MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Dana White's Latest Update On Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

While Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler seem to think they are settling their score during International Fight Week, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that he's hopeful the fight takes place in the fall. Is this update something we should be prepared for, or is this a brilliant swerve by White to keep fans focused elsewhere? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to White's update from Wednesday's edition of The Pat McAfee Show, how fans have been responding from both sides of the equation, and discusses whether or not this could be a work. Additionally, topics include events at the UFC APEX, the UFC's upcoming TV deal, what could headline UFC 300 if Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya can't get done, UFC 298 flying under the radar, 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, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets. sandwiches and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats 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. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Thursday, February 8th, 2024, and it is indeed a heck of the morning. We are live on the NBA fighting Twitter spaces. We hear the show in its entirety. Shortly thereafter on the NBA Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody? I am Mike Kat.

I hope you're all having a wonderful week. We are on the eve of the eve of another apexe, Apexie Apex card, everybody. UFC Vegas 86, which will be headlined by Jack Kermanson versus Joe Pfeiffer. We still don't have a UFC 300 main events. apparently we have an update on Connor McGregor

and it's not at least according to Dana White what we expected it to be there's a it's still kind of a weird week if we're being honest not like a ton of news but there's like little things we can talk about

it's another just kind of weird week in this wacky sport of ours isn't it still waiting to react as like something huge and just hasn't happened but this is how last Thursday they started, right? We had a couple of things to talk about, but nothing that really blew the doors off of anything. And then right before BTL, the Dustin Poirier journey began, and it ended up being one of the best and funniest days ever covering the sport. So I decided

today, we're going to do something very similar. We're going to come in a little bit cold. We're going to let you guys dictate. And even on BTL today, we're going to do the Q&A thing again, because we need some big things to happen. We need big news. Okay? So I'm just going to play the dozens. I'm going to play the... I'm just going to play the card here, the superstition card.

What happened last week was going to do the same damn thing, and hopefully some good comes out of it. So let's go to you guys. I saw a Viking just comes in and then he leaves, and then he's probably going to yell at me later on, but that's okay. I was going to put him first again so you didn't yell at me, but he bounced

out again. CV, you will kick us off. Hey, Mike, I go ahead of a morning. So with the McGregor News, with Dana saying that he won't probably fight till fall, if you're Michael Chandler, do you start thinking of like an alternative

money fight? Like, I mean, you got to prepare for the worst case scenario, right? Like, it's like it's Connor ever coming back. So if you're Michael Chandler, who do you pivot to? Like, do you fight, like, Max, if he beats Gaichi? Or if Gaichi loses, does he run it back with Gaichi? Because I wouldn't mind seeing Chandler v. Gaichi, too.

Or maybe even BSD if it beats Dustin. So let me know your thoughts on that. So this is obviously a very interesting thing. Dana talking to Pat McAfee saying, hopefully it happens in the fall. Connor already said this fight's happening June 29th Michael Chandler has said this fight's happening June 29th International Fight Week

both guys have said that that is the case Data comes out and says Nah hopefully this year looks like the fall What have I been telling you guys For a while now Connor only has two fights left in his contract And the UFC's

going to probably play some games with this. They're going to hope to keep him locked up in some way. Now, does that mean they do exactly what they did with Nate Diaz? Maybe, but it just seems kind of weird. Like, Connor wants to fight. He wants to fight at 300. Per multiple reports, that is not going to happen. He wants to fight international fight week. But now the fall, like, he wants to go. He's ready to fight. I don't understand what the problem is. Outside of like negotiations or, all right, let's, let's resign or sign an extension. It's just super weird. The man wants to fight.

What are, like, what are we doing here? This is, this is the year where your TV deal, you can start shopping that around. And you're just going to shell, Connor? I don't understand it. The man wants to fight. It's so weird. And for channel, like, I don't know what the hell this man does. it's been almost two years

by the time like this conter fight happens it'll be like two years since he's fought do you just like make yourself available and hope you get real lucky here because the only thing I can think of that makes any sense to me at all and this doesn't even make meritocratic sense

perhaps with all the weirdness going on at 155 right now now. We don't know what Islam Makachev's going to do. Maybe Chandler's hopeful that the UFC does put Islam on that Saudi Arabia card and all these other dudes just beat the shit out of each other to the point where they can't fight in June. And there's only one man available to fight in June. And maybe it's Michael Chandler getting a title shot, which by the way would not surprise me. It wouldn't. It makes no sense. But it wouldn't surprise me. But this whole thing is is super weird.

The guy wants to fight. And you know, Chandler wants to fight? What the fuck are we doing here? I don't understand. But maybe he's working us. Maybe Dana's work at us right now. Maybe that's what's happening. All right, Viking, you're here.

Don't be mad at me anymore. Please. Not mad at you and I was not mad at you, man. I know, I know. So I just want to ask about, about the apex, about apex. I mean, why UFC they are still going with an apex? Just because of the Nevada State Athletic Commissions,

because they used to have six or seven shows of UFC and now they are having a lot of UFC shows. And my second question is about Jets Street. J.d mentioned in his tweet, in his recent tweet, that Volkonowski, Alexander Volcanozzi, should have led fight, Matush Gamrott, with the Islam in Abu Dhabi. But I don't think Gamrod is such a big star for that fight. I mean, he was a perfect match for that fight.

business point of view. So how you take that create of Jets? Thanks a lot, Mike. So on the second point, I mean, look, in hindsight, Jed wasn't really wrong

because, and I always understood where Jed was coming from with the Volk thing. Like I understand, like, UFC, they're going to, they go to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi pays them a shitload of money

to go there every year. They have a partnership. And they expect, big fights with big names. So with who is available, Volk just seems like the guy. And from all accounts and everything that was going on, Volk was like, if something happens, call me.

And of course, Volk has come out and said, he probably shouldn't have done it in hindsight. Eugene Barrowman has come out in an interview recently and said, he tried to talk him out of it. But he took the shot, he failed, no excuses. And that was the whole thing for me. If you step it on this shot, you can't say, well, I mean, I took it on short notice. You can't.

You were very confident you were going to go in there and not only beat Makachap, that you were going to go in there and knock them out. Like you said a lot of stuff. But Jed's whole thing was like, look, you have something that you can build up here. You have a back pocket fight that you could go to at any point that people are going to want. And just think of what could have happened if Islam does. defended the title a couple of times, and then Volk defended the featherway title a couple of times. And then we revisited that. That's a much bigger fight as opposed to, well, we need to fill

a slot on two weeks notice. Now we're doing it. And now that's gone. Like those two guys will never fight again. We'll never know what have happened if Volk got a full camp. None of that matters anymore. So I understand where he's coming from. And the Gamrod thing, why have the backup if you're not going to use him? But I understand where you're coming from. He's not a huge star. But Islam pretty much is. And I don't think it would have done like a huge difference pay-per-view-wise if Gamrod stepped in there. Because you're still at Hamzat fighting,

Usman, which is a very big deal. That drummed up a ton of excitement. And then really it's just the Islam show anyways when you go to Abu Dhabi. That's what the crowd's there for. You're really building it up for him. So I get both sides of it. But Jed was staunchly against this rematch

happening so quickly for the exact reasons that just happened. But again, that's hindsight being what it is. The apex stuff, look, they're not going anywhere. They're not leaving the apex anytime soon. They make so much money. They save so much money doing it at the apex. And you have to think about it. You have to fulfill with this contract they have with the SPN.

You have to fulfill what, what, 43, 44 events a year? I'm sorry. Jack Hermanson versus Joe Pfeiffer is not selling out any arenas. Roman DeLine versus Naserdin Imovov is not selling out any arenas unless you go to Paris. Then you probably sell that out because of Yovov. But if you just are traveling the U.S., like you're not going to sell a lot of tickets for that. The U.S. is like super hot right now. So they'll sell like they'll do a good gate, but it's not what they want.

So until the deal changes, like, why would they leave? Why would they leave? I know the ambiance isn't great, and it's kind of, like, when you have an event like last Saturday, which is just, it was a tough watch, it gets, it just gets watered down a little bit, but still, like, looking at it from a UFC, from a business perspective, like, they're cleaning up when they do the apex cards. They don't have to travel. They don't have to book hotels, productions in-house.

Like, they make so much. much money, it'd be like a terrible business decision for them to lead the apex. So until they sign this new deal and they either say, look, we still want 43 fights, but we demand you take this on the road a little more, or they lessen the schedule, which is kind of what I'm hoping for. And I'm not saying like lessen it by a lot, but I'm saying like every month should be like three or four weeks on and one week off depending on how the month's shaped out. Like there should be a week off every month, I think. Like let, especially if you're still going to the apex,

back-to-back apex cards are tough. They are. Hopefully this one's, I think this card's better than last week on Saturday, but they're not going to leave. Why would they? I wouldn't leave if I were Dana and the crew. Why? They're cleaning up.

They're cleaning up. Them doing the pandemic shows of the apex was one of the best decisions they made business-wise. And now they have it there, and now they could do, they could just chuck anything on these cards. And you know what? Most of the fans are going to watch it. And if you don't,

so what? They're okay with that. They got your $6.99 a month for the subscription or whatever it costs now. It's all good. You can pick and shoes. So, yeah, they ain't going anywhere. Unless their new TV partner says,

no more APEC shows. And even then, I think it's going to be a fight. There'll be some negotiation. Brian, go ahead. Hey, Mike. How you doing? Good. How are you, ma'am?

Good. Thanks for asking. Yeah, that's like my one big issue with the UFC right now. They just, I don't think they respect the sanctity of the sport. You don't have to sell out 20,000 seat arenas. Every day, I think that's pretty stupid to think. You could definitely bring it like the Peter Jan Marab, throw it in a casino with three, four thousand people.

That ambiance is really special, especially at all levels. and you look at the most successful combat sport, which is boxing. Some of the best ones are in casino halls, and that atmosphere of having 4,000 people on top of you while fighting is that true, like, street fight type of feeling. And I just think they're getting lazy. I don't think Dana's even that great of a businessman.

I think he's fell into a lot of things. I mean, he can't even get his best superstar fighting, and he's been available for a year now. I think it's pretty funny that they act like they're this big, smart company, but really they're just kind of lucked into what MMA is right now and kind of how the whole the whole outlook of MMA is and how monopolized it is with the UFC. I think a lot of other companies lost a lot of opportunities to build.

So I just think they're kind of sitting on their morals right now. I think it's a little bit like WWE with Vince McMahon near the end, just kind of just printing out normal shit and not really having any nuance to anything personally. And as somebody who's watched this for 10 years, it's kind of getting really annoying to me at this point, and I've started to turn to boxing a little more, which is wild. So not even really a question, just wanted to rant,

but I just wanted to get your opinion on, do you see a lot of nuance in MMA right now, in your opinion, business-wise? Thanks, Mike. It's tough to say. I don't think I agree with everything you just said there. Is there a little resting on the laurels, perhaps? But when you are printing money the way they are, they can do that. They can put together these apex cards with these middleweight main events that people are still going to watch.

So, look, have I been 100% positive towards Dana? No, of course not. And I don't think anybody covering this sport should be because he's done some things that are just not good. He's done a ton of very good things. Without Dana, this sport is not where it is. I'll always give him credit for that. and from a business perspective, he is a very good businessman

because without Dana, I don't think most of these sponsorship deals that they signed would have happened. Did they, I mean, do they luck into some things? I guess, but not really. Like, Forrest Griffin, Stefan Bonner, I mean, no one expected that fight to be what it was.

So I guess if you want to look at it in that way, that kind of lucked into it. But that's, But Dana also put his fucking company on the line. He went all in on the ultimate fighter and it paid off because of that fight. It did. And then it just started to grow and grow and grow. And then they sold the company for $4 billion.

They bought it for like several million and then sold it for $4 billion. Like they're very good businessmen. And there are some things like the timing was perfect. Like 2016 was just a friggin whirlwind of just insane. sanity. And they just, it was like the perfect time to ride the wave. And then the pandemic happened. And they made it happen. Like, everybody had questions about it. And Dana thinks that, you know, the media tried to shut it all down and everything, which is just absolutely not true. All we had was just questions about the safety of the fighters. And that's literally the only

question we had. How is the testing going to work? How is this going to work? How is this going to work? how is this going to happen? And it turned into, well, the media tried to close the UFC, which is fucking stupid. It's literally not true. So he's a very good business man.

And the Apex stuff, like, again, they are making so much money doing these cards at the Apex. So much. They don't have to pay it. Like, they're saving and they're making. It was actually,

from a business, it's brilliant to do it at the Apex. From a fan's perspective, if I understand why it feels a little bit watered down to the apex, 100%. And I've been preaching to the choir for a while now. Like, you know, if you want to do an apex event, like once every two months, cool. But you have all these other venues in Las Vegas, these like small venues where you could put in like 500,000, 1,500,000, 2,000 people. And that would be awesome.

Like, it's just a different sort of a vibe than the apex. Like, just look at what they're doing this week. Like, it's Super Bowl week, right? it's Super Bowl week. The UFC is in the apex. Power Slap is in a theater. Like, what are we doing here? Why aren't both outside of the apex?

I don't get it. But again, they don't need to get outside of the apex because they're making a ton of money. So we just got to get through this event. And then it's $2.98, which I think is an awesome frigging card. I did talk to John Anick yesterday. We preview 298. we both like amped each other up so I think that's going to drop like sometime next week

so yeah I mean look does it feel but it's it's just when you have to put out that much product it's a lot and when you compare it like to WWE I mean watching all watching pro wrestling right now is a it's like a full time job three hours of raw two hours of Smackdown two hours of NXT

the pay per views and then if you watch everything The AEW's got two hours on Wednesday, an hour on Friday, two hours on Saturday. It is time-consuming to be a pro wrestling fan. But they don't really need to change anything right now because people are still going to watch. We're still going to talk about it. And there you have it. Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left.

Roscoe 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, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two ghosts in the machine. Available now, only from Audible. Saving and investing well is an art and a science.

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Got you, Eric. Yeah, I got you. Yep. You're at. Conne McGregor, bro. He's not going to fight at 300, but Dan is cause a shot. It's going to be in fall. It's going to be on fall, but I wanted to see Colin McGregor fight 300, but they're not going to use him. Hell.

He has a lot of star power in the UFC. How are they not going to use him as 300? Thank you, guys. I don't understand why he's not a 300 either. It was right there. But, I mean, look, we can only go by what we know. Connor wants to fight a 300 Connor wants to fight ASAP

He said it himself You can see a million interviews With him saying that I don't know what's happening I don't understand it The first thought about the whole fall thing Was Like maybe it's a work

Maybe they're working us a little bit Because I just like If they can't get DDP Izzy And even DDP was like He's not like He's like look 300 would be great But I still have to like get some scans and make sure I can even make it.

And if you don't have that fight, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? You cannot do Leon versus Ballal headlining UFC 300. You can't do it. John Jones ain't going to be there. Tom Aspenall, Alex Pereira,

while that's interesting, I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it. It's just a random fight. Alex Pereira's got Jamal Hill, who's ready to come back. Like, let's do that. Let's stay in our own divisions.

Tom Aspinall could fight a heavyweight, somebody else. I don't know what they're going to do. Unless they're going to pull this unknown rabbit out of their hat. Like I wonder if they're going to book Musk and Zuckerberg for 300. Like there's a part of me that's like, are they actually going to do this? Musk is going to be at the card on Saturday. But we'll see how it all plays out. I honestly, I don't know what they're going to do.

I don't know what's going to happen. Dana seems very confident. He already announced that the Davis and Figurato, Cody Garbrandt fight, is going to be the first fight of the card. Not the first fight of the main card, the first fight of the card. That's wild. And I saw people complaining about that, too. Like, oh, the Andrage fight is above that.

Oh, the Cody Brundon. Bo-Nickle fight is above that. Dude, I wanted Figurato and Garbret to open the main card. Like, I thought that was the perfect place for it. But we'll see. We'll see how it all works out. I mean, Diego Lopez, Sodi-Gusv would have been a real good one to open the card with

because the Lopez fans travel. I don't know what they're going to do. I'm very, very intrigued by all of this. But maybe we're being worked here. maybe a surprise is coming. Cole, go ahead, my man. Morning, Mike. All right, I got something.

Something that's been bothering me, especially the last day. A lot of people tweeting about how Michael Chandler is wasting his prime, waiting for Connor. And I think that that couldn't be further from the truth. Like, I think Chandler, waiting for this fight is still doing prize fighting better than anybody active in the UFC right now. Like, do you think Chandler is really upset at being out of the mix right now? Like, are you seeing who his contemporaries in Olivera and Porre are fighting?

They're both in terrible matchups. I mean, not terrible, but, like, they're not going to be runaway favorites in those matchups. It's like, I don't know. It's, what are we missing out on? Maybe three fights he could have had in this time for 300 grand apiece. It's like, and he's getting killed and in basically every. fight he's in, just it's a knock him out, drag out war.

It's like, I don't, I think this whole narrative that he's missing out on his prime is just crazy. Like, anybody, he's doing prize fighting better than anybody who hasn't fought Connor still. I think, I mean, I don't, like, all you need is one Connor fight and your whole career is set. Like one Connor, one lost, even a loss to Connor could do better for his career than if you would have fought three times in this span of waiting for Connor and won all three of those fights. Is that crazy? Like I think waiting for Connor is just like, that is not as bad of a, like, as bad of a waste of time as people are saying. Like, do you kind of get where I'm coming from there?

Thanks, man. I mean, anyone saying he's wasting his prime is wrong because, like, Chandler is a freak athlete and he's still very fun to watch but he is past his prime he's been past his prime for a while but his prime like prize fighting years yeah i could see that i mean chandler like came in like a buzzsaw and he's making like super good money right now and who knows like he's got a bunch of businesses outside he might be doing like just fine he might be just rolling in the dough right now he's invested a bunch of things seems like he's okay so if he's okay so if he's okay waiting, then who are we to judge him? But, I mean, he's even said, like, this whole process has been frustrating for him.

And you can't blame him. But at this point, like, if we're talking fall, like, all right, maybe we'll wait a little bit while longer. But I don't know. It's a weird situation. It really is. Like, why is Connor not booked right now? I don't get it. I really don't understand it.

But, yeah, the whole wasting of the prime fighting gear. It's not true. He's past that, but he's still really fun and exciting to watch. His prime money-making fighting years are here, for sure, but it's just a matter of, like, what do we do? That's why I'm saying. I wonder if Mokachev is somehow in play for him right now. Who knows? Jay, you there.

Do I have you? Try again. Bons out and bounce back in. Abzwalia, go ahead. Good morning, Mike. I hope you're doing well today. I just want to discuss two things. Firstly, I saw you talking to someone earlier, but Connor, why he's not on, possibly on 300. This is just obvious common sense from me, but I'm sure the reason this is happening, because I've seen Ariel Hawani say this on MMAO is that I think they want UFC 300 to be able to sell

one million paper views without Conner relying on Conner simply for the fact that just the name alone and how historic it is, it can do that. Like we've seen that in the past. But I definitely think, you know, like you said, like every fan is saying we really need a big fight. I don't see I'm doing Lee or Ms. Bilal just for the fact that already it seems like that's off their books.

Ariel himself has mentioned that. So, you know, it really comes down to like our conspiracy. Is it, you know, like you mentioned something. really interesting. Elon versus Mark, I had a thought about that actually unironically two, three days back. And I was thinking, is that really what the surprise could be? Because that would be just hilarious and just outright dumb. But it will get people talking about it, unironically.

Or could it be Easy versus DDP? I also have a feeling if DDP is out for the foresee future until he gets helped again. I didn't mention that they could do Hamza versus Easy for Inchambell. and I think that makes perfect sense that's a perfect fight just because Hamza he needs to get a fight and he needs to prove himself

that he belongs in the middle way not better fight than Adasania and both of them are stars I mean they can literally sell just often and I'm sure the US will go out of the way to do that so that kind of fight makes sense I don't know if many fans excited for Tom versus Pereira

personally I like the fight but I think that's more of a UFC fan favorite than something the casual audience care for I think a lot of people in the MMA community overestimate Alex Perrera Stardom. He's just a very fan favorite star. He's not

a fucking famous guy. He's not someone you can ask the average person day to day or even sports fan, I know who he is. I'm not disrespecting by the way. I love the guy. Another thing I just wanted to briefly discuss was about the TV deal. I think you talked about it earlier. I don't know if you saw

but ESPN, Bob Eager, he mentioned that he wants to turn ESPN to like a whole show streaming platform eventually and he wants to combine all of the major sport networks and kind of you know par them into one kind like how all these streaming services like netflix and disney have done every since the last few years i'm just curious on and though do you think if that goes through and with how everything's coming on negotiations for ufc will they possibly try to bargain for a bigger deal just to say with e-spin because of the marketing they get or

could we see them maybe moving on to other stream platform like amazon price You know, maybe TBS, TNT, other networks. That's all I have to have a great day. Yeah, the TV deal is going to be interesting. You have to imagine ESPN is going to come in hot because, I mean, the UFC has helped them tremendously with this deal. The subscriptions, everything, pay-per-views are doing pretty decent, some are doing really well.

They're going to come hot and heavy. And they should. They're nuts if they don't. absolutely insane if they don't. So I definitely expect ESPN to be a player. I do wonder if there will be other, if they do split it up, like kind of what WWE's doing. Like, Raw is going to be on Netflix,

USA is going to have Smackdown, CW is going to have NXT, maybe they do it that way, and they're going to get a shit ton of money regardless from all of those entities. Sorry. So, yeah, TVD is going to be massive. They're going to make so much money on this TV deal.

It's ridiculous. So ESPA will absolutely be a player. I wonder if they're just going to take it all or if the UFC will shop around. Maybe they will jump on Amazon. I know Amazon's got one right now. So do they want to take on somebody else? Maybe Netflix jumps in for something. Like, I honestly, I think they should do like almost exactly what WW is doing.

Like put the prime. shit on ESPN. Keep the pay-reviews there. Put, like, Contender Series on Netflix or something. Contender series gets his own thing, and then maybe, like, the Apex shows gets its own thing. I don't know. It's going to be real interesting to see how it all plays out.

With 300... Look, I... On it, like, obviously, they want multiple bites of the Apple, but, like, this card has to deliver. It just has to. You promise the biggest card of all time. I don't know what it looks like without DDP, Izzy, and I don't know what it looks like without Connor.

I really don't. I really don't. I totally disagree with the Israel Hamzat interim title idea. I don't like that idea at all. And the UFC is not going to do it. Honestly, you got two big names. 1,000%. I would rather DDP and Izzy fight

another time than have one of those guys at 300 and not the other. You already wasted this one. You already lost it with the Sean Strickland thing. Sean Strickland went in there and just dusted up busy. And then that mega build that you've had that you had throughout the year just kind of fizzles out. DDP ends up going on and winning the belt. And now it's like it's right back on.

So Izzy Hamza interim title after DDP just won it? I don't like that idea at all. Not at all. And if it's Musk and Zuckerberg, my God. That's going to be a hell of a show. That's going to be a hell of a reaction pod if that's what we end up getting. I can tell you that right now. Jay, go ahead.

Hey, are you able to hear me this time? Yeah, I got you. All right, so I just wanted to get your thoughts on Dana meeting with all these promoters in recent week. He was at the Connor Ben fight over the weekend. He met with Dave Feldman. And we just saw yesterday he just had a meeting with the Risen. CEO. So in my opinion, I don't think really anything is going to come out of these. I don't think they're going to co-promote or anything, but I'm just still interested in what they actually

talked about. Maybe with Rises specifically, I know that he was talking about Coraguchi and a score going over to the U.S. U.S. U.S. So I don't know, maybe they might be talked about a trade deal in the future. But I just wanted to get your thoughts about data meeting all these different promoters in the past week. Yeah, I mean, I talked about the Feldman one. I just think they just kind of were in the same place. And look, again, you can say what you want about Danny, you can like him or not. Guys, when it comes to promoting in combat sports,

he is maybe the best of all times. So if you are a modern era combat sports promoter, you can do far worse than getting advice from data white. So if you can get a meeting, get the fucking meeting and talk to the guy and see what he can do to help you. He's a very powerful guy, especially in Las Vegas. And if you're a BKFC and you're looking to become a thing

and you're looking to get cleared so that you can host events in Las Vegas, like Dan's pretty good dude to help push that through. And if it helps build a different kind of relationship, cool. I mean, the UFC has allowed fighters to do the bare-knuckle stuff. Chad Mendez, perfect example. Chad Mendes was under a UFC contract. They allowed him to do the BKFC thing. They were cool with it.

They let him go and they let him get paid a whole bunch of money. And I don't think that's the only guy that's done that. I mean, now they're talking about Mazadol boxing right now. Mazadol is still under contract with the UFC. Mazadol might be boxing A. Diaz. And they're allowing that if that ends up coming to fruition. So the Risen one's a little interesting because they're teasing like a big secret. I don't know what that is.

We shall see. But I think it's just more of like, hey, let's create some buzz. But I think more or less I'm kind of with you that I don't think a ton is going to come from it, but just more of like promoter to promoter stuff. And we've seen it with, I mean, look, Eddie Hearn is killing the promoter game himself, but he looks up to Dana White. He said it publicly mentioned. time. So be cool if something happens, but I don't expect anything cool to happen. I just expect

just a meeting in the minds. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won. Boating will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. only please play responsibly concerned by your gambling or that if someone close you call 18665331-2-6-0 or visit comexonterio.ca. 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. Ethan, go ahead. Mike, can you hear me? Yeah, I got you, man. All right, cool. So I got two quick questions for you here.

both are kind of 300 related because there's not a lot to talk about for this weekend. So first one, where do you think this weird, like, disrespect for women's MMA is coming from in, like, the modern UFC fan? Because, like, the three women's fights we have for 300 are all really interesting in their own way. We have two of the most exciting women in Andrage and Rodriguez going head to head, and people are kind of shitting all over it. And I'm just wondering where you think that comes from. The other one I have for you is how well known was the Harrison versus Holm thing?

because I didn't hear about it anywhere until it got announced. So I want to know how many of you guys knew about it. Like, did you know about it before the announcement? And that's pretty much all I got. Thanks a lot, man. Hey, I'm sorry, Ethan. Can you just repeat that? I got like multitasked all of a sudden, and I lost like half of that.

Okay, so the first one was about the disrespect in women's MMA, so about the Rodriguez and Androge fight and people kind of shitting all over the female fights on 300. and where you think that's coming from because I think all three fights should be really good. And then how well-known was Holm versus Harrison? Because I didn't hear any rumblings about it, and I'm just wondering how well-known it was in the M&A community before the announcement.

Not really sure. Yeah, the Haldriga's Andrage thing is kind of weird. I don't really understand why that got so much backlash. Like, that's a solid fight for 300. Like, former champion against, like, a top 10 fighter. Like, I don't... It's weird that, like, people shat on Andrage and Rodriguez, but everyone went bananas for Diego Lopez.

So de Cuis. Like, Lopez isn't even ranked right now. Like, And Andrage is fun. And Roder... You see what Marina Rodriguez just did to Michelle Waters? She beat the shit out of her. Like, she annihilated her. Like, that fight's got to be fun.

I, it's just going to, it's going to be a prelim fight. I, I, I didn't understand the backlash. I honestly didn't. I still don't understand it. Like, it's a fine fight. It's a fine fight. I'm sorry, if it's too, I'm sorry, if it's too noisy. Very noisy.

I'm so sorry. If you can still hear me, I'll, I'll just make it really quick. The only reason I think we might not see, Connem-Megger fight at International Fight Week is the same reason why we won't see him fight at UFC 300. It's because they think international fight week will just sell because it's international fight week, which is why they might just push Conn McGregor to another card and make money over that. That's all I have. And what is your take on having an all-women's fight-night card to see a lot of the different line or maybe have role? Or maybe have role.

on that card, that would be good. That's it, Mike. I'm sorry for the noise I'm traveling. All-Women's card? Yeah, they could do it. They could do it. It's not a terrible idea. I think it's actually a really good idea. Yeah, we just confirmed the James Gallowher

Jeremy Kennedy fight for the Bellator Belfast card. So that is a done deal. Shout to Severe MMA for reporting that one first, but that's happening. But yeah, I think an all-woman's card would be, would be fun. It's something different,

unique. Yeah. I mean, they were trying to do, like that San Antonio card, they were talking about doing it

all women's card and just never, just never really got around to happening, but I think that's something they might do someday. I wouldn't be opposed to it.

Again, something new, something different. Four corner sports, go ahead. All right, so a couple things. As for UFC 300,

I can see that this main event and to be honest I'm at the point where I really don't care what the main event is because the card overall is really good but I can see it in the world and there'll be smart marketing if Dana does this

if he just announces it through a commercial for the Super Bowl Super Bowl is this weekend it's the biggest event you know in the country and millions of people are going to be watching and I can see you know him promoting it in that way depending on, you know, who's going to be the main event.

Second thing I wanted to ask you about is Joe Piper versus Jack Mason. I have a feeling that Piper's going to end up winning just because he is the better athlete between the two. And I feel like, you know, he's in the – he has like a lot of movement going his direction as well as Jackramanson. If Piper wins, I mean, what do you feel like his ceiling is? is because I feel like I don't see him being as a person holding a belt because he him being somebody of a top five caliber of a middleweight just because he's very big for the division and one of the sleeper fights that I see over here is Max Griffin versus Jeremiah Wells very surprised that it's you know buried in the prelims and I would have

thought that maybe they would have that on the main card just because both fighters are pretty good action fighters. Are you okay with it being, you know, in the prelims, or would you prefer on the main card? All right, thanks a week. I mean, it depends on what the rest of the card looks like. To me, that was the main card opener for me, 1,000% because someone's going to sleep in that one.

Like, that fight is going to be a banger. Someone's getting knocked out in the first round in that fight. I think that's like the perfect table setter for what's potentially to come. So, I mean, it's first fight, fine. But I mean, it depends on what they're going to do. Like I am highly opposed. I don't want like I understand why you would put Kayla Harrison, Holly Holie home on pay-per-view. I honestly think that should be the featured prelim because if you're trying, I mean, if you're signing Kayla and you're putting her in this fight,

to really make her a star. And she is a star to some extent, but she's not like UFC level star just yet. If she goes out and beat Tully Holm dominantly, then she becomes that. That's got to be the featured prelim. Like you've got to use that spot to elevate her because more people are going to watch that fight

than the pay-per-view by a lot. It's not even going to be close. Probably double the amount of people are going to watch that fight. Because it's not only going to be on ESPN, it's going to be on ABC as well. So the amount of eyeballs that will be on Kayla Harrison if they put her in that spot is great.

Having said that, the other reason why I would not have that open the main card is I don't think that fight's going to be incredibly exciting. I think it could get real sloggy real quick. And that's just not how you want to set the table. So I'm curious to see how they'll start it off. I mean, there's so many, there's so many good ones. I mean, do they go?

Do you throw Diego Lopez in that spot? I don't know. Maybe do Bobby Green, Jim Miller. Like, that's going to be fun. Maybe I can see them doing Bo Nickel, getting a quick finish on the main card. Cater Sterling's such a good fight, but I don't know if that's like a main card fight. And Yuri and Rackage is got to be fun. stakes are pretty high,

but there's a very real world where Rackage gets takedowns and that becomes like a slow, sluggy fight too, even with Yuri involved. So, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what the layout is going to be for this. But, I mean, set at the table with Figgy and Garbrandt

is interesting. I wonder if Gaichi Holloway ends up being the main event. I don't know. Still lots of 300 questions. But again, But again, we are setting today up like we set up last week. Not a lot of news.

We're just kind of guessing here. What could happen? What does this mean? Why is this happening? All of that. And then hopefully by BTL time, we'll have something to discuss. And then maybe we'll have a crazy-ass day like we had last Thursday. That's what I'm hoping for.

I have some fun little props for Jedmishu as well. for BTL that we're going to play around with in honor of the Super Bowl and the UFC at the apex and all sorts of fun stuff. It'll be a Q&A episode, let you guys sort of dictate where we talk about. It's kind of a weird week. And then next week we'll go back to the battle ahead of 298. But it's kind of a weird couple weeks stretch for this wonderful sport of ours. JSTAT, take us home, my man.

Hey, heck of a morning or two. I got in kind of late, but what do you? you think it's going to be the main event for USC 300 and also besides the main event do you think they're going to add an extra fight they'll be all what do we at right now for fights we are at 11 main event would be 12 yeah i think we're going to get i think we're going to get like two more two or three more what do i think the main event is going to be i have no fucking idea i honestly i have no clue at this point i'm still going to lead ddp izzie I think if they can make that fight happen,

they will. Let me pull this up real quick. DDP did an interview with a local radio station in South Africa. This is what he said, because he was obviously asked about Izzy and 300. And he said, I have no idea when asked when the fight's going to happen. And he said, for me, right now,

we are still busy with some scans and seeing what we can do in terms of after the fight, some injuries, can we fight soon? Is that a possibility and all that? So that'll be great to get that done. But we have to make sure the longevity of my career is also taken into consideration. We've had a very active last year, year and a half,

and that's what I need. We rushed to get to this belt. We had to take every opportunity given to us. Right now, we need to be smart and defend this belt when it suits us. On top of that, I think UFC 300 is obviously going to be a milestone event. I think it's going to be great. Every time you have the UFC 100, 200, not 300, all are massive events.

And the paper views are insane. It's massive hype. And I would love to be a part of that, but not if it's going to mean that I'm not going to be fully recovered. Defending my title is much more important to me than being on this milestone event. The real milestone event will be UFC in Africa and more importantly, South Africa. I can't even explain to you how long I'll be willing to wait to make that high happen and defend my belt on home soil. That's history. UFC 300 is just a number, not as massive as UFC Africa. There you go. So it's a kind of, this is the issue sort of

heading out of 297 was, we got to see if he's all right. We got to see if he can turn around. Now, you have to think, if you can do it, if you're a DDP, if you can swing this, I think I understand the longevity of the career and all that. But this will be the biggest payday. This will be the biggest payday he probably gets as a UFC fighter. Because if he headlines, he's the champion. He gets pay-per-view points on a card that's probably going to do a million plus pay-per-view buys. He's going to make a shitload of money.

But if he ain't healthy, then I get where he's coming from. And if I'm the UFC, I wait. you can't you have to do this fight it has to be next so if it happens to 300 it's spectacular but if it happens in an international fight week instead fine but then it just kind of leads to the question like what is going to be the main events what are we going to do i i honestly don't know i honestly don't know i don't think jemal hill's going to be ready for april could he be ready for 3.01 seems like it. But then the rest of it, like what? I just, I don't know what's there. I mean, we mentioned kind of jokingly, but I mean, I think we have to at least consider this a

1% possibility that maybe they do the freaking Musk Zuckerberg fight on this card. Be the weirdest thing possible. But Dana could also be working all of us as well. I saw a theory on the old Twitter. Dana White's going to be in a Bud Light commercial on Sunday. The theory is maybe that's when the UFC 300 main event is announced. And you know what? It's not a bad theory. It's probably the best time to announce it.

Would it not be? When you have 40 million people watching, I know a tiny percentage of those people. people watching are going to have any idea what the hell he's talking about, but there will be a percentage of people who don't know what he's talking about that will want to know what he's talking about. I think that would be frigging brilliant. Can you imagine if you're watching the fucking Super Bowl on Sunday?

Dana White does a Bud-like commercial and announces Connor Chandler is the main event for UFC 300. Like, that would be gigantic. So I don't hate that theory at all. I don't know if that's what's going to happen, but from all accounts, it doesn't seem like Connor's fighting at 300. But maybe, but him announcing the main event for 300 in that Super Bowl commercial,

that'd be pretty fucking cool. That'd be wild. That'd actually be brilliant. We'll take one more. Crying Belly, go ahead. What's up? What's up, Mike? Man, look, I'm just listening to

what's going on and everything. And, you know, I've been watching sports, like all my life on all the levels that you can imagine between NFL or, you know, There's football, baseball, basketball, combat sports. I think, you know, you see it with a lot of GMs and managers and owners.

You see a lot of what's called smoke screens. And I don't know, like, if you're, I mean, I'm sure you're probably very familiar with that, what that means. It's like a smokescreen, you know, you're just kind of like letting time go by. And you're just like bringing up other news and letting people kind of run with whatever. to try to hide what you're really doing or what you're really planning on doing. And it gets, you know, managers and GMs and owners, like a lot of money or contract extensions are able to, like, hide things to announce big things. I think it's going to be McGregor Chandler.

I think Dana, I think Dana White's doing the biggest smokescreen, like, ever. And it's obvious to me. I really think it's going to be McGregor Chandler. I don't know. If you think it's just a big smoke screen, I think it is just because of how he's like lingering it on. And now like he's making, he wants everybody to believe that it's towards the end of the year now.

But like what fight, kind of how you said, like, I don't think that they're going to do DDP fight. You look across like all of the divisions. And it's like there's not really like a fight. that that you can do they're not going to do Jamal Hill you know like like what other fight is there to really do that can make USC 300 like the main event you know so that's what I got for you

that's good question look I've talked about it already like the thought has crossed my mind that this is all a work this is all a uh they're guiding us they're putting our eyesight somewhere else but in the meantime should be right in front of us. Maybe they work something out.

I don't know. From conversations I've had, it just doesn't seem like McGregor 300 is going to happen. But again, if it is a smokescreen, as you say, and this is a work, then everybody should be in on the work, right? Not just Dana. It should be everybody. Connor should be in on it. Chandler should be in on it. Everybody should be on it.

They're working all of us. But like I said, if they announce that fight on social, you want to announce, if they announce that fight on Super Bowl, that is going to be ginormous news. It would be wild. Be insane. Be insane. We'll see what happens.

We're running out of options. That's for sure. And I'm very curious to see how this all plays out. Because my whole thought from a while ago was just like move O'Malley and Cheeto to 300, but it's too late to do that now. You definitely can't do that now. But that was before, like, we found out Islam was hurt.

I would have just put Islam in March for 299, move Cheeto in O'Malley to 300. But it's too late for any of that now. So I'm honestly, I'm more curious now that I was like three weeks ago, but I'm also ready to stop talking about this. Honestly, I'm ready to just have the main event and start talking about the main event. And it's tough. Like when I was talking to Annick yesterday, he's like, man, every interview I've done

the last like three weeks is about 299 and 300 and I'm like well don't worry we're going to talk about 298 today because 298 is really fun like it's not as stacked as 299 and 300 are from like a name value top to bottom

but dude this main card is going to slap Anthony Hernandez Roman copycloth that fight's going to be nuts Jeff Neil Ian Machado Gary Rob Henry Sehudo, Robert Whitaker, Paulo Costa, and then Volcanovsky-Tiporia. You give me one fight to watch right now from a high-level martial arts perspective, it's Volk Toporia.

And it's by a wide margin. That fight is awesome. And there's so many narratives to that fight right now. So many storylines to that fight right now. From Toporia just being incredibly confident to Volk wanting to humble him up, Volk coming off the knockout loss, Teporia feels like this is an easy fight. What happens if Volk wins?

What happens if Teporia wins? Is this Volk's last fight at 145? If he wins, does he go up to 55? Then what happens? Like, there's so many questions I have about that fight. And nobody's talking about it. It's all about $299 and $300. But this is a fun one.

And even like the Preeham fights, like Amanda Lemosch, McKenzie Dern, like, that's going to be fun. Andrew Lee, Miranda Mavericks is going to be fun. And then we have like a whole bunch of names on here that are like just fun fight. Like Marcus was Jerry DeLima just got flying need by Derek Lewis. How does he get to bounce back against Justin Topo who has looked really good? And then you just have like a bunch of finishers. Like this is going to be fun card.

This is going to be a fun card. And I'm just ready to focus on that. So I really hope the 300 main event is announced before Fight Week next week. And then we could focus on 298. Talk about that. and then we get to $299. We can talk about that. And then we have a roadmap to $300.

But don't sleep on $2.98 is the moral of the story, my friends. This is a fucking awesome main card. It's really, really good. I am pumped. This is the best card of the year. I know this is only, this will, what, be the fifth? This will be the fifth card of the year, but it's way better than $297, like a thousand times better. So don't sleep on this card.

All right. We're out of here. more of your questions on BTL. We'll see you at 12.30 p.m. Eastern time. It's going to be a good time. Myself and Jed. We'll have a little prop bet thing going on towards the end, which I think you guys will like.

And appreciate you guys joining the program. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll do it again. And we got the UFC Vegas 86 weigh-ins. All sorts of fun stuff. Will it be drum on the scale? We'll have a preview show, all that fun stuff. So thank you all very much.

We'll see you tomorrow. But until then, have a great rest of your Thursday, and have a heck of a morning, everybody.