MMA Fighting - HOAM | Francis Ngannou Turns Down UFC, Jon Jones Is Back, More

Episode Date: January 17, 2023

While the UFC returned to in-cage action this past Saturday in Las Vegas, the event — and the fallout from it — took a back seat to a bunch of massive news that was revealed by Dana White. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to White's UFC Vegas 67 post-fight press conference when he revealed that Francis Ngannou is no longer the heavyweight champion, or a promotional heavyweight in general after Ngannou turned down their latest contract offer, and that a new champion would be crowned at UFC 285 on March 4 when the returning Jon Jones makes his heavyweight debut against Ciryl Gane in the main event. Additionally, listener topics include whether or not Ngannou leaving the UFC will hurt the promotion long term, where Ngannou could end up, the Jones vs. Gane matchup, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You can hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Tech. Thank you for joining. We have a lot to talk about. Not to mention, for the first time in 2023, it is a UFC pay-per-view fight week. Yes, UFC 283 going down this Saturday for the second consecutive UFC pay-per-view. The vacant UFC light heavyweight title is on the line this time. It'll be Glover-Teshirea versus Jamer.

Mall Hill, and hopefully a new champion will be crowned, because that did not happen after UFC 282. Plus, we'll have the Tetralogy for the flyway title, we're unifying the flyway championship as Davis and Vigorato fights the interim champion, Brandon Moreno. And that is probably the 12th most interesting thing on tap for the new cycle right now, because Saturday was a crazy day. It was a very crazy day, one that I will not soon forget, because E. Casey Liden and I are doing the people's pre-fight show, getting ready for the first UFC fight of the year. And we see this photo. It's outside of Team Mobile on the billboard in Las Vegas.

And there's John Jones and Cyril gone. they are promoting a heavyweight championship fight for March 4th, UFC 285, John Jones versus Cyril Gond. And of course, that billboard, the subsequent videos that we saw, I've said billboard, it threw the M-May community into a frenzy.

We're all scrambling, trying to figure out what is going on. Some people decided to report it, like it was sort of their own. own thing. We of course reached out. We were told that it was heading in that direction, was

not finalized, was not done, but it was heading in that direction. And we're waiting, watching the whole card on Saturday. Where's this announcement? Are we going to get the announcement? Is there going to be a video package announcing this fight? Are Brennan Fitzgerald

and company going to announce John Jones versus Cyril gone? And then in the of our minds are wondering, okay, well, if they do announce this fight, what's going on with Francis and Ghanu? Sure enough, UFC president Dana White shows up at the press conference, and we kind of knew the writing was on the wall right there and then, because Dana White wasn't going to come out and talk about UFC Vegas 67. He just wasn't. And we knew as soon as he sat down, something big was about to happen.

And he, of course, announces that the billboard reported the fight accurately. Prematurely shouldn't have gone up there in that way. It shouldn't have been released in that way. But we were asking on Friday, what in the world is going to headline UFC 285? And Dana White reveals it. It will be, in fact, the return of John Jones making his heavyweight debut to fight. Cyril Ghan for the vacant heavyweight title. And he also revealed that Francis Ngano was no longer the UFC heavyweight champion.

And on top of that, he is no longer a UFC heavyweight or a UFC fighter at all. He is he is gone. And the way he sort of presented is that Ingana was released, which is completely wrong. It's not true. In fact, I saw like other podcasts and stuff saying like in Ghana released. it's just not the right headline because he wasn't released. He was knocking on the door of free agency anyways. Inganu turned them down.

They didn't say, no, we don't want you anymore. They offered him a big contract, as Dana talked about. And Francis said, thanks, but no thanks. I'm out of here. So this wasn't the UFC releasing in Ganu. This is Inganu saying, I'm leaving you. So let's not get that twisted. This is, this wasn't the UFC's decision.

This was in Ghanu's decision. And at that point, they knew he was gone. And they just said, okay, you are an unrestricted free agent. You can sign with whoever you want. You can sign with a promotion tomorrow if you want. And then Dana went and did Dana things. Because if you, if you listen to that press conference, it was just ridiculous. All of it was ridiculous.

And of course, we knew the narrative Dana was going to paint because they thought they came correct to Francis. And by all accounts, Eric Nixick talked about on the MAA yesterday. From a financial standpoint, they did come correct. They came correct with a big time offer. The money was great. But in the end, Francis didn't care about the money. He cared about the respect in some of the things that he wanted to accomplish. He wanted to set an example.

He wanted to make change. And the UFC didn't seem to want to budge on any of those. And Francis is gone now. And of course, Dana paints the narrative that, well, Francis just wants to get paid more money and fight lesser competition, which we all know is a bunch of horseshit. We all know this. We all know that Francongano is not afraid to fight John Jones. We all know France and Ghana isn't afraid to fight anybody. He fought friggin Cyril Gahn on one leg

when everybody in his life was saying don't fight Cyril Gahn on one leg and he just said, no, I'm going to fight him anyways. On the last fight on my deal, I'm going to gamble on myself with one leg and he went out there and beat him. And you think he's afraid to fight John Jones? That is absolutely insane.

That is absolutely ridiculous. Don't let Dana White or anybody else fool you into believing that narrative because it's absolutely false and ridiculous. So Francis is gone. John Jones is back. He's fighting Cyril gone. It's a fascinating matchup.

No doubt about it. I'm curious to see how Cyril will look and we're all curious to see how John Jones is going to look. From a stylistic perspective, I think it's an awful matchup for Cyril gone in a lot of respects because if a one-legged Francis and Ghana who can take him down and control them, there is not enough wrestling you can do in a

in a gym over a year's time that could prepare you for what John Jones could do with his wrestling and his top control. It could be a very bad night. However, it may not get that far. Maybe John will do what John does. Oh, you don't think I can strike with this guy? Watch this. And maybe that's where Cyril's chances come from. Who knows? We're basically getting ready to watch Cyril Gone fight a complete mystery. And the complete mystery is, in a lot of people's eyes, the greatest fighter of all time in the sport of mixed martial arts. But he hasn't fought by the time he gets into the cage

in well over three years since the Dominic Reyes fight. And if we go back and watch that fight and take anything away from it, most people thought Dominic Reyes won that fight. Then we go back to the Tiago Santos fight. John Jones has not been John Jones for a long time. And maybe it's complacency. maybe he was bored and who knows what all this

added muscle and weight is going to do to John? I don't know. So I am intrigued by all of this because I have no idea what's going to happen. And what I'm more intrigued about is this Francis and Ghanu story. And as a matter of fact, we are going to hear from the man himself in just a couple of hours from right now,

a special Tuesday edition of the MMA hour with Ariel Hawani. He will have one guest and one guest only. he will have the interview that everybody in the world wants that covers combat sports with Francis and Gano. So we'll hear his side of the story. We will find out why he made the decision

to leave the UFC, not the other way around, and maybe he will provide some insight on what is going to be next to him for him. Will he sign with Bellator? Will he sign with PFL? One, Risen. Will he sign with any FACL?

MMA promotion. Will he veer to the world of boxing? Will he box? Will he do both? Who the hell knows? Somebody knows, and his name is Francis Ngano, and maybe he will reveal the answer to that question in a couple hours time.

But since we are here, and we are all together, I figured all of us collectively, maybe we can come up with some ideas of some predictions, if you will, of where he ends up. But before he go to the call, I will say this. It's blank check time.

And who knows if a deal, the deal might already be in place. Francis might be going on in the MA hour to announce a new deal. But Ballotaur needs this bad. PFL needs it bad. They all need it. They all need it.

And I'm fascinated where this is all going to go. But I applaud Francis Ngano for sticking to his guns. I applaud Francis Ngano for doing what's right for him. And I applaud Francis and Ghanu for kind of putting out into the universe and I think we can all learn something from this that money is not everything.

You have to be able to, sure, you want to take care of your family and your loved ones and money's great. And he's got a bunch of it already. And he's probably going to get a whole bunch of it no matter where he ends up. But it's not just about the money. It's about being able to

put that money in your bank account and then be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say, I am happy with my life. I'm happy with the decisions I have made. And I'm happy from a professional sense that I made the right choice for me and that I'm not anxious. I'm not negative. I don't dislike where I work. And I'm respected by the people I work for. And that's what it's all above for Francis and Gano. So I cannot wait to hear what he has to say. Do not miss it live on the NBA fighting YouTube channel 1 p.m. Eastern France and Gano first interview since this all went down with Ariel Hawani. So let's turn it over to you guys. What are your thoughts on all this? What are your thoughts on Jones versus Gahn? Where do you think Francis ends up? Who should he

fight? There's all sorts of different ways we can go with this. But I'll say this one more time. do not believe the narrative that the UFC dumped Francis Ngano because it ain't true. Francis Ngano dumped them. He strung him along for a year. And then when the time came to make a decision, he cut bait. He did this. The UFC didn't cut him. He cut himself from the roster.

So do not let any false narratives affect the way you think. Because that is what happened. and you will know for sure when Francis tells Ariel Hawani later on today. So let's get after this. I believe Tristan was first. Tristan, are you there? Hey, Mike, can you hear me? Yes.

Okay. Mike, my question is, you know, I applaud Francis Agano what he's doing. You know, he's looking out for himself and possibly leading on other fighters to have that opportunity to know their worth and could go to other organizations to do what they want to do. But the question I have is now it's on the other organizations,

the other promotions, Bellator, PFL, One Championship. I mean, you can get Francis and that would be great. That would be wonderful. But now it's, what do you do with it? right, in the sense of how do we make our promotion better? How do we get better fighters to compete so people could have eyes on us?

You know, I listen to you and I listen to Jedmishu talk about the other promotions and why a lot of us don't really watch it or possibly forget about it or get us excited. And that's the, I think that's, that's going to be the question for me is, can the other promotions raise their level once they get Francis and Gano and get us talking about and get us excited and get us enthusiastic about watching that promotion and having us talk about them more as much as we talk about the UFC? So I want your thoughts and ideas of, do you think the other promotions can raise their level if they get Francis and Ghanem. Thanks, Mike.

Have a heck of a morning. Yeah, a thousand percent they can. Because here's the thing. One, Francis is the easiest fighter on planet Earth to market. He's so simple. Just show pictures of the man. Like how the UFC failed with this is just beyond me. How could you not promote this guy?

I just, I don't get it. The story that he has, the way he looks, he looks like a cartoon character. He looks like a comic book superhero. And then not to mention, you have clips of him just melting people. Like, he doesn't even have to say a word. He's so easy to promote and to market. He doesn't even have to do an interview. It's so simple.

and I do I understand where your questions is coming from because you know you can sign you can sign these guys all you want but what does it all mean what can you do with it and luckily Francis is the biggest story in the sport right now outside from a positive standpoint that is and just getting him there is going to be huge buzz not to mention the question of when is he going to fight, who is he going to fight, and that just builds this story all throughout. And then it's a matter of getting him into the cage, and then it's just a matter of doing this and that, finding him the right opponents. But just getting him where you need to go, it's going to automatically become a proving ground,

a place, like an extra option. It doesn't have to be the UFC. Like, Francis Ganu could have stayed there and made the most money of any heavyweight that has ever competed there, by most accounts. And he still said no. There could be a domino effect to that.

It could be a wrinkle-down effect of other fighters being like, hmm, this is interesting. Why did he choose to leave when he could have made all this money? And then other fighters begin to realize maybe the grass isn't greenest with the UFC. And there are the fighters who can say that already. Shane Burgos has talked about it. Others have talked about it.

Just getting Francis on your roster is a huge win. Now what you do with that? It's a different thing. Who do you go out and sign? Does it matter? Does it really matter? We talk about it all the time. Sometimes you just put a guy out there to melt somebody

and people watch. That's why I was saying, Shavkat Rakhmadov should have fought last Saturday. You could still book the Jeff Neal fight, no issue with that, but Chofcott should have fought on Saturday. And he should have just went out there and chucked a guy around the octagon because you got to get him on TV. It doesn't, sometimes it just doesn't matter who you fight.

But just having Francis on your roster with a big smile on his face, knocking dudes out, that immediately just catapult your promotion. And guess what? Francis will help promote for you. If you can get France like if you're bell to getting Francis in that octagon February 4th is like a must do. You have to do it. PFL needs to find a way to get him.

I can't wait to see how this plays out. I really can't. And I love Shaheen Al-Shadi's suggestion. Get Nate Diaz on the phone. You guys become a package deal. I love that. Because you put those two dudes together being like the NWO of MMA.

Oh. that's amazing. That's the best. And those two can make a difference. Like forget about Jake Paul and his ways of trying to help fighters. And maybe Anderson Silva joins him. It doesn't matter. You get Nate and Francis trying to do the same thing

and try to flip the sport upside down. Way more impact. Way more impact. So yeah, so no matter who gets Francis is a huge winner. 1,000%. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line.

But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights,

ways to move. Lift with confidence. While Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at Onepeloton.ca. Double A, hello. Yes. Good. What do you got? You meant, you sort of touched on it briefly in like your opening statements. How it, and I just thought, I'd give you a bit more of an opportunity. talk on Brenna Marino, Davis and Figuero. You said it's sort of like the 12th most important thing that's happened recently. I just want you to sort of touch on the significance, not just like it's war fights, but like the significance of the impact it's had on the lighter

weight classes. I think this is probably like the most significant multi-fight rivalry in lighter weight classes is probably Cruz Fabor. that's all I got everyone have a good day you have a heck of a morning mic and peace yeah I mean you're probably right it's it's a massive rivalry we may never see anything like this ever again when you have two guys fighting this often with the same stakes and the same abilities it's massive i remember uh Moreno's manager jason house on the m a hour and said this is the ali fraser of flyweight division. And I don't know if I would go that far, but it's a hell of a rivalry.

Two guys who are just super good, super fun to watch. There is respect there, but there's some heat there as well. You got to love this. It's beautiful. And who knows that this will even be the end of it? We've talked about it. New York Rick believes in this. If these guys fight a fifth, six, seven, eight time, you're not going to get any complaints from me. But we're We are getting to the point where Figgie Smalls is getting up there in age. And we've talked about eventually father time catches up with you, especially in the lighter weight classes. Is this the time?

Is this the time? I thought Figgi made some great adjustments heading into that last fight. He looked good. I still think Brandon Moraine will beat him. But I'm not going to sit here and cry robbery or anything like that. It was a great fight, kind of a forgotten fight because it happened so early in the year. This is going to be a good one.

This is going to be a good one. It is significant, means a lot, and from a historical perspective, we may never see anything quite like this again with how many fighters are on the roster. And there's a part of me that would love to see these guys fight a million times, but then there's the other part of me that's like, okay, like this has done a good, what this rivalry has done for the division is that it's opened

things up for some other guys to earn their spots. Like, Cantosia deserves a title shot, 1,000 percent. Mataisaas Nicolao is right there. Manel Cops getting ready to fight Alex Perez. He beats Alex Perez, opens the door for him. And then we had the Brennan Royvals. We have the Amir al-Bazis. We have some of these other guys that are coming up as well. Bahamahev is fighting in London against, you know, Not the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth. Probably not a top 50 choice I would have picked for Baham and Bahia. But he is fighting.

And that's a guy that's something to come up too. So to me, I hope that this rivalry comes to a close on Saturday and we can open things up. But it's been fun as hell to watch. That's for damn sure. All right. So Tokes said, I have the right fight for Francis Ngano. I think I know where you're going with this. But let's see where you have to say.

What's up, buddy? you're having hell of a Tuesday so far so I would ask you first do you see me as a good opinion haver I mean look you you have certain days where your opinions are spot on and then you have other days where your opinions are a little suspect but okay you're good most of you're good I'm gonna take you on a ride because I think as I wrote to you I think Jed would love my pitch for this so Francis is a free agent. He can do whatever he wants. He can go wherever he pleases. I think what he will announce today is that he's joining the efforts of Jake Paul

in unionizing, in trying to unionize. I think that's the part that's going to happen today if I had a union. I think that's going to happen today. And I want two Otno points for this because this is nuts, okay? So I think which promotion can fill stadiums

and puts the fighters above themselves as a promotion. That's right, baby, we're going to Poland. KSW, the scariest man on the planet against the strongest man on the planet in a freaksaw matchup that can fill a literal stadium in Poland, which raises Francis and Garno Stark immensely in Europe, because it's a huge promotion. And imagine the walkouts.

Imagine the stadium roars as he enters the arena. The pretetatier against Putschenovsky, the star of Poland. And we will get a first round knockout because I know it's not the most pleasing matchup in the world, like for high level, because Puginovsky is not that good. But the poster itself, but the matcher. itself, but the matchup itself, the buildup, and the stadium roaring. That's all I got, Mike. Have a heck of a morning.

Wow. I mean, I knew that's who you're going to do in Ghana versus Pooge, and I'd watch the hell out of it. I think Francis would absolutely kill him, but the build to it would be super fun and fascinating and doing it in KSW. God, it would be a lot of fun. I'll give you two out no points if it happens just because I'm well I'm not going to rule it out

because I don't think Francis is going to sign like a one-fight deal with KSW however if for some reason you know he locks up with Bellator and Bellator wants to do the cool thing and just co-promote and do promotion versus promotion Francis versus Pooge in that sense would be friggin awesome So, yeah, Jed would probably love that. Let's just go full circus with this thing. And who's going to complain about that?

Although I think Francis would absolutely annihilate him. But that's neither here or there. I don't know if he's going to join Jake Paul. I don't know. I think Francis will lean towards doing something. That's why I mentioned, like, maybe him and Nate could come together and they could do their own thing. And it would help build, like, the Nate versus Jake Paul rivalry.

and, you know, competing associations and unions or whatever. I do think Francis will travel that road. Do I think he will do so alongside Jake Paul? I would say doubtful, but could happen. It could happen. So we'll see. We'll see how it plays out. But, I mean, I knew you're going to go in Gano Pooge,

and that just would be wonderfully hilarious in so many ways. Let's go to Raffid There's a lot of you waiting So I'll try to get as many as I can What's up Raffin? Hey Mike, hope you're having an amazing day I think UFC took a huge loss From Francis Nagano

I think that Francis Nagano today On the MMA hour He's going to announce That he's going to the PFL He's going to address the rumors Of his family wearing the shirt That's what I think is going to happen

and Francis Nagano and Jake Paul you guys might not know this but they had a connection already there's been few videos of Francis Nagano and Jake Paul that I've seen they're good buddies I think Francis Nagano doesn't have a problem with

going with Jake Paul and supporting PFL and that's what I think that's going to happen today thank you have a good day thanks man it could happen it could happen he could end up with PFL. I just don't know, like, because the questions about Jake are, is he serious?

Like, is he actually serious about supporting the fighters? And yeah, he's done some things. Sure, he's talked shit about Dana. Some of it is kind of ridiculous, if we're being honest, but some of it's true. And Dana's been firing back at him for a couple of years now. And I don't know. I just don't know I don't know how genuine

Jake is about helping MMA fighters like I know he's with the PFL and he sees he takes it. It's a good step but how will that help fighters in the UFC? How can Jake, I don't know, I just don't know how

genuine he is and Francis is you know kind of like John Candy in planes trains and automobiles he is who he is he believes in what he believes And if he thinks you're full of shit, he ain't going to play. So, listen, could it happen? Sure.

Could he say he signed with PFL today? Sure. I kind of hope for the other thing with him and Nate, because I just think that would be so fun. Him and Nate being like the NWO. Be so cool. But we'll see. We'll find out at 1 p.m. Eastern.

We'll get the truth. Let's go to Absualia. Mike, how are you? I'm good. What's on your mind? So, uh, how can you hear me? Yeah, I got you. I got you. So, um, I just have two things to address. I'll make the first one quick.

What, how do you see Usma and Leon three playing out? And my second thing is, this is regarding the Francis situation. You know, I think UFC really have screwed up a very big opportunity to, you know, not only on their part promote him as a very big star that he could have become. And I think looking at overall how the UFC has been probably the last few months, it's really affecting the brand. I don't think the UFC will lose much fans in the long run. They'll continue to grow as a sport.

But I will say, in my opinion, I don't think that they have a very good chance of growing towards that NBA or F1 sports or tennis level of popularity that they really could attend if they wanted to base on the fact of how corrupt the judging has become, how they are losing some of their biggest stars due to contract disputes, not having a union, and also now the fact that the president has gone to be controversy. I mean, you know, I know this might sound a bit all fishy, wishy-washy and emotional form, just me as a fan.

I mean, I'm nothing. I'm just a fan, but, you know, I think there's a big consideration now to see that the brand is definitely getting affected somewhat. And also just the fact, you know, you let your best heavyweight champion walk away, not have a fair deal. It doesn't look good in the moment, in my opinion. Thanks, man. Have a good day. Okay.

So address to the first question, I mean, I'm leaning Usman to win. I think he'll mind his peace and cues a little bit more. It is going to be different. Obviously, him having to travel to the UK and go to Leon's backyard. But I think if Usman just fights the way, he's going to be different. way he fought in Salt Lake City and doesn't get complacent, he'll probably win. So I wouldn't shock me if Leon beat him. Because again, Ousman's kind of getting up there in age. He's seems like he's not a foot out the door, but it seems like he's at least looking at the door.

He's accomplished a lot. But I do think Ousman is the more complete fighter and probably should win, but predictions don't mean nothing until they actually get into the cage. the other thing you're saying, look, feel how you want to feel. Like, I know a lot of people out there that are just like, oh, Mike's just ripping on Dana and all this stuff. And that's just not true. If you actually listen to what I say, that's not true. Like, Dana, I've actually given Dana a whole bunch of credit for how he's handled some things. He said some things that just aren't true.

And I have called him out for that. And a lot of my issues with this whole situation is not about Dana. it's about the UFC and endeavor just staying quiet about all of this, which is just not right. It's just not right. And my biggest concern of all of this is that what happens down the road when something else happens? You've set a precedent that there is no punishment and there are no repercussions for your actions because the president of the company didn't face them themselves.

That's not a hearing or there. I'm not going to talk about it. It's been an awful start to 2023 for the UFC. Awful, really, really bad. And whether you love the UFC and love Dana White and think that the NBA media is just shitting on the man all the time, it's true. They have had an awful start to the year. It's been about as bad as it can get. Having said that, losing Francis sucks, you lose the John Jones fight, you lose probably the easiest fighter on the planet to market in the world.

But as we have learned over the years, and we will continue to learn, the UFC will move forward. They will move forward. They will be fine. They will be fine. John Jones will fight zero gone. If John Jones wins, they just build the division around John. They'll be fine. They will be fine through all of this.

What this will mean long? Does Francis leaving and doing it on his own will result in other? fighters when they get down to the nitty gritty wanting to leave as well yeah yeah there's definitely going to be a domino effect here but will it like outright hurt the promotion no it won't this this deal with ESPN is so massive that like it literally does not matter what they put on pay-per-view or on fight nights it does not matter we can do Sean Strickland versus Nasrudeen-Eem-Avoff every main event

for the entire year and they will make a floppity trillion dollars this year and be just fine. They will be fine. But this doesn't this doesn't hurt Francis. Like Francis has money.

And I just want to say another thing too. From all accounts, and Eric Nixick on the M.A. hour said this yesterday. The UFC came correct. They came. This is not a money. decision for Francis. This is not him asking for more because by all accounts, the UFC came

correct. They offered this man a ton of money and he just said no. He said no. There are things that I want. There are things that I want to see changed. And if you don't change them, then I'm just going to leave. And Eric, I think the perfect quote was the UFC could not write a check big enough for Francis to change who he is and to change his stance and change what he believes in. And I 100% believe Eric and I believe Francis in this sense. And I'm very, again, very fascinated to hear what he's going to have to say at 1 p.m. Eastern because Francis spilled a lot of tea about a year ago after that win over Cyril gone. Some very shocking things about the UFC, things that were sent to his manager,

at the time, Markell Martin, lots of different things that people and defenders of the UFC just totally forget about. Just awful shit. And it just all kind of got forgotten about. And it's all a part of this story. It's all a part of this story of Francis, again, Francis turning down the UFC and not the UFC releasing him. Francis said no to them.

They didn't say no to him. Where we go? There's been a lot of people waiting. Four Corner Sports, I believe you're next. We'll get to everybody here. Because obviously this is a big topic. Four Corner Sports. What's up?

Hey, money. How's going? Yo. All right. So I wanted to talk about a couple things. One, I commend Francis for Saniom principle. And I fully do believe that what's it called? He's an example for future fighters, you know,

to stand up for what they believe in. And I think that him and NAP has set up a platebook, you know, really, really well for the future fighters who are going to be, you know, wanting to have what they want. Also, I want to talk about, I'm excited for John Jones to come back. I do believe that this is going to be a very close fight between him and surreal gone.

I don't think the fight's going to go down to, like, a knockout or anything like that. But I'm just interested to see how Jones is going to respond at heavyweight the first time he gets hit. I think that if he'll do a fight, But one thing I do have an issue with is, um, or Steve-Bee. You know, Steve-Pays remained silent throughout the entirety of the whole Francis saga. The second that, um, what's the quote, the news got released and he announced the Jones versus

God. Steve-Fay said, you know, he liked the matchup and that he wants the winner in July. If I tracked back and I look back to see, you know, who he ended up into fighting. like the man hasn't for anybody that's currently on the USC roster that's not named Andre Arlowski and that fight was back in 2016 if you look back at the history

it's DC I'm gonna discuss Francis because he just recently just left the company it's DC Alice year Overe Overeigone for Bruce O'Brien he hasn't had a victory that's anybody within the top five that don't know the top 10 I would like to see him fight somebody like a turdice play

I think Curtis Blades does deserve something of a high caliber of a fight. And I think it's really messed up that if Steefe just swats in or have a fight somebody like Sergei Pavlovich. I understand Stepey wants to fight for the title, but he can't just be cutting the line just because he wants to. That's just what I want you to say. All right, thanks, Mike. Yeah, but he's gonna.

He's gonna. Because, I mean, look, we've talked about this a lot. Steepie doesn't need to fight. He does not need to fight. He's very happy with his life. If Steve Mietich never fought again, he would be just fine. He loves being a firefighter. He loves being a dad, loves being a husband.

Like, he's only going to come back and fight like big fights, something that matters. By all accounts, he was offered to fight John Jones December 10th. And it seemed to be a money thing. And it looks like the UFC kind of came a little more correct this. time around. But according to Dana, at that press conference, Stipei had some stuff he had to deal with, so he's not going to be ready. So the fact that Dana is even putting Steve A's name in public tells me that they did offer him that he was interested in that it just, the timing wasn't right.

And it's not really all that surprising. So no, Steve A's not going to fight Curtis Blades because what's the, why would he do that? It makes no sense. He's certainly, not going to fight Sergei Pavlovich because neither of those fights do anything for him they do nothing for him so stepe will come back and fight the winner potentially and that's not even done yet by the way just because he says it doesn't mean that's what's going to happen i would think john jones winning probably gets steepa that shot more so just so you can book the two names and have them in a poster for nostalgic purposes and then Curtis is going to fight

Sergei Pavilich and let's just see how this all pans out. But no, steep A's not going to come back and fight Curtis Blades. No, he's not going to come back and fight Sergey Pavlitch. I don't even think he'll fight Cyril Gan. He says he'll fight the winner, but I don't think the UFC will

go towards that. But I think if John Jones beat Cyril Gone, they will push for that Steepay fight. Because they tried before and John Jones for to Stepe, looking back in historical aspects of the sport, it's a crazy-ass fight.

It's one of those, oh, do you think we could ever put this together? Well, here you go. And it'll be probably Stipe's final fight if he doesn't beat John Jones. But no, Steve, if they offered him Curtis played, Steve would be like, nah, I'm staying home. And you know what? He has earned the right to do that. So I have no issue with it whatsoever. None at all.

let's go to my man Viking MMA. Viking. Hello. Oh, just fucked me up because he asked the same question I was going to us. So fuck this day. Thank you, Mike. Oh,

I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. Like, that whole rant and then thank you, Mike, was brilliant. I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. I just thought it was very funny. I'm sorry.

Look, There's a lot of people waiting and they're bouncing around. I'm just trying to get to everybody. All right. Damn you, Four Corner Sports. Let's go. I'm just going to go in order here. Okay, I'm going with what I have in front of me.

Don't blame me. It's not easy to navigate. I wish I had a producer who was like, all right, this guy wants to talk about this. Like, this is sports radio. Don't have that here. Tom, hello. Hey, what's up, man? I just wanted to kind of get your opinion on this.

Looking at this whole Francis scenario, in my opinion, it's kind of Tyson-firy. or bust. And I honestly don't think the Fury fight's going to happen for a decent while of time now, now that Fury's back to pro boxing. Like, if the UFC, if Dana's telling the truth, and they offered him the

highest paid heavyweight contract, and he's getting paid more than Lesnar, like, I don't see why you don't do it, especially when you factor in that Lesnar was selling a million pay-per-views every time out. So if you're selling two to 300 and they're going to pay you the same as that guy,

the only way I think it makes sense turning it down is the fury fight and I just I don't know I don't see it happen with him being back to pro boxing I think maybe he goes to pfl maybe he goes to bellator but I think for a career wise move unless he has the fury fight locked down I just think it was a poor decision on Francis's part I don't know what what your thoughts on that are I mean who knows who knows but again you know Eric Nixick MMA hour says said he was at that meeting. He knows what the offer was. And he said the UFC came correct and said it had nothing to do with the money. It wasn't a money thing. This was a, I want to be respected thing. And Francis feels like he wasn't. And that's why he left.

Now, I understand, and I don't know what the exact offer was. And I think only like a couple of people on the planet know what the exact offer was. maybe it was Leicester money, maybe he wasn't. I don't know. But all of these promotions can pay Francis similarly to what the UFC offered him. PFL's just chucking money out, left and right. Bellator's got money. We know one has money.

They can all do it. Like they can all do it. And what PFL and Showtime, or not Showtime, and Bellator can offer him is, dude, if you want to go box, like go box. Like, go ahead. Like, if that Fury fight comes up, they're just going to let him go do it. Like, they're just going to let him have those opportunities. And it didn't seem like the UFC was going to give him those opportunities. So, again, Francis has money. Like, it's not like he's, he's in the poor house right now. The dude has money. He's made good money in his career.

The Cyril gone fight, he made money. He's got sponsorship deals. He's fine. The dude's got money. And especially for a guy like that with the up with everything he's had to go through to get to where he's at, he's got money. He's fine. He's comfortable. He could probably live, be just fine the rest of his life without ever having to throw another punch. With with everything going on, everything he's had to overcome, I think he'd be fine, never fighting again if that's what it came to. But he's got to get paid, man. He's going to get paid. Will he get the exact same money, like contractually that the UFC offered him? I don't know.

But is he happy taking a little bit less but being happy with where he's working? I think that means more to him than any paycheck in the world. Having said that, you can't go to Bellator or PFL for 50 and 50, but I'm pretty confidence that the domino effect of just getting him on the roster will be worth any sort of investment that they make in him. Like, for sure. He becomes the biggest player on either of those rosters by a long shot, by a country mile.

And I actually think Bellator needs him more than anybody else, because I do think Bellator is the second best promotion. I do think Jake Paul going to PFL and not with Bellator with the Showtime, thing was a little stunning. I think that's going to hurt a little bit. Like, all in all, it doesn't really matter, like, for the hardcore fans. But I think in the overall spectrum of things, I think just having Jake's presence there is going to make a huge impact for the PFL.

But you got to get, if they can get Francis, they got to do it. And you got to do it. Just his presence alone is worth it. And it's going to entice other people to go. It just is. And who knows? What's to say he never fights in the UFC again? Maybe Francis does this thing for a little while.

Things change. They meet again. UFC's willing to meet Francis on some of the things that he wants. It's not out of the wrong possibility. Could happen. Who knows? It's not happening right now, but who knows? Time will tell.

But this is a fascinating story. Mikey, hello. Then Francis is a... and Yanu becoming a free agent, MMA fan, started, oh, to pay him and treat him well,

and then immediately say he should fight Fujianowski. God, I love the drugs you people take. Oh, come on, it's just a freak show thing. It's hilarious. But it's dumb.

It's fucking stupid. But anyways, when you've been a fan for as long as some of us have had, then there's one, there's some narratives that you just get, that always get, you know,

repeated. And every five years, it's like, Like every five or six years, this will, this will cripple the UFC. If they don't do this, this will cripple the UFC. And like, first of all, I support Francis. I'm happy for them, let's get that out of the way. But it's just fine to me how they do this every time that people do this all the time.

It's like, okay, great. Because, you know, the UFC's totally, they didn't sign Fador and, you know, that sunk them, right? You know, all that did was Fader went to affliction, they closed. Fader went to Strike Force. They closed. anyways and um i will say this if francis if francis wants to leverage the tyson fury thing i think he and tyson fury should work together promotion wise like tyson ferry has a working relationship with w w w w wressomania's in two months that would be fun i mean not to be on wrestling but like help promote

it you know like tyson showing up a russomani would be really cool um bellatory listen i i i hate it but I wouldn't mind watching Francis and Fador just to see the mess that would be and if Coker has any brain cell he would put that on network TV also just tell CBS be like if we get Francis and Gonduk his first fight has to be on network TV you know that's what you have to do

and if we're going for stupidity since stupid listen we're going for stupidity go to one and fight rug rug or do like fight circus and fight like six midgets or something you know anyways that would be all for me to guys have a go one. But see, look at what this could create, Mikey.

This could create so many fun things. And as we say a lot, MMA is supposed to be fun. And look, like I said, Ngano would kill Puginovsky. He'd kill him. But the build to that would be super interesting. Seeing those two dudes on a poster,

seeing the entrances, all of it would be super fun until the bell rang. and Francis just destroyed that man. But again, now we can think outside the box a little bit. You can have some fun. You can have some fun. And who knows?

Maybe if Bellator does sign Francis Fedor will be like, you know what? I'll stick around for one more. It doesn't seem like that's what he's going to do. But I think you've got to get Francis there no matter what. Like if he doesn't sign with anybody and he's still trying to meet with suitors, Belator should just fly him out, give him the first-class treatment, put him in the crowd, let him sit cage side. Just showing him on screen is going to create buzz.

And you're right, like I said earlier, the UFC is going to be just fine without frances gone. It can be just fine. It doesn't hurt them, puts them in the news kind of in a negative way, but it'll all blow over. John Jones is fighting Cyril Gahn. By the time we get to that fight week, most fans of the UFC are not even going to be thinking about this.

We're going to be talking about John Jones coming back. And if he beats Cyril gone, then what? That's what are going to be thinking about. The UFC will be just fine. They always are. Because they have built, that's what they have built. They have become the number one promotion by a mile. And it's to the point with these deals and everything they have in place,

that losing a guy here and there. Ain't gonna mean shit. Ain't gonna mean shit. Re-signed Zander. I wish. But we re-signed Devers. So I'll take that. What's up?

Hey, heck of a morning. What's going on? How much? Uh-huh. So in Gano seems like playing a little play out of Mike Jones's book. He said, back then, hos didn't want me.

Now I'm hot. Hose all on me. I, I, I'm telling you, man, this is, I know the UFC is the brand and they will move on like always, but like you got to admit, right now it's for the heavyweight division. This is huge. But I didn't think Inganu was a man of integrity like that.

He just stepped away, and I think at the moment he holds the cards for this division, because you've got to think John Jones has a D.C.'s fought since the last time. John Jones has fought. So, you know, what is this division going? Where's his heading? I don't know, but I can't wait for this interview at 1 o'clock. I think Halani is crushing 2023 right now. I'm having fun.

I haven't having fun, too. It's an honor to work on the same team as that, man. That is for sure. It should be a lot of fun. I talked to Ariel a little bit earlier today, and want to know what the first thing he said to me was? hey man, I hope me, this is the kind of guy of Halwani is.

He texted me, we're having a little chat about something else. And then he texted me out of the blue and said, hey man, I hope me doing a Tuesday show doesn't affect yours. That's the kind of guy he is. And I was like, nah, man, we're good. We're going to do this anyways. And we're going to remind people that yours is happening. It's kind of guy Helwani is.

It was more concerned about whether or not this show would go down than the actual interview, the massive interview he's about to do. It just tells you everything you need to know about the guy. I will still whoop his ass in the world of darts. I'm going to show GC a little something, something on Saturday for the watch party, but it just shows you the kind of guy he is. Yeah, I mean, look, I love the quote. I love the, I love the, I love the, I love the,

the lyrics. Well done. He's a hot commodity right now. He put himself in a good position. That's for sure. And the UFC will be just fine. And the heavyweight division, even without Francis, is fun as hell. I mean, it's the most fun heavyweight's been in a long time, even with Francis being out of the, out of the equation. You got Jones, which is huge. God is just getting better So even if he loses the John It's not the end for him He's still evolving

He hasn't been doing this that long So he's only going to continue to improve Then he got Blades Big questions like will he get his chance Sergei Pavlovich is an absolute madman Like it's a fun division Then you've got like the Romanovs and other guys coming up as well

Jelton Almeida Who's kind of a tweena right now but I think he'll probably end up sticking around at heavyweight. I mean, it's still a fun division. Would it be better having Francis there to kind of be the man leading the rain? Sure, but he ain't. And the UFC will move on and Francis will move on. And who knows, maybe, like I said, maybe their paths will cross again.

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Everybody was talking about maybe Francis versus Tyson Fury, but I got another one. I mean, he's still going to lose this fight, but how about Francis versus Deontay Wilder? How many pay-per-view buys do you think that does? And that'd be all for my question. I mean, it's tough to say, like, the Fury one would have been interesting had they pulled the trigger on that right away. like if Fury had retired and was like I'm just going to do exhibition fights I'm going to take the Floyd Mayweather route

if they just turned around in the UFC they came to terms of the UFC and they allowed him to fight to box Tyson would have been massive it would have been massive I don't know how much it does like I don't think a fight between him and Tyson Fury happens anytime soon

I think we will we're living in a world where it does eventually, but Tyson will be like done done from boxing. Like he'll just do the fun, weird fights. The exhibition fights or just makes a ton of money to just go out there and have exhibition fights that don't truly matter at the end of the day. So I think we'll get to that world,

but it doesn't seem like Tyson's anywhere near there at this point. So, yeah, it's a long way away. Maybe they do Wilder. Who knows? If I'm wilder, I'm planting some seeds, that's for damn sure. Some sort of exhibition fight, fun rules thing. But there's definitely opportunities. Like even just the weird, like, misfits boxing type things.

Like, just having Francis there fighting anybody. Doesn't matter. Can't fight salt poppy for God's sakes. And people will buy it. I know that doesn't make any sense, but you know what I'm trying to say. he'll be fine. The UFC will be fine. Everybody will be fine.

This will turn out to be a good thing for both promotions. It's all good. George, hello. Not a heck of a morning because you and your space, this great space, are reminding me

that he's gone. Francis is gone. I wanted to keep him. But the show must go on. And that brings me to my question. For you, for the last, Live space, I don't think that dream fight, that fantasy fight, Francis versus John Jones was ever going to happen.

Why? Because it would have required the UFC to pay them both. The UFC was never going to pay both of them. It was one or the other, not both. So my question for you and the space, you can keep Francis and Gano or you can bring back John Jones. You can't have both. So, I mean, did we really lose France? or do we gain John Jones or vice versa? I'm looking forward to John Jones, but I really wanted to keep Francis and Ghana. Why? Because so much of his legacy is still yet to be built in the UFC.

John Jones already built an incredible legacy, arguably number one or number two all time. And I'm not that intrigued by some guy coming back off a three-year layoff. What can you do at heavyweight? But I don't think they were ever going to sign them both. because oh look all the stuff that dana used to say about john jones three years ago now he's saying about francis to you know to smear him to knock him down oh he he wants easy fights and he doesn't really

want to fight doesn't want to be here same stuff he was saying about john jones three years ago just stuff that dana says to not pay someone what they think they're worth fair market value because i laugh when dana said oh we we offered him more than um who's the guy Lesner. Yeah, what some guy was making in 2011 before the ESPN deal, before the Draft Kings deal, when UFC was making one third,

when Zufo was making one third the revenue that it's making now. So to say that they're offering him $1 more than somebody was making in 2011, that to me is laughable. But what I want to know from Francis, and I hope he says this today, what does he want though?

What does he really want? Yes, he wants respect, but I'm a lawyer. How do I put respect in a contract? Be more specific. I hope he's more specific. Do you want a one-fight deal? One-fight deals only. Do you want the freedom to box at least once a year?

Do you want health insurance for you and the rest of the UFC roster? He just keeps saying, oh, respect, respect, but what does that mean? How do I put that into a contract? So I hope today on our real show we find out. And I will leave you with this one. if I were Dana, if I were the UFC, okay, we got to move on. The money we saved by not signing Francis Inganu, I would immediately start building a PI in Africa.

Let's find the next Francis Ingan. That's why I loved, I wanted to keep Francis Ingano. I love his narrative. I want to grow the sport on an international level. It's a shame we never got the John Jones Francis Inganu fight. It's a shame we never got to see Francis. defend his belt in Africa. Those to me mean more than the UFC's bottom line.

Those two fights, those two events that were never going to see. It's a sad day. But I also wanted to ask when Dana said, oh, we're not, we have waived the right to match any offers. I want to know why. No one asked them, but why? Why would you give away such a valuable right? So either they gave it away for nothing and for no reason, because what,

and see what he gets from Belator or PFL. And then you have 24, 48 hours to match. Maybe Bellator fumbles the bag, fumbles the ball again, and you can easily match. The same way the PFL match the Kayla Harrison offer. Because I want to keep Francis and Gano. Let's see, maybe he goes out there, he doesn't like the PFL offer.

And you can match and he comes back to the UFC where he belongs all, you know, where he should be, where he should retire. So it's a sad day. It's a sad week. I'm not even, it's so, it's such a big loss. I'm not even that jazzed about the surreal gone John Jones fight. So thanks a lot, Mike.

Thanks, yeah. Well, the reason they didn't match is because, like, they got to move on. Like, we've been working on this for a year. And, I mean, they literally met, had dinners, had offers, all of it. And eventually gets to the point where if a gun who says no to everything you guys have worked on for the last year, like, you just got to move on. Like, matching all that stuff? No. Like, they had no main events.

They had nothing for March 4th. Nothing. John Jones needed to fight somebody. John Jones is fighting March 4th, whether Francis could go or not. And they made a decision. We got to move on. We got to move on. We got to strip him.

Because if they strip him of the belt, he's gone. Like, the Champions Clause, is over, he is an unrestricted free agent anyways. So, yeah. I mean, he's, I think, I'm pretty sure he's like an outright free agent come January 20th anyways because of that clause and everything. So yeah, they just cut ties a week earlier. It's not a big deal. They had to get something going. They had to sell tickets to that event. And they just made the decision to just say, fuck it, we're done. And that's, that's good. That's fine. It's good for everybody. It's good for everybody.

So, I mean, Francis is got to be happier outside of the UFC. The UFC will move on. John Jones is back. Like, it's big news. And it's good for everybody. My biggest issue with all of this is just how it was handled from a promotional aspect. It was just that press conference is just a joke. Like, come on. nobody believes that Francis is afraid to fight John Jones

no one believes that Francis left because he wants more money for lesser competition no one believes that so why say it like there's just so many better ways you could say these things like air-related out perfectly look we tried we offered him this huge deal he said no we had to move on John Jones is back he's going to fight zero gone we wish Francis the best Sorry, we couldn't make him happy.

But we have to move on. There you go. You just did the same thing without shitting on the dude, on the way out. There's ways to handle it. There's other ways to handle it besides painting the narrative that a lot of people apparently believe that he was afraid to fight John. He didn't want the risk. He didn't want to take a risk and fight John Jones, which is hilarious. It's hilarious.

Just be better. Come on. Jacob, hello. Hey, Mike, can you hear me? Yes, sir. Hey, what's going on, Mike? Thanks for having me on, man. Yeah, what do you got? Yeah, so I think just starting with the Dana White Presser, right?

I mean, that was just laughable. Talking about probably the scariest human on Earth is scared and ducking. It's just a joke, man. Like, the fact that they have to stoop to that is ridiculous. And I respect Francis for kind of sticking to his guns, right? Like, the way they hold them down to these contracts, it's like they're just so tight. down but they're treated like independent contractors with no insurance talked about in the aerial

interview right you may have touched on it earlier but it's uh but i'm kind of curious what i want your thoughts on is like what should the UFC had done like what how would you have handled it you know because if they let him go do boxing inside the contract you know they set the precedent obviously right so i'm kind of curious what you think they should have done how do you think this ends up playing out like long term in terms of his career maybe it doesn't matter right francis is getting a little bit older now. I think he's probably in that 35-ish area. So that's also probably why he kind of feels he has more power. Maybe he'd be younger in his career, maybe he wouldn't have stuck to his guns as much. But, you know, if he goes to box, I'm just not as excited about it. Like, the idea of him

going up against Fury, like, I could, I just don't see that going very well, right? And what does that do to him if he just gets lit up like a Christmas tree in the, in the ring with Fury, right? Yeah, I really don't have any idea what's next, but please know BKFC. That guy gets in there with bare knuckles on. He might actually kill somebody. So that's all for me, my thanks for me on me on. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know if the UFC could have done more. And like I said, I don't, I, this isn't a money thing.

Like from all accounts, the UFC came correct. They came correct. And it just wasn't enough. Wasn't a money thing. Francis didn't care about the, about the payments or anything like that. He wanted everything. He wanted change. Maybe he'll lay into it a little bit more at Ariel today.

and he just felt like it was just the same thing he was getting, but just more money. To him, that wasn't enough for him to look at himself in the mirror and say, this is exactly where I need to be. I mean, why go through everything you went through just to get a couple extra dollars? I mean, dude gambled on himself, fought Cyril gone of all people on one leg and beat him.

And then he went through this whole thing for a year, everything the UFC tried to do to this man. on the way out back in January a year ago, everything they tried to do, all the stories that you've heard, just for him to go back for just a couple extra dollars. I don't think, I mean, like I've told you on the show and like Ariel told you on his,

it seemed like things are heading in the right direction. Eric Nixick talked about it yesterday as well. It seemed like things were heading in the right direction, but in the end, Francis has to be able to look himself in the mirror and be happy. And it doesn't seem like that would have happened if he stuck around with the UFC. And that's okay. That's okay.

Just don't bury the man on the way out. This would have been fine. Like this would have been a story. It would have been more like what's next for Francis if it was just handled like any other promoter would have handled it. I just don't understand this whole thing. We just have to light him in on fire before you throw them outside. I don't understand. Yeah.

I mean, what else can I say? And I think that press conference just cemented Francis making the right decision for himself. Annie, hello, real quick. What do you got? Did you solve my riddle? I did not. No, I didn't. Sorry.

Well, you know, I can just give you the match or, you know, you can solve it. But before I... Yeah, give me the badge. it is Stephen Wonderboy Thompson versus Lee Jingleong Oh, I like it, good fight That is a good fight I think Jingleong deserves some deserves an opponent who has a name value

After the way he got screwed And while Wonderboy delivered one of his career best performances He still needs to build up So I think Wonderboy versus the Leach would be an amazing fight And there's another thing There's another point that not a lot of people mention and tell me if I'm wrong about it. The UFC needs ESPN more than the ESPN needs the UFC.

Am I wrong for saying that? Because I feel like just because the ESPN has showered UFC with the money, they do lackadaisical matchmaking. I mean, they have made good matchups. There are amazing matchups. Look at Corey Sanhagen versus Marlon Vera. But at the end of the day, it's still happening in the evening. Apex. Had it been on a case-by-case basis with ESPN, I think it would have been in front of a crowd.

So those are my thoughts. And one more thing before I would like to finish. I just want to share something about, you know, my admiration for Trevor Whitman. The last year has been a really bad one for Trevor Whitman and his team. Do you think everyone can bounce back and do you think Rose has reached a point in her career where she has all the physical gifts she has all the technique but mentally she's just not there I mean what it would be amazing if you could get a written statement from Trevor Rittman I mean I know that he doesn't do interviews but it would be amazing if we could hear from him you know he's such an amazing coach It's just that, you know, there's no one to pick his brains,

and I feel like you can pick his brains really well, if you know what. I mean, that's it from me. Thank you. Can Trevor Woodman bounce back? Yes, of course he can. He's a tremendous coach. Maybe we'll hear from him in London. Maybe we'll hear from him in London,

because I'm sure he'll be there with Camaro and he'll be there with Justin Gage. So once in a while we get the coaches up there for Media Day stuff to talk about upcoming fights. So who knows? I mean, look, this is MMA. Fights happen. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. More oftentimes Whitman fighters win. Whitman fighters win.

But sometimes they don't. And, you know, I think we've seen every gym at some point go through ups and downs. I mean, look at uh, look at Hensu or look at the, the Gracie gym and Philly. I mean, these guys were riding high.

I think they're like 9 and 0, 10 and 0. Then Sabatini loses and then Sean Brady loses and both get finished and, oh no, they're done. There was a flash on the pan. Like it happens all the time. Then they bounce back. We've seen it with Extreme Couture.

We've seen it with AKA. See it with ATT. We've seen it with everybody. So yeah, I think, They'll bounce back. And, you know, if Usman and Gaghi both win, that'll be one of the narratives that come out of the London card. Oh, Trevor Whitman's back.

And with Rose, I don't know. I mean, Rose has always had sort of mental issues when it comes to the fight game and overthinking things. I mean, she's been very open and honest about the fight game and how she was when she was champion the first time. She wasn't ready for it. It killed her. It crushed her. She wasn't prepared. Took a lot out of her.

And then she learned a lot of lessons along the way. So, yeah. So, yeah, we'll touch on that. We'll keep on going. Go to Riley. Riley, hello. You're there? All right.

Don't hear anything. Let's go to Patrick. And we'll go to Jay and then we'll go to the real fact-y facts. And then we'll get out of here. Patrick, what's up? Hello. Can you hear me? Yes.

So I'm just trying to be quick. I have a couple questions, but I'll be quick with it. So out of potential places Francis can go, what opponent excites you the most? Is it Bader? Is it Fador? Is it Arnold Adams? Is it Wilder Fury? What excites you the most personally?

Thanks, man. I don't know, man. I just want to see him fight. Like, we've been out of him for a year. And sometimes to me, it just doesn't matter. Like him and Bader is, I don't know, Bader can be tough to watch, honestly. But still, like, just having Francis there is just such a big deal.

Francis versus anybody makes me excited. And then, who knows, maybe over the next couple years, you go into free agency and you bring some guys over. I mean, there's not a ton for him to do in PFL either. Like, I don't know how excited I am to watch Inganu versus Delijah. You know what I mean? I don't know. But I just want to see him somewhere where he's happy and he's fighting and making money and enjoying his life.

And no matter where that is or who he's fighting in order to do that, that's what I'm looking at. That's what I'm hopeful for. Edmund Fader would be kind of interesting, though, just namesake-wise. Jay, hello. Hey, Mike. hear you? Yes, sir. Yeah, so I'm pretty shocked about all the polls I've seen on Twitter and YouTube about how many people are picking Jones that were gone. And the only reason why is because when you look back at Francis versus Gone, people forget that Nagano weighed at 265 and

zero weight around 247. So during fight day, Nagano most likely had like 20 pounds of muscle over Serogon, which is the reason why he was able to hold him down so easily during the whole fight, even on one leg. And I think the opposite is going to be with Jones and gone, because when you look at Jones's physique, he did get bigger, but he's still relatively the same when it comes to his arms and legs. Like, they're pretty smaller compared to the other heavy weights. And so I think people are kind of sleeping on gone when it comes to wrestling, because sure, he doesn't have the same wrestling background as Jones, but I think if he takes him down, he can easily get back up due to his weight. And also, people need to rewatcher Jones versus Ray.

is in Santos because he was struggling really hard to get those takedowns on them too. So that's it. Have a heck of a morning, Mike. I mean, I don't, I mean, I see what you're coming from, but I don't necessarily agree with you. I think this is a really tough matchup for Cyril. And I think if John gets him down, it's got to be a really rough night for Cyril gone.

But you just got to make sure he doesn't get taken down. I mean, it's easier said than done. But France is on one leg. And I understand the weight discrepancy, but John Jones could be 2.30 in there, and he'll be able to hold Sierra gone down. Doesn't matter. We'll see what happens.

John also is like, I got a point to prove kind of fighter, where if you think he can't do something as well as his opponent, he's just going to tailor make a game plan around that. So it's an interesting match of sure. If they're on the feet, it's anybody's ballgame. I think Sierra probably has a little bit of an advantage with his quickness and some of the things. And one other thing that we kind of keep forgetting about is like the last time we saw John Jones

tried to put on some extra size, some extra muscle, really lifting heavy, heading into a fight. It was the OSP fight. And he didn't look, he didn't look great in that fight. He won, but he did not look great. So, but again, by the time he gets in the cage, it would be 37 months. since we've last seen them. So who knows what's going on behind the scenes? He's working with a lot of his normal coaches.

He's working with Henry Sohudo. Henry's a great coach. Like Henry is a tremendous mind. He's a horrible retireer, but he is an incredible mind. Just look at what he's done for some of the fighters he's worked with. The adjustments they were able to make, John Wei Lee, Davis and Figurato, amongst many others, Yuri Perashka. Another example.

For the Glover fight. I mean, John's doing all the right things. They got to get in there and fight. But I do think if John could get takedowns and get them early, it's going to be a horrible night for Cyril Khan. But I'm sure Cyril will be ready. real fact-y-facts take us home just real quick I just I think it's a little crazy

maybe I'm the stupid one everyone has this newfound faith in John Jones and I'm just thinking if John Jones was down bad after the Hall of Fame imagine John Jones celebrating a winning streak and my question is was the highest paid heavyweight eight deal fight a deal contract

a mistake at this point are they putting too much faith in somebody who's not even going to make it through those eight fights. That's it. Thank you. That is a great question. I would tell, I mean, I'm not a manager or an agent or anything, but I mean, the first thing I would tell pretty much any fighter is don't you ever sign an eight fight contract because that's just insanity.

Why would you put yourself out there like that when they could cut you at any time, but you can't go anywhere yourself? and AK knows this. AK knows this because I talk about it all the time. I'm still at a 7 in my confidence level that John Jones fights March 4th, March 4th, excuse me. Just because we've been fooled a million times.

Like how many times can we buy in and get excited before something happens that lets us down? Seven's still pretty confident when it comes to John. He's on a billboard, fights been announced, signed a new deal. That's all well and good. but he's got to make it to the cage. And I have concerns.

I do have concerns. That's why I'm not... I mean, it's cool. Seeing it on paper, it's cool to talk about, but I'm with you, man. There's a part of me that... A little trepidious about it all. Until he makes that walk,

until Bruce Buffer announces him, there's still going to be a piece of me that's like, is he actually going to show up? Is he actually going to get in there and fight? Is he going to do something crazy? is he going to pop? Is he going to get arrested? Like, I'm not trying to put bad juju out into the universe,

but these are things that have happened already multiple times. So the concern is there. That's a great point. But I'm trying to be more optimistic in 2023. So I'll say he makes it. But I completely understand anybody who is concerned that that's a long eight fights that's that's a lot to ask for from a guy like john jones

all right we are done i gotta get out of here i appreciate it don't forget one p m eastern we're a little over 90 minutes away from the live audience here ariel hawani francis ingano special tuesday edition of the m a hour and you can hear what actually happened from the francis ingano side of things and I cannot wait. Maybe he has some nuggets to announce. Maybe he doesn't, but either way,

it's going to be some fascinating, listening and watching. That is for sure. 1 p.m. Eastern, do not miss it. Special Tuesday edition of the M.A. hour with Ariel and Francis Ngano, the biggest interview in MMA right now.

And it's going down in a little while. So thank you. We'll be back here on Thursday. We'll do it again, 10 a.m. Eastern. And we'll react to all of this. craziness that is going on and we'll react to what happens in this interview between Ariel and Francis. So thank you very much. Have a great rest of the day. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.