MMA Fighting - HOAM | Kevin Holland Retiring? Raul Rosas Jr. Makes History, More

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

Kevin Holland took to social media on Thursday to tease that he's retiring from MMA. The question remains is if he's serious about it, or not. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to Holland's retirement talk and what seems to have led up to that post. Additionally, listener questions include Dana White signing 17-year-old Raul Rosas to the UFC following his dominant win on the Contender Series, Bo Nickal returning on DWCS next week and where both guys could go to start their UFC runs, what could be next for Max Holloway moving forward, Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor 2 chatter, 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: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

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

in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Thursday, September 22nd, 2022, and it is indeed a heck of a morning live. on the M.A. Fighting Twitter spaces.

She'll be played in its entirety. Well, you'll be able to hear it in its entirety. Once we're wrapped up on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network, so for those listening after the fact on that, welcome and for those who are here live, thank you very much. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a wonderful week.

There is a lot going on, despite the UFC having an off week. A lot going on. Belator is back tomorrow. All the fighters made wait for Belator Dublin. Let's be honest. Not the greatest card of all time. It should be okay.

The Dublin crowd will make up for the lack of depth on this thing. But Benson, Henderson, Peter Quilly is the main event. Y'all Romero fighting Melvin Manhuff is a sentence I'm saying in the Year of Our Lord 2020. But that is happening. rest of the card is okay. Liam McCourt, Diana Silva, Mads-Bernel, Pedro Carvalio should actually be not bad. Ciaran Clark's going to beat up, Jafiel Hudson, Brett John's back against Jordan Winski, and then a lot of Irish talent on the card as to be expected.

But for those who are looking for fights to watch, you have fights to watch, 13 of them. tomorrow at the three arena in Dublin. We are coming off of one of the more talked about episodes of Dana White's Contender series that I can remember. And the big reason is because 17-year-old Raoul Roses, Jr., not only won his fight in pretty dominant fashion,

but he got himself a contract to boot. And a lot of people were wondering about this, would they just outright sign him or would they give him a developmental deal? And Dana said, no hesitation. We're just going to lock this dude up and let's see what he could do. He was very impressed by the skill set, especially at a young age.

And I thought he looked fantastic. Because Mando Gutierrez is a really good fighter. The dude is legit. A guy that if he fought most other 135ers, dude had a shot to win and had a good shot to get a contract too but he just ran into a buzzsaw and

I wonder because I know he did some interviews talking about it that I don't care if I'm fighting a 12 year old if I'm fighting a 12 year old and I'm signed to fight a 12 year old I'm going to punch him in the face I wonder if the 17 year old thing got to him at all all the buzz was behind him so I thought maybe he could be in

somewhat good shape that all the buzz was behind the opponent and like literally none of it was on him but raoul looked great almost had some nasty submissions he told me when we spoke that he was he was ready for anything if he was going to finish in 30 seconds he'd be ready for that if he was going to go full three you try to finish the fight every second and that's exactly what he did so he gets a contract and let me just get this out of the way because a lot of people have I've seen this complaint a lot, and I don't understand why I'm seeing this complaint, so I'm just going to throw it out there. The complaint I'm seeing a lot is, how dare the UFC sign this 17-year-old kid,

but not sign Bo Nicol off the contender series, his first fight? Now, I think we all are aware by now that Bo Nickle, Bo Nichols signed. Like, there's no way he is not signed. Like, he's just, this is basically his developmental deal in a way, just two fights on the contender series. International Fight Week, Bo Nicol was a featured dude out there. He was a featured guy out there. We're doing our media, like the radio row thing, Bo Nickel was there the entire first day doing interviews with everybody. So to me, it was like this guy, they already basically signed him to a developmental deal and his two developmental fights are going to be on.

the Contender series. There is no way this guy isn't signed. Now, if you want to go back into my old tweets, I also was like, well, I think I jumped the gun like a lot of people. It was like, how could you not sign this dude? What are we doing here? If I'm Bellator, call this guy up. But then after, you know, kind of thinking about it and understanding what is actually happening, we realize that two things are going on. One, they already got this dude locked up. So there's no need to get all crazy about it. And two, they're just going to put them on another contender series card

so that people watch it. And smart move. Bo's got to get a contract. He's going to beat this dude Donovan Beard more than likely. And Donovan's not a bad fighter, but he's going to win. It's a perfect style matcher for Bo. And then he's going to get a full-on contract. So I think they already got him locked up.

So don't go crazy about this. There's no reason to get upset about this. There's no reason to question anything. They got him locked down. And if you guess what? If Beau loses somehow, guess what they're going to do? They're going to put him on fight pass to fight somebody else, maybe for a fight or two. And then he's going to get a UFC fight after that.

But I don't expect him to lose on Tuesday unless something crazy happens, like a freak injury or something. So don't get all caught up in this. Well, I can't believe they signed this 17-year. old and not Bo Nickel thing. The dude is, the dude's pretty much locked up. He just hasn't had a UFC fight yet. So don't worry about that. The other thing that we can kind of talk about now is something that sort of developed

in the last couple of hours because Kevin Holland doesn't seem very happy right now. Doesn't seem very happy. And in fact, he went on Instagram and I'll pull this up right now and just read it verbatim. him. It's going to be on an NBA fighting soon. Kevin Holland posted image that says, quote, had a good run, 30 in a little over a month, got paid, I'm out, and then says, next career choice with question marks. And of course, even though I'm on vacation, I'm like, what the frig is this? So the thread on his story started with a report that D. Rod, Daniel Rodriguez, is fighting Neil Magdie October 15th, which we have not confirmed this yet. It's a little early to

confirm, but I will try when the time is right, at least one side. And I know between the rest of the fine folks at M.A. fighting, we will figure this out. So that's how it started. He said, LOL, didn't I just ask for the scrap that's wild? And then the next one was retired before 30. now he wants to open up a car club and just the story continues on so Kevin Holland is teasing retirement of course I reached out to his team I have not heard anything back yet I don't know what to what to think of this whole thing I would be stunned if he retired but who knows the guy does have a big chunk of money he's got a closet full of shoes he's got cars he's got the dude has made since the pandemic, he's made really good money. He fought a lot in 2020. He had some main

events in 2021. And I know he got paid to fight Hamzaa Shama. I don't care of it. I don't care of the dude got paid. He got taken care of very well in that fight. So the dude has money. So if he wants to retire and pursue other things, he certainly could. I just don't know if he will because I know how much he enjoys fighting. I don't know if this fight just kind of set them over the edge. I don't know. This rumored bout between D-Rod and Neil Magny, but I don't know, man.

Weird day. So let's see what you guys have to think about it. We will begin things with Viking MMA and see what he has to say on this Thursday morning and then we'll get to as many people as we can today because I have a feeling there's going to be a lot to talk about. Viking, hello. What's up, buddy?

Just a quick question for you. Sure. I've been following you on socials for what six months or one year, became a huge fan of your analysis and the other things you're trying to do for Enemfighting.com. But at the same time, wherever on the BTL or the power network of fighting, one of your colleague is speaking about fighters in a very bad way and supporting his favorite fighters regardless and

without seeing the future competition of that fighters, his favorite fighters, he's saying his part without any responsibility. So tell me, Mike, in your eyes, is that good for a reporter or a writer working for one of the biggest website on the business or that's just his personal opinions and fans like us we should not consider who ever say stuff like that sitting on a responsible chair as a professional. Thank you, Mike. Wait, wait, wait. So what are you saying that someone says they have favorite fighters or what are you talking

about? No, that particular person, one of your colleague, is saying good things about, I mean, supporting his favorite fighters regardless of, what the other fighters said, he's saying that, let me say a name, that when Charles Olivera was in a press conference in London, and he was saying that Charles Olivera is mad, he is thinking something else about himself, and Marca Shev is going to do this with him and do that with him. him and all the other he's he's mad and are you getting me he's called he's name calling other fighters and supporting his fighters regardless i mean you know who i'm talking about okay um

thank you viking i appreciate that yeah i mean i i i'm not sure i i completely get that um i know obviously there are certain folks on our site who have hot takes, but I don't, and there are certain ones who have been shouting from the rooftops that things were going to happen. For instance, like,

I don't think he's calling out Jed in particular, but Jed has been saying for a long time that Islamachad is the best lightweight in the world and he's going to beat Charles Oliver and he's going to win the title. So Jed doesn't mess around. He just says what's on his mind. And I think a lot of us do, to a certain extent. Now, are we out here?

cheering for fighters on our shows? No. Now, do we have contents that has to do with gambling and betting and where are you placing your money? Sure. But even then, we're not like actively cheering for fighters. Now, there are certain people who have shows at our site who are technically like sort of are a part of the team, but are not like 100% part of the team. So there are certain people who work for the site that aren't journalists per se, but they offer their advice, they offer their comments about certain fighters and certain fight cards and things like that. So I don't know. Like sometimes people like the hot takes, sometimes people don't.

But what I say to those people is go watch programming about any other sports and you will see similar things. you will. If a team is not playing well or a quarterback has a crappy game or people feel like this quarterback is not going to do well against his defense, you're going to say it. Or if the Red Sox are playing terrible,

you're going to say the Red Sox is playing terrible even though you like it. Like there are certain fighters like over my career that I've always enjoyed. And this is before I became a journalist. But like I was always a big Frankie Edgar mark. Like when Frankie Edgar, the only bet I ever placed in MMA,

and this is before I was ever started working in the sport, even thinking about working in the sport, was Frankie Edgar versus BJ Penn won. And I bet on Frankie a dog buddy to win that fight. And regardless of how do you scored it, I was happy that at that time, my favorite fight of Frankie Edgar, not only won the title,

but he cashed an underdog ticket for me, which is the only bet I ever made. with MMA. Now there are things I do like betting lines and I do look at them for certain things just to see what I think is valuable at certain times. But yeah, I don't think anybody of our site crosses any lines.

Any of the journalists that work for the site, I don't think any of us cross lines or anything like that. I think people just have takes. They have reads on things. And there are certain gimmicks that have kind of gotten over that we play on. but I don't think anybody has crossed that line from journalists to fan. I think we're all fans, but I don't think I'll work favors or disfavors anybody in particular.

If Jed says Michael Chandler sucks, he just, he doesn't think Michael Chandler is a sucky fighter. He just thinks Michael Chandler's a little cheesy, and that's his opinion. But he's not going to be out there and, like, actively root against Michael Chandler or boo if Michael Chandler wins or anything like that. it's just that's just how it is it's i don't think any lines are crossed that's just that's just my opinion but i appreciate the question anderson you're up hello how are you i'm i'm a little sad about jose aaldo retiring i know marov kind of leaked the news that last fight like you always said it was just such a bummer because aldo did all aldo things and like it didn't matter and then you lose a close decision.

It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But I like that he retired before he took too much damage. And I like that Nate Diaz seems to have gotten out of the UFC without taking too much damage. And I love these guys. And I'm trying to think of things like trying to think of things they can do after the UFC that won't require them getting too badly beat up, but also we get to see more of their personalities, you know? And like I had an idea that I.

think is pretty decent, at least for Nate Diaz, and maybe a couple other guys, because Nate and Nick love to do triathlons, and Paul Felder does triathlons, and I'm sure a bunch of other fighters would do, like, do it just for fun. What if Real Fight or one of these fighters organize a triathlon and got like a deal with HBO or something to film, like, a behind-the-scenes documentary of the race and like them all training that's it's such a gimmie i feel like and nobody would have to get beat up everyone gets paid so i just wanted to put that idea out into the ether because i would watch that shit i think that'd be sick so all right just wanted to hear what you thought yeah i mean i i think people would watch that as well i i don't know how many people

but i mean anything involving nade or nick is got to draw views anyway so no matter what they do They could play a game of checkers and a million people are going to watch them do that. So it'd be an interesting idea. There's lots of stuff you can do. I'd love to see like the Diaz brothers play golf against each other. That'd be freaking hilarious. A game of a game of four square, some pickleball, if you will.

Kevin Holland that we talked about before has wanted to put together shows where they put fighters against each other in different types of competition. So yeah. I have ideas for little competition things I want to do with fighters in the future. It's got to be something that it wouldn't be like more of a sports competition. It would just be like a fun thing. It'd be something that I would want to do like if I'm traveling more and we can get venues to host these types of things.

Because I think like I got some cool stuff in mind that I would like to do. but it's just more of can I get on the road more? Can I build some relationships in different cities across the country? Can we make this happen? How can we make it happen? So it's things that I'm thinking about. I mean, technically I'm on vacation right now, but it's basically just to take a step back from everything

and just sort of recharge the batteries. But, I mean, I'd be lying to you if I haven't been creeping on the Slack channel or talking to my colleagues. I mean, I was bugging AK last night during the AEW show. So just thinking about, different things I want to do when I'm ready to return to full-time capabilities. Like, I have all these ideas in mind, but

yeah, if Nate and Nick want to do friggin anything, then I think people will watch it, but and it might inspire some other people to run some triathlons or have these different goals in mind. So, yeah, interesting. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

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Hello, Roundtable. Make sure you unmute. Yeah, I just wanted to say, thank you for letting me talk here for a second. Along the same conversation here with making history and Dublin and things, like that, I just thought over the past couple of weeks, things fell together and it wasn't, you know, the people in charge is, you know, it wasn't their decision the fights that happened over the past couple weeks, but just like MMA fans, we got to see some really good fights. Like, I don't think Tony wanted to fight Nate, and I don't want to come up with any conspiracy or any grand conspiracy or anything like that. But when that fell together as the main event, that was a good fallback option there. And then it continues to progress us into the weeks that we're moving forward to as we push towards, you know, more important fights like Islam versus two wrongs. Yeah, man.

Yeah. It's been an interesting year for the UFC. There's no doubt about that. The 279 build in that fight week will be something we'll be talking about forever. But what did we tell you on this show a long time ago? As soon as Tony was on that card, we were all, myself included, we're all scratching our heads. Like, what the hell is this? Why is he fighting the leech?

I don't understand it. I don't get it. But then as I, and a lot of other people said this too, I'm not just like, I'm not the only guy on top of the mountain that was screaming this. But the reason Tony was on this card was for the exact thing that happened. In case, for some reason, Hamzot had travel issues or, I don't know, don't think we put a eight and a half or seven and a half pound weight miss on the list there but in case something went down you had a name that can sell tickets if you need it and tony was that guy which is why when that fight was called there were no other options like i know Nate said the

leech would be he thought the leech in the suit was cool would have been a good opportunity for the leech and it would have been and it would have been cool to have that happen i know a k was shouting at the rooftops maybe that could happen we get Nate Diaz versus the leech. But we got Tony, which is the reason he was on this card in the first place. If something were to happen, he gets the hot tag and he hops up and fights Nate in the main event. And that's what happened.

And that's the fight we got. Now, if you go back and just watch that card on its own, not really understanding what had happened throughout the week, it's not a great card. It is not a great card. it's one of probably the bottom third of paper views this year

but when made that card what it was was just all the storylines being built in mate's final fight the UFC trying to put him out to pasture against this killer at Hamzaa Chimae Hamzat fumbling the bag the press conference

they shuffle the whole card around like we felt better about it we woke up Saturday morning and we're like oh thank God we're not seeing Tony versus the leech or not seeing Hamzaa versus Nate Diaz. We're getting the card we should have got in the first place. So it was just very strange how it all played out,

but it played out the way that it did. The card wasn't outside. I mean, the build was memorable. The card itself wasn't. Nate got his moment and he gets to ride off into the sunset. But like I said, if none of those storylines were known to anybody and someone just sat a random person in a room and said, hey, we're going to put this card on mute.

you just watch these fights. They'd be like, okay, it's cool, but are they going to get that person to watch again if they didn't ever watch before? I don't know if that's the one to show them. There are other cards that would definitely fit that bill. I don't know if this is the one. But yeah, it worked out great.

We had a lot to talk about. We still have a lot to talk about coming out of that card. We had Vegas 60. We get a week off. Then we got the Vegas 61 events with Janjohn and McKenzie Dern. Then we get another week off, and then we get the Aura Uzo Alexa Grasso headline card. And then we're on to UFC 280, and that's what things really start to pick up for the UFC because we got that card.

We got the Calvin Cater Arnold Allen card. We got the November 5th car, which has some good fights on at no made event yet. But hopefully they do the right thing, and they put Evoev and Bryce Mitchell in that spot, and then it's on to MSG. So it'll be a nice little stretch. just got to get through these next few weeks and I think we're going to have a nice little run going for us. Let's go to Toke. I hear me better.

But I was thinking about I saw Austin Lane. He actually, he showed that he's a real fighter. Coming back from losing to Greg Hardy on the Consentee series to now being in the UFC, what a turnaround that is,

for one. And that's just a comment. I don't really, you can expand on it if you want, but I just wanted to say that. And then the other thing, Eddie Alvarez, and you knew this was coming. So I'm just going to ask it. So what do you think? I don't think he's going to retire here, but I don't really see the fit for him because he's kind of, he would expect a high wage, I would assume, but his, his,

run with one was kind of underwhelming. So what do you see him going for here in this spot? Okay, thank you. Thank you, Tok. Yeah, if you guys weren't aware Eddie Alvarez and one championship, they have agreed to mutually part ways. Eddie announced it. Shout out to South China Morning News for being the first to report that.

I confirm with multiple people from one that that is the case as well. Yeah. I think it's probably the right move because I just, I just don't want to see a world where Eddie Alvarez has to fight Roberto Soldeach or something like that, because I totally understand and I totally see them putting that one together to try to get their new cash cow over against a guy like Eddie Alvarez. So good for him. I don't think he's going to retire either. I don't think he's going back to the UFC. I'd be stunned if you went back to Bellator, but there's definitely value there. I mean, Coker's there

now, so maybe they can work something out, but to me, I think it's a two-horse race. I don't want to see him in BKFC, but I think he would, I think he would, BKFC would back up the brinkstruck for him. But I think PFL is probably where he ends up. That'd be my guess.

I just think that's the best place for him at this point. He's a name. There's big fights you can have at 155 for him against Anthony Pettis or other guys like that. I don't think he'd do tremendous. I don't think he'd like win the tournament or anything,

but I think his name opens up some eyeballs and we'll get more people watching. So if I had a guess, and I have no insight to this whatsoever, it will be, I would say the PFL is going to make a pretty good push for him. But if I'm Bellator, why not? I mean, you got guys that he could fight. He could fight Benson Henderson. He could fight other dudes at 155. that would just be a lot of fun.

So yeah, but who knows? I would say the UFC is doubtful. Bellator's a maybe. PFL, I think, has a good chance. And I'd be stunned at BKFC didn't throw a boatload of money at him, even though that wouldn't be my first choice for him at this point. But we'll see.

Hopefully, one of us gets to talk to him. Hello. Let's go to Michelle. Hello, Michelle. Hello? Yeah, hello. So try again, man. I don't know what happened there.

I could hear you. But try again. Brian, hello. Hey, Mike. How you doing? Good, thanks. I just wanted to touch on Rojas Jr. And I know this is like the stereotypical thing to say for the 17 year old kid,

but like there are some big dudes in the Bannamweight Division. And especially they're so deep. Like you have dudes like Montel Jackson aren't even like really that close to being ranked. yet who are just behemoths. So do you think like this guy's actually going to be able to like go step for step when it comes to the grappling realm? Because there's definitely some skills on him. But if he gets a guy who really knows how to like shift his weight down on him, I could just

see him having tons of problems. And I hope the best for the kid because he's obviously super talented. But just wanted to get your opinion on that. And then also wanted to shout out Mike Davis next week. I am so excited for that fight. And he is going to knock out boardshaves in the second. around. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. Yeah, Mike Davis is very good to see him back in the cage. It's coming off that

incredible war with Mason Jones. It's crazy. Like Mason Jones has fought out the rest of his contract before Mike Davis even got back in the Octagon. And I know just from talking to Mike in that interview I've talked about a few times that never got released, that dude was so banged up heading into that fight and he was like 10 times more banged up heading out of it. Mike Davis, no one really understands what this dude has gone through. But I'll never forget that conversation. I'm mad that it never got released. There's just so much going on at the time that it never saw the light of day.

But the one time I interviewed Mike Davis, it was like for 45 minutes and we touch on everything. This guy's road since signing with the UFC has been just unbelievable. The things that have kept him out of the cage and all this other stuff, man, it's just been wild. Yeah, I mean, with Rose's Jr., it's, you're going to have to slow roll him. I mean, he's good. And I think a lot of Mondo Gutierrez, I think he's a very solid prospect out of the Michigan area. She's a good fighter. He's a good fighter.

And he beat him. He beat him. Now, had he continued to listen to his coach and try to keep the fight standing, I still don't think he would have won, but it would have made things a little more close, a little more interesting, but they're not going to throw him in there with the Montel Jackson's of the world right off the bat. They're not going to throw him in there with,

you know, like even the Ronnie Lawrence's of the world, the Brian Kelleher's. I don't think we're going to, the Mario Batis, like I don't, Rock Kahurmanoff, we're not going to see him fight any of those kinds of guys.

We're going to see him fight. And I don't mean this in like a disrespectful way at all. This is just like how, like my part, he's going to fight like the Dan. Sanos's of the world, the Simon Oliver's of the world, the DeMond Black Shears of the world,

who are good fighters and who could, all these guys could beat him. You know, the Randy Costas, the Guido Kennettys, those kinds of guys, who are all good. And he's got to be challenged against all of those guys. But they're not going to rush him up the rankings at all.

They're going to, they understand they have something here with him. and they're going to make sure he wins as much as possible or at least put him in a position to win and look as good as possible. Now, it's very tough to do in this division because it's just deep as hell. Even the names I mentioned are all very solid guys. Like Chad and Ellinger is a good fighter is like probably the 55th best ban of weight in the world. The Journey Newsons.

Like Randy's a good fighter too. He's probably a top 50 guy. So, I mean, this division is very deep. You have to be careful with how you book him, but it's going to be a while before we start seeing him in with the Chris Gutierrez of the world, who are on great streets, who aren't even ranked right now.

So they're just going to have to, we're probably see some other contender series, Bannam weights more than likely, some guys that they bring in for one-offs or, you know, they're just going to have to be very careful with how they build this guy. And four or five years from now, he's just going to fill into that frame a little bit more.

and he's going to get bigger, he's going to get stronger. And I'll be curious to see what his career looks like. Is it going to be at Bannamweight? Is it going to be at featherweight? I don't know. But I'm excited to see. It's a good move locking him down, but we'll see what happens. Do we have Mitchell back?

Let's try this again. Michelle, are you there? Hello? I don't know what's going on. Mitch? Yeah. I got you. Yeah.

Go ahead. So my question is about Y'all Romero and his fight tomorrow against Malvin. I'm not even going to butcher his last name. But I was wondering if Yowal does actually lose, that where do you see him going? Because I know that Melvin said that he's retiring after this fight. And I know that he's, Yow Romero has expressed his feelings towards Jake Paul and potentially fighting him as well in boxing.

And obviously the money that he can make from that fight if it does happen, if Jake Paul does beat Anderson Silver. obviously I know that's a big week for the Paul brothers obviously because Logan's fighting Roman Reins at Crown Duke I'm a big wrestling fan so obviously I'm very aware of that I'm just wondering if Yow Romero does lose do you think he will retire because he is 46

now and he's not really a spring chicken or do you think he has more money to make during the boxing career if he does go down that route thank you thanks man I don't think we're going to see Yole Romero and Jake Paul box anytime soon or ever. Yeah, I'd be stunned.

I mean, listen, I know that was a headline, but it's not like, trust me, I interviewed Y'all Romero myself. I didn't bring up the Jake Paul thing because I'm not going to bring it up with every fighter that I speak with because it's kind of low-hanging through at this point, but if he offered that up himself,

I'd be like, all right, cool, and we'll expand on it, but he doesn't. If he's asked about it, he'll, what's he going to do? Say, no, I'm not going to fly. fight that guy and make a big fat bag. But that fight is not going to happen.

It's not going to happen. Nate Diaz is certainly next in line. And then there's going to be other guys. It's going to be other things. And I'm sure Jake's going to want to move up to the box, like, and just box actual boxers after the Nate Diaz fight. Or maybe he gets Connor. Like I think there's certain MMA guys Jake would fight that are big money fights.

I like Yo-O. Romero a lot. He's a freak athlete. But it's not him. He's not that guy. So if he loses, man, I don't know. I mean, he should, I don't love this matchup. I didn't love it the first time around. I feel like Yol is just going to destroy this man.

But we've seen enough of Yol L. Romero to also know that this could be an incredibly boring fight. That they just really do nothing. that you all just kind of sits back and waits for Melvin to make a move and then no move is made and we could just have a 15 minutes stalemate but I don't know if he loses it's very bad

it's very very bad if he wins there's plenty of options you only you mentioned the age you got only so I mean Yowel could probably fight for another three or four years but do we want to see that for another three or four years there's something there right now.

You got to milk that cow. So you got the title fight coming up between Corey Anderson and Vadim Nemcoff. You could throw him in the mix there. And you all told me he wants to go back to 185. He feels like he's still today the best middleweight in the world. So I think there's still some milk there to squeeze out. But, I mean, not a ton. And it certainly ain't going into Jake Paul's bucket.

for sure. I don't think that fight interests Jake Paul at any at all. It'd be cool for us. You'd be like, hey, you all's fighting Jake Paul, but to Jake and most casual combat sports fan, is that going to get you to spend $60 to watch

Jake Paul box on Showtime pay-per-view? Probably not. But, yeah, but if they offer to them, what the hell is he going to say? No. Of course he's going to say yes, but yeah, I don't think that fight happens. Let's go to Juicy Bet. What's up?

Hey, Mike. How's it going? Good. How are you? Pretty good, man. Thanks for having me on. Got a couple questions for you. I'll try to make it quick.

First one is tied to some of the recent comments we saw from, like, Floyd Mayweather, regarding, you know, fighting guys who he's fighting right now at his age. And he alluded to, you know, not fighting guys who hit hard. He dropped Connor McGregor's name. And then I think McGregor responded with a tweet. kind of throwing a bit of shade to that. And just wanted to get your thoughts on that. Do you think that's, you know, they're trying to set up a second fight?

And then my second question is actually tied to the Canadian MMA scene. You know, we've had, you know, Canadian MMA fighters have had a bit of a rough going the last few weeks. I think Johan Lin Ness is one of the only ones to actually win in the last, well, Jillian Robertson as well. But besides that, it seems like, you know, sort of the lightning in a bottle that was the Canadian MMA scene back when GSP was champ seems to have really fizzled out and just wanted to get your take on it obviously the UFC hasn't been to Canada in the last little bit there were I think somebody asked Dana a question about that on the contender series but yeah just curious to get your take on the you know where the Canadian emmaicine is out any any prospects you like or don't

like or just any thoughts on that in general yeah man it's been a it's been a little bit of an issue for a while huh I know the contender series have been trying to get some Canadian guys in there. And I think a few of them got contracts, not all that familiar with a lot of them. But, I mean, they've certainly tried. They've certainly tried to get some. And a lot of the good prospects they've given shots to.

Like T.J. Laramie, I remember him being a very big deal. I remember interviewing him a little while back and just thinking, like, man, if this guy can get a shot, like, he can talk. He's got a great personality. And he was winning fights on the scene. So it's tough, man. Like, I feel like, I feel like it's constant. I just it's just finding the right person and I feel like

Jillian doesn't Jillian Roberts is a good fighter and she's breaking all sorts of records she does have a good personality if you can just kind of if you kind of just let her go a little bit if she can get out of that shell she is she is a good talker and does have a good personality but it's tough to get her out of that shell I'm a big loopy Godinez fan I know she represents a lot of different areas so to speak like She got the ties to Mexico, but a lot of her career has been in Canada.

And she got some good buzz because she's fighting all the time. She fought like back-to-back cards. And as much as she fights, she's still kind of green, but she's a good personality. She's tough as hell. Her fight IQ, not the best, but these are things that she'll be able to work on. So I don't know. I don't know if I can pinpoint. I feel like Aaron Jeffrey was a guy that

that could have been that dude for a while. Like the UFC, like he was on the contender series a bunch. He got a lot of chances. But maybe it just wasn't for him. Maybe the UFC just wasn't the place for him. And he seems to be doing well with Bellator, went in there and beat the hell out of Austin Vanderford,

just got a nice big, fat deal with them. So maybe he can be the guy. I don't know. But yeah, it's a scene that's still developing. And we'll see, what happens. And then the Floyd stuff, I mean, say what you will about the man. The man knows how to make a buck.

But I will just say this. I have no interest, none, zero in seeing this second fight with Conn. Like literally none. I could care less. We've seen it before. It's not going to get any better. Floyd beats him every single time. There's never a world. in a boxing match where Connor McGregor ever beats Floyd Mayweather never, ever, ever going to happen. So I have no interest in watching it and I have no interest in seeing an exhibition fight

between the two or any kind of fight. I mean, if Floyd wants to come to MMA and fight, Connor, I'll watch the shit out of that, but I have no interest in seeing them box. It's never going to get better. The build to that first fight was just unbelievable.

And if you're a newer fan, I highly recommend you go back and just check out the build to that fight. And if you were a fan long enough to be a part of that whole thing and to see some of the most, some of just the ridiculous takes that came out of this, I will say, like, I remember that, I remember that build very much so because I was just really getting my footing in the, like, I was doing interviews and stuff when it came to like combat sports and boxing and stuff like that. but I wasn't really writing all that much.

It was basically just an audio guy. I was just doing shows and producing podcast. That's it. But I got on with FanCited in like 20, beginning of 2016. And I got the, I learned how to write a little bit. And I remember that I had a huge project for FanCited. And I had this idea that I was just going to do a beginner's god, to hot takes because you would watch

like first take and all these stupid debate shows and Skip Bayliss would act like he knew about boxing but he knew nothing about boxing and then Stephen A would come out and say these things and it was just like the things that were coming out of their mouths were ridiculous and people ate them up they were eating them up and I remember

I would go to different bars and like hang out my buddies and I would hear these like dudes wearing affliction teeth shirts talking about this fight and how Connor was going to win because he was a self-paw and Floyd didn't know how to deal with self-paws and Connor was not a typical boxer. He's a fighter and that Floyd could lose. And I'm just thinking to myself, you people are idiots. And if you want to bet all the money in the world, tap me on the shoulder.

I'm in. I'm back in Floyd all the way. I wrote like a 10,000 word piece about the hot, the stupid, hot takes that were coming out from these analysts that people were eating up for lunch they were taking these takes by the handful and crushing them and i i got i mean i hit from different angles this is when jose and i work in a fan side and jose was a big boxing dude so i asked him about these takes i asked like a dude who was very familiar with floyd mayweather boxing guys who not only coached boxers but coached mhmie fighters for boxers Shane burgos was a part of it from

the MMA side. Like I had all different perspectives on this. And that, I remember how long it took me to write that piece. It took me forever. And I remember when that fight was over, I actually watched it with like a big group of people outside in a backyard. And people were saying Connor's going to win.

And I'm like, you're high. You should stop talking. And then they're like, oh, we'll see, we'll see. And then they kept drinking. They kept after like the first three rounds, it was just I wanted to leave because these people like, See, he's already up three rounds, already up three rounds.

I'm like, eh, is he, though? Is he really? Is he really up three rounds right now? Do you understand how scoring and boxing works? You actually have to, like, connect with punches. And Connor did connect a couple of times. But you had to have known, right, like, when Connor landed that, Connor landed like a big uppercut early in that fight,

and Floyd just ate it. It didn't phase him at all. And at that point, if you think Connor's going to knock off Floyd, Mayweather and Floyd took his best shot and just walked it off if you still thought that Connor was going to win you are out of your damn mind and then when that fight was over I just looked at everybody and they were like oh I guess you were right you guess I was right this is boxing dude this is an MMA it just it was a nightmare it was a nightmare just being around people talking about that fight it was horrible I think a lot of people learn valuable lessons

from that fight but I think we've learned enough lessons to never want to see that again let's get Connor back in the frigging octagon. Let's get him back fighting in the cage. That's what we want. We don't want to see him box Floyd Mayweather. We want to see him go in there and fight Justin Gaichy. We want to see him fight whoever. We want to see him back in the UFC.

We don't want to see him box Floyd again. Now, will I watch it if it happens? Sure, because it's my goddamn job. But I don't have any interest in it whatsoever. I might actually take another vacation that week if it gets booked because I don't want anything to do with it. None. Nothing.

It was dumb the first time. Well, it was dumb. From a business perspective, it was brilliant. It was brilliant at the time. It's not brilliant now. Floyd boxing Logan Paul was brilliant. That was frigging brilliant from a business perspective because everybody watched it. It's crazy why that everybody watched it, but they all watched it.

Let's get Floyd in there with a bunch of YouTubers. cares. It's a Floyd fight. He's going to get paid the same amount anyways. Are you really going to spend $85 to watch Conner McGregor box Floyd Mayweather again?

Would you do that? Some of us are just nuts and would do it. But, like, is there any interest in watching that again? I know we had to show about this a while ago when it was first rumored

and no one was interested in it. It's wild. Hopefully it doesn't happen. I don't think I can deal with that again. let's go to zeke hello zeke give us some sane takes get me off this connor boy stuff that was funny mike i don't know if you ever come to me for sane takes but uh good morning how are we yeah um yeah i just got a little shorter and smoother than usual of course but uh two things for you first things first i think i saw it on m mhm a fighter of course great

spectacular news network okay uh kevin holland what's going on there um this guy is retiring not retiring, fake retiring, did you just get the bag from stepping in to fight Humzot? And he's kind of flexing a little bit. What's going on there? And then, yeah, I mean, just to kind of piggyback and make you feel a little bit better, let's not have Floyd and Connor Fox. And Dana White, do something about this. I don't know. I feel like you can't because Carter McGregor, but fix this. Bring him back. Okay. Thank you, Mike. Yeah, I mean, Dana could do something about it. Hang on one second.

Okay. I put that out into the universe. Okay. So the Kevin Holland thing, we talked about this earlier. I have no idea. I have no idea. Now, I will say, because this is part of the story, apparently, because what led to this announcement was Kevin Holland's posting to his story, a fight between Daniel Rodriguez and Neil Magni for October 15th. I have literally seconds ago just been told that is not accurate.

It has not been agreed to yet. It sounds like it's been offered, but it is not agreed to. To report this as happening on this card would be premature. sure. That's what I'm told and this person would not lie to me and

there you go. So maybe this retirement is for naught at this point because it seems like that is the case but as of right now of course we saw this report. Of course we're going to look into it

but I'm told that that report is inaccurate. That fight is and I'm not saying that it's not going to happen, but as of right now, the question I asked to the person who would absolutely know the answer to this question, is this fight happening October 15th? Is it accurate? And I am told, no, it is not, haven't even agreed to it yet.

So there you go. Now, how Kevin Holland deals with this, I don't know. But that's where we're at right now. And I agree. Let's get Connor back in the UFC. Whenever that can happen. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to lux beauty and fragrance sets,

our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com. 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. Clearst values. Mike, how are you doing?

Good. I just wanted to make short quick. Shout out Chris of you. His MMA record wasn't great, but he's getting these fights that's going to keep him relevant,

you know, staying around, he's going to make a bag, and, you know, most people that have his record and his fight history probably wouldn't be getting the bag the way that he's going to get it,

but he's fighting these YouTubers. He's having a good time. So, yeah, just a shout out. to him. Yeah, man. It's Dr. Mike. Is that his name? Dr. Mike. And listen, he should be

on this card. This is a brilliant move. This is a brilliant move. And it was a brilliant move to put Chris Avila on the undercard of the Tarnwoodley Jake Paul 2 card as well. You want to know why? Because guess

who's coming? Nate Diaz is coming. That dude will be in the building. He was in the building. in Tampa and he's in the building anywhere Chris Avila or any of his guys fight. So when Nick Maximoff fights again, guess who's going to be in the building? Nate Diaz is going to be in the building. It's brilliant. It's good for everybody.

It's good for Chris. It's good for Nate. It's good for the whole team. And it's good for the Jake Paul business. You want to know why? Because Nate will be in the building. Nate will be there. And I always understood that Nate was a star.

Always understood that people loved him. but it was not until that card in December in Tampa where I covered that rematch between Paul Woodley and just understood how big of a star Nate Diaz was. I mean, that place was packed from the beginning and anywhere Nate walked, he took a thousand pictures. It got to the point where he had to have his own sort of police unit around him

and they would go to like different thing they would walk around and they would be escorted by a bunch of people because there's just so much. It wasn't like that but I don't think Nate asked for it. I just think people were like, all right, this is getting crazy. We don't want these people to get too out of control. And then you saw that video of Nate

doing the fake punch and the dude spilling his beer all of himself, which is absolutely hilarious. But it got to the point where they had to wheel out drink carts and then block off air. areas so that Nate and his team could get beers after Chris's fight with Anthony Taylor. It was crazy. The dude is a massive star. Jake Paul is well aware of that. Jake Paul's team is well aware of that. And putting Chris in that card does multiple things. It gets Nate in the building. It gets Nate on the TV screens. And it builds up a potential fight between Nate and Jake

Paul. It's a brilliant move. It's a brilliant move. If you can get another guy from Nate team on that card too you do it get that man in the building and chris is a good fight and chris is good chris is good he's fine and this will be an interesting fight but smart move for everybody 100% let's go to one toro uh hello yeah can you hear me mike i got you man i'm getting good how are you um yeah so my question was uh does does the ufc have an issue So I was just looking through the rankings one day, well, recently, and I forgot about Max Holloway. And I still noticed that he was number one ranked featherway fighter. And what my realization was that there's Max Holloway's only motivation for fighting.

Like, it can't solely be money. And since he's fought the Max for the temperature belt, what else can't. can you do? And I was real, I thought about how boxing has different kind of different belts, you know, the IBF belt, IBM featherweight belt, WBC featherweight belt, and, you know, it's like different belts that other, that boxes can fight for, that their motivation can solve me money, right? So I was wondering, like, what can, like, what can the UFC do or what's next for Max Holloway because he can't fight, because he can't fight for the belt? anymore. That's my question.

Thanks, man. Yeah, I mean, it's an interesting question, but I think Max is, and Max has said this a million times, and I've talked about this a lot on the show, there are certain fighters in the UFC and in the sport who don't need titles, and they don't

need to have titles attached to them. And one of those guys is Max Holloway. Max doesn't need a belt. He doesn't. He doesn't need to fight for titles. Max is a draw, all by himself. There is not one person in the space

that complains about Max Holloway fighting anybody. Max doesn't need to fight anymore. He's made a ton of money fighting. He makes a ton of money outside of fighting. The dude's doing what he loves. He's playing freaking video games and hanging out with this family

and he's got sponsorship deals. Like Holloway, if Holloway just retired from MMA today, he would still be a star because everybody knows him from all these different avenues and walks of life. They understand who he is and he's building a name in the gaming, with gaming and all that stuff. So Max is going to be just fine.

I think for Max, it's just going to be, it's all competitive for him. It's all competitive. What gets him excited? So to me, I don't know if there's anything of 145 that gets him excited right now because he's fought almost everybody. He's fought yeah, year. it was a great fight.

He fought Brian Ortega. He fought Calvin Cater in one of the greatest performances you'll ever see. He hasn't fought Emmett yet, but I don't think that fight would interest him all that much. Arnold Allen's fighting Cater. Maybe you do zombie. I don't know.

I just don't, like, maybe the of Loy of Mitchell winner, if they can have a tremendous showing and cut a promo on him and get him fired up. But I don't know. no, man. I think he's just, he's in fun fight territory at this point. Because he doesn't need the belts. He doesn't need to fight for titles at this point. He's not going to fight Volk again because you don't need to see it. Volk wiped the floor with him. There's just a spectacular

performance and Max couldn't do anything. And Max would be the first one to admit that. But he can go up to lightweight and fight tons of guys, just in fun fights. He can go fight Tony at 155 go fight Gaichi at 155. Go fight a ton of guys. Just fun fights. Things that get him excited. Even after he beat Cater, he wanted to be in on the, because they were doing that silly thing where Habib watched 2021,

will he come back? And every UFC shows, we're going to talk to Dana White and get an update on Habib Naramagam Adov. Is he going to come back? And it was just tune in next week or tune in after this. I'm trying it. I'm trying to get it back. We knew he wasn't coming back.

But even Max Hollow was like, yeah, I'll fight him. And Max would have fought him not even for the title. He understood how good Habib was. What a challenge that would be for him. That's why he wanted it. And Holloway's always been like that.

I just want the biggest challenges. I want the things that excite me the most. And those are the kind of fights he's going to get. I don't think he's going to go in and I think he's just, I don't know if he fights anybody again at 145. Why should he? Just go to 155 and just have. have fun fights with dudes.

That's what I want to see. And that's where I think he's kind of looking at. I don't think there's any rush to get him back. I don't think he's in any rush to get back. But like I said, I think he's in fun fight territory. You could still do him and Connor again. There's juice there. I mean, there's, there's fights for him.

But there's, you don't need titles. You don't need belts. You don't need any of that stuff. He's a, he's a draw by himself. We'll get to everybody here, I promise. Abzwalia, are you there? Yeah, hello? Hello.

I just got two questions to ask. One, you're speaking of Max Holloway. If he goes to 155, how soon do you think, let's say if he wins a few of his fights and depends who he matches up or how soon do you think he'll get to a title shot there? And my second question is for Usman, right? If he's going to face Leon Edwards, presumably he wins. Do you still think the fight with Hamzaa Tchammer? will be a very big thing or that whole hype and mystery around it is probably destroyed because of, you know, the outcome that's already happened at 278.

That's all I'll say. Thanks, man. Hey, what was the first name you mentioned? Oh, Max Holloway. Oh, Hollywood, getting, Tim getting back to a title flight. Yeah, like, let's say if he fights, like Michael Chandler, maybe, you know, Justin Gaich just to get a title shot. like how soon do you think that could happen like like you know i'll keep simple let's say if he has a two three winchre think that'll be enough to find to get a title shot and obviously that thing was the usman hamza fight like do you still think it'll be a very big fight even though like you know now the

hype is kind of destroyed because you know leon beat usman and we also hamzaa was going to be the one do that you still think it'll be a big fight and can do big ppb that's what i have to say thanks man Yeah, I do think that would be a big fight Because we've seen it a million times We've seen it on BTL We've seen it from the commenters and things like that There are people who are just not buying Leon Edwards Winning that fight

Even though he kicked the man in the face The amount of crap we got For Rankin'Leyn Edwards higher than Kamar Uspen in the pound-for-pound discussion When we did our rankings Was unbelievable He kicked the man in the face

and deaded him in the middle of the cage. What else do you need? I understand that Usman was up three rounds to one on the cards, and he was on his way to winning the fight, but he got kicked in the face and knocked dead. What else do you need? It wasn't a fluke. He kicked him in the face.

So I don't get it. But I think that's a good thing for Usman is that more people feel like he's the better fighter. He just made a quote-unquote mistake and got caught he took his foot off the gas a little bit. I don't think the hype's gone, and I think it's mostly because of Humzaa Tchamayev. Somehow, some way, the guy missed weight by seven and a half pounds,

and he's still the most interesting story in the sport right now. Every show we do, it's what's next for Hamza? What's he going to do? He's going to stay at 70s, he's going to stay at 185. Yeah, I think there's still legs there for sure, but we got to get Hamza out of fight first. We got to get him a fight at 1,000. 170. He's got to fight Colby. He's got to fight Colby. There will be no title shot for

Hamzada at 170 unless he fights Colby. If he goes in there and wipe, it just destroys Colby and Usman beats Leon. Trust me, the hype will be there for that fight. There's no doubt about it. There's no doubt about it. But we got to see what Hamzat's going to do. Are they going to book this Colby fight? Are they going to do the Paul Costa fight early next year? I don't know. But I've already laid out how I would do it. December 3rd, Orlando, Florida. You call Derek Brunson, you call Jackermanson, and you say, hey, listen, I know you guys

are preparing for this five-round fight December 3rd. We're going to pay you a little extra money for the main event. Don't worry about it. We're still going to give you that pay. We're still going to pay you that same amount. We're going to move you to UFC 282. we're going to move you three-round fight we're going to be on the main card

final pay-per-view of the year and I would main events that December 3rd card in Florida Colby versus Shemayas that's the main event you will sell that place out in five seconds Colby is a baby face already in that situation

because of how people view Hamzad yet Colby in Florida it's the best case scenario that's how I would do it That card is not good. And you're trying to fill an arena. And I understand the UFC brand is very hot right now, but you've got to put something in there.

Derek Brunson versus Jack Hermanson headlining a card in Orlando, Florida. I know like Brunson's got ties to Florida as well because of, what, Kilcliffe FC now used to be Sanford M.A. This fight's way bigger. This fights 10,000 times bigger. But that's how I would do it. But it's just a matter getting both guys on board. You got to convince.

At this point, it's not convincing Colby to take a fight. Because I think he would fight him. I mean, I've been saying this for a while. I think he would have fought him even in July. But he's dealing with all the stuff with the Mazdaa allegations and courts and all that stuff. So I get that. But I think even after the Shemaya fight with Gilbert Burns, I think Colby would have taken that fight.

Now it's just a matter of if Colby's going to, prepare for this guy and he shows up in Orlando and hums up misses Wade again, then what do you do? Then you're kind of screwed. So you take it a risk but I think at this point if he's dead serious

about it, I think for that card and that card sakes and for the division's sake to fuel the storyline heading into that trilogy fight between Usman and Edwards, you got to have a contender in place. And that's a damn good place to have it. Damn good card to do it. Get a lot of eyeballs on it. But we'll see. And then Max,

I don't know. I mean, Max goes in there and fights Chandler and Gachy and other dudes and like wins three in a row. Yeah, maybe sure they would throw him in there. Why not? But again, I just don't think he cares all that much about the title. And I just think he wants to go in there and have fun, compelling fights. But we'll see. Terrence, hello. Hey, good morning, Mike. Morning. So I was calling it just random. But in regards to a lot of fighters have been dealing with like mental health issues and like they've been struggling.

Like I mean, they're human like all of us. But one thing that I was thinking about is that the UFCPI, they deal with the physical. And it's well like they also like have like a plan to where they'll feed you and so forth and make sure you're on track with that. but to my knowledge you don't have anything for like the mental aspect of fighting I know a lot of fighters or some fighters rather take advantage of sports psychologists and things of that nature but do you think it would be beneficial for the UFC to have like their own therapists and things like that to make sure that the fighters has their own and that they're not struggling with mental health issues and things of that nature

and one of the last things I want to talk about I kind of ask in like a chat, but of course, it was running fast, so it probably didn't get a looked at. A lot of fighters at 135 for the women's division, they can't make weight. I'm not talking negative about it, but I was just thinking, though, to make it positive, you make 135 go up to 146, so that way the women aren't struggling to make weight, and you have more fights and less weight misses. I think and hearing from a lot of the fires, they would prefer to fight at 146 if they could,

but UFC is being stubborn. But if they just merged it all into one, I think that'll help out everybody. That's all I got. Thank you. Thanks, man. Yeah, like, they probably won't do that. But I don't know.

That's, that division is just, that whole thing is just so strange and weird and bizarre. and like what are we even doing here with this division at this point? I think we'll kind of, I think we'll kind of get an answer of what the UFC's thinking when it comes to this Aspen Ladd situation. Like are they just going to be like, you're banished from 35 and you're only fighting at 45?

Or are they just going to let her go? And if they let her go, then you kind of know, like, they just don't have a lot of plans for this division anymore. I think they kept it alive thinking they might have had a shot at Kayla Harrison, but I don't think they have a shot at Kayla Harrison. And I didn't think they had a shot of Kayla Harrison to begin with because they're just not going to pay her what these other organizations are going to pay her.

Bellator can empty the piggy bank on her. PFL can empty the piggy bank on her. UFC doesn't need to. They don't have to do that. You're only bringing it like, Kayla can be a star for them, but you don't have a division. You'd be basically bringing her in for one fight. You're bringing her in to fight.

Nunes, and that's it. So the money's not there, the opportunities aren't there. The platform's great. It's the best one she can get, but she's just not going to make the money that Bellator PFL is going to pay her. So I don't know what they're going to do with this division, but I think with this whole Aspen Ladd situation

will get a little more clarity perhaps, but not a ton. and then the other question with the Mets, yeah, they should definitely do that. They should definitely do that. I mean, I don't know if they do or not, so I don't want to speak out of turn. Maybe they have something like that in place, and I'm just not aware of it. But if they don't, that's definitely something that they should put in place, or at least provide some sort of avenue for these fighters to get that kind of help.

And I'm sure they do. I'm sure they do. Like people give the UFC all a bunch of crap and stuff, and a lot of it is rightfully deserved, 100%. But most fighters that I've talked to when it comes to some of that stuff, they usually can come through or at least have, we'll be able to guide them in the right direction. So I assume there's got to be something like that in place.

I've never heard, at least to my knowledge, a fighter saying that they haven't helped in that type of scenario. But again, I don't know what. ton about it. But if they don't have one, they absolutely should have something. That's for sure. Average avenues, hello.

Good. Up with a new question because freaking toadstone one. Just nice and simple. What's next for Sarah McMann? All right. Have a good day, man. Cheers. That's a great question.

So the UFC roster bot put that she was removed from the roster. Our own Damon Martin, of course, being the tremendous journalist that he is, reached out to people. And essentially, they counted this Aspen Ladd thing as the final fight on her deal. And she is officially a free agent right now. Damon Martin says, source is close to the one-time UFC Title Challenger confirmed that a fight on the McMahon had essentially fought out her contract after she was supposed to compete at UFC Vegas 60 before Aspen Ladd failed to make weight.

The belt was canceled. McMahon was compensated for the last fight. But that also served as the last bonnetter deal, which now allows her to explore other opportunities or she could just as easily ink a new deal to remain with the UFC. So this is these types of things. I'm glad this is brought up. Just to answer short and sweet, I think she probably will resign with the UFC. But who knows?

Maybe PFL offers her a bunch of money to go fight Kayla, but why would she do that at this point? So I think she'll probably get back. Who knows? Maybe she'll sign out with Bellatorre. Be a featherweight, fight cyborg or whoever, if they could figure that whole thing out. But this is like a good learning lesson for everybody

because it is important with these types of situations. Now that we have like the roster bot, and we have people really paying attention to these things, that it's important to context. dualize what these things mean. So for instance, this type of situation. And there was another one that came up recently, Mickey Gall. Mickey Gall and all that.

Okay. It's important to note that there's a difference between being released and just fighting out your contract. Because I was seeing reports out there, Mickey Gall released by the UFC. It's not true. It's not true. I saw reports Sarah McMahon released from. the UFC.

Also not true. She wasn't released. Mickey Gall was not released. Mickey fought out his deal. He's probably going to resign with the UFC. He just doesn't have a contract right now. And for the most part, it's because he doesn't have a fight right now.

So once they offer him an opponent, they're going to keep Mickey around. Mickey's still a name. Dude fights. It's getting better. It's not probably going to be a champion or anything. But Mickey's got a following and people like Bicky Gaul.

So he will probably resign, but it's just a difference. Like there are flat out releases and there are people who get cut. And then there's just people who fight out their deal and are in negotiations to sign a new one or maybe there are free agencies. There's a difference between being released and quote-unquote parting ways. But even Mickey didn't part ways. Mickey just he fought out his deal and he's renegotiating. resigning with the promotion. So it's important to kind of note the difference between the two.

And that roster bot pays attention to that stuff. And they'll put that red X up there. And it's immediately, uh-oh, so-and-so got released. And there are certainly cases where that is the moral of the story. In this case, and in the Mickey Gall case, not true. It's just their contracts expired. They fought out their deals. they can choose to go into free agency or they can choose to just

agree to a deal in principle and then once a fight gets offered, then they sign a new deal. So, yeah, a little learning lesson. I saw that a lot and a lot of people are asking about that. So we get Cleve, then we'll go to Tristan, then we'll go to Jackson, then we get to get out of here. Cleave, hello. Hello, can hear me?

Yep, I got you. Cleve. Cleve is gone. Tristan, Tristan. Tristan, are you there? Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? Hello, sir.

Yes. Just to piggyback on the Canadian scene, the person I'm surprised you didn't bring up was Anthony Romero. I remember that day when he didn't get a contract and you were annoyed and I was annoyed and you said your piece about it and I was glad that you did. And listen, Anthony Romero should have been on a Dana-White Continent. It should have been invited back to be honest. but I guess it really the way I guess the way

Dana saw him fight that he felt like you're supposed to finish the guy right then and there you have her opportunities and just turned Dana White off which is just I shake my head every time

like come on man now my expectation next year next Dana White contendency is 2023 I expect him to be hopefully he gets invited back I'm praying that he does the guy's a good fighter man

I don't care what anybody says that guy should be a USC fighter right now as we speak okay guy fought a April for what April 24th on a Philly FC what a flying need just beautiful and that's my thing man Anthony Romero should be in the UFC right now and I think he would be a I think he'd be a great addition to the UFC and a great upcoming prospect for the Canadian scene as well listen man the guy idolized GSP and you know he's just very technical just the way he fights he's not going to put himself

in harm's way to get knocked out. That's not how he works. You know, you ain't killing, you know, Volcanasi is very technical and he's the best fighter in the world. So come on. What are we doing here? So that's my piece about it.

Your thoughts about it, Mike, thanks. Thank you, Tristan. Yeah, I mean, look, I'm very high on Anthony Romero, but he kind of, he kind of painted himself in a weird corner. And it's not really his fault. It's just,

there are certain episodes of the show and there are certain fighters that come out of it where Dana will say things and then Dana will follow it up with well if he's that good then somebody else should sign him and Dana basically took everybody to task

saying okay well if he's that good then everybody should be calling him all these promotions should be quote unquote watching our show and if we don't sign somebody and they're that good they should be calling and signing them. No one has apparently called. I mean, maybe they have,

but I know I've talked to Anthony a few times and he's basically UFC or bust at this point. I don't know if Bellator's trying to reach out to him. I don't know if PFL's trying to reach out to him. But if I'm him, like, I'm definitely entertaining a PFL phone call. Are you kidding me? Chance to win a million dollars?

I would definitely entertain that call. How old is he right now? Romero is 25. He still got time. The thing is, too, since that fight, he won a split decision against a guy he was heavily favored over. Then he lost a split decision. I actually thought he won that fight against J.J. O'Conovic. But he was a minus 640 against Zach Juselah and won a split decision.

Not good. And that was on, and they put him on an LFA card. So, I mean, they gave him a chance. He was there. He was in a coal main event spot, and he didn't dazzle. Then he goes to Fury, loses a split decision. I thought he won that fight. But again, it wasn't like a dominant showing.

Nico Etchevary, that was a good dominant win. And then he got to finish against the guy who was 10 and 9, who's now a 500 fighter. I mean, I think he's talented as hell. But there's apparently just something missing. And I can't really pinpoint it. I don't know. I don't get it.

it. I don't really get it. I'm stunned. He didn't get another chance. But who knows? Maybe they did give him a chance. Maybe they called him and he was just like, no. From here on out, like, I'm just getting straight signed and that's it. He's betting on himself. So I don't know. He's a guy I probably have to reach out to and see what's going on with that. But I mean, he's close. Getting a flying knee finish is great. Get a couple more. Go out there and cut. I guarantee you if he goes out and fights once or twice more this year or gets a fight before the end of the year and then fights again next year

and finishes all those fights, he's probably getting a shot. But you got to go out and finish, man. Like that's the knock that Dana had on him and that the matchmakers had on him. He's not going out there and finish him. Let's look at his pro career. Peter San Antonio, King of the Cage, decision. Sean Felton, decision, got a submission in his third fight.

Decision, finish, decision, finish, and then it's decision, decision, loses decision, wins a decision, finish. Got to go out there and finish, man. That's what they want. That's what that shows all about. I like Anthony. I think he's good, but even if he does get signed, like, is he going to be the next big star? I don't know.

I don't know. We'll see what happens. It's kind of a mystery, though. Jackson. Hello. Hi, good morning, Mike. Sorry, I had to clock out for a little bit because a dog was attacking me, so I don't know what y'all haven't been talking about too much,

but hopefully y'all ain't talked too much about Bo Nickel, because here's my thing. I think, assuming he does the same thing he did last time, stomps over this dude on Tuesday, I know you probably don't do, you know, much matchmaking for a contender series like y'all usually do for the other cards. Who do you want to see him fight next? I think at this point, he's with a good team.

I mean, as far as just combat experience and wrestling and stuff like that, he's got experience. I don't want to see a slow roll on Bo Nickel like they're doing with this two contender series nonsense. Just, I want to see him fight big names and get up there quick because I think, I mean, if it was him versus Alex Pereira, I'd pick him right now. I mean, I think he can fight with some of the top guys. You know, anyone who's not an elite wrestler is going to have problems with him. where do you want to see him fight assuming he dog walks this dude on Tuesday that's it Mike have a good morning

glad to talk to you thanks man so we we kind of touched on this with the Raoul Roses Jr. thing about the out roar the outcry that Roses got signed but Nickel didn't and I'm basically

just clarifying that he's pretty much under lock and key with the UFC right now this is basically his developmental deal just two fights on the contender series. He's going to win, and then they're going to say, you got a contract, but at the same token,

he's already, like, kind of got a contract. So I don't know, man. Like, I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying. There's a lot of intrigue to this guy. And we think he could just, right now,

go in there with his wrestling credentials and just kill most of the guys in the top 15 right now. And maybe that's true. But are you willing to take that risk this quickly? Now, I'm not saying throw them in there to fight Alan Amadovsky because we just saw what happened when he fought Joe Pfeu. So we don't need to see that.

But there are good guys in this division, like some decent guys coming off wins that are okay. Like Joseph Holmes fighting Jun Young Park, Trashon Gore is fighting Josh Frems. Like these are guys that, he should be fighting. These are the guys. And I'm not saying

do this every time. I'm not saying just throw him in with the top 60 middle eight five times in a row. But give him a couple. Give him a couple. And then if he wins those couple,

if he treats these guys accordingly because it's going to be like a minus 600 favorite against all of them, then we move him up. And we build them up that way. I get it. Like I don't feel like

we need to slow row him. as much as we need to slow roll Roses Jr. As good as Raoul Roses Jr. looked on Tuesday, there's a lot of holes. He made some mistakes. I think he'll even admit that himself. He's supposed to be talking to him next week, by the way, so we'll get more on how he viewed the fight itself.

But I guess a controlled slow roll would be the way to go. A couple of fights, then give him a decent step up. He passes that test, give him another decent step up. Three or four fights outside. of the top 15 for sure. But if he just, I mean, if he goes in there at like his third or fourth fight,

he fights Gregory Rodriguez and just starches Gregory Rodriguez, runs his ass over, then yeah, give him a top 15 guy from there, but we don't need to throw him, I don't think we need to throw him in there with Gregor Rodriguez,

like right away. Because you don't need to. You just, we're trying to build, build this dude up. We're trying to get him, it's okay. It's okay to have the occasional,

quote unquote, squash match. That's why Joe Piper, fought Alan Amadowski. We knew it was going to happen. We knew it was going to happen. And the UFC's very good at building guys the right way. They are good at it. They are good. Look what they've done with Alex Pereira. It was picture perfect matchmaking. Picture perfect. It's beautiful. It's exactly how you have to do it. But yeah, I'm kind of in the, I'm kind of in the don't rush him to. too much role, but let's not...

You can take the training wheels. We could take the training wheels off if that makes sense. All right, we'll get to these last three, and then you get ready for BTL. Cleave, hello. Hey, how you doing, man? We have you. Good.

Hey, I was going to ask about what the next big paper view fight is what Oliver versus Michael McIllab, right? And I just wanted to get your predictions on that. And do you... I know everybody's talking about Ham's out fighting Kobe Knicks. I think that's a great matchup. Do you think that Hamzat will be able to handle Kobe's wrestling and overall pressure? Because we know Hamzat like to pressure people, but if you can, can he do that with Kobe?

And I know everybody's all crazy about how he dominated Kevin Holland, who's had trouble with wrestlers in the past as well. But do you think he'll be able to swarm Kobe like that? That's very much it. Thanks, Van. Yeah, the Oliver one's tough. Oliver McChiff, I haven't made a prediction yet. I'm leaning Olivera. That's kind of like my preliminary pick, but I could be terribly wrong.

It could be terribly wrong. But I just feel like he's on such a role right now. I feel like things are just falling into place for him in a number of ways. But, I mean, a Machinchev went in there and won a 50-45 decision. It wouldn't stun me. But right now I'm leaning Machachev. I mean, excuse me, I'm leaning Olivera, but could be wrong. And yeah, I think the questions you just asked are why the fight between Hamzaad and Colby is the one to make.

And why, if we're going to push him as a welterweight, is he ready for the Kamara Usman's of the world? That's why you've got to make that fight. So, I don't, I mean, I don't know. To me, it's like the way I view most Shemaiah fights, and I will view this. this way moving forward, and I viewed it the same way with Kevin Holland, because I actually went out and I set it into a live microphone that I picked Kevin Holland to beat Hamzaa Shama. And it wasn't because I thought Holland was the better fighter, because what Hamza does well, he does incredibly well.

I picked Kevin Holland in that spot because Shamiya had a horrible week. he seemed like he was losing between his ears a little bit and he was just a little feisty and if Kevin Holland could survive that early swarm and start running his mouth to get under Hamzat's skin and the fight got extended to get Hamzat to fight outside of himself maybe Holland kicks him upside his face

it was it was something that had to get into the championship rounds but to me it was worth like a dog look considering how the rest of the week had gone for Shemaiah. Fumbling the bag, everything that happened to him that week. It was worth a dog looked for me. I was terribly wrong and I was the first one to say I was terribly wrong

but it was worth a shot. There was value in Holland. Of course he had to get out of the first round and maybe the second, which wasn't easy, but had he done so, could have been a different fight. Now, he could do that to Colby too. but what if he doesn't? And I think that's going to be the question we're going to have about Hamzad

with all of his fights moving forward. But yeah, that's the one I want to see. The AM, hello. Hello, Mike. How are you? Good morning. I just have a question. You see 280 that you see put Sean Brady and Bilal Muhammad in the prelims. and they put Shikagan.

I think it doesn't make sense. Because those two are bigger names than the two ladies who are fighting in the May Card. Or are they just, you see, is just giving a quota to women right now? Or how do you explain it? Thank you. Interesting. Okay, so I'm looking at, I'm looking at the website right now. and they have fights like in a certain order,

but they don't have it like separated as like what's on the main card and what isn't. But as it looks right out, this is what we're to believe the card is going to look like. Got the two title fights, Yano Malley in the featured boat, Darius Gamrod, second fight on the main card. And then Chikagan, Fioro opens the main.

I don't have a huge issue with that. Only because the, you can make a strong case that the stakes, there are higher stakes in the Chukagan Fioro fight than the Balmohad Sean Brady fight. Because if Fioro wins, she's definitely getting a title shot. There's no doubt.

She's fighting Valentina Shiffchenko next, if she wins. And if Chukagin wins, I mean, we're starting to run out of people for Valentina to fight. So I don't know. Maybe they do that. But at the same token,

I'm curious to see how this is all going to be televised as well. Will this prelim card, because it is going to be like a prime timeish kind of a thing, like the way they, ABC has always sort of aired combat sports over the years, if they simulcast that, that slate of prelims on ESPN and ABC, then you can make a compelling case

that the Muhammad Brady fight is actually, actually in a better spot than Chukhika and Fioro because you get it for free. And more eyeballs are going to be on that fight than anything else. I actually don't mind it being on the feature prelim. I think you get flip-flow. I don't have, like, if that's how they end up, I don't have a big problem with it. Because there are high stakes in that women's flyway fight. No doubt about it.

Fioro is fighting for a title shot. And Chikagian is, I don't know if she'll get a title fight because we, but I mean, she keeps winning. She's going out there and she keeps winning fights. So, yeah, Muhammad Brady, that's not a bad spot to be in. The featured prelim on ESPN, maybe ABC as well. If that's the case, that's a really good spot for them. And that's a really interesting fight. All right, we'll go DJ, then a hid, and then I got to go.

DJ, hello. DJ. Unmute. Ahead, take us home, my man. Ahead. Can you hear me? Yes. All right. So basically, right, let's talk about Rosas Jr.

What it is, it's like I, so what it is with Rosas Jr. is this, right? Everyone's mad at Dana. Oh, what happened to head? Golly. All right, we'll get diamonds in here. I don't know what happened to a head. We'll have to table that, I think, for tomorrow.

But maybe diamonds can get in here. but that wheel is spinning. Diamonds are you there? Hello. What's up? Good. How are doing? Good.

What do you got for us? I'm new. So I want to ask about McGregor. What about him? Yeah, I want to know about him. You know a lot about him? You want to know more about the man himself? Or like when he's going to come back?

What do you want to know? Yeah, that's right. All right. I mean, if you want to learn about McGregor, MAFighting.com slash Connor-Dash McGregor. You'll probably find everything you need to know. It's probably 17,000 articles on Connor McGregor there. So good to go there.

You can go to Wikipedia. As far as when he comes back, I have no friggin idea. I just hope it's out against Floyd Mayweather. And there's another stupid boxing match. But I think he'll fight in the Octagon next year. from all indications. He's only got two fights left in this deal. So if I'm Connor

and we're seeing what Nate Diaz is doing right now, I'm getting in and out of there. Getting those two fights done and going on my merry way and seeing what else is out there. But it's hard to pinpoint an opponent. There's just too many unknowns. But do I think he'll fight next year

in the UFC? Yes, I do. Okay, I have to go. I got to go. I've been here for an hour and a half. I didn't think I'd be here this long, but BTL, 1 p.m. Eastern. It's going to be Jed Mishu versus Jose Youngs.

Some more M.A. fighting, infighting. Should be fun. We're going to talk about Jose Aldo's retirements. We're going to talk about the fall of UFC Vegas 60. We'll talk a little Bellator. And we'll probably have a fun little final. round as well. Plus, I'll be making it a big announcement for BTL, and it has to do with my undisputed BTL title that I hold right now as the host of the show. So that announcement coming at the end of

the program, but that is not the announcement. That announcement about the BTL title and my role as champion will only lead into a bigger announcement, something that we have been waiting months for, months and months, almost a year. And it's going to happen. It's going to happen. So stay tuned for that. So 1 p.m. Eastern.

We'll be back here tomorrow, 10 a.m. Eastern. We'll do it again. But until that, everybody, have a great rest of the day. We'll see you at 1 p.m. Eastern for BTL. And have a heck of a morning. Thank you.