MMA Fighting - HOAM | UFC 300 Still Without Main Event, UFC 298 Fight Week Underway

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

UFC 300 is still without a main event as we're officially two months away from the historic fight card, and while there may be some options being discussed, the mystery remains as strong as ever. Will the UFC 300 headliner be announced this week before tickets go on sale? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the glaring open spot for April's pay-per-view event, his prediction for what will end up getting the slot, and how the conversation has taken on a life of its own. Additionally, listener questions include UFC 298, the main event between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria, the card not getting the shine it deserves, Amanda Lemos' road back to a title shot ahead of her fight with Mackenzie Dern, Paulo Costa's UFC future, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe 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 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 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 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Sacks Fifth Avenue makes it easy to holiday your way, whether it's finding the right gift or the right outfit. Sacks is where you can find everything. From the perfect Chloe bag for your hard-to-shop-for-sister to a prodig jacket for a fancy holiday dinner.

And if you don't know where to start, sacks.com is customized to your personal style so you can save time shopping. Make shopping fun and easy this season and find gifts and inspiration to suit your holiday style at Sacks Fifth Avenue. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

It's Tuesday, February 13th, 2020. And it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA Fighting Twitter space. You can hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter, on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody? I am Mike Keck. Hope you're all doing fantastic. We are out of the apex, ladies and gentlemen, at least for the next few weeks.

And we are officially on the road to Anaheim, California. We are officially on the road to you. UFC 298, which goes down this Saturday. And I got to tell you, this card could not come fast enough because it's been a tough, tough couple of weeks watching the UFC. Not saying like Vegas 85 and Vegas 86 were like the worst cards ever. But man, it's just, it just feels like a chore watching it. no energy, no nothing. It's just, it's been tough.

But now we get energy, we get a big crowd, and we have a pretty good slate of fights. I mean, look, is this the best pay-per-view ever? No, is it better than $2.97? Astronomically better than $2.97 on paper from top to bottom. The main card is spectacular. I love this main card. We got Fluffy Hernandez, Roman Copulov right out the gate.

That fight rules. Barad de Walsh Willie, Henry Sehudo. No one's talking about that fight. Jeff Neal, Ian Machado Gary, under the radar. What was the last time an Ian Machado Gary fight went under the radar? It's been a hot minute. Robert Whitaker, Paul Costa? This one's flying under the radar too.

And of course, we got Alexander Volcanowski v. Ilya, The best fight. on the books right now for the UFC thus far in 2024. So it's just weird timing for this one because everyone's talking about $2.99. Everyone's talking about $300. What's the main event going to be? What's going to happen here? And this one just quietly floating, floating its way in.

And I think this main event rules. I think this card is really, really good. And I even think like the prelims, while there's not like a ton of quality name value, I do think there's going to be a bunch of finishes. I just think it's going to be a super fun card. I think this is really good. And I've been telling people for about a month that,

like, do not sleep on 298. I know we're excited for 299, stacked up, Miami, I get it. I know 300's a big deal. We want to know what the main event is. That's like the biggest talking point has been all year so far, but don't sleep on this card. It's going to be good. And I'm excited for the watch party on Saturday.

I think G.C. and I are going to have a big announcement during that watch party as well. So stay tuned for that. But we can talk about, I guess, the remnants of Vegas 86. We can talk about 298. We can talk about the 300 stuff, I guess, whatever the hell you want. So let's begin with Thomas.

Thomas will kick us off. Thomas, hello. Can you hear me okay? I can. Perfect. So what I was going to say is I'm obviously looking forward to the card at the weekend. The last couple of weeks I love MMA, but they've been tough to watch at the apex. But my question is, do you want to throw something out there?

So what's the chances with all the talk being Hamzat and Leon at UFC 300, that Hamzat misses weight and we end up getting Bilal and Leon for the main event of UFC 300? hundred anyway. Yeah, it's interesting. So let's, I want to make this very, very clear because this is kind of something we have had to run into for the last couple of years in this crazy sport of ours. It's something I've had to learn. It's something even somebody like Ariel has had to learn over the last couple of years.

You have to, when you say things, you have to preface them the correct way. and Ariel went on the MMA hour yesterday and he said, hey, this is what I'm hearing in regards to what could be on the table to headline UFC 300. Nothing's in the works, nothing's done, nothing's signed. This is just what I'm hearing. And he basically said, like, don't say I'm reporting this. Don't say this is happening. Like, this is just what I'm hearing.

I'm giving you guys an update right now. And he talked about four options for, or what he is hearing is being discussed for the mate of at of UFC 300. One is Leon Edwards versus Hamzaa Chamaif, which doesn't surprise me, had me scratching my head a little bit because, like, why? I mean, I kind of, we'll get to why. But it just seemed kind of out of left field.

The other, Trich is 2 plus C versus Israel Adisania. The other, Trich is 2 plus C versus Hamzat Shamaia. and I guess like according to what Ariel is saying and what he is hearing the fourth and final choice like the last option on the table like this is a break the glass for a case of emergency type situation Leon Edwards versus Bilal Mohammed. I got to tell you I really and truly hope it's not that fight. It's just not it's just not it. It's just not it. I would rather them. just throw like another real fun fight on there and then just main event it with Gaichi and Holloway.

Like that is fine. Like I'm okay with that. I understand like, oh, we want the undisputed, I get it. But do you want UFC 300 ending with what we think Leon Edwards-Belah Muhammad is going to be or do we want UFC 300 ending

with what we think Justin Gachie versus Max Hollowe is going to be? I, uh, what would you rather spend $80? on for the fight that's going to close the show. I ask you that. Ultimately, if I had a guess, and again, I have no insight to this whatsoever. This is just me spitballing here. I think we are going to end up with trick is 2 plus E versus Israel.

It just seems so simple. I understand, hey, you got to turn DDP around. He just had a really tough fight. He's already gone and done some media. And Bates said, like, if I have to wait, then I'll wait. Cool. It'd be awesome to fight a UFC 300, but I'm not going to go in there compromise. And I understand where he's coming from. He's got decisions to make. Do you want to go in there 100% and wait two or three months to fight Izzy? Or do you want to go in less than 100% and make the

most money you will ever make in your entire career? Because that's what will happen. Triggis duplice versus Israel-Aid as the main event of UFC 300. DDP will make the most money he's ever made in his career by a mile because he'll get the paper viewpoints. The thing's going to do bonkers numbers. It'll probably be the bestselling pay per view they've had since probably 251. But ultimately, I think this gets done. If I'm Leon Edwards, like, why would I take that? Like, if I'm below Muhammad, I just kind of do whatever, like, if that phone rings and they say,

hey, you're fighting for the title on this date, you don't really have a choice if you're below Muhammad. You can't say no. Leon can absolutely say no, unless they want to tack on a couple of zeros. So, Humzaa would be interesting. He's already sort of come out, I guess, and said, I'm not fighting during Ramadan, which is kind of interesting because he has also come out and said other times, like, I want to fight a UFC 300, get Dane on the phone. but this could be a negotiation tactic as well. Log story short, I feel like we're in the same position we're in, we were in a week ago, where it's just, what are we going to do? How's this all going to play out? And I'll tell you who made this a little bit more confusing for people

and has probably up the price tag for anybody who's getting a phone call right now, John Jones. John Jones doing that interview at submission radio and saying, I got offered a fight at UFC 300. I had to turn it down because I'm not ready. Just helped out whoever is going to headline for the most part. Like if I'm Leon Edwards, I'm like, yeah, I'll fight them. But you already called John Jones.

You already called these guys. You need me. So pay me this much and I'll do it. Or especially with the Hamzot fight, you're asking him to go fight Hamzat Shemai if on two months notice, the price tag just went up. The number is higher. So we'll see how it plays out.

They are doing a UFC 300 Q&A this week in Anaheim. I think they're doing it right before the ceremonial weigh-ins. So my guess would be they're probably going to announce a main event sometime this week. I think they sort of have to. And then tickets go on sale, I believe, a week from tomorrow. I believe it's February 21st. So they got to move fast, but we are, we're getting close. We're, we're getting the crunch time here.

But we'll see what happens. DC bets, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Thanks for what you do, man. So I just wanted to say, so I'm going to be at UFC 298 live. I mentioned it before and you mentioned it. So I appreciate it. But yeah, it's going to be my first event.

And I was just telling my buddy who I'm going with how it's crazy that, you know, we're pretty much either going to see the beginning rise of like a Connor McGregor-like star in Ilya, at least if he does starch bulk like he says he is, you know, if he calls it out and does it like he does, then he probably is going to skyrocket. Or, you know, for us, man, we're going to get to see, you know, one of those final defenses of bulk because I don't see him having too many, especially if he beats Ilis. I don't really see him sticking around for too many other guys. There's not too many more people left except for maybe Evela, you know.

But I would even put to Perry over him. And then also I just wanted to get your take on, I was also telling him too about, and I don't know if maybe I'm wrong or whatever, but, you know, I'm excited to see how fast and like how much the fighters actually move, you know, because you see it on live and you see a fast kick, or I mean on TV and you see a fast kick or something like that. But, you know, I was just telling him how excited I am to, like, actually hear the kicks and actually see how fast something happens or how fast someone drops and how different it's going to be live.

And so, you know, so you've obviously seen a lot live. So if you have any takes on that. Thank you, brother. Have a good day. Thanks, man. I'll tell you what, watching Iliott Toporia live is a pretty good time. I was caged side for the Josh Emmett fight. And, man, dude is fast.

He is a freak. But so is Volk. I'm telling, I cannot wait for this fight. Like, it's almost, this is one of those fights where, like, it's the total opposite of the UFC 300 main event right now. Like, I want the UFC 300 main event to be announced right now, because I just want it to be over with and I want to move on with my life. I don't want, like, I want this fight to happen so badly,

but when it's over, I'm just going to be like, man, like I missed the time getting ready for this fight. because I'm so excited for it. And yeah, 100%. If Ily Tupori wins, strap the rockets to him. But bulk's real good, man,

and people are just sleeping on him. I've seen so many people sleeping on him. And maybe it's just, people think he's coming back too soon after the knockout loss. But people forget that he beat the hell out of Yahya Rodriguez last year. They just remember the Islam fights.

One of them was the fight of the year. Got knocked out at the end, took the fight on short notice. No excuses. It is what it is. But sandwiched in between those two fights, he perfect gained Ilya to Poria. Who has been able to do that? Or, yeah, you're Rodriguez, excuse me. So people sleeping on Volk.

But you're right. This could be the last featherweight fight for Volcanowski. I could talk to John Ayak about this. You could listen to that interview. on the pod network, it's on YouTube as well. And we just talked 298. We didn't talk 299. We didn't talk 300.

We talked this card. We gave it the respect it deserves. And he feels, without having a conversation with Volkanowski face-to-face, which he'll do over the next 48 hours, he feels like if Volk wins his fight, he's moving up to 55 full time. And, And wouldn't shock me if that happens at this point. As much as I would like to see Volkovsky fight, Bob Zarar of Lov.

I don't think he's going to stick around for that fight. So a lot of questions. A lot of questions heading in. There's going to be a lot of questions heading out. And that's what makes this fight so freaking good. I'm trying to get tack MMA in here, but it's not working for some reason. It's not even... Oh, wait a minute.

How about now? Nope. I don't know if it's a connection issue or what. Yeah, maybe try to try to... I bounce back in TechM. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor.

But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defender. for more information. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Well, why not make it

a limited edition Grooney Smith apple vitamin snack pack from Grooens? This isn't a multivitamin, a greens gummy, or a prebiotic. It's all of those things and then some. And bonus, it tastes great.

All Grooens' daily gummy snack packs are vegan, nut, gluten dairy-free, and packed with more than 20 vitamins and minerals. Grab your limited edition Grooey Smith Apple Grunes available only through October.

Stock up because they will sell out. Get up to 52% off when you go to GRUNS.co and use the code Vox. Let's go to Viking. Viking, hello. Mike, I have not seen Addisonia working out in gym, but I think UCC is going to end up matching Rickus Duplice was just a dissonia for UFC 300 main event. What are your thoughts on that?

And who is the biggest superstar if Iliot Puriya wins? Him or Shana Mali? And I have a surprise for you. I'm working on it. So I'm going to ask you a request in live and I want to know your reaction. your reaction about the thing. Not now I'm working on it.

So, thank you. Thanks, buddy. I mean, I think it's going to be DDP as he as well. I thought it's going to be DDP as he after 297. But we don't know what DDP, what he's dealing with health-wise. Says it's a little dinged up,

says it needs to get some scans done to make sure he could even turn around and fight it 300 or whenever. So I guess you have to wait and see. But this, again, all this stuff could just be negotiation tactics from everybody involved. And when Dana White says, like, this has been a nightmare trying to put this all together. This could be a documentary. I believe them.

It seems like it. It seems like they, it seems like they weren't ready for this, which is kind of, it's kind of shocking to me that they weren't ready for this and ready for how people were going to treat UFC 300. If Teporia wins, is he a bigger star than Sean O'Malley? Globally, yes, he will be. Because he's a, I mean, Teporea may not be like a huge star in the States, but he's a big star in Spain. He's a big star in Europe.

He's a big star in lots of places. But it will certainly help here. And Sean, yes, has some global appeal, but he's mostly known here in the States. I'll say Tuporia, yes, at least potentially for, three weeks until potentially UFC 299. If Sean O'Malley goes out there and busts up Marlon Vera and finishes him,

he's off to the races. The UFC's going to do everything in their power to put him over. So, yeah, it's a good conversation. Deporia's, yeah, the buzz around Toporia if he wins that belt is going to be gigantic. I mean, he talked,

he's talking a lot of shit. Like a real bunch of a bunch of shit. But it's got to be an interesting conversation come like March 10th. If O'Malley beats Marlon Barra and does it impressively. Let's try to get Tack in here. It doesn't get in the wheel of doom, but maybe it's just catching up. We'll see.

Tack do we have you? You're muted, TACMMA. Can you hear me? Yes, we got you. All right. Heck of one morning to you. I got three questions. I'll try to make it quick.

one if Lamos wins this weekend what's her path to get back to the belt obviously fighting Tatiana would have done a lot for her if she would have won second Royvel or I'm sorry Pantoja is a rumored to fight at in Brazil on is that 301 who is he going to fight I mean there's it seems like there's no one available so even if brandon or Ravel wins in two weeks? Are they going to be ready in two months? Who else is there? There's nobody. So I'm wondering what you think about that. And if Sean wins and Marab wins, if he doesn't call Marab out, at this point, we should just boo this guy. I mean, it's kind of pathetic at this point. I feel like he's ducking him. So what do you think about that? And that's it. Thanks, man. Let's see.

My dog's Hawaiian. Sean's not going to call out Rob. And first of all, Marab's going to win on Saturday against Henry Suhudo. I think it's going to be a tougher fight that people think it's going to be. I think Marab's going to win, but I do think Henry is far more competitive stylistically than a lot of the guys he's fought on this really impressive streak that he's on. And Sean's is the champion. He doesn't need to call out anybody. If Sean's going to call out somebody, he's going to call out.

I mean, if Teporia wins the belt, I can see Sean Colin Teporeo, which will make me really upset. Because I don't want to see that. It's dumb. Makes no sense. But no. He doesn't need to sell himself to Barab. Marab needs to sell himself to Sean. So I get where you're coming from there.

But this is prize fighting, man. This is too much precedent has been set. And the UFC does business this way. It's not a meritocracy. It's a look at Bala Muhammad right now. There's reports that Leon Edwards might fight Hamzaa Chamaif now. next over Bala Muhammad. Like if that's not a, like, and the last time Humzaa Jamaif was scheduled to fight at

Welterweight, he missed weight by eight and a half pounds. And they changed the entire event because of that. But now, like, there's talks about Hamzaat fighting Leon Edwards. Like, if that doesn't tell you what you need to know, like, I don't know what, what does at this point? Pantosia. I mean, if Brandon Marino beats Randon Royval, I think it'll be Moreno.

I think they'll just go back to that one. It's what? Three months? Three, yeah. Two and a half months. If Moreno wins and I think he's going to. I think they go back to that. Even though we've seen it a bunch,

I think they go back to that. I don't think like Amir al-Bazi's getting a title shot. I mean, L. Cop's not getting a title shot. I think if Roy Val wins that fight, he's not getting a title shot because we just saw that fight. and it's pretty one-sided. I don't know if they go, like, yeah, it's got to be tough. I don't know who they throw in there,

but I would say they'll try to get Moreno in there. I don't think Moreno Roval is going to go long. So, we'll see. What's Amanda Lemo's path back to a title fight? Zhang Wei losing the Strawway title, because as long as Zhang Wei is the champion, Amanda Lemo, she could win 10 fights in a row and she's not getting another title shot.

It's tough to say, but that's just the world we live in right now. McKenzie Dern right now, after getting just belted around by Jessica Androge, she is in a much better position right now. One, because she hasn't fought for the belt. Two, she hasn't fought Zhang Wei Li. And three, she's way more popular.

And that's just kind of the combination. That's the the straw that stirs the drink. But McKenzie Dernz wins that we do, I think the winner of this fight's gonna fight Tatyana's next. And if the UFC has it their way, I think they would probably prefer that it's McKenzie Durd because then it's a win-win for them. Either McKenzie gets title shot or Tatiana gets a title shot. Either way, I think they're okay with that.

Let's go to Jonas. Hey, Mike, first time, long time. I'm usually don't get on, you used to listen on the podcast. But just a question, I'm kind of new to MMA, and I was curious about the relationship between fighters and their gyms. You know, these young fighters that are, you know, on, you know, 10 and 10 contracts, do they work out of their gyms for free with the understanding that they pay a percentage of their fight or win bonus?

Do those contracts or agreements change when they re-up? You know, just curious in how they work with their gyms and how. these fighters are able to be, you know, continue to do it, but the gyms also make money. Thanks, Mike. Yeah, I mean, there's, it's a combination of things. There's obviously, like, the dues, there's, you know, if you work with specific coaches, they get sort of their own rate. So, yeah, it's a little bit of that.

And then, you know, you kind of work on that behind the scenes. Like, I'm sure, I'm trying to, like, think of some examples. Like, I'm sure, like, Justin Jaynes is not paying his coaches the same amount of money is like Sean Strickland is or Francis Inganu is just using like extreme Couture as an example. So that's pretty much how they do it. So the 10 and 10 guys, they don't make a lot of money. They don't make a lot of money, especially if they have management. And if you're a 10 and 10 guy, then more oftentimes than not, you need a manager who has a good relationship with the UFC to even get you into the UFC.

And we see a lot of that going on right now. So, yeah, it's just a percentage, and then you deal with it as well with the coaches and the gym. You pay like your monthly dues. And then you're not just going and preparing for a fight by taking the 7 p.m. M.A. class or like the noon time no-gee jiu-jitsu class. You've got to do privates. You got to do all this other stuff. So at the end, you know, when you get 10 in 10 and you win, you don't get to keep a lot of that money. between taxes and paying off the management and paying off this and that,

it adds up quick. So, but to answer your question, pretty much what you just laid out. But every gym's different, every coach is different. But for the most part, that's how it all works. Let's go to Four-on-Sniper. Hey, Mike, can you hear me? Yep. Hey, heck of a morning.

I just wanted to ask you something real quick. So Paulo Costa is fighting this weekend. It's been a long time since we've seen them. I think it was like August of 22, some point almost over a year and a half ago. I wanted to know your thoughts on him fighting more than three more times in the UFC. I don't know what's going on with him. Maybe he's dealing with multiple injuries throughout the past few years, but fighting once a year doesn't seem like he's all too interested in fighting.

Maybe, you know, like I said, maybe he's going through some stuff and I just don't know about it. So your thoughts on over three and a half fights. Do you think he fights more than that in the UFC or less than that? That's it, Mike. Sheesh. I don't know. It's a good question. I think a lot will have to depend on how Saturday goes.

If he just goes out and gets drummed up by Robert Whitaker. I mean, he's still popular. He's still in the title hunt because, like we talked about earlier, this isn't really a meritocracy. And Paul's pretty popular cat. So, oh, man, it's tough. Tough to say. I'll say under three and a half.

I'll say under three and a half. He's not, let me see. Let me look this up real quick. So Paula Costa is 32, about to be 33. Seems like there's money to be made for him outside of the sport as well. I don't know what happened with this contract either. Did he end up resigning? I don't really know.

if he did resign, the UFC doesn't do like really four-fight deals anymore. They do like eight-fight deals. I don't know. Off to wait for media day to give you an actual answer for that. Because if he says if he goes into media day and he says it's the last fight on my contract, then I will have a much different answer for this question.

So TBD, Thursday I'll have an answer now that I think of it. Four Corner Sports. Go ahead. Can you hear me? Yes. So I have... No quote. No quote. Sorry about that.

That's just my boss. But I was going to ask you, who do you think is making more money since they're in California? They're going to review the crisis? Do you think is Robert Whitaker or Henry Sehudo? Because I think they reveal the payouts of the salaries. That's all I got. Thanks.

I feel very confident. It's Robert Whitaker and probably by a wide margin. Yeah. See, like the thing with Henry Sehudo, is that like he screwed he he really hurt himself by that like fake retirement because he just got like he was on his way to like getting to that money and then he left when his like stock was still rising and now he's probably bad did he get like a small bump to fight aljamein sterling maybe but i think it's i think it's whittaker for sure trust me if i did if i did an interview with

Robert Whitaker in an hour and then like an hour after that I did an interview with Henry Sehudo and I posted them both at the same time, Robert Wittaker's going to do way better. Like it's just the way that it is. The Sohudo story, like this whole Sohudo situation is really interesting. The Eric Albarasine stuff. Like I don't even know if it's real. Like I could see a world where like Marab, like, and you see Marab playing the game and take advantage of this and posting the social media video.

Like, I got a new coach. It seems like a bunch of just fun stuff because Eric's pretty cool dude. I've got the chance to talk to him and get to know him over the years. Like, he's a fun, fun guy. Jokes around. Doesn't really take life all that seriously unless, like, his guys are fighting or he's training or whatever. I don't think he's going to be in Rob's Corner. I think it would be kind of funny if he just ends up back in Henry's Corner.

But even when I talked to Anik last week in that conversation, if you want to hear it, when talking about this video, he was like, yeah, I got the corner audio and looks like he's got some different names in there that I wasn't really expecting to see. So we'll see how it all plays out. But yeah, to answer your question, I think it's going to be Rob Whitaker by a good chunk. A good chunk of money. Not saying Henry's baking peanuts, but Rob's doing better, I would say. Saving and investing well is an art and a science. It requires high-level math, an intimate knowledge of economic history and theory, and a healthy dose of psychology.

People have spent their whole careers and won Nobel Prizes, trying to figure out the best ways to do it. Betterment believes that you should be able to be a successful and sophisticated investor without having to get a PhD. They've spent over a decade creating and refining a platform that can help people who have, you know, lives, invest like experts. And it's all because they have a simple mission. to make powerful investing tools available to everyone. Their approach, which includes things like goals-based investing, globally diversified portfolios, and tax-smart technology,

is rooted in deep research but packaged in a single, easy-to-understand user-friendly platform. With automation, friendly reminders, and best-in-class customer service, Betterment makes it easy to make good investment decisions. You don't need a Nobel Prize to be a great investor. All you need is Betterment. Go to betterment.com to learn more.

That's B-E-T-T-E-R-M-E-N-T-com. Investing involves risk, performance not guaranteed. Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Roscoe Cadulian 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 story.

restored 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-by 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 2. Ghosts in the Machine.

Now only from Audible. Amzwalya, go ahead. Good morning, Mike. Hope you're having a good day today. I just wanted to talk about U.C. 300. It's just really interesting what's happening right now. I think, you know, the U.S.C. really shut themselves in the foot, and they've really low-bowed their whole promotion going on to this event.

If I want to go and revision this history, as far as I can remember back to 2016, which I was around for. And based on what I've been told by long-term fans for UCC 100, they had everything stored and planned in set. And it's funny because UC300 is also like another milestone for them, not just for a number, but also with actually how big the sport's grown now, right? Because, you know, now you can actually say the UFC is established household brand, you know, in the sport world in general.

so I'm just thinking man like look I don't mind Leon Wilson Bilau but not as a main event like as a co-main event I think there's no better fight than that to make as a co-main event because get over and done with it fits the bill you know

Hamza Hamza thing is really interesting I do respect his wishes if he has to do rum I mean if he's not going to fight because of Ramadan that's fine because to be fair it is very hard for Muslim fighters to you know train during

you know do training camp during Ramadan you know even though yes it is very easy to lose that necessarily wait to make the way cut but that's the also thing like you mentioned earlier like it sounds like it's a negotiating tactic

because he just said he's win to buy ddp at 300 or whoever 300 you know like just a month ago so I'm really curious to see if that ends up being true but also just to speak on 300 I'm sure you saw the post already, but they already kind of

post on the official social media pages across that two months ago to UC300 and the person in front of that posted, Drich is Duplessis of 100% looks like it's him. So do you reckon that most likely we are going to see DDP

versus Izzy or maybe even Sean rematch? What are your thoughts on that? Have a great day. I think we'll see. I think it's going to be Izzy. I think it's going to be Izzy. This is after 297, it was right, like, this is the one. And then we veered away from this so quickly for some reason.

All of a sudden, it was like, oh, well, what about Connor? What about this? Oh, it's going to be a Super Bowl thing. Which, by the way, like, I, the amount of people who are mad at Michael Kiesa for tweeting, boy, there's a treat for you today, hashtag 300. And people, like, bought into this. like, what? It was crazy. So many people were mad at Mike.

As soon as I saw KS's tweet, I was like, oh, he's just, he is just stringing you right up. And so many people fell for it. He didn't even say UFC 300. You just put hashtag 300. People went fucking bananas over it. And I was saying, too, like, it would be the most brilliant thing on planet Earth

for the UFC to announce the main event during the Super Bowl. I'm not saying, and even when I was saying that, like, if there was a commercial and they could announce it, that would be awesome. But even if they just, even if Dana White went live on his Instagram during the halftime show, that would have been fucking beautiful. Like, that would have been incredibly fun if they announced the main event in that moment. It didn't happen because they just truly don't have one.

They just truly don't have a main event. But I do think it's going to end up being DDP as E. It's all going to depend on DDP. Dude's healthy and ready to go. It's going to be him and Izzy. Him and Hamzot makes no sense to me. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Him and Izzy is the fight.

So I don't know what we're doing here. I really don't know what we're doing here. But like I said earlier, I cannot fucking wait until they announce this fight. Because I just, I'm so ready to not talk about it anymore. Like, let's move. Here's our card. We got it.

We can start the countdown towards it. But Jesus, all this, what's going to be the main event of U.S. 300 talk? Like, it's fun for a little while, but now we're getting to the point where it's like, it's the UFC apex of conversations. Yeah, like, we're going to talk about it, but I'm ready for the event to end so we can talk about something else. But yeah, that's what I think is going to end up happening.

Blah, Leon, I mean, again, that from all understanding is, boy, if we have nothing else, and I need nothing. Like, we'll try to make that one. But the UFC, for a while, like, was not, didn't seem interested in making that fight at all. Leon said, like, yeah, I'm going to fight a UFC 300. That was like the last we heard about that. That would be tough. That would be tough.

But 298, good Lord, this is a good card. Really, really like it. Voltaporia is spectacular. It's so, so good. It's just going to keep building up throughout the week. It's so, so good. Both guys are just so confident. Like, Teporia is like maybe the most confident guy I've ever seen.

Like even Connor, as cocky and, you know, confident and brash as he was, he didn't take his IG and be like, yeah, I'm 15 at O and I'm the champion before his fight with Jose Aldo. So we'll see. We'll see what happens with Tuporia. Like, it's all about him. Volk's got to be feeling pretty good right now. Volk doesn't have to do shit. All he has to do is show up and fight. Sephora is doing all the heavy lifted.

And he just needs to, like he said, he just wants to, he just needs to go in there and try to humble this kid up. But Volk's just got to be enjoying every second of this. But I'm so fascinated with this fight. I cannot wait. I cannot wait for a lot of things. We get some stuff in the works, my friends. We get some stuff in the works. I actually, well, we got obviously the watch party on Saturday.

I think GC and I will make a pretty fun announcement during the watch. party. But next Wednesday, not tomorrow, the Wednesday after, I got something planned that's going to fucking knock your socks off. I mean, I don't think you're ready for this shit. I don't think you're ready for it. In fact, I wasn't really ready for it. And then conversation started and I've been blown away by the response from all of this. and I don't think you're prepared for it. It's going to be the best. It is probably going to be my favorite thing I have ever done covering this for it.

So, stringy along a little bit, a little bit of a tease next Wednesday, something going down. We're going to film it, and it's going to be the best. And I could not be more excited for it. C.V. Oh, Mike. Can you hear me? Yes. Hey, not a question for me, but I think I saw on your, on your page that

I think it was your birthday yesterday or today but I just want to say happy belated birthday to the people's champ and thanks for making all our mornings a heck of a morning. Thanks buddy. Yes, yesterday was my birthday. The big 4-1.

Yes, I'm getting older. Like 40 didn't seem bad. 41 just seems weirder. But yeah, and got to play golf with my kid on our last, My last day is a 40-year-old.

It was a lot of fun. And then yesterday it just poured and, yeah. But yes, the big 4-1. Thank you. Appreciate you. It was a good day with the fam. Eat some cake. Had some tacos.

It was a good day. Worked all day. Basically what a 41-year-old typically does, but I appreciate that. Cole, go ahead, my man. Good morning, Mike. Yeah, I second that as well. Happy birthday. And you are the goat for doing this three times.

times a week. Love it. Could you're surprised have anything to do with the New England cartel? That's all I got. No. No, it does not. Hopefully some, I mean, look, are there going to be some things in the works of the cartel, fellas? Of course.

Any chance I get to do something there, we'll do it. But I'm just not there anymore. So it's a little bit tougher. but yes, it will not be with my friends of the cartel. But no disrespect to those guys. This is way, this is way better. And again, I don't mean this like a bad way. I just, just the, like the mere thought of this.

So like my little brother called me on my birthday yesterday and he asked me a bunch of questions just like, you know, how everything's going. And I told him what this was. And he lost his. shit. And he was like, he's a fan, but more from like the gambling side of things. Like he, it pays attention. He knows what's going on. But when I told him what this was, he was like, oh my God, are you serious? I said, yep, it's happening. And even he lost his mind. But like, if I was like, I'm going to do something with Fonten Cater, it would just be like, yeah, I'm not surprised by that. That's just what you would do. This is the total opposite of that. And I cannot

not be more excited for it. So you guys can try to guess, but I'm not going to tell you. And you probably won't get it right anyway. So, four corner sports, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Sorry, I got cut off early because my boss was needing me for something. But, yeah, I wanted to talk about originally about Dan Ige. I mean, I think this guy needs to constantly lay the smackdown on his wife to

keep getting these first round knockouts because, I mean, we see, you know, with Gavin Tucker. I didn't think he was going to do it with Andre Feely. but man, this guy looked impressive as hell. I really wanted to see him fight Giga Chikaze. That's why I put him down for the Otnoe pick. My whole thing is, you know, how much higher do you think, what's it called,

Dan Igay is going to be able to climb up the featherweight division? And I'm excited for the whole McKenzie during the Mano Lemos fight. How do you think she bounces back after that brutal loss that she had against, what's it called John Wei Lee and I don't know if you noticed but if you looked on IG what's it called

the USC just put out it says two months to go USC 300 and it looks like it's Conn McGregor on the background so I don't know maybe they might be feeding us certain signs so if you look at it on IG right now it says the countdown so USC 300 is on and it's the back

of Connor McGregor said all right thanks Mike so like this This is brilliant. This is absolutely brilliant by the UFC because now what they have done is they have had people guess

of who that person is. Hold on a second. Someone, like someone just called earlier who is like, yeah, it looks like DDP. Looks like Connor. It's smart. It's really smart. But like I said,

they need to announce the main event this week. They have a UFC 300 Q&A. They have, which would make sense, right? like if Volk's fighting, you would think like Israel Adasani is going to be somewhere around there, right? So it wouldn't be a bad card to like have him come out and do the QA. Like him and DDP out there would be pretty wild.

I don't know. And again, we're a week away from tickets being on sale. And the number is going to sell tickets, but you have a main event like locked and loaded ready to go. Those things are going to go a lot faster. So I don't know if it's got. who it is. I thought it was more DDP. When I first looked at it, I didn't really study it. I thought it was Tom Askenal for like a quick

second. But again, I didn't like look at it super close. I was just like, oh, there's a 300 on the towel. But we, I don't think Tom Ascental is fighting on that card either. I've had conversations about the Connor thing. It's not going to be Connor. Unless they just, they pull a rabbit out of their hat. It seems like they're looking at like June 29th sort of the real date here. That's the plan at the moment. But it's not going to be 300. I don't know what they're going to do.

Danny Gaye is great. Great ambassador for the sport. Good dude. Fun to watch. Never in boring fights. How hard can he go? As high as he can without fighting a grappler. I mean, that's his downfall.

His guys who could really grapple. Like, he's not going to get blown out of the water by anybody. But we saw the Mobsar of Loyal Fight. We saw the Bryce Mitchell fight. Fights he loses are the ones for the most part where he just gets grappled to death. And there's a lot of really good grapplers at 145. So I think, unfortunately, he has a ceiling. Because I don't think he's going to be able to, like, shore that up to become, like, a champion or anything.

But still, Danny Gay can make a damn fine career being a top 10 featherweight. and he's probably going to stick. I love the Arnold Allen idea. I think that makes a ton of sense. And, you know, if they throw him in there with Arnold Allen, he goes out there and beats Arnold. Like, that's a win that could change this conversation. So I like that idea.

I think it makes a lot of sense. If they want to go, like, the Lorone Murphy route, that's totally fine. I went a different direction. I want the Sudiq Yusev Diego Lopez winner at UFC 300

but it's no real wrong way to have this discussion. And then with the Duren-Lamosh fight, yeah, it's a fine fight. It's a good one. I don't think Amanda Lemosch

can get back to a title fight as long as Zhang Waley is the champ. McKenzie Duren could. They've always liked McKenzie Dern. She's very popular and need some blood at 115.

We need interesting challenges for Jean-Wea Lee. And look, say what you want about McKenzie Dern. If she gets Zhang Wei Lee to the mat, things get real interesting. That's the thing about this Lamosh fight. The big key for her is just don't get into a striking match. Like, go and tackle her. And hopefully she's learned how to do that.

normally it's like the clinch and the inside trip but she can just learn like a like a solid wrestling take down she's going to beat a lot of women she's going to beat a lot of them so go and tackle her get her to the ground and she'll win if she can't get one most down she's going to lose she's going to get battered in there so what's the betting line on that one

um lemmosh minus 130 i would i'm probably going to take a dog shot on mackenzie there and a plus 110. I do have to do bets this week for the watch party. So I'm torn on a lot of these. I've got to see some props come out, but I'm hoping this, I'm hoping Toporia

like somehow swings to the favorite so I can get Volka dog money because I'm if I get that, I am jumping all over it. I mean, again, I'm not saying like Ilya can't win, but I just, I think people are just sleeping on Volk right now. I really do. I think he's getting

undervalued in a in a big way here. And I think even at minus 125 right now, that's a, that's a tasty little price right there. So, but just get us to 298. We need it to happen. We're out of the apex for at least two more weeks. We got to go back March 2nd.

And, yeah, we know what the main event is. And it ain't a good one. But then it's UFC 299. So we had that to look forward. too. All right, I'm going to get out of here. Thank you all very much. We'll be back on Thursday. We'll do it again here. Then we got BTL on Thursday. Friday, I think we will be on the YouTube channel for this particular program because the way-ins will be at noon eastern because it's in, obviously on the West Coast, Anaheim and the time change. So I think we'll be on YouTube Friday,

which I told you guys about. We're going to try to do that more for the pay-per-view fight weeks and luckily the time works out good for us to have a heck of a morning on YouTube before the ceremonial or the official way in. So that is the tentative plan for now. But until then, everybody, have a great rest of your Tuesday and have a heck of a morning, everybody. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that we're freshes.