MMA Fighting - HOAM | What Should Headline UFC 282 and UFC 283?

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

With glaring holes in the main event slots for December's UFC 282 and January's UFC 283 events currently, what fights could fill those slots — especially with so much lack of clarity in the heavyweight division? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck answers questions about what could headline those two PPV events, how Jon Jones factors into things, what could happen if Francis Ngannou doesn't re-sign with the UFC, and more. Additionally, listener topics include Khamzat Chimaev's next move, where Eddie Alvarez could end up after parting ways with ONE, the stacked UFC 280 lineup in October, the loaded up weekend slate with upcoming events from the UFC, Bellator, ONE, BKFC, and more, what would be one singular main card to put together from those, some of the best women's fights of all-time, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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?

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the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Tuesday, September 27th, 2022. It is indeed a heck of a morning live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces.

You can hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. Hello, I am Mike Heck. Hope you all had a great weekend. Hope you're all having a great start to the week. Vacation Mike has come and gone, although technically it was more like a vacation let. Vacation let. It's like a mini-vacay, but didn't really,

we're still doing stuff pretty much on a daily basis for the website in terms of hosting programs and stuff. But it's nice to just kind of get away, relax a little bit, play a little golf, you know, get some more time with the exercising, hang out the fam, all that good stuff. And I was able to accomplish a lot of that. Went to the beach on Sunday with the familia,

including the dog. The dog had the time of his life. He went in the car, and the last time he, basically the last 10 times he's been in the car, he's been going to like grooming appointments or to the vet. So of course he was freaked out the entire time. But once he got out of the car, he realized where he was,

where he was. And he was the happiest pooch on earth. And my nine-year-old was the happiest nine-year-old on earth. The wife and I got to connect a little bit because she's been so busy and I've been so busy. So it was a good time. It was a good time. And we have a very busy week to return to

in the world of mixed martial arts. We got Invicta. We got one championship. They have two cards, I believe, including their return to Amazon Prime later on this week. And then on Saturday, we got ourselves a doubleheader. The UFC is back. UFC Vegas 61, the main event, Mackenzie Dern versus Jan Jaunan.

Not the greatest card of all time, but it's fights. And then later on, a few hours later, Bellator 286 will go down in Long Beach, California. That card's actually really strong. This main card is really, really good. Warricholeta, Enrique Barzola, Aaron Pico, Jeremy Kennedy's a great fight.

AJ McKee, going up to 155 to fight Spike Carlisle. That fight should be bananas. And of course, the main event for the Featherweight Championship, Patricia Pitbull depends against Adam Borge. So a lot to talk about, a lot going on. BKFC as a card this week as well. We'll see the BKFC debut of Ben Rothwell. I know our own Steve Morocco had a chance to talk to Big Ben.

I think that's going to be up on YouTube sometime this week. But a lot to talk about. So let's just get after this thing. Let's turn it over to you guys. And we'll get into it. We will kick things off with Four Corner Sports. Hey, what's going on, Mike? Question.

And I just wanted to know, I saw your, boy, Big Marcel, he ended up retweeting something about no fans or media that's going to be attendance for UFC Vegas 61. I just wonder to know why is that and why are they only available to attend for

the way-ins and not able to attend for the actual fight along with fans as well. That's all I wanted to ask. All right. Thank you. Thanks, man. So I'm sure you guys have seen all the reports. We confirmed this as well that UFC Vegas

61, no fans, no media. I can't really get into it because I don't know for sure. I've heard things. I've heard rumblings. I've heard rumors and innuendo, if you will. And it's not something I'm willing to talk about because we just haven't confirmed it. No one's really talking about it. But all I can go by is is what I've heard.

And I can't really say anything because I've learned that lesson already. So hopefully there'll be some sort of statements about it, but as of now, I mean, that's the case. It'll be normal media coverage. Media Day will have, I mean, they'll all be in there for the contender series later on today. I forgot to mention that one, Bo Nickel, headlining against Donovan Beard later on tonight. But I've heard some things, but nothing is,

nothing is to the point where I can say it out loud or I could report anything. So there you go. I'll just leave it at that. But I can tell you this. Personally, for me, I am working on something for Saturday, trying to figure it out, trying to put the pieces together. It is not going to be easy to do. But what I will say is I am working on,

at least with the relationships that I have, with the fighters that are on the card. I'm trying to work on some sort of some sort of thing where the winners will check in with us maybe we'll just jump on like a quick FaceTime or a quick Zoom chat or something so we can get some sort of reaction

to these fights because I don't know what they're going to do I don't know if they're going to do like a virtual thing or I don't know and if they don't do that I'm going to do my damnedest to try to get as many people to jump in And just, you know, even if it's just for like three to five minutes. A couple questions, maybe even do like some fan stuff.

I don't know. It's being worked on. I've got a couple of managers who are interested in that, but no one really knows the full details at a confident level. So just know that we're trying to do something if there is no sort of scrum or virtual scrum or anything like that with the winners of the card. But yeah, I'm looking at this one. And I mean, it's, there's.

some decent fights on here. It's weirdly shaped, if you will, but I mean, if we're talking which main card is better, it's the Bellator card and it's not even close, if we're being honest, but there are some good stuff. I mean, there's some decent stuff in this card. I mean, the main event's solid. Randy Brown versus Francisco Trinaldo. Barcellos, Trevor Jones should be chaotic. Yusuf fighting John's Janus. I talked to John Channis on Friday. I will put that interview up on the podcast feed on Thursday for the heck of a morning feed. And then John Cassinated, Daniel Santos,

and Mike Davis, Biaschla Borshev. That's the main card. But I think the Bellator card is better. And the stakes are higher, if that makes sense. Let's go to my man, Abswalia.

And then we'll go to Viking M.M.A. Aswalia, hello. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. So I have three quick questions. My first question is,

Do you have any insight info on who's going to be headlining 282 and 283? My second question is, who do you see winning between Calvin Cater and Arnold Allen and what's in stake for both fighters? And my third question is, is it true that the rumor that Hamzaa fighting Costa could be in December or early next year? That's all life. Thanks, man. Okay, so the last question, I've no, I literally have no idea. I think if they're going to go with that fight, it'll probably be January because, I mean, just do it in January.

Do it in Rio. It's a very big deal. Get cost of fighting in Rio and Shamiyaf will be public enemy number one there. I think it makes sense just to wait a month if you're going to do that fight. But again, as we talked about last week on the show, just because somebody tweets something out doesn't mean it's fact. So Shemiah tweeting out 185, that doesn't mean that he's fighting at 185 yet. It doesn't mean he has a fightbook. Doesn't mean anything set in stone. I've tried to reach out and get some sort of clarity on that from some people close to him.

And it seems like it's kind of up in the air right now from the responses that I've gotten. So who knows, who knows what's going to happen as far as 282 and 283 go. I don't know. I don't know. Like from what I understand, and this has been kind of the same trail that we have been on for a little while, I think 282 is kind of,

it's kind of set on John Jones. Like is John Jones going to fight in December? Is he going to fight Steep A in December? And from what I understand, it's not close to happening. So some people that we've spoken with have said that it's pretty much tangent on John Jones, whether or not he fights.

And that's kind of the 282 story right now. But like I've said many times, if you're Team Jones, you might as well just wait for Francis to come back. You might as wait to see how those negotiations go. Because if Francis is ready to go in February and March, that's

the fight we all are trying to get to anyways. So why not just wait for that fight? I know it kind of leaves Stipe out into the cold in a way, but we all, it seems like everybody has the same goal here. Fans, the UFC, the fighters, Francis, Francis's team.

They all want the John Jones fight. Everybody wants that fight. So why throw John in there with Stepe in December if Francis can fight in February or March? It doesn't make a ton of sense to be. And then what if Stepe wins? Then you

lose the fight altogether, at least for the foreseeable future. Maybe John gets a couple of wins. He gets back. But if you're going to strike you got to strike quickly and because who knows what's going to happen this is just a crazy sport so if i'm john i'm probably just waiting and i'm sure his team's talking about the same thing but maybe john's just like so ready to come back maybe the negotiations between the ufc and france and gano don't go very well and then you have to do a title fight like just he's just going to get

stripped of the belts and we go with john versus stepe for the actual title i don't know there's just a lot of things in play right now and I'm not really sure what's going to happen, which kind of leaves 283 up in the air because the fight we all thought was kind of slotted in for 282 was the rematch between Yuri Perashka and Glover Tashara. I know that fight was offered for January. Didn't seem like all parties were on board for that. I think you understand where I'm coming from. So the plan was to possibly do that in December, but now we have all this stuff going on with John, what are we going to do? So who knows?

It's still up in the air. I wish I had like a solid answer for you, but I just don't. Everything is just kind of fluid right now when it comes to all this. My gut is telling me that we probably won't see John Jones in December, but who knows? A lot can happen between now and then where maybe the UFC and Francis just don't figure it out. Francis is like, I'm done, I'm not resigning. And then the UFC just goes all in. getting John on that card.

But as of right now, Francis is going to fight and stick around with the UFC, then, I mean, it's not worth putting John in in December if he could just fight two months later and fight Francis.

As far as catered Allen go, it's a really good fight. I don't know. It's a good fight. I'm leaning Calvin to win. I just think he's fought better competition overall. I think he's been in a ton of five-round fights, so he's got that experience.

Arnold's real good, though. Like, this is the right fight to make. This is the perfect fight to make. So we're going to see how good Ardle is. Is Arnold ready for a title shot? At stake, I don't think, I don't know. It's kind of tough to talk stakes. Like all these questions are sort of up in the air right now,

even this one, because we don't know what's going on with Volcanowski. Is he going to go up to 155? Is it contingent on who wins at UFC 280 between Islam Makachev and Charles Oliveira? Where does Volkinovsky factor into this thing? Now, I know Volcanovsky's done some media and has said that he's planning on being the backup fighter for UFC 280 if something happens, which is pretty cool since he was sort of banged up in July when he fought Max Holloway. So I would say the winner of that fight is probably, if Arnold wins, he's a win away, especially with the UFC, the UFC wanted to go back to London, go back to the UK as much as possible. Given Allen a title shot on a pay-per-view card, be huge. and then we just kind of go from there

but it's a very big fight it's a very big fight Cater needs this one badly I still thought he beat Josh Emmett a lot of people thought he beat Josh Emmett Cater's kind of tired of talking about it but this is a fight that Calvin and his team have wanted for a long time so

they've wanted it since the Holloway fight it was almost booked multiple times last year Allen was just banged up so Cater ended up fighting Giga Chikaze we all saw that performance so yeah, it's a big fight for both guys. If Kater wants to get to that title shot,

if he wants to break that ceiling, so to speak, he's got to beat Arnold Allen. And he's a fresh matcher for Volcanowski. So it's not like he's not like he's out of the conversation, but he probably needs another big win, maybe two, and he's in there. And if Alan wins, he's probably a win away. So there's definitely stakes there to what extent,

I don't know, because we don't know what's going on with Volcanowski with his health, and we don't know what's going on with him in regards to maybe going up to, to 155 and trying to get that second title. So I kind of hope he sticks at 145, but we'll see what happens. Let's go to Viking. Viking, what's up? All good, Nick.

All you're all right. My question is about the U.S. 280, and I just want to ask what fans and other fighters are going to think about the losing fighter between Charles and Markashev's fight. I mean, we all know that they're coming with such a big amount of hype and all the stuff. So I'm sure people are not going to say that that fighter is going to bounce back and all that other stuff. So one of them is going to lose all the respect, if that's true. Thank you, Mike.

I wouldn't go that far, but I think we also understand how, especially here on Twitter. I think we understand how fans can work sometimes and you get treated pretty awfully with the loss. You're over it. Especially those who bet on fighters. I still don't understand how you can place a bet on a fighter and then a fighter loses

and then you just go slide into their DMs and tell them they suck and their pieces of shit. I just don't understand why people do that. But to each their own, I would say, just judging by what I've seen on social media, I think Oliver is kind of the to go

pro wrestling here. I think Oliver is kind of the baby face in this kind of scenario. If he loses, it's, I think fans will somehow have like built in excuses for him. Oh, he had to go to Abu Dhabi. Oh, he should have never got shipped to the title, all these different things. And plus he's not

really, Oliver's not really talking a lot of trash. There's really no questions. He should be in this fight. He just beat Justin Gage and he finished him in the first round. There's no question he should be in this fight. There are a lot of questions about Islamakachev right now amongst the in the MMA community.

Did he deserve this over a guy like Benil Daryush or other guys at 155? There are other people who feel like Chandler deserved this opportunity over Islamachach. I'm not really one of those guys, but I think Islam is the most intriguing fight of the mall. But if you look at the resumes, and again, this is not Mokachev's fault

because he's tried to get lined up with some of these higher rank guys, RDA, Daryush, and then opponents get injured, and he is just slotted in to fight whoever is willing to say yes. And that's what he's done. And he's earned this opportunity. It's not like he's going in there and just eking out decisions over these guys.

He's flattening them. He's running them all over. He's finishing them quick. So he deserves this opportunity. But if he loses to Charles Olivera, I can already see it now. He was overrated. He didn't deserve it in the first place. He didn't beat a top five guy, all that.

So if we're talking about how fans will view these fighters after the fact, I would say that there's more pressure on the Mokachev side of things than there is on the Oliver side of things. I think Oliver has kind of paid his dues in the questions with the, oh, he doesn't have any hearts. We need to, you know, he's a frontrunner, all these things. If you get him hurt, he quits. I think he's answered all those questions by now because even heading into the Justin Gachie fight, we're still getting those comments. And I still didn't understand why it was just egregious, egregious to say those things after his last couple of wins.

But there were still questions about Oliver's heart and his determination and all that and his durability. I don't think there's any more questions. I think all the questions now are on the Makachep side. And he seems to have a big chip on his shoulder. And Habib does as well, even as his coach. So I think there's more pressure on the Machachev side. when it comes to how fans view the winner and or loser, then there is for Alvara.

But yeah, that's what I think. It's a good question, though. Boarding for Flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements.

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I'm good. So I was reading some articles on MMA party today. And I noticed that Sean O'Malley is upset that he's a betting underdog against Peotian. He's delusional, all right? Anyway, have a good day. I mean, listen, I don't blame him for feeling that way because he's a fighter and he thinks he's, if you're if you're crazy enough to get into a cage and fight you have to believe that you're the best in the world at it you just have you like you have to believe that so for o'malley if this

is what he needs to say to get him up for this fight like i don't know how he needs if this is what he needs to get him over the hump so to speak and to boost his confidence and to get him ready to travel and do all that stuff and and fight a guy like piotr yon then cool four to one seems a little crazy. Like, I actually think this is a much more competitive fight on paper than people give it credit for. Just because O'Malley's so big, he's so long, he's defensively sound, maybe not with the leg kicking game,

but the length, the pat, like, the guy can crack. I think it's an interesting matchup. Like, I'm favoring Yon to win. But like I've said before, some people agree to me, some people don't. If I'm Sean O'Malley, I'm just getting after it. As soon as the rep says go, I can just throw on everything but the kitchen sink of Peotor Yan. I'm not letting him sort of download the information like he typically does.

I'm not letting him get comfortable. I'm just getting right after him. We're not playing any games here. And if he just goes in there and he clips Peodor Yan with something and Jan somehow survives and comes back and wins a decision, like O'Malley Stock's still going to rise. The dude went in there, went hammering tongues with Peodor Yan, former champion, a guy many considered to be the best Banimate in the world,

and he lost a close decision but had his moments, that's fine. Now, obviously, if O'Malley wins this fight, he's fighting for the belt next. But if that's what he needs to say, then that's what he needs to say. Whether we feel he's delusional

or not, I actually feel like he's much more competitive in this fight than people give it credit for. I think, honestly, he's got a chance to win. When I saw it first booked, I was like, eh, I don't really know. But the more I look at it and the more I watch tape on both of these guys, I think O'Malley's pretty live.

Look at this line right now. So minus, where is he at? Pieroia on minus 380. Sean O'Malley comeback plus 310. You're not betting on Yon in this fight. You're not money lining Piero Yon. If you're going to place money on any of these guys from a betting perspective, you're going to take the dog shot on O'Malley at plus 310.

There's a ton of value there. Look, we're all in agreement. This is a huge step up in competition. But O'Malley has a weird, long, lanky, athletic style to him that could give Piotr fits. And Piotr hasn't had a three-round fight in a long time. And O'Malley's had a lot of three-round fights. So I'm real interested to see how Jan, because Jan's such a good five-round fighter, so good. The Sterling one wasn't his best because he just kind of got.

dominated in those first couple rounds, but the tide's definitely turned in that Sterling fight down the stretch. And that's what Jan usually does. He usually gets better as the fight goes on, but how is he going to use that energy for 15 minutes instead of 25? That's a big question. So I like the matchup. I honestly think this should be lined.

I honestly think this should be lined a little bit closer. I'm fine with Jan being a favorite. You want to put Jan at like minus 280, minus 290? I'm okay with that. That's not an egregious line. But right now, looking at, I think the line will close closer to October 22nd, but I think O'Malley's worth a dog shot at plus 310 right now. No freaking doubt about it.

Let's go to Mikey Bats. What's up, man? Good. How are you? Shout to boy. Good. And Walker in the group today. Stop ducking me, bro. I was just kidding.

Man, this has been a good, good, good week of fight, man. we got the Bo Nickel tonight Invicted tomorrow what? The one prime two Friday and then Dern

and Belator the UFC Vegas 61 and then Bellator Saturday I mean like this is a really good week what do you think about all those cars man

which fights are you looking forward to among those all right that'll be all for now I know a little lame but I'm a little tired so all right much love guys

so there thank you Mikey man I'm about to make like a super card I mean a lot of the a lot of the cards a lot of the fights will be from bellator I think belator is the best card of all let's see if I had to make like a main card from all of these I'd put the title fight from one on there for sure

I put the belator title fight I put Jan Dern I'd put I'm going to do it like a six or seven fighter here I'll do McKee Carlisle. I'll do Pico Kennedy. Do I want to put Archeletta Barzola on there as well? I'm going to put the rug-rug fight on there. That's the main card opener for this like super card.

And then we got a pretty, we got a pretty good prelim as well. Look, the Randy Brown for Francisco Trinaldo fight is going to be fun. But, I mean, if we're talking about like the best fights of the weekend, that's probably like the 10th best fight of the weekend. Belator's, I mean, Belator's card's strong. Like even like Max Roshkopf, I'm really interested to see him on this big stage again.

Like I know he's fought for Cage Warriors since that UFC loss and everything he's gone through since then, but he's going to get tested. Big crowd, big promotion, fighting a guy who's going to test him in a big way. Mike Hamill, my camel isn't like the most well-known, dude of all time, but the dude can grind and just think about what Mike Hamill has done since

going to Belator. Look at the guys he's had to fight. He fought Adam Borich, and I actually thought it was, I mean, it was a split decision, but I have to go back and watch that one. I remember watching that one live. I'm like, did Mike Hamill just beat Adam Borch? Because it was close. And then his second fight in Bellator, he fights freaking Usman Namauga-Madoff. and actually went the distance with him. The dude is tough. He's durable. And then he went on to win his next two fights.

But this Bellator card is really strong. Samiko and Abba's back. Weber Almeid is back. Bobby Seronio, I'm pretty high on as a prospect. He's back in there. Keone Diggs is in there. Islam Mobbeths fighting Nick Brown.

That's a crazy fight. Like, this is a good card. This is Belator's... This is definitely one of Belator's best in the first it's way better than last week's card way bad in last week's and i know people like to say this i got people like deeming me and stuff well you said the bellator car was going to suck and it wasn't that good first of all i didn't say it was going to suck i said on paper was kind of a tough hang and i also said that the dublin crowd would would

bring the energy up a little bit and the last two like the fights like the lea mccord fight was awful. It was a awful fight. And I thought she lost that fight. The Yole Romero Melvin Manhoff fight went the way I thought it would go, but just took a little bit longer. That was a brutal, brutal knockout,

especially when you see the different angles, which you could find in M.A.Fighting.com, just nasty. And then the main event went exactly the way I thought it was going to go. Like, Peter Quilly is, the entrance is great, but when you put these guys side by side, I didn't give, I didn't think he had much of a chance

to beat Benson Henderson, and Benson showed out and looked great. So, yeah, Bellator's got a good one this week. And I think if we're going to create some sort of a super, supercard based on all of these, this is, there's going to be a lot of Bellator fights on that mixed together main card, because this is a good one. Let's go to Zeke.

Zeke, hello. My man, Michael's telling on that. Can you hear me? How you doing? Yep. Doing all right. Doing all right. I wish you'd pay you. Patriots and Mac Jones be recovered.

It's with only a high-anchor spring, but he cares about that. Oh, God. We got some heck of a morning to kind of lay up for you. I have a question. What is it going to take to get Glover, Jan, in Brazil? I mean, I don't think he's going to be Glover's retirement fight, but probably if he doesn't win the rematch, probably his last title fight of his career.

I would love to do that fight in Brazil. I'm hearing one way for that. I do it. Like, Alex Benin, Trigger, whatever. I think I was mostly familiar on my timeline. I kind of put it in my head, maybe even like Burns-Mazvid all on that card. I don't know.

I don't know. Costa Chimeyev in Brazil? Like, that'd be dope, especially now that we're looking at Chimeo for 185. So, yeah, I guess just for two, talk to me. Are we going to get Clover, Jan, at some point, if it's not this year, maybe next?

And then now that we did hear, and maybe it seems to be confirmed, chimiev at 185, If it's not Costa, who is it? Mike, thank you for having me, my man. Let's have a week. Thanks, man. So just on the Shamaa thing, like I've said last week and said a little bit earlier,

nothing's set in stone. Nothing's set in stone yet. He's saying 185, but that doesn't, people tweet things all the time. Like Nate Diaz can tweet that he's fighting Francis and Ghaner next and people are got to go crazy for it. We all know that's not happening. But, I mean, there's a chance, but I'm not. I'm not willing to die on that hill just yet.

That Shamiyaf is 100% of 1805 right now because things could change. And remember, Kosta's a little banged up right now. So I don't think he's fighting before the end of the year. And if they want to get Shamiyaf in before 2022 comes to a close, I don't think he's fighting Paul Costa. So it just as a matter of what they're going to do. Are they going to try to get the Colby fight done? I don't know what they're going to do.

um yon yri or sorry yri glover i mean if i'm yri like i don't want to go to brazil and fight glover i don't want to do that i'm the freaking champion of the world i'm the freaking champ i already had to go to sort of neutral territory and and fight for the belt to begin with singapore is kind of like you know it's this is of course sort of neutral territory i mean people obviously know who yury was over there because he's had a lot of fights in that region but but then have your first title defense in Brazil after all the time away from Brazil. I just don't know if he's, I think if it comes down to it, he'll do it. But again, this all depends from all, everything that I've heard and the conversation I've had.

This is all dependent on John Jones. It's all dependent on John Jones. If John Jones fights December 10th, that fight's probably happening. in Brazil. But I also don't think John Jones is fighting December 10th. And because there's just so many unknowns. There's so many unknowns. I wish, like, I don't even have a clear path

for you. I wish I did. Because this Francis thing with the UFC, which remember at the beginning of the year, how big of a story that was? And it still kind of is. But with everything else that has happened in the UFC and in the sport this year,

it's almost, it's not an afterthought, but it's almost like we forgot about the fact that Francis and the UFC have to like come to some sort of agreement before the end of the year, or Francis is gone. So if you're John and you're the UFC and you're everybody else, you want to get to Francis Gano versus John Jones. That's the fight you want. That's the fight everybody wants.

That's the fight Francis wants. That's the fight John wants. It's the fight Francis's team wants. The fans, Dana, the UFC, it's a fight everybody wants. It's the biggest fight you can make for Francis right now. Huge. gigantic, humongous. But it all depends on whether or not Francis resigns.

And if he resigns, Francis ain't fighting in December. He's fighting in early 2023, probably February, March, April. They're just going to wait. They're just going to wait. But if Francis says, FUFC, I'm out. I'm going to go box Tyson Fury. I'm going to go to PFL or go wherever. We got to figure out we're going to do with this division.

Then you could slide John, you could slide SEPA in there, and maybe whoever. And you could have John Jones head by that event. But there's no need for John to headline right now until we figure out this Francis thing. If Francis is not going to resign, get John in there just to fight somebody. If he is going to resign, just wait. It's all on that. It's all on that right now. So it's an interesting situation.

But we'll see. I'd love to... Getting Glover in Brazil would be great. And I think if John ends up headlining December 10th, that fight will probably happen in Brazil. I'm sure Uri's going to get a little bump to do that. But if he's got options, Yuri's going to take the option that's not Brazil.

But if it comes down to, all right, you don't really have an option now. We got this one... We got this John Jones fight slotted in. You can go fight him in Brazil. I'm sure he would do it, but only if there's no other options. But we'll see. This is all very fluid.

This is a strange time. My man, Aunt Walker, BTL veteran. What's up, man? Just got to unmute. There we go. Hey, Mike. Good to talk to you again, man. I just had a quick question about Eddie Alvarez.

So I'm curious what his next move is, since he's a free agent now, I was thinking it's possible we see a Scott Coker reunion. I think he'd be a good opponent for Benson Henderson. There's a lot really he could do in that lightweight division. It'll be interesting. Another option, if Nate Diaz is out there self-promoting, he makes a good opponent too. So what do you think?

I like both of those ideas. I tend to lean towards PFL. I just think that he's the type of guy PFL would just throw a bunch of money at. and Eddie being the savvy individual that he is when it comes to money and finances, understands that he could probably make the most money. And let's be honest, for the most part, have the lesser competition. He would be the prize fighter and have a chance in a million bucks. So I think PFL, and I have no insights to this whatsoever,

but this is just my hunch. PFL is probably the front runner. But I'd love to see him back at Bellator. get a Benson Henderson fight in there. That'd be cool. And I'd love to see the UFC just won off him and have him fight Michael Chandler one more time. I'd love to watch those two freaking fight again.

But yeah, I don't think that's happening. But I just don't want to see him go to like BKFC or something. I don't want to see that. But yeah, if you want to do PFL, you want to do Bellator, maybe he fights an eight. Somehow, I'm cool with that. I'm cool with all those things. But whatever,

gets Eddie in there to take the least amount of damage is totally fine with me. But him and Nate is actually a pretty interesting idea. Let's go to a hid. Let's tag him in. Yo, what's up? It's the day, Mike, where you're going to put what I say on the headline of Hake of a morning. You're ready.

Wait a second. Wait a second. Wait a second. Every time you say this, it's like it just never happened. So you better bring it. Well, I'm optimistic all the time, Mike. You know how it is. And you're the one,

anyway, so, but Mike, do you think, in your opinion, is UFC 280 the biggest card of the event of the year? Is UFC 280 the biggest event of the year? I'm asking you, just for my point. The biggest, it depends on you. I will say it's the, in my opinion, as it states right now, it is the best card of the year on paper. Is it going to be the biggest in terms of, like,

pay-per-view buys and money-generated? Eh, I don't really know. it's definitely the best lineup I think well the thing is it's missing one important person Joe Rogan we need Joe Rogan in Abu Dhabi and I know like he doesn't go abroad

we need to ship him off somehow because listen I like Paul Felder I really do he's the most consistent commentator he says the least idiotic things out of all of them out of all the commentators but the thing is it's like Rogan is just he provides those memories

like this card is this card is the event, but we need Rogan there, especially because DC, Um, Bumnik's Markachev, right? So Rogan is like that sort of guy. He loves Olivera because he's so technical, right? So we need Rogan there. So that's what is hashtag Rogan to UFC 280. That's the point, Mike.

But also for Kamsa and all that stuff, if Hamzaa's going to, Hamzaa should fight Paulo Costa in Brazil, UFC 283, which is obviously being headlined or like, has the title fight Moreno, Figuereda, I think the tetrology or quadrology, I think it's done. So that should be the fight. And you do Colby versus Shavkat, all right?

You do Colby versus Shavkat 2022. Winner gets the title fight because I've said this before, Mike. Yeah, Usman Leon is a big fight. But Usman has, it's a big fight because Leon's a defending champion in Britain. But it's not like Bisping and that geriatric Henderson.

This is like a legit, title fight but Usman has no personality Mike none he has no charisma so you might as well get Colby or even get Shavkat in there doesn't speak English and he's more interesting than Marty so screw Marty Jusman all right and talking about juice lastly Mike obviously we know Connor McGregor the only athlete to not be tested by Usada you know that's Dana white privilege if I've ever seen it drop the mic mic ah head it is an interesting point about the commentary for that card because D.C. is probably going to be there.

Obviously, he is a long-time teammate of his on Mokachev. I can see the Twitter's just going to explode during that fight. Listen to D.C.'s commentary, but I doubt Rogan's going to be there. I get why people would want him there to maybe even D.C. out if that's how you feel

or, but I just don't, like, with another pay-per-view coming up, like, two weeks after that in New York, I just don't know if Rogan's going to make that trip and then turn around and go to New York and do 281. So it's an interesting point. I wonder if like this event was this Saturday

instead of the 22nd. Would Rogan do that, take a month off? Then do 281? I don't know. But I don't think we'll see him. I'd like to see Paul Felder in there. Could be Bisbing. I hope it's Felder.

Give me Anik Felder in D.C. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. I don't know how I would feel about Anik Bisbing, D.C. That might be a little tough, a lot of A personality in there. So yeah, the other points about Colby and Shafkat's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Colby Shami if could happen because I just think, like I've said a million times, Colby is a prize fighter. He wants the biggest fights with the biggest stakes. Shafcott is an interesting fight, and it would be intriguing for us to talk about, be an entire heck of a morning about that fight

if it gets put on the books. But Colby's not going to take that fight. Colby's not going to take that fight. Beating Neil Magny doesn't get you a Colby fight. I mean, he ran through Neil Magny, but doesn't get you a fight with Colby. The problem Shafcott's going to have is he's kind of in that marab territory right now

where no one's going to want to fight this dude we're going to need Kevin Holland to quote unquote unretire or Daniel Rodriguez if he beats nail magnin to step up guys who are just going to be willing to fight this guy it's not going to happen it's going to be very difficult to get this man some fight

so he's probably going to have to fight backwards a couple of times and kind of get to the point where Marab got. Marab's had to sit there and fight a bunch of unranked dudes and watch Casey Kenney's, the Casey Kenneys of the world go fight Dominic Cruz and stuff. And he didn't take it personally. He said,

I'm going to get my chance. And then he goes out and gets the Jose Aldo fight. And he beats Joseo Alto. So, yeah, this is all inching. By the way, the figurato-Morino thing, I know reports have come out that that's close to being finalized. Not wholly accurate. I would be, I'll say this, I'll be stunned if that's not on the card,

but to say that it's close to being finalized at this time, a little premature, not quite yet. But obviously that card's being discussed. I think it's just a matter of, again, just how all these other things iron out. What happens with John Jones, do you want to do three title fights in that card? because I'd be stunned of a man in Nunes doesn't fight on that card, and who knows if they could do the Pena fight,

or they do Aldana, Biggie Moreno 4's there, and then, you know, if John ends up fighting December 10th, do we do Glover, Yere rematch, and do three title fights on that card? I don't know. Again, it's just a really interesting time right now, and John Jones is kind of the guy that can answer. answer all these questions for us, but without knowing what Francis is going to do, we really

don't have any. So it's just kind of a roadblock at this point. And chips are just going to fall where they may, but I don't know where the hell they're going to fall at this point. It's just very, it's a very strange time for the end of the year, because a lot of times we have this stuff ironed out and ready to go. And these two cards for December and January, we don't know what the hell is going to happen at this point. So yeah, stay tuned. We will let you know. King Kat, you're up. Hey, Mike. I hope you're all doing well. So my question is we've got the WMMA headlining the Vegas 61 for UFC. And whenever people ask, typically ask like, you know, what are your top three to five or whatever fights? It's typically men's fights.

So my question to you is, what are your top, I'm going to say like three to five women's fights of all time. Thanks. Three to five women's fights of all time. I mean, Zhang Wei, Yawani, and Jacek won is definitely at the top of the list. That fight is just absolutely ridiculous. I'm looking, like some lists have that as low as like 15. and I just don't understand why. Makes no sense.

I will say I'll go, I'll go just the ones. Gina Carrano versus Chris Cyborg was such a huge fight at the time. So I'll go with that one as well. I mean, Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm is a big one. Misha Tate, Hollyholm is a big one. So this is four. and then there's there's others

this is like old school invicta fights that should definitely be on that list um Jessica Penny Lisa Ellis I'll go with that one those two just

holy cow Penny ended up finishing her in the third round but that fight was absolutely insane there's a lot of great women's fights there's a lot of great women's fights and I will put

I'll put Yuanah Zhang Wei Lee in the top five of best fights of all time I like we always do these lists because usually the questions I get are is like what do you think are the best it's not normally worded as what do you think of the best or the top five best fights of all time

it's usually worded as if there was a newer MMA fan to the sport like which fights did you show them and I don't think I mentioned that fight enough which is my bad because that fight would definitely be on the list but I just have such a place in my heart for Carlos Condit, Robbie Lawler.

I just think of that fight just so highly in a lot of ways. But yeah, I mean, there's a lot of great ones. There's a lot of great ones. But, I mean, Yowana Zhang Wei I won

is so freaking good. With MX 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 power. powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply.

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. Let's go to Octagon blog. Octagon are you there? Just make sure you're on mute. Octagon blog. All right, try again, Octagon blog.

Try again. So I'm not sure if I should say anything, but I'm going to put it out into the universe and just hope that good things happen. But a lot of talk about UFC 2A8. and what's going to be going down a UFC 280 in terms of coverage for that event, which, by the way, sign me up for any afternoon MMA cards, especially pay-per-views. I'm all in for that. We are working on something pretty cool, potentially for that card.

So stay tuned for that, because if we make this happen, if the ideas that have been presented actually come to fruition, I am going to be. a very giddy, giddy person, very, very happy. So we got some cool stuff that we're discussing

potentially for that card. So stay tuned because if this happens, it is going to be spectacular. So, yeah. Anything else? Last call for questions. I don't see anybody in line right now.

Maybe we're just recovering from a long weekend or whatnot, but let me see. Let me go into, let me go into the comments here one purse fight forge gone versus blades John versus steep

if Francis doesn't resign two winners for the vacant title don't hate that idea She is over John and Francis yeah and that's what we got here let's go to Tristan

Tristan has stepped up to the plate I do have some questions in the DMs that people wanted as well Tristan hello Hey Mike how's everything My question is, I don't know if you went over this, though. It probably did. I just don't remember the situation.

So, where does that, so I know we were talking about the heavyweight division, but where does that leave Curtis Blades? Because the thing is now is, is it just depending on what Francis does? Because after, I remember the Suraghan fight after he fought Tuobasa. And then Siraghan is, he was even not like the idea, like, I'm not, I'm not fighting Curtis. right? It sounds like he's not going to, he's not going to want to fight Curtis Blades. So what is the sequence you think mostly happening?

Because my thought process is, if Francis Agonem signed, he'll fight John Jones, and Steefebigh has to fight Curtis Blades. He's not going to have a choice. Or if that doesn't happen, then I guess Steefe will fight John Jones. And then I guess Curtis Blades were either fight Cyril or gone or possibly Tuobasa. But, you know, two of Ossa is coming off a loss. So I don't know where that place is. So just go over the scenario, what, in your opinion, may happen. Thanks, Mike.

Thanks, man. So what may happen is I think Cyril Ghan's fighting Curtis Blades. I think that's the fight that's going to happen. Even if, like, for some reason, Francis resigns, they booked the fight with John in, like, February and March, you think Stipe is going to, like, just up up and fight? Curtis Blades? I don't think so. I think he'll just be like, no, I'll fight fires and hang out with my family.

And I'm just not going to fight unless it's for the title. And maybe that's kind of a shrewd move on his part. Maybe that will backfire on him. But, I mean, I just don't, Steve has been out since he lost the belt to Francis. Seems like he's not in any hurry to come back. would he hurry back to fight Curtis Blades? I don't think so. Honestly, I don't think so.

So I think either way, it's going to be, it's going to be Cyril versus Blades. The only other scenario that I think could play out is if, let's just say, Francis says, nope, I'm done so. I'm not coming back. and the UFC approaches John and Sipi to do this fight

and John's like, yeah, I'll fight whenever. And let's just say Stipe says, nah, I want to fight like March. The UFC will just be like, to hell with you. Let's get John in there. And maybe they do John versus Cyril gone. So I don't know. Stepe's kind of,

Stepe isn't a very strange position, but he's been in strange positions many times before. He's weighted the UFC out many times, i.e. the Daniel Cormier trilogy. So I just don't know if Stepe fights unless it's for the title.

I just don't know if anything's going to get him out of that that life he enjoys so much. He loves being a firefighter. He's got two kids now. Wife at home, likes hanging out at the fan. So I just don't know if anything besides the title gets him back in the cage.

So that's kind of where I'm at right now. But I mean, again, this is just such a weird thing. It's all on Francis and it's kind of all on John as well. Let's go to Ahmad and then we'll go to Kevin. Amad, hello. Hi, good morning. Good morning. Yeah, so quick question. We've noticed recently fighters towards the end of their career starting their own promotions like Anthony Perez, Masvedal, you have Eagle FC with Habib, and now Nate Diaz, and I'm sure I'm leaving somehow, which one of these do you think has the best chance

of becoming a legitimate promotion that is, you know, at a competitive level with the big ones? And if you do see one, I mean, in my opinion, maybe like Habib or Nate, but I want to hear from you. And also, if that is the case, and one of them is going to be legitimate, what type of timeline are we looking at? Are we talking about five years, 10 years,

or maybe never. So let me know. And have a great morning. Thanks, man. So, yeah, there are a lot of fighters who have done the promotional thing. Your eye favor is another one. James Krause, another one with FAC. There's others as well.

I know like Zach Otto was in there for a while doing that. And then he kind of came back to fight for a little bit. And I mean, the right answer is none of them. None of them are going to be competitive with the UFC. it just depends on what you want, like what your goals are. Now, I know for, for like Mazadol. Like Mazadol has these promotions, but Mazadol also understands that,

like they ain't compete with the UFC. Like, they're just not, they're not going to. But what they are trying to provide, Mazadol especially, and he's told me this in person, he wants to give fighters on the regional scene an opportunity to be noticed so that the UFC will sign their guys. Like he wants to be a feeder for the UFC. He knows that icon is not going to be competitive with the UFC.

He knows that. But he also wants to provide a platform for some of these up-and-coming guys to get to the UFC. We've seen it with a couple of guys like Hamdi. Pete Rodriguez, another guy that got signed. Bo Nickel is another person. There's a couple others as well that some got contender series shots this year off of Mazdal's promotion. I believe two or three of them got signed this season outside of Bo. So I think Mazdaal's just happy being the outlet and trying to giving back.

And I feel like Pettus is probably the same way and Uri is probably the same way. and, you know, Krause has teamed up with the UFC. They did looking for a fight for their promotion. They did something with the full send dudes. And a couple of guys got contracts off of that. I think Eagle FC is trying to somewhat position themselves to maybe be a competitor with the UFC. But they've also said many times, like,

we're not here to, like, compete with the UFC. We're here to provide options for fighters. So let's just say, you know, Kevin Lee is a great example. Kevin Lee released, had a beef with Pubby. for all these years was like the one dude before Habib became champion said, I want to fight that guy. And what does Habib do? Does good business.

Gets Kevin Lee signed. Pays him decent money. Although Kevin Lee is taken to Twitter and seems like he's taking Habib to task a little bit. Who the hell knows what that's all about? But none of them are going to be able to compete with the UFC. None of them. And that's fine. Like Eagle FC probably has the best chance, but they just don't like,

their best the best things that they have done over the last year, year and a half was they built that complex in Miami, held events in Miami. They got guys like Kamara Usman, they got guys like Chale Sunnan and

you know, whether you like his commentary or not, Henry Suhudo, you get some very big names and then you stack the card with fighters that you know. It's very WCW-ish, where Rashad Evans is probably not

going to be fighting at a super-duper high level, but he's still fighting, and people care about that. You get Kevin Lee and the Diego Sanchez is, and Bellator seems to have a good relation with them, trading off fighters from time to time. Like, the answer is none of them are going to compete with the UFC, but I will say,

just judging from like a traffic standpoint, there have been weekends where there was no UFC or if there was a UFC. There have been events weekends where Eagle FC had a card on Friday in Miami and then

UFC would have a card on Saturday. Bellator would have a card that weekend and maybe even BKFC and then Eagle FC's traffic would just run them over. We would do, Jed and I for a while before we did this show, Jed and I would do like these, we just jump

jump on and do Twitter spaces, like do watchalongs for some of these cards. Like we did them, like the final couple of freedoms of the UFC. We did him during Bellator, but the ones we did for Eagle FC were the ones that were by far the most attended because people just wanted to talk about it. Mostly was people making fun of Sehudo's commentary. But those are fun. They just don't do enough cards in Miami. I don't get it.

They got to do more of that. But again, none of them are going to compete with the UFC. Bellator, PFL, one, none of them are going to compete with the UFC. They're in the conversation. Eagle probably has the best chance. Like, we did our little fantasy draft, our little fantasy promotional draft. And Eagle FC was coming off of like a pretty successful card in terms of business and traffic. So we added them as like the fifth organization.

to play around with. So the answer is them, if we're going to talk about, like, who is the closest and who can get some of these bigger names. But, yeah, the answer is none of them. Let's get Kevin in here. Kevin, hello. Sure. Which buildup, especially press conference, would you be more excited for?

Hasma and Paolo Costa or Hasma and Kobe? For me, I think the entertainment-wise would be Hosma in Costa, for sure. yeah thanks um yeah it's probably costa it's probably costa the colby one would just get i mean it depends on what you like i guess because that colby one's gonna get real ugly uh and costa's just gonna be a little more lucy-goosey about it i think they both have the potential to be kind of bad but if you're giving me the choice to like watch one it's probably the costa one i think it'll be a little more a little more laid back it'll get heated at times, but

I just think the Colby one would, Hamzaa and Colby, just, it wouldn't go well at all. We would be reacting to it in a, in a what the hell do we just watch kind of way, but in not in a good way. I feel like we'd get a what in the hell do we just watch reaction out of the Costa one as well,

but in more of a, in more of a fun way, I guess. I don't know. But yeah, give me Costa Shima, especially if it's in Brazil, the Colby one would be ugly. I kind of hope we would just keep those two guys away from each other. Although, I mean, some people like that stuff,

but I wouldn't enjoy watching a press conference with those guys. But to each their own, all right. We're right at the hour mark, and we're done. So thank you very much. I'm back at it this week. So we'll be back here again on Thursday. 10 a.m. Eastern, we'll do it again. BTL, Thursday, 1 p.m. Eastern.

We are getting the championship match. we were supposed to get nine months ago, more than nine months ago. Phoenix Carnivali back in our lives, which takes on Jedbyshu for the undisputed BTL title. That should be a lot of fun. And then it's just going to be a weekend of craziness at MMA fighting with one, Invicta, Bellator, UFC, BKFC. So much going on.

So much to enjoy together. And we're going to be talking about it throughout the week. So thank you all very much. Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. Fox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.

You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. Hi, I'm Sophia Loper Caro, host of the Before the Chorus podcast. We dive into the life experiences behind the music. music we love. Artists of all genres are welcome. And I've been joined by some pretty amazing folks, like glass animals. I guess that was the idea was to try something personal and see what happened. And Japanese breakfast. I thought that the most surprising thing I could offer was an album

about joy. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, and remember, so much happens before the chorus.