MMA Fighting - HOAM | What In the World Will Headline UFC 300?

Episode Date: January 4, 2024

Conor McGregor announced his octagon return against Michael Chandler, but according the former two-division world champ, it will not be happening at UFC 300 as many were predicting. With the UFC's 2024 calendar filling up rapidly, what fight will headline one of the promotion's biggest and monumental events? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to the McGregor vs. Chandler announcement for June 29, if it is a mistake by the UFC to not have the fight headline UFC 300, and what the UFC could do in order to make that all-important main event spot pop. Additionally, listener topics include a potential Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad fight, if Justin Gaethje or Charles Oliveira should get the shot at Islam Makhachev, the UFC's future at the APEX, the promotion's debut in Saudi Arabia still without a headliner, 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 to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,

but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, The Downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine, available now, only from Audible. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. January 4th, 2024. And it is indeed a heck of a morning and a heck of a new year. Happy New Year to you all.

We are live on the MA fighting Twitter space. You can hear the show. shortly thereafter in its entirety on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody? I am Mike Heck. It's great to talk to you all. First show we have done it quite some time. I just got back from

taking some time off with the fam yesterday. And truth be told, I was very excited to jump back on here. Rejuvenated, refreshed, ready to go. first live show of 2024, second live show of 2024 coming up at 12.30 p.m. Eastern time, the return of BTL. We did have a BTL. Last week, it was our annual promotional airing of grievances.

Got a lot of feedback about that episode. It was a earpiece just came out of my ear, a little rusty, apparently. But yeah, the feedback is always very interesting when it comes to those shows. but it's great to be back. We have a lot to talk about. A lot we missed. I think the last time we spoke, it was the week after UFC 296, we started to get a few of the UFC 300 announcements.

And as of now, it's still the same three fights. Calvin Cater versus Al Jermaine Sterling, Bo Nickel versus Cody Brundage, and Yuri Prahashka versus, Alexander Rackich. Those are the three fights. Dana White did go on his IG live yesterday to promote the Power Slap reality show thingy that they do. And he said on Tuesday they're going to announce more fights. Dana's been traveling, going to places where they build him cold plunges.

And he says he'll be back in Vegas, I think this weekend or early next week, but he said on Tuesday he should have more fights announced for UFC 300. What we know, what we have found out last week is that the main event of UFC 300 will not be, at least as of right now, Connor McGregor versus Michael Chandler. Connor McGregor announced on New Year's Eve that he will be fighting Michael Chandler. It will not happen at UFC 300. It will happen international fight week, which is taking place, I believe it's going to be UFC 3.03, June 29th, a rare June international flight week. And there you go. Now, this is something

we've been talking about for a little while. Will the UFC just come out with a bang and throw Connors return on UFC 300? Or will they try to milk this a little bit? Will they try to have the cake and eat it too? Because UFC 300, at this point, the UFC could do no wrong. For the most part, you put any freaking card on paper, people are going to watch it, and they probably feel like UFC 300 is going to sell. Just throw a title fight or two in there, stack up the rest of the card with some names, people are going to watch it. That's one of the things we thought might happen here.

So now the question is, what is going to headline this card? Are we going to be living in a world, ladies and gentlemen, where this event, UFC 300, something we have been talking about for, I mean, on this show, the last year and a half, are we going to be living in a world? And no disrespect to either of these gentlemen. Is the world we're living in,

UFC 300 is going to be headlined by Leon Edwards versus Belal Muhammad, because I get to say, that is tough. That's tough. I know Leon is kind of, is getting a little bit more over now. But man, if all this build, this is like,

that'd be like the Fight Island announcement. You remember that? Dana was teasing Fight Island. We're going to go to this magical land where only we can go and have fights. And then it's like, we're going to Abu Dhabi, which is still cool because they could have fights, but we're like, we had this vision in our heads

of what Fight Island was actually going to be, thinking about what it could actually look like and feel like. Would it be like some of those old like affliction cards where they're on a friggin island? No, they're just Abu Dhabi. We get Leon versus Bilal. This will be almost the same thing. And one of the things I've been thinking about,

and I know Ariel and the crew talked about it yesterday on the MAA Award show, is this a mistake? Is this a mistake not getting Connor on UFC 300? because from all accounts, he wanted a fight on that card. He pushed for it. And it's not happening. Should they have just said, screw it?

Let's just give him what he wants? Or are they playing with fire here? And as we have seen, the UFC has played with fire quite a bit. They played with fire a lot in 2023. And it's always seemed to work out for them, hasn't it? we had this bitter rivalry in place, right? Just think about Israel Adasani's 2023. Comes back, wins the middleweight title,

knocks out his longtime rival Alex Pereira. The trilogy fight is right there. Ready to go, it would do massive business. But instead, Dana goes to the press conference and says, nope, I think Pereira's going to go to 205. Pereira, I think a week later, said, yes, I'm going to 205. So we're kind of like, should we have just gone ahead and did this thing?

And then on top of that, Drick's Duplice gets booked with Robert Whitaker. There's already a rivalry building between Izzy and DDP and we're like, why are they even making this fight? Just give DDP the title shot. Like, let's go with this rivalry here. Now he's going to fight Robert Whitaker in a fight that is a terrible stylistic matchup form, at least so we thought.

And then he just goes out and dusts up Bobby Duck. And we're like, all right, now we can book this fight. They do the face off, ain't pretty, things are said, things continue to be said. And then the UFC says, you know what, we have to have Izzy fight in September. We're going to Australia. We have to have Izzy on that card. DDP is not ready to go. Dana says, we know how, you know how I feel about people who turned down fights,

even though DDP had just fought less than two months prior, was dinged up. Let's put in Sean Strickland. Let's throw Sean Strickland in there. Izzy will beat Sean Strickland, and then the DDP fight will be even bigger. And then Sean Strickland goes out and dusts up Israel out of Sadia. And now, like, we don't even know when and if we'll get Izzy versus DDP.

Instead, we're getting Sean Strickland versus DDP, which is becoming its own weird rivalry in itself. So what I'm trying to say here is, eventually the UFC's luck is going to run out because this whole middleweight thing has worked out great Sean Strickland is becoming a star if he goes out beats DDP he's going to be over like Rover like never before and but eventually their luck is going to run out now is it going to ruin their success of course not absolutely not they're just on fire right now but eventually you can only fall upwards so much And the UFC is falling upwards just so many times over the last three years.

It's been unbelievable. So we'll see what happens there. What is going to headline this card? Why isn't it Connor versus Michael Chandler where both guys seem to have wanted it to be at UFC 300? Why are we waiting until June for that fight? Is this a mistake? What are we going to do? How will you the fans react if they announced that Leon Edwards versus Bala Muhammad is the main event?

Now, it seems like we're going to probably get that fight on the card. No word whether it is the main event or not. But try to think about what else could be the main event. Could you do Islam versus Ghaji? It's in the middle of Ramadan. Bilal would be doing the Ramadan thing as well, but he has fought during Ramadan a few times and would probably do it here for a title shot,

since he may not get another opportunity to fight for the belt. Could they do Leon versus Shafcott? I know that was kind of in play as well. So it's kind of up in the air right now. I don't know. A lot to think about here. There's other things that have happened as well. And I'll leave it to you guys to ask since we have last book.

I missed you all. And let's do the damn thing. Let's hear from you. We'll be doing this on BTL as well. Be a Q&A pretty much all show long. So left lane, MMA. You are the first caller of 2024. At least I thought you were.

All right, hop out and hop back in. I'm not getting a connection from you. Four quarter sports, do we have you? Yes, you do have me. So I'm really wondering, I think, what was it? Ariel Hwani did mention something about the USC has like a rabbit in the bag that they are in the worst in trying to make for USC 300. that really had me thinking yesterday.

It was like, what do they have? Could it be Hamza Shemaya versus Israel or Sonia? I mean, that's not something I can see that can headline since there is no belt on the line. But I was wondering, like, what do you believe that Ariel might be hinting? Because when Ariel says something, there's a lot of truth to what he's seeing, right? I mean, we saw with a lot of his reporting this past year, and even they ended up flipping around. I forgot exactly what car,

just because he ended up reporting it and bumping it down. I think it was for Islam to fight, I think, in January. And I think that's when they ended up implying Strickland versus Duplice. But that's one thing. I do believe that what's it called, Gaiji and Islam, you know, is a very viable. you know, main event for UFC 300. But if, if, Mike, if you were running the UFC,

would you call Israel Adasania and how much of a check would you have to cut him for him to do the trilogy? Because I feel like that would be the best fight. I feel like that would be the fight that more people will be clamorous to watch the trilogy between Alex versus Israel for the light, heavyweight.

title i feel like that would be you know the best viable option if you can't do islam versus just to gaitchie for the lightweight title and um you know what are the chances that jim miller is on that card all right thanks mike chances jim miller's on that card uh a trillion percent i'd be stunned if he's on that card i know he's got to fight booked but he's got to fight at ufc 300 i'd be absolutely shocked if he doesn't ralphs it in the hat, I don't know. It could be literally anything. I will say this, though. If they do Hamzaa versus Izzy, like, that is a way better main event than Leon versus Bilal. I'm sorry. It just is. Like, that is a way more compelling fight to me. It's a way more exciting fight.

Two bigger names, two bigger stars. It just would be. Now, would it headline over a title fight? Probably not. I don't think Bilal would really care. He wouldn't get pay-per-view points on the back end anyways. Leon might have something to say about it, but Leon and Izzy have probably pretty tight as well. So I don't know. I don't know. I would, there's just not a lot available right now. There's just not a lot available.

Could you push O'Malley back a month and do O'Malley Cheeto in March and then try to like cobble something together? Maybe you do Islam Gehchi in March instead. And then push O'Malley Cheeto. to 300, I'd be fine with that. That'd be a pretty damn good main event. O'Malley is like a rising star. Cheeto is very popular.

That would be interesting. But if we're just keeping things the way that they're at right now, I think Izzy Pereira is the one man. I mean, that rivalry has defined the last two years for the company in a lot of ways. The second Alex Pereira debuted, we knew why. We knew exactly why the UFC signed Alex Pereira. It was so we could build to this Izzy fight. Alex has a win.

Izzy had the knockout of the year in the rematch. Let's do the third one. Let's do it. I know Izzy's taking time off. I don't know if you guys have seen pictures on social media. Izzy looks like he's beefing up a little bit. Looks like he's put on some muscle. Looks like he's hitting the weights a little bit.

Looks like he's getting a little bit bigger. He looks bigger than he did when he was about to fight Janbovich. So I would do what I could to try to make that fight. Now, I also would be very careful with Izzy as well. Izzy's gone through a lot. It's been a very active guy. It is a guy that's still pretty important to your company. I think he was a little over-exposed, to be honest,

and I think even the Australian crowd realized it. We can't miss you if you don't leave, but we don't want you to leave forever. So what, September, October, November, it's seven months. I think for a Pereira fight, I think Izzy would be welcomed back by the fans, honestly. So, yeah, we'll see.

We'll see. The rabbit could be literally anything. I don't know what it's it's I don't think it's gonna be Shama if if I'm Hamzaat I ain't fighting anybody I am not fighting anybody I would fight Paula Costa and that's it if that fight was available for him

but we know Paul Acosta's fight Robert Whitaker in February if I'm if I'm Hamzot I am just getting healthy and getting ready and whoever wins the Sean Strickland DDP fight I would be all ready to go. I would have promo ready. I would maybe even take a trip to Toronto if you could.

I don't know if he can, but if I'm Hamza, I'm waiting for that title shot because I think there's a real good chance he gets it. And who knows? Who knows? Maybe the middleweight title is defended at UFC 300. Depends. If Sean Strickland beats DDP, he'll probably ask for that. Sean would fight in February. Sean was going to fight Hamzaa. Sean wanted to fight Hamzaa in October after he won the belt a month later. The dude is game. So there's a lot of ways we can go with this. But I would go with Alex and Izzy if we could.

But that's what I would do with what's available right now. I would have done Connor and Chandler, to be honest. Because you never know. Connor might just get all pissy and be like, nah, I ain't fighting. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one.

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Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Sweet. I got two questions. One's pretty short. The other one's a little bit more complex, I guess. But first one, I've been seeing a few kind of rumors, I guess, of Bunas, St. Denise versus Benis. Neil Dajush for March 30th in Atlantic City.

I don't know if there's any legs to that. If so, I assume we have the same prediction in a dominant finish for BSD. But my other question is kind of what's your take on this whole Sean Strickland thing that's been going on recently. We know he's been very outspoken in the past, very critical of fighters, kind of being the guy to just dish it out to everyone. And now it kind of seems like, although I do get where he's coming from with his reaction to Dreykis's comments about, you know, he's like childhood and that.

I get where he's coming from. It does kind of seem like there's an element of can you, like, you're giving it and you're not being able to take it, I guess. What are your thoughts on that? Thanks, Mike. Sean is just an interesting cat. Like, he just is who he is. And as much as you want to try to understand that individual and his personality and who

he actually is, you realize that it just goes so deep that. and it's almost like a dangerous place to go. So I don't really know. I think there's probably a little bit of that. There's probably a hint of hypocrisy in people's eyes. But Sean is just a very complex, very different kind of a guy. Was built for the fight game in a lot of respect. So, yeah, I don't know.

It's tough to say. Obviously, I've talked to Eric Nixick a lot. And Sean's just who he is, man. You don't try to, you don't try to break him down. You just realize there's just so many layers to the guy. There's probably more layers to Sean Strickland than there is maybe any other fighter on the roster. So to try to. But yeah, Sean is the champion.

It's just going to continue to be that way. As long as he has that belt, he's going to just be Sean. it's just got to reach a lot more people now and a lot more people are going to have reactions and responses to things that Sean says because now he's the champion of the world and more people know who he is. I have not heard anything about

the Benile Darius Benoit-Sentity fight. Love it. I believe that was my on to the next one's suggestion. I think... No, no, I picked Dan Hooker. I picked Dan Hooker. But I like that fight too. it's a damn good fight from benoit sentanyi and they offer it i'm jumping all over that jumping all over that one so yeah it's a good fight i haven't heard anything about it though

i haven't heard anything about it i know we have erin blanchefield versus men and fioro on that card as of now that is not the main event i'm told could it be perhaps but still sort of up in the air i've heard other fights being discussed i've heard of one in particular, that could headline. It's a little too early to say, but I wouldn't be surprised if another fight ends up getting that spot. I don't know if Santanyi and Darius is that fight, but we'll see. I did get a question yesterday. Speaking of lineups, why is Saudi Arabia and Mexico taking forever to fill? Tickets can go on sale for these cards already. The UFC seems really behind on this from tack mMA no idea no idea but at the same token those both of those events are

going to sell like crazy so um i don't think the ufc really particularly cares about ticket sales for sada arabia since they're getting a whole shitload of money sent in their direction and they will find a way to fill that that arena in mexico they're just clamoring for it so they can really put anything on the card look at mex like you have two massive fights on that Mexico card. Two five-rounders. You got your two biggest baby faces, essentially, right now. In Yair and Brandon Moreno.

And they're both fighting in five-riders. Moreno's on the main event. Yair is a huge star over there. Ortega's got fans over there as well. Saudi Arabia, I'm not sure what's happening. I know there's a couple of fights on the books, but there are certain cards you can just, you can just kind of wing together. Just as long as you have something compelling for a main event, who knows?

Maybe we get Islam-Machachev Justin Gagchi on that card or Islam versus Oliver on that card. I don't know. It all kind of depends on what Mokachev wants to do. You know they're going to try to load that up a little bit, but it is also a week before the pay-per-view as well. So a lot to think about there. But Mexico, whatever they put out, they already got their two big fights. They can sell tickets right now and be fine. Cole, hello.

Morning, Mike. Good to be back. I just got a couple of quick ones for you. Do you think given that like the Strickland DDP main events in January, I think that they got to use one of those two guys, maybe against somebody for a co-mainer main event for 300? Also, what do you, yeah, when Ariel says it's not Brock level, but it's holy shit level of like a return, who do you even think? I can't even think of who that could be. But, yeah, is it too late? Also, lastly for me, is it too late to submit our over-unders for when you and AK do that show? And when is that show happening? That's all I got. A lot to unpack. The buy-sell questions, we're getting close to the end. So I would say by tomorrow would be like the last chance.

I think I was looking at him last night. we have I mean we probably have like 50 something already we're not going to Jesus is there's even there's actually more There's a lot we have like four pages full of them Already we're not going to read all of them that I can assure you We're going to head basically we're going to send all these to Casey and then he's got to pop up on the screen So we don't even know what we're going to be answering the time of the show. We'll obviously have seen a lot of these, but we won't know what we're

going to be answering. That's happening Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern, live on the YouTube channel, so we're going to go live and do it. It is a little early, but the good news is there is no UFC card the night before, so you can get plenty of rest. There's no MMA to watch until 2 o'clock in the morning, so you're good to go. So 10 a.m. Eastern is when we're doing the predictions extravaganza. The non-Brock, holy shit return? I don't know. I don't think it's going to be GSP.

Could it be Ronda, maybe? But I think she would be, I would consider her to be a Brock level, holy shit return. If it's Rhonda, like could they do something with Dick Diaz? Maybe. It's not,

look, we'll go back to the Nath thing. But maybe Nick. Nick's still under contract. maybe they bring Nick back for something. I don't know. The whole Nate Diaz thing, the one thing I really tweeted about

is when we started that the tracker for UFC 300. Like, here are the fights that are being rumored, here's just being talked about on social media, here's this, here's that, here's what we're hearing, etc. Nate teasing UFC 300, all of that.

And I basically tweeted out, look, there's all a, At this point, there's very few things that would surprise me in terms of who could fight a UFC 300, who they brought back, et cetera. If Nate Diaz fights at UFC 300, that would legitimately surprise me. Legitimately surprise me. People are like, oh, I wouldn't be surprised by that. I'm telling you, it would be stunning. Stunning if Nate fights a UFC 300.

I would be shocked. I'll say shocked. it's not happening guys it's just not Nate Nate is just so good at this Nate is so good at just a simple tweet

I'd fight a UFC 300 but there's nobody to fight and the social media world went ballistic they all went crazy they all went crazy everything Ariel has said about the situation is true Nate is probably going to fight first half of 2024, maybe even a little sooner,

and it is not going to be in the UFC. It's not going to be in the UFC. What discipline, I'm not sure. But Nate is not under UFC contract. Nate can make more money fighting outside of the UFC right now. He made a ton of money fighting boxing Jake Paul. Here's what I would do. here's what I would do if I was team Nate or team whoever.

Because there's another guy who has history with Nate, who is, I mean, he's still under UFC contract, but he's not going to fight in the UFC. I think, and I'm telling you right now, do not be like Mike saying this, I have no insight to this whatsoever. Here's what my gut is telling me with literally no insight. what I think might happen, again, this is not a report, this is from no conversations. I think we could be living in a world where we get a boxing match between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masadol. Again, no insight to this whatsoever, but I could see a world where this next game-bred boxing event becomes a Mazadal-Diaz co-promotion type thing, which should be gigantic. those two guys in there, it would be fucking huge.

It would be huge. Mazadol is not fighting at UFC 300. It's not happening. Mazadol is not fighting in MMA, I don't think. Again, that would be kind of shocking. But Mazadol will probably be able to box in his own promotion. Who is he get a box? You can't just throw them in there with anybody.

Throw them in there with Nate. Like, they would make a ton of money. They would actually sell out an arena. He's not going to do this. the bare-knuckle MMA, I don't think. He's not going to go to BKFC and Fox Mike Perry, because why would he do that?

I think this makes perfect sense. That's what I would do. Try to make that happen. Make a co-promotional card. You can do a whole bunch of, like, game bread fighters versus Diaz fighters. With that being the main event, be fucking gigantic.

Everybody would watch that. Everybody would pay for it. They just would. but when we're talking about 300 Mazadol will be surprising Diaz would be shocking Nick maybe but it's I don't know maybe Anderson Silva

maybe they bring Anderson Silva back for one who would he fight is the question Anderson Silva Chris Wyman 3 I don't know 300 puzzle is going to be fun for the next several weeks

Jimmy, do we have you? No. How about Abswalia? Happy, hello, Mark. Happy new year to you. Just have a few questions

allowed to ask regarding some of the upcoming events we have. My first question is, what are your thoughts on the Brandon, Allen, Marvell Vittori fight, and who do you have winning that fight as an early bet on?

Another question I have regarding this mystery about UFC 300. I know this is a very far-fetched thing, but is it possible we could see a world where Yowell Romero possibly makes a return to the UFC, depending on his contract status with, you know, Belator and basically what has happened since they've transitioned to PFL. Is that a possibility where the UFC might be able to offer him a one-time fight to fight anyone in light, heavyweight or

middleweight division, in your opinion? And my last question is, Where are people getting this idea about Islam and Justin headlining that Saudi card? Because I just can't see that happening. Like, Islam is a pretty big draw, and I would say he's more fitting for pay-per-view. That's all I have. Have a great day. Because they could absolutely put him on that Saudi Arabia card.

Look, they're paying the UFC Bucco dollars to come there and bring something good. So if you bring Brendan Allen versus Martin Vittori there, They ain't going to do it. No offense to those two guys. It's not going to do it. You've got to bring something big there in order to come back. In order for them to pay you to come back again. Same thing Abu Dhabi gets.

Now, could have Abu Dhabi, if you guys recall, yes, they did Fight Island, but they did a numbered event. In Abu Dhabi two years ago, headlined by Glover to Shera versus Janbovich for the light heavyweight title. We had Peotor Yad versus Corey Sanhagen for the interim Bannamway title. They gave us that on ESPN Plus for free. That was not a pay-per-view. Was that 276? No. 267?

It was something like that. I don't want to go look it up. But they've done this before. They've done big events like this before because they don't need to charge anybody for it. They're already getting so much money. So what's the point? If Zla Makachev wants to fight in March, and wants to fight in Saudi Arabia

and Gachi's down, why not do it? You're still going to get him in Abu Dhabi. And what if, and at this point, the calendar's filling up. And with Ramadan affecting UFC 300, I don't,

maybe it happens there, maybe they can convince Islam, but he seems like a man of principle, so I kind of don't see it happening. Are we going to wait until May or June and risk him not being able to fight in October in Abu Dhabi? I think it's a real chance that that that fight could happen on that Saudi Arabia card.

There's nothing out. Like, what is there right now? You got to bring something big. There's no main event for that card right now. Nothing. Unless you push O'Malley and Cheeto to 300 at this point. Like, why would Sean O'Malley be like, yeah, I'll be the co-main event now on this Miami card that I've been putting over. It already did the face off for.

and I already did all this work for and trying to promote it and get ticket sales and all that stuff and get people excited. Nah, but I'll take a backseat Tamacachev and Gaecchi now. Why would he do that?

O'Balley is one of the rising stars in the company. He's not going to do that. So I think Abu Dhabi is absolutely in play. Excuse me, Saudi Arabia is absolutely in play. Yole Romero, maybe. That's not like a holy shit one, though.

You know what I mean? Like if they bring YOL or Mero back for a one-off is ever going to be like, oh my God. Are we going to do a reaction pot about Yol Romero coming back? Probably not. I know we all love Y'O. Romero, but he's not the most exciting fighter in the world. So these days, I mean, third round, Yo-Wel is a bad, bad, bad man. But I don't know.

Probably not. You do Yowel versus Anderson Silva. One of the fights we never got. I don't know. We'll see. Boarding for Flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time.

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With Amex platinum, $400 in annual credits 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. Henderson, go ahead. Love that the show is back. Another great year on the way. How about for the UFC 300?

We talked about, or you talked about Nate, I don't think he's going to fight there either. He just waited his whole life to get off the UFC deal. I don't think he's going to jump right back into it until he makes as much possible money as he can and builds his own thing. But what about Nick? I mean, Nick, I think has one fight left. It would be great for him to be able to also be done. And to go out on a fight like UFC 300 would be, I mean, a fitting end for a great career, I think, in the UFC at least. And what about him versus Anderson Silva?

Double like MMA retirement fight, UFC 300. Their original fight was a mess. But they're both in a much different place right now. And by that, I mean, they're both much worse right now. So it'll probably just be a messy fucking like slugfest. And then one of them will not be able to make it to the third round probably. But that would be a great fight, I think. Um, and also for Jim Miller, I think you got to do him versus another legend.

Maybe Miller versus Lozahn, Miller versus Felder, Tony Ferguson. You could even do Miller versus Patty, but I feel like that's just a waste of both of their energy, although I think Miller might actually win that fight too. Um, and then one more point I wanted to make was they got that March 30th card coming to Jersey, Atlantic City. Aaron's headlining. It's like the most Jersey event they've done in a while considering their last one in Newark

was a mess. What about making that the fight where they announced Frankie Edgar Hall of Fame? They got to put Frankie in the Hall of Fame. One of the greatest fighters ever, Jersey legend, beat Olivera,

beat Yair, beat BJ Penn twice, legend. And that's not even getting into all those close fights with Bendo and, and those two close losses to Aldo, like just a legend. So that fight, I feel like it's a setup.

They got to announce him in the Hall of Fame. The New Jersey crowd will go nuts. So wanted to know what you thought of those matchups. And yeah, Frankie Hall of Famer. Also, if the Jets don't beat the Patriots this weekend, I might lose my mind. All right. See, Mike.

God, I hope you beat us. I hope you beat us so bad. I don't, but this will be the game where the Patriots drop 55 on you. And we're like, oh, momentum into 2025 into next year. No, I want you to run us off the field so we can get that two seed. That's, or the number two draft pick. That's what I want. That's what I want.

So beat us, please. Please beat us. I don't know if I've wanted anything more of this entire football. policies that beat us please god um i love the idea of announcing frankie for the hall of fame on that card that makes a lot of sense um miller i mean yeah i like the legend idea i like nick dyes versus tony ferguson do it at 170 i don't know can maybe do that i don't know i definitely don't want to see nick fight aniston silver again uh we saw that i don't want to see it again.

Even if we like kind of understand what it is at this point, you know that's going to be a main card fight. You know you're going to have to pay 80 bucks for that one. And it ain't going to, it's going to be one of those things where like I think the hardcore fan base, which the UFC, let's be, let's be honest. The UFC doesn't care all that much about the hardcore fan base. They're just,

they're more about wanting to bring in more of a casual audience. I mean, just look at how they're doing their promotion now. I think the hardcore people will just kind of giggle about it, but then those newer fans that they're trying to bring in will be like, yikes, what are we watching here? This is tough. So, yeah, I think Nick would be a good addition to the card. I think we have to match him up right, give him a name.

Him and Ferguson in a double retirement fight would be great. But we also know at this point that Tony's probably not retiring, like even if the UFC says, all right, dude, this is your last fight with us. He's probably just going to go somewhere else, and it's just going to get icky and uncomfortable. but yeah i like i like the idea of of nick getting one last fight patrick go ahead hey mike uh my question is about the u sce apex again uh i could go on like a 30 minute rant about how i'm sick and tired of it uh but in 20203 it looks like we had 17 out of 43 cards at the

Apex and already up until U.S.C. 300 this year, we got six. It looks like scheduled Apex cards. So my question is, do you possibly in any way see somehow in 2024 we end up with more Apex cards in 2023 because that would just seem like a backwards movement pretty much. But it was heck of the morning everyone. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. Do I think we'll have more? Maybe. Maybe we get like one or two more. I don't know.

But I think that's probably the sweet spot. 16 to 20. Probably somewhere in that range. Guys, under this current deal they have, they ain't leaving the apex. It's not going to happen. They have to put on 43, 44 fight cards a year. They're

not leaving the apex. Now, when their new TV deal happens, we'll see how it all pans out. If it's the same sort of setup or they have to put on 43 events a year, then still, they're not leaving the apex. They don't need to. They make, I mean, just, the pandemic has shown them that they can just make so much money staying in the apex. They can put on any fight card, any main events and people are going to watch it and cover it. And some people will even pay outrageous amounts of money to go watch a fight in that environment. They ain't leaving. They're not leaving.

You cannot. Unless they just do like, we talked about this one of the last shows we did, I don't mind them doing events in non-NBA arenas. what they did for that Marab de Wallisvili Piotr-Yonkard-Yon card was perfect you find like a hotel in Vegas 1,500, 2,000 people it just makes the ambiance so much better it really does than the apex which is just like kind of the same thing

and it's like more of a golf broadcast than a fighting broadcast so but no they're not leaving the apex I would say 16 to 20 events it's probably what we're looking at I do think they'll the UFC will hit some new spots this year probably more so from an international level but

yeah they ain't going anywhere guys sorry I wish we had I wish I could say otherwise but this is where we're at let's go to double A good double A good

you too what's that I just want to hear your thoughts on this whole Kayla Harris and Chris Cyborg thing like Kayla turning the flat down. I also want to hear your thoughts on someone asked earlier about Brendan Allen and Martin Martin Vittori. You mentioned the title picture at 85 earlier. I just wondering where you think it would put Brandon Allen in the title picture if he would have win. And I think I know

the answer to this one, but did you believe Connor McGregor's whole, I'm fighting Michael Chandler at 185 pounds thing? Because I did and I thought it was going to. plate jerk. Anyway, have a great day. Peace. Thanks, man. Let me, Brennan-A-V-Vitory. Where does this put Brennan Allen? I mean, it's a

first of all, ought no point for me, because that's what I picked after Brennan's last win. Get some a step closer. Look, here's the thing. Votoria, look, sorry. Okay.

Brennan Allen is going to be very Belal Muhammadish in all of this, where he's going to rack up wins. There's going to be discussions on whether or not he's going to get the title shot. I think there's going to be positions where, conversation where everyone's going to be like, oh, yeah, Brennan deserves to fight for the belt. But I think his road is going to be a long one because of where this division is going. And it's just going to continue to get more weird,

weirder and weirder and interesting. Right now you got Sean Strickland. You got DDP. You got Robert Whitaker. You got Paul Costa. You got Israel Adasania. You have a lot of other interesting names that are coming up the ranks as well. The Joe Pfeifers, the Boe Nichols, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

And just kind of looking at the landscape right now, middleweight's going to be a big fight division for the UFC. It's got to be a big fight division. Hamza Tchamayev. He's right up there, too. Kamar Uspin's going to be a player in this division as well. Jared Canaanier. He's got a couple of good wins on his.

He's got a win over the freaking champion right now, and he can't get a title shot. And then you just have like other guys right now, like Paul Craig's over. You got guys like Kyle Barallio, who coming off the contender series, you know the UFC really likes him. You got guys.

like Sharmauga-Madoff, who a lot of people are going to be behind. Michelle Pereira is now a middleweight. I think, and then we have to think about the Ikramal-Scaroffs and all those guys as well, I think Brennan Allen is going to have a very long road ahead of him through no fault of his own. He's just, he's going to be kind of in that ball ball mode right now, where he's going to win a bunch of fights. People are going to argue for him getting a title shot, and they're not going to be wrong about it. but the UFC is not going to, they're going to be like,

hmm, do we book the champion versus Hamzaa Tchaimayev, or do we book the champion versus Brennan Allen? It's going to be the bigger star every single time. And Brennan's just not that guy. He just is not that guy. Unless somehow they do a pay-per-view in Louisiana or something like that, maybe they squeeze him in.

But I think Brennan's going to have to win at least three more fights. at least. And even then, we'll see. Everything broke real good for Bilal, so maybe he'll get the same. Maybe the same thing will happen for Brennan Allen. Yes, Dom, how are you?

Yeah, good, man. Heck of an afternoon from the UK. Yeah, I just had a couple of questions. The first was about UFC 300. Of the fights announced, how many do you think are going to be on the main car? I feel like most of them would be on a usual pay-per-view, but this one potentially a bit different. And the second question is a bit of an odd one, I appreciate, but I just want your take.

I'm wondering why we just kind of believe that rounds are the best way of scoring MMA. And when we're booking a fight, we're trying to find out who's the best fighter, who's actually going to win. We're trying to replicate a fight as best we can. But so often we see someone taking the back, they're about to finish the fight, and then the buzzer goes. And I'm just wondering, is there room for a promotion? Do you think in the future that can have a proper MMA promotion that doesn't have rounds where we can actually see the lights of Hamz Echemiyev, even people like Connor McGregor, these one round fighters really having their shot at, you know, not having that adrenaline done, but at the end of the round. I'm just interested what you think more generally

moving forward with a sport, whether there's room for that. And yeah, cheers for having me on. in today's day and age probably not I mean could you do it in Japan almost like the pride type of style could you do it sure I just feel like

attention spans aren't really there anymore to be like one never ending round or one like 25 minute round or one however many rounds I think it's more palatable to people saying you know, let's just do five rounds.

Oh, this is, or the third, this is the third round, instead of it being like one long round. I mean, I'm with you. I'm with you. I would like to see more of that. But I don't know if there's enough room for it, honestly. I don't know if like today's audience, especially the ones that the UFC is going to attract are going to do that.

Now, are there holes gigantic gaping? holes in the judging, sure, it's because the scoring structure sucks. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's a boxing scoring model used for a sport that boxing is only a small percentage of. So I think we need to just fix that. Again, I wish some promotion, and I know CFFC tried this seven years ago, but even I just really wish one promotion would just do a whole, hey, one event, we're going to put the judges in soundproof boxes to watch these fights and score them. And they can even use the monitors.

I don't give a shit. But they can't listen to the broadcast. They can't listen to the crowd. They can't listen to the commentators. They basically watch the monitor. And they see all the angles and stuff like that. And they're in a quiet room. Or the fights like that.

Then there's no, well, if he's sitting in one corner, it looks more of a 10-8 than a 10-9. Or it looks like this fighter did more damage in this fighter. So what? You're still in the arena. You're watching the whole what everybody else is watching,

but you have noise-canceling headphones on. Like, the commissions can afford the best in the world, and you put them in a soundproof box, which you could buy. They look like phone booths. And you can customize them and put them in a box where they can just watch the monitors.

And then they could score the fights based on what they're seeing on the screen without any sound or any constant. commentator saying, oh, well, this should have happened, or the crowd reacting to their hometown fighter missing a punch by six feet. I think we just need to fix the actual scoring structure before we start changing the round structure, because that stuff's not going anywhere, unfortunately. All right, so we got Wakar, we got Ani, we got Kat, and then we got to go. Wakar, go ahead.

No, somebody, thanks for having me. I just wanted a reason, one of my run. random questions. What do you think about, Porier, when do you think he'll be back, and who do you think he's going to be for you next? Thanks for having me. Who is this? Porreier, Poston, Porier.

Oh, Porier. Deson Porier. Okay. I would like to see Porier at 300. I think it makes a lot of sense. Who will he fight is the question. It will not be Nate. That I can assure you, unless something just insanely weird happens.

It's tough. It really is tough to say without knowing what Islam's fight's going to be. Because how I would book lightweight right now is I would do Islam versus Gachi and I would do Siru Kian versus Olivera. That's what I would do. And then the winners fight. Porre, I don't know. Maybe do Porriere, Jim Miller?

at 300? Dan Hooker's not going to be back. Fizziv's not going to be back. Gamrott's booked. Hooker, you ever said? Santany, I don't think he's touching that fight, nor do I think he should. He's not going to fight Jalen Turner.

I mean, dude, they should just... And I know Dustin would probably hate this idea, but, like, if he's looking for a big fight that's going to, like, get him ready to go, he should just fight Colby, man. Just do him and Colby at 300. I think people would be okay if that didn't happen, but with what is actually available,

I think that's probably the biggest fight he can have right now. And he would be the huge baby face right now in that one. But if Islam fights Olivera, then I think you do Porre versus Sarugan. Armin Sarukin should either be fighting Dustin Poria or Charles Olivera next. I think they should do Maka-Jef Gachi and then Sauruqi and Olivera. Now, where that puts Dustin everywhere else, I'm not really sure, but Dustin versus Colby would, Dustin versus Colby would be big, big draw. It'd be a good little addition to 300.

As far as the other question with 300, with any of the announced fights, will they be in the main card? Maybe Yuri? but I could see the other fights being on the freedoms. Kat, go ahead. Good morning, Mike. It's great to be here for a space of 2024. Just let me gather my thoughts.

My mind went into an empty void as soon as you said, Armand's here Ucan versus Oliver. I just don't know why you manifest these things into existence. I'm actually very quite upset. But my question... Why? Why, though? I just don't get it.

Why does Charles have to go through so much? Why? Why? Did Gagee have to go through what? I just feel like... Go through what? whoever wins, even if he has to rematch Islam and I have to watch Charles lose yet again, I'd rather have him go, why feed him to Surreyukin? Why? How do you know he's feeding?

We're feeding him, though. We thought we were feeding Oliver to Benile Darius. No, no, I never believed that for a second. But the thing with me is, is I feel like the fight game's a lot more mental mentality than it is, you know, and momentum than it is just physical game. And I feel like after being stripped, Oliver has been like, you know, the win against Benile, put him back in positive momentum. Don't get me wrong. But like, I just feel like he went through a lot of negative momentum. So I just felt like, you know, I just made me upset Mike. But anyways, I just upset you a lot. I know, you do, you too. But I had a question, do these fighters have like marketing managers or anything? Because, you know, Rogan says it a lot that these guys, when they win,

they should grab the mic and have somebody ready to call out, have a way to make a name for yourself. And we have so many good up-and-coming contenders and just hearing you talk like what it was it, four questions ago about middleweight and up, just how many good contenders we have coming. We don't know anything about these guys. Like, do they not have marketing managers to sit there and coach them and tell them, hey, you can't just grab the mic and say, oh, Dana, give me whoever you got. You got to call out a name. You have to, especially if you guys are trying to bring in casual viewers, it's just us hardcore fans that are keeping our eyes out for the prospects, you know? These guys really have to market themselves. and I feel like if the UFC as an organization

wants to see more casuals come in, I really feel like these guys need better marketing. They have to have better coaching. I just wanted your thoughts on that. I want you to have a beautiful rest of your day, Mike. Thank you for having me up here. Thank you. I mean, look, a lot of these fighters have managers.

I know there's a clip of Al Jermaine Sterling talking about the importance of managers and what they actually do. And I've watched that clip a few times, and I kind of agree with Al Jermaine, there are fighters out there who would be best served to just be their own manager at this point. Because, like, it's just honestly,

just knowing the market as I do in conversations that I've had, there aren't a lot that are just like specifically looking out for Fighter X. They're looking out for themselves. And there are some managers who, there are some managers out there who I just have so much respect for, who they have small rosters, and they're not afraid to lose clients by telling them the truth. Or saying, hey, you should do this or no, you shouldn't do this.

Here's the position you're in. Here's why you shouldn't do this. All of that. And just telling them the truth. And I respect the hell out of that. I really do. There are a few managers out there who really put the client. line first. As far as the marketing goes, look, they're just, again, that's, that's part of it.

They don't, you just got to know what's realistic and what isn't. Now, you could, you could also have callouts that are just awful. Look at Bilal. I mean, look at the position Belal has put himself in because of awful callouts. Callouts that made no sense and they were unrealistic. and just the timing of them were terrible. We don't need to go through the whole history of terrible Belal callouts, but there were a lot of them. And he buried himself a whole bunch, like during this stretch of wins that he had by just awful callouts.

So you have to be smart about how you're calling people up. Kaya Baraleo. Look at Kaya Barallio. Mentioned him earlier. Gets a nice win. Got a little bit of momentum. He's getting the push from the UFC. because he was on the contender series.

Dude is moving up the ranks, doing the damn thing. Dude's been in co-main events. Guys having a nice little run right now. Gets a win over Abus Bagamadoff. Smitz Mikhail Olegzechuk. He's got a win over Mahmoud Murdof. Guys got good wins. Dude beats Abus Bagamadoff and calls out Drickas 2 plus C.

What? Are you kidding me? this is not what to do. This is not how you move up the ranks with your microphone using skills. That was one of the worst callouts of the year, in my opinion. A guy who is literally about to fight, that guy is fighting for the friggin title in two weeks. That's the guy?

That's the guy you call out when you could have called out Brennan Allen. You could have called out Chris Curtis. You could have called on Nasadine Imovov. You could have called out Jack Herman. Her Manson was the perfect call-out. And because you didn't call a Jackermanson, now you have to watch Joe Piper fight Jacker Manson. It is important to have that vision.

It is important to be smart. It's important to have a name in mind. But it is important to be realistic. That is a very valuable lesson. A very valuable lesson. See what Brennan's been doing lately? He's just like, I'm going to call some, like, I can call who I want to call out, but it's going to make no sense.

So instead, I'm just going to run off a list of things that I want. I want purple fight shorts. I want a fight in Louisiana. And I want a fight against a top five dude. And he's getting it. You know, just I like the Brennan Allen thing. He's got his own niche. Brandon, what do you think about the victory? He doesn't even like let D.C. ask him questions anymore.

He just says, hey, here's five things that I want before I fight again. And there are like realistic things. And now he's fighting Martin Vittori in the perfect fight for him anyways. I don't know. Be better. And the whole Olivera thing, look, Armand Serra, this is,

I understand, there's a lot of Charles Olivera fans out there that you're just like, look, this guy's been through the ringer, this guy's resume is incredible, this guy had a long, exciting run as champion, all of that.

I get it. Olivera, the timing for Olivera in 2023 was spectacular. It could not have gone any better for him. Because heading into that Darius fight, heading into 2023, I didn't think there was a world where Charles Oliverer was even going to be in the conversation

to fight for the lightweight title with Islam Makachev still champion. And because of how everything is going to, everything played out, it worked out perfectly. He got his shot. There's nobody else. Oliver was the dude.

And then he didn't fight. And I understand accidents and weird things happen in the sport. Volcanowski steps in, takes the fight. Gaei is available. He's a fresh matchup. He's ready to go. It's not, Oliver was the only choice in October. When they made that fight, he was the only choice.

He was the only guy. The only realistic guy after the Darius win. Now there's three guys. There's Olivera. You could do that. There's Gajun as the fresh matchup. And there's Sarukian who, I got to tell you, there, if you said, Mike, what are three fights you need to see this year?

I'm telling you right now, Armand Sarukian versus Islamokachev 2 is on that list. I have to see those two guys fight again. And I feel like if we don't see those two guys fight again this year, we're never going to see it. We're never going to see it. Am I saying Armand should just get a title shot? No, I think he needs one more win. But Justin Gaghi is not going to fight him.

He's not going to. He has a title shot. He's not going to fight Armand Syrucian. He's not going to. Nor should he. I want to see this division move. We finally have a guy who is broken through. Sarukian beat a top five guy.

We've seen other guys get these chances. We saw Fiziv fight J. Justin Gichi fought Raphael Fiziv. He went all the way back and fought Raphael Fiziv and beat him. He had to win multiple fights to get back to a title shot. Oliveras only had to win one, and he got his chance, and then he couldn't fight. So now the timing stinks a little bit more for Charles Oliver. Go fight Armid Zerugian.

He could beat him. He could beat Zerukin. And Zerukin could beat him. And then we'll know. Then we'll have a legit contender. if Sarukian wins, we're going to see a guy finally that is not named Dustin Porre or Michael Chandler or Alexander Volcanovsky or Charles Olivera fight for a title. And that's going to be exciting. Just think of the other names who are going to get their chances. We're going to see

the Jalen turners and the Benoit Santanese and all these guys get their chances. It's a wonderful world that that's a world I want to live in. And if Olivera goes out and beats Armin Sarukian, I don't give a shit. What's going on a lightweight? Charles Alvarez is getting a title shot. I will hold a sign outside saying, give this man a title shot. I don't care.

What else is going on? All right. Last two. Ani, what you got? You too? Well, yes, sir. Kat made good points earlier about the marketing managers and whatnot, but I'm not sure.

I agree with that. What I think will serve the fighters a lot more, a cost-effective option, And dare I say, a free option would be for them to tune into the heck of a morning shows and listen to your rant, Mike. That will set their head straight. I bet your ass. So, yes, that's what I want to say. And another thing, the reason UFC 300 doesn't have a main event yet, I personally think, this is my theory.

it's because UFC have shot themselves in the foot yet again. I could be wrong. I could look like a complete dark, but this is what I think. They shot themselves in the foot, you know, a couple of years ago, when they made Joseo Aldo, which is Mirab Davalishvili, quite close to UFC's return to Brazil since the pandemic. And they could have had, Josealdo fight in Brazil, but they matched him up against Mirab Davarishvili.

They could have also made Aldo versus Cruz as the number one contender fight, but they didn't do it. The same way, I think, after Israel Adesonia's win against Alex Pereira, they thought, you know what, we are going to put Israel against Sean Strickland. He'll just beat Strickland, and Alex Pereira will be the light heavyweight champion. if he wins. And then, lo and behold, we can advertise a champion versus champion match at UFC 300. And they don't have that now. And I honestly can't think of any fights. And do we seriously have to assume that if it's a super fight and if someone, that's what they're referring to? Is it someone from the past? Is that how we're supposed to think? Can't it be someone from the present?

Because if it is, I don't know who it is. And Leon Edwards versus Bilal Muhammad is an interesting matchup. Because now Bilal Mohammed has some time to prepare. He has a fight camp and I really would like to see how Leon Edwards handles it. And I think if Bilal can lean into his character, he can be a nice he. He is annoying, but if he can lean into his character a little bit, he can be a nice heel. So that'll be nice. That's all I have, Mike.

This is my theory. Do you agree with this? I mean, probably. I mean, they booked a lot of fights. I mean, they loaded up. They put compelling main events in the first three cards, but they kind of overlooked 300. And that kind of made us all think, like, we were going to get Connor and Chandler. as of now we're going to get it, but not until like two and a half months after that.

So I don't know what they're going to do. I think it's more of what I said earlier in the show. They're going to try to have their cake and eat it too. They're going to try to get double the buys. 300 is going to sell no matter what it does because of the number. And then you're still going to get a million buy pay-per-view on International Flight Week because you've got the return economy of Greyer. So the Leon Balaal is a tough. half sell for UFC 300

as the main event. It really is. It really is. It's just not a compelling rivalry. It's not a like stylistically it's an interesting fight but it's like sheesh man. That's a fine co-made event.

But if I at this point with what's available to I'm fine with that fight being on the car. That's the co-main event. Do Pereira Izzy as the main event for the light heavyweight title and fine with that, just because you've got to get Pereira out there. You can't bench him. And if you can get Izzy, I don't care what it costs, you try to get him. As long as he's

ready to fight and the personal issues are squared away. The other option is I would, I would do Islam versus Gaichi at 299 and I would move O'Malley to Cheeto, O'Malley Cheeto to the main event of UFC 300. That's it. I mean, I just don't know what else is there. I don't know what else you could do. That would be like, oh, okay, that's a cool 300 main event. Leon versus Ballal is tough. Because that fight, like, that fight from a technical standpoint is going to be interesting to watch, but, like, it's not going to be, I just don't see it being like a really fun fight.

Like, that's the last thing we remember of UFC 300. You know what I'm saying? We'll see how it all plays out. All right. Panda, take us home because I got to go. My man, Mike, how are you? What's up, man? Yeah, I got two for you.

I'm not going to lie. I am extremely depressed from the last UFC event we have watched. My man, Kobe Coventon, went out there and pitched a stinker. Now, with that being said, there's only one way to recover. You dive into your next favorite fighter's matchup. Is Cheeto really going to beat Sean again? With that being said, I am kind of scared. I think his leg kicks are dangerous.

I think as the fight goes on, Cheeto gets more and more dangerous. If Sean doesn't put him away like Sterling early, is Sean in trouble? All right, Mike. Have yourself a heck for the morning. I mean, it's possible. It's a fight Cheeto could definitely win. We put out our, like, champion predictions on the website. I think it dropped like Sunday this past Sunday.

AK and I are going to do that live on to the next one. Predictions extravaganza will reveal our championship picks live on Sunday morning as well. I am picking Sean O'Malley to end 2024 as the Bannamweight champion. I don't know why I have the vibes that Sean's going to beat Cheeto, but I kind of do. Again, I don't know why from a technical standpoint, because I do feel like Cheeto could win. The problem is I think Sean is real, Sean, if he wants to get off to a good start, he can. Cheeto does not get out the gates very well.

I know he landed a lot of light kicks in the first fight early on and got Sean stinged him up a little bit. Obviously, Sean, I think, is going to be ready for that. Cheetos is not a real fast starter. It takes him a while to get cooking. And that's just the kind of matchup that Sean thrives in. And if Sean wins, and there's a chance he does, like, who's he going to fight next? And I know what you're thinking, oh, it should be Marron.

If he beats Henry Sehudo. Yeah, it should be. You think that Sean O'Malley is going to be diving at the opportunity to fight Marab? I don't. Not because he's like afraid of Marab, but he's going to see like no dollars in that whatsoever. If Suhudo beats Marab, I could see him taking that fight. I could see him. He's already calling out Iliate Tuporia.

Maybe he goes up and tries to fight for a second title, which will be make me nauseous, but there is a world where that could happen. He might even be like, hey, I want to fight Dominic Cruz. And it's not what you want to hear. But if the UFC, if he goes to the UFC and says, look, I already beat the greatest band of weight of all time in Al Jemaine Sterling. It's a two-horse race, right? Said it was Al Jemite Sterling.

You said it's Dominic Cruz. I already beat Aljo. Let me fight Dominic Cruz now. Let me wipe up both those guys so I could be the greatest band of weight of all time. This is how Sean will sell it because he's smart and he knows what the UFC wants to hear. And if he goes out and beat Cheeto, he will have the momentum and the presence to him in order to order for something like that. And the UFC will probably give it to him. So that's why we could only, like there's a world where Sean only fights once in 2024 in the Bannamweight Division.

So not confident, but I'm picking Sean to end the year as champion. so there you go all right we're done great to hear oh you know what mj real quick mj are you there all right we tried mj uh come back tomorrow uh we'll be back tomorrow time i'm not really sure but we will do a show tomorrow we might have a little bit of a later start time but i'll keep you guys posted but we're definitely going to come back tomorrow and do another show don't forget uh btl coming up at at 12 30 pm eastern uh it's gonna be more of the same answering your questions reactions all that fun stuff. And then next week, we get a, we get a UFC event.

The, the, the, the, the break is over. And Jesus Christ, I don't remember what the gosh darn main event is. Oh, yes. Magamette Ancalaia versus Johnny Walker, too. At the hallowed world's most famous apex next Saturday, 4 p.m. Eastern start time. And then it's on to UFC 297. So we get a little bit of a break.

And then we get a breather. Look at that. I didn't even think about that. We get two events. Then we get a week off, like right away. And then we get back to the apex, back to the apex again, 298. And then they're on the road. Anaheim, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Miami, and then we back to the apex.

So you only get about nine more days without UFC fights. So get excited. 2024 is going to be fun. And stick with us here at M.Afighting.com. It's a great website. So thank you all very much. We'll see you tomorrow. Have a great rest of your Thursday.

And have a heck of a morning, everybody.