MMA Fighting - HOAM | What Can Gilbert Burns & Belal Muhammad Do At UFC 288 To Guarantee A Title Shot?

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

It sounds like the people have decided: Mike Perry vs. Luke Rockhold at BKFC 42 is the fight of the weekend. The UFC veterans have engaged in some truly hilarious shenanigans in the lead-up to their bare-knuckle battle and all that’s left to see is if this freak show fight turns out as freaky as advertised. That’s a fitting discussion for this Free-For-All-Friday edition of Heck of a Morning with guest host Alexander K. Lee, who answers questions not only about BKFC 42 and UFC Vegas 72, but a slew of random topics including how the remainder of the NBA Playoffs is likely to play out (and who you’ll see in the Finals), adventures in vegetarian cooking, and the brilliance of Paul Thomas Anderson, as well as fighting business like whether a Gilbert Burns vs. Belal Muhammad stinker will remove both men from the UFC welterweight title picture, what pair of friends do we wish we’d seen meet inside the cage, 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 Follow Alexander K. Lee:  @alexanderklee 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

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 reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster,

the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. What is going on, everyone? Thank you for joining Heck of a Morning again.

This is your guest host, Alexander Kay Lee. For anyone who didn't tune in earlier this week, Mike Heck is on a well-deserved vacation. I've kind of just been taking the reins in the morning show for now. He will be back next week. Thank you, Your Honor. And let's take a little pause here for a second. Let's let these requests come in.

Let's let some listeners come in. And we will start the show properly in about a minute. All right. Again, heck of a morning to everyone. Or I guess as it has been this week, Lee of a morning to you all. I'm told that this is now a free-for-all Friday. This is how Mike does these shows on Friday.

I guess you guys are allowed to ask whatever you want. Of course, we can talk a lot of combat sports. The BKFC 41 hype is in full force. You've had a lot of Mike Perry this week. We've had a lot of Luke Rockhold this week. We've had a lot of Mike Perry and Luke Rockhold interacting with each other. And it's been pretty fun. It's been pretty fun.

So we've talked about the fight a lot, but listen, we can talk about it more. It does seem to be the most intriguing combat sports bout of the weekend. And if we've got to talk about it. But again, it's free for all Friday, please. we can talk about anything NBA playoffs I'm all in football guys I'm a newly born football fan if you guys

have Premier League club recommendations please let me know I'm shopping a Premier League team right now I'm just trying to figure out which team to root for it might take years to pick one but I feel like as a aspiring football fan I must have one but no one will replace my beloved

Celtic who I've been who I've been following for a solid like eight months now so just huge hardcore fan him. And just let's get caught on some of the headlines here, guys. We talked about it yesterday. Nate Diaz did turn himself in to the New Orleans police on second degree battery charges following this street fight that happened last Friday involving a Logan Paul lookalike. These are words. I mean, I can't believe I even say them. But he's, people were asking,

did he go to jail. No, listen, he turned himself in. He's, you know, he did all the paperwork. He's already out, posted bail. And, of course, him and his team are denying all charges saying this some self-defense. There's a lot of video out there. I don't think he's going to jail. I think he will pay a fine and do some community service. There's also, in legal matters, Joe Schilling, kickboxer, Bellator fighter, former Belator fighter,

Joe Schilling. He's also apparently free of this lawsuit that came up when he knocked out a man at a restaurant in Florida. I can't remember what this. This was last year, I guess. It was last two years, two years ago.

Anyway, apparently, according to Florida's stand your ground laws, Joe Schilling is fine. I don't know how people feel about that. I remember what happened. There's people on both sides saying, look, he's a trained fighter. He can't be out here just knocking out people left and right. And then other people saying there was, you know, plenty of video of this guy who Schilling took out being a bit of a part of my language, it's free for off Friday, being a bit of a

douchebag and that Schilling, you know, did the right thing. I don't know. Again, listen, I don't approve of violence. I don't approve of solving problems with violence, but, uh, I don't approve of solving problems of violence. but a lot of people thought this guy F-round and found out. And apparently the courts agree because Joe Schilling is a free man. So if you guys haven't seen that story, yeah, he was cleared, cleared of any wrongdoing.

I don't know if that's the legal way of putting it. But anyway, don't sue me. All right, let's get to some of the calls here. Free for all Friday. Let's go to Abswalia. Let's bring you in first today. All right, Abzwalia, what do you got? MMA, generic sports question, movies, music, art.

Okay. How are you doing it? I'm doing great. Hi, so my first question is with the NBA playoffs, who do you see winning between the Fisling Lakers tomorrow and same for the Kings and Warriors? And what is at stake for either team regarding how the games will play out?

And just to follow up with that NBA question, now that we are getting close to second round, what are your predictions on the teams that can win, like all the teams from the West and East and the second wind they're around. That's all I have today, man. Have a great day. Thanks, as well. I'm so happy to talk NBA. I don't know if this is what people come to. I'm fighting for, but you're going to get it.

So deal with it. And I got no Raptors in the playoffs, so I got a lot of stuff to say. Yes, well, it'll be tonight here in the U.S. So tonight's matchups. That's right. We got our last two Western Conference Playoff Series, so going, Kings Warriors and Grizzlies Lakers. Listen, I do not like this Lakers squad at all. I didn't think they were very good.

I thought the Grizzlies would do better, but I forgot that the Grizzlies are like the biggest fakers this year. They've had just so many weird, dumb problems. The whole John Morant gun thing being a, I don't know, want to be gangster. The chemistry just feels all wrong. It didn't surprise me when it went down 3-1 after watching the first couple of games. Going down, like going into the series,

I was like, this Lakers team is bad. Like the Grizzlies should beat them. But the Grizzies have not looked great either. They're missing Stephen Adams. They're missing Brandon Clark. Anthony Davis, if he was able to assert himself more consistently, this would already be over. Not sure why he's having so many problems scoring inside. But I do think the Lakers will close it out.

And I think the Warriors will also close it out tonight. Just a lot of experience, a lot of experience. Sacramento Kings, very good team. I think this isn't like a fluke thing. I think they'll be in the playoffs the next few years. But we're talking about its squad. that has tonight will be their six playoff game together. The Warriors, this core of Draymond, Steph, Clay, and all these guys,

this is like their 100th and I don't even know, playoff game. There's no substitute for experience. They've looked fantastic. Great effort from the Kings, good team, fun series. I think both series and tonight. So Golden State and Six, Lakers in Six. And who's going to win? Man, it's wide open.

And as a Raptors fan, Toronto fan, it kills me to see Philly and Boston and New York. I think Newark Rick was in the call earlier, who ironically is a Cleveland fan for people who don't know. He's a Cleveland. He's, I believe, originally from Ohio, so he was a Cleveland guy. And so him and Ariel had to butt heads

on the Knicks Cavs series and Ariel Emery. Happy for Elwhamani. Nick's having me out of the first round in a while. But again, Nick's, a New York, Philly, Boston, all guys in the Raptors Division. And it just killed to be seen and succeed.

And it's very likely that Boston might win the title. They're a great team. They have very few weaknesses. I don't know why they didn't sweep Atlanta. that's the only thing to be concerned about. And from the West, I think Phoenix has a chance. They just haven't had a lot of time to gel. Shaheen Al Shadi, if you're out there, don't stop believing.

If not this year, great chance next year. And Denver, I'd really like to see, but a lot of defensive questions. So my pick would be Boston, Boston over Denver in the finals. And now I feel nauseous, just saying it. All right, Tristan, let me bring you in, Tristan. Tristan, what do you got for me? How are you doing, Akeying? How's everything?

This is a two-part question, one basketball, one, MMA. Let's start with basketball here. Let's focus on you, Toronto Raptors here right now. Focus here, the let go of Nick Nurse. I saw the press conference with Musayi Jury. Obviously, he did not indicate where they're going as far as the head coach concerned. Suggestions

that I have, obviously is Kenny Akison. I would like, also too, Jeff Van Gundy, if he's interested to come back and coach. Mark Jackson, I just don't think they're going to hire him because of the issues that he had with front office and Gones State. I just don't think Pesai is going to take the risk on that. Kenny Atkinson is absolutely great as far as developing players.

The thing is, can you convince him to Toronto and then have the insurance that he does it his way? I don't know if they'll get Victor Wenna. That would be absolutely phenomenal because he'd be right there in Toronto, French-Canadian connection. From Toronto to France is like what hop jumps skipping it. way. Just if they don't get Victor, the onus has got to be on Scotty Bond here. I mean, the offseason program and him taking the onus on himself to be like, I got to be better. Because I think he could be elite. I think he could be a superstar. They need a superstar play on that team. Once they have a superstar play on the team, all bets are out there, those

guys are going to competing for titles all the time. It's just, you know, whatever issues that they had with Nick Nurse, I think Dick Nurse is still a great coach. I spoke to a friend of mind he's also a Toronto Raptors fan. He feels that Nick Nurse was overplaying the guys, playing them way too many minutes, not utilizing the bench enough. So, you know, that's the thing, my thing,

is the focus has got to be on Scotty bars. They said that he's untouchable. They're not trading him. Maybe Seaccom and OG are tradable. I don't think they're going to trade for him. I think he's a great point guard. I think he'd be okay. So just your thoughts and what direction you want them to go and how they could get better and they can compete for championships year after year after year.

And then my second question is focus on MMA here. Let's look at Song Yudong versus Ricky Simone. Now, the thing about what is your focus, what is your thing about Song Yudong, your assessment on him? Now, I watched that fight against Corey Sanhagen. The guy kept putting so much pressure and he was just eating shots. His durability is amazing.

And if you remember that fight, once San Hagan sat on the stool, he was getting frustrated. He's like, God, keeps eating my shots. And I think he was worried that if he kept eating the shots and then swung on him with one punch and that connected, San Higgen might have been out. So, I mean, but obviously good on Corey San Hagan to keep staying in the course

and then, you know, keep, you know, mixing up with strikes and cutting it, believe near his orbital, that had to stop the fight. And just what do you think your assessment of Song Yonong year? This guy goes out there and finishes Ricky Simone. I mean, the sky's the limit for this guy. So just your thoughts of what I just said. Thanks for everything, AK.

Thanks, Tristan. Thanks, calling in. All right, I'll be quicker with the NBA thoughts, because, again, I know I'm drowning you guys and stuff. But please keep the questions coming in. I love talking basketball, but I don't want to alienate, you know, our usual MMA fan list.

for sure. Yeah, Kenny Atkinson, my number one choice for the Raptors. I'm a huge fan. Guys like Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy are always getting talked about for head coaching jobs. I'm sure they still can still do it. Jeff Van Gundy, I think, I don't know, people always talk about it. He just, it's being a broadcaster is such a good gig for these guys. It's so much less stressful than being a head coach. Head coach salaries, I guess, for guys like them is probably better. I think, I think if you are able to get a good, if they were to come to Toronto, I don't know what the broadcast rate is, but they probably would get a very good deal to come Toronto. And so money would be a motivating factor.

But compared to the level of stress, how much they have to work, I think these guys would prefer to stay broadcasting, especially when they're walking into like a situation where it's very unclear whether they're going to do a full rebuild, whether they're going to try and run it back with some of these veterans, because I love these guys, love Pascal, OG, Fred Van Vleet, but they weren't winning a lot of games this year or not. not enough anyway. So how much can you stick with these guys? 2019 forever.

Listen, 2019 championship forever. How long can you stick with these guys? I think it would be cool. Becky Hammond, I think it would be very cool. Listen, I can't deny. It would just be a great to make his be part of history and say that the franchise you root for hired the first female head coach ever at the NBA level. That'd be awesome.

But also she's super deserving. I mean, she has been an assistant for some top flight teams, top flight coaches. She is a head coach in the NBA. So this is not a, this is not just like a gimmick hiring, not a token hiring. She has, if anything, it's probably overdue for her to get a head coaching gig. And if it would Toronto to be the one to grant her that opportunity, I think that would be so, so, so cool. I'm ready for all the flakshy.

I'm sure she's ready for all the flags she got to take from fans, from media, from players, even. There probably are players who don't want to, who might not deal well with being coached by women. But listen, this is the 21st century. I mean, it's time. It's overdue. it's overdue. So Becky would be a great pickup. So her, Kenny Atkinson, I'd be thrilled.

And as for Nick Ners, he was in a tough situation. Yeah, you want him to develop guys like Scott. He's got to the future. But I feel like the mandate was also to win games. And frankly, the front office did not give him a great bench. He had to play the starters a lot. You can tell him to develop guys, but it's that or win games. You couldn't do both what the roster he had. But I'm fine with them parting ways.

And I wish nothing. Nick Ners, nothing but the best. Sonia Don and Ricky Simone. I can't talk about how much I love this match. enough. You want to focus on the song side for sure. He's wickedly talented. He's still so young in the game. He's 25 years old.

The fight years do pile up more. I think we always have to emphasize this. We always say, oh, this person's 22, 23, 24, 24, 25, 26. Like, they're not even 30 yet. But it's more important to sort of look at their record. It's why we kind of like a little disrespectful to Max Holloway last week. We're like, oh, he's only

31, but think about the wars he's been in and we're questioning his chin. Well, he shut us up. But it is a factor. You know, it is something that has to be considered, I feel like. And Sonia Dong has 28 pro bouts. How many of those in the UFC? He has 28 pro bouts, 11 in the UFC. And these are, like, high competition.

Like his third fight, Alejandro Perez, Turbo, very tough opponent. Cody Stamman, his fourth fight, Marlon Vera, his fifth fight, he's not beginning an easy go of being built up. That's why he has tough losses to Kyler Phillips, Corey Sanhagan, and might get a tough loss to Saturday against Ricky Simone. That does not, by any mean, dismiss him from future title contendership. He has, he's a plus athlete. A lot of people are at 135 is a tough division.

So he's a plus athlete, which is always great, has great punching power. And as you said, like there's just been kind of moments where he's maybe just a shade off. And you feel like if he ever gets that timing down and just consistently is able to knock out some of these higher tier guys like Corey Sanhagan, like I don't know, Piotr Yon, if he matches like that happened. if he rematches Cheeto and he won a controversial decision the first time. If he knocked out Cheeto, it would be unbelievable. So he's a huge power puncher and maybe just needs to round out his game a little more. But I mean, how can you not love but you see from him? And if he beats Ricky Simone, puts him right back on track.

And it's just a very exciting guy to watch. So it's just unfortunate he's in a very, very, very, very deep division, one that just keeps getting deeper every month it feels like. So thanks for that call. CB, I'll go to your next. Toke, I see you. Of course, we're going to bring you in. Let's go to CB first.

Let's up, C.V. What do you got for us? Give you a second. I'll give you a second to chime in here. I don't know you could be driving. It could be your work. I know it's always a little awkward to call into the show. CV, I can't hear you.

I might have to come back to you. Okay, no worries, man. No worries. chime in. chime in. Toke, we will go to you, sir. C.B. Oh, CV, I'll remove you for now, but stick around, please.

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Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Record by American law, with the whole shilling thing. Because I remember when it went viral, I was just like, how is that ever self-defense? But hey, um, I mean, I do martial arts myself. I, I, uh, I, uh, Muitai train. Uh, so I'm just, I just know that I should never use it unless it is in a, in a regulated fighting setting.

So, or self-defense. So this is just weird to me. But I really just wanted to call in and say, thank you for the two and a half years of DMs. And now I get to know you a bit better. Uh, and, uh, And to get to know you, even more, even better still, I'm wondering. Before you go, I want to say thank you because I say this all the time on onto the next one.

And I've said it here calling into the heck of the morning, I think. Like, you were one of the first people to submit picks to onto the next one when Mike is starting off the show. And we get plenty of picks now. So it's great. We actually have to sort through them. We got so many. But before it was, you know, and we knew it wouldn't be like all coming in at one.

But it was maybe like, you know, four or five people a week. You were one of them. It really encouraged us and told us like, oh, this is a good idea. Like, this is something people are interested in. And now, and now, you know, the show has gone on for quite a while now. We love doing it. So thank you. Thank you, too.

Yeah, no problem. Like, someone has to get the ball rolling. And I had thoughts. You know, some of my picks are dubious. But I want to get to know you a bit better. So I want to know, and this is not about MMA at all. So I'm going to ask you this. It's like Friday night.

You haven't really bought groceries for any dinner or something. You have to figure something out on the spot. What is the dish that you go to? For me, it's like spaghetti carbonata or even a go-choo-jong stir fry. That's the two things that I do most. But I just want to know what's the AK dish of choice? That's actually my only question. Have a good day Friday.

Thank you. Thank you, Doug. That's a great question, actually. Okay, so I should tell people, CV, I see you again, I'm going to bring you in. Because there's not a lot to say here because I am not a great cook. I am a ham sandwich. Maybe I can roast up a pork chop, very lightly seasoned. I'm a terrible cook.

I am now dating a vegetarian. She's a pretty strict vegetarian. And, you know, one of the goals that I want to be able to cook better and also cook things that she may want to eat, that she can't eat. She's got some allergies too. So one thing I won't say this is one of my specialties. I would like it to be is I was working on this like tofu stir fry that I found online. I wish I could remember like the exact name and competition, composition, excuse me. But as a tofu, I have the recipe saved somewhere.

It was a tofu stir fry. And again, if you guys, I wish you, I should have recorded and documented this whole thing. Because like I said, I'm a terrible, terrible cook. So it was, I chopped way too many vegetables. I chopped vegetables for like half an hour. I'm pretty sure when you're preparing a meal, you don't need to chop vegetables for 30 minutes. But I didn't know my portions, and in my head,

I'm like better to have more than not enough. I probably had too much tofu as well. So it was a huge, it was a huge mess. It just looked, listen, I'm a grown man who doesn't know how to cook properly. But again, I'm working on it, and I want this to go to things. I want to get better at cooking vegetarian things. It came out okay.

It actually tasted like not. terrible. It's one of those meals. I think, and as it, I think the leftovers were even better. I think the flavors kind of soaked into the tofu better over the next day, but I was so, uh, nervous and I was so, uh, embarrassed. That's why I didn't tape it. I don't think anyone needs to know how incompetent I am. But I'm working on it. That's a great question. And it, it's inspiring me to want to cook more. It was still very fun. And she is very grateful. And I think she even pretended to like it. So, uh, that story ended well. But yeah, I don't have any real regular. regular go-to meals.

Hopefully that'll become one of them, and it won't take me however many hours it took. It'll get quicker as it go on it. It can become a quick Friday night meal. All right, CV, you are back. You are back, CB. Let's hope we can get you in here.

CV, I think I hear you. Yo. What's up? I'm glad we're having like a mini NBA version of type of a morning, or Lee of a morning. I thought I saw New York

here too, so I wanted to ask what time will be the mix and Cavs game six. Oh, Steve, come on. We don't do that here. This is a positive space.

Unless you're here to talk crap about actually the Celtics or the Nix or Philly, then by all means, go ahead. Well, I'm going to put it on to the universe right now. We're going to have a Celtics, Lakers, finals. Oh. You can tell Mike that, too. You know, besides the Rathters,

the Lakers are my team. But, yeah, just a super quick question for me. How do you think the BKF? main event's going to play out. Thoughts on the co-main event as well. Yeah. That's it for me. Thanks, TV.

Thanks. Yeah, we talked about the BKFC main event a bit. We've talked about the co-main event a little bit. At this point, it's like, are any of our feelings changed after, you know, just sort of seeing the buildup, right? That's really kind of what we have to go on. We had the face-to-face day at May hour. We had a face-off on Wednesday, I think.

I want to say, excuse me. And then we had another, what, stare down yesterday with some fun shenanigans with Luke Rockhold and Mike Perry. This is, it's BKFC, I don't want to say they always do things the right way, but they do a lot of things the right way. You know, your mileage may vary with the product. Your mileage may vary with the concept, some of the mattress they have, some of the, you know, some of the people they sign. but they really get to the point of why people watch combat sports. I might be speaking for myself. Let me say.

Sorry, why I watched combat sports, and I think at least some people would agree. Past all the titles, past all the showmanship, and whatever MMA has become since it's gone sort of mainstream, is MMA started off as, or a big part of MAA is, do you want to see two people fight? this is why I always have such problems with like belts you know holding up tight oh I don't want to fight this person because I'm the champion they haven't earned it or or rankings you know rankings make things problematic too it's like oh well he's number he's not even the tough team I don't want to fight him there used to be a time when it was just like man I'd love to see this guy fight this guy I'll pay money to do it UFC whoever belt or pride make it happen and that's how we'll go and that's what we'll go maybe it was never quite that so simple but that That is the basic tenet of fighting.

Fighting in general. Do you want to see two people fight each other? You see two people in the street and you go like, oh, that'd be cool if that person fought that person. I wonder who would win. That is the essence of a fight with Luke Rockhold and Mike Perry. These guys, again, when they're in the UFC, we're not even remotely in each other's atmosphere.

You wouldn't match these two up in MMA. You still wouldn't today. It makes no sense. But let's take the gloves off. Let's unmix the martial arts. Let's put them in there. Luke Rockhold says, listen, this is what I'm meant to do.

You know, he was a UFC champion, but he wants to show hands. You know, we know he's a great grappler. We know he can strike, too, but we know him as a great grappler. Does he have hands? We know Mike Perry has hands. Mike Perry's got a highlight reel of knockouts. So I'm with the majority here.

I just don't see how this doesn't end with Luke Rockhold getting colded. But it's this to combat sports. This is bare knuckle. A lot of random stuff can happen. Maybe Luke Rockhold's right. I mean, he's a bigger guy for sure. that has to matter. I know people usually, you know, think about size

and talking about grappling and things like that, but, you know, even with striking with the ability of absorber punch, that has to matter, right? So, Mike Perry, for sure, for the win, knockout, but I'm intrigued, man, I'm intrigued. This is by no means, like, while I'm just watching to see Luke Rockhold get knocked out,

I think there's a lot of random stuff that can happen. And I love the Chad Mendez, Eddie Alvarez, Coal Main Events. Again, this is what it's fighting is about. Do you want to see two people fight? This is a great, this is, I'll stop short of calling it, dream matchup, but Chad Mendes, I feel like probably one of the more underrated guys of his

era, fought for the UFC title multiple times, took Aldo to the limit in their rematch, and just has a lot of top high-level wins on his resume. I never thought he crossed past with Eddie Alvarez, but again, thank you to the BKFC for making this happen, because that's what combat sports is about, is making dreams come true. Maybe someday we see, God willing, you know, Anderson Silva and George St. Pierre and BKFC or Tony Ferguson and called Nomega Medov and BKFC, it'll never happen. But I'm saying that's the kind of cool thing that comes

with with Fair anduckle. It's just like you can really find a middle ground to just throw hands at each other. And that's awesome. So great. I know this is what people will be watching with respect to UFC Vegas 72 and totally understandable. I don't blame anyone for it. Panda, let's go. Panda, let's bring you in. Give Panda a second here.

It might be catching them off guard. My man, AK, how are you? What's going on? Yeah, just takes a little bit to connect, so weird. But question for you. Be short and sweet on this heck of a morning, heck of a Friday, I guess you could say. Comain this weekend should be fun while at last.

Would be a little surprised if it got to the cards. Kio B.io versus, oh boy, Mikkel Olenjeechek. I did my best for A.K. What do you think? I mean, I expect a lot of violence. Again, I'd be very surprised if it got to the cards. I'm not going to lie. I'm very surprised.

The only J-Sack is like plus 290. I feel like this is like an auto take for me just because of all the violence I've seen him output in his career. But the level of competition isn't 100% there when you do look into it. What do you think, my man, Mike? Oh, my God, AK, O for two on that. Did you do that again the other day or was that someone else? Nope, that was me, O for two.

Well, thank you, Ken, for calling you Mike. That's my best friend, so I take no offense to it. Thanks, Bant. Yeah, the Co-Main. Look, sorry, guys, I should be taking note. I've got to be taking notes here. Just one. Yeah, the Co-Main, I think it's a cool fight.

We talked about Kyle Buhlio being, you know, Mr. Co-Main event. Such a weird designation to have, but it's something. It's a good gimmick, not to mention he's a good fighter, has got a nice-looking record. UFC seems to like him, seems to be into him. very eager to push him. And that's great.

And I talked about Kyle earlier this week. I really didn't talk enough about the Michael, McCall-Olexeychik side of it because I loved him dropping down to 185. Like, he wasn't bad at light, heavyweight at all. He probably could have carved out a nice career there. At 185, he's like a sleeper, he's like a sleeper contender. I know that's not saying a lot because Izzy has, you know, has taken out a lot of the divisions.

So theoretically, you kind of just need to string together, there maybe four or five wins to sneak into that title picture. And Oleg State Check now, two and no, one of those wins over the inimitable Sam Alvey. So make up that which you will. Sam Alvey books, by the way. I don't know people knew this. Sam Alvey's book to fight in next month, May 27th, B2 fighting series and a heavyweight bout against Cameron Graham.

I think people did mention this. I think maybe I'm the last one to hear about it. But Mikel and Kyle Barallio, yeah, it's a good co-main event. It's a good co-main event. This card, and I'm loath to use this phrase, this card is what it is. It is what it is. If I have to give the gymnastics rating, it's sub-8, which for a UFC card is very hard to do. It's like 7.6, 7.5, if everything goes correctly, if we get highlights, if we get competitive fights,

if we get, you know, storylines coming out of the main, co-main, then it's fun. Then you've, you know, this card has done its job. This card is just meant to exist. It has to take up this time slot. It is to fulfill, this ESPN deal. and there are implications for the guys involved, so I don't mean to say, like, it doesn't mean anything to Song Yadon and Ricky Simone.

Kyle Baha'aliou and Michael Alexeciuk, whoever wins, is definitely due for a jump-up in competition. Kyle has been talking a lot of game recently. He was on, I don't want to butcher this, so let me read it out very carefully. I know I'm going to say it wrong anyway, but Guillermoe's podcast, he spoke to Kyle Baha'ahlio this week, the Troca Sao Franca podcast.

I know that is not right. And listen, Kyle's talking. He's doing the right thing. He's talking. He's trash-talking Boe-Nickel. It's calling him all hype. I think that's a fight I'd like to see some day. Though if you're Bo, you're probably thinking I'm one or two wins away from just

soaring up the charts. There's just so much hype behind him. But yeah, check out those interviews on M.A.flying.com. There's certainly more to come. I believe there's more comments from Kyo coming today or Saturday, but Guillermo doing a great job talking to a guy who, again, is either, listen, Kyo is either one of the rising stars of the 185 pound division or future middleweighty middleweight title contender.

Either way. Either way. It's all coming up aces. So, yeah, I'm into that fight for sure. So still waiting. Guys, anyone wants to call in, by all means, you will jump to the front of the line. I do feel bad. I know there's people early this week who,

I couldn't get to. So hopefully if you're able to chime in, I'll try to keep track. And it looks like we have someone. Oh, of course, of course. Let's bring in this special guest. Michael Heck, you are on. My best friend.

My best friend. Do I hear palm trees and seagulls? I mean, are you all in at the beach right now? Is Florida Mike kicking it in full force? Florida Mike does not make his appearance until tomorrow. Oh, okay. But he will be making an appearance. in a big way. I'm very excited.

It's my mom's 70th birthday today. So we're going to drive out and surprise her. All my brothers are flying in to Florida. So it's going to be a nice weekend for the mom, you know? Yes. I was going to wait until Sunday, but I'll say it now. And heck of morning. Everyone, happy birthday to Mama Heck.

Happy birthday, Mama Heck. So I have a question for you, AK. I had the honor and privilege of speaking to the great John Annette. earlier this week. That interview will be popping up on M.A.fighting.com on the YouTube channel, probably sometime next week, but we talked about the Colmate event between Gilbert Burns and Balaamah Muhammad, and I wanted to sort of gauge his excitement on the fight. It's not that he's not excited about it, it's that he just wishes it wasn't coming together in the way that it's come together, because as of right now, it appears as if Leon Edwards, if he fights Colby Covington,

it's not going to be to like September or October. So in John's mind, like, what's the rush to put this fight together? You got Gilbert Burns who just fought Jorge Mazadol. You have Bilal Mohammed who's just coming off of Ramadan. And kudos to both guys, obviously, for taking this fight. He just feels like, why not just wait and just throw it on the undercard or throw it in the co-made event spot or the featured bout of whatever fight the title fights on that it has a little bit more meaning not saying that does that meaning now and the other thing he mentioned was he doesn't

think the loser of this fight is going to take that big of a step back while most of us would think like a fight like if we'll all lose most people think like if he'll all loses this fight he's out of title contention for a while because of the road he's had to take to get here it's taken him forever already and john doesn't feel like that's necessarily the case because of of the short notice nature. So why to sort of gauge your thoughts on why this fight is happening so quickly? And do you agree with John that the loser, while it's a step back, it's not necessarily like a forever step back.

I will hang up and listen, my best friend. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, my best friend. Get back to vacationing. Get back to your, my tides. Like heck, everybody. He's the best. Cole, I see you requesting.

I will get to you. Please stick around if you can. Yes, Gilbert versus Balal, great fight. Isn't a great fight? We all want to see it. It is weird that it is being put together so shortly. And in a way, they're kind of taking advantage of two gamers. I mean, Gilbert is always saying he'll fight the job of a hat.

Balal is trying to do anything to get that fight that guarantees him a title shot. It feels like this should be the one. But it is kind of crappy that because the U.S. he knows these guys are looking for a fight and knows that they're willing to sign up again on pretty, short, you know, relatively short notice. And, you know, for their own purposes, they, they felt they need to bolster this UFC 288 card in New Jersey after losing out on Charles Oliveran and Benny Darius, which was sort of there locked in, like, this is number one contender,

lightweight bout, because it's a good card. It's a good card. Like, I think Jessica Andrage, Jan Shanan is a really good card, a fight as well. I don't know if it moves the needle. It just, I guess just wasn't enough for them to comfortably put that as the comane. And if you look at the rest of the hard. Nothing really screams, like, definitive, penultimate fight. I mean, Parker Porter's on there, you know, it looks like he's opening the card, which is just tragic. He should be closer to the Colmain, if not the Coal Main itself. But they went with Balal and Gilbert, which is a choice, and that's fine. But yeah, listen, these guys are serving the whims of the promotion. They are reliable. They're going to say yes. It's not ideal for either of them. It's really unfortunate. It's not

ideal for either of them. You're right. What is, what is for their, for the purposes of their careers, What is the rush? There is no reason that they should have to fight so soon, but it is what we're getting. And if you're a fan going to this card in Newark, you're probably grateful that they put it on. But I do feel a little bit of sympathy for both guys. A loss is not going to, because they've both had such great runs lately, loss doesn't knock them out of the picture too much. I do feel like Gilbert is a little bit safer than Balala's.

His position is safer, I mean. He has a reputation as a fight finisher. he's kind of has more notable wins the Horan Masmedal, the Stephen Thompson Bilal has Stephen as well but who beat him first? I want to say it was let's see, Bilal, Steve, that was July 21st for Gilbert

and December, yeah, December 2020, 2021 for for, excuse me, for Balal, excuse me, guys, my mind is being fried right now. So, you know, Gilbert kind of did it first. He kind of did it first. And I just, Bala is just one of those guys. He's almost in the

Baneal train where it's like, for whatever reason, he just hasn't shown enough. I don't know why they, I get it. He goes to a decision a lot, but the decision doesn't mean bad fight. It does occasionally mean not super memorable. I don't think it kills either guy's chance of the loss, but Gilbert Burns' spot is safer. I feel like he can get, you know, still get

a big fight. Belal, I feel like if he loses to Gilbert Burns, the matchmakers will be fine with going like, well, that kind of removes him from our equation for now, we can put him back on, you know, fight nights and, uh, pay-per-view, you know, main card openers and, and, uh, he'll have to burn his shot back. So there's a lot in the line for the law here. There's a lot in the line. And, uh, it's less than ideal circumstances. But, you know, I'm a fan of the fight. It could definitely be put back later.

Cole, let's get to you, sir. Cole, you've been waiting patiently. Miggy, I see you as well. Let's get, let's bring Cole in here. Hey, Cole. Good morning, A.K. Lee. It's good to talk to you. Good morning. I'll leave a morning to you, sir. Oh, it's a Liam of a morning. I love it. Collinia from beautiful Iowa State University. Just got a question on the heavyweight division.

You probably already gotten a couple questions on this. Some of my buddies are saying some things about Pavlovich's next fight. I think you have to go Pavlovich versus gone sometime in the fall, late year maybe. I just, I think, you know, John's going to fight once this year. probably won't fight until April at the earliest next year. I think you got to keep those two guys busy. Just wondering what you think, where does Tom Aspinall fit into all this?

And do you think that's next for both Surreal and Sergey? I'll hang up and listen. Thanks, Colt. Yeah. Yeah, Tom Aspinall, kind of an X-factor in all this. Let me make a little note here. Yeah, first with Pavlovich. He should wait.

I mean, I'd love to see him fight again. I'd love to see him fight Cedulagan. I feel like that's going to happen someday no matter what. But, Dan Cormone, I sort of mentioned earlier this week. Like, Sergey, you are the number one or number two guy behind Stevie Miochich. He is once in the UFC's official rankings. Polovich is number two. In the M.A. fighting global rankings, I think he settled in at number four.

Either way, and depending who you ask, I did a Twitter poll, and it was pretty strongly. People would rather see Sergey fight John Jones over Stepe. But on YouTube, it was a little closer and more favorable for Stepe. And there's a lot more votes on YouTube, too. So I'm not sure with them. It wasn't like Domit. It was like 56% Stepe and like 44% like Sergey or something.

So it was close, but there's still an audience out there that values the star power of Stepe Mayochage. So Sergey is fifth in the NBA fighting global rankings. he should wait he should wait if he can wait if he can afford to wait if the uc doesn't try to put the screws to him and say look you got a fight gone if you want to have a if you want to have a title shot we're not making you the backup i think that would suck i mean pavitch has already done them with good deed he was the backup for the gone jones fight so he's already done backup duty um now whether that means he shouldn't have to do backup duty again and like i would think he should get into a title shot we know that's not happening

Steppe is John Jones's preferred opponent. He's the UFC's preferred opponent. But in a just world, Sergei Pavlis would be fighting John Jones next. John Jones just has zero interest in that. He still has not even tweeted about him, not even tweeted and deleted. And this is John Jones we're talking about. No passive, aggressive shot at Sergey, nothing. I'm not even sure he saw that fight.

I'm not sure he's aware it happened. That's a bad sign of trying to get a fight with John Jones. But that backup spot is there for the taking. because I think any John Jones fight needs a backup and the UFC knows that. And if you're Sergei, that is your role. Not avoid. I want to say what he's not afraid of Cedilagan.

There's just very little for him to gain from that matchup. Cool fight. We're going to see it someday. But if you're Pablo Wich, you gain literally nothing. You are in position to be the backup for that fight whenever it's booked between John John Cioniozich. Stay away from this Cielagon matchup.

He could win it, Sure. But Cilagan is, I know people are down on him after that John Jones performance. He's still one of the best heavyweights in the world. John Jones is just frigging amazing and trucked him. Said more about John Jones than it did about Cilogne, frankly. And it would be mostly a striking matchup, and Gond really excels in those. So, Sergei, stay away.

You're in the backup. Don't fight Cilogne. Tom Aspidal, he's a factor, for sure. He's a factor. Very unfortunate that injury he suffered against Curtis Blades. I mean, we all thought he was trending upwards. I believe he was favored in that fight as well. So clearly, listen, the people are really starting to believe in as a contender.

I don't know what is for him when he comes back. I hope the UFC is smart about it. They don't need to thrust him right back in that title picture. Again, we've got Jodzano Mata and Jarzino also in there fighting for a spot, fighting for, you know, to be in line, to be number one, number two contender. Tommy Aspinall, take your time. There are plenty of heavyweights to match the one with who he can beat, get back on the saddle against, and I look forward to that.

So Tommy Aspenall is by no means out of the title picture. If anything, by 2024, don't be surprised if that long-awaited tell a shot finally happens, whether it's against John Jones or more likely sort of vacant or interim title, depending where Jones is at by the end of the year. Because he's been saying a lot about Steepie being his last fight, which I think is silly. But if he wants to retire, he wants to retire, what you do? Miggy, thank you for your patience. Let's bring you in.

All right, Miggie. Hopefully you're still there. I know it's, you have to wait. I hear you very well. Awesome. Yeah, I should have a quick question. Going back to the Gilbert versus the Belal fight, now we both know, everybody knows, I think, at this point that it's regarding

getting a title shot, securing a title shot for whoever wins on that fight. But I was just curious, what happens, it's the fight game, right? But it's also the entertainment business. What happens if the fight is a bit of a lackluster performance in a sense that, oh, it didn't, that both guys are gun-shy. There's a lot of grappling, but not a lot of action, maybe like too many eye-pokes or so. Because these things can happen, hopefully not.

But I'm just saying if that happens, and let's say Leon is like, okay, I'm stuck with a guy in Colby that hasn't fought in over a year. And the other guys is either Belal or Gilba, but they're coming out of a performance that it's hard to sell for a title shot after. what will happen with those with Bilal and Gilbert? Whoever wins if they become a lacklust. Do you think it's a better chance for Leon to fight them

or Leon has to fight Colby? Oh, that's a good question. Yeah, how the bout actually plays out is super important. All right, let me break this down. There is definitely a chance. I think it's unlikely it's a snoozer. I think Balal has really kind of been turning it up with his performances. love the Sean Brady fight.

I love the Vicente Lucque fight too. I wouldn't call the Vicente, you know, the Vizente Lucke fight dull. Gil Burns, again, also has a pretty good track record of bringing the excitement. Both of them, you know, maybe had to slow things down against Stephen Thompson, but Stephen Thompson's tricky matchup. You got to do what you got to win fights. So I would bet against it being a snoozer. I think it's going to be a great competitive fight.

But, yeah, it, listen, it just happens in M.A. Derek Lewis and Francine got her, right? the most extreme example. Sometimes it looks like you have a banger of a matchup on paper. Two guys super hungry. You should be going balls to the wall to try and impress, to try and earn a title shot. And it doesn't happen.

It doesn't happen. The openings don't show up. You know, both guys are maybe played a little too safe. It's certainly possible. Maybe we get one of these horrible sort of inconclusive, you know, like what happened with Curtis Blades and Tom Aspinall to get the injury or with Calvin Cater and Arnold Allen, you've got the injury, right?

Maybe if Arnold Allen just gets a clean win over Calvin Cater, he doesn't have to do that Max Holloway fight, right? So this stuff happens. What if this happens? Fingers crossed, you know, what this happens to Gilbert or Ballal? One of them suffers an injury first or second round, inconclusive. The other guy's not getting a title shot off that. You know, it's just not going to happen. I even sort of balked the suggestion that this is a surefire number one contenders fight.

Like, it should be. But I don't think the well, I don't, I would highly doubt the UFC has promised anything. either guy again because gilbert's had his shot uh ballal is just not someone they've ever heavily pushed as a title contender even though he should be so they'll find another way honestly they'll find another opponent for leon like i shopcots out there shopcots out there if colby beats if colby gets the title shot as expected and beats leon i mean if you're kamar ozman don't you go like well i guess i'm not done at 170 yet i'm going let me fight this guy third time i beat him twice already suddenly ozman's in play they'd love to put who's um

won the title fight ahead of Bola or Gilbert Burns. They'd love to give a telefight to Wonderboy. I don't know. God, if Wonderboy has a fight with Michelle Perreira, and Leon Edwards would love that fight too. You know, I think, I think like there's just so many, oh, I have to remind myself here. Hold on.

I had a weird moment there. Okay, I'm not crazy if they haven't fought. Leon Edwards would love to fight Wonderboy. Very winnable fight, bigger name than Gilbert and Balal Maham. They have options in 170. They're not great options from an erotocracy standpoint. point, I know you guys are hearing these names. I'm going to like, why?

Why would any of those guys get a shot over, you know, Gilbert or Balal? But again, name value matters a lot. Sort of the history some of these fighters have, but the promotion matters a lot. It just don't be surprised. I will say with, on the Prince of positivity, I will say with confidence, I think Gilbert or Bilal, whoever wins does get that next shot, whether it's against Land Edwards or

Colby Cummington or, you know, whatever, whatever happens to the World's World's World's title with that shot. But this is MMA. Don't be surprised if one of these veteran names sneaks in there, Kamar Usman, Stephen Thompson, again, or Shopcott somehow finally gets that title shot. We all see him as a future champion. Jack Delamadalina has a great fight coming up.

I don't think they rush him to a title shot, but he's been knocking people out left and right. And if they have a card in Australia, maybe you throw him in there. Maybe you throw Jack Delamadena in there. So a lot can happen to this. uh this fight at uc 288 i i hate i hate to say it for gilvin bow all because they they should get a title shot but there's a lot of names out there guys there's a lot of names

out there all right let's look uh let's look even more at some of these upcoming cards well we'll see if see if you can get any other uh call there should chime in here so we've got to fight night let's talk about we've only really talked about bkfc the main and co-main but there's some there's some intriguing stuff on here uh hold on i got to bring up the car i know we have a title fight with christine fray and Beck Rawlings the always animated

Beck Rawlings she wore a shirt yesterday, Beck Rawlings. I don't think I can say on the show what the shirt said but you guys can look

at our social media and I believe I want to say we took a shot of it for Instagram or you can check Drake Riggs's social media.

I saw him tweeted out the shirt she was wearing. It was very funny but also it's a little body guys, a little body

Something I can't really repeat, but Beck Rollings is not the type to be overshadowed. Let me put it that way. She is not the type to take a backseat to the main and co-main. Backseat. She's in a title fight. I believe this is the, I want to say this is the only title fight of the card, unless Chad Mendez and Eddie Alvarez are fighting for something. This episode is brought to you by Peloton.

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Our buyers have got you covered. Marshals, we get the deals. You gift the good stuff. I believe that is the only title fight on the card. and Christian Freya, very underrated as far as BKFC standouts go. Like, Fun Fighter. I think she's definitely got a personality and edge to her.

She definitely stands out in that way. We got Ben Rothwell, regrettably fighting Josh Copeland. I'd rather not see Josh Copeland in the fighting arena anymore for some of his things that he's done in the past. But Ben Rothwell, exciting. I'm always good to see Ben compete He's been very supportive of the BKFC Of the bare knuckle movement

He's spilled his blood for MMA Listen, he has paid his dues And now he's looking to get some fat checks And bare knuckles, so we can't complain about that And UFC veterans Chris Komoxi And Dan Spahn are also in there So these BKFC cards lately They've got like

I know I said this top of the show And I really can't hurt right enough They've been delivering both in terms of the star power and some of the highlights. I think like every show, there's some wackiness that's going on. And again, I always say, M.A. is supposed to be fun. So I get it. You know, bare-knuckle isn't for everyone. You know, and it's easy to ignore.

Same with influencer boxing. I know that's not for everyone either. But it's just another outlet for some of these fighters, some of these recognizable names, or the opposite people trying to make a name for themselves. Shout us to Saltpoppy. you know, it's another outlet for them to do that. And I can't support it enough. Bare knuckle, is it dangerous? Sure.

M.A is super dangerous. Boxing with gloves on is super dangerous. So the optics of it are always going to weird some people out, but I have nothing but support for the BKFC. Again, even though I don't always agree with some of the people they sign up with, sign up to compete, but such is life. Looking further at, and you know, we can look ahead too next week. I know Mike, Michael have a lot to say about UFC 288,

and we've had some questions on there. I do want to know how people are feeling about a question that was asked earlier this week. I thought it was a really great question. I wish I could remember who asked it. Who does the UFC want to win the main event? Who does the UFC want to win the main event? You can tell yourself, you know, oh, you know, that the UFC, when it comes to matches like this, they don't actually have a preference.

but I don't think you bring back a guy like Suhudo unless you have a plan. Because he left them high and dry in 2020. Mike has gone on and on about how ridiculous it is that Henry Sehudo, you know, was talking about coming retirement, making demands, saying this person should fight me, this person should fight me, they should give me this title shot, when again, he left of his own accord. And that was his right. No one's judging the way he initially retired.

tired. That's that's the right way to do it. He essentially said if the price is right, I may fight again, but it isn't right now. So I'm off. I'm going to go and join my life. And that was great, fully supported. But under those circumstances, unless you were this super dominant champion who rattled off seven, eight straight title defenses, which just doesn't happen anymore in the modern NBA landscape, you shouldn't just walk back into a title shot. Especially, you know, people were saying, Is this a one-off? Again, because they gave him the shot, I get the feeling that there are plans

for more with Henry Sikudo. Of course, there's him wind of fight Volkanowski. That's always a possibility. And there's other great band-in-way fights. Him and O'Malley would be a cool fight. So for me, I've leaned towards them saying that I think they want Sado to win. I could be way off.

That's my feel for it. I've never felt they've really been behind Al Jermaine Sterling. But maybe I'm wrong. If anyone has a thought on that, by all means, let me know, tell me what a fool I am, and I will, it'll hurt my feelings, but I'll live. I'll live. And I need to, you know, listen, maybe I need to, maybe I need to hear it.

We talked a lot about Balal Mohammed, Gilbernes, and the Komeni. Jessica Andraj, returning to 1.15 to fight Jan Shaunan, Jessica Andrash has just been pound for pound, one of the best, most entertaining fighters over the last couple of years. I think she's a point in viewing. I think in a fair and just world, she would be as big a star as, like, Ronda Rousey. I know that's not how this business works,

and that's not how entertainment works, and how the fight game works. I know she's coming off a rough loss to Aaron Blanchfield, but I think that kind of woke her up to, you know, maybe 125 is not where she's going to get a title shot again, and also Aaron Blanchfield is just freaking awesome. So now, she's back at 115. She's very much in play for a title shot.

never got that second crack as Zhang Wei Li. Still remains sort of one of the stranger title changes in U.C. history because if people remember, when Zhang Wei beat Tizagandraj, very impressive win, first round knockout, but it happened on a card that, for those of us over in North America, happened in like the middle of the morning. And I don't think I was at NMA fighting. I think I was working at the score, I want to say, when this happened. Or was I working in a May fighting?

Maybe it was. Either way, I remember it happening. And I think I don't remember if I was, I think I was up. I think I was up for whatever reason. And I was like, oh, wow, the UFC title, just strongly tell us, just changed hands in emphatic fashion. And Zhang Wili is a frigging star. But it's a fight that I know up for a fact.

Your average fan did not catch live. So this is, you know, this is, I feel like this is Jessica Andrews's chance to get another shot at Zhang Wei, right that wrong. And for Zhang Lies, even write that wrong in another sense, because I don't think people will remember that she won't just got in that first fight. Rematch probably goes differently as far as the outcome. Like, probably lasts much longer than the first fight lasted.

But it's still compelling. Still compelling to me. I'd love to see those two fight again. And if Jessica And Josh beats you on Shanan, you just call for that title fight because shore, Rose and Rose has a strong case having beaten Zhang Wei Lee twice already, but Rose is just also MIA. And wherever she is, I hope she's doing great.

I hope she's doing fine. No one should force her to fight. She should fight when she's ready to fight. But this division has to move on. This division has to move on. So you can do a lot worse than Jessica Andrage and Jan Shah. And I'm sorry, I'm totally discounting the Yan Shanahan aspect of this. If Yon Shah now upsets Jessica Andrash, then by all means, you move her into a title fight with Wezhang Weili.

She has spoken in the past about wanting this fight while she was on a win streak. She suffered a couple of tough losses. But she's right in there. She's right in there with a win over Jessica Androche. So serious title implications in the third to last main fight. We also got the return of Crone Gracie. He's back. He's back.

I don't know how many where is Crone questions we got on. on various shows onto the next one, heck of a morning, between the links, you name it. Any preview shows, post-fight, you name any show where listeners can send in questions. And people were asking where that was prone crazy. I think even his own relatives, we're like, I don't know if Crone wants to fight,

but he's coming back against Canada, his own Charles Rodin. So cool matchup, Striker, Classic, Striker versus Grappler. I think it's a very tricky matcher for Crone coming back. Charles Jardain has some grappling defense, but I don't know, enough to deal with a guy like Crone Gracie, we'll see. So that's a great fight. And then Molfozoar of Lov and Bryce Mitchell, awesome, awesome matchup, perfect main card opener.

Talk about maybe not title implications, but contender ranking implications, huge, huge, because of Lov is just another one of those absolute killers of 1.45. He's kind of just been looking for a marquee win. Maybe Dan Igui fits that bill for you. I don't know.

But since his last year went, he went, Hakeem Dawadu, Nick Lentz. He's a tough guys. He's tough guys, and now he's getting another guy he was supposed to fight last November. And he was getting, the fights happening now. And I love that fight. He's been Bryce Mitchell and Bryce Mitchell,

you know, looking to bounce back from what can only be called a disappointing performance against Ilya. He's had a lot of excuses, so he wasn't that top form. He certainly didn't look in top form, so make of that what you will. but it could also be alias on another level and it could be most of ours on the level we're going to find out

guys i'll i'll log off in a couple minutes but i just want to give last last call last call guys for anyone that wants to chime in share your thoughts uh again is a free for all friday you can ask anything you want i think i scared a lot of people away with the nba talk again uh i'm guys i'm dealing with it my my toronto raptors are in turmoil so uh it had to be done And if anyone again, please, you can DM me, people. My DMs are open. I am, this doesn't have to be on the show. I am in need.

I'm going to bring in Kuchuk here. Chuchick, Kuchuk. I am in need of a Premier League team. If you guys have a Premier League recommendation, I'm all ears. Did I get, oh, I'm going to. Chuchick, are you with us? Hello, guys. What's up?

James Foster, I see you too. Chuchick, I lost you for a second. Let's see if you can get you. get you back. I want to see if you got a question or comment here. Premier League recommendation. Any movie recommendations, music recommendations? I may have to bring in James. Chuchick stay on. Chuka stay on. I want to, I want to see if we can get you. So send in a request again if you can. James, let's bring you in. James Foster. What's going on at Kay Lee? I hope you're having a Lee of a morning. Oh, always, always. I am not a soccer fan, unfortunately, so I can't help you to find a

league, even though I am a big fan of Ted Las, so if you haven't watched Ted Las, so I highly recommend a TV show. I'm just kind of curious, like, I always love to fantasize about matchups and MMA that I know that we will probably never get because guys are teaming. Sorry, James, we lost you there. I heard you getting into a matchup. sort of dream matchups that we may or may not get. Do we have you back? Oh, yeah. That's where I must have hit the mic.

But, yeah, like, Kane Velas and D.C., like, that would have been a fun one. Oh, there's other ones that come to mind. I just kind of went blank. Oh, like, Izzy and Uzman. Like, that's one. I would have loved to see it when both were champions. But just kind of curious on ones that kind of stick out to you. and I know you're a big NBA fan like myself.

How shock were you that the heat not only beat the bucks but got it done in five. I want to know like your dynastic scale on the shock level if that's even possible. Thanks, Ikely, and have a leave of a morning. Thanks, James. Leave a morning to you as well. Outstanding questions.

Let's see. Close friends that fought, that should have fought. Let me think. I got a, I got to, I remember the big one at the time, once upon time, was the guys in AKA, aka the welterweight trio of like Josh Coscheck, John Fitch, and Mike Swick swore they would never fight each other. Which isn't like, which wasn't like the craziest thing at the time. And Coschek fought GSP twice, the second time for the title. So he got his hell of shot.

Fitch fought for the title. It's really only Swick that kind of got cut short. He lost like a decision to Dan Hart. that I think might have cost him from getting a title shot. Dead Hardy immediately got the shot after that. So it didn't hamper their careers too badly, and both guys had plenty of success in the UFC and plenty of success after.

But that was always a weird one, and it would have been kind of cool to see, like, I don't know, John Fitch versus Josh Koshchek or Mike Swick versus, you know, John Fitch. And at the end, this is at the time. I get it. People are saying it probably sounds a bit weird now, but that was one of the original.

And Dana would comment on it on press conferences. People keep asking, like, you know, are you going to have these guys fight for contender spot? And they would have to keep addressing it. And they would always say, you want to see his fight, come down to American kickboxing academy. You get to see his fight all the time, just super intense sparring. And I don't know if anyone ever took them up on that offer, I'm sure it was a treat to watch,

but that was always a funny one. I don't know if this was ever, I don't think this was ever discussed. But it would have been so cool, I think, to see Anderson Silva and Leona Machita. they're two super nice guys I get it there's probably part of it's like I do not want to see either man punch the other guy in the face it would be a little bit heartbreaking as well

but just from a pure martial arts standpoint seeing the compete in like a you know an exhibition fight or something where they're not going full speed they're not trying to kill each other that would be entertained to me I don't know if when you say fantasy matchup you know between friends slash teammates you're like oh like a matchup where like a real real

matchup they're fighting you know as hard as they can that I don't know if I'd want to see leo and Anderson do that. But in their primes, though, boy, what a fascinating matchup that would have been. Both guys are just puzzles, you know, puzzles. So much, so much flair, so unique. It just reminds me of a time when fighters were just a little more distinctive

in their styles. And it didn't get much more distinct than that. So, yeah, Anderson versus the, and guys, listen, BKFC, if you're out there, I'm just saying, like Leo, make the, money right make the money right let's get leoto and and jensilva and a bare knuckle boxing ring anything is possible now all right anything is possible and that's the beauty of combat sports right uh regarding the manmy heat and uh bucks i was super shocked that at least

the way the game five ended i thought the bucks had that in hand i the way they lost the series was truly um embarrassing there's no other way to put it that no i don't know if any eight seed has ever beat a one seed uh four games to one maybe the Chicago Philadelphia series where Derek Rose got injured. I don't remember if that was a five-game series for Philly. But Milwaukee,

Mike Poonholzer is just a terrible coach in making adjustments. He's doing something right. He's won two coach at the years. He wins a lot of regular season games. He somehow felt asked backwards to an NBA title, like us having Giannis and Tiena Cumpo and Chris Middleton and Jewald and your team helps.

But it was a real collapse. miss free throws, turnovers, your best player, not wanting to touch the ball because he can't make free throws. I've never seen anything like it. I've seen a lot of collapses, and frankly, all collapses are a little different. I've certainly never seen anything like this one,

and I was just completely stunned. So, gymnastics scale, how stunned? I mean, not 10 out of 10 because Miami was up 3-1 in the series, and when you watch the matchups, you kind of see how, you know, Jonas was injured. But it's like a 9.5. I mean, that just shouldn't have. I had Milwaukee, frankly, going to the finals

before the heading to the series. And now they're out. And one of these stupid teams in Boston, Philly, in New York is probably going to go instead. And I had to look with that. So thanks, Milwaukee. Thanks, thanks, Mike Booneholtzer. Thanks, box players, not making your free throws.

I'm looking at you, Gionis. Love that guy, but I'm just saying. If anyone else wants to call in, please do. I'll stay on for another, I'll stay on for another minute or two just in case. But otherwise, thank you, everyone, for listening. I know these free for all Fridays

can normally get pretty crazy. I'm kind of glad that it was mostly stuck to stuff I knew except for the cooking. Toke, I see you asking that cooking question putting me on the spot, making me reveal how lacking I am in domestic skills.

Emilio, what do you got for me? I see Amelia wanted to jump in. This might be the last call. See if we can get Emilio in here. I think I might have missed Emilio earlier this week too. Hey, hey, Kay. My favorite,

or my fellow Tony Ferguson Dick writer. Okay, well, we don't need to put it that way, but yes, what's going on to do. Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean, the D-rider. Anyways, I'm going to keep it short. I appreciate all the covers of, yeah, you taking over a heck of a morning this week. You've been doing a great job.

Yeah, and anyways, my question for you very in tune with Free For All Friday because I understand that you're kind of a film buff And let me let me Let me just say I have become Very casual with my film viewing I'm like a want to be I'm a wannabe

I'm a wannabe like critic there you go Let's put it that way because I watch a lot of mainstream stuff And whatever please go proceed with your question Okay okay well then Let's see if you can handle this question What's your favorite Paul Wes Anderson movie? Or is that too

niche? People are going to think that I set you up to ask this question because I'm a very well known what you're giving me, Paul Thomas Anderson. Paul, yeah, yeah, not Paul Thomas Anderson. You know exactly.

Yeah, yeah, listen, I'll send you the we don't have Venmo in Canada, but I'll get the money later. Thank you for asking that question. I love Paul Thomas Anderson. So, oh, shoot, that was supposed to be off the air. Sorry about that. Anyway.

Yeah. Whoops. Oh, sorry. Yeah, wax, wax politically, my friend. Thank you, Ian. Oh, well, I definitely can't take any more calls after this because I got to end in some Paul Thomas Anderson talk. Listen, I know Paul Thomas Anderson, I think some people would consider him to be, I don't know, a little pretentious. It's fine. For anyone who's not

recognized the name and placing the name, he's a guy directed Boogie Knights, one of my favorite movies, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, and one of my fear movies of this past 25 years. I'm just looking at this list right now. The Master and Hair and Vice, Phantom thread and recently Likersh Pizza, which I got him a lot of most of his movies get critical acclaim. He can be a little divisive because his movies they can ramble a bit.

They have a lot of it's a big, using an ensemble casting. I mean, he does feature his lead actors very well. So my favorite movie, I'll go pretty basic. I just his best movie. It's probably one of my four or five

favorite movies again of the past 25 years. I think it's phenomenal. It's a beautiful looking movie. It was shot by, I think that he, this is the last one he shot with Robert Elswit. I don't think they worked together again after that, if I'm not mistaken. Robert Ellswood's a genius, Academy Award winning cinematographer.

And when he teams up with Paul Thomas Anderson, it is just friggin magic. Some of the best one shots, you know, tracking shots you'll ever see. They're just so immersive. So I love the early blood. But Boogie Knights is probably the one I've watched the most. You've never seen it.

It's just super rewatchable. It was his first, like, real big hit. Mark Wahlberg is great as this, you know, bumbling porn star named Dirk Diggler. I don't even know if I need to explain this. I mean, it's a pretty, it's probably one of his more popular movies. And it's just, again, Philip Seymour Hoffman is in so many of Paul Thomas Anderson's movies. He's funny.

He's menacing. He just cast him all kinds of great roles. So nothing but love for PTA. I loved Lickers Pizza. I thought it was really good. I really love Phantom Thread, too. I think Phantom Thread, that one wasn't probably. didn't,

uh, didn't, like, explode, like as far as popularity goes, it's a very slow, ponderous movie,

but great acting, great plot. Inherent vice, the only one I didn't get. And I know people who swear by that movie. Um, maybe I need to read the book.

Maybe that would have helped, but I know people who say that's a brilliant movie. I just didn't get it. Other than that, love Paul Thomas Anderson. So thanks for that call. All right, everyone,

uh, let's, let's cut it off there. We've gone in a very esoteric direction. And I just want to keep mind. This is, listen, We got a lot of combat sports.

BKFC 41 on Saturday. UFC Vegas 72 on Saturday. Cage Warriors 153. We've got some Cage Warriors action this Saturday. Reese McKee versus the resurgent. Judo Jim Wallhead. I don't know people, this is, and this is, listen, my fault as well as a medium member.

We don't talk about this enough. Judo Jim Wallhead coming back to Cage Warriors last year, getting two first round knockouts, winning an interim Cage Warriors title. now fighting Reese McKee, former UFC fighter, former UFC fighter, Reese McKee. This is a great fight. This is a great fight. Cage Wars has, again, we don't talk about enough over here sometimes.

I know there's a lot of people out there doing great coverage, of course. Pizza Carol, Shaan Sheehan, I'm forgetting names. People do amazing coverage of this promotion and the whole European scene. And Cage Wars has just been banging along, man. I mean, if anyone sort of lost track of Cage Warriors, they're on UFC Fight Pass. It's easy to watch, putting on great fights. A lot of people who, you know, usually two, three wins away from jumping over the pond, coming to the Octagon or coming to Bell Tour.

So, yeah, I can't recommend that enough. We got a Rising card. We got Octagon. Octagon is doing big things in the M.A. scene. Love Octagon. Yeah, Rise and landmark card. That'll be super late Saturday evening slash early Sunday morning. But, hey, you hardcore heads out there.

Makuro Asakuro is fighting, so that's fun. But yeah, enjoy the combat sports, enjoy the regular sports, enjoy no sports at all if you don't plan to watch sports this weekend. If you're just spending time, friends, family, or spend in time with yourself. Take some time for yourself. Because, you know, you're out there. I know you're out there. Take some time for yourself. You deserve it.

You deserve it. I'm sure you're a great person. I'm sure you love looking after your friends, family, everyone. Take some you time, kick back, do whatever does you do and do some self-care. I think it's super important. I don't know. I actually might be, I can't remember exactly when Mike is coming back from his vacation. So you may see me again on Tuesday?

You may see me again Tuesday. I'm not sure. But if not, if not, guys, it has been an absolute pleasure guesting for Mike Heck. If he's back on Tuesday, I can't wait. He's the man. You heard himself. He's still working this week. He wasn't supposed to.

He was talking to his pal, John Anick. So I guess it's not really working. I'm just having a good time chumming it up. But the man never stops. hardest-working man in the business. And I am just lucky to be his best friend. So this has been your guest host for now, possibly again on Tuesday, Alexander Kaley. And thanks guys for listening to this free for all Friday episode of Heck of a More. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.