MMA Fighting - HOAM | Reaction To Taila Santos Exiting UFC, Strickland vs. Du Plessis Headlining UFC 297

Episode Date: November 7, 2023

Less than 18 months after taking Valentina Shevchenko to the limit in her only opportunity at UFC gold, Taila Santos is no longer on the UFC roster. While the news seems to be surprising to the MMA community, is Santos exiting the promotion actually a good thing for the 30-year-old fighter? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to the news of Santos' release, and makes the case that Santos continuing her career elsewhere may be the best thing for her at this time. Additionally, listener questions include Dana White's three title fights he announced on Monday, including the UFC 297 main event between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title, if Sean O'Malley has the most to gain of all the six championship competitors from a star-power perspective, Islam Makhachev getting ranked No. 1 on the UFC's pound-for-pound list, 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 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 reprise 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. Tuesday, November 7th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are oh-so live on the NBA fighting Twitter space to get here the show in its entirety shortly thereafter. on the MA Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody? I am Mike Heck. Hope you're having a great start to your week. Hope you are handling,

especially in the United States, the change of times. You got that extra hour of sleep. You're feeling good because we are getting ready for UFC 295, which goes down this Saturday, of course, top of the bill, two title fights,

main event for the vacant, light heavyweight title. Yuri Pajasca returns. to face the former middleweight champion Alex Pereira, and then the co-main event, interim heavyweight title fight, Sergei Pavlovich versus Tommy Aspinall. It's going to be a damn good main card.

Should be kind of a fun, competitive prelims. It should be fun. Of course, we'll have the watch party. I will be flying out to New York on Saturday. Very excited to reunite with my man GC and Mysterious Frank and the whole crew. It's going to be a good time. Now, if we were just focusing on that, that would be a lot to talk about, right?

We could, we would also have the fall of UFC, Sao Paulo, and Jelton Almeida's went over Derek Lewis and Nicholas Dalby and everything else that happened. That would also be a lot to talk about. But then Dana White appears via the magic of social media yesterday afternoon and announced three big title fights. We're wondering what the UFC, what the main event was going to be for UFC 297, January 20th in Toronto. We had already confirmed on Friday, vacant women's Bannamweight title fights. Myra Bueno Silva versus Raquel Pennington. That is a go for that card. A lot of people are freaking out.

Oh, what the hell is this? Why are we doing this? When it was never in any reports said to be the main event. But it's going to be the co-main event to the middleweight championship fight between Sean Strickland and Drickus Duplice, justice for GDP. The man who deserves this title shot is getting it. This doesn't happen all that often. The man who truly deserves it gets it. DDP deserves it.

That fight is going to be insane. So that is UFC 297, January 20th. Two title fights. UFC 298s. Don't know when it's happening. We know it's happening in February, but we don't know exactly when. We don't know where it's going to be Alexander Volcanowski versus Ilya Tuporia.

So instead of getting Volk Toporia in January, We were hoping it wouldn't happen in January, give bulk a little bit more time, probably less than a month, I would guess, after January 20th. I know Tuporius had said something about Los Angeles, some people ran with that. I'm told that is not 100% the case as of yet. I kind of feel like that might be in Vegas with the Super Bowl and everything going on, but I honestly have no idea. The two locations that I have heard are possible.

for that card and things could change based on what I'm going to tell you guys next. I heard Phoenix or Vegas. Those are the two. I talked to some other folks. They had heard the same, but nothing had been like ironed out or etched in stone yet. So it could be LA. Could be Vegas.

Could be Phoenix. Who the hell knows? So that's February. March, again, don't know when exactly, don't know where exactly. Main event for UFC 299. will be Sean O'Malley versus Cheetahe Vera 2.

Biggest fight you can make right now at 135. By far, maybe the most, maybe the biggest Banimate title fight in UFC history by the time we get there. People have to have this rematch for a while. Now the freaking titles on the line, a lot going on there. Don't know where that's going to happen.

We shall see. But yeah, some big news to kick off the week. I know there were sort of rumors about Islam Makachev. in Charles Olivera. Ariel had reported that on Saturday. We all saw sort of the aftermath of that. The UFC doing what the UFC typically does with Ariel. And we saw Ali's reaction to that.

I had been told that there were talks about that. And as Ariel ironed out in his tweet, nothing was finalized. It was just sort of like, here's what we're thinking. Could be the case. This is what sort of we're pondering. but nothing was ever done. That report basically said all of that.

And Sean Strickland-DDP, baby, we're getting that instead. Which means maybe we get, I don't know when we get Islam Charles now. April seems like because of Ramadan, probably not. Maybe that's June. Maybe that's International Flight Week. I don't know. I don't really know. But now we have to figure out what's going to headline UFC 300.

We assume it's going to be Connor versus Cheneer. Chandler, but who the hell knows at this point? So lots of discuss. I don't want to just steal and hijack this entire show. I'm going to do enough talking, but I want to hear from all of you. I see some newbies, and we're going to start with the newbies. Arnie Palmie, Palmy Alert. We will start here. Good, Arnie. Good morning, Mike. So Sergey and Aspinall are fighting for the end-term belt this weekend. And with John out for a whole year, do you think we see them defend the interim belt? And if so, who do you think they defend against?

Thanks, man. Have a good day. Interesting question. As a matter of fact, we dropped a UFC 295 roundtable on MAAFighting.com. Tremendous website. You can check it out right now. And I answered two of the questions. one was

Will Yuri for Haska versus Alex Pereira bring order to the late heavyweight division? And the other one was will the UFC 295 co-main event winner still be the heavyweight champion

this time next year? My answer was I'm going to say no and that's because since the light heavyweight division will find a little bit of normalcy for the first time in a while, heavyweight will catch full on the contagious virus of weirdness.

I feel like that was just basically you guys could read the rest. but here's what I think. I do feel like that interim title is going to be defended, especially if Tom Aspinall wins, and especially if Tom Aspinall, especially if the UFC goes to London.

And I don't know when that could happen. Maybe they do it in July. I don't know if it's going to be a pay-per-view or not. But you have to imagine that if Tom Aspinall is holding a title, interim or not, he is going to probably be the main event of that card. Maybe Leon Edwards, if he beats Colby and is still the champion,

but you kind of have to feel like Tommy Askenal is going to be a part of that. The big question is, what's going to happen with the undisputed title? Because we do have John Jones, who's supposed to fight Steepa this Saturday, and you have heard me talk about ever since this fight was announced, or even after John Jones won the heavyweight title, John's going to fight Steepay.

Whenever that happens, sometime this year, both guys are going to retire. Stepe's going to retire. John might not full-on retire, but he's going to walk away and take a sabbatical until something big comes along. And then the injury happened. And now he's going to, I would be stunned

if this fight happens before international fight week, honestly. So that'll probably headline international fight week. I just don't know. I still feel like it's steepe's last fight. I feel like the whole road for the comeback for John to fight in March,

to headline an MSG versus Steepa, that would have been a nice way for him to just be like, all right, I've done what I can. I just beat Steepa, the decorated heavyweight champion of the UFC, most title defenses, all the records in the heavyweight division, doing it in New York to be a very big deal for John. I can walk away for a little while. Two fights in eight months after the three-year layoff.

But now we're talking, what, 16 months, 17 months between fights? I kind of feel like John's going to milk this a little bit. and I feel like John could fight again, but it won't be until 2025. So we could see if Aspinall wins, Aspinall defend that belt, maybe get another win, maybe his star power goes up,

and then maybe first quarter 2025, we get John Jones Tommy Aspinall. Pavlovich wins. I don't know what that was going to happen, but I do feel like, especially if Aspinall wins, we are going to get an interim title defense. This is going to get ugly.

It's going to be a long, stretch. It's going to get weird. But that's what the heavyweight division is going to be this year, my friends, or next year. That's how I feel. But we'll see. I've been wrong many, many times before. That's just what my guts tell me. Nicholas, you're out. Nicholas, not going through, bounce out and bounce back in. And I'll bring you back. I'll say a connection issue on your end. How about you, Dante? What's up? What's up, Mike? How's it going? So I have two questions.

My first one is where do you think Anthony Smith goes next? And my second is what do you think Jelmaida does next? Jelts and Almeida is easy. He's going to fight Curtis Blades. They're just going to rebook that fight. Makes all the sense in the world. I don't want to see the Cirogan fight. Hang tight, Nicholas.

Now you're through. Just meet yourself. I'll get you in a second. Yeah, it's the Blades fight. That's the only one that makes sense. Like I don't want to see any other fight for Jelton Almeida right now. I don't want to see anything else. I don't want to see the Cyril Gahn fight because I think he just

smushed his Cyril Gond like you did to Derek Lewis and Cyril Gond has like maybe a worse ground attack than Derek Loolew like defensive grappling than Derek Lewis has. So I just feel like we're just going to see the same fight again. Both Curtis Blades, I think we'll get some answers. If he does that to Curtis Blades, then we're like, all right, nope. It's going to be really tough to beat this guy. Anthony Smith, man.

Golly. It's going to be Let me look here I don't know Like Cleo Roundtree's got a fight coming up I think maybe if Cleo wins maybe do that He's fighting Merse Connaught Maybe the winner of that fight

Maybe a guy like a Kennedy And Tchukwu I know he just lost Dusty Jacoby Dustin's got a fight coming up as well I believe so maybe if Dustin Jacoby No no they won't fight because they're Factory X dudes and they like each other

Yeah, it's going to be tough, man. But maybe the round dreamers Akanaf winner. Maybe like a guy like Carlos Alberg, maybe. Kind of like a litmus test kind of a fight. I don't know. There's really not a ton out there for Anthony Smith right now. Go ahead, Nicholas. What's up, Mike?

How are you, man? Do you really think that Dana White is hating Ariel Telani? Or is it all just for PR and Cloud? because hate is a pretty strong word. I mean, look, I don't, I don't know if he hates him. He certainly doesn't like him. And one thing I know about Ariel,

because obviously I've been around him, I spent a lot of time with him in Dallas during the Jake Paul Nate Diaz fight week, he's pretty true to his word, man. Like, he's never said anything that was like untruthful to me. and I obviously have heard stories as well of people who have been on site

during some of these stories Ariel has told. So, yeah, I don't know if Dana, like, straight hates him. He certainly doesn't like him. But look, we've seen instances of this before where Ariel reports something and then, like, a day later, it changes. Now, is it a coincidence? Maybe once or twice, but multiple times, I'm not really sure.

perfect example Dominic Cruz versus Marlon Vera that fight was supposed to happen in Boston Ariel had reported that card's going to take place in Boston and then they moved it to San Diego like a day later so it doesn't surprise me like some of the pettiness and plus look yes you have the UFC has a big outlet

to do this with they have ESPN so they could throw this stuff out there and and do all that now I don't know if they were like oh fuck Ariel behind the scenes let's just do this to to screw him. But like I said, Aerely ain't the first person to have heard about a possible

Islam Makachep Charles Olavera fight. It's not the first time Ali has said something was fake news that wasn't. Henry Suhudo Al Jamein Sterling were reported a certain date for that fight. That was being discussed. And then it was all about

whether Al Jermaine Sterling, I don't know if I forget, it was the March card? Was it the March card that we issued reported before John Jones is coming back. I don't remember,

but that fight was agreed for that date. And Ali called our report fake news, which I already explained on this. So, happens there too. Yes, there's obviously a not good relationship

between the UFC and Ariel, and he talked about it yesterday. So if he missed it, go back and check that out. But I don't think he's lying, man. You can call Ariel a lot things, but I, uh, liar is not one of them. At least I have pretty good judge of character and I don't think he's a liar. So, but even air laid it out pretty good. Like, hey, if you want to

believe them, great. I don't care. But those who know me and know my track record, there you go. But do I know the answer to that question? No. I mean, just go on my gut here. I'm trying to get Shamir through, but not looking good. Getting the Wheel of Doom. Give it like five more seconds. Okay, it didn't go through. A little e-meany-mini-mi-this.

How about King Katz? Hi, King Kat. Morning. So I read the article about Tyler Santos that you all put out about, you know, her not be on the roster anymore, but

it, you know, didn't give a lot of details. just wondering is did you did you all find anything else out in the interim because it just seems wild to me that you know she would decide to leave or they would release her so do you have any more insight on that thanks mike uh not particularly we just know that it's true we got those sort of social media bot accounts who you know put out this information and sometimes they're true and sometimes they're not. They go basically off the, I think it's off the fan site

where you can kind of like draft your lineups or whatever and like fantasy matchmaker or whatever and make your own rankings. And if a fighter is removed from those fan rankings, the bots will pick up that they're gone. So there are certain times where they'll put out names like, for instance, Myra Boeoino Silva or Daniel Rodriguez or Walt Harris.

none of them are released. All of them are still under contract with the UFC, but all of them are facing suspensions right now and are not eligible to fight until a certain date. This one was a weird one. And of course, our own gear may crews confirm this with multiple sources. It's a weird one.

It seems like a straight release too. It seems like a straight release too. So we don't have any insight. If I'm Tila Santos, do I want to be in the? UFC right now? I mean, it's like she's up there. She's a top five flyweight in the world. She just lost a close fight to Valentina Shepchenko. She lost a close fight to Aaron Blanchfield. And with the way this division looks right now, it's going to take her forever to get to a title

shot. I mean, she's going to have to win like five in a row at this point, especially with where this division's going with some of these up-and-comers. And I think Tyler probably knows that. it's a long way back to a title fight. When it seemed like with the Valentina thing, if Valentina was still the champion, maybe Tyler can get back there, but with Grasso in the mix right now and her losing, and Sanchez was in the Blanchfield,

it's a long road back. So maybe her team was like, can you release me? I'll go somewhere else. May I'll go to PFL or go elsewhere in fight? And title's not like a huge star, so maybe the UFC is like, yeah. okay. But again, no details, but it wouldn't surprise me if Tyler was the one that was like,

hey, can you cut bait here so I can go somewhere else? Because like I said, it's, I mean, it is going to take her forever to get to a title fight. So still surprising, but the more I think about it, I'm like, if it came from Tyler, then maybe it's not that surprising. But who the hell those. Maybe Dana will give some insight this week. Panda God. Wow, stunner. Fanda try again. 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,

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Stop wondering, start gifting. Winners find fabulous for less. Let's try Jemir one more time. Do we have you, Jemir? Yeah, can you hear me? Yeah, I got you. What's your relationship with Ali Abdel-Aziz? Like, do you have any personal relationship with him,

or does he not speak to the whole MMA fighting crew? Um, I never really had a relationship with Ali. like he's introduced himself to me maybe once or twice years ago there was a time when I first got to M.A. fight Like I've interviewed his fighters for a while.

Gilbert Burns being one of them. I never really went through Aliair's team to get those interviews. And then I got to a point where I reach out to them and they would tell me no you have to like it's a new thing. You got to go through

like the PR or go through Ralee or whoever to book these interviews. So when I got to M.A. fighting, that's what I did. Went to their PR team, was getting some good interviews from them. Got him for about a year or so. And then the PR person that's not, she's not there anymore, but that I was working with before. And I think I've told the story before. She was very helpful.

She's very helpful in getting interviews done. And then there was one time where I think it was Burns. I think it was Burns after he beat Tarn Woodley. I had reached out, got no response for like a week. And then I just reached out to Gilbert and told him, hey, I haven't gotten a response. Let's do the interview. And he was like, okay.

So he did the interview. They were not happy. And I was like, all, fine. I was like, but I did reach out. but I'm not going to wait. Like, if we're going to do this, like, let's just do it. Because you know how the sport works, everybody. In a week, none of this matters anymore.

And then I got to the point where, I mean, I couldn't land anybody. Even Aaron Pico, no disrespect to Aaron Pico, but he's not like a big star. Him going and doing an interview with M.A. fighting is like a good thing for him, I would say. Not just me, but anybody from the site. And they're like, no, we didn't approve this, didn't approve this. And I was like, what the fuck, man? So at that point, I had reached out to the PR person who was working there at the time. And I said, you know what?

Take me off your list. That's it. You know, I just don't want to waste your time or my time anymore, like reaching out for interviews because none of them are getting approved. So I'm just not going to do it anymore. I was like there's plenty of other fighters. There's like 550 other fighters on the roster I can talk to. Like, no hard feelings. It's just we're just not going to do this anymore.

I'm not going to reach out and try to book an interview, wait three days for a response, and then find out I can't get it. So that's it. And that's literally it. I have not, the only times I've interviewed Ali represented fighters since then was either on site or it was set up by a sponsor who reached out to me. did one with Burns, did one with Gae, did him with a couple of others. And that's fine. Sometimes that's how you have to book the interviews.

And that's fine. Like, I don't hate Ali. I don't dislike him at all. I don't even really know the guy. I think the way he sort of handles himself on social media is kind of crappy. I've said that publicly. It is what it is. Now, do we get interviews up with Ali fighters?

Yes. We do. Damon gets a bunch. Some of Ali's fighters have been on Ariel's show. Kayla Harrison goes on whatever the hell she wants. Derek Brunson's been on the show. A few others. So, yeah, there's, I've nothing,

there are things I wish Ali would do better from like a manager perspective because you don't see a lot of agents in other sports going out and threatening to slap around other baseball players or football players. So I think that's kind of weird, but there you go. that's where we're at. Now, they do have a new PR person, so perhaps I could reach out and get that relationship going. But Damon has a good relationship with the PR person.

He gets some of the bigger names and gets all the interviews. And honestly, like, I don't do a ton of interviews anymore. I've done, I've done probably more interviews in the last week than I've done in the last three months, just in the last week. And some good names. Obviously, like, I try to talk to Annick as much as possible, just because I have a really good relationship with John. I like talking to him. Him and I like just get each other fired up for stuff.

I had a good interview with Wonderboy. I believe that interview in its entirety just dropped on YouTube. We popped it on the podcast network because he gave us a little bit of news that him and the UFC have settled everything. I talked to Dustin Porre. That was fun. Not sure. That's up on the podcast network. But I don't like I'm just, I'm doing so much at this point. we have the MMA hour.

Like, I like doing interviews. I just don't really have the time to do a bunch more. So I don't know. So the answer your question, like, I don't really have a big, I don't have a strong relationship with Ali. I don't really have any relationship with Ali. I don't dislike the man because I don't really know him. So he's never done anything bad to me.

I've heard James Lynch talk about him. I like James a lot. I feel his stories and I obviously like Ariel a lot. So, yeah, that's between them and I have no issue with Ali. Let's keep going here. A lot of you want to speak. I like this. Let's go to Dylan.

Panda will try to get you in next and then we'll continue up and down the ladder here. Dylan, go ahead. Hey, Mike. There we go. Yep, I got you. Okay, cool. Hey, I've found myself after Saturday night seeing the Nicholas Dobby, Gabriel Bonfim match, I just, like, found that fight super inspiring.

And, like, it got me super pumped whenever Dolby won. But, like, I didn't even know about, like, his past and other things he had to overcome before that. And then that was just icing on top. But, like, just watching the performance alone, I found it super inspiring. And I was wondering, like, can you remember a fight recently or just a fight that pops into mind? based on performance alone. That just got you like, man, I got to go on a run. I got to hit the gem.

Like, this got me fired up. But that's all. Just curious. Yeah, man, Dalby's a freaking animal. What a performance by him. Golly, that's a tough question. That's a really good question. I don't really know.

I mean, I have to, I'd have to really, like, dig deep. Jose would probably be able to rattle off like 10 of them and know where they happened and how they happened and what card and what was the co-main event, what the feature fight was. Habib's last fight was a good one. Like that dude was dealing with so much with the loss of his dad

and then just going out there and sort of doing to Justin Gagie what he did and then just having mercy on the man by not breaking his arm in front of his parents and just transitioning to a triangle like that is just gangster shit right there. And then hearing him retire the way that he did

was pretty crazy. Pretty crazy stuff. Leon Edwards winning the Welterway title was pretty inspiring because that was just out of nowhere and just the speech afterwards. Everything that happened there was like,

I was ready to run through a friggin' wall. I was ready to run through a friggin wall. Francis, Francis Tyson Fury. Jesus. Dude knocks down the lineal heavyweight champion of the world. Pretty wild. Pretty wild stuff.

But I have to dig a little deeper. That's a really good question. But off the top of my head, those are what come to mind. Panda, got it. Take two, Mike. How are you? Good. Yeah, I'll be short and sweet.

First thing's first. Ali is literally the worst on Twitter. I hope that PR person has a Twitter or runs his Twitter. I mean, hopefully, if it's not just his Twitter, he takes over the fighters' Twitter. Oh, my God, that man isn't sufferable on Twitter. Secondly, what do you think of these title fights that were announced? Obviously, I won't go down the line and name them, but I'm most excited for O'Malley Vera. I think that the fight will probably give us the most, I don't want to say question marks, but I think the line's going to be the closest. I think the action is going to be

the most action pack. Like, I'm not going to lie, I think Sean Strickland is a nightmare matchup for Drickus 2 plus C. I think Drickus 2A, unless he takes down Sean Strickland and kind of lays on him is eventually just going to gas and be a punching bag for Sean.

And then I think Alex kind of takes out his anger on Ilya, but of course, Mike, I'm just a panda. So which one is your favorite fight that was just booked? Thanks. So he just did a,

like a reaction pod yesterday, probably like 45 minutes after the news is announced, so I sort of give my thoughts there. Strickland DDP is super interesting to me for multiple reasons. If Strickland wins this fight, like, it's just insane. Like, it really is just insane. He goes out and beats Izzy and then goes and beats DDP. That's frigging wild.

And then he's going to fight Hamzot next. And if he beats Hamzot, like Izzy, DDP, and Hamzot back to back to back, that is a ridiculous three-fight shreds. in championship fights. Insane. Absolutely nuts. And if DDP wins, now we get Izzy coming back,

chasing DDP, that's incredibly fascinating to me. Voke-D-Pory is much more interesting now after the Makachep loss. I'm glad it's not happening in January. I wish it was happening in like March or April, but February it is. And I would say,

of all the competitors that are involved in these title fights, the man with the most at stake is Sean O'Malley. Because his world changes forever if he beat Cheatera. He's in a great spot right now. He's got a ton of momentum. That went over Sterling was huge. We saw the UFC treated it. They put the finish on YouTube and they put it all over the place.

They never really do that. They were pushing this man. But the question always was for me, and from a lot of others as well as like, that's great, but what are you going to do with the title defense? Can you do it again? And if he can do it again against his longstanding rival, his biggest rival in Cheevera,

who happens to be a guy fans really love, like that's gigantic, and that will catapult him into another stratosphere. Now, if O'Malley loses, it's tough, but the UFC obviously understands that they have there, he can make his way back. But if he wants to become like a superstar and he wants to do the boxing fights

and he wants the crossover appeal and all that, he can't lose. He cannot lose to Cheatererer. He can't. If he wants all of those things, he's got to win in March. He has to. So he has so much to gain here.

Even as the champion. I feel like he needs a win more than any of these guys. But they're all interesting in their own ways. But I am very, very much looking forward to Strickland versus DDP. Mikey, go ahead. Since Drickis and Sean Strickland is official, do you hold Hamzat to face the winner,

or do you book him another fight at middleweight? And speaking of middleweight, is the time to run Akram Hamzat now, because obviously for a lot of people who don't watch anything else outside the UFC, they fought each other before. So you could build that history off, or do you have Hamzot fight Jared Cannon here? If for all intents and purposes,

unless something crazy happens, Michael Venom Page is probably signed with the UFC. Do you book his debut before UFC 300 or at UFC 300? Also, Dustin Boreen, I don't know if he was just, trolling or just or indicating something true but he tweeted UFC 300 and eyeballs so do you do you think they'll i think it would make sense if he uh returned on that card and what are the chances it's nate diaz uh also um what do you think uh loopy godina stands if she wins this weekend and speaking of which do you think the mackenzie durn the winner between mackenzie durn or particularly if mackenzie

wins. Were this that placed her in title contention, do you, do you know, I think she's in the short list of title contention, you know,

if the UFC doesn't go with the Waley saying, Waley and yon and shone on. So, yeah, man, great fight week. Got to be kind of

another. Talk to you guys later. Thank you, Mike. A lot to unpack there. I will remember what I can. The MVP thing, signs are pointing in the right direction

to say it's done would be a little too quick on the trigger I think you probably debut him before 300 and I'm trying to like it's not going to be Wonderboy like Kevin Holland would be super fun

like I think that's a great debut fight if they could pull that off like if he does sign I think that's the perfect fight I think that's the one. Something like that. Kevin's a popular name. Everybody knows who he is. He may not be a top 10 guy,

but he's fun as hell, and he doesn't have to worry about somebody trying to take him down a thousand times. Like, that's just a fun, freaking fight. That could headline a fight night outside of the apex. That could be a good main card fight on a pay-per-view.

Like, that's the one. I don't know if, you necessarily need to save that for UFC 300. So like February is going to be a big card. March is going to be a big card. I don't think it happens as early as January. But yeah, I think if you sign

them, you get to get them in there as quickly as possible. Because people are just going to be wondering and they're going to be asking. Yeah, I think that's a great fight. JDM would be fun. Like there's, but I like the Holland fight. I like that one. Strawway. Loopy beats.

Ritchie. Yeah, it's a good win. I don't think she gains, like, a ton from it. But, yeah, I think people like Loopy. And people like Ritchie, too. They're very similar fighters in a lot of respects, stylistically. But I think Lupi has a bit more of a personality. So I think Lupi can gain a little bit more than Ritchie.

Ritchie just is one of those fighters that sort of just lets her fighting do the talking for. And Lupy's a little bit more outspoken. a little more entertaining on the microphone. So, yeah. Dern Androge is interesting. If Dern wins, like, this is what I wanted anyways. Because I feel like you have to do, although the Shanghai card is not going to be headlined by

Zhang Wei, Janjohn, I'm told, which, like, what are we even doing now? Like, why are we even going there? No offense, but why are we going? there without that fight. But there are reports out there that it's going to be Song Yudong versus Chris Gutierrez headlining that card. I'm told there's some smoke to that fire.

So wouldn't shock me if that is what actually happens here. So do you do Zhang Wei, Tatiana Suarez? Do you do Zhang Wei versus John John Donan? If you do Zhang Wei versus John Johnan and McKenzie Dern wins, you have to do Tatiana Svarez versus McKenzie Dern. That's the fight I wanted. after Tatiana's last win. Like, throw in there with Dern,

do the Zhang Wili-Yan-Jan-on-on-on-Fight, and then give Tatiana Suarez-Bakensi Durn a main event fight on a fight night card. Do it at the apex. I don't care. But winner of that, like, gets a title fight without question, right? So that's what I like. I like that a lot. And then Dustipori of C-300.

I spoke with Dustin Porea last week. It's on the pod network. It's got to be in video form soon. Asked Porreye about that. Porre said something to the effect of, I could be ready in six weeks. I could be ready in eight weeks. As long as it's something that's exciting,

but he did point out UFC 300 specifically. Said UFC 300, that is enticing to him since he didn't fight at 200, and he ain't going to fight at 400. So UFC 300 seems like a good spot for him. So I don't think it's going to be Nate. If it's Nate, it's the main event. Because I don't think Nate's coming back to be the co-main event to anybody, including Connor McGregor.

So maybe him and, I don't know, maybe him and Felder, that would be pretty damn fun for the Felder comeback fight. Maybe he does it at 170. I don't know. I'm not really sure. But, yeah, Poria being a 300, be pretty damn cool. Eric, go ahead. I'm sorry. O'Malley versus there.

I think O'Malley's going to win. Avengers lost against there. And if Dustipuree, if yes, comes back by Despauree, I think it's going to be the main event. And I think if DePlace wins this year is going to fight DeBlessy, I think that would be a good matchup,

and that'll be intriguing. Thanks, guys. Thanks, man. Excuse me, thanks, man. I don't know. Like, look, and maybe you guys want to wait on this as well. How would you feel, and look, I like the fight.

It's super interesting. You get two pretty big names who are pretty much always in fun fights. How would you feel if Dana White came out and said, hey, the main event for UFC 300 is Dustin Poria versus Nate Diaz? Would you be over the moon about that? Would you be excited? Would you feel like it's somewhat of a letdown? I'm not saying that's how I feel.

I'm just wondering how you would feel about that, especially with the Connor Chandler thing and Conner's impending return. It seems like after these three announcements, most people feel like it's a lock that Connor's comeback fight is there. Maybe it isn't. Maybe it isn't. Shaheen mentioned on the,

a reaction pod yesterday that it doesn't seem like a lock for him. Maybe they just do UFC 300. It's a nice round number. You put a bunch of big names on there. And then instead of getting one big event and one big payday and one big pay-per-view by, you push Connor Chandler to May

and then you get two back-to-back big buys. I don't know. We shall see. Dude, if they book Porre date, fucking sign me up for that. But I don't know how you feel about UFC 300, if that's the main event, because that would be the main event

if they booked that fight. Four quarter sports, go ahead. Hey, Mike, so I totally agree with you. Knowing the UFC, they're going to try to have their cake and eat it too. They're going to try to have two bites out of the apple. But hey, I would not be surprised if they put March to have two pay-per-views. It looks like they've been doing that the last couple of years.

You know, it's never been like consistently on what month they will have two pay-per-views. Wouldn't be surprised if it's in March but later in the year. I would love to see Dustin Porriere on UFC 300. Something tells me, you know, that they're going to, you know, stack the deck with either having like Poria on the card. and like two title fights or would you be surprised if there's three title fights on the card um i guess i mean if very surprising you know wouldn't be surprised if like leon is on that card if he defends the belt uh against colby or if colby is going to make his first head of defense on that card but i wanted to talk about jelson armada versus uh derrick lewis really good fight

really good game plan from Derek Lewis I'm like trying to make sure that Omeida has to work and stuff like that but like couldn't put a lot of blame so much on him because he's taking the fight on short notice and you know he's doing his part disappointed in Omeida that you know he was on mount and was doing very little on like just

trying to punish Derek Lewis I felt like if he would have just hit the body you know throughout the duration throughout the fight he would have been able to submit him But unfortunately, that wasn't the case. And I feel like there's some blame to put on Mark Otter because if you're yelling saying, you know, do some work, do some work. Most of the time is about to fight each round and you don't stand them up, then you have a lot of blame as well, too. So I felt like Almeda, what's the call? Didn't have a second game plan if you couldn't get Derek Lewis out of there.

I felt like there was a lot of holes that may have been imposed and it makes the Curtis Blades fight a lot more enticing. So let me know what you think, Mike. Thanks. Yeah, so you calling that a really good fight, and I think you just, I think you just said that. It's just not true because it was a terrible fight. It was a bad fight. I almost, because of my immediate reaction to it, was like, you know what? Maybe I'll just go, maybe I'm being unfair.

Maybe I'll go back and watch it again. And I was just like, no, I'm not doing it. I'm not putting myself through that again. I can't. Dominant performance, yes, no doubt about it. But it was just tough, man. It was just so tough to watch. And it was so crazy about it is that in the immediate fallout of it,

and I know how this sport can be, and I know people are very hard graders, we did a poll about how you graded Jailton-Lamedist performance. A D or lower was by far the highest percentage. And then if you ask what Derek Lewis's was, he got a passing grade by most people. And he did nothing in the fight. It's so crazy.

But yes, that, it was just so frustrating because all made it had to do is punch Derek Lewis in the face. Like, if he just punched him, if he just punched Derek Lewis, just inflicted some damage on the ground. He would have gotten Lewis out of there. There's certain points in the fight where he just started throwing. And Derek was just covering up. And then he was like, I'll go try for this submission that I have not gotten the first 300. 72 times I tried it.

It was just not a great performance. It was just not great. And the Mark Goddard thing, look, you can't, Mark Goddard would have got absolutely annihilated if he had stood Gelt and all made up. In mounts, you can't stand

them up, man. Like, you just can't in that position. Now, if it was in guard or something like that, like, yeah, I get it, but you can't stand him up in full mound. You just, you can't. Even if he's doing nothing. That's just too dominant of a position. You can't do it. But, yeah, not a fight.

I'm going to go back and watch again. He's not getting Cirogan. If I'm Jiao-Meda, I am 1,000% calling for Cioro Gond. He's making the right choice. Let's go in there and get the guys ranked number one who has no defensive grappling skill whatsoever. Maybe the worst of the division. That's what you should do. That was a smart call.

his part. The problem is the performance is just not going to be enough. Sierra ain't touching that fight with a 10-foot pole, and I wouldn't if I was him. And we would get no answers from that fight. So you just got to re-book the Curtis Blades fight, and let's see how he does.

But yeah, not a performance that got him a ton of fans, even with the dominant win. So I got a heck of a morning. How are you doing? Yeah, I'll just have two questions. What are your thoughts on the morale versus Henry Suita if that comes to fruition? And how do you see that fight playing out?

In my opinion, I think it's a very high-paced, intense mixed match-up fight that could be similar to what Gamrod v. Sarukin was. But it would be probably more standing on defeat since both kind of cancel each other's wrestling up. But I'm really curiously who's position in terms of, you know, scrambles and wrestling will, you know, dominate more. And I just want to talk also speaking on Amman Saruki. And I was watching his fight today with Islam Mahathev. I was actually genuinely impressed. I was really watching this after four years when I first watched this fight back when it happened.

But now that I'm recalling everything that happened, I'm just like amazed at the fact this guy took this fight on two weeks notice back then. And it was his UFC debut. And the way he actually managed to get Islam on the way. the ground, these two, three times during the fire, he was really putting some pressure, despite Islam imposing his will, you know, getting the better hand of the striking edge. He did a really good job. And also, Volcanovsky, as far as I can remember, no one else, but Amman has done a great job at the scrambles and actually even getting up on his feet while not being depleted.

And, you know, save for some rookie mistakes, such as at the very last round, where he was doing very well in the feet. You know, he could have possibly just gone forward that or just some other silly mistakes like trying to go for takedowns when he didn't have to. I really would love to see this rematch and I hope he wins against Ben Niel Darvich in December because that is a fight that I think every fan needs to see.

And I will definitely recommend any newcomer. If you want to really get to the sport, watch that fight. That's a really good fight. And that's a good way to really understand how the grappling and wrestling works in this game. that's all I have yeah man that was that was to me like because I I've been on the arm and train for years well before he got to the UFC I just had I saw something in him I just knew there was something there and then he debuts on short notice against his

amokachev loses but gave his um a hell of a fight so yeah we'll see what happens to this der a huge fight it's a big spot for him he goes out there and just runs der Euse. Like, he's got to, he's got to get a title fight. He has to. Like, there's nothing else he needs to do. I understand there's Gaichi there. He may have to wait a hot minute, but it's not like Sarukin's the most active guy in the planet anyways.

So, you just kind of wait and see what happens. Marab versus Sohudo, I love that fight. I'm very much interested in that one, if and when it happens. And, yeah, I love it. I love it. Marab is just an absolute animal. Suhudo is a very smart fighter. And obviously he has great wrestling himself.

It's super interesting. I like it. It's the fight that makes sense. I still don't know if either... I still don't know if Mara beat Suhudo if he ends up getting a title shot of Sean O'Malley wins. Like, I don't know. I don't know.

By merit, of course. But Sean could just be... Like, nah, I'm gonna go a box. I don't know. It's gonna be interesting, but I like that fight a lot. Stevie, hello. Can you hear me? Yeah, go morning.

Just two quick ones for me. First question, 295. Out of the four fighters involved in the Coleman and main event, like, who's the star of the card? Me personally, I think it's Alex, just because he has a chance to get another belt at a different weight class. And second thing, not really a question, but so I saw that a Roman Delizze and Nazar DiMov is being targeted as the main event for UFC Shanghai next month.

Did the UFC fumble the bag with that one? Pretty middle-weighty fight for a fight night event outside the apex. Really thought they could have done Wei Li versus Yan, but it looks like the timelines don't work out. Yeah, just want to get your thoughts on that. Thanks. Thank you, sir. I think Alex is probably the right answer, but people love Yuri too.

Aspinall has seemed to have gotten over everywhere he's gone. And Pavavish is just a mystery man. Just quiet and dangerous and a ruthless, ruthless dude. As I mentioned earlier, I saw the reports about Delise Amovov. I did reach out about it. I've heard literally nothing back. about either. So I don't know. There was another report that came out yesterday or a couple days ago.

I think it was over the weekend that DFC is targeting Songy Dong versus Chris Gutieris to head by Mac card. I, of course, reached out. I am told there is smoke to that fire. Smoke to that fire. So if I had to guess what is going to headline that card, and I'm not 100% on it, my betting money goes towards Song Yidong, Chris Gutierrez, being the main event. Is it Janjonan versus Zhang Wei Li? Hell no. But it is what it is. I'm curious to get the UFC's perspective on why that's not happening.

If they tried to make that fight, why it's not happening. And then I saw the reports about Song Yidong and Piator Yan, as you heard on the show weeks ago, there was nothing really to that fight, really at all? Was it brought to the table? Yes. Was it ever a thing? No. But one song, it was rumored to be the main event.

You kind of had to figure that that was the direction they were going to go with it. So that's where we're at right now. As far as Shanghai goes, hopefully we can fully confirm that fight. Sometimes today. I've tried, but there is spoke to that. fire, my friends. That is for sure. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining

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selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holt's holiday in store or online at Holtrenfrew.com. Go ahead, Cole. Good morning, Mike. I just got a question today. Am I, I feel like I'm a stuck-up fan for, so you know how Brian Campbell says that the UFC has about like four majors a year,

and I would say the November MSG card is probably one of those big pay-per-views of the year. Am I like a stuck-up fan for thinking every main card fight on this paper? review on one of these big four events should be like a fight night main event caliber fight like i'm sorry mike but diego lopez versus pat sabatini it's a good fight but that does not belong on a main on a main card opener to to like a madison score guard november card like why why do i have to be such a hardcore fan i'm a fucking big diego lopez fan and i got i get all that hype he belongs on this card but i feel like in the past we've seen just these top five fights, man.

They've all been like fight night headliner quality. I don't know. Like I'll give them a pass on the Dern Androge fight just because the name value is there. But what do you think about that take? Yeah, I mean, look, I get it. Dude, Androge Dern is absolutely a fight night main event. That is an Apex main event if there ever was one.

There is a world where Mastrovo and Benoit Sont and E could headline an Apex card. Like, we've seen worse. And then just kind of looking at the rest of the lineup, what would you prefer be above Sabatini Lopez here? I kind of feel like that's maybe Ritchie Godinez, but I kind of feel like Sabatini Lopez is going to be just much more exciting than that one.

Like, I think Ritchie Godinez is going to be a good tactical fight. But I think if we're looking at what is going to set the tone for the rest of the $80 pay-per-view. I mean, it's Sabatini Lopez. Lopez could be the rookie of the year in the UFC if he beats Pat Sabatini. Like, he's in the running. Steve Ursaigel is under Costa, fine,

but no one really knows who either is. Matutrabechki is now fighting Roosevelt Roberts, which is good for Roosevelt to get back in there. Sadacov Borchoff is fine. Jared Gordon, Mark Madsen, like that's not what you want to set the tone, I don't think.

it's just not a deep, deep, deep card. I mean, there's three and a half potential, maybe four sort of apexe main event potential here. Obviously the top two fights, Andraj Dern is definitely a main event. Both those women have been in many main events. I like it. I like Sabatini Lopez in that spot. I do.

Have we had better MSG cards than this? Of course. I like this card from a competitive standpoint a lot. Preetims are what they are. And yeah, I mean, Joan Steppe is two big names. Stinks to lose that one from a bottom line perspective,

but from a competitive standpoint, Kavovich Aspinall is awesome. So, I don't know. We'll see how it all plays up. Maybe Sunday morning when we're doing the post-fight show, we're like, damn, all five of these fights are awesome. And there's potential that all five of these fights are awesome. So, but I get you.

You demand more, and I respect that. Barbarusa, go ahead. Hi, Mike. How are you doing today? Good. I just want to ask you about Islam Makatchif. It appears that he's not fighting the next three title files, three paper views. And after that, we have a tenth of four.

March, I think Ramadan next year. Where do you think he fights next? And we have later this year, someone mentioned before that Armand Saruki and fighting Binal de Ruge. I think out of all the rematches Islam could have had or will have, this would be the most interesting one. And I'm afraid. that he, this fight in particular is not going to happen because he's not the most popular

fight until now I thought he's going to be more popular at this point. I'm talking about Sirukin and it's like if I think Islam has only three more fights at lightweight, I'm not sure, but if he rematches Charles and rematch Arman it's going to be. be out of four title defenses or five, it's going to be three rematches. And this is why I want to ask you, why do you think everyone saying that Charles Rivera should be next? I know he's popular. I know he's a lovely guy.

I know he's an exciting fighter. But against Islam, it wasn't so exciting. What do you think, Mike? I get both sides of it. I get both sides of it. Look, it's a two horse race right now. It's doing the Olivera rematch, which is the scheduled fight. And Trudeaulyvera.

He earned his way back. I was not interested in that fight at all. And then I saw what he did to B'Neil Derrush. I'm like, all right, I'm in. I'm back in. And then we saw a Gaecchi to DePorei, and I want to see his on fight Gaecchi. Like, if I had to choose, that's the one. But I could totally understand if they go with Olivera.

He earned his way back. I'm kind of with Jed where it comes to I'd like to see multiple victories go get two wins and then get it but dude give me Gaichi and poor Oliver I mean who the hell is going to complain about that Surukian it's tough man like and it's tough

in this division as a whole and we talk about it all the time these young up-and-comers are just not getting their chances they're just not getting him finally Surukian's getting his chance he gets binel Darius he gets top five guy Fzeev got his chance against Gaechee, came up short. Gamrock got his chance against B'Neil, came up short, and now it's Zerukkian's turn. I don't see what he can do with it.

He goes out there and just in a main event spot in front of people and just runs over Binal D'arayush, I think his stock rises a ton. Will it become a super popular guy? Will it become a star off of this window? No, but I think if he does do that in that spot on a pretty good card, that is a really good fight night card. If he closes the show with the finish of Benile Daryush, I think talk at the end of that card is going to be people saying, all right, I got to see this rematch with Islam Machchief. And maybe he gets there.

Won't be soon. But as far as Machief goes, May June, maybe. Ramadan, I think I'm looking at it up right now, March 10th. to April 9th. So probably won't see Machchev to like, depending on when the March pay-per-view is. Could he do it before that? But we already got O'Malley and Cheeto there.

So maybe not. Maybe that seems like June. It's like June at this point. I don't know. I don't know. New York Rick. When you jump in, somebody said something that got you fired on. So have that.

Heck of a morning, Mike. No, I mean, nothing got me fired up. I'm on the elliptical. Forgive me again. But the talk of Islam Makachev got me thinking, you know, UFC's pound for pound list just established him as number one, us at MMA fighting. We've already had that. But I wanted to ask, like, in terms of his trajectory, how many more wins do you think he is away from surpassing Habib Nirmagamadeov? And I got thinking about this because it seemed like Habib had a lot more momentum in the conversation.

and it seemed like everybody wanted to push Habib to go status, but it seems like right now, you know, Isam is kind of on a slower role. But when you compare the resumes, it doesn't really seem like he's far off. So I'm just curious, what do you think it would take for Islam to kind of step out of that shadow and be the true successor to Habib and kind of take that legacy mantle? Because I personally don't think it's far away, but maybe there are someone who would argue the zero on Habib's record is what's going to prevent him from ever getting there. So curious about your thoughts. It's a good question. I'm surprised to hear this question come from you, New York, Rick. This is typically not your cup of tea,

but three, four? Two wins over Oliver and two wins over Volk certainly helps. A win over Gaitch you would help. And I think you would need one or two after that against one of these young whippersnappers. Like if he ends up getting a Serukian and finishing Surukion, that's up there. He could get a Darius fight somehow. That would help. He's not far away. It's not like he needs 10 more wins to get there.

But I would say he's three or four, depending on who he fights. But yeah, you're right. Like, you could argue that Oliver's resume is maybe like one of the craziest ones at Lightweight. But, yeah, he's not that far away. He's not terribly far away.

All right. five in line here. I'm going to get to all of you. J. Mack, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Just I'm curious what you think happened to Gregor Gillespie. The guy hasn't fought in probably almost two years now.

I think he's still on the roster. There's tons of great matchups for him. I mean, the guy's a great wrestler. Is he done? Is he coming back? I mean, what's the deal with Gregor from Gillespie? Thanks, Mike. I have no idea. One of the big

mysteries of this sport right now. Kind of like misplayed his hand after the CDF win. Because I know he got off for the Syrucian fight a few times. The plan was they were going to do Gregor Gillespie versus Syrucian instead of Serrucian versus Gamrod. And then they couldn't get Gregor in there. And Gregor's mentality was, I'm only going to fight fighters who were ranked above me. And neither at the time were ranked above them.

So he's just like, no, it's not going to fight. dude likes to fish and do those kinds of things real outdoorsman type of individual and loves that life doesn't seem like he's in a huge rush to come back so seems like he's happy not fighting right now i don't know i'd like to see him back he's a nice little addition to this lightweight puzzle but

we'll see i have no honestly i have no clue no clue what he's up to uh let's go to annie how are you my friend good What's up? Well, so I would like to jump back to a question that you asked yourself. If I were Tyler Santos, would I still want to be in the UFC? I would say yes, because Tyler Santos is not a small 125er. And she's pretty huge.

I think she can, like, if she timed it right, if she had good advice, I think she would have done really well in the bottom weight division. And with the Bandomweight division, with a couple of rearrangements and good matchmaking, they could have revived it. I just don't understand, you know, I know Holly Holmes stepped in to face Mara Buena Selva, but I think it would have been easier if they saved Holly Home, because Holly Home, for one, she holds a victory over Rakhala Cunnington, and that would have been a nice match to me.

But apologies for the sign. that would have been a really nice match to me. But I just feel like UFC does this again and again. When they have a really nice match in store, they just fumble the bag. Something like, you know, when Joseo Aldo was on a three-five win streak, and then the match made him against Mirab. That's stupid.

But that's that. Another quick thing about the whole situation with Ali Abd al-Ziz. I just feel like, He's, I don't know, man. A manager shouldn't be in the news so damn much. I think a manager's face shouldn't be there a lot. I mean, of course, they should be given some credit, and the fighters will do it.

But I think he just puts himself front and center of everything, and I just don't like that. And it's really admirable what people from the media, such as you, journalists like air, really, all of you have to deal with people like them. and also be in the good books of the fighters. I know it's difficult, so kudos to all of you. And, you know, two last things.

One of them is a wishful matchup. So the wishful matchup is, imagine, just imagine. No-J UFC next year, if you could wish for one match to sort of open the show, you know what I would wish for? Again, the word wish. Don't talk to me about it being realistic. I would wish for Kane Velasquez versus Andrea Arlowski. That is an amazing match that got away.

That would be nice. Yes, that's what I want to say. And someday, if you can get Dustin Poulier on Heck of a Morning, I know that's, again, that's wishful as well. If you can get him on Heck of a Morning, that would be amazing. Because he has this, I mean, he's, more or less like an idol to me. There's the saying he said,

when times are good, be grateful. And in times like these, other than times are bad, be graceful. That kept me going. So it would be nice if you could, if he could hop in and I'd have the

opportunity to speak to him. Anyway, thank you, Mike. Thanks, bud. I mean, look, if that opportunity came, I would do it in a heartbeat. Not easy to do. So there you go.

Yeah, the Santos thing is interesting. I don't know. Maybe she just doesn't feel like she could do $1.35. But like I said, it's the road to her getting back to a flyway title fight. It's forever. It would take her like two plus years. So if there's other opportunities that present themselves to her, she should go after them.

I mean, look at Derek Brunson. Like, Derek Brunson wasn't getting to a middleweight title fight. They talked, and they were just like, okay, go. Go to PFL. did it with Corey Anderson. Remember Corey Anderson? Was one win away from a title shot? Fight Janbovich gets knocked out. We don't see him again. Him and his manager, Ali, talked to the UFC. He's like, can I go? And they said, yeah, go ahead. And he went to Bellator. So, and there you go. And you know, you mentioned Ali. Look, I don't want to just keep talking about this.

Like I said, I have no real relationship with them. I have nothing bad to say about him because I don't really. know the man. What I will say is the fighters who are represented by him, they friggin' love them. They frigging love him. They feel like he has done a lot for their careers. And at the end of the day, that's what a manager is supposed to do. Now, is he very boisterous and says a lot of stuff? Certainly, not typically what you see in this space, but his fighters love him. And that's all you can really say about it. at the end of the day. Henderson.

Kowloon's next, four-ounce sniper. We'll try to get to everybody. Guy Anderson. Hey, man, I was going to talk about the Thai Santos, so I'm glad that it's already been kind of brought up a bit and laid out.

And I like what you're saying. And I just think that if you're a fighter who, like you said, if you're not going to be a UFC champion, we know how these contracts work, you're there's no point in being in the ufc you can make more money doing other things whether that's fighting in somewhat similar sports like karate combat or or a bare knuckle or just going to this ufs or this uh bellator slash pfl thing that's going to be getting built right

because you know they have money to throw around too they have women's divisions she could go fight like Karmouche or something, you know? So I think there's better options for her there. And I just think with PFL and Bellator, and we don't know for sure that they're going to combine, but let's say they do. What do you think is the best way that they can run the combo organization? Like they said they're going to kind of merge them over time if that's what they do. So what I would do if I was them is I would have tournaments around the world, make that like the PFL season, different continents, and then the winners of that get promoted up to the major league PFL slash Belator

pay-per-view division, right? And you just stack that full of fighters from other organizations that you bring in, former champions, Francis, and then make PFL the season that goes year-round and maybe just do a couple big Bellator events. So what do you think is the best possible way that they could do it? And then also knowing MMA competitors, what would be the worst way that they could go about combining these organizations?

All right, I'll hang up, but keep up the great work. Thanks, man. What's the worst? I don't know. I don't know. I would like to see them separate to start. Maybe like 2024, just keep them separate. Do Bellator events.

if there are certain Bellator fighters, they're like, hey, I want to try out this season format and try to win the Millie, like, let him do it. But if they just want to, if the Bellator fighters just want to do the Bellator thing, like, do that for a year. And then at the end of the year, they should do a Bellator versus PFL event. One time, not a annual thing, but one time. I don't know how it would look. I don't know what the ideal matchups would be. But I would like to see that. that's how you should do it.

The worst is just, I don't know. Honestly, the thing I'm most curious about is how this affects the Bellator fighters. Like, do they have to join the PFL? Is this like WWE buying WCW where you can come work for us and make this or you can leave or sit home and still make money? You're a free agent?

Like, these are the questions I have. and then like with the whole oh just do tournaments around the world throw the bellator fighters potentially in these tournaments to make the big pfl roster like it'll work for some for some of those fighters but like johnny ebblin ain't going to do that a j mckee ain't can do that so i am curious how that's going to work because obviously if you're a pfl absorbing bellator is to get the fighters but are the fighters contractually obligated that they have to go or can they test free agency?

And that's going to be the most interesting story if they are a lot of test free agency. Because they still could get more money from the PFL, Bellator combination, but maybe they want to test themselves in different ways. Maybe they want to try to be a UFC champion. I don't know. Like Johnny Abiland would be very competitive in the UFC's middleweight division right now. Vadeem Nemcoff would be very competitive at 205 in the UFC. Patchy Mix would be very competitive at 35.

Kiojuro-Guchi would be very competitive at 125. There are more compelling matchups with the Belator fighters of the UFC guys without question. But I would like to see them keep it separate for a little while, keep the Bellator thing alive. Maybe you mix it up a little bit, find a network for it. if you can, maybe switch it up a little bit, freshen up the product a little bit. If you're going to do that, it just feels like Bellator has been the same for a decade.

Let's just loosen up a little bit. Let's try some different things. From a production standpoint, from, I don't know, there's just lots of things you could do. So it is going to be interesting. It's not done yet. I know people are saying it is done. It's not. Don Davis talked about it on the hour.

Don, despite as many faults, tells the truth, isn't afraid to say things. So, wouldn't be shocked if we get an announcement at the pay-per-view, which I still don't understand why we're going to pay-per-view, but who the hell am I? Kowloon City, you're up, and you're muted. Are you there? Hello? Hello? Thanks.

Thanks for taking me, Mike. With Islam officially number one pound for pound, I got to say we need the Netflix documentary, 30 for 30 for a Dagestani, you know, what they've been able to do from that region. A couple million people produced two of the greatest fighters of all time. I think we need a 30 for 30. My question would be, though,

has there ever been a greater trio of fighters out of one camp? I'm going to say, AKA, you've got three pound for pound number one. is on Habib Kormier off the top of your head can you think any camp, any trio fighters would be able to rival those three appreciate it, man,

have a great day. That's a good question. I mean, it's right up there. I'm trying to think if there's like any others that even are close, honestly. And I think if I dug deep enough, I could think of them.

But yeah, a 30 for 30 on like Habim's father just bringing these guys. Because we don't, like that story, isn't even done yet. Like, Usen and Ramaga Madoff could be better than both of those guys. Like, we don't know yet.

There's so many. Like, AKA just pumping out these like incredible debt. Like, Umar's another guy on the way up. A lot of people are super high on him. And then we have Kane Velasquez. We have Luke Rockhold. We have like some of the other just major names

that have come out of that gym that have been so successful. But, yeah, just a father's plan. Just in full effect. What has been able to be produced from all of that? It's just unbelievable. It really is. It is the deserving number one.

That's why we ranked him number one. Like we had him number one after the knockout. I put him in number one after the first Volk fight. I bumped Volk back up after Volk beat up Yeya Rodriguez. But yeah, I didn't hesitate to put Islam number one after the first Volk fight. But now it's like, it's inarguable. Like John having one win, like one good win over his last like five years. Like I just don't understand.

I could not understand how you could justify putting him above his Almacchev, just because he has one quick win over Cyril gone. I just couldn't do it. So glad the UFC got a UFC rankings panel got it right. And welcome aboard. Welcome aboard. Yes, four on second. Hey, I'm good.

How are you? Good morning. Just real quick for you. I don't know if somebody already asked about this certain fighter, but I was wondering, can Kyle Bahaio finally get a ranking? Can he finally get a number next to his name? I thought he deserved one after beating up on Mikhail Oleg Zayshik. And this weekend, he went out and put on another, you know, entertaining performance. So I think that's five in the row in the UFC.

Can he finally get a ranking? That's all, Mike. No. no he can't sorry would i rank him above anthony hernandez right now no would i rank above chris curtis right now no paul craig imov gasolum galsam welts away but we don't know yet would i rank would you rank him higher than ikram alaskarov hell i wouldn't

not a chance i know he's got five wins but ikram is just the truth man no he's not ready for ranking and maybe if he didn't call out drink his du plus E maybe I would think about it a little bit more but that was just one of the worst callouts of the year one of the worst no I don't think he's there just shit

I forget who I ended up matching him up with oh yeah I did a doo-do pick I matched him up with Jun Young Park and I realized John Young Park's already fighting Andre Meadez so I end up going with Michelle Pereira I think that's a good fight Cayo versus Michel Pereira

Kyle beats Michelle Pereira. Yeah, give him a ranking. Middleweight's loaded right now. Like, there's a lot of names. It's loaded up. It's going to be tough to get a ranking. Mark, take us home. Hey, Mike.

Just wanted to commend you on your busy day yesterday with the Wonderboy, John Anick, and the breaking news of the title fights. So that was a pretty busy day in the podcast. podcast feed. Apologies if someone asked this already. I don't know if you saw the announcement from, oh, it's not an announcement, but the UFC roster tracker saying that Tila Santos was let go and Marcel seemed to confirm that

this is actually a thing. Curious, what your take on that is. She's the one who, you know, arguably beat or did the best against Valentina previous to Alexa Grosso. So curious if you had a take on that. Have a great day. Yes, our own Guillermo Cruz confirmed it. That is up on M.A.fighting.com.

Yeah, it's kind of a surprising one, but we don't really know all the details here. Now, is this something that Santos and her team went to the UFC and said, hey, like, maybe, like, I kind of want to go somewhere else. You mind letting me go? And the UFC was like, yeah. it doesn't really seem all that surprising if you think about it that way. Now, if this is the UFC making a conscious decision to let her go,

kind of a weird one, but if this was something that Santos went forward with her team to the UFC and asked for, then it's really not that surprising. Valentina is not the champion anymore. There's no sort of interest in Santos fighting Alexa Grasso at this point. Aaron Blanchfield just beat Santos in a competitive yet close fight,

but Santos lost that fight. And considering where this division is right now, with the likes of, let me just pull it up real quick, the likes of the Aura Ujos, the he bosses, the Tracy Cortez, the Natty Isses, the Casey O'Neils, the Karine Silvas. on top of the Blanche fields and the man in Fioros and these other fighters, Macy Barber, I mean, it is going to take forever for Tyler Santos

to get a flyway title fight. Forever. It would take her years. So the juice probably isn't worth the squeeze for her. I actually don't. Unless she was going to make a full-time move to 135, which someone mentioned earlier. And even then, like, that division is just kind of a barren waste.

land right now. Maybe there's a revitalization after we crown a new champion. I don't know. But there's just not really much for her that's interesting right now. Is she just going to be the litmus test fighter? Like do you throw her in there with Macy Barber? And then if she wins that, you throw her in there with like Natty Ice and she's just kind of the Chukagian role at this point, because that's kind of where she's at. There's just too many fighters ahead of her right now. So was surprised to see it. The more I think about it, the more I'm like, eh, maybe I'm not all that surprised. Maybe this is actually like the best move for her.

Does she end up in PFL? Does she go somewhere else? We'll see. Nicholas asked a quick question earlier. I'll throw them in one more time and then I have to go. I really have to go up to this. Go ahead, sir. All right, it's not going through.

All right, I got to go. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. Lots of stuff coming up this week. Jose on his way to New York today. It's going to be a busy week for us all. We got watch party. We got two more MMA hours, one tomorrow.

that we have a live one on Friday with the whole crew and special guests, I believe will be revealed on the show tomorrow. Just so much going on, my friends. So stick with us at MAAfighting.com to get you ready for UFC 295 and for all big news going on in the wonderful world of mixed martial arts.

We'll be back here on this here program, Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern, and we will do it again. We got BTL on Thursday as well. It's just going to be a busy, wild-ass week. So we thank you all very much. You're the best. Back on Thursday, Teddy M. Eastern. Have a great rest of your time.

Tuesday, and have a heck of a morning, everybody. To the Vox Media Podcast Network.