this. and he you can't help a roof of this guy and you can't help somebody who has been in prison who didn't know if they were going to live who is addicted to some of the worst drugs in the world and I mean just to see where he is now like I know it sounds really weird but I saw him after and I was like you know you're trending on Twitter your name is one of like the top 15 names right now like in all of the the United States that is training. And he's not a big social media guys, he cares, but he did like, no, he knew like, this is, I've done this. So it was when we

talked to him that week, to the first fight back, I mean, it's very fair to say, we needed to know what each fight, Brennan, are you plain? Like, are you plain? Because he had been sober before the first one for like nine months, so not even a year. And in the world of sobriety, that is something to be praised, but it is also like, it is an everyday long journey thing. And then he did great in that first one. And then the second fight, the one before this, he seemed different. And Big John said, I heard you have been training. And he couldn't, he going to say anything because he hadn't been. He was working out maybe one or two days a week. And thankfully, he managed to get the win. And that stuck with him so much that when he saw Big

John before our fighter meetings. he pulled him aside. He goes, I want you to know that stuck with me. And he's like, I quit my job. And he was yoked. I mean, if you saw him in that fight, I mean, the dude did not have an ounce of fat on him. He's like, I can't believe I didn't do this, you know, however many years ago. He's like, but I can't be angry about that because I'm doing it now. And the work that it takes to be at that extreme level, he has been doing it consistently. So for him, and I mean, it was an incredible fight, you know, like poor Sabahomasi looked. like two faces after. It was bad.

Like he couldn't get the blood out of his hair. And so I saw him in the hotel after. It was still like tinged pink. But so for Brennan to be able to do this and just pray that it continues. You know, he has his young daughter. He really changed his life. He's expecting another baby girl really soon. So hopefully this is just the beginning.

And nobody deserves the credit but him because he, you have to make that choice, right? And he's putting in the work. And then as far as Johnny, I mean, like you said, freak of nature. Like I went over to ATT the week before we all left. And in first, I mean, it's just an amazing gym. And for them to just let me sit and watch their practices is great.

And I was talking to King Moe, who's his main coach and some other guys. Like he is the most freakish person in this gym. Like he is there all the time. He is a workhorse. What he's been able to do, like when he came in, obviously, from a wrestling, background and then he started doing standup. They're like, he got his ass kicked for a year and a half, like just handed to him. And then finally when he was starting to hold his own and stand up, they're like, there's no

stopping this guy. And what's weird about it, and I don't know if this is good or bad to say for him, he's like, this isn't the biggest part of my life. You know, he's like, I want to do good. You know, this is just a chapter. But sometimes for people to have that mentality makes them that much better because they're not emotional about it. And he, there's,

there's no stopping him. He is wild. And I will say it was fun, though, because when I was there, it was right before they had announced the Mosvidal fight and they start to train together sometimes. And Jorge was in there. I was like, what is he doing here? Are you just practicing? Like, what's going on here?

And sure enough, they announced his fight like a day later. So, yeah, Johnny's a freak. He's, I don't know who, because when he went up against his ass, he all thought he was going to ask kick, honestly. everybody did. And he was like, you guys, I'm going to prove you all wrong. And now look what he's doing. I don't know who's going to take him.

Yeah. It's got to be very tough to find credible opposition for him. Maybe the Musassi Edwards winner and we'll see maybe they run it back. Maybe he gets shot. He is very interested in that. Yeah. He's told this before. I would like to fight the winner of that, which is cool.

It's a very interesting time in the spore right now as far as coverage goes because, like, you know, we're seeing you on CBS, which is a very big deal this past Saturday. And then over on the other channel, we saw Laura Sanko make her UFC color commentary debut. And it's just really great to see different voices and hear different voices and these different opportunities in the space and seeing women, hardworking women like yourself, get their opportunities to hone their craft in the space that is mostly occupied by men. And, you know, Megan will leave you shout out to her. Another example of a great voice in the space is a roving reporter.

And you're in a small way. and you seem very humble. You're a part of this sort of movement in the MMA space, and it is a newer sport. We are the baby compared to the NFL and the NBA, et cetera. But this is happening right now. Like what does it mean to you to be a part of this? It's, I guess I don't think about it that much because it's like a job.

And I just want it to be, I mean, it's the same with women in all industries. It's like, oh, we've finally made it when we're stopping talking about it. But it is good to talk about, and I'm very proud of it. And those two women, I'm huge fans of them. I think, you know, I think we want people to know, we take this very seriously. And I've always told any person that I am working with or if I'm in a job interview, like the clothes, the hair, all of it. First of all I wish I could just wear a hoodie all day.

I came from set. Like, as soon as I'm done, I am in sweats immediately. but we take it very seriously and we study very, very hard. And that will always be priority number one. I want people to know I am talking about my shit. And not just that we're students of the game too. At least I am right now. They have more experience than me.

But, you know, we love it just as much. And also, like, female fighters. There's so many female fighters out there that deserve to be celebrated. And I think it's great, you know, that we are getting more. attention to these female fighters and you know just not necessarily even evening the playing field but just being a part of it and just know like look we're we're serious about this shit we care a lot about it absolutely a couple last things i know you're in the busy in the middle of just an absolutely hectic week in your career but do you have like i don't know favorite fighter is the right word but

is there like a can't miss fighter for you on the roster like if you weren't on a broadcast but fighter X is on the card and you finished up work and you threw your sweats back on and all plans are canceled. You know, I'm going to watch this person fight no matter what. Is there that sticks out to you? I mean, everyone, I want to say everyone because like I said, it's when you get to know these guys and girls and you get to know their stories, you can't help. It's seemingly with any sport that I cover. People ask like, what's your favorite sport to cover? I fall in love with their stories so much and I care so much about it. and respect the work that they've put in.

I will tell you, I'm thrilled to see Amosov return next month. Like, I'll be there in Dublin, or I guess it's this month. See, I don't even know what month it is. But yeah, on the 25th and February, did you see the video of him pulling his belt? Oh, yeah.

Incredible. Out of his mom's rubbled home. And I mean, he did. Like, we, I don't know how much we'll get into that night. The stuff he saw was insane. and just things that none of us would ever want to see. And it was his country that said, you have to go back to fight.

We want you to represent us. And people and strangers and stuff like that, it wasn't his decision to come back. He was asked, like, please, please, please go back. We need something to cheer for. And I saw him with Mike Brown at American Top Team, and he is working his ass off. And him and Johnny Eblen are really,

close. They're like brothers. And Johnny pulled him. He wanted to make sure I knew that Amosov was there and went to like a room pulled him out. He's like, this is my brother. This is the best guy in here. And everybody should be excited to watch his return. And I was like like, he has drunched and sweat, Amosov. And I'm just like just rippled. Like he is in shape. Not that he ever wasn't, but he is good to go. And like, it's, I talk about emotional return in another way, but it's going to be absolutely incredible. And I am so freaking honored to be there. And it's going to be amazing.

So maybe not like overall number one, but that's the one you should be watching next. Yeah, that's crazy. And that's the, that's the doubling card. So, oh, you get to be, you get to be in the midst of that craziness too, because that double in the crowd is not mess around.

I've never been. I've heard so many stories. You know, and also like I'm a big fan of Guinness and Jameson. I got to like, we have a rule where like two nights before the bite, we can have a nice dinner and a couple cocktails, but, you know, night before lock it down. But yeah, I've never been there. So it's going to be so much fun. And it's a huge card. I'm very, very jealous and envious of you right now. Last question. I have a look, you know, I got. It's not easy. There's some Irish there. Oh, I'd fit in great in Dublin. No doubt about it. I can yell and scream and, you know, be a pest like the rest of them. And they take. that is a compliment, by the way. Super Bowl pick. You're there covering it. Do you have a pick? Who's going to win?

I, you know, I'm really bad. I'm really bad with picks because I bet on emotion. And I have been saying all the week, they asked us, I said, I think the Chiefs will win. My bold prediction is that Travis Kelsey is going to throw a touchdown pass and be the first Titan MVP ever. So that's my bold prediction. But you ask, you know, it's really interesting. We've had so many players on.

I'm trying to think who we just had. I can't remember. And most former player are former players. Players that aren't playing in the Super Bowl, like we have Michael Parsons on today. We've had CDLAM. I mean, those are Cowboys guys, but whatever. They think the Eagles are a more well-rounded team.

And a lot of people think the Eagles completely upset. But the age and the experience of, Andy Reed and that Chiefs team. I mean, I don't know how to bet against Andy Reid and Patrick Holmes. It's really, really hard. I love to see the Eagles win. I went to Oklahoma. Jaylen Hertz is there for a hot minute.

But yeah, I guess I guess I'll go Chiefs. I don't know. I mean, if Travis Kelsey throws a touchdown pass, I'm tweeting you immediately and being like you just, I mean, there's got to be, if there's a betting line on Travis Kelsey throws a touchdown pass, it's got to be like plus four. 487,000. Yeah, make that money.

I don't know if it's brought somewhere, but why not? It's got to be. It's got to be. But I mean, I appreciate it. I could do this for another hour, but you are in the middle of a million things. You are getting ready for the Super Bowl. You're coming off of a crazy fight week.

And you're on your way to Dublin after that, which is, I mean, what a month in your career. So I appreciate your time. Like I said before, I think you're doing a tremendous job. I've been wanting to do this for a while. Shout out to the Bellator crew for making this happen. My man, CJ.

and enjoy the rest of the week. Take some time off after Sunday and relax a little bit and then right back after. Honestly, I think I'm going to go to Mardi Gras for like two days. Right after the Super Bowl? Not right out. I'm going to go home, but I have like two or three days off. MartyGas is one of my favorite times. All right.

You know, like if you, why not? I've never been. I've never been. We're going to get you on the right train. It's okay. All right. Dublin and Mardi Gras. I'm ready.

But thank you, Amanda. I appreciate the time. And all the best, do you enjoy the game on Sunday? Thank you. I appreciate it. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.