MMA Fighting - HOAM | What If Nate Diaz Beats Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279?

Episode Date: July 21, 2022

The booking of the final fight on Nate Diaz's UFC contract has been met with mixed reviews, as he's targeted to face Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of UFC 279 in September. The question is: why all of the outrage? On an all-new episode of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on the matchup between Diaz and Chimaev, while also explaining why it's absolutely the correct fight to make. In addition, listener topics include what would happen if Diaz were to pull off the major upset, the incredible looking UFC 280 card — now with the additions of Aljamain Sterling vs. T.J. Dillashaw, Petr Yan vs. Sean O'Malley, and Beneil Dariush vs. Mateusz Gamrot — where Conor McGregor fits for his return, what fight could co-main event UFC 279, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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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. Thursday, July 21st, 2022, and it is indeed a heck of a morning, live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces.

and soon it'll be on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network, and I say it's a heck of a morning. It's been a heck of a week in terms of news and fight bookings and all sorts of craziness going on in the world of mixed martial arts. We're still coming off of UFC Long Island. We have UFC London. Coming up on Saturday, Bellator is back with the pretty damn good show tomorrow. Bellator 283 in Tacoma, Washington. There's a lot going on. And like I said earlier,

a lot of big fights to talk about. Most notably, the big one, UFC 279, the main event, Hamza Tshamayev versus Nate Diaz, who will have the final fight left on his contract.

I have a lot to say about this fight. We found out on Saturday, We talked about it a little bit on Tuesday, but Charles Olivera will fight Islam Makachev, main event of UFC 280 and Abu Dhabi for the vacant lightweight title. And a whole bunch has been added to that card. Al J. Stirling defending his Bannamway title against T.J. Dillishaw. That will be the co-main event.

We found out already that Sean Brady is fighting below Muhammad. And then two big ones, we confirmed yesterday. One, Piotr Yan is back, and he's not fighting Henry Sehudo. He's fighting freaking Sean O'Malley. That is insane. And then late last night, we got another one, another big one at 155.

But Neil Darius, who may be the biggest gangster in all of this, because this guy was positioned you can make a compelling case that he should be fighting for the vacant title right now. Instead, he's going to fight Matush Gamrot at UFC 280. So a lot going on, a lot to discuss.

I'll give my thoughts on some of this stuff as you present them. Let's get after this thing. Let's go. A lot of people lined up. Let's start with Mitchell. What's up, man? So I just wanted to get your opinions on your Mali versus Jain fight and what do you think of the matchmaking.

And if Shona Mali does win, do you think he's next in line for the title shot because he's making a big jump and he would have. be in the number one right of firing that division. Yes, so, Peter Yan, shot O'Malley, really interesting fight. Kind of, I mean, I respect shot O'Malley for jumping on this fight, for going to Abu Dhabi, for and taking such a tough fight because O'Malley's a star for the company. He could just fight September 10th on this Nate Diaz, Hamzaa Shamaev card and still find himself in a big fight and still be a big part of the presentation, if you will.

But instead, he's going to fight Piotr Yan, by far his toughest fight. And he's coming off the no contest with Pedro Munoz. And Pedro Munoz probably has to be seeing this booking and is like, what the hell? I get poked in the eye and he gets what could be a number one contender fight. And I get left with an eye injury. And who knows who the hell I'm going to have to fight next. So, yeah, big opportunity for both guys. I don't want to hear anybody saying that Sean O'Meux.

is taking easy fights because that's certainly not the case. This is a big one. This is a big one. This is an interesting one for Piot-R-Yon as well, because you would think, and the betting odds suggest, that Jan should go in there and handle O'Malley accordingly, and I'm leaning Peodor Young to do that as well. But I got to say this.

The length of O'Malley is interesting. The striking of O'Malley is interesting, especially the diversity of it. And one thing we have learned about Peter Yan throughout his UFC career is that he is not the best starter. And it's not like Saroni-esque where it just takes him a minute to get cooking. He usually takes the first round to make some moves but sort of figure out the game, if you will, to kind of figure out what the opponent's going to bring to him. And Sean O'Malley has shown that he could be a very quick starter.

Now, if I am Sean O'Malley in this situation, because he is a very smart guy, he is a student of the game, I'm sure he is well aware of Piotr Yon and his strengths, his weaknesses, what he does well. The one thing Piotr Yon does well is he gets better as the fight goes on. And there's a lot of things Piotr Yon does well. That's why he was the champion. That's why a lot of people thought he would go in there and beat Algebrae Stirling. In April, it didn't happen. Sterling had a fantastic showing, retained the title. Here we are.

now he gets to fight Sean O'Malley. But if I'm Sean O'Malley, I'm going out there and just emptying the gas tank. I am throwing everything but the kitchen sink of Piotr Yon in the first five minutes of this fight. And hopefully he could put Piotr Yon out of there. And if he can't, all right, he gave Yad a tough fight. It's kind of a win-win for O'Malley.

Because if he wins his fight, he's probably getting a title shot or at least he's going to be in the conversation. And if he loses, it's just, I mean, just depends on how, like, if he just gets the doors blowing off him in 30 seconds, that's a whole different thing. But I don't think that happens here. I think Jan will end up winning a decision, maybe getting a late finish in this fight. But I think O'Malley's going to have a, could have a very big first round. And that's how I would, that's how I would approach this fight. Just throw it all at Jan in those first five minutes. Don't let him get comfortable. Don't let him get

situated. Don't let him figure this thing out at all. And just blast him with everything you have. and just empty the tank in those first five minutes. That's how I would approach it, but I am not a fighter. I am not shot O'Malley. I am not his team. That's kind of what I would do, but he's probably not going to listen to me or the show, and that's okay. But big opportunity, yes, if shot of Malley wins,

I don't know if they'll throw him right into a title fight, but there's a chance. There is a chance. I'm sure he's going to have to restructure his contract for any of that stuff to happen. Let's go to Tristan Gordette. Tristan, are you there? Mike, what's going on? How are you?

Yeah, so I was thinking about this too. Remember, like two weeks later, it's the MSG card. So if the Obie-Dobie card's going to be that big and that's what that a lot of star power, the MSG card better be as close or as good because I'm thinking in my mind now, you've got to get the steep A and John Jones fight. You got to do the Izzy and I'll verify.

I mean, Pierre-Alex Pereira fight. Then you got to do Jorge versus Gilbert. Then you got to do Kobe versus Dustin. And then you got to do Wonderboy versus Kevin Holland to finish. To have that star power match up to the Obadiobicoor. Or you got to get close because we don't know what's going to happen as far as Kobe situation and Jorge. The USC is going to sit tight and wait and see how that plays out. hopefully everything can settle down.

Then you got to figure out if Kobe's healthy to ready to fight and then see also if Dustin's going to agree to that at 170. I mean, because then you have all that buildup. You have beefs going around. Now the problem is can you have on the same card at the MSG card? Can you have Kobe and Jorge at the same place? I don't know. I mean, UFC has got to talk to them like,

you guys can't be around each other or whatever. we're going to sit you as the buildup is concerned. So it's got to be as big or if you can't get those. Conner's got to be on that car if he's going to be ready for that. So we'll see what the UFC you got to do because they're like, yo, dude, we got to match the star power of what we just did for Al-Wadabbi for MSG. It's got to be that big. We've got to get the steepe and John Jones fight happening.

It's got to, it's like no choice because you can't, it can't be a letdown. It just can't. It's got to be like, all right, we're doing Al-Badabadi. MSG, we got to go big. we got to go big or go home. So they got to figure this out and make sure they got this all lined up in place for the MSG car.

Because it's two weeks later. It's like, what, November 4th? They're going to do it at, I guess. It's two weeks later. So they've got to be high alert and get these fights, you know, showed up and done, be like, okay, you think the Alba Dobby card was great,

which will it be? Because that card is insane. Watch the MSG car and what we do here. Bang, right then and there at MSG. And it'll be all hands on deck. So that's going to be very, interesting. I want your thoughts on that because I think you might be similarly thinking like if the obi thought because that hot, MSG better be that's hot as well or close to it. And then my

second point, my second question is, how did, were you kind of surprised at what Valentina and Shevchenko said of her next fight will not be at Bantamai to challenge either, um, challenge Amanda Nunes or, uh, or Pena? What, what's your thoughts on that? I was pretty surprised that she said, no, I'm going to keep defending the flyweight title because she did talk about she would have to put on muscle to get to 135. So just your thoughts of your comments on that conversation that she had with Ariel Juani on the memory hour. Thanks, Mike.

Appreciate it. Thank you, Tristan. Yeah, the Valentina thing I'm not all that surprised about. I kind of felt that that would be the direction after the Talas Santos fight. And the big thing that she has said pretty much consistently throughout all of this is that she just felt like she was too small. on fight night. She didn't feel like she put out enough size.

She felt like Tyler Santos was the much bigger fighter. And until she addresses that and is able to put on a little bit more weight, size up a little bit, she's probably smart staying at 125. And there's fights for her. There's definitely fights for her at 125 right now. So we will see what happens. Manon Fioro is going to fight Caitlin Chukagia in September 3rd. If Manon wins, maybe they turn her around at some point.

pretty quickly, especially if she gets a quick finish. Maybe they put her on one of these cards. The MSG thing, there's one thing everybody sort of has to keep in mind as they look at this UFC 280 lineup, right? Because all of these cards, for the most part, that go to Abu Dhabi are going to look like this. And the reason for that is because that area, that country, the UAE in particular, they pay the UFC a big amount of money to come there.

once a year and put on a blockbuster. And they're delivering, for sure. They're delivering big fights. Two title fights is part of the agreement. They got the two title fights. They have, Islam Makachev, who will be revered in the area and amongst those fans locally in the main events, which is a very big deal. And now you have other fight, Bala Muhammad, another one, even B'Neil Daryush, to some extent.

like this is a very big deal and these are the kinds of cards the UFC is going to try to put together. Now, I will say this, October is, and I'm a positive dude, but I'm also a realist. I've been watching this for a long time.

We have to keep our expectations at a realistic level because it is July, October seems like it's not that far away, but it is pretty damn far away and crazy shit can happen. So let's just keep our expectations in place.

Okay? We are very happy with what we've seen so far on paper. But there's a chance we might not get all of this. So just throwing that out there. As far as the MSG card goes, listen, I don't think the further we get to 2022, the less I feel as if John Jones-Sepa Mietch is going to happen this year. I just, at this point, why not just figure out Francis first? get him back in there, let him heal up.

If Francis is going to fight in December or January like he's targeting, why not just do John Jones versus Francis? Like, that's probably with the UFC's thinking. Their first thing, and their first priority on their mind, as far as Francis goes, besides just figuring this whole thing out and letting cooler heads prevail and figuring out all this contract stuff, is Francis is going to want to fight John Jones. They're going to entice him with that.

resign with us, we'll give you the damn John Jones fight. That'll be like the January of the February pay-per-review. So as it stands right now, if I had to take a guess on what fights will be at MSG, I will say Adasadia Pereira. I will say maybe they do Yuri versus Glover. Like I think it would just be cool to have Glover. Just think about the savings of travel from Connecticut to MSG. You get Glover and you get Pereira traveling from beautiful Connecticut.

down to New York for title fights. The Porre against anybody, really. Porier versus Chandler works for me. There's so many fights you can do. You can put Wonder Boy on that card against Kevin Holland or whatever. Like, they can still make it a good card. I don't know if it's going to beat what 280 is, but they don't need to do that.

They don't need to do that. UFC's getting extra money to build this card for 280. It's more important to them to build up a kind of card like this for 280 because they're getting compensated for it more so than doing it at MSG. So, yeah, it's, it's, I think MSG will be fine. And you have to remember, there's a December pay-per-view as well, so you can't go too crazy. So I don't know what they're going to do. Another one I keep, I mean, people keep asking about it, like, what are we going to do September 10th?

What are we going to do September 10th? Because we got the main event, what else are we going to do? Because right now, if you look at it, the card as it stands, it's a little, it's a little, it's a little, It's a little McGregor non-title pay-per-view looking, but I don't know. We'll see what happens. We'll talk more about that, I'm sure, as the show progresses. Let's go to Don.

What's up, Don? What's going on, Mike? How are you doing? I'm good, man. So I had two things for you. First thing is which one of these new bangers fights? It's the season of the bangers, man. Bangers is just coming left and right.

Which one are you the most excited for? And I also wanted to know your opinion on. So I see Sean, you know, he got to fight with Peter Yan, Patrick Yon. And I wanted to know how you feel about when people, like, when fights end, yeah, eye poke and stuff like that, do you feel like it should just be immediate run back? Because this reminds me of, like, when Leon and Bilal fight each other now, you know, of course, Leon was only fighting Bilal because kind of like a placeholder, he just needed a fight. So, but nobody expected it to end like that.

And a lot of people were like, oh, you should run it back because it was eye poke. But he was like, I don't really want to do that. And now, like, a similar thing happened with these two. So I want to know what's your thoughts on that? And one last thing. Thanks for always saying my name right, man. You're going, Mike. So have a heck of the morning.

All right. Too sweet. All that. Thanks, man. Yeah. I mean, to me, for, what am I most looking forward to? There's two ways I look at this. One, as far as just a fight for what it is, it's by far Oliver versus Mockachev, that is the correct answer.

But in terms of the intrigue and the build and the pro wrestlingness of it all, it's got to be Shemmaa versus Diaz, right? It has to be. It has to be. Because there's just, we have our own. You know what? I'm tagging myself in here because here we are. And we're going to talk a little bit more about this on Between the Links, because this will be brought up, I'm sure, when I absolutely throttle verbally Drake Riggs and become the champion of my own show.

So I'm pretty excited about that, 3 p.m. Eastern M.A. Fighting YouTube channel, so get excited for that. I love everything about Hamzaa T. M.S.A. v. Nate Diaz. I love everything about it. And here's the thing. We have, we've had a lot of folks throughout this. build and trying to get Nate a fight over the last year or so they're chanting get Nate a fight get Nate a fight let Nate go let Nate go and then they book him a fight it's like anyone but that anyone but that like you can't have your cake and eat it too you can't choose his opponent and guess what I love this fight because this is the fight Nate wanted Nate wanted it and here's here's one thing everyone keeps bringing up well if Nate really wanted this fight he would

have taken this fight in October. Why? Why? Why would he have done that? Why would he have done that? Why would he go to Abu Dhabi and fight Hamzaa Chamaa? What he's trying to negotiate something for himself? Now, could he have taken that fight and then just been done with the UFC? Sure. But you also got to play the game a little bit. What else could be out there for you? What else is possible? What else could be there? Could I get a different fight? Could this happen? And in hindsight, maybe Nate probably could have taken that fight and then we wouldn't be even be having this conversation right now. But Nate is also going to be heading into free agency and he wants to have his name, his price tag, his resume, so to speak. He wants to be in the best possible place. So why put yourself at more risk,

essentially, to travel to Abu Dhabi to fight Hamzaa Chamaev when you are one of the biggest stars in the company and you are the A side of this fight, why would you do that? So I don't blame him for not taking that fight. Maybe in hindsight, he probably should have been like, F it, I should have went and done it. And then I'd be done and I'd be free from these chains a la Wilson Phillips. And he didn't do that. So here we are. I love everything about this. This is a win, win, win for everybody involved. The guy with all the risk here, in my opinion, is not Nathan Diaz. It is not the UFC. It is Hamzat Shabayev because he is a win away from fighting for the title. He's undefeated. He's a minus 1,100 favorite. At least that's where the line opened for this fight.

He has to win. And he has to win it impressively. Like the UFC has essentially tap this man on the shoulder and said, take this dude out to pasture and put him out of his misery. Not for you. Do it for us. Do it for us, Hamzat. You're the guy. It's like Hamzad has joined the corporate ministry and Dana White is Vince McMahon right now. Do it for us, son. Do it for us, pal. Get this guy out of here and make it painful. Diaz wants this fight. Diaz wanted it. He's wanted it since April. He's wanted it. So here we go. He's getting it. Why are we complaining about this? Why are we complaining about this? We're still going to get 280. We're still going to get $2.80. We're still going to get $2. get MSG. We're still going to get all the fight you want. You might have to wait a month for it, but we're getting, this is a massive fight. And guess what? You can complain about it all you want. You could say this is terrible matchmaking or whatever. So what? You're going to watch it. You're going to spend 75 bucks to watch it. This will be the biggest selling pay per view of the year. It will be the biggest selling pay per view of 2022. It will be. You're all going to watch it.

You ought to know why, because we have no clue what's going to be. We have no clue what's going to happen. We don't know if Nate's just going to go in there, fight around, tap out, and walk out. We don't know if Nick's going to throw the towel in, Jed Bishu's idea. He's been saying that and preaching that for a while. We don't know if Hamzat's just going to go out there, run his ass over. We don't even know if Hamzat's going to make it to Las Vegas. Hamzad has had visa issues and travel issues. So what happens then? Think of all the fun we can have between now and September. What if Shamiab doesn't fight? What if we get Gilbert Burns? What if we get Colby? What if we get somebody else? Because you know the UFC ain't going to do this man any favors if Shamiyaf can't

fight. So the whole thing, like the intrigue, the build, all of this, I can't wait for it. I can't wait for it. And it's Nate's last stand. It's the last fight on the contract. What if he goes out there and just beat Shamiya? Like, what if he just goes out there and beat Shamaa? Because guess what, folks? In my eyes, Shamaa, this line is probably where it should be. But if this fight makes it midway through round two, we got ourselves something real interesting here. If this fight gets extended and it goes into rounds three, four, five,

you're telling me Nate doesn't have a chance to win that fight because he certainly does. He certainly does. Is there a world where Shemayev just runs him over and stops him quick? Maybe. But what if he doesn't? What if this fight gets to the third round? We've seen Shemayev get tired.

We've seen Nate in rounds four and five do the damn thing. And when the pressure is on and the lights are brightest, Nate shows up and has the best performances of his career. Michael Johnson fight. Connemer-Regger at UFC 196. A lot of people felt he beat Connor McGregor at UFT 202. He had the Anthony Pennis performance where he just beat the brakes off that man. And then even the Leon Edwards fight, yeah, he lost the majority of it. But what are we talking about here?

What are we talking about when we look back at that fight? We're talking about the last 30 seconds of it. That's what we're talking about. Nate is so good at that. And if Nate could just survive, if Nate could just survive, even if he gets 1080, every round. If Nate can just survive, his stock rises tremendously. So this is a win, win, win for everybody. And let's just not think about the fight itself. Let's think about fight week. Let's think about the media day and the press conference and the

build to this fight and all the things that could happen. We could get a Montreal screw job out of this whole thing. I don't think it's going to happen. But like, let's just have fun with this shit. Just have fun. This is awesome. I love everything. about this. I honestly love everything about it. I love it. I just, I don't understand the problem with this fight. I don't get it. I don't know why people are so negative about it. Why? Why are you so negative about it? Everybody gets what they want here. I don't understand. I don't understand the hatred for this fight. And if you don't like it, I come on in and explain why. I'm not going to argue with you. You have, you have every right not to like this.

But I don't know why. I don't know why you wouldn't, when everybody gets what they want, essentially. And if Nate wins, holy shit. Holy shit. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous gifts for everyone on my list? Like this designer fragrance for my daughter. It's just $39.99. How could I resist?

This luxurious will throw for my sister. This gold watch for my partner? A wooden puzzle for my niece? Leather gloves for my boss? Ooh, European chocolate for The Crossing Guard? At these prices, could I find something for everyone at Winners?

Stop wondering. Start gifting. Winners, find fabulous for less. Black Friday is here at IKEA and the clock is taking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves

to cozy at-home essentials. All the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait, like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. Let's keep this party on. Mikey.

Mikey, you're there. Hey, morning, brother. How are you? Good. Did you seriously just say the Montreal screw job regarding NAPS? I sure did. You do realize. Wouldn't that be crazy?

No, you do realize that would be the literal end of the UFC, right? Like, that would be... I'm joking. I know you're joking, but like, but you know there's some idiots of M.A. I'd be like, wouldn't that be cool? I'm like, no, that would be like conspiracy of the highest order in the UFC would have to go under. But, but, but like, think about it this way. Like, what if Shemaya, what if like in the first round, Shemayev just drops Nate?

Yeah. And Nate's okay. And he lands like two shots and the referee just stops. Yeah. You know what are you going to be talking about? Yeah, that's going to be. And that's, you know what I mean? Listen, man, I am dreading the buildup already.

Not from them, but from the entirety of M.A. Twitter. because all the conspiracy theories are going to be out in full force, and I don't know if I can take it. Everyone has, like, built it up in their head that Nate is Stonecold Steve Austin. And it's like anti-establishment when he's basically been Dana's boy for like eight years. I don't know. He's like one of Dana's favorite people.

But anyways, the other part I want to get to is Sean, O'Malley and Peter Rionn. Like, I don't get MMA fans, man. They want Sean to be tested, but they don't want him to be tested against somebody they like or somebody like, oh, he doesn't deserve. Like, what is deserve at this point? Like, I don't mean that like, in a negative way, but just like, it's all relative, man. The kid is a hype train. You want hype trains because hype trains create platforms for the fighters you want. Look at what happened to Cheeto. Cheeto got to, Cheeto beat him, and then Sean kept winning, and now Cheeto's getting a fight with Dominic Cruz and maybe somewhere down the line, those two will fight for a number of contendership.

People are just getting ahead of themselves thinking that he's going to automatically get a title shot. it just means he's going to be available to if the option is there. It's like, have some fun in MMA Twitter. You know what I mean? Like the guys, you guys are getting what you want.

He's going to get his ass kick or he's going to prove to us he's legit. I don't get it, man. All right, Mikey. Have a good morning. Thanks, dude. Yes. So what I mean about the build

and Mikey kind of bates sense of it all. Like I was being a little sarcastic with the Montreal School jumps up. But like, just relax. and enjoy it for what it's going to be because it's going to be fun. The whole thing's going to be fun and it's going to be insane with this whole Shamiyaf Diaz thing. There's going to be some not-so-fun elements about it, but just ignore all that BS and just enjoy the ride. And if you're a Diaz fan and you're a Diaz and the UFC fan, enjoy this ride one potentially for the last time.

And what a, I mean, just the mere thought of Nate winning that fight. Like, can you just imagine what the world would be like if that happened? It would be incredible. It would be incredible if Nate Diaz won that fight. Like, I don't know. Like, it'd just be insane. It would be nuts. It'd be one of the craziest moments in the history of the sport.

If Nate Diaz beat Hamza at Chimaa, somehow found a way to win. It'd be nuts. And then the Yanomalley fight, like, what else? Here's the thing. Like, Peodor Yan... in a lot of people's eyes, even though he lost in April, in the books,

even though he lost to Al Jemaine Sterling, a lot of people still feel like this guy is the best Bannamweight in the world. And all the other Bannam weights are booked right now. They're all booked. All of them. The only fight that,

in my eyes, that actually made logical sense to me, and that would make me the happiest, would have been gone versus the Hudo. That was, it just seems like it was right there. And if Henry Sehudo was dead set on coming back to fight and doing things the right way, that was the fight he should have taken.

So Huo should have jumped on board and called for this fight. Instead, he's talking about going to 45, fighting for titles, fighting Sean O'Malley. And you know what the UFC? This just goes to show even more my whole stance about this Henry Sehudo comeback. Henry Sehudo for the first time has actually called somebody out that's not the champion said it's a tune up fight

he went into the back got a viral clip so to speak getting in O'Malley's face essentially saying I'll take a two-up fight with you and shot O'Malley's calling him a say he's drunk and on drugs like you have everything you need to build this fight what does the UFC do

they put him in with Peter Young That's how much they care about Henry Sehudo coming back right now. It's just crazy. And this is the best fight for Yon right now. It's the best fight. It's the only logical fight available to him. My car just apparently turned on. So, sorry.

Hello? Sorry. So here's what just happened there for all of you laughing and being weird. My wife just took the car and the Bluetooth on my phone was attached to that. So if you heard anything weird from the car, maybe a radio station or my wife on a phone call, there you go. Continue on, my man. Cody, you're there. Unmute.

Yes, I am here. I am here, Mike. What's up, buddy? I got a question for you. Do you think if Charles Olivera goes out there and just rear naked chokes, Isla Mokachev in the first round, where do you see Olivera going after that? Do you think he's going to fight Connor? I think he's going to give a rematch to either Chandler, Gaichi, or Porriere?

Where do you see that going? He's fighting Connor. I'm convinced, and I've said this for a while. Olivera Makachachev was going to be the matchup. If it happened at MSG, cool. If it happened in Vegas, cool. But if it happened at Abu Dhabi, there's going to have to be some sort of contingency in place for Olivera

to get the Connor fight next. Like, there's no doubt that that's part of it. fine, I'll take this fight. I'll go to Abu Dhabi. I'll be the away team. I will give the challenger, so to speak, even though he's not the champion, I will give the other guy in this vacant title fight,

hometown advantage, so to speak. I'll give him the rub. But you give me, I'll do you this favor. I'll give you this fight because the UAE's paying you all this money to put on these big, huge, freaking cards. I give you this, you give me Connor. And at this point, like, considering... I'm just going to turn my Bluetooth off just in case

my wife comes back sooner rather than later. At this point, like, who else is Oliver going to fight? Like, he's beating everybody. Now, I know you get Darius. If Daryush beats Gammrott, you can do Daryush, but that's not one that UFC has to rush to get to. If Gammot wins, again, that's not one the UFC has to rush to get to. And let's not forget Alexander Volcanowski is in this conversation as well.

So, yeah, I think it's the Connor fight, but I think it's going to be something like Connor's going to have to, if he wins in October, this would probably be like a February March type deal. So if Connor's ready to come back like early 20, 23, like the first quarter, I think Olaver would try to turn around relatively quickly and take that fight. And Connor as well would obviously be all in on it. I think Oliver just absolutely runs over Connor. but he gets

the red panty night and the extra money and all that stuff and then Oliver can go fight Volcanovsky or Gamrod or Daryush or whoever comes out of that I don't think it'll be Porier I don't think it'll be Chandler because we just saw it.

We just saw it what happened and I know Chandler is real close but I think Chandler's going to have to win a bunch of fights before he gets back to that shot or someone's just going to have to get hurt and he can slide in there. So yeah that's what I think.

I think Connor there's a very good chance with a win, especially if all Bear goes out there and just runs over. Machachev, he's got to get the Conner fight next. And he should probably get it at this point. Look at that guy's resume. There'll be 12 wins in a row. Look at the guys he's beaten in those 12 fights.

Especially like the last half of that, give the guy the freaking Connor fight. He deserves it. Let's go to Squalais. Hey, I'm here. How you doing, Mike? Good morning, everybody. So, I wanted to,

Since you brought up Connor, I want to bring up the fact that, Mike, he's huge. Have you seen him on Facebook? He's a monster. I've even heard people say, you know what, he's probably using pads or he's eating good. I don't care what he's doing. I just know that he's fucking humongous. Do you think that he doesn't come back to lightweight? My theory is that he goes to welterweight.

I don't think this man is going to lose weight to fight Charles Alavara. He got smoked by Dustin twice. You know what I mean? And he's huge. I think he goes to Welterweight. Mike, what do you think about this? Maybe. But, like, who's he going to fight at Welterweight?

I don't know. I mean, do you do the Porre fight at Welterweight? Like, I don't know. I don't know. He's not fighting Usman. That's for damn sure. So, I mean, listen, he's on that, that creatine diet right now.

The guy's got some muscle. You know what I mean? It's a lot going on in the world when you can't really walk or train. You just get in there and you lock yourself in the gym and you just lift as heavy as possible. And he's got trainers and he's got all these people around him that can help him. I'm sure he's got multiple nutritionists and multiple, you know, vitamin people who get all those things in line for him. And it's nice when you have all that money. And you can do that and be able to do all those things.

I certainly do not. I have to do it on my own. And yeah, I am not as felt as one Connor McGregor right now. But listen, I think I think Connor could drop back to 55. I'm sure if he just wanted to start a weight cut. Like I think Connor was like, all right, I'm fighting in January. Let me start cutting down to 55 right now. Like I think he would drop like 12 to 15 pounds like in the first week.

He would just do a lot more cardio. He wouldn't lift his heavy. And a lot of that water weight, the creatine weight, will probably just kind of melt off of him because he's not naturally that big. So I think a lot of that would just melt off and then probably cutting the last five to eight pounds would be a pain in the ass for him. But yeah, he's huge right now. But he ain't fighting for another nine months probably.

So he still got time to cut back down. So I mean, listen, if there's a big fight at 170 for him, I'm sure he prefer to do it that way. But like if they want to do him in like Tony Ferguson at 170, sure. but I think again this all depends on what happens on October 22nd. What happens with that Olivera Machafe like? Because if Machaachev beats Olivera

Connor ain't cutting the 155 to fight Islammachov, I can tell you that right now. No freaking chance. Let's go to Aiden. Aiden, how are you? Hello. Hello. I was just listening to the Connor

stuff. I don't I don't see him getting any big fights in terms of whether it's Usman or O'Avera, just because of his timeout, I can only see him coming back for either the Diaz fight or potentially the Poye, which I don't think needs to be run back. But I just want you to do thoughts on if Paddy Nimbley wins this weekend. how, when do you think he might be potentially getting a title fight? Do you think they're going to be taking his time with him because he is a prospect? How long do you think it will be before he's thrown in with a top five contender or top three?

All right, so the Connor thing, he's not going to fight Nate Diaz. The fight's just not going to happen. If he does fight Nate Diaz, it will be a while from now or will be outside of the UFC. Because after this Tom's up, like Nate's going to do something else. He's going to go box Jake Paul or do something like that. Now, could he come back to the UFC? Sure.

There's never say never. It's very possible. Who knows? We saw Tito fight in the UFC years after Dana wanted to freaking box them. So, I mean, there's anything can happen. Money talks, business talks. So, yeah.

I just don't know if that D. fights happens anytime soon. I definitely think the Olivera fight is in play because Connor only has like two fights left at his deal and they're going to milk his name for all it's worth if he doesn't resign with the UFC, as they should. They should use his name to put

over other guys to try to do the same thing with Nate right now. That's what you do with Big Stars. If they're on their way out, you use that name to put over somebody else to shine on other fighters. That's what you do. That's what you're supposed to do. It's the pro-wrestling model. the Patty thing

the title fight man we're a long way away from that we're a long way away from a title fight we're a long way from top five and it shouldn't be like that like Patty Patty is not a guy that you position to be a world champion you Patty is a guy that you position

to fight in London twice a year in front of a big crowd and get this man wins that's what we're doing here that's what we're supposed to do. We get the hometown rub. Put him against anybody. I'm not even, like, Patty is a good salesman.

There's no doubt about it. The guy generates buzz. He's a star for that company in that part of the world. He generates a lot of interest. He's going to have his hands full with Jordan Levin. He's going to have his hands full with Jordan Levin. I don't bet on MMA, but looking at the, that line, I would fire a couple

shekels at Jordan Levin right now. Because Jordan Jordan is not going to get rattled by any of this. Like Patty wins a lot of his fights before he gets into the octagon because the moment becomes a little too much for the guy he's fighting.

And let's just kind of go through the resumes of Patty. And Patty's talking about Jordan's opponents and Jordan's talking about Patty's opponents and both of them are right. None of them are wrong. none of them have fought like elite level competition yet but jordan's i've been hearing about jordan levitt for like seven years now before he was even on like a blip on the ufc radar

this is a guy through his regional run that nobody wanted to fight nobody this guy tried to get fights all over the country all over the world and no one would fight this guy nobody would fight him it was crazy the amount of opponents that turned down fights with jordan levin the dude is slick as hell man and patty can crack a little bit but patty's also not like this big knockout artist

so i mean like patty's a fine fighter and we need to position patty to just sell tickets in london and just get this man wins because it creates moments it creates moments he's not like i just don't if if patty pimble it fights for a world title i will dedicate an entire show to him i will do a two-hour patty pimblet tribute show where i just put over all of his wins i'll go through his entire resume i'll do watchalongs of his entire catalog i like patty is good for the ufc in these types of situations i just don't think we're going to be living in a world where patty

fights for a world title or gets top five guys and that's okay that's fine that's fine He's got a, like, he has a role, and he has a very good role. Like, seeing Patty get the London, the London rub is awesome. That's great. That's great. Place goes crazy. Am I McCant joins them and they're like a tag team. Like, it's super cool to see that.

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. I think, I just, and I don't think I'm alone in thinking this about Patty. Like, he's, he's a fine fighter. but we'll see what happens here. We'll see what happens on Saturday. See what happens. Maybe steam rolls Jordan Levin. Maybe he goes over and runs them over.

But let's not forget, Jordan Leavitt fought Claudio Poyas, and that's probably the most difficult fight on either of their resumes right now. He lost that fight, but he went the distance with Claudio. And Claudio is like a dark horse 55 right now. He's a guy that not a lot of people talk about in this division.

We talk about some of the other names coming up, I'm talking about the gamrots and the Jalen turners and the the Sirukians and some of the guys coming up this division, but no one's talking about Claudio Playa's right now. And that guy is surging and he's super good. And Jordan went 15 full minutes with that guy in like his sixth pro fight. Like that's some serious experience right there. Jordan's been saying the right things as well.

It's like, listen, I've been at syndicate sparring with world champions for a decade now. none of them have dropped me none of them have rocked me Jordan's not going to get overwhelmed by this London thing at all he's just not he just is who he is a self-aware weird dude

like who knows that he's a weird dude so yeah this will be the fight that everybody has circled on their calendar come Saturday this is the fight everyone's going to be talking about and everyone's going to be looking forward to but I think we have to we have to pump the brakes on patty pimblit fighting for world title conversation

at least in my I could be wrong, and if I am, I'll be happy to come on the show and say that I'm an asshole and I don't know what I'm talking about. Let's go to Gossip Dude, Gossip. All right. How are you? Gossip, dude, Gossip. Unmute. Yeah, can you hear me?

Yep. Gotcha. Very good. I had a quick question for you guys. It seems to me like Nate Diaz and Dana White have been at odds for each other. And I don't think Dana is throwing him to the dogs as far as him fighting. Cosmett because he does have a fighter's chance. There's no doubt

about that. But can you go into detail as to why him and why Dana and Nate have had at odds with each other for a while? I mean, Ariel's probably the guy. You could probably tell that story the most. But, I mean, at least from the outside looking in, Nate understands

value, Nate understands his worth, and Nate understands that this game can be a little one-sided from a business sense. Like the UFC is making all this money. The fighters are getting shit. And once in a while,

like the fighters will make a pretty hefty paycheck. I mean, just look at what Diaz and McGregor did for each other in 2016. Right? Remember that? They fight at 196. They were booked to headline UFC 200. Contracts weren't good. One guy falls out.

The other guy defends the other guy and says, I ain't fighting anybody else, but Connor. I'm not fighting anybody else, but Nate. They held out and they got with they wanted and they fought at UFC 202 and made a whole bunch of money and that event was gigantic. Nate is a very smart guy and always has been. He's been very savvy and Dana is not used to guys and he's not used to fighters who are savvy and that are willing to take the company on.

And guess what? More oftentimes than not, if you have a leg to stand on and you take the company on, you win. You at least can find a happy medium. Connor's done it many times. Nate's done it a few times and has gotten what he's wanted pretty much every single time.

Sometimes it's just worth waiting it out to get what you want. You don't just take the first offer. You say no to the first offer and then you wait and eventually you will find a happy medium. Nate is a great in his team. They're great negotiators.

And if they don't get what they want, if they don't get what they feel they're worth, they're just not going to do it. Say, okay, I won't fight. I just won't fight. That's fine. I'll do other things. And Nate makes good money not fighting.

They can just go party and make a bunch of money. Like people will just pay him to come to their bar and restaurant and just hang out and they'll pay him a bunch of money and place will be packed. I was in Tampa for the Jake Paul, Tyre Woodley 2 fight. Nate Diaz, it was like the freaking president showed up to the Amelie Arena. Lines of people just all wanting to take pictures of Nate Diaz. crazy. They had to open up like private beer stands for Nate because of all the people that just kept going up to him.

It was just crazy. Nate is a bona fide star. And Nate knows it. And Nate's going to, Nate's not going to fight for any less than he thinks he's worth. And Dana's not used to that. And Dana doesn't like that because you get 700 other guys are going to say, yes, Dana, whatever you want. You want me to fight for this money against this guy? Sure. That's what I'll do. And Nate's just like, uh-uh. I ain't doing that. I want to fight this guy on this card for this amount of money if you don't give it to me and then I just won't freaking fight.

And Nate's been very good and very savvy at that throughout his career. So that's part of the process. Just two guys on different wavelengths. The UFC business has just exploded and it's going to continue to explode. And fighters just are going to get what they want or just get what the UFC essentially wants for them until they all come together and say, F it, we're just not going to fight unless we get our PCHI

and that's just not going to happen any time soon and Nate just doesn't care. Nate just going to do what's good for Nate and there you go. And Nate's going to go on to bigger and better. All right, we'll go Zeke, Brent, Luciano, Patrick, we're going to try to get to everybody. It's a busy

show, lots of talk about. Zeke, are you there? We're winding, we're winding. Zeke, try again, my man. Let's put a Brent. Brent, do we have you?

Yes, sir. Shout out to A.K. And also the UFC roster watching Balthach in here. That's kind of cool. Yeah. I just wanted to jump in and weigh in on the like five or so awesome matches

that the UFC announced in the last few days. I like the Hamzot and Nate one, but I feel like it's a mismatch. That's why I don't love it. But the one that I'm really just confused by that's a big mismatch is Peter Yon versus Shana Mali.

I really just don't understand that. It seems like they're doing like Peter Yon, a huge favor here. And that's all I got. Good morning. Thank you. Yeah. Like I said, I mean, listen, a lot of people don't like the D.S. Shima if it's the fight itself, you just feel like it's a mismatch, fine.

But it might not be. Like that's the thing. We don't know. Like just on paper, you would think just like, we also thought for the most part, we also thought a lot of people thought Shamaip was just going to run over Gilbert Burns. Just run him over on his way to the title. Jed Mishu was on multiple programs and said he's just going to destroy Burns

and then he's going to fight for three titles. But obviously, people underestimated how good Gilbert Burns was. And then it turned into, well, Hamzat was overhyped, which is a bunch of BS, by the way. Hamzad is super

legit, but let's not forget. Nate has been in there with everybody. The guy has fought pretty much everybody that he could possibly fight, and he's won a lot and lost some and has always found a way

to win even when he doesn't win. Again, Leon Edwards fight, perfect example. Loses the majority of it. wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing fight. Leon was able to do pretty much whatever you wanted in that fight. But then Nate had his moment and that's all everybody

talked about was Nate's moment. And Nate's stock rose and Leon's stock dropped which is just what Nate does. So again Nate can lose this fight and be fine it's a win-win for everybody. Hamzaq could get the win.

Nate can just make it you know, Nate just doesn't get the doors blown off him in the first round. Nate Stock's going to rise. If Nate can go the distance, it's going to rise even more. And if Nate Diaz wins. Oh, my God. Oh, boy.

That would just be incredible. I could. I cannot wait. Like, I'm hoping. I'm hoping to be there for that. But I cannot wait to go on a post-fight show if Nate Diaz be Tom Zachimai. That would just be incredible. Incredible drama.

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Mike, I felt like I was talking to my toaster here for a little bit. I don't know if you were there, but I was trying to connect before. It didn't work. Happy to be here now. I got to talk to you about what we just spoke about. I don't think minus 1100 is wide enough on the Humzot side. We might have to bump those odds up or Vegas needs to figure out, you know, what they're doing on that end because I don't understand what the matchmaker's.

doing here. Like, we legitimately might have our first ever legal murder in the Octagon take place in September. And Dana White's just going to allow it because he's upset with Nate Diaz, because Nate Diaz wanted to fight Francis Nangano. Like, this is almost Francis Nengano. Like, he's fighting a man who's going to go in there and absolutely carve him up. All Humzat has to do is take care of Nate, and he's definitely issuing for that belt, or at least that number one contender spot, in my opinion. Like, who would be next in the one? Multi-A-Division. Would it be a, would they throw him out of Kobe? Like, I guess maybe I'm asking you, what would you do next to when Hummed out if he does take care of Nate? Because does this really rise to stock taking care of Nate?

I'm not 100% sure, Mike. And then secondly, yeah, I'm a little Sean O'Malley fanboy, I guess you could say, to say the least. And I do not like this matchup with Peter Yan. Like, if Peter Yan wants to go out there and wrestle him, I have a feeling he's low-key could. I think Jan's going to have a little bit of trouble. trying to manage the distance, but you hear the hesitancy in my voice. Like, I don't know. I just think Peter Yon's a robot. He's definitely going to tune him up later as the fight goes on, because we know how Peter just calculates fighters throughout the fight,

figures out what kind of fight he wants to fight, and just takes people out. So I don't know. It was a huge, huge day in UFC news yesterday was fights that came out. So I guess I'll leave you with this. What was your favorite fight booked in the last 24 to 48 hours? is, I guess, leaked. And yeah, which matchup are you looking forward to and why?

Thank you, sir. Again, it's Shamiya F. Diaz is the fight. I love the most. It's just everything about it is awesome. And one thing, Zeke, I love you, buddy. You are a regular, and I appreciate that. But let's not forget. We have to keep this in mind.

Nate wanted this fight. Nate asked for this fight. This is the fight Nate Diaz wanted. So it's not. Not like Nate's like, oh, I'll fight anybody but Shima if and the UFC is like, well, you know what? We'll give you your last fight, but you have to fight this maniac over here. No, this is what Nate wanted. Nate's wanted this fight for months.

Ever since the Gilbert Burns fight, Nate has been knocking on the UFC's door saying, I want that guy. That's who I want to fight. And now he has it. Maybe it's be careful what you ask for. Who knows? But Nate wanted this fight. He wanted it. And it's a main event on a paper.

So this is not like, this is not just like the UFC taking Nate outside, taking him behind the woodshed and shooting him. No, this is what Nate wanted. Everybody wins here. Everybody wins. And I think Nate's going to give him some problems. Like, and there's a, like I said, there is a chance that Shamiya just runs him over in the first round. There's a, there's a chance that happens. But how many fighters over these years have just run over Nate Diaz quickly?

How many? Not a lot. There have been some, but not a lot. The Mazadal fight was a bad one. That was Mazdaal's like all-time best performance. Okay? All-time best performance. But Nate, when it really counts and Nate's really hungry, the man shows up.

The man shows up. If this fight gets extended, it's going to be interesting, folks. It's got to be interesting. And the build to this is just going to be super fun and intriguing. All of it is fun. All of it is fun. So let's just enjoy it for what it is, friends. Let's enjoy it for what it is.

This could be the last UFC fight week, the last UFC buildup for 1 Nate Diaz, and what if he wins? What if he wins, folks? Good Lord. Let's go to Mr. Luciano. Hey, what's up, Mike? How you, man?

Good, not too bad. So yeah, speaking on the Nate, Camzat fight, I think what people are having an issue with is that it's a complete disservice to the rankings. I mean, when was the last time that Nate was ranked at Walter Waite? And it just doesn't make sense. Camzat's coming off beating number two. If by chance he does lose to Nate,

it just like, what does that leave him? And if Nate is planning on parting ways with the UFC afterwards, I just feel like that fucks up everything. Excuse me my language there. But also for the Peter Yan and O'Malley fight, I think it's a perfect matchup. I think right now Peter doesn't have an opponent. Sugar's coming off this no contest.

And I thought, I'm pretty sure the UFC, like, did well by O'Malley. Like, he took the most appropriate route. You know, like, he faced these unranked fighters. Oh, we lost you. All right. Yeah, I don't know what happened there. It's all good.

To address the first thing, when the hell have rankings mattered? You have seen. What? What? When have rankings meant anything? They have never meant anything. They're just there.

They're just there to put a number next to somebody's name. They mean nothing. They mean nothing. And I say this a lot For those who are looking for meritocracy And for the right for number four White number three Go watch Bellator

Belator is what the UFC would be If this is a meritocratic society If this is based on rankings And how many people Honestly And I like Bellator I think the card on Friday is fun It's loaded

It's a good Bellator card Right But how many people are going to watch it Honestly How many people are going to watch This Bellator card And the answer is not many. They're just not going to.

And they just don't promote these cards well. They don't tell the right stories. And I love Bellator. I really, really love them. I like the people who work there. I think the cards are good. I like the fighters. I mean, come on.

They're good. They're solid promotion, but just nobody cares. And it sucks. It sucks. But this is where we're at right now. But they are a meritocratic organization, where it's like, all right, we got this guy. Number one, he has to fight for the belt.

Number two versus number three, this type of situation, the UFC don't care about any of that stuff. They care about what is going to make us the most amount of money on this card. Oh, yeah? Here's the fight. We'll take two huge stars like Diaz and Shemaiah and we'll pair them together and a million people are going to spend $75 to watch this card. That's going to do a million pay-per-view.

Even if the rest of the card has nothing, it's going to do a million pay-per-view buys. It is. We're all going to watch it. it. We're all going to watch it. We all want to know what's going to happen. So that's it. It's not about the rankings. If Shamiyaf loses, yeah, it sucks, but guess what? Shamiah will just fight somebody else. And if he wins, he'll be right back on the conversation. Because again, the rankings don't gain anything. They're just there. They're just there.

It's all about money and pay-per-view buys. And then, listen, I have no issue with the Yon-Malley fight either. This is the fight. Who else is Yon-Ga-N got to fight? this is the biggest name he can fight. Everybody else is booked. That's just what's left. It's font. Like, I don't know if font's ready to come back

because she got beat up in the Marlon Verra fight. Pedro Munoz has the eye injury. Like, who is Jan supposed to fight? Sohudo was the guy, but Suhudo's not going to take that fight. So we leave O'Malley. And O'Malley,

let's give O'Malley some credit for taking this one. Because he didn't have to take this one. And he's taking it. He announces himself. and he feels he's the better fighter. So I feel like this, this is an interesting fight. But again, I'd like to see O'Malley. I think O'Malley's best chance to win is just to empty the damn chambers

in those first five minutes against Jan before he gets comfortable. And just go for broke and see what happens. Get her get got, son. If you go out there and you get Piotr Yan, you're in a great spot. If you go out there and you beat Yon up and then you lose, you're still in a good spot. Just you can't let Jan do his thing. Go out there and just put the boots to him and see what happens.

That's his best chance to win, in my opinion. Rell, and then we're going to go to Beal, and then we're going to go to James. I'm going to try to bounce around. I know a lot of you've waited for a while. I appreciate you. Relo, what's up in? Good morning, Mike. How you doing?

I'm doing fantastic. I can tell. Whatever day was yesterday or the day before, all these fights we got, man. I was like a kid in a candy store. But I cannot understand how no one, it seems like nobody is excited for the biggest matchup of the year, Olivera and Makachad. Like who, how we, I need to hear more about that because you can't, we know how great Oliver is. But you're not just 100% sure that he's going to win this. This has got to be probably the most 50-50 matchup that can be made at the, at the moment.

I just like who are you going to put some money on? You're not going to be too sure. And then I think the second matchup, Peotryon and Sugar-Shan, that's actually going to be, that's going to be a great, like, technical better. I want to see who's going to be able to, like, you know, get off and get their angles and get their timing right.

Who do you think is going to win both of those matchups? Have it a good morning. Thank you, sir. I am very excited about the Islamakachev challenging, well, not challenging, because of the vacant title. The Islamachachev, Charles Olivera, vacant title fight. I love that fight.

We spent most of last week's show, or Tuesday show, talking about that. So right now, according to our friends at Draft Kings, Islama Machetreff is a minus 200 favorite. Come back on Charles Oliveras plus 170. I don't bet on MMM. but if I did, if someone was like, you have to bet on one of these guys,

give me Olivera. You're giving me Olivera plus money again and nearly at two to one odds. I'm jumping on Oliver all day long. I'm jumping on Olivera all day long. I think, like, I just, I don't know, man. Like, Makachep has been dominant. He has been dominant,

but he hasn't gotten that signature win. I still have questions about, Mokachev. I still have questions. He has been knocked out before. And Charles has had his, Charles has been hurting some fights as well. Well, Mokachap does really well. He does really, really well. But the more we break this matchup down, all there is way more ways to win this fight. His striking's better. He's got more knockoff power. His Jiu-Jitsu is really good. Makachov's going to obviously have the offensive wrestling in the top control. Alvarez's got the advantages in a lot of ways in this fight,

but Mokachev just, Mokachev's just sort of that guy that everyone just feels is the boogeyman. And hey, listen, rightfully so, what he's done in there against the guys he has been put up against, he's run over almost all of them. But I don't know, man. I just think Charles is that good. And until somebody beats that man,

you're going to give me plus money on Charles Oliver against anybody, I'm taking it. I'm taking it. Beal, you're up. Hey, Mike, how you doing? Good. So I'm loving all the matchups the UFC just put out. I personally love Comzat versus Nate.

As much as I wanted to see Comzat versus Colby, just so I want to see Comzat versus Uzman ultimately. But I think that'll still happen. But I think the matchup to make for McGregor is McGregor versus Mosvedal for the ultimate fighter coaches. I think that's the only way to revive that TV show. And, yeah, Mossadol can still fight Gilbert Burns, I think. But at some time, I think him and Connor should coach the ultimate fighter.

Thanks, Mike. Have a heck of the morning. Thank you, Beale. You know, I don't know if all of you heard in the background that you had, you know, some dogs barking and yelping at each other, you just got a preview of what the ultimate fighter would be like. if Connor McGregor and Jorge Mazadol were going to be the coaches. I mean, it would be interesting.

You get two stars, but they would just be bickering the whole time. We saw Mazadol in the situation with Colby. That press conference was horrible. I just don't know if I could deal with the full season of that. Although, not saying that, like, at least with the Tony Ferguson, Halib one, like, at least Habib will try to be the cooler head in all of this, and Ferguson will just do Ferguson-like things. But with Mazadol and McGregor, they're just going to keep,

just screaming at each other the entire time. So, I mean, it'd be theater. Maybe there'd be some drama there. I don't know. We'll watch. I'd probably watch that. Can you guys hear me? My internet's like being stupid, but I think we're back.

All right. Patrick, there we're going to James. I'm trying to get to everybody here. Patrick, are you there? Yes, I'm here, Mike. Are you there? I am here. Okay. The ultimate fighter has a name, and his name is Nathan Diaz.

This dude is free. I don't care what happens in the Hamzaat fight. I'm just happy that he took on Dana White because fuck Dana. And you know he's going to come out, just like, you know, the Leon fight. He's going to come out with some moment in the fight. that is going to keep his image alive and keep his resume alive that he's going to be able to go on and fight Jake Paul and make a shitload of money. But if he wins, is Dana just going to immediately in the middle of the event get on a plane and go on vacation before the press conference? like what's he going to say

he's uh he had to deal with something in the back against francis like what is his excuse going to be this time that's what i want to know and uh Connor fighting like Connor is on such another level of like wealth right now he has boats made by sports car companies he probably has cars made by fricking airplane manufacturers a motorcycle made by fucking custom made by Elon Musk or something shit like the things that he's experiencing in life like i just it's the sat in sheets comment you know Marvin haggler you know what are you going to do when you're waking up in satin sheets dude he's on a whole other level of that like never before seen in a combat sports athlete really so

i just don't think his mindset in his lifestyle is really going to match up with fighting um i just don't see anything firing him up to get back into any type of shape um so uh and yeah i just think uh well all right here's a here's a real question is what how are we going to fill out that card um the hamzat knee because that's a non-title fight what co-main event i mean i guess you don't have to even really fill it up because the that fight has enough buzz people are going to buy it no matter what so they probably aren't going to care but um i think if a remit. I would try to do Porriet Chandler on that card

just to give it a little more oomph. But do you have any ideas of what would fill out that card? No clue. I would assume there'll be some welterweights on there. Maybe you do Wonderboy Kevin Holland. I don't know. Maybe Gil Burns ends up on that card because, again, you have to prepare yourself for a world

where Hamzad has travel issues or something in the fight, he can't make it to Vegas. Like, we have to prepare ourselves for that. So, I don't know. I think there's going to be backups in place. It wouldn't be stunned if Colby is preparing to fight in September just in case. I mean, again, we don't know what's happening with the whole court case and everything going on with the allegations with Mazadol and all that stuff.

It's talked about brain injuries and things like that. but you have to think if the UFC is just playing this, well, we're going to put this dude out to pasture in the worst possible way, you would think that if Comzac can't fight, Colby would be sort of the backup to just take Nate down and make his life miserable for 25 minutes. So I actually feel like Nate stylistically,

even though people may not agree with this, but stylistically, I think Nate matches up better with Shamiah that he does with Colby. because again, Colby has a gas tank that doesn't stop and that would just be a miserable experience for Nate, especially in that final fight, which by the way,

if the UFC's whole thing was, let's put Nate out to pass year and make him look as bad as possible, you would think Colby would be the guy. Like that would just, that would be the first guy I would think of. Colby would just take him down and lay on them and just pepper them with punches for 25 minutes.

Like, that's a brutal exit. At least with Shemaya, like, he just has to survive the early onslaught, at least from what we've seen from the man. And if Nake could extend this to three, four, five, he's got a chance to win. So, yeah, I mean, I think we're going to see some Walterway matchups. I don't know. I don't know what they're going to be. But they need some, like, this card as it stands is going to do a million pay-per-view guys.

But, yeah, Poria Chandler would be a good one. shit, maybe just put Poria in the card to begin with. Toria could be a potential backup for that. For that. Maybe you do Porre Covington on that card. Who knows? But yeah, obviously need some help. We don't need to go crazy, but we need some kind of a co-made event to throw on there in some way. And we'll see what happens because we're running out of time here.

It's late July. This card's going to be happening in a month and a half. all right i'm going to take a few more here there were people waiting since the damn beginning so i'm going to try to get to all of that james how are you good mike good morning to you i uh i just have to say man when you're a phone switch over to your wife's car i immediately went oh no mike's electricity just went out what happened did it just go completely silent or did you hear something else in the background because i've no it was like um i don't i don't even know how to describe it like was it like was it like someone butt dialed you and you picked up and nobody was there?

Pretty much. And then you heard the GPS come in and be like, take a left. And I was like, okay, something's going on here. It was honestly hilarious. But I'd have to kind of rattle off some questions here and a couple hot takes. I personally think we will never see John Jones fight again. I just think it's going to be this thing. He just continues to tease us. and the winner of Blades and Tommy Aspinall

and the winner of Gone and Taitiavasa I think you throw one of those in against Tipe for interim and I think Francis is gone Francis is going to go fight drawing a blank the big boxer dude Yeah, Ty's Vera Thank you he's going to go boxing him And then

Oh, the Naden Comsop thing I think people forgot about the Gilbert Burns fight. I go back and just watch the interview that he does with Joe Rogan there at the end. Like, Homside just looked exhausted. He looked tired. If there was two more rounds of that fight, he knows what would have happened. Gilbert might have put it on him.

So you're going up with a cardio machine like Nate Diaz. If Nate could get out of maybe the first seven or eight minutes, I really think it's anyone's fight. but who do I know? Hombsideger just tackle him to the ground and elbow him until the rest stops it. But I'm with you on that, man. I'm very intrigued with that fight.

And like myself, I'm a fan of Cage Warriors, and I'm curious to know your opinion on Mason Jones, like how high of a ceiling do you have for him? I was really high on him when he first came in the UFC. I thought this guy maybe could end up being a champion or maybe top five. I'm not as high on them now. I think maybe top five,

definitely top 10 someday. But I'm curious to hear your take on it. And yeah, Mike, have a heck of a morning. And thanks for taking my question. And thank you for all that you do. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate that.

Yeah, I love everything about Shima Diaz. Love everything about it. It's great. I love it. Mason Jones. I like Basie Jones. Mace is a good fighter. He's an action guy.

He's good. He's got a high ceiling. I like the alpha male move that he's made in recently. And I like this matchup with Ladova Klein. I think he has a very good chance to win this. He's the much bigger man. I think he's got more ways to win this fight. I don't think he's going to win like a straight kickboxing match with Ladova Klein.

But I think Mason is well aware of that. Mesa can sort of brawl and he could he could just wrestle the hell out of Ladova Klein if you wants to just beat him up on the ground. So I like Mason a lot. That Mike Davis fight is just so good. It's just so good. Go back and watch that fight. If you haven't watched it, go on the ESPN Plus or UFC FightPass

and just search for Mason Jones versus Mike Davis, January of 2021, Fight Island. That fight is friggin' awesome. Mason just brings it every single time. He's looked good in every single one of his fights. so I'm high on the guy too. I don't know if we're talking about Mason Jones UFC champion, but we could be talking about

Mason Jones top 15 guy at some point for sure. Four quarter sports. Hey, Mike, how's it going? Hey, so I wanted to talk about I know a caller had said something about MSG. Well, I don't think the U.S. should be that word because like you had said, we have a December card. I don't think John Jones is going to come in fight

this year. I honestly believe if Ty to Avasi does defeat Cyril Ghan at USC Paris that he's going to end of fighting Francis Ngano in a title fight or be placed in an interim title fight with, I don't know, like, C-Bey. I do agree with you as for your take on Charles Olivera. I mean, I'm all for it. You know, I'll even put down like 300 down on Oliver to win over Islam. I just wonder, like, what's the betting odds on that fight finishing by submission, whether it's Islam or Olivera? And so on Tuesday, you know, there was nothing really to watch as for MMA, and the MOVY All-Star game was on. And, you know, you popped in my head because that game was, excuse my language, but that game sucked.

That game fucking suck, man. And I was thinking, I was like, whoever this new commentator is that MLB had, I was like, this would have been the perfect time that John Anick could have just slipped in because, you know, whenever John Anick is on, like, you know, when the big time commentators are on, you know, it's a big deal. You know, you have John Anick for the UFC. You have Mike Green for NBA, this out of the third. And this could have been the perfect time that John Anick could have been, you know, John. been for like a MLV All-Star game because he actually gave like enthusiasm like you see him at USC events and stuff like that and it's just like whatever this schmuck was for the MLB All-Star game had no enthusiasm whatsoever and me and my buddies were debating on watching what's called the ultimate

fighter compared to that and we still didn't even budge that's how much the ultimate fighter sucks man and we were thinking about it very very closely but we were just like you know what we'll just you know suck it up and just wait for this whole game to end thanks Mike that's all I wanted see and have a good one. Thanks, man. Yeah, the All-Star game stinks. I used to look forward to it every year. Just it stinks.

It sucks. It's just not fun. It's a tough hang unless it's like Jeter's last All-Star game or, you know, Ripkin, about to break the record or Ripkin's last, like one of the legends, their final All-Star game, like Ripkin's last All-Star game and he hits the freaking home run. Like, that was awesome. Like, that's just cool.

shit. Pedro taking the mound at Fenway Park and just blowing fastballs by everybody. Like super cool. Maybe just because that's just the bias of me. But even if you're not a Boston fan, just watching Pedro go out there and just blow fastballs by Sosa and McGuire and all those dudes, like that was awesome. That's what the All-Star game actually meant something. It's just so dumb now. And even like, like, I missed the home run. Like, even this home run dirt, like, I love the run derby like I watched a home run derby with my nine year old for a little while we watched the first round but even the first round took like 90 friggin minutes it's just so long like it's just so long like all this stuff just so long it's just a chore and it was like I just missed the old days

where you had like I don't like the 10 out thing is just not fair anymore with the way these guys hit but I mean come on dude like we we can make this a little more enjoyable and not make this a chore to watch. Like, come on, it's stupid. As far as the Olivera Mockachev props, I don't think a lot of those, at least on draftings, a lot of that stuff doesn't get released

to like right around fight week a little bit before. Maybe for that fight, they'll drop something, but no line as of yet. Maybe you could dig them up somewhere, but I haven't seen anything yet. But yeah, I'm with you.

Olivera, again, just being overlooked. We'll take a few more. We'll go Siverham, and Mike, as they have been here literally the whole time, waiting. Maybe we'll get one more in. I'll try, see what we can do. Siverab, are you there? Siverab.

All right, it's not going through. I don't know why. Jay. What's up, Mike? Can you hear me? Yes, sir. All right, so my fault is other people ask this. I came like, I had to stop halfway through to do something.

But my first thing is with, and also sorry if you can hear stuff, I'm driving outside. But my first thing is with Benil Darius. He's just getting turned over again. with the UFC. And I think this is just a lose-loose situation for him in general. Because even if he wins this match, who else is going to be next for him? It looks like Volk wants to come up and fight the winner for Oliver and Mokachev. So it looks like Benio's going to have to fight down again even if he wins this match.

So I just feel for him. And the next thing I wanted to ask is, what was up with Patty at the conference? Like, why was he so heated at Jordan Levin? Just for some criticism that he gave him. he seemed more mad at Jordan than the Iliot-Suporia incident that happened like a while back for his last fight. And from seeing this, it seems like Jordan's already in Paddy's head without even trying. Like, it's like he's losing the mental game already. And so I think Paddy's just going to come out in the cage to start throwing reckless.

And that might lead him to making a mistake. So I just wanted to get your opinion on those two. Thanks for everything you do, Mike. And have a heck of morning, man. Thanks, dude. Yeah. I mean, I noticed that myself. Patty was all was heated and Jordan is not.

Jordan, like I said since this, because I think when the fight was announced, it was like in the middle of the show and we reacted to it then. Patty could say whatever he wants about the London crowd getting to Jordan. It's not going to. Like, it's not going to.

The drunk people of London that Patty's talked about, his friends and stuff like that, like unless they like come out of the crowd and attack him, they're not going to do anything. To rattle, Jordan, it at all. Jordan does not care. That stuff does not bother him. He is a different dude. He's just a different cat. He is who he is. He's not going to feel anybody. He says the fight's gonna suck. He says the fight's gonna suck. That's not interesting. He's looking at it from a

stylish, stylish perspective. It's gonna be a boring fight. Jordan level will not be rattled by any of this. And Patty's used to winning a lot of his fights before the fights even happened. Because he can get in these guys' heads, fighting in London. and it's tough. Like, Rodrigo Vargas, and Vargas, like, you can tell Rodrigo Vargas is like, oh, my God, this is crazy.

And he hurt Patty. He heard him. He had him hurt. So, like, maybe it is something, maybe there's something to that, that Patty's just trying to rattle this guy, and it's just not working, and Patty's just maybe just trying,

I guess, to get the, I don't know. I don't know. But when this fight, I was announced. I thought it was really good matchmaking. I actually think it's a win for the UFC either way because if Patty wins, we can keep doing what we're doing with Patty.

Even if he loses, you can keep doing what we're doing with Patty. Keep putting on the London cards, trying to give him wins, and trying to put him over and sell the tickets. Like, that's his, that's what you do. And if Jordan wins, you just have such an interesting guy that you can build upon. Like, it's a star if he beats Patty Pimble.

whether you love him or hate him, you're going to get a reaction from this guy. I knew it the first time I interviewed Jordan Levin. I think it was like a 1-0 pro the first time I interviewed this guy. And I knew right then, I'm just like, wow, this is just a different dude. He just is just who he is. He is like the male version of Roxanne Montefari. And like Roxanne's been such a mentor to him that he's just,

it just is who he is. he's comfortable being him. And he's comfortable being him fighting at the apex. He's comfortable being him fighting at a bingo hall in Cleveland, Ohio. He's comfortable being himself in front of an O2 arena crowd that are just absolutely hammered at 9 a.m. He doesn't care. It doesn't change a thing for him,

which makes this fight really interesting. I think the ground stuff is very even. I think Paddy's a little bigger. But Jordan's actually a pretty decently sized lightweight as well. So he caught on a wait to get to 155. So I think a lot of the things that you weigh into these kinds of fights are pretty even. The stand-up, what happens if this fight stays standing? If Jordan turns into a slug fest, which I don't recommend and I'll think he's going to do.

Like, can Patty get him out of there? Can Patty hurt him? I don't know. It's a really interesting fight. Like, it really is an interesting fight. The betting lines are nuts. What are we at right now? We are at Patty minus 250, Leavitt plus 210.

There's so much value in Jordan Levin at plus 210. And I don't think this fight, I don't think this fight gets finished. I don't know. Maybe it does. I don't know. I'm intrigued by it. Mike. Heck of a morning to you, Mike.

Heck of a morning. Hello. Well, has anybody mentioned anything about the. Stirling fight yet? Or is that already old news? Because I just noticed this whole show, nobody said anything. We, I mentioned it. Oh, okay.

I mentioned it. It's not getting any love. All right. Well, anyways, going back on that 280 card. Bro, Charles Olivera, Islam Makalchev. I, that's the fight, dude. That's the fight. I don't know how you're saying Nate Dia's fight.

It has a little bit more hype. Dude, this is the, this is the fight right here, man. Every dream. I think honestly, Charles Oliber is, Levera is going to do enough. He's going to finish him like he's finished everybody else, and he's going to call out Khabib. And that might be the itch to bring Kabeb back into the game, bro. On one last thing, Peter Yon, that's another great matchup because, dude, he's just going to stomp all over O'Malley.

Dude, O'Malley got his shit kicked in with Cheeto. What do you think Peter Yan's going to do? Dude, he kicks strunk over there in Thailand just all day. He's going to break Sean O'Malley, dude. A heck of a morning, Mike. Good luck on BTL. Let's see Boston. and Mike.

Awesome. Mike will be on BTL. I'm ready. I'm ready. And here's a little thing that Drake Griggs may not know that even if you're not the most correct, being the most loud, sometimes wins you the points. I'll have you know.

And I will be loud. I will be boisterous, if you will, on BTL. Listen, I said earlier, Charles, as far as like the in-cage product, Charles Olivera versus Islamo Machachev is the fight I'm looking forward to the most. No doubt about it. 1,000%. That is the most intriguing actual fight.

But in terms of storyline, the build, what can come from it? Because the build to Olivera Machachev is just going to be not great. It's going to be fine. It's going to be Machachev saying his stuff. Tweets coming from Machafev's account, but not coming from. from Mokachev himself, Oliver, saying there is a champion, his name is Charles Oliver. Like the build to that is just going to be, and like I've said a million times, you don't need hatred, you don't need a big build, you don't need drama for every single fight.

But that one, the build's just going to be there. Like, we're just going to be like, all right, let's just get to the friggin fight and let's see what happens. But D.S. Shabaya, man, it's just going to be so fun. That's where you just get lost in the whole. thing where it's not just about the fight, it's about everything else. All the stories, everything. The what ifs?

What happens if this happens? What happens if this happens? There's so many. And that's why it's going to just kill it on pay-per-view. All right, I'm going to take one more. We're iny-meaning this thing. Because I have to get out of here. I have interviews to do, and I have to get ready to put the verbal boots to Drake Riggs.

Kurt Send us home Kurt are you there He is not All right Joe Pressure's on my man What you got You got on mute

Okay How about Colin I mean freaking Colin Farrell Two L's Colin are you there Colin Colin? No one wants to be the last voice

Okay Let's try Art Gomez. Art are you there? Unmute. Yeah, I'm here. We got you. What's up, buddy? A long time listener, first time caller. Thank you. My question is for the one big fight.

What do you prefer the twerk or the teabag? That's it. Thanks. I mean, I probably prefer the twerk if we're being honest. I don't prefer either. I just wish both would win. But again, here's another thing I want to point out because a lot of people have had issues with Jordan Levitt and his celebrations and the splits and all that stuff. Jordan has done this his entire career since pro win number one. So again, as I've said a million times about Jordan Levitt, he is who he is. He's not going to change the splits, the celebrations, all that.

This is not a, hey, let me do this so that I can become a star in the UFC. No, that's just like if Jordan Levitt like won a game of ticker. tack-toe at a diner with nobody in it, he'd probably do the same thing, whether anybody's watching him or not. That's just who he is. But, yeah, I mean, either way, just how that fight plays out and the reaction to after, reaction to it after the fact, is going to be wild, man. Like, if Jordan Levitt, like, goes out there and submits Patty Pimblet, it does the

splits, like, it's going to be like a Colby and Brazil type situation. And if Patty just knocks out Jordan and tries to squat his t-bagulars on the head of Jordan limits, I mean, God,

I, it's intriguing, but then like the app is just like, what, what the frig's going to happen? Got way too long. I am going to get. But it's all right.

So for those, Joe, Kareem, I see you. Do me a favor. Hop on tomorrow. We're going to do it again. 10 a.m. Eastern. We're going to have a show. And you will be the first two.

As soon as you even request, you skip the line. It jump to the front, all right? I promise you, I'm going to take the screenshot. Boom. There it is. I got the screenshot. I'm saving it right now. Boom.

James Joe, tomorrow. Hop on in. where we're at in the show, no matter how many people are waiting in line, the two of you will jump the line, okay? But a lot transpired, a lot more to talk about tomorrow, I'm sure. It will do so at 10 a.m. Eastern

on a brand new edition of heck of a morning. Thank you all for joining us. If you joined us a little bit later, and you're like, what the hell were these guys talking about in the first half of the show? You can hear it shortly on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Have a great Thursday. And as always, have a heck of a morning. I'm Sophia Loper Caro, host of the Before the Chorus podcast. We dive into the life experiences behind the music we love. Artists of all genres are welcome.

And I've been joined by some pretty amazing folks, like Glass Animals. I guess that was the idea as 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