MMA Fighting - HOAM | What Fight Should Headline UFC's Return To Boston In August?

Episode Date: May 12, 2023

UFC President Dana White said after UFC 288 that he hopes to have Aljamain Sterling make a quick turnaround to defend his bantamweight title against Sean O'Malley at the UFC's return to Boston in August. With Sterling eyeing a fall date with O'Malley, if the UFC can't get that fight on the books, then what should be the main event for that card? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck attempts to answer that question and makes the case for Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington for the welterweight title in that spot. Additionally, listener questions include what could be next for Jamahal Hill and the light heavyweight title if Jiri Prochazka needs to miss a lot more time, Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili, UFC Charlotte storylines, Daniel Rodriguez vs. Ian Machado Garry, ONE Championship's U.S. debut, 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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The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. May 12, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live. On the M.A. Fighting Twitter Spaces,

if you hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter, on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Happy Friday to us all. A lot of MMA, a lot of combat coming our way over the next couple of days. Bellator, 296 in Paris, kicking off at a couple of hours. UFC Charlotte is tomorrow, but the official weigh-ins going on right now until the top of the hour. We already lost one fight.

We lost for the second time in three weeks, I believe. the Ton Levy versus Pete Rodriguez. Pete Rodriguez scratched once again weight management issues. I actually spoke to a couple people. I was talking to Eric Nixick who tweeted out about this. Plan was 155. They kind of had a feeling that missing weight was a not only a possibility, but a probability.

Eric, to his credit, told me that as they were preparing, they were preparing for a short-notice opponent as well. They didn't know who it would be, but they were preparing for literally anything that could happen with Pete Rodriguez. And apparently last night or earlier yesterday, they agreed to a catch-wates, a couple of different catch-wates, even 160 is what they were looking at.

and I was told there were even discussions about possibly doing it at 162, but before that request could be discussed, the doctors had pulled Pete Rodriguez from the fight. So that fight is no longer happening. Got a feel for Natalbby. Dude just trying to get in there and fight. And, well, it's not his fault. So hopefully they can rebook him soon against the different opponents.

and he can get some money in his bank account because this sucks. Absolutely sucks for him. I feel for the man and just an unfortunate situation. That is for sure. Let's check out what's going on. Of course, the great AK is on the weigh-in duties here. The main event is official. Rosenstrike hit the scale at 265.

Jailton Alameda just weighed in a few moments ago at 2.30. Co-main event is official. Both Anthony Smith and Johnny Walker waited at 205 and a half. Still waiting on Daniel Rodriguez and Ian Machado, Gary. Carlos Ulberg, Ehor, Potaria, both waited at 204.5. Tim Means, 170 and a half. Alex Marona, 169 and a half. Matt Brown, Court McGee, good to go.

Cody Stamen, Douglas Silva Day Androge, good to go. It's a catchweight of 140 pounds. Gian Kim, Mandy Bow, I'm ready to go. And Jessica Rose Clark, tighten our... Lisboa ready to go. So if there's anything crazy happens, I'll let you know about it. But let's get after this thing.

And we will begin with Tristan Gorda. By the way, this is a free-for-all Friday. So we can talk to Emma or we can talk whatever the hell you want. What's up, Tristan? Hey, Mike. I just wanted to talk about your interview with Kobe Cumberton the other day. And do you think my question is, if he goes and, beats Leon Edwards and becomes the new well-to-weight champion.

Do you think, too, like, as far as Belal, Shafka and possibly the rest of the division, like, those guys are going to be waiting for a long time for a top shot, because I feel that with Kobe, he's going to be able to pick and choose who he fights, and I think the U.S. he's going to go along with it. Because, like the same goes, not everybody gets treated the same. And I think with Covington being the champion, he's going to be able to do more and be able to dictate who he fights and who he doesn't fight. Where with Leon, he doesn't really get that choice. Like the UFC tells him, like, you know, you got to fight this guy or that guy.

Because, again, echoing what Kobe had said, man, this is a fight business. This is a prize fighting. You know, you got to pick the biggest and best fights that's going to sell. So just your thoughts on that if Kobe becomes champion in Beasley on. Thanks, Mike. It's an interesting question. I mean, as you know, Colby likes to just say things sometimes. But I don't know, man.

Again, this is my issue with booking that Burns Muhammad fight to begin with on this card. It made literally no sense to put it on there. did nothing for ticket sales. It did Zippo for paper review buys. In fact, the freaking champion of the world who headlined the card came out and said it only did like 250,000 buys. So what are we doing? That fight did nothing for the bottom line. Nothing.

Cool fight. But who got like you were better off booking the Polo Costa Yombovich fight. Because now there's so much. time between Ballal's big win until he could possibly get a title shot if he even gets one. Colby told me he wants

August. I think they're like I have no insight to this but I would not be stunned if that's the main event of that card. It wouldn't shock me. Like what else is going to be there? I know they want Sean O'Malley Al Jermaine Sterling.

I don't know if Algeo's going to turn around that quickly. it'd be cool, but I don't know if Alger's going to turn around that quickly. I don't think the UFC... He just fought. The dude just fought a week ago, less than a week ago. And to have him turn around in three months, you better give him a big bag of money. So if he's just like, nah, I want to wait a month or two, you can't really blame him for that.

I know there's a lot of people saying, well, what about Jamal Hillie versus Yuri Per Hashka? I was listening to Ariel Hawani's show with Chuck Mindenhall and Pizzi Carroll a little bit yesterday. and Ariel said that he spoke with Yuri's team and they said there's no way he's going to be able to come back in August. So that fights off the table. So what else you're going to put there? I think Colby Leon is a great main event for that area. I think it's fine.

Abu Dhabi makes no sense. I do agree with Colby on that. Doing Leon versus Colby and Abu Dhabi makes absolutely no sense. When you have Islam Makachev getting ready to defend his lightweight title against somebody else who will be over like over in Abu Dhabi. Now, let's say Colby, they offer

a date and Colby gets hurt or something like that, then you could do Leon in Abu Dhabi and just throw him in there with Bilal Muhammad, that's a big deal. But to your question, Tristan, if Colby wins the belt, man, I mean, I think Bilal's kind of in trouble

anyways. I don't know if he's going to have to fight again, but I'm just not sure that Balala will get the next shot. I just think there's so much time and so much can happen. And if they, let's just say

they book like Shafkat Rakhmana versus Kamara Usman. If Shafka just trucks Kamar Usman, he's jumping ahead of the law. There's just no doubt about it. That's going to happen. But the big factor is Connor McGregor. If Connor McGregor beats Michael Chandler,

if that fight happens at any point this year and Connor wins, the UFC is going to book Connor McGregor versus whoever wins that fight, whether it's Leon Edwards, if it's Colby, you bet your ass they're going to book that fight. So I wouldn't be so sure if you're a Bilal Muhammad or a Bilal-Mohamed fan

that he is just next in line guaranteed to fight for the belts. A lot can happen between now and whenever that welterweight title fight happens. And I've said this on the show many times. You could feel however you want to feel about Colby Covington. I get it. but if there's one thing Colby is good at,

he is a terrific prize fighter. He picks his spots. He fights the biggest names with the lowest risk, in my personal opinion, and he times them perfectly. And now he's got himself a title shot. Whether you think he deserves it or not, he's got to get it.

And if you're Bilal Muhammad, I think your best hope is that Leon Edwards beats Colby Covington. And even then, I don't even think that guarantees him a title shot, especially if Connor is in play. Now, if Connor's not going to fight this year, I think Ballal's all right.

But if Connor fights this year, he better hope Michael Chandler beats that ass because otherwise he is in big trouble. And it sucks to say that because Belaw Muhammad deserves a title shot. He deserved it before the Gilbert Burns fight. But the fact that that fight happened last weekend made absolutely no sense.

It was one of the dumbest pieces of business I've ever seen in my life. That fight did nothing for the, that card in terms of business. It did nothing. It did nothing. And now Gilbert Burns is injured. We don't know when he's coming back.

He's going to be out for months before he can train again. And Belanger's going to have to sit and wait. You could have put this fight anywhere else. You could have put it at 289. You could have done it on the International Fight Week card. There's a second pay-per-view being discussed for July. You could put it on that. You could have put it as the co-main event for whatever Colby fights.

Leon, but we had to do it now? Why? Why did we have to do this fight now? It drove me and say it. Well, you could have just done Paula Costa versus Jan Bojovich, which by the way, probably would have generated some pay-per-view buys, not a ton, but it would have probably put him over the $300,000 mark because Paul Costa is great at promoting fights and making the attention go to him. He's great at that. And Jan Bojavich is an interesting cat. And guess what? That fight does nothing, nothing for holding up any of those divisions. Nothing. Paulo beat John Boehovic, who gives a shit?

If Jan wins, cool. Paul goes back to 185. It does nothing. And it would have done more, but I just don't get it. I do not understand why they put that fight on this car. Ball gets a great win. Good for him. He deserves a title shot, but, I mean, at best, it's like 60-40 he gets that shot.

And those are not odds that I would be overly thrilled with if I'm Bola Muhammad. Catalano, hello. Catalano, you're muted. I'm sorry, sorry, Mike. Oh, good. We got you. All right. Long time, first time from Italy.

Greetings from Sunday, Italy. Sorry if this question has been asked already. But let's just think about middleweight champion. Israel Adisania, yeah? We know that Sean Strickland is busy with, I don't know, Abu Magomerov,

which is a weird main event. And we know that Drick and Slipplesi is getting the Max Holloway special with Robert Whitaker. It's probably going to lose that fight. And yeah, that leaves Israel with nothing at the moment.

Apparently, he's been blowing up Dana's phone and then, you know, being the great promoter that he is, yeah, basically left him with no contenders. So my question is, what does he do now? They're going to give him Hamzat, you know, he's been squeezing. Hamzad is about going to 170, so I don't know. And then Jamal apparently is going to fight Iri, Raskar.

So is that time for the trilogy with Pereira, which I personally, kind of don't mind because, you know, I don't know. I want to see something else. But, you know, let me know what you think. Thank you so much, Mike. Bye. Thanks, man. So the Jamal-Yeri fight, I mean, if it happens, it is not happening in August.

I know that's what Jamal wants, but as we said earlier, I take Arrow's word is gospel when it comes to this stuff. But he said they reached out to Yuri's team. They said there's no way he's going to be ready for August. So maybe they go a different direction. Dana has said since they booked the Drickus Duplice, Robert Whitaker, that the winner of that fight, no matter who it is, is going to fight Adasania later on this year.

There's talks about doing events in Sydney in September or October. So the winner of that fight is going to go fight Israel, Adasania on that card. That's what Dana's been saying. So Izzy is going to have to wait. I know there's a lot of people who are like puffing and puffing that they might see the Whitaker fight. Personally, for me, I want to see it again.

I want to see it again. I understand that Izzy has two wins, but I kind of want to see it again. I want to see if Whitaker can actually get it done. And if he beat Strick as, like, what else does the man have to do? Like, Robert's going to do something. So, but if, you know, maybe Izzy just wants to be busy and maybe he'll fight prayer again.

but I've said this since after UFC 287 because Dana White immediately was like, nope, Pereira's going to, don't be surprised if he goes to 205. And then a few days later, prayer said he's moving to 205. And I wondered why

this was such a quick trigger move for him to just jump up to 205 when you could do the trilogy fight and it's still going to be big. Like, I feel like we don't have closure on this rival. right now. We have an emphatic finish from Israel-A-Dissana. We got a finish from Pereira. We got finish in the kickboxing world before that. So I questioned why. And to me, the reasoning behind this is that they don't have a lot of faith, the UFC, that Yuri Perash is going to be

able to fight anytime soon, that that shoulder injury is as bad as Dana said it was, and that Yuri was way too optimistic about his timeline. What's the interesting fight for Jamal Hill right now that fans would want to watch? Is it Magamette Ancolaev? No, it isn't. Is it Janbovich? No, it isn't. What about Alex Pereira?

I think people would watch that fight. I think people would go bananas for that fight. And I would watch the living crap out of that one. That's just going to be absolute mayhem. So to me, I think Jamal would probably fight. Alex Pereira. You get a storyline there with Jamal beating Glover to Shera. You could just show the look Alex Pereira was giving Jamal Hill after that fight.

It's an exciting striker-versus striker matchup. Someone's going to sleep in that one, and that's fun as hell. And I know Ancolaev is probably going to be pissed, and it is what it is. Dana hated that fight so much. I just don't see a world where Anka-Li-Li-Iv gets the title fight. So Witter could do plus C-witter. We'll fight easy later in the air. And I kind of think the UFC might pivot to Alex Pereira. That's not a bad main event for Boston.

Pereira's got ties to the New England area. Don't hate that. And that fight's just incredibly fascinating. With two guys who can absolutely smash it. So, yeah, we'll see. But I kind of think Pereira is like the plan B if Uri can't go anytime soon. But he ain't to be ready for August.

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Heck of a morning, Mike. I guess I just got two quick questions, Bannonweight-related. The first one is regarding a triple C. He talks a lot about how his goal is to kind of go up and fight Volcanowski. So I'm curious why you think the chances are. of him just going right up to 45. I think a good fight, I don't know if he'd win, but an interesting fight be him versus Holloway. And if he beats Holloway,

I think he could get a title shot. And the second question is, if Marob loses his next fight, do you think Al Jermaine would stay at 135 and defend his belt a couple more times? Or do you think him going up to 145 is just destined? And, yeah, other than that, have a heck of a morning. And sixers and seven.

First of all, how dare you? I mean, if you're a Sixers fan, you've got to be scared to death after last night. Jason Tatum didn't play basketball at all until the fourth quarter. And you had the chance to just put your foot on their throat and you couldn't do it. And then Tatum went off to the fourth. You guys are screwed, I think. Like, I think you guys are screwed. That is, like, not what you wanted to see.

I predict this out that you're just going to blow the doors off the Sixers. They played like shits last night. The Celtics were awful, awful last night and still found a way to win decisively on the road because they blew the doors off them in the fourth quarter. I feel very good about game seven. I feel better about game seven that I did yesterday. And I felt like the Celtics were just going to run the Sixers out of the building. And they played horrendously for 36 minutes last night and still found a way to win. So I was very excited about that.

As far as Suhudo goes, I think he's doing it right. I think this is the right thing to do. I think Marab is the right fight. I think he actually matches up pretty decently stylistically with Marab. I know Marab is an absolute madman with the takedowns and even the failed takedowns, which is sort of part of what he does and part of his success strategy. But I think Suhudo actually matches up pretty well with Marab. and they're pretty identical in size.

I think that's an interesting matchup. If he goes up to 45 and fights Max Holloway, I think Max Holloway beats the brakes off of Henry Suhudo. I don't think that fight is competitive at all. And the big issue he had with Al Jermaine Sterling is that he couldn't deal with the range. And if he couldn't deal with the range of Al Jermaine Sterling, there ain't no way he's dealing with the range of Max Hollowo.

He is just going to get battered in that fight. So I think Suhudo is smart. This is the right way to go. And here's the thing as well. We talked about this on BTL yesterday. I don't think it's about Volcanovsky. It's about just getting to that 45-pound title. So if you're Suhudo, just go in there and get a couple of wins.

If you go in there and you beat Marab and Al Jermain Sterling beat Sean O'Malley, which I think he will, and this kind of answers both of your questions, I do think Al Jermaine Sterling is going to go to 45. I do. There's just nothing else for him. What else is he going to do? The biggest fight for him right now at 135 is Sean O'Malley, and he's about to get that fight. He's beaten pretty much everybody else at this point.

He already washed Corey Sanhagen. I would like to see that fight again, but in Aljo's mind, like, how do you do it any better than you did it? He's already beaten. Like, his resume, his streak is incredible. The names on this resume, it's ridiculous. There's just literally nobody else for him to fight. Unless he wants to wait for like Umar and Amagamatov to get a couple more wins, there's not much left for him. So go accomplish something else.

He's getting older, that weight cut ain't getting easier. I do think either way, he can go up to 145. And even if Marab loses his hoot, it's not like he's out of the title picture forever. Because Marab still matches up really well with a lot of those other guys. So I like the call out. I think it's the right fight. The way to go. and if Suhudo wins he'll fight somebody else for the vacant belt maybe they do him

and Corey Sanhagen for the vacant title and that's fine-ass fight too so but I god do I not like sehudo's chances against max holloway I think this is the right move and that if you win a couple fights you win the vacant title defended a couple of times if you still want to go go up to 45 whether it's Volk or whoever's the champion at the time doesn't have to be Volk I'm sure the competitor in Suhudo would like it to be Volk, but I kind of feel like the fight, I kind of feel like the idea of him fighting Volkanowski is no more. I think that fight's kind of off the table at this point.

But it doesn't mean he still can go after that third belt. And who knows? We mentioned earlier, like if Connor washes Michael Chandler and they give Connor a title shot and he wins the belt, he wins the third title before Sehudo, like what's the point of him going up there and being the first to do it? because somebody has already done it. I'm not saying that's what's going to happen,

but it could. Four quarter sports. Hey, good morning, Mike. So I heard you mentioned earlier about them putting on a second pay-per-view. For what month exactly? Because I heard rumors of July 29th. And if it's for July 29th,

do you have, like, any ideas on, like, what cities are, like, narrowing down to? Like, I guess, like, a list as for, like, what may host, you know, a potential pay-per-view in July outside of an international fight week. I heard, I saw how it was on Twitter that Hamza ended up putting a checkmark next to Usman saying, I guess, signifying that I guess that he's going to fight him next, and it looks like it might be for Abu Dhabi. If Hamza was to win, what would be like, what would make the most sense?

Would it be for him to fight at 185 if he, you know, for the title or 170? just because it just feels that he may not fight at 170, although he's begging and pleading and saying that he's in a fight at 170. But, I mean, what's it called? If Israel Adasani doesn't really have much opponents left to fight, you know, I know that Dana said Robert Whitaker and Draghi's Duplase will be the next fighter to fight Israel Adasani, the winner of that. But wouldn't it make more sense to have Hamzaa?

Just give the division like a little more, you know, fresh blood now that Alex went up to 205 and he's going to be in that division and then lastly I know Jamal Hill hasn't fought since January I don't see them I don't see him fighting Yuri Prahashka I have a feeling that Yuri Pahashka may not return up until December I just think a year and a half might be too long but I think coming in within like the eight 10 month mark might be cutting it a little bit too close do you think that Jamal Hill just fights, you know, Alex, give or take, September, you know, and Team Mobile. I don't know, maybe that headline that type of a card, but I mean, Boston would actually

be pretty good, but I just think that my personal opinion, if they do Boston in August, I think the perfect fight to main event would be Leon and Colby, just because you can't hold on that division so much longer. The Voltaway Division got defended once last year, and I believe like once the year prior. So I think it'll be pretty nice to see the World's Way Division. get defended multiple times for one year calendar. All right. Thanks, Mike.

I agree. Like, if I had to choose, it's Colin, it's Leon Colby. That's, that's the one I would do. Now, if Leon, because Leon said, like, September, October, you know, could they persuade him to move up, move it up a little bit? Sure. But I feel like that, that's the main event. Like, that's what I would choose.

Because I don't think, I honestly don't think, Stero, I think we have a better shot of getting that fight than Sterling O'Malley on that card. I just don't know if Alger's going to want to turn around that quickly after making that weight cut and having that tough fight. I just don't see it. But who knows? Maybe the UFC just offers some bunch more money and that's the one they won. Look, it's no secret. Dana White is from the area and he always wants to go back to Boston.

And when he does, he wants to put on massive cards. So maybe we'll get two title fights. I don't know. So we'll figure that out. Yeah, I kind of like the gym. I kind of feel like Alex Pereira is the plan B. That's why I thought it was such a weird move that it's just like, why are we just all of a sudden shoving Pereira to 205 when you have a massive trilogy fight on your hands?

And then Pereira just makes a decision on his own. Three days later, something tells me like, hey, listen, I don't know if Yuri's going to be ready to come back. Be ready. Be ready. because there's a story there. That fight's fascinating. Let's go. Hamza on social media,

we can't believe anything he says. I mean, let's just be clear. We can't believe anything he says. He's just tweeting up a storm. We don't know what's real and what isn't. If he fights Usman, it ain't going to be at 170.

The UFC ain't going to take that risk. And it ain't going to be a catch weight. Dana Wade's already said it. If Usman wants to go to 185, we'll entertain that idea. But the fight to me, make is Hamzaad versus Paul O'Costa on that card. That's the fight to make.

And then Hamzad can go on and fight for the belt after that. I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that. As far as July 29th goes, that's a date that seems to be kind of circled in as the second pay-per-view. Conversations I've had

and I don't want to, don't be going to report in this shit or anything like that. I'm told that I don't even know if Frontrunner is the way to go, but but strongly considered is a return to Salt Lake City for that card. That's what I'm here. That's the word on the street, potentially going back to Salt Lake City.

And I don't know if Leon would be all that excited to go back to Salt Lake City, especially when he's fighting frigging Colby Covington and having to deal with elevation and all that could be kind of tough. So I guess Leon would kind of have to pick his poison. there really for being honest. But that's that that's the rumbling right now, possibly Salt Lake City. Uh, the coolest. Are you there? Hey, what's going on?

What's that, ma'am? Not much. This is pretty far Friday, right? Yes, sir. I'm just joining us. I don't know if anybody had talked about it and that, but that press conference the other day was, you know, Jake Paul and Nate Diaz when that reporter had called out, Nate and his brother.

You know, the reporter began a lot of black backlash, right, from the meeting and stuff. But did anybody have considered that he was paid to ask that question? Like, they showed him on the camera, and he's skinnier than what? But he weighed, like, he weighed about, like, 1.30, 140. And he timed by he wanted to fight, boxed in. Like, come on. Like, and then the fact. that he works for Jake Paul,

put together people. But he was paid to do that. He was paid to ask him that question. So I just want to get your thoughts on it. You think he was, do you think he got paid to ask him that question? Or do you think he just did that random? I'll let you go.

Have nice day, y'all. I don't know if he was like paid. I don't know. It didn't seem like Jake was, all that thrilled with the the questioning. It seemed like Jake was kind of like

just like annoyed by it. And I, this is like, it's kind of his gimmick and it's stupid. It's dumb. It really is dumb. And I don't know.

I just think he was trying to create a viral moment that absolutely fell flat on its face. And then he came did the apology after and that was probably even worse but dude's an idiot knows he's an idiot that's his gimmick and

I mean if that's what you want your gimmick to be then have at it but dude's a moron dude's an absolute moron and I hate that shit like who cares like that fell flat on its face

people were talking about it but it was not because like, oh, did you see that guy? Like, do you remember when, like that was not like the Schmoe moments? Remember when the Schmoe sort of captured the imaginations of everybody when he was at a press conference

and he asked Dana that final question? Dana was like, what the fuck was that? That landed. That landed. And that was a pivotal point of that guy's, of the Schmo's career. Because I've talked to him about this.

and he said like had he not gotten the microphone that day like none of this that he's doing now would have ever come to fruition this was the complete opposite of that I mean the complete opposite of that but I'm sure like once they get back to Dallas he's going to try to do something else really dumb and I don't give a shit what an idiot

no room no room in my brain for that kind of bullshit shit. Let's try to get J.D. in, but wheel is spinning. All right, we will move on. I'm going to try to get to everybody here. Let's go to Ari.

Hey, Mike. Yeah, I got you, Ari. I got you. Hey, Mike. Apologies that's already discussed, but can you explain what the UFC's rationale is for having no plans to host 290 in Mexico when you're featuring two Mexican-born fighters? He already botched.

UFC Africa when you had Nagano, Ousman, and Izzy. I'm just imagining how bonkers this card would be if it was in Mexico. And even in a dream world, you had Alexa Grasso and Valentina on there. I'm just confused because you mentioned they want to go back to Salt Lake City, but they have no plans to go to Mexico. I just wasn't sure if I'm missing something here. Well, I mean, they're not going to do $2.90 in Mexico because that's international fight week.

So they're not going to leave Vegas. They do a whole thing and that. The African thing I think is going to happen. It's just a matter of finding the right location and trying to make it work. Mexico, like, here's the thing with Salt Lake City. It's not like the UFC's like has a map of the world in their war room. They're like, hmm, what cities do we want to visit? Oh, you know, it would be cool.

Let's go to Salt Lake City. No, that's not how it works. What Salt Lake City does, they say, hey, we're going to give you a whole bunch of money. if you come here and host a card. It's just like WrestleMania. Like the WWE doesn't pick just rando cities to host WrestleMania. They all like bid for WrestleMania. And then the highest bidder gets it.

It's not quite the same here, but there are certain cities that offer the UFC a whole bunch of money to host cards there. That's why for a couple of years they went to Houston a bunch. You know what I mean? And there are certain other cities that do the same thing. Salt Lake City is one of them. So Salt Lake City is paying them money to go host a card there. And then the arena and the city is hopeful that people will travel, people will spend money in their area, their economy will be boosted the week that they're there.

That's why they have all these different events. And then hopefully the arena gets a good chunk of change with ticket sales, which brings me to Mexico. It's tough to go there right now. It's just really tough. Like, I don't know if you've tried to buy tickets to a UFC event. It's expensive, man. It is really tough to go to a UFC card right now. It's not like five years ago.

Like, you go to Charlotte right now. I was looking at it. You go buy a ticket for the Charlotte card for like $75. Most cards are not like that. Most cards, I think G.C. was telling me that the Newark card, like the cheapest ticket you could buy for Newark was like $200. that's expensive. That's expensive.

I just don't know if the I just don't know if the people there are going to pay that kind of money. I think they learned their lesson a little bit when they did the card in Brazil and they went to Rio and that building was like half empty because the ticket prices were too expensive. So if you're going to host an event in Mexico

and you're going to put all these champions on there, you want to do it in a way where the hardcore MMA fans can go and watch these people fight so they can cheer for them. But if you're charging $300,400,000 bucks a ticket to go to have a fight for people to go, they ain't going to fill that arena. The UFC knows that. So it's just a matter of like how can they make it work so that the UFC can put on a major event and that people can actually go because the price is just really expensive.

expensive. That seems to be the reason why. And Dana's admitted, like, we screwed this up. We should have been in Mexico. I believe, I would guess that the UFC going to Mexico is going to be a top priority in 2024. They're going to try to figure it out. I would be stunned if they go there this year. They have held events there before, but it's a different world now. It's a different ball game. UFC's on fire right now. and I just don't know I just don't know if they could do it in a way where they can fill an arena with what they charge for their product right now and you can say that about a lot of other cities too you can say that about a lot of other places but I would say Mexico at some point

I would say Mexico is going to be a priority for them but I would be stunned if they go there this year it's just a lot and I think they're going to try to figure out how to pull it off logistically. But yeah. And, you know, credit to Dana, saying that, look, we drop the ball on this. We should have done a better job trying to get back there. But I don't think it's going to happen this year.

It's just there's just a lot of factors involved. J.D. are you there? I appreciate you, buddy. Sure. What's up? All right. I got one question for you. what do you think the MMA community wants more for Jalston I made it to win or for Ihor Potaria the duelist to lose

thanks man Bye probably Jailton to win I don't know that's a great question that's a great question people are so mad at Eeyhor and I get it but that fight shouldn't have been made

in the first place in hindsight should have chucked show gun in there with a with somebody else, I don't know. But I'm sure the crowd will not be saddened if the duelist gets finished by Carlos Ulberg, which Carlos Olberg is heavily favored to do just that. Let's go to Daniel.

Daniel? Hey, Mike, can you hear me? Yep. Perfect. Well, top of the morning to you, happy Friday. Let's definitely not talk any more basketball because I live in Arizona, so we could just leave the basketball talk alone. But just wanted to talk to you here about this Ian Gary in D-Rod fight.

Personally, I mean, Ian Gary looked a little subpar against Williams, you know, but he obviously wins that fight. You know, he's minus 700 against Kanan Song and nearly gets Katoed in the first round. But now he's going up against D-Rod, who is definitely the most experienced, skilled fighter he has faced. And it just seems like everyone's kind of thinking history is already written here, and he just kind of walks through DROD. I mean, even on the betting line,

he's like a minus 300, a really decent favorite. So just curious how you think this goes. I mean, do you think this fight hits the ground at any point? I mean, do you think there's a finish here? Just curious if you think people are maybe overlooking DROD or if you think the hype's real here for Gary. Thanks, Mike. That's a great question.

And I don't really know how to answer that. And that's what makes this matchmaking so good. Like, I think this is the perfect people. He's a matchmaking right here. This is the step up. Let's give the end a step up. The Kanan Song fight I was not a fan of. Even though Kanan had a moment and almost stopped Ian,

I just felt like it was almost like a step back from his previous fight. But this is the one. This is the one. Let's throw him in there. If you lose it's a D-Rod, it's not the end of the world. I'm sure Ian will be pissed and it'll suck. And, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, roadblock.

That's for sure. But he's still super young. He's got a bright future ahead of him. This dude, in my opinion, I think with his skill set, his ability to speak on the microphone, just the kind of guy he is. I think he's, I mean, he is what the nickname is. He's the future. D-Rod's really good.

D-Rod's really good. So this is going to be a great test. Two strikers getting after it. D. Rod throws a ton of volume. He can wrestle a little bit too. And he's pretty sneaky off on the ground as well. So it's going to be an interesting fight. I think the betting value is fully on Daniel Rodriguez.

But again, maybe Ian Gary just shows up and just puts on the performance of a lifetime. I don't know. But that's why I love this matchmaking so much. Is Ian ready for the top 15? If he beats D.Rod, he is, in my opinion. and if he loses the D-Rod, it doesn't kill him. It doesn't kill him.

There's going to be a certain portion of the fan base as it'll be like, oh, dude, all he does is talk shit and all that, whatever. There's got to be that. And I think Ian's sort of ready for that, but I think it's a good fight. I think he's handling himself very well all week. I think he's been hilarious on social media.

It's good stuff. I love that. Honestly, this to me is the most fascinating fight on the card, even more so than the main. event and the co-main event. The co-main event is fascinating in its own way, but this is the fight

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Are you there? You just got to unmute yourself. And I think we got you. Yo, yo, yo. Can you hear me? Yep. What's up, man? I'm just curious if you've heard

if the U.S.C. is returning to SoCal this year. I haven't heard anything, but that doesn't mean that they won't. Usually they go... Like, I would rather see Brannon. Brandon Moreno fighting in like Anaheim, that neck of the woods is like the best place. Like if you can't go to Mexico right now, that's where you need to have these cards. Because Brandon Moreto is a friggin superstar over there.

So I don't know. Doesn't mean it won't happen, but I haven't heard. I honestly haven't heard anything. But have they been there this year? I don't know. I don't remember them being there this year. There's just so many cards that can't keep my head. straight with all of them.

But if they don't go there this year, I'm sure they'll be the next year. What's up, Babdala? I'll just have two questions I'd ask. My first thing is, who do you have winning the main event this weekend for UFC? And just regarding the NBA, what is at stake for LeBron and Jimmy Butler tomorrow? Because we know that both still have a 3-2 lead against both their teams. will if lebron were to possibly go a 3-1 lead against the worries would this really affect his legacy in some way because we know twitter's going to talk they're going to talk shit and all the means will come but will it really have a distinct impact on this career because as far as i can remember michael jordan never do a 3-1 lead and you know like that that would definitely put us in my opinion what were you with your thoughts on that um i mean honestly the fact that like i know the lakers are kind of like the yankees

in the NBA, they just go out and get all these talents and like they don't mesh together for some reason. It'd be pretty bad. Like it would be pretty bad. Short term. I don't think it like kills his legacy overall. And it's always tough to do the MJ versus LeBron debate. I actually compare LeBron more to Magic Johnson than Michael Jordan.

I just think his style of play is more magic, but just way more athletic. the way his vision, the way he can run the court, the way he can pass, his vision, everything, everything. I think Jordan was always the better competitor, but in the leagues, there were just two different times. It's just two different times. Like, I'm an old dude. I'm 40.

So to me, like, playing in the 80s and 90s, that's, like, man ball. Like, you had to earn every point. There weren't tickey, tack files. You couldn't dive. like you played the Celtics of the pistons in the 80s and 90s. You went to the basket. You got clotheslined underneath the basket. And it wasn't a huge deal.

It's just like, yeah, it's part of the game. You had to earn every point. The style of the NBA is not the same as it was in the 80s and 90s. So it's just so hard to compare the two. But yeah, well, short term, it will affect his legacy, sure. But I think anybody who really watches the game realizes that you can't put all the onus and blame on LeBron. like Anthony Davis has had some shitty games in this series.

So you can't you can't just blame him altogether. And I think most people who watch the game can understand that. But I would love to see the Warriors. I don't know. I'm not a fan of either team, but I kind of enjoy when LeBron loses because when he was with Cleveland, nothing made me happier than when the Celtics whooped that ass. But it was great.

It was great. the main event. I'm picking Jelthelmaida. I think he finishes Jars Jr. Rosenstrike. Late first, early second. I don't know if he submits him, but I think he gets on top and puts him away pretty quickly. We'll know how that fight's going to go probably within the first 90 seconds. C.V. Hello.

Yo, Mike. Happy Friday. I'm going to continue to NBA talk if you don't mind. Yeah. Shout out to Jason Tatum for waking up in the fourth quarter. I do agree with you. I think the Celtics will blow out the Sixers on Sunday because that was the Sixers' best chance

of closing out the series at home, which I correctly predicted that won't happen because they're the Sixers. And I'm just putting it out there, Mike. We're getting a Lakers and Celtics finals. Yeah, I think that's what we need to see. Just two quick questions for me. The Co-Mean event.

I'm getting... my vibes are telling me that Johnny Walker is going to win. So just like a quick preview of Otno. Like, who do you think he faces if he beats Anthony Smith? And another side note, I was actually, like, when the UFC announced they're going to Boston in August, I was just looking at, like, like, I'm probably not going to go to the event, but I do want to go to Boston, like, maybe one day, maybe not this year. but I saw the tickets for Red Sox games.

I'm like, they're crazy expensive, man. Like, especially on top of the green monster. They're like... Nope, I lost you. But I know where you're going with this. Co-main event, like I'm picking Anthony Smith to win, but I understand the vibes. I have vibes about Erina Aldana

versus Amanda Nunes right now. I have vibes. My God is telling me something. I see, I don't know why. I don't know why I have these vibes. vibes, but I have them. I have them. If Johnny wins,

I think the UFC's going to push him like crazy, and I think they're going to try to use Johnny to do them a favor. And I think that favor is they're going to try to chuck them in there with mock him and Ankelaif and hope that magic can strike twice. And then they can try to get

Johnny Walker into a title fight. So it'll be a huge win for him. It'll be a huge win for him. Yeah. Fenway is expensive. It is very expensive. Sitting on top of the green monster is very expensive. When I go to Fenway, I like to sit first baseline up on the roof box. Then you can see the whole field.

Lines to the bathroom are very short. Concession lines are very short. Beer lines are very short. You get the ambiotes. You can go out from there. You can go into the right field corner there to the, to the outdoor patio area, easy access. It's just very cool.

I haven't been there in a while. It's been a couple of years, but I took like my dad and my son, all three of us went together, and it was great. If you have kids and they're into baseball, you should definitely take them to Fenway because they treat, like the staff there,

they treat kids incredible. When you go through the turnstiles and like on Yockey Way, I mean, they do like free face. painting and they give you gifts like it was my kids first game they gave him like a gift bag with all this other crap like it was awesome it was awesome but yeah you got to save your money you got to save your pennies and ain't cheap to go to fenway but there is just nothing i don't care if you're a yankee

fan or whatever fan you are there is nothing like walking up that aisle way and seeing that field and smelling it and just like getting the feeling the air there's just nothing like it there's nothing like it. I would probably feel that way if I went to Wrigley too, but it's just, you just have to sit there and be like, wow, this is the shit. And it is, every single time. It's awesome. So if you can

get there, go, but it ain't going to be cheap. Maybe they'll just be awful and then go later in the air and go for way cheaper. YVMZ, hello. Hi, Mike. Heck, good morning. Just a quick comment and a question for you. Thanks for making my morning, July 29th, is my birthday, and I live in Salt Lake City, so I think that's going to be a hell of a birthday if it comes true.

A quick question on Anthony Smith's comments at his media conference or whatever. He said that he wanted to welcome Alex Pereira to 205, but he did say that, you know, a lot of the people at 205, you know, are pretty well-versed in wrestling. So if he doesn't fight Jamal Hill, who do you think would be a good matchup for him? Thanks. Have a heck of more. Actually, Johnny Walker wouldn't be a bad one either if he beats Anthony Smith. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be like Anka-Lyaf or somebody like that. Maybe they do Yombovich, that's not a bad one.

but it'd be somebody that could maybe John maybe that's the one I don't think they do Ankleiaf I don't know but Johnny Walker would be fun too but I honestly think Pere is going to fight Jamal Hill

if Yuri ain't ready to go and they need to get a good main event in there for Boston or any of these other cards it's not a bad one all right we got about seven minutes so we're going to go rapid fire with everybody in line here.

We have preview show at noon Eastern. So coming up in about an hour and seven minutes for UFC Charlotte and then we got Bellator coming up very soon. Lone Wolf are you there? Hello? I can't see you, but I can hear you. I can hear you.

Okay, thank you, Mike. I'm very excited for the card that is happening next month, June 10. probably more excited about the co-main event because of Charles Olivera and Benil Darius, Lightweight. But who do you think my question is, who do you think going to win this board

and going to fight for the title? Who do you think is more likely to win this match because both of the fighters are really talented and are no, yes, they are both. they're very talented and Benildarish is on win streak of like eight or nine I don't know and you know Charles Olivera is very strong and

very he has a very good fighting IQ but Islam made him easy but he's a threat he's still a very big threat for lightweight division and we all know that so who do you think we'll win this game who do you think

this is my question thanks man I don't know It's an interesting fight. I'm leaning Binald Aarayush. I just think it's his time. And I just feel like the M.MA gods kind of need to do him a solid from being honest. He should be just be fighting for the belt right now, but now he's got to fight Charles Oliver.

I think stylistically he matches up very well with Charles Oliver. I think he could do a lot of things that is on Makachap was able to do. I think he could wrestle Charles Oliver. And I know Charles has all the submissions and all that. but Charles is, let's not get sucked into that. Charles is this incredible fighter off of his back thing because it's a little bit overblown. But if this thing stays standing,

it's going to be interesting because Charles can frigging crack. And I know Bineal is kind of durable, but we've seen Binal get knocked out too. So it's an interesting fight. I go Bineal. I want to see Bineal versus Islam. That's the fight I want to see. And if Charles wins,

they ain't given them the title shot. I think Dustin Porre gets a title shot. So I'm leaning Benile Darioch, but that's a great fight. I can't wait for it. That's the big selling point from me for 289. Brian, hello. Brian, are you there? All right, let's move on.

We've got four minutes left. Let's rapid fire these. Let's go to Emilio. Hey, yo, Mike. What's up? Happy to be here. Same. What's up?

Yeah, not much. I'm going to keep short. I know that I'm a little bit late, because for X, Y, Z, reason I wasn't able to be here for the last two heck of a mornings. But, man, what a card by one championship. I mean, I don't know. So my first question for you would be if one keeps coming to the U.S.

And Bellator keeps doing Bellator things, which is essentially putting up. kind of mid-cards, how long do you think until one overtakes Ballotaur as officially the second-best MMA promotion? And second of all, in the context of one, while we're already

talking about it, where would you put Adriano Morage in the Bantamweight in the UFC Bantam-Wate rankings? That's it, Mike. Appreciate you and have a heck of a weekend. I mean, there are some who will say one is already above Bellator. I'm not

necessarily. I mean, if we're talking about strictly the U.S., Bellator is ahead of one. It's just the way that it is. Chachry can say whatever he wants. It's Belator's number two. Belator's number two right now.

But one's nipping on their heels. PFL's nipping on their heels. And I thought this is a very good debut for them. I caught up with most of the card earlier this week. DJ gets the win. The rod take fight was sick. Mikey Mushemi,

is Musce? Whatever the hell? How are the frigging you pronounce the name? Dude's a grappling machine. Stam Fairtex looked great. The dance and everything. It's good to see Sage North cut back. It was crazy to see Roberto Soled each get knocked out,

especially with, I mean, how much money he's getting paid. It was a good, it was a good card. It was a good card. They should probably keep coming back. They should probably keep coming back. But yeah, it was a, it was a good start. It was a good start for their, I guess, U.S. takeover. Chauta just needs to, like, chill out a little bit.

I mean, he was, like, screaming at the top of his lungs and he was cutting pro wrestling promos. It was just very, very weird when he was on camera during the card. But all in all, pretty good. Where would I rank Adrian Marias at Bannamweight in the UFC? that's a great question probably probably in the top 15 somewhere yeah I'd probably rank them but I don't know how highly I would rank them but I'd probably be in top 15 Brian hello hey Mike

how you doing I had to shout out a legendary tennis player Marty fishing here that's awesome and then a quick question here who do you have more stock in going forward Ian Gary or JDM in the welterweight division thanks have a great weekend golly a great question and shout-a-martie fish uh god late that's tough that's so tough that's so tough ian probably has like a few extra years that he could be able to compete because he's still so young

but jdm is a problem man that guy's a problem that fight with sean brady is really interesting at ufc two 90 really really interesting right now it's jdm It's hard to ignore. He's just going out there and melting people. He goes out there and finishes Sean Brady. That's super impressive. I've still bummed we didn't get the Vicente-Luke fight, but we still could get that down the road.

So right now it's JDM. Ian Gary goes out there and just obliterates Daniel Rodriguez tomorrow. Might be more of an interesting discussion, but right now it's just... J.D.M is just really tough to ignore. So I would say right now it's JDM. But if I'm buying stock right now, I would say the number on Ian Gary is probably lower than JDM.

So maybe I'm just going to take a risk on a lower number and hope that it shoots through the moon. But not a bad place to be for either guy. That's for sure. The UFC likes both of them. So good place to be. MMA ground. Hello.

Are you there? Hey, yes, I'm here. Hey, how are you? Good morning. Good morning. Well, I'm a long time listener, but today I joined a little bit late, but I heard a lot of bias from you against the, and Kalaya. I don't know why you keep dismissing him from every possibility of him fighting for

the title, even though he's the most deserving one. Why? Why is that, please? Thank you. First of, yeah, it's not. bias. I'm literally mimicking the UFC stance on Anka Liev

right now. They aren't thrilled with him. They were not happy with that fight with Janbohovich. And here's the thing with Anka Lai's. It hasn't, this isn't new. It's been that way for a while. That Tiago Santos fight left a bad taste in people's mouths.

And the UFC is, if we have learned one thing, The UFC is not a meritocratic promotion. They are a promotion of, let's put on the biggest fights that will draw the most eyeballs that will get fans excited and want to buy tickets for a floppy dillion dollars and drop $80 on a pay-per-view. I don't think it's unfair for me to say that Mogamette and Goliath is not that guy. He's a really good fighter.

He might be the best late heavyweight in the world. But he's not a ticket seller. He's not a pay-per-view draw. He's just not. And I'm not saying he can't ever get that. I never once said he'll never get a title shot. And never said that. And if I did say that, please find me the clip and show it to me because I don't think

I've ever said that. But I think he's going to need another win and another impressive showing in order to get that. Because Dana was not happy with that fight. Go back and watch that press conference after UFC 282, I think that was. Go watch that post-fight presser. did Dana say anything good about Magamahe Goliath? Was he happy with how that fight went? No.

He was not. And there's a reason that they immediately booked another title fight right after that. They booked another title fight on like three weeks notice after that fight. So it's not me saying this stuff. This is the company stance right this moment. Can he improve his position? Sure. Go get another.

fight, just go out there and do what you should do to a lot of these guys. Go finish somebody, get people talking. You go get a title fight. But you're telling me right now that Jamal Hill versus Magamanaika Live is going to do better on paperview than Jamal Hill versus Yuri Perashka or Jamal Hill versus Alex Pereira. It's not even close. It's a 200,000 pay-per-view by difference. This isn't biased.

It's just the way it is. It's just the way it is. Ankle-Av's a good fighter. He could be great, but he's not a draw. He's not a draw. And sometimes his fights are not all that thrilling to watch, even in dominant wins. This is just the business the UFC is in. That's all.

It's not me being biased. I put Anka-Live skills over a ton. He's just not a draw. There's bigger fights in this division than Magamad. bigger and more interesting to the fans and the casual viewing audience who the UFC is trying to get. They have us, everybody in this room. We're going to watch everything. But how do we get new audiences to flop, flop down $80 to watch our pay-reviews?

Right now, Magam and Inc Alive isn't one of those guys. That's why I think Alex Pereira is probably 1B if URI can't come back this year. They should just run back. Ankleyev, Janbovich, just run it back, do a five-round fight nightmate events or something. Just run those two guys back. What's the problem with that? They fought to a draw.

They fought to a draw. Just have those two guys run it back. Ankelyev can get the bad taste out of people's mouths. He can go out there and fit. And I didn't think that fight was that bad, by the way. I didn't think that. I thought Dana kind of overshot himself a little bit, saying how just looking at how negative he viewed that fight.

I didn't think that fight was that bad. I thought it was actually kind of compelling. But they were kind of doomed from the start to begin with because you lose Jerry Phrashka, you throw an ankle eye off on short notice, fight ends up in a draw. It's just weird. The whole thing is weird.

There's no bias here. This is just how the UFC does business. If this is Bellator, Magumann Anka Lai's probably the champion. right now. He's probably on a second title defense. There are more meritocratic promotion. The UFC is more about we got to make money. And that's

all I'm trying to say. I'm not dissing the man's skill set. But the interest levels in Ankle-Ive just aren't there right now. They're just not. Hello? Let's try to get Max in here. I'm going a little overtime. What the hell?

All right. We'll move on. Can't get Max in. We'll go to Yousef. to hardcore casual and then we'll go to Dylan. That's it. Then I gotta go. Yusuf, do we have you? Not going through.

Hardcore casual, do we have you? Getting a spinny wheel. You got me on. Okay. Let's try Yusuf again. I think this is just not going through. Just not going through. Dylan, save me.

Unless you're just having connection issues altogether. Can you hear me, mine? Yeah, nothing's going. through. All right. Well, I apologize, everybody. I try to get some more people through. I think the MMA gods are telling us, hey, time to wrap up. So appreciate you all. I'm screenshoting all of the photos here. I got Yusuf. I got Viking. Sorry, Viking. What's going Viking hopping in like at the end of all these? What's going on? Viking's usually like the first one in line. But you guys are the best. Shout out to all of you. Much appreciated.

UFC Charlotte preview show coming up in about 50 minutes if you're listening live noon Eastern on the YouTube channel check it out and well people's pre-fight show tomorrow 11 a.m. Eastern get you ready for UFC Charlotte

we'll have everything else going on as well typical fight week stuff we got Bellator going on in a little while and we'll be back on this program Tuesday 10 a.m. Eastern to recap the weekend festivities, and I hope you will join us, and hopefully you get all these connection issues fix. So thank you all very much. Have a great rest of your Friday. And as always, have a heck of a

morning, everybody. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Hi, I'm Sophia Loper Carroll, host of the Before the Chorus podcast. We dive into the life experiences behind the music we love. Artists of all genres are welcome. And I've been joined by some pretty amazing folks, like glass animals. I guess that was the idea was to try something personal and see what happened. And Japanese breakfast. I thought that the most surprising thing I could offer was an album about joy. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, and remember, so much happens before the chorus.