MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya Announcement For UFC 305

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

Israel Adesanya is officially back as he'll face Dricus du Plessis for the UFC middleweight championship in the main event of August's UFC 305 event in Perth, Western Australia. With the 185-pound division being as crazy as it is right now, was giving Adesanya an immediate title shot upon his return after losing to Sean Strickland this past September the right call? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to the du Plessis vs. Adesanya booking, and discuss where the division goes depending on the winner, and where Adesanya would go with a loss. Additionally, listener topics include UFC Saudi Arabia, Robert Whittaker vs. Ikram Aliskerov, who Sean Strickland may be rooting for in that fight, other compelling fights on the card, the Boston Celtics winning the NBA title, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco 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.

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Hope you're all having just a fantastic start to the week. Because I know I am as the Boston Celtics are now your new NBA champions of the universe. going out there and just slapping the Mavericks around, gave him game four, they decided to just kind of take a night off, and then they just beat that ass last night. And it was amazing. At halftime after Peyton Pritchard hit that shot, I was like, this game's over.

There's like no pressure here. It's dunzo. And like I said at the beginning of all this, guys, the amount of reactions to my prediction for this series were unbelievable. Mike, you're drunk. Mike, you're insane. There's no way. Stick to MMA.

Stick to fighting. You don't know what you're talking about. I haven't got doubters. People doubting me who I work with, who I'm tight with. Like the great Connor Birx. Like Joe and the crew in the back when we do the watch parties. All doubting me. When I said, the Celtics are going to go in there and they're going to smack them around.

This is not going more than five games. Southwicks and five is my prediction. And they all thought I was insane. The viewers, the listeners, all thought I was insane. The amount of DMs I received about how insane that take was. And that's exactly what happened. I demanded Kyrie Irving, demanded him, wanted him in that garden, because I knew he would choke.

I knew he would show up and do absolutely nothing. Because he was going to get rattled. And boy did he. And it was wonderful last night. just watching him just choke it away he goes and stomps on lucky hasn't won a game in boston since it's the best it's a wonderful day and i'm not going to sit there and turn this into a selfics podcast because why would i do that it's it's just a great day everything is wonderful we do have some mma stuff to talk about we do have combat sports stuff to talk about because as you all are very aware the last time we spoke a lot had happened Thursday

heading into Friday, Connor McGregor out of the fight with Michael Chandler, one of the world's worst kept secrets on planet Earth. And we found out Alex Pereira now fighting Uri Perhashka, rematch, UFC 303. We also found out Diego Lopez versus Bryant-Otega, the new co-made event for UFC 303. Also found out Robert Whitaker no longer fighting Hamza Tchamayev. He is now fighting Akramal-Ascarath this Saturday, main event UFC Saudi Arabia, some other changes to that card as well. It's a good one. I'm very much looking forward to that one. And yes, I know, on to the next one, AK and I got a little spiteful.

We're a little pissy. But you know what? We ain't going to be pissy this week. This is a good card. This is what we should be getting all the time. And then that leads into 303 that we get a week off. And then that Denver card looks really good too. So we have a nice little stretch coming our way, which I'm very excited about.

We also had UFC Vegas 93 this past Saturday. I kind of just want to forget that card ever happened. Tank Davis, big knockout. We had whatever Anderson Silva versus Chal Sondon was. I think Ariel kind of laid it up perfectly. It was like the middle of a fight in ballroom dancing. It was like somewhere in the middle of that. Boy, you knew in the first 30 seconds exactly what that fight was going to be.

So, yeah, a lot going on. On top of that, we find out yesterday. I wake up to the news. This wasn't a UFC announcement. this wasn't a Dana White video. This was Israel out of Sondia announcing his own fight. UFC 305 in August,

Perth, Western Australia. He will challenge Drick his Duplice for the UFC middleweight title. And boy, if you watched Dana White on the Jim Rome show yesterday, then I got to tell you, I don't think Dana was very happy

that Israel went out in announce his own fight. he likes to do that himself he likes to be the guy to break that news and he did at least confirm that matchup with Jim Rome so that is that is a go again a fight that isn't really a shocker I think we all saw that one coming so that's going on UFC 305 so we have a middleweight title fight on top of all the other stuff going on in the sport Saudi's coming up this Saturday something tells me that some other news is going to drop today. There might even be news that will warrant a reaction of some kind.

So stay tuned for that. Can't tell you right now. I'd love to tell you, but I can't. Sworn to secrecy. But something tells me in the next several hours, you will find out the answer to those questions. It's got to be a crazy week. So let's go to you all.

And you know what? Let us start. with the biggest Celtic fan of all. Oh, my best friend, Alexander Cayley. Hi, Kay. How are we feeling? My best friends. Happy as I am on this Tuesday.

Congratulations. Congratulations. That's all I can say. Everyone knows, it's no secret. I cannot stand Boston Sports. Really, it's the fans that are the problem. Present company included. But I do want to say, though, I was not one of the doubters, Mike.

We are on, I believe there was at the conclusion of one on to the next one episode. I think we gave a finals prediction. I believe we both said Boston in five. I think you, because they're confidence. Me, I think, was trying to do some reverse jinxing. But in my heart, I was like, I didn't find it. Like, I get it. I get why people were downing you all the narratives.

Like, oh, Kyrie's going back. And this Mavericks team is white hot. And I'm like, have you watched these two teams play over like the course of the season? Like, the Celtics team is so unbelievably well built. I mean, I'm so angry. Like, it makes me angrier that they're like so legitimately good. wish if you guys were like a fluke i'd like oh you guys won the title whatever you didn't like you're clear like boston is so clearly the best team in the NBA and that makes me angrier

like that's it makes me even more angry so very frustrating uh but yes congrats to you and all the horrible horrible boston fans the worst winners uh in uh in all in all the sports uh and by the way i don't think they go back to back but i also don't think this is the last finals of this core this core is going to be together for at least like three or four years and it would shock me if they did not make another finals. So I feel nauseous right now. Horrible. All right.

So yes, this is me just being a good sport and being happy for you, my best friend, you and Toronto's own O'Shea Berset on Boston. That's it. There's two people I'm happy for.

MMA related questions. I'll throw out two real quick, Mike, so we can get this back on track and never talk about the stupid finals again. One, did Izzy kind of like

do a reverse matchmaking thing to the UFC We've mentioned it many times how the UFC loves to announce matchups ahead of time and kind of force the fighters involved to lock in when they might not necessarily be ready and they haven't quite put pen to paper. Did Izzy, again, I assume

the fight was signed, but I guess we don't know. But did he take things into his own hands and force the UFC to at least do their damn jobs and announce a fight? Secondly, Mike, we got the terrible news this morning of Mike Davis getting injured again. He put up a gut-wrenching

Instagram posts. Like, I was just reading it like 10 minutes ago. And I'm like, man, this guy is like one of the most talented 155ers. And we talk about it on the next one all the time. Like we want a matchmaking for him, but we're always just like hesitant. We're like, is he, is he going to be able to stay healthy? And it's just always something. He's fought five times since 2019. So my question for that, I guess, is, is he the most unlucky contender when it comes to injuries? I know people will say like Hamzat, but Hamzat can waltz right into like a top five fight anytime he wants. Mike Davis, every time he gets injured, it just sets him back.

It's like we feel like, oh, he'll get a top 10 opponent next. And I don't think that's going to happen when he comes back. You probably fight to someone outside the top 15 again. He just keeps getting reset every time. So, yeah, my two questions is he did he turn the tables in the UFC matchmakers? And Mike Davis, is he the most unlucky contender right now when it comes to injuries. Yeah, man, it's tough. It's tough.

Mike's so good and he's so talented and he's in the best division in the sport. And it just sucks, man. Like, it's awful. Gets a big opportunity with Drew Dober, tears the bicep. You can see the pain in his eyes in the video, and you can, like, feel the pain in the post when he announces that he's not fighting and he needs surgery and stuff.

It reminds me, you know, I've said this on onto the next one. It's not exactly the same because I feel like the, like, Mike just might be one of the, like, unluckiest fighters I've ever seen. But it's very similar to Montel Jackson, It just, we get excited for him. He gets a win, gets a fight booked. And we're like, yes, Montel Jackson's fighting again.

And then for one reason or another, the fight just doesn't happen. And we have to wait like a year, 18 months in between fights. It sucks. It's very, very brutal. Feel for Mike Davis. Really nice dude, good guy, really good fighter. And we'll see what happens with Drew Dober. I imagine they will do everything to keep Drew on the card,

since he is from the area that is on the UFC Denver card. So, yeah, tough news to see. I was really looking forward to that fight. But it's at the point now where I just can't allow myself to get too excited because Mike just had just horrible luck. And again, I talk about this all the time when it comes to Mike Davis. There's an unreleased interview I did with Mike Davis after he beat Mason Jones. That is just the most jaw-dropping eye-opening interview that I maybe ever done.

I was like 55 minutes of just him telling me how terrible his luck has been. Just all the shit that has happened to him over the last four or five years, it's just wild. I would love to get my hands on that interview and figure out what happened with it and where it is. Because maybe we'll just start on the old podcast network so you guys can hear it. But yeah, it sucks. The Adasania stuff. So here's, look, like I said earlier, this was one of the worst kept secrets. of all.

The amount of times I have asked for updates about that fight in particular, it's like kind of the worst part of the job because it's just you feel like you're being a little too annoying asking about it. And the amount of times I've asked for updates and is the fight done, where are we at, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, it's a lot. It's a lot of text messages, a lot of messages that were sent in return. as of maybe three weeks ago this fight was not done

it was not done it was yes this is what everybody wants no contracts it's not even like officially agreed upon here's where we're at etc on top of that as you guys heard on the broadcast we've talked about it on this show

arrows talked about it on his show there were talks about doing Alex Pereira versus Yuri It seemed like it was going to happen. Alex Pereira versus Yuri Parasca, too, was going to take place in Perth. And then we had to shift gears after the Connor injury, and now it's happening June 29th. So how is that going to be handled having Israel Adasanii in the co-main event, potentially, instead of the main event? Or Indrikas dupli on top of that.

Because that, I mean, that's, Israel Drichus is a huge fight. It's bigger. The magnitude of that fight in the rivalry is bigger than Pereira and Pajaska. I'm not saying it's a better fight, but rivalry, the heat there, it's a big fight. It's one of the biggest fights the UFC can make right now. So I was kind of surprised they were going to do that. But then at the same time, we're trying to figure out where to put all these fights because there's so many events and we're starting to run out of real estate space as we're finding out with maybe rebooking Connor versus Chandler this year. Yesterday, I see the post.

and of course I do my due diligence to reach out and make sure that it's a done deal and one person confirms it. And then the other person with knowledge of this, I ask, so is it a go now? And the answer was define go. And I'm like, is the fight happening? And I was told a week ago contracts were signed. But it was just a matter of like the UFC not announcing it, which was kind of strange. But I think to your point, AK, you might be right. You might be right.

I think this is Izzy being like, you know what? Sick of waiting for the announcement. What are we going to do this? All this other news is dropped, but we're not going to announce this fight. I'll just do it myself. And something tells me the UFC probably is not thrilled about that, but it's also as your Al-a-Sania. So what are they going to do about it?

They just got to take them out of the fight? Yeah, we're going to give it a shot and Strickland instead. No, no. It does nothing. It does nothing. You probably got a stern talking to and that's it. But, yeah, good on Izzy to kind of take the news cycle over himself. there's some other Izzy posts that I'm not too fond of,

but that in particular was pretty good one. So good on them, and I think you're right to some degree. Let's go to Don. Hi, Don. How you doing, Mike? How you doing, man? Questions I have first. I congrats to Boston, man.

I'm not a Boston fan, but that core team is, they're a bunch of unsung heroes, man. I'm glad they're getting made shine. You know, Jamie Brown getting that final's MVP. she that's well-deserved. I like good work. I like seeing good work. But where do you think,

like not to think far ahead, but where do you think, like, you know the UFC probably going to, if Izzy beats Drakers, they might try to lobby for him to fight Pereira just because, like, that division, you know, it's kind of stale and like, you know, they love that rivalry.

Do you see that happening? And if, my question is, if Izzy loses, do you think that they'll still try to book that? Like, where did he go from there? Is like retirement a thing? What do you think? Yeah, I mean, I definitely understand the question.

One thing I will disagree with you on is that the divisions, I don't remember the exact word you use, but there are so many, there's so many options in middle way right now. It's not even funny because you got Strickland, who is just such a big, he's so over right now. Even though the fight with Costa was not great, people just fucking love Sean Strickland. love him. Whitaker's got a big fight coming up on Saturday. Icromal Scaroff goes out there and

just beats up Robert Whitaker, which is a huge ask. But if he goes out there and does that, he is immediately in this conversation. And not to mention, you know, Paul O'Costa is coming off of a couple of losses, but he's still a big star. Like, people like Paul Ocosta. And then you got guys, I mean, I'm not going to really put Jared Canaan in the conversation, especially coming off of a loss, but we don't know what's going on with Usman. The Shemayef thing is just so crazy. Emavovs looked real good. Brennan Allen looked real good.

And then you just have other names on the come up. Look at guys like Kyle Barallio right now. Anthony Fluffy Hernandez, Michelle Pereira, Shara Bullitt. I mean, there is going to be no shortage of guys that the middleweight champion, whoever that may be over in the next few months. There's no shortage of guys to fight. Bo Nichols on his way up. There's just so many of them.

Middleweight is going to be fascinating over the next couple of years, two to three, maybe even longer, especially if Iqram goes out there and beats Robert Whitaker. And don't forget about Rob,

too. Rob goes out and wins. Dude's supposed to fight Hamzaa Tchamai if what was labeled as a number one contender fight at 185 pounds. Robert Whitaker stays on the card to fight a guy

who is super good who Hamzaa Chimayev himself has said is the toughest opponent he's ever had pre-UFC, which is Icramalaskaroff, and outside of the hardcore fans and some maybe longtime fans who probably looked into this a little bit had no idea who Icramalaskarov is.

Robert Whitaker had no idea who Iqramalaskarov is. So the fact that he stayed on this card, it's the first trip to Saudi. It's a big deal. They're getting a lot of money for this. this is going to go pretty far favor-wise with the UFC, in my opinion, if he goes out and wins. So, yeah, I think middleweight is in a great spot right now.

I think there are stakes here. And then when we talk about what happens with the main event, if DDP wins, do we do, does he do Pereira? I don't think he needs to. Honestly, like, Pereira could end up fighting John Jones at this point. Like, I actually don't want to see Pereira go to 85, but Pereira said a few times, like, if I fight busy again it's going to be at 85 so i don't really know if izzie loses that's when things get real interesting like where does he go is he done does he take some time off and like become a a two o fiveer like i have no clue where he goes if he loses his fight it's just kind of like big

fights at this point just big names and no title it's going to be tough getting him back in there there's a lot of people who the amount of people who have reached out to and it was like Israel should not be fighting for the belt right now is unbelievable it's unbelievable and I get it

but I think we all have to understand a very important lesson here this isn't Bellator this isn't PFL this is the biggest fights the biggest names let's make money and while DDP Sean Strickland would probably do okay

DDP is one of the biggest fights the UFC can make right now. And you have to make it. You have to do it. You already let the opportunity slip away once before. You can't do it again. So we'll see how it all plays out. 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 reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster of 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. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new terfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S. From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal,

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and everything in between, welcome to our turf. Anthony, go ahead, sir. How is it going? Good, how are you? I'm doing good. And you know what? All the stuff that you were talking about, you know, everything is obviously

the dream coach that I wanted to for a long time I wanted like to do like these type of stuff and I finally get to do one but as your question though as all that the match that we finally get to have is that Juggins de Plessy finally gets to take on our sonya

that these two have been face to face last year because the match that we saw of Jigas de Pletian while we were going to go last year you know that obviously after that he wants to call out of Sanya and the way to how we got done though is that i'm thinking that if all of a sudden happens a chance to be jriggins de plusy

because you're facing the champion and he's number two rank you know what well obviously de plus he won it after he had this match with strickland but now if we sell the fight what happened with strickland and costa this is kind of a little bit different though and in my perspective is that i'm thinking if de precy after he has a match with a sanya either he wins or retains If he has a chance, if he wants to decide to move on, or Shrukan decided to appear because everything is going to be in Perth, Australia. If he does show up, he will have a chance to redeem his rematch.

Like, I'm the same because the way that we got it done like this morning, and I saw that on like everything on social media yesterday, and to my understanding is that the way that, that onus did super well last year, after he had an incredible huge rivalry with two matches with alex perea and if you look at alice perrera to me like he he's like one the nastiest dudes you could ever see like from his kickboxing career and all the way to mama now and now he's having two rematches now he had his first one was back and mass for a gardeniff to me against here at paraska and now we're going to do another one but after this is no to me personally

this is the second time that it happened to me before because the first time that it happened to me before is where that we know that there was struck the whole world that John Jones was out and they had to put that match in it now this is going to be like the same thing but a little bit different because now you're getting two biggest nights in the history of the UFC where Colin McGregor is out and Chandler is out

and this one the sack same thing so I'm understanding that and to my kind of like my question is that What's it going to take for Alex Pereira to get his win after he won his fight at UC 300? And now he has a chance to regain it. That obviously he lost it, but he has a chance to be Alex Pereira. Because if you look at Alex Pereira, look how he did Jamal Hill last time. And obviously, the knees and all that and all that injuries. What do you see after what happened all the extremely stuff?

what happened to Mel Hill because the opponent is out, the challenger is out. And to my understanding, and this is going to be my very, my very, very first question. What did I'm thinking about this? Because we're going to talk about the World to Weight Division. If Leo Edwards gets to be Baham Muhammad, what's it going to take for Bahamah to win this World's Way title? Thanks, man. The story of DDP is he is, I don't even know what word to you to describe it because the whole road to it was so badly done by the UFC.

It really was because you have this rivalry that's ready to go, right? DDP was always the guy. It just seemed like he was always the dude. They were going back and forth. things are being said. It just seems like all roads were leading to that fight. We were, I mean, heading into international fight, we could, like, after Izzy knocked out Pereira

and Izzy was ready to move on, we were all saying, like, just give DDP the title shot. Like, just give it to them. It's fine. So what is the, and we knew at that point that they were going to Perth in September. We knew they were going, or not Perth, they were going to Australia in September.

We knew what was happening. So at that point, we're just like, just give DDP the title fight. Like, let's just settle the rivalry now. And what do they do? They book DDP against Ruff Whitaker on International Fight Week, which to me, and then saying it's a number one contender fight, the winner is going to turn around and fight Israel Israel-Azani in September.

Immediately we were like, there's no chance either of these guys is fighting Israel-Azani in September. It's just not going to happen. Whitaker's not the type of dude. He's not going to turn around two weeks notice and fight this guy, especially if it's last chance of the title shots. And why would Droukis, heading into his first title fight ever, say, sure, not only will I turn right around after beating the second best middle weight on the planet, but I'll go to Israel's backyard to do it. And DDP goes out and beats Robert Whitaker in one of the craziest moments of 2023.

And then we immediately know that he's not going to turn around and fight. and Dana did the whole well you know how I feel when people turn down fights yada yada yada so then in comes Sean Strickland and the UFC's thing was we have to have hisy fight on the card we'll have him fight Sean Strickland

he'll just go out and style on Strickland and then that's just got to make the DDP fight bigger because he's coming off of another win he's got a title defense and all that and then Sean Strickland just bumps him up bad and one of the it was really one of the funniest nights

in the history of the UFC because their plans just went awry and you could see it all over them that, man, just everything just fell apart. But as it typically works out, the UFC just falls upwards all the time. Sean Strickland becomes a big star.

So it still works out for them. Even though they lost one of the biggest fights they could have. DDP beats Strickland, Izzy takes time off. Now you have to do the fight. You just have to do it. But man, as poorly booked as that whole situation was, I'm so glad the UFC did what they did

because it gave us UFC 293, it gave us Sean Strickland beating Israel out of Sanya, and it gave us the greatest post-fight show in MMA media history after UFC 293 because it was just so unbelievable that it happened that everything just went the way that it did. And then for Bala to be Leon, I mean, it's tough to say.

he just got to go in there and it's going to go in there and just kind of wear on Leon, hoping get some takedowns, hoping he can keep Leon on his back. It's just got to be tough. Not only that, because I think Ballal can't eventually get him down. He's got to do something with it. He can't just lay on top of Leon and not do anything. So it is an interesting fight. I do think Leon wins, but at the same token, it's tough for Belal.

I mean, he's got nothing to look. I mean, I'm not going to say. nothing to lose, but this is his literally his only chance to fight for the belt. So you kind of just got to go. It's never, if he loses, he's never getting another title shot. I think we know that by now.

It took him forever for him to get this title shot. So if he doesn't win the belt in July, then that's it. His chances of becoming champion are gone. So, but maybe that extra pressure, maybe it feels like he's got no pressure because, hey, I know I'm not. get another one. So let's just go in there and see what we can do. We'll just give them everything

we got. Belaw can win. It's definitely possible. But Leon at home, he's looked pretty good. I know the Colby fight is not one. We're going to go back and rewatch, but go back and watch the first fight. I know they're two different guys, but Leon was doing pretty damn well in that fight. And I think if they can keep this on the feet and Leon can keep Belal in space, I think he's got a real good shot here, but wouldn't stun me if Balal did it. wouldn't stop me up below did it we had son mMA in here and he was talking a little smack and then he was requested and i was going to go right to him uh but then he he could not leave fast enough so respect respect uh arnie palmy alert are you there you're muted okay yeah try again let's go to lee

hi lee hey mike how you doing good man how are you pretty good uh just a quick play You know, we finally got the announcement that Drickis and Izzy are fighting. You know, was Izzy coming off the losses between titles? Do you think if he loses this one, what do you think his road back to a title is? Even if it's not even that middleweight, but do you think there's an opportunity for him to still be fighting for titles after this fight, if he does lose? That was it, Mike. Have an effort rest of your day. I don't know, man.

I don't know. I think maybe I think maybe Robert Whitaker winning the belt is probably his best chance to get back because he's got two wins over Rob and you know Rob is that kind of dude that just wants to get that one, get something back there.

There's a lot of people feel like Robert Whitaker beat Israel on Sanya in their second fight. I am not that person. I thought it was very close. I thought Whitaker had a great accounting for himself. And I left that fight thinking, I kind of want to see them fight again. Not like right now, but I kind of want to see what will happen if these two dudes fight again.

So I think that's probably his best chance. And I know he's a star and all that. And I'm curious to see what the reaction will be to him when he comes back. Because I think just, honestly, I think people are just kind of izzieed out. They were just sort of izzieed out. He's fighting so much. He's super active. He's maybe the most active champion they had on the roster.

He's fighting like every three or four months. And I think people are just kind of sick of the scripted promos and the Frozen Lake Elsa and all that stuff. Like it's fun for a little while and I think people just kind of got tired of it. So, you know, we can't miss you if you don't go away. And I kind of feel like Izzy was in that spot, much like Colby was for a while when we didn't see him for after the Mazadol win and everything that happened in Miami. All of a sudden, Colby shows up a year later. unannounced as the backup fighter and everyone lost their minds. Didn't do any media, didn't do any interviews, just out of nowhere shows up on the scale.

And we're like, oh shit, it's Colby. Where did he come from? And people had it. There was enough time that passed and people were, they missed him to some degree. I don't know how long that lasted, but at least for a little while they did. And I think he's kind of in that spire now. But if he goes out and gets bagged up by DDP, he's going to need Rob Whitaker to win the title.

Otherwise, I mean, it's, you can't even sell it. Like, it's going to be impossible to sell. Even with you being the UFC and everyone understanding how you do business at this point. Arne, go ahead. Do we have you now? Can you hear me? Yeah, I got you, man. So I've been really struggling watching these UFC cards.

They've been pretty feeble. They're pretty Bellator PFLS. and I agree with you the next couple cards are pretty good. And then I get to July 20th. And it's looking like it's going to be Lamos versus Verna as the main event. And then the Iron Turtle versus Brad Tavares as the co-main. Would that be a good weekend for me to schedule my tubing trip? That's all I have. Thanks, man.

Yeah, probably. Look, I got some feedback from onto the next one that I was being like a negative Nancy and stuff And I certainly don't want to come off as that But I also have to I have to be me I have to I have to be honest with the world

UFC Vegas 93 was tough man Like you're the best in the world You're the best organization in the world By a long shot And it just annoys me when it's just lazy booking. And that's just essentially what this all was. Like just lazy booking.

Like, let's just throw darts. Oh, cool. We'll have these guys fight each other. Like, there's no stakes to any of these fights. And it's just a annoying. But I don't want to be that dude and go down that road because we're in a good spot right now. Celtics are the world champions.

We're in a great spot. Saudi's a good card. 303 is a good card. Denver's a good card. We get a little week off in between. And then, yes, we have to go to the world's most famous apex, but it's okay because we got the paperview the next night, or the following Saturday.

And then shit's just really going to go. We're going to be in Perth a couple weeks after that. Then we get the Spear. There's going to be at least two paper views in like the September, at least three pay reviews, excuse me, in like the September, October timeframe. Because we're going to get the Salt Lake City pay preview. We just don't know when yet.

then we get MSG so like we just have to get through like some of these sloggy apex events and the thing is they can do it like we can get these cards like i thought st louis wasn't i thought the main event was kind of silly derrick lewis versus rodrigo like the the fact that the the UFC wanted people to pay money to watch rodrigo nassimento fight in a main event I questioned the decision. But then I realized that fans will pay money for anything. So let's just get out of the apex. Like if you want to bring us crap cards, like fine,

but let's do it with a little bit of excitement in there. Like look what NXT did in the world's most famous apex. They lit it up nice. They fit a bunch of people in there. Yes, the energy wasn't what it typically is for an NXT event, but still it was better than 17 people screaming and then those 17 people being escorted out of the building and then another 17 people coming in to chair for their fighters

the next time around. So yes, to answer your question, July 20th, as of now, we do not have a main event, so you're probably right. Probably will be Lemosch versus Jan Dirova, which honestly I think it's a good fight. It's a really interesting matchup. Jen Diorobos looked really good.

And if she can go out there and beat Amanda Lemmo, she's probably going to get a title fight. So at least there's a good. stakes in that one, right? We come out of that thinking, if Jenjeroba beats Amanda Lemo, she's like, all right, she's going to get a title fight. Like, there's stakes

to that fight. There is a result that could be very, very interesting here. Like, immediately within the divisional landscape. So to that extent, yeah, it's fine. Oh, yes, tube away, my friend. Tube away. It's going to get better.

It's going to be better. a good rest of the year. There's so much going on. We just have to get through the occasional quicksand of an apex card. They got to get out of there, man. They have to just get out of there altogether. I understand why they're staying there. It's great business for them to be there, but they have to get out of there. Drew, go ahead. And how you doing, Mike? Quick question, two questions. First with DuPlessi, not a Sonia. Just give me a prediction how you think that one can go out because honestly i think otisan is a kind of a nightmare matcher for drichus you know he's very stiff and all that and lastly just with uh ufc Saudi

arabia uh no excuse me UFC abdabi you want to give me some of your predictions about uh Ferguson keezza and uh umar versus corey which i'm so excited for i think that's going to be a banger so uh thanks man that abdabi card is real good That is an excellent card. Let me pull all this stuff up here. So DDP is the early predictions. I hate it. I'm not going to say I hate it.

But it's so far away. Like it seems so close, but it seems so far away where I'm, like, confident enough to go out there and, like, make picks. But I guess, like, kind of often just my gut is telling me, I kind of think DDP beats him. I don't know.

But this is a very smart fighter. His team always crafts tremendous game plans. But I think DDP is like craftier and smarter than people giving credit for, very well coached. I've had a lot of conversations with people who have gotten to, you know, talk to DDP, work with DDP, just outside of his team. And they're just like, damn, dude is the real deal. So I think it's DDP. I think his style is just a little erratic. And I think that's a good thing against a guy like Israel and Asani.

as we saw in the Sean Strickland fight. You go after him, you push forward, you throw really hard. You could throw him off a little bit. DDP, if he does one thing, he throws really hard. His takedowns are, they're not even like takedowns. They're not tactical takers. He just fucking tackles you. He just runs right through you.

He does what Braun Breaker does to dudes in WWE right now. And he's so physically, such a good athlete. He's just fun to watch. So would it shock me if Izzy goes out there and just out points DDP? No. But just if you're asking me what my initial gut is telling me, DDP. Saudi, man, or Abu Dhabi, excuse me, this is what we're talking about here. Like this, this is a fight card.

Maxim versus Vergard, good fight. Due to Kovasam Hughes, it's going to be a scrap. Menafield versus Merzacana. Good scrap. El-Sawati versus Guram. Kutatsal Latsing. Good scrap. Tony Ferguson, Michael Kiesa. Don't know how to feel about it.

A little concerned. Part of me is like, well, at least Tony's not going to get brutally knocked out, but there is a world where Michael Kiesa chokes him unconscious, which is probably my, going to be my predictions, that Kiesa submits Tony Ferguson, or worst wins a 30-27 or pretty strong 30-26. Kenzie Dern Lupy, love that fight. It's been an Otno pick for like two years.

Vera Figgi's a great fight. Lucke Diaz is a great fight. Sanhagen Umar is tremendous. Excellent fight. Spectacular matchmaking. It's the only fight you could make. I was surprised so many people were all up in arms about this matchmaking. Like, why?

This is so good. Both guys want it. It was booked before. My pick right now, it's been my pick since minute one. I'm picking Corey Sam. I'm picking Corey Sanhagen. Umar is so, it's super good, but he's beatable. And I think Corey is just the, the right type of dude.

I think this is one way or the other, we are going to get the answers to our questions. And I'm not saying if Umar loses to Corey, he's never going to fight for a belt or anything like that because he's a young man. He's only 28 years old. He hasn't even gotten close to his athletic prime yet. but Corey's just such a crafty veteran it's been doing this for so long he's great everywhere he's not good everywhere he's great everywhere

and Umar is good in some spots great in others it's so good can't wait Sanhagen's the pick as of right now but once we get closer to the fight I'll go back and watch some more tapes and more fights

it will have a little more of a more of a direct correlation to the pick but that's just it's been San Hagen since minute one that's from staying don't know how, don't know where don't know what round but we'll let you know. Left laying, go ahead.

What's all Mike? Can you hear me? Yes. All right, hey, bro, started the show. You just said we're going to get some news in a couple hours. I know you can't tell us what the news is but like can we get an elaboration please?

Like any hints but my question is, I know I kind of talked briefly about Iqram and Whitaker last week when it got announced, and I know at the time I was like pretty much just on the side of, I don't think it comes all that good, he hasn't really beaten anyone good. And now I'm kind of thinking, like, my opinions on his fighting hasn't really changed because I've just seen him look like good, but not like, in my opinion, top five caliber. but now I've just started to get the vibe that he's going to win against Whitaker. I'm leaning towards him winning by like TK or submission or something,

and it's weird because every bit of logic in picking fights just tells me to like, why would you pick against Whitaker? But I don't know. I just got a vibe, so that's probably what I'm going to do. Also, Walker, not Walker, Pavlovich versus Volkov. of really looking forward to that fight. Wanted to get your prediction on that. And also, do you think, I hate to say it,

but do you think there is any chance that fight ends up not being like just the slug fest that we probably expect it to be? Because I'm seeing photos of them like hanging out, they're smiling, their friends. Like, is there any chance that they get in the cage and don't, you know, fight how they normally do and don't try and kill each other?

But yeah, looking forward to the car this weekend, Obviously, Johnny Walker for us owes to me as a good fight too. I'm interested in that one. I just can't pick Walker with any reliability anymore. It just keeps getting knocked out too much. But yeah, that'll do it. Mike, come on. Give us a hint.

Give us something. Is it like speed? Oh, shit. Sorry. Didn't need to knock you out. No hints, no nothing. I got nothing for you. Sorry, man.

But trust, the announcement's coming. there will be a reaction to said announcement. But that's all I'm going to tell you. So be prepared. I don't know if you're like it or not. But you might. But it's going to happen, I promise you. This is not going to be a day without news.

That is for sure. Dude, what a girl, Ska, are super interesting. I honestly have no idea how this fight's going to go. Like, I feel like there's some, like when this fight was announced, when I confirmed it and, knew that it was going to be announced. I was like, the first thought I had was because I was on No Betts Barred

like the day before we recorded it. I'm like, man, I hoping Giddickickram Alaskarraf like plus 200. Like that's what I was hoping for. But then I saw the lines open at Alaskariff plus 120. I'm like, well, guess that's not happening. So if you look at it from a betting perspective, you're getting Robert Whitaker against an unranked dude,

even as good as Icram is. And he's less than, like he's a better value. than minus 150 right now it's minus 148 on draft kings i kind of think it's a no-brainer that you have to take a shot on bobby knuckles because you're just not going to get that kind of price on whittaker against the unranked dude like at any other time you just not so i think there is tremendous value there it's a crumb's first five-round fight it's got multiple weight cuts in a couple week span so i understand the trepidation but itcrum is the is really really good Good. Like I've been saying for a few years, this dude is going to fight for a UFC title. He's going to. He's that talented. And I mentioned it earlier, Hamzat Shamaev to this day, and he's been in some, he's been in the fight with Gilbert Burns. He's been in there with Usman. He's been in there with some pretty tough dudes. To this day, Hamzat says, even more so than Gilbert Burns, that Icramalasker is the toughest man he's ever been in the cage with. And there's a reason for that.

because he's really, really good. So really looking forward to that one. Volkov Pavvich, I don't, these two dudes don't scream. Let's do what Anderson-Silva and Chale Sondon did on Saturday. These two dudes are just going to get in there and they're going to throw a bunch of bombs at each other and someone's going to fall down. I think it's going to be fun.

I think Pavlovich probably catches them early, but we'll see how Volkov handles it if he could stay at range. But Pavich is sort of, he's sort of a, like, he's got, like, freaky reachability. It's, it's wild. It's wild his ability to get inside, even with a guy like Volkov, but, and I do think he will eventually get there.

So, yeah, the pick will be Pavlovich, but Volkov is, uh, is an interesting style matchup, that's for sure. Let's go to four-ounce sniper. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Oh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo, great idea.

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What's up, buddy? Hey, heck of a morning. Real quick, I want to congratulate you on the Boston Celtics. Getting it done relatively easy. I've said Celtics in five, but then I think I saw Chris Staps enter the game. Maybe it was game two. And I thought it was over from there.

I thought they were going to sweep them. but Dallas ended up getting a win. But nonetheless, the Celtics, they get it done in five, like you said. But I wanted to ask you your thoughts on, what was it, Diego Lopez and Brian Ortega? How do you see that fight going? I feel like it's not an obvious prediction, but something tells me that Diego could knock Brian out. But my prediction is Brian somehow gets it done, maybe by decision. you know he's a veteran of the sport now i think he's what is he like 18 fights or 25 something like

that uh in his career and i think he gets it done via decision just wanted your thoughts on that mike so i'm here to tell you as you know that that is going to be the co-main event of a pay-per-view and as you know we do the watch parties and yes draft kings is a big part of that so we like to have a little bit of fun place a couple shekels uh i placed a bet on brian ortega on friday i got him at plus 130. I took it. I just, this is not me saying like,

oh yeah, Brian Ortega is going to go out there and just melt Diego Lopez. I'm not saying that at all. But I mean, Ortega's just been in there with way better of competition. Like I think highly

a mobs are of Loyav, obviously. But it was a short notice fight. If Loy was preparing to fight somebody else, he gets this unknown phenom who comes in and has become one of

the stars of the division just out of nowhere. Nobody saw Diego Lopez coming, including Mav Zaravloy. How could you? How could you see this man coming? But Ortega is a little questionable. When he looks bad, he looks real bad. But you have to kill him. You have to kill him to get him out of there.

And it's not easy to do. He is dangerous at every second of that fight. So this could be a fight where, like, Diego Lopez gets a 108 and then a dominant 109 and Ortega taps him with like two minutes left in the fight. Not out of the wrong possibility. So I love the matchmaking. It's great fight.

I know they were looking at the spear for that one. It was pretty much all but booked for that spear card. But again, come on in. Spice up 303. Big opportunity for Diego Lopez. And even if he loses his fight, does nothing to him. Really doesn't. Slow rolls him slightly.

but Diego is over. The UFC knows he's over. Hinders him slightly, but not that much. So good fight. I do a bet on Artega. I got my plus 130. Got to do it. It's pure value.

Pure value. But it's great matchmaking. I love this fight. I like Anthony Smith-Karles-Lelberg, too. It's good stuff. Riley, go ahead. Seas. But real quick, I just wanted to ask,

it's not really a fight question, but it's more, It's about like visas. So I've read a lot about how Hamzaat, Chamaev, can't really get into the U.S. because of his visa and because of his ties to Kadyrov, I think that's how he pronounced like the Russian warlords name. But so my question is, I know that that guy has said Chameh is his favorite fighter and whatnot and they have close ties.

But there are other fighters that have also that also. have ties to him. Like we've seen Islam take pictures with him and whatever. And the reason I brought this up was actually because I know Magamad Ancalaev has ties to him. And but Islam and Ancalaev and a bunch of other people who have ties to Karov. They've been able to come into the U.S. and fight. So I was just wondering if you know why Hamzaat can't get into the U.S. is it because he's like originally from Chechnya or what it has to do with because I don't really get how some people can have ties to this guy, other people can't, and some people can come into that country, other people can't. It doesn't really make sense, but I hope that if Poetan beats

Yuri the second time, we can get an, Uncle if can come into the U.S. and fight because I I will feel for Alex if he has to go to like Abu Dhabi or something to defend his belt against Aklav. That's all I got. Thank you. Yeah, I honestly, I don't know. I mean, anything I say is pure speculation. Just like anything you read is pure speculation above this topic because nobody knows. Nobody knows.

Even Dana White doesn't know. Even Dana White doesn't know. So it's, I don't know. We know it's something's up. We just, you know, people gave us a bunch of shit about this before. And I truly don't know. Like, I got nothing to report about this because, you know, Ariel's had Hamzad on his show and he's legit, asked him straight up if he has visa issues or if there's a problem.

And Hamzad has said no. But I think we could read between the lines that there is something. We just don't know exactly what it is and why. So, yeah, it's a mystery to us. all. Like, we can guess, but we don't really know. The Angolae thing, man, I don't know. I just don't think they're going to give him a title shot unless, like, they have to. He's going to have to fight again. He's going to have to fight again. I'll tell you right now, Anthony Smith beats Carlos Olberg and Alex Pereira beats Yuri for Haska. If Alex Pereira once to fight Anthony Smith for the belt,

he's going to. Alex Pereira has a golden ticket right now. He is, saved the UFC time and time again. He has delivered big gates for them time and time again. He main-evented UFC 300 on pretty short notice. Knocked out Jamal Hill. He's saving UFC 303. The sky's the limit. I can, like, I'm not saying like Pereira is like afraid to fight Magabedankal.

I have definitely not saying that because that two will fight anybody. In fact, I think it would actually be kind of an interesting fight. but there are way better options for him financially than fighting Magamette Ancolaev. He could fight Anthony Smith. There's a rivalry there. There's no rivalry with Anka Laf at all. It's just Ankylaif or someone who probably works with Anka Laf tweeting out a bunch of stuff about Pereira. That gets no acknowledgement from the champion at all.

And Dana is going to be quoted forever talking about how. how bad Ankleaf's fight was with Yombovich. And when Dana does that, it takes a really long time to get over that. So Ankleaf's going to have to fight again. Anthony Smith's in a really good spot. You still have Jamal Hill there, who's talking a whole bunch of greasingness about Alex Pereira still,

which could be effective, if we're being honest, down the road, if, like, Pereira wants to just be like, I'll shut them up again because I just don't see a world where that fights goes much differently you got Rackich

I mean he's got two in a row but still the Janbovich one was kind of weird Janbohovic is going to be coming back at some point you've got Khalil Roundtree coming up he's going to be eligible to fight in July Oldberg again Merza Kanoff's going to be super good

he's going to be a top five guy at some point so yeah I Ankle is going to have to fight somebody He's going to have to fight somebody really good, and he's going to have to beat the shit out of him. He's going to have to do it in devastating fashion. That's just kind of where he's at right now. It's unfortunate, but that's the way the UFC does business.

They want big fights that generate big dollars. And even though Alex Pereira is one of the three, four biggest stars in the promotion right now, it's going to be tough to sell people on Magabana Akalaya, and it's really through no fault of his own. he's had some boring fights the Tiago Santos one was real bad it was a tough one but the rest of his stuff has been pretty decent

but he's got that that Dana post event stench that there's just kind of with him and it's really not his fault but it's there Velo go ahead for sure good morning Mike how you doing and I'm actually happy you brought up that

that if Anthony Smith wins and Alex beats Yuri that them two can actually fight and then Magamag will be out the picture because like Magumai keep trying to bring it to Ava Dhabi and shit but that shit would actually be fired to see and the buildup to that fight would actually be really good with Anthony and Alex because you know they both go on go back and forth but my question was do you think the pop for Izzy will be

if he ends up winning against Dreykis because I think it's a tough matchup because Driecas just is, I think he's just built different. He's just the way Pereira looks right now, and I know it's two different way classes, the way Pereira looks right now in training, Drichas just looks just as big.

So I think it's going to be kind of tough for Izzy. But what do you think, like, if Izzy wins, I feel like only if he, like, knocks him out, then like the reception afterwards would be like, let me shit, he did. He did knock him up, but if he take him to a decision, I don't know what the reception will be

if Izzy wins and become champion again. So that's just kind of my question. Have a good morning, man. Thank you. Thanks, man. I mean, I think it's going to depend on Izzy, honestly. I think the break is going to do him a lot of favors. Because, again, like, you know, we talk about this all the time.

We can't miss you if you don't leave. And if you're just constantly in the faces of the fans all the time, especially in this sport, people get sick of you. They get sick of you. But if you go away and you come back, it's almost like they're rejuvenated again. So it really depends on how Israel approaches this. I kind of hope we get sort of a raw version of Izzy.

Because I think one of the things that kind of hurt Izzy down the stretch was, he just, I mean, you could just tell, just scripted stuff, planned lines for moments. But when Izzy just is raw and ready to go, like, he's fun. Like, him and Strickland's back and forth was good stuff. And it wasn't, not even talking about their fight. They had a back and forth at UFC 276 at the press conference. And things got a little heat of between those two guys.

So we'll see what Izzy's attitude is like. We'll see what the quotes will be. Is it going to be more raw? Is he going to be, I have these planned lines. Let's just throw them out there. Because I think if it's the same old, is he, I don't know what kind of reception he's going to get. I don't.

But at the same token, how does Australia feel about drink his duplicacy? I don't know. It's really tough to say. It's really tough to say. Chiefs fan. You're up. Chiefs fan.

Are you there? You muted. Yep, I'm there. There we go. Ortega and Lopez, that's a three-round fight, right? Yes. Yeah, I got to go with Lopez then. But in a five-round fight, I might consider Ortega, like dragging him into deep waters,

maybe wearing him out a little bit. But three-round fight, I've got to go with Lopez. Volkov, man, I just don't know that he has the chin to be up there swinging them things with the Russian. I think he's probably going to face plant the first. But you never know. He's got a lot of talent. He's just kind of got some chininess going on. I kind of wanted to ask you, do you think Sean Strickland is the biggest Izzy fan that

will ever see because he should be, right? Like if DDP beats Izzy, I think that kind of might close or at least make it a longer path back to a title shot for him. So I'm thinking he's got to be, you know, on Izzy's coat tail. else, you know, rooting for the guy so that he can get back in there and maybe get his next shot at the title. A lot of people, I'm going to go in a different direction here. A lot of people are, there's a lot of talk about how Aspinall is going to be this big challenge to John Jones. And I haven't really heard you, you know, talk too much about it because, you know, it's kind of a fantasy land deal.

but I don't think he is. I think Tom would have to stand and bang with Jones and knock him out. I don't think he can out grapple John Jones. You know, so I don't know that he is a bigger threat than Pereira, because if they both have to stand to beat Jones, I'm taking Pereira every time. I know that Pereira probably has a shorter amount of time to accomplish that goal, you know, to beat Jones,

because he's obviously going to go in there and try to knock him out. Whereas Tom could maybe, you know, try to grapple a little bit later on in the fight, but they still have to, you know, I still think they have to stand up to beat him. And I don't see how you pick Tom Aspinall as being a better striker than Alex Pereira. And also, you guys were just talking about Pereira a minute ago. I think he's looking at John Jones. I don't think he's looking at these light heavyweights. You know, he said it a couple of times.

Jones even acted a little interested in that fight as well. So that's an interesting one to me. That's pretty much all I got. So, hey, take it easy, man. Thanks, man. I mean, John's the one that put that shit out there. John's the one that started it. That's, you know, what kind of just added to the,

oh, he doesn't want to fight Tom Aspinall thing. I don't know, man. Tom hits like a truck, too. Like, he, not. knocked out Sergei Pavlovich. Everyone thought that, oh, if Tom stands and Sergey's, he's got to tackle Sergey. Like, that's his best chance. And he went out there to obliterate him with strikes, injured.

The dude can crack. He can crack. He's a big physical son of a bitch. And, I mean, honestly, I've, I mean, I talk to coaches all the time about certain fighters who come to, like, visit their gym. I get a little curious about certain things like, oh, this fighter came to visit. Oh, they got to train with this guy. Oh, we got to work with this guy.

Anybody, anybody who has had Tom Aspenal walk into their gym and work with their fighters and work with them have all said the same thing. I knew he was good, but he's even better than that is what everybody says. Like he is, the expectations for Tom walking into their gym were already incredibly high. And then Tom showed up and started working out and showing what he can do. And they're blown away. Eric Nixick told me the last time I talked to him that Tom was moving around so well to a point where, like, no one could believe it. like you're seeing it on TV and seeing it in person

or two different things that he was having feather weights come in there just to move around with Tom just they wanted to compare the movement when it came to the striking and circling and all that and they're like Tom is exactly Tom moves like a featherweight not a middle weight he moves like a feather weight

in the heavyweight division at 260 pounds or whatever he is that's ridiculous that is ridiculous So to answer that part of the question, I think Tom is very dangerous for John Jones, but Pereira is the way bigger fight. It just is. I mean,

I get where John's coming from that end. From a prize fighter perspective, Pereira is far and away the bigger fight to Tom Aspedal right now. I don't necessarily agree with, well, only people in England know who Tom Aspinall is. I don't agree with that. But everybody knows who Alex Pereira is. star around the world right now.

And I do think Tom get there. It's got to be Curtis Blades, which is a tough fight. Curtis is a tough out. So first thing Tom has to do is he's got to win in July. And he's going to cut a good little promo. And he has to make people realize, John ate the champ. I am. That's how he has to approach this entire thing.

And then does he fight John? I don't know. I'm not really buying into it. The other question you asked that I'll answer is shot and strick at the biggest Israel Adasanya fan. I think Sean Strickland is probably the biggest Robert Whitaker fan right now. I think he needs Rob to win.

If Ickram goes out there and beats Rob, that's a big problem for Sean Strickland. It's a big problem for him. Because Icrum's going to get massively over if he goes out there, especially if he goes out and knocks Whitaker out in the first round or something, he's going to be

massively over. People are going to demand he fights for the belt. And I'm not saying he's going to get it, but he might have to Sean might have to fight him I know he's going to I know he's saying oh I'll wait for I'm just going to wait for a title shot

it's not always the right decision because it's going to be other guys coming too so I definitely think he's a Whitaker fan Whitaker just got knocked up by DDP less than a year ago and then Izzy's beat him twice so I think he needs probably both Dominoes to fall

but I think he's more of a Whitaker fan right now for sure because he's got a history with both ddp and is he and both those fights have story and both of them make sense so he can get both of those fights we get a few more uh let's go to barbara rosa barbara you're there um hi mike um i just want to ask you about uh the two tyra win why every time when some fighter wins with something they do but it ends up maybe they might They just wanted to keep fighting and then end the fight. Everybody say they are lucky it happened with, I think, with Chitouberra, it was pushed by Sean O'Malley. But it always says it was lucky, but the fighter always tend to have their opponent. So I think anything the other fighter does and ends up with a win, TKO, anything, it should be a good thing. for them. The second thing is, have you seen the video that Israel, Adisania, just posted,

not just about a couple hours ago? And do you think the built-up for the fight can be as dark as the Conor Habib fight? Thank you, Mike. I haven't seen the video yet from Izzy. Haven't seen it. I kind of had it on the background. Like last night, I know he dropped a last night, but it was all about the Celtics last night. It was all about the Celtics. So I didn't really care about anything going on in the M.A. world last night, if we're being honest. So I haven't watched it yet, but I will.

I will. I saw one of the posts he had, which I didn't think was very good. But that's another conversation for another day. The tire thing, like, I haven't seen a ton of backlash about it. I haven't seen something. Now, there's going to be fans, trust me, when I tell you, There's fans who are going to literally complain about everything. If Tatsura, Taira did a freaking hurricane off the top of the cage, and it was like the greatest finish ever, there are M.M.A fans who would be like, oh, you got lucky.

Oh, you didn't do that. Oh, it wasn't that cool? Because there are people out there who just fucking hate everything. Like, they truly hate everything. And they have to shit on everything. Tyra's, that was nasty. Like, it was just nasty stuff. It was not lucky.

It was not dirty. there's not anything. It was just he had to take the fight to the ground. He dragged Perez to the ground. It was unfortunate the way Perez landed. But the injury wasn't a freak injury. It was because Tyra took him down. His attempt wasn't to shatter

or whatever happened is we don't know yet. But the attempt, it wasn't like to injure him was to get the fight to the ground. And it was such a slick way to do it. So look, my pick was Tyra the entire time. I didn't learn a ton about him, but I learned enough to know that the dude has a foundation and a half, but he is green. There is some rawness to him, but he is only 24.

But going out there beating Alex Perez like that, having a tough first round like that with him, and then coming through in round two and getting a finish, no matter how weird it was. Like, how can you not be impressed? This guy's going to be a problem at 125 for a long time. So really impressed with Tyra. Dude's a problem. And now let's get him and a good old Brennan Royval in there together, and we'll have a good time. All right, we're going to go Octagon blog, toke in Four Corner Sports, and then we guts to go.

Octagon blog, go. In Africa, so this coming back question about a UFC event in Africa, I checked the three arenas in South Africa self, in Durban, Johannesburg, and in Cape Town, and a brand new arena and neighboring Angola. do you look at it? Will there be an UFC event in the upcoming future or is it just going out? Thank you and good luck. I don't know. I think they will

get there eventually, but I kind of think they waited a little too long. I mean, you had Izzy, Francis and Usen champions at the same time, all lobbying for it. That was probably the time to really make the push and now none of those guys are champions

yes you do have DDP from from South Africa so I would say like if DDP has a highlight real moment and just like destroys Izzy and then gets over big it cuts a good promo or something like it's probably going to be

they probably look like Johannesburg like Dana's already said like we want to go there it's just a matter of like how and logistically how is it going to work so I don't think it's like out off the table altogether but they didn't strike while the iron was hot, if that makes sense. And they're kind of dealing with this with Spain, too,

because we assume Tepore is going to fight Holloway next. What if he loses? Is Spain still a possibility? Or is that gone? I don't know. But I do think Africa is a target of theirs. It's somewhere they want to go. And if you want something like that to happen, just tell Dana White that,

you can't do it, Dana. You can't. And he'll be like, watch me. I'll do it. and then who you just will. So, but I don't think it happens this year. Tope, go ahead. So firstly, I want to say I am the Danish correspondent today,

and I'm reporting that Mark Madison has started a MMA promotion, which is called Dominance Fighting Championship or something. And with the name, you can probably guess who's the matchmaker. It's Elliot Delaus. And can you kind of talk about the implicatory, of having a manager, having his own promotion, and then controlling the matchmaking. And the second thing is the Frankenstein matchup, which, you know, the thing that Alexander K. Lee, he kind of coined the phrasing he coined between Ulberg and Smith.

Is that the biggest recent Frankenstein matchup, or am I missing something? Oh, man. it's a good question it's definitely a good one it's definitely a good one I have to think I didn't think about some others maybe AK can like type it in the chat

if you didn't think of anything better yeah look this is the first I heard about the Mark Mattson thing I will take your word for it being it having it named dominance is pretty funny if and I don't know I haven't read up on this at all

So if what you're telling me is true that Ali is the matchmaker, I mean, it's the same thing as it was with the Eagle FC. He's going to give his fighters easy matchups. I mean, that's what he did with Eagle FC. All of his fighters got like, they were like minus 1,800 favorites against like all of them. Or they're going to give him like not washed, but on the other end of things, bigger names. But, yeah, that's what he's going to do. But again, this is just me saying, like, if that is the case,

because I haven't done my own research on it yet. So good for Mark Matz. It's staying busy. Go ahead, Four Corner Sports. All right. So, yeah, this past Saturday's card was terrible. I'm on the boat with you. I think this surpassed the fight card that happened a couple years ago

between Cynthia Calvia versus Jessica I. that's me was the worst card up until Tyra versus Perez. But, yeah, I don't see many people really talking about, I see many of people talking about Iqon versus Whitaker. But like the other fights, I mean, they're actually pretty entertaining fights that, like, Gasson versus Rodriguez, I feel like that's going to be a pretty good one. I mean, I know we've seen Gasson fight once recently since coming down from middleweight to go to Waltroweat. I'm interested to see how that matchup goes between him versus Daniel Rodriguez.

And for me, the fight that I'm zeroing in the most, and this is like my Super Bowl fight, would be Pavlovich's Volkov. Because I feel like this is a big matchup for Pavlovich because if he loses, I don't know where he goes from here. I think he'll be just labeled as just a fun knockout artist. And I know it was you or somebody else that said, that, what's the call, that they would have, Drick is favored over Israel Adasanya. Israel Adasania, to me, when he doesn't have the belt and he's a consender, he is possibly the best fighter in the world.

He has a lot of that dog in him, but also he just comes out with more relentless. And we saw what he did in his come-up towards the title the first time, and then him trying to reclaim the belt off of Pereira. I feel like this is a bad, a stylistic matchup for Drickus. I feel like Drichus just throws very chaotic, and Israel is just going to come out as a sniper and just going to just take heads off.

I just feel like this fight is definitely not going to hit the cards. I would be very surprised if this fight even starts in the third round. That's what I got for you. Yeah, I mean, we shall see. Have they dropped betting lines for that fight yet? They have. Izzy's the favorite. Holy shit.

Minus 155. That's, man, I might have to take a shot on DDP at plus 1.30 right now. That's pretty crazy. I didn't see that coming. Definitely didn't see that coming. But yeah,

it's going to be a good fight. Looking forward to it. Rivalry coming to head. And you make a good point about Izzy being, you know, the challenger. A lot of people feel like Rose Nami Yunus was that kind of fighter

as well. She was way better as the challenger than she was as the champion. So, we'll see what all plays out. And then this card, this is good stuff. This is a good, solid fight card.

Like, this is what we should be getting to some degree every week. Whitaker Alaskara, Pavlovich Volkov, Gaslum Rodriguez, Naima v.

Felicia. Pemima Lima. Congratulations to him. And shout out to Octagon MMA, by the way, for doing what you're supposed to do. Octagon MMA is doing incredible things. Their shows are just massive. They're drawing incredible crowds. In fact, Octagon MMA might have just found themselves into the MMA fighting draft next year because they're doing incredible business. They're getting some momentum. They've had a better year than PFL has had, if we're being honest. And that's not me being a dick, that's me being honest and telling you the facts.

Because PFL, they ain't selling up 45,000 stadiums right now. They ain't doing it. But good on them for letting Fleebe Lima go after his dream and fight in the UFC and he's going to do so this weekend. Johnny Walker, Volcano O'Semere,

Sharra Bullitt, Jolitan Luderbach, Nazarat Hackperas, Jared Gordon. Like, that is a... Nackrat Haskparas versus Jared Gordon should be like the featured bout on an apex card. It's buried on the prelims, because that's how good this card is.

Nichols-Dalby-Rat-Fokr-Ratine-off is awesome. That is a great fight. Mouin Grafirov versus Kyeong-Hokag. Magamed, this one I can always not pronounce correctly. Gadsi Yazulov versus Brenzen-Rabra, who is fun as hell. And then, you know, it's going to kick off with the road to UFC fight that no one's going to really care about.

But still the rest of the card is spectacular. Like, this is good stuff. This is good stuff. We couldn't sacrifice some of these fights to build up last weekend's card. Last weekend's card was trash. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

It was trash. Like, Denver looks pretty good, too. That's a great main event, Rose versus Basie. Aura Ujo versus Jazz and Jazz DeVizius. We got Ponzanibio versus Muslim Salikoff. That's a banger. Zem Satticoff, Marco Loderos is fun. Josh Fram,'s Andre Petroski.

Christian Rodriguez versus Julian Arosa is going to be super fun. Cody Brundage, Abdul Razak Al-Asan. Say what you will about both dudes. Someone's going, someone's getting finished in the first five minutes of that fight. Mike Malat versus Gilbert Rabina. Gabriel Bonfrey, Anglosa. Maria Agapova is back. And we'll see what Drew Dober ends up fighting.

So, like, that's a solid card. I don't have a lot of bad things to say about that card. The last week's card was awful. And it's, guys, it's okay to say that a UFC event on paper is awful. It's okay. Because we know that they're capable of better. But it all starts getting out of the apex. Like, I'm over the, I'm, I'm powerful.

at all now. Like there is no reason they should be in the apex at all. None. Zero reason. You have proven you can sell 12,000 to 15,000 seats for anything you do. Get out of that building. Please, for the love of God. You want to do contender series fights? Tough fights in the apex. Go for it. But no more. No more UFC cards in the apex. This is it. Like I'm past the, well, once in a while is okay. No, there's never a reason why. Unless, you know, we get another pandemic or something. Other than that, no reason for it.

None. All right, we got to go. Like I said, there's going to be some news dropping soon. And there will probably be a reaction to said news. So stay tuned for that. But I can't give you a hint. I'm not going to do it. But stay tuned, my friends.

stay tuned. And then MBA hour tomorrow, BTL on Thursday. We'll be back here on Friday. And then we've got UFC Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Is there a PFL card?

Is there a Belator this week, isn't it? Is it Belator this week? Or do both have cards this week? It goes to show you. Belator... Belator doing a card at the exact same time

as UFC Saudi Arabia. is hilarious. Yowser. Not good? Not good at all. So that is literally it's 11 a.m. Eastern is when that starts. Not good decision making.

Yes, PFL is Friday. In Salt Lake City, yes. We're going to have fighters puffin and puffin at high altitude. Clay collard, Mads Burnell, the main event, which should be fun. Impegassang and I Jacob Nadeau

Patrici Pitbull Bruno Miranda Rob Wilkinson Josh Silvera Brent Premis Solomon Renfro God holy shit

How many fights are on this card Oh 13 Looks like way more than 13 It's pretty good though It's a pretty good lineup Belts are going head to head with UFC Saudi Arabia Which is airing on ABC by the way

is a choice. It's a choice. And it's a choice they're going to have to live with. But we'll talk about that stuff and more throughout the week. Thank you all very much. Congratulations to your Boston Celtics on becoming the NBA champions of the universe. And we'll see you back here on Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern.

And we'll do it again. Have a great rest of you for your Tuesday. And have a heck of morning. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay. Only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first?

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