MMA Fighting - HOAM | Is Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman 3 Best Option After Shocking UFC 278 Result?

Episode Date: August 23, 2022

Leon Edwards is the UFC welterweight champion after an incredible, come-from-behind fifth-round KO of Kamaru Usman in the main event of UFC 278. While Usman more than deserves his chance at vengeance, is the trilogy fight the best option in the 170-pound division? On an all-new, and loaded edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his response to multiple listeners about the potential of Edwards vs. Usman 3, or if the UFC should pivot towards a fight with Khamzat Chimaev — should he defeat Nate Diaz at UFC 279 — or even Jorge Masvidal due to their history. In addition, future topics include the refereeing at UFC 278, José Aldo's loss to Merab Dvalishvili on Saturday and why it was horrible matchmaking, Luke Rockhold's retirement following his loss to Paulo Costa, Tony Ferguson returning to welterweight to face Li Jingliang next month, 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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enjoy your day and hopefully this show can make it a little bit better. But what should we start with? I mean, UFC 278 had a lot happening. Should we start with Tyson Pedro, Lucy Pudolova, Marab de Wallisvilley? No, I think we'll start at the main event. I think something big happened in the main event of UFC 278. I think we have a brand new Walterway Churley. champion of the world. His name is Leon Edwards. Leon Rocky Edwards gets it done with one of the

most amazing moments in the history of combat sports and the history of mixed martial arts and the history of the UFC. The man is less than a minute away from losing a 49-46 unanimous decision to a man that many considered to be the best pound-for-pound fighter on planet Earth in Kamar Usman. And then after a little bit of a breather, not much happening in the cage, Usman was, looked like he was just seconds away from winning the fight.

Leon Edwards fakes a right hand. Usman bites, and Leon Edwards lands a vicious headkick to the face of Kamar Usman. Usen goes down in a heap and just like that. Leon Edwards is the champion. Holy shit.

That was, listen, I have been, I am not as diehard of, like, a new, like, I am a diehard New England sports fan, but I always joke of my wife all the time about this. Ten years ago, 11 years ago, when we met, I was a friggin nightmare to be around when it came to sports. I had to watch everything. I just gave my time to sports, especially New England sports. If the Red Sox lost a regular season game,

it killed me for a day or two. If they lost a playoff game, you couldn't talk to me for a week. If the Patriots lost a playoff game, you couldn't talk to me for a week. I was about as intensive a sports fan as you could get. And then this crazy thing called mixed martial arts came into my life.

I started working in the store. sport, within the sport, talking to the fighters, really diving into it. And this was, when I think back on holy shit moments in sports, I don't know if this is number one, but it's right up there, at least from what I've seen live. Look, if you go back in history, the Giants won the pennant, the Giants won the pennant, Bobby Thompson, all that stuff. Like, those are amazing moments. Like, Kirk Gibson, the home run on one leg, crazy moment. But just think, and I know M&A is like a recency bias thing, but just thinking back on my reaction Saturday night.

I didn't even say anything. I just, my eyes are wide open, my mouth was wide open, and I just sat still for like five minutes until we went live on the post-fight coverage, the post-fight press conference. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe what I saw. And as I'm watching the fight progress, I'm thinking back to my written prediction for the fight.

What I've been saying all week long, that Oosman was going to win a 49-46. Leon was going to have moments, but in the end, Ustman was going to win a decision. This had Ousman decision written all over it. But it just goes to show you how amazing this sport is, that anything can happen at any time,

something just so improbable, so unbelievable, and just it's such a random moment that history has changed. And I want to say this right off the bat before we get to calls. Leon Edwards deserves all the praise, all the flowers, all the celebration, all the things said about him right now, because I have hosted many shows with many analysts, other fighters over the last couple of years since I went to M.A. fighting. And a lot of them have said the same thing about Leon Edwards.

Great fighter. Nobody cares. They care now, don't they? They care now, don't they? Unbelievable. This guy is the champion. His story is incredible. We all know what it is at this point. The guy basically came from nothing and became a world champion. These are the best stories at all of sports. And Leon Edwards deserves the celebration. He deserves the praise. he deserves the quote-unquote flowers that he's been getting. But we cannot forget about what Kamar Usman has done in his career to this point. Because I've seen a lot of Usman slander.

I've seen a lot of Usman washed, a lot of Usman, this, Usman that. If you feel that way, I mean, you're a sports fan, fine. You want to create memes about Kamar Usman, fine. But you cannot forget. about what this man did before that head kick landed. And let me just add to this because if you haven't seen it, there'll be a write-up on M.A. fighting about it at 11 a.m. Eastern. How Kamar Usman is handling himself in this loss is unreal.

He could be salty as hell. He really could be. And he is taking this all in stride. He's very congratulatory of Leon Edwards, said he's very happy for Leon Edwards. Edwards says Leon's story, his road to the belt is very similar to his. He sees a lot of himself in Leon Edwards. And he can't wait to fight Leon again. He can't wait for it. He's handled it all very well. And he's not wrong. Like, you'll see headlines. It's like, it's like a last second

Hail Mary in the Super Bowl. And that's what it was. That's what it was. It was out of nowhere. The way that it happened is just incredible. just so unbelievable to even think about these days later, that, that image, that moment of that head kick landing is just something I'm never going to forget. That is what we call a multi-time Baba O'Reilly moment. When you go to a UFC card and they go from the prelims to the main card and they play Bobbo O'Reilly and they show the highlights of some of the greatest moments in the history of the UFC, that moment's going to be in there multiple times from multiple different angles and damn it, it should be.

But let us not forget what Kamara Usman did up to this point. Kamara Usman is still a top 10 fighter of all time, in my opinion. He is the second best Walterweight of all time, in my opinion. And we talk about this all the time. It don't matter what the betting lines say. It don't matter how people break down fights. What matters is it is so frigging hard. to be perfect every single time you defend your title.

It is the hardest thing in all of sports, in my opinion, than to be a long-raining UFC champion. Because you have to get everybody's best at all times. When a welterweight comes into the UFC off the contender series, yes, they are training for whoever their first opponent's going to be. But in the background, at least 10 to 15 minutes, maybe even more a week, they are scouting whoever the champion is. They are scouting Kamar Usman.

They're scouting Leon Edwards. They're preparing themselves for the chance that someday they might earn their way into a fight with that individual. These champions, especially the long-reigning champions, have to be on their A game and they have to take everybody else's A-plus game every single time they get in there and fight. And that is so hard to do. We've seen dominant champions struggle. we saw Valentina Shepchenko struggle against Tyler Santos.

And who knows what would happen if there wasn't that collision of heads? We've seen Ronda Rousey get knocked out. We've seen Connor McGregor lose. We've seen John Jones just have some tough nights, some tough fights. Three of them. Alexander Gustafson, Tiago Santos, Dominic Reyes. We've seen John Jones, who many consider the greatest, of all time, struggle in title fights. Because all of these guys, the entire road up to those

title fights are preparing for that moment. And that is why it is so hard to consistently be the king or a queen of your division. Demetri's Johnson does not get enough credit for what that man did in the flyweight division. All those title defenses, doing them all in a row, getting everybody's best shot. And you could say whatever the hell you want about where the division was standing at that time. But DeVidre Johnson never got enough credit. And to me, at least from male fighters, no one's touching that record. No one's breaking that record. That is the Joe DiMaggio 56 game hitting streak right there. That is Ted Williams hitting 406. It's not happening. Valentina Shepchenko is the only one who has a chance to break that record because she is just so far

ahead of everybody, but no one else is breaking that record. It's just not going to happen. Demetius Johnson deserves more respect. Leon Edwards deserves the praise of the flowers, and Kamar Usman deserves a little better than what I've seen, especially with the way he has handled himself. And I cannot wait. I am so intrigued and fascinated by this third fight. I can't wait to see it. And look, you can come out here. I know Ariel was talking about it yesterday with the guys in the MA hour. You can come out here and you could say you could throw different options out there. Be like, well, now he could fight Hamzat Shama if you beats Nate Diaz. What if Nate Diaz beats Hamzaa? Maybe he gets the title fight. Three pieces of the soda. Why not Jorge Mazdaul.

You've got to give Usen the title shot. The only one who could prevent that from happening next is Kamara Usman himself. If Usman's just like, hey, I'm taking a year off. Then you don't wait and you do something else. But Usman said, told TMZ, in that interview that drop that I referenced earlier, he wants to fight, quote, at the top of next year. So that's January, February, March. You do it in London. That's where Oussman wants it.

That's clearly where Leon wants it. This fight happening anywhere else makes no sense. If you could do it at Wembley, great. I understand the risks involved there with no roof and maybe it rains, whatever. But I would love to see a stadium. I'd love to see it happen at Wembley. Leon deserves that opportunity.

God, man. This sport friggin rules. It frigging rules. Golly. What a moment. What a moment. What a story. Congratulations to Leon Edwards.

Just incredible stuff. Incredible stuff. Incredible stuff for the co-made event, too. It was just such a wacky fight between Paul Costa and Luke Rockhold. It was insane. It wasn't the prettiest of times, but it was just such a grueling fight at times. Tremendous heart showed from both guys. I didn't think there was a world.

That fight was getting to the second round, let alone the entire 15 minutes. Both those guys deserve a ton of credit, a ton of praise for what they did on Saturday night in Salt Lake City. In the end, Paul Costa gets the win. Luke Rockhold retires from the sport. An incredible moment between him and Daniel Cormier after. Just such an emotional night. Such an emotional night. Big win from Marab de Wallis-Willi.

I know it's a fight we're not going to be looking back on one. We're going to go watch over and over again. But the man did what he had to do to beat Jose Aldo. And the fight was stupid to begin with. It should have never happened. Joseoaldo should have, his next fight should have been for the belt. And now it's all for not. We're not going to see Jose Aldo fight for the Bannamweight title again.

And that sucks in my eyes. I don't want to take anything away from Mara, but I said from the beginning when this fight was booked that Josealda deserved better, He absolutely deserves better. And now we haven't really confirmed this at all. Lord knows we have tried. But Marab de Wells really said on the M.A. hour yesterday that Jose Aldo told him he was done. Said that this was the last run to the title.

He lost and he thinks he's done. No one's confirmed this yet. But that's what Marab told Ariel yesterday. So if that's the case, what a career. Greatest featherweight of all time. he's on my mount rush more for sure if that's the case and that was the last Jose Aldo fight

happy trails my man but again we haven't confirmed that yet that's just what Marab said and a lot of other stuff happened at the event but I don't want to talk about that I want to talk to all of you and get your thoughts on just an incredible night an incredible ending whatever hell else you want to talk about it I know

Kfei has been saying let's go I got shit to get off my chest there you go Kfei what's up Mike first off, happy birthday AK, happy birthday Crystal, and happy birthday to myself. Happy birthday, you too.

Nice. Although is the featherweight goat, and really all I have to say was I need people to finally stop slandering Leon Edwards. He's a human. The post-fight where he was on the phone with his mother made me a grown man want to cry as well. It was a very, very powerful moment,

and I hope that people stopped slandering him. I agree, man. I think those days are over. And whatever, Leon Edwards is in a tremendous position right now, because no matter who he fights next, it's going to be massive. It should be Usman. That fight is so intriguing. It's so fascinating.

I was a little stunned that the betting lines for the future fight opened where they were at, that it's minus 350. It's actually bigger than where the betting line closed on Saturday. but maybe just a lot of people are taking in what happened in rounds two through five at least until the head kick landed but sheesh it just seems like a very wide betting line but we have to understand why these lines are made so they can get action on both sides and i think leon will probably get a lot of action i'm sure that line will close it's much closer probably like minus 200 oosman would be my guess by the time they fight

but man i can't wait to see those guys fight again let's go to to toke Hello? I didn't think I would come in this early because this is probably more a later question, but they unceremoniously announced that at the press conference that Tony Ferguson has a fight with a leech. And to me, this is a blessing.

And what I mean by that is, finally we get to see Tony Ferguson at the weight that he wants to compete at. That's one thing. And two, we might get the fight that we should have gotten all. along. Tony Ferguson, a legend, versus Nate Diaz, a legend in case Kamsa de Jima falls off. So this is kind of, it's perfect in all the wrong ways, because I really hope this specific fight between

Leach and Tony doesn't happen, but I really, really want Tony Ferguson versus Nate Diaz to happen. So this is kind of the insurance that I wanted, but not the fight that I wanted if that makes sense. I want to hear your take on that. Thanks, so, yeah, I mean, that was my initial reaction was this is a backup fight. Tony's on this card in case something happens to either of those guys. I certainly don't want to see Tony Ferguson fight Hans at Shamiath. But if something happens with Shemayev, Tony Ferguson is a pretty damn good backup plan in terms of getting native. there. I think that's, I think this is honestly, like, that'd be the more competitive made event for

sure, at least in the eyes of most of the public. That's why this fight is here. I hate the fight itself. Absolutely hate it. I understand why he's on the car. You want to try to boost it up. Tony's a big star for the company. I get it. But I do not want to see him fight Lee Jing Liang. I want to see Tony fight somebody who is just not, does, it's tough, man. Like he just, these last fights from the Gaichi fight on, just seeing how brutally got knocked out, which is not that long ago. It's going to be four months,

almost four months to the day when that fight happens that he was knocked out by Michael Chandler. That is not a very long time. At least it's happened at 170, but I think we understand that the big reason this fight was put together, this is your backup plan.

This is what's in place. And if something happens to either of those two guys in the main event, Tony's probably getting the promotion up to 170. I figured a Welterway fight would be added. Dana said at the contender series post-fight press conference this past Tuesday that there's other fun fights he wants to add to the card. I have no idea what those are going to be.

We'll see. That card needs some help. Nice having Tony Ferguson on there, but, I mean, this one needs help. You need to get another one on there for sure. That's going to generate. I mean, I think it's going to do well anyways. Nate's last fight, the bill to it's going to be pretty goddamn spectacular. but it's just one of those fights or just we kind of think we know how it's going to play out.

And I don't know. I think Tony's a good name to have on there, but it's probably other ways I would have gone with it besides the leech. But here we are. Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on amazing gifts. So you don't have to. They've bagged this season's Italian leather handbags. Designer. Handpicked the finest sweater.

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We get the deals. You gift the good stuff. It's the matcha, or the three ensemble Cado Cephora of the FACs that I've been to denichie who me energize all over. It's the ensemble. The form of standard and mini-regrouped.

Hello, Ben. And the embellage, too beau, who is practically pre to donate. And I know that I'd have to offer. But I'm not going to be Summer Fridays and Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez.

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other parts of quick. Procurre you these formats and mini regrouped for a better quality of price

online on c4. or in magazine. Let's go to semi-casual MMA. Quick questions

for you. Number one, just listening to the post fight show, I know he said that Bala Muhammad was

the biggest loser of all this. I was just thinking that he did have the fight with Leon Edwards back in, I believe it was early 2021 that ended in the eye poke. Obviously, he was getting dominated in the fight before that. But I think if he comes out and beats Sean Brady and doesn't have a lot of injuries, he could potentially slot himself in there. And then my second question for you is, I somehow fell asleep in between the fourth and the fifth round, and I'm absolutely devastated. missed that knockout and I was just wondering what's the worst time you've ever

fallen asleep during a fight and missed a highlight like that? I don't, nothing really comes to mind honestly. There wasn't like really a moment that I, that I missed in that sense. I almost missed this knockout though. I almost missed it. I caught it. I had like five seconds to spare because I'm watching the fifth round and I'm thinking of myself, oh, this is over.

I got to do all the post-fight stuff. I got to talk for like four hours straight. So I'm going to go to the restroom. And I come to the restroom and I come back and it's like 10 seconds before the knockout. So if I drank like another Diet Coke extra, I might have missed it myself. But you learn your lesson. I'm just not going to do that again. And good thing I came back in time to see the reaction and see how everything played out.

The Bilal thing, I actually think Jed was correct in that sense that. that I do think Bilal lost a lot here. Like I understand there's a story and all of that and I get it. But there's just so many big names ahead of him right now. Like now Mazadol has jumped ahead of him in this whole conversation. But I will say this. If Usman wins, then, you know, things open back up a little bit for for Muhammad. It makes his road a little bit shorter, if that makes sense.

Because if Leon goes in and beats Usman again, he's fighting Mazadol, he's fighting Shemayev. I mean, that's probably the year right there. That's probably it. And then, you know, if Bilal beats Sean Brady, like, he's still going to have to fight like one or two more times. Like, it stinks for him, but maybe Shemayev ends up kind of being the biggest loser and all this. Like, if it's just like, my goal is to fight for the belt and do it as soon as possible, he's probably going to have to wait a little bit because they're going to go to the trilogy fight. Dana had already said it.

I understand that Mazadol would be a big one and I understand that if somehow Nate beat Shamiyaf that's a big one and Edward Shemai if is a big one too. They have to go to the trilogy. They have to.

They're all big. They're all big. We'll see what happens. I'm confident that that things will go the way they're supposed to go. Let's go to Alan. Alan are you there?

Let's make sure you're on mute. All right. Try again, Alan. We'll get you in. Elo. Milo, are you there? Yes. Yes, I'm here, Mike. How are you? How are you, how are you? Yeah, it's a heck of a morning here. So, yeah, some couple of thoughts like with regards to the Leon Camero and what happened. I think the, the KEO itself, I think, has wider implications, not just kind of in the, in the U.S.

but it goes beyond to the martial arts and what I mean by that is right now UK does not have does not have an active you know hyped champion right now across martial arts because Joshua lost to Usik right and so what happens in that sense it's a perfect opportunity right now for the UFC to capitalize on this on this momentum right and so what's going you're rarely here Dana talking about the Wambly or doing the fights in the stadiums right now. So I think what's going to happen is obviously the rematch is next. And then you make a UK card, you put Leon there, you put Molly, you put Paddy,

you put Darren Till, you put Muhammad Mokkaev, and that stadium can sell. It will also sell the pay-per-view. So I think when we look into the context of that chaos that happened, It had much wider implications across the entire world of martial arts. And I think it derailed a little bit momentum on the Kamsat, Chimaev side as well, because after beating Nate, in my opinion, he was supposed to be next in line. But I think at the same time, you know, when you talk about Camaro Leon, like you rightly mentioned, they fight again.

And it's a win-win situation, right? because if Camaro wins, they have a trilogy. If Leon wins, he kind of stipulates himself and becomes even a bigger draw. I don't think Masvidal should be kind of in this championship conversation just because of his performances. I mean, he got put away by Camaro very convincingly and he has a long way to a title shot.

So, yeah, all three active, all fighters kind of remain the pay-per-view attraction, like Kamzat, Leon and Kamaru still. but Leon versus Camaro is next and I think it's crazy to see how much momentum UFC has right now to capitalize on this opportunity having the active UK champion across the mixed martial arts.

Thanks. Yep, completely agree with you. It's a massive deal, especially now that they're going back regularly to that area, but whatever this card happens, I would like to see them do a stadium just do it.

Just give it a shot. You know, I understand you don't want the rain and all that stuff. I get it, but I mean, you do that, and then you just put all the heavy hitters on there. You put, you know, Arnold Allen on there. You put Mahiaf on there, Patty, Molly, all of them. All of them. You just load it up and just do it in the biggest venue you can do.

If you don't want to do a stadium, just find the biggest venue you can do. and just make this a massive UK spotlit card. And it's just going to be incredible. So, yeah. And who knows? Maybe Shima, listen, one thing about the whole Shamiya of conversation is we under, I understand that Israel's going to fight Alex Pereira at UFC 281.

But if he wins that fight, if Adasania wins, like, and Shemaya's just like, you know what? I don't want to wait for the for the Walterweight title. I'm going to go fight for the middleweight title. You don't think the UFC is going to give him that middleweight title shot? Who else is there? There's nobody. There's nobody.

I mean, maybe Sean Strickland, if he beat Jared Ken in the air, but and Strickland can sell a fight, no doubt about that. But there is a world where Shamiath could just say, nope, I want Adasanya. And they would entertain that idea. I don't know if they would do it, but they would definitely think about it. it. And if Adizania wants it, I can definitely see them putting that fight together. But we'll see what happens. A lot to unpack with this whole thing. We'll go to Alan. That will go to Brian. Alan, how are you? Got on mute, Alan. All right, not working. Let's go to Brian. A lot of people waiting.

So, go to try to get to everybody. Brian, what's up, buddy? How you doing? Good. So do you think that the main reason that they put Tony on to 279 at Welterweight would be to be the backup for Nate in case something happens with Hamzot? And do you think if Tony slid into that slot, given something happens with Chimae, is there a chance that Nate versus Tony could like as a fight sell better on pay-per-view just because it's not like a known squash? Hmm. I don't think so. I think it'd be close. I mean, Nate, Nate against anybody's going to do great on paperview. But Hamza is just like a mega star right now. And Tony's a big star too. Tony is like a very, Tony is like the best backup you could have right now. That's realistic. If for some reason, Shemayev can't get to Las Vegas for September 10th, which by all accounts, he's going to be able to do. to do so. Throwing Tony in there makes

plenty of sense and and we'd be good to go. And that would do really well. That would do really well on pay-per-view. Nate's last fight, the build to that one between those two guys would be a hell of a lot of fun. So yeah, that's why Tony's on this card.

That's why Tony's on this card. He is the just in case because you have Shamiah, he's had issues traveling in the past. Nate is Nate. You never know what could happen. Maybe there's a bad conversation that goes awry. And Nate's just like, nah, this car isn't good.

I'll just won't fight. Then what are you going to do? So Tony's just, Tony's there in case something awful happens. All right. Let's go to, I believe this is my man, Brett. What's up, man? Too much. I just listen to the show like I always do.

And I just want to just throw it out there that me and my buddy, we bet all the UFC fights, all the main events and everything like that. And I did him a favor, and I let him have Usman this past Saturday night, so I lay on Edwin's where I bet. So I just want to take a little claim on that. It was one of the few underdogs that have come out for me in recent past. But real quick, I want to touch on the 155 weight division. I'm looking for my entertainment dollar. I'm looking for what's best.

And I always look at Michael Chandler, and I just love the energy. I just love what he brings to that division. and I just love the guy, you know, whether he wins, he loses, he just brings it. So my question for you is, where is he right now was a negotiation, whether it would be Connor,

whether it would be DDP, or where would, how does it all play out after the whole Makachev, all their fight? I mean, how does it all play out? I'd like to hear your take on that, brother. Thanks, Ben. Always great catching up with you, Brett.

congrats on winning the bets with Leon. Hopefully you got some juice on that. It was like more of a money line bet. But good for you. So all indications, everybody that I've talked to, everybody that a lot of us at the website have talked to, it is going to be Chandler versus Porier. The date is the only thing up in the air right now.

I know it was initially reported that it was targeted for MSG and that is an option. but basically, and this isn't really news right now. I mean, I think people have already gotten this out there, but I'll just reiterate it anyways. Poria wants to fight November at MSG. Chandler doesn't know if he's going to be ready for that, so he's kind of pushing for December,

but ultimately the fight's going to get done. And it's just interesting, like, is it going to be a five-rounder? Because if you're going to do a five-rounder, you might as well just throw it on the December card at this point, because we don't even know if anything, anything's booked on that card. I know they're targeting the Uri Perashka Glover to share a rematch for that card.

But if that's the only title fight, then Chandler Poirier is an excellent co-made event. You could do five rounds of that. Who isn't going to complain about that one? But that fight's going to happen. It's just we don't have a date. We don't have a location yet. I know the UFC wants MSG. I know Dustyporee wants MSG.

Chandler is hoping for December. but I think I think ultimately it'll end up at MSG and then with lightweight who the hell knows at this point it all depends like there's there's just a lot happening at 55

right now we have not only do we have the Olivera Islam fight but on that same car we got Benile Darius versus Batush Gamrott we have all these other guys at 155 right now don't forget we have Connemagreger in the in the conference conversations well because I think if Charles Oliver goes to Abu Dhabi and beats his

on Makachev, there's a very good chance that he gets that fight with Connor McGregor because that's the one he's wanted for a while. And then you have like, and you still have the Poriys and you still have the Chandler's and you still have all these other guys. 55. You have Gaichi. You got Fizzeev. You got other up-and-comers. And let's not even forget about the Grant Dawson's and the Claudio Places and all those guys who are on great streaks right now that are winning all these big fights. 55 rules. It's the best division in the sport.

You want to sit there and say 35 is deep and fun. I'm not going to argue with you, but it is not the best division in the sport. Lightweight is the best division in the sport. And it's not even close. It's not even close. Let's go to, I'm going to try to get to everybody here. I know a lot of you want to talk. Let's go to Abbs Talks.

Hello, sir. Hi, Mike. You're okay? How's it going, Mike? I'm doing good. I just wanted to, to be honest, I just want to echo what you were saying right at the start of the show. Because, I mean, what Leon has done for his country of Jamaica,

for Birmingham, for UK MMA, for people who've always felt like they've needed to go the longer road. And when people have told them, you know, don't be yourself, do something else, for all those people who have not done that and just been themselves and achieved what they wanted. I'm even getting emotional just talking about it right now but it's going to go down in history regardless of whether he loses his next fight

or whatever happens with his career now the fact that he's done what he's done in the way that he's done it it just means so much to everything he stands for like UK MMA everything because everyone knows his story everyone knows what he's had to go through and the fact that he did it against a man who a lot of people believe

might be the best welterweight of all time. Just goes to show, you know, like when it's your time, it's your time. And I feel like even in the fight, it just reflected his career. You know, he started off really well. Then he, in the middle rounds, just like his life is, things were not going the way they should have. He had to wait, wait, wait. And then literally in the final minute, everything just turned around for him.

And, you know, I'm just a small MMA content creator in the UK, and I've met, I know some of Leon's team, and I've met Leon a couple of times, but I don't know them that well or anything like that, but even for me to feel the way that I'm feeling over the past two days, like how emotional that makes me feel. I can only imagine what people who are much closer to him, who live in Birmingham, who go to that gym, who are his family.

I cannot believe how they're feeling right now because it's so hard just to put into words what he's done. So this past couple of days have just been absolutely amazing in the UK, looking at social media, looking at Twitter, Instagram, All I see is Leon Edwards. I see that video with the Rocky in the background. I must have seen it over three, four hundred times. Like, it's just everywhere.

And it's so amazing to see because, you know, a lot of people, even from the UK, I remember when Darren Till faced Masvidal and Leon Edwards came out in his entrance that day. People were booing him, you know. The whole crowd were booing him. He's in the UK and his own people are booing him. And that's just for him to come from that and even worse, to now be the champion of the world.

I think it's such a beautiful story. And just one more thing I wanted to touch on. I know I'm going on a bit, but I'm just struggling to put it into words, to be honest. And with the stadium thing, I think in the UK we do have a couple of stadiums that do have roofs. So there's potential that they might close the roof on one of these stadiums. And there's talks about having a temporary roof if there's some rain or something like that. But yeah, I really do hope that we do get that fight in a stadium. I think it'll happen probably in March or April.

That's what Leon was saying yesterday. and if it's in a stadium, then he deserves 60,000 people or however many people to come and watch him fight because 20,000 people is not going to do it justice. So just an amazing moment in the UK MMA history. And I love Michael Bisping. I don't want to be disrespectful towards him and anything like that. But I believe that this is the greatest moment

in the history of UK MMA and it's going to be very, very hard to top because he did it all whilst living in the UK, you know. He literally said it all along. We don't need to go abroad. We don't need to go anywhere else. We can do it literally right from here. And like he said right at the end, look at me now, look at me now.

Just so happy for him, just so happy for UK MMA. Just honestly, just amazing. So yeah, I just wanted to add that. Thanks, man. Good stuff. Really good stuff right there. And I think a lot of people from the area can can sort of mimic how are you feeling right now? It's just an incredible story and incredible moments.

And I know there was a conversation on the M.A. hour about it. like, you know, what happens if Oostman wins the trilogy? It doesn't take away at all what happened on Saturday night. It doesn't take anything away from it. Like Michael, like, this is, you could compare this win in a lot of ways. Like, you can compare it to Oosman because of the long road traveled. You can compare it to Volcanowski, his long role traveled. He was a guy that didn't have to talk a bunch of crap to get to where he,

was. It just kind of, he earned it and got there and became the champion and beat a guy many considered was the greatest of all time in that division. I didn't agree with that. Jose Aldo is still the greatest featherweight of all time in my eyes. And it's going to take something. The only one who has a shot is Volcanovsky of getting there. And it's going to take a lot for Volcanovsky to dethrone Aldo in that way. But you could also kind of compare it to the Michael Bisbig thing as well, because Michael Bisbing went on to defend his title against Dan Henderson, which was like one of those title fights who were just like, really, why is this happening?

But that we understood it because of the story and everything that was involved at the first fight and the vicious knockout and everything that happened there. But it was a cool moment for Bisbing to defend his title at home and that crowd was on fire. And a Bisbing knocking out Luke Rockhold. Like, Bisbing could have gotten absolutely bolted by Dan Henderson and it would not have taken away what happened that night at UFC 199. I feel exactly the same way about this knockout.

I don't really, I don't live in the UK, so I don't understand the meaning as much as you do and others may, but I'm sure this one might just linger better for UKMMA fans than the Bisbing one, because Bisbing, the tail end of his career, he was basically in the U.S. and training in California and training at Ruka and all of that, but still, it was still a massive moment for the UK. M. A scene. But this is just, this is one of their own. This is one of their own. He could have left

and cross-train and gone to a bigger gym, but no, he stayed at his little gym in Birmingham and did the damn thing and now he's a champion. And it's just unbelievable. No one, no one or no result in the future will ever take away that moment. It just is not going to happen. That's an all-time great moment. That is a Mount Rushmore moment. I don't know if it's the number one greatest moment in UFC history, but it is on the mountain to rush more in terms of everything that went into it. How it happened, when it happened, the emotions afterwards, the build to how it happened, all of it. One of the craziest, one of the greatest moments in UFC history is no doubt about it. It's on the Mount Rush War.

Let's go to, I'll try to get this right, Mayoa. I'm going to try to get to everybody here. I know a lot of people want to talk. Mayo, are you there? Yeah, hi. Hi, good afternoon. Hello. How are you?

I'm from Nigeria, so I would just love to speak on, because I know people here, you know, really happy for Leon Edwards. In my own opinion, I'm happy for him to because, obviously, he beat the odds. He did something where nobody, nobody ever saw coming. But on the other hand, I just, I just want to just say, I think MMA is coming to a much more,

greater level where people can actually just learn a little kind of skill and be able to just pin it in the right movement and just get you and just get your kill because I believe I believe that thing that that that that chaos that particular he's been working on it all throughout his camp I can I can bet because obviously knows he can't beat you can't he can't work with this one there's no way in this world five out of five hours it can never walk us one we all know even the trilogy we are seeing how the odd is going but I'm just saying I just I just I just I don't I'm beginning to understand that it's not just about skill now, it's not just about the work ethics.

So now some fighters are just getting, they're learning this particular. Maybe it might just be, it might just be watching Usman feints and going down. Okay, Osman might make this error and I'll just pick him. He picked him up in just one minute to end up the fight. So my point is I feel right now where MM is growing. It is like, UMC, UFC, you have took it to the next level. But right now, with this fight, with Leonhardt-Eddwar's fight, I made me understand that we're not just,

we're not just, we're in the beginning stage, like maybe 30 years old, but Leon Edwards took the fight to took the sport to the next level. And I'm happy for him, I'm happy for his camp, you know, because I'm from Nigeria, he didn't really, he didn't really see well with us, you know, because we all love with smart, you know, so, you know, so, him losing it in that manner,

really, he ought us bad. He ought us so bad. But at all the day, man, we can't take it. He puts his walk in, you know, he had like 10, 10 weeks, 10 weeks, you know, so you can understand. Oh, man.

I appreciate that, Mayo. We lost you. You were breaking up like crazy there. But yeah, I concur with a lot of what you said. It's a huge one for the sport. The sport just continues to grow and grow. And, I mean, just what a friggin moment. Seriously.

Unbelievable stuff. let's go to Mikey Bats Mikey hello the other mic my boy Mike Morgan up there I just want to rattle off a couple of things

I've already tweet but just to put them more out to the universe I think it's what cannot be underplay about Leon Edwards's victory is that he's now the first ever black British UFC champion

that is a very historical significant thing that cannot be downplayed or overstated in the interstate it's just that's a big time accomplishment man and what that could inspire for future generations

is big time for that that area. Two, let's just get down the brass tax, just to reiterate as always it. At the end of the day, it's prize fighting. The formula is simple. Do two people want to fight and do people want to pay to see it happen? I understand all the other constructs, rankings, winning streets and all that stuff. And that's fine. We can debate that back and forth. But I think people need to admit into the back of their mind. At the end of the day, what does your gut tell you? What do you want to see happen? You want to see Leon Edwards whoop Jorge Mosbidal's ass because of two-piece Minnesota, because of all the stuff that happened after that and how he got humiliated from it for two years.

We slandered to MMA Twitter slandered that man for like two years off of that incident, you know, and he shoved it all in our face last week. And you know what, fair play to him, man. So, and by the way, don't forget that he did say if Jorge gets a win, he might consider giving him a title shot. And also to Jorge's credit to say that he is, well, he's 0 and 3 in his last 3, while not accounting for what those losses actually are, he's not losing the bums. Remember, those two losses are to Camaro?

and Kobe. You know what I mean? Like I said, not saying he should get a title shot off of an 0 and 3 record, but don't, let's not act stupid. You know what I'm saying?

Same thing with Nate, man. If Nate wins next week, why not give him a title shot? One, it'll keep him in the UFC, which is what everybody wants, right, or at least some people. And two, again, we slandered Leon off of getting rock

from one punch, even though he won that fight clearly. So why not let him get his whole, oh, you think I'm, you know what I mean? Like, let him have a chance to knock off some, you know, criticisms. You know what I mean? Especially if there isn't, because are you going to give Shavkat

Rakmanov a title shot right away? Probably not. Hams out, okay, sure, but we all know that deep down inside, we want to see him fight one more quote unquote top contender before he gets a shot. Anyways, that'll be all for me this morning, Mike. Much luck to everybody. Thanks, but you're not wrong about the whole prize fighting thing. That's just the world we live in. And I remember being a small content creator myself back in the day. And I would have my now colleague Damon Martin on my my podcast at the time to talk about like what happened after pay-per-views and leading into pay-per-view sometimes. There's big stories going on. Damon was typically always there because he traveled to like every single event. And Damon taught me in like

2015, strike the word deserves from your vocabulary when it comes to the UFC because it's about prize fighting. It's about making as much money as quickly as possible. And that's a and that's a good spot for Leon right now because the man can't do wrong at this point. Any fight he gets is going to be big. Usman, I want to see, I, Ousman, I mean, listen, I'm not a gigantic fan of immediate rematches. In this case, absolutely I want the immediate rematch. And what Ouspen has done leading to that point, he deserves it 100%. I know I just said strike it from your vocabulary, but there are certain immediate rematches that didn't, that shouldn't have happened. And then there are rematches that should, this is one of them. And it's going to be a huge fight. It's going to be

massive, especially in England. The crowd's going to be into it. The gate's going to be massive. It's going to be huge. And it's going to do well on paperview. Obviously, Mazadol, with the story, you can just show the backstage incident. Mazadol punching Leon Edwards in the face. All you need to do is just play that clip over and over and over again. That's going to sell. Nate Diaz would sell. Hamzat would sell. All of them would sell. Leon is going to make really good money over his next fight. And if he went, if he been in the trilogy fight, golly.

That man's going to be rich. He's going to be super rich. Because his next fight, and if he wins that next fight, the next fight's going to be massive. I mean, he is in a, timing is everything. And the timing of him becoming the champion right now, it just couldn't be better. It just couldn't be better for this man.

And for his family and everything else, unbelievable stuff. All right, let's go to my man Michael Morgan, Mr. Woe TV himself. Mike, how are you, man? Oh, no, I can't hear him. All right, Mike, try again. I'll get you in here. Let's go to, let's go to the hoop god.

You got the hoop god here? Let's make sure you're on mute. Yep, I'm here. There we go. Gotcha. I just had a few questions. One, how would you feel about, the

the fight is getting rewarded for a defendant takedowns. I think it's ridiculous that you could defend a takedown 100% and not get any rewards for that. I think it happens too often that you see fighters go over

20 on takedowns and still end up winning the fight due to control and things like that. I think there should be something that could reward people for successfully defending takedowns and making a fight more interesting. Also, I've just seen that the UFC is trying to make a Wonder Boy versus Shafcott.

I don't really like that fight. I think you should give Wonderboy the fight that he's been asking for and give with someone like Kevin Holland. And I wanted to know what you think about that as well. Thanks. Thanks, man. The first question, I assume you're talking about the Marab de Walsh-Willy Jose Aldo fight,

which, by the way, should not have happened to begin with. Jose Al-Doheld should have been fighting for the title. It's a dumb, dumb booking. I haven't said that very often about the UFC. Usually their matchmaking is pretty damn good. This is a bad, bad piece of business. I hated it. Hated everything about it.

And Marab won the fight. But he won... He fought to, like, win the scorecards. That's the U.S. And I get where you're coming from. I am going to go back and watch that fight again today. It's not one that I'm proud to go back and watch, but I want to watch the second round in particular

because I've had a lot of people reach out to me and say that, and Jed Bishu has talked about it and Casey has talked about it as well. They both scored the second round for Jose Al though. Why? Because Jose actually tried to do something, and it didn't seem like Marab really tried to do much. Now, the third round is a whole different story, because Marab took what he did in the second round

and added things to it. So it's a win from Marab, but Dana White even said it at the post-fight press conference. It's not one that. He's not jumping over Cheeto Vera or anything like that. You know what I'm saying? So it's a fine win. It just sucks for Jose Alito way more than it's good for Maraub.

It just to see Jose down like that, knowing that he's not going to fight for the belt. It's so stupid, so dumb, horrible matchmaking. just really, really bad. But I get where you're coming from. And then with the Wonder Boy Shafkot thing, Ariel said on the M. May hour that that's the fight the UFC wants. I might as well tell you.

I reached out to Shofkat Ramanoffs, Rockmanov side, excuse me. I reached out to Shafkot side yesterday. They have not heard anything about that. So maybe that's what the UFC went towards, maybe the Wonderboy side that was offered to them. but as far as the Shafcott side goes, I reached out to a couple people from his side of the table

and they know nothing about it. Maybe that'll change, but as of right now, they know nothing about it, and they have never stirred me wrong. So maybe it's just an idea they're floating by, but I agree with you. I hate that fight.

It's a good one, obviously, for Shopka, because it's probably just going to, and I love Wonderboy to death, one of the guys early in my career who was a bit of a star probably the biggest name I ever interviewed early on in my career and always says yes when I ask him trying to get him again this week just to get his reaction to everything going on

but yeah nothing on the Shafcott side from all indication right now but yeah I would rather see Wonderboy Kevin Holland Wonderboy doesn't want to fight till like November so Wonderboy Holland at MSG sounds real fun to me do that. I would have liked to have seen that at 279. Throw that on this card September 10th,

but it doesn't seem like Wonder Boys are going to be ready for that, and I get it. All right, see if we can get Mr. Morgan in here. Let's see, the wheel is spinning. Do we have him? I have you. Michael, how are you? Yay.

Second time of asking. I'm really, really good. What's going on, Mike? What's going on Mikey Bats? Family in the house. You know, I think if it hasn't been done already, I'm going to be the first to address the elephant in the room. It's a rather big elephant that there are people from the UK.

There are people of Jamaican heritage who did not back Leon Edwards. And I have to say I was one of those people. I was wrong. It just shows you how wild mixed martial arts is. It's not about the fight in the dog. We know the cliche. Hey, the dog in the fight. And man, did he actually underline that?

But the point of coming up, I want to see that story. Mike, try again, man. You were breaking up. So I lost, you were off to a good start, and then you started breaking up like crazy. So try to get back in, and we'll get you in. Michelle, let's go to you, sir.

Are you there? Make sure you unmute. Nothing? All right, don't hear you. We got to move on. Too many people waiting right now. And Dedeem, are you there? Hey, Mike.

How are you? Good, how are you? Good, good. Just wanted to get your thoughts on the John Jones situation. I mean, I see him tweeting 282. I thought I saw some stuff yesterday. Him and Steve A. You know, just kind of wanted to, you know, excuse me, get your thoughts on it.

And then somebody already asked about the Stephen and Schrofcott fight. I mean, I saw that, and same thing. I was like, good fight, but I'd love for Stephen to fight. Holland or something like that because Rukmanov, I mean, I'm sure he'll stand with him with him, but if he starts getting clipped with those sidekicks and whatnot, he'll just take him down and we don't want to see that. Yeah, man, I agree.

Like, Wonderboy just put over two guys who just wrestled the shit out of him in Gilbert Burns and Belaw Muhammad, which, I mean, listen, you go out there win the fight and they both won that fight very convincingly, especially Bilal that's going to go down as probably the best performance of his career, even more so than the Lucke win in a lot of people's eyes.

But yeah, give him a freaking striker, man. Like, at this point in his career, he's almost 40. Give him fun fights. He wants to fight Holland. Let him fight freaking Kevin Holland. What's wrong with that? You could build Kevin Holland up too, and if Wonderboy wins,

like there's another guy who could be in the conversation at 170. Like, a lot of people, like Wonderbo, even after the Gilbert Burns lost, a lot of people still felt like Wonderboy was in play for a potential title shot because everyone loves Wonderboy. Everybody loves that guy. Everybody loves that guy.

So, yeah. Hate the matchup. Doesn't make a ton of sense. Wonderboy just fought two wrestlers and put them over. Burns, Blal. Give him a Shrico. Let's give Wonder Boy some fun fights for the tail end of his career. You know what I'm saying?

Come on now. All right. Let's go to Natural Grappler. I'm going to try to get to all of you, I promise. Natural Grappler. What's up? How are you? I'm pretty good.

I'm pretty good. I'm excited coming off of this Uzman v. Edwards fight. You know, I just think that if you didn't think that Leon Edwards was going to win this fight, you just weren't paying attention. I have to admit, I was surprised that Uzman was so successful with those takedowns. I thought that was something that Edwards was really going to just solidify and nullify, really. and he didn't. But I'll tell you what, though.

Did you see how impressively unlooked after every single take down attempts? He was either A, trying to scramble and find a way to escape or B, at the end of the round, if he was on the ground, he got up and his posture just told you everything you used to know. Uzman was standing in this guy's face, trying to stare him down, trying to intimidate him. And Edward's posture was just so poised.

he didn't have to look at Usman to let him know that he was still there. All you had to do is look at his posture. He wasn't too tired. He was just in his zone. And yeah, he was down. Yeah, he was getting taken down. But it wasn't like it was just something that was just too overwhelming for him. You saw the skill was there.

It was like Edwards build. He has that lanky build. And he's put on so much muscle mass since his first fight with Usman. You can just tell there's a difference. And for me, that was the key. I just saw his linkiness, and I said, okay, well, this guy's got some form. So I guarantee you, in the trilogy fight, whenever it happens,

next fight or the fight afterwards, it's not going to be close. Edwards will close the book on that, and people will write the story that, you know, it's time for Usman to hang it up. And that is not true either. It's just a bad matchup. Edwards is a better fighter stylistically for Usman.

Usman has the takedowns, but the stand-up game is pretty much about even, probably leaning towards Edwards. That's my main point. And secondly, when you get a chance, I'd like to hear your thoughts on Carl as far as of being the Kabib of the women's division. I beat. I don't know how I feel about that comparison. But, yes, Carl's fighting Zhang Lai Li. I don't like to come on here and say that, I mean, I might as well to say, like, I think Zhang Lai Li is going to say. I think Zhang Waley's going to win that fight.

It's not going to be... I just don't see a world where that fight is... is winnable for Carla. I mean, who knows? Maybe she gets her down. I don't know. I think the way Zhang looked against Yawanna, and even the way she looked in the second Rose fight,

I just think Zhang wins. But I don't know about the Hubei thing. I'd be a huge win for Carla if she beat Zhang Wai Li. People would start to take her seriously, that she would... She wouldn't get like the rub Leon's getting right now, but I think people kind of view Carla in a lot of the same ways that they viewed Leon on the way up.

And that'd be a huge. I mean, that's the kind of fight. She needs to do it impressively. She goes out there and did what she did to Jan Jan Janan, to freaking Zhang Wei at Madison Square Garden. Golly, what a moment that would be for her. I just don't think that fight goes very well for her stylistically. That's kind of a nightmare matchup for her.

But we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. And then as far as As far as Usman Edwards go, like I talked about it all week, especially on this program. Many of you called in and picked Leon and many of you called in and gave Leon a chance. And I also gave Leon a good chance to win. I just thought I thought Usom was going to wrestle a lot more. And you can take all the time you want and try to defend wrestling and work on in the gym. There's just levels to the wrestling.

and while Edwards, what he did was admirable in terms of defending some of the takedowns and getting back to his feed and all of that. I mean, Oosman, that was Oosman's world, and you could see him. Usen was having success in the feed. The jab was landing. But I do actually believe Edwards

when he says that the altitude and the way he felt out there. I mean, you could tell. You can tell. And by the way, I just want to get one more thing off my chest. Dean Thomas took a beating for saying that Leon looked frustrated and broken down at the end of the fourth round. I just don't like go back and watch the end of that fourth round before his coach just hyped his ass up.

He looked frustrated. He looked really frustrated. Like what? I'm not feeling it today. What do I have to do? It was a little frustrated. You can see it on his face. You can see it on his face.

So Dean took a beating for that. I didn't think he deserved it. But kudos to John Anick for making. that moment even bigger with the whole that's just not the cut of that man's cloth and then boom right in the face wins the title i mean john annick is the best the guy is the best in combat sports might be the he's one of the best in all of sports in my opinion and that that whole thing that whole statement before the knockout was just a work of art unbelievable it made that moment just so much better it was so cool

But, listen, Edwards got a little frustrated, but he stuck with it. Kay 5th round knocked his ass out. Unbelievable stuff. Unbelievable stuff. But you can see in his eyes, he looked a little, he looked a little frustrated going into that fifth round. It wasn't like I went to the, I covered the Bellator event where Yaroslav Amasov fought Douglas Lima and won the belt. And I remember sitting Cade side watching that fight and Douglas Lima's corner was right where. the media was sitting.

And after the fourth round of that fight, I have never, ever seen a defending champion looked as rattled and as frustrated as Doug William looked at night. He was just like, he looked at his team, he's like, I don't know what the hell to do. Like, this guy just takes me down and I

can't get up. Like, I can't do anything about it. So I didn't think Leon was on that level, but he was definitely frustrated in that fourth round. But sometimes you just need your coach to say the right thing. I think that was so pivot. When people talk about the Giuliana

Pena-upset win over Mandon-Nunes, we talk about Pena and how big of an upset it was and how she weathered the storm and overcame the adversity of the firm getting dropped and all that, but we don't give enough credit to Rick Little for saying

exactly what Giuliana Pena needed to hear going into that second round. Just like, you knew this is going to happen. And like, you could tell like Julianna was a little frustrated sitting on the stool, but then Rick Little said what he had to say to her, and you could see her, you could see her demeanor change on the stool. And Rick didn't get enough credit for that.

And you've seen the clip already. You've seen the video of the corners just screaming at Leon Edwards. Come on, Leon. Come on. This is it. So cool. Unbelievable stuff. Let's go to Clear's values.

Hello, Clear's values. doing. We're doing great, man. So, you know, I'm going to come at this from a different perspective, and I think it's not the most popular one. I just kind of think the Walter Waite Division is in a cool spot where I can continue to move. New faces can show up.

I feel like Camaro's already kind of cleared it out. And honestly, I want to see Leon fight. Humve thought. I want to see what he can do. And, you know, Camaro's been talking about. talking a big game, I don't think he's a draw that he thinks he is. I don't think the UFC thinks he's that draw. Send him up to light heavyweight. Do it. I don't care. You know, I think he could make that division slightly more interesting for the time being. I think

there's a clear path for him to get to the belt. I think he's been talking about it. I think that would increase his value significantly if he can get up there. And, you know, I'd like to that's not that's not like what people are thinking what people are saying but at this point I just think the UFC as an organization would be better off with him at light heavyweight rather than that rather than at wealth of weight and I'd love to hear what you think thanks man I love you clearish values I love the fact that you hop on this show as much as possible and give your thoughts and all that and why and why I appreciate you. I don't agree with you at all.

Although I will say this. If Kamar Usman spoke to this day and said, nah man, I don't need to fight this guy. I'm going to go to 205 anyways. It would be the funniest thing ever. And it would be, it would just be hilarious. It'd be just a bold

move right there. But I just don't know what the interest is. Like, when Adasania went up and Foplohovich, it made sense at the time, like the timing lined up. But right now, like, 205 is actually like in a really interesting spot that they don't need him to go up.

Like I don't think the path to the title is that clear because you got Yeri and Glover fighting maybe at the end of the year. They're going to fight. They're going to fight in the next five to six months. Then you have Jan Bolovic. You have Magamette Ancolaia. They're probably

going to fight each other. And now you got Jamal Hill coming up. I think the time it sucks for Rusman to go to 205. Like he's going to be waiting a while. So go get that win back if you can. And then if, I mean, just go try and get that win back. That's the biggest fight you can get. What's he going to do with 205?

Fight I won Kuchelaba? There's like, I mean, Kudov's fighting Johnny Walker, but he's not getting, like, if he goes up to 205, just says, you know what, I'm done with 170, I'm going to 205. He's not getting a title fight. He's not. He's going to have to fight some other killers on the way up.

And that's asking a lot. It's a big risk. that's a big risk so I don't love the idea although I do think it would be absolutely hilarious if he did that all right let's go to Terrence Terrence how are you?

I'm good man how you been good I wanted to talk about her dean like one thing I was in the hour because I'm working with his roughing like I kind of said it on like a tweet but like he has favorites when it comes to certain things and you can tell it

was on full display like Luzman was getting away with so much more files than Leon, like every time Leon did something, they both were cheating. And now you guys say, if you can cheat, then do it. And clearly, Usman can do it because he wasn't getting called on it. But I thought it was funny in poetic justice at the end when Herdeen is the reason as to why Usman lost, because he broke it up with like two minutes left. If he wouldn't have broke that clinch up, Leon would have lost, and that would have never

happened. It wouldn't have this moment. And I'm so happy that he broke that up. and the other thing that I want to talk about, something that I was thinking about a few weeks ago, however I was able to get on. So it was like a post-fight show or a pre-show or something like that, and I was asking about rankings

and the problem we have within a lot of division where people are sitting on their spots for, like, months are over a year, and they'll move up in rankings because other people who are active are losing, so they'll go from, like, number six to, like, number three. you said you don't like the idea of them getting rid of people who aren't active so I just want to know what your thoughts are on people who are squat and on the spot are just doing the round robin like if they are and 155 where they're refusing to fight anyone else

that's not in like their popular bubble quote unquote that's all I have thank you thank Terrence good stuff right there um yeah man it's it's the inactivity is going to add at some point, but I don't know. It's just the way that the sport is. You go for the, it's about risk reward. It's been like this for a long time. And like even Justin Gainchi talked about Raphael Fizizzi, but his manager, Ali did an interview recently and said, no, he should fight Connor.

He shouldn't be fighting the Fizizu, so you should fight Connor. And I would love, I would watch the hell out of him versus Connor McGregor. That'd be an amazing fight. Be super entertaining and fun. As far as Herb Dean goes, the man I have so aptly called Hokie-Pokey Herb, refereeing stinks. Jason Herzog is fantastic, but outside of that, it is bad. And it was bad on this night.

It was bad in that fight. And I'll say it again. If you are a fighter, if you are a coach, you should be cheating as much as possible. And I know that's not the martial arts way. But just cheat. Just cheat. Grab the fence, poke and I, kick him in the balls. They're not going to call it.

You're not going to get penalized for it. So just do it. Just do it. I mean, people gave like Tim Elliott a lot of shit for grabbing the glove in his last fight. Why? Why? No one stopped him. This is a prize.

This is prize fighting. The way pay structure works is. you get show money and win money. So if no one's going to call it, just cheat. I hate that I'm saying this, but it's true. No referee is calling anything. They're not calling it. It's so dumb.

Like, it's just so dumb. And I don't ask it for every fence grab to be a point. What I'm asking for is that it's called and that at least something happens. Like in those situations, if someone's about to get a takedown and somebody grabs the fence and then they don't get a takedown, stop grabbing the hand, stop saying, let go with the fence,

stop the fight, and then put the dude on his ass, and then say, you get on top, now we can resume play. That's how you should do it. That's how you should do it. Stop with the warnings.

Stop with the, I'm telling you, this is the last time I'm going to tell you, just do it. And if that happens, the cheating will stop. At least it will attempt to be stopped. But at this point, like, you should be telling,

coaches should be telling all their fighters to grab the fence and poke guys and all that stuff. Because no one's calling it. There are no points, no nothing. We saw the most illegal knee on God's Green Earth Saturday night to Sean Woodson, who was clearly on the ground. He took a running knee to the face, and it was one point.

That should have been two points. It should have been two points. cut the shit do your job I know refereeing's hard I would never want to be a referee I don't want to be a judge I don't want to do any of those things

but if you're in that position and there's penalties happening in every other sport there is a whistleblown or a 15 yard penalty and it's not because oh he accidentally did pass interference oh no he accidentally held the jersey

it's a fucking 10 yard penalty it's a foul it's a technical foul shooting two free throws. There's repercussions for mistakes in every other sport but not MMA. Unless it's like incredibly egregious.

Stop it. Stop it. Have some balls and make a call. Enough is enough. Enough is enough. And I'm going to stay, I'm going to continue saying that you should cheat until things change.

And I hate that I have to do that in a sport like MMA. But if you're not going to call it, then cheat. Grab the fence. Stop takedowns. Do it. And until that changes, I'm going to continue to get on my high horse and tell fighters to cheat and tell coaches to teach

your fighters to cheat. Because no one's going to stop yet. It's so stupid. All right, I'm off my soapbox. Rell, let's go to you. Heck up a morning, Mike. How are you doing? I'm good. So I just wanted to speak on, I feel like

a lot of people's not I don't get the sense that this win it's respected but I don't think people think he's going Leon's going to keep the title for long but I don't know why we I don't know why

that's that that feeling is out there like if we think about stand-up wise who's got better stand-up and that division than Leon when it comes to a tech all-around standpoint like everything he does is on point and it's this technically

sound, look at the knockout, like the left to the kick. It was so sound. Like, I don't, I think he definitely deserves more respect than he's getting, because I think some people, especially in my friend group, they think he's just going to get dominated in the trilogy fight. And I said,

if you look at the fight, he was able to defend takedowns, well, get up. I just think he got fatigued. What if he don't get fatigued next time? What if they don't fight in Utah next time? If that, you know, had a, had a a effect on the fight.

But other than I, I think Leon need way more respect. I think this was a... When the kick, when it first happened, I didn't even react in the first five seconds because I didn't know what was going on. But he deserved more respect. Have a good morning, Mike. I mean, I don't know how much more respect the guy needs right now.

I mean, this is a celebration. It's a Leon Edwards celebration. I get it. Like, maybe... I know a lot of people were, like, kind of shocked by the opening odds for the trilogy fight with Ushman being a minus 350 favorite, but

I don't know, man. I think he's getting a lot of respect right now. I mean, I think Edwards across the board, top to bottom is the more technical striker. He's got more tools and such. And Ustman has, let's be honest, like Uspin

has had some incredible finishes, but we know who Uspin is. And Uspin is a very fundamentally sound striker. Like if we're looking at, who has the deeper striking base, it's definitely Leon. Like, Leon is way more diverse, does a lot more different things. Like, there's no doubt about it. Leon is the better striker. But what Usman has done with that little bit of the fundamental knowledge has been friggin'

impressive. The way he's knocking guys out, that jab is a pretty little thing. It reminds me a GSP in a lot of ways because GSP wasn't, I mean, he had some striking, but his boxing just improved immensely throughout his career. That jab especially. like GSP was an explosive dynamic striker a lot of always especially with his kicks but once he started incorporating boxing and get just doing the fundamentals with throwing the jab

and using it as a weapon to set other things up I mean there's a thing of beauty and Oosman does a lot of the same things Edwards is clearly the more diverse striker there's no doubt about it I think Edwards is getting a lot of credit in this fight it's just the way that it all played out man it's just it's just so wild that

I mean this was a 40-year-old 4946 win for Usman. 55 seconds later, if that kick doesn't land, Usman wins 4946. It's just the way that it happened and all of it, just outrageous. Outrageous.

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big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.com. Bring home to life. Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure. This fall get double points on every qualified stay. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. All right, let's go to Sean McNeil. Sean, how good, Mike. Can you hear me?

Yes. Heck of a morning. Happy birthday, AK, my Canadian brother. I just really wanted to talk about how much I enjoyed Saturday in general. Like, just as a fight fan, especially if you're a UK fight fan, because you kind of saw one of the lower moments with Anthony Joshua, although he had a good performance, kind of his outburst after. And then you got to see, like, arguably one of the greatest moments for UK.

which was Leon and obviously his amazing CAO, just what a night it was. I guess two quick questions. My first one is about the Bannamweight Division. Obviously, Merov's kind of performance is less than spectacular. I guess I was just curious what you think the odds are, the probability of Song Yadong kind of getting the next title shut.

I've kind of seen that that fight with Sanhagen's kind of been thrown under the rug or almost forgotten and not talked about as much as the title fight and the O'Malley and Yon fight, but if Sterling wins and Yon wins and Song kind of maybe starches Corey in the first round, I think that would be an interesting matchup. And people forget, though it's controversial, I think Song has a win over Marlon Vera.

So I kind of wanted to know what you think the odds of that happening are. And second, this might be a bit of a hot take, but something I kind of thought for a while, but I really think middleweight in general is by far the worst division in the UFC. And I just kind of wanted to get your thoughts on that if you agree. I think in terms of top contenders, it's really struggling. And even another up-in-comers, there isn't really anyone I see besides maybe Bo Nickel in a couple years that can really challenge for a title or be a legit.

Yeah, I just think 185, it's, or do you think it's more kind of easy, it's just that dominant running through contenders. But I really think 185 is a weak division and kind of want to get your thoughts on that. But once again, just what a great Saturday and have a heck of a morning, Mike. Thanks, buddy. I mean, it's probably more about Izzy just beating everybody at this point. I mean, Robert Whitaker is much like Data White says if Colby isn't, if Ousman isn't the World to Weight champion, Colby probably is.

You can probably say the same about Robbickr. Although this fight with Martin Vittori is really interesting. These are the two and three. This is number two and number three. There's something, like, I think Drick is Du Plus C could be a guy who fights for a title at some point. I don't think he's ready now. But he's an exciting dude who just brings it at every fight,

really entertaining to watch, super fun. So there's a, there's a, he's a guy. I mean, Strickland is still there. And I will say this, and I said this on to the next one on Sunday. If Israel Adasadya, because he's done this before, and we've seen champions do things like this before, if Israel out of Sonia beats Alex Pereira and then says, you know what, Luke Rockhold, you're the man.

respect you so much. I got to have that name on my resume before I call it a career. Wouldn't rule it out. Even though he said Rockhold retired, I also said that it's like 95-5, and that five is if Adasani calls him out. Adasani had it work before with Yol Romero. After you all lost to Paulo Costa,

Romero got a title fight, and Israel fighting Luke Rockhold, like we said, strike the word deserves your vocabulary. That would be a fight that would sound. and that people would be interested in, despite the loss. And it makes a, listen, it doesn't make a lot of sense in a lot of ways, but there you go. And the other question, I mean, slim to none.

Slim to none. Like we talked about the result of the main event and who it might have hurt the most outside of the fight. Blah Muhammad, maybe Hamzat. But on the flip side, Marlon Vera was the big winner. in the Banimoy fight. Marab won the fight, beat Joseo Alto, but Marlon Vera is now the guy.

He's the frontrunner right now. And the only man I think right now that could stop him from getting a title shot is if Sean O'Malley beats Piotr Yan. If shot O'Malley doesn't beat Piotr Yan, Marlon Ver is fighting for the belt. He wins, in my opinion. So we'll see.

I like Song Kidong a lot. He's super young. He'll get there. Just not yet. Vinny, what's up, buddy? Hello, hello. All right, we got to move on here. Let's go to Motivated Andy.

Hello. What's up, buddy? I'm mad about the Tony Ferguson, I didn't also with Lee Jingleang. I'm not mad that he's coming back after four months after he got his head punt into the moon. I'm not mad that it's a short notice, two weeks out. I'm not even mad about Lee.

I am mad that Tony Ferguson and Nate Diaz are on the same damn pay-per-view, and they are not fighting each other. What the fuck is that about? Also, 155 is better than 135? Come on, Mike. Come on, you're better than that. Are you kidding me right now?

This is not even a conversation. 155 is definitely better than 135. And I love 135. I've been waving the 135 flag for years, but it is not better than 155. It just isn't. There's no, you're just, there's no, fight at 135.

Let the dog inside. There's no fight at 135 right now that you can make that is even close to being as interesting as Charles Oliver versus Al-Machachev. Nothing. There is nothing that is even close to that in that division. It's not Aljo T.J. Aljo-Aldo might have been, but I still don't think it beats that. Listen, 135 is deep and it's fun, but 155 is the flagship.

It's the flagship. It's the Cadillac Division. Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt. All right, let's keep flying through these. We're going overtime today. Tobs, T-O-B-S, what up? Anyone, Rocky eight words. Walking along, sing the song, whatever the rest of the song.

Yo, what are right? Yeah. Amazing. What up, Mike? How you doing? I just want to say... I predicted the K-Row on my podcast. You know, I'm just starting a podcast right now, MMA.

Black Absule, check it out. But it's in French. But it's okay. But I predicted it. I just want to say it. And also, there's a collision course happening right now. And I want to know what you think about it. So we have Edwards and U.S.

Usman definitely fighting for the title. I don't know. Usman gets his rematch. But Hamzad gets the title, and I said it, his first title defense is going to be against Shaftat, Shafka, Rachmanov, and the paper view for that are going to go through the roof.

Mark my words. What do you think about that? Thank you. Thank you for your beautiful song. you woke us all up that was great uh i don't agree with you i think shafcott will fight for the belt at some point here's the problem he's going to have a hard time getting fights we talked about it earlier about guys in certain divisions defending their spots and all that and you know there are certain fighters you don't care like blah mohammed's a perfect example like he he doesn't have

to fight john brady but if he just wants to stay active and get fights in, he kind of has, doesn't really have a choice. Like, he could just wait, but he's fighting backwards again. He fought backwards against Vicente. He continues to fight backwards. But I just don't, like, Shafka, it's just going to have a hard time getting opponents, man. It's got to be rough. It's got to be tough.

It really is. So I think he will get to a title fight. I think the UFC will eventually build to that point if Hamzat wins the belts. but Shafcott, man, is just going to have a real tough time. Like how many how many welterweights right now in the top 10 are going to be like, hey, you want to fight Shafcott?

Sure, I would love to. Very few. So I just, I just don't think that happens. I think Colby has a much better chance of getting a title shots, even though we don't know what's going on with him.

I mean, there's plenty of, like Shafkat Hamsat versus pretty much anybody does well if he goes out there and just bolts whoever he fights for the belt, but we'll see what happens. He's still going to beat Nate. And I know the betting odds suggests he will do so, and I know a lot of other people suggested

he's just going to go out there and flatline Nate. But you never know. You never know what could happen in this crazy-ass sport. Isn't that right ahead? Hello? Ahead. I lost you. Okay?

Kurt Phillips. Kurt, are you there? Nothing. All right, we'll go back to Mike, see if we can get the rest of his point out. Mike, yo, do we have it? Back in the building. Thank you for having me again, twice as nice. Yes.

I'm not sure if you caught what I was saying initially, and just to give you the elevated pitch for those people who have actually come into the space, there are so many people who, rightly so, should be cheering on Leon Edwards. But, you know, there are a few of us who can't be doing that and doing it disingenuously. I'm cheering him on, but knowing full well that I'd be cheering. didn't back him. And I backed the wrong horse, basically, and I'm wrong, and I'm actually self-flagellating myself and publicly acknowledging the fact that I was wrong. But let's just address the elephant in the room. For those people who said that they unequivocquivocally backed him, I hear a lot of talk

in this room today. Come on, fess up, be honest. You saw what happened in round two. You saw what happened in round three. You saw what happened in round four. So come on, be real. Be real. Be honest, be open. We're all friends here. We can be open and talk about that. But what I really wanted to come back to say was the fans make shit happen, as you know Mike. The fans actually manifest

through their words what they really want to see. And I want to see more of the conversation talking about addressing the three pieces and the soda disrespect. I want to see that as his next match-out. I want to see that clash happen in London. Return to the scene of the

crime, you might say. But It's just the fact that in British culture, particularly where Leon has come from, I've been on the periphery of that, never involved, just as a casual observer. You don't let people have that type of disrespect on you and get away with it. Revenge is swift usually, but he's waited long enough to give the man his revenge, give it in front of a UK crowd. There's a story there, there's a narrative there. Come on, let's do this.

Let's manifest this by talking it into existence. Thank you, Mike Heck. you're the man thank you very much uh i see more of you waiting i'm going to get to all of you i promise so let me let me try to answer your question or the question because i've thought about this this in saturday because a lot of people feel like this could happen and i think it could i think there is a world where if kemara is just like nah i'm going to wait till like the summer of next year to fight myself's getting the shot like there's no doubt about it he's getting the shot but i think Usman is just, I think

Usman's going to get it. I think Usman's going to just be hungry to come back quickly. Well, let's just say, like, the UFC does one of their Q&As, and they have Dana White and Leon Edwards and Loris Sanko on, and Laura's like, Dana, say what you want to say Leon. And Dana says, hey, Leon, you could fight Usman.

And we could do this sometime in 2023, but how about you fight Jorge Mazadol first? How be you fight him first and get your revenge? Now, revenge could be served very sweetly by saying yes and going out there and fighting the man getting a win. But it could also be served very sweetly if Leon just said, nope, this guy wouldn't fight me when I wanted to fight him. And now that I have the belt, he wants a shot at me? No.

No. How dare you ask me that question, Dana White? I am not giving this man a title shot. He doesn't deserve a title shot. And I'm not fighting him. It's amazing how things can change in an instant. And how Leon has power in this situation. It would be a nice little F you to Mazdov if he was offered that opportunity.

And he said, no, I'm not giving him the title fight. Go get a win. Go get two wins. And then I'll fight you. But I'm sure Leon wouldn't do that. But it would still mean the same thing if he just said. And I know Mazadol would probably spin it as every other fighter in the world would do. oh, he's scared to fight me.

I think we all know. I think everybody in this space is well aware that no one is afraid of fighting anybody in the UFC. If you make it to the UFC, you fight for you put in front of you. Now, there's strategyry towards putting your career in a certain place,

sure. Like what I mentioned about Shoff got Rockbanoff. There aren't a lot of top 10 Walter weights who are going to be like, yeah, I'll definitely fight that guy. But if the UFC is just like, this is as good as this is going to get, you fight this dude,

or you don't fight anybody, they'll be like, all right, I'll fight him. It's not because they're scared. It's just the risk reward that most fighters in that position things, the risk is way higher than the reward. So, yeah, it would be, it'd be just crazy if Leon was like, Mazadol, you want this title shot? No.

How about that? Let's go, we spend it be crazy. All right, how head do we have you? Then we'll go to swap. Then we'll go to heavyweight. Then we'll go to Viking. Ahead. Hello.

Was I right or was I right? I said the later round, Leon would get it done. I just didn't expect the head kick. But now we've established, right? I'm not a Leon head, hater. I knew who'd get it done. Like, it just seemed to be pointing in that direction. But I will say this, right?

I'm going to be a bit of a Debbie Downer here. And it's good to hear Michael Morgan just give a refreshing voice about how, let's be honest, right? Even though Leon's got the belt and I'm happy for him because of the money, mainly, the money, the opportunities. Let's be real. Do we feel that despite he has the belt, do we see him as the best in that weight class? You know, because we've got Usman, let's say the trilogy happens.

I feel it's a very good chance. Usman can win. You know, like we saw what happened round two, three, four. And like, I'm on nobody's side. I'm just being brutally honest, right? Like, as a, you know, Leon's blaming the altitude and that might have something to do. with it, but there's levels to this game, especially wrestling. And the British people,

unless it's Makayev, they are so behind in wrestling. I don't care. Like, they see wrestling as a obligation. They don't see it as a martial and that's the problem. So I feel like, you know, Usman took him down at will. Kobe could take him down at will, Shavkat, Sean Brady. So it's like Michael Bisping, Mike. You know, Michael Bisping won the belt, but come on, like Romero, Whitaker were bad matchups for him, you know? And Usman, when you talk about cheating, yeah, okay, it's bad enough that he grabbed the fence, but everyone needs to give Kobe Covington an apology right now. Colby accused Usman of faking the nutshot, faking the iPote,

and what did we see from Usman again? He faked the nutshot and he faked the ipo so badly. That's some cheap Oscar level stuff, man. And then lastly, Anthony Joshua, that was a poor display, like a spoiled brat type thing. I understand mental breakdowns. I understand being upset. Dante Wilder was upset against Tyson Fury. All he did was not shake Tyson's Fury's hand.

AJ made a conscious decision to walk around the ring and make it all by himself. So I don't get people like Ariel trying to defend AJ. I'm guessing because Ariel and Eddie Hahn are best friends or something. No, like there's no excuse of acting like that. I'm sorry. That's all I've got for you today, Mike. Drop the mic, Mike. I had.

I have to, I'll have you know ahead that the Halani show, the ringer show. They miss you. They're all asking me, why isn't I hate coming on the show anymore? I got nothing to say. He is property of heck of a morning now. And I'm proud of it, damn it. Proud of it. Let's go.

Not property, but we give you the voice. All right, let's go to Swap. Great points, by the way. Swap, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Yeah, I'm good. Okay, so my question is, do you think that Leon is the next Charles Olivera?

Because Charles has proved himself again and again, and he is still underdog. And same goes with Leon. He just knock out Camaro and he's again the underdog. So what's your take on that? Thanks. Thank you. that's a really good comparison right there. That's something we have to watch out for.

Because if Leon beats Usen a second time, let's just say he just goes out there, bolton, two rounds, knocks him out, retains the belt, big ovation. If he fights Shemayev, he'll, like, he's got to be an underdog in that fight. Like, he's going to be. If Shemayev beats Nate, he will be the underdog.

But how much will he be an underdog? And if he beats Shemayev, like, if he fights Mazadol, like, will he be the underdog in that fight? Probably not, but, You never know how the betting odds can drop because you're trying to get two-way action on these things. Would he be the favorite against Colby? I don't know.

Probably not. So that's actually a really good comparison. So that'll be something to watch. Of course, he's going to have to beat Oospin again before we can really start talking about this. But I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised he's an underdog. I'm surprised as a minus 350 open underdog. I think it actually opened a minus 375, which is kind of wild.

That's bigger than he was heading into this fight. let's go to heavyweight holloway what's going on mike i just got a question for you about this upcoming event in france how do you feel about people counting out because i feel like people aren't

giving tai tui vasa the chance he has with zero gone like a good like they're not giving him a good chance against zero gone because zero gone is a good striker i understand that but i feel like tai tui vasa has the power feel like he has the technical

and I feel like he's not getting as much respect as he deserves in this matchup. And also with the welterweight division, I wanted to say that I feel like Leon, like you never know if this could be a long, long time title reign for Leon because MMA is so unpredictable. And I feel like they're not giving Leon a good chance against the other top welterates just because they're wrestlers. Yeah. I mean, we'll see. But again, I mean, this all could change whenever these guys fight again. Like if Leon just goes out there in Boltz Usman, I'm curious to see what the reaction will be then.

As far as the Tai Tuvasa thing, yeah. Taitu Vasa is a huge underdog. Zero gone minus 540. Taitu Vasa comes back at plus 420. You want to talk about, listen, you want to talk about great stories in the sport. Leon Edwards, what a story this is, 100%. Can you imagine if Taito Ivasa wins the heavyweight title? Now, that is a freaking story, too. No one would, like, that would be so stunning. That's why I fought, like, I fought for Taito Ivasa to get an interim heavyweight title

fight right after he knocked out Derek Lewis. Because we had no idea, we had everything with Francis, we had John Jones, we'd know what the hell was going on there. Like, I would have loved to have seen Taito Ivasa. an interim heavyweight title fight. Because you have to do it. The more ties you trotted out there, the less the chance that we get him fighting for the belt.

And I think it's like as over as he is right now, I think you've got to like fast track him to a title shot. Like you just have to do it. But now he's got maybe, I don't think this is as bad of a matchup as Curtis Blades, but this is pretty bad. But Cyril's also young. He's coming off a devastating

loss in his last fight. I mean, real devastating. The pressure that was on, both guys, everything that went into that fight, things that were said about him, things that were said about Inganu, things that were said about his head coach, everything that happened. And then he goes out there and gets taken down by a guy with essentially one leg and loses a decision. That's rough. Do you remember what happened when Francis Ganu had his first loss in the UFC, got taken down, lost to steepe he had a rough next fight real rough against derrick lewis and lost that one it was one of the worst fights ever so i'm curious to see how cyril bounces back but tie has all the momentum right now like i understand ties on the road but tie can be like there is no real road game for tie to ibasa

like he fought derrick lewis in houston and people tried to boo titha but you can't boo titha how can you boo this man he's so fun And then eventually, like, he gets over no matter where he goes. Like, he's going to get over in Paris, too. So I don't think, like, that factors into it. And if Ty hits him, like, who knows? Ty could crack, man. Plus 420.

Boy, I don't bet on M.MA. But that episode of No Bet Spard is going to be fun. It's going to be fun to listen to. Curious to see how they look. It's a nightmare matchup on paper, but Ty could definitely win that fight. He might just be getting Cyril gone at the right time. All right, Viking MMA. How are you, buddy?

Hello. So let me tell you this. Don't cut me off after my first question. So I have two questions. So Mike, please tell me whose idea to make this show a heck of a morning. Was that you or someone else? That was my idea. Absolutely.

I pitched it. So I pitched it. And I didn't know how I wanted to do it. I knew I wanted to do something, whether it was going to be on Spotify or on YouTube or, you know, we ended up landing on doing it. Okay, okay. Hello, hello, hello. Hello, listen to me. Listen to me.

So, hello, are you listening? I'm here. I'm here. Okay. So listen to me, Mike. You know, it's not my place to say any of this, but, you know, you should not listen to anyone else's crap if someone, if someone says that, you know, You have been seeing my tweets and I don't respect you at front of more than 2,000 people. I mean, this guy is answering more than 190 listeners in the space right now.

And the knowledge you have is phenomenal. You know, I watch every MMF fighting show on YouTube or podcast just because of you. And, you know, this guy, Mike Heck Jr. just doing so much for the MMF fighting and working his ass off. I don't accept if someone disrespects you online at front of 200 or 2,000 people. I just don't accept that fact, you know. And my question is, you know, don't you think UFC should change that rematch system? I mean, there's the dominant champ should get a rematch, but don't you think that number one

contenders should get a title shot instead of former champions, especially if the Lord comes out of just brutal knockout, like Kamaru, because of that kind of head kick you need to recover, right? And so do you think it's okay to let number one contenders, number of contenders so much away from a title shot because rematch is on pending because of the former champion need more time? And one more thing that, you know, I've been watching UFC since, what, two years and I'm still new, But what I've learned from this Usman and Leon fights, they're all humans, man. You know, whenever we see our favorite fighters,

you know, we always get scared when our favorite fighter is fighting, you know. And we get so much sentimental about them. And, I mean, Shevchenko, Usman, you know. They're all human, man. That's what I learned from this fight. Thank you, Mike, and a lot of respect to you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

And if people have things to say about me, let's be real. I grew up in Boston. I don't give a shit. I don't care if people have bad things to say about me. I do my thing. I don't try to copy or mimic anybody else. I just turn this thing on and we go. I have said this many times.

When I do these things, it's like I'm sitting at a bar with my friends and we just talk. Like if people ask me about fighting, I would say the same things to them. If they had the same questions you had, I respond the same exact way. Like, I don't care. That's just how I roll.

I'm not going to change for anybody, but I appreciate the kind words. I get where you're coming from. I just feel like in this case, you've got to give Kamara the fight. Just what he did before that, 15 wins in a row, one win away from Anderson Silva,

four wins away from GSP, the wrong he had, the wins he had, everything, I think he deserves it. Now, there were certain immediate rematches that I hated. Perfect example. When T.J. Dillashaw bolted Cody Garbrandt and they gave him a title fight right after that without a single title defense, couldn't stand it. Didn't like that at all. This is a different case.

I thought Max Holloway was a different case when they ran back the fight with Volkadovsky. some I don't like this one makes sense but again Leon's in a great spot right now I mean a great spot where he could fight Usman Mazadol Hamzat they're all going to be massive

but I think Ousman's going to get the fight and I think it's a very wildly intriguing fight especially how the first two fights went and how this second fight was going until the knocko all right well we got four waiting let's start with my man

pretty boy Anthony Taylor what's up What up, Mike? Hey, shout out to our Go to State Warriors, but don't hold it against me, brother. I don't own the team.

But anyways, Mike, what's going on with you, brother? Just living the dream, my man. How about you? I'm great. I'm going to tell you guys this right now. You listen to me? No, we were listening. You broke up.

What the hell? Sorry, sorry. I got people calling this shit. I'm like, what's going on? But anyway, I got Ousman by unanimous decision just because it's wrestling so much better than Leon's, look, I've already told

people, I said Leon was going to win this fight due to his determination. We've seen the drive determination he had against Kamaru leading up to the fight against all those opponents he fought. He thought of nobody else besides Kamara Usman every time he fought somebody else. But leading up to the next fight,

Kamara Usma is going to dominate him with his wrestling. You got to think about this. You can teach jujitsu, but you can't teach elite wrestling. Like, nowadays, Back in the days with the great season and everything, was Machina all was juditsu, jujitsu, jujitsu. Now everybody learned judicious,

but you can't teach high-level wrestling. And that's something totally different that Leon doesn't have. Now, Leon might be a brown belt or a black belt with jujitsu, but you can't, how can you defend a high-level wrestling? Wrestling is the new form of the technique that's dominating the sport of MMA. When you're an elite wrestler, you're going to become an elite fighter. It's just simple. I have one more question for you, my man.

I'm hearing rumblings. I don't know how much truth there is to this, Anthony. Are you making an MMA return this year? That's what I'm hearing. Is that happening? Well, I have been in talks with the UFC. I said, hey, look, if I go to the UFC, I want to fight Patty. I want to fight Patty.

I don't like Patty in Pellet. That's somebody who I definitely fight. or I fight Tony Ferguson, whoever you want me to fight. But there have been talks. But right now, boxing has shown me so much love. It's like, why not? I haven't fought since John Jones hasn't fought. And right now, I'm about 190, so I got to lose the weight.

I got to get in better shape before I dropped out. But I am coming back. Maybe Bellator, who knows, you know, just throwing it out there for you guys. but I will be coming back this year in M&A. Sounds good, my man. We can't wait to see it. Thank you, Anthony. I appreciate it.

Always great when you check in. There have been three people waiting. I'm going to get to them. Siveram is one of them. Siveran, they'll go to average. They'll go to Ujwal. Siviram, how are you? How's going?

I want to say two things to you, Mike. One is from my fellow Indians. Man, very involved in EFC. and two of the Indians are talking very well on this space. That's good from our country. UFC is growing a lot of popularity in India. The only thing that we are lacking is that we don't represent any MMA fighter in a big arena. So that's the one thing that I do in India.

And coming to the UFC 278, I think U.S.man got this fame into his head, man. His arrogance and cockiness got him to disposition maybe. Immorality. If you're talking immorality, that's what it is. But Leon was fantastic. I mean, if you take out the first round, he's very shocked the world by taking down the Ushman. So it's the first take down that anyone had officially taken down the Osman.

And he knocked out the Osman on the same night. So, props to him. He done the things nobody turned to the Osman. So that's why he's the champion. But good thing is that Leon is the champion now that makes this welterweight very exciting. So I have one question for you. Why does any former champion, losing by that, that a vicious knockout, does call for it to rematch immediately?

Why? If you talk about Amanda, so Amanda, Amanda gave a lot of reasons that she got COVID. She doesn't train well. That's why she lost to, you know, Amanda lost to that girl. So maybe she justified all those. reasons, excuses by winning against Hara, Juliana, winning against Juliana. So, maybe it's sort of justified

when you give the next match to the former champion. But I don't understand giving to the rematch or vengeance or revenge matches to the former champion immediately. I hope to see Leon facing the net or Kamajat, or maybe Jose Mastvedal or Colby. That's it back. Thanks, buddy.

Yeah, listen, I mean, like I said here, there are certain immediate rematches, I think, are horrible. There are certain people I work with who hate immediate rematches in general. Jedmishu hates immediate rematches, no matter who it is. But Pena, I didn't have an issue with because of the shock of it all. In Usman, this is way different. I mean, like Pena, almost 1080 in that first, or Nunez almost 1080 in Pena in that first round,

and then Pena came back and got one of the biggest upset wins of all time. Like, with what Amanda did before that, you had to give her an immediate rematch. And, I mean, I just didn't know what else you could do. Plus, that division was at a different place. 170, I mean, Oosman is the second best Walterweight of all time. He won 15 friggin fights in a row, won the belts, defended it five times. got finishes, got dominant decisions.

Some weren't pretty. Some were amazing. I mean, Leon wants it. Ousman wants it. Everybody wants it. So just do it. Just do it. It's a great fight.

It's going to do well on pay-per-view. It's going to sell out no matter what building they do it in. If they do it at the O2, it's going to sell it in seconds. They do it at Wembley. It's going to sell out, 50, 60,000 people, maybe more. It's going to do great on pay-per-view. going to do big business for the UFC. Like, it's, it's perfect.

And those other, like, those other fights are there. The Mazdahl fights there. If he beats Usen the second time, like Leon gets to call his shot. He wants to fight Usman. I mean, if he wants to fight Mazadal, he can. He wants to fight Hamzad he can. If he wants to fight, Nate, it can. Like, then he calls the shots, but he's,

and you have to think back in the series. Like, I know the first fight was in 2015, but they're one-one-one right now. This is not a back-pocket fight. Like, I don't think, I don't think Uzman has a lot of, time left in the sport, maybe a year, maybe two. So yeah, just do it. It doesn't, like, no matter what who Edwards fights, it's got to be massive. So just give him the rematch. I think, and especially

the way Hussman has handled the loss is pretty outstanding. He could have, he could definitely be a dink about it and say it's, you know, that was the luckiest shot ever. He's not. He's calling it, he's comparing it to a Hail Mary in the Super Bowl, which he's not. about, but he's not salty about it. He's been very gracious with the loss. And you kind of want to see a guy like that rewarded. At least I do. All right, average avenues. I, holy shit, been almost two hours here. Yes. Hello. Good. Okay, so I've been waiting for a bit. I just wanted to share my thoughts on the last two fights in particular. First of all, Blue Crock Coldies are freaking maniac.

active. Like, I think I used the phrase, um, cocky bastard on several occasions while watching that flight, um, just because of like he's like, especially on the FU, FU,

but the fact that he, um, he was barely standing at several points during that flight and landing those cheeks was just mind blowing to me. I said it, I said it that night. I said it, you know,

spaces with a hit it off. After the flights were over. I want that fight in the Hall of Fame now. I know I'm going over the top with it, but you know what, you get my point. And I just want to say that it was absolutely amazing to see the reaction to Leon winning men. People on Twitter going crazy,

people on Twitter saying that they couldn't sleep because they were so high. On such a high, I was one of those people. Not going to lie. It was a special feeling, you know, and it was really awesome to say. And that's all I got, man. Cheers.

Thanks, man. Yep, completely agree with you. I didn't sleep very much. I worked to like 6.30 a.m. Eastern, and I sat up for like maybe a half an hour. And I woke up with like my calf, just like my calf muscle just tightened up on me. And then like I try to stretch it out and I just like there's more pain because I was still kind of asleep. And then I fixed it and then I went back to sleep and it seemed like 11 seconds later. or I had to wake up and get back on the desk and do on to the next one.

So I probably slept for like 15 minutes between Saturday and Sunday and then did on to the next one. I know some people in the comments are like, oh, this is really monotone. You do a show, you do five hours, actually six hours of shows, cover a card right afterwards, and then do another hour and change of shows like with no sleep the next day. If you can do that, kudos to you, but most of you can't. like it's not it's it sucks and you're not going to be like hey we're all going to be super energetic no but i wasn't a grump that was one of my goals like don't be a grump i was a positive

yet monotone version of myself sunday morning because i had no sleep there's just so much energy from that event it was just wild all right ujwal was was here and then i have to go but i'm screenshoting this list of requests right now. Good. He won the last fight in 2020-January against Kauva is in Opsiome. And I don't know whenever he's going to come back,

but he has been tweeting a lot. And if he comes back in the USC, who should he fight a champion or any other fighter? Because if he fights a champion, he would be destroying the chances or any other fighters of fighting the champion but he can fight Justin Gacy

he can fight so who should he fight so who should he fight and who will he fight are two different stories unfortunately we're going to have to kind of wait and see how things play out because I'm truly convinced that if Charles Olavera beats his Amacachev

he's going to fight Connor McGregor next I think that's what what Charles wants and at that point after running through the gambit that he ran through, and I know 55 is crazy, Charles will probably get that fight. The fact that's happening in Abu Dhabi tells me that this is part of the negotiation. All right, man, go to Abu Dhabi, fight this dude. If you win, we'll give you a conter fight because you're not getting it now. I think that's what happens. But if I had the magic pencil, it's just a

Geichi. That's the fight I want to see. Tony Ferguson makes sense, although we'll see what happens with this Lee-Jing Liang fight. There's plenty of options. Connor against me does a million pay-per-views, and he would win that fight rather easily. Maybe in like a weightlifting contest, I might beat him, but he would beat me in a fight. There's no doubt about it. But he would still do a million pay-per-views, and I'd be happy to be on the receiving end of that beating to get the money that would come with fighting Connor McCracker, which is why Charles Olivera wants that fight. And I don't blame him for that because this is prize fighting,

and he should go for the bag. Get that bag, son. But as far as Connor goes, who knows when he even comes back, but I do feel if Olivera wins and finishes Islam, he'll get the Connor fight if he really wants it. If not, Gateshi's great, Chandler's great, Tony's great,

anybody's really great. but speaking of great you guys are great and for those waiting i'm screenshoting abswalia keyboard mosa heavyway hollow area talk to you but i'll screenshot you anyways we'll be back here thursday oh my i got you too i know you're waiting a bit so you're on the list a new screenshot boom there it is all right thursday 10 a m eastern we're back we're going to do it again saving the screenshot right now, okay? All four of you who have been waiting right now

because I've been doing this for two hours. I got to get out of here before I yelled at. All four of you, you have carte blanche on Thursday. So whenever the show begins, whenever you request, you're going to the front of the line,

okay? Go to the front of the line. But thank you all very much. For those who stayed the entire two hours, I don't even know what to say. Much appreciated. Love you guys. You are the best.

And I can't wait to come back here on Thursday and talk with all of you once again. So until then, everybody, have a great rest of the day. Remember, give Leon his flowers. But let's not forget Kamaru's what he's done as well. Have a heck of a morning, everybody. A podcast network.