MMA Fighting - HOAM | Is Charles Oliveira Best Lightweight Ever With UFC 280 Win Over Islam Makhachev?

Episode Date: September 30, 2022

Charles Oliveira is likely in the conversation for the best lightweight in UFC history with his current run, but will a win over Islam Makhachev in the main event of UFC 280 next month cement his place officially? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck answers that question, and gives his opinion on whether or not an Oliveira win puts him over Khabib Nurmagomedov or B.J. Penn in that conversation. Additionally, listener questions include Bo Nickal's UFC debut being set for December against Jamie Pickett, the UFC Hall of Fame, Bellator 286, ONE on Prime Video 2's promotion, Khamzat Chimaev's next move, advice for up and coming members of the MMA media, Calvin Kattar vs. Arnold Allen, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,

but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network.

September 30th, 2022, for the last time in September, it is a heck of a morning, live on the MA fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show shortly thereafter on the M. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a great start to the weekends. I am pretty much in the middle of Hurricane Ian right now. Luckily, it has not been as bad as forecasted. They said the overnight was going to be awful, but I actually slept like an absolute champion. It's one of the best night's leaps I've gotten in a while. And I woke up and the freaking power was still on, but it's just raining. It's really windy. Apparently,

the next few hours are going to get a little sketch, but we'll play it by ear. So far, so good. We're able to keep doing this show. We're able to get BTL done. Hopefully we can get preview show done before anything crazy happens. And yeah. So that's where we're at right now.

So far, so good. For those who are in Florida, especially like the Fort Myers area, some of the areas that have just been absolutely hammered by the storm. Shout out to you guys. Shout out to you gals. Hopefully everything's going to be all right.

Some pretty awful stuff going on in those areas. Devastation, especially in Fort Myers. It's tough to watch. So hopefully those affected shooting positive vibes your way for sure. So this is a free for all Friday. We can talk about whatever you want. We have a lot of MMA we can discuss. We have a lot of news we can discuss.

multiple events. We could talk about that stuff. We could talk about the MA media space. I got a couple of Instagram DMs, people who couldn't be here live, that had actually pretty similar MMA media questions. So we could talk about that. We can talk about whatever you want. So let's get into this thing.

Let us start with Zach. Zach will kick us off. Zach hello. Hey Mike, how are you doing this morning? help you and your family are doing well and are safe during Hurricane Ian. But first, I want to say three things, but first, thank you because ironically this weekend, we got Sadiq Youssef and Mike Davis, who are fighting in two separate fights, but a few months ago you told us to go back and watch that contender series fight, and I will agree with you,

that might be the best contender series fight I've seen. Previously, I thought Jack Del Madelan's fight was pretty intense, but that one was a great one, so anybody who hasn't seen that, check it out. Mike was definitely right there. but two more things. First, I had a question. So with Damon Jackson, he had a great win last time, and he was the underdog of 17.

And it's an interesting thing. As I looked back, he's five and one in the UFC. But have you ever had this with fighters where they get knocked out brutally like he did in the PFL when he was there and by Teporia? And you're like, is he really that good? But then you look and you see it, has there been a fighter that really has given you that similar thing that David Jackson has given to me. And the second one was a few months ago we were talking about, you know,

Cage Warrior fighters and stuff, not doing maybe as well as they have in the past. But when these new guys come in and promotionally, is there any regional promotions, whether it's domestic or international, where you see a guy coming in that you would let up, you should tell us that, hey, this might be a legit guy because he fights for,

you know, an LFA or a cage warriors or something like that. Thanks, Mike, and have a nice day. Thanks, man. Yeah, a couple really good questions there. Damon's a great example. I would, you know what, I'll, I'll say Damon and Julian O'Roy, Rosa are very similar because both guys, I mean, it's a little different. Like both guys had UFC runs prior.

Both runs didn't go well, especially like Damon Jackson's first UFC run was three fights. He had, he got submitted by a bulldog choke by Yancey Maderos. And then there was a no contest. And then it was a majority draw. And then he was done. And then he went to Legacy FC, which became LFA, and he went on a really good run. And then he went to the PFL and got knocked out brutally by Mowudkiblov in 10 seconds. And then he got another win at LFA.

And then he signed to the UFC, got the Gilly Choke of Mersad. And then he got brutally knocked out by Ilya, but since then beats Charles Rosa, finishes Camuela Kirk, beats Daniel R. beats Pat Sabatini in 70 seconds. Juliana Roses had a pretty similar run as well, but his most recent UFC run before this one, he was just getting destroyed in there. He was just getting run over.

And both these guys' stories are super impressive. Julian, I feel, is like a story that nobody talks about. I talked to Juliana Rosa, like, right after he got released from the UFC, and he already had booked another fight for a regional promotion. This is like in the Washington Pacific Northwest area. I think the promotion was called Cage Sports. And Julian had a fight, won the fight. And I remember talking to him before that one.

And I was like, dude, you've been like brutally knocked out and just beat up in all these fights. Like, what are we doing here? Like, is your family telling you not to do this anymore? Like, there's a part of me that was like, are you sure you want to keep fighting, man? and he assured me, listen, like when it's not fun anymore, I'm not going to fight anymore. So went in, won that fight, gets re-signed, short notice because of the pandemic. I think we can be honest with that. And then he finishes Sean Woodson.

And he's been on like this really good stretch since, both these guys. So I would say like both of those dudes are very similar in story where they can get finished. They can get finished multiple times. but the skill set is there, the heart is there, the drive is there. I really like, I actually like both those examples quite a bit. As far as, yeah, the Cage Warriors one, I'm telling you, you got to win some money if you just bet against Cage Warriors debuting fighters because they typically don't do very well. But, I mean, most of them are, I mean, LFA is obviously a good one.

there's, I mean, anybody from the Russian promotions are always very solid people to take a look at that come off the contender series. They're real good. Like, most of them are pretty similar, but those Russian promotions, some of the ones who, some of the Russian fighters like fight for Brave

and other different promotion, Eagle FC locally over there. Usually when they come into the UFC on like 9, 10 fight winning streaks, they're pretty legit. not always the most aesthetically pleasing, but if we're just talking wins and losses, those are pretty solid ways to look at it. But yes, and I agree, and I will say this again for those who have watched it.

Mike Davis, Sadiq Yusuf, if you have not watched their contender series fight, go watch it. It is the best contender series fight ever. They just beat the shit out of each other for 15 minutes, and it's everything you would hope for and more. It's the best. Let's go to Abs Wallya.

How you doing, ma'am? Hopefully, you and your family are doing very well, safe at Florida. I've heard it's a very hard time. Now on to business. So I have three things to ask. The last one is kind of a little bit of a statement, but I'll get to that later. But my first two questions is, what are your thoughts on Brunichael now that he's signed with the UFC? How far do you see his career, like trajectory in terms of skill?

And is he a future title contender or holder? how long could he potentially defend that title? And what are some interesting matchups you would like to see from him? My second question is this is kind of related to something Dana White recently said on his post conference back on Tuesday. He said he's potentially come back to Australia next year. And being there you're reported, do you have any insight potentially in what city they're looking at to return to?

because as a fan if they are coming Australia it'll be really interesting to know and my last one is this is just more of a statement in general off topic but you know if you look at the current Walterway contenders like Leon

Kobe Covington Gilbert Burns for example even Usman they had some really interesting win streaks prior to becoming you know title winners or contenders you know I think

it's funny because that's good But as great fighters as they are, I think they had some of the most overrated win streaks based on some of the situation. Like, you know, Kobe, for example, when he fought, you know, Damien Meyer, he came of a title loss. And I will give him that win, but I also say it's kind of overreak because Damien Amir was starting to decline. Or Gilbert Burns, when he fought, you know, Tybal and Woodley, he was not the same fighter. And then he fought, you know, he fought Gunnar Nelson who lost to Leon. And same with Leon, you know, he fought RDA and like a few other fighters who were like, okay you know but at the same time we also

thought people like Balal Vicente Lucrezso it's just a bit all over the place that's all I have to say my thanks yeah I think I mean I think there's a lot of that stuff the problem is oftentimes and it's a problem we still have at welterweight and it's the problem we have it lightweight too

is that it's hard for these up-and-comers to get fights with these top five guys because I don't like some people like say they're squatting on their rankings like I know that's the term used amongst the M.A. fighting staff on the ranking show a lot. I don't know if, like, I don't know if that's the word to use, but we're not seeing the Dustin Poriase and the Michael Chandler's

and the Justin Gage's, if you will, fighting the Armand Sarukians and the, I mean, we're seeing Gamrodot fight B'Neil Daryush, but Darius doesn't really have much of a choice here, unfortunately, which is insane. But we're just not seeing some of these big-name guys. like we're not seeing it welter we're not seeing colby fight rockmanoff we're not seeing belal fight rock bala i mean pala is like the one that's actually like belal Muhammad is actually the one who's who's fighting all of these up-and-coming contenders

like he's got vets he's got contenders he's got these like he's the one that's like legit fighting everybody but he's that's kind of the spot he's in right now so when we look at the resumes and we look at who guys have beaten like like, Bilala's at a pretty good run. He's just not a, he's just not a big draw. And then when the spotlight's on him, he just, he whiffs a lot. When he, with his callouts and things like that, it's like, you scratch your head a lot of the time. So I get what you're saying, but oftentimes it's just these are the only fights they can get right now.

There weren't a lot of guys that were jumping the gun to fight Kamar Usman when he was on his up, on his come up. Same with Colby. you know, Colby had that sort of, for a little while, Colby was the boring dude. He tells the story all the time that the UFC was going to cut him unless he got a little more exciting. Yeah, it's just kind of where we're at right now. As far as Australia goes,

all I'm hearing is first quarter of 2023, somewhere in the February-March range city. I have no clue. But they're just kind of, they're targeting the area at this point. and yeah, I honestly have no clue what's going on with like the exact location of that card or what they're going to do. But I would expect Volcanovsky to be on it. Probably Izzy, it'll be a very big deal. It'll be a very big deal.

Maybe Bobby Nucks. We'll see. Let's go to Viking MMA. Viking, hello. Good. How are you? I'm fine. Great show, BTL and the Bellatorre podcast on the other channel.

Great show. Thanks, then. I just want to ask if I say that that woman doesn't have fire to be an engineer, does that mean that I'm commenting a sexist comment? Is that a sexist comment? What? What is? If I say that particular woman doesn't have fire to be an engineer.

I don't know if I understand the question. I'm saying that that woman doesn't have fire to be an engineer. Oh, okay. Were we talking about BTL? I'm just asking a question to you because your boy was on fire on me last night. He blocked me and all the other stuff just because he thought I made a sexist comment. Okay. Come on, man.

I respect you and AK. I would never say such things even at front of you. I mean, come on, man. Just because I said that she doesn't have heard. That doesn't mean. I made a sexist comment, and I don't think it's a sexist comment. What about you? Okay.

I mean, it could be construed that way, but, I mean, if you tell me it wasn't, then it wasn't. So, I mean, I kind of know what you're talking about. I don't want to really dive into it here, but I kind of know what you're talking about. We'll sort of leave it at that at that point, but, I mean, people have opinions all the time. If you think, I mean, I've had enough people tell me that I don't have the fire. And I'm just like, all right, I don't know what to tell you. Like, not everyone is going to like everything you do no matter who you are.

So you just got to deal with it. And that's, I mean, that's really it. So it doesn't mean, like, if it's not meant to come off in a certain way, then you say that that was not your, the way you look at it, then there you go. I don't think you need me to tell you that. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ,

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Winners find fabulous for less. Let's go to Don. Don, what's up, my man? What's going on, Mike? How you doing, man? Heck of the morning, all that, James. Too sweet day. I know we're talking about MMA, but it's free fall Friday.

And you know I'm a big wrestler mark. So I was thinking about it. I was talking to my buddy. I was like, Edging Christian, great tag team. But Christian, I thought got the short end in the stick. I thought he was a better performer than Edge. Got me thinking. I wanted to ask you, who was a restaurant?

that you liked you thought was great but maybe the wb didn't push them well enough didn't give them a title shot that you thought who was a guy that you thought oh man they should run with this guy and they just never did uh have a great uh weekend all that jazz heck of a morning too sweet day all that man hmm it's like the the the one that always took up i've always had like a pretty good eye for that stuff um but the one that i mean it took a lot and it's hilarious to think about now but even before he went to WWE, it was always Chris Jericho to me. I always, I thought that guy was

the, I thought he was the man. I really did. I thought he was the man. I thought he was one of the best performers in WCW. He wasn't like a giant human being like Bill Goldberg, so he never really got his opportunity. He was stuck in that sort of cruiser weight place. And then he went to

WWF at the time and for a while, he was kind of in that same boat. He got a big push right away, came in with the rock and then just sort of was losing all the time and it was just weird like they just weren't giving him his shot and then eventually he just broke through and now like he's now it's just like annoying at this point how much he is getting pushes and stuff like that like the booking of chris jericho in a w is frigging terrible it's so bad the guy is 50 friggin years old he shouldn't

be beating these up-and-comers. Like the fact that Chris Jericho is a win over MJF, and I know it's pro wrestling, is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Now, I understand what he's trying to do now. He's got the Ring of Honor title. It's eventually going to get to Daniel Garcia, and it's going to be a big deal. But for a while it was Chris Jericho. But in hindsight, it's just like, God, I wish it could have gone better.

Like, I don't know. Like, I don't know what else we could have done. But now it's just like Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. It's insane. but I understand the question for sure. Let's go to J.D. And then we'll go to Noel and then we'll go to A&A.

J.D., hello. J.D., you got on mute. Hey, what's up, Mike? First time call I absolutely love everything you're doing. I was just curious if anyone has talked about the Angela Lee fight tonight. And then another question, what MMA legend do you think won't make it into the Hall of Fame?

Thanks, man. Oh, boy. I love the Angel leaf fight. We talked a lot about that on BTL. It's a great fight. The card's good. Like, the one card is good. It's not getting enough pub.

Not getting as much of a rub as it should be getting. But, hey, listen, later on tonight, 8 p.m. Eastern, throw on your Amazon Prime and watch that card. It's going to be a lot of fun. and we'll see what happens in that fight, but it's a good card. It's a good fight. That might be, it's one of the better fights of the entire weekend.

So definitely check that one out. It's just not getting enough push. I think one's done a pretty awful job, if we're being honest, in terms of getting that out into the public guy. But they did a great job at the DJ fight, but not so much of this one. So I'll just throw that out there.

But, um, oh, man, it's been such a crazy day. I forget all the questions. I forget all the questions. I remember now there's a there's a Bo-Nichael question in there, which I can address right now. Bo-Nichael's great. The dude's awesome.

And he's going to do very big things. I think he might be the best prospect in the sport right now. I don't know if he's completely, I think so highly of Muhammad Baha'iath and Sarukyan. But Bo-Nichael is definitely right up there with those. guys to do just so legit he's just he's so ridiculous and he's only three and oh he's only going to get better he's not in his athletic prime yet he's 26 he's only going to get better and that is just a a frightening thing to to think about but he's fighting jamy picket December 10th

I'm fine with the matchmaking I know some people felt he should have gotten someone like even in the top 15 but I i think this is I think this is fine. I think this is fine. And I think it's good for, honestly good for both guys. Jamie's in a tough spot. He's lost two in a row.

The UFC could have just, could have just axed him at that point. But they're giving them this chance. And Bo Nichols probably going to win. And like I've said before, I think I said this on BTL yesterday. If I'm Jamie Pickett, I am calling my internet provider.

and I'm saying, hey, cut out everything. Cut out my TV. Cut out my internet. Shut my phone down. I don't want any data. Turn off all your social media. Don't look at anything. Don't look at anything.

Don't look at anybody's reaction to the fight. Don't look at anyone's write-ups. Don't look at anybody's breakdowns. Because that's just going to mess with your brain. Everyone thinks you're the sacrificial lamb here. You got to ignore that noise. And the thing about Jamie is, It's not about wins or losses with Jamie here.

He just needs to go in there and give this kid a fight. If he goes in there and gives this kid a fight, even if he loses, even if he loses a 30-27, but he lands like some big shots and he makes Bow work a little bit. It's a moral win. And I know we don't get a lot of the moral victories in MMA, but that would be a moral victory. 100%.

So I like the matchmaking. If I were to guess what's going to happen, I think we kind of know what's going to happen. I think we kind of know what's going to happen, but if I'm Jamie, I'm just, I'm going out into the wilderness for the next three months and just ignoring everything and just focusing on the task at hand.

May not work, but yeah, I'm fine with the matchup. Noel, hello. Hey, man, what's up? Did you hear me? Yeah, I got to go. Yeah, I just have two questions. First question is Brandon Moreno, I have um,

figureero for, for next year for Brazil. I saw I was confirming Brazil, but I'm not sure if that is the main event or is it going to be a cool main event. And second question, Arnold Allen, Calvin Cater coming up.

So with Arnold Allen taking this win, do you see him taking on Max Holloway because of Ortega out because of injury? And Yaiard Emmett, not sure if that was going to be booked for this year. But what do you see Arnold Allen taking? If he takes this win, does he go for Max Holloway, or does he go fight Emmett or Yaiyar Rodriguez to be in that top three spot? Thanks, man.

Thanks, man. Yeah, I'm not really sure. He's an interesting spot right now. He beats Gavin Cater. He's a win away, so it's just kind of you take what they can give you. Yair has already said, I'm not fighting anybody but Volcanowski for the undisputed featherweight title. We know how much Dana loves that. So maybe Emmett, because I don't think Emmett's going to sit there and plant his feet too hard that he's getting a title shot.

So who knows, if Allen goes out there and it's a great performance, they might turn Arnold around quickly because we don't know what's going on for a lot of these cards right now. Like we don't know what's going on in December. We don't have a made event for either card right now, for either December or January. you bring up figure eight on Moreno that's not done yet I know the report saying that it was close to being finalized it's being discussed right now but to say that it's not even like officially agreed upon yet

I will say that but that's where the discussions are ongoing but we're also what October November we're four months away so that's cool but yeah that's not even officially on that card yet I expect it to be there but it's not officially there just yet. And then we also don't know what's going on December 10th. So if, like, Arnold Allen beats Calvin Cater, maybe they do the interim featherweight title fight between him and Josh

Emmett on that card. That's fine. You could do that or I don't know. But that's something you can keep in mind because I don't know what Yair is thinking. Every time Yair says things, it's usually something that's going to piss the UFC off. So, yeah, it's kind of a wait and see with Arnold Allen. and Figgie Moreno, I expect it to happen on that Brazil car, but to say that that is definite thing is just not right as of right now.

Let's go to Ahead. The people's champ. What's up, Ahead? Yes, I can. So I'll tell you, obviously we all saw Boa Nicol and Jamie Picky and Ossie 282. I'll tell you the biggest loser of that announcement. It was Darren Till. Darren Till was full of regret when he talked.

and he was like, I'm going to drive my left hand through Bo Nicol's skull, and Bo Nicol called it cute. Darren Till must have been full of regret because, bro, Darren, in my opinion, he had the most favourable matchup against Drickus Duplice. Like, Drickis is a bit like bulky and he, I feel a little gas out, and Darren's really sharpshooter. I actually think Darren would have been able to just build himself back, but he had to, like, shoot his own foot and say something about Bo Nickel.

that way. All he could have said, Mike, is, oh, congrats to Bo Nicol. I'll see you down the line. All the best. But no, I'll drive my left hand through your skull. So now, because they're both on the same card, if Bo Nichols smart, which he is, he smashes Jamie Pickett, he calls out Darren Till. I expect Darren Till to beat Drickers 2 plus this. And then that's it. Darren is done. Darren can't say anything. And about the main event for 282, it's a lot of. It's a lot of Isn't it a bit crazy, Mike, that we're at this point, we still don't know what the main event is. Still, like, as it usually you know by now, and for me, I'm going to call it, I think it could be Colby and Hamza, because Colby needs to fight. Colby cannot waste time and waste another year of his career in his prime.

He should be fighting before the end of this calendar year. So I think it could be Colby and Hamza. And last, I think someone mentioned it. I mentioned it before, one championship. I have to say it again. Like, it was so bad, the promotion. I said this yesterday, but do you think if Angela Lee wins the second title

and maybe one more title win, she leaves one championships and comes to the UFC, where, you know, her name can, she can be done justice. And like, what the hell are one championship doing? They've got a market. They found the gap in the market. The Muay champion, Tuan Chai,

one of the sharpest shooters. they're doing the first submission grappling championship on the undercard of Angela Lee with a five-time world champion and a guy that went on Joe Rogan's podcast, Mikey Musamichi, and they've messed it up completely. What do they do? Because they had a chance that they've messed up. Drop the mic, Mike. Yeah, I feel like we've heard that about one for years now.

They've had the chance and they messed it up. That's the problem. That's the problem. And like, FFL does a lot of the same stuff where it's just like, we have all these people and we know it.

So let's do something to prove that we are completely wrong in that sense. And that's what one's kind of doing here because the viewership for this card is going to be awful. And it's kind of a shame because it should be better for everything I had just mentioned.

It should be much better. But unfortunately, it won't because there's been very little promotion for this card. and that's the problem. Now, will Angel Lee move on to the UFC or another place like that? I don't know.

I think Angela's pretty happy where she's at. She's got Christian fighting, her sister's fighting. It's probably going to be somebody else from her family. Like, they can be the fighting family in one organization. And I'm sure one pays her very well. I'm sure they pay her great. They're very supportive of her when she wanted to take time off,

very supportive during the pandemic. I know Angela wanted different fights, but it couldn't happen. And Angela's got other aspirations besides just fighting. And I feel like, I feel like the UFC would be kind of a tough spot for her.

I don't think, I don't think she's get, like, I honestly think Bellator would be the best spot for her, but she'd have to be like a complete flyweight at that point. And I don't know. But I think she's got to stick around where she's at.

As far as the 282 made event, yeah, it's very weird. It's very strange. I don't know what we're going to do. Again, it all depends on what's going on in the heavyweight divisions. It all depends on Francis Ghanu if he's going to resign or if he's not going to resign. And if I'm Francis, every day that goes by, your leverage gets even stronger. Because now you know they need to fill these cards with big fights.

And they know John Jones is in the conversation. And they know they can make the UFC sweat a little bit. They can make John Jones sweat a little bit. they can wait till the 11th hour they can wait till new year's eve and say hey still haven't made our decision yet and just play this out

I don't know what we're going to do now if they do Hamzat Colby that'd be really interesting I don't think they'll go that route I think they'll like I think if we get down to the 11th hour or it's like all right what do we do I think they'll end up going with the Uri Perash to Glover fight but yeah

Hamzaa Colby would be great to make I already said like December 3rd which by the way I have reached out to multiple people about that Orlando card the original plan was this is not going to be an Orlando card the UFC didn't know what they were going to do so the initial plan was the Derek Brunson

Jacker Manson fight I'm told that that is not 100% the case that that is not definitely the main event for that card so cards still being worked on from what I'm told the main event still being worked on. There's a couple of different options.

But to me, and I've been saying this for a while, Colby versus Hamzut could headline that card. That'd be awesome. And then just shift around the television rights and just put that one on ABC. That'd be a huge. Do it in Florida. Be a very big deal.

But we'll see. I know there's a lot of people who are thinking, maybe they'll do Corey Sanhagan, Marlon Vera is the main event of that, which I'd be totally down for. there's nothing really to that as of right now but the only thing I know is when it comes to that December 3rd card Derek Brunson versus Jacker Manson

is not 100% a lock to headline that one so keep that in mind and it's going to be an interesting last quarter that's for sure let's go to AA AA1-1-1 what's up I've been thinking

of the UFC taking a big risk fast-tracking all these guys you know, Humsat fought what four times, then for Gilbert Burns. You know, you've got Alex Pahatta. He fought, what was it, three times, and now he's fighting for a title, and seemingly Bohn Bownicle has now, is probably on the fast track as well.

Not to discredit any of these guys' talent, but are the UFC doing it too often? Like, is it too risky to do it with so many fighters to just fast track all these guys constantly? does this if this makes any sense um that's all i've got hope hope everything's okay over there have a heck of a morning i'll just say you know it's past midnight in australia so it is the first episode of october and have a good day man oh look at that awesome well happy october to everybody in australia appreciate that uh yeah i the fast tracking thing

the uc's actually been pretty good with this there are times where they're horrendous it where they put like Johnny Walker is a perfect example of how they've been horrendous at some of these things but for the most part I think they've learned a lot of lessons they've just it's just been kind of an embarrassment of riches for them to get these sort of generational talents like look at Muhammad Mahayev right now to me Muhammad Mahihani is going to be he is going to be the flyweight champion the first chance he gets to fight for that belt, he's going to win it. He's going to win the title. He's that good. I think he's that good. I think he's so good that he's going to win two belts. That's how

highly I think of this guy. And I know a lot of people poo poohed his last fight, but to me, that performance should terrify the rest of this division because he is explosive. He is capable of just landing a flying knee, dropping you and tapping you. But if he needs to just take you down a thousand times, he will. And that should be terrifying to these guys. But they're not fast-tracking him. They could. You could throw Mahia, like, you could throw Mahia into a top five fight tomorrow,

and there's a very good chance he'd win that fight in this division. But they're not doing that. They were like, they're slow rolling him a little bit. And he's an incredible talent. With Shamiath, I mean, just lightning in a bottle, what can you do? You have to just roll with it. Pereira is, this is why they signed him in the first place. The whole goal of getting Alex Pereira in the UFC is to set up this fight that we're getting in November.

And they've done a really good job with it. Pereira hasn't beat awful fighters. He's beat some good ones. And he, the amount of buzz that Sean Strickland had heading into that fight was massive. It was gigantic. And Pereira just dead at him. now you get the fight you got everything you wanted here and if perera wins they're probably gonna run that one back now you get it twice like this is it's an embarrassment of riches for the

UFC and then beau nichols a different example but we don't know what they're going to do with though we don't know what they're going to do he's fighting jamy picket who i said give him like a middle of the pack guy and if we're being honest jamie picket is not a middle of the pack guy He's more in the back end of the pack kind of a guy. So it doesn't seem like they're like throwing him to the wolves right now, but it'll be interesting to see what they do next. If he goes out there, it does what a lot of people think he's going to do. The opening odds are minus 1,800 for Bo Nickel.

That's insane. For a UFC debut for a 3-0 fighter, that's wild. Crazy. Let's go to Jay. Jay, what's up, man? What's up, Mike? Can you hear him? Yep, I got you.

Hey, so I have two quick questions. The first one is, so if you have RDA, Nick Diaz, and Robbie Lawler, all three of them had a chance to get into the UFC, but only, I'm sorry, actually, only two of them get to, and you have to cut one, which one are you cutting out of those three? And the second. What are the names? RDA, Robbie Lawler, and Nick Diaz. Oh, God, okay. And then my next question is, I don't know if the fight is booked or not, but I've been seeing online that RDA. is finding Brian Barbarina in Desa on the December 3rd card.

If it is true, why not just wait a month and put it on the Brazil card? I'm not understanding that. But those are my only two questions. Thanks, Mike. Have heck well morning, man. Thanks, man. Yeah, I don't think we've, like, fully confirmed that one yet. Maybe we did.

The RDA bought Barbarina fight. I think maybe we confirmed, like, one half of it. But, yeah, I don't know if we fully confirmed that one. Maybe we did. I'm not sure. But I like the fight. But we got, we got to fill these cards up with something. Yeah, I get where you're coming from, throwing RDA in Brazil, and Barbarina would go over there.

Of course. And the Brazilian fans would probably like Brian Barbarino, no matter what the outcome, the outcome of that fight would be. The three names you mentioned, if I had to cut one of them, I'd cut Nick Diaz. I don't want to see Nick Fight again. and I'm stunned that I've got to see Nick fight again. I mean, it was, listen, it wasn't great. It was more fun than I thought it was going to be. Nick didn't look like himself.

He didn't look like you wanted to be there. And I just don't like seeing guys with doubts in their minds when they walk into a cage to fight another person. And I don't want to see the UFC throw him in there with a monster, which is, I mean, it wouldn't stun me if they did that. So, yeah, give me Nick, just because, like, I just don't know if he's ever going to fight again. And if that's the case, I'm kind of okay with that. It's not just like, it's not like a jerk cutting.

It's just the dude clearly doesn't want to be there. So let's just let him go. And you can go follow Nate and those two dudes can take over the world together. They can build this fight promotion. And I'm not saying Nick should never fight again, but. Nick should probably not fight in the UFC anymore. I don't think I'm out of line saying that. Let's go to Luis.

Luis, you're there. Hi, you and Mike, can you hear me? Yep, I got you. How are you? Now I can't hear you. Louis, I can't hear you. Mike, can you hear me? Now I have you. Yep. I hear you.

All right, try to get good, man. Oh, I lost you. Jump back in. Jump back in. I'll get you. I was having a hard time. You were coming in and out, but we got you. I'll get you in next.

Zeke, what's up, man? Oh, no. Zeke, you're not hearing you. All right, let's try Lewis again. Let's see if we can make this happen. Louis, are you there? Okay, Mike, Mike, is Luis there? Mike, what do you think?

You think it's possible, really possible? Shimae versus Costa. This is the first one. And the second, Moreno versus Figuero in Brazil. Wow. what do you think who will win? I think

it's a great, great fight, a great history. What do you think about that? Thanks, man. Shamiya of Costa, yeah, I mean, if Shamaev's going to fight at 185, if they can't put this Colby fight together,

because that's the what, like Shamaif Colby is the fight. That is the fight you make. If they can't get it done, if Shimae's just like, nah, I can't do $170.70. It's just not going to happen. Then you do that.

And you put it on the Brazil card. That's where you do it. And I'm totally cool with that. Again, Figgi Moreno 4, not done for Brazil just yet. I know reports have come out saying otherwise we've reached out and asked about it and we were told it's not done yet.

It's not even agreed upon yet. But that date is being discussed. So if that is the case, and it should be the case, that's where this fight should happen. Hmm. I don't know, man. It's tough. I actually, I scored, and I know some people, like, give me a bunch of shit for this, but I don't care. I went back and rewatch it, and I still feel the same way.

I thought Moreto won the third fight. It's very, very close, but I thought Moreno won the third fight. So I thought, and I thought that was as good as Figgy's going to get. get had all that training with Suhudo and company and they had a great game plan and he gave Moreno the best fight he possibly could and I still thought Moreno won

but I'm not screaming robbery or anything like that you want to score for Figgi cool I scored it for Moreno I've watched it multiple times my mind has not been changed at all but it was just like a 4847 close close really competitive

fight I would pick I would pick Moreno again. I mean, I picked Marino the second fight. I picked Marino the third fight. I would probably pick Marino again. But we are on Davidson's Hope and Turf. Maybe that changes things.

I just don't know how many more times Figurato can make 125. Like, I feel like that weight cut just kills him every time. Now, he was in, he looked great, and didn't look to be, didn't look to struggle all that much for this last, fight, but again, he was also with Sohudo's team. They were at Neuroforce getting his body down, but that took a long time.

I just don't know if he could, like, how many times more he could do that. So I'm sticking with Moreno to win a decision. I think it's a great fight. And if you want to throw those dudes in there, fifth, six, seven, eight, nine, ten times, I don't care. Do it. I'll watch those guys fight every three months for sure. I'm all in.

Let's see if we can get Zeke in here. Mike can you hear me now Got you Perfect How are we doing on this Heck of a Friday? We are wet and windy But we're good

Free for all Friday I hope you could get You know maybe a punch of a while When we're going outside Avoid the elements And stay safe during this hurricane season However I got two for you I will be short and I'll be sweet

First off Our guy Greg You got a match He's fighting Brad Tavares It looks to seem This looks to be that top 15 bouts that we thought Greg might evidently get after this last performance. How do you think he matches up against Brad Tavares?

I'm on team, Greg, all day. Number two, this is a tough question to ask, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Bone Nickel or Mohamed McAyev. Who holds more titles? Who holds the title longest? Who gets the title first? Thank you for having me, Mike. Boy, boy, that's a great question.

I'm going I'm going Mikef man I think Mohiaf's going to win I think Mohammed's going to win two titles I don't know if Bo is going to win two titles but I feel good about

Mohammed winning two titles and I think Maheuf will have the longer reign he's just so young so I'm going to put that into account but again if Beau gets to a title

and wins it he could be champion for a very very very long time just a matter of That's a great question. It's not a bad problem to have of you, the UFC. That's for damn sure. And then Robocop, Brad Tavares, perfect matchmaking.

It's exactly what you want to do. Exactly what you want to do. Brad's going to give Robocop a fight. He's durable as hell. You can take shots. It'll be interesting to see what happens if that one gets to a third round. And you've got to do it in Brazil. The object of this fight is to try to get Gregor Rodriguez as over as possible.

because he got a lot of shine from that win over from that win in his last fight and, you know, the cut and everything, I mean, he was the most talked about guy coming out of that card. Even the main event, he was the most talked about guy coming out of that card. So the UFC sees that. So we're going to give him a step, a little bit of a step up in competition. And we're going to do it in his hometown.

We're going to do it in his home country and let his peeps get after it. So, yeah. I like it. Let's go to Kana. Gana, you're there. Unmute, and we got you. Oh, yeah, I'm your. Hi.

Hi. I have a question that, is there any chance that we'll get to see Demetris Johnson back in the UFC? Probably not. Probably not. Now, believe me, I would love to see it. I'd love to see DJ in there with Figgy and Moreno and, and some of these up-and-comers. But I mean, if I'm DJ,

there's no incentive to go back to the UFC. He's already done everything he can. He's considered, in a lot of people's eyes, the best fighter of all time. And a lot of that stems from what he did in the UFC. He's got the record for the most consecutive title defenses. The dude's getting more appreciated now than he ever was being in the UFC.

So he's making a floppy-dict. jillion dollars at one. So no, he will not be fighting in the UFC. And there's no reason for him to want to come to the UFC. The dude fights when he wants to fight, the company essentially caters to him. They promote the crap out of him and they pay him a ton of money. And they'd let him do different things. They'd let him do these like weird alternate universe, alternate round type of fights. He wants to do a moitai fight. They'll let him do a moitai fight. They want him do a grappling fight, they'll do a grappling fight. I think DJ's, I think DJ's as happy as he could be right now being with one championship.

So, yeah, no chance he comes back to the UFC. And I'm okay with that. What else does this do we have to prove in the UFC? And then he comes back and what's the UFC going to do? Promote him for one fight and then just let him just fight and not promote him. I know. I think he's already done that dance a few times. Cleave, hello.

Hey, how you doing, Mike? Good, everyone good, man. I agree with you with the DeFigy and Moreno. The last fight they had, I felt Moreno edged it out three to two, three rounds to two. But my question is about Islam and Oliveira. If Olivera gets past Islam, do you think that makes him, like, it shows that he has potentially to be the greatest lightweight of all time? And what is your predictions on the Calvin Cater and Arnold Allen fight?

So a lot of people is sleeping on that fight. That is a damn good fight. And that's it. Thank you. Thanks, man. That is a great fight. Cater and Allen. And it's a fight that, I mean, I've talked about that fight for so long and

on to the next one and stuff. It's a fight that the UFC has wanted for a long time. It's a fight that Calvin Cater's team has wanted for a long time. They just think it's a fun matcher for the fans. And I think Cater's going to win, but I think it's just, I think it's going to be a super competitive, ridiculously close fight. Just a insane, crazy fight. So I'm looking forward to that.

As far as the, I'm going to pull them up right now. I'm going to pull up the old resumes and take a gander at both these guys' records between Habib and Charles Olivera. Because to me, I think Charles Olivera is already in that. conversation of being the best lightweight of all time. I just think his run, his strength of schedule is way better than Habib's. It's just not even close. And I know, like, a lot of people look at the zero.

That's what they look at. So let's play this game. We're going to talk about the last, the most recent. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. We'll go last eight fights for both guys. Last eight fights for both guys. We'll start with Habib Narbaghamedov. RDA, that was in 2014.

Then he was out for two years. Beat Darrell Horcher, who isn't even winning fights in Eagle FC right now. Michael Johnson, which is a good win at the time. Edson Barbosa, ally Quinta, Connor McGregor, Justin Porier,

Justin Gachey. Pretty good. Pretty good. Oliver, Jim Miller, David Tamer, finish. Nick Lentz, finish. Jared Gordon, finish. Kevin Lee, finish. Tony Ferguson, this is coming off of the Gaichi loss

where everyone, people still thought Ferguson was El Kakoui, ran his ass over. Michael Chandler, finish. Dustin Porre, finish. Dust Justin Gaetchi finish. I think Oliver's resume, just look at the rest of it too Christos Ghiagos, which

ages pretty decently, Clay Guida, finish, Paul Felder loss is the one that a lot of people go back to. Beatswill Brooks had a couple losses along the way to Max Holloway, Ricardo Llamas, Anthony Pettis. This is at 1.45. But since coming back up, man,

geez, Louise. Guida, Gagos, Miller, Tamer, Lentz, Gordon, all finishes except for the Tony Ferguson fight. Oliver is in the discussion. He's absolutely in the discussion. And according to like Habib's coaches and teammates, they feel like Islam is the best lightweight of all time.

Javier Mendes said that even with Habib, Islam is the best 55 where he's ever seen. So Charles Oliver beats Islam Makhchev, you can make a strong case he's the best lightweight of all times. 29 and 0, I know the zero, whatever, all various losses. But we're talking about, it's not all, I mean, it's obviously about the whole resume, but top to bottom, Oliver's fought tougher competition. He just has.

He's had better competition. He's had better opponents than Habib. Habib just fights the dudes he's put in front of. Like the Darryl Hortcher fight was supposed to be Tony Ferguson. And this is who they offered. and this is who he beat. So, yeah, all of his definitely in the discussion.

If he beats Islam, in a lot of people's eyes, he's going to be the best light rate of all time. And I know BGA Penn's in that conversation too, but I think that changed. Michelle, what's up? Yeah, I just wanted to say about, I don't know if you've seen this about Leah O'Michita

and his manager was talking about... Oh, God. He was reaching out, apparently he reached out to one of the matchmakers about him fighting Shogun Hura. as like a retirement fight, because I know, obviously, I was there when you're not having been to London.

I'm sorry I didn't know your opinions on it. Based on that last, I probably know what's coming, but I don't know I'd feel about that, but I don't know if it's true. I doubt it, but closure. Look, did they reach out to the UFC? Probably.

Like, do I believe that at least a reach-out happened? Yes. Do I think there is any chance in hell that the UFC thinks this is a good idea? no, absolutely not. That will not happen. Why would the UFC do that? Why would the UFC do that?

Now, if Leonardo Machita said, hey, I'll come in on contender series money and fight Shogun, if it's Shogun's last fight, would they think about it? Not for long. I'd still think they'd say no, but there's no way Leota's not coming in

wanting big money for this opportunity. They're not like, he just got, brutally caoed in Bellator by a guy who would not be a top 40 middleweight in the UFC's division. And now he wants to, or light heavy way or whatever, and now he wants to come back. There's no chance that happens. It's a horrendous idea. I literally have no interest in this whatsoever.

I would rather see Jake Paul fight in the UFC than see Leona Machita fight in the UFC right now. And I know that's like a harsh thing to say. And I'm not saying this to like downgrade what Leota Machita has done. because Leonardo Machita was great. He was the champion of the world. He's one of the best fighters in the world at one point. But he's not that anymore. He's not that anymore.

So no. I mean, I couldn't have any less interest in an idea than that. I mean, good on his team for trying, but it's just not going to happen. And no one's to see that. Nobody. Boating for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

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Hey, Mike. How are you? Happy Friday. Good. How are you? So you as well. You told me that you do this all the time, and I thought it was funny. But I ask you three questions, and you always say you missed the middle one.

and you did it yesterday. So I'll just ask you that when it kind of combined it. So the question I asked yesterday was with Pitbull going down to 135 after this fight, how do you see that going for him in Beltaire? But I kind of had another question that I kind of wanted to tie in there. I was thinking about as well. So let's say, for example,

if Josie Alzo actually got released from his contract like in full, and I was listening to Damn They Were Good It's probably more like a JET question But They were talking about like his One hit spice he had where he was able to use soccer kicks And things of that nature

You probably know where I'm going with this If he was released And if he would have a retirement fight in Rising in Japan And being that Bellator Also works with Rising Would you like to see a Pitbull versus Joseo Aldo in Ryden with soccer kids. And how do you think that would go?

And how do you think that would be perceived by like MMA, Twitter and in general? Thank you. That's all that. Thanks, man. Yeah. It's not going to happen, but I'll play your game. Because I just don't think Joseph's going to fight in MMA ever again.

I would pick Joseo to win that fight. It would be a brutal knockout. Not taking anything away from Patricia. I just think Joseo is one of the first of them. of the five best fighters to ever fight. And I think right now, he's still one of the 20, he's still one of the 20 best fighters in the world.

I think Patricia Pitbull is good. I think he's the best fighter ever for Bellator. But he's lost, as Jed likes say, he's lost his fastball. He's going to have a hard time. Like I think Jose Ola would work Adam Borch right now. I think Patricia's going to have a hard time with Adam Borch on Saturday.

I definitely think he's going to have a hard time on Saturday. I think he'll win, but it's going to be close. But yeah, soccer kicks. Aldo's going to win that every single time. All right. We'll take everybody that's in line right now. We'll start with the promoter. Maybe.

Promoter, do we have you? Unmute. What's up, ma'am? I'm good, man. So I have just one question, ma'am. Now, what do we do with that journeyman, Jorge Masuah. Thank you. Oh, I have some shots fired.

What do we do with Mazza? Listen, I like the Burns idea. I like the Connor idea, especially with Connor being like as bulky as he is right now. Like Connor 170 isn't the worst idea in the world. I'd be fine with that fight. But listen, we live in a very strange place right now. We live in the quote unquote money fight era. And despite where Mazadol is right now, and despite what has happened over the last few fights,

if Leon Edwards meets Kamar Usman, there is a very real world that we live in that Jorge Mazadol fights for the UFC Welterweight title in his next fight. It's insane to think about. We live in this meritocratic society, but this is not meritocratic at all. But it's a huge fight. It would have to be in London, obviously. But yeah, I like the Burns idea. I like the, I like the Connor idea. I actually like the, I actually don't hate Shemayev.

Like, I don't think that fight goes well for Mazadol, but Mazadol wants it. Like, Mazadol said he'd fight him. And he said, like, the one holdup is like, show me you can sell pay-per-views and generate interest. And there are very few more interesting in this space right now. There are very few fighters that people want to, to watch more next fight than Hamza At Chamaio.

So I think he has options. He's still a star. He's still a huge name. I like the Burns idea. That'd be my first choice. But if you want to do Connor versus Mazadol, I'm totally fine with that. Just fun fights. But don't rule out the title fight thing because as much as it doesn't make a ton of

sense, it would make a lot of dollars. Hey, Mike. King Cat, hello. Hey, Mike. I was taking a sip of tea there. Okay. So my question is, well, actually, the listener before asked this question, and you were like, you couldn't remember the question.

So I wanted to ask it again because I thought it was a good question. So he asked what, like, MMA legend or UFC legend do you think doesn't make it in the Hall of Fame? I thought that was a good question, too, because I was talking to a buddy of mine about Dominic Cruz. Like, Uriah Faber is in the UFC Hall of Fame, and Dominic Cruz has, you know, won that trilogy. so does he automatically get in, but I could also see them not putting him in. So what UFC MMA legend do you think does not make it into the UFC Hall of Fame? Thanks. I mean, Frank Shamrock's probably the easiest answer because he's still not in.

And they are, I mean, the relationship between the UFC and Frank Shamrock is just not the same. So that's my obvious choice. I think, I mean, Dominic Cruz is going to get in. Dominica, like, because you have to understand that, the UFC Hall of Fame is not an MMA Hall of Fame. This is not, this is not Cooperstown, New York. This is the UFC saying, here, these are our guys and we're going to put them in the Hall of Fame. Like, the fact that Jen's Pulver is not in the UFC Hall of Fame is an absolute, it just shows how much of a joke the Hall of Fame kind of is in a lot of ways. Like, if you look at the names and

some of the people that are in there, like, cool. Like, like, like, Habib should definitely be in the Hall of Fame. D.C. should be to the Hall of Fame. A lot of these other guys, business, like, a lot of people that are in the Hall of Fame should probably be in the Hall of Fame. But Jen's Pulver is not in the Hall of Fame. Frank Shamrock's not in the Hall of Fame.

It's a joke. It's a joke. So those are the two. Cruz will be in. He's got a good tight relationship with DFCs on the broadcast team. He'd get in anyways, but there's, I mean, unless he comes out and does like,

an interview just completely slandering the UFC and like slap standing across the face he's he's getting in a lot of these guys are getting in although we'll probably be in next year and he should be but yeah I mean Jens palver is hopefully that changes like Jens is doing a lot with the UFC now like a lot with their streaming service

and there's a lot of different things with watchalongs for these cards and things of that nature so hopefully they give him a chance to get in, but Frank Shamrock will always be the one that's like, what the hell, dude? Because, like, the UFC's mad at him and vice versa. It's just so stupid. Let's go to George.

George, what's up, buddy? I hear nothing. All right, George, try again. Let's go to MMAJ. Unmute MMJ, we got you. I hear nothing. All right, try to jump back in. Tristan.

Yep, I got you. Just real quick on Mahano Akayev, I understand everybody, you know, I understand everybody's excited about him. And, you know, I think, obviously, I think he will be champion, flyweight champion, or like he said, maybe become double champ, but I don't think he's going to be around very long. I remember watch, he said it to Red Okamoto. He said straight up, he was like, yeah, man,

I'm not going to be around very long. I'm not going to be in this sport very long. And he doubled down on it when he spoke to his full reptile. And the reason by it is because, because his Muslim faith, he has said it's forbidden for him to fight. And I think, I remember Barry Okamoto asked him, why did you even start? He was like, well, I'm already in it.

You know what I mean? I'm already in the UFC, so I'm not going to stop now. But if he goes, he wins the belt. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes the gloves off in the monitor. It's been fun and peace. Now he'll piss a lot of people off, especially Dana. I'd be like, yo, you just won the bell. Now you're not going to defend it.

You're retiring. He's going to, I know he's going to be like, oh, I told you this when I was, I told you this, you know, in 2021. Like he said this a couple months ago, and he doubled down on it. So listen, I mean, that's why I haven't been too excited.

I know Mackay's, the kid, really, I think he's going to be champ at some point, but I don't think he's going to be champ for long. You know, I wouldn't be surprised. Now, maybe that changes. Maybe as he gets older, he loves it and he stays in for a very long time.

But the way he talked in that interview, he was very determined because he's really deep in his Muslim faith, just as Habib and all those other guys are. like when they say something they're going to stand by it. So, you know, I guess we, you know, that's why he's trying to get as, you know, as many fights as he can. That's why he's calling out the top guys in the flyweight division

as quickly as he can. And then I think he's calling the career. I just really believe it because just the way I looked at him in that interview and the way he was speaking, he was very serious about that. So, I mean, I'm just at the point where I'm going to enjoy him, enjoy his journey, enjoy everything that he's going to do now and appreciate it because he's not going to be around.

I have a strong feeling he's not going to be around for very long. I know he's very young, 22, but I wouldn't be surprised. And he gets to his athletic prime. He's been like, yep, it's been in front of guys. I told you this guy. I told you this that I'm not going to be around for very long. And then I also wanted to talk, Mike, what's the whole thing? I don't think I've really watched him.

Adam Porrex, who's fighting pit bull tonight, I mean, Saturday. What's this guy reporting him? Because I don't think I haven't seen him. fight before. I heard he's really good. He did beat Aaron Pico with a jumping knee, with a flying knee. And that's why I heard, I was listening to Aaron Pico. That's why he wants Borks to win that fight against Pipple. So he gets that rematch and get revenge for it. So, I mean, how good is Adam Borks? I'm not really sure. I don't think I've really seen a fight before. So, and then my last point, it's got, for the December 3rd card to headline, it's got to be somebody, it's got to be one of

these guys, it's got to be wonderful and Kevin Holland, because that's my only thought process. Because if you're doing, my thinking is if you try that, because he won't turn down the fight, that's good with Burns. I don't think he'll turn down any fights, but I think he probably may, the UFC may want to save him for the Brazil card.

And Jeff Neal, and then, you know, I'm thinking about Rachmanov and Piero, but I think, again, Pierre, I think he wants to fight on that Brazilian cards, and I think the UFC wants to save him for them. So the only thing I think of it, It's got to be Wonderboy and Kevin Holland to probably maybe headline that car that maybe the UFC is talking to right now, specifically those two guys. Because I think Wonderport said he'll be ready in November.

So if you can get on the December 3rd, I think that would be it. Just want your thoughts on it, Mike. Thanks for everything. Have a heck of a morning. Thanks, man. The Mahi thing, we're just going to have to wait and see. I just think there's just so much work that's been put in. I know, like, even just his amateur run is just ridiculous.

this. Borch is real good. He's huge for the division. He's working with the gym now known as Kilcliff FC. So obviously a ton of great talent over there.

I think he's going to be very competitive. He's very explosive. He's very long. He's a complete fighter. He's real good. It's just a matter of that experience. We'll see if he can get kind of get over that hump.

But he's good. He's got a very good chance to win the title, in my opinion. matches up very well pit bull. I just don't know if the experience will outweigh the skills. And if it does, then pit bull win. But I think forge top to bottom is really good and it's going to be a very competitive fight. So I'm in on that one. It's a good one. I don't know if Holland and Wonderboy are going to get that spot. I just don't know that's the main event. I think there's just there's just other options right now. There's just other options. Now,

if you're giving me a choice between that one and the Brunson, her. Manson fight, I'm with you. But if we could do, like I said, I've seen people talk about it. I have no insight on this whatsoever. The Corey Sanhagen, Marlon Vera idea headlining that one, that's a freaking awesome fight. That's a great main event. And I'm totally cool with that.

And then we go with my suggestion to do Colby v. Homza on that one. So who knows? It doesn't look like it's going to be Brunson and Hermanson. And I'm totally fine with that. George We'll take a few more I'm going to go

Whoa George what's up Yo You're me all right Yep I got you Mike I hope you and your loved ones are staying dry and staying safe

Just wanted to jump in and say That I've been watching one regularly For a couple months now And I honestly have to say It is a far more enjoyable And fun to watch product Than most of the other Combat Sports Promotions right now

It's packaged pretty nicely The fights are all bangers You don't have to know who the fighters are to have fun watching it. That can be pretty rare, you know, and Bellator, PFL, Verizon. Closest thing to one right now, I think, is KSW, just in terms of the action you get from it. I'd implore anyone to check out the card today. What do you think, Mike, could one be a real competitor with the UFC with a little promotion? Thanks, George.

No, I don't. because they have a good product. They just, they're terrible promoter. Like, they're so awful at it. And they make tons of mistakes. And they just, no one that just, they just claim like they don't need to do anything else. It's just nuts.

We have billions and billions of people watching our products. So we don't need to go out there and heavily market. But yet they put all their time and energy into the Apprentice, one championship edition. Like, what are we doing here? What are we doing? Now, when you watch a one event, it's pretty good. But it's just nobody knows that it's happening.

It's the old, does a tree fall in the woods, does it make a sound? That's kind of how one is a lot of times. We didn't get that for the DJ Mariah's card. And we watched it and we were like, this is cool. We enjoyed this. This is a lot of fun. But they will never be competitors with the UFC. Nobody will be.

At least for the foreseeable future, it's a battle for number two. The UFC is the NFL. Like, they are the NFL. everybody else is just doing their own thing and football's great especially in the United States people love football and they'll watch it wherever they can

the XFL is on I watched the first XFL show I videotaped the first ever XFL football game when Vince McMahon got into the football business because I liked football that much we all know what happened with that great 30 for 30 by the way on the XFL

but I mean there's room for everybody but you just can't have that mindset that you're going to compete with the UFC because you're not. You're not going to compete with them. You can help send talent over there. You could build talent so they can move on to the next level, and that's good for your promotion. But to say that we are competitors with the UFC is just wrong and not true. Looks like the show's going to continue on, and I'm fine with that. MMA goat

Are you there I got nothing from the MMA goat How about MMAJ MMAJ are you there Yeah I'm here What's up Mike? How are you doing brother? Hey Okay so I have a real real big conundrum

Man I don't know if you've been looking at You're looking at the MMA awards this year It's like picking your favorite kid man It's insane when you've got Islam And and Hamza on the same the category, I mean, just looking at the options, it's impossible to pick right now. I mean, have you started looking at who you're going to choose?

Do you know who your fighter of the year is? I mean, you got Alexander Volkovsky, Charles Oliverer in the category, even Francis and Ghana. Oh, man, I lost you. Hello, can you hear me now? Yep, I got you. Okay, I don't know what's going on with it. Oh, you can't leave out of that. That's what it is.

I was asking about the MMA Awards. It's like picking your favorite kid. Have you started choosing what your fighter of the year is, international fighter of the year, breakthrough fighter of the year is, knockout of the year? I mean, it's hard to choose. There's so many amazing options,

like picking your favorite kid. Yeah. I mean, look, I like the fighters-only awards. I would love to get sent out to Vegas for that final pay-per-view week so I could attend and just be there for it. It would be pretty cool. The only awards for that that I am concerned about

are the outlet of the year. M.Afighting.com. You should go vote for us, by the way. The great Shaheen Al-Shadi, Ariel Hawani, up for journalists of the year. M. May hour up for best programming. Those are the awards that I pay attention to. As far as, like, we'll have our awards at the end of the year,

I think the Oliver Mokachev fight is going to have significant impact on the fighter of the year conversation. Volcanowski right now is. my pick just because of those two performances. I mean, come on. He beat the living hell out of the Korean zombie. And then he beat the living hell out of Max Holloway. To me, those are, he's the best right now.

Two incredible wins that age very well. The Holloway went, like, I went back and watched, because I had never actually watched, because I watched it, because I was there. So I watched it in the arena. But I hadn't gone back and watched like the full on Volcanovsky Holloway three fight from UFC 276.

Boy, oh boy, is that some performance? That from start to finish, that is that is a top three title fight performance in UFC history, in my opinion. And that might be a bold thing to say. But to see a guy like Max Holloway, just being outclassed like that which is something I didn't think I'd see against anybody

and Volk did it. Volk knew what Holloway was going to do before Holloway was going to do it. And it was ridiculous. I implore you if you haven't watched it in a while, go back and watch that fight and just watch how good Volkadovsky was in that fight. It was spectacular.

So right now he's my fighter of the year, but Makachev and Oliver are certainly in the future. discussion right now. But it all depends on what happens October 22nd. Crap, Batush Gamrodot might be in the mix. He beats B'Neill-Dary Ush. I mean, there's I have to dig in a little bit more, but I mean, there's a lot there.

Shemai, I mean, Shemai, I haven't missed weight, but that fight with Gilbert Burns was unbelievable. He killed Kevin Holland. Who knows? I mean, it's got to be an interesting one this year. Last, I mean, the last couple of years, it was there was some debate, but we had

an idea of where we were going here. it's just the rest of the year is going to be I mean Yuri if he beats Glover like if they do Yuri versus Glover again and he beats Glover again like he's in the mix like there's a lot of there's a lot of options and I feel like there will be a lot more before we actually

vote on this stuff let's go to Yahya hello Hey what's up Mike how you doing Good question so I think everyone remembers when Michael Chandler first made his debut and you know there's a lot of questions about how he got a tire shot like so quick I think you only had like one or two fights under his belt in the UFC.

I think it was one fight. But what do you think is his path back to the lightweight title shot being where he is now? Who is this? Michael Chandler. Oh, Chandler. Okay. Sorry. I mean, beating Dustin Porrier wouldn't be a bad way to start.

I mean, Chandler is in this mix no matter what. If he goes out there and knocks out Dustin Porier, there's a very good chance he gets a It's a title shot. Because the UFC, Chandler's doing everything right from a company perspective. He's in exciting fights. He gets exciting finishes.

He's got the knockout of the year locked up right now. He cuts great promos, does good interviews, and you know what else he does? He defends the UFC. He defends Uncle Dana. And he's doing everything right.

Like he's doing everything right from a business perspective. I don't agree with like half of what he says, if we're being honest, especially when it comes to the business side of things. But Chandler's doing everything right. So he's definitely in the conversation. If he goes out there and knocks out Dustin Porre, especially if Islam Makachev wins,

Chandler's definitely in the discussion. So he's not far behind. He just can't lose to Dustin Porriere. Now, if he loses to Dustin Pori, that's not good it's going to be a long road back all right i'll take two more bry hey mike how you doing uh of course i do this every time but now i have to since he's fighting tomorrow mike davis shout out round two k o but my question here is going to be this is just the hypotheticals i think about being a wrestling fan and thinking about crossovers out of all the featherweight saturday so you got

like kennedy pico boric uh pit bull i guess mckee and sadique yucev do you think I think Sadiq would be the best out of all of them and if he was in their division. Like how do you think that would rank up between like the top feather weights this weekend? Thanks Mike. Hmm. It's an interesting question.

Let me see. Hold on. What am I looking at right now? All right. Sorry about that. Let me just pull this up real quick. To do. I'm all over the place. I have like 5,000 things happening right now. Yeah, the rank is,

not much is going to happen in the featherweight rankings. Like, if we're talking about, like, just rankings in general, like, if we're talking about, like, our rankings, Yusuf beating Don Channis isn't going to do much. But Don's a scrapper, man. Don's a scrapper. I think this is going to be an interesting fight. I'm picking Dund. I'm picking Sadiq Yusuf to win. But Don's, like, pretty smart the way he views this fight.

Sudec's a slow starter. Don is not. And he's very awkward, and he's kind of a kind of a grinding style. and I think Don has the right attitude. Just come in there, I got nothing to lose. I'm just going to throw the kitchen sink of this dude and the chips will fall where they may. But Yusuf's got to get some big wins under his belt.

That aren't a loss is going to sting for a bit because he's a good fighter. And like I said, he's part of the best contender series fight of all time. But the problem is he's just not all that marketable because he's just not that kind of guy. He's not a big talker. He's not a big presence on social media. He does some stuff, but he's at,

there's just a lot of guys at 45 right now. But for him, he needs to go out. Like, the Giga fight would have been a great, great fight for him. It would have been a great opportunity for him. And I honestly didn't love his chances in that fight, but a win over Giga would have done a lot. It's unfortunate that Gigi got hurt, but Sadiq's going to go out there and treat Don Channis accordingly.

He needs to go out there and just run them over and he's got to do it fast. This cannot be competitive if you're on the Sadiq use of camp right now. He needs to go out there and run Don Channis over, which is going to be tough. I think Sadiq's going to win. Might get a finish on the stretch, but he needs to go out there and run Don over. This cannot be competitive in any way to boost that stock. All right, Octagon Blog, take us home. You're muted.

I can't hear you. Hello? Yes, there we go. Hi, Mike. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Yes, I'm going to Charles Olifier,

at Mark Chardef in Abu Dhabi, first of all. Nice. Yes, I have tickets. I've not been to UFC events since the corona outbreak, but I want to tell you one thing. Your show is very good. and secondly my question is

how does the future look for MMA let's say in five years from now is the UFC model still working in 2030 and beyond that's my question and I wish you the very best thank you thank you very much

if you haven't been to a UFC card since the pandemic you're picking a damn good one to come back to that's for sure I would love to be there for that the future like will the UFC models still work in 2030? Yes? That's an interesting question.

Like this sport, this sport's going to look way different in five years. And it's not just because of, I mean, it's just the talent is going to be even better. Like it's just, we're getting

17 year old kids who are like UFC ready. Just think about a five years from now. When these like 12, these kids who are like, 12, 13, who have been training for already six years now, get to that age where they can become pros and make a name for themselves. 18, 19, they're just going to be, there's just going to be a whole new crop of fighters. The UFC brand just continues to get bigger and bigger.

It'll be interesting to see where they're at five years from now. Will they still be on ESPN? Will there be other massive outlets that are covering it? Do some of these other, like, big networks and conglomerates come together and promote MMA? Are we going to be looking at a world where social media, YouTube folks are fighting in MMA fights? Like, I'm very interested to see where this thing's going to look like in five years. I think the talent is going to be incredible. And the talent's just going to keep getting better and better.

Like, I'm curious. Do I know if the OCEMiles going to be going to be incredible? work. I don't know. Is Dana White going to still be around? Tough to say. Don't really know. But I'm, I mean, this is one of those sports that, I mean, I hope so. I hope all these

things continue to trend into where they're at because then I can still have a career and my colleagues can have careers and more opportunities will open up to those who are busting their asses. I do

want to address one more question. I said I would address this earlier and someone just hit me up saying come on why didn't you address my question so I had a few people ask about this I'm just going to run through this as fast as possible because I said I would I got a couple DMs I'm going to read this one from Sean that I just got earlier this morning because I got a few like this but the question I'm going to go with is what pet peeves do you have when it comes to covering MMA I've been trying to get into the space myself and I've seen different threads amongst media members that I respect

when it comes to this topic and I'm hoping to avoid some of those mistakes. Thank you and keep up with the good work. So I do want to address this. I don't want to put this. All right. So one thing that drives me crazy on Twitter when it comes to some of these up-and-comers

is making it about you and not about the fighters. Like this whole look at me, look at this. I'm the next area, Hawani. Wait and see. You just watch. I'm going to be the next Ariel. Stop that shit.

Don't be the next era, Hawani, be the first Joey Jones or whatever your name is. If someone does an interview with a fighter or somebody in the space or anybody else, I've seen this a lot

and it frigging drives you crazy. Let's just say like Luke Thomas interviews a fighter. And then somebody else comes out comments on Luke's interview in the thread and says, hey, yeah, this person is a good interview.

Watch mine from a week ago. And then you just throw your link into that thread. Watch my interview to see. That is just awful. Like it's going to take a while, especially for those coming into this right now. But trust you and I tell you, if the interview is good,

word will spread and people will find it. So to me, don't cheat. Don't be a cheater. I don't like that. What else? I'll throw a couple more out there that drive you crazy. Oh, okay. Just because you are media at a press conference or in a media scrum,

that does not mean you have to ask a question. It does not mean that you need to grab a microphone and ask. Because some of these scrums and press conferences are awful. Oh, my gosh. Some of the Dana White ones after pay-per-views are so awful. just because you have access to a microphone does not mean you have to ask a question. If somebody else, there have been opportunities, like, listen, like, you want to ask questions. I bend in that back room and I want to ask questions.

But if I don't have anything to add, then I'm not going to ask. Like, if John Morgan gets the first question and then asks what I was going to ask, I'm not just going to grab the microphone and just ask the same question again because it makes no sense. Well, I'm in the room, so I have to ask a question. No, you don't. No, you don't. If you could add something, great. If you can't, let's move on. That drives me crazy. What else drives you crazy? The word exclusive drives me crazy. Golly. It is the most overused and wrongly used word in the entire space. Here's an example. When the announcement was made that AJ McKee was moving up to 155 to fight Spike Carlisle, I literally had the first interview with AJ McKee. since that announcement was made. So that would be an exclusive. Like if I wrote exclusive on that interview,

it would make sense because it was the first AJ Mickey interview. I didn't do that, but that would be an exclusive. But if he does interviews with 50 other outlets after that, yours is not an exclusive. It's the same interview with 50 other people. You might have a different question,

but it's not an exclusive. I mean, if you're going skateboarding in Long Beach with A.J. McKee. Yeah, that's kind of exclusive-ish because it's different and unique. But that, stop using exclusive. I think I've only, since I got to M.A. fighting, I think I've only used the word exclusive one time.

And it was during the pandemic. I'm trying to remember this exactly, but Gerald Mearschart was supposed to fight Ian Hinesh on one of those fight night cards. I think it was one of the fight night cards. And during the fight week, Ian Hinesh tested positive for COVID. So they brought in somebody else to fight Gerald on like two or three days notice.

And this was the fight that was going to happen. And then by the time Wayans were about to happen, it was proven that Ian's test was a false positive. And then Ian was back in the fight. So Gerald was supposed to fight Ian. Then he's supposed to fight somebody else. And then Ian's was a false positive. So they'd let Ian fight. and Ian showed up at Wayans, they faced off,

and Gerald had no idea what the hell was going to happen. So right after they had their face off, I talked to Gerald, like, who was in his hotel room because he was quarantined and talked to him about it, and what the hell happened and the whole road and everything. Like, that's an exclusive. It's not a Gerald Mearsarp pre-fight interview. It's, holy shit, this week is insane.

What happened? This is crazy. Like, that's an exclusive. That's different. And then the last thing I'll say, because people ask about this a lot, I tell people this all the time, and then I'm going to get out of here. If you're going to cover this sport, I welcome it. I love competition.

I love helping people. And I love having good relationships with media members. Like, anyone who has ever interacted with me, I am nice to everybody. anyone who's ever reached out to me for the most part if you need advice if you have something you're trying to do if you have questions i will answer them absolutely i love doing that if you want me to come on your show like i'll come on like a lot of people did that for me like helwani jumped on my podcast like five or six years ago and it was like super cool i was like wow like why would he do this but he's coming on and we had a great conversation and

And then I end up creating the ricks picks theme. And now we're kind of under the same umbrella, which is pretty crazy to think about it. But here's what I'll say. This sport will teach you a lot. It will teach you a lot. But if you're not willing to do the work, if you're not willing to grind, and I'm not just saying for like three weeks, I'm saying for years and years, if you're not willing to improve, if you're not willing to reach out and get advice, If you're not watching what everybody else is doing just to see what's going on around you. If you're not working on your craft, if you're not looking in the mirror and like saying things,

you're not doing different stuff and trying and failing. It's just not going to happen for you. When people say nothing is handed to you in this world, it's because in a past lifetime, the person who created that statement, they covered MMA for a living. Before is even a thing. In an alternate universe, MMA was a thing. and this person covered MMA.

That's where that statement comes from, in my opinion. Because it took me seven years of hustle and working and grinding. I was working two to three jobs seven days a week, sometimes 20 hours a day to supplement this. So I would go and work my full-time job. Then I would do another full-time job. And then I would sneak into the studio after midnight and produce a show that I did the night before and then I would go home and sleep for three hours to do it again. Like I did this for a long

time. And I've interviewed UFC champions. I interviewed amateur fighters making their amateur debuts. I interviewed regional fighters who were undefeated. I interviewed fighters who were like 10 and 65 legends, rookies, you name it. I covered UFC pay-per-views in person. I covered regional shows that 18 people showed up to. That's what you have to do. And I loved every second of it. And those who don't do that, that's cool. Like, If that's you, if you can't do that, that's fine. If you like just doing the occasional interview, that's cool. But don't complain when you see people's interviews getting buzz or people getting a job or getting an opportunity.

If you didn't do that. If you didn't do that. I'm not even going to like drop names. But when I, when it was announced that I got the job, M.A. fighting, a lot of people are very happy for me. And then there were people who, like, I know for a fact, we're talking math. shit about me. Because I have a lot of people in this industry who I am friends with who will send me these things.

And I don't care. I don't want to see that stuff anyways. I'd rather not see it. But I saw some shit that people were saying. I'll never forget it. But all that did was make me hungrier. And that's it. All that did was make me hungry.

All that did was make me realize that, listen, I got the best job in the world right now. I ain't going to take this for granted. a second. So that's it. A lot of people ask you with us. I just want to get that out of the way. But I have to go. It is, holy shit.

It's 1136. I got to go. Lots going on. UFC weigh-ins, I believe, are going on right now. Bellator Way-ins. I think those are going on right now, too. So we'll have updates on that. We will have a preview show for both cards coming up at 3 p.m.

Eastern. Hopefully, my power stays intact so I can be a part of these things. and that's it. So thank you very much. Shows heading to the podcast network in a matter of moments. Have a great rest of your Friday. Have a great weekend.

Enjoy all the fighting action. We'll be back on Tuesday to do this again. Have a heck of a morning, everybody. The Vox Media Podcast Network.