MMA Fighting - HOAM | What's Next For Israel Adesanya With UFC 293 Win Over Sean Strickland?

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

Israel Adesanya is expected to defeat Sean Strickland at UFC 293 on Saturday as he is a massive favorite in the main event of the promotion's return to Sydney. Should he perform as the betting odds su...ggest, would Adesanya go on to face Dricus Du Plessis, or — should he defeat Paulo Costa at UFC 294 — Khamzat Chimaev? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the potential matchmaking for Adesanya if he defeats Strickland on Saturday, if Du Plessis could get passed over for Chimaev, and Dana White's comments about Du Plessis earlier this week. Additionally, listener questions include the UFC 293 card and the lack of buzz behind it from top-to-bottom, what could be the Fight of the Night, the best and worst UFC pay-per-view lineups of the year to this point, when Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington could happen, what the welterweight division could look like in six months, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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,
Starting point is 00:00:42 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,
Starting point is 00:01:14 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?
Starting point is 00:01:43 The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA Fighting Twitter space as we hear the show at its entirety. Shortly thereafter, on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on?
Starting point is 00:02:33 everybody. I am Mike Hack. A lot going on this weekend in the world of combat sports. We are on the eve of UFC 293, on the eve of Israel Adasania versus Sean Strickland for the middleweight title. On the eve of the UFC 293 watch party going down
Starting point is 00:02:55 tomorrow night, you can join myself, GC, some special guests along the way 9.45 p.m. Eastern and judging by the fan reaction to this card as a whole, I think it's a pretty damn good idea. You can save yourself 80 bucks. We will be as upbeat and as interesting as possible when it comes to this card. That I can assure you.
Starting point is 00:03:18 We'll do some bets. We'll do some chat bets. Play some games. G.C. will probably kick my ass in UFC 4. We'll just have a good time. So you can join us at 9.45 p.m. Eastern. Wayans are done. ceremonial wanes are done. We only had one hiccup on the scale. Shane Young missed weight by
Starting point is 00:03:36 almost four pounds. His fight will go on as scheduled with Gabriel Miranda, forfeiting 30% of his purse. But other than that, we are good to go for tomorrow night, unless you're in Australia, we're good to go for Sunday. Whole different thing with the times. So yeah, we're going to have some fun tomorrow no matter what. We get game bread bare knuckle MMA. tonight as well. So you can check that out. It's free on the, on Jorge Mazdal's YouTube channel. It's going to be on social media as well.
Starting point is 00:04:11 We'll be covering that. I will be covering that as well for the website. I'm intrigued. I will say that. I am intrigued by this. I'm more intrigued about just the event itself more than anything. And I'm oddly curious about Junior Dos Santos versus Fabrizio over Doom. shredded and ripped and not in the USADA testing pool.
Starting point is 00:04:38 Both guys look pretty damn good getting off the bus. Should be interesting. So it is a free-for-all Friday. We can talk about MMA. We can talk about 293. You could talk about game bread. We could talk about fights on the books. We could talk about pro-rassling.
Starting point is 00:04:52 We could talk about whatever the hell you want to talk about. And I figured we would hear from Toke because of some news I just saw on Twitter about a minute ago. Toke, hello. Yeah, Mark Madsen, he, the Danish correspondent here, of course. So Mark Madison, he like nine hours ago, I think, posted a video on Instagram that he was signing about agreement. And then he was, of course, contacted by Danish media because he has a good relationship with media that isn't MMA media because of management. And so he has signed about agreement to find out. in MSG and he says that the opponent will be Jared Gordon if,
Starting point is 00:05:41 Jared Gordon, if he signs the contract. So I don't know if you, if he has signed yet, Jared Gordon, but I would like to hear what this matchup. I would just like to hear how do you see this going down. And is it kind of weird that they're pushing this so hard that they're putting it at MSG? That part I don't quite get. But other than that, Mike,
Starting point is 00:06:05 how do you see the matchup and what do you see for the winner? Do you see a Paddy Pimpley matchup for the winner? Is that it? Anyway, have a good Friday, Mike. Probably not. The Patty fight. I don't know, maybe Jared wins. And even if Jared loses, I think that fight's still in play.
Starting point is 00:06:24 It makes sense for New York. I mean, Jared, I believe, is from the area. So it's kind of, I know he doesn't live there now necessarily, but he has ties to the area. So it wouldn't make sense from that standpoint. So maybe sell some last minute tickets. I don't know. But yeah, I will find out hopefully as the show goes on if that is a go.
Starting point is 00:06:48 But from all accounts, both fighters are repped by the same team. So I would assume if Mark's putting that information out there, the manager of both fighters is aware of this. So there you go. But hopefully I will have an answer for you sometime in the show. I just sent a couple messages out and we'll see if I can get a response. But yeah, I figured that's what you're calling about. I saw the great Marcel Dorf tweet that out.
Starting point is 00:07:20 And if Marcel's tweeting it out, then I feel pretty confident that that fight is a go because that's how Marcel rolls. Marcel doesn't mess around with that stuff. Tristan, hello. Hey Mike, can you hear me? Yeah. Good, good. I think we talked about it or it was talked about yesterday about the whole situation with Duplexies and Dana and Izzy saying, you know, you know what?
Starting point is 00:07:49 He may not get the next title shot. And I'm just like, all right, man, come on. Because the thing is it's just like, it's so weird. Like, oh, most likely I'll probably give Hamzot versus the winner of Hamzot and Paul Lhasa, I might give him the title shot. I control this. And I'm like, yeah, and I would watch that fight. That's fine. But, like, Izzy, you've got
Starting point is 00:08:12 to understand it from Duplice's point. And you've quoted it. This guy just fought, what, the second best middleweight in the division in Robert Whitaker. And he goes out there and beats that dude. You know how hard is to be Robert Whitaker? Robert Whitaker is one of the most hardest fights.
Starting point is 00:08:28 And he went out there and beat them. And he had an injury. And he's like, yo, dude, DuPlessis is like, yo, I'll see you in Africa quarter next year. Peace. But instead of, Izzy should have been like, you know what, I wanted to be on this card. I'm going to fight Strickland.
Starting point is 00:08:43 You know, let that dude take this time. He wants to heal up from his injury, whatever. I'm going to still beat that dude, even if he has a full training camp. And then I would have been, everybody would have been cool with that. Oh, there you go. That's cool.
Starting point is 00:08:53 I'm good with that. But for him to say the certain things that he has said, it's just like, oh, my God, come on. And Dana, too, I'm like, oh, man. And I know it's a game. game. This is how it works. It's like it's a promotional thing. They're going to try to do whatever. You know, it's a chess game, especially for Izzy because it's like I want to make sure the
Starting point is 00:09:12 advantages on my side. So I'm going to say these certain things to so I look good in it. Which is fine. We understand it. I understand. You understand. It's a game. Come on. Be a little bit logical about the situation. Like, yo, let the man recover. I'll see you next year in Africa. Let's do this. And that's it. Like, I don't get, I don't, I don't I don't get it. And if they do it in school, and then it's like, then they're going to make it harder
Starting point is 00:09:38 because like, okay, now since Izzy said, I control this, you're going to have to fight Jared Cannon Air. And it's like, all right. So now he has to go beat Jared Cannon, or he'd just be Robert Woodigan. That doesn't make sense.
Starting point is 00:09:50 So I just, I mean, what are you just? I mean, I think you said your piece about it yesterday, but I mean, I might have went away from the phone when I was listening, so I didn't really get your perspective on it. But how do you feel about it? Like, well, you just like, looking at Izzy and Dana
Starting point is 00:10:03 like, what are we doing? But I don't know. Thanks, Mike. Well, I mean, the biggest mistake came from the UFC because when they announced the DDP Whitaker fight, they said the winner of this fight has gone to fight Israel out of Sanya on the Sydney card in September. So you have to think that when this fight was presented to both guys,
Starting point is 00:10:22 they were aware of that situation. On the other side, do you think there's any chance on God's Green Earth that Robert Whitaker would have turned around in two months to fight Izzy? for maybe his last opportunity at this guy on two months notice? No. The whole thing was dumb. None of it made sense. The matchup was fine, but the timing of it was terrible.
Starting point is 00:10:45 It was terrible. Why not just say, we want Izzy to fight. Let's just have Sean Strickland do it. And that's it. But you put it out there that the winner of that fight's going to turn right around and fight and fight Izzy. Most of us, I mean, we talked about it for weeks leading up to the fight that the timing of it was horrendous and that there's no way either guy's going to turn around in two months notice
Starting point is 00:11:08 maybe ddp if he gets out relatively unscathed which he kind of did but he was banged up going into the fight was the biggest fight of his life it's a weird situation and here's what i'll say about it if i am drinkus du plus c i'm going to sidney i don't know if he's there i haven't checked social media that dude better be in that arena when that fight happens He better be sitting cage side. He better be throwing a tantrum trying to get in that octagon. He needs to be a part of this and he needs to insert himself back into the storyline. Because between what Dana said, what Izzy's been saying,
Starting point is 00:11:54 with Hamza Tchamayev getting ready to fight Paul Acosta, there's a lot of roadblocks here. And it's terrible because there's some heat on this. DDP fight. The fight's not happening in Africa, I'd tell you that. But Izzy has said a lot of things this week, including I want to be part of UFC 300. And how the UFC is going to present that event, they're going to put together the biggest card possible. And as much as I want to see Israel to Sania fight DDP and settle that grudge, you cannot argue with me in any way, shape, or form. There is no compelling case you can make that will ever convince me right now
Starting point is 00:12:42 that Israel-Aid-Saddeh versus Drikas-Li is a bigger fight than Israel-Ad-Sanii versus Hamzat Shemayev. Hamzad Shemayev versus Izzy is the biggest fight you can make in this division, and it's not even close. It is going to double whatever Izzy and DDP does. The problem is Hamzat is, I don't know if unreliable is the right word, but he is a huge mystery. This dude fights once a year. We haven't seen him since September of last year.
Starting point is 00:13:10 It's been over a year since he's fought. He is scheduled to fight Paul Costa and Abu Dhabi. But what happens after that? Is he going to be able to fight in Vegas? Is he going to be able to fight wherever UFC 300 is going to happen? I don't know. But if I'm DDP, get your ass to Sydney and make sure you were there for this fight. And just insert yourself in there.
Starting point is 00:13:34 even if security has to hold you back from getting into the octagon. At least that image is there. But it's just, listen, it's the UFC's fault. It's 100% the UFC's fault for putting that fight together. It's also the UFC's fault bringing Izzy in the cage to get in DDP's face to help build this storyline for a fight that's not even happening. The whole thing is super weird. And you never know, folks. I know it's super unlikely.
Starting point is 00:14:03 but if Sean Strickland's beats Israel out of Sondia then all bets are off and none of this even matters so I don't know old thing's weird I just I don't know we need we need the old data back who's positive and wants to promote things Joe hello
Starting point is 00:14:24 yeah what's up Mike what's going on nothing much man I agree with you about the DDP and ZZ situation I think Hamza would be a much much more entertaining fight, timing would be right, and I agree with you. If he goes in there and dominates Paula Costa, that's definitely the fight to make. What I wanted to ask you is about the Monacoop and Kai Kar-Franz situation and all that stuff.
Starting point is 00:14:57 I got really pumped after watching that presser yesterday. So I wasn't as pumped to watch the fight prior, but now I'm really looking forward to that. that and what do you think on a potential matchup against Manel Cobb versus Kai Kar-France? Thanks, man. Have a good Friday. Thanks, man. So it's interesting because
Starting point is 00:15:17 Manel is kind of an animal on Fight Week. Like, any Comcoldabiner that that guy carries just kind of goes away on Fight Week. There is a part of me that didn't love his energy at the press conference. Like, I get that he was sort of the star of the show. but he's fighting a tough dude like he's finding a really talented young guy and there is like a fear as someone who's super high
Starting point is 00:15:47 in Minnell Cap that perhaps he's overlooking this guy and I don't think I'm hoping he's not but look what Minnell did with this press conference and starting with Kai Kar-France and getting sort of battling back with Izzy is I hope Monell is just kind of realistic of the situation right now
Starting point is 00:16:09 because Monell can play this up. You can say, well, I'm supposed to fight all these guys. They all duck to me, whatever. If he goes out there and just beats Felipe de Sontas, which is heavily favored to do, he needs to be realistic about the situation. He cannot come, he cannot go in there and start screaming and yelling that he wants a title shot.
Starting point is 00:16:29 He cannot go in there screaming and yell and say, he wants to fight Braden Moreno. He needs to be realistic. And if he goes out and beats Filippe Dose, Santos and he should do it. I don't think a decision's enough here. I think he has to go in there and just blow the doors off this dude. And then all of it's for not. Like any negativity surrounding mental cop and his attitude or whatever all goes away if he just goes out and runs this dude over. But what's going to happen is he's not going to gain a whole lot from this. He's got more fans,
Starting point is 00:17:00 he's got more people intrigued by him. But he's just going to fight Kai Kar-Franc. That's like that's the fight that's going to happen. Could be out of pay-per-view. Could be like a five-round fight night main event. But all he did with throwing stuff at Kai and going back forth and just setting up this fight to be rebooked. He's not really going to have much of a say about it. So I like the fight. Like I think him and Kai Kar-Franz is a great fight.
Starting point is 00:17:26 Like this card looks different. Like there is a little more pop to this card if Cairo-France is still on it. But without that fight, you know, cops got some interest and got some people on his back, but still not great.
Starting point is 00:17:45 Still not great. So we'll see what happens. But I think they're just getting that pre-book in that fight because why the hell not? Daniel, hello. Hey, Mike, heck of a morning, see you. Happy Friday.
Starting point is 00:17:59 I'm just going to give a little free-for-all question here. So you kind of brought it up a second ago, just USC 300. you know is even brought it up in the press conference just saying you know i really want to be on that car because i don't think i'll be around for ufc 400 so it just made me want to go back and look at ufc 200 to compare and ufc 200 was a pretty stacked card i mean i'll let you pull it up for yourself but i mean jim miller versus tak andori gomi was was the opener for the card so i mean i don't know
Starting point is 00:18:29 if the ufc is going to really come close to that but just want to get your opinion on on that ufc 200 card and what you think USC 300 could be looking like thanks mike it's kind of tough to say because like the ufc's business practices and the way they construct cards it's so much different now it's so much different because they have tv deals and they're getting paid a bunch of money that it truly doesn't matter what they put on they're just going to make a ton of money anyways you have c 200 one of the craziest fight weeks ever we're supposed to get daniel cornea versus john jones John Jones tests positive that week. The fight is pulled.
Starting point is 00:19:11 They fly in Anderson Silva on like two days notice to fight D.C. We get Brock Lesnar, beating Mark Hunt, and then fight gets overturned. Amanda Nunes, Misha Tate's the new main event. Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar is like the second fight of the card. Kane Velasquez, Travis Brough, was the main card opener. Like the card was ridiculous, man. like it was just ridiculous Gaygard Musassi
Starting point is 00:19:39 Tiago Santos is the second fight of that card Joe Lozahn Diego Sanchez Sage Northcut T.J. Dillisha Hafiala Sonsau was in the prelims. Giuliana Pena Katzangano was on the prelimbs
Starting point is 00:19:52 Kelvin Gassum Johnny Hendrix which at that time both those guys were in really interesting spots prelims. Loaded card UFC 100 was the same way. John Jones was on the prelands at UFC 100 So I think this will be kind of a special card. They'll load it up.
Starting point is 00:20:10 I think it's just going to look kind of like an MSG card, really. We'll probably have two title fights, maybe three. Some compelling other just fun fights. We'll load up the freedoms a little bit. But I don't, there's still going to be like preliminary fights where it's just like, who's this guy? This one just got a contract on the contender series. Like that's probably what's going to happen, but they'll treat it like a special thing, and it'll be good.
Starting point is 00:20:38 It'll be good. If Izzy's headlining, if Izzy's on the card, he's probably headlining, which I don't know where that leaves like a Connor or anybody like that, but that's April, man. That's coming, damn, it's coming pretty quick. Seven months? We're like seven months away from UFC 300. It seemed like just yesterday I was saying, welcome to 2023. on heck of a morning, and it's already friggin' September. This year's just flying, man.
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Starting point is 00:22:19 Amzwalia, do we have you? Yes, so Mark how's it going? Good. What's up? Yeah, so just got a few things
Starting point is 00:22:29 I want to ask and address. I'll start off with a bit about the recent upcoming youth events we're going to
Starting point is 00:22:36 be seeing such as 295, 294 and 296. You know, I just want to say something regarding to early convoy you mentioned. I really do think Dana scheduling and just in general how the fighters have been having a lot of crazy training camps and they're getting injured. It's kind of having me a big concern for how the Madison Square Guard and a car, for example, is going to turn out. because last year we have one of the the greatest cards for that city. And same with, you know, the Usma and Colby fight two years back. But so far this John Jones fight, you know, I haven't seen any fight that's really been interesting.
Starting point is 00:23:16 We don't even know if Leon and Kobe is going to fight in the Madison Square Garden card now. And that itself is quite an interesting case because I don't know if you saw, but today Arasanya's manager, he talked back to some mission radio about that he's going to talk to Hunter and get something done. But from what I believe, based on the language and the way the tone has been said, it's possible that could be possibly the main event or part of the December card. And now where I think things do get interesting, let's say John Jones and Steve has like the biggest fight in that card.
Starting point is 00:23:53 Every other card fight maybe if let's say Amman Sirukian versus Derrush happens. maybe they add like a Dan Hooker to that card and maybe Moskov versus you know Arnold Allen or something like that what I could see happening is December we might see Kobe Leon maybe Yuri Pahaska and Alex Pahara this is just my assumption and we might see
Starting point is 00:24:17 a list of filled out cards because at the moment right now the UFC is a bit of an interesting state we're seeing you know this next few weeks and October is basically going to set the stage tone for what is about to happen next year. I'm also just curious to know, what are your thoughts on, you know, Ilya Tuporio fighting for the title next?
Starting point is 00:24:42 Do you think he should fight Alexander Volcanowski, or would it make more sense that, you know, he fights someone like a Brian Nortega or Yareira Rodriguez, you know, to prove that he's a true number one contender? Because, in my opinion, I find that situation be weird. like yeah, Josh, Emma's a good win, but he took that guy at five-round. That guy is literally out of his prime. You know, I think fighting Otega or Iayao Rodriguez would help, in my opinion,
Starting point is 00:25:08 but I would like to know your thoughts on that. And just my final question, how do you see the Walter VIII Division shaping up in the next six months? Like what are some fights that you'll be curious or would like to see? and how does the, what's the word, how does the cruise effect for this division take place? You know, will we be seeing certain veterans who are on the top of that division start to take a steep decline? Maybe could we see some of the young contenders fucking it up
Starting point is 00:25:43 and probably having to still fight down and up? You know, I'm curious to know your predictions of that. And, you know, as always, thank you for having me on. I appreciate it, man. Have a good day. Thanks, man. So I'll start with the Colby Leon thing. Yeah, I mean, like I said, I do think that fight's going to happen this year.
Starting point is 00:26:03 I did see Tim Simpson talking to submission radio saying it's going to be either November or December. Again, Connor is a factor in all this because of Connor calls the UFC tomorrow and says, hey, I'm going to fight in December. Then they're going to shuffle everything around and do that. That's what's going to happen. So to me, the fact that that fight hasn't been announced. tells me that there's a chance Connor fights in December. Maybe not a great chance, but even if it's a 3% chance,
Starting point is 00:26:31 the UFC is going to hold out and try to cash in on that. There's no doubt about it. What would make sense is just throwing that fight on the MSG card, the Colby Leon fight, because it's massive. And in December, you keep things open. So, Connor's available, great. If not, you do Sean O'Malley Cheevera. That's fine.
Starting point is 00:26:50 That's a great main event. Sean O'Malley's on fire right now. January you could do Yuri versus Alex Like that's a great main event You can put that fight anywhere It's just two dudes who get in there and chuck them And go out and try to blow each other's doors off
Starting point is 00:27:04 Like it's gonna be super fun So we'll kind of see how that plays out But excuse me But I do think we'll get Leon Colby Before the end of the year I do think we'll get it before the end of the year To Poria Yes he should fight Volkanowski
Starting point is 00:27:22 That's 100% the fight that should be made and I hear people say, and I'm not trying to dog on you at Zawah, but this, oh, he took Josh Emmett, Josh Emmett went to the final round with him. It's because Josh Emmett is absurdly tough. Ilya beat the shit out of that dude for 25 minutes.
Starting point is 00:27:44 Like, he beat his ass all over that Octagon. And I was cage-eyed for that fight. Iliotiporia beat the brakes off that man. and Josh was just so tough, too tough for his own good. And that fight could have been stopped on multiple occasions. And the referee let it go. We were talking cage side, like a bunch of us saying like, oh, maybe Emmett's corner should just like throw the towel in
Starting point is 00:28:08 because this isn't going to get any better. And it made Josh look good because he kept throwing punches in the fifth round. But he got whooped in that fight. So it's not like Teporia just jabbed him for 25 minutes. Teporia tried to get him out of there and nearly did multiple times. Like that was a one-sided ass-whipin from Miliate Teporia. So, yeah, give him the title shot. We don't need to see Brian Ortega fight.
Starting point is 00:28:35 We don't need to see anything else. We don't need to see Max Holloway. Just give him the title fight. And let's just see what he can do. He wants it. Volk seems to want it. Let's just do it. Let's just do it.
Starting point is 00:28:50 Give him the freaking fight. give him the freaking fight. I'm trying to remember what, oh, the Welth, the Welterweight division. I don't know. Because we don't know what's going on. Again, like, we can't really answer these questions until the title fight happens.
Starting point is 00:29:09 Because if Colby wins the title, all bets are off. Everything's on the table. Everything is possible. It breaks the division if Colby wins the title. Breaks it. Usman could find himself in a title shot of Colby wants that fight. We could see like Dussuporier fight for the title.
Starting point is 00:29:27 We could see Connor get a title shot. Like Colby's probably not fighting Shopcott or Bilal or anybody like that. He's going to go for the big bunny fights. So it's tough to say. It'll be a real interesting to see what they do with Usman. Maybe they do the Wonderboy fight. I think that makes all the sense in the world. Although I do think Ian Gary is probably going to be the guy for Wonderboy.
Starting point is 00:29:54 Will Oussman fight Shafcott? I don't know. Will they offer? Would Bilal fight Ousband? If they offered him that fight. That's an interesting one as well. But I think the thing I'm interested in most is like, what's next for Ian Gary? Where does Shafkot go?
Starting point is 00:30:14 Like, who does he end up fighting? I kind of think they're going to do the gas zone fight before the end of the year. It's kind of tough to say without actually knowing, one that title fight's going to happen in the result of it because this division's a weird one. Raphael, hello. Hello, hello. I just have a other question for you because right now, tell me about this room was about if Hormas-Ridale is going to retire or if not going to retire it.
Starting point is 00:30:44 And the other question in this, because right now over the last paper views, we just saw like in the different countries like Australia, the United States, also in Singapore. So is there a possibility to bring to bring back at one of those pay-per-view events in Latin America, for example, Brazil, Colombia, Chile for the next year? What was the first one, Masadol retiring? Horacea Mastrichter was going to retire or is not going to retire for the year because I understood that he decided to all to not put it in a gloss and he's going to be ready for the next fight on the over the next few months. but it becomes to EFC. Okay. So I actually spoke to Mazadol this week.
Starting point is 00:31:32 I believe that interview is going to drop. I know he was on the MAA. I talked to him the day before he went on an Arial show. I think we're going to drop that today on the YouTube channel. A little bit of a different conversation. It doesn't seem like Mazdaal is not fighting. He's not fighting right now. He told me, I don't think, like, I think he will fight again at some.
Starting point is 00:31:55 point, but the way Mazdaal is presenting it is like, maybe in like two years. Like when I get bored of, he is super into this promotional stuff. Like he is super into promoting these cards. He really is. And the way he presented it was
Starting point is 00:32:11 like when I get bored of that and I get bored of just being retired and I get that itch, then yeah, I'll do it. But yeah, I don't know. I know Ariel's more. era's way more confident than I am
Starting point is 00:32:27 that Mazdaal is just going to come back and fight next year. Which is interesting because, again, if Colby wins the belt, they could make that fight. Like, they could bring Mazadol back and that would be a gigantic fight. It makes no sense. I mean, none.
Starting point is 00:32:45 No sense at all. But the UFC loves putting grudge matches together, and that's a big one. There's a lot of history between those two guys and some of it is still being figured out. out in a courtroom. But, yeah, I don't think he's fighting any time soon. I don't think he's fighting any time soon.
Starting point is 00:33:05 Like, what would you want to see? Really? I mean, maybe you do a Gaichi fight at 170 or something, like a unification BMF title fight? I don't know. Gathe didn't seem all that interested in that idea when he was at the Q&A today. Maybe him and Connor, like, that'd be interesting.
Starting point is 00:33:25 I don't know. I just don't know if there's a lot for him. Like he's got Mazadol, despite the losses he had and getting thumped by Colby, like if he had beat Gilbert Burns, he would have been like in line for a title shot, which is crazy to think about, considering the long losing streak he was on. So, yeah, I mean, he's still a big star. He's still a notable name.
Starting point is 00:33:55 But I don't think he's coming back anytime soon. will the UFC do pay for like Brazil or Latin America next year? I don't know. They are going, they've been to Brazil already this year. They did a pay-per-view. They're going back in November for a big fight-night card. The Jelton-Almeida-Kurd of Blades card, November 4th. So maybe they end up back in Brazil next year.
Starting point is 00:34:17 I don't know if they'll do another pay-per-view there because that pay-per-view did not do well business-wise. I don't think it did great buy-wise. that a building was not sold out. It could tell you that much. So, yeah, I don't know. But we'll see. The UFC, Dana has been teasing. They're going to go to some new places over the next year.
Starting point is 00:34:40 So perhaps, perhaps. But I think there's some, like, there's some areas of the world that they are focusing on. They want to go to Africa. France is now like a big market to go. go to. They love the UK. They love Australia. If one of those Latin American countries wants to pay the UFC a bunch of money to come, they'll go. So they're going to have to pony up, I think. I don't think the UFC is going to be actively throwing darts to be like, oh, let's go there. But at these areas like Sydney and like Salt Lake City did, and they're just paying the UFC
Starting point is 00:35:19 millions and millions of dollars to come to host cards there, then they'll go. But that's probably the only way that happens, honestly, at this point. Panda, hello. My man, Mike, how are you? Good. What's up? Yeah, so that's kind of crazy. I did just take a step back and look. And Jim Miller, not only is going to make UFC 300, he could be on track for UFC 400. We're going to find out soon.
Starting point is 00:35:46 Secondly, I 100% agree with you. Hamsat Tumaya versus Israel-Azania is not only the biggest fight for the wealth rate division, It could be the biggest fight for the UFC in 2024 because I think Humzat is just a matchup nightmare for Israel. You know what I mean? Like we saw Pereira hold them down and kind of control them a little bit. Lord knows what Humzot would do if he got his hands on him. And I keep asking you.
Starting point is 00:36:09 I'm going to continue to ask you. It sounds like we might get it. My question to you is what's your prediction? I think Colby is just going to lay on Leon for five rounds and we're going to get an end new when that fight happens. What about you, Mike? Have yourself a heck of a Friday. It's tough to call.
Starting point is 00:36:30 I mean, I'll start at the Izzy Hamza thing. Like, that's an interesting fight. The fact that Izzy is saying Hamzat's name is very interesting and kudos to him. But again, we have to realize, like, Hamzad has a fight. He's fighting Paul Acosta. It's a tough fight, man. That's a tough fight. So he's got to go in there and beat Paul Acosta.
Starting point is 00:36:50 And if he goes out there and just picks up Paul Kost and slams him around the Octagon and puts him away early, like ddp might be screwed he just might be screwed like even if dana didn't say the things he said about ddp about oh well you know how i feel about people not taking flights like hamzad just goes in there and breaks paula costa like i think ddp could get passed over anyways but again we don't know what the deal is with hamzad like is this is this what we're going to get every 13 months or so 11 12 13 months
Starting point is 00:37:25 we get a Homsat fight, it's just hard to get excited for it at this point because he's just not active enough. And there's so many questions about him. So, and then Leon Colby, it's just going to be one of those fights, man. Like, if Colt, like, I think it has the potential to look a lot like the second Kamara Usman fight,
Starting point is 00:37:54 where Kamara looked really, good early. Colby just looked kind of stuck in the mud a little bit after like three rounds or two and a half rounds and then eventually Colby was like, all right, now I get cooking. And when he got more aggressive, like he was beating, he was winning all these striking exchanges. Like he won the last half of that fight. And it's like, he clearly won the last half of that fight. I mean, Colby got dinged up a little bit early. I think he got, I don't know if he got dropped or they scored at a knockdown. the first round or whatever, but
Starting point is 00:38:30 Colby just, it took too long for him to get going. But once he got going, he was, he was beaten Kamar Usman. So it's going to be one of those things where if Colby doesn't have a good start, like he's going to have to play catch-up. Because Leon's really good. I don't think
Starting point is 00:38:47 he gets enough credit for how well-rounded and good he is. And that fight could go very, very similar to the second Usman fight. Having said that, that's one of those fights where if Colby gets Leon down and kind of wears him out, gets him down and has tons of control time in the first round and then gets a quick take down in the second round.
Starting point is 00:39:08 Like I think we're like, oh, we're going to be, this is what this fight's going to look like for the next 15, 15, 20 minutes. It's a very real world where that happens. So it's a good fight. Like, it's a really interesting stylistic clash. So we'll see. Go ahead for it. Yep.
Starting point is 00:39:29 Hey, heck of a good morning. Just a quick one for you. I just wanted your opinion on what do you think is going to be fight of the night. Do you have a prediction for that? That is literally it. Fight of the night. Hmm. I mean, Tai Tzuva, Alexander Volkov could be that,
Starting point is 00:39:54 because I do think they're going to go in there and start swinging hands at each other. But if I'm going, like, off the main card board, it's Jack Jenkins, Chappi Maroskell. I think that's the one. Love that fight a lot. I wish she was getting a little more buzz. Cheney Mariscall and Trevor Peake was just insane. And Jack Jenkins, his last fight was pretty damn good too.
Starting point is 00:40:20 They both fun on the Jacksonville card. Big Jenkins fought Jamal Emmer's close fight. Mariscall took the peak fight at one up a weight class on like super short notice. And that fight was insane. Absolutely insane. So that should be super fun. I really, really like that fight. So I'll go with that, but
Starting point is 00:40:41 if Ty and Volkov start landing big shots on each other, if that fight goes like two and a half, three minutes, like that could still win fight at the night. It was the night before the gathering and all through the house. The host rapid cozy cashmere throw from Homense for their spouse, kids' toys for $699 under the tree, and crystal glasses for just $14.99 for their brother Lee, A baking dish made in Portugal for Tom and Sue
Starting point is 00:41:07 And a nice 599 candle Perfectly priced just for you Happy holidays to all And to all a good price Home Sense Endless presents perfectly priced Cole, go ahead Hi Mike
Starting point is 00:41:22 So one of Dana's favorite things to say In his press conferences is like Just wait till we tell you see what we do next year And it's like like we wake up and we talk to you we like to hear what everyone has to say in this twitter space is about three times a week we're hardcore fans and i haven't felt all summer like like i just need hands down i got to just oh buy this pay per view like i feel like we are hardcore enough fans where we shouldn't have to think twice about purchasing a product yet
Starting point is 00:41:56 these cards like in the year 2023 this is Israel Adasani is one of the biggest fighters in the whole sport. Yet everyone universally is like just not buying this card. Like there is something seriously wrong with this product, Mike. He keeps saying, wait until we do see what we do next year. All he's talking about is building PIs and going to different countries. The vast majority of the fans do not give a shit about that. They want quality cards every weekend.
Starting point is 00:42:30 just like I'm a huge fan of this sport there may have been two instances where I'm like okay I'll buy this card because it's a great card and I should feel that way
Starting point is 00:42:42 12 times a year and I felt that way maybe two times this whole year something just seriously wrong with this product I don't know what are your thoughts on that I mean I get it
Starting point is 00:42:54 and look it's so funny to me and I still get this and look I don't look at the comments that much, but this notion that MMA fighting hates the UFC
Starting point is 00:43:07 is fucking ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And I know BC talks about it too. Brian Campbell from Morning Combat when he comes on, and I talk to BC a lot anyways, like even just off shows. And there's just like this notion that because we're critical of the UFC
Starting point is 00:43:24 and the card quality, that we hate them, when it just couldn't be further of the truth. Like, I leave my family at least once a month because of the UFC. Because I love the UFC. I wouldn't be doing this for a living if I didn't love the UFC. However, I think it is fair that we are allowed to be honest with ourselves. We are allowed to be honest about the quality that we get.
Starting point is 00:43:52 And guess what? As a fan of the sport, not just a media member, but somebody who loves watching MMA, who is dedicated his life to the sport outside. of just the personal lives that we have who cover the sport, it is our job to be fans too. Like we turn in the journalism card, but like, we are still fans of what we're watching.
Starting point is 00:44:13 Like, if we are inundated by this sport and we have to cover it 46 fucking weekends a year and we lose out any chance of like going out on dates, on date nights on Saturday, it's like, we are allowed to have opinions, ladies and gentlemen. It is okay. just the same, and I make this comparison all the time, just the same as a Thursday night football game between two shitty teams. We're like, do I really want to watch the Browns and the fucking Bears play a Thursday night football game?
Starting point is 00:44:45 And then you watch the game even somewhat reluctantly and you're like, okay, this is as bad as I thought it was going to be. Or maybe they just, they score like 100 combined points. And you're like, but do you hear NFL fans saying, see? See, you shit on this game, but they scored 100 points. Like, it's craziness. It's absolutely insanity to me that we can be critical of a product that we just demand better from.
Starting point is 00:45:12 You are the best organization of the world. You have done this many times over the years. You've built this juggernaut doing a certain thing. But now the whole game has changed because you're making all this money and the company isn't sold. And now you've merged at WWE and you have this ESPN deal and you're selling tickets. tickets in every arena and countries and cities are paying you millions of dollars to come. Like, you've earned this. That's great. But that doesn't mean you, that doesn't mean that we can't
Starting point is 00:45:41 be critical of things. And the problem is they act like they don't even care. They, it's like they act like they don't even care because they, they, they're making so much money on this. It's just so many, there's so many cards. There's so many cards. And there's not enough compelling personalities in the company, or at least none of which that we get to see. Like these fighters aren't allowed to show their personalities. They have to wear a uniform and they have to do this and they have to do that. And the certain guidelines have to follow. But it is so expensive to be a mixed martial arts fan.
Starting point is 00:46:17 It is so expensive to be a UFC fan. I mean, you're shelling out over $1,000 a year to watch this product. 283 was not good. That was the first pay-view of the year. We got Moreno Figgy, which is cool. But like we got Johnny Walker, Paul Craig, we got Jessica and Dradjolora Murphy, Gilbert Burns, Neil Magny,
Starting point is 00:46:43 Morano Figgy. And we got a coddled-tled together main event between Jamal Hill and Glover-Teshirea because of the awful decision-making of UFC 282. 284 we got Machachev and Volk still to be best fight of the year yeah year and josh emit we got jadem randym randy brown justin taff apacoporta we got jimmy crude alonzo menafield fighting to a draw like that card on paper wasn't great either we got the the main event and it left us with like a great taste in our mouths and we got a sensational performance from yaya rogiguez that card so it left us
Starting point is 00:47:28 feeling good and JDM got a nice win. But like, that's not a great card on paper. 285, like, and I've made this mistake too, and someone called me out on it and I take full responsibility for it. 285 was super fucking great. Like that is, this was a great card. This is a really good card. Like, there are some names deep within there that weren't great, but we got freed
Starting point is 00:47:56 Basher out. We got Tabitha Ritchie. We got Cameron Sine. and Mano Martinez. We got Ian Gary on the card, buried in the prelims. Mark Andre Barrio, Julian Marquez is super fun. Amanda Hebas, Viviani Arrugio is in the prelims. DDP was on the prelims against Derek Brunson. Wooped that ass. We got a not tremendous fight between Cody Garbrandt and Trevin Jones. But then the main car, we got Bo Nicol. We got Gamrot Turner, which is fun. Shafcott Jeff Neal was a sick fight. We got Grasso Shevchenko. We got John,
Starting point is 00:48:28 the return of John Jones against Sierra God. That is a, that was a fucking great card. Really, really good. Super good. 286, we got Edwards Usman 2 or 3. We got Gaichi Fiziv. I mean, who's going to complain about that fight? Gunner Nelson, Brian Barberina was on that main card.
Starting point is 00:48:48 Marvin Vittori, Roman DeLise, Jennifer Maia, Casey O'Neill. On paper, not spectacular. But we did get two really important fights. 287 was really good. Like that 285, 284 was one of those ones that built up for sure. 285 was like, let's fucking go.
Starting point is 00:49:10 That was one of those cards. 287 was like that for me too. 287 was one of those. Get me to April 8th. Please. We got Ronald Roche's juni lost at Christian Rodriguez. We got Kevin Holland, Ponziadubio. Rob Fon, Adrian, Yonnas is a banger.
Starting point is 00:49:27 Gilbert Burns, Jorge Mazadol had a lot of stakes to it. Fight wasn't all that great. And then we got Izzy Pereira too, which was huge at the time. 288 was stinky. I mean, this was stinky, stinky, stinky. We're supposed to get Oliver Darius. We're supposed to get Bryce Mitchell, Jonathan Pierce, in that car too. Then we're supposed to get Mobsar of Loy of Bryce Mitchell in that car.
Starting point is 00:49:52 We ended up getting Mobsar of Loya versus Diego Lopez instead. Charles Jordan, Crone Gracie, was the main card opener. Janjo, non-just-Gandraj, cool fight. Then we got that just weird, thrown together, nonsensical, Balaamah, Muhammad, Gilbert Burns, co-main event for five rounds. And then we got Sterling Suhudo. That was not a great card. That was not a great card.
Starting point is 00:50:20 It was tough going in. It was a tough watch, if we're being honest. Not great. 289 Not a lot of name value Not a lot of name value Nunes Aldano was the main event We did get Oliver Darius in that card
Starting point is 00:50:35 Mike Malotte Adam Fugett was on the main card Danny Ege and Nate Landware was great fight Mark Andreberra Eric Anders ended up being a really good fight On paper like is this is 289 I don't know here's the thing about If 293 is like 289 I'm going to be happy because 289 was fun
Starting point is 00:50:55 on paper not great but it was a fun car like if you bought it and I know a lot of people were reluctant to spend the money and it got like no buzz but it was a fun watch
Starting point is 00:51:09 290 was good 291 I was like yes 291 I was jacked up for 2992 I was jacked up for too but to be fair it was the Boston thing and spending time in Boston
Starting point is 00:51:22 and being a part of it it was kind of a sloggy slog of an event but we lost fights on that one too. So I don't know. The moral of the story is, just because we expect more and we demand more,
Starting point is 00:51:38 doesn't mean we hate. Doesn't mean we hate. And in fact, we've seen the UFC do really good things this year. We saw 290 being... 290 was... I mean, 290, like,
Starting point is 00:51:53 290 was incredible. Not that I look at it. O'Nickel just killed a man. Dan Hooker Jalen Turner was awesome Drinkist do plus C beat finished Robert Whitaker Pantoja Marino was incredible and Volpitched a perfect game
Starting point is 00:52:08 against Jaya Rodriguez. Like that was a great card. We got the Robbie Lala retirement that was like spectacular. And like when you watch 290 and you see what happened at 291 excuse me you're like okay
Starting point is 00:52:23 when the UFC like really tries to put their best foot forward they can do it and then we see it and we're like this is what like we know you're capable of this and then we come back with 293 and we're like fuck man but it's just
Starting point is 00:52:41 it's the business man it's the business it's the TV deal it's having to put on 46 cars a year and that's why they have the contender series in the ultimate fighter so they could bring in these guys and gals to like
Starting point is 00:52:57 fill up the roster like who was I watched the Contender Series on Tuesday. Some great performances. I think four of those guys should have got, three of the guys and one of the guys should have got the contract, but the middleweight who Dana said
Starting point is 00:53:11 had the worst fight in the history of the contender series got a contract. Like, come on, man. It's just so obvious. It's just so obvious. And Dana being more concerned about power slap than the UFC. It's just, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:53:26 Fans, it leaves a bad taste in fans' bodes. and Dana's always going to have the people who have his back. And that's fine. Like we talked about just random Dana quotes on BTL yesterday. And people like, oh, you know, a bunch of cucks. All this. And it's not that at all. It's not that at all.
Starting point is 00:53:44 Everyone has been hit. There is not a promoter on here that we have not talked about in a negative way. And it's not that we want to do that, but it's right there. How many times have I shit on Chhatri? How many times have I shit on Dandai? Davis, a million. I've talked about Scott Koker in his lack of ability
Starting point is 00:54:05 to promote and get things over. Like, no, what, like, the UFC just does so many more events. They're just out there a lot more, and these things are said publicly. And Dana likes to say, like, oh, well, they write these articles
Starting point is 00:54:20 and they misinterpret what I'm saying. No, we're not. You say them. You say them. Al Jermaine Sterling was like, the champion, you just buried him so many times. You did it with Tyrone Woodley. You did it with Demetia Johnson. Now you're doing it with Drick's Duplice.
Starting point is 00:54:38 Dude gets the biggest win of his career. And now we're just burying him because he won't turn around two months after beating Robert Whitaker? The fuck is that? It's okay to demand more, people. It's okay to demand more. And Brian Campbell makes the point, like, they can't keep this up. Yeah, they can, actually, because they're just blowing the, doors off the ticket prices and all of this stuff, and everyone's still paying them.
Starting point is 00:55:08 Everyone's still paying them. They sold out this card without a main event. The only fighter on the card, the only two fighters on the card that people knew about before they bought tickets to this event on Saturday was tied to Ivasa and Alexander Bolkhov. That's it. And they still sold out the building. They are printing money hand over fist.
Starting point is 00:55:35 And from a business perspective, they don't need to cater to any of us. Because it doesn't matter because they're making the money anyways. But we would just like to see a little more effort. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I don't think there's anything wrong with demanding the best from the fucking best. There you go. So box kicking it to the side. A deep, hello.
Starting point is 00:56:01 Good. Yeah. So I had a few questions. The first one is the Mexican Independence Day card next week. What is your prediction for the main and co-main event? My second question is about managers and what Sean O'Malley said about how managers are exploiting fighters. And that is why he doesn't have a manager himself and he gets to do everything on his own. So I just wanted to know what was your thoughts on that.
Starting point is 00:56:27 And of course, managers that are close to Dana and the UFC. We know who those managers are. so I don't want to bring up any names, but you can go ahead and speak on that. So, yeah, those are my two questions. Once again, thank you for letting me on. Of course. Let me just pull up that card.
Starting point is 00:56:49 Noce UFC, which, by the way, if we're being honest, not a far cry. It might even be better than Saturday's card, and we're getting that for free. We get Grasso, Chefchenco, 2. It's tough. Man, that fight's so tough to call.
Starting point is 00:57:12 I have to dive in a little bit more. Both those fights are really tough to call. I'm leaning Kevin Holland in the co-mate event, but I don't know. They're both like really tough fights to call. I was so impressed with Alexa Grasso when she fought Shepchenko the first time. I wonder if like that same hunger
Starting point is 00:57:38 and that like underdog mentality is still there. and if Schifchenko's on like if Chichikos got her fastball she's gonna win that fight I don't know it's it's so tough to call I was just so impressed to the Luxe Grasso so friggin impressed
Starting point is 00:57:54 and the manager thing look we've talked about this before I don't know the thing about like management and agents and other sports compared to MMA and a lot of combat sports
Starting point is 00:58:14 is like I could literally sign off right now and just be like, hey, my media career is over, I'm going to go manage fighters. And I can just go find fighters and manage and just be like, I'm your manager now. And that's it. Like literally that's it. That's all I have to do.
Starting point is 00:58:32 When in other sports, like you have to have guidelines and you have to have certain qualifications and all that stuff. Anybody on this call right now can be a manager of an MMA fighter. There's no restrictions. like very if there's i don't even think there's any i don't think there's any at all
Starting point is 00:58:50 and that opens the floodgates on top of that i'm also not going to name names but it's pretty clear you know if you curry favor with the ufc if you have a close relationship to the matchmakers you get certain perks you get certain opportunities that other managers and other fighters don't get
Starting point is 00:59:08 and what happens oftentimes and it fucking drives me crazy and it's the reason why the fighters haven't come together and form some sort of association, not really a union, is that in other sports, the agents and the managers work for the athlete. But in MMA, it seems like the athlete works for the manager. And that is not how it should be. That's not how it should be.
Starting point is 00:59:37 And there are certain fighters within these big stables that'll just say, you work for me, bro. Like, you can't ban me from talking to anybody. I'm just going to go do it anyways. But not everybody does that. It's just a weird business. It's just a weird business where managers are tight with the promoter and they care more. It's out there. I mean, it's out there.
Starting point is 01:00:01 I'm not saying anything insane. But there are certain managers who curry favor and are tight with the UFC. And sometimes it's more important than. getting the client what they want. That's just how the sport is. Now, eventually we're going to get to a point where this lawsuit is really going to take off and we're going to see some files opened up and we're going to learn a lot of shit that was not made public.
Starting point is 01:00:30 This lawsuit could change the game in a lot of respects. How management is being perceived by fans. How all of this works. I can tell you It ain't pretty It ain't pretty I have conversations to people all the time About some of the shitty things
Starting point is 01:00:50 That go on behind the scenes Of this sport And I think we're going to learn some lessons, my friends I think we're going to learn some lessons So I get where Sean's coming from He's had a couple of different managers I know Colby's had managers
Starting point is 01:01:07 He's on his own now too and there are others like that. And look, there are some very good managers out there who care specifically about the client who are very honest. I've talked to managers who have had fighters come up to them and say, hey, I want you to manage me. And they say, no. Because you want to get to the UFC, I don't think you're ready.
Starting point is 01:01:32 And they're just really honest about where the athlete is at at the time. And some fighters don't like that. And then some fighters just like, I want to get to the UFC so bad. I don't care what it takes. I don't care if I'm three and out. I'm just going to go. If I get the chance, I'm just going to go, even though I'm not ready.
Starting point is 01:01:48 And there are some managers who will be like, no, I'm not going to rep you because all you want to do is get to the UFC and you need like five more fights. So if you can give me five more fights, then I'll rep you. And they're just like, no, I want to get to the UFC right now. There are those people out there.
Starting point is 01:02:01 And I have relationships with those people as well. So I don't know. To each their own, to each their own. I'll take two more. and then I get it go. We'll go Octoam Blug, then we'll go to Thomas, and then I get out of here. Go ahead, Octoenblug. How are you?
Starting point is 01:02:24 I have one point about Hamzad Shimeyev. If the MMA media in the U.S. want to know what's really going on with him, you have to contact Afton Abutted, that's a mainstream newspaper in Sweden. if you really want to know about him. Secondly, I think Sean Strickland will upset is he this Saturday. And the third point is there will be a documentary about Phil Baroni, who is in prison in Mexico.
Starting point is 01:02:56 It's an Austrian-German production, Wolfgang Herzog, I think. He's specialized in making documentaries about people on that row. And Phil Barone is in prison for such a long time now. And he will stay there forever, I think. He's a former UFC champion, as we all know. Thank you. Hold on. No, don't go anywhere.
Starting point is 01:03:19 Don't go anywhere. You said something, I need, I need more. Please tell me how Sean Strickland is going to win this fight. I'm not saying you're wrong, but tell me how this is going to happen. Okay. Well, as we all know, he fought against Alex Pereira before, right? Right. So before Alex Pereira knocked him down or knocked him out, whatever, he had some decent chances.
Starting point is 01:03:48 And if you compare that fight with all the fights Alex Pereira had with Izzy, I give him a 65% chance to upset Izzy at this moment. I think Izzy is, you know, at the fight, the last fight with Alex, he was, of course, the KO was phenomenal. But before that, you know, Pereira had. enormous chances to knock him out. So I give Strickland a serious chance to win Saturday. A lot of people underestimate the situation.
Starting point is 01:04:22 Wow. Look, if you're right, you come on the show Tuesday and you take your victory lap. 65% chance? You better bet your fucking house on that, man. Golly, 65% chance. You're giving him a 65% chance. What are the betting odds on this fight right now? now plus 470 dude bet the farm if you're giving him a 65% chance i just don't see it man
Starting point is 01:04:52 i don't see it like he doesn't have that like i mean look anything can happen but like sean ain't gonna care he is it like the prayer fight is like part of the reason why i don't think he's got a shot because they had a game plan on how to beat him and it was a smart one and Strickland was like, nah, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do the total opposite. And then he got holden. I don't think Strickland has that one hit or quitter power. He's one of those death by a thousand lunchboxes guys.
Starting point is 01:05:31 I mean, it would be incredible if Sean gets it. But, I mean, he's got to be, I can't even say he's got to be perfect because, like, the way he's got to be, is he's got to be, like, just completely off the radar. he's got to be like imperfectly perfect like he's going to do like all the wrong things perfectly and that's his like best chance to win this fight
Starting point is 01:05:57 it's yeah it's just a tall order man it's a really tough matcha for him Thomas go ahead hey Mike thanks for letting me on again today I mentioned the last day where we were speaking about UFC 286 I wanted your opinion on
Starting point is 01:06:12 Yanal Ashmoos so he destroyed Sam Patterson who came from the contender series at UFC 286 and just on that. How many tickets to fighters get for their family? Yannal Ashmoos's brother and his family were actually in the stands behind us and were probably the only people out of 20,000 people when he knocked them out and went absolutely apeshit because they were calling for 50 grand bonus which in fact he didn't actually get. And then the last bit, obviously I mentioned I stay up really late to watch the fights in the UK.
Starting point is 01:06:44 If the American fans had a choice, would they stay up? and get 90 to 95% of paper views for free, or would they rather pay for them on normal prime time? I'll tell you what, man. I love the early cards. Love them. Singapore started at 5 a.m. on the East Coast, and I was all about it, man.
Starting point is 01:07:12 I was all about it. To me, it's like, they always say, like, oh, we cater to the East Coast market. No, you don't. 10 p.m. Eastern? Like, that doesn't cater to us. I would rather... I'd rather just get it done, man.
Starting point is 01:07:29 Like, I'd rather get it done. I loved the 5 a.m. start time. I loved when they were doing, like, that big July tour during the pandemic on Flight Island, and they would have, like, you know, the normal pay-per-view times, but then they would do the fight-night cards somewhere, like, at random times.
Starting point is 01:07:45 Then they would have, like, a Wednesday card. I believe, like, the Michael Kiesa and Neil Magi card started, like, 7 a.m. Eastern and I was like yes let's go I love that and then we're like wrapped impact by like 3 p.m. It was awesome. It was freaking incredible. So personally I would rather that I'd rather like the 5 a.m. start times than the 10 p.m. start times.
Starting point is 01:08:08 I would absolutely rather that. Still get a still get a couple hours shut eye. You could definitely do it. You know, Ashmoos, look he looked great against. Sam Patterson, he didn't look great against Chris Duncan. Chris Duncan picked that dude apart. So it'd be fun. Dude's a finisher, but I don't, like, he's also in
Starting point is 01:08:37 like the toughest division in the sport. So he'll be a fun guy to watch, but I don't think he's going to be like a top 15 guy or anything like that, but you can still make a pretty darn good living and have a nice career. not being a top 15 guy, which is probably not. But still fun. That's good. All right, real quick, Cibiram, and then this is it.
Starting point is 01:09:05 For reals, for reals. Go ahead, Cibram. Good. UFC 291. Yes. If you remember very well, I said that before the fight happening, UFC 291, that weekend on Friday morning in the space.
Starting point is 01:09:28 I said that in terms that Justin Gis will be the winner of that fight, and it happened, Mike. Yeah, I've been joining these places, but I'm not requesting the chance to talk joining the space. Just as just saw the tweet from MMA Fighting.com that Justin Gis is saying that he dreamt of ending Connor's career. That's why I thought that, oh, my God, I dream that you are going to cable the destined for a year and that happened. The dreams come true, maybe some. And he's saying that he's dreamed of ending the Connor's career. Why do you think of that?
Starting point is 01:10:14 I've talked about this for the last like four or five years. If there's one fight, like I want to, Justice Gage is involved in like the two fights I have to see before it's all of sudden done. One is Justin Gaci Max Holloway. Two is Justin Gagey, Kada McGregor. Justin Gage, Kada McGregor is not going to last a long time, but for the amount of, for each second that that fight takes last, it's going to be absolute utter chaos.
Starting point is 01:10:42 There will not be a more chaotic fight in the history of the UFC than Connor McGregor versus Justin Gage. There is nothing, there will be nothing to compare it to. It will be the most insane fight. ever. And it's only going to last like four minutes, but it's going to be the most insane four minutes you've ever seen.
Starting point is 01:11:02 So I really want that fight to happen. There's meat on that bone. You could do the BMF title. Like, it's there. And Gaichi is showing more interest in it. For a long time, he was just like, fuck this guy. I'm not, like, I'm not going to give him the time of day.
Starting point is 01:11:16 But now he seems a little more intrigued by it. He's got a little more cachet with this BMF title. and his name values. So, I mean, please give me that fight. Please give me that fight. Like, I feel bad for Michael Chandler,
Starting point is 01:11:32 but if they just dumped the Chandler fight and do Connor versus Gaichi for the BMF title, like, you will get zero complaints from me. Zero. Absolutely zero. That is the fight of fights. And Jesse Gaetia will probably win that fight, but Connor's going to give it his all,
Starting point is 01:11:51 and he's going to get in there and get in Gage's, face and throw a bunch of bombs at them. That fight is just absolute insanity. So we'll see. We'll see if we can get it done. All right.
Starting point is 01:12:06 That's it, everybody. 3 p.m. Eastern, join us on the YouTube channel, live preview show. For UFC 293, have been myself. Shaheen Al-Shadi and New York, Rick, joining us for a rare pay-per-view preview show. So very excited about that. We will cover the game
Starting point is 01:12:24 bread bear knuckle card tonight on MMA fighting. We just dropped an interview I did late last night with the great Lor Sanko who will be on the broadcast this tomorrow with John Anick and Daniel Cormier making her pay-per-view commentary debut. That is live
Starting point is 01:12:40 on the YouTube channel. I can go check that out. Dropping an interview with Jorge Mazadol. We dropped on the podcast network a few days back. But the video version will drop, I believe it, at the top of the hour here. So lots of stuff. Lots of stuff. lots of stuff going on and you guys are the best of course tomorrow we all the people's free fight show
Starting point is 01:13:00 i'll be in new york for the watch party uh so if you don't want to spend 85 bucks spend zero bucks and just jump on the watch party 9.45 p.m. Eastern we'll tell you everything's going to have more damn good time doing it so thank you all enjoy the rest of your Friday and as always have a heck of a more fox media podcast network

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