MMA Fighting - HOAM | Is Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway the Right Fight To Make? Plus, Countdown To UFC 297

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

UFC 297 is coming quickly, but April's UFC 300 event stole some headlines with UFC CEO Dana White announcing that Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway will take place for the BMF title at the event. While the fight will likely produce fireworks and incredible action, Gaethje is perceived as next in line for Islam Makhachev and the lightweight title, and Holloway still sits at the top of the featherweight division, was this the right fight to make? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to White's announcement of Gaethje vs. Holloway, and how it can shake things up in a wild way at 155. Additionally, listener questions include Saturday's pay-per-view event in Toronto, Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis, the UFC 297 media day, the PFL vs. Bellator champions event being announced, if the UFC could still have Conor McGregor headline UFC 300, 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 to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter 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. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, everybody. It is Thursday, January 18th, 2024. And it is indeed a heck of a morning.

We are live on YouTube, everybody. Thank you for joining us. We are on the eve of the eve of UFC 297, the first UFC pay-per-view of 2024. I am Mike Heck. Hope you're all having a wonderful week. There's a lot going on in the world of mixed martial arts. A lot has happened since we were last on Twitter for this program. We went live on Twitter on Tuesday.

And then a whole bunch of news just dropped. We find out shortly after the show ended, PFL, versus Bellator, the champs versus champs card is going down in February, the same day as the UFC Mexico City card, February 24th. Pretty loaded card. We heard from Don Davis on the MA hour yesterday, just kind of doing Don Davis things and putting the card over as a promoter should. Maybe a little bit too much. I think rose-colored glasses is probably the understatement of the century, but hey, they're going out there. They're trying to do the damn thing, and they have done the damn thing. And then a few hours later, UFC CEO Dana White jumps on social media and says,

hey, we got a couple of big fights for UFC 300. Jim Effing Miller, who just got a finish at UFC Vegas 84 against Gabriel Benitez, he is going to fight a UFC 300. We kind of saw this one coming, right? He's going to fight Bobby Green. But then the bombshell for the BMF title, it's going to be Justin Gaichi versus Max Holloway. So Justin Gaichie, not fighting for the light way title, least in his next fight. Max Holloway, moving up to 155 once again, and this will be a five-round BMF title fight at UFC 300. And this was met, the reaction to this was really interesting to me, because I, for one, from a selfish perspective, this is the fight I've wanted to see forever. If you've been listening to On to the next one from Jump Street, this is the one

I've been calling for for a while. This is the dream fight, if you will. And I think there was a lot of excitement when this was announced, this felt like more 300y than some of the other fights that we had gotten. And I've been telling people for a while, like exercise just a little bit of patience, a little bit of patience. And then we can judge UFC 300 for what it is. Once we see the entire lineup, we see the top of the bill, what the main card would look like, et cetera. And it seemed like there was a lot of excitement for this fight. And then I see this, these takes that Max Holloway's going to get thumped. He's never going to be the same again. He's going to get brutally knocked out. This is not going to end well for him. And I'm not really sure

why that take is coming. Like, I understand the concern. Justin Gachie is the kind of guy that changes careers. Just ask Tony Ferguson what that's all about. He's coming out of a vicious knocko win against Dustin Porey. But honestly, stylistically, like, this is a fight that Max can not only be competitive in, but a fight he could win. And how interesting will the lightweight division look coming out of this fight? If Justin Gachie wins, is he going to be next? Kind of depends on the turnaround, I guess. And when Islam Makachev is ready to fight, I know Islam is saying I'm going to fight in June.

But with this fight happening in April, I just don't know if I see a world where if Justin Gachie wins, he's going to want to turn around and cut that weight again. In like six, seven, eight weeks time, just seems like you're asking a lot of the guy. And I'm sure he's getting a paycheck in it. Max Holloway somehow goes in there and beats Max Holloway

and wins the BMF title. Where does he go? Does he immediately get Islam? Does he leapfrog the Armand Sarukian Charles Olivaira winner? What happens to the winner of that fight now? Dana White said when he announced it, the winner of this fight is going on to fight is El Maka Chet. Is that true?

I don't know. It also raises the stakes for some of these other lightweight fights. We got Batush Gamrott fighting Hafield Osangos. We got Dustin Poiray fighting Benoit Santinia, UFC 299 in the co-main event, a five-rounder. I think the stakes have jumped up tremendously for both of those fights. and lightweight has become really, really interesting. I understand some trepidation.

When you get in there with the guy like Justin Gaichi, you never know what's going to happen. But I think this fight's going to be friggin bananas, and I am here for it. So that is my, I guess, initial reaction. We're going to go to the questions here. Look, I know what you guys all want to talk about. A lot happened yesterday.

I'm sure there's a lot of things we could talk about. We could talk about whatever. All I'm going to say is, Let's try to be respectful here. Let's try to be respectful. I am not going to sit here and shit on anybody. All right? I'm not going to sit here and shit on anybody's beliefs.

But I'm sure the hot tag is coming, as Ariel Halani likes to say, talking about the media day. But look, we could skip over that if you want. And I saw somebody comment that, oh, the only reason I'm doing this on YouTube is because I don't want to take questions. I'm here to talk about whatever the hell you want to talk about. If you want to talk about Sean Strickland's Media Day, you want to talk about the back and forth, we can talk about it. We can certainly talk about it, and I can give you my take on it. And if you have a totally different take, that's fine. I'm not going to sit here and shit on you.

I'm not going to sit here and call you names and all this other shit that I saw in social media yesterday. So that's not going to happen for me. But if you want my take on it, I'll certainly give it to you because I have thoughts. And I talk to a lot of people about this. I talked to a lot of people about this yesterday. I've talked about this before. I have friends who cover other sports in the media. And when things like this happen, they reach out and they almost do like a victory lap.

And I'll explain more in a little bit. But we'll get into this. We can talk about 297, which honestly isn't the greatest card of all time. But I think it's going to be fun. I do think this main event is going to do a lot of heavy lifting. I am really excited for the main event. I think Sean Stricklandrick is too plesia going to beat the holy cucka out of each other. I'm trying not to swear as much.

Because I know it's coming. I know Boston Mike's probably going to come out at some point. But that fight's going to be bananas. We do a Meyer Buena Silva versus Raquel Pennington. I got to tell you, Raquel Pennington, I thought was on fire at Media Day yesterday. Saw sort of a different side of her, which I appreciated. Meyer Boyna Silva, I thought she handled us up very well. Mike Malat, Neil Magne is a good fight.

Mobsar of Loia versus Arnold Allen rules. Good God, I can't wait for that fight. So much on the line there, especially with Max going up to 55. Mobbzar of Loy, if he wins this fight, more than, Unlikely if Alex, especially if Alexander Volkanowski beats Ilya to Poria at UFC 298, Mavs are of lawyers getting title shot. And if Arnold Allen wins and the same thing happens, Arnold Allen could find himself at a title fight. So let's go to the questions. Let's start here.

My reaction to this fight getting announced, pronounce pal. We're talking Max Holloway versus Jessica. Max is two spot for 155. Look, we saw this, right? We saw this. We saw Max go up and fight Dustin Pori. it was a great fight. Max landed a ton there. You could certainly tell that Dustin, when he landed, it meant more.

You saw different kinds of reactions from Max Holloway. But that fight to me, like Max is going to learn from that fight. He's been through the 155 fire before. And Dustin Porre, at least from a defensive standpoint, is a totally different fighter than Justin Gaichi. Now, Justin Gates is going to fire out those light kicks and get to do super violent things. But Justin Gaetia is also very hitable. And if Max can just put on that volume and get Gaichie,

back it up a little bit, this fight becomes really interesting. So we'll see. Time will tell. I think stylistically, Max can't win this fight. I don't think this is a blowout fight at all. And I'm not at least right now concerned about Max's chin because dude is one of the most durable fighters, if not the most durable fighter, I've ever seen inside the Octagon, especially at the lighter weight classes. So a lot of questions is about 300. Hey, Mike, this is CV from Twitter. Everybody's saying this might be finally the time Max's chin gets cracked and caoed clean. Justin has been in Wars 2. Can Max clean K.O. Justin as well? I mean, it's hard to say. I mean, at this point, anything can happen. Anything can happen. No more Twitter heck in morning wanted to hop on.

Yes, Twitter will remain. Twitter will remain, my friends. We did this like randomly, like a couple of weeks ago, and there were no events. We wanted to see how it was going to go, and it went pretty well. So we decided that pay-per-view weeks for the UFC, we'll do this once a week. We decided Thursday was probably the better day to do it. So that's why we're doing it today. That's honestly all that it is. When are you getting AirPods? My God, I got to do that.

You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. I'm sure the hot tag is coming. Zach, Mike, you mentioned the other day about the Lauren Murphy situation having more behind the scenes. Can you allude to that more? Okay. Let's talk about this. The UFC roster watch Twitter page tweets out.

Lauren Murphy was no longer on the roster. So obviously, me seeing that, I was like, huh, that's kind of an interesting one. So I reached out and multiple people told me, yes, she's still on the roster, but she was removed from the rankings due to inactivity. So that, when that happens, you get removed from not only the actual UFC rankings, but you get removed from the fan rankings as well, because you could jump on the UFC website. You can essentially create your own rankings. and Lauren was removed in terms of flyway.

So, I mean, look, if you're looking for this, like, crazy story, it's not really one there. But what I could tell you is from everybody I talked to, including Lauren, and I'm sure she's not going to mind that I put out that I spoke with her, because she didn't tell me not to say anything. Lauren doesn't seem upset about this at all. Lauren has been very, very busy. If you have followed her on social media,

she is not thinking about fighting at all. She's been opening up a whole bunch of businesses. I know she's into sort of the diving thing, the deep diving in terms of improving your cardio and some of the benefits that has. So she's been in Houston trying to open up all these different businesses. So right now she's just not in a place

where she is ready to fight. So it's not like she's ducking people. It's not like the Karene Silva fight was like, no, I'm not fighting her. She's just like, no, I'm just not ready to fight yet. Like I got too much shit going on. So that's why this is happening. So Lauren doesn't seem upset about this at all.

I know a lot of people are screaming double standard. And, you know, honestly, when you look at guys like Steepay and you look at guys, Brian Ortega was a name that came a bunch, Colby was a name that came up a bunch. They remained on the rankings. Lauren does not seem upset about this at all. And I've known Lauren for a long time. I've done many fiery interviews with Lauren Murphy over the years since 2016. And Lauren Murphy is not the type of person who,

will shy away from things. If she's pissed about something that the UFC did, she will come out and say it. And from what I understood from her, not upset about this at all. It seems like she knew this was coming. It seems like she was totally okay with this. Maybe this is just her say, in her own way,

just saying, let's just pull me from the rankings. I don't want to hold anybody up. But she does plan on fighting this year. Just not sure when, probably later on. My hunch is probably like the second half of the year. So, yeah, honestly, this is, this is what it is.

It's not a huge thing. Lauren's not pissed about it. No one's upset about it. Her team's not upset about it. They kind of knew this is coming. So, the hot tag is coming. I know it. Fahim, what do you think of Hamzat's IG story?

Him mentioning UFC 300. I did see this, but there's another one. Hamzaa 300. We'll see. We'll see. You guys have to sort of go through Hamzat's history on social media as well. Hamzat,

I'm not going to compare him to Nate Diaz, but Nate Diaz knows when to tweet. He knows when to post things on social media to get things cooking. And Hamzad is also very good at this as well. And I think this is partly because he just wanted to drum up a little bit of attention, especially with the middleweight title being on the line.

And who knows, Hamzat could turn around a UFC 300 and maybe fight Strickland or DDP. I could certainly see that being something the UFC would want to do. But I am a little concerned about the things I saw in social media, the health issues, everything he had to deal with. I don't know if he's going to turn around for 300, but maybe. But look, Hamzot versus DDP or Hamzaat versus Sean Strickland, pretty solid UFC 300 main event.

I am going to stick with my hunch and no insight to this whatsoever that I would assume Israel Adisania will probably be next. for the winner if they were able to turn around between Strickland and a Duplice. But let's see. Question from Mike. Over under six and a half fights go to a decision on Saturday. Sheesh. Let me look at this real quick.

First fight, I don't think's going to the cards. The Gordon Flick fight. Jazz DeVizius' Catchuera probably does, but I could see a whirl where we get a late finish there. But I'll say that one does go to the cards. The Leonee Sam Patterson fight, I'm going to say does not go to the cards. Robertson, Vianna. I'm going to say that also doesn't go to the cards.

I think we're going to get... So six and a half fights. Strictly DDP, no. I think that's going to get stopped at some point. Pennington, Bueno, Selva, I think does go to the cards. So one, two, three, four, five, six... Yeah, I guess over. Just quickly looking at it, I'll say seven.

I'll say seven fights. Do you think Sean versus Drickis could possibly end up being like Robbie Loller versus Rory or Condit if they end up scrapping? Sheesh. Look, I'll tell you what, if that is even sniffing either of those two fights, then it's the fight of the year. Like, it is going to be the fight of the year. I've talked about this a lot. Robbie Lollar Carlos Condit is my favorite fight of all time. It's the one if I go out and have a couple of bevies

and I just want to watch fights. I'm going to pick that one every single time. It's one of my favorite fights to watch. This is going to be nuts. I do think this is going to be a crazy fight. I think things are going to start. I know DDP is sort of a chaos merchant, but he is fighting for a UFC title for the first time.

So I do feel like there'll be a little bit of a feeling out process early, but then I think Petal is going to go to the medal for both guys. it's going to be up there. I am predicting this will be a top five fight of the air fight. Even though it's happening in January, which coincidentally enough, first pay-per-view of 2016, where we got Robbie Loller versus Carlos Condit,

that was also in the first pay-per-view of the year, and that was one of the craziest years of all time. So, yeah, I think, I don't know if it'll be as good as either of those two fights, but, I mean, you're talking two of the five greatest fights in the history of the sport, in my opinion. Tristan, hey Mike, thoughts about Coton on the prelims? He's coming up that classic of a fight against Cody Gibson.

Yeah, he should be on the prelims, no offense. I mean, it's going to be a good fight. I do like it. Garrett Armfield's fun. I've been high on Garrett for a while since his Shamrock FC days. It's going to be a good fight, but no, I don't see. I'm not surprised not on the main card. All right, let's just do it.

Thoughts on my best friend's questions to Sean Strickland yesterday. All right, so here's here's what I'll say about it. Okay? Because I thought about this. I've thought about this a lot. And truth be told, I'm a loyal. I'm a lie.

So I will take AKs back all the time. And I will take anybody in my staffs back pretty much all the time. Now, obviously, there's lines that can be crossed, but I don't think there was really a line cross here. But here's what I'll say about it. Here's, I basically want to go to the comebacks that I'd go. one of which was, which I honestly actually laughed at this pretty hard last night.

I saw people say, oh, they only, AK only asked those questions to Sean for clicks. Really? You think that's the case? I can assure you. Now, you can go to M.A.fighting.com. There was an article written by Outsports about this back and forth, and it is on our website right now. We did not write that article. And we didn't even post the clip on our own social media. So what the fuck are you talking about that AK asks those questions for clicks?

What do you mean? What do you mean? Did we write strickling things up from the scrum? Yeah. But at least to my knowledge, I didn't look over every single word. But the things you wrote about are things he said about like Ian Gary and DDP and Sean O'Malley and things. that nature. So fucking miss me with we were doing this for clicks. Secondly, someone was saying, well, maybe that's not the timer place. Well, tell me when is the time. It's not like we're

lining up and getting Sean Strickland interviews all the time. Like, I don't remember Sean, has been on the M.A. hour in a while. And Ariel talked about this on on the nose yesterday. Like, when is the right time? Now, I will say this. If AK asked this at a press conference, like if AK asked those questions today I'd kind of understand it a little bit more because at that point Dana's going to get pissed or whoever's at that point you kind of want to put the fights over

that's what I kind of want to see out of the press conferences but I've talked about this before people are always like oh why doesn't anybody in the MMA media ask tough questions to the fighters and to Dana White etc and then the first time it happens like this is the reaction I remember when Matt Wells asked Dana White

about the Bellator PFL merger and Dana said what he had to say and Dana was clapping back at Matt Wells of MMA junkie. Like, this is, you want, like so many people have come on this show and said, ask hard questions. Well, they did. He did. And here's the thing.

Here's why so many of my friends who cover other sports took a victory lap yesterday. Anytime shit happens in MMA like this, those folks who cover other sports, and I'm not going to say their names, will immediately either call me or text me and be like, see, told you, when Dana says the UFC is going to be as big as the NFL and the NBA, a major league baseball and all that, we kind of snicker at that, but we also see, especially me as a guy who's watched the sport for a long time,

who has seen it grow and respects the shit out of everybody who competes inside that cage or any cage around the world. I want that to happen. I want to live in a world where when we talk about the Super Bowl and when we talk about the World Series and we talk about the Stanley Cup, we mentioned international fight week in the same sentence.

Like, it's the same. That's the world I want to live in. But when things like this happen, it can't. It just can't. Now, if you think AK was out of line, fine. That's your opinion.

If you want to defend Sean Strickland in his response, fine. It's not my take. And I'm not going to shit on you for it. I'm not going to call you slurs like I got on social media. Like I've seen being hurled at AK for asking questions. Here's the thing. Sean Strickland said those things.

He said those things. And AK brought it up. Gave him a chance to respond. Not on just one thing, but two things. Including the Bud Light thing, which was a recent thing. So if you want to play the, oh, those two years ago, he said the Bud Light thing recently. The Bud Light deal is not something that happened two years ago. and then Sean turned into this whole thing.

Do you think Tom Brady is going up to a press conference and answering those questions like that? If Brady does something stupid? Like when Brady and the whole thing happened with his ex and then moving on to Giselle, if Tom Brady got questions about that, you think he's going to sit there and shit all over the reporter? No, he might just say,

look, I'm not here to answer any of those questions. And I'm not saying Sean should have been like, oh, I'm sorry for that. I'm not saying that. But you're a fucking world champion. You're the champion of the world. You're the champion of the UFC. At least be like, look, I don't want to answer that right now. I want to talk about the fights. If you want to ask me questions like that, go F yourself. Like, that's fine. But the attack was over the line in my eyes. Again, if you disagree with me, fine. I'm not going to call you names. But when else are these questions supposed to be asked? And how come when the hard questions are asked that this is the response? that I've seen. I don't get it.

And I know we want to live in a world it's like, oh, we'll just talk about the fight. That press conference you can talk about the fight. You can talk about the fight. And here's the last thing I'll say about this. And we can talk more about it.

If you guys have, you know, respectful clapbacks, fire away. I don't give a shit. I'm not here to hide. You think I'm on YouTube because I didn't, I didn't have the balls

to hear your audio responding to this? Get out of here. You don't know me at all. You obviously have no idea who I am. I don't give a shit. I don't care. But I am told from multiple people who are in that room,

and this is from what I understand fully the truth, the UFC went up and apologized to AK after that. The UFC, the company of free speech, the company that says, we have 600 maniacs on the roster, fight promotion is fight promotion. Weird shit's going to be said. We support it.

We don't. silence anybody. They went up and apologized to AK. What does that tell you? What does that tell you? Now, have they put out a public statement or anything? No. But from what I understand, they went up and apologized to him. So there you go. Even they thought it was somewhat over the line from everything that I've been told. So what's the fucking problem? It was questions. When else are they supposed to be asked? Guys fighting in Toronto. AK laid it up pretty good. I didn't I didn't think he led it with anything. He just, he wasn't putting words in Sean's mouth.

He asked Sean to respond to things. And Sean attacked him. And that's his right. But if, for me, as somebody who wants the sport to hit its pinnacle, for somebody who wants the sport to be mentioned with all those other major sports, I would have preferred Sean being like, you could say that go fuck yourself's all you want. Go ahead. Just no, sell the question.

Just say, no. It's a stupid question. That's it. Move on. And AK probably still would have got a little shit for it, but at least he asked the question. And then he asked another question that was recent. And it turned into an attack on AK.

So I have his back. I think I don't have a problem with those questions being asked at all. Because when is he supposed to fucking ask him? Now, if you don't like it, fine. It is what it is. You think AK's going to get fired? He ain't. I can tell you that right now.

You can tell you that right now. But that's my take on it. That's what I take. You're not going to see this shit in any other major sport. You're not. LeBron James ain't coming up here and insulting a reporter, calling him the most evil man in the world. No.

He's not doing that. And Sean could sit there and still be Sean Strickland, but not say that shit. That's all. That's it. We can talk more. I don't give a shit. Defenders in cybersecurity are always there when we need them.

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Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 1-8665-3-1-2-60 or visit comex Ontario.ca. How much more fun will PFL Bellator be with elbows? I want to pull up this card real quick. We reacted to this. We did an emergency pod after this. After the announcement. I want to pull up the whole card. There we go.

Guys, the main event, and I mean this with all of their respect. Hennon-Ferrera versus Ryan Bader. It's not good, honestly. Imbica Saginae, Johnny Eblen, quality fight Jesus Benito, Petitio Pituit, Pituit, good fight. Magamad, Magamagamac, Karamov, Jason Jackson, really liked that fight. Bruno Capulosa,

Vadim Knav, and Hemcoff at heavyweight, Tiago Santos, Yo-O Romero, which could be super good or super terrible. It could go either way. There's no gray area at that fight whatsoever. Clay-collared Aegee McKee fucking rules. Beajio Ali Walsh, making his pro debut. Gabriel Braga versus Aaron Pico,

which I don't even know if that fight's going to happen. you guys have seen what's going on with Gabriel Braga. Just feel so bad for him. Corsia Shields fighting on the card as well. It's fine. It's fine. And elbows are cool. Like we get the full rule set.

And I love the fact that they're three-round fights. Absolutely love that they're three-round fights. I can't do a world championship pace with the PFL multiple times a year. So the three rounds was music to my ears. I love that. And elbows are cool. The problem is, I think the date's going to hurt them.

I really do. If you're on ESPN Plus, if you're scrolling through and you're like, hmm, what am I going to watch today? I want to watch them MMA. What am I going to do? You can watch UFC Mexico City,

which is going to be super fun with a hot crowd for free, or just get the normal subscription, or you can pay whatever this pay-per-view is going to cost, which is probably going to be $50. It wouldn't shock me if it's more. So, I don't know. I'm very curious to see how this thing does.

Very curious. Does it do, from what I understand, the World Championship card to not do well. I know the first one, excuse me, did really bad. I'm not sure how the second one did. I don't think that card left a great taste in people's mouths because it just took forever. And I don't know how this does.

I think you're in a sport where all of you guys have to spend a shitload of money to watch everything and even the big boxing matches too like do you want to shell out another 50 bucks for this? I don't know. I think these can be some big growing pains here. But sure, elbows are cool.

What do you think about the UFC postponing the Saudi Arabia fight card? Not surprised. Not surprised. But it looks like maybe June they go back. Maybe we get Islam. Maybe we get some better fights. Maybe that's where Leon Belal

comes in, I don't think that's going to be the main event, but maybe. Maybe Connor's there. I don't know. Mike, when will all the Dana hate end and please don't say you'd hate him, thanks. I don't hate him. I don't hate data. We come from the same place. We're very similar in a lot of ways.

People think, like, I've mimicked my look to be Dana White. It's not the case. I just happen to be bald and have way less money. But I'm just as stubborn as he is. Look, there's a difference between hate and critical thinking. And I do this with everybody. You think it's just, you think the way I talk and the way my takes come out that it's just Dana related? How many times have I shit on Scott Coker?

How many times have I dumped on Bellator? How many times I dumped on Don Davis for the things he says? We spent 30 minutes on a BTL one episode to shrew. destroying Don Davis for a graphic he put up on Twitter. So to say that we are only critical of Dana is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in my entire life. And I did see comment. And I might have even been from you, David, that we shouldn't criticize data. We should learn from him.

And I have to say, David, I want to thank you so much for giving me a hearty, hearty laugh on a Sunday afternoon. Because I don't really look at the comments, but boy, am I glad I saw the comment that. day because I laughed a lot when I saw that. And as you guys are going to see, when this lawsuit against the UFC starts cooking, I think you guys are going to get a better grasp of how this business works. Because I, there is a time before I cover this sport where I didn't give a shit about any of that. But then you get fully entrenched it in. The more you watch, the more you care about the backside of the back end of things,

if you will, and the business side of things. things are going to get ugly. Things are going to get real ugly. And just look at what we wrote on Sunday about the unsealed documents about Dana White and the UFC brass about John Jones, calling him a douchebag and calling him all these things because he wants what he thought he deserved.

All sorts of shit. Look, when Dana does good things, we say it. When he does bad things, we say it. When I say that he cares, it's kind of clear right now he cares more about power slap being successful than he does the UFC that he's kind of coasting a little bit

yeah I mean I'm not I'm not hating him on him for that it's just the way that it is it's just he's won the guy is one he's the face of the UFC right now even with Connor there because Connor hasn't been fighting

Dane is the star Dane is the guy Dane is the one who is bringing in people he's bringing in the influencers he's bringing in a new fresh audience but doesn't mean everything he does is great. It doesn't. I was the one with this whole UFC 300 debacle

when everyone was shitting on him for the Janjana and Wiley Zhang fight. I was one like, everybody chill. Like, they're going to do something good. Relax. I don't hate Dana. I cover Dana like any other person in sports would cover a commissioner or a manager

or a head coach or a general manager. When you do good things, you get praise for it. And when you do bad things, you get dumped on a little bit. It's sports. It's not hate. It's sports. That's it. There's no hate.

I'll tell you what. The one thing, and I'll go back to that question a second, the one thing I think this PFL Bellator thing is going to do is I think it's going to wake Dana up a little bit. I think Dana is going to, we're going to see some of that older school Dana where he is like team UFC waving the flag and screw everybody else and I miss that guy

I miss that guy I miss that guy I really do I would rather see that guy putting over cards and putting over his fighters and not everything but

he doesn't it's just the same enthusiasm isn't quite there anymore like it was in 2016 and before that it just wasn't And it's not as prevalent now as it was back then. But when the PFL Bellator thing, when those rumors started coming, we're starting to see that spark again. A little bit.

A little bit. And I hope this carries over. And I hope this carries. I really do. But if he does something, if things are done bad from a proportional standpoint, what am I supposed to do? No, Dane is the greatest? No.

Just the same I would do with Don Davis or Scott Koch or anybody else. Mike to see Max staying at 55 permanently win or lose versus Justin I'm not really sure Maybe Maybe I would like to see him at 55 Now if Ilya Teporia beats Volcanowski They're probably going to run that one back

And if he beats him again Then maybe Max moves back down But Max isn't old But he's got a lot of mileage on him And I've said this about Max before because a lot of people are like, well, why would Max do this? because if Ilya wins, he can just move down and fight for the belt. Max doesn't need a title.

He's been there and done that. He's a star anyways. And he's just one of those fighters that people love to watch. So he doesn't need the belt. Just like Derek Lewis doesn't need a belt. You just want to see Derek Lewis fight and do weird things. Max is just that guy. You just want to see Max fight.

It doesn't really matter. So I don't think he needs a belt. But boy, if he beats Justin. Justin Gagee. He might get himself an opportunity at the lightweight belt. So I'll say yes, but because I think he's going to enjoy, unless he just gets the brakes beat off him by Justin Gagee. But I honestly think the fight's going to be,

I think that fights will be pretty fun and pretty competitive. Low key banger for 297. Let's see. I mean, Malcolm Gordon, Jimmy Flick is not going long. I can assure you that. I think Yuan Leonez versus Sam Patterson has the opportunity

to end in vicious fashion Charles Jordane Sean Woodson seems like it's going to be a lot of fun so there's a few look I feel the same way

not I actually I like this card better than 289 as a whole that was when they were in Canada last year that was the Amanda Nunes orini Aldana card

obviously the main event here is so much better but the rest of the card. It's not really deep. It's more of a local showing, if you will. So, but I do think, much like 289, that it's going to be a fun watch. Like, this is going to be a fun watch. I think if you watch it, I think you will, you will enjoy yourself. Because 289 was fun. It was a fun card. Why is Murphy pulled from the rank? Because Ortega is still ranked.

We already talked about this. Ortega was, because the thing with Ortega was, because the thing with Ortega was like he wanted to fight it's this is what i think ortega wanted to fight he wanted to get back in there he wanted to book something and then just injuries kind of took over and like every time they had something for him he would get dinged up and they had to push it away he's got a fight booked right now he's fighting yaya yore Rodriguez in a five round fight um in a little over a month's time so i don't know how the rankings work man that's why we do our own rankings we have our own rules We have our own style. We do our own thing.

And we have an inactivity clause in our rankings as well. 18 months, you're out of there. Colby was out. Steepa's out. Francis is out. Francis isn't fought in M.A. in a long time. You go past 18 months, you're out. John Jones was out.

John Jones was ranked until he beat Cyril gone. So, yeah, maybe they could do that. And we'll go from there. What else we got? What else we got? A lot of Ronda Rousey UFC 300 stuff. I don't think it's going to happen.

Will the winner of Sean Strickland versus Drickus Duplice face Izzy and headline UFC 300? I think so. Again, I don't have a lot of insight to this. This is just kind of what my guts telling me. I don't... One thing that I felt...

I felt more confident about this being a yes after the Gachi Holloway announcement. because I don't think you could put Leon Belaw on this card anymore unless Holloway Gaichie's the main event and I don't know if that will headline over a wealth and rate title fight because you know how the UFC kind of likes to do this they higher weight class sort of gets carte blanche in these situations unless there's a Connor McGregor type deal

and then all bets are off so I don't think Leon Belal is going to be on 300 I think they're going to save that for another card So yes, as long as the winner isn't just destroyed, which it could happen in this fight. These guys could have a career-altering battle on Saturday. It's very possible. It's very, very possible.

But my hunch is if it's possible, if the winner can turn around, then yeah. DDP says he's down. Strickland said, pay me, and he's down. And I think Strickland would just do it anyways, even if you just get the extra money because Sean's that kind of dude. Do they hold Hamza for Saudi Arabia if they can't get him for 300? Yeah, probably.

Never had a live question answered before. How's it going, Mike? What are your general thoughts on? Sedriquez Dumas? As a fighter? Pretty fun. He was a real fun watch on the regional scene. He had a great performance on the contender series.

He's a little green, but you could tell his fight IQ is getting better. So he'll be one to watch. I think he's got a fight. I think he's book. He looked. Who is he booked against? I liked, he looked pretty good against Zaytar. Boy, he's got a tough fight ahead of him on March 30th, though.

He's fighting Rudesabov. If he beats Rudesabov, that's going to open a lot of, it's going to open a lot of eyes. I would miss what Sean said yesterday. What happened? You could find it on social media. Mike, did you catch G.C.'s fits in the MA hour yesterday. Did he fumble the bag by not showing up in the Great One jersey?

Or did he nail the wardrobe change after showing up with the BMF shirt? I mean, solid. Now, I am here. Obviously, I'll be reuniting with G.C. In two days' time, watch party. Very, very excited. G.C. and I have spoke about possible wardrobe options. I will say this.

If G.C. comes through with what he sort of laid out to me, I am not doing it. But if he does it, it's going to be incredible. It's going to be incredible. I have, like, a weird. I find a shirt that's called Canadian flannel, so it's going to be kind of Halwani-ish, but yeah, G.C. G.C. might be the dude.

What else we got? Statsyana Swarer is going to go down as the biggest what-if in women's M.A if she can't get to a title fight because of her injury history. Maybe, but I don't think this is going to be an injury that's going to keep her up for very long. It doesn't seem like it's going to, from what she said and from people I've spoken to as well, Um, she still wanted to fight. She just wanted to push it back a few weeks. It wasn't like, let's push it back three months. It was like, let's push it back a couple weeks and then we can do it.

Just something that's kind of nagging her right now. So, yeah, this could actually be better for her, honestly, because maybe she just gets a title fight. Although McKenzie Dern, if she beats Amanda Lemos, that could make things a little tough. But if Mandolemmas beats McKenzie Dern, she's probably getting the next shot anyways and doesn't have to get another fight. So there you go. Mike, do you think there's any chance

Connor is BSing us on fighting in June and the UFC drops a bomb and announces him versus Chandler for the 300 main event? I am not ruling it out. I won't rule it out. I don't... I don't understand why this isn't on the card

to begin with. Like, I understand... From a business perspective, you just think because it's 300, it's going to sell. And maybe there's some truth to that. It's a little bit of a different world now where there's so many events, not just for the UFC, but just across the board.

And so many boxing fights, boxing's starting to get back over with a more casual audience. So a lot of people are spending money on those pay-per-views too. I think we're going to get more. I think we need to see what happens to the made event Saturday. If we get a, if Strickland-DDP give us a Lawler Condit, I don't see a world where either of those guys turn around. So maybe they do entice Connor and just be like, eff it, let's go. But I'm not ruling it out. not ruling it out

Mike on heck of a morning a couple weeks back you spoke about how you want to do more with BTL any chance that ever gets implemented maybe down the road obviously like doing like coming to M.A.

Like my first day at M.A. fighting, I was still living in Massachusetts. It was the day Massachusetts shut down and like the world starting shut it down because of the pandemic. So like everything had to be virtual.

Everything was different. You know, the events. weren't, it was, everything just changed. A whole coverage of the sport changed. And it went to, at least for me, like, man, like to get over and to cover events, like, you have to be there. And to me, like, it's not like that anymore.

Like, I don't have to be in an event to cover it. I don't have to be boots on the ground. Now, do I like being boots on the ground? Yes. What happened at 2902 is like the perfect thing for me. Go do the fight week stuff. Do media day, do the press conference, do the weigh-ins, and then fly to New York and do the watch party. Like, I don't need to be there for the fights. I'll just do the fight week stuff.

I'll do some interviews on the side. Like, that's what I, that's what I like. And then I'll go to the watch party on the Saturday. But as far as BTL goes, like, BTL would be incredible if it was a studio show. And I don't know if we can ever get to that point. Maybe we could jazz it up a little bit. I'm trying to figure out how we're going to do that. But I would love it to be more of a studio show. Multicam kind of a thing. as opposed to like doing on a virtual thing, but here we go. Coaching change in New England.

We're not really going to talk about that. We can talk about that tomorrow. Mike, how was Julianna on the M.A. hour and tell me she isn't the most interesting in that division. I mean, she is. I mean, what can I say?

She was, she was good. I mean, if there was ever a time for Giuliana Pena to get over, I mean, this is it, man. this is it. I guess I'm catching up on all the reaction to my rant. Some of you guys are just way out of line.

All right, there we go. Thoughts on D.C. saying that Jim Miller doesn't deserve a Hall of Fame spot and that his wins record will be broken one day. It's never going to be broken. I don't think. And he does deserve being in the Hall of Fame. He said it best on the M.A. Like, he's the Cal Ripkin of M.MA in a lot of respects.

And Cal Ripkin wasn't the greatest baseball player. Trust me. He was a big fan of him. But the reason Cal Ripkin was, Ripkin is a Hall of Famers because he played for so long and played in all those games and broke those records. Jim Miller is the Cal Ripkin of M.A. So yes, I think he should be in the Hall of Fame. And he's super fun to watch right now. Right? He's just so fun right now. The same football as as is combat back to the AK stuff. Well, good. Look, here's the thing. My point with the whole

sports thing is like if you're happy being a niche sport, like a successful niche sport, great. That's awesome. You can be that. I want more for the sport. I want more for it. I want it to be in the top five or six. It's not there. It isn't. Sorry.

It's just not there. A lot of Sean Strickland fans. Which, by the way, as I said earlier, guess what? You support Sean? Fine. You have a problem with AK's questions? Fine. Fine.

I don't care. I'm not going to sit here and call your names. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credit. for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. 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. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Live with confidence while Peloton IQ counts reps. Corrects form and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at Onepeloton.ca. Might come for Dana's job? No. I don't.

Here's what I'll say. Here's what I will say. He has a job that I would never, ever want. So good on him. The man killed it. Man killed it. Swimming in sat and he's got the silly. The man is cross.

Russian life. What can I say? Again, people saying we did it for clicks, yet we didn't post the clip from it at all. I'm trying, people. Well, if you guys hated what AK did, you're going to hate BT&T. Hell yeah. Please, here. No fight talk, huh? No one's talked about. We already talked about Tatiana Suarez. Timeouts coming. That's for sure. All right. We found some questions. Who are some of the fighters that have potential to elevate the PFL brand? Kayla's one of them.

I mean, obviously you got Francis. And this is the big thing for PFL. They got no stars. They got Francis, but they're just kind of riding, like they're riding his boxing wave right now. I don't know if Jake Paul generates as much pay-per-view revenue as Don thinks it's going to. I think Johnny Ebbling can be a star.

I really do. He's got the personality. He's got the skills. He's only getting better. Man is a problem. them, but I just don't know if they're going to get, I just don't know if they're going to get over. I don't know if they have that guy or gal.

I mean, Kayla's obviously, but Kayla's also, Don Davis said, Don Davis said that Kayla has one fight left in her deal, and we don't know what the truth is to that from her side. We, Chris, he said that they want to do Chris Cyborg in the summer. If you follow Chris Cyborg on Twitter, it probably wasn't her that tweeted it, but she was like, first I ever heard about that. all that so we'll see i i i'm certainly not as confident as don davis is that kala versus

cyboris happening this summer but i kind of i hope it does i mean they need that fight uh mike we know habib is not coming back however do you really think the ufc could truly persuade him gsp or ronda to come back and have a super fight habib is not coming back uh i don't think there's anything in the world uh that would get him back I think he's just kind of like he he he's a coach and he's a confidant, but I think he's just kind of done with the MMA grind altogether in terms of going to events and cornering guys and all that stuff. I think he's just kind of done with MMA.

GSP seems to have zero interest in coming back to MMA. Could we see GSP in a grappling match. Yes, I think we probably will see him in a grappling match in like 2024 on fight pass. Rhonda Rhonda is interesting I don't think it happens but honestly I would love I kind of want to see it

I kind of want to see it I just want to see how she would handle herself keep going Mike do you think if they add Edwards versus Bahamad to 300 that will be the main event or the BMF title fight will be I mean probably Edwards Mohammed but I think it's I think it's a bad idea I think it's a bad idea

just like look at 297 right Look at this card. This card is not great. It's fine. It's going to be a fun watch, like I said, but it's not great. Look at $2.99, $200 so far. I mean, this card doesn't come anywhere near any of those, and that's fine. But it's going to end with Sean Strickland versus Drick's 2 Plus C.

The taste in our mouths at the end of this card is going to be like, holy shit. Like those guys went out there and battled or, man, DDP looked incredible. Or, man, Sean Strickland is a gangster. You know what I mean? like that's that's how we're going to end the card so even if the rest of the card stinks and we get the fight

that I think we're going to get between Strickland and Duplice it's going to be like damn this is great but if you end 300 with Leon versus Ballal boy you're asking for a lot because I don't

I think that fight's competitive I think it's a close it's a high level mixed martial arts bout but I don't think we're going to end 300 if that's the main amendment be like wow what a bra

what a fight. What excitement. I don't think we're going to get that. So if they do put it on 300, I do think, I mean, I would rather, Gachi Holloway should be the main event. If that's it, then cool. Leon Blah should be 301, completely agree. Or you throw that in Saudi Arabia as one of the fights, because Saudi's going to want the best. Did you frame your broadcast tweet as well now? honestly I got to say if there's one thing about the UFC broadcast that I would change

I the media tweets like we could dump those I think we're done I think we're done I'm glad like the flyweight under tweet like that's it I don't need to see anymore that is the tweet of all tweets is this the actual fighter opinions on guru

dude guys killing it guys killing it I give him look do I agree with everything he says no Um, the guy has built something pretty strong. And dude is hustling his ass off. And I will always, uh, whether I agree with everything they say or not, I will always respect that.

And dude, dude's crushing it. I mean, what can I say? I mean, his views are off the charts. Dude's killing it. What else can you say? Good for him. And apparently he's a fucking large dude. Like, like, like, not what it looks like.

like on computer screen. I saw some of the screenshots on Twitter. I was like, holy shit. Dude's like, feel like a NFL linebacker. Where else we had? I want to get a few more in. We do a BTL 1230 today.

So join us for that. Lots to talk about. Jed will be there. And, uh, AK's going to be here too. So UFC 200 didn't do that. I'm not really sure what you mean by that. Oh, Nunes versus Tate was the headline.

But yes, it was the headliner. but it wasn't supposed to be. It was the third choice. Go back to that time in our lives, 2016. Connor Nate was supposed to be the main event of UFC 300. And then there was Connor doing the whole, I'll do it, but I'm not coming to the press conference. And they're like, no, you're coming to the press conference.

And then Connor's like, fine, but give me more money. And then they're like, no. And then he's like, I'm not fighting. and then Nate's like, fine, then I'm not fighting either. So we got John Jones versus Daniel Cormier, the rematch, and then John tests positive two, three days before the fight, and DC gets Anderson Silva on like 48 hours notice, so we have to bump something up to the main event,

and the co-main event at the time was Amanda Nunes versus Bisha Tate, and that became the main event. But that was not the selling point, and even to some degree, as personal as things, things got with John Jones and Daniel Cormier. It's personal as that rivalry was. The reason that pay-per-view is so successful was because of Brock Lesnar. The comeback of Brock Lesnar put that thing over the top.

The aura of Brock Lesnar, even though that fight stinks, and if you go back and watch Brock Leser versus Marc-Con, it's an awful fight. But Brock did so much heavy lifting on that card. But we already answered the Tatiana question. Answer the DC Jim Miller. we need heck of a morning merch We need merch A lot of things

I have a lot of merch ideas Thoughts on Dan Hooker Wanting me the backup To McGregor Chandler I didn't see this But Smart It's a great

It's absolutely what he should do That's what every lightweight On the roster should be doing right now Sean's shirk and getting K0ed maybe Hey Mike Jordan Malott And Jaze DeVizia seem to be carrying The Flag for Canadian MMA right now

who do you think has the highest ceiling of the three? Any future camps here are just contenders? I think probably Malat. I mean, Malat's kind of got it right now. I think he's pretty over. UFC seems to like him. He's super fun. Jasmine's fun too.

And Charles, I don't think, is like a title contender, but still really fun. But I feel like if we're going to get a Canadian star, it's probably Malat. What else we got? Mike, why are you bald? Because my dad's bald and I gave him too much shit for being bald and this is karma, baby. I'm the only one, too.

I have three brothers, all in the full heads of hair. I lost the battle. But I've embraced it. I have embraced it. Oh, it's fake Cameron, Simon? Damn. Mike, does Frankie Edgar get into Hall of Fame this year? Hmm.

I'll say yes. I'll say yes. They are going to Atlantic City. I could certainly see a world where, and someone brought this up on the show, so I ain't taking credit for it. You give him the honor right there. You sit in the crowd watching fights,

down the street from where he lives. That'd be pretty sweet. So, yeah, I think Frankie's a Hall of Famer. Dude's a former champ, fought for titles in multiple divisions. I mean, when I got into the sport, Frankie Edgar was my favorite, was like my favorite fighter to watch.

Really enjoyed them. Let's see. Any interviews with George coming to figure out about the fight with Mike Perry? No. I don't think George is fighting Mike Perry, though. I think you kind of know where they're going here. And I talked about this before. That fight with Nate Diaz, the boxing match is being discussed.

Both sides seem to be in on it, but there's some other... There's hurdles that need to go across. They need to clear some hurdles before that happens. can we just talk MMA? I'm trying, motherfucker. Bobby Green's chances against Jim Miller. I mean, pretty good. It's a good fight. Mike, what times you wake up today for this? I was up at 6 a.m.

Got to get the kid ready for school out the door. Got to get to the gym. Come back, shower, and do the show. And then get ready for BTL. What do you think of Mo Usman's fight coming up? Fighting the... Not the goat, because Pockaport is the goat, but the vice goat, Chris Barnett.

I don't love it. I don't love it. I don't want to see Chris Barnett in a slog kind of a fight and that kind of has sloggy fight written all over it. But Barnett's going to bring that energy, so it'll be interesting. Who is Tom Aspinall going to fight since John's own fight him? This whole thing is so funny. And Jed has started this movement.

John has hurt, first of all. I know he wants to steep a fight, whatever. Yeah. Tom's going to fight like... Tom should fight three times this year. That's what needs to do. He needs to fight like he has the actual belt. That's what Tom Aspinall needs to do.

Go fight Cyril Ghan if it's there. I think Tom wins that fight. Curtis Blades is fighting Jailton Almeida. May you have to fight the winner of that. I've been pitching and I know most people think, oh, I'll just understand the UFC is not a meritocracy, hasn't been for quite some time.

If you need to spice up 300 a little bit, do Tom Aspinall versus Derek Lewis. Who gives us? Like, who cares? Someone's getting got in that fight, and they're getting got quick. So what? It's an interim title fight.

What else are you got? I'll scroll down here. I had a dream that Alex Pereira versus Jamal Hill will be the main event for 300. I would not have any issue with that whatsoever. I just don't know if Jamal Hill is going to be ready for that. From what I understand, what I've been told, it will be like April, May when Jamal can, like, get after it again in the gym.

Achilles injuries are really tough to navigate, so I would say probably summertime. O'Malley versus Cheeto Vera prediction. A little early. I think O'Malley kind of has all the vibes right now. So right as I stand, I'm picking Sean, but that could change. The Patriot is going to draft a quarterback who the frig knows.

What else you got? Jesus Christ. Super chats. I don't know how to do that shit. I already answered the Bobby Green Jim Miller one. Mike Hecker wouldn't be Mike Hecker, though, the bald head. It's very true. I, so I almost wore a winter hat here because it's, it's pretty freaking cold.

It's like 25 degrees in South Carolina this morning. Studio's in the garage, and there's like, there ain't no heat in here. In the house, nice and toasty, but in here, it is pretty cold. $2.99 predictions. We're not going to get there yet. I'll scroll away to the bottom here. See if we got anything here. Calvin Cater, last chance of the title run against Aljo, perhaps.

I love that fight. That will probably be the low-key bangor for UFC 300. Really tough fight for Al Jermaine Sterling. But looking forward to it. What do you think about tournament matchups? Connor versus Chandler, Max versus Gaichi on one side, Charles versus Armin versus Mokachev on the other side. That's fun. You FC would never do it, but I'd be down for.

that. What do you think about Habib's return rumors? Nothing to it. Can be, can PFL make a successful MMA video game? I don't know. That's pretty funny though. Do you think Bill Belichick a turn on the Falcons? I don't know. We're getting off the, the rails here. Can the UFC strip a title based on their personality? Yes, but no, I'm not asking for that here, okay? I'm not asking for that to happen. I just gave my thoughts on it. Did you see the video of Shauna DDP embracing? Do you feel these are their true colors And the crowd bra was simply a hype job?

I don't know. It seems like they talked behind the scenes a little bit. But I'm like I talked to Eric Nixick about it. I talked to Annick about it. It is what it is. The brawl, no one got hurt in the crowd. So I didn't love the brawl in the crowd. But there you go.

I think we're good here. What is to say? UFC is going to turn WW&F tag team UFC matches. Five rounds. tag partner between rounds, anytime they want. Coming Clancho at SugarConnor and any retired bum comebacks, I don't know. John Anick and Mike Heck walk into a New England bar. What's a drink order?

Fuck. It's a great question. I don't know. I've never had a drink with Anik. Any update on Krause? No. Nothing at all. Nothing at all.

All right. Last question. What do you think about leaked emails with Dana and Lorenzo negotiating with John Jones? Tip of the iceberg, my friends. Get ready. buckle up you're going to see a lot you're going to see a lot of things like that probably worse over the next year or so this this lawsuit is uh it's going to be the biggest story of the year tell you that right now now i don't know if it gets like settled this year but or if we get to

any kind of an end it's going to be bad guys i think you're going to see some the dark side of this industry in 24 because it ain't pretty. It really ain't pretty. And there you go. Will the Bannam White Champ fight three times this year? No, I don't think so. If Cheeto does, maybe. I don't think Sean's

fighting three times who wins. Who will be the fighter to have the biggest breakout this year? Last question. Hmm. Icramal Scaroff. That's what I'm doing. I'm doing. Icramal Scaroff. I think the hardcore fans know how good he is. I don't think a lot of the casual UFC audience knows how good he is, but I think you're going to know how good he is by the end of

2024. And I think he's going to be at worst a win, a win, maybe two wins at the most away from a title shot by the end of the year. I like Fluffy Hernandez a lot. I think he's super good. I think Ikehram's going to run him. And they're going to give him some big fights. Dude is incredibly talented. The fact that that guy, the fact that Akram Alaskarraf had a fight on the contender series was it was silly it was silliness but he is super good I think he's the guy

and looking forward to it all right we're done we'll be back in about an hour on BTL you want to hear what AKS to say you're going to hear what AKS to say on BTL okay that's all I can do

I set my piece I didn't call your names didn't do any of that shit. Okay? Just be respectful. That's all I got to say.

All right. I gave my thoughts and that's all I got. We'll be back on Twitter tomorrow, everybody. Free for all Friday. So if you got an NFL questions, whatever, we talk about whatever the fuck you want. That is, I don't know what time is going to happen yet. East Coast's way in. So 9 a.m., I think the way in starts.

There will be a way in show. and I'll probably do a heck of a morning like right after the way-ins end so probably like around 11, 11, 15 a.m. Eastern time after the way-ins, we'll react to all of them and then I think we're doing the preview show 1 p.m. Eastern tomorrow. So it's gonna be a busy day.

So rest it up. We'll see you at 12.30. Get your lunch ready for between the links. Jed will be back. A.K. will be here. E. Casey Leiden will be here as well. Mike looks super distracted. Yeah, I have 18 screens going on

and it's MMA. So the new cycle never stop. So appreciate you all. Have a great rest of your Thursday. And as always, have a heck of a morning. Everybody, I am distracted. Godspeed, everybody.

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