MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Sean Strickland's Performance At the UFC 276 Press Conference

Episode Date: July 1, 2022

Sean Strickland certainly made the most of his first UFC press conference on Thursday as he planted the seeds for a potential fight with current champ — and UFC 276 headliner — Israel Adesanya. On an all-new episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck checks in from inside the UFC X Fan Expo in Las Vegas to discuss Strickland's performance at the presser and how much interest there could be in an Adesanya vs. Strickland fight. In addition, listeners ask about Sean O'Malley and his UFC 276 fight with Pedro Munhoz, a fired up Max Holloway at the press conference, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Well, hello there, everybody. it is Friday, July 1st, 2022, and live from Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a heck of a morning

on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. Shortly thereafter, the show will be in its entirety on the MAA Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Kack. Hope everyone's having a fantastic week. We are on the eve of UFC 276. The Capper of International Fight Week, an international fight week has returned with a bad. because UFC X is kicking off today.

9 to 5 local time it's going down. Tomorrow, 9 to 5 local time. Same thing, and it'll lead you right in to a very stacked, very intriguing UFC 276 fight card headlines by Israel, Adisandia defending his middleweight title against Jared Canaaner. We get the trilogy fight for the featherweight title between Alexander Volcanovsky and the former champion Max Holloway, the Sean Strickland, Alex Paheda fight, has been the fight that has grown the most in terms of intrigue and interest.

There's no doubt about that. Sean Strickland put on an absolute show in his first ever UFC press conference. Love the man or hate him. A guy evokes emotion and he did a hell of a job. That back and forth with Israel Adasanya was something else. And Sean Strickland, for better or for worse, is emerging as a guy. that people react to one way or the other. And he was definitely the talk of the town after that press conference.

So a lot going on here. We'll do this show. I don't know for how long, probably for like 45 minutes. I don't want to take any shine away from my best friend, A.K. Lee, who is here as well, because Jose is on the other side of the city. He will be at Morning Wayans. You can watch the best Wayans show on Planet Earth on the MA Fighting YouTube channel, AK Lee hosting, as always, doing a fantastic job.

But this is a free for all Friday. This is your show. Let's go. Let's take calls. Four corner sports. Lead us off, my man. How are you? Hello, sir.

Hey, so I just wanted to get your thoughts on, like, your first time being in Vegas, being for international fight week. Also, I have a question. So Al-Fita versus Sean Strickland, that fight just boosted up in popularity right now. That's the fight that a lot of us are talking about. I wanted to know I have a feeling that Adasani's going to win against a canadian ear

It might not be easy but I have a feeling he's going to win But who should Autasania want And who also Will like sell more pay-per-views Adasani versus Cuneda Or Autosni versus Strickland As my favorite revise I think Strickland stole the show

When it came to the The press conference and yeah have a heck of a morning and talk to you guys too. I'm muted, sorry. Appreciate the question by the way. I'll edit that in post.

Yeah, Vegas has been Vegas. And I've never been here before. Never covered a fight week here before. Pretty, just got to here Tuesday, just kind of relaxed on Tuesday, hung out with some people, Jose, James Lynch, who I haven't seen a long time.

Wednesday, We had the media day, everything that happened there. And then I sort of walked the strip with Jose, showed me around a little bit. Then we went to Fremont Street, which was just a whole other world in itself. And then last night, it was just crazy with the press conference. And then we had the Hall of Fame red carpet.

And then we were doing some work like inside the arena. So we watched D.C. speech. We watched Habib speech inside the arena. And did some interviews as well in between those two things. but Vegas is fun. I can see why people like it. The food's pretty cool. And I get to spend an entire extra day here

because my flight out of here on Sunday is not to like, it's a red eye. It's like the last flight that leaves Vegas. It's like 11.30 p.m. local time, so 2.30 a.m. Eastern. And then I'll get home Monday afternoon. So, yeah, it's been fun. And as far as where Adasania is right now, he's in a really good spot if he wins this fight.

Because either way, you have the built-in storyline with Alex Paheda. That will be an intriguing matchup. I think that'll sell great on pay-per-view. But Sean Strickland, if he beats Alex Beheada, he's going to be saying a lot of things, and that'll be huge. This fight just got exponentially bigger for both guys. It's not just about headlining a card and fighting for a title.

This is a chance to build a big fight. Sean Strickland, no matter if you like what he said or not, the guy built himself a fight. He planted some big seeds. Adasana, he responded in kind. And either way, if Adasani beats Canaanere, it's a big one. It's a big one. Now, if I'm going to have to guess which one sells more on pay-per-view,

I would say they're pretty close, but I will lean towards Sean Strickland, just considering what has come out of that, the build, what could happen with those two guys, it'll be pretty explosive. Let's get Token here. Toke, my man. How are you? What's up, buddy? John's like no one.

It's okay. That's a two-step. And my first question is actually about Dave Matthews Band. So I'm going to ask you, it's free for all Friday, man. So my first question is about how do you listen to, like, you go to a love concerts, but when you listen to Dave Matthews Band at home, do you listen to studio albums or do you listen to live recordings? Because I'm a very big live recordings guy myself.

I've been to some concerts, but I also have live DVDs with Dave. Matthews actually. And the other question was let's talk about the role of a manager, because in my eyes, a manager is one that works behind the scenes to get people, to get his clients what they want. So seeing Ali Abdel Ayesi's on stage, taking all the shine off of it, like just basking in the glory and in the in the light at the Hall of Fame ceremony that really rubbed me the wrong way and I would like to hear your opinion on that as well. Thank you, Tok. Yeah, that was a that was a talking point. That was definitely a talking point last night amongst fans, different people that I spoke with

throughout the night and yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people reacted the same way that you did and you can kind of see that in the red carpet as well a lot of people reacted to it in that sense but it is what it is it's habib's choice that's who he chose and habib came through i we're kind of joking that ali's speech is going to be longer than habibs but habib went out there just went off the cuff and knocked out of the park it was a tremendous speech was awesome he did a fantastic job but i get where you're coming from and you're not alone and feeling that way i can assure you as far as like what i listen to two album-wise, especially when I was in high school, like late teens, early 20s and I was

going to see Dave. It was like a mix of both. It depends. It was the day when you could burn CDs, you could put whatever you want on there. So it would be like a mixed bag of studio recordings, live shows. I know OAR is a band I've seen a million times in concert. And their live shows are better than the studio recordings, in my opinion. And so not all bands, not all musicians can say that,

but I think OAR, if they're live albums are better than studio albums. Let's go to Zeke. Zeke, how are you? You're muted, my man. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. There we go. I got you.

I got you. I'm not going to lie, Mike. You put on a serious performance yesterday at that press conference, and that was an absolute scene. So definitely need to give you some kudos there. Secondly, I got a question, and then I got just a comment on the press conference. John Strickland, yes, okay? The guy is, I don't know.

He's got, like, the IQ of, like, a 20-year-old, like a 21-year-old. But he's kind of hilarious. Like, I guess that's coming from the younger community. I can kind of tell, like, the older and, like, I guess the more mature M.MA fans yesterday were getting a little frustrated. But every time he opened his mouth, I thought it was absolutely hilarious, whether he was gunned and Izzy, whether he was staring Alex Pereira in the face. trying to get as tall as him. I think he's kind of trying to soak it up as much as he can because I think he knows the inevitable is kind of coming.

If he doesn't wrestle, I just, I think Pereira is going to absolutely send him to the shadow realm. Maybe I'm just a bod for that. But Alex Pereira looks like a non-hired cartel member who is just ready to, you know, put serious pain in Sean Strickland's life. And secondly, what are your thought processes, I'm sorry, your thought process on Israel after this? Is it immediately going to be Alex? Are we doing this right away like this?

Is it going to be, you know, take a little bit more time off like Izzy after he signed that? Obviously, he did sign that big contract and took some serious time off in between, was it Whitaker and I'm sorry, I'm botting right now. I forgot who he fought right after that. But yeah, what do you think next for Izzy after this fight? Is it definitely Alex? Thank you very much, Mike. And enjoy yourself this weekend. Again, you're absolutely killing it out there.

MMA fighting. The best fighting website in the world is represented really well right now. And I guess I got to do this to AK because I did fall for once and then I realized how hilarious it is. Happy birthday, AK. All right, let's have a nice, nice free-for-all-friday. heck of a morning. And let's sleep well tonight.

Nothing, you know, nothing Zeke wouldn't do out there in Vegas, because we got a big, big, big Saturday. Thank you, Mike. Thanks, Zeke. Yeah. I mean, Sean was when he wasn't jumping over

the line, he was... He was hilarious. He was quick-witted. He got Izzy a little bit rattled, which you don't see all that often. You could tell that he was getting to Adasana. There's no doubt about it. And as far as where Izzy goes with a win. By the way, let me just say this again.

Jared Kahnir is being extremely overlooked in this fight. I think stylistically, he's got a real good chance here. I don't think he wins, but he's going to make this a competitive fight. If he starts getting off with those leg kicks and starts scoring, boy, oh boy, this could be a real interesting fight. I do favor Otisani to get it done. And like I said earlier, his next fight will be the winner of Pahed and Strickland. matter what happens, it's going to be a big deal. There's a story there.

If it's the Pajana thing, you could tell that story for months. If it's the Strickland thing, all you have to do is just show clips of the press conference and you have sold yourself this fight. So, like I said, Adasani is in a great spot. As far as tonight goes, I'm here at the Expo till right now, this is going on 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time. I will say this. I'm not going to give too much information.

But there's a chance that I will have to leave here early. And if that is the case, my friends, I think you'll be very excited as to the reason why. I will just leave you with that, let you ponder, and we'll continue on. Let's get Rel on. How are you, sir? Heck of a good morning. How you doing, Mike? I'm doing great, my man.

So I've seen your interview with Annick, and I wanted to ask, did you play a little bit of linebacker at something, like, when you've gone? I'm pretty big. Like, I don't know if Annick's short, but you seem like pretty stocky over Annie. Was there some linebacker in your days? And then from the press conference, it seemed like everybody brought an energy with them to the press conference. What you think that was about? Like, is it just getting closer to the fight? Could it be like, you know, weight cutting, mixed with being under the lights?

Is it just for the camera? Like, what do you think of all that was about? Heck of a morning. Thank you, Rao. So I'll start with the last thing. just there's just a feeling. Like a lot of times when

Jose comes on the preview shows and I try to get sort of a gauge of what the area is like if there's a buzz in the air sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. Depends on where you're at. Like when I was in Jacksonville, there was some buzz but not a ton.

Like people weren't just asking me left and right about fights and fighters and the car in Jacksonville. They are here. It's nonstop here. There is certainly a buzz in the air. Now you attach the international fight week and all the people have come to town. There are a lot of people at the press conference and not only that, there was a lot of energy. There was a ruckus in that crowd, so to speak. So, yeah, it was a good

time. I don't know how you could not get all that excited being in front of that crowd and doing all that stuff. And yeah, as far as the other thing, I mean, people were commenting on that. I am into weightlifting. I will lift weights five times a week. I like to lift heavy. a guy that's going to have a six-pack. Am I going to be looking like Y'all Romero up in here? Absolutely not. But do I like to get after it? Do I like to clang and bang with the weights?

I enjoy it very much. I do it almost every single day. And yeah, I go as heavy as I can by myself. I don't have like workout partners sometimes last for spots. But yeah, I like to exercise. I'll put it out there. It's all natural, folks. It's all natural.

I take pre-workout and I take like a half a scoop of creatine. three times a week. That's it. That's all I take. There's no needles. They ain't nothing illegal about what I'm doing. I just wake up and go. And that's it. Don, you're up. What's up, I'm in?

Mike, how you doing, buddy? Good. First of all, I wanted to say, Sean Strickland, man, cut a vicious promo yesterday. I love it. For all my wrestling marks out there, you got to love it. For two, I wanted to know, because I've been seeing a lot of the DC and Kabib, you know, those guys need a sitcom for real, for real. I will watch that.

I wanted to know for you, who has the best bromass in M.M.A. right now. Because, like, we got the Hamzots. We got the Hamzots and Darren Till. You know, we got a lot of bromasses in M.M.A. Who has the best bromance? And also, what's been the best thing about you being there for International Fight Week? What's been, like, maybe the best interview or something like that? Enjoy your time out there, man.

Two Sweet Day, as always. He's heck of a morning. Oh, that, Jay. Thank you, Don. I appreciate that. Best thing about, I mean, just the best thing about going to a fight week is just seeing people you haven't seen in a while. Like, I work with Jose daily. I do shows with him weekly, but I only see him maybe two or three times a year.

So it's always good to catch up with him. And some of the other, like sitting next to me right out, Simon Head's here, John Morgan's here. Oscar Willis is here. Cody Merrow, who you may have heard his name on the Anakin Florian podcast. He's been here. And just meeting a bunch of the media members that I've never met in person. I think that's been really cool. Obviously, getting to chop it up, but John Anick is always a great time.

We always will preview these cards, but it's even cooler when you get to do it in person. So love that stuff. Best romance in M.MA. I mean, there's a few. I mean, for a while was Mazadol and Covington was an odd. Those two guys are inseparable. I'd say Wydman and Wonderboy is a good combo. Obviously, Tilling Shemaiah, but who knows?

I'm going to, like, I'm going to throw one out there, and this is going to sound weird, and you're going to be like, oh, you're such a Boston dude. But I will say this. I'm going to go with longevity, and I'm going to go with one that, I'm going to go with, if we're looking at it, like, like, a couple standpoints. And I mean this and not the way you think. You want to bet on, like, which ones, which team is going to, let's say, well, I'll change pace. Let's say it's like an 80s per wrestling tag team.

You look at all these tag teams, you're like, which one's going to stay together the longest? It's Caldicator and Rob Fawn. those two guys are going to be together forever. They're going to be like Mickey Ward and his brother Dickie. Those two guys are going to be attached forever. And they're very serious on fight weeks, but when you see those two guys together and the cameras aren't on, they are loose as a goose.

They're super fun. And they may not be the most headline-worthy tandem. They're not ones that are going to go out there and do anything silly and dumb. They're going to just take care of business. Those two guys are going to be attached to the hip forever. So their best buds, and they will remain that way. So I'll go with those two guys just because longevity, no chance of a breakup or any sort of weird thing like that. I say that in such a weird way, but a friendship breakup, a friendship breakup.

Let's go with Julio. Hey, Mike, how are you doing? Good, good. So I'm assuming there's going to be a live post-fight show, right? I always look forward to those. Yes, there will be a live post-night show, my man. And so, okay, my question is, in other combat sports, we see, like, in boxing and Muay Thai, karate, whatever it is, we always see kids being brought up at a young age.

Do you ever see, or if it's already happening, where MMA is brought as a whole from the beginning at a very young age, do you see that being acceptable? to the point where, you know, it elevates the sport of MMA and, you know, even maybe opening up the possibility of an Olympic, you know, introduction in MMA. Do you see that happening where families or camps or gyms are accepting of MMA as a whole at a young age? Or do you think it always has to be step by step of, you know, I started in wrestling and then I went to a kid. kickboxing class. You don't understand what I'm saying? I do. It's a great question.

And it's one of the things that fascinates me about the sport right now because, for instance, you could have a seven or eight year old and parents like, you should do a sport or an activity. And normally it's, you'd play baseball or soccer or basketball or hockey or wherever. And now a lot of kids are into martial arts. They're into MMA.

And, sorry, when I moved to South Carolina, my son, he wanted to try like a karate class or something like that. So I actually found an MMA gym. It's Carlos Machado affiliates in South Carolina. And he tried it out, did MMA for a while. He liked it. And then he went and sparred one day. And some kid who was like three years older than him, he just lit him up. Like he was way too aggressive.

My kid had just been in there for like a month. this kid had probably been in there for like three or four years coaches are trying to calm him down trying to get him to slow down a little bit and he wouldn't do it and they just kind of fell out of love with it which is fine but those classes he was in there were so many kids

in there it was crazy I was like holy smokes and a lot of people like it some people it's just not for them maybe my kid will do it again who knows and if he wants to grade if he doesn't fine but yeah the sport has grown exponential

eventually and seeing kids go in there at five, six, seven, eight years old. It at least teaches them discipline, teaches them to be better themselves, not to use it on the streets, only in self-defense. So there's good value there for sure. But some kids just are, they're cut from the cloth. They're cut from the fighter cloth. And if that's what they want to do and they're starting out five, six, seven years old, you're going to get some high-level athletes coming out of there who are just way ahead

of the game. Look at guys like Mohamed Mujayev. Look at what he's doing right now. Super young guy, had an extensive amateur career, was training for a long time, and he is so far away from getting to his prime, yet he's as good as he is right now. We're going to see a lot of that in the next 10 years. It's got to be very interesting to see what the sport looks like about a decade from now. That's a great question. As far as post-fight show goes, yes, we'll do a post-fight show.

I believe Sean Alshadhi will host. I will obviously pop in from Vegas after the card. We'll do the press conference live stream like we do before where it's like myself and Casey chit-chatting as we await the fighters to come up to the dais to answer the questions. But all the stuff we normally do, we're going to continue to do.

There will be a preview show a little bit earlier than usual today. It'll be right after the morning weigh-ins. So stay tuned for that. Jose will jump on for that since I'll be here at the UFCX. Let's get Kirkland. Kirkland, how are you? Uh, muted, un-unit myself.

Yeah. No, I'm doing well, man. How are you doing? Good. Great. Well, I hope you're having a good time in Vegas and all that jazz. Um, I have a question that's sort of in my line of topics. Uh, so I know Mr. Strickland stole the show yesterday at the, the pre-game, uh, prep rally that they had.

here's but uh this past month we've been seeing on all kinds of fighter shorts the rainbow colors to signify uh celebrating pride month yet um yesterday he commented one of the comments he made about izzie was about his quote gay little watch um something i just can't well he and he also got asked yesterday strictly got asked about is he has anybody come to tell you to tone it down. I'm just curious, how can the UFC promote a fighter that's going to go out and make off-the-cuff comments that as a company is clearly making effort to celebrate the very thing. I know I asked last time about free speech and, you know, how Dana White has challenged

free speech within the UFC. Like, is there ever going to be a day when fighters actually get, reprimanded for using language like that, that's not going to expand the bounds of who feels welcome watching the empathy. So anyways, peace and love, heck of a morning. Have a great time in Vegas, man. Thank you, buddy. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's, it's just, it's just the way Dana feels. We have 700 maniacs. We can't control all of them. We don't want to hold them back. We don't want to censor him, yada, yada, yada. Now, eventually there's going to be a line that can be crossed. What that line is, I have no idea

at this point. We saw fighters throw dollies through a bus window with fighters on there who are competing on a big pay-per-view in a big market, and there's very little reprimand there. So, will there be a line, sure, will there maybe a conversation, like, if Strickland beats Pajara, and they're trying to set up a fight between him and out of are they going to try to tone him down a little bit they might try but Sean is who he is and he admitted he was very nervous about being at that press conference because he didn't want to say anything that would get him in trouble but I don't know I would say I would say don't

hold your breath which is kind of unfortunate but at the same time I think there is always a line that can be crossed just what that line is I I don't know. I don't know what it is for the UFC. Let's get Viking MMA in here. There's a lot of, a lot of you, a lot of you people checking in here. This is, this is crazy. Hi, Viking. Hello.

Hello, Mike. Hello. How are you? I'm good. How are you? It's good to see you at the press conference. Thank you. Thank you. What do you want to talk about, man, man? I just want to ask about Israel-Adisania and Alex Pereira scenario. I mean, how good Alex Pereira? I mean, how good is his speed and all the stuff that he could beat Arizona?

That's my question. Thanks, buddy. Listen, there's... It's a compelling idea, right? Because, of course, kickboxing is not the same as MMA and vice versa. rules are different. He had as the two wins over Adasania. The fights are a little bit closer than people gave a credit for,

but a lot of people just go back and they think, because it's also a narrative brought on by the promotion. This is the guy who knocked out Israel Adasania. And that's all you hear. It doesn't make you want to go back and watch a fight. It's not the UFC doesn't say, here's the guy that knocked out Israel out of Sonia. But before that, the fight was competitive.

Where's the story there? That's how the UFC views it. back in 2015 Alex Paheda knocked out the champion viciously but before that it was a competitive fight and it was an even battle they're not going to do that

so when you hear that and the promotion is promoting that narrative then that's what everybody's got to think that this dude just starched Israel to Sanya and two kickboxing fights but they were competitive fights Paheda did knock about in the second one but the first fight is real close

and the second fight before the knockout was very competitive So there's a story there. I think everyone will try to tell in their own way. And it's strike where the iron's hot. You got to do it now. You got to do it now. Paheda beats Sean Strickland tomorrow. You've got to pull the trigger on that fight.

You got to do it super quickly. End of the year. Adasani wants to stay active. I would expect to see that fight. If it happens, they're going to MSG in November. That would be an interesting one to put there. December, back in Vegas, more than likely. that's an interesting spot to put it,

but Adasani will fight one of those two guys probably by the end of the year. The only way that doesn't happen is if obviously Jared Canaaner wins. If Jerry Canaaner wins, and I think no matter how he wins, we're going to see Adisadi Canaan Air Part 2.

Let's go to semi-casual MMA. Good morning. Hey, Mike, sort of a random question for you here during International Fight Week, but I just watched the most recent episode of The Ultimate Fighter and Good God, is his season terrible. What's your thoughts on that show?

I know AK is a big fan of it, but do you think that the UFC is going to continue to do this down the line, or do you think this is going to be the final nail on the coffin? Yeah, I mean, to be fair, they should have stopped the show like seven years ago. So my thought process is probably not, and we're going to continue to see it. Now, if they do this idea, with Habib and Tony Ferguson,

which I actually, I love this idea a lot. You have a rivalry. Habib's not coming back to fight. This is the way to do it. We're not holding anything up. If you bring those two guys into coach, you're not holding anything up. They're not going to fight at the end of the year.

We're not hoping anybody, we're not just praying that these two guys stay healthy so they can't fight at the end of the show. It's just two stars getting after it who have a competitive rivalry. And they can't answer that. rivalry inside the octagon so how can we do it we'll do it this way we'll have them coach up other fighters and then they can answer those questions inside the octagon so that would be fun but just

what they normally do in the coaches and all the other stuff it's just it's just not interesting it's just not into so much mama content out there so much as cards every weekend then you got if you're fan of everything and bellator and pfl and all that stuff like and now you're asking us a watch ultimate fighter it's just too much you got to do something you got to do something different I'm telling you, anything that involves a wheel makes things way more fun. Wheel of opponents. Let's just do that. It's the same show.

It's the same show it has been since the very beginning. It's frustrating. It's getting loud in here. Hopefully you can still hear me a little bit. Against the Fence, hello. Make sure you unmute. Hello. Hello, Against the Fence.

Hello, Mike. It's J.K. from Against the Fence. We're a UFC fan channel. and where fat opinions matter most. And I'll just want to ask you, in your opinion, who would you rather is he fight next after Jericho Canoneer, if you would get past Jericho, of course, Sean Strickland or Alex Pereira,

and how do you see them match up? That's a... Who would I prefer? Hmm, depends on where you look at. Now, I would say, from a fan's perspective, both are interesting in their own ways. I think I'd probably want to see the Bejada fight because, again, I feel like this is a fight you can't just put in your pocket. I mean, maybe it could for a little bit of time, but I feel like you've got to do it now. It's never going to get hotter in terms of storyline.

So if Bejada does win, that's a big deal, it's a storyline. But from a, hey, we need to garner as much attention about a story. storyline so that you go to our website and you respond if we talk about it. It's Sean Strickland all day and it's not even close right now. Sean has sort of stolen the show this week and again, love or hate him for better or worse, the guy's the talk of the town right now. So I would say Sean Strickland will draw more casual interests, but I am curious to see what a third fight between Adasania and Paheda would look like inside an MMA cage and with the rule set and how Adasania will react to fighting a guy who's got two wins over him.

Because Adasania doesn't do a lot of losing and he lost to him twice. Whether the fights are close, knockout, decision doesn't matter. You're in there with a guy who beat you twice and has two wins over you. What kind of mental power will Pahedaha have holding those two wins? I'd be fascinated by that question. I'm going to try to fly through these here. T, what's up, buddy? T, are you there?

One second, one second. We got you. I heard some birds chirping. The birds are chirping, but the dogs are running wild. I'm trying to bring the puppy in right now. Oh, okay, okay. I don't know how you come in every time I have a call or something. It's insane to me.

But I have one question. You brought up MSG in November. They've been talking about John. Is that actually going to happen this time or what's up with that? Thank you. I mean, listen, if you're going to, if it was up to me, like if I was the guy booking John Jones's return, it's New York. It's MSG. John has, John's from there.

He's got a connection to New York. And, I mean, that's a massive main event. John Jones versus Stepey, headlining MSG, that is a gigantic main event. Gnormous. That's a huge fight. Do I, am I confident that it happens? I mean, it's, you can't, you can't be confident about anything when it comes to those two guys. John, for much different reasons than Steepay,

Steve A, you got to hit him in the wheelhouse. I think the fight will be fine. Money's got to be good. If he's got to leave his family, it's got to be worth the squeeze. He's going to leave the firehouse. It's got to be worth the squeeze. John Jones, MSG, money, all that stuff. I think that, I think there's just, I mean, he's not going to say,

to that. I will give it a, and this is probably being overly positive, six and a half, six and a half out of ten is my confidence level, which isn't bad when you're considering those two guys. Let's get Derrico. Hello, Derrico. Hey, Mike, just a quick one for you today. I was wondering if you think that Sean O'Malley is being affected by not being like the center of attention. I feel like he's just not getting as much like questions or much, I don't know

just at the press conference, I feel like he was almost agitated by not getting asked much about his fight or anything like that. Let me know what you think. Thanks. Thanks, Derek. See, it's here's what's very difficult about Fight Week, at least in my

eyes, okay? Because Wednesday we have a media day and we've already talked to these fighters. We've already asked questions. We've already talked to them. And we're trying to build upon, like, the only thing you could do is sort of build upon the conversations you had the day before with the same people. Because you can't just keep asking the same questions over and over again. So my mentality heading in was we try to have like a little system going on of John Morgan always asked the first question.

And there's a reason for that. Then there's a reason why Oscar was next. then Jose went in there and asked questions and then I wanted like I went in there and I was like I want to focus on Strickland Pajara and the reason why was I felt like there were unanswered

questions from the media day like Paheda came in made a lot of noise about Adasania and then Strickland came in said what he had to say about Pajara that he could stand with him he might take him down all these different things so like the lingering questions were definitely more

on that fight than any fight on the card. And it's just really tough to have these same guys come in and you have to try to ask them different questions and all that stuff. It's tough. It's tough. But, yeah, Sean didn't get a lot. I know Jose asked him a couple questions early.

There were a couple other ones. But I think it's just kind of to the point where Sean has done enough to sell this fight, I think it's just kind of put up a shut up time. I think people as a whole are very intrigued by this, but they just want to see Sean fight. They just want to see Sean get in there. can pass this test. It's going to get a lot of attention after it. There's no doubt about it.

It's going to get a ton of attention. The press conference will be real interesting if he wins that fight. Love the matchup. Can't wait to see it. It's getting loud in here. Joey T. What's up, Joey T? Are you there?

Yes, brother. How are you doing? I'm good. So with the fight of O'Malley and Munoz, if O'Malley was to lose, how far back do you think that would actually downgrade his overall progression? I know O'Malley's today, he really doesn't want to take the bigger names until he gets paid. But, and to me, I think the overall fight odds, O'Malley being that big of a favorite, would finally go against his first legit test.

I don't agree with that. But at the same time, he is on the win streak. He's on the rise. And Munoz, yes, he's been losing, but he's been fighting, you know, title contenders or former champions. So what's your overall opinion on the fight? sorry he'll be on mute it's really loud in here uh great question i don't i think sean is sort of a big enough star where a loss will loss will sting a bit he'll have to deal with some social media backlash and deal with people just giving him a bunch of crap he got it after the marlin vera fight

but what's the answer to life's problem combat sports going out and winning so if he loses to pedro munoz in some weird way if sean goes out win his next fight, it gets a highlight reel. It's almost like it's forgotten. Because look, we saw what happened to the Cheeto Verifai. But now look, he's three of, he's three fights, almost four fights into this

thing since the lost of Cheeto. And now a rematch of Cheeto is way bigger, it's just way bigger. It's a big fight. So I think Sean will be all right. It'll definitely be a step back. If we're talking about him climbing the ranks and get into a title fight, sure. That slows down that progression a little bit, but

in terms of star power how people view him it'll be a step back but winning changes everything and I feel like that would be the same sort of scenario for for Sean but very intriguing fight page is going to bring it to him very fascinated by it I mean a guy who calls himself the coolest I got to bring him in what is up the coolest are you doing sir yes sir we're taking a quick break but uh you got a couple things they uh try to make this short and it. First off, long-time listening to first-time caller. I enjoy everything y'all do. Y'all put out a lot of shows. I love it. It seems like every time I open my podcast app, y'all have a new show. I love it. One quick thing, or two quick things,

with MMA fighters showing interest in boxing and going to wrestling, what do you see Do you think the pay would get better? So allow or keep MMAS fighting for, you know, longer or, you know, stay in the MMA? Or would they keep going to boxing or rathling? I just, that's just a question I had, ponderance since Home Girl from Bellatory switched over to WWU. And then my second question is, Matt Holloway, what is wrong with him? that press conference man that's that's out of character for max holloway uh it's not a really i love max holloway but to me the trash talking is not here

and that that gives me a bad feeling when somebody who normally doesn't talk trash starts talking trash that's not a good sign for me anyway i like your opinion on both those thank you thank you sir Um, first question just, yeah, I mean, listen, it's, this is prize fighting. And the prize fighting is to make the most amount of money doing the least allowed of, the least amount of physical damage to yourself. And not saying that pro wrestling and boxing doesn't give you physical damage, but it's, it's different.

And there's way more money in both. Do I think the structure in pay will be good in 10 years? Like, we're going to be like, wow. What a difference? It's night of day, yada, yada, yada. It's, I don't know. It's just, I think it'll be better, but it won't be where it needs to be. Do we still see fighters going over to boxing, going over to wrestling?

Sure, because there's more money there. Do I feel like the sport will suffer from it? Probably not. I think it'll be all right. Because like we talked about earlier, there's just going to be these next generations of fighters. They're going to be coming up. They're going to be so incredibly talented. It's not even funny.

so I'm not really sure and then with Holloway I mean bam it's on fire dude was just absolutely on fire and I don't know if it's a good thing for a bad thing is it a good thing for selling the fight absolutely could it be a bad thing for Holloway I don't know the last time he got a little bit fired up and energetic it was the Calvin Cater performance

and we saw what happened there he delivered the best performance of his career so I'm intrigued I am more intrigued by a fired up Max Holloway. Let's go to Keyboard Warrior. We're going to take a few more. Hey, Mike, heck of a morning to you. How are you?

Great, man. Thanks for having me on. I'll keep it very quick, quick as possible. I wasn't going to call in since my last bunkle of hyping up Renan for Errora so badly on your show. It was like three weeks. I'm just like, I can't do this. I can't show my face. It's total embarrassment.

But I just want to say my lock of the week for Saturday, I'm going to go with a part of the first. this time. We're going to go Volcanovsky and O'Malley. It pays just a little over two to one. I'm one and one on picks for the show. I pick Jiri and my first pick and my second one was like I said, Ferreira. So hoping to go two and one. And man, awesome job with your second best friend the other day. John Anick, you guys have great energy. I tell you, man, I see you doing something with that guy in the future. But have a great free for all Friday. And please keep up the good work. Much love from Ontario, Canada on this weekend, man. I just want to wake up and have it be 276.

I'm literally like the energy is running through my body. It's disgusting. I can't even handle it, man. Have a good weekend and cheers. Cheers to you as well. Good picks. I think that's not a bad parlay right there, especially if it's paying out nearly two to one.

It's not a bad parlay. I'm picking Volcanovsky and I'm picking O'Malley myself. So let's go to. Stephen Ramirez What's up, Steve? Stephen, are you there? Oh, wait a minute. Hey, how you doing?

So I just... We got you. What's up, buddy? This is completely random. A lot of people aren't really speaking on it. This is regards to the press conference where he had to stare down between Canaer and Izzy

and a handshake. That was a hell of a handshake. He just wanted to see if he's thought anything of it. I love that. I thought it was some good energy. You don't see that too often. Normally the face offs are, they just sort of blend together. But I like that one.

That's how I would do it. That's how I would do it. I'd be like, hey, I'd try to squeeze the hand a little harder and just hold onto it as much as possible. Poor Sean Shelby's trying to separate the hands and he can't do it. So, yeah, I liked it. It was a nice little wrinkle to the whole thing. We haven't heard from you motivated Andy in quite some time. How are you?

Unmute, motivated Andy. are you there yes we got it how are you my speaker all right so um i know we're talking about ufc 276 i just want to express my heartbreak at hearing the whole time last week that chafcott romanov was learning english and secretly i was praying i was hoping my little mhmate heart was the only two words he needs to know are hamzaat shimyev was i the only one that was as heart broken and just deflated after he says Stephen Thompson as the callout. After the weird Dap-up, he calls out Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, one win in like his last five outings.

What is going on here? I hope he gets wrecked by email off now. Wow. Listen, I think he was trying to be, I think trying to call, again, Shavka. It's a prize fighter. He's trying to fight the biggest name that probably presents the least amount of risk. And while Wonderboy is a good fighter and he does present some risks, Rockwana could just probably take him down and smush him.

And that's a good name. It's a name people know and people care about. He's also probably well aware. He ain't getting the Shemaya fight. It's just not happening. Will he get at some point, sure? Will he start to maybe plant seeds down the road? Sure.

but is that a fight he's going to get next? No. No. Now, because this is about, like I don't, like Wonderboy's not going to be all excited to fight Shopcott, no doubt about it. But from where he is right now, where he's trying to go, progression-wise, that fight makes total sense. Not my first choice, but rankings-wise, baritoxy you guys, makes perfect sense. Blah Muhammad, not calling for Hamzat at the time, was a whole different can of worms. that should have been his call of the last two fights.

He didn't do that. Maybe somehow still gets the Shabaya fight. Maybe he doesn't. But if he had taken that time after the fights when he had live mics at his face to call for Shabaya, he probably either has had that fight already or it's on the books. I'm telling you, it's so important to make those seconds counts when you're doing those post-fight interviews,

especially after winning a main event, is so important. Let's get Sab. We've got a lot of, like, newbies and returning people that we haven't heard from in a while. Sav, how are you? What's going on, Mike?

How are you? Good. All right, so my question for the weekend is, if Max Holloway finishes Alexander Volcanowski inside of three rounds, as he's been predicting, quietly all week, but I think that's what he's getting at.

Do we see an immediate rematch? because if Holloway finishes him, I think we move on to Emmett and Volcanovsky has to earn the wins, like Max did. Go beat a cater and Yayae, and then do it again. Thanks, buddy. I would say it's going to be an immediate rematch.

That would be pretty unfair to Volcanowski, if we're being honest. He wins the first fight. It was pretty good... And I don't understand this narrative that the first fight was close because it wasn't. I thought Volkanowski clearly went forward. rounds. There was no controversy whatsoever in that first fight.

Volkovsky was Holloway in immediate rematch. Volkovsky wins second fights closer. I still think Volkovsky won the second fight. I've watched it a million times. I still scored it for Volkovsky every single time. Much closer fight, sure. Hollowie goes out, gets his two wins, gets a third shot. Now, this doesn't happen all that often. And if Holloway goes out there beats Volkowski and he doesn't get an immediate rematch, that'd be some Tom Foolery. That'd be a little bit tomfoolery my man but i understand why people are like we've already seen this three times let's get some new blood in there but for the ufc for a business perspective what's going to do

better if they do volkadovsky holloway four after a holloway win with holloway have momentum or holloway josh emmet it's the fourth fight by a long shot it's not even close not even close so i think it'll be an immediate rematch for sure let's try by Mac 10. Good morning. Make sure you unmute. Oh, I got you.

Okay, I have a question. So, a heck of a morning, by the way. Thank you. I try to hop in again because I completely lost you there. Let's get in. John Ray.

John, how are you? Good. Like AKA, it is actually my birthday today, but I will wish I will wish, AKA, a happy Canada day. And so my first question is, why is there all these bald Bostonians in MMA? You, Dana, John Anick, Joe Rogan, it's crazy.

But my real question is, for the flyweight division, the men's flyweight division, we got DJ and Androna Marais fighting in August. The winner of that, for me, will be the number one flyweight in the world due to the way the men's flyweight championship is in the UFC. I just want to know what you're thinking is on that. Thank you. Flyweight is fun. Will it be the best flyweight in the world.

Not really sure. I think Davis and Figueroa would definitely have something to say about that. But I think this is the best direction. And I don't know why I don't get why Davis and Figueroa has such a problem with this. I don't get it. Because what's going to happen? What is going to come from this? you know what's going to come from this a bigger fight for him more money for him i don't understand

why he has such a problem with this whole thing but it's a great fight first fight was great kai car frats out is that a run right now marino's just super fun either way it's going to be a big fight maybe unless figurato's going to keep playing this game of i'm only saying that flyweight if you pay me more money otherwise i go to banaway yeah danaway will drive him to the Bannamate airport. All right. I'll get Blake in here, and then I'm going to randomly choose two people.

Blake, what's up? Blake. All right. Nothing from Blake. How about... Okay, Andrew, you get the iny-meany spot. Andrew, are you there? Yes, I am, sir.

Hello. Good. Hey, what's up, buddy? I don't really have a question. I just wanted to say I'm waiting in line. Ready to get in a fight week. I'm ready to meet you amongst all the other fighters. I'm super pumped for this fight week

and I'm happy for you, man. You got some questions in with Sean Strickland. You got them all riled up and I love it. You're excellent in what you do. I watch this stuff every week. Great job. I can't wait to meet you, my man. Thank you, Andrew.

I'm excited to meet everybody as well. So you'll see a Big Science's Radio Row. I'm stationed right in front of where UFC Fight Pass is. So basically my backgrounds, when I'm doing the interviews, will be over my right shoulder, will be the UFC Fight Pass. desk. So yeah, come over, say hello. Love to meet you. Let's try Blake, and then I'm eating one more time, and then I got to get out of here. Blake, hello. Hey, Mike, how's it going?

Good. So one question would be, do you think Andre Monez would beat Alex Prera if they fought in their next fight? And second question would be, I know Ariel had Tim Kennedy on his show a couple weeks ago. And I've never really heard about his story and everything. And it was incredible, all the crazy things he's done. So in the spirit, it's free for all Friday. What's a crazy Tim Kennedy themed Mike Heck story that you haven't told the audience? Thanks. Oh my gosh. First of all, none of my stories would ever compare to any of Tim Kennedy's stories. So let's just throw that out there. God, I got to think about that. as but like I've lived a pretty

I've lived a pretty boring life people be boring life you know have there been some days that have a little crazier than others sure I'm just gonna I'm just gonna since it is Vegas I'll tell a quick story it's not like crazy at all it's definitely not a Tim Kennedy story but I told the story

Jose who's kind of like blown away by it so Jose asked if I gambled at all I said not really but if I do sit down and gamble I'm either going to play Blackjack or I'm going to play Texas Holden. I'm going to play some sort of limit or no limit for Texas Holden because those are the two games. While luck is certainly involved, I feel like you have a little bit more control over things. You can play odds and numbers and statistics and things like that.

So playing poker casino is pretty boring because you have to, unless you're just drunk and have all the money in the world, you have to play tight. You have to sit back and wait for things to happen. You can't just play every hand. but I went to Atlantic City one time with some buddies I went to high school with and the whole ride drive down from Massachusetts to New Jersey

I kept saying that I played blackjack here's how odds work here's we need to do this and I could literally sense my friends like rolling their eyes thinking like this dude does know what he's talking about he's just he's going to go play blackjack and lose his shirt

which I allow myself to do I started that trip for gambling I was like I'm going to spend 75 bucks. That's it. I bet 75 bucks if I lose it, I'm done. We went to one casino. In 30 minutes, I turned 75 bucks into like $700. That's a good start to the night. So then we go to a Bally's casino and I start with $100. And I played blackjack with my buddy who was so drunk, who's almost passing out, my buddy who's never played blackjack, because you can talk to the table and say, you do this, you do this, you do this. Without being coherent at all,

He won like $1,400. I walked out of Bally's that night with like weeks of free rooms, sweet upgrades, free breakfast, gift cards, and $5,700 in my pocket. That was a good night. That was a run and a half. Full steam ahead. Do I recommend you play Blackjack for 14 hours straight? Probably not.

However, that was a good night. I was on a heater. And Bally's treated me like I was a kid. And I've never been back, even though I had a bunch of free stuff. All right, last one. I don't know who I'm picking. The winner is Randall Freeman. If you've been waiting for a while, I'm sorry.

I'm a little overwhelmed by all the callers and all the people waiting. But I got to go. We got the way and show about to kick off over on the YouTube channel. Randall, go. Randall. You're muted. Hey, I don't know why. We're down in South Carolina.

That was Meyer. just rehab her heart down there. That's why I was listening, dude. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm good. Keep going. What's up?

Oh, nothing. I'm just listening. I didn't mean to hit it. Doing the dust mopping everything. Oh, all right. Cool. South Carolina. South Carolina.

Stand up. All right. Here we go. Eny, mini, miny. Joe. Eny, mini, mighty, Joe. That was an accident altogether. Joe, what's up?

is Mike hat. I'm here. I'm in the X, bro. So am I. Are we able to meet you today? Yeah. Come say hello. Radio Row. Radio Row. I'll find it. I'm in here now. All right. Joe, I will see you soon, my man.

See you soon, Mike. All right. All right. And see all of you soon. I'm going to get out of here. We're about to kick off the festivities here. Jose Young's is across the city. He is at the UFC Apex. Morning Wayans about to kick off. You can watch it all unfold on the MMA fighting YouTube channel

and I will be here all day long so come say hello again radio row right in front I'm actually right in front of the UFC Fight Pass desk so come say hello I'm wearing a a red and blue short sleeve collared button down shirt I look like a couple

Billy up in here you know the guns are the guns are out but I mean muscles not like actual weaponry but I'm going to get out of here peace out everybody have a watch wonderful day and have a heck of a morning. Next two days are going to be fun, everybody.

We appreciate you jumping on again. If I couldn't get to you, I apologize, but you are all the best. Love doing this show. And we'll do it again on Tuesday. Thank you very much. To the Vox Media Podcast Network.