MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Makhachev vs. Oliveira 2, Chimaev vs. Costa; Plus, Who Will Face Sandhagen Now?

Episode Date: July 20, 2023

Wednesday's news day in the MMA world was a busy one, which included UFC President Dana White announcing the first three bouts for the promotion's return to Abu Dhabi, featuring Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira 2 for the lightweight title, and the return of Khamzat Chimaev against Paulo Costa. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to those announced UFC 294 matchups, and if they were the right bouts to make. Additionally, topics include Umar Nurmagomedov's injury leading to his UFC Nashville headliner scratch against Cory Sandhagen, who Sandhagen could fight instead on the Aug. 5 card, Israel Adesanya announcing Dricus Du Plessis likely won't be ready for UFC 293 in September and him offering the middleweight title fight to Sean Strickland, the UFC's heavyweight division, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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We're on the eve of the eve of the UFC's return to London. UFC London going down this Saturday. Tom Aspinall back in the Octagon and the main event taking on Marchine Tybora. Meatball Molly is back against Julia Stoli Arranco. and while that event surely has some buzz in the UK and overseas, if you will, across the pond, that pales in comparison to all the news we have gotten over the last 18 to 20 hours, I would say. It was a very busy day in the mixed martial arts world. and we got some answers to some questions.

Some we don't have all the answers to, but we do have some answers to some. Started off with a little bit of a bummer. We found out that Umar Normaga Madoff is out of the UFC Nashville main event against Corey Sandhagen. We weren't really sure why. And then we found out either late last night or this morning, depending on when you found it, on Umar's Instagram stories reveal the shoulder injury. He says that some torn ligaments in his shoulder. So he is out of the fight.

UFC actively looking for a replacement. I'm told there are some names in the mix, but nothing is done yet. So we'll see what happens with that. Then we have been wondering what the hell is going on with Paulo Costa, right? what has been going on. And if you listen to the show on Tuesday, there are reports out there that Paula was out of the fight with Iqram Alaskaroff at UFC 291 next Saturday.

Reports are saying Roman DeLite was in. I told you that was not the case. DeLizze, other plans are in the works for him, but he would not be fighting Iqqa Alaskaroff. Turns out the fight we should have been getting all along is the fight we're getting, at least as of right now, October, UFC 294, Abu Dhabi. Paula Costa is going to welcome back Hamzat Shemayev to the Octagon. It'll be Shemayev's first fight in 13 months.

That fight is going down. This is the fight that should have been booked to begin with. And like I have been saying for months when it came to Paula Costa and Ike Ramos Scaroff. Until I saw Paul Costa in Salt Lake City doing media day scrums and sitting his ass at the press conference, I did not believe that fight was happening for a second. Was I intrigued by the idea and the notion of that fight? Yeah, I was. But I just didn't see a world where that fight was actually going to take place. Turned out I was right. And turns out we're getting Costa versus Shamiath, which was the perfect fight to make to begin with. So that fight is going down

in October. We also found out the main event for that card. We have all been wondering, who is Islam Makachev going to fight in Abu Dhabi? And it turns out he will be fighting Charles Olivera. Now, a lot of people were stunned by this. Stunned by this. Oh, but Charles Olivera said that he wasn't going to be ready for November or December.

And what did I tell you? What did I tell you? Do not rule it out. Charles Oliver has become very wise. over the years. He knows how to play the game. This was possibly a negotiation tactic. And to quote the great Walter White from Breaking Bad,

tell me something in this world that is not negotiable. And Charles Olivera probably made a little bit more of a bag. I'm sure that bag of money he was getting to fight Islam to begin with is now heavier. And now Charles gets his rematch. At least that's what the UFC announced. Now, I will say this. We have seen this before. Hell, we've seen it with the conversation that we're in the middle of right now.

Sometimes the UFC will just announce a fight before it's all done, kind of puts a pressure on. Al Jemade Sterling, perfect example with Sean O'Malley. But it appears this is what we're going to get. And this is the right thing all along. As I said on Tuesday, my guess was Volkanowski would be the first. choice if Volk had called the UFC and said, hey, I'm 100% in, send me the contract, I'm down. I think they would have went with him, but he just had the surgery. Looks like a six-week recovery before he can get back in the gym.

It just seemed very unlikely that he was going to get that shot. And Oliver seemed to be either 1B or number two on the list. Throw him a couple more bucks. He will make sure he's ready. And plus, I think Charles understands as well, the shot could be gone. Like if he didn't take it in this opportunity, he may not get another one

because you best believe that Volk is going to be in play and that the winner of the Dustin Porre, Justin Gachy, BMF title fight is probably next in line anyway. So all there found a way to probably get himself an extra bit of a bag and gets his title shot. And everything seems to be working on his favor. We also found it, Icaraphr,

Nassarine Imov, on that card. fine fight. Probably wouldn't have been my first choice. I would have liked to have seen Nasredeen fight in Paris, but not going to happen. And Iqraim gets his fight, fighting Imovov, and those are the first three fights for UFC 2994 as of right now.

So a lot going on in the world of mixed martial arts, craziness. So let's just get after this and hear what you all have to say about what's going on. Toke, we will begin with you, my man. How are you? Thank you. Yeah, we got the news that we all wanted.

We wanted, or not all probably, but I wanted to see Chalky Olives fight Islam. It was the right choice. I'm happy that they found common ground and that Vogue gets to fight against Soporia at some point, hopefully. I hope that's what we do. Things might be lining up. but, you know, in Abu Dhabi, usually, if I remember correctly, we get two title fights normally. And I'm just wondering what, like, because that's part of their deal somehow, or it has been, I think. But anyways, they pay a lot of money.

They might want two title fights on there. So I'm just curious what fight you see that. what title fight you see that could come up on that. And other than that, I'm just happy that, I mean, I would have liked Dana to say, yeah, Iq from Polacosta was a play on our side, was never a thing, but he's not going to admit to that, obviously. But it's just funny to do this a week before the fight. He says, oh, yeah, we're moving in both to Abu Dhabi from their scheduled bout.

Yeah, good. Good on you, Dana. good on you. But anyways, that was basically it. Have a heck of a day, my man. Thanks, man. Well, I wonder if, you know, because we talked about this the other day as well, what other title fight could you put on this card right now? That really makes any sense. You're not going to do Leon versus Colby because that makes literally no sense. Everything else is either booked or just happened. So the only other one I think could be a possibility.

and I don't know if it is, is maybe you give Amir Al-Bazi his flyway title shot, have him doing an Ibo-Dhabi, but Pantosia and Moreno just went to war for five rounds. So asking Pantosia to turn around that quickly,

you're asking a lot. You're asking a lot. So I wonder if just Hamzot being in that spot is enough, and I think it probably is, honestly. You throw Hamzaon in that spot,

there's going to be a ton of buzz you put paul costa in that spot it's going to be a ton of buzz maybe that's enough along with the islam fight and i'm sure they're going to load that card with with a bunch of crazy fights as well so yeah that's that's what we're getting on top of that one thing i forgot to mention and i can't believe i forgot about this we heard from the middleweight champion of the world israel adasania last night adasania goes on instagram or goes on social media and says, look, I am fighting in Sydney, but it's not going to be against Strickus 2 Plus E. Sean Strickland, step up to the plate, you get your title shot.

Now, I don't know if that's what's going to happen, but as you've been talking about for a while, that was certainly an option. It makes sense. There's beef, there's history, and the goal of this whole event is to have Israel out of Sanya, headline and fight. and I'd be stunned if Sean Strickland said no to this.

So that's what's likely going to happen. But again, let me just reiterate how fucking stupid putting Robert Whitaker drink his duplice on that UFC UFC 290 card was in hindsight. It's so dumb. Like did it make perhaps a bigger fight sure? But now we're not even getting it. Now we're going to have to wait even longer for it. And we have to just hope that Izzy goes out there and beat Sean.

but you never know. There's the banana peel thing. Maybe Sean just has a great day and Izzy's off. Who knows? Who knows? But now, now look what we're doing. Now look at what we're doing. That fight, which got even more buzzed after UFC 290,

we're going to have to wait probably until 2024 to get it. That's tough. That's tough. But, yeah. A lot going on right now. It's craziness. Four corner sports. You're waving like crazy.

What's up? Oh, hey, Mike. So, what's the cool? I said it before that DDP shouldn't have taken the fight, and I think there was the right choice. But, I mean, Izzy can't really expect what's the cool, DDP to make that quick turnaround, knowing that was, knowing the fight that him and Whitaker have.

And I agree with you. It should have never happened whatsoever, especially on International Fight Week. I think it should have happened on the jersey card or even the Vancouver card. That would have made a lot more sense, but is he saying that he ended up blowing his knee and stuff like that?

And I was telling other people that, you know, is he had, you know, a good amount of signs to recover, maybe not for the knee or anything like that, but definitely times to recover from absorbing shots from Alex Barrero from April to now September. And for DDP to make a quick turnaround in, what, seven weeks? I mean, it's not really, I mean, it's possible, but, you know, why would DDP want to put himself in a position where, you know,

he's a lesser version of himself than, you know, what, he would be if he took the fight in, what, December, or anything like that? Also, it makes me a question because, you know, they went with Olivero. I thought they would have went with Volcanowski for the Islam fight. and if not then I thought they would have went with Chandler so is there any possibility that Chandler is still going to be on the sidelines you know for a potential McGregor fight because you know everybody keeps on saying you know possibly December possibly December

if not maybe what January but if that's is that was going to be in play for Chandler I don't know if you heard or anything like that I know you may not be able to say everything but that's one thing that I saw was like hmm Olivero. I thought they would have possibly won, like I said, Wokanowski, if not Chandler, but it made me really think, you know, what's going to happen with, you know, Chandler and McGregor.

And lastly, you know, I saw a demographic of Costa, you know, the amount of fights he's had. He's had one fight every year since the year of 2018. And it makes me think, like, I don't know if he's going into his final fight

of his contract, but who do you favor in the Hamza? versus Costa matchup. And my personal opinion, I just feel that Costa is more in love with being a fighter in the USC than actually fighting just because I don't know

if it's him just trying to prize fight or anything like that. I mean, I know that Iqraim Alaskarup isn't the most, you know, sexiest name out there and Hamza is a bigger name

to have on your resume. But to me, it just felt like, you know, Paula Costa, you know, rather have that clout as opposed to, you know,

being an active fighter. That's what I've got to say. Thanks. So a lot to unpack there. Look, I've been saying for a while, I, I'm cautiously optimistic that Connor does fight and that we do get this

Chandler fight. I'm not, I'm not worried about Usada and the pool and all that. If the UFC, USADA works for the UFC. If the UFC wants to push Connor through, they will push him through to fight Michael Chandler. So I'm not,

The Usada thing is not my worry at all. It's just, can Connor get through a training camp? Can he get through everything without getting into trouble? It just seems like he gets into trouble every other day. Every week there's a Connor headline for doing something crazy. You know, that's what it comes down to to me. Not the Usada pool. The UFC could just be like, no, we'll give them an exemption.

They've done it before. Even Dana has said, you know, who gives a shit? like we'll not too worried about it so i would say chucky getting this this fight and not chandler i don't know probably boosts my optimism a little bit that that fight's going to happen but again when it comes to connor mcgregor who the hell knows with costa yeah i think he's he's a businessman he's understanding prize fighting this is what it's all about get what you want and who knows He said he had one fight left in his deal.

He's also said that he signed a new deal or he's about to sign a new deal. He's going to make a million dollars to fight, gotta, yada, yada. Not sure if I believe that or not. But even if they're on Koster in there with Hamzaa Shamaif, it's the last fight on his deal, I think Shemayev is probably going to be a pretty sizable favor in that fight. I would pick Hamzaa Shama. I mean, look, Luke Rockhold, who is nowhere near the championship. level Luke Rockhold, the guy who beat Chris Wideman,

Luke was able to get Paulo down and get on top and land shots. If Hamzad does that to him, he's going to kill him. So, yeah, I don't know what the contract situation looks like. I am favoring Hamzaat Shemayev, and if Hamzat wins, he's going to be in a really good position. That's for sure. It's just a matter of, is this the moment where, things start to open up for homicide again, where he's not fighting just once a year.

Can he get in there two or three times? But he's going to be in a real interesting spot if he goes out there and beats Paul Costa. I'm a little trepidacious. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. We get two guys who are very tough to get in that octagon. And I'm kind of, I feel good about it. But again, this is one of those situations where until I see both guys there, they weigh in,

they do the face-offs and all that. I'm not 100% on anything that has to do with these two guys, but I feel better about this than the Alaskara fight. Mikey, hello. Hey, morning, Mikey. How's everybody doing? Listen, can we just slow down with the overreaction?

Listen, I get how it sucks right now because they got indication, all that stuff. But I think it's perfectly fine to let the Drickis, Duplice, Israel-Sania fight, marinate for a minute. Yes, I know there's the risk of you know, Sean Strickland by some miracle of,

by some miracle beating Israel Adesania. But you know what? That's sports, man. Sometimes best laid plans. I personally don't mind because the UFC middleweight division was becoming, was reaching that point where it's like, because you know how you have a fan. Some of you have a many fans like to do.

It's funny. You guys need to pick a lane, man. Either the UFC rushes everything or they let stuff meridate. Because if Duplessi and Adesania fought in Sydney and then he wipes out the duplicity like we expect, then people are going to be like, who's left for Adasanya to fight? Should he go up to 205?

So I kind of like this better because, again, obviously it's not pro wrestling and can't fix stuff, but if things go a line, it will be more perfect. You can, Adasanya gets both things he wants, right? He gets to fight in Sydney, but he gets to fight somebody else, which is Strickland,

so he gets to have a showcase title defense in Sydney, and then you allow the buildup to Driscus at International Fight Week. And you know, the funny thing is, Adasanya has thought out loud that he wants to headline a card here in Vegas at Allegiance Stadium. Now, I'm not sure the UFC's ever going to do this for International Fight Week, but I'll tell you what, man, you load up a card.

What better way to have UFC 300, right, to put that in Allegiance Stadium next year in 24 and have that be Driscus, Adisania, and maybe Connor? Yeah, I know if Connor will, I don't know if, you know, we talk about what Connor made events every pay for you, but you know what? Exceptions can be made. I'm sure he wouldn't mind just being part of a giant card like UFC 300. Not saying any of the things are going to happen, but I'm just saying, MMA fans need to exercise their patience.

They're either too impatient or they don't want patient. It's like, it's fine. And if there's some, you know, a hiccup along the way, like Strickland winning the title, it is what it is. That's the sport. It happens. At the end of the day, if there's enough meat to a rivalry, we're going to get it anyway. I mean, people forget Rampage Jackson and Rashaad Evans were supposed to fight. Remember when Rampage Jackson were supposed to fight for the title in 2009, but Lio de Machita knocked out Rashad Evans? But yet Rampage Jackson and Rashad ended up fighting like a year later anyway after coaching tough for no title and it still did a million paper revise. At the end of the day, if there's a rivalry, if there's meat there, People will watch it. Title or no title. Just saying. And as for Kobe Covington and Leon might be on MSG, right?

Which is kind of cool. It'll be cool for Leon, but kind of annoying how Kobe keeps getting MSG because he's not a draw. And also, who do you think should step up to fight, Corey? So, all right. As always, be kind of one another. Talk to you together. I mean, I don't know if you could say Colby's not a draw.

He's headlined MSG and didn't. pretty sizable gates there. So, I mean, is he like a paper review draw? Is he a million pay-per-view guy? Probably not. But is he a guy that could sell tickets to a building for a fight? Yeah. Even a rematch that nobody was really hankering for, for being honest.

So, yeah, look, he's, and he's not selling tickets. He'll be the co-main event to John Jones. I mean, that's, that's a fucking, that's a crazy card. That's a one-two punch and a half right there with those two guys. It's tough to say. I get where you're coming from with the patience and all that. But look, all of this whole thing with Drickis was to build to this fight with Adasania. And you're right.

Adasani has wiped out a lot of this division. There are guys he had, there are only a couple of guys that are in position he hasn't fought yet. But guess what? Now you have another guy potentially. because I hate to tell you, if Hamzaa Shemayev runs over Paulo Costa and cuts a promo, the UFC is a business.

And as much as DDP and Izzy have a rivalry, and as much as that is peaked, you best believe that people are going to be calling into the show on Tuesday after UFC 294 and saying, fuck DDP, give it to Hamzad. And then where do we go from there? And by the way, Hamzad is the bigger fight. It's the bigger fight by a lot.

It's not even close. That is probably the biggest fight you can make for Izzy right now. If Hamzat runs over Paulo Costa. There's just no avoiding it then. He's going to have to fight this guy. And DDP gets kind of left in the sidelines. on the other hand the UFC

puts you in a position and they will sit there and say certain things. For instance Robin Whitaker, Drinkus 2 Plus C are fighting. The winner of that is going to fight for the belt against Israel Adisania. That was the plan the UFC wanted from Jump Street. Did

we question it? Sure. But was it the plan the UFC wanted all along? Yes. And now that plan has fallen apart. How fondly towards DDP? Does DDP have a little extra leverage in this situation? Sure, but that leverage goes away of Hamzaa Chamaa beats Paulo Costa. Just a fact.

So it's a different situation, yes. Is it rushed to have Al Jermaine-Sirling fight Sean O'Malley three months after beating Henry Sehudo? Yes. Like, could we have waited for that fight? Sure. was it promised that it was going to happen in Boston before they booked the fight? No, but they promised this.

They promised this. Dana said this is the winner is fighting Izzy and Sidney. And now it's not happening. And we understand why because DDP is a human being. You get hurt. You get in fights. You're probably got to get dinged up a little bit. There's training camps.

Those are tough too. When the UFC puts you in this position and, they feel like you've let them down, they have penalized fighters for this. So to be a little head scratchy about the situation and feel like some of the hype has gone away, I think it's a pretty natural reaction because there's precedent set. So look, this is what I thought. This is what I figure was going to happen anyways. Like don't promise us this fight.

Like just throw Strickland in there. If we're going to do the A-Boose fight for Sean and he wins, just give him the title shut. Just say, like, look, is he going to fight Strickland? The winner will fight Drickis in 2024. Just say that. Just say that that's the plan. And then none of this is a problem.

But you didn't. You didn't do that. And Izzy was still under the impression that he was going to fight DDP and Sidney. Go watch his interview that he did on his channel. The beginning is, hey, who wants to win tickets to, watch me fight drink is due plus C in Sydney. So it's a whole weird situation. As far as Sanhagen goes, I don't know, man.

Not a ton of options. From what I understand, there's rumblings. I mean, please do not say that I'm reporting anything. There are discussions to possibly get Rob Font in there, but far from done. I mean far from done. Those are just like, those are ideas. It's like an idea that's being put out there. But Rob is scheduled to fight in Boston against Song Yudong.

And yes, Corey Sandhagen is a nice step up. But Rob is very smart, very calculated. His team is like that as well. And the dude wants to fight in Boston. I mean, that's just it. He wants to fight in Boston. He wants to fight in his hometown. They haven't been to Boston in four years, almost.

The dude wants to fight in Boston. So, again, could the UFC come up with extra money, extra incentive? Sure, they could do that. Do I think it happens? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, what I'm saying is not like a shocking revelation. You would think, like, font was kind of the first choice here, right?

the best name that makes sense is actually available. But you've seen on Twitter, Adrienne Yannes has been wanting that fight. I don't know what they're going to do, honestly. I don't know what they're going to do. Do you try to, like, chuck a Ricky Simone in there coming off of a bad loss? I don't know what kind of cachet that fight provides. We already saw Corey fight Song Yudong. We saw Corey fight Marlon Vera.

I already beat both those guys. I don't know. We'll see. Let's get Eric in here. Eric, what's up, Bam? I can't wait for... I think Charles is there with that... What do you think is going to happen in the second fight

between the first they have? What, with Islam and Charles? Yeah. What's going to change? Thanks, gas. Not much, really. Look, I think Charles is a great fighter. He may be the most action-packed fighter we've ever seen

compete inside the octagon, especially this run. But the old adage and cliche is Stiles makes fights, and this is just a horrible matchup for Charles. It's just not good. And even when I picked Charles, and that was a heart pick, it was only because I can't pick against him anymore because every time I pick against Charles,

he proves me wrong. and I'm not going to pick against him again until he loses. But as I said in the lead into the first fight, everything on paper screamed that Islam was going to kill him. Just had every advantage over him that Charles can try to make things chaotic, but it doesn't really work on Islam because the dude is just so calculated and defensively sound. There just isn't a lot that Charles can do that is going to pose a huge threat to Islam. there's this whole narrative heading in like well

Islam takes him down Charles off of his back is just going to be way too much for him I just didn't think that was the case at all so I just don't think this I mean who knows who knows maybe Charles just taps into that fountain of youth again and can pull out a moment can survive the storm but I just I just don't see a world where that fight goes any differently But good for Charles to get a shot, and I hope he got a bag. Good for him.

Remember heading into that fight with Darius? We were like, oh, man, it's got to take something extra special for him to get back to this rematch where people are going to want to see it, where the UFC is going to want to see it. And the man went out there and did it. But be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. But yeah, I think is probably going to go out there and finish it again. We'll see.

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Dylan. This is coming on the heels of the last call, but, man, I woke up this morning and saw the news that Charles was fighting Islam, and I almost rolled my eyes out of my head, dude. Like, everything you just said about the fight, I 100% agree with. I think Islam's just going to raggle all Charles again. the last fight wasn't competitive. It was less than a year ago. But what I'm so disappointed about is like, why can't?

Like, I don't like the excuse that no one's going to be ready in time. Like, like, like, Gatji and Cori won't be ready. That would be a plausible choice. Like, you don't have to go with any of these guys. Like, why can't Armand Sauki get the next shot? Like, you have, like, stop promoting power slap for a second. Put that force behind them. let people, like get people to know him.

He's never going to get, like, a great win because no one wants to fight him. So, like, you have the power of Disney and ESPN behind you. You can make people care about that fight. Their last fight was amazing. It was awesome. And it was short notice. Like, there's a story behind it. I just, like, I would rather see that fight, but it's just so, I'm just tired of people

saying, like, that can't happen or something. It has to be a big name or something. like I was I'm sorry I was running but I was so disappointed in the news so I'm like I'll let you talk if you want bye no I hear you and even DC I think you put out a video recently it's like when you find out who islam's fighting you're going to roll your eyes but this is kind of what we wanted Dana said after not what we wanted but this is what Dana said UFC 289 Charles beats der eush said the rematch makes sense he wants to see it. This is what's there.

I mean, I would take this fight over Volk. I take it over Volk. Like, I know we would have seen them both, and I know the Volk fight was closer, but I just want to see these guys fight their respective divisional counterparts for a little while. And Charles' is the only dude there right now.

I mean, look, Sirukian, I don't need to talk about how high I think of Arm and Sarukian. that dude is going to fight for a belt. It's probably going to be a champion at some point. But yeah, that's the problem. He just has nobody to fight right now. So hopefully, Armand gets on that card and fights Darius.

And then he can get his shot. But I wonder how things would look if he had headlined against an Atomoy Kano and just if he just went out there and trucked him. Would we be, would Zerukin be so far out of the equation? but he beat Joachim Silva got wobbled in that fight pretty badly went out there and just said F this and finished him the third round dude's a problem but that's the thing about this division there's just it's so big name top heavy that these younger up-and-coming guys are just not getting

their opportunities now gamrock got his and he lost to derayush Viziv got his lost to justice and gaichi. Now let's give good old Saruki and his shot. Let's give Armin his chance. Throw him in there with Benny. See what happens. Benny beats him. Maybe Benny can somehow, I don't think Benny's ever going to get a title shot, but he could somehow get himself back in the conversation. And if Sarukian beats Benny, then there we go. We had a rematch we could sell. But if this is any other, if they weren't going to Abu Dhabi, I think Syruquian would probably have more of a chance, but I think they wanted to just get the biggest names possible.

They're paying the UFC a lot of money to host these cards and giving the big names and the big stars. And Charles is one of the big stars right now. So he's a much bigger star than Surukian. And Sarukin's a pretty – Surrogan's a really interesting guy. So he'll get his chance, hopefully, eventually. But Surrogate needs to fight on this card, is what I'm trying to tell you. He needs to fight a rank guy.

Someone in the top five. to seven range at worst. CV, hello. Hey, Mike, heck of a morning. So since we got all these recent main event announcements, so we got the lightweight belt being defended in October

and heavyweight belt getting defended in November. And you mentioned Leon and Colby, possibly a common event at the MSG card. Can you kind of speculate on what do you think will be like the last main event of the year. Maybe like a light heavyweight vacant belt again, like last year.

But I don't know. That's probably going to depend on how Blahovic and Pereira ends next weekend. And one more thing. Not really a question, but I just saw your interview with Josiah Harrow. And that was a great interview, man. And I hope we got to see that guy fight in the octagon soon. Thanks. Thanks, man.

It was nice to knock the rust off. do like a ton of interviews anymore because of all the shows and everything else going on. We have the MMA hour and Damon does a ton of interviews. So I just not really in a huge position to do a ton anymore. But yeah, that was that was some interview. That was some conversation. So if you haven't watched it, go go check it out. I mean, you have to think that they're in a perfect world.

It's Connor Chandler closing out the year. because I think the UFC owes the fans for last year's crappy end-of-year pay-per-view event. So I think that's going to be what they look at. I'm with you maybe on the light, heavyweight one if they can't get it together, but I think Alex Pereira is going to have to win. Uri-Vosz-Ale-Rae versus Alex Pereira is friggin insane.

And there's a story there. It makes sense. I don't think they're going to have Jan Belhovic headline another end-of-year pay-per-view if they could avoid it. even though, you know, it's, I don't know, again, that fight with Anka-Lyaf was not as bad as Dana would lead you to believe that it was. It was an interesting fight.

Jan just kind of banged, banged up. Ankelyaf early, and Ankelythe did what he had to do to come back and win, or at least force a draw and not lose the fight. But, yeah, it's tough to say right now. Everything's kind of up in the air. I'm just kind of looking at what's available for title fights. Certainly they're not going to headline with Julianna Pena Raquel Pennington. But that could be like a second title fight if you need it.

It could be a third title fight for November. And we'll see what happens at Bannamweight. Maybe we'll have to crown a new champion at Bannamweight. Because if Aljo beat Sean O'Malley's probably vacant in the belt. And if Sean O'Malley wins, they're probably going to want him on that card. against whoever. Maybe he could do Volkadovsky Iliate's Pori on that card.

I mean, there will be options there, but it will all depend on what's going on with Connor and Chandler. You would think that's their first choice, but they will have other options if they can't get that one together. Let's go to Cole. What's up, Cole?

Hello, Mike. Beautiful morning out here in nice Golden Valley Country Club, Minneapolis, Minnesota. All I got to say is I really enjoyed Giuliana Pena's appearance on the MMA hour yesterday. I love the fire. I'm actually a – it might be a hot take, but I'm a big fan of Giuliana recently. I mean, despite the Nunez slander, but being that I'm lucky enough to go attend UFC Nashville,

I'm a little worried about the main event. Luckily, my favorite fighter is still in the main event, but just like – I kind of missed your opening monologue, so I might have missed it. But like, what are your thoughts on who might step in? I think it's either going to be Cruz, Font, or Jonathan Martinez. What do you think about those three? I don't think it'll be Martinez. Cruise would be a good one.

Cruise would be a good one. I'd love to see that. They could somehow pull that off. That'd be pretty cool. But we're, um, there's, there are a report. that there's talks about him cruise fighting Davis and Figurado. I think I saw November for that. From what I was told, there's some smoke to those reports,

but to say that fight is done would be just not good. It's far from done, from what I understand. But when I saw that report, obviously we reached out. I think it came out during UFC 290 fight week. but apparently that fight has been discussed. Now, I don't know if it's going to happen or not, but that fight has been discussed. But is Cruz going to fight, turn around and fight in two and a half weeks?

I don't know. Cruz just doesn't seem like that type of cat at this point in his career. I feel like the UFC's going to do everything in their power to try to get Rob Font in there. I just think that that's something you could do. and it's an opponent that Corey hasn't fought yet. And Rob is scheduled to fight around that same timeline. Now you're asking a guy that was supposed to fight three rounds in his home city,

something he's been jacked about since the card was announced. And now you're asking him to go five. He was preparing for a totally different guy. It's a lot. And Rob is a, like I've said, those cartel guys, they are like the New England Patriots. They study everything. They're very meticulous.

there's game plans and dock everything they have like a big multi-pronged thing in place for all these fights they prepare for so it's probably going to take some doing to get Rob off that card in Boston but it is an opportunity for Rob it's definitely a bigger opportunity than fighting selling you dong but sometimes

just fighting in your home building means more in some respect. So I don't know. I don't know. But I think the UFC's going to try to full court press for Rob. And if they get them great, if not, they'll probably find somebody else. But wouldn't some me, if Rob says, nah, I'm good,

I wouldn't mind seeing San Hagan fight Adrianianas. I mean, be fun for as long as it lasts. But I don't know. It's just a tough spot to be in because Corey's been around. He's fought all these guys. And I like Jonathan Martinez. Don't get me wrong. But he's not a guy that's going to put butts in seats.

He's not going to get extra viewership on ABC. We call him the silence behind the violence for a reason. He's very shy and soft-spoken and good fighter, but not a guy that you could push to be like a big star. Let me look at like, I just don't know. I don't know how they're going to pull it off, but let me see you other names. Like Ricky Simone was another name.

I think he would obviously take it. They could pull Cody Garbrand from Boston. That's a name. I could see that being an option. I mean, it's a big step up for Cody right now, considering where he's at in his career. But if Cody wants to fight for a belt ever again, These opportunities don't come very often.

Now, what will Cody gain more from? Beating Mario Batista on the prelims of a UFC pay-per-view event or getting in there and scrapping it up with Corey Zanagan in the main event two weeks earlier. So I think Garbrand's a good, not a bad option. Now that I think of it, yeah, I kind of like the Gar-Brand idea. Maybe that's the one. Maybe that's the right answer.

At worst, it's a showcase fight for Corey and, Corey gets to put another former champion or a former champ on his resume. I think you could lose, I think you could afford to lose Darbrand-Batista from 292 over Font-Yadong, if we're being honest. Maybe you swap in Pedro, I don't know. Vera's got a fight at 2-92, so you probably can't pull Pedro Munoz at this point. Yeah, I think Cody's a good option.

I like that pick. I like that option. J-Stad, hello. You too. What is your low-key banger for just Saturday's car? And, yeah, that'll be all. Low-key-banger. I mean, I want to just take a look.

Off the top of my head, this one seems kind of obvious, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything. It's Davy Grant Daniel Marcos. That's the one. I know it's like the prelim headliner, but that's the fight. That fight's going to be insane. absolutely insane Daniel's got a good record man

he's come in and looked real good he's finishing dudes and had a nice debut but Davy's like man Davy's Davy's just so tough dude is so tough and if you look at

the last five or so fights of Davy Grant's run Jonathan Martinez Marlon Vera AJ and Yanis, Lewis Smoka, you know, it is what it is.

And then Hafiela Sonsau, this is probably a step back for him in terms of quality of opponent. And by far, for Daniel Marcos, this is the toughest fight of his career. Like, it's no, not even close. But that fight's going to be insane.

So I'll probably go with that one. Danny Roberts, Johnny Parsons is going to be wild. and it could be the prettiest fight, but it's going to be pretty wild. I mean, Lorone Murphy, Josh Kulabow is not really a low-key banger because it's on the main car, but that's going to be fun.

There's potential for Jai Herbert for Zay-M-to-be-fun, but if Jai Herbert wants to just win, then I don't think it's going to be all that exciting. I don't think this is... If Jai just wants to go out there and get a win,

he's probably going to have to take Ferez down a bunch. So that comes. could be fun. And, you know, the rest of the main card's interesting. We got Moonez and Craig. Who the hell knows what's going to happen there? Nathania Wood, Andre Fielis, good fight. Main events,

interesting, but feel like that's a really good match for Tommy Aspinall, so this is good booking. And I don't understand the Molly McCann Julia Stoliarenko fight for the life of me. I don't get it. Why are we doing this? At 125?

like Julius Stolierranco struggles to make 135. We saw her faint on the freaking scale fighting at 135. And now we're putting her in a co-made event spot against one of the bigger names on the card. It's just I don't understand the matchmaking here. This one I don't get. I don't. If Stoli-Ranko makes 126, like she's going to be dying when she gets into that fight. So that's a weird one for me.

but there's potential for a lot of fun fights on this card this is a closely matched fight card for the most part but there's just not a lot of stakes outside of the main events and just the fighters who are fighting in front of their home crowd but there is i think it's going to be a fun afternoon to fights there's just not going to be a lot to talk about afterwards, I don't think, outside of the main event. Daniel, hello. Hey, Mike. I'm a morning to you. I guess I'll just make you expand here just a little bit on the Craig Mooneys fight.

It's just pretty cool, I guess, seeing Paul Craig go down to 185. I'm pretty interested to see it. I mean, the guy never really had too much fat on them to begin with, so you have to think he's going to be looking quite in shape there. But really, just more curious how you think the fight's going to play out. I mean, it's just going to be two grapplers going up against each other. I mean, what are the chances Paul Craig submits Andreemonez? And, like, Andreneemonez is now on a two-fight submission losing streak.

I mean, I would have never, I think, seen that in his career. So, yeah, just curious what you think is going to happen in the fight how it plays out. And what do you think a winner loss could do for the winner here? Thanks, Mike. I think the win probably does more for Paul Craig right now, because he's sort of the new name in the division. and if he goes out there and just if he goes out there and just strangles

Andre Munez, like that's massive for him. It seems like Paul Craig's like a darling dog this week. A lot of people seem to be backing him as an underdog play. I don't know. It's tough to say, like, the lines are right,

the way I'm looking at it. Right now, Andre Meney's minus 210. That's about right. I think Munez is the better striker. He's probably the better grappler overall, but Paul's going to be bigger. and he's so wild, I don't know. It's tough to have an actual breakdown of this fight

because I think Munez is slightly better everywhere, but Craig overall has just fought really good guys and up at 205, so he's gonna be the bigger dude. How is the weight cunt got to affect, Paul? There's a lot of unknowns and a lot of intangibles. It's a fight that I probably wouldn't bet on. Just one of those like sit back and relax kind of fights, but I lean Munez to get it done.

And I think the longer this one goes, the more it could favor Paul Craig. But when you got two guys like that, when Paul Craig fights anybody, it's just, it's so unknown. It's just so chaotic and weird. But I kind of like Monez in this spot, but it's tough to bet on anything having to do with a guy like Paul Craig because it's just so wild. 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 all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They're supporting talent from across the U.S. soccer extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward. From the pitch to the sand and everything in between, welcome to our turf. 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-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 let's go to drew what's up drew hey what's up mike called in the other day just want to say love the show thanks man got a quick question here

since in ghan who left you know we got the guys coming back donnie bones and now stepe so i view stepe it's kind of taken opportunities away from guys like pavlovitch obviously we got don and spivoc fighting in september But what are your thoughts if Ospinall wins the main event? Maybe an Ospinall Pavlovich title eliminator for the winner of Miotich Jones? Just a preposition. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know.

We got Jailton-Al-Mada fighting Curtis Blades a week before UFC 295. So I think that's going to have some significance on this conversation. Timing is going to have a lot to do with things. and we kind of have to wait and see, man, like how this is all going to work. Because I feel pretty confident that if John Jones wins, he's just going to leave. I don't think he's going to retire,

but I think he's going to just sit around and wait for something to come along. I don't think Sergey Pavlovich is going to do it for him, even though I think it's a fight that John could win pretty handily. But I just don't know if the juice is worth to squeeze there, honestly, unless it's just about, well, I want to break all the records. But to me, everything John's saying,

it just seems like beating the guy who has the most title defenses would be enough for him. And John is a prize fighter as well. He wants big fights. He wants big names. And as good as Sergey Pavavich has looked, that is not a big name. That is not a name that's going to get John Joe's excited. So maybe you do Aspinall Pavlov,

Pavich. Maybe you wait and see. Like, Jantan Amato goes out there. just works Curtis Blades. I mean, this is the one, right? We're all, a lot of people already to crown Jailton Almeida as the dude, but a lot of people are,

the other side, people are hesitant because they want to see him go up against an offensive opportunistic grappler and a well-rounded guy who can handle really good grappling. So Curtis Blades is really good matchmaking to get the answers to those questions. So I think we're going to have

to kind of wait and see. This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. but I think we'll figure it out after the Almeida Curtis Blades fight. Because if Almeida wins and finishes Kurt, if he just suffocates Curtis Blades like he's done to everybody else, he's going to get, he's going to be ahead, I think. I think they'll look at, I think they'll look at Jailton Almeida and Sergey Pavlovich

and Asimel will probably be like another win away. Look, beating Marching Taivore is great, but it's not enough. So maybe they do Asphenol versus the winner of the Cyril-Gon-Serg-Svivak fight is kind of the on-deck batter fight. But I think we have to wait and see how all these other fights play out first. But Tom beating Marching Tibor is great, but I don't know if it's going to be enough for him to jump to the top of that list. He'll be right there.

He'll be knocking on the door. But the injury and him being out and how that practice. the Blades fight went, you know, awkward or not, I don't think that really did him a lot of favors. So he's probably going to have to win another one before we could start talking about that. At least in my opinion, I could be wrong. But maybe they're going to London with the pay-per-view and the title is vacant. Not a bad way to crown a new champion if you're going back to London.

Max, hello. Hello, Mike. How are you been, brother? Good. What's up? Beauty. I don't know. I just talked in the chat here kind of late.

I apologize. But I was just wondering who you. think is going to replace Umar, uh, Nurmogam Adov versus Corey. I was looking through the top 10 and it's looking pretty tough right now in terms of like who's around or who could actually replace them. And, uh, yeah, like I think maybe Adrian Jania is about, uh, what chance do you think you'd have in that type of fight? It's obviously, uh, you know, the tough fight with Corey being so dynamic. So, uh, yeah, just, uh, let me know your thoughts on that and I'd love to hear it. Thanks, brother. Take care. I don't think

Yana's is, I mean, maybe he's in play. I know he wants. it and why the hell not after coming off a pretty bad loss. I think the UFC is going to target Rob Fonts. I think that's, I've heard that there are discussions at least with that idea. Again, please don't say like, like, Mike's reporting that they're going to do this. No, I ain't reporting shit. There are discussions. That's all I could say.

We're far from done. But that's obvious. Like Rob has to be in play. Rob is the first choice right now. He's got a fight booked around the same time. It's the highest ranked dude that Corey hasn't fought. It would make sense to pull Rob from the pay-per-view and have him fight Corey Sandhagen. However, Rob is fighting in Boston, and they haven't been to Boston in four years.

We know how much fighting at the garden means to Rob. He's got a tough fight, different dynamic, different style that he's been preparing for, three-round fight. Now he's potentially bump into five. Like, there's a lot in play here. you know and rob is a very calculated dude his whole team is like that when piotr yon and al jameen remember when peter yon and aljem stirling were going to fight in abu dhabi and sterling couldn't go and they needed to replace him for an interim title they called rob they called rob he just wasn't going to be

ready in time if he's going to get a title shot he wants to do it his way and be ready for it so i don't know could be that the other name i threw out i think coached Cody Garbrandt is a name. Is it the most compelling matchup of all time? No. Is it compelling storyline-wise in some respects? Yeah. Can you imagine if Cody Garbrandt goes out there

beats Corey Sandhagen? Like, that'd be freaking insane. And to me, because apparently we're going to have the Ultimate Fighter finale fights on the Boston card, if I have to choose, if I am a ticket purchaser, if you will, for a pay-per-view event,

the return to Boston, where Dana White is from, if I had to lose one fight off of this card from 135, are we losing Rob Fott'song-e-Dong, or are we losing Cody Gar-Brant Mario Batista? I think it's the latter. I think it's an easy choice.

And Cody is a name. Cody is a name. A guy who still feels like he could get back to his glory. And honestly, if he wants to get there sooner rather than later, this would be a great opportunity for him. To try, he might get melted, but he might get melted by Mario Batista.

These opportunities don't come very often. If I'm Cody, I'm talking to his team and saying, hey, try to get me in that fight. Fighting in Boston don't mean shit to Cody Garbrat. Fighting in Boston means everything to Rob Fon. So that's another name that I would like to see. Yannes would be interesting. I don't think anyone would complain if they went with Yonnas.

I think Cody is a good one. He's the former champion. He's got name value. He's got cachet, whether he hasn't been in his best the last few years or not. He's coming off of a win. Wasn't the prettiest win, but he is coming off of a win nonetheless. I don't think that's a bad choice. I don't think that's a bad choice.

For on sniper. Hello. Hey, Mike. Can you hear me? Yep. Hey, heck of a morning. Real quick for you. both Lerone Murphy and Nathaniel would go out there and get the win. Do you think the UFC go back to rebooking that, or do you think they move on from that? That's it, Mike. Thanks.

Well, they posted that video of them meeting in the hotel and having words for another, and we know the UFC loves to book a good rivalry and promote the crap out of it. So, yeah, I think they would try to rebook it. My guess would be they'll probably try to go back to London in March. If both guys want to wait for that, they can do it there. I don't think they would try to book that fight anywhere else. So, yeah, I think they could rebook that one. There's some heat there.

Let's try to settle it. Pee, hello. Hey, what's going on? I've got tickets to Nashville. I am concerned as hell about this event. And I am just curious as to what you think about Ricky Simone as an option or even Cruz. Because I did just kind of hop in late. So I don't know if you've already discussed that.

But, yeah, I'm just curious as to what you think about Ricky or Dominic as a option for replacement. Appreciate you. So we talked about Ricky a little bit. He's at least ranked. And I think this is something he would do. Ricky's a big 35 or though. He's not like, he's not a small dude. So I don't know. Maybe. I don't think he's, I don't think Ricky Simone is like one of the top five choices. Honestly, I really don't. But I could see it. Cruz would be great, but I just don't know Cruz is going to turn around that fast. Again, there's reports and there have been discussions.

Nowhere near done. So again, I'm prepicing. Don't be like, oh, Mike Kexing this. It was reported during UFC 290 fight week that the UFC is working on Dominic Cruz versus Davis and Figurato. And from what I understand, that fight has been discussed. Not done, not agreed upon, nothing. but when we reached out and asked about it, it was being discussed.

So if Cruz is going to, I believe that fight was in November. So if Cruz is going to fight, is trying to fight in November? Is he going to want to turn around two and a half weeks and fight Corey Sanhagen? I don't know.

I don't know if at this point in Cruz's run that he's going to want to do that. I would love that fight. I would love that fight. If I could pick anybody, it would probably be Cruz. I just don't think it's realistic. I just don't think.

I think Rod Fond is way more realistic if the UFC comes correct. And I'm telling you, I think Cody Garbrand is a good name. It's a good name for this spot. 2.92 doesn't lose a, it loses a name, but not a, not one that like meat has heavy significance to that card. I think Garbrand's a good option, honestly. I think Flaught will be their first choice, but I think Garbrandt, who's scheduled to fight two weeks after that in a three-round fight against Mario Batista. Honestly, if I'm, if I'm Cody Garbrand, I am calling my manager.

I am calling the UFC. I'm telling my coaches, give me this fight. Give it to me. I think Corey fighting anybody on this card is going to give him favor. Let me look at the rest of this card. Jessica Androche-Tatian Swarres, is that, could that carry as a headliner? We've seen worse. Jacoby and Chichuku was a great fight.

Tanner Bozer, Alexa Kamer. Bahamandes, Ladova Klein. Jesus, that's a banger. Gavin Tucker, back against Diego Lopez. Bangor. O'Day Osborne, Asu Amabayev. It's a good fight. Billy Q, Damon Jackson, banger.

I don't love OSPE on Kutalaba. Jeremiah Wells Carlson Harris is a banger. Jay Cadley, Cody Durdon's a banger. I think just Jesse Butler might be in some trouble. He's stepping into fight shot in Woodson. And then we got Hione Barcellas versus Kyler Phillips in that kind. That's a pretty good card. I don't know.

I don't think we're getting Cruz. It'd be sick if we did. Because I think that's a fight that fans for the last... Since Corey San Agnes entered the UFC, we got to watch him flow around in there, his movement, his style. I think we've all sort of pinpointed at some point. We want to see those two guys fight each other.

This might be the best chance to get it. but if I'm Dominic Cruz, is the juice worth the squeeze to turn around that quickly? I don't know. I would guess we're going to have an answer to that question the next few days. Maybe they'll announce it on the broadcast on Saturday. Maybe we figure it out before that. I don't know. But I'm curious to see how it all works.

So, all right. Last call. Last call for calls. And then we guts to go because we got BTL today. It's going to be a fun BTL. We're going to do a fan. We're going back to the old Q&A this week. It'll be Jed and myself.

It's a lot to talk about. So we'll just let you all sort of control the narrative there, 12.30 p.m. Eastern. And we'll take one more question here. And then we'll take more questions on BTL. D.C. Betz hello. Hey, what's up, Mike? I'm usually calling you from Southern California, but I'm over here in Hinesville, Georgia,

because my sister's having a baby. I'm out here fishing out of the lake, right now and it's muggy as hell. Yeah, it is, man. I'm not that far from you, so. Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought. That's why I mentioned it. So a lot of people took all the questions that I wanted to ask, but what would you have made the Co-Main for this weekend's card? I'll give you that. Thank you, brother. Have a heck of morning.

Probably. I would have put Molly in that spot. I just wouldn't have put her against Stoliorenko. The fight I wanted, and I don't know, like the timing wouldn't have worked, but the fight I wanted was Molly McCann versus Jasmine Jazz DeVizzias. I still think that fight could happen. But, I mean, literally, it didn't matter. It doesn't matter who Molly fights. It really doesn't. She got her big test there in Blanchfield.

We know what Molly McCann is. She's a fun fighter. She should be fighting in London as much as possible. And she should be fighting people she should be able to beat. and I'm not saying she can't beat Julia Soliarenko. Soliorenko does present some issues that Molly's going to have to deal with. But again, doing this fight at 125 makes no sense. I just don't know if Julia can make the weight.

But you could have thrown her in there with anybody. I could have thrown her in there with, I don't know, Victoria Leonardo or, I don't know, Maria Agapova or somebody like that. Someone who will make the weight. that we're not worried about. But Molly would be, I would put Molly in the cold main event, for sure. On that card, leading into,

and I would give her somebody that she'd be like a minus 700 favorite over. Someone should go out there and finish, leading into Tommy Aspinall, his return, crowd's going to be insane. But yeah, Molly should be in the main event. I question the matchmaking,

especially someone who could barely make 135, trying to have her make $1.25. I just don't know. Seems very risky to me. But there you go. All right, we're done, everybody. Thank you so much. We'll be back tomorrow.

We'll do it again. If you want to join us live, you can join us live here on the Twitter space is 10 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. I think the UFC London weigh-ins will be wrapped and packed by then. So we'll see. Maybe Julia Silienko makes $1.24.

Maybe she makes weight, no problem. Maybe she weighs 129, and Molly says, F it, I'll fight her anyways. But maybe Celieranko is 1.35. and the fight's off. I don't know. But we'll react to all that. It's free for all Friday. We'll have a good time leading into UFC London. So thank you all very much.

Appreciate all the questions. More questions to be answered tomorrow. Right here on heck of a morning. Appreciate you all very much. We'll see you then. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay. Only 10 more presents to wrap.

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