MMA Fighting - HOAM | What's Next For Nate Diaz After Jake Paul Fight?

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

Nate Diaz may have lost the fight, but it certainly felt like he won the night in Dallas following his 10-round boxing match with Jake Paul. Following his first pro boxing bout, and his stock remaining quite high, where does the Stockton native go next, and will it be a rematch with Paul in MMA? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, Mike Heck gives his thoughts on the Paul vs. Diaz fight week, where Diaz goes from here, what it could take for the PFL to book an MMA rematch, and the possibility of a UFC return. Additionally, listener questions include Cory Sandhagen's main event win over Rob Font at UFC Nashville, the bantamweight title picture, Tatiana Suarez's title hopes following her finish of Jessica Andrade, Conor McGregor tweeting (and deleting) up a storm over the past few days, McGregor's comments about the UFC cooling on a fight with Michael Chandler, 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser 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. It is Tuesday, August 8th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA Fighting Twitter space. You can hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. work. Hello, everybody. I am Mike Keck. I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Hope you're all having a wonderful start to another week, which will include another UFC event.

It's good to be back home here in South Carolina after just an insane week in Dallas covering the Jake Paul versus Nate Diaz fight. What a week it was. So much happened. So much movement. it was just one of those types of things where we didn't really know what was going to happen, but we kind of did. Like I felt like my prediction for the fight and how everything was going to play out in the aftermath. It was pretty spot on. Jake Paul was going to win. Nate Diaz was going to be competitive.

He was going to have his moments. And the MMA fans would say, you know what? This is in the street. Nate would have whoop that ass. and the boxing people would have been like, why are we even watching this? And that's kind of what happened. Nate Diaz ended up coming out, smelling like roses,

Jake gets the win. No one's stock dropped. You can even make a case that Nate's stock went up, even though he lost the fight. It's just wild how he is able to do that. It's really incredible. But being in the arena, the place was absolutely electric. The American Airlines Center was here for it,

even though some people in the MMA space, MMA fans, they wanted to sit there and look down upon anybody who might be interested in this fight. I saw a lot of media members kind of stand on their pedestals and look down on everybody. Like anyone who would watch this fight is not really an MMA fan. I saw that take a bunch, and I was just like,

get off your high horse, dude. Like, it's okay to have fun every once in a while. And you know what? That fight, while it's not Spence Crawford by any stretch of the imagination from a technical aspect, it was fun. Like, it was a fun watch. Being in that arena was something else. The fans were into it. They were loving Nate Diaz.

There was not an empty seat in that entire arena by the time that fight started. And they were ready for it. By the time Jimmy Lennon Jr. started talking and introducing the fighters, everybody was ready. And it was cool to be a part of it. It really was. I'm sure it came off on television like the crowd was nuts. Being in that arena, it was insane. It was absolutely insane. So for those of you watch it, I think you got your money's worth. And I think kind of the fallout of UFC Nashville, a lot of people were sort of poo-pooing Corey Sanhagan's

performance against Rob Fott. I watched the fight. I watched it on my phone because I think the, I don't know if the Amanda Serrano fight was happening or was just about to start. I don't know, but it worked out that I could watch it and Corey Sanhagen fought a smart fight, swept the cards against Rob Fon. He will move on. He does have a torn tricep.

So he's going to be out for a minute. I don't think the UFC is going to look fondly on the performance. but maybe they'll think a little bit more of it when they find out he had an arm injury and then Torres Tricep in the first round. Maybe they'll be a little bit more forgiving. But it was a good win. I mean, what can you do? I know if you buy tickets and you see a main event like that, you expect fireworks.

And sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. Sometimes you just need to hang on and get a win and stay in title contention. Because I think Corey Sanhagen's had a couple of opportunities. He had the interim title fight. He's been close. she's knocked on the door and he hasn't really gotten to that undisputed title shot just yet. And now he's still in the mix. He may not get it next,

depending on what happens at UFC 292 next Saturday. In fact, I honestly don't think he's going to get it either way. I think Corey's still going to probably have to fight Umar and Marga Madoff anyways because I think there's going to be, you know how petty that the UFC can be in situations like that. Dana Boyt reportedly left ringed, cage side area in the

fourth round and was like yeah I've had enough and then just left we didn't hear from Dana after the fact but the contender series is back tonight which means Dana will probably be speaking with the media so maybe we'll get his thoughts on the performance and where Corey Santa Hagen goes from here

but a lot to unpack from this past weekends other than that I think it seemed like the Nashville card was pretty good I didn't get to watch everything I did watch the finish of the Dustin Chocobie fight. I watched the Tatiana Sores-Gesson-Drage fight. I watched Diego Lopez's submission win.

That's really it. I saw like the Carlson Harris Anaconda choke submission. I watched Cody Durd and Jake Hadley. That was fun. I got to see Billy Q, Damon Jackson. That was fun. And then everything just kind of was more like highlights and stuff like that until we got to the last three fights.

But it seemed like a decent car. There's some good fight. Dirted Hadley was great. Billy Q, Damon Jackson, no surprise was great. Carlson Harris, what a comeback submission win. And then the main card was pretty fun. Big win for Ladovic Klein. Tanner Bozer gets a victory over Alexa Kamer in the last fight of his deal.

Diego Lopez officially arrived. Jocobo beats Kennedy and Chukuo. That stoppage is a little premature, sure, but it is what it is. We've seen worse. We've seen better. And then Tatiana Suarez is just an absolute animal. She's probably not going to get a title fight next, but she's in a damn good position to get one.

She's probably going to have to get one more win, depending on what happens at the UFC 292. Who knows? Maybe Amanda Lemoche pulls off the big upset and beat Zhang Wei Li. I don't see it happening, but what if she does? I think if she does, Tatianna Suarez probably sneaks in there, but I do think if Zhang Wei Li wins, they're going to do everything in their power to

set up a Zhang Wei Li Yan Shanan fight, maybe in China. They're going to try to make that fight happen because that's just a massive one. But all right, let's see what you guys have to say. Four-ounce sniper in the lead-off spot. What's up, man? You too, man. So first off, I just want to address what you said about Corey Sanagan, possibly having to fight, Umar.

Please don't put that out into the universe. I do not want that to happen because I feel like we all realize what's going to happen. in that fight. So let's, uh, even though that might happen, let's not say nothing about it. Let's keep quiet. Let's keep that on D.L. Uh, and then second off, I just wanted to know, what's at stake for the main event this weekend. I, uh, I don't really know what the point of this fight is. I'm not complaining about it, but I just wanted to know, like, what's the point of RDA and Luque? Is this like a loser is going to have to fight up and coming, you know, prospects, uh, what are they going to do with the winner? What is your opinion on this main event?

Yeah, I mean, look, with the Sanhagen thing, I hate to put that on the universe, but I'm just thinking from a UFC perspective. That's probably what they're going to do. And at this point, the reason Umar couldn't fight is because he was injured and now Corey's injured and he's going to be out for like six, I think he said six to eight months on the MMA hour yesterday,

at least six. I kind of feel like the division's going to move on without him. Whatever happens, because if Aljo wins, he's moving up. I firmly believe it. I said this on Saturday to fellow media members that are sitting up with me watching at the Paul Diaz event. I think the biggest winner on Saturday was Henry Sehudo.

I think he was the biggest winner. Because Marab is, like, if Aljo wins, Marab's it. Marab is absolutely 1,000% going to be one half of that title fight. It's just a matter of who's going to be the other guy. Now, could they go shot O'Malley if he's at least competitive with Al Jemaine Sterling? Sure. But I think there's there's something to the Marab Sehudo story. You got something there.

I mean, you got it with O'Malley as well. But I'm just saying, I just kind of feel like Sehudo, you know how the UFC feels about Sehudo. So I do feel like Sehudo was a big winner in all of this. And Sehudo came out and posted a video of his reactions and he basically thanked Corey Sannhagen. Thanks for that performance. man, you got me a title shot. And, well, I don't agree that's it. I do feel like the injury, along with how the UFC is going to view his win, the booze.

I think they're going to take that all into account. I do feel like the UFC is, I kind of agree with Sohudo. And I think they're going to go that route if Aljo wins. Now, if shot O'Malley wins and Marlon Vera beats Pedro Munoz, it doesn't matter. Mara ain't getting the title shot. Sanhagen ain't getting a title shot. Nobody else is getting the title shot. besides Marlon Barrack's

the OSC's going to do everything in their power to put that fight together because it's the biggest fight you can make in the division right now. So, yeah, I think San Higgins is kind of in a weird place. I think he's going to have to get another win. The stakes in the main event of,

I believe this is UFC Vegas 78, just kind of keeping your spot. I mean, that's really it. This is like, this has, it's not exactly the same, but this has Michael Kiesa,

Kevin Holland vibes to it. I'm not saying the fight's going to play out the same. I'm not going to say like, you know what I mean by this. I'm just talking about like the stakes heading into it. It's just, it's just a fight. RDA's the Wiley Vet.

Luke A's the guy trying to make the move. Coming off of a loss. I kind of just think it's there to just kind of keep a spot. I think it's just like, hey, there's two guys who are ranked who are available. One's a former champion. One's an exciting guy looking to get back on track. after losing his last two fights and getting finished by Jeff Neal.

And then RDA is coming off with a nice win in his last fight against, I mean, he's Brian Barberina, but he's got a win over Hanata Moikano, which that win is actually aged pretty well, even though it was short notice. Lost, got knocked up by Raphael Fiziv. It's just a fight between two rank guys. There's not, no one, none of these guys are getting title shots anytime soon because of where they're at in this division.

So I just think it's, we're kind of holding on to wherever we're at. and I think the winner or losers probably in the same position where they're going to have to fight the up-and-comers. So, yeah, it's just a fight between two ranked dudes. CV, hello. CV, not getting through. Let's go to Fork owner sports. Hey, Mike.

So I feel like I get it, it's fixed martial arts, and you're supposed to try to win at all costs. I really do feel like that. even though he ended up getting hurt and stuff like that and I think he said on the memory hour that why would he give rob fawn an advantage but dana's going to really factor in those boosts and it's never a good look that he's leaving um early for a fight and missed out on a on a presser i just think that you know fory you know even with a six-month layoff that he's going to end up having we may not see him fight in some type of a championship fight

maybe within like two, maybe possibly three years because of the injury is going to hold him back for quite some time and then he's going to have to fight your Umars. He's not to fight people, maybe like a Ricky Simone. If he ends up climbing up the ladder of the division, I just think that this injury came at a really bad time. Souda was right about it. It sucks for Rob Fonka.

I really wanted to see Corey and Rob, you know, just throw it at, you know, throw it at one of them. another but I just think Rob is never going to get a title shot, you know, just because he ended of losing and he got swept both five rounds. And then lastly, I got to say with Tatiana Suarez. I know she wants a title shot. It's her first fight, what is it, at Strawway in four years. I don't think that she's going to get a title shot immediately, especially with Janan, what is called in the background. USA can easily make, you know, a good amount of money having Jean versus Jan

in some type of an Asian what's it called the venue whether it's in Singapore, China, whatever it's a vote that can easily sell out any type of arena. What do you think about Satyana? You think she might end up having to fight back a little bit

or just, you know, she's going to stay on the sidelines. Thanks. Yeah, she's probably going to have to fight back because I do think John Wei is going to beat Amanda Lemos. I think John Wai Lee is going to beat a lot of people. She has I mean, she just kind of has everything

you're looking for for a long-reigning champion. And I think Zhang's just kind of like, she's in the zone right now. So I do think Zhang will win, which means that Tatiana's not getting a title shot. They're going to go, they're going to do the Zhang Wei Yan Jan Janan's fight next.

And that's it. Tatiana will have to fight somebody else. Now, who is it going to be? Maybe she fights Amanda Lamosh. Maybe she fights a Marina Rodriguez. Maybe they do McKenzie Dirk. that would be a pretty damn good one. That'd be a good one.

Maybe do McKenzie Dern. Kenzie looked real good in her last fight. Could do that. Kenzie wants to get to that belt. She ain't getting the rose fight that she wants. Give her Tatiana. She beats Tatiana Suarez. She's probably going to get a title shot.

So, yeah, I like that idea. But if Lemosch wins, they'll do Lemoshtiana. But, yeah, I don't think she's going to get it. I don't think she's going to get it. I agree with a lot of what you said with the San Hagan thing. Honestly, I don't think, like, I think if San Hagan fought beat the shit out of each other for five rounds, I still don't think Dana would have went to the press conference.

I still don't think you would have gone. Because, you know what kind of questions you would have gotten? Nate Diaz about to fight Jake Paul. What do you think? And Dana wants nothing to do with it. Dana wants nothing to do with that. Dana, like, Dana's, Dana eventually realizes the error of his ways

in some respects when it comes to the promotional side and while Dana loves to go off and speak his mind about certain things, Jake Paul in particular, I think he has realized over time that what he is doing is he's promoting Jake Paul by dumping on his fights and shitting on Jake Paul he's just getting people to like fans who have no idea what Jake

Paul, that there are people out there who are like, oh, Jake Paul's fighting Nate Diaz. Now you're getting, it's almost like a seal, a stamp of approval from Dana in a weird way. Even though he's shitting on it, it's getting on their other people's radars. And I think Dana is learning that, hey, anytime I talk about this dude, it's just helping him.

It's not helping me. It's helping him. So I think he was going to avoid a pressure at all costs anyways. But I do agree the injury comes at a very bad time. The performance, I don't have a problem with the performance. I really don't, but you know the UFC's going to. And Marab versus Corey Sanhagan is, I mean, look, Marab Suhudo is not a giant drawing fight either, but it's probably a better drawing fight than Marab versus Sanhagan. Sanhagen is a hardcore fan's delight, speaks very well,

but Suhudo is the bigger name, the former champion, the Olympic pedigree. I do, feel like the UFC favors Suhudo more in this situation. So that's kind of where we're at here. Let's see if we can get CV back in here. Oh, Mike, can hear me? CV? Yeah, I got you. What's up? Heck of a morning.

Just one quick question for me. What are your thoughts on Dustin Porrier potentially teasing move up to Walter Wade? And I don't know if you saw the tweet, but Shavkat kind of down to fight him. I don't know if I want to see that fight him.

personally, but I think there are going to be some fun matchups for him at 170. So what do you think? First of all, Dustipory will never, ever, ever fight Chopka-Rokanov. That fight, he will never fight that man. Not because he's scared. Like, what does that fight do for it? It does nothing for him. Nothing.

Now, Shopcott-Ragbano somehow becomes a, the welterweight champion, which I don't think anybody would be surprised if he did, maybe. but what like that makes note that fight does nothing for dust Soporier does nothing I think the whole thing about teasing a move up was just a reaction to Nate Diaz all right I'll move up I think that's just him saying I think it's just him kind of having fun and I think he sort of said that as well in some sort of a quote tweet or something but it's just him basically saying come on Nate come on over I'll move up to 170 let's fight and honestly i don't think dustin fights anybody unless it's nate diaz i really don't

what else is that what else is there for him to do could he fight mcgregor and just like end that whole thing altogether and just make one last bag maybe but i don't think that's all that interesting to him he beat him and finished him twice and poor he was doing really well like he almost put mcgregor away in the first in that second in that third fight i don't like Dustin's just going to take big fights. He's going to take big names and big fights. And I think he wants a eight fight. And I think that's the only thing he's going to take at this point.

Unless he just gets a huge bag of money. Or it's a title shot. Somehow Justin Gaichi wins the belt and Gaichie wants to get Porre a shot. Like it would not surprise me in the slightest if Gaichie won the title and they just gave Porre a title shot coming off of the loss. It wouldn't surprise me at all.

So honestly, to me, those are the only two fights that Dustiporia would take. Nate Diaz or a title fight with Justin Gagee or anybody. So, yeah, I think that's what that whole thing was in regards to. Come on, Nate, I'll move up. Let's go. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to Lux Beauty and Fragrant Sets. Our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holt's holiday shop and store or online.

line at Holtrenfrew.com. Black Friday is here at IKEA, and the clock is taking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves to cozy at-home essentials, all the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca. Black Friday.

IKEA, bring home to life. Drew, hello. Hi, Mike. Good to be back. Good to hear you again. Two things to start off. First of all, I don't know if you saw we had two weeks ago, Leon Edwards, on a podcast. I'm not sure which one.

Referencing that he's expecting a 294, 295 title defense against Covington. 294 is just about booked, so I think it's safe to say that's not going to be a win. maybe the November appearance in MSG. So I was just wondering what you think would happen with that. And in the whole McGregor situation, calling out Mayweather, Chandler seems to be off. What do you think about that? So lots of kind of unpack there. Leon Colby, so as far as I know with Leon Colby, there is no date set yet.

It's not going to be in Abu Dhabi. That is for sure. I mean, unless something just dramatically changes, it's not going to be in October. Could it happen in November, sure. But I don't think that's like set just yet because it will get on to the second topic. It seems like the plan all along was

Connor Chandler to headline the December pay-per-view, but now we don't know what the hell's going on with Connor in his return, how's the leg, yada, yada, yada. So if they can't get Connor in December, I could see Leon Colby headlining the December card but if we can get something big going on in December we can book something else

I don't know maybe we get Yuri and Alex Pereer in December seems kind of quick but if they can make that happen not a bad main event that we can slide in coal it's going to be one of those two cards it's either going to be the co-main event in November

or it's going to be the main event in December I think that fight is going to happen this year year in one of those two cards. I would like to see it at MSG. Just load that bad boy up. You could do the Pena-Pennington women's Bannamweight fight. We get three title fights. Pretty damn cool.

I like that idea. But you need a main event in December, and I think the UFC is going to do everything in their power to make sure they don't make that same mistake again, where they just kind of throw things at the wall, hope something sticks, and their end of the year card is just kind of garbo because that's kind of what it was in the end

and the whole premise of the car was to cry on a new champion and they didn't even accomplish that so kind of a tough spot to be in as far as Connor goes dude your guess is as good as mine Connor is just he's just on a ramp he's on a freaking rampage right now all the stuff with Jake and Nate

and Gaichy and Porre and now Floyd. Floyd fight ain't happening. So basically he's saying, look, I'll fight Chandler if the UFC wants it, but it doesn't seem like they want it anymore. And he might not be wrong? I don't know. I honestly have no idea what's going on with it.

I have no clue. Chandler thinks he's full of crap. So I'm just going to stay on the corner I've been staying on all along. This is McGregor being just very strange, not himself in a lot of respects,

but kind of promoting in a strange way. Because I honestly feel like what we got tonight Ultimate Fighter and then next week's the last one, I think. So it's Jason Knight, Kurt Holbeau tonight, and then the Rico DeShullo

fight will be next week and then the two winner and then the finale will be at 2992, which would be cool of Rigo won because then you'd have a Boston guy on the card fighting in Boston. That would make a lot of sense. But I feel like it's, I feel like either on the final episode, they're going to announce a date. I just feel, I've kind of felt that way from the beginning. And they're just going to say, like, they're fighting in December or they're fighting in January. I don't know. But I do feel like

Dana's going to talk about it after Consender Series tonight. He's going to be asked about it. So maybe we'll get more clarity on it. But it just seems like Dana just responds to it the same way. The fight's going to happen. The Usada pool.

I don't give an ass about it. It's not my thing. Talk to Jeff DeVitsky. I don't know. I'm going to remain optimistic that this fight happened. happens. Will it happen this year?

I'm not sure. But I don't know. I do feel like, I do feel like ultimately that will be the fight we get. Let's go to Brian. You get the spinning wheel. The spinning wheel of doom. Oh, there we go. Brian.

Brian. Brian. Okay. I think we got Brian getting in this car. Let's go to Cole. Hi, Cole. Morning. Mike.

I'm dying to hear. I just tuned in, so I don't know if you already covered it, but I'm dying to hear the story of the whole Amanda Serrano under the fiasco with Connor Burke's. I just got to hear it. That's all I got. Okay.

So, I mean, I don't know if it was addressed in the M.A. I probably was. So we went out to dinner. I want to say it was Wednesday after open workouts. It might have been Thursday after the first. presser. Went to a Mexican restaurant.

And it was myself. It was like me and the whole MMA hour crew, and I think Oscar Rollis was with us too. And we had a conversation about the Serrano, Heather Hardy fight.

I was asking GC about like what Betsy was going to make and he said, he goes, I'm going to slam the Serrano Hardy over eight and a half. And I'm like, me and New York, Rick,

immediately were like, why? and G.C. kept saying, well, you know, like, a man is just going to carry her and all that. But I got like, and I was saying, look, there's a chance that happens, but just seeing Heather Hardy at the workouts and just seeing her walk around and stuff,

like she just looked rough. Like, she looked rough. And I was like, if Amanda puts forth any effort at all, like she's going to get her out of there. Like I felt very confident about it. Like it was either going to be a corner stoppage or a doctor stoppage or something. Like Heather is very durable and tough, but I just think it's going to get really uncomfortable

and they're just going to have to go ahead and stop it. And perhaps, I mean, I even admitted a bunch that like, I was like, dude, she's going to get her out of there in like three rounds. And I even said afterwards, like, maybe I was getting a little crazy there. But me and me and Rick were like, there's just no chance she's going to make it over eight and a half. And of course, we were wrong. G.C. gets the bragging rights.

And the way G.C. kind of put it all together was, and I didn't even know he changed his bet until I watched the segment on YouTube after the fact that he ended up changing his bet to the under eight and a half. And I asked him about it afterwards. And he said, well, it's a win-win for me. He goes either it cashes or I get to crap all over you and Rick for talking me out of the correct bet. he was right but i could guarantee you and i haven't talked to gc about this i saw him for like a couple minutes on saturday at the card uh but i didn't see him after he was probably feeling pretty

good after that first round i was i was like there's no way because amanda was putting it on her in the first round like it was getting uncomfortable like 40 seconds into the fight i was already uncomfortable watching it i'm like this is bad heather's got nothing for her she's just going to get battered. And someone's going to have to save Heather from herself. Now, I give Heather a lot of credit. She was tough. But this was,

it was tough to watch because Amanda was just clubbing her around. And yes, was Heather Landing strikes? Sure. But they did nothing to Amanda. And Amanda was just battering her up. Heather looked like a different human being when the fight was over. It was just uncomfortable to watch. And that was kind of my whole thing.

I was like, I just feel like this is going to be one-way traffic and like not in a fun way. And that's just how I felt about it. And the fight played out exactly that same way. But credit to Heather Hardy, she hung in there. And credit to Amanda, too. Like at the end,

I loved what she had to say to Ariel. I loved the moment between the two. I love Heather saying that she left it all in there. I would not be surprised if that was Heather Hardy's final fight. It was just a cool moment. And the crowd really, even though she just got, run over for 10 rounds.

The crowd really appreciated Heather's effort and appreciated what Amanda has done and appreciated what the two of them together have done for women's boxing. So in the end, like, G.C. wants to throw some shade. He has every right to do. But it actually led to a really cool moment. But watching the fight, honestly,

it was tough to watch. It was uncomfortable. And even like the other, even some of the boxing media that was sitting next to, like, I was sitting next to Andreas Hale. And even he was like, man, this is, this is tough to watch. And sorry, G.C. Sorry, buddy. I'm sure I'll, I'll get more face to face with him next Saturday at the 2.92 watch party. But yeah, yep, we were wrong and he was right.

Brian, hello, do we have you? Brian, no, we do not. how about moment moment allah yes sir hello how you do good how are you ma'am

good i'm good i'm good i was just wondering what do you think is next for michael chandler because he said that he thinks the the fight with conor is off so what do you think is next for next for michael chander and what

like uh what are you thoughts on the shon streetland at a sanya fight wait a second when did he say when did chanler say the fight was off i mean like uh not off uh but sorry for the confusion he said like uh the ufc uh they're not interested to make the fight so i mean like what the oh connor said that yeah my mistake man it's just all good all good yeah yeah man so what was the other question uh what are your thoughts on uh if sean strickland and the adesani actually have the official fight. What are official predictions for that fight?

All right, cool. Thank you, sir. Honestly, like I said before, I do feel like ultimately this fight will be made. Because, I mean, I would feel awful. I really would. You could feel however you feel about the man, but you got to feel rough. And I honestly, like, I know Ariel was talking about it on the MFA hour yesterday. I hope they got that in writing, man.

Like, I really hope that when they signed on to be on the Ultimate Fighter, that it's not that the fine print said it was a guarantee that he gets the Conner fight. Because otherwise, what's the point? Why are you even doing this? If you're not going to get the fight, why leave your family and do the show? Chandler seems like the type of dude that would just do the show because he wants to give back. I can see that.

But if you're going to tease a Connor fight, one that he's wanted since he got to the UFC, and then it doesn't happen? Like, that'd be wild. I'd feel pretty awful for him. And then what's he going to do? Fight freaking Armand Sarugian? Sheesh.

That's a tough spot for him to be in. It's a tough spot for him to be in. But ultimately, I do think that fight will get done. I do feel like that's going to get done. Strickland getting the shot at Adasani. Look, we've been talking about this for months that I felt that this was going to be the fight. Even before Drickis fought Robert Whitaker,

I said Strickland was probably going to win. After Strickland beat Abus, I'm like, he's going to get the title shot. There's no chance either those guys are going to be able to turn around. And I know Barstle reported that, it's all but done and from what I understand, they're not wrong. But it's not like,

it's not done. It's not wrapped impact. It's not too, it's not at a place where it should have been reported. I'll say that. Like, we talk about the golden rule all the time.

That fight is not on M.A.fighting.com. It's not done. We haven't gotten past. We're close. I would say, in the football field of fight making. This is kind of the aerial thing. I would say,

I don't know if we're in the red zone yet, but pretty close. Maybe on like the 22-yard line heading into the end zone. We could kick a field goal from here, at least get points on the board. I would say maybe by the end of the day we'll be like in the red zone.

I don't know. It seems like both sides are in. They like the idea of it, but there are other factors in play as well. So to say it's sufficient, to report it is premature to report it. It was premature to report it. I would, my guess is,

and I have no insights to this whatsoever, my guess is this was, this was a UFC, like, giving them this, and then they just put it out there. That's my guess? I don't know. It wouldn't surprise me. I know there's a partnership there

between the UFC and Barstool, so that would not surprise me at all. But yeah, it's not an inaccurate report. And in fact, the way they actually presented it, it's pretty spot on. But it was still kind of early to put that out there. But I would be surprised. I'd be pretty surprised if we don't get out of Sonia Strickland.

So that's the latest on that. There's still eyes to be dotted, T's to be crossed. I wouldn't say Like I didn't even probably get the Closer in the works But yeah That seems to be what's going to happen

Long story short So how do I think the fight's going to go? I think he's going to beat him That's it And then he'll fight DDP And there you go Strickland will get a title shot He'll get a nice bag of money

That arena's already sold out Without even announcing a main event which is insane. And Strickland's probably going to go five rounds with Izzy and lose a pretty lopsided decision. That's what I think. The fight week's going to be bananas. It's going to be very Paul Diaz-esque, probably.

These two are going to get to a press conference, and Strickland's going to get boot out of the building, and he's going to use it as fuel. He's going to love it. He's going to have the best time of his life. And then he's going to lose, like, a 49-46 decision. Izzy. and Izzy will go on and fight DDP sometime next year.

And there you have it. All right. I'll try, Brian, one more time. Do we have you, Brian? All right. I think third time's a charm. Thanks, Mike. Yep, I got chance up.

Two things real quick. One, which press conference do you think would be uglier, the Strickland, Izzy, or DDP in Izzy? Like, you know, like verbally wise. And then second off, I do agree. Henry Sohudo, I hate to say this. He definitely won the weekend. God, I hate saying that.

But I would say the number two person that people really aren't looking at, I think it kind of cleared a path that maybe took a fight or two off for Song Yadong to get to the title shot. What do you think is like a realistic fight for him next? Do you think he might turn around and just rebook the Rob Fon fight later in the year? Or do you think he could possibly maybe if like Cheeto loses to Pedro, maybe it gets Cheeto off that? Just wanted your opinion on that. Thanks, Mike.

I think you nailed it. I think they're going to rebook the Rob Fon fight. That's what I think will happen. Maybe by the end of the year. I don't know if Rob's going to want to turn around and fight again in December, but I think Rob wants to get back on the horse, right? I don't know what kind of injuries Rob sustained or anything like that, but I'm sure Rob kind of just wants to get right back in there.

Hopefully I'll get to talk to Rob where I'm in Boston next week. I'm going to see if I can work on something kind of cool in Boston. Something I've wanted to do for a long time. and I've kind of wanted to do with Rob and Cater and the cartel guys. I think, and hopefully we can make it happen. Hopefully we can make it happen. I'd love to make it happen. But more on that, if I can actually put it together.

I didn't want to really put that out there and really go crazy until I actually speak to them. And I didn't want to bug either of those guys just yet. But probably the next couple of days, I'm going to put that out into their, into their universe and see if we can make it happen. But yeah, Song Yidong, Rob Font, seems to make all the sense in the world to me. Just go right back to that, well. J-Sat, do we have you?

You too, man. What is next for Jericho, and here? Because I think he's in, like, a weird spot in the middleweight division. Like, what do you see next for Jericho, that would be all? Boy, is that a question? I would guess that Jerry Canaanir will have to fight Iqra Malascaroff if Ikehram Alaskarov beats Nasredin Imabov in Abu Dhabi.

Yeah. It was really interesting to see where Canaaner was after beating Marvin Vittori. Like give him the Hamzot fight, and then if you ever want to get back to the title, like, go fight Hamzot. I actually thought that fight made a lot of sense, but somehow it didn't happen. And now we're getting Hamzao versus Paul Costa, which should have been the fight to make from the get-go. I didn't understand the Alaskarov booking. And as I told you, as soon as they announced that fight, there's no chance that fight happens. And it's not happening.

So now I have no idea. It feels like Alaskarov will be the guy because I am picking Alaskarov to beat Nassadineemov. maybe you do Brennan Allen could do Brandon Allen maybe but I don't know Canada is

Canadian Air is trying to swing for the fences here because he wants he's like I'm only taking a fight that's just going to get me a title shot I think he's just a super tough spot the fight was Hamzaad like that was it

nothing else really is going to get him there he already lost to Whitaker he beat Vittory Strickland's probably got a fight Izzy DDP is going to fight the winner Kost is fighting Hamzot

Derek Brunson's fighting Roman DeLeed's A Then there's what Jack Hermanson Imovost booked Chris Curtis is booked Brennan Allen Maybe Paul Craig I don't know

But I think Honestly I think I think Canada wishes he pushed for that Hamzot fight a little bit more As opposed to what happened or just like, well, if he doesn't get me to a title fight, I ain't fighting him. But if it gets me a guaranteed title shot, I'd fight him.

He's in a really tough spot. That's a great question. I have no idea what's going to happen with Canada. But my guess is if Alaskaroff beats him above in October, which I think he's going to. He's kind of have to kind of fight that dude. And yikes, it's tough. I'll answer your other question in a second. Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on a minute.

amazing gifts, so you don't have to. They've bagged this season's Italian leather handbags. Designer. Hand-picked the finest sweaters from the rest. Ooh, cashmere. Landed makeup pallets from the brands you love. Rushes too. And hustled all those wishless topping toys.

So plush. Our buyers have got you covered. Marshalls. We get the deals. You gift the good stuff. It's the matcha or the three ensemble of Cajara that I just went to denishé, who you know,

that's the ensemble. The form of standard and mini regrouped, what's the aband and the embalage, too be able that's pretty

to do you know, and I know I should have these offriday, but I'm sorry the summer Fridays and rare beauty by Selena Gomez.

I'm, I'm sure. The most ensemble a gift of the fendos show show and stuff

and stuff and stuff and stuff and stuff and many for a form of mini, regrouped for a

free, on c4. In line so C4 or in magazine. Daniel, hello. Daniel, Okay, we don't have

Daniel didn't get in, I don't think. Do we have you, Daniel? You're muted. That's not working. So someone had asked which presser is going to be worse. Is it going to be Izzy DDP or Izzy Strickland?

It's Izzy DDP by a mile. Struggle's going to say some stuff. Things are going to get a little uncomfortable. We kind of know what we're going to get from Strickland. DDP, it's just going to say. going to be kind of rough on a different kind of a level. So, yeah, I'm confident saying DDP, but Strickland will be just kind of weird and wild. And we'll get uncomfortable at times, but in a different kind of a way.

Daniel, do we have you? Hey, Mike. Can you hear me? Yeah, I got you. Perfect. Never had problems with Twitter. I guess X has given me problems now. Damn you, X.

Just got two quick ones for you, a quick PFL talk. How about, hey, Zeus Panato? I mean, this guy takes out two of the biggest stars in the promotion is now fighting for $1 million. And, I mean, when I say take out, I mean, what a two finishes he's had. Just curious on your overall thoughts on his performance this season and if you think he completes the Cinderella story. And then just the last question here, contender series tonight

with how the last couple of season the tough have gone. It just feels like viewerships low, too, especially this season. I'm just curious how important you think, like, the creation of this show was for the UFC. I don't know. I personally feel like this might just kind of take over what tough kind of originally had. But you appreciate it, Mike. Have a tough of morning.

Thanks, man. Yeah, Pinedale's good, man. It's good. He's real good. And once again, Bubba Jenkins, the bridesmaid and not the bride. It's crazy. Dude has been so close, just so close to getting over that hump. and he hasn't been able to do it.

He's like the featherweight. Jason Jackson. Like Jason Jackson seems to be getting there now. Like he's finally on a nice run. He's got confidence. He can win the big fight against the big name. Baba just can't get there. It's wild.

Genned just iced him, man. He's good, but he has to make weight. He has to figure that out. He has to figure that out. If he misses way for the final, like a point we're going to take a point away no that's not going to work here he should be like out of the tournament and the dude should just win like it ain't gonna be pretty and people are gonna be mad about that but that's just it's just an advantage oh we're gonna take a point away great so what there's gotta be more you can't just do that so he's got to get the weight thing under control he's got to figure that part out but yes looks good contender series back tonight Yes. Sesar Almeida in the main events.

Looking forward to that. I'm very high on Tom Nolan as a prospect. Really like this kid. He's only 23. He is humongous. Six foot three lightweight. Tremendous movement. I really like this guy a lot.

Another guy that can kind of go on the Australia, New Zealand scene. He's one of the, the guys on this entire season that I'm looking forward to. We get Kayo Machado. Reyes Cortez, Tracy Cortez's brother is back on. He's going to get another shot, Victor Diaz. I mean, I think it's kind of a place tough, and I think it's been that way for a while. But here's the thing.

I used to love the contender series. I still like it. I still like it, but I don't love it anymore. Because you asked the question that is perfectly well-worded. What has this show done for the UFC? What it has done is that it has helped them from a business perspective in terms of paying fighters and reaping the benefits of it because they're getting paid to put the show on the platform.

They get to sign fighters off of the show and pay him a very minimum wage when it comes to their contracts with the biggest fight promotion in the world. 10 and 10, 12 and 12, however it may be, that's what these guys are getting. And when this show first started, when we first got the contender series, I was skeptical of what it was. I loved the concept, but I wasn't sure what it was really going to be. and then the first season happened in 2017 and I was like this is the shit

I love it we had Kurt Holbo Matt Bassettes in the first main event we had Azuna and Yanwu Greg Rebello Boston Salman Ricky Terseos

Charles Bird Jamie Pickett Jobi Sanchez Manny Vasquez that was the first contender series card At the time where I was like, holy shit, in terms of like prospects, this is, or not even prospects, it's just guys trying to get into the UFC. That card was incredible on paper. And only like a couple of guys got contracts.

The second episode, the second episode, Dan Spawn, Sean O'Malley, Ton Lee, Sydney Outlaw, Casey Kenney. that's sick Todd Lee had like a sick finish on Contender Series lands a head kick gets a knockout didn't get a contract

and at that point I was like huh how the hell do you not get a contract but this is a time where you had to do something like spectacular like you it wasn't just about winning fights it was about like having it all

Like the five-tool player almost. And Todd Lee couldn't get a contract. That's how stiff the competition was back then. Like you had to do something to wow everybody. Look at this. Like, I'm just looking at the lineup right now. Looking at the lineups for 2017.

Here's 20, here's the third episode of the 2017 season. Carl Roberson versus Ryan Spam. Roberson 15 second K.O. Kyle Stewart. Jason Jackson, Jeff Neal, Chase Walden, Alonzo Menafield,

Daniel Jolly, Dan Igay, Lewis Gomez. That was week three of the first season. Week four, we got Julian Marquez, Kyler Phillips,

Carlos Candelario, Brandon Davis, John Castaneda. A lot of those guys won their fights, did not get a contract. Didn't get a contract. Now it's like, all you got to do is win.

And you know what? I'll take it a step further. You don't even have to win to get a contract anymore. You just have to be competitive. If Dana feels like you're on the wrong side of a split decision, he's just going to give you a contract. It's not the same show. It's not the same show.

And I get why. Well, then we can just cut a bunch of the high-priced fighters because we just signed six dudes off of one show. last year I had some hope. We had the Joe Piper episode. Joe Piper rolls a dude, and Dana White goes up to talk to Lorisanko and was like, look, if you show up on Tuesday night and you don't have it, like you're not getting a contract. Be Joe Piper. Joe gets a contract only guy.

I was like, okay, we're back. And then what happened? They gave way record amount of contracts. So just the stakes aren't as dire anymore. All you got to do is win. All you got to do is go in there and win. It drives the insane. So to answer your question, yeah, it kind of has replaced tough,

but it almost is tough in a lot of ways. Because I can assure you that even though they're only going to give away two contracts, I would be stunned if like half the show doesn't get shots at the UFC. I'd be stunned. And I get it. But man, I hope the Contender Series is a little bit more. You got to do more to get a contract this season because I miss those days. Anderson, hello.

Hey, Mike, I just had to call in because you're talking about Contender Season 1, which is one of my favorite things that they did and so underrated. But I actually have a crazy story about it is one of my best friends growing up. his older brother fought on contender season one. And he's actually the guy who got me into MMA and all that. He was showing us Liddell videos like 2005, 2006. So he fought Jimmy Crute. It was a slugfest.

And he got a TKO and lost. And for him at the time, that was like he made the UFC because it was Contender Season 1. It was like nobody knew that it was not quite the UFC yet. Like Sean O'Malley was on there. There are all these big fighters fighting from around the world. So people should go back to watch that first season and see all the great fights and the top quality prospects from around the world that the UFC used to pull for these fights. And then compare it to now where it's just like, hey, these are two decent guys.

Whoever wins can get an entry level contract, which is a completely different thing. And like, if they want to run a UFC minor league, they should just do that, you know? It's not Contender Series then. So anyway, just wanted to drop that little one and talk to you later, Mike, great show again. Yeah, man. I miss those days where they're only, like, they were giving away two, maybe three? Here's episode eight. They gave away three contracts.

Matt Frivolta, who had a nasty submission in the main event. We had Bevin Lewis, who got a finish on the card, did not get a contract. Alan Crowder got a contract after a comeback win against Dontail Mays, and Lauren Mueller got a contract winning a decision. But that was more of, hey, 135 need some help. So that's what we're doing. And that's what it was. Like, we didn't need to fill a spot or we just, we have to take this guy.

We have to take them. I'm looking at week one right now. Only two guys got contracts week one. Kurt Hollabo and Boston Salman both got contracts. Just two. And there were a bunch finishes on that card. The Sean O'Malley episode, Sean O'Malley is the only one that got a contract.

The only one. Week three, Dan Ege got a finish, didn't get a contract. Alonzo Meadowfield got a finish, didn't get a contract. Kyle Stewart got a finish, didn't get a contract. Jeff Neal got a contract. Roberson got a contract. See the difference? Week four.

John Cassadena, no contract. Brand Davis, that was crazy fight with Austin Arnett. He got a contract. Candelaria got a win, no contract. Kyleri got a 46-second finish and didn't get a contract. Julian Marquez, contract. That's how it was.

So different. Week five, Mike Rodriguez. nasty flying knee knockout got a contract polio arseye got a second round finish nasty knockout no contract rickie simone no contract sheldon graves finish no contract Alex Perez contract

i miss those days so much i miss those days so much week six charlesburg contract grant dawson contract Cameron Olson, no contract, Jamie Alvers, no contract, Jamie Colleen, finish, no contract. Week 7, Kennedy and Chutuku, no contract. Jordan Espinoza, submission in less than 90 seconds.

No contract. Mike Santiago, three-minute knockout, no contract. Benito Lopez. That fight with Stephen Peterson was pretty. good contract Joby Sanchez contract God bring me back bring me back

bring you back to season one you give me that every time you give me that every season and I will be the biggest contender series fan of all time I loved it so much the first two seasons and then it just became you win and you're in and I hate it I hate it

it's good for the fighters but it's just not the same show anymore Latino Heat, hello. Hello, good morning, first thing, foremost. What do you think is going to happen, or what's an idea of his next move? Do you think he's going to box more because the bag is more lucrative and more big in boxing, or is he going to go fight Jake Paul in PFL? But he has stated that co-promote with PFO, which I believe PFO, which I believe PFO,

but will never do co-promote with a promotion that has never had an event yet as of today. So what I'm asking is basically, what do you think is an idea next move? Well, if PFL puts their feed in the sand and say, we're not willing to co-promote with Real Fight Inc, then they are the dumbest promotion in the world. Like, they are just dumb. do you understand if you think that you are too big to do that then you are as naive as I think you are

and I think PFL is at the highest level of naivity in the history of in the history of MMA the way they talk the way they tweet the way they say things like you act like you're knocking on the door of being the number one promotion in the world

when in fact you're not even number two. Like, you are not the clear number two right now. And even if they somehow merge with Bellator, you're still barely number two. And there are a lot of people who watch one who feel like one is the better product right now. And you know what? They're probably not wrong.

They're probably not wrong. But to big time Nate Diaz's company, after what they just did, Don Davis and company were there. Peter Mari, Don Davis, they were in Dallas. how could you sit in that crowd watched how that fight played out listen to the crowd seeing a sold out American Airlines Center

almost 20,000 people in the building, a turnaway crowd and not think to co-promote you know what Jake Paul did? He co-promoted he co-promoted and because they did that the event was as big as it was they would be absolutely insane

to not co-promote. And guess what? If the world wants to see Nate Diaz versus Jake Paul in an MMA fight, the PFL is going to have to co-promote. You think Nate Diaz is going to take that fight without a co-promotion,

even if they offer him $10 million? Guess what? He's not going to. He's not going to. He's going to want more. He's going to want $20 million. And he should ask for $20 million. Nate's the A side.

to all of this. It's not Jake. Jake wasn't the ace side to the boxing match. Nate was. Nate was. And you heard it in the crowd. If Jake fought anybody else

from the MMA world, it's nowhere near this. They're not selling out the American Airlines Center. Not a chance. No chance at this point with where this whole Jake Paul thing is going. So I think the PFL is insane.

If they don't, if they're not already on the phone with Nate's manager, already talking about how to do this, offering Nate more money and a co-promotion, than they are just not doing it right, that they have screwed the pooch. And I'll tell you what,

if Nate doesn't go to PFL, if this fight is not made, then PFL made a massive error, a gigantic error. They should be already in talks on how to put this all together. Having said that, I feel like you're right.

I feel like PFL's just be like, nah, we're too big for that. And Nate's just going to be like, okay, bye, bye. And he will never fight Jake and M&M. Never, because he will go back to the UFC. He will go back to the UFC and he will promote his own stuff on the side and make a whole bunch of money doing it. Here's like, Nate doesn't need PFL.

Nate doesn't even need the UFC. Nate is just fine. Nate made a lot of money on Saturday night. A lot. I don't know what the disclosed thing is. I'm hearing somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million all said and done. That's what I'm hearing. And it would not surprise you if that's the case.

Now, could there be disclosed pay, sure. But I'm sure there's a lot more that goes into us from a co-promotional end, a pay-per-view by end. And I bet that thing did really pretty well on pay-per-view. And a piece of that gate to, they did it like a three-point-something million. Gate in Dallas. That's insane. For a fight with Jake Paul, his date Diaz's first boxing match, that's

friggin nuts. That is nuts. So if I have to guess what's next for Nate Diaz, I think he goes to the UFC. I think he returns. I think Nate, I think Nate saw that the grass

was greener over there when it comes to what to expect on Fight Week. I think Nate hated Fight Week up until the fight. And maybe the last way in, he hated the press conference. I could tell you that. He hated it all.

He was legitimately pissed off about that Derek from Better Kid being allowed to have a microphone and ask questions. When Nate stood up after that, Nate was going to jump off the stage and smack that dude around. Like dead serious. And you could see him battling

internally with whether or not he should jump off the stage and just beat the hell out of this little asshole down there. But he, cooler heads prevailed and he didn't do that. Now, did he say some things you probably shouldn't have? Yes. But I think he did that for a reason, honestly.

I think he did that to piss off everybody. Piss off Nikisa, piss off Jake, piss off the zone. You're like, oh, you guys want to put this dude, a microphone in that dude's hands? Fine. Watch what I'm about to do to piss you off right back. MVP does a good job with a lot of things.

They have a lot to work on. A lot. Presser could have been better. That Derek from Better Kid getting a microphone was a travesty. Absolute travesty. Even on the night of the fights, like, I don't know if you guys may have watched, you may not have. We tried to go live at the post-fight press conference.

We couldn't do it. We had to cut the street. for two reasons. One, we couldn't plug into the box because it was eight miles away. And when we could plug into the box, the box didn't work, the audio box. Which is fine,

because sometimes you just go off the audio that's coming in into the room. And despite me asking 800 times for them to turn up the volume, they didn't and they didn't give a shit. And I was annoyed to no end by them.

that. You have to care about that stuff. You have to. You have to. People are trying to watch and see what these fighters are saying, and you can't hear them. Like, come on, you've got to be better at that. You have to be better at that. But I think Nate understood, like, with the UFC fight weeks, you show up, this day you do this, this day you do this, this day you do this, then you fight and then you go home. We don't need you to do this. We don't need you to do that. And I think Nate kind of missed that. Miss, kind of missed that organization. Because you can say what you want about the UFC. I say, I'm honest about the UFC. They do something bad. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to say they did something bad, but they did something good. I'm going to tell you

they did something good. When you cover a UFC event, they are a, they're frigging machine, man. They're a well-oiled A-plus machine. they say something is going to happen, it is going to happen. If they say the doors open at noon, they open at noon, they don't open at 1230, they open at noon. When Media Day starts on this time, it starts that time, sometimes earlier. That was not the case with this event. There's a lot of an organization going on. Having said that, it is a rousing success. But for Nate, I think he goes to the UFC. I think he fights Dustin Porreier, then he fights

Connor McGregor, and then he doesn't fight in the UFC anymore. I think the UFC sees value in Nate. I think they saw that his stock remains the same. He gave Jake some fits. There are people who thought Nate got robbed on Saturday 9. I don't agree with that.

Even Nate didn't think he got robbed. But I thought it was closer than the scores. I thought Nate, I thought you could make a case for Nate winning round two I scored it for Jake. I thought Nate clearly went round four. Paul will head a 10-8 round five.

And if we're talking about the last five rounds, I mean, you can make a case that Nate won two of them, maybe three. So I think he ends up back in the UFC. He's going to fight Pory. He fights McGregor and then he's out of there. And then just fights under his own promotion. He might just fight under his own deal.

The way Connor's being right now, let Connor fight out his last two fights and then him and Connor could do their own fight co-promote together there's value in that a lot of it so but Nate's not going to box Jake over there and he's not going to PFL

no matter how much they offer him without a co-promotion nope I would be stunned if that happens if he's just I signed with the PFL to fight Jake Paul and there's no co-promotion I think there's zero chance that happens adeb hello Hey, hey Mike, how you doing? I hope you're doing good.

I just wanted to talk about Tatiana Suarez. I mean, for her to come back so well and beat Jessica Andrade, she's beaten Alexa Grosso, the champion previously. I mean, what a return, what a story. She previously fought cancer. In my opinion, she could easily go down in the future as one of the greatest women fighters of all time. because she's just, she's basically a Habib in the females division. And, I mean, it's just incredible to watch a fight the way she dismantled Jessica and Raj. And I believe you just throw off her for the title next.

You just give her the winner of Jessica, sorry, the winner of Wei Li Zhang and Amanda Lamash. And then we go from there. What do you think is the next step for her? Do you think she just needs another fight maybe? And then we can test her maybe a two against Carlos Barza or all the other. she did kill Carla's barsa in her first fight it wasn't even close and she beat her in the wrestling so what is your thoughts on it and what do you have to say about it thanks man i agree with a lot of what you just said tatiana is going to be a champion at some point i don't it's no get she's not

going to fight for the belt next i don't think if if now if a man olemosh wins if amanda lemoche she beat jang we lee next saturday then yes i think she will fight for the belt but if jang we Lee retains, they're going to do the Janjana and fight, for sure. That's just a giant fight. Two women from the same, two women from China, you do that over in Asia, do it in Singapore, wherever. Gigantic fight. Huge, historical for that area.

So they will go to that route, 1,000%. If Zhang wins and I expect her to win, the fight to make is Tatyana Swares versus McKenzie Dirk. That's the fight. Do that. Do that. McKenzie wants to get to a title fight. Beating Angela Hill ain't going to get you there.

But if you beat Tatiana Suarez, you're probably getting a shot next. That's her quickest path to the belt. And if Tatiana beats McKenzie Duren, which I would expect her to, there you go. Now you have another, like, really strong name on the resume. So, yeah, that's what I think is going to end up happening. She's going to have to fight again. Carl is pregnant. So I don't know when Carl's going to be able to fight again,

and I'm not really all that interested in watching them two fight again, because I think the result will be the same, if not worse. So, yeah, I mean, Tatanas Juarez versus McKenzie Dern is a fight night made event easily. That's an apexe main event, if there ever was one. So go ahead and go ahead and do that. But if Lamos does win, Sure.

Give Tadde another shot. All right. We'll go to Enwriter 97, then I got to go. What's up, Enwriter? Are you there? You're muted, Enwriter. Oh, can you hear me? Yep, I got you.

All right. Sorry about that. So I have a somewhat unconventional opinion here. I believe most people will not agree with this, but I'm just throwing it out there. I don't know what you guys will think. So my opinion is that. that the UFC should probably separate men and women's cards because as we see, the women's cards, the women fights usually aren't up to scratch. And Amanda Nunes, she was the best fighter that the women has ever had. She's gone. Nobody really cares for many of the women fights

outside of Wei Li Zhang now in 2023. A lot of the main superstars that the women have had, they're gone. Nobody really cares anymore, at least in my circles that I speak to. I know a lot of people online, they'll try to defend it with their life, but I think the majority of people, they're not tuning in, they're not too excited for these women fights. And honestly, when they put a women fight on the main card, nobody wants that. And I think UFC, I think they know this, but I think they would that's why they don't want to separate the cards but if they did separate the cards

they would really know who cares about the women's fights if there was a full women card I don't think many people would tune in so I just think them bringing in the women it has saturated the cards a little bit and it's lowered the quality I don't know what do you think about that I know it's probably offensive to say that

but that's just my opinion no I don't I don't agree with that. I mean, it's your opinion. I'm not going to say here and shit on you for it, but I don't agree with that at all. Look, I mean, one of the best fights in the history of the sport came from two women. Jean-Wey Lee, Yanni, and Jacek is one of the five best fights in the history of MMA.

It might be number one. I don't think it's number one, but it's in the top five. It should be on everybody's top five list. So I don't agree with that. and the watering down to the cards has nothing to do with women it has to do with the ufc and this deal that they have we have to put people on cards so it waters down the pro like the apex events water down the freaking product look at this card look at this card coming up there's some good fights on there vcente luke hafi el de sancho's

fine cum swanson heim doadu fine chileo roundtree christoccus okay Okay. And then we got Pollyanna, Viana, Yasmusindo. I actually like that fight a lot. I'm very high on Yasmin Lucindo. And then we go from that to Tafon and Chukui, AJ Dobson, Josh Frem's Jamie Pickett. These are all contender series fighters. I think Josh Frem was looking for a fight guy. Marcus McGee, J.P. Bays. Terence McKinney, Mike Breeden. these are contender series guys Francis Marshall Isaac Delgarian again Josh Parisian

Martin Boudet Look at this Montserrat Ruiz Listen to this On this card alone On Saturday Two of the top six Most interesting fights on the card

Are the women's fights Monsteraat Ruiz Jacqueline Amram Interesting fight Demand Blackshier Jose Johnson Again we're just watering down the cards and then we have Juliana Milo Juana Santos, fine. But no, I don't agree with that.

I actually feel, because there were talks that that San Antonio card in March was going to be like an all women's card. There were talks about that. It didn't end up happening, but there were talks about doing that. And it's not like we're getting seven women's fights on a 12-fight card.

We're not. So, and I can assure you when we get to the Paris card, what's the fight we're going to be talking about the most? Are we going to be talking about Cyril Ghan versus Sergei Spivak? No. Are we going to be talking about Rosnami Unis going up to 125 to fight Manifioro? Yep. That will be the story of the entire fight week.

That will be the fight of the week. Everyone's going to be talking about that fight. So, no, I don't agree with that. You are more than okay to have your opinion, but I don't agree with that. If you make the case for watering down cards, hate the women that's doing it. It's the deal.

It's too many fights. It's too many fight cards. The fact that we have to have 15 goddamn fights on every single card, every single weekend is ridiculous. It is ridiculous. It's insanity. Absolutely nuts. But, all right.

Well, we are done. I got to go. Holy shit. It's 1120. All right. I got to get out of here. Thank you all very much. We'll be back on Thursday.

We will continue on with everything going on in the world of mixed martial arts. M.A. Hour tomorrow. Do not miss that. I've been told there could be some things happening, some news, perhaps. I don't know if it's going to happen, but I'm hearing rumblings, so it should be a good show. We'll be back on Thursday,

BTL back on Thursday as well. We'll have a live show. And then Friday, the Ush, we'll have a... Back on this show, we'll have a preview show for UFC Vegas 78. And then all the coverage throughout the weekend. And then we're going to be...

hashtag ship it up to Boston for UFC 290... For UFC 292, I will be there. Jose will be there. Jose will be there, start to finish. I will be there, start to ceremonial weigh-ins. And then I will go to New York on Saturday morning

for the watch party with Mamie G.C. So thank you all very much. Busy times ahead. Hope you all enjoyed it. Back on Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern, right here on heck of a morning. Thanks for being here.