MMA Fighting - HOAM | What Are the Expectations For Jon Jones When He Returns At UFC 285?

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

Jon Jones will return to the octagon, in a brand new division, when he fights Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 285 on March 4 for the vacant UFC heavyweight title. With over three years removed from his most recent fight, what are the expectations for the man many consider to be the greatest fighter of all-time? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses Jones' upcoming return, his appeal to the MMA audience, and stating he wants to bury the hatchet with longtime rival Daniel Cormier. Additionally, listener questions include the fallout of Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284, if the UFC should run it right back, the IV rules that have been in play since 2019, Bo Nickal's future ahead of his octagon debut at UFC 285 against Jamie Pickett, low-key fights on the books that aren't getting enough attention, 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: 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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Conditions apply, details online. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Thursday, February 16th, 20203. It is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA Fighting. Twitter spaces. You can hear the show. It's a entirety short thereafter on the M.M.A.

fighting podcasting network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a fantastic start to their week. it's been kind of a weird one with the fallout of UFC 284 and everything that has come along with that. It's just been a wild week in the aftermath of all of that. Of course, this weekend, the UFC is back with UFC Vegas 69. The main event, now Justcon Drogh versus Aaron Blanchfield, now that Tyler Santos is out. Very interesting fight at 125 pounds.

have knuckle mania for BKFC. I believe there's boxing this weekend as well. So if you're a combat sports fan, there's a lot to check out. We got some announcements from Bellator yesterday. They are returning to Hawaii in April, back with another double header. And a couple of title fights. We have Liz Carmouche versus Deanna Bennett Part 2. that I'll headline the first card.

I believe it's April 21st. And then April 22nd, they come back again with the Bannamweight Grand Prix finale. Rafion Stats versus Patchy Mix for the interim Bantamway title and the million dollars and a chance to fight Sergio Pettis for the undisputed title. Maybe later on this year, depending on when Sergio is ready to come back,

seems like he's training, seems like he's on the comeback trail. We will see a Lima-Mikfarland back in action in the co-main of. vand against Kana Watanabe. Some other interesting matchups were announced for those two cards as well. Of course, they're back next weekend, back in Dublin. So that should be a lot of fun.

Yaroslav Amosov versus Logan Storley for the unified welterweight title. So that should be a very big deal. A lot going on is always in the M.A. space. And if you haven't seen it yet, BTL is going to be absolute fire today. 12.30 p.m. Eastern.

It is Jedm. versus Luke Thomas. It is going down. MMA fighting versus MK. It goes down again. Luke Thomas, I believe this will be his first appearance on any MMA fighting show since he joined the morning combat crew.

So very excited for that. So let's get into this. I am a man of my word. So since he is here, and since he was waiting patiently on Tuesday, we couldn't get to him. We will begin things with my man, Viking MMA.

Viking. Are you there? Yeah, brother. I'm here. Closer. What are you doing? I'm fine. Just tell me one thing.

Last is, did you select me or not? Because, you know, my phone was not working at all. I did not. I was going to, and then you vanished. And then when you came back, the show was pretty much done. So I said I would hike you to the front. on the next show and here we are.

So you did not take any screenshots either. No, I did. That's why you're first. Oh, thanks a lot, man. So I just want to talk about the pound for pound thing and the Islam stuff, basically. So I'm pretty glad that Khabib did not show in Australia because if it did, then we still would have stuck in the... in the same scenario that Islam is not a good striker at all,

but now we all know that how good Islam on stand-up. So that's a very good thing that, you know, we all know that how Islam is, how Islam striking is. And the other thing, the pound-for-pounding, I just want to say that I did not see Wolkonowski dominating Islam in that fight. basically Islam is the pound-for-pound king at the moment right now. And that's a short thing that Islam is the pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world,

or you can say in the UFC. And the weight-cut thing about Islam is, you know, you represent the region where, you know, everyone is talking about how dominate these you're going to be if you're you know if your daghistani fighters so there are always a chip on your shoulder so if you are a champion and if you can't make weight you get stripped from the you get stripped so that it's your responsibility to make weight and all the other stuff So it was Islam's responsibility to make weight. There should not be any excuses about the Islam's weight cut

and what happened in the fight after his harsh weight cut. So that's that. And Luke Thomas and Jedmishu thing about the BTL. If there's a topic about the pound-for-pound thing, they should not. there is not going to be a war because they both are at the same side, which is Islam. So thanks a lot. Thanks, man.

Yeah, I mean, I figured the sort of the IV stuff would come up. And it's kind of a weird thing because Dan Hooker throughout those accusations, we talked about it earlier this week. Volkovsky sort of brought it up himself. and then since then, mostly yesterday, we found out that the UFC sent out some emails to the fighters and the managers about the IV use and what is okay and what isn't okay.

And it was updated in 2019. And essentially, it's okay as long as it's received in the course of like surgical procedures and diagnostic investigations. And it's also okay if it's, proceed from a licensed medical professional after a doctor of some kind determines that they're medically justified, but you do need permission from the Athletic Commission before you get the IV and they need to disclose how much and the use of it afterwards.

So apparently, because of the response by the UFC, there was some smoke to this, but if Makachev checked off all of those boxes and one would assume that he did, I mean, nobody, only a couple of people really know for sure at this point, but if he did, then this is all for not. And I know someone had pointed out of something that Ali had tweeted about him using two milliliters or something like, to that effect, it's been since deleted, but I don't know why he would tweet that because it just doesn't make any sense. And it caused, more questions to this whole thing. But it seems like everything was done by the book.

But again, we don't know. We don't know. And Islam tweeted earlier today that something the effect of that this person or whoever must be held accountable for these accusations. And I'm curious how you can hold somebody accountable and what this actually means. So we'd love to hear what Dana has to say. We'd love to hear Jeff Divinsky speak to the media about this. Maybe he'll show up on Saturday and sit down and answer questions.

I'd love to know more and how it went through it. As far as the pound-for-pound discussion, we need to make something very, very clear. The pound-for-pound conversation is stupid. It's stupid. And it's not real. It's your opinion. And everybody's definition for pound-for-pound, some are similar, some are different.

Some look at it in a different sense. Some look at it is to steal something from AK. If Demetrius Johnson fought Francis and Gano, if somehow they could either grow in size or shrink in size and somehow be the same weight, like who would win in a fight. That's one way to determine it. There's other ways you can look at it as well.

In the end, to me, I gave it to Machachev because they fought. They fought. Machachev won. And you can say, well, Volk won pride rules. And I've seen this many times. Makachovov won the contest, but Volkinovsky won the fight. Sure. If you want to go that route, that's fine. But to me, Makachov won. He won the fight. So to me, he's the number one guy. But the way I more so look at it is they, it's not one two. It's one A, one B. Right now, Machachev is a little bit ahead.

Volk's a little bit behind. And if Volk fights Yahir Rodriguez in the next few months or he fights before Islam and has another great performance, I can see myself putting Volk back at number one. And if Makachev goes out and fights Darius or somebody else

and he goes out and he has a great performance, I can see them flip-flopping. Like it's, we're making too big of a deal out of this pound-for-pound thing. Because it's based on how you view it and your own opinion. It's like the goat conversation. It's like not just an MMA, but everywhere.

It's like comparing LeBron in his prime to Jordan in his prime. Like, you can sit there and have your thoughts on it, but you'll never get the answer to that question. Like there's no time machine where we can send LeBron back to the 90s to play Jordan. And there's no revival. vitalization formula out there for Jordan to de-h himself 25 years to go play LeBron in 2023 or back in 2009 or 2010. There is no answer.

It's your opinion. It's your opinion. And there's so many different things that go into those opinions. So the fact that this pound-for-pound discussion has become such a divisive topic, it's just so silly. It's just so silly. There's more important things in the world than a problem. pound for pound conversation because it's stupid.

It's stupid. They're both excellent fighters. They're the two best fighters in the world. If you think it's Volkovsky, cool. I'm not going to argue with you. If you think it's Makachev, cool. I ain't going to argue with you. If you think if John Jones just comes back and kills Cyril Gahn on March 4th,

that it's John Jones because he was the guy when he left, sure. That's your opinion. I'm not going to argue with you. It's not something we should be arguing about. It should be cool. That's your opinion. and that's that. But this whole thing,

how we're still fighting about this, is just madness. It's just madness. But if you're asking my opinion, I'm giving it to Mockachev because they fought and Mockachev won the fight. It's not me knocking Volk. It's just that they fought

and there was a winner. And I don't think there's any controversy. It was a competitive fight. It was close. But it's not a robbery. I've watched the fight three times now, and I scored it 4847 Makachchev every single time. And if you want to give Makachep round three,

I mean, I'll listen to you. I'll listen to you, but I think 4847 Makachchev is the right score. I do. Let's go to Tristan. Tristan, what's up? How's everything? Good.

Yeah, before we start, shout out to Luke Thomas. Glad he's going to be on VTO. later on. And he did a technical breakdown on Yaiyar Rodriguez's win against Josh Jammah. I thought it was incredible. I mean, I am excited to see that fight. If that fight happens between Vogue versus Yaiyir, I think it's going to be fascinating that fight.

So pretty excited about that. What I wanted to talk about, I watched Bo Niko yesterday on the MMA hour. And I just have, I think I've talked about this before, but in a couple of years, that guy's going to be a middleweight champion. I have no doubt. None.

Like, I understand he's never taking a punch. I know he's making his UFC debut. We don't know how he's going to react. He hasn't, obviously, we've got to see him against some resistance or adversity. But I just feel like he's going to figure it out. I just, I'm that high on him. I mean, the transitions, the quickness,

ground and pound submissions it's all there for him it's all in front of him in my opinion I think it's it's just he's gonna be incredible

and he has this he makes you believe it that's the thing about it like when I'm hearing him talk to Ariel it's just this quiet confidence humble confidence about him

and I'm just like who's gonna beat this guy like nobody's gonna beat this guy you think I'm crazy you think of like you're out of your mind. And, you know, and that's how I feel, man. Just your thoughts about it.

Thanks, Mike. I mean, I'm not going to say you're out of your mind because you're not alone on this. But I don't know. Like, I'm very high at him. I'm fascinated to see what he's going to do. I feel like thus far he's gotten, I think this is not just an outline statement. He's gotten very favorable matchups. He got very favorable matchups on both contenders series.

fights. He's getting a pretty favorable matchup here for his debut. And that's what they should be doing. When you have a guy like that, you have to put him in there with a guy stylistically that you're going to shine against. And no disrespect to Jamie Pickett. Jamie's a tough dude. Jamie's got some experience inside that Octagon a lot more than Bo Neckle has. But if you look at it from a stylistic perspective, this is a fight that should showcase everything Bo Neckle does. But we've, we've, We've seen fighters in similar positions get thrown in these spots and being very confident about it. And they come up short.

And that's not always a bad thing. Like we saw it with Aaron Pico. Aaron Pico comes in probably the most touted prospect at the time in the history of the sport. And he fights Zach Freeman, who had a lot of experience. And at the time, people didn't really think about the matchmaking or anything like that. And then Zach caught him in a gilly and tapped him in the first round. and they were like, oh, he's way too experienced. Can't believe that they match made like that.

Shame on you, Bellator. But I agree with you. Like, I'm high on him. I'm curious. I think he has the right attitude. I liked the candor. I liked his honesty when it comes to how people view him. Because I think he speaks for a lot of us.

I think he speaks for a lot of us. You don't want to be the dude that everyone thinks, is a jackass or that people dislike or all that. And he admitted that as such. Like he said most of the responses he's gotten as positive. And he doesn't want to be the dude that everybody dislikes. And I get that. I totally get that.

And I think all of us in some way we think about that stuff. We wonder if people like us and enjoy what we're doing and enjoy our work and enjoy our thoughts and opinions. And, you know, there are certain times where, and I talk about this on the show, all the time where I'm just like, I'm never going to look at the comments. I'm never going to look at him. And then I just get sucked in and I look at him and there'll be the occasional person who says, I can't stand Mike Heck. He's delusional or his takes are awful and all that stuff. And it hits you. It hits you in a certain way. But a lot of I've learned to deal with it a lot

better. But I'll be honest. Like some of that stuff is just like, oh, man, like what did I say? And you think about it. And sometimes you tend to over thinking. It looks like, bow has kind of kind of come to turns with that and he's got the skills i mean he's he's he's very far along for where he should be and let's see if that translates into a ufc win in front of a big crowd and a big spy he's going to be on the main card of ufc 285 before john jones makes his return he's going to have a ton of eyeballs on him it's going to be a lot of hype around this fight he's dealt with hype and he's dealt with big crowds before so i think he's probably ready for the moment, but I am excited.

I feel like he will fight for the belt. I'm not ready to say that he's going to be a UFC champion. I want to see how he does. Let's see how he does Jamie Pickett. Let's see how he does in the second fight. And let's see how the UFC builds him. Are they just going to, are they just going to rush him up the ranks? Are they going to kind of do what they did with Alex Pereira and just give him good favorable matchups that are high up? Give him picket, then give him a top 20, 25 guy next, and then a top 10 guy after that and just get him up there as fast as possible,

we'll see. But the ceiling is very high, and I'm curious to see how he's going to react to all of it in a little over two weeks' time. When holiday prep means cleaning every corner, reach for Pine Soul original Pine. Pine Soul is the only one you need for multiple surfaces, cleaning floors, counters, stoves, toilets, and showers,

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You got it. Want turnips that look light but feel heavy? easy. Want honey crisp apples that are firm green and definitely not Macintosh like last year when you lost the fall bake-off to perfect Penelope Johnson? Okay, a bit TMI, but we're here for it. So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacard, groceries that over deliver. Service fees exclusions in terms apply. FPL. Yeah, hi, how are you, man? So a couple of questions. One is after this fight, Mark Gave and Walco

and the comments I've seen from Markerchev yesterday is, you know, I won the fight and I see no justice in the rankings. And the way it sounded is he's not interested in a rematch. Now with Charles and Benile fighting, do we see Poria and Markachev in a title fight somewhere in May because March is Ramadan and after that maybe, you know, he needs four weeks time? That is question number one. And two is, now that comes.

is fighting Whittaker. So do we think that he's out of the middleweight category? He'll stick to the light heavyweight, or would he, according to you, we interested in coming back to middleweight and fighting Leon or Usman, whoever wins? Thanks. All right, so Oliver Darius isn't Dun-Dun, I guess, would be the right way to say it. it seems like it's trending in that direction, but it's not done.

I think it ultimately will get done. So we'll kind of see what happens there. I would not, honestly, I would not rule out a rematch. I would not rule out a rematch. It wouldn't be what I would do, but I would not rule it out. It seems like Volcanovsky is like ready to come back. Like he wants to get back ASAP.

He wants to get back May, June. and it's going to be interesting to see how they match it all up. Now, how I view it is, if they go forward with Derrush and Olivera, and those two just beat the hell out of each other, and let's just say July rolls around international fight week, and some of the guys that they would target for headlining that car just aren't available because they had tough fights. It volks ready and Islam is ready.

and the UFC just throws a bunch of money both those guys way, especially Islam in that spot headlining international fight week, I think Machachev would look at that fight. I think he would look at it. And let's be honest, no matter what happens over the next few months, the biggest fight for Islam Makachev right now is the Volk rematch. It just is. For business purposes, for intrigue, for high,

all of that. The biggest fight he could get right now is the Volk fight. Darius is interesting, and a hardcore fan, like most of us, we will be interested in that fight if he beats Charles Olivera.

Porre would be a big fight in terms of eyeballs and draw and people getting into it and casual appeal. But Machachev Volk has gone from a hardcore fan's delight to having casual appeal now,

because I've gotten texts about it. I didn't get any text before the fight. I've gotten a ton after them. People want to see them fight again. There's interest there. And I think the UFC knows that. So I wouldn't rule it out. Not what I would do.

I would rather see Volk, fight Yair, Islam, fight, Darius or somebody else, run off a couple of defenses in their own divisions. Then we can revisit this. And it'll be just as big if both guys are successful. But it seems like Volk wants to get back right away. So I think he's going to be the guy that kind of steers this train.

And if three, four months a couple months from now, Volk's like, I'm ready to go. They're going to approach Makachep with it. I'm pretty confident in that, whether he takes it or not as another thing. But I think there's a part of Makachev as a competitor. I think there's a piece of his soul that's like, I could have done better. I could have done better. This fight should not have been as close as it was.

I want to shut this dude up for good. So I would not rule that out. I would not rule that out. And I also, Whitaker Shamiyev is not done. That fight's not on the books yet. Both guys have expressed interests, more so on the Shemayev side.

Whitaker said he'd be down if it's offered to him. I'd love to see that fight. They could be going in that direction, but it's not done. there's no date. Fight hasn't been signed or anything like that as far as I know. But I would say

it's a pretty safe bet that if that is the fight that is made, that yeah, Shamiya is probably done at 170. But who the hell knows at this point? Shamiyev is a mystery. Colby's a mystery. Who the hell knows at this point?

Brian, hello. Hey, Mike. How you doing? Just a quick question. question kind of going back off the Islam take. Do you think that he'll get some legitimacy if he's defending against actual lightweights, obviously both number one pound for pound. Amazing. But do you think he needs to kind of get that respect that Volt kind of built going through a couple contenders, kind of building that interest more? Do you think that even make it a bigger fight? Let's say like, you know, two years from now in the start of like 2025 or something down the line

like that. Just curious on your thoughts on that. Thanks, Mike. I mean, he should be getting the, he should be getting shine anyways. He just isn't. I, it's, it's, it's kind of baffling to me. Like, I talked to, I talked to John Anna yesterday, and you can watch that interview right now on the YouTube channel. I wrote about it on the site. I'm with John. I'm like right alongside John Annick, that this guy deserves his praise to.

And the fact that people still, I think the terminology he uses perfect, people are saying that he plucked out featherweight for his first title defense. That's just not true. That's just not true. I think, well, I think Mockachev deserves a ton of credit for how he performed. And I think, I think he's going to be looked at, this, this one kind of reminds me in some ways, and I think this will age better because this example aged pretty well. And it didn't age well at the start. this almost in some ways reminds me of the Shemaya Burns fight where the fallout of that fight was

oh Burns is the man Shemaiah isn't as good as we thought he was and then as months went by we realized okay maybe this is kind of what he needed this is the kind of we needed to see him tested and I think a lot of those people who kind of dumped on Shemaiah

became like turned to realize that okay if you have this guy in a tough spot he can come through on the other side. And we hadn't really seen that for Machachev. Like he got he got knocked out by Adriana Martins. He had a tough fight with Armand Serukia. But it wasn't, it's not like it was a controversial win.

It was a clear win. And we got to see him overcome a little bit diversity. He struck well. And the biggest moment in this fight, which I don't think gets enough credit, was Machachev stinging Volcanowski in the second. round. That one shot that dropped Volk to a knee was the, is the biggest moment in that entire fight. Because of that moment, at least to me, and I've watched it a few times, if that moment does not happen, Volcanovsky is the lightweight champion right now. Because Volk would have

won that second round. Without that moment, Volk is the champion. Emakachev had that big moment. I don't know how he could take so much away from this guy. I understand you want to give bulk his flowers for that performance. He deserves him. Give him to him. Give him a whole bunch. But you can't leave Mokachev's garden without any flowers. Come on.

He deserves a lot of credit too. I will say this fight has whatever it does for Mokachev, his next fight is going to be a little, is going to be more interesting. things. Whether it's Darius or Porriere, although I would highly favor him against Porier, although Porre is a dog, so that would be fun. But Darius is interesting in some ways, because he would pose some threats that Volk did, not all of them. And then a rematch at Volk would be massive too. So I think it's a little fresh at our minds, but I think if we're talking about this like three, four months from now, I think people realize that Islam

deserve better in the aftermath of all of this. And I hope that happens for him. I hope that happens for him in terms of the performance. Let's go to brunch, Davidians. Brunch, what's up? Raj, you're muted. All right. No brunch.

Four corner sports. Let's go to you. Hey, so I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things. I don't know if you guys officially broke the news. I saw Marceau did. Jaylen Turner versus Matush Gamma. Ah, man, this is a banger of a fight, Mike. I know Jaylen Turner was going to have his fight against Dan Hooker.

I'm not about this. I don't know about it. Just because he's all being. I mean, we still fight against Armist Rookin, and I don't know that's your favorite fight a blaster. And then we saw him fight against any of their views. So are we going to see what's Jail Turner really means? I have to have him to Schenero.

And I want to talk about John Jones. You know, being like, he's growing up, you know, he wants to push the past away from, let's go with Daniel Kornby. I was very sure to hear that. It was like the equivalent of when Luke Rockhold and making them taking a selfie together, I didn't expect that to happen.

But if we are seeing a change in John Jones, I mean, what do you think it's, you know, set for him if he's having this whole new demeanor? It's a bad thing heading into his fight against Severeaux gone. That now that he is starting to mature. All right, Mike, that's all I want to know. But thanks. I mean, look, if you follow the Twitter trajectory of John Jones over the years, this is not the first time that he has done this. This is probably not the second, third, or fourth time that he has done this.

So I will tend to wait on my reaction to that. But, I mean, look, he's saying the right things, seems to be doing the right things. Hopefully, this is the turning point, but I don't know, man. It's been a tough road trying to believe in John Jones. And when we start to believe, that's when the rug comes out from under us. And look, I want to believe that everybody can change

and everyone can become better people and maybe John can but we'll see. I'm not sold on it yet. Not sold on it yet. And I don't think it's going to affect the fight at all. I think whatever's going to happen on March 4th was supposed to happen and

whether it's John winning or Cyril piecing them up and finishing them. I don't know. It's an interesting fight. It's an interesting fight. fight. The Turner Gamrod fight rules. This is better than the hooker fight,

especially for Jalen Turner and where he can go in this division. Because a lot of people are very high on Jalen Turner, rightfully so. Big, huge, athletic, 155-pounder. And I feel like

the hooker fight was kind of a tailor-made matchup for him, if we're being honest. I think Hooker would be tough as hell and would be able to be a bit more durable than some of the guys that Turner has faced in the past,

but I think Gamrod brings a lot of different things to the table that I kind of want answers for with Jan. So I know Jaylen's very good on the ground. I want to see how he reacts to a guy who is just going to offensively try to grapple him over and over and over again. And Gamrodt, his striking is a little bit underrated himself. So yeah, I love this fight.

I think it's a much better matchup. no disrespect to Dan Hooker because it would be a cool fight but this is better this is better this will answer more questions for me about who Jalen Turner is

is a fighter in 2023 and where he can go in this division so love this fight great addition kudos to both guys for taking it kudos for Gamrod for stepping in kudos to Jalen Turner for taking this one because it's a tougher matchup

and I'm sure he knows it but the risk reward I think is a little bit higher here when it comes to rankings and all that stuff if he takes that into account so love the matchup brunch do we have you hello mike you got me yep what's up man back to the ivy thing on islam i don't know like i know that's written in the rules that they can't use ivies or whatever but i don't see why that is such a big deal i mean they're they're doing these severe weight cuts where they get super dehydrated and all an ivy is is is is, you know, just like water and saline solution and a couple of vitamins.

So I don't, I just, I don't get why that's such a big deal. Please discuss. I, I don't know either, man. Like, on, like, I don't think it's that big of a deal. But I don't know. I mean, it is kind of, I don't think it's a big disadvantage in this fight because it's not like Volk had to cut a million pounds to get there. But, you know, there are certain times where, like, if, like, if Islam is fighting

Jalen Turner and Islam was able to get an IV, but Turner wasn't. It's kind of tough. It's kind of tough. I think everybody should be able to use them. I mean, especially if it's just like a normal IV. I know sometimes there could be things mixed in there and that's the concern. But if it's just water and rehydration, I don't think there's a big, I don't think it should be a really big thing. But I also think this has probably been going on since the rule is put in place.

and since the terminology from 2019 was as long as a medical professional is involved with all of this and have like nurses and stuff and it's disclosed to the commission, I bet this has been going on on every single card for the last five, like four or five years. But it just didn't really become a thing until the aftermath of such a divisive fight, if that makes sense. So I'm with you. I don't understand the big deal. I think everybody should be allowed to use IVs, if done correctly. So, yeah, I don't get it.

But if, now, if it's the two-millimeter thing, that's different. But again, Ali deleted that tweet. And who knows if he was just misinformed or just wrote it wrong? I don't know. Honestly, I have no idea. But I'm with you. It seems like the commissions are on board as long as you disclose it, as long as you get permission,

as long as it's done correctly. I don't think Islam's the only dude. He's probably far from it. There's probably fighters that are fighting on Saturday that have done it too and did it the right way. I saw different people who are out in Vegas who are tapped into the fight community saying that they know of nurses and they know of fighters and they know of fight. who have nurses come to their house and administer IVs and done the correct way. So I don't think this is like a new thing.

It's just because of what happened on Saturday and because of all the talking and because it was put out like it's cheating, it's a whole different thing. But to say that Islam is like the first dude since 2019 to get an IV after a weight cut or in the bill to a fight, I would be stunned if that was the case. I mean, there are a few things in this sport at this point that would stun me, and that would be one of them. That would be one of them. But I'm with you. They should all be able to use it.

It's done correctly. Mikey, hello. Just to piggyback off what you said earlier, it's kind of funny how not just in fight sports, but in all sports, the fickleness of fans and how the goalposts has always moved based on bias, right? Like, you don't have to like Islam Makachep to appreciate what he did. And the funny thing is, is how can people in the same breath say, this guy never proved himself against anybody? And then fights the one, the possible competition he could face. He's considered less than. It's like, that's the entire point.

I mean, we just watched the Super Bowl. And the worst Super Bowls are the ones that were blowouts, where we all expect the teams to be evenly matched and someone gets destroyed by 30. I don't want that in MMA fights, at least in certain ones where it's like, you can't promote a super fight and be like, well, I hope it's one-sided. No, you want it to be competitive. You want every big fight to be competitive like that. Nobody really, I mean, listen, we all enjoy a quick knockout and all that stuff, and it creates all these narratives. But if we're just looking from a competition perspective, the outcome of Volk Islam is exactly what you hoped it would be. I didn't want either of those guys to look terrible or, you know, short.

no matter who you were rooting for it. I think that's, it's just, it's so frustrated because nobody wants to admit their biases about this stuff. It's like, oh, well, I hate Islam, so I'm just going to say he looked bad, even if he didn't look bad. Or, well, I really like volks, so I'm going to convince myself that he won, even if objectively speaking, he probably didn't. And that's okay, you know, and that gets really frustrating because it just murky's water. And everyone just starts yelling at each other for no reason. You know, it's true. And yet people will be on Twitter saying, well, we should just agree to disagree.

It's like you can't just say that. You have to actually agree to disagree on something concrete. You know, you can't just be like, you can't just say that just because you don't want to listen to somebody's opinion, you know. And two, as for what's next, just again, just to reiterate, I'm like, listen, this was supposed, I don't want to say it's a one-off, but this was their, you know, it was a super fight. Let's treat it as a super fight. Let's keep the divisions moving. The whole point of the super fight is that if there's no other options left, that's what they should do. immediate rematches, please stop.

Just, you know, that's all for now, guys. Be kind. Have a good day. Yeah. Look, this is not the same thing. But let me just throw this out there. So, and I got shit for it. And I get shit for it every time I go to New York.

Because I wear a Red Sox hat. Walking around New York, on the airplane, everywhere I go, where I'm not going to be on camera, I wear a Red Sox hat around New York. And most New York fans are, Like, give me shit about it. But, like, most of it's joking. And I always tell them, like, I'm not your typical Red Sox fan.

Like, I respect what the Yankees did. I respected those 90s teams that won all those World Series. Because I was a baseball fan. And they played fundamental ball, and I respected it. And I respected Derek Jeter. And I respected everything that they did. And I didn't have to like them, but I respected the hell out of them. And did I wear my Yankee suck t-shirts?

Sure. But it's not because I thought they sucked. It's because I wanted them to lose. But in the end, you can only go so far with that argument. It's okay to like Volkadovsky and still give props to Mokachev. But I also understood along this path because of me being so naive about all this. Because I thought, and if you watch the end of the watch party, you'll hear me say, like, this fight is going to bring us all closer together

because we're all going to just relish in the greatness of both guys and the competitiveness of this fight. And I couldn't have been more wrong. And it like made me sad. But then I also understood too, like this isn't team sports, but at the same token, the sport is growing. And there are certain fighters that just a lot of fans gravitate towards. And while it's not the same as the NFL and Major League Baseball

in some of the major American sports, and even globally when he comes to football or soccer or whatever, people just have fans and they will fight their asses off for their guys, for their teams, and they will be as stubborn as hell in order to do that. And that's something that I've learned to understand a little bit more in this space. The space can be kind of negative, the things that I didn't see,

before I got to like, M. May fighting and got on a bigger platform. I'm seeing now. And it ain't pretty all the time. But, you know, I just, I just want moments where it's just like we could all say, look, I think this guy might have won, but you got to give it to both dudes.

And again, maybe it's just me being naive that we will get to that point. But I just thought this fight would get us there. And perhaps that makes me delusional. I mean, it is what it is, but I just felt like the fight was great and it's going to age well. And I wish at certain points when we talk about this fight, we could just fast forward like six months to a year and then look back on it. Because I honestly think that later on this year, September, October, November, when we look back on this fight, I think we're going to look at it differently. I think we'll be less divisive. I think we'll be less torn apart.

I think we'll be more like, all right, that fight was actually really good. And both guys deserved credit for what they did. And I hope we get to that point. I really do. I really do. But as far as the what's next, I'm with you, Mikey. Like, I want to see Polk fight Yai'er. That fight is a lot more interesting now that it was before Saturday, in my opinion,

because of how good Yaya Rodriguez looked. and he kind of gets lost in the shuffle here. But honestly, I agree with John Anik in our conversation. I think Volk kind of holds the cards here. I think he's the A side in all of this. And if he wants to fight in May or June or July, if Yaya is ready to go, cool. If Islam's ready to go, cool.

If none are ready to go, they'll go somewhere else. Because Volk wants to fight and he wants to stay active, especially after the loss. So it'll be interesting, to see, but to say that an immediate rematch is not in play here, it's in play, I'm telling you, it is.

There's money behind this fight, and it's risky to, it's kind of risky to not just do it now and strike while the iron's hot, so to speak. But we'll see what happens. Again, for me, I like

to see Islam fight Dariush, pull him from the Oliveira fight. Like, just pull him from the Oliverer fight. give him the title shot. Do Volk versus Yair and go from there. It's just a matter of who's ready and when. That's what it comes down to because I don't think Volk's going to want to wait

until the summer to fight. Unless it's like a huge spot international fight week and he can main event against Mokachev. I think he might wait an extra month for that. But I think Volt just wants to get right back in there. So it's just a matter of who's ready. And I think he's going to have a little sway with this whole thing. What's up, AA?

Do you want, mate? Good. So I've got two questions for you. One is, I want to hear some sleeper fights from you, whether it's this week or in the coming weeks. And the second one is I'm going to actually sort of re-ask a question that I've asked you before. So fight week 281, I asked you, is there anyone who's had, like, in terms of name value, who's fought the biggest names to start the USC career than my first. Michael Chandler. You counted with Justin Gechie. I agreed with you. Now that Michael Chandler

has the Conner McGregor fight coming up, does that change your answer at all? All right. Thank you. Thanks, Mike. Everyone, have a great day. Take care of yourselves and peace. Yeah, I mean, it's probably the answer now. Now he's getting the Connor fight. It's probably the answer now. Sleeper fight? I'm just looking. There's not a ton of sleeper fights for this card coming up. I think maybe Derek Brunson, Drickus Duplice is a sleeper fight. I don't think a lot of people are talking about that, but I'm going to go a little bit

a little bit of a cheaper one, but I feel like nobody's talking about it. And we're less than a month away from it happening. Peter Jan Maraub de Wallisville is coming out March 11th. Nobody's talking about that fight. Nobody is.

Far more people are talking about Marlon Verre versus Corey Sandhagen, which got pushed back to two weeks after Yanda DeWalsh really is going to happen, but yeah, I would go with that with like, nobody's talking about that fight. So, yeah,

off the top of my head, cheap answer, that's what I'm going with. We'll take a few more. I got like maybe 15 more minutes. Aswalia, hello. Hi, man, how are you doing? Hi, Mike. So I have two questions.

The first one is, is there any news on the arms of Chimarreve? Any opponent he's going to fight? And my second question is, what's next for Song Yodong? Thanks, man. No news on Hamzaa Shamiyaf. I have no idea what's going to happen. Saw the call out with Whitaker.

Whitaker seems into it. But I would assume it's between Whitaker and Covington. But again, Shemayev and Colby are probably the two biggest mysteries in the sport. And Song Yidong is booked. April 22nd against Ricky Simone. So that should be a fun-ass fight. So there you go. I was able to give you something.

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Conditions and exclusions apply. Terrence, hello. Hey, Mike. How are you doing? Good. Just real quick, I just wanted to like kind of break up everything. Just to ask you a true question. I just randomly thought of it last night. I remember when you broke up to your brother's friends and like you did to go

for me thing. I just wanted to see how they're doing. And then as well as like how you and as well as your family are doing. and then the last thing I wanted to ask you was how do you know if you will be in Miami for Fight Week or have those been assigned yet just looking forward I'll be there and I'll look forward to like meeting you one day so that's pretty much it thank you

thanks man my brothers friends they seem to be doing a lot better they were healing up well the GoFundMe's went really well a lot of rehab, a lot of recovery, which I believe is still ongoing. But I will let my brother know to pass along the well wishes. My family, we're doing well. It's, yeah, we're all just working our ass off. My wife is a working machine as a my.

My kids is being a nine-year-old, and I think he's embracing that a lot more, which is nice. kids just rocking the piano these days we've been going out rollerblading almost every day he's getting better it's like little Charlie Conway out there from Mighty Ducks fame so yeah we're doing we're doing really well parents are doing well brothers are doing well

families all doing well so yeah I appreciate that it's nice to break that stuff up Zee hello my name Mike how are we I'm going to be shorter and sweeter than usual. I'm just going to say a name,

and I know it's a name that haunts you in this room a lot. Any questions, updates, or ideas on this man? And then lastly, is there any truth to Matute's Gamrott filling in for Dan Hooker in the Jalen Turner fight on that John Jones card? So that's my first question, the Matus Gamrott rumor. And second, any news, anything newsworthy on Mr. Kobe Covington? Thank you, my man.

Have a heck of a morning. I thought you were talking about Henry Sehudo. That's right. I thought you were going with this. If you are, then it looks like they're eyeing May 6th for him and Sterling, but it's not 100% done yet. Colby, no idea. And Gamrot, yes, that is happening.

He is fighting Jalen Turner. Again, the golden rule. If it's on M.A.Fighting.com, it's happening. if it's not then it's not done but that fight is happening March 4th and it rules YVMZ hello hi good morning Mike just had a quick question for you any thoughts on DC commentating on the John Jones fight do you think he's going to be biased towards him and number two any thoughts on Sean Strickland poke and Adam yesterday thank you so much the Strickland thing doesn't surprise me.

That's just kind of his thing. And God bless him. There's not much more I could say. Yeah, he's just, he is who he is. And the DC thing, no, I think he'll be fine. Look, those two are going to be attached forever for good or for bad. It's one of the, arguably the greatest rivalry in UFC history. Those two have been up and down the road.

for sure. But I think D, I have to remember because that fight, like it's not one I want to rush to go back and watch when John Jones fought OSP, because that fight was not good. But I believe D.C. was commentating, and I think he did a pretty good job. And that's what, like, they were in the thick of it.

So, yeah, I think it'll be all right. Do I think D.C. is going to sort of extend the olive branch back to John Jones and they're going to become buddies and he'll be on D.C. and R.C.? No. Probably not, but, no, I'm not too concerned. I think he'll be fine. D.C. is a professional.

Whether you like his commentary or not, whether you feel like he's biased or unbiased in certain points, I think he's going to be fine. Will he joke at all about the rivalry? Sure. But I think if he calls the fight, I think he'll put all that aside, honestly. So, yeah, I don't think that's going to be a problem. I got four in line And these are going to be the four before we go So it'll be Emilio then Blaze then Anwar and then Lon Wolf

Emilio go ahead Emilio are you there Blaze let's go to you All right how Mike Just kind of going back to the IV thing Not even like specifically Mockage or anybody but

Just in my head I guess when I think of Dehydration and Weight Cut That's a big part of fighting and getting ready for your fight. And if you got a bad weight cut and you're super dehydrated, and then the fight week, week before your fight,

you're able to take this IV bag of 100 mil liters or whatever it was that the official was, I can't remember the official number, but it's just kind of crazy to me to think that you can just refuel yourself. I don't know. I'd like your opinion on it.

I'm not a fighter. Thanks. I mean, again, if the rules say you could do it, then you can do it. And again, I don't know the numbers. I don't know how much he took. Like, I know Ali tweeted what he tweeted,

and that's caused a stir, but who knows what he was thinking at the time. So I don't know. But if it's in the rules and it's done by the guidelines and the commission was aware he was going to get an IV, and then the commission got the numbers, and it was done by a professional, then he didn't do anything wrong.

It's in the rules. And like I said earlier, Islam is probably nowhere near the first who has done it over the last four years, and probably ain't going to be the last. I bet it's been happening on every card, because again, it's in the rules. If you do it the way the rules state,

then it's okay. Now, if you're sneaking off doing them and you don't tell anybody about it, that's a different story. But even if he got an IV, Marka Chef still looked a little, a little, I don't know, he didn't look the same.

I'm going to do something I haven't really done here. But I'm going to say it. I told you, new year, new me. I don't listen to weighing in all that often. But Josh Thompson was talking about how Machachev looked kind of like walking into the arena

and walking to the octagon and he immediately felt like something was a little bit off with Islam. Maybe he's a weight cut thing. Maybe he overtrained, things like that. And he's kind of referred back to the Oliveira,

like go back to the Charles Oliveirae and look how much, like, looser and relaxed and less flat that he looked. And I went back. And I was like, he ain't lying he's not lying

it's pretty clear that he's not the same so I don't know like how much the IV helped him if it really helped him at all but again it's in these are the rules and if the rules say you could do it in a certain way and you do it in that certain way

then you're good I think it's a stupid rule to begin with if we're being honest lone wolf hello yes So first I want to talk about this Ivy thing that Islam is being accused of. I think as per rules, I think you can have it like 100 milliliters or something like this. And Ali tweeted something like two liters.

And it was something very, very big. Like he's saying like as it is some kind of petrol, what he is tweeted. he deleted. But I think it is not a big deal and also you Sada also test the fighter before and after the fight and if they found some substance in Islam like illegal they would have stripped him, right? And also I want to ask some question like should Benil fight Charles to get title shot or he should direct get the title shot?

in July, like Benil said in some interview, like he should get the title shot in July or somewhere, sometime in this year. And I think he deserved this more than anyone, like this guy is on 8th win streak. And no one's more, no one's deserve more than him at this, at this position. At this time, he deserves more than anyone. What do you think about it? Should he get or should he find Charles before the title shot? What do you think about it? Thanks, man.

Look, I've said many times before they should just pull Darius from this idea and just go that route. But again, I don't know what the UFC matchmakers are thinking right now. I honestly believe they are taking a gander at possibly running this one back with

Volcanowski because it is a huge fight. Like, it is a massive fight if they run this back against. The biggest fight for both guys right now. 100%. The biggest fight for both guys. But if I'm the matchmaker, we do Volkiair,

we do Islam Darayevish, and then we go from there. But Darayush is kind of not really confident that he's going to get this shot. So at worst, he gets Charles Olvera, and if he beats Charles, I mean, there's no more denying him.

he gets he's next so i don't know i don't know what's going to happen i don't know i think everything is in play but i do think volkenovsky's going to be the one in the driver's seat i think he's going to be the one that's going to sway this one way or the other because he wants to go he wants to go and i don't know how quickly yair wants to bounce back i don't know how quickly islam wants to bounce back and we don't even know if deri ulyr is happening yet seems like things are heading in the right direction, but I don't think Penn's gone to paper. And the UFC certainly hasn't announced yet. So I don't know. Developing story for sure. Edward, hello. Edward, you're muted. Are you there? Yeah, I'm here. Sorry about that. You can hear. Oh, good. What's up? Yeah,

I got you. I have a question. Sorry to bother you, but what do you think about, I'm going back to the IV. you say that he doesn't do anything wrong like Islam didn't do anything wrong but um isn't like not telling the public or not admitting to the public that you didn't take an IV bag kind of like a little bit diminishing your like reliability I mean it's not up to Islam to tell us that he took an IV like who gives a shit who cares doesn't affect us in any way as long as he now if he told the commission that he was going to get an IV and that a doctor said he should get one

and the commission said cool, go get it and then he got one for the correct amount and then told the commission, hey, I got one for the correct amount that he didn't do anything wrong. He doesn't have to go to the press conference and be like, hey, by the way, it was a great fight, but before I talk about the fight,

I did get an IV before. No, he doesn't have to tell us shit. He just has to let the commission, The doctor has to say you can take it or you should take it. And then Islam must have to let the commission know that he's going to take it. And then he has to get it from a professional that the commission is aware of. And then he gets it and he has to let them know that he got it. And if he does that, he's good.

At least according to the rules, I got a copy of the email. So I'm reading it right now. And I'm not going to read this whole thing. But you could also go to Jeff DeVitsky's Twitter account. He has a threat about the whole thing. But if you get it from a licensed medical professional after a licensed physician determines that they are medically justified, they can get IVs of less than a total of 100 milliliters per 12-hour period, and they have to obtain permission from the commission

before receiving the IV, and then he has to disclose the use of the IV to the commission after its use. It's permitted under the rules, but if it's administered by a licensed medical professional after a licensed physician determines they are medically justified, the required disclosure of such use to an athletic commission could jeopardize licensing of the fight by the commission. Most athletic commissions and their medical staffs will further make a determination if a fighter is medically cleared to compete after IVUs. Athletic Commission IV rules vary from commission to commission, which is why disclosure of intended and completed IVUs to athletic commissions surrounding a fight is required. So those are the rules. And if he followed the rules,

he didn't do anything wrong. He doesn't have to disclose it to the public. He doesn't have to go on Twitter and be like, I use an ID or tell the media that. No, he just needs to tell the commission that. So, no, if this is what he did, and this is how he did it, and all those boxes are checked, that he didn't do anything wrong. All right, we'll take a couple more. Eyeball, hello. Hello. So, okay, we've got to move on. Let's go to K. Kay, do we have you? Can you hear me?

Yep. Yeah, so I was just kind of checking this out for the first time this morning. The LD posts, I guess, never deleted. And people are posting in response to that some quote from what purports to be like, I think the Athletic Commission in question where they fought, saying, basically, you know, sending out some sort of prohibition on use of IVs. I can't access the website myself to see if it's legit or not. I was wondering if you looked at that, if you have any new thoughts on it.

And to go to the earlier caller's point about, you know, credibility or kind of coming clean to the public, I think what they're talking about is like how quickly the narrative has changed here from just denying. And then, you know, the point, the first point where I don't know if it was Eugene or somebody else kind of talking about like, you know, more details, how quickly the narrative shift to being like, oh, this is actually okay and whatnot. So anyways, thanks for your time. Heck of morning. I agree with that. but again like I was saying I can assure you

this is far from the first time that somebody used an IV in this type of situation it's probably been going on since the rule was in place in 2019 it's probably happened on every fight card some multiple times it happens

there's rules if you follow the rules you're good but yeah the narrative did and it's kind of I don't necessarily praise this all all the time, but this is a big question, right? This was a big talking point once Dan Hooker threw that tweet out. And the UFC had to respond to it. They had to respond.

And they responded with, here's the rules. And a lot of people didn't even know what the rules were. I'll admit I didn't know what they were. I didn't know the actual verbiage behind them. So I'm kind of glad in a way that they did. So I could see it from myself because I didn't know. I didn't know. I haven't read the actual commission guidelines for Australia.

But that's something I will do today. I can promise it. All right, Emilio, rapid fire, because I got to go. Mike. Yo. Yes. Oh, he did it. Can you hear me?

Yep, I got you. Okay, great, great, great. I'm going to try to keep it short. First, going way back to the beginning of the pod regarding Tristan's comments about Booneckle. Here's the thing. I personally think that there is one condition for Boe Nicole actually becoming a UFC champion.

and that is if or actually not if when how long is hamzad going to be at middleweight because sooner or later the guy's going up and i don't know about you obviously hamzad being a more ufc proven talent i mean the guy's got everything the guy's athletic af and i don't know i think that as long as that guy is in the middleweight division he will be champion And I don't see Boe, even with his amazing, mind-blowing NCAA career as a wrestler, I don't see, I don't see him, you know, even in his young career, I don't see him, even at his prime, you know, even doing anything to Hamzad. But that's just my take.

As for, what do I want to say? As for, God, man, I'm always thinking about a, thousand things to say, but then when it comes when it comes time to talk, I have no idea anymore. But I guess, I wanted to get your take, yeah, I wanted to get your take on

John Jones. Why do you think there's such a huge I mean, why do you think he's considered a mainstream star? I mean, the guy's been out of the limelight, well, at least the UFC Octagon limel

on limelight for three plus years. I mean, I guess he's only been in the limelight and, you know, headshots for getting arrested and stuff. I don't know. Call me a hater. I mean, I guess I am a hater, but I just don't really see the appeal. I don't think he's that charismatic.

What do you think he... What do you think is so appealing about him? Because, I mean, his prime, it's... It's long gone. I mean, for all we know, he's going to go in there and build the doors off, Cyril, but I really don't see that happening. There's too many variables. But I wanted to get your take on what is, what do you think is a mainstream appeal for John?

And why is he mentioned in the same breath as Connor and whatnot? Or maybe this is me interpreting it the wrong way and he's not. But yeah, that's it. Thanks again. Have a heck of a morning, Mike. Thanks, man. I don't think he's in the same star conversation as Connor. And I don't think he never, I don't think he ever has been, if we're being honest.

And John's a very popular and polarizing guy, but he's never, he's not like, he's nowhere near Connor Star Power, nowhere near Ronda Rousey's Star Power. there's others too he's not quite there he probably could have been but he's been his own worst enemy the thing about john is that in a lot of people's eyes he's the greatest fighter ever he's the greatest to ever compete inside the octagon and if you take out the pds and you take out all the other stuff. If you don't use that in the equation at all,

then it is John. It's John. 100%. And it's almost like in some tokens, like when Mike Tyson came back to Box or when Tiger Woods

came back to golf after some of the shit he was in and they're not the same things. But they're all different things. But at the same token, as Eric Bischoff, likes to say controversy creates cash and john jones has created a lot of it uh and on top of that he's arguably the greatest ever do it and there's a ton of questions about this guy there's a ton

of questions about him as a fighter he hasn't fought by the time he gets into that cage it'll be 37 months from his last fight and a lot of people felt like he lost that fight to dominic rayas A lot of people felt like he lost to Tiago Santos, who had no legs. And while he beat Anthony Smith convincingly, it wasn't a great performance. And he hasn't really had a great performance in a long time. Maybe the second Gustafson fight maybe. And we're all wondering why. Is he done?

Is he not washed, but is he just far past his prime? was it a I'm just bored at 205 thing and I didn't get the challenge I don't know and now he's fighting an absolute killer in Cyril Gahn who I mean this guy is unbelievable and he's only going to get better too

which is the scary thing about Cyril Gond incredible striker one of the best athletes in the division if not the best athlete in the division if he has a kickboxing match of John Jones he's going to beat the hell out of John Jones March 4th. John Jones cannot take this man down.

It's going to be a tough night for him. Unless he just has spent the last three months becoming freaking Alex Pereira as a space kickboxer. It's going to be a tough night for him. But if he could take, if he can get Cerell down, like if John Jones spent the last three years learning how to wrestle, and I'm not talking about,

because John could always get takedowns, but not like your typical shot-for-shot takedowns. Like he ain't chain wrestling like Colby or anything like that. He's not going to shoot for takedowns in space. Usually his takedowns come against the fence or in clinch positions with trips using momentum. But if John has somehow learned how to create, how to close distance and shoot shots

and grab singles and doubles and traditionally wrestle, and he's quick in that role at heavyweight, and he can get shot takedowns, like legit wrestling takedowns against Cyril Gahn? Boy, is that fight in his favor. Because the way John typically gets takedowns are, like I said, are in the clench, and Cyril Gahn is a murderer in the clinch. So it's fascinating.

But he's not Connor, but he's the best fighter of all time in most, people's eyes. So there's interest, there's intrigue, and boy, does that man have a lot of pressure on him. He's got a lot of pressure on him to perform on March 4th. Because if he gets, goes out there and gets the doors blown off him by Cyril Gahn, boy, it's going to be a tough spot for him. So there you go. All right, I gots to go. Big day. A lot of talking. I get interviews later on. But of course, about an hour and 15 minutes time, 12.30 Eastern. B.T.L. Live. M.A. Fighting YouTube channel, Jedmishu versus Luke Thomas.

Just not, doesn't get any better than that, folks. We try to bring you the goods, and I think we brought you the goods this week. So thank you very much. We're back tomorrow. 10 a.m. Eastern. We'll do the damn thing again. Get you ready for UFC Vegas 69. And that is that. So have a great rest of the day. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.