MMA Fighting - HOAM | Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou, Recapping Another Chaotic UFC News Week

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

While the UFC is on a rare off week, the promotion has certainly had its share of headlines following UFC 294 between Islam Makhachev's knockout win over Alexander Volkanovski, the questions surroundi...ng the middleweight division after Khamzat Chimaev's win over Kamaru Usman, as well as the UFC 295 shakeups due to Jon Jones' injury. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck takes questions about the chaotic week for the UFC, Jones' fight with Stipe Miocic being scrapped and replaced by Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tom Aspinall for the interim heavyweight title, how big of a hit to the card losing Jones vs. Miocic could be, and comparing UFC 295 to other Madison Square Garden fight cards. Additionally, listener topics include Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou, if Ngannou can be competitive, what could headline the UFC's Dec. 2 event in Austin and the promotion's expected return to China the following week, along with a slew of Free-For-All Friday questions from outside the world of MMA. 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

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?
Starting point is 00:00:46 The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, 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
Starting point is 00:01:24 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.
Starting point is 00:01:49 It is Friday, October 27th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the M.A. fighting Twitter space and you get the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. It's Friday, everybody. Hope you are all enjoying it. Hope you're all having an incredible week. It's been a wild week with the UFC 294 hangover to shake up to UFC 295. We got Tyson Fury and Francis and Ganu boxing tomorrow, which is, I still can't believe this is actually happening. And a whole bunch of other stuff going
Starting point is 00:03:00 on. So we're just going to have some fun today. We started a little bit earlier. Like I said, when I tweeted it up this morning, it is going to be a very, very busy day. I'm going to do this show, get it on the podcast network, and then as soon as that is done, my best friend, AK and I we're going to record the Q&A onto the next one, which we got a lot of great questions for that. and I believe the deadline is up. So if you submitted, thank you if you haven't. All good. We get enough questions to fill the show.
Starting point is 00:03:34 And then probably maybe 20 minutes after that wraps, we have the Fury and Gano preview show, which will be live on the YouTube channel at 1 p.m. Eastern. So I'm going to be talking a lot for the next five hours or so. So bear with me. And we will battle through. And it's Friday. And you know what that means on this program?
Starting point is 00:03:55 we could talk about anything and everything. Talk about MMA. We could talk Fury and Ghanu. We could talk UFC news, rumor and innuendo, stuff outside of MMA. We could talk about the media space, whatever the hell you want.
Starting point is 00:04:11 Let's have some fun. And we will begin with Ryan Diamond. Ryan, go ahead. Hey, Mike, happy Friday. Have you heard anything about that China card in December? and who's going to be headlining that? That, I have no idea, man. I have no idea.
Starting point is 00:04:36 You would have assumed, and it would have been my guess, that when they booked this card, it was going to be Zhang Wei v. John Jordan. I mean, it just made perfect sense to do that. That's the perfect fight to headline the return to that area, but I guess it's not going to happen at this point. But who knows? The UFC has been able to put things together very quickly
Starting point is 00:04:57 as we have seen with UFC 294. We're seeing it with UFC 295, so maybe they could pull another rabbit out of their hat, but I'm sure you all saw the reports. I've already debunked those, Song-e-Dong versus Peodor Yan. I mean, who knows? Maybe they pull something together at the 11th hour,
Starting point is 00:05:18 but once those reports came out, it came on the show the next day, let you guys know that, yes, discussions were had, but was not done, wasn't even close to, being done. It was never really a thing. But again, who knows? Money talks. Maybe the UFC ponied up or something, but I don't know. Because we don't have a main event for that card. We don't have a main event for December 2nd either at the moment. Now, I know there were reports about Bobby Green versus Dan Hooker headlining that December 2nd card. We talked about that
Starting point is 00:05:53 last week on the show, that is not done. It is being discussed. From what I am told, the fight, like, was kind of brought up to both sides. And both sides said, yeah, let's do it. But there wasn't, from what I'm told, multiple sources, there hasn't been, like, an official offer yet. So it's, you can't even really say it's, like, in the works or targeted yet.
Starting point is 00:06:20 And maybe the reason for that is because maybe they want to go a different direction, Maybe they throw those guys in China. I don't know. I don't know. I know there are some rumors about Armand Sarukian and B'Neil Daryush. We talked about that on the show a couple of weeks ago. There's been no movement on that fight. It's kind of on the table.
Starting point is 00:06:43 That was the, from what I was told, that was going to be the original plan to headline December 2nd. So when I saw the Bobby Green, Dan Hooker News, I was like, huh, that's interesting. and then I was told that discussions are happening there. So I have no idea. I have no clue. If I were to guess and do not be like,
Starting point is 00:07:05 oh, I'm like, this is just my hunch. I kind of feel like that those two lightweight fights will headline those cards. Just when and where, I don't know. But it seems like both of those fights are on the table, could happen. those are closer to being to happening than Peyotr Yon versus Song Yudong ever was. So we'll see. But it's a good question.
Starting point is 00:07:30 We're getting close. We're what, five weeks away from the December 2nd card in Austin and we're six weeks away from the China card? I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do. Hopefully we'll find out. I would assume we're going to have something by next week, probably on both of those.
Starting point is 00:07:54 Maybe they announce them on the broadcast or something for the South Polo card. Or maybe we'll get a, you know what? It is the day before Fury versus Ngano. Maybe we'll get a Dana White fight announcement video revealing the main events for those cards. Wouldn't be a bad idea. Kind of take some steam off of Fury and Ganu. Wouldn't shock me if Dana did that. So who knows?
Starting point is 00:08:22 but I'm curious of all of that stuff myself. Toke, what's up, buddy? Yeah, so I was here yesterday, and of course, I was kidding about the cheating. I don't cheat in real life. I actually work. But anyways, I wanted to talk about something completely different. It just sounded like you took it the other way, but never mind.
Starting point is 00:08:47 Oh, no, no, no, no. All you did was set me up to rant about cheating. And I'm not saying, again, I'm not saying like you should cheat in life. Like I should not, like I should not be writing articles where I just rip, like copy and paste things from articles. No, you don't do that shit. But in fighting, you should cheat because there's no repercussions. I would get fired if I did that, but fighters don't even get a point taken. So that's what I don't think you're a cheater, Toke.
Starting point is 00:09:14 Nah, good enough. Good enough for me. Okay. But what I wanted to talk about is first, how long do you think that, uh, uh, Fury will show both this fight against Inganu until he will inevitably, you know, get him out of there. Because I feel like this is not really a competitive fight, and we all know it isn't. I don't know why some people are talking themselves into that it isn't. I saw Alist Overeem being out there talking about, I think Inganu wins.
Starting point is 00:09:45 It's just like, it's boxing. What do you mean? He's not a boxer. Anyway, that's one. And the other thing I wanted to talk about, you know, it's free for all Friday. So, Hank, we might as well just talk about PFL just for a second. Because they've announced the PFL Europe Championship where I don't see the only names they have on there that actually are known names are Tom Breeze. And shoot, there was one more.
Starting point is 00:10:16 I forget. Former UFC fighter, I forgot who it was. They're buried, buried on the prelims. And this is just a weird, weird card. So that and then also the PFL Championship. Which championship fight at the real PFL Championship? I'm looking the most forward to. For me, it's the featherweight fight with Jesus Pinedo.
Starting point is 00:10:39 That guy's a monster. But those three things. Sorry for taking too long. See you, Mike. No, you're good, man. How long will Fingano go? If it gets to round six, I'll be surprised. I'll be surprised because I don't know.
Starting point is 00:11:05 Like, I just don't think Igano's going to go in there and box. I think he's going to go in there and try to kill Fury. And I think he's just going to end up tiring himself out, swinging and missing. And maybe he'll land a couple times. But I think we all understand what's going to happen. I think he's probably just going to tire himself out. And Fury is just going to get him out of there. be like a TKO in round five or something like that.
Starting point is 00:11:27 That's how I'm feeling about it. But who the hell knows? I don't know. Like I'm just, I'm somewhat intrigued just because it's like a spectacle and I just kind of want to watch the spectacle, but I don't expect much from it. PFL Championship.
Starting point is 00:11:50 I mean, I obviously, I like featherweight fight too. It's always fun watching Lewis to Pache. I mean, Clay Collard OAM is, great fight. That fight's great. Impa Kassang and I, Josh Silvera's good fight. Like, Impa being on the wrong end
Starting point is 00:12:12 of maybe the most highlight real knockout ever to getting a release from the UFC and now getting a chance to fight for a million dollars at light heavyweight is pretty wild. But I think my actual answer to this is
Starting point is 00:12:32 Kayla Harrison. I'm much more interested. in what she's going to do. Because we haven't seen her since she lost. It's been a year. I'm just kind of waiting and seeing, is she going to fight? What's the deal?
Starting point is 00:12:45 What's going to happen? And there is so much riding on this fight. So much riding on it. Because really, there is only one fight for Kayla Harrison that is like a big fight. And it's Chris Cyborg. And if for some reason Kayla lays an egg,
Starting point is 00:13:04 it loses to Julia, but I don't think she's going. to, but Julie's got some good wins on a resume. If Julia Budd goes out there and beats Kayla Harrison, like we are never, ever going to see Kayla Harrison versus Chris Cyborg, ever. And any huge marquee legacy building fight that Kayla Harrison could possibly have gone forever. So there is a lot riding on this fight. So I'm curious to see how she looks.
Starting point is 00:13:33 Will she just go out and thump Julia Budd? will she win a contentious decision will she lose it's their first time entering a fight coming off of a loss so I'm curious to see what happens with that so I think that's probably the answer that's the thing I'm most interested in and then the PFL Europe won um I want to say let me see something here I want to see I want to say there were some fights added to that let me just look real quick. Okay, so they added, they added a few. Let me see if they actually list the freaking fights. All right. So here's the full card as of right now. I believe they put out a release today. John Mitchell versus Jacob Kazuba. Nate Kelly versus Dimitri Solmise.
Starting point is 00:14:38 Franz Malambo versus Kirshed Kakarov. Dylan Tuk versus Yazid Chuchin. Dakota DeKava, who I really like. versus Valentina Skateezy, Lewis McGillan, let me see, Nathan Kelly's on the card, Brett Johns is on the card, okay. Brett Johns versus David, Tona, Tia, Krull,
Starting point is 00:15:05 Tom Breeze versus Clayton Silva, Ben Davis, but not the Bain, versus Dom Wooding. I like Dom Wooding a lot. Yeah, it's fine. It's a great local card that we probably wouldn't be able to watch it, in the United States, if we're being honest.
Starting point is 00:15:26 So, yeah, I like to code a lot. I think they got something with her. I think she could actually be, she won't be a star in the PFL, but I think there's going to be a point where she's no longer in the PFL, and the UFC's going to snatch her right up, and she could definitely be a star.
Starting point is 00:15:44 She's got star potential. She's fun, easy on the eyes. She's going to fire personality. She's like both her appearance in the NBA. Irish is great. So yeah, it's not bad, but I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's in Dublin. It's a perfect regional, European Irish card. It's perfect. But they'll be able to watch it and we probably won't be able to. This is a big, big stretch for the PFL. And it starts in November because that,
Starting point is 00:16:19 look, I'm still curious what the pay-per-view price is going to be for that. If they're charging 50 bucks for this championship card, that's rough. Because they had a pretty decent card last year. And yeah, there's a couple of good fights. But there's outside of Kayla and maybe OAM and Clay Collard from like a promotional standpoint, there are like no stars on this card at all. It's going to be a tough one for people to drop 50 bucks on. And from all accounts, that first pay-per-view did terrible numbers.
Starting point is 00:16:51 This one's probably going to do worse. And then depending on the outcome and how this all plays out with Francis on Saturday, like his next fight's going to be in the PFL. Who's he going to fight? Who else is going to be on the card? And that card will be the most important card in PFL history. That one has to be successful. Francis and Gano has to be like a mega hit for them.
Starting point is 00:17:19 Or they're in trouble. They're in trouble. They can get all the investors in the, world. But if this this Francis thing doesn't work, they're in big trouble.
Starting point is 00:17:32 Big, big trouble. Let's go to Daniel. What's up, Daniel? Daniel, you're muted. All right, no Daniel. I'll try again. Let's go to Abs Walia.
Starting point is 00:18:00 I just want to talk a little bit about the NBA today. Just two questions. I'll start off with the Boston Celtics because you're a big fan of them. I just want to get thoughts.
Starting point is 00:18:11 Because now the lineups have changed for the current team and roster, you know, the Celtics lost, Marcus Smart, Robert Williams and Graham Williams. I'm just curious to know, compared to the lineup that Joe Mazula used for White Brogden Smart during the last
Starting point is 00:18:29 NBA season and particularly the playoffs, which was very successful, and, you know, compared to now the line that he will possibly use with Drew Holiday. I think it's Chris Stav Porzingis and maybe Jalen Brown, how do you see that possibly playing out? Do you think that strategy could be very effective? Or do you reckon that it could pose some problems since there's a lack of defense
Starting point is 00:18:53 and also maybe a lack of IQ at play? You know, because as much as I think Prozinger is a great player, I'm very skeptical on his overall mileage as a player and also sometimes his questionable plays. Drew Holley is a great player in my opinion. And I think he's definitely got the best of both worlds that Brogden and Smart has, which has been a great defender and a playmaker. But he's also aging and he's taking a step back. And, you know, Jalen Brown is Jane Brown.
Starting point is 00:19:21 I think he'll be well. I'm just curious to know your thoughts. And my other question was so far, if you have been keeping up with the first few games of the season, which was your favorite matchup that you saw? Thanks for having a great day. I mean, second question is easy. Celtics Nicks. It's a beautiful thing.
Starting point is 00:19:41 I mean, it's just beautiful. Nick's played really, really well, and Southwark came and still won with this new lineup. It's going to be a good year. Joe Missoula gets a full year here. It's not like he's stepping in on short notice to coach a team because the previous head coach was an asshole and did horrible shit. Now Joe's got like a full season,
Starting point is 00:20:05 and he spent the offseason like doing the right things. He's going to freaking extreme coutre and like hanging out. with Eric Nixick and like getting a coach's mindset and like the leadership mindset from not just MBA and basketball experts and coaches but like coaches from around the world in all different areas of life including MMA and boxing it's incredible it's incredible Tyson Chartier's hanging out with like this is what you want to see this is what you want to see and I love this Celtics lineup yeah it's it stinks having Marcus smart not on the team he fit in perfectly, but this was a New England Patriots-esque move where this was like them dealing
Starting point is 00:20:47 Thai law and lawyer Malloy when they were pro bowl defensive players. And we were like, what? And then you saw what happened when they left. You realize, you know what? They were right. We got the best of them. They ain't the best anymore. They're on the back nine now. The best is gone. and I kind of feel like that's what they have here. I liked Brogden too, but getting Drew Halday is a great trade. I like Derek White. Brown and Tatum obviously are who they are. And Porzingis, low risk, high reward.
Starting point is 00:21:26 They didn't pay a ton of money for them. So I love that move. But the big question is the durability. And guess what? If you need to get him a night off, Al Horford is a stud too. and Al is a great playoff guy. So I think they're really deep. Peyton Pritchard, I think, is going to have a really good year.
Starting point is 00:21:49 I like Luke Cornett on this team as another guy that could play a big spot, especially in a defensive role. They got horses, man, and they're deep. They're a deep team. And these are the teams that win championships. Or the ones where if you're starting guys struggle, you're bringing these other dudes and they can pick up the slack. So I like what I'm seeing so far.
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Starting point is 00:22:42 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. All right, Daniel, do we have you?
Starting point is 00:23:03 You're muted again. Mike? Yes. Oh, cool. What's up? Now we got it. Nice morning, with you. I'm from Germany, and my...
Starting point is 00:23:18 take on Fury against Mungano is like Mike Tyson would treble Gordon Ryan so it makes no sense to me this match up and I don't think Mungano has any chance
Starting point is 00:23:36 and it's like the same circus we had with Connor and Mayrida so I'm not too much excited in this kind of and may I come back to a subject we had yesterday before. I'm interested in this rule about the grounded opponent
Starting point is 00:23:59 and the knees to the head and where we saw last time a lot of mistaking qualifications or non-contest fights. What is your thing? thinking about that they're going to change this rule to, like, you know, the rule is like the opponent is grounded if his full force of body weight is on his full hand or his fist, right? So, and we saw many times that it's not like that they disqualified people or no contest and the hand was not full on the ground,
Starting point is 00:24:46 but they kicked through the head, and we know the outcome of this fight. You think that this will be changed someday again, that they say, okay, it's not, I would say it's not in safe. We cannot be safe. It's not going to happen. You know, this fight in the Contender series, the Sozadthin,
Starting point is 00:25:13 the German guns, guy from Berlin got qualified disqualified but his hand was not on the ground. He actually put the hand up and he kicked. So
Starting point is 00:25:27 what's your take? Maybe this change again. Thanks, man. Will it change? I hope so the grounded knee rule is fucking stupid. They get so stupid. They should just allow grounded knees.
Starting point is 00:25:46 They should just allow it. I understand. understand like the soccer kick rule and watching Rise and you get to see soccer kicks and stuff and that's pretty damn cool. I don't really think we need it in the UFC but the Grounded Knee rule is dumb. Like it's just all dumb.
Starting point is 00:26:02 I don't like it. They should allow grounded knees. So do I think it's going to change? Perhaps maybe it comes up at one of these ABC meetings as a potential rule change, but I'm not going to hold my breath. But I think that's a rule that has been in,
Starting point is 00:26:19 we've seen enough of these over the last couple of years where I think it's going to get put on the table at some point. I don't know if it happens like next year or maybe the year after, but I'll be cautiously optimistic that that rule will change. But I don't know. And then look, the Ingada Fuera, here's what I at least appreciate about Fury Engano is that most people, even the MMA community,
Starting point is 00:26:50 We know what this is. And we understand what this is all about. Now, Mayweather McGregor annoyed the shit out of me because the amount of people who tried to tell me with like, I mean anger in their voices that Connor McGregor was going to beat Floyd Mayweather. And I'm trying to tell him, like, look, like I had, I had friends who were betting like thousands of dollars on Connor McGregor. And I'm like, dude, don't do it. And they're like, F you, Mike, you don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, I do. Like, I'm not a big boxing experts, but I know that Floyd Mayweather is going to beat Connor
Starting point is 00:27:29 McGregor in a boxing match. Like, Connor has no chance to win. Oh, what if Connor lands a big shot? Great. It's not going to do anything. It's not going to do anything. Floyd is going to beat him. And the fight went exactly the way I thought it was.
Starting point is 00:27:47 And I was watching it with buddies and just watched them lose thousands of dollars that they bet on Conner, Gregor, I'm like, you guys are idiots. You guys are so silly. But at least at this one, like,
Starting point is 00:27:58 we get what it is. It is going to be just like, it's going to be a spectacle. And you don't want to miss the spectacle. That's that, like, that's how I figure. And on the same token,
Starting point is 00:28:09 after the treatment of Ngano and the UFC throughout most of his career and the way that his UFC career ended, and the way Dana White unceremoniously just buried him on the way out, which was just kind of unfair, Francis is going to get a big bag of money.
Starting point is 00:28:30 And I'm happy for that. Like, that's what it is. Like, we understand what this is. It's Francis getting a bag of money. He's going to lose a fight that he's supposed to lose. And that's it. And it's just going to be like a big circusy kind of an event that you just are going to watch it for what it is. We're not, no one's, no one's spending $80 tomorrow to watch.
Starting point is 00:28:53 watch a high-level boxing match. No one's going to do that. But it's going to be one of those things where it's just like, I just, there's nothing else on. So we just have to do it. You know what I mean? You don't want to be the guy that missed it. But I agree.
Starting point is 00:29:15 Like, we talked about this on BTL yesterday. I totally agree with BC on this. The fact that this is a professional fight, but yet Fury's titles aren't on the line, is just so dumb. it's just so dumb it makes absolutely no sense like if you're going to put the real
Starting point is 00:29:38 slash pro label on this like at least make it for the belts not that like Francis is going to win the belts but at least it's somewhat interesting and not like a fake belt that they're just going to like put together which I mean I don't know if they're doing that or not they probably are
Starting point is 00:29:55 but like we know what this is it's silly and it's kind of fun, but much like we say at the end of every episode of On to the next one, don't take this stuff too seriously. It's supposed to be fun, and I think this will be at least fun,
Starting point is 00:30:14 the spectacle of it all, but just if you're going to watch it and spend the money, just be ready for it you're going to see, a one-sided fight. And Francis is going to swing real hard. Maybe he lands a shot. Maybe he drops Fury at some point. That'd be nuts, but I don't think he's going to knock Fury out.
Starting point is 00:30:36 If Deontze Wilder didn't knock him out in that second fight, Francis ain't doing it. Francis ain't doing it. But I don't know. It would be absolutely, I wouldn't even know what to do with myself if Francis won this fight. But just enjoy it. If you're going to watch it, just enjoy it for it it is.
Starting point is 00:30:58 Four quarter sports, go ahead. Hey, Mike. So I was really disappointed on the John Jones injury. As a fan that, you know, really enjoys watching a fight. I was clamoring at the moment, you know, being able to watch them for the first time live in person. And it was like a huge gut punch because, like, these tickets aren't cheap. You see, you know, gouge the prices, you know, astronomically more than what they paid, than when they were charging last year.
Starting point is 00:31:30 And now we're getting two title fights, but I guess you can say it's a, it's a, better, it's a better heavyweight fight that we're getting. It's just unfortunate because I have a couple of buddies of mine that paid even more money than what I paid. Payed close to like five grand just to say even closer towards the octagon. And these, going to these events aren't cheap whatsoever. And it just sucks right now because it's, you know, there are people that are like contemplated whether or not to go because, you know, you're going to have the casual audience that goes, but you're going to have people that were more clamor to see because, you know, the U.S.
Starting point is 00:32:06 he was building this fight to beat, like, this mega legacy fight, and both fighters were, you know, rumored to retire after this fight. Like, how would you convince, like, a fan to, you know, buy these, you know, attend this event? Because, I mean, the main car is, okay. I mean, I like Diego Lopez versus Pat Sabatini. But last year's, you know, featured fight was,
Starting point is 00:32:32 wasn't it, uh, Justin Gage versus Michael Chandler or I think it was a what's the call Michael Chandler versus Dustin Porre. So I feel like the car compared to last year is worse and I see that what's the cold
Starting point is 00:32:48 Phil Hall is fighting Bruno Ferreira. It's an interesting fight. I just want to get your perspective. What do you think ends up winning that fight? I saw that Marcel ended up reporting that. All right, thanks Mike. Yeah, it'll be a good fight. It'll be a good fight.
Starting point is 00:33:08 fight. Phil has been trying to get that that Jake Paul fight that he obviously didn't get. Let me just pull up look for an MSG card
Starting point is 00:33:27 this isn't what we're used to seeing but there's been some bad MSG cards, man. There's been some bad ones. UFC 230. Perfect example. I mean,
Starting point is 00:33:42 some of these have aged okay, but the opening, the main, main card opener for UFC 230 was Israel Adasani versus Derek Brunson. Now, that fight obviously has aged really well because Israel ran them over. You want to know what the second fight of the main card of UFC 230 was at Madison Square Garden? Carl Roberson versus Jack Marshman, okay? Third, the featured bout, and And this ages a little bit, but not great. Jared Cannoneer versus David Branch. Now, give me Diego Lopez versus Pat Sabatini over that fight every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Starting point is 00:34:29 The co-main event was Jacqueray versus Chris Wyden. No title, no nothing. That was the co-main event. And it was one of those heartbreaking fights where, like, Wydenman was doing really well and then just got obliterated in the third round. and the main event was Daniel Cormier versus Derek Lewis, a fight that was put together on like a month's, like less than a month's notice.
Starting point is 00:34:53 And DC just killed Derek Lewis, who had like a horrible back injury and like DC was hurt. It was just like they cobbled together this card. And we were supposed to get, and that was the car we were supposed to get Dustin Porre versus Nate Diaz on. We're also supposed to get Luke Rockhold versus Chris Wyman on that card.
Starting point is 00:35:15 And all of those fell apart. One other one I want to bring up as well. And then I'll get to like what this all means. We talked about this on, damn they were good for the Habib. The Habib edition. UFC 209. Now, if you were a fan back then,
Starting point is 00:35:40 if you were a fan back in late 2016, early 2017, we were supposed to get Habib Nirmagamadeoff versus Tony Ferguson finally for the lightweight title. It was going to happen. We're going to get tired Woodley,
Starting point is 00:35:57 Stephen Thompson, too, and we're going to get Habib versus Tony Ferguson. And then Habib has the issues with the scale. That fight is off. We're supposed to get Todd Duffy versus Mark Godbear at the time
Starting point is 00:36:13 was like a friggin insane fly. on paper. So Mark Godbear ended up fighting Daniel Spitz instead. So because of all the shuffle-ups, this was the UFC 209 main card. This is the UFC 209 main card. Alistair O'Reem versus Mark Hunt.
Starting point is 00:36:35 Cool. Cynthia Calveo versus Amanda Bobby Cooper, Daniel Kelly versus Rashad Evans at middleweight. The co-main event for UFC 209. We lose Haldib
Starting point is 00:36:52 versus Tony Ferguson. The co-main event for UFC 209 was David Tamer versus Lando Vanada. And then we got Woodley Wonderboy and maybe in one of the worst title fights we've ever seen. Crazy.
Starting point is 00:37:12 Crazy. Look, I understand that the prices are ridiculous now. It's a lot of money. It's John Jones. Steppe, maybe their final fights, like, I get it. It sucks. It sucks. But there's a rule with all of this. Pro wrestling, any time combat sports rolls around. The card is subject to change. Something weird can happen, and here we are. Now, to the UFC's credit, I don't think they could have done any better than what they did.
Starting point is 00:37:41 They still got Tom Aspedal and Sergey Pavlovich, which is a much more competitive fight in more. to me it's a much more interesting fight than John Jones versus Stipe. At the same time, we ain't confusing the two. There's a reason why Pavilich Aspinall is not the main event. Because it's not a bit, it's like, it's a great fight. It's probably the fight for the, who is the actual, well, I mean, John Jones is in that mix, but like you can make a compelling case that the best heavyweight in the world is going to come out of this fight.
Starting point is 00:38:16 you can make that case because I just felt like John was going to run Steep A over. I'm not saying like, I'm not saying that to disrespect Stepe A, but Steepa's 41, he hasn't fought in three years. And John Jones is just kind of going to tackle him and beat him up.
Starting point is 00:38:34 Like that's just how I figured. I didn't feel like that fight was all that competitive. This one is more competitive. This main card is better than UFC 230. That's for sure. You get Yuri versus Alex, which is a six, fight. A sick fight. Like if you pulled most hardcore fans and said, what fight are you looking
Starting point is 00:38:59 forward to the most for the rest of the year? It's probably that one. And the significance of what's at stake, especially for Alex Pereira, if he wins this fight, it's historic. And that fight's going to be absolutely nuts. We're getting Matt for Volub and Wausantanee. That fight's going to be insane. Is it the most loaded star power card of all time at MSG? No. Is it the worst at MSG? No, it's not, because I just ran off probably the worst card at MSG. Is it UFC 205? It's not. Remember, UFC 244, let me pull up UFC 244. That one at least had a little bit of star power at the top, but they created a non-real title to have. headline that card. That was
Starting point is 00:39:55 Kevin Lee, Gregor Gillespie. Great moment for Kevin Lee. Derek Lewis Blagoi Evenoff in a fight that went the full 15. Stephen Thompson, Vicente Lucke, which was a proof. That was actually a really good fight. The co-main event was Darren Till
Starting point is 00:40:11 versus Kelvin Gasolum. That was a tough hang. I watched that fight Caged side because I covered that card. Yikes. And then the main event was Mazadal Diaz for the BMF title. So, like, you can make a case that this card is better than that one.
Starting point is 00:40:30 Like, there's more at stake in that card than, in this card than that one. But the Star Par isn't quite there. So, look, and plus you get the pomp and circumstance of MSG, like, there's something about just being in that building and experiencing fights. So if you already kind of went this far, you might as well experience it. It's a major event. The UFC is going to do a lot of cool things. they usually do.
Starting point is 00:40:54 There's going to be stuff going on in the area all week long. I mean, when I covered UFC 240, they had the freaking rock there all week. The freaking rock comes out before the ceremonial weigh-ins and announces a Mark Kerr project, which I've heard nothing about since. And then he comes out and out and wraps the VMF title. Like, I think it's going to be, like,
Starting point is 00:41:20 I think it's going to be cool. Would it be better if we had John Jones walking out to 50 cent to defend the, title possibly for the last time against steeping yeah it would have been great would have been cool but considering what was available and what they could possibly do they could have just like not replace that fight at all and just went eerie a Alex but they caught they did put something together and they put together a really interesting fight so i feel for anybody that spent money and is like livid about it i definitely feel for you like i had people saying they see
Starting point is 00:41:58 spent like five grand on a pair of tickets and I'm just like yikes. I mean, at that point, I might just go and just experience it and try to make the best of it or try to sell them. I don't know. I'm sure you'll get your, I'm sure some will buy them. It's going to be one of those cards that like, I think it'll build throughout the fight week. And I think it'll get a little more interesting. I think people will be more into it.
Starting point is 00:42:24 But yeah, of course, it sting is not having John Jones on there. But like I said, all things considered, it's, put it in a lot worse. Eric, go ahead. Hey, Mike. So one of the things coming out of last weekend that kind of surprised me, especially with my non-MMA fans, was a picture of Islam shush in the crowd with Volk in the background.
Starting point is 00:42:42 They got super hype on that, which is funny because it was almost the exact same picture as John Jones shush in the crowd with Cyril gone, looking super confused in the background. And I see AK's, I actually asked AKA this, but which are those two pictures you think is colder, but also where do you think Islam's rank among some of the colds we've seen recently?
Starting point is 00:43:00 Obviously, the picture of, Izzy with the bow and arrows is up there. But yeah, I want to get your thoughts on that. Thanks, Mike. Oh, Islam is, Islam is about a million spots ahead of John Jones. Because, like, John Schish in the crowd is like, it's like a cold kind of a moment.
Starting point is 00:43:21 Like, if you had no insight to MMA at all and you saw that photo and you're like, yeah, that's the UFC heavyweight champion. You'd be like, yeah, that's cool. But, like, there were very few people that thought Cyril Ghan was going to win that fight. Like that fight, I don't think anyone expected John to roll him in a minute. But I don't think a lot of people are expecting Cyril to beat John Jones.
Starting point is 00:43:46 So to me, it was like cool moment, but I didn't think he needed the shushing. Because no one really doubted John. Now, the Islam thing, totally different story to me. Because, like, if John Jones had done that to Dominic Reyes, like if he, him and Dominic Reyes, like, they had their fight, and most people thought Dominic won. Some people thought John won, but most people thought Dominic Reyes won that fight. If they had fought again, like six months later, and Jones just put Reyes away in a minute or two minutes, and then shushed them, well, Dominic Reyes is sitting in the corner, all busted up and confused,
Starting point is 00:44:30 like, that is cold. That's cold, right there. but Islam Makachev I mean you just that photo had so much to it one is stop asking questions about the first fight there is no more rivalry
Starting point is 00:44:50 the rivalry is over that's it you want to throw in 12 days notice out sure it's kind of unfair to not throw it out there but the fact of the matter is folk said the right things he had the right attitude he said he was ready to go said he's going to go in there and try to
Starting point is 00:45:06 knock Islam out and Islam was on fire, man. He was on fire. And then he kicked him in the face. He kicked him in the face and knocked him out. This wasn't him 49-46ing Volk and grinding his way to a unanimous decision. He iced Volkinovsky. There were people who still had Volkanovsky number one pound for pound after losing to Islam Makachev. So for the rest of Islam's career, if he didn't didn't fight Volk again, it would have been like, yeah, Islam was great, but he lost to Volk. But if, like, you go back and watch that fight, I think that performance this past Saturday actually made the February fight age really, really well. Jen made a great point on BTL yesterday that I think, look, I still think it's the fight of the year, and I think Volcanowski fought his
Starting point is 00:46:03 ass off. Never once have I gone back and watched that fight and thought Volt got screwed or there was a robbery or anything like that. I've said from Jump Street, it was clear Makachef 4847. You could even argue 49-46 for Makachev. But people still kept throwing out to Islam. 2-3-5 Volt, 2-3-5 Volk. And I just didn't get it. I just didn't get it. I thought Islam clearly won the fight and he should have been the number one pound-for-pound guy. But he got, it was like he no credit for the win. It was all about Volk. Oh, Volk gets all the flowers.
Starting point is 00:46:39 Volk gets all the praise. Islam's lucky to have the title right now. And then that performance was just to Volk. That was to the world. That was to everybody. Everybody who doubted him. And there were a lot of very smart people in this sport who picked Volkanowski on 12 days notice
Starting point is 00:46:58 to beat Islam Makachev. And he shot everybody up. To me, that is, that was cold. You just saw closure. You saw 15 pounds of weight just lifted off the man's shoulders. All of it just went away in that one moment. It is incredible.
Starting point is 00:47:20 What a crazy, crazy photo. Insane. Awesome. That one's right up there with like a lot of the ones from the goat, the iconic voice, Esther Lynn. Esther Lin has some incredible photos. But boy, Chris Unger delivered the goods on Saturday with that one. Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on amazing gifts.
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Starting point is 00:48:40 a better quality of On the free, on link on C4A. or in magazine. Cole, go ahead. Good morning, Mike. I love the MMA and boxing analysis, but I'm bringing the free-for-all-Fri-Roddy energy today. If I were to dust off the old iTunes software,
Starting point is 00:48:57 I know you're retired from DJing, but if I were to dust that off and open up the old laptop, what song has the most plays at wedding gigs that you've done? Would it be like the cha-cha slide, the Cupid shuffle, Yeah, by Usher, low by T-Pain. What are we going with? What's got the most plays on your old iTunes? Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:49:29 It's a good question. So, like, it's weird. Like, every wedding's different, but every wedding's the same. Because, depending on who's getting married, for the most part, like, they're, like, I've done weddings where people give be no songs. So like basically how it would work is like I would meet with a couple and you know, we'd give them like a little program that they could fill out all their stuff,
Starting point is 00:50:01 talk about like what certain songs could be like what's your first dance, what's that with that. And then it's like there's like lists that you could do. And it's like must plays. Then there's play if possible. And then there's like do not play if someone gives you a million dollars sort of. And sometimes they would. fill out none of that stuff. Sometimes they would fill out the entire thing. I've DJed a wedding.
Starting point is 00:50:26 I DJed two weddings in my life out of like the hundreds and hundreds that I've DJed where the couple actually put out a playlist in order. This is how I want the songs to go. And I'm like, okay, you want me to be that guy? Like, I'll just auto play all of it. That's totally fine. But for those who just have like some songs and then it's other songs, you have to keep in mind. I've DJed some weddings where people just want like grimy, like old school, like 90s, hip hop, like unedited. Like all the words, everything. And like, this is what we want the whole time. And I'm like, okay, well, who's going to be there?
Starting point is 00:51:09 Oh, like our parents, our grandparents. I'm like, you really want your grandparents when the dance floor opens to hear the entire unedited version to gin and juice. Oh, that bitch? Like, you, you want, you want your grandparents to hear that? And then they're like, no. I'm like, well, then we can't do that.
Starting point is 00:51:32 So you have to, like, do something that gets like everybody involved. And then as grandparents typically do, unless you're like my parents, my parents are animals, they'll go the whole time. Most of the older people leave. And then, once they leave, like the last hour,
Starting point is 00:51:49 last hour and a half, half, two hours. And we can get after it a little bit. So basically how it would work is, I would say shouts. I mean, shouts a big one. Everybody loves that one. September by Earthwin and Fire.
Starting point is 00:52:05 Everybody loves that one. A lot of Michael Jackson stuff. Billy Jean, don't stop to you get enough. Those are all big. And then as you get into like the more modern stuff, it's like Tayao Cruz dynamite is like automatic. I got a feeling black eyed peas. Everybody loves that. Um, uptown funk. What's that friggin song? Don't stop the feeling. Justin Timberlake. Everybody loves that
Starting point is 00:52:35 song. Shut up and dance by Walk the Moon. Everybody loves that song. I mean, it's always evolved, but there are certain songs that like have stood the test, party in the USA by Miley, Miley Cyrus, like, no one ever is, like, you can sit there and be like, it's not on my playlist, but if that song plays, you're singing and dancing your ass off to that song. So those are like the guaranteed bangers. I'll give you like the low key banger, run around Sue by Dior. That song hits.
Starting point is 00:53:04 I usually will play like a slow song, like in the first set, and I'll come back with that. And everyone hears the beginning of it. And they're like, what the hell is this? Another slow song. And then it picks up. And everyone's like, oh, shit. I remember this song. And then we started right back up.
Starting point is 00:53:17 But yeah, those are like the automatics. Those are the go-toes. And then we just kind of build from there. I actually have to DJ a Halloween trunk or treat at my kids' school later on tonight, which would be fun. Panda, go ahead. He's back. Let's go to Tom and then we'll go to J-Mac. Tom, go ahead.
Starting point is 00:53:47 Echamus Maximus. Thank you very much for a great space. Do we think the Tom Aspinall, I'm a huge Tom Aspinall fan. He's from where I'm from. He's got one heck of a first name like I have. Everything about Tom's ascension to the top potentially bodes well with me. But are we taking a big step too soon with Tom? Or will this pay dividends in the long run where Tom is an established interim champion,
Starting point is 00:54:20 Jones comes back. The winner of the steep A. Jones fight faces Tom 9 to 12 to 15 months down the line and then all as well with the upper heavyweight division. Can we see that happening or what's your thoughts on the Tom Aspinall
Starting point is 00:54:37 ascension? Is it too much too soon? And second question, on the wedding DJ front, who would win in a fight? DJ Khalid or Calvin Harris? I'd probably go DJ Khalid. but I don't know I don't know DJ Khalid seems like he's
Starting point is 00:55:00 he's seen some shit and maybe Calvin Harris is too but I think DJ Cald seen some more shit honestly Tom Aspinall I don't know
Starting point is 00:55:12 I guess it's it's one of those weird fencing ones or you're just like we're gonna have to wait and see now the one complaint I do have about this fight is that we're not getting it on full camps but again this was
Starting point is 00:55:24 the UFC pulling a rabbit out of the hat. Both guys said yes. So there's no excuses here. What is fascinating about the matchup is I have more questions about Pavlovich that I do Tom Aspinall. Tom Aspinall is very real. He was on the MMA hour and he said exactly what I'm thinking. If he stands there and gets into a slug vest with Sergey Pavlovich,
Starting point is 00:55:51 he is going to get wrecked. And he knows it. He knows it. he knows that's a very dangerous game to play. However, I have so many questions about Sergey Pavlovich off of his back. If Tom Aspinall can take him down, can Pavlovich get back up? Can he defend submissions? I mean, this is a guy we haven't seen off of his back in a long time.
Starting point is 00:56:19 And the last time he was on his back, he was on his back and was getting dominated on his back by Alistair Overeem. So there's all these questions. because even when John won the heavyweight title, we saw Padillich get these wins, most people, me included, have come on. I have come on this show and said, I think John Jones destroys Sergei Pavlovich because he's going to take him down,
Starting point is 00:56:43 and the second he takes him down, it's over. And some people have come back and be like, yeah, you can question the takedown defense, but we don't know what it looks like now. Maybe he has spent the last few years working on that. But he just haven't had to use it because it's just annihilating fools in three minutes or less. So I have big questions about Pavlovich there.
Starting point is 00:57:06 Now, if Tom Aspinall shoots a double and gets Pavvich down and Pavvich scurries to the fence and stands right up, then I'm going to be like, oh boy, this could get real ugly. But Tom is real good. Tom is a star in the making, I think. And again, all my questions are on the story. Sergei side. They really are. Because I think if I am to kind of go with my gut on where I think Pavlovich is
Starting point is 00:57:39 from a defensive wrestling standpoint and a get-up game, I think it's probably improved to the point where Alistair Overeign couldn't hold him down for 15 minutes or 25 minutes. But I think if Tom gets most guys down, it's got to be a big, they're going to be in trouble. They're going to be in trouble. So
Starting point is 00:57:58 it's a real interesting fight. I don't think it's too much to soon. But I think we all, like, even if he gave Tom a full camp and he gets into a slug vest with Sergei Pavlovich, it's probably a situation where it's not going to go very well for him. But that's the same for anybody that Sergey Pavich fights. Dude's got lunchboxes. He's a monster. It's an absolute monster.
Starting point is 00:58:23 He has taken out some of those durable guys in that division with ease. So dudes got power. But my big question is, can Aspinall's get a take down? And if so, can Pavlovich get back up? And if he can't, Tom Aspinall is going to be the interim heavyweight champion. It's a fascinating fight. As far as Steve A and John goes, look, I've said it already, the way I'm viewing this Aspinall Pavlovich fight, and I know there's a lot of questions and it's weird, why,
Starting point is 00:59:02 isn't it for the real belt and all that stuff? It is for the real belt, but in a delayed fashion. Because we will get John versus Steepa probably over the summer. And yes, whoever wins this fight in November is going to be sort of on ice unless they want to defend the interim heavyweight title, the UFC's in a bind and they have to do something there. But once Jones Steepay ends, Jones probably wins. Jones says,
Starting point is 00:59:33 I'm done. Maybe not retire, but I'm done. I'm vacating the belt. That guy, just like Robert Whitaker did when GSP became the middleweight champion and left, becomes the new champion. And if it's Tom Aspinall,
Starting point is 00:59:48 and Tom goes on a nice run, and he beats like a Jelton Almeda and a couple of other dudes, and his star power continues to grow, maybe that entices John to come back. I don't know if John comes back for Pavlovich but i think there's a world where he might come back for tom but tom has to win in 15 days from right now and then tom has to go on a run where he defends the title like three times
Starting point is 01:00:15 and if or twice two or three times and then i think john might come back for one more just to be like nope i'm going to be that dude who breaks the record or ties the record that's what i'm going to do but yeah so i do think this is going to end up being for the real belt just it's something we're going to have to wait eight or so months maybe longer for that title to be crowned so to speak jamaq go ahead okay uh pop up and pop back in jac mack it's not going through uh let's try blackbelt m m m m m mow black belt hello like hamza shanai deserve a title chat thank you no i don't know i Look, but that doesn't matter. Whether he quote unquote deserves one or not, doesn't matter.
Starting point is 01:01:26 It does not matter. Driggis duplice deserves the title shot. Let's be honest. DDP deserves it. You go out there and you wreck Bobby Knuckles on a big stage. You deserve it. But because he didn't turn around in two months or two months time, after a hard, grueling training camp to fight the second best middleweight in the world,
Starting point is 01:01:57 the UFC went to Strickland and now DDP might get screwed out of all this. Hamzat has the hand injury and all that. So I believe Hamzat's next fight will be for the middleweight title. Will it be next? I don't know. I don't know. It all depends. Like, we don't know what's going to headline in January now.
Starting point is 01:02:19 We have no clue. Is it going to be Volk? Like, are they going to do Volk to Poria? I hope not. I hope not. I want to see that fight, but I don't want to see it in January. I want to see it in, like, March or April. Put that on UFC 300.
Starting point is 01:02:32 That could be like the first of three title fights with the co-main event. But if they're just like, man, we need a main event. We can't have Pena Pennington is the main event for the vacant women's Bannamway title. We got to have, like, something here. Sean Strickland is over right now. He is super over. you call Sean Strickland,
Starting point is 01:02:54 you know he's going to say yes, and you call DDP. You give DDP a call. If he says yes, that's your main event. If not, if they call DDP for January and he says no,
Starting point is 01:03:07 then Hamzad's definitely going to get it. If it's, like, if everything, if we, nothing happened, like, if we didn't get the Volkadovsky fight, it Islam. If we got Islam and Charles, instead,
Starting point is 01:03:18 Voltaporia, headlines January, and then we go into February and March. If there wasn't like a bind potentially where the UFC needs Strickland to step in a little bit sooner, then I think Hamzaa would have got the shot over DDP, and that's not right, but it's a way bigger fight. I mean, Strickland Shemayaf is a way bigger fight
Starting point is 01:03:40 than Strickland DDP. Way bigger. And that's what the UFC cares about more than anything. I would like to see Shemai, Just do Shamaio F Costa. Just do that fight. Just do that fight. I want to see it.
Starting point is 01:04:04 Strickland DDP, and then we do Shamaif Costa. Or wins that fight, gets the winner of Strickland DDP. And then we get Israel and Asana, who is going to come back at some point and they're just going to, he's going to get a title shot when he comes back. It's going to be a real interesting year for the middle eight division. Real interesting. but DDP's best friend right now is availability. If the UFC needs him in January,
Starting point is 01:04:32 he better say yes, or he ain't getting a title shot. He's going to have to fight like Brennan Allen or something next if Brennan Allen beats Paul Craig. Like, DEP's going to have to win like two more fights. But if we don't get that fight in January, we're not shock if Shamiab gets the title shot. Jay Mack, go ahead.
Starting point is 01:04:57 Hey, Mike. You hear me? Yeah, I got you. Great. So we got a two-part question first. first part question is Dana White and he's had a lot of what the fuck moments
Starting point is 01:05:08 but like his thing about like banning flags and then unbanning flags and then they go to Dubai and then they ban flags again so now are flags banned again or are they going to be unbanned and then also
Starting point is 01:05:24 recently they have the Bud Light sponsorship again and then he says it's not about money and he says he has a good work in relationship with them, which is probably true. But yet, you know, now people are saying they're going to boycott the UFC because of Bud Light because, you know, the whole, I don't know. Anyway, I just want you to kind of cover that a little bit.
Starting point is 01:05:45 And then did you see the Tyson, Fury, and Ghanu press conference? And if so, what do you think afterwards? Does it make you more excited or are you about the same level? All right, I'll take it off the year. Thanks, man. all I'm going to say is because we were doing BTL live when that press conference began
Starting point is 01:06:06 and I'm so glad we had BTL going and I think a lot of other people were too because we didn't even get to see Fury and Ganu for a while. We did a super long BTL yesterday and I don't think Fury and Ganu got to the stage
Starting point is 01:06:22 for like another 45 minutes after that and I don't watch a second of it. And after reading our Slack channel as it was going on, I'm so glad I didn't watch it. So glad I didn't watch it. Apparently the big standout was John Fury
Starting point is 01:06:40 and if that's your cup of tea, then you probably enjoyed it. And if he's not, then you probably hated all of it. But to me, like, John is an interesting character, but like,
Starting point is 01:06:56 you need, like, John's a guy, you just, you take in doses. Like, the misfits car. Like, John Fury was like the star of the misfits boxing, prime card fight week. He was the guy. But like, we just saw this. We just saw him go bananas.
Starting point is 01:07:11 And now two weeks later, for a fight that's not even going to be competitive, he's calling on Mike Tyson. Like, go fight Jake Paul's dad. Like, that's the fight. Everybody wants to see. You think of what does John Fury fight Mike Tyson? On the undercard of Tyson Fury versus Alexander Usik? This is insane.
Starting point is 01:07:33 This is insane. You get, give me John Fier like every six months. Just not all the time. I can't do it. I can't handle it. It's too much, John. Too much John fear it.
Starting point is 01:07:46 The Bud Light thing is, I guess like my response to it is just like, I kind of giggled a little bit. I was like, wow, that's kind of funny. And then you just, look, we know what Dana. No, it's not about money. Of course it's about money.
Starting point is 01:08:03 Of course it's about money. Do I think the working relationship? Is part of it, sure. They worked with them before. It was a good relationship until Brock Lesnar said, F, Bud Light, I'm going to go get on top of my wife and drink a Korslight after he beat the shit at a Frank Meir at UFC 100. So I believe there's some of that there.
Starting point is 01:08:28 And I'm sure Dana had conversations with people before making this decision as well. I don't know. It's all weird. The flag thing, I just think it's probably like Abu Dhabi related to, like maybe the government stepped in. It was like, can you just like maybe not do the flag thing? Like that wouldn't shock me. I don't know if Dana talked about it, the post-fight press governments.
Starting point is 01:08:53 Those fight nights, paper views with the watch party and then we did the TikTok stream and then we did the post-fight show like right after. Like I don't have time to watch any of that stuff on pay-per-view Saturday. But it kind of just seems like the area, everything going on, you know, with Israel and the war going on over there. all of that, maybe like the government stepped in, was just like, dude, no flags. And they were just like, fine. I guess like the, we'll see South Paulo. Like maybe flags will be back in Sao Paulo.
Starting point is 01:09:28 We'll see at MSG. We'll see at the apex on the 18th. We'll see if flags come back. If we don't see them, I think we have to revisit this. But I think part of it had to do because of the location of the card. And, you know, the government kind of has to say there. They're paying the UFC a ton of. of money. Now they've extended this deal to 2028. They're almost like partners in all of this
Starting point is 01:09:53 in a lot of respects. Not like 50, 50 partners, but UFC wants to make them happy. Dana puts them over. The whole fight week is, it's fights, but the whole fight week is, it's an advertisement for Abu Dhabi. Visit hashtag visit Abu Dhabi. Everything's visit Abu Dhabi. So it's probably just part of the deal. But I think we'll get our answer to that question. next Saturday when they do the South Polo card. All right, we'll take one more. Hardcore casual. Go ahead.
Starting point is 01:10:34 Hey, Mike, do you hear me? Sorry, man, I'm at work right now. You might hear a radio and some banging around in the bag. You're good. Of course, the flag thing had to do with Abu Dhaban. You thought the riot with Kabin and the Gregor is huge. Imagine if someone who came out with an Israeli flag, That would have been insane.
Starting point is 01:10:57 I have two statements on this free-for-all Friday. I think I found a way for Connor to possibly headline UFC 300, even without him being in a weight class available for a title. Do you think the UFC would open a new weight class for Connor to headline, like a 160 or a 165, And if not, I think the John Jones injury, I think that could play into UFC 300 as well, to have John Jones headline UFC 300 when he was supposed to headline UFC 200. I think that plays a big role in it.
Starting point is 01:11:41 Also, if Clay Gwita or Jim Miller isn't on UFC 300, I don't want it. That's all I got, Mike. Have a great day. Well, Jim Miller better be on UFC 300. Clay Guida, I mean, it would be cool if he did, but Jim Miller is priority one, honestly, when it comes to like mid-Carter's. I don't think John's fight a UFC 300. I don't think he's fighting UFC 300. It just seems too soon for that kind of an injury.
Starting point is 01:12:11 That's five months. That's way too quick. Eight months might be like too long. That might be like just being cautious, but I think five's too soon. And it just seems like it's rushing him back. Do I think they'll do a new weight class? No. I just think Connor and Chandler will headline that card.
Starting point is 01:12:32 That's the main event. And I don't care who you are. Any champion on Earth, for the most part, would be thrilled to be the co-main event to a Connor McGregor fight, especially the comeback fight. So I do think plan A for the UFC is Connor versus Chandler to headline that card. and that's going to do
Starting point is 01:12:54 2 million pay-per-views. Well, maybe not that many, but they're going to do over a million, and that's huge. It'll be a historic event. They'll stack the shit out of the card. So, no, I don't think they'll open a new weight class
Starting point is 01:13:07 or anything like that. Just that they could fight at any weight and doesn't need to be for a belt. Just let them fight. It's Connor. All right, we'll take two more. Panda and Nick, and then that's it. Panda, go ahead.
Starting point is 01:13:24 My man, Mike, how are you? All right, yeah, I will be short and sweet. Two for you. One, are you going to even watch Fury versus Nanganu? I mean, not going to lie, I definitely don't want to buy it and pay for it with all this money that, you know, I have working and tailing your gambling picks. You just watch, you know, a two-three-round fight where Fury's going to knock them out. Long story short, isn't it even worth the purchase?
Starting point is 01:13:49 Secondly, what's going on with this picture Ariel tweeted out? It looks like the... Saudis are getting their hands on our fighters. I don't know. I'll leave it alone. Maybe you have a little bit more of an explanation than I do. Have yourself a heck of a morning, Mike. Let me search through Twitter and see this photo.
Starting point is 01:14:30 Yeah, I mean, look, these fighters aren't there for free. They're there. They got paid to go, and there they are. So, yeah, that doesn't surprise me. I saw reports that Saudi's paying Mike Tyson to be like the corner guy Like this isn't like hey
Starting point is 01:14:50 This is like part of it I don't know Like none of they have so much money They can do whatever the hell they want They can bring in whoever they want But they're there's getting paid And taking in some fights Yeah am I gonna watch
Starting point is 01:15:13 Fear and Ghana? Yeah I'm gonna be working So I have to watch it But I'd probably watch it anyways Again, it's the spectacle of it all. I know what I'm going to get, and you should too. Just don't take it seriously. Just have a good time with it. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:15:30 Maybe we'll do like a space or some sort of watch along. I don't know. Make it a little more fun. But just think about it this way too. And Ghana and Fury aren't fighting it like midnight. They're fighting at like 5 or 6 p.m. Eastern time. And that is great. You still have your whole night ahead of you.
Starting point is 01:15:53 You can watch the fight, have a good time, maybe play some poker with your buddies, watch it, and then you guys have the whole night to yourself. You can do whatever you want. You can do whatever you want. Enjoy the town. It's wonderful. Nick, you are up and you are last. Go ahead.
Starting point is 01:16:14 He's going to win hands down. That's pretty obvious. And if you want to see the best fight you've ever seen, go on to one championship. I've just seen it live, Pet Garfield, and the winner, Pet Garfield. looks like he's been in a fight with a guy with samurai swords. That's how much of a brutal fight it was. Half of his face is hanging off. It is such a good fight.
Starting point is 01:16:35 Three rounds of non-stop elbows. Nice. I'll have to go check that out. I'll have to go check that out. And yes, Tyson Fury is going to win. I'll buy like official prediction on the preview show, but it's going to be Tyson Fury. It's just a matter of like what round I'm going to pick.
Starting point is 01:17:00 And that's that. All right. So we're done. Lots of programming. coming your way. We will have the preview show 1 p.m. Eastern. We'll have a people's pre-fight show tomorrow. I believe it's going to be a 130 p.m. Eastern. We'll have, I think, the official way in stream is live on M.A. fighting as we speak. So you can check that out, see what these guys weigh in at. And yeah, no UFC this weekend. So that's what you got.
Starting point is 01:17:36 you all another great week and we'll be back on this program on tuesday right around 10 a m eastern we'll do it again so thank you all very much have a great rest of your friday and as always have a heck of a morning everybody into the vox media podcast network

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