MMA Fighting - HOAM | How Belal Muhammad Has Turned a Negative Into a Positive

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Belal Muhammad was confused as to why Colby Covington was named the No. 1 contender following UFC 286. Despite the bad news of getting passed over, Muhammad has found a way to turn the negative into a positive, and has gotten more support over the last few days among the MMA fan base than he has in his entire career. Will it work out for him in the end? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses how Muhammad has gotten himself over in a big way this week with how he has handled himself in the aftermath of Dana White's decision, and how Jorge Masvidal can give him what he wants should "Gamebred" defeat Gilbert Burns at UFC 287. Additionally, listener questions include greatest trilogies in MMA, Mount Rushmore of current fighters, the journey into the MMA media space, Benavidez vs. Plant, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You can hear the show at its entirety on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network upon completion. Thank you for joining us. I am Mike Hack. Hope everyone's having a fantastic week. We are on the eve of UFC San Antonio. And as we speak right now, The main event already official. Both fighters weighed in.

Corey Sandhagen at 135 and a half. Marlon Vera, 136. That fight is already a go. So one less thing to worry about. Two professionals get on the scale and getting it done. That main event absolutely rules. I am so freaking excited for it. Rest of the card is kind of, I mean, there's some decent things on there,

but this is certainly one of those fun. night cards that is carried by the main event. Now, luckily, it's in front of a crowd, so they'll be energetic and they'll be fun. But for the most part, all of the major storylines for this card are built upon the main event. So very much looking forward to Cheeto versus Sanhagen going down tomorrow. And we already lost a fight yesterday. So we're down to 12 fights. And early start time, 4 p.m. Eastern for the prelim, 7 p.m. Eastern for the main card.

Can't complain about that. And then we get a rare week off from the UFC, not from combat sports. And then the UFC is back in Miami. The following Saturday for UFC 287, the rematch for the middleweight title between Alex Pereira and Israel-Aisana. The big one between Jorge Mazadol and Gilbert Burns. That card is fantastic. So a lot to look forward to if you are a combat sports fan. So this is Friday on.

heck of a morning, which means we could talk about MMA. We can talk about UFC San Antonio. We can still talk about the hangover we're all feeling from UFC 286 and the fallout from that and Colby and Leon even Hamzaa Chamaev stuff,

getting Yuri Phrashkaw fired up. We could talk about all that stuff. We could talk about anything else, literally anything else. This is a free for all Friday. We open things up to have some fun. And that's what we're going to do. do here. So Four Corner Sports is going to kick us off today. Hello, Four Corner Sports. Hey, Mike. So I know you guys are charming in yesterday about the Covington stuff, but do you feel like,

and I don't know what you guys spoke about yesterday, but do you feel like him ranting off about John Anick, I'm pretty sure the company is going to have his back. You think he's going to potentially lose himself out of a title shot. And I wanted to also talk about the main event for tomorrow. I feel like this fight for tomorrow is going to be something similar to a Rob Fawt, Cheeto Vera. Not saying that San Hagan fights like Rob Fon, but I guess like the output that he's going to be giving towards Cheeto.

I feel like San Hagan is going to be throwing more punches than Cheeto, but Cheeto's going to be landing the more significant. power shots. Do you feel like it might have the same end result? It might go, you know, possibly going towards decision and Cheeto and leaving San Antonio as a, as a victor. And for some reason, this San Antonio card on paper, it doesn't look, you know, like eye-popping, but it kind of feels like what it might end up being like how the San Diego card happened last year, you know, where all these fights just, you know, everybody's just going full blast and look what happened with the neat language fight and David Onama.

That was a banger of a fight. So let me know what you think. And thanks, Mike, for everything. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't know if this will be the same. Look, Holly Holm is a well-known commodity, but her fights are not very entertaining for the most part. Yana Santos is not really an exciting fighter herself.

Neither have had a finish in a very, very long time. If that was not the co-like, I understand why it's the co-main event because Holly Holm home is just so well-known. I had somebody on the BTL comments that said, Holly Holm is the only fighter that my mom knows by name. That's why she's in the co-made event. And you can't argue that point. But I would rather see Alex Perez and Al-Copp in the co-main event. That one has much larger stakes. That is going to be a far more entertaining fight.

Nate Landware, Austin Lingo could be fun. Andrew Lee, Macy Barber is interesting. Cheeto and Jaguani, Albert Dariath could be fun. And the rest of the fights are just kind of there. There's a lot of flyweight fights on there, so that's good. So in the end, I think it will be a pretty decent watch, but I don't know if it will have the same vibes that we felt after UFC San Antonio. As far as the main event goes, yeah, I see a lot of people asking about whether or not

Vera Sanhagel will be similar to Vera Fon. I'm not really sure about that. I mean, there's a chance that if Vera wins his fights because he lands the bigger shots, but Sanhagen moves a lot better than Rob. He's got, not saying Rob's, like, bad. Rob's a very good fighter,

but he's more of a boxer. Sanhagen is more of a mixed martial artist when it comes to his striking, a lot of kicks, a lot of movements, a lot more movement than Rob has. So can Verrick land the bigger shots throughout the rounds?

Yeah, it's possible, but he's got to catch Corey first. And I'm sure Corey is well aware of the tools that Marlon has. I do think this fight's going to get extended. I don't think – I think it's going to go to the cards. I think it's very, very close. I think if you're betting on this fight, it's really tough to choose a side. You'd probably have to bet on Vera to get the value because I think the line is pretty spot on. But I think the betting value for choosing a side is on Marlon Vera.

But yeah, it's just going to be a fun 25 minute of fight because I don't think this one goes to the cards. Both these guys are very durable. Ferris never been finished. San Hagan's only been finished once and it was because Al Jermaine Sterling jumped on his back and tapped him real fast. But I don't see either of these guys getting finished in this fight. So, yeah, it's going to be real good. And then with the Colby stuff, do I think he talked himself out of a title fight? No, but it does make Colby Bilal seem a lot more bearable now than it did before.

I mean, I remember when Belaw called out Colby. I was like, oh, no, why are you doing this? Fight's never going to happen. But it's got legs now. I do think there's an argument to be made that Colby kind of did Bilal a favor here with this whole thing. And, you know, if Mazadol does go out there and obliterate Gilbert Burr, maybe they'll pivot and do Leon versus Mazadol and then do Colby versus Belal. There's heat on that.

If that's what the UFC wants, I think the UFC would do that. If Gilbert Burns wins, then I think this is all moot and Colby's going to get the title shot anyways. But if Mazdaal goes out there and just kills Gilbert Burns and has a moment and cuts a promo and everybody's talking about Mazadol, I think the UFC could pivot because I think now they're starting to see a little bit of value on a Colby. people all fight. There's some heat there. It's unfortunate how the heat has come to be, kind of on the back of John Anick. And I talked about that yesterday. And I did get a lot of messages

yesterday. I think I had one person who was kind of an asshole about it. But for the most part, everyone was really, really cool about it. And that's not why I said what I said, but people were reaching out before. So I felt like I needed to say something about it. And the other question, Are the UFC going to take annex back? Fuck no. Are you kidding me? No. They might say something, but what they're going to say is probably,

if Dana's asked about it, listen, we had 735 maniacs on the roster. I can't control what all of them say. They're free to say whatever they want. And Damon made a point on BTL yesterday. The company didn't make a stance about Dana in the New Year's Eve incident. You think they're going to make a, they're going to take a stand now on Colby as a character threatening John Anick, which is, let's be honest, it's an empty threat. You still said it and you shouldn't have. And I don't defend Colby at all on that.

But they're not going to say shit about it. Maybe Dana will say it's unfortunate. We talk to Colby, something like that. But I think as far as it went there, we're probably like, dude, what are you doing? But there's not going to be a statement about it. they're not going to punish Colby for it. No, absolutely not. I think we all know the answer to that question, which is unfortunate.

Absolutely. Hello. Hi, heck of a morning. So I've got two questions to ask. My first question is regarding the featherweight division, how do you see this division shifting as soon as we start getting fights for Ila, Brian Ortega, and some of the upcoming contenders of the future? And my other question is, regarding the Adi Sanja-Pahara fight,

how do you see this whole outcome playing up for boat fighters if either one of them wins and who would they ideally fight next? That's all I have. Thanks, man. Have a good morning. Thanks, man. Featherweight's interesting. I definitely want to see Ilya back in there.

Maybe they'll do the Ortega fight. That would certainly make sense. we got obviously Yair will be next for Volkanowski it looks like they're looking at International Fight Week for that one that one's not done yet we got obviously the big one between Arnold Allen and Max Holloway

Arnold Allen wins that fight he's probably next in line so yeah and then things will get interesting it's all in Volk really to see how this all plays out at the end of the day because if Volk decides if Volk beats Yair

and then fights Arnold Allen, if Arnold beats Max Holloway, and then decides he wants to go up to 55, who's going to argue with that? I just don't want to see it now. I want to see those two guys fight again, but if Volk gets a couple of title defenses and then decides to move up, I'm not going to have an issue with it.

But them going right back to that fight, not really a fan of it. Let both those guys get a couple of defenses, and then we can revisit that if the interest is still there. But obviously, Featherweight is super fun. when we talk about deep and loaded divisions, I don't think Featherway gets enough credit, if we're being honest with some of the guys

that they have in that division. Like Volkiair is such a good fight. I can't wait to see that. We got Ilya coming up. Everyone seems to be forgetting about Bob Zara Vloyav, who is another big player in this division. We're not going to, we probably won't see Calvin Cater all this year,

which is unfortunate. We haven't seen Giga Chikadezai in a while. Daniga. had a nice win. Etta Barbois is fighting Billy Q so Billy Q can get a nice little boost this year. Lorone Murphy if he could stay active, he's another guy. So the Yusuf's got a little buzz right now.

Nate Landware's fighting on Saturday. Jack Shores now at 145. Jonathan Pierce is fighting Bryce Mitchell. It's a good division. Chrome Gracie's coming back to fight Charles Jordane. That came out of nowhere. Lucas Almeid is there.

I mean, golly. 45 is fun. 45 is a fun-ass division. And as far as Adasanya Pereira goes, Pereira wins he'll probably fight Whitaker. That would make a lot of sense. And if Adasania wins, I don't know, maybe he fights DDP. I mean, if we're being honest, if Adasanya wins,

they're probably just got to run back Pereira third time. That would be my guess, because there's money to be made there. But we'll see. We'll see how Adasanya performs. If Adasania fights the same way he did in the first fight, he's going to lose. He's going to get finished again. I won't say that. If he fights the same way he did from like the second half of round two until he got finished,

then he's going to get finished again. But if he comes out, pushes the pace is a lot more aggressive. If he fights the way he fought Paulo Costa or how he fought in the first seven minutes, of the Pereira fight, I think he's got a real good chance to win. He's the better fighter. Like, he's the better MMA fighter. I mean, there's no question he's the better MMA fighter. But you cannot let a guy like Pereira hang around because, like we saw, he just needs to hit

you once to change the whole tide. But you can't have a kickboxing match of this guy. You just can't. You can't point fight Alex Pereira for 25 minutes. You're going to get hurt. You're going to pay for it. but when Adasani was aggressive and he was pushing the action and he was throwing the hard shots, he was very effective.

Almost got Pereira out of there early. And then he just stopped doing that. And I think that's going to be a big difference in this fight. If Adasani comes out pissed off and aggressive, not like overly aggressive where his defense is completely off the rails. But if he pushes a pace, he's got a real good chance to win. that's the best chance he has to win this fight. But if he lets Pereira hang around, that's bad news. That's a serious risk.

So I am interested in that fight, more so on the Adasania side. But I think if Adasania wins and it's competitive, they're going to go again, I think. Jordan, hello. Mike, heck of a morning. What's up, buddy? I just wanted to get your take on that Dan Hardy interview that was posted to Ariel's YouTube yesterday. I thought he had a lot of awesome takes, but I really, I worry for his wife's future in the UFC, him coming out and being so outspoken.

If she wasn't going to get any favors before, she's certainly not now. I didn't see it. I saw some clips from it. I don't know. I don't think it's going to affect her too much. Look, she looked great against Juliana Miller, but I don't think she's like going to be a title challenge or anything like that. that. You know what I mean? Like she's good. She's shown a lot of improvements, but I don't think she's anybody that's going to be contending for a belt or anything like that. So I don't know.

I mean, look, these women's divisions are pretty, pretty thin right now. So they could, they could use all the help they can get. And, I mean, look, Dan Hardy's had a lot of things to say about the UFC over the past couple of years. And there he was in the corner and a part of the whole camp for Veronica, obviously, and they're married now, so I don't think it'll affect her too much. Now, if she starts, like, if she goes on a run and she gets into the rankings and she gets some big wins and she's in title contentioner to the UFC,

get to, like, do her any favors? Maybe not, but at this point, in her run, three-year layoff beating Juliana Miller, who is making her UFC debut, I don't think she has too much to worry about right now, but if we know anything, the UFC can be pretty petty. So I understand the question, but I think at least for the foreseeable future, I don't think she has much to worry about.

Terrence, hello. Hello. How are you doing? Happy Friday. You too. So I was wondering in regards to Jose Young's, anything about MMA, if you were to invite you on that show, what do you think it would be for? and if you had your own YouTube channel,

regardless of money, like what would you make it about? And then lastly, I saw that Wei Lee is fighting in July, so it had me thinking, like, what's going on with the 125 division? Like, of course, we don't have an opponent,

who you think it will be, and what other matchups do you think in contingency of that there will be in one, I said 125, but I'm at 115, I apologize, within that throw weight division. Thank you. That's all. She's fighting in July?

Is this something she said? I saw somebody reported it. I don't follow like a ton of like random M.A. But it's like somebody reported like who was like on a beat in like the Asian women in May thing. And they were saying that she has a schedule about for July, but opponent is unknown. So I know you guys didn't report it. So I know it's not nothing official, but that's like the tentative. timeline.

Interesting. So, yeah, I mean, the question is, are they going to do two pay-per-views in July? That's the question. That's the question I have. I mean, it's really two choices.

She's either going to fight Amanda Lemos or she's going to fight Rose not Munis. That's, those are the two options. I would favor Rose, especially because it's like if they do two paper reviews in July like they did last year I would guess that because what they're what I think they're probably planning right now

and I don't know this for sure you would think Joan Steepay Colby Leon as of right now and if you do that that's plenty and then they'll load it up with some other stuff I'm sure

and if they do a second pay-per-view they won't do Jean versus Lemoche. They'll probably do Jean versus Rose to try to help carry that second pay-per-view. So, yeah, I mean, if she fights in July, great. I want to see Zhang Wei fight as much as possible. I think she's on one right now, and I think she has the ability and the potential right now

to be a champion for a long time. So her and Rose would be interesting. If she beats Rose, she, I think she beats almost everybody. in that division so she can be a champ for a while. If I have my, I do what my YouTube channel, I haven't put anything on there in a while. I don't know, a lot of people have been asking, like,

AK and I to do, like, watchalongs for, like, WrestleMania and stuff. So, I don't know, maybe I would do, like, some pro wrestling stuff on there. Just, like, mix things up a little bit. Maybe do kind of what Ariel's doing and just interview other people from other sports, and other ways of life. That'd be kind of cool.

One thing that I've always wanted to do is, um, is like interview celebrities about MMA. Just like random people like action Bronson, like, just random people and just call like, oh, you like MMA too or something like that? I don't know. I think it would be pretty cool to do something like that. But I think if I was going to do something on my own, it would be probably outside of MMA or just be like talking MMA with non-fighters

and non-people in the, space because I think that would be interesting and fun. And if I was to go on Jose's show, it'd probably be like the Annick episode where we would talk about Boston sports for an hour and a half because we're both diehards. We both grew up in it, grew up in it. And we've both been a part of some major moments. So that would probably be what we would talk about. Maybe we'd do a little pro wrestling, but I think I think it would be Boston sports.

In fact, that Anik episode, the plan was, um, It was going to be all three of us doing it, but didn't work out. It's the matcha or the three ensemble Ciceroa of Sephora of the Fats that I just niche that I'm energize so much. Mm, it's the ensemble. The format standard and mini-regruped, what old ben? And the embellage, too beau,

who is practically pre-a-donned. And I know that I'd love these Summer Fridays and Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez. I'm, I'm just the most ensemble, the Caddle of the Feds CIFRAs, Rare Beauty, Way, Cifora Collection, and other parts of VIT. Procurry you these formats,

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shop and store or online at Holtrenfru.com Anthony, hello. Yeah, I just wanted to call in and say if everybody is

dealing with this hangover from last week's UFC I mean, these weekends are some of the hair of the dog that bitched you. They got PFL, you know, Bell Tor is coming up as well. There's boxing going on. I kind of like these weekends, so just big up to that. And I don't know, I forgot what, oh, yeah, I just wanted a quick personal question about becoming a journalist.

I feel, I mean, based on your picture, I feel like you came in from the announcer scene. I don't know. How did you come into being a journalist in the MMA space, because I'm almost finishing up school soon, and I was just wondering how to get into all that. Thank you. Oh, boy. So, all right, we'll start with next week.

Next week's interesting. We got Game Bread Boxing, which I'm very curious about. Curious to see how it does. It does look like the ticket sales are going great. The promotion for it has been okay, but not fantastic. I mean, Mazadol going on Rogan is obviously a big deal, but I don't, I haven't watched that. So I don't know how much they talked about the card on there. I think they could probably be doing more to get that out there.

The Bellator card, that main event is Garbo. Like, that is an awful main event, Marcelo Goldman and Daniel James. The good thing is the rest of the card is really good. It's like the complete opposite of your. UFC San Antonio, where UFC San Antonio has this great main event and everything else, like, could be, we're hoping could be good. But I feel like, I feel like the Bellator card, the main event is, is not good and nobody cares. But the rest of the card's really good. So I'm looking forward to that.

We do a BKFC card tonight too, which those fun, those cards is always fun to watch. For sure. How did I get into this space? It's kind of a long story. It started after I listened to, because if you've listened to the show long enough, you know I was a pro wrestling guy growing up. I was a big stone cold Steve Austin fan. I saw that Steve Austin had a podcast.

I listened to it and I thought to myself, I could do that. So me and my buddy who lived in the area, moved to Chicago, we did like our own sports podcast about just shit that was just at all sports. and probably like 10 or 12 episodes in, I did an interview with Joe Proctor who was on the ultimate fighters in the UFC for a hot minute from the Boston area.

We did like a 30 minute interview and then randomly on Twitter somebody DMs me and was like, I represent a bunch of the legends who compete, who competed at the early UFCs. Like the Emmanuel Yarbrose, the Cow War,

The Dan Severins guys like that. And they were like, do you, do you want to interview these folks? And I said, sure. So I started doing like deep dive interviews with them. And then there was this event out in Syracuse, New York. I think it was called like the Legends of MMA Fan Expo. And me, my co-hosts of the podcast and like a couple of my buddies, we all went out and enjoyed the festivities. I actually actually like helped out an emcee.

it for a couple of days. There was just this big expo, huge hall. A lot of legends were there. Severn was there. Warsham, Pat Smith, Yarborough was there. Butterbean was there. Bert Watson was there. Brian Ebersole.

And then there were some current fighters there, too, like Claude Gidellia, Felice Herrig was there. I know she's not current now, but she was then. Carlos Sparza, Ashley Evan Smith. And there were some others as well. and I just started, I had like a little recorder and I just did interviews with everybody. And it was some real,

it was just fascinating to talk to these people. And when we left there, when it ended, my co-host and I went to lunch before I had to make the long drive back and I told him right there and then, I said, look, this is what we're doing. Like, this is the show.

We're just going to interview fighter. That's it. We're done with the other stuff. This is what we're going to do. And he was trepidious, didn't really think it was a good idea. And I said, look, I'm the one that's producing all of it and putting it all together. This is what I'm going to do. So if you want to join, cool.

If you don't like it and you want to do something else, cool. Like no hard feelings. I'll help you do whatever. But I think we have something here. And he eventually agreed and we started doing a show. And I was pumping stuff out like crazy. I was just doing interviews all the time. And at that point, I had gotten a weird phone call.

It was probably like two months before all this happened. And I was in Connecticut and my older brother called me and said, what are your thoughts on being on the radio? Is that something you'd be interested in? And I was like, why would that happen? Because I didn't go to school for any of this. But at the time, I was DJing weddings and I was hosting karaoke shows. I was hosting trivia nights.

So like me being on a microphone and being in front of people and talking to people was not new to me. It didn't make me nervous. I had been doing it for a long time. So basically what it was described to me as, you're just going to do the same thing, but you're just going to learn how to push a bunch of buttons. So getting into radio and I got end up getting the job. So I got into radio. I was on the number one station in the area.

I hosted afternoons. But I really got into production doing all that. I really got hooked on it like producing commercials and doing a whole bunch of production elements and all this stuff. And it was like a lesson that I learned along the way is that you can be great at one thing. But something my father always told me, he goes, it's better to be good at. lots of things than to be great at just one thing. So I learned how to do everything. The production stuff is something I fell in love with.

I love putting commercials together. I have a couple of awards from the mass broadcasters association from commercials that I had cut, different production things that I had done in the past. And I love doing the production stuff. I love putting the audio podcast together. I love, you know, I did two theme songs for the MMA hour. Ariel's on the nose, New York Rick's, Rick's Picks theme.

I did that even before I really started carving my way into the space. And then as this journey continued on, I realized I needed to learn how to write because I did not know how to write. So I did some stuff with Miami News. And then I went and covered UFC 208 in Brooklyn. It was right before my birthday. That card was not a good one. That was the Holly Holme, Germaine de Random E, Randomass, Featherer. weight title while Chris Cyborg watched it and wasn't in the fight.

Didn't really get that. That car was not great. But I ran into a guy named Mike Dice while I was out there. And Mike was the guy who ran fan-sided MMA at the time and had heard of me and listened to my interviews and was like, we got to get you right. So I joined fan-sided. And we had a fucking dream team over there, man. I mean, we had a unit.

We had Dice. We had Jose. We had James Lynch. We had Kristen King. We had like Amy Capham was there. I think she's still there. And we had just like a murderer's row of talent over there. And I learned so much from everybody.

And we were like, we were starting to make some waves. We were starting to get something cooking. And then Dice ended up leaving. He got a job with NBC Chicago. Jose ended up going to M.M.A. fighting. and Amy ended up taking over the site. And at that point,

it was kind of in a weird position because I was getting, and I'm just going long-winded here, but this is the question that's free for all Friday. I was getting promoted at work. Our radio station got bought out by Town Square Media, and they wanted to focus a lot more on like the digital side of things. So they promoted me to like the managing editor of the, entire clusters website.

And they gave me a really good sizable raise and I was still doing the on-air stuff. And I was like, well, I mean, this M-May thing is fun, but it's a lot of work. And I feel like I can grow with this company. So maybe I should just not do it anymore and just focus on this and focus on, you know, creating something to, you know, set the family up. And I remember I had a conversation with James Lynch about this, and he told me you'd be an idiot if you left, so don't. And he goes, even if you do like one interview a week, just don't stop. And I was like, eh, I don't know.

And then I remember I got a phone call from Mickey Gall. Mickey Gall called me out of nowhere and was like, yeah, I heard you might be leaving M.MA. And I was like, yeah, you know, I'm kind of thinking about it. And he kind of said the same thing Lynch did. He was like, don't. Don't leave. He goes, you know, maybe you can't put as much time into it as you used to, but at least do something. Even if you do like one interview or one this, one that, just do it.

So I ended up sticking with it. And we wanted to move to a different area. I've told this story before. We wanted to move to Cape Cod. I got a job on the marketing side of the radio industry, which I hated it so much. But on the side, I was just doing more interviews and more interviews. And then when I realized, like, this wasn't the place for us. And moving is not a possibility.

Before I moved back, I asked my wife, I said, look, I want to give this MMA thing a shot. I was like, we're in a good position right now. We saved a bunch of money. Give me a year. And if I don't get a, if I don't either set us up while doing it. doing this on my own or get a full-time job in the space, I'll stop. I won't cover the sport anymore. And she goes, you have my blessing, go get it.

And I think like three months later, I got, I had a conversation with Brian Tucker from M.A. fighting. They kind of kept me in the loop on things. There were some movement going on. Danny Seguera went over to M.M.A. junkie. and they created a job like in December of 2019 multimedia producer and I was a pest. I was a pest.

Like I was just pumping all content. I was just, I mean, I had one day. There was one day when I was freelancing where I did 24 interviews in one day. 24. It was a crazy ass day, but I got 24 interviews done in a day. Like that's how much I wanted this. I was like, I got to go after this. And then eventually I had an interview with, with M.A. fighting, talk to Stephen Morocco.

And right before they offered me the job, I actually, a pretty big sponsor reached out to me and said, look, we want to sponsor all of your stuff. We have like a company that sponsors fighters. We want you to do interviews for us. Here's what we're willing to pay. And it was pretty close to what I was making. on the radio. So I was like, all right, well, either way, like, we're good. So I already felt like I won the battle. And then, so I remember reaching out to Stephen and I was like, look, I'm not trying to be a pest. Like, if I'm getting the job, like, can you just give me sort of a heads

up that it's going to happen? And if I'm not, like, just tell me now. And I will, I was like, I have other opportunities that are coming. I was like, I just need to let people know what the deal is. and then Stephen broke some news and was like, oh, you didn't get the offer yet? And I was like, what? And here we go. So, I mean, it was a journey. It took seven years.

No, not that. It was like six years, almost six years to get there. But I guess the best advice I can give in this very long-witted answer, if you want to do it, do it. It is a grind and a half. It's something you need to embrace. There's a lot of people that I've spoken to in the space that have been like, Well, I've been doing this for three months.

Like, how am I not hired by anybody? It doesn't work that way. This is a space that doesn't have a lot of opportunities. And it's a sport that is still growing. I know it's on ESPN, and it's got much more of an appeal than it did 10 years ago, but it is still a newer space, and there aren't a ton of opportunities out there. So you just got to embrace it all. You just got to embrace it all, and you get to bust your ass.

and you just got to keep going. So it's a journey. I talked for a long time, but that story could have been way longer, if we're being honest. But that's how I got into it, and that's how we're here right now. James, hello.

Hey, heck of a morning to you, Mike. You too. Before I get to my two questions, I just want to say, I think you found your podcast. I can hear you wexpoologically about your life. And if you ever want to do, like a two-hour video and put it on the podcast,

with great podcast, by the way, or on the YouTube channel, great YouTube channel, by the way. I think I speak for all of those so that we could just listen to your story all day. But getting to my questions, I'll try to make as quick as possible. I think it was on the 286, a post-fight show.

I think it was Jed that brought it up about kind of trilogies that you very rarely get a trilogy that all three are very competitive. And me being a fan of the sport for as long as I have, I immediately thought of the Josh Thompson, Gilmendez trilogy, which I love that trilogy. I always feel like that trilogy doesn't get enough love as it should

because it didn't happen under the UFC banner. But just kind of off the top of your heads, is there any trilogies out there that all three were pretty competitive? and oh crap was my last question yeah I forgot my last question but anyway I guess we'll leave it at that like always might man thanks what you do for us and have a heck of a morning have a heck of a weekend

and be good thanks hey what was the last part of your first question um just like is there any trilogies off the top of your head that that all three fights were competitive or your favorite trilogy of all time, I guess, either or were. I mean, Maynard Edgar's a good one. I mean, Fingy Moreno is a good one, too.

This is a good one. This is a really good one, especially the way the second fight went. So that was a good one. I mean, Porry McGregor was massive. none of those fights were really all that competitive but it's a good one DC and Stepe was interesting and it just took forever

so that was kind of a problem BJ Penn Matt Hughes I mean there's some weird ones too like Tito and Kent Shamrock we really didn't need to see a trilogy there uh Forrest Griffin Tito Ortiz was an interesting one Yeah. I mean, Pori McGregor is probably the most, it's probably like the biggest one in terms of like casual appeal. Yeah, there's not, I don't know, I like to Figuirno. I know they went to four, but I liked that trilogy. I like that series quite a bit.

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 bag. of Amex. Conditions apply. 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 aid. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Toke, hello. The Del Tito trilogy, that's probably a good one to leave out of that list. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's terrible.

Sorry, I just had to do that. So I forgot yesterday. It's to say that I understand why you were mad about the Islam Markachev tweet on Tuesday, because the problem with that tweet, is that it is so out of character for Islam because he's all about, you know, he's all about the honor and being, you know, legacy, all this stuff. And then suddenly he's like,

okay, I've had one title offense that he wants to move up. We know why this is. We know who wrote the tweet. I'm sorry, I'm going to spoil something here. That wasn't Islam. There's no way. Because Ali, he really, needs to, I mean, if he

wants to tweet for his fighters, go ahead. But man, you better fucking know your own fighters. There's no way that this was Islam. I just don't see it. It's just oh, it's just Ali going, oh, I lost a champion.

Well, maybe we should get that belt back with Islam so I can have that belt too. It is all a ploy from Ali because he's but hurt that Camaro lost again

so I'm just saying this to here's your little rant actually I didn't have a rant yesterday because I've forgotten that I was so mad about this tweet as well but I just realized right away it's just Ali he's just butt hurt

he's just annoyed and you know what that made me happy so that's a way to be happy about the Islam tweet Mike Just say, oh, it's just Ali being annoyed. Have a happy Friday, Mike. Yeah, that

that tweet went over like a fart in church. Nobody cared. Nobody cared. It was just so weird. Like, it made no sense. There's no interest in that fight. Like Zippo, zero,

zero interest in that fight. I'm not saying there couldn't beat down the line, but I mean, it's going to be way down the line. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. That tweet lasted like eight minutes. And then it was just like, nobody gives a shit. I didn't even care about that tweet so much. I didn't even ask Colby about it when I talked to him.

That's how much I did not care about that tweet. And I know Colby would have said something that would have got clipped off and it would have been a big deal. But I didn't even ask him about it because it was such a stupid tweet. and it made no sense. So I'm with you. I was just, I rolled my eyes and I saw it. I'm like,

oh, come on, man. Come on. You're in the cat, you're in the best division in the sport. You have fight. You have guys to fight.

Lots of them. Nobody wants to see you fight. Leon Edwards right now. Nobody wants to see it. Nobody. You haven't even, you haven't even defended your title against a lightweight yet.

You haven't even fought anybody in your division yet. And we're always talking about moving up to 170. Come on now. Come on. No, that was an awful tweet. Oh, another, I was thinking about the trilogy question. I loved the Gilbert Melendez, Josh Thompson trilogy, was a good one, too. I know Josh has taken a bit of a beating on the show in the past, but, man, those are three fucking great fights in Strike Force.

really good fights. All entertaining. They were all very close. They beat the shit out of each other in all three of those fights. It's a great trilogy. Liddell Couture is a good trilogy. Fador and O'Gera because we have like the sandwiched in no contest.

Rampage and Bendele-Silva is a good one. They're finished in all three of those fights. So yeah, there's some good trilogies. Like somewhere in the UFC, some were out of them. Some were kind of both. Silver Rampage ended in the UFC, but the first two were in pride.

There's some good trilogies. Josh Thompson, Gilmolendez is a great trilogy. That is a great trilogy. Tremendous trilogy. Mikey, I think we have you. I think we fixed we got token, so that this is a good sign.

Yeah. Now we got you. I'm back. They let me in. What a mistake. Anyways, how did everyone do it? How are you mentioning trilogies and not mentioning stout Spencer Fisher. That was another one. I was trying, I was trying to,

there was one that needed to be triggered in my brain. No, I'm just giving you shit, man. Well, it's just, I mean, it's understandable. Because that guy's question was actually really, I was really kind of focusing on he meant competitive. Because let's be honest, there's a lot of trilogies in MMA aren't competitive in the truest sense. You know,

sometimes it involves one person getting finished one-sidedly. Because I wanted to say Junior Dos Santos versus JDS, but each of those fights was a one-sided ass kicking. I mean, the third one might have been the most competitive, primarily only because, you know, it wasn't as bad as the second one. But, you know what I mean? So it really is, it's actually a really tough, it's really, really tough because when you really try to extrapolate

through meaning of what the question was, which was a great question, like, what is a truly competitive trilogy, right? We have a couple of good, you know, one-in-ones, you know, like, like McGregor and Diaz. I mean, I know there was a finish in the first Diaz-Megregor fight, but that was like competitive for like a round, for like however long it lasted.

Do you know what I mean? Like we're talking like every fight legitimately felt even until a certain point, you know. But anyways. Yeah, that's why Thompson-Milandes for me might be the best. Which one? And Josh Thompson, Gilmer. Oh, yeah. No, because that's the-

Those three, those three fights are all. like super tight and really yeah also another one that's kind of it'll fall by the wayside because the third fight wasn't like aesthetically the best out of the two fights but

I have to mention Benson Henderson and Cowboy Soroni not the greatest trilogy in terms of like overall aspect but you know they fought three times and their first fight was incredible if any of you are newer fans and you have fight pass and they have WEC please go watch the first Cowboys Rowan, Benson, Anderson fight.

It's incredible. Second one was kind of a wash. But anyways, I just wanted to get this off my chest. I know it's been a week since, but like, can we, can MMA Twitter please use words carefully? Fraud check gets thrown around a lot

lately, and I feel like the spirit of it is not being used correctly. Because fraud check means someone was exalted as something or propped up as something, and they never meet the expectation or they just fall short of it, you know? People were saying, oh, you know, like Julian Appaignez was fraud checked by Amanda Nunez.

I'm like winning the title in the manner she did, no matter how much you dislike it, doesn't make her a fraud. She, it's like saying just because you don't, just because you think it's a fluke or something, doesn't actually mean it is. Look, when Matt Sarah beat GSP, just because he got blitzed in the rematch didn't, doesn't take away from the first fight. It doesn't validate the first fight. unless, you know, they got robbed or slipping up a banana peel.

You know what I mean? Like that's not a true fraud check, you know? Fights are fights, and sometimes they don't have to necessarily bleed into each other. I get it. It's human nature. It's like, oh, hey, look, you know, Julian Epinion got destroyed in the second match. It's like, okay, but that doesn't mean the first match didn't happen, you know? Like, it's just so fickle and it's frustrate me because there was talks about, like,

oh, Leon Edwards is going to get fraud checked by, you know, Kamara Usman. And this was before the result of the fight, I'm sitting there going like, even if Kamara Usman took the belt back in any fashion, how does that make the head kick disappear? How does that, it makes no sense because you indirectly invalidate Kamar Usman, you know?

And then look at this fight. They're like, now they're trying to project, you know, I don't know one's trying to project Leon, but like trying to get harp on good cheating. Listen, I've been an Usman guy for the last 10 years. I've watched him since he was an RFA. I was rooting for him, but Leon's endeared himself to me. And you know what, man, he earned that.

Give him his respect that he won that five fairs square. Yeah, he cheated. I get it. It happens. But people pretending that he didn't get penalized for it because he, you know, he got a point taken away. Because when you look at the scorecards, even with the point taking, he won four rounds.

Anyways, that'll be all. Glad to be back. Be kind of one other. Talk to you guys later. Thanks, man. Yeah. The fraud check for the Leon kick was always weird to me. He kicked him in the fucking face.

Like, how is that a fluke? He kicked him in the face and deaded him. There's no fluke there. He kicked him in the face. Like, if Usman tripped and fell into Leon's knee, that's different. But Leon set that kick up, something they've been working on for a long time. There's no fluke. He kicked him in the fucking face and knocked him out.

It's not a fluke. It's not a fluke. Let's take a look at the comments real quick. Here to watch highlights. Why you always hate on Islam, but ride Colby. Don't make sense. Islam doesn't deserve to go up. Are you trying to make the narrative?

People were pumped about Colby weighing in. They were pumped about Colby weighing in. Not pumped, but they were actually interested in it. When the only controversy is people thinking you shouldn't be anywhere near a title. Oh, man. How could I hate on Islam, Makhachev, when I have him as my number. number one pound for pound fighter. How?

How is I hate, how is me saying that nobody wants to see him fight for the Walterweight title right now hating on him? When everybody called me crazy for keeping Islam at number one pound for pound, how does that make any sense? How does that comment make any sense? How does that make any sense? Seriously, it doesn't. It makes no sense.

I have Islam number one pound for pound over John Jones and Volcanoff. when no one else wanted to do it. I did it and I still have him a number one, pop for pop. All I'm saying is you have a million guys to fight at 155, fight those guys, get a few wins,

and then if you want to go up to 170, cool. Hating on Machachev, get the fuck out of here. Hating on the guy I think is the best fighter in the world. Go fight Benny Darius, go fight guys in your division, win three or four fights. If Leon wins three or four more

fights, go do it. I got no issue with that. But to do it now before you fought anybody in your division to defend your title against, I got no issue with, I have an issue with that. And you can tell that a lot of people had an issue with because no one's talking about it. No one's talking about it. When have I said that Colby deserves this fight? When have I said that merit favors Colby here? All I said was for the past few weeks, don't be surprised of Colby's in play. I know how the UFC works. This is what it is. This is what they do. It's not a meritocracy in the UFC. It isn't. That's why everyone thinks Mazin all should be getting a title shot if beats Goba Burns. This is merit-deservance? No. Of course it doesn't. If this is meritocracy,

Balmahmah's getting the title fight. And he should get it. He's just not going to. It's not fair, but that's just the way it is. I ain't hating on Islam because I thought the tweet was stupid. And it made no sense and nobody cares. Nobody wants to see that fight. Find me one person that wants to see that fight right now. You can have a hard time finding it. That's all I'm saying.

Not hating on Islam. He's my number one fighter in the fucking world. CV, hello. Oh, Mike. Heck of a Friday. Another quick question. Yeah, another quick question. On the top of your head.

Who's in your Mount Rushmore? Doesn't have to be all-time, or could it just be active fighters right now? Personally, I have Yeri, Chandler, Gaichi, and Charles in my top four. And that's why lightweight's the best division. Thanks. Mount Rushmore right now? Islam Volk. Let me pull up my pound-for-pound rankings.

I'll just go by that. to make life easier. But I'm hating on Islam for putting him up there. Let's see. So current I have my top four pound for pounds is Makachaf Volkovsky and Gano and Jones. So I'll put Islam and Volk up there for sure. I like the Erie pick.

I do like the Erie pick a lot. Sure. And I'll throw Hamzad in there too. Why not? Why not? James, hello. Hey, Mike, sorry to call back in. I just remember my second question.

I know we usually talk MMA in the space, but out of all combat sports, there's two great main events this weekend. Obviously, the UFC with San Hagan and Marlon Vera. But I don't know how much into boxing you are, but David Benavilla is and Caleb play it is a terrific boxing main event. I don't know if you're in the boxing,

but if you are, I would just love to hear your take on that fight. And yeah, the end. Islam stuff, I don't understand why you're getting hate for it. But don't we all remember a time where Islam and Darayush were supposed to fight because Dana White just love that fight, but now all of a sudden, Darush is just getting kicked to the wayside and has to fight all their is. It's just hypocrisy is everywhere in this sport.

But like always, Mike, have a heck of a weekend. Thank you. And thank you for getting me back in the space. Thanks, man. Yeah, dude. I was talking to Brian. Campbell about this about this fight. He asked me

he asked me point blank I'll pull it up let's see what the question. I talk to BC a lot. He's he's he's just a great dude one of my favorite people in the in the space he asked me if I thought Benavita's plant

has or will translate to MMA fans because of the bad blood and style contrasts I can never tell Tank Fury Kenello seemed to cross over to M.A. fan sometimes Spence, but that seems about it. And I kind of agreed with them on that. It's a great fight. If you're a boxing fan, you're all over this fight. You're all over it. If you're like a casual MMA fan, this fight's probably not on your, if you're an MMA fan and you casually watch boxing for the bigger names, you're probably not

all that interested in this fight. But it's a good one. There's some heat here. It's a good matchup. I think Benevis is probably going to win, but the build to this is going to be fun. And then I told BC that this has, it's a little different because this one, there's a lot more heat on this fight than the fight I'm going to bring up. But this has, if we're going to make a comparison to MMA, this has Figgie Moreno vibes to it, where like hardcore MMA fans are all in on it. Can't wait to see it. great matchup, two exciting fighters. Yeah, there's heat, not as much as Benavita's plan,

but it's almost like, that's like the best comparison. Two guys top of their game, different styles, different ways they got to the dance. Hardcore fans love it. Casual audience doesn't really care, but the hardcore friends are telling them they should care. It's kind of like the MMA comparison to this fight. This is like Figgie Moreno, which is awesome.

It's going to be fun. I think Benavitas will win. It's probably going to go to the cards. Let me see what the betting lines are. I would say Benavit is probably like a minus 225 or something. Minas 300 for Benavita's. Yeah, it's kind of how I see this fight going. Benevita will win a decision.

It'll be fun. And there you go. There you are. All right. We're done. The UFC San Antonio Wayans are going on as we speak. You can go to MAAfighting.com for all your results. You can watch the Wayans at the site.

The main eventors have already made weight. They were the first two on the scale. So that's a good thing. That card is that fight's absolutely rules. I'm very excited about that fight. Can't wait to see it. We do a BKFC tonight. Britt and Hart, Jenny Savage, too, go in.

down for the strawweight titles. That should be fun. I don't know if anybody said Jenny Savage on the scale, but she looks like she was chiseled out of granite. She's like jacked and ripped craziness. So that would be a fun card. And then we get ready for next week, where it's Bellator, it's game bread boxing.

Anthony Joshua's back, I believe. So we won't be without combat sports. We'll be without the UFC next week. But looks like we got one more. just simply Rob try to get him in real quick before we wrap things up what's up Rob? Hey Mike, GM my brother, how are you doing, bro?

Good, how are you, man? Everything's good, man. I just wanted to know if there's still time to talk about or some of the upcoming fights. I just wanted your insight on something with the whole Colby situation or is it too late to ask the question. No, you're here, man. Ask away.

I appreciate it, Mike. I just wanted your insight as expertise because I watched a video that you did on YouTube and the interview with Kobe Covington. And I just really wonder, like, do you really think that it's warranted, it's merited, that Kobe Covington, who in the past, I don't know, like five years, hasn't fought any top 10 or top 15 contenders? I mean, his loss is he lost twice against Camaro Usman.

Before that, when he fight Dos Anjos? I mean, who hasn't beat those anos? I really think that when he needs to happen is Kobe and Belal should do an eliminator fight for a number one contender, I think Leon should sit on the side and see what happens between Gilbert Burns and Mosvedo. Obviously, we all know that if Mazvedal wins, that's a no-brainer, put him up against Leon. If Gilbert wins, I don't know, man. What do you think about?

What do you think, Mike, in your opinion? What do you think needs to happen with all this at the Walter Week? So, I mean, I've been pretty consistent and clear on all of this. That if Mazadol goes out and obliterates Gilbert Burns, that is the fight to make. That is the fight to make. And again, if we're talking merit, and trust me what I say this, like everybody is saying Mazadol should get it. But they're bringing up Colby not getting it because of the merit conversation. I mean, Mazadol's lost three in a row heading into this fight.

Mazadol will be on a one-fight win streak just like Colby, and Colby beat Mazadol. So at the end of the day, this is why I've been saying, this is why I said, if Leon wins, and Colby and Bosnol loses to Burns don't be surprised if Colby gets the shot don't be surprised this is how the UFC does it it's about box office

filling arenas selling pay-per-views isn't a massive deal for the UFC anymore it matters but not as much as it used to because they have this massive deal with the ESPN so like pay-per-view buys are cherry on top of the Sunday which is why we don't get numbers

domestically. We don't get them because it doesn't really matter. They're getting X amount of dollars to put on these events on their platform anyways. Paperview buys are just cherry. And I don't know how that works, but I know it's not like a huge part of it like it once was when it was on just regular pay-per-view. And what I'm saying, like, well, all from a merit perspective deserves it, 100%. But the UFC is not based on merit. They're not. We've seen fighters get title shots off of losses. We saw Dan Henderson get a title shot against Michael Bisbing after Bisbing won the belt.

Like this isn't new. None of this is new. What Colby has done is he's actually, he's actually made a fight with Timma Belaw seem like much more interesting. Because I was not into that fight at all. Not that I wasn't into it. I just didn't think it would be all that compelling. and I didn't think this is a fight that, like, Colby would be up for. I didn't think it had a lot of sizzle to it because Colby is, you can hate him, love them.

It doesn't matter. What Colby does well is he's a prize fighter. The definition of prize fighting is you take the lowest risk worth the highest reward. That's what it's all about. The fight I would have made, and I've been saying it for months, was him and Hamzat. Like, that's the fight I want to see. I want to see him and Shamiya.

I think that's an interesting fight. I think that's an interesting fight, especially if it gets out of, like, the first seven minutes. Like, that's the one I want to see. Him and Hamzaat, but it doesn't seem like the UFC wants to give Hamzaa another chance at 170, even though Hamza said, I'll fight him at 170. But what Colby has done, especially with this John Anick thing, is B'allal has done a tremendous job.

Bilal Mohammed is as over and as interesting as he has ever been in his career because of this whole thing. Bilal has done it perfectly. As soon as Colby said that, he's done the media rounds, defended John Anick, stays going to slap Colby in the face. And it's become interesting because everybody loves John Anick. everybody loves them it's brilliant and to me i actually think colby did him a favor colby did bala a favor now it all comes down how big of a favor did he do for ball mohammed that all comes down to april eighth because i do believe because of how this is all played out that if Mazadol wins and he knocks out Gilbert Burns at UFC 287, Dana White is going to sit up at that press conference and he is going to pivot.

And he should. It should be Leon Mazadol and you do Colby and Belal right underneath it. You get two big fights at 170. Two winners fight. Can you imagine if Mazadal wins the belt and Colby beats Bilal and they throw those two dudes in there again with all that heat? for the belt and the winner could fight Connor. I mean, look at, it's so crazy. It's so crazy.

And Belal, they want to throw in there with Shafkat. It's just absolutely insane. Belaw's out there just winning fights. They give them a step back against Sean Brady. You just annihilate Sean Brady. And they're like, you know what, Bilal? We're going to give you Shafkat Rock Mott off next. Even though most people feel like you should, you should be fighting.

for the title right now. Bilal has gotten over big with this. Like, it's been a bummer for Bilal, but Balal has gotten more support over the last 72 hours than he has ever gotten in his career because of all this. And I think it's because Colby, it's because of Colby. I don't think he did on purpose. He certainly didn't do it on purpose,

but Colby has gotten Bilal Muhammad over with some of the things he said, especially to John Anticline. It's incredible. I mean, it's incredible. Blal is, well, all needs to keep this going.

He needs to keep this going. And apparently they're going to meet, Bilal and Ali are going to meet with Dana on Monday. I don't think it's going to end with Bilal getting a title shot. But Dana, like Dana is probably well aware of all of this. And my guess is, and here's the thing about the whole Colby thing.

I, I was just, I was stunned by it. Like, not stunned. But I was like, the thing I was most surprised about was just the timing of it. It was just the timing of it. Like if Gilbert Burns beats Mazadol and Dana goes up April 9th after 287 and says Colby's next, will it be some backlash? Sure.

Will there be as much as we have right now? Absolutely not. It was just devaluing that fight. like dani just saying colby's necks before this fight happens was just like a what so this fight that we've been building up and getting excited for because of the potential of mazadol and burns and not in mazadol potentially fighting leon three piece of the soda trying to put a close on that rivalry that's been going on for almost four years now

to just slam the door on it not like the like what's the point of the fight what's the point of those two guys fighting right now? What does Gilbert Burns gain from beating Jorge Mazadol if there's nothing on the line? And what does Mazadol gained by beating Gilbert Burns right now? He can't even fight for the belts. It's just, I don't know. The timing of it is what got me.

If they waited three weeks to see the result of that fight and then Dana made its decision, I don't think there's any backlash. There's some. Ballal fans are pissed. but at least it's a little bit, even Ballal understood it. Look, if Mazadol wins, he gets the title fight, I get it.

Works for me. I understand there's a story there. But just to be like, nah, that fight doesn't matter anymore. Colby's getting it, which is kind of weird. But again, it's a lesson I learned many years ago from Damon Martin,

strike the word, deserves from your vocabulary, because it doesn't matter in the UFC. It doesn't. And we've all learned this. All right, now we're going to go. Thank you all very much. Preview show, 3 p.m. Eastern. Get you ready for UFC San Antonio.

I believe it's myself, AK and Jose Young's. So we'll have a busy weekend of UFC San Antonio coverage for all y'all. So thank you all very much. Have a great rest of your Friday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay.

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