MMA Fighting - HOAM | Where Does Henry Cejudo Go With UFC 288 Loss To Aljamain Sterling?

Episode Date: May 4, 2023

With UFC 288 going down in just two days, the winner of the bantamweight championship main event between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejduo will likely already have his next fight set with Sean O'Malley. But where does the loser of that fight go, and what if Cejudo is the one that doesn't get his hand raised after three years away? On an-all new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck returns to the host's chair to discuss the potential fallout of Saturday's headliner between Sterling and Cejudo, as well as fantasy matchmaking the co-main event between Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad. Additionally, listener questions include the UFC having "top-heavy" pay-per-view cards coming up over the next month, Mike Perry's star power with BKFC following his BKFC 41 win over Luke Rockhold, where BKFC can go in the future with a potential TV deal upcoming, Jon Jones suggesting his fight with Stipe Miocic will be his last, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco 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 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 Thursday, May 4th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning.

We are live on the MFA fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety shortly thereafter. on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network. May the fourth be with you all. God, May is, the first, like, four days of May are just brutal. Because you get the stupid Justin Timberlake memes that are like 100 years old. And then we get the May the fourth be with you. I know I just did that.

But once we get to tomorrow, then it kind of changes everything around. But the good news is we're on the eve of the eve. of UFC 288, Al Jermaine Sterling versus Henry Sohudo, the main event. That is the second of two five-round fights on that card. We got Gilbert Burns versus Bilal Mohammed, big one at 170 pounds. I'm sure we're going to be talking about that. But ladies and gentlemen, it is great to be back. Took a week and a half off, returned to the old laptop yesterday,

wrote a whole bunch. It just felt so damn good to be. back after it. I even jumped on the MMA fighting editorial meeting on Tuesday. Still on vacation. I didn't care. I miss my best friend. I miss seeing the faces of my colleagues.

It was just good to see everybody. It's good to be here with all of you. Shout out to my best friend, Alexander Kay Lee, who filled in just magically for the four shows I was off. I appreciate that. Big shout out to Jed Mishu as well for Manning the

BTL mothership. during my break, but it was a nice little break. It was more of a staycation that I thought it was going to be. I thought I was going to be Florida Mike for a lot longer. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but I was Florida Mike for like a day and a half. So that was good. We surprised my mom on her 70th birthday.

She had no idea what was going on. And my three brothers flew in and a whole bunch of family members from all over the country flew in and she had no idea that any of it was happening. Basically, people just all week long rang the doorbell or walked in the door and every day was like a new face. And I mean, she was just loving life. And I was so happy to be a part of that. So happy.

Me and my kid matched wore nice white Nike's blue colored shirt. It was just really cool. It was just really cool. But in the background, I tried to ignore the, the MMA stuff, I just couldn't. And I have to say, and I'll bring A.K. on in a minute. It was very strange for me to not do the shows. Because normally when I take vacations, I am just a control freak.

And I just don't write on vacation. But I still host the shows because I was like, these are mine. I ain't giving them up for anybody. And I think I needed to do this because I was just, I was stressed about it. first and then after listening to AK's melodious tones last Tuesday, I was like, you know what, I am in great hands.

Why was I so worried about this? And then Jed just killed it on BTL and AK just killed it on the show and the preview and post shows are great. It was nice to have that weight lifted off of my shoulders knowing that if I have to go away, I just have the best colleagues in the world who could take the ball and just run with it. And it was great. So, all right, enough about me. I want to bring in my best friend right out the gate and then we'll get to the rest of you

because I'm sure there's a lot you want to talk about. So my best friend, hello. Mike, my best friend, it's so great to hear you. Yes, I just had to chime in just to say welcome back. And thank you. Thank you for letting me have the reins of the show. It was an honor. It was fun to do.

It was a lot of work. You were talking, you just said, how about how like you were feeling stressed before about maybe leaving the show, you know, leaving the show temporarily. I was the opposite. I wasn't worried at all until I actually started having to do the show. And I was like, oh, this is hard. I thought like, Mike's warnings are easy. Like, this is an easy show. And then just, I only did four episodes. And I was already like, oh, my gosh, that's a lot of work. I can't wait for Mike to come back. So I'm glad you're back. People have heard enough from me on this show over the last few days. So again, I just want to thank you. And thank

everyone who is so nice, sending a nice comments and amazing questions to keep the show going. I will be quick and I'll just say, Mike, what did you miss the most besides, of course, our friendship and our repartee, which was still there. I mean, just we didn't get to talk as much because you're on vacation. What did you miss the most while you were on your well-deserved break? What did I miss the most? I mean, I felt, and I've said this a few times, I felt like I took the wrong week off because there's just so much happening, especially with all the BKFC stuff and that just took off.

And, you know, I have been not, BKFC is not for everybody, but I've said this many times. I love covering those cards because it's just a joy to watch. Yeah, it could be brutal at times, sure. But it's just a chaotic circus that has like no long-winded breaks between things. You know what I mean? If you watch a BKFC card, there could be eight fights and that thing just flies. It's one after the other after the other.

and it's just a great watching experience. And then a card of that magnitude, not being able to watch it live, kind of hurt my soul a little bit. But I did everything I knew and really do. I worked out just a little bit more. I played some golf, which was nice. Took my kid out for more rounds

and got to spend more time at home and not worry about work and hang out of the family a little bit more. So I didn't really miss a whole lot, but there is a part, I mean, it's just weird to just be away from it. And I couldn't get away from it. like confirming fights that I saw.

Even when I turned off the notifications in our Slack channel, I would just once in a while peek and then I would see something pop up and I was like, oh, let me, let me go ask. And then I would get it. And then everyone's like, go on vacation. Get out of here. But it was a good time off. It was good to just kind of like take a break from it. Not that I don't love the sport, but again, as AK said, like doing the shows, it's a lot.

and then, you know, putting together some of the, like putting together that mini doc and that big feature on the Texas Commission and the Fury FC, awful refereeing and all that. Like, that just took, I mean, those things take forever and it takes up your entire week. That took up an entire week and a half. So not a lot of sleep. I slept great. I got to tell you. So I am well rested. You probably hear it in my voice.

I am just energetic and ready to go. And of course we have BTL at 1 p.m. today. We'll have the preview show and everything tomorrow, getting you ready for UFC 288. We got one championship tomorrow. And then we got UFC 288. The watch party going down on Saturday. Excited to get back to New York and see my buddy G.C. I might as well reveal who's going to be joining us.

Jed Mishu will join us for the co-main event between Gilbert Burns and Blah Muhammad. And joining us for the main event. event. It's not often. Actually, this might be the first time it has happened. But a fighter will actually be joining us for the main events, a man coming off of a massive victory in the band-of-weight division on the main card of the UFC's most recent pay-per-view. A fellow New Englanda, Rob Font, will join us for the main event between Al Jermaine Sterling and Henry Suhudo. A fight he'll be watching very, very closely, I'm sure, coming off of that win over Adrian Yonnas. So I am ready to go for all of that.

Let's go to Abzwalia. Hey Mark, what's so? Good to have you back, man. How are you doing? I'm doing great, man. I'm doing good. So I'll just have a few questions just regarding this, the one FC's card is tomorrow and UFC.

So my first question with the one FC card, how are you looking forward to the event and who do you see winning from the main event roster? And regarding 288, how do you see the Henry Suhudo fight and Al Jermaine Stirling fight play out? Could you see them really tackling it down on the ground with a lot of grappling, a lot of different wrestling techniques and threats? Could we see a very big striking battle between both fires? Let me know your thoughts, man. That's all I have.

Have a good day. Thanks, man. So, yes, one making their U.S. debut tomorrow in Broomfield. Colorado just outside of Denver. Main event is the trilogy fight between Demetrius Johnson and Adrian Marius. We got Rod Tang versus Edgar Horace Tabaris. We got Mikey Mushemi on the card for some grappling. That guy is ridiculous.

Stamp Fairtex, Elise Anderson. We got Roberto Soldeach. So excited to see him back in there after the unfortunate debut. Sage Northcut is back for the first time and a long time. This is a really good card. This is a really good card. So I am looking forward to it. I will probably watch this one.

I will watch it as long as I can because I do have to wake up at like 3.30 the next morning to fly out. But I believe the main cards at 8 p.m. Eastern. And if that is the case, then I will probably watch a lot of this. But I am picking Demetri Johnson to win. You give a guy like DJ, yeah, I mean, the first fight was really competitive until the finish. Second fight, DJ looked incredible. one of the best finishes of the year. And when you give a guy like DJ with that mind

and his fight IQ and his preparation and everything he goes through, when he has to prepare for the same guy multiple times, I will always side with DJ in those types of scenarios. If Adrian and Marais went out there and beat DJ, would I be completely stunned? Stun might not be the word.

I would be surprised if he does it again. But I'm picking to be Drew Johnson. main event of Saturday between Sterling and Tudow. Let me just say this. And I talked to John Anick about this. And he kind of agreed with me on this whole thing. And that interview will probably drop. I don't know if it's dropping later on today or tomorrow.

We recorded last week. But I explained myself to John Anick when it came to this fight. And as you all know, I'm the biggest Henry Suhudo fan you'll ever find. Longtime listened to the show know that I have just said nothing but positive things about Henry Suhudo. That is sarcasm. But this fight, when it first became a thing, I hated it. I mean, I absolutely hated it. Because just where the division was and all the guys that were at the top.

And the fact that Marlon Vera had a fight, Corey Sanhagen just really annoyed me. And you had a guy like Sean O'Malley right there, big fight for Aljo, and he fumbled the bag. That frustrated me. And now we got Henry Sohudo coming in. What this fight was was a sea. It was like a couple of seeds that were like rotten and you didn't think anything would come of it.

And then it would rain and you'd pour water on it. And eventually it has blossomed into this fascinating flower that I just don't know what it is. And I've taken it to botanists all over the world. And I show them this flower and they're like, I don't know what the hell that is. And that's how I feel about this fight. I am fascinated. I am intrigued by it. So Hudo looks great.

I don't know if I was kind of looking through Instagram and Eddie Chah's Instagram stories had Sohudo like taking the photos with the shirt off. I was like, holy shit, he looks incredible. He looks incredible. He is as confident as ever. I've talked to Eric Nixik. I've talked to Captain Eric and Eddie Chah, who are the head coaches of Henry Sehudo.

The confidence on both sides is unbelievable. Unbelievable. both guys both both coaching staffs have a lot of respect for the other coaching staffs and the fighters my god is telling you that aljo is just going to kill this man and i like i felt that way from the beginning but the more i hear sehudo and the more i hear sterling i don't i just don't know what's going to happen but i just i don't know like the initial thought was like aljo's just going to run this dude over. He's bigger. He's getting better. Like you can say what you will about Sterling and his title run, but the guy just continues to get

better. And the weight cuts are a pain in the ass, and he's so good at him. But it's the way he's able to rehydrate and get himself in a healthy place when he steps into the octagon on Saturday. He might do it better than anybody else who has to cut that amount of weight. And with CeHudo, yeah, the layoff concerns. me, yeah, the fact that he's 36 and the statistics are against a guy of that age winning championship fights, you take out Tyron Woodley, nobody has done it. Nobody between welterweight and flyweight, 35 or more, has won a title fight. None of them.

But if anybody could do it, it's Henry Sehudo. And I just have no idea what guy is going to show up. And the thing with Suhudo is, this isn't a guy who's been sitting on his ass, whole time. Yeah, he put on a little bit of a belly. He admits that. But this dude's been coaching. He's been working with some of the best in the world. He's been studying. He's been doing his YouTube channel. He's breaking down fights. This dude's fight IQ is probably off the charts right now. His fighting mind is probably as good as it's ever been. But my God has been telling me since day one that Aljo is just going to kill him. And I don't, I just haven't been

able to shake that. As interesting as this build has been, which I got to say, the build hasn't been that bad. The build has not been that bad. The media days, the media day scrums were not awful. The press conference later on today might be a little

tough. But I thought Sehudo's media day was really fascinating. I thought Sterling's was really fascinating. The confidence levels on both guys are great. And what Al Jermaine Sterling does so well is that, and I said this before the second Peotor Yom fight, Sterling is so good at building

anticipation on Fight Week. You can feel however you want to feel about a fight. Like that card where he fought Jan the second time, all the focus was on Hamzaa Tchamaev. Anyone in Jacksonville that I spoke to, fans, fighters, anything, they were all talking about Hamzaa Chamaif. The second I got to Jacksonville. But then I heard Sterling at me. Media Day. And I was like, man, this dude is ready. And I heard Yonah Media Day. I felt the same way.

And then they had their press conference thing. And Sterling came out with the helmet on and all the rules for dummies and all that. And the build that the presser was just fun. And Sterling's just really good at building anticipation on Fight Week. And Sehudo's really good at it too. I even put this in our Slack channel yesterday. Media Day Sohudo is way better than social. media so hoodo so i am fascinated with this fight i have no idea what's going to happen i am picking

sterling to win i think he's going to win a decision but i honestly i i just i don't know what henry's going to show up i have a clue i don't know i was pretty confident in john jones meeting cyril gone if we're going to compare the long layoffs but i just i just don't know i just don't know but Sterling is just, Sterling's just so undervalued and underrated and underappreciated, if we're being honest. He just is. He doesn't get the credit he deserves.

And John Anick said this in our conversation that's going to drop either later on today or tomorrow. Al Jamein Sterling, if he beats Henry Sehudo and then beat Sean O'Malley, I can't really argue with him. Sterling has a real case of being the best band of late of all time. If he beats Sehudo and O'Malley. beating Sohudo is, even with the layoff and all that in Sohudo's age, that is a very good name to have on your resume.

And Sterling's resume is already incredible. So it's so interesting, but I am picking Sterling to win. Boating for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wager requirements. What you win is yours to keep

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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. apply. Four quarter sports a lot. Hey Mike, great to have you back. Love when A.K. was doing it, but

you know, I can't imagine that you didn't want to be on the sidelines too long on vacations and not doing your show. I wanted to ask you, so there's like a 90% chance I'm not watching this fight for personal reasons, but, and I'll probably watch the watch party until I have to knock out. But I do agree with you.

that Aljo is most likely going to run over Sehudo. I think Sehudo's best chance is within the first two rounds. Because if you look at Sehudo's fights, I mean, look what he did tomorrow and Marais, you know, look what he did to Dominic Cruz. I think if it would have gone to like a full 25 minutes, well, I mean, not so much more on my rice, but Dominic Cruz definitely, I would have favored Cruz, you know, if the fight would have gone longer. I think the three-year layoff is definitely going to impact, especially the fact that he admitted to having a belly.

I think Stirling has just been, you know, competing. Even though he has been like the most active champion, I just think that, you know, he's bigger. I saw him at the Brooklyn Nuts game earlier this year. I mean, he cuts a lot of weight. I mean, for him, I think he was like walking around like a 165, 170. To get down to 135, I mean, I think he will be able to run him over. I would actually predict, honestly, like, a TKO on the ground, maybe within from rounds like two to four.

But outside of that, I'm disappointed that, you know, Mitchell and El Lov is not going to happen. But which card on the card? Yeah, which fight on the card do you, you know, you're going to say, like, you know, best to look out I'm intrigued on Dober and for Volo, and I'm also intrigued on Kennedy and Sanjouca versus Devin Clark. But Mike, great to have you back and let me know what you think. Yeah, I mean, if we're going sort of like low-key banger, if you will, it's definitely Dober for Vola.

That fight is going to be incredible. Forever long at last, it is going to be incredible. And I really hope this gets bumped to the main card. I know for like a few days it was on the main card and then they did the they bumped up, they did the Gilberds Blahmohamed fight and knocked it.

It's a great spot. Dober Favola, as of right now is the featured prelim and that is a great place to be because if you're going to entice people to buy a pay-per-view, that's the fight you want on there because those two are just going to beat the hell out of each other

and it's going to be incredibly fun to watch. So that, I mean, that's the easy answer. I mean, if you want to bump, down Movzar because he's probably going to just crush poor Diego Lopez and Diego Lopez is a fine fighter

but the things he does well of Loy of just does so much better so if you want to showcase him you could put him on that spot I agree with you I like the Kennedy and Chichiku Devin Clark fight too I think Kennedy's coming to his own another thing we talked about

with Anik is he spent some time over at Fordus MMA and said Kennedy and Chichu who is like the hardest, the hardest worker in the room feels like the mindset and the physical abilities that he has as a fighter is matching up to the frame. Looks like it's starting to catch up.

And he's peeking at the right time. So I like that fight. Could be a nice little showcase for Kennedy. But Devin Clark's tough out, man. He's a wily vet. He's fought so many different high-level guys. So he's, but Kennedy is just a, he's kind of a freak of nature.

He's just so big. He's got such an advantage with the height and the reach. It's an interesting fight. I see Cass Williams back. I'm excited about that. I think it's a really good tailor-made matchup for him against Rolando Bedoya. You know me in Paca Pota. That'll be an interesting fight. Braxton Smith just ain't here for a long time.

He's here for a good time. And usually his fights lasts like two minutes or less. Marina Rodriguez, Verna Janderoba. How is Marina Hodriguez going to bounce back? From that tough loss to Amanda Lemos. and there's a, Chrome Gracie, for God's sakes. Chrome Gracie's fighting on Saturday. When was the last time we've said that?

It was a long time ago when we could say Chrome Gracie's fighting on Saturday. Look, is this the most star-studded card of all time? No. But is this one of those cards that like, there's a lot of intriguing, competitive fights on it? Yeah.

There's some good storylines. No doubt about it. And you have a main event. and that's ultra-fascating. The betting lines continue to shift one way or the other. Muhammad Burns is interesting, considering what's on the line and how quick that fight was put together. There's a lot to like about this card.

I know it sucks losing Bryce Mitchell, but I think of Loy of would have beat Bryce and would have been a bigger win for him, but kudos to both of these guys for taking this fight. Let's go to Tristan. Hey, Mike. hear me? Okay.

I want to shed spread have the spotlight on on the prelims and that's the UFC debut of Iqra. We saw him on the

Dana White Contendor series that that fighter that he thought was a little difficult because his length and everything but he was able to catch his bearings and was able to finish him. To be honest with you, I don't know how you felt, but I don't even think he should have on there. I think he should have just got right in, got a fight in the UFC right away.

I wanted to know your impressions about him. Was he 13 and 1? The only loss was against Hamza Ashamaya. If you think about it, Hamza could not take Iqram down, but then obviously he got him with the upper cut. But since that fight, he's been finishing a lot of his opponents. I really like him in this spot against Phil Halls. I think it's a really good fight for him. if he goes out there and melts Phil Halls, you know, he's going to be someone that we should be talking about a lot more because I think, to be honest,

I think if he wins this fight and I think he needs two more fights, two more good wins, I think he'll be already in the top 15. And with that said, also to it, we're going to start to see the middleweight division start to reshape and reform. And hopefully by 2024, it'll look totally different and much better than what is right now because Kevin

Gasselm, he's going to drop down the welterweight. Derek Brunson said that he's going to retire, so once you say he's going to retire, you already retired. So, and you still have, obviously, Drickus duplice, you still have Roma Delizza. I think he's still good.

We'll see about Munez. If he could bounce back, we don't know, but it's going to be looked really different as well. Then we also have to wait for the debut of Charaputin, Magamatov. you know, that was, I think, ESPN, Brett Okamoto is really high on him. I think I guess he'd watched him a lot, so he was about to make some waves as well.

And then, and obviously, Bo Nicco, I mean, we discussed this before, but I really think the middleweight division is going to be reshaped and reform heading to next year. So just your impressions about Ikram and what you expect from him in this fight. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. Yeah, I think it's a pretty good matchup for him. I think it's a pretty good matchup for him.

Bill Haas is a fine fighter. He's not a great fighter. And I think could be great. I think it... Dude's really good. He's good everywhere. Dude can strike. His wrestling is really good.

He's got that combat zambo background. He's fought good guys. And I agree with you. He should not have been on the contender series. He should have been signed straight up. It's a big fight for Phil Haas. He needs this one. He's had a tough go.

Yeah, he looked great in a Duran win fight, but we'll see. But yeah, I like I like Gickerman's spot. I think he probably finished this, Phil Haas. I don't think Phil's ever, has Phil been finished? Oh, no, he just got finished. What the hell am I talking about? Roman finished him, Curtis finished him. I'm an idiot.

I think he's, no. I got to confuse. He's been finishing all of his losses. So, yes, this could be a, I don't know if it's a showcase fight because it's kind of early on the card. But Dickram can go in there and finish Phil Haas, which I think he's going to do. And then cuts a nice little promo. Doesn't hurt. Doesn't hurt.

Yeah, I think he could be a player, 185. And I think I said that right after his contenders series fight. Cole, what's up, man? Good morning, Mike. I'm morning. Just got a question, like, what do you make of the UFC, like, to a recent? just top heavy cards and them just banking on that main event not getting canceled. Like what?

I don't want to put it out there, but just like, what would they do if something happened to this weekend's main event? Like, can you even go on with selling that card? Like, is ESPN going to recognize this? And maybe it changed the deal in the next 10 years with the UFC and like maybe recognize that they're putting on too many events to sustain this? I don't know. I feel like as a recent, the cards have been top-heavy,

and they're just crossing their fingers hoping that they just get to Saturday and make it all right. But like, what would happen? I can't believe it. So that's my question. But, yeah, I'll hang up to listen. Thanks, man. So what would probably happen is the show would go on.

I don't, I mean, it's, it's too late to just, like, straight cancel the card. They would probably, they would probably pull it off pay-per-view. Because they did this before. I think it was, it was, like, February of, like, 2016, maybe. They had a pay-per-view, I believe it was. Let me just make sure I have my fact straight here. Because they had a pay-per-view in line, and then they lost the main event, and they moved it.

This is when they had the deal with Fox. And they changed it to a fight night card. Okay, this was the Fabrizio Verdoom, Kane Velasquez card. That was supposed to be a pay-per-view. It was Fabricio versus Stepe originally, and then something happened, it became Fabricio versus Kane. And then Kane had a back injury, like, just before.

before the card. So they moved it to a fight night card on FS1 and it was headlined by Stephen Thompson, Johnny Hendricks. Stephen Thompson destroys Johnny gets the title shot or puts himself in line for the title shot.

I think he had a fight one more time. He had to fight Roy McDonald and then once he'd be Roy McDonald kind of so I would think they'd probably do something similar and just put it on the ESPN Plus but let's not put that bad juju out there. This card, like, if it still had Oliver Daryush, it's pretty good.

It's pretty good. 289 is tough. I know we lost Giuliana Pena. So now it's Nunes versus Rini Aldana as the new main event. A lot of people seem to be excited about that. A lot of people seem to think that was the fight that should have been made in the first place. We get Oliver Daryush in that card. We get Danny Gay, Nate Landware.

We get Emovoff, Chris Curtis. The rest of the card is, you know, it's kind of there. A lot of Canadian representation, as there should be. I know there are a report, look, friends, the golden rule is an important rule to remember. What is the golden rule? Heck of morning listeners, long time heck of morning listeners, know what the golden rule is. The golden rule is, if it's not on MMAfighting.com, it ain't a thing. And what have I been telling you for the last month or so?

probably longer. I think April 1st was the day that that fight came out. What did I tell you about Stephen Thompson versus Mitchell Pereira? What did I tell you? I told you that fight wasn't done. Even when we got closer,

even when everybody was posting that fight was a thing, even when it was on ESPN fight center, I told you that fight wasn't done. So you can't report a fight is off if a fight wasn't on to begin with. Was it were both fighters approached about the matchup? Yes.

Did they ever get contracts and sign them? No. No. The Golden Rule people. That's why that fight was never on our website, because it was never a thing. It was potentially agreed upon. This is what we kind of want to do.

And then that's it. It never got past that point. We even reported it as in the works because we knew it might not happen. And sure enough, it doesn't happen. And everyone's losing their minds, except for you all. Because you already knew. Because I've been telling you for over a month that that fight was never done.

So yeah, 289 is kind of a tough hang. Four good fights. I like Jazz Divisi's brand of Maverick fight. I'm sure there'll be some competitive matchups, but I like watching Mike Malott fight. I think there's something to him. Him and Adam Fugitz is going to be a banger. Chris Doc is moving to 205 against Kalilil Roundtree. There's decent things on here, but it's not a great card.

But they just ain't all going to be great. They're just not. This happens every year. This happens every year. So 290 looks pretty damn good. And then we may get a second pay-per-view in July. They're going back to London in July. Henry Sohudo seems to think that

the UFC is going to Boston. Do you hear that? He called out Sean O'Malley for his back... I'll fight Sean O'Malley in his backyard of Boston. I don't think Sean O'Malley's ever lived in Boston, but... Look, that scrum, that was

tough. It was like 30... It was like 40-minute media scrum. So Henry's brain was fried, I'm sure, but... Yeah, we just got to... I don't think... I think this card's pretty good. And hopefully everything stays intact. Seems like it's going to be... I know we lost Bryce Mitchell,

but if you watch Embedded, you're like, what the hell is going on with his shoulder? And then the next day, we find out the fights off. Tough. Any more hits at the top of the card is going to be rough. But let's stay positive, people. Let's stay positive. Let's go to Ani.

Ani, hello. What's up, buddy? A good vacation. I wasn't here when you were not here as well. I was on a vacation as well. So it's glad to be back on. Did you have a good time? It was nice.

It was nice to kind of detach from the sport a little bit. Now I'm ready to go. That's really nice. So I'm thinking of what question I had, but I just forgot completely. Damn it. That's so. Anyway, so are you dreading the press conference? uh today mike you know are you dreading what we'll have to listen to as in from uh sterling and

se hood or do you feel comfortable that maybe maybe just maybe they'll uh salvage it somehow yeah yeah it's gonna be tough man it's gonna be tough like i said like the build the build has not been as bad as i thought it was going to be they haven't put those two guys together a whole heck of a lot. I know they, I think they did a thing with Daniel Cormier, and that was pretty bad for the most part. But like the media day scrums were good,

very, very long, especially with the Sohudo one. They should never be that long, especially when those two are both going to be at the press conference. Like, what else could you possibly ask these guys, that you didn't ask him in 40 friggin' minutes yesterday. But I feel like that Suhudo,

I don't know, if the same Sehudo that showed up at Media Day shows up at the presser, I don't think it's going to be that bad. But if we get the social media, Mr. Cringed Sohudo, which, you know, he talks about being that dude as well. It could be tough.

But we'll see. I think all in all it hasn't been that bad. And if we just have the press conference, to worry about, then I think they've done pretty well. I think they've done pretty well. But I'm interested about how many people are going to turn out for this press conference. Is it going to be a full house? Is there going to be a ton of people there?

Are they going to be all in on Aljo? I hope so. Be cool. To see Al Jemaine Sterling cheered in kind of any capacity, it's kind of interesting. because again, he doesn't get enough credit for the resume he's put together. I know his title reign has been super weird and kind of unlucky in some ways when you look at his lineage and his overall career resume. But the dude can fight.

If he beats Henry Suhudo, then that's damn good. CV. What's up, man? Oh, Mike, can hear me? Hey, man, welcome back. I hope you had a great day. Um, how about them Bruins though? Oh, shut that.

Sorry, I'm just teasing. It's okay, man. The lease will take care of the Panthers for you. Yeah. I don't know about that. I don't know about that. We'll see. We'll see.

But yeah, my question is, I'm not sure if you saw last week's UFC main event, Song of Dong and Ricky Simone. Yeah, what are your thoughts on him being like a potential player at Bannamweight? I was listening to onto the next one. I think AK suggested he should fight Rob Flaw next. And I agree with AK. That'd be a great fight.

And maybe you guys can get Rob's thoughts on the division when you guys do to watch party on Saturday. Thanks. Thanks, man. Yeah, song looked frigging great. I read that fight completely wrong. I read that fight completely wrong. I thought Ricky Simone was going to be able to get some takedowns and kind of wear-on song. But nope, he tried.

song a great take-down defense and he just beat Ricky Simone up. That was a great performance. That's exactly what he needed. My a-no-pick will not be Rob Font. I already... My out-no pick was Rob Fond versus Piotr-Jan. I still want to see that fight.

I don't know, man. He's kind of in a weird spot. Maybe you run it back with Cito, since the Cito O'Malley fight's not happening anytime soon. maybe you do Dominic Cruz Pedro Munoz would be an interesting one that's kind of like where Pedro is at the moment

maybe throw him umar I don't know he's in a weird spot he's in a weird spot but yeah dude if they made Song Yidong Rop Font watch the hell out of that fight kidding me but this dude's a problem like he's a problem like I

think we most of us who have watched Zongy Dong fight and we even saw it in the Corey Sandhagen fight. This dude can hang with the best of the best in this division. 100%. And here's the thing about Song Yadam. He's only 25.

So we knew this day would come when he would break out like crazy. I just didn't think it would happen this quickly. I didn't think he'd have a performance like that against a guy like Ricky Simone. But boy did he. I mean, he's had some hiccups along the way. some learning curves, but he's got a damn good resume. Alejandro Perez, which was a pretty damn good win at the time in 2019. The draw with Cody Stamen, that was kind of a weird fight.

Beats Marlon Vera, kind of a controversial one. So if they ran that one back, I'd get it. Loses to Kyler Phillips. Kyler looked incredible in that fight. Then he goes on and beats Casey Kenney, Knox O'Hulio Arce, knocks on Mario Marius, which broke our hearts. And we're like, why is this guy continuing to fight? was competitive with Corey Sanagan.

And then he just puts on that performance gets Ricky Simone. This dude, if you're buying stock and abandon weight, you can do a lot worse than Song Yidong right now. This dude's going to be at the top of this division for a long time. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats.

But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice, Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age.

Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs, with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move.

Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross-Training Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. Yes, sir, four ounce, I'm sorry, sir. What's up? Ball as well. Hope you enjoyed your vacation. Glad to hear you're back.

I just wanted to ask you, what was Zalga Zuma Gulov thinking with the haircut? But I didn't, I thought it was Photoshop. I laughed so hard when I saw it. What do you think was the thought process when he was going through that? That's all. Yeah, I mean, hey, do you, bro? I mean, look, is a man who cannot grow hair like that? Who am I to judge anybody's hairstyle?

There are a lot of hairstyles that took center stage yesterday. That one, I saw a lot of, stuff about that. I probably had that haircut as a young boy as a young boy in elementary school. If you grew up in the 80s, you had the bowl cut and the very beetle-esque kind of look. But Diego Lopez, that dude's got some hair too, both those guys. But who knows? Maybe Zalgus will just come out and get a flyweight under to cash.

and if that's the case, then that hair is never going away. But yeah, I had to look at it a couple of times. One of the things you just couldn't take your eyes off of. Why VMZ? Hello. Hi, Mike. Glad to hear you're back. Hope you had a good vacation and heck of the morning. Two quick questions for you. Wanted to get your thoughts on John Jones saying he's going to retire after the Steepay fight.

Wanted to get your thoughts on that. And two, do you think Belonger? all seems like he's he had like a really bad weight cut um i don't know he just doesn't seem like it's like his regular self i don't know if it's because it's on short notice but do you think that's going to affect him in the fight thanks so much i don't think it'll affect him too much i mean he's he stepped in in big spots on short notice did it with the leon edwards fight obviously that fight didn't last very long because of the eye poke but i think he'll be fine it's just The Bologna works and trains all the time, just so he can be ready.

So I don't think it's going to affect him too much. Obviously, I think the circumstances favors Gilbert Burns. I mean, he's Mr. Short Notice. There was a time when he was moving up the welterweight division. He would do his call on everybody. Middle weights, light heavy weights, joking around with heavy weights. The dude just scraps. So I feel like the short notice nature of it all,

especially with Burns just fighting a month ago. I think it favors him, but I got to say, I went back yesterday and watched the Gilbert Burns-Hoye Mazadol fight. When this Burns-Mohamed fight was first announced, I was like, I just feel like Gilbert is going to win, the circumstances, the stylistic match-up, all of it. But then I went back and re-watch that Mazdaal fight, and I was like, yes.

Burns won, and it wasn't all that close once we got to round two. But he didn't look great in that fight. He looked fine, but he didn't look great. He looked a little, I don't know. He looked his age in that fight. Still won. He could still beat a lot of guys, but the thing about Bilal is like, yeah, he's training, but this entire camp, essentially,

been him cutting weight. It's not like he could prepare specifically for Gibba Burns. And you know what? Some fighters do very well with that. They do very well with those circumstances. They feel like, all right, I don't have to overthink things. I can just go in and throw punches and fight. It's a really interesting fight.

As the days go by, I'm actually leaning more towards Belal. But I don't know. I just don't. I get why the fight's here and I'll watch it. But I just, again, going back to the John, I think everybody's going to drop. Even John is like, they could have just waited with this one. They could have just waited,

especially if the UFC is so steadfast on Colby getting the next shot. What is the rush to put this fight together on two and a half week's notice? I get it. You want to try to replace Oliver Daryouche, but. I don't know.

I just kind of feel like there's other words. Like I actually would have, in this situation with where the stakes are at, I actually would have preferred the Poli Costa-Bohovych fight. If they did that, I actually think it would be better. I'm not downgrading the Burns-Mohama' fight because it's a great fight. I just wish they could, like, have a full camp to prepare for one another. You know what I mean? And I like Ballal's approach.

Dude, if I go on short notice and beat this dude, the haters can't hate anymore and there's no excuses this is right in your wheelhouse Gilbert I'm the one that make him more of the sacrifice and I agree with them but there was just no rush to do this fight you could have done this in July

you could have done this in August you could have done this as the co-made event to whenever Leon and Colby are going to fight could have done that but here we are makes the fight interesting for sure for better or for worse but I don't know

there's just a part of me that's like why do we rush into this just to fill a spot I don't know let's go to Brad what's up Brad hey Mike thanks for having me sure yeah man so I was just

I kind of wanted you to play matchmaker like I have an idea of where the UFC may be going with each winner and loser of the co-main and main I just wanted your opinion on where I guess we kind of know where the winner of the co-main event is going to go next,

but who do you think Al-Joe goes up against? If he wins, loses, Henry Sehudo wins, loses, and then the loser of the co-main. Thanks. Yeah. I would say the loser of the co-main event is going to fight Shafcott

Rokmanov. Either way. I know Gilbert and Shafka have worked together. I don't know what their relationships like, but you would think that's kind of where it's going. At Balal-Lu's there is no doubt he's fighting Shafkar-Rkmanov. Like zero doubts.

There's no other way to go. That's the fight. Maybe they throw that on the international fight week hard or it could be a fight night main events, but Ball all loses. He's 1,000% fighting Shafkarov. And I kind of feel like that's where Burns would likely go as well.

The winner of the main event is fighting Sean O'Malley. But if, let's just say, I don't know. if Suhuda it would all depend on how it happened. Like if Aljo wins he's fighting Sean O'Malley, 1,000%. If Sohudo wins, it would have to depend on how he wins. Like if Suhudo goes out there and just dominates Sterling or just goes out there and crumbles him and finishes him,

they're not giving Aljo an immediate rematch. But if this is a close competitive fight, that's a sort of a controversial split decision, I feel like they're going to try to run that one back. So it's kind of weird to say. But if Aljo wins, he's fighting Sean O'Malley, Sohudo is a wild card if he loses this fight. If he loses this fight, like, where could he possibly go?

Because he's out of the picture. Well, not out of the picture. He could fight Marab. He could fight Marab because Sterling will fight O'Malley and then he's going to bump up to 145. So I guess he could fight Maraub. Maybe they do an interim title or something. But, yeah, Sehudo,

Sohudo's the wild card in all of this. I don't know. Does he just retire if he loses? and be like I tried. I wanted to come back and be, you know, C4, and, you know, I lost this man, and I tried, he gave my haul, and it just wasn't meant to be.

I'm just another part of that incredibly strange statistic of fighters over 35 from Welterway down trying to win titles and win title fights. Outside of Tyrod Woodley, it's never been done. It's such a weird stat. Such a weird stat. but yeah co-made event

losers is getting shop caught ball loz is definitely getting shop caught Sterling will fight O'Malley if he wins Sehuda will fight O'Malley if he wins in you know

one-sided fashion or no-brainer fashion that is and if Sohuda loses I have no idea Brandon Hey Mike, are you doing you, you hear me?

Yes sir, how are you? I hope you had a great vacation I just wanted to get your thoughts on Mike Perry I think the guy is just like turning into a star since he's left the U.S. I just want to get your thoughts on like, you know, how much he's matured and how much, how good he is at, you know, bare-knuckle fighting.

I feel like he's made for this. And I just want to know what you think about how Dave Feldman has been running BKFC. I think he's doing a great job, see how much they've grown in the last four years. And where do you see, like, he mentioned a TV deal on M.M.A. hour, like, what kind of network you think or streaming platform would be good for their for BKFC. Yeah, that's all I got. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Have a great day, everyone. Look, yeah. I mean, Mike Perry has not always been the greatest human being. But I honestly, I've interviewed Mike Perry a few times since he's, I interviewed Mike Perry a few times when he's in the UFC.

He was a miserable prick, and he'll be the first one to tell you that. I remember when he was going to fight Mickey Gall and we had the virtual media days and I asked Mike Perry some questions and he literally told me to go fuck myself when I asked him a question about the fight. The first question I asked him was like Mike you don't seem very happy to be here

and he was like no I'm not happy to be here and asked him a question and he was like I'm going to kill this man and go fuck yourself I was like okay there you go but since then obviously Mike is you know he's he's got La Torre and he uh he's got kids

and he's a family man and he has matured he has matured and maybe it was the pressure in the UFC getting to him I don't know but BKFC is uh is definitely the place for him it's one of those things where it's like I talk about like doing CrossFit I got bit by the CrossFit bug like five months ago and it's one of the things like man

I wish I did that like 10 years ago. Wish I found this 10 years ago. People were telling me, go do it. And I was like, no, stupid. And I'm going to get injured. Not the case. And I wish I had done it 10 years ago. That's how Mike Perry and BKFC are.

Mike Perry just found BKFC like five years ago. Who the hell knows where he would be right now. But dude is built for it. He's that dude. And he's the star. He's the star of the promotion right now. 100%. He is the star.

He's the face of BKFC right now. Especially with Paige. You know, we haven't seen Paige Van Zant flight. We don't know if she's going to come back and fight at all. But he is now the face. He's now the face of the company.

How has Dave Feldman been running it? Seems good. I mean, what he has done is actually been pretty incredible. We're going to obviously talk about the weekend that was for BKFC and how they stole the show, but there have been so many,

and I've said this myself, and I've told Dave Feldman this to his face when I covered BKFC 19 the Page Vanzant, Rachel Ossovich card. I was one of those people who after the Artem Lobov Polymalanjy fight

who said into live microphones that's it. That's the peak. It's never going to get bigger for BKFC than that card because the whole frigging combat world was fixated on that. The beep between Artem Lobov and Polymalanagi.

and they go in there and fight and it's a great fight and it's like it can't get better than this like it's it like they could still have a viable thing but they peaked so quickly and then they made all these moves

and they started signing people and they got page on and the knucklemania car with Britton Hart was huge and it created a star in Britain Hart and then page fights race Rachel Ostovich and that was a fun card

that got a lot of buzz and a lot of build and I'm like how do you get bigger than that and they go on sign Mike Perry and they sign Luke Rockhold and Chad Mendez and Eddie Alvarez and all these different

fighters and they're paying them. I don't know where the hell they're getting this money from, but they're paying them. Those trillion dollars are apparently still there. But I don't know. I just don't

I don't know, like I don't know how many times Dave Feldman can refinance his house because he refinance this house to put on BKFC 41. And I don't know how many times you can do that. You know what I mean? To go out and sign these big names because when you put on cards like that that get the buzz that this one got and delivered the way that this one did, it is the expectation of fans who have been there a long time and the newer fans who got to see it for the first time to try to match or won up what you did at BKFC 41.

and I just don't know how viable that is. But every time I say that, they come out and do it. So the TV deal is actually going to be a really good thing for them. If they could take the cards off of like the app and, you know, BKFC TV and stuff and just air them on television, I think it's a really good thing. Now, who will be the broadcast partner? I have no idea. I have no idea.

I don't know who's going to get into it. I don't know if it's going to be on a I don't know if like TBS TBS put on freaking slap flight for God's sakes. So I don't think BKFC is that bad of an idea. But I don't know who's going to do it.

I don't know who's going to do it. It's not going to be a network thing, that's for sure. But it'll be curious to see who picks them up. And it's going to air their shows, air their cards. Prime's got one, maybe it'll be a streaming platform. I don't know.

I don't know. But they're in a pretty, they're in a really good spot right now. People, I mean, we're still talking about EKFC 41, talking about Mike Perry and,

and all that. I mean, Connemar Greger went to the card. And like gets in the ring and squares off of Mike Perry. Craziness. Absolute insanity. But they're doing something right.

And I've said this a million times. I've covered a lot of events. I've seen some pretty cool moments. The most fun and the most enjoyable card I ever covered in my entire career was the BKFC 19 card. They do a great job. They do a great job. They treat us very well.

They got a lot of access. And then the card was just like ridiculously weird and fun and chaotic. And it was awesome. So good on them. Good on them. Let's see what they could do to try to keep pace. there are some cards that the MMA community that they put on that are fun

that the MMA community does not care about. They put on cards a lot and you never really know it because you don't recognize a lot of the names. But again, hopefully with the TV deal, you can build some stars that way. Britain Hart,

Britain Hart's a star. Britain Hart was a star after the Page Van Sant went. Every time I interview Britain Hart, people watch the hell of a lot of it on YouTube. It's crazy. She's like a guaranteed like five figure view. It's wild. We'll see if they can keep this going. You know, I do two or three cards like that a year. You're in good shape. Jay Statt, hello.

A heck of a morning to you. You too, my man. How do you feel about the real main event, Parker Porter? Tell me about it. Let's go. Packer Potter. I don't know. Like, I feel like Pock is win. I feel like Pock is going to win this fight. He ain't fighting Jailton off the end up. So that's pretty damn good.

Braxton Smith, I want to know more about Braxton Smith. What a weird career this man has had. This dude made his pro debut in January of 2014. And he got knocked out in like two minutes or less by Chase Sherman. I'm sure you all know who Chase Sherman is. Then he took over eight years off from MMA competition, returned in May of 2022, and in a 10-month span,

has five first-round knockouts. Five of them. Minute 25, 49 seconds, two minutes and three seconds, minute 40, 44 seconds. This dude is not here for a long time. He's here to get in there and try to kill people. Paco Porter is, he's a heavyweighty heavyweight. And he's not the kind of guy that, he's not a big first round finish kind of dude.

You know what I mean? He's a second round finish kind of guy. I think it's been over a decade since Paco Porter's gotten a first round finish. He's going to have to weather a big storm in this fight. I feel like Paco porter's, I'll never not say it like that. He's the better MMA fighter here, unequivocally. Like this is not even a conversation. Parker Porter is the better mixer of the martial arts.

But Braxton Smith is just going into the club you and put you away quick. So I'm picking Parker to win. I think he does finish Braxton Smith. I'm picking a second round TKO. But if Braxton went out there and annihilated him with his chaotic style, I don't think I'd be completely stunned, but I think Parker's going to win this fight. It's going to get him down, wear on him. then he's going to pound him out, but I could be completely wrong.

I don't know. And then Parker Porter can move up that ladder and maybe we get Paco Pauqua to John Jones too. Maybe that'll entice John to stick around. Someone asked earlier about John saying, and I'll address that now. That's steepe is it unless Francis comes back. He would stick around for one more. He did mention Sergey Pavlovich in that Fox Sports Australia interview and

said he likes, said Sergey's good. And if the UFC wants to pony up a whole bunch of cash to fight Sergey, he would entertain that idea. But John doesn't, like John doesn't care about that. Like he doesn't. He wants the big fights. And I said this on to the next one. John's not fighting Sergey.

The UFC can't puty up more money for him to fight Sergey Pavelyth. So there's not going to do it. He fights steep A, beat the greatest heavyweight, UFC history. That is enough for John Jones, I think. But there are other names he would entertain. Francis and Ghana was certainly one of them. Brock Lesnar is another one.

And that's probably it. Those are the two names. He would fight either of those two guys. He'd not fight in Sergei Pavlovich. He's just not. And the UFC ain't going to be like, hey, I'll give you five extra million dollars to fight Sergey Pavlovich. They're not going to do that.

They're not going to do that. only have John for a short window. And you're not going to overpay him to fight Sergei Papovich. And I honestly, like, if John was just like, yeah, I'm excited to fight him, I would get it. Because I think John would, I think John would win that fight pretty easily. No disrespect to Sergey. I just think it's an awful styles clash for Sergey. I think John would not make the mistakes that Curtis Blades did.

I think John would take him down in two seconds and strangle him. That's how I think that fight would go. But John is not interested in that fight. John wants big money fights with big stars. And Sergei, while he's growing in popularity, is not a big star. And that's why this fight doesn't interest him. John didn't even tweet anything about Pavlovich's win over Curtis Blades. Not even an emoji.

Nothing. He got nothing from John Jones. that should tell you everything. And John responds to everything. Anything interesting going on in his divisions or past opponents or things of that nature, John will tweet something. Whether he deletes it 20 minutes later or not,

he at least feigns interest in some way. There was nothing from John. And if he didn't do that interview with Fox Sports Australia because he's going over there, we would never even heard him say Sergei's name. So there's a lot of people that's like, oh, he's ducking Sergey. No, he's not.

He would, I would heavily favor John Jones in that fight. Heavily. But it just, that one just doesn't interest him. John has fought for a long time. In most people's eyes, the greatest ever do it. He gains nothing from beating Sergey Pavlovich, except like I'm not on the title defense belt. Like, if he wants to break the record, cool.

But I don't think John needs to do that. I feel like if he beat Stepe, that'll be enough. And we have to understand, my friends, this is prize fighting. sure we want to live in a magical world where all the fighters get paid lots and lots of money to just fight the best fighter they can that's not how this works that's not how this works price fighting is you get the most amount of money to fight the biggest name in a matchup that you realistically are probably going to win and that's what john's getting with stepe he didn't it didn't even seem like he wanted to fight cyril gombie just like all right well i want to get

the Stepe fight, I got beat this dude, and that was a pretty good matchup for him. Hindsight, it was a great matchup for him. He finished zero quickly. But John just wants big money fights. He wants to fight big stars. And Betsy wants to do, then what cares? He ain't ducking Sergei Pavlovich. It's just, Sergey's not a big enough name for John.

But you know who Sergey Pavvish can fight? He can fight Jailton Al-Meda. Maybe for an interim title. Maybe for a vacant title. Sergey Pavich is going to fight for the UFC Heavy War. some sort of UFC heavyweight title next. It's just not going to be against John Jones. Jelton Almeida is going to run over poor Jarzini Rosenstrike on ABC television next weekend.

And that's the fight to make. Sergei versus Jelton interim title, let's go. And if John beats Steepin walks away, the winner of that could be the actual champion. Or you just wait and do an actual heavyweight title. fight at the end of the year or something. Don't be forgetting about Jailton in this conversation. I know it's a lot of Sergey and Tommy Aspen all coming back, but we can't forget about Jelton.

There's a reason that Jailton is main eventing this card in Charlotte, North Carolina, because they think he's going to kill this man, and doing it on network television can help make a star. And good old Charlotte, North Carolina. John Anick was telling me that that card is going to start at 10 a.m. Eastern. how about that the first prelim fight's gonna be like a 10 a m eastern because it's a it's an a it's an a bc card so the main card's gonna be like one or two or something or three so the first preland fight's

gonna be like early in the morning and i just got to say i love that oh so much i really love that let's see mike did you just say if henry loses maybe he'll fight marab for an interim title fight after losing a title fight why you think bannamway is so shallow the ufc can't find a different opponent for Marab for the interim bell weird. I didn't, I didn't really say, I just mentioned that as a possible idea, but I honestly, I don't know. I don't know what happens if Henry loses. I don't know.

He might just not fight again, but you could do Marab. I don't know. I just don't think Henry's going to fight anybody else. You think Henry's going to fight Sonia Dong? No. You think Henry's going to stick around to fight him? God, no. Absolutely not.

No chance. There's storyline with him and Marab. He called Marab out. I don't know. I mean, that's the thing. So, yeah, I don't know what happens if Henry loses. That's the really interesting thing about this, especially if Sterling just runs him over.

Like, how do you come back from that after you took three years off? You ain't fighting Volk. That fight dies. That fight never happens if he loses his fight. I don't know. All right. last call for questions and then I guts to bounce. BTL 1 p.m. today.

Not 12.30. We're doing it at 1. It's going to be a fun one. We got Jedmishu versus Shaheen Al-Shadi. A little infighting. Some MFAiding, infighting. Very excited about that. Sheen hasn't been on BTL at a while. I think this will be this first appearance

since like months before his child was born. just always couldn't get the schedules to line up or he had to watch the kid or whatever. But we worked it out, and Shaheen's making his return to BTL. And him and Jed normally get after pretty good. And we have a lot to talk about. So I'm very excited to have Shaheen back on.

And we will not end the show just yet because Daniel Fitz would like to chime in. Hello, Daniel. Hey, Mike. Can you hear me? Yeah. Sweet. Just curious, just because you were bringing up just the main event and stuff. obviously heck in the morning too but just curious how you think the grappling aspect of the main event plays out

um i mean obviously everyone thinks henry's a better wrestler i'm guessing most people think aljo as the better jiu jutsu just curious how you actually think those exchanges go like do you see henry in top control do you see aljo get into a back at some point maybe not off of a takedown but just against the cage or something um yeah just curious how you see that aspect of the game playing out thanks mike That's going to be interesting. Because I know a lot of people say that the grappling could just kind of sort of cancel each other out and that a lot in the majority of this fight could play out on the feet. And that's possible.

I honestly think that I think there will be wrestling exchanges. I think Henry's going to, I think Henry's going to try to take Aljo down like immediately. Now, what he does will be interesting, how Aljo reacts off of his back when you have a guy like Henry on top of you. I don't know. That's when things will get interesting. Sterling is obviously the bigger guy and he's going to look gigantic

when they face off. And I get that. But Sohudo might be the actual stronger fighter. He might actually be the physically more stronger fighter than Aljo. And Aljo's strong as hell. But Sehudo is, I mean, he's a D1 wrestler. You've got to be really friggin strong.

And a gold medalist. I mean, you've got to be really frigging strong at that size. And Sehudo's fought. big dudes before. I know Maro Marius ain't what he used to be. That's a big ass dude. That's a big ass band of weight.

And that team has prepared to fight bigger guys. They've done it many times. So, I don't know. But yeah, I think that's where the fight's going to be the most interesting to me is on the map.

is on the map. Because I think Henry is going to take Aljo down. I think that's going to be his big game plan. But what's he going to do with that? Will Al J will Aljo be able to get right back up? Will Aljo, can he actually wear Aljo out? Which not a lot of people have done. I know Aljo got a little, was kind of getting tired in the first Piotrion fight.

He's dealing with injuries and things of that nature. But Aljo has a pretty damn good gas tank. But I do think there'll be striking exchanges. and I think Al Jo kind of said at best of the media day, I kind of hope we stand because I'll just kick him in the legs over and over again. And Al Jaze's a really good leg kicker. It doesn't look like the most comfortable striker in the world,

but he's effective, especially with that length and that size. He could just leg kick you to death. So I think it'll be at Henry's best interest to try to get inside Aljo, land some shots, have some clinches against the cage. I think Suhudo will do really well in those situations.

but I don't know, man. This is an interesting fight. I just don't know what Suhudo is going to show up. He looks great. Like I said, I saw Eddie Chaz's Instagram story and we had a picture of Sohudo getting his photos taken with the shirt off.

He looks really good. Looks in tremendous shape. Looks ready to go. I'm just seeing if there's any more questions or comments in the comments section. All right. I think we're good to go. All right. We'll see you. B.T.L. 1 p.m. Eastern. We'll be back here tomorrow.

I don't know when. Because I don't know when the way-ins happen. We will have a way-in show, I'm sure. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. That's a great... Something we'll have to figure out. All right, we'll take one more. Who would I be on the comeback show if I don't take one more? J.C., hello. Hey, Mike, heck of a morning. I know you're getting ready to sign off, but I'm calling from Omaha for Daddy Dober's fight against Matt Fravola

and just didn't know who you're. thinking he's going to face next after another knockout, can we get him to bang inside the top 10 or 15 with one of those guys? Appreciate you. Shout out to Omaha. Let's see. Well, let me see what the UFC rankings look like. He might get his wish, but I don't think it's a matchup a lot of people are going to love. He will, if he wins, he will probably fight a Grant Dawson or a Maybe Armand Sarukyon. I think that's probably what he would want to get in terms of rankings,

but that's a really tough fight for him. Maybe Matush Gamrot. I don't know why RDA is in the lightweight rankings when he has said many times I'm not fighting at lightweight anymore. But that's beside the point. That's probably where he ends up. Maybe Moikano, somebody like that. Jalen Turner's fighting Dan Hooker next.

Isabel Gulov's kind of a wild card. Is he retired? not retired. Let me look at this real quick. Oh, dude. I think I have the red. Look. You know what I would love to see?

If he goes out there and just Merks, Matt Rivola, how fun would Drew Dober, Raphael Fiziv be? Oh, my gosh. How fun is that fight? I don't know if Fizu would want to go that far back to fight a guy like Dover, but sign me the hell up for that. But we'll see what happens. This is going to be a great fight.

I think Dober is going to win, but we'll see if Frivola will shoot some takedowns in this one. That's what I'm intrigued about. Well, for Volo, wrestle. It doesn't seem to be in his nature to want to wrestle, even though it's probably a good idea in a fight like this. But two dudes are going to get after it, and it's going to be damn fun. Maybe it'll be on the main card. I don't know.

Maybe we'll find out the presser today. All right. Now I'm done. Thank you all very much. Back tomorrow at some point. I'll let you know when. But as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.

Damn good to be back. You're the best. Podcast Network.