MMA Fighting - HOAM | Kamaru Usman Shuts Down Knee Injury Rumors, UFC 294 Press Conference Reaction

Episode Date: October 19, 2023

Kamaru Usman says that the rumors surrounding a knee injury ahead of his UFC 294 matchup with Khamzat Chimaev are false, and he sent a message to those who put that idea out into the universe this week. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the open workout moment between Usman and Justin Gaethje, Usman's reaction to it all, and more. Additionally, listener topics include the UFC 294 press conference, Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski's back-and-forth, Makhachev's stance that Volkanovski only took the short notice rematch for the lightweight title for a paycheck, potential locks for Saturday's pay-per-view event, why this weekend is incredibly important for Magomed Ankalaev, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser 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. October 19th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MAA Fighting Twitter space. We can hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter, on the NBA Fighting Podcasting Network. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week.

I am Mike Tech. We are on the eve of the eve of UFC 294, the highly anticipated return to pay-per-view for the UFC. First time, it's six weeks, I think it is, for the UFC heading back to pay-per-view. It seems like it was just yesterday that Sean Strickland became the middleweight champion of the world. But we move forward to,

UFC 294. We got the rematch between Islam Makachev and Alexander Volkanowski for the lightweight title. We have Hamzaa Chamae versus Kamara Usman. A couple of short notice fights. We just had the

UFC 294 press conference. We had Hamzaa Shamaa of Kamara Usman, Islam Makachv, Alexander Volkanovsky, and Dana White. It was fine, not tremendous. Endus, usually these things are absolute clown shows.

This is just more, you know, we got the good stuff early. And then we just got a bunch of people that just had to hear themselves talk. And we got a lot of Abu Dhabi promos. We got Hatsbula. We got the whole nine. And then Dana White in his infinite wisdom. Smartly just was like, look, if we're asking questions about fighters texting during the press conference, it means it's time to wrap up, and it was absolutely time to wrap up.

But notable things, Hamzaa Tchamaev, just being Hamzaat Shamaif, Islam Makachov and Alexander Volkanovsky kind of went back and forth. The whole thing about the media day yesterday with Makachov's saying, look, if the rolls are reversed, or Volkanovsky saying if the rolls were reversed, Mokachev would never take this fight. While Mokachev's stance was, well, Volk's only taking this for a payday, he's got nothing to lose here, doesn't have to put his winning streak on any kind of a winning streak on the line, doesn't have to put his title on the line. I'm the one risking everything.

He's risking nothing. And you know what? Interesting points made by both guys. I don't necessarily believe that Mokachev wouldn't take an opportunity. And to make it a fair comparison, it would be like if Mokachev was offered on two weeks notice to fight Leon Edwards, at UFC 296. I think he probably takes it.

I think he probably takes it. I think that's the only way you could fairly compare these things. Because Volka's going up a weight class once again. He's the featherweight champion going up to lightweight. I guess it's the only true way to actually determine that. But who the hell knows? Who the hell knows? Another interesting thing we got, shout out to Oscar Willis for asking the question.

Ask Kumar Usman, how's the knee? Because there's a whole thing on Twitter yesterday about Usman's knee, people were irresponsibly putting out there that they may or may not have heard Usman saying something popped and then once you kind of see it

and then once you watch the clip, it's one of those things where you almost can't unsee it even though that's probably what he didn't say. So Usman also put out a video earlier this morning,

kind of calling those people out and you know what? I don't blame them. I don't blame them. I saw some of those tweets some of who are like actual media members were putting those out there and I was like, why would you do that? Why would you just throw something out there like that? And now, especially in a situation like that

where you get two guys on a mat with a camera angle, you can't really hear much, there's thousands of people reacting to things, it's kind of tough to just throw that out there. Even if you're just like, did he say this? even if it's just based on a question. I wouldn't do that.

But that's just me. But Usman was asked about it. He said, look, knees are fine. That's how rumors start. Someone puts it out there. People jump on it. Then the doctors jump on it. I've been checked.

I'm good to go. My knees are good. And I put them to use on Saturday. And you also put out that video earlier this morning. You can check out. It's like a minute and a half long. He was pissed. Just kind of calling most people out.

So it looks like Usen will be good. to go. Nothing to really worry about, at least from what he's saying. And we got to fight. So way in coming up in several hours, I think it'll be in the overnight hours in the East Coast as it goes down. Ceremonials later on, we'll do the whole shebang, the preview show, all that fun stuff. And then we get the watch party on Saturday, which I'm very, very excited about. So let's go. Let's get to you all and see what you have to say. Do you have reaction to the press conference Is there anything in the news cycle you want to discuss? Let's get to it all.

And I'm a man of my word. J-Stat, you are first. You skipped the line. How are you? What's up, ma'am? What are your two locks for this card this Saturday? And that would be all. Two locks.

Golly. I'm glad you asked me that because I have to put my bets in this morning and then send him off to GC so he can have the graphics ready. Two locks. I would say, and answering this seems disrespectful, but I am asked a question,

so I'm going to answer it. I think Victoria Dutakova is about as big of a lock as you could get. No disrespect to Gin U-Fri. I just don't think she wins this fight. I love Javid Basharot, Victor Henry. The line is huge, kind of shocking to actually see, but I do think he wins. But I'm not going to say he's the bigger lock.

I would say the two biggest locks are due to Kovah and I think Ikramalyskharov. I think Ikramalyskaryov just absolutely puts the wood to Worley Alves. So yeah, those are pretty safe locks. And there's some big betting lines here. But some of them not, like, too confident. Like, I think Nathaniel Wood will do pretty well against Muhammad Naimov. but there is a world where he could get cracked. We saw what Naimov did against Jamie Malarkey.

He can land and land powerfully at any point of the fight. I think Mike Breeden is a decent dog play. Ansel Jubilee is fine, but I don't think he's a minus 280 fine. It's not a big finisher, and if you let Mike Breeden hang around, he can get you. He can get you. Muhammad Makhai F is a huge favorite against Tim Elliott, minus 425. I think you're probably scared to death to put any money on Muhammad Makhaiif at this point,

even though I think he's just incredible. Magamadankalayaev is a huge favorite, minus 375. Hamzat's up to a minus 325. Islam is minus 278. So, but yeah, those are my locks. Let's go to James. James, hello. I'm not going through.

James, pop out and pop back in if you want to ask questions, because it's not connecting. Let's see if we can get Dylan in here. Getting the wheel of doom. Oh, wait a minute. Dylan, do we have you? No, we don't. Oh, what?

Oh, wait, I do. Toke, put yourself on mute, Toke. I got Dylan. I got Dylan. Dylan, hello. I'm sorry about that. I was just getting the wheel for a second. Do I have you now?

Yeah, you're breaking up like crazy. And it's a little, I mean, it's MMA, but it's not. It's, but I bring him up that. It was frustrating. Oh, man. I'll try again. Yeah, I got you now. I got you.

Yeah. Go ahead. I didn't have the chance to call on Tuesday, but there's something I'm really frustrated with over the weekend is like, why do we keep matching Christian Rodriguez up with these up-and-comers, like Simon and Palo Rosa's hot names? Like, the dude's going to miss weight, and then he's good. He's good. so he's probably going to win too.

And it's just like, why are we derailing these, like, hype, hyped young names? Like, it just frustrated me so much over the weekend. And I really don't even know why it's sticking with me. But, yeah, that guy needs to make way to stop, like, match him up against some no-name or something. But that's it. Thanks, Mike. Sorry. Yeah, I get the frustration with that.

You got to make weight, man. You got to make weight. That's three weight misses since he was on the contender series. that's three and look at the same token we talk about we've been

it's not even really a joke anymore we're kind of serious about it at this point because nothing's really going to be done that's really

catastrophic we just say look you should just cheat just cheat your ass off because there's nothing anybody's going to do about it

if you're Christian Rodriguez and you're making low level pay who cares if you lose $25% of your show money if you get the second half of your paycheck. Why put your body through the extra three pounds if it's going to cost you the fight? And then you don't get the second half of that check. Why do it? You still walk home with more money because there's no real penalty here.

25% of like 12 grand or 10 grand is nothing. It's nothing if you get the second half of your paycheck. The penalties need to be more severe. Take it from the whole thing. You, win, you lose that portion of, you lose that percentage of your win money to the guy you beat. I think that's part of it. I love the idea of you lose a point. I think that's a great idea.

But if you're Christian Rodriguez, like, who cares? Why put yourself through the struggle when it means nothing? It's more significant if you win the fight. It's ridiculous. But if I'm him, I would have done the same thing because no one's going to do

anything about it. It's not a harsh penalty, it's nothing. You still walk out with more money. You didn't have to cut the extra three pounds. But yes, at this point, you missed twice in a row. His next fight should be a featherweight. Unequivocally, it should be a featherweight. I suggested a featherweight matchup on, on to the next one. They're in there with Gavin Tucker and Canada. He's got to fight at featherweight. You win, whatever. You say, hey, I'm going to take the next six months. I'm going to take everything seriously, I'm going to go to Vegas, I'm going to go to the PI, spend some time there, and I'm going to make weight. But he should not get another Bantam White fight

until he can prove that he can make the weight. And his next fight should 1,000% be a 145. And it is frustrating because he is really good. He's going to, I don't know how good he is. And I can't even call him a Bantamweight right now because his last two wins weren't Bantamweight wins because he miswain both fights. It's crazy. It's crazy. Go ahead, Toke. Yeah, man. Sorry if it's a bit loud. It's very windy out today.

So I'm going to start with this. I haven't watched the press conference in a while. And I feel like my life quality is better because there's no new narratives coming out of it ever. So I'm just going to live. leave it. So I'm glad I didn't watch today's press conference because I don't get anything out of it. But what I want to talk about were two things. First, is the Cherabutdin, I want to say his name is, is he blind on one eye? I'm kind of, because I kind of saw someone say that because of the

different color, different color eyes. I'm just, is he actually blind on one eye? Are we in a Bisping situation here. That's one. And the other one is I told you about this guy that got hired by the UFC, the new matchmaker guy from the sweepstakes. Part of that story is, yes, he's full-time employee now. And the other thing is he's made his first matchup. Because Cody Garbrandt went up to him when he was visiting the UFCPI and said, hey, give me a fight in December. And this new matchmaker came up with Brian Kelleher, which is an amazing matchup, honestly, and I didn't even think about it. What do you think of that first booking for this new booker that we hope is somewhere in the Ottenau Archives? Okay, see you, Mike. I like it. I like it. Solid

booking. Solid booking. So I've been trying to confirm with Kelleher who it was, and he kept like dropping hints on me, but he wouldn't tell me. And then I realized, why, I didn't tell me because he was going on the M.A.R. to announce it. And then the great Marcel Dorf ended up breaking it anyway. So, yeah, good fight. It's a good fight. I like it.

Well done. Magaminoff has one eye. Like, he really has one working eye. He had a, suffered an eye injury in a fight or something happened earlier in his career. And, yeah. Yeah, he's got one eye. I'm looking at it right now.

But yeah, he had to have surgery, and he's only got one eye. The right eye removed completely after losing vision. So, and he's still a damn good fighter. So, yeah, interesting story. Interesting story. I didn't even, I had heard something about that, but I didn't even really think about it over the last couple of years. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

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Mikey, go ahead. On the presser, first of all, I don't mind the pressors. The pressers are fine. If you get nothing out of it, that's fine. That doesn't mean they shouldn't exist. I just want to say, though, it just reiterates the fact that how weirdly hypocritical the MMA bubble is, right? Because they hate drama.

They like, oh, we hate drama. we hate drama but then when we have this has been a relatively mundane fight buildup when you really think about it right like obviously there's the backstory of vulcan is i'm having their rematch and all that other than that there hasn't really been any juice to the fight we're just psyched for the card you know what i mean so it's always kind of funny how many fans going like oh man i'm tired of all these like weird drama stuff and then what's the first thing the community does try to rustle up drama they're like oh marr was gonna say he popped his leg and all this stuff. I'm sitting there going like, is I read that bored?

You know, like we're just like, hey, we're trying to, you know, the bi-language mergers and lip readers all of a sudden come, we're popping out. And also about the presser, man, I'm sorry. I just, they're cool dudes just outside just in their everyday, you know, workings. But man, they're not the best promo guys. It's just, it's so, what is Islam talking about? First of all, he's like, Why isn't Volk's belt up for grabs? I'm like, because you're contracted to fight at 155? Like, why is Islam talking like he can go down to 145 and take that belt from him?

I mean, I know technically the UFC could put up the 145 belt too just because, but like, what? Like, and then saying, oh, Volk is taking this fight just for the money. Duh? Like, that's the zinger. He's doing this for the money. I mean, come on. man. Like I said, it's not destroying my interest

in the fight. I'm still psyched for it. It's just funny to see these guys try to stir up stuff to get people hyped and I'm like, really? And then the John Jones thing, like, it's really frustrating this narrative that these fighters should take these unwise business decisions

just so, just from my cheesmo points. Like, oh, look, I'm taking this fight on 10 days. Notice. I'm a badass. I'm like you're all contracted fighters. That's kind of what you're supposed to do. know, and expecting people to just take these fights just because it's just, especially when you're really not ready for it. It's like, I'm not, I don't blame fighters for just like, hey, man, listen, I'm not ready to go.

Because what, because you're, if anything, I feel like you're jipping the fans if you take a fight when you know you're not ready. You know, like, I'm not going to hold against you because guess what? If you lose, then, you know, people are going to blame you for having me. It's like, damn did they do, damn they do it. If they take the fight and lose, they'll say you have a guilty excuse. If he doesn't take the fight, you're ducking. It's just, it's also irritating. Man, maybe that's just me being the fan I am for how long of it.

It's just I've changed perspectives from time to time. You know, I remember when John Jones pulled out thinking, well, he was going to fight Chelsea's son and he could beat him. Why didn't he take the fight? But I still think he could have. It's case by case, but I feel that's one of those things, it's like, hey, man, I get it. You know, so anyways, as always, be kind of one another happy fight week. You also have to keep in mind, too, with those situations that you're not the only, one making the decision.

It's not John's call ultimately. It is, but it isn't because he's got team, he's got coaches, he's got managers and all that stuff, and they have to come together to make a decision. And they felt like it was a completely different fight. So it is what it is. It's a whole different ballgame now because there's 8,000 fighters and you'll find somebody to do it.

You could have found somebody in, and the way they throw interim titles around, like you could easily have switched that up if times were how they are now back then. So, yeah, and of course Volkadovsky took this fight with money being a part of it. Of course. The dude is getting up there in age,

and he wants to make as much money as he can and then be done and have a bunch of money in his bank account and then go on to do other things. So, of course, that's part of it. The way Islam is portraying this is that it's the only reason he took this fight was for the money. And that I don't agree with.

Of course that's part of it. Of course, Volk isn't going to be like, all right, I'll take it for free, damn it, because my legacy is more valuable than my bank account. Of course that's not true. But that isn't the only reason he took this fight. And as I've said before, if you want to throw out the,

if you can look to the future and Islam Makachov goes out there and dominates alex general Volkovsky if you want to throw out the well the only reason that happened is because he took it on 11 days notice excuse then fine but you ain't getting a fan in me because when you say yes and you signed the dotted line and you react the way that you did saying that I was excited I was smiling you take the excuse off the table there is no excuse you said yes, you could have said no. You are stepping in to fight for the lightweight title. There is no excuse.

There is none. Just like if Islam Makachev goes out and loses to Volkanowski, Volk's going to get a ton of credit, but it's not going to be like, well, the only reason Makachev lost is because he was preparing for Charles Olivera. And now he gets Al-Gyodor to Volkanowski instead. No, there are no excuses in my eyes, especially at this level.

You made the choice to say yes. Therefore, there is no excuse. The only time I would ever say there is like somewhat of an excuse is when James Krause fought Trevin Giles on 24 hours notice. That's the only time like, all right, maybe you got one there because you saved the day and you stepped in to take the fight. Other than that, you got none, in my opinion. And both guys deserve credit. Mokachev deserves a lot of credit. I feel like this is a, it's clearly a bigger risk for him taking this fight.

So yeah. And as far as the press conference goes, I don't mind them, but they need to be like half as long. We just get to a point once they're like 20 minutes in where it's like, oh, come on. Like, let's move this thing along. We're getting the same questions asked. Like literally the same phrasing of questions that we just got 10 minutes ago.

Because some people that are there just like, oh, I'm here. I have to ask a question. I have to. I have to ask it. I got to see myself. I got to post the screenshot of me asking a question. No. Just stop it.

And then the Abu Dhabi promos, which I'm not surprised about like they're there. Oh, what are the fighters going to do after the fight in Abu Dhabi? Dana, what are you going to do? What are you going to do when you hang out in Abu Dhabi after the fight? Dana's like, I'm going the fuck home. I got shit to do. I'm not hanging out. I'm going home.

And then he asks all the fighters. Oh, what are you going to do? Yeah, everyone's leaving by Monday. Like, why are you? Why? Does that sell a pay-per-view? Did that sell one pay-per-view? Come on.

That's what it irks me about this. Like, if these press conferences are like 15 minutes and we got like five questions or like four or five media members asking the questions, then like fine. Then we're good. but then it just gets too long. Just because you're there, it doesn't mean you have to ask a question.

Let's go to Australian Talk. Go ahead, Australian Talk. Good day, Mike. Thanks a lot, mate. Two quick things, buddy. So let's have a bit of back and forth. It'll only be one minute. Nicknames, nicknames in the UFC.

So we've got a one-eyed guy in the UFC. We've got a new Bisbing. So is the nickname for him the one-eyed bandit or the Cyclops? What do you reckon of those, mate? What would you choose? Cyclops is way more badass Cyclops is badass right you reckon is Bruce Buffer going to be over there

let's let's get I'm sure he will be yeah he's there let's get a message to buffer some or some way and let's get him to introduce him as the Cyclops that'll be pretty sweet also man can we give Volk some props for undertaking the hardest weight cut in the UFC because he does have the biggest balls in the UFC

and there's some heavy balls to walk around with bro and he doesn't cut weight from them. Mike, has there been anything you've seen from Volk in the past few days, which gives you confidence in his ability to snatch the 155 title away from Islam? Or have you noticed something from Islam in the last few days? It tells you Volk is in for a very rough night in the office. Thanks, mate. I don't know, is my answer.

Look, again, I get it. Your Australian talk. I get it. the balls, the big balls of Volkovsky, yes, I'm sure the hypothetical Cajonese to step in and risk this rematch that we could have gotten next year on full camps and possibly burning a bridge here is huge. It's huge. But again, if you're going to say that about Volk, you have to say it about Makachov. You have to. In fact, you can make a strong case that that Makachev deserves that praise more than Volk in this situation,

because he's the one putting it all on the line here. He's the one changing opponents as the champion on 12 days notice, preparing for Charles Olivera, who he absolutely annihilated last year. And while I think the fight would have played out somewhat more competitively, Makachev beats Olivera nine times out of ten. in my opinion. Not saying Oliver could never beat him, but stylistically,

it's a horrific fight for him. So, like, your confidence levels, knowing you already beat a guy is there, the style you're preparing for, you have a game plan, very meticulous, and then you bring in this guy

that gave you a tough fight in February. He deserves the big balls praise as well. He deserves it as well. having said that have i have i seen anything look here's the thing both of those guys are competitors both of those guys want perfection neither can it's not really unachievable in m a may but you can get close and for someone like volk and someone like macachev who longed to be perfect in there there is no doubt of my mind that both of those guys

at least for some point every single day since UFC 284 had been thinking about this fight they have both been thinking about it Volk especially I bet Volk has been I bet Volk has watched that fight a thousand times just in the aftermath of it all someday I'm going to fight him where are my mistakes what did I do wrong what did I this that and the other thing

and I'm sure Makachev has done the same even in preparation for Oliver. And I think there's a part of Volk as well that thought to himself, especially heading into International Flight Week, if you remember, you remember leading into UFC 290, Charles Oliver was on Media Row

and he's doing those interviews. And he's telling people, yeah, October and Abu Dhabi might be too soon. Might be too soon for me. And then Volk goes out and just, washes Yaya Rodriguez in just incredibly impressive performance.

He says he got the hand surgery, but Volk never ruled it out. I'm sure that Volk was mentally preparing to get that phone call. So I think that might give him somewhat of an advantage. And I'm not saying Machachev didn't rule out

some sort of shift in the plans. But if you're Volkanowski, like, there's got to be a part of you, even though they're talking about Tepori in January that's thinking to himself, that phone might ring and I might get this shot. So to me,

that's like one thing that I've kind of taken away from this is that I think Volk was more prepared to get that call than maybe Mokachev was, but that doesn't change much to me. I don't know. Like, honestly, I don't know. I have to make bets today for the watch party. I'm looking at the odds right now.

I think I'm going to bet on Volcanowski. And it's not, I'm not saying that because I think he's going to win. But I think this fight should be line. Even on 12 days notice, I think this fight because of what I just mentioned, should be lined closer. I think Volk is better than plus 225 here. I really do. I think the value is there.

I think the value is there on Volkanowski. Right the second, I'm probably going to pick Mokachev to win a decision. But I'm not fully confident in that. So I think Volk's probably the play here. But just for the value, more than anything, I honestly have no idea what's going to happen. And that's why I like the fight so much. That's why I prefer it more than the Oliverer fight

because I was supremely confident that Machachev's going to beat Oliver again. And then sort of the same with the Colmain event. With Shamiyaf and Ousman, like I feel a certain way about it. Like I feel eventually Shamiyev is going to get Uspin down. and if and when that happens, it is going to be a bad time for Kamar Usman. But Usman's got some length, got some reach. And what is Usman going to do?

Is he going to come out and try to turn this fight into a war? I have questions about both of these fights, and that's why I like it so much. Very, very intrigued. Very intrigued. Let's go to, Eric. Hello, Eric. I think when he went on the

States today, and I think Vonanovsky and I think Vonovsky might win it, and I think Izam's going to do decision. And the termination, I don't know. I think Tom's that's just going to wrestle. It's going to be a good co-me in the band, but I don't know.

It might be a knockout, probably. So, thanks, guys. Maybe. Maybe. Ushman's best chance to, to me, Usman's best chance to win is to knock him out. Keep this fight on the feet. Do not let Hamzat take you down.

Stay off your back. Hamza is going to kill him if he gets him down. He is going to destroy Kamar Usman if he gets him down. But if Usman can keep this standing, he's got a chance to win. He's got a chance if he can keep this on the feet. We've seen Shimae have yet clipped before. Gilbert Burns can hit.

but he can't hit as hard as Usen can. Usen's got a really good jab. Uspin's a very good technical striker. He doesn't get enough credit for that. The striking game has improved immensely since he kind of split time with Henry. He gets to work with Trevor Whitman and Henry Hoot. His striking has gotten so much better.

But it's crazy to say that Uspin, as such a high-level wrestler, that he just can't wrestle in this fight. You can't. Because I think even if he gets Hamzat down, he's not going to be able to keep him there. But Oosman can, and Ousman's a very good defensive wrestler. I don't think he expected Leon to really take him down.

I'm sure he's prepared for it here, but Hamzat's just a friggin' grizzly bear, man. We'll see what happens. It's going to be wild. But I think that fight's going to be an absolute war. Alex, go ahead. Alex, you're muted. All right, we'll move on.

Let's go to four-quarters. Sports. Hey, Mike, are you here? Yep. So I wanted to ask, no one's talking about the Malkamede in Kalaya fight. Do you feel that

he's made drastic improvements in his... You want both for him on the cheese? Yes. Do you feel like he made drastic improvement since his last fight against Jan in December? Just because, like, I feel like,

that could be a sleeper fight that no one's talking about. And who knows? Maybe we can see a fun, Magam and Ikelaev come out because his style before was not going to win him any fans and maybe he took recognition of that. And then lastly,

with Volcanozky, how much wrestling you believe that he actually practiced into this thing because I feel like, you know, he was just training, but if he was able to pull out his victory on 10 days' notice, is this going to be like on the level

of like when Michael Bissman ended up winning the title over Luke. All right, thanks Mike. I'll start the light heavy wave fight. The tough thing about this fight is that both guys, I mean, look, Johnny Walker, if you look at the resume, and even if you look at Aguilath, like Johnny Walker still can be fun,

but he's been way less fun. I mean, then Anthony Smith fight was really tough. The Tiago Santos fight was really tough to watch. He just got ethered by Jamal Hill. Ewan Kuchelaba basically gave him no choice, and Paul Craig basically gave him no choice, because those guys are absolutely insane. So to me, it all depends on the dance partner.

That Johnny Walker-Anthiathie Smith fight was tough to watch, man. It was just at any point Johnny could end to the fight, and he didn't, and I think that drove a lot of people crazy. It would thank Eliath, it's been really frustrating because he is so good. he's probably the best late heavyweight in the world. I would pick Magam and Goliath against most two-o-fifers. I would pick him against both Uri and I'd pick him against Uri. I'd pick him against Pereira.

I'd pick him against Jamal Hill. But the problem is he's just not that fun and hasn't been in a while. Yes, two wins against Kuchelava. One was kind of weird. got it back. Crylaw fight, fine. Ozanemir fight, fine. Those weren't like the most boring watches

ever, but then we get to the main event. They put them in a main event spot. You're fighting Tiago Santos. A guy, you could get out of there. And that was really bad. That was not a fun fight at all. It was not fun. And the thing is, this isn't bellator. this isn't PFL.

It's not just about winning, it's about winning with a little bit of style, a little bit of pizzazz, a little bit of fun. And look, I've said it, and I'll say it,

just like I said with Habib back in the day, and many people were telling me about Habib back or the day. Habib was the best lightweight in the world well before he won the title, but it took him so long to get title fights because he just wasn't aesthetically pleasing. eventually Habib got there and became very aesthetically pleasing as you saw during his title run

and we know Anka-Live can be fun because we've seen him be fun and then we get to the Yombohovic fight which again I don't think it was as bad as Dana White said it was I don't think it was a slog as a lot of people thought it was and have said publicly yon's a tough style fight for him if there's one guy at 205 that I think gave Magamad really the toughest stylistic problems, it might have been young. Those leg kicks are nasty. And if I'm Johnny Walker, I'm kicking that dude in the legs a thousand times. That's literally the only strike I'm going to worry about throwing. Just kick this man in the legs over and over again.

But if you're Magamette Ancalaia, considering where this light heavyweight division is right now, you want to get in there and fight for the belt sooner rather than later, you have to ether Johnny Walker. You have to go in there and just annihiling him. This cannot be a 3027. I'm going to take you down, have 14 minutes of control time and land 32 strikes of performance. This needs to be, I need to get him out of there in the first seven minutes and do it decisively and impressively. That's what he needs to do. And you know what? Johnny Walker needs to do the same thing after the Anthony Smith fight. So this could be fun. I understand why it's lying into the radar.

I think people see both names and then just like, yeah, it could be good. And it's a high stakes fight. But if Ankleyev wants to get a title shot in 2024, he needs to go out there and wrecked Johnny Walker. And honestly, I feel like we're going to get fun Johnny Walker here because if we get methodical game plan Johnny Walker, he is going to get run over. He has no chance of winning unless he's crazy. I think we're going to get old Johnny Walker here. I think he has to fight that way.

I think he has to be a little more reckless and just boot him in the legs a million times. But yeah, give me Magamanaic alive to win this fight. 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.

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For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Ab's Wallya. So I'm not really good. So I just have two questions I'd like to ask.

Or maybe most of I want to say, I'll start off with this one. Based on some of the way this fight has been promoted, I've been, you know, as a fan, I'm curious to see how well this fight does successfully across the board, based on its views, the hype. I definitely have a very strong feeling,

despite the short amount of time we got this fight. There's a possible chance this fight will probably be able to do 700k to possibly 1 million pay-per-view in my opinion. Obviously, that's just a presumption. But why I've said that? Because I saw, you know, the Instagram post, when the files were announced,

like Vulcan Islam got 1.1 million likes. And that's a very rare thing for a UFC file of any caliber. Maybe outside Connor or Arlesania to get, you know, on that level. And Hamzan Usman got close to a million as well. The embedded episodes have literally racked 1 million views in under 24 hours. and even maybe less than 12 hours, which is a very rare thing.

And across all platforms, I can definitely say this is probably the biggest part of the year, you know, common sense after John Jones and fighting March and Adasanias fight in April. Now, the second thing I just want to ask you, because you're a journalist for MMA. I highly respect you and what you do, your profession, including some of your other colleagues.

I was definitely noticing there's a lot of poor questions being asked today in the while and the fight. It's just the same generic, we've done stuff. But I did also like that there were some reporters asking Dana about, you know, him doing the Saudi deal to host a fight night there next year. Or, you know, there was someone who mentioned about India, which was also very nice because it kind of showed that, hey, you know, at least they're taking account or there's some appreciation for fans

wanting these events that take place in those countries. You know, then there's also mentions about maybe expanding the business a little bit. You know, I think the reporters, if I can maybe give a criticism, that's good for the reporters. I think they should focus on asking fighters more about, you know, how they really take care of themselves, rather than just the same thing. Oh, you know, you're doing this train, this and that. Maybe ask Dana about things that are not related to the same nonsense that they always get.

Because, you know, I'm going to definitely think some of them are just pressure or so forced to ask really awkward question due to the nature of Dana and his attitude when it comes to the hard stuff. And I think it's also just because a lot of them, you know, they just see this. as a whatever you know i'm just here to work i'm out that's it you know but you know that's that's really my stance anyway have a good day man look i get it but at the same time like we're here to talk about ufc 294 we're here to talk about these short notice fights why choose then to ask about india wait till the press conference wait till the fight's over

you get dana by himself just sitting in a room you and you and dana can ask him about india Can ask him about Saudi Arabia? You can ask them. But again, like, it just extends these press conferences, and it just takes away from everything. Like, I don't give a shit. Like, I don't even want Dana to be there. I don't even want Dana to be at the press conferences.

Like, I understand why he's there, and it's a presence, and I'm sure with the Saudi, not the Saudi deal, the Abu Dhabi deal, like, that's part of the package. But, like, I don't give a shit what Dana has to say. I want to hear from Hamzad. We've even seen Hamzaa fighting over a year. I don't care about any of that stuff right now. I don't think Dana should be doing the press conferences.

He can do the post-fight ones. That's the time you ask anything you want to Dana. React to the card, and then we can start talking about other things. But I think John Anick is just so much better in that spot. He's so much better in that spot than Dana is. because with John there, it's just, hey, let's talk about the fights. And I understand there's more pertinent and more important questions to be asked. I get it.

But again, as I've said before, let's save those for the post-fight. Then you have the mic. You can ask follow-ups. You can do a whole thing about it. We've seen it this year when talking about power slap numbers and how they're wrong and stuff like that. You don't ask those questions at the press conference. We're here for a short time. want to hear from the fighters.

I don't even, again, I don't care what Dana has to say. He's already said it. He's done 500 interviews about it already, and it's the same thing. He's doing promoter speak, and that's good. That's what he should be doing.

I will say this. I'll give data credit. He put Paulo over. He could have, he could have shit on Paulo. Homs up, and the fans wanted him to do it, but Dana said,

nope, dude, he's got a bat. That elbow is now. nasty. He can't fight. But I'm telling, like I've, I've been navigating for it for a while. Anik should be the full-time press conference hosts. And then we can just focus on the fighters. That's what it's all about. And then if you want to ask Dana about Saudi Arabia and Fury and Inganu and all that other stuff, you have 30 minutes with just Dana after the fights. You can ask all of those questions. Press conference needs to be boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Let's get the Fuck out.

That's how I think about it anyways. But I get where you're coming from. I get it. But it just, you got to pick your spots. Alex, I'm still not getting you through for some reason. How about we get in, perhaps. Big Mac O'Malley, but doesn't look like he's getting good connection either. You got the Wheel of Doom.

CV. Go ahead. Good morning. Question, not regarding these fights. There's some rumors going around that looks like Ceuto is most likely fighting Marab. Just your thoughts on that potential matchup if it does happen. And yeah, is O'Malley, like, does it give you confidence now

that O'Malley's most likely fighting Vera for his first title defense? Or is, I know you said there's no way in hell Sterling this. going to fight O'Malley again, but does that open a window for him to have a rematch? Thanks. No. No, that window is closed, locked, and boarded shut. Sean O'Malley will never fight Al Jermaine Sterling again. It's never going to happen.

And I've said this a million times I'll say it again. The only way that fight ever happens again is if Al Jermaine Sterling wins the featherweight. title and O'Malley keeps the Bannamway title and wants to move up and to fight for a second bill, which will drive me insane. But that's the only chance Aljo has ever fighting Sean O'Malley again. And is it fair? No, it probably isn't fair. But it's the Sean O'Malley show. He's the star. He dictates where this goes. The rumored Barab Sohudo fight changed nothing for me because the entire buildup to UFC 2992, what did I tell you? If Marlon Vera beats Pedro Munoz and shot on Malley somehow wins the Bandaway title,

those two guys are fighting each other. There's no other fight that's going to be made. It is going to be that. There's nothing else. That's the biggest fight you can make in this division. By a mile. By a mile. Nothing comes close.

And as far as the actual matchup, it's the perfect fight. That is the fight to make. that is the fight to make. And the winner should probably fight shot O'Malley or Sohu. It all depends on who wins. But the winner should probably get a title shot. Will they get it? I don't know.

I think Suhudo probably has a better chance. But Marab at this point, Marab should be getting it anyways. But again, this is not a meritocracy. This is a how many pay-per-views will this fight sell? That doesn't seem like a lot. O'Malley Cheeto, a rematch from one of the most controversial fights of all time in the Bannamweight division? Yeah, that's going to do really well, especially with Sean as the head of the poster. It's going to be huge.

A gigantic fight. So, yeah, that didn't, like, it didn't make the Cheeto fight any more clear. That was clearly what they were looking at when they put both those guys in the same card anyways in August. So the UFC got what they wanted. Ebswaya said earlier that he thinks that this card based on the views, 294, could do, he thinks $700 to a million is feasible. I don't think so.

I think it's going to do well. I don't know if it touches. I don't know if it hits those numbers, though. It's just, it's a new world, man. It really is. And the payee price is really high. Not everyone can afford to drop 80 bucks every few weeks. And there was a stretch there where we were getting, we had June, three weeks later,

we had International Fight Week, three weeks later we had 291, three weeks later we had 292, three weeks later we had 293, we get a little bit of a break here. But guess what's happening three weeks after 294? we're getting John Jones Stepe. And if you ask most people, especially the casual viewers, the ones that are going to put those numbers over the top, if they can only pick one,

what do they get to pick? They're going to pick John Jones' Steepay. Has more of a broader appeal. And as much as I love, as much as I love this one-two punch on Saturday, the 295 one is better. I mean, come on. Joan Steepa, because of the name value, because of the pedigree,

plus you get Yuri and Alex, as much as I love Hamzaab versus Usman, and I'm intrigued by it, as much as I love Mockachev bulk, too, and the intrigue of it, it ain't that. It ain't what $2.95 is giving you on the one-two spot. No way. No way. So I don't think it's going to do $700 to a million. And at this point, with the UFC and everything,

And again, pay-per-view buys are just cherry on top of the Sunday. They are getting a big, big fat check from ESPN to host this event, whether it sells one pay-per-view or two billion pay-per-views. It's all the same. It's all the same. I have no idea how it works with buys and all that stuff. But even if no one buys it, they're still making out like bandits here. But, yeah, the time of day, too, you got to keep that no account.

me as an east coaster and look I don't complain about the fight starts sometimes I do when you give us like a six fight trash main card at the apex that starts at 10 p.m. Eastern, yeah, I might moan and grow in a little bit. But 2 p.m. And think about what's going on.

We got playoff baseball. We got hockey back. Not that's got to take anything away from the UFC. We got college football. I mean, right smack in the middle of college football. There's a lot of things that can hamper the buying of the paper bill. So I think five is possible here.

I think five's possible. And I think that's a damn good number if they can hit five. $500,000? That's pretty good. That's pretty good for an afternoon card heading into your biggest card of the year. That's three weeks later. I don't think the UFC is going to be like, God damn, we only did 500,000.

No, I think they're going to be like, hell yeah, we did 500,000. Especially considering you lost your main event, your co-main event, two weeks, less than two weeks before the fights. You're going to be thrilled with that number. Thrilled with it. No doubt.

Let's take a gander at the comments here. Nothing really. Okay. All right. That's it then. We're done. We will talk more about this later on today. Don't you worry.

BTL. Damn you, Cole. Because you know I'm going to get you in. Panda, what the frig, man? Trying to wrap up. I'll get you in. Cole and Panda, that's it. Cole, go.

Was this press conference worth watching? I just tuned into this and haven't watched that yet. That's all I got. Have a hell of a day. No? No, it's not. It's fine. It's fine.

If you want to watch it, watch like the first 13 or 14 minutes and then just be done with it. even Hamzaat was bored at the end. So yeah, watch the first like 15 minutes. You get everything you need. You probably don't even need 15 minutes. Yeah. And then any pertinent information, just go to MAPFundi.com.

We already got a, we get some things written up. Usen responding to the knee, all that fun stuff. So, yeah, I mean, you could skip it. Panda, go ahead. My man, Mike. I will be short and sweet. I'm going to do the thing, though, to close out the show. I'm going to do the Jedmachut thing, the thing he did before.

I don't know if it's three belts, but it's definitely going to be two. I mean, I don't know who is going to be holding the belt in the light heavyweight division when Humzat does get all the way up in the World War II Division, but I would not want to have that light heavyweight championship because I think Humzat is just going to ragged all that person. And then possibly, very much possibly, take a shot of the third belt. Yes, maybe I'm crazy. yes, maybe I didn't eat my Cheerios this morning,

but that's how I feel. I think this guy is that sensational. Thank you, Mike. Have a heck of the morning. I mean, I appreciate the passion. I don't know. Three divisions. That means he's going to win the heavyweight title, too,

because he ain't fighting at 170 again. There's just no way. We'll see. We'll see. I mean, look, I can see two. But he's got to beat Usman first. We got to see this. He's got to fight more than once a year.

hopefully the new locale and everything will improve the travel but the man needs to fight it needs to fight more and when he does fight he needs to make weight i know i mentioned something at the press conference about you know insinuating as i saw some people like quote to be like i see you threw this out there and everyone gave me shit which might have saying like it wasn't my call that it's kind of sort of insinuating the ufc told them miss weight i don't don't. That's insane. I don't buy that. I don't buy that. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just too clear-minded about the situation, but it is what it is. All right, we're done. Thank you all very much. We'll be back here tomorrow.

We'll do it again. We'll preview show tomorrow, 1 p.m. Eastern. And then off to New York. First thing in the morning, heading to the airport, 4.15 Saturday morning, early flight. And then it's watch party central, I guess like the one year anniversary of the watch party, which I'm very excited for. And we can watch UFC 294 together. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to kick off at 1.45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time instead of your usual 9.45 p.m. Eastern Standard time, which will be fun.

BTL 1230. We'll see you then. Have a heck of a morning, everybody. Thank you.