MMA Fighting - HOAM | What's At Stake In Ian Machado Garry vs. Michael Page UFC 303 Matchup?

Episode Date: June 28, 2024

Ian Machado Garry and Michael Page will battle in the welterweight main card opener of UFC 303 on Saturday. While it's in the spot that it's in, outside of the main event, Garry vs. Page is likely the highest stakes matchup on the entire card. Where does the winner go in the 170-pound division, and how close to a title shot will he be? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses that topic, the winner of Garry vs. Page being arguably one win away from a championship fight, and how the bout could play out. Additionally, listener topics include Jamahal Hill's latest video about Demetrious Johnson and Alex Pereira, how Conor McGregor could fit into the remaining 2024 schedule, Alexandre Pantoja's next fight, PFL's struggles to get momentum, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays and Thursdays 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

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You can hear the show start to finish shortly after we wrap up here on the podcast network. Hello there. I am Mike Heck. Hope you're all having a wonderful Friday. We are, of course, on the eve of UFC 303. the International Fight Week, pay-per-view extravaganza. And

this has been a pretty interesting week. It's been a very interesting build. Because one thing that people have been saying and even more of like a, you know, a die-hard audience,

but people who pay attention to the sport that ask me about certain things, a lot of people forgot that Connor McGreg were supposed to fight on this card. that's how kind of good this build is been. I don't think it's a question that this, from a fight by fight standpoint,

this is a better lineup than we were going to get with McGregor and Chandler as the main event. Brian Ortega, Diego Lopez is a tremendous co-main event. Obviously, he was interested in Jamal Hill v. Cleo Roundtree, but this to me is a better fight. Yes, we have Anthony Smith-Roman DeLidezay, which kind of sticks out like a store, or thumb, but it is what it is.

I think it's going to be fun. We'll see how Meyer Buena Silva-Mace G.A.S. on is. And then Ian Machado, Gary, Michael Page, that thing's starting to ramp up a little bit. And then there's some really good stories in the prelim. So I am fired up for this one, fired up to hit the road tomorrow morning

and head to Atlanta. That's where the UFC 303 watch party is going to take place. We're going to do so in Atlanta, Georgia. 304 may be the same. We'll see how this goes, doing something a little bit different. this time around. And then hopefully by the Perth card, maybe we'll be back in New York, but not really sure. So stay tuned.

It's going to be a great time. G.C. myself. Jed will be kind of popping in and out as well with us. So it's going to be a great time. Very excited for UFC 303. We have Wayans on the YouTube channel. You can watch them live at noon Eastern time. See how the fighters do with their first battle on the scales.

ceremonial wayans going down a little bit later on today as well if you're into the power schlappin world you got that going down page van zanzan's going to be competing in that pfl going down later on today there's just a lot going on i think one has a card going on right now and then obviously the big event tomorrow ufc 303 and it's going to be a great time so also preview show coming up later on today as well uh i will not be a part of that one actually Let me see who's actually going to be a part of this one. I end up working Wednesday. So in exchange, I got a half day today.

It will be Shaheen Al-Shadi, Jedbushu, and New York, Rick, 3 p.m. Eastern on the YouTube channel. So they will break things down in the best possible way. So all right, let's hear where you all have to say. Of course, other things have happened as well. Rose Nama Eunice no longer fighting Macy Barber As we first reported earlier this week She is fighting Tracy Cortez now Tracea Cortez was supposed to fight Miranda Maverick

On July 20th At the world's most famous Apex Miranda Maverick now fighting Deani Barbosa As we reported I believe yesterday morning And still no word on what is going on As far as the top of the Denver card goes because it feels like every time I go on Twitter, a fighter is either off the card

or a fight is scratched altogether. Originally, the Rosemite Eunice, Tracy Cortez fight, was just going to get slotted into the main event, just as the replacement, so to speak. Been told since then, right now it's slotted as the co-main event because, Avi and I completely agree with this, spites two weeks away,

shifting Tracy Cortez to a five-round fight, kind of tough. Totally understand where they're coming from. I don't know if it's going to be the main event or not. I saw reports that Kevin Holland

and Jared Canaaner was going to headline the card. Guys, I've seen a lot of this this week and it's things we talk about all the time. And people roll their eyes when I say this,

but it's the truth. If it is not on MMA fighting, if it is not reported by us, I'm not saying like, not breaking it, but if we don't write it up and put it on the website, it's not 100% done. It's not real. It's not a thing. Case in point, the Kevin Hall and Jared Kenanineer News.

Immediately I saw this, and of course we reached out, and I was told literally seconds later by a source who was absolutely going to know that there was zero truth to this at all. mostly because Jared Cadenier just fought and just got knocked out like weeks ago and he's supposed to turn around and fight five rounds with Kevin Holland and Denver like that alone was like a red flag and then I was told that there's just no truth to it at all not even wasn't even approached to one side of this and I don't even know if it was fully approached on the other side of it

So just be very careful with where you see the news because I saw a lot of this this week. I saw a lot of, hey, Benoit Santini is fighting Charles Oliveira, told that is not the case as well as of right now. So I saw a lot of different things. But again, golden rule, if it's not a May fighting, it's not a thing. It's not done. It's not real. It's not real until it's real. And I don't know what the hell is going on with.

Denver. If they just move ahead with Rose and Cortez as the as like a three round main event, I don't know. I don't know what's going on, but I can assure you Jared Canaanier will not be fighting July 13th. And I got a few of these questions as well in my Instagram DMs. So I'm just going to throw this. I'll answer these real quick because I don't know if we'll get another one of these, but this is just about the business in general. It is super important. And I know there's honestly, there are a lot of reporters out there. There are a lot of people on Twitter, a lot of people who work for websites who will report news based on one side of the conversation. And of course, there are people out there who will hit up people they trust and

be like, hey, either I'm fighting this guy or my client is fighting this guy on this date, and then they'll just go out and report it as if it's everything. You have to get the other side. You have to get a second source. And it can't be on the same side of the table. So you can't get like the fighter and then the fighter's manager. That's not enough. That is not enough to report news. You have to get the other side of the table. So if you confirm, so like for instance, the Kevin Holland, Jared Kennedy or stuff, if you confirm Kevin Holland was fighting Jared cannoneer, that's great, but you still need to confirm Jared Kenanier. Somebody, you got to do it. You have to. Otherwise, like, you're risking it. Now, can you be right a lot? Sure. Sure. But why

risk it. Why risk it? And I'm with Ariel, man. And I say this on the show, too. Like, breaking news sucks. It's terrible. It's not fun chasing these things down. And I think I've broken, or at least been part of breaking like three fights this week. It sucks. It's not fun. There's nothing fun about it. Sometimes, like, you get a little piece of information, get a little bit of a layup. Someone alerts you of a potential thing that has happened. then it makes life a little bit easier, but still, it's just, poof, it's not that fun. So if you're got to break news, respect to you, but you've got to get multiple people on board before you report something.

You've got to be right. Like, you can't be wrong. It's better having, like, too many sources and being, like, the eighth person to confirm it than getting one source and being the first with the chance of being wrong. So hopefully some people learn some lessons this week. I'm not trying to like shit on anybody, but that's why I don't like breaking news. Now, it's a slog. And especially for this news coming out, by the time it comes out, nobody cares who reported it.

No one cares. You think anybody gives a shit that we reported that Tracy Cortez is fighting Rosnami Eunice two days later? Nobody cares. No one. It's just a thing. We move on. This cycle moves so quickly. None of it matters.

None of it matters. So we'll see what happens at Denver. We'll see if they slotted a new main event on short notice. We'll see what else happens. So, all right, let's hear what you all have to say. Line up if you want to speak. We're going to go until about 11 a.m. Eastern, and then we gets to go. So, Ethan, kick us off.

How you doing, Mike? What's up, ma'am? So I got two quick ones for you. First up, I had a couple sick days last week, And my mother-in-law always makes this really gross tea that we have to drink every time we're sick. And so, I mean, I'll be damned if it doesn't work. So my question is, do you guys have any weird, like, family remedies you use when you're sick? And then second up, would you lump 303 into the kind of hardcore delights card we've been getting, like 295 and 300?

So those are my two questions. Have a great day. And hope you enjoy 303. Thanks, man. So the remedy thing, not really. So, I mean, like, when I feel like I'm getting sick, I attack it. Like, I don't wait till it, like, comes full bore.

I just get after it. Like, I'll just, and I'm not saying this is the smart thing to do. This is probably a really dumb thing to do, but I do it anyways. If I start to feel like it's not like an allergy thing, that it's like a sick, sick thing, like I will literally go to the grocery store and I will buy either body armor, like a six pack of that. I'll buy the Gatorade zeroes with the electrolytes or I'll just buy a whole bunch of Gatorades and powerades

And then I'm just going to like Z-Quil and NyQuil and DayQuil, not Z-Quil But DayQuil-Night-Quil and just load up on everything ahead of time Like to the point where it's like probably too much Just so I could try to combat it as best as I can But as far as like actual remedies and stuff like that No, not really Not really and 303 hardcore delight yeah i would say so like certainly more so than what we originally were

getting right we got a better card we got a better main card getting ortega lopez for us is a great fight doesn't pass the public test at all no one knows who either of these guys are just randomly everybody knows who connor is so does it hurt does it hurt sure, but for us, this is better. And I think that's why sort of the pain, I guess, and it wasn't really a lot of pain of losing Connor McGregor. This is like two years ago, three years ago, I mean, fans would be in an uproar. They'd be losing their minds. And I think a lot of the newer fans are probably very upset about this because a lot of the newer fans have never seen Connor McGregor fight. Never see them.

So this is their first chance to see him. But now, for us, this is a better card. It just is. And what Alex Pereira is going to attempt to do on Saturday is just unreal. It's just unreal. This is a dude who is just grabbed the bull by the horns and just ran. And this isn't a thing where, like, the UFC has heavily promoted him and, you know, turn him into a star. No, no, no, no, no.

this is one of the situations where a fighter did it on his own. And that's what Alex Pereira did. The UFC didn't put the promotional backing behind Alex Pereira. He just did it himself. They helped matchmake for him to try to give him to Izzy to set that rivalry up. But it's not like they spent millions of dollars pushing him and introducing him to the world. They didn't do that. He did this all himself.

He's the one who stepped in at 300. He's the one who's stepping in here. And what a rise that has been for the band? I don't remember, like, anybody coming in here or in any show we've done, like, comments-wise, and had anything really negative to say about Alex Pereira. Like, it's almost an anomaly. Everyone freaking loves the guy.

They all love him. And he's just knocking fools out, winning belts everywhere. he's a Hall of Famer right now first ballot they could put him in right now as an active fighter it would make sense with the resume he's putting together

so yeah this is a huge opportunity for Alex Pereira in terms of getting to superstar status I think you know doing this in 300 than doing it at 303 it's huge

but yes to answer your question this is more of the hardcore fans delight and I love it I'm very excited for tomorrow let's go to Left Lane. What's up, Left Lane? What's up, Mike?

Can you hear me? Yes. I've got a bunch of, like, little things to go through. Obviously, looking forward to the card this weekend, who isn't? I've already talked about the major fights when they were announced, so I won't harp on about those too much. But first fight of the night, like, the very first fight of the entire card, is actually, like, probably my fourth most anticipated fight of the card behind Maine, co-main, and then

MVP Gary. Vinicius Oliver versus Ricky Simone I actually think it's a really cool matchup Oliver's like a pretty big underdog but I actually think he might win that I know Ricky's been around for a half minute but I think he's very open on the feet and I really want to see how Olivera does

in that kind of style of fight and he's a real fun striker so for those people that don't normally watch the first couple fights of the evening definitely tune into that one also a couple other like really cool fights that have been announced not like top ranked guys or anything but I saw Elvers Brenner versus Joel Alvarez is booked for the Abu Dhabi card on August 3rd.

And then Roman Koppel of as Bruner for Hay is also booked for August 24th. So two of those, two really good fights there. And I got one more thing. This is just merely speculation and something that I'll just chuck out into the universe in case it ends up happening and I can look like a genius. But I saw Alessandro Pantosia did an interview earlier with like some of his SPN reporter and he said that he wanted to sit out until December. That was his original plan, but the UFC came to him and has offered him something.

And I actually have a guess, is my speculation, that they've offered him to fight Kai Asakura. Because I think it was Alex Behoun. I don't know how to pronounce his name, but I think he reported that Asakura is not actually going to be fighting a bant weight. He's going to be fighting at flyweight. And if that's true, he also said that they're giving him a top five opponent. And I think he kind of might have had to say top five opponent because he can't really say title shot

because otherwise he's immediately just breaking news there. So my guess is that they actually might be doing Asakurvas Pantosia since Pantosia said they've offered him something, process of elimination, they're not doing Roeval, it's not Moreno, Elbaugh's hurt, Kai's fighting Ur-Seg, most likely, Makayev's fighting Cap, and I don't think they're putting in Tatsuro-O-Tire in there. So I think we could be getting

a Secura, I would guess maybe on like the Perth guard or something, but purely guesswork. I'll come back to this if it ends up being right. But yeah, what do you think about the other fights? Also, what's your prediction for Oliver versus Simone? Thanks, Mike. Thank you, sir. A lot to unpack.

Pantosia as Akura, maybe. I don't know. It's possible. I don't see the rush in getting Pantosia back in there, though. I just don't really get it unless, like, they just fully expect Connor and Chandler to happen in December at this point. And then it's just like, okay, we're not going to put a title fight on here because we have Connor freaking fighting on it. But even then that's a risk.

And then you just have to kind of figure out where you want to do this. Do you want to, I mean, is it a good one for Perth? I don't know. Do you put it in Salt Lake City when they go there and not? October. Like, when do you do this fight? I don't know. It's, it's like a cool fight. It's not like, oh, you got to give it to me right now because this division, there are guys who are ready to go. We literally, we legitimately have, in most people's eyes, a number one contender fight happening in less than a month between Mikhail and Kopp. So why are we rushing Asakura in there

just to immediately fight for the belt. I don't hate it. Like, I'd watch the shit out of it, but it just seems very strange. And maybe, I don't know. Like, what does Perth look like right now? What we see what this card actually looks like right now? I mean, you have an incredible main event.

Kikar, France, and Vinnie Siggs looks likely. It's not done done, but it looks pretty done. It looks like it's probably going to happen on that card. I'd be stunned if it doesn't. them. Ty to Ivasa, Jarzini, Rosenstrike. Cool. Tom Nolan, Alex Reyes, Casey O'Neill, Tracea Bleda.

I saw reports about, and I talked about this, I think, on BTL last week, Gerald Mearshard and Jacob Malcun, from what I understand that fight is no longer happening. It was a thing. It wasn't like a missed report or anything like that. but that fight from what I was told yesterday is no longer taking place at all. It certainly won't be taking place on this card,

and there's going to be some swapping of things at this point. Where they go, I don't know, but I'm just told that that fight will not be happening. UFC 305. So yeah, maybe we throw this in there. Yeah. Maybe we throw that in there. Where's Dan Hooker going to fight? I don't know.

This car needs some juice. I mean, it is getting close. So maybe you do put it in Perth. Maybe you do put it in Perth. Coppula Ferreur. Good fight. Like it. It's a good one.

Alvarez and Elvis Brenner. Good fight. Man, tough one. Tough road for Elvis Brenner, huh? Jesus. He's going to fight Micta Bech-Orelby, and now he's going to fight Joel Alvarez, who is like a middleweight.

Jesus. Tough road. Tough sledding for Elvis Brutter. But definitely a good chance to bounce back. And then the other question was Ricky Simone versus Venetius Olivera. So obviously we're doing the watch party, so I have bets. I actually stayed away from this one. But my official pick for this fight will be Ricky Simone, third round TKL.

I think Ricky's just fought way better dudes. Like he just has. Like, Oliver is fun, and he's had that vicious knockout against a guy who is a pretty significant favorite over. I think it was like a short notice opponent and stuff like that, and that's never really easy. But Ricky Simone is super good, and his, yeah, he's last two in a row,

but he's lost his Song Yidong and Mario Batista, who are like two of the best band of mates in the world right now. So I think Ricky's going to win. I think Ricky's just going to put a pace on him, tucker him out a little bit, and I think he just kind of out, athletes him out of there. I don't know.

I mean, Venetius lands like a flying knee and knocks Ricky Simone on the first round. Like, would I be stunned? No. But I feel like, just based on what I've seen on Twitter

and just basically people hitting me up, I don't know why people hit me up for betting advice. It's really just a waste of work. I mean, I'm doing okay. I'm not the guy to talk to you about that. I just do this for funzies. If Draft Kings wasn't involved in the watch parties,

I wouldn't do it at all. But the amount of people were just like, oh, Vinisha O'Feyr is the dog of the week. I'm just like, are you sure? Are you sure? You feel pretty confident about that. So we'll see. We'll see.

I think a little bit of recency bias kind of goes into the betting line right now. And I still think Ricky Simone is one of the top 20, 25 bannam weights on the planner. right now and I just can't say the same about Phoenicia's Olivera. It's not yet. So that's her matter.

Support for this show comes from the audible original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The earth only has a few days left. Roscoe 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 Frasier. 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.

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DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. It's been a while. I hope you've been doing great, my man. I just got a few questions I'd like to ask and talk and discuss about. So, firstly, with the, where do I want to start this? All right, I'll start with the perk card. I know that Robert Whitaker mentioned that he's not going to be fighting at Perth or even be a backup.

However, I'm saying, you know, last minute the UFC kind of does a preparation. they decide to just make him and Sean Strickland title eliminated contender as the co-manian went for Perd behind other side of DDP. Do you think that, you know, like at least press conference-wise, would that situation get real messy since, you know,

it's kind of going to be like a whole back-and-forth, back-and-for, and a lot of tensions around that entire, you know, arena during the press conference. Because, you know, Sean Strickland, he's going to be a loud fucking mouth. He's going to talk shit to Izzy. and DDP.

Easy's got a lot of, you know, vendetta and bad bloodline with DDP as it is, and I'm sure he's going to get a strong frequency neck for everything that happened, you know, in the last year or so. And then Robb is kind of going to be like that typical nice guy. But I actually would have loved to see that fight if it did happen. I would love to know your thoughts.

And for my other questions, one, I saw that the UFC is going to be doing a pay-per-view in Utah and apparently they're going to be doing a pay-per-view in Utah. And apparently, they're going to do another pay-per-view in September and I saw Dana White mentioned that Connor McGregor is not scheduled to find any of those cars

so who could you see headlining the new UFC 306 at the end of September and USC 307 because at this stage I just feel like there's a lot of pay-per-views, a lot of shuffling on the round

and you know personally me as a fan yeah it's nice to see paper views but I kind of not if I like this direction. You know, this whole year, you know, outside of, I would say that three stretch pay-per-views from March, I mean, from February to April, and, you know, maybe like two, three-fight-night cards, this year has been really disappointing. In all the long, it's been a really boring year, to be honest.

Like, I don't care what anyone says. I'm a very hardcore fan. I watch every, you know, fight night and pay-per-view regardless, but I'll just be real. It's been a boring year. I'm not really, outside of, you know, this coming weekends, um, the UFC 303 event. I'm just not really looking forward to what's happening in July. The UK car is going to be nice for sure, but, you know, I don't know.

I really am curious to see what the UFC does with their upcoming pay-per-views because I don't think it's going to be really easy for them to stack it from top to bottom like they have been doing so over the last three to four years. I'm curious to any of your thoughts on that, man. Have a great day. Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, it's no secret how I have felt. about how the UFC has handled business this year. It's just kind of chucking shit at the wall for the most far,

especially the apex cards. The apex card's just awful. I mean, they've just been awful. Really, really bad. It just sucks the life out of you. It's just not great. It really just isn't great. But 300 was one of the best events they've ever had.

$2.99 was incredible. $298 was a really good card. 301, certainly forgettable. it was actually like a fun event but no one's going to go back and watch it because it was just from like a quality control and from like a star perspective

there was I mean it was just tough one of the worst actual lineups they've ever had on pay-per-view but it was a fun watch 302 was awful except for the main event and you know Kevin Holland McKell Oaxecheck and like

a couple of other random moments on the card this card I just don't see a world where this card stinks. So I get it. It's just too much. Like, it's just too much. They got to get out of the apex. They got to get out of it.

And I know I'm one of like the last people that I was just like, yeah, it's still fine. I get the value in it. But they got to get out of there, man. They got to get out of there. It's just a soul-sucking adventure at this point. Unless you're just going to do it. WWE just did. with NXT and like make it look cool,

make it look like WCW Saturday night used to look in Atlanta. Then you're like, you got something. There's people in there. Like it's cool. There's an energy level to it. Like that's different, but they just don't have that.

They just don't have that. Three events a month is perfect. Even if you do it at the apex, like I didn't care. One road show for a fight night. One apex card, one pay-per-view a month. And if you want to mix in a second pay-per-view a month, fine. But going like 17 weeks in a row is insanity. It's just too much.

It's just too much. It wears you out. And then your expectations just get to an unrealistic level. Let me talk about, I'm trying to remember all the other stuff. We'll talk about the Connor thing and the pay-per-view thing. Yeah. So, I mean, look, I've been telling you about Salt Lake City for months now. They've got to fit it in somewhere.

It looks like it's going to be October. I don't remember Dana saying anything about doing two September pay-per-views and two October pay-reviews. I don't think that's the case. Because No-J UFC is, I think there's still going to like, I think they're still going to treat 306 as 306. It's going to be rebranded as something else, but they're not just going to be like, well, we're just going to skip, like, skip this as if it never happened.

I just think it's just a rebranding of the event. Calling it Noche UFC and Read season. That whole thing is super weird, by the way. Noce UFC, Mexican Independence Day, sponsored by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Las Vegas. It's just, it's just kind of strange. But it's got to be a massive event. Where Connor fits in all of this is nowhere.

Nowhere. unless like literally they would have to add because they're not going to Connor's not going to fight at the sphere they don't need him at the spear because they're going to load this thing up if they do max holloway versus ilia toporia if they do Grasso versus whoever maybe Schifchenko maybe not if you listen to what Alexa Grasso said the other day could be manned and fioro there's your two title fights maybe you had a third i don't know maybe that's or you put pants and

Asakura? I don't know. But you don't need Connor for that. Like that's a special event that they're going to just hoist up to a whole other level. So you don't need them. You don't need them there.

You're going to do, you're going to sell it out, you're going to do big numbers, pay for you's going to be good. You don't need him there. He's certainly not going to Salt Lake City because why would you ever do that? If you're going to put that fight anywhere,

you don't put it at elevation. Looks like we're going to get if you watch any of the Hall of Fame Red Carpet interviews, looks like we're probably going to get Raquel Pennington versus Giuliana Payne on that card somewhere. That's all the rumblings I've been hearing as well, but I don't know if it's like

signed sealed delivered or not. So this isn't, I mean, this isn't like breaking news or anything. People have been talking about this for weeks. What will headline that one? I don't really know. I'm trying to think. Like, what do you do there? Is that where you put Sean O'Malley versus Marab?

If you don't do, I think it's one of the two. You either do Ilya Max or O'Malley Marab. Whatever one is not at the spear, that's probably the main event for Salt Lake City, would be my guess. And then they'll do Abu Dhabi in October. Then they'll do MSG in November. I think you just have to hope Connor can fight in December. I mean, that's really the only place you can put it. I mean, could they add another pay-per-view?

I mean, if they wanted to, I'm sure they could, but let's just do it in December, man. Like, let's just do it in December. Or do John Stipe in December and do Connor at MSG. I mean, one of those two. But the Connor saga is wild at this point. Let's go to Will. Will are you there? Will you're muted.

Hey, Mike. Can you hear me? Yep, got you, ma'am. Awesome. Hey, thanks for taking me. So just a couple of things that I've been interested in. So this whole thing with Pereira is just, it's kind of wild to me because, like you said, like, he's, this is his chance to become, like,

bona fide superstar status and Hall of Fame, but you have people like Yeri saying he's using shaman magic. You have Jamal Hill saying it was a flute knockout because of this stuff, and you have so many people discrediting everything he does. Even Izzy, I mean, to defeat him the second time, he had to pull a rope a dope, you know. And so, I don't know, it's just kind of weird when you look at, what Pereira is done, and I'm not taking anything away from him, but why do you think so many fighters are so quick to discredit, like, how he wins or his talent or all this stuff?

I mean, obviously, they got to say stuff to promote the fight, but you don't hear a lot of people come out and say, like, he's really talented. Even Sean Strickland, I think, in the fight, kind of just walked forward thinking he wasn't going to get caught, and he got caught, you know? So that was one thing, and then I was going to ask you your thoughts. on Tracy Cortez, Rosnamu, Eunice. You know, that fight is really interesting to me and mostly because of what Tracy did

against Jasmine, Juddivis. Rose's striking is obviously world-class, but Tracy showed that she could really box and she had a really good showing against Jasmine, even though she's known for her wrestling. So I'm curious to see how you think that fight goes. And if you give Tracy a pretty decent shot at taking that.

And then I was thinking, just because you were talking about Connor, but it kind of makes sense. Like if they go to Madison Square Garden in November, why not just throw them on that card or Las Vegas in December? That's all I got for you. And have a heck of them work. Thanks, Will. So I'm looking at draftings right now.

Right now, Rosamie Yunus, a minus 185 favorite to come back on Tracy Cortez plus 154. I get it. understand it I think Rose is the better striker and if it gets to the ground it's going to be real interesting there's a huge opportunity

for Tracy Cortez I feel like she's been slow-rolled in such a massive way I mean it's just it's almost like we're seeing your fight like once a year it's really strange and I feel like the UFC could be doing such a better job promoting her

like I know she's kind of easy to promote but if she's so inactive, like, you've got to put the hosses behind her because she's, she's very marketable. She's very marketable. And she's a fun-ass fighter. I do think the fact that, I mean, she's definitely going to be bigger than Rose in there. She's definitely going to be, have more size. She's definitely going to have more strength than Rose.

Rose might be a little ranger, but Tracy could just kind of hoss her around, I think. So I think it's an interesting fight. I think it's an interesting fight. gut-wise, I'm probably picking Rose because she's just been in there with way better fighters. But Tracy's a dog, so this could be a lot of fun. It's going to be in Denver.

So I think that certainly helps Rose, gives her a little bit of an advantage because that's where Rose is from. She's from Colorado. She knows what it's like to be up there in that elevation. Tracy's going to probably have to deal with it a little bit differently.

So, yeah, I lean Rose, but big opportunity for Tracy Cortez like the booking, like the matchmaking. We'll see if it ends up being the main event. If they just do a three-rounder, I don't know. And oddly enough, Jasmine Jasvizius is on that same card. Against Viviani Ara Ujo. That Denver card's falling apart, huh?

Mike Mollop versus Gilbert-Bina off the card. Chris Duncan's fighting the Zim Sadacoff? When the hell of that happened? I didn't even see that. Okay. And that's what the, that's what Draft Kings is saying. Did not even see that.

So you learn something every day. The Pereira thing, it's funny because I just mentioned how like, no, none of the fans have like a really bad thing to say about Pereira, but the fighters for some reason. And I'm not going to say it's like jealousy, but it is mysterious to a lot of people.

And we have this conversation, a lot of anybody fighting. Like, we don't know, like, when Alex Pereer won the middleweight title, we were like, he might be like the seventh best middleweight in the world you know what i mean like we didn't look at him and just say yeah that is far and away the clear number one middleweight and even now as the light heavyweight champion we still don't know if he's the best light heavyweight in the world right

you got magamana alif you get some others and you just like what if he fights maga mangan he like could you confidently pick Alex Pereira against Magamenekelaif? A lot of people weren't even confidently picking him to beat Jamal Hill or Yuri or even Jan Bolovich for that matter. So he's such an anomaly but he's not

he's never like a gigantic favorite in like any of these rights. He's just such a weird example of all of this. He's a unicorn. And I don't know if we're going to see anything like this ever again. It's unbelievable. It truly is

and he's so likable and he barely speaks a lick of English Yuri's the same way it's crazy the Jamal Hill thing is unbelievable to me I don't know if you guys have watched this video

of him watching Demetrius Johnson break down his fight with Alex Pereira it's just unbelievable the fall All from just literally, this needs to be studied. This needs to be studied how Jamal Hill has handled this loss.

And not only the handling of the loss, but the way he's handled it over two months after it happened, it's something. It really is. I just don't know what's going on in that man's head right now. But this needs to be studied and looked at for sure. And I don't know how bad the injury is that he has. has right now.

I know he's sitting there saying if Alex loses like I'm fighting you. I don't think that's true at all because if Alex loses he's just going to fight Yuri a third time and if Alex wins I don't think you ever fight Jamal Hill again. It's just a weird situation. Now I get

like there was a part of me that understood that long Instagram post right? There was a part of me that got that with the words with word coming that Connor might not fight Michael Chandler, the unknown, and Jamal Hill was already on the card. So taking the chance to maybe fight Alex Pereira again, not the worst idea in the world.

Still, the way he did it was super weird. But I get it. But you didn't get the fight. Alex is fighting somebody else. You're hurt. Why make the video to begin with? It's just this sort of fall from grace from Jamal Hill in such a short amount of time is pretty crazy. It's pretty crazy.

Let's go to Matt. Matt, are you there? Just a couple things I want to throw out. This weekend, I'm actually really excited for Cub Swanson and Andre Feely. I feel like that is going to be a fucking great fight while it lasts, even if it goes to a decision. But I kind of feel like this might not end very well for Mr. Feely. But the other thing that I wanted to say is I do feel like Abswalie has been right. This year has been quite the slug in terms of fights,

and I will watch every single one of them because I'm too hardcore. And the very, very last thing is, what the fuck is the point of tough if you're just going to not have the coaches fight at the end of the year? Like Michael Chandler and Connor McGregor, it honestly just seems like it's not going to happen at this point. Now you're going to have, you know, with the Ballantina and Alexa, it just kind of seems like it's going to be followed through.

So what the fuck is the point? if nobody even watches that show anymore. And we're not getting that greater talent that's coming off of it. Matt, I don't know if you notice, but Alexander Kay Lee is here. And I'm sorry, A.K. I'm sorry you had to hear that.

Sorry to hear that slander of the Ultimate Fighter, the least evolving television show that has ever existed. I apologize that you had to hear those words, A.K., really, really terribly sorry. Look, they try to do, They try to do Connor and Chandler. They're still going to try to do Connor and Chandler.

They're trying to do Grasso versus Shikchenko. They're trying, but Valentina has been Valentina's been pretty clear. Like, I kind of like don't want to do the Mexican independent state thing again.

Because like I did it last year. So why don't we do something different? Neutral ground. neutral territory, neutral card. Maybe we'll do it in my neck of the woods, which we knew it wouldn't happen. So maybe, I don't know if she's trying to play hardball or what. I can tell you that there have been conversations with Bannon Fiore.

I mean, I'm not saying anything off-kilt because Alexa Grasso literally just said the same thing. But obviously, Schochenko is the bigger fight. It's the one people want to see. There's a rivalry there. There's a beef there. And yes, they just spent. all this time doing the ultimate fighter and yeah it's a it's a thing it's a thing or you i mean we've been trying i feel like for the last four years we're like how do we fix the ultimate

fighter uh and how do i k how do how do you feel about this the slander of your favorite television show i'll feel this one kent um listen i first of all i apologize to you hear some sizzling i'm I'm doing some eggs right now. This is what people who watch The Ultimate Fighter do. We do eggs. Pure protein, my friend, pure protein. No, it's a, honestly, it's a fair question. And anyone who's heard me talk about The Ultimate Fighter will tell you,

I think it's so stupid that they use it as a vehicle to quote-unquote build fights. Because, again, either the fight doesn't happen, we just have a handful of times and looks like, again, I agree with the caller that I don't think it's going to happen with McGregor and Chandler either. or you're making these fights fighters wait a long time both the filming of the show and then they have to wait for the show to air and then and I get it they're training the whole time

but we've seen how much can happen like when there's a normally booked fight with three months anticipation right injuries happen illness has happened fights get canceled now you're talking about filming a show and then the preparation and then all the hype and stuff and then actually booking the fight and it looks like that's what happened with kind of grass

on chavchenko here is like well now sing shi mchenko is just kind of like I don't I'm moving on I'm moving on from this matchup right now at least for this particular day. So yeah, it's silly. What's the point of the ultimate fighter now? I'm honestly not sure. It is Dana's kind of pet project now.

I do think someone at UFC, or I guess ESPN, enjoys it. It's probably cheap programming. But yeah, it doesn't find... It's not going to find you the next great talent. If it does, it's pure luck. It's not the purpose of the show anymore. I think this year's cast is actually really good, but I'm not predicting any of them to be a world title contender

within the next two years. So I couldn't tell you. You know, I'm actually surprised that after the Conner season, they didn't take another year off. Just make it sort of like, I don't know, bi-annual thing, maybe not do it every year. But someone's watching

me. So, to everyone who gets me in the UFC, thank you. Thank you for keeping the program going. But I actually don't have a good answer for why it keeps going. And I wish with the coaches, they would just find interesting coaches like

Chale Sonan or Matt Serra's stuff, like guys who aren't going to fight and just make the programming interesting as opposed to trying to use it to high fights, which it doesn't do. I agree. Again, It's the least evolved program that has ever existed.

I mean, production elements, like, the cameras are nicer. Like, that's literally the only change that it's made. And I can't remember, like, the last fighter that competed on the on Tuff that was just like, yeah, this guy, got to keep an eye on him. Like, who's the Michael Bisbing or the Matt Brown or the Joe Lozon or the ally Quinta or the Kelvin Gasolum or, you know, like, when was the last time? When was the last time we were like, yeah, that guy's got to be a champion? The ultimate fighter for like two years was like a backup plan for the contender series. So if a fighter that clearly wasn't UFC ready want to fight on the contender series, they're like, hey, we're not going to sign you. But boy, do we have a prize for you?

We're going to make you go on the ultimate fighter for a season and stay in a house with nothing. It's just crazy, man. And it's almost like slogged down Contender Series too. Contender Series is my favorite Contendor Series is my favorite thing that has been done in MMA over the last like seven or eight years.

And to see what my favorite child in MMA has become, it just sucks. Like it almost gets to the point where I don't even want to watch the Contender Series because there's no mystery. If you win, you're getting a contract. If you lose a competitive fight, you're getting a contract. Where are the days?

I don't want to go on my soapbox, but if you're a newer fan, you did not watch the first season of the Contender Series or even the second season, those are the days. Those are the days. You had the best regional fighters on the planet going in there and fighting.

And even if you got a first-round finish, it was not enough sometimes to get you a contract. You had to be, you had to have it all. And now it's just 35 contracts a year. More than that. Shit. I don't even think they gave up 35 contracts combined in the first two seasons. But now it's like eight episodes.

You're getting 35, 40, 42 contracts every year. It's crazy. And we'll get why they're doing it because they have to fill these shitty apex cards with people who fight. And there's just too many fighters getting signed who are not ready, who are not UFC level. It's just, there's too many. Too much. Too much.

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Chase card holders. Deposit and credit card products provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, member FDIC. Terms, conditions, restrictions, and limitations apply. Brett, go ahead. Hey, Mike. I just want to let you know that I live an hour away from beautiful Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And so I looked at going to the PFL event, headlined, of course, by superstar Logan Storyly. And they are charging $50 a ticket and the place is not even going to be half full. Why would they do this?

Great. Thank you. Is Storley even headlining or is Brennan Lockbade headlining? I actually don't even know. I thought it was Storley, but it's a bad card. It's a bad card. But I live. Oh shit.

Sorry, man. Sorry. So here's the thing. I don't even think it's that bad of a card. Like, I don't think it's a bad fight card. Because I looked at it yesterday for the first time, and I was like, I had no idea that this person was fighting, that this person was fighting.

I had no clue Lorenz Larkin was fighting on this card. No clue at all until I had to write up the ceremonial way in post for MMA fighting. And I went to PFL's Twitter page, and they did the sort of side-by-sides of, the fighters making weight, almost all of them. Gabriel Brogge did not. And I was like, oh shit, Lorenz Larkin's fighting. Yes, Brennan-Laknand, Justin Gonzalez is the main event for this car, which should be fun.

Logan Storley, Luca Polklet is the co-main event. And then, you know what? M.MA fans around the world are like, you know who I want to see Brennan Ward fight? You know who would be a great, you know what kind of style? the type of stylistic matchup we want to see for Brennan Ward, just this absolute lunatic. Let's throw him in there with the dude with the OV last name. Although I will say Umalatov does have pretty good striking,

so this could be fun, but it's not like the typical Brennan Ward car crashy fight that we come to expect. Gabriel Braga, Bubba Jenkins, good fight. Braga did miss weight by a whole bunch. Lorenz Larkin's fighting a guy he should absolutely destroy. Timor Kisriev, Enrique Barzola, should be fun while it lasts. Like, it's not a bad card. Just like Brett Johns, Tyler Diamonds, speaking of the Ultimate Fighter.

Like, that's going to be fun. Don Madge, Neiman Gracie, that's a good fight. Kai Kamaka, Pedro Carvalio. It's going to be fun. Goichi Amouchi, Andre Koreshkov. Like, this is a decent lineup. But nobody cares. Nobody cares.

And it's tough. I really wish people care. I really wish that PFL was something right now. I really wish they had the hunger and desire within them to be great because they're doing, they're just, nobody knows the difference between the two of them, as we've talked about a lot. It's so confusing.

And the attitude that surrounds these promotions annoys the shit out of me. That they're, we're already the best. Like, look at, just go look through Don Davis's Twitter. Just go look at his Twitter and just look at the post that he's paid. This, we're already there. We've already accomplished all of these great things. We are the, we are the co-leader.

Only two promotions are doing well, the UFC and us. What are you talking about? The night, like, they're just so naive. It annoys me. just get people who understand the sport in these positions to improve the product, to make it compelling, to create hunger and drive in a need to succeed outside of, hey, look at the television rights deal we signed, which is obviously important, but we need to do other stuff too.

You need to build stars. Nobody cares about fight matrix rankings. They do not care. They want to see stars. And every somewhat star they've had, or at least that is on their roster that they have promised us, none of them have fought.

None of them. No Francis. No Jake Paul. No Amanda Serrano. None of them have fought. None. Come on, PFL. Do the thing.

Please. We need to. You need you. This sport needs you. Everybody in here, we need you. We need you to be good. If you're good, it improves everybody else. It improves us. It improves the fan base. It improves the UFC if you're good. Those crappy apex cards, they go away if you're good. But they have no fear. You see no fear. They have no competition. None. None at all. Come on, P.F. Do it. We're on cyber. Go ahead. What's going on, Mike? Can you hear me?

Yes. Hey, real quick, I'm going to switch it up. I wanted to talk about karate combat. I've never seen a karate combat event, and I noticed that James Vic was fighting Hafeel Alves, two former UFC lightweight. So I'm assuming it's going to be a pretty good fight, but like I said, I've never seen it before. And I wanted to know if you would recommend it to, you know, a buddy of yours who's never

seen that event or mixed martial arts in general, or not mixed martial arts, but a combat sporting event and uh is it better than your favorite sport in a slap boxing or slap fighting thanks mike yeah yeah for sure i mean to me again like and i've talked about this with power slap and stuff like if it's for you then cool i'm not going to sit there and say your your shithead if you like power slap and because i don't like it i just think it's really dumb i understand the appeal of it and i understand it's one of those things where and i think karate combat is a similar thing when it comes to the experiencing

of the card where I am not like on a day off going to rush to watch karate combat at home. I'm not. If I'm working and it's on

like I'll sit there and watch it. Now would I go to an event? If they came to like Savannah, Georgia, would I go? Fuck yeah, I would. I would definitely go. It just seems like an experience. Everyone's just kind of hanging around.

Like I don't think anybody sits. I think. It's just a standing room kind of a of a situation. And it's just a different setup and a different look and a different feel. But it's still like striking and fun stuff. I know they do grappling stuff as well. They're diving into some different things, but they're doing like fun things. And is it a sort of promotion that's going to have staying power?

I hope so. But again, like, they're just, they're doing small venues. They're doing shit in, like, President Awesome's mother's backyard or something, like, which is awesome, by the way. They have names that make you want to tune in, like getting Luke Rockhold to fight on those cards. And, you know, even the Sam Alvies of the world, like, this is brilliant. Like, these are smart moves. So, yeah, if you're, if the karate combat, like, comes to your area, should you go?

Yeah. I'll even say this. This might be a hot take, but I'm going to say it. If power slap comes to your ear, you should probably try to check it out. Because, I mean, I could care less about the actual fights themselves and the slapping. I do not care. I would probably go and not watch second of it. But what they do so well is they bring in people, like really interesting people to attend these events.

Like the last one they did, like Tom, freaking Tom Brady was there. Like Tom Brady's showing up to PowerSlapp. Now, did Tom Brady, out of the goodness of his heart, show up to PowerSlapp? I don't think so. Was he gifted probably a package that includes some dollars? Sure. More than likely. But that's the thing that they're doing very well.

On top of that, and I'll say this again, them bringing in Page, Van Zant, is absolutely brilliant. This is a brilliant move on their part because I can tell you this, outside of rating stuff, the business end, the positive drug tests for cocaine and other weird stuff that their fighters have had to go through, we have not covered a second of PowerSlav. No, we don't have results. We don't cover the cards. For three, 300 week, I think Jose was there, but we were only there for just to get the Dana White scrum at the end. Like, we're not covering any of it. Now, Paige goes out and just obliterates this woman that she's slapping tonight, or if she goes and gets obliterated, every MMA website is going to write it up.

Like, we're all going to write it up. It's going to happen. So this is smart. This is smart on their part to get. the MMA side of the community involved. Otherwise, like, we're just not going to cover it at all. There's no need for us to cover it. It's not mixed martial arts.

It's not our thing. It's not our thing. But getting Page in there, brilliant move. Absolutely brilliant. And it's going to get the MAA media, like the top of the top to at least pay attention to what's happening tonight because of the page. But, and who knows?

We'll see who else they bring in. But, yeah, craddy combat's the answer for me. But I think if they power sup travels and they're in your neck of the woods, like I don't think it's a terrible thing to go. I think you'll, I think you'll have a good time just considering you never know who's going to actually walk through those doors and take part in the event. Dino, go ahead. For UFC 303, do you think they gave Uncle I the first title shot and denied it and then gave it the Uri?

no i don't think ankylaiath was even discussed for this so i mean ariel kind of laid it out and again the whole going back to what we talked about the beginning of the show of with reporting etc there's when you report like there are certain things that are on or off the record so like one thing that i completely agreed with what ariel said was no one was reporting on this whole situation but at the same token once ariel started reporting it like it's already like out there on our website so like it's not like we need to go out there and do investigative reporting on it because it's already on our YouTube channel like all the things that are going on

and we knew about all the things that were going on we knew about Yuri and Alex being discussed a week before the announcement we did BTL the day before the like hours before Dana made the announcements I knew that Yuri and Alex is the fight. I already knew it. But it was, again, you have to, the relationships are very important. When it's off the record, you can't report things.

You have to let things fall the way they're supposed to fall. Now, if people don't say off the record, then it's all fair game. But I think I mentioned like some of the fights that were being at least put on the table through all of this. was Max Holloway reached out to possibly fight Michael Chandler? Yeah. Was there any chance of Max Holloway taking this fight? No. There were a lot of other rumors and things that came to be,

but it seemed like with everything that was going on, the only fight that had an actual chance of happening was Pereira versus Barajra. That was the only one that the UFC wanted. Because there's the only big fight available to them. And Yuri was in from Jump Street. Yuri was in. He was ready.

Already started preparing for Alex Pereira at first mention. Alex Pereira was not in at first because, one, he was traveling. Two, this fight was being discussed for Perth. And three, he had two broken toes. Still training. It's not like he was on the couch

and just smashing 17,000 calories a day on vacation. He was training and doing seminars and doing appearances, doing a whole bunch of things. He was on vacation, but it was still one. working at the same time. So it was just a matter of getting him back in the fold and convincing him to do it.

And then once Connor fell through, they were just super desperate. And they were like, come on, man. Like, what do we need to do? What do we need to do? And then once Alex was like convinced to do it, then it was just like, yeah, man, we're going. And here we are. So no, Angolaive was not on the table from everything that I was told. I don't even think Angolive is going to be on the table after this fight.

which is crazy to think about, especially because he might actually be the best light heavy weight in the world. Is he the most exciting light heavyweight in the world? No. But is he... Is there a good chance he's the best? Yeah.

If Alex loses, he's going to fight Erie again. They're just going to rebook that fight. They're going to do it again. If Alex wins, he has a golden ticket. He can do whatever he wants. If the UFC says, hey, you want to fight Magga Manake-Ake-Live? Alex isn't going to say, no, I don't want to fight him. He'll say, I mean, I'll fight him, but I'd rather fight this dude instead.

And they'll be like, okay, bet. Then we'll do that. Like, if Anthony Smith beats Roman DeLidezay, there's a real chance that fight happens. There's a real chance they fight that fight happens. It would be ridiculous, but there's a real chance that fight happens because there's some beef there. And if Alex Pereira says, you know what, I want to go fight John Jones instead. they're going to do that fight. They're going to do it.

Alex is in a tremendous position. He risks, he's definitely risking some things on Saturday. There's no doubt about it. He's probably risking the John Jones fight or the chances of fighting John Jones anytime in the future with this one. He's risking it. But that's really all he's risking right now.

Because if he loses, he's just going to get to, he's just going to fight Erie again. There's no way they're not going to give him that rematch after saving their ass again. There's no chance he doesn't get the rematch unless he gets a really bad injury and he's out for a year or something. So it sucks Frank alive. And I talked about this on BTL yesterday. If you haven't gone back and rewatched his fight with Yombovovich, it's not as bad as Dana says it was. I didn't think it was as bad as he said it was on the night.

But I think there's a lot of, a lot of people were pissed off about how the Patty Pimbleau fight ended because most people thought Jared Gordon beat him. So there's already like a bad juju in the air because of that decision, whether or not it was a robbery. People felt like Patty lost. And I think people would have celebrated it if he did lose. And I think the juju would have been a little bit better.

But that and then just a fight that got real weird because Blahovitch just, he had Ankleiv badly hurt early in the fight with the leg kicks. Ankylaef is basically fighting on one leg and had a dig deep to come back and force a draw there. Like that fight is not as bad as it was made out to be. Well, when Dana gets a microphone in front of him and he says, this was the worst fight ever, this was terrible, that's what sticks in people's minds, and it's hard to overcome that. And I think that's kind of the situation Ankylaif is it. And Goliath is also, when he was put in very prime positions, did not deliver the goods.

He did it. Case and point, let me pull it up real quick. So I want to make sure I have all my P's and Q's here. I do not have the Jose Young's memory. Ancalaif goes out and beats Iwan Kuchelaba, right? Then he beats Nikita Krilov, that he beats Volcanozimir, gets a couple of decisions that aren't the most thrilling. So they give him and make him. event against Tiago Santos, which on paper, considering where Tiago Santos was in his career,

was Fremo position for him. This is your chance, man. You want to go fight for the belt? We're giving you a guy that you should absolutely run over and get a finish on. And he didn't. It was a sloggy decision that was way worse than the Anbovich fight, in my opinion, in terms of like going back and rewatching. Did not deliver. gets the Anthony Smith fight, gets a finish. Anthony Smith was hurt and gets injured in that one. But I don't think that fight goes any differently, even if Anthony Smith took a bunch of steroids for that fight,

which he would never do. Then he gets the shot with the Ambahovic. Dana kind of craps on it. Johnny Walker fight gets real weird because of the illegal knee. I actually thought that should have been a DQ and not a no contest. And then he finally finishes Johnny Walker after that, which is a fine win, but it's not the kind of win that's like we've got to give this guy a title shot now.

So he's probably going to fight somebody else. If I am Khalil Roundtree right now, that is the fight I'm shooting for if it's not Carlos Olberg. Like if Carlos Olberg can fight in Perth, if his injury is not that bad, then you probably try to shoot for that. But if you can't, you go fight Magamane Ankylaif, man.

It sucks to go from Jamal Hill, a fight that I actually thought Khalil Roundtree had a pretty decent shot of winning to Magalekulayef, who was like kind of the boogemonankalayaf, man, him this division. But if Khalil Rancho goes out there and beats Maghavad Angolaev, then he's one million percent getting a title shot.

So Ankleav's definitely going to have to fight again. I know he's managed by Ali, and I know Ali is a tremendous relationship with the UFC. But even that is probably not going to help Anka Laif. I mean, look at how much long Bilal Mohammed has had to wait for a title shot. You know what I mean? So Anka Lav's in a tough position. We'll take a few more, and then we've got to go.

Old Pat, if we can get you through. Go ahead. We might have you. Unmute. Old Pat, unmute. Sorry, man. Sorry. Yeah, I didn't realize that I was muted. Look, I'm not so concerned about anything that's coming up this weekend.

Fight-wise, I think everything's going to play out as I think it will, which is pretty standard. right I don't think Yuri's got a chance like he's an amazing fighter but

Jesus Christ he's got some issues I don't know what what's the most exciting fight on the card for everyone here

like honestly I think I think for me, I think it might be MVP and Gary. Thanks, old Pat. That fight's flying way under the radar. Thing got ramped up a little bit at the presser. I think outside of the main events,

that fight has the most, like the highest stakes of any of the other fights on the card. The winner of that fight is going to be a win away from a title shot. Could even find themselves in a title fight. Huge fight. Just massive. This, I'm torn on it because I love the stakes and I love the storyline behind it. I'm curious to see how Ian Machado, Gary, looks in this fight because this is clearly the toughest fight he's ever had. Michael Page, second UFC fight. The back and forth has been kind of interesting.

There is, like, I can't shake the feeling that this fight is going to be real tough to watch. I can't shake it. I hope I'm wrong. I hope these two go in there and just slug it out. But I just, I feel like if Page wins, it's going to be very similar to the Kevin Holland fight, where he's just darting away, he's punching him, and Gary in the face, a whole bunch. Gary can't touch him. Gary starts to get frustrated.

It becomes a long-distance kickboxing match. If Gary wins, I feel like he's going to have to just push Page against the fence, which Page is actually pretty solid. up against the fence. Like, if you go back and watch old Michael Page fights, that seems to be a strategy for a lot of fighters, and it doesn't go tremendously well for them. Because Paige has his way of getting off the fence

and at least doing a little bit of damage in there. But Gary is very effective in that spot, as you saw in the Jeff Neal fight. So this could be a world where it's just very similar to the Page Holland fight, or it's very similar to the Gary Neal fight. And either way, I don't think fans are going to be overly thrilled,

by how this goes. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't shake the feeling. I do have a bet on Ian Gary for the watch party. I am not confident in it. Minus 135. I think money is coming on Gary.

He's up to a minus 155 now. But Page is such a great underdog bet. Like every fight he's in, I bet him against Holland at dogg odds and I couldn't believe it. No disrespect to Kevin Holland. I just felt like that fight was going to go exactly the way that it went. But high stakes, man.

High stakes. I think Ian Gary could gain a ton from this fight. If he can go out there and beat – I think if he just goes out there and beats Page, like Wednesday, 30-27, I think it's going to go a long way, whether it's exciting or not. I think the hardcore fan is, like, damn, that's very impressive because it's very rare to go out there in 3027 Michael Page. I don't care who you are.

I don't care who you are. I thought he beat Logan Storley. He's in my, like, to me, he's only lost once. And it's when Lima knocked him into the, into another universe. But Paige is looking great in that fight until that happened. So, yeah, I'm intrigued by it. It could be, it could end up being a kind of a slog. But this is a huge opportunity.

This is just a huge one for Ian Gary. Like, I feel like we're going to get a lot of questions answered here. If Ian Gary can go out, if Ian Gary goes out, if Ian Gary goes out, finishes MVP, he will be the MVP of this card, in my opinion. Even though he's getting booed out of the building, which I still don't really understand, it would be massive. I mean, I'd be incredibly impressed if he does that. Rebel, go ahead.

Yeah, you there? Yep. Oh, yeah, so to the Gary MVP fight, that's probably my favorite fight on the card, too, but I don't agree with both of them getting set up for a title shot right away. I think MVP needs to prove himself a little more in the UFC and fight more top contenders. Like we all know other promotions. Yes, there's great fighters and other promotions. And the UFC, I think, has the best stable of fighters amongst the promotions all around the world.

So I think MVP needs to prove himself a little more. Gary, on the other hand, I got Gary went in this fight. Are you guys still there? I'm sorry, my daughter just hit the phone. No, yeah, I hear you. Yeah, I got Gary winning this fight. I think his ground game is way underrated. And I don't think I've seen much of MVP's ground game.

But the way he closes distance, if Gary's been, you know, training for that, you know, distance closing like he should have been, he can catch him easily the way MVP comes in with his hands down. But it's going to take a great sniper to do that. Now, to the Yeri and Piero fight, Yerie in the first fight I thought was winning until he got caught.

Alex, on the other hand, if he touches you with them heavy hands, it's going to hurt you. So if Yeri could just come in and be calmer and quit trying to go from the kill every single second of his fight like he does every fight,

I think if we see a calm Yeri, I think we see Yeri winning the belt this time. So that's all I got. It's definitely possible. It's definitely possible. But again, you said it, man. Perej just needs one.

He just needs one. and he can get it at any time, at any time. Pereira can pop, man. He can hit. I mean, Pashka can hit, but no one hits like Pereira, man. Nobody. He touches that button. It's over.

It's all over. So I think Pereira just becomes such a dangerous, is such a dangerous opponent because of that. He can just, as Jed says, he can boop you at any time. Anytime. And the thing about Yeri is he is. is very, very hitable. He gets hit a lot.

And that's a problem when you're fighting a guy like Alex Pereira. So the pick is Alex Pereira for me. But I think with the circumstances involved and everything happening right now, I can see Yuri being a good dog bet at plus 120. I think it's his best chance to beat Pereira, for sure. The Gary thing, so let me just clarify. I'm not saying that the winner is getting a title fight.

what I'm saying is the winner is probably a win away from getting to a title fight and could if the circumstances line up, it could line them up for a title fight, depending on how this goes. Now, obviously, Leon is fighting below Muhammad. Shafkat Rahmanov deserves to be next in line at this point. But what if Shafkot can't fight? What if he gets hurt?

What if something needs to happen? What if the UFC decides to go to the UK in like February next year? as great as Shafkat, Rachmanoff is, and I think he's the champion in waiting. Once he fights for the belt, I think it's his, and it's going to be his for a long time.

They go back to the UK or they go to Europe. What's a bigger fight for that audience? Leon Edwards versus Shafcott, or Leon Edwards versus Page or Gary? Is the latter, and it's not close. It's just not close. So I don't think the winner's getting a title fight, unless it becomes like a Steve Ursaig situation where Leon,

we want Leon here, we're going here, we're going back to the UK here, he needs to fight somebody, these guys are available, but the actual number one contender is not. But maybe the winner gets like JDM, someone like that, and if you get a win over a guy like that,

or you get, like one of these guys fights Kamara Usman or something, gets a win, like, yeah, they're getting a title fight after that. For sure. But I'm super intrigued by the matchup. I see a lot of people saying that it's going to be an absolute banger.

I really hope it is. I just don't think it's going to be. But that doesn't mean to, like to me that it's going to be a bad fight. I thought Paige Holland, I thought pages went over Holland was pretty darn impressive. I was impressed with Paige. I thought he was kind of fun. He was hitting Kevin Holland real hard, a whole bunch.

but I saw people like on the post fight show after that thought it was like a terrible fight. And I'm like, uh, different strokes for different folks, I guess. I mean, but we'll see. Again, significance wise, this is the second most important fight on the card. Julio, go ahead. Hey, good morning. A couple of questions. I'm really excited for the UFC Noche card or event.

And Dana keeps saying that it's going to be the best sporting event you'll ever see. but I'm wondering because he's usually like a very uniform, has a uniform approach and the ring walkouts and the music and things like that. So aside from the visuals that the sphere can obviously bring up, like what else would they possibly be doing that will make it the greatest event, a sporting event. And then when you have sources inside the UFC, like, it's a couple of questions. like do they put themselves at risk of their job like does it you does it piss off the ufc so much

where they investigate like what's the point of them um being that providing that information to outside sources um so the sphere car i'll start the sphere thing um it's gonna be cool like what what i don't think they're going to add anything like additionally production wise that they don't already do but i think the sphere will kind of provide just being what it is, we'll just provide something unique and different. I'm very curious to what the layout's going to look like after having conversations with people

who actually attended shows there. It's an undertaking and a half, from what I understand. They're going to have to move some shit around. They're going to have to remove some seats. They're going to have to do a whole bunch in order to make this work. Dana's already talked about how much money he's already had to spend,

which obviously when you partner up with Saudi Arabia and the re-ed season sponsorship, then becoming a title sponsor, which they'd never done before. They're going to front most of that cost. So that helps them tremendously. But even like just Noce UFC last year, they did nothing different.

They set up the card and it had a different feel to it, for sure. And just even watching it on television, it was a different kind of a setup because it was sort of a shout-out to Mexican Independence Day in the Mexican spirit, the warrior spirit that they have,

their fighters, et cetera, and it just felt cool as fuck. Like, it's just cool. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed every second of it. It was fun. It was unique and different. And I think they're just going to do a similar thing,

but just in a much cooler venue. And I think just, I don't think they're going to add anything to it. Like, this isn't going to look like a Bellator card, or it's not going to look like a Risen card or anything like that, but I just think the setup and the venue

and what you can actually do with it, I think they'll take advantage of some of that stuff. But I don't think they'll fall all out on it, if that makes sense. So the sourcing thing, like, as I talked about earlier, I mean, like, it's not like, for me personally,

I don't have, like, sources who work for the UFC. You know what I mean? Like, I, it's not like I get hit up Mick Maynor and be like, yo, Mick, what's up, man? It's your buddy Mike Heck. Is this fight happening on this date? Is this fight still happening on the state? Yeah, Mike, just don't use my name.

No, it doesn't really work like that. Sources are just in different spots. It could be, there's just all different relationships you can have with different people. Sometimes it's managers, sometimes it's coaches, sometimes it's the fighters themselves. And, yeah, they all feel like they're at risk. Like, they all, like, which is shocking to me. You know what I mean? like it's very rare that like and i know for a fact that ufc will talk to these people and be like

yo because like there's a lot of like crazy shit that i've sat on over the last few years because of that fear where it's like hey i heard this is this true and then they'll like the source will tell me yeah it's true but like been sworn to secrecy that you cannot say anything like truly cannot say anything the ufc said they will be pissed if this comes out or the UFC will say, you know, we're going in a different direction if this gets broken ahead of time. And you have to respect that. And you have to respect that. And if that fear comes out, they'll tell me that.

And then I'll just be like, okay, cool. Like, because I don't, again, I do not care about being first. I don't care. Like I said, I've broken three fights this week, or at least was part of the collab for three fights this week. The Cortez stepping into fight Nama Yunus news, Miranda Maverick's new opponents, and then the Slava Claus fight. But like, who cares?

Like, nobody cares. And sometimes it's, you dig for it. And sometimes it gets kind of handed to you. And you just have to go find the other pieces. The most important thing about the sourcing, though, is you need to have multiple sources. You can't just have one. And there are, I see it all the time.

There are people who will get, like here's a perfect example, okay? Perfect example. I got a text message two weeks ago from somebody I don't know. It was a 702 area code. There's a Vegas phone number. And they told me, Jake Paul, Mike Perry, July 20th, it's happening. It's a done deal. That's the text they got.

This is well before it became official in all of that. And I see this and I'm like, what the fuck? So, of course, I respond. I'm like, who is this? And they're like, a simple thank you will suffice. That was the response. Still to this day, have no idea who this person is. Now, I could have just taken that text and been like, hey, Jake Paul, Mike Perry's happening

July 20th because I trust this person. No, that's not what I did. And I would have been right. I would have been right, obviously. But of course, I go and we reach out. We talk to different people. We talked to one side, told it's being discussed. I reach out to the other side.

The text message exchange became a phone call, became like a 20-minute phone call. And I was essentially told, it's possible, but it's not done. There are many options on the table. Mike is one of them. And I would say the chances of this fight happening July 20th from this conversation I had was 50-50 at best at the time. That night, Happy Punch reports that it's a done deal.

And of course, I see this and I reach back out and I say, now it's saying it's a done deal. And then I was told, no, nothing has changed at all. It's still exactly the same. next day it rolls through same conversation next day it rolls through same conversation next day it rolls through same conversation and it's like this for another

week or so and we go back we let a few days subside and we reach out to one of the sources and they say I think so if the fight's happening then I reach out to the other side and I say hey now I'm told like it might happen

now I'm told it might not happen I'm told there's like other names on the table. And then I have another phone call and it's like, okay, it's happening. It's done. Probably going to get announced tomorrow. And then from there, like, I could be like, hey, it's done and report it. But I was told, like, do not report it. Like, we want to, like, you know, the announcement is going to come the way it's going to come, et cetera.

But these are the things you have to deal with, right? Like, these are, this is. how you have to do it. I could have taken that text message and reported it and been right. But can you imagine the amount of stress I would have been under for a week, hoping that this is right? Because if for some reason Jake decides not to fight July 20th or fights Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Instead of Mike Perry, I look like a fucking idiot. I look like a moron. So you have to like be smart about that. So when it comes to like the sources with the UFC, like you just have to build these relationships and you have to listen to what they say. Someone says, like I knew about the Cortez News, like two hours before I reported it. I knew one side was 100% in. I knew there were negotiations going on on the other side.

So I was told, do not report, still being negotiated. That's how it works. And then eventually I reach back out. I'm getting a little bit more clarity on the situation. And then finally I get the, okay, you're good. It's done. We're doing it. And then it became the whole thing, whether or not it's the main event or is the co-main event.

Is it three rounds? Is it five rounds? All that shit. Reporting sucks. Not reporting, but breaking news sucks. It's terrible. It's not fun. And like Ariel said on Wednesday, and he said in the past, like, the juice isn't worth

to squeeze because nobody cares. Nobody cares who reported him. We're already like way past all of this. But that's how we're out. All right. we're going to take four corner sports in collo and city rapid fire like 30 seconds each i got to go i gave you guys an extra 30 minutes i'm going in trouble go ahead four core sports oh no not going through collin city yes of 21 who's bringing it home new york rick gc or ariel

appreciate it man enjoy the fights this weekend uh probably aerial from what i hear it's probably Hawaii. Now, I do understand, in a game of 21, there's one name you didn't mention, and it's mine. Because I could shoot, I could shoot really, really well. I am not the play runner. Like, I'm not that dude, hey, let's run this play. No, no, no, no, I'm the dude who runs around, shoots threes, boxes out, and is a pest defensively. But my game ain't pretty. It's just, it's rough and tough. But I could shoot the rock. So I think I would actually do pretty well in that.

I think I would have a chance to beat all of those guys in 21. I would feel pretty decent about that. All right. If we can get Nicholas in right away, we'll take him. If not, we got to go. Nicholas, do we have you, real quick. Nicholas, you're muted. Quick, go.

Can you hear me? Yep, go ahead, quick. What the fuck is up with Jamal Hill? I mean, for fuck, say, get that guy. some tampon, some shit. Whoa. And should I bet my savings on Marabuano Silva? Thank you.

You shouldn't bet your savings on anybody, ever. I mean, the betting line is so weird with that fight. Miss Chayson, like, as of a week and a half ago, is like almost a plus 200 underdog, and now she's the favorite. It's basically a coin flip, but Chayason's a minus 115,

The comeback on Silva is minus 105. Weird. Very weird. I'm picking Myra Buena Silva to win. This is, this fight to me screams, and this is not exactly the same, but I'm just going to paint a little picture here. I look, in this fight in particular,

Myra Buenaed Silva to me is Makwanamir Kani, where I think she's going to toss Macy-J-J-Zon a round, bunch and put her in some big trouble. But if she doesn't finish Macy Chias down in the first round, I mean, I think you got to sprinkle some live odd money on Macy, man. Like, that's how I see this fight. So no, you shouldn't do that. I talked about the Jamal Hill thing earlier.

It's just super weird, man. It's just super weird. Just take the loss, move on. The whole thing is like, I don't think you guys understand what salty is. do a 30-minute breakdown of Demetrius Johnson's breakdown of your fight. Demetrius Johnson, one of the best minds in the history of the sport. And you're just going through the video and trying to correct DJ. And then just sending the message to Alex Pereira.

Like, it's been two and a half months, man. Come on. And I like Jamal Hill. Like, I do. I've interviewed him a bunch before he was a contender and all that shit. Like, good dude. But I just don't, I don't get the strategy here. He's become so unlikable amongst the community.

It's rough. It's so rough. Just get over it, man. Get over it. Go fight somebody else. Become undeniable. And then call for the Pereira fight if it's, if it's available to you. Like this whole thing is like, Pereira, if you lose, there's no doubt about it.

We're fighting. No, you're not fighting Alex Pereer if you loses and you're not fighting Alex if he wins. You're out of the conversation right now. You've got to beat somebody else. Alex loses is just going to fight Yuri again. And if he wins, he's definitely not fighting you again. He clobbered you.

He knocked you dead. That's it. I know it was weird with the Herb Dean thing. But he knocked you. He freaking blasted you. That's it. Get back. We've seen me.

fighters come back from tough spots to earn title shots we've seen it go do it go fight coliol roundtree go fight carlos olberga whoever is there go fight magamenekel life dude you want a title shot go beat that guy you go beat magamanaikolai if i will come on this show on tuesday and i will say if jamaal hill does not get a title shot it's a travesty it is a travesty but that's the road you have to take right now you've got to go slay these guys stop talking about Alex Pereira man I mean you can talk about him

but stop talking about the fight it's over there's no rivalry there it's done we left the Uri fight thinking yeah these two guys aren't done there's more to this story

we can feel it no one said that about Jamal Hill nobody nobody said that about the Jamal Hill Alex Pereira thing. Oh, these two guys are going to be tied together forever. No, we're ready to move on. We're still ready to move on. It's crazy. Absolutely nuts. All right, we got to go. I went way too long. I'm going to yell that. So thank you all very much. Preview show, 3 p.m. Eastern on the YouTube

channel. Shaheen, Jed, New York, Rick. Wayans coming up 20 minutes right now, noon Eastern on the channel, AK, I think you will be the voice of it and I think it's just going to be AK and Jose Yes, AK and Jose People's Free Fight show 515 Eastern Tomorrow I'll be doing that in the ATL Watch party

GC and I in person in Atlanta leaving in the morning to drive out there, very excited trying something a little bit different Jed will join us as well from time to time and it's going to be a great weekend everybody

so get excited, get fired up UFC 303 right around the corner and stick with us at MAAfighting.com we will have you covered. Have a great rest of your Friday. Have a heck of a morning, everybody. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.