MMA Fighting - HOAM | Where Does Ciryl Gane Go From Quick Loss To Jon Jones At UFC 285?

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

While Jon Jones' heavyweight championship victory has stolen the headlines, and created a potential massive fight with Stipe Miocic later this year, there hasn't been a lot of talk about what comes next for Jones' opponent Ciryl Gane. Where does Gane go from the tough loss to Jones? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on what could be next for Gane following UFC 285, and what opponents make sense. Additionally, topics include UFC Las Vegas and whether or not a win over Petr Yan could get Merab Dvalishvili a title shot in his next fight, Bellator 293, Bo Nickal's UFC debut and Henry Cejudo's comments that the Penn State national champion should get six more fights under his belt before getting a top-10 opponent, under the radar fights for the upcoming UFC 286 pay-per-view event, the stakes in the Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev fight, 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 reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. 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 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 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. 9th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter on the M.MA Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a wonderful Thursday.

It is going to be a very busy weekend in the world of mixed martial arts. Tomorrow we have a very fun Bellator 293 card. Kick off of the lightweight Grand Prix. We have Uswin Ramaga Madov versus Benson Henderson in the main event for the lightweight title. Alexander Shabli versus Tophik Masef is the other lightweight Grand Prix matchup, which is probably the fight that is flying under the radar for this weekend. No one really talking about it, but that fight frigging rules. And then on Saturday, the UFC is back in Las Vegas.

No, they're not at the apex. We know why they're not at the apex, but they're at the Virgin Hotels. It be a small little crowd, but a crowd nonetheless for UFC Las Vegas. And the main event for that one is a big one at a small little crowd. 135 pounds between Peotreryon looking to get back on track. He takes on Maraub de Walsh

Willie. A little bit of heat on this one. The rivalry, the storyline between Peotor Jahn and Al Jemaine Sterling sort of continues. This time through Sterling's good buddy and long-time training partner, Maraub de Walsh Willie. It's a good fight. It's a good fight.

So we can talk about that. We could talk about the leftovers, the leftover conversation from UFC 285. A lot going on still from that card. A lot of conversation still from that card.

A lot of debate. A lot of which has to do with rankings and pound for pound discussion and all of that noise. And I'm happy to discuss all of that with all of you. And before we get to the calls, yesterday was a weird day, my friends.

It was a weird day. It was a emotional panicky day because it was a day that started off like any other, beautiful day here in South Carolina, woke up, went to the gym, got a good workout, came back, did some stuff around the house, and checked out something my wife put together at her school, which was a really cool event. And then came back home, relaxed for a minute, picked my kid up from school, and he wanted to go play golf. So I took him to go play golf and he's getting better and better. And we finished the nine holes and head on home and I'm getting ready to hop in the shower. And I realize that I don't

have my wallet. And I am freaking. So the first thing I think of is, oh, I probably just took it on my pocket and left it somewhere. Nope. Couldn't find the goddamn thing anywhere. So go back to the golf course, find the guy that took our cart. And I said, I left my wallet behind. He goes, well, we didn't see anything. And we go and we search through all the carts and we don't find it. And I'm like, shit. And I'm starting to freak out. So I go back home, looking under my cars, seats, everything.

Can't find it anywhere. And then I make the decision to go back to the golf course. And at this point, clubhouse is closed, cart shed is closed. The only thing open is the restaurant. So the woman that's working in the restaurant, I believe is the GM of the facility. I tell her I lose my wallet and nobody turns in. it in. We look through the clubhouse, nothing there, go back to the cart shed, and I look through every single cart, and I still can't find it. And she's feeling awful for me. I'm feeling awful for

myself. And then I was just like, you know what? This cart looks weird to me. So I'm just going to go and sit in that one. And I look and I reach through and just sitting in the back, standing up against the tray wall is my wallet. And I was like, oh, you've got to be kidding me. Thank God. So a day that could have been completely disastrous became a day of joy. And I was very happy. My wife was very happy because she would have been very mad at me if I had left my wall up behind. But we found it. And big shout out to that woman who in the middle of the night, in the darkness, opened up that shed.

And we ended up finding my wall. And she was very excited for me. And then before we played golf, she actually gave my son some chocolate chip cookies because she was. very excited that the youth of America was out playing golf. So a big shout out to that. Lovely woman who saved the day. And now let's go to you guys. So I just want to get that off my chest. Nice story. Very grateful, very happy. You guys are my friends. So I figured I could share those stuff with you. Tristan, good morning. Hey, Mike. How's everything? Wonderful. And can you hear me? Yes. Right. Good, good, good. I have two questions here. My first question

I was reading Tabitha Ritchie and then this also goes to Vanessa Gimopoulos. I think before UFC 285, I think she said, you know, this year's go was or last year's go was to break into the rankings, which she did. I think she's number 15th in the UFC official strawweight ranking. But then she was saying, yeah, we're about to enter the Tabitha Rishi, the Tabitha Ritchie era where I'm going to fight everybody. I'm going to finish them. And I'm just like, I don't know about that.

And Vanessa's down below, she said she wants to return back to our wild side and get into the rankings and make some noise in the showways. So specifically those two, you feel like that, like, I understand it. I think, you know, because the story division is not that deep anyway. So people think it really makes some noise because I don't. I'm like, yeah, you guys are good, but I don't think you guys are. like contending for straw weight titles or anything you know so

I want your thought on that and then my second thought is and my second question is is is there a fighter that is on a losing street that if they lose one more time they may be on the way out of the UFC but for some weird reason

you still believe in them like you still believe in the skill set that they could probably do something not win a title but actually stay in the UFC that you're saying to yourself, man, I still think they're good, though. Like, I think for me, she's fighting March 25th, and I don't think anybody knows her, I guess, only the hardcore,

and she just got into the UFC, but I still believe in Liangna. And I know she got destroyed in her first two fights. But, I mean, the first ones, I think she fought Ariana Carosia, I think, I don't know if I'm pronouncing the name right, but, like, I saw the dominant grappling and wrestling what she can do,

and I'm like, yo, she's still good. she's pretty good. But then, you know, she lost, and then she got wrecked in her last fight against Gomez, and I'm like, ah, man, but I have a weird, I guess I have a soft spot for her, like, I think she could be something, not to win the title or anything.

And it's the weird thing on that March 25th clock, she's fighting at flyweight. She's moving up, which is weird. So do you have anybody like that? I would think it would be Randy Costa for you, because I think I still believe he's going to get back to the UFC. So just those are my questions, you, Mike. Thanks for everyone.

Man, that's a, that's a really good question. I don't know. I don't know. Koss is probably one of those guys, but I don't know. It was just one of those things. Like there are certain fighters who just kind of get into the UFC too quickly, and Randy was probably one of them. I think he was three and out, maybe four and oh when he got into the UFC,

and he had a tough fight right away. he's exciting to watch but it wasn't like a lot to his game it was just he's just gonna go out and go bananas in the first round and if you can weather that storm then you can beat him and that's kind of what happened to him doesn't seem like

I don't know I believe if you follow him on social media it looks like Randy's just chilling in Mexico right now and you know getting in shape and working out and just experiencing this wonderful thing called life So good on him. And we'll see if and when he gets back in there.

I think he'll get back eventually. But I have to think pretty deep on some of these guys. I mean, the two guys that come to mind right now are ranked pretty high. So they're probably not in the same discussion. But I'm still a believer in Rob Font, still believer in Calvin Cater. Maybe that's the New England bias. But those are like the two guys that come to mind for me. But I have to think a little bit deeper.

as DeMopoulos and Ritchie go, look, Ritchie's, Ritchie's look pretty good. She's looked pretty good. The Olivera win, the Viana win, you know, were nice wins, but she hasn't had a finish in the UFC. And then she went out and just bolted Jessica Pente. Like, I thought from like a betting perspective, if there was a parlay piece to be had,

I would actually pick Tabitha Ritchie over Bo Nicol, which sounds crazy because Bo's making his debut is like a minus 2,000. favorite. You felt like he was going to win, but you never know what's going to happen. But Ritchie just seemed, I think she's like a minus 300, just seemed like there's so much value there because Penny is just a terrible defensive wrestler and her just going out there and just submitting her and pointing her way like that. Really impressive. Really impressive stuff. So I think she's sort of getting over the hump. And you're supposed to have confidence. What are you supposed to say? Well, my, my mission in the UFC is to be like the 13th

ranked fighter in the world. Yeah, you got to have a little confidence beside yourself. Vanessa Mopoulos is like a firecracker, so she's always going to have that confidence in herself. She's got a nice little opportunity on May 20th fighting the biggest name she's ever fought, fighting Caroline Nicole Kovicic, former title challenger. And I feel like stylistically, that's an interesting fight. That's an interesting fight.

She wins that one. That's four fights in a row. She probably gets ranked. But we also have to look at it from this perspective. Straw weight is still a fun division, but it is not very deep anymore. It is not the deep division like it once was. The women's flyweight division is way deeper right now than the strawweight division. But look, Vanessa is in her prime right now.

She's winning fights. She's pretty popular. Yeah. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. I like the gusto from both of them. Let's go to Toke. Toke, in your picture, are you playing poker?

Yes. Okay, I am. You look like you're... I look very serious, don't I? You look very serious. You look like the World Series of poker broadcasts where Tocke Genson is in a hand right now. He's got all his chips in the middle. And you're in a coin flip flop for your tournament life.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I'm a bit of a poker player and a guy. gamblers. So yeah, that is what I was doing there. So what I want to do is, firstly, it was weird last time to get called out by another caller for an opinion I didn't have. I'm just going to say that and just move on to what I actually want to talk about. And I'll keep it more simple. So this is actually in my opinion and actually a question. So what I will say is I want to play dominoes with you, okay?

And what I want to play is the game where Mirab wins this weekend. If that happens, right? Is this title fight between El Jermaine Sterling and Henry Sehudo the last title defense of El Jermaine Sterling?

Because even if he wins that, I mean, because he wants to move to 1.45, make room from Marab. And then, so now the dominoes have fallen right we have aljman leaving four and forty five we have mirab who just beat peter yon in this scenario what is the title fight at one 35 is it mirab versus shaw no mallee maybe what are we talking i'm just wondering that so uh thank you mike and uh happy that you found your wallet mate yeah geez that was uh

that was tough um i would say 60 40 chance that alger moves up That O'Malley fight is still out there for him, and I think he's kind of crazy for not taking it, because stylistically, that is an incredible matchup for Elchmate Sterling, and is the biggest fight for him in this division, and that includes Henry Sehudo. Now, it looks like Sterling Sehudo will headline this 288 card. I know the UFC didn't officially announce it, but everybody that I've talked to on both sides are like, I don't understand the trepidation. It's happening.

so just get ready for it. And obviously there's back and forth on social media between Sterling and O'Malley and Sohudo and O'Malley. But that fight from all accounts is going to happen and probably headline that card in New Jersey, which would be a very big deal for Al Jemate Sterling. Close to home. It doesn't want to fight New York. New Jersey is a little bit more relaxed when it comes to medical stuff. So this is like the best of both worlds.

And Newark is not that far from New York City. like a 30 minute drive. So he's in a good spot. I still feel like O'Malley being there. I don't know if he just jumps right up when he can try to get that bag. But maybe this will this wake up will just be the last one for him and he just wants a new challenge and make way from Marab. The problem is I don't think Marab's going to get the title shot if he wins on Saturday. Unless he just rolls Peter Yan. And I just don't see that happening. If he just, runs Peotrean over and stops him inside of like three rounds, then yeah, that, that might do it. But to me, I feel like the Cheeto Sandhagen winner is going to jump over him.

I really do. To me, it feels like the UFC is pumping the brakes on Marab moving up the ladder. Now, look, they got a big fight here. He gets an opportunity to fight Peodor Yan. I think stylistically, this fight favors Peodor Yan in a lot of ways. but you never know. Again, this is why we have the fights. So if Marab wins a Marab-type decision,

I don't think he gets the title fight. I don't think he gets the title fight. The way the UFC is looking at this right now, and I'm sure this is a discussion they're having, Al Jermaine wins and moves up or is planning on moving up, the UFC is, they're not going to actively root for this, but this is what their hope would be. It would be Cheeto Vera beats Corey Sanhagan later this month.

Aljo beats Sohudo, moves up to 45, vacates the title, and then we get the long-awaited rematch that everybody wants to see, shot O'Malley, Cheeto Vera for the title. That, to me, is the best case scenario for the UFC. I'm just trying to put myself in their shoes. That is a gigantic fight. everybody has been wanting that fight since the first one happened. And now it doesn't get any bigger than that.

Title on the line, new champion to be crowned. O'Malley's on this new deal. Cheeto's probably going to get a new deal. He's on a roll. Everybody wants to see Cheeto get a title shot. I felt like he should have fought for the belt already. But that's just the guy he is. Give him one more and he'll go, then he'll go fight for the belt.

But I feel like Marab is still kind of the odd man out of this equation. And Maraba probably have to fight Suu Don't X, if we're being honest. It's going to be a longer road from Marab. I think he's going to have to win at least one more after this, if not two. Because that Aldo win will not age well.

It's just not going to age well. But who knows, maybe he'll just absolutely run over Piotrion. I just don't see that happening. Let's go to AA. Double A, hello. Good. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what?

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With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Before he takes on a rank guy, I want to know your thoughts on that. And, oh shit, I did have another question. I hate when this happens. It's all right. We'll back tomorrow.

You can save for tomorrow if you want. no i'm what your thoughts on the asan south fight everyone have a good day have a good day have a good morning peace um he's fighting davy grant i'm seeing the betting arts are on that i thought a sunsaw had so much value heading into that victor henry fight i assume he's going to be an underdog in this fight he is ah not not that big of a dog i thought it'd be higher davy grant minus one 140 a Sunsau plus 115. I don't think there's a ton of betting value on

Hafiela Sunsau right now. If that number was a little bit higher, plus 150 plus 160, yeah, I'd probably jump all over that, but it's an interesting fight. It's an interesting fight. I would say Grant has the advantages

on the feet, mostly because of the power and its ability to change momentum with one shot. And a Sunsaw is just a very smart, well-round guy who's probably going to want to take this fight to the ground. So it's a good fight. It's a good fight. I'm torn. I would slightly lean Davy Grant just because of the damage factor. But I was really impressed with how a Sunsel fought against Victor Henry. He looked really good in that

fight. And him going to Extreme Couture and making the changes that he needed to make, the guy's still real good. Everyone just kind of forgot about him. So I'm not sure who I'm gonna pick. Like, I'm leaning Davey just because of the damage factor, but it would not shock me at all since I'll grind it out a decision and got this fight to the ground. As far as Suhudo's talks about Bonneco, I don't hate it. I don't hate it. I think six is probably a little extreme, but this is why I've been saying this from

Jump Street. The picket fight was right, but it's not enough for me to jump. A lot of people were like, oh, just chuck them. in there with like a top 20 guy next i wasn't part of that i wasn't there i wasn't there slowly build him up there's there's there's got to get there he's got to get there let's give him some reps he's still green and you saw it in the picket fight very very green had a hard time getting that takedown uh jim pickett's a decent defensive wrestler but not a great defensive wrestler and he had a struggle for that and that knee kind of changed everything

not saying he was cheating or anything like that, but it didn't get called. Fight happened the way it did. And Bo is just a monster. But there's no need to rush him. There's no need to rush him. The UFC's goal with Bo Neckle is to keep him undefeated. He's their Bill Goldberg right now.

Just give him wins. Let him get a little more experience, better wins, better competition. But we don't need to go crazy with him. I know when he won on the contender series, I mean, his wrestling pedigree, we love having the fantasy matchmaking.

Oh, if he fought Alex Pereira right now, he would probably win. Woody? Woody right now? I don't know. So there's no need to have these conversations. He's freaking three and oh,

four and oh right now. Let him cook a little bit. Let him cook. Give him a step up. I picked Puna Soriano next. Pune is a bit of a name. He's on a bit of a snide. People know who Puna is,

and Puna's going to try to be the hammer in that fight, which is exactly the kind of thing that Bo Nickel needs. And I think Bo would win that fight. And I think it's the type of stylistic matchup that can make Bo look really, really impressive. He can get like a big finish in that fight, and Poon is going to go right after him. So I like that one. Poon is probably like a top 45, 50-ish guy right now in that division, maybe a little higher. But that's, I wouldn't go any higher than that right now. Six might be a little excessive, but I get where Henry's coming from.

It's not often on the show where I say that I agree with Henry Sehudo or even slightly agree with Henry Sehudo, but in this case, I slightly agree with him. Six is probably a little over excessive, but I completely understand where he's coming from. Let's go to CV. Oh, can you hear me? Yep, gotcha. What's up? Hey, man. I'm glad you found your wallet.

Oh, dude. Yeah, are you a front pocket or a back pocket guy? I'm a back pocket guy, but when I golf, I don't like to have it in my pocket. So I usually throw it in the tray. The issue was, the issue is at this course, they have a guy who waits at the end. And he's like, I'll jump on the cart and I'll put your bags in the car. I hate that because that's my worries. I'm going to forget something.

So, because I like to go through the tray myself. But as soon as I got out, he put the bags in the car and he jumped right in the front seat. And I'm like, did I forget anything? oh, you forgot your phone, and he handed me my phone. And I'm like, that's it. He goes, yep. But it was leaning up against the tray so nobody can see it. So I, from now on, I'm like, nah, dude, I got it.

That was my mistake. Yeah. Yeah, maybe you should be like a fanning pack or something next time of golfer. Yeah. But, yeah, I kind of want to look forward to next week's pay-per-view. Just a quick question. What are the stakes for the Gaichi physique fight? Thanks.

So pretty good. That's a good question. I mean, I would say, I want to look at the betting line for that. I'm very interested. Where are we? Justin Gaichi, Fizib minus 250. Justin Gage comes back plus 190. Boy, it seems pretty wide, doesn't it?

I would say Gaechie has more to lose and Fiziv is more to gain. Gaech just needs a win to get back on track at this point. Gage is still a popular name. I get that. And even if he loses this fight, I don't think he's out of the title picture forever. But boy, it's his road a lot longer. And Fiziv can win.

If Fiziv wins, he's like right there. He's right there. He's probably a win away from fighting for the belt. I don't know if Gage is in that same spot. And if Fiziv loses, yeah, it sucks to lose, but it's not going to knock him out of contention. He'll just get another win or two.

He's right back in there. So people like Viziv. He's exciting. Gachi's a huge name. This is a big opportunity for him. I would say, yeah, to me, Fiziv has much more to gain in this fight. Some to lose, but not as much as Gachi. I think Gachi has more to lose.

I don't know if this is like must win for Justin Gaichi, but if he ever wants to fight for the belt again, then it probably is a must win because the matchups are just not going to get an easier for him. Gaei loses his fight. It's not like he's going to fight Dustin Porre next. He's going to have to fight like Armand Sarukiat next or Gamrod or Jalen Turner or Grant Dawson. Like that's in his future if he loses this fight. And that is not a good place to be right now. Let's go to Henry.

Good. How are you? Yeah, I'm good, man. I've got two questions for you today. I tune in pretty late, so I'm not sure if someone's asked about it already. but just about Marab's media day yesterday and the narrative that he's pushing about the Russia versus Georgia thing. And just I feel personally that that could kind of turn a lot of people off of Marab.

Just, you already said that he's probably not going to get the title shot. And now I feel like the fan base is kind of turning on him from what I've seen. I don't know if someone's asked you about this already, but it's obviously a hot topic. I don't know whether he's taking like PR advice from Aljo or whatever, but personally I don't think it's a good look. I'm not from there so I don't understand. And also for 286 next weekend,

what would you say the sleeper fight is? Because I kind of feel like it's a bit like Australia and that it's a bit of a two-fight card, really. Obviously, you have the middleweight final boss, Marvin Vittori against the Leeds A. But yeah, I was just wondering if there was any other sleeper fights that you're looking forward to on that card.

Thanks, man. Thanks, man. So I have to admit I didn't watch Marab's media scrum. I've seen people tweet about it and such. But I mean, look, at the end of the day, I don't know if this is more of a political statement for him or if this is just the chip he needs on his shoulder for the biggest fight of his life. And if that's the chip he needs, at the end of the day, all that matters is winning. All that matters is winning fights. people kind of turned on Marab

after the Aldo fight anyways and I don't think he really cares about that I don't think he's taking PR advice from Aljo or anything like that I think that's just Marab just kind of marches to the beat of his own drum that's how he's always always been so I don't know

without like asking him about it it just seems to me like I'm sure he means it but I'm sure part of it is just like just an extra motivating factor for him however you need to find I remember having conversations with Calvin Cater and he always told me that like how much how important it is for him to find a chip on his shoulder.

Like if he fights a really respectful guy who doesn't talk a lot of crap about him, he just finds ways to find that chip on his shoulder. And maybe that's what Marab is doing. So without me asking him about it, I don't really know. As far as sleeper fights for UFC 286, there's a couple. To me, I mean, and it's just because I've been so high on her, even before in the UFC, if you go back and watch old preview shows and things of that nature, right before she made her debut, I put her over big, and now she's back.

To me, it's probably the return of Casey O'Neill against Jennifer Maya. Like, nobody's talking about that. Nobody. It's kind of a random card to have her on, if we're being honest, but she's on it. and she hasn't fought in a minute. And with the flyweight division in the position it's in right now, that is a very interesting fight. That is a very interesting fight.

It is a much more interesting fight than the flyway fight that's on the main card between Joanne Wood and Luana, Carolina. I also like the Jai Herbert Ladovitt Klein fight. Those two are just going to beat the hell out of each other. That's going to be fun. And I'm excited to see the UFC debut of Christian Leroy Duncan. I'm excited to see that. Fighting Omar Morales now, I believe.

Or no, CLD is fighting Dusko. This site is jacked. Let me just check this real quick. That's what I'm looking for. Okay. Where is it? Yeah. Okay.

Okay, I was right. Christian Lee Roy Duncan fighting Dusko Tudorovich. I have a very high on Christian Lee Roy Duncan. And then Chris Duncan fighting Omar Morales. That should be a fun fight too. There's some Giuliana Miller's fighting. There's a lot that's kind of flying under the radar here. But this is just one of those cards where it's just like almost impossible to try to follow UFC 285

because of everything that happened and all the storylines. and the storylines that came out of UFC 285 are still lingering on a Thursday after a pay-per-view, which doesn't happen that often. And something tells me that they're going to continue on into early next week as well. So kind of a tough spot to be in, but I think this is one of those cards

where once everybody gets to London and the fans get all into it, we get closer to it, we see Leon and Camaro, we see Gaichi and Viziv. I mean, those two fights just frigging rule. Vittori DeLead is great. fight.

The rest is just, you could find things to like. Like, Jake Hadley, Malcolm Gordon's going to be fun. There's a lot of fun fights on here. Muhammad Bukhyiv's back. There's, there's a lot to like here. But you kind of have to do your homework a little bit on some of this stuff. But this is going to be a fun card. This is going to be a fun watch.

It is not of the level of UFC 285 in terms of casual appeal and star power. but as far as like competitive matchups and fun things this is good jack shore going up to 145 fighting macuan you know the first three minutes of that fight are going to be super fun and then mac one's probably going to get tired and jack shore's probably going to submit them it's the mock one of miracani story but those first three minutes are going to be incredible

let's go to max hey max yo mike how's it hang in good beautiful um i just like to ask about the upcoming card, and under the radar fight on the Yan to Valjevili card. I want to ask you about Alexander Romanov. You know, people were pretty high in Mr. Romanov. And then, of course, you know, he ran into everyone's favorite fighter, Marsen Tibera. I thought you might like that.

Yeah, so anyways, he lost a boring decision and that was unfortunate. So now he's fighting Swolkov, Alexander Volkov. and I'm kind of curious about your opinion. Do you think he could rise to the occasion? Or oddly, was that his, you know, maybe not ceiling, but is that the best we're going to see from him? Maybe one and a half good rounds and then just can't get the big one done

or can't get over that hump, so to speak. What do you feel about this? And then just a quick one after that, how do you feel about the debut of Cedric Dumas? Thank you very much. Take care, brother. Cedric Dumas is a fun fighter. He's going to be, he's got a good fit.

He's got, I like, I like Josh Frempt a lot, but I feel like Dumas is just such a superior athlete that he will win this fight. Josh is tough, man. Like, I like Josh. Nice guy. Good, solid hand. But I think Dumas just brings a little bit more chaos, a little bit more athleticism to the table. So I think Dumas will probably win that fight.

Romanov is just, I don't know, man. I just I can't put my finger on this guy I don't know if I've like given up on him because like I mean I was super high on this guy you listen to like any show that I've done prior to that Tibora fight I was I was this guy's fighting for a title he might even win the belt

I just don't I have it's so hard to pinpoint it because if he can't figure out this cardio thing he's not going to win a lot of fights against high level guys he's just not going to and Tyborra was like, I mean, he destroyed Taibora. I will say this, though, because I went and rewatch that fight a couple of days ago, how that first round is not a clear 10-8 for Alexander Romanov. It's just unbelievable to me.

How could you score two and three for Taibora? The same exact way you scored round one for Ramonov. It makes no sense. That should have been a draw. That absolutely should have been a draw. That was about as 1080s you can get. Romanov just tackled and killed this man. I think he outstruck him like 65 to 1.

Like how is that not a 10-8 round? He had like four minutes and 30 seconds of top control. Like, Tybor did nothing. He literally did nothing. I think he laid one strike. How is that not a 10-8? It's crazy to me. That should have been a draw.

But obviously very, very concerning. If you're a Romano fan. Now, if you want to play the, well, it was in Salt Lake, and he was at altitude, and he wore up maybe, but Romanov said he had no excuses and that's it. So I'm curious. To me, if you're betting on this fight, I ain't betting on Alexander Romanov. No frigging way. He's a minus 150 favorite. I think there's tons of value on Alexander Bolkoff right now for a lot of those reasons.

I think Romanoff could get him to the ground and beat him up a little bit. I know Tommy Aspinall submitted him pretty quickly, but Aspinall also cracked him and stung him before that happened. So I don't think he was all there. And Aspinall took advantage of it. And I think Aspinall is a much better up-and-comer. And his road to a belt seems much clearer than Romanov's right now. But Romanov is a beast.

If he could figure out this cardio thing, he's going to be a big problem. But that is a massive concern right now. A massive concern. but we'll see what happens. If he just goes out there and just smushes Alexander Volkov and taps him in one, my confidence goes up a little bit, but I need to see him,

I need to see him in a second and third round keep some sort of a pace because he had nothing for marching Tibora after that first round. Absolutely nothing. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion

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See app for details. JD was waiting as well. J.D., hello. J.D. You're muted, J.D. Hey, bud. Can you hear me? Hey, yes.

Awesome. Do I sound like I'm on a mountain? You sound like you're on... I don't know what you sound like. You sound like you're very happy, though, and I appreciate that. Oh, I am. Also, for two reasons. You know what? We'll go ahead and say three. One, glad you got your wallet back, but two.

Two, dude, what you were saying about the potential of the Cheeto versus Sugar Sean for the title, that is everything I need emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, sexually, every single way. I made a noise that I don't know if I can duplicate. when you said that. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not saying that I can't. I don't even know if I can't do it. It was awesome.

Anyway. Anyway, so I think I've asked you this maybe a few months ago, but I kind of want to revisit. So on some of these bigger cards, I'm not sure if it's UFC or ESPN. I have a feeling it's probably ESPN, likes to put people like Teddy Atlas and some of these other people

that we don't see every single, single weekend on the on at the not not you know cage side but you know at the table um or booth or whatever i don't see a whole lot that they're really pun intended bringing to the table like teddy atlas just kind of kept saying yeah yeah yeah rashad evans and anthony smith were right yeah they were right yeah you should listen to them yeah that's that's great and talked about mohammed ali maybe i'm just being a casual, but, you know, I kind of want to know your opinion on it. Anyway, man, thank you so much. Tudeloo.

So I guess I understand where you're coming from. I like Teddy a lot. I've gotten a chance to meet him once, just a super nice guy. He does, the value is who he is and what he's accomplished as a coach and as a mine and as an analyst for the boxing world. and it's just an opportunity to try to give a little bit of a sporting boost to the broadcast into the sport, into the company. So here's how I'll present this question back to you.

Would you rather see Teddy Atlas on the desk, or would you rather see Stephen A. Smith on the desk? And I think most people are going to choose the former. and I think that's probably what it's all about. You can get Stephen A in there who everyone just, I mean, nobody wants to see Stephen A on these broadcasts. And you have Teddy. And I'll take Teddy over Stephen A 99 times out of 100. So I think that's a big part of it more than anything.

But I get where you're coming from, though. You hear Anthony Smith and Rashad, They break things down and then Teddy comes in from more of a boxing perspective, but he's learning the sport, but he's a freaking legend, man. He's a legend, and he's a big name. People care about him. And he's, I would rather have him than Stephen A. Any freaking day of the week.

Easy, easy decision for me. Let's go to Emilio and then we'll go to MMA time. We'll try to get to everybody here. Amelia, hello. What's up, Mike? Thanks for having me once again. Well, I just want to take the time to say the following, and that is that even though I know I wasn't saying, I didn't claim that for sure Grasso was going to win. But God damn it, man.

I told you. I told you all that she had more of a shot than anybody ever gave her credit for, and she delivered. Granted, it was kind of a shot in the dark. I couldn't have known. But then again, that's what predictions is all about. that's what predictions are all about and that's what the sport is all about and you gotta love to see it i just hope that she gets the credit that she deserves and yeah i mean i think that she is getting it but i don't want to hear this nonsense all right i guess it's not nonsense because it's kind of true

but i hope that people put more weight on her rising up to the challenge than oh yeah no it's valentina sliding and you know she's she's been in the sport for 20 plus years I think it's hilarious how nobody said that at all before the fight happened. And then afterwards, just like, oh, yeah, there it is. You know, anyways, Mexico, what's up? Love it. Absolutely love it. Anyways, so I know that your take on the fight was pretty bad.

That's okay. I've had pretty bad takes myself. For example, what I thought was going to happen in the main event of UFC 285. I thought that Cyril was going to school John. I thought he was going to kick those tiny, tiny legs off him. And, yeah, and the UFC was going to go cry about it because, you know, John Jones lost. Oh, no. So I wanted to ask you in the context of, you know, bad takes, worst takes, and so on,

what, in your opinion, has been your worst. take or at least one of your worst takes because i mean i know that as an mma media guy you are slash journalist you are uh you have a lot of takes uh whether you share them with us or not that's uh you know that's that's uh you know that that's up to you but uh you share a lot of takes with us and i wanted to get your thoughts on that what your worst take is or or one of your worst takes, I would say that my take for the Jones against zero fight was pretty freaking bad. So, yeah, what I got your thoughts on that? And that's it.

Appreciate you, Mike. Peace. Thanks, man. I mean, the Valentina takes right up there. I don't know if this is a bad take, but I would say the Glover to share a Yuri take. I was super-dooper confident that Glover was just going to tackle Yuri and tap him in the first round and boy was i damn close from that happening but it didn't happen and yury came back and submitted glover in the fifth round and one of the craziest fights of

all time um we brought up and if you go back and watch our preview show we brought up that exact point about valentina being in the game for 20 years and if there's if there's something to look for in terms of alexa winning this fight perhaps i mean i mean basically what we're saying was that to me it was like it's on downside it's just valentina had a bad night and the question was if that was true or not is that true or is just the mileage catching up with her and then we ran off i think on the post fight show we ran off a bunch of names that like debuted after her or like right around the same time like shogun hua debuted like made his MA debut like five months before Valentina Shepchenko.

That's fucking insane. That is insane to even think about. And there's like a whole host of other like surprising names there. But look, I was wrong. I said it immediately. And that's it, man. Like I didn't think, I didn't think Alexa's a bad fighter. I just felt like Valentina's physicality was going to be too much for her.

And Alexa was freaking ready for that, man. her physicality was on point and impressed the hell out of me. And that was the biggest key to victory right there, was that she could match that physicality. Or at least come close to it. The gap was certainly not as wide as I thought it was. But it is just so damn hard to continuously defend that title, no matter who you are.

I don't care who you are. Everybody has its day, and this is a new sport, a new evolution of the sport, a new generation of the sport who are fighters who are outside of the UFC right now that are women's fly weights are taking time out of their day, out of their training schedules to watch Valentina Shepchenko fights to try to find holes in her game. And they're doing that with every,

and fighters at every division is doing that with every single champion in the UFC right now. They're doing it with all of them. It is so hard to continuously defend that title over and over again. It's insane. It's insane. And we've seen,

we've seen all of them. We saw Kamar Luz, we saw Nunez Luz, we've seen Sertenko lose, we've seen a lot of these long-running champions, the one, so Had Asania Luz. It's just the nature of the beast.

And I just felt like the gap between Balanty and everybody else is just so big. and like I said, I was wrong and that's it. Now, it's going to be really interesting to see what's next. I believe we are not there yet because I think they are going to run this one back. But we are getting very close to the, to me, I think Aaron Blanchfield is going to win the title

when she gets her shot, and she could have a very long rain ahead of her. But eventually that rain's going to end too. So it's a very interesting time in this division. This is a very interesting division. It's been very interesting for a couple of years, but right now it is super interesting. We have a new champion.

Valentee is going to get another crack. We got Blanchefield. We got Casey O'Neill on the come up. Lots of fighters on the come up right now. We got Manifioro. We got Tyler Santos, a whole bunch at 125. We get a mix of veterans and up-and-comers. 125 for the ladies is super fun right now.

What a super fun division that is. But yeah, I was wrong. MMA time. Hello. Hello, my brother. So just to start, thank you for everything that you do to the MMA community. We are small media from French, and I want to thank you for everything that you do

because it's really inspirational to see all the work that you do. And as French, I have some question for the UFC 285 main event. So do you think that serial loss is one of the biggest immiliation for in a total fight? And do you think that Syria can rebuild himself? And what do you think? Who do you think Syria will fight in his next fight? Thank you.

Thank you for the kind words. I really appreciate that. most humiliating I don't know I don't know it's tough to think about I mean Sean Elshaddy

kind of kind of put it out there when he wrote his post-fight column that this had kind of reminded him and I get where he's coming from of Connor versus Aldo where the fight was just over

before really got started and we really didn't get to see the fight actually happened because John just tackled him and tapped them quick. So we really didn't get to see much. But one of the big questions I had at again, we all had a million of them.

And one of my questions was, it's Cyril ready for this moment because this is a John Jones fight week. And this is different than anything he's ever been a part of. The Francis fight was big. They made a big deal out of it, but it wasn't getting a lot of the push that like the steep A fight got

or anything like that. This is John friggin' Jones. fight in over three years. It's the John Jones show. John's going to talk a bunch of smack. It's a whole different experience. And the crowd, the hype, everything around it, was it going to be overwhelming for Cyril?

And I think it was. I think he just, he seemed very cool about everything. It kind of flew under the radar. But when the lights were on him and he made that walk to the cage to fight the greatest fighter of all time in his eyes in a lot of people's minds, he just didn't look ready. He didn't have that same demeanor.

He seemed nervous. He just seemed like the moment was just too big for him. And that's what happened. He just got tackled. Do I think he's done? No. I think Cyril Gahn is one of the most talented guys in this heavyweight division. He is just a little green.

He's a little green. He's got holes in his game. Got holes in his game. The takedown defense is just not good. It's really bad. It's really bad. And John took him down effortlessly. And he did it early.

It just seemed like that was John's biggest path to victory. It was right there. And John took him down right away. And that was it. One takedown and the fight was over. Got to work on that. Because he's going to have a hard time beating a lot of these guys. If he fights Curtis Blades, that's a rough fight for him.

he fights Tommy the pick my pick is Tommy Aspinall and that's a tough fight for him too that's a really tough fight for Cyril gone you could go a different direction and you could give him like a big step back against somebody who doesn't have that kind of takedown effectiveness

but that's not going to do anything for Cyril sure it'll get him a win but it's not going to help him improve upon that that's why I like the Aspinall fight you can do it in London, you can do it in Paris, can headline a fight night card, like there's lots you can do with that. So I don't think he's done,

but boy, he's got to fix that takedown defense. He's got to fix that defensive grappling prowess. And I just, a lot of people were saying, like, well, I think we're over-analyzing the Francis fight. I don't think we were. I don't think we were. sure there's a heel hook but francis was on one one leg it was able to take zero gone down without a lot of effort with one leg so i still think he's got some future to him i think he's a super talented guy but man that is a giant hole in his game that he has to fix or he's not going to win a lot of fights at this level where he's at he can't fight outside the top 15 now he's going to fight all the heavy hitters at this point and most of these guys can wrestle and not a good place to be and if you can't defend that.

Joe, hello. Hey, Mike, heck of the morning. So I was curious, a lot of people are talking about Bo's next opponent after U.S.C. 285. But maybe I think too much about this, but I was concerned about card placement. I felt like if that Jamie Pickett fight happened in like the prelims or on a fight night or something, I wouldn't have thought too much about it. But Bo, for me, felt especially green when I was watching him in the context of an opener for a main card. And if it's the expectation that he's going to be a main card fighter going forward, I feel like you have to, like, ramp him up a lot quicker.

I kind of agreed with Suhudo's comments. Even the six-fight thing sounds reasonable to me because, you know, it's easy to look like Hamza Chmaya or Shavkat when you're beating Contender Series guys. But I don't know. I probably would have favored, like, any, well, if Jake Jelenhall went in and was able to knee Jamie Pickett and the nuts, like, I would maybe not favor him to win the fight, but it just, in the context of that opener, it just felt so off to me. And I'd like to see him kind of take a step back down, both an opponent and in the position. position on the card. And then for this upcoming card, what are your thoughts on the

site in your Mogamatov fight? I'm pretty high on the guy. I think he can go pretty far in this like stacked phantomweight division. But yeah, I was just curious your thoughts on the fight. And then what are your thoughts on like I feel like I probably know. But what are your thoughts on a potential fight between him and Umar, Murmogamatov. I think that would be, uh, that'd be a banger. Uh, all right. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. That fight's awesome. Even the suggestion.

I think we're going to get there at some point, but Saeed Ramaga made up versus Jonathan Martinez is a super fight. Great fight. Honestly, I'm looking at the betting lines right now. They have Saeed as a minus 275 favorite. I think there's a ton of value on Jonathan Martinez at plus 210.

The silence behind the violence. Jonathan's leg kicks are now. nasty. Sight is a killer instinct, though. When he has you in trouble, boy, does he pounce and he doesn't waste any time doing it. So I love that fight. I don't think it's getting talked about enough.

If we're talking like low-key bangers on this card Saturday, that's probably the correct answer. That's probably the one. As far as Bo goes, look, I brought this up a lot in the buildup to this fight. I don't care who you are. I don't care how many people you wrestled in front of. I don't care how many national championships you won.

It ain't the same as getting into a cage and fighting a human being in front of 19,000 people when the lights are on you. A lot of people didn't think that was going to be a factor. To me, I felt it was going to be a factor in some way, shape, or form. Now, I didn't think he was going to go in there and lose. I felt like his just natural abilities was going to be enough to win this fight anyways. But in the back of my mind, I felt like Bo might go out there and have a tough first round

and just get his feet under him and win in the second. So maybe there's something to that, but I don't think you could just chuck Bo on an apex card. You know what I mean? I think you have to throw him in that spot and just see how he does. And it wasn't pretty, but he went out there and he won. So from here, it's just going to get easier for him. it's just going to get easier.

Being on a John Jones, being on what would probably be the biggest fight card of the year, or one of them, top two or three, John Jones headlining all the buzz behind it, him doing all the media day stuff and going through all of that. I mean,

that's an experience for a lot of these young guys and these up-and-comers. Like, they've never had to go through this before. And then to get locked in a cage to fight another man in front of all those people, it's a lot. I don't care who you are. So I think there's a great experience for Bo.

I don't think he got the type of buzz coming out of it that he probably had hoped for. And maybe the UFC had hoped for, but he threw him to the sharks, not opponent-wise, but you threw him in a big spot right away. Let's just see how he handles himself. Yeah, he was a little green, but he came out, got a quick finish. There you go. So I get, and I'm with you. I don't know if I keep Sehudo

I don't know if he's going to Sehudo route where he just fight six dudes before he gets a top ten fight if that's what they have to do fine but slow, I'm fine with slow rolling him. I don't think he should be fighting like a top 30 guy

next by any stretch. That's why I said I like the Puna fight. Puna is probably like a top 50 guy. Throw him in there. Puna's tough. It's a hammer. stylistically he's probably going to give bow everything he needs to look spectacular and Poon is a little bit of a name so you get to check off all those different boxes all right let's go to Anthony we have to go a little rapid fire here guys

yeah I have to get out of the morning I think the Puno is a good pick but if I'm not I'm not paying 75 bucks or whatever it is to watch some squash matches open up the main card that should have been on the prelims And my main question today is, what's your thoughts on, Tybora and, or I mean, Romanov and, or what? Volga. Yeah. They got, even though Romanov, like, lost the fight, he still got an opponent with more notoriety and higher ranking. What do you think about that?

How I go more? I mean, I'm not surprised by the opponent. I just think, I don't think anybody in that. division wanted to fight remod off to be honest with you like there's the risk or reward is just not there but volkov's not really in a spot right now where you could say no to fight so yeah that's what we got we got the hashtag alexander versus alexander fight i like the matchup i like it and you FC clearly is is high on romanoff i think he could be a player in this division if he can get this cardio thing squared away if he can get that figured out he's a wrecking ball because the skills are there

But that, when he just runs out of energy, boy, it's tough. It's a tough hang. We saw it in the Taibora fight, so. I'm interested to see this one. Let's see if he can bounce back. A win over Alexander Volkov would be very, very impressive coming out that loss to Marching Taibora.

Let's go to Corey MMA rules. Are you there? Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? She was there. I don't know what happened. Okay.

Let's see. Let's go to Daniel. We'll go to James. They'll go to biking and I have to go. Everybody try to get everybody in here. What's up, Daniel? What's up? Hey, Mike. Heck of a morning. You know, I always keep it short here. I'm just curious on this span and cry-lob matchup. I know most people broke it down and talked about it a couple weeks ago when their fight was. But, I mean, now that it's re-booked, you know, it's third on the lineup and the main card.

I feel like obviously no one's talking about it maybe because we already broke it down. but just curious what you think like the implications of this fight are. I mean, 205, I mean, we got Rackich, Anthony Smith, we have Magamed and Jan who just fought. And then I mean, we have Yuri at number one who's obviously injured still. And then we have rackage too. I mean, like it feels like a win here could possibly be number one contender fight next or maybe they're fighting for a belt.

So just curious what you think the winner of this, we'll give for this. Thanks, Mike. I'm look this division is a mess right now so you're probably not wrong I would say a win for Span probably has more umph probably if I think if Span goes out there and finishes Nikita Krilov which if Brian Span wins he's finishing Nikita Kroft there's no doubt about it um then yeah he will get enough I think he will get another more contender fight because what the hell else is happening right now cry off I don't I'm not a confident in but if span

Span Span goes out there and just melts Nikita Krilov then yeah I think he's in a position where he could be a win away from fighting for the belt depending on where we're at depending on when you're he can come back so yeah I think there's a lot

on the line here for Span he gets a big jump if he wins this fight Corey do we have you Hi Mike how are you? Good how are you hello Corey you there yeah I don't know what's going on I heard you but I

don't know. All right. So go to James, we'll go to Vikings, and we got to go. James, hello. Good morning to you, Mike. I was a little late to onto the next one on Sunday. Obviously, this only works if Cove wants to stay at 135, but what do you think of a fight between

Cody Garberin and Cubs Swanson? And I know there's a part of you that's probably felt a little bit bad for Jedmishu on Saturday, but what was more funny to you, watching and Jeb's facial reaction, watching a valetina lose, or E. Casey Lydon's failed attempt at spinning the chair around

at the start of the people's pre-fight show. Like always, man, thank you for what you do for us, and have a heck of a morning. Oh, it's Casey. It's Casey's chair spin blunder by far. Jed, I just, I mean, it was just such an awkward moment, but it was magical. Like, it really was.

It was just so much, emotion in that moment because Jed loses all his money, Valentina's title reign comes to an end and Alexa Gras is the freaking champion of the world. Like just I mean just magical shit. It was, you felt for Jed.

Just heartbreak. And I compared it to the episode of the Simpsons where Lisa and like Ralph Wiggum are tight and Ralph Wiggum thinks that Lisa Simpson is his girlfriend. And then Lisa tells him the truth, lets him down, and

like it gets videotaped, and Bart replays the video. Because if I slow it down, you can see the exact moment where his heart just rips out of his chest. And you could see that exact thing when Alexe Grasso tapped out Valencia Shichchenko. Jed's soul just left his body.

And, uh, yeah, it's tough. But what a compelling a compelling study of of the emotional spirit. No doubt about it. All right, Viking. Real quick, because we got to go. Got to get ready.

We got BTL coming up. What's up, Viking? Good. I'm good, man. What's up? I'm good. I just want to talk about the UFC

recent UFC contract situations that the fighters can go legal against them in a court or I don't know the judiciary. So have you heard about that and what's your opinion on that? Thanks, man. Yeah, so that's a big talking point right now.

Let me just pull up because I know Bloody Albo did a really good job putting this out there. So let me see what they were all. We had the Sunset Clause. So there's arbitration period. now. Look, I just, it's tough because I'm not a fighter and I don't know like

what they're looking for in certain things and there's different bylaws and there's different new addendums to these contracts. Like now we have a longer sunset clause. We have just a whole bunch of different stuff

but it's up to the it is really up to the managers to figure this all out. Like that's why they're there. And And again, this all goes back to the whole fighter association thing. And I know that I come on the show and I don't think Dana White is the greatest person of all time. He's done some awful shit.

But I don't, I'm not one of those people that is like just shitting on Dana because of this whole fighter pay thing. I don't blame him that much for this. I blame the fighters for this because they had multiple opportunities to come together and make a change and they didn't do it. Now, do fighters deserve more money? Yeah, they do. Just like every person in this room probably deserves more money. But that's it. Look, when we, this is all public, so I can.

speak upon it. When our Vox Media union contracts are coming up, we were ready to walk away. We were, as a collective, even though it was a scary goddamn thing to be like in a position where you potentially could not get a paycheck for a while during a strike, we were all willing to walk away until we found a happy medium between us and the company. We're all ready to do that. I'm not saying anything out of turn because you all saw it is everywhere. And at the end, we came into an agreement before the strike could happen and we were all good. But we were willing to step aside and walk away to get what we felt we deserved. We were willing to do that as a collective union, as a unit.

Fighters had the chance to do that when the company sold for $4.4 something billion. $15. Didn't do it. Had the chance to do it when the Reebok deal came along. Didn't do it. Had the chance to do it when the ESPN deal was signed. Didn't do it. Why? Why?

And now you have all these different contracts. What do you expect the UFC to do? Like, they're just letting them do it. They're just letting the company do this. They had the chance. They didn't do it. So, I mean, it's just crazy to me. It's crazy to me.

it sucks it sucks but Joe Lozan talked about this all the time I've been talking to Joe Lozahn about fighter unions and associations for like six years now and his stance has never changed on it and he gets shit on for it but he's right it's never going to happen but as long as I am breathing air I don't think we're going to get an association

I don't think we're going to get a union I don't think it's going to happen I don't think all these people are going to come together collectively and threaten to walk away. Either pay us more or we're out. They won't do it. And I get it. Trust me, when the strike was coming, I was scared to death. I had to have conversations with my wife and be like, this might happen. So we need to prepare ourselves for it.

And it was a pretty stressful time. But in the end, all worked out. But there hasn't even really, there's been like feeble attempts at putting together an association. And it just didn't happen because people are worried and they're scared. And I get that. But you're never going to get changed until you take that next step. You have 500 fighters in the roster. You have 40 something cards you have to fill every year contractually to ESPN.

If there's no fighters to fill those cards, what do you think do you have? he's going to do you think you're just going to let everybody walk away i don't think so they will figure out a way to make it work get a bigger piece of the pie bigger piece of the sponsorships bigger piece of the tv deal this could all happen if everybody comes together and does it there would you could talk about language of the contracts that we just found out you can do all these things you can make all these changes but you have to do it together and you need spearheads to do it Francis would have been a great one. Adasania would have been a great one.

Usen would have been a great one. When they were all champions, all of them all together, that would have been a great time to organize something. You have three, four notable champions willing to put all the stuff aside and get everybody united as one. It was there.

It's been there many times. It just hasn't been done. So, this is going to keep happening folks contracts are going to be re-updated we're going to keep having the fighter pay conversation and everybody wants to shit on dana about it and shit on the ufc about it and if that's what you want to do it that's fine but i don't share that sentiment i don't i I'd love to see the fighters get paid more. They deserve it, no doubt about it,

but chances were had and it wasn't done. And now it's going to be a long time in my eyes before anybody attempts to do it again. And I certainly don't think Jake Paul's going to be the guy to put this all together and make that change because he ain't going to be able to get 600 people on board to do it. It's got to be somebody in the organization to do it. It's got to be a big star.

It's got to be a Connor or Joe. or somebody like that, that gets everybody together. And I just don't think people are willing to take the risk to do it. And that's why this is never going to change. And it sucks. But I'm not one of those people who blames Dane and the UFC for this because they have to run a business.

And if they're allowed to run a business this way, and they're making floppy-gillion dollars every year, and nobody's trying to invoke some change, there's only so much I can say is only so much you can say it's only so many things that can be written only so many shows we can talk about this but at the end of the day it's not our fight pun I guess completely intended but it's not our fight

and that's really that all right I gotta go New York Rick in Jedmishu we're going to join us on BTL today I will tell you this Casey is on vacation for the next several days so I have to like kind of produce this show So it's going to be not as bells and whistly today, but it is going to go down at 12.30 Eastern. Jed, New York, Rick, reacting to 285, all the ins and outs.

Great debates coming out of it. And we'll talk about the just weekends cards as well. Bellator 2.93, which is a good one. U.C. Las Vegas. Pretty solid card. So we'll see you in about an hour and 15 minutes. Thank you very much. We'll be back here tomorrow, free for all Friday.

getting you ready for those two cards as well. It'll take your questions about anything and everything from start to finish. So, Zeke, I know you're left on deck. Once you jump in tomorrow, you will bump to the front of the line. So thank you all very much. Appreciate you. Have a great rest of your day. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.

The Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. Hi, I'm Sophia Lopra Carol, host of the Before the Chorus podcast. We dive into the life experiences behind the music we love. Artists of all genres are welcome.

And I've been joined by some pretty amazing folks, like glass animals. I guess that was the idea, was to try something personal and see what happened. And Japanese breakfast. I thought that the most surprising thing I could offer was an album about joy. And you can listen wherever you get you. your podcasts. Oh, and remember, so much happens before the chorus.