MMA Fighting - HOAM | What In the World Is Going To Headline UFC 285 In March?

Episode Date: January 13, 2023

We are less than two months away from the UFC's first U.S. pay-per-view of the year, and as of now, there has not been a main event, or any title fight announced. While the clock is certainly ticking, will the UFC pull a big rabbit out of their hats? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the UFC 285 card — which is scheduled to take place March 4 in Las Vegas — and what could possibly serve as the main event. Additionally, listener topics include Dana White's media scrum ahead of UFC Vegas 67, Beneil Dariush throwing some shade at Dustin Poirier, Jimmy Flick's return to the octagon on Saturday after a short retirement, the importance of the post-fight call out, 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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IKEA, bring home to life. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Friday, January 13th, Friday the 13th, 2023. And it is indeed a heck of a morning, live on the MAA Fighting Twitter Spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network.

I am Mike Heck. Ladies and gentlemen, we are on the ease of a UFC event. UFC Vegas 67, going down tomorrow at the apex. The main event was not the main event we thought we were going to have, but we got one, and they're going to weigh in very soon. It is going to be a light heavyweight matchup between a couple of middle weights. Sean Strickland stepping in on short notice to replace Kelvin Gasolum, and he will face Nasardine Imovov.

That card going down tomorrow. tomorrow 4 p.m. Eastern. So get excited, everybody. I know a lot of you have just been waiting. It's been a lot of time in between UFC events. And now we have one back. The card is, it's okay. I think the main card is pretty good.

Freelims, there's some things that I'm interested in. But a lot of these fights, at least on paper, and via the betting odds, kind of look like, I'm not going to say squash matches, but a lot of one-way traffic potential. But there are some obviously very interesting storylines of the prelims. Jimmy Flick coming back from his retirement to fight Charles Johnson. We got Javid Basharat taking on Mateus Mendonka, a couple of undefeated Bannamweight prospects.

That should be a lot of fun. A couple of flyweight fights. So I know Jed Mishu and Connor Birx are all excited about the potential flyweight unders, but the main card is, is pretty solid. Umar and Magamara Madov versus Hione Barsellos, I have to look at the betting lines on that one right now because I was stunned when I looked at it the other day, but let's take a current gander at that one right now. It is, according to our friends of draft Kings, Umar and Maga Madov, minus 975.

The comeback on Hione Barcelos is plus 675. it's just kind of surprisingly high to me. I think Umar is probably going to win that fight, but minus four figures. I didn't see that coming, if we're being honest. Big one at 135 for the ladies. We haven't had a women's Bannamweight fight in a long time. Raquel Pennington looking to continue her surge

against another surging contender, Katlyn Vieira, who could find her way into a title fight if victorious, a fresh matchup for Amanda Nunes. Of course, Raquel Pennington has fought Amanda Nunes in the past, but Raquel has been pretty impressive as of late. Fun one between Punisoriano and Roman Copiloff. That should be a lot of fun. Those two guys are just going to chuck them until somebody falls more than likely.

I don't think we're going to see a ton of grappling and takedown attempts in that fight. And then the co-main event's a banger. Dan E. Gay versus Damon Jackson. Very interested to see what happens to that fight. And there's a fun little story. with Punis Soriano and Danny Gay. It's been almost a lifelong dream for those two guys to fight on the same UFC card. They have known each other since they were kids, went to high school together,

they went to college together. They've been together through the good times and the bad. Danny Gaye said, I want to move to Las Vegas and train at Extreme Couture. And Puna was like, all right, I'll come too. and they both have gone through their careers. And here we go. Tomorrow they get to fight on the same card. I spoke with Eric Nixick.

It's a very cool story. I wrote that up for the site. So that's going to be dropping before that fight happens. So we can talk about that. But it is Friday. So on this show, it's a free-for-all Friday. So we can talk about MMA. We can talk about tomorrow's card.

We can talk about some of the news and notes. If you guys have other questions about some news or some rumor and innuendo, We could talk about that. We could talk about stuff outside of MMA if you want as well. That's what this Friday show is all about. And at this point, my monologue is over. Let's go to you guys and gals to see what is on your mind. We will start with Zach.

Hello, Zach. Hello, Mike. How are you doing? Glad to have UFC back this weekend. But I'm not going to go to the PFL for a minute. I don't remember if we talked about this, but I saw the other day. I remember that PFL is moving to Desiq.

zone now, not ESPN Plus. I actually remember debating with some of my friends about this, finding it interesting because I feel like PFL had a good thing with ESPN plus in the sense of like if you were a UFC fan, you went there and you realized, oh, there's another promotion on that platform. You know, PFL, you can check it out. It was pretty accessible. Now, I don't know how many people have the zone or F at all, too many people,

but do you think it was the right move for them to get away from the UFC and kind of stick with their own MMA stuff? or do you think they almost benefited more from being on that same platform as the UFC where it's easy to find more MMA? I found that interesting. And then since it is free for all Friday, I thought I'd ask because you mentioned it a little earlier on another episode this week about the idea that this could be a 30 for 30.

So it made my mind brew a little bit about since we had the really good Chuck Tito 30 for 30 a few years ago, if you had three fighters, let's say, current or pass that you think would make good 30 for 30 specials on, which one would they be? Mike have a great weekend. Thanks, man. Lee Murray, for sure. John Jones is going to be another one. And I would love to...

I mean, there's a lot, honestly. There's a lot. But those two stick out. And maybe a 30 for 30 on the Connor McGregor, Nate Diaz rivalry that the build to those two fights in 2016 or just maybe just just the UFC in 2016 as a whole.

I think that would be just a really fascinating story. That's still the biggest year in the history of MMA in terms of news with everything that happened at UFC 200, UFC 199, everything that happened there, the sale of the company, Connor and Nate, Connor winning the second belt. I mean, just so much happened that year. I'd love to kind of have a retroactive.

perspective of some of the behind-the-scenes stuff with that. The PFL thing with DeZone, it's not for the United States. They're going to be on ESPN Plus of the U.S. So you don't have to worry about that if you live in the States. They've partnered with DeZone for, I think it's like 50-something international countries. So it's still going to be on ESPN Plus. You don't have to worry about that. But it's not like all their cards are going to be on the zone for everybody.

It's just international market. It's just an international deal for the PFL. As far as I'm aware, unless something changed along the way and I totally missed it. I just went and looked it up as you were talking to me. The release on DeZone was it's going to be like their international partner for the UK, because they're going to Europe and everything. They're going to have the UK series and the Europe series. And there's a partnership there between PFL and the zone.

But in the States, nothing changes. because I just there's just no way that ESPN is getting into it with PFL for like a one-year deal just don't see it. So yeah, it looks like they're sticking around at least in the States. But internationally,

DeZone will be the home for a lot of different events. So that's where we're at. Let's see what our good buddy AA has to say on this free for all Friday. What's up, buddy? Oh, yeah. I'm good. I've just got one.

I just, I read today that Veronica, pardon me, Veronica Hardy now is being matched up with Giuliana Miller for London. Two questions, is that confirmed? And second, this is no disrespect to Veronica. I sort of want your thoughts on what would Julia Anna Miller have? to gain coming off of tough and having her first fight in the UFC be someone who only has one win in the promotion. Like, you just, in my opinion, you know, you come off tough and you want to make a good

impression. Does that really, like, what she would gain here? Like, I don't know. Okay. Have a heck of a morning. Like everyone else, have a heck of a morning. Take care of yourselves and peace. Thank you.

Yes, I saw this. As a matter of fact, we were working on confirming this last night. I guess Giuliana announced it herself on a podcast last night that the fight was happening. So I would assume if a fighter is coming out and publicly saying that the fight's going to happen, it's probably going to happen. I like, I'm fine with this one. I'm fine with this one. And the biggest reason why is she. doesn't have a ton of experience as a professional fighter.

I mean, she's only been, like, her first amateur fight was in 2017, fought a handful of times, made a pro debut in 2019, did a lot of grappling, fought twice in 2020, won both of those fights, lost to Claire Guthrie and Invicta in 2021, did some more grappling, and then went on the ultimate fighter in 2022, and beat Claire right back, beat Caitlin Neal, and then fought in the finals against Brogan Walker and finished her. So she's only three and one.

This is only going to be her fifth pro fight. And I like the matchup because what was that fight? That was in August. So this will be March. That's for seven-month break. And you want to build some momentum. Like she built a ton of momentum on the season. going into that fight with Brogan Walker.

They built like a nice little rivalry on the show. As far as I know, that's what AK told me. Because he's the tough fan. I cannot watch that show anymore. It's horrendous to me. Just because it's the same damn show. It was 25 years ago or 20 years ago, whenever it started. All these seasons ago, it's the exact same freaking show.

But she built a ton of momentum. She's got a super personality. And there's no need to just try. chuck her in there with like a top 15 fighter right now. Let's just get her feet wet. Let her do her thing. Let's build some momentum. She's still very young.

She's 26. Only four pro fights. Let's build some sea legs, you know? Let's see what she's got. Fighting somebody with some experience. She'll probably, just kind of looking at the matchup on paper, just in general,

she'll probably, I don't know if style is the right word. but it's a very suitable matchup for her. It's a matchup to try to get her over and to try to build this momentum. There's no need to rush her at 3 and 1. So I'm fine with the matchup. I'm good with it.

And like I said, she announced it herself. So I think it's going to happen. I'm confident that it will happen. Throw her on that London car at that crowd. They'll probably love her. Let's see how she does. Walk before we run. That's what I like to say with some of these.

fighters who don't have a ton of professional experience. Abzwalia, hello. Abzwalia, are you there? Thanks up, what's up? Sorry, I just had to mark issues. How are you doing? Good, how are you? I'm good or good.

I just want to ask, is there any news on what's going to happen with Al Jermaine Sterling regarding his target shot? Because we already know that he's probably injured. Is there any, like, confirmation as to when he possibly could fight later down the line during the year? So, I mean, this is just according to him.

Seems like he just needs like an extra month. That's, I mean, that's what I had seen on Twitter. Just if you can wait a month, let's go. But it seems like Sehudo and Sean O'Malley are kind of angling for their own fight. And we talked about this on BTL yesterday. we're trying to figure out what they're going to do for March 4th because in some respects March 18th Leon Edwards told apparently Leon Edwards told Michael Bisbing on his podcast that he was told by the UFC that Kamar Usman is going to fight March 18th and Oosman's already getting ready for it.

So I think some of those rumors and some of that stuff that was said was like I've told you a million times as far as I knew and everybody else at the site knew that it's privy to. this information. That was the plan. There was no talks really about Mazadol stepping in or anything like that. They just haven't officially announced that fight yet. So I assume that one's going to

happen on March 18th. But March 4th, it's a barren wasteland right now. I mean, there's some, there's fights on the card, but we don't have a title fight. We don't have a main event. We don't have anything right now. And the two fights that it seemed like the promotion was targeting was

Branson Gano versus John Jones, which if you read our article on MMA fighting, if you watch my interview with Eric Nixick, it doesn't seem like we're ruling this out at this point, but it seems like some of the confidence that that fight happens March 4th is a little bit lower than it was before. Eric Nixick said he's confident the fight will happen first half of 2023, but he's 50-50, it happens March 4th. But again, that's that. not ruling it out. As Eric told me, if the UFC calls him and says, or Francis and his team calls him and says, we're fighting March 4th, then he will

have Francis ready for March 4th. So, but to me, I just, there's just a lot to this right now. The fact that Francis hasn't officially resigned yet, the fact that this fight hasn't been officially booked yet concerns me, and we're less than two months away. So am I confident the fight happened? Yes. Do I think it'll happen March 4th? I'm probably with Eric right now, 50-50.

I might even be a little less confident, but not say, I still think the fight will happen. And then what do we do with the rest of the card? Because the other one was Al Jameen Stirling versus Henry Sehudo. And now Sterling's not going to be able to fight in March. Do you do Sehudo versus Sean O'Malley on that card for just chuck an interim title on there? Like, it doesn't make sense to do an interim title. But, I mean, at the end of the day, it's a five-round fight. Fighters get a little extra pay because it's a title fight.

And Lord knows we need something on this card right now. Do they go that route or they just say, huh, we'll just wait and do Sehudo Sterling down the line. For me, I would rather see Sehudo fight Sean O'Malley. I don't need to go into this any more than I already have. I just want to see Henry fight somebody else. And if it's an interim title fight with Sean O'Malley, I'm okay with that. That shows me that he cares.

That shows me that he's serious in some way about this. And I just want to see the man fight. I just want to see what he can do. And I've always advocated that Henry should fight somebody else, not Aljo anyways. And then he can fight Aljo if he beat John O'Malley. I think it's a pretty favorable matcher for him. So did they just go ahead and do that or do they wait?

March 4th needs help right now. And then maybe, I don't know if that's the main event. Maybe it could be. And then maybe you try to convince Amanda Nunes or Valentina Shepchenko to fight on that card in the co-main of Enslot? I don't know. I wonder if they're getting Hamzaat Shami if on the phone right now saying what could we do, what could we do? Maybe, I don't know. I honestly, I have no idea what they're going to do at this point.

But it seems like O'Malley and Suhudo are trying to lobby for a fight March 4th themselves. So I don't know what's going to happen. We got decisions to make, hopefully by the pay-per-view next Saturday, hopefully while we're doing our little plug here, UFC 283 live watch party next Saturday, we can react to this news and some sort of announcements about March 4th, because right now we got nothing. And that's not good. So the answer to your question about Aljo, no idea.

My head tells me they'll probably go with Suhudo O'Malley. I don't see why not. I mean, at this point, what else are you going to do? I love to, like, if John Jones is ready to fight March 4th, I agree with what Ariel said on Wednesday, try to trot them out there. It doesn't have to be a title fight. Just chuck them in there with anybody. Throw them in there with Ty Tuivas. Throw them in there with whoever.

Just get him in there. That's a big deal. And then if we need to do a title fight, sure. We could do Sehudo and O'Malley interim title. Cool. I'm all right with that. And then let Sterling heel up in May, June, July, unify the belts.

I'm cool with that. But we got to do something because the clock is ticking on that March 4th card. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness. is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs, with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus at OnePeloton.ca.

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. At 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?

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All right. Try again. Hop right in. It is a free for all Friday so we can talk about whatever is on your mind on this lovely Friday. Let's go to Viking MMA. Hi, Viking. Jared Kennedy recently said that Hamza needs to fight top five or top three middleweights before getting his middleweight title shot,

which means Hamzaa has to fight Cannonier or Rob Wittaker or Adderania. For me, it's very interesting match between Canaanier versus Hamzak. You know, Wittaker tried to take Canaan it down but couldn't do it. Derek Brunson took him down but couldn't hold and control him on the ground.

And because of that, I just want to see in that fight because of the wrestling of Hamza Chima, which is insane. So what are your thoughts on that? Do you think UFC will fast track Hamzat against Pereta if he wins against Eiji, which he will? And both of them had a back in Ford on Twitter, Alex Parira and Hamzathe. So what are the chances of Hamzah Gating Middlewood title shot? Thank you. Right now, right now, probably better than I thought initially,

only because of what we just talked about. March 4th got nothing. We got nothing. And who knows? Maybe John's like, nope, I'm only fighting in Ghana. Or maybe Suhudo O'Malley isn't enough. And the UFC just calls Shemayev and Pereira and offers them a whole bag of money to just fight March 4th for the title.

Who knows that maybe they'll do Robert Whitaker while Izzy gets ready. I don't know. I don't know. But I feel like the fact that March 4th has nothing right now in terms of a main event and title fights and things that would put fans in position to A, buy tickets and B, spend $80 on a pay-per-view, which by the way would be the first of two in the month of March, you got to do something. So to me,

almost every option is kind of on the table here because of that date. Now, if we find out in the next day or two that they have a main event booked and then this is all for not right now. But I think everything is kind of on the table at this point, considering what they wanted and kind of where we're at right now. So if you asked me like a month ago, I would say there's no chance Humsat would get a title shot right now at 185. But considering that they're in full scramble mode more than likely, I'm not ruling anything out. And I have no insight to this at all.

But I'm just saying knowing the UFC and how they can put things together quickly, things that are kind of out of the box. I think everything's kind of in play. But if you want to do Homsop versus Kannonier, I'm cool with that. I think you try to get hums out on that March 4th card at this point. And if Canaanaires down, then do it. He ain't going to fight Izzy. Because I think in the UFC's eyes, if they can get things to work out, they'll go back to that well because I just don't think.

Look, I have a lot of respect for Alex Pereira. That winner, Izzy was incredible. That comeback, all of that was excellent. My daughter was barking. Okay. You're barking on. nothing like you always do, but it's all good. My dog has suddenly found his voice.

Took him like three years, but now he's got his voice and just barks at everything. It drives me crazy. So like every single show I've done this year, he has barked at some point for no freaking reason. Thank you, Shiloh, for your appearance on the program. Yeah. So everything's in play, I think. Everything's in play. Hamzah Kahneman Air is fine.

Hamzat Whitaker is super interesting. And like I said, I have a lot of respect for Alex Pereira. I would pick Hamzaud and the flip of a hat to beat Alex Pereira. I mean, Pereira could crack, man. He could knock anybody out. But as much improved as Pereira's defense has been from a grappling standpoint, this is Hamzaa Shamaev, man. This is Hamzaa Shemaya.

And I'm picking Hamzot against pretty much everybody that he could potentially fight right now. There are a couple of interesting ones. I think Colby would be interesting. And I think Whitaker would be a really interesting fight. So we'll see what happens. And maybe they'll just chuck. Shabai right in there with Pereiro. Who knows?

Like I said, they got to fill some spots and some pretty important ones. Let's go to Toke. Hey, Toke. A short comment on the whole Dana White Press conference thing. And then I have another thing to ask. So firstly, as you know, I am educated as a journalist, but I have worked in communications. And the way that UFC did this with a surprise press conference with Dana White is so textbook that is disgusting.

I mean, giving the whole, like controlling the narrative and giving the journalists no time to prepare at all is textbook how you kind of get the narrative out that you want out. So first, I think that was a very calculated move from their side just to say for him to go out with his head down and act like it's going to have real consequences when it's not. But you know, he seems remorseful and then he tries to create a positive narrative. So, and the other question I have is, did you hear the, it's difficult, how do I say this? Did you see second take? And what I mean by that is the first take, second take on the Dana White press conference

and all of that entails because they did somehow better themselves a little bit, mostly because the host that sits beside Stephen A. Smith actually went in and said that he does not get to set the punishment and it can't be just the same, can necessarily be the same as they would give the fighters because he's in a position of power, which the fighters are not. So I thought that was that was interesting and getting to know how close Stephen A and Dana are in business relations was also kind of interesting, which is probably why Stephen A has been so quiet as he has. Okay, that was all for me, so I'll hang up now. See ya.

I've not seen the video. I've seen it out there. I've not watched it yet. I saw a couple of people comment on it. The problem is, and this is not the same, so I don't want to get this twisted. But we remember the first attempt. it's like how many times have I come on here and talked about how many times like Bilal Muhammad has fumbled the

fumbled the ball at like the three yard line Balmohama Hamad had multiple chances after big wins to call out Hamzaat Shamaif and he didn't do it he made callouts that made no sense and then by the time he did the media run he would call out Hamzat and nobody cared because he didn't calm out when the lights were at their brightest and people were just glued to the TV

wondering what he was going to say. And when this was brought up, originally with Stephen and Molly, it was a disaster. It was horrible. To me, if you're not going to speak truthfully on it, then don't even talk about it. Don't even talk about it.

And I can't, I mean, it's, it was, it was just horrible. And I don't think, like, I haven't seen. the video. I don't know what Stephen and Molly said. I can't imagine they said anything that's going to make me forget their first attempt. Molly saying, we don't judge people at their lowest moments. Bullshit. That's your whole fucking show is you judge people at their lowest moments. But because somebody you know, and it was just horrible.

And the graphic of Dana White, the graphic was Dana White apologizes. Like, get off me. Get off me with that. And to your first point about the scrum, I completely agree with you. And I said this. There's a brilliant move on his part. It was brilliant. And I give the people in the room credit.

Like John Morgan did a great job. He asked the right questions. He didn't get, but he also opened things up for follow-ups. And there were follow-ups that were not asked, that I would have asked. And again, I'm not trying to dump on it. anybody there because they didn't, they didn't expect him to come. They expected Punisoriano to come strolling in there with a big smile on his face. And all of a sudden Dana walks in, they're like, oh, shit.

But when Dana said the thing about me being punished and me having repercussions and me being suspended and walking away, that doesn't hurt me. It hurts the company. I would have one million percent asked how. how because i don't buy that i don't think it's true i think the machine moves on its own whether he's there or not and i'm not going to go into to more of this but you can make a strong case and i believe me when i tell you i have talked to dozens of fighters off the record since this thing happened it would be a much more positive working environment for the fighters if dana

was not there. Because they all tell me this. They've all said this unanimously in these conversations. And to address one more thing that I'll say, and we talked about this on BTL yesterday, for those people out here

who are listening right now, they're just rolling their eyes and they're saying, oh, move on. Don't blame me. Send that venom elsewhere. Send that venom to the UFC and send it to Endeavor

because like we talked about on BTL yesterday, had this been handled like any other sports and handled like in any other situation where a high profile figure like Dana White gets caught, and this is not, this is not Dana White was arrested for allegedly doing this. We saw it. We saw it.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that she hit him first. He's 125 pounds heavier than her. He's probably on some stuff. He's talked about being on. TRT and all this stuff. I think that interview with the doctor. Like, no, no.

I'll never buy that. You'll never ever convince me that he is in the right in any way. I give him credit for saying stop defending me. But if the UFC had just come out and made a statement, an endeavor had come out and made a statement saying, quote, we don't condone this. We have talked to Dana White about this. We are working on some sort of reprimand or reprimand.

percussion for him. We will let you know. Or if they came on and gave the punishment and just said, hey, Dana's going to step aside for six months. He's got to donate. He's going to pay a hefty fine. It's going to go all towards a DV charity. He's going to do a PSA and he's going to do counseling.

If that just happened, not even that, if they just came out and said, we don't condone this from anybody within our organization, punishment TBD, We're not like we're probably still talking about it again when the punishment is revealed. But we're not harping on this. We're not judging any like we're not talking about this as much as we are. So don't blame us for talking about it. Don't blame us for this still being a story. Blame them.

Blame them. If they just handle this the way they should have from Jump Street, this is we're not talking about it as much because it shows that they give a fuck and that they care. And they're not setting scary and negative precedence. We're not talking about it that much. If a question came up here and there on this show, yeah, we would discuss it. But you think I'd be monologing about Dana?

If they just handled this the right way? Like, it's okay. Like, I give Dana some credit because he's handled this better than anybody. there are some misses for sure the punishment thing that it punishes everybody else and not me i don't buy that that was a big miss and but for the most part the don't offend me thing was great needed to be said and i i respect the hell out of him and i appreciate the fact that he said that on his own before he was even asked about it the slap fight league should not be a thing. It shouldn't have been a thing to begin with, but now it certainly shouldn't be a thing.

But it's, I don't even blame Dana for how this is being handled. I blame the UFC and endeavor. And I'll say this one last time. If they just did this right, this is not a story. We're not even, like, it's a story, but we're not talking about it as much. The only, we would probably stop talking about it all together until the punishment was revealed that we would talk about it again. And then it would go away until Dana came back. And then when Dana comes back for his first event after his suspension, it would come up again. This is Dana's first thing back. He would be asked about it at the press conference.

What did you learn? How is your life changed? How is counseling been? And then that's it. But instead, we're going to keep talking about this because this has been handled like shit by them. And this is, this is not Dana. Like we're not talking about Dana. He's addressed it.

I'm talking about the company. And unfortunately, this is going to continue to be a talking point. And it's going to come full circle once this happens somewhere else within the organization. Whether it's a fighter or an employee, it's going to be a big thing. It's going to be a big deal. and then it's just going to be wild. A Jed made an interesting point, and I respect him for making this point,

and we're all hopeful that this never happens, but what if this happens again? What if something happens again? And it's caught on video, and Dana's involved. You are screwed. Screwed. So all of the venom doesn't go to Dana. It goes to the UFC,

and it goes to Indeastern. ever. Dana has gotten out in front of this and he's handled it. Are the things he says that I don't agree with? Yep. But can you give him at least some credit for getting out there and trying to address it? Yeah, I give him credit for that. But I don't care. I didn't need to hear from Dana. We heard from Dana with the TMZ interview. We don't need to hear from him. We need to hear from everybody else. And that's all we're asking. This story goes away once they do that. I don't get it.

I just don't get it. It's clear what they're trying to do. They want it to go away. But it would go away if they just did the right thing. It's not rocket science. Just do what you're supposed to do from a PR perspective. We as a company don't condone what Dana did. Punishment TBD.

If we just put that out there, we're not talking about this anymore. We will write an article that you actually responded and then we're going to move away from it until the penalty is released. And it doesn't even have to be anything crazy. It can be a month. Dana's out for a month and all the other things I laid out. And that's the minimum that should happen. But we're not asking for a lot here. Accountability, baby.

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for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Let's go to the Gamblers Inferno. How you doing? Like three rapid fires real quick. I was wondering, what is the likelihood that UFC returns to Paris this year?

And then, like, how high were the UFC on Jeff Molina before his suspension? and if you could go into detail of the correlation of Jimmy Flick's divorce and him coming back to compete. And then last one, not least, what do you think Glover will be retired by the end of the year? And if he does win on the pay-per-view, is this the first time two champs have been in the same gym before? And I don't really count Izzy and Alex because Alex is more of a KB, like a Phillie. and he's with Joe Lopez and stuff. So, yeah, that's all I got. Those three quick questions.

Thanks, man. Yeah, there's been champions of the same gym quite a bit. Yeah, CKB's had them. The gym in Denver with, oh, man, like Rose Camaro and Rose and Camaro with champions together. Trevor Whitman with Trevor Whitman, AKA had a whole bunch of champions at the same time. So it has happened before.

it's happened numerous times throughout the years I'm trying to remember the other questions will Glover retire by the end of the year it's possible but we'll see we'll see how it all plays out I mean you would think that we'll have more of an idea of where this goes after next Saturday because I do think he's going to be Jamal Hill

is there a chance Jamal knocks him out sure but I think Glover could knock Jamal out and I honestly think that if Glover gets this thing to the ground it's going to be a really bad night for Jamal Hill really it's going to be a tough one for him being at home is a big deal I think everything kind of favors Glover and then they'll probably try to wait for Yuri to come back

if he can come back by the end of the year they'll try to run that one back and then we'll see if he beats Yuri then they'll probably do a third one and he'd probably stick around for that. But my hunch is that he's kind of in that Rick Flair, WWE cycle where Vince McMahon basically told him like, you're going to wrestle until you lose, and then once you lose you're out,

and I kind of feel like maybe that's how Glover is handling this at this point. He's just going to fight until he loses. If he loses Jamal Hill, he's not getting another title fight. And at least for a while, while unless some things fall his way. But that's two straight losses and two straight title fights. You got other guys there. It's going to be tough to get him back in there.

So I think a lot of that depends on Saturday, next Saturday. The Jeff Malina thing, I mean, look, there's a lot to this. We're still, I mean, we've been digging into this for months now. and this story is not going to get any better. It's going to get a lot worse. So stay tuned for that. I'm pretty confident in that at this point. And they were pretty high on Jeff Molina.

I mean, he was a rank guy. They were high on him coming out the contender series. Bright kid. Now he fought on the contender series without his team. His team all got COVID and they couldn't come. And he just showed up and won. And that was a crazy-ass fight, too. and he's looked good in the UFC.

So I would say they're decently high on him, but I don't know. He's about to go, he's about to hit that Nevada Athletic Commission meeting. I think it's next week, and he's already suspended by them, and we'll see if more comes out from that in regards to the James Krause stuff.

And then if you want news on Jimmy Flick, you have to go back in kind of the archives of the M.A. lighting YouTube channel because we broke the news that Jimmy was coming out of retirement. We broke the news that he was getting back into the Usada pool and then I

interviewed him like immediately after. So if you want to go back and check that interview out, he kind of lays out the decision and how it all came to be and the divorce and all that stuff. So that's probably your best bet at this point. It was a little while ago, but if you just go on our

page and search for Jimmy Flick retirement or decision to end retirement or whatever, you'll get a full response from him. Let's keep going.

Bull, hello. Hello, hello. Hello, sir. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. I'm going to keep a short and sweet. Why is Dustin Porrier

doing everything in his power to avoid Penil Darius? All right. So this has been this has been a pretty popular topic. and I want to choose how I put my words together here. I don't fully blame Dustin Poirier. And to be clear, if you go back and listen to that scrum where he said the things that he said,

most of it, at least to me, was about the timing because Dustin was very open and honest about the fight with Michael Chandler being kind of a hindrance on not only his schedule but his families. Because his daughter is in school and for him to go and do a full camp preparing for a fight, they basically have to pull his daughter out of school so that she can come along for the trips and it kind of messes with the routine. And as a dad myself, I understand completely how much guiding out of a routine can affect a child. Because my kid is a super positive, happy go lucky kid.

But when things change outside of his realm, he falls apart a little bit. If he has a substitute teacher at school, he kind of falls apart a little bit. And I totally get where he's coming from. and in that scrum after the fact he was asked about that fight in particular about doing it maybe in Perth because Makachev and Volcanovsky was looking I think they announced it right before 281 that that fight was going to happen and he basically said nah doesn't get me excited but he also said that look

I can't pull my daughter out of school again this year. I'm probably not fighting again until July. So to me, if the UFC, and I don't think Benile's going to wait until July to fight, why would he? The fight makes sense, 100%. Definitely makes sense. But it just doesn't seem like Porre is going to fight before the summer. He's said it. He's already said it.

Can't pull my daughter out of school again. It's too much. I'll probably come back in July. Now, Benny wants to wait until July. I think he'd do it. But Porre's got other options ahead of him as well. And you can make a strong case that, even though Darius is on this run,

we're looking at it from a UFC perspective. You can make a clear argument that if it comes, comes to, and the UFC is, let's just say, Mockachev beats Bolkinovsky, and they're looking for the next challenger. From a meritocratic standpoint, it's Benile Daryush. But from a pay-per-view-by-drawing standpoint, which fight is going to do better on pay-per-view? Islam Mokachev versus Benil Daryush, or Islam-Machchev versus Dustin Porier? And the answer, by a long shot, is Mokachev versus Dustin Pori.

It's not even close. And it's not right, but they are a business. and Porre could take Porre's got a shot to get a title shot right now why would he fight Darayush Porre could just fight Connor McGregor

who's coming back potentially sometime this year and make a floppity trillion dollars and probably beat the hell out of Connor McGregor got to take care of your family man it's a better option for him so he's got options

it looks like the UFC wants Justin Gaichi versus Raphael Fiziv in March at some point you could get the winner of that fight like who Pori could fight Gai could fight Gachi again I'm sure that fight would get him up if Viziv somehow goes out there just knocks Justin Gaci out Pori would be excited for that fight so he's got options he's not like he's not doing everything

to avoid Banyel but Dustin's kind of gotten to the big kids table at this point he's at the adult table. It's about putting money in the bank and yeah, he'd like to get to a title fight, but the way the UFC does business and the way Porre is loved by most people, he might already be the guy.

Who knows? It would not shock me in any way if they just went right to Porreux fighting for the belt, even over Darayush, and that would make a lot of people upset. I'd be upset about that because poor Benny deserves it,

But Benny didn't do himself, did not do himself any favors. Remember how we just talked a little earlier about Bilal Muhammad and his post-fight interviews? Not calling out Hamzat when he had the chance and then didn't get the fight. Benny kind of shot himself in the foot after UFC 280. He gets a big win over Medush Gamrod. He could have called out Islam in a respectful way. Again, he's not a big trash talker.

He's not going to say, hey, Islam, you stole everything I worked for, MFer, but you could have been like, hey, Islam, you said in recent interviews that I'm the guy. If I win this fight and you win the belt, I'm the guy. Well, Habib is a man of his word. Are you a man of yours? If he just said that, he's in a much better spot. But what did he say? I'll fight 10 more guys before I fight for the belt.

That was bad. That was really, really bad. And he could do all the other interviews he wants now, but people are going to remember. that he said, I will fight 10 more guys. And in the UFC's mind, they're like, okay, then you're going to have to fight 10 more guys. He's in a tough spot right now. He's going to have to...

He's probably going to have to fight a murderer next, an up-and-comer. And it's not fair, but that's probably where he's at right now, and it sucks. But it's a business. Let's go to Mikey. Hey, Mikey.

As for Steve A. Smith's thoughts on Dana White, listen to the same guy that like 10, 12 years ago when Ray Rice was caught on camera punching his wife, he actually had the audacity to blame women about it. Like, oh, sometimes women might deserve it. So let's get that one out the way. As for the Benile Darius, Dustin Boyer thing, I don't know what it is with MMA fans and certain people that just reviews to see what to say. Listen, Dustin Poy's been in the UFC, what, a dozen years? He fought every guy in the esteem position in the UFC and he wants to call his shot, finally,

and now he's ducking people. Get the fuck out here. Pardon my language. Listen, I respect Benile Darje's run. He has earned a title shot, but he and Dustin are not on the same plane of stature. You know, one is an established star. The other hasn't yet.

So yeah, it's going to sound quote unquote unfair, but is it really unfair? Who's been Neil Dario? He's been in the UFC about, what, five, six years. He's now finally broken through as a top guy. Whose fault is that? You know, he had his chances. He had his fight against Eds and Barbosa got knocked out, had high-profile bouts, and then kind of put up a snaker.

And then like you just said, he had a chance to call out Islam. But what did he do? Say some weird stuff. And we're just like, yeah, I'll take whatever the UFC gives me. Like, come on, dude. You step in it, and then you wonder why you're not getting a chance. And then for him and Armin to try and play the PR game saying, well, hey, if these guys just want to like fight,

if the top five just wants to fight each other, as if they wouldn't do that themselves if they were in the top five. Listen, Charles, Justin, Eachie, and Dustin Poit have all worked to put themselves in position where they are no more than one or two wins from a title shot. Charles Olavera. If he fights Vindalaj, does Charles Avaire need to fight six, win, beat six more people to get a title shot?

Absolutely not. If he smokes Darayush, he gets his rematch. We all know this. Why are people acting dumb? Anyways, that'll be all for tonight. See you guys later. Yeah, and, you know, Olivera has said publicly that March or April seems like a good time frame for him. So there's your fight.

There's your fight. Take the attention off of Dustin Porre who has, like I said, said I'm probably not fighting again until July after the school year. If Chuck E. Olives is ready, March or April, you do everything in your power to get that fight. Because that's the one. Darius fights Charles Oliver and beats him. He's getting a title shot. That win gets him over the hump for sure. Matush Gamron, I love the guy.

I have a ton of respect for him. I'm a big Matush Gamrock fan. The dude is so good. Great fighter. He's going to be a top 10 guy in this division for a long time. It's a good win, a respectable win. But most people don't really know who he is. Hardcores know exactly who he is.

They just look at the numbers next to the name. Darius beat a guy ranked behind him, who's only had a few UFC fights. That's what the casual fan sees. To me, I was like, that's a great win. He didn't have to take that fight, and he took it. But we all kind of put our eyes on, what is he going to do after?

If he wins, what's he going to say? And he said, nothing that helped his case. So, it's a game. You got to play the game. You got to play the game. The post-fight interview is super important.

I see my guys at Cage Titans in here, and Aaron Hughes had a little post-fight interview saying that he's, I'm not going to repeat it. You can go, go, find it. It was pretty cool. Aaron Hughes kind of went viral with his

post-fight interview. And people were talking about it. Morning combat was talking about it. Other people were talking about it. Like, it's important. It doesn't matter what your record is. Doesn't matter who you beat. That post-fight interview can change things in a big way based on what you say. Whether it's fun or you're trying to climb the ladder or trying to get a title fight, whatever it is.

but you going out there and saying now if you're like if you if you if you this is your debut or your it's your second UFC fight and you want to say look I'm new to the game new to the UFC I'm not in position to call anybody out like if you have somebody ranked around where you're at you can do that but if you want to play the I'll fight whoever the UFC puts in front of me game cool I'm all right with that but when you get to like the top 10 you got to play the game you got to play the game the whole thing of yeah if you UFC wants you to fight whoever I'll fight him no you see Drew Dober drew Dober got that big win

very respectful guy how could you not like Drew Dober first team all handsome big smile happy go lucky guy exciting fighter would love to fight michael chanler knows it probably won't happen and he's being realistic. So he had another name in line. I'll fight Jalen Turner. Let's go. And what did Jalen Turner do? Immediately went on Twitter and said,

book this Jason House. Let's go. You got to have names. You can't just say I'll fight 10 more guys. Because the UFC's getting, and the fans are going to be like, all right, well, he's going to fight 10 more guys. He should be focusing all his attention on Charlie Olives,

on Chuck E.Ollives right now. Go get that fight. Go beat him, and then you can say whatever you want afterwards. Just don't say, I'll fight 10 more guys. Say, all right, I just beat the former champion. It's my time. Give me the damn title, Sean. And he'll probably get it.

But if he fights poor, he ain't doing it till the summer. So what's the point? Oliver is out there doing an interview saying March or April. Go get it. Go get that fight. Let's go to Shanuka. Shanooga. You're muted.

Nothing from Shnuka. All right. So I think we're done. We've got a nice little hour, free for all Friday stuff. Talked about a little bit of everything. And another week of the show is in the books. Back next week, Tuesday, 10 a.m. Easter, we'll do it again. We'll recap UFC Vegas 67.

We will be in the middle of UFC 280s. 83 fight week. Getting ready for those two title fights. The UFC's returned to Brazil. We'll talk about that and much more. So I appreciate you all very much. We will be live at 3 p.m. Eastern on the M.A. fighting Twitter, or not Twitter,

the MA fighting YouTube channel for the first UFC preview show of the year. Myself, A.K., the Prince of Positivity, and Mr. No Gray area, Jed Mishu will join us. And we will preview U.S. Vegas 67. and take some of your questions as well. People's Pre-Fight show, back tomorrow, 3.30 p.m. Eastern Time, so you can join us for that on the YouTube channel. Jose Youngs will be in the building for that event,

so we'll have host fight stuff, interviews, press conferences, perhaps. And then AK and I will be back on Sunday for on to the next one. So back to the grind, everybody. So enjoy the rest of your Friday. We'll see you at 3 p.m. Eastern for the preview show. Have a great rest of your day. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.