MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Insane UFC 297 Press Conference, Multiple Weight Misses

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Sean Strickland had the Toronto crowd eating out of the palm of his hand at Thursday's UFC 297 press conference ahead of his title defense against Dricus du Plessis. With a victory, where could it propel Strickland in terms of being a top draw for the UFC moving forward? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to the wild pre-fight presser in Toronto, how over Strickland was with the crowd, and his approach to a gentleman's agreement for an all-out war with du Plessis. Additionally, topics include multiple fighters missing weight for UFC 297, the stakes in the Arnold Allen vs. Movsar Evloev fight on Saturday, Mike Malott fighting the experienced Neil Magny and if the betting line is a bit wider than expected, Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway, UFC Saudi Arabia, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I am Mike Heck. Hope you're all having a wonderful Friday. It is UFC 297 Eve. We're just a day away, everybody, from the first pay-per-view of 2024 for the UFC. The Wayans just ended. And, well,

a little bit of a little bit of stuff happened at the Wayans. Luckily, the fights that are on the marquee, all the main card fights, all the fighters made weight, no problem. Sean Strickland, I believe, was the first band to the scale. Under the limit, 184 and three quarters. Drickus Duplice was 184 on the dot. Both men looked in tremendous shape.

Raquel Pennington, Meyer, Boin de Silva, good to go for their vacant Bannemoyne title fight. Neil Magne, Mike Malott, good to go. Chris Curtis, Mark Andre Beiro, good to go. Arnold Allen, Movsar of Lovif, all set. Oh, wait a minute. Did I miss something? I guess I just missed something. Never mind.

Brad Coton is weighing in? So I screwed this up. I jumped on a little bit early. Let me just check in with our weigh-in experts who are in Toronto right now. But so wait, I guess, on that. Ramon Tavares just stepped on the scale, maybe 30 seconds ago.

He looked rough. Missed weight by almost four pounds. 139 and 3 quarters. We'll see what happens there. Brad Catonas 136. Okay, great. Priscilla Cachua. So from what people in the room were hearing,

a member of Jasmine, Jazz DeVizius' team had let the media know that Priscilla Cachewa was going to miss weight by almost 10 pounds. So her fight with Jasmine, Jazz DeVizius, is now a considered a bantam weight fight. Jazz DeVizius 133, 133 and a half for Priscilla Cachua. Malcolm Gordon, Canada's own. also missed weight. He missed weight by a pound and a half. So as soon as we get updates on penalties,

percentages, et cetera, I will let you know. As soon as I know, I will let you know. So that's the way in recap as of right now, all those fights. Most of them official, two are up in the air. I would assume Malcolm Gordon, Jimmy Flick is going to happen.

the Sir Hai Sadi Ramon Tavar's fight could be a tough one. We'll see. That's a pretty significant miss. So if one's going to get canceled, it's probably going to be that one. But again,

we'll keep you posted as we get closer to UFC 297. And I have to say, yesterday was obviously a very strange day, a lot going on. We did heck of a morning on YouTube. We did BTL. and obviously a lot of discussion about non-fighting things.

But today we're going to turn the page. You're going to move on and get ready for 297 because I got to tell you, longtime listeners of this program can attest to this. I'm usually not a fan of the press conferences. Oh, never mind. Some breaking news real quick. Malcolm Gordon versus Jimmy Flick is a go. Malcolm Gordon will forfeit 20% of his.

purse to Jimmy Flick. And the Sadi-Taviris fight will also move forward. 30% of Tavares' purse will go to Sadi. So as of right now, those fights are a go. This information courtesy of our boots on the ground. And this was coming from the UFC. So all the fights are as of right the second a go. But going back to what I was saying before, I'm usually not a fan of the press conferences.

I just think they're kind of tedious. we already went through Media Day and you get all the same fighters who are at Media Day maybe we use that time to kind of build some things up a little bit this is yesterday's press conference is pretty good

it was pretty good it got me fired up I have to say Raquel Pennington Myra Boinasilva did a really good job they got a little bit heated it was really cool to see Mike Milott just look like a freaking hero

out there that was pretty cool he was just so over The crowd was just electric. We had somebody rush up to the stage and try to shake Sean Strickland's hand, then got carried up like a little baby, which I thought was hilarious. And Sean Strickland and DDP just the beef is over. They're just ready to go in there. They have a gentleman's agreement that they're just going to fight, quote, unquote, to the death.

And yeah, I got to say, I was pretty jacked up after that press conference. It's been a long time since I was like, all right, This was very effective, and it made me more excited for a fight and a card in general. Now, do I think this card is fantastic on paper? No, I don't. It's, to me, a one and a half two-fight card, honestly. The main event is great. This is doing all the heavy lifting.

I'm very much looking forward to Arnold Allen versus Mobbzar Vloyaf. The co-made event has gotten a little bit more interesting. I don't think that fight's going to be all that exciting. Honestly, I think it's going to be a fun watch. It's not a lot of stakes outside of like three of the fights, but I am fired up for it. And let me just say this about one, Sean Strickland. Sean Strickland might be, at least from what I saw yesterday,

he might be the best, and I don't even know if these are words, like official words, he might be the best press conferencer of all. time. Like, I know Connor had his moments. It just says a bunch of things. And I think as time went on, things just kind of got old a little bit. But when it comes to, like,

at least the modern, since Connor fought Poria, and I didn't like that press conference at all. I didn't think it did anything to make me want to watch the fight more with him and Porier, like getting heated, didn't love that at all. But man, Sean Strickland is super good at this.

Super good at this. And here's why. Because Sean, like, when Sean does the media day stuff, he's just, he's unapologetically himself, and he's talking to members of the media and he's answering the questions.

When he's at the press conference, you can ask him literally anything you want, and he doesn't answer, he doesn't really answer the question. He doesn't talk to Oscar Willis or Jose or anybody else that's asking him questions. He's talking to the people. He is talking to the people there.

So he gets the question, does the little intro, he's like, here's the thing, guys, or whatever it is. And then he just speaks directly to the audience, speaks directly to the people and gets himself over in that way. He's not answering media questions. He's just talking to the crowd and getting a pop. He is so good at this. He really is. He is very, very good. And that crowd was firmly behind him yesterday.

And it just got better and better from the first question he was asked. He is a tremendous press conferencer. And the whole thing with DDP, I thought the whole, no, no, no, we're not doing take down things. It was hilarious. I think that's pretty smart from Sean Strickland because I think one of the worst parts of this matchup from a stylistic perspective. And I'm not saying Sean Strickland is a fish on the mat or anything like that. But if Drickus Duplice gets on top of that guy, it's going to be a problem for him. Driggis is a monster on top.

We saw it in the Robert Whitaker fight. So I think Sean Strickland is playing this up really well. He's playing mental warfare in like a nice way. And he's trying to sell drinks on the fact like, dude, let's just stand in the middle and beat the shit out of each other until one man falls. No takedowns, no wrestling, no grappling, none of that shit. Let's just go in there in battle. And I think this is pretty smart.

So I thought he had a great press conference yesterday. I thought DDP took everything in stride. I thought it was fun. I thought it was fun. So that's my reaction to the presser. We got the update on the weights. Let's hear from you all. Let's get into this thing.

And we'll start at Four Corner Sports. I mean, I didn't even get in here before Four Corner Sports requested to speak. Go ahead. Hey, so I have a feeling that the way, John Strickland is on the verge of superstardom. And the way I feel like he is, he's on, I feel like, he's like that anti-hero. I feel like he's kind of like our version of Stone Cold Steve Austin just because, you know, people love him or hate him.

People, what's it called, you know, have opinions on him. But at the same moment, the fact is that, you know, the way that that crowd ended up popping for him when he came out for the press conference was, you know, outstanding. And I feel that if he gets a win, that start him is going to grow. and, you know, that, what's it called? What's it called? If he wins, there's no other option but to put him at USC 300.

They're going to have to offer him the bag, and, you know, that would be the biggest fight they could put, you know, him at USC 300 as the main event against him in Israel-Ad-Sahnia, because why else, you know, like who else would be able to cover that, you know, realistically? And I'm actually really intrigued on the matchup between, what's it called crap

it was Mike Malat versus Neumagny just because you know what I thought about it was like you know I want to see how Malat does I mean he could get like a great pop if he gets if he gets a win but I don't know I feel like Neomagny

you know is like a you know he can actually you know pull off something off against Mike Malat I don't know I feel like people are looking past Neal Magny Neumagney's a vet I feel like Neil Magny can't, you know, maybe, you know, get a win over Mike Molot. But, you know, that's one of those, like, sleeper fights that I'm actually really looking forward to. All right, thanks, Mike.

Thanks, man. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, I would say Strickland is probably, like, the best. If this is the UFC's plan that the winner of this fight is going to turn around a fight at UFC 300, I think the UFC, if they're rooting for somebody to win, it's probably Sean. Not because of the superstardom or anything like that, because DDP versus Adasani is going to be fucking gigantic too by the time they get there. But the thing for me is Strickland is almost surefire to turn around.

This dude just, he would fight every two weeks if he could. He was in to fight Hamzat in Abu Dhabi, a month. after he won the title. He was like, yeah, let's go, dude. And if he didn't have a team, if he didn't have manager and coaches, he would have gone and fought Hamzot. He would have put the belt on the line on short notice

a month after winning the belt. He would have done it. So I think there's a part of the UFC that's like, all right, if Sean wins, there's a very good chance he'll turn around. DDP says he'll turn around too, but at the same token, I don't know,

I think these guys are going to beat the shit out of each other. So, yeah, Sean's becoming, obviously a bigger star. Stone Cold, I don't love that comparison. I get where you're coming from. But people love Stone Cold because they wanted to live vicariously through Stone Cold Steve Austin. Stone Cold Steve Austin was telling his boss to stick it up his ass

and he was beating up up his boss and giving him the stunner every Monday night on Raw. And like the common man like dreamed of that in the mid to late 1990s. Like getting up there, smackin the boss around. like anti-establishment. Sean is not really anti-establishment. He might be anti-belief to people out there

who don't agree with his stances on things. And we're not here to really talk about that. At the end of the day, you either like him or you don't. But Sean kind of fits right into what the UFC is trying to do. And the guy is over and he knows how to play to a crowd. He's incredible at it. You saw it at the press conference yesterday. He always seemed, at least over the last,

two years or so to steal the week, to steal the headlines. I remember International Fight Week. First time I was ever in Las Vegas, first time I ever covered an event in Las Vegas, UFC 276, Sean Strickland, Alex Pereira, like people were looking forward to the car to that fight because they knew the stakes. But like heading into the week, it wasn't like a big thing. And then by the time media day rolled around the press conference and Strickland had Izzy got back and forth.

Like, Sean stole the headlines. That became the story. Sean's just really good at that. Super good at it. As far as Magny Milak goes, I do think there's betting value on Magny. Plus 285 seems like a pretty big line. This is a big jump up from Mike

compared to some of the guys he's fought, but I don't know, man. Neil has not looked good recently. He's been getting trucked by guys who are much more athletic than he is, and Mike is much more athletic than Neil Magni is right now. I know Neil has, we'll have a height advantage. You'll certainly have a reach advantage.

He has an experience advantage. But, I mean, I went back and just watched like some older Neil Magny fights. Like, not super old, but I went back and watched because I have to make bets with the watch party. So I do not recommend doing this ever. I went back and actually watched Neil Magne versus Phil Roe at UFC Jacksonville.

yowser was that not a good fight and that is what concerns me that fight really concerns me when it comes to like the maggie side of things plus he's he's getting butchered around he and garry beat the hell out of that guy i think i don't think he's a bad fighter i think he's fine the experience he's got records all that that's great i just think i don't think he's washed but i think he's as jed likes to say he's on the well-done side of cooked i think i think it's all kind of catch it up to him. And I think this is good matchmaking. This is good matchmaking.

Do I think Mike's going to go out there and cream them and finish him in the first round? I don't. I could see this fight going long. But I do see Mike winning. Betting lines a little wide for my liking, but I do, I think Mike can win. I think Mike can win. And I think if you're the UFC, you're kind of hoping that happens. Because Mike is very, very popular in that area.

And I think they're going to go back there as much as possible. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve

and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. 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-by 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. Let's go to Abs Walia. We're going to go to like noon Eastern guys, so we're going to try, I'll try to get to as many questions. Like, yeah, good, Mike.

I hope you having great day. Just two questions. My first is NBA-related questions. I just want to get your thoughts on the recent Raptors and Paces trade. And what do you think the stakes are for both teams, you know, now that the trade has gone through? And I just wanted to kind of touch on something you talked about yesterday at your live stream that I actually do kind of agree with. But, you know, I also just want to bring a bit of comparison. And it's about when you were saying, you know, with Sean Strickland, like you like to see reporters ask the tough questions and you say, you know, some reporters who cover different sports were saying how, man, it sucks to be you guys.

You know, this is why the sport might not grow. And I actually agree with a lot of what you said because while I'm someone who does, I guess, agree with a lot of the things on the father say, well, at least I don't have a problem with what they say. and I like that the UFC prioritizes on freedom of speech, regardless of your political views or religious views or whatever. I think if the UFC does want to grow, yeah, they're going to have to find a bit of balance where they can have the best of both worlds and allow the journalists also have their freedom to express what they want.

And another other thing I want to mention on top of that is, like, you know, Sean Strickland is not the only athlete in the entire world who's had this controversy. I mean, you know, Namath Jr. had a very big controversy quite similar to Sean Strickland about four years ago with a fellow teammate of his, you know, I think Roger Federer, he had some big controversial back in day. Tiger Woods, one of the biggest athletes in history, had a lot of controversy, you know, Shaquille O'Neal.

So, you know, this is not limited to just, like, you know, only the UFC, but I do agree and get where you're coming from. And I think it's because the UFC has kind of always built their brand upon more, I guess, pro right wing, if that makes sense. No, without getting into politics, but that's just where my view is. Anyway, that's all. I have a great day. Yeah, again, I don't want to go down that whole rabbit hole again.

I said what I had to say about it, and AK was on BTL, and he said what he had to say about it, so we don't need to get into it any more than that. But yeah, and this is, this is like the thing that earthed me the most about the whole situation, is that me being a boss, and I talk about being a stubborn prick, being from Boston, especially when, like, I hate being wrong about that. things and I'm when it comes to like MMA predictions and things that I'm like oh this is going to happen like I'm wrong all the time and I'll be the first one to tell you but there are certain things where I'm just like I hate being wrong and I just see when shit like this

happens and my my friends who cover media for other sports like hit me up and they're just like see dude like we're this shit wouldn't happen in our sport I'm just like fuck dude like You're right. And it's only because, like, I want to see the sport grow. And I think of, like, and I think it's growing really well. But, like, anyone, I had someone DM me who goes, how, how basically said, like, how dare you say that the UFC is not as big as, like, major league baseball in the NFL? I'm like, are you fucking crazy? You're joking, right?

Like, you cannot possibly say that there are any comparisons here in any way. Now, the UFC is printing money. So for business perspective, they're just knocking it out of the park. So I'll give them that. But from like a viewership perspective and a ratings perspective, come on, dude. Like, it's not even close.

It's not even close. NFL playoff games are getting like 27 million viewers, like on average. The UFC, like on it, I think the record, like ESPN, pre-limb card, heading into a pay-per-view was like 1.4 or 1.5. Like, that's a solid number now, but like, you're, you're so far away from that.

You're so far away from that. And I want to live in a world where it's just like, hey, when we talk about the big events that, like, the bucket list items for all sports fans, not just MMA fans, all sports fans, I want to go to the Super Bowl, I want to go to the World Series, I want to go to the NBA Finals, I want to go to the Stanley Cup, I want to go to International Fight Week, I want to go to UFC 400. I have to do this. It's just not there. Look, a lot of people agree with Sean, and I ain't going to judge you for it. A lot of people agree with what Sean has to say, fine. That's cool. But not for me.

As somebody who wants to see the sport grow. As someone who wants to see this get into a more mainstream acceptance. So I can have less conversations with people in my life and with strangers who, like, I have conversations with, Oh, what do you do for a living? Oh, I cover, I cover sports. I cover MMA. I cover the UFC. And they just look at me like I'm fucking insane because I cover that sport.

I don't want to do that anymore. I'll be like, oh, that's awesome. Like everybody I talk to. Oh, I watch that shit all the time. I watch it with these people. I watch it with these people. We watch it every single Saturday. Like, this is what I want to see.

That's all. And again, we don't have to go down the whole rabbit hole in all that, but it's a publicly traded company now. The thing has gone, I mean, super viral at this point. Like, everybody's talking about it now. But I don't know. I said my piece about it. I don't need to get into the specifics of all of it, but

this is my biggest concern of it all. But hey, look, Sean's over like Rover and whatever he's doing, it seems to be working. So, make that money, son. Terrence, go ahead. Hey. So,

I just wanted to talk about situation like from yesterday. We're not really like to talk about it, but commend you for it. No, you don't have to go too deep into it, but just more or less that. Do you have a question, though, that isn't related to MMA. One would be, who do you want to see in the Super Bowl? And who do you think is going to be in the Super Bowl?

And then as well, what moves do you think it's going to happen on the all season? And then I have a legitimate question that might make you a little bit irritated, but we keep getting that Joe Rogan is being replaced by so-and-so like type not email, what I'm doing for an article and why do we keep getting that one? We all know he don't do like international fight, so I'm just curious as to why

those articles keep getting written. Like I know when it's a non-USC pay-per-view, we'll have like so-and-so is doing so-and-so fight night. But we all know that it's not a on common ground for him not to do anything international. So I'm just curious to why that keeps popping up. I just think it's funny.

So that's it. I don't know. I mean, Rogan, look, at the end of the day, people want to say, like, the thing that I, and again, I'm not going to go, like, deep into what I said yesterday, but, like, the one thing that I thought was kind of, like, ironic and hilarious about the whole media day thing was that we did. it for clicks, which is absolutely insane since we never even wrote an article about it,

or even posted the clip to social media, or anything of that nature. Like we, like, we didn't clip it off at all. AK wasn't like, hey, this is Alexander K. Lee from MMA fighting. No, he didn't do that. Like, there was no clicky things. And if you listen to AK's BTL explanation, like, he kind of knocked, he said everything about it. He knew he was going to ask those questions. he wanted it done the right way

and you know, whatever at the end of the day. Now, when it comes to clicks, you could do far worse than putting Joe Rogan's name in a headline. So, look, I'm not here to fucking lie to you. Like, you put Joe Rogan's name in a headline.

Like, it's gonna do pretty well. So, I mean, come on, put two and two together. Like, there are certain things that it's just like, oh, you only do shit for clicks. And most of it, like, I will just be like, you're not correct. But come on.

I mean, Joe Rogan is a search engine optimization monster. And it's technically not wrong. Like, we know Joe's not doing the international broadcast, but there is somebody coming in to replace him. So it's not wrong. And guess what? Not everybody who watches the UFC these days even knows that Joe doesn't do the international cards.

There are newer fans that are probably like, oh, Joe Rogan's not there? Why is Dominic Cruz there? I got to say, I kind of wish Lorisanko was getting the tag in, especially with Strickland fighting again because she called Strickland's title win. And I thought she was so good on that broadcast. But look, get Dominic Cruz, you get D.C.

They'll probably start chirping at each other for the whole thing. And it will try to keep him in line. it's good. As far as the Super Bowl goes, I wish the Chiefs and Bills could, like, eliminate themselves, honestly. I'd like to see the Texans get in there. I think that'd be pretty crazy.

And then, I mean, look, it's not going to be, like, the most watched Super Bowl of all time, but Texans Lions? I mean, who saw that coming? Who saw that coming? That'd be fun. Detroit has just been through the shit

for the last several years. So, it would be, I'd like to see them get a, get a little bit of a boost for the first time and a long-ass time. C.V. Go ahead. Yo, Mike, kick of morning. Happy Friday. Just a couple of things to get off my chest. Press conference yesterday was wild. Is it just me or like Sean's, like his fighting style matches DDP's personality and vice versa.

like DDPs like, you know what I mean, like their fighting styles like compared to like their personality, it doesn't match because like Sean's like, he says all this crazy shit, but when he fights, he's like very methodical, you know, very like, you know, very thoughtful and like DDP's like cool, calm collected when he talks, but when he fights, it's very chaotic. And since it's free for all Friday. I know you go to New York for the watch party. I'm not sure if you either you either land at LaGuardia or JFK, but just a rant, man. I think JFK is like the worst American airport. Like I don't really travel a lot, but I only been to like LA and LAX is pretty trash too, but man, JFK is like trash. That's it for me. End of rent. Thank you. Yeah, I get what you're

saying from like a stylist's perspective with Strickland and DBD Although Strickland wants to get a little crazy, he can't. Just go watch the Alex Pereira fight when he basically did like nothing his team was telling to do. But honestly, like after talking with Eric Nixick about Sean and his emotions and how they were able to kind of rein him back in, just really fascinating stuff, really fascinating stuff. So I keep flip-flopping on this. I think my pick's going to be Sean Strickland because I think what he's doing is right.

Now, will DDP, will DDP listen to him and, like, abide by the gentleman's agreement? I don't know. Is he trying to win over fans or does he try to win a world title? That's the big question here. So I can't wait for the fight. Honestly, I think it's going to be a war. I think they're going to beat the hell out of each other. I think it's going to be super fun.

I'm very, very, very excited for it. For the other question, JFK is terrible. It's real bad. Now, when we started doing the watch parties, I always flew to LaGuardia. I like JetBlue. JetBlue's like my favorite airline to fly. So usually when I book flights,

everything about JetBlue is perfect. Or like over the last year we were doing these watch parties because it was always like they would have a flight of like 7 in the morning or they would do when at like 9.30 in the morning. one would go to JFK, one would go to LaGuardia. And I would always pick the LaGuardia one. And then on the way back, there was always like a flight back from LaGuardia to where I'm going, which is from Savannah, which is, by the way, the greatest airport in the entire country.

Savannah Airport is the best. It's small. It's never crowded. It's never busy. If you're running late, no problem. You get right in. You get right out. It's friggin awesome.

And then the JetBlue flights started shifting to JFK. and I would just be like, all right, I get like perks with JetBlue because I've flown with them so much. I don't even want them anymore because I hate JFK. I hate going there. It stinks. It's just a miserable experience. Getting in and out of there sucks. You wait forever for your bag.

Then you have to walk like 18 miles to the parking lot to get an Uber. It sucks. So I don't even fly JetBlue anymore. unless they fly to LaGuardia. So now, like, I'm flying Delta the next two days, and I'll pay for, I'll pay for the other shit, like out of my pocket just so I don't have to go to JFK. It's awful.

Ah, it's so bad. LaGuardia is great. I remember hearing horror stories about LaGuardia. Like, when we first started doing the watch party, and I was, like, telling, like, family members and, like, talk to my parents about it. Like, oh, were you flying into them? Like, LaGuardia.

And they're like, oh, my God, that airport's terrible. But I guess it's been all redone now since I started going there. it's so much better. Like, it's, it's great. Shout out to LaGuardia. And if I don't fly to LaGuardia, it's Newark, easy number two, and then JFK is like the last option. I would rather rent a car and drive to New York than flying a JFK.

It's so bad. It sucks. But thank you for the question. Leo, go ahead. It's not going through for some reason. Leo, bounce out of a try God. Yeah. Let's see if

Yeah, I'm not getting you. Bounce out and try to re-request and I'll try to get you in. Usually that's the fix when there's a connection issue. Blake, do we have you? Yeah, I'm here, Mike. What's up? Yes, I was, I know, I don't know when this was, when this was, but maybe even a year ago. You had, there was a pay-per-view event.

I can't remember what it was, but you had us listeners give kind of like a crazy prediction pick. And I thought that was pretty cool for every. everyone to kind of give their kind of prediction pick crazy one. So mine would be, I think Drickis is going to wash Sean Strickland. That would be my pick. I'm going to back it up. As you say, I've got to put my money where my mouth is. And then my question would be, what do you think a win for Arnold Allen does?

Does I give him, you know, next for the title shot? Thank you. He's got, I mean, crazy pretty good. Like, DDP could just, could ice strickland and around. Like, that could happen. There is a real world where that happens. Especially if Dreykis is just like, forget the gentleman's agreement. I'm just going to take you down.

There's a very real chance that happens. But I don't know. There's just something about Sean right now where I just feel like everything's in his favor. He can't do anything wrong. It's just all going to come up Strickland. So, and I just think he's got, if he can weather a store, and I'm not saying like, I know there's a lot of talk about Drickis and, oh, he's never gone five. Sean will out cardio him.

Maybe, but we don't know. We don't know. And I think if Sean, Sean's just going to have to weather a gnarly storm. And if he can do it, then I think he can win. Like, I do think he can win. I do think there is something to the longer the fight goes, the more at favor Strickland. And it's not shitting on the cardio of DDP. That's just how Sean is.

And it's just got to be a crazy fight. But you're right. I mean, that could happen. That could very well happen. And for Arnold Allen, I think he's got... The loss of Holloway stings, but Holloway is now going to 55 to fight Gaichi. Ilya is about to challenge Volk.

if Volk wins I kind of feel like Arnold's going to get a shot but if Mobsar wins I think he's like unequivocal he gets a shot at Volk wins like Arnold might have to win one more but Mobsar I think we'll absolutely get a title shot if he wins

but I can't I'm so intrigued by that fight I really am even more like the main event's going to be insane and I am intrigued by it but in terms of just like just full on intrigue from a just an

MMA perspective like what could happen what will happen what I think's going to happen and what could actually play out it's Alan Obloy of for me I what a great way to start the pay-per-view high stakes fight right out the gate uh super into that one so

yeah I think this is a very good chance of title shots on the line for both guys uh wait a minute do I have you Leo yeah can you hear me yes okay perfect sorry about that um I'll just moved out to a new jersey so i'm going to be able to call in a lot more because i'll be awake i'm not on west coast time anymore but i'm in a i'm in kind of a blizzard right now it's crazy and

it's crazy here right now but i was just kind of ask well first of all dude sometimes it really sucks to be uh in this community where you know necessarily don't align with all my beliefs and i don't really care too much about that until i saw what happened to alexander yesterday or the day before. It was just really, really messed up. And, you know, we, we stand by him. But generally, my question was, why do you think that Justin took this fight? I mean, first of all, how do you see that fight going in your beginnings of thinking about that fight? It also, like, seemed really, really crazy that he took that fight. And now that fight's not even a number one contenders match. I'm confused about that. So let me know. Thank you. Glad you're on the East Coast. Glad we

could hear from you more. Yeah, I saw the weather in like New York, New Jersey. It's like snowing all day. But luckily, I won't have to run on that shit tomorrow, which I'm pretty excited about. Why is Gaichi taking this fight? I think he's getting paid a big bag of money is why he's taking this fight. It's probably getting pay-per-viewpoints one way or the other. And I don't know.

I think that's a big part of it. He's just getting a big bag of money. I don't know what's going on with Islam right now. No idea. he says he's going to fight in June which makes this fight booking a little weird to some degree but

I don't know I think it makes things this fight makes things real interesting at 55 now like it is like when it's announced that all of air and Sarukian is a number one contender fight I don't know if that's true anymore I think it's just going to be

It's kind of going to be like a mini elimination tournament and whoever has the best performance of like all the lightweight title fights. On top of that, whoever can turn around for whenever Islam wants to fight. Like to say like Islam is fighting June 8th or whatever he said. It's going to be who has the best performance and who's willing to sign the dotted line to turn around quick. It could be any of these guys. Could be poor. It could be Benoit Sentini.

Gachi Holloway has now up the stakes for Benoit. Aasantini versus Dustin Porreier. It is up the stakes for Batush Gamrod for his fight with Hafeodoros. It is up the stakes for Max Holloway. And honestly, I truly believe this. Unless Armin Sarukian obliterates Charles Olivero, like knocks him out in a round, I truly feel that whoever wins Gaichi Holloway is going to get the title fight,

even over Sarukian. If he goes out there in like 30-26s Oliver, I don't think he gets a title shot. If he just runs him completely over, maybe he does. So it makes the lightweight picture a little bit more interesting. Now, could we live in a world where it's like Dustin Porre fighting for a title over Sirukian or Oliver getting a shot? Yeah, that could happen. But that could happen anyways. So truly I don't know.

I would say money is a big part of it, would be my guess. And for UFC 300, if the UFC's like, yeah, we'll give you some pay three points. on top of this razor going to give you to go fight Max Holloway. You only got a short window to make cash in this game. And not a lot of fighters get the opportunity to make that kind of money in MMA. And I think where Justin Gachie's at, probably on the back nine, still not like cooked or anything or anything close to it. But Justin has always pretty much said, like, the window is small. I only got like a couple of wars left in me and then I'm going to, then I'm going to stop.

at this point in his career, he's trying to make some money. I know he wants to fight for the belt, but I think stylistically it's a good matcher for him. But I'm not ruling Holloway out of this fight at all. I really am not. I think it's going to be a fucking banger. I can't wait. And like I said, all long-time listeners have on to the next one. No, this is the dream fight.

This is the one I've been calling for for like three years now. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won!

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Oh, hey, Mike, how are going? Can you hear me? Perfect. Yeah, I appreciate it. My first time chiming in here. I well first off I want to give the whole mma fighting team props for sticking by a k over the last couple of days I know it's it's not easy to drown out the noise but the real ones will stick by you guys so my question my first comment was sort of how to do with the fallout of this middleweight fight on on Saturday in the state of the middleweight division in general with sort of what's coming down the pipe in the next year or so just as far as contendership goes I think it's I think it's the most exciting division in the sport right now with all these world beaters you know you got your your bow nickel Joe Pfeiffer, Chimaev, Alaskarov, just these guys with limitless potential. So here's the hot take, and I want to get your thoughts.

I actually think that lightweight is the most overrated division in the sport right now. I think, you know, Islam is way too dominant, a champion for there to really be a ton of interest. I think there was a little bit of that Amanda Nunes problem at lightweight right now. And I think that the new breed of these lightweight contenders have been, you know, largely unsuccessful and overtaking the old guard. So there's just a lot of stagnance there. So I wanted to get your thoughts about that, both about the excitement at middleweight and sort of my comments on lightweight.

Am I off my rocker or is there anything too bad? So yeah, have a heck of a morning. Thanks, buddy. I agree with you that middleweight's really fun. I do think you're off your rocker that lightweight is overrated. I mean, come on, man. I'm just like, I'm going. I'm looking at my lightweight rankings right now.

Right now, let me pull up my middleweight rankings as well. Let's pull these up. So this is always kind of like my go-to in these kinds of conversations. So right now, when we're talking about like depth and everything like that, my 41st ranked middleweight is Phil Hodge. My 41st ranked lightweight right now is Batush Rabetschki. And Rebetsky is a fucking animal. Like, that's how deep this division is.

And here's the thing about Islam. Respect. To me, he is the best fighter on planet Earth. I had him as the number one pound-for-pound fighter after the first Volcanovsky win. But since he's been champ, he has not fought anybody in this division. Now, I don't blame him for that. The Volk fight came at the perfect time in February. Then he was just going to go back and fight Oliver again, which honestly was a fight I'd no interest in.

And still don't, if I'm being honest with you. And me, if it happens, I'll watch it. I do think Oliver will perform a little. bit better, but I think I know how that fight's going to go. If Arm and Sarukin beat Charles Oliva, there will be no fight I want to see more on this planet than the rematch see Mokachev and Armin Sarukian. That will be like the fight where I'm like, I have to see this this year. It has to happen. And I think Sarukian could be, I mean, Serukia was competitive on short notice on his debut when he was 22 or 24 or whatever he was, even younger.

Like give this man a full camp. He's so confident that he could beat him. It's just middleweight's fun. You got names. Strickle being the champion makes things real interesting because now Whitaker is live. Powell cost his live to get a title shot because of where they're at. You do have Hamzaat. You do have these up-and-comers.

You have Alaskarraf who I think by the end of this year could be the guy who is like a win away from a title shot, maybe two. Middleweight's great. There's a lot to like here, but light weight's the best division of the sport. It's not close. It's not close. Bannam weight is number two. Middleweight is probably three right now because of the names.

And then featherweight's four, but I think featherweight is like right in that conversation. Because featherweight's really good too and really deep and really stacked. So I respect your take. I respect where you're coming from. but lightweight is not overrated at all. Denai, go ahead. What's going on? A heck of a morning.

You too. Yeah, well, first off, Celtics going to get their 21st win at home today. Let's go. I'm actually going to my first winter weekend for the Red Sox, like an idiot. I'll be watching the main event there at that casino. But I think Sean, you know how Eric Nixon was talking about optics during that Izzy fight? I think that bleeds over to like this pre-fight routine. with these press conferences.

He's not trying to beat DDP. He's trying to win over entire countries. Like, I think if he beats DDP, which he probably will, I have him winning my submission. It's going to be a hot take. But I think he's going to send them to every opponent's country and just keep winning over their fan bases until he owns the globe. And then Max Holloway is also going to catch Justin in a,

catch Justin in a Darstoke. Almost had Justin. He almost had Dustin and the zombie and the dars. And I think Gachie's neck is usually exposed in these big title fights. So that's what I got. Love the takes. Putting yourself out there. Appreciate that.

All of those situations would be pretty wild. It would be pretty wild. So, yeah, enjoy the Red Sox weekend. And yes, Celtics will win tonight. Cole, go ahead. Hi, Mike. I didn't realize, call me crazy, but I didn't realize until yesterday when I was watching the press conference, how big of a fight, if Sean Strickland wins this, how big of a fight the Izzy rematch is. Like, that is as big of a main event as you can make without involving Connor and John. That is just so, like, this guy is at the press conference being like, I am standing up for all, like, who even knows what that means?

What the fuck does that even mean? The crowd is going ape shit for him. And this guy's fighting everywhere but America. Like, is Sean a draw, like on the brink of being a real draw? Like, I was watching the UFC weigh-in show, and they asked Dom Cruz and Chris Wyden if today Sean Strickland was a top 10 draw on the UFC. And both of them said no, and D.C. said, of course he is. And I think D.C. is spot on. Like, that is your rematch.

You got to make it at 300. And that fight is so big. Like I have friends reaching out to me who I've never even heard from being like, who's this Sean Strickland guy? This guy's crazy. Like, holy shit. This guy is on a rocket ship if he beats Dupilisi tomorrow. It's a good question.

Is he a top 10 draw right now? I don't think so. I don't know. Look, here's the thing. And I'm not taking anything away from Sean. Because like I said at the top of the show. Sean is Sean is one of the best press

conferences on the roster right now because he doesn't answer media questions he talks to the people so you could ask him like Sean what'd you have for breakfast today? Let me tell you guys something I fight for you motherfuckers like you could ask him literally anything oh what'd you have for lunch what did you do this

what's the first strike you're going to throw let me tell you something I love you fuckers like he's not answering Oscar or Jose he's just he's looking at the people and talking to them. The questions don't matter. Sean has a plan. He just talks to the folks

and they love that. Look at every other fighter on that dais. They were either talking to the other fighter and I know Sean did it with Drickus too, but not before he talked to the fans. Or they're just like, yeah, it's great to be here. You know, I'm the veteran.

He's the rookie, et cetera. And Sean's just like, I promise you motherfuckers that we are going to go to war. We're going to fight to the fucking death. And the fans are just eating that shit up. And it doesn't hurt

that the UFC hasn't been to Toronto for four years either. And Sean's just like, they're already up in arms. They're ready to go. They're fired up. And at that point, like the UFC is just printing money

at this point that whether Sean and DEP are in the main event or, I mean, let's be clear, I think we're Kelpending, tomorrow and a solo would have been a tough sell. But you could put anything there

and I think you would have done the numbers. So it's hard to, it's honestly hard to gauge where Strickland is in this conversation in terms of being a draw. He's super over. He gets views.

People want to see him live. That's for sure. Does this trick, because to me a draw is, like you can send this dude anywhere and they're going to sell it a stadium. Like you can send Connor to Cowboy Stadium and they're probably going to sell 80,000 tickets.

I don't know if Sean does that. So like major draw, not there quite yet. I will say if he beats DDP, it's going to be really interesting because to me draw is not only just selling tickets, it's paper views too. And the problem with this ESPN Plus model

is we're just never going to know. Like, we're never going to know. If Sean Strick, if this card does a million buys, like, then it's official Sean is a draw. But this is not going to do a million. It's not. I don't even think it's going to do like 500,000. This is not going to sell,

Great. I don't think. I don't think it's going to sell tremendously. However, Sean wins this. When you win the belt, it's the first title defense. You go in there, like, this is why I keep saying with all the fighters that are competing in these, all these title fights between now and April, and when Dana announced the main events of the title fights for these first three fights, Sean O'Malley has the most to lose here. Because if Sean O'Malley goes out there and he fucking annihilates,

Cheeto Vera. Like the amount of, like the reaction to that is going to be gigantic. I mean, that's it. Like, he is off, he's on a rocket ship. If he goes out there, melts Cheeto. No doubt about it. Is Sean going to get the, is Strickland going to get the same? I don't know.

I don't know. He becomes a very interesting case study. It's not going to, it's certainly not going to hurt him. I think, so to answer your question, if he, wins and does it impressively, yes, he's a top 10 draw. Unequivocally. Is he a top 10 draw right now? I'll say no, but we'll see. But it just sucks that we don't know. We just are not going to know how many favorites this thing does.

We're just not going to know. We got Owen, there you have Octagon blog and then we got to get out of here. We're doing the preview show at 1 p.m. Eastern. So stay tuned for that. You can join us. Owen, go ahead. Hey, Mike. How are you today? Good are you, ma'am? I'm just having a question about the whole Saudi Arabia situation. Because Dana did an interview yesterday, and he was talking about how, well, first he said, of course, that everybody's saying that the Saudis saying the card was not strong enough.

That's why they moved the date. It was bullshit, he said. But at the same time, too, like, he also said when they go in June, back in June, when they go to Saudi Arabia in June, that it's going to be a fight night card. It's not going to be a paper few. It's not going to be towel fights. I'm wondering if Dana is actually trying to fight over being told what to do by the Saudis. And because it seems like the UFC doesn't really need the Saudi Arabia money, like unlike boxing, because it seems like boxing is putting all these big fights right now just because the promoters aren't putting up the money.

It's the Saudis. So the promoters profit no matter what and fighters do too. So do you think maybe Dana doesn't want to do business with the stuff? Saudis and he's just trying to self-sabotage it. Thank you. That's interesting. I mean, maybe there's a part of him, but look, they're getting, they're getting $20 million. Like, they're paying the UFC $20 million to put on a fight card. And I think if you're paying that kind of a site fee, like, you won something good.

So, of course, Dane is not going to be like, yeah, man, we put a shitty card together. So they were just like, thanks, but no thanks. Of course he's not going to say that. So, you know, maybe this is a part of him that's just like, look, we don't need them. But $20 million is $20 million. Like even for the UFC, like $20 million is a good chunk of money. And all you have to do is just go there and put on a card and you're getting $20 million plus everything else. The other thing is they are part of this endeavor group.

They are part of this TKO co-lab. And with this co-lab and WWE and all the partnerships there, WWE has a tremendous relationship with Saudi Arabia. And it's kind of part of the business model now. So I don't think Dana necessarily is going to have much of a choice here because it's $20 million. But look, if I'm Dana, what am I going to come down and be like, yeah, man, Don Davis is right.

We were scared. Of course he's not going to say that. And I know that whole thing is fucking insane anyways. Obviously not true. But yeah, I mean, I just don't know. Without Islam there, because I even kept saying, like, they might just do Islam versus Gaichi on that card March 2nd. It's before Ramadan.

It's before 300. They're going to Saudi and getting a $20 million dollar sci fee. They want to bring something good. So I don't know. We'll see. We have to also remember, too. that sometimes Dana says things and then it's just like not what happens. It's kind of the thing.

But what's going to happen in June? Not sure. Maybe it's a pay for you. Maybe it's not. Maybe our Emanuel and company are just like, hey man, like, just make this a pay-per-view. Just do it. Like, what's the problem? I don't know.

I mean, international fight week, what, June 29th? That's the international fight week card. something tells me they're going to do two pay-per-views in June. So why not make that other one a paper-view? And if not, like, just stack the shit out of it. Do what the PFL is not doing. PFL is putting together, like, what they feel is this big stack card in Saudi. But they're putting it on pay-per-view behind a paywall, which is going to cost at least 50 bucks.

I think they're actually going to try to charge more for it, which I think is a terrible mistake. And then the UFC bounces back when they go to SOTI. in June and like puts on this massive like just subscription based card like that would be incredible that'd be a nice little shot back to PFL they put on like something big with a good title who knows maybe that's where Hamsat Shami if returns that'd be a pretty good main event Humsat versus you know whatever happens with Paul Koss and Robert Wittaker humz up versus the winner of that fight so pretty damn good main event especially if the plan is to have either DDP or Strickland turn around and fight Izzy at 300.

So, yeah, we'll see what happens. But Dana's just being Dana in that situation, honestly. All right. Last call, Octagon Blog, take us home. Then I've got to go. Octagon Block. Mike, how are you? So I like to talk about a fight where people are overlooking,

the bantam-way to a fight between Raquel Palnington and Buenos Silva. with GDR is coming back. She's going to fight Norma Dumont. What's your opinion? If GDR wins and Raquel is also winning, they fought before. How do you think about, will there be a second fight in, let's say, September, October? And maybe a second fight between GDR and Juliana Pena. Anyway, those three Pena, GDR and Raquel Pennington are interesting.

Silver, I don't know. Maybe she, I have a negative opinion about her, but I like to hear your take. Thank you and good luck. Well, the winner of this fight is going to fight Giuliana Pena next. When? Don't know. But Julianna Paine is getting the winner. There's no doubt about it. We'll see what GDR looks like.

Look, the UFC's relationship with GDR has not been great ever since she won the Featherway title and then the whole thing with Chris Cyborg, and then she was stripped of the belt and all of that, and she's gotten her opportunities to fight. She hasn't fought in a long time. Luckily, she's in this division,

so she could get there pretty quickly. I don't know. Tough to say. I will say she will, unless it's like something breaks incredibly well for her, I don't think she's going to fight for the belt in 20. 24. Like, even if she goes out beats Norman Duvon, which, by the way, it's not going to be easy to do.

I think she's got work to do. Let me just kind of, like, look at what we're looking at right now. I mean, Kettlen Beir is there. It's always Holly home. Reney Aldana is there. I could see a, look, I'll tell you which fighter in that division to watch that could find themselves in a title fight, Misha Tate. I could definitely see a world where she finds her way into a,

a title fight this year. So, I mean, there are fun fighters coming up in that division. Like, Nor is fun. Melissa Dixon's really fun. Like, she's just, like, all action all the time. Cavalcante's pretty fun. I mean, Josiana Nunes. I mean, there's fight.

There's people there. Julie Avila is fun. I know she got, she got dinged up pretty bad. I know she's got suffered another knee injury. So she's out of the equation for a while. So I don't know. But I'll say GDR does not fight for the belt. year. So, all right, we're done. Thank you all very much. Appreciate you all. We will be back

on Tuesday to react to all things 297 and beyond. We will have our UFC 297 preview show and just a little over an hour's time as we speak. One p.m. Eastern, it'll be myself, Sean Alshaddy, and New York, Rick. That'll be your preview show panel. One p.m. Eastern. We'll see you and then we'll see you tomorrow for everything. Got the watch party. We got the People's Pre-Fight Show. We got it all. Stick with us at SMAfighting.com.

We'll have you covered all things UFC 297 and beyond. Thank you all very much. Much love, much appreciation. Do something fun. Enjoy yourselves. Do things you want to do today. All right? Put a fucking smile in your face.

It's Friday, baby. We're a day away from UFC. 297. Let's go. Have a heck of a morning. The Vox Media Podcast Network. You know,