MMA Fighting - HOAM | What UFC 'Superfight' Could Dana White Be Teasing?

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

In a recent interview, UFC CEO Dana White teased that he is working on a "superfight" for 2024, which has sparked some conversation. What could that fight be that White says he's trying to put together, and what actually constitutes a superfight in today's modern age of mixed martial arts? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on potential options for what could get matched up for 2024, his definition of what a superfight is these days, and what the reaction could be if it involves Ronda Rousey or Georges St-Pierre. Additionally, listener topics include the importance of Beneil Dariush's main event bout with Arman Tsarukyan at UFC Austin and why saying that he gains nothing from the bout is absolutely incorrect, what could be in store for the PFL in 2024 and their vision for Bellator, who Alex Pereira could fight next after capturing the UFC light heavyweight title, 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 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 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 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. It's Friday, December 1st, 2023.

Welcome to December, ladies and gentlemen. And it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter on the MMA fighting podcasting network. What is happening? Everybody, I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a fantastic week.

It's going to be a very busy weekend in the combat sports world. We're on the eve of UFC Austin. We're on the eve of BKFC 56. Ryan Garcia is back. There's a lot going on. And as we're doing the show live, the UFC Austin Wayans are. going down. And sure enough, we already lost a fight. We lost a fight. The great Brennan Fitzgerald breaking some news right at the beginning of the way and due to illness, the fight between

Steve Garcia and Melchese-Alcosta no longer happening on tomorrow's card, which kind of sucks because that was one of the fights that I was looking forward to. It wasn't like a ton of stakes involved, but the fight was going to be madness. And now it's no longer happening. The main event between Binal Daryush and Armin Saurukian is official. I believe Serukian was the first of the scale.

Binal Dariusiusch was number two. Darius waited 156. Armin Sourkein, 155 and a half. Bobby Green successfully made weight for his lightweight bout with Jalen Turner. We'll see what happens to Jalen. It's going to be probably a tight one for him, but we'll see.

Davis and Figuerox official for Figgi Smalls's Bannamweight debut. Both fighters waited in 135. Sean Brady successfully weighed in. We're still waiting on Kelvin Gasselm, who returns to 170 for the first time in several years. Clay Guida, Joaquim Silva is official as of right now. Julia Avila hit the scales successfully for the first time in a couple of years. Not that she's missed weight before, but you know what I'm trying to say. Hadolfo Balato, Ehor, Potteria is official.

Veronica Hardy, Jamie Lithorth is official, and we'll keep you posted live as this is all going down. But we can talk about UFC Austin. We can talk about BKFC 56. We can talk about the news and notes. And it is a free-for-all Friday. So essentially we let our hair down. Everybody but me, of course, because I don't have any. And we talk about whatever you want.

So, Brian, we'll kick us off. Go ahead, man. Oh, hey, Mike. How are you doing? Good. Thanks for having me go first here. I just had a question. There are three guys in particular. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Kind of in similar situations for two of them, Jalen Turner, Sean Brady and Calvin. I think Jalen Turner is a terrific fighter. Tough division, obviously, but he's kind of in danger of becoming like the lightweight Calvin where he'll have a lot of good losses, but he really needs to start putting together the wins. So I think this fight is just going to be so exciting this weekend. And kind of similar with Sean Brady where he's not in that two-hole loss yet or two-loss whole, but he's in danger of that. And then Calvin obviously trying out a new division.

So who do you think or how do you rank those, would you say, in like order of importance of win who needs it the most? Thanks, Mike. Thank you, sir. Yeah, it's a good question. We have Turner, Gasolam, and Brady. I think Sean Brady probably has the most

to lose here I know Jalen Turner's lost two in a row is that super close fight with Gamrod a lot of people actually thought Jail and Turner won that fight

and he had that incredible battle with Dan Hooker he just kind of got outdogged in that one also missed weight which doesn't help and Jalen at least is taking

this fight on short notice is actually doing the UFC a little bit of a favor if you listen to his media scrum, he doesn't sound like a super confident guy. He doesn't sound all that thrilled to be there. I don't know if it's because he's cutting a whole bunch of weight. I don't know.

But him saying things essentially like I felt like I had to take this fight, almost kind of insinuating that he didn't really have much of a choice, was kind of concerning to me. And I don't know. I feel like if Jail and loses, he just goes to, 170 and takes a shot there. He's still relatively young and he's only going to get bigger, but these cuts to 155 are just a nightmare. I didn't think we'd see him at 155 again after the hooker fight, but here he is on a little over a week's notice. We'll see how he looks on the scale

when he steps in against Bobby Green. Gasolam, he's 32. I mean, look, he's got a lot on the line, two, he's moving back to 170. I think people, he still is a name. I still think there's value to his name. Beating a Kelvin Gasolum as a welterweight or even a middleweight on the come-up is, it's a very good litmus test. Calvin, for the last stretch of middleweight was kind of like the Neil Magny of the division. You go in there and you beat a guy like Calvin Gasol, you probably could be a top 10 guy in this division. That's why the Chris Curtis's were fighting him and the Ian Hinesh's and guys like that were.

getting in there and fighting Kelvin because it was the big test. But now he's back to 170. I like where his spirits are at. But to me, I think it's Sean Brady. I think Brady is the most illusier. And it's crazy to say for a guy who's only lost one fight in his entire career. And he's looked pretty damn good in the UFC. He's got the long layoff.

He's newly married. He's got a fresh perspective on things. He's dealt with a lot of injuries and just some weird. with, you know, infections and things of that nature. But everybody was so high on Sean Brady. Everybody was so, like, heading into the Michael Kiesa fight, everybody was so high on Sean Brady. And then he had a great first round against Kiesa,

was won the second round, then the third round. Kiesa started to turn it on. Brady started a gas a little bit, dealing with some issues with his nose and breathing out of his nose and everything that happened there. And Kiesos was very close to getting him out of there. So a lot of people were a little trepidacious. Like, yeah, this guy's really good.

Maybe it is just the nose. Who knows? And then Bilal Muhammad just kind of beat the hell out of him and finished him. And a lot of people who are on the Brady badwagon have seemed to fallen off. And this is a big fight for him. He goes out there and puts the boots to Kelvin Gasol him and dominates him over 15 minutes. if he finishes Calvin Gassel, which is not easy to do, then I think everybody jumps back on board.

But Gasselm, I still think, we'll have a pretty decent career. He is a pretty fun fighter. And again, he is a name. There's value to that. Jalen Turner, he's got a lot rotting on it because I feel like his future in this division is on the line here, even though I think this would probably be his last fight at 55 anyways. And then I kind of feel like if Sean Brady is going to be, that title contender, everybody expected him to be, he's got to win tomorrow.

He has to. And if he doesn't, I feel like, I feel like his road to a belt is going to be a very, very, very long one. And I feel like a lot of the people that supported him and thought, I don't know if supports the right word, but a lot of people who are super high on him will kind of come back to Earth to some respect. But I still feel like Sean Brady could be a top five guy. I haven't jumped off that thought just yet, but we'll see how tomorrow goes. But that's a really good question.

It's tough to lose two in a row in these divisions. Justin, go ahead. Can you hear me? The funny thing, the funny thing about Jalen Turner being at 155, he started at 170 when he got into the UFC. Because I remember the fight when he fought Vicente Lucke, which he lost. So it was so surprising that he dropped down to 155. So I don't know.

I don't think you're right. He might have to just go back to 170. But my question here that I want to focus on is Armist Saurucan. Mike, you've said it many times that you feel Armisturiken is going to be champion. And, again, you're very high on him. My question to you is, what is your expectation here against B'Neil Daryush? I was looking at his topology page, again, with Armistarukin. And he's dominated the middle of the pack.

He's finished those guys. And, you know, he fought Gamrod. I thought he won that fight. He lost by unanimous decision. And then that fight against Demir's Mogulov, he won by unanimous decision. And listen, I get it. Top five guys, it's just they're hard to finish. It's just you're facing the cream of the crop.

So, but I know we're nitpicking here, but do you want to see? see him finish B'Neil or you're just fine with him just getting a unanimous decision against B'Neill Derriush and then we just move along and just, you know, keep on trucking along as long as you get the win, which is the name of the game. But in your mind, do you want to see him get a finish on B'Neil in this fight coming up? Just your thoughts and expectations. Thanks, Mike.

Thanks, man. Yeah, it's interesting. I love this matchup. I still feel like the betting value is. on B'Neill Darayush here. The line is closed slightly, but not by much. Surukin's pretty much a minus 300 favorite across the board. Darius plus 240.

I fully agree with Surukin being the favorite. I don't fully agree with him being this big of the favorite. So I think there's a ton of value. Like to me, when I look at this fight, Sarukin should be like minus 185. Minus 200 at the most. And even that, I think, is a little bit of a stretch. but now we're at minus 300,

minus 298 on draft kings, I feel like there's a ton of value on Darius at that price. Having said that, if you're, like, fully on Team Sarukin, look,

I've just been high on the guy for years, even before the Islamakachev fight. Like, I saw this guy fight at like 20, 21 years old. Even before that, I was like, holy shit, this guy's got something

if he can, like, put it all together. and I do feel like he is a pretty interesting guy and I feel like if he gets into a big spot I think people are going to learn a lot more about him and be a lot more intrigued with him. I mean look, if he goes out there

and just runs Vanille and just puts him out in the first round which I don't think is going to happen. I mean, that's huge. That does a lot for them, obviously. What I'm looking for, if I'm looking at this strictly from, Hey, I'm on, I'm a Surukin coach or something like that.

And even just somebody who, like, has a futures bet for Surukin to become a champion in 2024 and 2025. I kind of want to see Surukian go long here. I still, even after like 130 watches, I feel like Surukian beat Matush Gamron. There is not one time I watched it where I was like, yeah, maybe I'm wrong. I thought Surukin won that fight. Having said that, I understand why people would be a little bit concerned going back and watching that fight because he did slow down. And Gamrod clearly was the fresher guy at the end of those 25 minutes. And I think Surukian took a lot away from that fight.

If you don't learn anything from that fight, I just don't know what we're doing in this sport. So something tells me Surukian took a lot away from that fight. Surukin getting a first round finish would be massive. The UFC would give him a big opportunity. but I think I would learn a lot more about Sarukin if he goes out there and like if he to me if he goes out there just lands a flash knockout like that'd be incredible but if he goes out there in like 4946s Darayush and like this fight is not all that competitive to me I will take a lot more away from that then I like and he doesn't slow down you know it gets a little

bit tired but if he just goes out and just it's just if this is just kind of this is just a one-way traffic fight for 25 minutes and it's all Saruki and maybe he drops a round or takes a round off like I think I'll take more away from that than just a quick finish. But either way, it's a big win. It's a big win. And by the way, this whole notion that I got to tell you, and I've talked about this on the show a lot, we talked about it on BTL yesterday as well. But Neil Darius on the microphone is just awful.

He just says just the worst things. He might be the worst when it comes to having a microphone and answering questions and saying things. He's a sharp guy and I like him. But just some of the things he says is just not right. First of all, screwing the pooch after the Gamrot win was just one of the worst performances on the microphone I've ever seen. This whole, hey, I'll fight 10 more times. What are you talking about? The fucking lightweight title is on the line, which is vacant.

At the end of the card and you don't come out and say, hey, whoever wins that fight up next, like you don't say that. And then coming out there at the media day and saying, I don't gain anything from this fight, what are you talking about? I just like to fight good guys. What? What are you doing? That is just the wrong.

thing to say. What you should be saying is, yeah, this guy's a killer. Nobody wants to fight this guy. I wanted to fight this guy. He's the guy everybody seems to be super duper high on and everybody avoided him, but me, everybody squatting in the rankings. I took this fight. I wanted the smoke. I wanted to fight this guy. This whole, I don't gain anything, is just not true. After Charles Olivera melted him. We were like, damn, dude, Benil Darius is out of the title picture. He may never get a title shot.

And with this fight, on this card, in this spot, not in the apex, he's in play. This is it. This is do or die for Benile Darius. If he loses to Armin Saurucan, he will never, ever, ever get a title shot. Like, the door is closed, locked,

dead bolted, chained up, boarded up, never, ever, ever getting a title shot. He wins, he's a win away. To say you gain nothing here is insanity to me. And what if he just goes out and beats Armin Sarukin. You have in people's minds that you gain nothing from this fight. Shurukin's a good fighter, but I gain nothing from this. You just shot yourself in the foot. you shot yourself

of the foot if there's anybody this weekend who has it all on the line it is Benny Darouche his career not his career essentially but all this guy is wanted was to fight for the belt

and if he loses tomorrow it ain't ever happening if Sarukin loses to Derrush he's not out of the title picture he's going to have some work to do for sure but he's only what 26 27 he's got plus a time. He ain't done.

But Darryu should be everyone. Dude won eight in a row and couldn't get a title shot. He loses again. He's he's done. He's done. I just don't understand why he says some of the things he says.

It's nuts, dude. It's nuts. And I like Benny too. He's a sharp guy, but like, strategically, you've got to be better than that on the microphone. That's... Having that mic in your face, people underestimate the power of that, but that's all people remember from that media scrum

is that he gains nothing from this fight. It's nuts. Ryan, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Good morning. It seems like if Israel wants to fight before Ramadan, it seems like a no-brainer that they should put him on that Saudi Arabia

card. I imagine the site fee that they're getting to even go there is probably more than they get for most events, including paper views. But do you think if the UFC tries to overly stack that card, it might cause like kind of a rift with Abu Dhabi, like a competition between

Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia and who the UFC favors? Interesting. Probably not. You would have to think that, to your point, if he is going to fight before, I mean, just look at this quick.

It's, yeah, it's March 10th to April 9th. Yeah, so if he's got to fight before Ramadan, it's got to be on that Saudi Arabia card, right? Like, it's on a pay-per-view. It's a, fight night, but still, like you said, the site fees and all that, like, it's almost like it's okay. But at the same token, like, D.C. was saying, like, Islam wants to fight three

times. And I think if he fights in March in Saudi Arabia, he could still turn around and fight in October. So as long as he is able to compete in October, I don't think there'll be any problem. I really don't. I don't think there'll be any issue. But it's an interesting question. Do you throw the champion of your best division on a free fight night card? I mean, that'd be pretty damn cool. I don't think anybody would complain about that as a fan. Or, I mean, because you can't turn it into a pay-per-view. You can't.

You can't do it. Because then what? The Miami card's going to be UFC 300 now? Like, if it is in Miami, the Sean O'Malley card? Is that what you want? No offense to O'Malley and Cheeto, but I think most of the Miami. people when you look at UFC 300 and you kind of fantasy matchmake it, Sean O'Malley Cheeto Vera, as popular as those guys are and as awesome as those guys are

as competitors, and as big as that fight is, it just doesn't scream UFC 300 to me. And I think Sean would probably be the first one to tell you that. So yeah, maybe that does happen. I would expect Hamzaat Shamaa to be on that card. Which reminds me, I mean, maybe they do like Shamiya versus, I don't know who they put him against. My thought was Paul Costa. Someone had asked yesterday because Whitaker was sort of tweeting and Instagramming things and tag Paul Coston. And I didn't really think much of it. And then I saw a Instagram post from one of Whitaker's coaches

with the fight poster, Whitaker and Costa for UFC 299, which would be on that March Miami card. And again, I didn't really think much of it. But I did reach out to a couple of people. There is smoke to this. There is smoke to this. This is, now, I don't want anybody saying, like, Mike Heck is reporting that this fight.

No, it's not done. There is interest in it possibly happening. That's where it's at. From what I'm told, Costa, from what I was told, Costa, sort of called out Whitaker and both sides were approached with like, oh, would you be interested in this potentially? And they were like, yes. And that's as far as it's gone. So there's been no

official offer, no date, no contracts, none of that. But there seems to be interest in putting that fight together. Again, not done, not even close to. to being done. But has the UFC reached out to both sides and asked what interest levels are for that fight? Yes, have both sides said that they're interested in partaking in said fight? Yes, does that mean it's going to happen? It's no, it's up in the air right now. It's up in the air. But there is, to that question yesterday, there is interest in possibly putting that fight together. So if that's the case, who does Hamzaa Chimae fight? That's going to be interesting. Cannonier is the torn MCL, so I don't think he's going to be ready to go. I don't think

Izzy's fighting. I mean, I don't know. I don't know what you do. Do you have like the loser of strickland DDP fight Chima if? I don't know. I mean, that just seems like a really quick turnaround. Maybe you run it back with Uspen? I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. But the way it's looking, maybe they do do the Islam Makachev-Charles-Olivar fight in Saudi Arabia. I don't know. It's got to be interesting to see. 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. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you from festive and cozy fashion to Lux beauty and fragrance sets. Our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com. Jay, Matt, go ahead.

Hey, Mike. How are you doing today? Doing good, doing good. I'm looking forward to this card this weekend. So I wanted to talk to you about what Dana had said about having a super fight, and I kept racking my brain trying to figure out what he could be possibly insinuating

as a super fight. The only thing I can think of is brand. versus John Jones, which I know is not going to happen, but at least not now. But I mean, do you have any ideas or guesses? I want to hear what, like, you think it could be. And I'll let you answer that. Thanks, Mike. Oh, I have no idea, man.

I have no clue. I don't know what they do. I wonder if like, oh, God, I can't believe. I'm going to go around this rabbit hole. I wonder if they're maybe pivoting from John Jones Steepet. and maybe want to beat PFL to the punch and do like some sort of weird MMA versus boxing thing.

Maybe they do Jones versus Wilder or Jones versus Fury or something of that nature. I don't know. I think that came to be when they were talking about Zuckerberg Musk because it's like a really interesting question now. I think New York Rick brought this up on the MA hour.

What is a super fight now? I don't know. Like to me, like what a super fight is now is like the champion of your division actually fighting the number one guy. Like the guy you're supposed to fight. Like that's the new super fight. Because now everybody just wants to win belts and move up and try to win a second one. So is the new super fight just like Volk fighting Toporia?

Like is that the super fight now more so than Volk going up and fighting Makachev? Like superfight is so watered down now. I don't know. I have no idea what it could be. You have to think it's going to involve either it's going to be like two random celebrities, which please, God, I hope that doesn't happen. Or you have to think it's got to include John Jones or Connor, right? I just don't know what else could.

Maybe Pereira versus John Jones? I mean, that'd be frigging wild. Maybe Jones is like, yeah, I'll fight Pereira. if Steepie doesn't want to go. I have no idea. I have no idea what it could be. I don't know. Unless it's,

God, unless they do like, unless they do like a GSP comeback fight or something. What if they did like Habib GSP? Although I don't think Habib's ever got to. I don't know. That's a great question. I'd love to get your thoughts,

you guys' thoughts on this. To me, it has to probably has to involve John Jones or Connor or they're just going to take like two legends and have them do it. I don't know. I have no frigging, because I don't know what the fuck a super fight is anymore. I don't know. No idea.

But I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued to see. Barbarusa. Go ahead. Hi, Mike. I just want to talk about Omar Santagin. Maybe you have already talked about it. I wasn't here last time, but I know it's very unfair for San Dagan, and he should already be fighting for the title for his next fight for the people he beat and everything else.

But with Sehudo versus Marab being targeted, and right now the title fight between Vera and O'Mali, I think, This case scenario, if he doesn't fight anyone, he's going to fight maybe in a year for the title. And if you saw the ranked guys, I think Omar is the hardest stylist matchup for him. But maybe if you beat an undefeated Normagumado, you're satisfying yourself as the number one contender. This is my first question. And the second about the Islam in Saudi Arabia, do you think Charles is going to fight and is going to be okay with that? Because he said multiple times that it's enemy territory in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and he wasn't thrilled to fight there on Saudis. The same thing for Islam.

Thank you, Mike. Thanks, man. Yeah, Sanhagen's in a weird spot. I think they probably will end up doing that Umar fight, but I'm not really sure. Just don't know who else he would fight at this point. That, like, makes a lot of sense. If they do Marab Sahudo, like, it's kind of stuck.

Excuse me. I'll tell you what, if I'm Oliver, you better take that fight if they offer it to you because if you say no, they ain't going to wait. they're just going to throw Justin Gaichi in there. So, yeah, I don't think he really has much of a choice. If he wants to fight for the belt, the fact that they're,

the fact that Dana White has publicly said multiple times that it's got to be Olivera, because you could make a case for Gaichi here. Like, Gachi versus Islam is super interesting. Gachi is a super exciting guy, much like Olivera. But I think if you asked more people, like if you polled 100 MMA fans and you were like, hey,

if you had the choice and the UFC based it on this poll, would you rather see Islam Gaichi or Islam Charles three match? I think more people would say Islam Gaichi because it's fresh and it's new and Gaichi will get his last chance to fight for the undisputed title. Like I think more people would go with Gaichi. So if you're Olivera, I kind of feel like, I kind of feel like you have to do it. I don't think you can be like,

nah, I'm not going to do it because it's in Saudi Arabia. I want to do it in Brazil. No, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. So if he wants to fight for the belt, he's going to have to be okay with it. Or they'll just ask Gachi to do it, and Gachi will get his shot,

and Oliver is going to have to fight like Armand Sarukian if he beats Medell Daryush. Like, it kind of has to take it. So, yeah, I think that's probably what could happen. I don't think he could say no to it. I really don't. I mean, he could, but then he's just not going to fight for the belt. UFC Alien, go ahead.

If you can, what's good? I just wanted to touch on this super fight. So when Dana said something popped up like three days ago, coincidentally, Aljo posted the Max Holloway thing. So what do you think about that? Do you think that's going to be the super fight? no I mean I could see that

fight happening I don't think that like that's not the super fight though like would you consider Al Jemaine Sterling Max Holloway a super fight? No I wouldn't like Dustin Porre

Nate Diaz at this point in their careers would be more considered a super fight than Holloway versus Aljo to me like and I've been saying since on to the next one after you have

after Aljo lost the belt. The only fight that Aljo should be targeting is Max Holloway. Now, a lot of us will look at this fight, and I've heard from a lot of people about this since August when I put this information out there that I thought, like if you're Aljo and you're moving up to 145,

like, cool, you can go fight Calvin Cater, and that's a cool-ass fight, and I would watch the hell out of that. Like, that is fun, fun, fun. But what does that do for Aljo? At this point in his career, after losing the belt at 135, if you're going to move up to 145, do you really want to make your road to possibly winning that second-divisional title as long as possible?

Because if he beats Calvin Cater, that he still has to win like two more. When you could just go for the guy right away. And if you beat Max Holloway, no matter how people feel about it, for Aljo, that fight makes more sense than anything else right now. It would probably be a second choice because if he had his druthers and they were like, hey, Aljo, I'll give me whatever you want.

He's obviously going to take the O'Malley rematch. The UFC's never going to make that fight again unless Aljo wins the featherway title and Sean O'Malley's like, yeah, I'm going to go try to win a second belt. It's the only chance Aljo has to get that one back. So do I think Aljo is smart for making this quote? Absolutely. Is it a really tough fight for him? Absolutely.

I think Calvin Cater's a tough fight for him. But I feel like the risk is the same. So you might as well just go for the top guy. And if you win, if he goes out there and somehow beats Max Holloway, he's probably getting Volk. It's probably getting a title shot. Volk or Toporia, however that all plays out. But no, that's not a super fight.

Holloway is a star. he's like a tier two star alger's not really a star alger's a known commodity but he's not a star like porre dyes would be like superfightish connor nate is superfightish even though we've seen it twice gsp coming back and fighting somebody that would be considered a super fight like to me superfight is like when bj pen went up and fought george st pierre champion versus champion like that was like that's a super fight even just like the rando ones like matt hughes hoist crazy. That, like, that was, that was like a super fight because it's just like, holy shit.

That, like, the, the OG against Matt Hughes, who was the best lots of weight in the world at the time. Like, I just don't know what a super fight. Like, John Jones, Francis would be a superfight right now just because it's, it seems impossible to make. But I don't think Holloway, I don't think Holloway Aljo is a super fight. It's an intriguing fight. I think most people would favor Max all the way to win that one. But again, if you're Aljo, this is like the fight to go after, in my humble opinion. And because, like I said, the risk is the same, whether he fights Calvin Cater or Brian Ortega or Nate Landware.

It's all the same risk. He loses. He's probably never getting a featherweight title shot. So make the road as short as possible. And there you go. But, yeah, again, I have no idea what this super fight's going to be. It's probably, if it's not involving Jones or Connor, doing some sort of weird crossover,

it's probably going to be like a legendary fighter coming back or throwing a couple of legends together. Like maybe they, I know someone was like putting out there, hey, they should do GSP versus Nick Diaz. And I don't really want to see that. But, you know, those are,

I don't even know if that's a super fight. Like I just don't know what it defines a superfight anymore. You know what I mean? But it's certainly not Max versus Lowe. Joe. Trevor, go ahead. Can you hear me now, Mike? Oh, wait a minute. I think we got you. Yep, I got you, man. How are you?

Got you. Sorry about that. Longtime listener. Oh, good. First time question asker. Down here in southeast Kentucky, it's a little bit gloomy outside. But I want to ask about this. When it comes to pet peeves with fighters, first, my biggest pet peeve is when fighters call out boxers.

UFC fighters calling out boxers. Which one gets on your nerves the most? UFC fighters calling up boxers or champs continuing to look at the the champ champ champ kind of spectrum always calling out somebody a weight class ahead of them something like that so which one of those two gets on your nerves the most my second question and the free-for-all Friday question I imagine you and I are similar in this case but when you enter a room you're obviously the most macho man in the room I'm the same way except when it comes to getting on an airplane. I cannot stand flying. I'm terrified. I had panic attacks every time.

What do you do when you travel to get over flight anxiety or kind of your biggest fear in life? But thanks, Mike. Happy Friday. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Thanks, man. First of all, I never feel like I'm the most macho man in any room. That's so funny. Flying, like, I've done it so often now that it's just like, the only thing that, like, the only thing about flying that concerns me is like I just want the plane to get up in the air and I want it to land safely like that's it once we're in the air like I don't give a shit I'm good I'll listen to my music or watch a movie or something and I'm fine I might fall asleep usually it's like on my flight back from New York that I like I take a little nap um the whole anxiety about like traveling to me is just like kind of the guilt I feel when like I leave my family for a day like even for a day. It's just like, man, like I hope my wife's all right. Like, you know, with the dog in, the child and she's doing everything by herself. Like, that probably weighs on me the most. There's not a lot of things like I truly fear. Like, honestly, like my biggest fear, like the thing

that scares the shit out of me the most are snakes. Like, I think snakes are the creepiest fucking things in the world. And they're so unpredictable and you just never know. And they just like, even like little garden snakes, I'm just like, ugh, things are fucking gross. but nothing else like really gets me in that sense if that makes sense but yeah i'm cool i'm cool on the play man i mean if i were you like i'm not like a big drink or anything but have a couple beers chill out cool off a little bit and uh yeah i mean i don't know what like having like a fear of heights and fear of planes like that's on that there's a lot of people like jim cornet former wrestling manager he's got a big podcast now like he's always talked about his fear of fly

he'd rather drive everywhere, but sometimes it's what you've got to do. And traveling sucks in general. So I get where you're coming from. As far as the pet peeve, it is by far the, I want to move up and fight the next guy. I want to move up a division and fight for a title. Because look, as a fighter in MMA, and as an athlete in general, and as like anything you do in life, right, you want to make the most money. possibly can. And I think MMA fighters see the amount of money that boxers are making.

They saw the amount of money Francis made to fight Dyson Fury. They probably heard roundabout numbers of what Nate Diaz made to box Jake Paul, which is probably the two biggest paydays of the biggest payday of each of their careers. And, you know, I'm not going to go into this whole diet tribe, both fighter pay and all that stuff. But the top tier, boxers make far more money than the top tier MMA fighters. It's just the way that it is. Connor might be the exception to the rule because it's the biggest star in the history of the sport. For the most part, they're getting like a much bigger piece of the pie than the

MMA fighters are. It's just the business. So why not try to take a poke at that? Now, Randow ranked 47 fighter calling out Ryan Garcia makes no sense. But look, Sean O'Malley, where does that? he's at right now, it is not out of the realm of possibility. Like, if he goes out there and beats Cheeto, if he goes out there and like head kicks Cheeto and knocks him out, like, you don't think the UFC would

play a role in trying to get Sean a boxing fight? I think they would. I think they would. So I get why people get annoyed by it. And I shake my head at times when I see like the seventh ranked fighter calling for a boxer who's like three and two in his last five. Like that annoys me. But I also understand why they would take a shot

and try to get that one payday that could set them up for the rest of their lives. So I get that. But the whole notion that, like in my eyes, like a super fight is that, you know, if Drickus Duplice fought Israel-Azaniar Hamza-Jamaev is more of a super fight than Drick's duplicacy fighting Alex Pereira,

like that's just that's just the world we live in now and it's a world that drives me fucking crazy so yeah it's definitely the whole hey once i win this title i'm going up to to the next weight class and i want to fight for that belt like no no no win five defend the title four five times and then we can start talking about it that we can start talking about it now going into the ddp thing the headline is a little deceiving it's more like the more he explains it it kind of makes a little bit more sense like i still don't necessarily agree with it especially at 185 but the way he looks at it's like look i still want to fight izzie so let's just say i beat strickland i beat izzie and i beat hamzod like what else

is there for me to do it 185 because i already beat robber whittaker so i kind of get where he's coming from but at the same token by the time that happens guess who's going to be coming Bo-Nickle's going to be coming. Icrom Al-Scaraf's going to be coming. There's going to be other guys on the come-up. Brennan Allen's going to be coming. So it's not like there's going to be a shortage of guys he can fight. So, but yeah, the whole thing of, like, even O'Malley was like, yeah, maybe, but I'm not thinking about that right now.

Like, that's it. Yeah, but by far, it's the whole, hey, I've cleaned up my division. by beating three guys, I'm moving up. No, you haven't. No, you haven't. That annoys the shit out of me. Cole, go ahead. Good morning, Mike.

More on that super fight. Do you think that, I mean, from my perspective, when Dana said that, and I just thought, like, who it could be, GSP is, like, I think it's 75% it could be GSP. I feel like the way they gave him, like, a grappling match, I don't even know when that is. But I could totally see that being like, look, we'll get you a grappling match. We'll loosen you up a bit.

That, I don't know, it all seems like it's coming together for GSP to fight in like the second quarter next year maybe. But another thing I want to talk about is you said on Twitter about you were talking about like the in season tournaments in basketball and how they should implement that into UFC to make like these mid-card fights in the middle of the summer and shit like that just mean a little bit more. I think that's genius and I think the UFC will definitely do that like the NBA is trying to make the games in the middle of their season

mean something I feel like that's just a trend in pro sports but what do you have on that? Thanks, Sam. So the Superfight thing just kind of came to me a second ago so I'll get into that in a second. Shout out to Caposa

maybe the most important figure in MMA Twitter the guy is probably watching 18 random events you've never heard of right now. So shout out to him for putting this idea out there. And I was like, this is fucking brilliant. Just doing an in-season tournament. Now, here's the thing. It doesn't have to be like your biggest names.

Like, just think about it this way. You take a division. You can even do this with multiple divisions. Just think about, I'm just pull up random divisions. Think about the, UFC men's featherweight division. Let me pull up the rankings for 145 for the UFC. All right.

So kind of looking at the bottom end of the top 15th. Bryce Mitchell, Edson Barbosa, Sunni, Ysouc, Yus of Danny Gaylorone Murphy, Alex Casares. Okay. What if you did like a little tournament?

Let's go with Billy Corantillo, Joe Anderson Brito Nate Landware Bill Algeo Charles Jordane Jack Shore Like you just throw in like

You throw in 4, 6, 8 of these guys that are like just outside of the top 15 That people are like All right Like these guys could get there But instead of just like having to Like look at

like Nathaniel Wood goes from Charles Jordane to Andre Thiele to Muhammad Naimov like that's not like that just seems like he went and Naimov's good but it's a guy like nobody really has heard of you know what I mean like

even Naimov could be in that tournament like that's what I'm talking about guys who are on the cusp of big things like can you imagine if they did a welterweight or a lightweight tournament and they put Oralbof in there like that's super fun and that's how you create new stars is things like of that nature.

It's putting them in these positions and once they get there, you're like, the winner gets an automatic top 10 opponent next. You know what I mean? Like, let's just have some fun. I love that idea. I think it's a tremendous idea. I love it. Absolutely love it.

Superfight, I wonder if it's Rhonda Rousey. I wonder if it's Ronda. Ronda's, it could be her. I'm telling you, man. And Jed and I talked about this right after Nunes retired, would you pick, like, if,

if they did Ronda Rousie versus Raquel Pennington right now, like let's just say, like, Rakell Pennington beats whoever. Let's say Rakell Bennington, you know, beats Meyer, Buenos Silva, or whenever. Or if they just did, like,

if they just did Ronda Rousey versus Giuliana Pena at UFC 300, you think people would be like, oh, that's shitty? No, people are like, holy shit, Ronda Rouse is coming back. Would you be confident

would you say like would you be like oh juliana painted should be a minus 300 against ronda rousie would you confidently pick julietta painting against ronda rousie if you gave her like a full training camp to get back into it and who knows what she's doing right now she's no longer in the i know she probably still has a really good relationship at w ewe she jumped in she's not signed with a ew she did a one-off ring of honor she's just kind of doing like independent shows and stuff right now just for the fun of it that would be a pretty fucking huge thing if they brought her back. And she doesn't have to fight Amanda Nunes.

Maybe they do her. I think that's, I don't know if it happens, but like if we're talking superfight, what Dana considers the super fight, like Rhonda would probably be right at the top of the list. Would it not? I don't know. But again, I don't know what Dana thinks is a superfight

and what other people think are superfights. But I think Roz would probably fit that mold. Absolutely, go ahead. How you doing? So I have three questions real quick. I'm curious, what are your thoughts on going for what Jared Kenyon should do in terms of his aspirations for a second chance of a title? And who do you think he needs to fight to earn that shot? Obviously, depending on Driekis versus Sean and if Adisani or Hamzaa skips the line.

My second question is with the super fight, you know, you brought up Rhonda. I think that's a really possible, interesting scenario because she's been in the headlines, although we know she has apparently, according to Dana's word amounts to that she's not interested in the UFC fight anymore. You know, looking at past history, things can change. The only other superfights to me that makes sense is, I will say Charles versus Islam too But that's not going to happen because You know

Islam will not fight in Ramadan He's already confirmed that The only other thing I could see happening is You know I hate to say But maybe a double champ fight Maybe Jamal Hill versus Alex Behara Because that's obviously more of a fan favorite fight You know

It's really interesting I mean The only way I could see UFC 300 bring a a really big event and dealers if they got a could beat versus George St. Peter that is a fight

not only the fans who want to see but that is literally a fight the whole world we watch it's literally a world event it's the way like people watch you know the Cavs versus Warriors

in 2016 or like you know like a Champions League finals on that kind of caliber my last question is if Vicente Lucay wins against Ian Gary next month who do you think he's

you fight next. That's all I have. Have a great day. Yeah, so, I mean, look, the rousy thing could happen. Like, it would not shock me. It'd be huge. It would get a shitload of buzz. Would it be all that thrilling when they actually fight? I'm not really sure, but would GSP's fight be all that thrilling either? We don't really know.

But you'd have to think, like, it's got to be somebody like that. I don't think Habib's ever fighting again. I don't think there's any amount of money or any sort of idea of anything that would get Habib back. I really don't. I think he's a man of principal.

I mean, he's basically like just kind of left the sport altogether. He's not cornering fighters. He's still involved in his team, but it's not like he's in the gym and he's probably in the gym. He's not like he's cornering guys, not traveling with him. the fighters to these big fights.

So, yeah, I don't know. GSP Habe would obviously be big. I just don't think it happens. I just don't think Habe comes back. And then again, like, just think of the name, just think of the fights you just threw out there. None of those are super fights.

Like, Jamal Hale-Hale-Alackspur is not a super fight. It's a fight we expect to happen. It's a cool fight, but it's not a super fight. I don't know if, like, anybody on the, I don't know if there's any two guys on the current UFC roster right now that you could put together and you can consider it a super fight. I can't think of one. I can't think of a single one.

I'm trying to think. I can't think of one. This is honestly, not one. Now, as far as things that could actually be done, it's John versus Francis, but I would be, I mean, that would be the most shocking thing in the last five years if the UFC is just like, you know what, we'll work with PFL, we'll do this. It doesn't seem like Dana has any interest in that whatsoever. And as I've said a million times, it sucks for the fans.

But at the same token, I don't blame him. He don't need Francis. He don't need the PFL. John Jones versus Stepe, even though most of us don't give a fuck about it, it's still going to do like close to a million pay-per-view buys. It just is. They don't need anything. They don't need to make any fights.

They'll make cool fights. But they don't, like, do you think the UFC's losing any sleep over not making John Jones over France and Ghana right now? No, they're whatever tears are flowing, they're drying with $100 bills. They're fine. They don't need that fight to happen. PFL needs that way more than the UFC does. And Dana knows that. That's why he's in the position he's in.

That's why he's not trying to convince the masses that, no, no, no, we're not one and two. We're the co-leaders. which Don Davis is going to have to hear that for the rest of his life that the PFL is the co-leaders. UFC has not lost a wink of sleep over the PFO. So, yeah, the more we talk about it, the more I am intrigued by this super fight idea. Ooh, interesting.

Guys, Calvin Gasselm, just stepped on the scale. 170 on the dot. for his fight with Sean Brady. He has done it. Successful return to 170 on the scale. Looked pretty good. He's looked pretty good all of Cam. So as we are speaking right now,

do, do, do, we are waiting just a few fighters. We're awaiting Jared Gooden. Wellington term made way to 171. We are awaiting Misha Tate. Julie Avila already made weight, 135 and a half. And we are awaiting Jalen Turner.

Bobby Green made weight a 155. That's it. Everybody else has made wait. We lost a fight. So we'll see. The one I'm obviously I'm the most concerned about is Jalen Turner. So if we're still live, we'll keep you posted. I don't think we will be live.

Maybe he'll wait to the end. I'm not really sure. But who knows? Who knows at this point? I think we know what we're going to headline this episode. I think it's going to have to be the Super Fight question. question for sure this super i'm more i'm so intrigued i didn't think i would be this intrigued by it uh mostly not even for the fighters just to kind of see with the definition of for the ufc of

what is actually a super fight in 2020 23 24 in moving forward so uh very very intrigued it could just be like it could just be like two random guys like it could just be like kid rock fighting somebody or something stupid. I don't know. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea.

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Go ahead, sir. So, hey, Mike, I thought about it, and there's five fights I came up with. One of them is Rhonda Rousey versus Gina Carrano. Um, that would be fun. Uh, another one was GSP versus Anderson Silva for UFC 300. Um, that's interesting.

Yeah, because they were always teasing that fight and they're both old now and they both haven't fought in forever. So why not? Um, another one was Brock Lesner coming back at UFC 300. But I don't know who we'd fight. I kept up thinking like John Jones is the only one that makes sense. They ain't doing that shit. It's just a way. There's no way.

Go ahead, though. Okay, okay. Well, anyway, that was another one I was thinking of. And then there was, oh, God, who was it? It's, it's, oh, man. There was another one, sorry. It was less string. Oh, it was Izzy versus Hamsetschmaif.

It might think that's some super funny. What do you think? Is that the last one? Yeah, there was another one. Oh, yeah, another one that's less thrilling is Porier versus. versus Nick DS versus Nick or Nate? Oh, sorry, versus Nate, yeah. Oh, I was going to say.

Nick would be pretty cool too, though, but I think Nick's kind of washed. Yeah, that, yeah, wouldn't be really, should, man. But anyway, I don't know. Yeah. Those are some things I thought of after I got off the line with you. Thanks, man. All right, man.

I'll see you. Thanks, brother. Yeah, Izzy Hamzot, I wouldn't consider a super fight because we could get that fight tomorrow if we really wanted it. I mean, they're both in the same division. they're both active rostered fighters

so to me that's not a super fight to me that's kind of the fight we thought we might actually get coming out of UFC 293 before Sean Strickland kind of shut the door on all of that

the other ones are bra oh dude bra coming back I just don't see it I don't think the UFC is going to take that risk again like it was obviously very cool, but like the aftermath of it all. And yes, Mark Hunt lost all of his lawsuits, but like,

I don't think the UFC wants to, like, put themselves in that position again. Like, Brock ain't a young man. And I don't think, we don't know how this new drug testing is going to work. I just don't think they want to take that risk. As cool as it be. But, like, I mean, we're so close. like we could have got Brock versus D.C. We didn't get it.

Remember all that? They had the little like shoving thing after D.C. won the belt and that fight never happened probably for a lot of the same reasons. Rousie Carrano. Interesting. I think just rousy against anybody.

GSP Anderson would be pretty frigging cool. I like that idea. Look, they're old. Look, they're older guys. But it's like, when we talk about fights we never got or like the one that got away GSP Anderson Silva is like on the top

of a lot of people's lists maybe we can get it now it ain't gonna be the same as it would have been when they were in their primes but Anderson could still fight man Anderson could still go interesting interesting I love this I love this conversation

this is the best Dylan go ahead I just had a thought I was like, do you think now that the PFL has acquired Bellator, do you think they'll still do like cross promotional events with like Risen? Or do you think since they're like the co-leader now, they probably are too big for Risen. And also just another quick, just quick question.

Do you guys ever think about getting G.C. on between the links? I think that would be a fun episode. But yeah, that's it. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. GC has been on before. It's been a while. It was kind of like early in his career. It was early.

It was like the first year at the May hour came back. I know he was definitely on. I love to have him back on like now, now that he's more entrenched into what's going on. I'll have to ask him. He's a busy dude. So I will try to make that happen. There's a couple people.

People have asked about who have been on ones. G.C. and Luke Thomas. I will make it a point to get Luke on again sooner rather than later but I will definitely try to get GC on that would be fun that would definitely be fun all right

I think we're done let me just look at the comments real quick see if we have anything that's always said Hamza v. Adasanya that's not a super fight oh the PFL question will Belcher still do the rising thing probably not

I mean, maybe they do it, but probably not, would be my guess. I mean, especially if you're going to do, like, the way we ironed it out on BTL yesterday with how the PFL should be handling all of this is like the smart thing to do. Just like, let's do, like, Bellator PFL should not just be one event. It should be like a year-long thing. You have 210 fighters. Just do, like, you should be doing PFL versus Bellator like every, fucking card.

Like at least one or two fights and we just keep a running tally of the record all year long. Like that's money. I love that idea. Love that idea. It's going to be really interesting to see what the PFL does.

But yeah, they go get dunked on. Don Davis is going to get dunked on for all of eternity. Pretty much of the coal leader stuff. What did Shane say? Darius loses this weekend.

He should go to PFL and become a millionaire thoughts. Does he want to go through a tournament at this age? I don't know. But not a bad guy to have around for one-offs. Yeah, if he loses, he's in a super interesting spot. All right, we'll take one more. We'll get Mo in here. Mo, are you there?

Yes. I just wanted to ask, what do you guys think? is going to be the best, the next best fight for Pereira. For Pereira? Yeah. Poor time. Yeah. Yeah.

Thanks, man. Next fight for Pereira. It's a good question. It's a good question. I mean, do we consider Pereira Izzy 3 a super fight with Izzy moving up? Do we consider that one? I don't know. We've seen it twice, but now the circumstances are different.

maybe that's what he's talking about which by the way I loved that call out from Pereira made all the sense in the world obviously the fight I want to see is Jamal Hill but that ain't happening anytime soon and there is no way you can let Pereira sit on the sidelines for that long

you can't you can't do it so here are my two options one Pereer is he at UFC 300 you do that fight for the light heavyweight title. It's a moneymaker. There's a story.

There's a lot to that. So maybe it's that. If not, and a lot of you are going to hate this, and I've said this before, if Anthony Smith beats Khalil Roundtree next Saturday, I can 1,000% see a world where Anthony Smith cuts a promo

and says he wants to fight Alex Pereira. and just for the sense of keeping Pereira busy and out into the spotlight and at least putting him in a rivalry fight, I could see a world where they put that fight together. I don't love it. I don't think it goes very well for Anthony Smith, but who knows? Anthony seems very confident in that.

Thinks he matches up great with him. He's been saying this from day one. If he goes out there and beats Cleo Roundtree, that's two wins in a row, at least he's got a winning streak to put himself in that position. Now, was that part of the conversation when Anthony Smith was approached with this fight?

Hey, man, you go and save us? Keep this fight on the books. You beat Khalil Ranchi, we'll give you Pereira. Like, it ain't a meritocratic choice, but it's literally, it's like the only one. That's like, I don't know. I mean, just look at what's happening right now. Because you just, I don't know.

could you duplehovic and rackets winner sure i guess but i don't know how compelling either of those options are will they be able to turn around relatively quickly after their fight i don't know ankylyev and walker are fighting maybe if johnny walker just obliterates ankylaif maybe they go there i don't know if uh ankylaif gets it yeah i don't know we shall see i kind of feel like i kind of feel if Anthony Smith wins, he's got a really good chance to get it. It just kind of depends on the plans for Pereira and when they would want him to fight. He's got to fight at UFC 300 at this point, right?

I mean, that's not going to main event UFC 300, but you have to get him in there before you have to get him in there by April. Do you not? He's got so much momentum right now. You can't bench him until Jamal Hill is ready to come back. you've got to get him out there. He is a chance.

Like, he's becoming a star. He's becoming a star. You've got to, you can't bench him. You've got to keep him going. He's like a winner two away. I think the UFC's really going to try to get this Izzy fight going, though. I do. But I don't know.

DDP, if he wins the belt, I mean, what poetic, how poetic would it be to their story if that fight gets put together? But DDP is the champion? and Izzy's going after him. Golly. Yeah, prayer is interesting. Because there's a clear choice. It's Jamal Hill.

But I mean, if we, we may not see Jamal Hill to like September of next year. Like his injury takes a, it's a shitty injury. Like it's annoying. It's a nuisance. It takes time. Maybe it's July. Maybe it comes back in July. I think that's probably like the best case.

scenario, but you cannot bench Pereira for eight months. You can't. Can't do it. All right. Yeah, I think we're going to wrap up here. Let me just take a gander here at the old Wayans. See if we have anything new. Anything new.

Jared Gooden made Wade, 171. Good for him. So we got, you know what? Should we just keep going? Let's keep going. Let's keep going. Moe, do you have another question? If you guys got more questions, let's go.

Let's just keep going. Let's go until all these fighters have hit the scales. Who gives the shit? Preby shows not until 1 o'clock. We're fine. We're fine. Hop in. Hop in.

Let's go. Let's go. Raise your hand. Let's party. Go ahead, Cole. All right. We got to go in on this Ronda speculation. We got to, like, check the Instagram.

Is she been quiet? Because that, like, when you said that, I've always been on the train that Rhonda will come back. and I would, I don't know, I don't know if I'd favor her against Raquel, maybe, if I, like, saw some footage of her in the training room, I might. But, like, I don't know. You really think that Ronda is more, like, I guess thinking about who GSP could fight, it's like, it wouldn't, they wouldn't bring back Silva probably.

So what more do you have about that Ronda that, like, backs that up, do you think? I mean, I don't have like any insight to it, but Rhonda's just like she's doing like independent pro wrestling now. But just for funzies. Like she's not in WWE anymore. I mean, I don't think so. I mean, look, Rhonda, whether you like her or not, the way she sort of left the sport was not good. Left a bad taste in people's mouths. it really did.

The whole build to the Nunes fight, just getting trucked, things that happened after the fact, like it was just an unceremonious exit. And when you think about what Ronda has done and the impact that she made on the sport, her legacy should be more about what she did in her career

more so than what she looked like on the way out. It's almost like she just turned her back on the sport In a lot of respects It was very negative Like it was very negative Um So I kind of feel like

You know even if she goes in there and just like Does the thing and does the whole media stuff And like goes through it all And competes And even if she loses She just gets the microphone and like Says goodbye and like Does it her way like just does it the right way

Like I think that's a That helps her her overall MMA legacy. So even if she fought like, like look, even if what if they just did her and Misha Tate? What if they just got her back and did one more with Misha?

Like that's something. You could do that. But at least like she could go out like in the right way. And I think that would be so meaningful to her overall legacy as a mixed martial artist. Has she gone to W.E. and made Bucco Bucks and had like a different career?

Sure. she has but i think when most people look at ronda rousey and her overall legacy in combat sports in sports entertainment it's going to be more of the mma fighter than the pro wrestler and even then she didn't have a tremendous run as a pro wrestler either so i don't know it makes sense like it makes sense it doesn't have to be a title fight but just give her give her a good fight you Give her somebody. Win or lose, she goes out in a good way. I think that would be pretty damn cool.

CB, go ahead. Hey, Mike. Glad to have the party rolling. Just a free-for-all Friday question. I think I asked this before, but I'm going to ask it again. Like, what is the ideal, I would say like a card, like ideal length? Because this got me thinking, $2.95, like the main card, it was like, Like, it was all finishes, right?

So I would like the first three fights of the main card to be like either a quick finish. Co-main event, like I don't mind a quick finish as well. But I think like ideally like the main event, like I would like at least three rounds or maybe even a decision like an all-out or. You know, just a little fun question. I mean, look, $2.95 was fun as hell. even though it was all finishes, it was fun as hell. There's nothing wrong with that. Like, I'd rather, like, give me UFC 295's main card over PFL's main card any day of the week.

Any day of the week. Like, I'll take that. PFL's card was brutal. It just, like, honestly, I felt like I was watching that card for three days. And it's very rare, like, some of these apex, cards feel that way? Like to me, when I think of like the appropriate length for a UFC card, it's more about the fights.

Like 15 fights is way too many. It's way too many. 14 fights is too many. Too many. 11, 12 is the sweet spot. Like that's where we need. 10 would 10 is probably perfect. But that might be too few.

So give me like 11 or 12. 11 or 12. We do like a couple of hours of prelims. We do the main card. We get in. we get out. Some of these apex cards, like it's a seven, eight hours, it's like

a seven hour watch. For a card that like has no significant meaning or stakes. Like look at next week's card. Like next week's card. As of right now, there's 10 fights. 10 fights.

For a card like this, 10 fights is it's chef's kiss. Chef's kiss. Perfect. All Apex cards should be 10 fights. No more. No more. You want to do a six-fight main card? I don't care. Five-foot. Five-filems, five-fight main cards. Like, that is how every Apex card should be laid out. Ten fights. Ten. Six-fight main card should not happen. None. Zippo. I don't like six-fight main cards. Although the awesome one's not bad. But yeah, dude. Yeah. 10-11, 12. fights perfecto that's what we're looking for that's a sweet spot

Viking is waving away so let's bring him in and then we'll get we'll try to get to everybody once we get all the fighters of the scale we'll wrap God Viking hey buddy I can't help it I just want to talk about

Binil Darius I mean that guy that guy is out of his fucking mind I was listening to him in a Bisping interview and that guy still doesn't want to be a champion. That guy has a fear that if he wins that they are going to match him against with Gamrod or something else or someone else.

The only thing he did not get a fight, the only thing he did not get a chance to fight for the title. because just because of him that guy is not appealing for his title shot and he is responsible he should not be crying if he lose on sunday and that's it and one more thing if you ever meet connor mcgregor tell him that a woman is not a birth-giving machine the woman is a human being thanks a lot Thanks, man. Yeah, dude, we talked about Van Neal earlier.

Just we put a mic, dude, and what's so crazy is like, Benil is fun. Like, he's a fun fighter. It's not like he's a boring fighter. He's a fun fighter. He's an action fighter. His fights are fun.

So all you have to do is just, like, say somewhat correct things on the microphone, and you're going to get good things because you are a fun fighter. And he can't do it. cannot do it. I'll win. I'll fight 10 more guys. I'll do this. This fight, I gained nothing from Arvins. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? That's why you didn't get a title shot to begin with. And I understand like Benile is who he is. And Benile is not going to be a

phony baloney. He's not going to sit there and talk a bunch of trash and cut promos about how people suck at life. He's not going to do that. But all you have to do is say things. After the Gamrod win, he could have just respectfully said, hey Islam, you promised that if you won the belt, you would fight me. We were supposed to fight a couple of times. It didn't happen,

but you promised that if you'd won the title, I would be your first title defense. I did my part. Are you a man of your word? I hope so. I'll see you whenever. Boom. That's it.

But it says like, I don't care. I'll fight 10 more guys before I fight for the belt. No. By beat Armin Saruki and I gave me. nothing from that.

Absolutely wrong. You're a win-away. You were a guy who was out of the title picture. Charles Oliver rinsed you in a round. He rinsed him. I thought he was cooked. Done. And now he gets this fight.

He has an opportunity to stay in the title picture. He beats Armin Sarukin. He's a win-away. How could you say I gained nothing from beating Armis-Siric? Oh, God, darn it. What are you doing? So frustrating. It's so, look, do the thing.

We talked about doing the thing. PFL needs to do the thing, right? Do the thing was like one of our big mottos coming out of 2022. Do the thing. And you want to know, like reflecting on do the thing, you want to know where do the thing came from? It came from Benil, dare you? It came from Benile Darius.

Do the thing, Benile. Do the thing. Chase. Go ahead. Hey, what's on, Mike? What's up, ma'am? Oh, when Aldo, Dominic Cruz qualifies a super fight, and then if Kalil wins against Anthony Smith,

Anthony Smith's striking looks really good in the first round of the rock fan fight. Then he just kind of fell apart. But if Palo wins, I mean, a year fight, a Praira fight, like those are fights I would love to see. And if Bobby Green gets a done, they got to give him poor an index. Thanks, Mike. Take a little morning.

Thanks, man. We'll get the landscapers outside, so I didn't hear the last part of your question. If Khalil wins, where does he go? Dude, I love the Merzacana fight. Like, I loved that. That was an auto point for me. I love that booking. We have some news.

We have some news. To nobody's surprise. Let me get the exact figure here. Waiting for it, waiting for it. Jalen Turner missed wait. 157. So he missed it by a pound for his play with Bobby Green, which we knew was going to happen.

I'm telling you what, man. I mean, look, I'm picking Bobby Green. Like, I was, I'm picking Bobby Green. I'm picking Bobby Green. I was going to pick them all week anyways. It's a vibes. Like, the vibes are all with Bobby Green here. Jalen just seems like completely, like, uninterested in any of this.

And he probably cut a shit load away to even get to 157. So, yikes. Yep, he missed. We're still waiting on Misha tape. But we'll probably get a wrap after we have. here from our friend for on sniper my head jennyper yeah uh so i guess free for all friday uh i guess i'll ask a quick question i guess top five christmas movies what would you recommend to watch i'm gonna be off for about three weeks maybe about a month i got nothing but time so yeah top five

christmas movies thank you top five christmas movies hold on second well christmas vacation is number one without a doubt. That's number one. I will go... I'm a sucker for Christmas story. So that's probably number two. Home alone number three. Scrooge number four.

Five is tough. I'll go bad Santa. I'll go bad Santa. Bad Santa's so good. They had to ruin it with Bad Santa, too. Yeah, I'll go with those. Like, if I thought more about it, I would probably, my list, my, my, the ranking might be a little different,

but I think those are the five. Like, those are the go-toes. Like, those are the, hey, if you're flicking through the channels, and either of those are on, I'm stopping to watch. Stopping to watch. All right, we got to go. Of course, the timing's perfect. I'm not going to be able to hear any of you anyways,

because the landscapers are out doing the damn thing as they typically do when we're doing shows. So, uh, preview show. coming up at just over an hour, it's going to be the same crew as BTL yesterday, but we're going to mix things up a little bit. I hosted BTL. Jed and Shaheen were panelists.

So we thought, let's mix things up a little bit. Shaheen will host. I'll be a panelist. I haven't done the panel thing in a while. So I'm pretty excited about that. So join us 1 p.m. Eastern. It'll be a lot of fun. Stay tuned to at Mayfiting.com.

tremendous website. Misha Tate, the only fighter left to hit the scale. So stay locked in to M.A. fighting and let you know how that goes. But as of now, all fighters have made weight

except for Jalen Turner who missed by a pound. Misha Tate left to hit the scale. And we got a canceled UFC Austin fight between Steve Garcia and Melchazio Costa. Garcia suffered an illness

and that fight is off the card now. So, So yeah, we'll see at 1 p.m. Eastern, everybody. Have a great rest of your Friday. Have a heck of a morning.