MMA Fighting - HOAM | What's Next For Alex Pereira While Jamahal Hill Recovers From Injury?

Episode Date: November 16, 2023

Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill for the UFC light heavyweight title will be a super intriguing matchup, but it's doubtful that Pereira will sit on the sidelines for that long while Hill recovers from his achilles injury. If the UFC chooses to keep Pereira active, will he get his third fight with Israel Adesanya, or will there be a new challenger for the title? On an all-new Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck attempts to answer that question, talks options for Pereira, and why the UFC probably won't wait for Hill before booking the UFC's newest two-division champion. Additionally, listener questions include Bellator 301 possibly being the final promotional event, Scott Coker's run as the promotional face of the organization, Benoit Saint-Denis' future in the UFC's lightweight division, the UFC Vegas 82 main event between Brendan Allen and Paul Craig, Allen's ceiling at 185, 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 Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Thursday, November 16th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning.

We are live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter Space, you hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter. on the MA Fighting Podcasting Network, which is, I mean, I'm being a little bit biased. The MA Fighting Podcasting Network has been electric, to say the least, after the ranking show that just exploded in format, I would have to say. It was a lot of Boston mic. It was full proof of why I host these shows, and I'm not really allowed to be a panelist on these shows, because I'm a stubborn prick and the Boston mic comes out. And even when I'm wrong, I'll never admit it on shows like that. But it was a fun listen.

If you guys want to go back and check it out, go check out the ranking show. The first like 50 minutes, it's a courtroom setting. The Honorable Judge Alexander Kay Lee was presiding. I thought he was my best friend. Turns out I was set up from the get-go. and we were arguing whether or not John Jones or Tommy Aspinall was the number one heavyweight in the world. And it was a heated discussion. So go check that out on the podcasting network.

But we're here to talk about other things. It is Thursday. It is a very busy day. We have a lot going on here at M.A. fighting. We have this show. We have BTL at 12.30 p.m. Eastern time.

Jed Mishu returns. He will be joined by very special guest. maybe the man who had the most vicious finish of the entire weekend in combat sports, former UFC fighter, current game bred bare knuckle fighter, Randy Costa, fresh off his teeth-shattering win over Jason Knight. He will join us to recap that and talk about the big news. Going on in the world of mixed martial arts, so that should be a lot of fun. We'll be recording a brand new, Dan, they were good.

A little bit later on today, I think you guys are going to dig it. And there's just a whole bunch going on. So we're also on the eve of Bellator 301, which may be the final Bellator event. Who the hell knows? It's probably going to be the final Bellator event, at least under this current ownership. And boy, it's hard to get people to care when the promotion doesn't even really care, huh? It's kind of a tough hang. And it sucks because the card is by far the best of the weekend.

Like, it's way better than the UFC's card. We have the fight of the weekend for sure with Patchy Mix and Sergio Pettis for the undisputed Banimoy title. Yaroslav Amoslav versus Jason Jackson will be an interesting battle. And the card is just really, really good. But it's just Belator is kind of going out with a whimper. And it's tough. But then we get the UFC on Saturday.

And that card is not very good. The main event's pretty, should be pretty fun between. Brennan Allen and Paul Craig, but the rest of the card outside of like two or three fights, not great. But the good news is it's a 2 p.m. Eastern start time, and that always bumps things up at least like a half a point, if not a full point. So we can talk about that. We can still talk about the hangover UFC 295.

The big news and the sport, we could do it all. And we're going to kick things off. Let's go to you all. Let's go to holding hands and throwing fists. Love that. Nate. How are you? You're muted. You just got to unmute yourself. Hey, sorry about that, Mike. Oh, good. How are you? Awesome. Yeah. Thanks a lot for having me on the show. My wife and I are huge fans. And this is truly an honor. So thanks a lot. Mike, hope you're having a heck of a morning. Yes, you too. Just a quick question, just for fun. Who do you think is the best dressed person in

MMA right now. The best dressed person in MMA? Yeah. Oh, man. That's a great question. I got to tell you, I thought Alex Pereira looked like a couple of Billy

on Saturday when he walked in. He had the suit, but he had the black non-collared shirt. He had the chains going. He looked tremendous. And Yuri looked tremendous too. With the sort of samurai gear. It's hard to

it's hard to go against Connor because I think he kind of set the table for all of it. Connor suits are probably half of my salary each. And yeah. But I was impressed with with Yuri and Alex, but it's probably got to be Connor. I feel pretty good about that. Do you have anything else holding hands? Do you have you?

I think I'll share it. Yeah, it's a good question, though. There's a lot of options, but I'd say Connor is probably the correct. answer. Let's go to Tristan. Tristan. Hi, Mike. Can you hear me? Yes. Hey, I wanted to talk about Benoit Saint-Denis. This performance was absolutely

phenomenal. We talked about him early. I know, I think you weren't really sold with him yet. You had to see more. I just felt like oh, this guy was going to be really, really good. Heard him with Eriot, I think yesterday. Speak about, you know, his

his past and, you know, being in the military and things that nature. And then I talked about a little bit about his future about being BMF. That's why he wanted Justin Gagei. With Benoit Sintanese, he's got to be probably, I got four pillars right now that up in the coming years, these guys are going to fight each other. Now, that's Matus Gamrod, Benoit, Benoit, Santinese, Arm and Surukian, and then Rafael Faziv, those four. Now, I still, and then I also think Matush Trambeski,

next year, probably the end of 2024, he'll find his way up in the top 15. It's just the problem is he's got to get better fighters. I know if you expressed that, that the three fights that he had, you know, wasn't really, you know, these were guys there are not really good. So next year, I expect him to start getting,

probably from the 15 to 20, range of fighters those rankings maybe a Tiago Moises maybe a Drew Dober someone that has hard fights I I know I felt like he should fight Ludovic Klan I think that's a good matchup

so I think he's going to be in a mix but for now it's going to be those four pillars do you think those are the guys that are up and coming that we're going to be talking about in the coming years maybe fighting for titles at some point so you know just your thoughts on that your thoughts on Benoit Sittanis

from where he was to where he is now. And that's all I got, Mike. Thanks. Thanks, man. Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest. The Elizzy Zaleski lost did not give me a lot of hope. I understand it was short notice. I understand he was up a weight class.

I saw the durability, and that's a cheat code in a lot of respects. And then he beat Nicholas Dolce, he finished him. Treated Gabriel Miranda accordingly. He finished him in just over five minutes. I was a little more sold on the Bonfem fight, but not completely there because I thought Bonfam just had a terrible game plan. And it kind of led to the sort of fight that doesn't let Ben Wash-in. He didn't end up winning. But it was a hard-fought fight.

But it was after the Tiago Moises fight, that was it. I was like, all right, this dude is legit because he beat the hell out of Tiago Moises. And a lot of people don't give Tiago Moises the respect that he deserves because he's a really good fighter. very solid super defensively sound fighter but not that night benoit just beat the hell out of that dude and that was just a that was just a thrashing and from that point on i was like all right let's go and then maybe my favorite otno point of all time was like turn him around in two months and have him fight mat frivol at msg that's the one and he just beat up mat frivol that head kick was nasty that's going to be one of the knockout of the year i think it's probably one of

one of the 10 best knockouts of the year. And dude's real good. Dude's real good. Here's the problem, though, with Benoit Sonsony and some of the other names you mentioned. You did mention Gamrod and he got a big fight. Fiziv got a big fight. Surukion's about to get a big fight.

But it took all of them a very, very long time to get those fights. So I don't know. Jalen Turner's still kind of hanging around. I don't know if he's going to be. A lightweight. I don't know if he's going to be a bantam weight. Or not a bantam, but a welterweight. You got head out on Boycano, who we haven't really seen him.

It's been a minute since he's fought. Elvis Brenner's looked real good. I mean, there's a lot of guys at 55. Like, there's a lot. There's a lot. Jarkar Close has been good, but he hasn't fought in a while. Sattikoff's fun. I mean, there's just, lightweight's the best division in the sport.

It just is the best division in the sport. So, yeah, it's going to be tough. I would say I put Brenner probably in that discussion as well. I've really liked what he has done. Rebechke, I think he's going to have a little bit more of a slower role, just because, like you said, he just hasn't had, and it's not his fault. He just hasn't had the right names yet. Hopefully he gets somebody else, giving a little bit of a step up.

But, yeah, I just hope Sonsigni can get some fights, man. Like, I just hope he can get fights. And I think the timing of this one was perfect because he got Bobby Green and Dan Hooker getting ready to fight. And both of those guys would probably say yes to Ben Ma Santhani. So that's why I went that route. I know a lot of people went with Hanata Moikano. I just feel like Santini is ahead of him right now. And I think he's like a good chunk ahead of him right now.

It would be a good fight. But I'd like to see Moikano get another win first before we start talking about that fight. But yeah, dude, Dan Hooker, Bobby Green, sign me the hell up for that. They do, Jalen Turner, sign me up for that as well. But, yeah, Sonsonies, that dude's the real deal. He's going to be a problem. He's probably going to fight for a belt. Cole, go ahead.

Good morning, Mike. I appreciate you having me on. I see AK is in the chat, so I'm going to bring up something that you two disagreed with, I think on Friday. You said that Stipe Miocic would pass the grocery store test more than Derek Lewis. or even if you frame Derek Lewis as the My Balls as this high guy, which I think is absolutely insane. I think Lewis today would pass a grocery store test way better,

way easier than Miochich. So I'm on A.K.'s team with this one. That's fine. I don't think you're right, though. I don't think you're right. I don't know. They're probably the same, honestly. They're probably the same.

Steve Bays Ben and some big fights, man. He's had some big moments. That rivalry at D.C. was a big one. It was a big rivalry. His first fight with Francis and Ghanu was a massive fight. It was huge. And then he fought him again. And look, look, we loved Eric Lewis's hardcore fans.

I don't think he passes the casual test as much as you think he does. He had the balls his hot moment, but I don't know. I don't know. look, we're heated. I said some things. I think Steepa's a bigger name. I do. It doesn't mean we like him more.

Doesn't mean he's more popular. Like, overall, like, we would root for Steepay over Derek Lewis if they fought each other. I think Derek Lewis would get the better reaction. But who knows? I can probably go to the grocery store and nobody will know who either guy is. Like, that's very possible as well. But I think Steve A story, he's been around a little bit longer. He's been in much bigger fights.

it's been in bigger spots. Like I said, the build to that first in Gano fight was gigantic. It was huge. He's had problems with Dana White. That doesn't hurt that conversation either. He's one of the few guys who took the belt out of Dana White's hands and said,

no, sir, you will not put the belt around my waist. I'm going to have my coach to it. And he did. And then he fought D.C. And big, huge fights, three of them. So, I don't know. I think you guys, maybe I'm overrating SEPA a little bit in this conversation, but I think you guys are vastly overrating Derek Lewis in this conversation.

Derek's our guy. He's our Manny Ramirez. He's our Manny. Oh, Derek. Like, even with the whole reckless driving thing, like a lot of people are asking me, like, well, how come you guys are giving Israel to Saddam you so much shit? But Derek Lewis drives 136 miles an hour and at 55, but you guys aren't giving him as much as you're giving Israel to Sadia.

Why is there this whole thing that's like, well, it's Derek Lewis, ha-ha. And it made me think a little bit. Derek is, it's Derek being Derek. It's, that's just the mentality people have about him. And I think, I think it's kind of like those two situations are kind of apples and oranges too. Like the whole thing with Izzy happened like a month before, like a month before. the fight. There's a lot going on. It causes the question

like the rest of the builds of the fight. Was he out drinking every day before he fought Sean Strickland? Was he turned it up a little bit more because he didn't take Sean seriously? Like those are legit questions. Derek Lewis cruising around in a

Lambo, still dangerous as fuck. But at the same time, like I don't think Derek Lewis driving 136 miles an hour in a 55 zone affected the way he fought against Jelton Almeida.

I think that fight goes the same way every time. So those are like two different things, but I do understand why people are like, oh, why aren't you giving Derek the same heat as you're giving Izzy? So I do understand it from that aspect. But yeah, I think we're probably, if we're being fair, probably vastly overreting

both guys in that discussion. Let's go to Toke. Hello, Toke. I have a few things. Firstly, I just want to say, I think that unless there's a card in a UFC card in Denmark at some point, I have a hard time seeing Margo Madsen coming back from that. The reason that I didn't back him before the fight was also, I just didn't believe. I mean, I didn't pull the Dolby thing out of my ass, so why would I try to pull out of my ass that I believed in Marco Madsen winning? I mean, I just didn't believe that he had what it takes. So that was why I wasn't on him.

And I was right. So that's one thing. And the other thing I just wanted to say, oh yeah, two things. Sorry, I'm going to keep it brief. Do you think world champion Jake Matthews is going to show up? Or is it just, was it only against Andrefielo that guy existed? And thirdly, this Riyadh season card that they announced for December 23rd, I can see why they wanted to have Fury

Usick on that card because the rest of the card is just squash matches. It looks so weird seeing Joshua and Wilder on the same card but they're not fighting each other. They're just in fights that are meant to give them a win. Daniel Dubois as well. It's such

a weird card and I just wanted your thoughts on that as well. See ya. Yeah, dude, it is a weird card. Like, I don't get it. I just don't get it. I don't know what kind of appeal is there. Like, I just don't understand it.

Don't get that card whatsoever. So, but that's sort of where we're at right now with the whole boxing world and them wanting to put on these big cards with big names, even though this card is probably not that big. Now, did they have other plans in place? Yes, we mentioned Fury Usoc. Was Francis Ngano possibly a guy that could have competed in December? Maybe they tried, but perhaps, like,

was too soon for him as well. So, yeah, I don't know. Super weird. Super weird. Will world champion Jake Matthews show up? Probably not. Michael Morales is really, really good. And I feel like we had our peak Jake Matthews.

And I mean, Jake's tough. Like, I like the matchmaking here. And if Michael Morales just goes out and runs Jake Matthews, like, that's pretty good win. It's a pretty good win for a 24-year-old kid on the come-up. So I do like the matchmaking here, but I am picking Michael Rouse. The Mark Matson thing, I mean, we were talking about this after the Grant Dawson loss. Like, he probably should have just been like, hey, UFC, let me go. I'll go fight for the PFL and try to win that million bucks because he ain't ever getting to a title.

I think we felt that way after the Dawson win. He's just not going to beat the upper echelon guys. And Jared Gorene was a pretty, I think he was like, minus 195 favorite heading into the fight. And I just don't think the way you beat Jared Gordon is you finish him. And I don't think Mark, boy, he tried, but you can just see it. Once Jared survived that storm early, like Mark was just done. Like he just completely gassed himself out and Gordon knocked him out.

So, yeah, I felt pretty good about Gordon. All he had to do was not get finished in the first seven minutes and he was going to win that fight. And he didn't even need that. So it'll be interesting to see where he goes. goes, I don't, I don't know what he's going to do. I don't know what he's going to do. He's at a crossroads. It's not like he can go to Ballotaur.

So, yeah, his options are not a plenty, if you will. But good win for Jared Goren, is a good moment for him. And well done, Flash. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo, great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots and lots.

Casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Boarding will begin when Passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly concerned by your gambling or that if someone close you, call 186653310 or visit Comexonterio.ca. 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. Clay, go ahead. Hello, Mike.

Kickup for morning. I would like to thank you to you because of the show that you put on yesterday, especially in the NBA fighting global ranking and, you know, with the A.K. being the judge, that was some great content. Thank you very much for that. And my question to you is that why don't, why don't I, why can't see anyone clamoring for a rematch between what's on and uh, Uri? Oh,

that's a good question. I, I, look, I don't want to see them running right back. I really, I don't.

I don't. I know people question the stoppage. I don't understand why, if we're being honest. The stoppage was fine. Like, the aesthetics of it were not good. He cracked Yuri.

Yuri was in trouble. Yuri shot the takedown. He had his arms locked. Pereira's landing those shots. His arms went limp. And then he just, kind of collapsed to the floor and Pereira ended up in the mountain. And it just would have gotten worse for Yuri.

So I don't have a problem with the stoppage. Was it maybe a tad early for our main event? Yeah, I guess, but I didn't have any issue with it at all. Having said that, do I think we're going to see these guys fight again? Yes, I do. Do I think we're going to see these guys fight a third time? Yes, I do. I have a feeling that the Alex Pereira, Yuri Prakashka story, has more challenge.

to be written. It's just not going to happen now. It's just not going to happen next. It's going to be real interesting to see. Now, could that be, is that an option for Pereira? Because the fight we all want to see is him and Jamal Hill. I want to see that fight. That's one of my most anticipated, anticipated fights of the year. But you can't bench Alex Pereira for another eight months. You can't do it. He's got a fight. He's got so much. much momentum right now. He just made history. He's broken the sport. And people love him. Like I talk to people who are at MSG. They freaking love Alex Pereira. He was getting the biggest pops of the whole night. And he's from Danbury, Connecticut. It's not from New York City.

But he's getting the big pops of the night. People love Alex Pereira. So they got to, they got to fight them. They got to put him out there. I thought the easy call out was absolutely brilliant. I saw some people, like, I saw Daniel Cormier and be like, nah, nah, you're kind of going backwards. I don't think so at all. He's not going to wait eight months to fight. Why would he?

He has the chance to possibly headline UFC 300 with his year, Adasania. That, if they don't book Connor versus Chandler, Pereira Adasania, the third fight for the 205 pound belt is a massive fight. That's huge.

I thought the call it was brilliant. do I am I confident that fight happens? I'm not really sure. I'm kind of stunned. Izzy isn't all over this. I get the whole I'm taking time off and maybe he's taking it very seriously. And if that's the case,

like I don't care what the opportunity is and I'm just going to wait because I want to take this time for myself. Kudos to him. He deserves a ton of credit for that. But at the same time, he's getting up there in age, not a young man.

And you have to think he doesn't have a ton of fights left in him. And unless he just leaves middleweight to bulk up and becomes a late heavyweight, I don't think he's got to get another shot at the light heavyweight title. I think this is like his only chance to get it and it's a huge fight. So I could see that the other option, and you guys aren't going to like it very much, because I don't think he's going to fight. I know Anka Lyev and Johnny Walker are fighting in January. I don't think the winner of that.

Maybe if Johnny wins, maybe they do Pereira or Johnny Walker. I don't think they're going to do Pereira versus Zankolaev. I just don't see it happening. We are possibly living in a world where we get Alex Pereira versus Anthony Smith for the 205-pound title. And I know you're all rolling your eyes, and I get it. But there's some beef there. There's some headlines there. Anthony Smith talking a lot of trash.

Pereira talking back. And we got to keep this guy busy. It's a rivalry fight. Why not? Smith's at least coming off of a win. So you could do that, but you've got to keep him busy. Pereira's on the cusp of being a superstar right now. You can't bench him.

And if you throw him in there with Anthony Smith, he just runs Anthony. You can still do the Jamal Hill fight, and that's fine. I see your thumbs down, CV, but this is the UFC. You would, how would you be totally shocked if the UFC booked that fight? I wouldn't. I wouldn't be shocked at all. because you can't bench him. You can't bench him.

And I just don't know if Angolaev's a guy. Could they do Johnny Walker Shore if he beats Angolaev? I don't think he's going to beat Angolaev. And I just don't know if they're going to go right to Pereira versus Angolaev. We'll see. I'm actually okay with that booking. I imagine if that fight was actually to be made, I can see Pereira as the, you know, minus like 350 favorite.

Just because I was just thinking about it, Anthony Smith didn't look that great against Ryan Span. But I wanted to actually talk about Bellator. I'm actually very intrigued. You are right. It is the best card of the weekend. The fight that I'm looking forward to the most is Patchy Mix versus Sergio Pettis. I know Sergio has been the underdog in his last couple of fights,

and he has been able to come through. Something is telling me that this is Patschie Mix moment. The way that he ended up knocking out Rafion Stats, and Raffion Stats is fighting Danny Sabathevatole, which is another good fight too. How do you see that fight playing out between Pettis and Patsy Mix? And do you favor Sabatello

versus Stots? Now that it is a three-round fight as opposed to their fight last time, which was five rounds. And lastly, I don't know if you've seen the line for Jordan Levitt versus Chase Hooper. I think it's pretty outrageous

that they have Chase Hooper that big of a favorite. I don't know. If I'm putting any money down, I'm putting it on Jordan Levitt. All right, Mike. Let me know what you think. Thanks, man. Yeah, I'm looking at it right now.

I mean, the line's closed a little bit. Chase Hooper is a minus 218 favorite to comeback on Jordan Levitt plus 180. I think it was up to like 285 or something for Chase, which is kind of crazy. I mean, I understand why Chase is the favorite. I mean, these are two grapple heavy guys. Chase is bigger.

Chase, while not the most aesthetically pleasing striker of all time, he's a better striker than Jordan Leavitt is. So I get why he's the favorite. But there is value on Jordan Leavitt. I totally understand that. So, yeah, I thought that line was kind of wild. And I know Jordan thought that line was kind of wild as well. But, yeah, I think it's starting to close in.

I think by the time they fight, I wouldn't be shocked if Chase Hooper is like a minus 195 or something like that. I think Chase is just a little more well-rounded. Like the grappling exchange between these two guys are going to be super fun. Chase is bigger. I think he's a bit more athletic than Jordan is. Not by much. And I do think he is the better striker here, but not by a whole lot.

It's not like he's fighting Ben La Santany in there. So, yeah, it's going to be an interesting fight. I understand why there's value on Jordan. I understand why this bunch of money coming in on him. So that'll be an interesting fight. What's the odds on the patchy mix pretty much a Mi's 200 against Sergio Pettus? It's a great fight.

It's the best fight of the weekend. It might even be the best fight of the month and that includes the two title fights at UFC 2995. It's just a great fight. Like after Sergio's win over Patricia Pitbull, I was like, damn, I can't wait to see him. him and patchy makes fight. And patchy has just been on fire.

There have been a lot of questions about patchy. There are a lot of questions about patchy heading in. The Wadar Choletta fight, sort of faded down the stretch. We had questions. Then he beats Albert Morales, kind of struggled a little bit in that fight. And then he fought James Galaher. It was a big rivalry fight. Misses Waits.

Ends up getting the finish in the third round. Fight was probably even after two. And then he kind of got to. together the keoggi horiguchi win was super dominant but the maga men maga madeoff win that was the one where i was like wow this dude might be the best band of weight in the world and then the rapion stats me i was like jeez louise this guy's a problem but sergio is just a guy that everyone continues to count out and he continues to deliver great performances so i cannot wait for that fight. I really can't.

It's a big spot for both guys, especially at the future of the promotion completely up in the air right now. Is this PFL deal going to go through? What happens if it does? Can they go to free agency? With the UFC want Pettus back?

I assume they would want mix. It's just a good card, man. We got Amosoff. It's 27 and O. Jason Jackson has earned his shot. Stott's Sabatello, kind of a weird rematch, but I get it. I kind of feel like Stats is going to win, but who the hell knows? McKee, fighting city outlaws should be a good little fight for AJ.

And then we got Patricke Pitbull versus Alexander Shobli, which I think Shably should just kind of go in there and run Patriki. In a Grand Prix fight, that may not even matter at the end of the day. So, yeah, it's just unfortunate. This is such a good card, and nobody cares. Like, the promotion doesn't care. I'll be watching. I'll be excited for it.

But I mean, it's just, Belator just going out with a whimper right now. And it's sad. Sad stuff. Let's continue on here. Octagon blog. Go ahead. Good. Bjorn Rapney and Scott Coker.

We all remember the old days with Bjorn Redney. Bellator had a, well, it looked different to the UFC. And since Scott Coker took over it, would become a little. bit, some friend of mine call it UFC Light. I think that's the problem. I like to hear your take because Belator their numbers are going down. They will

never go up. I think he if a new owner can be PFL, that can also be a party of the Middle East like Qatar or Saudi Arabia whatever, he has to go. He has to go for the sunset because he's responsible

for all of this. It's his leadership, but I want to hear your take openly and honestly if you look at Bjorn Rebony his era and his era Bellator become a second rank company. Thank you and good luck Mike.

Thank you sir. I mean the Remney era was certainly interesting because it was a different product. It was a lot of tournaments and different things. We got some really good fights. We got the whole Eddie Alvarez, Michael

Chandler rivalry, two of the best fights. you will ever watch. And, you know, some other interesting things that happened along the way. And then things kind of got a little circusy and it kind of continued that way once Coker jumped on board as well. I don't know. Plus, plus the reputation of Bjorn Remney was not great. And he just kind of faded into non-existence until there was potential, like, UFC fighter unions.

and he just magically reemerged. And then he disappeared again after nothing happened. So, yeah, Bjorn Rebdy is a super weird dude. And there's going to be a dock on his run someday. And I hope to watch it because it's going to be super interesting. I've been very tough on Bellator over the last few years because they have something. They're the number two promotion to me, not because, wow,

you can't miss the Bellator card, but it's because of the roster. Like, they have put together a really good roster. And when Scott Coker says, hey, we might have the best featherweight and the best light weight and the best Bannam way and the best light heavyweight in the world or even the best middleweight in the world, like, it's not egregious. It's not egregious. Like, if Don Davis says it and he probably has, like, we're like, Don, shut up, dude. Like, then you know that's not true.

Like, you just know that's not true. But Bellator has, like, a. super good roster. The problem is the promotion just stopped caring. They just assume that everyone knows there's a Bellator card when this is not the case. And then you have your broadcasters like calling out the media for not like for not promoting their stuff enough, like which is insane to me because we covered like every single card. We talked about everything and just the way like they handled things across the border. It was just super weird over the last couple of years.

And then we have cards like this that is like super good. Like this is better than Bellator 300 by a lot. But yet no one knows about it. I barely knew about Bellator 300. Barely knew about this one. Until like Monday, I was like, oh yeah, Belator's 301 card is here. Coker is a great, Coker is a great dude. and he's got great relationships with the fighter.

So he is a valuable tool to all of this. But Coker's not Dana White. He's not Don Davis. He's not a guy that's going to go out to the forefront and sell you on fights. And there's just, I don't know, man. There's just this sort of mentality that like, hey, we're already number two. We don't need to fight for it. And I talked to people from Bellator.

Like, we did our, every year we do our sort of state our grievances. When it cut to each promotion on an episode of BTL. It's like Jed and I, we do like, we basically do our airing of grievances about each promotion. We give them a grade and we talk about like what they did well and what they didn't do well. I think we gave Bellator, I gave Bellator C-minus. And Bellator was not happy with me. They were not happy. And I even made the point.

I was like, look, you could make a case that PFL is number two right now. Like you can make that case. And if they're not number two, they're right there. And they had a problem with that too. They were like, you're insane for saying that. I'm like, how am I insane? They have all, heading into 2024 or 2023, who had more momentum, Bellator or PFL?

It was PFL by a lot, and it wasn't even close. PFL had a great pay-per-view event. It didn't do well business-wise, but the card was really good. Kayla Harrison lost. Larissa Pacheco got a big win, watching Olivia Aubin-Mercier become like, almost the flag bear for PFL in some respects. Like, there's a really good event for them. So they had a lot of momentum.

Free agent signings. We knew they were in on the Francis deal, like on ESPN. Like, they just had a lot of momentum. And Bellator, while putting on good cards and such, they just didn't have it. They just didn't have that momentum. And it was just a tough year for them. And it stinks.

And now like there's one less place for these for these free agents to go and try to get a deal. So I don't know what's going to happen. It's just it's tough, man. It's tough. I'd love to like sing glowingly about Bellator and how they've run that promotion the last three years. But I really can't. I love the people who work there. The PR staff is incredible.

They're great. Everybody who works there's great. They have the best roster outside of the. UFC. There's no argument there. One's got a decent one, but one, like I've said a million times, you can't compare one to the UFC. Belator trying to do the Grand Prix, which I dug. So at least they try to be different. But again, like you said,

UFC Light was kind of how they, kind of how they looked in a lot of people's eyes. And then like, some of the cards were just like, the main event were just like, Daniel James and Marcello Go. Goln was a main event this year for Pelotaur. And it's not like they're the UFC and they were putting on cards every Saturday. It's like every couple of months. We got Daniel James Marcello Goln is the main event.

Like what are we doing here? What are we doing here? But this is going to be a fascinating story to cover. I mean, they built it up enough that once, if this PFL deal goes through and it seems like it probably will at this point, but it's not 100% done. Like, I'm super intrigued. super intrigued who's going to stick around, who's going to go to the UFC, who will the UFC want? Will they want any of their champions? Do they feel like Johnny Ebelin can be a star for them?

Or would they let him go? Would they sign AJ McKee? I kind of feel like they would. I kind of feel like he's a no-brainer. Would they bring in patchy mix? Would they bring in Vadim Nemcoff? I'd like to see him bringing Kiyoji Horaguchi. Then we could see him fight some of these 125ers in the UFC.

it's going to be super interesting, but yeah, just kind of seeing Bellator just brick by brick just crumble over the last couple of years. It's been tough to watch because I always rooted for them. And yeah, I was always hard on them. I always felt like the dad in some respects. Like I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed.

But I don't know. Hopefully this card's great. They get a little bit of buzz coming out. And we'll see if this P.F.ville deal goes through. And they're going to be one of the, at least the roster here. is going to be one of the more intriguing stories of the year. But we shall see. But the Coker era had its moments, but not spectacular.

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I want to give a quick shout out to Mr. A.K. Lee for this idea that sprouted while I was listening on to the next one. He was talking, and this is in relation to Patty Pimlet's next fight, if he wins against Tony. He was talking about Gregor Gillespie coming off of the couch. And I think that that is the perfect setup for Patty. It's going to be, you know, top 15 fighter. He's been inactive.

He's coming off of the couch. And I honestly think that that might be where he tries to go if he gets a win against Patty. That is all that I had to say. I don't know. I mean, look, that would be pretty damn cool. That'd be pretty damn cool. I don't know if Gregor takes that.

fight. Let me just look at the rankings real quick. Do they yank him from the rankings? Yeah, they ranked him. They yanked him from him. Would you take that fight? I don't know. Be kind of crazy not to. That's if he beats Tony Ferguson, by the

way. If that fight happens. Yeah, you're certainly not going to come off the coach and fight Benoit Santoni. Patty's probably would be the most winnable fight that he could get. Would Patty be

ranked if he beats Tony though? Like Tony's not ranked right now. Unless they're like saving RDA to pull him from the rankings until this fight ends or something. I don't know. But Drew Dober's number 15, would you rank Patty over Drew Dober if he beats

Tony Ferguson? Would you rank him over Hanata Moikano, Bobby Green? I don't know. But yeah, I mean, look, if you're Greg Gillespie, that's probably the best and most winnable fight you can get after not competing for a hot minute. So, yeah, I mean, I'm not against it.

I'm not against it. Be a good idea. But will it happen? It's a whole different question altogether. He didn't want to fight Sarukian. As a while you got ahead. Mark Hakek of the morning. Just want to ask two things.

Firstly, with this Saturday's fight, I would just curious to know your thoughts on Brandon Allen. Compared to some of the other prospects, like Boronico, Ikram, Driekis, and Hamza, Do you see Brendan Allen the same type of picture as in the sense that he's definitely got the potential to be a future contender or title challenger? You know, because in my opinion, I definitely see flashes of him. I definitely would say he's a quieter talented fighter, but I'm just not sure where to bubble him right now because a part of me feels like he could be like Costa when he first came out. And everyone was saying he was like really the next big thing around time Ardissania was rising.

But then he could be, you know, maybe he could be one of those slow starters, you know, like a master at all words. Obviously not in the same sense as a journeyman, but just someone who, you know, I guess has to win some fights, really build his brand up. Because he's just been like Amun Saruki. And he's taking a lot of lower rank fights or just easy fights and wins. Whenever he tries to get a big event fight, just never seems to happen for the reason. So, I'm just telling your thoughts on that. And the second thing I just wanted to ask,

I'm just trying to think the question. Yeah, I just wanted to touch on briefly. In respect to John Jones' career, outside of the Gustafsson fight, the race fight and Tiago fight, which far do you think gave him the most toughest fight in terms of overall being able to impose their will, really match with his energy in terms of their skill set, and really push it to the limit. Thanks, man.

That's all I have. Have a great day. It's definitely Gustafson, although I don't want to take anything away from Reyes and Santos. I've gone back and watched all of those fights over the last few months. I definitely felt John beat Gustafson in the end. I actually feel like, I don't know, I think, like, John Anna continues to tell me, like, when I talk to him, like, on and off the air,

that he feels like the Tiago Santos fight, there's more of a robbery discussion to be had in that fight more than the Dominic Reyes fight. Like, and he's felt that way for a while. And going back and rewatching those fights, I think he's not, he may not be wrong. He may not be wrong. They're both really close.

I actually, I thought Reyes beat him watching it live. I thought Reyes beat him again. But if, like, going back and rewatching it, like, I could see how John win. I could see it. DeSantos fight was a lot tougher to score, honestly. It really was. So, but Gustafsson's the, like, one dude really brought it to John. just really brought it to them.

And that's just one, I mean, it's just one of the all-time great fights, too. Like, that'll be a Hall of Fame fight, and I think it is a Hall of Fame fight. But that's just, I mean, that's just one, it's an all-timer. It's an all-timer.

Love that one. The other question, Brennan Allen, I've been high on Brendan Allen for a long time. I've been high on Brennan Allen for quite some time. Dude's good. It's a good fighter. Always have the skill set.

Always trained with good guys. I was high on him before the Aaron Jeffrey fight. I remember watching him fight. Fluffy Hernandez lost a tough decision. I remember him losing to Eric Anders in 2017. Got some good wins along the way. Like Sidney Wheeler, like at the time in 2016, him going out there and just kind of running Sidney Wheeler

and submitting him in the second round. Like, that was a big win for him. That was one that kind of got those who fought like the regional scene and LFA and, you know, that part of the country. Beating Sidney Wheeler was a really good win. A lot of people were very high on Sydney Wheeler at the time. And Brennan went out there and finished him. And he gets another finish, loses the Anders fight, gets a finish, loses the Fluffy fight. And then goes on a nice run.

Larry Crowe, Tim Highley. Moses Marietta. Like, these are all good wins. Goes on the Contender Series. That Aaron Jeffrey win is aged pretty well. Gets his contract. Fights Kevin Holland in his first UFC fight. Wins that, beats Tom Breeze, beats Kyle Dachas,

and then loses to Sean Strickland. And I don't think he really got over that loss. I think it's, I don't know if he's, he still might not be over that loss. Kems back, gets Carl Roberson. I mean, that is what it is. the darkest fight was actually a really tough fight for him too beats punasuriano

and then he gets Chris Curtis who is the teammate of Sean Strickland and there's a lot of talk about like oh I want to get that one back and Chris Curtis goes and finishes him and I think from that point it was just like I'm not really over the Strickland loss I'm going to keep calm for it

but I think I have to at least move myself past it gets Sam Alvey which is you know it's Sam Alvey Jacob Malcun tough fight, good win. And now he goes out and finishes the middleweighty, middleweight champion. Then he finishes Andreemones. Then he finishes Bruno Silva.

Like he's getting good fights. I kind of like the progression right now. I kind of like it. Paul Craig's a nice next step. The thing with Brennan is people understand he's a good fighter. He's getting more well-rounded. I think him moving to Kilcliffe was a brilliant move on his part because you could see his striking is getting a lot better.

He's better on the feet, more defensively savvy. I mean, he's night and day between, like, the Bruno Silva fight and the Kyle Daucus fight. I mean, it's just night and day. Even the Chris Carter's fight. But Brennan's, especially with where this division is right now, Brennan's got to keep winning. He can't lose. If he wants to get to a title shot, like, I know he's not the oldest guy in the world. How old is Brennan out?

Is he 29, 28? 27. Still relatively young. He's about to be 28. but Brendan's not like a big star. There's not a lot of like star appeal to him. So he's just got to kind of keep winning at this point and just build his way up. And I kind of feel like when he loses another fight, like it's going to set him way back. It's got to set him way back.

So I think he beats Paul Craig. I think he's the better striker. The grappling will be super fun between these two guys. I know Paul is probably the better grappler. definitely the more opportunistic grappler but I think as the fight goes on I think a lot of a little favor Brendan Allen

and then from there it's going to be real interesting to see what he does on the microphone it's going to be real interesting who's he going to call for is he going to be realistic is he going to be like his buddy blah Muhammad and just be like I want the title shot which would be just awful

but what he should do is call from Martin Vittori like that's exactly what he should be calling for He goes and beats Paul Craig. He should be calling for Marvin Vittory. Realistic fight, a fight he could get. He can call for Hamzot, but I don't think Hamzot touched that fight with a 10-foot pull. He could fight Jack Hermanson.

I don't know if anyone's really clamoring for that one. Maybe he goes for Canaan Air again. I don't know. But I like the Vittori call it. I think that's like a good... That's a good one. Go for Votori. Maybe go for Paul Costa.

It's not a bad one. If they don't do Shimaev Costa. But winning the fight is not going to be enough for Brennan Allen. It's what he does on the microphone. If he has a good promo and a realistic callout, it's going to be a really good night for him. I just, there is a part of me that's like, Brennan's going to have a great performance.

He's going to probably finish Paul Craig, and then he's going to make a call, and I'm just going to be like, ugh, why? But we'll see. I like Brennan a lot, though. CV, go ahead. Hey, Mike, kickoff a morning. Yeah.

Great ranking show. I think you guys should do that, what would you call it, like a trial or a case or a judge format? Pretty, pretty fun listen. Just two quick things for me. First off, what are your thoughts on the UFC Shanghai being relocated to the apex? I kind of think that's a blessing in disguise just because, so they can hold a proper, like, a return to China show for next year. Personally, I think really should be headlining a China show. And Song Yadong is cool and all, but he's more of like a co-main event guy, if you ask me. Second thing is, I remember last week during the 295 broadcasts, forgot who tweeted it, but they did mention that that was on November 11th, and that was apparently like that marked like the 30th anniversary of the UFC.

And it was kind of weird that like nobody was, mentioned it at all during the broadcast. I kind of agree with that. And super random. But, like, yeah, they can be doing more with the 30th anniversary promotion and stuff. Like, I remember, like, I forgot when this picture was taken. But do you remember, like, a long time ago, all the champions had, like, had, like, a picture together.

Like, you had Frankie Edgar there, Dominic Cruz, Aldo, and all those fighters. and I don't know, man. Would it be kind of cool to have like all the current champions, like have like a picture right now just to commemorate the 30 anniversary? That's it for me. Thanks. They could have done a lot more. They could have done a lot more. And not even with the current fighters.

Like, I'm not even talking about that. They should have done a lot with past fighters. Like that's great. You have a round table with the UFC one guys on UFC Fight Pass, which like 11 people have right now. But that's not what we're talking about. Like they should have done like, and I know they had shows of like,

here are the 30 greatest fighters of all time. That's great. That's on Fight Pass. What they should have done is they should have taken those 30 that they ranked and they should have brought them all out individually during the fucking broadcast. Like that's what you should have done. Didn't have to be this whole ordeal. But just bring them out.

Like the beginning of the card, just bring them all out. It doesn't have to be a 30 minute thing. thing, just be like, here are the top 30. It just like, real quick, just bring each of them out. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then make a big deal out of like the top five. Like, that's what you should have done.

But just like ignoring them, ignoring that rankings list and just chucking it on fight pass, craziness. Instead of like the Donald Trump kid rock Dana White entrance in MSG, like we could have started the 30th anniversary ceremony. That wouldn't have been a bad. idea. But at the same token, to play devil's advocate, none of it matters. They are just, they're winning the game, they're crushing it, they're printing money. They brought a

mid-level MSG card, which is great for us, the hardcore fans to late, to MSG and still pulled a $13 million gate. Like, they just, they can't fail. They can't fail. I mean, the lawsuit could be an epic failure if that goes through. But currently, like, they can't lose. So they don't have to do that stuff. I really wish they did more. I really do. I really wish they made a bigger deal out of it.

I mean, 30 years, it's a frigging big deal. Like, MSG would have been, like, really poetic, too. It was, like, the hardest place for them to get into. They placed they wanted to go from Jump Street. They finally got there. And now, like, they're holding their six or seventh event, like, on the 30th anniversary. By the time, like, the two title fights happened, it was the 30th anniversary. November 12th, 1993, it was UFC one.

I really wish they did something more to sort of give back to the fighters that got them there. But I ain't Dana. I ain't running the UFC and not my choice to make. But I would have liked to have seen them do a little bit of. more if we're being honest. The ranking show was super fun, by the way. It was a lot of fun. Judge A. Kay Lee nailed it.

And apologies for the frosty language that I let loose multiple times. Because you can't put me in those settings. You just can't. You just can't. Not great things will happen. But all right, we're done. Thank you all very much. Great questions, as always.

We will come back tomorrow. We'll do this all over again. at right around 10.15 a.m. Eastern time. Free for all Friday. I'm not sure if we'll have the weigh-in results for UFC Vegas 82. Maybe the way-ins will be ongoing as we're live. And that's always a fun treat. It is an early card on Saturday. Get you ready for Bellator 301. Maybe the last Bellator card ever. And we'll have a lot to talk about. Don't miss BTL. A little over an hour right now if you're listening live, 12, 30 p.m. Eastern. Jen Mishu versus Randy Costa, who had a big win six days ago against Jason Knight at Game Bread

Bear Knuckle. Dude is a friggin savage. And I think he might be the face of this new sport if we're being honest. But we shall see. But thank you all very much. See you tomorrow. 10.15 a.m. Eastern. Have a great rest of your Thursday.

Have a heck of the morning as well.