MMA Fighting - HOAM | UFC's Response To USADA, Recapping Chaotic News Week

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

This week will go down as one of the most chaotic weeks in recent memory in the UFC and combat sports with the Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski 2 and Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kamaru Usman revealed as short notice fights for UFC 294, along with the end of the UFC and USADA era. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his reaction to the UFC's response to USADA with Jeff Novitsky and Hunter Campbell, and the new third party handling the drug testing policy beginning in 2024. Additionally, listener questions include the UFC 294 shakeups, the road to Chimaev vs. Usman, Volkanovski's legacy should he defeat Makhachev, the possibility of Makhachev moving up to 170 in the future, where Belal Muhammad goes from here, Michel Pereira's middleweight debut on Saturday at UFC Vegas 81, 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 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? 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 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. The Vox Media Podcast Network. We're 13, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces.

You can hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter, on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody? I am Mike Hack. Hope everyone's having a wonderful week, a wonderful Friday. It is October. My favorite time of year, the weather is absolutely perfect.

Leaves are changing. Halloween right around the corner. Horror movies are out in theaters and some of the classics are streaming on the streaming networks. It's just a good time. It's just a good time. It is also a very crazy time to be a mixed martial arts fan. This has been one of the wildest weeks of 2023, which has been one of the wildest years in the history of the sport.

All the changes to UFC 294. We have Islam Makachep versus Alexander Volkovsky, too, the new main event on less than two weeks notice. Hamzaa Chimayev still fighting at UFC 294. No longer fighting Paula Costa. He's fighting freaking Kamara Usman. This is insane. The UFC and Usada are getting a divorce. There's legal ramifications.

There's defamation lawsuits potentially. This has been one of the weirdest weeks of all. And that was the UFC side. On the other side, in Manchester, England, we have this freaking misfits boxing prime card stuff going down. We have Dylan Danis hitting Logan Paul in the friggin' head with a microphone and busts in the man open. There's way in shenanigans, according to Dylan Danis.

Who the hell knows who to believe at this point. It is going to be just a weird. This is going to go down as one of the weirdest weeks in the history of combat sports. It's one of the weirdest weeks. It's not the weirdest week, but it's one of the weirdest weeks. And it's one of the weirdest weeks we've had in quite some time. It's insane. Absolutely insane.

So we're going to talk about all of that stuff, if you would like. And we can talk about anything today because it is a free-for-referral. all Friday so we could talk about whatever you want. So let's go. And let me just say real quick, guys, if this is anything like yesterday's show, there's going to be a lot of people lining up. So try to keep things to like a question or two. Plus, just for my own sanity, I'm getting a little bit older in life. I can't remember five questions. I just can't. I can't remember them all. So let's try to make this nice and tight question or two. Just to make a little bit. Just to make life easier so I can remember all of this.

All right. There we go. So, Henry will kick us off on this Friday the 13th. Hello, sir. Hey, Mike, what a week, huh? Yeah, I know, right? Geez, Louise.

Yeah, it's crazy the sport, man. I feel like as if you get these apexe apex weekends and you just think, like, why am I following the sports? And then you just get a week like this, and it is absolute insanity. I want to start off with yesterday's interesting press conference with Hunter Campbell and Jeff Novitsky, which was very interesting to say the least, seeing as they don't really bring out Hunter very often. I think this might be

the first time he's ever spoken to the media. And I feel as if he came across quite well, very often. I feel like it was probably a good idea to get him out there as a side to Dana burying pretty much all of Yassadr and calling them, you know, fucking douchebags and stuff like that. So yeah, do you think in the future, they'll use him a lot more. And also, the Saudi UFC deal has kind of gone on under the radar. I know you talk a lot about how these cities and countries approach the UFC about events and stuff like that. But do you feel like this is a case of UFC going to them after the PFL deal and seeing that that money's there? Because it's absolute insanity, that money.

So, yeah, that's pretty much all I've got, man, just the two. The Saudi thing? The second part? Yeah, Saudi Arabia was the UFC. Okay. All right. So the Saudi thing, look, there's the merger. Obviously, Endeavor, WWE has been attached to Saudi for quite some time. They have an annual event over there. I don't know if they ever do two over there, but I know they definitely do at least one. And, yeah, they got money to spend. So nobody can't know heroes as MMA, as people like to say,

or pro wrestling, for that matter, or combat sports in general. If you got money, it doesn't matter how you got it. It doesn't matter what you do. If you got money, people are going to take it. So, yeah, I think this is just part of the whole thing. You know, WW is part of the Endeavor family now. There's the whole thing. So I think it's just kind of the broader scope of things.

Whether we like it or not, it's going to happen. It's probably going to mean every year thing. I'm surprised they're going over for a fight night, not a pay-per-view, at least the first time, maybe that'll change. Maybe they do multiple events over there. I don't think they'll do more than one. I don't think they'll do more than one a year. Yeah, I mean, it is what it is,

and money conquers all in combat sports. And then with the presser yesterday, we kind of saw something coming. Dana White was on Pat McAfee and just kind of ripped Usada for that release, basically outing Conover Cracker I mean it's just crazy

we talked about a lot on BTL I was reading paragraphs I know our own Steven Morocco talked to the CEO of USADA yesterday as well kind of said some

things that were a little crazy like the UFC doesn't have the valuation without USADA I don't necessarily think that's true but it is what it is look

it's a divorce of companies really and usually when these things happen and even when it happens in real life, it's very rare that you say like nice things on the way out from something like that. So I think the writing was kind of on the wall. But I did, I felt like that press conference was coming.

I know Dana kind of teased it. I didn't think it was going to happen like immediately after. It was basically like two hours later. He said, Dana said Jeff DeVitsky and Hunter Campbell are going to deal with it. Here's something people, I know Hunter doesn't really do a lot of, media, he doesn't do a lot of scrums. He does some things, but not a ton. When the whole thing happened earlier this year, we were wondering, you know, we're talking, we're talking about New Year's Eve and Dana and the incident with his wife and all that stuff.

And we were talking about like whether or not Dana should be suspended, like who would run the company and all that stuff. Hunter Campbell basically is the guy. Like Dana's the face and Dana has the mic and Dana says the things. But Dana's not not for the most part. Now, there are certain cases where Dana gets involved, but for the most part, when it comes to contracts and getting fighters on board for big fights, it's not Dana who does the negotiations. It's Hunter Campbell. Hunter's the guy. He is outside of data, outside of Dana because of the public face part of it, Hunter is like one of the top three most powerful guys in MMA right now. Like he basically runs the UFC.

from a business perspective. He's the guy. So it was interesting to see him and Jeff up there. I thought it was a very interesting press coverage. I kind of thought it was funny where Hunter Campbell is like, we demand a retraction by this time or things are going to happen. And I don't blame him for that. I thought you sort of handled that pretty awful.

I thought it was hilarious. But at the same token, like from a business perspective, you can't just say these things. You have to have receipts. and all of that. And maybe they do, but we don't really know. But just to kind of respond to a lot of the questions we got yesterday, because I mean, I think I got like 10 questions on the show yesterday. Oh, does that mean that everybody's just going to be able to, it's going to be like 2004 pride and everyone could just sauce up? And I was like, no, it's not going to be that way. And literally,

the next day, we find, like hours later, we find out, we already know who the next third party company is. It is drug-free sport international, and they will be handling all of the drug testing. Now, if you are not familiar who drug-free sport international, they do the drug testing for the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA, the PGA, NCAA, even CrossFit. If you are a competitive cross-fit athlete and you are being drug tested, you are being drug tested by this company. company. So I know Michael Kiesa came out yesterday and was like, hey, if you thought you saw it was bad, like just wait, it's going to be a little more stringent. They're going to be a little more strict. And then on top of that, they bring in somebody else to kind of handle

everything. And it's George Miro, or George Piro, excuse me, basically was a special agent for the FBI. He was the lead interrogator questioning Saddam Hussein. after he was captured in 2004. So this dude, like, this is a powerful guy. You're not going to be able to bullshit this guy. So it seems like things are even more strict than they were before when it comes to drug testing and all of that. So there's obviously things are going to be a little bit different.

There's going to be some different things. Novitsky rattled. I'm going to M.A. fighting real quick. Novitsky also rattled off a number of other changes in Prudence CFC expects to implement under the new antedopic program. One, increase the amount of blood testing. Two, conduct studies on the use of stimulants out of competition. Three, conduct dry blood spot testing consistent with NBA, NFL Major League Baseball,

conduct oral fluid testing, conduct growth hormone releasing factors testing on every single sample. A biological passport program increased the amount of isotope ratio mass spectrometry testing. The most comprehensive and precise way to deterred test. testosterone abuse and a more robust long-term storage program, which I'm sure the fighters had no say it when it comes to any of the stuff. So yeah, for all those hoping for Pride 2.0 and Vitor Belfort, TRTed up, walking through the door at 47 years of age to just roid rage on people, it's just not going to happen. Sorry. It seems like things are going to be a little, a little tighter that they want to or not.

I do hope that the fighters do get to come to the table at some point, or at least it's not going to happen, but I do hope that the fighters, at least at some way, have a say on how this all works when it comes to the random, like randomly testing this whole, hey, if we try to find you and you're not available, that's a strike kind of bullshit. I'm hoping some of that changes,

but in terms of trying to get one over on people, in trying to cheat the system in any kind of a way. It doesn't look like it's going to happen. So there you go. I thought it was a very interesting press conference yesterday. And I think it was a necessary one. I think it was very smart from the UFC and Hunter and Jeff Diewitzki to come out and respond. That was very, very smart.

Let's go to CV. What's up, Canada? Hey, Mike. Ake of a morning. Happy free for all Friday. Yeah, just one question for me. You did say, if I remember correctly, that if Costa pulled out the fight,

you're going to tell the whole shenanigans and the whole behind the scenes behind 294. Like, it sounds like you're in the no amidst all the chaos. So are you going to share us the story now? Are you going to be still planning to save it for the watch party next week? Thanks. All right. So it's so funny that everyone's like,

hey, I'm going to come on and ask you to ask the story of this. And then nobody asked me yesterday at all after this news broke. So I didn't talk about it because I didn't even think about it because there were so many other things to talk about. So I guess I could tell the story at this point because it's kind of done. Now, I also said the other day when I first talked about this, that at least to me, just because I was a part of it and I was chasing things down for, 24 hours essentially, along with some other people on the staff, that I don't want to like over exceed expectations here, but I thought this is pretty wild. So three weeks ago, I think it was three weeks ago. Let me just do the math real quick. Boom, boom. Maybe it was a

month ago. Yeah, it was a month ago. There's four weeks ago yesterday. I'm getting ready. to finish up my workday, and I'm getting ready to start the fall league season opener of old man softball. And right as I'm getting ready, right as I'm about to walk out the door, I get a phone call. And this is not a text. This is a phone call. And when this person picks up the phone to call me, I know something big is happening because normally we communicate via a text. But this is a phone call. And I immediately saw who it was and I was like, uh-oh. Either uh-oh or, oh, boy, pick up the phone and this is 1,000% somebody in the know. And I'm like, wow, what an honor. What's going on? This must be huge if you're actually

calling me. And I'm told, are you ready for the, basically, I'm paraphrasing. Are you ready for the big news? And I'm like, what is this big? news. Like, cost is out. Cost is not fighting a UFC 294. I'm like, really? I'm like, why? Like, I have no idea.

I'm like, well, how do you know this? Apparently, a bunch of people were offered this fight, including what I was told by this person, and I 100% believe it. And look, I don't want this whole thing to be like, dumb shit. And everyone's like, oh, Mike Hexon, this is definitely going to happen.

Because I know how some of these social media accounts work. and it fucking pisses me off. But I was told that one of the people that was called to fight Hamzaa Tchamaya was Sean Strickland, that the UFC had offered Sean Strickland a fight with Hamzaat Chimaya for his first title defense at UFC 294. And knowing Sean Strickland,

Sean said, fuck yeah, let's go. Of course, after having multiple more conversations, I realized that his team is very, very smart. They can reel Sean in. And they were like, dude, you just won the belt. You should probably not do this. I'm sure the UFC would respect the hell out of them.

And they would put Sean over in a big way. And they probably offered him some decent money. But after multiple conversations, cooler heads prevailed. And Sean and his team specifically ultimately declined. So that was the phone call that initially they offered this fight to Sean Strickland as his first title defense. And I'm like,

holy fucking shit. That is nuts. So then of course, as I get this information, and I'm basically told by this person and a couple other people like do this information what you will. So we just frantically start asking.

And then it goes out. I'm like, yeah, I know. But I still don't know if it's for sure or not because we haven't heard anything from Costa's side. We are told at this point, and I had multiple conversations with other people as well, that Jared Canaaner is in. Jared Canaaner is going to step in. He took the fight.

He's going to fight Hamzaat Shabayev. So I'm like, all right, cool. So, of course, we go out and we do our thing and we're asking everybody. We're trying to figure it out. Now, again, I'm getting ready to go play softball and do all this stuff. So I'm doing all this while I'm getting ready, and some of which I'm doing in the car, like using my voice to text and call and type things. And we're trying to figure this all out.

We're talking to everybody. We're reaching out to Canaaner's people. We're reaching out to Hamzat's people. Like what is going on? A person with knowledge of the Hamzat side, we were told had no idea what was going on. They thought we were idiots, that we were dead wrong. None of it's true. We think we're wrong.

We're like, no, we're not wrong because we're not. And just to clarify at that point, I reached out to several other managers as well. And I said, hey, were, was X, Y, and Z offered this fight? And I was told by more than two managers, yes, they were. So I knew that something was afoot. And we just scrambled frantically trying to, figured this out. And no one was getting back to us.

And the fact that nobody was getting back to us is not just, well, they don't care. It's, we know something bored just not going to tell you right now. And that's how we felt. So basically for 24 hours, it went from Costas in to maybe Sean Strickland Hamzaa

Shamaa for the middleweight title is going to happen at UFC 294. Then it was Sean's not going to do it. Canada is going to do it. And then multiple managers, as I was asking them about whether or not their fighters were involved in these conversations, told me yes, and they had been told Cannon Air was in as well. So we're like, all right, shit, I guess Cannonair is going to step in and fight this dude.

And then a day later, ESPN reports that Cannotier is now fighting Roman DeLite December 2nd. I'm like, what the hell is going on right now? So my initial thought, as this fight is booked, and we confirm that fight, all sides that wouldn't get back to me on Saturday got that day got back to us. It was like, yeah, this, this Canadaer Deleje fights happening. So I'm like, okay. So I'm

talking, we confirmed the Canaaner side and of course I talked to that person because I initially had hit them up saying, is he fighting Hamzad? And what I was told was cannoneer at one point was optioned as like the backup fighter. So if something happens,

they were going to have Cannoneer step in, but then they had a a different plan in place. So now Canada is fighting De Leeds A, it seemed like Costa might actually fight. And I had no idea what was going on with Costa.

I had no idea about the elbow. I had no idea about the surgery. I just knew that I was told he was out. And I was told multiple other fighters were approached about this fight. And this is a month ago. And then Costa reveals he had the elbow surgery earlier this week, goes on the

MMA hour, says he's going to fight, all of that, and then all this happens, and Kamara Usman comes in. I will say this, Kamar Usen was not a name that I was told was offered the fight. Do I, does that mean he wasn't initially? I don't know. But a pretty crazy phone call to get on a Thursday afternoon saying that, hey, Koss is out, Strickland got the call. I was like, holy shit. They ultimately didn't take it, which I think is incredibly smart. And there were other. fighters involved, which I also think we're incredibly smart for not taking the fight. But in the end, without even knowing what was going off cost, I'm like, oh, maybe cost

is just playing games right now. Maybe he's just like, hey, I'm negotiating to get a couple more bucks, which by the way, if that was true, I thought that was absolutely genius for this situation. Like a month before the fight, it's going to steal all the headlines heading into the fight week. Let's play the game and try to get a few more bucks. And I was like, yeah, maybe he's just playing hardball right now. but it turns out they were going to see if cost could go

they didn't really have anything lined up and all this happened and then three weeks later we find out that Costa is in fact out of the fight and now Kamar Rusman stepping in so look like I said I hope it didn't exceed expectation but that's the story like that's what those 24 hours were like just scrambling I barely slept Thursday night after softball because we're trying to confirm this news

but I knew this fight was in jeopardy a month ago go. And there are a lot of options on the table, including maybe doing a title fight instead. But it didn't happen and we get Kbaros, which I think is a damn good substitution. So that's the story. That's how those 24 hours were. And that's it. Yeah, I've known for a while that there was something afoot.

And then once I saw Costa post up with the elbow surgery from three weeks back, like, oh, that's why. That's why this all happened. and I remember the first time I teased the story I was like when I mentioned the Canada Der Leite fight I'm like I have a story about this fight because we all thought Canada was going to step in and fight Hamza Tchamayev and then things changed so yeah I'd love to like find out what happened from like the UFC's perspective we'll never ever know

but yeah it all started with a with a phone call from somebody that I don't ever really talk on the phone with. And unless it's like big news. And this is like something crazy going on. So yeah, that's what happened. That's what happened. This fight was in jeopardy for a hot minute. And

all in all, they were right. They were right. That Costa was out. It just took a longer road to get there. So there you go. There's your story. And it's probably a letdown. But there you go. That's what that 24-hour stretch was like,

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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. Daniel, go ahead. Hey, Mike.

I have a morning to you. Just kind of want to keep the ball rolling, I guess, just because it's free for all Friday and you're talking about a story here. what is maybe like the biggest piece of information or like kind of like the juiciest story you've ever had to hold back or wait to release maybe someone beat you to the punch or something but just off the top of your head you know what's kind of like the juiciest thing that you've ever found out that you got to break or you know just found out before the public thanks mike um the juiciest so i'll start with like what i i would say honestly this paula cossa news

was probably the one that like I that I didn't leak that like that I had for a long time and nobody knew like literally nobody knew except for like four or five except for like some of the staff members from MA fighting and like the people that I spoke with.

Nobody else knew. Nobody else knew. So I kept that pretty damn tight like literally lock solid tight. Nobody knew. Nobody knew any of this was happening. I knew well before the reports that Costa was out that he may not fight, that he probably wasn't going to fight. And I was actually surprised it took this long for it to happen after all that.

But look, it's so important in this space to get all sides of the story before you report anything. There are certain times where, you know, you hear rumblings of stuff. And I've learned lessons along the way that I have to qualify some of the things I say by saying. these things and not just outright reporting them. And I know Ariel does that as well because of these social media accounts that we talk about that just take something and then they flip your words around as fact when that's not really the case. So that's a lesson I learned along the way about a year ago.

And I've been that way ever since. Biggest story I've broken. The juiciest story I've broken. Um, I don't know. I'm not like a real big newsbreaker. Like, I don't like breaking news. I really don't. And more oftentimes than not, like, when I do break news, it's like I get a heads up beforehand from one side just because of like the relationships I've built. But I don't actively chase breaking news anymore. I did when I first got to me finally. I'm, Like, I'm going to chase everything. I want to be the guy. And then I realized, like, it is just so stressful, man. It's so stressful to break news.

It really is. But I'll say maybe being first on Al Jermaine, Sterling, not fighting Pure Yon, and Abu Dhabi. Remember that fight was supposed to happen? And we ended up getting Yon and Sanhagen for the interim title instead, but Sterling was in. I think that might have been, like, one of the bigger ones that I had, that I had, broken. Yeah, I think it's one of the bigger ones that I had broken. So, but like I said, I don't, I don't love breaking news. I like doing this shit. This is the stuff I like. I like doing content. I like talking to you guys. Like, it's way less stressful, man. It's way less stressful and way

more fun. You don't lose sleep over doing shows like this. You lose sleep over breaking news. Even when you're like confident that you have it, you just never know. You just never know. until like the UFC actually announces it. You're like, oh, cool, there you go. So there you go. Let's go to Rob. I'm sorry, just simply Rob. What's up, Rob?

Hey, Mike, how you doing, brother? Good to see you. How's everything on your end? Good, man. You? Not too bad, man. I just wanted to ask you a quick thought. I was watching some of the interviews from Islam

and he was talking about how he wants the opportunity to go up to 170. And I usually historically have not been a huge fan of the daggy guys because I know that they cut a lot of weight. And I know that D.C. It was joking around this week with R.C. on the show, he told Islam, he said, dude, you, you weigh 200 pounds too and you cut to 155. And nobody really picked that up. But I've noticed that that's common with the daggy guys. But I'm curious, what are your thoughts on, on Islam wanting to go up to 170, something that Kabib didn't want to do?

What are your thoughts on that? Thanks again, Michael. So, I mean, look, I've talked about this a lot. And I'll say this. If he wants to move up to 170, awesome. that's cool. I'm all for it. But do not move up as the lightweight champion. Make the move, vacate the belt, and move up.

Just say, I'm a welterweight now. Here's your belts. You guys fight for it, but remember, I'm the guy. I'm the actual champion. You guys are just fighting for my scraps. Do that. Then I'm cool with it. And it would be intriguing to see him at 170,

fighting a lot of these guys, fighting Colby or Leon or like, dude, him and freaking Shafcott is insane. Like all those fights are absolutely insane. But I just cannot stand at this point anymore. All the talk of, well, I just won the belt. I've had one title defense.

And now I'm going to go up and win a second belt. Like, enough, man. Cool. You want to move up and do cool things? That's great. But don't, especially at lightweight, please don't leave this division with like interim titles.

Like we already have enough problems at 155. We have enough problems with really good fighters having to take forever to get an opportunity to even get close to the belt. Look at freaking Armin Sarukian. Look at Armin Surukin.

He can't get a fight to save his life. Maybe he fights Binald-Daryush. I know that fights being discussed right now. but he'd fight Netto BJJ last in his last fight. What's how is that fair? This guy's like one of the best lightweights on the planet and he's going to fight an unrank guy because no one else will fight him.

Camrodot's the freaking backup fighter and he has to watch Volcanozky take a title shot from him. Like what is happening here? So yeah, if you want to move up to 170, I'm for it. I'm fascinated by it. But just do it as a welterweight. Don't do it as the lightweight champion who's going to win in the second belt and then move back down. Vacate the belt, move up, and then I'm cool with it.

Like, do it. You still are a two-division champion. You still go down as a guy who won titles in two different divisions. Look at John Jones. You think because John Jones won the heavyweight title, but he wasn't the light heavyweight champion at the time, takes anything away from that? No. So why does it have to be a heft to hold the two titles at the same time? Guess what? Islam Makachchev has a belt at home. He can take a photo of the Walterway belt and the lightweight belt across his shoulders and post it on social media. It's the same thing.

It's the same thing. And this whole thing with Volk, like Volk moving up too, I think Volkanovsky is the best fighter in the world. I have Islam ranked above him because he won the fight, but I think talent-wise, I think Volk is the best fighter in the world. If Volk wins the lightweight title, I truly hope he says, hey, I'm a lightweight now. All my biggest fights are at lightweight. Max, Ilya, bouts up for grabs, you guys fight. And then we move that division along. And then we get Volk defending the lightweight title.

Like, I would rather that than see Volk try to do two things at once. It's almost impossible to do. His expectations are like, I appreciate the gusto, but it's just not realistic. It's just not realistic. You want to fight for a second belt? Great. But if you do, vacate the other title. And let's keep this thing moving.

Riley, go ahead. I just wanted to ask Michelle Pereira's making his middleweight debut this weekend. It's fighting against Andre Petrovsky. I was just wondering what you think of that because they're both on spot-tight win streaks. Honestly, it probably should be six for Pereira because he got a DQ versus Diego Sanchez. And then real quick,

if win or lose for Usman, should Colby win, do you think that could be next up for the 170 strap? I don't know if fighters ever gotten a title shot off three losses. I know there are a handful of gotten off two, but I don't know about three. Thanks, Mike. Have a good weekend. Yeah, I don't think, like, Jed said something on BTL that I didn't necessarily agree with that Oussman's automatically in play for Colby if he wins, if Colby beats Leon.

And I don't think that's necessarily true. Because if he goes out and gets rinsed by Hamzaa Tchamai F, like, he's going to have like sort of a built-in thing where it's like, well, he took this fight on a lot of days notice. And like, I respect the hell out of that. I really do. And both guys deserve credit. Just like Islam deserves credit for fighting Volk. Just like Volk deserves credit for stepping in on 10 or 11 days ago. It's like it's not just the fighter that's stepping in.

It's also the other fighter who was already scheduled to fight a completely different guy that deserves credit too. And you can make a strong case that it is more dangerous for both Hamzaa Shemayev and Islamakachev to take the opponents they have on short notice, that it's more ballsy for them to change everything on 10 days notice, most notably Islam Makachev, who is the freaking lightweight champion in preferring for a guy who he rinsed last year. And now he's going to fight a guy who gave him one of his toughest fights ever on 10 days notice. Like, those guys aren't getting enough credit, in my humble opinion.

But that's neither here nor there. I think I think Ushman is probably not fully in play but if him and Hamzaat like just have a war like if we get anything close to Hamzaat versus Gilbert Burns and Ustman loses a decision like that then I do think Ustman is in play. I do feel like he's somewhat in play

but he would also need Colby to call him out specifically Hey, Kamaro, you have, you know, on the pages, two wins over me. One, I got screwed by the ref. One, I won the decision and got robbed. That's what he's going to say. Let's go. And that would be a gift from the heavens for Kamar Usman. I don't know if we'll get that, but I think Usman's name would come out of Colby's mouth before, like,

Bala Muhammad's name comes out of Colby's mouth, if that. makes sense but we'll see none of it matters like not of it matters if Colby doesn't win the belt anyways because if Leon wins tomorrow is not getting that fight he probably has no chance fighting Leon again

so good good on him it's got to me I honestly think this fight's going to be really fun because I think Usman's best chance is to just lull try to lull Hamzad into an absolute war because if if Hamzah takes him down

he is dunzo. Like he's in huge trouble if Hamzaa takes him down. Because we saw Leon have success on top of Kamar Usman. If Hamzaa gets on top of that guy, oh my God, it's going to be a rough night for him. So I think this fight's gonna be really fun.

I am picking Hamzaa, though. Cole, go ahead. Morning, Mike. While it's amazing, like we're getting this title fight on short notice and that's like an amazing put together by the UFC. Do you think that, like, is there any percentage of you that thinks that this fight is maybe too big to put on this short of notice, like with them already kind of talking about excuses and whatnot, or am I just overthinking that?

And do you think John Fury has dementia? All right, that's all I got. Dude, John Fury is a fucking maniac. That dude is a nutcase. He's insane. That dude is nuts. He is nuts. Look, I understand, because this is Jed's argument when it came to this fight.

And everyone's like, oh, Jed's a Volk hater. I don't think that's true. What Jed is saying, like, is, hey, Volk stepping up and taking this fight, like, if anybody was offered this fight and could make the weight and took it, like, they should get the same praise. But he feels like most people who could make the weight would say yes if they got. it. I think Volk does, he's basically like saying, I don't really care about that. I think Volk does deserve some credit. At the same time, though,

you just, this is the Abu Dhabi card. Usually you get two title fights. We're only getting one. So I think you kind of have to stack the deck as best you can. And on the, at the same time, the most important thing here is that Islam Makachep defends that title on this card in the main event. That is the most important thing. And for those people who are saying, well, you have Matush Gamrod as the backup. And I kind of like scratch my head with this whole thing too, because like you have a guy in place who is going to weigh in as the backup. Why not just put him in the fight? Because all that really matters is Islam fighting. From the UFC's perspective, I kind of get it because we've seen this

before, right? Remember before the whole Dolly incident and everything that happened with Connor McGregor and Habib. Habib was supposed to fight Tony Ferguson. Tony Ferguson tripped over the wire out of the fight. Max Holloway steps in.

And we're like, yes. And that's one of the, to me, honestly, getting off track, that's one of the fights that got away for me. Because I was really intrigued by that. I think Habib would have won. But I think how Max fights and his style and his strengths.

Like, that would have been a fun fight. That would have been an interesting matchup. That would be probably would have won, but I would have loved to have seen it. Anyways. And then Holloway can't, Holloway can't cut the weight. He's out. We get Ally Quinta. It's all insanity.

All of its insanity. If you're looking at it from a UFC perspective, I think you have to keep Gamron as the backup. Because what if Volk goes over there on 10 days notice? I don't think he's going to have weight cut issues, but let's just say that he does. Let's say he does medicals. They check out his hand. It's not great.

He's not clear to fight. I don't think that's going to happen, but what if it does? And then he's gone. What do you do? Who fight? Like, you've got to have Islam on the card. So I think this is sort of,

hey, we got a big name on the poster. If we get this fight great, but if for some reason we don't, because it's too short, we have this other fight because we need Islam to fight on this card. So that's kind of how I'm looking at it. Like, Keith Gamera is the backup,

just in case something weird happens. We get a hallway moment where he's not allowed to cut the weight or something weird happens at medicals. We at least have the emergency backup ready to go. That's kind of how I feel about how the UFC is doing this. I don't know for sure,

but that's how I did it. Yes, we would love to have this fight on a four-month notice thing. we find out in October or in freaking July that's happening in this, like we love that. But that's how we're getting here. And for the built-in excuse thing with Volcanowski, I don't, I'm not using it. I'm not using it. Now, will they be a part of me that's like, yeah, man, like, if he goes out and like loses

a competitive decision, am I going to give him a lot of credit for stepping in on 10 days notice and giving Islam another tough fight? Sure I am. but I'm not going to use that as an excuse as to why he lost the fight. Volk just did a scrum in Australia. When he got the phone call, you want to know what he said? He said he smiled. He was excited.

He was thrilled about it. He's obviously not using it as an excuse. If he wins, he thinks it's like a very cool thing. But if he loses, I don't think Volk's going to use it as an excuse. And I'm not going to use it for him. He said yes. he smiled. He had another fight in the works

that was ready to go almost. Penn hasn't gone to paper yet, but he and Tuporia agreed to fight each other to headline January. Folks said in that scrum, I didn't want to wait that long. I thought about January and I was like, yeah, I want to fight this guy,

but January just seems like such a long time. So he took this fight with a smile on his face. You can't use the excuse thing here. You can't use it. He said yes. He took. took the chance. I don't use it, and I don't think Volk's going to use it either. So, but this is a pretty cool thing to talk about. But I get it. I get the people that are like,

yeah, man, I wish you got a full build here. You burn the bridge a little bit. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe they have another really close competitive fight. And if Islam's talking about moving up to 170, you may not get another chance to get this fight. So you kind of just have to do it. right but i get i get that side of things uh four corner sports go ahead hey hey mike um so i do i want to know like what would this mean for volk's legacy and and he was to win the the lightweight title um since he's been very successful at featherweight how many um title defenses you see in his foreseeable future i see that he has a lot of favorable matchups even though he is a smaller fighter to think that his

IQ and the way that he handles the fights and makes in-game adjustments. I feel like is he seconds and none. Or maybe like debatable with John Jones. And then lastly, what the hell's going on with Brian Ortega? I haven't heard anything.

The man's about to be what's it called? Has a forward a fight in almost nearly close to what 18 months. Is that shoulder injury still really bad or does he have something in the works? All right. Thanks, Mike. I've heard nothing.

I've heard nothing about Brian Ortega. Absolutely nothing. So what I had heard is that they were maybe talking about doing something, but then the shoulder got reagravated in some way. That's what someone had told me. I'm just not like a report or anything. So, yeah, other than that, I don't know anything that's going on. Don't know anything that's going on with him.

What does a win over Makachev do for Volk's legacy? does a whole lot, man. Does a whole lot. He enters, he enters new territory. Now, I dislike the goat conversation and the pound-for-pound conversation

as much as the next guy. But if Volko's out there and wins the lightweight title and beats his Almacchev on 10 days notice, he's in all the conversations. He's in all the conversations. all of them. He at least is allowed to get mentioned in all of them, in my opinion.

Conversations I don't like to have, but he's in there. So it'd be huge for his legacy. Gigantic. The loss to Makachaf is huge for his legacy. Because a lot of people still feel to this day he won that fight. I am not one of those people. But yeah, be gigantic for him if he gets it done. We'll keep on going. Ebzwalia. So, Mark, how you doing? Yeah, so I just have two questions about UFC today. My first question is about the Hamzad and Kamar Uspur fight. Because both of them are not ranked in the middleweight currently,

and whoever wins the fight, what do you think the UFC will do? Will they actually place official ranking on them? Even though it's, you know, you could arguably say it's just, again, an unranked middleway fight or if like, let's say Hamzaat wins this fight, he will get the title shot and file Sean Strickland. Is he just possibly going to go with the unbreak number until he may possibly win that fight? The second thing I wanted to ask is

just regarding fighters and weight bullying, because I just saw Michelle Pahara, I think he had an interview today, or he said this few days ago, but he said that when he was fighting at Walterweight, he used to weigh 46, he used to cut 46 KG, which is, I think, close to, like 220 pounds

some shit just to make 170 and it just gave me a thought in mind like how many fighters, how common is it in MMA in general whether UFC, one, FC or any other major organization where fighters tend to be much larger in frame of size

and they're actually possibly fighting one or two way classes down below. I was also watching a little bit of Anthony rumble, rest and peace to him, just about how he used to like weigh 170 and he was actually weighing like 250 and 20 pounds on fight night when he first joined the UFC and same with the middleweight.

But once he moved out to light heavy weight, he had no problem. He was up in a very light cup. He was a small light heavy weight, but he was still pretty big enough where he looked humongous to some of his peers. And, you know, I'm just curious on your thoughts on the light. Is it a very common thing? See fighters weigh a lot? And do you think the UFC should actually have a legit limit on fighters who tend to weigh

much larger in frame than they are. Let me phrase the question. Do you think UFC fighters who weigh larger, I mean, way much more than they should be weighing and fighting in a way class

that way below their standard, do you think the U.S. should put limited and band on it just so it makes the competition much more for you? Thanks, well, that's have a good... That's all I have a great day. I mean, UFC can't really do anything about it.

I mean, I guess they can in some respects. Like, if someone is like, hey, I'm a welterweight, and then they miss weight, like, four times. then you kind of have to make the move. I mean, they did it with certain, Kelvin Gasselman is a perfect example of a guy who was having struggles multiple times, and they were just like, no, dude, you're fighting at 185, and that's it.

I know California does a pretty nice job. They do, at least we know what their weights are when they weigh in. We know what their weights are in fight night. We look at the percentages, and then they can sort of determine, like, hey, your next fight if you fight in California should be at this weight, unless these numbers improve. And maybe more commissions just need to do that. Yeah, it's pretty common.

It's pretty common with most fighters. It's been that way forever. And it will continue to be that. Again, Hams-A-Chemiah fighting at Welterweight makes no sense to me. I don't know how he physically did it. I literally don't know. He is a monster. That dude is humongous.

I don't buy it. I just could not. When he walked on the scale at 274, before they go with Burns fight at 170. I was like, how, how? How is this even possible? Rumble Johnson, I felt the same way. I feel that way when I watch Al Jemaine Sterling step on the scale 135.

I'm like, what? How? How is this guy abandoning? How? But a lot of these fighters figure it out. And there's a lot of them. Like, you see them, you see them struggling on the scale. O'Malley struggled on the scale sometimes.

You saw Alex Marono, struggle a little bit waiting to weigh in last week ahead of the Joaquin Buckley fight. It's a problem. It always will be. But I don't think there's really much the UFC can do. And then you kind of run into the Kevin Lee situation where he's too big for 155, but he's too small for 170. And there's like a lot of tweeners. We don't have those additional weight classes that we could have.

You couldn't do 165 and 175, 175, 195 and stuff like that. It's just tough. It's just tough to do. So, yeah. Pereira 185 is interesting. I was on no-bets barred this week. I stayed away from that fight. I'm just going to sit back and watch it.

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our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com. Do you do, okay, panda. Go ahead. My man, Mike, can you hear me? Oh, my God, two days in a row? This is incredible. This is impeccable.

Some could say this is all I could ask for. You could just take me off this earth. No, I'm just kidding. Here we go. All right, so last week, I'm not going to lie, Mike. I guess I unsolicitedly threw money on Alex Marano because you said he was a good dog that you liked. We won't count it, yada, yada. I haven't listened to No Bet Fard yet.

Is there a play you like right now before I tune in that I should lock right in? Or should I shut up, tune on into that hour, you and Jedmishu chopping it up and then maybe make my selection from there? Two, how fast do you think Sean Strickland said yes to Dana White about Humzottomias? And then he talked to his team. And then he was like, oh, no, maybe not, maybe not. You know what I mean? Like Sean Strickland has that mind where he's like, yeah, I'll do it, yeah, I'll do it. And it seems like, Sean, are you kidding me?

In 10 days, you just got the belt? Are you, like, kidding me? Are you, like, at some point, Sean's going to have to fight, Humzot? Like, I would assume the winner of this fight is going to get Sean. But I don't know. I just totally see Sean Strickland saying yes to that fight. And then his team being like, um, Sean, how about not? How about we take these two, three month break?

And then maybe we defend it in December or January. But all right, Mike, have yourself a heck of a week. I'm sure Sean got the actual phone call. I'm sure they called him and not like his team. I don't know for sure, but that's kind of what I assume. And Sean probably was like, yeah, dude, I'll go. And then he was like, hey, I'm going to fight at UMSTAT at USC 204. And they're like, what?

No, you're not. What are you talking about? You're the friggin champion now. You don't have to do this anymore. You're the guy. Like, you're the man. You don't have to do this shit. Let him come to you.

Let him come to you. You already saved the day. You already saved the day. You stepped in and you won the belt. You don't need to do it as the champion. Let the challenger save the day, not you. And I think that was very smart. What plays do I have that I like?

So I'll run down all the plays that I have. I have Edson Barbosa by K.O. A plus 210. I have Adrian Yonnas by K.O. plus 200. I think this one I really, I think this one is the one I really like the most. Jennifer Maya by decision at minus 105. I'm very confident she's going to be Viviani Arrujo.

I've Edgar Chiraz by submission at plus 250. I have Cameron Simon as a dog at plus 136. I don't love that one, but I think that line should be closer. So that is a straight value play. I have Chris Gutierrez by KOTKO. I don't remember where I got that line at, but I did put that bed in. I have Dixon, Alex Siva, under two and a half.

I got at plus 140. I have Emily Decode, Chris Gutierrez, and Lisboa as a parlay at plus 118. And then I even have misfits boxing bets because, I mean, it was part of the show. Tommy Fury by Kio at plus 120. King Kenny over Anthony Taylor at minus 270. And I, although I'm sweating this one out, I placed this bet literally on Tuesday. Dylan Dennis, Logan Paul does happen at plus 140.

But after the whole microphone incident, I'm not so sure. I don't feel as good as I did Tuesday, but I don't know. I feel like I'm going to cash that bet. There's some hope. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll let you know how it goes.

You've heard it all here, so now you can see it. And I will have bets next week as well because it's the watch party, and I have obligated myself to do so. We'll keep on going. Toke. Go ahead. Okay, good, good. So it's funny.

I am actually just going to ask about this guy that the UFC signed. I'm of course talking about the new matchmaker. I'm just wondering, have you gone through your DMs just to check if he's already in there or an AK? So you have a place to put all the matchups that you want. I'm just curious if that's the guy that's actually sent in suggestions to you, because that would be the kind of guy that would do it, right? He's just like the rest of us. He's just one of those nerds just like us that sits home and does all these,

does all these batchups by himself. So I was just wondering if you had gone through your DMs. That's all, Mike. Thank you. I didn't even think about that. Honestly, I have to hit up AK about that and check that out. I haven't personally, but yeah, I got it. I didn't watch the video.

Like, I saw it and I saw something like, I know Drake wrote about it for the site. Like, is he actually a matchmaker? Is he just like a consultant of some kind? Like what kind of car did he put together? Do we even see the car? I don't know. But I don't know.

Good for him. I mean, that's pretty damn cool. Mikey, go ahead. We're right there at 13th, everybody. A couple things. I know it was just an honest mistake, but just to be clear, Michelle Pahara cuts 45 pounds,

not 45 kilos, because 45 kilos is like 100 pounds. That would be insane. A couple things. So I'm just going to presume that unless Alex Volcanovsky knocks out Islam Machachev in 30 seconds and doesn't get a scratch on him, he's not going to fight January 20th. I know he says he's going to, and he's going to try and make that. But realistically, that's quite a turnaround to do.

So if that doesn't, it's not going to material. That's why I kind of don't like this fight, to be honest. Like, yeah, I'll watch it. It'll be cool to see if he can make history in like 10 days. That's dope. But I just, I just, it's annoying. Like, just defend your featherweight title against featherweights, please, before even going back up to fight Islam, but it is what it is.

But since I don't think that the fight with Ilya Tepore is going to happen January 20th, what do you think should be that should be those title fights on that card? And I just want to touch on the thing about Dana White's obsession with wanting to host a fight card in the sphere. I haven't been inside the sphere yet, but I have a couple of friends who have been inside. It is an awesome venue, and I get the appeal. But that place is not conducive for a fight card. It might be at least because it's supposed to be like, it's built like an amphitheater, you know? like the stage or the flat form is like all in front it's not like in the center of the way it would be like a usual arena like T-Mobile or anything and that screen is just I mean man that's gonna be weird if he ever tries to put the card that's gonna look weird and over the extrasensory perception and um also uh curious if the belltor sale does go through the pfl and you know was it pit bull said if that happens he might be

just book it and go to the UFC if he can. Who do you think from Belator would probably follow suit? So anyways, thanks again, man. Be kind of a good day, everyone, guys. I don't know if he just could just go. I don't know how any of this works. I don't know if, especially if the champions. I don't know if there's clauses that are in place

in case something like this happens. I have no idea. Tip will be interesting, but honestly, he's not even one of my first choices. he's probably not even the top 10 choices that I would have at this point. Like two or three years ago, yeah, like sign me the hell up. I'd love to see patchy mix at 135 in the UFC. I'd love obviously Ushman or Maga Madoff would be fun, especially if Islam moves up to 170.

Like, Usman at 155 would be really fun because it would just answer a lot of questions. Like I just tweeted. out on Saturday at Bellator 300, like, hey, maybe the best fighter under 30 is about to fight. And the amount of shit that I got for that from people was incredible. They're like, oh, he's the best fighter under. I'm like, no, I said, maybe. We don't know. Like, we don't know.

We don't know how good he is. He's going to rinse everybody he fights in Bellator. Shobli, maybe not. I think he still beat Shobli. but I really want to see that fight. Other than that, there is not one, maybe McKee, maybe McKee. I'm mildly intrigued by those two fights.

Other than that, I have no interest in watching Usen-Ramagamata fight anybody in Bellator. Because he's just so much better than everybody. Now, throw him in the UFC, Uspen versus Gamrod, Uspen versus Sarukian, Usen versus Gaichi, like those fights interest me in a huge way.

so it's definitely him. Johnny Ebblin, I would like to see it 185 as well in the UFC. Vadim Nemcoff would be fun. Basically all the fighters were like, hey, maybe Bellator does have the best guy in this division in the world. Well, let's find out. Because the only way you're going to get the answer to that is if you come over to the UFC and you fight these dudes.

So that's where I'm at with that. The sphere thing, look, to Dana's credit, he hasn't said like, I mean, he's made bold claims. we're going to put in the greatest combat sports event of all time. And that's great to say in theory. But he's also doesn't know how he's going to set it up either. He says he's basically just obsessed with it. He's sending his staff members to a show, like shows this weekend to like scout it all out,

bringing the production staff over and all that to see like, what's the best way for this to work? How can we pull this off? And I think it's going to take some time. I think it's going to take some time. And I think Dana kind of understands that if you're going to hope, to combat event in there. Like, just because he said that, like, I don't think, like,

PFL is going to be like, well, you know what? I'm going to do it. Watch this. Because they don't know how to do it either. I don't know if any, like, the boxing promotions will come out. The boxing productions, like, I don't know if, like, Showtime boxing is going to come and do that. I know showtime boxing is hanging on by a threat at this point, but you know what I'm

trying to get at. So I don't think anybody's getting in there for a fight for a while. It's going to take some due diligence. It's going to take a while. but I'm very curious to see how that's all going to look. I'm very curious to how that's all going to look. Let's move on. We'll take a few more.

I've got to get out of here in 11 minutes, guys. 11 minutes. 4 on sniper. Yes. How are you? Hey, heck of the morning. I just wanted to ask, prefor-all Friday,

if you had a dream fight that you are itching the sea between maybe certain fighters, whether it be male or female, John Jones and Parker Porter, it does not count because that already happened. in and Parker showed a mercy. So yeah, that's all I got for you. Ah, man, dream fight?

I don't know. I think I'm kind of like beyond the dream fight thing. So I feel like anything that I would want to see we can't get right now. Like, Connor Gaichi is a fight like I have to see. I just have to see those two dudes fight at some point. So. But I have no confidence. Like Jones and Ngano is one I would love to see, but we're not going to get it.

Um, the one of like I really want, like, one of the fights, like I was like, I have to see this at some point, uh, was Dominic Cruz versus Mara Mara's. And I'm not talking about like a year ago. I'm talking about like 2016, 2017. I needed that fight in my life. And we never got it. So I don't know, man. It's tough. It's tough. Because like, I've, I think I've gone past the dream fight world. And I'm at the, I'm not like all about meritocracy, but I'm about opportunity. I'm about seeing, especially at lightweight. I'm about seeing lightweight move. I'm about seeing these lightweight contenders who are super frigging good getting their opportunities to get close to a title shot. So it's not the same names in every lightweight title fight. Like that's my dream.

My dream is that next year, we have lightweight title fights. involving names that have never fought for the lightweight title before. That's what I would like to see. That's my dream. All right, let's keep on moving here. Hard Knocks Philosophy. Love that name, by the way. Are you there?

Hi, Mike. I'm right here. Thanks for that. I got two things. The first one, who do you think Ballal ends up fighting next? I'm not a particularly big fan of him. But like, now with Shopcott fighting Wonderboy,

I honestly don't even think that fight. happens but let's say you know shopcott starches wonder boy which i think a lot of people think is very likely um like are they going to make him fight now two times to get to the title right because if he fight shopcott he's i mean i don't think he wins i don't think a lot of people think he wins um so yeah who do you think he fights next and then second thing do you think peter yon is done like do you think he fights again in i don't know a year and a half and they make him fight umar And he loses, and then what is that? Like, that'd be like five losses out of his last six.

And yeah, that'll be it. Thanks, Mike. Yeah, I think Jan will fight again. Like, I think he'll be back sometime next year. As I said, I know he's tied to this fight with Saling Yudong, but that was never a thing. It was never a thing. Was it were fighters approached?

Yes. Was it ever to the point of, like, yeah, we'll do this? No, never. So that drummed up a lot of questions like, oh, why did Jan pull out? He didn't pull out. He never took the fight to begin with. So that fight was never actually a thing. So yeah, take some time.

I don't know if he gets, I mean, they might just do the song, you don't have a fight. Like next year. They could just do that. I'm fine with that. If Cheeto loses to Sean O'Malley, I would not mind watching Cheeto Verifite Pieterian either. I would not mind watching Pejoriean fight Rob Thaunt. I would like to see Pejorian fight a striker next.

That's what I would like to see. If we could pull that off, that'd be spectacular. I don't know if we can get it, but I would like to see that. If at all possible, I would love to see if that can be done. But, yeah, take some time, man. He's had a rough go of it. He's had a rough go of it. So, no rush.

No rush. Get back in there. Bannibate is chock full of guys who are interesting matchups. So we shall see. We'll take two more. I am Rich and Jay. I am Rich. Please. You are up. Do we have you? You did not come through. Bounce out and try again. Jay, do we have you? Hello? Yes. Oh, wait a minute. Who do I have?

Sorry, this is Rich. With the Japanese name. Oh, Rich. Sorry about that. Jay, hang tight. Hey. Yep, all good. What's up, Rich?

Hey, so sorry if this has already been asked. I joined a bit light. But with the next UFC paperview with, we've now got like a scenario where two well-awaits are fighting for like a middle-white placement, essentially. Because obviously Costa was originally in that fight. So if Camaro were to beat Hamzaa, would that rank him in middleweight? remove him from welterweight and is this even something that he would want because

historically him and izzie have said that they didn't want to cross paths they haven't wanted to fight when they were both champions and beyond that assuming we go down a route where kamaru uh then fights strickland ultimately wins the middle white belt will he then want to look at going back down and re um capturing the welter white belt so he's like a double champ maybe look like RDA is still ranked at lightweight I don't know why but he's still ranked at lightweight he's said a million times like I'm never fighting a lightweight again but yet he's still ranked at 155 makes no freaking sense to me whatsoever

yeah they'll rank him at middleweight he'll be like whoever wins this fight's gonna be like number three I mean maybe just despite DDP who I think kind of got hosed out of all of this they'll probably rank him number two at middleweight and then Usen will probably just stay in the Walt War Rangings too because why the hell not? The winner, the Uson thing is puzzling to me.

This is the one weird vibe I have about this fight is for what you just mentioned. Dana has already said the winner of that fight is getting a title shot. It's fighting for the middleweight belt. If Kamara wins, is he just going to go full force at this fight? Or is he going to say, hey, Dana mentioned Izzy would be an interesting rematch after Shricklin beat him. I don't want to take his spot.

Maybe he does say I want the 170-pound belt. The problem is if Leon Edwards beats Colby, he ain't getting it. He's not getting it. So he's in a weird spot. He's definitely in a weird spot. And if Hamzaat wins, he's definitely getting the title shot as long as he can turn around whenever the UFC wants him to. No doubt about it.

Someone had asked earlier about $297 what that could look like. I know Ariel talked about this. I've been told something similar, but nothing is done. There's talks about Ilya Teporia Max Holloway for an interim featherway title on that Toronto card. Not done. Nothing's in place because we have to wait to see how this all plays out first. But that is being talked about as a plan B if Volk can't make it.

So it's not a bad one. Holloway is beloved in Canada. but that's a weird thing this is why and this is one of the reasons I was against that fight too like interim title cool like we had some stakes best case in error for that fight

if Volk wins the lightweight title he vacates the featherweight title then that fight rules because then we don't have to worry about it because if Max beats Ilya who wants to see Max fight Volcanowski again I don't

I don't Volt beat him three times too convincingly. Won it incredibly convincingly. I don't need to see it again. They could fight a thousand times. Volk's going to win most of those. Will Hawley win a couple here and there?

Sure. But Volk's going to win 95% of those fights. He's got Matt, sometimes just people have your number. Max Holloway had Jose Aldo's number. You know what I mean? That's kind of how this works. All right, Jay, unmute.

go ahead and then take us home here you'll be the last one. How you do, Mike? So I have two questions. The first one is, has Humzak just permanently left Andreas Michaels of All-Star? Because I see like pictures,

I think he's training with Jalen Turner's coach. So just a strange link up. And then the second one's a bit more in depth. I was wondering, how much power does Abu Dhabi have when it comes to matchmaking? Because after the Contender series press conference,

Dana was like really angry. And he was like, oh, like, you know, these fucking Brazilians, you know, they can't keep their mouth shut. And he said, you know, I need to call the powers that be when he was talking about Abu Dhabi. So because I was like, from a business point of view, it just makes sense to put Mateesh Gamra in and put maybe like Ikram in against Hamza. So it would probably save them a lot of money. But maybe Abu Dhabi said, no, we're not happy with that. Give us like big names. Thank you.

Look, I think, I mean, they found a new opponent for Ikram, Kazimov's out, Worley Alves is in. Like, you can't ask a guy who's going to have to travel all the way over there that has agreed to the fight that has to change everything in order to do this. Hey, by the way, we don't need you anymore. We're just going to give him the homps up. I would love to watch that fight because they fought before. and he probably, and Hamzaa says it to this day,

and this includes Gilbert Burns, says that Iqar Malas Garef is the toughest fight of his career. Now, maybe the UFC sees that as something they could build towards. But, dude, this is so much better. Like, this is so much better. If we're ever going to get Shemai of Usman, like, you've got to do it now. That was one of those fights like two years ago. I'm just like, forget Colby, forget all these guys.

Like, let's just do Hamzot now. Let's just do it now. Even before you fought Hamza fought Gilbert. I'm like, let's just do it now. I want to see if he could, I want to see right now if he can win the wealth away title. Yeah, we're not getting used to with this fastball anymore. Yeah, we're getting into a little over time. But I don't care.

It's still interesting. I actually prefer, because of like this being middleweight and because Hamza is a middleweight now, I kind of prefer the cost of fight just because of his, cost of his physical presence. And he does bring unique stylists. traits that I kind of wanted to see Hamzat up against. Usman is definitely a different stylistic matchup. I don't know, man. Like, I actually think this fight's going to be a super fun fight.

The more I think about it, the more I think about it. Usman's got to keep this thing standing. He really does. Like, he's a great wrestler. Maybe he gets Hamzat down. But if Hamzat gets him down, he is going to get wrecks down there. he is going to get blasted if he's on his back at any point in this fight.

So I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued. But yeah, it is a big part of it. Like when this whole thing started with Abu Dhabi and putting on these big events and building the arena and putting on these big events every year, most of the time is like,

hey, it's got to be two title fights. If you look at the past cards, they've all been pretty stacked. They've all been pretty stacked. This is probably, well, I still like the card and the top two fights are super interesting. In terms of like top to bottom stackness,

this is probably one of the weaker ones. Like top to bottom, like in terms of just overall depth. It's still frigging good though. Like, the featured bout last year was Sean O'Malley versus Peter Yom. That was the featured bout. That whole card was stacked. It was freaking stacked. This is a little more top-heavy, but I still like it.

I still like it. Intriging matchups on it. But in terms of, like, name power and star power and all that, this is not as good as last year. It might not even be as good as 267 was. But it's still pretty damn good. And you got to make it. work. And yeah, Abu Dhabi pays them a bunch of money to go there. They expect a certain quality for the money they're paying. I don't blame them. I don't blame them. All right, everybody,

appreciate you very much. You're all the best. What a week it has been. We will have a preview show for UFC Vegas 81 and the circus of Manchester, the prime card, at 3 p.m. Eastern. so stay tuned for that UFC weigh-ins coming up at the top of the hour I will have you covered there MAFighting.com, check that out and then tomorrow we'll have

the people's pre-fight show I think at 1.30 Eastern right before the prime card starts and then post-fight shows, we might have one post-fight show, we might do two post-fight shows tomorrow. I don't know. I don't know. And then

we lead right into UFC 294 I do, I posted a tweet, I don't know if it was last week or the week before where I was like, hey, I got some pretty, I got something really, really cool in the works. And everyone's like, what are you going to reveal? When are you going to reveal it? It is not going to be today. But the next step towards that reveal is going to happen Monday. I'm going to be taking a little bit of a journey, a little bit of a drive to meet up with a fighter.

You all know. We're going to do some fun content together. something that I'm wanting to do for a long time. And it's going to be, I'm very excited for this. I'm a little stressed about it. But I, but in a good way. In a good way. I just want everything to go well.

But that's where I'm at. So a lot going on at mayfighting.com. So stay with us. So thank you all very much. Have a great rest of your Friday. Have a heck of a morning, everybody. Good to the Vox Media Podcast Network.