MMA Fighting - HOAM | Should Alexander Volkanovski Get Immediate Rematch With Islam Makhachev After UFC 284?

Episode Date: February 14, 2023

After an absolute classic between still UFC lightweight champ Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 284, Volkanovski wants to run it right back. With the performance "The Great" had in defeat, should he get an immediate rematch, or should both champions move on to their respective divisions? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the memorable UFC 284 main event, the results of the fight after watching it for a second time, and whether or not an immediate rematch is in play for Volkanovski against Makhachev. Additionally, listener topics include Dan Hooker's accusations of IV use from Makhachev, Jack Della Maddalena's impressive performance and what should be next for him after finishing Randy Brown this past Saturday, Erin Blanchfield now facing Jessica Andrade this Saturday in the headliner of UFC Vegas 69, Yair Rodriguez's big win against Josh Emmett to capture the interim featherweight title, and 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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Tuesday, February 14th, 2023, and it is a heck of a morning live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter space. You prepare the show it. It's entirety shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Hope everyone's having a great start to their week. And I hope everybody's having a happy Valentine's Day. I got to be honest with you, I don't care about Valentine's Day.

And luckily, I'm married to a wonderful woman who also doesn't care about Valentine's Day. So it's a beautiful thing. You don't need a day to tell your significant other that you care about her, that you love her. You're supposed to show that every single day. But if you have fun with it, I ain't going to knock you. But it's just not for us. You know what I mean? It just is what it is.

It's a hallmark holiday at best. And that's just how it is in the heck household. You know, some people go all for it. And I support you for that. Kudos to you. But we are not here to talk about what we do on Valentine's Day. know we are here to talk about the fallout of UFC 284 and the highly anticipated, highly fascinating main event between still the lightweight champion is on Machachev

and the featherweight champion Alexander Volcanowski. I have so many thoughts about all of this. But the first thing I'll say is, isn't it nice when things, in cards and events and all sorts of hullabaloo, that they not only live up to expectations and sometimes unfair expectations, but they even exceed them. And that to me is what I remember about UFC 284.

I know it has become sort of a divisive event. I know the Makachov-Vokovsky fight has been a divisive fight. and I know the fallout from that fight has been maybe even more divisive than the rest of it. But to me, what I take away from it is it ruled. Like that card was fun as hell. That main card was fun as hell. That main event was incredible.

It was incredible. And I woke up 5 a.m. this morning so I could watch the fight again. I wanted to watch it again. I didn't want to watch it the next day. I didn't want to watch it yesterday. I wanted to watch it with a little bit more separation. So I woke up 5 o'clock this morning and I sat down and I watched it again. And here's what I'll say.

It's very difficult to give a clear sense in view of these pay-per-view cards and main events when I'm watching them live because what we've done over the past, five months and we'll continue to do so, is we have the watch party. So it's me and G.C. on set. We usually have somebody on with us. New York Rick has been sort of the constant in the main events. And there's a lot going on.

And we're watching the fights, but we're also talking. We can't sit there silence and just sit there and just only be glued on the fights. So I went back first yesterday and watched the reaction to the watch party that we had. and I scored the fight 4847 for Islam Makachov. And it feels like a lot of other people did as well. And then Sunday it has just been a constant, oh, Volk got robbed, this and that. And I'm like, I must be missing something

because there's so many people thinking that Volkinovsky got robbed. So I'm going to give a little space, Emma watching on Tuesday morning. Woke up, watched it. I have to say nothing changed. Nothing changed. everything I scored on Saturday or early Sunday morning

exactly the same as the rewatch today Machachev wins round one I thought Volk was winning round two until Makachov kind of stung him a little bit dropped Volk to a knee that to me was the most significant moment of the round Machachov wins round two but it is very very close

it is a very very close round closer than even I thought on Saturday So I gave Mokachev round two. I think that shot put it over the edge. Round three, still a Volkadovsky round. It was closer than I thought it was on Saturday. Mokachev had moments too, but in the end, I think the leg kicks, all of the movements, the strikes that Volcanovsky landed,

they were enough to win him the third round. Round four, kind of an interesting one. But again, I understand that we play the damage card. We've been damage, damage, damage, damage. damage is always number one. But there's cases where it's really not number one. And this round in particular to me, I just don't see how Makachep doesn't win that round.

I just don't see it. I just don't see it. There just wasn't enough moments on the feet for Volcanowski to win him that round. Now, do I, did he land strikes while he was in a full body triangle with his back taken? Was he talking shit? Yeah, but talking shit doesn't get your points. landing those like little short shots.

Sure, they accumulate, but it just wasn't enough for me to give him round four. So Mokachev wins round four. Isn't the most aesthetically pleasing round win that we've ever seen? Absolutely not. But it's what he needed to do to win the round. And then round five, of course, the clearest round of the entire fight. Volk did the damn thing. Incredible, incredible fifth round for Volcanowski.

It was just not enough to win the fight. 48-47. I've heard it all. Makachev won the battle. Volk won the war. Makachov won the UFC fight. Volk won the Pride Rules fight. Makachov-Wing-Wilkhov wins the fight.

Volkanovsky leaves with all the momentum. And you can make cases for all of those things. But in the end, to me, even though Volkanowski performed like an absolute savage, is on Makachov won that fight. 4847. Two is close. If you want to sit there and tell me Volk one round two,

I'll listen to your argument. If you want to tell me Makachef one, round three, I will listen to your argument. Anything from 4847 Volk to 4946 Islam, I think are all scores that you could throw out there and back up with some sort of claims. The fight was awesome. Both guys stocks rose.

I had a million questions. in terms of what I wanted to see as a fan and as a person who works in the space. And I feel like I got the answers to almost all of them. I wanted to see how Mokachev would do with his back against the wall. And there were certain points in that fight where his back was against the wall. I wanted to see how he would come out and went around after losing a round or feeling like he lost around and his team feeling like he lost around. And I feel like we got that in round four. I wanted to see what round five would look like if it was two-two or if people felt like it was two-two.

And Volk just delivered in a big way. And to Mokachev's credit, he hung in there. And I know some people say, well, if it was a seven-minute round or a six-minute round, Volk might have gotten him out of there. Yeah, he might have, but he didn't. So tremendous fight. I was thrilled with it. I was just as thrilled watching it the second time.

Both guys are in better spots than they were before, in my opinion. Both guys showed a lot in that fight, a lot of grit, a lot of gusto. And I feel like Volkovsky is getting his flowers, which he certainly deserves. And I don't feel like Makachev is getting the praise and the flowers that he deserves because he deserves a lot of credit for this fight too. 100%. I feel like he's just lost in the shuffle here. And it's crazy.

And I know Dan Hooker came out and said some things, and Vol kind of talked about it as well. There's been a whole thing about the IV use, potential quote unquote cheating. I'm sure we're going to talk about that. But you could throw out claims all you want. But unless you have actual proof behind them, you can't really take it seriously

and you can't really take it as legit until you actually see. proof in things like that that are attached to this. The other thing that I'll preface real quick before we get to the calls, God, the rankings conversations. Some people just take this shit like way too seriously and it annoys me to no end. Like when AK and I do on to the next one, I make it a point that at the end of every show, we throw it out there.

Don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. MMA is supposed to be fun. We're allowed to have these conversations. We're allowed to debate a little bit. But don't like make it your whole life. Don't lose your mind because somebody ranked Mokachev number one and not Volkinovsky number one pound for pound and vice versa.

So the MAA fighting global rankings came out. And Isla Mokachev is our new pound for pound fighter. And I haven't seen all the comments. I've seen little bits and pieces. But some people are just ripping us to shreds. I just don't get it. I don't understand. The UFC still is Volkovsky number one pound for pound.

I don't have a problem with that at all. Personally, and I'll break the fourth wall down. I have Islam Makochev is my number one pound for pound guy. And I'll also say, I'm not thrilled about it. I'm not thrilled about it. I had for about five minutes after UFC 284, I had Volcanochk it as my number one guy. And then I thought about it.

and I thought about what pound for pound means, and I thought about all the different circumstances that go into a pound-for-pound discussion for everybody and myself. But at the end of the day, there's not a lot of times where two guys actually fight each other for this spot, and at the end of the day, as much as I respect Volkadovsky and what he did on Saturday, Makachev beat him.

He won the fight. There's no controversy. To me, it's plain as day, tremendous fight. Volcanovsky probably won the war, but in terms of the actual fight and the scoring in the sport, Islammachchev won. And to me, I just couldn't look myself in the mirror and not give his own Machachev that spot

because he won the fight. I don't care about the weight classes and stuff. It's one thing to rank Francis and Ganu and Volk and all these guys, because, like, they're not going to fight each other. But these two guys fought, and Mockachev won. And you can say, all you want, well, if he was a featherweight, Volkwood a won.

Or if they fought again, Volkwood a one. Maybe. But that didn't happen on Saturday. So over the last couple days, I thought about it. It was such a cheap answer. But the way I'm going to view pound for pound, especially with these two guys for the next few weeks, is this. They are one A and one B.

There is no number two. There's a number three, but there's two number one. ones. Machachev is slightly ahead at 1A, Volk is ahead at 1B, and John Jones is coming back, and if he just absolutely steamrolls Cyril Gahn on March 4th at UFC 285, none of this matters, because he's probably going to be the number one guy anyways. But if Cyril Gahn wins, I don't know if I could say the same thing for him, it'll be close. But if we're just looking at these guys as one and two, I'm going to look at it the same way I looked at it with Usman and Volkanovsky last year and the end of 2021.

Volk goes out and gets a win before Machaachev does, he's number one. Machaachev goes out and has a dominant win, beats Benny Darius, or Charles Oliver, or whoever it is, he's probably back to number one. It's going to be sort of a back and forth. So a lot of people are just so angry about this, and I just don't get it. We just saw an incredible fight. one that is going to age so well. Like it's better the second time around.

And I'm sure it will be better the third time around. Both guys stocks rose. Both guys showed their gusto. No one got blown out of the water. We have a lot to talk about the following days after. This is going to be one of those fights we're going to be talking about all year. We got questions answered. We got to see both guys in tough spots come through.

And the fight was awesome. I just don't understand why it's such a negative sort of space right now when as fans we got to see an incredible chess match and an incredible battle from the two best fighters in the world. This is so much better than what we expected. We thought a lot of us thought that, you know, Volk's going to have his moments, but that Makachev is going to go out there and just crush him because he's been crushing everybody.

And Volk showed up and fought his ass off. but he didn't win. And that's okay. That's okay. The fight was awesome. I was hoping, like, there was a part of me, after the card, I'm like, man, like, MMA fans are just going to be collectively so happy

because of how great that fight was. And it turns out, like, a big chunk of them are just angry and miserable because their guy didn't win or Volk's not the one. Volk is or maybe he, isn't the number one pound for pound guy. Like, it's, it's wild. We just got to enjoy it for what it is.

And then, like, the Super Bowl was, like, way worse because it was, like, determined by, like, a really shitty call at the end of the game, a ticc-tack penalty that probably cost the Eagles to win. I mean, they might have lost anyways, but just the fact that that's even in the discussion, that didn't happen in this fight. So as I may fans, I think we won the weekend over the one.

ones who are just football fans and not M.A. fans. So, all right, I'm off my soapbox. Let's go to average avenues to kick us off. I'm sure we're going to have a lot of different takes on this fight and this card. And I'm excited to hear them all. AA, what's up? Yes. Good. How are you? I'm well, mate. I'm very, very well. I'm not going to get into the main event just because I've spoken about it on a line enough already. And I'm kind of tired about it. tired, I'm tired about talking about it, if you're not what I mean.

My question is, what's next for Jack Della and Malina? This guy is on fire at the moment. Randy Brown was supposed to be, like his first big test, and he made him look like on mince meet and just your thoughts on the main event in the USC this weekend.

That will do for me, guys. You're all awesome. Have a heck of a morning. Take care of yourself and peace. Thanks, buddy. If you listen to Onto the next owner, watched it. And if you have it, you can do this over right now. It's Vicente Luque.

That is the fight. I mean, that's the fight I've been wanting for like a week, and I'm sticking with it. Him and Vicente Lucke rules. That's what I want to see. I mean, him against anybody ranked. A lot of people throw out the Neil Magni idea. Don't really love that idea. Like, I just think him going from Randy Brown to Neil Magny.

It's almost going like from apples to oranges. both really healthy fruits, but they're both fruits. And I feel like J.D.M. has kind of surpassed Neil Magni at this point, and he deserves somebody with a higher rank number. And him and Luke A is just a fun-ass fight. If they book Neil Magny, I'll watch it. But I think he's kind of passed that test, and he's ready for somebody ranked a little bit higher. and we'll just give him a phone fight. So, Luke A for me, yes, Jessica Androge is now fighting Aaron Blanchfield next Saturday.

I'm not shocked that that happened. I mean, I guess I would say I'm not shocked that Tyler Santos isn't fighting because even when we confirm that fight and we were talking about it and when the UFC announced it,

we had been hearing rumblings that the visa issues for Santos' team could come into play and that this fight might not actually happen. So my thought was they're just not going to fight and maybe they'll push it back. But when you look at that card, it is just not good. So they had to do something. I didn't expect to see Jessica Androge getting in there so quickly, but she is. And kudos to her. and I see everybody giving her props, and they should,

but they should also give Aaron Blanchfield props for taking this fight on short notice because, holy crap, is that a different fight altogether? So I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued. But I have to favor Jessica Androge for sure in this one. But who knows, Aaron Blanchfield's a problem. And we'll see how she does.

Big step up. I don't think she loses a ton in this fight if she loses, but if she wins, she's probably getting the next title shot. So I think the risk reward is there, but it's a really tough fight for her, especially this short of notice. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats.

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For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Trista, what's up? Hey, Mike. Just quick on Vogue. Listen, Vogue is a great fighter.

He's great. He's wonderful. he's hard to beat and things of that nature. But sometimes when he talks and I just, I'm like, dude, man, like, I want all those rounds. I should be lightweight champion. Now he's talking about I want an immediate rematch. I'm like, listen, I don't mind the rematch.

Yeah. But listen, go back down the featherweight. We've got a fight that I'm very excited for you against Jaya Rodriguez. Have that in Mexico City. I want to see that fight. But you're talking about. I have to talk to my team. I want an immediate rematch.

I should be double chint. And I'm just like, and I'm with Jed, man. Like, again, we, everybody loves Vogue. I think Vogue is a great fighter. I respect him tremendously. He's hard to beat. This guy's probably going to go down as one of the greatest fighters that ever live. But with the talking and the mindset, you know,

Jed compared it to, you know, with Michael Jordan in the last dance, it's just like, come. I'm like, dude, bro, whatever, man. Like, I roll my eyes with this guy sometimes. I'm just like, dude, like, just do what you, just listen, man, just drop back down, defend about a couple of times. We'll revisit this about a year or two. Maybe both you guys are going to be defending the belts, beat your opponents and respectful divisions. And then we'll do this again and everybody's hyper and great and ready to go.

But come on, man, just like, he annoys me sometimes with this stuff, man. I'm like, whatever, dude, all right, okay. But that's all I got to say about that. Great fighter, but just annoying, man. Just really annoying. Now, I want to, the J.D.M fight, JDM is incredible, man. That dude is just his boxing and striking is wonderful, but the thing about JDM, I just still have questions, is what happens when he does really face an elite grappler. I mean, I know Randy Brown's, he's a good grappler, but not elite in my eyes.

So I still, those are still I had questions about him. I don't know if you have those same questions, but that's the thing. I mean, listen, if he fights Vicente, look here, I'm giving him a chance to win that fight. I think he wins against Vicente because he's just more technical boxer, and I think he'll outstrike him. But I would want to see him against more elite grapplers than Wellsway. He has a ton of them. So that's just only my question about that.

That's my own question about JDM. I don't know what your thoughts about that. Anyway, thanks, Mike. I mean, I have those questions. And the beauty of this welterweight division and where it stands right now is that we're going to get those answers. Eventually, he's going to have to fight some of these guys on the way up. You know, if he fights Neil Magni, we'll get a different look, although I would favor J.D.M. to win that fight. But eventually, you know, if he fights Luke A and wins, he's going to have to fight one of these guys.

It's going to have to fight a Sean Brady or a Michael Kiesa or somebody like that. that that's going to test that grappling. So I get where you're coming from. We'll eventually get those answers. But I think he's going to get, I think they built him up right to this point. And we'll see what they end up doing with him. But I think you'll get the answers. Yeah. And I've heard Jed talk about Volk all the time saying kind of going through that. And what I think what Tristan is trying to say in particular because Jed brings us up all the time is, you know, Volk saying that no one gave me a chance and everybody picked against me and I'm the I'm the consummate underdog and maybe there's some truth to that heading into this fight but he was saying all that

stuff heading into and following UFC 276 the max holloway fight and after the win that that's what he kept talking about no one gave me a chance everybody was picking against me yada yada yada And I get it from that perspective because I didn't see a lot of people picking against. Some did. Some picked Matt Holloway to beat him. But most people didn't. But again, I don't blame him for that. Sometimes, like I remember Calvin Cater telling me years ago that fighters, him, like him especially,

they look for chips on their shoulders that they can use. bulletin board material. And if one person says that and he hears it, but he needs that to get him over that hump mentally, then cool. That's what you do. Cater had a lot of chips on his shoulder heading into the Giga

Chikaze fight. He heard what everybody had to say. He heard everybody picking Giga Chikaze, including me. I picked Giga Chikaze too. And when I talked to Cater after that win, he let me know about it. and I was, and I was, and I took it on the chin. It happens, but sometimes that's what fighters need.

And if that's what Volk needs to continue to be great, then cool. But it's not for everybody. And I get that. I get that. And as far as the rematch goes, look, there's, there's a desire for it. There's a desire for it. I wasn't feeling it after the fight. But the more as time goes on,

I don't think it's a crazy question. I honestly don't think it's a crazy question, especially with how the UFC is and how they matchmake and how they put these events on. I don't want to see it right now. I would love to see them fight again. But when I left Saturday night into Sunday, post-fight show and all, I was like, there's no chance we're just going to run this one right back. And on this Tuesday, a couple days later,

I'm thinking of myself, would it really be that shocking if they rebook this one? I don't think so. But I would rather see Mokachev fight Daryuz now, no more role of error fight, or fight the winner of that one, and then Volk fight Yair.

But at the same token, maybe they could, like if they want to do the rematch, you could do, we don't have a main event for May 6th yet. we don't have one. Seems like Sterling Sehudo is going to be on that card, but that's not done yet.

It all depends on how Sterling recovers from the stem cells. He just got in Columbia if he's going to be ready to go. If they did that fight and then they did Oliver Darius for an interim lightweight title

because they're going to go forward and do Volcanovsky Makachov 2, like international fight week. Would anybody be upset about that. And then they do maybe the winner of Arnold Allen versus Max Holloway, especially if Allen wins versus Yair just have him defend the interim titles. Is anyone going to be upset about that?

I don't think so. So I think it's in play. I really do. I don't necessarily love it, but I definitely think it's in play. Much more than I thought on Saturday night. But this is an interesting aftermath. Mikey, hello.

Everyone keeps bringing up pride rules. And I'm like, how many people actually watch Pride? Because even under Pride rules, there's still an argument, Islam one. Second thing, if you're a Volk fan, like a legitimate Vogue fan and you only root for Vogue, you're not betraying him by admitting he may have lost. Like, it's okay. You know? It's just, it goes back to these whole things about, like, fans almost take the onus more than the fighters, you know, where it's like, oh, no, my fighter has to have won.

You know, they can't, you can't fathom a world where they lose. Like, they take it on the chin more than the fighters. And it's like, the goat debates and pound for pound debates at the end of the day, it's like, it's this culture and sport where it's like, if you're not first, you're last, it's like, regardless of who's number one or number two, that's not like a wrong answer. You know, there's no wrong answer to me. It's like if Volk is one, voc is number one. If Islam's one, that's fine too.

There's no, like, it's not like number two means they suck, you know? And as for, you know, the fight itself, I just, you know, Volk has this thing where he kind of admitted that he kind of not started slow, but he saw some opportunities that he could have had aid and take. And it's like, that's on you, man. Like, and as for Tristan talked about earlier, I don't mind the athletes having Bolton board material, but they need to word it carefully to the public and not make it sound like they're whining, you know? One of Volk's biggest problems. As a person, he seems like a cool guy, but publicly, he needs to style as Jed touched on. It's like he does this thing where it's like,

I don't mind him having an internal motivation, but you're good, but to try and sell it to the public as like, oh, hey, you guys don't, you guys don't pick against me. I'm like, dude, you fought Max Holloway, who's been fighting in the UFC for 10 years, who built up a fan base.

That's why they're picking against you. I guarantee you most Max Holloway fans probably thought he was going to win, but they're not going to admit that because they're rooting for Max. and that's okay. But Vogue to internalize and act like, well, that means you guys aren't giving me credit. I'm like, no, they just like him, man. It's okay.

You don't, one of the things they get frustrating for these guys is like they, we understand. I mean, like Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, all these guys create these like persecution complexes where it's like, nobody wants to give me credit. I'm like, dude, you've won everything. What do you mean no one's giving you credit, you know? And as for Jack Delamagena, I don't mind the Lukee matchup,

but I still think he should be slower in just a little bit. I want these prospects. I want prospects in every division. vision to have room to breathe. You know, they have one good performance against a fringe-ranked competitor. Now they're like, all right, give me the top ten. I'm like, no, no, let them slow burn, man. I don't want to burn these guys out too soon, you know.

That'll be all for me today. Be kind, y'all. Have a good one. Yeah, I get it. But I don't think fighting Luka is a fast burn. I don't. I would pick J.D.M. to win that fight. I think most people would.

Luke is good. He's fought good guys, and he's tough as hell. but stylistically that's a very it's a winnable fight for jdm it's a winnable fight and there's i mean once you get to this like he basically beat the 16th rank guy so i i just don't know how you could really slow him down that much more we're not saying chuck them in there with we had some interesting ones people were saying chuck them in there with wonder boy um i don't think we should do that but i think luke and and what he brings to the table i think it's a really good fight. I think it's a good

stylistic matcha for him and he'll be tested in a different way. So I love the fight. I definitely love that fight. Yeah. And as far as the Volk stuff, I get it. I hear what you're saying. That's that. Let's go to Raffin. Raffin, what's up?

Hey, Mike, how you're doing? Good. So I want to talk about something, if that's correct, before asking two questions. Yeah, so what I wanted to say, a twist and was saying that Volk like he's talking a lot he's saying that nobody thought that he's

going to win which I don't see nothing wrong with it and Tristan also said that Volk said he won all the rounds wait wait is there actually something wrong in that he like you could debate that he won three rounds and the fighter of course he's going to believe that he won three rounds Wolks said three to two

which is acceptable I could have seen the fight go either way there is nothing wrong with saying he won three rounds two. But, yeah, and I want to ask another question. What do you think about the whole IV accusations? Because, like, if they didn't have any proof, I think they would have told Dan Rooker to delete all the tweets. And it's been a full day, and he still didn't delete the tweets.

So I think they got, they might have something. And that's it. Thank you so much. Yeah, I mean, you still need, you still need proof. Sure, it's a talking point. The fans are going to react to it. But it's kind of a dangerous game you're playing because if he's wrong, he looks like an idiot.

Like he looks foolish. He looks like a whiner. So I don't know. I mean, I just, it's just a dangerous game he's playing. Now maybe there is proof. I don't know. But, or maybe the UFC was aware of it.

And we're like, okay, I know people were putting out, putting some different rule sets out and some people ask the UFC about it. I don't know. I thought it was kind of a weird thing to wake up to yesterday morning, but it is what it is. Maybe there's some smoke to that fire, but until I see, until I see those flames and I see the smoke, it just is a tweet to me. It's just a tweet. And I'm with you on the, on the bull thing. Like, what's he supposed to say?

I lost a fight. So I get that. I think it's more of the, it was after the Holloway fight that rubbed people the wrong way, where, oh, no one was picking me to win. Yeah, like everybody was picking you to win. You were like a minus 300 favorite in that fight. Some people weren't, but for the most part, they did. They were all picking you to win.

And I think more people had issue with that than this fight in particular. But look, the thing is, and I just, talked about this and I know Jed wrote it up and coincidentally we put these takes out almost at the same time. Volk had to be perfect to win this fight. He had to be perfect. Mockachev did

not. And that's what made this so fascinating because Volk's two previous fights he was as close to perfect as one could possibly be. The TKZ fight was perfect. The Holloway fight I don't know what's higher than

perfect, but whatever that word terminology is, Volkovsky jumped up and punched a hole through it because he was even more perfect in the Holloway fight. And his fight IQ is through the roof and we saw it. But I thought he was almost perfect. I thought the first round, he was really good. Second round he was really good, but he made one mistake down the stretch and got clipped. And if that moment doesn't happen, Volk wins the fight. Vogue wins that second round. It was that one moment, that big shot that Mokachev landed, that stung Volk and dropped him to a knee. That was the turning point of the whole fight. That one moment is why Mokachev won and Volk didn't. Like if you go back and watch it

again, that moment is so big in the overall landscape of the fight that it gave Machachev that round to me and most other people. Because before that, Volk was looking good. And I know there's a close like knockdown looking moments for Volk, but it's clear it wasn't a knockdown. He tripped. But it was not a trip, but Makachev clipped him and he dropped him to a knee. That was the one moment that he wasn't perfect in this fight. And even round four, like, he had his back taken. And I don't even say that like it wasn't a perfect moment for Volk. It was just Mokachev, the timing of that takedown

and that level change in round four was, I mean, it was such a thing of beauty. Such a thing of beauty. And that's why he won the fourth. But, man, it's just such a great fight. And I recommend everybody to, Just go back and watch it. Like, watch it multiple times.

And just forget about the bullshit. And just watch the fight for what it is. I'm telling you, this one's going to age incredibly well. Just forget about all of it. Forget about the stakes. Forget about the judges. Forget about pound-for-pound rankings. Who gives a shit?

Go watch the fight in its own vacuum. Just sit there and watch it. And it's better the second time around. Ezra DC, hello Yeah, I'm just wondering What would be the incentive for Mockachev to take the rematch now? Because I've seen it on some places saying Okay, you know, all this talk is kind of rebuilding starting the campaign for the rematch

But I could argue that if you gave their pound for pound status, you know, as was agreed upon during the entire promotion to Mokachev You could build that redemption arc back for Volcanowski to get you know get his justice back. Now, when you pretty much don't deliver in what was promised, why would Machchyev even, like, entertain the idea anymore to cut weight again, do all that, when he could just essentially challenge for his own 70 title and do double champ champ status there?

Because it makes no sense for him to go to 170 right now. Makes no sense. No sense. And that's like why people had issues with this fight being booked in general, is because champ champ fights, while they can be special, it could just F everything up. And if Mokachev just says, like, I'm moving up to 170, like, I'm just going to throw up on my mouth.

Like, why? Why would he do that? There's so much work that needs to be done at 155. And you could argue that there's so much work Volk still needed to do before going up and challenging for the 55 title. I didn't have an issue with it because I just feel like Holloway has just knocked off all these guys that he just, no one's really emerged at 45 for a while. Now we have a guy. They laid it out interim title fight.

We have a guy. We have a legit number one contender. Title versus title, unification bout. Like, we have that now. We have it. Makachap, I mean, why would he? There's just no reason for him to go to 170. They don't need him at 170 right now.

They don't need him. And I don't blame Volk for going up because guess what? He was called out by Habib in Mokachev after 280. They called him out. It wasn't like Volk was banging on the drum, give me this fight or I'm not fighting anybody else. No, they called him out. And he was like, all right, let's go.

And he did it. I do think a rematch is in play. here, though. I really, I think, I think it's, I think it's in play. I wouldn't do it because you don't need to do it. I would like to see them fight again, but like two years from now, let them run through and win three, four title defenses, clean out their divisions and then fight again. But I can see the incentive somewhat for Macha Chaff from a competitive standpoint and the money standpoint, because that's going to be a huge fight if they rebook it. It's going to be men. It's going to be massive. It's going to do really, really well. And if they do it, it'll be like on an international

fight week card, maybe in the main event, big gate, lots of money. And I know Machetechew doesn't care all that much about money, but I'm sure he cares somewhat about money. And I'm sure there's a part of Makachep that even though he's coming out and saying the right things, I'm the best fighter in the world. I don't even know if he believes that 100% right now because of all the doubt that everyone has placed upon him, whether it be fair or unfair. He didn't definitively beat Volk. He beat him, but there's doubts. And I think there's a part of Makachep that's like, damn it, I wanted to fight him again just to shut everybody up. So I think there is incentive there for him. And if we're looking at it from a financial perspective, what's going to do better on

pay-per-view? A rematch with Volkanowski or a fight with him and Daryush? It's Volk. It's Volk. Volkanovsky by 10 times. It's not even close. It's not even close. I am fascinated by the Darius fight because I think stylistically, after watching how Volk fought Mokachev, Darius presents a very interesting challenge. But if we're talking business, outside of maybe Connor, I think a rematch with Volk is the biggest fight he can get right now.

So I think there's something there. It's much more than I thought on Saturday. I wouldn't do it, but wouldn't send me if the UFC did. Yusuf, hello. Hi there, hi there, Mike. Thank you for this excellent program, and thanks for the opportunity to say a few words here. First things first, I strongly condemn the UFC

for billing this fight as a competition for the pound for pound number one. When I'm learning today that in reality, it's entirely possible that the UFC has no say in who becomes the pound for pound number one and that the actual voting gets done by media members. I don't think that was very clear from the onset. So I think there is definitely a lot of misleading going on on that front, number one.

Number two, the criteria for this fight has definitely changed because prior it was being built as the pound for pound number one versus the pound for pound number two, two evenly matched competitive, excellent fighters going at it. Regardless of the weight, you know, the weight difference between the two fighters, it was still billed as the pound for pound number one

versus the pound for pound number two with equal circumstances. And it was because both of the fighters weighed in at 155 pounds, 24 hours prior to the fight. So in my opinion, they were completely on equal footing. And, you know, if they weren't, and it was quite clear that Makhachev had the advantage when it comes to weight, then why did the UFC build a fight as two equally matched competitive fighters going out of it? Why wasn't the discrepancy or the advantage to Mokachev highlighted prior to the fight itself? I think that was definitely some misleading going on by the UFC.

You know, pound for pound number one was on the line. along with Mokoshev's 155 pound belt. So now let's look at it in hindsight. What did Mokachev actually gain from this fight other than defending his title? He was misled into believing the pound for pound number one was on the line when actually that wasn't.

You look at Volk now, Volk has moved up, lost the fight, but still has his 145 pound belt and still maintains his pound for pound number one ranking. After losing the fight to the number two, which is completely ludicrous in my opinion, I think if I'm Makashv at this point, there is no way I'm going to sign dotted line for a rematch with Volkanowski. Given everything that's transpired, given the fact that he was misled by the UFC.

And I'm not even, you know, talking about Dan Hooker and some of the awful allegations being made about Islam after the fight. You know, that hasn't been proven, as you know, the pictures that are floating around with a small poke on Islam's arms. arms, that was taken prior to the way in. And I can't imagine a scenario where somebody would want to use an IV prior to being, you know, prior to a way in. So, you know, and the UFC hasn't come out and condemned Dan Hooker for that. They haven't, you know, haven't given any indication as to whether these accusations are true. And so, you know, there's definitely some smearing going on when it comes to on, on Islam side.

So I think, you know, if I'm Islam and I'm working, you know, collaborating with, with Habib, I'm thinking, you know, there needs to be some retribution to the UFC, whether it's, you know, refusing to, I don't want to say refusing to fight again, but, you know, perhaps, you know, they can work together with Abu Dhabia and say, you know what, until this situation is rectified, the, you know, Islam won't fight again. I would completely support that, given, you know, what's going, what happened here and how the UFC has totally misled Makashab and totally spirit. you know, smear his name. So I'll stop there.

But thanks for the, for the opportunity. Thanks, then. So I respect your opinion. And if you've seen the movie, like, I'm a little bit older. So I've seen some different movies. I'm sure a lot of people have seen my cousin Vinnie. My cousin Vinny is a classic. It's a great movie.

Joe Pesci plays this New York lawyer who has no idea what the hell he's doing, represents a cousin who is basically on a murder charge and he didn't commit and all this. But it doesn't matter. There's a moment when the opposing lawyer calls up an expert about automobiles. And he comes up and Vinny objects and he lays out this beautiful objection. And then the judge says, that was a well-thought-out, beautiful. objection, but it's overruled. And that's kind of how I feel

about what you just said, which I appreciate everything. But you have to understand something. And this is very clear to most people who have been following the sport for a while. The UFC rankings don't

mean anything. They don't mean anything. They are a joke. They are a joke. It's fake. it's bullshit. Nobody cares about the UFC rankings. Nor should they.

It means nothing. It means nothing. These are their own rankings. Look at the list of media members that are a part of this. Some of them are legit. Some of them don't even cover the sport anymore. And they're part of it. None of that matters.

What does matter is that the UFC, is presenting this man as the number one pound for pound guy. Go look at social media. Go look at all their social media. Anything involving Islam Makachevs on Saturday starts off by saying the number one pound for pound guy. The UFC rankings don't mean anything. They don't mean shit. They don't get any extra money for being number one, number two, number three.

It's just to make the graphic look a little shinier. That's it. That's it. Who cares? Like, honestly, who cares? Those rankings mean nothing. I don't think Mockachachin gives two shits that the UFC has Volkadovsky as number one. Because he understands, none of it matters.

None of it matters. It's a joke. The UFC rankings have been a joke for a long time. I told you, like, months ago, like, even before the Adasania-Perera fight, go back to, like, September, October. Well, we first started talking about this fight as something. And I said, if they booked this fight, I will guarantee you that no matter what happens,

by the time they get to fight night, that's got to be number one versus number two. Even if Adasanya beat Pereira, I would have guaranteed you that the ranking cycle prior to that fight would have had Machachev at number two, no matter who was there before him. It's for marketing. That's it.

the rankings, the UFC rankings mean nothing. They mean nothing. And in a lot of ways, titles don't mean a lot either in the UFC. AK preaches about it all the time. Titles are props. Titles are props. And I think the UFC has proved over the years that there are props often, oftentimes. Just like the rankings.

It's just a number. They don't mean anything. So don't get bought, like, I implore anybody. Don't get bogged down by UFC rankings because they don't mean anything. And over the years, we have seen people who are part of the rankings come out and show proof that sometimes the UFC will be like, hey, when you vote, you should vote this way. We highly recommend you and encourage you to vote this way. The proof is out there.

So I wouldn't get too bogged down by that. It's not going to affect how Islam Makachep looks at fight. at all. It's not going to. Nor should it. But if we're looking at it from a business perspective, what is in front of his on Machachev right now? If he's looking at it from all angles, competitively, financially, business-wise, all of it, Volcanowski is his biggest fight right now. It is the biggest fight he can get. Because even if he, look, Connor's the biggest star of the sport. He's about to fight Michael Chandler. It's probably not to be to like October or November.

But even if Connor wins and Mokachev's the champion, like I think there's a part of Mokachev understands that there's financial, there's some good finances heading his way if he fights Connor, but I don't think he wants to put himself through a build to fighting Connor McGregor. He's already been there. He's seen it with Habib. That was ugly. It was a dark moment in the history of the sport.

Dark moment for his team. dark moment for Habib, dark moments for Connor. And do, like, is anyone get a care? Like, maybe Connor could do it, but, like, Islam's a minus 800 favorite against Connor McGregor. I think Malkichick just wants to compete and be the man. And if he can get a couple extra bucks, cool. But right this second, the biggest fight he can realistically get right now that checks off all

those boxes is the Volkanowski rematch. It's the fight most fans want to see right now. Like I said, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it right now. I would let it permeate a little bit. Let Volk fight Jaire. Let him fight Arlalian. Maybe fight it to Poir or Marvzar of Lov, depending on where they're at. Mokachev fights Darius. Maybe at Porier. One more guy. maybe rematches Saurukian, one of these up and comers Fiziv. I mean, they both have things they can do in their own divisions. And then like two years from now when Volk is in Islam are like, hey, we're on the last leg here, we're going on the last laps.

Let's do it one more time. Because I think at some point Makhv can be like, oh, I just ran through everybody, but there's one guy I didn't. It's Volk. I want to fight him again. But we'll see. Yeah, I do, I, I, the UFC rankings, don't worry about that stuff because it doesn't mean anything. This episode is brought to you by Peloton.

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Let's go to Four Corner Sports is waiting for a minute, so let's go to him. What's up? Four Corner Sports. You're muted. Can't hear you.

All right, can we know? Yeah, got you. All right, so I'm not going to really talk about the allegations as for Dan Hooker and stuff like that, although I just think that it was just very interesting, that he pointed that out. I remember I mentioned on the previous show that Islam was going to have to cut a lot of weight in, what is it, 48 hours. So, I mean, if it's true, then the UFC should just, you know, strip them over the title.

But I think there needs to be more evidence that comes out before any real actions comes. As for the main event, I had it originally in real time. I had it as Volcanozegovsky, 48, 47, him winning rounds two, three, and five. But then after rewatching it two or three times, I understood what people were saying it was 48, 47 Islam. I mean, it's really dependent on how you try to view it, but it's either here or either there. I do think that, and I'm kind of bothered by it. Now, I love the fact that Charles Oliver was there. Why?

Because it shows that he wants to be back into the title next. You know who wasn't there? One, Benio Derrius. Now, Mike, what was the last time you heard Vanio Darius all fired out or something? Right? What was the last time you think it was? It was when he ended up calling out Elon Musk, right? For the stupid Tesla that he wanted, right?

That was the only time that we've ever heard Benio Darius all fired up, right? And then he ended again the Tesla. I think that if Veneo Darius would have put it out to the same way that CEPA did after the John Jones, Sir Rogen, by ended up breaking out, right, on the news ended up getting announced. If Venei Darius would have just said,

hey, I got next, I think that one, maybe the USC would have, you know, so, hey, maybe he's being serious instead of him wanting 10 fights.

And I think it's really stupid that he, that he said that after his fight over Mazzouche Gamron. I don't know, once the next time we're going to see Benio Darius, you know, get close enough to a title shot. Just because I think that Hammond versus Charles, I mean, I favor Benio Darius, but for all we know, Benio Darius, you know, might have to fight three or four times just after his stupid remark after defeating on Matush Gamra. And as for one more question that I had, what's going on with Chaos Williams?

I haven't heard anything about him. Is he fighting anytime soon? I was just wondering about that. That was actually a fight that I actually at one point wanted to see him fight on Jack Della Madelana just because of the chaos. But I was satisfied with him fighting Randy Brown. All right, thanks, Mike. Yep, there we go.

Thank you very much, as always. I think chaos is booked. I'm pretty sure he is booked. But let me just check it real quick. He is booked. He's fighting. May 6th, which will be UFC 288, against Rolando Bedoya, a newcomer.

So yes, chaos is on the books. So there you go. Chaos hasn't fought in a minute. What was the last time you fought? By the time they fight, it'll be just about a year. It'll be like 363 days since his last fight. So, yeah, Randy Brown is May 7th, 2022. This file will be May 6, 2023.

So chaos is on the books. So rejoice chaos, fans. You're good. PJ do we have you. What's up? Can you hear me? Yes, sir. All right.

What's going on? My bad for the connection earlier. So I have a question. I just wanted to see what everybody's kind of like take it, take on it is. Is that like in the fight? So I'm a little new to the sport, right? I've only been watching it for about a year or so no. And I had Vogue 3-2.

Three rounds or two rounds. I'd Voke winning that fight. Because, you know, I guess it's different with the judges, but a lot of times, from my perspective, when Islam had him on the ground, he didn't really do a whole lot to it. And that's been like the common narrative. It was like, well, control doesn't mean anything

if you don't do any damage to it, right? and then Islam ended up winning and I also feel like Volk kind of outstruck him on the ground a little bit and even whenever Islam had control of course but that's just it's just I feel like there needs to be a finer line to it is like does control matter or does it not matter

because you know Patty would have lost the fight if if it was in the same like perspective you know what I'm saying or like I'm just naming different fights of how you know They view control as a huge deal, or they view control as it means nothing if you don't do damage with it. And the fight stats, I don't know if it's accurate or not, but on ESPN, the fight set showed that Islam didn't have a submission attempt either. So it was just confusing, but I want to know which else take it on it is.

So, yeah, I've seen a lot with this fourth round, and I scored a 10-9 for Makachov. I gave Macha Chiff that round. I understand, and that is the tough thing because it's always about damage and we are, it's been sort of engulfed in our brains that damages the loan priority here. Like if it's 50-50 and someone landed one big punch, that's the difference maker. And oftentimes that's probably true. I guess I would say like the only the only fight that you could really kind of compare this to and I have to go back and like watch this fight

to find out specifically which round that this happened but the Valentina Shepchenko-Tyla Santos fight where Valentina looked good on the feet was landing some strikes was kind of piecing Santos up a little bit and then Santos took her down, took her back and just held her there and a lot of people gave Valencia that round.

And the biggest reason was because she had about a minute or 90 seconds of, you know, she looked good on the feet. It didn't really happen in this round. This is different. Volk certainly landed strikes while he had his back taken, but not that was, like, damaging. Like, Mockchiev wasn't hurt or rattled by any of them. So to me, just having somebody's back, having him in a body triangle. and there were there were times where he was looking for the submission.

I mean, didn't have it under the neck, but he was across the, cross his face. That could have been fun. And there were a couple of instances of that. So I just don't think Volcanovsky had enough moments to negate that to me. Now, Volk sat there and just leg kicked him and landed like 20 strikes before that takedown. That's a different story.

But that didn't really happen here in that round. So to me, Malkichief won that round. I don't think damage played a factor at all, even though Volk landed a couple, even though Volk landed while he had his back taken, but to me it doesn't negate the next thing, which is control. And there's different types of control, right?

Macha Jeff could just hold him up against the fence and just stand there, and Vol could land some shots, but he's just pushing him against the fence. It's not the same thing here. Or Machchiev could be like in Volk's guard, and Volks's like landing elbows off of his back over and over again but Makashv's not doing anything like a great example is the

I want to was it Islam Mameneff against Benson Henderson or even that him against Brent Primus where took him down was in the guard on top but the guy that was on bottom Benson or Brent Primus in that case landing elbows over and over again and he's just in the guard laying there like that's different more by far the more dominant position is being is having the back having a body triangle at least trying to look for ways to finish the fight it's different it's just different in that case so

i don't think four is really up for debate i think two is up for debate uh but even just rewatching the second round i felt like that one moment from mokachev where he dinged volk and he dropped to a knee i think that one of the round and one's very close and even like I think honestly and this might be a hot take and I'll just come on and say it you can make I think there's a better case Mokachev wins the third round over Volcanowski winning the fourth round not much but I think there's more of a case if you go back and watch it again you'll you'll kind of see where I'm coming from but but I get it man it's just such a close fight it's a game of inches and that's what makes it so

fascinated. That's what made that matchup just so good and so interesting, especially with the rewatch. I'm trying to get Poppy in, but doesn't look like it's happening. Oh, maybe. Do we have you, Poppy? No, we do not. Let's go to Anthony. Now we'll go to Omar, Urshad. We'll get to everybody that's waiting. Yeah, I do a morning. I called in earlier last week, and I said I felt like the line should have been switched for Charles and Volok against Islam. Lo and behold, I was right. And then I called in on Friday saying, what would they say if it was a splity or close? And now we're seeing what they're saying. And it's pretty crazy. It's pretty funny, to be honest. But I just did a little research on this IV hydration. And it said it would only be in your system for like a couple hours.

And then I was like, what would be in your system? So I looked up the, what would it leave in your system? And it's just like carbs, proteins. And like, so I don't even know how they would test for that. So based on that, do you think like, I don't know, if I read the, that and I was a UFC fighter. I mean, I would start asking around and, you know, especially if you know, like, you're not going to get tested right before the fight. I know some of them do, but, you know, right after you get tested, you know, shit, they could probably pop one of those in. I don't know. It seems pretty easy. That's all. Have a heck of good morning. Yeah, I think you kind of nailed it there. I mean, look, but if we're being honest with ourselves, I would say, and I don't know this for a fact, but, If some, like, if it was proven that like half the roster was doing IVs, it wouldn't surprise me. Like, it really wouldn't. You got to do what you got to do.

But again, I don't know. This is a weird, this is a very weird thing. You're just throwing it out without any proof. And I don't know. And we don't know the whole story. So I saw like some outlets were just posting this as if it was news. And like, you can't do that. without getting the other side of the equation,

which is why we didn't write anything about it until we heard from other people. We saw one of Islam's managers react to it on Twitter. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see if some proof actually pops up when it comes to this. And if so, did Islam get a pass? Was the UFC aware of it? If they weren't, how are they going to handle it?

A lot to unpack with that. But right now it's just an allegation. and that's all we can go by. Omar, hello. Hey, Mike, how you doing? Good, how are you? I'm doing good. So I have a couple of things to get off my chest,

mainly about the main event. Going into the main event, I thought it would be pretty close. Like, a lot of people, I didn't really understand how they were discounting Volcanowski, especially because, like, Max always is one of my favorite fighters

and seeing how he, like, basically destroyed him. And, like, it really broke my heart, but, you know, it really gave me a lot of respectful from Volk. And I thought he deserved pound for pound number one over Komaro even before he lost to Leon. And so I thought it would be a close fight, but I really don't like how Volcanowski is handling the loss. Like even in Abu Dhabi, he said like my number one pound for pounds on the line. And now like he started defending like, oh, I was coming from a lower weight class.

I did pretty good. I don't really like that. I don't like the IV accusations without like any like proof. and Josh Thompson and John McCarthy were talking about this that like his own looked a lot smaller, a lot more flat, not as explosive as he did for the Charles fight. I don't know if it was a bad of weight cut, but I used to wrestle and like sometimes like when you cut weight,

you don't take into account how much muscle you're losing when you cut really fast. So I think he might have done that. And he's sort of like hinting at it after the fight where he was like, some things went wrong and this and that. But, yeah, I just want to know what your thoughts are on those things and, and, like, what your thoughts are on, like, how Volkanowski's handling it. Because I feel like he's, like, a pretty humble champion, but, like, there's just some things, like, and, like, how, like, Ariel's, like, promoting more Volk than, like,

is on me winning. I feel like a lot of people, like, I feel like Volk definitely deserves credit. But, like, how good Islam looked on the feet with, like, in my opinion, one of the best strikers and the entire division isn't getting talked about enough. So, yeah, those are my thoughts. And good morning, guys. Yeah, I mean, look, and I've been preaching this since Saturday, since after the fight ended.

Volt deserves all the attention in the credit he's getting 100%. But to leave Mockachev out of this is just short-sighted and wrong. It just is. And I know the big story is going up and waiting. and all that. Get it. But Volk didn't seem like out of place there. Like he just,

he didn't seem out of place. You know what I mean? Like this wasn't, this wasn't Adasanya, Anbahovic. Like Janbojovic looked 25 pounds heavier than Israel Adesania

when they fought for the, for the light heavyweight title. The height, obviously, you don't take into account, but the thickness, the weight, you could see that Blahovich was just way bigger, way bigger. I didn't see that here.

And I really didn't see it throughout the build, honestly. I didn't take that into as much account as a lot of other people did. Because Volk's pretty big dude. And he's strong as hell. And he even said, like, on fight night, he was like over, he was like 170 or above. So him saying that tells me that the weight class thing, especially with the preparation from Volcanovsky didn't play wasn't a humongous

factor in the fight. It just wasn't. Now normally when we talk about Josh Thompson and stuff like I mean, look Josh's teammates with Islam Makachats. So you can

look at it in one of two ways. One, I know some people thought he was making an excuse for Islam because they're close and because they have a relationship because they're teammates. and two, maybe he just has a lot of insight because he's been working with Mokachev for a long-ass time. I tend to lean more towards the latter here.

But again, you're also dealing with not just, in a lot of people's eyes, the best fighter in the planet, you're dealing with one of the smartest fighters in the planet, guy with tremendous fight IQ, and Volk showed his master chess strategy throughout that entire fight. I don't know. I don't think there's excuses that can be made either way. I think both guys, I think both guys fought their asses off, and Makachev won.

And Volk had a great showing for himself. Like this, this to me, the way this all played out was the best, I think it's the best possible outcome. it's the best possible outcome because both of their next fights, whether they're against each other or against other people, are way more interesting now than they were heading in. Like, I was fascinated by Mokachev versus Darius. Like, I was into it more so because I'd just feel like, what else does Benny Darius have to do to get a title shot?

But after watching how Volk fought him, that is a really interesting fight now. Like, I think Darius is much more alive than I thought heading in. And on the flip side, after watching what Yaiyir Rodriguez did to Josh Emmett, I wasn't all that into, like, Volk to me, I thought Volk would just destroy either of those two guys. And after seeing Yair level up the way that he did, I still think Volk Rovsey's going to beat him. I don't think the fight is tremendously competitive, but it's more competitive. competitive than I thought it was going to be heading into 284.

So in the fight, we just ruled. I don't know why I expected us to just all be in great places with this fight, where it's, oh, mate, the two best fighters in the world just did the damn thing, and it was everything we could have hoped it would be. And we're just not really getting that here, and I'm kind of surprised by it. I mean, I probably shouldn't be, but I figured if we were going to, break that wall down. This would be the fight to get us there, but apparently not.

Barbarusa, hello. Hi, Mike. How are you doing? Good. Good, good. I just want to talk about the interview of Volkanowski yesterday with Harwani. I thought he was a bit of a sore loser because he was throwing the accusation of the IV. and if we have seen Makashchev before, we can see that this weight cut was bad and it affected him in the later round.

So this is why I don't know. And if they were true, I hope he gets stripped. But if they are not, what should be the precautions for them, for their team? because you can't accuse anybody with heavy shots and then nothing comes back if you are wrong. And on the other side, I don't get it yesterday. Volcanovsky was saying if we were the same weight or the same, I don't know, the same size,

I would squash him, I would have crushed him. I don't know what does this even mean? We have seen Adisania going up in the weight class and it was 20 pounds weight difference. And the people weren't praising him that much, but Volkanowski went only 10 pounds. And he had a better reach for the hand. What does this even mean if we wear the same size? If they were the same size, should we take their souls out and everybody and our bodies that's exactly equal?

because it helped him the size that he's short, compact, and has a longer arm. I just, I found it really silly from him yesterday. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. Yeah, I've heard a lot of that. I don't love that argument. I really don't. I really don't. Because, I mean, if you look at it and Volk even said himself, 170 plus, I don't think

Makachov was that far away. So I just don't think the size thing plays in like outside of heights. I don't think the size is that big of a difference. I really don't. I think this is about as far as one fighter moving up to fight the other guy, it's about as close as you're going to get, honestly. So I don't take much into account here. I don't think that fight goes a hell of a lot differently.

Like bulk bulked up. put on size to like match up what what islam how to do like the only real difference is that is um you know had a cut probably his weight cut was probably tougher than volkanowski's but it's not like maca chep was 195 on saturday and volk was once like 155 or 156 like you just walked on the scale and then walked into the octagon like it's not i don't think there was that much of a difference honestly, I just don't. Yeah, I've, a lot of people haven't loved how Volk has reacted to all of this, but again,

that's what you need to get you past it. Do your thing, bro. Leo, what's up? Hey, Mike, heck, good morning. Yeah, I agree with a lot of people are saying with the sentiment of how Alex is responding specifically on Ariel's

show he said that he doesn't Ariel was like are you going to move up and wait and permanently stay at 155 and he was like I still think I need two divisions to keep me busy which I was like

oh come on man but aside from all of this I Park Reporter still my number one pound for pound fighter um

no no i really do like parker porter though i've always i've always liked it but uh aside from this i wanted to ask you what uh who are you most excited for maybe and why uh the return of uh bones or mcgregor and uh yeah thank you so much for the show i enjoy listening this morning and uh have a heck of a morning everyone thanks buddy Hmm. I don't know. It's probably, I don't know. I'm intrigued by both comebacks. It's probably John Jones, just because it's so close. And yeah, it's probably John at this point. Connor, I just need to see him on tough and see how he handles himself and see if he can even make it to the fight. I don't know. I have questions about both guys getting to where they need to get,

but John's just closer, and he's on a billboard, and this fight is less than three weeks away from happening, so it's probably John. But I'm not confident in that pick. I don't know. It's obviously both guys coming back because big for the sport and big for the UFC, but let's see how consistent they can be.

What's up? Mike, how are you? Oh, for sure. I mean, I want to just tabletop off what you just said, because I think that's a very interesting conversation. I mean, I think Connor still's got to get in these Sadapoor, right? I mean, I don't know if he's going to get the Connor McGregor Ace Joker card, whatever the hell he owns because he's Connor,

but this guy still hasn't passed a drug test, and who knows how long and who knows what's in his body right now, man. He looks like the goddamn Incredible Hulk. With that being said, I kind of want to take a little bit off of this main event, and then we'll go back to it real quick. Let's talk about next week's main event. I feel horrible for everyone.

I feel like the Talas Santos fight was great. I thought it was UFC fight night main event worthy. I thought we're going to get five rounds of MMA. I thought it was going to be a very technical fight. She is going into war on Saturday. And as a New Jersey resident, I am scared for my life rooting for her. I wish her the best of luck. I will sit there and go to battle.

However, Jessica on, Josh is scary. Oh, my God. What do you think about Saturday? And lastly, I just watched it over again. Am I crazy to think Islam won that fight? not Islam, Alexander Volcanowski. I mean, maybe he didn't win it. Maybe it was definitely Islam 48, 47.

I think that's what John Anick said after the rewatch. However, I think 49-46 is a horrible scorecard and it's not getting enough attention. Mike, have yourself a heck of a week. So I'll start with the Blanchefield thing. Yeah, it's interesting. I was going to... I didn't love the Santos batch of for her either at this point,

but I found paths. Andrade on like nine days notice, tough. It's tough. But we'll see. We'll see. I don't, I think her and her team weighed out the pros and cons. And I think the pros are weigh the cons. If she is at all competitive with Jessica Andrade and loses, doesn't do a whole lot against her, honestly. I think she'll be fine. She's 24, 25. She's got a long career ahead of her. And if she beats Jessica Androge, she's getting a title shot. Like, she's getting it. I didn't think she would necessarily get it beating Tilos Santos.

She would have a case for it, for sure. But I think the UFC would have waited on it, maybe given her one more. But if she beats Jessica Andrade on short notice, she's getting a title shot. She's getting the winner of Chepchenko versus Grasso for sure. and if she loses and it's somewhat competitive, it doesn't hurt her that much. So the pros, cons, all there. I do disagree with you on the scoring

because I think there is a case to be made for 4946 Islam, just like there's a case to be made for 48, 47, Volkovsky. You could have given Mockachachep first four rounds. You could have. If you scored it 49-46 for Mokachachan, I don't think it's a terrible card. I don't.

Personally, it's not how I scored it. But especially after rewatching the fight this morning, Makachev won the first, Makachov won the second, Makachov won the fourth, Volk won the fifth, three was interesting. I scored it for Volk both times,

but if you told me Makachov won that third round, it's not, I don't think it's that bad of a card. I really don't. There is a case to be made for 49-46 Makachiev. So I don't think it's that bad of a scorecard. There are a lot of people on Saturday watching it live who had Machachev up 3027 after three rounds.

A lot of people. So I don't have an issue with that. Bobby, do we have you? You do not. All right. I get it going. Holy shit. Let's try Escanor.

Do we have you? Hi. Mike. Hi, everybody. What's going on? Yeah, good. I'm just going to go straight to the point. I was just wondering,

do you think a challenge is coming on the championship fight deserve the title on the close fight? Wait, say that one more time? Do you think a challenger is coming on a title shot deserved the champion on the close fight because the fight was pretty close. And when I look back to Markatchev's side, you went all the way through Australia.

There's a lot of things going on. I felt like the fight was too close for Vox to win the title. So I felt like he didn't outclass, Mark Hatcher. So I should take it come down. Yeah, so I remember probably like five, six years ago, there was always this talk that, you know, to be the champ, you got to beat him. You got to beat him convincingly.

You got to beat him like four rounds to one. Otherwise, like, you don't beat them. I never brought into that and like the more I've gotten into the space the less I buy into that yeah I don't think it played much of a factor here I was actually surprised that not one judge

gave it for Volk gave it to Volk I thought we were going to Splitty City for sure it didn't happen so yeah it's tough But that argument, and I've heard it a lot over the years, you know, the Volt didn't outclass him. He didn't beat beat the champion.

It doesn't really work that way. It doesn't really work that way. But again, Volk lost, but his stock still rose. Can't really go wrong. Of course, you want to win every fight, and it was close. But I think more people, and you've heard, heard it here today, more people are talking about Volkanowski than they are, Islam Makachev, fair or unfair. All right, last one. Amir,

and then I got to go. Amir. Yeah, hi Mike. Thanks for the opportunity to give my opinion. Sure. I had a question to you regarding the fact that maybe you already talked about it because I joined a bit later, what do you think about the fact that Dan Hooker is accusing Machashev of using an IV and also what's your take on the fact that a lot of people are saying folk is still pound for pound number one even though it were his own words saying it's it's on the line if he loses thanks yeah yeah we kind of we address both of those things but yeah the hooker

accusation. It's tough without proof. That's that's kind of the constant. And the pound for pound thing, it is what it is, man. People have their own definitions for it. I gave it to Machachev over Volk. And as I said earlier, like in our rankings, I have Bakachev number one. I don't love it. I'm not thrilled about it. But I wouldn't, I'd feel the same way if I had Volk up there. I'd be questioning it left and right. Because the only really the only true answer to these questions is having these guys fight each other and they fought each other and Machachev won.

So to me, I can't have Volk won even though I was incredibly impressed by him and I think he might be the better like just more complete fighter. But at the end of the day, that doesn't matter because they fought and they gave their role.

They went all five rounds and all three judges, the people who matter in this conversation, all scored it for Islam Makachev. And I scored it for Islam Makachev. So to me, I can't put Volk one because he didn't win. So Makachov's there, the number one guy. But the way I've kind of theorized it to myself is that they're not one and two. They're one A and one B.

where Machachev's 1A, Volkanovsky's 1B, and the next guy's number three. That's how I have it in my own mind right now. And if Volkanowski fights Yahir before Islam fights next, and Volk goes out there and does Volk things to Yaya Rodriguez and stops him in the fourth round or just dominates him, next ragging cycle, probably be Volkanowski number one. And if Mokachev goes and defends his title and has a dominant win,

boom. probably takes it over. But again, come March 5th, none of this might not even matter because if John Jones goes out there and kills Cyril Gahn and just runs him completely over, John might be, I mean,

John's right in the conversation. He's probably number one. It's probably the guy. If he does that to Cyril Gond. So none of this, like, none of this may even matter come three weeks from now. Terrence, I know you've been waiting for a minute,

so I'll get you in. and then I have to go. Hey, thanks for me and Mike. I didn't even, I was expecting you to answer because then he said I have to go, so I appreciate it. So you can hear me correct? I got you, yep.

So one of the things, a lot of stuff, they already talk, you guys already talked about, so I'm not going to rehash that stuff. One thing I wanted to talk about is Tatiana Suarez's come back in roughly like two weeks or so.

So with that being said, I think her relationship with Pacu mentioned, like, has, like, basically they have been helping each other out in regards to, like, their career and, like, growth and development, like, ever since, like, they got together, it seems like he's done better and look at it, like, where he's been. So if she's even more assertive than what she was for,

she's going to be a killer. And I know, like, people are saying, like, oh, regardless, like, win or lose for Jessica Andrars, her next match is going to be against Rose. but I think Tatyuan is in play for either one of them if she dominates like I think she's going to I just want to hear your thoughts on that and then the other thing I wanted to talk about is Islam so I'm not going to bring up like the whole like who won or whatever but when it comes to like his actual like motivation and being like strict with everything

I think he needs to be to be there and I think that he wasn't like a hundred 100%. And allegedly he was like out partying and there's like pictures floating around him, like just doing stuff that is out of character for him. And I'm something that I think could be wouldn't stand for. So I think he wasn't as focused. And it's almost like a kid getting away from their parents type thing where, oh, this person isn't around. I'm going to go ahead and do this. And he kind of said that like, it's like, after the call, I talked to Khabi. And he was like, oh, you should have this or you should did that. And it's almost like, well, I could have did those things if you were here, but you weren't here. So did,

use, find any credence or that's probably not the correct word, but any validation into like what I'm saying, that that probably could have also affected his performance too. That's all. Thank you. And maybe. I'm sure there's a part of it. I mean, we kept

bringing it up, right? Well, Habib not being there affect Islam. Most people kind of shrugged it off. And I think there's something to that, but at the end of the day, it didn't matter because he won. He still won. he won the fight the people that matter in scoring the fight all scored it for him so i think it's

actually better for him that he'll be he's not there uh may not been the best performance of his career and who knows how much that factored in or didn't factor it there's only a couple people in the world who actually know the answer to that question so i don't factor it in too much uh i'm sure some of the fight week stuff not having him around may have been tough but again that's the beauty of technology. You can just FaceTime, call Habib, anytime you need him, and you can just talk to him there. I know it's not exactly the same,

but I don't take a ton of stock into that. Because he needs to create his own identity as a fighter. And I think beating Volk, even though it's a tough fight, even though he's not getting the credit he probably deserves for that performance, that's a step in the right

direction in terms of being him and not being Habib's guy. So I think that's important. And then the Suarez thing, like, I don't, I agree with everything you just said. The one thing I don't agree with is that Androge should fight Rose, win or lose if she beats against Aaron Blanchfield, because I don't agree with that. Because if Androge loses to Aaron Blanchfield, then the Rose fight, to me, is off the table altogether. But if she wins, the Rose fight's probably still on the table and on and on we go.

But she's got to win. She's got to win. If she waited, Rose is probably the fight. but she didn't want to wait. So, Rose is still in play, but if she loses to Aaron, it's not in play anymore. I don't think so. And we'll see what happens to Tatiana Suarez when she fights Montana de la Rosa. And Tatiana said many times that she wants to go back to 15, so maybe her and Kara Sparza would be a good one.

That'd be a fun one. And then we kind of go from there. All right, I've got to go. I've gone like 30, almost 30 minutes longer than I was playing. landing on but you guys rule thank you very much if i didn't get to you i apologize we'll be back on thursday and i will get to you so i'm taking you a little screeny boom terino viking m mma come back thursday you guys get to jump the line all right you guys will be cutting everybody as soon as you put in your request but yeah what a what a weekend uh thank you

to all of you watch the watch party, the numbers are just ridiculous, they just continue to rise, even as each day goes by, which I think is pretty cool. We got the green light for the next two watch parties for March, so we're definitely doing it for 285. We're definitely doing it for 286,

and I would assume we're just going to keep on doing them. But we are a go for both March pay-views, myself GC, some special guests. They're just so much fun. They kill me in terms of like how tired I am by the time I get home. Late Sunday night, I need like a full day to just rest of my voice

and just like rest at like in general when it's all said and done. But it's just so worth it to do those shows and be a part of that crew. It's it's the best. So thank you all for checking that out. Back on Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern, we'll do it again.

Thursday is going to be a great day because it is officially confirmed. Some breaking news. I've been teasing it, but you never know if it's actually going to happen until it does. But Thursday, BTL, it'll be Jedmishu versus Luke Thomas. It is a done deal.

It is happening. Official confirmation this morning from the Luke Thomas side. It's going down. 12.30 p.m. Eastern time. on Thursday, BTL, Jed versus Luke, the takes will be spicy. So thank you very much.

Back on Thursday, have a great rest of the day. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.