MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Nate Diaz Interview, Will the UFC Actually Give Him That Final Fight?

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

Nate Diaz simply wants out of the UFC and is more than willing to fulfill his contractual obligations in order to do that. So what is the problem? Why can't Diaz get that final fight done so he can move on with his life? On an all-new episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to Diaz's interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and give his take on the entire situation — which led to multiple questions about fighter pay, how the athletes are treated, and other issues UFC fans are having in regards to the treatment of the competitors stepping inside the octagon. In addition, listeners ask questions about Dana White and the viral $250,000 gift and what that says about the promotion's views on how they want their product covered from a media perspective, Michelle Waterson's chances against Amanda Lemos in the co-main event of UFC Long Island this Saturday, Kamaru Usman wanting to jump up to light heavyweight, if Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev will be the next lightweight title fight, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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For those of you where this time is too early or doesn't fit in with your schedule, thank you for listening after the fact on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Keck. Hope everyone's having a wonderful Thursday. And I want to thank everybody, especially, I mean, we love the live listeners for sure. I want to thank the future listeners as well, because the podcast from Tuesday show is by far the most listened to show we have ever done.

And that is awesome. Much appreciated. Thank you so much. I think the topic had to do more than anything with the whole Dana White situation and the whole Nelfboy situation. And people were angry at me. Wow.

And I don't know why. But I had certain people, and I went off a little bit of a rant last week about people saying different things. and just fans just not actually contextualizing what I actually say. And that happened again on Tuesday because we're talking about Dana White's absence, which cannot be ignored.

Hold on, I'm going to let my dog out of the room because he wanted to hang out. And now he wants to get out. Bye, Shiloh. Thanks, buddy. But anyways, we were talking about Dana White, how his absence from these events, is just really hard to ignore. And a lot of people are like, oh, maybe he had COVID, he missed one event.

He didn't miss one event. He's missed a lot of events. I think between UFC 275, and I could be slightly wrong about this, but between UFC 275 and UFC 276, I think Dana White has actually been at one event, and it was the Austin card. Since then, we haven't really seen him.

He doesn't go to all the apex cards. I don't expect them to go to the apex cards all the time, but not seeing it at 275. It was this kid's birthday, like I said. Special moment. It's a bonding thing between father and son. I get that. I get it.

No problem. But him missing all of 276, missing the whole international fight week, missing the card, ceremonials, everything. Both press conferences, a little puzzling. And maybe you did have COVID.

But it's just, it's kind of weird that we've heard nothing about it. And then the whole with the whole Nelke boy thing, that's where people really got pissed off. Because I was being a little sarcastic with different things because Dana White gave $250,000 to a guy he hasn't known all that long. And man, there were a lot of Nelke boy fans out there who took that personally.

I mean, geez, people were coming at me like, oh, like, you know about their relationship. Oh, like you guys know Like what's actually happening behind the scenes You don't know how long Dana and the Nelke boys Have been friends for He could do whatever he wants No shit That's what I said

The main concept of that rant was It's Dana White's money He can give it to or do whatever he wants with it If he wants to give $250,000 to a YouTuber I don't care That's his money But I also said I understand why fighters Might feel a certain way

but I also understand that it's his freaking money and he could give it to whoever he wants. He can gift it however he wants. But no one wants to bring that part up of the conversation. They just want to bring up the fact that I said that, oh, Dana's given $250,000 to a guy he's had a few cups of coffee with in terms of how long the relationship has been going on.

Dude, get a life. Seriously. Out of everything I said in that conversation, that's the thing that you people want to bring up is that I made a sarcastic. joke about Dana giving $250,000 to a guy he hasn't known that long. You're so... MMA fans are the best.

The people who are in this room are the best. Some of you are terrible. Some of the American fans are just awful. And they just pull out the most random bullshit of these conversations. And they try to like discredit me and say these things. It's just so dumb. And maybe I need to have thicker skin. And normally I do.

But I can't ignore. stupidity. And in this case, that's dumb, especially when I actually said that Dana can do whatever we want to this money. But that's neither here nor there. I am jumping off the proverbial soapbox. I am ready to go and take calls. And we have a lot to talk about. You talk about Saturdays Long Island events, early morning MMA, early day MMA. I'm very excited about that. We got a big main event in the featherweight division between Yaya Rodriguez and Brian Ortega. Fun card from top to bottom, some really fun fights. Nathan D.D. He said on the MMA hour, a special edition of the show on Tuesday,

and he just opened up, went at it, got after it, said a lot of things. Some of the things were new. Some of them we've known for quite some time, but to actually hear it from the man himself, you don't get a lot of Nate Diaz interviews these days. And to hear him just say what he had to say and get a lot of things off his chest and kind of clear some things up. was kind of refreshing, but at the same time, like, this whole thing is stupid.

Nate should just be okay to just go off and do whatever he wants. I know Ariel talked a lot about this on the on-the-nose segment yesterday, and I agree with everything he said, so I'm not going to really regurgitate all of that. But come on now, you want to play this independent contractor card. Let him go. Let him go. Independent contractors are able to do other things. They're not locked into exclusive contracts,

especially in sports, especially in this day and age, but yet Nate is basically imprisoned inside the UFC. It is ridiculous. Give this man a fight. He's been asking for a fight for a long-ass time now. What are we doing here? Seriously, what are we doing here? The guy is willing to fight this last fight on his deal.

Let him fight. Give him anybody. He would have fought Shima. That fight's probably not happening now. because I just don't know, like, the fact that Shemayev isn't booked on the Abu Dhabi card, and he's not going to Abu Dhabi. He wants to fight in July or August. Just give him a freaking fight.

Put him on that August card against Dustin Porriere. That card needs a boost in a big way. I mean, there's some interesting fights in the card, no doubt about it. Kamar Usman is fighting Leon Edwards. Leon has deserved his title shot. He has earned the right to fight for the title. I have no quirks with the fight whatsoever. I have no, no issue with it.

That's the fight that should be made. But it's happening in Salt Lake City, Utah. And I got to say, it's just, it's just not that interesting. Because I think most people feel like Kamar is just going to go up there at 50, 45, Leon Edwards. I love the Jose Aldo Marab fight. I like some of the other fights in the card. But if you're looking to pull five, 600,000 pay-per-views, the card as it stands right now is not going to do that. So what do we do?

let's put Nate Diaz and Dustin Porre in a five-round main event on this card, and let's just make it happen. Like, what are we doing here? What are we doing here? Especially what the amount of money the UFC is making right now per year because of this ESPN deal. They're making ridiculous money. And yes, it certainly stings to lose a star. I get it.

It stings to lose a star. But it does nothing for your bottom line. it does nothing for your bottom line. What is it going to cost you in the long run? Some pay-per-views. But that doesn't matter. Paperview is cherry on top of the Sunday. You're already making like a billion dollars a year,

mostly because of this ESPN deal. All you have to do is put on fight cards. All you have to do is put on fight cards. A lot of these fight night cards, you just have to put them on. It doesn't, we have seen it. It doesn't matter who's in the main event. It doesn't matter who's on the card.

You're going to get the same amount of money. You're going to get paid the same, no matter what. So losing Nate stings, but it's not going to hurt you. You're not going to go out of business because you'll lose. Thank Diaz. Everybody's happy. And here's the thing. As we've seen in the world of professional wrestling, the world of combat sports,

we saw a world where Brock Lesnar actually came back and fought at UFC 200. Now, the circumstances that happened because of that fight, not ideal. But no one thought Brock Lesnar was coming back to fight. But you know what happens when you scratch one back, the other scratch is yours. And if you let Nate go, if you let him have his last fight and go and you end the relationship on a high note, who's to say two years from now you offer Nate Diaz a fight, perhaps the Connem-Mregor trilogy fight? And Nate is like, you know what? It took a minute.

It took a little while to get here. But you know what? They let me go. They gave me my fight. They let me do my thing. They let me go off and explore things. Let me go box Jake Paul, whatever the hell he's going. going to do afterwards.

And I'm happy with that. So when they call and ask for a favor, maybe I'll come back and grant them that favor. But right now, it's just watching a guy who has tons of opportunities in front of him, just all these are getting squandered away because the UFC is being petty. Just let the guy fight, let him move on with his life. And who's to say he can't come back? But the longer you wait, the chances of him coming back and doing business with you again,

grow smaller and smaller and smaller. And that's just bad for everybody. So let's see what you guys have to say about Nate, about UFC Long Island, about whatever you want to talk about. And we will kick things off with, I'm going to go to Miami Mike. I think he was the first one out of the group here.

Miami Mike. What's up, buddy? Mike, heck of a morning, see you. A heck of a morning, bro. Dude, I love it. When all of these trolls come out and get Boston Mike fired up, dude, even though any team affiliated with Boston is trash. But my question for you tonight, sir, for today, sir, is, what do you think is Sean Brady's

next move once he taps out Muhammad, dude? It's a good question right there. It's a really good question. I don't know. I honestly don't know. It probably depends on how he does it and when he does afterwards, because I don't think Sean's going to waste the opportunity, especially if he beats Bilal in that fight, and especially if he taps him.

If he goes out there, it submits Bilal Mohammed, that's a very big deal. I just don't want to hear Sean Brady go out and say, hey, listen, anyone in the top five, hey, listen, whoever the UFC wants to give me, hey, listen, whatever gets me closer to the title, have a name ready to go, my friend. Go out there, do your thing, have a name ready. don't squander the opportunity, which is, and I've said this a million times, and I hate going back to it,

but I feel like because Belal Muhammad did not take advantage of his opportunities, that's why he's fighting Sean Brady, and he's not fighting Shemayev, or he didn't fight Shemayev in April, or he didn't get some of these bigger fights that he wanted. He just, he made some, I mean, really shoot for the star callouts,

calling for Usman, calling for Covington, which I respect the fact that he tried, But you had a guy right there who you subsequently called out at every single interview you did after the fact. You made t-shirts about Shabaya, but when the lights were on you, you called out two guys. You had no chance of fighting at the time. So Brady, I think he understands where he's at right now. I know Brady's not a big crap talker, but Sean Brady, because he actually called his shot and made it public and got people excited, that's why he got this fight. Brady called up Balal.

Ballal didn't really seem all that interested because he wanted the Shemaya fight. Brady kept sort of poking and prodding. He had his sight set on Muhammad from the jump. He called out Wonderboy. It was a rankings thing. People didn't like that all that much. He was already booked with Muhammad in the past.

And then he just was like, you know what? You don't want the Wonderboy call? Fine. I'll call up Bilal. We'll try to get this thing back on the books. He just kept kind of poking and prodding. And finally, and I've been telling you guys for months, Balaw wanted Chimaev, I told you a million times,

this is the fight the UFC wanted from the beginning. They wanted this fight. Now they get it. It's going to happen in Abu Dhabi, which I'm sure Bilal is pretty happy about. Sean Brady doesn't care. This is a big opportunity, but he needs to follow up here. If he goes out there, beats Bilal,

especially if he goes out there and finishes Bilal Muhammad. He's got to have a name ready to go. And if he does that, he's got a chance. We'll see what happens. Let's go to 4-quarter sports. What's up, my man? Hey, Mike. How's it going?

Good. I wanted to ask you about what's it called the Jackshore of Ricky Simone. I think that fight, honestly, needs to be on the main card as opposed to match now. Some of Durgy. I don't know what's your opinion on that. Also, like, what's your opinion on that? your take, what's the likelihood to happen? Is it a Yaira knockout or is it, or take a submission?

Looks like we want to happen for U.S.C. Long Island. And I'm excited because I'm going to be at the event. If anybody wants to meet up, Section 111. All right, guys. Thank you, Mike. And have a good one. There we go. A little heck of a morning listener meetup at UFC Long Island.

Love that idea. Thank you, Four Corner Sports. Jack Shore, Ricky Simone is a banger. It is a fantastic fight. I'm very excited for this fight. It should be on the main card. It should be over match out-Schnell, Summaged. But I think this is one of those situations where the UFC is trying to weigh options.

Do we want a fight that's probably going to end in the first round in this spot on ABC or do we want a thrilling 15-minute grinder of a fight? And I think they chose a fight that's more likely to knock it out of the first round. And that's what I think's going to happen. I think Sumadirj is probably going to crack Matt Schnell pretty quickly, probably knock him out in the first round. And there's that. There's your highlight real moment.

This is an ABC card. It's, you know, sort of in that combat sports historical slot in terms of time. At, you know, that fight will happen to, like, in the afternoon, Eastern time right around 2 p.m. So I get why it's there. obviously there's more stakes. It's a better competitive matchup between Jack Shore and Ricky Simone.

Love that fight. Can't wait to see it happen. As far as the result of the main event, I would say, of those two options, I would say Brian Ortega by submission over Yaya Rodriguez knockout, but I am picking Yaya to win that fight. I think it goes all five.

I think he eats out a decision. But if we're talking about which of those two specific outcomes is more likely, I would say Brian Ortega via submission. Let's go to Las Vegas, Nevada. Let's say hello to Mikey Bats. Mikey, how are you?

Good, are you? Doing all right, man. I'm just going to make this short and sweet. If Aspinall and Paul Craig win next week in London, do you think they get, how good of a position do you think they'll be in a title for a title shot? They're like immediately or maybe one more fight?

All right. Appreciate it, brother. I'll be tuned in. Thanks, buddy. Aspinall will clearly be more in the discussion. Paul Craig's still going to have some work to do. I like Paul Craig a lot. 205 is just kind of, it's kind of a mess right now. Heavyweight is also a mess, but it's a little more wide open.

These fights that are coming up right now between Blades and Aspinall, and then we've got two of us and gone. That's sort of going to be, we're starting like a little mini tournament here. And then we get in Ghana, we don't know what he's going to do. and then we assume the UFC is going to try to do John Jones versus Depe. So both guys either way are going to have a little bit of a road ahead of them. But I would say Aspinall clearly will have the advantage in the conversation over Paul Craig. But it all depends.

Because if Taito Ivasa goes out there and knocks out Cyril gone, then two of us is going to be ahead of Tommy Aspin. just because Tuivasa just I don't know like Tuivasa is more of a global commodity than Tommy Aspinall like people all over the world love Tai Tuvasa

Tai Tuva Ta-Tuva went out and knocked out Derek Lewis in Houston and people were cheering him at the end of that Like it was a sad moment they were booing him on the way out but Tai Tuva is just a fun dude does shooeyes and all this stuff not saying that Tommy Aspital doesn't do shoes

but like Ty's the one who got that over I feel like Ty Tuwavas if Ty Tuvasa and Tommy Aspenol both win Tuovasa is a little bit ahead of the conversation but I feel like and maybe Tuvaasa gets in there right away

just depending on what happens to think Ghana because I was ready I was ready to give Tuvaasa the vacant title like the interim title fight like right now after that Derek Lewis win because if you're gonna do it you have to do it soon I don't love the Cyril Gahn matchup for him

I feel like there's a good chance he loses that fight, especially in Paris. But if Ty goes out there, beat Cyril Ghan, I mean, good Lord. What a story that would be if Tai Tuovasa became a champion. And I feel like the time, the hourglass is a little bit lighter going into the bottom half of it for Tuivasa. I feel like eventually all this is going to catch up to him. Tommy Aspinall, I feel like his future is so bright. Like even if he loses to Curtis Blades, it's not going to just knock him out of title contention altogether.

But I feel like any loss for Taito Ivasa moving forward knocks him out of title contention if that makes sense. Your business doesn't move in a straight line. Some days bring growth. Others bring challenges. But what if you or a partner needs to step away? When the unexpected happens, count on Canada life's flexible life and health insurance

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Patrick, try again, my man. Let's go to Beale. Anthony, we'll get you next. Beale, make sure you're on mute, my man. Nothing there. Try again, Beal. We'll get you in. Anthony.

Anthony, you're there. Unmute. Anthony, you're muted. Okay. Tokes, save us, please. Maybe. What is going on here? There we go.

Now I got you. How are you, sir? Like her fault of the day, is Nate Diaz, not Nate Diaz, okay? Nate Diaz is Joe Davis from Utah. So what I mean by that is, what is the dream match job? for the skill set and the record of Nate Diaz if you take away the name and cachet.

So my thought is he would have to go down and fight. What would be a competitive fight? It would be something like Wonderboy, something like Joe Losson even. I think just because his name, he's not getting the fights that are actually of his skill level and he deserves a good fights because he is an ATS but imagine he's

cut in Idaho in Utah how would it be then and we would be more one matchup in that sense that's a good question yeah I mean listen at this point I don't give a shit who he fights despite anybody

throw him in there with Court McGee for Utah like give court that rub like it doesn't anybody anybody put him in there anybody but I agree like Wonderboy's fine even like Cowboy if he didn't retire that would have been a fine I actually liked that one Joe Lozahn is fine like especially like if Joe Joe may not ever fight again because he's not going to get the cowboy fight unless they throw him in there with Jim Miller one more time I just don't know if anything else would get

him excited maybe I mean Nate would surely get him excited for one more but yeah I would go I would go Joe Lozon that's that's totally fine I I get where you come from, but Nate has also been doing this damn thing for a long time. So it's hard to, it's hard to ignore like what he has done. I understand the skill set part of the question. But it's kind of, it's just really hard to ignore what he's done. Like Muslim Salikoff would be fun. Like someone who could just absolutely crack and just watch Nate just be like,

come on, Mofo. Come on, Mofo. Let's go. So, yeah, we love, there's lots of options. Nate against anybody. interesting at this point because Nate Nate doesn't really need a B side. So

I understand that's not really part of the question, but skill for skill yeah, low zone actually be really fun. All right, Patrick. Mike, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, great. I got to get some shit off my chest, man. Uh-oh.

I guess, let me first just put in context. I love MNA, man. I like, It's tough time for myself to, I feel conflicted. I feel kind of like a hypocrite sometimes supporting it, knowing how fucked up everything is behind the scenes and feeling like it's just so many contradictions. It's such a sport of contradictions, you know? And the year, the day I, last day of my freshman year in high school,

me and my friends, we got our bikes. We rode down to video world, which is the local, movie rental place. And we went to the special interest section. And there was Japan animation, which is what they called anime back then, rented a bunch of, you know, Akira, Fist of the North Star, Vampire Hunter D. There was like faces of death and like shark attacks and skateboarding videos. And then there was UFC. We rented that shit, went back and watched Hoise Gracie just demolish everyone with Brazilian jiu-jitsu. And, you know, I've been a fan ever since. And, but listening to like the state of the sport and how popular it is

and hearing Nate Diaz who is like the biggest star and he himself is a ball of contradictions you know and he made an excellent point which is I think the root of the problem with the fighter pay he said I'm the best. best in the world. I'm in the top five, the best in the world at any skill. Like, whether that's basketball, hockey, uh, freaking, even the best doctors, you know, anyone who is the best at something in the world should be compensated to that same level. And, you know, these are professional athletes. And, uh, and Dana White wants to, sometimes he wants to act like, you guys are so lucky to be fist fighting for a living, you know, you're a bunch of savages. You know, you're a bunch of

savages, you know, and he wants to act like it's this brutal thing that, you know, you should be lucky that you're getting paid anything to punch someone in the face for a living, you know? But then on the other hand, he wants to act like, we're on ESPN and we're a professional sport. And we have athletes that are professional athletes. And then the whole giving $250,000, like, what an unimaginable? imaginative goon. What an absolute fucking sad creep

Dana White is. He's like, oh, what's hot right now? Influencers. Oh, I know. I'm going to influence the influencers. I'm going to give him a freezer bag full of fucking cash. And subtly, he's trolling everyone.

He's like, look at how alpha I am. You know, I'm such an alpha male that I'm going to give this money away and it means nothing. and yet I'm going to not pay the fighters who, you know, if you listen to the Kabib video, recently that went viral where he's like, I train four times a day, you know, that's what it takes to be great at this sport. And he's saying, you know, even at the, a punter in the NFL makes probably what a mill a year.

And these fighters coming off the contender series get a four-fight contract, and 10. That means if they fight four times in a year, bust their ass, win all four fights, they're going to make less than a fucking entry-level dentist? It's a joke. It's an absolute travesty, and Dana White can go get fucked. Hopefully, whatever's happening behind the scenes is they're trying to push him out, and there's like a coup or something that, you know, hopefully maybe one thing from the corporate overlords of Disney, which owns ESPN, hopefully they're like, Dana's just an idiot. We need to get him out of here.

You know, he's a Sean Strickland ass CEO or president, whatever he is. He's just a mouthpiece, and I want him gone. And I don't know how close you are to cut me off, but it just, it's a perfect storm for me to, like, just want to vent. and the frustrations. You know, him giving the money is literally just a symbol of like the times run of like these elite, elitist rich people

just passing money between each other and it's meaningless, you know? So, goodbye. I love it, Patrick. I love it. I love how this could be a space where you could just unload.

You could just unleash. And that's what you just did there. A lot of things that you said, I agree with. Again, I will say the Dana White giving the money thing to the knelt boy i mean it's his money you can do whatever the hell you want so that the video coming out is just stupid i guess like if i'm dana and i am like if i'm dana i'm like why why

why are you putting that video out like you could have just given him the money could just give him the money no one would have known same impact to both of their lives but now you put it out there. You allow this to happen. Of course, the Nelke Boy is going to brag about it. Like, look what Dana White just gave me. Give me $250,000. Like, of course he's got to brag about that. Dana White gave me $250,000. I'd be like, what the hell? Dana White just gave me $250,000. But here's the thing. Here's the thing about all of this is that we talk about the sport being a contradiction. This is one of those things where we are not happy with Fighter Pets. None of us should be happy with fighter pay.

We should all be on the same page with that. We want the fighters to make the most amount of money that they can. However, the reason that they are not making as much money as they can is because of them. It's their own fault. When the company sold for $4.2 billion, this was the time for the fighters to come together and say, all right, now we're a big deal. $4.2 billion. We have something here. This isn't a, listen, we grinded, we came from the ground up, like we're still

like we're still grasping, we're still grabbing it something to pull ourselves up to get into the mainstream. You did it. You made it. They made it. They made it. $4.2 billion? That's huge.

That's gigantic. And it was at that moment. that the fighter should have come together and said, all right, $4.2 billion, what are we getting from that? And they didn't do it. They didn't do it because they were scared. And I get that.

Like, listen, at the time, 2016, making it to the UFC as a fighter, and it still is today. It's a very big deal. It's a very big deal. It's the mecca. It's where you want to be. But this is a problem.

And if you're the UFC, making the amount of money, you're making, what you have done over the years as a business. If no one is going to stop you from doing what you have done, why change? Why change? No one is changing it. Like, no one's changing it. And Patrick mentioned that a lower level punter makes, like a guy gets drafted in the 11th round who makes the roster is going to make a million dollars a year. You want to know why? Because they're unionized. There's a players association. NBA has a players association. They have negotiated their share of what the NFL makes or the NBA makes or Major League Baseball makes.

That's why they make ridiculous money. That's why they get the 50-50 revenue share because they have the balls. I'm not saying fighters have balls. That was probably a bad choice of words. But they had the wherewithal to be like, we're willing to walk away from all of this. We're willing to just not come. We're willing to not play. Like, I'm making $10 million.

Like, everybody, everybody, even LeBron, all of them, who are making all this money, like ridiculous money. Major League Baseball, the contracts in Major League Baseball, this is guaranteed money. You don't even have to play. You can get injured and just not play, and you still make this money. The fighters didn't do that.

Now, that was what, like the $4.2 billion, that was like the perfect time to do it. Then, when they signed the ESPN, end deal, that was another time to do it and they still didn't do it. They still didn't do it. People came forth. Some fighters banded together, some different people, some different organizations, former Major League Baseball agents tried to get the fighters to come together. And they just wouldn't. They just wouldn't. And even like at the beginning stages of these, all they had do was basically sign a letter of intent that we're going to do this. And it was

anonymous and they still didn't do it and they still didn't do it so fighters 100% should deserve more money and it would be nice if the organizations and the promotions said you know what you guys work really hard you gals work really hard we appreciate everything you've done we are not where we are today without you here's more money here's this let's give you 33% of the share let's give you even 25 30% of the share let's give you to you You guys deserve it. You guys deserve it. They're not going to do that.

They're not going to do that. They're making money hand over fist and because no one is stopping them. No one is challenging them. I know there's, we do have an antitrust suit going on with some past fighters who are trying to change this narrative. But the UFC, because of this, all this money they have, all these resources they have, they could drag this thing on forever and nothing will change. That's why the UFC is pay. Shout out to Tim Bissell, by the way, for a.

bloody elbow. If you want to go check out some of the things the UFC is doing as a business to make sure that there are no changes to this independent contractor status, go check out Tim Bissell's article. How much money the UFC is spending in Washington, D.C., on making sure that the Ali Act doesn't get approved. They're spending so much money on that. The The UFC knows, like, they know they are well aware of what will happen to their business if things change. And they'll still make a lot of money. They'll still be extremely profitable, but just not as profitable as they are right now. And they know that.

So while we want the fighters to get as much money as possible, and they goddamn deserve it, we have to understand the reasons why they aren't. and most organizations like major league baseball wouldn't be paying these contracts if these fighters were to if the players were associated the NBA wouldn't be doing a 50-50 split that's for damn sure of the TV revenue but these they banded together

they're organized they have an association they are happy to walk away with nothing just to get what they want I just was part of this Like it's a little bit different, but it's very public. Vox Media, we were going to strike.

We were going to strike. The contract, the CBA that they had put together well before I came on, I think it was like a year before I came on, the contract ran up. There were different contingencies that we wanted as a group. We were willing to walk away if we didn't get it. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, came to terms, found a happy medium. Everything worked out.

writers, all of us, it's public knowledge. We're all making more money. We all got to raise. We all got more money because we were willing to walk away from it all. And it's scary to do that. I was freaking out. The whole build, two days before the contract is going to inspire, literally 18, like 36 hours before we were willing to, before we were going to walk away. I was freaking out.

I was freaking out. But I wasn't going to turn my back on all of this. and sometimes you have to just be willing to walk away to get what you want. And I just hope someday, while my career is still going on, while I'm breathing the air that I breathe, that these fighters come together and change things,

that they say, you know what, we're just not going to fight. We're just not going to fight. We're going to sit down until you give us what we want. Someday, I hope. it happens. So I think it's going to happen anytime soon. No. And if you want sort of a realistic fighter's perspective as to why, go check out my interview in the YouTube archives with Joe Lozob. He will tell you why. Because as you fight in most businesses,

most people are selfish. And there's nothing wrong with that. You got to take care of your family. You got to take care of yourself. I get that. And it's hard to be like, oh, what is this person? I've never met this person before. I don't know who this person is. Why would I fight for them? I'm fighting for me. I want to make the most of money money I can for my family and my, and like everybody that I

love. Why do I care about this guy who just got a contract on the Contender Series? And that's what Joe Lois on said. That's why he doesn't feel like there's ever going to be an association, that's ever going to be a union, because most of the fighters who talk about pay are mostly doing it for themselves and they're not fighting for the rest of the roster or the organization that's his

take and he's not 100% wrong with that so it stinks this whole thing sucks i would love to live in a world where the ufc just does the right thing where all these promotions do the right thing but we just don't live in that we just don't live in that world right now like even look at the PFL numbers when it came to Fighter Pay. Petis making $750. Kayla making $500. Some of the numbers

that were coming out from those Atlanta cards. There's some good money. But then you look at some of the other fighters, you're like, holy shit. How are these people live? I mean, Bellator too. Like, Belator pays their fighters very well, from what I understand.

Like, really well. I've talked to fighters who were in the UFC and were ranked in the UFC, someone who fought for titles in the UFC, and then went to Bellator, and they're making way more money in Bellator. But the local fighters who are there on the prelims, they don't make a, I mean, they don't make a lot of money either. Boxing's the same way. Boxing's the same way.

I mean, they're all the same. But at least in boxing, like, you don't have that independent contractor status. You can just go box whoever you want. Maybe you sign an exclusive deal with a promoter. but it's not like you're a lot like you can only fight in the wBA or the wbc or this you can go fight whoever you want but it's just going to be tied to a certain promotion and i like one idea from on the nose yesterday and then i'll move on but i liked one idea is that the university should institute buyout clauses like at least that's a happy medium like for a guy like like for a guy

like nate dyes all right you put a certain value on nate like you think we'll put a a $5 million price tag on Nate. Let's just say, Nate Diaz, we have this contract, and there's a $5 million buyout clause. Okay? So if Nate has one fight left in his deal, and he's dealing with this situation right now, and Bellator or PFL or Jake Paul's promotion

or anybody else wants Nate, they can call the UFC or Nate can negotiate with these promotions, and the UFC could say, cool, you want to go box Jake Paul? You want us to let him out of his deal? fine, but you have to pay us $5 million and we'll let them out of the deal. Okay. That's like, it's still not the best way to do it, but at least it's something.

Other sports have buyout clauses in these types of situations. So there's ways we can go around this and improve it. But again, we're just spinning our wheels here and it sucks that we have to have this conversation. And this is the reality of the sport we love so much. It is what it is, and it stinks. All right, let's try, Anthony. Once again, what's up, buddy? Hey, Mike, I kick of a morning.

Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So I've been thinking about this the last couple days, like, with some rumors about Olivera getting his next fight, and a lot of people seem to think that's going to be Islam. But, like, in my head, I'm just like, what has he done to deserve? I mean, obviously, like, I mean, everybody seems to be a consensus

that he's the next guy in line and all this. But Dana said in the past that he was going to get a fight with B'Neil Darius, and I feel like that's still going to happen, you know, like it should happen. I don't know. I just want your thoughts on the whole, like, vacant lightweight belt situation. Thank you, sir. Yeah, this has been a topic of conversation for quite some time now. I would love to see the Mokachev-Dariush fight.

100%, but I just think Machachev is so good and there's a lot of people who feel right now that he is the best lightweight in the world, even though his best

win is against Dan Hooker. But again, we have to keep in mind when we say these things that it's not his fault that these are the guys he's fought because a lot of times

he's booked against other than Benio Darius. Perfect example. He's booked against Benio. This is the fight. And then Benile gets hurt. Bobby Green steps in. He says,

I'll stay on the card and fight whoever you want me fight and he goes out there and just thrashes him. The guy's good. Plus you have the factor of Habib, who is a big star, who just got into the Hall of Fame, he is a very big deal for the promotion, and that Habib attachment automatically leads to more pay-per-bee guys. So what I, here is my, here is my guess, okay?

I'm going to just throw this out there and maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, and I have no insight to this whatsoever. Like absolutely none. No insight to this. I think it's going to be Olivera versus Machachev. I do not think this fight happens in Abu Dhabi. I would say

November, December, maybe at MSG, maybe in Vegas in December. That's where I think this fight will happen. I do not think it happens at Abu Dhabi. I don't think Oliver is going to take it in Abu Dhabi. I don't blame him for not taking it in Abu Dhabi. I think he's okay with the fight. And I think the UFC is just going to be like,

listen, you want to be a part of this title conversation. You want this fight with Connor McGregor that you keep telling everybody you want. Fine. We'll give it to you, but you have to fight this guy first. And if you don't want to go to Abu Dhabi, five, because Oliver Mockachev is a big deal anywhere. It's a big deal in Abu Dhabi. It's a big deal in New York. It's a big deal in Vegas.

They want to do it in Atlanta. It doesn't matter. Anywhere in the world. You put that fight in the main event on a pay-per-view. It's going to sell. It is very interesting. And you tack on the Habib factor. That makes it more interesting as well.

And you best believe the UFC is going to tell the story that, hmm, if Olivera beats Mokachev, maybe just maybe Habib will come back for one more to avenge his guys' loss. Not that I think that a 100% happen, but you best believe that story is going to be told. Why? To sell more pay-per-views. Not that that fight needs it, but they're going to tell that story. So I think that fight will happen. You can feel how you feel.

If you want to say that Mokachev doesn't deserve it, he hasn't had that marquee win, that's fine. but you all stop to keep in mind. It's not like Mokachev has avoided those challenges. Mokachev has been booked against these guys. They just happen to get hurt and injured, and he stays on the cards and fights because he doesn't want to, he wants to be a company guy.

So we have to sort of weigh out both things, but his best win is against Dan Hooker, and if you want to say, he doesn't have the resume over a guy like Darius or some of these other fighters, fine, but that's the fight. That's the best fight they can make right now. It's intriguing.

and if all Avera wants that counter fight, the UFC's willing to give it to him, but they ain't just going to give it to him now that he's going to have to earn that opportunity. So, yeah. Black Friday is here at IKEA, and the clock is ticking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today

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From world-class hotels, record-breaking skyscrapers, and epic desert adventures. to museums that showcase the future, not just the past. Choose from 14 flights per week between Canada and Dubai. Book on emirates.ca today. Let's go to Zeke. Zeke. Zeke, what's up, buddy? No Zeke.

Try again, my friend. Let's go to our man, Viking MMA. Usually takes a second to connect. There he is. Hello, sir. Hi. I just want to talk about one thing that the roots of the fight repay, whatever going on, are, you know, the underranked fighters. And I just don't want your answer about that.

I just heard Sean Amali asking, answering a question about health care. healthcare sort of insurance of the fighters and he said that UFC take cares of me very good and you know Dana doesn't give a shit about UFC fighters he never would have done that what he has done and I just want to know about Kamaru's man going to light heavy weight I I mean, there are so many fighters in top 10 who have very good takedown defense and as compared to Khamaru Usman and a lot of good strikers and better strikers and the better wrestlers, grapplers than Khamaru Usman. And, you know, how things will go if he goes there up in the lightweights.

On the light heavyweight division. Thank you, Viking, M.A. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Like, I kind of feel the same way as I feel about, like, the whole Canelo thing. Although I feel like this is not out of the realm of possibility. But, I mean, it all depends. I'm not willing to really give a take on it right now, because it's just something he says.

It's just like he says, I want to fight Canelo. Like, he's never going to fight Canelo. A fight will never, ever, ever, ever happen. Canello, who would make the easiest payday of his career in winning that fight, still, like, he doesn't even want it. So that just goes to show you, like, it's just never going to happen. The light heavyweight thing, at least is getting guys, like, like, Jan Bahobo, it's like, okay, I'll fight him.

Say, like, if Kamara Uspin goes out there beats Leon Edwards, and then he fights Shemayev and beat Shemayev. Like, what else is there for him at 170? Like, Sean Brady, if he beats, like, Balaamahmad. Like, I don't think either of those fights interest him right now, honestly. I don't think either of those fights would get him out of bed at all. I don't even think Leon Edwards is getting him out of bed at all. To be perfectly honest.

I just think that fight's just there. And he's like, okay, I'll fight. They're probably paid him a whole bunch of money to take this fight and come back in August because the UFC just doesn't have the main events. Like I think there's probably a chance

who's coming back a little soon, but I still think even at like 80%, he beats Leon Edwards and pretty convincingly. But the man is just like he's probably a little bored. Like he has beat everybody. He's beat guys twice.

Like he's beat everybody. He hasn't fought Shamaa yet, but like that's literally the one left. Like who's he going to fight? Wonderboy. because he hasn't fought him yet. Like we're just reaching for things at this point. Like the man needs to go challenge himself.

I have no issue if he wants to go to 205. It's a bold move. I understand why he's just going to skip up and do 185. But you know what? Like if Alex Pereira beats Israel out of Sonia and then like if they run it back and Pereira wins again, like Usman probably won't go 205. We'll just go to 185. And that's fine.

I don't think we have a lot of time left with Kumar Rusman. I think we may have like three or four more fights at the most. before he's just done and just says, all right, I'm going to go spend time with my daughter with my family, and I'm just going to chill out for a while. Maybe joins the UFC as a commentator, because he's tremendous at that.

He's really good on color. Like, if you watch the Eagle FC cards, he is fantastic. It's a whole different presentation when he makes his appearance on those television shows, on those events. He's great, and he's got a bright future, whatever he wants to do.

So I don't, I think this is him just saying, listen, I don't have a lot of time fighting left on the sport, like fighting and competing in the sport. If I can get these types of challenges, this is what I want. So, yeah, we'll see. I think it's possible. The health insurance thing, again, goes to my other point. I mean, Shottomalley says the UFC takes, I have to go back and listen to that, but the UFC does take care of him. Yeah, they take care of him when he's fighting or he has a fight booked.

What about when he's not fighting? what about if he just goes to the gym and trains and breaks his leg without a fight on the books you know who pays for that shana mallee pays for that not the ufc so there you go all right zeke let's see if we can get this to work hello there we go hello buddy all right i've been i've been thinking on a lot i've been listening of course i'm going to be as short and sweet as possible i got three things i'm going to rebuttal to a most recent call i think it might have been anthony at the moment in my opinion the champion has a name and his name is Charles Olivera. That guy is just a freak. You know what I mean? From like the lowest of the lowest, the highest of the high, the guy just goes in there, proves people wrong. I think he got absolutely screwed by the commission or whatever the hell of the deal was

in Arizona when he weighed in. I think a half a pound, of course. It's in the championship contract and the contract is the exact weight. However, you know, I feel like he's just such an electric fighter. I had such bad downs before this. It's tough to take that belt away from him. but maybe he's going to have to go out there and earn it against the guy like Gizlop or a different light weight. So, yeah, I'm going to leave you with a question for this main event.

And then I guess I'm going to answer or not answer to talk about, you know, the reactions of the Nate Diaz interview. I'm not going to lie, it's just so funny. It's almost comedy when that guy is on a mic because he's talking about how Connor would have been okay if he fought him for a third time and maybe wouldn't have got choked out. Like, no, Nate, like Connor just gas against Khabib. And when you do that, Khabibu is going to jump on your neck and make, you know, make you pay. do what Khabib does.

But, you know, we, of course, don't need to talk sense and commonality with Nate Diaz. You're not really going to get into a, you know, too big of a bright, high IQ conversation with Nate. So with this main event coming up this week, I'm very excited to see how he faces off with Brian Ortega. Obviously, Ortega's eye and, you know, that rematch with Volk, maybe do you think that's where they go? If Ortega does get it done, in my opinion, I think five rounds is a little bit too long for to stay standing. And I think if Yayae gets on the bat for even a half a second, that this fight is just beyond over,

I think Yajir has such a chokeable mech. However, Yadir on the feet, it'll be a show. You know what I mean? Like he was tuning up and piecing on Max Holloway. And we saw what Max Holloway did to Brian Ortega. So obviously, Yaya is talking about possibly getting the title shot if he wins.

Best of luck to you. You know, Dana White definitely makes them promises. But what do you think about Ortega if he does get it done or Yaya? So I guess maybe do a little on to the next one for the main event ahead of time. And then, yeah, that's about it. In my opinion, I'm on Team Jedmishu here, though. I definitely want Brian Ortega to have to pass another witness test before we see that ball of rematch. Maybe it's Josh Emmett.

Maybe it is, I don't know, maybe Max Holloway's next fight? I don't know. Maybe I'm talking out of my butt. I kind of do want to see Justin Gasey versus Max Holloway. I know that was a matchup. You guys mentioned on to the next one. Thank you for everything you do, Mike. Thanks, buddy.

Yeah, I think you kind of just answer the question right there. If Brian Ortega wins fighting Josh Emmett next, that's, that's it. There's your answer. There's your answer. At first, I was like, Josh Emmett needs to be the biggest Brian Ortega fan on earth because then he gets a title shot. I still don't think he gets title shot, even if Ortega wins. I think he's got to win one more. The cater one just doesn't do it.

And if you're Volcanowski, are you excited to fight Josh Emmett who squeaked to? out a split decision against Calvin Cater in a fight that a lot of people felt he lost. I just don't know if that gets him excited. Now, the timing actually works out okay here because we hate seeing M.A. fighting's pound for pound best fighter Alexander Volcanowski on the sidelines, but broke his thumb. He's got to be out for 12 weeks before. So we may not even see Volk again until the end of the year at the earliest, if not early

2023. So in the UFC, Dana White, they've already expressed interest in the last. allowing Volkovsky to go up to 55. So I think the best thing for this division in order to keep this thing moving forward, keep the ship moving a little bit, is that Yair wins.

Yair goes out, wins a decision or whatever, has a fun fight, because no way this fight's going to stink. Just goes out there, gets a win. Alex Volkinovsky versus Yaya Rodriguez is fun. I think that's one that will get Volk excited. on the

on the flip side I just don't think the alternative is really get him excited Ortega I think down the road it will but it's just we just saw that fight and I don't think

Josh Emmett's going to get get him all that fired up either so yeah I think of Ortega wins they'll do the Josh Emmett fight then the winner gets a title shot and if Yaya wins he'll just fight Volk whenever Volk's ready to go

maybe Volt just goes to 155 Ortega wins as well who the hell knows but yeah folks get options. She's the best fighter on the planet as of right now. So there you go. Tadjik Bay, you are up.

We'll go for like another 10 minutes or so. Are you there? I'm always here, Mike. Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. It's actually heck of a morning today, you know? You're right. Yeah, I wanted to share some insights, you know,

with regards to the fighter pay this, that, you know, Dana giving, you know, 250,000. you know, to a full sand guys. I think people just jumping on this news so much and I think they're missing out the part of the bigger narrative that it's happening right now. And that is that, you know, it's my personal opinion, just my opinion, right? Is that UFC is now that, you know, the bigger conglomerates such as full sand and barstool are looking into the MMA media space and to expand their partnerships, you know, UFC is looking in the same direction, right? So what's happening right now,

these type of partnerships are taking place where you see Shona Mali being signed by Ful Sand. Full Sent is having its own MMA outlet right now and the same thing happening with the bar stool media where they get access to the interviews, to the fighters, they get to sign the fighters, right? So in the way, what's happening, traditional media outlets, you know,

such as yours and, you know, MMA junkie and others, I think right now are kind of, they're part of the UFC's media strategy as well, but full sand right now in Barstool will take the priority seat right now in those type of relationships where they will continue to force those relationships. And you know, in part of this kind of this $250,000 exchange, I think it's also, it's also the part of, it's also a demonstration of the great relationship and and aspirations to make it even stronger that Dana has, I believe, because he, yeah, that's, I think that's what I wanted to share. I think we shouldn't focus much on how much money was given at the home and instead focus on the fact that on the interesting narrative

that's now emerging and that is that full send right now in a bar stool right now are going to be dominating, you know, the MMA media space or that's the intent in terms of the partnership with the UFC. I'm curious to hear if you're noticing the same happening, and I think it's worth covering, and I think it's a pretty interesting story that is not being talked about enough in the mainstream MMA media right now,

but I'm curious to hear your feedback on that. Thank you, Tadjic Bay. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's something we have talked about before the word dominating the MMA, like dominating the MMA media space that's never going to happen. It's just never going to happen.

going to happen. Will they will they get preferential treatment from the UFC? Sure. Will they have certain things that they do that get some views? Sure. Are they going to dominate the MA media space? Absolutely not. There's no chance that happens.

There's no chance that happens. Guess what? Everybody makes mistakes. They're going to do something dumb and that's it. Now, will they continue to get this treatment as long as Dana White is the president? Yeah, it's possible. But there's a reason for that. Like they are they are big outlets and they bring in a

casual audience sure. But they're also like you need the MA fighting. You need even the junkies and some of these other ones because we will actually challenge the fighters and and Dana White. We'll take them to task for these types of things. Barstool won't. Full sudden won't. They won't do that. They will PR the UFC. And the UFC, like, it's a smart strategy. Like, it's a smart strategy. It definitely is.

But, and the UFC knows that. What can we do to get the most amount of views without any controversy? We'll do interviews with Barstool. We'll do interviews with Full Send. And listen, I've met Robbie Fox before. He's a really nice guy. And he has never once said that he's a journalist or he's going to cover the sports. the way that I cover it or AK or anybody else covers it.

He is a fan who gets paid to be a fan. And it's a pretty damn good gig. I'm sure a lot of people in here right now would love to get paid to be a fan of the UFC. Who wouldn't? So I don't blame, like, there's a lot of media members who give Robbie Fox crap, who give the full send guys crap. I don't care. They're in their lane.

I'm in mind. What they do affects me. does not affect me in the slightest. I will continue to be who I am. I will continue to cover the sport the way I cover it. They have their lane. I have mine. I'm happy to stay in it.

I'm proud to be in the lane that I'm in. And there you go. I don't think they're going to dominate the M.M.M. Media space. But they're certainly going to have a presence. And that's fine. If that's, I think what we're here for is,

like bar stool full sends they are helpful to the UFC because they will help bring in a different kind of audience they will use their social media presence to attract eyeballs but once and that's cool

and that'll work for so long with each individual person but eventually you're going to get to a point where you're like you get in through because like most people here found MMA you were intrigued by MMA you maybe fell in and

not of love with MMA at some point, but that eventually you just became so enthralled about it that you just couldn't, like, that's it. We're just like, all right, I'm in, here we are. We are, I am an MMA fan. I'm never missing a UFC card. I'm never missing a Belator card. I'm never missing a BKFC card.

I'm watching everything. That's it. Full send, bar stool. They are not for those types of people. We are the hardcores. We're the hardcores. We know who these fighters are. we know who these fighters are.

We knew who Sean Brady was four years ago. Barstall didn't know who Sean Brady was four years ago. We knew who Armand Sarukian was three years ago. Barstool didn't. Barstle probably didn't know who Armand Surukian was until he fought in his first main event. And again, that's fine. That's fine. They don't do it like we do.

They have their own lane. They want Connor. They want Dana. They want the stars. They want to get slapped in the face by Nate Diaz. I don't want to get slapped in the face by Nate Diaz. that's not my thing. I don't need a highlight reel

Nate knocking a Boston Red Sox hat off of my head. That's just not the type of thing I want to be doing at this point in my career. It's not who I am. They are who they are. They are the casual audience. They attract those people. But eventually, when you get enthralled

and you officially become all in on this sport and combat sports in general, you will leave them behind and you will come in, look at different types of content. You want to know who the next wave of fighters are. You want to know why we feel that Alexander Volkanowski is the number one pound for pound fighter in the world.

You want those types of opinions. And there's value to the Barstil relationship and there's value to the Fullsen relationship. They brought in a lot of fans 100%. But you graduate from that. You graduate from that. Fullsen and Barstool were the first love. They're the first love.

You learn a lot from those relationships. You feel these feelings you never felt before. But then you break up with them. And then you come back and you meet Alexander Kay Lee and you're like, oh, I can spend the rest of my life with that guy. I want to hear what he has to say and only what he has to say. And I want to hear with other people that he's around have to say. You know what I mean?

Like that's what it is. That's what it is. There's value in the first love. You always remember your first love. Most of the time you don't marry the first love. And I think that's kind of what the relationships are. The UFC's very smart to utilize their relationships. I went on a tangent there.

Hopefully that answers your question, at least gives you my opinion. Terrence, then whiskey, you're next. How are you doing? Good. Kind of looked back up what the other gentleman was saying. I think one of the points that he was trying to make as well is that he's kind of like buying outfee's other places.

for example, like Barstool and Full Sin and so forth. And that way he can create the narrative. It's almost like, I don't want to make it political, but they're like his Fox News. So he'll say what he wants and then they'll view how he wants it to be few. And they'll be too afraid to lose that relationship and to be too valuable that they won't challenge those people. So I think that's one of the points he was trying to make. And I think that's awful. Like, of course, for him it's not.

but just for society and the fighters and everything else, he's trying to buy the narrative. And I think that's where the problem lies. The $250,000 is more like a payment to almost like hush money. Like, hey, I'm giving you this. You guys be cool. Don't say anything about this. Don't spew anything that you might hear in the regular MMA media.

And we're cool, right? That's kind of what it seemed like this. We cool money. One of the things I wanted to ask you, about though as far as like the fights this weekend um Amanda Lamos I believe she lost the last two fights like I thought she lost against um Hill and of course she lost her last fight and I think Worson had a chance because she hasn't been finishing like a very long time I think it was since Rose

and I just see it upset I think she can get a submission and I think it'll be relatively easy as she can get it to the ground um what are your thoughts because a lot of people think that Lamo's just going to like run through her and knock her out, but I just don't see that happen. Yeah, it's an interesting fight. Yeah, I mean, I lean Lamos. I just think the size of screpancy is going to be such a big deal. Like, I know they're both technically straw weights fighting a flyweight,

and I like that. But we have to remember that Lamosh was a Banimate. She was a Bannamweight. And then she just dropped to 115 and has just been a murderer in a lot of these fights. Now, the Angel Hill fight was different. Obviously, she got strangled. by Jessica Androge and a lot of people get strangled by Jessica on Drudge because she is one of the best fighters in the world,

pound for pound in women's MMA. It's just 100%. If you're going to take water, like I'm going to look at this from a betting perspective. I don't think Waterson's going to submit Amanda Lamos. I don't think that happens. Do I see a world where Waterson can win this fight? Certainly.

I think if you're going to bet on Waterson, don't take the money line. Just find like a Waterson by decision pro. up and go with it. I feel like that's her I feel like that's her best bet because she's going to have to weather she's going to have to weather a storm in this fight.

There's no doubt about it. That first round is going to be tough. But if she can get out of that first five minutes and extend this fight and make Lamos work a little bit and get her a little tired, mixing of the martial arts, I think she can win a decision here.

I don't think Lamos is going to go out there and just dead Michelle Watterson. But I think it's going to be, if this gets out of the first round, it's going to be a real interesting fight. So thank you, A.K. Waterson by split decision is plus $1,400 right now. I don't know if I need to go with the split route.

It's not like a bad thing to sprinkle, you know, if you want to take the decision prop and then just like sprinkle a tiny unit or a quarter of a unit or even less on the split decision prop, have at it. But, yeah, I think it's, I think it's, I think Waters has a got chance to win. for sure. But I don't know if she goes out there and submits Amanda Lamo. I could be wrong.

Let's go to Whiskey Tango Faded. There we go. It's up Whiskey Tangle Faded. Yeah, I'm here. Sorry about that. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. All right, perfect.

Sorry about that. I'm at work right now. So I'm just trying to keep this as casual as possible. Nice. Luckily, I work in a head shop, so it's pretty casual as this. So I wanted to touch on a few things. The first being that I honestly don't think that Nate Diaz being let go of the UFC without having a final fight would be a smart business decision for them

because he is one of those few stars that transition outside of the UFC and he has star power outside of the UFC. There's not a lot of fighters that can actually really hold that, you know, card in their back pocket. I believe that if they tooled a card around, or sorry, if they penned rather a card around Nate Diaz, something at in New York again, like they did with, with Massvedo, I believe that it would be a huge money fight for both Diaz, whomever his opponent being, who I honestly think should probably go back, have another big money fight against Masvidol. for two reasons. It would be good money for both the gentlemen. I don't think that Nate Diaz necessarily could win that fight again or ever,

but it would be good for Massoudal for getting another dub under his belt, especially with the last three outings, not being all that very interesting or good for that matter. So I wanted to ask your opinion on that. And the other thing, I kind of wanted to ask your opinion on, get some other people's thoughts on is why the UFC isn't setting up events to create more stars and star power. They like to almost naturally let these things occur by the personalities of the fighters basically setting themselves up for either success or failure, which I understand

it's a good model because it's generally a win-win for them. They don't have to put the money in behind and the fighter and advertising, and if the fighter themselves is good at advertising for themselves, it's a win-win. But I honestly think that if they had put, I don't know, some of the money that they've been using for whatever, $250K just giving out, like, things like that, if they just put that money towards creating more star power

in the mainstream media, media to bring casual viewers into being, as you were describing so aptly before, transitioning from a casual to somebody who just can't live without the sport that needs to watch everything. I think that it would bring more money into the UFC and MMA as a whole, as well as allow fighters to be able to create better narratives to themselves, create more money for themselves, on both sides of that. Personally, I think these are some roots

that the UFC should be taking, and they're kind of screwing the pooch in personally. That just happened. Thank you, sir. So to address the Nate thing, no one's saying that the UFC just released date. Like, no one's saying that. And Nate's not even saying that.

Nate's saying, let me go, but he's saying, just I have one fight, let him my deal, left in my deal, just give me a freaking fight. I've been asking for a fight for a year. Give me a fight. We know what they, like, know what the UFC's trying to do. They offered him Shamiyaf and Abu Dhabi. And there's no

way he was going to take that fight. And the UFC knew that he was going to take that fight at that time. So, because he's not going to go to Abu Dhabi to fight anybody. It's not Shemayev. It's not, he wouldn't go to Abu Dhabi to fight to fight. He's Nate Diaz. Why would he do that? So he knew that the UFC knew he would turn that down so they could extend his deal another six months. They could offer him another fight and then they can just extend his contract. But Nate has not been like, nah, I ain't fighting. He was. wants to fight. He wants to fight. So just let him fight. Just let him. And then let him go on his merry way. Like everyone's on the same page. Like the guy wants to fight. He's got multiple

people who want to fight him. Kevin Holland would fight him. Dustin Porre would fight him. Like, I just don't understand why this Dustin fight hasn't been made yet. I don't get it. I don't get it. They, everybody wants it. Everybody wants it. And the U.S. is like, nah, I'm going to be an asshole about it. So it's just dumb. The whole thing's stupid. The other thing about the star building, like the UFC doesn't need to build stars. They just, like for a business sense, like, yeah, it'd be great to have to build newer stars, but they don't have to. They're making a billion dollars a year. A billion dollars a year. This ESPN deal is ridiculous. It's free money. All they have to do is put on events.

it doesn't matter who's on them. We've seen it. We've seen some of the cards they put together. Some of them are, some of the fight night cards are great. Some of them are tough, tough hangs. And they don't care because it's all money in their pocket.

It's all free money. Ratings don't matter. None of that matters. It's guaranteed money. No matter who watches it, doesn't watch it, how many pay-per-view buys are just cherry on top of the Sunday, like I said earlier. they don't have to do that.

They don't need to make the effort because it doesn't matter. Nothing changes. If they put on an event and create another star, if they don't get another dime. And if they don't, then they don't lose another dime. You know what I mean? Like they're in a tremendous position right now

from a business ends where they could just, all they have to do is put cards on. And they make a billion dollars a year. So they're in pretty good shape. I got to take two more and I have to get out of here. Dom will go to you and then we'll go to Beal. Dom, are you there? In?

Yes. Sorry about that. There's a delay in my end. I wanted to take you to the first month of 2023, that first pay-per-view of the year. And you're going to have to make a little bit of a prediction as to how the rest of the year goes. But you get to be Dana White for this moment and you're setting up three fights for that main card, three five round fights for me. It would be the BMF rematch between Masvedal and Diaz finally getting out of that contract. It'll be Shevchenko versus whoever the Bantamweight champion is for the Bantamweight Championship.

And then it's John Jones versus whoever the number one contender or the most active number one heavyweight is, whether that's Inganu comes back or it's Stipe finally, who I believe is still number one. But yeah, that's my take. What do you think? You look into 2023, that first pay-per-view. what three matches are you sent up? And also, as ever, happy birthday, AK. Awesome.

Three fights, three five rounders' first pay-per-view of the year. Francis and Gano versus John Jones. Yeah, Francis versus Jones would be number one. Number two would be Davis and Figurato versus the Wills. winner of Brandon Moreno, Kai-Kara, France. There's number two. Number three. Yeah, I like the shift chenka, going for the second title.

I'll go with that. That works. But In Gano's comeback. I'm against John. Being positive. Being positive that they could resign Francis and make that all whole, and they give him what he wants. But that's how I would do it because I would give Francis what he wants because he deserves it. All right, Beal, you're up.

Hey, Mike, how you doing? Good, sir. I'm a relatively new listener. I just want to say I've been loving all the content. I love the dynamics between all our great writers over there. I just wanted to say to add on to this sort of Dana White hate, for lack of a better term, I totally agree with what Jed was saying a couple of days ago how the UFC doesn't want to do anything that's fun. and like with the ultimate fighter or whatever it is.

And I just want to know who you think would be the best person to take over for Dana White. Let's say something happened to him and you couldn't complete his duties or he just gave up his position. And also we're talking about stars and building stars and stuff. I would like to see if Patty the Baddy can get past Jordan Levitt. I would love to see him versus Armand Saruki. I think that fight would be great for Armand to get some clout, maybe steal some patty shine, and yeah, have a heck of a morning. Thank you very much.

Yeah, the first question is so hard because it's going to be Hunter Campbell. It wouldn't be very fun, but it would probably be Hunter Campbell taking over for Dana. I feel like they've already kind of, they're already setting the table for that. And then the second thing, I will answer your question with another question. Why do you hate Patty Pimbley? Do you want Patty Pimbleau to get seriously injured? You want to put Patty Pimbleau in with Armand Sarukyad. That would be a colossal thrashing for poor Patty Pimbleau.

He would get mauled by Armand Sarukyan. So, I mean, maybe Patty said something about, I don't know, but I mean, that would just be horrible for Patty Pimbled. He's like, I'm having a hard time feeling confidence that he beats Jordan Levin. Never mind, an absolute freak like Armand Sarukian. Aramon Sarukian is going to be the UFC lightweight champion in two years. He's going to be. Like, I know he lost a gamrot technically, but he didn't lose that fight, in my opinion.

I've watched that fight several times. In fact, I watched it again for the fifth time last night, because it was so good. And Sarukyan won it in the fifth watch. He wanted four rounds to one on the fifth watch. It's so good. Just go back. Like, that fight just rules.

It doesn't matter. Win or loss. Like, I, Sirugian is going to learn from that. It's all good. But boy, oh boy, poor Patty Fimblet would get absolutely mauled. by Armand Sarukia. It would not be... Patty Pimbleau fans,

as soon as I fight books, Patty Pimbleau, like, whoa, why would you ever do that to my guy here? How you book Patti Pimbleau is you keep doing what you're doing. inch by inch,

small step-ups every single time. You have them fight in London every single time, and you get them over. Just give them a win. give the man a win and Armand Saruket is not that guy to give him a win against

by any stretch of the imagination Arm on Sarukia would be a minus 2,000 favorite in that slate and if he's not, I don't bet on MMA but if he's not a minus 2,000 favorite, I'm betting on Sirukia on whatever that line is. Anything lower than minus 2,000 I'm betting on Syruquian

and I'm like betting a lot a lot but all right we gotta get out of here I know there's other people waiting I apologize We got us to go. But the good news is all of you waiting right here. Hold on. I just took a screenshot.

Okay? I just took a screenshot. I'm going to save it. I'm a man of my word. Boom. Saved it. Tubs. Swap.

Any, Mr. Bucks. Okay? We heard from Viking anime already. We'll probably hear from again. U.4. Tomorrow, 10 a.m. Easter. We're going to do it again. actually,

scratch that. Scratch that. I don't know what time we're going tomorrow, but we are going tomorrow. Okay? Because the UFC, their UFC Long Island way-ins are going out tomorrow morning. We're going to go after the way-ins are over.

But Tob, swap, Ani, Mr. Bucks, okay? Stay tuned. As soon as I released that time, whenever you four, virtually raise your hand on tomorrow's show, you're going first.

Okay? You're skipping. the damn line and we're getting you in here, all right? Tab swap, Ani, Mr. Bucks, boom. You four, the four horsemen, you're going to skip the line, all right? It's like you get the fast pass at Disney World. There you go. We got to get out of here.

A lot going on. I got multiple interviews today. I'm going to be talking a lot today. And then at 3 p.m. Eastern, we're back. BTL competition. Jedbishu is going to try to get over the hump. every time he has faced Drake Riggs since we've had the

fan voting he has been on the wrong end of it even though a lot of people feel like Jed's been robbed in his last couple of outings due to the fan votes Jed's going to try to exercise those demons takes on Drake Riggs a lot to discuss on BTL hot takes galore

and we appreciate you joining us for that and we appreciate you joining us here so thank you very much you guys are the best have a great rest of the day see you tomorrow have a heck of a morning everybody the vox media podcast network