MMA Fighting - HOAM | Final Countdown To UFC 290; Plus, Where Does Alexander Volkanovski Go With Main Event Win?

Episode Date: July 7, 2023

As the UFC is hours away from their main attraction of their annual International Fight Week, Alexander Volkanovski will look to take one step closer to featherweight all-time greatness when he defends his title against the dangerous Yair Rodriguez. With a win, does Volkanovski remain at 145 to face the likes of Ilia Topuria, or even an Aljamain Sterling should he make the move up? Or, will he move back up to 155? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck returns for another Free-For-All Friday, where listener topics include Volkanovski's future depending on how things play out in the main event of Saturday's big card in Las Vegas. Additionally, topics include the UFC middleweight title picture and Sean Strickland's chances to get a championship fight with Israel Adesanya in September, Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja, UFC's merchandising for fans attending events, Robbie Lawler's retirement fight, the 2023 UFC Hall of Fame ceremony, 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

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

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

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

available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. July 7th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We're live on the MA Fighting Twitter Spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety. Shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network, Hello, everybody. I am Mike Beck.

Hope Berens having a wonderful week. It's a short week for a lot of us, especially if you're in the United States. But we are on the eve of UFC 290, the caper of the UFC's international fight week extravaganza. Please bear with me today. Woke up, allergies just kicking the holy hell out of me. My throat's a mess. All stuffed up. It's just not a great day for your boy.

So bear with me if my voice starts to sound weird or I have to cough or sniff or something. Allergies 10 aiding me today. So just keep that in mind. This is a free-for-all Friday. So we can talk about UFC 290. We could talk about the big stories in MMA. We could talk about other shit too. We can talk about whatever you want.

So it is your shit. show. We'll have the weigh-ins going live on the YouTube channel at noon eastern. So stay tuned for that. We'll have a preview show for UFC 290 at 3 p.m. Eastern time. We'll be live for that as well. Jose is in Las Vegas, boots on the ground. So we'll have highlights from the ceremonial weigh-ins, all that fun stuff. And tomorrow, it's fight day. So I'll be off to New York in the morning watch party with my man gc 9.45 p.m. Eastern time. Well, the people's pre-fight show before that like right around 515-ish in that neighborhood, but we'll obviously let you know. So let's get into it. Free for all Friday. Zach, first and last. Mike, you hear me?

Are up. What's up? What's up? So there'll be plenty of 2.90 going on. So I'll let everybody talk about that. But it is free for all Friday. I thought all. So two. questions one kind of a fun one serious the other one a little more of a curious question so the first one is i'm always curious with some of these bell tour champions even some of the pfl people won whether they decide to not pursue ufc chances let's say like once they get up to a higher level or if there's contract stuff or it's strictly just they're making more money so they'd rather make more money in the ufc's something they don't want there's just you know some few names i've seen out there that obviously throw be a good mix in some of these ufc divisions so i was curious whether

or who even you think might be like the next one similar to like a Chandler to make that move over. That'd be like a big name where we all be interested in from those promotions. And then the second one had today was so let's say something weird happens in the Volk fight either. Let's say he loses that year and they need to do a rematch or Volk wants to, let's say, get Islam and that somehow happens and Ely gets put on the table. It was interesting to hear Volk talk about Aljo as an option in the future. Let's say Aljo, you know, he said it's pretty clear. It seems to be his last fight at 35. beats O'Malley pretty cleanly.

If he was to go up and they said, you know what, we'll give you Elya and the winner can get bulk. How do you think that fight goes? And also a fun little wrinkle with Marab being, obviously a very close friend of Aljo and seems to be pretty close with Elia as well. So I wonder who do you think Maraub would take on that side as well, who he'd be rooting for if he might have to stay in the middle for that one.

But thanks, Mike, and happy Friday. So he would be with Aljo for sure. I know he and Ilya or they have a little bit of a relationship, but nothing like him and Aljo. Him and Ilya obviously have the Georgian tie. So they're getting to know each other. They're close. They say nice things about one another, but I would say Mara would be firmly in the, I hope, Aljo wins camp. He might just like stay out of the corners altogether.

That could be a possibility. But yeah, honestly, I feel like when Aljjjohn's. goes to 45, they ain't just going to give him a title shot. I just don't think that's going to happen. There's a contentious relationship between Aljo and the UFC, and I feel like they're not going to do him any favors at all. So they could throw him in there with Ilya, maybe like an interim title fight. They could chuck him into a fight with a fire like Mavzar of Loyav or somebody like that.

Like I really don't think they're going to do him any favors. So it'd be an interesting one. I'd probably pick Teporia, but I could be definitely wrong because Aljo just keeps proving people wrong. So it's something I would have to look into a little bit more. As far as the Bellator PFL thing, I don't know. It's a good question. Like, AJ McKee would have been, if you asked me this like a year ago, AJ McKee probably would have been my answer because I know his contract was coming up.

But obviously he resigned. and I think a lot of the stars in Bellator are just kind of happy being there right now. I mean, you don't have any like Patricio Pitbull maybe. Maybe he could be a guy that explores it. I mean, when I interviewed him, he was kind of coy about it, but it seemed like he doesn't have a ton left on his deal. I asked him how many fights he had left and he didn't want to answer that question. Because when I asked him what it would mean to him to win the third title,

he said either Bellator pays me a bunch of money I go for the fourth title or I go and fight for another promotions title so my guess would probably be Patricia but from a lot of the Belator fighters I talk to that have gotten over that are successful are very happy there

like they are very happy there so and I think Chandler was just there forever I think Chandler would have been okay like ending his career there but I just think he was just there he was the face of the promotion for like a decade and I just think it was time for him to explore new challenges and it's worked out pretty damn well for him but I don't know if there's another guy maybe Ooster Nirmagamayana but I don't think

they're going to let that guy go anytime soon maybe if like Islam Makachev retires or something maybe they'll take a shot at him but if I had a guess it's Patricia Pitbull I don't think the UFC's got to be really interested in really anybody from the PFL, maybe Kayla, but they're already talking about shutting that division down. So yeah, I don't think there's really anybody there that's going to

peak their interests, or at least pay what Bellator or PFL are paying these fighters. So, we'll see what happens. Let's go to Ani. What's up, Bonnie?

I hope your allergy gets better. Me too. So, yes. So before I go into my Free For All Friday question, I want you to introduce, I want to introduce you to my hunches and dreams. The last time I had a dream that came true was when Tony Ferguson fought Nate Diaz and UFC 279. I mean, in my dream, I had Kam Saatchamah getting injured, but, you know, the outcome was the same. And now I have another dream, Mike. Do you want to know what it is?

Yeah, absolutely. You see the cut that Alexander Wolkenovsky has on his cheek. It is dangerously close to the orbital bone. And I feel like in my dream, I had this dream that Yai Rodriguez was just, you know, Wolk was winning, but Yai Rodriguez just did enough damage so that, you know, his orbital bone got fractured, as in Wolkenovsky's orbital bone got fractured. and then his eyes wore shut. So it was a doctor stoppage.

It's quite realistic, isn't it? It might happen. That's my dream. I have a funny feeling about that. And I'm thankful that none of the funny media members, I mean, not the legitimate ones like MMA fighting and whatnot, didn't ask Dana White about power slap. I'm really glad that no one brought that up.

He was wearing a Power Slap t-shirt for crying out loud. how stupid it looked when you had the two best feather weights of all time, and in between you had Dana White with a stupid power slap t-shirt. Anyway, coming back to my question. So, Mike, I just want to know about your aha moment. So when I say an aha moment, it's like a moment of satisfaction, a moment of happiness that you get after you've achieved something that's meaningful to you. It can be personal or professional.

It's like, so let me share what mine is, if you don't mind. So I am a research student, as I've mentioned before. And in the UK, I mean, I'm a student in Cardiff, University, Cardiff, Wales. In the UK, for international students, the fee is extremely high. It's like $30,000 per year. For a research student, you're usually funded. but for me, since I'm an international student, I'm from India, they didn't fund my research entirely.

So they just give about like $5,000 and I have to cover the rest out of my own pocket. Thankfully, I've been able to manage. And at 25 years old, this year, I have become, you know, I've been managing independently. I haven't taken a single dollar, a single rupee or single pound from my parents. And I've been independent. and I'm pretty happy about that going strong. Hopefully I can maintain this touchwood. So yes, this is a little bit about myself.

So what is an aha moment for you, Mike? I really love to know that. Thank you. Congrats, man. Good job. It's a good question. I'd probably say when I got the job with M.A. fighting, that was probably the aha moment because

I had relocated with plans to have my family join me on the other side of Massachusetts. Did it for six months, absolutely hated it, and we kind of determined there's just like no way it was going to work. But I knew if I came back to the Berkshires that I couldn't go back to doing radio, I couldn't go back to the stuff that was stressing me out So it was do or die with the MMA thing.

I said, I'm going to ask around. I'm going to try to freelance. I'm just going to give it a year. Give me a year. I'll pick up odd jobs here and there. I'll DJ weddings. I'll do whatever I need to do to like kind of supplement as much as I can. But I have to give this a shot.

If I don't do it now, it's never going to worry. It's never going to happen. And I think I think 10, 15, 20 years from now, I will regret never taking that shot. And luckily my wife is the best. And she gave me to go ahead. And I remember coming home that summer and just doing interview after interview after interview, hosting multiple shows and just doing the MMA stuff all day, every day.

And then probably like five or six websites that picked me up. And in the meantime, I was DJ. weddings. I was doing trivia shows from time to time. Karaoke shows from time to time. I even did some PA work for

our local college baseball summer league team. So that was actually a lot of fun. But I just kind of worked the entire summer. And it was pretty wild. And then six, seven months later, I was with

MMA fighting. Before I got to M.A. Fighting, I actually got a pretty cool offer from somebody just had me do interviews exclusively for their website. And they're going to pay me some pretty damn good money to do it. So even if the M.A. fighting thing didn't work out, I think I was good to go about six, seven months into it. So I think just being in that position where it was kind of like a tug, like one side pulling, the other pulling and it landing. where it probably should have. Yeah, I think that was probably my aha moment. And I think deep down, like my wife believed in me,

but I think she was a little, I think she was like cautiously optimistic that it was going to happen. But then when it happened, it was just a big sigh of relief. And I think we both kind of just said aha at the same time. So I will go with that. But good shit, Ani.

Appreciate you. Mikey, hello. I'm glad to head out to UFCX shortly. You know how that goes. but I just wanted to get these talks off, takes off right quick. First of all, I love that Val Woodburn dressed up basically like a cross between like a Zubaz pro wrestler from the 80s and new edition. It made him stand out, honestly, because I didn't get a chance to meet him, but he was sworn by a lot of people at the fighter hotel in New York, New York band. He seems like a really good dude.

And he's a lot bigger than I thought. So that'll be interesting because seeing him size of bow is going to be interesting. Still taking Bow, but that kid looks like he's got some. Also, it was hilarious. I met Bill Roe. He was wearing a penny hardaway throwback jersey and a fan walked up to me and wondered if he was a basketball player. Kind of weird, but it was kind of funny.

Anyway, so let me just taper off for a bit. Did you see Forbidden Door and money in the bank and give me your thoughts on some of the booking choices there, like LA Night not winning? And of course, if you had to pick between the two, which Kenny Omega Will Osprey fight was better? the one from Russell Kingdom or the one for forbidden door. And who do you think will be their mystery partners for either side at blood and guts in a couple of weeks?

So yeah, sorry, guys. No one of them may talk today. We're going to do play of that later. Once again, if you guys are here in Vegas for EOX, come say how to your point. Thanks, Mikey. Have a good one. Thanks, man. I did watch both.

Hang on one second. Dealing with other shit too. Okay. Forbidden door, I thought was really good. I enjoyed it. It's hard to say which Omega Osprey match I liked better because they were both just so different. I would say probably the first one.

The second was really good just because it was a completely different match. I think I liked money in the bank better, and I think the crowd had a lot to do with it. They were just into it. They were having a great time. outside of some of the booking decisions. The thing about the LA Night thing, he should have gone over,

but at the same token, he came out still looking like a badass and came out still looking pretty strong. So I think his time's going to come and hopefully the powers that be, like listen to the audience and they kind of give him the Daniel Bryan treatment. I mean, he is so frigging over right now.

It's unbelievable. so they have to run with him. They just have to. Give him a chance. And just let him do his thing. The dude is a potential star. So go with that. As far as the mystery part of the stuff goes,

I have no idea. I never know. It's almost impossible to predict AEW booking outside of like what Chris Jericho is going to do. Because when you see a young talented wrestler get over, you're like, well, I know it's about to happen. Chris Jericho's got to leach his ass on to that guy and then just ruin all the momentum, which he's done with pretty much everybody

he's worked with. Look at Ricky Starks. What the hell happened to him? He is just, he's nothing right now because he had that stupid view to Jericho. I do like what they're doing with Jericho now. Like, is he going to go with Don Callis? Is he not going to go with Don Callis? So I kind of like what they're doing there.

But I like both shows a lot. I like both shows a lot. But I think I enjoy money in the bank more. Let's go to Clay and then we'll go to Cole. Clay, what's up? Hey, Mike. How you doing, ma'am? Friday.

Two things. First, I want to give you props for the BTL yesterday. I mean, that was some great content between BC and Jet Michoud. I mean, those two are unmatched. That was one of the greatest, all-time. Second thing, I want to ask your opinion of if Moreno loses to Pantosia, he will be O and three in the UFC. This is like unlike Izzy where two of his Izzy's loss are outside of the UFC.

Do you think they will run it back at some point? Thank you. I would, eh, maybe. I think it kind of depends on how the fight goes. Like if Pantosia just, if Pantosia does what he's been doing, like he submitted Moreno in quick fashion the first time they fought, it was a pretty easy fight for him. And then he just blew the door.

off him over 15 minutes a second time around got a couple of 30-26s if it's anything like that it's going to be tough sell but if you know if we have a crazy finish or it's like a splitie like a close splitty that has some controversy they might just go right back to it maybe they try to get it on that September card if they can swing it um to have two title fights that's pretty badass so yeah i think it It honestly asked me on Tuesday, and I think I'll have a better answer. But if Pantosha just runs him over, again, it's going to be a tough sell. It's going to be a tough sell.

Maybe just do Brandon Moreno versus Henry Sohudo, a little rivalry matchup, do that. Because I'm kind of sick of hearing that story. Just let him fight each other. So I think Moreno is options. If he wins, he'll probably fight Brad Royval. if he loses, he can go fight Henry Sehudo. Go up to 135 fights a hoodo. So, Moran is in a pretty good spot.

But, yeah, I think it kind of depends on how this fight goes on Saturday. How close it is, how competitive it is. Cole, it's up. Morning, Mike. Morning, sir. I just can't help myself, but I'm stuck here on this beautiful Friday morning thinking about who's more out-of-pocket. Sean Strickland on Joe Rogan or BC yesterday on BTL. I mean, in what world does Justine Kish have to do with comparing the legacies of Jose

Aldo and Alex Volcanovsky? Come on. But I'm just curious your thoughts on Robbie Lawler with him going through the whole induction ceremony last night with the speech while cutting weight, making weight this morning probably. Like, has anybody ever done that before, done a Hall of Fame speech and then made weight? I think actually if he comes out of this fight against Nico with a dub, he has one of the best cases for like one of the best retirements maybe without a belt ever, having to do with a belt ever.

Like if he wins, that'd be pretty sweet. So just want your thoughts on that. That's all I got. Yeah, it was very cool. Yes, BTL was awesome yesterday. And yes, BC has a way with words. That is for sure. But if you haven't listened or watched BTL, it is an all-timer between Jen and.

NBC and it was it was awesome yeah Robbie if there's anybody who's going to do that and just find a way to make it work it's Robbie law there's just no doubt about it Robbie is that just that guy he's like eh I'll cut weight no big deal I'll just go and Robbie's not a big talker so like he's going to go up there and talk for 20 minutes he's just going to speak from the heart get in get out and then go cut wait and he did it with a smile on his face so But Robbie just seems like he's enjoying this final fight week. I think he's not taking it for granted at all. This isn't the typical Robbie Lawler we see heading into a fight.

We see him being sort of nostalgic. We see him just having a good time. It's not really standoffish at all. Doesn't seem annoyed by going through the media stuff because that's not really his thing. He's not a big media guy. It's kind of a closed book in a lot of respects. And it just seems like he's truly enjoying the moment right now. So would it be one of the best retirements?

If it goes out like knocks out Nika Price, it'd be pretty damn cool. That would be a pretty damn cool ending to the career. I actually thought Luke Rockhold had a really good retirement, like a non-title retirement. But of course, that lasted all of 12 hours. So, but I actually, I feel like Robbie's done. I feel like this will be it. So we will see how it goes. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Feel the fun. The morning will begin when passenger fisher is done celebrating.

19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 1866533 or visit Comex Ontario.C.A. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Let's go to Mike, and then we'll go to Matt, and then we'll go to Panda. And then Panda probably won't get through, and then we'll have to try again. Mike, hello.

Hey, Mike, what's going on here for Free For All Friday? Looking at this, I'm reminiscing. I was crying. I was crying harder than Joseph. out of yesterday through these Hall of Fame speeches, man. Just going through all these moments. Out of these Hall of Fame guys, are there any... Like, what is the most iconic moment for any of these guys?

Like, when I look at Robbie, I think that second UFC run, Robbie from coming back with Josh Kajek all the way through the title fights, I know it's out of left field, but that, to me, was the greatest fight of all time. Like, you go through that second run in the UFC, and just changing the lives of those guys. Like, I just can't, I go back on FightPass and just watch that second run. So out of these fighters, like, what are your favorite moments out of the inductee class this year? I mean, Cowboys get a bunch from the WEC days and even in some respects to the UFC days.

Jose Alto, one of the 10 best fighters of all time, his first. fight with Chad Mendez. Absolutely incredible. And then just he had a pretty interesting final run as well. Going down to Banimway, kind of getting it together. He had the

tough fight with Marais. Then he had the bad loss to Peter Jan. And a fight he actually looked pretty good in until the later rounds when Jan had him figured out and Aldo started to slow down. But to me, it's

I've talked about this a million times. It's it's Loller Condit. That is one of my favorite fights of all time. It is probably the most underrated fight of all time because it should be one of the top three fights in the history of the sport. And it doesn't get that love that the Roy McDonnell fight gets.

I think it's a way better fight than the Roy McDonald fight. I like the Roy McDonald fight. But I think you put that, if you do Loller Condit and Loller McDonald's in the same, same building at the same time and they fight like a year apart i think condit would i think the condi fight would have got into into the hall of fame before the rory fight i just think everything just clicked at the right time that crowd being on a mcgregor card all that the face

the moment there it's just yeah but josea alto chad mendes ufc 179 incredible fight Absolutely incredible. The Cubs Swants. Joseo Alto knocking out Cubs Swanson was just nasty. Holy smokes. Just nasty. We're all waiting for this fight to start. We can't wait for it.

Joseo Aldo Cubs Swanson are in the WEC Blue Cage getting ready to just get after it. Big fight. Josealdo. Cubs Swanson, I'll tat it up, ready to go. And then what happens? eight seconds later it's over flying knee punches as soon as the fight really started and that was it so yeah those are those are a couple cowboy there's a bunch i mean it's just epic fights for him a lot most of which are in the wec i mean it's just nice to see some of these wec guys get the rub and get over

and get enshrined into the Hall of Fame. Aldo is just, I mean, although it's just an emotional racket. I loved every second of it. Panda, hello. I'm just waiting for nothing to happen. And that is exactly what happened. Stunning revelation. Let's go to CV.

What's up, CV? CV. Okay. Nojus Noah. Do we have you? I hope this is not on my end. That didn't work either. Panda.

Yeah, what would a heck of a morning be without one, at least one panda misconnection? Mike, how are we? Good. How are you doing right? I'll be short and sweet, but I could be a little long-winded. So if you're going to cut me off, you got the rain. It's your show.

Get after it. No bet's bar. They do this thing where they bet on the futures of who's going to be the champion in each division. And I want to ask you a question specifically on three of them. Who's going to be the championship of the lightweight division by the end of the year? Who's going to be the championship of the flyweight division by the end of the year? And who's going to be the championship of the welterweight division by the end of the year? Secondly, I know this is very far away.

I am very interested to see if Max Holloway versus the Korean zombie stands. I don't see what that fight does for anyone, except for maybe the Korean zombie being happy because he gets to fight Max Holloway, but somebody should probably talk to him. And, you know, that's not as cool as it is when you get in the octagon and you have to actually fight Max Holloway. You know what I mean? But all right, Mike, have a heck of a morning.

Thank you for having me. Thank you, sir. Look, I might be on an island here. Look, do I think Max Holloway, Korean zombie is going to be Uber competitive? No. Do I have a problem with the fight? No, because both guys want to do it. they haven't fought each other

zombies retiring this is the guy he wanted Holloway wants it to like Holloway could be sitting there screaming for a title shot right now even though nobody wants to see it but what did he do he just said I'll fight you zombie and zombie was like okay

I want that fight too it's a dream kind of a dream fight for both guys so who are we to tell them not to have the fight that they both want now are we concerned now do we look at this from a place of Concern? Yeah, I think so.

Volk put the boots to zombie. That was an incredible performance. I think Volk was just kind of on one that night. And guess what? Volk did the same thing to Max Holloway. We weren't like, oh, no, don't put Max Holloway in there with someone who can strike. It's the same thing.

So, look, I get it. I get it. We are all concerned. We don't want to see zombie just get absolutely blown up in there, but Max isn't a big knockout guy. Max will just kind of, you know, he'll beat you up with volume and maybe zombie. I think zombie's just going to go in there and just let it all go. And if he loses, he loses.

I don't think he's going to get, like, badly hurt in the fight. So I do think that fight's going to happen. What do we say? Lightweight, flyweight, welterweight. So AK and I do the on to the next one. predictions extravaganza. We talk exactly about this. I went Islam Makachev at lightweight.

I went Brandon Moreno at flyweight. Welterweight, I went with I think I'm with Hamzaa Tchamayev, but obviously that's not happening. So I kind of feel like if Leon and Colby fight, Colby's going to win, but I'm not really sure. But then there's a part of me that's like,

maybe they're just not going to fight this year. So I'll say Leon Edwards, only because until I see those two guys booked and out a poster and we're promoting a fight, and I don't believe the fight's happening. So that's kind of where I'm at right now. Let's go to Daniel. Hey, Mike. Heck of a morning.

Friday. Happy Friday to you. Just going to make it quick here, what do you think would be a bigger fight, you know, Vulcan, Yair fight in this weekend? So in terms of a next fight, do you think Volk versus Aljo, like a super fight in Vegas for the 145 pound belt? Or do you think Yair versus Toporia

in Spain for the 145 pound belt? Which one do you think would be a bigger fight? Thanks, Mike. It's Deporia. If they did Toporia in Spain, that's the bigger fight. And I think that's a fight

everybody wants to see anyways. I think Volk is kind of looking at it as if, hey, if I'm staying at featherweight, it's Toporia, then Aljo. so i i think deport like to pori is such a crazy fight i i want to see it and it seems like volks into it too which i love love the fact that he's into it so we'll see how it plays out but i think

deporia is the more compelling matchup right now i just think the title like the champion versus champion thing and moving up divisions and all that like it's not as it's not as unicorny as it once was now it's just something that happens all the time you know what i mean and i just don't think the ufc's just going to give that to al jo i think they're going to make aljo fight somebody else before that happens but we shall see how it plays up but it's to pour you easy let's try cb again yo mike can hear me yep in that heck of a morning since it's free for all friday um just a fun question i thought of just now um if you're in charge the UFC's um let's say you're the head of uh marketing and apparel um like how would you improve

their like merch in general because i think for like for such a big brand as the UFC i think their merch is like absolutely terrible like um like i love the fighters i love the fights but like you you wouldn't catch me walking in the street wearing like uFC gear like i'm sorry if like if you're a fan of the gear and i see you on the street i'm judging you honestly like yeah their merch is just terrible and like if it was up to me I'd probably be like if I had like an unlimited budget like of course the UFC has an unlimited budget right like I'd probably like you know try to go back with like Nike because I remember back then like Silva and John Jones they had like their own like you know Nike sponsorship but like obviously that's a separate story right but like yeah just your thoughts

on that I'm with you I think the merch sucked Italy X like Who wants to buy the Venom fight kits? Like, who really wants to buy those? And if you do, you really want to shell out that kind of fucking money for that shit? It's bad. Like, it's real bad. Like, I just don't know if anybody's going to UFC events. And I went to a bunch of as a fan, too.

And never in my life was I like, oh, the first thing I'm going to do when I go in there is I'm going to buy a UFC t-shirt. No, because the merch is awful. now here's another way the fighters could like come together why don't we do what wwee does and the fighters if the idea is right and if they've gotten to a certain position let's let the fighters like come up with their own designs let's get something that goes over

and maybe the fighters can get a piece of that pie maybe there's an austin 316 out there for for the ufc world and that shirt can sell all over the place and we'll see it everywhere. But no one's going to buy a UFC t-shirt. It's like going to a concert in the band's t-shirt. Like, no. That's like James Hepfield wearing a Metallica shirt

while screaming at the top of his lungs. No. The merch is bad. I'm completely with you. I would like to see them be a little more fun with it. It's like, look, you can't. You can't do merch for Evan Elder. You can't.

You can't do merch for, you know, Luana Carolina. It doesn't work. But you can do merch from Brandon Moreno. You can do merch for Alexa Grasso. You can do merch for Israel Adasana and John Jones and Ilya and Volk and some of these other people. Like, you can do that. You can do that and we can have some fun with it. And guess what?

Do you ever see you get a piece of the pie? And guess what? The fighter. who is on said t-shirt or whatever gear it is can get their own piece of the pie. WWE kills it with this. And hopefully with this new merger, maybe WWE can help the UFC in that regard, help them push merch.

WWE merch still goes like crazy. It still goes like crazy because they are unique and fun. You think any fucking person is going to spend $40 on a Zuck version, versus Musk t-shirt, get off of me. If I had gifted that for Christmas, I'd polish furniture with it. I wouldn't even wear it. $40 for that?

And it's like the most basic design. Like, there's nothing to it. They could be better with this. And fighters could reap the benefits. Or maybe somebody can come along and do like a pro wrestling tease, but with MMA, that'd be cool. I know fighters are doing stuff on their own, but that's not easy to do. It's not easy to do unless you have the right people around you.

But yeah, I would like to see them step up the merch game. All right, do we have a No Just Noah? You're muted right now. No Just Noah. Once, twice, three times a lady. Let's go to Latino Head. Latino heats, excuse me, Latino heats. Good morning, first thing foremost.

And out of the Jake Paul versus Nate Dia's fight, everyone is assuming Nate Diaz doesn't have lungs and saying he won't be able to go along because he's a smoker. But do you think he's going to get stopped because he gasses out? or because Jake Paul physically stops him by a knockout? Well, I don't think Nate's going to gas out.

He doesn't gas out really at all. He just gets better as the fight goes on. And that's kind of why Nate wanted more rounds. Nate kind of has a very interesting read on it, and it's kind of the read that a lot of other people had on it. There's a real world where Jake just beats that ass because he's so much bigger and he's got the more experience in the boxing ring, and all of that.

And he's younger and more athletic and all of those things. But Nate can take a beating. And Nate can take a beating so well that when you put that beating on him and you think you're going to finish him and then you don't, that's when he's the most dangerous.

And if you need a point of reference, ask Connor McGregor about that. Because Connor put the wood to him in both of those fights. and could not get Nate out of there. He could not. He knocked in the second fight. He knocked Nate down a bunch.

And Nate just kept coming. I was caged side for UFC 244 at MSG covering that event. Jorge Mazadol beat the shit out of Nate Diaz. For as long as that fight went, it was probably the best ever performance from Jorge Mazda. He was on. He was landing everything. He battered Nate Diaz, but the man never went away.

And there were at least one moment in that fight where it looked like the referee is going to come in and stop it. And Nate just kept going. And do I think that fight would have got, like, if the doctor didn't stop it, do I think that fight would have changed? Do I think Nate would have taken momentum? No, I just think that was Mazadol's night. But that question is there. And I feel like that's how this fight's going to be. I don't know what to think about it.

I think the 10 rounds makes it interesting. I think adding the extra rounds is going to make it a little more compelling. And we'll see what happens if Jake starts to tire. And I kind of felt like he was slowing down a little bit in the Anderson Silva fight. And then in the last round, he knocked Anderson down and won the fight. So I don't know. I'm actually going to be there. So we'll see how this all plays out.

but I'm not concerned about Nate Gassing. Dude trains to be a triathlete. He might not be the most athletic dude in the world, but that dude just doesn't stop ever. That's what makes him so dangerous. I know he's getting up there in age, but he's named freaking Diaz. VBMMA.

Hello. Hi, everybody. Heck of a morning. What's up? So I wanted to ask you about this, Robert Wicker versus Dr. fight, you know, like where this goes if Robert wins and Trichos

because they have seen the card in two months and then Descartes basically has like one or two fights in right now it's only two months away so what you think if like Weirker gets it done then probably Strickland is going to fight for a title or

what is it going to happen because if you look at the odds like Weirker is heavily favor to win this fight you know and even if Drickles Smith is probably going to be a hard fight you know and he probably can't turn around in Tomas and fight again so is Sean Strickland getting a tell of shot or what's going what's going at 1.5 it's a mess yeah man I mean I think

Sean's in a great position right now as of right now I think Sean Strickland is in the driver's seat but again it's hard to answer that question because we don't know what this fight's going to look like now if Robo Whittaker goes out there it just runs over dDP and gets them out of there in the first round I think Whitaker will be like, F it, let's go. If I'm going to fight easy ever again, this might be my only chance to do it.

But if those two get in there and just have a war, it's going to be tough. And if DDP wins this fight, it all just depends on how he wins. If either guy gets a quick finish, I think if DDP wins, he's going to do everything in his power

to get the shot. I don't know if the UFC would like push Izzy back in order to make that fight happen but yeah the whole all in this matchmaking was just so dumb like none of it made sense why is this fight happening why is Robert Whitaker and Drey's Duplice fighting

why is DDP fighting Robert Whitaker why is this happening it makes no sense why is Icram Alaskara fighting Paul Costa intrigued as shit about that fight but why is it happening? Why is that fight happening?

Why is Sean Strickland fight Abus Magamato? I think we have a better answer as to why because we saw that fight played out and I think Sean was just kind of the backup plan here. We'll do Whitaker GDP and if Sean, we'll give Sean an unranked dude to probably style over. And that's exactly what he did.

Then we have a guy. We have a built-up storyline. International Flight Week last year. Those two were at a press conference last year. We're just firing jabs at each other, firing shots. Sean Strickland was hurling shit at Izzy that he had never heard before at a UFC press conference. So they got enough there to do it. So Strickland's in the driver's seat.

And maybe we'll have an answer as to whether he remains there on Saturday, depending on how this fight plays out. Vinny, hello. Vinny. No, Vinny. Let's go to Brent. Brent, who there? Yes, sir. How are you?

Good. So Jorge Mosvedol has got one of his barrenocle MMA shows coming up. And this is just a quick call about how I think that MMA is potentially the most interesting barrenocle combat sport by far. It plays really well into like the Muay Thai, the grappling, etc. and I see like a distant future where like major league

MMA is primarily bare knuckle. Do you think that that is likely or unlikely? I mean, I'm not ruling it out. I'm not really, see, here's what I dig about all of this. And at least they're like they're trying something different. They're trying something unique and out of the box. while Bellator is a tremendous roster, and yes, they do the Grand Prix,

they don't do anything really different. PFL does the season and the tournament and all that. That's different. What Mazadol is doing is different. The boxing stuff, doing the MMA guys, getting them involved, MMA versus MMA and boxing gloat. I like that idea.

And I like the bare-knuckle MMA idea. They're doing in the same arena as the UFC just was on ABC. Now, I don't know if they needed to really book that building. I covered some of Mazadal's MMA events in Savannah, Georgia, because it's right over the line. It's like a 20-minute drive for me. Small venues, 1,000 people.

I feel like it's a big undertaking to book a 14,000-seat arena for something that is unproven. Now, I understand there's name value here. We got JDS, we got Fabricio Verdu, you have freaking Henan Burrow. We have a lot of guys you recognize. But we had a lot of people that we recognize for the game bread boxing card in Milwaukee, and it didn't seem like they did very well.

Maybe it was the weekend. Maybe it's because of the Final Four. Maybe the building was just too big. I don't know. But I like the concept. I think there's something there. And the last fight card, headline by Roy Nelson was fun.

Like it was a fun watch. So I think there's something to this. But it's just a matter of like, can they keep up? Can they keep this up? Can they keep getting these names? Is it going to be a success? Can they sell out the arena? If they put it on pay-per-view,

can they get enough buys? Like, it's tough. It's tough. And it's kind of taking BKFC a minute to get where they're at. and one of the big things BKFC has done, and even Dave Feldman sort of has admitted it with that Mike Perry, Luke Rockhole card,

sometimes you take the shot and sometimes it doesn't work. Now, you can generate buzz and interest, that's great, but if you can't turn that into dollars, what are we doing here? I can tell you that the traffic on MAAfighting.com, the night of that card was incredible. And most BKFC cards were, there's name value and people know who's actually fighting.

The traffic's really good. But traffic for another website can only do so much for you. Sure, you could get new people being like, oh, what's this BKFC thing? Let me click on it. But if they're not spending money to buy your pay-per-view, that's a problem. And Feldman said that they had like 700,000 people illegally streaming it or whatever. I don't know if it was that high, but it was a huge ass number. That's not good.

That's not good. So we'll see how this plays out. Obviously, I'm rooting for the fighters and I'm rooting for Mazadol to get this thing going. Because especially if PFL and Bellator form a partnership, you need places for these fighters to go. You're losing a competitor. You're losing a potential chance to. negotiate if that deal comes together. So more options for fighters, the better.

Hopefully it plays out well. Hopefully everyone gets paid. Hopefully it's success. And hopefully there's another avenue for these wonderful athletes to go where they are treated well and they make good money and get it on the ground floor. So we'll see how it plays out. All right, I think we're done here.

Thank you all very much. We will have the way-in show, noon Eastern, on the YouTube channel. Get excited for UFC 290, and then a little while after that ends, 3 p.m. Eastern on the YouTube channel, live preview show, MMA Fighting's YouTube channel.

Myself, I believe it's me, The Prince of Positivity, my best friend Alex K. Lee, and my fellow bald brethren, Shaheen Al-Shadi. And it's just... Just buckle up, everybody. 290?

Look, is 290 the biggest star-powered international fight week card of all time? Hell no. But is this a damn good card? Yeah, it is. And I'm fucking jacked up for it. Like, honestly, I am fired up for this card. There's so much to like.

The main event is incredible. The co-main event is incredible. I have no idea how Jerkis 2.C. could beat Robert Whitaker. but he just might be crazy enough to do it. Can Dan Hooker bounce back? Can Jalen Turner bounce back? Can Bo Nickel?

Continue the run. Could Val Woodburn? Could Val Woodburn emerge as the star of International Fight Week? Will Robbie Lawler's career end with the win? Will Jack Delamette-Elanna continue his impressive run? Or will the very talented young up-and-comer Josiah Harell pull off an upset of his own. Can Yasmin Hadeghie continue her impressive run?

Will Jimmy Crut and Alonzo Menafield actually have a winner this time? Will Tatsuro Tyra remain undefeated? So many questions, so many interesting storylines. And I can't wait for tomorrow, everybody. So until later on this afternoon on the preview show, we'll see you later. Enjoy the rest of your day. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. network.