MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Dana White's UFC 287 Fight Announcements, Max Holloway vs. Arnold Allen

Episode Date: January 31, 2023

Over the last few days, a slew of massive fights have been announced for the UFC, including two big ones for UFC 287 with Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya 2, and Gilbert Burns vs. Jorge Masvidal. On Monday evening, another big fight was confirmed in the featherweight division between Max Holloway and Arnold Allen for the main event of the promotion's April 15 fight card. While the matchup is great on paper, was it the right fight to make for the division? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to all of those bouts, and why the Holloway vs. Allen matchmaking is very risky right now. Additionally, listener questions include a potential Leon Edwards fight against Masvidal if both guys are victorious in their next bouts, Bellator 290, if Fedor Emelianenko is the greatest heavyweight of all-time, Shavkat Rakhmonov's next move if he defeats Geoff Neal at UFC 285, who Dustin Poirier's next opponent could be, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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! Feel the fun!

The morning will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 1-8665-3-3-2-60 or visit comex Ontario.ca. With Amex Platinum, you have access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. So your experience before takeoff is a taste of what's to come. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. January 31st, last day of January, 23.

And it is indeed a heck of a morning. Live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety. Shortly thereafter on the M.M.A. fighting podcast. Casting Network. Hope everyone's having a wonderful start. To their week, I am Mike Heck. A lot going on in the world of mixed martial arts.

A lot has happened since we last spoke on Friday. And there's a lot going on this week. We have the UFC Back, UFC Vegas 68, headlined by Derek Lewis versus Sergei Spieback. We have Bellator 290, a very big event for Belize. MMA, their network television debut on CBS. Final fight of the legendary career of Fador, Milianenko.

He will challenge Ryan Bader for the Bellator heavyweight title. We have Johnny Eblen versus Anatoly Tokoff for the middleweight title. That is a super interesting fight. And then the main card is just going to start off with an absolute banger between Sabahomasi and Brennan Ward. So that is a fun event. UFC event is what it is. I understand the start time, but obviously that's kind of shying people away a little bit,

but it's fights. And it will lead in obviously to UFC 284, which goes down next Saturday in Perth, Western Australia. That is a massive event, massive main event. Islam Makachev versus Alexander Volkanowski for the lightweight title for the number one pound for pound spot. a lot going on there. But since we last spoke on Friday,

we have had a lot of announcements. Right around 4.30, 4.45 p.m. Eastern on Friday, UFC social media accounts, they tweet out and they message out, hey, Dana White's going live at 5 p.m. Eastern for a special announcement. And considering what we talked about on Friday, what we've been talking about last week. A lot of us assumed that this would have to do with Cotta McGregor.

Will he coach the ultimate fighter? If so, who will he coach against? Is he coming back to fight? What is this announcement going to be? We didn't get any of that. We got Dana White in studio yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs. A whole bunch of fights talking about March 5th. fourth UFC 285.

He confirmed what we had already confirmed on Friday as well. Valencien to Shepchenko versus Alexa Grasso going down on that card for the flyway title. That's a co-made event to John Jones versus Cyril Gan for the vacant heavyweight title. No new announcements

for the London card. But then we fast forward to April 8th. And we found out that Alex Pereira versus Israel Adasania, the rematch for the middleweight title will headline that card. We also found out the return of Jorge

Mazadol is happening on that card as well. He will take on Gilbert Burns. Big fight. Gilbert while I didn't love his callout of Colby Covington, didn't really matter at the end of the day because he got the fight that he wanted in the first place. He gets Jorge Mazadol. Big fight for Burns, huge fight for Mazadol. But the one question we still had

was where the hell is this card going to take place? And if you've been listening to this show long enough, I've been telling you, it was mostly two places in play. A third was kind of sprinkled in. But for the most part, it was a 50-50 between Brooklyn and Miami. Brooklyn and Miami. I'm telling you for weeks. Brooklyn and Miami, MSG became a player. Ariel talked about that as well.

But for the most part, it was Brooklyn, Miami, maybe MSG. So after our show on Friday, I had conversations with some different people. I had heard that the Pereira-Ada-Sanio fight was going to be on that card. I had heard that Mazadol versus Gilbert Burns was going to be on that card. And with the Mazadol fight in particular, I thought the plan was it was going to be announced in a different way. I was told that Mazadol's appearance on the MMA hour yesterday was to announce that fight. He was going to come on and announce that fight.

That's what I was told. So I didn't say anything. We didn't confirm Burns aside, but I just kind of left that piece alone. I was also told by a couple different people that the Sterling Sohudo fight that we reported last week being targeted for that card is still being discussed for April 8th. So who knows what happens? Like we talked about before, Sterling's still rehabbing. He announced yesterday that he's going to Columbia to. to get some stem cell treatment.

And if it works, he'll be back sooner than later. No surgery. But like I said, it all comes down to whether or not Sterling can fight April 8th, and the stem cell treatment will kind of determine where that happens. But that seems to be the fight everybody wants. If Sterling can't go, April or May, it appears that Sean O'Malley might step in and they might do an interim title fight,

but that's kind of far away. We have to wait to see what happens with Algeman Sterling. So and then Dana talked about fights that we had already reported or confirmed already. And we still don't know where this card is happening. One of the UFC Twitter accounts said it was in Miami. They said April 8th in Miami. So I was like, okay, that makes sense. I was told Miami is a big possibility here on Friday, better than we thought before.

And then that tweet comes out. So, of course, I reach out to the UFC and I say, hey, so this card's happening in Miami, right? And they say, where did you hear that? And I said, you, you did. You told us. What are your Twitter accounts said that it's happening in Miami? And then he was like, oops, that wasn't supposed to come out. That's a mistake.

Still no location. And as Mazadol said on Ariel's show yesterday, which I was told the same thing on Friday before this announcement came out, it's still kind of up in the air. The heat being potentially in the playoffs, where they're seated, that has something to do with this, but it's still being worked on. So anybody who's hoping for like an actual update of where this card's happening, there is none.

There is none. Everything Mazadol said with Ariel in regards to the location is 100% what I was told as well. So that's April 8th. That card's still being put together. We'll see where it ends up happening. either way, great locations. Miami would be awesome. Obviously with Mazadol and Burns having ties there,

I believe Pereira and Adasania would be pretty excited for it to happen in Miami as well. A lot of the gyms are around there. That'd be a big deal. That'd be a very big deal to have a card in that area. It's a big hub for the sport as far as gyms and fighters and training partners and all that happy horse stuff. Last night, we confirmed a rapport from ESPN. that we have a main event for April 15th.

The week after UFC 287 is going to be Max Holloway returning for the first time since his loss to Alexander Volkovsky in July and he'll be fighting Arnold Allen. We talked about the rumors, the innuendo that Alan actually talked about it himself but I actually confirmed this as well.

That fight was discussed to be the co-main event for the London card on March 18th. And Arlaan talked about he had a little bit of a rib injury. I was told they asked, our Alan side asked to push it back a month. And here we are, April 15th, that fight's happening. And I see everybody all excited about it. And I get it. I get the excitement.

That fight on its own merits in a vacuum is awesome. That fight is tremendous. And I cannot wait to see what happens. It's a great fight by itself. Just those two guys getting in there, fighting for the sake of fighting, who's the better man? Love that fight.

For where this division is right now, I don't like it. I don't like it. We have been working for two years to try to find Alexander Volcanowski fresh matchups, fresh contenders. And for the first,

first time in a long time, we're actually going to get that because we have an interim title fight coming up at UFC 284 between Josh Emmett and Yahya Rodriguez. You would have to think that if Arnold Allen beats Max Holloway and Volcanovsky returns to 145, Wokovsky will fight the winner of the interim title fight, you would think Arnold Allen would be next in line, right? He beats Max Holloway. He's the next dude. And I get that. I get that. But that's a tough fight. That's a very tough fight. And if we go through the annals of history,

these are the types of fights that Max Holloway not only wins, but he looks incredible in. These are the types of fights that Max Holloway shines. And if Max Holloway beats Arnold Allen, like, that just sucks. Like, what we would hope happens if Holloway wins is that Volk Beats on Machachev becomes the lightweight champion, and then just says, I'm staying here.

Because otherwise, we just killed off a contender. And look, if R.O. Allen wins what I'm saying means nothing. Because everything will go the way it's supposed to. But if Max wins that fight, we're just back to the same position we're in that we've been in for multiple years now. And they've tried. They've tried. They throw Max in there and these, you beat Max, you get a title shot. You beat Max, get a title shot.

And then Max just goes out there and just barnstorms, whoever he fights. I know the Iyer fight was close and it was a lot of fun. He beat the hell out of Calvin Cater. I don't love it. I love the fight, but like where this division is at right now, it's a pretty risky fight. Like, it is a risky fight. Now, if Volk wins the lightweight title, I'll come on the show the following Tuesday and be like, look, none of that matters anymore. None of it does.

because Holloway's now back in the title picture. Volk will probably vacate because I think that's just the way to go. All the biggest fights he can have are at 155. He's not going to fight Max again because they fought three times. He's won all of them. And that third one, like, I know New York Rick and I talk about this all the time. We want to see the best two dudes fight, but after that third fight, man, I mean, there's just no need to see it again.

Because that was Volkovsky pitched a perfect game in July. It's just, Volk can't do it any better. And I just don't see a world where Max beats him. I just don't. So, risky fight. Love the matchup. If these are two dudes fighting, let's see where the better man is.

If they had a big grudge that they wanted to settle, love it. But with where this division is at right now, you are asking for a lot that needs to happen. There's a lot of what ifs. What if? What if Volk loses? What if Volk loses to Makachev?

what if max wins so that's why the fight i wanted was do arnold allen versus iliot to coria because either way one guy gets knocked back but you come away guaranteed with the next guy in line but matchup wise stylistic wise it's a it's a great fight but just where this division is and the problems this division has had for the last couple of years and volk says i'm waiting for somebody to come forward and take that spot no one's done it no one's done it and you have a guy in on He's from the U.K. He's got a lot of momentum, a lot of buzz right now. And you throw him in there with Max Holloway.

Sure, if he beats him, that's a huge win. Momentum continues on. But if he loses, man, just very risky. And I'm probably on an island here, but it's okay. I've been saying this for a while now. That's just where I'm at with this. I can't wait to watch it. But if Max wins, we're going to be like,

oh, now what? Now what do we do? Especially if Mokachev beats Volkanowski, which a lot of people think he's going to, to do. So we can talk about that. We can talk about whatever you want to talk about. It's a lot going on in the world of MMA. And you say his name and he comes as hopping in. Let's welcome in a very special guest, Mr. New York Rick. Hello, New York, Rick. Heck of a morning, Mike. Yes, you say my name and I appear, much like the devil. My question for you is, first of all, I love

that take. I'm super, I'm super proud of that take. I think it's a great take. I wish I thought of it myself. My question for you is, are you only considering the Arnold Allen side of this, right? Based on the fact that Max Holloway is signing up to fight Arnold Allen at 145, that tells me that Max Holloway is not ready to leave the 145 pound division and feels like he still has work to do there. So if he's not fighting Arnold Allen, The question is, who is he fighting? Is he fighting somebody who's not a top-ranked guy? Because I would argue that's kind of a waste of his time and of our time. If it is a top-rank guy, then who is it if it's not Arnold Dahl? It's a great question. I mean, my thoughts for a while, even after UFC 276s,

Max has graduated into no longer, and I think Max has been in this position for a while. Max doesn't need to fight for belts. Max doesn't need to fight for titles. The dude is fine. It's making tons of money outside of fighting. I think he's just kind of in fun fight territory right now. He just wants to be challenged. So for me, especially after watching this man,

hit the scales every single time, 145 and just looks miserable. And I know he's a little undersized for 155. We started on the Dustin Porier fight, but he hung with Dustin Porier. And that fight ruled. But this is a guy after the cater fight, hey, if Habib's going to come back, I'll fight that guy.

I just want the biggest challenges I can get. It's not about titles. Let's just get in there and have some fun. And check some fights off the old bucket list. So I wanted him to go to 155 and just fight fun dudes with big names. Like him and Chandler is a lot of fun. Like him and Conner is a lot of fun.

Him and Gaichi is like one of my dream fights. I know Gaichie's got a fight, and I know Connor's up in the air. Chandler's up in the air, but still, like, there are fun fights for him at 155, which is big names, fun names. So that's kind of what I wanted to see for Max, but, again, I love this fight with Arnold Allen. Just by itself, no stakes, just best man wins. The fight is super fascinating. But if Max wins, and he's got a real good chance to win this fight, it's just tough, man.

We're back in the same position. that is unless Volkanowski goes out there and beats us on Makachev and then none of this really matters because then Max can go and Max beats Arlen, he probably goes and fights Emmett or Yair for the belt and all this is for not. But again, you're asking for a lot here. You're asking for a lot. Arnold has to beat Max.

Islam has to be or Islam has to lose to Volk. Otherwise, we're just log jamming again. And we have to, then what do we get to? next guy up, Ilya versus Max Holloway, then we're in the same position. That's why I was like, that's why I've wanted, who's he gonna fight? Mavzar of Loyaev, if he loses?

Like, these are just, these are just tough fights that don't do a ton for Max right now. Unless, again, Volk somehow beats his Lamachev. If he doesn't, I think there's gonna be a lot of people in 145, and it's weird just for the movement of division to be like, oh, we need Max to lose. We need Max to lose.

Then we can move this division forward. Otherwise, we're just in the same position that we have been in since Volk won the title. We can't do Max again. We can't. But the fight's awesome. It just, I wish it was coming like a year from now. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners,

I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. It's just $39.99. How could I resist? This luxurious wool throw for my sister. This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss?

Ooh, European chocolate for the crossing guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at Winners? Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners, find fabulous for less. It's the machin' or the three ensemble Cado Cicephora of the ftes that I've been to deniches so much. Hmm, it's the ensemble. The form of standard and mini-regrouped.

What's all good. And the embellage, too beau, who is practically pre-to-donning. And I know that I should be these offry.

But I'm get the Summer Fridays and Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez. I'm just the most ensemble the gift

to show at Shepora. Summer Fridays, Rare Beauty, Way, Cepora Collection and other parts of Vite.

Procurre you see form of standard and mini, regrouped for a better quality price, on

on MacGAS or in magazine. Denai, hello. Hey, what's going on? Heck of a morning. What's up, man? No much. Yeah, I had a bunch of different points.

But now that you're mentioning it, I'm like, there are so many gridlocks they're coming about. You know, 125 finally just wrapped up. And now 145, you know, maximum just kind of, you know, that's a controversy. 155 double champ statuses can always be questionable. 170 with Leon Kamaro could be a long dragged out thing. Izzy and Pierre, God knows. 205 has been a mess since 2019.

Heavyweight, come on now. That's pretty crazy. My main point, though, is Leon Edwards' his interview. It's been a pleasure to watch him in the past few years, deal with this stress of losing all these fights since 2019, like losing the

bout agreements, I should say. And he's just like Francis Ngano, he said, back then, I always didn't want me, now I'm hot, ho's all on me. Have a good night. Yeah, it was, it was, it, what I, what I find fascinating about a lot of the interviews that Ariel does on the M. May hour now that he's back is that before he came back, we were talking to a lot of these guys. And, and we still do from time to time. But I remember talking to Leon Edwards, probably, it was like September 2020.

It was like a few months after Usman Mazadol, fought on that fight island card like the first one on fight island and i remember leon just kind of stress and just feeling bad like all these things like he just felt like there were certain points in that conversation where leon just i'm not going to say he was giving up but there was a part of him where he was just like i just don't know if i'm ever going to fight for the belt and you could see the stress in him. Because the only other time he was really offered a shot at the belt was when Gilbert couldn't fight Usman on Flight Island, they went to Leon first before they went

to Mazadol. And Leon was like, I can't do it. Like, I can't do it. I just don't, I can't. Or maybe they went to him first. I'm not really sure. But he was offered a fight with Uspen on that Fight Island card. And he was just like, I can't.

I can't get everybody with me. The coaches all can't come. There's visa issues. There's this. There's that. There's travel bans. There's all these, this red tape we need to clear.

And he was just so stressed about it. And now that he finally got a shot and he won, just watching him on Ariel Show yesterday, you could just see he's like a hundred pounds lighter. He's loose. He's just, he's giggling. He's so happy.

It's just so refreshing to see him, like that compared to where he was like two and a half three years ago it was amazing just watching that interview and him smiling and giggling it's amazing props to that guy because even if he loses to usman like who gives a shit like the guy made it to the he he made it to the top of the ladder he made it people doubted him everybody doubted him and he went out there and he did it props to that guy props that guy but you're right I mean, you can make a case that, like, every division is jammed up the same way featherweight is right now. Which is why I didn't have a problem with Volk going up to 55 in the first place.

Normally, I'm like, ugh, no need for the champ jam thing because you got plenty of contenders behind you. Like, what are we doing here? That's why I didn't. Pereira versus Jabal Hill is, like, fun. Like, it's a fun idea. There's no need for Pereira to go to 205 right now. He's got plenty of work to do at 185. him being the new champ.

Plenty of work. He'll fight easy again if he beats him. Then you got Whitaker, maybe Hamza. Some of these other guys who are really good that just couldn't beat Izzy. These are all fresh matchups. And with how sort of green Pereira is in MMA right now, I'm fascinated to see what he does against some of these guys. There's no need for him to go up to 205.

Unless he's just like, eh, this weight cut is just way too much. I'll vacate 185 and go to 205. That's okay. But yeah, a lot of these other divisions just jammed up. And it's kind of tough. 155, now we get Volk going up. We get Darius, maybe fighting Charles Olivavera. That's what's being reported in May, which is absolutely the fight to make.

Conner's apparently coming back. Gachi's fighting for Zeev. And there's so many other contenders at 155 who, like I want to see get their opportunity. Talk about Serookian all the time. Glad Fiziv's getting his shot. Then there's the Turner's and the Dawson's and all these other guys who we all feel like potential-wise

they could get up there and fight for the belt. But it just could take them forever to get there. Like, Jan Turner's fighting Dan Hooker. Big opportunity for him. And if he goes out and beats Dan Hooker, which I think he's going to, who's going to fight that guy? like which one of these big names are going to fight that guy i don't know

abswalia what's up man how are you doing good are you so i just have two questions that asked the first do we have any update fight news on hamzad and shorn could they headline the make card and uh what are your thoughts on the pdion and um what is it uh the pt the pdine and um what is it the Pied-Mara fight. Yeah, Marat fight. Thank you. That's what I have to say, right. Wait, what was the first one? Hamzat and who? Sean? Yeah, is there, are we going to see any fight news regarding Hamzat and

Sean? Like, could they headline the card? Sean O'Malley? Yeah, could they headline the card in May? Um, it's good question. I don't know. I have no idea what's going on with Hamzad. Literally no clue. I don't think anybody does. He's the big mystery of the sport right now.

I think Sean O'Malley's just kind of. of on standby right now because the UFC wants Al Jemade Sterling versus Henry Sehudo. That's the fight they want. They would love to have it April 8th. That Mazadal-Burn's fight came together

very quickly, by the way. This isn't something that's been in the works for like a week. This is in the works for like a day and just got put together quick. So maybe there's not a ton of faith in Sterling being able to fight April 8th, but I do know that fight is still being targeted

for that date. So maybe they push it back to May. I don't know. But if Sterling can't go, you would have to imagine, like if the stem cell treatment that he gets in Columbia, it doesn't work, or he still needs surgery or more time, I don't think the UFC's going to wait much longer. I think they're just going to chuck Sean O'Malley in there with Sehudo,

do an interim title fight, and just move on. They've done it before. They did it with Jan Sannhagen. So, yeah, that's kind of where I think. I think O'Malley is just kind of on standby. and if they do the Sterling Suhudo fight, I would imagine O'Malley's going to get the winner of that fight. I mean, he's either going to fight for the interim belt

or he's going to fight the winner of that fight. He's next, despite all these other big fights being booked, including the Pejorie Jammarab fight. I'm cool with it. Like, it makes sense. It's a great matchup stylistically. Big opportunity for Marab. Yon needs to,

I mean badly. He had a couple of tough ones. The Sterling fight was very close, the second one. And a lot of people felt he beat Sean O'Malley at UFC 280. I don't think that fight was a robbery. I think it was very close. If you go back and watch it months later, go back and watch it again. I think most of you would agree that that is not a robbery.

You might have thought Jan won. That fight is closer that the more I watch it, the fight is closer than it was watching live. It's one of those. The fight I would have made is Marab versus Umar and Amagamatov. I want to see that one, but this one moves the storyline along. There's a little bit of heat there with the whole Al Jermaine situation. And we'll see what happens. It's a good fight. It wasn't my first choice, but I'm down. Let's see what happens. Let's go to

Four Corner Sports. Hello, Four Corner Sports. Hey, Mike. I want to ask you a couple things. One, Is it true that Luke Thomas did agree he wanted to go on a BTL? He did. I watched the clip because someone tweeted me about it, and I went back and watched the clip. Luke was concerned that maybe there was like some sort of ban, but I can assure you there is no ban.

Luke has gotten the official invite to come on BTL. I have not gotten a response back yet, but the plan is either this week or next week Luke's going to come on so it's in the works it's been targeted all right but it's but there is no ban he's going to come on all right send the contract sale and I expect

Juddney's just the dotted line he will all right he will I wanted to talk about a couple things one with the whole stem cell treatment I think Algeman could get it done as quick as possible it depends what city he's going to

I'm half Colombian. If he goes to places like Gali or Cartagena, he can possibly get it done maybe within the next three to six weeks if everything goes correctly. But it's just a matter of obviously the money, which is not an issue for him. But depending on what city and what physicians and take care of him as quick as possible. I don't really agree with you so much with the whole Max Holloway thing. I agree with you partially, but the whole thing that I don't agree with you is that we can't really put Max on ice. I mean, it doesn't look like he's going to go up to 155. I personally would love to see him fight Justin Gagee.

I mean, that's my dream fight for him to go off to 155. But him at 1.45, I look down at the division. I mean, you got, what's it called, Ortega, he's out. I don't know for how long. I don't know if he recovered from the injury or not. You got Emmett and, yeah, you're fighting, so that knocks out two birds in one stone. I mean, if you look down on the list, I mean, who'd you supposed to fight, you know, Mosver Iloyov, you know, Yadne EGays of the world. I mean, I mean, unfortunately, this is just, you know, the fight that's going to happen for Max versus Arnold Allen.

I favor Max heavily on it. I just think that, you know, Max is just, you know, eliminating contenders one by one, but we can't hold them on ice. You know, that's the thing that I just feel. and then as for this week's main card i mean just wanted to ask i mean are you guys excited for it to be a one a m what's it called the easter standard time main card i mean i don't know what the ratings are going to be like i imagine it might be heavily you know poor considering that a lot of eliminating a lot of the east coast fans but who you got for this what's called main card and who's a who's a who's a fight

that we should be looking forward towards in this prelims. All right, thanks, Mike. I'll tell you what, man. You threw out a name for Max that I liked. Max Holley versus Dan Igay frigging rules. That's a fun-ass fight. There's not a ton of stakes there, but it also doesn't set the division back at all.

So I love that idea. Him versus Bryce Mitchell would be fun. Like, I'm not saying put him on ice, but I'm just saying that it's just, just tough because if Max wins like here we are we're just back in the same position and that is not fun. We're back log jamming stuff. So I get where you're coming from. But man, it's just tough. As far as the start time goes, I get it. We're trying to cater towards the South Korea crowd and that's fine. Luckily, being on the East Coast kind of favors me because it appears it appears

like I will be on Bellator duty, which I'm very excited about. But let's see. I mean, I'm very excited for De Ho-Toy to come back and fight. As far as like other names, Tetsu or Tyra's on the card, I really like him. I feel like when we're talking about a lot of these prospects at 125, I feel like he's the name that doesn't get discussed enough in these conversations. He's real good. And he's fighting Hesus Aguilar.

There's not like a ton names that, that stick out right now. Like those are doho choice one of them and Tyra's the other one. Obviously, I'm curious to see how Derek Lewis looks. But yeah, it's just, it's

like we say sometimes, it's a card. It's a card. And I think we're going to be ready. And I'm not trying to be disrespectful here. But I think most fans are just like, let's just get this one done. And if we could fast forward to Sunday, let's just do that

and then we can get ready for UFC 284 I think that's where everybody's at right now but there are some decent names on the card John Young Park's obviously fun to watch but yeah we haven't seen Korean Superboy and

golly when was the last time he fought 2019 December 2019 was the last time he's fought so that's well over three years I'm curious to see how he looks against Kyle Nelson But yeah, the Bellator card is a thousand times better than this one.

Go get that money fighters. I mean, I'm not trying to be a butthead, but this Bellator card is far more interested. It just is. And that's okay. Most times in Belator and the UFC go ahead to head, and we saw it a lot last year. It was a Bellator card against the UFC fight night card. The Belator card was always better. And that's okay because they don't have as many cards.

Viking MMA. Hello. Hello. Hello, Mike Jr. How are you? How are you? Good. What's up?

I'm a lot of pressure. So I wanted to talk about a very sensitive topic, but I just, this space is not the right place to speak on that. It was a very sensitive matter. So apart from that, Apart from that, I just want to talk about Dustin Porier. So Benile Darius has recently said that there is not a lot of stylistic matches for Binel Darius. For Dustin Poriore, so what should he do next? because, you know, Greci is fighting physys and Chandler is fighting corner,

or it's actually a destination since Chander, it already happens. And if he goes to Welterwitz, there are lots of wrestlers and grapplers at the top. So what's the next move for Dustin Portier? Big friend New York, Rick and Mike. Thank you. Thanks, man. It's tough to say. It's tough to say.

Now, if we're looking at this from a, hey, this is the world we live in, it's a meritocracy, next man up situation, then the gate chief is eve winner versus Porier sounds like a fun-ass time to me. But Porier is a very big name, and he's coming off a very fun fun. fight in a finish of Michael Chandler at MSG. And he's a big enough star right now where if Makachev beats Volcanovsky, and I understand that Benile Darius is fighting Charles, potentially fighting Charles Olivera that's being reported, that's the fight that makes all the sense in the world. There is a very real world that if Makachov wins, they just go right to Macha Chev-Phorier.

It would not shock. It would not surprise me at all if they did that. So he's got options. He's got options. Him fighting Banyl in Perth was not an option. He already had to make a lot of sacrifices for his daughter, pull her out of school to get ready for the Michael Chandler fight. He wanted to fight at MSG.

There we are. But as a dad myself, I 100% get where he's coming from. He's saying, hey, can't pull her out of school again. I'm going to fight again this summer. Can't do it. So the whole notion that I know Porre said, I'm not all that interested in fighting Benile Darius right now, but I think the question that he was asked was,

would you have any interest in fighting Binal Darius in February in Perth? And if he was going to do that and bounce back that quickly, I don't think Darius is the kind of guy. Now, if they offered him Connor, for the type of money he would get fighting Connor in a main event spot, sure. Maybe he would make the adjustment and understand that he's going to get a floppy

a trillion dollars and you can make that change. But Benile's just isn't going to move the needle enough for him to bounce back that quickly when you have to deal with the family and getting the daughter out of school and all that stuff. So I 100% get where he's coming from. But he's also a very big star. He's over. and he could just fight Mokachev.

Like if Mokachev beats Volk and gets on the mic and says, Dustin Poria, I want to fight you, they're going to make that fight. They're going to make it. But if that doesn't happen, the Gai Chi Fiziv winner sounds awesome to me. We either get a rematch of an absolute banger or Fiziv gets his opportunity to get a title fight.

because if he beats Gagia and Porre back to back, he's getting a title shot. So there's options there, but Poria's just not a guy who's going to fight four, you know, three, four times a year. He's not going to. He's got other things in his life. But he's got options. He could fight

for the belt next. It's very possible. Would not shock me. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice, yes, we deliver those.

Goaltenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton.

A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton. on IQ built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence. While Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress.

Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.ca. Try to get Mike in here. Nope, not going through. Let's go to Four-Eon-Sniper. Emilio on that.

Hey, Mike. What's up, Four-Awn sniper? Yes. Hey, I just want to hop on and say real quick, I completely agree with you on the Arnold Dowland-Max Holloway situation. I don't fully agree with it, but it is what it is. You broke it down perfectly. And then also real quick, what do you think about Shopcott beating? I think most people think he's going to beat Jeff Neal. What do you think about him getting, I guess, Kobe Covington next?

Go ahead and, you know, get him closer to a title shot, him beating Kobe Covington. and then I guess the title shot after that. What do you think about that? Great idea in theory. Never going to happen. I'm not saying they'll never fight each other, but it's just, it's, if Shafka goes out there,

just wrecks Jeff Neal, which is very possible. Like, the risk, Colby, you can say what you want about Colby and his resume and all of that. But, like, in the game of actual prize fighting, Colby, Colby is won prize fighting. He's won it.

Like he fights the biggest names, the lowest risk, and he goes out and wins. And yeah, he fought it who spent twice and lost, but those are two very competitive fights. A lot of people still feel like Colby won the second one. So Colby is going to be very careful with what he picks next,

which is why I do, I honestly think he would fight Hamza. Hamzaat Shemaiif is the biggest, fight he can get right now. Realistically, that's a big fight. That could headline a pay-per-view. If they booked that fight to headline May, that's going to kill it. It's going to do a ton of buys. People are going to buy the hell out of that. Nothing else really makes sense at this point. The problem with winning prize fighting is that you already won and there's like nobody else for you to fight. Sure, could like, like if Leon beats Usman again, maybe,

Who knows? Maybe Leon gets the microphone and just cuts a promo on Colby. I don't think it happens. Because I think Leon will go after that Mazadol fight if Mazadol beats Gilbert Burns. No, Colby's not going to fight. There's just not enough reward for him to fight Shafkat right now. It's too early.

He's going to have a tough time finding fights. It's unfortunate. Because I want to see him go out there and fight all these dudes. But it's going to be a man. minute. But if Burns loses to Mazadol, you can do that fight. I know Schofcott and Burns have trained together, but they're not

like full-fledged training partners. So that's something. I don't know. He's going to have a tough time, but it ain't going to be Colby. I'm pretty confident than that. Colby's not going to be like, oh, I haven't fought in a year, but I'm going to come back and fight this wrecking ball, who is a hardcore poor fans delight, but the casual audience has no idea who this guy is, but Hamzaa's a different

story. And Colby has, Colby stylistically, he could get absolutely dumbed trucked by Hamza. Like, Hamzaa could just grab a hold of him and just smush him in the first round like he does to most guys he fights. But what if he doesn't? What if that fight gets out of the second round? Colby's got a chance. So I think that's the biggest fight for him right now. He's sure he can get the title shot, but I feel like, I don't feel like that's a lot. going to happen. So realistically, the biggest fight for Colby is Hamzad. Anything else? There's just nothing. It's just a fight. So we'll see. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd be stunned if that happened next. Let's go to Emilio. Hello, Emilio. What up, Mike? Good to be back. How you doing?

Good. Great. Awesome. Well, I've got a lot of stuff in my mind, but I'm going to try to keep short famous last words well first and foremost about this weekend's ufc card this is all you gotta know that's literally koreen for it's a card so um man oh man uh yeah it's a tough one if you're not uh if you're not a derrick lewis fan or you're not from south korea i got to say but i am super pumped yeah because I'm just like that super pumped about the Lara Sanko debut in the UFC commentary booth that's gonna be sick I mean I think that's that's the only reason why I'm gonna tune in with all the respect

so yeah just want to get your thoughts on that also I know I'm already like the fourth or fifth guy or fifth person saying this but I mean, the only thing that's weaker than Jorge Masvarez's quotes on the Colby trial, he's a little B basically at this point. That's all we've been able to determine that he's a B. His blood type came back, Super B, weak, is the UFC's matchup or matchmaking when it comes to Max Holloway.

and Arnold Allen, it's just, it's so dumb. I mean, everybody's been very politically correct, but I'm just going to say it how it is. It's so dumb because Max has been through some wars, and, I mean, I think sooner rather than later, he is going to get, like, his chin is going to get cracked. It's just going to happen eventually, because we love him. And I love Max, but

God damn, and he has almost no defense. You know, yeah, he's winning fights. But a huge, huge pillar of his entire game is his granite chin. And honestly, I can, I'm still

probably going to say that he beats Arnold. But what if, what if Arnold cracks him are you really going to tell me that that it's going to be Arnold Allen who cracked Max Holloway's chin? It could happen because God damn it, it's MMA,

and that would be such a wasted opportunity. It will be such a wasted opportunity. If somebody's going to crack his chin, let it be Justin Gagey. If somebody's going to crack his chin, let it be Connor, let it be, I don't know, somebody like that in a huge fight, huge fight, not Arnold Allen. Again, with all due respect to him, I think he's great, but it bothers me a lot. And secondly, I just wanted to get your thoughts on the Alexa Grasso-Valatina Shashenko fight.

I mean, I'm biased because I'm Mexican, but I don't know, man. I just keep thinking about Jamal Hill versus Gloverte-Shera. not exactly the same. Also, Hennon Barrow against T.J. Dillashaw, just like, you know,

you come up against a dominant, dominant champion, and an offset is possible, and I think that Alexa's going to bring her A game. I think it's going to be closer than people think.

So, yeah, I just wanted to get your thoughts on that, on the Larosanco thing. And that's it. Thanks so much for everything you do. Peace. I mean, we'll see.

I don't know if I agree with you on the Grasso fight. I think Alex is great. And I think she has title winning potential just not now. I mean, who knows? She can go in there and crack Valentina. You never know. But I just don't know if her game is well-rounded enough to beat Valentina. And you know that Valentin is going to come in like a house of fire after that

Tyler Santos fight. she hears people doubting her she heard it before the Jescon Drage fight and then she just mollywop Jessica Androge So yeah I don't think that's going to go great Love the Lorisanko thing Very happy for her

It's a long time coming This should have happened two years ago But she gets her opportunity She's going to be on the ones She's going to be on the mic Not just doing interviews backstage She's going to be doing color commentary I love that

That's the best thing that is coming out of this card on Saturday 100%. As far as the Max thing goes, I mean, I was kind of with you on a lot of what you said. I definitely disagree with you about the Arnold Allen thing. Because of Arnold Allen, like, I'm not saying like the UFC is rooting for Arnold Allen here, but this fight was made in some respects in hopes that Arnold Allen goes out there and beats Max. Because not only is he just a fun fighter, he'll have a, a, just a massive winning streak, but the division can move along,

and you have another potential star in a market that you are trying to frequent as much as possible. And if Arnold Allen goes out there and knocks out Max Holloway, holy shit, this guy is off to the races. Gone.

See ya. Strap the rocket ships to him, because he's just out of here. So I don't agree with you in that aspect. Like, if Arnold knocks out Max Hallway, it's a massive deal. It'll be huge for him. It'll be huge for the division. And just think about whoever is the champion at the time.

You just not, I mean, Arnold against them, you just can't wait to see it. You got to do it in London. You have to. Get this guy over. And I think partially they try to do that in the Cater fight. Like, they knew it was a banger, but if, like, Arnold Allen could knock out Calvin Cater, I mean, nobody knocks that guy out. like that would have been a huge win for him fortunately didn't happen that way it goes in the record books as the finish but i don't think anybody's like oh he went out there and finished calvin cater there's just a freak injury kind of a thing

he won i'm not taking anything away from him but if he goes out there and just starches max and gets him out of there holy smokes just that'd be a huge moment but yeah sanko getting her shot incredible uh the ecuadorian hitman is that what that said What's up, man? Hey, what's going on, brother? Can you hear me? How you doing, man? Yep. Awesome.

So we got Corey Sanhagen and Marlon, Shito Vera, coming up in a little over two weeks. We all know Marlin is the slow starter, heavy hitter, looking for the knockout shots. And Corey Sanhagan, similar to Rob Fon, is very forward, forward pressure, volume. How do you think that fight's going to look? Do you think it's going to be similar to how Rob Fon, um, kind of got picked apart towards the end of three, four, and five, or do you think Corey's going to be able to write it all the way out? Man, that fight rules.

I, like, honestly, I have no read on that fight at all. No, I have none. No read. That fight is just so interesting. Because it could look similar to the font fight. It could look similar to that. I don't know. Like, San Hagan moves just so well.

golly that that fight is incredible that i can't wait for that one i wish you could just move if they move this one up to this to saturday i would stay up till 4 a m and watch chito versus sandhagen 100% 100% but i'm just going to wait a couple more weeks i do not have a good read on that fight right now i'll have to watch a little more a little more tape in the build to it but oh man that fight it's awesome that fight is awesome. I'm sure Sanhagen's taken a lot away from the font fight. Cheeto just hits so hard for that division.

So that's like one of the big, that's one of the big elements I'm looking out for. Can Sanhagen avoid the big shot? Because Cheeto can crack at 135. I don't care who you are. Let's go to high tier MMA. Oh, hey man, can hear me? Yes, sir.

Yeah, I just wanted to get your thoughts on the welterweight division because, you know, in my eyes, and I think a lot of people will agree that Comzat and Shopcutter are just the future at that division. But we don't know what's going on with Comzok because there were rumors that it was going to be on UFC 285. And I think they're trying to make the Colby fight. I don't know what's going on there. But now it looks like they're really trying to go for the Mazvedal-Leon fight if they both win their next fight. So I don't know. It just seems like there's a lot of logjam at the top of the division where, They're trying to make these mega fights like Leon and Mosbyn,

if they both win, obviously. But you got guys like Hamzot and Shafka that are clearly the best guys in the division. And I just feel like I don't know what the UFC is doing, really. Like, what are your thoughts on what's going on in the World Trade Division right now? I mean, it's a mess. Leon Edwards kind of screwed everything up in some regards, because he went out there and kicked Kamar Usman in the face. So, yeah, but it is interesting, right?

It is a little more interesting. Hamzat just such a wild card, because we don't know if he's going to fight at 170 or if he's going to fight at 185. We just don't know. I know Dana has come out many times and said, we're going to give him one more shot at 170. And him and Colby makes all the sense in the world.

But I don't know. Shafcott is still a mystery to a lot of people. Like, he's super good. And we all, like the hardcore fans, the ones who watch every week. We all understand that. But Shafkat, like, he's got to be a star.

I think he needs to... I'm not saying yes. This comes off bad sometimes, but it's true in a lot of cases. Like, Hamzaa could speak English. Makachev can speak English. Pieter Jan's, English has gotten a lot better. And I think the more

as time goes on, he learns that a little more. I think he's going to get over a little bit more and become more of a star. Because this skill set is incredible. But Hamzat was able to get over for not just his fighting style, but he was able to get on the mic and call people out. He was able to be on television a lot. That's how he got over.

He called people out. And he just fought all the time. It's obviously not as much now. but he's already at that place. He's already at that place. That's how you get over. That's how Kevin Holland got over. That's how Hamzok got over.

And that's why when Jeff Neal had a pull out of that fight with Shafcott last month, I just said, just throw him on the card anyways. Who cares? Just find somebody. There's got to be somebody in Vegas who wants to get into the UFC whether it's a lightweight who doesn't want to cut to 170 or somebody who can get to 170,

it doesn't matter who he fights. Like it didn't matter who he fought. Just get him in there, let him dump truck somebody, and then he can fight Jeff Neal on this card. Still. And then there's two fights in three months, two months span. That's how he's going to get over. That's how he's going to get these bigger fights.

But, yeah, I just think he's going to have a hard time getting up there. Because that's something. There's just not a lot of upside to fighting him right now. It's all risk. It's high risk, low reward. Fighting Hamzad is a different story. High risk, high reward. You beat Hamzat?

You're the dude. You beat Shafcott? Look, look, my friends. We all know how this sport works. We all know how this community works. If Shafcott goes out there and loses to Jeff Neal on March 4th, what are we going to say? What are a lot of people going to say? Flash of the Pan, not as good as he thought, overrated.

That's how it works. So he'll get there. He'll get there. It's just going to take time. It's going to take time. But he will get there because I believe in his skills. YVMZ. Thanks for having me.

A quick question. What would you think about, what are your thoughts on Alex Pereira moving up to 205 to fight Jamal Hill if he gets beat by Izzy? Thanks. Nah. Because they're just going to do it again. They're just going to run it back a third time. And that's going to be massive. Because this fight will do well.

If Izzy wins this one, they're going to do it again. And that will be massive too. And yeah, it'll be a log jam. Yeah, people will be like, oh, come on, let's get some of these fresh faces in there. I get it. But, yeah, if Pereira loses, he's going to fight him again. They'll do the trilogy or whatever the fifth fight is overall.

It'll be fine. There's just no need for him to go to 205 right now. Let's let 205 figure itself out a little bit. And it's hard to sell Pereira going up to 201. 5 and fighting Jamal Hill for that title if he loses to Israel. It's a tougher sell. People would watch it, but

it's a tougher sell coming off of the loss. New York Creek, welcome back. Hello, my friend. Hello. With Bader and Fador fighting on Saturday, I was curious,

who do you have as your heavyweight goat? It's a good question. I have thought about this because I know MMA fighting did a little roundtable about this. To me it's Fador. To me it's Fador.

If we're talking like just straight resume and accomplishments and highlight real and just what he meant to the sport in multiple generations of it, it's Fador.

I don't consider like I know some people have Fador as like the greatest fighter of all time pound for pound i don't i'm not going that far but heavyweight i'm i'm okay with fadour if we're going by like just list of accomplishments with resume the folks who say cane velasquez i get it because skill set wise and what that dude brought to the table i don't know if anyone's ever going to be able to do that again maybe geltan almeda if he bulks up and but we don't know because we still have so many questions but cane is just he's a freak moves around like he's a lightweight and has the cardio of a freaking flyweight.

Like that's not fair. Like fighting that guy is a freaking nightmare. It's horrible. But just so many injuries and just a lot of bad luck along the way. We just never got to see his full potential. And it's unfortunate. But that's kind of where we're at. But Fador for me, resume-wise, but if we're talking like skill for skill,

Kane, if you pick Kane, I ain't going to argue with you. But it's Fador for me. All right, Yaya, take us home because I got Stagu. Yeah, yeah. Big Mike, what's going on, man? What's going on? A question. All right.

So, I mean, we all know that the heavyweight division is a pretty big logjam. And I guess my question for you is regarding Kamar Usmund's brother, Muhammad Usman. Where do you think he fits in this picture? Who do you think is a good fit for him to kind of get the ball rolling in this division for him, at least for his first, first fight? Like what makes sense, do you think? Appreciate you.

Thanks, man. So our own Damon Martin talked to Muhammad Usman. He's been sort of delayed, some injuries. So his out-and-out debut has been delayed. But hopefully this year he gets back in fights. I mean, I wouldn't go crazy with him. He's somebody I think the UFC is going to invest in, and I think they're going to try to build him up.

But chucking him in there with like, Andrei Arlowski right now is not the best idea. Or chucking him in there with like the Alexander Romanov's of the world. Not a great idea. But I don't know. I guess Walt Harris is talking about coming back. maybe him like Dantel Maze

Justin Taff is about to fight my man Paca Porter at UFC 284 maybe the winner or loser of that Jake Collier some of these guys might have fights like Chris Barnett like these are the types of guys

that I would that I would chase Sherman go that route and then if he wins that fight if he goes out there and looks great and you're like, all right, let's push him a little more. Maybe a Tanner Bozer type. Give him a little bit of a step up.

Because Tanner, I know he's coming off of a decision loss, but Tanner's good, man. Like, he's good. He moves around well. He does a lot of things well. He can create a lot of problems. I feel like beating Tanner Bozer means something. So that would be the next step,

and then we kind of go from there. There's not a ton of heavyweights. It's probably like 40 of them, maybe. Like, that might be overshooting the number a little bit. But there's, like, perfect ways to build him up. Hamdi, Abdelahab is an interesting name as well. I mean, there's names for him, but I would not push him too fast. Let's build him up.

You know the UFC's going to push him for sure, especially after that KIO win over Zach Paiugo, who, by the way, I believe, is moving to 205. we didn't get a lot of it was a great win but I don't think we got a lot of answers to the questions we have about him but yeah there's fights for him

but there's no need to chuck them in there with like a top 20 guy right now I wouldn't do that but I also went to booked Max Holloway versus Arnold Allen right now and I'm not a matchmaker so apparently I'm not good at my job when it comes to matchmaking

but yeah like I said with the whole Holloway, Arlenal and if Volcanowski goes out there and beats us on Makachchev, then the fight has a whole new meaning for me. For sure. But still, there wouldn't have been the direction I would have gone. So, all right, we're done.

Thank you very much. We'll be back on Thursday. And we'll do it again. 10 a.m. Eastern. Big day on Thursday, as always, because we'll have this show, we'll have BTL and other stuff. And then we'll be back on Friday, and there will have preview shows

and all sorts of goodness for you to get ready for the UFC Bellator doubleheader on Saturday, and then we turn the page and all roads points to Perth, Western Australia for UFC 284. So thank you all very much. I appreciate you. You're the best.

Back on Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern. We'll see you then. Have a great rest of the day. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. Media Podcast Network.