MMA Fighting - HOAM | Has There Been A UFC Pay-Per-View With Less Buzz Than UFC 301?

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

UFC 301 goes down Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and there are a lot of fun matchups on the card for those in know — including an intriguing title fight at the top, and the return to the octagon of Jose Aldo. And while hardcore fans understand that the event does have the ability to be an enjoyable watch, has the build to it generated the least amount of buzz of any pay-per-view in recent memory? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck takes questions about Saturday's fight card, some of the compelling matchups, but the noticeable lack of fan excitement for it. Additionally, listener topics include Tom Aspinall's defense of U.K. fans for the UFC 304 start time, William Gomis' scary weigh-in on Friday, Steve Erceg being a bit of a darling underdog ahead of his flyweight title opportunity against Alexandre Pantoja, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster, The Downloaded.

It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine, available now, only from Audible. To the Vox Media Podcast Network.

It is Friday, May 3rd, 2024, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MAA fighting Twitter spaces, and you can hear the show in its entirety. done here on the MMA fighting podcasting network. What's going on? Everybody, I am Mike Hack. Hope you're all having a fantastic week.

We are on the eve of another UFC pay-per-view event. And I got to say, well, I think this will be a fun and entertaining watch. I mean, I honestly cannot remember a pay-per-view event that has less buzz, less intrigue, less interest than this one. And it's super weird. Like this is, we talked about UFC 300 being like a one of us card, like the ultimate one of us cards. I don't even know how to describe this one.

There's like literally nothing. There's no feeling towards it whatsoever. Like I feel like I have to almost sell this card to some degree. and I get it. Like, this is just an unfair spot for this card to be in anyways because we're coming off of $298, $299, $300,

and then we got 302, which is the Islam Dussiporier card and the Sean Strickland, Paul Costa fight on that card. And then Connor coming back June 29 to fight Michael Chandler. This one is just sort of buried and it just feels like a throwaway.

It just feels like a throwaway card. And I'm not like, I mean, I am sort of blaming the UFC because they could have done a better job putting this together. But, I mean, 300 was so magical. We're just kind of left with this. And people are kind of reacting to it in that manner where it's just, it's a card. It's just there. And like I said, just like traffic and, you know, just overall buzz is there's none.

There's just none. but I do think it's going to be pretty fun. We just ended the the way-ins for the event. And I believe everybody made it. Let me just go and check with our guru, Alexander K. Lee.

Main event is official for the flyway title, Alexander Pantoja, Steve Urseg, or Vinnie Siggs. 125 each. Jonathan Martinez, Jose Aldo. Good to go. Aldo makes wait for his return fight,

probably his last way as a UFC fighter if I had to take a guess. Anthony Smith, Vito Petrino, good to go. Michelle Pereira, Ehor, Potiere, good to go. Paul Craig, Kyle Barallio, good to go. Everybody was good to go. There is one specific way in that has gotten everybody talking, and that is from William Gomy, who looked just awful on the scale,

like really, really bad. It was almost kind of scary looking. and he made weight at 143. Everything about it was very strange. And as of now, as of this very moment, that fight with John Silva is a go. But that could change very quickly. I guess from what I understand,

GoMe is going to have some time to recover. We'll see how he does. Maybe they're going to wait to like the ceremonial way ins. But as of this moment, that fight is still a go, as are the other 13 fights on the card. And like I said, it's going to be, I think it's going to be a fun watch.

What I completely understand, if you want to save your 80 bucks and skip this one, you bet your ass I do. Totally understand it. You want to save your money for June, or you want to watch Canelo. Totally get that as well. But you're going to have to buy two paper views in June.

Then you get another one in July. So within a, what, seven weeks span? And eight weeks span, you're going to have to buy three pay-per-views. That's 240 bucks right there. So totally get if you want to skip this one. And luckily, we have you covered if you decide to not want to spend your $80. You could join GC and I on the watch party. I know you guys are sort of missing the MMA hour crew, and I get it.

But you'll be able to see GC. You'll hear from Frank. And it's going to be good to see all those fellas. tomorrow. I leave for New York City. My flight's like super early in the morning, but I am very excited to join GEC and you can join us for the watch party. Save your money. We'll tell you what happens. I will have just a ton of fun. Probably way more fun than most if we're being honest. So all right, let's hear from you all. Let's get after it on this Friday. We'll go till probably the top of the hour. We'll have a preview show for 301 later on as well.

believe it's at 1 p.m. Eastern, so stay tuned for that. Left laying, go ahead. Hello, Mike. Can you hear me? Yes. I don't know if your mic was muted that whole time, because I did not hear anything until then, but if you were speaking, I'm not sure if you saw William Gomez's weight cut or how he looked on the scale, because that was rough. I don't, I'd be surprised did that fight happen, to be honest, just kind of knowing how

they approach some of the situations where fighters end up being like, or looking rough on the scales. But my main point on this card is sort of, I guess I wanted to talk a little bit about the main event. And I know a lot of people are giving Erseg a big chance to win. And fair enough, he is a great fighter. But I'm just kind of thinking, like, how many times do we, like, just think about the concept of the champion fighting, the number 10 guy in the division. And, like, how many of those you'd actually, like, really consider picking?

We got Sean O'Malley against Kyla Phillips. Wouldn't happen because they're teammates, but stylistically, Amali should easily win that. You got Topori v. Giga-Chikaze. That's one-sided. Islam versus Moikano. Leonidas versus Jeff Neal is not as one-sided as the other ones. Drichis versus Jack Hermanson.

Pereira versus Anthony Smith, and then John Jones versus Tai Tui Vasa. That's what we're looking at for other divisions with the champion versus the number 10 guy. Now, I know it's a little bit different. but like i just don't think we can like i don't think anyone should be like confidently picking ursig if that makes sense like it just seems like a really weird thing to be like yeah i am confident or like i really think the number 10 guy in the world

has a really good shot and i'm picking him to be the champion who's one of the most well-rounded probably the most well-rounded fighter in the weight class and one of the better fighters in the lower weight class pound for pound. And it's like, yeah, we're picking the number 10 guy whose best win is a KO over match now. Like, respectfully, there's more than one person that's been able to do that. So I'd like to see Oursaic get it done.

I'm Australian, so I wouldn't mind it at all, and I'd be more than happy to see us get another Australian champion. But just, like, thinking about the actual matchup, I know stylistically Oersick does some things well that could cause problems for pantomps. kosher but i don't know just the number 10 guy against the champion unless just the stars aligned for erasig and the amma gods are smiling upon him i just don't think he gets it done also hope aldo gets it done that would be really nice to see and also looking forward to elvers brenner

versus might to beg or alibi that's going to be a sick fight but thanks mike yeah orleby and brenner is probably my favorite fight on the card if we're being honest i mean it doesn't have i mean there's stakes there for sure like in my eyes there's stakes we're going to find out like who the more for real guy is at 155 the best division of the sports and whoever wins that fight is probably going to be at worst a top 15 guy by the end of the year in this frigging weight class which is insane to even think about uh i have a bet on josaldo so you know from that perspective sure uh i don't know there's a lot of people very confident in jonathan martinez like we did bt yesterday and Casey was like super confident. I believe Jose is picking Jonathan Martinez as well and I'm just outside of just although maybe being on as Jed likes to say the well done side of cooked I just from a stylistic perspective like I just feel like this is Jose's fight. Like there's nothing Jonathan Martinez does that Jose hasn't seen a million times.

So he's not going to be able to wrestle Jose. He's not going to be able to take him down. if he tries to have a leg kick war at Jose Aldo, he's going to lose that one. So I'm very curious to see how he, what his game plan is, honestly. And, you know, maybe Jose is just on the other side of things, like, in a big way. But the dude went to altitude and defended all of Marab de Walsh really's takedowns. Like, he still got something. It's not like he's been on the couch the whole time.

He's had boxing fights, and I know it's a little bit different, but I don't know. There's a lot of confidence in Jonathan Martinez. I like Jonathan a lot. It would be a good win for him. But I don't know. A lot of people writing off the King of Rio in Rio. And then with the main event, like, look, Stevie Erseg, Vinnie Siggs,

Vincenzo Ersig himself. He's become a favorite at M.A.fighting.com, mostly for the gimmick. But the, like, watching tape and stuff, I do feel like, like, I think Ersag is sort of like a popular underdog mostly and I think it's mostly because he is who he is he's just

there he's the anti-champion in a lot of ways like most of your champions are brash or their potential stars and all this and like Steve Ursaig's just there just kind of there shows up to the stair downs just wearing a you know

plain blue polo just living the dream just the opposite of what you would expect a UFC champion to look like. And there's just something about him that people have been gravitated towards all week. So there's definitely vibes there.

If you're giving me this as like a straight pickum, I'm picking Pantotia. He does, he has a skill that Ersig's going to have a tough time dealing with. Now, from an offensive side of things, Steve Erseg is a very underrated guy when it comes to the grappling.

He's a very good wrestler. And a lot of people, and Megan Anderson talked about this when I talked to her. A lot of people forget that he was like a really good wrestler. Won a lot of awards like really good, really good. Decent takedown defense, but once he's on his back, that's where things get interesting. Is it one of those things where Ersick could pop right back up?

Is it one of those things where Ersick can defend all these submission attempts that are coming his way? Is it one of those things where he's on his back the entire round? that's going to make things really interesting. Pantosia is a good striker, but Steve Ersig's the better striker. He's the better boxer. He packs more of a punch. And Pantosia is durable as hell. But we have to remember as well, Pantosia's been through some battles.

That Brandon Moreno fight, I went back and rewatch that one. By the way, if you haven't done that in a hot minute, highly recommend you do it. That fight's actually better than you probably remember it being. but Pantosia took a lot of punishment in that fight. And even the Royval fight, like it was a pretty dominant performance from Pantosia, but Royvall started getting cooking down the stretch, and he took some shots in that fight too.

So Pantosia's been around a minute. So is it one of those things where Ersig just kind of catches them at the right time? Is the unknown of Steve Ersseg got to be enough? I have a bet on him. I'm not confident in it. It's just more of a fun bet. Just because it's Vinnie Siggs. It's become a thing here.

But yeah, I totally understand why people think Pantosius get a win. But we'll see what happens with good old Vicenzo. Tomorrow night in Brazil. Can he do it? What a freaking, just what an unlikely run to a title it would be. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? What?

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Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 18665330 or visit Comexontera.ca. 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. Hey Mike, can hear me? Yes. Okay, my connection is a little rough. I apologize. Just real quick, I want to ask you, do you, whenever you look at 301 as a card itself,

do you see, like, what I see. I sort of see a bunch of good matchups. I sort of see a potential for a lot of violence. A lot of people are sort of crapping on. this card saying, you know, it's not that good. And I'm pretty sure it's them comparing it to, you know, $299 and $300. So I just wanted to ask you, I guess, what would you rate, excuse me, what would you rate this card on, I guess, a scale of 1 to 10? It's kind of tough to say, honestly. And I know Left Lane asked earlier about William Gomie, I talked about a little bit earlier,

but he couldn't hear me. As of now that fight still on, he looked shitty. wouldn't shock me if that fight doesn't happen. But as of now, that fight is a go. Our man on the ground, Guillermo Cruz, letting us know, I guess they're going to let him see if he's going to recover and how he looks in the next hour. Maybe they'll wait till Ceremony Awayans to kind of check him out

and see how he is. But as of now, that fight is a go. Look, for a pay-per-view, putting an $80 price tag on this, considering what UFC paper interviews typically look like, this is one of the worst ones they've had. Like, it's, it's just bad for a pay-per-view. It really is. Now, if this was, like, if this was next week, if this was UFC St. Louis, this would be a friggin' banger. This would be a banger of a fight night card. Like, really,

really good. One that we would go on and praise the hell out of. But no one's going to buy this paper view. Absolutely nobody. I mean, I don't mean, you know, what I'm trying to say here. There is a cluster of the fan base, especially in the United States, that watches everything, that will buy pretty much everything. And I would say probably 10% of those people who buy everything are skipping this one. They're just going to skip it. There's just no sizzle to it. And you're asking for an $80 price tag. And again, we get two pay-per-views next month both are a million times better than this one on paper like i honestly think this card as a whole is better than what two ninety seven was as a whole but two ninety seven at least sold because

you had a couple of bigger some some names up there you had sean strickland and drink his duplecy up there and sean strickland's a big star trichis duplice is a known commodity and like you could sell that card just on those two names alone even though we looked at that 297 card we were like boy this could be tough and boy wasn't it was awful i do think when we come back here on tuesday will i say that this is the worst pay-per-view of 2024 so far no i think 297 is gonna have that i really do as good as as good as the main event was between ddp and strickland the rest of that card was not good. It was a slog. I felt like I was watching fights for 14 hours. And that's not a good feeling.

That's not a good feeling, especially when it's a pay-per-view. I do think this is going to move a lot quicker. I think there's going to be a lot of finishes. Could be ripe for a few upsets. A lot of big favorites. So, yeah. For me, if it's just, hey, it's a fight night card, this is like an 8 out of 10. If this is UFC St. Louis, the line up for St. Louis, eight out of ten. Paperview-wise, I mean, we've got to be honest with ourselves.

This is like a four, and that's probably generous. It just is. Compared to other UFC paper, to most UFC pay reviews. This is one of the, it's one of the tougher ones from a business standpoint

in terms of what I think paperby-wise is going to generate. I don't think it's going to generate anything. The traffic, the interest on the website and all the videos and stuff. Like nobody seems to care at all outside of Anthony Smith saying that fans are stupid at the media day. So, Jay Stack,

go ahead. Hello, Mike Hector for more. I apologize for the background noise, but what is your thoughts on Kyle versus Paul Craig? How do you see that matchup on me? Personally, I think Paul Craig is going to get TKOed by Kyle, but what are your thoughts?

I don't know. It's a tough, But I have like, I have like a big Brazilian favorite parlay. So I do have Kio in there. I do think Kio is going to win. I don't know. You just never know which Paul Craig is going to show up. You don't know if it's the Paul Craig that's just going to get got or if it's the

Paul Craig that shows up and just beats the hell out of Jamal Hill, who is one of the five, was just the champion not that long ago. So you just, it's tough to say. is it the guy that showed up to fight Audrey Muniz or is the guy who showed up to fight Brennan Out? I'm not really sure. Brennan's really good,

but I think you know what I'm trying to say here. I think this is going to go long. I think this one's going to go pretty long. I'm going to say, I'm picking Kyle. I think he wins a decision. Wouldn't shock me if either gets the other out within seven minutes or so,

but something tells me that Paul's going to be a little bit tougher than the odds suggest. And I think Kyle's going to have to dig down deep and probably win the latter rounds. And I think he will. But my pick right now, the way I viewed is Kyle by decision. And it's going to be interesting to see where he goes because he's got something. He's got a gimmick.

He's got a look. He's got a personality. But he ain't over, man. Like he just has not gotten over. And the UFC has given him opportunities. I know it's on apex cards, but they've given him co-main events. They put him in good spots. and he just hasn't really gotten over that hump.

And I think a lot of it has to do with what he does with the microphone, after fights. His callout after his last fight, calling out Drake's Duplice, one of the worst callouts in the last two years. Just awful. Terrible. What are you doing? Zero chance of getting that fight. Zero.

So let's see what he does. get a good name in mind and just call it out call it out you want to call a bow nickel call a bow nickel I'm cool with that but do not don't belal it don't be calling for

don't do that don't be calm for Hamzaad don't be calm for anybody you have no chance of getting right now call out Jackermanson do that have a good performance

I think your stock grows a little bit but he's got to have it all. He's got to deliver in all aspects of this thing. But I do think he beats Paul Craig, and I think it's a fun fight. Matt, go ahead. I've said it multiple times. I love the violence.

While I hate that I do agree with you about the discussion of this card being weak for a pay-per-view, I do think it is. But I do think that there is just so much of a chance for violence, like Four-ounce sniper was saying, that I do think that this is going to be way better than we are anticipating personally. My low-key banger is Ismail Bombin versus Vince Bachel.

Cannot wait for that shit. It's going to be electric and violent. And I've got a question for you. I know that this may put you in a hard spot to answer. But has there ever been a fighter that you just don't jive with? whenever you just look at him, you're like, there's just no way that I can just get behind them. For me, it's Kyle Barrio or however the hell you say his name.

I just can't get behind him. I don't know what it is. But every time I watch his performances, I would rather just like watch paint dry personally. And watching him on the mic is also brutal. So, I mean, is there just a fighter that you just do not jive with? I don't know. Second question is tough.

I mean, I am certainly critical when I, need to be like Henry Sehudo Balamah Mohammad have been on the top of the list of like what are you doing and I think Kyo has been on that list as well you just got to be able to have it all

like you just got to be able to do something I don't know it's tough to say there's not like one fighter I look at I'm just like I hate this guy or I don't want to watch him but like yeah Kyle Kyos got to be careful Kyle's got to be careful I totally understand

where you're coming from And like I said earlier with the other point, I think this is going to be a fun watch. I do. There's got to be some fun fights, a lot of big Brazilian favorites. The crowd is going to be electric. Whoever's there.

I'm actually kind of curious to see how ticket sales are going for this event. Let me see. Let's take a gander. Let's take a look. they sell out or they're just not letting me buy them I don't know we'll know tomorrow but like when they did what 283

there's like nobody there it was empty it was the most empty Brazil card I've ever seen so we'll see if they the prices were a little bit better or you know they didn't price out the hardcore fans but I think this is going to be a fun night dude Jose Aldo is fighting in Rio

that's awesome run this town's going to hit and people are going to lose their mind. And if Joseo Alto Martinez, the Brazilian fans aren't going to give a shit what happens in the main event. If Josealdo wins, they will be happy. They will leave happy, even if Steve Ursaig melts Fantasia in the main event. They will be like, yeah, that's tough, but, man, Josealdo won. So I do think this is going to be fun.

I think Joanna Sanbrito Jack Shore is a really interesting fight. Carolina Colvocavich trying to win her fifth fight in a row against a 22-year-old up-and-comer. Elvis Brenner, Mick Tebeck Oralby is the best fight the fight I'm looking forward

to the most on this entire card tomorrow. Cannot wait for it. So I do think it's going to be fun. And I like the I like the Bonfine-Pichel fight. We'll see what Vince looks like. We haven't seen him in a while since Jacksonville. UFC 273.

That was the last time Vince Pichel has fought. coming off of a loss Ishmael Bonfim also coming off of a loss Vince is now 41 I do think Bonfim's going to win but I gotta tell

I haven't pulled the trigger on this yet but there is a small part of me that wants to put a sprinkle on good old Vinnie from hell at plus 400 pondering it don't know if I'll get there

but I am pondering it I do convince is a dog man Even at 41, that dude is tough. So, yeah, this will be a fun watch. If this is a fight night card, I think people would be looking at this in a lot different lens. But now you're asking people to pay $80 for it. This is just not an $80 card, which just isn't.

Viking, go ahead. Hey, Mike. How are you? Good, buddy. Just don't have time for anything. Just so much busy right now. I don't know what's going on in the MMA world. I just saw a site of Tom Espinole's tweet or statement.

I don't know what was that. Enemy fighting. Just put that story with the picture. So was it talking about, was Tom has been not talking about the TV audience or the audience? Who's going to watch the show in the arena? the main event in the paper we went in the arena I couldn't I just did not bother to search UK time zone so what was you talking about and if he was talking about the TV audience then let's tell you I wake up at 3 30 a.m. for

brilliant and then the show goes on and the other thing why Connor McGregor is angry on Sean O'Malley and just two Twitter hacker for more I don't want to do something about it

Mike you're the man thanks a lot thanks a lot I can't lie I missed like the last probably 15 seconds of that but I appreciate you

Let's see, where are we going here? Tom Aspinall. Okay, so you're talking about Tom Aspinall kind of sticking by the fans in the UK. And by the way, let me just say, and I talked about this as well, Tom Aspinall is 100% right. What Tom Aspinall was talking about was

Tom was saying, look, man, you guys catered to the American crowd all the time. And for those who aren't aware, UFC 304, July 27th, they're going to Manchester. and last year when they went to London and it did a pay-per-view it was an afternoon card here in the United States

so it was like they catered to the London time zone so in London UK time prelims at six other prelims at eight main card at 10 but in the United States it was like prelims at noon main card at three and it was awesome

and I love when they do this that love it so i love the october albubbabi cards because it's afternoon m m ms and as you know i am a big fan of afternoon m m ms for this event they are catering to the american time zones so what they're doing is here in the united states main card's going to start at 10 p m eastern but over there by the time the fight card ends it's going to be like 7 a m so by the time like leon edwards and boulah mohammed like get out there and fight it's going to be be like five in the morning for the people that are there alive. And what Tom said, because when the UFC made this announcement and revealed that,

the UK fans were pissed. They were livid. I saw, I had like some female MMA fans out in that area hit me up and be like, this is dumb. Like it's tough enough for us to feel safe going to a UFC event anyways, but now you're asking us to be around not that it's like anything's going to happen but like there's a part of them that's a little more worried that like you're dealing with people have been just absolutely rifling off booze for like 18 hours straight it's like five in the morning and now like they're they just want to watch fights and just got a bunch of like people have been drinking for almost a day straight by the time the main event starts or tom assinol makes the walk so what's all tom's saying is like look the american crowd gets everything and i understand why you're catering to them but like you're coming to manchester's like do this for us Give it to us. The Americans can watch in the afternoon.

And you know what, Tom? You damn right we can. And I would be thrilled to do that. More than happy. Hopefully the UFC does the thing here. I don't think they're going to. I don't think they give two shits with Tom Aspinall or the UK fans think. But if you are a UK fan, if you are a fan in Manchester, if you are planning on attending

this event, maybe this is your chance to take stand. maybe just when tickets go on sale and you don't buy them and when the UFC is like oh what are we doing here why is nobody buying tickets they find out people aren't buying them because you kind of screwed them over

so yeah I 100% agree with Tommy Aspinall here 100%. You deserve better Manchester you deserve better UK you deserve what you got what London continues to get

London got their time last year. Why not Manchester? Why not Manchester? That's the question I have. So hopefully what Tommy Aspenall does can be joined. Leon Edwards could join them in the same kind of thing. Fight for the fans, baby. This is it.

It's not often you get one over on the UFC. But here's your chance. Here's your chance. Let's go to Daniel. What's up, Barry? Hey, Mike. Heck of the morning to you, man. Shoot, I guess kind of wanted to follow up just because we've been talking about

Aspinall and a couple other things. But I was just curious, like, what your outlook is going to be for, like, the heavyweight division coming 2025. Like, is Aspinall still interim champ? Does John fight Stepe? Does, you know, Pereira make a heavyweight debut? Like, what is just your kind of prediction for how this heavyweight division plays out this year?

Thanks, Mike. Dude, I have no freaking idea. I have no idea. John Jones calling out Tom As well, asking fans if he should fight Alex Barrera is kind of funny. And this whole thing that the Jedd has put together that Tom is scared of Tom, boy, it's starting to look, I'm not going to say scared,

but it's starting to look, it's starting to age pretty good. To go to Alex Pereira is kind of wild. It's kind of wild. I do agree with a couple of things John said. Is Pereira a bigger star than Tom Aspinall right now? Yeah, he is. Unquestionably, he's a bigger star. And so when John says, like, you really think that Tom Aspinall is a bigger fight than Alex Pereira?

Yeah, he's probably right about that. Alex would be the bigger fight. but if Tom goes out there and fights Curtis Blades in July and just beats the brakes off of him in Manchester on pay-per-view, hopefully at a change start time for the Manchester fans, like Tom is going to come off looking like a freaking superstar. He came off looking like a superstar friggin' Madison Square Garden. So the more and more he gets out there in fights,

the more and more he's going to get over with the fans. I haven't had to see a lot of people have a bad thing to say about Tommy Aspinall. like very few but the dude has to fight he has to get out there and fight leave john alone don't even respond to any of the shit he says in tom aspen on his eyes john jones should not even exist john jones being a champion should not even be a thing he should be coming out here strutting around as the he should be i am the i'm the heavyweight champion of the UFC I'm not the interim champion. This is the belt.

This is the actual belt. So how's this going to play out? Is John Jones going to be heavyweight champion by the time we get to January 1st, 2025? Yes, he will. Will they strip him like they would do to anybody else? No, because he's fucking John Jones. Is he going to fight Steepay?

Yeah. They're going to make that fight. For some reason, Dana White believes that everybody wants to see that fight, which has led John to believe, to tell people, everybody wants that fight. We don't want it. We don't.

I mean, it'd be good to see Stepe get, like, one last big payday before he rides off into the sunset. Respect it from that part of it. But if you want to do that fight as, like, a legacy fight or, like, just a big-name fight, like, do it. But just drop the belt. Let Tom become the undisputed champion. Like, does it matter?

Does it change anything if John's not the champion? No, it doesn't change shit. He can fight for the same money, still going to get pay-per-view points at the top of the bill, create a fucking legacy heavyweight championship. Who gives a fuck? If they're going to fight, great. Two big names?

Cool. I don't care, but let's move the division along. Let Tom be the champ. If John goes out there and beats Stepe, which he probably will, then go fight Tom Aspen for the belt. Like, that's awesome. Problem solved.

What are we doing here? Everybody gets what they want? I don't understand. So, long story short, what's going to happen with the heavyweight division? I don't know. I truly don't know. It changes every friggin day. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats.

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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 Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. All right, so we got Henderson, that we'll go to Barbarusa, that will go to Mods. Henderson, go ahead.

Hey, Mike, I come a morning to you, man. I was just actually traveling a bit in Spain. My family is Spanish, so I always try to get back there, and it was amazing, and I love it there. And I was looking for MMA stuff, and I got to say, every time I've ever been there, I've never seen them mention MMA, and it's still true. They do not really know about MMA there as a country. They love soccer. I'm sure Ilya is like growing it, but it should be a warning to the UFC, too, like, you can't just show up there with Ilya and expect him to convince an entire

country to learn about the UFC. They better put all their energy into it. And like France and the UK that they built up over years, like do some of that. But to get to the point of Brazil and and what you're talking about, about like the crowds and the ticket sales and people buying the pay-per-view, I noticed when the last Aaron Blanchfield card was in NJ in Jersey, like, She was headlining in, you could buy tickets the day of for less than $100 and they didn't even sell out. They might have technically sold out according to the UFC, but not really in real life. You know, I knew people that were like, should I buy tickets? Forget it.

And more and more people are saying, like, should I buy the pay-per-view? Forget it. I'll just stream it or I'll just watch highlights. And even in Brazil, people are like, I don't need to see it in person. and now Aspinall with the UK saying, you're not really doing good things for the fans here. It's worrying me that the UFC is really, they're looking at the financials and they're making tons of money. So for them, and maybe that's all they care about.

That's fine, I guess. I can't really control them. But they're not doing what's right to grow the audience for the long term anymore, at least not even in the way that they used to, which wasn't even perfect then. And we're starting to see the effects of that. I mean, even with Dustin added to the New Jersey card coming up, if the last one didn't sell out, this new one, even with Dustin and Islam, like, I'm not sure that's going to sell out. And depending on the ticket prices, it's going to cost like hundreds and hundreds of dollars or pay-per-view $80 plus dollars.

Or you could just stream it or watch highlights. So I like that you're talking about this stuff. And it will be interesting to see, like, because if the UFC came, bring Aldo to Brazil and make that a success, they're looking at a bad future, I think, and that leaves room for PFL and others to pick that up. So interested to hear your thoughts and keep up the great work, man. Yeah, they don't care.

They truly don't care. They just got to keep trotting out cards. ESPN's going to pay him a whole bunch of money, and they will just continue to do what they do. I mean, I'm looking at the ticket chart for St. Louis right now, there are a lot of tickets available for St. Louis. A lot of them. And there hasn't been a lot of movement since they put Joaquin Buckley on the card. And that's kind of why, because at least that's the way I view it, is that they're trying to get a local guy to help push tickets.

And, I mean, there's a shitload of tickets left for that card. The cheapest you can buy right now for that card is $125. $125 for a event headlined by Rodrigo Nassimento. Like, come on, man. It's just, it's just insane. It's just insane. And then, like, you know, just talking to people, you know, who are in that area. UFC 301 is like the third biggest thing happening in Rio that day.

Like Madonna is doing like a big huge, I think it's a free concert in Rio. Like, who the fuck's gonna buy tickets to the UFC when they go watch her for free? Like it's just crazy. And they, again, you know, they loaded this up and they put a lot of Brazilian fighters. I think there's a Brazilian in every single fight.

And that's how you should do it. Most of them are big favorites, which is probably how you should do it. The Manchester thing. Again, they're making so much money that it doesn't matter. And no one's stopping them. And in terms of like growing the fan base, they're certainly doing that. But it's the way they're viewing it, and I have no insight to this. This is just kind of how I view it.

The fans that have been there since day one, like the hardcore fans that have been along on this journey, the way they view it is we got them already. They ain't going anywhere. So we don't need to cater to them anymore because they're here. So now look at what they're doing. They're trying to get a younger crowd. They're trying to get a younger crowd. They're trying to get more of a freedom of speechy crowd. You know, just look at data at press conferences now. You know, he looks for his spots to have a big quote so that Elon Musk can retweet him, retweet his video. You're like, look at us. This is the place.

We're not, we're not Major League Baseball, all this shit. Like, he'll take something a little bit out of context and turn into this big thing. And all these very powerful people on social media will retweet this and be like, yeah, we fucking love you day in a white. and that in turn brings their fans, their viewers over to them. And on top of that, working with Nelk and Full Send and Steve will do it and all of them, like these are people who are very, very popular right now. Nina Drama, like these are people who will bring in a younger, different kind of an audience. And that's how the fan base works.

All you have to do is just get them in the door. some will leave some will stay those who will stay will stay will graduate from that and then get closer to sort of where you and i are now but that's how it works that's why they have these partnerships with nilk bar stool etc let's introduce let's use their fan let's use their power let's use the way they cover sports more of a fan perspective take the journalism out of the equation and let's bring in newer, newer eyeballs. Let's at least get them to the dance. And it's just up to them whether or not they stay, which I think is actually a really brilliant move.

But now it's almost like they're turning their backs on the ones who have been there the entire time. UFC 300 was kind of a different story. And that's why I think a lot of us in this space enjoyed 300 so much. The fights are awesome. But it's just the feel of it all. It was, again, as I said on the preview show heading in, that was for us. That was for us. The people who were complaining about the card, that's shitting it for you.

That wasn't for you. That was for us. Connemar Greger, John Jones, Sean O'Malley, like those cards, those are for you. $2.99 for you. 300 was for us. We appreciated that card so much more than the newer fans. and that's why we put it over so big because we reflected a little bit.

We went to the back to the cool thing. We went to the thing that made them who they are. We watched the UFC give a shit. We watched them care and put effort into it. Like a ton of it. And that's what happens. And that's why we get so fucking frustrated with the UFC when they do these apex cards and they're like do certain things where they just don't seem to give a shit anymore

because we know what they're capable of. They did it with 300. They did it with Robbie Lawler's retirement. They did it with like they can't, they do it and they can do it anytime they want. But they just pick and choose their spots and that's like what frustrates us. But again, the UFC doesn't give a shit what we think. And it's not because they hate us. They already have us.

They don't need to sell to us. anymore. They know we're there. What can we do with the newer audience? How do we get new eyeballs on it? What PFL's trying to do, but doing terribly, the UFC is doing a million times better than them. So, yeah, I'm with you, but I don't think it's a bad business strategy, but there are certain times where I'm with you, Anders. I just feel like they don't, they just don't care about that kind of thing anymore, because they don't need to. They can sell 15 pay-per-views tomorrow. and it makes very little difference on the bottom line.

Very little difference. At least for them, ESPN might be a little pissed, but what can you do? Mods, go ahead. Yeah, big you up, first and foremost, give me the chance to speak. But just to jump on the back of, I know you talked quite in depth

about the whole aspirational thing, but for me as a UK fight fan, yeah, it's just another fucking kicking the teeth, really. I'll be honest with you. I remember they've done the exact same thing and ironically it was Manchester with Bispin Henderson too that fight didn't kick off to I think

a past 5 in the morning our time and it's just fucking bonkers and like what you were saying earlier you're going to have people drinking and another thing to look at is well is atmosphere you want that place to be bouncing

you know you want to create sort of the typical coliseum and it you know people are going to be half fucking sleep at like half past 4 in the morning waiting for the fuck. It's just so bad and it's so badly put together. Me personally,

I'll be honest, I'm going to say this, like fucking Dana White's going to give a shit about mods from fucking Gloucester wanting to watch the car, but I'm not going to buy a fucking ticket. First and foremost, one, I'm not fucking staying awake

and then having to come outside and it's seven o'clock in the morning going out of my breakfast after watching fights. I'm not doing that. And secondly, we get fucking rinsed over in the UK in terms of tickets. Granted, you know, that's a lot of it's not the USC's fault. You know, there's other issues for that.

But over here, we've got these massive ticket tout companies. So your average ticket, mate, is getting bought. And the resale value is mental. I'm talking 700, 800 quid for one ticket, one ticket, some of these sites. So you already know, like, we know any time it comes over here, these ticket touts, they're going to buy up a whole bunch of tickets, and then uplift the price by like 200%. and now what makes it even worse

is we're going to have to pay even more and I have to fucking wait till like quarter to seven in the morning to watch a main event it's just so badly put together and like what you were saying we've done cards in London normal time for us so early on in the afternoon for you

it's not a problem in the past when there's been cards in Sweden or like what you said Abu Dhabi and for me that's like what four o'clock three o'clock in the afternoon the fight is starting or I'm fucking loving life on a weekend watching that. And yeah, it's just shit. You know, granted, Tom Aspinall,

he probably wouldn't give a fuck about what time it is. But I admire him even more than what I already do for him basically standing up for the fans. Because at the end of the day, without fans, and it's the same in any sport. Without fans, you've got fucking nothing. You've got nothing. And for me, it's just another example of,

do you know what, we'll exploit their loyalty and their desire to want to watch a card and we won't really give a fuck about the rest of it. And yeah, it's just poor. It's really poor. And, yeah, granted, like I said, I doubt Dana White's going to be like, oh my God, this one guy's fuming.

I bet that's not the case. It's going to definitely start with the fighters making more of a stance, more so than it is the fans. You could say, look, if they don't sell enough tickets, that's one way to hurt them and make them listen. Maybe. But I said the same thing last.

time when we had Henderson Bispin 2 in Manchester. And here we are a few years later and they're doing the same shit again. So I'm disappointed, man, big time. I'm really disappointed. Yeah, man, I hear you. I hear you. It's just rough. And this whole notion, like, and again, Tom is completely right.

Like, I understand you're trying to promote to the American audience, but promote it for an afternoon card. We like it. You really think American, you really think the average American mix, martial arts fan. Because as big as the UFC is and as profitable as they are, compared to all the other sports, it's a small number. It's a small number.

You really think they're going to complain if you do a pay-per-view at 3 p.m. Eastern or at noon Pacific time, you really think people out in Los Angeles are going to be like, nope, nope, not buying it. no one should buy it too early. Hell no. Those people are like the most excited because by the time the fights are over and you wrap and pack with press conferences and stuff like that, it's like six in the afternoon.

It's like six in the evening. You can go spend the rest. You can go out on a Saturday night and like do stuff. Hang out with your buds. Take your wife out. Like those are the rare occasions where it's like, oh, I have a Saturday night off as a UFC fan. That doesn't happen.

That doesn't happen. The American fans will be thrilled. We'll put Dana over. I will come on the show and be like, Dana, good shit. Good job, man. As with most other people. But it's just dumb. Like, especially for Manchester, man,

you just did London on London time frame. You just did a pay-per-view in the afternoon. here in the United States. What's the difference? Why all of a sudden, because you're going to Manchester, they're not as cool as London? What are we talking about? This is a brand new arena.

Like, this is going to be a place you go back to, like, over and over again. Don't you want them to be like in the best mood possible? Don't you want the crowd to be as electric and is upbeat and as ready to go as possible? I don't get it. I just don't understand the thought process. The emotional roller coaster of that announcement was unbelievable. Manchester's like, yeah, stand up.

And then once they found out, by the way, it's going to start in the American start time, not the Manchester start time. So you guys are going to be watching a fight until 6 a.m. Boy, did the attitude change and totally understand it. Totally understand it. Hopefully they change course. I would be stunned if they do at this point. But it's just annoying.

I feel for you. I feel for you. But again, I mean, that's the only way to kind of like shut it down is just kind of revolt against it and, you know, maybe catch Dana at a press conference and put them on the spot like for the 300 stuff with the bonuses and everything and kind of make Dana just. But at that point, it's going to be too late to even have the opportunity to change anything. So the way I see it, if you're going to be in Manchester and you don't want to spend all that money after being rinsed by the. third party ticket organizations. Just make kind of a weekend out of it. You know, Cage Warriors is going to put on an event, probably right next to it.

Sure, those are a little bit more reasonably priced. You could still get the UFC vibe. You could go to the press conference. You can go to the ceremonial way-ins. You could do all that. That won't cost you a thing. Go watch Cage Warriors live the day before. And then just like bring your peeps over and just watch it or.

DVR it and watch it the next morning if it's too late, which I totally understand if it is. But yeah, you deserve better. You absolutely deserve better. All right, we are going to get out of here. Thank you very much. I appreciate the excitement, the passion on today's program. We're going to do a preview show.

1 p.m. Eastern. UFC 301, get excited. We will do our best, ladies and gentlemen, to put this card over and try to find the good of it all. Because I do think, oh, Kurt wants to chime in, and then we'll move on. Kurt, please.

Oh, wow, thanks. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, perfect. I just wanted to talk about that. One more thing with the UK thing. The UFC doesn't set that time. The broadcast belongs to ESPN.

They are the ones. So you got to remember, they have that, deal with ESPN, that's hundreds of millions of dollars. And so, you know, they're the ones that say, like, you know, like with the afternoon pay-per-views, that can get offset with, like, the Saudi Arabia card or the, I mean, the Abu Dhabi thing. And so, but you also have to take into account with the other incomes from the pay-per-view like Johan promotions, which is the bars and the restaurants. and on the West Coast,

the, you know, a lot of bars and restaurants aren't open until, like, if the pay-per-view starts at 11 a.m., bars and restaurants aren't even open then. So you're thinking about cutting off the market of, like, tens of millions of dollars on that. And so, and then also the deal that they have with, like, the movie theaters.

And so if ESPN owns those broadcasting rights, they're going to try to maximize their investment into the pay-per-view. And so I'm sure that, the UFC can work out a deal with like the Abu Dhabi pay-per-view, you know, because they can offset some of their loss with the morning pay-per-view cost. But the idea is that the UFC has that control. ESPN owns that broadcast. And so I just wanted to make that mention.

And I know that people are frustrated. And I think it sucks for the UK fans, but it is what it is. All right, man, have a good night. Yeah, but if that's the case, first of all, the last time they did a pay-per-view of Manchester, The ESPN deal didn't even exist. And they did the same fucking thing. They did the same thing.

It was an overnight card without ESPN. That was in 2016. So nothing changes. And then again, they were in freaking London last year, and they did an afternoon pay-per-view. And it was universally praised across the board. Even though if we go back and rewatch that card, outside of

Justice Gachie versus Raphael Fiziv not the best watch of all time but still it was it seemed better because it was an afternoon card I don't understand why ESPA would do this I'm trying to like what big event is July 27th you know what I mean

I know like from I've had many of conversation heading into this Manchester thing because we knew it was kind of the thing, it was just waiting for the announcement, waiting to see, like, if they sort of put everything together. The original plan was to do this card July 20th. That was the plan.

Well, obviously, they realized that would be one of the worst things you could possibly do because Jake Paul and Mike Tyson's that same day. And you can shit on that fight all you want, but everyone is going to watch that fight. Everyone is going to watch with some sort of interest are intrigued whether you like it or not you're going to watch it so 27th is here i don't know man i'm sure if the i'm sure of dana white in the ufc brass had a meeting with esPN right this second

and said hey man let's just change it let's just do it in the afternoon instead ticket sales aren't great let's just push in the afternoon you think yes fans be like no fuck you no they're going to be like, all right, let's do it, whatever you want. Because you just did it. You just did it a year ago, like literally a year ago. You were back, you were in the UK and you did an afternoon card. You understand what the main event is probably going to be for this event. It's going to be Leon Edwards versus Belaw Mohammed. You think, you think U.S. fit, you think that changes anything in terms of pay-per-view buys? You think like fans are going to be just, fans in Los Angeles in the west coast of the country, you're going to be like, a man.

Now we can't go to the bar to watch Leon Edwards versus Belal Muhammad for five rounds. They don't give a shit. And the ESPN shouldn't either. Or the UFC. I don't know. Again, we could hope, but nothing's going to change. This is what's going to happen. And I feel for you.

And again, the only way for it to change is if you just don't buy tickets. I mean, the third parties are going to, you know, as the previous caller said, they're just going to buy them all up and then try to resell them at a premium. Just say, fuck you, I ain't buying anything. And then they fight in front of no people. But again, there will be a fan base that will just like, I don't care. Delk boy said I should go watch it. So I'm going to go spend money and watch it.

Which again, it's not a bad strategy. So, all right, now we're going to get out of here. 1 p.m. Eastern preview show. We'll talk about 301. And we'll see. what else is going on throughout the day watch party tomorrow link is already live on the youtube channel so get excited subscribe bookmark notifications hit the bell so you know when we're going live uh you know gc and i are going to have fun regardless of what the card looks like regardless of

star power or lack there of uh we're going to go in there and have a good time if you don't want to spend 80 bucks uh we will give you $80 worth of entertainment for nothing on the watch party so join us for that. Until then, everybody, have a great rest of your Friday, and have a heck of a morning, everybody. You deserve. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. With Instacard, you get groceries that over-deliver, so you can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots? You got it. Want turnips that look light, but feel heavy? Easy. Want honey-crisp apples that are firm, green, and definitely not Macintosh

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