MMA Fighting - HOAM | What Are the Chances Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler Winner Gets Title Shot Next?

Episode Date: November 11, 2022

Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler will battle it out in a highly anticipated lightweight showdown at UFC 281. While there are contenders in the division on long winning streaks, or are looking for t...heir shot at a big fight to get them in the title picture, could the Poirier vs. Chandler winner find themselves in a title fight in their next octagon appearance? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses what's on the line for both guys, if a championship bout opportunity is on the line for the winner, and if a loss takes either out of the title picture for good. Additionally, listener questions include Carla Esparza vs. Zhang Weili, Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira's official weigh-ins, if Pereira showing up last minute was a mind game, MMA drama on Twitter, Henry Cejudo, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?
Starting point is 00:00:46 The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster,
Starting point is 00:01:27 The Downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine, available now, only from Audible.
Starting point is 00:01:49 The Vox Media Podcast Network. Friday, November 11th, 2020, it is indeed a heck of a morning live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter Spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. What a day it is. It is Friday. We are on the eve of UFC 281 going down tomorrow night at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. We just wrapped up the UFC 281 weigh-ins about a half an hour ago. We did have a couple of hiccups on the scale. Ryan Spann, missing weight 206.6.6. Mike Trezano misses weight 147.6 for their. respective bouts. Ryan Span, of course, biggest fight of his career against Dominic Reyes.
Starting point is 00:03:05 Man, that's a tough weight miss. And then Mike Trasano fighting Sung Wu Choi, both fighters, forfeiting 20% of their purse. But the fights will go on. It got a little hairy for one half of the main event, Alex Pereira. But at the end of it all, he made weight, got it done, 184.6. The main event is a go. Middleweight title fight is a go. Co-main event, Carlos Spars and John Waley is a go. Dustin Poy and Michael Chandler's
Starting point is 00:03:37 ago. We're a go all the way around. And I am excited for this card and we're here to talk about it with all of you guys. So let's react to the way-ins. It is also free for all Friday. So the floor is open to whatever the hell you want to talk about. We're trying to get to
Starting point is 00:03:53 as many as we can. So let's keep that in mind. And we're going to go until I get the phone call that my dog is ready to be picked up from his grooming appointment. Tristan Gordad, kick us off. Hey, Mike.
Starting point is 00:04:06 I didn't get to see the wins or anything like that. I was curious about Montel Jackson, how he looked on the scale. Here's the thing about it. I know you're very high on him and you like him a lot. He comes out here. Now, I know he doesn't fight us frequently. I think it's mostly due to injury. He gets injured a lot.
Starting point is 00:04:24 But if he could have a vote. very spectacular performance here on the prelands against Julia Arce. And, I mean, he finishes him or just something spectacular. I'm not actually to reveal your Otno pick on who you would match him up. But are we, do we look at him like, okay, I want to see him against, I don't know, a Kyla Phillips type of fighter or, you know, another, another echelon. Not in the obviously in the top 15, but maybe Clems. close to it. So, you know, that's the only question I have today. I just want to know your thoughts
Starting point is 00:05:02 about that. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. Yeah, he was one of the first five fighters up on the scale. He did use the box, but a lot of the fighters early used the box because they use the digital scale today. So just want to make sure you have all the T's crossed and the eyes dotted. Yeah, he was like fourth or fifth to the scale and made weight fine. It looked good. it's tough man I mean the thing about him is just he's just so inactive that's the biggest problem fought twice in 2018 once in 2019
Starting point is 00:05:41 he did fight twice in 2020 twice in 2021 but he hasn't fought in over a year so he's just I just like to see him more active that's all love to see a year where he fights three times obviously this will not be the year should be his only fight of 22 unless he gets
Starting point is 00:05:59 a quick finish and turns around fast, but Guy took a fight with Ricky Simone on super short notice, lost a decision, submits Brian Kelleher, beats Andre Sukumta, beat the hell out of Felipe Colharis, who just took up beating that entire fight
Starting point is 00:06:15 and it didn't get finished. Got a fight with Brett Johns, lost that one. I think he was a little outclass, might have been a little too soon, but then came back with an easy knockout, and then he knocked down JP Bayes like a thousand times in his most recent appearance. So, the guy is super talented still a little rough around the edge a little green i mean this is going to be his 14th pro fight and he was active early on in his career
Starting point is 00:06:40 2017 to 2018 forgot to the ufc he had six fights so 2018 he fought one two three four five six times twice in the ufc so i was mistaken about that but since then once in 2019 once in 2020. He used to be a very active guy, even as an amateur, super active guy. I was fighting four or five times a year. So I just need to see more from them. That's all. So it's tough to like put him at a top 15 kind of a spot. I don't know. Maybe like a, I'd go like a Cody Stamonds probably like as high as I'd go. But Stamon's like a name's probably a top 20, three-ish guy. Something like that would make sense. Maybe K. Casey Kenny, there's interesting flights for him.
Starting point is 00:07:32 But yeah, we'll see, we'll see how he does. And it was nice to see who we are, so get in there and make the wait as well. And he was very happy about that. Max, hello. Hello, Mike. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. How are you? Oh, I'm doing quite well this morning.
Starting point is 00:07:49 Great to be here on a free-for-all Friday. How you do, and you got your Duncan? I dragged my Duncan. Crushed it earlier. My man, that's lovely to hear. So I hate to be this guy on a free-for-Fri-Fri-Friday, but since it is a free for all Friday, I figured I'd throughout this question, I'll try and do this as delicately as possible,
Starting point is 00:08:06 and if you just can't answer it, that's cool. But I figured I'd ask it because I saw this on Twitter the other day, and I was a bit troubled. So I don't know, someone had posted a thread basically saying something to the effect that, oh, like, shame if you go to glory, and then say you happen to be, you know, with the trainer there essentially. And then Megan Anderson had replied, oh, just asked Laura Sanko about that now. I was like, whoa, that is deeply troubling for a number of.
Starting point is 00:08:31 of reasons. I mean, she's happily married, all these other things, whatever. But, you know, then also there's this issue with the Derek Minner fight the other weekend. So, I mean, I really, it's not my place to be thrown stone. So everyone has a business of life to run. But what are kind of your maybe broader thoughts on this camp? I'm referring to here, Gory, and maybe the head trainer there and what you may or may not have heard. And if you can't comment on it, 100% respect that. But, pardon me, but I figured I'd ask it on a pre-for-all Friday. Yeah, very concerning stuff. But yeah, thank you for your time. might kind of feel like I hate asking such a damning question here, but yeah, cheers, my friend.
Starting point is 00:09:04 Thank you. Thanks, Max. So it's not that I wouldn't comment on it, it's just I don't know anything about it. We've heard just that side of the story. Jeff Molina had come out a couple hours later and put out, like, his own post about it, basically calling Megan a liar and putting her to task on what he's a lot. he saw from her in that camp. So, I mean, it's, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:09:37 I have no idea what goes on behind closed doors. I mean, do I, do I, do I, am I aware that things could happen in gyms? Sure. I mean, we see fighters dating coaches all the time. I don't think, I don't know if that's the case here. I have no, like I said, I have no, I have no idea at all. I know that Laura Sanko and Megan Anderson used to be very close. They used to host a podcast together.
Starting point is 00:10:02 They're not close anymore. And they haven't been close in a while. So who knows what that's all about? I mean, I honestly have no idea. As far as the Derek Minter thing goes, again, that's another thing. It's very shifty. Like that line movement, something happened. Something happened.
Starting point is 00:10:20 Some insider knowledge definitely happened. Do I think it came from James Krause? No. I mean, if it did, he is, I've talked to James a million times. It's always been very good to me. One of the sharp minds in the sport. He would be an idiot if he put out this information. Like he would just be an idiot.
Starting point is 00:10:44 That's just bad bad. So again, they're investigating. We'll see what happens. Do I think there is some insider trading, if you will, when he came to that line movement? 100%. Do I know who it came from? Absolutely not. Do I think we'll ever know who?
Starting point is 00:11:01 came from? Maybe. But if it's Krause, I will be stunned because that is just I mean, that's literally like going in trying to rob a bank without a mask on. Like, you're the first guy that's going to get pointed to in this whole
Starting point is 00:11:17 entire scenario. So we'll see. I can't, I mean, I just don't know anything about the other stuff. But I feel pretty strongly that there's some insider Tom Fulery going on with that Derek Minter line. I just don't know where it came from. No clue.
Starting point is 00:11:36 Let's go to Sam. What's up, Sam? Hey, what's going on, Mike? I wonder if we are a little too committed to this idea that there's no way that Corrieh Chandler could possibly go the distance, because I seem to remember an MSG card last year where we kind of convinced ourselves beyond convincing about this very same Michael Chandler and another veteran action fighter, you know, shit eating, why? wild man like Justin Gachie, I was telling myself, oh my gosh, there's no way.
Starting point is 00:12:10 15 minutes is a long time for these guys. It might not even get out of the first round. Then what do you know? It goes to the cards. And also looking at it from the perspective of betting value, I don't know. I'm not saying that I think it's going to go the distance. It would seem to be that, yeah, if this is a get or get got fight, if there ever was one. But I don't know.
Starting point is 00:12:29 I feel like we just before him. Sometimes we kind of over convince ourselves. a bit prematurely. And then my wild card question for today is handicap the free agency of Zanda Bogatz for me. And if in fact he does leave Boston, what do the Red Sox do to replace him? I mean, they have a bunch of short stops
Starting point is 00:12:57 in the farm systems that they're developing. So I don't know what they're going to do. It seems like I have a grasp on what the socks are going to do under this new regime. they always like to fool me. They've become more New England Patriots than Boston Red Sox in a lot of respects. But I'd be, listen, if they sign
Starting point is 00:13:15 re-sign Bogarts, cool. Like, I like the guys, good player. I just feel like his best days are probably behind him. And with Devers needing to be paid, there's other names out there. Like, I don't know if they're going to take a shot at Aaron Judge or not. I think they probably should.
Starting point is 00:13:35 but if you're going to take a shot of a guy like judge or another hyper free agent, you have to say no to somebody. And it's probably Bogart's who gets the no. You're going to focus on Devers and getting him locked up long term. And it's going to cost you to do it. So they got enough of shortstop. They got Trevor Story and guys like that. Like I think they'll be okay in terms of infield.
Starting point is 00:13:56 Will they replace his offense? I don't know. But typically, I mean, I remember when Nomar Garcia-Pyarro left and all the changes they made and it all worked out for them. As far as Chathar Poria, it could go to the decision. I mean, look, Chandler's talked all week about possibly wrestling in this fight, and that's a clear advantage he has.
Starting point is 00:14:21 This fight could go to the distance. It's three rounds. I don't know if it will. I actually feel... I feel like this gets out of it. I don't feel like this sees the third, but it wouldn't stun me if it went to a decision. looking at it from a betting perspective though every bit of value at least in my stomach tells me
Starting point is 00:14:40 michael chanler's the pick will it be like my official pick for the fight not sure but if i'm betting if someone's like mike you have to bet on this fight you give me michael chandler plus 185 in a fight that i think is closer to 50-50 you're getting so much value on michael chandler it's not even funny so there's i think there's a ton of betting value on chandler but it's a good fight. And we talked about this on the way and show earlier. From a action, holy crap, I can't wait to watch it perspective, this fight's awesome. It's a great fight. It's going to be super fun. It's going to be a slobber knocker. It's what we expect, no matter how long it lasts. But for the division as a whole and trying to move this forward and get the best fighters fighting
Starting point is 00:15:27 the best fighters in this division, this fight stinks for that. Because it just does, doesn't do much. Like, it's just the same guy. We're just rotating the same dudes in. And this division is so many up in covers, the Fizzives, the Surukians, the Isma Goulofs, the Jalen Tudors, the, the, you know, Claudio Paius could be another guy, the Grant Dawson's, like, these guys are coming, and it's going to take them forever to get to where they need to go because we're seeing fights like this, which, by the way, short term, this fight's going to be awesome, it's probably to be the best fight on the card tomorrow. Like, the expectations are high, and they should be. It's just an action-packed fight. But the fact that there's,
Starting point is 00:16:07 so much riding on it from a stakes perspective for these two guys, it doesn't make a ton of sense to me. When you have all these other guys, like I'd love to see Fiziv get a shot at a Chandler or a Poirier, or Sirukion get a shot at one of these guys, or Jalen Terry get a shot at one of these guys, but they're not going to. And that's like my issue with booking a fight like this.
Starting point is 00:16:27 Not from a, this fight's not a good fight perspective, because the fight's awesome. But what are we doing here? Like, we're not moving this division forward at all. And if Michael Chandler goes out there and beats Dustin Porre, if they don't book this, if they don't book this Volcanovsky fight, and Chandler just goes out there and bolts Dustin, it would not stun me at all if they would just push Chandler into a title
Starting point is 00:16:51 fight with Machachev and poor Benile Derry, you should be sitting on the sidelines. Makes no sense from a meritocracy perspective, but they like Chandler. Chandler likes them and he promotes for them and he's a draw for them. But I just wish, I'm happy the fucking. it's happening while watch it's going to be great but i think in the long-term aftermath especially a pourier wins we're just going to be like all right that was a cool fight now what what are we going
Starting point is 00:17:18 to do with this so we'll see let's go to henderson i'm good and ahead i see you waving it's usually wait in line son go ahead henderson hey so um one of the things i love about your show is that especially because it's on the internet people call in from all over the world and talk about m m msons scenes all over the world. And that's one thing that's unique about your show and also just so cool because that's the stuff you never hear about. Right. So this weekend, the MMA eyes are on where I'm from, which is North Jersey. And we got our champion, our hero, Frankie Edgar, trying to do it one last time. And we also have Chris Gutierrez, his opponent, trains in Jersey City too. So for anyone that knows MMA and New Jersey, like, especially in North Jersey, it's been
Starting point is 00:18:19 so big here forever since the beginning. And a lot of that was because of like Frankie Edgar and Jim Miller. And I guess the UFC is trying to find that next generation. So they also got Aaron Blanchfield on this card. And I just wanted to say like a lot of people around the world probably don't understand like north jersey and frankie edgar and like he was just like the every like the normal dude wrestler high school guy and then oh man he's beating these huge champions he's beating graeme bainer like i still ever since i was started watching m m ms just always watching that second and third gray maynard fight like anytime i need just to remember like oh my god this sport is just incredible so those of you who haven't watched this fight
Starting point is 00:19:09 or have him watch his fights with like Aldo. He had so many great fights over the years. Make sure to check that out. And also, I hope he goes out, does what he does, does some wrestling, and makes it to a decision. Because I think if you can, if he can force it to be a wrestling game, he can still hang. And if he can make it to a decision, that means no more damage for Frankie Edgar because I want to see him have a long career after fighting. And I also think Aaron Blanchfield is going to just get it. on probably the biggest fight of her career too.
Starting point is 00:19:42 So hopefully we'll see all that happen. And it would be weird to see a fellow New Jersey and take out Frankie. So I think that wouldn't be good for anyone. All right. That's it. Have a great show. And thanks again for taking the call.
Starting point is 00:20:01 Thanks, man. So we talked about this on the Wayan show because it says Chris Gutierrez fights out of Jersey City. and maybe he does like maybe he lives there or something like I told A.K.D. in Casey,
Starting point is 00:20:18 I've interviewed Chris Guadierrez probably 40 times and he's never once mentioned Jersey to me ever. It's weird because because his main training camp is in Colorado. He trains a factory at. Mark Montoya is his head coach.
Starting point is 00:20:33 So like anything that I've known from him over the last four years or so when we talk or he does interviews, it's about Colorado. It's about training at Factory X with Mark and things like that. So maybe I'm missing something. Maybe that's just where he has like residence for tax purposes or something. But I know he spends the majority of his time in Colorado.
Starting point is 00:20:56 Mostly in Denver. I don't know. I honestly have no idea. It's something I'll have to ask him down the line because I didn't think we'd even, this would even be a thing. But I don't look at it as like a Jersey versus Jersey thing and maybe I'm wrong. But Chris is a guy. I mean, most of his life was in Texas.
Starting point is 00:21:12 He's born in Boston. So maybe, I don't know, maybe he's just there now and just has a place there. I don't know. So I have no idea how that goes. But listen, I don't love the matchmaking here. And it's not because it's no, for like no particular reason stylistically. I just, I don't know. I just don't know what a win over Frankie Edgar does for Chris Gutierrez.
Starting point is 00:21:38 Like it gives him a ranking. but I don't know if this will be like a star-making type of a fight for him, which is why I don't necessarily love the matchmaking in a lot of ways, but it is what it is. We're here. And this is a winnable fight for Frankie.
Starting point is 00:21:56 It is a winnable fight. If he can wrestle and get takedowns, he can win. He can absolutely win. How I see this fight playing out is Frankie will win the first round. Edgar will probably take him down and win the round. Beat him up a little bit.
Starting point is 00:22:12 Might get a takedown in the second. I think Gutierrez will get back up. And then eventually he's just going to start kicking him in the legs. He's just going to keep kicking him in the legs. And I think he's just going to keep battering him for the rest of the fight. And who knows? Maybe Frankie can survive it and steal a decision or something like that. But I don't know.
Starting point is 00:22:32 I just don't know what's going to happen. I have no idea. And that's why I don't know. I just don't want. love the matchmaking. It's just kind of a weird fight, but at the same token, it is a fight that Frankie can win even as a near two to one underdog. We'll see what happens. And then Aaron Blanchfield versus Molly McCann. I talked about this before. I think this is when we talk about matchmaking with the Edgar Grudierrez fight, this is the complete opposite. I think this is
Starting point is 00:23:00 a plus matchmaking because one of two things is going to happen. Aaron Blanchfield is going to have a a big time performance against someone with a lot of momentum that fans are behind, that everybody knows, and she gets to do it at Madison Square Garden close to home. Like, that's a very big deal. And that would be huge for her. And she's the biggest favorite on the card. So she is expected to go in there and deliver that kind of a performance. But if Molly McCann wins this fight, you got something big here.
Starting point is 00:23:35 You got something big. Because she pulls off the major upset, 3-0. If she gets a finish, 3-0 with three finishes. And we talked about this earlier this week. I don't think they would give her an immediate title shot if she wins this fight. But it wouldn't shock me if they did. Because Valentina has nobody to fight right now. She's got nobody.
Starting point is 00:23:58 Unless she fights Nunes, there is no clear-cut number one contender at 125. And you throw Molly as a challenger against Valentina in the UK. it would just be massive. It'd be a huge fight. I just feel like if you're going to give Molly that opportunity, you have to do it quickly. Because I don't think she's like a top 5-25er. But if she beats Aaron Blanchfield,
Starting point is 00:24:24 her versus Valentin does a big-ass fight. Because I wouldn't throw in there with Jessica Androge or anything like that. Because why would you do that? That's just super risky. So it's a big fight for both ladies. It's a win-win for the UFC. Even if Blanchfield loses,
Starting point is 00:24:39 stunts her a little bit, but she's the youngest prospect in the division right now. Like legit, when you look at this fighter and say, this fighter could fight for a title down the line and looking at a lot of the prospects at 125, Blanchfield is circled on a lot of people's cards right now. If she loses, you go back to the drawing board and come back. You got plenty of time.
Starting point is 00:25:01 McCann loses. Her title hopes are probably gone forever, but we never looked at Molly McCann as a title threat anyways. You know what I mean? Like just a fun fighter, great interview, great personality. And you just keep throwing her on those UK cards and just let her be a star there. And that's fine. She can make a very good living doing that.
Starting point is 00:25:23 She's got bar stool on her, you know, having her back. That's got to be pretty lucrative for her. So she'll be fine either way. But if we're looking for a Molly McCann title shot, she's got a real good chance to get one if she beats Aaron Blanchfield. just the way this division is structured right now. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too.
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Starting point is 00:26:23 Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. Let's go to Santiago. Santiago, are you there? Hello, hello, how are you? Hello, good, how are you? I'm a big fan of the show. So I'm from Ecuador, and, you know, Chidovera is like our idol. He's the best sportsman here in Ecuador, so I want to hear your opinion about him as a fighter,
Starting point is 00:26:55 and what do you think is the future for him, if he should fight for the title with Alio or the rematch with Sean? Yeah, that's it. Thank you. Thanks, man. dude, Cheeto's the man. He's just super fun. He's on a great run.
Starting point is 00:27:15 Everything's clicking for him. If we're doing this in a meritocratic way, I don't know. Like, if Peyodor Yan beat shot him, like, if he actually technically beat Shotomalley, I would give Peter Ian the time, I'm not Peter. I would give him Cheeto the title shot no matter what. I would have given it to him no matter what. But obviously, Sean O'Malley came in and it pulled off the upset. And a lot of people weren't thrilled with the decision.
Starting point is 00:27:44 but it is what it is. I don't know what we're going to do. I don't know what we're going to do. And by the way, big shout out to Al Jemaine Sterling for just getting it. Like he has fumbled the bag 100% since he beat DJ Adelausha. He screwed the pooch from the beginning.
Starting point is 00:28:05 And I don't know if like the damage has already been done. But I'll tell you what. Guys doing it right now. Guys doing it right now. I thought his media day answer about Henry, Sehudo was spot on. It's exactly what I've been saying for six months. No one is knocking Henry Sehudo's talent. No one is knocking Henry Sehudo's resume. No one is knocking any of that. The concern that he has, that I have, and that most others have, is that he's just coming for a
Starting point is 00:28:34 quick bag and he's getting the hell out of there. And that's the concern. That's why the Sohudo fight doesn't make a ton of sense to me right now. you book it, I'm going to watch it. It's fascinating. I want to see it. I do want to see these guys fight. But like Aljo said, and like I've been saying, go fight somebody else. Go fight somebody else and prove that you're serious. That's all you have to do. That's all you have to do. Just sign on to fight somebody. Sign on to fight somebody. And let's just say your opponent gets injured. You can still have a title shot. Like, I don't care. You're at least showing us that you care and that you're going to be here for a little while. You're not just here for a fight or two
Starting point is 00:29:16 and then you're going to bounce on them again. That's all. So if they do, the fight I've been clamoring for from Jump Street is just do Cheeto versus Sehudo. Like even before Cheeto got the cruise win, that was the fight. Go fight Cheeto Vera. I think it's a wittable fight for Henry Sehudo, but it's a fight
Starting point is 00:29:34 fight Cheeto could come out there and just tough his way through and maybe get a knockout or something. But at least that win gives him what he wants. And it's a winnable fight. He's probably a sizable favorite against Cheetah vera. But the other option is you just do you can do O'Malley Suhudo too. That's fine. Like if they do O'Malley
Starting point is 00:29:56 Sehudo, I'm okay with that. I don't know. I don't know what we're going to do at 135. I have no idea how this is going to play out. But I'm totally, like, everything I've been saying for months since Sohudo went back into the testing pool, I just need to see you that you care, man. That's all. I just need to see that you care and that you actually want to do this. He's bringing you in right now, we already know what's going to happen. The book's been written already. This is just a sequel.
Starting point is 00:30:26 He goes in there, wins the belt, holds the UFC up for more money, doesn't defend it, or goes for the Volkadovsky fight, and then he won't do anything until he gets it. Why put yourself in that kind of position from a business perspective? makes no sense. When you don't need, like the division doesn't need him right now. He's not Connor. He's not,
Starting point is 00:30:52 he's not one of those guys that's just like, oh, we got to get him back in there because he's going to sell a million. No, he's a great fighter. He might be one of the ten best fighters in UFC history. But he's not a star. But he's really good.
Starting point is 00:31:06 And he was close to getting there too when he left. That's like, that's the whole weirdness of this whole thing. And I hate that we have to talk about this every show, but I'd love to see Vera get the title shot or I like O'Malley's idea. Listen, if Alge's got to sit out until June, okay, we'll just do me and Cheeto for the interim title.
Starting point is 00:31:29 That's fine. Or do Cheetah, I don't care. I don't want to see Sehudo fight Aljo next unless he fight somebody else first, long and the short of it. And then he can fight whoever he wants. He can skip and go to 145. I don't care. fight somebody and then go fight Volkovsky.
Starting point is 00:31:50 It doesn't matter. Just fight somebody. Viking. Hello. What's going on? There are a lot of people in my house. So I just want to ask a quick question about the fight is being investigated between Berdenbeki and Miner. So what should be the punishment for them if they found?
Starting point is 00:32:21 guilty and the other question is the fight between Dustin Portier and Michael Chandler. What happened if one of them loses the fight and what happened about their, what happened with their title reign is that title reign is going to be end? Thank you, Mike. Thanks, man. So the gambling thing, I don't know. I don't know what the penalty would be. It's probably going to be pretty harsh and pretty strict, especially if it is deemed insider trading and they can actually prove it.
Starting point is 00:33:11 That's a big problem. Like, that's bad, bad. You can't do that. So I don't know what the penalty would be, but it's going to be pretty harsh. if they're a UFC fighter, they're probably gone. But somebody knew something. A line doesn't move like that so close to a fight unless somebody knows something. And again, I have no idea what it is, who it could be.
Starting point is 00:33:38 But, I mean, even if you read the ESPN article, they said they talked to somebody who knew that Miner was compromised heading into the fight, knew he was injured. like that's bad that's why this line moved somebody knew and somebody told somebody and they told other people and then everybody found out about it and that line went in so it ain't going to be good i'll tell you that they ain't getting a slap on the wrists they're not getting a $50 fine it's it's going to be bad it's going to be a pretty harsh penalty would be my guess for the chandler-porier fight the loss
Starting point is 00:34:15 knocked them out of the title conversation. I think for Porre, yes, Chandler, close, but not out altogether. Because, again, the UFC loves Michael Chandler. They love him, and he puts on fun fights. But to me, like, if I'm the dude that's spoken in this division, the answer is yes. Because then it's like, all right,
Starting point is 00:34:45 Porier, we love you. You've done a lot for us. go fight Raphael Fiziv. Like enough is enough. Let's go fight these dudes. Let's go take on these hungry up-and-comers who deserve their opportunity. But I feel like if Poria loses,
Starting point is 00:35:02 he's out of the discussion unless something absolutely insane happens. And if Chandler loses, he should be out, but he probably won't be. All right, let's go ahead. and we'll keep this party rolling. Hello, Oh, ahead. Yes, I know.
Starting point is 00:35:22 Henry Suitor's the greatest. I'm wrong. You're right. Go ahead. Oh, Mike, heck of a morning. It's like you just took the words out my mouth. But before I say anything about that, because I saw Al Jermaine's interview,
Starting point is 00:35:38 and it drove me nuts, well, like, and it's... I loved it. I know. That's the thing. But are you going to do a show on Saturday because I want to balance my points out, oh, you're not?
Starting point is 00:35:47 because I know you said she thought about it. No. We might. We might. I got the watch party. I'm getting, see, here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:35:54 I'm getting into New York super early in the morning. So I'm going to have like many, many hours to figure out what I'm going to do. So I might meet up with some media piece. Might meet up with Jose for a little bit. But I'm having some time. So do I want to like take a nap?
Starting point is 00:36:09 Do I want to, you know, just relax or do I want to just jump on here and do a thing? So I might do all of those things, but it's just going to be like a pop-up. if we do it. All right. Cool.
Starting point is 00:36:20 So I'll leave the main event to, actually, you know, I'm going to talk about the main event. Here's the thing. What really infuriates me is when they talk about Izzy and Pereira, they talk about this, like it's the MMA version of Deonté Wilder versus Tyson Fury. It's so annoying. It's like, power versus precision. I'm like, no, no. Listen, yes, Perera knocked out Izzy.
Starting point is 00:36:44 But Perera is a two-divial. glory kickboxing champion. Forget the knockout of Izzy. And it just infuriates me further when people say, oh, Izzy's gotten better because he's in the UFC and Pereira wasn't. I'm like, okay, first of all,
Starting point is 00:37:00 Izzy got better as a mixed martial artist. Okay? Yes. But the thing is, Pereira was in glory, finding all these terrifying strikers. So in some sense, Pereira has gotten better for this particular matchup,
Starting point is 00:37:16 because, like, is he an ADCC world champion? No, he can't submit Gordon Ryan or Andre Galbao. This is how it's going to go down, you know? Is Alex Behaer is grappling pathetic? No, it's not. That's not. And people I feel trying to insinuate that. That's an insult to Alex and an insult to Glover as well,
Starting point is 00:37:36 one of the best MMA grapplers of all time. So I feel like it's going to play on the feet. And Alex is, like, well prepared. He's four and beat guys that beat Izzy, like a guy called Jason Willness. Alex knocked him out. So that's the main event. And in terms of like the whole Aljo thing, I just, okay, one thing I'll say,
Starting point is 00:37:55 all right, you can have your way. Mike, if you want to go down that route, fine, fine. Aljo, Sean, fine. If Aljo wants to do that, wants the money. I love that. I love people being able to provide for their family. But Aljo cannot say, these guys cannot say that they're the best in the world. That's all I feel.
Starting point is 00:38:13 You want to go down that route more than fine. but don't say that you're the best guy in the world, you can be over because you can't. The fact is that there's an annoying five foot one little midget who pulls himself triple C that is irritating, but unfortunately he can probably be all of you. And if you really wanted to be the best in the world, you do it. And it's fine if you don't want to do it.
Starting point is 00:38:36 Fine. Henry can't fight someone else if Sean dropped his ball sack and decides he doesn't want to go to Perth because I'm pretty sure Henry's got contracts, but if Sean's scared, then if Sean says, oh, no, it has to be Cheeto,
Starting point is 00:38:51 like that that makes no sense. You know, like, Mike, you can't say like, oh, Henry needs to fight someone and he's ready to fight Sean
Starting point is 00:38:59 and short end, you don't condemn Sean for playing the silly little games because he has a much, much better chance to beat Cheeto, much better. He's much sharper, much faster. Cheetos just like a hard head.
Starting point is 00:39:13 He's got skills, but he's got a much bare chance and Alja as well I'll say this I defended Alja when he got need in the head against Jan because that was the common sense thing to do but look at his record he barely won against
Starting point is 00:39:26 Jan in the rematch he shot for his life towards the end the first fight we know how it went Tj was a one-armed fighter apart from Corey Sanger it was a bunch of weird and the other knee bar it was a bunch of weird point-fying
Starting point is 00:39:40 decisions so I don't really see what Aljah's He can't cement his legacy. And lastly, James Krauss, what a week. Firstly, he's a fight fixer, and now he's a home record with Laura Sanco. Like, it's always the head coach is getting involved with the students. Drop the mic, Mike.
Starting point is 00:40:01 Allegedly ahead. Allegedly. Okay? We don't know. We don't know. And that's, and that brings you to the Henry Suhudo point. We hear Henry side. Oh, I've got contracts.
Starting point is 00:40:14 Do you? Is that true? Did Sean get offered that fight? Did he have a contract? Did these other guys have contracts? Because it doesn't seem like they do. This is what Henry does. He plays games.
Starting point is 00:40:29 And guess what Sean has that Henry doesn't? He has leverage. Henry has none. Sean has some. So if Sean wants to be like, nah, I'm going to fight Cheeto. The UFC's probably going to give him what he wants. Sean O'Malley is not afraid to challenge the UFC. challenging the UFC his entire career.
Starting point is 00:40:49 He feels like he's not getting what he deserves. He just won't fight. And he's not asking for something over the top and crazy. He's the number one contender now. He's the number one rank guy in this division, according to the UFC in their quote-unquote rankings panel. He's the number one dude. He has some leverage here.
Starting point is 00:41:11 And let's be honest, Sean O'Malley versus Cheeto Verre too, hot take. it's a bigger fight than Sean O'Malley versus Henry Sohudo. It just is. There's more interest. You go and ask 100 MMA fans that question, which fight would you rather see? They're picking the rematch.
Starting point is 00:41:29 They're going with the story. So I think Sean's playing it pretty well too. Again, I don't know what's going to happen. But if I'm Henry, I'm calling the UFC and just say, hey, who you got for me? I don't care who it is. Let's go. Let's just get the show on the road.
Starting point is 00:41:48 But he hasn't done that. I don't know. And I get what you're saying about the main event, too. It's a good point. But again, we just have, this is why this fight so engine. We just have so many questions. So many questions. Zeke, hello.
Starting point is 00:42:12 Zeke. All right, you have to try again. We've got no time to waste here. We'll go to Gary. Gary. Can you hear me? Yep, I got you. So, well, first, take of a morning, Mike.
Starting point is 00:42:30 How are you? Good. How are you? I'm doing well. Thanks. And secondly, I'm a bit of a topology slot myself. So late at night, I'll just kind of scroll, look through records and such. And the question that kind of came to me last night was, where in the world is Maghamed Mustafia?
Starting point is 00:42:48 I see that he's had two fights canceled for the exact same date on November 22nd, I believe. So for me, I'm just kind of curious what's going on with him. On November 22nd? Or was he supposed to play at 280? You're supposed to pay $2.80, right? That's my bad. Apologies. I have no idea.
Starting point is 00:43:13 I have no idea. I wish I hadn't answered for you. I honestly have no clue. I loved an answer to that question, though. Yeah, yeah, hello. I'm hearing nothing. Let's go to Abswalia. Double A, you're next.
Starting point is 00:43:43 Aswalia, hello. Hey, what's up, man. How are you doing? Good, how are you? I'm good, good. So I just have two quick questions. One is how do you see the Frankie Edgar fight playing out? And the second question has nothing to do with the tomorrow's event.
Starting point is 00:44:00 This is just what-ish scenario. If Jan Bolhovich and John Jones have fought, who do you reckon would have won that fight? And how would it affect the John Jones legacy if he had lost, possibly? Thanks, man. That's all I have. Probably picking John Jones. in that one
Starting point is 00:44:20 you know clearly the title defenses were falling off I think he beat John yeah it's an interesting question and now you got me really thinking about it I do think John Jones would win that fight yeah I'll go with John Jones
Starting point is 00:44:45 and I admittedly forgot your other question I'm sorry maybe AA can help me with that it's been a day friends hello AA good That's good. That's good. I've got two questions. One, is it winner or get cut for Karolina Kavakovich, regardless of the result for her this weekend.
Starting point is 00:45:15 And Alex Beheada, a few of us on Twitter were speculating that he was actually just playing mind games with the whole Wayne thing. And I actually believe it, considering he weighed in. under. Do you think that's a possibility? All right. Everyone have a good day. Have a heck of a more more than my piece. I mean, I don't buy into that theory because why would you? Like, what sense does that make? It's not like is he sitting there waiting for him to
Starting point is 00:45:45 weigh in and like, is he stuck there watching him? And he's just going to be like, well, Izzy waited early, so I'm going to make him sit for two hours. No. He's probably just like, I have a window. And I'm going to just got milk the shit out of it. Like, I'm in no rush. If I want to, like, chill out, relax and just enjoy myself, then I'm just going to do that. Like, I know people freak out and stuff with all this. But we just saw, Julianna Payne did the same thing for the second Amanda Nunes fight.
Starting point is 00:46:16 Last one on the scale. She showed up at the last minute. Looked fine. She was smiling and laughing. Just hop skipped and jumped her ass up to the scale. Made the wait. It was good to go. you have a window for a reason.
Starting point is 00:46:31 So if it's 9 to 11, Eastern time, and you want to walk in at 10.58 and weigh in, have it. It's your prerogative. You could show up any time you want within that 2-hour window. So no, I don't think it was, I don't think it was mind games. I really don't.
Starting point is 00:46:48 The other question I remember was the Frankie Edgar, Chris Gutierrez question. Man, much like most of this card, I don't have a lot of confidence in any of my picks. There's a couple that I am. But my hunch is Chris Gutierrez wins a split decision. And it'll just, in the end, the ones who have been like,
Starting point is 00:47:18 why do we make this fight are going to be vindicated. That's how I feel. It's going to be like, it's going to be like a back and forth fight. I think Gutierrez wins a decision. decision. It might be a splitie and people will be like all pissed off at Chris Gutierrez for just fighting instead of being mad at the judges. Because that's that's the sport people. That's the sports. Zeke, do we have you? Mike, I'm sorry. The connection's horrible. Somewhere where I shouldn't
Starting point is 00:47:45 casinos are bad. First things first, heck of a morning, heck of a Friday. Secondly, any comments on the horrible weight cut? It looks like both fighters in the main event had. Hope you have a heck of a watch party, I will be tuned in. I mean, Pereira is always going to have a tough cut. Addison, it did not, I will say this, he was one of the first guys up there, got it done, he made the wait. He didn't look as fresh and as jubilant as he usually does, but that could be a number of things. Maybe he's just tired.
Starting point is 00:48:22 Like, this is an early way on the East Coast. Maybe he's just tired. Didn't get a good night's sleep. I don't know. It could be a number of things. So figure Pereira would be hurting a little bit because he's just a giant human being. So, no, I'm not overly concerned about either of those guys. Let's go to Yaya.
Starting point is 00:48:51 Yeah, yeah. Hello. Oh, sorry, man. What's going on, Mike? How you doing? Oh, good. Good. How are you?
Starting point is 00:48:56 Good. Good. Question for you. So let's say that Dustin gets past Chandler. Do you think stylistically he would be a good matcher for Islam? Like, we know that he has one of, you know, one of the best, if not the best boxing backgrounds. And if he worked on his wrestling, do you think at that point, you know, he would be a great matcher for Islam, you know, if the... What was this?
Starting point is 00:49:19 Dustin. Dustin Poyer and Chandler. Okay. And then moving on to Islam, if that happens. That's all for me, Mike. Appreciate you, man. Have a good weekend. Let's be clear.
Starting point is 00:49:32 I think Islam rolls both of those guys. I just don't think Porre... Listen. I mean, I can't respect us and Porre enough. I just have immense amount of respect for this guy. The dude's got mileage on him. And I mean this in like the most respectable way possible. The dude has just been in so many fights, so many big fights,
Starting point is 00:49:58 so many fights where he took punishment. Guys, 33 years old in real life, he's about to be 34. But he's probably like 40 in fight years. with the amount of just insane battles that this guy has had at a high level. I don't think it's disrespectful for me to say that skill-wise, he's still very good. I just don't, he's just not, he's just not prime Dustin Porier. He just isn't. And we saw it a little, we saw it in the Charles Oliver flight.
Starting point is 00:50:35 The longer a fight goes, the more he failed. He fades. More he fades. The mileage is catching up in that sense. I look good on the scale today. He's a dangerous two-round fighter at this point in his career. But Islam will just kill you with, he'll just suffocate you. He'll just take all of your energy away from you and then put you away.
Starting point is 00:50:57 And I feel like that's what would happen with Dustin. I feel like Dustin could maybe land some leg kicks, maybe land some shots. but I think like I just think anytime Islam wants to get a hold of him and bring him down, he will. And I don't think there'll be much to stop it. Chandler presents a little something more because he is a really good offensive wrestler. And I guess one of my big questions about Makachep is what happens if a really good top position wrestler puts him on his back? How does he get a deal with that?
Starting point is 00:51:28 So maybe Chandler could, but who knows? Maybe Makachov is just not a human being and somehow stands back. up without even bending his knees. He just slides his way back up like he's a piece of paper. Maybe that happens to. I feel like Chandler matches up better, but I feel like Makachev beats both of them convincingly. And again, this is my problem.
Starting point is 00:51:50 I think the guys who are going to give Islam his best fights are like in the back half of the top 15 right now. And it's not going to change anytime soon, the more we are booking the Porier-Channler fights, which again, not knocking. I can't wait to sit there and wait. watch it, but we have guys who are going to be legit threats to Islam Makachev in the next
Starting point is 00:52:10 two years for, it's going to take him like four years to get to that point the way this division is shaping up. Like, I already said, 2024, we're going to see Islam Makachev Aramon Surukia on two. And that is going to be the best. Absolute best. Ziv, all these guys. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes.
Starting point is 00:52:39 Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Boating will begin when passenger fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly.
Starting point is 00:53:00 Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close you call 1-8665-3-1-2-60. or visit connexonterio.ca. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to luxe beauty and fragrance sets, our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com. Hey, good morning. How's it going?
Starting point is 00:53:23 Good. So one comment, I find it interesting that people still say that Israel, Adasania, is good on the mic. I think he's pretty corny. Like, I don't really hear that too much of him being corny, like his punch lines and stuff. If dude got that got verbally beat by Sean Strickland, and then I feel like Alex Pereira in the last press conference,
Starting point is 00:53:48 you know, hardly said anything, but still ended up coming a little more dominant in that aspect. Not that it matters, but I don't see Alessania being that good on the mic, as people say. And the second, my well question is, I'm looking at this fight the way Valentina Shepchenko and Joanna Yonjachech, how they both fought in kickboxing as well. And Valentina beat her, I think it was two times, two or three times. And rolling over to MMA, it was pretty much a clean sweep. Do you think it's going to be the same, you know, for this fight? man i i god i don't know i i mean that's what makes this fight so interesting i just don't know
Starting point is 00:54:36 my my gut is telling me out of sannie is going to win a decision here but i mean prayers are so dangerous and one of the big factors in this fight that a lot of people aren't talking about and i know it was five years ago and i know that these guys have done other things since but is he's lost this guy twice and he got deaded by him and you you would think that after being knocked out by Alex Pereira and losing a second time, you would think in that moment as he's transitioning to M.M.A. over the years, he's not even thinking about Alex Pereira. It's not even thinking about him.
Starting point is 00:55:15 All right. I mean, this guy got me. That's it. Moving on to this next thing I'm about to do. Izzy finds all the success. Undefeated fighter, 185 pounds. Almost went for a two division, went to win a second belt. It's just dominating everybody he fights,
Starting point is 00:55:32 whether you like the performances or not. And here comes Alex Pereira, three fights into his UFC career. The UFC built. They brought him in for this exact moment. And it's one thing to stare on a stage at this man's face. It's another thing when that cage door locks and you're staring across from this man ready to take your head off.
Starting point is 00:55:55 How is that going to affect Israel Adasanya mentally? no other's a guy that might just have your number. Now, I don't know if that's the case because, as I've said many times, I've watched both of those kickboxing fights. First one, super close fight. I scored it for Izzy. If you scored it the other way,
Starting point is 00:56:14 I ain't gave me mad at you. Second fight, Izzy was winning until he got caught and got knocked out. So it's not like the narrative, the casual narrative is that Alex Perey just whooped Israel out of his ass in two kickboxing matches. It's not true. First fight was super close, but a lot of people thought Izzy won, and then the second
Starting point is 00:56:35 fight, Izzy was looking real good until he got knocked out. And that could be what this fight looks like. I don't know. But again, I just have so many questions. Is Adasani's big fight MMA experience got to be the difference make? I don't, there's just so many factors heading into this fight. I'm not confident about anything I say when it comes to this fight. But that's what makes it interesting. But my god is telling me that Adasanya will win a decision somehow, but I mean, I have no technical breakdown or analysis for you
Starting point is 00:57:09 because it's just such an interesting fight. Siveram, and then we'll go to Kevin. And if anybody else wants to hop on in, it's going to be kind of the last call. Civerham, hello. I'm good. How are you? I'm fine. I just want to talk about the Tony's studying in Harvard man.
Starting point is 00:57:32 And he looks very cool in that frameless glasses and so on like that. I'm very happy for him seeing like that. His face is very bright and is smiling with all the fellow students. And can you say about anything about Tony is going to fight anything, anyone in future? I don't think he is going to fight. Maybe one or two fights left in his contract. what do you think of Tony and Tony Ferguson?
Starting point is 00:58:06 Yeah, Tony Ferguson. Okay. And one more. What else do you have? One more thing is why do you think about Carl Esperza versus VJang?
Starting point is 00:58:20 And who do you think going to lift the championship on Saturday night? That's it, Mike. Awesome. Let me go back to the other question first about Adasania being good or bad on the mic. I think Adasani is spectacular on the mic, with a caveat.
Starting point is 00:58:38 You could tell Adasania plans certain lines, the Frozen Mike Elsa thing. This one is the, it's going to be a horror movie. It's going to be bloody, all that. I wish he would just leave that stuff on the cutting room floor, just put his pencil down and just go from the heart. Because he's spectacular. Like when he's just going off emotions and just going real time with the moment, he's fantastic. They're so stuttering. Guy can carry a conversation.
Starting point is 00:59:04 I can walk up to Israel-A-Sahni right now and feel confident that I would get an hour of interesting stuff out of him. And it has nothing to do with me. It'd be all him because he's just very sharp. He's quick-witted. He's smart. He's intelligent. He's a student in the game. These are all things that are great.
Starting point is 00:59:21 The taglines are awful. I will give you that. But I don't think he's bad. I think he's one of the best on the mic. It's just the taglines bring it down a little bit. That's for sure. Tony Ferguson, I already made my pick.
Starting point is 00:59:34 I want to see him fight Joe Lozahn. That's what I want to see. These are the fights I want to see for Tony Ferguson. Grant Dawson, I love you, buddy. Great win. I respect the callout. Like, I respect it. I get it.
Starting point is 00:59:48 But I don't want to see it. I don't want to see you smush Tony Ferguson. I have no interest in that. If Tony is going to fight, I want legend fights. Give me Jim Miller. Give me Joe Lozon. Like Jim's booked. get that. But these are the types of fights I want to see.
Starting point is 01:00:06 Ferguson Lozahn is just going to be sick. Like, that's a fun fight. And if that's like, and that could be the final fight for Joe. It could be the final fight for Tony. Who knows? But give me that. That's what I'm looking forward to. I don't want to see Tony fight for Z or Jalen Turner or Grant Dawson or Martin Serukian or any of those guys. Give me Joe Lozon. That's what I want for him. Isparza-Wehle? Look, I'm going to say this again. What Carla Sparza has done to get back to earning a title is incredible. It's incredible.
Starting point is 01:00:40 After Yohani and Jacek knocked her out, I was like, there's no way she's coming back from this. And then as the division moved forward, and we saw just the reign of terror, Yowana was on for a while, and then seeing what Rose did and Androge and Zhang and all that and seeing like the types of fights Carla was having, the losses of Tatyana Suarez,
Starting point is 01:01:00 loses to Claudia, the splitie. All these things are happening. And I'm just like, there's no way she's getting back to a title shot. It's not happening. And then she did it and won the belt. That was the fight great, no. But she won the friggin title. She did it.
Starting point is 01:01:17 And I respect everything this woman is done. She will be a UFC Hall of Famer, without a doubt. This matchup is a frigging nightmare for her. It's terrible. It's really, really bad. And I think Zhang is going to just run her over. And I don't mean this to be just a jerk or anything like that. Zhang is just, I don't think, like, Carla, if there's like, if we're going by attribute numbers,
Starting point is 01:01:45 Carla might be the better offensive wrestler. But I don't know if that's true. Like, I honestly don't know if that's 100% the case. And I feel confident that if Carla does get John down, especially early, Zhang is just going to get back up and beat her up. I just feel like her athleticism is just such a major factor in this fight that is just going to cause so many problems for Carla. I could be wrong, and it would be an incredible moment of Carla Spars.
Starting point is 01:02:16 I will say that if Carla Spars, it goes in there and beat Zhang Wei Li, no matter how she does it, even if it's the most boring fight of the year, she's the fighter of the year. Beating Rosenomi Yunus to win the title and then beating Zhang Wei, massive dogs in both fights, she's the female fighter of the year. Inarguably. But I don't think it's going to happen.
Starting point is 01:02:37 I think Jean's going to beat her. I would be stunned if Zhang lost his fight. And the beauty of this is that we are going to have a watch party on Saturday, tomorrow. We can watch it all unfold together. It's going to be
Starting point is 01:02:53 me and G.C. in the studio. And Jed Mishu is going to be calling in for the Michael Chandler Dustiporia fight because he loves Chandler so much. And because he has made it public knowledge now that he is betting all of, so he has like a betting bank account of sorts and he's placing bets on this card. But whatever is left over after he places this card's bets, he's betting every nickel on Zhang Wei Lee.
Starting point is 01:03:22 Every nickel. He's going all in on it. So we're going to watch Jed either celebrate. a cash windfall or sweat bullets that he might lose his whole bank account. His betting bank account, not like his life bank account. He's a responsible dude. But that's happening tomorrow. So join us on YouTube and watch it all unfold because I think it's going to be tremendous theater.
Starting point is 01:03:48 Let's go to Kevin. What up, Kevin? You just got to unmute yourself. Kevin, are you there? I got you. I'm sorry. I was on mute. Oh, what's up, man?
Starting point is 01:04:07 How are you? I'm good. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more on the Carlos Barses-in-Wan-Li-Fight. I mean, I see, you've seen how bad she got dominated by Yawanna in her first title defense. And I feel like Waley is a more physical, more dynamic terminator of a striker. and I think it's going to be unfortunate for Carla, but she's going to get absolutely dominated, in my opinion. Yeah, man, it's just, listen, again, this is no disrespect.
Starting point is 01:04:48 I have so much respect for Carlos Sparza. And I don't understand the hatred. I don't get why she's getting the Aljo heat, the Xbox heat right now, but she's getting it. She's getting booed at the press conference. Like, I don't understand it. Like, what did she do wrong? I don't get it.
Starting point is 01:05:06 Having said that, the blueprint is there, man. Like, it's just there. When she fights fighters that are just incredible athletes who are just stronger than her and possess the kind of life-altering power that these fighters possess and skill, she doesn't fare well. Yowana, Tatiana Suarez,
Starting point is 01:05:30 like those are the two that truly come to mind and Zhang Wei might be better than both of them when it comes to athleticism. We talked about it on the way and show. If this fight was not John Wei Lee, if it was Yawanna versus Carla, who's picking Carla to beat Yowana? I'm not.
Starting point is 01:05:48 And again, not trying to be a jerk. I would pick Yowna in that fight. And we saw what John Waley did to Ywana in the second meeting. So, yeah, I feel very strongly that this is just a shitty matchup for her. But maybe we're wrong. I don't know. Let's go to Holloway's Evil Twin. Wow.
Starting point is 01:06:11 Sentinel, I see you. You're next. Hey, Mike. I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the drama between James Krause and Megan Anderson and what Jeff Molina had to say. Apologies if you already answered this. I copped in a bit late. But I've been seeing this all over Twitter. I was just wondering if you had any thoughts or what your opinion was on everything. All right. Hello. Sorry. For some reason, like, the space just turned off.
Starting point is 01:06:38 So if you were listening earlier, I'm sorry. The space just stopped for me. Like it just annihilated itself. It wasn't an internet issue. The space just annihilated itself. It just disintegrated. It just disappeared off my phone. And I don't know why.
Starting point is 01:06:53 So I don't know what you guys heard from last answer. So I'll just go back into it. Holloway's Evil Twin asked about the Krauss, Megan Anderson, Sanko thing. And if you didn't hear, I mean, I just don't have anything really to say about it because I don't know anything. Sanko and Anderson aren't friends.
Starting point is 01:07:12 They haven't been friends in a long time. So I don't know. I saw Jeff Belina's response. He said what he said. That's another, I guess, opinion on the matter. Here's what I'll say. And again, I know nothing about this. I don't know anything about it.
Starting point is 01:07:34 But it tells you, like, I obviously with what I do and sometimes I have to like confirm news and talk to different people in the sport, this sport behind the scenes, and again, this has nothing to do with the Krauss thing in this sport we're talking about. It's just not rosy all the time. It's just not. So has things, have we seen things like this happen before? Probably.
Starting point is 01:08:08 But again, I don't know about the certain situation, but it ain't all, trust me what I tell you. I love my job. I love what I do, and I love being a part of this space. I love the sport, and I love all of you guys, and I love everybody I work with. I would be lying to you if there wasn't every once in a while, like maybe once every two years,
Starting point is 01:08:32 or I'm just like, man, I kind of miss being a fan, where it's just like I could just focus on sitting on my ass and watching the fights and just watching the fights and just responding to the fight. not knowing anything else behind the scenes like weird things that happen behind the scenes because have i've had conversations people that you would just people within the industry that you probably know just like will call me in vents and i just hear things and i'm just like i don't know if i want to be hearing this like i will never say a word but you know what i mean
Starting point is 01:09:08 like as fans you don't it's just you get to sit there and a saturday grab a six-pack pizza bring your boys over, turn the fights on. There are certain times where I envy that. Most times, I mean, again, I love what I do, 100%. But when things like this happen and, you know, some of the other things I've heard in the past, and again, these are all he said, she said things, he's just like, oh, I don't need this.
Starting point is 01:09:37 I don't need to hear about this drama. Let's just focus on the fights. So long story short, I have no comment about it because I don't know shit. Let's go to Sentinels. Yep, I got you. What's up? I've got two quick questions, all right?
Starting point is 01:09:58 The first one being, these are more general questions. The first one being, how do you feel about the Silva versus Jake Paul fight? You think that was fair and whatnot? And also, how do you feel about the upcoming Jake Paul versus Andrew Tate fight? Thanks, Mike. the second question is I'll believe when I see it that would be
Starting point is 01:10:23 just that would just be really one of the dumbest things Jake Paul ever did I would rather see Tommy Fury if we're being honest I have no interest in that fight at all and I would probably ask for the night off if we're being honest
Starting point is 01:10:39 Paul Silva yeah it was a fair fight and Jake Paul beat him like that's it I still don't get this whole fight fixing thing and all that. Like, why would you do that? Like, dude, I don't think people actually understand the risk involved
Starting point is 01:10:55 with trying to fix a fight. Like, you are federally fucked if you fix a fight and you get caught. Like, you're done. Like, you're done, done. It's just not worth it. Like, you... And here's another thing.
Starting point is 01:11:16 If you watched WWE Crown Jewel or whatever it was, if you saw Jake Paul throw pro wrestling punches, you will, right then and there, any doubt that you had, whether this fight was legit or not, or if there was a fix on, when you saw him throw in those warped-ass punches
Starting point is 01:11:35 that were just the worst I've ever seen in the world of professional wrestling, that should have been like, all right, there's no way this guy could fix a fight because that was awful. Like, just no way. There's just no way. Jake Paul, boxed Anderson, Silver,
Starting point is 01:11:50 for eight rounds and he won. I mean, that's it. He won. I know it sucks. The train keeps on moving. And it was a fun fight. Like, anybody who watch it, like, if you sat there and watched that whole fight,
Starting point is 01:12:04 were you bored? I wasn't. It was compelling television. It was the most fun Jake Paul fight. That's for damn sure. It's way more fun than the Woodley fights. Way more fun than the Ascotts fight. The Nate Robinson fight, I still don't understand what we were doing there.
Starting point is 01:12:18 but it was fun and Jake won like give the guy some credit I know Anderson's 47 but we all thought Anderson was going to roll him right we all thought he was going to roll Jake Paul I said it I said it was going to be a draw because eight rounds that just smelled like draw that was just to be a draw scenario but Jake won he knocked him down the eighth round and he won dude won the fight like what else could you say he went out there and he won
Starting point is 01:12:49 all right Beale take us home because I got to get out of here Hey Mike, how you doing? Good. So I just want to say about the Jake Paul Anderson Silva thing. If you watched, Anderson Silva is definitely trying to hurt Jake Paul. I don't, and yeah, to say it was fixed, it's just ridiculous. But my question is, I was kind of more excited to see Dustin Poillier potentially move up to a welterweight. And now that they just announced that McGregor and,
Starting point is 01:13:25 Olivera is going to be at welterweight. Do you think? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You did not. No? Was that a fake area? You did not fall for this? Was that a fake area?
Starting point is 01:13:34 You did not fall for the fake area. I did you? I don't know. The Twitter's off. Oh, no, dude. Elon's shutting down. I have to pull this up because I saw it and I knew immediately that there. I'm going to find the suite.
Starting point is 01:13:48 Where the hell is? Where the hell is? I had it. I had an inkling. I saw it. I do it. Oh, there it is. There it is.
Starting point is 01:13:54 There it is. Okay, so here's the other thing, okay? See, here's a lesson, okay? We're all going to listen. Do you have anything else to be able? Then I'm going to give you all a lesson here. Well, what do you think about Poy and McGregor potentially fighting at 170 for their next fight if that ever happened? Thanks, Mike.
Starting point is 01:14:18 Okay. Fine. Like, that's okay. like if you did Connor and Chandler at 170 that's fine like there's lots we could do with Connor at 170 we could just do a 55 fight at 170 oh Elon see this is this is what has happened
Starting point is 01:14:39 okay MMA fans now you have more work to do because with this anyone can get a blue checkmark thing I could literally create 25 Halwani accounts right now and get blue check marks on all of them and just put out bullshit Because look at it. At Ariel He, He, the number one Wani.
Starting point is 01:15:02 Ariel, he won Wani. That's what it says. Put out this tweet. Okay, so now, because of the option to just get blue checkmarks willy-nilly, which is why we did the blue checkmark thing to begin with, to make sure none of this shit happened, now you have more work to do. So there are a certain time.
Starting point is 01:15:23 of the year where you have to bind your P's and Q's when it comes to this stuff. And now we're in a world where it's every day. Every day is like April fools in the MMA world. So just be cognizant. Look for everything. Make sure you read the whole app. Make sure you read the whole thing. Because otherwise, you're going to come on the show and you're going to ask me about
Starting point is 01:15:47 Connor fighting Charles Oliver at 170. And it's not your fault. We're all learning together. And this thing is just going bananas. It's so wild. And you know why? It's because the blue check mark. It's because that check mark is there.
Starting point is 01:16:03 And people are buying it. This thing is, oh, my, it's got like 2,200 retweets, 12,000 likes. This is just hilarious. I don't know what to say. I don't know what else to say about it. Wow. So, yes, that's not happening. I mean, we just,
Starting point is 01:16:24 someone someone actually sourced Ariel for the olivera physique fight and Charles Olivera like the real Charles Olivera came out and said no dude I'm taking time off
Starting point is 01:16:40 and then what three days later he's going to fight Connor at 170 come on and just another lesson my best friend is here if it ain't on m.m.a fighting.com it ain't real okay because we're going to vet at all we'll vet it all and make sure it's true if we see things like that but that's friggin funny
Starting point is 01:17:03 okay well you guys are the best i appreciate all of you all of you ask questions uh but i got to go i have to go uh got to go get the pooch my kid is home sick so that's fun uh my wife is in boston on uh traveling for work so i got a lot going on right now and then of course we got 281 tomorrow. We have Dana White's power slap fight leagues press conference going down at 2 o'clock or 2.30 or something like that. Right before the Ceremony Awayans,
Starting point is 01:17:40 we'll have all your Ceremony Awayans stuff. And then after Ceremony Awayans, AK and I are going to do ourselves a little live preview show. We're going to do a nice live preview show to get you ready for 281. And then tomorrow's just going to be an insane day. My ass is up at 3 a.m. Hoping in the shower, shaving the head, off to the airport,
Starting point is 01:18:02 and then off to New York City for the 281 watch party, myself, G.C. Special guests along the way, 9.45 p.m. Eastern. We're going to go live just before the main card starts, and we're just going to have a damn good time. So if you buy the pay-per-view and just want a different view, we want to watch it with us, get reactions cool. Listen, I get it. Times are tough.
Starting point is 01:18:24 If you don't want to drop 80 bucks on UFC 281, just watch with us. We got you. We got you covered. We will tell you, we're not going to, I can get me John Anick. We're not going to sit there and be like, ooh, jab, jab, cross, kick to the knee. Big things happen. We're going to tell you, but we're going to react to them.
Starting point is 01:18:41 So that's going to be a lot of fun. People's pre-fight show, post-fight coverage, all that going down tomorrow. It's going to be a busy couple days. So get some rest, everybody. Have a great rest of your day. We'll see you later on. And as always, have a heck of a morning. everybody.
Starting point is 01:19:24 The Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. Hi, I'm Sophia Loper Caro, host of the Before the Chorus podcast. We dive into the life experiences behind the music we love. Artists of all genres are welcome.
Starting point is 01:20:02 And I've been joined by some pretty amazing folks, like Glass, animals. I guess that was the idea was to try something personal and see what happened. And Japanese breakfast. I thought that the most surprising thing I could offer was an album about joy. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, and remember, so much happens
Starting point is 01:20:20 before the chorus.

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