MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Jake Paul Signing With PFL, Silence On Dana White From UFC & Endeavor

Episode Date: January 5, 2023

Since the release of a video showing UFC president Dana White slapping his wife, many have asked and wondered what the response will be from the promotion, parent company Endeavor, and anybody else in business with White. Thus far, the response has been silence — but is that a surprise? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the deafening silence from all involved in regards to the New Year's Eve video in Cabo San Lucas, and if there will be any response at all from those involved. Additionally, topics include Jake Paul signing a deal with the PFL to compete, the developing story regarding former UFC fighter Phil Baroni, Jorge Masvidal's chances to get a title shot against Leon Edwards if Kamaru Usman is unable to compete in March, under the radar fights that could be made, 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: 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

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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.

Thursday, January 5th, 2020, it is indeed a heck of a morning live on the MMA fighting. Twitter spaces, you can hear the show in its entirety. Shortly thereafter on the Anime Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a wonderful start to their 2023. We are five days in, and in the world of mixed martial arts, I wish I could say we were in a place that was a little brighter, a little more positive. But let's be honest, it's been a bit dark thus far to kick off the year. And we're going to talk about a lot of different things today, I'm sure. I'm going to start with a little positivity.

I know baseball fans will love to hear this and MMA fans too. But as a Red Sox fan, I'm very happy that Raphael Debra signed a long extension with the Red Sox 11 years, $331 million. Let's go. Very excited about that. The Red Sox actually did something. So I want to start off on a positive note. That is good news. Wonderful news.

very happy about that because they haven't done anything and I had very little faith that they were going to do anything and they checked off one of the old boxes. So good on them. We got a little more information on the Phil Barone incident. Jesus Christ. He was arrested in Mexico in relation to the alleged killing of his girlfriend. It was kind of a developing story. A local newspaper. had sort of put it out. A lot of different outlets ran with it. And then last night, the prosecutor's office of the Mexican state of Nairat confirmed Barone's arrest. The Associated Press wrote it up and, geez, Louise, man. So the story is as it stands right now, and I know this is kind of uncomfortable, that Barone called the police on.

New Year's Day after allegedly discovering his girlfriend unconscious in their room at a hotel. Woman reportedly had bruises on her body. Barone reportedly told officers that she hit her head after being thrown in the shower by Barone himself. Reportedly, Barone said he helped her to the bed after a dispute, left the hotel room, only to later find her unresponsible. So, man, more on this, probably in the coming days and initial. hearing is expected to be held on Monday

according to the Associated Press. And that just kind of adds to the darkness of everything that has happened thus far in the MMA world in 2023. And I'm sure we'll learn a little bit more about the situation

over the coming days and weeks. But jeez-le-weez, man. Just awful, awful stuff. And that kind of goes, it's not exactly the same, but obviously the Dana White story is still a big one. And we talked about it on Tuesday. And I've had a lot of people reach out

and kind of tell me how difficult that show was to listen to. And they could really feel what I was feeling listening to that show. Because Ariel talked about it yesterday, and I completely agree to them. There was a part of me that was thinking, I wish I had another day to kind of collect my thoughts about it, but at the same token, I couldn't ignore it. And it's hard to hit lead off in a situation like this,

in a story like this. And since then, Luke Thomas, I mean, just incredible stuff from him on morning combat yesterday. I thought Ariel did a fantastic job talking about it as well. Obviously, the relationship between him and Dana is totally different. And we'll talk a little bit about it here because one of the big questions I had, and I know a lot of you chimed in and responded to it on Tuesday. And thus far, a few days after that, a couple of days after that video was released from TMZ,

the question we all had was, what's the reaction going to be? what is going to happen with this? How is the UFC going to respond to it? How is ESPN going to respond to this? How is Endeavor going to respond to this? How is Turner Sports got to respond to this? Because they have a television distribution deal with Dana White and the UFC in regards to this stupid power slap thing that's supposed to kick off next Wednesday.

And the other question we had was, what are the repercussions going to be? Will there be any repercussions? And the most constant answer to all of this from most people, myself included, is nothing's going to happen. That seems to be the thing that nothing's going to happen. And thus far, we're a couple days into this thing, three days after the video has been released, and nothing has happened. nobody's really surprised.

And I wish I could say I'm surprised about the other question that I had was, what is the reaction to this going to be? And I wish I could be surprised, but I'm not. Because the reaction has been nothing. There has been no reaction to this from all the entities that I mentioned. The UFC, Endeavor, ESPN, and Turner. nothing there has been nothing the ufc's response was essentially see the tmz article we have no further comment what the hell is that all about the hell is that all about ESPN we first reported on this program the response i got from ESPN we have nothing we're not making a statement we are not commenting on it

we distribute the product, they produce it, that's it. That's our relationship. Okay. Endeavour, completely silent on this. And I actually thought Deadspin did a nice job. They wrote an article citing Ari Emanuel's different battles that he has fought. Some of them having to do with men hitting women in domestic violence situations. and him taking stands against certain things that a lot of people who don't have that power

aren't able to do, but he did. And three days later, nothing from Endeavor. Nothing. We've all reached out to Turner. A lot of us here at M.A. fighting. Nothing from Turner. They're probably the least surprising because this is a whole new thing for them. But you would expect something.

And I'm not saying that you need this full-on three-page statement of anything. But even just a, look, we don't condone this. We're looking into it. We have no further comment at this time. We're talking to everybody involved. Stay tuned. Something like that, just like a precursor to something. even that, although it doesn't satisfy the need, it's something.

At least you show that you give a shit. But three days into this, the silence speaks way louder than any statements that any of these entities can put out. And it's just, like I said, I wish I could be surprised. I wish I could be shocked at all of this. But I'm not. You want to be treated like you are in the same stratosphere as the NFL. and the NBA and Major League Baseball and the NHL and some of these other major sports around the world,

you want to be taken as seriously and treated and spoken in the same sentences as them? You best believe that all of them would have least said something about this, even if it was just a precursor, every single one of them, every single one of them. But from the UFC, the parent company, the networks that work with Dana White and the UFC, Crickets. Crickets. That's crickets. Not the MMA media

not covering Bellator versus Risen. Some people like to use that word crickets. This is crickets. This is literally crickets. And it sucks. Hopefully this changes. Hopefully we come on this show tomorrow. We have a different conversation to be had.

But right now on this Thursday, nothing. And it's awful. It's awful. At least say something. Show you care. And I don't know what punishment there's going to be, if any. I know there were articles out there.

One in particular. Someone suggesting that Dana sit out for a month. Come on. Come on now. And that's after pumping Dana's tires for an entire paragraph about all the great things he's done in the world. Come on, man. We're not going to ignore this. We're not going to ignore it.

We're not going to stop talking about it. because that's how things get swept under the rug. I predicted we're doing our airing of grievances show for the rankings panel yesterday, which you can listen to that on the podcast network. And before we hit record, my prediction is that they are going to announce, and I have no insight to this whatsoever, by the way,

my prediction is that they are going to announce like a Francis Agonogneau John Jones fight this week so that we're talking about that instead of this. and it is up to us as a community. You can obviously talk about the fight, but to not let this go away. It can't go away, especially with the silence behind it.

And I'm not saying, even though Dana himself has said in the past, you can't bounce back from this. I'm not saying that he can't. But I'm saying you need to show some remorse, you need to show from a company level, that this is a problem, and that you are at least looking into it.

Not no comments, not we have no statements, not refer to TMZ article. You have to say something. You have to say something. And that's where we're at right now with this whole situation, which is literally nothing. We have gotten nothing. The only other change that I've seen is there are people, we talked about it a little bit on Tuesday. There are people defending Dana White. How can you defend this?

How can you defend this? If that means you're going to like unfollow me and not do it, watch anything that I do, I don't care. Like if you're defending this, get off of me. Don't follow me. Don't watch anything that I do. I don't care. And I refer you to what Luke Thomas said yesterday because I couldn't say it any better. I couldn't say it any better than he said it yesterday.

And I'm curious what the females on the roster are thinking right now. What are they thinking? what are they thinking is this going on in that it's complete silence from everybody involved? What are they thinking? How can you move on as a company if nothing is said or nothing is done about this? And then if a fighter does it, what are you going to do? Well, you guys didn't punish Dana. I mean, come on.

You got to do something. And I'm not saying like fire Dana or make him step down forever. I'm not saying that. But he should have to pay for his sins here in some way. way. Get him out of the line light for six months, step aside, whatever. One month is ridiculous. You're not even going to notice that because they have a card in Brazil and they have a card at the apex. Like, you're not even going to notice that he's not there. But he can't be out there promoting cards. And I saw on his Instagram series with one of the full send dudes, I think. I don't know who these people are with a stack of cash.

We killed it at the casino yesterday. Data's life doesn't seem to have changed. at all. Go look at his Instagram stories. Do he still doing what he does? Nothing's changed. You would at least think he'd be like out of the limelight, not social media and not posted anything, but not the case. So unfortunately, I think a lot of our instincts on this one are probably going to be correct. But hopefully Turner comes through and it's just like, we're not air in this stupid power slap thing. We can't do it. It makes literally no sense. So we're going to move on. from this. I mean, if you guys wanted to ask about it later and talk about it, that's fine. We woke up to some other news, though.

Jake Paul has signed with the PFL. And for those of you in the past who are like, keep talking about MMA, stop talking about YouTubers boxing. This is now an MMA story, officially. Jake Paul has signed with the PFL with the intention to actually compete in MMA. Paul is getting some shares, his longtime business partner, Nikisa Bedarian, also owns an equity share of the PFL now.

They're going to be working mostly with the new superfights, pay-per-view division, where the fighters are promised at least 50% of the revenue. It could also feature some influencers and celebrities, and who knows? Jake Paul, if you watch that video, he did a really good job.

I mean, you could feel however you want about Jake Paul. He's doing everything right here. He's doing everything right here. Called out Nate Diaz for a boxing match. Six months later, let's do it an MMA. Brilliant. But we'll see what happened. And I like this little quote here.

If that's not balls, then I don't know what is. Nate Diaz, I'm down to fight you in your own damn sport. Let's make it happen. Now, you can say things all you want. And that'll lead me to my last topic before you. go to the questions. It's actually going through and doing it. And again, you could feel how you want about Jake Paul. But for the most part, anything that this guy has been challenged to, he has gone out there and done it. Everyone said he wouldn't fight Anderson Silva. He went out there and

fought Anderson Silva and he beat him. However you felt about the fight, however you scored it, he went out there and he beat him. And let's see if he goes through with this. It seems like he's going to. And that leads me to Dylan Danis. And I don't even know if I want to spend a lot of time on this. This was the least surprising news of 2023 and it'll probably be that way. We're talking on this program in December. No longer fighting KSI. Unprepared is what his team is saying. There were all different things that Dylan was talking about with hydration clauses and different things with the contract and Dylan's out of the fight and now KSI is fighting somebody that I have no idea who he is. No clue who this guy is that he's fighting.

but he is fighting him on January 14th, which is next Saturday, the same day as the UFC card. Let me see if I go, who the hell is he fighting? I don't even know who he's fighting. Like, I have no idea who this person is. It's the name does not. Phase temper. Aha.

There it is. But Dylan not fighting. People are still talking about him. I can spend much more time on him. but I didn't even like cavalry. I was straight-faced when I saw the news. I was like, hmm, look at my surprise face. We also found out that Shofcott-Rachmanoff versus Jeff Neal is rebooked for UFC 285,

which I'm not surprised about. I didn't know if this would make it to San Antonio or not, but it is happening in March. So that's what's going on now. Mostly darkness, some other stuff along the way. We found out we confirmed earlier. yesterday, that's on MAAfighting.com. That a fight we talked about very positively on this program no longer happening at UFC

283. Tiago Moises needs a new opponent. Guam Kutata Latsay is out of the January 21st fight. And that was a good one. That was one of the better fights on the card. And unfortunately, that one is no longer happening. We are told that a replacement is being shot out for Tiago Moises. But yeah, that's one that this, that's a fight that this card absolutely needed.

and now it's no longer happening. Okay. 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.

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From festive and cozy fashion to Lux Beauty and Fragrant Sets, our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz Holiday Shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com. So I ran to for 20 minutes. It's way longer that I wanted to, but here we are. Let's get to you guys. Let's hear in gals. Let's see what you have to say. Toke, we will begin with you.

you're first on my list there. Okay, so you know you can always come to me if you need vitriol, so you've come to me. So my problem is that, you know, I'm a journalist by education. Like I have a journalism degree, and I'm a copywriter now, but I still have the journalistic pride. And when it comes to, I know you wouldn't name them, so I'm going to. Kevin Ioli and Brett Okamoto Firstly, Ooli's article

First, using an entire paragraph to say, For all the incredible For all the good he has done And then names five different charity things Or whatever it is And then says, And now it might have been flushed

And then this is This is not journalism And we know that But I just hope that this leaves a very sour taste in his mouth. And on the same token, Brett Okamoto with his ESPN story, okay, he made a story on it. I didn't read it. I didn't read it. I got to admit. But the minute after, the minute after, he releases a video about something completely different, so that's on top of a timeline.

These kinds of things are not things that journalists do. This is cover-ups. This is not, this is only bootlicking. This is only ass-kissing. This is, oh, I better make sure I still have my access. I mean, this is ridiculous.

And here with my journalistic integrity, which I still have, and I cannot fathom that they can bring themselves into this. I don't even know if they're, I mean, if they're, if they have a journalism degree, they should be ashamed because this is literally just PR work. That's all they're doing to make sure that, oh, I can still get exclusive with Dana. Go. Oh, I want to, I want to cuss out so bad because this is literally my line of work. and I'm just getting so frustrated that they are just going to bootleg their way to clicks for their employer

instead of actually using the education that they've taken. I was actually going to come on here and be nice today and talk about Jake Paul because that's actually quite amazing. But you just reminded me how bad at their jobs they are if they actually call themselves journalists. And that got me mad. So thank you and have a good morning, Mike. Yeah, it's tough, man. I mean, I talked about the TMZ stuff and air laid it out pretty well to yesterday when he talked about it. The whole thing with TMZ, I mean, TMZ probably had that video for a couple of days.

And then this was all, I mean, you could just, you could just listen to the actual interview itself. and it's just so bad. It's just so bad. And as bad as, I mean, you mentioned Kevin Ioli, as bad as that article was, it doesn't even sniff what TMZ did in that interview. It was atrocious, atrocious, horrible. Try to give Dana waste.

Into Dana's credit, he didn't take any of the easy outs that TMZ tried to give him. Oh, the booze is flowing. just the hell up. Like there were no difficult questions asked, nothing. It was just, this is a, it just seemed like it was all planned out. And Kevin's story was what it was. That got the reaction that it got.

And it is what it is. I will say if you want to refer to something, referred to Jed Mishu's article, because he did a great job with that article yesterday. Very fair, very honest. He didn't call for Dana. his head. He didn't call for Dana to have to step down forever. But it was a very fair and well-written piece. And it was very honest. It is no cover-ups. There's no,

Dana's the second coming. None of that. It was a legit reaction to it. And we're going to talk more about it on BTL today. It's going to be me and Jed getting after it. we're going to do like a normal show and have a competition, but considering the new cycle and what it is right now, we're just going to go and just hit record and go live and just do this. And we're going to talk about it. And we're going to talk about how we feel about it. We're going to talk about it.

We're going to be honest about it. That's what you have to be. Like you have to be that way in this situation. And I thought Jed did a great job. I should have mentioned him with Luke and Ariel earlier, but there was a different kind of a form, and I thought Luke did a great job on Dan Lebitard show as well. But in terms of putting it in print,

don't read Kevin's piece. Go read Jed's piece, because I thought he did a fantastic job with that. Let's go to AA. What's up, ma'am? Good, how are you? Okay, because he seemed pretty hated. Hey, listen, I just want people to care.

That's all. completely get you. Like, um, I completely, I'm just double checking. I'm just double checking. I'm all right. I'm all right. I just, I'm just speaking my mind. Yeah, I completely, I completely get like, I can't fathom. I can't fathom either story, to be honest with you. Oh my gosh, what, what is this world, man? What is it? Um, I don't really know how to, how to, how to follow all this, but I'm going to anyway. Um, we keep here in, um, rumors of, um, Jorge and Leon. I just want to know how true they are.

And I'm, and Ege, what's next to him? What's next for him, rather, win or lose in his next flight? Okay, everyone, you're awesome. It's a tough time right now, but do your best to have a good day. All right, peace. Thanks, man. I know nothing about any sort of shuffle up with the welterweight title. No idea.

No idea. I know people are just kind of looking at screenshots and videos of Usman appearing at an MMA events and he had a cast of some sort on his hand. And immediately people are like, oh, he must not be fighting. We don't know.

I honestly have no idea. But like I said, and I've said many times, if Usman doesn't fight, do not be shocked if Mazadol gets the phone call. Don't be surprised. The Dan Igay thing, I think winner loose is probably going to be in the same position that he's in. And Dan

just, I mean, Dan, just fights a murderer's row of fighters. Just go look at this guy's resume. It's ridiculous. It's not quite Edson Barbosa's strength of schedule, but it's pretty strong. And I think probably what will end up happening is win or lose.

So probably fight like a Jonathan Pierce or somebody like that. That's what I think. He'll be kind of that gatekeeperish role of, well, all right, we'll see how good you really are. Are you a top 15? potentially a top 10 guy, go fight Danny Gay and prove it. I think that's kind of where he's at right now.

And so I can see him maybe fighting JSP or somebody like that next, no matter what happens. Let's go to Eric. Eric, what's up, ma'am? Jake Paul, I think that's good for a PFL. And if Carmelo is not fighting, I think Jorge Mazzadoff can give another shot. Because William and Mazzar have like a big rivalry going.

So, yeah, that's my two questions. Yeah, I mean, like I said, do not be surprised if Mazadol's the backup, kind of the backup plan because of the rivalry, because of the story. It's so easy to tell, right? You don't have to work very hard to promote it. Just keep showing the damn video of that interview with Laura Sanko and just have a Mazadol going off and punching Leon Edwards in the face and subsequent interviews afterwards.

You can feel how you feel about it, but this is a business, and they're not going to trust Hamzaat in that spot, I don't think. I mean, maybe they will, but I don't think they will. You could do Colby, but I don't think that draws as well as Mazadol will. Because of the story, you're going to get casual people involved. Like I said, don't be stunned. Don't be stunned. Mazadol wants to fight on that card anyways.

That's what he told me when he was talking about the Gilliburn situation. He was offered the Burns fights. He said he wasn't going to be ready, but he said if you do March or April, he's down. and the card he said specifically he wants to fight on and would have fought Gilbert Burns on was the London card. So he says he's going to be ready for that one. And we'll see what happens here. But again, I have no insight to this.

I have no idea what's happening. I've no idea if Usman's going to be out or not. From what up we, I know we've talked to some people because there were some rumors out there and we were told that those are BS. And that was probably like a month ago. but who knows where we're at right now. Well, let's bring in a special guest,

and then we'll get to Jordan. Let's bring in my fellow member of Red Sox Nation, Mr. Jose Young's from M.A.fighting.com. What's up, my man? What's up, guys? I live in a world with Raphael Devers just locked up for the next 11 years. The Green Bay Packers are still in the playoff hunt.

I won my fantasy football championship. Result Kingdom was phenomenal. And I don't even know if A.K. Lee is even on this call, but I'm pretty sure the Raptors are out of the playoffs at the moment. So it's just a great day for Jose. Obviously, there's a lot of bad things happening in the world of mixing martial arts right now. But I personally cannot complain. Well, there you go.

Some positivity in the world, host. And we thank you for that, Jose. It's weird saying that for me. You know me. How often am I ever positive? The new prince of positivity. How about that? I'm going to be, I will be 50 years old by the time Raphael Devers is,

contract expires. That was one thing that I thought about yesterday, and it scared the hell. Oh, I'm going to be 43, which is crazy. Like, as soon as I saw that, was announced, I immediately was like, I was like, what do I do with my hands? What am I? We listen to what's happening in the world right now. So life's a blitzin, as they say. That's very true.

Anything else, my man? Well, I've heard a lot of your listeners talk about these articles and what have you with Kevin and Brett and everything. and I haven't personally read them. I'm just, I'm not responding to anyone on this call specifically because I've had dozens of people message me about it. I think mostly because at MMA fighting, I'm usually on site for most of these fights. So I've been around Kevin and Brett a lot.

So they're asking me for my opinion and so on and so forth. And I'm going to say the same thing here that I told people in my DMs or Instagram message, I don't particularly care. Like what Kevin and Brett do has no effect. on me or Emma fighting. I don't know how you are, Mike, with your coverage or how you consume coverage. I view myself, I view you, I view A.K. Lee, who I don't know if he's on this call, but I know his Raptors are still out of the playoffs.

I view us as actual reporters and journalists. What other people do does not affect what we do. What other people write does not affect what we write and how we cover it. Can we be disappointed? Sure. at the end of the day, I don't particularly care. I don't. What Kevin writes, whether it's praising Dana White or calling him the worst student being in the world, whether I disagree or I agree, I don't care, really. Like, we talk about journalism integrity and this, so on and so forth.

As a journalist, I am straight down the middle. I just report the facts. I don't, I try not to inject any sort of opinion in any sort of thing, which is why I don't tweet a lot about, like people follow my Twitter. I don't really tweet a lot of opinions on MMA. or things that are happening now. Is what Dana White did reprehensible? 100%, and there needs to be repercussions. But I haven't really voiced that opinion on anything because we're reporting on it.

I don't particularly care what Kevin wrote, and I don't particularly care what Brett wrote. I haven't even read either of them. I'm sure they're exactly what we all think they are. As soon as Kevin put that article out, I'm sure we all knew what was going to be about. Don't care. I don't know about you, Mike.

What Kevin writes is not going to change how you cover. this. You're going to cover it straight down the middle because you are a good reporter. Same as AK, same as Damon, same as everyone else in me fighting. Ariel knocked it out of the park. Everything he said, fantastic. Me, Jose Young's, I'm going to report stuff down the middle. Don't particularly care what anyone else writes about. And that's just what I'm going to say as a whole, because I've been asked this question a lot.

So I am using your platform, Mike, Raphael Devers. That's my third basement. he's my third basement too thank you Jose and you're right and I look I read Kevin's article Brett's article it didn't really have any opinion mixed in I think it was just from what it looked like it was kind of like what the AP rode and with a couple things taken out of it Kevin's is more of an opinion but at the end of the day it didn't ruin my day I still feel how I feel we all know what it is and that's it I didn't make I didn't do that we didn't do that that's the choice he made

he's got to look himself in the mirror and if he's okay looking himself in the mirror then kudos to him but I appreciate you you chime me again that was that was good stuff uh Jordan hello Mike heck of a morning

what's that man so I know I've been on the Bellator bandwagon and you know I think that hype train is still just leaving the station of Bellator the more and more PFL gets a chance to hang around and do whatever they want do and sign any prospect

they can that the UFC doesn't want. I just think, obviously, I know you guys have been talking out of it a lot. We have all of the right to call for UFC to take Dana White off of their whole program. Dana White should not be a part of the UFC anymore. If that were

Roger Goodell, he's gone. He's not a part of the NFL anymore. Every one of the owners is telling him, get the fuck out of here. You're not a part of what we stand for. As the fighters, I mean, like you said, the women fighters, I bet we see a different look from them on the stage standing next to having a guy who openly hits their wife in public. But, yeah, I just wanted to get that out and just say heck of a morning. Thanks, man. Yeah. Look, to me,

the silence just speaks way more than anything else. Like, this is something we're like, well, we need to investigate this. There's nothing to investigate. Like, there's a video of it. it's facts it's not an allegation this isn't like in a it wasn't like we found out dana white got arrested for something and then we don't know anything about it we we the video is right there you can just watch it for yourself it's right there what is there to investigate now you could say like we're looking into it a little bit more we're talking to all the parties involved and who knows like we're we're only seeing one video right we're only seeing one video and what we saw in the video was a wrist grab, a slap from Dana's wife. Definitely one slap back from

Dana. It looked like at least, it looked like it was probably two. And then it was kind of chaos. It's 2023. You're telling me that there has to be like 50 videos of this. You're telling me nobody up on that balcony was filming this. No one had a camera out. I don't believe. it. I don't believe it. It's not the only video. I don't want to get into the semantics of that, but it's 2023. Everybody's got cell phones out. I would see 75% of the people who were there were probably looking at their phones. I'm not saying they were focused on Dana, especially if you were down on the floor. But who knows? I mean, we don't, after like the first couple of slaps are thrown, we don't even know what happened. It's just pure case.

chaos. So I don't know. But the whole thing sucks, man. The old thing sucks. It's just, it's awful. There's no, and it's just, the people defending Dana is just the weirdest thing for me, especially when Dana himself is saying there's no excuse for it. Like Dana himself is saying there's no excuse. You can't, you just can't defend it. Sorry. Let's go to George. George, What's up? What's going on? How are you? I can, I'm doing well.

Thank you. I'm going to do my best to try to ease the tension in the room by simply saying that you might not get your pound of flesh, but it looks to me like Dana is definitely going to take a major hit, is already taking a major hit. he is already losing a lot of his power his bullying power his ability to bully the media to bully the fighters he has no choice but to tone that down so in many ways he's already weakened will they fire him probably not will they seriously suspend them i doubt it because you said something about five minutes ago it's a business this is how we're going to get a horhe Masvedal Leon Edwards fight. Jorge is completely undeserving, but it's a business.

Colby's far more deserving. Hamzat's far more deserving. But who can sell pay-per-views that they know they can count on him to sell paper views, whether he's deserving or not, it's Jorge Maswidal. Dana is good for business. Whether we like it or not, he's really good for business. He turned, he, the rags to riches story. Yeah, he got a lot of help from the Fritita brothers and some favorable conditions.

but ESPN, Disney, all they care about is generate the content, have something for us to show every Saturday night, okay, and he is lucky. He, Dana, Dana is lucky that the slaps happen in the order in which they happened. Because if they had happened in a different order, okay, then ESPN would have no choice but to cut all ties. They'd put pressure on it. Remember when ESPN and Disney put pressure on Dana,

he was about to do a show during the COVID era at the beginning. He was going to do a show like on an Indian reservation. Disney stepped in and said, no, you're not doing that. So Disney has the power, but they choose not to use it this time. And Mike, before I go, please, I have one in question. To me, the most underreported story in all of UFC. What is going on with Jeff Molina? He's a 25-year-old kid on a 10-fight winning.

streak just been suspended and we haven't heard one word is this guy's career over like james cross i completely understand he should never be allowed anywhere near an mhm but what is going on with jeff malina that's the million dollar question is that it's the million dollar question i knew i was going to get asked about this at some point um i don't know man like i don't know there's rumor and innuendo all over the place. And I've talked to people. Like, I've talked to people and people have given me their insight. People who probably know exactly what's happening here. And I've heard some pretty effed up things. But again, this is coming, going back to the journalism conversation, these things are rumor and innuendo. You don't know what's real and what's not. You got to dig for it.

now can you make the assumption that Jeff's suspension has something to do with this whole thing with Krause? You can probably make that assumption. I don't understand. I mean, you could, but we don't know. And I know that the Nevada Athletic Commission is having a meeting I think it's next week. It's either next week or the week after, and Jeff's on there.

So we'll probably get some, maybe we'll get some more information on that. Yeah. When I found out that Jeff Belina was not fighting Jimmy Flick anymore, obviously I reached out and tried to get some answers as to why, but nobody had any answers for me. So I just knew he was out and that's it. And now Charles Johnson's fighting him on Saturday and next Saturday. Jeff suspended and we'll learn more about it when the commission reconvenes.

And then on the other thing, here's the thing of where the position the UFC is in right now. If Dana's not like the face of it, who gives a shit? Honestly. So people don't watch UFC fights because Dana is sitting cage side.

We're like, ooh, it's not where's Dana. It's two guys or two gals are getting in a cage and they're fighting each other. And that's why we watch. So if Dana steps aside or if he is forced to step aside, the business will move forward and will do just fine. And who knows? I mean, look at, look at WWE right now. If you told me 15 years ago that Vince McMahon is going to step aside while he's still breathing air,

I would have been like, you're out of your mind. It's never going to happen. And Vince has stepped aside and WWE continues to do WWE things. and in fact, more people are into the WWB product now than they probably have been in the last five years because Vince has gone. And I'm not saying it's the same thing here. I'm not saying it's the same thing here.

But business at this point, we've talked about cards that are great. We've talked about cards that are awful on paper. It was a weird situation, but, and I don't want to disrespect these guys, they fell into it. It's not their fault. we had a UFC main event this year on record

of Kennedy and Chichuku versus Iwan Kutulaba. That was a main event. It was a weird one because we lost the main event the day of the fight. It was supposed to be Derek Lucifer Sergei Spivak, but people still watched it. WVC is wrestling right now.

The letters mean more than anything else. The promotion will run just the same. same without Dana. And Dana's not making the decisions. Hunter is. Hunter's the one putting the fights together. He's the one negotiating. Dana's just the face. Dana's the face. Dana ain't out there negotiating these deals. Hunter is. Now you have to put somebody else in front of the cameras and in front of the microphones and do the interviews to promote these fights. Sure. But we've seen it. Like, I was in Jacksonville for UFC 270 with Jose, with Jose. And they did a press conference.

And there have been many after that. And Dana was not at that press conference. John Anick was the guy emceeing the press conference. You could just keep doing that. And I'm not saying, let's drop a whole bunch of extra to work on John Anick. But John's good in that spot. And I'm not saying he becomes the president of the UFC. But he can handle that stuff.

He can handle running the press conference. David Shaw does a nice job talking about the company. Dave Schaller did it too when Dana couldn't do press conferences or if he wasn't there. You brought Dave Schaller up there and he did a nice job. The promotion will run just fine without him. It will run just fine without him. And that's it. It'll be different.

But Dana doesn't show up that, like Dana is not there all the time anyways. It's not like he's at every single event. He's doing scrums. He's hosting press coverage for every single event. He's not. He's there for the pay-per-views and stuff. He didn't even go to all the pay-per-views last year. It'll be fine.

The promotion will still make a shit ton of money, whether he's there or not. And it could be worse if he is there at this point. But like I said, we'll see what happens. I don't think anything is going to happen. but that speaks volumes. Four Corner Sports. Hey guys, I just wanted to congratulate you and Jose on Devers thing.

Let's go. I'll be making my first trip to Fenway this year. I was waiting on Devers to get signed or not. But I wanted to talk about the whole day in the white thing. I think these are two names that I think people should be fully aware about. Bob Eiger and James Patero. Who are those people? Bob Beiger is the CEO president of Disney, James Vittorro, president of ESPN.

I think those are two powerful people that if they want to, they can do what they want as for punishment for Dana. I applaud everybody that works at enemy fighting on keeping the story alive. That's not sweeping underneath the rug just because Arrow did put it out really well yesterday. you know and ariel had every ammunition in his chamber if he really wanted to to unload on dana and he took you know he took the role that i expected him to take you know but i think that you know we need to keep this story you know keep going um i know that there's been a lot of distractions as for in the world either in m mb or in sports and i think that we know what dana did you know there needs to be some consequences now will there be consequences i'm not entirely sure you know what level

of consequences are going to be happening but I do believe that the whole one-month thing that him stepping away, I mean, he really does that, you know, frequently. So that's not going to happen, you know, of a good punishment. I think if, you know, ESPN, Disney wants him to step away, you know, it should be about for a year, eight months, all right? Maybe, you know, him returned on the MSG card.

And I think that, you know, he should take some type of, you know, therapy sessions or whatever it is, you know, anger management and speak out to those that have been conflicted with, you know, domestic violence. Ariel put it out there well that, you know, he had an opportunity to, you know, remove Greg Hardy from that card when Rachel Ossivich was fighting, and he chose not to, all right? And maybe that speaks to the level of how he views domestic violence, but I think that the story needs to be kept going on. I, you know, applaud everybody that has gone, you know, and keeping the story alive.

I wanted to also talk about Shavkov Ramanov. You know, now that this got pushed back, I mean, how many times do you guys predict that he fights this year? I originally had thought he was in a fight four, but you think he fights four, you think he fights three? I mean, what's your prediction?

All right, thanks, guys, and thank you for everything you guys do. Thanks, man. I think three would be a pretty good number for him. I think this is a big year for Shafka. Raqmanov. If we're looking at fighters to watch in 2023, whether he's at the top or he's probably got to be in your top five, right? And that's the thing. That's the thing about him. That's why I was very vocal about just keeping him on the card. And I know the Brian

Barbarina fight kind of fell on their laps and they decided not to do it. But I thought it was kind of important to even if you just sign a newcomer to go in there and just kind of be trucked over on the altar of shop got Rachmanoff, cool. Because you're getting him on television

and you're getting him over. And that's important. You've got to get this guy over. Hardcore fans understand how good this guy is. Some of the casual audience is starting to get to know him a little bit. But this is how you help create stars.

You get a guy. like that, an absolute wrecking ball on television as much as possible and let him do his thing. Because you could have done both. You could have thrown Schofcott in there as like a minus 2,000 favorite. Just let him

steamroll somebody and then he could have still fought in March. And there's two fights right there. And you're off to a great start. But I know for a fact that Shafcott wanted the Barbraina fight. And the UFC said no to both sides. So

And now he's going to fight Jeff Neal March 4th, and it's going to be a fun one. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here.

Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence. While Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.ca. We'll take a few more. I've got to get out of here in like 10 minutes. I'll try to get to as many of you guys as I can.

David, hello. David, are you there? You're muted. All right. Let's go to QP. QP. QP. You're there.

I'm sorry. What's up, bro? How are you doing this morning? Doing well. I'm okay. I'm at work buried in paperwork. But I'm okay. I try to get in as much as I can.

As far as the day and the white situation go, I don't want to really, I really want to ask an MMA question, but I feel like just to speak on that aerial, hit everything on the nose, that ending of his, the video, the 30-minute video he put on YouTube, that ending sent chills down my spine,

and I'm not even that type of like super emotional person. But when he said what he said, he said it perfectly, he didn't go over, He just asked the same question he asked him. And it just hit because I have kids. I got a daughter. You know, I got a wife.

I don't see myself ever doing that, especially not in a public setting where, you know, you don't even chastise your wife in public, let alone put your hands on her, but to each his own, I feel like he hit everything on the nose. I feel like that was the perfect way to put that. Just as you asked me about me being emotional on how my kids would feel about that,

how would your kids feel seeing you at your worst moment and drunk putting your hands on their mom in the club? He hit, like, I can't even describe how that made me feel to see him get that one back, but that was perfect. Now on to MMA to try to lighten the move. We basically got like a Banimouet Grand Prix coming up with, is Henry Aljo, Cheeto, Corey, is sugar, obviously. And I don't really know the last person.

I can't really think off the top of my head, but, oh, Marlon, not, excuse me, not Marlon. Marlon. Mara. Right. Who do you see coming out of that 2023 out of 2020 to the champion of that division? Man, that's a great question. I'll have my answer because I've been thinking about this a lot. AK and I have made the decision, a little breaking news for you.

We were going to do our predictions extravaganza. We were going to record it either today or tomorrow. That was our plan, just like we did last year. We have decided that we are going to do it live. on Sunday at 11 a.m. Eastern on the YouTube channel. So we're going to go through all the predictions that you guys have submitted. I was actually, I was a little overwhelmed with what I got, and then AK sent me what he got, and I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of submissions

that came in. And the good news is a lot of you were on the same page with things, we can combine them, but that's going to be fun. And part of that show is AK and I will be predicting UFC champions. by the end of the year. 2022, I picked Joseo. I stand by that pick. I still feel he got the big, fat, disgusting hose job.

But it is what it is. As far as this Bandaway Grand Prix goes, the only fight that's actually like official is the Vera Sanhagen fight. That one is on the books. It seems like we're trending in a possible Sterling Sohudo direction, but we're not there yet. That fight's still not done from all indications.

So maybe it does happen, maybe it doesn't, I don't know. And then O'Malley will probably just kind of hang out and wait to see what happens. And I kind of like what O'Malley said. This is what he wants. He wants Vera to beat Sanhagen. He wants Sterling to beat Sehudo. Sterling says, piece out 135, I'm going to 145. And then vacant title, Sean O'Malley versus Marlon Verra.

Sounds like a good idea to me. But we'll see. We'll see if they actually get Sterling Zahudo on the books. I kind of feel like, I kind of feel like Marab is the odd man out in a lot of respects. We saw Rob Fonke, a fight between him and Adrianiananas has agreed to. It's not signed yet. I saw some people, I think Matt Frivolta treated this,

something on Sherdog about the fight card being in Brooklyn. From all indications, maybe it is. I know that date is open on the Barclay Center calendar. I went and looked it up, but from people that I talk to who have potential fights on that card or whatever, people who would be in the know, still TBD according to them. They haven't heard anything about Brooklyn, but maybe that will be the case.

And that's pretty damn cool if they go back. They do a couple of New York cards. And you have to think that if they're going to do Sterling Sehudo, that'd probably be a pretty good place to have that if they're going to do it in Brooklyn. So, yeah, we'll see what happens. Bannonweight's going to be fun and we'll see who comes out of it at the end of the year with some gold. I don't know yet. I haven't, I have to think about it a little bit more, but I'll have my answer on Sunday.

David, do we have you? Can you hear me, Mike? Yes, there you are. Perfect. Thank you. And first of all, now I lost you. I listened to all your work. I appreciate all the content.

I frequently don't agree with a least. your takes, but that's what great radio is all about. And you're a hockey guy, so I know you're not bad. So let's get into it. I'm, I'm a newer fan, Hart, McGregor, Khabi, to 27, but since then, super hardcore. And Hart, newer fans like me, and this is the worst day to defend Dana, and I'm not defending Dana, but I love Dana. I've never met him. I'm sure working with him, he's a prick. I, David, sorry. I mean, I didn't mean to cut you off. You're, you're coming in and out. Like I get five seconds of you

and then you go away for like five or six seconds. And then I'll give you, I'll try again and see if we can get you back to complete your thought. But yeah, you're just coming in and out, man. Let's see if this is any better. Do we have you?

Yeah, I don't have you, man. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Worst case, we can get you on tomorrow and I'll listen to you. But yeah, I'm just not, you're coming in. It sounds you're crystal clear

and then you're just gone for five or six seconds. and I'm not getting anything on my end. So definitely check back tomorrow and it will get you on and I will absolutely listen to what you have to say. Jay, what's up, man? We'll take like two or three more and then I've got to go. Jay, what's up?

I just had a quick question. First, so Kevin Lee just got signed with Ali and Dominance MMA. So I wanted to see, do you think maybe Ali could probably repair the bridge between Kevin Lee and UFC or maybe he might get him a better contract over at Bellator, maybe PFL or something like that.

But yeah, do you think the signing with Ali is actually good for Kevin Moore? I mean, it's kind of tough to say. I don't know. We'll see how he is with his injury. Because he didn't look great in that Diego Sanchez fight. Let's just be honest. And I know he got a little banged up in that fight, had the knee injury.

I'm not really sure exactly when it happened. But I don't know. I don't know how you could repair. I mean, obviously, if you're Kevin Lee right now, if you're really anybody with any kind of a name right now and has some decent fighting ability and can be marketed in any way, you've got to be getting PFL on the phone right now. That's what you got to do.

I doubt Kevin Lee comes back to the UFC. But Bellator, PFL, good options for him. Kevin Lee and freaking Risen would be fun as hell. TBD on that. I'm sure it doesn't hurt. Anyone who is managed by Al Lee, no matter how you feel about him, they love them. They all love them. So we'll get a better sense of where Kevin's head is at.

I believe our own Damon Martin's going to be speaking to Kevin Lee over the coming days. We'll see where his head's at. I doubt he's back in the UFC. I'll be shocked. I'll be shocked. Let's go to Ani. Hello. I was supposed to be there on your last show, but it just didn't happen.

Happy New Year. So very quickly about, you know, it's not specifically about Dana White, but the thing is, you know, we have seen a lot of diplomatic responses as in, I mean, it's fine to be diplomatic towards Dana White, but when, if you, if you are diplomatic towards him, it makes it look as if you are diplomatic towards a domestic violence situation, which is a big no-no. you definitely need to, you know, say that this is wrong. So I don't understand the whole reason behind covering up. Just because they want to stay in the good books of Day and White, I mean, they are actually pouring mud all over their face, you know what I mean? Just because they want to stay in the good books of Dana White by, you know, giving him the benefit of the doubt or whatever they're trying to do by covering up.

they are making their awareness about domestic violence look bad, if you know what I mean. But, you know, it's just spineless, cowardice stuff that, you know, they've done. I'm speaking about Kevin Ayoli and Brett Komoto, but let's keep it positive over here. So I would like to make use of AK's presence over here because I have a question for you. It's too big to type out in a YouTube comment, so I would like to ask you over here. I want you to come up with a couple of fights. I mean, right now, if you want, you can just give me one.

Fights that are actually, you know, cater to the hardcore fans. You know, the fights that have the vibe of Attila Santos versus Aaron Blanchfield. Fights like Armand Sarukian versus Mateus Gamrott, you know, such fights. You know what I mean? So, you know, I know what I want to see next. I mean, I can give you an example, what I have in mind. I want to see Sergei Pavlovich versus Curtis Blades. That is an amazing fight for me.

So I want you to maybe give me one fight. And if AK is over here, it would be really nice to hear from him as well. Otherwise, there's nothing much for me to say. I would like to wish all of you, all the very best. and, you know, hope MMA fighting reaches, you know, greater heights in this new year. And hope you enjoy professional wrestling

in this Royal Rumble season, Mike, because it will pick up a bit now. And everything will start to make more sense because as you approach WrestleMania, it is supposed to make sense. You know what I mean? Thanks, man. I appreciate the kind words.

I mean, just off the top of my head for the sake of time, I'll say one kind of already felt in their lap. Jalen Turner versus Drew Dober. That fight rules. Dober called them out. Out of respect. Turner's like, yo, Jason House, let's make it happen. There you go. I love that fight. And you can pick a variety of 155ers on that list as well. But for the sake of time, we'll move on. But A.K. wants to respond, so I will let him quickly respond. Hello, my best friend. My best friend, hello. I wasn't planning to call in, but thank you, Annie, for mentioning me.

and for the request for my services. Very happy to chime in now. And I know you've got to wrap the show soon, Mike. Drew Dober, first name that came to my mind, as far as Annie's question goes. Drew Dober and Michael Chandler, I feel like has to happen someday or something has gone horribly wrong

if we don't get that matchup. I think it's very realistic. It could happen in 2023, not first half, probably second half. Maybe we see it 12 months, well, not 11 months from now on a year-end card. I think that would be an insane a fight to have

or even like when they go back to Madison Square Garden so Drew Dover versus like anybody but like you said Jalen Turner and I think like Michael Chandler would just be sensational we have to see

Shop Kot I feel like and Hamzat someday I think I don't think that happens anytime soon but I know there's a lot of people who want to see that fight and if you're talking like if I could make somehow make this matchup happen like tomorrow

I mean, I would just, it would be insane. I would love it. I see the troll Jose Young's is still here. He doesn't know how the in-bay playoffs work. That's fine. Again, he's barely a baseball fan. He's barely a, his comprehension of baseball is like, is barely there. So I wouldn't require, like, he takes all his effort just to talk about baseball.

So to expect him to know anything else with any other sport is, you know, it's, it's a lot. His NBA coverage, very solid, I will say. Big fan, big fan of his NBA work, top-notch, very hard to beat. But, yeah, but there's so many great flights that we made this year. and I don't know if that's the last if Andy is the last listener calling you're glad we're kind of doing on that hey you're not

why is this guy allowed in why is this guy you're not allowed to bully me a.k. Rafael Devers resigns and the sports of Celtics are in first place you're not allowed to bully me today I saw that you can't you can't take our Slack channel public and just bully me publicly now

I saw that news and I immediately thought of you because I'm like oh man I know you I was like this guy has been like dying with the, it's like all the, I don't, I can't keep track of all the Red Sox stuff, but like all the players they could have signed or didn't sign, man, this guy is, this guy needs this, he needs his back. We needed a win. We just have all of, we've just had essentially every single championship for the last 10 years,

but we really needed this one, guys. I don't know what you guys, you and Mike would have done. If they hadn't brought in, brought Dea's back, I would have been like, oh, probably would have cried. I'm just never going to, yeah, I'm just never going to mention the Red Sox around them for a couple years. but yeah you guys are the best uh thank you all very much aka sorry didn't mean to do that i want to get a couple more callers in before we get out of here uh joey will go to you we'll go to four on sniper and we'll try to get one more in after if not we'll carry it over to tomorrow joey what's hey man

how you doing so i just wanted to i know we're beating a dead horse at this point everyone's talking about it but as far as kevin ioli and brett o'tacomoto's story on dana white's domestic violence they are both an embarrassment of a man. They make me embarrassed for this community. And it's not that their opinions are that bad. It's just the fact that how are you going to pretend you're an independent journalist? And then you're essentially just a lap dog for Dana White.

I think it's disturbing. But my question is, how long do you think it'll be before Dana White is in front of media again, answering questions? And do you think there will be any tough questions? and also just to quick hit on something else. I think if Kamara Usman were to be injured and out of the fight, I think they should make the March fight card in the UK a fight night card,

and then they should reschedule Kamara Ushman versus Leon Edwards 3 for spring, summer, somewhere along those lines, because I think that's a massive fight that has to be made. And Jorge Masvedal getting basically three title shots off a beaten 8 Diaz, I think would be a disgrace as well. So let me know what you think. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I don't think they're going to do that.

I think they're already committed for it to be a pay-per-view, and Mazdaal would probably get the shot. And I would pick Leon to win that fight. Could be wrong. Never know when two guys get locked in the cage and do battle. But I would pick Leon to win, and that would just probably, that would just put one thing to bed,

and then just makes the Uspin fight a little bit bigger, honestly. But we'll see what happens. Again, we don't know. We're just looking at screenshots of Ustman and a cast, which isn't even like a cast cast. It's like one of those Velcro casts from what I could see. And we don't know anything. Maybe he's fine.

Maybe they're good to go. But yeah. All right. We're going rapid fire here. BTL's earlier today. It's a 1230, by the way. 1230, you did. Yes.

How are you? I'm good. How are you? Good. Heck of a morning. I just wanted to ask you if you were, I guess, in charge, or if this is your world, being every, thing that went on with Dana White and his wife, how would you handle that as far as like

suspensions or I guess making Dana step down? What would you do? That's my only question. That's all I got. I think we should all just, let's try to be positive. Let's keep our hands to each. Let's keep our hands to ourselves. I was about to say to each other. We keep our hands to ourselves and let's just have a good one. I don't know if I would like, again, I feel like, like I'm not ready to bury data. Like, I mean, the consequences are there. I know Dana has said himself, you can't bounce back from this.

I know people have asked why allow him to bounce back. But I don't know. There should be some repercussions. He should definitely not be in front of any media. He should not be promoting anything for the UFC. He should not be doing effort Fridays. His name should not be a test. the contender series this year.

The power of slap fight league, that deal should just be done. Put it where it needs to be. Just buried underground. We don't need it anymore. Nobody wants to see it anyways. Let's just move on from that. He needs to be,

his name just needs to be de-attached from everything right now. No one will forget helping the business grow. No one will forget the business deals that have been done. No one will forget the path. No one will forget the ultimate fighter. the deal with Spike, the deal with Fox, the deal with ESPN.

No one will forget it. No one will forget it. When you talk about Dana White, the businessman, he will be attached to all the success the UFC has. But as I said earlier, he doesn't need to be involved. The machine will continue to run. Whether he is there or not,

he needs to step aside. And not for a month. He needs to step aside maybe for the entire year. And I'm not saying that means he is, not part of the business practices or whatever. Like if you want to do stuff behind the scenes and be the president and do other things, cool.

But he should not be the face of the company by any stretch of the imagination right now. You can do it. Like you could make it happen and have good PR but still have him involved. He just can't be on camera. He cannot be doing all that stuff. If you don't know now you know, gone.

All that's gone. Get rid of all of it. and just let the machine run. And Dana should have to go to counseling. Dana should absolutely be supporting causes that support domestic violence, whether it's raising money or doing talks or opening himself up to that stuff.

Like these are things he should be doing. 100%. You got to make amends. And let's be honest here, ladies and gentlemen, you could feel however you want about Dana and all of that. this will be a part of his legacy forever Dana will have this incident

and those slaps attached to him forever. This is not going away. Now, people can try to sweep it under the rug and do whatever they want to do with it and maybe the UFC will announce a bunch of huge fights over the next few days to try to get us to forget about it. But when we talk about Dana White, when even the casuals are starting to talk about Dana White,

when even sports fans who don't watch MMA, hear about Dana White from now until the end of time, he will be known as the guy, oh yeah, he's the guy who runs the UFC, but he's the guy who slapped his wife. It's just the way that it is. That's going to be attached to his legacy forever. Now, it's what you do with that,

that will speak volumes. If Dana White appears in Brazil hosting a press conference, I have no faith in humanity when it comes to the UFC. If Dana White is in Perth, same thing. If Dana White is in London or is part of the Las Vegas March card, I will feel exactly the same. And someone asked earlier, when will he be in front of a crop of reporters? My guess, it'll be a long time before that happens.

and will anyone ask him the hard questions? If he is in front of a crop of reporters, yes, I think they will. But I don't think he will be. And I think he will address this again. And I think he will do it with either his business partners or he will do it with TMZ again. That's it. That's it. Now it's what happens between now and next Saturday that becomes very important.

and I don't know if anything's going to happen at all. I don't think there will be any repercussions for any of this. I really don't, but I would like to be surprised. I would like to be surprised. And I would like for the people involved in this to come out and say something about it. Give us something. Give us a, we're still looking into it.

Stay tuned. We are aware of the situation. not refer to TMZ article or we just host the content, they produce it, or just nothing. You got to do something. You got to do something.

And again, the UFC will be just fine whether Dana is out in front of a camera or not. They will be just fine. They have built this to where it is and it's gigantic. And they make so much money. and they will continue to make so much money,

whether Dana is there or not, whether he is the public face of the company or not. At the end of the day, we are in this chat, we talk about this sport, we host all these shows, not because of Dana White. I mean, Dana's a big part of building the company.

We're talking about fights. We want fights. We're fans because of fights, and we're fans because of the fighters, and because of them putting it all the line. And we advocate for them to be paid and compensated and treated better than they are. And we see these stories. We find out Stefan Bonner passes away. And we see what happened to him after his career ended and some of the problems he's had. We see this Phil Barone's story.

And guess what? This is going to keep happening. We're going to keep hearing heartbreaking stories about our favorite fighters from the past, not being taken care of. And finding themselves in really difficult places in their lives. It's just the way that it is. And I'm not just saying that to call up the UFC. It's like this in all sports. We saw it with the NFL too. CTE, all that stuff.

It's all becoming more prevalence by the year. But we are fans of the sport and we watch the sport because of the sport. Because of the athletes, because of the fights, because of the matchups. We want to see Francis Ngano versus John Jones. we want to see that fight. We don't want to see that fight. We don't want to see, we're not looking forward to March 4th of that fight gets made to the press conference that Dana White is going to be hosting.

No. We're looking forward to those two guys getting in there and fighting. We are looking forward to Francis and Ganu getting the pay and what he deserves to get that fight with John Jones and be compensated the way he should be compensated for a fight that massive. That's what we're looking forward to. we're not looking forward to March 4th or March 5th because Dana is going to talk to the media after UFC 285.

We're not looking, no. We want to see the fighters fight. And we're going to see that whether Dana is involved or not. So I don't see, like if he steps aside, the business isn't going to die. It's going to still do well. That's it. All right.

I know a lot of you are waiting. I'm screenshoting you right now. Mikey, Tank, Fourth Estate, Tristan, George, I know you were already on. David, you tried. We'll get you on tomorrow. You guys hop in at any point tomorrow. You'll be first, okay?

I'm a man of my word. I will make sure that happens. And I will remind myself of that as well. But we got to go. BTL 1230 p.m. Eastern, early start time. Myself and Jed, we'll talk about this story a little bit more. We'll talk about Jake Paul. we'll talk about Dylan

Danis. We'll talk about Bellator versus Reisen. We'll talk about fun positive stuff too. We'll talk about Rob Fond, Andrew and Yannas being in the works. We'll talk about some of the other fights. We'll even take some questions from you guys. If we have time,

we'll spend the last 10 minutes just letting you dictate what we talked about. But I truly hope that as these shows continue on that we are talking about more positive stuff. I really really, really do. But that does not mean that we're going to ignore this story. That does not mean we're going to sweep what happened on New Year's Eve with the president of the UFC

under the rug. We're not doing that. We all want to talk about cool stuff. We want to talk about big fights. But we cannot, and I speak to you as a community as well, we cannot ignore this. We cannot sweep this under the rug no matter what fights the UFC announces over the next couple of of weeks. We cannot ignore it. We have to keep talking about it. Because who knows? Maybe this will invoke change. Maybe something will be done. Maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised. And maybe just maybe we don't get any more of these stories to talk about because this sucks. This sucks. This sucks. This whole thing has sucked. Twitter has been awful, but at the same token, we can't ignore this. So until that, everybody, we'll see you on BTL in about an hour's time on the YouTube channel.

Thank you to Jose, AK, everybody who called in, gave their thoughts on everything. And we'll back here tomorrow, 10 a.m. Eastern. We'll do it again. Hopefully, and it's a free for all Friday. So we can talk about other shit. You don't have to talk about this. We didn't even have to talk about M.M.A. We can talk about other stuff. And I'm looking for it. that very much. So we'll see you then. Have a great rest of the day. And as always, have a heck of a morning.