MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira, Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington Title Fights

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

UFC CEO Dana White gave the MMA community and UFC fans a lot to talk about after making some massive fight announcements on Wednesday night, including a championship co-main event for UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden, and two more title fights for the promotion's year-end pay-per-view in December. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to White announcing that Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira will fight for the vacant light heavyweight title on the Nov. 11 card in New York to lead into the Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic heavyweight championship headliner, the UFC 296 main event between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington for the welterweight belt, and the flyweight championship co-headliner between Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval. Additionally, listener questions include Israel Adesanya breaking his silence following his UFC 293 title loss to Sean Strickland, Ciryl Gane's recent comments about what he wants next at heavyweight, 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping. people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S. From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting

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We are live on the M.M.A. Fighting Twitter Spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety. Shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody? I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a wonderful week. You know, I like to come on here on Thursdays, hoping for things to talk about

and luckily we have a lot to talk about. A lot of fights confirmed and reported yesterday. Dana White, yelling and screaming, making some big announcements. We have a co-main event for UFC 295, ladies and gentlemen, and what a one-two punch it is going to be. We got John Jones v. Stepe Miyich for the heavyweight title headlining at MSG in the co-made events.

for the vacant light heavyweight title, we're getting Yuri Perashka versus Alex Pereira. Holy shitballs. What a one-two punch that is going to be. That is incredible. MSG is going to be on fire. And I feel like we'll get another couple of fights out of that card as well. Also, the most asked question in the history of heck of a morning has been answered.

since March, every day, every week, every show. Someone has come on here. I mean, maybe not every single one, but for the most part, I would say 85% of these shows since March, the question has been, when is Leon Edwards versus Colby Covington going to happen? Why isn't that fight been booked? What is going on?

Is it going to happen this year? It is going to happen this year. I've been trying to tell you, November, December, it's going to be one of those dates, It all depends on how the game of Tetris is going to work. Is Connor coming back? Is he going to fight Michael Chandler? Is it going to happen this year?

No. And now we have our answer. Main event, UFC 296, December 16th, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Leon Edwards versus Colby Covington for the Welterweight title, the main event. Now we don't have to ask anymore when that fight's happening, because now we know when it's happening. Colmate event, flyway title on the line.

The rematch between the new champion, Alexander Pantosia, he will defend against Brandon Royval. Not really surprised by that matchmaking at all. Great fight. What a one-two punch that is going to be. We also found out yesterday, Misha Tate is back. She will fight Julia Avila, who is also back on December 2nd. No location yet for that card. That's a good one.

And let me just say, I saw a lot of people saying, like, who cares? I saw a lot of people say, like, oh, they're really trying to get Misha win. Have these people, like, not watch Giulia Avila fight? She is a fucking animal. I just, I don't understand why everyone is just kind of shrugging her off all of a sudden. It just doesn't make any sense to me. But, man, that's a good fight. December 2nd is also getting Puneasoriano versus Dustin Stoltzvist.

Have a hard time believing that one's going to go to the cards. There's just a lot happening right now. A lot to talk about. We'll talk more about it on BTL as well. Me and Jed are just going to kind of wax poetically for a hot minute. We'll take some questions at the end of the show as well. And we're going to get into this thing. We're going to get into this thing.

Wow, this is something. Let's bring in a man from the athletic. I don't know if he meant to request, but I hope he is. I hope Shams is coming in here, because that would be sick. He's got the wheel of doom, so hopefully we can try to get him back in. But Shams, if you're hearing me, try again, because I'd love to get your thoughts on some of the stuff. Yes, sir, go ahead. How are you, Mike?

How are you? Thank you for having me. Just I want to ask you about what do you think about Alex Pereira versus Brouhaska. Do you think that Pereira has the ability to defeat Brasca especially, that Pereira is a friend of Goverte Cheshire, and he has a lot of experience in MMA in general. What do you think? I mean, does he have a chance?

Of course he has a chance. It's freaking Alex Pereira. dude hits like a truck. So he definitely has a chance. I've seen a lot of improvement. And you kind of start in the Anbovich fight, his ability to go 15 minutes, his ability to have a little bit better takedown defense

and just having better fight IQ overall. We have lines for that one. Alex Pereira minus 110, Yuri Perashka minus 120. So that's basically a flip-a-pick-em fight with the early betting odds. Leon, the favorite. over Colby minus 145.

Colby comes back at plus 125. And Pantosia, the minus 260 favorite. Braden Roy Val comes back at plus 200. I think it's close to a 50-50 fight. I mean, I really do. I don't think Uri's going to have a big wrestling heavy strategy. I just think he's going to be Uri and go out and just be an absolute savage. And Alex Pereira will welcome that.

He will welcome that. It's such a crazy fight. fight. Like, that's one of those ones that, because we haven't seen Yuri in a while, too. We haven't seen him since he won the belt. Remember, he was supposed to defend the belt at the end of the year. It didn't happen. We were supposed to get the rematch with Glover. He gets hurt, vacates the belt immediately. We have the match. We have the fight of UFC 282 between Janbovich and Magamette Ankleif ends up being a draw, which created all this craziness. And then Jamal Hill wins the belt against, Sclover Tashira, who retired right after the fight, and we haven't had the belt defended at all. We haven't had a 205-pound title fight all year. But now we're going to get one. Alex definitely has a chance of this fight. 1,000% he's got a chance of this fight.

I can't wait for it. I cannot wait for this fight. And then just think about it, everybody. The winner of this fight, more than likely he's going to fight Jamal Hill sometime next year. And I can't wait for other of those fights. Crazy. 205 is awake. It's alive. Hopefully this fight happens and we have a champion crown. There's no draw. There's no craziness. There's no chaos. But boy, oh boy, this fight friggin rules. And I can't wait for it. $2.95 is going to be incredible. It's going to be incredible. I'm just playing any meaning here. So Cole, go ahead. Good morning, Mike.

Morning. I loved seeing those fight announcements yesterday, but nothing excited me more than seeing your Instagram story and seeing Julia Avila is back against Misha Tate. I mean, hasn't she, I mean, you said they were both been on long layoffs, but I think Avila has been off maybe like the whole duration of this Misha Tate like two, three fight comeback. Like, isn't Avila like a geology or biology teacher? Didn't she have a kid or something? Yeah, that's just my questions to you. And if you were to handicap that fight, how do you think that one goes? That's all I got.

The disrespect of Abilah, man. Come on. Love that girl. Dude, she's a freaking animal. She is just a super fun fighter. She's three and one in the UFC. She's got some good wins. Debuted on super short notice.

Fun fight with Panic Yanzad. Kind of came in out of the UFC. nowhere she was booked against carolosa like a thousand times and a fight just never happened she ended up getting jina mazani on short notice and just rolled over her in 22 seconds then she's supposed to fight nika montanio a couple times that didn't happen she gets a short notice replacement in shajara ubang she just wrestled her all over the place tough fight to take on short notice and you're preparing for a completely different fighter and then she's supposed to fight nico again and that didn't happen. They ended up moving her up. So three fights of Nika Montanio fall through.

Then she's supposed to fight Julia Stolio-Ranko in March of 2021, and Stolier-Ranko feints on the scale. So that fight doesn't happen. They end up pushing it back three months. And that was a great fight. Julie ends up submitting her in the final minute to improve to three and one. Then she's supposed to fight Raquel Pennington in December of 2021. And she ended up getting a really bad knee injury. I end up talking to her a little bit after that. that and she was hoping to come back. And then she got pregnant and had a kid. So she's been gone for a hot minute. So it'll be about two and a half years in between fights. And you're right. She has been out for the entirety of the Misha Tate comeback, which is crazy to think about. And Mish Tate's making her return after the loss to Lord Murphy last July at UFC, Long

Island. She moved down to 125. So this will be Misha's first fight at 135 since November, 2021. So I like the matchup. It's hard to like, it's hard to make a pick here because they both been out for so long, especially Julia. But I think the best Giulia Obila right now beats the best Misha Tate right now. But man, that's a long layoff. A lot of emotions going on. A lot of things have happened in between fights. So I think it's a good fight.

I saw people complaining about it. Like, what are you talking about? big one for Misha. Let's see if she can get back on track. She's lost two in a row. Julia's coming off of a really good win against Julius Stoli-Ranko. That fight has kind of aged pretty well.

I love that fight. I love that fight. Curious what's going to headline it. Curious where it's going to take place. I believe, I mean, there were lots of different conversations about this card, about whether or not like Minneapolis could be in play.

There's talks about maybe doing it Atlantic City card in December. There's talks about a China card going on in December, but this one, this fight obviously won't be on that one. So I think if they are going to China, they're targeting December 9th. There's been talks about maybe Orlando again. So I don't know. But I love that fight.

It's a great fight. I don't know why people are complaining about it, but I think you're going to be like, oh, this is actually way better than I thought it was going to be. Robert, go ahead. Robert, are you there? Hey, hey, guys, hi, guys. Greetings from Tickia. Just a question, I'm wondering,

Yvesi and Alex Perera were supposed to fight in December. Is it likely that Colby and Edwards were a better headline for the tournament for PPV and for fans? Is it better? Yeah, probably. It's probably a better main event in terms of business. But, I mean, if, No offense to Leon and Colby. Like I am obviously interested in that fight

and I'm interested to see what's going to happen. But if someone said, Mike, you can only watch one of those two fights. It's Yeri and Alex by a mile. It's not even a conversation to be had. So, but I do feel for business, Leon's getting more popular since winning the belt. Colby's obviously Colby

and he will do everything he can to promote this fight. Great co-main event behind it. I mean, think about what we had last year. We're supposed to get Yuri in that spot. So maybe the UFC was like, all right, we don't want to take that risk again and put him in that spot in case something weird happens because Yuri's kind of a weird guy. And it's a great co-main event. I'm sure those two guys are happy fighting behind John Jones and Steepay doing it at MSG, bringing Alex Pereira back to where it all started. His UFC career started at MSG and now comes full circle.

Maybe he becomes a freaking two division champion this early in his UFC run. It's incredible. What a story that would be. What a story that would be. This guy's already broken the rankings and broken meritocracies. He's broken everything. Dude has broken everything. And I always get a chance to come the light heavyweight champion.

Less than seven months or a little over seven months after getting knocked up by Israel to Sanya. That's freaking insane. that's crazy uh panda we already know what's going to happen so i'll move on oh wait a minute holy crap hold on hold on hold on mike is this is the first time i i got the wheel of doom

and it said at his speaker so i was like oh we didn't get them but you you broke through my man how are you like i'd give aran rogers my achilles i would give shams my wheel of doom connection however here we are i will be quick this is an awesome day. I think I've been asking you, I don't know, maybe six months straight about Kobe and Leon, and finally, Mike, we have our answer at the end of the year. I am so excited. I don't even know how to start watching the lead up to this fight. I think the lead up to this fight and the press conference is just going to be not only an absolute fiasco, it's just going to be so entertaining. Secondly, we talked about it a little bit. What do we think about Yuri and Alex? The fight's going to be

awesome. I think it's definitely going to be a contender early for fight a year, especially if it goes to the cards. If it's anything like Yuri and Glover, and it goes all the way to the distance, oh my God, it's going to be an absolute war. Mike, what are you thinking? What are you thinking about Kobe and Leon? What are you thinking about Yuri and Alex? Have a good day.

Yeah, Colby Leon is needed to happen. Needed to happen for the end of the year. Now we're going to get it. I love the co-main event as well. And Yuri and Alex is great. going to be an absolute war, just like you said. I would assume, and I have no insight into this whatsoever, but I would assume, and I think this would be very smart business by the UFC,

that Leon and Colby show up at MSG, maybe not for the fight itself, but they should be there during fight week. Maybe they'd do another press conference before ceremonial wayans or something, but those two dudes should be up on stage, talking greasiness to each other, bring Roy Valmpie. Pantoje up there because Roy Val has kind of got on. He's on one right now when it comes to the trash talk and saying what he means and just kind of just saying what's ever in his mind. He's kind of always been like that anyway. So yeah, bring those dudes in, have a little

mini press conference before Ceremony of Wayans at 295 and that'll help build the fight. So I'm curious to see how Colby's going to be because as I've told you guys, a lot of people have to talk to Colby, when are you going to talk to Colby. I haven't talked to him in a hot minute. I think it was like right after, when the hell of that I talked to him? It was early this year. I think I've talked to him twice this year.

I think I talked to him right after he was the backup fighter for the title fight between Edwards and Usman. And I talked to him, I think I talked to him a couple months later. And since that, he's been kind of just out of sight, really? So now if the fight's been announced,

I'm hoping to get some time with him. But, yeah, the year's going to end really fun for the UFC. We're kind of in this spot we go through every year around this time where it's like we get through the summer months, we get through the big events, then there's kind of like a, it's not like an off season, but a lot of apexy apex kind of cards, although I do like this card this Saturday, we kind of like, you know, rejuvenate a little bit.

And then we go full steam ahead the rest of the year. And that's, this kind of happens like this every year. Once 294 comes around, then we're just off to the races for the rest of the year. And I'm very, very excited for that. So just got to get through this next couple of weeks. All right, Mikey, go ahead. 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 Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster,

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 two, ghosts in the machine, available now, only from Audible. 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.

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Obviously, fun stuff with the breaking news. As much as I'm disappointed that Erie and Alex will not be their own main event here in Vegas, I kind of like the synergy of arguably the most prestigious title in UFC history, the light heavyweight title being contested on the 30th birthday of the UFC underneath the greatest champion in light heavyweight history, John Jones, main eventing. So I like that synergy to it. Leon and Kobe is fine just so we can get that out the way. The co-main of Pantosia and Royval has a – it's hard – I don't –

like calling title fights sleepers because they're title fights you know like they're they should always get the due attention but that feels like a sleeper like that's going to sneak you that you know i think all the fight of the year candidates will probably be in the ballots by that time but that could probably steal the show the end of the year i would really like the ufc the book manel cop and kai kara france on that card if they don't give them their own apex main event or whatever card they want to do that and I just had a thought too since we're all but, you know, certain that Connor Regger is not going to fight this year. I think they're going to hold off the fight with Chandler against until UFC 300

if they're going to stick with that. Also, if Dustin's trying to get one in in December, I mean, they could load that card one more time. Love the Julia Avila fight against Mishita. It feels like the right fight. They're both around the same age. and yeah that would be fun stuff now and now the MSG card has just you know what actually on a quicker note shaft Kat Roknov's sister was supposed to find contender series and she pulled out due to apparent injury

look I love consider to you sometimes but sometimes the EOC just needs to stop BS in and just signed up these prospects they clearly want put Shaft Kat and his sister on the same card for the love of God you know anyways be kind of one that Thanks, guys. Yeah, I mean, let's wait and see. She's a little green. She's good. She's got talent, but she's a little green. So I have no problem kind of waiting on her

and letting her build up a little bit before she gets in there. Contender series, this past Tuesday was kind of, I mean, there are some fun moments, but again, we're in this weird spot where Dana just kind of had an off night in terms of who he brought in and things of that nature.

Didn't love it. It didn't love it, if we're being honest. But congrats to those who got in. I actually am looking forward to like next year's contendous years because I think a lot of the prospects that I have my eye on that may not be household names enough would, like they're going to get their shot. So just to kind of peel back the curtain,

I'm doing, I want to start doing some more prospect stuff because I feel like there are certain prospects that like everybody talks about. And then I like to find sort of the super talented prospects who aren't getting enough shine or at least should be on people's radars. And one of those guys, I got a chance to talk to a couple weeks ago, this gentleman by the name of Isaac Thompson, super young fighter, he's from Australia. his mom was a pro Muay Thai fighter

fighting's like in his lineage he's been fighting since he was like five years old found MMA started training making trips to team Alpha male when he was like 17 and this kid is super talented

won his pro debut lost I believe his second pro fight because he kind of just got wrestled to death and that was kind of a hole in his game. But it wasn't only that. It was the fact that he was so raw when it came to MMA, even though the talent was there,

that fight IQ wasn't really there. Decision-making and tough spots wasn't really there. So after conversations with Uriah Fabor, and I talked to Yariah Fabor yesterday as well, they made the decision you're going to take a year off. You're just going to focus on grappling. You're going to focus on wrestling. and you're going to focus on trying times and fights.

And comes back, wins a unanimous decision, fought a whole 15 minutes, and then just killed the next duty he fought. And he's fighting again in October for LFA. But super interesting guy. I got Volcanovsky vibes for sure, watching tape. Obviously raw and green,

but this kid's got something. He's got something. really impressed me. So more on him coming next week to M.A. fighting. I figure it's a good time with the UFC having an off week. But that's a guy who could definitely be on Contender Series next year, if not just being an outright signing if he can stay active. So yeah, I love the fights. You make a great point about the lineage of the light heavyweight division. Because for a long time, when the UFC was really starting to take off, the light heavyweight division was the Cadillac Division.

It was the main event division. It was Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture and like all these guys. And then we brought in the Rampage Jackson's and some of these other guys. And that was a division. That was their Cadillac Division. Obviously things have changed. Lightweight is now, in my opinion, the Cadillac Division. He got Bannumweight.

Welterweight's obviously very popular, middleweight with Izzy, star divisions, with Stars as champions and at the top of them. but yeah having the greatest fighter in most people's eyes of all time headlining the 30th anniversary show and putting the light heavyweight division in a spotlight to be the co-main event on that card good call very very good call love that forest quarter sports go ahead hey mike i'm really amped up after the news that dana had announced i was really thinking that originally i thought that um The Yerry versus Alice Prairie fight was going to happen in January because I was hearing some, like, rumors about the car being in Toronto.

And I felt like that's the direction that they were going to head towards. But I'm really amped up. I'm glad that now I'm going to be able to watch the fight, and there's going to be two title fights that I'm actually going to enjoy in person. Really don't, I believe it's going to be a 50-50 fight. but I felt like when Dana made those announcements, there was a couple of questions that came into mind. So obviously it seems like

Sean O'Malley is in a fight first quarter next year. Real question is if he's in a fight January, February, March, maybe. That was one thing that had in mind. Another question that was going through my head

was what's going to happen with the women's bandweight title fight. It just feels like that's you push back. And then one of the other questions I had was would it be smart? I know I think Mikey ended up saying this,

you know, put Manel Cap and Kai Kar, France, which I totally agree, have that on the December card. I guess, like, as an insurance policy, in case anything was to happen towards the Bandoeweight title. Do you think it'll be smart, or do you think the U.S.E were going in the direction of having a heavyweight title,

a heavyweight fight on the MSG card like Sergei says I know he's going to be the backup fighter him fighting on the card with I don't know like as an example Tom Aspinon or something like that those are things that just came through my head but that's all I got to say thanks Mike yeah I wonder where Sean and Cheater are going to end up

I mean it kind of all depends on where January is going to take place I mean Toronto is what they want want, but I'm not sure if it's going to happen. They just got to find the date. It's all going to make sense. It's all going to line up. So it depends on the leaf schedule when the UFC can get in there, et cetera, et cetera. But that doesn't mean they can't go to other places in Canada as well.

And they did Vancouver in June. So we'll see what happens there. I mean, do you do Sean and Chito in Canada? Maybe. If not, we'll probably have to wait until March. for that one because you i mean if the ufc goes with the same kind of flow as they had last year they did international pay-per-view international pay-per-view domestic pay-per-view international pay-per-view and then it was kind of domestic domestic domestic the rest of the way except for vancouver so if

they go back to australia in february then i think we kind of know where that's going we'll get Volcanowski Topori on that card you So January is interesting I don't know I don't know what you do in January Women's Bannamway title fight

Yeah I mean that could be like a co-main event That probably can't headline I don't know Maybe they'll do that Maybe that fight Maybe the women's Bannamway title will like headline

December 2nd or something Like is that that's not a bad idea We saw the success of having a title fight on a fight night card before Shchchenko Grasso would have done much better on pay-per-view than Pena versus Pennington will do on pay-per-view. So if they're going out of the apex December 2nd, do it there. If they do Orlando or Minneapolis or wherever, do the title fight on that card.

Do it there. It's kind of a new champion there. And let's really like give people just a lot in terms of title fights. Top Kai Kar, France. I think it'd be cool to put it on that card. But, I mean, it's tough. That would be a good, like, ApexMade event, but I don't know if they're going to be the Apex at all in December.

But, yeah, but you could put that anywhere. You could put that anywhere. Like, if they do go to China, it's not a bad place to have it. Manel obviously has fought in Asia a ton. So people know him there. So that's not like a terrible place to have that fight. So that fight should absolutely happen in December, though. Without a doubt.

We don't know what's going on with Brandon Moreno yet. Maybe they do him in Albazi. I don't know. I don't know. There's just a lot of questions and not a ton of answers with some of these fights. But now I think we're a little more clear than we were a few days back. That's for sure. But we'll see how it all plays out.

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Do you think they add Shotcott on the MSG car? Because I know he wants to fight on air or 294. What are your thoughts on that? I would say $2.95? Honestly, I think if the UFC had their druthers, I think they would just rebook the gasoline fight and just throw it at MSG. It makes sense.

I don't know if anyone is going to be like, yeah, I'll fight Shafkat on a month's notice in Abu Dhabi. So you could do that at MSG. I think that's a good fight. I just don't know if there's like any other sort of ranked guy that is going to take that fight right now. So I think Gassum's kind of like the perfect opponent. I wonder if they'll do maybe the Ian Gary Wonderboy fight in December.

That wouldn't be a bad idea. Get Ian Gary and Colby like in the same room together. Not a bad seed planting, if you will. It's not a bad call. So yeah, I mean, I'm really interested to see the additions to these cards. But you would assume we're going to get some flyweight fights. We'll get some welterweight fights.

I don't know if we'll see Sergey actually booked on one of these cards, especially if he's the backup, because why risk it? If John Jones wins, he's probably going away. If Steepa wins, I don't know. Maybe Stepe goes for one more payday and runs it back with John. I don't know. but I'll get more of

I am planning on talking to one Stepe Amirich next week so stay tuned for that I also have an interview with Raphael Fazeve coming up on the YouTube channel in 12 minutes so stay tuned for that. Absalya hello Yes so hi so I just got a few things to

ask I'll start off with the the cars that have been the two the few tariffas that have been announced I just want to get your thoughts on the particularly the Yuri versus Alex side of things regarding the division like

obviously the winner of this title fight will definitely fight will definitely fight Jamal Hill hopefully sometime next year when he becomes from his injury but was there any confirmation of Dana White or the UFC that

the Uncle Live and Johnny Walker fight was a title eliminator and the winner of that fight could possibly get a fast skip ahead of Jamal Hill for a title shop, assuming he doesn't return on time. Another thing I wanted to ask was, I actually asked this the other day, but I don't think you answered my question.

I saw some reports and rumors about the UFC, possibly wanted to head to Indonesia and host the UFC card there in September next year. I saw it on a few reliable MMA pages. I just want to get your thoughts. Is that just a blatant rumor, or is there any possible trick that happening? and just a few things I want to ask or keep it short but I like the way that the UFC has actually for the first time and a long time got a lot of title fights

or just basically any random ranking files that they can set up in paper views or fight nights etc like ideally if you were to be the guy who was you know planning out the fights and stuff how would you ideally want to let's say plan out a pay-per-view for January February and March as you know the headlining

and co-manuary like which fighters and you know that particular opponent like how which what which fight and the opponent would you like posting a particular pay-per-view card oh that's all I have had a great day man I mean the last question is like almost impossible to answer without knowing when and where that fight's going to happen And the UFC does do throwaway pay-per-views, too.

I mean, we've seen it already. They do kind of throw-away paper views. We saw it with 289, like we got Oliver and Daryush, and I think that's the fight everybody was excited about. But I don't think there was a lot of buzz around Nunes and Aldana, although Adana was kind of like a darling underdog for some reason, but then Amanda just kind of ran her over. I thought 288 for the most.

part. We got Sterling and Sehudo, but I don't think that was the fight really anybody wanted if we're being honest. So that was kind of a throwaway in some respect. So I mean, it's kind of tough. It's kind of tough. I talked a lot about Alex and Yuri, so I'll kind of leave that B. And Indonesia, I've heard nothing about it. But as I've said many times on the show, if wherever in Indonesia wants to host a card, has money to spend. and they want to spend millions of dollars to get the UFC over there, then the UFC will go. They'll go.

They will listen to the offers, and if the offer meets what they want in order to go to a new place, they'll go. So it all depends on that. I don't think the UFC is like, hmm, where should we go that we've never been before? When they don't have to do that anymore, now these places that they've never been to before,

they come to them and pay them a bunch of money to go. So I won't, rule it out, but I've heard nothing about it. I've heard nothing about it. And to me, like, booking something all the way out to September, like a year away, just doesn't

seem like something the UFC would do when they don't really have to. But who knows? Maybe there's been an offer. Maybe there's been conversation, but I've heard nothing about that. Four-ounce sniper. Let's see if we can get you in. I'm getting the wheel of doom.

So we might have to have you try again. CV. Oh, Mike, heck of a morning. I'm just going to piggy back on everybody. Anybody else's thoughts on the space, big fights. Might have to go back to MSG once again. Last time I've been there was for 268, and it looks like I have to sell my other kidney

just to get tickets for that fight. But yeah, I want to speculate again for the Toronto. final card. I want to talk about those fights that weren't announced, like you said McGregor, Chandler, O'Malley, and Vera. My guess is for January, since it's hopefully

it's going to be in Toronto. Knock on wood. Strickland and DuPlecy, what do you think? Is that too random? But yeah, what do you think about that? Thanks. Yeah, kind of random. Kind of random.

honestly, if you're not going to have Sean Strickland fight in Las Vegas, send his ass back to Australia. He's like a star in Australia. So if they go back there in February, do it there. Do Strickland versus DDP in Australia. Strickland will be like, he's like an honorary Australian. They love him over there. He's a star.

Bring him over there. Do Strickland, DDP, and do Volk to Poria. Two title fights if you go back. there. I don't know if they'll do that fight in Canada. Not really sure. I will say this, though, if they go back to Canada, if Charles Oliver somehow wins the title in October, I think you kind of have to send Charles over there. Do we not? Like, how over he was in Vancouver heading into that Darius fight, he was the star of the freaking show. He was more popular than the Canadian fighters. So that's not a bad. Charles isn't a bad guy to have over there.

if he somehow beats Mockachev, I don't think he's going to, but if he wants to turn around relatively quickly and get some pay-per-view points, not a bad, not a bad call there. But, yeah, Strickle DDP in Toronto would be, like, the weirdest thing ever. I mean, I would dig it, see how Sean would cater to the Canadian crowd. But, yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Go ahead, four-out sniper. I think we have you now.

Hey, can you hear me? Hey, a heck of a morning. Just real quick for you, what do you think is going to happen with Belal Mohammed? Is there a way, is there a world where he just sits this one out and maybe gets the next title shot? Or can we get a Mystic Mike prediction on

what do you think is going to happen with him? Does he have to fight Shopcott or is there somebody else he's going to have to fight? And that's all I got. That's a good question. So what I think could end up happening and maybe it happens on the December card. Like, I don't think Bilal really is at any position.

Like, he could wait. He could sit there and wait and hope everything kind of works out in his favor. But I don't know if that's necessarily a smart thing to do with all these guys on the come-up. So if I'm Bilal Mohammed, I would be going all in on Kamar Usman. Like, get that fight.

Like, that fight is realistic for him now. You go and you beat Kamala. tomorrow, like, it's almost beyond the shadow of a doubt now that you're the guy. And if you do it in December on the same card as Colby versus Leon, you'll let Ballal kind of cook a little bit around those guys. You let him and Colby go back and forth. You let him and Leon go back and forth. Like, that wouldn't be a bad idea.

Maybe Belal comes in as the backup or whatever. But he's in a tough spot, man. And I said that, like, after he'd be burns. He's in such a tough spot because it took so long to book this fight. And if I'm Bala Muhammad and you're playing the waiting game, you're going to risk it for the Biscuit, you better pray Leon Edwards wins that fight. You better pray he wins that fight. Because if Colby wins, I don't think he's getting title shot.

Because Colby's not going to fight Bala. And the UFC views Colby as one of their guys. And if Colby wants to fight Connor or wants to fight Dustin Porreier or wants to fight somebody else and make a bunch of money, the UFC is going to let it happen. So, Ballows in a tough spot, go fight Camaro. You win that fight. You're almost undeniable. But still, you would need Leon to win. Because I think if Colby wins, he's in trouble unless he does fight Usman on that card and makes a lot of noise at the press.

conference and gets those guys attention, but I hated this fight. Him and Burns fighting in May, just rushing this fight together for no reason. Like, there's no reason to put that fight on that card. And now look at us. Blah Muhammad, like, has earned a title shot, but he might not get it. So he's in a tough spot. But if I'm him, I'm fighting. I'll fight Usman, but I ain't fighting anybody else.

and then even then he still might be screwed if Colby wins man that's welcome to UFC my friends Bull go ahead did you talk about Thur O'Gone yet Mike

no please Mike goodness gracious what is going on with this guy this has to be the most blatant duck I've ever witnessed and I've been watching MMAs as I was in diapers this guy is talking about,

ooh, I won the title, I just want to go up. Buddy, you're number one. There's no more up to go. You had your title shot. There's no more up. You got to fight some of the guys that are right behind you. I mean, they're arguably in front of you. You had two shots.

What is going on with this guy, Mike? Please enlighten me. I'm confused. He said three. He got the interim title shot. He got the Francis fight, lost the Francis fight, and then got tapped by Joe. John Jones in the minute.

So I'm not going to, I don't think he's ducking anybody, but I just think his, I just think his mindset is totally off here. I just, he's got to think more realistically. Like, I understand that that Paris card was incredible and Cyril looked great and just mowed his opponent down. And he got cheered like a freaking superstar. It was like, it was a great night. The fans are on fire.

It's exactly what you need. for a guy like Cyril God. But to sit there and say, no, I'm just waiting for the belt. Like, it's just not right. It's just not right. Now, if you don't want to fight Tom Aspinall, if you feel like Tom is too far behind you after the layoff

and the marching Taibora when was enough for you, fine. Say that. I thought Cyril made a huge mistake. I thought he should have went all in on Sergey Pavlovich. stylistically, that's a fight that is super dangerous, but it's a fight stylistically that Cyril could win. Like, it's a more winnable fight than I think it is for Tom Aspinall, against Tom Aspinall.

So the fact that he won, I should get the title, it's craziness. It's absolutely insanity. And guess what? If Jailton O'Meda beats Curtis Blades, November 4th, the week before the heavyweight title fight, he's even further back. He's even farther back in the conversation. So, yeah, don't love it.

Don't love it. He doesn't really have a lot of leverage to play with here. So I think Astonol probably has more leverage, if we're being honest. But, yeah, didn't love that. Didn't love that. I don't think it's going to work out for. I think he's going to have to, I think he's probably going to end up fighting Tom Aspinall now after all of this because I'm Sergey Padvich. I ain't fighting anybody at this point.

I'm just waiting for Jones and Steepa to ride off into the sunset and get into a vacant title fight. But the fact that he had no name and just like, nah, I'm number one. I should fight for the belt. Nothing else makes sense is crazy talk. Riley, go ahead. Riley, you're there. Oh, there go. I just wanted to ask, do you think, so Alex Pereira, this is going to be his fourth fight in, like, or well, really in 364 days, because he won the title November 12th, 2022, and this is on November 11th.

Do you think that it's going to be worn out a bit or, like, not taking enough time off? I know a lot of people were saying that he should take more time off after the brutal Izzy Kio. And I was one of those people, but then he came and beat Jan and looked solid. But now again, he's fighting not even July, August. He's fighting like two months after he beat Jan Blahovic for like three months. He's not given himself any time to recover after all these camps and whatnot. Um, thoughts on that. And then the other thing, Izzy posted his, uh, first comments after his loss.

So I was just wondering if you saw that and have any, uh, comments on that. Thanks. So I'll talk about the prayer thing first. I mean, really he only knows the answer to that question and Glover knows the answer that question. And I truly feel that if Glover felt like it was too soon and his team felt like it was too soon, they would tell him no. Um, case and point.

before we got Izzy Strickland in Sydney, the UFC had said no to that fight. They're like, nah, we'll go and we'll try to get Yuri and Alex instead. And they were both like, no, the hell are you talking about? Pereira's thinking, like, I just fought a month and a half ago, so I'm certainly not going to do this. And we ended up getting Strickland and Izzy, and that's what happened. So, look, I mean, for a guy like Alex Pereira, this is about as good as it gets.

right doesn't have to travel very far he's right up in connecticut he could probably freaking drive to msg in an hour and a half two hours i mean this is as close to home it's perfect honestly it's actually about as good as good of the situation as there could be for him so i think that probably played into it as well he doesn't have to cut to 85 anymore so that's very helpful he looked super happy fighting at 205 against yon behoff and look pretty damn good. So he didn't take a ton of damage in that fight. He didn't get hit really hard.

He got leg kicked a few times, but like he didn't get battered. He didn't get dropped. It was a pretty good night for him. And I think the logistics of it all kind of lines up perfectly for him. So it's not going to get any better unless they just have a rando fight night in Danbury, Connecticut,

which they're not going to do. so yeah he can fight in boston or new york that's about as good of his situation as there could be for for alex perera so yeah don't mind it don't mind it at all and shit i forget i think there's another question but i forgot i'll remember it i do this all the time uh sternus logger go ahead yeah uh i was just wondering um who is the next contender for the two o five times after a year and Alex, presuming Jamal Hill isn't recovered by then. I'm guessing he's probably in the first spot.

Do you think maybe Walker and Anka Lyev in October, maybe get that title shot? Thank you. I mean, if it's probably would be one of those two guys, one would think, if Jamal's already. But I think the UFC will try to get Jamal. The other option, If Alex wins, what about Israel-A-Sahnya?

What about Israel-A-Sanion? We let the middleweight division kind of play itself out. We can do the trilogy fight at 205 for the belt. You know that's something the UFC's thinking about. So, boy, if I'm the ankle-live Johnny Walker winner, I'm really hoping Yeri wins that fight. Really hoping Yer he wins that fight. But I honestly think that the UFC's,

and kind of going back to the point of the previous caller, about Pereira being so absent. active. Kind of a good time to wait for Jamal Hill, is it not? Go and fight again, four fights in less of the year, right around a year stretch. Then you can wait for Jamal Hill to come back. I would guess Jamal Hill is going to be ready by the summer.

So I don't think that's too long to wait, honestly. But we'll see. Izzy's in play. That's for sure. Oh, now I remember now I said Izzy. Previous caller asked, Izzy broke his silence, as I expected, did something on his YouTube channel. I liked what he had to say, honestly. Did I watch the whole thing, no?

Did I read the Cliff Notes sort of version on M-Afighting.com? Yes, I did. I thought he handled himself pretty well. He didn't make a lot of excuses. He said Sean frustrated him. There was nothing, at least he didn't reveal. to what I know anyways, that there's like anything wrong with him

or it didn't seem like he offered any excuses just that Sean had a great game plan, put Sean over, put Eric Nixick and the team over. I thought he handled it pretty well. God he handled it really, really well. Didn't completely expect that to be honest, but not saying that he wouldn't handle it with grace in class,

but I was curious if he would kind of open up about, well, I was going through this, I was dealing with this. maybe he did because I didn't watch the whole thing but didn't seem like he did from everything that I saw so I thought he handled himself pretty well good for him and now he should take a break

and who knows maybe he gets to fight for the 205 title again in his next fight craziness uh fact friends yeah I was gonna say it's actually quite interesting uh you know there's certain there's certain fighters that uh you know get worse with kind of ring rust and having that prolonged period I would say Alex Pereira and Strickland are both those type of guys that

like staying active, it's good for them. Like they continuously spar and they have that energy, that's damage to keep going. You know, we know that Strickland spars pretty heavily, right? Same with, you know, Alex Pereira from the videos that we've seen as well. They're both those kind of, you know, active fighter guys. I don't see what's stopping Alex Pereira from claiming the belt in his current weight class. and then God knows

maybe you know Strickland still sticks around a middleweight you can see potentially a rematch in Strickland's class do you see any of that happening or am I just dreaming here

wouldn't rule it out sorry I wouldn't completely rule it out look at this point as a UFC fan you should never rule anything out I mean there are certain like ridiculous things

like Demetre Johnson's not going to fight John Jones We don't have to think about that shit. But if we think about like, could Izzy go to 205 and fight for the light heavyweight title this next fight? Certainly. Could Alex Perea win the light heavyweight title and then suddenly say, you know what?

I want to fight for the middleweight title and fight Sean Strickland since I already knocked him out. I'll make the cut again. Certainly. Like, everything's in play. Everything is in play. Nothing would surprise me. Nothing seems completely off the board

that is at least realistic. It's a crazy time, my friends. It is a crazy time indeed, and nothing at all would surprise me. That would certainly not surprise me, but I wouldn't recommend it. He seems so happy at 205. And him and Jamal Hill is great. He could get the Izzy fight again. That's a humongous fight at 205.

The options are plenty, and everything's in play. That's realistic, so. Okay, we're done. Good show. love when we have things to talk about. So good news there. Some bad news. I will not be here tomorrow.

I will talk to my best friend, AK, to see if he wants to do Lee in the morning. So I will not be here tomorrow. I have to... The problem with doing certain things and having the ability to emcee and DJ and your wife knows that, she volunteers you for things that you probably don't want to do.

And tomorrow is one of those days. There's going to be like this big luau event at my kids' school. So I will be there from 745 till 3 p.m. entertaining a bunch of kids playing luau music. I don't even know what that means, but I have no idea what I'm walking into, but that's where I will be tomorrow. So I'll talk to A. Casey, if he wants to hop on and take your questions, maybe do a little free-for-all-Friday action.

We'll have a preview show tomorrow as well. I'm not sure what time, but it will happen. So obviously tune into that. Saturday is obviously a very busy day. Lots of fights going on. We got one tomorrow night as well. It's going to be a busy weekend in combat sports. And then we get a break from the UFC next week.

17 weeks in a row. And then we get a breather and then we'll close out the year in a pretty big way. So thank you all very much. Much appreciated. I will see you guys on BTL at 12.30 p.m. Eastern should be a good time. So thank you all. Have a great rest of your Thursday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.

Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.