MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Cory Sandhagen's Spectacular Performance, Donald Cerrone's UFC Hall of Fame Nod
Episode Date: March 28, 2023Cory Sandhagen delivered the goods in the main event of UFC San Antonio against Marlon Vera, while the UFC's 2023 Hall of Fame class has added a "Cowboy" — which has set off a bit of a debate in the... MMA community. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to Sandhagen's impressive performance, his callout of Merab Dvalishvili, and his subsequent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. Additionally, topics include Donald Cerrone being announced for the UFC Hall of Fame this past Saturday and the conversations it has stirred, Aljamain Sterling vs. Henry Cejudo, a potential Khamzat Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa fight, Dana White doubling down on Colby Covington being the No. 1 contender at 170, Michael Chiesa's options for UFC 287 with Li Jingliang out of their matchup, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
With Amex Platinum, you have access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide.
So your experience before takeoff is a taste of what's to come.
That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply.
It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats.
Well, almost, almost anything.
So no, you can't get a nice rink on Uber Eats.
But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice?
Yes, we deliver those.
Goaltenders, no.
But chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.
Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials.
Order Uber Eats now.
For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age.
Please enjoy responsibly.
Product availability varies by region.
See app for details.
You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.
All right, everybody, it is Tuesday, March 28, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning.
We are live a little bit earlier on the M.A.
fighting Twitter spaces you can hear the show in its entirety shorter thereafter on the
MMA fighting podcasting network.
I am Mike Koppel, hope everyone had a great weekend.
Hope everybody's having a great start to their week.
Obviously, a lot going on in the world of mixed martial arts.
We're rolling a little bit earlier because a lot of you have, you know, some of the
things that I do for NBA fighting include doing these long features and the, you
audio mini-doc podcasts and yesterday one idea just kind of fell on my lap and everything sort of
came together very, very quickly. So I'm going to be spending a lot of time today putting that
all together and trying to figure out the pieces. And once it drops, it is ready, you're going to
understand why we're doing this because I think it's an important topic and an important conversation
and something that, unlike most of the MMA new cycle,
should not just go away and just die and just disappear
because we can't create change
if we just let things fade into the atmosphere
without any sort of response or anything like that.
So that's what I'm going to be working on today.
That's why we're starting a little bit early.
Obviously, UFC San Antonio happened this past Saturday.
massive win for Corey Sanhagen dominates Marlon Vera.
I know some people probably, you know, those who didn't watch the fight jump on Tapology
and you see split decision or you go to M.A. fighting and you see split decision.
You're like, oh, that was a really close fight.
No, this was not a close fight.
This was the Corey Sanhagen show.
Marlon Vera just had nothing for him.
That one judge who scored it, 48, 47 for Marlon Vera should never be allowed to judge a fight again.
that is one of the all-time bad scorecards.
You can make, it's so weird,
you could actually make a better case for 50-45 Danny Sabatello over Rafian Stotz
than you could 48-47 Marlon Vera.
That's how bad in my eyes that scorecard was.
It was horrible.
Now, if you want to give Marlon round three like Chris Lee did,
I ain't going to be mad at you.
Probably don't agree with you.
But if you're going to give Marlon and,
round maybe you give him the third but that's it everything else was Corey Sanagan and that was
the cap of many head scratching judges scorecards and just the capper of many head scratching
moments for the Texas Department of Licenses in regulation because the Texas Commission
Holy shitballs.
That is just the worst.
They are horrible.
From referee Frank Colazo,
what happened at Fury FC and that whole thing
to Frank being allowed to judge fights for the UFC
the following day after all that happened.
Like nothing transpired the day before
where he allowed a fighter to be choked unconscious,
stares directly into the fighter's dead cold.
eyes and says, okay, this fight can continue. And then they transitioned to the arm bar, which
woke the fighter up and suffered a bunch of gnarly injuries. And then it's like, all right,
no problem. You had a bad night. Why don't you go judge them fights instead? And he had some
head scratching scorecards on Saturday as well. And he ain't alone on that. But the story is
Corey Sandeg, and great win for him. Gets it done and calls out Marabda Wailashvili, which I love,
Love that callout.
You're not going to hear many fighters, at least realistically, call out Marab.
And Corey did it.
He's doubling down on it as he did on the M.A. hour yesterday.
I love it.
How can you not love Corey Sanhagen?
What a performance.
What a call out.
Sticking with it.
Doesn't want to take the easy road to a title shot.
He wants all the smoke.
And as you've probably seen, and as I set on on to the next one,
Corey Sanhaggot, didn't Barab de Wallis really a favor more than likely.
Because as you saw, Umar de Maghamada Maddof came out and said that they offered him a fight with Marab, May 13th possible main event.
As we confirmed our own Damon Martin, there is truth to that.
There is smoke to that.
But Marab is obviously a little banked up.
The man literally just fought not long ago, a couple weeks ago.
So Marab's not going to take that fight, at least for May 13th.
Maybe they'll try to rebook that, but I think the Corey Sanagan fight is much more compelling at this point,
and hopefully that's the direction they go.
Marab should send Corey Sanhagan a birthday card or a flag day card or a Christmas card or something,
because that's obviously a better opportunity from Rob than fighting Umar and Magamagamatov,
going all the way back in the rankings, a much higher risk, lower reward fight, in my opinion.
So I think Corey did him a favor.
good stuff great win for Nate Landware
solid performance for Holly Holme a very Holly Holme-esque
kind of performance UFC San Antonio was a card
it's not what we're going to go back and watch again
it's not going to be anywhere near the top of the
fights fight cards of the year conversation
it's one that we'll turn the page on very quickly
but one of the things that I've seen that came out of Saturday
was big Hall of Fame announcements.
We already found out that Joseo, Anderson Silva, Jens Pulver going into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Now Donald Seroni is going into the UFC Hall of Fame.
And we talked about this on the post-fight show.
This was a no-brainer.
This was an absolute no-brainer.
And it has since led to a bunch of debates, some headlines.
Jonathan Snowden wrote an article that people got all fired up about.
but I don't like I read a lot of the article I didn't read it all the headline probably threw some people off
there's there's a difference between promotional hall of fame and like MMA Hall of Fame there's a difference between the two there is no
independent body that has its own Hall of Fame at least not one that is recognized and
if you're going to do
and some people
took that headline the wrong way
that Seroni is not a UFC Hallfamer
that his resume doesn't merit what a UFC
Hall fame is.
John Serroney is a UFC
hallfamer 100%.
That's like saying
I'm trying to like
I'm trying to think of like specific examples
of this but that's like a really good
Red Sox player.
That's like if the U.S.
the Boston Red Sox wanted to put Kevin Malar
in the Red Sox Hall of Fame
because of what he did to help the Red Sox
win that First World Series
after breaking the curse.
If you wanted to put Kevin Malar
in the Red Sox Hall of Fame,
like no one's going to complain about that.
But Kevin Malar is not going to be in Cooperstown.
You're not going to see Kevin Malar's jersey in Cooperstown.
He's not going to be up there
making a Hall of Fame acceptance speech.
But could you see him potentially?
making a Red Sox Hall of Fame speech? Sure. He meant a lot to the organization. Jason Veritech
meant a lot to the Red Sox organization. We'll probably get his number retired at Fenway Park.
But he's not going to Cooperstown. He's not going to Cooperstown. But he is a integral part of the Red Sox history, which is why, and that's what this is.
Donald Seroni is a very important piece to the UFC's history.
You need to have guys like Donald Seroni in your promotion to sell cards,
to get people excited about fights,
to just be there to take opportunities sometimes on like a week's notice
after you fought the week before.
Soroni is a very important piece to this puzzle.
He's a very important piece to this company's history.
and not just like inside the octagon but the wec days in some of the battles he had in wec
his first the first fight he had with benson henderson is one of the all is is a top 10 great
fight of all time is a fight that aged incredibly well it was m m matures fight in 2009
donald saroni is an important piece of the ufc's history now if they if someone comes
forward and does an all-time m mma hall of fame is donald saroni like you
mixed martial arts hall of famer?
Probably not.
But is he a UFC Hall of Famer?
Yes.
Yes.
His role was very important
for the company.
You needed to have a Donald Seroni
in your company.
It's great.
He was perfect for the organization.
He meant so much to them.
So when people say like,
oh, is Donald Seroni a Hall of Famer?
I think almost everybody
unanimously would say
Donald Seroni is a UFC
Hall of Famer.
But is he like
one of the top 50 greatest fighters that ever fought inside of a cage?
Probably not.
And that's okay.
He meant so much to the UFC.
So I have no issue with him being a UFC Hall of Fame or I think anybody does.
And some people took headlines the wrong way.
But that's the UFC Hall of Fame.
If you mean something to the promotion, if you're good to work with, if the fans liked you,
you're probably getting in.
Now, are there lots of fighters that should be in the UFC Hall of Fame that shouldn't
be. Should Frank Shamrock be in the
freaking UFC Hall of Fame? Of course he should.
But we have to remember to not take this
stuff too seriously, because
this is like a two or three person
panel here.
Dana was going to put Donald in
right away. Do I wish they waited
a year for this?
Yeah, I kind of do.
Sometimes you have to let things simmer
a little bit. Like I understand Jose
Aldo getting in is kind of a first ballot thing,
but Jose Aldo is the greatest featherweight of all
time. He's one of the all-time great fighters.
A lot of people say he's a top five to top 10 best fighters in the history of the sport.
Habib, D.C., they got in pretty quickly.
You already got Anderson and Jens, who is, Jen should have been in for like five or six years at this point, maybe longer.
And Soroni gets the first battle.
I have no issue with it.
There's a part of me that wishes we let it simmer for a year or two before he got in, but I can't complain about this.
Soroni was such an important piece to this puzzle, and he's in, and he deserves to be in.
And his post-announcement scrum was very Soroni-esque.
Doesn't miss fighting.
Said he's on a bunch of steroids, which, I mean, Soroni looks like a freaking light heavyweight right now.
He's probably put on, like, 30 pounds of muscle.
But he's just such an important piece to this puzzle for the UFC.
So no issue with it.
It's a no-brainer for the UFC.
And that is a deep as hell Hall of Fame class.
That's for damn sure.
All right, let's go to you guys.
See what is on your mind.
Absalya, kick us off.
What's up, ma'am?
Hi.
So my first question is,
is it true that UFC's looking to make the hums out of Polar Costa fight possible in July?
and another thing I want to address
regarding the UFC Hall of Fame,
how do you think it fears in contrast to other sports
like NHL, NBA or NFL, like,
do you think that the UFC handles
honoring their greatest fighters very well
or they have a certain criteria
that as long as you have had many good fights
you can make it in?
Let me know your thoughts on that.
So Hamza versus Paulo
I've heard nothing.
I've reached out to people about it.
As Ariel talked about on the M.A. hour yesterday,
Paulo has not re-signed officially yet.
The ink is not dried on this.
Not quite, I believe, was the quote that Paulo gave Ariel.
That's what he said on the M.A.
And that's kind of where we're at right now.
They seem to be in a good place.
Things are heading in the right direction.
And you would have to think that Hamzaa would be one of the favorites
for him to fight. I mean, that's probably
the fight to make, if we're being
honest. You could do
Costa versus Strickland. There's some heat
there between both of those guys, but
I think Costa versus Hamza
would be gigantic.
I mean, that's just a great addition
to throw that on an international
fight week.
It's a hell of a fight right there.
So,
nothing really
to report on that end, at least from
what I've been told, but
wouldn't surprise me if it happened.
I'll go that route.
As far as the UFC Hall of Fame comparing it to other sports, you can't.
You can't compare it to other sports because this is a, this is like, the UFC is like a team.
They're a team.
They're not a league.
Like they're not, like, MMA is the sport.
And like that would be, like an MMA Hall of Fame would be similar to an NHL Hall of Fame or an NFL
Hall of Fame or a Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
the UFC Hall of Fame is like an individual's team Hall of Fame.
It's like the Bruins Hall of Fame.
If you want to make a better comparison,
the UFC Hall of Fame is like the WWE Hall of Fame.
That's like the best way to put it.
That's like the best way to go about it.
Because there are certain wrestlers that never competed in the WWE.
Some got into the Hall of Fame, some didn't,
because they have no relationship with the promotion or with the company at all.
But if you're an important figure,
to WWE, there's a difference
to the WWE Hall of Fame and the pro wrestling
Hall of Fame. There is a pro wrestling
Hall of Fame, I do believe.
And the WWE Hall of Fame is completely different.
It's what it meant to
that's singular promotion.
And that's what the UFC Hall of Fame is.
Now, is there like this great big board
and is there a board of directors
for the UFC Hall of Fame? No, it's probably
one guy who makes those decisions.
And it's Dana White.
and you're the damn president of the company
and you should be in that position
if you have that position you can put in
whoever you want
but this is probably more
WWE Hall of Fame
is probably the best comparison over the NFL
or NHL or NBA and stuff like that
no the UFC is an organization
within a sport much like
the NHL, NFL, etc
but the UFC
it's different
it's different
it's not the same
the size of the sports are different,
the popularity of the sports are, I mean, night and day.
All those other sports are a hundred times bigger
than the UFC right now
and the sport of mixed martial arts.
So yeah, WWE major sports franchises
like the Cowboys, the Patriots, Red Sox, et cetera.
That's how I would equate it.
This episode is brought to you by Peloton.
A new era of fitness is here.
Introducing the new Pelicans
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 OnePeloton.ca.
When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering,
Could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list?
Like this designer fragrance for my daughter.
At just $39.99, how could I resist?
This luxurious wool throw for my sister.
This gold watch for my partner?
A wooden puzzle for my niece?
Leather gloves for my boss?
Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard?
At these prices, could I find something for everyone at winners?
Stop wondering. Start gifting.
Winners find fabulous for less.
Four quarter sports.
Hello.
All right, Mike, I have two things.
One, regarding with Cheeto Vera versus Corey Sanhagen.
Now, coming into the fight, I know this is mixed martial arts.
I was expecting it to be a very high-paced type of a fight.
But I do feel that much of cool.
And then Corey Sanaggan had the proper game plan that Cheetahe-Overa did not really have, I guess, much time to prepare.
Because I don't think he was actually expecting Corey to shoot for takedowns.
and to all time has
regular my time.
What I did find frustrating was the
lack of output that
Cheeto was actually trying to
implode because I think that
will he get a title shot at some point
down the line? Yes, but I just think that
the fact that he
really takes his sweet time
in a five-round fight
especially, the first two rounds he'll give him away
and I believe that the
outcomes that he ended up having with,
with Rob Fawn, with Dominic Cruz, with Frankie Edgar.
I think he's starting to fall in love with just relying on that power.
And I think that's really, really bad just because look what happened this time.
Now, yes, he felt like he probably, you know, he had all the momentum.
And now he has to, you know, rework himself.
Maybe not a long rework, but it's probably going to take him maybe like two fights,
maybe three fights to get his own back to where he wanted to be, which is a title shot.
feel like the UFC was you know they had a layup right there they could have had um cheetah versus
um shan o'malley now that fight you know is going to get pushed down the can just because of the fact
that cheetah losing so i wanted to ask you did the ufc feel could the ufc um had of push this
fight between chito and uh shana mally and just made that at one point instead of just making
Corey Sanhagen. And do you think that Cheeto, with the way that he has his fights, you know, just
giving low output, being such a slow starter, you think that's not heavily impact them, you know,
with him being in such a deep band-o-weight division. Now, I remember I sent A.K. an out-no pick,
and I had put down Cheeto Vera versus Piotr-O-Yon. I feel like they should make that fight.
I feel like that's the fight that they should make next for International Fight Week.
That would be a great, you know, slot in.
And lastly, is there any truth to the UFC returning back to the UK in July?
I heard July 22nd.
I heard Bisping talk about it on his YouTube channel.
I don't know if there's any truth to that or not.
But, all right, I just want to know that.
Thanks, Mike.
So with the UK, like I had heard July was something they were looking at.
I didn't hear a specific date or anything like that.
But I don't know, Bisbing said some things that haven't been true before.
I'm not saying, I mean, look, he's not a journalist or anything like that.
He is a, he's just saying stuff.
So maybe he has knowledge this.
I don't know.
I had heard July is kind of what they were targeting.
So it wouldn't surprise me of July 20.
second is the date. As far as Cheeto goes, do they make a mistake not booking the O'Malley
fight? Depends on who you ask. That fight is always going to be there. That is a back pocket
fight. I've been saying that for a while. It's a back pocket fight. Sean O'Malley is getting the
next title shot. Sean O'Malley beating Piotr-Yon, he's fighting the winner of Al Jermaine
Sterling versus Henry Sehudo. And if Aljo decides to go up to 145, if he beat Sehudo,
So they all hoped that if you're going to, you could take that fight out of the back pocket to do a vacant title fight, which would have been absolutely gigantic.
I would not pick Sean O'Malley to beat either Al Jermaine Sterling or Henry Sehudo.
So Sean's going to get his title fight.
He's probably going to lose.
And then you can go to that fight whenever you want.
That's always going to be a draw.
It's always going to be there.
It doesn't matter.
Another three years can pass and that fight still has a merit.
So there's no need to rush it.
I know everybody wants to see it.
I get it.
If they do Vera versus Jan, cool.
If they do Vera versus Umar, cool.
If they do Vera versus anybody, that's fine.
They could do Yannas versus Vera.
If Yonnas beats Rob Fon, like that's a fun fight.
And then regardless of what happens, if O'Malley doesn't win the belt,
you can go back to that fight.
And if O'Malley somehow wins the belt,
look, this is the UFC.
We're in a world where Colby Covington's about to get a title fight.
We're in a world where Jorge Mazadol is in play to get a title fight
to make the biggest fight possible.
If Sean O'Malley finds his way to winning that title,
Vera just needs to be competitive in a fight and he'll get a title shot.
This is the UFC.
So that fight is always going to be in the back pocket to be used whenever.
So they're good there.
And if they do Vera versus John, cool, I'm down for that.
Mikey, hello.
I think that's the beautiful thing about the whole thing
is that everything he just said was right on the money.
But I still, but there's still, I feel, room to debate the polarize and stuff
because, like, even within the construct of the UFC Hall of Fame,
I would still personally, even though I'm perfectly fine with Sorony getting in,
I still don't think he should because I think other than, because there's the
There's the tangible stats that we see, like, you know, most wins in UFC history and stuff like that.
And then there's the stuff that they tack on that I feel is like so ancillary and made up like the most like post-fight bonuses and stuff.
That personally always bugs me because it's like you're basically turning what you should be doing, which is paying your fighters into like a stat.
Like, oh, look how many times we paid this guy, which he should have been paid.
you know but that's another uh conversation um and too like as you just said there's this thin line
between is the ufc just are ufc hall of fame inductations like a employee of the month award
or is it simultaneously acknowledging the history of the sport and i think it entirely depends
until until that's been until that's clearly defined it's a combination of like
Well, it's like just what you mentioned with the WWB Hall of Fame.
Great Muda is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
He officially never performed for them.
You know, the only reason he's performing he's going into their Hall of Fame
is because he's a pro wrestling legend.
He also happens to have wrestled in WCW who, you know,
their intellectual property now owns the WWB.
So I think it just comes down to how a fan perceives it.
If it's one of those things you're just like, yeah, that makes sense.
Then that's what makes acceptable.
and that's why, even though I personally don't agree with Cowboy going in,
I'd have to be objective and go, but yeah, I can see why they would, you know.
And as for the Van Way title pitch, I think it's kind of funny how there's this now,
this little gimmick between Aljo and Marab in that Marab will kind of play the bodyguard to Aljo,
while Aljo takes his money fights.
You know, like Marab gets the contenders.
Aljo gets the money fights, right?
And so there's plenty of little gimmick going on there.
And two, just on one last thing, Holly Holmes comments.
Listen, on its surface, what she said is perfectly fine.
But it's entirely in bad faith because to make those proclamations that she did,
in 2023 rings a little hollow because it's like,
like, okay, so if you always felt that way, why haven't you said it more?
And two, please specify.
You know what I mean?
Like, don't be the person that conveniently says this stuff and then gets really vague about it.
And also, if you're that about, quote, protecting kids and stuff, then you should be about
everything that puts kids in danger, you know?
So anyways, that'll be all for me today.
Be kind of one another.
See you guys later.
Yeah, I think, look, to me, the UFC Hall favorite, it's just.
like a fun thing. Like, it is what it is. I don't think it's anything we should even, like,
take all that seriously. So when he was a fan favorite. Everybody loved the guy. He wasn't
like a bad fighter. You know what I mean? Like, he wasn't a bad fighter. He's a good fighter.
Never won a belt, but he's a fan favorite. Dude was, he's cowboy. So, this is, it's,
like I said, it's comparable to the WWE. It's comparable to the BAA. There's a
There's people, there's wrestlers in the WWE Hall of Fame that, I mean, come on.
Like, Coco beware, not really a WWE Hall of Famer.
You know what I mean?
Like, I love me some Cocoa Beware, but is he like one of the greatest of all time?
No.
Like, he's probably not in the pro wrestling hall of fame, but he meant something to the WWF or the WWE.
That's why he's there.
And that's why Cowboys in there.
like Stacey Keebler's going in the
WWE and as a fan of the attitude era
and growing up in that time
loved watching Stacey Keebler on television
but is she like she's not going to be in a pro wrestling hall of fame
but she's in the WWE Hall of Fame
that's like that's what it is
and there's nothing wrong with that
like but people
like literally people
people arguing about this and like
who cares
good for cowboy
he ain't coming back to fight.
He had a good career.
People liked him.
He's going to have a pretty cool Hall of Fame speech.
That moment where he,
there was a very cool moment on Saturday.
It was a very cool moment with the fair,
being surprised by it,
getting all emotions.
It was very cool.
It was very, very cool.
But I don't think there's any need to really take this stuff
too, too seriously.
Just acknowledge it, be happy,
and next year we'll have a new crop
and there's no need to get like,
I mean, there are people getting, like, negative.
People are arguing about this.
Like, I saw it yesterday.
People are arguing about this.
It's just a cool thing.
It's just a cool thing.
When we have, like, an actual MMA Hall of Fame,
we can have these debates.
But with the UFC Hall of Fame, like, who cares?
It is what it is.
It's not anything we should be taking too, too seriously.
Let's go to Just Simply Rob.
Hey, Mike, good morning, my brother. How you doing?
Mike, do you hear me? Good. How are you, man?
Hey, I'm doing well, my brother. I got you.
Appreciate it. Thank you for the opportunity, as always, Mike.
So I was watching the interview from last week, and I know Dana White kind of tripled down again.
And I guess two parts to the question.
The one question is, when Dana White presses the media, how come they don't answer questions back?
Because he asked them specifically, he said, can anybody stand up here and tell me why they think Kobe Covington deserves another shot of the title?
So I want to respond to that.
perspective on it. I, Kobe Covington has lost already two title shots. He hasn't fought any top
contenders. And he said specifically that this is the part that makes me laugh the most. He said,
Leon Edwards sat off for two years. They know why, I don't know if you forgot, but the time that
Leon Edwards was sitting out, he was already on a multiple fight win streak. And the only reason why
he was sitting out for two years was because the Hamzaa Chamaia fight fell off. Kobe Covinton was
sitting on the sidelines because he just wanted to sit on the sideline. So I just wonder,
again, first part of the question is, why do the media not
talk back to Dana White and number two, what are your thoughts on the statement that I just made
there? Thanks again, Mike. Yeah, I mean, look, again, with the Colby thing, no one should be
surprised by this. This should not be a surprising thing. I've been telling you, I told you guys for
three weeks before UFC 286, if Leon Edwards wins, do not be surprised if Colby is in play.
And that's why. Not that I think Colby was going to be the backup fighter and create the
stir that he did, no, but
they love Colby. They love Colby.
Dana White has said many times
how much, like he holds that first fight
between Kamar Usman and Colby Covington in such high
regard. I don't think there's another fight
over the last five years that Dana has
mentioned specifically more than that one.
I can't think of it. He talks about that fight all the
time. And even said, after
he even said after UFC San Antonio
that even if Kamara Usman won that fight
that Colby was probably still going to get the title shot.
I don't know if that's true or not.
He'd kind of double down on it and was like,
but I don't have to answer that question right now
because he didn't win.
He's not wrong about that.
But this is not a surprise.
This is not a surprise.
But yeah,
it is kind of funny when Dana tries to answer questions
with his own question and
it gets kind of stuttery.
it's it's it's it's tough it's tough because like you have to draw the line because like do you want
Dana to just sit there and go on and on about because he's he's stubborn as hell and I've talked
about this before I'm incredibly stubborn I am very very stubborn the Bostonite in me and Dana
comes from the same place you got to be stubborn that's part of our culture that's just is who
we are that's who we are and if you feel like your feet are
dug in. If you're digging your feet in, you're going to do everything you can to dig even deeper, even if you're wrong.
We always said about my father. My father is the best dude on the planner, but he is the most, he's more stubborn than I am. He might be more stubborn than Dana White.
But I always said about my father, dad, we could find, we could catch you on video doing something and you would find a way to talk yourself out of it because you're that stubborn.
Like if you believe in something that much, no matter what evidence is against you,
you will find a way to just be like, eh, that wasn't me.
But it's clearly you're wearing a name tag that says Michael Hex Sr.
No, that was somebody else.
That's how we are.
So none of that should be, none of that should be surprising.
It's a weird thing.
At this point, like, with everything take, and Dana says like he doesn't see the articles.
He sees it all.
He sees the reaction.
And there's, data's probably loving it right now.
He's probably loving this.
Seeing Colby get the attention.
Seeing Colby do the interviews.
That was like not even part of like the scrum that I was, was puzzled by.
No one asked about Alex Perez, which I thought was kind of interesting.
I don't know.
I don't want to go down this road right now.
New York, Rick.
Welcome.
I come of a morning, Mike.
I've got a multiple choice question for you.
Sure.
What is the most annoying slash infuriating thing in M.
is it the conversation around who deserves a title shot a b who deserves a shot in the u s
hall of fame c who is the pound for pound king d who is the m m m goat i'm just kidding i
actually don't care about any of those um my question for you is what's your level of interest
in this weekend's uh game bread boxing four card and um if you're interested which of those
fights um is drawing uh the most interest from you as well
Hmm. I'm very interested.
I just wish they did this on any other weekend.
You know what I mean?
Like, I talk about pro wrestling on the show once in a while.
I don't watch it as, I don't watch it that much.
I'm trying to get into it more because people ask about it and stuff like that.
But, like, I don't miss WrestleMania.
Like, I don't care if I hadn't watch a single WWF second for an entire year,
I watch WrestleMania every year.
And now that it's two nights, like, it's cool.
But to put this card on April 1st during WrestleMania,
like not even the UFC would do that.
The UFC would not even do that.
And they pick this date.
And they picked just a weird-ass city to do it in.
Milwaukee?
What are we doing?
What are we doing?
I just, I don't get it.
I don't understand why Milwaukee was the choice
when you could have gone to Florida and done it.
Could have done, anywhere down in this, like,
from North Carolina to Georgia to Florida,
anywhere in those four states,
like those four states would have been perfect to host this event.
Would have been perfect.
Milwaukee proven time and time again
over the last five to ten years
that it is not a drawing city.
Why do you think the UFC hasn't gone back there?
It's so long.
There's a reason for that.
I don't know why they chose Milwaukee.
Orlando would have been a great place to do.
do it.
Somewhere in Florida,
it would be a great place to do it.
They chose Milwaukee.
And if you look at the ticket sales, they're not doing very well.
Could it be something that, like, a lot of people just go and buy tickets at the door,
looking for something to do?
Nah, I'll just DBR, WrestleMania, and I'll watch it tomorrow or whatever.
We'll just go to the fights.
Sure.
I am interested, though.
Like, I heard about this idea.
before Mazadol had announced it with Ariel
and I had heard some of the names that were on it
and I knew they weren't going to make the announcements
officially official until they had all the bout agreements signed.
I'm intrigued by it.
I'm intrigued by it.
Get some very notable MMA names to, for the most part,
box other notable MMA names.
Now we don't get that in the main amount
with Roy George Jr. and Anthony Pettis,
but for the most part, we're getting like,
Joe Zayaldo and Jeremy Stevens is super interesting.
Joe Riggs, the great Joe Riggs is on this card.
Like, if that's not selling this arena out after certain media members are asking Jake Paul about him,
I mean, I don't know what will.
But Joe Riggs is on this card.
This is a massive deal.
I'm intrigued by it.
I'm intrigued to see Roy Jones.
It's Roy George Jr.'s final fight.
Like, that's cool.
Joseoaldo, in the boxing world, see how he does.
Like, there's some good, interesting fights.
Now, there's some filler.
Like, even, like, the battle of the wins.
Who will win between B-Win and Andy Win?
The rematch there.
There's rematches everywhere.
Like, it's a cool concept.
I just...
The city threw me off.
The date threw me off.
I hope it goes well.
It doesn't seem like it's going great.
Like, just if you go to the website and you look at the ticket sales,
The pay-per-view being $49-99 seems like a miss, if we're being honest.
But I hope it goes well.
I hope they do a million pay-per-view buys.
They're not going to, but I don't know.
I like the concept.
I think there's room for it.
I just don't think the promotion has been great for it.
The city, like I said, is not a –
I just don't think Milwaukee was the place to host this card,
and I think $499 is a little cray-cray.
But I am rooting for them to do well.
I promise you.
And there's a part of me that's hoping that I get the hot tag to cover that one.
Because I will be working Saturday.
There's a lot going on, obviously, with that card, Anthony Joshua.
We got WrestleMania.
You got lots of stuff going on.
But if I get tagged in to cover that one, I'm in.
I'm ready to go.
I'm ready to go.
I thought it was also kind of weird that Mazadol is not even going to be there.
But I get that too.
He's got a massive fight the following week, which, again, kind of throws me off with the date and the location and all that.
But I'm not a promoter.
What can I say?
But I'm rooting for him.
I hope it goes well.
Let's go to AA.
Double A.
Hello.
How you doing?
Good.
So I've got two for you.
What does the USC do with Michael Kiesa now that, um,
Lee Jing Liang is pulled out.
I heard that Kevin Lee
was approached
with that fight and Michael turned it down
and what do you
thoughts on Valentina Shevchenko's
comments about Jason Herzlok's
refereeing in her fight with
Alexigroso. That's all I got.
Everyone, take care of yourself. Have a great day
and peace. I mean
my first thought hearing that
was that Jed Michoud should file
a grievance to try to appeal
that so maybe you can get some of his money back.
I don't know.
I mean, with, I'd love to hear from Jason.
I know Jason goes on social media and trolls a little bit,
which I completely respect.
I don't know.
I'd love to hear his side and maybe Alexis side of that,
but it's just Valentina doing Valentina things, I guess.
The Kevin Lee thing is not true,
at least from what I've been told.
And if you go on Twitter,
the great Danny Rubenstein, the manager of Michael Kiesa,
will tell you the same thing.
But I was told that that, because like, what, what, like, what, how is that a compelling, how is that a compelling fight?
Honestly.
Like, you got it as compelling as it possibly could be.
These two dudes had a fight on stage, essentially.
And Michael Kiesa ran Kevin Lee over and tapped him.
And Kevin Lee has not looked good fighting.
anybody as of late, I just don't, I, I just don't even know why the UFC would even entertain
that fight. Honestly, I'm going to pull up, I'm going to pull up Rubenstein's, uh, I don't know,
I can't find it. But he basically said it's bullshit. All that's bullshit. So what it tells
me is that, and you have to understand, Ali in dominance manages Lee Jing Liang. They now manage
Kevin Lee.
I think they probably said, hey, let's try to get this fight.
They probably reached out to the U.S.
This is what Rubenstein said.
They probably reached out to the UFC, and the UFC was like, no.
No, we're not doing that.
And then it probably went back to Kevin that, oh, no, it got turned down.
From what I am told, that fight was never offered to Michael Kiesa.
In fact, Danny Rubinstein said in that tweet as well, no names have been offered to Michael
Kiesa at this point.
The plan is, as I reported yesterday,
the plan is they're trying to do something to keep him on the card,
but we don't know if that's going to happen or not.
But I know Kevin Lee has not been,
was never a name that was presented to them.
In fact, no names have been presented to them.
I don't know how they do this.
Like, I honestly don't know if there's a fight they can make
that would be compelling enough to Kiyasa
to want to keep him on the card in less than two weeks notice.
I would say maybe like a Wonderboy,
you know, if something happens with Mazadola Burns,
maybe he can slide in as a replacement there.
So that's something to keep in mind.
But I just don't know if there's anything that really jumps out at Kiesa.
I don't know.
D-Rod's booked.
Lee Jingleong's out.
Ponziabio's on the card.
Kevin Hollen's on the card.
Maybe wait and see what happens with one of those two guys.
Randy Brown would be kind of interesting.
He's coming off of the loss, though.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know what they're going to do.
I don't know what kind of name they could put together.
I don't know if KAS is just going to take anybody.
We'll see what happens.
It's the matcha or the three ensemble Cadocephora
that I've been deniers so much.
It's the ensemble.
The form of standard and mini-regrouped.
Hello, Ben.
And the embellage, too beau,
who is practically pre-to-donned.
And I know I'd love them offriars,
but I guard the Summer Fridays
and Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez.
I'm just
I'm sure.
The most
Ensemble
Cado of the
Fourses
Cephora.
Summer Fridays,
Rare Beauty,
Way, Cephora
Collection, and
other parts of quick.
Procurre you
these formats
and mini,
regrouped for
a better quality
price,
on link
on C4.A
or in magazine.
Unwrapped
Holiday Magic
at Holt Renfrew
with gifts
that say I know you
from festive and
cozy fashion
to luxe
and fragrance sets.
Our special
selection has something
for every style
and price point.
Visit our Holtz Holiday
shop and store
or online at Holtrenfru
dot com.
TV, hello.
TV, hello.
Yo,
echo of a morning.
Not really a question, but more of a comment observation.
I just want to give a shout-outs to Corey Sanhagen.
I just saw his interview with Ariel last night,
and I don't know, he seems he comes across
of a very thoughtful and sorts of a rebuild guy.
Kind of reminds me of Dominic Cruz,
but yeah, that's pretty much a shout-outs to Corey Sanhagen.
100%.
he's such an interesting guy.
He's such an interesting guy.
Big fan of him.
He just approaches the sport like a professional athlete.
And I dig that.
But he's not like cookie cutter.
He makes you think a little bit.
He's the kind of guy that, like, you want to represent your sport.
He's a great representative.
To me, he reminds he of Benson in a lot of way.
He's like Benson Henderson 2.0.
where he could take a cliche and flip it on its ear and just make it sound so much cooler.
But Sandhagen just goes a little bit deeper.
He's like a more evolved professional Benson Henderson,
which I dig about Cory Sanhagen.
He's like Bendo and Dominic Cruz,
like the best pieces of analytics from both of them.
How can you not like that guy?
He's great.
Let's try to get Oni in here.
Yo.
Yes.
Against us regular as in like people like me, talk.
And, you know, for some reason, Twitter was biased against us.
Just like Michael Bisping was biased.
Nah, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
So it's good to talk to you, Mike.
Thank you for having me on.
So it's like I have a couple of thoughts from, you know,
I've been saving them because I've been wanting to share them with you
after, you know,
UFC 286.
You keep asking this question,
don't you?
As in, why didn't Dana White wait?
Why did he just,
you know, double down,
triple down,
or quadruple down,
whatever,
on Colby Covington?
I think they are laying the foundation
for, you know,
a long-term plan,
you see,
you see there's Jorge Masvidal
versus Gilbert Burns
happening.
I think they are
praying that Colby beats Leon Edwards and Masudal beats Burns and they want to use all the drama
between Colby and Masudal to set up a title fight between the two of them in Miami, Florida.
So I think that would be, you know, in terms of money, that would be massive.
And I don't think I'd have a problem with Masudal getting a title shot if he runs through
Gilbert Burns,
which I don't see happening,
but it is a competitive fight
because, you know,
one thing if you observe with Gilbert Burns is
straight shots hurt him a lot.
Like if you've noticed in his fight against
Kamar Usman, he was dropped by jabs again and again.
And although Kamsa Chimaev swung loads of hooks,
it was just one jab that dropped him in the first round.
And I think if Masudal is, you know, as educated as striker he is, if he can capitalize on that,
like, I think he has a shot at winning.
It's not as one-sided as the odds makers make it seem.
That's what I think.
I think UFC is just praying for all the cards to fall in place.
Yes.
And one more thing, this is more of a, you know, a genie type of.
matchmaking. I know this will not happen, but you know, UFC Mexico is, you know, we can see that it might happen.
How good would it be if we had on the main card, opening the main card, Kane Velazquez versus
Andrea Arlowski. Imagine how good that would have been. I mean, it won't happen, but it's always
good to have, you know, these legends showcase, you know, on important occasions. I think that would be
amazing, don't you think?
Yes, last
but not the least, I just want to
give a shout out to New York
Rick. I think he has
amazing takes,
very well thought out responses,
and I would love his
thoughts on
my, you know, this little
monologue as well. Glad to be back
here, Mike, seriously. I just hope Twitter doesn't
act up again. Thank you.
Yep, all the regulars have gotten
through. Mike, he got through earlier.
Toc will be coming up soon. He was on the other day.
So I think whatever issue that was got fixed.
I'm sure there's part of the UFC that hopes that happens, what you said.
But the weirdness of the timing of everything is that not only could you get the fight you want,
you could get like multiple massive fights.
You can get Mazadol, Leon, and then Mazadol Colby.
Like you can get both of it.
you have the chance to get both of those fights.
So maybe they just don't have a lot of faith in Mazdaal to win.
So they just immediately jumped to Colby.
But I'm with you.
And I've been saying this for a while.
I think Mazadol has a much better chance of beating Gilbert Burns that people are giving him credit for.
Am I going to go out and pick him to win?
I don't think I'm going to go that far.
But if I'm betting on this fight, seeing Mazadol at plus 350, I'm taking a look at it.
I'm taking a gander.
I'm taking a gander.
Mazadol is the better striker here.
There's no doubt about it.
Burns has gotten a lot better.
Sure, but Mazadol is the better striker.
Gilbert Burns is great on the ground,
but the way Gilbert gets fights to the ground,
Mazadol is actually very good defensively.
And Burns is what Mazdaal struggles with
that he's talked about this many times,
and it's something he struggled with a lot throughout his entire career,
is he struggles with guys who just chain wrestle.
over and over again, like Colby tried to do to him,
like Lea, like Usman did in the first fight,
just take down after takedown after takedown,
shoot style wrestling.
That is not something that Burns does all that much.
He's not a guy who's just going to shoot,
he's not a guy that's going to shoot 20 takedown attempts in a fight.
He's going to put you up against the cage,
he's going to try to trip you,
he's going to try to get in close and try to take you down.
Mazol is actually very underrated
when it comes to that style of grappling
from a defensive standpoint.
Mazdaal isn't a great defensive wrestler,
but Burns isn't really a big-time offensive wrestler
who's going to shoot a bunch of takedown,
single-double, single-double,
body lock, stuff like that.
That's not how Burns gets fights to the ground.
So, I mean, who knows?
Maybe Burns will go and do that
and have like a marab style.
I'm just going to fire takedowns left and right.
I don't know if he's going to do that.
So I think the fight is closer,
than what it indicates.
I don't know if Mazadol wins,
but if Mazdaal can,
I mean,
it seems obvious,
but if Mazdaal can keep this thing standing,
he has a very good chance to win this fight.
And I don't know,
Burns is just going to try to shoot 15, 20 takedowns.
So I think the fight is a lot closer than the odds,
it's closer than the odds indicate.
You want to throw Mazadol like a plus 225?
Plus 250?
That's probably what I put it.
Plus 350 seems a lot wider to me.
that's how I see it.
But I still think that fight has legs.
Not as much because of the Colby stuff,
but I still think that fight's pretty important.
Toa-col-o.
So let's talk about another very convenient fight rumor for dominance MMA.
I want to talk about Umar and Makamatov and Mirab
because that was according to a dominance MMA source,
in Aaron Ross's status tweet that was apparently offered to Marab, who then said that he was injured.
But can you confirm that that was ever even offered?
And yeah.
Yes.
Okay.
It was.
Okay.
It just seems.
Okay.
So I will say this then.
Ali has some quick hands in trying to get the matchups for his guys.
I'll give him that credit at the very least.
but that fight makes no sense,
and it would be a travesty if it was made
because Maraub does not need to fight
Umar and Amagamadov.
It's Corey Sandhagan and Marab and that's it.
Umar needs to find someone else to fight.
That's it, Mike. See ya.
Like I said at the top of the show,
Corey Sanhagen did Marab a favor.
Because if that call doesn't happen
in the way of which it did,
Mara Sanhengenov's fighting Umar and Magamatov.
That's the fight.
that's the fight he would have been offered and that's the fight he would have probably had to take.
Unless he just wasn't going to fight at all.
Yeah.
There is actual,
there is actual smoke to that conversation.
That's something we've been trying to work on for a while now, if we're being honest.
So,
yeah.
But like I said,
Corey did him a favor and there seems to be a little buzz for that fight.
So that's where we're at right now.
I think Kevin was.
next we'll try to get to everybody kevin hello hey what's up mike heck of a morning so man
me too so first thing i want to say first and foremost is the way you handled uh colby covington
and if this was mentioned i'm sorry but the way you handle colby covington for doing the john
panic freakout was very impressive to say the least.
I, uh,
that was really the,
the main thing I noticed that you,
uh,
didn't really have much of a reaction.
I thought that was awesome.
Um,
and then the next thing I wanted to say,
just seeing how the Corey,
Han,
uh,
Corey Sanhagen and Verifite went,
uh,
does that get you thinking that the rematch between O'Malley and
Cheeto?
may not go, you know, kind of as people plan.
It may be, it may look a lot similar to Verra v. Sanhagen.
And then my only other question that I always like that I like to ask is,
who's your dark horse this year?
You know, someone that maybe people aren't talking about a ton,
that at the end of the year will be a champ.
Thanks, Mike.
That's a good question.
That's a good question.
I always seem to just go to Armand Sarukyana in these types of situations
just because he's been my pick for like five years now.
So I'll probably stick with that one.
I feel like he's lost a little bit of steam because of the Gamrot loss.
And some people thought he struggled a little bit against, I guess,
Isma Gulov.
He wasn't able to really make strong moves in that fight.
But I think his Magulov is just really, really good fighter.
And probably a guy that did.
didn't get enough credit himself.
So I'll probably go with Surukian.
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know about the Cheeto-Oamali fight.
Like I said, it's a back pocket fight,
and they can go to that whenever they want.
I'm Cheeto.
If they offer him Yan and they can do something pretty quickly,
that'd probably be a good fight for him to take.
Otherwise, he might get the Umar fight.
But maybe what he should do is just kind of chill.
but I know that's not really in his being
to just sit back and wait for things to happen
because I think O'Malley's going to get the winner of Suhudo and Aljo
and I would not pick O'Malley in either of those fights
and then he can go to the Cheeto fight?
I don't know.
It's in an interesting place right now.
And thank you on the other comment about the Colby interview.
J.D., hello.
Good, how are you?
Dude, I'm fantastic.
I'm fantastic.
First off, I just want to say,
shout out not only to you,
not only to the exhibition king,
my favorite Jedmishu and the whole
in May fighting staff,
but the community that y'all have made, dude,
it's refreshing, it's wonderful,
may have a couple bad apples,
but for the most part,
everyone is amazing and wonderful.
First off, I want to say,
what do you think is next for the Bonfine brothers?
And then number two,
I got a fun callout,
because I haven't heard a hid pop in,
for a little bit of time.
But if you ever do a fan-on-fan BTL,
I want to call out a hit.
Let's do it, man.
And since he won't do it, drop the mic, Mike.
Damn, I love it.
I love it.
Good stuff.
And I appreciate the kind words,
as does the rest of the squad.
I'll tell the exhibition king that as well.
Love the positive vibes today.
It's just good stuff.
Zeke.
My man, Mike, how are we?
A long time, no talk, but without fights going around, I got to get my, you know, daily UFC live in the spaces, not just on the podcast.
On this fantastic MMA fighting network like J.D.
We just mentioned it.
What a call out.
Yeah, I'm going to be quick.
I want to just kind of breeze through this next card because why not?
Let's talk about Arnold Allen and Max Holloway.
That fight should be a banger.
I mean, especially if Max Holloway, you know, took all the same.
time off is cleansed and ready to go and possibly making a title run.
In my opinion, that fight's going to be so awesome to watch.
It should go full five rounds, and we should have an exact read on what we think is next
for Arnold Allen.
My question to you is, should Max Holloway be a favorite in that fight?
Minus 150 to me is a bit egregious.
I don't know.
I just feel like Arnold Allen's been throwing hands recently.
What do you think, Mike?
Max, yeah, I'm not surprised at Max is the favorite.
minus 145. Yeah, Max should be the favorite.
It's a tough fight. Like I've been saying, like, I've come around a little bit more on the idea,
but I was not a fan of this fight. I was not a fan of this fight.
Mostly because Holloway has been the roadblock for a lot of these guys.
And we're trying to get new contenders and get new this and get new that.
I understand Holloway needs, wants to compete and wants to fight Arnold and make that
bag and I respect him for it.
I just didn't like this fight.
I would rather
Alan Toporia or
Alan somebody else because
if Max wins then you just killed
off another contender for a while.
Just featherweight is
featherweight's bananas
right now. It's a super deep division
doesn't get enough credit
in the lightweight, bannam weight
conversation in terms
of like deep divisions.
And featherweight's really deep.
And Holloway's tough out for anybody.
Like he's a tough out for anybody.
So, yeah, I don't mind Holloway being the favorite here.
It's about right.
It's not a disrespectful line.
Minus 145 plus 125 plus 125.
I think it'll probably get a little closer by the time we get to April 15th.
But yeah, I think the line's perfect, really.
But it's a great fight on merit.
On paper, it's freaking great.
Just, I just don't want to live in a way.
world where Max Holloway wins and we were like oh now now what are we going to do at 145 because
that's been the issue with this division for so long is that we don't have a guy that has just
emerged as the guy like we've took us this long to get Yayae Rodriguez at the head of the pack
and now we have another chance with Arlen Allen and now he's fighting Max Holloway so it's just tough
it's just tough QP hello yeah it was good Mike so man yeah I didn't tap in in a while we're not as
as a speaker, but I've been listening for a minute.
My question was,
I always come on here talking about Aljo.
You know, I always got to give him his,
because nobody ever gives him his props, his flowers.
Does he have more of a chance?
And I think it's going to be similar to the T.J. Dillishaw thing where we know the
credentials.
We know he has a better wrestling background, but the sheer size of Aljo is going to play a
factor in the fight, and I don't think a lot of people are,
are giving that any any any any any any any any energy like they should be like he's going to come in there
looking like a one 45 or against a one 25 or a blown up 125er and I think when he gets a hold of him
is going to look a lot different than what people have expected to look can you give me any insight
on that or tell me how you feel about that also I agree with what um the last guy was saying about
the community you guys created I love coming here I brought people into the community and they love it
too they tell me the same way like damn I'm glad you should
showed me this page. I'm glad you showed me these people. It's just like sports center for
MMA fight for MMA fans. We just can come to you guys after and get get insight from you.
Good laughs, good vibes. Alex K Lee is my favorite personally. But Mike, you know, you're my
guy too. But can I get your insight on the Aljo fight? I can. And apparently,
there we go. Apparently somebody's freaking alarm went off over and over again.
I'm with you, man. Like that's, that's a huge.
factor for me is
the size. And
I didn't really take too much
of that into account before he fought
T.J. But it was almost
one of those things where, I mean, I know T.J.
had the one arm and stuff like that, but
when they had that final face off
before the fight started at UFC 280, I was
just like, holy shit.
Aljo is like two weight classes
bigger than T.J. Delosha right now.
I was like, I read this.
There was a part of me immediately. I was like,
wow, I read this fight completely
wrong. And I think that's going to be a huge factor in this fight. Sohudo seems very confident,
as he should. I want to believe that Henry Suhudo is back for the right reasons. I really do.
I want to believe it. And I want this fight to happen and I want it all to be cool. I am sick of,
I'm sick of the build to this fight already. Like, I really am. Because these two are just awful
trash talkers. They're two of the worst.
I know that
doesn't matter when the cage door
locks, but they are both awful at this.
They're both not good.
And we're going to have another
month of this plus, and it's
going to be the worst.
It's going to be the worst.
I just hope we're going to get press
conferences with these two guys.
It's going to be awful. It's going to
be so bad. But then
eventually they're going to fight.
and I'm compelled by it.
But yes, the size is going to be a huge factor.
Aljo has actually gotten bigger, it looks like.
It's going to be like 130 pounder fighting a lightweight.
That's what it's going to look like.
But Suhudo has been undersized in a lot of his fights,
and he's found ways to win.
And you can make a pretty compelling case right now
that Al Jermain Sterling is his toughest fight ever,
and that includes Demetrius Johnson.
just because of the size
and because of the things he brings to the table.
I don't think Aljo is as dangerous as a striker,
obviously, as DJ is,
but obviously Aljo being much bigger and heavier than DJ.
I don't know.
I'm picking Aljo.
And that's a big part of why.
Because I just don't know if Sehudo's going to be able to do what he usually does
against a guy that much bigger than him.
but we shall see we shall see all right we're going to take two more and then i got to go so we got
like five minutes i'm trying to get four on sniper in here what's up four on sniper yep
mike can you hear me yeah i got you okay sorry about that i'm at work and i'm in a different
area than usual uh so this past weekend obviously cori sanhagen dominated uh marlin vera in the main
event. I sort of predicted that. I've been saying all week that he's a terrible matchup for
Marlon because he moves around too much. You know, he has too many tools. And I guess we found
out he has some wrestling to add on to that. Just a straight up yes or no question, because I know
you'll give him a chance, but do you think Marlon Vera will fight for interim gold or undisputed
gold at any point? Or do you think this is basically the end of the road for him? Thanks, Mike.
Oh man
I'm literally on the fence with this one
I'm gonna say yes
because you mentioned the interim
because like I said
the O'Malley fights a back pocket fight
you have Aljo
who the UFC doesn't seem to have like a great
relationship with Henry Suhudo is such a wild card
and does just not smart things
with his career and his callouts
and things he wants to do
that make no sense a lot of times.
So could there be a world where the UFC
just immediately pivots to an O'Malley, Vera,
like interim title fight?
Sure.
I'll say yes.
I'm not as confident as I was a week ago at this time,
but I still think he's there.
Mara Vara's only 30.
It's not like he's 38.
He's got, he ain't done.
So the issues that he has, the slow starting, the lack of output, all that,
that's things that he'll grow and learn upon and continue to evolve with his game.
But yeah, we'll see.
All right, Daniel, last caller, and then I've got to go.
Hey, Mike, can you hear me?
What's that, man?
Perfect.
Hey, just wanted to keep it quick.
So Nate the train, I mean, this guys obviously gets.
and some steam, no pun intended.
Just curious what you think a good matchup next for him would be.
I mean, I'm seeing maybe Dan Ege, maybe like a JSP or something,
but just curious what you think a good matchup for him would be.
And the only other thing I wanted to ask is,
right now if you look at future champions,
just like the betting odds and things for light heavyweight,
I believe we have Magamette and Goliath that plus 100.
we have Yuri at like plus 200 or plus 150 and then Jamal Hill at plus 275.
I just think that line's a little crazy.
I think it's crazy that we're just already thinking that Jamal Hill is going to lose the belt.
And that's just as of January 2024.
So yeah, just curious who you think is next for Nate Landware and who do you think would
possibly just fight for the belt next against Jamal or do you think either of those guys
have a better chance of getting it than him?
Thanks, Mike.
So Jamal, though, I mean, they're going to try to do Yuri.
If they can't do Yuri, they'll probably do Angoliath.
I have no interest in that fight.
None.
Absolutely none.
And I don't think that one goes well for Jamal Hill,
but I didn't think Glover-Sachar would go well for Jamal Hill,
and he shut up everybody.
So I think they're going to try,
if Yuri could fight by, like, September,
I think they're just going to wait,
and I think they should, honestly.
As far as Nate Landwehr goes,
I like the Danny Yegai idea.
I picked Sidique Youssef
just because
it would just be super fun
to hear Sidic Yusuf do an unprofessional breakdown
on his own fight with a wild man
like Nate Landware.
JSP's fun.
He liked, I think he said Billy Q.
If Billy Q beats Edson Barbosa,
so I like that one.
I mean, there's a lot.
I mean, literally, Nate Landware against anybody
is a lot of fun.
I dig it.
But I went with Sadiq Youssef, which would be a fun fight too.
All right.
I got to go.
That's why we started a little early because I got to get out of here.
A very busy day of things I'm trying to put together from a production standpoint.
So Viking, I see you.
I apologize Thursday.
As soon as you jump on, you cut the entire line, my man.
You cut the entire line.
But appreciate you back Thursday.
10 a.m. Eastern.
We'll do this again.
and then we'll be back on Friday.
We'll do it again and so forth and so on.
You guys are the best.
Appreciate you.
Have a great rest of your Tuesday.
And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.
Media podcast network.
Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.
You're almost at the finish line.
But first, there, the last one.
Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.
