MMA Fighting - HOAM | Impact Of Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler On Lightweight Division

Episode Date: November 4, 2022

Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler will finally settle their score at UFC 281 on Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden. With a new lightweight champion in Islam Makhachev, what kind of impact will this fight have on the division? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the stakes in that highly anticipated matchup in New York, along with the back-and-forth between Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski in setting up their potential champ vs. champ matchup. Additionally, listener questions include the Bellator vs. RIZIN event on Dec. 31, Saturday's UFC Vegas 64 main event between Marina Rodriguez and Amanda Lemos, other standout fights on the card, 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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It is a free-for-all Friday so we can talk about whatever the hell you want to talk about. And with that being said, we will start it off with Christian. Hello, Christian. Christian, are you there? Toke, are you there? Hello? Yesterday, you said maybe we could get a translator on that Danish interview. I can translate it when I'm done with work today.

if you really, really want to know about what Marco Madsen said. So that first. And then I'm just curious about, you know, the UFC this weekend. We have Benito Kinder Surprise Lopez. So what I love about this guy, he was really, I don't know, he was really interesting. And I really thought that the UFC had. something with him when I saw him the first time. I know he lost many Bermudez, but his Morales wins were really impressive to me. So I'm just surprised that he's the plus 240 underdog

against Mario Boutista. But maybe I'm just, I just don't understand how good Mario Boutista is. So I just wanted to hear you talk about that matchup a little bit. And then again, if you really want me to translate, I can. Just so you know. All right. Thank you, sir. I mean, honestly, for Benito, I just think it's a super duper long layoff. I mean, he hasn't fought since July 2019. He's only had three fights of the UFC.

The Morales wins were good. Beat Stephen Peterson on the Contender Series. He's got some decent wins on the regional scene. but it just hasn't fought in three and a half years. That's a long time to be out. And while that was happening, Mario Batista was doing the damn thing. He is four and two in the UFC.

Just submitted Brian Kelleher. That's not an easy feat. Beat J. Parrott in a tough fight. His two loss in the UFC at a Corey Sandhagen, which he took that fight on like less than a week's notice. and then the Trevin Jones thought he got caught. He hit a great first round,

then he got caught with a nasty uppercut, and then got pounded out. So, I mean, even on Benito's best day, I think Batista wins this fight, but who knows? Maybe over the last three years, he's just been completely leveling up, and we have no idea.

But that's one of the interesting fights on this card for sure. Christian, do we have you? Yeah, can you hear me? Yep, I got you. Hey, thanks for doing this. I was wondering, kind of with Corriere and Chandler coming up, and I guess I was wondering, you know, Cori and Chantel obviously are really good fighters

and, you know, they've been competitive in the division, but it's like, I guess I'm just struggling to see where they go because it just feels like, yeah, they could get a title shot. But, I mean, I guess, and they can think they could win, but do we really think that, like, Islam's going to lose? to either of them. They feel, it feels like they're just going to just get washed out.

And then eventually they're just going to come back to where they are. Same with kind of Gaichi, where it's like they're just stuck, where it's like they're really good, but they're also not good enough to be champion. And I guess I was wondering, it's like, do they just kind of go through the route of just contending again?

Or do you think they have another avenue? Yeah. I mean, it's an interesting question. And it's one of my big issues with this division right now is that we can't get any movement. Like, I, I, Poyer is great. Chandler's great.

Gachie's great. But if we put Porre right now against Batush Gamrod, if we put Gachi against Fizzi, we put Chandler against Armand Sarukian, I would probably bet on the three up and comers to beat all three of those guys. Gathe Fizzi would be probably the tougher matchup. but I don't know like they're they're still very good like and if Volk doesn't get this title shot I would say the winner of Porre Chandler probably gets the next one but especially if Chandler wins like I don't I think Chandler has a

better chance to beat Machachev than Poria does but it's not a good chance to beat him I just feel like Chandler's wrestling could be an interesting ploy in this whole thing at least give Machachov something to think about but I mean I think Machetech beats both of those guys pretty easily I just think Chandler might match up slightly better, but I'm just ready to see this new wave of guys get their opportunities. Like, it's, we just see the same guys in these title fights. It drives me nuts. Like, I'm ready to see some movements here. Let's go. All these guys have had chances of the title. And poor Benile Darius, just can't get there. It's just wild. So I don't know where they go. I mean,

an impressive finish for Chandler-Porier definitely puts them in the title mix, that's for sure. They're probably there now. But I'm ready to see some of these guys, some of these vets fight some of these up-and-comers. Like, we're long overdue for that.

Let's go to double A. Double A? Hello? Good. Random, and it's not just because I've got nothing. Okay, maybe it is. Okay, so I was re-watching some fights the other day as we do, and we were watching Tony Ferguson and Cowboy Soroni, and I noticed a detail that I'd completely forgotten.

It wasn't a men of the event, it wasn't a title fight, and they had let them meet for a face off in the center of the octagon, which I thought was sort of cool because it was sort of like a fan-favorite fight, and that you sort of expect for something like that. My question is, would you like to see that happen for fan-favorant fights that aren't, like, sort of, like, mate events or title fights? Like, for instance, if, like, Chandler and Porier

had, like, a little face-off at the center of the octagon before they fought. Just like a random thought, just want to know your opinion on it. Have a good day, man. Everyone else have a good day, too. Cheers. Sure.

Yeah. I mean, that's fine. I think they should for that fight, but I don't know. I mean, I will certainly not be offended if they don't do that, but I mean, it would be cool for those two guys. Well, I'm interested to see how they are around each other during fight week with all the heat. Seems like they might have squashed some of the beef, some of it anyways, but of course they're going to go in there and try to beat the hell out of each other. Yeah, I'm sure that'll fire up the crowd. Jacob, hello.

Hey, good morning, Mike. As we speak right now, he's a lot of Makashchev and Alexander Volcanovsky. They're kind of going back and forth with each other, teasing each other a little bit on Twitter about the contract. So I'm going to give you the matchmaker's hat. What fighter can be contender champion right now? Would you like to see move up or down a weight class to fight someone else?

Thank you. Have a heck of a morning, everyone. I'll go with Max Holloway. I'll go with Max Holloway. Like I've been saying, like a lot of people are screaming from the rooftops. You need to see Arnold Allen fight Max Holloway. No, we don't.

We don't need to see that fight. I have no interest in that fight. Like, from a stylistic perspective, I have interest. In a vacuum, I have interest, like two years from now I have interest. But right now, I have no interest in that fight. Because Max Hawley probably beats Arnold Allen, and then we're in the same position we've been in for the last two years. And Jed brings it up all the time.

Volkidovsky hasn't cleaned out his division. Well, it's because you keep putting your top guys against Max Holloway and he beats him. And then you have no choice but to fight him again because he's the best dude. So Holloway's my pick because I would rather see him go to 55 and just have fun fights. He doesn't need the belt. He doesn't need title fights. I just want to see him in fun scraps. the one I've been clamoring for for two years now.

Give me Holloway-Gaichi. I'm down for Holloway Oliva, because their first fight ended in kind of shenan against fashion. Like Holloway Chandler, Holloway Poir, like, all these are awesome fights. Like, we've seen Holloway Pori, and it's a great fight. Who would complain if they ran that one back? Holloway against any of those guys is fun. Because it's a fun fight, and it frees up one of these bigger names

so that a younger, hungrier, more, probable, more talented, then those guys get their opportunity. So, yeah, it's Max Holloway's the first name that pops to my head. Tristan, hello. Mike. So my question is on this Saturday between Lemos versus Rodriguez. I mean, what happens if Lemos wins this fight, and she doesn't impressively beating Marina Rodriguez?

I mean, it's going to, I don't know what happens. Doesn't it put, like, kind of a little bit of logjam in the strawweight women's strawweight division? Because, I mean, I don't know, I don't know what happens next. Like, I guess you have Jean-Wea Lee versus Carla Espaza. And depending on how that fight goes, I guess, is. Rose will get the next title shot, I guess, regardless of who wins. I mean, Lemos is going to say, well, I mean, because we all know possibly that Jessica and Dodd probably deserves a title shot because of what she's doing, but she keeps going

back and forth, so we don't know if she's going to fight at a flyweight, women's flyweight or back at Stahlway. She keeps going back and forth. So I don't know. It's going to be like a kind of a log gem. What do you think about that, Mike? I mean, looking at Lemos's view of it, if she goes to the way. out there in Dominique Smarriyna Rodriguez.

Thanks, Mike. Probably wouldn't be ideal, but it's possible. She's definitely not getting a title shot. And even Marina wins, the only way she gets a title shot is if Carla beats Zhang Wei Lee. Because if Carla wins,

I don't think they're going to be in any hurry to book Asparza Namayunis 3 after what we saw in their fight earlier this year. and I don't know, maybe they do, I'll play it out the way I think this is all going to play out. Man, I don't even know. Because I think Zhang Lely is going to beat Carl as far,

so I feel pretty confident in that. So I feel Zhang's going to win. I don't know. Marina, maybe she just fights Carly either way. But I feel like if Zhang wins, she's got to fight Rose again. Like I feel like that's the fight she's got to call for and that's the one she wants. She's got two losses against her.

So yeah, I feel like best case scenario for either of these fighters is that Marina wins and Carla wins. And then they could just run that for the belt. Other than that, I don't think either of getting a title shot. Lamos probably needs like another winner two after that. So yeah, not an easy road for either. but Marina's probably got a pretty sizable head start, but she's definitely going to need Carl to win. Or she just needs to go out there at Baltimore, Man, the Lameau.

She needs to win this one impressively. She can't just go out there and win a split decision. She has to go out there and win. She needs a 49-46 or a finish or something. That puts her in a really good spot. She goes out there and wins a splitie or a 48-47. Not good for her title hopes. Let's go to Blake.

What's up, Blake? Hey, Mike, how's it going? Yeah, so I'm wondering about this whole Volkanowski and Mogadchev kind of like contract situations going on Twitter. I personally don't think Islam is that guy to really take a lot of these fights on shorter notice versus someone who like bulk is. Islam throughout his career, I believe he's been in the UFC for seven years and has had like 13 fights. It's like an average of two fights a year. And if he takes this fight early on in the year, I really don't see him fighting three times in a year. So I'm wondering who you think out of those kind of three featherweight contenders,

Arnold Allen, Josh Emma, and Yairair, who should take that spot. I know it's interesting too because they're planning on going to London, I believe, later on in March, I believe. And if they put Arnold Allen on this fight in Perth with Volk before that, and you have Patty, Molly, Darren Till all fighting at 282, that they're really not going to have a lot of big England fan base on that card if they decide to put Arnold Allen with Volk before that. So I'm just wondering who you think will be on top of that.

And I also am wondering where you think Derek Lewis will be if he loses to Speedback coming up on that main event. Thank you. Lewis one's interesting. I mean, he'll be fine. They're not going to cut him. He's too big of a star and he's a fun. He's not in any boring fights, although Sergei Spivak could make,

A Derek Lewis fight pretty boring. Hmm. I don't know. There's fights for him. You can fight the Jarzini Rosen Strikes of the world. Derek Lewis against anybody is going to get eyeballs on it. So it'll suck. It'll probably take him completely out of title contention.

Not that I think he's in title contention now, but I think him ever fighting for the belt again is gone. But again, he's still very popular. Volka in Machachev is interesting. like I've tried to reach out to multiple people. I've not gotten any response yet in terms of what's going on. It might be some gamesmanship. But this isn't like a very,

this isn't like a super short notice fight. It's four months. You want to smell the rose a little bit, but, you know, he's still going to get 10, 11, 12 weeks to prepare for Volcanowski. Because the fight's not until February. It's like not even three, it's three months from now. So, I mean, it's a huge fight. It's the biggest fight, Mokachev can get.

right now. Like by far. Maybe, I mean, Connor, obviously, for the bag, but I don't think anybody's clamoring for that. Right now with what is available and what is realistic, this is the biggest fight he can get. So, and he's

probably going to beat Volcanovsky. So if I'm him, like, what are you waiting for? Go do it. You're the one that comes. And here's the thing. He called him out. It wasn't like Volcanofsky was like, come on, man, side of the contract, blah, blah, blah. Bacachev in public in front of the world called this man out

and did a stare down with him and said he'll do it in Australia. I like Volk's tweet. I didn't see the rest of the best. I liked Volk's tweet. Are you a man of your word? Habib. I mean, that's what I would have...

If Benil Darryusha just said that at his post-fight speech, she'd be in a much better spot instead of saying, I'll fight 10 dudes. I'll fight 10 guys. You don't say that. You'd be like, hey, member Islam? Habib's a man of his. word, you said you would fight me,

are you a man of yours? And that's all that Volcanovsky's asking right now. So if Volk ends up defending the featherweight title, it's probably not Arnold Allen. I don't know. I mean, he's fighting in Perth. He's either defending the featherweight title

or he's fighting Makachiev. And I feel like Arnold Allen will be the odd man out if that happens. Because I think you're right. I think they would rather have Arnold on the the UK card, whatever that is,

whether it's March or April, whenever that date ends up being. But I think the best case scenario for everybody is that Makachev and Volk fight and then Alan fights Emmett or Yai Yir for the interim title.

I think I think Alan should definitely be in the interim title mix because, and you should do that fight in the UK. 100%. And if Volk has to defend the feathery title,

I don't know. They'll probably call Yaiir first just because he's the bigger name of the three. but maybe they won't. I don't know. It'll be interesting to see, but I feel like we're going to get Machachat-Folk.

It's such a big fight, and you've got to do it now. Otherwise, it's going to lose its luster. People are on the fence with it. A lot of people are in on it, but I think if we delay this anymore, it's going to be even, it's going to lose interest. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what?

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because I was listening to his podcast and he just used your name indirectly. So you got it. And my question is, after one year from now, which champion between lightweight and welterweight will have tougher opponents to depend on strap, and which welterweight do you think will be the champion

after one year from now? Thank you, Mike. Your rock king. Thanks, man. It's a good question. It means lightweight. It's definitely lightweight. The answer to that question is always going to be lightweight.

I get where you're coming from in other stances. because of like Hamzad and Rachmanoff and those two guys, but it's lightweight. It's always, it's, it's, it's, it's, lightweight's always got to be the answer to that question. So, there's just so many killers coming up. You still have the names that we mentioned with the Gauchis,

the Pori's, and the Chandler's. And then we got the Sarukians, the Isabagulovs. Now we got the Grant Dawson's. We got the Jalen Turner's. There's just more of them at 55. There's a couple of, I mean, straight, killers at 70, but there's like five, six, seven

lightweights right now that can do work and get up to that title fight, that's a sure. And I haven't listened to Josh's show. I don't listen to Josh's show, but I'll go and check it out. I'll go check out the clip. I made the mistake of listening to the last one and he just made me even angrier

because he said less and doubled down and still didn't understand why people were pissed at him. but maybe it's indirect to me. Maybe it's indirect to Helwani. I mean, Ariel said what he said a little bit nicer than the way I said my thing

because I was livid. But I also don't want to like, I just don't want to consume myself with it because I don't want to punch down in this situation. Like I respect Josh Thompson as a fighter. Like this dude went in there and stepped in the cage and fought and had a great career. and had a solid career.

Like, I respect the hell of that guy for that. But just some of the things he says just makes no sense. To say you're not in the media is just dumb. It's wrong. You are in the media. You're on the broadcast. John Anick is in the media. He's not a journalist, but he's in the media.

He's in the MMA media. So is John McCarthy. And any other fighter that is on those broadcasts, Michael Bisbing is in the media. They're all in the media. they're just not journalists. That's just a different thing. You're one of us, bro.

One of us. One of us. And I knew, like, and I know he's just got to keep talking about it because that's how Josh is. He just wants people to talk about him. He wants people to come on this show and mention Josh's name.

He wants people to write into Ariel's on the nose segment and ask about Josh Thompson. Like, he's getting exactly what he wants. Even if he's getting a negative reaction, he's getting exactly what he wants. Because that's what this whole thing. was all about for him. It was all about Josh Thompson. It was all about his

podcast. It wasn't about the card of the fighters. It was about him. As most things are when he says dumb things. And you're just you are in the media, man. I hate to tell you. Like, you have no problem dumping on the

UFC, but you'll never dump on Bellator. Like, that's okay. They pay you. You work for them. I can dump on whoever I want. In an honest way, I'm not just going to be a negative Nancy about it, but if Bellator is not doing something well, and you've heard on this show many times that I feel like there's a lot of things

that are not doing well from a promotional side, I'm going to say it. If a UFC card isn't great, I'm going to say that too. If it's awesome, I'm going to say that. If Bellator is a better card than a UFC card, that weekend I'll tell you that. Like, that's how it works. And I don't care if Josh talks about me or not. Like, I prefer he doesn't, if we're being honest.

like if he never says my name I'm totally cool with that I don't want him saying my name I just want Josh to shut the frig up about this whole thing just admit you're wrong say you're sorry and move on which is like why I wanted to talk to him

in the first place this is why I wanted to do an interview or do something with him so we could just be done with all of this because this whole bill to December 31st is going to be the Josh Thompson show Oh, it's going to be me versus the media.

Look what I've done. Look at me wave my flag. I'm Josh Thompson. Watch my show. Yada, yada, yada. So self-absorbing. It drives me nuts. And see, now you got me off on a tangent about this guy who's getting exactly what he wants.

This is feeding his ego right now. He's getting full. It's getting full right now. He's full of himself, but he's getting even more full. All right. This is going to be a. this might be a short show what is that

ooh interesting well let me let me check something out real quick hang on just bear with me hold on one second see this is this is the thing when you do this show

and there's potential news you got to try to double up on this stuff so you're getting a little peek behind the curtain if you will so maybe I'll have an answer for you I don't know all right Matt Ravelli take us home I have to dig up some more yard and I mean, oh, I get two people. I got two people. What's up, Matt?

If D-Rod actually goes out and wins this weekend, what do you do with Neil Magny? Because I feel like he's just kind of floating there in the ether after that. What do you do with Neil Magny if he loses? Yeah, that's what I have because to me, I feel like if he loses, I mean, that's a pretty big loss, especially with D-Rod. I mean, to me, that's almost like, I mean, real gatekeeper status at that point. Yeah, I mean, he's probably, he probably stays. where he's at, if we're being honest. He is a gatekeeper.

He's a really good one. And I don't love using that word all that often. So sometimes I'll sub about, like, litmus test. But Neil Magny is, I don't know, he's probably, Liam Magne is probably like a top 10 litmus test right now. Like, if you can beat Neil Magne, you're probably one of the 10 best fighters in your division. Maybe it bumps him back to, like, a top 15 guy.

I don't know. To be like a top 15 litmus test. But, yeah, I mean, Neil's kind of been in that spot most of his career where he's the test. He's the test to see how good you really are. That's why they throw him in there with Brock Manna and some of these other guys at these spots. So, yeah, it's probably going to be something like that, a young, hungry whippersnapper and just see how good he is. And Neil's going to knock a few of them off and some of them are going to knock Neil off. But I like that fight.

I think D-Rod is, I think D-Rod can win that fight, for sure. I think D-Rod's the better striker, the better boxer. Magny's got length. Magny can clinch and wrestle, but D-Rod's a good defensive wrestler. So, yeah, I lean D-Rod, but it's a fight Magnet can win. Four-ounce sniper, hello. All right. How about Emilio?

Amelia, do we have you? Yes, you do. Mike, can you hear me? Yes. Awesome. Yeah, it's good to be back. It's been a while since last in the show. I hope that everything is good.

I have been keeping up with all the coverage, all the other podcasts, but just haven't had the time to tune in to the one and only heck of a morning. But it's good to be back. My question is regarding next week, what is? Dan Hooker versus Claudio Poyas fights. I mean, I got to admit that I haven't really done a lot of, what's it called, research on Mr. Poyas. But I'm pretty high on the guy over his past couple of performances

or ever since he got knocked down. I think it wasn't the ultimate fighter. but I don't know I feel like this fight is going it's a bit under the radar it's flying a little bit under the radar so I don't know I just wanted to get your thoughts on it

and on Mr. Claudio Poyer's potential or ceiling in this stacked lightweight division that's about it Mike thanks so much for everything to do have a heck of a morning this Friday and a heck of a start to your weekend.

Peace out. Thanks, buddy. I like that fight. It's a good fight. Claudio deserves a step up and he's getting one with Dan Hooker. So he gets a main card slot. UFC obviously sees something at him. They're willing to give him this test.

He's going to get one. Hooker probably, Hooker has advantage on the feet, but if this fight hits the mat, Poyas is nasty down there. The leg locks and e-bars. He's very solid. He's won five in a row.

This guy's good. He's probably the most under the radar guy in this entire division. So, they're giving him a shot. It's going to be a big knife for 155. Because we've got, obviously, the Poria-Channler fight. We got Moikano, Brad Riddell.

We got Matt Fravolta, Atman Azitar on that card. So we get a bunch of, a bunch of lightweight fights. So we'll see what happens. I like the matchup. I think it's perfect. I think it's perfect matchmaking. Let's go to Stephen Ramirez, and then we'll go to Terrence,

and then I've got to get out of here. Sorry for the short show, but it's been a day, and it continues to be a day. Stephen, what's up? I can't hear you. I can hear me more than you. Can you hear me now? Yep, that's better. Okay.

Yeah, no, I'm saying I have to put my dog, the way I can John of Organs. So, no, just one of your thoughts. I don't know if you probably mentioned it or not. We need to talk about the worst division right now with just the heavyweight division. So there's a couple of things. You know, I don't know if maybe you have any insight

regards to Steepey. Have the Stepe quietly retired? And then the whole thing is it confirmed regards to maybe March with Francis and John Jones. I mean, also another thing is, we saw yesterday, Francis just put out, he's 293 pounds at this point, and poor way lead,

still lifted him off, but I don't understand how that was possible. But it's just one of the other gay thoughts on the heavyweight division. What a mess. Nobody's stepping up to the plate and anything on Steve A, Francis, and Jones. I mean, we've been talking about this for a long time. I've been telling you this whole thing. I've been laying it all out for you.

The longer we went into 2022, the less likely I thought we were going to see this Jones-Stepe fight. I know there was like one last glimmer of hope that maybe we could get it done. I hated the idea to begin with. And they couldn't get it done. And it seems like it's a financial thing. I wouldn't say, and like I've been telling you guys for a while. And Ghana wants to fight in March. That makes sense.

Eric Nixick, I did the interview with him a couple months ago. He said the same thing. fighting in December, impossible. But February, March, April, that seems like the right timeline. And I know for a fact that the UFC reached out to Francis and basically said, hey, realistically, when do you think Francis can fight?

And his team came together and they said, March seems right. And they were like, okay, I like that. And everybody wants John. UFC wants it, Ngano wants it, team wants it, coaches want it, managers want it. managers want it, everybody wants it. John wants it too.

So that's why I didn't like the steep fight. Because we're right there. What are we doing here? Why would we waste Jones on steepa when we could get the fight that we want in the first place three months later? So to say it's confirmed would be just not true

because when it comes to John Jones, nothing is seemingly ever confirmed until he actually gets into the cage. And Francis still has contracts stuff to work out at the UFC. So this is what everybody wants. It's not done, but I would say March 4th would be the target if we can get it all done. But it's not done.

I don't even know if like formal offers have gone out or anything like that. I have no idea. But that's where everybody's targeting. Seems like that's where everybody wants is March. And you've been listening to the show every day. It's the last couple months. I sound like a broken record. As far as Dipe goes, I also told you,

if he doesn't take this fight December 10th, I would not be stunned if we don't see him fight again. He doesn't need to fight. He ain't fighting Curtis Blades. He's not fighting Tommy Aspinall. He's fighting Inganu or Jones. That's it. And if he didn't take this fight, December 10th against Jones,

that means the UFC doesn't likely see the value in him as he sees in himself, which means he doesn't need to fight. Like, I'm sure he's got. Got a bunch of money in the bank account. It's a full-time firefighter. Family man. Husband, dad, all that stuff.

He's loving life. Fighting just disturbs that. But you can't say no to a John Jones fight or a trilogy fight with Inganu for the title. I get that, but I don't think anything else gets him interested. All right, Terrence, hello. We'll take two more and then I have to go because I have to try to find this stupid water valve

that I have to dig out in my front yard. That sounds horrible. Your artwork sounds horrible. It's terrible. It sucks. It sucks. So I was calling random freestyle Friday. So I was thinking about like Brock Lesnar.

I know he's in wrestling now, but like he's the main reason that a lot of people got into the sport back in the day. So he came in. He was, I believe he was 1 and 0, if I'm not mistaken. Before he got a title shot, he was 2 and 1 and 1 in the UFC. Just wondering if you think there would be somebody else that will come in like him, like with so little experience. but wind up getting like a title shot and like making it to the top or even close to that.

I only thing I can think of if they fast track bow and like give him a top 15 and then like use it as an excuse to give him a top 10 if he wins that. And then from near the title shot, I know we have Yuri. He had a lot of experience, but he came in. I believe it was 2-0 or 30-0 before he got a title shot and then he won a belt. And then you also have Pereira has the chance of doing something similar. but did you see anybody out there that maybe people aren't talking about that we don't know about that could possibly come in and set the inmate world in storm on fire rather in regards to everything so that's all I got for you thank you I mean you probably said it

bow nickel is probably the best chance and the only other name I can think of which I'll be stunned if it happens is if Kayla Harris comes to the UFC she might have one fight and had a title fight or she just gets an immediate title shot. But I don't know. I don't know if there's anybody really out there that it would have to be like a Brock Lesnar type where they came in as a star from another sport or I don't know. Like I think if, like I hate to bring this name up, but I think of like, I think if Greg Hardy went out there and just won this first three or four fights,

they would have given him a title shot because he was a star in another sport. He's not a great person, but people know who he is. so if we get another like pro wrestler who comes over a big football player comes over we can see something like that but I'd say Beau is probably your best shot at it at this point

Evisualia hello what's up man what's going on oh oh hello I'm then what's up what's up so what's up

so um about 281 this upcoming next week. What are your thoughts on, I should say, Dustin Porreier versus Michael Chandler? And what direction do you see happening

depending on who wins and how will it impact the lightweight division? Thanks, man. It's a good fight. I think Porier wins, but I don't know. It's just a great fight. I think it'll be one of our top five fights

of the year at the end of the year. where they go? I don't know, man. It's tough to say. It's tough to say. If Makachev-Vulk fight, I mean, who knows? I don't think Poria gets a title fight.

I think if Chandler wins, he could. But I don't know. Either these guys against Benil would be pretty friggin' awesome if we have no other options. But I have no idea what they're going to do. I just hope that whatever it is, we can just move this division forward. But the fight's going to be great.

Great. It's going to be great. I can't wait for it. All right, King Zab, final caller. King Zab. You're muted. Yeah. Yeah, hello.

I got you. What's up? I've heard about the, have heard about the Risen Bellator, you know, Corporation in December in the New Year? Have you heard of that? I have heard of it, yes. The lack of media presence and the lack of, you know, other MMA, you know, news. on YouTube and social media, haven't talked about two large MMA promotions coming together to show, you know, to bring in their best fighters to see who truly has the best fighters

outside, you know, the UFC. Okay, which, what are you trying to say? What's the reason why, you know, other MMA, you know, news broadcasts haven't talked about it as much? Because it's in December. We're three months away. Like, it's coming up, but we have other things that are before it. We all talked about it in a positive way.

Everybody did. When the announcement came out there, we were like, holy shit, this is awesome. This is great. But to say, like, what are we supposed to do? Just ignore that all these other events are happening? Like, what are we supposed to do? Zap. Yeah.

Yeah, what are we saying? You're mumbled up. We're talking about it. Like, we're excited about it. It's a great card. It's cool. I can't wait for December 31st. And when we get closer, we will talk about it.

Like, we will definitely talk about. That's cool. That's cool. That's all right. Is that it? Yeah, it's all right. That's it. All right, there we go.

I mean, what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to put it? Should I have a countdown on my wall to this card? Come on. Look, the card rules. Like, no one said anything bad about it. Like, this is what this whole Josh Thompson thing, this is why this whole thing annoys me to no end.

Nobody said a bad thing about it. Everybody talked about it. Everybody wrote about it. Everybody tweeted about it when the announcement came out. We were all excited. No one said this is stupid. We all said it rules. And then all of a sudden it comes out to this whole thing.

How are you going to cover this? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You should promote this. Blah, blah, blah, blah. It's great. We talked about it on BTL the last couple of weeks. It's fantastic. It's rising rules.

I love it. We're going to see these guys be able to do freaking soccer kicks. It's going to be amazing. Here's the thing. Love the card. But the fact that we're getting the tape delay bullshit makes me upset.

It makes me upset. It annoys me. Why are we doing this? It's 2022. Stop with the tape delay stuff. Like some people are going to, hopefully you can get like the Risen feed, but for like the American feed,

we have to wait until 8 p.m. when the card's over and done with and we already know everything that happened. Come on, man. Look, the card's great. No one has said a bad thing about it. Like, what is this whole, like, that's why the whole Josh Thompson thing,

like fired me up, because you act like no one talked about it and we all talked about it. But we're not going to just sit there and, like, put all of our attention on this card when it's six weeks away. And six weeks from now, when we're knocking on the door,

of it, we're going to talk about it, and we're going to do shows, and we're going to do interviews to these fighters, because we always do. We always do. And the co-promotion's awesome. No one has said a single negative thing about it.

Nobody. Nobody in the media space. Maybe a fan or two is like, who the F is this guy with the Connor meme? But nobody has said anything bad about it. we all love it

we all like it and if it was this week we'd be talking about it at nauseam but guess what it's not this week it's December 31st and guess what Bellator has two other

massive cards coming up before that that they're not even promoting right now and you want to talk about December 31st what are we doing here why is Usman Norma Madoff's lightweight title shot not being plastered all over their social media.

Habib Naramaga Madoff is like two weeks away from being the coach of the lightweight champion in the UFC and in Bellator. And nobody's promoting that. I am. I'm the one talking about it. Where's the promo videos?

Where's the countdown videos? Where's Habib talking about his boy about to become the lightweight champion? Because guess what? He's going to wash Patricy Pitbull in Chicago. And he's going to win the title. Did you know that Corey Anderson and Badim Nemcoff were fighting this month? No, you didn't.

Unless you listen to this show. Did you know that Rafion Stats and Danny Sabatelos still has to happen? Oh yeah. They promoted that one two months ago for a fight in December. And they did face-to-face interviews with 47 different media spaces. This is my issue. Get it together. I understand we have a big card on December.

December 31st, but you can't neglect the other ones. Let's be honest, there's better storylines when it comes to actual fights. Habib is one of the biggest names in the sport. He's attached to your next events, and we're not talking about it. We could finally end this light heavyweight Grand Prix, that it seems to be going on for the amount of time it gets from one summer Olympics to the next. Let's focus on these things first, and then we'll get into. to the Bellator versus Risen thing.

We have other business to attend to. That's all. And again, let me just say this for the 8,000th time. Nobody has said anything bad about it. We all wrote about it. Go to M.AFighting.com. We wrote about it as soon as we got the announcements. We've talked about it on multiple shows.

What else do you want us to do? Must be Thompson's producer or something. All right. I have to go, unfortunately. You guys are awesome. By the way, AK's here. Happy birthday to Alexander K. Lee. And this is not part of the bit.

This is not part of the bit. This is the real thing. Happy birthday. You know what? I'm going to take these last two. And then I got to go. Rips and picks and crypto and that I have to go. Rips and picks, hello.

What's up, Mike? How you doing? Can you hear me? Yes. Perfect. Perfect. Well, I just joined a minute ago. So really, I was just curious about this Belator Risen card, you know, if you guys were

going to talk about it. I'm totally playing. To end this on a good note here for Friday. One fight I feel like it's going under the radar here is Grant Dawson and Mark Madsen. I mean, Madsen's undefeated. Grant Dawson hasn't lost in the UFC. Sure, he had to draw, but I'm just curious on your thoughts for that fight. I could have a good morning, too.

Thanks, man. I love the fight. It's the – let me just pull up the card real quick. It is the third most interesting fight on the card. Main event, co-main event, and then, yeah, Dawson-Matson is the third most interesting fight on the card. This is a three-fight card. Like, the other fights aren't horrible, but if you're like, Mike, which fights are you definitely

going to watch? It's those three. I will watch those three. Like, those are the ones I would definitely tune in for. The rest of the fights are going to be fine. Like, the lineup itself, like matchup for matchup, like there's going to be some fun fights. The problem is there are no stakes, like zero. Zero stakes.

Main event, there's some, but I still think, like, Marino Rodriguez is going to need close to a miracle to get a title shot. Like, the co-man event's fun, but there's no big stakes there. And I like stakes, you know? Not just to eat, but you know what I mean? Like, I want to see these fights matter more than just getting a second paycheck. Like, this leads to something. And we have three of those fights. We have the main event.

Co-main event, there's not a ton of stakes, but at least there's something. There's a ranking stuff. And we have essentially the same thing with the Doss and Mattson fight. Mattson's 12 and O, hasn't lost. Hasn't been all that thrilling in there either, if we're being honest. And our man Tocke was telling us about an interview saying, like the UFC pulled him aside and said, dude, you got to go out there and be decisive. Like you got to win decisively.

You can't just go out there and grind out split decisions. You got to go out there and do the thing. You can't be going to splities with Clay Guida. You can't fight from behind against. Vince Pichel, you got to go out there and win. The things that you're hollering for, you got to get, you got to earn them. It's going to be an interesting fight. Do I think it's going to be the most exciting matchup of all time?

No, but if you're a fan of like a grueling style, wrestling, scrambles, defense, cage work, it's going to be a grueling fight. I'm going to be, like, it's one of those fights where I feel like I'm going to be exhausted when it's over. But we're going to see. We're going to see who's the real, real. because this one's huge for actually for both guys,

especially in this division. Grant, I have a lot of, I've been hyped on Grant Dawson's for like six years now. And this is the one that gets him over the hump. It's very hard to crack the top 15

in this division. And I feel like if Grant Austin beats Mark Madsen, he will have a ranking next to the name. I believe he's ranked at our rankings. Pretty sure he is. But I love that fight. I can't wait for it.

Crypto, take us home. So, Mike, first of all, I don't know if you heard, but Risen and Bellator are having an event at the end of next month. Just wondering if... I need a promote it. Yeah, that's my question, actually. Are you going to promote the event? So, no, I'm just kidding, Mike. Sorry, I just had to.

I just had to. No, Mike, I actually have a completely different question. I don't know if it's been asked because I'm so confused by this change in time because in Sweden we moved our... clocks a week ago. Just, yeah, I connected very late. But have you talked about the fight that was announced between Garam and Moises for UFC Brazil? We have it.

We just confirmed that one. I think we put it out there yesterday. Yeah. In that case, Mike, I was just wondering, I would like to get your thoughts on that fight. Because I kind of feel bad for Guram. I'm not sure that he even. lost his previous fight, but this also is an amazing opportunity for Moises. So I would just like

you to elaborate on that fight and your thoughts, especially for Guram. Let's say if Guram wins, where do we go with him in that case? Thanks, Mike. It's a great fight. Tiago Moises is an underrated guy, a lot of skills. He's been in there with some heavy hitters. Very soft. solid hand. I like the matchup. I favor Ghram in that one. Let me see if they actually have, let me see if they actually have betting odds for this one.

I mean, it's a while away. Let's see, are we there yet? No, I'm not seeing it. I'm picking Guram to win. I think he's a little grimeier. I think he's longer. A little less mileage on him, if you will. Um, and listen, the Isbogula fight, I, you can make a strong case that he won.

And that's on an easy fight. That's a very tough fight. And he looked pretty good in it. He has not had an easy road. I mean, Gamron to that dude, sheesh. And now going on enemy territory to fight Tiago Moises, I give credit to Guram. Definitely give credit to him. Good stuff. But I love the fight. that's January. So hopefully it all comes together. But yeah, I like the matchup. It's good for both guys. And I think it's a, it's, it's a, it's a good name for Guram.

So if he wins, it gets him sort of back to where he was before these Mughal fight. But he looked great in that fight. That fight was awesome. And everyone do was going to be awesome because when we broke that one, everyone went bananas for it. So, yeah, that'll be a good one. All right. I got to go, everybody. Thank you very much.

Sorry for the late start. Make sure you tune into Belator versus Risen, December 31st, ringing the new year with some face punching and some soccer kicks. Get ready. Excellent co-promotion, Belator versus Risen. Agent McKean, Risen Rules, everybody. It's going down. But before that, we have UFC Vegas 64 on Saturday.

We're on the road to UFC 281. at MSG, I feel like some good things are going to be coming your way from the team at M.A. Fighting when it comes to that event. You might know what I'm talking about, but official announcement coming next week, so get excited. And that's it. Preview show coming up, 3 p.m. Eastern, I believe it's myself, the birthday boy, AK, and Shaheen Al-Shadi to talk all things UFC Vegas 64. So join us. We'll see you then. Have a great rest of your Friday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. media podcast network.

Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.