MMA Fighting - HOAM | Jon Anik Deserves Better, Alex Pereira's Next Move, and More

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

UFC lead commentator Jon Anik is getting a bit fed up with the negative portion of the MMA fanbase, and rightfully so, which has led him to ponder his future as a broadcaster in this space. Quite frankly, Anik deserves much better, and the UFC watching experience would change drastically if he weren't around. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses Anik's comments on his podcast, it being more than OK that he expressed those feelings about the situation, and how this is the new norm for the sport and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Additionally, listener questions include Kayla Harrison's UFC signing, if any other PFL or Bellator fighters will follow suit, Alex Pereira's next move — whether he would face Magomed Ankalaev or Jamahal Hill next — 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 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-by 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. Why do you save and invest? Is it so you can spend hours every day glued to the stock ticker, worrying about every movement up or down? Or is it so that you can live a better, happier, more fulfilling life? Betterman wants to help people invest to live, not live to invest. With features like automated saving, global diversification, and tax smart tools, Betterment is full of ideas to help you reach your goals without having to babysit your investments.

They help their customers invest so that they can go live their lives. Go to betterment.com to learn more. Investing involves risk, performance not guaranteed. Podcast Network. 26, 2020. You hear the show at its entirety on the NBA Fighting Podcast Network, but we're all wrapped and packed here. Thanks for joining everybody.

I am Mike Heck. I hope you're all having a wonderful week, a fantastic Friday. And now we're here in the show. A little bit of a later start, but that's just how the schedule kind of worked out today. Got to get a nice workout in. I actually jumped into freezing cold ocean this morning. My little cold plunge for the day. I haven't done that in many, many, many years.

And I feel like a million bucks right now. I'm ready to go. So it is Friday, and you know what that means on this program? It's free for all Friday. We can talk about the big news going on in the world of mixed martial arts. We can talk about whatever the hell you want. So let's get after this thing. And we will start with Joe.

Joe, good morning. Or good afternoon, wherever you're at right now. morning Mike how you doing good are you man it's been a while yeah I've been listening them periodically but I haven't been able to come up but I wasn't I wasn't listening earlier in the week I was wondering if you I'm sure you talked about Strickland versus DDP and how they scored that one who I mean obviously who do you think you got who do you think won that and then also what do you think's next do they do a rematch

do they move on to Izzy I know we called out Izzy but what do you think makes the most sense thanks man appreciate it yeah my noise oh sorry you like were kind of bouncing in and out there

I don't know if you had anything more to add so watching it live I scored it for DDP 4847 I scored it the way most people did I think Strickland the first Strickland the fifth DDP 2 3 and

but it is an incredibly close fight. Rewatched it, felt like I needed to. It's a fascinating rewatch. And in the rewatch, still scored a 48, 47 for DDP. But I have the same feeling I had Saturday night or I guess super early Sunday morning. If you scored it for Strickland, like, I'll listen to you. It was that close of a fight. And I said this a few times.

it reminded me, even in the fallout in the aftermath, it reminds me a lot of the rematch between Volkadovsky and Holloway. And they had that fight on Fight Island. Super-duper close. A lot of people thought Holloway won that fight. And those people thought the people who scored it for Volkadovsky were absolute assholes. And it's the same kind of thing here. John Strickland is very popular right now.

And, you know, we've heard John Anick talk about it. I ranted about that yesterday. But, yeah, it is what it is. It was a super close fight. DDP, in my opinion, won. Did he win by a lot? No. Did he win by a nose?

Yeah. Two and three were very, very close. I thought DDP did just enough to win those rounds. Barely. but 1-4 and 5 were super clear. Strictly clearly 1-1, clearly 1-5, and DDP clearly 1-4. So as far as what's next, do I want to see DDP and Strickland run it back? Yes.

Do I want to see it right now? No. I don't want to see it right now. Izzy's the way to go. If they could do it for 300, perfect. I don't think you can miss this opportunity again. And if you can't get both guys for 300, then you wait. This has to be the fight.

You messed it up once, and now it's super interesting with DDP as champion, is he chasing him? So I think you have to do it. I think you have to do it. Dream scenario, and I mentioned this as well, UFC 300, main event, DDP versus Izzy. You do the other two title fights, and then on that same card, you do Sean Strickland versus Hamzaa Chimae. Boom. And the winner of that fight? faces the winner of whoever wins the title at UFC 300.

That's your answer. But, you know, if they ran it back with Strickland, would I be, like, upset about it? No, but when you lose a belt, even if it's super close and you don't have, like, a super long title reign, just go win a fight. Go win a fight, and you're right back in.

And who's going to complain about Strickland Shemayev? Nobody. Viking. Hello? out which venue is best for easy versus dracus duplicacy UFC Africa or UFC 300 in terms of business and growth and the other thing I want to talk about Dana White said that our Indian brother-in-law Alexander Cayley invaded Sean Strickland by asking those questions and I'm kind of agree with that. But Josh Thompson, according to Josh Thompson, the questions was asked to Sean Strickland just because of click waits.

So what were your thoughts on that? Thank you. Sorry, I hear a lot of stuff in the back of. What did Josh Thompson say? I didn't hear that part. George Thompson said that Alexander Cayley asked those questions to Sean Strickland just because of league wates. All right.

Well, I was hoping I wouldn't have to go off on Mr. Thompson, but I'm going to have to, I think. I'll start with the venue thing. It doesn't matter, honestly. I mean Africa would be huge. I still feel like there's it's going to take some time to get there. So I would say like right now in the best interest of 300

and the best interest of getting this fight done, it's probably 300. And unless they could get to Africa in like the summer, then maybe you wait. But if you could do it at 300, I think you have to do it at 300. I don't really want to talk about the AK thing anymore, but I'll talk about this.

and I might be repeating myself a little bit. One, I don't agree at all that AK was baiting Sean. I understand the time and the place thing. I get it. I understand that people are upset about it. I get it. It's fine. If you have a problem with the question, cool.

Like, it is what it is. But, I mean, he's not bait. Like, when you ask a question, like, you're not baiting people. And again, as Ariel pointed out on the M.A. hour, I believe on Monday. and I've talked about this as well, there was a time, even when I was a fan, where this is what happened at Media Day.

And you have to remember as well, for the last three or so years, Media Day was totally different. It was a totally different time. It wasn't, you didn't have fighters coming up and doing scrums. You got one-on-ones with these fighters at Media Day. So you have the chance,

to ask those questions one-on-one. We also used to live in a world where if you said things like that, like if Sean Strickland said what he said at that media day in like 2014, he would have been fined. 1,000 percent, he probably would have been forced to apologize as well. The other thing I will say about this situation is something else I've talked about and something also that Ariel mentioned on Monday. The UFC apologized to AK after the fact,

so they didn't seem to really have a problem with the question. They understood. And did you hear Sean mention anything about that ever again through Fight Week? And there's a reason for that. There's a reason for that. Conversations were had from what I was told. And Sean was still very shod, but he was on his best behavior. The Josh Thompson thing is ridiculous because I've already ran this thing down.

How is it clickbait? Tell me, for the love of Christ, how AK asked those questions and we turn it into clickbait. Please show me. Give me receipts for the love of God. I would love to see them. Did we write an article about it? Did we even post the clip on our social media anywhere?

Tell, like if we did, please show me, because I can assure you, I didn't see it. So to say that it's clickbait is fucking stupid because we didn't even do anything with it. So, I mean, that whole argument is fucking dumb. Just go to the website. The only thing we had on there as far as anything about this back and forth was one of the websites within our corporate structure wrote about it. And it got put on the website.

We didn't write it. We didn't do anything with it. It was the out sports article that just ended up on an MA fight. We didn't write a thing about it. We didn't post on social media. We didn't do shit. We didn't do shit. All we did with it was Ariel reacted to it.

I reacted to it. And then on BTL, AK talked about it. That's it. And we didn't even tell people that AK was going to react to it. He just came on the show and I asked him if he would and he did it. So the clickbait argument fucking missed me with that. Please, because it ain't, it's not true. Maybe other sites took it.

I know other sites posted it to their social media. They chose to do that. We did not. So to say we sent A.K. In there to get us clicks is fucking dumb because it didn't happen. We didn't do anything with it. So look, like I said before, you guys could feel however you feel about it. If you think AK baited them, fine.

I'm not going to sit there and call you an asshole. I'm not going to tell people. I'm not going to call your boss or hit them up on social media and tell them to fire you like everybody did with AK. Like, I'm not going to do that. Like, that's your opinion. And that's the beauty of the world. allowed to have an opinion. You're allowed to. And if you take what Sean said personally, if you had a, if it rubbed you the wrong way, then fine. If you loved what Sean said,

fucking fantastic. I don't care. I don't care. I, the one thing, and I mentioned this before, that the Sean Strickland Media Day did for me is that it did two things for me. One, it showed me that this sport will never be as big as the NFL or the NBA and the NHL and Major League Baseball and the major sports. It's just never going to be, and that's fine. It's a very profitable and popular sport, but it's a very niche sport that is not going to keep fans for longer than five to seven years for the most part. It's just not going to happen, guys, and I've accepted that. And the other thing I've accepted is I don't give a fuck what any of these fighters say or think about anything. I don't care. I do not look.

to MMA fighters to be the bastions of great takes and of moral values. They choose to get in a cage and fucking fight people for a living. They have to be some sort of crazy to do that. So if you're looking for moral high ground through mixed martial arts fighters, you're barking up the wrong tree. You just are. So I don't give a fuck what Sean Strickland thinks or what his beliefs are. like that's fine just like I don't care what your fucking beliefs are like you can believe whatever

you want to believe that's great if as long as you're happy you can look at yourself in the mirror and be like I'm a happy guy and I can live my life to the best of my ability great believe what you want I don't have to agree with you and you don't have to agree with me and I don't give a shit either way and I'll and I'll say this based on what I said about the whole John Anick situation everybody in the space needs to, about saying follow my lead. What I'm saying is fucking relax a little bit. Jesus, God damn Christ,

you don't not have to like take everything so seriously. It's a sport. It's a sport. It's not going to ruin your everyday life. Like Sean Strickland is out snowboarding and the landscapers are out front. But Sean Strickland's out snowboarding. He's over it.

Yeah, he says he thought he won, but he's already over all this. He's over it. He's out-living his life. You should be too. You should not be mad about how this fight was scored. Or that Sean Strickland didn't win. Like, be mad for a minute and then move on with your lives. Everyone just needs to relax a little bit.

Let's turn the page on this whole media day bullshit. It's over and done with. I'm over it. Let's move on with our lives. Flying MMA. What's up? You are muted flying MMA. Man, I'm sorry. Hey, man, what's up? You're good. What's up? Is the audio good on my side? I can hear you perfectly.

Very good, very good. I fully agree with you about the Sean Spicking thing. By the way, you know, the same thing Dana said, I don't have a leash, nobody. Say whatever the fuck you want. People get offended. It's their problem. Also, did you know he's actually snowboarding right now with the boyfriend of Nina? I did not know that. Well, there's one news update for you then. Okay, I have three questions for you. Is it okay if I shoot one a piece?

Fire them all off, and I'll do the best I can't remember. I'll shoot them all for you. Well, I was wondering, what do you think about John Enig getting, in my opinion, pretty sensitive about all the comments on the internet? Second question is, what do you think is going to happen with Costa about versus Whitaker? because I don't hear a lot of people talking about this, and I'm pretty excited if he doesn't pull out.

And then third question, what do you think Volga is going to do to Tuporia that he hasn't seen yet? And, you know, how will he probably, hopefully, keep his belt? Thank you, sir. I'll go backwards. Voltaporia rules. That fight is incredible.

I can't wait to watch it. I don't know what's going to happen. I really don't. Volk is Volk's the guy man like yeah he went up to lightweight and lost to the best fighter on the planet twice

but did you see what he did in between those things? Everyone was like oh yeah your Rodriguez he might be the guy and Volk just ran him out of the building but Tepore is legit he's the real deal super talented guy

and he could be a massive for the UFC. He could be. No doubt about it. But there's so many people counting Volkadovsky out of this fight. And I just, I don't understand it. So, I mean, look, I think we're all in agreement that time catches up to everybody. Time is undefeated. And maybe this is the beginning of the downslide for Volkadovsky. Maybe it is. But until I see it at 145, I just can't get there just yet. So that's why this fight is so fascinating to me. Costa Whitaker's a great fight.

And I think you hit the nail on the head. There's trepidation with this fight. Will Costa make it? Will it go down? I hope it does. But it's a good fight. I favor Robert Whitaker, but Paul Costa's a dog.

So it's a good fight. And the annex situation, like I talked about it yesterday. I don't agree with the sensitive part of it. Like, look, you have to be able to, you have to be able to, like, like allow these people to like live their lives a little bit like again this just goes back to what i said earlier everyone just needs to relax a little bit it's a fight it's a fight Sean Strickland ain't mad at John Anick why are you mad at John Anick because he scored a fight 4847

for Driggis duplice come on like that's the hill you want to die on like give me a fucking break. Give me a fucking break. And for Anick, like, the dude just wants to, like, go call fights, and which he does better than anybody on the planet right now. And

the guy can't get away from this shit. Like, everyone just needs to relax. I don't think he's sensitive at all. I just think he's fucking tired of it. He's tired of the bullshit. And it ate everybody, and John knows that. John knows he has a lot of support. but at the same time, like, you can't, you just can't avoid it sometimes.

You just can't. So I don't think he's sensitive at all when it comes to the situation. And John is just a real guy. He's expressing how he feels. And I don't think there's anything at all wrong with that. So we love you, John Anick. You're the man. And if you fuckers drive John Anick out of the sport, we're going to have a problem.

That day's coming, by the way, guys. I feel pretty confident about that. this dude's going to get the chance to call NFL games. And then he's going to be gone and you're going to fucking kick yourself in the ass. CV, go ahead. Defenders in cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor.

But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. Dark Trace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. Support for this show comes from the audible original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left.

Roscoe Cadulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster. The Downloaded It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Stevie, hello. And he's gone. Let's talk to our old buddy toke. Yes, I can't. How are you doing? Yeah, I'm pretty good. I mean, I haven't been here since the pay-per-view because I've been contemplating if I wanted to talk about this.

But I feel like some of the comments on social media kind of forced my hand because as I see it, I'm probably coming up on my seven-year period. And what I mean by that is being part of the MMA community at large seems pretty. I mean, the toxicity that I see is just insane to me. So firstly, it started, of course, with Alex Kaylee asking a question asking, I mean, Sean Strickland, do you still mean these things that you've said? And the reactions to that was so crazy and I couldn't really really fathom it. other than that also seeing a picture of of uh rakel pennington uh and uh and her child and the comments that that people made in the comment section was who's the father and stuff like um you know there's so

much toxicity in this space and for being a bit different and i've been not to go completely in the weeds i've been called a sissy all my life uh it started with me not liking football, I want to play chess instead. I mean, I know, I've seen a smidge, an iota of the hate and bigotry that the people in the LGBTQ plus community gets. I've only seen an inch of it. And I, I mean, it was tough. And I mean, seeing how the MMA community cannot really they can't really hold any love or any

respect for people that are not in one certain way it's just really disheartening for me so the MMA fighting spaces and all that I feel at home here but as the MMA community at large I feel like again an outsider

because of all the negativity. And it's just so, yeah, I think it's tough. And I don't really know if I have a question for this other than, I mean, do you see any part where this could change? Because I really don't when I see how the, when the UFC is not going to police it, then why should the fans police it? Then why? I mean, there's no way forward to having a more positive space. and that's really so what i wanted to say with all of this of us also thank you to aka already de-mned him and said that i appreciate what he wrote or what he asked and all that stuff

but i wanted to say it here as well uh thank you for actually holding people accountable for the people that for the things that people say and uh yeah thanks for being a positive uh influence in the space Thank you, sir. Look, I've talked about this before, and this has nothing to do with the Strickland situation, but one thing I have learned since coming over here is this space could be a dark place. And I'm not just talking about like the trolls and all that shit. The sport itself and people within it, it's shocking to some extent. And I think one of the things that this antitrust lawsuit is going to show,

is just how dark this place actually is. Now, I know this story is not going to be for everybody. Because there are people out there just like, I don't care about any of this shit. I just want to watch people get into a cage and fight each other. Like, this is what it's all about. I don't care about the ins and outs and the businesses, business portion of it and fighter pay and all that stuff.

And like, that's fine. But you're already starting to get a taste of what it's like to be a UFC fighter, just what's been leaked already. the documents that have been unsealed. Like, it ain't a pretty place. It ain't a pretty place. And you're asking if this whole thing is going to change anytime soon?

No. This is the new norm, guys. This is what it's going to be for the foreseeable future. And we learned this last year around the same time. That it's, this is the new norm. Because everything that happened in Mexico, New Year's Eve with Dana. Again, we don't need to rehash that.

None of us ever said he should have been fired or anything of that nature. But the fact that there was nothing at all, whether it be any repercussions or suspension, not that they would have mattered, but any sort of statements, apology from the company, anything, that was like, okay, this is what it is now. This is what the sport is. because how could the UFC possibly punish Sean Strickland or Colby or anybody else for things that they say or do if there was no punishment for Dana?

How? You can't. You can't. So they have not leaned into this, hey, you can say or do whatever you want kind of thing. and they have welcomed some of these troll fans and with open arms. This is what they want. They're trying to get new fans. And this is what they're getting. And now they're leaning into it. And you know what?

Fine. And I know it's tough grounds to navigate. This isn't the UFC from 2016 anymore. It just isn't. This isn't the company that was working their tail off and putting out the biggest stars where stars are bigger than the promotion. and they put that at the forefront. Those days are over.

It's all over. And as hard as that is to accept, especially for longtime fans, you just kind of have to. And I've progressed along the way that this is what it's going to be. I haven't, like, I didn't fully accept that until last week. And now I'm like, okay,

this is what it is now. And we just have to find ways, to get through it. Like for me, like, I've accepted it all and I'm not going to let this shit bogg me down. I know what interviews I do

or what shows I do that are going to get comments that provide positive feedback. And I know there's interviews and shows that I do where I'm just going to get a bunch of people saying awful things about me and my colleagues or whoever I'm doing the interview with. If I do a BTL or a post-fight show or whatever,

yeah, once in a while, stroll through the comments and be like, you know, let's see what people have to say. And look, some of those, some of that feedback has led to shows like this, has led to shows like doing this show on YouTube or doing the people's pre-fight show was due to comments that provided feedback in a positive way that you could use. Sometimes the feedback is negative and you can learn from that as well. And that's great.

You think I went and looked at the comments at a Loris Sanko interview? Of course not. because she scored the fight for DDP. You think I want to go down that rabbit hole? Hell no. Absolutely not. So you just have to like find a way to navigate it in the best way possible. This shit ain't going away, guys.

It just isn't. And the UFC wants this. This is what they want. This is what they want. And I'll talk about the Pollock thing in the leash comment real quick as well. I just didn't see a problem with what John asked Dana. I know the word leash was the word he gravitated towards and thus everybody else just ran with it.

But guys, the leash thing, it's a cliche. It's something you say every day. It's not a thing. Like I know John kind of took it a little bit like, fuck, like I should have used a different word, but like I say that, like I say that shit. like daily like oh he's got

like you say it in the NFL over there like hey Bill Belichick has won three super you know seven Super Bowers of the Patriots or whatever it's been to the Super Bowl a million times like but they've sucked the last three years look Belichick has a little bit of a longer leash like it's a regular everyday phrase

and when John asked it and I know he regrets using the word leash because of what happened and he did get a response from Dana like to me like I heard the question I'm like why is Dana so mad at Because to me, it's like, that's a term you just use. It's not like, hey, did John Pollock ever say like, hey, you got to put these fighters on a leash?

No. When you say, like, I know in this company, the fighters are on a little bit of a longer leash, that wasn't like that that wasn't meant to be like anything else but just like a figure of speech to be. So I hadn't, I couldn't believe. I could not believe the response to that. That's the word of data was like, all right, now I could go in. No, like, it was just a figure of speech. I just didn't get it.

I just didn't get it. So, yeah, guys, this is it. This is it. Look at how the UFC is handling media now. Just look at it. Look at what they're doing. They don't give a fuck about us. And that's fine.

The staff loves us. When I go and cover an event, the UFCPR freaking loves us. I have great relationships with all of them. Am I going to get a one-on-one with Dana? No. Do I care? No. I don't care. Do I need to be on the ground at a UFC event? No. No. That's the one thing the pandemic taught us. You don't need to go to an event to cover it. I covered UFC 292 in Boston. I didn't even go to the fucking fights. I don't care about any of that stuff. I really don't. So like if they think they're just going to bury the MMA media altogether, it's just not going to happen. Like we are able to cover the sport without being there.

totally fine. It's totally fine. But this is the world they live in now. They go with the influencers now. They go with the ones that are going to give them 100% positive press. That's who they go to. And that's fine.

That's fine. Again, this is why the UFC will never be compared to the NFL or anybody else. They just not going to be. And that's okay. We can live on our own little nichey island that we love. We love to watch people fight each other.

That's why we're all here. I don't care anymore. UFC's going to make a ton of money. They don't care what any of us think. And that's okay. That's why we don't get those, we don't get the data interviews. He would rather do them with the Nelks and bustle with the boys and all them because they're going to put them over.

Only put them over. And they're going to ask questions that Dana wants to be asked. Dana doesn't want to be asked about he doesn't want a 60 minutes interview he wants to talk about fights he wants to talk about gambling and how cool Las Vegas is and power slap

that's it just go look at who he does interviews with go look that's a plan it's all the plan now and that's okay that's totally okay I'm all right with it

we can all live our own lives We could all exist in this space, and it's just fine. CB, go ahead. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, totally agree with all you said. It's nice to have our own niche community here. Fuck what the USC thinks.

We're all that matters here. Anyways, yeah, some fun stuff since it's free for all Friday. I just want your thoughts on a couple recent fine announcements. Sadiq Yusuf and Diego Lopez for 300 um that's crazy that's probably going to be a pre-lum fight right and but that's really crazy um and also mike davis he's coming back i forgot who he's fighting against but damn he's fighting back he's coming back again and uh one more thing um what are your thoughts on the the roadhouse trailer with uh jillenhan mcgrey looks like a pretty fun movie thanks uh uh do do yes uh yeah trail actually looks pretty good

It looks pretty good. I was not really interested in the film at all. I don't know if it's one. I'm just going to go fire up Amazon Prima, wherever it's going to be aired, and watch it on day one. But shit, man. I don't know if you ever watched the show Entourage back in the day

because I'm a little bit of an older head. And, you know, they released the trailer for Medell Ian, and the trailer was like, oh, man, this looks great. And then the movie in execution was awful. I kind of have those vibes to this, but look, it should be a fun watch. I mean, what can you say? I don't think we're going to take this movie too seriously. Roadhouse will not be the original.

They're doing a little bit of a different spin on it. It will not be the same as the, like Terry Funk's not walking through that door. It's just, it's going to be fine. It's got to be fun and goofy and silly. It's not going to be winning Academy Awards or anything like that. It's just going to be a fun watch. It's going to be like, never back down as a film is fucking stupid. Like, it's a terrible movie.

But, like, it's a fun watch because it's just like, this is so dumb that it's great in a lot of ways. And this is probably what Roadhouse is going to be. So, yes, the trail looks very good. Yeah, I'll probably watch. This would be a great watch-along kind of a thing for us. Maybe stay tuned for that. Little irons in the fire are trying to figure out how we can do this. Mike Davis fighting the Ton Levy, March 16th.

I believe it's the world's most famous Apex. Yeah, it's good to see Mike back. We haven't seen, we haven't seen Mike since October of 2022 when he beat Slava Clause. And then before that, it was well over a year after the Mason Jones fight, which was a freaking banger. One of the best fights of 2021. So, yeah, it's good to have him back.

This dude has been through all. lot over the last five years with injuries and all sorts of craziness. So hopefully he's healthy and ready to go. The Tom Levy is fun as well. So that should be a fun fight. Diego Lopez versus Sadiq Yous, yeah, that is one million percent going to be on the prelims. And as it stands right now, I would not be shocked if that's the first fight of the card altogether. That's the quote unquote curtain jerker. And I don't think that's a bad idea. You could do Jim Miller, Bobby Green, because, you know, there's history there. And Jim Miller was the first fight of UFC 200.

So you could go that route. But I think, man, you want to fill that arena, like for fight one? That, the Mexican population, they travel. They travel in droves. They go to Vegas a lot. And they will show up for Diego Lopez. So don't hate that being the first fight of the card at all. And that just shows you the way the UFC currently views Diego Lopez right now,

that he is probably going to be the lowest tiered guy on this entire card, and he's still, like, very, very popular. So, yeah, love the fight. Love that it's happening at 300, and there's no way that's a boring fight. I just don't see it happening. Let's go to Four Corner Sports. Hey, are you here? Yeah, I got you.

All right, cool. So a couple things. One, I agree with you, I'm very intrigued with Volcanowski versus Taborio. I was speaking to a couple of my buddies that are actually flying over towards Anaheim to see the fight. I feel like we agreed that this is going to be the most important fight for Volkanowski. More important than his first ever title shot. The reason why we go out of field this way is because of the fact that we've never seen him get starched the way that he and ended up getting um the way he ended getting kicked in the head by um islam um i think the last

time he i don't think he ever got knocked out in his career and if i'm and if i'm wrong it's got to be at 170 when he got his first loss but um it doesn't be the most important fight because i think i feel like ilia is a true killer and i don't know if you saw what he released yesterday and it gave me like goosebumps because i'm like is i saw what a couple people were saying and i feel like if Leah wins. They might as well just strap the rocket ships on him because this guy's going to be a global superstar. Mike, I know that you don't follow like European soccer, but the fact that Sergio Ramos ended up traveling from Spain, right? His mansion from Spain to, out of all places, Jacksonville, Florida should speak volumes. All right? That is like Mitroposal having David Ortiz at his, you know, regional fight, right? That is, That is the equivalent of that magnitude right there. Because many people in Europe consider Sergio Ramos a god. And for him to go out there and be in attendance for his fight when he fought Josh Emmett was huge, right?

And that's already just one star. That's one star power right there. He has a whole nation behind him in Spain, let alone Georgia as well. That's in his following. And then the second thing I wanted to talk about is I saw that Dominicry, is out versus Carlos Olberg. Tougher fight that he has now matched up is Oberg versus Devin. It's not Devin Clark.

It's a lot of football. Matt afield. Yes, yes, yes. Things a tougher fight. How would, who do you favor in, if Ollberg was to get the win, right? What would be your perspective on him? Because I feel like this can actually, I would actually have higher expectations of Oberg if he was to get past a tougher.

fighter that is Alonzo Meadowfield. All right, thanks, Mike. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it's, I mean, it might be tougher. I don't know. Like, Alonzo Meadowfield is a fine fighter, but, like, I don't see a world where Alonzo Menafield, like, fights for a title. Like, Dominic Reyes fought for a title. In a lot of people's eyes, Dominic Reyes won the title against John Jones.

Like, the guy is really good. He's had a tough run of shit. I mean, think about what this guy has had to deal with. Just think about everything. Just think about what his life would look like right now if the judges got it right. And he won and beat John Jones and became the champion. Like that, from a mental perspective,

like that is just never going to leave you. You can get all the sports psychologists in the world, and that's never going to leave you. And I think that's kind of part of the downfall of Dominic Reyes. Like you try to go through it, and you just can't help but think. how different would life be if this fight happened anywhere else in the country or the world? He'd probably want, he'd be one of the biggest stars in the sport right now.

Making lots of money. Champion, probably would have a really decent title reign from where he was at right now. And the excitement over Dominic Gray's. It's crazy to think about where things have gone. Yeah, Menofield's fine, fight. If he wins, good. Like, Ulberg will call somebody out and probably get what he wants. He called out Dominic Reyes, and that was the right callout.

And he'll probably have somebody else in mind, and he'll probably get that exact fight. So, yeah, we'll see what happens. And then Volk Toporia, yeah, it's an important fight for Volk. This is the one that's going to answer a lot of questions. And if he goes out there and meets Toporia, like, what's everybody going to say now? What's everybody going to say? You know, is there a little bit of concern that it's happening in February? Yeah, I think so.

but it's a fascinating fight. Even in the conversation of Lorisanko, with all the fights on the books and all the craziness, 300, et cetera, without hesitation, she said Volkovsky-Tupor is the fight she's most intrigued with. And yes, this is a very important fight for Volk.

I'll tell you what, man, this is a super important fight for Ilya as well. One, for the reasons you just mentioned, if he wins, they are going to strap the rocket ships to the sky. and he's going to be shot off to the moon. And he's probably going to have to fight Volcanovsky again. But he will become a star and the UFC will want to go to Spain.

No doubt about it. But I'll tell you what, this guy has been talking a lot of shit about Volkadovsky, saying he's not good that this will be one of the easiest fights of his career. All of these things he's saying, if he don't back it up, February 17th, it's going to be a rough year for that. man. So this is equally as important to Iliot Toporia as it is for Alexander Volcanowski, because as you know in this sport, and this isn't even the new era of UFC fandom or anything like that, if you talk shit and you back it up, you get the rocket strapped to you. If you talk

shit and can't back it up, you're done. Not done, but you know what I mean. You get buried for a hot minute. Now, you can always come back. Look at Sean O'Malley. Schaumalley loses to Cheeto in a weird way, boy, did everybody turn on Sean O'Malley. They all turned. Everybody jumped off the ship. They were done. He eventually made his way back in Ilya, young enough, hungry enough, talented enough, he could certainly do that too. But for the short term, who is going to be a rough road for Ilya if he doesn't come out and just lace Volcanofsky February 17th. So, yeah, that's part of the fascination with this fight as well. So And I saw that little promo.

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With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Mikey, go ahead. A couple things. First of all, listen, I may not necessarily been like the biggest folk fan, but I've always respected him and I think it's kind of weird that we're now that people are continuing to move the

goalpost with him like okay well okay you beat prurian zombie who cares he's old oh you beat max who cares he's old or you beat him before etc etc it's like how many times do we have to keep pushing the goal post back for this dude before we just recognize he's already probably top three best for the weight of all time you know listen uh his his his his contrivances always annoying me a little bit because it's like dude you can't keep acting like you're the underdog when you've been the best fighter in your division for years. You know, that's the only thing that's bug me. It's like the lack of self-awareness.

It's just admit you didn't like that you weren't popular and that other people you're beating are more popular. You can't control that. But again, he doesn't have to beat Tupori to prove he's been the best for the weight of all time. And if he loses, then it's just because he's like 33 now, 34. Father Time's going to catch up to him, man. So I'm not saying that it's going to take away from Ilya's win if

Ilya wins. But like, I just feel like that like Bokonowski's always going to be in this weird tough spot where it's like, He's never going to get his just due, you know, so which would sucks for him. But also give me your thoughts on the Rumble, who you want to win, who you might expect to see. And also the ramifications of the Vince McMahon stuff, because obviously it doesn't have anything to do with UFC directly, but they are part of the same company now. And, you know, they're all under a microscope and stuff.

And, yeah, and also just for the sake of it, who do you got any – title games to get to the Super Bowl this weekend. Also, with John Hague, with everything John Hague, just remember what you say on the internet matters. It's not just Twitter. You know what I mean? This isn't just some place you don't say stuff to, and it doesn't matter.

So if you got in one other, take it easy, brother. Thank you, sir. For the NFL, I mean, I think we're going to get Chiefs Niners, but I don't know, give me Ravens' Lines. I think that would be, like, incredibly fun and ironic. I just, I don't, I don't want Taylor Swift to take over the Super Bowl. And I know it's not her fall. I don't blame her for any of the shit, but, you know, I don't need it.

Let's focus on the game, you know. The annex stuff, I mean, look, I already kind of touched on that. Volk stuff kind of touched on that as well. Look, here's the thing. Volk is, this conversation with Volk is going to happen with everybody he fights now. For the rest of his career, this is what it's going to be. and it's been that way for every long-reigning champion there ever was, except for probably Demetrius Johnson.

Even the John, even happen with John Jones. It happened with them all, and it's going to continue to happen with Volcanowski. He beats Tuporia. He's going to fight Mobsar of Loya, and people are going to ask the same things. And you mentioned father time, Volcano ain't 33 or 34. He's 35, about to be 36 this year. And as you know, statistically, guys of that age, especially in the life, or weight classes, do not do well in title fights.

The only one to actually pick up victories in this time frame is Tyrone Woodley twice and no one else. So when we get to the math and the statistics, it makes things interesting. And you're right that Father Time is going to catch up with him. It's just going to. And I get where you're coming from as well. The reason that Jed has turned on Volcanowski is because of the underdog chatter, this whole thing.

And here's the other stuff. Like, you cannot shit on what Volk has done. You can't shit on the zombie win. You can't shit on the Holloway win. You want to know why? Because he pitched, those are two of the best title defenses in the last decade from a champion. Volk, zombie had no chance. None.

Holloway had no chance. He just got rinsed for 25 minutes from Volkadovsky. Holloway couldn't do anything to this man. Like, but Holloway just does, like Holloway performs and does well against everybody he fights. But the one time he doesn't, it was that fight. You can't take anything away from Volk for those performances. You can't. Those are, like I said, two of the best title defenses I've ever seen.

Unbelievable. Gigantic fight. The Rumble, I don't know, man. this I'm actually really excited to watch it. I'm very, I'm very, very excited because there's like seven guys who could win and all of them would make sense.

This is probably the most intriguing Royal Rumble from a lead-in perspective since 92. I think it was 92. When Rick Flair won it and the title was on the line, it was the vacant title. the greatest Royal Rumble match of all time. This, I mean, this is right up there in terms of like, ooh, I wonder who's going to win. Normally you just know.

Like, you knew Cody was going to win last year. You knew it. This year, it could be literally like seven people. Could be punk, could be Gunther, could be Cody. Could be a number of guys. So I'm looking forward to it. And the Vince stuff, fuck, man. It's a tough, tough read.

and we'll wait and see what happens. It certainly doesn't look good. Vince's team has come out and said he's got to fight it via v.mali, wherever that word is. And boy, it's tough. And here's the thing, guys. Triple H is going to be asked about it tomorrow after the Rumble. Garant fucking T it. Guarantee it.

He's going to be asked about it. And watch how Triple H handles it. Just watch. Watch how you handle a question you don't want to answer. If you think of questions out of line, it has nothing to do with what you want to talk about. Watch how Triple H does it. Just watch. He's going to say, look, I can't talk about it.

Or he's going to say, look, not really anything. It's accusations will go from there. Like, Triple H will handle this. How you're supposed to handle these questions. You'll see. This is how you're supposed to do it. And it has to be asked. A media member has to ask

Triple H about this. You have to ask him. You have to. As well, yeah. So, Mark, heck of morning. I just want to address something you said earlier.

You know, just about the sport being niche and everything. Like, I just want to make clear, I do actually agree what you're saying as of this current stage and where this sport stands. However, I just want to

kind of at least bring a few my own personal opinions I believe that could happen or

you know I would love to happen but I don't think ever will firstly with the UFC they're definitely

a big brand I believe they're very comparable to something like the sport rugby because rugby is you know

pretty big enough to be you know play around the world global people can train MMA or Maita or whatever

but it's not you know You can have, you can host big events that are, you know, global enough to reach the masses. You know, like in our case, you know, we have UFC International Fight Week, Abu Dhabi, Connemar Gregg events, Adisan, yadi, yadiyadh. But however, yeah, I don't think we are obviously near the level like some of the other major league sports around the world, you know, like cricket, soccer, basketball and all that. But I do want to address, I do want to say this.

tell you know why if there's one thing I've seen from him over the years watching his press conference and who he is he is one determined

motherfucker he will never and I mean this he will never allow himself to be second to none like I know you know

with all the bullshit he does he might fuck around joke and he kind of self-sabitized some of his opportunity but I can guarantee you at the common pace and read the USC's going

I am sure the last thing he'd want to do was led the sport or at least this brand remain near you know, I know he doesn't really push or care much for all of the fires like that, but I'm sure the last thing I want to do is let the USU remain at the stage it is. Because the way he talks about the sales, the gate and all that,

and the money they're making, I'm sure he wants to push it to actually reach the levels he always won, which is NFL, NBA level, you know. And the thing with UFC and MMA in general is, unlike other sports, It's very accessible in the sense that anyone in the work can train this wherever they want. And, you know, fighting is a natural human nature part of life. Like, it's in our biology to have that innate nature to fight or, you know, scrap hand. Yes, it's not a very pleasant or nice thing. And a lot of people are off-put-by-but-boy.

But if you look at boxing, I'm sure the UFC could actually reach the level that boxing has reached in this pinnacle prime. And it kind of already has because we've seen, you know, some of the biggest stars from this sport reached a level. And now another thing I want to also address with that Like one thing that does suck And I feel this is when I see an earlier point about This sport being niche and we have to accept it I kind of feel it hurts to see that certain fighters They probably are fighters out there

Who probably have big dreams of achieving a lot of thing Not just in the sport but wanting to do bigger things outside the sport On the highest level Depending on what their goals are And I feel that You know maybe it's not possible It depends on the individual because some individuals do get very lucky

or they are just that person who can blow themselves up to many levels. We've seen this, you know, now with Shona O'Malley, Hamza Chima, Adisania, but many people probably think oh, I would love to do things like be a fashion designer, maybe be, you know, a successful real estate guy or, you know, I'd like to go into big movies.

And I feel it kind of never, that kind of option never allowed themselves to manifest themselves, because the UFC kind of limits on how they build up stars. And also just the fact that it's like we're kind of not well known enough to the point where we can have this opportunity unless you have the personality. However, you know, and I'm saying this because I think it sucks. It hurts.

Like you can imagine you have some people probably have big dreams to achieve and, you know, and you can't have to accept the reality that you're maybe not going to make the kind of money you want unless you are that guy and you have the self-determination to. But I hope that can change one day. I generally hope we'll come to a point where, you know, at some point we have to come to realization that a union is needed, you know, things are not going to stay the same. Because if you look at other sports, the NBA, for example, when Michael Jordan, the biggest athlete in the entire world in his prime wasn't getting paid the money, people at LeBron James

or Kevin Garnett or, you know, Luca Donchig of him paid, those things changed after his time. You know, so I definitely believe the UFC at some point we'll get to a conclusion with the whole fight is pay and shit, at least enough where many fires can become, you know, millionaires or, you know, multi-millionaires and do well enough for themselves. And my final thing I just want to say, I know I've dragged this long, I apologize, don't mind me. It's just I'm very passionate about this shit. I'm, you know, I'd like to see some of our future athletes, the ones who will become stars, be able to have their own individual success, not have to rely and think, oh, I have to reach Connemagra.

Like, they can be capable of doing multi-big pay-per-views, whether they can reach the millions or not, but they're able to become famous, how they believe they want, have other options to do what they want, and also contribute a lot to the sport in terms of the skill, the talent, and whatnot, and grow this sport to the biggest possible level they ever could. Because I like to see the sport grow. And I know there are a lot of things holding it back, like you were just earlier, the whole Strickland thing. I'm not going to get into that, but, you know, things like that are definitely sabotaging her in the sport. But, and that's a problem because we've kind of, if you look at the roots of UFC as a company, it's rooted in that political sphere.

So I think it does hurt their brand. But I have, however, I hope to maybe 10, 20 years from now, we can see some changes where it's neutral. Everyone in the entire wasn't enjoying the sport and we can have a goddamn fucking good time. that's all I have to say. I know I dragged along, but thank you for listening, and I appreciate it. Well, there's things I agree with you.

There's a lot I disagree with you on. One of which is, look, we could have a good time anyways. We could just have a good time watching fights. We could just do that at any time. Dana is a determined guy. No doubt about it. We saw it.

The UFC would not be where it was if we didn't get determined data. and I think Determined Dana still exists I just don't think it exists for the UFC I think it exists for PowerSlapp I think he would he would rather live in a world where Power Slap

is the biggest thing he could do right now like all it's just not that he's like not trying with the UFC but like that thing runs itself right now it runs itself Dana's just kind of the face And yeah, he's part of making the deals and stuff like that.

But like his look, just look at the, go watch the fucking press conference from Saturday night. Does that look like a determined guy to grow this sport to as big as it could possibly be? Does that look like a guy that like strikes you as a promoter? He was so checked out of that press conference. It wasn't even funny. The one time we saw him get excited was when John Pollock said the word leash. That's the only time he got passionate. about anything, about anything.

And let me just clear something up real quick. When I say it's a niche sport, this ain't fucking cornhole. It's a niche sport, but a very successful niche sport. It's not going to be the NBA. It's not going to be the NFL. It just is never going to reach that point. I don't think people understand how big those entities are, the ratings they do. you think that there's a UFC event that they could put on Fox that's going to do like 35 million people

never ever ever will that happen and they're okay with it and that's fine they're still printing money they're on fire everything that happens ends up in their favor oh let's set up busy dDP oh no Sean Strickle just won the belt great still worked out like they cannot do any wrong right now everything is is going in their favor. But this is going to come in time where that luck's going to run out. It's going to happen. It's not going to happen anytime soon.

So when I say it's a niche sport, I'm not saying that it's like, shit. It's just, it's going to be a very popular sport, but it's just not going to be a major sport. The UFC is not going to be a ultra-major brand. It's just not going to happen. It's just not going to happen. When the tastemakers in sports are ripping into shreds,

it's not a good thing. It's not always a good thing. And that's fine. I don't think they really care about that at this point. The UFC is not bigger than boxing, guys. It's not. They don't have the star power. They ain't pulling what, like, some of the major fights are getting.

They ain't doing Floyd fucking Pacquiao numbers. They're not going to do millions every single card when there's stars involved in there's title fights. Like, boxing, it's few and far between, yes, with the fights that we want. But look, boxing's trying to make these fights more and more. more. Now you have Saudi in the mix. Like, things are going to ramp up. Things are going to ramp up even more.

So, yeah, and the other thing, yeah, I would love to, but we all love to live in a world where there's a union and an association? Certainly. Why do you think LeBron and Luca and all these guys are making these fucking types of deals? Because they have an association. They have a union. They've all come together. You're never going to get it.

this sport. It's never going to happen. Why do you think? Just think about this. This is part of the whole contender series equation. Just think about it. You think those guys who finally got to the UFC, their dream months they step into an MA gym was to get to the UFC, that they're going to rattle cages, like immediately? No, that's why fucking 500 people on the roster are like mid to lower tiered fighters. they got no leverage. What are they going to do? How are they going to invoke change and then get Connor and the biggest stars involved

who are making all the money? No, and the UFC's never going to change that. And guess what? They shouldn't. Because no one's pressing them on it. It's certainly not going to be us that's going to press them on it because they don't give a fuck what we think.

And the fighters just aren't going to do it. It's just not going to happen. So, look, the UFC pro wrestling comparison will always be there some people like it some people don't but it's 100% the truth the UFC especially

is rooted in the the WWE model it is and the model that they're the playbook as of right now promotionally they're you know a little more caught up but when it comes to the business side

this is 1993 this is 1987 where look we're going to give you an opportunity kid you get over you start making the big bucks you don't this is what you're going to make that's exactly what they're doing here the guys who get over make the money the guys that fans want to pay for make it the guys that don't have that fan buzz behind them they'll do fine but they're not going to make millions of dollars to fight. You got to have it all. And that's how it was. For every Tom Zank, there was a Hulk Hogan who got over. For every Don Morocco, there was a Randy Savage. They got over. Those paychecks

were incomparable. And that's just the business structure here. And you want to know what? It's going to stay that way forever. For as long as I'm covering the sport, now maybe the lawsuit can change. things. If this goes to trial and the UFC loses and they have to change their business practices altogether, maybe we can get some change that way. But from a financial standpoint, you think if they lose this case, they lose like four or five billion dollars, you think that's going to fucking affect them at all? No, not even a little. They can pay that shit out over however long of a term they want. But if it is proven in court that they are in opposite to, you or whatever it's called,

then they have to change everything. Then the whole business changes. And not just for the UFC, it's going to change for everybody. PFL, PFL, PFL, a tour, the sport as a whole in the United States. It's got to be an interesting time, guys.

It's got to be an interesting time. But this is where we're at. Let's keep going. So we're going to bring Terrence in. There's six, after Terrence, there's five other people lined up. This will be. it.

So no more after this. Terrence, go ahead. I'll make it kind of quick. You don't have to, like, elaborate too much. One is an M.A. question. One's a pre-for-all Friday question. What I think is going to happen hypothetically in, like,

the Harrison and home fight is that she's going to treat home, like Courtney Casey and I know of saying a lot because Holly is still a great fighter. But I think that she's going to, like, slash her up in, win a TKO victory are taparout is going to be a finish in my opinion and I think after that all the same people who was talking crap about Kayla coming over and so forth will be on her side because they

don't like Holly and they call the shine that she always gets and get in handlines and things like that so they'll think of her for that and then they'll more or less be on her side than her next fight will be that much bigger because of it and I just want to know do you think that's a possibility or do you think that's a likely outcome? I know the weight cut will have an issue. But the other question I have, I want you to put your DJ hat on, and they have a festival called Lovers and Friends in Vegas. It's been going on for a few years now.

It's kind of like the pop and RV version of like Warped Tour or when we were a Young tour. They always have three headlines that play in simultaneously stages. I want you to tell me, because I know you like 90 in early 2000s music, who will be your three? Because right now, they have Usher on one stage, Jen and Jackson on one stage, and backscreet boys on one stage. And then like the co-headlines are like Louis Wayne, Snoop Dog,

and Quinn Steff hunting. So just wanted to ask you that because I thought it would be a fun question to break up everything. That's it. Yeah, I actually, I saw the lineup. Ooh, that's interesting. Sorry. That's interesting.

Okay. don't worry about that. Sorry, when you're on and there's a million things happening, you get a message that kind of opens your eyes a little bit, and that's it I just got. But I saw the lineup for lovers and friends. It was fucking crazy, dude. It was crazy.

I'd have to think about that. Snoop would be a good one. I have seen Usher Live. He was really good. Probably enough I've seen Backstrip on Live, too. But that was, like, in the 90s. And I had to. you know,

when you date the girl, she wants to go the back street boys, you fucking take her to the back street boys. So it happens in your 16 or 17. Snoop's a good one.

I don't know. I have to really think about that one. There's so many that I could choose and the narrow it down is going to be really, really tough.

Really, really tough. The Kayla thing. Yeah, I mean, if she goes out there and just runs over, Holly, then yeah, people are going to be on her side. Like, it's a nice boost for the division.

But I have a feeling this fight's not going to be very good. It's just, I don't know, that's kind of the feeling I have. And if this fight, I do think Kayla's probably going to win, but I could see her, like, I could see this looking like the Aspen Ladd fight. I could definitely see it. and I kind of feel like in order for what you sort of laid out to happen where everyone's like, yeah, Kayla, let's go.

I think she's going to have to run over Holly. I don't know if she's going to. I really don't know if she's going to do that. So it's all going to depend on the performance. Can she just go out and run her over? But Holly's good, man. Like I know she's a little bit older. And I know people are just like sick of seeing her fight for the belt.

get that. But she's like, she's still pretty decent. Like, she's still, probably, like, outside of, um, I mean, obviously the Pacheco fight, but this is probably, like, you can make a strong case that this is the toughest opponent she's ever fought. So I think she's going to struggle a little bit. I think she wins. But if Kayla on fight week is a minus 500 favorite, am I going to take a little dog shot on Holly home, probably? I'm not going to love it, but I think there'll be some value there. So, yeah, I think she's got to, if she, if everyone wants to jump on her side, she needs to go out and finish Holly Holm.

And I think she's got a tough time doing that. Cole, go ahead. Hi, Mike. They definitely won't do this, but is there a world where the UFC puts that Holm Harrison fight on the very first fight of the early prelims of UFC 300, just to like stick it to PFL being like your main eventors on our prelims? they will never do that but and then uh the only question i got is i need a number from you what position is winning the royal rumble this weekend i need it hmm i'll say number three

i think it's gonna be an early one i think it's someone that's going to go the distance i think cody was 30 last year i don't think they're going to do that again i think it's going to be somebody like early on that that lasts a while that's my pick and no they're absolutely not could do that. More than likely, that fight's probably going to open the main card. But boy, I think there's going to be a lot of other fights. Like, we made the case that Figueroa Garbrand should open the main card because someone's going nine night in that one.

And that's going to set the tone. And this Holly Holme, Kayla Harrison fight goes the way that I kind of think it's going to where it's kind of sloggy. Not a really good start. Not a really good start to the historic pay-per-view broadcast. All right, we got three to go. Emo, then we'll go to Ane, then we'll go to Park. Emo, go ahead.

Uh-oh. Emo, not connecting. Maybe try to hop out and hop back in. We'll try. Oh, shit. Park, go ahead. And then, Any, you're next. All right.

So, you know, I was just looking at the ankylie of Jamal Hill back and forth. And it got me thinking that, you know, the light heavyweight division seems to be making a comeback in, like, a competitive aspect, in my opinion, you know, before Jones took the title. I feel like the top five is arguably, you know, anybody could beat anybody on any given night. So I guess I just got a couple questions. You know, what would you say about that, the state of the light heavyweight division? Who do you think is going to fight Pereira next? You know, obviously Hill deserves that being the former champ. But Uncle I have had a really impressive performance.

And it would be pretty sick if, you know, Pereira could take out the two guys that preceded him as champ. But who do you think is the next matchup? and who do you have as the light heavyweight champ at the end of 2024? It's tough to say I don't know, man. Like, I don't know who he's going to fight next. Like, there's a rumored pay-per-view in Rio and May.

If Pereira wants to fight on that card, they'll go Ankeliath, but honestly, at this point, I would rather, I think the UFC might just wait for Jamal Hill. I think he might just wait. They might just wait. That's a fight I want to see. I want to see Pereira versus Jamal Hill.

The build to that's going to be fun. Jamal Hill beating and retiring Glover Tashira, the look that Alex Pereer gave Jamal Hill in that cage after that fight. Like, it's right there. Like, that fight is on my top five list for the year. Like, fights I have to see, I have to see that fight. I have to see that fight for the title. And the unfortunate thing is,

if they go Ankylaev just to get Pereira on that card, I'm not saying Pereira can't win, but I'm probably not picking him against Maga Van Ankelaif. I'm probably not picking Jamal Hill against Maga Van Ankelaiath. I'm probably not picking any current light heavyweight on the roster to be Maga Ben Ankelaif. So I think once he gets back to a title shot, he's going to beat whoever it is. And then the UFC is just kind of, I honestly think they're having discussions about this. Do we want to live in this world where Magameneiath is,

is the champion because I think once he wins the bell he's going to be a champ for a long time. Yes, he finished Johnny Walker. Yes, he did it in pretty vicious fashion, but the concern about Ancolaev is that he's not fun. And oftentimes he's not fun. Just go watch, I mean, go back and watch the first round of that Johnny Walker fight. It was bad. Like, it was boring.

Like, no action. Nothing was happening. eventually I've got them but I think that's kind of their concern right now so

I'll say Jamal Hill they'll just wait maybe they do it international fight week or like right around the same time frame

I think that's what they end up doing and who will be my light heavy weight at the end of the year it's in prints it's on video and pod as well

I picked Jamal Hill I picked Jamal Hill I'm not confident in that pick but I would pick Jamal Hill to beat Pereira right now, but I don't have confidence in that or anything else when it comes to this division, but I will go Jamahou.

All right, we're going to go rapid fire for these last two because I've got to get out of here. Adi, go ahead. It's always good to talk to you on a Friday. Before I begin, I just wanted to give a shout out to talk. I'm not sure if he's still here, but I just wanted to give him a shout out. I always think he comes up with really good takes.

And I always look forward to listening to his takes. So it's nice to hear from him as well. So about, so I just have a free for all Friday question, one question for you. So what is the one quality about yourself that you appreciate? Is the question too cringy? No, you know. But it is what it is. It's free for all Friday, right?

You'll have to deal with it. So what's that quality, Mike? that you appreciate about yourself. Now, don't say that you're from Boston and you're stubborn. That's not going to work. So you'll have to tell me something else. Have a nice weekend, Mike. I mean, I appreciate the question, but this is not my style.

I will say, I mean, that kind of just answered it for me. Just me, man. What you hear, what you see is what you get. Like what you hear on this show and what you see on BTL or what you see on any of the other shows and what you see on the watch party, like, if you meet me outside of that, like, it's the same dude. There is no character here. It's just me. And that's one of the things I love about working for M.A.

Fighting is that they have always allowed me to be me. And they want me to be who I am. They don't want me to be anybody else. So, yeah, I just, I guess that's. that's it just i'm just myself all the time sometimes it gets turned up a notch sometimes i chill a little bit but for the most part this is who i am so i'll go with that and then emo is going to take us home hopefully emo do we have you hey mike can you hear me yes hey heck of a morning long time first time i'll keep it short uh just two quick questions number one who do you think else is coming from bell

It seems like they might be letting fighters get out of their... I don't have you. Can you hear me? Yeah, now I have you. Oh, sorry about that. So, yeah, just two quick questions. So, number one. So who's coming from Ballator?

Yeah. That was the first one? What's the other one? Number two, you said the number. So who do you think wins the real rumble? And that's about it. Sorry about that. Who wins it?

I'll say punk wins it. I think they'll go with punk. But I honestly don't know. The build to this has been great. It really has been. And then who's coming, who else is coming over from PFLOTor? Nobody right now? Look, and I'm going to say this is the most respectful way possible.

The ones who, I mean, could they bring like Sabahamasi back just for like fun fights? Yeah, maybe. But I don't think so, because I don't think he beats a lot of welterweights right now. in the UFC. I mean, he's in fun fights, and he's get or get got. I don't see. Like, major names.

Right now, I don't see any of them. And I don't know, like, the terms of their contracts that they're currently on right now. I think Patchy would get there at some point, but he just signed an extension before the Pettus fight, I believe. So he's going to be there for a hot minute.

he's making pretty good money. So I don't know how many fights Eblen has left. I think they would probably give him a look. I don't think there's a lot of others, honestly. I mean, Oussman, I'm sure they would take a look at. But again, I don't know how many fights he has left on his deal. But if I'm PFL, I am, it's going to be interesting when those guys are like one fight away, like only have one fight left, how they react.

Are they going to do what they? pretty much done with Bellator. They're just going to offer them a whole bunch of money and they take it and they announce an extension or a resigning, so to speak, before the fight. Or will they say, you know what? I'm going to be a free agent and go from there. I'm going to talk to everybody else and see what my value is. So it's got to be an interesting time, but I'll say right now, I'm sure this is from the Kayla deal,

nobody, nobody. I think they're going to keep the stars, if you want to call them that for now. And, you know, the other ones, they're going to let go off into free agency and do whatever they need to do. So, yeah, I'll say none. I'll say none. But, all right. Thank you all very much. Good show.

Good stuff. We'll be back Tuesday. We'll do the damn thing again. Stick with us. MAAfighting.com throughout the weekend. I know there's no UFC, but we are. I will be watching the Rumble. It's going to be a good time.

And then there'll be lots to discuss. We'll have UFC next weekend. We'll get you ready for... I think this is Vegas 85, 84. I'm not really sure. That is Roman DeLise versus Nassardine Imovov. Going down February 3rd.

It's actually not a bad card. Moikano Dover, Randy Brown, Mosom Salikov, Aura Ujo versus Natty Ice. It's not bad. Boy, McCann. Temble Grimbo's back. Yeah, it's not bad. Not a bad apex card.

Not too shabby. And then it's Super Bowl week and then at UFC 298. So things are going to start ramping up, everybody. So get ready. Buckle up. And just remember the golden rule, the sign off from on to the next one every week. And I think it means more this week and more at this moment than maybe it's ever met.

Don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. And with that, have a heck of a morning, everybody. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.

Hi, I'm Sophia Loper Caro, host of the Before the Chorus podcast. We dive into the life experiences behind the music we live. love. Artists of all genres are welcome. And I've been joined by some pretty amazing folks, like glass animals. I guess that was the idea was to try something personal and see what happened. And Japanese breakfast. I thought that the most surprising thing I could offer was an album about joy. And you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, and remember, so much happens before the chorus.