MMA Fighting - HOAM | Live From Las Vegas, Where Does Sean O'Malley Go With Win AT UFC 276?

Episode Date: June 30, 2022

While there are a lot of intriguing matchups set for Saturday's UFC 276 event, there's a lot of eyeballs locked in on the bantamweight main card bout between Sean O'Malley and Pedro Munhoz. If O'Malley is able to pass his toughest test to date, what kinds of matchups would he be looking at? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck checks in from Las Vegas and takes a look at the options that could be available to O'Malley if he is victorious this weekend. In addition, listeners ask questions about UFC 276 as a whole, if there's a current champion — or anyone — that could break the all-time UFC title defense record, what the UFC could do if Jared Cannonier defeats Israel Adesanya in the main event, the futures of Arman Tsarukyan and Shavkat Rakhmonov, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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-by journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Well, hello there, everybody. It is Thursday, June 30th, 2020. and it is indeed a heck of a morning live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces shortly thereafter you will hear the entire show

on the MMA fighting podcasting network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a fantastic week. I am here in beautiful, scenic, extremely hot. Las Vegas, Nevada, of course, on site for UFC 276

and International Fight Week. It's been a busy week. It'll be a busy day. The next two days will be borderline insane. And I'm very excited for the insanity and the chaos. That will ensue over the next couple of days. Got in on Tuesday. It was a long day.

Multiple flight delays. Gone in about four hours later than I was supposed to. But that's okay. Because we're here. We made it. we had the UFC 276 Media Day yesterday, which was a lot of fun. There were so many media members at that Media Day.

It was absolutely crazy. So many people. There's probably 70 or 80 media members just at Media Day. There's probably way more than that here that we're at Media Day. We had a lot of fun. I got to talk to John Anick. You will see that interview on the MA Fighting YouTube channel. I believe the audio is.

was already up on the podcast network. Got to go backstage at the apex. He's in the dressing room area and got a chance to talk to John and had to preview the card one-on-one, talk about his broadcast partner, Daniel Cormier, getting inducted into the hall thing. And it just gets to be fired up. Just get to be fired up with these cards.

And then today, we have the UFC 276 press conference, which will feature a lot of the names that we saw at the Media Day, pretty much the entire main card will be there. Let me just pull it up real quick so we know what to expect. Let's make sure I want to give you the correct information. It's going to kick off at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific time, which is, by the way, very weird to try to get used to. I think I'm going to enjoy being on PT for a little while.

I think getting back to E.T. is going to be rough. and then after the press coverage, to get the Hall of Fame, Jose and I will be on the red carpet. Hopefully we'll get some stuff from Habib Naragameda, Daniel Cormier, Cub Swanson's there, Giga Chikaze will be there as well. And then tomorrow, I will be at the inside the Las Vegas Convention Center,

UFCX, the two-day fan experience, is going on there. And that's basically where I'll be spending my entire Friday and a lot of my Saturday, before the actual fight card because I will be there of my own spot. We'll have,

there's going to be like a little bit of a media, radio row setup like you see at the Super Bowl. And it's just going to be fighters coming up and up and up and up. So if you guys are there, come say hello. And then tomorrow I get the UFC 278 press conference with Kamar Usman and Leon Edwards. That one kicks off at 6 p.m. Eastern.

And then 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific, the UFC 276 not official the ceremonial weigh-ins will be going down as well so a lot going on this week it's going to be crazy as the grappling event on Sunday as well

a fight card on Saturday and I'm ready to go I'm excited four-quarter sports you get to kick us off hopefully my internet is good what's up four-quarter sports how are you?

Good morning I haven't been listening to a couple of shows as a late and pretty busy just wanted to know what's the internet interviews should we be excited for that you have lined up against the fighters on international fight week and yeah sorry sorry for quarter sports you're breaking up like crazy yeah i don't know what happened there we'll try to get you back in um so here's i'm talking it i know a lot of

people have been asking this is a name that comes up on on the next time after the hall of fame red carpet i'm going to be talking to daniel rodriguez he's in town, try to get an update on what is going on with him. So at the Expo, here are some of the names that are scheduled to be there tomorrow, and I'll read off Saturday. Dan Severn, Michael Chandler, Annick already talked to, Mark Coleman, Cody Garbrandt, Don Fry, Yawani and Jaycheck, Giga Chikaze, who we're going to talk to tonight, Casey O'Neill, Valentina Schofchenko, Hafeel O'Sunso, Megan O'Levy, Gilbert

Burns, Ilya, Martin Vittori, Charles Olivera, Al Jemaine Sterling, Chris Wideman, McKenzie Dern, Kevin Holland, Yuri Perhashka, Anthony Smith, Holly Holm, Chuck Ladell. And then Saturday, Calvin Cater, Rob Font, Cub Swanson, Jess Gondraj, Jan Blawlohovich, Corey Sanhagan, Amanda Hebas, Vesente Lucé, Belal Muhammad, Adrian Yanez, Josh Emmett, Henry Sos, Hudo, Carlos Sparza, Tatiana Torres. There could be more. We'll see what happens. Let's go to CRJ.

What's up, buddy? How you doing? I'm good. I'm good. You know, I had to come here and just address what everyone is saying. I'll offer $3 million to anyone who can prove that I even know what PED stands for. So I'll put them on the next to go. And it'll get right to you.

I don't even know what that is. That's hilarious, buddy. Anyway, I'm excited for this card. I just want you to call Fight of the Night. I'm going to keep it simple. Fight of the night. There's a, golly, there's a lot. I mean, I got to go.

The safe bet is the co-main events, and that's what I'm going to go. I'm going to go with Alka-Novsky Holloway for Fight of the Night. If we're going a little bit, you know, Robbie Lauer, Brian Barbering is going to be crazy. Brad Roodell, Jalen Turner is going to be real good. I mean, there's a lot of potential options here. I think Pedro Mono, Sean O'Malley, will be really fun. But if I'm just going by excitement and fights I really want to see and then I'm really fascinated by, I just don't see a world where Volcanowski Holloway isn't the best fight.

Mixing of the martial arts at the highest level. Sorry, AK. Let's go to Terrence. Hey, buddy. Hope you having fun in Vegas. Hope you don't lose all your money. I haven't. So I had other questions, but the fact that you said,

like, Holly Holmes was going to be there. And made me think about the fact that listening, Katie Taylor is trying to fight Cyborg because Holly's in, like, contracts or whatever. Then why she just let her fight. She's almost at the end of her career. And like, she just got inducted. That's not really a question. It's more of a statement.

One of the questions that I had is if he was talking about, like, things that he regret. He was like, he doesn't necessarily regret it, but he did at the time the fact that his Holocaust fight was during the pandemic. And there wasn't a crowd because the crowd would have went crazy, but he got to share the moment with PauliCosta's corner and talk crap to them. So he, like, loved that part when he looked back on it. it had me thinking about

the Matt's in Boak fight, which of course is close. They can go either way, of course. But if the crowd was there, the judges are human. Do you think Matt probably would have won just based off of the reactions that the actual crowd would have

been given? Because it would have more of a pop for what he was doing versus what Alice is doing because he didn't get as much respect at the time. And then the last one is more like a freestyle Friday type question. However, this is the last day that I can ask you this. It's the month of June, which of course is this prime month, but it's also Black Music Month. I want to know in high school, what are the artists that basically curated your high school,

if you had to like pick one or a few artists? And did they have any involvement with you becoming a DJ? That's all I got for you, Mike. Thank you. Thanks, buddy. So the Holly Hold thing's interesting. I mean, it would be such a UFC thing if Dana let Holly fight Katie Taylor, but won't let Francis fight Tyson Fury or let Nate Diaz or Connor or Mazadol,

box Jake Paul. Like, it would just be hilarious. The reaction from Nate Diaz, if he allowed Holly Holm to take that fight, would just be unbelievable. It would be unbelievable. The cyborg thing's interesting. I mean, I would prefer, if I have a choice, I'd pick you Holly Holm all day.

But Cyborg would be interesting. I just don't see a world where Chris is even, who knows? Maybe she is competitive, but maybe she isn't. I mean, it would be great for her. It'd be a nice bag, some mullah, and we like that for the fighters. So, yeah, we'll see. I'll ask Holly about that. There's also talk, Misha Tated said after Lauren Murphy fell out that she was hoping to maybe fight Holly home on Saturday.

But that didn't come to fruition. Apparently, I'll see if there's any truth to that from Holly's side when I speak to her this weekend. But. And then just kind of going through. Yeah, Izzy is, I like what I'm seeing from Adasanya. We're getting some of that cost of swag, if you will. He's, he's mentally sharp. He's ready. he's saying this is his fight's going to look like Anderson Silliforce Griffin

and you don't hear Izzy get all that specific all that often and he's getting that way Max Holloway's getting really specific too saying that he doesn't think the fight's going to get out of the third round he was fired up you can tell he wasn't excuse me a hundred percent himself because of the weight cut he looked a little bit of rough a little bit rough if we're being honest but man was still on fire and that fight is just terrific I can't wait to see what happens. As far as the scoring goes, do I think a crowd may have influenced the judges in that second fight? Tough to tell, but I've said this

a million times and allow it to be a million and one. I've watched this fight more, Volcanovsky Holloway, too, that is. More than any fight over the last couple of years, I watch it probably one, sometimes twice a month because it's so good. And if I ever get burnt out or the sport becomes a little overwhelming at times

just because it's just there all the time. sometimes I'll just go watch that fight. And it reminds me of just how great this sport really is. And every single time I've watched it, I've scored it for Volcanovsky. Scored it the exact same way every single time. Holloway won the first two rounds. Volcanovsky won the last three. They're very close rounds.

Three, four, and five, that is. Clear Holloway first two rounds, but the fight is just so good. The adjustments made from Holloway from Fight One to Fight Two is incredible. and then the adjustments Volkanowski made in the middle of that second fight. You don't see that all that often in the sport where fighters just can adjust on the fly like that at such a high level. And that's exactly what Volcanowski did in that second fight. As far as high school goes, see, I went to high school during a very strange time in the music world. It was when what was really like taking over the music world was like all the boy bands, like in sync and the backstreet boys.

90 degrees like that's what was taking over in high school but i've always been i've always been like a real old school guy um i i mean give me mark morrison's return of the mac over buy by by from in sync like give me that stuff all day even today like give me early to mid 90s hip hop and rmb and i am a happy camper we can go to the late 90s and some stuff in the early 2000s But, man, I was like a big boys to men, Mark, especially that first, the first album. Yeah, Montel Jordan. I mean, my workout playlist, if you're a fan of like old school hip-hop and R&B and just like a, just a mix of just really fun stuff, it's, it's my workout playlist. It's ridiculous.

I think we're up to like 270 songs now, but they're all bangers. They all, they all do something to get you fired up. Some you just want to sing out loud. Some you just want to run through a wall. Some calms you down a little bit. It's great. But I'm an old school guy. Through and through.

100%. Let's go to James. Good morning, Mike. Hey, with Gaggar Misosi losing his belt, do you think there's any chance that maybe he might go back to the UFC and we could finally see a fly between him and, Israel And with

kind of looking at the card, I think one of the locks for sure this week is Jim Miller by a TKO first round, which you can get that at plus 500. And I'm curious, who do you think is a

dog who's a lock this week on the prelims in the main card? And I'm kind of curious to hear your thoughts. on Sean O'Malley yesterday. I was giggling when he walked out with that attire. And to hear Jose's question about the watches and him just kind of give a smart comment of, yeah, two wrists.

I'd like to hear your take on that. And like always, Mike, thank you for what you do here. Have a heck of a morning and I have a heck of an international fight week. Thank you, buddy. Thanks, James. You are the man. Appreciate the kind words.

the musasi thing no i think he will end his career at bellator they pay him a lot of money to fight for them the competition is i mean he's got a great as far as price fighting goes he's got a great gig yeah i know he just lost to johnny ebblin it was a pretty one-sided fight it was not all that competitive but still if this is the worst it gets for gay guard if the amount of money he's likely getting paid i think he's okay there's still some big fights for him some big fights that are winnable for him. Like, a fight with him and Yol Romero is going to be huge.

Like, it'll be a very big fight for them. And I think that's the direction they will go. Yol, of course, is fighting Melvin Manhoof on that Ireland card. Coming up, I believe it's in September. I hated that fight then, and I hated even more now after Yowal's last performance against Alex Polisi.

But I don't know if it'll be an 85. Might be a 205. Who knows? But I think... The wheels, the wagons have been circled with those two guys long enough. So I think they'll probably go in that direction. But, yeah, Gagard just signed like a big multi-fight deal with Bellator. So he's not going anywhere.

He'll probably end his career with Bellator. As far as like Underdog Locks, boy, this is a tough one. You're going Jim Miller with the first round TKL. And I would have gone that direction myself with the Lozahn fights in both of them. And Jim's look good. I think maybe a Jim Miller second round for me. He seems to really get cooking at the end of these rounds. He starts really getting going, gets a lot of momentum at the end of the round.

And the second round, he comes out and just blows the doors off these guys. So it's an interesting, I think it'll just be a fun scrap. But as far as, like, live dogs, I think Julius Stoliarenko is a live dog against Jessica Rose Clark. I think the Gabe Greeny and Gary fights. really interesting. I think Brad Riddell's live at plus 125. I know Jaylon Turner is really good. That is a risky proposition probably,

but I think Brad is really, really good and super talented and is criminally underrated. But Jalen's just looks sensational. So those are the two I'd probably take a look at, but I'd probably lean more towards the Stoli-eranko

pick against Jessica Roseclocke. She's at plus 135. just scores clock a minus 155 favorite i think it's a pretty evenly matched fight and still are reico needs this one pretty badly if we're being honest let's get tristan in here hi tristan hey mike how's everything how's everything going to like this is good good man allergies are killing me this morning tristan they're killing me that sucks but it is what it is like max holloway says right I am so excited. I cannot wait into interview Tachiana Suarez.

I will be locked into that interview to see where she is right now as far as her, hopefully her comeback. So kudos to you for that interview. If you get it, obviously you will. So that I'll be very locked into that one. My question is to you is as far as what Max says about the goat featherweight and the criteria, because like he was saying, and I kind of agree with him about Jose Alva, because Jose Alva has seven title defenses.

Max Halle has three title defenses. Bokanasi has three. And you have Adasania, he has five title defenses, and Kumar Ustman has five. So I think they have to, like Bokanowski has to have, I think he has to have seven,

has to tie that record seven in all to be considered for this generation, the greatest featherweight ever, in my opinion, because I really, and I think Jed Mishu has to like this, that it's so rare to defend the time, title year after year after year.

And it means a lot. It means like, man, you, you defend that belt, man. So you're the goal. So my question is, who do you think has, like, it's probably either inevitable or the best chance to, you know, tie these records? I mean, again, I said Adasanya has five right now. Anderson Silva has the record.

He has 10 title defenses. Wokonowski has three and Max has three. Jose Alida has seven title defenses. Then Kamar Usman has five. And then GSP obviously has 10 title defenses. So out of that, that crisis, out of those fighters, do you think all of them make it? Do you think a couple of make it? Or do you think all of them actually, you know, tie the record or break the record, in your opinion?

All right, Mike. Thanks. Thanks for all your hard work. Appreciate it and have a heck of a morning. Thanks, Tristan. Yeah. By the way, Max Holloway is correct. Jose Aldo is the best featherweight in the world or best featherweight.

weight of all time. Volcanovsky, I think, could get there, but it's, it's got to be a road. And I think he probably knows that. Like, I think Volcanovsky has a better chance of being the best pound-for-pound fighter currently than he does being the featherweight goat, if that makes any sense. Like, that's going to happen sooner. Like, if Volcanowski goes out there and does this thing on Saturday, you can make a strong case.

He's the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. And it's one that I'm going to have within myself when we fill up these rankings, because the rankings are due next week. DJ has the record with 11 title defenses. Anderson Silva's got 10. GSP has 9. John Jones has 8, I believe. I don't know.

Yeah, something like that. Although Valentina, Rousey with 6, Juana with 5, Kamaro probably is the best chance. But I don't think he'll do it. I just don't know if he'll be around long enough to break that record. It seems like, like Usman's so good. Like, he's just so good.

But, I mean, 11 title defenses is a lot. And you'd have to get to 12 to break the record. So do you think we'll see who's been fights seven more times? I don't think so. I'd be shocked. It seems like he's losing interest. Like, not that he's not going to try as hard as he can because he'll try his ass off. And he'll keep fighting and he'll keep being as good as he is until his career is over.

I just don't know how much longer he wants to do. this. I certainly don't think he's going to fight seven more times. So I would, if Usman was like four years younger, it would definitely be him. Bolkinovsky's got a chance. Adasani's got a chance. But I think DJ's record, we might be looking at sort of a Cal Ripkin type deal where there's just some records that aren't going to be broken. And that one might not be broken. That one's going to take, I mean, That's a lot. With the way the sport has evolved, someone getting 12 title defenses, boy, that's quite the ask.

But Oospin probably is the best chance, but I just don't know if he's going to fight seven more times. Let's get Jay in here. What's up, Jay? What's up, Mike, man? How come a morning to you? You too. So I'm pretty sure you might be aware, but others, I know when I talk to my friends about this, but Davidson Figurato is making a whole bunch of changes again to his MMA career.

He, I guess he cut ties with Waleed and now he got Yariah Faber as his manager. And apparently now he's not training at Fight Ready. He's at Oliveira's team, shoot box in Brazil. So how do you think this is going to affect him? Do you think making all these changes back and forth is going to be good for him? Do you think maybe he got Yariah to maybe get a better contract because Waleed wasn't doing it for him? So I just want to get your thoughts on all the changes he made. And my next question is, who do you think, other than the two title fights, what fighters' stock would race from this event?

Because there's so many great fighters on this card. A lot of them are good prospects. Do you think maybe like Perea, if he beat Strickland or if Ashon O'Malley Chaos Pedro Munoz, or if maybe Dreeka's duplice puts on a great performance, who do you think stock would rise the most other than the two title fights? So those are my two questions. I'm like, thanks for everything you do. And have a heck of a morning, man. Thank you, Jay. Some good questions there. To address the second question,

I'll address the first one first. Davis and Figuerreta thing. I have no idea, like, why it happened. I have to say the fight, like the fight ready thing was great for him. I mean, it was tremendous. You saw how he looked physically. You saw how he looked in that fight with Brandon Moreno.

He was definitely a different Davis and Figurato, more patient, more relaxed. I loved what I saw in that fight from a physical standpoint. The build to that fight was awful because Fingy just tried. You could tell like he was being coached by Sohudo a little bit. I'm sure Captain Eric had had some things to do with how he approached that fight, some of the things that he said. And I think someone asked on this show,

show if maybe those relationships led to Figurator's response to the interim title fight and him being so upset about it and him taking the UFC to task on certain things where he's like, well, if you want me to stay a flyway, you pay me more money or I'll go to Bannamweight. Which in that case, like, the UFC's probably like, oh, right? So you're telling me that I don't have to pay you any more money and you can just move up and fight a 135, okay, they're not going to, like, there's no negotiation there. Davis is a great fighter, but he's not a bank breaker for them

by any stretch of the imagination, just not. So maybe all that just sort of came into play and just realized he needed to make some changes and good on him. I mean, only the fighter. There's only like two or three people on this plan who knows why he made those moves, but in the end he made him,

And that's it. As far as the stocks rising, that's a really good question. I would say Alex Paheda is probably the correct answer. I think there's people who are ready to jump over to the fence to the other side of the yard, to the Paheda party, but they're not there quite yet. I don't think they're sitting on the fence. I think they're standing on it.

Like we're doing the Undertaker top rope walk. We're trying to balance ourselves on the fence and looking for which to rat. Like, we're ready to jump. We're ready to jump. But which side are we going on? If Beheada beat Sean Strickland, that's a great win. He's getting a title shot, especially if I decide he beats Canada Air. He's definitely getting a title fight.

The FC's going to do everything in their power to make that fight probably before the end of the year. So I think in terms of being the, you know, I made it, like the I made it kind of performance. This is certainly if a Pajara, I think this is a big one for Sean Strickland as well. It's why, I mean, the betting lines are very indicative as to that. I mean, it's the closest line fight on the card. It's a, on Draft Kings right now, it's a minus 110 on both sides. It's like pure pick-em. Love the matchup.

I loved how both guys were at the media day. Pahado's on fire. And Sean Strickland was, he was Sean Strickland. So, yeah, I think it's a big one for Drick's Duplice as well. because we haven't seen him fight a year. He had a ton of momentum. And then I think this is fifth different opponent that he was booked to fight since his last fight

about a year ago. So Brad Tavar is a great opponent. Brad's looked good. Brad's had some tough fights, man. He said some tough fights. And he seems to want to make sort of a late run in his career. I don't know if like Ian Gary's stock will rise all that much unless he just absolutely annihilates Gabe Green.

But I think, honestly, this is kind of an out-of-the-box one. I think Volcanovsky could be a fair pick of this one as well. I think people are getting more on board with Volcanovsky. But if he just goes out there decisively beats Max Holloway, if he goes out there and there is not a controversy in the world, if Twitter is not like, oh, boy, the judges could be all over the place of this one when that fights over and it's clear Volcanovsky won, I think his stock's going to rise even more

because I think the more he wins and the more he keeps performing the way he's performing, I think more people are going to take notice and give him, he's getting more respect, but he's not getting enough, in my opinion. I know my best friend, A.K. agrees with that. Let's get token here. Emilio, you're on deck and then we'll go to you, John.

Let's see if we can get token here. There he is. I, Toke. Hello, sir? Hello, hello. It's Two-Step here. So I'm wondering here, because MMA is always going to MMA and we never get what we want. And this is very clearly set up to be Arasagna Pereira at the end of the year.

So what if I give you this scenario? Canoneer wins and, sorry, Pereira wins. Are we in a situation where they will just say, we can't do Adasania for the title let's just do Whitaker against Canaanier

and then still have our Perreira versus Adesania match just for an interim title maybe just to kind of put it on the big stage still because it seems like it seems like this is the only way to go

if the bricks fall in a different way than they want them to do that's what I'm wondering. Interesting question. I would say if Canada wins, they're running it back.

I mean, there's no way. They're not running it back. Adasadia undefeated a middleweight. It's been a champ for a while, multiple defenses. There's just no way they don't run that one back.

So if Pahanna beats Sean Strickland goes out there, has a great form, it beats him, and then Adasadia loses, it stings for Pajara. It sets him back a little bit, but he's in a position

where his next fight will be for the belt. It'll be for the belt. So he might have to wait a little bit longer, but I don't think they'll just go, okay, Adasani's going to fight Pahedah for in a non-title fight. Because we don't even know what's going to happen yet, because Whitaker is fighting Marvin Vittori in September. And if Marvin beats Whitaker,

then that throws that plane completely out the window. That's a great fight. Yeah, I don't know. I think they'll just run it back, try to run it back quick. And if Izzy wins, yeah, I guess you got to do a trilogy. And Panetta could be waiting for a while. So I don't know. I don't know.

But my initial thought is if Cana Neer wins, they're just going to run it back. But maybe Adasani, he'll just be like, yeah, I'll fight him. I'll fight them. I don't know. It's a good question. Let's get Emilio in here. Emilio, perhaps. The wheel's spinning, can we get them?

Come on, Emilio. There we go. We got them. What's up, Mike? It's good to hear from you again. I hope that you're enjoying the full experience of International Fight Week. I'm a little bit jealous, even though I know that you're working. But, hey, it's not illegal to also have fun and work.

That's a dream, right? As for my question, it's kind of a, I mean, it is MMA related, but not necessarily related to the fights this weekend. From my understanding, you, I mean, it's you and Jose right now down in Las Vegas, grinding blood, sweat, and tears, working your asses off. And so I know for a fact that for the last six months, you've met up with him a couple of times to work some events. from the from the rest of the MMA fighting peeps slash family

who else have you have you actually met in person I think I remember you mentioned something about golfing with Jed Meshu Mr. Hattake himself I don't know if I remember that incorrectly but I guess my question

is yeah so it's two questions one who else from the MMA fighting family have you actually met in person and the second part of my question is, is there, are there any plans at all in the future to organize some sort of get together? Yeah, that's it. I have a heck of a morning, Mike.

Keep doing what you're doing. Love you and appreciate you. And talk to you soon. Thank you, Emilio. To address the second question, God, I hope so. hope there's a meetup at some point. That would be fantastic. So hopefully that does happen.

Hopefully something gets put together this year. We could do it. And the reason for that is I have not met everybody on the staff. I have met Jose a few times. I met him before M.A. Fighting, so we worked together at fan-sided several years ago. We covered UFC 220 together, which was a good time. I met Damon in person once.

That was way before I'm going to be fighting. First UFC pay-per-view I've recovered was UFC 208 in Brooklyn, a very forgettable card, if we're being honest. But it was cool just being there in Brooklyn. I remember driving. I had to leave a day early because we got a freaking blizzard. It was horrible. And that was where I learned some valuable lessons about Fight Week and travel

and knowing where you're actually going and where things are happening. Because I spent so much money on parking. and just driving all over Brooklyn, being nowhere near places where things are happening. It was a nightmare. But I met Damon briefly at that card. I have golf with Jedmishu. I believe we're going to be playing golf again

sometime in the next month, which I'm pretty excited about. Because Mazadol, his MMA promotion, the icon FC or whatever it's called, or Gamebird FC I forget what it is, Icon FC they're having a card in Savannah, Georgia, I think it's August 5th,

and Savannah, Georgia is like a 15-minute drive from where I live, and Jed lives in Atlanta, but his parents live in Savannah, so I think he's going to come down and we're going to maybe tag team that one and just go check out some weird MMA and maybe talk to Mazadol a little bit,

and we'll probably play some golf while we do that. So I have met him and I think that's it. Alex Savas previously worked for us. I met Casey in person a few times pre-M-A flighting. But that's it. Never met Sean in person. And I think this will be the stunning thing.

My best friend, AK, never met in person. Never met my best friend in person. And I cannot wait until that day. I'm giving AK a big old hug. Spoiler alert, AK. big old hug but yeah I hope we get a meet up in Hawaii I met New York Rick

I met Ariel in person a few times Ariel is going to be here I know they're doing a meetup on Friday and I think I'm going to go I think we're going to I think Jose and I are going to stop by and say hello to the peeps over there and apparently there's a bunch meetups going on

so we'll go in say hello and maybe go to the next one because Saturdays just be such a crazy day because I'm back on the radio row again on Saturday, like pretty bright and early. So, but yeah, I'm excited to, uh, to see you guys, whoever's out here as well. Let's get Chris in here and then we'll go to UFC picks. What's up, Chris? Chris are you there?

Try again, Chris. We will try this again. Let's get UFC picks in here. UFC picks are you there? I don't hear you. There we go. Fuck you, man. That's it?

Yeah. You came in, you waited all that, you came in just to say that. Wow. You're the man, dude. We don't need this negativity. In this room, not in this house. Get out of here. We can't end with that.

Someone, for the love of Christ, get in here. Now you get me all mad. I don't know if you get mad. maybe Chris Stiles can come back in I don't know it's a weird show I apologize for like all the time changes and stuff it's just a it's just a crazy week

we'll probably do something around the same time tomorrow before the radio row thing kicks off but I don't know so we got way we also have weigh-ins morning weigh-ins and things like in that going on tomorrow morning as well so we'll have you covered

that's all I have to do is just say come on in now we have seven people you're the best Chris, are you there? Hey, Mike, what's going on? I keep getting bouncing in and out. I think I'm here. Can you hear me?

We got you. Yep, I got you now. Pretty cool. Yeah, he's the best, right? He's the best. So many friends, I'm sure. Yeah. I'm curious, your thoughts on Brad Riddell, Jalen Turner.

I was a little shocked to see Jailen Turner be the favorite, actually, kind of what you think of that fight and where the winner goes. And also a quick one for AK, listen to Otno. He still has Hafeila Sunsau ranked like 16 or 17. Seems a little wild. curious if he could kind of maybe go in on that. Thanks. Thank you, Chris.

Well, you know what, A.K.? Let's give you a chance to defend that ranking. How are you, my best friend? Best friend. I'm sending you a virtual hug until the day that we can meet. Excellent. Received, sir. Received.

First of all, wait, so with, I, that one person who just called in, that, was that, did they just, did that, they popped in and swore at you? they said f you uh okay well first of all to that guy uh fuck you uh that's uh yeah just just that's exactly rewrite we don't want to listen we're not we're not here to be negative mike you're right that's why i called in we want to end uh i'll adjust the sound thing too yeah uh people just know i'm pretty rigid with my rankings um so it kind of sucks for a lot of fighters because like obviously the easiest way to jump up is to get a match up with someone that is ranked you beat them you take their spot and you I mean so um you have a guy like a son sao sorry

i don't have his like recent fights off top of my head but he's mostly been fighting like other veterans and flying down that way so he hasn't like dropped below a lot of people even though he is on a considerable like losing streak so i still have him over guys like i should change this is going to make feel so mad. I currently have him over guys like Sean O'Malley, Umar, Jack Shore, Douglas Selvedehan drives, and Sergei Morozov.

That's like the guys. And the funny thing is, obviously, if he was matched up with a lot of those guys, I would favor them. So for me, it's like, I just need to see more of a resume. I want to see a lot of some of these guys still need, like, a signature win. But I understand completely if you have guys like O'Malley, Nirmar, Jack Shore already,

like your top, like top 10 to 20. I totally understand that. But yeah, I mean, us and Sal was probably one loss away or one of these guys behind and one big one away from jumping up. So my ranking is a little wonky. Frankie Edgar's still in there, so there you go. If that wants to give you guys some idea of how messed up my rankings are. But yeah, listen, I don't know if I'm the last call,

but I just end on a positive note and, of course, say, Mike, you're doing an amazing job. Vegas, Mike, might be the best version of Mike we've seen yet. I don't know. they're all spectacular uh you know south carolina mike florida mike obviously a big favorite and uh i can't believe i'm saying this but original flavor uh boston mike is you know the mic we all fell in love with so how can i you know as much as i trash the new england era area excuse me how can i say anything bad about that so mike you're doing an amazing job forget that guy um sorry you brought it up but uh thank

you thank you sir for the fine work that you've always provided what a guy that's why he's the best friend, folks. A. K. Lee, given the response. So here's the Sunsau's recent run. He had, from January 2017, went over Al Jemaine Sterling, went over Marlon Marais, went over Matthew Lopez,

went over Rob Fon. Nice little streak. Then he gets Marlon Maraise again, gets choked out in the first round, loses to Corey Sanhagen, gets finished violently by Cody Garbrandt, and then it was, out for about a year and a half.

Last saw him in December and he got knocked up by Ricky Simone. But apparently he's here and I'm excited to check in with Mr. Ossonso at some point this weekend and see where he he's at, where he's going, etc. Let's get

Dean in here. Dean are you there? Yes, sir. How are you doing? How are you doing, Mike? Doing good. All right, I got a question. How do you feel about Sean O'Malley being a three-to-one favorite? over Pedro.

I kind of, I think Sean should be the favorite, but I feel that that's kind of big for this much of a step. Yeah, it's a great question. It's a really interesting fight. And I thought, I thought Sean O'Malley stole the show at the media day yesterday. He was, I mean, just the suit, the purple suit, the hair, the shades, the, uh,

the two watches was just the best. Because everybody noticed it. He was Asabar, right away and then Jose was like is there a reason you have two watches on and he goes yeah I have two wrists and how can you argue with that answer just fantastic

it's a good fight I think I think there's a re it's where we're at yeah mys 300 for O'Malley come back on Pedro's plus 250 I just think Sean is so many ways to win this fight Pedro's good Pedro can leg kick

so that could be interesting but Sean is very well aware that that is most people's game plans when you fight him is you want to attack the legs but Pedro does it so effectively he's so durable doesn't get finished doesn't get knocked out

the dude just could scrap and he could take punishment guy could just take punishment the Jose Aldo fight is a great fight high level we knew all the one there was like no controversy it wasn't like oh this we're going to split decision city

there's such a high level fight it's really, really good. But this is perfect matchmaking. This is exactly this is exactly what you do with Sean O'Malley right now. This is the type of fight you give him.

A veteran name. Give him a test inside the top 10. And here's the thing that I'm most curious about in this situation. The thing about fighting shot O'Malley is it's a very physical thing. And O'Malley is just such an interesting puzzle because he's so big

and he's so lanky and that reach and everything about him. The fact that he makes 135 is just nuts. But the thing about fighting guy like Sean O'Malley is you have to deal with the buzz and the energy that comes with that. And some fighters

can deal with that. Marlon Verre could deal with that all day long and twice on Sunday. Marlon Verre doesn't get rattled by anything. But you've seen guys get in that cage with Sean O'Malley with the buzz, the fight week hype, the buildup, the extra media you got to do, everything that becomes attached to it.

And it can just rattle you. It can rattle you. Thomas Almeida was rattled in there. Haliang Piva was rattled in there. And remember that? Remember when that fight happened in December? People were giving Holly and Piva a shot because he had beat Kyler Phillips and they felt that there were certain parts of his game that could give O'Malley problems.

and you can just tell he was done. He was beat quick. As soon as he got in that cage, there's just a different energy that O'Malley Briggs. And you could say that about fighting a guy like Patty Pimbled or something like that. Like sometimes you just get in that zone, you have to deal with him for a week,

everything that comes with that. And by the time you get in there, it's just exhausting. But Pager's not going to get rattled by any of that stuff. So I'm curious to see how that factor plays into it because the moment's not going to be too big for Pedro as it was for other guys that Sean O'Malley has fought. So that is a very curious thing is the mental side.

I think it's going to be a great fight. I think we're probably going to see the cards on this one, but I think it's going to be a great fight. Let's go to Alex True. Alex, hello. Hey, what's going on, Mike? Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. Awesome.

Hey, just quickly, I mean, who would have guessed the printed positivity dropping F bombs in the beginning of a heck of a morning today? I mean, that's something, you know, it's you know, see on the bingo board every, every so often. What a show. Don't, don't, don't, don't say things to me. Okay, we'll sit back and relax.

Hey, that's crazy. A pit bull out on, I see. I was going to wait until next week because I know everybody has their eyes set on the big pay-per-view this weekend, but something I've been thinking about and hopefully maybe can give me a little clarity on it. You know, we saw Umar just take Nate Maness

and treat him like his little brother for 15 minutes. And it got me thinking like, what is in it for Nate? to accept that fight, you know, does the UFC basically tell them it's this fight or you're done? Or is it like a back room shaking the hand and say, all right, you take this fight and we're going to give you a layup next time or, you know, I just don't see the, you know, there's besides the paycheck, I guess. What is in it for Nate? And I guess I'll let it be at that. Appreciate it, Mike.

Thanks, man. Yeah, I, that's a tough fight for anybody. And unfortunately for Nate, he just, he's trying, listen, listen, Nate's trying to climb the ranks, and he's in a division that it's just so loaded and so deep that, like, these are the fights. Like, if you're on any kind of a streak, these are the guys you have to fight.

You're going to have to fight the Umars, the Chris Gutierrez's, the Adrian Yizes, the Davy Grants, like those just tough fights that have such high risk and kind of low reward from name value because they're not like big stars. they don't have, they're not ranked for the most part.

And it's just tough. You don't really have much of a say. Now, if Nate Manus was like ranked number 11 at the time and they offer him, Umar, maybe we're having a different conversation. But Nate has probably saw the name was like, all right, I guess I'll have to fight this guy. I'm sure there's no hesitation for him to take that fight. But there are very few fights that happened where I just legit feel bad for a fighter. I felt really bad for Nate Manus on Saturday.

That was just a tough night at the office because the way I expected that fight to have, happen and go down was i just thought Nate was going to take him down take his back and excuse me umar was going to take him down take his back and spin him in the first round and while that stings the ego a little bit it's not a horrible night at the office you get taken down smushed a little bit

back taken rear naked choke tap tap you're done go home eat some pizza hang out the fam all good but umar just broke this man there's 15 minutes of hell it was torture you just felt so bad for the guy and there's nothing he could do

nothing nothing you could do you could make a strong case there were three 10, 8 rounds in that fight that's just a horrible night at the office so good for Dave for sticking it out I'm sure he'll be rewarded with something but I mean

135 is just super tough right now like who maybe fights like a Montel Jackson or something I mean geez Louise Mario Batista, I mean, there's no easy one here. And some of them are just a little bit tougher. And some of them are like Umar, which a lot of bit tougher. God, that was, that was such a great performance. Let's go to T.

What's up, T? Make sure you unmute and I think we got you. T. All right. T, jump back in. Try again. I'll get you in. Let's get my man Zeke in here.

What's up, Zeke? Mike, what's going on? Just returned back home. Going to be short and sweet for sure. Just kind of following up what you were talking about. I just see a really, really, really rough time for Pedro closing the distance this weekend. Just because Sean's going to have, you know, such a freakish length and height advantage. I think this is kind of like a picture-perfect Sean O'Malley matchup.

And I really expect him to put on a show. So that being said, I know I'm overstepping. If he does put on a show, I'm like looking in this, you know, division and how it's shaping up. If my name's Naraga Madoff, I'm keeping it at Ashon O'Malley's mouth, of course. I wouldn't want to fight anything that can grapple. However, maybe a Cheeto Vera call out number two so I could shut up about the fact that obviously he didn't beat him in that fight. But I think you've got a chance to if he doesn't take that Rob bump beating and, you know, makes it really hard for Cheeto Vera to close the distance, even though Cheeto has, you know, that freakish length, kind of like a chimpanzee almost.

But yeah, what do you think is next for Sean if Sean does roll through, Pedro? Thank you for everything you guys are doing out there in Vegas. This is awesome. I literally, you know, breathe and live off this stuff, all the content you guys put out. So thank you. And yeah, let's get after it this weekend. Thanks, Zeke. Always a pleasure.

Yeah, I mean, what's next for Sean? I mean, he laid it out. he was asked what would make sense he likes everything from he likes the Adrian Yana's idea had some really good things to say about Yannas and his performance against Tony Kelly maybe they go that route

I don't think they will but Sean seems interested in it and he would fight him right now he said Vera I think they'll get there at some point Vera is obviously fighting Dominic Cruz in about a month and a half so I don't know maybe maybe there's time to swing those

but if Marlon beats Dominic Cruz, I don't think he's going to want to fight Sean O'Malley because it'll probably be another win away from the belt unless they're really willing to give O'Malley that kind of a fight, like a number one contender fight, but that would just be kind of strange, considering whether this division looks like. So there were two names that he kind of said that stood out to me.

One was, as he said, Faw Brant, because that's how he mistakenly called him out to enter the win over Christmino, I think. I think it was after the Mutinyo fight, called him Fawbrant. But the Rob Fod fight actually makes a lot of sense to me. And the other name he said was, I know there's this Russian guy who says nobody wants to fight him.

He's, of course, talking about Piotr-Yon. And if they can't put Piotr-Jon versus Henry Sehudo together, which is absolutely the fight to make, that could be an interesting one as well. Because Jan needs something. This division is all pretty much booked up up the top. So if Sean O'Malley wins and he wants to turn around relatively fast, maybe in the fall.

Maybe you could do that fight. But Fon would be the guy to me, but Fon also took a big beating and that borrowed Vera fight. So I'm not sure how long he'll be on the sidelines for. But we'll find out because I'll probably talk to Ruff On on Saturday, it looks like. All right, T, let's try this again.

Yeah, I got a phone call right as you put me in. Of course, I don't know what that timing was. But it's the best. Always, always incredible. And whoever said the thing about the sinuses and allergies right now. Hudson Valley, the worst area for it. It is God off for it now.

Anyways, happy birthday, AK. Got to get it in. Nobody said, yeah, I don't think so. There's got to be somebody. And I got two things. We haven't really talked about what happens with prayer if he loses and what they do next for that. And another thing, what's the move this weekend?

Are you guys doing, like, post-vite show and stuff? Just wondering about that. Anyway, thank you. Thanks, Steve. So we're going to do, We're going to do preview show. I think time TBD, but I think it's going to happen earlier than usual. I think it's going to happen maybe right after morning weigh-ins.

I think we're going to do the preview show. Unless the schedule has changed, I don't know, because I'm not going to be on it. Jose will be on it because I'll be at the Expo doing the radio row thing. I have no idea what my day is going to look like. We will do post-fight show. I'll probably be on for that backstage. We'll do the press conference show. We'll stream it.

Casey and I will chat in between. We'll do the People's Free Fight show. I don't think I'll be on that. But I think Jen Mishu is actually going to host that this weekend. So all the stuff that we normally do, we're doing all of it. The only thing that may not happen, because I think we'll do the show tomorrow morning at some point. The only show that probably it's looking unlikely at this point,

although I could be wrong. Maybe we sneak something out. But the time difference is a real thing. I don't think we're going to do BTL this week. If we do, it'll just be like, hey, Jed, what are you doing for the next hour? Nothing? Okay, let's hit record and go and just talk about stuff. Which are some of my favorite episodes.

I just, I don't know with everything going on with the presser, with the, with the Hall fame tonight and everything. I just don't know if we're going to have time to do it. So we'll see. So everything will be the same. I think BTL will be the one thing that, probably won't happen at this point, but maybe you will. James, how are you?

I'm good. How are you, Mike? Good, sir. All right. Firstly, I want to apologize to A.K. Lee, because when I sent my Ot, and No picks, I match made for Phil Hawes and Chris Curtis. Oh, no. Brutal. Not only should he not have read my picks, I think I should have to serve.

hard time in federal prison for that. You weren't alone, James. You all got AK-fire. I'm going to blame it on lack of sleep because the alternative hurts too badly. True. But what I wanted to ask you is I thought we saw some great fights last week.

We've been on a good little run here, but last weekend, we had Armand Sarukian and Shabkat, Rock. Monov, who I think are great prospects. What I wanted to ask you is, if you had to prognosticate which one of those two will have a better career when it's all said and done, where would you go? Heck of a morning to you and safe travels. Thanks, buddy. Wow. This is a great question. Who's in a better career? Sheesh. I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say

Sarukian will have I think I think I'll lean Surukian but I could I could absolutely be wrong I could absolutely be wrong if Shavka because here's the thing about

Surukian that I'm sure of is that he's going to get significantly better he's going to get way better than where he's at right now and he's damn good 25 years old

that fight with Matush Gare which I've now watched three times. I still feel Saurukia won that fight. I feel more confident the more I watch it that Saurukia won that fight. Again, this is not a robbery or nothing like that. I think there's things about his performance that he will look back on with regret. I think how he performs in the last two rounds, slowing down, not pacing himself as well as he wanted to, with Gammarach just having an insane gas tank and cardio output.

So I think that, I think there are things he could have done. And same thing. Like we saw it the week prior with Calvin Cater. I thought Calvin Cater beat Josh Emmett. But I'm sure there are certain things about his performance. Calvin didn't really get into that second gear that he probably needed to make it emphatic enough to get the judge's cards on his side. And I think he's going to be kind of kicking himself for that. I think Syrucion is going to be kicking himself a little bit.

But I just know looking at Sirukian in that performance. performance that he's 25 and he's not only going to get better, he's going to get significantly better. And that's scary. Shafcott, I mean, how much better can you get? What he did to Neil Maggi, like, if this guy could actually get better, like way better than that, golly. That's a scary proposition. But not a better conversation to have your name in, that's for sure. but both those guys I'm extremely high on I think both are going to have great careers both are going to fight for titles

and maybe I don't know that's a great question all right I gotta get going I'm going to take one more from Brian Cashman and I got to go

the schedule is piling up schedule is piling up friends I'm sorry Brian how are you good morning Mike sorry I'm late I missed the whole show but uh it's all right All right. I got a quick question about the media day questions. So, I mean, I listened to most of the interviews. And, like, how hard is it to, like, ask questions to fighters that, I mean, like, Jared Cananeer was giving you nothing. I mean, like, there was, like a couple fighters that were just like, I mean, obviously, they're focused on their fight. I don't blame them. But how hard is it to come up with questions for fighters like that? That's all I got. A heck of a morning to you.

Thanks, buddy. I mean, I'm a feel guy. There's certain things I definitely want to ask, and there's certain directions I will go based on what their opponents say. So, Izzy, like the one thing, I missed most of Izzy because I had a very short window with John Anick,

because Anick was going to be the apex, and like literally if I was going to do the preview with Anick, like I was doing for all these pay-per-views, I had from three local time to 3.20 local time, and that was it. Like, for the whole week, I had that 20-minute window. So I had a miss Izzy. There were certain things I wanted to ask Izzy about, one of which was Ali talking about Habib saying, him saying that Habib could come out of retirement and finish out of sound in your third round.

I was really thinking about that. I was actually going to ask Jared Ken in the air about that, but after him giving me crap about the other stuff, which is fine. which is fine. But I wanted to just, it wasn't more of like just, hey, how do you respond to Izzy's trash talk? It was more just this thing.

Because he even said himself. He said, no, not a lot of people are giving me a chance to win this fight. And, you know, based on what people are saying

and then based on just that feeling overall of feeling like you're overlooked, like, is that a freeing feeling heading into that fight? And he was just like, I don't care what anybody says,

blah, blah, blah. It's tough when that happens. It does happen. These guys are cutting weight. They're probably miserable. They probably don't want to be there. It's an obligation to them. And I get that.

I get that. I didn't want to push too much. I try to get something out of that. But he certainly got fired up. And I'm sure if I asked him about the Ali Halib thing, I'm sure he would have thrown the frigging microphone at me. But, you know, there's certain things like, there's like Gabe Green, when he talks about Ian Gary,

saying that he had a big head and, you know, he wasn't, didn't think he was that good. He's buying into his own hype. Like, I remember that. I asked Ian about it. I would have asked Izzy, I know somebody did.

I would ask Izzy about the first meeting that him and Cannonyer had because Canada had took a little good story about that. But you get all these nuggets. It's just a matter of paying attention and just taking mental notes of, you know, what we want and this and that. Like Alex Paheda,

Izzy saying can't wait to punch him in the face of them. May gloves. I thought that was a tremendous response from him. So I just kind of have an idea and there's a reason John Morgan goes first because John sets the table perfectly with the questions he asked.

Because you could build upon those questions. If someone's going to ask him, John is a tremendous leadoff hitter when it comes to that stuff. And that's why he asks the first questions because he sets the table and you could build a whole scrum based on the answers of John's questions

because you could follow up because you can go down different lanes and when you have John in there leading off like that and he's getting on base, steal second, someone's got to bunt him over the third and someone's got to drive him in. But John does a great job as a leadoff hitter

and it makes our lives easier, honestly, when actually thinking of questions to put together. So all right, I got to get out of here. busy day ahead press conference coming up later highlights watch mvathutting.com

you can watch it live on the greatest website in the world as well when that goes down Jose and I will be there we'll also be at the Hall of Fame red carpet

with Habib and D.C. and Cub Swanson Giga Chikazza they will all be there maybe we'll have some other surprise fun guests as well so we'll do those

interviews or scrums I don't know really sure how it's going to work. I'll be talking to Daniel Rodriguez. Not long after that. I know he's a very popular fighter on onto the next one. Like, who's he going to fight? We try to match him up. So we'll get an update with him.

And then it's just got to be insane on Friday tomorrow with Radio Row. So if you're going to be in Vegas, if you're going to be at the Fan Expo, come say hello, because I will be there basically for two entire days doing these interviews and stuff like that. but just follow out with nbatefighting.com. We will have you covered. Appreciate you guys. Check it out the program.

Tomorrow will go again. Not sure what time yet. Probably around the same time, but I'll let you guys know as soon as I know. So thank you very much. Have a great day. And as always, have a heck of a morning.

You're the best. Media Podcast Network.