MMA Fighting - HOAM | Is UFC 296 the Best Of Loaded Year-End Pay-Per-View Slate?

Episode Date: September 28, 2023

The UFC's fourth quarter pay-per-view schedule is loaded up with UFC 294, UFC 295, and UFC 296 bringing big title fights, intriguing matchups, and high stakes. As great as all three lineups are, if you could only watch one of these cards, which one would it be? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on which card stands out the most, which card will be the biggest, and much more. Additionally, listener topics include Khamzat Chimaev's future should he defeat Paulo Costa at UFC 294 in October, Michael Chandler potentially waiting for Conor McGregor, Dana White's Contender Series card this week, Sean O'Malley vs. Marlon Vera, the UFC reportedly heading to China in December, Rob Font vs. Deiveson Figueiredo, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster,

the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. It's Thursday, September 28th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter speech, you can hear the show at its entirety,

shortly thereafter on the NBA Fighting Podcasting Network. Hello again, my friends. I am Mike Hack, welcome back to the show. A lot going on in the news cycle. We've discussed a lot of it on Tuesday show. A ton of fights were made and announced by UFC President Dana White. We've had a lot of other things happen since we last spoke. France Sagano had an open workout ahead of the Tyson Fury fight.

We have Canelo versus Charles. coming up this weekend. We have one championship coming up this weekend. UFC Vegas 79 and Bellator 299. Johnny Eblen retaining his middleweight title.

A lot going on. So this is, I mean, look, this isn't going to be a free-for-all Friday type show, but there's really no, like, headlining, lean in, like lead in here, I guess. So I'm just going to turn it over

to you guys and we'll get after this thing as best as we can. So we will begin with Four Corner Sports. Go ahead, sir. Hey, Mike. So I see that, what is it, U.S.C. China looks like it's official, if I'm not mistaken, for December 9th. And there's rumors about Peodor Yan versus Song Yadong. If that's going to be the main event, do you feel like the UFC is dropping the ball once again when they have a layup with Zhang Wei Li?

and if they can't make that fight, you think it's because of the fact that Zhang isn't ready or is it just because of the fact that it could be another factor that's along with that. Yeah, because I saw there was a lot of rumblings about Songy, Dong, and Peter Yom possibly being the main event for December 9th, but nothing is official, but I just hearing a lot of rumblings.

Thank you, sir. So, yeah, apparently December 9th is going to be in China. I saw the reports about Jan versus Song. Of course, when you see reports like that, you want to reach out and figure out if there's any legs to that. I will say this, after Tuesday show, because I did get a few questions about it, I did reach out to somebody who would know the answer to this question. and I asked straight up, is this a thing? And I was told no. And then the report came out that got a lot of legs.

And I asked again, has anything changed in the last seven or eight hours since I last bothered you? And the response I got was no, it's not happening. Now, that doesn't mean that they can't come together, but from what I understand it was discussed it has been talked about but as of Tuesday night when that report came out

there it wasn't happening so I don't know if something will change I don't know if more money will be offered I don't know if there's sort of a desperation to try to get this fight done but as of Tuesday night

night when I last spoke with somebody after the report came out, someone who would know this, I was told it's not happening. So again, don't know for sure. On the other side, why go to China if you're not going to do that fight? Like, why go all the way over there if you're not going to do it? Now, could they have paid the UFC to come? Could there be something to that? Could they paid him a bunch of money? Please do a card on this date? It's possible. But you would think that if you're going to go all the way over there, especially a week before your most loaded up pay-per-view on paper, that you will want to bring something really big there.

I'm not saying computer yom versus Song you don't be an important fight, but you have to feel it's kind of a letdown, right? Once Shanghai was the rumblings were out there, you immediately assumed, all right, we're going to get this title fight, but maybe not. But we also have to understand that Zhang is not the most active fighter in the world. She doesn't fight like every three months. And she just fought.

Like she literally just fought a month ago. And went a full five rounds with a super tough, durable fighter. And she won in dominant fashion, but she did go 25 minutes. So maybe she's just not ready. But I kind of feel like why are we going there if we're not going to do that fight? unless they just feel like it's just bigger business doing on pay-per-view, I don't know. But yeah, it's a weird one. As of now, Jan Song, there's nothing to that.

I'm not saying there's nothing to it because there have been conversations. But to say that fight is done or targeted or in the works at this time, not accurate from all sides, I will say. So who knows? Maybe something will change this week. maybe we'll get a Dana White screaming announcements of some sort saying that it's happening and look has Dana gone on one of those screaming sessions and announced fights that are done?

Yes, he has. So, and do we know why he does that? I think we know why. When fights are maybe just short of the red zone before being official, you make the announcement, kind of put the pressure on, and you're just like oh i guess guess it's out there now so but yeah that's the latest on that

from what i was told on tuesday man of my word i said i would ask and that's the response and then when the report came out i asked again and that's the response i got uh daniel go ahead hey mike heck of a morning um just want to keep it quick i mean no ufc fights obviously talked about for saturday but just wanted to highlight that contender series card i mean what a freaking uh I mean, what a freaking couple of fights there that we had. And then obviously just the ending that we had, too. I mean, the start also, I mean, geez, besides one fight, I mean, this has to probably be the best contender series episode I've ever seen.

So just your thoughts on the episode, if you think any of those people are going to be any standout fighters too. Thanks, Mike. Yeah, I mean, it was, they've been cooking with gas lately. Last week wasn't great. Two weeks ago was really good. This one was ridiculous. I think you have to look at a guy like Vinicius Oliver. be like, Jesus Christ, this guy could

do some damage at 135. I mean, 135 is such a crazy division. That knocko was nasty. That was a nasty, nasty, nasty knocko. The Carcate, Judy's fight was ridiculous. The Silva Pacheco fight was ridiculous.

Danny Barlow looked really good in his fight. And he was a really good, it was a really good episode. We had two big finishes and two incredible fights. And then we had a, heavyweighty heavyweight fight that ended via disqualification that wasn't the greatest fight of all time so pretty good show pretty good show and this is what you could expect from the contender series for the most part my issues with the contender series is not the quality

of fights because you almost can't fight the way you typically fight on that show you have to kind of fight outside of your abilities because it's not just about winning it's about impressing Dana and if you catch him on a bad night, if you don't have an exciting win, you're not getting a contract. But if you catch him on a night where things are going well business-wise or they have big things happening and Dana won a lot of money at the casino or something

and he's starting to giving contracts to fighters. Look, Dana gave out a contract this year to a fighter who won, in his opinion, the worst fight in the history of the contender series. That's a good night. And then there are certain nights, Josephine Knudsen, for example, was one of the more well-rounded fighters

that competed on the contender series this season and did not get a contract. So, I mean, she eventually got signed anyways, but I don't know. It's just a weird show, but man, these last two of the last three episodes have been really, really good. But, yeah, I think Vanishezsche's Oliver is a friggin problem, man. That guy's real good.

Let's go to Eric. What's up, Eric? What's up, ma'am? The fight this weekend, but the contest was shit. All the fights were matching. Yeah, that's it. Thanks, guys. Wait, what was this?

The contendious series on Tuesday. Yeah, that was good. Yeah, it was good. Yeah, really good episode. Really good episode. That's what that show can produce. Dylan, go ahead. I just had a quick question, like, when it came to, like,

contract negotiations and stuff, I guess, if you knew the answer. When people say that they're like, like for Michael Chandler, for instance, like he's waiting on the big money fight or like, is it guaranteed that if you fight Connor that you're going to get your contract negotiated because like they have deals already. So it's like, I guess that's it. Is it just a guarantee that if you're going to fight Connor, you're going to make more money? Like, I don't know. That's it.

Thank you. yeah because if you're going to fight connor you're getting a pay-per-view main event and if you get a pay-per-view main event then you get pay-per-view points and Connor fighting anybody does a million so yeah you're getting i don't know like the exact numbers like i don't know like how it all works out but you'd have like even if you got like a dollar off of a pay-per-view buy and i don't think it's that i think it's probably way more than that in the end. But if you got a dollar for every pay-per-view that's sold, and that's like not much considering.

It's $79.99 plus taxes for the pay-view. But if a fighter each got a dollar for every pay-per-view sold and they sold a million-five, then you're getting a million-five on top of what you're getting anyways.

So, yeah, I think main event fights on pay-per-views, you just get a little bit more money. It's like just fighting for the belts, you get a little bit more money. Fighting in a main event, you just get more money, whether it's fighting,

or a pay-per-view, and then with the pay-per-view, you get the points on top of it. So, yeah, you fight Connor in a pay-per-view event, you're making much more money. Because Connor, whether you love him or hate him, the dude sells a mill. He's Mr. Moneyman. He's part of the third biggest fight in the history of combat pay-per-view, the fight with Habib Mabagam-Madha-Madha. so he's actually Connor is two Connor holds two of the top three

pay per views the Floyd fight and the Habib fight so yeah you fight Connor you make a shitload more money because people are willing to drop 80 bucks on it and you're going to get a piece of that pie so yeah Chandler's making them like millions of dollars if it's Connor McGregor for sure

uh Viking hello my friend how are you Viking are you there? You're muted. There we go. Hi Mike. Hi buddy, how are you? I'm not good. I just want to ask you about the UFC 294.

Who is the biggest draw for the UFC 294? Arms at Islam or Chats. Thanks a lot, Mike. Have a good day. who's the biggest draw depends on how you look at it if we're talking about selling tickets and put butts in the seats for this card in Abu Dhabi it's Islam for sure

if you're comparing it just with those two guys if we're talking like all out who's gonna which fighter of those two is going to generate more pay-per-viewbys it's probably Charles Olivera I mean, did you see the reaction he got in freaking Canada? I mean, that guy, he was the main event. Like, I know Amanda Nunes, Rini Aldana was, you know, on paper the main event.

It was a title fight, but everybody bought that car to see Charles. People bought tickets to see Charles. Charles was a star. I don't think Charles is like a tier one star, but Charles is a, Charles is a star. He's a star. people want to see what this guy's going to do. However, I think the biggest draw on this whole card is Hamzaa Tchamayev. I think everybody is interested to see what he's going to do.

And I think by the time we get to October 21st, yes, people are going to be talking about the main event, but everybody's going to be talking about Hamzaa Chamaa versus Paul Costa. Like that is the fight that is going to steal the headlines. That's, it's what Patty Pimble, Jared Gordon was, for UFC 282, even though that car just took a million hits, this is what this fight's going to steal the show.

It's going to steal all the headlines. It's what everyone's going to be looking forward to. It's what everyone's going to be talking about. Because, I mean, we just got this made event a year ago in the same building. And we saw what happened. Now, could Charles do something different? Sure. But I think most people feel like we're just going to get the same fight again.

Maybe Charles is a little bit better, and learn to learn some lessons, but this is the Hamzaa Shamaif show by the time we get talked to over 21st, in my opinion. So looking forward to it. Brian, go ahead. Hey, Mike, how you doing? A pretty simple question here. Out of the last three pay-per-views of the year, how are you ranking those, just overall card? And then the main events, I feel like MSG is great, but it's getting a little carried, top-heavy.

Just wanted to get your opinions on the last three, because I feel like these are, kind of like the final three big pay-per-views of these. year and they're all usually pretty massive so just want to get your opinion thanks mike uh i think it's pretty easy uh i don't know like in terms of like which card i'm lining up to watch it's backwards to forwards it's 296 295 294 but which card do i think will be the biggest of the the biggest one two ninety five is going to be the biggest one i mean it's it's not even going to be close. As good as $296 is on paper as an entire card. $2.95

is just going to do bonkers. It's going to do bonkers. All the content for $2.95 is going to do better than anything else we do. The watch party numbers will do better than for $2.95 than anything else we do. But $296 is the better card. That main card alone

is insane. And $295 is good, and $294 is pretty good. $294 is pretty good. But if you compare $294 to like past Abu Dhabi cards, it's not as good? It's still good, but it's not the same. It's like it's missing a second title fight.

I mean, let me just, uh, let me just pull up last year's real quick. UFC 280. UFC 280. We had Mockachev Olivera. We had Sterling Dillishaw. We had Sean O'Malley, Peter Jan. We had Benile Darius, Batush, Batush, Gamrott.

We had Manon Fioro, Caitlin Chukagan. And then the featured prelim was Bilal Muhammad versus Sean Brady. That's pretty damn good. That's pretty damn good. 294, we have Mokachev Oliver 2, Costa Shamiyaf, Tim Elliott, Mohameda, Mohameda, Iqqqqq, Iqarov, Iqarov, Magamette Ankleyef Johnny Walker. Like good solid.

I would assume that's what the main card's going to be. That's a pretty solid main card. Outside of the top two fights on a ton of star power, Maheif could be a star down the road, but he's not yet. I mean, they're all good. They're all good in their own ways. But to me, if it's like, Mike, you can only watch two of these. It's 296 and 295.

But 294s, going to be real good too. So what I like about 294 and it gets extra points is that it's early day in May and you got to love that. 2 p.m. Eastern main card. I already booked my flight for the watch party. I'm very excited about that. Leave it 6 a.m. Land.

Get ready. Check into the hotel. Take a shower. Head on over to the studio and write into fights. It's a beautiful thing. Absolutely beautiful. But I think we're going to be a little bit spoiled for sure for the rest of the era as far as paper reviews go. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen.

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Hi, man. I want to ask you about like 295 and Co-Manumaneman, you know. That's my favorite fight of the year, Benerine and Deerie. Do you think that winner of that fights probably fights Adesania next year? I think Adesania fights Strict Land in the V-March? Or what do you see happening with Adesania? Because I think Perra in our trilogy would be pretty fun if he moved up, you know? And also, he's been at 205 before.

They don't go his way, but maybe if Perrault wins the belt, he could go up again. And it's a huge fight, you know? What do you think? Yeah, I don't think so. I mean, unless like Pereira just gets over so big and he's like, I'm not fighting anybody else. But you have to think Jamal Hill is going to get the first crack and he should 100%. So, and honestly, I want to see that fight.

I want to see Jamal Hill against either of those two guys. Because I just, it's more on the Jamal side. I just, I need to know if he is, if he's just a good, like a really good fighter or if he's a great fighter. And I feel like he might be great, but I just don't know. And I think we'll get answers if he fights Pereira or Yuri next, whoever wins that fight. As far as Izzy goes, Izzy's obviously dealing with a lot of stuff right now. We saw the reports, and it's basically all been confirmed at this point. His team's already responded about it.

You know, Izzy with the drunk driving charge and not here to shit on him or anything like that. but obviously he was dealing with all that heading into this fight. I don't think, I'm not saying it's the reason Sean Strickland won because I think Sean Strickland on that night beats Israel Adasanya on that night, whether those charges were hanging over his head or not. But makes you somewhat view things a tiny bit different. I think for him, he just needs to just chill out a little bit.

just chill out take a break and you know let this middleweight division play out see what happens with Sean is he going to fight dDP is he going to fight

the shima of costa winner I think we have to let Sean fight somebody else first and I think Izzy when he comes back will fight for the middleweight title against whoever the champion is by the time he's ready to come back but

now if Izzy comes back and wins the belt, Pereira beats Pajasca, Pereira beats Jamal Hill. If it's up, if it's Pereira's choices, like, do you want to fight Magabed Ancola Goliath or Johnny Walker, or do you want to go fight Israel-A-Sahna in a champion versus champion fight? I think he'll lean towards Israel-A-Sanja every single time. So that fight could happen, but I think it's to say if Pereira wins, he's just going to fight Izzy.

I don't think that's the case. I don't think that's the case. it's kind of a hard like I understand there's a history there but if this he's like I'm going to take a year off and go up to 205 and just bulk up that's a different story but it doesn't seem like he's

going to do that so my guess is he fights for the middleweight title in his next fight but I don't think they do the rematch with Strickland right away if that makes sense. Ebswell I have a how you doing? Yeah so um good man yeah so I just wanted to tell us two things

one, the fight with Imov and Imran I just want to discuss a little bit about that. How do you, that's a very interesting matchup, how do you see that fight playing out and based of the skills and strength and weakness of both fighters,

whose upside do you reckon will flourish and flesh out better during that fight? And I would say regarding particularly Imov, like if he were to lose, let's say if he loses to Ikram, does that kind of of kill any momentum of the fact that he, his hype as a top-tier fighter in the middleweight

division diminishes based on the fact that, you know, this, he's kind of had a streak of if he fights the last few, last three, two, three fights and based on the fact, like, you know, losing to some like Ikram, yes, he's a good fighter. I'm not saying that Imov isn't a good fight, but if you're losing to fighters like that, wouldn't it would you reckon that it it just shows that he might he might be at best like

a Marvin Vittori type of fighter down the line who will win a lot of fights but he might also lose some important fights to maybe really good fighters kind of in the same way Vittori has done and um the other thing I want to discuss is the Pantoja and Brandon fight I'm also really interested in

how that fight's playing I just want to let you get your thoughts on um how do you see that fight playing basically and what are some of the key um parts of that fight they're looking forward to with that that that's all i have have a great thing man so i mean flyway title fight rules the first fight was was really good pantosia got it done i probably lean pantosia again but i have questions because i think i think a it's it's hard to explain brand broi by because the dude is an absolute nut when that cage door locks. And I know from conversation I've had with him, he's trying to control that in some way.

Like, he's told me stories about how Mark Montoya makes him just walk a circle around the gym. Like a bunch of times. And as he gets towards the end of the walk, Brandon was telling me that Mark would see him try to, like, get there quicker. And Mark's like, what are you doing? Why are you speeding up? I said the same pace the entire time.

So he's working mentally on trying to slow that down a little bit, but you still need sort of that chaotic Brennan Royval factor. But we saw the full-on chaotic Roy Val in that first fight, and Pantosha caught him and beat him. And that fight taught Brandon Royval a lot. It definitely taught him a lot. So the fight's going to be incredible. I do lead in Pantosia.

I think he's just kind of on one right now. but would it shock me at Brenner-Roy-Val won the title? No, it wouldn't. It wouldn't. That's going to be one of the best fights left on the calendar. I have a feeling that when we put out fight of the year, contenders, at worst, that is going to be an honorable mention,

but I get a feeling we're going to, that one's going to end up in the top five somewhere. I really do. And if that's the case, we got Pantotone. was going to be on that list twice, which is frigid insane. The Alaskarov-Imova fight, I mean, I'm picking Al-Skharov to win that fight. Pretty confidently, too. And it's no disrespect to Nasredi and Imovov. This is everything to do with how good Iqraimov is.

I mean, they were going to, they were going to feed him to, they were going to feed him Paulo Costa. Remember that? That fight was supposed to happen at UFC 291, and I, I, I, came on the show and I was like, there's no way Paul Koss got to fight this guy. There's just no friggin way he's got to fight this guy. Because what's the point? It's pretty obvious to the non-casual eye what they were trying to do here.

Paulo's being a pain in the ass with the contract negotiation. So we're going to feed him to this dude that nobody really knows. That's probably just going to truck him all over that cage. At least that's how the UFC viewed it. Ikramalaskera being on the contender series is just one of the most ridiculous things. I've ever seen because that dude was ready for the UFC like four years before that. And they still made him fight on the contender series. And he killed a poor dude.

So, yeah, I don't think there's any shame losing to Icram Alaskaroff. This guy is going to probably fight for the middleweight title in the next two to three years because he's just so talented. He's so good. And I think it's going to be a really bad night for Nasardine. and there's nothing wrong with being he's going to be a perennial top 10 top 15 guy and there's nothing wrong with that but middleweight today compared to what was like when the pandemic started it's a whole different division now with all these guys there's so many contenders there's so

many up-and-comers so many guys to get excited about alaskaroff is one of them i mean sean strickland is the friggin champion of the world it's just a totally different division now but man ikram a problem. The dude is a problem. And I think he's going to, I think he's going to have a breakout performance of the UFC 294 against a pretty damn good fighter in Nasradine Mavov. And being a top 10, 15 fighter in any division, he could still say, hey, look, I'm like the 14th best middleweight in the world. It's a pretty damn good thing to be able to say to people. He's just probably not going to win the title. Paul, go ahead. Mike, after listening to Logan Paul yesterday on the MMA hour, talking seriously about how you'd be so

down or like actually down to fight Mike Perry if like the whole thing doesn't work out. Like I was laughing out loud hearing that. Like that would be seriously the most brave thing that a Paul brother has done if he got in there with Mike Perry. Like I'd have a lot of respect for it. Another thing I just thought of was a couple weeks ago on one of your shows when you guys were talking about the best player coach in MMA right now. Someone said, like, oh, if only there was a show where you could draft the best player

coaches. And I was like, like, you guys are kind of internet kind of making a show about that. And I was like, I was thinking, that would be just so genius having like a draft kind of show MMA related. Like drafts are really popular right now amongst different kind of like sports podcast. I think that shit would be awesome with MMA. But yeah, what's the progress? on that. That's all I got.

I have a hell of a day, man. Yes. Yeah, the Logapal thing was a good interview. I think he would fight Mike Perry. I think why not? He'd make a good bag of money. Mike has, Mike Perry is a guy

who's really changed the way people view him over the last few years. It's pretty wild, man. It's pretty wild. He's gotten himself over in a big way. And you know, some, he's done some things he regrets and done some things that some people can't forgive him for, and that's totally fine.

But I think we're seeing a softer side of Mike Perry, a more, I don't know, likable side of him, I guess. And I think Mike's a pretty big star right now. Like, I think it's a pretty big star. I think people would be, like, fascinated by that fight. I'd be fascinated if Jake Paul fought him. Like, that'd be a fascinating fight. So I think you would do it.

I think at this point with the build and having Logan on the card and everything he's done, like if he doesn't fight Dylan Dennis and he can fight Mike Perry, he's still going to make a whole bunch of money. And if he loses, who gives a shit? Like it's, Logan's not like Jake. Like Logan just does this from time to time. He even said it himself. Like, it's more for like, for the businesses.

It's more for prime and all that. dude is making bank in WWE and doing all the stuff. Like, he's fine. If he loses to Mike Perry, who cares? Loses to Dylan Dan, it's pretty bad. If he loses to Mike Perry, people just be like, damn, he went in there and, like, went hammering tongs with Mike Perry. That's pretty brave.

So, yeah, that'd be pretty interesting. I don't know what the hell is going to happen with this fight. No clue. But I know Mike is getting ready, and he's preparing himself just in case he gets the hot test. and they call him in. But I kind of feel like Dylan's going to fight. But now that you're

kind of dangling this possible Mike Perry fight in there, I kind of hope Dylan doesn't fight because I'd rather see Mike Perry versus Logan Paul for being honest. As far as the other thing, if only there was a show, stay tuned. Stay tuned.

I can't really reveal much, but But there's going to be a lot of new things coming. There's going to be some new stuff coming. And I am very excited. Very excited. There's one thing in particular that I've been pushing for a while. I've been pushing probably since I got to MMA fighting over, being honest.

But if we have gotten the green light to go ahead and do it, it is going to be an undertaking. to say the least, but I don't know if I've ever been more excited about a project in my life. So stay tuned for that. We have a lot of cool things coming. There's going to be some cool stuff coming next year, too, that I'm really excited about. But, yeah, get ready for some new, new. And I think you're not that anything's like really going away. It's just going to be some different stuff.

It's a very different stuff. and I cannot be more excited about it. Dre knows MMA. Go ahead. Dre. Just got to unmute. Drey knows MMA. Once, twice.

Yeah, I'm here. Oh, shit. Come back in, Dreos. Ah. It was like right when the thumb was going down. It was right when the thumb was going down. I'm like, no. And considering, you know, Sugar Shons now, I was already going to my question before.

So Sugar Sean's a champ now. We all know he lost a Cheeto. Even though he's admitted it. I personally think, and I'm a biased. I'm of Ecuadorian descent. You know, I think he's been given a raw deal a little bit because, you know, at first, he was fed to the wolves back in the day, and he beats these guys, you know, former camps. He not only beats him in a devastating fashion, anybody else would have gone through that tear.

He would have got a title shot, even back then. then he even beat song i think that was a controversial one so you know he and he was a great you know fight against uh hose which wasn't like uh the worst loss so you know and he showed and he's always been there when they ask him you know in most cases historically dana's you know given those guys a title shop but it feels like you know here just because he's not the most exciting guy or because he's from a small market we're not giving him the love that he deserves you know beat this guy, fair and square. The guy in the cage, he broke his leg

and, you know, or whatever, and I want to see him fight again. I think he deserves it. I think it should be in Ecuador in Quito at 10,000 feet, see where Sugar's cardio's at, because we know Cheetos's cardio. And let's do it. What do you think?

So, I don't think they'll do it in Ecuador. It would be cool, but I don't think they're going to do in Ecuador. but dude i mean look i've been saying this for since the sterling fight was announced and remember chito is supposed to fight henry sehudo on this card and then sehudo got injured

and they put in page it we're like oh what's what's chito going to do and i'm like and i said the whole time like he has to fight on this card he has to fight somebody anybody i don't care who it is he needs to fight on this card because if for some reason Sean O'Malley wins the title and Cheeto Vera on that same card gets a win in any way he's going to get the title shot.

This is, I don't know if, like, I don't know if I agree with you in the sense of, well, Cheeto's not getting enough, like, love and respect here. I don't think that's true at all. I think most people are like, give this dude the shot.

And I feel like this is the fight we're going to get. it's the biggest fight you can make in this division right now. Cheeto is a very popular fighter. He's not a star like Sean O'Malley is, but he's very, very popular. He's getting a very large fan base. That flight is going to do bonkers. It's going to do really good numbers,

even as its own freestanding main event. That's a main event. That is not a co-made event. That is a main event fight. And it's going to be huge when it happens. Sean O'Malley kind of like teased some people saying December Cheeto don't give two shits he'll fight tomorrow if you ask him to But Chita's been on a really good run man got the O'Malley win

He lost to Jose Aldo clear cut Then he got a nice one over Davy Grand He knocked O' Frankie Edgar Beat the hell out of Rob Fonts Not a lot of people could say that knocks out Dominic Cruz He got kind of trucked by Corey Sanagan and if we're being honest.

I mean, the fact that I still have to read that as a split decision is just ridiculous to me. But then he came back with a good performance against Pedro. Look, there is no meritocracy anymore. Okay, this is the UFC. This is a business. This is about the biggest fights at the right time. And this is the biggest fight at the right time. It sucks for Al Jermaine Sterling.

It sucks for Marab de Wallis Philly. But that's it, man. Like, this is the fight. If Al Jermaine Sterling had beat. Sean O'Malley, we're not having this conversation right now. We're not talking about Cheeto Verra fighting Aljo for the belt. We're not, I don't even think we're talking about Cheeto fighting for the vacant title at this point. But the stars aligned here and I think if they make that fight, I think a lot of people are going to pick Cheeto to win that fight.

So, yeah, it's just a matter of when. Maybe February, maybe March, we get it. But man, I think a lot of people are looking for that fight. And a lot of people are saying Cheeto should just get it. meritocracy be damned. That's what I've been saying. Just do this fight. Now's the time.

You've been waiting for the perfect time to run this back. Now you have it. You have to do it. You've got to do it now. You can't be like, well, it'll be a bigger fight if Cheeto wins another one or Sean defends against Mrab. Like, why would you do that? Do it now.

Just do it now. CV, go ahead. Yo, my heck of a morning. No really big headlines to discuss Because I know we talked about it on Tuesday But I want to talk about the best division Lightweight Obviously we got the big main event

For Abu Dhabi Title fight and we got Grant Dawson and Bobby Green Next Saturday And I know you're higher on Armand Syracan But I just want to discuss Like who do you think Do you have any prospects you're interested in For lightweight

maybe in the top 15, top 20, top 25, like, you know, who could eventually emerge for next year. And also, I want to know your thoughts about Dana, like, expanding the rankings to, like, top 20, top 25 now. What do you think about that? Isn't that a bit convoluted? I don't know. Maybe, like, my prediction for that is I think we're going to get more apexe main events now.

since like if you're if you have like 20 beside your name you're technically rank but um yeah what do you think about that thanks uh i could not dislike anything any more than that there's no need there's no need to to expand it especially in the ufc because we all know that these rankings don't mean anything and i just talked about it with marl and vera like in a just world in a bellator m mhmah world, Cheeto Vera is not fighting for the belt in his next fight. But in the UFC world, he is fighting for the belt in his next fight. The rankings don't mean anything. You don't even need them.

It's just a shiny thing to put against somebody's name. And you're probably right. That's probably the reason why is so they could be like, we could justify some of these just horrendous apex made events that we're getting. Just justifying them in a different way. but yeah, I hate it. I hate it. I think the UFC rankings,

and I think most people would agree, they're kind of trash anyways, but don't worry. Just follow along with the NBA fighting global rankings, the only rankings that matter. Top 15 there, the only ones there are top 20 or the pound for pound ones. Don't you worry about it.

55. God, there's so many. I think Ben-Wassantini is going to be a guy that I think a lot of people are going to have their eyes. on heading into 2024. Big fight with Matt Frivola coming up at MSG. Perfect matchmaking. This is exactly the fight that needed to be made.

So very excited there. I know Hanata Moikano is not a prospect, but I am curious to see what he's going to do next. Because it's been a hot minute since he's fought, since the Brad Riddell fight. He was supposed to fight Arm in Surukin. Elvis Brenner is a guy that I like a lot. That fight with Gurab Kutatilat-Latze was so good.

good, so good. It doesn't get mentioned enough. So he's a guy I really like. I mean, the bomb themes are good. Well, Ishmael. I know he lost a BSD, but I mean, who doesn't really lose to BSD right now? Nazim Satakoff's fun.

I mean, there's a lot, man. Nerul Aliev is good. I wonder where the hell Mike Davis is. That's a question that I continuously have. Daniel Zaluber is a guy I'm just super high on. He might be the guy I'm looking forward to watching the most progress. Bahamandes is good. Manuel Torres is fun.

I mean, dude, there's so many of them. There's so many freaking 55ers, man. Natanzi, I feel like, is coming into his own. but just keeps getting injured. I don't know. There's so many. It's the best division in the sport. It's the best division in the sport.

Miss me with the Bannamweight stuff. Like Bannamweight is great. And even like Ancel Jubilee is fighting at 294. That's like he's a good. He's good too. There's just a lot, man. There's a lot. But Zell Huber is probably at the top of the list for me.

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Hey, what's up, brother? How you doing? Good. How are you? I'm doing pretty well, man. I'm doing pretty well. So, first I'll mention, yeah, I think Benoit sent to me is, I actually, I favor him against Matt from Pola, I think, you know, from Polo is wonderful, but BSD

has just been looking like a friggin freight train lately. But the question that I have for you, good buddy, is do you have any initial thoughts on Rob Fond versus Stiggy Smalls? I think I saw that was confirmed by even May fighting. I'm not

sure. If it wasn't, just forget the question. Otherwise, man, you have a great day. JD, not only was confirmed by anime fighting, was first reported by May fighting on Friday. I love that fight. Fonsman won that fight for a hot minute.

Ever since there were talks about Figgie going to 135, he just continues, he just continued to kind of call Figgi's name. I know there were rumblings, and there were smoke to these rumblings, that the initial plan for Figgie at 135 was going to be Dominic Cruz. There was, there were discussions on that.

There were talks about possibly doing it in November. I don't know what happened to them. When I confirmed the font finos, I was like, huh, this is, this is damn good. Wasn't what I was expecting because I had heard so many rumblings about maybe getting the cruise fight together. But this is a damn good fight. This is a damn good fight. I'm looking forward to it. It's three rounds.

I don't know, man. Like, it's going to be tough to call. I wonder if there's even like betting lines on that one yet. Let me look that up. See if we get any Fon, Figgie betting lines just yet. Because, let's see. Rob Funt, minus 142, the comeback on Figggy Smalls plus 120. It's probably lines perfectly.

Yeah, I love the fight, man. I really do. It's a good test for Figgi. It's a good first fight. Fon looked real good against J. J. J.rionez. He had a tough night against Corey Sanh. the wrestling was just a lot and the thing i think i probably lean i'm probably lean font here

the big thing that i think helps font in this fight in particular is and figgie's not like i think he's not going to be like a terribly small bannam weight he was a fucking huge flyweight so bannam weight's probably like a really good spot for him i do think font all and all is going to be the bigger fighter not by a ton but i do think he's going to be bigger I think Fon's durability is going to be the biggest factor in this fight. I think Fingie's going to be able to land some shots. I think Fon's going to be able to have a lot of success on the feed as well. He's going to be able to mix things up really well.

And Figgi's power that translated so well at 125, I don't think it's going to translate as well at 135, especially with the guy like Rob Fon. I mean, Rob Font got hit as hard as you possibly can get hit by Jose Aldo and Marlon Vera, and they couldn't get him out of there. I just don't know if Figgie can. And I think Figgie's best chance to win this fight is to knock Rob Fawn out. And I don't know if he can.

I don't know if he could do it. Now, could he be slick on the ground and maybe submit Rob Fond? Possibly. But Rob's sneaky good on the ground too. Like, he's pretty well-rounded. Obviously, Corey took advantage of some discrepancies with Rob being on his back and being, you know, in defensive grappling position. But Rob's, again, very tough to get out of there.

So I think he's best chance to win is just to kind of do what Sanhagen did and just take him down a bunch and just kind of lay on them or knock Rob out. And I just think Fon's going to be a little too much. But can't wait for that fight, man. I'm curious where it's going to happen. Curious what the main event is going to be. It's funny enough, we were talking on Tuesday about on to the next one, which I've been saying, like, Blahma'ams just go fight Kamara Hussman. Maybe you do it a main event on this card. Dana White saying

Belal's got a fight booked and then Wonderboy was on the MMA or yesterday and he said yeah I wanted Usman but apparently Usman's got a fight book now I don't know if that's the fight but it would make damn

a lot of sense to me right if Belal's gonna fight anybody Usman's the guy like that's the dude there's nobody else that makes sense for Belal the fight right now so we'll see VBM and I want some more

All right We'll take this and then I got to get out of here Go ahead BBMMA Yeah thanks for other than me again You know we mentioned like easy Probably is going to sit out you know Next couple months and uh Sean likes to be active you know So if if a few weeks

Chimai beats Costa and probably you know Impressive fashion let's say he's minus 400 to do so And he's uh you know Big Star and everything I don't think, you know, Sean is going to wait for Dracos or anybody. You know, I think he's actually going to fight Chimaiv. What should think of their fight in future, Chimae versus Sean?

Because Sean, I think he's going to be active, you know. I don't think the guy likes to wait. So what do you think? If Chimaire wins? Oh, shit, sorry. Yeah, dude, Sean Zerigal will fight Hamsat Shamaif in a heartbeat. That dude ain't going to back down from anything. He's not going to be, this is not going to be the era.

of, well, I'm just going to wait for the big money fight and no, I want to fight this and no, I want to do that. No. And this I know for a fact. Sean is not going to back away from Hamzaa Shamaif. He is not going to be like, nah, I'd rather fight Drickis. No, no, no, no. If they are from Shama if he's going to be like, all right, wet, we'll do it in the parking lot. Fine with me.

That's just how Sean is going to be. I'm not worried about Sean in this hypothetical fight. I'm worried about Hamzat in this hypothetical fight. because Hamza hasn't fought in 13 months the guy is not active he fought twice last year but it's been over a year again

since we've seen him so the worry is not on the Strickland side because if they offered if the UFC said hey Sean fight Hamzat Shamaif tomorrow defend the title against him Sean be like okay I'm in

but can we get If he beats Costa to turn around in three to four months and fight Sean in Vegas or wherever, that's my concern. That's my concern. If I'm trick just, DDP, oh, man, DDP just might be screwed in this whole situation. But because even if Costa wins, like, Sean wants that fight. And that's going to be a big one. So, yeah, we'll see. Hamzot's activity is going to be the biggest piece of this puzzle here.

Because the UFC's not going to wait a year for Sean Strickland to defend the title. So hopefully this is, hopefully Hamzot makes it to October 21st, and Paul makes it October 21st, and they get in there and they have a fight, and then he can turn around and he could be like the active fighter again. Obviously, he's not going to fight like you did when he first got to the UFC, but at least two to three times a year. consistently. I think that's what people want to see. And if that can happen, big things could happen for Hamzaa Chamaia. Panda, go ahead. My man, Mike, thank you for giving me this shot. How are you? Good. I will be quick. I'll be short. And I actually want to hop on to what we were just talking about. Yeah, Hamzaa Shamaia fought twice last year. What was it? Maybe three or four times the first year. I want

to say three the first year he came in. I just feel like if Hamzat does want to become a I don't want to say a title contender because he probably already is, but one of these guys who do attract pay-per-view points, I got to assume he's going to have to fight more. And I think it has a lot to do. But not only the weight, but his health, because if I'm not mistaken, didn't he have a health scare that almost took him out for, I don't know if it was forever, but it was definitely for a while?

And yeah, so my question to you is, what does happen if Humzat is a one fight a year, guy with the belt. Does that scare 180? The prospects at 180, you know, they're probably shaking in their boots, I'd assume. Thank you, Mike. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be interesting. It's hard to say because we know how the UFC views Shemayev. We saw how they viewed him even after his debut and he was like, I'll fight next week. And then he fought 10 days later and did the damn thing there as well. And then knocked out Jeremy Schardt a couple months later. So, Hamzad is, he's been the biggest mystery in MMA for the last three years since he came in.

No one really knows who he is. And, you know, right when he has momentum, he misses weight by seven and a half pounds against Nate Diaz. And then ends up fighting Kevin Holland and Nate Diaz, much to the chagrin of the UFC, gets to fight Tony Ferguson. He leaves the company with the win to go fight Jake Paul. Like that's the UFC's like worst nightmare. That was their worst nightmare. And now it's been 13 months. Yeah, he did have a health scare.

He talked about it before about he had a really bad case of COVID, like real, real bad. And yeah, I honestly, I think just people want to see what this. They want to see what his ceiling is. Like I think everyone imagines Hamzad and predicted he'll be a champion. I remember when he first came in. after the mere chart knocked out, knockout. People were saying, Jen Michoud was on BTL saying,

like, this guy will be a three division champion. He'll win the welterweight title, win the middleweight title, then go up to 205, win the late heavyweight title. I don't think he'll win the welterweight title because I just don't think physically he can make 170 anymore. I'm stunned he made it ever.

I've told the story a million times. I've stood next to the man. He is a fucking mountain of a human being. I don't know how he made 170 ever. 185 is perfect for him. He's still going to have to cut a bunch of weight. to get to 185, I could see a world

where Homstock could fight at 205. So I think multi-division champion is still in play for him, but again, it's all about the activity. Can he win October 21st and then fight again within the next six months?

If he can, he's getting a fucking title shot. Immediately. He's going to get the next shot at John Strickland. They will push Sean back in order for him to fight Hamzaa Chamaif. But it is risky book.

booking him right now. The UFC has, they want to book them, but they have trepidation too. And it's totally understandable. Will he make it to the fight? Will he make weight? All of this stuff. When he does all of that and he's a part of a card, he's the talk of it. He's the talk of it. So maybe 2024 is the year that Hamzat finally gets to fight for the belt and we'll see if he can get there. I want to see it. There's nothing I want to see more than Hamzat Shamaa fight for a title. I'm so curious by it. I want to see what he can do. I want to see if he's one of the all-time greats. That's what I want to see. Jay, go ahead. Yeah, so I just wanted to say, from what I heard, and I know someone who trains

at All-Stars in Sweden, is, so Hamza was traveled to New York, I believe, in November last year, and then after that, his visa just got completely revoked. So he could not travel to the USA. They tried to book him to have a fight in March. in Lland's book card, but that didn't go through as well. Oh, not July, June in Canada, but he couldn't travel to Canada. But what he's done now is he has got citizenship in the UAE, and the UAE is one of the top ten passports in the world. So there should be no more problems with visa issues.

So in July, he actually managed to travel to London for the first time, if he saw one of his blogs. That was his first time in London. So I believe he has now a UAE passport. there shouldn't be any more visa issues going forward. So hopefully he can turn around pretty quickly. From what I heard, the only places he could fight was Sweden, Dubai, Russia, or Brazil. Brazil, actually, he could have got a visa for Brazil,

but everywhere else it was literally rejected, rejected, rejected. So, yeah, just thought I'd add that one. Thanks, man. Yeah, I honestly, I mean, a lot of us figured there were travel issues to some respect. know when he was on the MA hour, Ariel basically flat out asked him, like, are you able to travel anywhere? And you said, yeah. But no one really knows. But hopefully that's the case, man. Like I said, like it's not, it's just about like Hamzad and the theatrics. It's, is this guy one of the greatest of all time? Because you feel like he can be. You feel like he's

got the skills. He's got the attitude. He's got everything to it. And there's always a quote, with uh that that i go back to it always pops into my head when it comes to situation like this like from a bronx tale the the most disappointing thing is wasted talent and hamzat certainly hasn't wasted it but untapped potential is just a shame and the fact that we i just want to see if he is one of the best ever because he could be i don't get we don't get that feeling about a lot of fighters that come through. We just like, oh, this guy's a fighter and like he's really good. Maybe he's a top 10 guy.

Maybe he could fight for the belt someday. Maybe he could win the belt someday. And we have these conversations. But how many times do we go through and we see a guy like five, six fights in New York's UFC career and we say to ourselves, this guy might be the best to ever do it. Like, that's a unicorn. And it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen.

We've seen guys get hyped up. But I can't remember another fight, maybe Connor at a time, but I don't think anyone really believed that it could be one of the best ever in the history of the sport. But I think with Shemaya, if you have, like that conversation is there. Like, could he be? Could he be that guy? And the fact that we have to wait 13 months for him,

it just stinks as a fan. But again, hopefully the visa issues have worked out. hopefully he could travel and fight anywhere hopefully he could turn around after this cost of fight if he wins and fight Strickland for the belt like quickly thereafter it's got to be a big next year for Hamsat Shemayev

it's got to be a massive year for him who knows maybe next time he fights in Abu Dhabi is the middleweight champion of the world maybe he's made a venting Abu Dhabi next year only time we'll tell my friends all right we are done we will have a BTL 1230

Eastern time and the man who is on the call my best friend Alexander K. Lee will be joining the panel him and Jen Nishu battling it out. We'll recap UFC Vegas 79. We'll talk about the big fight announcements. We'll talk about

Johnny Eblen's big win. We'll talk about Francis and Gano's open workout. We'll talk about Izzy. We'll talk about it all. So we'll see at 1230 Eastern on the YouTube channel. We'll be back here tomorrow at we will have

a show tomorrow I think we're going to go a little bit later I think we're going to start a little later because and normally I don't do this but I'm going to go ahead and say it put that good juju out into the universe I am scheduled to

speak with one half of the made event for UFC 295 the four former heavyweight champion of the world. Steve A. Meachich, tomorrow morning,

right around when we would normally start this program. So when we wrap that interview up, we'll jump up. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.