MMA Fighting - HOAM | Tony Ferguson Working With David Goggins, Fascinating UFC 295 Title Fights

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

Even with the loss of Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, the UFC 295 title fights are incredibly fascinating with the returning Jiri Prochazka taking on former middleweight champ Alex Pereira, and Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall battling for the interim heavyweight title — both fights nearly pick 'ems from a betting perspective. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the top-two bouts ahead of this Saturday's UFC 295 event at Madison Square Garden, the intriguing and almost unpredictable nature of them, and Pereira's chance to become a first ballot UFC hall-of-famer in just his 11th pro MMA fight should he capture a second divisional title. Additionally, listener topics include the UFC 297 main event between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, Tony Ferguson working with David Goggins ahead of his UFC 296 bout with Paddy Pimblett, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

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but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. To the Vox Media Podcast Network.

It is Thursday, November 9th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the NBA fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show start to finish in its entirety shortly thereafter. on the M.A Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody? I am Mike Hack. Hope you're all having a wonderful start to the week. We are on the eve of the eve of the UFC's return to Madison Square Garden,

UFC 295. We got two title fights. We got Prakashka versus Pereira in the main event that fight freaking rules for the vacant light heavyweight title. We got Pavlovich versus Aspinall for the interim heavyweight. title a lot going on with ufc 295 we have of course have the watch party on saturday very excited for that there's a lot going on this week with the m a fighting crew there will be a live m m m m hour tomorrow i believe it's at 6 p m eastern and if you can't make it to new york

it is a sold-out show from what i understand we'll have it live on the youtube channel so you can check that out as well it's going to be fun we will have a big BTL today. Jedmishu returns. He will take on Andreas Hale from the sporting news who will make his second appearance on the show. We have a lot to talk about my friends. So let us not waste any time. Let's hear what you all have to say. And we will begin with Toke, who I'm sure has a question about Mark Madsen versus Jared Gordon. Go ahead, sir. Are you just predicting what I'm going to talk about? Oh, my God. I know you too well.

No, listen, listen. I am the Danish correspondent, but I would be remiss because I wasn't here on Tuesday. I think I should start with apologizing to AK for that was. That whole thing, his whole rant, I mean, I was because I knew like 20 minutes in, or maybe less. I knew he would go after me because he'd already be ahead of time.

So that was, I am going to criticize him again, but I'm just going to say, we are even now in regards to do-do picks. So I think it was fully warranted. But yes. I mean,

firstly, I want to say, and I also want to say to him, he did the right pick with Dolby. It is RDA next. I think that that is the high-profile fight that he can get. And now, I'm not going to ask about Matteson, actually. I'm going to ask about the promo that Ilyat Sporia made,

because I have a hard time seeing UFC going to California, just given the stance that the State Athletic Commission normally takes on being open about payouts and stuff. So I just wonder that where Ilya could have gotten that from because it doesn't seem likely in my like in what I know about the UFC to be true. So I'm just curious if you've heard anything since about the Los Angeles destination.

Cool. Thanks, man. So when when Ilya first dropped that promo, which I thought it was great, The one thing that did stick out, obviously, it was the Los Angeles thing. And I had heard some, like, rumored locations for the first pay-per-view events. Like, obviously, you know, for months I've been telling you guys, Toronto was the frontrunner. Now that is officially official, UFC announced that yesterday, but we already knew that was happening.

What I was hearing was February, they were kind of looking at Phoenix. and then March they were sort of looking at Miami those are like some of the things that I had heard nothing was set Vegas was also possible for February possibly doing some sort of pay-per-view in conjunction with the Super Bowl

that is going to be there as well but now we found out it's not going to be that weekend that pay-per-view it's going to be February 18th now I'm hearing that LA may be in play but it's not decided I'm also hearing Anaheim could be in play don't go out and be like Mike Hex reporting this because I'm not.

These are just some of the things that I'm hearing at the moment. So Anaheim would make sense. But it is interesting. They usually start that for a while there. California was kind of like the place they started the year. And they haven't been there in a minute. I don't know if they've been out there. I don't think they've been there at all this year.

They were there last year, I'm pretty sure. And they haven't been to L.A. in a hot minute. So it wouldn't surprise me. It wouldn't surprise me. But I don't know. Even when to Porey and made that, I reached out to some people and they were like, no, I heard Phoenix in Vegas. And I had heard Phoenix as well.

But now apparently L.A., Anaheim, in play, but not done. So we shall see. And it's okay when it comes to on to the next one and the doo-do picks because I did one myself. I picked Jun Young Park to compete, and he already has a fight booked. So I changed my mind for Kyle Boralia, and I ended up going with Michelle Pereira instead. We're all guilty of it. We've all done it, and we will all continue to do it.

But it's okay, Tocke. That was very, very funny from AKA, though. You don't hear him go off like that all that often. Timmy O's. Go ahead. Timmy O's show. All right, can hear me? Yep, I got you. All right, so two things.

first thing, just kind of a quirk. I figured out on the Jose Cuervo Tequila advertisement that the U.S.C. plays between bites. I noticed that Kevin Holland has a monster symbol on his right shoulder, and that's the only other product that we advertise besides the UFC

and Jose Cuervo, which I find an interesting. but sorry, but back. My question is, last month, Ariel Show got asked about if a media member owning UFC stock will be a conflict of interest. I would like to know your opinion on that question, and do you think that applies to betting as well or not? Thank you.

Thanks man. The stock thing, I'm not really shh. I don't know. I don't know. That's a good question. I personally would not do it. It's not, I don't know if it's because of like journalistic integrity reasons or what. I just am not a big stock guy anyway, so I wouldn't have to worry about that.

But I'm, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. The gambling thing I don't have a problem with. You know, GC obviously gambles. We have a lot of people in the space who put out betting picks and such. And I don't think there's a problem with that. What I think is a problem is if, let's just say, let's say I'm credentialed for UFC 295, right? And I'm sitting cage side.

And I have a big fat bet on Alex Pereira to win the main event. And I put that out there. And as the fight is going on, I am actively cheered. for Alex Perey sitting Caged side. That's a problem. That is absolutely a problem. You can't do that. You can't openly root for a fighter while you're a member of the media.

I know there was some issues with like Robbie Barsool, you know, reacting to Connor McGregor and things of that nature, but he's not really a journalist. So I don't really think that. But anybody who kind of carries that flag works for a major site that covers the space and the news, if you're on Caged side, like actively rooting for a fighter, then yes, that is a problem. That is a problem because then you can't equally cover the fighters anyways. Now, if you look, see, I don't, I make bets for the watch party. And like if I'm on no bets barred, but like I don't honestly care.

Like I'm not betting anything big. I'm betting like a couple bucks here and there. And it's all good. But yeah, if you're out there, and I've seen it too. Like, I've seen people cover like Bellator events where I was there and they're like getting, they're just drinking alcohol and they're just getting smashed at the cage side. And they're rooting for fighters. Like, can't do that shit. Can't do that shit, whether you're gambling or not. But if you, you know, if you're covering an event and you gamble and you just treat it like it's a normal thing, like it's no big deal, it's like a medium ever playing fantasy football. Like, you're not actively rooting for the teams, but it makes things a little more

interesting as you watch other games. That's kind of what it is here, at least in my opinion. I don't think there's a big problem with the gambling. The stock's interesting. I don't really know the answer to that question. I'm curious what Ariel had said, because I didn't even hear that, but I wouldn't buy it anyways. I don't know if there's like a conflict of interest there, if you're just kind of, I don't know. I don't know if it changes the coverage. And I think if I have to question, I wouldn't do it. So that's just me. Let's go to American Dad.

What up, American Dad? How you doing? About 295, because that's not really even the best card that's coming up. 296 is way better. So, one, nobody's talking about the big fight on that card, which is Cody Garbrandt is back. The man who destroyed Dominic Cruz, and that's why he's my hero. He's back on that card. And he's fighting. But my question for you is, how bad is Patty Pimblit going to beat up Tony Ferguson?

I don't know, man. Like, God, man. I, I still, A.K. is my best friend, and I support him all the time. But it's his fault of this is happening. He was the first person to put this out there. He put it out there months and months and months ago. I hated the idea. But the more we've thought about it and the more time has gone by, the more I understand that it makes sense.

In a certain respect. Because if there is any. sort of a name in this lightweight division who I think Tony actually has a chance of winning right now it's Patty I don't I'm not all that confident in Tony beating Patty but he can be Patty Pimble it's it's it's it's possible he could certainly beat Patty Pimbleau I don't know if he's going to but he can win and it seems like he's taking things a little seriously seems like he's going back to his old team he says these things before apparently he's working with David Goggins

now. I don't know how that's going to translate into wins and losses, but I'm sure David is firing him up in the right ways. He's taking it seriously. My hunch is, like the way I'm reading this fight right now, and I'll probably look at it more once the week comes along, is that Tony's going to have a lot of success early on in this fight. He's going to put the boots to Patty early, but Patty is incredibly durable. And Tony's look great early in these fights. Like, Even the Chandler fight before he got Highlight reeled, he knocked Chandler down.

He knocked Bobby Green down. Like, he was looking pretty good. And then we get to round two and things start to fall apart. And that's kind of where Patty could take over, maybe get TOTI down, maybe tap him. My one issue with this fight is, and look, I get it. I get it. It's so weird also from an aesthetic purpose if you compare like tapology pages and wikiskeys. a lot of red for Tony, a lot of green for Patty.

I just don't know. I'm very curious how Patty's going to handle himself in the build to this fight. Is he going to show up to Media Day and doing media ahead of the fight? Is he going to show up to the press conference? And is he going to put Tony over, like a legend? Is he going to be like, this guy is the man? Is he going to say this is the toughest opponent of my career? Tony's a legend. I love the guy. I'm one of his biggest fans. Or is he just going to go right into the heat?

Which honestly, I think he should do. I think he should respect Tony as a fighter and what he's accomplished. But he should go in there and be like, I'm going to bag this dude and I'm going to end his career. I am going to end Tony Ferguson's career because he's not, he's in a tough spot anyways. He's not really. over. It's kind of a heel in a lot of respects, especially after he handled the Jared Gordon fight. A lot of people thought he lost that fight. I still feel like you lost that fight. But you're going to be the heel anyways. Like you're going to, Tony's beloved by everybody. So Tony's going to be the baby face. Patty's going to be the heel. And if he comes out there and, you know, just kind of respects Tony and wins. Like, I don't think he gains a whole lot from a

win. But if he comes out, it is just mega heel and finishes Tony and then like kind of buries him on the way out, he's going to get a big reaction. It may not be a positive one. He may be booed out of the building, but everybody's going to want to fight this guy. And I think for his career, that's probably the best course of action. I'm very curious to how he handles this fight. But I don't think Patty's going to like beat the shit out of Tony Ferguson. I think Tony will probably have his moments in the striking. And I think Patty will probably take him down. Maybe I'll wrestle him.

Maybe he gets a submission late in the fight. But yeah. But honestly, like, when we get to that watch party, I'm probably going to bet on Tony Ferguson. Because it's just a vibes thing. And I think Patty will probably win. But wouldn't it just be one of the most 2,023-ish things?

if Tony Ferguson just washed Patty Pample at UFC 296 like that would just be insane that would be the most surprising thing that would happen on that entire card and that's just so that's just so 2023 but I do think

Paddn's going to win I don't but I don't think Tony's going to get badly injured or anything like that Patty's not like a big powerful striker Patty's more of a grappler and a submission artist so we shall see by the time we get to December 16th

Holy shit, man. We're going to be all about that fight. That's going to steal all the headlines. When we get to the... That's going to get more talk than the two title fights by the time we get to that card. It's super weird matchmaking, but it makes sense. I don't know.

I don't remember a fight announcement getting like so much on one side and so much on the other. With MX 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. 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. Hi, Viking. Hi, I'm brother. I just want to know about the beep between Chelson and 8 and I just don't like Chelson and I don't listen to him at all so I just skip that part and I'm just I've been not using Twitter so I just don't know what happened between them so tell

me the main points and Mike Mike I don't know if you like it or not, but please drop that Francis Enganu thing. I have had enough, brother. And you know, heck of a moron and a lot of your analysis shows and podcasts. It helps me to live. Right now I'm in a gulf. So it helps me to live feel better. helped me

hec of a morning helps me to sleep and I have had enough of Francis and Gano and Tyson for me thanks a lot

Mike and I appreciate all of your work who are helping me to live a better life these days thanks a lot thank you

I appreciate that I don't know how I feel about the show helping you fall asleep I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing obviously I'm joking The Ariel and Shale thing, like, it's kind of what I thought it was.

Ariel talked about it on Monday, I think. They just two dudes and get heated, man. They just get heated. It happens. It happens. Things got said. And Ariel said he called Shale, and, you know, they talked about it, and they squashed the beef. They both relate to each other what they didn't appreciate about the conversation.

And they're good. They're good. Those guys just to have a show on ESPN Plus. And those two used to battle it out a lot. So it happens. It happens. Like, I battle it out with my colleagues as well. It happens. And, you know, not like that, not for 55 minutes like that, but that's what happened. The Francis story, like, look, it's, I feel like it's dying down now. I mean, people are talk about it. You have to remember, it was not that long ago that this happens. It's only been a couple of weeks. And it happens. It's still the biggest thing that has happened. I mean, obviously is on winning and then we go right into Francis. Like, it's the biggest thing going on. It's the biggest story in MMA for the past few weeks. It just is. And now Francis the Boxer, all those decisions tied up with what's going to happen with PFL and Bellator. All of that. It's just really interesting stuff.

It just is. Now, obviously, it's not being talked about a lot now, but in the short aftermath of it all, yeah, it's a huge deal. It's a very big story. And it just adds to the chaos of 2023. But yeah, Ariel and Chale are cool. It was just one of those things where two dudes who like each other got heated.

Things got a little wild. Things were said that probably shouldn't have been on both sides. And it happens. we've all been there that's all Nicholas go ahead are you muted yes you are muted Nicholas okay we will move on

let's go to Australian talk got Australian talk you're live Hey gooday Mike thanks a lot mate really looking forward to 295 but I can't help thinking when I remember like Jerry and he's going to be back which is

fantastic, you know, he's overcome the injury. But man, can we just take a minute to reflect on his absolute war, one of the greatest fights ever with Glover? Was that pretty much sort of the last time we've seen him? Or do you vividly recall that fight, my man? And, you know, what's he going to do to Pierre, man? Like, Pierre, like, he's a warrior. But if we can recall that fight with Glover, man,

Jerry's got heart for days, man. And he's got a point to prove now, right? And what better scalp than to put a stamp on the rise of Pierro? Thanks, Mike. I can't wait for this fight. I really can't. I really can't. I will tell you, I do have a bet on the fight.

Actually, a bunch of exposure on that fight. I am picking Alex Pereira, and I'll explain why in a moment. I have a lot of exposure on this fight. I got Pereira. I got a minus 122. I have some parleyes involving this main event. Main event under four and a half. Erseg Costa over one and a half.

Co-main under three and a half pays out at minus 108. I also have that fight as a parley piece. I have a little small parlay. Last four fights do not go the distance. Pays out of plus 126. And I actually think that's something that could cash. pretty good about that. But it's just, I don't honestly, I'm picking Pereira because I just feel like the way

Yuri strikes defensively, I think Pereira can catch him with something. It just takes a, I don't know if it's going to be early, maybe round two, round three. I just feel like the way Yuri strikes, there's just a lot of holes, man. And I know he has hard for days, but Pereira can friggin crack. He might be pound for pound the heaviest puncher in the sport right now. And if he lands something big on Yuri, I know he could battle through it, but Pereira's not going to take his back and try to submit him. He's going to try to beat the shit out of him. So the bet is Pereira, but it would not surprise me at all if Yuri won this fight.

This division is so much better with Yuri back in it. It's not even funny. This fight rules. And I hope we get a winner. I hope we get some sense of. normalcy in this division. Light heavyweight could be really fun. It's been a disaster this year with everything that has happened since December of last year. It's been a disaster. It's been a cursed division in so many ways. But now we're getting this fight. Eventually we're going to get the

winner of this fight fighting Jamal Hill. And boy, oh boy, am I fascinated in that fight? Because I need to see if Jamal Hill is for real, for real. I think he can be. We saw what he did to Glover. That was the performance of a lifetime. But was that a stylistic thing or is he that dude? And unfortunately, he got hurt too, so we don't know the answer to that question. So things could get real interesting. Yuri is the man. He's a wild man. Pereira, good dude, great fighter. The fight fucking rules. I can't wait. I cannot wait for that fight. I'm so excited for it. So excited. It's going to be interesting if that fight hits the floor, though. It's going to be interesting.

But I have no idea what's going to happen, but the bet is on Pereira. And I have zero confidence of that bet. Absolutely no confidence. Crying belly. Go ahead. What's up? What's up, Mike? Can you hear me?

Yep, I got. Yeah, what's going on? I wasn't here Tuesday for the heck of a morning. I kind of listened a little bit here and there over the weekend. It was overall a bad weekend because my football team had all lost. Anyway, I just want to go in the past a little bit. For this one, kind of like a something to where you guys can kind of hear like the outside going in almost about the Derek Lewis fight real quick. It was honestly very disappointing, not on Derek Lewis's part, but I think just the fight overall.

Like I understand there was like a one week fight notice and everything, but, you know, I feel like Mark Goddard said, I was telling him to, you know, work, work, you know, and all this. And more times than the other guy was punching while he was on the ground. You know, almost felt like the guy was making love, which I understand that's part of the sport, you know, having, you know, control and stuff like that. But it was just overall disappointing. And I'm kind of glad that Derek Lewis didn't, you know, give in to any type of position for submission or something like that. And was hopefully, you know, he was trying to get him to stand up. and you know that's that's my only concern that i like the only thing that i really want to say

about that and then the other thing that i want to say was i really hope Alex Pereira can win this weekend because the biggest picture like the big picture that i really hope paints here in the next few years that is he could come back because i know everybody in this twitter space wants to see that trilogy so bad that's all i have to say my thanks thank you thanks buddy yeah i gave I gave Elmada a C plus for his performance. Look, look, it was very impressive to control a big, huge dude like that. Like, for 25 minutes, it was impressive. But you just, I understand the risks involved.

And, you know, you can check off so many boxes, but the most important box you check is that you get the win. Like, I get it. But, man, the timing of that fight with it being a week before the interim championship's going to be on the line. Like, you got to make. make a statement, man. Like, you got to show up at MSG, like coming off a massive win. So they pan, they pan you in the crowd after like Asmodel of Pavlovich win and they see you just like, yeah, let's go after you just pounded out Derek Lewis in the second round. Like, but that's not

going to happen here. Jelton won. Important box to be checked. He remains undefeated heavyweight, but he gained nothing from this win. Gained nothing. He's going to still have to fight Curtis Blades now. He called out Sierra God. If I'm Sierra God, he's. I'm a lot. He's going to win. He's I mean, Cyril Gond has screwed up a ton since he won. He has dropped the ball in such a big way. And Jelton, that's actually a very smart callout. But there's no way he's going to get it. I don't want to see that fight at all.

I have to see the Blades fight. I have to see if this is for real. If you could do that to Curtis Blades, okay, we got something here. But doing it to Derek Lewis, like, all he did to do is punch Derek Lewis. He just had to punch him, and he would have finished him. And when he did punch, it was throwing a bunch. Derek Lewis was just covering up.

That's all he was doing. Kept going for the arm triangle. And Derek was defending it over and over again. Like, it was just frustrating to watch. Like, I get it. New York, Rick gave him an F. A.K. gave him a B. But yeah, I get it.

I totally get it. The Pereira thing, cool. I don't think he's just going to fight him again. I don't. It could be a huge fight down the road. I don't think it happens now. Like if Pereira wins, I don't think Izzy's going to take that fight right now. And I don't even think that's the most interesting option for Izzy right now.

The most interesting option is if DDP beat Sean Strickland and he comes back and fights DDP with DDP as the champion. Like that, talk about role reversal. Everything that happened after DDP knocked out Robert Whitaker. they had that face off and the things that have been said, now DDP holding the belt, Izzy's got to chase him to get the shot? Like, that's way more interesting to me. That's way more interesting to me than the Pereira rematch.

And it's tough to sell that fight after Sean Strickland just beat the hell out of him for 25 minutes. Something we can get later on, but I don't think it's not anything we're going to get right now. I really don't. DDP's way more interesting. Now, if Strickland wins the beat DDP, maybe Izzy might do that.

I don't know. Because, I mean, with Hamzot there, I don't know what they're going to do, honestly. Are they just going to give Izzy the shot? Give them that rematch at Strickland. Are they going to go with Hamzot? I don't know. But DDP winning the belt would be super interesting

for that division. And Izzy's return whenever that might happen. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you from festive and cozy fast. to Lux Beauty and Fragrant Suts. Our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com.

It's hockey season and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no, but chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol and other everyday essentials.

Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Guy and Absalya. Morning, how you doing? Good.

Yeah, so just two questions. First love, I want to just talk a little bit about this Saturday's main event. I saw you were talking a little bit about your predictions for the fight. I just want to add a little bit of dialogue, in my opinion, what could possibly happen based of seeing some of these guys' fights in U.S.C. Glory or some of the other, or rising in Jury's case. With Yuri Pahaska, I think he's definitely very vulnerable to striking and even takedowns and stuff. Like, you know, he's basically to meet the Tony Ferguson of the light heavyweight division based on his very unique unorthodox style with the Bushido style.

But one good thing about him, as good as Alex Beherra is a very good kickboxer, so he can really set up great low kicks and stuff. Uri Pahaska has seemed to have a gift of a gap for cantering those things or preventing any serious side effects that most fighters seem to face. Like he somehow always comes back and lands some pretty nice. picks himself. I also think Yiri's elbows are very dangerous and deadly. He has, you know,

I'm still very questionable on Alex Chin, especially after the knockout he just got against Ardissania. And I know it's really strange to compare glorious kickboxing to, you know, an MMA bout, but if I was to

take his fight against, his light heavyweight fight that he had against, I think it was, I forgot the guys now. I think Andre, when he won the title, That was a split decision. I'm just thinking, I was watching that fight. It was a good performance, but I'm really leaning in. Someone is either getting knocking on the first round or third round,

or this could go to a split decision, depending on how the five players are. Because I need to see some aggression from Alex. Like the last fight he had, it was much more passive. It was more defense-based because, you know, Jan West definitely going to go for takedowns. But I think Alex should just let the curtain slide out and just go all in.

The other thing I just want to briefly mention is about DDP. I was watching his fight today with the Daryntel fight and the Robert Wittaker fight and the Brunson. I have to say this guy, he's definitely in my opinion one of the most exciting fires we have right now in the division. I think if he does become a champion, I won't say he's a star in the sense like what an artisania or Hamzad is, but he is someone to me who could become a Robert Wittaker type of star if he, His career pans out to be very legendary down the line. Say he wins the title. He has a few legendary title defenses,

possibly moves out to La Javier as one of his goals. That's all I have, man. Have a great day. Thanks, man. Yeah, we'll see what happens in that main event. I don't think Pereira is going to be as passive at this fight. I really don't because Yuri won't allow it. But I also think it's kind of due his advantage, too,

because there's two different styles. Like, Jan was going for takedowns. Yon's a lot more of a patient. Strickian striker, powerful as hell, but a lot more patient. Yuri's just full-on chaos, and I kind of feel like Alex can pick his shots a little bit more, but I do think he's going to be a little bit more aggressive at MSG, all that, everything that's on the line for him. I mean, he becomes a fucking legend. He's a first ballot Hall of Famer if he wins this fight.

Two-division champ at 11 pro-MMA fights, like that's fucking insane. That's insane. Crazy. The stats for both these guys are insane. It's just nuts. It just nuts. All right, a bunch of people lined up. I probably got like 20 minutes,

so let's try to rifle through these as much as possible here. Go ahead, Four Corner Sports. Hey, Mike. So Alis Farah has the ability to make history on Saturday, not only by becoming a two-division champ in such a short period of time, but he would actually be the first person to go three and a three. in MSG, the next closest person that has a record of that nature is Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. I do agree with you that the way that Yerry fights, he does leave a lot of holes in his game for Alex to take, pick apart.

I'm not sure if he's in a fight that same way that he fought Glover just because of two different stylistic matchups. But I also do feel that Yerry, I'm not you, sorry, Yer Alex is a little more calculated and that he'll be able to, you know, land the harder puncher, the hard. punches as opposed to Yuri. My next question is, Aspinel, he kept on seeing it multiple times in the press conference that he wishes that he had a little bit more time to prepare for

Sergei Pavlovich. Do you feel like he's putting a little bit doubt in himself? I mean, I feel like he's not, but I just feel like it's, he's already mentioned multiple times throughout the week. I'm favoring Pavlovich, even prior to hearing those notes, but just because I feel like Pavlovich is a harder puncher and I feel like, you know, there is a little bit more of an

advantage for you going in on a full training camp as opposed to two-week notice. And then lastly, who do you favor? Mackenzie Dern or Jessica Androsh? All right, thanks, Mike. Last question I favor McKenzie Dern. I just feel like, I mean, I'm not like fully sold on McKenzie Dern, but all I've been looking for from her is like a little bit of aggression. That's all.

Not just inside tripped, go for submission, and do nothing else. I'm looking for her to inflict damage. And boy, did she inflict damage on Angela Hill. Jessica Drodge has just had a tough run. She's been finished, kind of run over in her last three fights after starting out the year with an unbelievable performance against Lauren Murphy. I just feel like this is a bad matcher for her.

I feel like this is sort of the time where she's just got to take some time and reflect. and figure things out. But I feel like if this fight goes to the ground, McKenzie's going to tap her. And if she doesn't, she's going to pound her out. Like, I think McKenzie's learning. I think McKenzie's getting better.

I think they're just on two different trajectories. I got a couple bets on McKenzie Dern, I believe, for this fight. Let me just pull up my list here. Yeah, I have Dern straight. I got a minus 190. And then I have Dern as part of a parlay. A couple parlies, actually.

Three parlias. Dern Rebetschke, Emers, Ben-Was-Untini Dern. That plays plus 119. Emmer's Rebetsky-Durin plus 140, and then she's part of the last four fights. Fights don't go the distance at plus 126. So, yeah, I think Dern wins this fight.

Wouldn't shock me of Androge won, but I just feel like the trajectories of their careers right now, Androge is plummeting a bit, and Dern's on the rise. Just where they're at right now, the evolutions of their game. Oh, the other thing. Aspinall. I'm not, like, honestly, I think we all feel that way.

I think Tom's just being honest. But I was listening to Pizzie Carroll talk about this, because I guess Pizzi talked to Tom's dad on an interview that's either going to drop today or sometime this week on, I think, Ariel's YouTube channel or something. But Pizzi said when he was talking to his dad, that basically when the first thing that his dad taught Tom, who was a little kid, first getting into this crazy world, I think he was like seven or eight years old,

basically like the whole beginnings of his training was, hey, don't get hit. Just don't get hit. And basically the whole baseline of Tom Aspinall's, like world of training and where he's at today was based around don't get hit. So I think it's just kind of like the beginnings of where he came from. Just don't get hit.

Now, it's easier said than done when you're fighting a absolute mountain of a man like Sergei Pavlovich. But I think Tom understands the assignment here. Don't get hit. Don't get hit. Don't get into crazy exchanges. Just go and tackle him. Just go in there and tackle him.

Like, that's his best course of action. So, yeah, of course you want better circumstance. I think we all feel that way about this fight. At the end of the day, I think Tom's going to be ready. I don't think Tom's going to have any excuses if he loses. I don't think he's going to come out. Well, if I had a full training camp, I would have beat him. No, I don't think Tom is cut from that cloth, if you will.

I think Tom said yes, he signed the dotted line. Whatever happens, happens. Same as Volcanov. Volk had a short-notice fight with his Lamachchev, the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, took the fight on 12-day notice, said the right things, got excited and got kicked in the face, no excuses. We don't use the short notice thing as an excuse.

You said yes, you said you'd sign the line. That's it. But I am actually picking Tom Aspinall to win that fight again, but I'm again not confident. Nicholas, go ahead. Do we have you? Yep, I got you. I was just wondering, I refuse to think that Tom Aspinnell's foot is 100%. So I'm wondering, how on earth can he get it done?

And if I'm Pavlovich, I'm going straight to them legs. And what should we think about Tony Ferguson? I mean, he's training with Mr. Goggins, but will it help him at all? I appreciate it. I mean, it doesn't hurt having that guy yelling in your ear, along with everything else. So, yeah, get that mindset right, man.

He's taking it seriously. You got to give him that. As long as you're not doing, like, too, too much. He's training with his original team and with the people he's familiar with, but then he's adding this to the mix a little bit. Yeah, I mean, what the hell? We'll see how it works out.

Maybe David Goggins can be, you know, the new mythical creature, if you will. Could be the new, that dude from Detroit, the tactics guy who cornered Joachim Buckley to a win. Maybe he could be that dude. I don't know. And we'll see what happens with Vastopol.

If Asphalt is going to sit there and Fox, Sergey Pavlovich, he's going to get deaded. Like, he's going to lose the fight. So even if it's like, just tackle the band. Get him to the ground and you have a chance to win. My biggest question is what happens when this fight gets to the ground. We have had questions about Sergey Pavlovich's ground game for years now, for years. Since Alistair Overeem out grappled him.

And yes, I'm talking about that Alistair Overeux. Out grappled Sergey Pavlovich. Pavich could not get back up. Alistair freaking over him. Now, I understand that was a long time ago. And since then, we have been wondering how that will work. What happens if he gets taken down? We don't have any answers because all this fights take like 35 seconds.

And there hasn't really even been an attempt to try to take him down. So if Asinol gets him down, can he get back up? If Pavlov gets back up, boy, we got an interesting fight on our hands. But that first takedown is going to be huge. It's going to be huge. Cole, go ahead. So, Mike, you think Pavlovich is, or do you think Aspinall's main strategy here is going to be to wrestle?

I mean, like, I agree that he can't get hit, but man, I don't know if I'd be putting money on Aspinall. If that's, if you're saying he absolutely cannot get touched and he's got to hold this guy down for as long as a fight last. I don't know. God, I can't wait. Alster, Alastair, Overeem held him down. How long ago was that, Mike?

like 2000 doesn't matter we don't have any we have not had that question answered yet so we have to test it right you want to stay you think you should stand there and have a kickboxing match of this guy no that it'll be over in seconds so exactly yeah i i can't wait like an even money main event give it to me inject it i love it i love it yeah i mean look tackle him go tackle him we'll see what happens if he gets up, then you go with plan B. Tom Aspernel is a smart guy. It's ain't going to be like an episode of Boy Meets World where Joey the Rat tries to tackle Frankie Stikino, knocks him to the ground, but then when he wrestles Corey, Corey gets out of the way and he's like, oh, he moved. And then Corey just pins him. It doesn't work that way. This is

a plan B. And who knows, maybe Tom will strike with him. Tom could hit him too. Tom could strike. But the strike is going to lead to this fight going to the ground. Like I think, we all know that's his best path to victory here. At least we think. But again, we don't know. I'm sure Pavlovich's defensive grappling is better than getting laid on by Alastor Overeem all those years ago. But Tom is like an elite grappler.

He's an elite offensive grappler. So I don't know how well that's going to work out for him, honestly. But again, all of these are interesting fights. They're all interesting. I can't wait. I cannot wait for both of these fights. Riley, go ahead. Size advantage between Yuri and Alex, because I know Yuri said he only walks around at like 215, he doesn't like to cut a bunch of weight.

And obviously Alex was like a massive 185 or he's at 205 now, still looks big. But I was just wondering, who do you think we'll have like the size advantage between the two of them? And secondly, real quick, do you think Pereira is a top three leg kicker in the UFC right now? Have a good morning. He's up there. Pereira's up there. And I think Pereira's going to be the bigger fighter. I mean, the top knot is going to give Yuri like two and a half inches.

But Pereira's taller. There reaches exactly the same. And I think Pereira is going to be the bigger guy. Like, I think he's going to weigh more. I think he's going to be like two. 225 to 230 by the time they step into that cage on Saturday. So I do think Pereira is going to be bigger. Prayer was bigger than Jan Blahovic in there.

He looks freaking huge. He looks gigantic at 205. I don't know how he made 185. It's insane. It's absolutely ridiculous. But I do think Pereira would be the bigger guy. Dante, go ahead. What's up?

So my first question is, do you think if Nate Diaz ever returns, we get him in Dustin Flore? And my second is, do you think Tom Asphenol would be able to take out John Jones? I mean, could he? I mean, maybe. I don't know. Be a good fight.

I think, again, we don't, there's a lot of questions about Sergey and his ground game at this moment. But I feel like that fight's more competitive than Jones Pavlovich. I do. I think that would look kind of like Steve A. Francis in a lot of respect. just right now without knowing anything about, I'm talking about the first steepay for this fight, without knowing anything about what Pavlovich grappling looks like now. John's an incredible grappler.

So, yeah, maybe, I don't know. I think the only thing that keeps John going here past the steep fight is if Tom wins on Saturday. I think Tom has John's attention at least a little bit, and that's way more than anybody else. else can say right now. So be an interesting fight. I don't really know. I don't really know. I forget your other question. Damn it. But I'll remember it and then I'll get to it because someone will say something that will remind me. Jay Mack, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Yeah, so now we know

what the main event for UFC Shanghai is and it's, you know, it's a good main event. I mean, looking forward to the fight. Song Yadong versus Chris Gutierrez. It's a good matchup. But I just wonder if the UFC just threw this together at the last minute and why they didn't even think to put Wei Li Zhang or Jaunet, Jaunan, I think her name is, on the card. It's just kind of boggling my mind for some reason.

And do you think it's because Wei Li Zhang is going to be taken on Tatiana Suarez instead? And I'll let you answer that. Thanks, Mike. No, I mean, Zhang isn't the most active fighter. It's not like she fights every three months.

And she just fought. She just fought in August. So asking her to do a camp, she, I mean, she beat the hell out of Amanda Lemoche, but like that was a hard fight. Like she, she worked her ass off for 25 minutes. You know, everything that's, that's come from that, who knows if she was dinged up a little bit, maybe just was too quick of a turnaround for her. I would assume that when they put this card together, that was what they were thinking and probably the plan,

but maybe just couldn't get both of them together here. I still think they're going to go with the Yon fight. I don't know if they're going to do it in China, but I do think that's the fight we're going to get. I would like to see if McKenzie Dern wins on Saturday, I would love to see Tatiana Swarres versus McKenzie Dern. That fight is the perfect last fight to get her over the hump. And it's a perfect win-win for the UFC because if Suarez wins,

she gets to do a title fight. And if Dern wins, they've been pushing Dern try to get to a title fight for, for years now. So, yeah, I kind of think that's what they do here, but maybe they do go with Tatia. I don't know. I honestly don't know. We haven't heard from either Zhang Wei or Jan Janan at this point.

So we're again, Song Yidong, Chris Gutierrez, and yeah, that'll be a main event. But this isn't, this is the Song Yudong show. That's why Song's on the card. It's a song show. Chris is tough. It's a good fight. but this isn't for the casual viewer.

That fight's, that card is going to start at 5 a.m. Eastern, which I'm cool with, but this isn't a card. The UFC is like, yeah, we're banking on the U.S. audience to buy a bunch of subscriptions to watch this one. This is just like, all right, let's give China a fight card more than anything. Let's go to Emilio. Go ahead, Emilio. Mike. What's up?

Yeah, thanks for having. having me. Heck of a good morning to you. A quick question. Damn it. Oh, right. Yeah, I almost forgot. It's about Diego Lopez.

Does a win on Saturday make him the undisputed goat of a fighter coach of all time? Thanks. Have a heck of a morning. I mean, we talked about this before. There's something we have to kind of dig deeper. into because there are certain fighters who corner, but we don't know if they're like actually coaches. I mean, Diego's definitely up there. I think what's interesting here is, does Diego win the 2023 rookie of the year if he wins this fight? Or is it Elvis Brenner? It's between those two guys,

I think. Lopez has a loss, but it's the freaking Mobzar of Loyov on like a week's notice. So, and he gave Bobzar a hell of a fight. So, I mean, it's a two-horse race there. Lopez wins. He's in the running. He may even win it. But yeah, I love the player-coach thing. I just don't, we have to dig a little bit deeper.

I presented that question to a bunch of colleagues, and they were like, wow, I have to really think about that one. All right, so we go, this is what we're going to do. We're going to go to Matt. We're going to go to four-ounce sniper. We're going to go to big four-time. Panda, King Cat. And we're going to do this as quickly as possible.

We're going to give you each a shot. If you can't get through, then we've got to move on because I've got to go in like eight minutes. Matt, go ahead. What do you realistically do with him if he loses on Saturday? Like I don't want to put that juju in there, but I feel like it was really kind of hard to decide where you take him after that. If he loses to Yuri, especially with supposedly Jamal Hill coming back into the full, fairly quickly. If he loses,

give him Anthony Smith. I mean, those two, Anthony Smith's got beef with them. I mean, I don't love that fight for Anthony, but Anthony seems very confident he could win that fight. So, yeah, do that. Why the hell not? Why the hell not? I mean, there's still, I mean, there's still guys he could fight.

I mean, there's talks of Baby Blahovitch versus Rackich happening at 296. So maybe, like, if Rackich wins, you do that, There's Ankleife and Johnny Walker. I would assume they're going to run that one back. So, I mean, there's options for him. And now I remember the other question from before. If Nate comes back, will he fight Dustin Porre?

I don't think so. I'm not saying that fight would never happen, but I don't think it happens next. I'd be kind of surprised. I don't know, maybe if they pay him a bunch. It'd be pretty cool, like, UFC 300 right there. If they did Connor Chandler as the main event, and that Porier Nate is the co-main

do a five-round fight. I mean, that's pretty badass. It's a lot of firepower in terms of casual appeal right there. But I think if Nate comes back, it's for the Connor fight because he makes a ton of money with that fight. But we shall see. Big four times, go.

Do we have you? It's my turn? Can you guys hear me? It's your turn. Yep, I got you. Oh, okay. Thank you, man. No, this is not necessarily a question, it's just a comment that I just want to make based on what I've been reading and listening to this session, right?

I hear a lot of people saying that the only way, they make it seem like the only way Tom can win is if he take Pulvich down, which I kind of disagree because we have not really seen the full potential of Palvich on the ground. He's like he reminds me of Strickland He's well-rounded But he just decides to He prefers to stand up He even said in the This recent interviews that It's fun

When you give a show Right? Because nobody wants to Huck and go to bed the whole night So The only advantage that The advantage that Tom has Over Pulwich I think is the speed I think they are all rounded

But the speed The late kicks of Tom I think if he really utilizes that, he can get away with a win. And as for the main event, that's very interesting. But I think Yiri has a big task on he ahead. Alex is the best striker in the world. Let's be honest. And he's very aggressive, right?

Even if he, when he, if you watch that fight with Easy when he got chaoed, he was going after easy in the second round he's very pressuring so if he goes against he really like that I don't see Yuri stopping him I really don't see him unless Yir goes on the ground but standing up Alex is killing third round K-O

let's see that was just my mind thanks man yeah and look just to clarify while others may have said Tom's only chance to win this fight is to take down I'm not saying that. I'm saying that's his best chance. That's the least path of resistance right there.

Guy who has shown that he is not proficient on the ground against a guy who is very proficient on the ground. Maybe the best, he's one of the best grapplers in the division. And he's very opportunistic. And he finishes fights when the fights go to the ground. I don't care who it's against. He's that dude. But yeah, could he land a quick shot and hurt Papavut? sure, but if Pavlovich touches him, the whole fight can change.

All Pavlovich needs is one. And then it turns into a million. If he lands one, your life, your world changes, and then he just, he's got such a killer instinct on the feed. So that's what makes that interesting. Yeah. I mean, would it, what I mean, if they stood there and Aspedal landed a big right hand up down the pipe, super fast and gets there before Pavlovich does and drops them, like,

would it shock me? No. but I don't think that's probably the strategy here maybe use that quickness in order to get this fight to the ground but yeah it's a great fight good king cap yes you're breaking up a little bit but I think I got you yeah I got you're breaking up like crazy I'm sorry

if you want to try again real quick we'll we'll try to squeeze you in panda guy my man Mike how are you good um yeah I'll be short and sweet here I just kind of want to topple up to what my manager said there, I think Uri's best path through least resistance is obviously the ground. I mean, I don't want to say obviously the ground, but Israel held Alex down and, you know, controlled his wrist, had some control time. Yuri isn't just going to control. Yuri is going to try and strike from the ground.

I think if you already gets Alex on the ground, just like this guy said, Alex is a great striker, I think he already could finish him with some ground and pound on the ground, maybe even submit him. Secondly, how much of a liar is Dana White? Because isn't it supposed to be Humzot versus Sean Strickland? Why is Drickis getting this fight? All right, Mike. Have yourself back of a morning. Okay. Maybe.

I don't know, but Jan had Pereira in some big trouble, and he couldn't, and he's a better grappler than Yuri Perashka is. And he couldn't finish Alex. So, I mean, maybe, maybe that could happen. But Alex is, like, not a fish shot. You saw it in the Behooveitch fight. He's not a fish out of water on the ground. Like maybe he didn't do great against Izzy

because he probably wasn't expecting Izzy to take him down. He knew how he was going to take him down and he's probably ready if he takes him down. Like, guest is working with Alex Pereira, Goldberg Tashara, who went to absolute war at this man. So he knows the ins and outs.

He shared 25, almost 25 seriously life-changing minutes with the span. So again, it's one of those fights where I honestly have no idea what's going to happen. All right, everybody. Unfortunately, in abrupt ending to the show, we try to continue on. And for some reason, Twitter was just being really dumb. And it just, like, killed the rest of the stream.

So I know Panda had a great question about why DDP is getting the title shot with Sean Strickland and not Homsla Chima. Basically, it all comes down to availability. And DDP just deserving the shot. Now, who knows if the UFC had called Hamzaa Tchima and he just couldn't make it or who knows. But justice for DDP, he deserves the shot and he's getting it. So there you go. As far as the next show goes, maybe we'll do one tomorrow.

I'm not scheduled to work till noon Eastern on Friday. So maybe we'll pop in and do something if there's a little drama. If not, we may just not have a show because there's someone. much content that has come on the channel this week. So I don't know, I'll let you guys know. Just follow me on Twitter at Mike Heck underscore JR and I will let you know what's going on. But we will have a preview show. We'll have all the good stuff. We'll have the watch party. We'll get you ready for UFC 295. But until then, everybody, I am Mike Keck. Have a wonderful rest of your day. And have a heck of a morning, everybody.