MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Ilia Topuria's UFC Jacksonville Masterpiece, PFL Controversy

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

Ilia Topuria called for a title shot after his one-sided decision win over Josh Emmett in the main event of Saturday's UFC Jacksonville event, and after the performance that Topuria had, it will be tough to argue with him. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to Topuria's masterclass, gives his thoughts from the bout watching from octagon-side, Topuria's potential star power, and making the case to give the exciting 145-pound contender exactly what he wants. Additionally, listener topics include the controversial fallout from PFL 6 that saw Natan Schulte and Raush Manfio receive a promotional suspension for their lackluster battle, Shane Burgos getting into the playoffs, and who is to blame, along with Maycee Barber's big win over Amanda Ribas, the UFC's mid-year grade, the two title fights set for UFC 290, 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

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. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian 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, 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. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Tuesday, June 27th, heck of a morning. We are live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter Spaces

you can hear the show in its entirety. Shortly thereafter on the M.M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. Hello, my friends. Welcome to another episode of the program. We have a lot to talk about. A lot of action in the world of mixed martial arts. We had PFL on Friday.

A lot of news came out of that card. We had probably the worst fight in the history of mixed martial arts. And the aftermath and the fall of that fight has created a bit of controversy in the MMA space, which I'm sure we're going to discuss. We had the UFC in Jacksonville, Florida. Florida, their return to ABC, Ilya with the I have officially arrived performance against Josh Emmett. He looked absolutely incredible. And I can tell you this, I watched that fight

about 10 feet away from the octagon. What you saw quickness wise, skill wise from Ilya, I will guarantee you it is understated on television. That dude is so fast. He's so quick. Incredible defense in this fight. That jab was lightning. Everything he did was super duper fast. He looked phenomenal. What a performance from Iliate Tuporia.

I set it on to the next one. Do not do Iliot Tuporia versus Max Holloway. Just give this man a title shot. Give this man a title shot. If Volcanovsky has a tough fight with Yaya Rodriguez, and I think that he will, there is no other fight that makes sense at 144. pounds. I understand Volk wants to go up to 155 and get that rematch with this on Machacheth. I totally

understand that. But Yahia Rodriguez is going to take a piece of Alexander Volkinovokovsky in this fight. Does that to everybody. This is going to be a very difficult fight. And I've said this a million times. I want to see the Makachev-Volkinovsky rematch. I just don't want to see it right now. Give it to me next year. You want to do UFC 300 with that. Cool. If you want to do it the end of next year, that's what I would like to see. Cool. I'm fine with seeing them fight again. There is just zero need for those two guys to fight right now.

Volk has an interesting challenge in front of him with the Ayr. If he gets through that, he's got another very interesting challenge in Iliotiporia. It's a no-brainer for me. It's an absolute no-brainer. That guy is really, really good at fist fighting. Macy Barber looked incredible. What a fight with Amanda Hebas. those two just got after it

and it was a lot of fun to watch one of the best women's fights we've seen a long time and what a performance from Macy Barber just beat up Amanda Hebas, got her out of there that was a that was kind of an arrival performance for her as well be interesting to see what they do next I would like to see

her get in there with a grinder who could take a ton of punishment Lauren Murphy makes a lot of sense for me but we'll see where that goes. Justin Tavos and Lane ends in an accidental eye poke, one of the nastiest eyepokes that I can remember, ends in a no contest in 29 seconds. Don't know why that fight was in the main card to begin with.

David Onama, brutal knockout of Gabriel Santos. Brennan Allen just continues to get after it. A lot of controversy, a lot of discussion, a lot of debate whether or not Brendan Allen should still be our middle-weighty, middle-weight champion. probably by his ranking in these performances, he probably shouldn't be. But my argument, my defense for Brennan Allen still being the middle-80, middle-weight champion, is that he's looked better than ever since we crowned him that.

So I think I don't want to take the belt off of him if it's going to ruin his performances. Neil Magni wins, Randy Brown wins, Matushra Bechke, beautiful performance, beating Loik Radzabov, Tabitha Ritchie, good win over Julian Robertson, Josh Van gets his first UFC win. That's a guy that I think people are going to want to pay attention to. Jepa Mariscal and Trevor Peake had what should have been the fight in the night, but hopefully they get taken care of in the back. Jack Jenkins, Jamal Emmer's was a fun fight.

Jenkins gets the splity. A lot of people weren't overly thrilled with that decision, but Jack Jenkins called on Nate Landware for Sydney. Sign me up for that. And then the first fight, first UFC win for S.D. Dumas, not a fight we're going to go back and watch again. Defeats Cody Brundage. And that is UFC Jacksonville. So I'm sure everything we're going to talk about is going to come up from you guys. If not, I'm just going to get into the PFL stuff anyways. But let's just get it right into it. Let's go to four-on sniper. He will kick us off. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. How are you, man? I'm good. How are you? Good. All right, two things. I'm a little disappointed in you for keeping Brendan Allen as the middleweight

champion. I feel like he's too skilled, if I'm being honest. I thought middleweighty, middleweights, I thought you had to be either not good anywhere or mediocre, basically everywhere. Like, you can't be elite or really good in one, I guess, facet of the sport. I just wanted to know who's going to compete next for the middleweighty, middleweight title, and then also what's next for Joshua Van? he put on a really good performance.

I'm not surprised because I train with the guy. I know how good he is, but I don't think anyone else expected that. So that's it, Mike. Yeah, Josh Van is fun. Super-duper fun. Great siding. Again, we talk about the contender series all the time.

Guys, there are certain fighters who should be on the contender series, and there's certain fighters that should just be outright signed. And to me, Josh Van was one of those guys that should have just been outright signed. Good fight. Zalgas Zuma Gula, off with that hair just flowing so perfectly loses another split decision

I mean this guy just that's all he does is lose splities that was a fun fight that was a fun fight what's next for him maybe do the Stephen Ersake fight I don't mind that I mean those are two

like up and comers I don't know if you want to match those two guys up I don't know Alessandro Costa would be a lot of fun Just beat Jimmy Flick. I mean, Flyweight is just such a fun division. But yeah, anybody at Flyway would be fun. But Steve Versaig, after that performance against David DeVorek, that's not a bad one.

But can't really go wrong. Can't really go wrong. Look, I'm not here to say that Brandon Allen should be the middleweighty, middleweight champion. The way the way the middleweighty middleweight championship was designed was that it was the 16th best middleweight. It was a guy that was like just outside the top 15, but the voters just, wouldn't give it to him for the reasons that you stated. And by definition of this award and this title, Brennan Allen should not be the middle-weighty, middle-weight champion.

However, I almost feel bad taking the title off of him. Because since he beat Christoph Jocko, he's had the two best performances of his career. So if we take the belt off of him, will that take it down a little bit? Will he be disappointed in the decision? ultimately he's not going to be the middleweighty middleweight champion i don't know who the hell it's going to be without jot go there i think mark andre barrio might be the guy but that fight with

eric ganders is a lot of fun armin petrosians right up there he might be like the frontrunner do armin petrosian versus albert deriaf winner that the new middleweighty middleweight champion jacobal could fight for the middleweight to middleweight title in in Australia. A little hometown title fight, but I get where you're coming from. Most of it's just a joke, but Brennan,

that dude's a problem. That dude's a problem. And I don't know who he's going to fight next. I don't really know. Martin Vittory would be a lot of fun. I think I ended up going with the loser of Whitaker DDP. I think that's the fight I want with. I want to see what this guy can do.

I think he's really good. And the fact that he's like 27, 28, he's only going to get better. So Brendan Allen's going to be a guy to watch in this division. No doubt about that. C.V. Hello, sir. Yo, Mike, can hear me? Yes, sir. Hey, man. Heck of a morning.

Yeah, just a couple takeaways from last week's TUSC event. And Tupria looks so damn good. Like, I knew, I know he wasn't playing with his food, but it looked like he was just, because he made it so clinical. I mean, him and Tupura, uh, not, not,

him and, uh, Yair, uh, both destroyed Emmett in their own way. I mean, Emmett, I mean,

um, yeah, was going like, like, like, a hundred the whole time. Like, he literally,

like, just wanted to finish them. And I think Tuporia just made it so, uh, clinical, uh, so methodical. And,

like, I wouldn't mind seeing, um, Tporia versus Rodriguez, personally. I think that would be a banger. Um, Trevor Peek.

Um, if I could, edit his um like his uh fight IT slider like i would slide it all the way to a 100 because i i think he's super exciting but man i think he's like the first guy in m ms history to have uh slicing punches i don't know like the way he flails his fists around the cage uh i mean it's crazy but um my question for you is uh put you on the spot um since july is right around the corner um what letter grade would you give uh the ufc right now for its uh mid-year report card, let's say.

I think for me personally, 287, Adesania and Pereira, two, well, the second fight on MMA. I think that was the event that kind of stood out for me. Volcanowski, Makachov, too, but, like, I would give the UFC probably a B-minus. What do you think? That's probably where I would put it.

B minus C plus. It's just that it's, it's been like a decent year for the UFC. Like I'm sure from a business perspective, it's like an A plus. Because they're just, they're just knocking it out of the park in terms of business and profit and all that stuff.

287 was a good card. The last two paper views on paper were not great. But 289 was a fun card. Like, it was a fun watch. it was definitely a fun watch 288 was okay

I liked the main event more than most 287 was great 286 was pretty good we got that was a Edwards Usman 3 we got gate chief of Zeeve on that card that was a lot of fun

the rest of the main card wasn't spectacular 284 had the fight of the year more than likely 283 I mean, was what it was? Brandon Moreno looked incredible. Jamal Hill looked incredible.

Gilbert Burns looked incredible. Jessica Androgic incredible. Johnny Walker looked incredible. I mean, we got three big finishes on that card and two just dominant decision wins. We've seen some fighters emerge. We mentioned Brighton Allen, Aaron Blanchfield, has kind of come up,

and Corey Sanhagans bouncing back, Max Holloway Arnold now was a great fight. Sergei Pavlovich is on a tear right now, Song Yudong, meeting Ricky Simone. I mean, we've seen some fighters emerge, but this is just like an average year. More of these fight cars are just, they're just there. They're just there.

287 had a special feel to it. There's no doubt about it. We were jacked up for that for the watch party. And, I mean, I have fun doing all those watch parties anyways, but like we got Jelton Almeida doing his thing. Yeah, I think B minus C plus is probably the appropriate grade. And that's just that's not like shitting on the UFC. It's just an average year for them.

They're just trotting out fights. Now, I think the summer slate is looking a lot better. 290, I like a lot. I've said this a lot. I love the Volkadovsky-Yair fight. It's my favorite fight on the books right now. And that includes the BMF title fight. Brandon Moreno, Alexander Prentosa is just flying under the radar.

No one's even talking about that fight. We have Bo Nickel coming back. Robert Whitaker, DDP. I mean, that that fight is what it is. Dan Hooker, Jalen Turner. We're going to get maybe the final fight of Robbie Lawler's career. From what I understand, that's not etched in stone yet against Nico Price. Sean Brady, Jack Della Madalana's great fight.

Yasmin Yurgoe is coming back. A lot to like about 290. 2.91 is incredible. We got the BMF title fight. We got Alex Pereira making the 205 debut against Jan Bolivich. Paul Acosta, Icram Alaskaroff, if it happens, Wonderboy, Michelle Pereira. We get Derek Lewis and Marcus Ruggiero de Lima at altitude, which is going to be the most funny thing of all time. That card just really good.

Boston is awesome, 292. I think the second half of the year is going to be much better for the UFC. I think there's going to be a lot more headlines, a lot more things to talk. talk about, unfortunately, like, a lot of the headlines that come from the UFC are Dana just saying things that are just bizarre and then he goes completely back on it. Like the whole, we don't do gimmick fights, but hey, let's do Elon Musk versus Mark Zuckerberg. Let's do that. Let's do Tyson Fury versus John Jones.

We don't do gimmick fights. Like, that stuff should not be what we're talking about when it comes to the UFC. You should talk about the fights and the fights. fighters and all that. So, yeah, B minus C plus. That's where I'm at with it. But it could get better. Vinnie, hello.

Vinnie, are you there? All right, try again, Vinny. Let's try four-corner sports. Hello, you're your bit, Amy? Yes, sir. All right, so I wanted to talk about the main event. Now, I wanted to ask you, now, you say you don't know who Sergio Ramos is, and that's fine.

but how was like the atmosphere when he was like introduced into the I guess I got on the Titan Tron and stuff like that just because I know he's like a mega star and stuff like that and it's and I feel like Iliu Soporia's Instagram following has grown ever since like Sergio Ramos has like advocated for him because I think what was it like in the Bryce Mitchell fight I think he had like 400 something thousand followers and if you look now he's like just a little under a million so I mean that's pretty significant right there And just speaking about the main event, so Emmett, I noticed a lot of his punches, they were looping.

And it's very, very difficult to hit Sapporia with his defense because he's very savvy. And notice on TV, like maybe you can say differently because you were like, I think like a row behind. It looked like a lot of his jabs were like snap punches. Like one, two, bam, you know, hit him and then just get out of the way. One, two, bam. And I don't know. I just feel like Josh Emmett was a bad stylistic match. matchup um well i'm sorry deporia with the bass side like some matchup for um emett and i just feel

that it's aporia i mean maybe he doesn't get a title shot right away that's why i recommended the brian artegaeckel fight but i think that the way that he carries himself the way that he handles himself i think like you know he's on the verge for superstardom in my opinion um and i think that the uc should go to spain i mean that's a new avenue that they could you know you know expand into and he's the perfect fit for it. As for Friday the night, I think it was a failure that they gave it to the main event.

Just because that was just on one side of ass-swapping, I think it should have been the Trevor Peak fight because even though Chepa was, you know, was beating up on on Trevor Peak. Trevor Peak was making, you know, exciting. He was making fun. He was actually trying and he was actually

landing a couple of good shots too. But I don't know. What do you think? And lastly, Macy Barber looked phenomenal. I was very, very impressive with our performance. I feel like I think it might be like a carousel in the future, like between Casey O'Neill, Macy Barber,

Aaron Blanchfield, and Alexa Grasso. I mean, you could add Rosamie Unison in Switzerland with Sue. Let's see how long she wants to stay in 125 if she's going to be committed for the long haul, but maybe those five ladies might be like the five-person carousel for the flyway division in the future.

So thanks, Mike. and always go to speak it to you. Thanks, man. Yeah, maybe he still looked good. That fight was great. That fight was great. If we're talking like technical MMA, Barbara Rehbus was the best fight of the night.

No doubt about it. That was the best fight of the night. But from an absolute chaos perspective, it's Mariscaul and Peak. That fight should have been the fight of the night. That's like a typical UFC fight of the night. But it went to the main event. I got to tell you,

the crowd was into the main events. They were super into it. Josh Emmett got over like crazy with his toughness. And people were loving Josh Emmett. Even when he walked out, Emmett was the fan favorite when that fight started. Now, as far as the Sergio Ramos thing, I wasn't in the arena when he was on the television monitors there out in the arena. I was only out there for the co-main event and the main event. That was it.

I watched, I got out there just before the co-main started, was out there for the main event, and that was it. I guess he's a big star. I just didn't really know who he was. So that's huge. Ilya was just so smart in this fight because as we talked about with the betting lines, my whole thing was Ilya gets hit because he gets sucked into exchanges. He did it against Bryce. He did it against Jai Herbert.

We haven't really seen that super methodical Ilya Tuporia against a big puncher, really. And I think what Josh was trying to do, and there were moments where he had success was he was trying to lure Tuporia into the pocket for a bunch of exchanges. And I think he kind of expected that to happen. But it didn't.

He just, Tepore just started off nice and calm, started building. Third round got a little, that's when things really started to heat. out fourth round the 10 clear 108 you got a 107 that fight was so close to getting stopped and even in the fifth round like emett was just trying to get him into those exchanges and toporia wouldn't do it now there were a couple of times deporia did and emett cracked him a couple of times and teporea was i don't know if his coaches were like no no no no no no no do not do that because that's josh emmits's

best chance of winning but taporea just fought super smart great performance he's He's so fast. He's so technical. And those leg kicks were nasty. Everything about his performance was great. Everything about his performance was great. I didn't love the Ortega idea because from what I, I know Ortega's banged up.

And from what I understand, he's still pretty banged up. So he could be out for a little bit longer than we expected. So to me, I don't think Tepori is going to wait for a guy like Brian Ortega, not saying Brian O'Kittag is a bad fighter, but that fight doesn't do a lot for him right now. If you want to do Max, cool, I don't want to see it. I've talked about this a million times when it comes to Max Holloway. Like Max is in fun fight territory now.

Let's just give him fun fights. Let's just give him the fights he wants. If him and zombie want to fight each other, I know people are not happy about that, but they want to fight each other. Just friggin let them fight each other. They'll go in there and fight. Zombies last fight, more than likely,

against the guy he wants to fight, Holloway called him out. Let's just do it. What's the big deal? And then Holloway's talking about maybe going to 55 and fighting for the BMF title. I love that idea too.

I just don't... Obviously, if he beats Max, it's huge, but what if he doesn't? What if Max goes out there and just did the same thing he did to Arnold Allen? I don't know. Just give him the title shot.

Golly. And if Volk runs Year and wants to go to 55 and the UFC gives him that fight, do an interim title fight, but Ilya has to be a part of it. Ilya's next fight needs to be for some sort of title. It needs to be for some sort of title, in my opinion. And Trevor Peek-Maryskell is just such a crazy fight.

Kudos to Maryskel, man, took this fight on less than two weeks notice, up a weight class. He's not a lightweight. He's a featherweight. And he went up there and Trevor Peaks just a madman. Dude is absolutely insane. But Mariscull is a madman himself. Good for him.

Mariscall said he wants to go to 45. He said because he's back. the UFC now and he has access to the PI, he might want to go to 135. He might want to make himself available to fight in three different weight classes. It's wild. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits

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For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Let's go to Toke. What's up, Tote. So yeah, the Merrill skull thing, you know, you know that I'm a sports better. And I was just like, I forgot to read up on the records of these fighters.

I was like, Maryscull is basically only lost to people who went into the UFC afterwards. It was kind of crazy to watch on his record that he's actually that accomplished, even though I just saw a 13 and 6 fighter and was like, wait, what is this? okay cool I guess they get let on UFC now but then when you look at this record I did that on the night that it was happening this crazy

fight it was just like whoa what the hell is Maryscull for beasts so I'm just happy to see them in there they got robbed of 50 Gs but everyone knows that and I don't know if you have addressed the PFL thing yet I know that you've talked about it

on other shows I just find I just that when that announcement came out, I got a message from a guy where he said, oh, it's very convenient that it's Shane Burgos that got into the play all of this and all that stuff. So all the conspiracy talk regarding that, I mean, this is such a bad look, but I actually get why they did it. But they created the problems themselves with bashing them up. So if you could just elaborate on the PFL thing, and yeah, Mariscull, just a beast.

That was it for me. Thanks. Yeah, I think a lot of people looked at Mariscal's record and just didn't really look into him. But, yeah, he's good, man. He's a good fighter. I didn't think he'd, I thought Peak was going to win because Mariscoll was going to be smaller and going up the weight class and taking it on short notice against an absolute wild man. But hats off to that guy. We'll see what he could do at 1.45 or maybe even 1.4.

135. Man, this PFL thing is just crazy. So I left my house to drive to Jacksonville about 6.30 in the morning. And I was like, I might stop and I might have to get gas, but like, I'll get there right in time. And I got there like super early, way too early. And I see this statement from the PFL. And I immediately am just like, what the hell is going on here? So while I was waiting, I went back in my car and I rewatched the fight. Like, I went and watched it because I didn't watch a Friday because I'd be up super early. But I saw the tweets how bad it was or whatever. And I watched it.

It was just, it was awful. It was awful. It was, to me, it was the worst fight of all time. It was the worst fight I've ever seen. And the decision comes out on Saturday that Natanz Schultz is out. him and house manfio were suspended they get zero points may god of mercy on their souls and Shane burgos is in now to be fair i reached out to Shane burgos as soon as i found this out and about 15 minutes later he responded burgos had no idea this is happening no clue as this news came out

as the statement came out Shane was flying home from Atlanta so he lands in newark pops off airplane mode and he is just getting blown up with texts and messages from people like, holy shit, you're in the playoffs. So before I get into what I'm going to say about this, there is no blame whatsoever on Shane Burdows. He is innocent and all this,

not his fault that he got this opportunity, goes in there, wins a fight, thought he was done, goes home, lands in Newark, Turns his phone on, finds out he's in the playoffs. Had no clue this is happening until Saturday morning. But you nailed it, Toke. You nailed it.

This fight should have never happened. This fight should have never happened. There is no reason for it to happen. It's not a tournament until you get into the playoffs. That's how you structure it. So when anybody from the higher-ups was interviewed during the beginnings of the PFL, and were asked about a tournament, they would quickly correct you

and say, no, no, no, no, this is a tournament. It's a season. It's a season. So to me, we don't know how the matchmaking is done with the PFL. So whoever decided that this is a good idea should be fired. Should be fired.

What did you expect? What did you expect to happen? At the same token, I pass blame to the fighters as well. Because if you know that this is the kind of fight you are going to give people, then you should have been like, nah, dude, we shouldn't be fighting.

You should have went to the PFL and be like, no, different matchups, do something different. And PFL should have been like, you're right, we're going to give you different matchups. This just looks so fishy and shady, all of it. Now, again, I don't blame the burgos thing. And I don't even blame the PFL for making this decision.

after the fact. But these two should have never fought in the first place. Just stupid. You have control over the regular season matchmaking. This fight should have never happened. Plain and simple. So you look like, you look foolish. You look foolish. There's nothing you can say that could justify the matchmaking. Now, if these two guys fought in the finals, I don't think we would have got the same fight. I really don't. But to match these dudes up in the regular season makes absolutely no sense. So they are 100% wrong here. I do put some onus on the fighters as well.

Ariel said on the MAA hour yesterday, I believe that Shulte and Manfio were aware of all of this before, like on Friday, before Shane went out and fought. But Shane had no idea. Now, what I feel, I would still blame the same, I would still have the same.

same reaction when I say this because this fight should have never happened. But had they announced this on the broadcast Friday, like if Sean O'Connell had come out before Shane walked to the cage, if Shane was walking out and he was like, hey, by the way, just want to let you know, PFL suspended so-and-so and so-and-so, they're out. Schulte cannot make the playoffs. So if Shane Burgos wins this fight, he's in, what would the reaction be? Would it be worse? Would it be better?

I just feel like if I just feel like there was just, it's just so random and out of nowhere to drop this news on Saturday morning. It's just, it's a bad look. All of it's a bad look. And to me, and I kind of talked about this on to the next one, I just think the PFL tried to do too much. I just think they overthought this. and they're like, how can we fix this?

How can we get the bad taste out of their mouths? And they landed on this decision. The timing of it, everything about it just feels off. It feels strange. And these two fighters had the fight they had. They should absolutely be to blame. There is language of the contracts, all of it. But then they reseeded everything.

All of it just so weird. Like, none of it makes sense. none of it makes sense now I know from a MMA fan's perspective we get Shane Berger's a clay collar and that fight rules but

I don't know I guess I get why PFL made this decision but this could have all been avoided this could have all been avoided if you just matched these two guys up with different fighters but you didn't do it and now you're in this position

I don't feel sorry for them at all I don't feel sorry for the fighters either. They gave the performance of that. They should have just stepped up and been like, no, we're not fighting each other. And if you put us in there, this is the fight you're going to get. It wasn't a fight. They went in there. It was like SummerSlam 92 when Sean Michaels wrestled the model Rick Martel.

They had a gentleman's agreement that they weren't going to work, punch each other in the face, storyline-wise. That's what this fight reminded me of. It's just so stupid. It could have all been avoided. Be better, PFL. Be better. It's just so funny when we talk about this battle for number two. Everyone's like, we're number two.

No, we're number two. No, we're number two. For the first time in the history of the world, we're having an argument in sports about who the number two company is. And every time someone gets a slight edge, they trip over their own shoes. They trip over their own feet and fall on their face. Why?

Why do you keep getting in your own ways? Jeez, Louise. Be better. Let's go to Eric. What's up, Eric? He's coming up. So what do you think is going to be the best fight on the card? Like the main and the co-main event?

Do you think the main event's going to live up to the co-man? Just want to look at the casino. Have a good day. The main event is going to be incredible. I cannot wait for the main event. To me, personally, it is the fight I'm looking forward to the most that is scheduled and on the books that is 100% happening, or at least 99% happening.

Because you never know. It's the Jose Young's rule until both guys are in the octagon. Nothing is official. And we've learned that lesson a few times. But to me, it is Volcanowski-Yair with a bullet. That's the fight. Now, I also love the Moreno Pantosia fight that is getting no talk at all.

It's all about the main event. It's all about Whitaker DDP and what this means for the middleweight division. Who's, is he going to fight? All of that. But no one's talking about Moreno Pantosia. That fight's going to be great too. That is going to be an excellent one-two punch.

Now, I know there's not a ton of, I know what we think of international fight week, we get the stars of stars on these cards, and maybe this isn't that. but those are two excellent fights excellent fights I do think the main event is going to deliver though I really do

I think people are overlooking Yair and I also think that there's some smarts out there who feel like Yaiyir is the guy who can get it done I think Volkanowski's going to win but I also think he's going to he's going to he's going to pay for the win a little bit

because that's what Yayair does to people he takes apiece of you you may win the battle but yair in the end kind of wins the wars and that's just the kind of fighter he is so i love both of those fights love both of those fights and i hope marino pantosia gets a little bit of a of a boost before we get there let's go to zach what's up zach hey my keg of a morning i follow pfl loosely So what was the original seating? You said they reseeded everything. What was the original seating?

Thanks, Mike. So I think, like, let me just figure out what it was. I'm going to go, let me just jump to Twitter real quick. Do, do, do. All right, let me try to figure out exactly what this is. Because I think Burgos, by definition, should have been the three seed. and not the four but I know a lot of people are saying it got receded

but what they did was they just they just did like a straight replacement and that's how it worked I don't know but apparently there's there was some shuffling of the receding people who have much more knowledge than I do Daniel Rubinstein's been talking about this on Twitter since the news broke

he's been all over this thing but it looks like some slight reseating look we probably get the better fights all in all, but the receding and all that is, is, I could care less. Like, not that I could care less, but that's like the least important thing of all this. The fight should have never happened. And the Venus arena thing is fucking stupid.

Adib, hello. I had you. Now you're gone. Let's go to Daniel. Hey, Mike. Can you hear me? Yep. What's up, man?

Perfect. We'll have a good morning to you. Just wanted to throw out kind of a, I guess, a little different question here. So Austin Lane fought here this weekend against Taffa. Just two things. Do you think they're going to remake that fight? Not sure if you maybe saw just how it was going and maybe got any indication. It looked like it was going to be somewhat of an even fight.

And then just the other thing, kind of random, what do you think, like, the track record is going to be here for maybe NFL athletes or other athletes coming into NMA? I mean, you know, we all know Brendan Schaub, you know, back in the day, obviously everyone can take a Greg Hardy and stuff, but I just haven't seen the translation that well from MMA fighters coming in. I mean, I know we got a tiny glimpse of Austin Lane, but just curious if you think he might have a little bit of some potential here

or maybe just what the potential has gone forward for those type of athletes. Thanks, Mike. I mean, there's potential. I mean, if you're good enough to play in the NFL, then you are a super athlete. And as Jed Mishu says all the time, athleticism is a cheat code. And that is a lot of the reason why Greg Hardy had any success

is because there's just a super freak athlete. And Austin Lane is a great athlete as well. So do I think there's potential there? Sure. Could he win a UFC fighter? Sure. Is he going to fight for a title? No.

And we kind of felt the same way about Greg Hardy, even though the UFC did everything in their power to get Greg to a title shot. I don't know if they're going to make the same mistake with Austin, but I'd like to see we'll see what he could do the whole thing like to me it's a no contest

I get it but the rule set is just kind of dumb I mean that was that was one of the worst eyepokes I've ever seen and I understand that shit happens I get it but like when are we going to draw the line here when it comes to what's a DQ and what isn't because the point we bring up

all the time in any other sport. We talked like the Super Bowl this past year. The Super Bowl. Incidental contact. It's kind of a wishy-washy pass interference call at the end of that Super Bowl, which led to the Chiefs winning it. Accidental clearly wasn't on purpose of that penalty, but they called it and that's it.

There's no, well, it was an accident, so we're not going to call it. The rule sets just crazy. A lot of moving parts. parts. They call that a DQ. I wouldn't have been totally angry about it. But,

I don't know, maybe they just rebook those guys. Tapa, who I hope his eye is good. That was just nasty. We had eye blood. We don't see a lot of eye blood. In our mixing of the martial arts,

but that's what we saw. And this is why I didn't want that fight on the main card to begin with. But I don't know how that fight was going to go. Both were landing. Both were just trying to, knock each other's heads into the third row, and then we got a horrific eye poke. And 28 seconds later, the fight was over. And neither gets an extra, gets the second half of their paychecks, which is the worst part

of it all. Yeah, yeah, hello. Heck of a morning, Mike. How are you doing? Good, how are you? Good, good. Question for you. So, I guess I wanted to ask about Sadabousai, his knockout was amazing.

So I was just trying to see who you would think had the best or the better wheel kick knockout versus Himmit. Himit and Uriah Hall, which one had the best. So we'll have a wheel kick. Great question. I'll go with Uriahaw. I mean, maybe it's just because of the moment and because of the thud and because it was in like an empty, empty, it was the old tough gym, not the Apex tough gym, but the old tough gym. Just the thud.

and just the sound of dudes head slamming on the mat afterwards. Yeah, that was nasty. Saddabu Saz is really good. Really good. But the ambiance of Uriahaw's, I thought he killed a guy. I didn't have that same feeling with Sada Bousai.

The feeling was like, holy shit, that was nasty. That dude is, that dude's hurt. But I thought Uriahaw killed a man on the ultimate fight. So to me, that one stands out more, but both are incredible. That's what we've been waiting for from Sada Bousai for a while, waiting for that highlight. We got it. And that was nasty.

It's one of the best knockouts of the year so far. Adiv, do we have you? Good, how are you? I wanted to ask you about David Onama, because, I mean, we all remember the Nate Land War fight where he was really, really highly rated, and there was that crazy betting fiasco on him, and everyone was expecting him to win that fight. But we saw him come back against Gabriel Santos, although he did look a little bit susceptible in the octagon,

but I thought he did a phenomenal job at the end. My question to you is he's joined Mark Montoya now. What is your verdict on him? Where do you see him fit? And what do you think of him as a fighter? And do you see him probably challenging for the belt sometime soon? Or do you still think he has some aspects of his game? that needs improving.

Thank you, by the way. Yeah, so I don't think there's any gambling nonsense with that fight with landware. I know he was a glory guy, but I don't think there was like any shady line movement in that fight. Like that, which one was it? Hold on. I'll find it. The Shiland Nirden Becass. with a

fainty fight Derek Minner Derek Minner that was the one yeah that was the shady one I don't think there was any shady line movement in that fight

dude I've been I've been high on David Onama for a while when I did the We Got Next Show podcast for MMA fighting David was one of like the first guys we had on he went in there in his on short notice

like days notice UFC debut up a weight class and fought Mason Jones and they just beat the shit out of each other and he hung in there. He lost the fight but he hung in there. Comes back four months later, knocks out Gabriel Benitez, chokes out Garrett Armfield, has that insane fight with Nate Landware

and then knocked out a pretty good, a pretty good fighter. Like Gabriel Santos is a good fighter. I actually thought he had a lot of advantages in this fight, but Onama is very good fighter. is sharp man and i think going to mark and going with factory x it's good fit for him title hopes i mean that's way too soon to talk about that but featherweight is a deep division it is a loaded deep division so he's got a it's going to be a long road to get to a title but i could see him being uh at least over the next couple of years a fraser

fringe top 15 guy could be a top 10 guy at some point, but we'll see how he evolves. It's a little early. He's only had, what, 12 pro-M-A fights, and most of them are just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. When did he make his pro debut? Let me just check real quick. 2019. So he's had all those fights since February of 2019. Four, five fights.

Oh, no. Three fights in 2019. Three in 2020. Three in 2020. 21, 3 and 2020, 4 in 2022. No, I'm sorry. Three in 2020. I think this is like the longest break he's had between fights

was between the landware fight in this one, 10 months. So, yeah, activity's huge. Activity's definitely huge for him. That's how you get over. You get in there and you fight often. Henry, hello. Hey, Mike. I have a morning.

Not really a question, but more eventing to be. honest. I feel like we've kind of beat this of a, to being a dead horse. But it's just like, the commentary, man, it's just so bad. And specifically, I'd probably say it's the three stooges. It's Cruz, it's D.C., and it's Bisping.

Laura Sancoe, Paul Felder, the play play-by-play, the three play-by-play guys, amazing. But those three are just so bad. Whether it's Bissping, trying to be the funny man and being super obnoxious, Cruz, firing strays at Keith Peterson constantly to the point where it's getting boring now, or D.C. just not

knowing what the hell is going on. Like, seriously, man, I know we've spoken about this so many times over the last couple of years, but it's just, it's getting to the point where it has to be on mute, unless obviously, if it's a pay-per-view, we got the watch party going. But I don't know, these fight nights, especially with D.C. and cruise, it's just god-awful, man. So, yeah, I don't know what you have to say to that, but it's just, yeah, I'm just done with it. You are not alone, my man. There's a lot of people who feel the same way.

Yeah, when Bisbing, like when Bisping started in the booth, I think he was much more enjoyable. He's like getting comfortable, but now he's like you say, he's trying to be the funny guy. I don't think he's tough. And a lot of it is that the commentators know more about the scoring structure than the ex-fighters. And that's a problem.

That's a problem. When Michael Bisbing is like, oh, no, there should be points awarded for takedown defense. What the hell are you talking about? Cruz Cruz can be good. Like he can be good. But then he takes the personal shots and all that. Where Domina Cruz needs to be is not Caged side.

Domina Cruz needs to be on the desk. You can't be both. You can't be both. Like you can't be the hot take guy and do color commentary. You have to choose. If you're going to be the hot take guy that's going to give opinions on everything and, you know, kind of go outside the box a little bit, you sit at the desk and do that.

Like, I think Dom would be tremendous at the desk. But he also provides some value, not a lot, but he also provides value in the booth. Watching him with, like the Iliad Seporia fight and breaking down Ilya's striking in his movement was good stuff. What's good stuff? I went back and rewatch it on TV, just kind of want to see what I'll look like on television. some pretty good stuff. But yeah, it's tough, man.

It's tough when you have guys like Anthony Smith, who would be incredible in that role, Michael Kiesa would be incredible in that role, and both those guys are just kind of biding their time, waiting for their moment, and it's almost like, is it ever going to come? Because I think both those guys are good. I think Anthony Smith will be fantastic in that spot.

But, yeah, you're not alone. that. People hit me up after all these cards and was like, what is going on with the commentary? When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. At just $39.99, how could I resist? This luxurious will 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.

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regrouped for a better quality of price. On link on Cifara.C.A. or in a magazine? Taryn, hello. Hey, happy talk for Tuesday. What's up, man? So, you forgot about one person when you guys were talking about athletic people

who transitioned over to MMA. And nobody talks about this enough. Of course, you guys do. But you have a lot of Konovsky. Like, he was a rugby player, and now he's a champ. So that showed you how far athleticism can go with the right training. But the two questions that I had for real were in regards to this main event for this weekend. You have Sean's frequently another main event,

which I don't think he needs to be in. I know how you guys say, like, the second to last fight isn't always a co-main event. It's an ultimate fight. Can we just, like, call this the ultimate fight? because it's not really, like, main event worthy, in my opinion. I just want to know your thoughts on that. And then, too, I don't know if anyone talked about this throughout the month because I didn't catch every show, unfortunately. But this is the end of Pride Month, and UFC normally does something for Pride Month,

and this year they haven't. And I know, like, in some interview Dana said that they would never go woke or whatever, and I feel like this is him like trying to not get like the same crap that but light and all those stuff. So like he's trying to appeal to people who are anti-cancel. He's trying to be basically not canceled by people who are anti-being canceled. You know what I mean? So just want to know your thoughts on that. Do enough people not care to where you can kind of get away with this or what's going on with that?

Have anybody like asked some questions in particular about that? That's all I have. Thank you. Yeah, I'm not sure what, well, yeah, they didn't do anything this year. You're right. They did last year. I'm not really sure. It would have been a good time with Amanda Nunes defending your title, but yeah, they didn't, they didn't do anything.

They didn't do anything. Yeah, Volka, Volk's a great example. Volk's a freak athlete too. And boy, has he figured out this M.A. thing. Holy smokes. Best pound fighter on the planet. Yeah, that's an interesting point. Yeah, they're not doing anything this year that I've seen.

QP, hello. Hello, what's up, Mike? What's up, ma'am? How you doing? Damn, I wasn't even expecting to get on this fast, but I guess I'll go with what's on the top of my head. How do you, and I don't know if anybody asked this yet, I just kind of tapped in not too long ago,

but how do you feel about the potential matchup of Volcanovsky and Ilya Tuporia and even, before you answer that, what do you feel? Because I feel like his weakness is against like lengthy strikers that have like kicks and can set up kicks and can mix up the offense. But I think if Yair was to win, I feel like Yair might be a better matchup than Volk. And don't, I might sound blessed from the sameness, but this is just my opinion. And, you know, I do a little more tight. So just from my experience with striking, it's just like the boxing heavy strikers.

usually have trouble with people that can kick good, and the kick-heavy guys usually have people have trouble with people to have good hands. So you let me know how you think those matchups are play-up or who you think he'll be better matched up against. Look, I like both those fights. I like both those fights. I love Volk, Yair, and that's why I want to pour you to get the title shot.

Just give him Volk. I know Volk's going to call for Islam if he wins. He's going to. And if he runs Yaya, sure. Go for it. Like, take your shot. But you fought them already and you lost. I'm not saying you can't ever get back, but this fight happened in February.

It's not like this fight happened two years ago. It happened in February. Do we need to do this twice in the same year? Volk's got guys. This is what he's been wanting. Volkadovsky has been wanting this. We need guys to emerge, to be top guys that are interesting fights for me. Yair has done that, won the interim title.

Toporia has done that. So stay in your division, fight featherweights, and Makachev can fight lightweights. And then next year, if you guys defend your title two, three times, then revisit this.

We don't need to revisit this right now. We don't need to. I love it. Toporia Volkanowski is super interesting to me. Because Volka is so good at game planning. And on top of that, he's probably the best in the sport when it comes to actual

in-fight adjustments. Because if Tuporia has moments early and starts winning rounds, it's going to be super interesting to see how Volcanovsky will adjust to it. Because he's so good at it. He's just so gosh darn good at it. I love both those fights.

All right, we're going to go rapid fires. A lot of people online. So just go bang, bang, bang. Call hello. Hi, Mike. Just want to talk quickly about that 10-7 round. I've mostly just heard. people in support of it.

And I personally, I personally did not like that scorecard for that round four. I didn't think it was one of the more one-sided 10-8 rounds we've seen in the year even. So I like the 10-8 there, but I'm just curious if any of your buddies have voiced their, their opinion on that side of it in non-agreance with that 10-7. That's all I got. So I'm with you. That was more of a 10-8. don't hate the 107.

And I guess the reason I don't hate the 10-7 is because I hated, I actually hated the 10-8 and the third that Chris Lee gave. Chris-le gave a 10-8 and the third, didn't see that. So if you're going to score that a 10-8 and the third, then you have to score the fourth of 10-7. So I guess I don't mind it mostly because I hated the third round scorecard and they're not the same. They're not the same.

I was more than okay with the 10-8. My little brother, who I was texting with throughout that fight, because when he heard the 50-42, he's like, 50-42, what is that? I'm like, oh, someone must have given him two 10-8s or three-10-8s. And I was wondering where the third 10-8 came from. Like, yeah, maybe someone gave a 10-8 and the third. Fourth was clearly a 10-8. I'm not really sure where the other one came from.

And I was like, no, it's a 10-7. And he was like, what? How's that 10-7? So don't love it, but I don't hate it, if that makes sense. It shouldn't have been a 10-7. 10-8 works for me. Henderson, hello. You too, brother.

What's up? So I just wanted to talk quickly about Italy. I'm a big fan. My family is from Spain. My grandfather came from Spain. And not a lot of people know about Spain in America, not that much about the culture. I mean, we're more like located near Mexico and all that. But Spain has like so, so much pride in all of their athletes. It's really crazy. And I don't even think American fans or even

the UFC fully realized that if they ever had any sort of star in Spain, like a MMA star, that would be embraced 10 million percent. I mean, people know that they're big on soccer, obviously. They're also hugely supportive of the golfers from Spain. Like my grandfather got into golf just because Sergio Garcia made the PGA tour, right? Like tennis, any sport that they get good at, they get like insanely into. And they've never had any sort of fighting champion, not really any sort of worldwide boxer even or anything like that, really. So I think even though Ilya is kind of, he moved to Spain, they're very accepting of that. There's people that move from all over and go there.

and they love him. So I think they need to give Ilya a fight in Spain and don't even make it max or don't even make it Volk or anything like that. Just give him a winnable fight in Spain and they can build a megastar so quickly. So just want to hear what you thought about that idea. Maybe just giving Ilya another fight,

maybe in the top 10, something he can probably win and give him a main event spot in Spain, either Madrid or Barcelona, and they can do huge numbers. So all right, thanks. keep up the great work. Agreed. They have to go to Spain. They have to go to Spain with this guy.

Sepori just oozes star potential. With the fighting style, with the gear. I mean, people are, I post-that video of him walking into the post-fight press conference. They're all, his team's all singing him in. He's dressed to the nine. He's got the shades on. He's got the lady on his arm. Like, the dude just looks like a superstar. walked around like he owned the place. Just great stuff. Yeah, they got to go to Spain with him.

I think they will, but again, it's going to be a hot minute. Now, if one of those areas calls the UFC and says, we'll pay you a bunch of money, come to Spain, then they will. But until that happens, I just don't know if that's going to be a top priority for them. They still want to get to Mexico.

They haven't been able to do that. but I think Mexico, Africa, those are like one and two for them right now. Spain is probably three or four. But yeah, I think they're going to be looking into that area a little bit more than they thought they were going to after that performance. And how Toporia presents himself. He will be a mega star over there. And that's what you want to do. That's how you build stars.

Panda, hello. My man, Mike. How are you? Good. I just love how we come on this show and everybody has like a differential scorecard that they hate or one proving point that they need to make from the card previously.

It's kind of hilarious because everybody in this community has their own, you know, opinions. And I appreciate you for letting everybody get theirs out. Secondly, Damir is Mullah Gulav. Oh, boy, I didn't butcher it as much as I thought I would versus Grant Dawson should be a banger. What do you think, my man, Mike? Have a heck of a morning.

Good fight. Grant's a problem. He is a big problem. We can get the weight stuff under control and figure all that out. He is going to be a player in this division. I think he's going to win the fight. This is a good test.

I think Grant's going to end up smushing him, man. I don't know if he finishes him, but I think it's going to be a dominant decision for Grant Dawson. And much like Armand Sarukian, Grant's got a hard time finding fights. It's going to have a really tough time finding fights. But that's the lightweight division for you.

David, hello. Are you there? You're muted right now. Try again. Unmute. You got me? What's up, brother? How are you?

Yo, Mikey, long time listener, first time caller, brother. Calling it from Lincoln, Nebraska, big Grant Dawson guy, and dude just took my question right there. So I guess we'll play the reverse Uno card. Kevin Lee. What's your opinion on his return this weekend? Boy, I'll tell you what. That might be,

Kevin Lee might be the most interesting story of this entire card. It's back in the UFC. It's been a minute. He's been kind of just flying under the radar. First UFC fight in almost two years. He's what? he ended his UFC run 1 and 4

with the win that Gregor Gillespie knock out he had the Diego Sanchez fight which did not boost his stock at all for Eagle FC and boy is he getting a tough one I guess we're going to have to wait and see

but Fokr Tinoff is a tough fight that is a tough fight to come back to and there's a reason why Fokker Tinoff is such a is such a big favorite on this card. And I will say, of all the opponents,

Makrinoff has fought, especially in the UFC, and I like Brian Battle a lot. Kevin Lee is probably his toughest fight stylistically. I feel like he's going to win. I feel like Fokritinov's going to win this fight. So we are going to find out everything we need to know about Kevin Lee on Saturday with this particular matchup.

If Kevin Lee can go out there and just starch this guy, then they got something with him. Then they know they can get after it. But, boy, what a tough fight to come back to. Very intrigued by that one. All right, we'll go to J-SAT. They'll go to D.C. Pets that we're going to get out of here. J-SAT, hello.

You too. So a good cross-promotional fight idea I've been having. What about Siderabu-Sai versus Leon Edwards? How would that fight play out in your opinion? And would it be good, would it be bad? But that's about it. Leon's probably a minus 500 favorite in that fight. But I like Sadd Abousai a lot.

He's got a good story, good guy. That knockout against a knockout on Friday was nasty. But, I mean, come on. Leon has just fought way better guys than Saad of Bousai. He's just fought way better guys. And Sadd Bousai has fought some good dudes. He's lost to Abis Magh. fought Abis Magamatoff. He's fought Glico Franco. He's fought Magamemann, Magamac Karamov.

Yeah, Leon wins that fight. Leon wins that fight. DC Betts. Take us home, my man. What's up, Mike? You got me? Yep, I got you. Cool, brother. So I just wanted to ask about, I'm assuming that the UFC can't purchase Bellator or anything, right? because probably because that monopoly lawsuit or whatever have going on. I know something about that. But I just think it's, you know, like with the PSL buying Bellator, I just feel like a lot of the Bellator stars aren't going to be able to rise up the way they should or the way that they could in the UFC, you know.

So I'm hoping like if Bellator does get bought out by the PSL, then hopefully there's some contracts that open up. I think it'd be a great idea for the UFC to go and try to pick up any legit Bellator stars that they can get. Because, like, again, they can become big time in the UFC. But over at PFL, you know, what's going to happen when, you know, Raffion Stotz, I mean, it's the same thing with Belator too. You know, they lose a tournament you're out.

But it just seems like with the PFL and their thing and their, their whole product and the way they have their structure and everything like that, because I'm watching these last few cards, I'm starting to get an idea of it. And it's just not, it doesn't work, you know, to me at least. I mean, now without Brendan Lockmane, you know, it seems like they're scrambling. Now they did that weird stuff with Schulte and his, and his teammate and they're out. And now they got Burgos in. And it's just like, well, that's really convenient.

And I just feel like that could just, just like how it happened to Shane Burgos, that we could just see all these kind of Bellator stars fall. into the same thing and then they just sit on the shelf all year. So just wanted to hear your thoughts on that, brother. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, ma'am. So we reported yesterday, Damon Martin, that the commission is just going to treat the fight as it was. Schultz wins, gets the win bonus, all that fun stuff.

I wonder, like, how deep this fight is going to be investigated. I'm curious. And someone commented earlier like, oh, these two should never have to, should never fight again. Now, if there's an investigation and it comes out that, there's some sort of,

weirdness going on that perhaps there was like, look, I don't think these guys were like fixing a fight. I just don't think they gave their best. Honestly, I just think they were going to go in there that a gentleman's agreement. It's not like he was like,

well, I'm going to make sure you win. No, I'm going to make sure you win. I don't know if I'm, I'm not ready to go that far with this. But it's a bad look. It's a bad look for the promotion. It's a terrible look for the fighters. And that's that. As far as this potential Bellator PFL thing,

I've thought about this a lot. And at first I was, I don't know, maybe like a month ago, six weeks ago, when people were asking me about it, I was like, oh, this could be like really, really interesting. Now, the UFC's not going to lose like one second of sleep over this, if that does happen. Not one second. But for the Bellator fighters, to your point, if this thing happens, I think part of the deal needs to be that it's kind of like when WWE bought WCW, these fighters should have the option

whether to either go to work or sit at home and get paid or have the option to become a free agent. Because if they don't want to be a part of this company, they shouldn't have to be. But here's another problem with this like sort of super promotion. The thing about having a Bellator and a PFL and a one in the UFC and some of these other promotions is that now these fighters have options. If they fight out their UFC deals, they can go to Bellator and they can go to PFL and they can go to one and they can negotiate future deals. So if Bellator offers X amount and PFL offers Y amount, the fighter can go to the UFC and be like, hey, this is what they offered me. Can you match? And if the UFC says yes, then cool.

They got to negotiate and they made a couple extra bucks because they went to these other promotions and negotiated with multiple. Now, if you combine both of them, that's like one less place to go. And now you have this just roster of misfit toys, if you will. I don't know how good this is going to be for the sport. I don't. You're none of it. Like, even if they do this, this promotion isn't going to touch the UFC ever. They're like, they're never even going to get close, even if they combine.

they're just not going to we haven't had a outside of Kayla Harrison who the PFL like promoted her but Kayla made herself a star let's just be clear she made herself a star by getting having the wins and then saying interesting shit after she won that's how she got over and PFL did what a promoter should do when you see a hot hand you play the hot hand over and over again you just keep playing it

and that's what they did. But let's not make, let's not mistake it. Kayla got herself over. PFL just kind of nudged her a little bit further. Now losing to Larissa Pacheco and then not fighting since then, her stock has dwindled a little bit. Her stock has dwindled a little bit. But there's just, there's just nothing.

Like you combine these rosters and you're like, ooh. and I know Ariel and Chuck and P.T. Carroll talked about this on their show. What's the big Bellator versus PFL fight? Like, what's the big one? What's the one that's going to be like, oh, my God, we have to buy this pay-per-view. There's zero. Maybe Kayla Cyborg? Maybe.

But there's nothing else. Like Brennan-Lock-Nay versus Petruchio Pitbull, is that going to sell 200,000 pay-per-views? it's not going to Vadim Nemcoff versus Rob Wilkinson no Francis Ngano versus Ryan Bader

is that like Francis is the big seller but is anybody be hankering to see Francis fight Ryan Bader no so the more I think about it

this would be a short-term interesting talking point and then it's just going to kind of fizzle it's just going to be the same old thing Now, what I would be curious is how they would work this out. Would this be like a mega super season? Would this just be, would the season structure be gone?

Will there be two separate companies? Will Belator still live on? Will they do, will it be like AW Ring of Honor, where AW buys Ring of Honor but still presents Ring of Honor as its own separate promotion, but have the option to do crossover? I don't know. I don't know. But super risky.

And I think the fighters as a whole kind of sucks for them because it's like one less place you can go to to negotiate a deal for yourself to try to make yourself the most money possible. So I don't know. There's a lot about this that I would need to learn more about. but and if they and if they let the Bellator fighters like become free agents that they want like who's a big star from Bellator that the UFC is like I have to have them

AJ McKee maybe Patricia would be interesting for some of like the matchups you could get but he's getting up there in age Pettis has been there already but he's kind of over like Patchy Mix would be a lot of fun but is he going to be a big star in the UFC? I don't know which Bellator fighter who would be like the first guy? Who would be the first person?

Like Chris Cyborg going back to the UFC would be interesting, but Amanda Nunes is gone and there's no more there's pretty much no more featherweight division so we don't, that's not going to work. Kioji Horo Gucci against like Brandon Moreno would be fun as hell. Again, I don't know if there's like

maybe A.J. McKee would be a star. Usman or Magam Adas in the UFC's lightweight division would be crazy. I don't know. All right. You can get Pandeyer real quick. because he's waving and I got to go. Panda, hello.

What do you got? I'm sorry, I'm going to tag in for a second here. I was going to say he was my under market made off. You knocked my socks off there. So I'll be quiet on that note. My second question to you is, what does PFL get out of this move? Like, besides just looking extremely inhumane.

Thanks, Mike. What is they? I mean, they just get better talent. They get way better talent. I'm not dogging on the PFL but look if they did a PFL if stock hocker and Ray Cepho did a joint

press conference tomorrow and said hey we're going to do Bellator versus PFL like we did Bellator versus RIS we did Bellator versus PFL our champions from last season against their against our Bellator's current champions

who from the PFL is going to beat any of the Bellator champions who Larissa Pacheco versus Chris Seiborg could be interesting but that might be it I would probably pick Chris to win that fight

is there anybody you would pick confidently from the PFL roster that could beat the current Bellator champion you think Ante Delizia's beaten Ryan Bader maybe but Belator would be like a minus 1,200 favorite in that card to win that out

So this is a great move for PFL because it boosts their roster with like really good fighters. Bellator's roster is incredible. The promotion of these fighters has not been incredible, but their roster is great. They have a case right now in multiple divisions of having the best fighter in the world. They have a case in multiple divisions, 170, 185, 205. 55 no, but Usman's going to be one of those guys in the next year or two.

Apache Mix wins the Bannamweight title. That's another guy. Pettus looked incredible against Petricio, but we've seen Pettus in the UFC. But if he goes out there and waxes patchy mix, that's another guy we can throw in there. So we don't have that same discussion with PFL. We don't.

So this would be great for PFL. and be good for Viacom. They can get Bellator off their portfolio and they can move on. And whatever, whoever ends up buying them, it's just going to be an upgrade. Like you're off show,

being on Showtime is terrible. It's just so bad. It's like, at least with PFL, like it's easier to access on ESPN, ESPN, ESPN Plus, easy to find. Showtime is just not a network everybody has. It just isn't.

You have to pay a premium for it. It's not as easily accessible. So it's hard to find. I mean, get those fighters at a bigger platform, I guess. But I don't know. We'll see how this all plays out and be an interesting thing. But I'm more on the negative side of it. Just for the fighters, more than anything.

We're losing out on, we just had a comment. from Derek. I went to PFL last weekend and in this weekend. The fights are just not that exciting. I do like the small venue because not really a bad seat except behind those huge arches for the lights,

but the fights were just blah, even in person. And on top of that, the pacing of these cards is a disaster. Like I don't, it's tough enough watching a 15-fight UFC fight night card at the apex where you're there for like eight hours.

And it's not, I'm not complaining about it. But then you watch your PFL card, there's like half the fights, but it's the same amount of time. Because it's like 35 minutes in between fights. It's crazy. It's crazy. But all right, we got to go. Thank you very much. Back on Thursday. We'll do this again. We'll have BTL on Thursday as well. And then we'll be here Friday to get you ready for UFC Vegas 76. Sean Strickland, Apis Magamadeoff. It is happening. Grant Dawson Demir's Magulov,

the return of Kevin Lee to the UFC, and much more. So thank you all very much. Appreciate you back Thursday. Until then, have a great rest of your Tuesday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.

You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.