MMA Fighting - HOAM | Sean Strickland's Chances In the Israel Adesanya Sweepstakes, Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Kelvin Gastelum

Episode Date: June 29, 2023

Sean Strickland feels he should be in play for Israel Adesanya and the middleweight title should he be successful in his UFC Vegas 76 main event matchup with Abus Magomedov this Saturday. Should he be... victorious, would Strickland be in the driver's seat to face the champ in Sydney in September? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on Strickland's chances to get the title fight with a win, and what could happen should Magomedov get a massive win in just his second octagon appearance. Additionally, topics include Dana White announcing Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Kelvin Gastelum as the co-main event for the UFC's event on Sept. 16 and if it was the correct fight to make, the most underrated UFC fights during the pandemic era, if a Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou fight could ever happen, 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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Starting point is 00:00:00 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,
Starting point is 00:00:42 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 Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,
Starting point is 00:01:14 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. The Vox Media Podcast Network.
Starting point is 00:01:59 Thursday, June 29th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter on the M.M.A. Fighting Podcast. Podcasting Network. Hello, everybody. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for joining us on another Thursday. We are in the summer.
Starting point is 00:02:42 It's the second to last day of June. If you're in the United States, we are heading into Fourth of July week, which is always a lot of fun. And we have mixed martial arts to talk about. We're still kind of dealing with some of the fallout of this past weekend. Ilya Tupori's incredible performance,
Starting point is 00:03:03 Macy Barber. incredible performance, everything that happened with the PFL, tons of, and I don't know, I don't know if stunned is the right answer, but tons of talk about Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg fighting, and we get a UFC card on Saturday. We're on the road to International Fight Week
Starting point is 00:03:24 and two incredible title fights between Volcanowski and Yahir Rodriguez and Brandon Moreno, Alexander Pantoja. That card's going to be real good. We do have to get through Saturday's Fight Night card, headlined by Sean Strickland and Abis Magamadoff. Still don't know why that fight's happening.
Starting point is 00:03:45 I mean, I get it, kind of, but why it's headlining a UFC event in the year of Our Lord 2023, and it's not like a short-noticed decision. This is one that's been in the works for a while. It was announced a long time ago. Still don't really get it, but there are, of fights. There are 12 of them, I believe. Let me just make sure I have my, my facts straight here. Yeah, nice tight, 12 fights, 4 p.m. prelim, 7 p.m. Eastern Main Card. Can't really
Starting point is 00:04:18 complain about that. Kevin Lee is a really interesting story. Him coming back. The featured prelim against We're not Fakhradinov. He, to me, is the most interesting story. of this entire card. What's he going to do? What's he going to look like? It's the UFC return. A lot of people kind of question the UFC bringing Kevin Lee back so quickly, but he's going to get his chance to prove some people wrong.
Starting point is 00:04:46 He had a media day yesterday that got a lot of attention. Not really pleased. He's fighting in the hallowed halls of the UFC apex, but we'll see how he does. And let's see what you all have to speak about. We have a lot of you waiting. So let's get after it. I'm e-me-me-me-mining this.
Starting point is 00:05:04 And Dylan gets the first word today. What's up, Dylan? You're muted right now. Dylan. All right. He will not get the first word today. Let's go to Noah. Apparently Noah's going to get the first word today.
Starting point is 00:05:30 What's up, Noah? Oh, Mike. Good. How are you? Good. I'm curious. Why do you think... I think I've heard you mention it before,
Starting point is 00:05:38 but I'm curious, why do you think Polo Costa has never considered for the title shot? in Perth. Or why do you think he's never considered, I guess, for any big middleweight opportunities? I know he has some problems with the UFC, and I've heard you talk about it before. But just curious your thoughts on that. We're wondering what you think about that. Thanks.
Starting point is 00:05:57 Well, it's a couple of things. One, you mentioned it, the back and forth to the UFC. No one knows what the hell is going on with this guy. He's talked about wanting a new contract of the UFC. Remember, he was booked to fight Robert Whitaker. on that card in February, and that fight never happened. And he felt like he didn't get paid enough. So Whitaker is now moving to July to fight DDP.
Starting point is 00:06:21 They have Costa slated to fight Icramaluscaroff right now, which to me is, like, wildly intriguing matchmaking, matchmaking that doesn't make a ton of sense, but I'm kind of here for it. I don't know, man. To me, it seemed like the no-brainer fight to make for Paula Costa was him and Hamza. Doing that in Abu Dhabi in October, like that just seemed like easy money.
Starting point is 00:06:46 Those two guys have history. There's videos of them having confrontations, you know, verbal and otherwise getting broken up in Vegas. Like, it just seemed like that was kind of the no-brainer fight to make. We don't even know what the hell is going on with Hamzat. And apparently Koskina Fyaf. Again, that's one of those fights that I'll believe it when I see it. And then on top of that, the last time Paul Costa got a title shot, he got. run over by Israel-A-Dasana.
Starting point is 00:07:15 So it's one of those things where Koss is a name. He draws a lot of intrigue. But he hasn't, his, his win, his last win was against Luke Rockholder, retired. And that was a fun fight, a fight that probably doesn't get enough credit for the fight of the year conversation last year. But I think he needs to get a win. I mean, if he beats Icaramado Scareoff and they want to slot him in there, cool.
Starting point is 00:07:40 But again, that's a super quick turnaround. So we're going to get some answers over the next couple of weeks. I mean, if Sean Strickland beats Abis Maka-Madhaed off, it doesn't take a lot of damage. I could certainly see the UFC giving him a shot. Then there's Whitaker DDP, which I still don't know why it's happening. Middleweight's kind of weird right now, but it's still interesting because we continue to get new faces and new contenders climbing the ranks. We've seen what DDP's been able to do. Brandon Allen looked incredible.
Starting point is 00:08:10 Apparently he told Brett Akamoto that immediately, after his win, they offered him a main event slot against Roman DeLizze in September, and he said no. And that that created quite a debate on social media yesterday, because Romans ranked higher in the UFC rankings. But Brennan has said it himself, he told me on Saturday after his win, the UFC rankings in his mind don't mean anything. And he's not wrong. So he's just like, all right, I'm going to wait and see if I can get something else. DDP loses to Whitaker, which I think a lot of people think he will. He could get that DDP.
Starting point is 00:08:48 I don't know. I even asked Brennan on Saturday. Because of the timelines and timing being everything, like, do you think you're in play for that title shot? Because right now, there's nobody else. There's nobody else right now. So I don't know what's going to happen with this. I am incredibly intrigued to see what the decision is
Starting point is 00:09:10 and how this all plays out. But apparently that Sydney card still going to remain a pay-per-view. Dana White made announcements yesterday. We already confirmed the Valentina Shifchenko rematch against Alexa Grasso for the title, but then he announced Shafka-Rakmana versus Calvin Gasolm for that September 16th. Mexican Independence Day card. So that's going to be a fight night card.
Starting point is 00:09:34 So it's not going to be a pay-per-view. So it appears that Izzy's still going to fight on that card. And now it's just trying to figure out who. but I don't think cost is going to be the guy unless he gets another win and he can turn around real quick because that fight was not close without a side to you. Dylan, do we have you now?
Starting point is 00:09:50 Yeah, hey, I'm really sorry about that, Mike. Oh, good, man. I had kind of a random question. Saturday, I noticed after Brennan Allen won, the first thing he did was shout out, like, stake.com, which I imagine is like a direct competitor to draft games. Do you think that, like, rubs, higher rubs of the UFC the wrong way
Starting point is 00:10:09 when fighters shout out, like, sponsors like that right after the win. It's just something I was thinking about. I mean, there was, there's been a few of those things where, like, a whole, like, group of fighters after they won, like, all shouted out the same sponsor. There's some crypto company, Marshall something. I don't remember what it is now, but I remember they were all doing that. Steak.com seems to be a pretty popular one right now. But, yeah, I don't know. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:10:41 There were even fighters at the press conference who would finish up their press conference and they would leave the podium and then they'd run back and be like, by the way, I want to thank stake.stake.com for whatever. And most people already turned off their cameras at that point, so it didn't really get across. But, yeah, I mean, it doesn't seem like it's that big of an issue.
Starting point is 00:11:05 Maybe they got permission, but it seems like when there's one sponsor, they usually will sponsor a whole bunch of fighters on a card and we'll hear like seven or eight winners all shout out the same sponsor. So if we don't hear that, maybe the UFC says something, but it doesn't seem to be too big of an issue right now. But I think maybe in the UFC's eyes,
Starting point is 00:11:31 steak is like Bellator and Draft Kings is like the UFC where draft kings ain't losing sleep over a stake. I don't know. But yeah, that's something I thought about as well, but it doesn't seem to be too big of an issue. Zach, hello. Hey, Mike. How are you doing today? Good. How are you?
Starting point is 00:11:50 So two things. First, a couple weeks, exciting welterweight fight between J.D.M. and Sean Brady. A lot of exciting people and upcomers are now in Walter Wade. The question there is, though, I think JDS has become big fan favorite, someone I personally like watching. But I'm more actually curious about the Sean Brady side.
Starting point is 00:12:10 It seems like he was kind of almost like a JDM before JDM in the sense like he had the hype until he lost the Belal. And as we see it, Belal is now right at the contending spot. So are we underestimated? Do you think Sean Brady hanging in this one? He's kind of almost a two to one dog looks like. So that would be interesting to see. And the other one I'm going to play a little devil's advocate here. I know a couple weeks ago we talked about, you know, PFL, you know, winning the week because they had John Jones and Francis Stairoff in a fight that I think a lot of people, I don't think,
Starting point is 00:12:40 myself would also say that probably was very, very unlikely to happen in the future. And Francis, congratulations on the new home. It's great. But do you think when it comes around in 2024 for him to fight and it happens? I know this is a little early, a little too early, probably even to predict, but that the amendment community becomes very underwhelmed by what we get. And like I say, it might be too early, but there's a chance where he fights some of these guys. They're not the biggest names.
Starting point is 00:13:06 And it's like, well, there you go. We expected him to win by first-round knockout, and that's it. Just your thoughts, Mike. Have a great day. Thanks, man. Which, by the way, if they did do that, I would be totally okay with that. I would be totally okay with that. I'd be okay with just Francis going out there and melting somebody.
Starting point is 00:13:23 I don't think that's what they're going to do, but I would not have an issue if that's what they did. Just kind of showcase him. We see it in boxing. We sometimes see it in MMA. You throw a dude who's been out for a while. Is your big sign E? Let's get him over. Just throw them in there.
Starting point is 00:13:41 Somebody with the name, but somebody is going to be a heavy favorite over, and he goes over and just knocks him out. I just don't know who they're going to bring. Like the John Jones fight, that faceoff just was huge. It was the big moment of the weekend. So if you want to talk about like post-event buzz, then yeah, I think PFL won that weekend. But the UFC wins every weekend.
Starting point is 00:14:02 So they didn't lose probably any sleep over that because that fight's not happening, even though it could happen. if ESPN got everybody in a room and was like, hey, why don't we just do this? Like, we'll just do a three-fight card and that can be the main event. Like, we'll just do that. But I don't think the UFC's going to do that.
Starting point is 00:14:21 I definitely don't think so. But PFL's in a weird spot right now. That's for sure coming out of this past weekend and everything that happened. We're going to talk more about that on BTL today. We got Jed back on the show, which I'm pretty excited about him in New York, Rick getting after it. So the takes will be very spicy and there will be no gray area on the show at all.
Starting point is 00:14:45 So it'll be a very interesting time. It'll be a very interesting time. I have to be honest. I forgot your other question, but I'm sure I'm going to hear it. So I'm sure I'm going to remember it's just going to pop into my brain. CV, hello. Mike, good morning. Good morning. Just one quick thing for me. So we got Rockman on and. Gaston announced last night would it be ridiculous to say that if Kelvin
Starting point is 00:15:16 pulls off the upset that he'd be one win away from fighting for the World Trade Belt thanks would it be
Starting point is 00:15:27 ridiculous to say yeah kind of I don't think he'd be a win away you'd probably I mean that division is kind of
Starting point is 00:15:45 a mess right now because Leon doesn't even have his fight with Colby booked. We got Bilal. Usen's still there. We got guys on the come up, like being Gary,
Starting point is 00:15:56 Jackdell medallade. There we go. I remember. I'll talk about Jackdell medallata later later Sean Brady fight in a moment. But there's guys coming up and beating Shafka would be huge. I just don't know. Like beating Hamzat means more than beating Shafka
Starting point is 00:16:12 right now if that makes sense. Like Shafka, I think hardcore fans understand how good this dude is. And he's got future champion written all over him. And that fight with Jeff Neal was super fun. It's one of the three best fights of the year so far, in my opinion. But Chofcott's just not a star right now. Hamzot is a star.
Starting point is 00:16:33 So while Gasselm will get like the hardcore that a boy, I just don't know how much that translates into the casual audience having a need for Kelvin Gasselham to fight for the title. be a huge win. I think it's a fun fight. And to me, this is the only fight to make. I talked about this last week. This was the fight to make. Because Shafkat's not getting Bilal Mohammed right now.
Starting point is 00:16:58 Why would Bilal take that fight? It makes no sense. Especially with where this division is right now. We don't know what's going on with Connor or we don't know what's going on with Hamzat. That, if there's anybody else for him to fight, Calvin going back to 170, that was the one to make. So this is
Starting point is 00:17:14 tremendous matchmaking. I love it. It makes all the sense of the world. As far as JDM and Brady goes, yeah, JDM is getting over like Rover. That performance he had in his last fight was great. And Sean Brady's coming off that loss to Bilal Mohammed. And most people thought Brady was going to win that fight. Cosby, I feel like to me, that was the Blah Muhammad like breakout performance. That was the, all right, we got something with this guy.
Starting point is 00:17:43 This guy is going to give competitive fights to everybody in the time. top five. That was my biggest takeaway. But in a lot of people's eyes, which I found really interesting, because I even got a lot of DMs about this, eh, I guess Sean Brady wasn't as good as we thought he was. And I don't know. People were very high on Sean Brady. There are people asking BTL questions about who's going to fight for a title first. Sean Brady or Sean O'Malley. Like that's how high people were on Sean Brady. So this is a very interesting fight. This is a big one for Sean Brady because him losing two in a row. It's tough.
Starting point is 00:18:24 I like the way he handled it. Didn't have a lot of it, didn't have any excuses. Belal was the better man. He felt like getting that first L took a bit of weight off of his shoulder. So I'm curiously how freeing that was for him. He said one of the things you wanted to do is you wanted to be able to travel to different gyms. I'm not sure he's been able to do that. Usually I talk to Sean a lot during his camps.
Starting point is 00:18:45 and I haven't really spoken to him that much. Maybe I'll reach out and see what he's up to. Maybe I'll try to get some time with him before this fight. But that's a good one. This is a international fight week is not the most star-studded lineup, 290. But there's some really good fights on this one. Some just under the radar sneaky fights that people aren't even talking about. And that's one of them.
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Starting point is 00:20:00 Hi, Mike. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Okay, good. I do want to talk about, because I just pivot, just what you guys were talking about with Shafcott versus Kevin Gassel. I remember when I know I said I wanted him to fight RDA and you were like I don't really love that pick but the reason why I wanted Shafka is to build that resume the resume when you build the resume it'll bring so much fanfare for you and people won't really be able to deny that you deserve the title shop because we all because look how excited we get when we talk about certain fighters that
Starting point is 00:20:40 you look at the resume like yo he fought that that dude? Oh, my goodness. He fought this guy? So when you look at Charles Olivera, when you look at other fighters like Justin Gaichie, Dustin Porier, when we look at RDA, when we look at Kevin Gaslam, and we look at their resume, we're like, oh, my goodness, I can't believe he fought that guy. And we just thought, you know, he fought some dudes, man. And that's what, that was my whole vision about Shafka, you know. He wanted to fight Michelle Pira. You know, you know, know, fight Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, fight these guys. So once he gets to the title,
Starting point is 00:21:18 it's more deserving because you're like, yo, he fought killers. And that was my whole thing about it. And this is why I love this fight. You know, if it wasn't RDA, this is the next best thing. I didn't know Kevin Gassum was going to drop back down the Wellstway. So this is a fun fight. Kevin Gassum has the resume.
Starting point is 00:21:36 So if you beat him, he's a name, and he has, and he fought dudes. So now it just builds it up. Because, again, his resume starts with Neil Magling. Now you beat Jeff Neal. Now, if you could beat Kevin Gasolam, and then you could get, let's say you fight Kobe. Then you fight this.
Starting point is 00:21:53 Then it's like the resumes. It starts to add up and pile up. And you're like, oh, my God, Schofcott for all these dudes. You know, we go crazy about it because we're like, oh, my gosh. And it means something. Corey Sanagan, who talked to James Lynch. Corey's like, I'm not afraid. I want to fight the best of the best.
Starting point is 00:22:11 So when his career is over, you look at Corey Sanging his resume, you're like, oh my guy, he fought Omar. Oh my goodness, he fought this guy. He fought Sang Du Dong. Oh, he fought Aljima. So, like, it just, it goes a long way. And we, you know, we've debated before like with the Habib, right? Habib is undefeated. But the resume is kind of lacking when you compare it to Charles Oliver.
Starting point is 00:22:33 Like, Charles O'Hourke, the best of the best. He fought killers. So that was my whole thing about that, just so you want your thoughts about it. Because I think you kind of think the same way. And then this Saturday, decided for Benoit-Sentanyi versus Bonfram, that fight rules. I'm just really excited for this fight.
Starting point is 00:22:51 I don't know who's going to win. I mean, you know, I'm a Ben-Wa-Sentinese guy. You know, I like that dude. But we'll see because Bonfrem is no joke, especially that performance he had in Brazil. So just your thoughts about that fight, and thanks for everything you do, Mike. Thanks, man.
Starting point is 00:23:06 Yeah, it's a good fight. It's a good fight. I feel like there's a lot of recency bias with Bonfeme, and I get it. Because that performance against Terrence McKinney, that knockout was nasty. It's one of the best knockouts of the year. But I think people still have that.
Starting point is 00:23:22 It's weird because with Bonfame, it's like recency bias, but with Santini, it's like we're going back to the first fight he had in the UFC where he just took an absolute beating and the referee didn't stop the fight. Like it's very strange how people look at him. But Santini, going back to 155, getting full camps, he's looked great.
Starting point is 00:23:42 He's looked real good. So I like that fight a lot. I think one of my issues at the RDA fight is not the name. It's what comes from beating RDA. And it's cool to have a resume. But you also have to put into perspective when you look at it from a matchmaking side. What if Shofcott loses?
Starting point is 00:24:03 What do we gain from this? And if RDA beat Shofkot, we don't gain much. And as much as we love RDA, and as much as we would love to what a cool story it would be if he goes out there and, like, gets back to a title fight, RDA got his shot against the up-and-comer. He got his shot. He fought Fiziv in a main event, and Fiziv deaded him, it dominated him. So he kind of had his shot against the young buck, and Fiziv got the name on the resume. And if for some reason RDA beat Shofcott, you're just killing off a contender and you're not getting much out of it.
Starting point is 00:24:43 Now with Gasselam, he's over, like he's pretty over. And he's only 31. So I know like Gasselham in like fight years and UFC fan years seems like he's 44. He's only 31. He's coming off that fun fight with Chris Curtis. So I feel like even if Gasselm wins, I mean, look, we just had a question of someone saying, if Gasselm beat Shofcott, is he a win away from a second? title fight. And I think that's how the UFC's viewing this. I don't know if he's one win away
Starting point is 00:25:10 if he beat Shafkod, but he's right up there. He's right up there and it's a guy that they can certainly push. So I just don't think you get that same umph from RDA, if that makes sense, especially coming off of the Fiziv loss. And then I think the whole thing with Habib too was, yeah, the resume was kind of suss in some respects, but also he wasn't going out there and finishing guys like Shafkot. Like Shafat. Shafka just going out there killing dudes. And I know Jeff Deale gave him some problems, and I told
Starting point is 00:25:43 you that he would heading into that fight. But then Shafqq just goes out there and strangle them and put him out. Like, Habib wasn't doing that. Habib wasn't doing that. And I think that's why some people were questioning all of that. And, you know, even
Starting point is 00:25:59 Islam, to a certain respect, wasn't doing that either. But then he started just running off finishes. He just wasn't getting the top guys because he would get him. and then the opponent would fall out and he would take somebody else and he would just go out there and kill him. So it's just a little bit different.
Starting point is 00:26:14 I didn't hate the RDA idea. I just didn't see the UFC wanting to put that together because you want to be able to come out to the other side with something and I just didn't think you'd get that with RDA. But on top of that, RDA was, I think he was already booked to fight Luke A
Starting point is 00:26:29 on the July card or, I don't know, maybe not. Maybe not. I don't know. I just feel like Gasolens, better choice in the situation. Plus, there's so many other guys in play at the time. Law was still in play. There are other fighters in play. And of all the fighters that were in play that made sense for Shafcott, I just didn't feel like RDA was one of them. But now that
Starting point is 00:26:54 we see where this is, Gasselman's a good pick. I like it. Four Corner Sports. What's up? Hey, Mike. Good morning. So I wanted to talk about a couple of things. One is no one's talking about the co-main event. I think the co-main event rules with Grant Dawson and, what's it called, Isma Golo. I think that's a very high-level co-mean event. I don't think it's the penultimate fight that I K would call, but I just think that it's very interesting to see just because, you know, if you see, what's the quote, what's the quote, what's to go, Damir Isma's Rueu's a resume compared to Grant Dawson, it's night and day. But it's very, I'm just curious to see how Grant is going to fight.
Starting point is 00:27:39 I don't know who would you favor in this matchup, but if you look at his Naguolo's resume, he lost the Surukian. defeated Kutuzilatse, who's also fighting on this card, defeated Alvis, Yago Moises, Joel Alvarez, Alex Giorgis, if I could pronounce his name correctly. And so so far, he's 5 in the UFC. And then Grant Dawson, I mean, his fight,
Starting point is 00:28:04 I mean, he had a draw against Ricky Glenn. but I remember if memory service correctly, didn't Ricky Glenn had like a 10-8 round in like round two or round three? What was it? Just the third round. The third round, yeah. And I think that was the same round that he, what's it called?
Starting point is 00:28:20 Glenn ended like screaming after I was saying, look at him, you know, he's not getting up or something like that. I think that's how it resulted into that draw. But what was it? Dawson has wins over Madsen, Gordon, Leonardo Sancils. Nad Narami, Derek Minner, Mike Trasano, Julina Rosa, and then Adrian Diaz in the Contender Series. So I just feel like this might be a nice test to see
Starting point is 00:28:47 where is this Grant Dawson is going to be at against Izmabulov and if he could contend with the killers that happened at late way. Another fight I'm interested in is Michael Morales versus Max Griffin. partially because, you know, me and Michael, Michael Morales, what's it called, share the same ethnic background. And I'm interested to see, you know, what kind of style fight we're going to see for Morales because he hasn't been in the UFC, he hasn't fallen in the UFC in, I think, what is it, a year in some change.
Starting point is 00:29:18 So I'm interested to see him about that. And last time we saw Max Griffin, Max Griffin actually looked really good in his fight, and I think he had the knockout. And lastly is the thing that came up. on the UFC page. It was, the USC ended up putting out on this day, it was, I think, like, a day or two ago, Dustin Porre versus Dan Hooker.
Starting point is 00:29:38 To me, that's one of my favorite fights, what's it called, during the pandemic. I feel like it's easily top three most underrated fights that people don't ever talk about. I think for me, Dan Hooker hasn't been the same since, you know, the beating that he got from Dustin Porre. And I feel like if I had any of my three, you know, most underrated fights during the pandemic era.
Starting point is 00:30:04 It would be Dan Hooker, Doesn't Pori, Mason, Jones, Mike Davis, and then what's it called, Dominic Ray is Yuri for Haska. I would like to hear if you have the top three list. But that's what I have. Thanks, Mike. Yeah, that's a pretty good list right there. That's a pretty good list right there. Yeah, Poria Hooker's a great fight.
Starting point is 00:30:25 Definitely doesn't get mentioned enough. Definitely doesn't get mentioned enough. Yeah, I like the Morales-Griffin matchmaking. I mean, if you're looking at it from like a betting perspective, like we like what we see from Michael Morales, but it just seems really risky to lay minus 250 on them against the Wiley Vet and Max Griffin, who usually performs in these spots where he's overlooked
Starting point is 00:30:48 and people feel like he's just going to get run over. And that's what Max Griffin kind of has his best performances and gets a highlight reel. So, yeah, it's a good fight, it's good test for Morales. And let's see what he can do. Let's see what he can do. I know he's one of the prospects in the sport that people are very, very high on, but he is young. Sometimes you have to go in there and take that vet lesson, so to speak, and this could be it.
Starting point is 00:31:11 Or Morales just goes and runs backs over. I don't know, but I like the fight. I'm intrigued by it. The Dawson-N-Bagh fight, like on paper, should be talked about more. But I kind of understand why it's flying under the radar. There's a couple, there's questions here. one is how motivated is demurez magulov right now because demers mcgulov lost to arm and serukian and then he retired and then a few days later said well i only got one fight left in my deal
Starting point is 00:31:40 so i'm going to go ahead and fight that fight like how motivated is this guy is this just i'm going to fulfill my obligation and be done or is this you know what i'm coming back like i'm going to fight up my deal and then i'm going to get a new deal i'm going to make a run Like, if we get that guy, then I'm more intrigued in this, with this fight. I just don't know if that's what we're getting. I'm surprised as Zibulov is the favorite, if we're being honest. I know he's really good. I think his striking is better than Grant Dawson's, but not by much.
Starting point is 00:32:14 And I think Dawson on the ground is going to give his Mugulov some problems. Because if you think Arm and Sarugian is a pain in the ass down there, Grant Dawson's just as big, if not more, because he's so opportunistic. with his grappling. And if he gets, if he gets Demer in a tough spot, Demer's going to be in trouble. Like he's just going to be. So that's my question on the Demer side. My question on the Grant Dawson side is can he make the weight? Can he make the weight? Because I know for a fact that the Mark Matt's inside of the equation after that fight, they were pissed about the weightness. And the fight went on and you can't really blame
Starting point is 00:32:53 and you can't really blame anybody because you guys agreed to the fight, but they were pissed and they fell and made a huge difference in that fight. I don't think it really did, but I get where they're coming from. Dawson has to make weight. He has to.
Starting point is 00:33:07 If he doesn't, it's a problem. I don't know how that dude fought at 145. I have no friggin idea. But he's going to go in there and he's going to make weight and he's got to perform. I think people just have questions about Grant, and that's one of them. Can he make 155 or 156?
Starting point is 00:33:23 I've been high on Grant Dossett since he was like a three and oh pro. Dude hasn't. Like he's had it all along. It's just the little things, the little hurdles, can you get over them? And if he can, he's got to be a player in this division. No doubt about it. But I think that's why it's flying under the radar. There's questions on both sides.
Starting point is 00:33:46 Can Grant make the weight? And is his Mugulov super motivated to win this fight? I think that's why it's kind of sneaking under the radar. I love the fight. but I just hope we're getting a fully motivated Demers Magulov who is like, you know what? I can't retire after all. I'm going to fight on my deal and get a new one. I'm going to make a run at this division.
Starting point is 00:34:10 If we get that guy, this fight's going to be incredible. If we don't, then I think Grant Dawson's going to just smush him and tap him. Let's go to One Toro. What's up, One Toro? I don't hear anything. Try again. We'll get you back. in. Let's go to Daniel.
Starting point is 00:34:39 Daniel, good morning. Hey, Mike. I'm a good morning to you. Just wanted to talk about this main event here this week. It just feels like a matchup that surprised a lot of people being such a big jump up for a boost and a step down here for Strickland and the rankings. It just seems like the UFC are really trying to push a boost here. Just curious what you think or who you think wins this weekend
Starting point is 00:35:00 and what you think the ceiling is for a boost. Thanks, Mike. this is such a weird fight i don't like i don't know what happened like i think i'm more intrigued with the aftermath of this fight than the actual fight itself because if if maga made off goes out there just melt sean strickland in the first round which could happen like what happens how much of a push does he get how much will people care i don't know like i don't know what how big of a gain he gets from this. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:35:42 I just don't know. So I think like just kind of in the aftermath, this is more of an interesting aftermath fight than an actual fight. Maga Madoff has, this is one of those fights where if it get, if we get a finish in the first half of the fights coming from Maga Madoff,
Starting point is 00:36:01 there's no doubt about it. But obviously the longer this fight goes, it favor Sean Strickland. He's got the main event, experience, he just will chip away. He will just do Sean Strickland type things and frustrate you and wear you out. He's very good at that. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:19 I'm trying to look over under's my over three and a half. This fight's going to the championship rounds for sure, in my opinion, if it does. This scream Sean Strickland decision to me, but maybe Maga Mada lands a big shot. I don't know. I just don't know how big of a push he gets from this. And I think I'm, I'm intrigued by it. So I, it's kind of just a fencing answer. I don't really know how to answer it.
Starting point is 00:36:45 But I guess they're just going to have to wait and see. Dude's good. Just beating Dustin Stoltzvist and then getting a ranked guy who in a main event in your second UFC fight is pretty wild. We don't see a lot of leaps like this. And then on the other side, we get, you know, Iqram Alaskarraf had one fight in the UFC, beat Phil Haas, and now he's getting a main card spot with Paul Costa. At least that's what the UFC's trying to do. Again, middleweight's interesting.
Starting point is 00:37:18 They're trying to bring some players up. You got a couple. Alaskaroff won. Brennan Allen's winning fights like crazy. Roman DeLizzi is at a nice stretch as of late. Magamato could be another one. We'll see what happens. Panda, hello.
Starting point is 00:37:45 Panda. All right. Let's go to... Um, Maran. Maran, are you there? You just got on mute. Hello. Hello, Maran.
Starting point is 00:38:09 How are you? Good. You're okay? I'm okay. I can hear you good. That's good. My question was if Sean went on Saturday, who is the thing I'm going to take Sean or Whitaker?
Starting point is 00:38:23 To fight Izzy? Yeah. I would say, I mean, if Sean wins and he doesn't take a lot of, a lot of damage, he'll be in the driver's seat. But then we just have to wait and see what happens the following week. Now, if Robert Whitaker just goes out and steam rolls, trick is duplice, and takes no damage and he's ready to go to turn around two months later, that I think Whitaker will get the shot. But if that fight ends up being more of a war, then a lot of people think it could be,
Starting point is 00:39:00 Strickland could get the shot. So I think Strickland is definitely in play here. will he be the guy? We have to wait and see. But if he wins, he's in the driver's seat. There's no doubt about it. You got to get somebody in there with Izzy. And it seems like he would be the front runner.
Starting point is 00:39:18 And they just have to wait and see. Now, if DDP just goes out there and melts Robb Whitaker, I don't think a lot of people are given much of a chance or credence to that idea. But if he does, he'll be the first choice. There's no doubt about it. I would say Whitaker is the second choice. and if those two just beat the shit out of each other for 15 minutes and neither of them can turn around,
Starting point is 00:39:37 then I think they're okay with Sean Strickland getting the shot. Just more for the build. More for the build. But if Strickland loses this fight Saturday, he's out of the... It's probably out of the mix for the foreseeable future. One tour, do we have you? Yes, sir, yes, sir.
Starting point is 00:39:57 How are you, Mike? Good, how are you? Okay, so my question was, how do you feel about aliasoporia and what do you see his career projecting in the near future and what do you think should be next for him as far as title shot or his next opponent and my second question is how do you think a pfl ufc crossover would work if it were to work and if dana was actually open for it to working between francis and ghanu
Starting point is 00:40:26 and john jones thank you have wonderful day I mean, it would benefit everybody, honestly, if they just did that fight. Like, just do that fight. Now, I could see PFL just being like, oh, no, we need to be mentioned in every single situation. We're the number two promotion, damn it. Give us our shine. While the UFC is going to be like, no, it's our production. Like, we're doing it.
Starting point is 00:40:54 We'll mention PFL. We'll call Francis Ganoe a PFL fighter. But this isn't going to be in the smart cage. And I think PFL, honestly, I think, PFL would be like, no, no, no, no, this is happening in the smart cage or it's not happening at all. And the UFC will be like, eh, okay, it's just not going to happen. It would just be one of those things where it's a UFC card. PFL would get a little rub.
Starting point is 00:41:15 I don't think we'd see a lot of crossover because why would you? I mean, like if you did like, like, Jones versus Engano and then you just paired off all the champions, like the UFC would kill the PFL. Like this wouldn't even be, like this would not be competitive at all. so this would be a UFC card pfl would get a little tiny rub it might even just be the one fight if they were to do it
Starting point is 00:41:46 but this would be a full on UFC production UFC so-and-so Jones versus Inganu under the UFC banner pfl would get some mentions and get a little piece of the pie and that's it that that's how it would work I just don't think it's going to happen I just don't think it's going to happen
Starting point is 00:42:04 And it's not going to happen unless ESPN comes forward and says, this is what we want. Let's get in a room and try to figure this out. And I just don't see that happening. They don't need, like, we all want to see it. And it makes sense to do it. But the UFC doesn't need to do it. They don't need to. They're making so much money.
Starting point is 00:42:23 They don't need to do this. So there's no upside, really, to the UFC outside of just some extra paper. It would be a huge fight. but the UFC's going to have tremendous upside whether the fight happens or not. So just don't see it happening. Iliate Seporia is going to be a star in the sport. The UFC needs to go to Spain. He needs to go and it be the main event.
Starting point is 00:42:46 I don't think it's going to happen by the next time he fights. His next fight's a title shot. Next fight title shot. I know everyone's saying, oh, no, no, no, he's got to fight Max Holloway first. No, he doesn't. He does not need to fight Max Holloway first. The only way I would accept and be okay and pumped for a Max Holloway fight is in two different, two different roads we could take. One, if Volkanowski beat Jayair, and this is all the same, if Volk just kills Jaya Rodriguez next Saturday, which I don't think is going to happen, and then gets the Mokachev fight, you do, you pull Max from the zombie fight, and you do Ilya versus Mazzani,
Starting point is 00:43:31 Max interim title fight. Then I would be like somewhat okay with it, still not totally okay with it. The only other time I'd want to see that fight is if Ilya becomes the undisputed UFC featherweight champion and he defends the title against Max. Other than that, I have no interest in the fight. I mean, it's a cool matchup, but I want to see I fight for the belt. I want to see him fight for the title. I want to see him fight out, Jinder Volkanowski.
Starting point is 00:43:58 This is what Volk has wanted for a couple of years since winning the title. We need people to emerge as contenders. And guess what? You got one in Yair because they did an interim title fight. And now you have another one. And one that's a very interesting matchup and one that people are going to give a shit about because Ilya got over on Saturday and continues to do so. And he's going to be a star.
Starting point is 00:44:21 This guy is going, could be a star for your company. And he's going to be around for a while at a super high level. So if Volk beat Jayair, I don't want the Islam fight, let Islam fight Olavera or whoever, fight lightweights, win two or three more, Volk win two or three more. If you both are successful, sometime in 2024, maybe the end of the year, sure, we can run it back. There is no need to run this fight back right now. Volk wants contenders, he's got one. He beat Jayair, go fight Ilya. that fight rules i want to see it i think ilia is that good give the man a title shot and i'm with ilia
Starting point is 00:45:05 i'm with that dude don't fight anybody unless it's a title fight sit and wait go right ahead dude's living life right now he is living the dream he's making money outside of the octagon he's going to have a ton of sponsors coming his way dude's going to be just fine sitting on the sidelines. I think Volk and Yahir are going to have a war. I cannot wait for that fight next Saturday. I'm picking Volk to win, but I don't think it's a fight where Volk's going to be like, I'm coming back to in three months. I don't think it happens. I think we see Volk end of the year. Give me Volt, Iliate Soporia for the title at the end of the year. Let's do it. That's what I want to see. Panda, hello.
Starting point is 00:45:56 My man, Mike. How are you? Good, how are you? wouldn't be a heck of a morning without the technical difficulties, but I'll be quick. I want to address the elephant in the room real quick with tough. Like, are we ever going to get this fight, Mike? Is McGregor Chandler ever going to happen? Or are we going to get some type of matchmaking there? Number two, I'm going to take you to this card, of course,
Starting point is 00:46:15 and ask you about a fight. Maybe we haven't talked about yet. The Battle of the Oves, as Jed Mishu mentioned on No Bet's Bard. Blageney Ivanov versus Alexander Romanov. What a fall from the heavens for Alexander. Does he get cut if he loses this fight, Mike? Thank you for having me. Does he get cut?
Starting point is 00:46:39 I would say no, but I think it's going to kind of depend on what dude shows up. And I think it all starts tomorrow when he steps on that scale because he looked rough. He looked really. rough before that last fight. He looked not in shape. It looked like he just kind of showed up for a payday.
Starting point is 00:47:06 But the fight before that, like before the Chase Sherman fight or whatever, and even the fight with Marching Tauboric, dude looked shredded. He lost some weight. He looked in great shape. And he got Salt Lake Cityed in that fight. I still think that fight should have been a draw. But then he bounced back and that was a terrible.
Starting point is 00:47:29 He just didn't look good. So I'm curious to see what he looks like on the scale. Is he in better shape? Is he still a little soft like he looked in the last fight? I don't know. If that's the case, this is not going to be a good night for him. But maybe we get the ripped up Ramonoff, who's just chucking dudes around and getting quick finishes.
Starting point is 00:47:52 That is going to be a heavy, that is a heavy weight, heavyweighty heavyweight fight if there ever was one. and we'll see what happens. And as far as McGregor and Chandler goes, I'm going to just kind of stick on the same place that I have been for a while. I feel like there is a date in play. I feel like both guys are aware of a fight being in play. I don't know if it's Seenield delivered,
Starting point is 00:48:20 but I think they have a date in mind. I do feel like it's going to be, whether it is Sealed or delivered or not, by the end of this season, think they're going to announce the fight. So I'm cautiously optimistic that it happens. Will it happen before the end of the year? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:48:38 Will they just be like, fuck it. Let's just wait till UFC 300. Sure. But ultimately, I do think somehow, some way this fight does get put together and it does happen. And maybe that's just the positivity in me. But as of right now, I still feel like, yes, we'll see it. It's just a matter of when. Eric, hello.
Starting point is 00:49:02 What's up, ma'am? I'm excited for the Boganovsky and the Iyer fight through. And I agree with you. Deporia needs to fight for the title. He doesn't need to fight Max. I agree. Totally agree with you. DePoya is going to be the next champion.
Starting point is 00:49:15 Thanks. Yeah, and this is my issue with the Arnold Allen fight. I said as soon as we confirm the hallway on the Allen fight, I was like, on paper, the fight's going to be fun and great. Yay. Like, two high-level guys fight fist. fighting each other. Like, I'm in. But when we add stakes and what it means, I just don't want Max to be the contender killer. And I'm not saying like I would pick Max to beat Iliate to
Starting point is 00:49:43 Poria, but there would be pot, like some, some pause there. And when you have a guy like Ilya who could be a star and acts as such, I just feel like you just got to, you just got to give it to them. Just give it to him. And we just don't know like how long. we're going to have Volk for. We just don't know at this point. Because Volk ain't a spring chicken. How old is he? Let me just pull it up real quick.
Starting point is 00:50:17 He's just, I mean, he's in his, is he 35? 34. He'll be 35 in September. Dude's making money. He's got a family. He's got all these other things outside of fighting. I don't think he wants to fight until he's 40. I don't.
Starting point is 00:50:36 I think there's a. I think there's probably an end game for him at some point. He's the best fucking fighter in the world. He gave Islam Makachev a hell of the fight. I think winning that second belt means something to him. And I think if he fought Makachev one more time, I think he would kind of look at being like, look, I've made a lot of good money.
Starting point is 00:50:56 And I think the fact that he wants to be active is part of the competitive nature. But I think the other part of it is, dude, I'm going to be 35 in a couple of months. like the shelf life in this sport is not long and I don't want to be one of those guys that's just clinging on at the end when I'm not the same dude anymore. So I think he's just trying to stockpile those paychecks
Starting point is 00:51:23 fight as often as he can and then when he leaves, he sets himself up nice and he can live the retired life with lots of money and his family and his cooking shows and dude's going to be a success anywhere. Whatever he decides to do,
Starting point is 00:51:38 he's going to be a success. I just don't know how long we have Volk. I don't know how long we have him. Two years, three tops, I would guess. And this is just my opinion. Just because I know how much his family means to him and how much his other things that he's doing means to him. And if we don't get, if we live in a world where I don't get to see
Starting point is 00:52:03 Volcanowski versus Ilya, I think I would be very, very sad about that. But so just give Tupori the frigging title fight. Let's go. 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.
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Starting point is 00:53:05 corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.C.A. Let's go to Chee-dozy. Hopefully I got that right. What's that, man? That image is sick. I love the poetry and the gear.
Starting point is 00:53:30 And we even go, what's that? Is that Fiji water? I mean, this is a plus stuff. Yeah. I designed it, though. Very nice. I'm from Nigeria. I'm speaking from Nigeria.
Starting point is 00:53:44 That's awesome, man. What's on your mind? What do you have to say about the ongoing face-off going between John Jones and Francis and Gano? I mean, look, I think it's the fight we all want to see, but I think we're all sort of in a position where we just have to live in a world where it ain't going to happen. I just don't know if you're going to get everybody on board to co-promote that fight. UFC doesn't need to do it. so I ultimately just not going to happen it's just not going to happen
Starting point is 00:54:22 stinks to say it it was all right there it's all right there it's been there for two years it was there for two years before francis left and they couldn't get it done it's a bummer it's a bummer let's go to the octagon obsessed what's up octagon obsessed how are you hey i'm great mike can you hear me yes sir hey um so this is somewhat random um but a couple weeks ago, you had mentioned that one of your favorite fights of all time was Robbie Lawler versus Carlos Condit, and you had mentioned that you thought Carlos Condit won the fight. I watched that fight live, and I didn't remember it being, I remembered it being close, and I didn't remember thinking, oh, it was a robbery, or I thought Carlos Condit won. I rewatched the fight last night, and I think it's easier to argue that Carlos Condit won four out of the five rounds.
Starting point is 00:55:21 then it is to argue that Robbie Lawler won three. You know, I just wanted to let you know, I agree with you. I think Carlos Condit was robbed of being a UFC welterweight champion. And, you know, I really can't think of another title fight that I disagree with the decision more after we watching the fight again. That's all I have. Thanks, Mike. Yep. We were talking earlier about underappreciated fights.
Starting point is 00:55:50 that that is number one with the bullet that fight is number one with a bullet because and the main reason is everyone puts the loller roy macdonald fight on this pedestal as if it's the greatest fight of all time i honestly think the conda fights better i think it's a better fight i think there's that obviously that moment they started to go to war like later on into the fight and they had that cool ass face off all banged up after the fourth round before Robbie got him out of there in the fifth like
Starting point is 00:56:24 it's a good fight but it starts kind of slow and then it builds up but like Lawler Condit is just high level shit from start to finish and Lawler that fifth round is just unfrigan believable. That's like
Starting point is 00:56:41 that's my favorite fight and probably the best round ever that fifth round. I highly implore you. I know there's a lot of like newer fans. Someone asked earlier like, you know, I'm kind of a casual fan. How do I become less of that? You need to go back and watch some of these old classics and you need to watch that fight. That is high level MMA with the stakes as high as they can be. Robbie Lawler thinking he's down at worst. It's in his mind. It's two, two. He needs to just let everything go and he comes out like a crazy person, but Condit returns. And, and he comes out like a crazy person.
Starting point is 00:57:15 but Condit returns. And both fighters were never the same after that fight. Both fighters were never the same after that one. Like Robbie Lawler still performed in the Condit fight after the Rory fight, but both guys are never the same after that one. And the fact that we can't call Carlos Condit a one-time undisputed UFC champion, Especially after rewatching that fight a million times.
Starting point is 00:57:47 It just hurts my soul. It hurts my feelings a little bit because Carlos Condit should have won the title that night in one of the best fights I've ever seen. But yes, that is an underappreciated classic. Good for you for going back and watch it. I did see your thread. And you're right. You can make a better case that Carlos Condit won four rounds than Robbie winning three, 100%.
Starting point is 00:58:09 What a fucking fight. That deserves me in the Hall of Fame too. Let's go to Terrence. Perhaps. The wheel of doom is spinning, though. The connecting wheel of doom. I'm not getting you, Terrence. Not getting you.
Starting point is 00:58:45 I'm looking at the comments right now. Who is this frog? There's this frog account that just like keeps putting out graphics that nobody likes. It's no attention, but okay. Better times with Demir's levels above Dawson's striking. He couldn't move out of the way of Jared Gordon's left hook, not biased. The man is really good. He should have never been under argument for Kenny.
Starting point is 00:59:12 Dawson is not Surukian. He will not be able to handle Demer's same. Look, I could be wrong, man, but look, like I said, I think Demir is a better striker. I think Dawson's striking is getting better. And I've been watching Dawson fight his entire career. This dude is a suffocating son of a bitch. and he's more opportunistic with this grappling than Armin is. And I think everyone at this point knows how high I am on Armand Surukin.
Starting point is 00:59:43 Parley, I may. Volk versus Ortega's fight of the year 2021 for sure. That's a great point for the pandemic-era fights. That was a good one, especially when Ortega had him in trouble. Terrence, do we have you? Yep. Hey, I don't know what happened last time. I appreciate you bring me back in.
Starting point is 01:00:03 Oh, good. So I was calling I always like to talk about women fights because a lot of people talk about it and seeing Sean O'Malley's take on like oh there should be a separate league and stuff like that which I think
Starting point is 01:00:17 is stupid. I was calling more or less about the 145 division. I know everybody thinks it's that and I know it's a high take but I don't think it's that I would prefer if they got rid of it to make a 105 division. I've been saying that forever. however they put it back up and I think what's going to happen is if Holly wins they're going to have her go back to the beginning of division and have her either
Starting point is 01:00:44 fight GDR in her return are if Misha wins her next fight they'll get their rematch so I think Holly next fight if she wins would be a part two for the 145 belt and then Pennington will fight whomever is at 135 and that 145 will kind of become like a BMS type division for the women's division. That's my thoughts. And also, I want to hear your thoughts on that. And your thoughts on Sean saying that about the women's divisions. That's it.
Starting point is 01:01:16 Yeah, Sean just says not intelligent things a lot, and that's kind of one of them. I would like to see them. I'm not saying separate leagues. What I'm saying is, like, they should do a card once a year where it's just an all-women's card. I would like to... I think that would be pretty cool.
Starting point is 01:01:35 I think that'd be a pretty cool thing. Doesn't have to be like a 14-fight card. Do like a 7-8-fight card. It just do all-women. Like, that'd be more intriguing than some of the Apex Fight Night garbage we get. Just do something different. Like, have some fun.
Starting point is 01:01:51 Shine a light on them. And it doesn't have to... Like, we don't have to do three title fights. You know, throw one title fight up there. But then just do, like, names you're trying to build like fun fighters like do that
Starting point is 01:02:04 like I don't you don't need to do the separate league thing is stupid but it would be cool if like once a year they did that and I know they were thinking about doing that like that San Antonio card there were talks about doing it all women's card
Starting point is 01:02:19 there were talks about that it didn't end up happening but there were talks about doing that and I would like to see the UFC do that I think that'd be a pretty cool thing. We just do something interesting and fun, and we shine a light on women's MMA in a different way. Wouldn't do it like multiple times,
Starting point is 01:02:39 but once a year, they could be pretty damn cool. Dude, featherweight's done. I'm sorry. Like, it's just done. It's, what I'm saying,
Starting point is 01:02:50 it's just done. You have, like, you have, you don't even have a Bannemweight division right now. You barely have a Bannemweight division. And we have like four fighters that could fight at 1,44. It's just we don't need it.
Starting point is 01:03:04 What they should do, and this is what I've been advocating for a while, let's just do like a women's, you can call whatever you want, but let's do like a women's heavyweight division. 135, like 135 to 146. Just do like one division. They could fight however they want, and it could just be like one title. They can all fight at 146 if they want.
Starting point is 01:03:26 Let's just do like a women's heavyweight division. Then we can mix them all up and do it that way. But there's just no... Why do... Like, I know Holly Holm, they want to give her a title fight, and if she wins her next fight, they could just give her one anyway. So I just think it's done.
Starting point is 01:03:43 And I know we're getting a featherway fight Saturday, but wasn't supposed to be that way. Carol Host has taken the fight on short notice, so they're making it 1.45. I think Chelsea Chandler, Norma Dumont is going to be a 45 fight as well, but I think that's going to be the last one, unless it's like a situation like we're getting on Saturday where...
Starting point is 01:04:01 Fighter comes in and takes a fight on like a couple weeks' notice, and they just agree to do it at the higher weight, which I don't mind. But yeah, I just think this division's kind of cooked, man. Wow. So we have A.K. Lee at M.A. fighting, and now we're going to bring in R.K. Lee. R.K. Are you there? Hi, Mike. I'm from India. How are you?
Starting point is 01:04:35 Yeah, yeah. What do you think about Colby Covington title set by? he is deserving or not? I mean, look, I think at this point in 2023, we strike the word deserves from our vocabulary. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Because think about where we were three months ago.
Starting point is 01:05:04 Leon Edwards, fighting Kamar Usman, Colby just pops up out of nowhere after a year away. Ways in. everyone goes crazy starts doing the media rounds after Dana declares him next in line what was our response to that wait a minute
Starting point is 01:05:27 we're really going to make this fight when Jorge Mazadol is about to fight Gilbert Burns we could do Leon versus Jorge like we're going to give Mazadol the title shot if he beat Gilbert Burns we're going to give it to Mazadol who Colby beat in a one-sided fashion
Starting point is 01:05:45 this division is just kind of weird this is why like I'm glad we have the Shafkots this is why I'm glad we have guys like Bilal coming up and some of these other dude Jack Delam Adelina like this division is going to look way different in like two years but we need some time to build it
Starting point is 01:06:08 Ian Gary's another one and the list goes on and on but right now I think Colby makes sense like I think it just makes sense with where this division is right now. They are, like, they're already there. So when I say it makes sense, we're living in a world where
Starting point is 01:06:24 Dana's already said, Colby's next, this is the world, this is the fight we're getting. Nothing else is going to happen. This is the one. So, Colby's going to get a shot.
Starting point is 01:06:37 The way it looks right now, Balal is in a much better spot than I thought he was with Hamzop, maybe going up to 185, which is kind of what I hope to see. excuse me and I think the more this Connor
Starting point is 01:06:50 Chandler fight gets delayed the better it is for Bilal too so I think we're going to get a little more of a at least in most people's eyes like a meritocratic solution to this division
Starting point is 01:07:03 but if Colby wins the belt he could just take this in a whole different direction you can hate Colby all you want you can love Colby all you want you can shit on his fighting style you could shit on the gimmick.
Starting point is 01:07:20 But one thing Colby is very good at is he is a very good prize fighter. He's a very good prize fighter, taking the biggest names with the least amount of, with like the biggest names, biggest reward with the least amount of risk. Colby is exceptional at that, which is why people have a hard time with him getting a title shot. But he's a great prize fighter.
Starting point is 01:07:43 The guy gets it in that aspect, whether he deserves it or not. I'll take a couple more comments. I'm going to get out of here. here. 47.8s. I believe most people in fighters don't give Hamzaa Chamaif enough credit in his fights and the man has been gone for a,
Starting point is 01:08:01 and the man has been gone for a hot man and people should really pay attention to that. Hamzot's an animal, man. I don't know if anyone's not giving him enough credit. I think people just want to see the man fight. I think most people have touted Hamzad as a future champion if he can actually get in there and fight. But this is a dude that's fighting all the time, and now it's like once a year.
Starting point is 01:08:25 It's not what we were hoping for. But I don't think anyone's question the man's skills. And then, yeah, yeah. Why are they disrespecting my man Shafka with this Calvin matchup? You think this is a good matchup or should he have gotten a better one that leads to a title fight? I talked about this earlier. This is the fight to make. This is the fight to make.
Starting point is 01:08:47 Makes sense. He's not going to fight. The only fight that would make any sense is Balal or Usman. Usman would be the one, but Usman's not going to fight Shafkat. He's not going to do it. everyone see shopcott versus hamzad that fight ain't going to happen anytime soon well all's not going to take that fight right now because why the hell would he shopcott has to fight backwards and the best name he can get and i think the most interesting
Starting point is 01:09:20 stylistic matchup of the guys who are behind him right now that's available is kelvin gastolin so i think it makes tons of sense i like the matchup i think this is i think Calvin deserves a lot of credit for being like, all right, you want to welcome me? Back to Walter Waite? Here I am. And now it's going to happen. So cool. I like it. All right, we are done. Thank you very much. Appreciate you. We back tomorrow morning. We'll do it again. 10 a.m. Eastern. It'll be on the eve of UFC Vegas 76. Wayans are, I don't know if they'll be going on at the time but they might be and if they are we'll we'll keep you posted last friday show was insane because we got the rosnamu yunus men infioro news that we confirmed basically live on the show
Starting point is 01:10:19 and that kind of sent things into a tailspin so you never know what's going to happen on the friday show plus it's a free-for-all friday we can talk about anything mMA and beyond and don't forget btl 1230 p.m eastern time new york rick versus jed we're going to talk about it's an eclectic group of topics the good the weird the ugly and fights coming up this weekend so thank you all very much have a great rest of your Thursday and as always have a heck of a morning everybody the vox media podcast network

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