MMA Fighting - HOAM | Where Does Jared Cannonier Go After Stoppage Loss At UFC Louisville?

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

It's a very slow week in the world of MMA and the UFC following UFC Louisville, and heading into UFC Vegas 93 this Saturday. Following the controversial conclusion of the main event between Nassourdine Imavov and Jared Cannonier this past Saturday, where does Cannonier go from here? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the fallout of UFC Louisville, and who Cannonier will likely have to face next after the loss to Imavov. Additionally, listener questions include the ceiling for Dominick Reyes after his knockout of Dustin Jacoby in the co-main event of UFC Louisville, if Conor McGregor could get a title shot with a win over Michael Chandler at UFC 303, being OK to ask for the UFC to provide better overall cards across the board, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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To the Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Tuesday, June 11th, 2024, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the Emily fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety. thereafter on the NBA Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody? I am Mike Heck. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Hope you all having a great start to the week. And boy, as a mixed martial arts fan, I have never wanted it to be June 16th. At this point, we just need to get through this next card at the world's most famous apex. And then we're good for the next couple of weeks. You get that stacked up Saudi Arabia card. We got 303 in the return of Connor McGregor.

We just got to get through the sludge that is this Saturday at the World's Most Famous Apex. And let me tell you something. What WWE did at the World's Most Famous Apex this past weekend, I think the UFC could learn a lot from them. even though of like every WWE premium live event quote unquote that they've had over the last I don't know a couple of years

this was probably like the most soulless one the NXT show it looked cool the crowd was still dead like it's just a soulless building like they can't even get up for like ladder matches

and people jumping through tables Like, it's just, I don't know if it's just the building itself or just that room that just steals people's souls. But at least it looked really cool and it added a little bit of context to like what that room could be at the UFC apex. But I don't think anything's going to change as far as the UFC goes. Maybe I'm wrong. But boy, look at this card. Alex Perez-Taz Tzuro, Tyra. Yes, I want to see how Tyra can do in a big spot.

Icramal Scarf is back, but he's like a minus 1,000 favorite against the duties fighting. Lucas Almeida, Timi, Kawamba, Miles Johns, Douglas Silva Day Andraj, Asu, Almebef, Jose Johnson, Adam Fuget, Josh Quinlan. Golly, this is like a contender series card. Ooling back off, Josh Van is a good fight. Nate Mainis, Jimmy Flick, should be fun and quick. Garrett Arnfield, Brady Highstand, I do like that. Carly Judy's versus Gabriela Fernandez

Jack Asa Soutaghi versus Western Wilson Why Weston Wilson is still in the UFC is just unbelievable to me at this point Julia Palastry versus Josephine Canootson Shaila Nurt and Becca versus Al-Casey O'Costa just it's a tough hang guys

It's a tough one I'm not saying it won't be somewhat enjoyable but sheesh This might be the And I hate that we have to say this But this might be the worst card of the year this might be the worst card on paper of the year for the UFC right now. But last week's wasn't great either.

The main card ended up being good. They were in Louisville. Nassardine Imovov gets the win over Jared Canaanier. Jason Herzog stopped the fight probably a little too early. But, you know, we've beat this topic into submission at this point. I think most of us are on the same page. Not the worst stoppage you've ever seen. Certainly not the best stoppage you've ever seen.

It just wasn't great. But I think we all could agree that it wasn't going well for Jared Kennedy here. He was probably going to lose that fight. He's probably going to get finished in the fourth round anyways. So I think if the point is you're just delaying the inevitable, I can understand that. But it still was a little too early, especially since Canaaner were starting to fire back a little bit. but that fight was not going to go any better for him. Dominic Reyes, what a moment that was.

Two minutes into round one gets his first win in almost 1,700 days. Raul Roes Jr. gets a submission. Brita Ferreira with a knockout of the year contender. Zach Rees for the 22nd knockout. Punisoriano beat the hell out of Miguel Baezza. And the main car just kind of saved a really, seemed like those prelims took 18 hours. Ludwig Klein, great performance over Tiago Moises.

Carlos Pradis is really good. Needed of the body against Charles Ratkey, but then everything before that. Sheesh. Brad Catona doing Brad Catona things to a guy. He was a minus 700 favor over. Montana Deloresa. Rosa probably saved her job. Probably knocked Andrea Lee.

Out of the UFC with a split decision win and a flight, probably not going to go back and watch again. Daniel Marcos, John Cassinator was fine. There's the Daniel Marco show for 14 minutes. Denise Gomes, Eduardo, Mora happened. Gomes wins. Taylor Lapples meets Cody Stamen. Solid outing.

Puja Tomar gets her first UFC win against Ryan, Amanda. In a fight that I didn't think she won. Definitely didn't think she won that fight. But that card is now over and done with. And we just need to get the Saturdays card over and done with. and then we can look ahead to some really fun stuff. Before we start to get to the calls, just real quick, we had on to the next one on Sunday,

read all the picks except for one person's that was Left Lane MMA, and I'll read his right now. I'm just going to get the ones we have not discussed yet. It didn't pop on my desktop. Usually I just copy and paste them so I could eliminate the doubles and the repeats. But let's see what he had. Roses versus Brian Kelleher.

He did say no doo-do because Kelleher is booked, but I guess it's Kelleherher either way. Ferreira versus the Pfeiffer, MAB loser, respected nickel call, but he made the mistake of thinking the UFC is going to give nickel anyone dangerous. Rees versus Stoltzvus, Klein versus Frivolta, opening up the main card in Paris, Prattis

versus Matthews and Perth, Ketona versus Stamen, Marcus versus Martinez. There you go. Thank you, Left Lane, MMA. and let's go to you all. And here what you have to say on this Tuesday. And hopefully we have something to talk about. Hey, Mike, can hear me? Because, man, it is tough, tough, tough hang out there.

Four-on-Sniper, what you got? My bad, Mike. I thought I was delayed. I didn't mean to interrupt you. Oh, you good, you good. All right. Yeah, I just wanted to ask you your thoughts on where I think the UFC should do. Somebody like Zach Reese, who goes in there and.

Four-on-Sniper. Yeah, there we go. Yep, you are. Try back. We'll get you back in. Yeah, it sounds like you driving through some mountains or something. Tyson, go ahead. Hey, what's on, Mike?

Can you hear me? What's up, man? Yep, I got you. All right. Yeah, real quick, I didn't really get a chance to listen on to the next one, and I just joined. So I was kind of curious to know who you had match made with Dominic Reyes and Jared a cannoneer. And so I apologize in advance. I know you already touched on the subject,

but I was curious to know who you had messed up for those two. And I wanted to know how you scored that canonere fight leading up to that stoppage. You know, I kind of had that fight playing in the background while I was gaming. I wasn't really watching that closely. So I wanted to know that as well. And then on Friday, free-for-on-friday, I'd ask you a question about Vulk. I think I hit you with too many questions that you kind of, you forgot to answer it. But I was curious to know what you thought. about Volk, you know, calling out Porre. And, you know, he mentioned that he's willing to step up

if anybody falls out of the main event for 303. So he's kind of like, you know, he's definitely eager to get back in there. And I just kind of wanted to know what your thoughts were on that. That's all I got for you, Mike. Thanks. Thanks, man. Yes, the Volk thing. I mean, I don't know.

I certainly, if there's one person I would not want to see fight June 29th, It's Volcanovsky. After getting brutally knocked out at two consecutive fights, the second one coming four months ago, no interest in that whatsoever. I know he called out Dustin Porre. I think he's very smart, very wise, do that people would pick up on that.

I think he would certainly take the Porre fight, but I don't think Dustin Porriere is all that interested in that idea. I don't think Volcanowski is the type of guy. that's going to be like get Dustin Porre just flying out of bed and over to Coconut Creek to start training, I just don't think that's the fight for him. He was on, did a great interview with Ariel yesterday in the M.A. hour. Feels like he's leaning more towards retirement, Dustin Poria, that is. And I'm going to just reiterate what I've been saying since on to the next one the day after 302.

I think he fights Nate Diaz, and that's it. There's nobody else. I don't, would he fight Connor if they offered him like this gigantic pay bump to do so? Yeah, but I think a headache might be something that he factors in there. I think it's Nate or it's nobody or he slides into a title fight because he has to be like a short notice replacement or something. I don't think Volk does it for him. I don't think there's a lot of lightweights that do it for him. Maybe Gaichi in like a year and a half or something.

But yeah. the only thing I think that would get Dustin just immediately back into training camp is Nate and that's it because I don't think a title fight is really realistic right now for him so yeah as far as Volt goes

I mean if he's easier to get back in there who's he going to fight he's not going to it doesn't seem like he's going to get a title shot even though he probably deserves to get one back he's probably going to have to wait to see how Ilya and Max plays out which you know, could be September, October, who the hell knows at this point?

Which means Volks gonna wait for that, or is he gonna fight somebody else? Does he fight Bobzar of Loya? Does he try to go for that fight? I don't know. So, it'd be cool to see him back. We'd like to see him at the end of the year,

but he ain't fighting Porier, I can assure you of that. And I'm not really sure where he goes. As far as the Otno picks, we did not match make for Canaan Air because he didn't win but I don't know

probably fights like Icram Alaskaroff somebody like that Tio Barallio somebody in that neck of the woods that's kind of where he is at this point

so yeah I would say Icram Alaskarf is probably who they're going to try to throw at him because Icram's going to go out there and do Icrum things on Saturday as a almost minus 1,000 favorite.

He's going to create a highlight reel. And I think they're going to be like, hey, Jared, fight this dude. I'm not saying he says yes, but that's who I think they will offer him. And he's really not in a position where he can be like, eh, don't really feel like it. But it's going to be an up-and-comer. And then Dominic Reyes, no-brainer, Anthony Smith. That's the fight to make.

Let's just go ahead and do that. Kowloon City, go ahead. Being. you know, entertaining or coming through. So what is the threshold that you need to say a card was good or you were impressed with a card? I don't understand the point of trashing a card, but before we get to see how it plays out, aside from that, dude, there was like five prospects that made their mark on this card. You had the feel good story of Reyes. Imov moves into possible title contention. I don't understand someone who covers the sport to use the language. Like, we just

need to get by these cards. We need to get through this week. If you're so pro fighter, shouldn't you be typing these guys up and, and I'm wanting to see these prospects make rounds in this sport, dude? I just am a little confused sometimes. Thanks for taking a call. Well, if you are the best promotion on Earth, give us something to get excited about. This is not what it is. I like stakes. I like guys fighting for something. That's what I want to see. Yes, they're fighting for a second paycheck. Yes, they're fighting to become stars. But I think we all understand at this point,

very few of these fighters, probably none of them who competed on Saturday are going to be breakout stars. Zero of them. Maybe Roses, but once he turns 20, I think the shine goes off of him altogether. Yes, Dombeck Race winning was great. It was a great moment. Imovov, like, good, solid win,

but he's still two wins away from a title shot, at least. The main event did nothing for me. It just didn't. It was just two dudes with rankings fighting each other. Like next Saturday, Saudi, that's a card. This is what we deserve. And you as a fan should demand more. You should demand more from these cards.

But what we see at Louisville, what we see in St. Louis, they're just throwing darts, giving you fights after throwing those darts, and people don't give a shit. They're just going to pay the money anyway. So it doesn't matter. Like, the UFC isn't going to change the way they build cards because they know that fans will literally spend $1,000 to go watch any two people fist fight at this point. So yes, I've been a fan for a very long time.

And I remember a time where every card mattered. Every fight mattered. We're not there anymore. We're just not. We just, we watch fights in between our fingers and we hope for good things to happen. But they're not fighting for anything outside of just glory and a second paycheck, which to those guys is great. And yes, I am pro fighter. And I want them to shine.

But when you bury them on a card that no one's going to watch, then who cares? If a tree falls in a forest but no one's around to hear it doesn't make a sound? If no one's gonna... Like, you think people are gonna stay home on Saturday

and watch this card live? You really think that? Oh, there's a barbecue at a friend's house with all the dudes I went to high school with. Nah, I have to stick around and watch UFC Vegas 93

with fights that outside of... Is Tatsuro Taira legit? they're just dudes fighting each other. So yes, I'm allowed to have that opinion. I'm allowed to have that opinion. Just like I have the same opinion about PFL not doing anything really glorious. The coolest thing this past weekend was Eddie Hall fighting two dudes.

Like, that was the coolest thing that happened in the sport last weekend. So yes, it's okay for people to want the best product we could possibly get. instead of just rifling through a bunch of fights to chuck on an apex card. So, yeah, if you want to call me a hater, call me a hater. But Saudi's a pretty damn good card. 303 isn't spectacular, but at least it's Connor coming back. So people are going to be all up in arms for that. They're going to be very excited for that.

Denver card. Look at the Denver card. That card looks pretty frigging good. I have nothing to complain about there. but yes, to want and hope for more from the best in the sport of what they have to offer, yeah, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Let's go to Lee.

What's up, Lee? Hey, I was calling and I went to Agnes if you hadn't seen any of those data blogs that are coming out about the UFC behind the scenes and what you thought about those. That was it. The Fight Inc thing? I haven't watched him yet

I saw some clips what I'm seeing on social media is people were like stunned to see Hunter Campbell have so much power yet we've been telling you for two years that Hunter Campbell runs the UFC it's not Dana Dana like has decision making power

sure he is essentially like the face of the company Dana White is the star of the UFC he's the quote unquote promoter. But Hunter Campbell runs the show. He's been running the show for a long time. He's the one that books the fights.

He's the one that does the contracts. He's the one that makes sure everything gets put together correctly and people are seeing that now. And people are surprised by this. We've been telling you forever that Dana is just kind of the face, but Hunter runs the company, is the one

running the show. And people get it. And people seem to like Hunter, even though he's, I don't know, even though he's the guy who's running the show and doing things that the UFC's,

we know about the UFC's business practice, like right there. People were like, oh, the Hunter's badass. It's pretty funny just seeing the reaction to this, but no,

I haven't watched it yet. I just saw like some clips. And the only other clip I saw was Dana going to Ali and saying, all right, we're going to do Shafcott versus Usman. And then Ali's saying,

no, Ushu wants to fight Wonderboy. And Dana was like, what? What are you talking about? Why? So there you go. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage,

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Let's go to Barbara Russo. Why do you think a lot of top-level fighters sign with Ali? I don't see it because he seems like His fighters always go on 10-fight win streak to get a title shot, and he seems to be doing what the UFC demands, but always the top-level fighters want to be with him. I just can't understand this. And do you see with the win for Connor McGregor, is he going for a title shot, or he's going to call Nate Diaz? do you think because I think either way if he decide for the title shot it's going to be a bad

thing and the lightweight picture because I see him easily going to take the place of Arman. Thank you Mike. I mean if Connor goes out and beats Michael Chandler and then let's and then at least agrees in principle to signing a new contract then Connor gets whatever he wants. Plain and simple. If he wants to fight Leon Edwards, if Leon beats Ballol, cool. You got it. I actually think that would probably be what I think would happen.

Not saying that like one fight is easier than the other, but Connor becoming the first three division champion in UFC history, I think is more compelling to him than fighting Islam. Both fights are massive. Both fights are gigantic. But yeah, whatever Connor wants, as long as he lets the UFC know that I'm coming back, I'm going to resign for a whole bunch of more fights

and then basically going to end my fighting career with you guys, then whatever he wants, he will get. Whatever he wants he will get. As far as the other question goes with why fighters sign with Ali, not really my question to answer, but I think you sort of answered it yourself. Ali has a very good relationship with the UFC, much better than most managers have.

That's why his fighters oftentimes get call-ups pretty quickly. Yes, there are. certain fighters who have to wait a long time to get title fights, Blal in particular. But, yeah, man, I don't know.

I don't know. You'd have to ask them. But this is exactly why, this is exactly why we need PFL to be good. This is exactly why. Because right now, the best thing a fighter can do

is go fight for the UFC, just so they can potentially get some sort of notoriety. But if PFL is like somewhere in the vicinity of interest, then maybe they can produce that as well. And most fighters who have chosen PFL over UFC in terms of free agency are going to make a whole lot more money. The problem is nobody cares about PFL right now. Nobody.

The PFLO brand is just, boy it's it's really tough outside of cedric dunebay cedric dunebe and the cedric dunebe highlight reel all of that that is intriguing that is the by far the most interesting thing they have going on right now is cedric dunebay but they can't he can't fight on every card i mean they could you just go to paris every month and just have him fight a dude that he could rinse in 90 seconds

and that's cool but other than that there's just nothing interesting about them right now it's tough because there was so much excitement with them in November after absorbing Bellator

and they did the Bellator versus PFL card which went the way most people thought it would go and then you know the season started and no one cared Bellator events

no one cared it's just it's so tough to like see them just fall so far behind in the UFC, like not really doing a whole lot to like make those moves forward, but yet they're still making them without even trying. And PFL seems to think that they've already won the game. It's just so annoying.

It's so frustrating. We need PFL to be good. We really, really do. And I would love to just come on this show and talk about the great moves they made, the savvy they have, the big fights on the horizon. But we don't have it. We don't have it right now. And it sucks.

It sucks. It's too bad. But as long as that's the way that this, this, this, this MMA space works right now. It's UFC 1A plus. And then everybody else is like three, four, five, six and beyond. It's tough. It's a tough place to be. Four corner sports, go ahead.

Four corner sports. Go ahead. Four corner sports. We've got to get you a better connection, my man. Left lane, are you there? So Mike, can you hear me? Yes. Apologies, because I did join late, so I don't want to.

I read your picks, by the way. You read my books? Thank you. But I've got a couple things to just rattle off quickly. Obviously, you saw the signing of Kai Asakura recently. That's going to be really fun. I watched a couple of his highlights when I heard the news just to sort of refresh my memory. And while I don't think he's going to be like a top five dude,

I think he can still have a lot of fun with him in the top, like, 10, top 15 be interested to see who they go with for the debut i would assume that means what they're doing a fight night in japan or something i know it's unlikely and i know there's rumors going around that yuri versus alex is going to be for 305 um but like how sick would it be if you did yuri versus alex in japan obviously we know yri's over like come from rison maybe like get minel cap on there get tatsura attura attaara get kaiasakura they could do a really sick japan card. I don't think they're going to, but that'd be cool. Also, Burns v. Brady, I know it's not official, but you guys reported it's in the works.

I got to say, I think Burns would win that fight quite easily. I really don't see where Brady's going to have much success there. And then just looking briefly forward to this weekend, I know the card is not good. I'm not going to try and, like, sell everyone on this must-watch lineup of fights. but I do think it'll be a fun watch again. Apart from Iqram and then there's one other fight, there's no fights above middleweight, and there's only one middleweight fight and one welterweight fight.

We've got four flyweight fights, so I think you're doing no-bet spot, if I'm not mistaken. Could we be looking at like a flyweight underpally? But yeah, I do think that pretty much all the fights are like featherweight, bantamweight flyweight for the most part. So I think it'll actually be a pretty fun watch in terms of like technique. there shouldn't be much sloggy heavyweight action. But yeah, looking forward to seeing Tattoo Retire,

think he can show good things hopefully. But yeah, Kai Sekira, Burns v. Brady. Yeah, that's about it. And also, do you think they will end up going the rematch with Canineo and Amavow? Or do you think the UFC just don't care enough? Thanks, Mike. They better not do a rematch between those two guys.

At least not immediately. You want to revisit that in like two years? Go right ahead. but we don't need to see that fight again. We don't need to see it. The stoppage is bad, but it's not the worst. And again, like I said at the top of the show, I don't think it changed anything.

I think we knew how that fight was going to end. I think we knew whose hand was going to be raised. And it was Nasda Di Animovath. I had him up two rounds to one. He was clearly winning the fourth, on his way to a 10-8 in the fourth, having Cannonier badly hurt. He was going to win the fight.

So I don't have The stoppage is really bad But it's also Not the worst I've ever seen So no This no no no no no no If they run this one back It will

It'll hurt my soul Does that mean we have to run back Anglosa and Brian battle No We don't need to run back fights That have like a smittering of doubt We just don't need to do that So no

Zero interest in that whatsoever. What else? What else? What else? What else? Look, again, if you sit down, if you choose to just stay home and watch the card Saturday, like it's not going to be the worst day of your life. Okay?

It's not. But it's going to be a tough one. It's going to be a tough one. So as we like to say, we don't say this all the time. Jed says it more than I do. but this one in particular, I think it makes a lot of sense. If you have other plans, go do those plans on Saturday. Stay with M.A. fighting.

We will keep you updated on the results. If there's a cool moment, our great social team will clip them off and put it on socials. We'll put it in articles. We will keep you posted on what is happening on Saturday. But if you have other stuff to do, I highly recommend you take pardon in those things. But yes, there are some fights. flyweight under parlay not happening here uh tegir lewin back off is tough as sue alabayev is tough um a lot of decision guys in those flyweight fights so yeah and then usakura good signing good stuff

i like the signing not sure who he's going to fight not sure how high you can go but good signing can't hurt. Can't hurt. Just boost gives an extra little bit of a boost to the second best division in the sport. Banimoy. And in the UFC.

Still very far behind lightweight, but still clear number two, and this signing certainly helps. Acolytos, go ahead. Never mind. Four course sports, do we have you now? So, Dominic Grays ended up getting

that big win on Saturday. And I know you guys match made for him to fight Anthony Smith. I know, and I put down for Nikita Krylov just because I feel like that fight would be crazy. But what do you think is the ceiling for

Dominic Grace now that he's able to get his first win since 2019? I'm not sure if he's ever going to be the type of person to hold a title. Obviously, many of us believe that he ended up defeating John Jones. I know we have the biggest John Jones supporter on the chat right now in New York Rick.

And I do feel that maybe it was just a confidence issue with Reyes. I know that he's been very cheney as a late, and I didn't think that he was going to get flatlined by Ryan Spann. I'm just interested to see how high is this ceiling. And I want to know if Aspenol Winner, on the 27th of July and Jones wins you know in New York do you feel we what do you feel is more likely do you feel like John Jones would actually give the title shot to Tom Aspinall or do you feel like he will pull something out of his hat and finds a type of way on giving a title shot to Alex Pereira to avoid Tom Aspinall that's all I got thanks I don't know I can't I can't

again, John Johns' his head. I just can't. I think he's gonna, he's essentially going to do what Dustin Porre is doing, in my opinion, where he shuts the door, maybe locks the bottom lock, but he leaves the deadbolt open,

if you will, and he's going to wait for something interesting to come along. There's no guarantee Alex Furre is going to be Yuri Perashko. We assume, like, that rematch is next. There's no guarantee he wins that fight. And then even if he does, like, if they need him for something and he has to fight like magabedank alia for something like there's no guarantee he wins

that fight so i think jones is going to kind of sit back and wait tom beats curtis like yeah i think the demand for that fight gets bigger but john is a price fighter john wants to make all the money right now and even though most of us don't want to see it john jones versus stepey makes more money than john jones versus tom aspin all right now it just does Steppe is a much more known commodity than Tom is. I'm not saying Tom can't get there. But John will wait. It's just going to wait and see if Tom can actually get there.

So I don't know. I don't know. Jed's going to keep trying to gaslight John. And there's a lot of people that will jump on that train with Jed. But people also forget with this whole gaslight John Jones campaign that John has hurt. The dude is hurt. It's needed like two surgeries, like two really bad injuries. So, I mean, if we're really getting technical about it,

John hasn't avoided or ducked anybody because he physically cannot fight anybody. So maybe we wait and just kind of see how this all goes. And maybe we'll wait and see if he ends up fighting Steepa in November. This is a lot of time between now and November. So, but you have to think at this point, If it doesn't happen in November and Mass Square Garden, the UFC will move on. What will they move on too? Not really sure.

But, yeah, it's tough to get in John's head. Very tough to get in John's head. And then the ceiling for Dominic Reyes, tough to say. Tough to say. Do I think he's going to be a top five guy? No. Do I think he gets near a title fight? No.

Will he get a couple wins? Sure. Will we watch his fights? moving forward, at least for the next few, and feel like he's not going to get absolutely violently lamped in there? I think so. I think so. Like, Dustin Jacoby's a fine fighter,

but he's not a top 10 guy. He's not a guy that was going out and just melting everybody that he fought. It was really good matchmaking. Like, he was just excellent matchmaking from the UFC. It was perfect. and what's Dustin now? Is he lost what, four to five or five out of six or something like that? Two straight and four out of five.

His one win in the last five fights is Kennedy and Cheshoku who has not looked great lately. And I did think he beat Khalil Roundtree when they fought in October of 2022. He definitely lost a Burz de Kahn off. He definitely lost the men of three. field. And then Domina Gras

knocked him on two minutes. And let's not forget, like Dustin Jacoby is 36. He's 36. So good win. That's why I want the Anthony Smith fight. Both these guys, both thought John,

both went to a decision with John. Both guys are probably, I mean, look, there's their names, and Anthony Smith somehow finds his way still in these title conversations, hoping that his availability will mean everything.

but these are two guys in their upper 30s that haven't fought each other and have been employed by the UFC for a really long time. It just makes sense to have those guys fight. I'd rather see Dominic Reyes fight Anthony Smith than see Dominic Reyes fight. I don't know. I mean, Anka Liff wouldn't make a whole lot of sense meritocratically. But, like, I don't want to see Dominic Reyes fight Carlos Olberg.

Like, I didn't want to see that fight. That fight would have not ended well for him. Well, let's throw him in there with some vets. Like, I don't want to see Ray's fight Khalil Roundtree. Don't need to see that. Him and Anthony Smith is perfect. It's perfect matchmaking. But, yeah, the ceiling is kind of where he's at right now.

Top 7, 8, maybe. Don't love the Kree-Law fight. Don't hate it, but I don't love it. I'd rather just do the Anthony Smith fight. There's a history there. Kreeloff is at least in the discussion to fight for a belt. I mean, he's got work to do because his division's a mess. But he's at least in the mix, and I don't think Tom McReyas is.

Four on Ziper, go ahead. All right. How about now? Can you hear me? Got you, got you. All right, let me try to make this quick because I'm in an area with rough connection. First of all, I was going to say, Zach Reese. I think that was his eighth fight or seventh fight.

his fights have ended in round one. All of them, I think, by knockout maybe. I don't remember. But I would like to see him on the pay-per-view maybe later on this year. He seems like the perfect opener for a pay-per-view card. If you're trying to get the fans excited and get him hype for the night,

you know, he's going to go out there and either get it done or get finished, you know, within the first, like, minute and a half or two minutes. And then also I wanted your Otno pick for Jared Cannonier. I think he's 40 now. He is, you know, still looking real good. pause he's in good shape but i wanted to know what you thought about you know his next few uh what am i

saying uh what do you think is up next for him and how long do you think he has in the sport being that he is 40 thanks mike uh it's tough to say how long he's got left i mean dude looks pretty damn good getting off the bus for a 40 year old dude's in tremendous shape he looked fine in the um of the fight it's not like he looked washed but he clearly looks like his best days are behind him. So that's that's sort of something to think about. But yeah, I matched him. I honestly think the first name they're going to offer him is Zichram Alaskarraf.

Because Zikram Alaskarif is going to go out there and get a quick finish on Saturday against Antonio Tricoli. He's a minus. So when the show started, Alaskarf was a minus 900 favorite on draft Kings or minus 925. he's up to a minus 11 in 40 minutes. He jumped up 175 points in 40 minutes on draft kings. He's going to hurt this man real bad, and he's going to have a highlight reel. So I honestly think they're going to,

that's the first fight they're going to try to offer him. Because if you don't, if you recall, after just one UFC fight, Dana White did one of his yelling Instagram videos and announced that Icramalus Scaref was going to fight Paulo Costa, UFC 291. Remember that? So they're going to try to push this dude.

They're going to try to give him something big. So I could see Canada Air being that phone call. Will he get it? Not sure. But he's either going to fight Icrum, Kyle Boralio, somebody on the come-up is who he's going to fight. Maybe Michelle Pereira,

something like that, maybe Fluffy Hernandez, somewhere in that vicinity. Because I think the best thing that could have happened to him was he should have went all in it. And he tried. He tried. He needed to get the Hamza Tchamaya fight.

He needed that one. Real bad. Because even him beating Himovov, like, is a fine win. But he still, everyone was like, oh, yeah, he's going to get a title shot if he beats Yemovov. Or he's definitely in a number one contender. fight and I just don't think that's true. And it's no fault of his own.

It's just think of all the conversations we've had in the last year about Jared Canada or about the middleweight division in general. How many times after Sean Strickland got a title shot when he was getting ready to fight Israel out of Sonia and we talked about the landscape of middleweight and all the guys that could fight and step in? Case in point. New York Creek was here. during all this, he was a big voice.

Remember, we're trying to figure out who should fight Israel Adasani in September? And this is before we knew how bad Jared Canaaner's injury was. Oh, we need somebody to step in and fight Adasani in September. How many times did Canaaner's name come up? Bo Nichols' name came up more than Jared Canaaner's name came up. So he's just in a real tough spot. he's going to kind of be Jeff Nealish of the middleweight division

where if you're going to be a top 10 dude at 185 you're going to have to beat Jerry Ked and Air but I think the title hopes are behind him there's still some fights for him probably some main events for him on some fight nights or the apex

but in terms of getting to a title fight probably not happening now he really needed that Shemaya fight to happen and it didn't. So, and then took a tough loss. Zach Rees, he's fun, man. Like, he is the 2024 version of Jordan Wright. Dude just gets in there and gets out real quick.

He's, to quote Michael Chandler, he's not here for a good, for a long time, he's here for a good time. He does it very, very fast. He's very Jordan Wrightish. He either, he's get her, get got. So I middleweight is fun. He's a get got. All-Star.

I don't think he's ever been to a second round ever in his career. And you need guys like that. You need guys like that. He's just fun. And luckily for him, there's a lot of guys at 185 that are like that. They just go out there and just get after it. Just swing him until somebody falls. Julian, him, them matching him up with Julian Marcus is perfect.

is Julian's the exact same way. Bruno Faheda is another guy who is just super fun, get her get got. Fluffy Hernandez, get her get got. Even, you know, Gregory Rodriguez is kind of one of those guys. It's a little more mature, a little more patient, but he's one of those guys. Even Gerald Mearshardt is one of those guys.

This division is Mikhail O'Zechek who just fought Kevin Holland. And there's so many of them. There's so many guys in this division that fight just like that. Dustin Stoltzvus who just fought on Saturday is another guy that just goes in there and gets after it just go Todorovich. There's so many middleweights that just get after it

and Zach Rees is just a perfect addition to this to this weight class just go in, get in there, get out of there, let the chips fall where they may and then on to the next fight. So yeah, great addition. Great addition.

Like him a lot. He did lose to Cody Brundage, did get knocked out. So I think there are some people out there who are going to look at that as kind of a red flag to something. I think Cody Brandage is better than a lot of other people give him credit for. But, yeah, middleweight is just fun. Like, it's way more fun with this year with just all the guys they have right now who are just action fighters and even some star potential across the board. Just look at the top of the division.

It's fun as hell. Okay, I think we're done here. Look, we got 45 minutes out of this program with very little to talk about. So much respect to all of you for providing some good questions. And, oh, boy, let's see if we can get them in. We tried before our old friend Achilles Jr. Hey, what's up, Mike? Yo.

Do you think Alex Perez is one fight away from the title? Say he gets a good finish this weekend. Does he still have one more fight before? you can get a title fight? For sure. For sure. Because right now, Ali Pants ain't fighting until probably

the end of the year. And you would think for sure that the Minel Kopp Muhammad-Makaya fights is going to decide who the next challenger is going to be.

And you would also think that the winner of this fight on Saturday should probably be ready for UFC 305. Be on standby. If that phone rings, answer it in case something happens with cop or

the other way around. Amir al-Bazi is there as well, so he's looking for somebody to fight. You know, Brandon Royval is coming off of that win against Brandon Moreno. I think he's got, I think he's still got some work to do, man.

Like, this is a good win. Like, that was a good win for him against Mateus Nicola. Like, he really needed it. But we have to also remember, like, that one saved his job. Like, it probably saved his job. That would have been four losses in a row. And there were to super good dudes.

Don't get me wrong. But it's kind of where he was at right now. So, yeah, he needs at least another win after this, maybe two. And it's not like Perez has never fought for the belt. He fought for the belt. All right. We'll take one more. if we get the Wheel of Doom

to end. Maybe not. Trying to get Ae O'Dell in here, but it's not looking good. All right. Wheel of Doom wins again. But we're done. Thank you all very much. Appreciate you all.

We'll be back on Friday. Back here again, we'll do it once more. We will have BTL on Thursday. Family's just all coming down and staring at me. I don't understand why. But, all right, we'll see you guys Friday. 10 a.m. Eastern. We'll do it again.

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