MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Dana White Planting Seeds For Conor McGregor's UFC Return

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

Could it be? Is Conor McGregor's return to the UFC actually going to happen? If you take what Dana White's Instagram story read on Friday morning as a seed planted, perhaps we're heading in the right direction. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to White's tease of McGregor's octagon return, discusses when it could happen, and why it could be an incredibly interesting story outside of just a fight. Additionally, listener questions include potential surprises that could happen at UFC 300, Joaquin Buckley following his win over Vicente Luque at UFC Atlantic City, the pros and cons from Thursday's PFL San Antonio card, Charles Oliveira recently saying he'd rather face McGregor than Islam Makhachev, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

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the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Get started at LinkedIn.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. The Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Friday, April 5th, 2024, and it is indeed. heck of a morning. We are live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter space. You can hear the show in its entirety. Shorty thereafter on the M.A.

Fighting Podcasting Network. Hello again. I am Mike Keck. Hope you're all having a wonderful Friday. I am outside on my back porch today. We're getting some painting done in the new house. So don't want it to be too noisy. So we're outside enjoying just a beautiful day.

here in South Carolina and we're here to talk some mixed martial arts. We're here to talk about whatever the hell you want. We did have PFL last night. There is a one event going on in case you didn't know, which you probably didn't because they haven't really

promoted anything. The UFC is tomorrow. WrestleMania is tomorrow and Sunday. There's a lot to talk about. So we have a pretty tight window today. There's a lot happening. So we're going to go until the top of the hour, maybe a couple minutes after, but no more than that.

So we'll take as many questions as we can. So I would just like to ask a favor if we can keep the questions tight and somewhat quick. We can get to as many as we can. So we've got interviews. We got the preview show coming up. So there's a lot happening. So I want to make sure I get to everybody. If you are newer, if you have never tagged in here and wanted to ask questions or make comments, you will go to the front of the line.

All right. That's how this is going to work, especially on a Friday. So let's go. Let's get after it. And we will begin with Abswalia, who was first. Abswalia, go ahead. So, Mark, heck of a morning. Since 3-4 Friday, I just wanted to talk a little bit about the NBA.

I'm just curious with Julius Randall, he's really pretty much had a season ending injury. Do you still see the Knicks being a legit threat in the East or they're most likely going to be a possible first round, second round exit as usual like we've seen the last three years? That's all I have a great day. Yeah, obviously I saw that. I haven't really kept up too too much in the NBA. Like I'm obviously aware of what the Celtics are doing. I obviously saw this news and I saw Ariel react to it because he's a big Knicks fan. He seems very confident, but that's just kind of what Knicks fans say in these types of situations.

So do I think that this team, if they are healthy outside of Randall, can they make a run? Maybe win a series, depending on who they get matched up with. but if they run into the Celtics or Miami or any of the top team, even like Philly at this point who are terrible in the playoffs, they just can't win a big game, they're going to lose. They're probably going to lose that series. So maybe they'll play with the chip on their shoulder and make things exciting.

But yeah, I don't think this is a tough loss for them. And even with Randall, I didn't really think they could. They weren't beating the Celtics or in a series, I don't think. But we'll see. Obviously, that's a tough loss. Apologies to the Knicks fans out there. Let's go to the genius. Genius, are you there?

You just got to unmute yourself. Hey, what's up? What's up, man? Not too much, not too much. I'm just kind of checking into what you guys are talking about. I'm just going to sit back until I, you know what I mean? I really understand what I mean? I just woke up.

It's so kind of. There's a lot of news from the background. I didn't have a lot of background noise and then, you know, the whole space, you know? Oh, yeah, I hear you, man. I appreciate you hopping in. Yeah, we're just kind of not talk about anything right now. So that's why you guys are here. Obviously, there's some stuff that has gotten some traction today.

Dana White going on Instagram and his stories. Teasing an announcement regarding Connomer Greger showed a video of him. walking into some sort of events. It looked like a press conference maybe from back in the day. And the caption said, coming soon. So perhaps they will make this Michael Chandler, Connor McGregor fight official. Hopefully that is the case.

Maybe for June 29th. But until Connor is in the actual octagon, I don't believe shit. But we'll see. If the UFC announces it, then I'll feel a lot better about it. I guess that if that makes sense. Fuming Yao, go ahead. Hello, hello. Hello.

What do you got? You can see about Kahn McGregor. What about him? Connemar McGregor. What about Connor McGregor? Contest. Contest?

Yes. Against what? The fight with Chandler? Is that what you're talking about? Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, I hope that fight happens. It'll be fun.

And I think we're just ready for Connor to come back just to see how it all plays out. I mean, it's not much we can say about it. Lee, go ahead. Hey, Mike, heck of a morning. Hey, just, I don't know if you've been seeing, like, the reports, like, with Oliveira, like, more interested in fighting Connor. over Islam. I was just thinking it's like, do you think there's anything to that? Because he has pulled out like twice against Islam. And I know one was like the injury with the cut or whatever.

And then also did you see the Armand Sarukin and also talking about like his body language when he's like when Oliver actually wants to fight his opponent, whether it was Chandler or compared to the Islam fight? I just wanted your thoughts on that. And if do you think there's something deeper to Oliver not won to fight Islam. Yeah, have a heck of the rest of your day. I mean, look, Charles has been doing this for a long time, and my dog is confusing.

Are you coming out or are you staying in it? What are we doing here, Shaddle? Good Lord. All right, lay down, buddy. Lay down. Chill out. Lay down. See, that's what happens when you do live shows.

There you go. Good boy. God boy. So let's start with the Oliver stuff. Yeah, I mean, look, he's been doing this a long time. He's already won the belt. He fought his arm already. It didn't go well.

I know a lot of people are like, well, if they fight again, it's going to be different. Maybe it's like slightly more competitive. But I think we saw what we're going to see. I just don't think that fight goes much different. It was a stylistic nightmare for Charles Olivera. If you go back, I did pick Charles just because he just keeps finding ways to win. And I'd said on previous shows

that I wasn't going to pick against him anymore as long as he was in title fights, the way that his run kept going, because there's just weird and wacky. And I just kind of felt vibe-wise, maybe it'll just get weird and wacky again. But I also said from a stylistic perspective, it was a horrible fight for Charles.

Like everything on paper told me that Islam was just going to run him over. and that's essentially what happened. And at this point, like, Charles, go make that money, son. I mean, go get it. That's the most lucrative fight he can get. So might as well tease it and see if he can get it. What that, he probably sees the writing on the wall that Dustin Porre is going to get a title shot.

Or it's just kind of bogged down right now. Because even if he goes out and beats Armin, if Islam's fighting in June, if that's what the UFC wants to do, he's, unless he's going to turn around quick, it's, that's going to be tough for him.

And if you're going to fight Islam Makachaf, I think you want more than like six or seven weeks to prepare for a guy like that. So, yeah, I think he's just trying to get the money fight. And Armin is playing, Armine's playing the game.

Everyone knows how I feel about Armand Sirukian as an up-and-comer. I think this is his year. I've got, many shows. This is my all-in year. This is where I'm pushing all my chips in the middle on Armin Sarukin. So we'll see how it all plays out. But yeah, he's just playing the game. He's being cerebral about it. Maybe he sees some things, but those two are going to get in there and fight each other next Saturday, eight days from right now. And I can't friggin' wait for it. So I don't know if there's anything to it, but this might just be Armin playing the game a little bit.

genius guy and ask your question my man veteran it doesn't matter like you know what it's on his feet or on the ground he knows what to do and then with mock and chef I think honestly they're pretty close in the wrestling and whatnot

and they're ground here so I think either wearing clothes it's going to be a good buddy in the back to go on her Chandler I think I don't know honestly I feel like maybe he's kind of scared about the leg breaking thing

I mean if you think about it how can you really get over time like that and I think that's honestly why they keep pushing the fight back maybe it'll happen who knows because he has the whole movie thing, so we'll see it happens. He's one of my phase, Conner, but I don't think he's really going to come back like he used to.

You know what I mean? I mean, everything that's happened, you know what I mean? I think this might be different, you know what I mean? But as far as Oliver goes, anybody goes up against, anybody that he faces, I think he's going to, you know what I mean, become top. Same with Malkichuk. Give me dog a little while and then he'll see what he can do,

but I think he's going to become, you know. He's going to be up there, you know, you know, with the great for sure. Yeah. Look, there's just certain things about Oliver's game that fits right into Islam style. Like, there's all this talk who's like, well, if Islam takes him down, like Charles is so nasty off of his back. But people forget that Paul Felder went in Charles Oliverer's guard and beat the shit out of him. Like Charles is crafty off of his back against someone who's not like a very super strong offensive wrestler. but when you have somebody who knows how to control you on the mat, he struggles with that.

He really does. And if Islam gets him on it, and we saw it in the fight. We saw it in the fight. Like, I went back and rewatched it not that long ago. It is slightly, and I mean slightly more competitive than I remember watching it live, but not much. This is exactly the way I thought the fight was going to go outside of Islam just stinging him on the feet. I didn't see that coming. I didn't see him hurting Charles with strikes.

I thought if anyone was going to get hurt with strikes, he's going to be Charles. But I do think Islam striking is tremendously underrated. I just didn't think he'd be able to really sting Charles like that. And I just don't think this fight goes any differently. It might even go worse for Charles, because now Islam's already been there. He's got the confidence that he could go out there and put it on him. And Islam's just getting better and better. And as far as Connor goes, yeah, of course he's not going to come back the same way.

One, the injury and two, Conner's getting older. Father time is undefeated. So the UFC doesn't have a lot of, I mean, they could have a lot of time with him, but he's only got, after this Chandler fight, this is where I'm the most fascinated. If they fight June 29th, June 30th and on, that's when this thing is going to get pumping. Because Connor will have one fight left out of his deal. I don't think he's going to resign. I don't think he should resign with the UFC.

I think you should let this play out. In a world where Connor McGregor could be entering free agency, that is a very fascinating world to me. It truly is. So we'll see. Maybe Connor does sign something. Maybe that post was they agreed to terms to get a new deal on the books. I really hope that's not the case.

But we'll see how it plays out. We just need to get this fight done. This is like the UFC 300 main event of fights. Like, we just need to see Connor in there fighting somebody. So we can stop speculating about it. Like, let's just get a fight on the books and let's fight. And then we can go from there. Raise the runners. Raise the sails.

Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over. Roger. Wait. Is that an enterprise sales sales? Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. Start converting your B2B audience today. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a free $250 credit for the next one.

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visit chase.com slash experiences. Benefits available only to eligible Chase card holders, deposit and credit card products provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A, member FDIC. Terms, conditions, restrictions, and limitations apply. Jamir, go ahead. What's up, Mike? I just want to talk about going back.

I know we talked about it already, but the Buckley and Ariel situation. I'm thinking I'm a big Ariel fan. I watch MMA hour, and I'm a big fan of MMA fighting in general, but I do believe sometimes, like, I know his example, three years back in Ariel acts

Desdem Poirier bought the pay-per-view shares that he was getting for a fight. I think it was a kind of fight if he was getting a pay-per-view points. And he knows, like, if the UFC obviously doesn't like the fighters to talk about that. And he says he's for the fighters, right?

And I believe he is. While he asks that question and expect Dustin Poirier to give him an answer, that could eventually or possibly lead to UFC being upset with Porriette and put him in a bad position. I think that's what Buckley was talking about when he said that area would ask questions that can get the fighters in trouble with the company. Like, we know how the UFC runs. We know that they get upset about they're really petty.

So I ask a question that can get a fighter in trouble with the company. you know what I mean? I get where you're coming from. I told, like, I get it. I get it. And, you know, I got some DMs from people when I talked about this. Oh, you're just defending Ariel because he works for me fighting and all the shit. No, it's not the case. There is a fine line here.

And look, I'm going to say something on this program that might surprise some people. I don't watch or listen to weighing in all that often. but someone had reached out and was like, listen to what Josh Thompson and John McCarthy have to say about this situation because Josh likes to say things that aren't true a lot. So I watched it somewhat reluctantly. And I actually understood where Josh was coming from

because he is a fighter. And it's a tough situation to be it. However, as Josh said, Ariel is a journalist. And while it can be perceived as gotcha questions, it's also journalism. Sometimes you have to ask the questions. Now, you can be like a Dustin Porier, who when he gets asked these questions, is usually very smart about how he answers them.

Let's just go back to what Dustin said about the whole Benoit Santini's situation, about how that fight came together. We know what, like we all know what Dustin did there when he tweeted out, sorry guys, the fights off, miscommunication, or whatever it was. We knew exactly what Dustin Porio was trying to do. We're not fools. We knew it. And the UFC was on fire about it. They just tried to turn it against the media and all the stuff that it was the funniest day I've ever had covering the sport.

It truly was. But then when he goes on the MAA already's asked about it, he no-sells it. Like you just know-sell. I'll be like, yeah, I don't really want to get into it. And then that sort of ends it. And maybe Ariel will ask a follow-up question if he says something. But that's journalism. That's it.

It's not necessarily like gotcha questions. Here's the thing about Buckley, though. What Buckley was great in the fight. I still have questions about how far he can go in this division because I'm kind of like how Vicente ended that fight. But I ain't taken anything away from Buckley. Like that was a huge win. Going out there and finishing Vicente Lucke was great.

But I even said on the people's pre-fight show, I'm like, this guy needs to have a name and he needs to be ready to go. And what did he do? He did nothing with it. That's why I tweeted out like A performance, F minus or whatever I gave it a grade after the fact. Like you've got to have some. Dude, you're going to be in the top 10 in a division that is impossible to move in. I'm not saying you have to be disrespectful about it. But have a name in mind.

Be like, yo, I want to fight this guy. If I'll headline St. Louis, let's go fight this dude. And then he goes on Ariel's show. And it seemed immediately body language on Joaquin Buckley, like where this, he didn't want to be there. And he had a purpose about it, which is fine. But at least come correct with it. Have an example. Have something.

I'm not saying he to be like, hey, June 10th, 2012. MMA hour episode number 274 at the timestamp of one hour, 54 minutes, 37 seconds, you asked Fighter X a question about this. I'm not saying that, but be like, yo, you ask this question, try to stir up drama with this guy. You ask questions trying to stir up drama with this guy. At least have something. You don't think Ariel was going to go and ask follow-up questions about it?

Of course he was. That's this inquisitive nature. That's what you're supposed to do in that situation. And Joaquin had nothing. It had nothing for that. So I don't, like, I get it, but it's also journalism. And trust me, I know Ariel. His whole thing is not to, like, get people in trouble.

But if there's questions that need to be asked, he's got to fucking ask him. Just like I would do, just like anybody else would do who knows how to interview. If there's something there you need to ask about, sure. MVP, like, on the weighing in episode, they brought up the clip of Ariel asking MVP about his walkout and how Dana White responded to it. And they used that as an example of like, well, this is a gotcha question and this could get you in trouble. And MVP handled it great because it wasn't like a gotcha question. Dana White literally said, hey, we're not doing these walkouts anymore. Like, I don't like them.

MVP did like a different kind of a walkout. And he sort of teased that he had something even bigger on the. on the plate. So when the face of the promotion comes out and says, nah, we're not doing fun. Like, we don't want to do this anymore. Like, I'm not in favor of it. Is he not supposed to ask about it? It's different if like the fighter, it's different if a fighter says like, no, I don't want to talk about it. And then you keep harping on it and keep pushing the button. Like, then you look like an asshole. But to me, it just, it just didn't seem that way. And it seemed like Buckley, you know, just kind of went in with a plan. And then,

when the plan kind of fell apart, he didn't really know how to handle it. Like, why even go on the show? Why even go on the show? It's just, the whole thing was super weird to me. It really was. It was just super weird. The vibes were so off about it.

It just, it wasn't good. It just wasn't good. And it could be perceived that way. Like, it's just the way that it is. But sometimes you ask questions. And if a fighter talks about it, that's their choice. That's their choice. If they don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to.

But if you come back and you're just like, oh, come on, man, the people want to know. And you're just like poking and prodding and going back to the same thing over and over again. Like that's different than just asking a question in my opinion. But it's the same thing. Like if there's a connection to certain things, you ask the question. Like, I've seen all the AEW fans like go absolutely insane because Ariel's asking CM Punk about AEW. And then he asked Cody Rhodes about AEW.

And he asked Josh Bardett about AEW. And it's just like, oh, Ariel's trying to get people to shit on AEW. No, there's a fucking connection to with all of those people to AEW. He's not asking random wrestler who has no connection with AEW about AEW. You know what I'm saying? So it's a different kind of a thing. But I also understand where people are coming from as well. Of course you don't want to see a fighter get in trouble.

But sometimes you just ask a question, just be Dustin Boreen and be like, nah, man. Like, I don't really want to get into it. But yeah, it all worked out. Done. That's it. That's the end of it. But sorry, that's journalism. You ask questions.

That's just how I feel about it. But Buckley could. to handle it better. If he came up with an example, I think you would have looked a lot better at this, but he just, he had nothing. Left lane, go ahead. Can you hear me, Mike? Yes, sir. I just wanted to, I have a other question, but I just wanted to briefly add on to that kind of

topic of conversation. And I do agree with a lot of the stuff you say, and I do kind of agree with the sentiment that like journalism is journalism. Like, you have the right to ask any questions, and they have the right to respond to however they want. It's the same with the Strickland and AK stuff. Like, he can respond how he wants.

That's fine. But I do think when Ariel said to Buckley, when he said, I love the fighters. I have the fighters on because I want to help them. I want to like share their story and stuff like that. I don't love how he sometimes, in my opinion, tries to act a little bit too, like, a little bit too playing both sides, in my opinion. Because in the past, he's asked questions like there was one with Cyborg and Dana, how he, he asked something about, like, Dana apparently blocked Cyborg in Instagram, and he asked Cyborg about that and said,

are you up, were you upset about this? Like, that's a fine question. You can ask that. Cybor's like, no, not really. And then you kind of asked again. And then he then asked Dana at another press conference and said, Cyborg brought it up. She was very upset about this.

Like, I don't know, sometimes I think it's like, and so he does clearly, like back in the day when he did get to go to all the UFC events and stuff and be at the press conferences, you can tell he did try and like push the buttons a little bit which is fine that's cool but also don't be like saying like yeah I'm all for the fighters 100% love the fighters I would never try and do anything like that like you can own it and just be like yeah sometimes I try and ask some questions and you know be a little bit a little bit annoying sometimes like that's cool but my main question that I wanted to ask was just in relation to UFC 300 I'm not going to ask you to

go through every fight on the card because that would just take ages. But if you were to think off the top of your head, what would be some of the outcomes? I'm not talking about like just things that have no, almost no chance of happening. But what would be some of the outcomes that are like unlikely, but it would be like very shocking outcomes that you could like kind of see happening? Like stuff maybe like a rackich chaos yeary or like a, um, like I'm trying to think like a garbant, Kios Figuero or maybe like a Holloway, Kios Gaichi, like out of the outcomes which are like somewhat plausible, but also pretty unlikely, what would be some of those ones that you like have a weird little suspicion that could happen? Thanks, Mark.

Man, that's tough. That's tough. I mean, that's kind of the beauty of the card is that like everything kind of seems likely outside of maybe one fight. And that one fight. And that one fight would be obviously the Bo-Nickle fight, but I mean, Cody Brunch goes out and beats Bo-Nichol, like, that would be freaking insane. That would be insane.

But, I mean, like, I think everything's kind of on the table here. You know, I don't think Cody will knock off Figgie, but Figgie's been tagged, man. Like, Brandon Moreno hurt him a bunch on the feet. I know he looked great against Rob Fon, but Cody could

still crack. Cody could still crack. So I don't think there's like, I'll say one. This is probably like a little too off the board, but like the amount, first of all, there's two, there's two fights in particular, both in the same way class, that people just seem to think is like automatic. Hold on. My dog just walked around. Shiloh, come on.

One is, so many people are saying like Charles Olivares, just going to kill Armand Sarukian. I'm just like, what are you talking about? You don't think Armand has a chance to win this fight? It's insanity. It's insanity. Hold on. My dog went out to, like, go to the bathroom and then he just wandered off,

which he never does, but he's doing it today for some reason. So I think Surukian by K.O. is very possible. The other one is, like, I would say one that would be, like, crazy would be, and it's probably in the same fight I'll say two one Justin Gachie badly hurts Max Holloway like drops him with a punch

like that we've never seen that before we've never seen Max just rocked in a fight so that'd be pretty wild and the other is like if Max just goes out and styles on Gachi and like 50-40 fours them like that would be pretty wild but I do think Max Holloway is going to be very competitive

in this fight because a lot of people feel like Justin's just going to kill him And I don't think that's true. I just, I mean, maybe he does, but I'd be surprised if Justin just goes on and just melts Max Holloway. No one's able to do it before. You know Justin's a wild man, but. Maltry.

But those are tough. Those are tough. What, you want to go back inside? What do you want to do? You drive me crazy. There you go. And then, you know, more of the aerial. stuff. Like, let me just make one thing clear about what you said.

Because you said, like, when Ariel was able to cover events, he could go cover events right now if he wants to. He could go to the, he can go apply for credentials and be at the apex tomorrow if he wanted to be. Like, he's not banned. Like, I know there's this thing out there that he's banned. He's not banned. He just chooses to not go. Like, you don't have to. anymore. That's, that's what coverage is like that. You don't have to go to the events anymore.

Like when, I don't really ever go. I went to Boston because I turned that into like, let's go visit family and, you know, it's my city. So I'm going to go. But I didn't even stay for the fights. I went and did the watch party. Like he could go if he wants to. He just chooses not to. That's, that's really it. And then look, there's, there's things you can say. I don't know. The cyborg thing's a little weird because you could ask Chris a certain thing, but then Chris's Twitter account could tweet out something completely different where it's like, I'm pissed, F this guy, all of that, which we know is not her at this point.

So, I mean, it's tough when you use cyborg an example. But like I said, I get it. Like, I get where people are coming from when it comes to this situation. but sometimes you just got to ask questions. Like that's the way I see it. And I like Ariel a lot. I consider him not just a colleague, but a friend. But I just, I don't know.

I think there's just kind of a disconnect here. There's a word that drives me crazy when people talk about this stuff and it pisses me off. Clickbait. People just don't know what clickbait is. There's two things that drive me crazy. One is exclusive. There are certain things that are exclusives. Like Ariel interviewing CM Punk is an exclusive.

He's the first guy. He's essentially the only guy who's going to get that content. But if Fighter X does interviews with 12 people and then does one on your site and you call it an exclusive, it's not an exclusive. That annoys me. The other thing is clickbait. The mere definition of clickbait, is like, I'm trying to, let me

find like an actual example. Like there are certain sites at clickbait. Like, I'm not crazy. But like if I say, like, if we put out, you know, Dustin Porreys says he's out of UFC 299 fight, which he actually tweeted.

But the promotion disagrees with it and says it's clickbait. Like, that's not clickbait. If we said, you'll never believe what Dustin Porreier said about his UFC 299 fight. That's clickbait. We're forcing you to click it to read it.

That's clickbait. That is the definition of clickbait. But if we tell you in the headline, Dustin Porre says he's not fighting at UFC 299, that's not clickbait. We're literally telling you the story in the headline. You know what I mean? So that shit drives you crazy.

And this whole notion of like, oh, the media is just doing this for clickbait. The fuck are you talking about? And half the times we write stories about Dana that pisses him off, we're using things he actually says into a microphone or interviews he does. Those aren't clickbait when you actually say them. You know what I mean?

So I don't know how I got off on that tangent, but that fucking annoys me. Matt, go ahead. Saving and investing well is an art and a science. It requires high-level math, an intimate knowledge of economic history and theory and a healthy dose of psychology. people have spent their whole careers and won Nobel Prizes trying to figure out the best ways to do it. Betterment believes that you should be able to be a successful and sophisticated investor

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before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. I want to say that I'm so excited for the Trevor Peek and Charlie Campbell fight. I think that that is nothing but violence with just like the craziest thrown hammerfish from Trevor Peek. I'm pretty excited. And then the next thing that I have is actually a question for you, Mike. We were talking about interviews.

Is there an interview that you would take back or change? And what is it and why? Oh, Jesus. Well, I'll start with Pete Campbell. That's the easier question. Love that. Love that fight. It's going to be good.

And as I've said, there's not like outside of the, and even the main event doesn't have like a ton of stakes tomorrow with Chris Curtis now being in the fight. but the fight is going it's fun it is a fun ass apex card this is a good one uh there have been some shitty ones but this is this is going to be a fun watch and i like obviously the start times it's it's perfect it is definitely perfect and that fight in particular is is a fucking banger any interview that i would take back uh man i don't know that's a good question i don't know I mean, I think like with every interview I do, and there's a reason why I very rarely go back and watch or like listen to interviews that I've done like after they come out because then like my brain starts to go bananas and I lose my mind a little bit trying to like overthink things.

But I would say like every interview like I'm like, ah shit. Like I should have done this or like I should have asked this or maybe I. I missed something here, just in my brain. And then, you know what I mean? But I'm trying to think there's, like, one particular interview that I could take back. I can't really think of one. Yeah, maybe some will pop into my head down the road. But if there was like, so the first, the first interview I did for MMA fighting was with Chale Sondon.

There was just like one that came together in like five minutes. It was probably like my second or third day with MMA fighting. and somebody from UFC FightPass had reached out and said we're going to do submission underground like in this warehouse the card's still going to happen

do you want to talk to jail and I was like yeah I'll talk to show the shale and I talked to I talked to chale about a few different topics mostly about submission underground because there was something that came together like super quickly and we had a really good interview

I enjoyed it And then one of my bosses was like, how did it go? I was like, it went well. He goes, what did you say about John Jones? Because John Jones had just gotten arrested. And I was like, I didn't ask him about John Jones. And it was just like, fuck. Like I should ask him about John Jones.

Because obviously Chale and John have a history. He would have been the perfect guy to ask. But it was just, you know, because Chale and I were talking about other shit, like it just slipped my mind and I didn't ask and I was like fuck like what a missed opportunity that was but in the end like no regrets I guess maybe that's the one that like I overthought the most was not asking about John

especially with the timing but it is what it is but other than that like no regrets no regards let's bring in my buddy my pal my brother

Viking. What's up, buddy? Today and please tell Hodeons that do not mention Apex 100 again because UFC listens to our show. They'll, UFC's matchmaker listens to our great show onto the next one and they listen to our show. to our shows. So tell him to Zip. Do not mention Apex 100 at all. And if that happens, they're going to put Bilal in the next in the main event. So tell them. So tell Jose and do not mention UFC 100, Apex you and 100, Apex 100 again. Thanks a lot, Mike, you're the man and thanks a lot for all the law. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot. Thanks, buddy. yeah

Apex 100 or Vegas whatever the fuck it's going to be called it's just kind of fun to think about because like the media is going to make especially us at MMA fighting we are going to make

such a big deal out of Apex 100 way more than the UFC will and it's got to be the best it's got to be the best like we're fantasy matchmaking Apex 100 we're talking about like the Apex All-Stars that have to compete on this card and like Sean Shirt

is like a perfect person to fight on that card he is like mr apex sean is like one of the faces of the apex and like jarzine your rosenstrike and there's like a whole bunch of fighters that have just like exclusively fought at the apex brennan allen's at apex all star like there's so many boy we get close because that's probably gonna come up sometime maybe the summer early fall uh it's gonna be the best we're gonna have so much fun with apex 100 like we're gonna turn this into like uh Such a star-studded affair.

We're going to treat it like 300. And I'm very excited for it. Two more, and then we got to go. Riley, go ahead. Quick things. One, I just felt my first ever earthquake during this show. So that's pretty cool. I'm in New Jersey.

There's an earthquake in New Jersey, really? Yeah. And I live in Glenrock, but it was in Tewksbury, New Jersey. A 4.8 magnitude. I don't know what's more surprising. There's a Tuxbury, New Jersey, because there's a Tuxbury, Massachusetts, as well. Or that you got an earthquake. That's crazy.

Yeah, you don't get earthquakes over here on the East Coast. I thought it was my, I felt my house shaken for like 15 to 20 seconds, and I thought it was my dogs, but then I realized they're outside. So I was like, what the fuck? But then I'm, and then a beat reporter for football. He said there was an earthquake and that's how I found out. Whatever. But what I was going to say, I know I asked you about the PFL yesterday. What you said about the heavyweights was definitely true in the co-main event.

I feel like if you watched Goetsov versus Vassell, they were like so tired. If the Riff called time and asked them to run a 40-yard dash, they would still be running. Like, they were done. But what I really wanted to ask you is, what do you think of a professional? perspective matchup between Dakota, Ditchva, and Talia Santos. Because, I mean, I'm super high on Santos, obviously. I think she's one of the best flylights in the world. And then Dichva, she's young, good striker, but we don't really know so much about her

because she sort of fought Cairns. But I feel like that's going to be a very cool matchup in the playoffs if that happens. Thanks, Mike. And have a good Friday. I have, man, I think PFL like all. overall had like a pretty decent night. There were pacing issues from what I understand. Like I think prelims went by pretty quickly.

A lot of people still were kind of complaining about the pacing and the main card. But what I saw it ended at like midnight. So that like that's not bad. Four fights in two hours. It's not horrible for them. Normally it's like three and a half hours to get through four fights. So people were telling me that the pacing was still kind of bad. But it seems like.

it was somewhat of an improvement from others that I talked to. Here's the pro, here's like the one issue. It's, there's probably multiple issues with the season format, but it's also like the thing that separates the PFL is that Liz Karmouche might be the best person in this entire weight class. All she does is win fights, but the point structure might screw her out of the playoffs altogether because of some of the other matchups. like tyos Santos got like a pretty like i know alar joani is like a gamer but like

liz carmuch would have destroyed it alar joani but instead liz carboosh gets juliana velasquez who almost beat her the first time around and it was like kind of a stop it was a weird stoppage that people were kind of pissed off about and then dakota didcheva and least to Malden is like a perfect fighter to have in your roster because she's get her get got for the most part and like Dakota was a minus 4,000 favorite heading into that fight. She goes, oh, it gets first round finish. She's going to the playoffs. Like that finish alone basically punches her ticket. It's almost like unfair to Liz Karmouche because she gets clearly the way tougher fight. She's probably the top seed in the tournament. Maybe she's two or worse. She gets the toughest fight. And now because

she had the toughest fight, she might not even make the freaking playoffs. They're going to handle the coded ditch of the way they should. They're going to give her, they should give her, like the easiest fight. She is your homegrown. You need to replace Kayla Harrison, which is going to be almost impossible to do, but they got something with Dakota, that's for sure. So to answer your other question, when do you do Dakota versus Tila Santos? You avoid that shit for as long as you can

because that fight is probably not going to go well for her because Tila is durable as shit and she can grapple her ass off and she's a mountain of a flyway. So I think they're probably going to keep Dakota away from her, Liz, even maybe Juliana to some extent, for a little while until the playoffs. And even in the playoffs, they'll control the matchups to the best of their ability more than likely. So this is kind of like the tough part of doing these, is that sure, there's millionaires and that's cool,

but there are oftentimes where the best fighter in the weight class doesn't even get the opportunity. because they had the way tougher fights. And all respect to Dakota and all respect to Lisa Malden for getting in there, Juliana Velasquez was like way harder fight. Way harder fight. Liz Carbush would have went out and finished Lisa Malden in the first round too. But she didn't get that matchup. So I think they need to work on this structure a little bit.

I know they want to, you know, avoid the word tournament. And I'm not saying they should go to a tournament, but they need to do almost a tournament structure in a season format where it's we need to rank all these fighters, one to eight or however many are in each weight class, and set up the matchups that way. Like number one should fight number eight or number,

whoever is the lowest ranked fighter, that's who the number one ranked fighter should be fighting in the first round. And then all the way down the line. Like, that's how it should be. Because it's clear what the, it's clear what PFL's trying to do.

They're trying to get Dakota over. And that's what you should do when the format is like this. But it almost screws over Liz Carbush, who was a world champion and now is apparently no longer the world champion,

which is insane in its own right. But it's, I don't know, it's just a bad look. But Dakota's good. There's definitely something there. She's going to get better. And she's going to be a star for them for a while. But that is a, it's a pretty tough weight class. And there's some interesting fights for her.

But yeah, you keep her away from Santos and Carmoosh for at least another two fights. That's what you kind of have to do, unfortunately. A few mingale, go ahead real quick. Yes, real quick. Give you another question again. Will Kenne about Greg or return to the octagonal cage? Yes, he will. When, I don't know.

Everything I've heard, it's going to be June 29th, but I know Michael Chandler. Nothing is like 100% here. I know Michael Chandler is preparing to fight June 29th. There have not been contract signed or anything like that, at least as of, I mean, who knows? If they're signed now, I don't know. Maybe that's what this post was. Yes, Connor will fight this year. Connor will probably fight before the summer is over.

And hopefully June 29th. Every conversation I've had about June 29th has been about Connor and Chandler. that's basically everything I've been hearing. So there you go. All right, we're done. Thank you very much. Appreciate you. We will have a preview show for Vegas 90 coming up at 1 p.m. Eastern should join us for that.

It should be a lot of fun. In about an hour's time, I'm going to be talking to John Anick about UFC 300. And I am very excited for that conversation. We didn't get the chance to speak before 299. But the tradition returns ahead of. of UFC 300. Very, very fascinated to see. I mean, we know how Annex is going to be the card.

Like, basically we do these so we could just jacked, like we can just get jacked up for these cards, like even more so. It's going to be tough to do with 300 because it's already so good, and I don't know if I can get any more excited for it. But I'm definitely curious to kind of get John's perspective on how he's feeling about it, especially after going back and watching 100 and 200,

and John wasn't there. Now he's doing 300. It's like 15, just over the 15 year mark where John made his commentary debut in MMA. For those who don't know, John Anick did not begin with the UFC. He began with Bellator called the first season of Belator. That was in April of 2009.

April 3rd, 2009 was the first Bellator event for the regular season format that they did. and John was on the call and now 15 years later he's going to call UFC 300 pretty frigging crazy so we're going to talk about all sorts of stuff and get everybody ready for 300

so thank you all very much we'll be back on Tuesday don't forget next week we'll do a show Tuesday we'll do a show Thursday no real show Friday because I'll be traveling to Vegas and that's going to take the entire day almost

so we're trying to pop in maybe on Instagram or something to do with something there, but let's get ready, baby. Let's get ready. UFC 300. We're knocking on the door. So thank you all very much. We'll see you at 1 p.m. Eastern for the preview show. Have a heck of a morning, everybody. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game

right here in the U.S. and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They're supporting talent from across the U.S. soccer extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward. From the pitch to the sand and everything in between, welcome to our turf.