MMA Fighting - HOAM | Has Islam Makhachev Put Himself In Must-Win Situation vs. Charles Oliveira At UFC 280?

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

Islam Makhachev is exuding extreme confidence heading into his first UFC world title fight next weekend at the highly anticipated UFC 280 event, but has his confidence put him in a must-win position ahead of his bout against Charles Oliveira? On an all-new bonus edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck answers listener questions regarding Makhachev's confident comments throughout the fight build for the vacant lightweight championship main event in Abu Dhabi. Additionally, listener questions include the UFC's bantamweight division, the PFL's upcoming pay-per-view and the expectations behind it, Aljamain Sterling vs. T.J. Dillashaw, Frankie Edgar's booking with Chris Gutierrez at UFC 281, Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira, MMA journalism, Alistair Overeem's big win at Glory's event this past weekend, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Over 10th, 2022, and it is indeed a heck of a morning live on the MMA Fighting. Twitter spaces, show can be heard shortly thereafter in its entirety on the MMA Fighting Podcast. Podcasting Network.

So if you haven't subscribed to the network yet, go ahead and do that. I don't know why you wouldn't have done that, but you should just go ahead and do that. It's a great idea. We have lots of good stuff coming. The UFC is back this week, so that's a good thing. And it's a pretty decent card. We did lose probably the best fight on it, but that's okay. That's okay.

It's still going to be good. The main event still has some stakes. And if you're not fully into the card as a whole, the good news is this card is going to serve as sort of the go-home show for UFC 280. And there's going to be a lot of promotional buzz for UFC 280 on this card. There's going to be a lot of talk about it. I'm sure there's going to be some promotional videos of sorts on it as well. So by the time the card ends, no matter how the fights go, no matter how you feel about it at the end,

you're going to be even more jacked up for UFC 280. And like I said last week, we have some fun stuff coming up for UFC 280. That is for sure. I cannot tell you what it is yet because we don't know what it is fully as of yet, but it is happening. and hopefully within the next seven days, you guys will know what is happening. But we do know Jose Youngs will be in Abu Dhabi for UFC 280. So we will have boots on the ground.

We'll have boots in the state. We'll have the great team of MMA fighting, getting you ready for this card and recapping it all. It should be a lot of fun. So I don't know what we're going to do today. No MMA hour. So we decided let's do another bonus show here. here and let's get your thoughts on the weekend.

What's coming up this week? What's coming up next weekend? Throughout the month, big news, whatever you want to talk about. This is going to be sort of a free-for-all Monday. So opening up to you guys and we're going to open things up with clearest values right off the bat. Clearst values. How we doing? We're doing good.

How are you? So I've got two, one quick hitter and then one question that's a little. more open-ended. So the quick one is that fight that hasn't been announced on the PFL pay-per-view. One, do you know anything? Two, do you think it'll increase any of the buys? And then my second more broad question, you know, after the glory kickboxing fight that I watched over the weekend, you know, it was really good. And something about U.S. crowds is they're always doing during clinch work and ground and pound and stuff like that. People get bored. very easily here in the U.S.

Why is it that you think glory kickboxing hasn't really took off in the States as much as it has over in Europe? Because I think it is obviously bigger there. Thanks, Mike. Have a heck of a morning. Thank you. The PFL, I have no idea. I honestly have no clue. So I have no insight to it whatsoever.

Do I think it's going to increase pay-per-view buys? Probably not. I just, there's just, unless they're getting Brock Lesnar versus Francis and Ghanu in there. I just don't see a world where that happens. I honestly, I've no clue what they're going to do. There's just not a built-in enough audience for the PFL to justify putting this on pay-per-view. And as much as I am curious to see what this other fight is, I am more curious what the

price point for this pay-per-view is going to be. And we have to talk about the timing of it as well because it is Thanksgiving weekend. It is the long weekend. It's the day after Thanksgiving. It's Black Friday. People are going to be surfing for sales. They're going to be out and about. They're going to be hanging out with their family.

They're going to be linking up with their friends from high school and college. And all the people that you would want to buy this pay-per-view, you're going to have to give them something really special for them to just stop what they're doing. To negate going to the neighborhood pub to meet up with their old friends to watch this pay-per-view. That is going to be a lot of, a lot of time to watch because there's all the five round fights, there's all the title fights. It's going to be a long process. The card as it stands is fine, but it would serve so much better if it was just on ESPN or ESPN2. But now we're going to put it on pay per view.

And I don't know what the price point is going to be. So that's my bigger question. The glory thing, I don't know, man. I just feel like the UFC has such a stranglehold on the combat sports landscape that, especially in the United States, people are just more drawn to big name boxing cards. They're more drawn to the influencer boxing cards, which is crazy. And the UFC has just built such a brand that it's almost like to be a UFC fan and to be an MMA fan, it's just a lot of time that you have to spend following the product. to add in Glory kickboxing and add in another combat sport. It's just very difficult.

It's very difficult. There are some people who were very happy to just sit back and check out Glory for what it was. I know I think every fight went to a decision from what I understand, at least the main card. I didn't watch it. I watched like the last two rounds of the main event on my phone. So that was pretty cool. Gutsi Ream had that big final round and end up. stealing the fight from Bada Hari, and then Badaari just stole the microphone and did what he does.

But it was, I mean, it was fine. I just, we need bigger names. I just feel like with Overeem, we understand what a legend this guy is. We've seen his best. We've seen him at his peak. We've seen him at his prime. We've seen middleweight Overeem. We've seen heavyweight monster Uberim and now we're seeing sort of the tail end of Overeem and it's just not that exciting to a lot of people I guess

because we just kind of every time Overeem fights we go in there we just hope that he comes out okay and hope that he comes out better than what he would end but yeah it was fun if you watch that I mean I watched the final two rounds and I was like oh that was fun

I wish there was another fight after this but there wasn't and And yeah, it's just, it's just going to be tough. You got to find stars. Same thing with grappling. It's the same thing with grappling. And in jiu-jitsu competitions and things like that. No ghee.

There are people who are vastly into it, but there's just, I feel like that's getting more of a rise in popularity than glory is right now. Because they have names. They have not stars, but guys that they know the Gordon Ryans of the world. but just don't really have that appeal here in the U.S. And I hope that changes sooner rather than later. It's not just glory. It's the whole sport. You know, kickboxing, Muayai in general.

It just hasn't really garnered the excitement that a lot of people thought it might. But hopefully that changes. Hopefully that changes and provides other options for the fighters. Let's go to four-quarter sports. Hey, Mike. How's it going? Back in the morning. I wanted to ask you.

So, yeah, I was thinking about it a day. I know we haven't had the USC on in quite some time, but I was trying to look for the prices. I guess the price isn't out for the PFL. But like, what do you think, like, people are going to, like, put that on their priority? Just because, like, you did mention it. I realized it's on Black Friday. Also, come to think of it, the World Cup is going to be on around that time frame as well, too. So people might be exhausted.

I don't know if they're going to have an exorbitant amount of pay-per-view sales, just because of that as well. And then also is that maybe one of the main reasons why they were able to get that time frame for MSG? I mean, I just didn't really put two and two together until you ended up saying that it was on Black Friday. And then also, what's going to happen with this first fight on the card between Pete Rodriguez and Mike Jackson? Is this like a winner go home for either fighter? All right, thanks, Mike. Have a good one.

Thanks, man. Yeah. Let me just pull up the card real quick. I mean, the good news is they're not getting MSG. They're getting the theater at MSG. So they're getting the Hulu Theater. I've been there a couple of times for a PF. I was there for a PFL event, like, or it wasn't even PFL at the time.

The last time I watched a fight card there. And then the last time I was actually in that building, it was in the build to UFC 244. It was the day of the UFC 245 press conference with Kamar Usman and Colby Covington. The freaking Rock was there announcing that they were going to do a movie on the smashing machine and I haven't heard much from that. And then the way-ins for UFC 244, the ceremonial. So that was the last time I was in that building.

So, I mean, that's not a bad place to hold it. They're not taking over like the entire arena. They're just taking the theater next door. And I think that's probably the right thing to do because I'm sorry. There's no way this card, even with Kayla on it. and some of the other names, there's no way they're selling out MSG or even coming close to it.

So they probably don't have the building, but they got the theater next door, and that's probably the perfect place to have this. And, yeah, the price point, I have no idea what they're going to do. And I have no idea what it could be. What's too much? I mean, to me, $9.99 would probably be the way to go,

but I don't think they're going to do that. So my guess, and I have zero insight to this, by the way. So I don't want anyone reporting. Mike Heck says that the PFL price point is going to be this because I have no clue. My guess is they're going to do like $29.99. That's my guess. And that's too much.

It's too much. It's too much for this card. We have, as it stands, one, two, three, four, five, six potential five-round fights on this main card. plus Shane Burgos Marlon Morayas, which is not going to last very long. So, and I don't think the main event's going to last very long either. So, I mean, that's what we're looking at right now. But my guess, we're going to be sniffing the $30 range. And that, if that's the case, it's not smart.

Because, I mean, if I'm working that day and my job is to cover it, then I shall cover it. But if I'm not working that day, I'm probably not watching it. I'm probably following along on MMAfighting.com. And then the Pete Rodriguez-Make Jackson fight. Yeah, probably. That's probably the case that winner go home. But who knows? Did we ever think we'd see freaking Mike Jackson back in the UFC fighting anybody after the CM Punk fight?

No. And here we are. A couple of years, a few years later. So you never know anything could happen in the world of the UFC. Right? Right, double A? Hey, yeah. You're right.

Anything can happen for sure. How you doing, buddy? Good, how are you? I'm good, I'm good. Just dumb two for you. First one is your thoughts on Giuliana Pena saying that she wants her belt back. I'm a Giuliana Pena fan,

and I don't think she deserves to immediately fight for the title. I just want your thoughts on that. And second one is, with it being the 25th anniversary of pride, just some favorite moments of that from you, man. Have a good day, man, cheers. Thank you. Yes, we have put out at least part one. I don't know if part two is coming out later on today.

Memory Fighting celebrating the 25th anniversary of Pride FC. And we started with, we're putting out like 25 great moments from Pride. And part one dropped yesterday. And it's really fascinating to kind of go back and, and remember all that. Like, Lene Hart is just, her voice is tremendous. there's, I mean, if you read the article, a lot of the stuff that's in there is what I would go. My, like, the moment I remember the most from pride is I didn't watch a ton of them live. I did watch a couple live.

And it was just because I was amongst friends who were hardcore fans. And they didn't watch a ton, but there were certain cards that were like, okay, we got to. We got to go ahead and watch this. We have to make sure that we make it a point to watch this one. And the one that I remember most was September 2006. It was the Pride Final Conflict Absolute card. And that was amazing. Because the one that I really wanted to watch was the fight between Mirko Krokop and Vandale Silva.

That's what I was looking forward to. I couldn't wait for it. And then we got the Crow Cop head kick and Sylvo was Dunzo. And then he went on and finished Josh Barnett a little later in the early morning hours. And that was the last time we saw him in Pride because they were done and then they went off to the UFC. But I remember that. I remember watching that event live. I definitely remember watching that event live for sure.

But I think I think Sean Al Shoddy nailed like one of my favorite nostalgic moments. and that was, I mean, when Bob Sapp was doing the damn thing, we were all like, holy crap, this dude. And then we found out that he was like in movies and stuff, who was in the Longest Yard remake with Adam Sandler. And he fought, forget, Antonio Rodrigo Nogara, fighting freaking Big Nog, who at the time was just crushing and just annihilating everybody in 2002.

And Bob's whooping on him and Big Nog does the damn thing. and gets the arm bar and gets the win. 19, 20 minutes into the fight. So I remember those. There's so many, but those two kind of stick out to me. But go to M.A.fighting.com and you will take a nice stroll down memory lane

and look at some of them. Part two should be dropping shortly. I don't know if it might drop today. Hopefully it drops today. That'd be a fun read for all of you. But yeah, these guys, AK, Jed, Damon, Sean, they hit the moments pretty well. let's go to Sibiram.

Hello, Simbrah. Hi, Mike. How are you? Good. How are you? Recently, I'm missing your spaces made. So I just want to ask one question, Mike. Why do you think Islam is giving a narrative that Charles is not going to come to

the Dubai and he's not going to fight me like that? And why is she pushing that agenda? against Charles like that. And he's very pretty much appreciating the Walknoski replaying to that tweet that he's available to fight at the UFC 280 like that. So why do you think that narrative is pushed by the McChow group? That's what I'm asking, Mike. Thank you. Maybe it's some gamesmanship, some head games,

trying to get Chuckie Olives all mad and fired up and out of his elements. I have no idea. This has been a very fascinating build, especially from the Makachep side, with him saying a lot of things that he's been saying, and Halib saying a lot of things that he's been saying. Chuckie's going to be there. This is the fight that everybody wants to see. It's the biggest fight of his career, at least for Islam.

I think Charles is going to be there, and it's going to be a really interesting fight. I can't wait to see it. This is the most fascinating fight of the year, in my opinion. It has superseded everything else that was on my list, and I can't wait to see it. And Charles Alvair is going to be there. Charles has a point to prove. And if he wants to get that red-panny night, if he wants any chance to get that Connor McGregor fight, he's going to have to show up at UFC 280.

I have no doubts that he'll be there. But, yeah, the build's been interesting from the Islam side. And now he has to win with all the things that he's been saying. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements.

What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Beauting will begin when passenger fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close you, call 1-8665-3-1-2-600 or visit Connexon-X-O-Mterew. With Amex platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply.

Viking, hello. Good. How are you? I'm not good. I'm just, I just want to ask you about, I heard the conversation between Ali Abdel-Azzi and Fernand-Lopez. and in that conversation Ali was saying that I own the media and I told Damon Martin

not to put that story sort of thing what do you just tell me about why did he say that I own the media and is it true? Thank you Mike all right so let me just say this I fully expected to get this question at some point

so I'm going to tread I'm going to tread lightly with this whole thing, but here's what I'll say. I don't think I can actually get into a lot of this for a couple of reasons, but Damon did respond to some of this, and I have my thoughts, and I can't give all of my thoughts on this for multiple reasons. What I will say is this. One, it's obviously a dumb thing for Ali to say, because we literally posted the exact same article that BJPen.com posted two plus weeks prior to them dropping it.

And here's the difference between our article that Damon worked his ass off on and the one that BJ Penn dropped. We got everybody on the record. Everybody. We didn't just get one side on the record. We got everybody on the record. We got the fighter on the record. We got Fernand on the record.

And we got Ali Abdelaziz on the record. all three of them because that's what journalism is okay if ali abdilaziz says fernand lopez did this we don't just write a story based on what ali said we reach out to the other people involved because that is what journalism is that is what you're supposed to do and the people you reach out to have a choice they can choose to respond or they could choose to decline but it is up to the people who are putting that information out there to reach out to everybody involved. We dropped the freaking article two weeks before that. All you had to do was Google it.

All you had to do is Google it. So Ali saying that, why do you think they didn't drop that article? We did. We did drop that article two weeks before that about the same frigging topic. The same thing. But we actually got everybody involved on the record. So that statement makes no sense. That statement makes zero sense.

So clearly, because we put Ali on the record, that shows that he doesn't own anything. He doesn't own anything. What was the last, and I can tell you personally, I haven't worked with Ali in his fighters roster at all in the last 18 months. And I have the emails to prove it. then I reached out to their side and I said, I'm not doing any more interviews to you guys.

Now, have I interviewed his fighters? Yes. But have Ali or his team had anything to do with those interviews? Zero. Zero. Nothing to do with those interviews. These are sponsors and these were people that were working with these specific fighters that reached out to me asking if I wanted to talk to them. So to say that he owns MMA fighting is a bunch of horseshit.

And all you have to do is go back two weeks to see that we printed the freaking article talking about the exact same subject getting all parties on the record. So that whole thing is stupid and it makes no sense. It literally makes no sense. The other thing I will say, because I can't get into much more than just the facts, which are right there for everybody to see, I think there are going to be some valuable lessons learned from this whole situation, some valuable lessons learned. from the journalistic side. And this is going to be one of those fork in the road moments for some people. That's what I think.

That's what I think. And I like, and I know Cole Shelton wrote the article, and I like Cole. He's a nice guy. But you got to do better. You got to do better with this stuff. Like if someone told me and gave me this information and said, hey, and let's just say I'm not working for a. Let's just say, hey, I own A.K. Lee.

I own him. There's a reason why this was put out there. You know what I would have done? I would have hit up my best friend, AK Lee. I'd be like, did you see this? Did you hear what he said? How do you respond to that? And then AK could choose to respond if he wanted to.

Or he could choose to give his response to it. And then if he chose to be put on the record, we would put his response in prints because that's what you're supposed to do in these types of situations. They did not do that. I don't know why. But yeah, this whole Ali owns M. Amey fighting thing is stupid. And I'm glad Damon said something because if he didn't say anything, if he didn't

tweet anything out about it, I wouldn't be talking about it here. But he did. So now that gives me a little bit of rain. I'm not going to dive into it as much as I want to, but I'm just going by what is out there for all of us to see. Okay. So this narrative needs to be put to rest Because literally

To say that Oh, why do you think that they didn't drop the article? I own the media. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We did drop the article. We dropped it two weeks before And it wasn't chosen to be put into their piece And I don't get, I don't understand why.

It's right there. All you do is Google the names And it was like the first thing that popped up. It was literally the first thing that popped up. But. Oh, well. that's where we're at right now, folks. And yeah, that whole narrative is freaking stupid.

And he could say what he wants and all you have to do is Google it and look at the article and see that we dropped it. So that ends that conversation altogether. But I knew someone's going to bring it up. I ain't going to go crazy on it. I have way more thoughts about it. I can assure you, but I'm not going to dive into it much more than that. But clearly that's factually wrong because we dropped the article. article. Max, hello.

Hello, Mike. Heck of a morning to you. How you doing? Good. How are you? Quite well, thank you. I'm actually Max Block the Engineer. I know I have a little burner account here, but just wanted to let you know. Me of a ought no from back in the day. I'm still alive. I'm still present. Just my Instagram was hacked a long time ago. But yep, Max Block the Engineer is still alive and present. So I just wanted to let you know. And my question for you is, what is a fight that you have seen announced recently

that you've heard an opinion on that you thought yourself, I don't really know about that. You know, like, what is one kind of opinion that you heard is mainstream that you have a different opinion on? Thank you so much for your time and have a heck of a morning. Hmm.

That's a really good question. That's a really good question. Hmm. I got to think about that. I would say, just like, off the top of my head, without boring you guys for a half hour while I look for all of these fights. I'd say probably the Adasania Pereira fight because most people, I mean, most people that I talk to feel like Pereira is just going to go in there and just crush Adasania and win the title.

And I just don't know if that's true. I just don't know if that's true. Just looking at it from a stylistic perspective, even going back and watching their kickboxing matches, it's a closer fight, like from a stylistic perspective. I thought Adasania won the first fight. and the second fight, Adasani was clearly winning until he got knocked out. So is there a chance that Pereira goes in there and stops Izzy and wins the title? Sure. But to say that because he beat him twice in kickboxing, it's almost a guarantee that's going to happen.

It's kind of silly. I think I'm actually picking Izzy to win that fight, but it's a good matchup. It's a good fight. And I can't wait to see it. It's another fascinating one. The storyline's built and the UFC has. hit lightning in a bottle with this whole Pereira situation. Tristan, what's up?

Hey, Mike. How's everything? How's everything going? Good. Yeah. I have to, man, I like your tweet when you said about the Shafkarachmanor versus Jeff Neal. Like, we need a fan revolt to promote that to the main card to be the headline. I thought that was hilarious.

Well, you're probably right because that card has a lot of stakes and it's an awesome fight. I see AKs in here. Listen, Mike, you're going to have to cheer a K up. man, because he's been, he's been, like, just, he sounded depressed when I was going back and forth with him on the, uh, Frank Yeager versus Chris Gidearis, right? And he's like, yeah, I'm positive. I'm positive that this fight's going to be canceled. And I was just like, A.K., come on, man, that's a good fight. I think that's a winnable fight for, for, for Frankie. I think he has a good shot, good chance. But A.K.'s like, I don't know, I could just imagine A.K. with his hands over his,

face like why what is going on uh come on okay still need positive Frankie you know let let Frankie go you know he's not going to get knocked out thank God and you know go to his wrestling and things that nature and maybe have a good chance win that fight and right off to the sunset with everything all intact so come on okay I need positivity right just stay positive um my question to you My question to you, Mike, is regarding on this fight card here, we have Tatua Taira versus C.J. Vigera. Now, what do you think about that fight?

I went back and watched the C.J. Figuera fight. And Vagara, I don't know if I'm pronounces his last name, right? That's a tough, I mean, that's a tough fight for Tatsuro, man. I'm like, these guys are getting tough fights right off the gate. His last fight was tough. And now he's going to fight CJ, who's coming off a win. That guy is going to be putting so much pressure on Tatsur and just trying to, like, get that guy out of there. Now, I'm expecting Tatsur to use his grappling and try to finish him that way.

But how do you look at that fight, Mike, and let me know how you think about it. Thanks for everything. Have a heck of him one. Benistrozo is muted, yeah. It's a fine fight. I think it's fine. CJ's a good little prospect and so is Tyra. I think it's fine.

I think it's fine. We're building Tetsura up kind of slowly. We're middle of the packish here. Vergara, you know, lost O'Day and then he had the Clitsyn Rodriguez fight, which is really close. And Tyra is, Tyra's good, man. Like, he's good. He just fought a dude that.

is so durable and he's in a Carlos Candelario that and he's kind of styled in that Carlos is tough, it's just really tough to finish and put away. So that was a good learning experience fight. I actually love the matchmaking there and I actually dig this matchmaking as well. I think Tyra's going to win. I just think his advantages are way better. CJ's a little bit. If I'm CJ, I'm just making this as chaotic of a fight as possible.

but Tyra's pretty well-rounded. His ground game is spectacular. So Siege is probably going to want to keep this thing on the feed and just let chaos rain, but Tyra's ready for all that too. So it should be a fun fight, and I like the matchmaking care. I dig it quite a bit.

Let's go to Toke. Hello, Toke. So my question is probably a bit tough, but I'm going to ask it anyway, because we're talking, you know, they want to do, UFC Africa, right? So we're looking at 2023. That's kind of what they're hoping. So we all want this to be in either Nigeria or in Cameroon, like for Francis in Ghana,

and Cameroon, for Usman and Adasania in Nigeria. But with the prevalence of sports washing. We could end up in another situation where we have some guys with money who's going to put this in a different country. And I'm just wondering what other countries you see could do this. And I know you haven't dove into it and all that stuff. You haven't done interviews and all that. But what other candidates are there? For one, I could mention like Morocco, because he's already, the king of Morocco has already been, you know, invested in UFC with, uh, what matters it are and all those guys. But I'm just wondering what you're seeing in that landscape of where we could end up in UFC Africa. It's an interesting question. Um, I honestly

don't know, but my, I have no clue. I think they're exploring all options. But I also think that they're going to try to they're going to try to weigh out the financial ramifications more than anything. I think an Africa card is going to be huge no matter where it is, honestly. I just think the mere thoughts of UFC Africa just saying those words out loud gets that community really excited and gets the UFC excited. It gets the fighters involved excited, potentially involved excited. But it's going to be one of those things where

maybe there's a certain region of Africa that's just like, hey, we'll pay you this to come here and do a fight card here. And the UFC will probably be like, okay, that sounds like a fun, like a fun time. So yeah, I don't really know. I don't really know. But that's a good question. Hopefully, but data, like Dana's already said it.

He's probably going to continue to say it when he's asked about it. It's just going to be, yeah, we're exploring everywhere. We're looking at the entire. we're looking at all of Africa and what's the best thing over what's the best thing for the company what's the best thing for the fighters what's going to sell at arenas

I know they're talking about like investing in the region with PIs and things like that and probably wherever they decide to put the P.I. is the neighborhood of where they're going to look at but I think everything is up I think everything's in play essentially for the right dollar amount

and the right car, the right fighters, etc. We'll go to Mikey. They'll go to a head. Then we'll go to Anthony. Maybe we'll go to Mikey because that wheel is spinning like crazy. Mikey, do we have you? Yep, I got you.

Morning, everyone. So just want to tag off a couple of things. I know everyone's kind of surpassing this weekend's card, but it's a solid lineup. And I love the main event. War Grasso, even though Vivian was a beast too. To TJ's, TJ came on earlier about,

Alexander Lee being a little depressed about Frankie's edge matchup. I am too, and not because that not necessarily Frankie would lose. It's just the matchup is overwhelming from a marquee standpoint. Frankie's a legend, and he should go out facing at least somebody that we know. Or a hype trade. No disrespect to Chris Gutierrez, because he's actually a really good fighter, and I can see him winning that belt rather easily. But it's like you got to put Frankie up against somebody with a decent name

or a fellow veteran that everyone has least had been aware of. like Havela Sunsao is fighting this weekend against Victor Henry. You know, Chris Gutierrez and Victor Henry should be fighting each other, and Javier Al-Sonsa should be fighting Frank Yeager, something like that, or Cody Garbrandt or the Dominic Cruz fight that everyone had asked for for years. I mean, heck, even look at Shogun. Shogun went from potentially rumored to have a rematch with Leo L'Ill Machita in Brazil in what might be his last fight in the UFC to, in all respect,

Ehor Pertr or whatever heck his name is. Like, come on. Like, I get it. You know, you want Chowgun to win and all that stuff. But, like, it just sounds overwhelming, especially for somebody, you know, 25 years of pride and one of the biggest stars ever from Pride is going to go out on fighting some nobody.

All due respect, you know. So that'll be all for you guys. Much love. Be kind of one another. See you later. I'm muted. Yeah. Card this week is good. main events get some stakes.

Yeah, the Frankie Goodyear's thing, because I know someone else mentioned it as well. It's fine. Like, it's probably as good as you could get. I think Cruz is the way to go, but, I mean, Cruz got brutally knocked out by Marlon Vera, so that wasn't going to happen.

A Sunsau was just kind of there to elevate other talents, and that's kind of what they're trying to do here, but not necessarily. I don't know. To me, this is like, we can't just, give Frankie a squash match.

So we need to find some sort of common ground. But it is a winnable fight for Frankie. And I don't know how much this elevates Gutierrez if he wins.

I think the UFC feels like, oh, it's a win-win. If Frankie wins, he goes out with a win in his retirement fight. But if Gutierrez wins, he gets propelled up the ladder. I don't know if that's true. I don't know how much of a rub he's going to get from beating Frankie Edgar.

I don't know. He's going to look more healish if he wins, especially doing that at MSG. So, yeah, it's kind of a tough spot for Chris, but it's also an opportunity that Chris has wanted for a while and he probably deserves. So, yeah, I get where you're coming from. I get why there's mixed reviews, but it's fine.

It's a winnable fight. and but Chris could also leg kick him for 15 straight minutes. It's very possible. We'll see how it goes. Ahead, what's up? Can you hear me? Yes, I can. All right, got me.

Okay, Mike. The whole Frankie thing, I think Mikey mentioned Victor Henry. Victor Henry's legit. I'm team catch wrestling, so they should have done Frankie and Victor Henry. That would have been fun. And then Chris and Sansau. But anyway, a couple of points. Charles Alavera is just going to Abu Dhabi now, you know,

like as then he said he was going to be there a month ago, and that would have been better, you know, like, even though Brazil isn't like, it's a tough climate, Abu Dhabi is extreme, you know, so like how is he going to acclimatize, like going so, uh,

on short, not like short notice, but he could have done it on longer notice. Sean O'Malley's been chilling with NBA stars in Abu Dhabi for a while. So that, that's something to think about. Now, UFC 282, Mike, another week has gone by and still we don't know the main event for UFC 282. It's wild.

It's absolutely crazy. And like, I've been thinking about obviously Hamza is not trapped in Russia contrary to reports. So he's going to be at Abu Dhabi. They obviously have to announce at UFC 280. They don't have a choice, the UFC. Now, you could do Yuri Glover, but you need like a big, like you need. the big boys in Brazil

to attract attention, you know? Because there's also Amanda Nunes that you could do the trilogy with Shefchenko, but I feel like for Brazil, the UFC want, like the big boys, like some of like from lightweight or up, you know? So they might do like a surprise announcement,

like Colby Humza, maybe. And like Mike, I don't know if A.K. Lee is in here? Is he in here? Like, because I've got something to say about the whole Patty thing. Is he here? Yeah, he's a, he's a, He's in here. Okay.

Okay. Listen, Mike, you're the man. You're the good guy of M. MMA journalism. But Mike, with Patty Pimlet, you're wrong in this situation. I'm with A.K. Lee. I'm with Toke. Toke explained it beautifully.

Because, like, who cares about Mike Davis? No one. No one cares about Mike Davis the way no one cares about Ludovic Klein. Like, no one cares. The thing is, like, yeah, what Toke, Tocke said it beautiful. I'm not going to repeat it because Toke put it perfectly. You need to like Mike Davis is the worst of both worlds. So like what A.K. Lee said, even what Tocke said, Ludovic Klein, that's a squash match.

Fine. What A.K. Lee said, Tony Ferguson, that's okay. But what I'm going to say, obviously, I'm the one with the perfect answer, so I have to say it the best. Number one option for Paddy at 282, Terrence McKinney. Talked a lot of smack. That's the fight to make. number two drew dober the dude has a jaw made of stone i don't know like that dude is crazy number three is jim miller that's it drop the mic mic yeah i still think the lodovicline option is

ridiculous if we're going to call mike davis ridiculous to terence mcitty they're never going to do because terence will probably wash patty and i don't think they're going to put him in a position where somebody washes Patty. I think Terrence washes them. I don't think that fight's competitive at all. And Terrence is already like majorly over. So it like doesn't do a ton for, I mean, it'd be cool. Like, who doesn't want that fight at this point?

But Terrence has already put himself in a position where he's sort of a, an underground fan favorite in a lot of ways. So I don't know if it does much for him. Dober doesn't need it. Yeah, Dover doesn't need it. what was the other man I'm on like a day off

so my brain's kind of foggy right now I forget who the other option was but I don't like the client option McKinney is fine but I just I think you can build that one up and I think McKinney just washes Patty at this point and I don't know

I think they're just going to squash match them like I think they're just going to keep the squash match train rolling at this point and I'm fine with that. Like, I'm totally fine with that. Let's just get this dude wins and let's just maybe someone in the comments will. Oh, Jim Miller. Jim Miller. Thank you. Thank you ahead. Jim Miller. I'm okay with Jim Miller. I'm fine with that one. I'm fine. If they want to do Jim Miller, that's fine. But Jim Miller could win that fight too. So he's one of the toughest guys to book for. And that's why he comes up on onto the next one all the time. Because it's so

difficult to book for him. Because you could find positives and negatives for literally every option. You just got to kind of land on the right one. So what I think they'll probably do is they'll give them someone like maybe a half a step above Jordan Levin. I don't mind the Jim Miller idea. That's fine one.

But I don't know if they're going to go that route. Because Jim could win that fight. Like it wouldn't shock me in the least if Jim Miller be Patty Pimbley. It really wouldn't. It's hockey season and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost almost anything.

So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now.

For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. 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, and endless 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. Let's go to Anthony. Anthony, are you there? He's got to unmute. Yo. Here we go.

What's that, man? Yo, I got three things. I'll try to keep it quick for you. Patty's next opponent is Jared Gordon. I know we're going to want these sexy matchups and we're going to keep dreaming, but is Jared Gordon? Jared Gordon beat his teammate like two years ago or something, and Patty called him out before his last fight.

And next thing, am I crazy for thinking that UFC 280 is going to be all this hype? And it's probably just going to be the prelims in like the first three cards of the main card that is going to be very exciting, but I can see the last two title fights as being Aljo riding him for 25 minutes and Islam riding him for 25 minutes. And then my last thing is, Israel Adisanya, I was so with you.

Like, I agree that he's going to, I was so with you, he's going to wipe the floor with Alex. I didn't even think it was going to be close in the MMA. However, with the fans, like, turning on him, kind of, and, like, maybe his ego gets the best of him. I could see him, like, wanting to strike with him. him. But before that, before, like, the fans were turning on him, I was like, oh, yeah, Izzy will easily just fucking grab his back and choke him.

Like, he's been on the ground with way better opponents. And we've seen Alex get ridden out for a whole round by Andrus Mikalides, you know? So those are my three things for you. There you go. Thank you. Have a heck of a morning. Thanks, man. Yeah, I don't mind the, I don't mind the Jared Gordon. That one's fun. Jared had probably the most respectful callout of Patty because, you know, because of what Patty said after his last win about the state of mental health. And I know Jared believes in that kind of,

believes in that as well and takes that very seriously. So Jared said, hey, let's, let's do this fight. And let's build, let's raise some awareness. And that makes sense. And I think it's a competitive fight. I think it's competitive. I mean, if Patty Pimbled approaches that fight like Grant Dawson did against Jared Gordon, then Patty can win.

I just don't know if he has that kind of gas tank that Grant Dawson has, just that power, the technique, the ability to just take dudes down over and over and over again. I don't know if he's as strong as a Grant Dawson, but it's a competitive fight. I like it. They could definitely do that. I do think you're kind of crazy with the 280. It's, I think the whole card is really fascinating and really interesting.

I think the two title fights are going to be good. I think they're going to be good. Aljo still, Aljo still gets this, this bad rap about being, like the, the Yon fight wasn't, especially following the Hamsat Chamaa,

Gilbert Burns fight. No fight on the planet could follow that. just wasn't possible. And it was actually pretty interesting fight. Like Aljo had his moments. He was dominant on the ground. Jan started getting some momentum.

It was a, it's a, it's a fight that actually aged pretty well. If you go back and watch it, it's an interesting fight. I know AK doesn't like it because there's a lot of mixing in the martial arts, but I think him and Dillishaw is really interesting. I'm picking Aljo to win, but I think Dillishaw showed in that Sandhagen fight that it's going to take a lot to get him out of there and to dominate him. Dude basically fought Corey Sandhagen on one leg for five rounds. And I know multiple,

I've talked to like multiple coaches about that fight. And a lot of people are like, I don't know, understand why people think it's such a robbery. Like Dill shot some really good moments of that fight. So I'm interested in that. And then the Olivera Mokachev fight is just, could we see Mokachev just take him down for five rounds?

Sure. But when is, Mockichung himself doesn't really do that to anybody. He looks, he takes him down. He's looking to be advantageous down there. He's not looking to just lay in prime and just wait out of decisions. He's looking to go in there and finish your ass.

And he's going to try to do the same thing to Charles Oliverer, especially with how much noise he's been talking. He's going to go in there and try to put Charles away. So I'd be stunned if that fight went five rounds, if we're being honest. And if it does go five rounds, I think it's a very interesting five rounds. So maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe you come on heck of a morning the Monday after or Tuesday after and say I told you so. And it could happen. But I think you got to give those two fights more of a chance. I think you got to give those two fights more of a chance. And then Adasania and Pereira is going to be a good fight. It's going to be a real good fight. Let's go to Brad. Hey, what's going on, Mike?

Thanks for having me. So I had a couple questions, and I do want to just kind of open up with something else. If they feed, I shouldn't say feed, if they give Jared Gordon to Patty, I'll be genuinely upset. Like, I do like the matchup of him versus Jim Miller. I think that is what's up next. But, man, I'm from Astoria Queens. If they try to sacrifice my boy to feed this hype train, I will be. absolutely pissed, but not my questions.

I guess I was kind of curious if you had any news that's not been already released in regards to John Jones and what's going on with his situation, and of course, Francis, because we really haven't heard much of either of them, and I would have to imagine, at least Francis has to have something figured out soon. Either he's testing free agency or whatever the case may be. So I guess, do you know anything that may be? others don't know in regards to Jones and of course, Francis. Thanks for having me. Let me answer that question as best as I can.

I wish I knew what was going on with John Jones and France and Ghana because I'd be sitting on a freaking gold mine right now because that's the big question. What is going on with these two guys? And I think the main question is what's going on with Francis because until we get a clear cut answer of what's going on with Francis, we're not going to know what's going on with John. We're not. Is Francis going to resign or is he going to go explore other options?

If he's going to resign, then they're going to do Francis versus John. At this point, without putting John on any of these cards, John said he was ready for September to fight to fight. He was, I think he was on the CES broadcast and said, looking at September to do that fight. It didn't happen. We're past it. We got Diaz Shimae, at least on paper. and then we got everything else we ended up getting. There's talks about maybe doing it in December,

but again, nothing on the books. As I had said earlier, we still don't have a main event for this card, and we are less than two months away. We're exactly two months away from UFC 282. We don't have a main event yet. So to me, I don't think we're going to get John versus Steepa on that card.

I think, I just think we're a little too close. I mean, we're literally eight weeks away, and unless the UFC is, already got something ready and nobody knows about it, they've done a great job hiding it. I don't know what the hell they're going to do. I don't know what they're going to do. But to me, it's all on Francis. Francis is leaving.

We're going to do John versus Steepa for the undisputed title. I don't think John's fighting for an interim title. I think John will fight for the undisputed title. It'll either be against Stepe for a vacant one or they'll do, they'll just wait for Francis at this point. Francis is giving them basically a heads up saying, hey, I'm going to resign.

Let me just get my knee all squared away. Then they're just going to go right to John versus Ingano, which is what you should do in the first place. Like, why wait? Why even risk it? Why risk throwing John in there at Stepe if he could lose? Like, what if he loses? Then that fight's gone.

What if, I mean, it's tough. It's literally the toughest conundrum right now. Patty, you can throw them in there. The two toughest questions that I get right now is like, who is Patty Pimble got a fight next? And what's going on with John Jones and Francis got him? I have no clue because we don't know what's going on with Francis. From the conversations I've had, and again,

these are just with coaches and people who know him. If it was up to like his coaching staff, he's fighting John Jones next. That's what everybody wants. But now it's just a matter of the business side of things. Can the UFC get Francis locked up? can they give him what he wants? Are they open to doing the Tyson Fury thing?

Which at this point, considering how Tyson has talked, who knows that that's even an option? So, yeah, it's so up in the air at this point. I wish I had answers. And if I did, like I said, I'd be sitting on a gold mine right now.

Hi, James. How are you? Wonderful. It's been a long time. But first of all, I want to congratulate you on your Patriots yesterday for looking impressive. Yeah.

And kind of talking about the December pay-per-view. I think that we could see something like Moreno and Figgy situation, how that December card didn't have a main event, and that two of them did a quick turnaround after the November card. So I guess someone in the October or November kind of do a quick turnaround, something like that. And I've been a huge Bo Nichols fan the second I saw him on Jorge Mosmedal's promotion. if he runs through Jamie Pickens,

like I kind of think he's going to, do you think the UFC is going to give him a top 30 opponent or kind of throw him in right away with a top 15? And like always, Mike, man, thank you for what you do, and have a heck of a morning. Thank you, sir. Yeah, I don't know what they're going to do with, though. I think it just depends.

It all depends on how this fight goes. Like, if he goes in there and just destroys Jamie Pickett in under a minute, then, yeah, They'll give him like a top 30 dude. They'll throw him in like the Eric Anders type. I'm not saying they'll fight Eric Danders, but somebody like in that realm. And if him and Pickett's competitive,

then they'll just do little baby steps until he gets his footing. This is different. You can find the contender series against the Donovan Beards of the world and don't disrespect to Donovan. But we all knew who was going to win that fight. We all knew he was going to be a very short night at the office.

And while Jamie Pickett doesn't have the greatest record in the UFC. He does have a lot of UFC experience. Jamie's been putting some of these positions before and he's been okay. I don't think he's going to win this fight, but to Jamie, it's just, he's playing with house money right now. A lot of people felt like he could have been released after his last fight, and now he was getting the best fight he could possibly get. And all he needs to do is just give Boa fight. It's not about wins and losses. He just needs to go in there and give Boa fight. That's his job right now. Give Boa fight.

and if he goes out there, does everything he needs to do and both still stomps him, that we know, we got something here. I think we all know we have something here anyways. But you don't want to just throw him into a top 15 fight right now.

Like, you don't want to throw him in there with like, Emovoff, because he might lose that fight. So start here, get him over, and then 2023, you have a whole new platform.

And we'll see. Mazel's promotions doing pretty well, churning out some of these guys. We saw a lot of guys get contracts on the Contender Series who offer Mazadal's promotion. Mazdaal's promotion has a card coming up on Friday, and I will be there for that,

and hopefully I get to talk with the man maybe on Thursday. Hopefully we get to do that once more, because, I mean, there's not a ton more that we haven't covered just yet, but since me and Mazadal spoke last, Leon Edwards, B. Kumar, who's won the title. We had the whole thing with Hamzad at UFC,

279. Nate has moved on with a win after beating Tony Ferguson. There's a lot of fun stuff we can talk about. So hopefully that happens sometime this week, and that'll be fun. We'll take a few more here. We got, we'll go to Jero first. Hello, Jero. Hello, can you hear me?

Yep, I got you. Awesome, man. Good morning, first of all. And, yeah, I had a quick question. Do you have any update on Ricky Simone situation? I feel like, based on his tweet, and all that. We're kind of close to getting something from him,

and then I haven't heard really much from him since then. So I think he's a promising guy in that 35 division, so I'd really like to see what's next for him. Good question. I thought he was definitely going to be in play for this Frankie Edgar fight, but it doesn't seem like that's happening. Let me take a look at the old rankings, and let's see.

I just don't, I mean, they want to do, like, I don't think they'll do, let's see. I think the Victor Henry, a Sunsau winner would make sense. Pedro Munoz would make sense. Maybe you do Ricky Simone versus Song Yadong. That makes sense. But, I mean, Song just got opened up in his last fight

so he could be out for a while. I don't know, like, what's going on with Ricky and his health. That's, like, I don't know if he's injured. I don't know if he's fine. Does he fight like Umar and Amaga Madoff? I don't know. because Rob Fon's not fighting until the earliest March. So he's out, at least for the foreseeable future.

Marab just beat Joseo, though, so it doesn't make sense for him to fight Ricky Simone again. Corey's not going to fight him. So, yeah, the options are kind of limited at this point, but maybe you do the UMAR fight. That'd be pretty interesting. After Ricky's performance against Jack Shore, that'd be kind of a come-on, man, kind of fight. But it just depends on when he's ready to come back. But yeah, he's promising. He's starting to live up to the hype and the potential that everyone's seen him for a while.

And that's good. Let's go to Rishab. Hello. Yo, man, it's good. I'm good. How are you? It's like my first time on the show. And I guess not sure, but like in the space.

And I was just wondering, what do you think about, Patty Pimble, versus Terence McKinney? I've seen Terence McKinney. call him out. I'm just like, yeah, that's actually a bangor for fight. UFC 282. That's mad. And secondly, like, you just speak a little about, like, Shafka, Rakhmanov and Jeffine.

Like, I think that's a bangor for a fight as well. And, like, yeah, they're just going to announce yesterday. And, yeah, that's about it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Patty, I mean, listen, if they want to do Patty versus Terrence McKinney, that's cool. I'm into it.

It makes sense. Fine. There's a story there. I just think Terrence beats him. I think Terrence beats him. And then what do you do? Then what do you do with Patty? It just all depends.

Like, I have no idea what the direction of the matchmakers are with this guy. And Patty can have a great career just beating dudes well below him and do just fine. But if they book that fight, I mean, I'm it. I'll watch the hell out of that. I just don't know if they're going to do it. I think Terrence would beat him. I think Terrence beats him convincingly, if we're being honest. But we'll see.

The Shafkat Rakbana of Jeff Neal fight, like I tweeted out after we confirmed it on Saturday, there should be a fan revolt. We should be hit, all the fans should be tweeting at the UFC and at Dana and at the matchmakers and whatever, that this fight be promoted to the main event. This is the main event.

This will be the fight that everybody's talking about. When we do a preview show for this card, the headline is going to be Shafkat Rakhmanah versus Jeff Neal. It will not be Kelvin Gasselm versus Nassadini Mabov. We're going to be talking about Rachmanov-Neil. That's the one we're going to be talking about. Just like Jeff Neal's last fight when he fought for Sente-Luke. That was the one we were talking about.

That was the one we were talking about all the fight cards of the whole weekend. That was the fight everybody wanted. And we're going to have the same thing here. I think Shafcott is going to win But Jeff Neal is A little sneaky son of a gun He's a powerful striker He looked great in that Vicente Leuke fight

That was the best he's ever looked And the fact that he was like All right dude be careful what you wish for I'm in let's go Props to that guy But that should be the main event That should be the main event Calvin Gasolum

God bless him should not be headlining any UFC cards at this point. He shouldn't be. And I understand why Nassardine is in the spot. If this is UFC Paris, like if they're going to do this card in Paris, okay, I get it. But it's not going to be in Paris, I don't think, because we would know about it by now,

because it's three months away. But let's just do the right thing here. Let's just do the right thing. Do the right thing for the people. Do the right thing for whatever arena is going to host this card. I don't know if it's going to be an Apex card or what, but just do the right thing. Promote this fight to the main event.

Or at least do a five-round home-main event. Let's have some fun. You have the ball. It's in your court. You can do whatever you want. There's no guidelines. There's no restrictions. If you want to make this fight five rounds, if enough people step up and say, we want this five rounds or we want this as the main events, guess what?

They'll do it. We've made a lot of changes happen on the show about fights becoming main events. For fight nights, fights getting bumped from the prethums to main cards. A lot of people like to give this credit. There's probably no credit to the show whatsoever. But if we feel this way, if we feel like this show produces change, then damn it, let's make that change. Let's end the show with crypto. Cryptocurrency.

Hello, crypto. How are you? Good. Yeah. So, Mike, you're actually right. I mean, remember the Imaba, Buckley Fight? It all started here on this podcast, got moved up to the main card. So we can make it happen.

Mike, so I get a question for you. At the end of next year, going into 2024, which two champions do you feel will still be champions? You have to choose two, and which two champions will no longer hold the title? So going into 2024, and it doesn't have to be because they lose the belt. It could be maybe because they make the belt or maybe in Francis and Gano's case, maybe leave the promotion and so on. So which two fighters are the most likely to still keep their belt and which two fighters are the least likely to do so.

And just a quick thing, Mike, I'm going to exclude Leon Edwards and also Carlos Barr's up from this. And I think you know why I exclude them. Thank you, Mike. So by 2024, current champions who will not be champions and current champions who will be champions.

This is tough. If Volcanovsky is still going to fight at 145, he is going to be one of them. And then like the other, I mean, I'm going to keep Valentina Shepchenko in there as well. the ones who won't

I mean the other ones are tough man I don't think figure eight will be the flyweight champion but they end up 2024 not because of his skill but because I just don't think I just don't know if that frame can keep making 125 I just don't know if it's possible

man this is tough I think Izzy will still be the middleweight champion if he doesn't vacate to go up to 205 this is tough Because again, we don't know. Let's just say everything stays as it is. If everything stays as it is, Olkenovsky,

Izzy, Valentina, I feel confident we'll still be the champions. I don't think Figueroa will still be champion because, one, I think he's going to lose to Brandon Moreno, and two, I just don't know if he's going to make $125 anymore. And the other, the one I'm torn on is Yuri Perashka. I'm on the fence, like I'm completely on the fence with him.

Because nothing would surprise me. Like, if he fights, if he fights Maghabaed Ankelaia, I don't think he wins that. I think Magabed wins that fight. But it's just a matter of if that, if that's what it happens. That's a great question. That's a great question. But like we said earlier, we just don't know anything can happen. We don't know what these divisions are going to look like.

We have champions who are talking about moving up in weight divisions. Just a matter of, like, or not they do that. We have contract situations. We have all sorts of craziness. All right. I think we have done a good job here of creating some bonus content on this Monday. If you are in Canada, happy Thanksgiving to you.

Many blessings to all of you. If you're here in the United States, maybe you have the day off. If that's the case, enjoy your day off. And we'll be back again tomorrow. We're going to do it again tomorrow. 10 a.m. Eastern, we'll back to the normal schedule. We'll do Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, MMA hour back on Wednesday, normal BTL back on Thursday. We'll have a preview show on Friday, People's Pre-Fight Show on Saturday, on to the next one back on Sunday.

And then hopefully by Monday, before we jump on the show Tuesday of next week, you will be made aware of what's going on. for UFC 280 and hopefully something we're going to do on as the kids say on the reg on the reg moving forward but i am excited for this concept we're just still trying to put the final pieces in place but it is happening so and i ain't telling you until i'm given the uh the okay to do so thank you very much enjoy the rest of your monday back tomorrow morning 10 a m eastern have a great rest of the day and as always have a heck of a morning to the box media podcast network