MMA Fighting - HOAM | Is Jamahal Hill Being Disrespected After UFC 283 Title Win?

Episode Date: January 26, 2023

Jamahal Hill is the current UFC light heavyweight champion after defeating Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC 283 in his best performance to date. Following the victory, Hill has had a chip on his shoulder and feels disrespected by the MMA community. Does he have a point, or is this just a unique situation? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck answers listener questions regarding Hill and his championship victory, and how he is being viewed amongst the top fighters in his division. Additionally, topics include the targeted bantamweight title fight between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo at UFC 287 and the difference between the words "targeted" and "set," a potential Gilbert Burns vs. Belal Muhammad fight, where Colby Covington and Khamzat Chimaev fit, UFC San Antonio on March 25, UFC ticket prices, and much more You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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at OnePeloton.ca. Thursday, January 26th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. For those who couldn't make it live, you're probably listening on the MMA fighting podcast. network. I am Mike Hack. Hope everyone's having a fantastic week. We're already at Thursday.

And normally in the M.A. space, we have things to look forward to. Luckily, we have wonderful folks in the Twitter community like Robaca Hitman, who will tell you what is going on in the MMA world. But as far as the UFC goes, Bellator goes, some of the majors, no card this Saturday. No card this Saturday. But the UFC is back. Next. Saturday and kind of a tough hang, to be honest with you. But Derek Lewis seems to be in tremendous shape. He has heard some of the negative comments about that event and people feeling like Derek Lewis doesn't deserve maybe the shine that he once did.

But listen, it's not that in a lot of people's minds. And who are we to complain when there's other folks around the world who have to watch these cards at just ridiculous hours. Randomly, here in the U.S., that main card starts at 1 a.m. Eastern. So some eye rules there. But before that, Bellator is back, and they have their network television debut. They'll be on CBS, Bellator 290. The final fight of Fador-Millionanko is he challenges Ryan Bader for the heavyweight title.

We have Johnny Eblen, Anatoly Toecoff for the middleweight title, and then we have an absolute barn burner between Brennan Ward and Sabah Homasi kicking off that card. So next Saturday, lots to talk about. We're still sort of on the heels of UFC 283 and Jamal Hill's incredible win and sort of the divisiveness with where he is ranked and how people view him right now after beating Glover Tashara. Gover Tashara now retired. Brandon Moreno is the undisputed flyway champion of the world. Great win for Gilbert Burns. He's teasing, potentially fighting in London. I have no idea what's going on there. Good win for Johnny Walker. Great win for Jessica Andrage. We talked about the Lorne Murphy situation a little bit on Tuesday. Her reaction to the corner not

stopping the fight, I gave my thoughts on that. But we've had some news since we last spoke, including yesterday, early afternoon, we reported that the Bannon, title fight between Al Jermaine Sterling and Henry Sohudo is being targeted for UFC 287 on April 8th. That word targeted is an important word, and I will explain in a matter of moments. And then, of course, people are getting excited about this. And then a tweet comes from Ali Abdulaziz who tweets two words, fake news. And of course, I was made aware of that. Now, to be honest with you, I was not working yesterday.

I was at my kid's school volunteering all day. It was just such a crazy day. I won't get into it. But when I volunteered to do this, I thought it'd be at the school for like three hours. I was at that school from 715 to 3. And it was fun at times and a nightmare at other times. But that's neither here nor there. So when I confirmed this news, I was there.

But let's go back and talk about this fake news thing. Here's what I'll say. One, and I'm not going to tell you why, because if I told you why, it would be a whole different conversation. But here's a couple of things that that fake news tweet should tell you. One, Ali is not a fan of MMA fighting right now. He's not thrilled with us for a particular reason. And I'm not going to tell you why. it's just I'm just not going to

but he's not overly thrilled with us for a certain reason and that's okay and the other thing is if you go back into the annals of time when Ali says something is fake news it usually isn't fake news it usually is like additional confirmation that things are happening

so let me let me tell you how this all came to be it was Tuesday night I get a message from somebody who 1,000% knows what is happening in this situation. If I told you the name, you'd be like, oh, yeah, this person definitely knows what's going on. And this person tells me that Henry Sehuto is fighting April 8th. And of course, I follow up.

And I'm like, oh, really? And he said, yep. And I said, is he fighting Al Jermaine Sterling or is he fighting Schottomalley? And then I didn't get a response to like 11 a.m. yesterday morning says Al Jermaine Sterling. I'm like, okay, this person definitely knows. Now, here's the thing about reporting fights. There are some people out there in the journalistic space who would take that information and just go on Twitter and say, this is done. This fight's happening, or use the word breaking.

This fight's happening April. They would take what I was told and report that as fast. without confirming anything else. We here at M-Ba flooding do not do that. We don't just take one person's word. We have to make sure it's legit. So what do we do in that situation? You have to get a second source.

And if you read the actual article, you think with how specific that is laid out that we would just make that up, that it's fake? Of course not. Look how specific that write-up is. And the one side of the table that would be the most questionable in this situation is where the specifics came from. You don't think we reached out to multiple sides to see if this is a thing. And it's important to note that we wrote it in the article multiple times is this isn't a done deal.

There's no contracts. They haven't signed anything yet. But I can assure you with complete confidence that this is the fight the UFC wants on that card. This is the one. This is where all the discussions are going as of right now. It is going towards April 8th. It is going towards UFC 287 for this fight. Do I think Ali probably didn't read the headline and probably didn't read the article?

That would be my guess. He probably just saw the two names, people reacting to it, thinking that maybe we reported the fight was a done deal and tweeted out fake news. But in reality, it's not a done deal. And we told you that a million times. That's why the word targeted was used. Because if used the word targeted, that means it's in the works. Both sides are aware of it.

And in most cases, both sides are preparing for that date, for that opponent. Al Jermaine Sterling obviously has the bicep injury. He's rehabbing it as we speak. He even tweeted out yesterday. Things are heading in the right direction. So the fight's not done. He's the biggest factor here. because if his rehab goes according to plan, that's the fight.

But if it doesn't, then they have to just sort of shift gears at this point. But I can tell you this is not fake news. We got both sides of the equation confirming that this is what's on the table. This is what's being discussed. This is how it's looking. This is where we're at right now. Now if we reported, if the headlines said Al Jermaine versus Henry Sehudo set for UFC 287, 7 and April 8, yes, that would be fake news because it is not set.

It is not signed. That's different. It's different terminology. If you see in the works are targeted, that means this is the direction that everybody seems to be leaning right now. Everybody is in. If it happens, it's going to happen that date. But it all depends on Aljimene at this point.

Can he come back? Will the rehab go well? But this is the fight that's being discussed for UFC 287. I can assure you of that. It is not fake news. It is not fake news. From the sources that we got this information from, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt it's not fake news.

So don't let that fool you. And as I said earlier, most times when those tweets come out, there's reasons behind them. And most times when the fake news tweets come out, beads were on to something. So I'm not back it away from it. It's good reporting.

It's exactly what it says it is. We didn't tell you anything that wasn't true. That's what is being targeted for that card. There you go. There's my response. There's my answer. So there you go. Take that for what you want, but that's it.

Now, if I'm wrong, like if I was dead wrong, I would come on here and say I was dead wrong, but I'm not. We have enough from both sides of the table that tells me we're not wrong. So now, if it doesn't happen, UFC, 287, that doesn't mean that we're wrong. It means both sides are preparing for April 8th. It means Al Jermaine can't probably can't fight on that date because of the bicep. But if he can go, it's going to happen that date.

I can tell you right now, Henry Sehudo is preparing to fight Al Jamein Sterling April 8th. So there you go. There's my response to the fake news because it's not fake news. And there's the answer. So I'm going to go to you guys. we could talk about whatever the hell you want because there's a lot going on in MMA as always including Connor McGregor apparently is teasing

that he might be coaching the next season of the ultimate fighter and I don't even know what to say about all of this so I don't even know who is first I have no idea I believe it was Tristan so we'll start there and then we're just going to get after this thing Tristan hello

Hey Mike can you hear me? Yep okay um yeah I saw that too with Cona McGregor, I think everybody will watch if Connor McGregor does come back, unfortunately, but it is what is on that front, if that happens. My

question to you is towards Gilbert Burns. Now, he did you said he did tweet that he may be on that London card, but is, I think the fight to make between him is him and Bilal Muhammad and hypothetically

if that fight does happen, who you have winning that fight? I think I'm going to have to pick Palau on that one. And if Belaw wins, do you feel like he has to get a title shot no matter what? Because you go out there and beat the what. And you go out there and you're ahead of Gilbert Burns in the UFC official rankings. But if that fight happens, who you have winning that fight? Because I really think they have to book that fight.

I think that's the fight to make. And then in regards to Hamzaa Tremayev, I was talking to A.K. about this. messing each other back and forth. I don't look at Hamza anymore as a 170. I don't think he can make that weight, and I don't think he will. It just, it doesn't make sense to me. I look at him as a middleweight, and, you know, people are looking to match him up against Kobe Covington or match him up against Leon Edwards, and even having the dream in the future of having Shafkaa Rock Bona versus Hamza. And I just look at it like, you guys got it,

people have to look out of that turns and look at him as a middleweight of a future fight. Maybe with Bo Nicco later down the road or fighting, you know, Polacosta, if he decides to resign, or against Pierre, you know, Alex Pereira. So that's how I look at him more because I no longer think,

I really feel in my heart that I don't think he can make 170 again. And it's just too much of a risk for the UFC to book him for a 170 fight and like teetering on nervousness is like can he make the wait can he make the wait can he make the wait can he make the wait and if we have a way and if you guys have a waiting show and what's going to happen if he's the last one or it's been a while since he got on the scale it's like two hours and still waiting we're going to be like i don't think he's going to make the weight and that's how it is in my mind set i look at homestead now as a middle weight what do you feel mike and thanks for everything Thanks, man. So Hamza, that's a big mystery. I wish I had a good answer for you, but I don't. I have no idea what he's going to do. Dana has said many times, Dana White has said many times that he's going to give him another shot at 170. I feel like the bigger fights for him are at 170 right now. Because he's going to have, like, he's not just going to get into a title fight either way. It's just not going to happen. So if he's going to fight a 170, he's going to fight Colby. And that makes all the sense in the world. Because that's probably right now, And this is the UFC, and it's meritocracy doesn't mean anything.

And the rankings are just there for graphics, really. They don't really mean anything. They just want to put the biggest fights together. So I honestly don't know. I honestly don't know. If Hamza comes out and says, I'm never fighting a welterweight again, cool. If he comes out and says, I am going to be the Walterweight champion at the end of the year. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt to try.

As far as Gilbert goes, I mean, him and Bilal on that card in London makes, all the sense in the world to me. And that card's solid, but it can use a little bit of a boost, if we're being honest. I love the Gaichi-Chi-Fizee fight, and you just chuck, I mean, who's going to complain about throwing Gilbert and Bilal

in like the featured spot? Plus you got backups for, if you need them, for either guy. And that would be a legit number one contender fight. And if Belaw wins, he's fighting whoever wins. If Burns wins, and Usman wins, then, you know, maybe that's a little different. But Gilbert did have his moments against Usman, dropped him,

looked like he might have, was going to become the champion. And then Usman did Usman things and ended up finishing Gilbert instead. So, yeah, if they booked that fight, if they booked that fight for London, then it kind of answers your other question, if that makes sense. it kind of answers your other question of will Hamza fight at 170 or really move up at least to me if they book Burns Bilal like that quickly

like less than two months and throw it on that card there's a specific purpose for that and it'll probably be the new number one contender fight which I'm fine with which I'm fine with if you're going to throw Gilbert or Bilal in there with anybody it's with each other I think that's the fight to make that's the fight to make

I know Belaw wanted Hamzat. He did a little bit better this time with the callout. So I appreciate that. But I don't see any of those guys getting Colby at this point. I don't think Colby's going to rush back to fight Gilbert Burns or rush back to fight Bilal. I think he would come back for Hamzad. I really do. A lot of people feel like he's too scared to fight Hamzat, which I don't understand.

Because I actually think stylistically, Colby matches up pretty well with him. especially if Colby can survive the early onslaught. If Colby can get it to like the third round and start to cook, that fight becomes really compelling. And it would be the toughest fight of Hamzat-Chamai's career. That's for damn sure. So we'll see what happens. But to me, if they book Burns versus Bilal on that London card,

then that kind of answers your other question and probably can expect Hamza to go up to 185 and fight somebody up there. 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. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious will throw for my sister.

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CA or in magazine. Let's go to Four Corner Sports. Hello. Hello. Hey, so I wanted to ask you a question.

One, as for the Sehudo Sterling, what's it called matchup, would O'Malley be a

backup, you would think, because he doesn't have a fight book. San Hagan Cheetos will be happening in a

couple weeks. Would that make the most sense in the world? As for O'Malley being a potential backup. And is there anything set? Have they announced anything

or have you heard anything if it's going to be Miami or Brooklyn? As for April 8th, and what's the quote? And as for the Marab Peter Yon fight, that's at the Virgin hotels. I'm not mistaken, correct? Yes.

Okay. That card is actually coming a little bit together. have they announced anything about like ticket sales or anything of that nature all right i just wonder to know about that all right thanks mike thanks man uh not really sure they probably did i have to go in my emails and and check it out i'm sure they sent something out about that so yeah i honestly i honestly don't know because i don't buy tickets so i don't really look into that all that much but i love the fact that they're going there like i don't want to turn this into a whole apex thing but yeah I love the fact that they're going that they're going to just like a smaller venue

like it kind of has that old school Monday night raw vibe that sort of ECW vibe or the people who are there are going to be into it and there's going to be a crowd and there's going to be some electricity and and I love that O'Malley I like I don't know if he'll be your like quintessential backup like I don't know if he's going to weigh in or anything like that. But I would feel pretty confident that if Sterling can't go April 8th, that the rehab doesn't go the way it's supposed to, and he's delayed, I don't think they're going to wait for Aljo.

And I don't know this for sure, but that's just what my gut is telling me, because this fight was kind of slated for March 4th. They were going to try to get it there. It didn't work. Sterling said, I need a month. They gave him the month. and if he can go, great, if he can't. I don't think they're going to kind of change course.

I think they'll probably go to Hudo O'Malley for an interim title, and then the winner fights Aljo when he's ready to come back. Like, that's the way I would do it at this point. As far as location goes, as we reported, Brooklyn, Miami are in play. I've also been told that MSG is in play. So, but there's no answer to this question. yet. Nobody knows any. It's still TBD. Like even the

recent fighters who got contracts for fights, the location still says TBD. So, um, but Brooklyn is in play. Miami is in play. And kind of a late addition to this race is NSG is apparently in play as well.

Now, I don't have any, I don't know what, which direction they're leaning. where they're going. I know there are other reports that they're talking about Miami and May. I had not heard anything about that. The only card I was told Miami was in play. And this is from multiple people, multiple managers, was the April 8th card. So I don't know.

There's also like some logistics too, to all of this because members being reported that Amanda Nunes is going to fight Arini-Aldana on March 4th. now it's being told now now apparently kombachi has come back and said that that fight is no longer in the works that amanda wants al dana and painy to fight and then she would fight the winner and doesn't seem like painy isn't in any hurry to fight anybody else besides nunez so because you would think if they were going to go to miami it's probably for amanda right because she trains at a tt or we used to train at t but she trains out of that area so it makes sense to throw nunez on that card to get kind of the local hometown pop, if you will. And we also don't, we don't know if Valentina Shepchenko's fighting Alexa Grasso March 4th. Again, we've talked about this before. Being reported that it's happening March 4th, I'm here to tell you, that is not done yet. The fight is going to happen.

But we don't know if it's happening March 4th yet. We've been told from both sides of the table. We both agreed to the fight. The date is still up in the air. So I don't know. There's a lot of moving pieces, and I don't know where this card's going to happen, April 8th. But those are the three locations that I've been told. Brooklyn, there was 50-50 Brooklyn, Miami for about a week and a half.

And then as of maybe a week ago, apparently MSG might be in play as well. So that's where we're at right now. And we'll see how this comes together because these things come real quick. Tom, hello. Hey, what's up, Mike? It's good, good. It's pretty funny you actually just hit on it at the end of the other question there because that was going to be my question.

With Amanda taken off the possibility of fighting March 4th, are there any other big fights you've heard rumored that may be on there? I know you probably can't give us exact names, but are there any more big fights going for that card? I assume with it being John's return, they're going to stack it. So didn't know if you had heard of anything else going to replace it or anything like that. I mean, probably Shevchenko Grasso

would be the one let me pull up that card. Because even, like I told you guys, let me pull up the card. UFC 285. Like I told you guys, Nunes Eldana was not done for that card,

and neither was the flyway title fight. And still not done. I'm looking at Tapology right now. They still have it up there. It's not done. I believe as of yesterday, day. Yeah, it was yesterday. I think I reached back out on Tuesday to one source. And then we reached out to the other side. And we were told the same thing. No date yet.

What do we have here? Viviani Arrugio, Mandi, Hebas. We have Derek Brunson, Drickus duplice. We have Jeff Neal, Shafcott, Rachmanoff, Jamie Pickett, Bo-Nichael, Cody Garbrandt, Julio Arce. I would say if they're going to add anything to this, it's probably the Shepchenko fight if they just figure out the date. Other than that, look, you don't need it. You got enough on there. You got the return of John Jones, the heavyweight titles on the line. I don't think they're going to stack it. I don't think they need to.

You got enough story here anyways. You got Brunton Duplice. You got Chaffcott on the card against Jeff Neal. Oh, Nichols making his debut. You got enough juice here to build up. We just confirmed Jalen Turner, Dan Hooker's happening on that car. card. They got enough.

Like those five fights right there could be your main card. Or you could Chuck Cody Garber and Julio Arse on that main card. Like you've got enough there to build up to the title fight. Because that's what's selling the pay-per-view. Even if they add a second title fight, if they add Chefchenko Grasso to this card, is it going to be a huge difference in pay-per-view buys? No, I don't think so.

It's just for those who are going to watch it, it's just an extra cherry on top of the Sunday. And you don't want to run into a situation where you just overload one card. And then when we get to April 8th with so much kind of unsurety, you just don't have enough juice left in the squeeze. Because look at UFC 282. Look at that card. Kind of just all fell apart. And we were left with Eich and Blahev and Blahevich and Patty and the co-main.

So we'll see what ends up happening. But if they're going to add a second fight, it will be the. the Schifchenko fight. But like I've told you for well over a week now, that fight is not done for March 4th. Let's go to the dapperly dressed the notorious JP. Hello, the notorious JP. Are you there?

I hear nothing. JP, try again. Viking's been waiting for a little bit. So we'll get my man Viking in here. I have a feeling I know one of the questions he's going to ask. And I think he will like the answer to this question. I think a lot of you will also like the answer to this question. If I am to read Viking MMA in the direction he's going with this question.

Hello, Viking. Yes, sir. How are you? I'm all good. Just to ask about Power Slap. I just want to talk about Power Slap. So someone revealed that pay of power slap, slappers, you could say, that two and two. So what do your thoughts on that?

And I remember you were saying that, you know, Bilal had a chance to call out Hamzad when he won against Vincent Deluke. instead of that he called out Kobe and Gilbert Burns did the same thing and so would you say the same thing about Gilbert Burns that because Kobe is not fighting I think it seems that he's not going to fight soon so what your thoughts on that and would you say same thing about Gilbert Burns about the cost of all out of Kobe Gavinton. Thank you. Thanks, man. Oh, you did not ask a question I thought you're going to ask, but I'll answer what I thought you were going to ask after.

Power Slap, yeah, I saw Eric Spicely and the tweets and the subsequent reports. And yeah, it just adds to the stupidity of the entire thing. I cannot, like, I think around 3 o'clock today, we'll find out what the ratings were for that. And I mean, honestly, to me, just, I'm not Dave Meltzer. I'm not someone who follows the ratings all that much and like understand them.

But I understand that last week's ratings was a disaster. And it's atrocious, especially with the leading of AW. Now, AW put on a massive show yesterday last night to lead into that power slap, including Mark Briscoe in the main events and sort of a tribute to his brother who passed away the week before. And that's a very, very big deal. So I would assume that AW's rankings, ratings were better than they were last week. I would say they're probably in the million, like a million plus going into Power Slap.

If Power Slap doesn't pull a big, like a decent size number, coming out of that, boy, I mean, it's going to be hanging, it's going to be officially hanging on by a thread at that point. Because AW gave them two pretty significant gifts, this one in particular. So I'm very curious to see how they bounce back or if they bounce back or if they lose viewership. Because Mark Briscoe, J. Lethal, and the main event,

it was set up to get ratings. And it was the right thing to do. And it should have happened the week before. being honest. They allowed AWD due the tribute to J. Bursco, which it didn't allow last week, which is bullshit. And they did it this week.

So we'll see what happens with the ratings. The Gilbert callout. I've said it. I didn't love it. I didn't love it. Especially with where the build was throughout the week and throughout the build to his fight with Neil Magni. It was Mazadol and it was Bilal. So I thought it was going to be one of those two guys.

And then he out of nowhere called O'Colby. It makes more sense to me for Burns to call Colby because Burns fought Hamzat and almost beat him. And Burns fought Oosman for the belt and gave him a tough fight. So I feel like he was kind of in a better spot to make that call than B'Alaal, who's been on fire. Don't get me wrong. I've been super impressed with that guy.

But I still didn't love it. And I've said it publicly a couple times. Didn't love it. He just called out Bilal. Would have made a ton more sense. We called out Mazadol. I know Mazadol's coming up the losses and he's unranked, but for months, for months in 2022,

those two have been going back and forth. So I kind of felt he was going to go one of those two directions. But he didn't. He went with Colby. Okay. But he's probably still going to get Bilal anyway. So it doesn't really hurt him that much. The problem with Belaw was when he did it, he didn't get Colby, he didn't get Burns, he didn't get Moss at all.

He got Sean Brady. And probably not the direction he wanted to go. We'll see what happens. Didn't love it. I thought you were going to ask about BTL today. So I will let you know what's going on. Some people have loved sort of the Talking Heads editions of the show where it's either me and Jed or me and somebody else and we just kind of hit record and go. uh we're going back to the competitive format today jemishu will be back on the program and

we'll be joined by brian campbell for morning combat he will join us at 1230 p m eastern so should be a lot of fun the takes will be fiery i'm sure and it will be a fun episode so join us 1230 p m eastern for that on the youtube channel right terrence hello how you doing good are you i'm good thanks for asking. You kind of talked about them a little bit and somebody else asked questions about Amanda and her unwillingness to fight. So I just wanted to ask you a question in regards to like that. Like how do you view her as a champion? I personally think that she is like this kind of harsh, but she's kind of like one of like the worst champions like in respect of like the UFC

because of the fact that she doesn't defend her belt are like she'll have a schedule of fight and then like a month beforehand, she'll, like, pull out, and then they have to reschedule it. Like, this happened a few times. You can look at her technology. And only good thing we've gotten out of her is the fact that we've gotten her last minute cancellation is the reason why the first figgy and Moreno fight happened. Like, I'm just wondering, like, what's your thought process on, like, that do you think

it's fair? I think she's the reason that the division is, like, stalling because of the fact that if you don't have a champion that's active, then you don't have a, have people that are as active in the weight class because they're all like, oh, maybe she'll pick me type situation and she hasn't defended her 145 adult in like over two years. Like that should be just like just to rid of division if they're going to do that, stop playing games with it. And then the last thing I wanted to talk about, I saw Joanne's back at AT&T.

That doesn't mean that she's bad per se. But she did come back for her final fight like she said she wanted to do. or she talked about doing, who do you want to see her messed up against and why? That's all. Thank you. Hmm. It's a good question. I'll probably answer it more when, like, if she announced she's coming back.

Now, I talked to Yawanna, International Fight Week. She sat down radio row with me and we talked, and I've talked about this before. My gut told me coming out of that conversation that she's not done. that she is not done. And now is in July. So what I think, and I don't know this for sure. So don't be going up being like, oh, bike's saying this. No.

What I think is happening is that she is testing out whether or not she wants to come back. Like if she goes to ATT and trains for a bit and maybe she puts herself through like a mock training camp and is like, okay, I'm good. then I think she comes back. If she goes through training and, you know, if she does a mock camp or not, and she just doesn't get that same buzz, then she'll just train and won't come back. So

if she came back, would I be shocked? No, I wouldn't. Because I got that feeling in July, like, she ain't done. Because I asked her questions and she answered them as if, hey, let's come back and do this. So who she would fight? I don't know.

And to answer your other question about Amanda Nunes, look, she fought in July. It's not like she hasn't fought in 18 months. And we all know what the featherweight division and the title is like at this point. Like we all are on the same page. It's just there so Amanda can have two titles. Other than that makes no sense because there's no division. There's nobody there. The other thing is, look at the Bannamweight division. Holy smokes. That is a, and we have a dilemma every time we do our our rankings for MA fighting for this division in particular because there's like 20 there's like 23 fighters like in the division right now

like Bellator doesn't have a women's band-oite division it's a mess there's like barely enough to fill a top 15 in the UFC right now it's crazy so if a man and after the

Giuliana Pena fight a man of Nunes is like I'm taking time off like I'm going to be out for a while. So I'm just letting you know. I'm going to be out for a while. She had the Pena loss. She worked her ass off to get back. She beat

up Pena. One-sided victory. And she said she's going to take time. So if she, like I, if they were going to throw her somewhere, I thought maybe they chuck her on the 283 card. Like if they

obviously the light heavyweight division became a mess and we got Glover in the main event, so that worked out. But I thought, like, they were going to throw Nunes on that card somewhere to defend one of the belts. That didn't happen. We saw the report for March 4th. And by the way, that report was not wrong either.

It wasn't fake news because the report said that the UFC wants to put that fight together for that card. They didn't say it was done. They said they wanted it on that card. It's something they were talking. They were discussing. And that's what the report said. And then people came on and said, oh, it's a done deal.

No, it wasn't done. Just like Valentina Shepchenko versus Alexa Grasso. All that, that fight is happening. We just need a date. The Nunes, Aldana one was a little bit different.

I mean, I don't blame her. At this point, like, I think we're all in the same boat here. There's probably at best three more Amanda Nunes fights we're going to get.

We might even get that. We've been talking about it for two years. This could, we all, like every time in the onto the next one prediction show,

we always get, is Amanda Nunes is going to retire this year. Like it happens on and on. And we think that it might every single time. So for her,

it's just, she probably just wants big fights at this point if she doesn't feel like Aldana's the top gal or Pena deserves it or anybody else deserves it then she can do that she's earned that right

but this division this division is bad like it's just really bad we need like it's just there's nobody there I mean Aldana's at least a new name Vieira was right there and then she lost to Raquel Pennington

Pennington already fought Nunes for the belt and got destroyed. Holly Holmes gotten 17,000 title shots. Pena beat Nunes, but also got kind of wrecked in the second fight. Who else is there? Panny Kanzad, Macy Chesson coming off a loss. Carol Hosa is coming off a win, but she lost the fight before. Lena Landsberg's last three in a row. I don't know.

I honestly don't know what they're going to do with this division. I don't know. If Amanda sits out, like, is it the worst thing in the world? Like, let's just get fights on the books. Like, when we got the Pennington vienna fight, that was like, that was the first women's band-of-weight fight in three months. That's crazy. October was the last time we got a women's band-and-wate bout in the UFC.

And then we didn't get another one until January 14th. That just goes to tell you what this division looks like right now. We'll see if Julia Oliver. Avila was ready to come back sometime this year. I mean, I don't know. I don't hate Amanda's response to this. My fight was, like, if she just wants to fight, go fight Aldana. And then the fight I wanted was Pennington versus Pena because there's heat there.

So we'll just do that. And a Pena win, she gets her win, and then she goes and fights Amanda again. But I don't know if everybody's going to be able to get what they want here, especially with the way this division looks. So I don't have an issue with Amanda saying, no. How about these two women fight and I'll fight the winner? She did tell us after the pain you fight, she's going to take a bunch of time off.

So this isn't like a big shock. We'll see how it all plays out. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements.

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You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. Let's go to Jordan. Jordan. Mike, heck of a morning. Hello. I just wanted to say thank you for the great one.

watch long last weekend. I had not a chance to get on yet this week. It was a great time. I hope you guys are getting some positive reception from it, and I just wanted to thank you for it. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Okay. Yes, it was a lot of fun. Like I said, on the post show, and I said, even during the watch party itself, it was nice to just feel like it was like a normal pay-per-view fight night. Like we didn't talk about the bullshit. We didn't let the negativity of the year take us down. We just sat back and watched fights. And it was nice. It was the most normal I have felt in this space all year. And it was cool. I had a lot of fun. I'm very much looking forward to the next few because we had a great card in October. We had a stellar card in November.

the December card was fine, but not great. This card was fine. Not a lot of star power. But now we get Mokachev Volcanovsky. And I can't wait for that fight. And then we get John Jones versus Cyril Ghan. And then we get Leon versus Usman 3. We get Justin fucking Gagee against Raphael Fiziv.

I mean, golly. We have a lot to look forward to his fans. Sorry. The Geishi Fazi fight just gives me goosebumps, so sometimes an F-bomb will find its way into the sentence. But that fight is just the best. And I'm looking forward to those watchalongs because the cards are just bigger and there's bigger names

and there's a lot more interaction with those types of cards. But the one cool thing about the watch party that I've realized is that we get like just as many views the next day as we get live. It's crazy. people we get people who some people are like watching the cards with us some have bought the pay-per-view some did not buy the pay-per-view not that i not that i glorify that but what we get is a lot of people who watch the card on saturday and then on sunday they just go back and watch the watch party because they already know what happened and they wanted to see our reactions and it's pretty fascinating to see how the numbers fluctuate the next day and how many people actually re-watch the car from that aspect the next day. It's pretty cool. But I love doing them.

GC's the man. Frank's the man. The staff, all the production crew is just amazing. And I give those guys so much credit. Because I just fly in and sit down and talk. And those guys just do so much behind the scenes. It's just unbelievable. So shout out to all those guys.

And gals too, by the way. Let's go to Ani. Hi, what's up, Bonnie? How are you? Yes, I can. I cannot hear you. I hear you. Oh, yes, I can hear you now.

So quick questions, really. Do we know anything about UFC San Antonio? Because the card is getting stacked, but what is the main event? And another thing is I have the UFC rankings on my screen right now, and for fuck sake they have watch power slap road to the title tonight at 10 p.m. Right on top. Come on. Anyway,

so I think by process of elimination is Anthony Smith fighting either Johnny Walker or Jan Blahovic? Because on the Believe You Me podcast, he was saying that he has a fight booked. Yes, that is it for me. I mean, not a lot to get off my chest this time. No rant. so that's it sorry I've been meeting you the whole time appreciate that

the Power Slap promotion like I mean that's not surprising that's not surprising you have to try to build that audience and to me I think they're they're probably paying for the TV spot I don't know this for a fact

but I don't think this is TBS paying them to host their show I think they're probably treating this like they did the first season of the ultimate fighter where they found a time slot. They're pumping money into it, hoping that it's a success to the point

where TBS is like, all right, this show is rules. We're going to bring you back and we'll pay for it. That's what I think this is. I don't know this for a fact, but it seems that way to me. As far as San Antonio goes, no idea what's going to headline that card.

I have no idea. Let me pull that up and see where we're at right now with this March 25th car because it felt like it felt like maybe we would do the Shafcott Jeff Neal fight in the main event spot but obviously that's not happening anymore

where are we at March 25th there we go let's see Angerley Macy Barber Chiti DeRaeff Holly Holieholm Kuhnitskaya Sean Brady Michelle Paheda I mean

I'd watch the hell out of that for five rounds, if we're being honest. For Garza Silva, Perez, Cop, Paneda, Lutz, Giles Parsons, Cassaris, Landware, Peterson, Alexander. So what do we got? Ten fights?

Yeah, I don't know what's got a headline that one. Maybe it's your Anthony Smith question. Maybe that's what it is. I would say, I don't think Anthony's going to fight Johnny Walker. I would say it's probably, Jan Belhovic, like if I had a guess, but I don't know.

It would seem that fight makes sense unless they want to do Blahovic Anky Live 2, which I don't know how many people would be clamoring for that. And Smith could fight for the belt. Who knows? But it doesn't seem like that. So I would say Smith-Blo-Hovic is probably the direction they're going to go. Maybe that could headline this card.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. and you would think if they book Smith Blahovic then Ankleaf would be the guy to fight Jamal Hill if Yerry isn't back in time. This is why we say

when we say this division is a mess, we're not like, we're not talking about the fighters. We're talking about just where it stands right now. It's just a mess because of this. It's just a mess. So we'll see what ends up happening. But yeah, as far as San Antonio goes, No main event yet.

But if we're going by what's there, it's probably Brady Pereira. Let's go to J.D. What's up, J.D.? Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Awesome. So I was listening to the ranking show yesterday,

and a thought popped into my head. Do you think that at this moment, looking back at both of the resumes, is that Jamal Hill could potentially say that he is a better UFC record or resume, rather, than Yuri Prahasca? And if possible, I'd love to know what Shiloh thinks about this topic as well. I love how he always pipes in with his opinions.

But anyway, that's it for me, man. Thanks, man. Yeah, Shail is sleeping right now. So as long as nobody comes in and tries to open the door, he'll be okay. Is Jamal Hill's resume better than Yuri Prakashkas? No, because Jamal Hill is lost in the UFC and Yuri hasn't. The Paul Craig loss is a tough one. Like that one does not age well.

Paul's a fun fighter, but that loss does not age well, and that was less than two years ago. Then he beats Jimmy Crute, solid hands. He's not a top 15 guy, in my opinion. Good one over Johnny Walker. That one has aged pretty well. The Tiago Santos fight does not age all that well. And in fact, if that was a three-round fight, Jamal Hill would have lost to Tiago Santos. and he looked spectacular against Glover Tashara.

I mean, that was his best performance. It was a, I keep comparing it to the Cody Garbrandt, Dominic Cruz performance. Came out of nowhere. Him winning was not shocking, but the way he did it and the way he dominated Glover Tashira, bell to Bell, was incredible. It was incredible. But to me,

because it's a divisive conversation right now, and we're going to talk about this a little more on B, Yeah, it wasn't on the ranking show. I listened to maybe the first 25 minutes of it. So I know it's kind of a divisive conversation right now where if this person is the UFC champion, they should be the number one guy in the weight class. And I just don't think that's true in this case

because this is a weird, unique, unicorn-esque case for divisional rankings. Because Yuri Prakashka is the champion. In my eyes, he is the champion. He should still have the belt. He was the champion less than a month ago. He was the champion. Well, that's not true.

A little more than a month ago. In December, Yuri Prakashka was the champion. Suffers a shoulder injury. They presented it the way that they did that he vacated on his own. I don't think that's true. I think there was probably a little bit of a nudge, nudge. And they probably were like, we'll say you vacated instead of we stripped you. and he said, fine, that works.

And now we're in the position we're at right now. And then they tried to do another title fight, and it went to a draw. And now Jamal Hill was kind of like the third or fourth option to fight for the belt. So it's just weird to me. This is just a different type of circumstance here. And I think is, look, Jamal Hill's really good.

Him winning a title is not shocking. I just didn't, I didn't think he'd get there this quickly. But Glover retired. and something tells me he probably is going to retire even if he won. But, I mean, I don't know. Like, to me, Yuri is the champion. That's how I view it. Yuri hasn't been beaten.

I would pick Yuri to beat Jamal Hill. So in my rankings, I have Jamal Hill number four. I have him a number four. And I don't think that's unfair. I really don't. I got Yuri at one. I got, I think I've Vedim Nemk. off a two, and I would pick Vadim Nemcoff to beat Jamal Hill, and I would pick Maghaban Ancalaif,

who I have a three to beat Jamal Hill. And in this disrespect, this is just right now. And that's why I've been saying since Tuesday that where Jamal Hill goes from here is going to determine how he's viewed moving forward. If he goes and fights Magamanaek Goliath and wins, he makes a strong case for the number one guy. if he fights Siri Pajaska and wins, he's definitely the number one guy. But this win is just,

it's just the way that it happens, the timing of it all, him stepping in on short notice essentially because they couldn't crown a champion in December because if the judges got it right and Ankhalyev won the belt, we're not even having this conversation right now. And I would still, even to this point,

even now, if Ankoliath had beaten Janbojavovic or vice versa, neither of those guys would have been my number one light heavyweight, because it still would have been Yuri Perashka. So this whole notion that Jamal is being treated unfairly here, it's just, it didn't matter. Like even if Glover won, he wouldn't have been my number one guy. Yuri would have been. It's just the circumstance.

So I don't think it's a disrespectful thing to Jamal Hill or any of these other guys. I think it's just a pat on the back. to Yuri Parashka and how good he is and how weird this whole situation is. So if Jamal Hillan wants to use this as a chip on his shoulder moving forward, I get it. If he wants to feel like he's disrespected, I totally understand it. But I think whoever else won that title in that situation would have been in the same boat. It would not have been the number one guy in my rankings. I'll tell you that right now.

because to me, Yuri's the champion. If he's out for the whole year and doesn't fight against like April of next year, different story, but it seems like he's going to be back this year. So I still don't understand why he got stripped of the belt in the first place.

Or why he vacated slash got stripped of the belt. It just doesn't make any sense. You could have easily just done an interim title at UFC 282 and carried an interim title over to UFC 282. and we're not even dealing with this horseshit right now because Jamal would be probably in the same boat as the interim champion making the same money but not feeling completely disrespected. So the whole thing's weird.

It's just a strange, just a unique circumstance. That's all it is. It's not a disrespectful Jamal thing. It's just how we view Yuri Perashka, more than anything. Let's go to George and we'll go to Squibirisksh. And we'll go to Squid, they'll go to Cameron, and then I got to get out of here. What's up, George? How are you?

Yeah, I just wanted to talk a couple of things real quick. Number one, if you could fill us in on what is going on with Israel, Adasanya. I asked you about him like a week ago. And since then, it looks like we're more likely to get a Jamal Hill, Yeri Prahasca. I'm sorry, Jamal Hill, Alex Bed-Aida fight than we are in Adesania rematch, which to me sounds, I mean, I can't believe this. why is it not a sign you're saying hey hold on guys i'm next but we haven't heard a word from mada sanya is he not ready is there some injury that we don't know about or is he just taking a

nice long layoff after a shocking loss that's my first question and my second question i don't know if you've been following the ufc london situation in terms of the tickets ufc rio in terms of the tickets but the ufc has really raised has jacked up prices dramatically since the pandemic ended. And there's nothing to justify it because it's not like suddenly it's three times more expensive to put on a show. It's not like the fighters are being paid three times more than they were before the pandemic or during the pandemic. It's just the UFC price scouting. You haven't, we haven't been in your town in three years. Well, now we're, we are going to triple the prices and you are going to pay whatever we charge because you're so desperate for a card.

Well, guess what? It's starting to backfire on the UFC because that UFC real card, that that, that crowd was like 80%, it was like 20% empty, why, because of the ticket prices, because they started the show, like the main event started like 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning. And you look at all of MMA Twitter today, people talking about the UFC London ticket

prices outrageous. And what bothers me is the hypocrisy. Dana White loves to complain about boxing and boxing their price gouging and how he says every boxing fight is like a going out of business sale. Well, that's what this sounds like to me in terms of the ticket prices. You're not building a future.

You're just, well, how much can we charge today? And if we end up losing fans because of it, the UFC should be a sport for the middle class, for the working class, for the working poor, the working middle class. Instead, it's like now the tickets are only for the extremely well off. These are not the fans who you use to build a sport like the UFC in terms of the long-term health of the UFC. I think this price, this ticket situation might come back and bite the UFC in the ass. Thank you, sir.

As far as Izzy goes, I have no idea. I also am happy to give Izzy a pass at this point because he fought three times last year. It just fought in November two months ago. So if he wants to take some time, go for it. I don't, unless like the UFC really needs to fill a spot, like real bad, I don't think Alex Pereira is going to fight Jamal Hill. I don't think it happens. Alex Pereer has plenty of things to do at 185 right now.

If he doesn't fight Izzy, he can fight Robert Whitaker. It's a big-ass fight. But you would have to think they go to Izzy, and if Izzy's ready to come back in like July or something, then so what? Like, who cares? Not the end of the world. Izzy fought three times last year.

As far as the ticket prices go, listen, I feel for him. I'm not shocked by it. And it didn't seem to really slow London down at all. I saw a screenshot. I think it was Jedi Goodman where somebody was like 43,000th on the waiting list to get tickets. So like they're going to be fine. Is there going to be certain cards that could hurt them?

Like the Brazil one, it seems like it. But all in all, is it going to like cripple them? No. And take it from a guy who lived in Boston for 35 years. every year Red Sox ticket prices go up every year Patriots tickets prices go up every year Celtics prices go up

every year Bruins prices go up that's what happens when you become synonymous with winning and success you're going to have ticket prices that go up I remember the year before the Celtics made those big moves and got Garned

and Ray Allen and they were really starting to make something happen. The big three and they built the championship team. That Celtics team sucked. I mean, they were awful.

They sucked. And I went to like 20 games that year because they sucked. And no one wanted to go. No one wanted to go. So you could get Celtics tickets for like 12 bucks. And if we were just sitting around me and my buddy is like,

oh, what should we do today? like, oh, we can get eight tickets for the Celtics at 12 bucks a piece. And we would go. It would just go. And then they win, go on and win championships. And then the prices go up. And then they win a bunch and go to the playoffs. The prices go up.

Then they go to the finals last year. And the prices go up again. Like, that's just how it is. And it sucks. Like, I get where you're coming from. Like, you've been waiting all this time. You went through a pandemic. UFC started to travel again.

They're starting to come to your town and you're like, oh, baby, let's go. And then you look at the ticket price. You're like, oh, maybe not. Yeah, I'm not surprised by it. And honestly, I don't really fault the UFC for it. You may not want to hear that answer, but just the same example that I just gave about Boston, it's supply and demand. And if you're killing it and people are willing to pay the prices, then they would rather do that.

but I will say this from someone who's attended many of sporting events, including the UFC as a fan. I think you should go once. I think you should go once and check it out. But I honestly think it's better watching on TV. I think it's better watching on TV. I think football is better watching on TV. I've been to many Patriots games.

They're fun. You don't go for the game. You go for the experience. of tailgating and eating food for like four hours before you go into the stadium. Like that's the experience to me. But I would rather sit at home and watch the Patriots play rather than freeze my balls off at Gillette Stadium in January. That's just me.

Basketball? I think it's better watching on TV. The one sport I feel is better live is hockey. Like if it was the difference between watching a Bruins game on TV and going live to watch the Bruins, to me, hockey is the best sport to attend live. That's just me. Not everybody feels that way. That's just me.

And even then, going to a Bruins game, especially not, wait until next year as a Bruins fan. This Bruins team might be the best hockey team in the history of the NHL when it's all said and done. They might be. Ticket parties are going to go through the roof. It's just, that's sports, man. It's stupid. but they're going to get what they want. Maybe not in Brazil, but most places,

London's going to sell out 100%. London is going to sell out. Team Mobile is going to sell out for John Jones. They're all going to sell out. Brazil, maybe not. But we're not going, gone or the years where they're going to Lincoln, Nebraska, for a UFC card.

Gone are the years where they're going to Rochester, New York, for a UFC card. Those days are over, I think. It's major cities from here on out. inflated prices and it just kind of goes with the history of sport ticket prices. Success leads to higher prices. If the UFC has some tough, like really tough times and they're getting like just a ton of bad press, they have a bunch of awful cards in a row and just one thing after another,

after another happens against them and they're not selling out arenas anymore, yeah, they'll lower the prices. And then when things pick back up and they get more of a positive presence, then they'll raise them back up again. I mean, that's just how sports works to me. And I feel like, you know, being a Boston sports fan and going to all those games and experiencing all of that, the ups and the downs, it's similar with the UFC. It's similar with the UFC. You probably don't like that answer. And I do feel bad for people who have to spend a ton of extra money, but just go once, experience it, and then you never have to go again. You can just watch it on TV.

I think it's way better watching on TV. Squid, hello. Squidfish. Are you there? No, you are not. All right, Lewis, take us home because I got to go. Got BTL in a little over an hour. Lewis, are you there?

Unmute yourself. We were Kung Fu Fight King. Thank you for having me. Bye, bye. I mean, what a way to end it, right? I mean, just an angelic singing voice. I will say that. So I'll give you props for that.

I don't think we can get any better than that. We had a Grammy Award-winning singer come on here and just sing his heart out. And it can't get much better than that. So thank you all very much. I appreciate you. Join myself, Jedm. Shue, Brian Campbell, 12.30 p.m. Eastern for BTL. We'll be back here tomorrow. We'll do it again.

Friday. We can open the floodgates up a little bit and talk about MMA. We can talk about whatever the hell you want. So we'll see you back then 10 a.m. Eastern right here on the NBA fighting Twitter spaces. But until that, everybody, we'll see it at 1230 for BTL. Have a great rest of the day. And as always, have a heck of a morning.