MMA Fighting - HOAM | What's Next For Colby Covington When He's Ready To Return?

Episode Date: August 12, 2022

Colby Covington's future is a bit unclear with everything going on in his world, but when he is ready to return to the octagon, what would make the most sense? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck attempts to answer that question in regards to Covington's fighting career. In addition, listener questions include the UFC's bantamweight division, where Dominick Cruz would go with a win over Marlon Vera in the main event of UFC San Diego, Petr Yan vs. Sean O'Malley, UFC 283 taking place in Brazil and who could headline that event in January, Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler, Jon Jones' return, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? 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. The Vox Media Podcast Network. I see emojis. I see movements. I think we're all set. I think we're all set on this Friday, August 12th, 2022.

to, it is kind of a heck of a morning, but this has been super annoying. I don't know what's been going on, but we're making this thing happen. We're on my Twitter now. I don't know. We're figuring this thing out one move at a time. But we're here.

We have sound. We weren't getting any sound off the NBA fighting one. And we're going to get after this thing. It's a free for all Friday. We're going to take calls from you guys about anything you want to talk about in and out of M.A. I think we got it. I think we got it.

I see hearts. I see emojis. I see happiness. I see requests. Let's get after this thing. Mikey Bats. How are you, my man? How you doing? Glad you got that. Glad at least you got your other account to go off

of not just the MMA fighting one, right? Yeah, I don't know what happened, but we're working. Twitter like. to be funny sometimes, you know what I'm saying? So, but anyways, do you think, let's just get off the bat, do you think either with a win, it should give a title shot to whoever wins tomorrow, or do they face another person one more time? You know what I mean?

Do they have to fight somebody else? Or do you think, well, especially for Dominic, right? Like Dominic's getting a little older now, is opportunities starting to slow down. So it's like, this might be his last, you know, chance of getting a. title shot right and that's for chito you know him and john o'malley i think are neck and neck and as much as i'd hate to admit it if if chito has to look really good against dominic because if if if big if if sean goes out there and just freaking blitzes peter yon highly doubtful but you never know in m mbma right you know sean will probably get a title shot over him if at minimum they would

fight each other again in like a five in like a five round main event you know what i'm saying so and another to for the like the um billionth time john jones and steppe miotis is being spoken about like i just i don't care until they're actually in the cage i don't want to talk about it anymore that you're they're going to fight or they're not for the love of god you know so let me just start that out for the morning all right brother thanks buddy i don't know if i don't think we're getting i don't know if it's title shot at stake in this one because here's the thing if josie aldo beats maraud du wallish Willie next week and doesn't get a title shot coming off of it, it would be one of the world's biggest travesties.

He should be fighting for the belts, in my opinion, anyways, over T.J. Dillashah, and if he beats a guy like Marab, a guy that literally nobody wants to fight in this division at all, and that doesn't get a title fight, it would be horrendous, just awful. So I think if Aldo wins, he's the guy no matter what. Like, I understand O'Malley's a star and all that, but. if O'Malley beats Jan somehow and Vera beats Cruz, which a lot of people are expecting me to do, you can do a five-round main event between those two guys.

You could sell it as a number one contender fight. You're good to go. It's not going to made event a pay-for-view, but it'll made event a fight night. It could be a five-round featured bout on a pay-per-view if you wanted to go that route. But, I mean, I would say that there's, the stakes are high, obviously.

It's do or die for Dominic Cruz, if he wants to get back to a title fight. I feel like Vera still get a little bit of time, but it's a big fight. There are stakes here. There's no doubt about it. And I've said this a few times already this week. I'll say it again.

I feel like Dominic Cruz is being completely overlooked here. And how about that social media clip selling this fight? Those two guys, Maro and Vera, saying I'm willing to die in there. and then Dominic Cruz saying, I too am willing to die. And then based saying, it's going to be great for the fans. What a day to die. Ugh, just gave me chills. Just great stuff.

Great stuff. Love the fight. Really interested in it. There are stakes. I don't think it's like a number one contender fight, but who knows? If Aldo loses and Sterling wins and Marab wins, they're not going to fight each other. or so. I mean, there's things that have to fall into place, but I would say doubtful. Let's go to Toke. Tocke, how are you, buddy?

Thank you. So I think I'm a bit late to this heck of a morning, so I probably have talked about it, but I just... No, you're not. You're good. Oh. We had some technical issues, so this is basically like the beginning. Perfect, because I want to talk about Dana White. So this GQ video that came out Where he's talking about You know, he's answering all these questions It's their whole format And he's talking about the business model

As always, you know, it's a very standard thing But then the way that he spins stuff He's very good at his job Because he says that his fighters get paper viewpoints And that really triggered me when he said that because it's only the champions that get it or superstars, right? So it's like, what, 15 different fighters total that get that? And he uses that as an argument as we pay them well.

So I know you've probably seen the video because Jedi tweeted it and it went, yeah, it went nuts from there, right? And I've been in social media battles all day, which I shouldn't be. But I mean, this is getting to absurd levels of spin. And I just, yeah, it makes my head spin, to be honest. This is getting ridiculous at this point. So I don't know if you just have any comments on it or if it's just, oh, it's the same that he always says. So let's just leave it.

Thanks, man. Yeah, I mean, obviously it hit our radar because it was something that, you know, would be newsworthy for us. So he was asked about it, and we didn't even write about it because it was literally the same answer he's given every single time. I think the only thing from that we chose was the Delahoya thing, how him and Delahoya, like, I guess don't hate each other anymore, but they're never going to be friends. Here's the thing. I've talked about this a million times on the show when it comes to fighter pay and all that. The UFC doesn't have to do shit right now. They don't have to do anything because the fighters had their chance to come together.

They had a couple of different opportunities where it was like obvious. The writing was on the wall. And the most obvious one was when they sold the company for $4.2 billion to now endeavor WMEIMG at the time. And they didn't come together then. It's just unbuffling to me. It's baffling to me that after that sale, For $4.2 billion, they didn't come together to form some sort of an association. And now, like, it's just not going to happen.

It sucks. And the UFC has no obligation to pay these fighters any more than they're being paid right now. The UFC's business is ridiculous. It's ridiculous. They're making so much money. They have this deal with the SPN. They could put on whatever card they want. They could put on the card they put on last week.

And it's the same amount of money is that they put on a mega card for a fight night. Makes no difference to them. Literally makes no difference because they're getting paid the same no matter what product they put on television. All the same. So it doesn't matter. None of it matters. But it's like you want to sit here. We want to sit there and play the UFC.

We want Dana to do the right thing. We want the UFC to do the right thing and pay these guys and pay these gals what they deserve. But there's nothing, there's nothing pushing back against the UFC in order for them to do that. They don't, they have made it abundantly clear that they don't care what we have to say about it. They don't care. Dana certainly doesn't care because you know what they're going to tell us? Hey, you got a problem. Start your own company. Pay the fighters, whatever you want. We're the best in the world. You suck. And you can't do it. what we do. And you know what?

He's not lying. He's not lying. Like what about, like if I started a fight organization, like what am I going to pay them in Twitter space minutes? You want to hop on my Twitter space for 20 minutes. Hey, if you're the main event, I'll give you 50 minutes on my Twitter space. Like I got nothing to offer on that end. I got nothing. So I get where they're coming from. Nothing's going to change, folks. I would love to sit here

and tell you that it's going to change and that the UFC is going to come together and they're going to be like, you know what? maybe they deserve more. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. I'm sorry. Until all these guys and gals come together, from 10 and tens to the biggest stars in the sport,

till they all come together, all 700 wild people, until they all come together and say, we're not fighting. Until we go what we want, we are not fighting. Nothing's going to change. So we have to accept that this is the world we live in

because that's not going to happen. it's not going to happen any time soon and any time a fighter talks about more pay what are they talking about more pay for who for themselves for their teammates for their friends

not the guy who just got 10 and 10 on the contender series they don't care but that's just the sport that's the sport it's different it's not like the NBA where it's team sports not like major league baseball NHL all that stuff but a lot of these guys

especially major league baseball you see the contracts that these crazy people get, whether they're hurt or playing every game, it's guaranteed money, like the contracts that these guys get, and they're willing to walk away. They're willing to walk away from like $35 million a year

to sit on their asses in some cases, and they're willing to walk away from it. Fighters aren't. That's the difference. That's why Major League Baseball has the deal they have. That's why the NBA is the deal they have. They are willing to walk away and not compete. and not play.

And fighters aren't willing to do that. They're not willing to come together. It's a whole different ballgame, but it's just different. Until that day comes where they're just like, screw it, let's go. And they've tried. Different groups have come together.

Different organizations have come together. Leslie Smith tried to get people together anonymously. It still couldn't get the ball rolling. We got like just unicorns of the sport to like come out of hiding for old. Bjorn Reddy. was going to be part of a group for a while. And unfortunately, that was a horrific mistake because as soon as Bjorn Rebney became known

in one of these groups, every fighter that was even interested in dissociating was like, nope, not going near that dude. So not happening. It's just a tough thing. We just kind of have to understand that this is the world we live in and that the UFC is still a baby

and that the sport is still kind of a baby and that the UFC is basically back, in the 19 is where like the world wrestling federation was in the 1980s where there is money to be made but it's not going to be for everybody they will give you the chance and the opportunity to make this money but it's on you to get it it's on you to get yourself over and become a star and who knows maybe 20 years from now will be in a world where there's guaranteed money and all this different stuff for all the fighters and all the talent but until then we're just going to keep hearing the same regurgitated responses from Dana Wade over and over again. And you know

what? It's not, it's not really his fault because most people in a business sentence for making the kind of money the UFC is making right now would probably do the same thing. And yeah, it stinks. Let's go to Henderson. You too. I'm glad that you finally got this work and it actually worked out for me perfect time wise. So a little benefit there. But I just wanted to talk a little bit, kind of what you're just talking about with like fighter pay, but I think you covered that pretty well. But one issue that I think people don't talk about really, it's kind of really inside baseball behind the scenes is fighter managers.

I know people bring it up a little bit just when someone signs a terrible deal. But like one thing I was thinking about was listening to Cruz. I'm a big Cruz fan and he was on Ariel's show talking about how he used to have a manager because in MMA, you used to need managers because you got your own sponsorships and you're out doing stuff and you're negotiating your deals more frequently. But he was saying now the UFC basically offers standard deals, which is excruciating to hear even about someone like Cruz. Like this is a multiple time champion and he thinks he's just being handed standard deals.

And he was saying he's never been close to being a free agent because he just asked for more fights added on every time. And like, these are all things that a manager would never want a fighter to do because if you never get close to free agency and you always take the standard deal and you don't push for any outside sponsorships and just hope the UFC will hand you that like monster energy drink at the end of the fight, like that all is going to have a negative effect on your career. And I think it's also having a negative effect when people talk about overall fighter pay because if you look at other sports like in baseball or basketball there are certain agents who represent like 30 40 players and it benefits them if these players are well paid all of

them from the small ones to the big ones and they also teach their clients about unions and advise them and stuff like that but in mMA especially now there's very few competent managers and the ones that are the best like the top managers all aren't in league with the ufc you know so i think that's one more aspect that maybe if we could just improve fighter representation that would at least start to get these talks like maybe not a union but maybe at least negotiating you know yeah man it's uh m ms is a weird place it's a weird place and there are stories that i've i've had managers call me and tell me stories about other managers and other things going on in the sport that I would never be able to share.

That just kind of, it's, there are certain times when you work in the space and you actually like hear what goes on behind the scenes and you're just like, man, I can't, like, is this really what happens? It's, it's just really bizarre and weird and strange and it's kind of unfortunate. But you're right. A lot of times, you want to be in good favor with the. UFC because especially if you have a deep client roster, if opportunity presents itself, someone falls out of a fight and there's a fighter, there's multiple fighters on the cusp

of getting a call. Who do you think the UFC is going to go to first? The managers, they have great relationships with. And those fighters will typically get the calls to get their fighters in. Now, there have been a lot of fighters, especially during the pandemic era, they got calls to the UFC that probably had no right being in the UFC. because there are certain fighters that are prospects on the come up right now who deserve to be in a lot more than some of these other fighters who've gotten in.

And this is not me being a jerk, trying to be a jerk. This is me just telling you like it is. We've seen it with our own eyes. There are certain fighters who have had no business being inside a UFC Oxagon, not because of just like town or whatever, but like they could get really, really hurt in there. And we've seen fighters get really, really hurt. That shouldn't have been in the UFC over the last several years.

and it's very uncomfortable to watch a fighter who shouldn't be there, go in there and just get blasted. It's just not fun. It's kind of scary at times, but it sucks, man. It's just a weird world where, like, you want to be in the good graces of the UFC. Oftentimes you'll see managers, like, defend the UFC in certain cases. It's just very weird. And if you go against the UFC, look at what's happening.

Look what happened with, like, Francis and Ghanu and stuff like that. Like, it's just, it's just very weird. It's a tough sport. It's still kind of a baby. And it's, like, I know boxing has this reputation of being a little weird and off the books and kind of bad rep, has a really bad reputation. It's pretty dirty in MMA, too, especially behind the scenes. it's a pretty tough business. And the more I've worked at it,

the more conversations I've had, the more you realize it. It's just like, it's kind of hard to stay as positive as I try to be. But I also feel that it's fair to be, to be a realist about certain things. And I try to find that fine line between the two. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them.

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Morning will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close to you, call 1866533 or visitcomnetonterio.ca. Let's go to Najma. Are you there? Hello. Hi. Hi.

Sorry, I didn't think that I would have to speak now, but okay. So I wanted to ask about looking at an MMA from the perspective of it, not being a spot, but more like the fight game. It's usually supposed to attract people who have no way out. Did I lose you? Oh. Yep. I lost her. I don't know what happened.

Well, thank you for your call. Yeah, it's, again, kind of, it's a crazy sport. We are weirdos for all for liking it. And I would, like being in this group of weirdos is, there's no other place I'd rather be, baby, sitting up quarantine with COVID, talking MMA with all you crazies. This is exactly where I want to be on a Friday.

Christian, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. Thank you, Mike, for doing this. things. Sure. So I guess my question is, I've been, and this is something I've been thinking about, kind of like recently with, you know, with Holloway losing and Whitaker losing and Colby. I guess like, where do those kind of, like, where do these guys go, where it's like, they're clearly the second best, I think. You know, I think they're clearly like the number one tender but they're they've lost already you know twice three times and they's just like it feels

like it doesn't seem like the champ is really interested in fighting them anymore and then but it's like what else can they do right like they it's it's they're i mean they're beating everybody else basically you know it seems like moreno might even be headed there if he loses uh against figgy soon so it's like what happens to those guys like they can't go up i mean i'm not sure like where they go so that's my question yeah I mean, listen, it's a good question. Holloway has put himself in a position where he doesn't need to fight for titles, he doesn't need to win titles, he doesn't need to be a champion.

The guy is a star. He transcends rankings. He's a very popular guy. And I think Holloway at this point could have a very lucrative career just getting in fun fights the rest of the way. I've been an advocate of a Holloway, Justin Gaetje, fight at some point before. either guy changes pages. There's lots of interesting fights of 55 for Holloway. If Holloway just wants to fight,

if Holloway wants to go fight Josh Emmett or go fight the Bryce Mitchells or the Mobbzar of Loyavs or the Iliots of Phoris of the world, he could certainly do that. There's lots he could do. So I think he's fine. Colby, I still think, could get out of the title shot. I know that the UFC talked about him in Humzat fighting. after that card in Jacksonville in April

and it's obviously not happening because we're dealing, he's dealing with everything that happened with Mazadol. But it would not be, and I've said this before, it would not surprise me whatsoever if the UFC has already contacted Covington and is like,

listen, we're not even going to like tell anybody about this, but get ready, get in shape, train, because if something happens with Diaz, or something happens with Shemayev, we need somebody to step in and fight Nate on September 10th, like we're probably going to call you to do it.

Because that's a nightmare matcher for Nate Diaz. And that's kind of what clearly what the UFC wants to do at this point, is send him out on a loss and sort of a lopsided loss. And Colby would be kind of that guy. So I think if Colby got a win, I think he'd be right back sort of in that conversation. And Kamar Usman has already expressed interest in fighting Colby again. So I would like to see those two guys fight again.

I would like to see the division go in a different place, but we don't really have a place right now. I mean, Shemayev, if he beats Diaz, he's the guy, but let's just say, like, that doesn't happen. Or Shemayev doesn't get there to September 10th. Something weird happens. Like, then what? Like, I feel like Usman runs through almost everybody in this division.

Like, I, and nothing's really financial. interesting to Kamar. Like Kamarer's talking about going up to 205 right now. He understands his going on in this division outside of Shemaiah and Covington.

Those are like the two biggest fights he can get right now. So, yeah, and then Whitaker's kind of in a weird spot as well. But hey, if you're Whitaker, you are a giant Alex Pereira

fan heading into November 12. Because if Alex Pereira beats, goes out there and beats Adasania, yeah, they'll probably run it back, but Whitaker beats

Votero. and Pereira beats Adasania twice, Whitaker's probably getting the first crack at it. So there's, and even for Covington, I don't think Ousman's got a lot left at 170. I think maybe he's got two or three title defenses. He's already talked about wanting to move on with his life

and do other things. I mean, you've got to be kind of bored if you're Ousman right now. But, I mean, after Shemayev, like what else is there for him? outside of maybe a third Covington fight. I mean, he's talking, like I said, he's talking about going to 205. The guy's getting bored.

So it's not a slot to be in a few of those guys, but you're still number two, and if Pereira beats Adasania, Whitaker's right back in the conversation, especially if he beats Marvin Vittori. Let's go to Stephen. Are you there, buddy? Hello, sir.

So I have a few things. He's talking about the fighter pay, right? the fighter pay a lot of things that people don't understand with USC and I always think about this is UFC has a hell of a roster they have a hell of a roster they have to pay each fighter each fighter has a contract and they obligated to be offered a fight at a set amount so they have a large amount of fighters that they have to pay now the great uncle chel just like you mentioned the great uncle chel son and said the same thing that you mentioned where used the platform If you're getting into the UFC, it's up to the fighter, like you mentioned, to hustle their behind off and use the platform to explode themselves up to get notice to become a superstar.

Or you could branch out and do other things. The whole thing with the managers, there are a lot of people dropping their managers, and I think it's because of contractual issues, but you see it with Paula Costa, with David Figuerreto. they drop their managers. I just, I think for the UFC and with the board of plate contracts, you don't need a manager. And then you have somebody like Luke Rockhold that just released a statement talking about the bonus checks and how it should be up more. It's like I just, I don't get it. It's like you mentioned, I don't get what the fighters want. You sign the contract.

You agree to it. That's it. you know, it's up to you to take it from there. The other flip side to it is look at Anthony Perez at PFL. Do you have a fighter where you give the money to him where he's making, I think, $750,000 in every fight? But he has lost all fights. He only won one.

So is it where you give him too much? And then they lose the hunger because they're getting a big fact check every fight with no consequence. So it really is a weird. thing, but at the end of the day, Dana can't do nothing. USC does fine. They propel people to get out there, and you are the one that need to hustle and get yourself to a superstardom. Make up some bullshit. Become a chel 2.0. That's just what I think on that. Lastly, by the way, Holloway looks too small at 155.

Remember to fight with him versus Porriot. So I don't know about Holloway at 155. Usman, he's doing Marvel movies. I mean, I don't know. The guy is so successful that he is bored. He hasn't mentioned Leon Edwards. We didn't even remember that day. He's about to fight Leon Edwards. No mention of it.

He's about everything else, but at Edwards. But yeah, that's what I got. I could go on and off. But that's what I have. Thanks, man. Yeah, listen, I get where you're coming from. I'm not, like, I don't say these things because I think it's right. I say it because that's just the world that we live in right now.

The fighters had their chance to come together in 2016, and they didn't do it. They didn't do it. When the company sold for $4.2 billion, that was the opportunity to come together and change everything. Everything could have changed heading into this ESPN deal. Because had they done that and gotten this ESPN deal, this conversation about fighter pay and all that, we wouldn't even really be having it right now. And by the way, even if things did improve, we'd still probably be having it because these fighters should be getting paid more than they should. And they're being paid right now.

It's just the way that it is. Even Connor all the way up, I think we're all in agreement of that. But they didn't come together in 2016 at the opportune time. They didn't do it. And I think the UFC obviously would have been open to it as well. And it didn't happen. And now we're here. So I'll sit here and defend fighters to the day I'd.

to the day my career is over. But I also will sit here and say it is mostly on them that they didn't come together in 2016. They tried these different groups. Some fighters tried to get out there and make it happen. It just didn't work out. And they couldn't get, you know, four, five, six hundred guys, gals on the same page. It is not easy to do. Now, had they come together in 2016, it's a different conversation right now.

But, yep, this is where we're at right now. And the UFC is making just absurd amounts of money. Absurd. All right, let's go to Viking MMA. Then we'll go to Brian. They'll go to motivated Andy. We'll try to get to everybody here. Viking are you there?

Hello, sir. How are you? Looks like you're recovering. Really? Really. I'm trying. I'm trying. All right.

Sounds good. So what's on your mind, buddy? I just want to ask about Kamarupar, Usman fighting, you know, rematches. Everyone is saying that he's fighting rematches and he's pound for found king just because of rematches. Do you think that Leon Edward fight is also in that category? I think it's not in that category that rematches. You know, the fight has happened maybe seven years ago. So what's your take on that?

Yeah, I mean, it is a rematch. Like, it is a rematch, quote unquote, but, like, it's not like a rematch of a fight that, like, hollow, like, this is not Holloway Volcanowski, too, by any stretch of the imagination. Like, Usman beat Edwards Handily. Like, there's no controversy. There's nothing, like, weird about it. Like Usman won. It was a clear win. So it's a little straight.

Like it is a rematch because they had fought before, but that's it. That's that that's, that's, that's the whole thing. And that's literally the only story here is they fought seven years ago. And then the other story is just Leon has won all these fights in a row. But as Jed Mishua said many times, as a hid who is here said many times, there just hasn't been a lot of reaction for. for Leon Edwards. It just hasn't been.

There hasn't been a big hankering for Leon to fight for the belts or anything like that. It just hasn't really, it just really hasn't been there. So who knows? Maybe Leon could go in there and do the damn thing and pull off the upset. But this is why I have been screaming from the mountaintops since November of last year that the UFC should have done Edwards versus Shemaya for the interim title. because had Leon beaten Shemayev, this fight is way bigger next Saturday.

And now no one's even really talking about it. So that's the position we're in right now. Yeah, technically it's a rematch, but only technically. And this is just kind of Leon mercifully getting his title shot. I mean, it's going to be crazy if he wins. I don't think he's going to, but it would be crazy if he did. Let's go to Brian.

I don't think the card is that bad. I know the names are really bad. All these guys have high finishing rates. It's almost like three out of four for most of these guys are ending in finishes or they're getting finished. So I think that adds up for a great card. And also this Dominic Cruz, Mono and Verde main event is everything that's good with MMA right now. That is the perfect main event to show to a new fan, in my opinion. Because the one thing everyone wants to see is the big guys knocking each other out.

They're used to like watching WW or heavyweight boxing. But like this is the perfect showcase of why the lower divisions, the lighterweight divisions are, in my opinion, just the most entertaining. And secondly, they kind of talked about, I saw and kind of mentioned Glover Tashara and Yuri for UFC 282. Do you think that basically guarantees John Jones' main inventing?

Because I love Glover and Yuri, but they're not going to close out the year as the main event. In my opinion, in my opinion. That might be John Jones. I think Blades could be a possibility. Maybe Tuivasa, a Ghan winner. If Stepe doesn't come in, hopefully Stepeh is on with Cleveland. I mean, that one could certainly headline.

It was one of the greatest fights of all time. Like, I mean, it wouldn't headline over John Jones versus Stepe, Mietich. But Glover-Yeary won was one of the best fights ever. Like, literally one of the best fights ever. So it could happen. I don't know. You have to, Carla, John Wai Lee would probably end up on that card. one would assume at that point as well.

So they'd probably try to load it up with like two or three title fights, some other big names. But yeah, you're looking at some of these other cards and you're just like, golly, how can we compete with 280 and 281 starting to come together nice? It's not a bad problem to have to have. Let's go to Motivated Andy. Glad you're feeling better.

So you said that if Aldo wins against Moran, he should fight for a title. Now, in any other... Damn right, motivated. In any other reality, I would 100% agree. But if Sean O'Malley goes out there and gets a highlight over Peotter, again, we're shooting for the stars. If he goes out there and gets a highlight, K.O., he should get the title shot. I'm sorry. Like, biggest risk, biggest reward.

I love Aldo too. But, I mean, Sean O'Malley goes out there and wins in a devastating fashion against Piotr, he's got to get the title shot. Right? I mean, I want to know what you think. If Aldo gets a mediocre, I'm not saying mediocre. I mean, it's Jose Aldo. But if he gets a win against Mara, a decision, maybe.

a sub or whatever, but if Sean O'Malley goes up there and gets a K-O, he's got to jump all there. No? I don't know. I'll say no. Because there's still big fights for him.

Sean O'Malley's got plenty of time left, although doesn't. All those got like two or three fights left in his whole career. So if you got to do it, you're like, you got to do it now. Like, I hate this Marab fight. I think he's going to win, but he should be fighting for the belt now. He should be fighting for the title over T.J. Dilloshaw.

They should both be fighting on the same card. Aldo should be fighting Sterling and Sean O'Malley should be, you know, in Piotr, Jan, and you can set it up that way. But although should be fighting for the belt right now. Just, he just, his resume is just so much better than Dillishas right now. Dill Shad has the suspension. Very few people thought he beat Corey Sanhagan, and now he gets a title fight. Aldo's been active, all those been winning, beat Marlon Vera, beat Rob Fawn,

beating these guys, he should be fighting for the title. So, I don't know. And I kind of disagree with you with the whole, oh, well, Sean O'Malley's taking the biggest risk fighting Piotr-Yon. Who the hell else was he going to fight? Who else was there?

Nobody. Nobody was there. Everybody was booked. It was clear they weren't going to go back to the Pedro Munoz thing. and he was, let's forget, I don't know, this is the best opportunity for O'Malley. This is the best thing for him because, and this is the best thing for Yon too,

because, again, I wanted Yon Suhudo. That would have been, that was the perfect fight to make, but clearly Suhudo is not going to take that fight. So this works out great for everybody. And I think it works out great for O'Malley, too, because I don't think he's going to win this fight, but he has the chance to look good at certain points in it. And I think if he has a really good first round

and he wins round one, his stock rises no matter what. So he goes out there and knocks out Peter Young. That's very impressive. I don't know if he gets title fight right away. Plus, O'Malley's pretty smart. He's going to want a big fat pay hike. And who knows that the UFC gives him the type of dollars

and type of figures that he actually wants. That's a whole different discussion as well. Let's go to Eric. What's up, buddy? Hi, Mike. First, thanks for hosting this. You mentioned earlier how certain fighters get into the UFC and maybe they're not ready for it

and then they just kind of get crushed and take damage they don't really need to take. What about fighters who make it in the UFC, get to that elite level, and then just get to the point where they can no longer win like BJ Penn or cowboy or even better Sam Alvey. I just don't understand why they continue to let them fight. Do you think there should be a cutoff in regards to like a lost streak?

Um, I mean, it depends. It depends. Alvey should have been done a while ago. I think we're all in agreement of that. That was just really sad to watch on Saturday. I think BJ Penn, again, different situation, but I think BJ still had a name and it still meant something to beat BJ Penn,

puts other guys over, like, put Yaiyre over, it put over Ryan Hall, other guys like that, for good or for bad, that's just how it is. I mean, it all just kind of depends, right? I think Sam Sam Alvey should not be fighting in any organization anymore and I really hope that

Coker, I don't think Bellator is going to call him, but I hope Coker and like won and especially BKFC that they just let this guy just right off into the sunset. Do not be calling this guy to fight for BKFC just let him just let him go.

Let him do his thing. Let him hang out with his family. Go on the farm. Like, you could have a great life doing that. I'd be very happy to see that. But, I mean, it all depends. Like, some losing streaks are just different. Depends.

Like, if you're getting the doors blowing off, like Sam Alvey, I think it's on the promotion to be like, all right, dude, enough's enough. And, like, just cut bait a little bit. For some reason, they did do that with Sam. I don't understand why. It's one of the big mysteries. It's like, where was Dana during the Francis and Gano Sierra Gond fight or what was in the bag on Fight Island with Atmanazitar or whatever his name was?

Like, those are, it's one of those mysteries. Like, we always kind of like joked about it. Like what to Sam Hal the alley, what kind of photos does he have on some of the UFC higher-ups to allow him to continue to fight? Yeah. I think there's, I think it's pretty clear. the UFC, like, if you lose three in a row, it's pretty much, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion. But there are certain fighters who have longer shelf lives, shelf lives. Jared Vandera just got bolted by Chase Sherman, and now he's going to fight in October.

I think Van dera's lost three in a row. Like, he should probably be out of the UFC, and now he's getting another fight. So, I don't know. I don't know. This is why I'm here And those guys are over in Vegas Doing what they do Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew

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Well, almost almost anything So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials.

Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. James, how are you, buddy? I'm fine. How are you, Mike?

Good. Glad to hear you're doing better on the road to recovery and back and out. connection. Yeah, man. Okay, so, you know, I've been seeing these pictures of Paulo Costa, and I am terrified by what he is about to potentially do to Luke Rockhold next week, wondering if you had any comment on that. Keep getting better, man.

Thanks, buddy. Yeah, Paul is a big dude. Be interested to see if he makes 185. and if he doesn't then I'm really curious like will Luke take the fight I wouldn't take it it would just be a nice slap in the face

and I don't know I don't know it's a tough fight for Luke especially after this time off we've seen what happened in his last couple fights but Luke seems ready and ready rip raring to go so it's an intriguing matchup I don't know if I can go

much higher of a word than intriguing but that's the word I'll go with then I favor Powell to win, but Luke's still super talented. He still got something in there. I mean, maybe he's found it in this, in this layoff. We'll see. But yeah, I do, I do favor Paul to go out there and do the damn thing.

Let's go to Turbo McGee. Hello, Turbo. Hey, buddy. Okay. I was, I was thinking that the 155 is my favorite. division and I was curious if you think 155 is the most

the most you know the average say there's the average fan is the average fan most relatable to 155, 175, 170 obviously 125 35 45 is all too small than the average fan

heavy weight light heavy weight is too big I think it's between 155 pounders and 170 poundsers. I was wondering if you agree with that. Interesting question. Listen, I know there have been people who are saying that 135 is the best division of the sport and all that. And if you do say that, you are 1,000% wrong. 155 is the best division in the sport. It's not even close. It has been the best division in the sport for a long time.

it will continue to be the best division in the sport moving forward. 135 is a very deep division. You have, and what I mean by that is you just, you have the top 15, but if you have like 16 to 35, maybe even 16 to 40, you can mix and match all of them sort of into the bottom end of the top 15 or into the bottom out of the top 20. Like it's just a really good division. when you have guys like Chris Gutierrez,

guys like Jonathan Martinez, guys like that who already been ranked right now, it's just a really good division. But 55 is by far the best division. Just look at what you have right now. It's just ridiculous. For the average fan, it's an interesting question. I think for the average fan,

like if we're talking more on like the casual end of the perspective here, the casual end of things. I think it's heavyweight. I think more people, like when you think of combat sports, you think of the heavyweight title. It's just that hearing heavyweight title just means more. Heavyweight, just the boxing lineage, even in like the pro wrestling world,

heavyweight just for the casual fan, the average Joe who's just walking around your local grocery store right now. If you talk about combat at sports, they're probably going to be more apt to follow a heavyweight fight than a lightweight fight. But that just gets them in the door. And then once you're in the door, they realize lightweight rules and it's the best division in the sport. And it's way better than bad a point. Let's go to the four-quarter sports.

Me? Yes, yes, sir. Good to hear that you're doing well. Glad that you're recovering well. I wanted to talk about Dominic Cruz and the Cheeto Barra fight. So I was thinking about it earlier.

How differently you think things could have been if Cruz would have been successful by defeating Henry Sohudo in that first pay-per-view back from the pandemic? I was just thinking about like, you think he would have been able to hang around against the top five

band-o-weights in the world at that very juncture? him coming back for the, um, immediately from a title fight. And then also, I was listening to No Betts Bard, and I was hearing, you know, what's called, Jed saying that, you know, what's it called Cruz doesn't have punching power. And I was thinking about it. I was like, I can't remember the last time that he had a, uh, a knockout, like a TKO knockout. And I was thinking, like, if Cruz does get past Vera, would he be like in the same echelon of, like a Caitlin Chukagian, like just like a gap stopper?

like stopping ban on weights from getting towards their ultimate goal, which is a title fight. And what are the keys you think for Cheeto to get past Dominicruis? All right. Thanks, Mike. Good to hear you doing well. See you. Thanks, man. Yeah, I am feeling a little bit better. Today I feel like I kind of took a backstep in recovery.

I don't know why. Still tested positive this morning, which I was kind of surprised by. but hopefully another day or two that'll be gone and we can move on with our lives to this whole thing. Yeah, Cruz last time Cruz stopped somebody was Takedkeya Mitsugaki. UFC 178.

It was his first fight in over three. It was almost just about three years. He was out for all that time, comes back and knocks out Tikaa Mitsugaki in a minute. And that was super impressive stuff. And then he went on to win the title back. About 18 months later

against T.J. Dilleshaw in Boston, I was at that card as a fan. And it was very cool. And then the Faber fight, and then he loses the Garbrandt, then he loses Zahudo after another long layoff, almost four years that time.

I don't know, man. It's tough to say. Like, people talk about, like, the biggest what-ifs in combat sports, and you'd have to think that a name that is often forgotten and the what if conversation is Dominic Cruz. Like what would have happened if he wasn't as banged up as he's been throughout his career?

What would we be looking at right now? Would we be talking about far and away the greatest band and weight of all time? Like, is he the greatest band of weight of all time right now? I don't know. He's in the discussion. Some people disagree with that. To me, I would probably lean with him being the best band of weight of all time. but like if he didn't have those injuries and those you know six, seven years away from the sport,

what kind of conversation would we be having right now? What would we be talking about? Where would he be ranked in just all of combat sports? Because the guy's super talented. Guy's very elusive. Brots up the difference of the tables. No doubt about that. And he's still, still an interesting personality.

The dude can still scrap. Be Casey Kenny. case, Kenny was on a good run. Beats Pedro Munoz. That was a good fight. Now he's going to fight Marlon Vera. I mean, to me, if you're Dominic Cruz, like, this is probably the most,

this isn't like, I'm not reaching very far here for analysis, but I think this is a closer fight on paper than the odds suggest. And my advice to Dominic Cruz is don't get knocked out. Just don't get knocked out and you've got a chance to win. if this is a just on the feet kickboxing if this is a mixed martial arts fight

for 25 minutes Dominic Cruz has a chance to win but if he turns it into like an all-out I'm gonna beat your face in kind of a fight then Marl will win so it's it I'm

Therouge is just one of those guys where I'm always intrigued to see what this game plan and this strategy is going to look like because he's such an interesting guy such a smart fighter such high fight IQ and I'm sure he's watched these last performances from Marlon Verre.

I'm sure you watched the Rob Font fight very closely, knows what he's up against. I can't wait to see it. It's a great fight. Great main event. Let's go to A-Hid. It's been a minute, my man. How are you?

A-Hid. All right. So, heck of a morning. Glad you're feeling better. So, what is? We got Dominic Cruz, Marlon, Vera.

I actually feel like Dominic's got a real good chance. I feel that with Dominic, with Marlon, Marlon's going to be a kick-heavy fighter, right? And it's just

like, when he kicks, he's on one leg, which means what? You just take him down, shut him down. I expect Marlon to do that. So I expect Dominic to do that to Marlon. And also, it's just like, with Izzy and Pereira, I got to

disagree with you, Mike. I think that Pereira is going to, if Pereira knocks him out, I don't want to see a rematch. I really do not want to see a rematch, I think, because we don't want to give Izzy a chance to do this, like,

leg kicking type game and then a decision result. And also, I think you talked about yesterday with Markachev, but I'm going to say it here. Markachev and Habib, but acting But this is the thing with them. They always talk about respect and humility,

but I feel that with them, it's a case of they love to be given respect, but they don't like to dish out respect. You know, it's almost hypocritical in a sense. Markichab talking to D.C., and D.C. is giggling like a little girl, like a little school girl who's got a crush. It's pathetic. And it's like when Marker Chv has to be.

talking about Charles Olivera, not speaking English, which is insane to me because Markachev speaks broken English, like sometimes. It's almost hypocritical again. It's just so insane to me how Markerchev is talking about Olivera. But in the same space, I expect Marka Chep to win anyway. I want Marker Chb to win just because I don't like the jihip the community. I'm on the side of wrestling and catch wrestling and Sambo but you know Markich is still a bit of a douche

there's some issue with my audio I keep hearing myself back so I'm going to end it there but thanks Mike there he is Zaheed doesn't mess around isn't afraid to to say what's on his mind

the DC DC's reaction to Islam is is pretty funny though I will say that go watch that every it's hilarious Let's go to ZC. Are you there, ZC? Hey, I just had more of a comment than a question, but wanted to get your thoughts on it related to the PFL tomorrow. And you've got Warren Adams, former UFC, heavyweight, who came in. I think this thread sort of ties into other comments you've had throughout the week in terms of, you know,

Boe Nickel, obviously a different sort of person than Boe Nickel. But the experience, so you had him come in onto the contender series with only four fights and professionally. and I think he only had four fights amateur before that, but he's a former D1 wrestler, former football player, had a terrible run in the USC, lost a few fights, back to back and got bounced.

But fighting as a late replacement against Sheppel in the PFL and sort of wanted to get your thoughts on, you know, moving over to the PFL and he's gone, I think, on a 5 and 1 win streak since moving over there. And, yeah, just thoughts about Juan Adams and potentially moving into the playoffs and, you know, a chance of a million dollars with a PFL

or maybe a potential comeback in the UFC in a future. Thanks. Thanks, man. Yeah, good for him. Good for him. He's had a hard time trying to find fights because he's been trying to get back to the UFC seems to be really taking things very seriously right now.

Oh, boy, this PFL card, you got to feel bad for Dennis Goldsoff, who like could have won like had a very good chance to win the entire thing but because the PFL decides hey you know what we're going to do we're going to go completely off the book here and we're going to host our playoffs in Wales

like he basically got screwed out of a million dollars or at least a really good chance out of a million dollars it's pretty awful it's pretty rough I mean it's good for Juan Adams but like what's the point like it's cool to go to Cardiff

and go to Wales and do all that stuff but like do that in the regular season don't do that in the playoffs like you have all these guys who were established they had to get work fees and all this stuff which is very hard to do over these last couple of years because of COVID and everything

and now we're going to move everything just for the for the playoffs and and now you're costing this guy a million dollars because he can't get a visa it's just dumb I'm happy for Juan Adams And apparently he's been there

Like he's been in Wales for a little while now So He was going to be a way in this a backup And he was prepared that this could Could have been a possibility And it was and good on him And it would be a great story If he went in there and won the whole damn thing

But boy oh boy Got a feel for Dennis Goldsoff Who was two wins away from a million bucks. Craziness. PFL, God, I want, I really, I want a roof for the PFL. I really do.

But then they just, they make decisions, they say things, their front office guys say things, and it just makes me so upset. It just frustrates me to no end. They're a very frustrating promotion. I'll leave it at that. Let's go to Kurt.

Kurt, how are you, buddy? Can you hear me, buddy? There we go. I got you. I'm glad you're feeling a little bit better. I'm sorry about the COVID. I got a couple things. One, have you seen the Terminalist on Amazon with Chris Pratt?

It's pretty awesome. It's got a cowboy Seroni cameo in it, but one of the greatest shows I've ever seen. And second thing is, I'm really. Regarding, you know, being a, like a journalist and, like, you know, this Usada thing, I noticed that I saw some reports about some recent Usada testing, and I noticed that Connor hasn't been tested since his last fight. And I know maybe that's probably because of, like, maybe the procedures that he's had and maybe some of the medication that he's taken. But what do you know about Usada and, like, how is it that some of these fighters? aren't getting tested, like even within a year. Thanks for the time.

Thanks, man. I've not seen the terminalist, I believe, was the name of it. I will have to check that out, though. Usada's just weird, especially if you're international. Like, if you're in the U.S. and they know where you are, those come knock on your door. And I mean, just ask Baruso. They're not going to this door at 5 a.m.

What they do with the international stuff, I'm not all that familiar with. I have to go look up. Let me go look. I'll have to go check, look into the Connor thing, and I'll have more of an answer about whether or not he's been tested. I think you could find that on the USADA website. So I will go look for that and see if that's the case.

If it is the case, seems a little bizarre. You would think, and I'm not, let me just please say this. I'm not saying Connor's on anything. right now, but you have to think that, like, looking at some photos of him, like, it would be sort of a red flag for Usada that maybe we have to go test this dude. And again, I'm not saying he's on anything. This is a guy who's had a lot of time in his hands, got a lot of money, and he can just go and lift heavy weights, get as many trainers as he wants. But you'd have to think, like, if you're Usada and you're looking at picture of this guy and he's weighing in his, like,

big and jacked as a middleweight essentially. You'd probably want to go test him. So I'll up look into that and see if that's actually true. All right, we'll take a few more. Brent, hello. Get on me, buddy. I got you. There we go.

Hi, man. Yeah, I want to know what you think about Dustin Fourier and Michael Chandler. Like, you know, that's kind of one of them fights for me. that, you know, where do you go with that? Because if Dustin goes in there and he beats Michael, then what? You know, like, and the Michael's in this spot where he's two and three. So, you know, I don't know. That was just a opinion I wanted to hear from you.

That's all. Thanks, man. Yeah, they're just going to go in there and then going to beat the shit out of each other, and it's going to be fun. I don't know what's actually at stake for those guys, but I don't know. maybe they both hope that Islam is the champion by the time they fight

so maybe they can maybe they think they're fighting for maybe a title shot I don't know wouldn't be the direction I would go but I don't know I mean I'm interested in seeing there these two guys don't like each other and there's some heat there

and there's going to get in there and throw hands and feed at each other until somebody falls down should be a good bloody scrap so I'm looking forward to it looks like it's going to be be at MSG, although that is not official just yet.

Let's go to Jay. Jay, hello. Hey, Mike, what's on? Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Yeah, so I didn't get to hear your response due to the technical difficulties like the first run on the Twitter spaces. Do you mind if I ask them again?

Go ahead. Yeah, so my first one was, do you think the UFC's making a mistake by sending the Brazil card early in January because the only two matchups, like they can set as a right now for sure, for title fights would be Moreno big four and any

division and any matchup Manna Nunes wants. Because if the date is true with Glover and Erie, they're not going to fight one month after. If Glover wins, he's not going to fight one month after and fight in Brazil. And also if Charles loses,

then he won't be able to defend the belt in Brazil. And let's say he does win but gets really seriously injured and that he probably will have to sit out for that card. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. And my second question was, Josh Quinnlin is fighting this card. But if I'm not mistaken, I believe Lasticke was supposed to fight, but he tested positive for some type of steroids.

So was there some type of false positive or something? Or did it just like let his slide or do you know any more info on that? So thanks, Mike. Yeah. Have back a more of them. All right. Thank you, sir. Yeah.

So, yeah, I mean, it's, you can't really control timing. From what I understand this Brazil thing's been in the works for quite some time. January was kind of the month that was circled for several months now. So I don't think there's really much you could do about it. I mean, if you looked at the different reports, I know we reported it. The initial player was to do Yuri versus Glover on this card. But Yeri, at least in my eyes, very smartly, was like, nah, dude, I'm not going to go there. like I'm the freaking champion.

So no. I don't blame him for that whatsoever. So I could do Figgie Moreno, maybe Nunes, and who knows? If Oliver does win, then he gets fighting the card too. And even if he loses, I'm sure he's going to want to fight on that card anyway. So, yeah, I think it's fine. We'll see what happens. We'll get a, I'm sure we'll get some interesting fight.

Who knows? Maybe we'll get Jose Aldo, Al Jermaine Sterling for the Bannamway title on that. card. How about that? Wouldn't that be cool? So there's plenty of things you could do. And then with the Josh Quinlan situation, it's very much like the John Jones situation. He tested positive after his contender series fight, sort of lingering effects. He was under the threshold of the metabolites, the numbers, the picograms, if you will, were back to picogram world. Usada, it was under the USADA threshold. It wasn't a USADA decision to not have him fight Jason Whit last weekend.

This is a Nevada decision. Nevada had some questions. He basically cleared all the hurdles. Nevada has no issue with Quinlan fighting outside of Nevada. Andy Foster did his due diligence. And here we are. So it's just one of those things where every time Quinlan fights in Vegas, you might have to deal with this kind of thing.

most kind of like the John Jones situation, but that's the best comparison. But if you want more information, Jeff Dvitzky spoke with reporters last week during the UFC Vegas 59 card and basically said that but gave a lot more scientific detail than I'm going to give you here because he knows way more than I do. All right, we got two more. We'll go to Sam. We'll go to Tristan and then we've got to get out of here. Sam, go ahead.

Mike, what's up, man? What's up, buddy? Hey, just a quick question about your Rona. Are you able to taste? Did you lose your taste at all? It's like 50-50. Depend. Some things I taste very strongly.

Some I don't really taste at all. It's been a weird week, my man. I've experiencing just some weirdness. Oh, yeah, that's some weird shit. So anyways, you guys were talking about a lot of stuff today. I love everything everybody's saying. But you and Jed were talking about how the one of, If the fighter pay thing is very annoying, but what's also annoying is the fact that it seems like Dana White and all these other MMA promoters are just bad at promoting.

Like, Bantamweight as an example, like, Aldo definitely should have gotten the title fight. Aljo asked, said he would have preferred Aldo. I don't know why that didn't happen. I think T.J. Dillshaw hasn't done jack shit to get a title shot. I think T.J. should have fought O'Malley. I think that would be way better. And Cheeto, yeah, Cheeto should have fought Jan. And Cruz could go fight a...

Crap, who else is there? Oh, Cruz versus Marab would have been good, too. But yeah, have a great weekend, Mike. And thanks for everything you do. I hope you enjoy the fight card this week, because it's going to be sweet. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, it should be fun. main event's going to be real good.

Yeah, Dana White hasn't been really in the promotion business in a long time since the company sold, really. Once in a while, he gets all fired up like the contender series a couple of weeks ago and got me really jazzed up, got me really excited. And then this past weekend, this past Tuesday happens. And I'm just like, all right, we're back to just giving out contracts, just giving them out days. everybody and then the whole blow nickel thing i said it before i'll say it again that whole thing we all understand what's happening here it was just bad look across the board uh and i'm tired of i just i just i just it just is annoying when they treat us like three year olds like we're not like that we're like we're like we're idiots like we don't understand what's happening um

when we know in fact exactly what is happening. So I'll leave it at that. All right, Tristan, take us home, my man. Hey, Mike, can you hear me? Yes, sir. Listen, Mike, I want to talk about, pretty much about Kobe Covington. And I, when I think everything is situated, I really think he's going to be looking forward towards Dustin Fourier.

I think that's the fight he only wants, and I think that's the fight he's going to get, if Dustin Fourier, no matter if Dustin he fights Michael Chandler, win or lose, I think he's going to take, I think he's going to want to get the Dustin 40th fight, I think he'll probably get it. Reason being is because the thing about Kobe is

he's very smart on how he chooses fighters. He's going to choose fighters that he has a high percentage on, on winning, right? I fight Tyrone Woodley. Tyler Woodley was on the downside of his career. It was pretty much done. Then he fought Jorge, Matsudel was she has a better grappling

where he could just outgraple him and that's what he did. We saw that. And then, you know, he's fought guys that, again, he's going to have a more advantage for him and what benefits him and that's how he's been. Like, this guy's not calling out, Sean Brady.

The guy's not calling out Shama, not to say he's not scared of him and wouldn't fight him, but damn sure he's going to be like, hold on, I want to get paid. you know because the risks is obviously and jeffin she was pointed about this i pointed that out he's very he's not going to fight fighters that he has a less percentage of winning so that's why i think he's going to go and like i'm fighting dust and that's the fun i'm going to get and over time whenever he gets over the situation

with horace matinee maspero and everything is clear he's going to fight dust and poir and i think that's the fight he's going to get because again guy's not going to fight the guy you know, not to say he's not going to want to fight Chimae of, but that's probably like down, you know, I'm going to fight that dude later on or whatever. I'll fight Chimae of later on or he's going to fight Sean Braydon right now. Bow Nica right now has said, I'll drop down to 170 and a short note to fight and fight.

Kobe Covey's going to, Kobe's like, no, no, I'm not fighting that guy. So, like, again, he's very smart. He's very particular who he fights, and he's going to fight the guy that he's going to have a higher percentage. And, you know, I just want to know about your feelings because I think that's the only fight he's going to want. And that's the against the Dustin Cori. Thanks, Mike. Have a heck of a morning.

And enjoy the great fight to everybody for this week. Thanks. Thanks, buddy. Yeah. Again, I don't know. I honestly, I honestly think he would have fought Shabaya. I think he would have taken that fight in five seconds. I don't know.

Like, it's hard for me to answer this question. because we don't know what's going to happen. There's talks about brain injuries and other things of that nature when it comes to Colby and this whole situation with Mazdaal. And I think we have to just kind of wait and see how it plays out. Yeah, I think Porey is certainly an option. I think it's something that could have been in play before he got the Chandler fight.

But who knows? Porre had a hard time getting this fight or getting any fight at all. who knows what the UFC's thinking, who knows what Colby's thinking right now, and who knows, like I've said before, maybe Colby's getting ready for a fight in September. Maybe they have him just kind of getting ready, because what if Shemayev can't make it to Vegas?

Who's naked of fight? I'm sure Colby would take that fight, and I'm sure the UFC would love to have Colby take that fight. So, I don't know, it's kind of up in the air. We could throw out all these different ideas, these different suggestions, we got a we get a trial ahead of us we have all these accusations we don't know what's real what isn't but we're going to find out and then hopefully we have some sort of a some sort of answer

to this whole situation let me see if we got um i think we're good all right we got to get out of here and the big reason why is because my colleagues aka e k c lyden uh i will not be on for this I'm going to take a little breather because I've been talking a lot and I'm going to host the preview show a little while but Jose is in San Diego right now

and we're going to have a live way in show for UFC San Diego and you can watch that on the MMA fighting YouTube channel and that is going to kick off probably in about 10 minutes from right now and then we'll have a preview show I think it's at 2.30 maybe 3 o'clock Eastern time but stay tuned

we will let you know and we'll preview this UFC San Diego card with all of you. So thank you very much, especially those on Twitter spaces who have had a deal with all the technical difficulties with the MMA fighting page, jumping over to this page. It's just been a nightmare. I don't even know what the hell happened, but we got it to work and got some great questions, some great thoughts. And we always have a great time. So hopefully when we're back on Tuesday, things will be good. I'll be feeling much better and

hopefully have no technical difficulty. So enjoy the rest of your day. Enjoy the way in show. Enjoy the preview show. And as always, everybody, have a heck of a morning. You're the best. Fox Media Podcast Network.