MMA Fighting - HOAM | Should Valentina Shevchenko Rematch, Or Erin Blanchfield Be Next For New Champ Alexa Grasso?

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

After Alexa Grasso shocked the world with her submission win over Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event of UFC 285 to capture the flyweight title, should she run it right back with Shevchenko, or should the surging Erin Blanchfield get her chance to fight for the championship first? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the flyweight division, and how things shape up after this past Saturday's pay-per-view event. Additionally, Free-For-All Friday topics include Jon Jones' future after a fight with Stipe Miocic, what could be next for Kamaru Usman win or lose next Saturday at UFC 286, Justin Gaethje's title contention hopes heading into his fight with Rafael Fiziev, the current state of pro wrestling, best fights of all-time, 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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Bundled for more value. Shop before they're gone. In-store online at Sephora.com. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, everybody. It is Friday, March 10th, 2020, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter Spaces. We hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter, on the M.A.

fighting podcasting network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a fantastic Friday. It is Fight Day for Bellator MMA, Bellator 292, going down to night. It is a damn good main card. Very excited for Usman Nirmaga Madoff's first title defense against the gritty, tough, wily veteran Benson Henderson. They fight right before that, the Colmate event, the first fight in the lightweight Grand Prix for Bellator, Alexander Shobli versus Tophik MSAif. If there is an under-the-radar, low-key banger anywhere in MMA, this weekend, or maybe this entire

month, that fight might be in, might be the one. Because nobody's talking about it. Nobody's talking about it. All eyes are on the main event. I totally understand that. But this Shabli versus Messiah fight friggin rules. And I am excited for that one. We got Balantin Boldovsky versus Linton Vassell. We have Michael Venom Page versus Goichi Amahuchi. That's an interesting, fun fight. Spellatory card is really, really good. So I would suggest if you are a mixed martial arts fan and you are in the space, so I assume that you are, don't miss that one. I think it's a better card. It's a better main card than the UFC's. I think it's a better card in total than the UFC's offering on Saturday. So there's a lot to like about that one. Of course, the UFC is

back tomorrow. UFC Las Vegas. Love the start time. Very much in Facebook. of it. 3 p.m. Eastern prelims, 6 p.m. Eastern main card. This is the way all fight night cards should be, in my humble opinion. But who am I to complain when our international fans have to stay up basically overnight to watch these cards? But I just think this is a perfect time frame for a non-paper view card. And then it's on roads to UFC 286 in London, watch party going down next Saturday. A little bit of an earlier start time for that card as And that also makes me happy. Today just makes me happy.

I'm just in a really good mood. And it is a free-for-all Friday. So we can talk about the Bellator car. We can talk about the UFC car. We can talk about UFC 285. We can talk about UFC 286. We can talk about pro wrestling. We can talk about whatever you want.

It's your show. And that's what we're going to do for the next hour or so. So I believe Max was first in line. So we will begin there. Max, hello. Heck of a morning, Mike. Thanks for letting me start off this free for all Friday. How are you doing today?

I'm doing great. How are you? I'm doing quite well. Literally just woke up like five minutes ago. So it's a good thing I hopped on this chat. It's a great way to start the morning. So cheers, brother. We can ask about anything.

I might as well ask about two things that have nothing to do with MMA. So let's just go for it. What is your go-to fast food? You know, like let's say you're just, you know, you're really itching for some greasy meat. What is your go-to fast food restaurant slash meal? And then I'd also like to ask about how do you feel by AEW? I'm going to be seeing them live this upcoming Wednesdays.

So I'd like to know. I know you're a little bit low on them before, and, you know, that's, that's a-okay. But I'd like to know how you're feeling about them now. Are you still feeling they're a little bit stinky or are you feeling like you're a bigger fan nowadays? Anyways, thanks for the time, brother. And I hope you have a great Friday. Cheers. Thanks, man.

So I'm not like a huge fast food guy. I'll eat fast food if I have to make a long drive or something. Or it's like super late at night and there's nothing else open. But I will say if I have to choose, Wendy's wins. I am a big fan of the Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich. It's my go-to if I have to do fast food. Love it. It's delightful.

It's delicious. And my kid loves their chicken nuggets. And there's a Wendy's literally two minutes from my house, which is a beautiful thing. As far as AEW goes, man. I will say I watched the pay-per-view. It was pretty good. The main event was incredible. MJF and Brian Danielson tore the frigging house down.

That will probably be, like, if that's not the match of the year at the end of 2023, then this is going to be a damn good year for pro wrestling. But that match is incredible. The problem I had with the pay-per-view and the problem I continue to have with AEW is that, the booking of everything makes no sense. It makes no sense. Like, I appreciate what MJF and Brian Danielson did. That match was unbelievable.

And if you're like a fringe pro wrestling fan, if you can find that, it's worth your 67 minutes, I can assure you. It was incredible. But the lead up to that was terrible. Nobody cared about Brian Danielson. And MJF was like two MJF.

leading into it. And it was their first match. It was their first match ever. And we're going to do a friggin' Ironman match. None of it makes sense. The Wednesday shows are terrible. They are God awful. They have been brutal for the last month or so.

Last, and I tried to watch last Wednesdays. I'm like, all right, they're coming off a pay-per-view. They've got a lot of good buzz. And that show sucks. It's just awful. Tony Khan is one of the worst bookers in pro wrestling history. he's just not good at his job there are other things he is very good at

but they need to bring somebody in to book a television show because it's just brutal to watch it's just nothing gets going everything is it's just too much and nothing makes sense nothing makes sense I don't need the 20 team battle royals

I don't need all the ladder matches for random spots on random cards like I don't need that just give me decent matches give me some story. Give me that. But AEW is just too much. It's just too much.

None of it makes sense. None of it makes sense. Paper view is pretty good, though. It was a fun watch. The main event rules. But the Wednesday show is stinky. It's so stinky. And WWE is not much better.

AEW like does too much with the wrestling. Like every match is like a half an hour. It's insane. But WWE is like one minute matches, commercial break. One more minute, commercial break, 45 minutes of talking, six minute match, commercial break, more talking. Oh, after all the talking, you know what WDF does?

A talk show. They do talk shows in the middle of the ring. After an hour full of promos. Why? Piper's pits were like four minutes long. We have to do an MVP lounge for 45 minutes. Get off of me. pro wrestling's in a tough spot right now

these weekly shows got to get better raw is really hard to watch it's brutal three hours you can't do it there you go I'm off my wrestling soapbox but I feel I'm going to be thrown back on there at some point Ani hello

thank you so much for having me hope you're doing well you too yes so um it is I mean it is free for but I will be in the neighborhood of MMA. So one, I mean, I'll start off by giving, you know, I just have a couple of thoughts that I'd like to share and then a fun question.

So the thoughts are, you know, I was just watching BTL before hopping on the way here. So I was listening to all the debates and, you know, it was nice. And I really appreciated and I was able to relate to what New Yorkerick had to say, with pound for pound being called. And he used the word skill. I think that was key. The word skill is usually, you know, thrown away. And we always talk about resumes.

But that's not the case. So the pound for pound thing was really nice. And I really like Jed because of the fact that all the people just get riled up just because of the way he presents himself. And that I find that to be very funny. He'd be a really nice pro wrestling manager. You know what? He should give a child. That was for real.

Like, you know, if Paul Heyman for some absolutely, you know, when Paul Heyman steps away, Jed should be there because I feel like he can slip into his shoes oh so easily. Anyway, moving on. So when it comes to Valentina Schoferchenko and Alexa Grasso, there was this debate about, was it the biggest upset? What is the biggest upset? And would Valentina Shafchenko versus Alexa Grasso make the Mount Rush more of the upsets?

I think it should because of the way it happened. The thing with Amanda Nunes and Juliana Pena, I mean, I'm still torn between which one is better because Amanda Nunes looked like Amanda Nunes in the first round. And then in the second round, I think she had an adrenaline dump. And I think we can agree on that just because we've seen. how the third fight went. And I don't think it's disrespectful towards Juliana Penaa to say that Amanda Nunez had an adrenaline dumpin, which is why she lost.

She underestimated Juliana Pena. So Juliana just mentally out-tuffed her in that match. But when it comes to Valentina Shepchenko, one thing that we are not used to seeing is her making mistakes. Valentina Shepchenko does not make mistakes at all. And the story. The story leading into the fight was she said, you know, you keep talking about my weaknesses. Make sure you don't forget your weaknesses.

And Alexa Grasso capitalized on Valentina Shepchenko's, you know, momentary lapse of judgment. And that was shocking to see. It was shocking to see another UFC flyweight technically find a hole in Valentina Shepchenko's game. That was shocking. So I would say, like, if a hardcore MMA fan was to, you know, put shocks on, you know, raid the shocks on Mount Rushmore of, you know, these upsets, I think Valentinas would be a first because they look at the technicalities of this. But anyway, I would like to finish off with something fun.

I think AK would like this as well. Just for fun, why don't you give me a match that would absolutely, end someone's career. Something like a Paddy Pimplet versus Sarmann Saru Kian. You know what I mean? Just to have fun. That's what I'd like to end with. Thank you, Mike.

Hacker for morning. We started off like so positive and now you want me to come up with a matchup that will end a fighter's career? Holy smokes. I would say, I mean, Patty's probably a great answer. You threw it out there,

so I'll just go with that. Patty against either Justin Gatier or Raphael Fiziv would be a really tough night for him. I don't know if it would end his career. I don't know if anybody in the UFC's career would end in a fight. Maybe it would, but it would be kind of a freakish thing. So I'll just go with that for now, but I'm not confident in that choice. The Chavchenko one, like, I can't put it in my Mount Rushmore, but I understand those who can. I mean, I just didn't think Alexa had a shot in this fight

and it wasn't because I didn't think she was a good fighter. I just felt like the timing of it all, the physicality between the two. I just felt stylistically on paper, Valentina, just matched up so well with Alexa. And Alexa just said, you know what? F what you think or anybody else thinks. I'm ready for this.

And she went out there, proved she could be physical, was ready for that spin kick, pounced on it, and won the damn fight. So, but Pena to me is number two. That's, that's number two for me. I don't think anything beats Matt Serra, GSP. Nothing will top that as far as upsets. I just don't see it happening.

But Pena, Nunes, and yeah, you could say there was a path to victory because Nunes has lost fights like that. Casey loves to say that. And he's not wrong. And I also just felt like Nunes is kind of right for the picking because she just didn't seem to care about this fight. But if Alexa Grasso fought Valentin, And the way I look at it, and New York, Rick, was kind of right about this.

We kind of have to see what happens in the next fight before we can judge. But if Valentina Shufchank, after watching that fight, if Valentina Shepchenko fought Alexa Grasso a hundred times, I would think Valentina would win like 70 of them. I think she'd win like 70% of them. But I think Alexa could win 30% of them. Like I feel pretty good about that. Maybe it's higher.

I don't know. But I wouldn't go any lower than that. But if Nunes fought Jules, Juliana Pena a hundred times. Nunes is winning that fight 99 times. She's winning that fight 99 times. And I respect Giuliana Pena. She is tough as hell.

That was... The rematch was like the most compelling ass kicking that I've ever seen. Where it was like, this is fun, but Penae is just getting worked right now, like in such a bad way. But at least Pena's toughness made that fight somewhat compelling.

So I'm with you on that one. And then the pound for pound stuff, I mean, we've talked about that a lot at this point. It's, it's an opinion thing. Pound for Pound is opinions. And I like the example of that's like trying to compare LeBron to Michael Jordan. Like you can't do it. It's two different times, two different errors. And now with Pound for Pound, it's like different weight classes and different opponents and different resumes.

It's just based on what you think. It could be who's the better fighter, who has the most skills, whose resume is better. There's so many ways you can look at it. But, man, fans just go bananas over this pound for pound stuff. I don't know why. I don't understand why people take it so seriously. It's like your opinion. It's your opinion.

But I mean, what an honor and a privilege this is right now. My best friend. The honor of privilege is all mine. Please, Mike, you embarrass me, my best friend. You embarrass me. And I don't always have time to chime in, but I'm happy to answer this question of a potential career-ending matchup.

First of all, I'm like, thank you for flying the good flag of Sarah GSP being the greatest upset of all time. I don't want to say it'll never get replaced. It's just, it's going to be so hard to because the circumstances that led up to that fight just can't be replicated. Like we just don't live in an age where you can get a title shot the way Matt Sarah did.

you can kind of catch a champion in the situation that like GFP was in like before his reign had really started like you know the rain that we know now it wasn't like I think people will kind of go back and think it was like it was during his like run I was like no it was like supposed to be his first teledefense and he biffed it

GSP just totally watched it so again it's really hard and then went on to arguably the greatest title run in MMA history so it's just really hard to replicate that if people want to put grass up there totally understand

Julianna Pena for sure. These are enormous upsets. But for me, and if they want to kind of separate eras, it's almost like maybe the pre, I don't know, the pre- Endeavor era or something and post-endevere era, okay, because again, it's just,

it's almost like, it wasn't that long ago, but it does feel like a different world now, the world where Sarah B, GSP. So thank you for reminding people of that. Because people keep trying to tell me, like, oh, this is the new one. This is the new biggest upset.

And I'm like, no, go back to the circumstances surrounding Sarah GSP. it's still mind-blowing this day. But yeah, and I'll quickly answer the question of, oh, you want to end someone, Mike, you want to end someone's career? This is a free for all Friday. And listen, this guy's got one foot out the door already. We all know it.

He signed an eight-fight contract recently or was amended, whatever. But I'll tell you something. John Jones, if he fights Jelton Al-Meda, that's a rap for John Jones, buddy. That's a rap for John Jones. I've said it. It fights never going to happen. Jones is going to beat Steepay.

may and then you know hang around a little bit longer in the hopes that the ufc brings back francis and if that fight happens if john jones fights francis and beats him john jones is never fighting again i i can't see a world where he would ever fight again why he would fight at jelton almeda or sergey pavlovich like anyone that even has like the slightest chance of upsetting him but that he gains nothing from beating like i i like sergey prolevich i love jelton almeida john jones gains nothing from beating those guys. He gains nothing. They're not well-known people. I think they're really good heavyweights. I actually could give both

them a chance to beat him. But he would be favored, rightfully so, pretty big favorite, I think either. And if he wins, then what? It's another paycheck, which he probably does need. He's probably doing pretty well financially. So, but if that fight, if I could wave my onto the next one, Magic Juan, Mike, and

throw Johnson Almeda in there with John Jones. Right now, he ends John Jones' career. Hands of his first loss, and John Jones is like, I'm out. I didn't. didn't know it was like this. I'm out of here. Wow. I mean, if someone's like, Michael, give you $1,000 if you guess what fight AK would say, but you only have three guesses, I would have $1,000 extra dollars. 100%.

AK is just so good at this. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get a nice rank on. on Uber eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product

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Let's keep it rolling. Mikey bats. Perhaps. The wheel is spinning. Mikey try again. Let's try. I double A. Double A, hello.

Yes, what's up, buddy? Good. So, I just wanted to know your thoughts of Davidson Figuerreira. I'm calling out Dominic Cruz. As a Cruz fan, I think it'd be, and especially if the power translates for Figgy at 35, I think it'd be stupid for Dominic Cruz to take this fight. Okay, that's all I've got.

Have a great day, everyone. a pace. I mean, A.K., block your ears. Block your ears. Block them. Because it's coming. Keeping my feet in the sand. It's not a good call-out. I mean, it's a fine call-out. But it's not the right fight because the right fight is Davis and Figaro fighting Cody Garbrand. That's the right fight. That's the one. Dominic's not going to take that fight. Dominic can say no if he wants. He can say no. You know who, can't say no, Cody Garbrand can't say no. And Cody's the former champion.

Cody's got his back against the wall. And maybe, just maybe, Cody could defeat Davis and Figurato and get his career back on track. Because the Trevin Jones win, it was a win, but it didn't get his career back on track. There are probably more questions about Cody Garbrandt coming out of that fight than they were heading it. Go fight Davis and Figurato. You've got to be on your A game.

You got to mind those P's and those cues, but that's the correct answer. A.K., we knew it was coming. He beat feet out of here. He didn't want to have a fight with me on this. But yeah, that's the one I want to see. We were supposed to get it anyways. Let's just do it. Let's see if Cody can win.

Maybe he can. Maybe Cody can win that fight. I don't know. But that's the one I want to see. If he fights Cruz, sure. But I don't know. I don't know if I would pick Figgie in that fight. I don't know if I would pick him, but why not?

At least he won't take a lot of damage in that fight. He might get hit a bunch, but I don't think he won't get like brutally KO in that fight. CV, hello. Yo, Mike, hope you're having one heck of a Friday. You too. What's going on? Yeah, two quick non-MMA questions.

First off, any thoughts on the Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia fight? And second, since baseball is around the corner, man, how do you feel about you? your Red Sox this season, they had a pretty rough off season, and I don't see them coming out of the ALE East, man. How do you feel about that? I mean, we'll see. They're having an incredible spring training,

but someone told me about this. I was playing golf and had my Red Sox hat on the other day. And someone was like, oh, the Red Sox haven't lost the spring training game yet. And I was like, well, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But they had, like, they had the hosses. They just, there were injuries and all sorts of other things. So if they could say healthy, they can compete.

There's no doubt about it. I like some of the moves they made. I like the Turner signing. I like how they locked Devers up long term. They needed to get that done. Hopefully Chris Sale is back being, even if he's not the Chris Sale of old, even like 80% of Chris Sale is cool with me.

So, yeah, I mean, I'm cautiously optimistic, but if this is 10 years ago, I would be, I'd be on pins and needles, but, you know, if they make the playoffs, great. If they win 85 games and show some signs of life, great. They don't make the playoffs, it'll suck, but it won't ruin my year. But I think they can be okay. What I think is the best is when the Yankees just go bananas with their payroll,

and then they can't get out of the second round of the playoffs. It's just hilarious every time. And Aaron Judge has got this massive contract, and he's going to stink it up in the playoffs like he always does. And we're going to keep having these conversations, and it's going to be electric and hilarious, and I will laugh a lot about it. Garcia and Davis, dude, I mean, all I could say is, like,

I don't have, like, a technical breakdown of that fight, really. It's just the fight that needed to be made. and it was a fight that needed to be made for like the last year to two years, if not longer. But finally, the boxing gods have shined light

and we finally got a fight that needed to happen. We don't get it often, but apparently we're going to get it this time and I am fired up for it. They're doing the media tour, they're getting the buzz out there already.

We're still like six weeks away from it. By the time we get to the day, date. Oh man, I'm going to be fired up for that one. I ain't missing that flight. That's for sure. Let's go to Chase. What's up, Mike? Chase, how you doing, man? Doing good. How are you? Heck of a morning. You too. I've got a question really for Boston, Mike. What is your favorite Boston sports moment that you've witnessed, whether it's like a championship or a really cool career moment for a Boston athlete,

like what really sticks out to you as a fan. Oh man, there's a lot. There's a lot. As far as like the Celtics go, I was at a game where Larry Bird just went banana and dropped like 50 on the Portland Trailblazers. And this is like Old Band Bird where he had like a half, he had like no back. He had like Derek Lewis's back from three years ago. And the dude couldn't get up and down the floor.

But they had like a Sunday afternoon game. and I got the chance to go and bird just went off. It was like the old bird. Couldn't really move, but he couldn't miss a freaking shot. It was incredible. I was at Cam Neely's comeback game when he got like the cheapest hit of all time and he was out for a couple of years. And then he came back and scored a freaking goal in this comeback game.

So I was there for that. That was awesome. Patriots, I was working security at Foxborough Stadium during the Snowball game. which was awesome, so I was there, and I was basically up in the third section as a blizzard was pouring snow upon us for hours and hours and hours. But I got to watch the tuck rule game.

Vinatari make two of the most incredible kicks in the history of the NFL, and the Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl that year. And as far as the Red Sox go, I've been to a couple of playoff clinchers. And both were against the Angels, oddly enough. But the one that I will go with is 2004. David Ortiz, game three, ALDS.

Sox are kicking the holy hell out of the Angels. Vladimir Guerrero hits a grand slam to tie the game. And then Derek Lowe, of all people, comes out of the bullpen in the top of the ninth and pitches the Red Sox out of a tough jam. Collectively in the center field bleachers, when Derek Lowe trotted his tall, lanky ass out to the mound, we were like, oh, no, not Derek Lowe. And then Derek Lowe gets him out of the inning.

And then he ended up having an incredible postseason from there. And then Ortiz gets up in the bottom of a knife and just puts one over the green monster. And it was incredible. So I got to see some pretty cool moments. Definitely got to see some pretty cool moments. Let's go to Terence. Terrence.

Hey, what's up, Mike? What's up, buddy? How are you? Yeah. So I know I'm going to come off sounding like a hater, but when it comes to John Jones, I feel like he was either fighting injured or scared. Like he didn't, usually what people say, like, over the years of, like, being an MMA fandom and Twitter or what have you. Like, he finds whatever somebody's strong suit is and then beats them at that. So generally speaking, somebody's a striker, he'll try to beat them in striking if they're grappling to try to beat them in the grappling department. I felt either he wanted to not do that because he really needed to get through it because he was injured, which people were saying that he looked like he was walking, like he was injured. And two would be like he was not wanting to get hit. And he was like, all right, I'm just going to hurry up and get this done.

It reminds me of when he fought Chelsea Sunning, and he messed up his toe. He knew he needed to hurry up and get this over with before something happened. and he got de-kewed or something like that happened. And then the last part that I wanted to say something about, or just ask you, rather, when it comes to, like, your favorite MMA fight, so if you had like a last fight, you're on your deathbed, you're like, I want to watch one last fight and one last meal. What would those things be and why?

That's it. Thank you. Oh, man. So the John Jones thing, I mean, I don't know if I necessarily agree with that, but I think having the tape taken off his toes were something that he wasn't ready for. And he's talked about it for a while that has hampered him for years and it continues to. And I'm sure he was feeling pretty good after he was all taped up. And then the commission made him take him off. And, you know, normally that that would throw a fighter off.

Like, it would throw me off. Like, you're ready, you're jacked up. You're ready to walk into the cage. And all of a sudden, the commission's like, nope, take all the. the tape off. And like everything just got delayed, getting kicked off. And then the first strike, Zero gone, throws

in the fight, kicks him in the ball. So I mean, there's a lot that happened. Jones gets the take down and finish it immediately. So I don't know. I still have questions. I still have questions. I do think he's going to beat Steepay. And unfortunately, before John, because

I think if he beats Stepe, he's just going to I don't think, like, I don't know if he's going to necessarily retire. But he is going away. He's going to take a break. Because like AK said, there's just nothing else makes sense. Nothing else makes sense. Now, could he take another fight that he cherry picks and calls for just to try to get the numbers up?

Sure. Could he call Taitou Ivasa and fight him? Sure. Is he going to fight Curtis Blades? No. Is he going to fight Sergey Pavich? No. Would he fight Taitoivas?

Sure. Would he fight Derek Lewis? Sure. he would pump up the numbers, but he's going to be very spot. He's in prize fighter mode right now. He's in prize fighter and legacy mode. That's it.

So we're not going to see John Jones versus Alexander Romanov. We're never going to see that fight. But there's a part of me that feels like when John does walk away, we're going to still have a bunch of questions about him. So, yeah. As far as your other question goes,

it's Carlos Condo versus Robbie Lawler. That fight is incredible. That's still my favorite fight to watch. I mean, I'm humbled and I'm taken aback by all the colleague participation here. Jen Bishu! Holy shitballs. What's up, buddy? Hey, Mike.

First time, a long time. I apologize if you've already been asked this question. I hopped on a little late today. big weekend starting tonight excluding the UFC main event what is what is your favorite what is the best fight of the weekend and I will uh

I'll take my answer off air I did sort of touch on this I wasn't asked about it specifically but it is the Tofeyk Messiah of Alexander Shobli fight fight is incredible I can't wait two dudes who just are going to

as you like to say Jed they're going to stand there and chuck them Shabbly's got some good takedowns, but mostly in counter situations. So I don't think Shobly's going to go in there and just shoot a bunch of doubles of people. But man, that fight's going to be incredible. Those two are just going to beat the brakes off of each other. And nobody's talking about the fight at all. That is the correct answer for the low-key banger the weekend.

It's a co-main event, and it's not even a cheap answer. That fight is incredible. I'm oddly fascinated by the Michael Venom Page, Goichi, Amoichi,uchi fight. and I guess the runner-up would be even though it's another co-main event I believe it's a co-main event I just want to see if Alexander Romanov

can fight for more than four minutes and 45 seconds I want to see if you can do it Jed as you're aware I was as high if not higher on Alexander Romanoff than you were before the Marche and Tibora fight and I don't feel that way right now I'm not done.

I'm not off the train yet, but that cardio issue is a big one. So I am intrigued to see how he handles all of that. Let's go to Aaron. Aaron, hello. Aaron, are you there? All right, I think you have a Slate's connection issue, so try again.

Let's go to Agro. Agro MMAU. Agro. Hello, sir. First time on the show, greetings from Mexico. The subject of course will be Alexa Grasso. So I'm not sure if I already heard any technical breakdown,

but she kind of shut down Valentina striking game, at least on the kicking range. I think she made her very uncomfortable. A little bit of a hot take here, but I rewatched the fight, and I could even say that Alexa won round number two, based on damage slash impact, since Valentina took her down,

but couldn't really make. do anything. Not submission on Fred, no, ran and pound on round two. So what do you think, Mike? Thank you. Don't really agree with that. I mean, they were all

all three rounds. I thought Grasso clearly won the first. I thought, I don't know, I remember, I haven't watched the flight a second time. I don't know if it was two or three were Valentina had the crucifix and was dropping elbows on her

and dropping those punches on her. I mean, they weren't like devastating or anywhere near the fight being stopped. But whatever round that was, I thought it was clear for Valentina. But they were all competitive. Like two and three were very competitive. They were competitive.

And all three judges were kind of on the same boat as I was. One, Negroso, two and three for Shepchenko. I thought Chivchenko was winning the fourth before that moment with the spin kick and the takedown the back take. But it was, again, very competitive. but Alexa was unbelievable.

I mean, what can you say? She was unbelievable. She was ready for everything. She has evolved in such a big way, especially physically, and her strength and her ability to adapt to fighting people who have better physicality than she does. She hung in there like a champion, and oddly enough, she is the champion now. That was an incredible performance. I don't know.

Like once they book the rematch, I assume they're going to try for Mexico City. There's no other destination on planet Earth that makes more sense to rebook that rematch other than Mexico City. I don't know if I'm picking Alexa Grasso in the rematch. I don't know. I'm certainly not as confident as I was in Valentina as I was in Valentine's time around.

But I don't know if I'm picking Alex again. I feel like if they fight 10 times, Valentin is going to win six or seven of them. But Alexa can win some. She can win three or four. I can't say that about a lot of other fighters in that division. Let's see if we can get Aaron in here now. Aaron, hello.

Sorry about that first time. Like, I think, oh, no problem. Yeah, I forgot. But what's up? Oh yeah Have you seen any of the Nick Diaz comments Recently? I have

And I just chalk it up to Diaz being Diaz He wants to fight Adasania and Pereira next Ain't gonna happen man Ain't gonna happen There are fun like I'm not

I just was so taken back Like I was still shocked that Nate that Nick Diaz actually fought in a cage, but he just looked. I mean, it was fun. Like, the fight with Robbie Lauder was fun for what it was, but Nick looked pretty bad in that fight.

And I know there may have been other circumstances involved, and I know Nick talked about a lot of things, but when it comes to the Diaz brothers, Nick in particular, it's hard to know what's real and what isn't. But, I mean, I'm not saying I don't want to see Nick fight again, but I certainly don't want to see him fighting Alex Barrera. or Israel out of Sonia. But there are fights for him.

Matt Brown would be fun after Matt fights Court McGee. If they want to do it at 170 or doing 185, either way. There are fun fights, but these are the one. Like it's the Lawlers, it's the Matt Browns, it's guys like that. It is certainly not anybody in the top 15, the top 20, top 30. No. No. But if he wants to get in there and fight,

and I've seen photos of him, he looks to be in pretty damn good shape right now. So if he wants to go in there and do it again, let's do it. But I don't think he's going to be fighting any of those guys. Four Corner Sports. Hello. Hey, Mike.

Are you here me? Yes. I wanted to say, shout out to Esther, I mean, she put us on some great, you know, photos yesterday for Garcia and Tank. That lady is to go when they call.

when it comes to photography. Yes. I wanted to ask you, so I was watching tape yesterday of Shopcott. I was watching it with my girlfriend and her family. Do you feel like what holes do you think he needs to fix in this game? Because I saw he kept the chin up a lot. I know he just didn't care. He was just trying to attack Jeff Neal.

But what holes do you think he needs to fix in this game if he wants to fight? top five opponents like Kobe. I don't he called up Kobe but I don't know if he's going to get her or not. I feel like he's mostly getting Belaw. But like what do you think he needs to fix up? So he doesn't have to experience that type of beating that he took against Jeff Neal.

And what's going on with Rose Nama Unis? I know she had put out there months ago that she was going to try to possibly put her on muscle. She was flirting with the idea of one at the 125 but what's going on with her? I feel like if she goes out to one 25. It'll be very, very interesting to see how that division plays out. And especially if you have

Alexa remaining as champion, like, what do you think that can, you know, possibly lay out for the women's flyaway division? Thanks, man. So, I mean, at first, when Valentino was just running roughshod over everybody, like the rose thing was interesting in a way because there's just like another name that could draw. But now I'm not really all that interested. I mean, I, you know, If she wants to take a shot and have a fight at 125, cool, just to see how it would all go. But I don't know. I feel like title hopes are kind of, I don't know.

I guess it all depends on her. As far as when she's going to come back, what she's going to do, I have no idea. Your guess is as good as mine with that one. And with Shofcott, I don't know. It probably is just better defense with the striking, but I think he was just going in there to have some fun more than not with Jeff Neal. So I don't know.

The jury's still out. But that was a big one that I noticed and a lot of other people noticed, but didn't really seem to slow Schaft got down all that much because Jeff Neal hits really, really hard. And Schofcott took it all and was smiling. I was smiling. Like, and this wasn't a, oh, you got me. I'm really hurt smile.

This is a, I just took your best shot. And now I'm about to really hurt your smile. And that's what makes him. very scary. Zee, hello. My man, Mike, how are we? Good. I got a lot for you today, so if I get long window, you just cut me off whenever, okay? First thing first, main event this weekend. I am super excited. Is it a can't lose for Marab Davalishvili, or is there a must win for Peter Young?

Secondly, let's move along the line here, and let's go to London. Usman versus Edwards. Do you think it was more of the altitude and Usman kind of looked ahead of Edwards? Or do we think Usman's already halfway out the door? Do you think him mentioning retirement? You think him, you know, defending the belt, what was that? Six, seven times, whatever it was.

It was too much for him. Do you think, you know, this is Rocky's run? And lastly, John Jones versus Feroon is gone. What is it going to take for Francis to come back? Is it even possible? Is it in the plet the root of possibilities in Dana White's world? Those are my three questions for you. Mike, have a heck of a Friday.

Hmm. I will say that I'm not confident in Gano-U and Jones ever happens, but I feel more confident than what Dana is saying. So I'll go with that. John, it's all up to John. Like, it is all up to John Jones. He goes out and just kills Stepe and then he gets on the mic and he calls for Francis. The UFC's going to take a shot of France.

They'd be insane not to. It would be literally, at that point, it would literally be the biggest fight they can make. And it's been the biggest fight they can make. But if John goes out there and just melt Steepay, it will be by far the biggest fight they can make. so the UFC's going to take a shot now I think it's more on whether or not Francis will concede in it to any of this because the UFC is going to try like they would be absolutely nuts to not try and then I'll answer the Marab Jan question um it's tough I don't like a loss for either of those guys is really bad

Like it's really bad. But you can make, we were talking about this on BTI yesterday. You can make a, you can make a true case right now that Peyotrion is an undefeated fighter outside of the DQ. The DQ is like is a loss. That dude broke the rules, cheated, should have 100% been disqualified. Outside of the DQ, you can make a strong case that Peyotrion is an undefeated fighter. because all those other losses are splities and you can make a case that he won all of those fights.

Outside, I think Sterling beat him. But the O'Malley one certainly, the other one certainly, Jan's just really good. I'm picking on to beat Marab tomorrow. I just think he's better everywhere. Obviously Marab can wrestle and take people down. He's got a gas tank. But I think Jan will figure him out.

And Jan's take down defense is pretty damn good. So just like Jose Alos. I think it's... And if Marat... Neither guy's getting a title shot, they win. So that's for sure. Even if Marab wins, he's not getting a title shot. Even if Sterling is like, I'm moving up to 145.

He's not getting a title shot next. Unless he just trucks Fyodor Yom. But if we get a Marab-like workman decision, he might be two more wins before he fights for the belt. He's the tough one. He's the Benile Darius in this conversation by a mile, and it's not even close. He has the most work to do to get back to a title shot.

Or get to a title shot. Boating for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. You win is yours to keep groovy.

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Just tell me one thing. How in the hell, Erin Blanchfield, you guys are all talking about Aaron Blanchfield. How in the world she earned the title shot? Just tell me. She fought Molly McCann, and Molly McHen was fighting unranked opponent, and she has no background of wrestling or jizzitsu,

were no ground. She has no ground game. Aaron Blanchfield got him. Okay. Aaron Blanchfield got her. After that, Jessica and Raj, who fought for money? Okay, Jessica and Raj, who fought for money and accepted the fight on short notice,

Erin Blanchfield got her. Okay? Just like that Bo Nekel has finished his fight in round one. So give him a title shot. Why you guys are not shouting about Bonicle getting title shot? And how in the world, Erin Blanchfield should, Erin Blenchfield deserve the title shot?

I just don't know. Later fight, a ranked opponent, not ranked opponent, a skilled opponent, and then ride on that bandwagon. And respect the fighter who has done a lot of, for the sport that's it all right I mean

because Aaron Blanchfield did I don't care if Jessica Androge took the fight on Shore notice everybody picked most as soon as that fight was announced go back to Twitter and see everybody's reaction to it go look at it go back and look at it when that fight was announced

that she was fighting Jessica Androge everybody was saying oh shit Aaron Blanchfield's about to lose a fight that's what everybody was saying all this is a far tougher matchup even on short notice. But everybody said that. And then she goes out and just melts Jessica Androge, just runs her over, which, by the way, outside of Valentina Schofchenko over the last five years, who else has done that?

And Jessica Androge has taken short notice fights and won most of them. But Aaron Blanchville went in, went toe to toe with her, took Androge's best shots, walked right through him, still probably. won the first round and then took her down and tapped her in the second. Who has done that to her besides Valentina Shruchenko? What else does she need to do? If she beat Tila Santos, would we be having the same conversation? No.

She deserves it. That went over Jessica Androge and how she did it. And I don't care if Jessica Androge took the fight on 12 hours notice. Jessica knew the risks, as did Aaron Blanchfield. Aaron was preparing to fight Tyler Santos, which was a completely different fight. And Aaron took the fight on a week's notice

and went out there and beat her. It Just Gun Drodge at the time was like number two or number three in the division. So we're going to dock her because Just Gunnj, she stepped in and said yes to a fight. No, of course not. Now, Erin's probably going to have to fight again. She's probably going to have to get another fight

and she might fight Manon Fioro. she is going to absolutely truck Manon Fioro. That fight will not be competitive, my friends. She is going to truck Manon Fioro. And I would pick Eric Blanchfield to beat Valentina Shepchenko right now, confidently. I would pick Aaron Blanchfield to be Valentina Shepchenko. I would pick her to beat Alexa Grasso. I don't know how confident I would be in that pick.

I'd be somewhat confident. but Aaron Blanchfield, just be prepared. Aaron Blanchfield is about to be a long-reigning flyway champion. Just be ready for it. And the scary thing about Aaron Blanchfield is, we're seeing, to shout out Kamar Usman, we're seeing like 60% of her potential right now. She's got, she's got to get so much better.

She's going to be the flyway champion for a very long time. when she gets her shot. And even if she loses her first one, she's going to get another one. And then at that point, she's going to win it, and she's going to just be a bull and just run people over.

But yeah, she deserves it. She deserves a title fight. If she beat Taosanto, she would have deserved a title fight. She got arguably a tougher matchup, and she had to take it on short notice, too. She could have said no. But you're probably going to get your wish

Viking, because she's probably going to have to fight someone else. She's probably going to fight Manifioro. That is not going to be a fun fight for Man in Fioreau. It's going to be a rough night at the office for. Riley, hello. Riley, are you there? Oh, do you have you? Like on.

All right, so I wanted to ask you, if Usman loses again to Leon, do you think we will ever see him move up in wait, or do you think he'll just retire? because I know he's talked about moving up to 205 when Izzy had the belt at 185. I don't expect Izzy to beat Alex the second time, so he would have the opportunity to fight at 185 without fighting his Nigerian brother. And then the second thing real quick was I saw Ilya Tuporia tweeted like three hours ago,

July 8th. I was just wondering if you had any insight on that. I joined like 20 minutes earlier, or 20 minutes late, so I assume someone probably already asked you about that. Thank you, and I have a heck of a morning. Thanks, man. So, yeah, no clue what's going on to Poria. I saw that tweet.

He's done this before, and there'd be, like, nothing going on. July 8th's International Flight Week. If we're starting to book flights for July 8th, I mean, they're booking way in advance. I don't know. I don't know. if Usman loses to Leon I don't I don't know what he's going to do

I don't know I would be I would not be surprised if he's just like all right that's it because what else is there for him because if he continues at 170 he's going to have to fight the Shafkats of the world and and the Shemayevs of the world if she stays at

170 like that's his future he's going to have to fight these guys the fights with Colby and all that like he's been there done that those fights aren't happening. This ain't 55. Maybe he fights Wonderboy. I don't know. But those fights are gone. That's it.

So, and if he goes to 1-85, he is so far away from a title shot at 1-85. It's not even funny. If he loses two in a row to Leon Edwards, no. He's not,

O'Sman's a great fighter, and he was, like, becoming kind of a draw, but he's, He's not like, it's not like Usman is, he's a, Oostin's maybe like a top 15 draw for the company right now. 10 at the most. It's not like he's got such star power that moving him up to 185 to fight Alex Pereira

is all of a sudden you're doing a million pay-per-views. It's not going to do great. So, yeah, he's in a really tough spot if he loses his fight. I'm picking, I'm picking Oosman to beat Leon Edwards in the rematch. but not confident in that. And if he loses, then I just don't know what else is there for him.

Yep. What's up for hours today for? Good morning. Two quick questions about the featherweight division. Where is Giga Chikaze? I haven't seen him since his last fight last year, I think in January against Calvin Cater. I was just curious if he was injured

or if you had any information on him. And what do you think of a matchup between two other featherweights who both got injured in their last fights, Calvin Cater and Brian Ortega. Thanks, Mike. I mean, I would say Ortega could be in play for the Teporia fight. Cater, I mean, Cater's not fighting until 2024.

At least that's what, I mean, when he, he jumped on our 284 preview show and he said, yeah, he's taking his time. He's going to slow roll it. he's be stunning if he fights in 2024 or fights at all this year. So, yeah, I would say Artig is probably in play for the Teporia fight. If it happens, that would make sense. But yeah, Cater's got a long way to go.

So kind of not even fair to really match make for him right now. We'd see where this division is in a year, because that's probably when we would see him again. He had a bad, it was a bad injury. It was bad. So he's going to be out for a while. Barbaruso, hello. Barbaruso.

Hi, Mike. How are you doing? Good. What's up? Good, good, good. I just want to ask you about the combat sports in general. I thought that with time, the combat sports would depend on the talent and how the man fight and then I'm a real, real casual fans when it comes to boxing. And I've seen that

Arthur Bitribeef in his last fight, he made a list than what Tank and Ryan Garcia make. And boxing is in the business for the last hundred years. Then I thought it might never happen. We have associated combat sports with trash talking and with the with how the charisma of the person we are talking about. Because if it's only about fighting, I think he's the most entertaining boxer right now because he has, he's undefeated, and he's in a dog fight, and he knocks people out.

And you can't wish for more, but he's not a top five. I don't know if he's a top 10 draws in the boxing right now. and do you think in the world of MMA it's going to be a beta or it's going to be the same thing since both are combat sports? Thank you, Mike. I mean, it's already like that in MMA. I mean, look, the UFC in particular, they took the WF playbook and they just turned it into their own. Everything they've done is in terms of building, storyline, promos, all that.

they ripped that right away from WWF in WWE. Everything. The trash talk, the builds, the stories, the promos, the packages, everything is right out of the WWF playbook. So yeah, you got to have, you got to have it, you got to have it off. You're going to be a draw. It's very, it took a, Habib became a draw, but Connor got him there. Him fighting Connor and just, that whole build, even though it was ugly and awful.

Habib got got to show a little bit of charisma, a little bit of his personality and the build to that fight. He was booed mercil. He's booed heavily. Jumped over the freaking cage and he became a draw.

Like sometimes you just need opportunity to become a draw. Like Dustin Poria became a draw. Mazadol's become, Mazadol became a draw. He got over. Had a nice new gimmick. Talked a lot.

People understood his story. he got over fast he i mean that dude just caught lightning in a bottle in 2019 i mean just everything clicked for him the ben asker knockout all of that uh sometimes you just need a dance partner to get you there you need a foil i think asker was perfect for mazadol uh connor's perfect for pretty much everybody it's sometimes you get lucky sometimes you just have it homozoats got it i don't know you don't know you don't know really what it. Homzaat's a wrecking ball, but he can talk. And that's huge. That's, that's gigantic. So yeah, it's been that way for a while. When it comes to the UFC, it's going to be

that way forever. It's going to be that way forever. Belator, you don't need it because they're not selling pay-per-views. TFL, they kind of have one with Kayla, but she lost. So it'll be interesting to see how they bounce back. But again, they're not selling paper views. They're trying, but no one's buying them. So, yeah, it's tough. And it's like that across the board. BKFC is the same way.

Having charisma, having it's is very important when becoming a star and becoming a drop. Jay, hello. Hey, Mike, what's up? Happy Friday, man. So my first question is, do you know if the UFC is rebooking any fight with Aaron Murphy for this week, I mean, next week or any upcoming weeks, because I really want to see him back in the ring. I think a lot of people forgot about him and how he's 11 and O. And I think he could kind of put on the Iliott's a Poir run.

They give him the opponents and he's able to stay healthy. So I wanted to know if you have any info on that. And the next thing I wanted to bring up is I think these betting odds against Oussman versus Benson is absolutely ridiculous. For having Oussman as a minus 2,000, I think is pretty disrespectful to Benson. and I think he's going to put on a way better performance that the betting companies are thinking. So those are my only two things.

I have a heck of a morning, Mike. So, look, Oost and Maghama Madov is going to be Benson and Henderson tonight. This fight will probably not be all that competitive. I think Benson will have his moment, so I get where you're coming from. You have to understand,

and let me just, let me pull it up real quick and see where we're at currently. Let's see what, I want to see with this line opened because that's what the betting odds. That's what the betting companies are responsible for. So this opens, why is this taking forever? All right, let's try those.

All right, so it opened as a minus 1,000. I actually think that's like right where it probably should be. That's like a 90-something percent win prob, and that's probably where there's fight is. minus 2000 is probably a little wide, but look, Benson Henderson's good. I think he's a solid hand,

a lot of experience, but he is just not going to beat Usman Armaghameda tonight. Usman is probably, like by the end of this Grand Prix, and I think Usman's going to win every fight he's in in this Grand Prix,

Usman Ramagamatoff, and this division is probably going to be a top five lightweight in the world when this is all done. And he's like 24 years old. That is freaking. and scary. And Benson's a dog,

but this isn't, he's not fighting, Benson and Henderson is not fighting Islam-Mamanoff tonight. He's fighting Usman or Magamatoff. That's a whole different ball game. Minus 2,000's a little crazy, but the line opened at minus 1,000.

They wanted to get some play on both sides, but everybody's all in on Usman right now. And I can't say blame him. I can't say, I can't really say that I blame them. I really can't. Yeah, I can't say that I blame him. Let's go to Patrick.

Do you have you, Patrick? Try again. The other question, I am told Lorraine Murphy is going to fight next Saturday. The opponent has not been made official yet. I was told that there is two options on the table and that the UFC is trying to, like, figure out which option is the one. But I am told Lorraine Murphy is expected to fight next Saturday. I just have no idea who he's fighting yet. Let's go to Torino.

Trino, are you there? Yeah, Mike. Hello, how are you doing, man? Good, how are you? I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. You're well done for being consistent with this. You know, I have a few questions. I think the first thing I want to ask is around immediate rematches.

You know, we've seen this happen a lot in the UFC where a dominant champion loses their belt. and maybe because of their dominance, the UFC gives them that opportunity to have an immediate rematch. We've seen it with Usman, with Easy, with Amanda, now it's looking like with Valentina. Do you think this should be the norm? Should this always happen?

Is there a world where, you know, an Agrazzo, for example, an Alexegrozzo wins the belts from Valentina? has a fight with somebody else. Valentina fights another person. And if Valentina wins, then she gets, you know, Alexa Grasso back, you know, must we always give them that opportunity? And I know that now we are losing most of the dominant champions,

you know, most of the champions in the UFC right now. I think almost 70% of them are new champions. So we probably won't have this situation for a while, you know, but should that always be the case? That's the first question. My second question is really around John Jones, you know, the greatest of all time. He's fighting steep. But what's your take in terms of what could possibly happen if he dominates steepie?

Because the heavyweight division doesn't look very rich after, you know, steeper. We have blades, we have Aspinall, we have all those type of people. what would you think the UFC will do with him? Or do you think there's a world where the UFC actually has a conversation with Francis? I know that has said never. But this is not the first never that Dana has said. You know, is there a world where UFC go back to Francis and try to bring him back? Or do you think they'll just try to put up a fight for him in the heavyweight division?

Those are my two questions. Thanks. Thanks, so I'll touch on the Jones question. he's going to beat SEPA. He'll probably get on the mic and call for Francis. The O.C. will take a shot. If they get him back, we'll get that fight. If not, I think John's going to go away for a while. I mean, we talked to this earlier.

The only way that doesn't happen is if Jones is like, all right, I want to try to get to that number where I tie Stipe for like the most title defenses or something. But at that point, like, John is going to cherry pick his opponent. he's not going to fight Curtis Blades. He's not going to fight Pavlovich. He's not going to fight Jelton Almeda. He's not going to fight those guys.

He's going to cherry pick his opponents. And he will do that. And John has earned the right to do that. John's going to prize fight for the rest of his career. And if he doesn't want to do that, John will go away for a year or two. And if somebody piques his interest, he'll come back and fight him. but I don't think he's going to come back and like fight Tom Aspinall right now.

Maybe Tom goes on a nice run and Tom wins the belt and like knocks off a couple defenses and he's just steamrolling everybody. And maybe that gets John excited. But John's not going to be around for a lot. Like John's, John signed an eight-fight deal. He ain't fighting eight times. I would be absolutely shocked if that happens. So Jones happened, Joan Steepa will have.

happen. I think he'll call out Francis to try to get that one done because it's the biggest fight he can have. And then I think that's probably it. Unless he wants to really get to, you know, three or four title defenses and then he'll fight like Tai Tui Vasa or something. He's not going to fight Blades or anybody else because why would he? Does nothing for him, in my opinion. Blades is the most interesting, like competitive fight to me, but does nothing for John's bottom line. Does nothing for him. Patrick, hello.

Hey, Mike, you hear me? Yep. Awesome. I just want to say thank you for hosting this. Thank you for all the content you guys, you and your colleagues provide on MMA fighting. It's great stuff. Keep up the good work.

Just curious about UFC 288. When they announced it for New Jersey, they only mentioned the, UFC only mentioned the Charles Olivera versus Dariush fight. Any updates on the main event? and is there any potential for a second title fight to be added? The two I see that haven't been defended in a little while is the woman's straw weight and woman's bantam weight, Whaley and Nunes. So just curious if you have any updates or any thoughts on those.

Thanks. Have a good. Have a good one. So even though they didn't announce it, believe me, I asked, and we all asked about this. The main event is 99% going to be Al Jermaine Sterling versus Henry Sue Rudolph. 99%.

That will be the main event. Will there be a second title fight? I don't know. Doesn't seem like it. I feel like Charles Oliver versus Spineldeer. She's a pretty damn good co-main event. So I don't think... And plus, you're on the way to international fight week.

So you don't want to just chuck another title fight on a card that... Look, Sterling Tehudo is going to do fine, but it's not going to be a blockbuster. I mean, 286 is good, but it's not a blockbuster. 287 is more blockbustery, bigger name value, no doubt about it. And 288, it's just like fun card. Chrome Gracie's fighting on that card?

Like, that's crazy. Didn't see that coming. By Charles Dordane, what a weird out-of-the-blue fight. Didn't not see that coming. So I would be surprised if they had another title fight. I mean, Charles Olivaire Banyl Darius, like, if you really wanted to, you could say it's an interim title fight. If you wanted to, it'd be stupid. But if the UFC wanted to do that, they could.

Because that's a, that's a legit co-main event right there. So, yeah, I don't think there'll be a second title fight. And if there was, it'd probably like Amanda Nunes or something. defending one of her belts but it doesn't seem like that's happening so yeah sterling tehudo uh i again i was told that was done most we got both sides confirmed that it's done um that's happening i don't know if the contracts have been signed yet but both sides are in i don't understand the back and forth the tete tete's unsocial between aljo and sehudo and Sean O'Malley right now, but

yeah, I don't really know where that's coming from, but by all accounts, everybody I've talked to, that's the fight we're going to get, and that's going to be the main event. So, there you have it. All right, Mikey, take us home, because I got

to go. Oh, no. Mikey, the wheel is spitting. Doesn't look like it's happening today, my man. Sorry, Mikey. Joey, hello. How you doing, Mike? I know. So the next week's card, more than likely going to be the better card for a little bit.

What do you really think expectations for Usma? I know Usman was winning the fight before the head kick came. Do you think he actually comes back with vengeance and maybe gets an actual finish? And if so, even with a win, but I think it could be a finish. Would a win? Where would Usman really go next in that 170? So I am picking Usman to win that fight. I'm not confident in it.

I don't think Usman's going to finish Leon Edwards. I think we're going to see the fight that it's appeared we were going to get in August, where Oussman just wins a calculated decision. I think that's probably what we're going to end up getting much to the dismay of the UK crowd. But who knows? Maro Ousson's coming into a fight after getting knocked dead by a headkick with less than a minute left in a title defense. Like that does a lot to a fighter. So curious to see how he.

bounces back. He's the away team in a big way in this one. He's got to travel all the miles. He's the villain. I mean, he's the villain in a lot of these fights, but he's definitely the villain here. And he's approaching a fight after getting brutally knocked out. Like this was a TKO.

This was a kick to the face that put him to sleep. And I'm very, very intrigued to see how he combats that and how he bounces back. I didn't picking him to win a decision. I don't think it's a fight we're going to be going crazy about going back and watching it a second time. But I think we see something somewhat similar

to what we were getting before that head kick happens. And if he wins, he probably fights Bilal Muhammad. Maybe. I don't know. Seems to be like the only one that would make sense, unless Hamza wants to stay at 170.

but it doesn't appear like that's happening. So again, if I'm Belaw Muhammad right now, I am the biggest Kamara Usman fan on the planet right now because, and I don't even know if that's going to be enough. Because if Kamara Usman wins, like, a decision here, Usman needs to get on the mic and call Bilal by name. And that's his best chance. because otherwise, and this might not be fair,

but this is what's going to happen, Bala Muhammad's going to have to fight Shafgar Rakhmanov, and, boy, is that kind of unfair? But again, it's why it is so important to make your moments count. And even if Hussman wins, I could see a world where Balaal has to fight Shafqqad anyways, because I don't think the Colby fights happening for him.

I don't know. Bala is just a really tough spot right now. but yeah he might have to fight chafcott either way but that would be my guess and then we'll see what happens but welterweight's a mess too uh eric hello take us home do you think uh in chesigachie bsvise do you think he's gonna fight another top five opponent and then get a total shot

and that could have made of that next week let me see let's see what the ufc rankings look like So Ghi's three. He's going to have to fight again. I mean, there's just no way around it. He's going to have to fight again. Because if Benny wins, if Benny beats Olivera, Benny's getting the shot.

I dig Porre is in play for a title shot. And I think Gagee, if he beats his eve, is probably like three on the list, maybe four. Because Chandler and McGregor's going to happen. And the winner of that is probably jumping Gachie, too. and that's just stinks. That just stinks. Not saying that more Justin Gaetje

meaningful fights is a bad thing. What I'm saying is Fiziv finally gets this opportunity. We're starting to see a little bit of movement here. Okay. A lot of these guys are just fighting each other. And it's cool for the short term. But for the long term, it sucks.

And like I said in the built of UFC 281, Michael Chandler versus Dusted Porre on paper is a banger. But what are we going to be talking about and that fight is over? I hated the booking of that fight. Absolutely hated it. Because now we're in the same position. Chandler's going to fight Connor so he has the place to go. Poria is nothing to do right now.

Nothing. He has to hope for a title fight or else he's got nothing. And now we have Gamron who got the Darius fight. So at least we tried there. We got Sarukyon. We have Jalen Turner. We have Demiriz Magulov, who is, I don't know what he's going to do. Drew Dober is on a nice run.

And Atta Moikano is on a nice run. Grant Dawson is on a nice run. It's going to take them forever to get to a title fight at this point, or even come close. And that sucks. That just drives me insane. It drives me insane. Grant Austin's going to have to win like eight fights to get to a title fight. And it's because of these five names.

It's all because of those five names. They just keep fighting each other. Now luckily, Gachi's going to fight Fiziv. That fight needed to happen. Made the most sense. You see what Fiziv does so well? Fiziv had a name. He's ready to go.

Beats the hell out of RDA. Finishes him. Calls out Justin Gachie. Everybody wanted to see that fight. It's a sensical call-out. It was a callout that made sense, and it got people excited. Fiziv didn't go in there and be like, Charles Olivera, I just beat RDA, so I should get a title shot. No, he didn't do that.

Cald out Justin Gachie, smart callout. Gachie was coming off of a loss, exciting guy. Makes sense. Fiziv has figured this thing out, and he got the fight, and he got the fight. But poor Gamerauts, Rukion. Turner, Dober, Doss and Moikano. Guys are just going to be waiting for big fights to come. So I think the more interesting question for this division is, like, I want to see the world where Raphael Fiziv wins this fight.

Because if Fiziv wins this fight, it's going to open things up. And Gaiji can fight Surukion or Damrod or one of those two guys. He can fight one of those two dudes, and it makes sense. And then we can start moving up the ladder here. And then we can start booking these other guys against these other up-and-comers. That's what I hope to see it lightweight. By the end of this year, I want to see Seroukyons. All these guys get opportunities to fight all the names above them.

That's what I want to see because they deserve it. And if we don't get it by the end of this year, it's going to be a long time before it happens. and it stinks. As good as lightweight is, we just have not had any real movement. It's just the same names over and over and over again. So there you go. All right, we are done.

Thank you very much. 4 p.m. Eastern, we will have our UFC Las Vegas preview show live on the YouTube channel. So join us at 4 p.m. Eastern, I believe it is myself, the great AK, my best friend, and Jose Youngs will join us as well.

4 p.m. Eastern. Tomorrow, 2.30 p.m. Eastern. Myself and Jed, People's pre-fight show. Join us for that. Well, post-fight show right after the event. And we will also have on to the next one, the podcast version on Sunday

with myself and AK. And then it's on to UFC 286 fight week, everybody. So get excited. So thank you very much. Enjoy all the great fights this weekend. Have a great rest of your Friday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.