MMA Fighting - HOAM | Final Countdown To UFC 304

Episode Date: July 26, 2024

The UFC's next pay-per-view event is just hours away, and the burning questions continue to rise in regards to the two championship bouts, and where each fighter goes should they leave UFC 304 with title belts around their waists. While Dana White said that the Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes winner will get the chance to face Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic next, will it actually happen? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the big storylines surrounding the promotion's return to Manchester, England, Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad 2, the co-main eventers needing to forget about Jones, Paddy Pimblett's pending free agency ahead of the fight with King Green, the current UFC 306 lineup at Sphere and if it's lived up to the hype, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. And it is Friday, July 26th, 2024. And it is indeed a heck of a morning, a little bit earlier in the morning. On this Friday, I am Mike. I hope you're all having a wonderful day as we're live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter Spaces, you can hear the show shortly thereafter, on the podcasting network. And yes, we're a little bit early in the day because we have your UFC 304 official weigh-ins coming up at 10 a.m. Eastern, which you can watch on the

MMA fighting YouTube channel, our man Jose Young's, boots on the ground in Manchester, the great A.K. Lee, providing the golf commentary. It's going to be a great time. It's going to be a great time. We'll see how everybody fares on the old scales. We obviously have four people competing in championship bouts. We have Leon Edwards and Bilal Mohammed. I don't think they'll have an issue making weight. Certainly don't see any issue with Tommy Aspinall and Curtis Blades. I think the one fighter who people have questions about more than anybody is Minal Cop.

But from all accounts, at least from what he's saying on social media, so it's the best way cut of his career, said he didn't really have to do anything crazy. and says he's going to be good to go. I've reached out to a couple people on Cops team. I'll provide an update if I get one before he steps on the scale. But, yeah, a lot going on with the world of the UFC and MMA and everybody going on. Everything else going on again. None of the more messages coming in about some situations going on in the sport.

But we're going to take some calls. We're going to get you ready for UFC 304, all the news and notes, everything going on. I'm going to just leave it all up to you guys. There will be no monologue. There will be no ranting and raving. I will let you guys decide what we talk about in the order of how we discuss it, et cetera. So I'm going to focus on you guys and not everything else going on at the moment. And four-out sniper will kick us off on this Friday.

Go ahead. Yeah, what's up, Mike? Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Hey, heck of a morning. I'm super excited. for this event happening tomorrow night. Still surprised that we're getting, you know, the best of the start time as opposed to the

English fans who I believe deserve that, you know, normal start time for the fights. I wanted to ask you, do they, are the English fans the best fans in all of, like, sports, not just MMA, but any sport you can think of? I was watching the press conference yesterday, and they're all going off there singing their song, singing Tommy Aspernel, you know, Patty the Batty song. They're just, they're in it. And fights aren't even happening. They're just sitting down talking.

And then tomorrow night, we're going to hear them singing their songs throughout pretty much every fight. So my question is, are they the best fans in all of sports? Thanks, Mike. No. I mean, they're good. Here's the problem. And we don't, we'll find out tomorrow how this all plays out. But if you notice after the pandemic, when the UFC headings,

to London for those first two shows, the crowd was on fire. Like they were boisterous, they were loud, they were exciting, they were fired up. And then you saw the complaints heading into the next fight night and then the pay-per-view in London because, I mean, this is Manchester too. It's an area they haven't been in in quite some time. but what has happened is the UFC is printing money right now that they're pricing out a lot of those loud, boisterous, true MMA fans,

and it kind of hurts the ambiance of it all. Now, at the press conference, you don't have to worry about that because anybody can go, it's free, you just go in and do your thing. How will it look paying premium prices tomorrow? and if we're talking to the UK audience, it's not even tomorrow,

it's Sunday morning, like real early. By the time the title fights happen, like Tom Aspinel and Curtis Blades are going to be walking to the ring at like 5 a.m. local time on Sunday. The main event is going to be like 6 a.m. And we know what that fight is probably going to look like. It's probably going all 25 minutes.

Are they going to be that loud and boister stead? I have to say, even feel, and this is no disrespect, because they are a damn good bunch over in the UK. But they aren't, they ain't better than Paris. They just, they're just not. They're just not. PFL has no buzz at all. But when they go to Paris and Cedric Dumebe is there, that friggin' place, it's like an earthquake in there. Anytime the UFC goes to Paris, that crowd is electric. It's the best crowd. They've been the best crowd like two years in a row. And they're probably going to the best crowd this year as well.

So they're very good. And the UK crowd makes a lot of sacrifices that, you know, I don't certainly don't make. I mean, once in a while we complain about a fight night card going to like 2 a.m. but they have to deal with the shit all the time. So respect to them, they are great fans. Are they the best fans in all of sports? Like the UK MMA fans? Probably not.

But they're damn good. And they're loud and they're fun. and yeah Barbarus, I'm trying to get you in but it's not even let me try like even attempt to add you so you're going to have to bounce back in and we'll try that again.

Abswalia, do we have you? So Mark, heck of the morning. Firstly, I want to say a perfect way to start off the day and for my end, it's my birthday today actually, I'll turn 23. Oh, birthday, man. Yeah, thanks.

So I have a few questions. I'm not sure if you're on Rapid Fire, but I'll try to make them quick. So, firstly, I just want to ask about the Dan Hooker Gamrod thing. If that whole thing is sort of confirmed or not. And was the original plan actually meant to be Dan versus Olivera? And if it was, why that sort of never came to be and why they chose Gamera instead of his opponent? I have another also. I have two other questions.

What was the other question? I'm just trying to think. Yeah, do you think that Dana White might have oversold on the Sophia and the whole idea what it was going to be as an event because from what I've seen yeah like I do think it's going to be a great event production wise even fight wise it's just that the names don't seem as appealing if you get what I mean so I was hoping we would see Iaya Rodriguez Brian Ortega you know all these guys we might see them it's just that I do I do personally think as a fan we could have seen a little bit more for the Mexican independence car

and I just think it sort of happened at a weird time because even guys like brandon Marino, he's taking a break from the sport, so it's kind of sucked, and he's not longer the champ, so it's just hard to see that sort of hype for it, if you get what I mean. And my final question is, this might be a silly one, but do you think Hamza Chimaev truly deserves a title shot in the Walter II division, even though he's no longer fighting there? And if he wanted to make way than that thing, you think the U.S. he would give him an opportunity to fight Leon Edwards in case sharp-cut or J.D.M. can't make that fight as soon as possible.

that's all I have a great day. First one's easy, zero chance. He fights for the welterweight title next. Because that would be promotional malpractice. It just truly would. It makes no sense. I know they were trying to do something for UFC 300, trying to pull the rabbit out of the hat.

But that just would have been like a holy shit, that's out of nowhere fight. But people still would have been like, what? Like, why is this happening? The guy missed weight by like seven and a half pounds the last time you tried to make Walterweight. So I just don't see a whirl where that happens. I think there's too much insurity.

And I don't think you can give him a title shot next regardless. He's going to have to fight somebody else. He's going to have to clear up. Everything needs to clear up in terms of travel and all that stuff. It's tough, man. It's tough. The Hooker, Gamron thing, I heard nothing about the Olivera stuff. It seems like Dan was kind of trolling with all of that from what I understand.

But, I mean, that fight makes zero sense for Charles Olivera, if we're being honest. You know, he's got guys like Colby calling him out for fights. Like, I mean, what are we doing here? He's not going to fight Dan Hooker. I love the Gamrot fight. This is probably as good as it gets for Gamron. Gamron's a top five guy. He's just not a lot of buzz to him right now.

Unfortunately, he was the freaking backup fighter for the title fight. And, you know, they could have just used the backup fighter to fight to fight as a mock Jeff, but they went with Volcanopsky instead, which is super weird, even to this day. But yeah, it's a good name for Gamrot, huge opportunity for Dan Hooker. I like the matchmaking. It's fine. I have no issue with it.

It keeps Gamrod busy and Hooker's a dog. So it's good stuff. The sphere, so it's kind of interesting because right now, looking at the card, we have Aldana versus Dumas. We have Pereira versus Fluffy. Love that fight. Yasmin Hadeghi versus Ketland Suza, Edgar Shires,

Kevin Borjas, Rinaldo Rodriguez, O'Day Osborne, Manuel Torres, Ignacio Baja Mondays, Raul Roses Jr. versus Arici Lang. So that's seven fights. Dana is saying there's 10. As I've talked about on other programs,

it appears, it's not done yet, but it appears we'll see Daniel Zell-Huber on this card. The name that the UFC wants Esteban Riebovich. It's not like done done, but it's definitely being discussed.

And I'd kind of be surprised if it doesn't happen. So if that fight is added, that's eight fights, that just leaves the two title fights, which, I mean, everything Ariel has said is, Ariel Hawani has said on the MA hour

kind of lines up with everything that I'm hearing. Sean O'Malley versus Maraub de Balashvili, probably the main event. The co-main event is, Alexa Grasso fighting somebody, there has been a lot of like rumor and innuendo and speculation about all this. And even Alexa Grasso herself has been like, well, I don't even know if Valentin is going to fight.

I might fight Manon Fioro. The latest I've heard from somebody that I've spoken with is that Manna was offered that fight. She obviously said yes, but it was obviously contingent on whether or not Valentina Shepchenko is going to fight. And it's not because like Valentine's scared quote unquote or anything like that or whatever. It's just she did the No-J thing last year. She doesn't really want to do it again. And she wanted either like neutral territory or something that more catered to her.

And I can understand where she's coming from. But at the same token, like this division is moving so quickly that you kind of don't have a choice. You just have to take it. And why not do it at this huge event that? Dana's been firing up at the spear. So it seems like Schochenko is the frontrunner. I'm told Mannon Fioro is ready to go if called upon. If they do announce, Schenko,

Manon will probably serve as the backup fighter for that fight. The second thing for Manny Fioro is, first there's two things. One, her next fight should be for the belt. 100%. The only other thing that she could probably do, is fight in Paris, which would make a ton of sense. And the Paris card is coming up, I think, what, two weeks after the spear card?

But now if you put her in this position and you're booking all these fights, Paris is kind of off the table. And then on top of that, like, who's she going to fight? Is she going to fight, is Macy Barber going to be okay? So it kind of puts her to very weird position because she hasn't fought, I mean, she fought Blanchefield in March if she doesn't end up fighting in September, like when is she going to fight?

At that point, if you've already if you're going to be at worst the backup fighter and then you don't fight, you're sort of at the mercy of whoever wins that fight. We may not see her for another year. Like we may not see her until 2025 and that's tough man.

It's a tough spot to be in. So I would say O'Malley Marab, which is fine. Like that one by itself will sell this card. And then the pomp and circumstances cherry on the Sunday. And you get Grasso and Chifchenko, one of the third fight, which was one of the fights of the year in 2023. One of the best moments of the year with Grasso submitting Chepchako at 285.

Like, it's a fun ass fight. The rest of this card is going to be fun. Like it may not be overloaded with star power top to bottom. This is not UFC 300, but it doesn't need. to be. The UFC's already spending a shitload of money to do this. They had to get a basically a partner to help fund it in Riyadh season. And it's a one and done and they're going to blow this thing up. So you can't go crazy when you're already out, you know, I think Daniel said it's like $16 million they've already put into the production. You can't

get Connor on the card. You can't do Max Ilya and O'Malley Morrano. on the same car because that's going to cost you a shitload of money. So you just book a bunch of really fun fights and then you put two title fights at the top. Like this is the UFC structure right now. As long as we have a main event that's going to sell that we can put on the marquee that we can run promos for, the rest is just the rest is just cherry on top of the Sunday. So I think it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully we get the announcement of the rest of the card soon because this thing's coming real quick.

I think we're like six weeks away from it. Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock. So we're going to keep going to... We're going to go to like 9.45. So you've got like 25 minutes to try to get as many of you as possible. Four Corners Sports, go ahead.

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All right, not going through. How about Anthony? Anthony, do we have you? What's up, buddy? Hey, how's it going? I think I remember you last month, I think, for showing, I think it's like back in June for the Saba Arabia thing.

You don't remember that one? What about it? Okay, so I think I did a question I think it was like during like the question for the Saborabiavian fight night. At that time, I think it was as I was thinking about I was thinking as to the question about 303. So now since it was a month later,

I have a bunch of questions about 304 now. Now, if you did not see the press conference with I think I, everyone has already. all the press conference. The way I see it right now at the press conference was kind of really good. But now, we can

might get this, well, it's going to be for the column-made event. At the end of the column-made event, we're going to see what the fighters are going to say about whoever wins this co-made event for the animal heavyweight champion between Curtis Blade and Tom Aspinall.

The winner of that one will either either can face anyone or they can go after either John Jones or Steve Bates Minotius because we know we want to have that match because last year in November, we know what happens about John Jones that he was suffered from the shoulder injury and he was out for a couple months with like eight months. Now, so it was almost close to a year now and we see him back in training for kind of like I see a video of him back in training. Now to me is that we need to get the fight hopefully by the

like the end of the year probably, I think it was like GIFC 3, like 310. But the thing is, is that the way I'm seeing the culminate event is going to be one of the anticipated rematch that what happened two years ago of Tom Espinole, that Chris Bray hit him with the knee and knocks him out by TKO from the knee injury. And now he's now he's back to trying to get this, his redeemed loss, against Curtis Blade. And if you look at Curtis Blade, look how Chris Bray did last time at UFC 299 against General Alameda. He literally just put him out to sleep.

And then in his last five, Tom Aspinall, he literally did a vicious knockout over Sorgia Pavlovich. And now we're going to see these two once again for the second time in a row to get this participated rematch. And then I don't know what I can say. If you look at Patty Pipplin and Bobby Green, these two may not like each other. And these two went face to face the first time. And if you look at Patty Pipplin, look at his career now now.

I think he's now on a six to seven fight win streak. His last fight was Tony Ferguson. These two were really good last time until he went by unanimous decision. That was at UFC 2096. Now, if you look at Bobby King Green, look at the knockouts that he. end up going. And now these two in this type of weight class can be in these

top positions, but later on, they have a chance to be going in to be in the future of the Lightway Division. And then the main event, if you look at this entire Walter Wade card, this Walter Wade division, look at the stats of this

Walterweight stats. Anyone, any contenders can go after Leah Edwards. But right now, Baham Muhammad is also like a 10-5 win streak, but Leo Edwards is on a 13-5 unbeaten streets of those two. So as my question concerned is, what do you think in your mind? How incredible that this event is going to be

that we haven't been in Manchester in over eight years? You got me fired up, Anthony. You got me fired up. So let's talk about this. Co-main event, Tom Aspinall versus Curtis Blades. I know Dana White was asked about at the press conference. Is the winner of this fight going to fight the winner

of John Jones versus Steve Mietchich? Dana White said, absolutely. Which I think you guys, if you've been fans for a long time, when Dana just says absolutely and nothing else, not even absolutely that's going to happen. Yeah, we're going to make sure that fight happens. If we don't even get that, a single word answer is usually

it usually means absolutely fucking not because it's not going to happen the winner of this fight will not be fighting John Jones nor Sir nor Steve Amyichich it's just not going to happen it's just not going to happen Tom Aspinall has realized it he says he basically has a 10 to 20% chance

of that fight ever happening but that's what makes this interesting because I feel like it's 10 and 20% as well. And if he loses to Curtis Blades, it is zero. He will never, ever, ever get any chance to fight John Jones. So that makes this kind of interesting to me. And for Curtis Blades, this is one and done. He's got one shot. If he doesn't win a belt on Saturday, he'll never fight for a belt again. That's it. The Patty Bobby Green thing, just going back to the press conference, I have to say, I'm not a fan of those press conferences. anyways. Once in a while you get a good one. This might have been the worst press conference

in UFC history. And I'm not saying it in like a bad way. I'm saying it in like a boring like no not newsworthy way. Nothing came out of this. Literally nothing outside of Bobby Green saying, hey, can we do a $100,000 bonus? Nothing came out of it. Belawful. Muhammad looked like he was scared to death up there. He looked so uncomfortable, so nervous. It was like, I was uncomfortable watching how uncomfortable he was up there. But then Leon Edwards did the thing where Balal was just so bad at the press conference. But then Leon did the, you know, I'm going to try to punk you out thing and Balal didn't bite.

And then Balal got like some street cred back because Leon did the dumb thing, which is kind of what he, does two guys who just aren't terribly interesting and then like the one thing i was really looking forward to especially after media day was all right patty pimblit and king green are going to save us all they're going to come in they're going to get after it they might even have they may even have to get separated in the middle of this thing like it's got to be like these guys are going to steal the show and then it looked like we're starting to get there we're heading in that direction. Patty Pimble was asked about King Green's comments. You know, King has had to work for everything. She had a grinding claw. Patty's been handed everything. Patty says he's just talking

smack. We'll see what happened Saturday. And then King Green says something instead of like going back after Patty, he's like shutting up the fans and then says, no, man, I'm just, I was just taking the piss. Is that what it is? And Patty is like, yeah, man, you said it right. Taking the piss. I was waiting for them to like come across the the stage and hug each other after they became like best friends because bobby or i'm sorry king green spoke the lingo for a minute and i was like oh man now they're like best buds we're going to have beers afterwards we're going to text each other i might even send you chocolates on your birthday like they became like best buds and i'm like oh no because you know tom aspinall and curtis blades aren't going to go down that road and i don't want

them to. And you knew Ballal's trash talk was going to be horrendous. Leon, the same. It's just going to be the same old stuff. And it was just a bad press conference. Like, there was, you know, thinking like for someone like me who is watching this, not for my own entertainment, there's a billion other things I'd rather be doing than watching a UFC press conference, but we're there to like write a new story about it. I'm sitting there watching this. I'm like, what the fuck am I going to write about? Like, what, seriously? Thank God Dana said, like, even, even though his absolutely with the heavyweight title, interim heavyweight title implications meant nothing.

I was like, I guess that's the story. And Tom Aswell saying, yeah, we're the two best heavyweights in the world about to fight each other. Like, that's literally all that came out of it. That's it. It was so bad. It was just so bad. And I'm sorry. I know there's all this in boat placement, all that stuff.

How do you not have Min al-Cop and Muhammad Makayev up there? Like seriously, that has been the most interesting story of the week, even though it's like kind of real bad on one side. But like, how do you not have those two guys up there? Again, I don't care where you put the fight on the card. Really don't. It should be higher. No doubt about it. But it's the highest stakes fight on the entire card outside of the title fights.

The winner is getting a title shot. There's no other fight that's even close to that on this on this card. those two guys would have gotten after it. No doubt about it. But it was what it was. We'll see what happens with Patty and King. I do have a bet on Patty Pimbled on Saturday just because I got him at plus 115.

Wouldn't surprise me if King Green beats him. I think deep down, I think Green will probably beat him. But to me, that's just like a doggar pass fight. I also bet on Curtis Blades. I hate it. I truly hate it. the bet. It's real bad. It was a sprinkle.

I just think Curtis, seeing a guy like Curtis played as good as he is, at plus 280, it's kind of hard to pass up. Even though I don't think he wins this fight, it's just purely value. I think it should be a little bit closer than that. Just a lot of value bets I have for tomorrow. And I also have

for the main event, I have a bet on Belaw Mohammed. Not to win. Not to win. The bet, the play is Bilal Mohammed at plus five and a half points. Because I do think it goes to the cards. I think Ballal loses a decision. I think it's going to be one of those fights where Leon wins 49, 46, 48, 47, 48, 47, and still.

And then I will cash a minus 110. So it's basically like, yeah, it's basically saying like Leon wins, but Belaw makes it at least somewhat interesting and close, but he doesn't win. So that's where I'm out. Those are the single bets for those three fights. Let's move on. Collin City, go ahead. A per view, Aldo Faber, that's going back 15 years. Dana White is saying absolutely, I'm telling you right now, watching him over the last

decade and a half, there is zero, zero percent chance John Jones is fighting either of these guys. John Jones is fighting, John Jones is fighting Speepe. And if John Jones wants, if it lines up and he fights Alex, and so be it, there is zero percent chance he's fighting either of these guys. I love that ball pick plus five and a half. That's a nice angle right there. And that's it, man. Let's have a good card and hopefully

Manchester's bumping. Have a good one, man. Thank you, sir. You're absolutely right. Look, Matt Hamill, if you're a new affair, you probably have no idea who Matt Hamill is. Matt Hamill is the only man who can say, even though it's like one of the worst

things ever. Matt Hamill holds a win over John Jones. And it's because John Jones elbowed the shit out of them, like really violently, but they were deemed 12 to 6 illegal elbows. And John Jones got disqualified, even though he beat the holy hell out of Matt Hamill, like in just brutal fashion. And now the rule has been changed. And no one really, like, truly considered that a loss. Like, it's a loss on the record, technically, but no one considers that a loss.

everyone feels like John Jones undefeated, all that. Matt Hamill has a better chance of fighting John Jones in a rematch than Tom Aspinall or Curtis Blades have to do right now. It's just, it's just not going to happen. Unless Tom Aspinall does the freaking showtime kick and has like the highlight of forever, is he getting the John Jones fight? I'm not saying, like, there is a chance down the line.

John might, Tom might become this massive star and then that'll entice John to come back. and just be like, yeah, I'll fight this dude. Like, I feel like I could beat him. He's a star now. We'll make tons of money together, all that. But, yeah, you laid up the blueprint perfectly. He's going to fight Steepi.

He's going to beat the shit out of Steepay. And then he's either going to just leave or he's going to call it Alex Pereira. Which, by the way, shout out to Curtis Blades for doing the thing. Curtis Blades has had tremendous fight week, in my opinion. him saying what he said about Alex Pereira all that that he would F up out like this is brilliant stuff from him

just brilliant and Tom Aspinall should do the exact same thing whoever wins this fight don't call out John don't call out Stepe call out Alex Pereira call out Alex Perea steal a little thunder from John

I think that's a good call but as I said he is I said seven, eight months ago when they booked this interim heavyweight title fight. It was real dumb. And now we're in this position.

We all knew this position would be coming. We knew John wouldn't fight either of these guys. Not because he's scared, but doesn't need to. John's prize fighter, John can go fight Steepa and fight Alex Breer and make all the money.

Like, what does he gain from beating Tom Ascentall? Like, and I'm thinking as John Jones right now, he gains nothing from it. Now, in our eyes, the hardcore MMA fan, like, yeah, that means a lot. but in this situation

in John's eyes winding the career down means nothing to him he will sleep like just perfectly at night with all of this so yeah Dana saying absolutely and nothing else behind it

is bad side Riley go ahead three things but I'll be super quick we're up in fire first off I just wanted to ask or will say did you see Aljo last night

he had a grappling match in karate FC in the pit and he had like a literal buzzer-beater comeback win. It was very awesome. I want to know if you saw that. And Sam Alvey also won, defended his belt in karate FC. So it always brings a smile to my face to see Smiling Sam Alvey win. Secondly, Teporia tweeted like yesterday or two days ago that Max finally signed the contract.

I know you guys have been saying this is targeted for UFC 307, and it's not on MMA fighting yet, so it's not official, but I was just wondering if you heard any rumblings if this is, if it's been pushed forward anymore to be on UFC 307 at Salt Lake. And lastly, about the co-main event, I was just wondering if, if Curtain's Blades gets him down, Tom Aspinall down, how easily do you think he's going to be able to get back up? Because I think Aspinall is definitely the better grappler, I would say, but I would 100% say blades is the better striker. And he's a heavy guy. So if you get them down, do you think you can get back up? And how do you think that plays out? Thanks, Mike. Have a good one.

Do not watch karate combat. I saw some clips. I saw the clip of the Albi win. Of course, the big clip was Michelle Watterson saying that she would train the Huck to a girl to fight some girl I've never heard of. That's like the big thing that I saw. And if I could have avoided that, it would have done it in a heartbeat.

Because like, what are we doing here? Seriously, what are we doing here? So, yeah, I knew Aljo's competing. I didn't see any of it. Just, yeah, sometimes you just got to take some time away. I mean, I don't know how much more forward Tuporia Max has gotten, but I mean, we've basically been telling you for a while now, like, expect,

unless something crazy happens, like, expect that fight to be the main event of 307. You know what I mean? And that's kind of where we're at right now. I don't know. The Teporia title raid, even though he hasn't defended it once, I mean, the amount of reaction I've gotten from people, mostly negative, about how they feel about Ilya kind of as a champion

and as a social media user. Not great. Not great. So hopefully that fight happens. That fight, there's just, I just don't know. I mean,

I might be on an island. I can't wait for Islam versus Armin Sarukian 2. That's like my jam. That's my number one. I know I'm probably going to be alone on that. I think most people will say Ilya versus Max.

That fight slaps. Probably the fighter of the year comes out of that fight more than likely, unless Alex Pereira does fight a third time. But, I mean, just so much on the line there. Fight absolutely slaps. It rules. I'm excited. And then your third question, tough to say.

Tough to say because Tom Aspinall fights for like four minutes and very rarely is on his back and has to try to stand back up. But if there's one guy who is in this division who is tremendous at that and making you pay for that, it is big bad Curtis Blades. So, yeah, that's a very interesting thing about this fight is what happens if Curtis gets takedowns. He ends up on top and Tom can't get back to his feet because you've seen it, folks. If Curtis gets on top of you and you can't get them off you, it's a wrap. Like, you're done. So, yeah.

That fight should be very, very, very quick and very, very fun, and we'll see how it goes. Knuckles, what's up? So I had a question, Mike. Sorry if it's live here on your work. So Dana said that he had, he's only going to do 10 fights for the spear. If he's spending that much money and he's being funded essentially by Turkey Out of Sheath, why would you put that little fight, that little amount of fights on in such a big event? And my second question is, if Anatoly Malikin were to come to the UFC, would you rather see him at heavyweight or 205?

I personally think if he could cut the 205 easily, I think he would probably run through most of the division. He might have a little trouble with Antipoli or with Magamette Antalaya. And I just want to get some thoughts on that. Thanks. Have a heck of the morning. Probably 205s. I mean, heavy weights, nothing to smile about either. top the bottom, but

man, 205 is awful. It's just bad. So I think 205 could probably use a boost more than heavyweight. So that would be fun. That'd be a nice little addition.

Like, I don't know how he fits into the UFC puzzle because it's not just about being good, good at fighting. You have to have the full package for the UFC to really get behind you. But yeah, dude, how can Ike alive is fun as shit.

I'll watch that fight. yeah i would do 205 um the sphere thing kind of touched on earlier look i i know there's some funding going on from from read season but it's probably just banking back the production costs more than anything and here's what i'll say about the 10 fight thing i love it fucking love it love the 10 fight number i always think that's the sweet spot um you want to do 11 or 12 5 but like Saturdays is 14 fights. It's too many. 14's too many.

10 to 12 is like perfect. I love the 10. And it's a cost thing. It's a cost thing. You know, they want to like make money as much money as possible. And Turkey's not funding the whole thing. They're probably just like, hey, we're spending, you know, $17 million on production and having to move things around and trying to.

to set this arena up in a specific way. Riyad's like, cool, we'll help you. We'll pay that off. Just make us a title sponsor. Cool. What a relationship. Handshake. And now we can try to make money in other ways.

Paper view buys, ticket sales. And, I mean, just look at the cards. Just look at the card. We're going to get O'Malley and Marab. It looks like O'Malley's going to make the most money on the card by a mile. Marob's probably going to do okay. Then you got Alexa and. probably Valentina, champion money, challenge your money.

And then the rest of the card's like salvageable from a financial perspective. Who probably, like I'm trying to think maybe Michelle Pereira makes the most out of anybody else in that card. Which can't be a ton. So yeah, this is this is the UFC business bottle. Make money, make money, make money. They'll sell it out. Things they do great on pay for you because you got Sean O'Malley involved. Like it's going to be a home run.

people are going to be talking about it and I love 10 fights I love 10 fights make the arena the star do the fun thing this will be like my one issue

with the spear is that how do I want to frame this the UFC is going to blow this out and is going to be so fun like they are going to have so much fun with this they're probably going to have more fun with this than they did with UFC

300 and we're going to be all excited about it. And the newer fans are going to be like, wow. See, the UFC really is the greatest and they just care about the fans and all of this. And then what happens the next week? They're going to go back to the world's most famous apex and we're going to slog our way through the next several weeks. And then we're just going to think back on UFC 306 or re-ed season, Noche UFC Part 2.

And remember how fun this was when they actually. actually put forth an effort. Like we wrote a couple weeks ago about, you know, the mid-year awards and I got to write what the story of the year was. To me, it wasn't Connor McGregor. It was UFC 300. No, nothing was asked more of me so far this year than UFC 300. Nothing.

What's the main event going to be? What should it be? Is this a good card? Did Dana overpromise? Is this the best card? All of it. And then how we felt just watching the. card was the best

generations of fans came together for a tremendous night. It was like the UFC at the peak of their powers. It's what they can be all the time. So when people call us negative and say like

oh, you guys just hate on the UFC, clearly we don't hate on the UFC. Clearly we wouldn't be in the position especially me. I'm on the position I'm in without the UFC being what they are. I'm not a moron, but I could still be truthful for what I'm seeing. I don't owe them anything. I'm glad they're great. I'm glad they're a juggernaut. And it like keeps this keeps interesting

things happening. But if it sucks, then it sucks. If it's great, that it's great. And when you see what they did at 300, you realize that if they put forth even just a fraction of this effort all year long, then we get a lot of this. Not just. once a year. No-J, I think we're going to have the same thing. This might even be more fun because you're going to get the spear and the ambiance and everything they're putting into this. And then it's going to be gone. And we're going to go to the apex. And we're going to be like, oh, what the hell. And then we'll go to Paris and that'll be fun. And then we're back at the apex again. And then again, well, then we'll be Salt Lake City. And it's just going to be like kind

of back to the same old song and dance. And then we realize like, hey, they can do this. They can be incredibly fun all the time if they want to be and then they just choose not to be. And that's the frustrating thing for me. That's the frustrating thing for me, especially when there's nobody else. Like, BKFC is fun when they want to be. BKFC is fun all the time. They just don't have a lot of star power. Mike Perry is to fight. Nobody gives a shit. Karate Combat, they're trying to do fun things. I feel like karate combat's like trying too hard to be fun. I think they need to like bringing it back a touch and I think they're going to be okay. And then it's just like the UFC is like, okay, we'll have fun with this one,

but then we're not going to have fun the rest of the year. That's tough. And PFL just doesn't have any fun at all. The only fun PFL has is when Don Davis tweets. That's fun. That's fun. All right, a couple more and then we've got to go. By the way, before we get DC Betts, just had a quick text message conversation with the

legendary Eric Nixick, who tells me Minel Kopp, good to go. Good to go. We'll step on the scale. We'll make wait for his fight with Mohamedo Maha'Kayev without issue. So we'll see if that is true, but that's what he is telling. He said, good to go.

Minnell is good to go. D.C. Betts, go ahead. Hey, Mike, thanks for getting me. That's cool to hear about Manil. I was waiting all morning to hear about that. I hope he fights because that should be a good fight. I'm, everyone's sleeping on it. It's getting the attention now because of the fight and all that, but, um, or, you know,

the, the fight that they had in the back, but yeah, I'm, I'm super, super excited for that fight. I'm going to go with Cap. I think he, he's got the advantage over Man, I mean, over Makayev and he can anti-restle and all that, but, um, but what I wanted to ask you was, uh, was, uh, oh, real quick one, I, I'm just wondering was, uh, it kind of seems like, you know, big on, you. YouTube, it's kind of like the two big main guys, either the weasel or MMA goover, so I was

just wondering if you had to choose one of those guys, you know, whose channel do you like the most, or if you just had to pick one, you know, who would you pick out of those guys? Because those are the two kind of killing it the most. And then what's that? What's that? You know? Shit.

D.C. Betts, come back in. You were breaking up, so I lost you. There's like 10 seconds of nothing. I don't know. I don't really have an answer to that question. I mean, I've watched some of the Weasel stuff. The one video, again, and like I'm not knocking anybody. I just don't have time to watch all this shit.

I'm just running around like a mad person. I have my own shit that I have to do. But occasionally I'll check some things out. The one video I watched from Weasel, I mean, everything I've seen from him has been great is um the one that i watched like from start to finish was after the kamaro usman colby covington rematch and there was a there was a lot of dispute on whether or not colby got a takedown on camaro i thought he had a takedown uh others didn't and then weasel ended up doing a breakdown of whether or not it was a takedown or not and i was like you know what it was a takedown

And then I actually interviewed Colby right after, and I said I've watched this video from the weasel. And I was like after listening to it and seeing it frame by frame, I was like, yeah, to me it was a take down. I thought it was anyways. But I know they're both out there killing it. So good on them. Hard work pays off. So good on them. But again, it's, I don't watch anything on it.

The only thing I like ever watch on YouTube is either like the stuff my kid puts up or I watch golf content. One, just to like inspiration for when swing rounds comes back. And two, if I'm going to choose to watch something on YouTube, it's not MMA related. Like I need a, like sometimes you've got to separate yourself from things. So I try to watch some different stuff. Like I love Bob the Sports, big fan. Watch, you know, if you're a Bob DeSports fan, you know that Joey Cole Cuts got a

hole in one. Like it was just heartwarming to watch that dude get a hole in one and like everybody react to it. Like, that's, that's what you want. That's what I look for when I'm on YouTube. So, um, but I'll bring you back in real quick and then I got to get rolling here. What was your other question? DC Betts? Oh, yeah. Okay. So real quick. Um, I was wanted to say that that you're my boy and I love you, but it's super irritating to hear that you think that it, that it's a mistake by Patty to automatically sign back with the UFC when it's like, like, what do you want him to go do? Go. And, you know, and, it's a mistake by Patty to automatically sign back with the UFC.

Go. I get it. Make a bag of money and that's great. But go into a YouTube boxing match, get knocked out like every other MMA guy is doing or getting beat because we need to stop going over there. You know, no boxers coming over here and taking the chance of embarrassing themselves. We just keep doing it. So it's like, why should Patty go potentially get knocked out? And then if he does get knocked out, how is he going to come back and then be like, oh, well, yeah, I'm still, you know, top 15 of the UFC. And it's like, that's great.

He might be, but it's just an embarrassing laughing stock now. So I just think it's like, why would he not just automatically sign back with the UFC when he's at his hottest point right now in his MMA career? But yeah, I just wanted to touch on that. It's all love, though. Have a heck good morning. Thank you, brother. All right.

I'm so, God, I'm so glad you brought that up because I got like a dozen DMs about this, this thing. and it was saying the exact thing you just said. How dare you... I'm not saying that's what you're saying, but like, why, how dare you say, Patty, go elsewhere? I'm not, I didn't say that.

I never once said that. All I said was, Patty is entering this fight, last fight on his deal, right? All I said was, please do not resign before the fight happens. Let the fight happen first,

then re-sign. If you go out and you resign, before you beat a ranked lightweight, then you're a moron. Then you're an idiot. Because then you didn't max out what you could get from the UFC or anybody else. He goes out there and starches Bobby Green,

but it already re-signed. Like, that's terrible. That's terrible business. But now he goes out there and he beats... Which I have a bet on Patty to do. I think Patty is going to win this fight. Patty takes Bobby Green down. He's going to win.

He gets takedowns. He wins the fight. And I think this is a very winnable fight for Patty. I think the UFC realizes this is a winnable fight for Patty. But it's also not like a loss for the promotion of Green wins because Green is very popular. But all I'm saying is because of who the UFC, because of who Patty's manager is and, you know, Graham runs a successful business and stuff. But Graham also has a very tight-knit relationship with the UFC. This is very public.

And I'm not saying anything that's not crazy. sometimes when managers, and I'm not saying Graham does this, but there are certain managers who have good relationships with the UFC, who would rather maintain that relationship with the UFC rather than get their clients what they deserve, why would Patty just sign a deal right now before the fight? So that's all I'm saying. Like, just don't re-sign before the fight happens.

Obviously, he's going to stay with the UFC. see. Like, I know the whole YouTube thing is like, hey, if I can make a quick bag to go box some fucking influencer that has 20 million followers but sucks at fighting, sure, I'll go make $3 million to dock this idiot out. But you, like going into quote unquote free agency as a number 15, as the 15th ranked fighter in the toughest division in the sport, that gives you negotiating power. That gives you a little bit of room of room to work with.

You don't think PFL is going to reach out to Patty and offer my big bag of money? Of course they are. They'd be insane not to. And I'm not saying Patty should sign with them. But what Patty should do is say, yo, UFC, I'm the 15th ranked lightweight in the world.

PFL just offered me $3 million a fight. I know you're probably not going to give me that, but, you know, let's meet halfway somewhere. and maybe the UFC will be like, yeah, I bet, let's do that. That's all I was saying. I'm not telling Patty not to come back.

Like, his value is in the UFC. That's where he will become a star. He's already peaked there. Makes no sense for him to leave the UFC. But just don't do it before the fight. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. Be a businessman.

Be a businessman. It's the same thing with Connor McGregor's. You've got two fights left in this deal. why would Connor, like Connor resigning with the UFC before his deal runs out would just be horrific business. Horrible. And I know it's risky, but Patty is over enough and the UFC goes to the UK enough that like Patty's still going to get a bump up anyways. So even if he loses a fun fight to King Green, his value still rises. So why sign just, there's no doubt in my mind the UFC threw an offer at Patty, like with a little bit of a bump.

But if he goes out and has the performance of a lifetime against King Green in front of a raucous crowd that's going to lose their shit over it, then you go to the negotiating table where your value is as high as it can be. That's all I was saying. I'm not telling Patty to leave. That's stupid. But all I'm saying is hold your ground. Hold your ground. Maximize the value because this could be the biggest contract you ever get. This could be your biggest contract.

So maximize it. Get that bag, son. Get that money. No regrets. No regrets. If he resigns now and that has the best performance ever, regrets. Because he could have got more. That's all of us saying the whole time.

All right, we got to go. Appreciate all of you. Head on over to the MAFutty YouTube channel. I believe in a matter of seconds. We'll start the stream for the UFC 304 weigh-ins. You'll see Leon Edwards, Blah, Mahal, Almond, Tommy Aspedal, Curtis Blades, Minot, Mahamahmaqayev,

Patty Pimbled, King Green, and the rest of the fighters competing tomorrow at Co-op Live in Manchester. So you're all the best. As far as next week goes, after UFC 304 and after on to the next one,

I am on vacation for the next, like, nine days. So maybe I'll pop in and do a show. Maybe I'll have AK pop in, but I'm taking about a week off. I got a wedding to go to next weekend, going back to Massachusetts for a few days. Pretty excited about that, but take it a little bit of a breather.

So maybe I'll come in and say hello at some point, but worst case scenario, I'll be back the following week. We'll react to UFC Abu Dhabi, Corey Sanagan versus Umar Daragam Adhap, and that really fun card. So thank you all very much. I'll see you on the preview show.

for UFC 304 coming up in a couple of hours. But enjoy the wayans, everybody. Enjoy your Friday. Have a heck of more. To the Vox Media Podcast Network.