MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov, UFC 301 Fallout

Episode Date: May 7, 2024

Many people in the MMA community believe that Umar Nurmagomedov might be the UFC bantamweight champion in waiting — and in August, the undefeated Nurmagomedov will get to take the next step in proving that when he faces perennial contender Cory Sandhagen in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to the Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov booking, and what is at stake for both guys. Additionally, listener questions include Jose Aldo's future following his dominant decision win over Jonathan Martinez, Steve Erceg's championship potential following his loss to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 this past Saturday, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser 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. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Tuesday, May 7th, 2024, and it is indeed a heck of a morning.

We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter space. You hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter. on the M.A Fighting Podcasting Network. What's up, everybody? I am Mike Keck. Hope you're all having a wonderful start to the week. We are back for a post-paperview edition of the program. Yes, there was a pay-per-view.

UFC 301. It is come and gone. It happened. Very few people watched it. Very few people seemed to care. But those who did watch it and those who partook in the action, I don't think you were that disappointed. It was pretty good time, some good fights.

You know what, as we said, pretty much throughout the build. I feel like I was sort of leading that train. It's not a good card in terms of what a typical pay-per-view lineup would look like. But the matchmaking was pretty decent. There were some good fights. Some of that stuff delivered. The main storylines delivered. We had a pretty fun, close-made event for the Flyway title.

which was won by Alexandra Pantosia against Vinnie Sig, Steve Ursaig, who put forth quite the effort in just his fourth UFC fight in just 11 months into the company in I think Vinny Sigs will be back. I think there's some things he did in that fight, especially in the fifth round, that he's going to regret.

And this is going to be one of those sort of crossroads fights for him next because this is sort of a fork in the road sort of resolve for him. A fight he probably could have won. And I think he knows that. And I think a lot of the MMA community knows that as well. And he could decide to just live the next several months with regret. Damn it. Can't believe I shot that takedown in round five. Or he could dust himself off and say, look, I took so much away from this fight. A lot of people were counting me out. I know I can hang with this guy. And I know I can

hang with everybody in this division. So let's see how he bounces back. Maybe we see him when the UFC heads to Perth in August. Perhaps that's too soon. But I think Vinnie Sig will try his absolute best to get on that card. And why the hell not? It's got a lot of momentum right now. As does Joseo, though, the sports biggest free agents in quite some time, he goes out

and just kind of thumps up Jonathan Martinez. and I actually rewatch that fight yesterday, and there were a lot of people who were telling me, yeah, Jose looked good, but Jonathan didn't show up. I just don't buy that theory. I just don't buy into it. Was there potentially early on a little being star-struck, perhaps? But to say that Jonathan Martinez didn't show up

and give an effort is pretty ridiculous, Jose just looked like Joseo and I was saying like throughout the entire build of the fight like I was very stunned that Joseo Aldo was the underdog heading in and I felt like the fight played out exactly the way I thought it that I thought it would. The only way I saw Jose Algo losing that fight is if he just was done.

He didn't care. He's just way too old. He was too weathered. Wasn't the same guy. He was on not the back nine, but like the back two, like he was on hole number 17. And that was just the only way I saw him losing that fight. Stylistically, it was a tremendous matchup for him.

It matched up incredibly well. And that's how the fight played out. It looked like Jose was going to get him out there in round three. He didn't do that, but swept the cards. Pretty one-sided performance from Joseo Aldo. Martinez had his moments, but Joseo, the best defensive fighter in UFC history, in my opinion, just delivered a performance in Rio.

The crown remains on his head. The king of Rio remains. And now he is a free agent, and it's going to be real interesting to see where he goes. Will he resign with the UFC? Will he move on to other ventures? Is it about checking off the boxes when it comes to winning a title in the second weight class?

Is it about money? Is it about legacy? What is it about? We will find out. But I will tell you what, if I am PFL right now, I am calling all those people and I'm saying, what is it going to take for you to come over here? And no matter what he says,

you need to say bet and pay him and make it happen because that will be an impactful move. It just will. And I'd be interested to see Jose Alla fight Patchy Mick. I think that would be fun as hell. He's probably going to go box. Maybe BKFC throws a bunch of money at him, but I kind of feel like,

unless the UFC just offers him a ton of money or they offer him a title fight immediately, I just don't know if he sticks around. I just don't know. But good win for him, and we'll see where he goes from here. Anthony Smith gets a first round submission win over Vito Petrino, two minutes on the nose.

Bito Bertrino just was not ready for this type of moment. As you can see, he just basically gave the fight away very quickly. Michel Pereira just doing Michelle Pereira things. Kyle Barallio remains undefeated inside the Octagon. He knocks up Paul Craig, just like he promised. Joe Anderson Brito, Jack Shore, ends in a super weird way with Jack Shore having a freaking hole in his shin. Yasim Dusindo just dominates Caroline Nicole Vukavich.

Mick Tebeck Oralby. what a fight that was with Elvis Brenner. He's going to be super duper tough to beat in this division. He's only 26, so he's only going to get better. So if you're one of these sort of big name, lightweights that are

looking to bounce back or looking for a big opportunity and you want to try to hand this guy's first UFC loss, I'd probably knock on his door now. If I'm like the Dan Hookers of the world, I'm probably knocking on this guy's door right now. If I'm Jalen Turner or maybe a Bobby Green or something like that,

like I'm calling this dude out because now is the time to fight him for sure because if you wait a year, he's going to be a monster. So good performance from him. Jekar Close battles through beats Joaquin Silva, Mauricio Ruffi, knocks out Jamie Malarkey, Gianni Barbosa, tough fight with Ernesto, Karate, but it was a close fight. Barbosa gets the unit. unanimous decision. Some people disagreed with that. I thought it was fine. Ishmael Bonfim

wins and Alessandro Costa kicks off the night with a second round TKO. So that was UFC 301. Again, probably not a car. We're going to go back and watch ever again. But it was fun. And, I mean, there's just no buzz for this whatsoever. I can't, I can't remember, honestly, I cannot remember a UFC pay-per-view event that had so little buzz, so little promotion behind it. Just nobody cared. Literally nobody cared.

And it was wild. It was wild. But the UFC heads to St. Louis for a fight night event. Pretty decent card. Main event is yikes, not great. Derek Lewis versus Rodrigo, not Cemento. That's just what St. Louis was

clamoring for. I'm not buying a ticket unless Rodriguez Nassimento is in the main event. Boy, that could be a tough hang. Either Lewis, well, I don't know. Either Lewis is going to knock him out quick or we're going to get 25 minutes of Nassimito, just kind of sitting on top of Derek Lewis. Buckley-Rudzeboff is interesting. Menafield-Albergs, good fight. CDF versus Batush Rebetsch. Big step up for Batuch. Alex Casarish-Shon-Wudson. We get the return of rebellious to Spain against Waldo Cortez-A-Costa. I mean, it's some good fights on here.

There are definitely some good fights. But that main event is tough. It's kind of a tough main event, if we're being honest. Some other news, Matt Brown announces his retirement from MMA on Saturday before UFC 301.

Our own Damon Martin, obviously hosts a podcast with Matt Brown. You got a chance to talk to him, get a reaction from him. You can listen out of the podcast. Network. I believe there's video on the YouTube channel as well to get Matt Brown's honest reaction and all that what led to the decision, et cetera. And then we got some other fights that were announced. We found out that Corey Sandhagen versus Umar Nirmaga Madoff is back on the books. It is going to headline the UFC's Fight Night event in Abu Dhabi on August 3rd. That's a hell of a fight. That is the fight to make. There's no other.

fight to make in this division in my opinion and we're going to see how good umar nabar magamatov really is is he the guy is he the uncrowned champion that a lot of people feel he is a lot of people in this space a lot of people at m a mayfinding dot com feel like umar and ramagamadov is the it's just the man in waiting it's just when he gets a shot he's going to get the belt not quite there yet i obviously see the potential i obviously see what everybody is talking about but he's a little ch- I'm not going to say he's chiny, but dude can get hit.

Dude can get hit. And he can crumble a little bit, but his ability to bounce back from that and transitioning into takedowns is pretty unbelievable. And let's see if Corey Sanaghan can slow down that momentum on August 3rd, over five rounds.

Really looking forward to that fight and really looking forward to talk to you guys. So let's go. Let's get into this. And let's rock and roll. J-Stat, kick us off. Is that brother? What is next for Elvis Brenner?

And also what is next for Uri? And what is next for Kyle? That would be all. Thank you, sir. Ah, a little matchmaking. Elvis Brenner, I'll get him last because he did not win. Good, good fight, though. He put up quite the effort.

Oroby is really tough. and Brenner's just a dog, man. It's like impossible to get that dude out of here. For Oral by, I like the Drew Dober fight. I think I don't want to like give him. Is Drew Dober ranked in the FC rankings? Let me just check. Let me just check real quick.

No, he's not. Yeah, I don't want to get him like a ranked dude just yet. But I think I think he's good enough. Like I think he's good enough. I think he's probably. I think I have him 19 in my rankings right now. And for good reason. I probably could rank him higher if I wanted to get all potentially on it.

But I like the Drew Dober fight. If they want to do Jekar Close, who's coming off of a win, I don't mind that idea. I saw some people say like Joel Alvarez. I'd be fine with that. CDF's fighting Batuch-Ribetchki coming up on. Saturday, maybe the winner of that. Yeah, I like the Drew Dover one.

Some people threw up Mafra Vola's suggestion. I wouldn't hate that. But yeah, I think Drew Dover is a good next step. If he goes on Beach Drew, then we can give him a rank dude. Kio on onto the next one, I said, let's just do what you do at 185. We take Kio away from Rio. We put him back in his home away from home. the world's most famous apex.

We give him a main event, five rounds against one Jack, the Joker, Hermanson. I think that's where you go with him. Let's give him a veteran name. And see how he does over five rounds against the guy who's

got a bit of a chip on his shoulder these days. He fought Joe Pfeiffer and had that chip and looked real good. Let's see if he could do the same against the guy like Kyle Borale. That's just kind of where he is right now. And then for Brenner. Like a Raffa Garcia. I don't know.

Joe Selecky's fighting Grant Dawson at 302. Maybe the winner of that. Or one of those two guys would make sense to me. Terrence McKinney wins this weekend. I wouldn't mind seeing Elvis Brenner versus Terrence McKinney. You know what? That's the answer. That's the answer.

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With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Matt, go ahead. I had two things that I wanted to hit on. After watching Jose Aude Audeau the other day, all I kept thinking was, God damn, I want to see him fight Corey Sandhagen. so bad. I think that that would be a fun matchup, even though I really think that Corey deserves a title at the belt after fighting Umar. But damn, that Jose Aldo fight would be fun. And supposedly

Matt Favola was hinting at RDA, possibly fighting RDA on his Twitter. I love Matt Favola. I think that's a horrible fight. What do you think? Um, I mean, if you're Matt for Vola, I think that fight is something you probably strive for. I would say of all the names that are kind of there, it's probably the most, like, realistic one. And it's probably the name that kind of gives him the most value right now, former champion, all of that. So I don't hate him trying to go after that fight. I don't think it goes all that well for him. but I could be wrong.

I could be wrong. I mean, who knows? Maybe Matt Revol gets the Patty fight. You know, Patty's going to fight in Manchester. They're going to make that fight. He's going to fight somebody. And if the UFC deems like Moikano is too high in the rankings or or whatnot, that I think for Vol is like a good plan B.

So maybe that's there. If they don't do the Moikano fight, although I think the Moikano fight, although I think the Moikano fight is sort of a no-brainer at this point, but if they're just like, yeah, money's a little too high in the rankings right now. Let's push him up a little bit higher than two for Vola. But yeah, I don't, if they make it, I'm certainly okay with it. And Jose Aldo-Core-Sanagan would rule. That would be a great one.

Jose-Aldo said after the fight that he wanted the Corey-Sanagan fight, but Sandhang was still a little bit banged up. He mentioned Henry Sehudo. He said he actually reached out to Henry Sehudo. He was like, let's go, man. And Henry's like, nah, banged up, shoulder surgery can't happen. So he ends up getting Jonathan Martinez. And there you go.

I mean, Dominic Cruz would be fun. I don't know. We'll see what the UFC ponies up here. But money's got to be good. And honestly, if I'm Jose, I ain't taking anything. Unless it's a, probably unless it's a title fight, really. He's going to have lots of money-making options elsewhere, probably more so than he will get with the UFC. I know the UFC does have matching rights, but if PFL comes in and offers him $2 million a fight, which they 1 million percent should do, I just don't think the UFC is going to match that.

So my guess is, it's probably it, but who knows? Maybe Jose is just like, I don't care. I'm comfortable in the UFC. see i'll stick around we shall see but him and sandhag will be incredible i love that idea absalaya go ahead so mark a heck of morning it's been a while um firstly i just want to say i think uh this event that happened this uh past saturday was a pretty decent event um for everything that had been upheld on its end with being a really you know mediocre card and also just the fact that the NBA playoffs are going on to the moment in f1 so you know probably

Proposcy UFC and Propsy Light, Steve Erse, you know, my Ozzy guy, Pantoja, Eldo and all the other fighters on that main card, you know, delivering. I just want to ask a few questions. I'll start with this, just matchmaking. And I'm going to talk about the Central Asian Dagestani fighters that are, you know, not scheduled to have a fight. But I saw today, Mavzar, he had an interview. He talked about how he possibly was.

offered a fight by UFCD Fight Aljo. I would love to see that fight, and I think they should make that as the co-main event for the Abu Dhabi Fire Nut Card that's happening in August. Shafka and Jack, I think that should leave them to be able to be possibly the co-main event

or the third main fight in the per card, depending on what fight they decide to go with over there. And I would say, you know, that does open up an interesting, you know, loophole for what does the UFC plan do with this year's paper view for Abu Dhabi, because if you look at it outside of 2022 and last year,

and maybe 21, depending on, you know, casuals or hard-cores, I would say most of the Abu Dhabi cards have never been really crazily stacked since they've started this inception from, you know, the Time Cap people was headlining the Abu Dhabi State Arena in their city. So I'm just curious what the UFC plans do would later on this year. And also, just one more thing to touch on. I'm not sure this is true or not, but I've been seeing a lot of post around about Rosenstrike,

having a rematch with that. Dagestani Bahrain Fowder, he just had a fight with two months back. Is that really true? That's all I have. Have a great day. Shemil Ghazia? God, if that's true, then, like, what the hell are we doing here? You beat, why?

why would why would that even be a thought even as a joke like that's not even funny nobody nobody wants to see that fight again not even Shamil Gatsyev wants that fight again

nobody wants to see that again it was a tough hang that event as a whole was a tough hang I just don't know no no no no no no no Jarzino should be in St. Louis this weekend and after Derek Lewis

talks over Rodrigo Nesemento and he needs to get into the cage. Be like, come on, man. Fans want it. Everybody wants it. What the hell are we doing? Let's fight. That's the fight to make.

Nothing else will be acceptable after that. And that's it. That is it. Abu Dhabi, look, the Abu Dhabi kinds of have been pretty good. I mean, we got Hamzat and Oussman. I mean, it was like a backdoor kind of a thing. With all the injuries,

we ended up getting a highly anticipated rematch, which turned out to be like not great, but Islam was on the card. Like, there was still a lot of buzz for that event. The previous events over there were pretty good, too. They'll stack it up. I expect Hamzot to fight on that card, depending on what happens if he doesn't get dinged up

when he fights Robert Whitaker. I certainly expect Islam Makachov to fight on that card. If he, he's going to fight on that card with the lightweight title in line one way or the other, I think. he's either going to lose to Dustin Porre and they'll try to do a rematch or maybe Porre is just like, nah, I've got to the mountain top. I don't need to do anything else. I'm done and then he'll fight for the bacon belt.

But as much as the vibes are certainly with Porre right now, I just have to be honest with myself. And it would be a cool as hell story as someone who's followed the sport for a long time to see Dustin Porre go in there and win the belt. it would just be unreal. It would just be just an incredible story. But we have to be honest with ourselves, it's a horrible matchup for him. It's just a terrible matchup for him. And I just feel like Islam's going to win,

and then he's going to go fight Arm and Sarukkin in the main event in October, and that will make me very, very happy because that's the fight I want to see. And then we'll kind of go from there and see how it all sort of works out. And if I'm Shafka, if I'm Shafcott, I have booking shit right now. I'm waiting to see what happens with UFC 304 because the UFC has not announced a single fight for that yet.

And I expect Tom Aspen all to be on that card. I do expect Leon Edwards to be on that card. He should fight Balaamah, Muhammad. But what if the UFC pivots? What if they pivot to Shafkot? I think if you ran a poll right now on any of their social, media pages or on any of their websites, if the UFC said, hey, fan vote, who should Leon fight for the Walterway title?

Who should he defend the belt against? Shafcott or Bilal, I will guarantee you that Shafkot is going to get 65% of the vote, which is crazy to say. But if not, yeah, go fight Jadem. That's fun to sell. Sure. And Bobzar versus Aljo, sure. That's the fight to make.

so let's go do that. Colone City, go ahead. You're muted, Colin City. Hello. All right, here we go. Thanks for taking me, dude. I'm well aware of who MMA fighting wants to come out victorious in the Islam-Dustin fight. It's kind of, yeah, yeah, it's kind of interesting yesterday.

It's almost like, I get it. We want to celebrate Dustin, but, you know, let's have some integrity here. My question would be, who does the UFC want to come out of the United? that fight. I actually think they might be rooting for for for Dustin in a weird way to come out victorious there for their business plans. Just let me know what you think. Appreciate it. Yeah. All right. So let's just let's just be clear. The MA hour is on MMA fighting, but the MA hour does not speak for all of us. And I as a as a fan of storyline and all of that, it would be

it would be something we would remember forever in this sport if Dustin Porre goes out and knocks out Islam Akchev like it would be insane it would be

a Baba O'Reilly moment it would be something it would just be incredible and from like that perspective it would just be kind of cool just because it would be something we remember if Islam goes and does what I think he's going to do

like no one's it would be like yeah Islam's be to be Volk twice and then he beat Dustin Porre. Which is like Porre is the guy right now. He just is. Availability is your best friend. He's the dude. Arm and Sarukians very wisely said

Nope. Not fighting June 1st. Dustin gets the call. He sort of explained everything yesterday. Like none of like at least me. I'm not rooting for anything. There is a part of it like like traffic wise would Dustin be a bigger story? Hell yeah. It would be.

no doubt about it but I'm just looking to see if Dusted can actually do it that's why I was so intrigued by Aldo versus Jonathan Martinez and a lot of the attitude surrounding it because I just felt like Aldo was going to win

that fight like pretty easily I didn't think I think obviously Jonathan's good and Aldo would have moments of struggle but from a stylistic perspective like everything just screamed there's just no chance although loses this fight

unless he's just completely washed and over the hill, which I didn't see. And this is sort of how I view this fight. Like, Dustin's a dog and everyone makes a mistake. And if Islam makes a mistake

and Dustin capitalizes and win the belt, it'd be a stunning moment. Like, it would be a shocking development. But again, much like the Charles Olivera matchup, everything on paper tells me that Islam should just dust Dustin, no pun intended.

It just kind of seems that way. But Dustin did bring up something very interesting on the MA hour yesterday, and I kind of agree with him. Kind of feels like his love's just, I'm not saying he's overlooking him, but he's kind of shrugging him off a little bit. And maybe that's just gamesmanship on his part.

He is a pretty smart guy. He's gotten a lot better with the mind games in the mental side of the sport, mental warfare, so to speak, but there is a little bit of that, yeah, this is just kind of the thing I'm going to have to do until I fight Armin in October.

And if that's really how he's feeling about this fight, that could be bad news for him. So I do think a Zlom's going to win. I think Dustin will have like a moment or two, but I think this is Zulm's fight to lose. And if I'm the UFC,

I think I want Islam to win. I mean, they're in a no-lose situation. Either Dustin wins the belt, and I feel like if he wins the belt, he's probably just going to retire. It just feels like that's what he should do. Like he's gotten to the top of the mountain. He beat his on Machachev to do it.

I kind of feel like there's nothing more for him to do. He's already fought Connor twice. It's already got the, I mean, technically three times, but he's already got like the quote-unquote red panty night twice. He doesn't need the money. he's had monster fights already he's got to get another pretty significant piece of pay

here I think he would just walk away probably so I don't think the UFC really lose in the situation and even if Dustin like sticks around wants to fight like they do Dustin versus Armin and build that up like that's a huge ass fight they do Dustin Gaichie again they could do that there's one one there

Dustin versus Max Holloway again we could do that again like there's a lot you could do So I honestly It's a it's They can't lose here But Islam wins They get to go to Abu Dhabi

They get to do a big gate The The governing body over there The go The You know The politicians so to speak Very happy that Islam's back over there

Headlining So I don't think they're really rooting for anybody But I think if they had their druthers Based on a business relationship And the potential longevity of who the champion is, I think they probably will favor Islam, but

they ain't gonna be like, fuck this, if Dustin somehow wins, because Dustin's a big ass star. So, yeah, I think he's on wins, but come on.

At the end of the day, it is a cool story of Dustin wins. Tote, go ahead. Yeah, so those voicemails that I left were kind of, they didn't age that great.

I mean, the only thing that it went great from it was that I called Alexander Patocia the Toyota Highlux of the division. He's going to get to every obstacle and he's going to get over it and he's going to actually show up when it matters, no matter how long it takes between you taking a ride in that truck. So that part was the only thing that I feel like aged well from that. A great event to watch, I really, really enjoyed it. Of course, not a good pay-per-view, but it was a good show, so that's the most important thing.

And actually, I just want to chime in on the question that you just had. Islam is the right choice, because he is the key to the Middle Eastern relations that they have. He is kind of the big ticket item that they can keep going back to when they want to go to, I mean, if Saudi Arabia wants a pay-per-view at some point, the Abu Dhabi card, I mean, Islam on the Abu Dhabi card, if he beats Dustin in June, is kind of obvious. And it's kind of, it has to be the thing that they want. So I think that is the complete correct call that it says Islam. But yeah, I really just wanted to say that I enjoyed it. And sorry for leaving voice. mails, Mike. See you.

All good, my dude. All good. Yeah, 301 was fun. But again, just had no buzz. The timing of it was terrible. The UFC didn't even seem to care. There was no press conference, no nothing. They were just like, okay, let's just do this.

Dana wasn't there. You know, some of the people on staff weren't there. I don't even know if Hunter Campbell was there. Like, it's just they treated it like a throwaway event. No, I mean, that's just how they treated it. And the fan base kind of looked at it the same way. Like, yeah, we can skip this one. June 1st is way better.

There's going to be two pay-per-views in June. That's where I'll spend my money. We'll skip this one. And most people, like, just took the night off altogether. I mean, they just took the night off. But those who did watch, I think you had a pretty good time. You had a pretty good time. Pantosia is just very solid.

but honestly as good as pantosia is his durability might be his best weapon because he's not a human being he's officially not human steve ursag hit him with some fucking bombs that would would have finished anybody in that division and pants just was like okay like good shot bro and i'm going to take you down and put you on your back it's just unbelievable the shots that guy took and just didn't phase him. That elbow that, like, there were a couple of elbows that Ersig hit him with

that literally anybody else's division was going unconscious. And Pants just walked right through and ate it. Like it was chocolate chip pancakes, man. Dude's just so durable. He's so tough.

And he's well-rounded. And he just, his fight IQ is great. A little reckless at times when he needs to be. Defensively sound. to some degree what he wants to be. But the way he times takedowns is just unbelievable. No matter how tired he is or how hard he's been hit

or how bloody he is, he knows just when to shoot for that takedown and he gets it every single time. So, yeah, good solid showing, good performance. Yeah, I mean, with the Islam Dustin thing, I think Islam's more of a key to Abu Dhabi than Saudi Arabia. I think Saudi Arabia, it doesn't hurt, obviously. It's a nice little feather in the cast.

but Saudi just wants to put on big-ass fights. Like, I don't think they give a shit more or less, like, who's on it. They just want, they want names. Like, if you call it, like, if Turkey, you call it Turkey right now and said, hey, if we had a UFC pay-per-view, what fight would you want? They would not say Islamakachev first. They would say Connor Gregor first. They would pick the star, like the biggest stars first and try to match those guys up.

So, I don't think he's necessarily. the key to Saudi. I think the key to Saudi is just the bigger names. They'd be like, yeah, we want Connor versus an 8-3. That's what we want. That's what they would strive for. Not Islam versus Sarman. Abu Dhabi looks at things

differently. They're more, let's get the locals in here, let's make the fans happy. Saadi's just like, let's just blow this shit out and just put the biggest names we can get on this card. And I mean, just look at some of the boxing fights they're putting together. And I think

they would probably do the same with the UFC. So yeah, let's go to Riley. Riley, hello. I got two quick things for you. I know we're talking about UFC and all, but I just wanted to ask you one. Did you catch, I am going to butcher his name, but now Inouye, Inouye, the boxer, Neoya Inouye, did you catch his performance? He's really, really insane. It's got to be him number one pound for, or Terrence Crawford. And then the second thing I was going to ask you is escaping my mind. I feel like an idiot now. Fuck, what was I going to say?

All right. Yeah, I don't know what I was going to say on the other thing. Oh, it's here. Arnold Allen versus Giga Chikade got announced over the weekend. I feel like that's going to be an absolute banger. I know it's not until the UFC Manchester, but that's going to be a dope fight. Just wondering your thoughts on that. Thanks, Mike.

Yeah. NUA is a thumper man He hit so hard I didn't watch the fight live I didn't need to Because I just saw the highlights Everyone was just sharing the highlights And I saw pretty much saw everything I needed

Anyway he gets knocked down in the first round Gets a knockdown at round two And then just sort of did anyway things The rest of the fight And just knocked his opponents into another planet Dude just is so powerful Punch is so hard And guys just super fun

fun to watch. He's a thumper. It's an absolute thumper. And boxing needs guys like that. And he just did it again. Dude just went on and did it again. Arlaan versus Gigi Chkaze. So we've talked about this fight on the show for a while. It was reported maybe like six a month, month and a half ago initially, uh, came on the show, was asked about it. It said, I believe it was like a buy or sell, pass or fail kind of question. I said I was going to buy that fight. seemed like that was a direction. Everybody that I had talked to said that that's what they wanted to do.

We hadn't got to sort of the official part of it yet. I was told early last week that contracts were signed and it was just a matter of like getting confirmation for everybody and then we finally got it. The big confusion of why it took so long to like become official was from what I understand, it was just kind of figuring out the date of this Manchester card. I know it just got announced a couple weeks ago.

It's going to be July 27, but there were talks about doing you July 20th, where it was going to happen, how it was going to happen, et cetera. And then they landed on July 27th. And here we go. So I was curious about that too. Do they do it July 20th? Do you try to go up against Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson? Or do you turn it into a marathon of a day?

and just do, hey, we'll do the event in the afternoon, and then you guys go watch Paul Tyson after. They elected to do the complete opposite of that and just book a different date and say, we don't care about the Manchester Star Times. We're going to cater to the American audience, which I'm still kind of upset about, if I'm being honest with you.

Unless they're doing Tom Aspinall v. John Jones, honestly, if that's the fight they announce, which I would be, it's not going to happen. But if they come out and Dana does a Instagram, thing where he yells into this phone and says, hey guys, main event, UFC 304, heavyweight title on the line, we're going to unify the belts, John Jones defending against Tom Aspinall, then sure, do the late start time, totally understand that. But if we're getting Leon versus Ballol and we're getting Tom Askenal versus Curtis Blades, you don't need to

cater to the American audience for that. In fact, the American audience would be, as a a whole say, nah, you can give us that one in the afternoon. We're okay with that. We'll watch it, but we'd rather have the rest of the night to do other things. But maybe they got something big up their sleeves. I'm not really sure. And then there's always talk, man, John Jones, talking about Alex Pereer and possibly fighting him, which has created a big stir. You know, Jed Mishu's been singing and dancing about that one. So, yeah. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything.

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Please enjoy responsibly. Vailability varies by region. See out for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence. While Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress.

Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus at one Pelot Let's go to 4-on-Sniper. Hey, Mike, can you hear me? Yep. Hey, heck of a morning. Real quick, I just wanted to ask you about the Corey Sanhagen, Umar, de Magamato fight that was announced.

I didn't hear you talk about it. I think I'll hopped in a little late. But I just wanted your thoughts on it. I'm a little confused from the Corey Sanhagen side. He's ranked number two, so I would assume he should be, you know, fighting a guy like Davidson Figaro or, I mean, I wouldn't say, a rematch with pita yon but somebody else that's in that top six top seven um i'm i'm a little irritated that he decided to take on number 10 umar namar medev who hasn't beaten anybody in the top 10 i'm not

hating on umar that's just what it is but do you think with a win over umar this gets him the title shot that's the only thing that makes sense in my head for why he would take this fight but other than that uh yeah that's that's really all i got for you mike good morning He fucking better get the title shot if he wins this fight. But this, like, this just, this fight makes perfect sense. It makes perfect sense. This is the one. This is the one.

Everybody, Umar is the most heights guy at 135 that I can remember in quite some time. He's the dude. Many people feel like he's the uncrowned champion. He's the guy in waiting. Once he gets his title shot, like it's just inevitable that he's going to win. So you throw him in there with Corey Sannhagen who could do it all. And to me, this was absolutely unequivocally the fight to make. I'm glad it's a main event.

I'm glad it's five rounds. Yes, I know Abu Dhabi favors Umar a little bit more, but Corey don't give a shit. He's fine with it. And we are going to know full bore for the most part if Umar is the dude. If Umar goes out and does Corey Sanagan, what he has done to everybody, else. There's no way you can't leave that fight being like, shit. This dude's going to beat Sean O'Malley. Or this dude's going to give him a rob problems. Probably beat him. But we're going to get all those answers to this. We're going to get all the answers. We don't need to slow,

we don't need to slow Burr or Noomar anymore. The people have spoken. We don't need it. We want to see him fight the best guys. The media, a lot of media members. I know Aaron Brunson, in particular is like, this guy's the guy, what are we waiting for? And there's people on this website who have Umar very highly ranked and I'll feel like he's the uncrown best band and way in the world. I'm not there yet. I see why they're saying that. I see the potential there.

But I don't view Umar, at least right now, like I did Arm and Sarukin for all those years, even before he came into the UFC. Like I watched Arm and Sarukin fight before he got in the UFC. I'm like, this guy is going to fight for a title and it's probably going to be a champion. I don't have that. I'm not quite there yet with Umar. I can look at Umar and see what he's done and be like, this guy's going to be tough to beat.

And I could look at him and be like he's probably going to fight for a belt someday. But I will have all the answers that I need about Umar and his immediate future, fighting a guy like Cori Sanhagan, much more than I would if he fought. about Kyler Phillips or Rob Fond or, you know what I mean? And honestly, Corey Sanhagen versus Umar is a way bigger fight than Corey versus Figgi. It just is. There's all is so much buzz around Umar right now. Just so much buzz.

And I respect the hell out of Corey for taking this fight. And he beats Umar, you have to give him a title shot. You have to. That's it. Just give him the freaking belt. Give him the title shot. He'll have to wait, but he's not getting O'Malley now. So he might as well get the biggest fight you can get in the biggest spot.

And I think he's got it. So good on him. Can't wait to see it. Best of luck to both guys. It's perfect matchmaking. There's just no other way to go. No other way to go. Both guys wanted it.

Both guys got it. Tristan, go ahead. Tristan, are you there? Mike, can you hear me? Yep, I got you. Hey, just want to talk a little bit about what happened this past Saturday and UFC 301. A couple points here. Steve Irse, that guy's, I think that guy's going to be a champion at some point because

watching that fight, the way he was able to reverse positions every time Pantosia had got him down, it was incredible. I mean, like, I think he was disappointed because he didn't throw enough strikes or enough volume. So that's why he's kind of disappointing. He let one slip away, but I don't think that even matters. I think at some point he's going to be championed because had he done enough, because enough as far as stuffing takedowns is concerned, I think he would have probably knocked Panthosia out at some point. But, you know, good for him.

I was really impressed with that. The second point, Jose Aldo looks. At his age, 37 years old, the guy is just unbelievable. He has dedicated himself to the boxing, and it's just been magnificent for him, especially the fact that he was able to go to the body enough against Jonathan Martinez. As you saw the end of that fight, Martinez was really upset at himself of him not performing better. So that was very interesting. Hopefully he sticks to the boxing, and he gets his paid, and everything would be great with that.

And then my last point, as far as Mick Debeck-Orabi was concerned against Ells Brenner, I was nervous, too, which you might. I was very, very nervous. It was getting kind of dicey there. Brenner is a tough dude. That dude is a dog. That dude is a problem for anybody in that 155. But I'm, you know, I'm happy Mick Debeck was able to pull out the win.

Yes, he was going through Ramadan, 25 days training camp, so no food, no water. he was still able to pull through. He should be better the next fight. I don't know what you think about that, Mike. Again, this 155 division is just so stacked. Him, Mick Debekoorovai, Matus Rambescu's fighting on Saturday. He's fighting Diego Fiera.

That guy is going to be a problem. The problem is he hasn't gotten the names, which is an issue. If he wins that fight against Fierra, that's four straight. And then Mike Davis, another guy, that dude's going to be a problem as well. And then, again, and Ells Brenner. Nobody's going to want to be in that cage with them. That guy keeps fighting, never

gives up on themselves. And that fight kind of, the McDebec Oralbaugh versus Elf Bernard, that fight kind of went similar to the steep Ersseg and Petrosur fight as well. It's just the kind of the same way where Ersseg and Brenner was able to reverse position and get on top, which is incredible. That's what makes him so difficult. And, I mean, listen, man, any young fighter that's getting that's in the lightweight division that's coming into the UFC you better be absolutely phenomenal

because this is why that division is so stacked and so hard and why people want to go into the division because the note of being recognized is just top notch so just your thoughts on everything I said

Mike thanks thanks man look I think Oralby if you gave Oralby by 250 days to prepare, I think that fight would have looked exactly the same. I really do. It would have looked exactly the same. Because Brenner's a fucking animal, dude.

You can't, you can't, you can't get that guy out of there. You just can't. He's just one of those guys at 155. That's just so durable and so tough. And durability is, it's an extremely difficult weapon to overcome. Because Orbae hit him a ton.

Or by crack, man. I know a lot of people, you know, look at him and they see the hat and they see where he's from and trains at Alpha Mail that he's just a big takedown artist and all that. And yeah, he could do that. But dude made his hay by knocking dudes out. He hits like a Mack truck. He is a powerhouse and he could do it all. And he's going to be a problem. He's just a little raw.

He's a little raw. He's a little green. but the natural abilities are there. I mean, they're just certainly there. He looks like a terror. So, yeah, let's see what they do with him next. I wouldn't really slow roll him that much. He's only 26.

So let's try to make something out of this guy. I said Drew Dober, like that matchup. I know it doesn't test the grappling that much. I understand the hesitation there from that aspect, but I don't think Orbach's going to try to take Drew Dober down all that much. I think he's going to stand there and try to knock that dude out. So that's fun. on-ass fight.

Where else do we have? Jose looks great. We'll see what he ends up going. Again, I had some people be like, well, I kind of wish Jonathan showed up to fight. It's a ridiculous take. Jonathan showed up to fight.

And Jose Aldo just Jose Aldo them. That's it. I mean, no excuses. I'm sure Jonathan won't have any as well. You just got outclassed. That's it. And there's no shame in being outclassed

by Josealdo. which is why I was stunned he was the favorite. So I was happy to take that plus buddy bet on Joseo Alto and easy. It just felt like it was easy money. And the fight went exactly the way I thought it would. And then, yeah, dude, Ersig, Shodi belongs. Shodi's a top five flyweight at worst. He's probably going to get another shot to fight for the belt.

It's only 28. He's going to get his chance. The only thing I disagree with what you said was that he could have knocked out Alexander Pantosia? No, he couldn't because nobody can. Nobody can knock that man out. Erseg hit him so hard, so

many times, and it did nothing to him. Nothing. Pantosia's durability is incredible. So it's official. Nobody can, nobody's knocking out Pantosia. If you're going to take that belt from him, you're going to have to do it by

by decision because you ain't knocking them out. It's just not going to happen. you're probably not submitting him either. So you need to be able to out-fight him for 25 minutes and be willing to do that. That's the only chance you got up beating this guy at 125. Evan, go ahead. Hey, what's up, man? Yeah, I agree with that Pantogia statement.

I mean, the only shot that he even gave a reaction from is that elbow, and it's only because the cut. The cut started. I think that made him a little nervous. The cut started leaking. He didn't want the doctor to step in. But, yeah, Pantosia's a beast, dude. That's the only, that's really the only shot that he even reacted to.

I scored that fight four rounds to one personally. I know a lot of people disagree with that. I wanted to hear how you scored that. I scored it four to one. The rounds were definitely close. And Ersig definitely had a great performance. He proved he belonged up there. But, yeah, I just want to see what your thoughts were on.

on the scoring of that of that fight. You scored at 4-1 for pants? Yeah. Okay. So I have re-watched the fight. Watching it live, I thought, and I think it said it on the watch party, I thought 3-1 pants heading into round five was egregious.

I just kind of felt that way. Having re-watched it, I don't feel that way anymore. I still has not changed the way I've scored the fight. I thought there were some very clear rounds in there, but it was just a tough fight to score. I thought one in five were clear Pantosia rounds. I thought, to me, two and four were clear Erseg rounds, and three was the toss-up.

That's how I viewed it. Now, on the rewatch, four was definitely Erseg. Like, there's just no, there is never an argument you'll be able to make that will convince me that Pantosia won the fourth round. There's just no way you could put that out there and have it make any sense. Two, I can see it. I could see it. It was a closer round on the rewatch than it was watching alive.

I could see people scoring it the second for Pantosia. I still gave it to Erseg, but I could see it. Three was just such a weird round to score because Panthosia. because pants did pants did everything he needed to do but the most impactful moments of that round came from Erseg. You mentioned the elbow,

cutting them open, but it's not like, it's also not like Erseg just outlanded pants like 30 to 5 but pants took him down and just laid on him for three and a half minutes. You know what I mean? So basically like the only way you could give

first egg that round after rewatching it was that you scored the cut so tremendously you value that so much more than all the work pants put into that round and i just don't know if that one shot was enough to do it because yeah he cut pants up no doubt about it but pants wasn't affected by it at all outside of like blood trickling down his face it's not like the shot hurt him he wasn't He didn't fall over. He didn't look off balance in any way, shape, or form. So I just, I can't get there with Erseg, giving him the third round. I, like, on the watch party, but mostly for the gimmick and I wanted positive vibes.

And I just thought it would be kind of funny that if Vinnie Siggs won the belt in Brazil, what that would have meant for the flyweight division, I was fascinated by it. So I think gimmick-wise, I was just like, yeah, 48, 47. in Ersseg, who gives a shit? But on the rewatch, it was 48, 47 pants. And I truly believe that Ersegg let that fight slip away. I think he was doing okay in the fifth round. I think he was probably winning the fifth round.

And then he shot a couple of takedowns in that round. One, he got him. Pants just kind of let him take him down. And he got on top, Pants just swept him. And that's what him to fight. And Ersig knew that's the reason why he lost. the fight. I don't know if, I mean, we don't know. We're not, we can't predict what would have happened if he didn't shoot that takedown, but aesthetically not, didn't look great. And Hans is like,

okay, we'll do this all day. You're right in my home. You're right in my wheelhouse. So, yeah, it's a good fight, good performance. Ursang's next fight's going to be super interesting to see how he bounces back from that. Because, I mean, there's no way he didn't learn. he learned like 10 fights worth of UFC experience in that one fight. But let's just see if he uses that to his advantage or if he's just totally bummed that in his eyes he gave away the belt, which he feels like he did. So, yeah, it was good fight.

Good showing. I think he opened up a lot of eyes with that performance. Togue, take us home. So I'll keep it really, really brief because I've already been in here. But I just wanted to say I really want to see me. and Kamaro Usman. You can take it however you want. If you don't like it, that's fine.

I just think that that fight makes sense for both in the shape of Kamaro Usman, who's only had one fight in middle eight, but he's probably going to want to stay there. And listen, Michel Pereira is probably the biggest name with the lowest rank that you can get. So I think that's kind of the way to go. And for Michel Pereira, of course, beating a former champion and stuff. I just wanted to hear your thoughts on that really quickly.

Fine. I wouldn't be upset if they booked it, but it's certainly not the fight I would make. But I don't know. I mean, he can't really go wrong, but I want to see Michelle Pereira versus Fluffy Hernandez. That's the fight. That's what I want. That's it. Give me that, and we're good to go. Fluffy says he'll be able to fight later on the summer. Ferrer's coming off win. We'll just do that. I think July 13th is a fight night

on the road. And if Fluffy's hand is okay, there's rumors of what may be doing in Tampa? Dude. Michelle Pereira versus Fluffy Hernandez on a fight night card

in front of people. I think everyone's going to be okay with that. But yeah, if they do it, sure. Wouldn't be like my first three or four choices, but I'm not going to be mad at it. I'm not going to come on here and say it's shitty matchmaking because it's fine. It's a great opportunity for Michelle Pereira. Usman gains nothing from beating Michelle Pereira.

So I don't know like how he would view that fight unless he's just like, yeah, that'd be kind of fun. But it's not like if he beats Michelle Pereira, he could go on the mic and demand a title fight because this is not the case. Michelle would have everything to gain and very little to lose and Ousman has pretty much nothing to gain from that fight. outside of just having another middleweight fight. But, yeah, if they made it, I'd watch it. All right, we're good. We are done. Thank you all very much.

We will be back on Friday. Yes, Friday. We'll do it again. Same time. We'll rock and roll. Thursday, BTL. We'll recap. We'll talk about everything that's going on in this crazy world of ours.

That is combat sports. I'm surprised we didn't get a lot of John Jones, Alex Perr, questions today. But it is what it is. It is what it is. We didn't get any Dana White at the Tom Brady Roast questions. I watched it last night. Pretty good time. Enjoyed it very much.

And we'll talk about that and much more on Friday. So thank you all. Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday. Have a heck of a morning, everybody. With Instacart, you get groceries that over-deliver. You can over-share your preferences. Want russet potatoes with no brown spots? You got it.

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