MMA Fighting - HOAM | Sean Strickland's Chances vs. Israel Adesanya At UFC 293, UFC Paris Fallout

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

Sean Strickland is a massive underdog heading into his first UFC title fight this Saturday against Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 293 in Sydney, but are there paths to victory for the brash challenger despite the lopsided betting odds? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck takes listener questions about Strickland's chances against Adesanya, what he may need to do to pull off the big upset, and what the division looks like if that happens. Additionally, listener questions include Adesanya's place in the middleweight GOAT discussion, Manel Kape returning on Saturday and what a win would do for his title hopes, Tai Tuivasa looking to get back on track against Alexander Volkov, CM Punk being fired by AEW, what Ciryl Gane's win in the main event of UFC Paris did for his title hopes, the next move for Benoit Saint-Denis following his incredible showing against Thiago Moises, 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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podcasting network. Hello, my friends. I am Mike Peck. I hope everyone had a great weekend. If you're in the States, hope you had a great long weekend. We are on the heels of a very fun UFC Paris event.

Cyril gone. One-way traffic in the main event against Sergei Spivak. Got it done. Bounced back. Second round. T.K.O. finish. Rosnami Yunus came up

short in her debut in the UFC's flyweight division. Competitive fight against Manon Fioro. Fioro gets a unanimous decision. Rose has had a lot to say about that. Suffered a pretty nasty hand injury. She says a dislocated finger. There's a gnarly looking photo that was shared on social media. A big win for Manon Fioro.

Rose says she's got to stick her out on 125, so we'll see what happens there. Benoit Santinie put everybody on notice at 155 pounds. What a performance against Tiago Moises. And the crowd was on fire. It's a hell of a hell of a watch when you get the crowd ambiance and everything going on. It was a good time. An early day MMA is tremendous MMA.

But the UFC stays international. They are in Sydney, Australia, UFC 293 coming up on Saturday. not the best pay-per-view offering the UFC has given us, but a lot of it has to do with fights falling apart. We still have the title fight, Israel Adasanya versus Sean Strickland. I have a feeling things are going to ramp up over the next few days with Media Day coming up and the press conference and everything going on with those two guys, things are going to ramp up quite a bit.

Taito Ivasa in the co-made events, which I'm sure, is going to make everybody very, very happy, taking on Alexander Volkov. I mean, Al-Copp finally gets to fight, knocking on wood, taking on newcomer Felipe Dos Santos, Justin Tava, Austin Lane, Tyson-Pagerr versus the Pleasure Man. That is your main card. There's a couple of bangers on the prelims. Carlos Ulberg, Daun Jung should be a lot of fun. I love the Jack Jenkins' Chepe Mariscall fight.

That's going to be insane. Jamie Malarkey, John McDessie. is a fun one. There's some weird ones on here as well. We got Kiefer Crosby making his. UFC debut. Blood Diamond is back. It's not an $85 card,

but I think if you watch it, and I think the fans will be into it, could end up being a fun watch. It somehow, some way. Sean Strickland ends the night winning the Middle A championship. Holy freaking smokes. But there's a lot going on.

We got Jorge Mazel's promotion coming up on Friday, Gamebred Bear Knuckle going down in Jacksonville. It's a pretty good car. We got JDS versus Fabrice Over Doom in the main event. We got Maki Pitolo fighting Joel Bauman on the card as well. I think that's the co-main event. Brandon Jenkins, Anthony and Jokwani, and other notable names, Irwin Rivera,

Brandon Davis on the card as well. So that should be a fun watch on Friday. but let's turn it over to you guys let's get after this and let's see what's on your mind uh eric kick us off let's go oh yeah what's up man uh yeah i think i think i think i'm trying are gonna put on a war but i can see Israel and a sania was training i don't see

chan shikling the team i don't see kind of shikling did in that boat but not yet but i think you will get the bug one day so thanks guys Yeah, it's going to be an interesting fight. I'm very curious to see how Sean Strickland is going to approach this fight. Because his team, I've talked to Eric Dixig, a million times about crafting game plans for Sean Strickland. And one of his favorite stories to tell me, even though it was a bad result for the team, was the game plan they had for the Alex Pereira fight. which was to wrestle, but Sean Strickland was like,

nah, I'm just going to try to punch this dude in the face over and over again. And despite the team yelling at him, like, no, no, no, what are you doing? He went out at his shield and Sean still says to this day that he wouldn't do it any differently. So I'm curious, is he going to do, is he? Is he just going to go after, is he? Because I think that's honestly his best chance to win is just to get in his face and just throw as much as possible and not give Izzy any space. But that is so much easier said than done

with a guy like Israel out of Sadi. So I don't know. I feel like Izzy should kind of cruise in this one. He might get Strickland out of there if Strickland gets a little cray-crae. But to say like there's no path to victory for Sean Strickland, I don't think is true. But he's going to have to pitch a perfect game.

He's going to have to just get in Izzy's face and just throw a million punches over. and over and over again, but even that might not be enough. But if he doesn't go out and do that, if he doesn't have 25 minutes of that in him, then it could be a rough night for him. But what a world it could be. This is MMA and anything can happen. So we've seen weird things happen all year long. Chase, hello. Hey, what's up, Mike? Just wanted to see if you had any thoughts on the Contender Series card tonight. The main event looks pretty solid. Bruno Lopez's big favorite. He's got a win over

Robocop on the regional scene. I just wanted to see if you had any thoughts on tonight's Contender Series card. Yeah, Bruno Lopez is super good. He's probably one of the best overall fighters competing

in this entire season. So I'm looking forward to him going out there and doing work. I do like, I can never pronounce his name right. Sir Hai Sadai, I'd probably butcher that, but he's, he's really fun. I enjoy watching him fight, and they can obviously use some, some extra Canadian fighters

on the roster. Yeah, I mean, those are the two I'm really watching, but we'll see how this all goes down. There's some good records on here, but the top two fights are really what I'm looking forward to. Lopez and Sadai are two, two of the fight. that I've had my eye on pretty much all seasons. So they get their opportunity and see if they can deliver on the big stage. It should be a good watch tonight. And we'll see how the contracts are dulled out.

Ebzolia. Yeah, so just two things I want to say. Firstly, looking for this great USC 293 card this Saturday. It's in my country, Australia. I just want to discuss briefly about the three main fights I'm really into. Tychoie Vaso Volkov, Manel Capé, versus the unranked ponies facing in Ardistan Strickland. So, like, I think a lot of people,

I'll start with Artisan, I think a lot of people are underestiming Sean Strickland because based off, you know, the very few fights they've seen of him, they don't realize how fundamentally amazing he is. He actually has the most crucial and basic understanding of the fight game down to the core. He understands how to box.

he understands how to perform jih Tutsu. He's got great fundamental defense. And he's also worked on some of his flaws, such as covering and, you know, protecting his chin, head movement, etc., etc. And I think based on the last three performance, you know, through back-to-back masterclass, again, Imavov and Abuse,

I think Sean is going to mix it up with a lot of aggression. He's definitely going to do his usual slow-stand pace, and he's also probably going to, you know, take Ardice, to the ground challenge him because I mean if if there's anything Sean does he likes to go and stand the bank. Arasania, I can see him putting on as a master class. I could even see him going for submission because he's mentioned that and we know he's

been working on his wrestling and jihitsu much more over the last three to four years since he's become a champion. So I'm curiously where they will go with that. As for Volkov and Tai Taitwivasa, yes, Taitwifasa has come off two major losses. obviously to contenders, mind you. But I think what people overlook is Ty's not just a punches guy. He actually has very underrated leg kicks.

He's good in the clinch. He's definitely got solid understanding of how to box around his opponents. And he needs to work on that momentum to keep Volkov down at the cage so he doesn't lose balance. But Volkov's got some upsides and I believe, you know, he could win on Saturday.

We'll see what happens. Manet or Capé, I don't have. much to say but hopefully if he gets this win he should be able to right for the serve fight up Brandon Barano maybe the winner of Tim Elliott and Mukai of next month

I'm curious on that and the second thing I just want to say is it was a convoy I did mention last Friday about superstars in the UFC I don't want to drag on any longer but all I'll say is I reckon the stars that the UFC are going to build up in the

future I would like to equally see the fighters themselves, mark themselves to the extreme, and the UFC, where those guys can become, not just stars in UFC, but they could possibly become mega stars that other sport fans know about.

You know, because we saw that they made the mistake with Francis and Garnan and, you know, other athletes, but that's all I have to say. Have a good day. Thanks. Thanks, man. Yeah, I mean, Izzy should win pretty easily on Saturday, but again, Sean just has to be perfect.

Dude's got to be perfect and he's got to be violent. But again, my whole thing with Strickland is he is part of a great team that's going to craft a great game plan, which is not an easy thing to do when you're fighting a guy like Israel out of Sadia. So will he stick to that or will he get emotional in there and just be like, F you, let's fight? And if he does that, probably not a good thing. but we'll see what happens there. I don't like Ty's chances against Volkov. Could he land a big shot and knock Volkov out?

Sure. It's very, very, very possible. It's got the home crowd behind him. But that's one of those fights where the longer it goes, the more it favors Volkov. It's just, can Thai land the big shot or can Volkov, as Jose Young's like to put it, win by death by a thousand lunchboxes.

You know what I mean? and Volkov could just take Ty down too. So, yeah, I don't love that fight for Ty, but at this point in his career, trying to build him up to where he was before, like these are the fights you're just going to have to take. He's already had, like, the fun fights. I already fought Cyril.

I already fought Derek Lewis. It's kind of in a weird place, but Ty's super fun. And Min El Cop, this is, it's got to be a showcase fight for him. taken on a promotional newcomer. But I think for him it's just getting reps because

dudes had some real bad luck as of late. And then the start thing. The last thing I'll say about this, because I talked about it a lot on Friday, is if you're a fighter in the UFC and you're waiting for the promotion to put the promotional push behind you, you're not doing it right.

You got to do it on your own. You got to do it by yourself. and if you can do it by yourself and the promotion notices it, yeah, they'll help. But you got to do it on your own. For sure. Trista, what's up, man? Hey, Mike, can you hear me?

Yep. Hey, I want to talk about Benoit Sentini's. Ben Monson, he looked great, he looked amazing. But Luke Thomas did point something out that he did get clipped a couple of times. You know, never usually questioned about, sent in his durability and that's going to get him far. When we talk about championship from the title, that's one concern about it. Like, as he started fighting tougher fighters, you know, that has power and I could actually

hurt him. You mean, your durability could go at some point. It's going to go at some point. The only person that's anomaly is a max hallway, which is insane. He has a granite chin, and his durability has been always pretty good. I mean, well, pretty much great. Luke, just being champion It's going to be tough if you're not

tightening those gaps, putting your hands up, you know, making sure... I mean, he moved a couple of times here and there, but he did get clipped. So, I mean, with Sentonis, I think he's tough. I think he's great. I think he's going to go far, but I do question about him getting hit, and he has to tighten up those gaps real quick. Because I think also, too, during the fight,

they were saying, I think his corner was telling him, like, don't brawl. Don't brawl in there, you know, take your time, be a little bit patient, but sometimes he can't even help himself. He wants to go crazy, especially at his hometown. So, I mean, we'll see. We'll see what's going on with him. And listening to, I know, I kind of disagree with the pick that you chose with Matt Prophola. I think his heart and his mind is set on Patty Pitman. He wants that fight.

And the worst way, did watch an interview with him with John Anakin, um, Kenny Florian. And, you know, he said he would love to have Patty Pimlet at MSG. I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think Patty Poon is not going to fight until next year. So I don't know. I mean, it's not impossible for Santonis to fight him at MSG. So that is a kind of quick turnaround in November.

So I just don't know if it's going to happen. I really think he has his heart set on Patty Pimlet. And if there's any inkling that – and I think you wrote up an article where Patty Pimlet is opening – is open to the – fight a Matt Vervola at some point. But, I mean, if they return to London next year, I mean, I see that fight most likely happening where you had Patty Pimbley versus Matt Favola. Because, you know, Vovola really wants to be the one to be the first one to beat him

and knock him out. And, you know, like you said, you respect him. And, you know, he knows this is a tough fight, but it looked like his heart is set on Patty Pimler. So that's just my thoughts. Thanks, Mike. Fighting an MSG means more to him than fighting Patty Pimble right now. 1,000%.

He wants the Patty fight. Even if he fights Benoit Sintini and loses at MSG, that fight is still there. That fight's still there. Patty wants it. Makes sense. Like, he might not be a top 15 guy if he loses to Benoit Sintini, but that fight just makes sense. Like, if Benoit can turn around because, I mean, he got hit a couple of times, but it's not like he took a ton of damage in that fight. He took damage maybe in the final minute of the first.

first round and then he took no damage in the second. He just big brothered Tiago Moises. So, yeah, I think that's the perfect fight. And look, Benoit Santany like has people excited. And to get him over that hump to be like, and I think he's on people's radars now, but to get him over that hum to be like, oh shit, this dude is for real, for real, you got to be frequent. You got to fight on these big cards. You got to find these big moments and compete. So if that is an option and Benoit can turn around and fight,

you got to do it. You got to do it on a big stage. That's probably going to be a fight that would kick off a main card on it, just a ginormous one. I think if you could do it, you do it. And then Patty can still be there after the fact. Like it's, and look, if you're for Vola, fight Sentany now.

Fight them now. Like now's the time to fight them. Because he's only going to get better, mostly because of what you just said. I'm not as concerned about the defensive discrepancies as you are, and maybe as Luke is. They're clearly there. He does get clipped. He got clipped in the Bonfeme fight, too. But I don't think he approached, I don't think he would approach a fight with, like,

a Raphael Fiziv in the same way. I think he just didn't have any respect for Tiago Moises's power at all. and he was willing to take those shots because he just didn't have the respect for it. Now, if he fights a Fiziv or a Gagchi type or Porey or Chandler, which is far, far away, Fiziv maybe, depending on what happens

at a couple weeks, but I don't know if he's going to have that same level of, I don't give a shit in him. But yeah, I think he just had no respect for Tiago Moises's punching power at all. And he was landed everything. Tiago Moises is one of the best defensive strikers in the lightweight division, but even as good as he is defensively, there's nothing he could do. Benoit was just ragged all on him.

There's nothing he could do. Benoit was just so much bigger and more physical than he was. It was wild to watch. What a performance. But yeah, if he can turn around quick and fight for Vol at MSG, go do it. That's only going to help you. When I got a great deal on a great gift at Winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter.

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Let's go to Slip and Roll. Hey, Mike, how's it going, man? Good, are you? You're good. So, I want to stay on a topic of Adesania v. Strickland. So a lot of people are saying that, like, this fight is easy for Adisania. And I actually don't get why people are so caught up on this. that because like the guy actually beat woodaker twice bettori twice perera cannernery costa bronson

wilkinson and i do think that this guy uh deserves a couple of easy wins on his resume uh so and also i really don't think that strickland is an easy fight honestly uh so i want to actually know your opinion on like what what does a disin need to do for people to think that that he is actually the middleweight goat. I just wanted to ask you that. To be the middleweight goat. Oops, didn't mean to do that, sorry. Just got to break the title defense record.

That would help. That would help. I mean, that's really it for me, really. I mean, he's got a tremendous resume. But I think it's just honestly, it's him just breaking that record. Break the title defense record. And that's, that's certainly going to help.

That's certainly going to help. But he goes out there and he beats Strickland, which many are expecting him to do. I mean, just look at the betting odds. And then he turns around and goes out and beats DDP convincingly. And if he goes out and then beats Homsat Shamiyev after that, because apparently Shamiya is on that radar. If Shemayev beats Paul Acosta,

that's, things are going to get real interesting at 185, you run off those three wins. on top of everything else, that's certainly going to help. So, but yeah, it's about numbers, man. It's about numbers. We talk about this all the time at MMA fighting. There is nothing more difficult than rattling off a bunch of title defenses in your division, where you're just fighting the next guy up and just knocking them down.

And all these talks about who the goat is, like, I remember we're doing this with Kamar Uspin, and I'm just like, stop, stop this. He's not there yet. He's got to rattle off more defenses. The title numbers, the title defenses, the consecutive title offense, all that. All of that matters. It all matters in these goat debates. When you have your name on top of the list, that's it.

That ends most discussions to me. You know, runs off those three wins. That's certainly going to help. We'll put them there. in the number one spot? Pretty close. But again, once you eclipse that number or you at least even it, that's going to put you in a different kind of a company for me.

Max, hello. Hello, Mike. How you doing this morning? You get your Dunkin? I got my Dunkin, my man. I love to hear it. So I just got a few questions for you. So I've recently been inspired by you and Jed, you know,

talking about people, for example, Sean, you're getting a title shot off a boo. Magamadov, tune up fight kind of thing. I know this might have been out of the realm of possibility two years ago, but this is a different world than the UFC. So if Manel Cape wins on UFC 293, does the UFC say to themselves one of three things? A, we want to promote Manel.

Give him the title shots. As weird as that sounds, give him title shot. He's more marketable than Pantosia. B, do they say, okay, we like Makaya better? Give him McKay of, you know, okay, he won versus Dos Santos, whatever, give him a Makaya, or see, maybe give him a rena or some other top contender after. I'm really, I think he's in a quite intriguing place because Manel runs his mouth quite a lot, and he's quite confident himself, which makes sense.

However, I'm just curious where he would go from here if he wins. I mean, could they give him a title shot? I mean, two years ago, I would have said never, but this is a different world. My second question being, what do you think about AEW after their two most recent pay-per-view still do-do in your eyes? is Tony, you know, have more balls now after firing CM Punk or, you know, what are your thoughts on that? And yeah, that's what I got for your brother.

Thanks for taking my call. And I hope you have a lovely day and week. Cheers. Thanks, man. I watched all out yesterday. It was fine. It was good. It was exactly, is it the, is it, was it, was it a great paper review?

No, it wasn't. Was it good? Yeah. Was it exactly what they needed after the scene? on punk firing? Yes. They had to do exactly that. And you know what? John Moxley had a wrestling

match. Holy shit. Holy shit. No, it was fine. The punk thing, I think I'm going to reserve judgment because I think we are this story ain't done. I think it's far away from being done.

So there is going to be video. of that incident backstage. Like there is video of it and it's going to get released and then we can reserve judgment until then but yeah, it's just a weird situation.

Now punk, what he's going to do, I have no idea. If he ends up at WWE, that'd be incredible. What a wild turn of events has been if he ends up returning. But yeah, it was a good pay-per-view. All-in was fun.

Not watching it live, I think really gave me a full sense of what it was. Good pay-per-view, very good. And I thought, I watched the payback pay-per-view from WWE as well on Sunday. That was awesome.

The Becky Lynch-Trustratus match was fucking great. It's one of the best matches in the year. Men or women. It was awesome. Main event was great, too. Like, there was just a lot. I don't know.

but we'll see how AEW can recover. We'll see what collision looks like moving forward with Al-Punk. But yeah, there's a lot more to that story. As far as Minal-Kopp goes, of the three options, I think it's going to be option C. I don't think he'll give him a title shot. I don't think they're going to give him Mikhail. I think he's ahead of both of those guys.

Machiaf, there's no rush to get him to a guy like Minal-Cop. It all kind of depends on what Pantosia's next move is going to be. before you can kind of figure it out. Are they going to run it back with Moreno again? I kind of assume they won't right now. Are they going to do Pantosia versus Brandon Roybal? If that's the case, maybe we do Minalcop versus Amir al-Bazi, but that'll be tough because they both sort of train at the same place.

So I don't know if that fight can happen. They're both managed by the same guy. there's just a lot of the same zies going on with those guys, so maybe that fight's not possible. If they do Pantosia al-Bazi, let's do cop-broeval. Love that idea. But, yeah, I don't think McHiaf's really in the mix right now for that fight.

I think you need a couple more wins. I am really, really interested in this Mahayev, Tim Elliott fight. Really, really interested in that one. That's a good one. but we just got to get him in there. Got to get him in there and just let him get some reps him. It's been a minute since we've seen him fight. And he's fought a lot of like kind of lower level dudes,

like outside of the top 15 kinds of guys. He's just ice in all of them. So it'll be night. Like the Alex Perez fight would have been perfect. It would have been great to see what he could do. The Kai Kar-France fight would have been perfect. They could always go back to that one too. Like if they go back to,

if they go back to Australia in February, they do another February Papua in Australia. Like if they go back to Perth again like they did this year, you could rebook it for that. So I don't know, without actually knowing

what Pantosia is going to do next, it's kind of tough to see, but I think we could figure out, we'll be able to figure it on more from there and kind of put the pieces together. But as you know, M.AFighting.com, we have been very high.

I'm in Alcop. We were very excited when he signed with the UFC and now he's getting close to that title shot. So let's see if he can get there. C.V., hello. Yo, Mike, I'm going to have a great weekend. Just two quick ones from me.

First question is, is Tai Tui Vasa, the new Derek Lewis of the heavyweight division? Meaning, like, win or lose? Like, we'll still watch him. Like, he'll be, like, any fights, like, whether he's main eventing or a co-main event.

like regardless like he's just there for fun fights now um second question um carlos olberg um if he has another finish he'll be on a five fight win streak um are you high on him um like where do you see him like realistically is he like can he crack into the top ten eventually in the light heavyweight rankings um just because light heavyweight's kind of like muddy right now and uh personally i think he could be a a player eventually down the road thanks Ty too, yeah, I mean, excuse me, he is Derek Lewis-esque

for sure. I don't think he's quite where Derek is. Like, Derek is, like, Ty is beloved by a lot of people. But, and his personality is great. I just think Derek's just on a whole other level when it comes to that stuff. But Ty's, like, right there. So, tie is almost to that point where

rankings don't matter title implications don't matter it's just about watching him fight so he's very close to getting to where Derek Lewis is now but I think Derek after that went over Ruggieri de Lima and taking the pants off and all that

that dude I mean that dude he's Lewis is a star like he's at least a tier two star I'm not sure if Ty is quite there just yet but he's close he's very very close I would say.

So it's going to be a really interesting fight. I don't love his chances against Volkov, but he is he's very close to much watch TV. He's just so fun. Like he'll come out to the... I'm curiously what song he comes out to. It'll be ridiculous and all sorts of fun.

Latino Heat. Hello. Hello. Good morning. Good morning. And my question is how do you see a fight against Tank and Sean O'Malley playing out? And do you think would it be a huge event or not that big? And the end, who do you think Sean should fight next? Sean should fight Cheaterara next.

That's the fight. Nothing else makes a lot. I mean, I might say nothing else makes sense because there's a lot of fights that make sense. The Marab fight makes meritocratic sense. It is a meritocracy where things are based on ranking and what you have done to deserve things. Marab is the guy. But this is not that world.

So Cheeto's going to get the shot. How would Sean O'Malley, Jervant, Tank go in a boxing match? Tank would beat that ass, man. Like, let's not overthink this. Is it a massive fight right now? No. It's not a massive fight right now. Is it something that could build into something? Sure.

But it ain't now. Sean's got to beat Cheeto. He's got to go beat a couple more guys and just blast off into the superstar stratosphere before that can happen. But this is not like I'm not disrespecting Sean O'Malley. This is just it's we've seen this. We've seen this. We've seen it. And I don't think tanks, the kind of guy that's going to carry O'Malley.

like Floyd did with Connor. I think tanks is going to try to get them out of there real quick. So I don't love that fight for Sean. But could it be a big event? Sure. It could be. It's just not a big event right the second, if that makes sense. But yeah, it's him and Cheeto. It's the biggest fight you can make in this division.

Go ahead and do it. It'll be gigantic. And we'll see what comes out of that. And if Sean loses that fight, all bets are off with all these conversations. But if he wins, then we're just, the sky is the limit for the guy. For sure. But this next fight is so, so important for Sean O'Malley. It's gigantic.

And if he beat Cheeto Vera, oh boy, strap the rockets to him. We're off to the races. Let's see. Black Belt MMA. Go ahead. Hi, I'm my friend. I just want to say that. Israel at the sun is the great, is the god, because he win his defeat, the build maybe five or six times.

There is no champion do this. Maybe even he is winning at when he fight and Dresel Silva and he beat Paulo Costa. And there are a lot of other fighters who win. Thanks. No, he's not. He's not the middleweight goat. He's not. Anderson still is. Anderson has 10 title defenses.

And he did it consecutively. 10 in a row. Anderson's the goat. It's not Izzy. Izzy's got a chance to get there. But he's not there yet. He's just not. Like Anderson defended his title 10 times before he lost the title.

Izzy has a lot. loss during, is he got knocked up by Alex Pereira. I mean, he avenged the loss. But Anderson defended that title 10 consecutive times. And were there some snoozers in the? Yes, but he's got some snoozers too.

So he's in the, he's he can get there, but it's just, it's not, he's not there yet. He's not there yet, in my opinion. Yeah, yeah, hello. What's up, Mike? How you doing, man? I'm a good question.

for you. So in terms of the heavyweight division, I remember hearing Tom Aspinon saying that Serio was reluctant to accepting that fight after his latest win. So I guess is the next match, Aspenov, versus Pavlovich, in terms of just kind of putting

the whole fights together of who's going to challenge for the heavyweight title, whether John Jones retires or not, is that the next fight to make? And then in terms of Suriel, I know he's trying to, go after the title.

So what do you think his path is? Is it just the fight? Like it's the winner of Jones and Stipe. Appreciate you, man. No. It's definitely not the winner of that fight. Cyril just got iced by John Jones in a minute. So that win against Sergei Spivak is not enough to get him a title fight.

It's not. Like, Sergei's best win was against, Sergey's best win at the time Not Sergei Like Tom Aspinall's best win Was the Marching Tibora win Like he's got some The Volkov was great too

But beating Marching Taibo To me I think Tybor's resume was actually better than Svevex Spivax's best one was Derek Lewis And with like everything that went into that fight It didn't It didn't age great So this is this is good matchmaking This is a Cyril gone, let's put him over type of fight.

And same with Aspinall's with Taibor. So I don't know if it's like reluctancy when it comes to that fight, but I think Seeril's just kind of keeping his options open. However, his options aren't spectacular. If I'm Cyril gone, I would, I'm going all in on Pavlovich. Like, that's the fight I'm going for. Like, go all in on that one. because Aspinall has

Aspedal can just take him down and beat that ass He ain't gonna He ain't gonna sprawl at Aspidal take down Like Asperol's gonna get him down He's got to punish him Pavlovich is just gonna stand there and trade punches with him And I think honestly like Gone matches up better with Pavlovich

That he does with Tom Aspidol At least in my in my humble opinion. But this whole, well, I want to get to the belt thing, is not going to work. What's the other option? The other option is if Jailton Almeida

beats Curtis Blades, I mean, that just creates a whole new wrinkle to all of this. So people forget that Jailton's fighting Curtis Blades November 4th, a week before the heavyweight title fight. And as we know in this sport, it's what have you done for me lately? And if the heavyweight division,

if what have you done for me lately leads into the heavyweight title fight, then the lasting memory in this division is Jelton Almeida beating Curtis Blades. So we can't forget about him. And I know Pavlovich is the backup for the title fight. They don't weigh in and all that. But if Jelton beats Curtis Blades, it's probably Pavlovich Jelton Almeida for the vacant title. Because that is,

that's the biggest win from anybody from anybody so I think we have to wait to see what happens there but if I'm Cyril man I am going all in on one of these guys I'm not playing the well my next fight needs to be for the bell I just want to get back to the belt you got to have a plan man

otherwise you're not going to get what you want but I think Pavlov fight is interesting for him go ahead poor corner and yes you are correct that that's an important right um sorry jailsen versus courteus blades i'm one of those people that that firmly believes that curtis blades will get it done um i forgot who said it i don't know if it was luke thomas

or judge mishu but one of them has said it and and they had a rewind tape on joseilson amita he does three things very well front kick um what's called a double-legged takedown against the cage and then as a day he tries to apply for submissions well curtis blaze is a good wrestler. Yeah, he's got kicked before in the face and stuff like that. But I just can't get the idea of Jocelyn Amita trying to take down Curtis Blades. And then what's next for Joe Sonameda if he can't, you know, do step two after doing step one? Because he's not, I have a feeling that he's going to have a very difficult time trying to take down for Curtis Blades. And what do you think, who would benefit more from a Curtis Blade's victory in San Paulo? Um, Cyril gone or

I'm Askenal because I saw I saw improvements in Surrogon and when he ended up suffering a take down on Sergei Speedback, it reminded me of the same way when Francis and Gano ended up suffering that takedown against Dipe in their rematch. And I was like, all right, well, outside of everything, outside of the, the takedown defense, we didn't learn anything. But we did learn that, you know, he can at least be able to now defend a little bit more. So that was one good nugget that I saw from Surrogon. And lastly, I wanted to ask, so I saw that you guys put out there that Laura Sanko is going to be commentary for the pay-per-view. Off the bat, do you believe, how you feel like the chemistry is going to go between Annik, Cormier, and Sanco's. And that's what I've got to say. Thanks. So, yeah, look, I'll start the Sanko thing because that is incredible stuff. Laura Sanko get in the nod. I had heard rumblings a couple of months ago that they were looking at that card in particular

or is kind of sworn to secrecy. But once I found out Laura was heading to Sydney, I kind of was like, oh, this is what's happening. So confirmed it with multiple people yesterday. And there you go. Laura getting the nod. And I think her chemistry with D.C., she's worked with D.C. already a bunch of times

on the contender series. So there's already a chemistry there. She works a DC on the way in shows quite a bit. So there's a great chemistry between those guys. And John Anick is the best in the business when it comes to huddling up the troops and getting everyone at their best. And it's nice to honestly, she is so good. She's so good with the grappling stuff.

And you know what I love about her the most? She understands scoring. she gets it. She educates herself in the scoring and understands that, oh, if you defend a takedown, you should, because we hear people say,

well, if you defend a takedown, that should count. No, it shouldn't. No, it shouldn't. The Lord gets it. She is engulfed in this sport, and she's trying to get better and better and better. And I think,

and I saw some people being a bunch of assholes about it, saw some people commenting, well, I'm going to mute the paper view for the first time, well, then you're an idiot. You're an idiot. If you feel that way. Because she's going to bring something different to the table. And I feel like she's going to do so well that this will not be a one-time thing.

She has earned this opportunity and she deserves it and she's really good. So I think chemistry is going to be fantastic. I think it's going to be great. with the heavyweight division man I've heard this take a lot that oh Curtis is going to kill

Jelton on me that Jailton's not going to be able to take him down all that stuff I just don't understand what you're watching because here's the thing Curtis Blades is probably going to have to keep this thing

on the feet the whole time because what's Curtis going to go to first if he gets a himself in any trouble. He's going to try to take Jelton and I made it down. And being on the ground with that guy, whether you're on top of him or whether you're on your back, is awful. It is not a good place to be. So is Curtis okay going a potential 25 minutes in a striking battle of this guy? If he is, and this fight stays on the feet, then Curtis probably has a good chance to win. But

I just, Jelton is a hoss, man. Jelton is a hoss, and it don't have to be pretty for him to get you to the ground. All he needs is one. Even as veteran savvy as Curtis Blades is, I think people underestimate how good Jelton Almeida is on the ground. He is incredible. So I don't, like, this is definitely the, this is the big litmus test. This is the big one.

And if Jelton beats Curtis Blades, however he does, doesn't. He's number one with a bullet. He's above Pavlovich for me. Pavich has earned his right to be in a vacant title fight if that's what it comes to. But Jailton Almeida is above him and 1,000 percent deserves to be in that discussion if he beats Skylight Curtis Blades. But we'll see what happens on November 4th. I can't wait for that fight. And the timing of it is fantastic. It's really, really perfect heading into the title. flight. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that

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Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca. Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. Yeah, yeah, what's up, man? Good morning. So I heard you talking to TG earlier, and it sounds like you match made Benoit St. Denis against Matt Fervola.

Is that correct? I did. Okay. Yeah, that's the exact bite. I was hoping for, well, the exact fight I am hoping for as soon as they announced one of their next matchups. I just wanted to know who would you favor in that fight? And then also, what should have? Never mind.

That's it. I forgot what else I was going to ask. Yeah, who would you favor in that fight? Thanks, man. I favor Sontanee in that fight. He's just such a, he's just so physical, man. not ruling out Favola. Favola is better

than I thought he was. And he showed it in the Drew Dover fight. Because I was pretty confident that Drew Dover is going to beat Matt Frivola and he proved me wrong. So the guy continues to get better. But man, is that a tough fight for him? But it's a good one.

It's not one he can't, it's not one he can't win. But Benoit is just so big. He's a giant. for this division. So physical. So, I mean, if this is just a straight striking match, Proula's got a shot, but I don't think it's going to be.

I think Benoit is going to hauss him. Just doing, just get a hold poor, he's going to try to hold poor Ravrevola against the fence and just unleash punishment on him. But Benoit does not care about a firefight either. So the more of a firefight it becomes, the better the chances are for Bafferbola and Maffirvola is very good at turning things

into a firefight. So that's it's just, there's no way that fight sucks. There's no way that fight sucks. I love that fight, but I would favor Sonsuida to win. Cole, go ahead. Good morning, Mike.

By the way, for corner, it was Jose Young who was saying the stuff about Curtis Blades. But on, I think it was Saturday, for the pre-fight of the post fight, I mean, I was tuning in for some great

takes, but I didn't think I would get something as great as you comparing Manon Fioro to Paul Molyder. I mean, that's just money. That is money, Mike. Jose was trying to sit on you for that as money. Just singles and doubles, baby. But I just want you to talk

about the why the fuck is this fight happening? Fight of the year, and that's on this card. I mean, in the good name of Austin Hubbard, what the fuck is going on with this one? Just, that's all I got. Thanks, man. I assume you were talking about the Nazarat Hackparass Landon Kanyi's fight. I don't know.

It's the most random fight on a card that I can remember. But, I don't know. Opportunity knocks, there you go. Nazareth wanted to be on this card and apparently and wanted to get back in there and Landon said I'll do it on pretty short notice. So, you know, Landon's well represented. Shout out to Orrin Hodak.

So he gets his chance. So good for him. It is very weird. It sticks out like a sore thumb, this one. For sure. For sure. Yes, and I love the Palmoliter reference. Singles and doubles.

That's what Manifior does. Singles and doubles. but can hit home run if she needs to. If she faces a pitcher that's not big league ready, she can knock it out of the park. YVMZ, hello. Hi, Mike, heck of morning. Just wanted to get your thoughts on,

I don't know if you've seen the footage with Francis and Tyson, and Tyson training and sparring. Just wanted to get your thoughts, and if he had a chance to be Tyson Fury. No, no chance. No chance. I love the videos, though. I will say that.

Seeing Francis and Tyson and seeing Francis, you know, take instruction and come through and land some nice shots. But, yeah, it's great. But that's not Tyson Fury. So he's got, I'm sorry. Like, it would be the craziest thing in the history of combat sports if Francis in Ghana wins this fight. It would be absolutely.

insane. Tyson Fury took the absolute best shots that Deonti Wilder could throw and didn't get knocked out and continued to fight. I just don't think Francis

is going to be able to land that big shot. And even if he does, yeah, it's just not going to go well. Maybe Tyson carries them a little bit. But it would be the most insane thing that ever happened in combat sports. It would be be the most insane thing if

Francis somehow won this fight. But what a magical friggin' moment it would be. Can you imagine Dana White's reaction to that? It would be the best. It would be the fucking best. And it would be hilarious.

It would be awesome if Francis could do it, but we got to be real with ourselves, my friends. It's not going to happen. Viking, hello. Hey, Mike. How are you? What's up, ma'am? I just want to ask you, have you ever visited a psychiatrist or therapist and how was that experience for you?

And one more question about the Jelton and Beda and Curtis Blade fight, how do you see that fight considering your knowledge of fight? fine game and all the stuff, BJJ. It's a lot. Man, I mean, it's one of the tougher fights to call right now.

It's one of the tougher fights to call. But for me, I kind of look at it as, you know, when you give someone with big punching power 25 minutes to land a big shot, that's the way I view Jelton Almeida from a grappling perspective.

You give Jelton Almeida 25 minutes to get to his position in this fight, he's going to take advantage of it. It's, I mean, I just don't see a world where this fight stays on the feet for 25 minutes. I just don't see it. So with that said, I am leaning Jelton Almeida because that's just a lot of time.

But who knows? Maybe Curtis comes up with a great game plan. I'm not saying Curtis can't win. Curtis will probably be favored to win this fight. But he's going to have to be, I mean, absolutely perfect. Absolutely perfect. Have I done therapy? Yes, I have. Years ago, I'm not doing it currently, but it is very helpful.

It certainly is very helpful. To me, it's been more like the physical, like to me it was like I did it probably, I don't know, 2014, 2015-ish. Getting kind of burnt out with a lot of things, working multiple jobs, trying to get this MMA thing up and running and just kind of working myself to the bone. And all of it just kind of translated to me being kind of a grump. And I don't like being a grump. I don't like being a grump at all.

So I went and talked about it and just realized that, you know, don't get burnt out and don't be a grump. When you feel grumpy and you feel in a bad place, go do something physical that makes you feel better. For me, it was lifting weights, hitting golf balls, going to the driving range, you're just swinging as hard as you can, certain things. And, you know, I've had conversations with my wife about it. And there are times where when I was grumpy, she would just say, you know what, go hit some golf balls. I'd be like, you know what, you're right. I would go hit golf balls and I'd feel better about it.

and we talk things out. I haven't eaten in a while. There are times where I get a little grumpy and they get a little overwhelmed, but the thing about therapy that really helped was it kind of led me into these things where now I know how to handle it a little bit better. So if you've never done it, I recommend it.

If you're in a weird place, definitely do it. And some people just carry it on for years and years. It's something that they absolutely have to have and kudos to them. It's just something that I could go back to, something I really need to right now. But when I did it, it was very helpful, very helpful. It taught me a lot about myself. So I recommend it for sure. Daniel, hello.

Hey, Mike. Can you hear me? Got you. Perfect. Heck of a morning to you, man. Hope your holiday weekend went well. Just got a really quick one for you. just about this Austin, Lane, and Taffa fight. Kind of just curious how you think this fight goes.

I know we're getting a second iteration of it now, but it's just really interesting, like Tafa coming from a NFL background and everything, and somehow he actually has more MMA experience than Tafa. I feel like we normally don't see something like that. But, yeah, just curious on how you think that fight actually plays out. Thanks, Mike. It's going to be a slug fest that Taffa should probably win. like I know Lane

Lane's got a lot of fight like more fights let me see how much more 12 and 3 but a lot of his fights were like on the regional scene too and most of his fights did not last very long they're like 30

seconds here a minute here um has he ever even been to a third round in his career no so it's it's

it's pretty easy to be active. Like he started, he debuted in 2017, three fights, 2018, three fights, 2019, two fights. Then he lost in 2020, but then, you know,

2021 had a bunch of fights. He's fighting two, three times a year. Dude's an athlete, no doubt about that. But Tava's just fought way better guys. Way better guys.

So, Eileen, but again, when you have two big fucking animals throwing bombs at each other. Anything is possible. Anything can happen. But Eileen Justin Taffa. I mean, anybody who goes out there and knocks out Paca Port automatically gets the favorite nod in my eyes. Let's go to Jacob and then we'll go to fight Papa before we get on out of here. Jacob, hello. All right, not connecting. Try again,

Jacob. Fight Papa. Do we have you? Fight Papa. You're muted. Fight Papa not coming through either. Maybe we can get Jacob back in here. Not working. Same thing. Not getting anything from either. All right, I'll give it like 10 more seconds.

See if we can get either of you through. If not. It's going to be a wrap on the program. All right. It doesn't look like it's going to happen. I got you guys screenshoting it right now. when we come back on Thursday let's try

let's try Jacob one more time Jacob do we have it Hey Mike, sorry can you hear me Yep I got you Okay cool first I just want to say I know it's a morning morning time for you It's a night time for me I'm over in Kazakhstan I'm an American living here

Working this ex-pap anyways How do you see Sean Strickland Getting a victory If even possible at all in your opinion And thanks for everything. Thanks for hosting the show. You do an awesome job, man. So, yeah.

Thank you. Appreciate that. Like I've said before, Sean just has to get in Izzy's face for 25 minutes and just throw a million punches. That's literally his best chance. Now, shoot a couple of takedowns,

mix the martial arts, all of it. but he cannot let Izzy get loose or have any room to maneuver at all. And that is asking a lot from any athlete to do for a potential 25 minutes. But that is his best chance. He has to just get within five inches of Izzy at all times and just always move and always be offensive and just let the chips fall where they may.

He cannot let Izzy get comfortable at all, at all. But that is very, very difficult for anybody to do. So that's his best chance. This can't be a kickboxing match. This can't be, this can't really be like a typical MMA fight. He needs to be somewhat defensively sound, but 95% offense. And just be in his grill every second doing something offensive. Other than that, he's going to get picked apart.

and it's not going to be good. But to say he has zero chance, I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. But that is a lot. The path of victory is there, but it is going to take a lot. And it's going to take him being perfect.

And it's going to take his mindset sticking to that game plan that his team has put together for 25 minutes. And Sean has had trouble with that. Alex Pereira fight's perfect example. The plan for Alex Pereira fight was to wrestle him. And Sean said, F that, I'm just going to, I'm going to strike with him. And he got knocked out.

And his team in the corner is like, what are you doing? What are you doing? He got knocked out. But Sean's whole mindset with Pereira in the entire fight was, if I fight this guy a hundred times, I'm going to fight him that way all 100 times. that's just the way the man thinks so you know nixix got a game plan you know the team's got a game plan they've studied izzie like crazy things are going to get real heated over the next few days let's see if sean can stay within himself and stick to a game plan it's going to be tough to do

the game plan he needs to probably beat izzie is going to be a tough one but this is a sport where anything can happen. And Sean Strickle winning would be, golly. The post-fight show, the watch party reaction for a Sean Strickle win will be legendary. That's for sure. All right. We are done. Thank you very much.

Very busy day. Get some interviews coming up. Including, I'll be talking to the original BMF champ later on today, one Jorge Mazvedal. about his big event on Friday, the Justin Gichi stuff. Will he come back? We'll talk about that.

I'll also be talking to Gianni Vasquez today. If that named as a ring a bell, go to my Twitter and go to the PIN tweet because Gianni Vasquez is the guy who was sort of the victim of the Fury FC debacle where the referee did not stop a fight when poor Gianni Vasquez was unconscious in a choke. And then he was put into an arm bar while unconscious.

And his arm getting broken is what woke him up from being unconscious. But Gianni has somehow recovered from all of that. And he actually won the up next fighting flyweight title over the weekend. So excited to catch up with him and see what the last few months of his life had been like. And looks like I'll have another interview coming up tomorrow as well with a up-and-coming UFC main eventer. So get excited for that. So it's going to be a busy week. We got 293, watch party coming up on Saturday.

Your boys are going to be doing some more interviews again. We've all been asking, and I'm going to give it to you. So thank you all very much. Back Thursday, 10 a.m. Easter, we'll do it again. Until then, have a great rest of your Tuesday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. Vox Media Podcast Network.