MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Sean O'Malley Leaking Sparring Footage, Jon Jones Pitching Alex Pereira Fight

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

UFC bantamweight champ Sean O'Malley decided to release a new video from a 2016 sparring session with flyweight titleholder Alexandre Pantoja, where O'Malley delivered a devastating body kick that led to the spar being halted. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to Friday's video release from O'Malley, and if it was the right call. Additionally, listener topics include Jon Jones pitching a fight with Alex Pereira over Tom Aspinall, if Jones' legacy changes with a win over Stipe Miocic when they end up fighting, Saturday's UFC St. Louis card, if the PFL should sign Jose Aldo, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,

but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, everybody. It is Friday, May 10th, 2024,

and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety. thereafter on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on everybody? I am Mike Heck. Hope you're all doing

absolutely tremendous. We are on the eve of UFC St. Louis. Yes, the Gateway to the West. Hosting a UFC event, headline by Derek Lewis versus Rodrigo Nassamento. Yes, the fight that St. Louis

has been clamoring for. they said, hey, you better bring Rodrigo Nassimeto to St. Louis. So we're not doing an event here. And the UFC comes through, as they always did. And weigh-ins are going on right now. And holy crap, one of the big questions we have. Heading in, there's Sultan Ruudzibaiif, one of the first to the scale. And he makes it.

Makes the welterweight limit on short notice for his fight against Joachim Buckley. cannot wait to hear Jed Mishu's response to this. All right, that's good. That's good. We got a fight. Well, I mean, we still go walking Buckley, but yeah, good news right there. So that's happening. There's other news and notes or some fights announced.

I'm sure a lot of you are going to have some questions about that. But a couple of big pieces of news that have dropped over the last, I don't know, 15, 18 hours or so. Connor McGregor officially signs the papers, co-owner of BKFC. It's happening. It's a thing. What the hell are we doing here?

What a world we live in? And also, about an hour ago, Sean O'Malley did the thing. He said he was not going to release the video of the final moments of a 2016 sparring session

with current UFC flyway champion Alexander Pantosia. Pantosia had some things to say about the sparring session in the past and brought it up during UFC 301. O'Malley released a short clip on his YouTube, which Pantosia responded to. And I think Pants just said like one thing too many. And Sean O'Malley's just like, F it. No honor amongst thieves, I guess, releases the footage.

And it's pretty much, at least just from that clip, lip exactly what Sean said it was. He kicked him in the liver. Tantosia was like, nah, I can't go anymore. And that's pretty much what the video looks like.

But, I mean, without full context and like watching the full spar from start to finish, I mean, we just don't know. Maybe something happened beforehand.

I don't really know. But based on what we just saw, man, pretty wild stuff. I've been told one of my managers a few seconds ago, I'm like, I can't believe he released.

it. And then he's just like, there's no real honor anymore in the support. Like, it's just a whole different place than it was five, six years ago. That would never happen five, six years ago. But now here we are. So we got that. We got other stuff. If there's any weirdness at the way-ins, I will let you know there is no video. But of course, A.K. Lee, just the best of the business is covering these way-ins. He's paying attention to what's going on. And, he'll keep us posted and then when he tells me, I'll tell you. How about that? All right, let's go.

Let's hear from you all. A few people lined up. Four-quarter sports. Go right ahead. All right, Mike. So I saw that Bigmore said announcing that Roman DeLise versus Michelle Carrera is going to be happening for UFC Louisville. I just wanted

to get your thoughts on that. I feel like this is another quick turnaround. I know people were clamoring for Michelle and I think even like the broadcasts of saying that he should be fighting you know upper echelon fighters I mean he's been fighting you know people like pateria and stuff like that and I think that this is an interesting test for him to fight Roman deletes I wanted to know what was your biggest takeaway from the from the card for this weekend for USC St. Louis for me personally the fight that I'm actually looking forward to is outside of the the Komenade event is the

what's it called the Sean Woods to Alice Casares fight. I know he's fighting in his fight. I know he's fighting in his hometown, but I'm very interested to see how he's going to be trying to implement his boxing against Alex Casares. You know, Alex Casas has a very funky style. He's not the biggest puncher in the world. I just wonder what's your thought on that fight. Yeah, just wanted to get your thoughts on the fight announcement with Pereira and the Leese.

Your biggest takeaway from this card and the Casares-Witts fight. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. Yeah, Casares-Witzen is a good fight. Looking forward to it. A lot of people are, I mean, just basically what I've seen on social media, there's a lot of people who just feel like Sean's going to run Alex over, that this will not be all that competitive.

I don't know if that's necessarily true. These are the spots that Alex Kassarh shines in for some reason. Comes in as an underdog against an up-and-coming fighter. And usually he finds a way to play spoiler. He does that more oftentimes than not. So I am looking forward to it. Sean is a freak at 145. He's huge, tremendous boxing.

His grappling's getting a lot better. He's pretty well-rounded as well. So this will be a really good test. I'm very much looking forward to this fight and see what he does against, I would say Casares is probably a top 20 guy in my eyes. I'm not sure if he's ranked in the UFC rankings at this point, but he's

probably a top 20 to 25 guy in my eyes. And Featherweight's a loaded ass division. So, Sean can go in there and do work. It'll be impressive and it probably sets him up for a pretty big fight. If he could beat Alex Casares, I love it. The storyline

I think was the question. The thing I'm looking at, it's 100,000. 100% Joaquin Buckley. He is the story of this entire card. I have been pretty public on pretty much from Jump Street. From the moment Joaquin Buckley finished Vicente Lucay that he has fumbled all of this, he's bungled it from not having a name to call out or anything of that nature. He wanted to headline this card even though there was a main event, went to the UFC 300 press

conference, the pre-fight won, and kind of made it about himself. And a lot of people loved that. I did not like it at all. You're just kind of taking shine away from the event and what's happening with the other

fighters on the dais. Didn't love that from Buckley, but he gets what he wants. But at the same token, he's fighting a friggin' murderer. Nersault and Rutsubayev is a badass. And the biggest thing about this fight is that these badass fighters that nobody knows about, these are always the most dangerous fights.

He goes out and just melts Vicente Luka, who is a perennial rank guy. And now he has to fight Nersaltzibuya who's won nine in a row. He looked incredible. It's a massive guy. Even at 185, he's going to be humongous at 170. and it's just a really tough fight for Buckley. However, if he goes out there and just thumps up Ruth Zabayev, then I will come on this show Tuesday.

I'll come on the post show Saturday and be like, hey man, he did the thing. Let's, and I'm very, I'm wondering if Joachim Buckley has the most to lose on this entire card, because right now I think he does. I think he has the most to lose, even more than Derek Lewis. Because Derek loses, Derek Lewis. If he goes out and loses to Rodrigo Nassimento,

yeah, it's going to be a bummer. I think the St. Louis fans would be like, eh, because if Lewis loses, it's just not going to be fun. Like, the fight will not be all that entertaining. And this is pretty much, like, on paper, a setup for Derek Lewis to get a first round knocko. It just seems that way from everything that I've watched

heading into this fight. But, yeah. But even if he loses, like, it doesn't matter. Derek Lewis is just going to fight somebody else and people will be excited about it. It'll probably headline a fight night card and people will just be excited to hear him talk about, you know, just funny shit. So I think Joaquin Buckley is the biggest story of this entire car. If he goes out and loses, it's a bad, bad loss.

Not saying like Roots v. Bad Fighter, but to go from Vicente Lucke to taking a step back against an unknown but really, really talented fighter who's looked real good and could be one of the guys. It's just a lot. He's got a lot on the line here. And not only that, if he goes out wins, what's he going to do on the mic? You can't do nothing.

You have to do something. And I'll give him, I'll say what he should have done after the Atlantic City win. He has another opportunity. You call out MVP, go to Manchester, call for that man, you just might get it. And that's what I would do if I was hit. But we'll see.

We shall see. And then the other fight, Michelle Pereira, stepping into fight Roman DeLizze. It's a good fight. I mean, Pereira would be kind of crazy to not take it. He gets a rank guy who was on a tremendous run, had a great 2022, and then loses to Marvin Vittori,

loses an Astridinevov. and if you're going to fight a guy who's in the top 10, you might want to fight a guy who's lost two in a row and hasn't looked particularly fantastic. But Tori fight he looked okay for spurts. So there were people who thought he won that fight, but Imovof thumped him up pretty good. So we'll see what Pereira can do.

And then he becomes a top 10 middleweight in the UFC and we can do some really fun things with him. So yeah, I like the matchup. I think it's perfect and shouts to both guys for taking this fight on, what, a month's notice or so, I'm down. I like it. Let's go to left lane. What's up, Left Lane? What's up, Mike?

Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Well, really looking forward to the card this weekend, even though I know the main event's got a lot of slack. I've came on here. I shout on it as well as everyone else did. But overall, cards actually really good. Even like a lot of the prelim fights are interesting. We all know lightweight is the best division in the spool.

We got three really interesting lightweight fights, McKinney versus Rivaich, Hooper versus Borcheev, and then Rebecca versus Verheera, or Ferreira, is the one I'm actually most intrigued in because Mattaz Rebecca is a guy that I've been pretty high on since after his debut, I was really high on him going into the Rajnebobb fight. A lot of people were picking Rajnebobb there,

and I picked McKinney, not McKinie, I picked Rebecca with a lot of confidence, and then he's been doing good things. So I think if he gets a win against guy like Diagra Fahia, who has been ranked in his career before, beaten some decent names, then I think I would personally have him in line for, like, a ranked guy because I do think he's at that caliber.

But apart from that, you know, we got Buckley. We all know what's going down there. He needs to win that fight because he's got something going for himself at the moment. Like, he's starting to really become, like, a personality in the World War Division, which there's not a lot of, to be honest. I think Colby's shtick's kind of got nulled. Ian Gary, I guess, is just baiting people and they get mad at him, but it's kind of bit weird.

But yeah, Buckley does seem to have something going for himself, so it'd be really good for him to get a win. But apart from that, I got three bets down on the card. I know you're not, I know you're not Jed. You're not on the No Bet's Bard show, but I got a parlay with Rebellis to Spain by first round, K.O. and then Derek Lewis by Kio. I got 20 bucks on that, it's paying like 80 or something. I got one or just five bucks, which is both of those two for a round one, K.O.

And then I got a four-leg parlay, which is Rebellis, round one K.O., and then I've got Rebecca by K.O. And then I've got Woodson v. Ksera to go the distance. I got five bucks on that to pay like 80. So what do you reckon about that? What do you reckon about the three lightweight matchups? And yeah, it's a good card this weekend. Yeah, you're braver than me with those, like, super-specific parlias.

I mean, there's a world where all those things can happen. So I wish you the best of luck on your journey and hope you cash all the bets. I mean, just those are bets that I personally wouldn't make. I just, if I'm going to parlay things, I'm just going to parlay the shit out of chalk for the most part. But, yeah, a lot of those things can happen. And I kind of expect a lot of those things to happen. So it should be fun. Let's take a look at the lightweight fight.

Let's take a gander, shall we? I'm going to pull up the betting lines while we're at it here. Let's see. We got Terrence McKinney, Esteban Rebovich. I mean, you know the beauty of a Terrence McKinney fight is you know what you're going to get. He's either going to get or get got in the first seven minutes. So I would say if there's like one bet that I would feel very confident in, it's a little chalky. That fight going under one night.

a half seems like a really good bet but i like the fight it's gonna be fun as hell i know riebevitch hasn't had a finish in the ufc yet but the dude is a finisher and he's fighting a guy who can be finished or is a finisher so that should be fun as hell chase hooper and slava claus is an interesting fight i would probably bet chase hooper here who's the dog at plus 120 like i know Slava Claus is a far better striker than Chase Hooper. Chase is getting better. Still looks a little sloppy in there. I think you'd probably be the first one to tell you that.

A little bit uncomfortable at times. You almost like when he starts having exchanges with people, you kind of hide your face in your hands a little bit because it just doesn't look aesthetically pleasing. Problem is Chase Hooper's big skill is such a big one in this fight. His wrestling is just so superior to Slava Claus. And Chase Hooper, the way I read this fight is that as long as Chase doesn't get God and he could just land a takedown, it's probably winning that round.

Plain and simple. So I think there's some interesting value on Chase Hooper at Plus 120. And then Roebatsky, CDF, love the fight. We're going to get some questions answered because CDF is a dog, but CDF is also getting up there at age. He is knocking on the door of 40, I believe. I just want to make sure I have my facts straight. I know he's up there.

Where is he? He is 39. Yeah, so he is knocking on the door of 40. And CDF hasn't really been the most active guy in the world. It's been about a year since we've seen him. And he did knock on Michael Johnson. It was pretty nasty. And then prior to that, it was,

almost two years, like a year and a half away after losing Tum Batush Gammarad. He lost, got finished by Greg Gillespie, lost to be a lot of Dereux. I mean, obviously, very good names to lose to. So this is interesting. Like, Rebetsky is a huge favorite. Minus 500.

I think he wins, but I gotta tell you, CDF's tough. Even at 39. And I just ran down those three losses and those three of the top 10 lightweights in the world. I mean, we don't know where Greg Gillespie is, but still when he competes, he's probably a top 10 lightweight. So, yeah, it's going to be an interesting fight. We'll see if Rubechki can come through and we'll see a CDF can play spoiler again.

He does that quite often, and when he is active in fighting, he's very fun to watch. So it's going to be a good fight. But it could be a breakout night for Matush Rovecchi. I think that's how the UFC is setting it up, but we'll see. Let's go to YVMZ, maybe. I think we have the Wheel of Doom. Give it a few seconds. Boating for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.

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Conditions apply. And the Wheel of Doom continues. Abzal, you go ahead. So, Mike, heck of the morning. Firstly, I just want to talk a little bit about the NBA today. I'm not sure if you saw the Boston Celtics game. Yeah, I freaking saw Mabzwalia. That was a fucking disgrace.

Yeah, I want to get your thoughts on that. Do you think it's a big overreaction from a lot of the NBA world? You know, Cav fans just kind of, you know, having a little bit eager, you know, to a spout on the Cavs, I mean, the Celtics. Or do you think there is a chance that because, you know, the Caval fans, team is not the same Miami Heat team that has its flaws and weakness, you know, that they have a possible chance to try and, you know, give the Celtics a hard series. I mean, fuck me, man. If this becomes like a six or a seven game series, I am going to be

pissed because Cleveland is not good. They're just, they're not good. The Celtics played so bad last night. Like, it was awful. It was awful. I was playing poker last night as well. So luckily I won some money, so it softened the blow a little bit. But Jesus Christ, man, they sucked last night. That was one of the worst, that was probably the worst game they played all season. Jason Tatum can't hit water if he fell out of a boat. It's just so bad. And you can only expect Derek White and guys like that to carry this team for so long.

Like, it's just awful. Tatum's got to fucking sack up. Start making some shots. I don't know what he's got to do, but he's got to do something. This is awful. This team is, I still think they're going to win the next three games because I just think Cleveland's not a good basketball team. But if the Celtics show up to play the Knicks, the way they're playing right now,

they ain't going to beat the Knicks. They'll win games, but they ain't going to beat them. They need Tadem to get cooking. Like, he doesn't even have to go off for like 40 a night. Just make a few shots. If he goes for like 16, 18 points and just, becomes a threat to some extent. They will beat the Knicks.

The Celtics are better. They're just better. But if Tatum can't do shit, then they ain't beating this team. So, yeah, it was awful. It was so frigging bad. I was disgusted as a Celtics fan. Just no balls.

No balls last night. Josh, go ahead. Josh, try again. It's not connecting for some reason. YVMZ, go ahead. Hey, Mike, heck of morning. I had two quick questions for you. Why do you think, Dana said that the sphere is just a one-and-done?

Do you think it's like a logistical issue? I just don't see why, you know, it would just be like a one-and-done-type deal and keep going back to the apex. That's the first one. And I wanted to see who you had between Lomachenko and Kemposus. Thank you. It's a good fight, man. I don't know.

I honestly have no idea. I haven't really thought too much about it, if I'm being honest with you, but I actually forgot that fight was happening. Composososos looks real good. Lomachenko, when he's on, he's really tough to beat. Just a tremendous fight.

I think Lomachenko needs it more. He's on the back nine, which he has said pretty much. So, yeah, that's going to be a good one to watch. Let's see. Let me pull up. Yeah, so the apex, they ain't leaving the apex. I told you that already.

They ain't leaving. Why would they do that? It's crazy. And then once they made that new rule about how family members and friends can go watch the fighters fight and then get escorted out of the building, that pretty much told me we're going to be here for a while, probably forever. Fear being one and done. It will be a one and done. We will do it one and done.

That is what Dana White told us. He's going to make it extra special. Yeah, I think logistically it's really tough. I've not been inside the sphere, but I've talked to people who have been inside the sphere. And everyone has told me verbatim. I don't know how they're going to pull it off. It's just not a place that's built for like combat sports. It's a great concert venue and like a great theater.

But to host a sporting event, they're going to have to make a lot of logistical changes. and like Mark Shapiro and the UFC Brassett on that call, it's a very expensive event to host. So I think they're just going to blow it up, do something huge, and just say that they did it. You know what I mean? Dana wants to be first.

And if anybody can pull it off, it's probably him. And when Dana's really passionate about something, he will make sure it happens. So I expect this event to go off without a hitch. Now I get Saudi involved. they're going to sponsor it. So I'm sure that obviously helps with the cost as well. So with them involved and then putting their money into it,

they're probably going to stack the shit out of this thing. I don't know if it's going to be like 300 quality, but I would expect the main card to be pretty unreal. So, yeah, I'm not really surprised. And I'm certainly not surprised they're going to stay at the apex. Just no shock at all. it's just such a money it's just such a money maker to not have to travel and have your own place to host fights let's go to combat cast a g what's up man hey i just have a question for you when it comes to

shan o'malley posting the footage it seems like every time he gets a little bit of aura or a little bit cool he does something to me that's like a little bit corny like pantosia's obviously a flyweight obviously every time he's hurt he closes the distance this was striking only obviously how did you view the footage that he posted so i mean sean released some footage earlier on his youtube channel it didn't show the finish i just thought it was like interesting going back and rewatching that on his youtube channel because it's like the first 30 seconds of a video that he did because fantosia just kept talking about it i know he was asked about it but he just kept talking about it and sean was like, look, man, I literally finished this dude in the first round with a liver kick.

Here's just a piece of the footage. And it showed Pantosia, you know, try to stand with Sean and Sean duck it under and landing a takedown. And then he was like, I'm not going to show the finish because that's mean. And then I guess Pantosia reacted to it. It was like, the reason Sean's not releasing all the footage is because he knows what happened. And if you go back to an M.MA hour interview back in October, Pantosia essentially said the

same thing. because the reason why that footage wasn't released and the reason why Sean didn't send me the footage is because in essence I beat the shit out. It did not go well for him. And I think Pantosia reacting to it and continuously talking about it, he should have just left it alone, honestly.

But yeah, I don't love it. It's not my thing. But I guess I'm not surprised in 2024 that shit like that comes out. But I guess my biggest takeaway was like, oh, shit, Sean was right. I mean, he said exactly what happened. I finished him with a liver kick. And then he said no moss.

And if we're just going by that 30 second clip, that's essentially what happened. So yeah, pretty weird. Pretty weird. Don't love it. But now it's out there. And be careful. If you don't got receipts, Just be careful because that shit's going to come out.

That's just how it works. Matt, go ahead. Hey, so I will say I'm the biggest sugar shan hater. And I did actually see that he did post a new video that actually does have him landing the liver kick. It actually did look pretty decent. So I hate to see that. But I was going to ask, how much do you just love that Dana was able to bundle in power? Slap as an offer to the Saudis to just spice up UFC and everything like that.

I saw that that was one of the big things in the press release was the power slap was also going to be in there. So I was going to get your thoughts on that. I don't give a shit. Honestly, I don't care. I assume that it was just like part of the deal. Just throw that in there. Let's do power slap in Saudi.

I'm sure Turkey Alashay did just go up to date. It was like, hey, man, got to have. power slap here. I'm sure this is kind of like Dana's note to just throw that in there as part of the mix. Like if let's do it, we'll throw that in there. I would say, I mean, obviously I have no insight to this, but I would say I would probably consider this like a quote unquote, this is just a radio term and just a broadcasting and a production term. This is an added value play would be my guess. I don't think Saudi and this and all that. I don't think. I don't think They were like, oh, we have to have power slap.

I would be shocked if that's the case because I don't, I think they just don't care. And there might be like more celebrities at the Power Slap event that at the actual event. Honestly, the only thing that stood out about that release to me was the Spear sponsorship. That's it. I don't care about Power Slap. I'm not surprised that the partnership's going to extend past the June event. It doesn't surprise me at all. But the spear thing was interesting.

That was like, that I wasn't, not shocked by it, but I wasn't prepared to read that, if that makes sense. So, yeah, I mean, good for them. If they're happy with getting power slap, then good on them. Kind of fits, kind of fits. Does it not? Tristan, go ahead. Hey, Mike, can you hear me?

Yep. Yeah, Mike, going back to Manteuse Rambeski versus Diego Ferreira, the thing about Diego Ferreira, I mean, he got knocked up by Matus Gamron. Matus Gamron and Matus Rebecchio, I'm the same team at ATT. So I really could see why he's a big, he's a big enough favorite. I know Diego Ferrer is tough, but I think he's lost to pretty much up the up-and-comers that he has fought, Gilepsy and Gammonaut. So, I mean, the thing about Rembecki is whatever they like is, I think he's very well-rounded. And then people are forgetting, this guy has monster leg kicks. So if he drops, if he goes and hits him with a couple of leg kicks, that's going to compromise Diego Farrow tremendously.

So, you know, I understand Diego Ferrer is a tough dude, and he's, um, Rambeski is a big favorite, but I think it's for a good reason because just the way how he's performing. Again, if he wants this fight, he's on a fourth-fight win-strain, we're going to have to start a fight with him. start looking at him, started looking at those rankings. Now, speaking of the MNA global rankings, do you know if AK is going to actually commit to making a dedicated page to it? Because the problem is with the MNA global rankings, I can't see the updated versions of the individual rankings. Now, he'll update the MMA global rankings,

I mean, the pound for pound ones, but there's no dedicated page. I know it's a lot of work, so I don't, At some point, for the site, AK is going to have to make just a dedicated page where people just could see all the MMA, all the global rankings. Again, I don't know if you have any information.

I don't know if you talk to him or whatever, but I just hope he could make a dedicated page where you could just see all the rankings when you go into MMA fighting. And then everything is updated and we could see what's going on at that point. So just your thoughts, Mike, thanks. I'll get that in a sec.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised Rebetsky is a big favor. Minutes 500 just seems a little too wide. I mean, who knows? Rebetsky just might be the dude. But there are a lot of people who feel like CDF has no chance, and I just don't agree with that. CDF could absolutely knock

Ravichke's out. I don't think that's going to happen. But he has a big, like, Rebetsky can grapple, but when things get to the floor, and we're starting to the jujitsu conversations, CDF's got better jujitsu. Things could get real hairy down there for him. I mean, CDF is a high-level grappler on the ground.

High level. So, and this is, like, if you look through Batushabetsky's career, and he's fought some pretty decent guys, I mean, this is the biggest step up he's had for sure in the UFC. like by far so good vet test i mean at least with gamrod like you know to me gamrod was was a lot more battle tested against i'd say where benski fought bums he fought to pretty decent guys but gamrott was fighting some fucking murderers on the way to the ufc and then his entire ufc run he's fought just really good dudes for the most part so yeah it's a good fight looking forward to it well let's

Like, we'll get some questions answered about Robechke, but not all of them. Again, CDF's 39. It's going to be 40 in January. And as we know, that usually doesn't fare too well for fighters under 170 pounds or below. So with the global rankings, like, if you go to the homepage of the website, there is a section right up top. This is rankings. But I think you're just looking for sort of a page or you just go look them up. And I don't know if we have that just yet.

because we don't we don't update them like we just did a full update following ufc 300 and following 301 because like there wasn't like a ton there the only real shakeup that we had was was bannamweight because josie aldo was back now you could play the game with flyweight a little bit because of Steve Erseg, where do you put him? But we probably won't do like a full update until after, I would say after 302. We'll have like a full update. So, but if you're looking for just like a, just a, that's not a bad idea. Just have a page where you can just see the current rankings and only the current rankings.

So I will discuss that with the powers that be and see what we can do. Tyson, do we have you? Hey, Mike. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. All right. Heck, good morning. I just had three quick questions. I don't know if you kind of touched on the first one.

But the first one is related to John Jones and Alex Pereira. What do you make of the, I mean, if that happens, let's say if John does beat Steepay, which I anticipate we all predict that he's going to beat Stepe, like, what do you make of it? if the UFC decides to book that fight between him and Alex, you know, you got Tom still out there or an interim champ, whoever it is, still out there, like, would it be the state of the heavyweight division? That's the first question.

My second one is I've been kind of following the back and forth, the exchanges between Max Holloway and Ilya to Poria. What's the likelihood of that fight actually happening? And if it does happen, and let's say Max does beat him, I mean, we're looking at a fourth fight, possibly with Volk. So what are your thoughts on that? And then third and final question would be, are you hearing any rumblings about when and where DDP could possibly make his first title defense?

I think that's all I got for you, Mike. Thank you. I mean, just kind of looking at the schedule right now. So we got two in June, including McGregor's return. So it's not going to happen on either of those two cards. July's and Manchester. It's not going to happen there. August is Perth could happen there

because he's going to fight Izzy more than likely do they throw that at the spear in September it's a big ass fight wouldn't be stunned if they did it there and then October they'll be in Abu Dhabi but just based on

how things look right now it would not shock me I am hearing rumblings of either two probably a second october pay-per-view it's i mean do not say like oh my's reporting this um there it just seems like that's going to happen jose kind of teased it as well on btl because 306 is the spear 308 is aboubabi where's 307 going to be so just process of elimination they're going to add another one there just kind of depends where that's at but i would guess you know just based on the business dealings if they're going to do that

Anaheim probably is probably an option Houston somewhere like that where they usually go but haven't been Salt Lake City actually that's probably the correct answer if I had to guess and I have no true insight

to this but I would say before they get to Abu Dhabi they'll probably go to Salt Lake City for a pay-per-view and could you throw it there? Sure. I don't know. My guess would be it's either going to happen in Perth or they'll just chuck it on the sphere. It's a pretty damn good main event right there.

If they wanted to do that. Which leads to, what the hell of? John Jones Pereira. I'll remember the other thing as well. John Jones Pereira, would the UFC do it? Yeah, they would.

It would just be insanely ridiculous if they did that, though. It just makes, it just makes no sense. John has things that he should be doing. Pereira has things that he should be doing. He's got contenders in his division. He's got plenty of dudes to fight right now.

He could fight Yuri Perashka. It seems like that's what he wants. There's Maghavadank Goliath. One of they going to give him a title shot. If Cleo Roundtree goes out there and beats Jamal Hill at UFC 303, like that's another fight. I just don't think we need to see. it. And I, here's the thing. I know Jed has his opinions about John and I understand that.

I blame the UFC for this for doing the interim title thing because it made no sense. And if you're just going to do this, if we weren't going to get Jones versus Aspinall or if you weren't just going to give Asmanyl the belt, then what is the point of the fight? Is it just because you thought you were going to go back to the UK and, well, worst case an area, we could just have them defend the interim title. Like I just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, so weird the thought process on this because look at what happened with light heavyweight. Just look at it. You're a Phrashka.

Says he gave up the belt, quote unquote, but we all kind of know what happened, right? UFC said, no, we want to like, we need a title fight for this card. Just drop the belt when you're ready to come back. You'll get another shot. Jamal Hill, same thing. No longer the champion vacant titles. John versus Steepa doesn't need a belt. It does not need a belt.

So what are we doing here? This whole thing is so dumb. But I will say, from a prize-fighting perspective, John Jones is doing the thing right now. I don't like it because I want to see John fight Tom Aspinall. I think the world wants to see John fight Tom Aspinall. And I think the world understands that nobody cares about John Jones versus steep right now, especially with John Jones wearing the belt.

It makes no sense. Who cares? If you were so obsessed with making this fight, just make Tom Aspenall the heavyweight champion. Create a belt. I don't give a shit. Then John and Steepa can fight. Tom can move on.

And if John wants to get the belt back, then he can go fight Tom. Like, who cares? No one... People aren't going to look at John and Steepa any differently. They're going to be like, oh, fuck, the belt's on the line, so I can't watch it now. Of course not.

those who are going to watch that fight I can watch the fight whether John's putting a belt on the line or not but dude I mean it doesn't make like that fight just makes no sense it makes no sense

and I actually think John would I think John would run Pereira over anything you want to add to that Tyson yeah that um the last one was Mike I'm sorry Max versus Ilya yeah yeah yeah okay I mean I feel like that's

I feel you kind of have to strike when the iron's hot with that one. But you also got Volk, too. And, you know, I know a lot of people don't love immediate rematches. And for the most part, I don't love them either. But in this particular case, you got to give this dude a rematch. If Volkovsky wants that shot, give it to him. But it all depends on what Volk wants. If he is, like, good to go for Perth, fine.

Like, he should be, if you did DDP, Izzy, and then Tuporia Volk 2, like, that's a fucking massive card. That's huge. That's a big-ass card right there. It doesn't appear like to going to Spain this year. And Holloway has so many options right now. He literally could do whatever he wants. If Connor goes out and beats Chandler, like, he could fight Connor.

He really could. He could fight Chandler. He could fight Chandler. You could fight for the lightweight belt right now. The world is in Holloway's hands right now. He can do whatever he wants. But him and Ilya would be a big fight. But at the same token, I think Max, at least hearing Daniel Cormier,

sort of recap conversations he's had with Max Holloway, Max fully is pretty convinced that Volk's getting the fight. So I want to see I against Max. I definitely want to see it. But if they go with Volk and I would venture to guess they will. Like, that's totally fine as well. But man, what a position Max Holloway's in.

But Holley's just thumping up, Ilya, in the trash shock back at Ford's, I have to say. Max's doing well. Doing a good job. Huncho, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Once Fluffy had to pull out of the Delizze fight, I've been thinking what's next for him? Is it like a Marvin Vittori? is it Jack Hermanson

is it Brendan Allen or is that too far of a jump I was also thinking maybe him and Kyle would be a good fight but I was just wondering what you think thank you for your time have a heck of a morning you too man yeah that's an interesting question

after 301 we did on to the next one immediately after 301 I was like I have the perfect fight for Michelle Pereira it's Anthony Hernandez That's the one. Hernandez said he'd be ready to fight later on the summer. Go ahead and make that fight. That fight absolutely rules. So what are we doing here?

But we found out obviously Michelle Pereira is fighting somebody else. So there you go. Who does Fluffy fight? It's a good question. Let me look at the UFC rankings. Unfortunately, that's just been kind of the problem for Fluffy because the dude is real good. But the issue is like he just can't stay healthy. so it's just it's just tough scenes right now

anytime he gets like a ton of momentum going he gets hurt books a big fight and then we have to wait I did speak with Eric Nixick and Chris Curtis didn't need surgery or anything like that after the Brennan Allen fight so I'm not sure when he's going to be able to come back but he's already moving around

he's hitting pads and stuff like that He's a little more stationary. But Fluffy versus Chris Curtis is a fun-as-ha-futte-all fight too. So could do Jack Hermanson? If you wanted to go that route, I probably wouldn't go any higher. I would say it's kind of like a battle between Cuyo and Fluffy for the Jack-Hermanson fight. I don't think Brennan's fighting Fluffy Hernandez, and I don't think he should. I think Brennan Allen should just fight Marvin Vittori.

but Hernandez, I would say, like, the best case scenario for him is that he fights Chris Curtis. Otherwise, I'm trying to think, like, Andre Muniz. Like, it would have to be like somebody like that, right? Although Fluffy and Sharra Bull would be fun as hell. Maybe give him Brad. Maybe you give Fluffy like Brad Tavares or something. That's okay.

I don't know. Fluffy versus Chris Wydenman? What about that? Might be a little wild. but yeah, it's tough scenes, man. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats.

But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice, yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be leave. drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton

Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new One Peloton Cross-training Tread Plus at One Peloton.ca. Barbara Roussa. So the interview of Islam with D.C. and Chale, he said that he would like to defend his title against Armand in Madison Square Garden. Do you think this is possible? Because I think at the end of the day, he's going to headline the Abu Dhabi card, because I think the UFC was hoping.

for Kamza to fight there against the winner of DDP and Israel. But I think the only way that's possible if Izzy wins, because if DDP wins, I don't think he makes a quick turnaround to Abu Dhabi, and then that leaves Islam for Abu Dhabi again. The second question I have, it's not MMA related, but maybe I've seen the... people fight against Zanat. I know he seems like a potato bag for you, but he's my countryman.

And I know it's very hard. And probably you have never heard of him, but he had a late fight, late April. And what I know the chances are very slim, but how do you think for a fighter like him? body here from what's the best scenario for him I don't think he wins he has a good chin and okay foot to work but he's a little bit sloppy he has a great chin this is and he's a bit lengthy thank you Mike I mean if he could just be somewhat competitive I think that's a win in itself it's probably just the way that it kind of has to be but yeah fight's probably not going to go well

if you can win a couple rounds and have moments and just make it a fun fight even in a losing effort I think that's probably I mean obviously the best case of there would be for him to go in there and win but as you said

it's going to be a big hill to climb no doubt about it I mean I mean here's what we learned from Islam recently he just said he likes to say things and yeah

he lays out things all the time. I want to fight here. I want to fight here. Then I want to fight here. And usually none of those things happen. So he's going to fight Dustin. He's going to fight in Abu Dhabi. It's just the way that it's going to be. There's no, I would be absolutely stunned of Pams Atchamaya fights for the middleweight title in Abu Dhabi. Absolutely stunned. Because as we noted earlier, we expect DDP as he to happen, but we don't know when. And if we had to take guesses, it's either August or September and asking either of those guys to turn. around in two months and go to Abu Dhabi and fight Hamzaa Chamaif, I just don't know if it's

worth it. I don't know if it's worth it. But who knows? Hamsad might lose to Rob Whitaker. Like there is a real world where that can happen. So we just kind of have to kind of wait and see how this all plays out. But dude, give me Islam versus Armin Sarukki in like five in the afternoon here in the East Coast. That's what I want. That's the fight I want to see. That's what I want to see. Do it in Abu Dhabi. I cannot wait. But who knows? Dustin Porian might have something to say about it.

But I expect Islam to probably win that fight. And honestly, and this is just me. There is no fight I would rather see right now, honestly, than Islam versus Armant, too. I want to see that fight so badly. Full Camp Armin versus Full Camp Islam, that's it. Give it to me. Do it.

I'm trying to get Josh itched. You've... Oh, wait a minute. I think it might have you now. Can you hear me? Yeah, I got you, man. Okay, cool. So UFC Louisville,

the first live event that I'm going to, and I wasn't even super excited about it until I saw that they announced Roman DeLise versus Michelle Panetta. I'm just curious about how you see that flight going. Also, Google shows Rawl Rosesh Jr. versus Ricky Tersios on that card.

Is that real? All right, man. Thanks. Yes, it is real. We reported that, I believe we were first to report that fight. Yeah, it's happening. They rebooked it. It's happening on Louisville. It appears, like, we haven't, it's not like a, it's not like 100% just yet, but it's close. The initial report about Jared Kennedy and Imovov headlining that card, I would venture to guess that's probably going to be announced this weekend officially.

So expect that to headline. As I pretty much said all along that that was probably going to be the case. It just wasn't, it was a little premature to announce it because it wasn't all done. But it seems like, you know, as of conversations I had yesterday, it's probably what we're going to get. But yeah, it's not going to be, I mean, it's not going to be a bad card. You get some decent bangers on there. Deleteane Pereira is going to be fun as hell.

It's just going to be a fun fight. I'm picking Michelle Pereira. It just seems like they're going in two different directions right now. Pereira's going up. He's young, hungry, he's just entering his athletic prime, more confident than he's ever been in a good way. And Delizze, still very dangerous, still very good, on the downslope right now. So, yeah, I'll favor the hot hand with Michelle Pereira as of right now. Dude's just such a wild man in the best ways possible.

I wonder what the lines are. Is there a betting line on that flight yet? Viking! How are you doing, buddy? I just took a note a few days back that I'm not going to hate Jed, and not at all. I'm going to follow him.

I did that. And hitting Jed, that feeling is long gone. I mean, I just can't hate Jade anymore. Because MMA fighting, you were saying, myself, Jed, and the other members, directly or indirectly, you guys helped me in my mental condition and that's a lot of, that's a lot and I owe you guys. But talking about Jed, he was a little, I mean, I just don't want to say anything bad,

but that was, that VTL was not good at all. he did according to jade John Jones beat old fighters but all fighters have history to become a champion there are two of them same yarn blow which knock out knocks out Dominic Reyes broke his nose the same Dominic Reyes gave John Jones the toughest fight to date Then Glover Tashira Bates Jan Blahowidge, he became a champion. So there is no such things like old man and old fighter. They are professionals and they know their job and they do their job well.

So there is nothing. And the only reason J.D hates John Jones because of people are trying to compare John Jones and Khabib which is a stupid thing because Khabib Nirmaghm is not a good. He never was. So I just want to I just want to pass this message to Jed. That's all.

Peace. I'm never going to hate Jed. Again, not at all. Because I owe him. Thanks a lot, Mike. Thanks, buddy. Look, as I've said in the show many times, Jed is not for everybody. But you got to respect

You got to respect the fact that he is who he is and he will never change for anybody. And I feel like all of us are the same way, but Jed's just a little more, a little more hot takey, a little more vocal than we all are. But I think we're all on the same page and I think we all flow in a really good way. Yeah, Jed talks about like the fighters being old, but his biggest complaint about the Pereira idea was he feels like at least down the stretch, John Jones, while he had title defenses, was beating middleweights. So he basically is like, oh, yeah, so now he's just going to be a heavyweight and beat another middleweight, which Alex Pereira, you know, at least was. But I think looking at his size and his stature, feel like he's probably better at 205 at this point. He's just more of a light heavyweight than a middleweight and the fact that he made 185 is crazy.

But Jed also said, like, look, from a prize fighting perspective, like John's doing the right thing. There's no doubt that John Jones versus Alex Pereira is a bigger fight than John Jones versus Tom Aspedal. Like it's just the nature of the beast. It's 100% true. Pereira is a star. John is a star. Tom is not a star just yet. He's star in the UK.

He's started to get over around the world. He's starting to get over here in the U.S., but he's not there yet. So he's not wrong there. But the fight just makes no sense. It makes no sense. And I think John, Ben Ascran talked about this fight with D.C. And says, I don't think it lasts two and a half minutes. He thinks John just tackles them and submits him.

And it's probably not wrong with that fight on paper. I'm just not that intrigued by it. I mean, it would be, you know, three, four more fights. Cool. Pereira just goes in and beats Yerie again. It beats Ancolaev. If it beats a round tree, cleans out the top of that division, you want to go up and fight John Jones?

Go ahead. Go for it. But right now, if John, it looks like we're going to get John and Steve A. Like, after that fight, it's not Pereira. It's Tom. That's the one. But Tom also has to do what he needs to do, too. We don't know who he's going to fight yet.

I assume it's going to be Curtis Blades, but it could be Cyril gone. I don't know. But if Tom fights Curtis Blades, and they do that again, like Curtis Blades could beat Tom Aspedal. I don't think I'd pick him to do it, but he could. I think he matches up pretty decent. So he's got to get through that before we even start talking about John. So, yeah, John's planned some seeds, just being a prize fighter.

But I get where Jed's kind of coming from. When you got Tom sitting there as the interim champion, like, why even book that fight? And we all have that same reaction. When they booked the fight with Pavlovich for the interim heavyweight title, why are we doing this? Just make it for the actual belt. And now we're in this position. And you can sit there and blame John Jones for how he's handling it, but it ain't his fault. Point the finger at the UFC.

We knew this is going to be a problem, and it is a problem. Daniel, go ahead. We'll take Daniel Henderson and then Forrent sniper that we get to go. Go ahead, Daniel. Hey, heck of a morning to you, Mike. Just want to fire off just a couple quick questions just for St. Louis card. Just your predictions, man, how you see the fights going. Just Bruce Leroy, Alex Casares versus Sean Woodson.

Obviously, I mean, Bruce Leroy had been in the UFC for so long. Sean Woodson, I feel like it's obviously coming up and being in St. Louis, that's going to be pretty cool to see for his backyard. And then just the fight before that, just Cortez Acosta versus Robelis to Spain. I mean, does it make it past 18 seconds? what's this looking like, just want to see what you're thinking, Mike. Thanks, man.

I mean, I think you all know what I'm thinking about that fight. I think Rebellis is going to kick him in the face, and that's it. He's a knock about quick. He's got to knock him out quick. Just what's going to happen, and then Rebellis will turn around. He'll go to Perth, and he'll fight Tai Tituivasa,

because that's exactly what they should do. Casares of Woodson's an interesting one. I understand why Woodson is a minus 218 favorite. if the $20 fairy dropped the $20 bill on the ground said you could only bet it on one of these two guys, I would probably bet it on Alex Kaceres. I think there's value there at plus 180 for a guy who's been in this spot many times and has come through many times. And I do think Sean's a good fighter. And if it's a straight pick, I'm probably picking Sean.

But Caceres, Ceris has done it all, man. in there with everybody. And he's played spoiler a lot. So I think it's going to be a really fascinating fight. If it gets to the ground, it's going to be real interesting. We'll see how it goes. That's definitely, it's definitely one of the, like, four or five fights on the car where you're just, like, kind of really interested to see what's going to happen here.

So, yeah, that's a good one. My pick, like, for, like, minus one tens both ways. I'm picking Sean Woodson, but. could I go with Alex Casares and the M.A. Fighting Staff picks try to be a little different because I see a little value there. I might just do it. I don't know yet. Anderson, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Heck of a morning to you.

Great show, as always. And I just had a couple of quick ideas. And I wanted to hear what you thought of them. And I know you talked about Jose Aldo and how P.F. Lator needs to make that move and sign him. And I think that's just such a gimmy, you know, especially because they're trying to build that 135 division. But I think in addition to that, what they should do is pitch him to be kind of the face of their like minor league system for South America, how they're trying to make Francis the leader for this PFL Africa. And I know they're trying to build one in South America as well.

And who better than the King of Rio, you can make him like the King of PFL. of South America, you know? And I feel like that's something Aldo would appreciate as well. And, like, who could, who could question Aldo as one of the leaders of MMA from that area? And I think that would also set them up to find that for other places, right? Like, they could find, like, a veteran person to be the leader for PFL Europe or PFL North America. So I was wondering, do you, how do you, like that idea? And if that was ever to happen, who would be the face of like a PFL North America or a PFL Europe? So that's just my idea. And then one other quick idea I had was Cananeer, he has such a weird career. His whole career has been strange. At this point,

I feel like he should move off to 205. He's played with so many different weights. And it's never going to happen for him right now where he's at. Like nobody even thinks about him. So why not try and just gain some size, fight someone like Yon? And I don't know, he could probably do fine at that division. So that's another idea. Have a great rest of your show. He fought there for a while. He fought a heavyweight before he dropped to 185.

So he's been there and he's been there already. So he's experienced all those weight classes. So yeah, I guess what he, what he likes, where he finds himself to be the most competitive, I guess. And who knows what's going to happen? Who knows what happens at middleweight at this point? So, yeah, he's kind of the forgotten man. He's almost like the Curtis Blades of the division, but Curtis might get his shot.

And Jared has had his shot, but maybe he finds his way back. He just becomes undeniable. I mean, that's kind of what he's going to have to do. He's just going to have to keep winning and winning and winning until he's the last man standing before getting another title shot. the Joseo thing. If PFL, I'm telling you,

I'm going to say this and I stand by it and I will continue to stand by it. If PFL does not sign Joseoaldo, it is an epic fail. It is an epic fail. It is a misstep of epic proportions if they do not sign him.

Plain and simple. If he resigns to the UFC or goes anywhere else, it is a big loss for PFL. They need to sign him. They have to do it. And the way you look at this is it doesn't matter what it costs. You offer him something that the UFC is not going to match.

I said two million a fight. Go three if you need to. The ambassadorship thing, like, sure. But here's the thing. Nobody cares about any of that. For some reason, like they put this out there and they're like, we're going to this area and this area. in this area and this guy's

to be the face of this area and we're going to do PFL Africa. Like PFL Africa is a big deal. And you have Francis there. He's been trying to get an event in Africa forever. Like that kind of makes sense. But just adding these different

territories and different regions and stuff like it doesn't seem like anyone cares about any of that. And sure, like Jose is a great ambassador. Now if you're going to do like who's the face of those other regions, like you got Dan Hardy. I think he's perfect for Europe.

You got Randy Coutre. I think he's perfect for North America. You don't need to overthink this one. But you just need Jose in there just to be like, hey, we got Jose. It's a big name. Just think of the fights you can make with this guy now. It's an end up like a four-fight deal. Throw him in there with Apache.

Throw him in there with Pitbull. Throw him in there with Aaron Pico. Like there's just so many fun ideas. that you can do with Jose Al, though. They have to sign them. They have to do it. This is a must sign for them. So they better, I mean, conversations better be happening already if you're BFL.

They cannot let this man go. They have to do something. They have to do something because they're just, I mean, the lack of interest in their product right now is stunning to me. I mean, just stunning. Nobody cares. And they just have this mentality of like, we're already there, guys, we're the co-leader. We just need to keep doing things

and everyone's going to watch and care and know what we're doing. No. No, you don't have stars. You don't have any names that bring you to the table right now. You're building a couple, but in such a weird way, I mean, this needs to be such a massive year. They need to sign everybody. And Jose Aldo is at the top of the list.

If they lose out on him, it's a, when we do the airing of grievances, the letter grade at the end of the year, PFL will lose an entire letter grade if they don't sign Jose Aldo. In my opinion, this is a no-brainer. Go do it. Give him whatever he wants.

Can you hear me? Whatever. Four on sniper. Go ahead. Hey, heck of a morning. I just wanted to follow up on what you were saying. earlier about the whole heavyweight division situation with John Jones not fighting Tom Aspenov. I've seen some people tweeting out saying that John is, you know, ducking Tom and, you know, just stuff similar to that. I don't necessarily, like I see where they're coming from,

but I personally don't fully agree. I think John's going for legacy, which is a smart move because, you know, Steve A's older. He hasn't won since, like, I think 2020, hasn't fought in general since 2021 and I believe he might get paid more to fight Steepa if I had to guess so it makes sense from John Jones perspective to take that fight while on the other hand the fan in me I really wish John would fight Tom Aspenall because I don't think we're going to end up getting that fight like I know John said or maybe he didn't say this but he hinted at it happening after he fights and beat Steepay but I personally don't think that fight happens so you know I as much as I won it. I know it's not going to happen, but also

I wanted your thoughts on the whole defending your interim belt situation. Do you think that's going to come to an end in the near future or do you think the UFC are going to continue to make fighters who win the interim belt, defend their interim belt like they did with Tony and like they're probably going to do with Tom Aspenov. That's all, Mike. I mean, they need to head and brow as well.

Well, Dominic Cruz is injured. But, like, my whole problem with this is that they just did the interim belt in this division when the same fucking thing happened at light heavyweight and both champions got stripped of the titles or vacated quote unquote

why didn't John just vacate he's hurt couldn't headline couldn't defend his title just vacate the belt everybody else did it like I know John's you know big star and everything you're not I think John's going to make the same amount of money regardless at this point.

If he fights Tom or whoever, maybe he gets like, maybe this is some extra pay rebis with Steepay. But John's the draw here, man. Like, he's the draw. And honestly, I just, this whole thing that, you know, this is for legacy. How does beating Stepe Meitchitch, who's in his 40s, who hasn't fought in almost four years, how does that change John's legacy beating Stepe?

Do you look at John differently if he beats Stepe? I just don't see it. I don't know how this does, it doesn't hurt his legacy, but does this boost it to a certain degree? No, I think, just be honest, man, you're trying to, like, you're prize fighting.

Steppe is a bigger name than Tom Aspinall. It's an easier fight than Tom Aspinall. No disrespect. It's just the way that it is. You're prize fighting. And I get it, but just be honest about it. This ain't legacy. You want legacy?

The legacy fight to me is fucking Tom Aspinall. That's the legacy fight. That says that John Jones retired is the best heavyweight in the world, when in reality, most people do not believe that is true right now because they feel like Tom Aspinall is the best heavyweight in the world. Most of us in our rankings have Tom Aspinall ranked above John Jones. That's the legacy fight. That does something for his legacy. He's not just the goat. He's not just the greatest light heavyweight of all time. He goes and beats Tom Aspinall and retires. He

retires as the best heavyweight in the world. Where if he goes and beats Steepay and retires, I don't know if he gets that same accolade. So legacy to me would be fighting Tom. that's the one. But if you just want big fights, you want to be a prize fighter, cool. When he says Alex Pereira's a bigger fight in Tom Aspinall,

he's correct. He's not lying about that. But this whole thing, I got to cement my legacy by beating Stepei. How? What does that do? That doesn't,

to me, like, I won't come out of that being like, oh, you know what? John's legacy just went up 10 notches because he beat 42-year-old Stepe Meachich.

No, I wouldn't say that. be like what I thought was going to happen happened and John won so that's the way I sort of view the whole situation at this point like legacy to me what like who else do we get to do like who else is coming back like Francis would have had a legacy fight that's a fucking legacy fight Kane Velazquez would be a legacy fight I mean we all know that's probably not happening but like Kane in his prime like that would be a legacy fight Stepe four years off

hasn't won a fight in a long-ass time I just think whatever steam that fight had is just it couldn't be more gone

the only way we lose even more steam is if they book it again and something happens and it doesn't happen then it's just like

all right enough is enough but no one wants to that fight John wants it the UFC loves it for some reason StepeA obviously wants it And God bless Stepe.

If I'm Stepe, I ain't fighting anybody else but John. You're going to come back and do it again. You fight John or you don't fight it all. I think he'd be happy either way. But I just don't agree that this changes John's legacy if he beats Stepe. It's just the same to me anyways. But all right, we are done. Thank you very much.

A little bit of a note here. We lost a fight for UFC St. Louis, everybody. It's official. Jared Gooden, unable to weigh in. His fight with Kevin Jusset canceled. So that fight no longer happening at UFC St. Louis tomorrow. So we are now down to... 13, 12 fights.

Nice, tight 12 fights. Just what we like. So that fight no longer happening. And stick to M.A.fighting.com for all the updated weigh-in results, all that. Preview show 1 p.m. Eastern, myself, Jed, AK, we'll talk about UFC St. Louis. We'll answer your questions and more. So back here, Tuesday, 10 a.m. Easter, we'll do it again. Enjoy the rest of your Friday. Have a heck of a morning, everybody. With Instacart, you get groceries that over-deliver, so you can over-share your preferences.

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