MMA Fighting - HOAM | Is All the Pressure On Aljamain Sterling In UFC 292 Main Event vs. Sean O'Malley?

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

Sean O'Malley enters his first UFC championship fight in the main event of UFC 292 against Aljamain Sterling, but even though the spot is big and the lights will be bright, is there a lot of pressure on "Sugar," or is all of the pressure on the current champ in, perhaps, his final 135-pound title defense? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the main event between Sterling and O'Malley, both fighters' media day scrums after talking with both competitors, and why there's a case to be made that this is a "house money" fight for the challenger. Additionally, listener topics include The Ultimate Fighter and Dana White's Contender Series, judging in MMA, O'Malley's comments about managers in the MMA space, Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington, Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. August 17, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the NBA flight of Twitter space. We are live in Boston, Massachusetts, the sites of Saturday.

UFC 292 event, boots on the ground, myself and Jose representing fine folks at MAAfighting.com. It's nice to do a media day yesterday. Hadn't been a part of a media day like that in well over a year, so it's pretty cool to be a part of that. Today there'll be another small media day going down around 1 p.m. Eastern. It's going to be Corey Sanhagen, Rob Font, and Calvin Cater. We get the press conference. at 6 p.m. Eastern, I believe, and then tomorrow it's all the way in fun and the ceremonials, the 30th anniversary Q&A, all sorts of fun stuff. And then tomorrow, not tomorrow, Saturday, I'll be off to New York for the UFC 292 watch party. So we are live here in Boston. And let's go to you guys. Let's take your questions because that's what this damn show is all about.

So CV, kick us off. Can you hear me? Yes. Good, good. A heck of a morning. we should call you first question Mike I'm seeing all the clips and I see you got all the first questions I needed it so that's pretty cool to see was there any fighter that stood out during yesterday's interviews or or and what how are the vibes right now in Boston so thanks thanks man the vibe is fun and crazy but more sense of the vibes later on today at the press conference.

I'm curious to see how many people show up. It's at the garden. So I'm curious to see how many people show. Their reaction is going to be to everything. It seems like Jean-Wey and like Sean O'Malley and probably like Ian Gary, at least to me, are probably like the biggest pops out of anybody.

But as far as who stood out of me today yesterday, Al Jermaine Sterling is kind of always stands out to me. He's just sort of super honest. keeps things pretty real. I thought Sean O'Malley did a lot of the same. I'm a Chado Gary's just, that dude is just such a character. And it's him.

He's a character just in, like, name only, because he's not a phony baloney. You know what I mean? This isn't a character he's portraying. This is him. This is him. A very confident, brash, but very intelligent young dude

who is on a great path, right now. So those guys stood out. And I think in their own ways, everybody sort of stood out. Hearing like Mario Batista's reaction to Cody Garbrandt having to pull out of the fight, the tough guys, hearing from like Brad Catona and all the crap he took all season. It's just it was interesting all around. But yeah, obviously a lot to take away from from the main eventors, Ian Gary, even Maro Mera's super fun. Pedro Munoz had a little sass to him. which I enjoyed. It was a good time.

It was a good time. Let's go to Four Corner Sports. What's up, Four Quarter Sports? Hey, Mike. How's it going? How are you enjoying your old stomping grounds so far? I'm enjoying it, my man. And you're retosking?

You're attending while you're up there or Red Sox, wait? Nah, they're in town Sunday, but they're in Washington. That's unfortunate. I got to say, I don't know. I was listening to Al Jol's. was what's it called scrum and I felt that I don't know if it was wise to him

to keep constantly saying you know that this might be his final fight and stuff like that because if he's not a good grace thing with the UFC and he wins the fight on Saturday you know why not just you know keep it out there like as he's speculating oh well I'm not sure

because like you know the thing with Francis is like remember how he you know held on to the title until the very last moment and then he announced that he's a free agent and then he ended up signing with the pfl well why doesn't aljo just you know hold on to the title and and forces the ufc's hands and saying hey i'm going to fight at 145th champ versus champ as opposed to him just saying this isn't be my final fight and um you know the ufc was stripping of the title just because he's not a good

racing with them um just because the ufc will try to make sure They can, you know, book an immediate ban on a title fight, just because they never really got along. As for the Jean-Wea Lee, I loved your picks, no-bets barred. I agree with the whole violence parlay. I think Zhang might be able to get this done in two. Might just try to test the waters in round one and then in round two. I think we might see something that she might try to replicate

when she ended up fighting Yawanna and J-Dade. Chuck. All right. Thanks, Mike. Have a good one. Thanks, man. Yeah, very, look, I appreciate Amanda Lemosius' confidence as well. But I think Jean-Weley is going to win that fight. Probably. But who knows? Crazy things continue to happen in this sport, and we may get two big upsets of these title fights,

and nothing would surprise me at this point. No, and the other thing with Sterling, no, I don't, I don't think he really needs to keep anything close to the best. I mean, he's been talking about a move to 45 for a long time. He's been talking about getting his teammate a shot. And it's not about business anymore. It's about getting Marab his opportunity and him breaking all the records. Like he said something else he said that he got to sit down, him and his team with with the UFC brass. And he said it was a really good meeting. So we'll kind of see how the promotion handles it. I'm not sure how the pressure is going to

work today. If it's going to be John Annick, it's going to be Dana up there. curious to see how they interacted with each other, Dana and Al Jermaine, how both of them talk about one another at the post-fight press conference, but no. I mean, I don't think Al Jeter needs to be like, well, maybe I'll stay at the Adam White.

No, he's done enough. And if he beat Sean O'Malley and breaks the record, there's nothing more he needs to do. So, and I do think they're going to move forward this division because you kind of have to. There's just so many guys who are worthy of title shots. we got to move to so yeah I don't necessarily

agree with that let's go to Toke what's up Toke I'm gonna talk about some real news so Raoul Roses got booked for

finally got booked for UFC Noce against Terence Mitchell which I think again seems like a proper probably matched that seems like a proper matcher for him

at where he is in his career, very, very young, not really catapulting him anywhere. This seems like a good step in his development. So I wanted you to talk a bit about that. And then I want you to make me smarter. So this, for UFC Abu Dhabi, this man, this fighter, who looks more like a Boulder skate character than a human being. This guy with two different colored eyes that got added to the card.

Why are they fast-tracking him so much? This guy, so he's newly signed and just gets basically a fight that if he wins it, he's in the top 15. So can you kind of talk about those two things? Thank you. Are you talking about Magamato? Yes, sir. I forgot about his first name, and then I just decided to describe him as a Baldashate character. So, yeah, Sharabutin is just really, really good.

He's super good. Dude is a finishing machine. I think only like one. Has he gone to a decision in the NBA fight? Maybe one? Yeah, he's just, he's just really good. And he's 29, so they feel like they have something here. And slowly, but surely, middleweight.

is becoming a very interesting division with Hamzot, obviously, there, and Icramalas Garev, Cherabut and Magamatov's another guy. It's got to be a crazy fight. And I think that's kind of the reason why they put this one together. And plus Bruno Silvish's game as hell. So he's going to take these opportunities, whether it's against newcomers or five-fight vets,

all of that fun stuff. So, yeah, that fight is going to be absolutely insane. It's going to be, Absolutely nuts. Middleweight needs non-middleweighty middle-middle-wates, and he is one of those non-middle-weighty middle-wights. YVMZ, hello. Hey, Mike.

A heck of a morning. I just had two quick questions for you. For the judging, I wanted to see if you think this resolution would be an answer to all the bad judging that goes on. Would it be okay? Do you think there's a world where the fighters could possibly possibly, possibly challenge the decision. So like, let's just say it was a controversial decision.

They could challenge it there on the spot, kind of like football. I wanted to get your thoughts on that. And two, was there anybody on the contender series that stood up to you? Thanks so much. So I did not watch a single second of contender series on Tuesday. I really wish I watched that main event. See Hardwick get swept on the cards was pretty wild. So I kind of want to go back and watch that performance.

but as I predicted on Tuesday, we're going to get four, probably five contracts. Even the dude who missed weight got a contract. So as I predicted, the threshold for that show is zero. All you have to do is get on the show and all you have to do is win and you get yourself a contract.

Now, I'm not saying that they shouldn't have gotten three or four given out on this card. I think this crop as a whole was better than week one. But still, like this is what we're going to expect. on the Contender Series. It's going to be four, five contracts. We're going to get six contract nights on this season

because someone is going to lose a really fun fight and they're just going to give them a contract. And we understand what this is. We totally understand what this is at this point. And then the judging thing, challenging a card, you can't really do that. You can't really do that because it's how, like how are you going to do it?

Do you have to sit and wait for the judge to like rewatch the fight on the broadcast? Like it just seems like these events are long enough as they are. There's 15 fights on every single card. Now potentially you could be adding a bunch of time to these broadcasts that we don't really need. So to me it's always been very simple. It's not just cage side. We put these judges, if they want to put them, cage side. You put them in a box, like, you know, kind of a curtain type thing. You put a monitor

in there with a member of the commission. They wear noise-canceling headphones, and they watch the fight. They don't get to hear the crowd. They don't get to hear the commentary. They watch the fight from their private little area with no audio and no sound. And that's the best way for them to judge fights. Now, they're not going to do that because you want to have that cage-side experience. but if you've gone to a UFC event or gone to an M.A. event and you sit up close, you know, how hard it is to, like, see all the angles of a cage

that has multiple shapes like that? It's not easy to do. So I don't envy these judges. I really don't. It's a thankless job. You never get praise for a good card. You get shit on for like every card people deem as a robbery, which is a lot.

And it's just a tough job. Are there really bad? Like, there are certain cards like Tony Weeks this past Saturday, Jacqueline Amarim, with two clear 10-8 rounds in the first two rounds of her win, and Tony Weeks gave her 10-9s. Like, you don't need,

you don't need a balcony seat to understand that those should have been 10-8 rounds. So there are definitely differences. There's some bad cards, for sure, but yeah, challenging it. It's not really going to work. You just got to change the whole. structure. You got to just try things. I remember CFFC tried something where they had three judges

sitting cage side and then they had three judges in a back room with noise canceling headphones who watched the fight from the back with no audio and no commentary, no crowd sound. And they were going to test and see what their cards looked like compared to the one's cage side. And we never really got an answer to that or any sort of scientific reasoning behind it or the results or anything. And it was like never tried again. Why not? I feel like that's the best answer to all of this is you take them out of that element. You can still have them cage side, but just don't listen to the crowd. Because the crowd can, you've seen certain fights. Like anytime Diego Sanchez fought during those runs and he won those split decisions, anytime he threw a punch,

crowd went crazy, even if he missed by 418 feet. And sometimes that was enough to sway a judge to score a fight for him. So, yeah, that is not the answer. Open scoring to me is also not the answer, but that's a conversation. We've had a million times. It will be for a definite, different time down the road, because we're not going to have it here. I'm going to try to get D. Jimmy in, but we're getting the Wheel of Doom. as we typically do on these shows.

So if you guys want to step in, you guys have questions, go ahead, please line up. And we will get to all of you. Here's what you guys think of this 2.92 card as a whole right now because the excitement levels are very, very high. I'm not saying they're not high, but we obviously have taken some hits on this card.

We lost Rob Fonsongue Dung. We lost Cody Garbrandt. We lost Jeff Neal. We lost Henry Sohudo. This card would look a lot. difference. But still, we have a nice, tight, 12 fights, two title fights. I like the Machado Gary Magni fight. Vera Munoz, to me, is going to be a good one. Demand Blackshear's a really interesting story turning around on seven days notice after getting the third

twister in UFC history. No one's talking about Chris Wyden's return, which is crazy to me. We're going to get two middleweight fights that are probably not going to be middleweighty, middleweight fights and we get Natty Ice against Andrew Lee and we get Marina Morose versus Crane and he's a pretty good card. Is it going to be like a 700,000 pay-per-view buy card? Absolutely

not, but it's going to be a fun one. It's going to be a fun watch. Daniel, hello. Hey, Mike. Heck of a morning to you. I'm pretty excited for the card for the most part. I mean, the main card is our right. I feel like it did lose a couple of fights like you had mentioned, but I

think it's still holding together strong and having and O'Malley is the top name on a card in Boston just feels right. But I do just kind of want your opinion here just to change topics just on the ultimate fighter. I mean, what were kind of just your thoughts on how this season played out, just how they really did just veterans versus prospects, and, you know, it ended up literally just being completely all veterans versus all prospects. And just kind of what do you think of like the actual finale now that we have it? Like, do you think Brad Cotonna is going to be the first two-time tough champion?

and I'm not sure what that really means. And then, you know, how you think that hollered, or the Hollabob versus the Austin Hubbard fight goes. That's all I got, though, Mike. Thank you. Thanks, man. The show is just, my issue is just the format has not changed in forever. It's the same thing.

And it's brutal. And they try all these different things. They try veterans versus prospects. They try the comeback seasons. They try the live seasons. They try all these different things. And it's the same show, not even, Connor McGregor can help the show.

It's just not good. It's just the same thing. Here's what happened in the house. Here's what happened at training. Oh, now they're going to make weight. Now they're going to fight. And that's the show. There's going to be a coaches challenge that is going to be weird and silly.

It's the same. We got the basketball jersey still for the 400th consecutive season. Like mix it up a little bit. throwing a hockey jersey or something. Do something. It's just all the same. I'm sure the ratings aren't going to be great. I'm sure overall it's not going to do as well as they thought.

I'm sure maybe on social media it does very well because any time you get Connor involved, it's going to do big, big numbers. But yeah, like maybe if you do veterans versus prospects, and this is no disrespect to any of the quote-unquote prospects on the show, at least do prospects. like to me a prospect is like 30 or younger not 34 35 36 or older

you know what I mean like I think the 34 35 35 36 year olds those types of guys who want one last shot these are the ones you throw on the contender series and then these up-and-comers these 20 21 22 year olds the 4-0 fighters and all that like don't put those guys in the contender series put them on the alt-in-comers

Ultimate Fighter. Like those are the types of prospects we want to see on the show. We want to see who can deal with the pressure. Do it like, no one want to see Brad Katona go through the ultimate fighter

for the second time. It's just no one wanted to see it. No one wanted to see it. Not even his own teammates wanted to see it. But I like the matchups. Cody Gibson, Brad Katona. Brad Katona is really fun

in that Timor Valley of fight. I didn't think he won that fight, but it was a fun one. Cody Gibson has looked real good. And these two guys just like, don't like each other. Cody Gibson is not a Brad Catona fan. And he called Brad Kitona the most boring tape study of his career going back and watching Brad Katona film. He said it was pretty much an awful experience. So that should be a fun one. And Kurt Hallibald, Austin Hubbard's going to go one of

two ways. Either Kurt is going to kill him in three minutes or Austin Hubbard's going to win a decision. That's how I see that fight playing out. And if you listen to No Bet's Bart, I actually have a I have one of the bets on Austin Hubbard by decision. So we'll see how that plays out. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. It's just $39.99. How could I resist?

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Hello. Hello. I had a... Are you there? Yes, I'm here. Hello. Good morning. Good morning. I have done some research in Mr. Wyden. And I wanted to ask the question for you. Thank you for allowing me to speak this morning.

I did some study on his injury. I just wanted to get a take on his training. I've been looking in his Instagram. He seems to be coming back, but I can't get a read on his speed. And I noticed some of the comments we're calling him old man. I think he's at plus 210, but I'm not really sure how the injury is going to translate. The bone can either grow back stronger or weaker. and I was just wondering how you would evaluate his training

and where you would look to find out how he's coming back. It's a really interesting question. And we talked, so just to peel back the curtain, there'll be no video BTL this week. But we did do like an in-person one after Media Day yesterday. So this was after we left the media room, we went over to where Jose is staying and sat in the lobby. It's me, Jose and Oscar Willis from the Mac Life.

just basically hit record and put microphones in our hands and just started yapping. And one of the things you brought up was this fight and the questions surrounding Chris's return and why no one's really talking about it. And I think one of the reasons why is we're kind of viewing this fight because of the return and the injury, almost like we're viewing any Tony Ferguson fight at this point. Like we have the palm of our hands on our face, but we're like looking in between our fingers just to make sure everything's okay. And that's kind of how we're feeling about this fight right now.

Like, what's Chris going to look like if he throws a kick? What's going to happen if Brad Tavares kicks him in the leg? Like, how does he get a deal with that? How is he going to deal with the movement? And I would love to be able to give you some insight and some answers on that. But even if I watched Chris Ryland train on a mat right now and he's moving around, he's running out of 4-4-40, that's great. That's positive.

but until he actually gets into that cage after a bunch of dudes have already fought and the crowd and the atmosphere and being that cage door locking behind you, what's going to go through his mind at that point? Is he going to have that same excitement? Is he going to get flashbacks of what happened in the Uriah Hall fight?

There's so many questions. I understand the value on Chris Widman if you listen to No Betts Byrd. I think all of us back to Weidman and I actually have a bet on Chris Weidman by decision. It's a plus 500. And I feel like if Chris is going to win, that's how he's going to win. That's how he's going to win.

I don't know, Brad, outside of just a gnarly injury, I don't know if Brad Tavares could finish Chris Widman. Brad Tavares has had a knockout win in a long time. And I feel like the longer this goes, it gets a little grimy. And I feel like this is kind of like Chris Wyden's world. It ain't always pretty. But to me, this is going to look very similar to the Omariok made off fight, where maybe Tavares wins the first round,

but I think Wyman just kind of realizes I just got to tackle this dude and lay on top of him. And I know Brad Tavares has pretty good takedown defense when he's on, but he's also very susceptible to being taken down of like a high-level wrestler. And I know Wyman is not in his athletic prime anymore, but Wyman knows how to get a fight to the ground and he knows how to keep it there. So I don't think we're going to be talking about this fight in the fight of the year conversation. Nowhere near it. But I feel like if Chris Wyman just shows up, like just regular healed up Chris Wyden,

I think it's enough to beat Brad DeVaris. I do. I do. So I think there's a ton of value on Wyden in this fight. And I feel like there's a ton of value on the prop by decision. Plus 500. I'll take the extra juice and take a shot on him. I think it's good matchmaking.

Leone, hello. Leone? All right. Not getting through. How about Riley? Hey, Riley. Orno in the UFC. He's fighting Gerald this weekend.

I was just wondering what you think could be next for him if he gets a win, seeing as his most recent losses. I mean, in amateur, he lost to Brian D. battle but before that he lost Aaron Jeffrey who was obviously doing really well in Bellator and then secondly do you think there's any chance that uh seeing as it's the ultimate fighter finale finale on Saturday that McGregor uh Chandler gets announced for uh December thanks Mike have a good one would be nice if it did I actually thought we're going to get that announce it on the actual show because the few people in the world who are like my best friend

Alexander Cayley who watched like every minute of every week. That should have been, they deserve to that payoff at the end of just a really tough season to watch and they didn't get it. So it could happen. I know Brad Catona has said in recent interviews that he thinks Connor's actually going to be there. We'll see. I know Chandler's going to be there. It'd be pretty cool to announce the fight on that card.

I mean, Conner's had some good history in the garden. It'd be a good little spot to announce it. But who the hell knows at this point? Who the hell knows? I'd love to see that. Leone, do we have you? Yeah, you got a... It's not working.

You have to, like, bounce out and try again. It's not even letting me bring you in right now. Let's go to Drew. What's up, Drew? Yeah, so Mike. You know, I want to fight this weekend, we have two polar opposites in the main event, really. You know, Sterling's game plan, it seems to be made clear. Just get O'Malley to the ground, and O'Malley said he'll die on the fact that he wants to keep this fight standing.

I wanted to see what you thought about the recent judging, how, you know, if Sterling takes him down, you could say, let's say Sterling has ground control for four rounds, but O'Malley lands the shots. I wanted to see what you think about that. We've seen now judges kind of take damage over control time, which I personally am not a big fan of, as we saw with Uhovic. But what do you think about that? And how do you think the fight's going to go? Thanks, Ed.

So I'll talk about Petrov. I forgot to talk about Petrovsky. It's a good fight. He deserves the Gerald Mearschart rub and the test. I do actually have a bet for science purposes, no bets about it, on Gerald Mearsher. I just think there's value at him at plus 220. I don't know how confident I am in that pick,

but this fight's going under, this fight's not going to last very long. It's not going to the cards. It's probably going to last about seven minutes at the most. And Mearsart is really good. Like, he's so valuable in the spot because you get the true test. Like, are you going to be a top 15 guy? If you go out there and you finish Gerald Mearsart,

yeah, you get a real good chance of being like a top 15 guy in the next year or two. But Mearshardt has showed up in the, these spots as well. So, and where Pedroski would go, he keeps calling up Bo Nicol. And if I'm him, I just keep calling him out. I don't think that's the fight he's going to get. But just keep doing it. Just be that dude and keep calling up Bo.

I like that a lot. With the Sterling-O-Malley fight, I don't know, because remember, we're going to get some like normal judges, but when these Boston cards happen, like we're probably going to see Steve, my man Steve Rita, refereeing a whole. fight at some point. We're probably going to have a local judge or two being mixed in there. I don't think they'll be a part of the main event, but I honestly don't think we have to worry

about this one going to the cards. I think either O'Malley's going to hit him with something big and knock them out, or Sterling's going to tackle him a bunch and eventually submit him. So, I am picking Al Jermaine Sterling. I get a bit of exposure on Al Jermaine Sterling.

I got a bet on Al Jermaine Sterling inside the distance at plus 175. I got a sprinkle on Al Jermaine Sterling in round two and Al Jemaine Sterling in round three. Like very small sprinkles, but it's like plus 900 for round two and like plus 1,200 for round three. And we're going to, we're going to know pretty, we're going to know by then like how this fight's going to play out.

And I'm curious to see the exchanges on the feet. And Shad O'Malley is pretty confident he could take Al Jal Jernaliyan down, which I think is pretty interesting. So it's such a fascinating fight. It's almost like it's meant to be for Sean. Omalley but on paper even i think Sean knows that aljurman sterling like should win but there's nothing more dangerous than a guy who has nothing to lose and to me Sean O'Malley is nothing to lose in this fight unless he just gets melted in seven seconds if Sean O'Malley loses all he needs to do is go beat

anybody and he's going to get a title shot that's it because Alex is going to be out of the division fresh matchups all he needs to do is go back and win one fight so all the pressures on Sterling. There's some pressure on Amali, but not a lot. This is as close to a house money challenger situation as there can be, in my opinion. Will he get some shit from fans if he loses? Yeah, probably, but how long is that going to last?

A week? And then he's going to go fight and, like I said, one more win. He's right back in there. So, Leonie, hello. Hey, what's up? So I wanted to kind of ask about, it was kind of related to this whole fight week. So me, I wanted to know, why do fighters say, like, you shouldn't have a manager? Because I have some friends in the UFC, and I see a lot of fighters saying this.

I'm an upcoming fighter myself. I don't really want to take any chances on ruining anything. So I just want to understand, like, why are people saying that? And, like, I do kind of understand because, like, you know, when you're not there yet, when you're not known, these managers kind of treat you like you're a nobody, but when you get there, I'm pretty sure they're going to start acting different. So I just want to know, like, how does that kind of go? Because for being somebody who's in this business, it's very hard to kind of get guidance from anybody who's, you know, believing a fighter is one thing, but somebody else who kind of gives like a different opinion on it or a third point of view on it or a different point of view on it would be, really good. So I just kind of want to try and understand what that's about. Thanks, man. So, yeah, this is obviously sort of a big talking point heading into this fight. And Sean O'Malley's brought it up a lot over the last year and change about just doing things on his own.

And I know Colby Covington has talked about that as well about handling his own career. And even Al Jermaine Sterling, well, he does have management. It's just like you just have to, there's got to be excellent. expectations, right? There are some very, there are a lot of managers in here. I have good relationships with pretty much all of them, where I could text them to confirm news and all this. And it's a pretty good relationship. Are there managers within the structure of the organization that have more pull and power? Yeah, I think it's pretty clear. I don't need to name names. I don't need to name anything. you can just do your homework and see what I'm talking about.

And there are a certain man, the power struggle behind the scenes at times is just, I hate it. And I was out with like my little brother and one of the dudes I went to high school with last night. And we're talking about kind of the darker side of the sport. And a lot of it does have to do with like how fighters feel like they're treated by management teams.

And oftentimes the powerful management teams, they get a lot of fighters in the UFC, they get a lot of favors that other managers won't, but they also kind of portray a certain thing where fighters almost think that they have to work for the manager, but in reality, the manager works for the fighter. So, especially for you specifically, I'm not going to put over any other manager over others,

But I will say this. Make sure you know what you're getting into and make sure you're not just getting a guy that's going to say, okay, I'm just going to send you the bout agreement I just got in my email. You want a manager that's going to go out and get you sponsors. You want a manager that's going to go and set up different opportunities for you. Look at Al Jermaine Sterling. Look at Al Jermaine Sterling and what he's doing right now.

Dude's got a new rum that's launching. He's got all these different sponsorships. He's got a podcast. He's doing different advertising, all this stuff. So he's working with the team that like helps provide him all that all that. Now I understand not every fighter has Al Jemaine Sterling money at this point. But you kind of grow and you get in there. And guess what?

I could just right now be like, hey, I quit. And if I'm a manager now. Like I'm an MMA manager. And guess, and I could do it. Like I couldn't do it. So that's that's kind of an issue too because when you talk about like the NFL and Major League Baseball and some of the powerhouses there. Like, I can't just be a major, I can't just be like, all right, I'm a baseball agent.

I'm a basketball agent. I'm a football agent. I'm a Hollywood agent. I'm Ari freaking gold. I can't do that. But if I wanted to be an MMA manager, I could just be like, all right, I'm an MMA manager now. You're my first client. You owe me 20% of everything you make until you make it to the UFC.

Ready? Shake by hand. And that's what kind of rubs people the wrong way as well. So eventually we're going to get. to a point where things are tightened down a little bit because this is a baby of a sport and I hope we get to a place where

like everybody's on the same page, everybody is at equal, on an equal playing field and that's just not the way that it is and it's not just a match, it's with fighters too. Like Conn-Morgerger is going to get more leeway than Austin Hubbard is going to get. Just the nature of the business and the nature of the beast. But it's kind of like that with everybody.

It's tough. it's tough. Just got to make sure the manager's looking out for your best interest. And there are some managers who are brutally honest. I've had conversations with the manager in particular about, you know, keep the circle small, even certain fighters who like want me to manage them. I just to say like, I'm just brutally honest with them. Like I don't think they'll tell them like, I don't think you're going to make it to the UFC.

And I'm not saying that to be an asshole. I'm just telling you like how I view what, could happen here. And maybe they rubbed that, that rubs them the wrong way. But there aren't a lot of people who are just going to tell you like it is. If I'm me, if I'm looking for a manager, I'm looking for that guy who's going to tell me like it is. If you think I can do this, cool.

If you think they can get booked for this, awesome. But if you don't, then tell me that. And I won't get my hopes up. So it's a tough racket, man. Like, I don't want to get any deeper, but just know what you're getting into. have multiple conversations before you pick one and make sure they're looking out for you and give you what you're looking for or what you want. Joe, hello.

Hey, what's up, Mike? Hey, man, who do you got in Colby v. Leon? I don't know if you already spoke on it. I came in a little late today. And how do you think they match up against Bala Muhammad, the winner? And about Sean O'Malley, do you feel like he could have had one or two more fights under his belt before Peter Yan. Because I feel like he got catapulted to that position.

Not saying he's not ready for it. I just feel like he would have, I think we would have saw a better O'Malley going into the title fight if he had that a little more five-round experience. Thanks, man. Look, that was a win-win fight for the UFC. That was a win-win fight. Because if Piarihan won and got back on track and did it in Abu Dhabi,

he would have came off looking like a star. If the fight was competitive, that's great for Sean O'Malley. It's great for Piotr-Yon. It's great for the UFC. And if Sean O'Malley somehow beat Piotr-Yon, then he gets a title shot. So I think this is more of like a Yon thing,

but obviously, Sean O'Malley would be crazy to not take the opportunity. So you probably would have liked to have seen him get more experience, and that's why I'm very exciting with Al Jermaine Sterling in this fight, because, I mean, the level of competition is just, there is no conversation. There is literally no discussion to be. be had. Shot-O-Malley fought Marlon Vera,

lost that fight, fought Piotr-Yon, and every other guy that he's beaten is not even in the UFC anymore. It's not the first time this has happened, and it's certainly not the last. But the rest, I mean, Al just fought everybody. And this guy

has fought a murderer's row for the last, like, seven years. And that's how you should have booked shot on Mal. You're trying to build a star here. And when the UFC wants to build a star, they will do it, and they will do it very well. And they did a pretty damn good job with Sean O'Malley.

So, yeah, would you have like to see him get more experience and fight the Cody Stamonds of the world and fight and fight some of these other guys in the way up? Sure. But Sean's just kind of one of those guys that learns as he goes. And I'm sure he learned a lot during the on-fight week and in the fight. He's going to learn a lot about being the main event of a pay-per-view this week, all the obligations that come with that. And if he does somehow win this title, he's going to be ready for it. And like I said earlier, if he loses, it's not a, like it doesn't affect him that much. He'll come out.

We'll see how he reacts to it. He's been saying Al Jermaine Sterling is the best Banimate of all time, which is a good thing to do. Very pro wrestling-like. The division will need a new champion and it's going to need a star. And Sean's the biggest star in the division. and the UFC is eventually going to find him a way to get that title, whether it's Saturday or not, they're going to keep giving him these chances.

So he's going to get the experience as he goes, and he's going to get a lot of opportunities to succeed as he's been getting as he'll continue to get. And again, that's how you build a star. They're doing it with Bo Nickel. They did it with Hamzaa Chimaif. If they want to make a star, they will do it. Simple as that.

All right, we'll go for a few. few more minutes. So if anybody wants to hop in, go right ahead. Check out No Bet Spard. I had some fun with the fellas. This is like one of the things I revealed on the show is I've only made one MMA bet in my life. And that was in Frankie Edgar, B.J. Penn to win the lightweight title. And I've never, I've never actually like placed an actual bet since then. But since they invited me at No Bet Spard, I wasn't going to be like, hey, you should do this, but not put my money where my mouth is.

so I actually got G.C. sent me a message and asked me to send over my bet so he could put him on the screen during the watch party and he was like, damn, because you got a bunch of action. But I'm also I'm also playing with like very little dollars here. Dylan, hello.

I don't know if I sort of waited for free for all Friday for this or not, but I'm curious, who's the MMA community going to back in Dylan Dennis versus Logan Paul? That's it. I mean, they're probably going to be rooting for like a double knockout if we're being honest. Maybe they both like slip and run into each other and just like break each other's sternums and just follow the mat and fights over in 30 seconds. That'd be fun.

And someone asked earlier about Leon versus Colby. How do I see it playing out? I get to dive into it more. It's close, man. Like it's real close. because Leon is clearly the more well-rounded guy he's got the better striking

ground game's pretty solid continues to get better or Colby does so well he does it so freaking well and his striking's getting better it's just going to be really tough to get him out of there so to me it's can Leon get out

to such a big lead early that Colby's going to have to be in finish mode or is this a fight where Colby can get momentum right away? And if he starts getting that momentum at any point in that fight, it's got to be awful for Leon Edwards. It's not going to be good. So it's super tight. It's a super close fight.

Right now, just off the top of my head, I would pick Leon Edwards to win that fight, but I'm not confident in that. And I think the more I watch tape and the more I look back on things, there is a world that I could certainly pick Colby Covington in that fight. it's a fight Colby can definitely win so it'll be an interesting matchup we'll take one more

four-ounce sniper hello yeah hey hey hey good morning just thought I'd hop on real quick what do you call it so I was just going to ask you I heard you say you're on no bet's bard I just wanted to know what is your like what is the biggest lock of the card

whether that be a fighter or a fighter prop maybe like an over one and a half of the main event or something like that what's the lock of the card That's all, Mike. Thanks, man. So the fight I have the most amount of exposure on, like for a single, like, my biggest single bet is Jean Wei Lee inside the distance at minus 120. That's my biggest bet on the whole card. And I have Zhang as a parlay piece as well with Ian Gary and Natty Ice.

And I also have a violence parlay wrapping things up under three and a half in the Jean. Zhang Lemoche fight parodied up with the under four and a half in the Sterling O'Malley fight. I feel very strongly about Zhang Wei Li. I just think she's on one right now. I just think she's the best strong way in the world. And I think Amanda Lemoche presents problems, sure. But if this fight happened two years ago, I might even pick Amanda Lemoche. But I just can't pick anybody against Zhang Wei at this point.

when she gets in there with Tatiana Suarez will I look at things a little deeper probably but until that happens I'm picking Zhang Wei Lee confidently against pretty much everybody I'm pretty confident in Natty Ice meeting Andrew Lee Andrew Lee can

is tough I don't know if Natty gets her out of there but I just think I think Daddy Ice is really really good and I feel like Ian Gary is going to have a really good night at the office on Saturday against Neil Magny. I don't know. I don't know.

I got a lot of action on this fight on this card. Like I said, not a lot of big dollars just for science purposes more than anything. But I feel like I get some good value

where I could get it and let's go. Let's go. And if you're going to tail anything that we talked about, go to Draft King's sportsbook use to code DM, may I or get yourself a deal.

All right. We are done. no show tomorrow. I don't know. Maybe I'll pop up at some point because we got obviously morning weigh-ins. I'm in Boston. So I'll be there.

I might even jump on the way-in show with the fellas. Might even jump on the way-in show. Then we're going to do a preview show not long after that. I think we're going to probably shoot for like noon Eastern time to do a preview show.

Then we got a Q&A at the garden. We got the ceremony of way-ins at the garden. And then there's only one thing left to do after that. So maybe I'll hop in it for like a half hour and just take questions or something. But we'll play it by year. But I definitely wanted to make sure I got one and got a show in today. So thank you all very much. Appreciate you.

Stick with M.Afighting.com. New episode of BTL launches on the podcast network at noon Eastern, I believe. So check that out. It's a lot of fun. And enjoy the rest of your Thursdays, everybody. And have a heck of a morning. Thank you.