MMA Fighting - HOAM | Where Does Marlon Vera Go After Henry Cejudo Withdrawal From UFC 292?

Episode Date: June 30, 2023

Henry Cejudo announced on Thursday that a shoulder injury has scratched him from his UFC 292 matchup with Marlon Vera in Boston. While Vera is calling for a fight with Petr Yan, if the former champion is not available, should Vera remain on the card to face another ranked bantamweight? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to Cejudo's withdrawal and where Vera could go after losing a big-time matchup. Additionally, listener questions include UFC 290, Ilia Topuria's title hopes after his big win over Josh Emmett, Aljamain Sterling possibly moving to 145 pounds after facing Sean O'Malley, the MMA media landscape, the best play-by-play announcers in sports, how Jim Ross would fare calling UFC fights, how Jon Anik would do calling WWE matches, 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 Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, 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. And it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter spaces. You hear the show in its entirety. Shortly thereafter, on the M.M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network

and apparently here, because the recording setting is on the space and I have no idea why, but oh well, it is what it is. We are on the eve of UFC Vegas 76, which goes down tomorrow afternoon, 4 p.m. Eastern time for the prelims 7 p.m. main card on the East Coast and the main event. A weird one, but it's happening. Sean Strickland, Abus Maga Madoff. We got Grant Dawson, Demir's Magulov. It's not a bad card.

It's not a great car, but it's not bad. It's just a weird main event. And usually when the headliner has people scratching their heads, that kind of makes people feel a little strange about stuff. But it's not a bad card. Co-Maine's great. There's other pretty good fights on here. There's a lot of potential squash matches on this card.

Joannis and Brito versus Weston Wilson. That's just very strange. We get heavyweighty, heavyweights. Romanov and Yvanov. That's the first fight of the card. Holy smokes. Guram Kutat Talazzae is back. It's a big favorites.

Guram is a minus 675 favorite. Joyner Sanbrito minus 1250. To be honest, and Western Wilson is a sweetheart. But that line should probably be higher than that. Melissa Gatto is a pretty big favorite Ismail Bonfem's pretty big favorite Bruno Ferreira is pretty big favorite Fokritinov minus 205 over Kevin Lee

probably the most interesting thing on the entire card if you ask me in terms of intrigue and what do I want to see the most and what questions do I have about this card? One has a card today it's an MMA weekend everybody and it's also a free-for-all Friday

so we can talk about MMA or if you need a breather from MMA talk about other stuff whatever's on your mind. So I'm just going to go in order as I see them, because I have no idea who got on first and who didn't. So, Toke, you lead us off. Actually kind of glanced it there before.

With the first fight of the night, what a fall from grace for two ranked heavyweights to just on this random card, which is, I mean, there's a good fight on here. But I remember them actually trying to push Alexander Romano at some point. And then he started gassing and being a middling, sorry, a heavyweighty heavyweight. He started being, oh, my God, it started getting hard to watch.

And this fight, I know, I think, I have a theory why they've put it here at the bottom. This fight might be the acquiesce fight of the year. This, I'm sorry, these two are not. than not exciting fighters. Black or Ivanov, he looks, I mean, he has the heart of steel and cannot be put down by anything. And Alexander Romanov, he might be really good at wrestling for a round, and then he might just gas out.

And what do we get for round two and three then? This might just be, I'm predicting, splitting splity city to start the card in a fight when no one wins, and not even the fans Mike I mean what a what a way to start things off and like earlier in the week

the first fight was going to be the Kutat-de-Latze that was Brenner fight and then they switched it around I have no idea how this fight's going to go I'm interested to see what Ramonov looks like on the scale because I

selfishly I went and just like looked at his Instagram just to see if there were like any training photos or anything like that. Didn't really see a whole bunch of those. Just him living the dream. So I'm curious what he looks like. If he's like a fluffy 265 like he was the last time, this is going to be a real ugly one.

If he's coming in all ripped and shredded, could be a different story. I mean, have I pumped the brakes on Alexander Romano? 1,000%. I thought he was going to be a guy that was going to be challenging for a belt. Throwing that dude in Salt Lake City. was just an awful idea.

This fight's going to the cards. Like, it's just going to. And it's got to be, it's pretty much everything Tocke is saying it's going to be. And for Ramanov, if he could just get, if he can have a Romanovish first round,

but not just completely gas, and then land another takedown at any point in either the second and third round, he's going to win a decision. And Blagoe, Ivanov doesn't get stopped and he doesn't stop anybody else. So this is going to the cards. Let me see what the over-under odds are.

Over one and a half minus 205 for a heavyweight fight. Featuring a guy who just finishes pretty much everybody. That's wild. But yes, that is going to be, as my best friend likes to say, that is going to be it's going to be a fight it will go down in the record books as a fight

let's go to Cole what up Cole morning Mike um morning I enjoyed listening to you New York Rick and Jed shoot it on BTL yesterday um

although I do have a bit of a bone to pick with New York Rick um he said elia Tuporia he put the label that he's puts on so few fighters of a sure-fire title holder. He said he only puts it on people like Hamza Tchamaya.

So he says a guy like Tupuria fits that bill. Yet I bet if you asked him who he'd pick in a Volcanovsky-Tupria fight, he'd probably say Volkanovsky, which it's like, put your money where your mouth is. If you're going to say this kid's the next title holder, he's got to be able to beat that guy, or else you're just saying, oh, down the line, if he loses the belly, he can beat another guy like Josh Emmett.

It's like, yeah, no, duh. Another bone I got to pick with New York, Rick, is he says the reason this Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg fight isn't happening is because they don't want to get embarrassed on a stage like that. Number one, I'm pretty sure Mark Zuckerberg is, like, rolling around on the jujitsu mat is getting choked out by little kids all day, so I don't think he really cares about being embarrassed. and you got Elon Musk who's like the most self-deprecating dude on the internet so I just don't buy that I think that fight's definitely going to happen that's all I got your thoughts so the the second part I mean look at this point I'm I'm ready for anything if it happens cool I will convince myself to find something positive in it

and I truly hope, honestly, that the UFC has nothing to do with this fight. I think they will have something to do with it if it happens, but I hope they have nothing to do with it. I do appreciate Dana saying, we're going to charge $100 for the pay-per-view, or we're going to raise a bunch of money for charity. Cool. I will be okay with the UFC promoting this if 100% of everything,

goes to charity. Because I know, like, this just seems like a money grab for the UFC. This isn't, oh, we're going to get the fans that they want to see. No, this is them trying to make a floppy trillion dollars. If the UFC cuts themselves out of it and still promotes it with the same enthusiasm, and it's all about charity, then cool. I'm on board. But there's no, I just don't see a whirl where that happens.

With the Zuck thing, yeah, maybe he's getting choked out by a little kids, but it's not being filmed for the world to see. So I do think there could be a tinge of embarrassment on the Zuck side. I don't think Elon Musk gives the shit what anybody thinks of him. So I kind of get your gripe, but not fully on your side, if that makes sense. And to defend New York Rick with the Tuporia thing, he tabbed him as a future champion, but not the next champion. At some, he's basically saying at some point in time he's going to hold that title. same way i view arm in surruchian at some point that dude is going to be the ufc lightweight champion

it's just a matter of when it's not if it's a matter of when and for sarukian i think it could be a minute before he gets up there and fights for the belt but to pouria that dude should be if vulcanowski beat chey a rhodriguez he should one thousand percent be fighting volkinovsky i know everybody wants max holly fight i am a thousand percent in agreement with Jed Mishu on this. The only way I want to see that fight is if there's a belt on the line. If Tepori is the champion, he fights Holloway or Volt vacates and goes to 55 and they do those two guys for the vacant belts or something like that, then I'm fine with it.

But Tepore doesn't need to fight anybody else, in my opinion. He should just get a title shot. I want to see him fight for the belt. There's nobody else. there's nobody else. Yahya Rodriguez is going to fight. If Volk wins, there's literally nobody else there right now. That's interesting or even poses a threat to Volkadovsky.

And I think Tupori opposes a threat to Bolkinovsky. But like I said yesterday, we just, we need to appreciate Volkanowski while we have him. I don't think this dude's going to be fighting for like, like I think in 2026, maybe these are the last Volcanovsky fight. if then, I don't think he's got much more left. Not because he can't do it. I just think he's just like, all right, I'm going to stockpile money and save it up

and just make as much money as I can and then be done. So I can spend time with my family and do cooking shows and whatever he wants to do he's going to be successful at. So I'm kind of with New York. I get where New York Rick's coming from. But I also don't understand where he's coming from with the whole Maxwell I think. I think the more I thought about it, the more I just was like, I just think he just wants to see those two guys fight more than that's the fight that should be made.

But, yeah, Tuporia Volkovsky. If Volk wins next Saturday, and I think he's going to, and it's going to be a close fight, and Yair is going to get his Shalaks in, that's for sure. end of the year November December do that fight please do it

because I want to see it and I think a lot of people would like to see it as well Tristan Hey Mike can you hear me yep I want to talk about this so we saw Sehudo's out

against this fight against Cheeto Vera I don't know now what the U.S. he does with Cheeto So I guess Henry Suhudo said that he had, I believe, a shoulder injury. So now who knows how long that's going to take. But I guess they could match up Henry Sehudo versus Marab now because they're both going to be recovering from injuries.

So I guess you can make that fight. Or I think Sehudo also talked about dropping down the flyway to fight Marino. So we'll see with that. I don't know what it puts now. do you just, I can't see them getting another another guy in time to fight Cheetah. Can you get Peoria on? I don't know where Peoria on is at this point.

I mean, these injuries are taking a toll. And like you said, too many fights, too many fights on the car and too many top guys are getting hurt. I'm hearing also rumors that Sean Brady got hurt. So he's out and I'm hearing, so he might be out. I don't know if that's confirmed. You got to let me know if it's confirmed. that he's out against his fight against JDM.

Now the USC is looking for another fight to take his place. And who can you get in time for that? Where are you going to get Neil Magnet? A quick turnaround. You better pay him so much money that he'll do it. But you're not going to be happy about that. So, Mike, just let me know what's going on with this. This is concerning.

I know I'm concerned for Sean Brady now. This is the second time you had to pull out due to injury leading up to a fight. I believe what the first time he had a staff. injury and his foot or something like that. So I'm concerned about his well-being if he's going to be okay moving forward. So, and, you know, it's just hurting the quality of these cards.

I'm also hearing. And then now I'm getting concerned for Tantanosaurus because she was talking about when she fought, when Tateano Svors had fought Montella Delarosa, she said her back was bothering her. So I don't even know now if she could fight the way

she usually fights when she fought Alexa Grasso and when she fought Carlos Faso, that grinding, grueling pace. I don't even, now I'm concerned if she could even find. Now she has to probably fight another way. Her striking is going to have to improve one immensely now. So I don't even know she could fight the way she usually fights. So that's concerning. It's just, Mike, these injuries are killing me.

And I just, these guys, you're not getting these fighters in maximum performance. That's why I'm a big proponent of fighters fighting twice a year, because they need the time to recover the body. I know you're not going to be 100%, but at least be close to it. And then the UFC doesn't care. They don't care, and that is even more upsetting because you guys don't care about your fighters.

Because if you cared, you'd be covering them as far as when they're going through injuries, they get the proper recovery time. And at least, yo, let's make sure they're good because we're hurting the product when they're not at maximum capacity. This is ridiculous, man. I know I'm fired up.

And this is ridiculous. And it's just, it's sad. And I just, And I got to just be like, well, I got to take it. I got no other choice. And it's just like, now, it's getting to the point. I'm going to start turning away. I was just like, I can't do this anymore.

These fighters are getting hurt. And it's just concerning. And I'm not, and then we're wondering why they're losing because they're losing because they're not fighting at close to their 100 maximum capacity. Max, maximum capacity because we know, like, when we see a fighter lose, and we know, like, that dude is better than that guy. I know it. But something had to be going on as far as, did he recover in time?

for the injury. And I know you could, and then we could bring up, well, Charles Olivaire had, could recover injury. Okay, maybe, maybe, you know, I don't know, maybe he was able to, you know, there's some fighters that could overcome it and still put a great performance, but most of that percentage, that goes down over time, because the body could take so much. I don't know, man. Mike, I don't know if you have any answers. You probably don't, we don't, we don't, I don't know, all right, bye. Look, here's the thing. And you're, this is coming from, Look, I was never a professional athlete or anywhere near it. But I could tell you this.

Anytime I was banged up, anytime I was hurt, I tried to fight through a broken wrist, like a literal broken wrist to play football. I got called up my senior year or my freshman year. and I was very excited, obviously, and first practice, we were doing a drill, and I had to go up against this big, absolute giant, and I was a little skinny kid back then. And I tried to run his ass over,

and he picked me up, and, I mean, he picked me up and belly to back suplex me, but not like overhead, just, like, wrestling takedown. And my left wrist, was like on my belly, my whole, all my weight dropped and his weight was on top of mine and you could hear it snap.

You could hear it. And I was just like, hey, good hit. And I'm just like, my wrist is dangling. And I'm trying to get back in line just to like keep going. And coach is like, what the hell are you doing? I'm like, nothing. It's all right.

He goes, are you injured or you hurt? I'm like, I'm just dinged up. I'll be fine. And like, he's just looking at my wrist. And he's like, all right, give me a high five. And I try to give him a high five. He goes, no, at the other hand. And I'm just like,

bleh. And he's like, get the fuck out. And like, you just try to fight through all the pain and all the, like, you just want to fight through it. So while I understand the pay structure and all that and we want 100% health insurance for fighters and all that, there is the competitive side where you're just like, damn it, like, this is an opportunity. I don't want to let it squander.

I will play hurt. I will play injured. I will do whatever I need to do. do. That's just how it works. So there is a, there is a tinge of that to keep in mind as well. Going through the other stuff, I had honestly, before I did the show yesterday, I had heard rumblings that the Sean Brady, Jack Delam Adelaidella Madelaine that fight was in jeopardy. Hadn't confirmed it, but I had, I was told by a couple different people that that fight might not be happening. We haven't fully confirmed it. I would say if you were a betting man,

If you were betting on whether or not that fight's going to happen, I probably bet the fight's not going to happen. And on top of that, there's a video that surfaced from the grappling event last night of JDM and Joaquin Buckley kind of having a conversation. Walking Buckley said, yeah, they called me to take the fight. And he's like, this is no way I can make 170.

Or maybe 185 at this point. So Buckley said, let's just do it in Sydney. which is fine. I don't think you need to keep JDM on this card. That fight was great, but it was kind of flying under the radar. It's not like a spotlight fight to the casual viewing audience. So if I'm them, you just push JDM. Like if he really wants to fight, just throw him in there with somebody so we can get a squash.

But I think people will be excited for him. If we want to push him to Sydney, push him to Sydney. but there's just no need they're not going to get a ranked welterweight that's worth his time to step in on nine days notice so I don't know if he's

going to stay on the card Cheeto one's interesting I think Cheeto has to fight I think he has to fight in Boston I don't think you can push him with the way everything's going on with Sean O'Malley fighting for the title with the potential of a

Sean O'Malley Cheeto Vera rematch for the belt I think Marlon Vera has to fight on this card. It's not like JDM. JDM does not have to fight next week. I think Cheetah absolutely has to fight on this card. And truly, I don't think it really matters who he fights. It's got to be somebody with a name, though.

Like, it's got to be a recognizable name. You cannot throw him in there with, you know, just to throw out a random name. You can't throw him in there with like Stephen Coslow. You know what I mean? No disrespect Stephen Coslow, but he's probably like the 58th ranked bantamweight. He needs to fight a Cody Stamen, a Adrianianez, although I don't love that fight, a Jonathan Martinez, a Chris Gutierrez, Ricky Simone type.

Like he has to fight out this card. He has to fight. As of right now, I'm told there's no, no one's locked in stone. As of last night, there were like no options really presented. But again, this is very fresh. But I think Cheeto

absolutely has to fight on this card. As long as it's a top 20 guy that people recognize, I think that's enough. I think that's enough, but it's going to be really, not saying the UFC has never done this before, but it's going to be really tough to sell Cheeto Vera in a title fight if Sean O'Malley wins coming off of a loss.

He's got to get a win. He's got to get a win. Especially if, like, Corey Sanhagan beats Umar and Marga Madoff. Like, it's going to be tough to be like, hey, you just beat this ridiculous slayer of beasts that nobody wanted to fight, but you just beat Cheeto and he gets the title shot. So I think it's imperative that he fights on this card. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats.

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CV, hello. Mike, heck of a morning. Just to piggyback on you and Tristan's thoughts, if I was the UFC's emergency matchmaker and J.D.M. really wants to fight next week. I'd probably give Daniel Rodriguez a call or maybe even Chaos Williams. I don't know. And yeah, two quick questions for me. Since Sehudo and Vera is off, that's on the Boston card and obviously Sterling on O'Malley's headlining they're kind of like pegging that as like kind of like I don't know unofficial like title Eliminator if you win Eliminator is like one of them wins

So for San Hagen and Umar if San Hagen beats Umar like I think it's pretty undeniable to not give him a title shot But like if Umar wins he's probably like one win away still right and another question since since it's free for all Friday which team do you think Kyrie Irving will be with for the next NBA season thanks

all I'll say is it better not be the fucking Celtics miss me with that I know we've already done the Kyrie thing and this is before he went all ludicic on the world so yeah let's talk to a Phoenix be kind of funny to hear my man Sean

Shottie's reaction to that, but I don't know. You're taking a just massive risk putting that guy on your team. Is he a talented basketball player? Absolutely. Is he a shitty teammate? Yep.

As most people would attest to. Is he a guy that can't win the big one? Yep. Not a guy you really want. And I can tell you, as a Celtics fan, to hear that James Hardin picked up that option, I could not be happier about that.

Could not be more thrilled. I was like, I actually yelled yes, because that means the Celtics are going to play them in the playoffs. And Hardin is going to choke once again because you can't win the big game. I couldn't be happier. And they spent, they're spending a $36 million for him to play for that team next year. Woo! The playoff win for sure. As far as the Bannam weights go, I mean, this, it's kind of hard to answer that question right now,

because we don't know what's going to happen with that fight. We don't know what's going to happen with Boston. If Sean O'Malley wins the belt, it fucks up everything in terms of meritocracy and where things are going to go. Because I'm telling you right now, Marlon Vera gets a win anywhere and Sean O'Malley wins the belt. They're going to do Sean O'Malley Cheeto Vera, part two, because that's the biggest, that's the biggest, fight in the division right now. It's the biggest fight in the division. You put a belt in the line, they're going to try to make that happen. But you can't sell it in this division with Vera coming off of a one-sided loss. So he has to fight in Boston.

He has to fight on this card. Get those two in the same building at the same press conference, let him start talking shit to each other. It's going to be the best. And it sucks for whoever wins to Sanhaghani, who our fight, but that guy probably fights Barab. And there you go. we can't forget about Marab in this mix. But I could see Sanhagen, if Sanhagen beats Umar or Umar, whoever wins that fight, if Al Jemate, whoever wins that fight is probably fighting

Marab regardless. Probably fighting Marab regardless. If Al Jermaine Sterling beat Sean O'Malley, title's vacant, Marab de Wallis really is going to be one half of that fight, and he's probably going to fight the Sanhagan Umar winner. It's probably how it goes. we shall see let's go to old pat what's up old pat are you there well he is not uh we'll go to

four-ounce sniper hey mike can you hear me yes sir what's that heck of a morning uh i remember recently demire usma boulov i guess he retired like not too long ago is that a false memory i'm having no he did he retired after the syracian fight and then he said well i have one fight left of my deal so i'm gonna fight it out okay i was just curious uh if you thought like maybe he would sign a new deal or is he going to be done after this fight because i enjoy watching him fight and hopefully he sticks around but uh what do you think he's going to do is there any updates has he given out any word on that that's uh that's all i got so when he announced his retirement i reached out to his manager and his manager is like, first, he had no idea until that social media

post came out. So I kind of feel like Demir just flies by the seat of his pants. But that's kind of like the big question I have about this fight. It's a great fight. Demir Isma Gulaev versus Grant Dawson is a tremendous co-main event on paper. But are we getting a Demir Izmogulov who's like, F it, I'm all in now. Last fight on my deal.

I'm going to make a statement so I get a new deal and make a run at a belt. Or is this the, well, it's been fun. It's my last fight ever. I'm just going to give it all I got. Demir's McGuloff. If it's the former,

boy, are we in for a scrap tomorrow? But if it's the latter, I feel like Grant Dawson's got to run him over. So I am intrigued what his decision is. I have no idea. I have no idea. I think we'll find out more after the fight. But even Demir at his media day said that he would beat the shit out of Justin Gaei, so

maybe there's some hunger there to come back. I don't know. I don't know. But I'm hoping for the former. I'm hoping this is a guy that's like, you know what? I had a bad night. I was emotional. I'm over it now. Now I'm ready to make a real run here. we get that guy, I can't wait for this fight. Cannot wait, but we'll see. I'm sure we'll find out more after the fight or maybe even on Sunday.

Old Pat, are you there? I think we have you. What's up, old Pat? Oh, Jesus, I finally figured out how to turn my microphone on. We got it. So, yeah, I'm here in Australia, mate. So it's late night. I've had a couple of beers.

It's Friday night here. I've finished work for the week. I don't know. I was going to talk about something else, but you're talking about how like Sean O'Malley and that, like sugar, short, I can't stand the lad. Like, seriously, he's not that good. Yeah, I mean, you're not alone.

Like, I don't think he's fought anyone, like, well, he's beaten a few good people, but he hasn't done it, like, really well. He's just done it by being a sort of long, rangey weirdo. Like, I don't think he's got any, like, outstanding skills. I hear you, man. So you think Al Jermaine Sterling's got his number, just going to run him over?

I think Al Jail will tool him. I think Al Jal tool him, because Aljo's long as well. Yep. And he does not fight guys as long as him. And he's not quite as long as, as Amali. Like, Amali probably should, like,

have a couple of sandwiches and, you know, go up or wait or two. But, you know. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, Opa, last year. Yeah, not an O'Malley fan. Look, he and everybody's cup of tea

and when that man has a microphone in his face he says some really dumb shit but when the cage door closes and the fight starts dude's pretty good dude's pretty good I think that Pieterian fight opened up a lot of people's eyes even if he lost that fight

which a lot of people felt he did but even if he was on the what's weird about that fight is if he was on the wrong end of the decision and Jan won. Like O'Malley would be over like crazy right now. They'd be like, holy shit dude,

like he might have lost, but much love for Sean O'Malley. Like, what a game. Yon gets the win. O'Malley gets a ton of street cred. But instead we get the decision that people deemed as a robbery, and I'm here to tell you, it wasn't a robbery.

It wasn't a robbery. Go back at once. watch that fight. You can make a case that shot on Malley won. There is a case to be made. And that fight was a great fight. That was one of the more underrated fights of 2022.

And Sean wins, and now he's in this position. No one gave Sean a chance to even be competitive in that fight. Everyone thought Jan was just going to ragged all his ass and just run him over. And Sean went in there and put it on him, man. That was a great fight. Just a

sick fight. But I do feel like Al Javier B. Sterling, this one screams Aljo kills him. This one screams first round finish. But you never know. You never know. It's a quick turnaround, multiple weight cuts in two months or three months span. Alja's a big dude. And this will be his last cut to 35. So I just don't see a world where he does it again. And I don't think Aljo at 45 if he wins and moves up I'm very curious to see how the UFC is going to handle this Are they just gonna chuck them to like a Toporia? Are they gonna chuck him to Max?

Are they going to throw him in there with like a mob czar of Lov? Because I don't think they're just gonna give him to bulk. Like there's no way they're gonna chuck Al Jamein above Iliate's uporia. So I'm very curious about how they're going to handle this situation when he moves up to 45. Because I truly don't think they're going to do him any favors. I don't.

That's going to be really fascinating. All right, let's keep the train moving here. J-Stad, hello. I'd see you. You as well. What are your thoughts on the potential future of Michael Morales? like was it ceiling, what's his floor,

and, yeah, that'd be all. Look, where I think most people feel morale is a, is a very solid hand, very good prospect,

14 and 0, good fighter. This is kind of, this is the litmus test fight for him. Let's see what the dude is made of. A lot of his wins coming into the UFC, look, look at his resume.

They ain't great. First two wins are against the same guy. one and two, two and three. Then he beat a three and one, a three and one, a debuter. Guy was one and two, guy was oh and oh, two and oh, two and oh, six and five, eight and five, nine and three on the contender series. Knocked out Trevin Giles, knocked out Adam Fuget, and now he's fighting clearly his best. I mean, Giles is a vet, but Max Griffin is like a vet vet vet. and Max shines in these spots.

So we're going to get our answers. We're going to get some more answers on tomorrow when these two guys fight. But Mike's a finisher. Dude spells blood. He's exciting to watch. But he's also very young. He's also very young. He's 24 and he's in a tough division.

So I think his ceiling is high. I don't know. It's too early for me to be like, this guy's going to be a top five guy, especially in this division with how slow it moves to get guys up the ladder. But I am optimistic that this guy's going to be around for a minute. But we'll see what happens.

If he goes out there and just melts Max Griffin, it's going to change my opinion, for sure. But I think he's got a high ceiling. I just don't know how high it is just yet because the level of competition that he's fought so far. And he's young. He'll get there. and we'll have more answers.

But tomorrow's fight is going to give us some of those answers. That is, that's for sure. The Griga. How we doing? How we doing? A fellow Celtics fan. And I'm from Walt Tham, so I've been waiting for this Boston card for four years like us all.

Now, I have, basically, I want to put out a statement on my thoughts of Aljo. As somebody who is not, doesn't have any particular rooting interest in the guy, I'm going to put it like this. I've been underestimating him for so long going back to when did he debut. I want to say 2014 maybe. Look at his record.

What has he got? Three losses, four losses. And you know what? I got sick of losing money on him. And the guy just wins in his wrestling. If he goes up to look, this could be a 50 to 43 if he wants it to be. But I think O'Malley's going to break and give up to. in RNC, most likely,

and, uh, because he's not going to like being on the mat for, uh, 25 minutes. But if he goes up to 145, he's so crafty, he's so cagey, and his wrestling is so elite that he could neutralize. I don't, I don't, I, I, I, I wouldn't put it past him thriving at 145 pounds. Now, uh, I don't even think he's going to risk strike. with O'Malley because Sean's such a much more fierce and pure striker that with the title on the line, I don't care. You fight to win and that's a losing.

That's the only way he's going to come out and try to prove something. Oh, I can stand and bang with this guy. He's going to get knocked out. He's going to get knocked because Sean does have, he got power and he got speed behind that punch. And that, he does have one hit or quit a pile out, even at 135. But I'm sorry. I just see it as a 50 to 43. And same thing, the women's title fight too.

I think, I think Waley dominates this matchup. I think her violence is unlike anything I've ever seen from a woman that small in my life. And, yeah, overall, top to bottom the card, I'm very underwhelmed after four years. and your thoughts, take it away. You're underwhelmed? Very underwhelmed. Why? I think it's pretty. I mean, obviously, losing the Suhudo fight stings.

Yeah, that was a big one. That was a, when I heard that got added, I was like, okay, now we're gaining some traction here. But, I mean, Rob Fon, Song, Yidong, Jeff Neal, Ian, Machado, Gary, Cody Garbrand, Mario Batista. And then we get some middle, Chris Wyman's return after that injury.

We got Robocop. We got Corrine A. Silva. We got Natty Ice. This is a great card. I'm sure as the events get closer and once I get to the way in, yeah, I'll be ready. Of course I will. I'll watch anyone on this roster fight anywhere for free.

So I'm got 20 to you know what I'm saying? But I don't know. Maybe it's just big, maybe you're right. It's a solid card, but maybe I am under, under under valuing it a little bit. But yeah, as for me, my personal taste, I mean, I don't care that it's all little guys. It's just, I want to, I really want to see

Usman versus Kamsat. And I can't stand either one of those guys. But at Welterweight, we got the old, we can, that fight proves everything. Is Kamsat ready? And is Usman done? Two things can be solved in that one fight. It's an intriguing fight.

that 170 pounds sign me up and I can't stand either one of them. But yeah, man, no, I'll see you at Fight Week and I enjoy and I'm really looking forward to it. All right, brother. Thank you so much. Walt Ham in the house. Yeah, I went to high school in Burlington, which is not very far from Waltham. Yeah, I mean, look, a lot to think about Al Jermaine Sterling. I've said this a lot about Al Jermaine Sterling.

I think he is one of the more underappreciated fighters in the history of the sport. I think he's one of the more underappreciated champions the UFC has ever had. And I think Al Jermaine Sterling is going to be one of those guys that will not get said appreciation and get his flowers until his career is over. He's going to be one of those guys. It's not exactly the same as Demetri's Johnson, but there are similarities to their runs. There's no doubt about it. DJ didn't get, you know, a ton of appreciation for.

from the mixed martial arts community until he left the UFC and went over to one. And then they're just like, damn, we miss this guy, especially when you see like what the flyweight division

has become. And a lot of it has to do with the fact that the promotion just kind of took a shit on Demetrius Johnson. Dana White had a lot of not great things to say about Demetius Johnson

during his title run and he was gone and now everyone kind of misses him and he's never going to leave one now. Why don't have when he leave one? making so much money. He's treated like a king. He's treated like a champion that's supposed to be treated.

And Al Jermaine Sterling, he has his issues with Dana, and Dana comes out and throws Sterling under the bus any chance he gets. Stuff, man. He's one of those guys that just is not going to get his due. And even if he beat Sean O'Malley, he's still not going to get his due. Oh, it's only Sean O'Malley he beat.

Like, that's just how to look at this guy's resume. Cody Gibson, Hugo Viana. This is his first two fights, by the way. DeKey and Mitsugaki, which is a nice win, put him away, put Johnny Eduardo away. I thought he beat Brian Carraway. A Sunsa was real close. A lot of people thought Sterling won that fight. We could be talking about a guy, very realistically, who is 25 and 1.

25 and 1. If one judge in each of those fights went a different way, we're talking about a 25, and one algebraed sterling. The one true loss was getting deaded by Marlon Marais. I mean, Marlon just need him to death. That was one of

the scariest knockout you'll ever see. But then since then, when everyone thought like, well, Aljo was done, Brett Johns, which at the time was a great win, 15 and O. Cody Stamen was on a roll. Aljo with the Sulove's

stretch. Jimmy Rivera who would want a bunch of fights in a row. Pedro Munoz, Corey Sanhagen, Piotr Yon, Piotr Yon, T.J. Dillishah, Henry Sehudo. That resume is ridiculous. It is ridiculous. As far as the Hamzad Usen thing, it's not going to happen. That fight ain't happening unless it happens at middleweight. It's not going to happen at Welterweight. Hamzad, I don't want to see Hamzad at Welterweight right now. I want to see him at middleweight. Give him cannon air. That's the fight to make. Give him, Canaanier. After that performance,

Abu Dhabi, October, Jared Canaanir. Winner of that fight, if Canineer wins, he gets a title shot. If Humzot wins, he gets a title shot. And I never thought I would say I live in a world where Jared Canaaner should get a title shot against Ishar Al-Assan. But

if he goes out there and beats Hamzaa Shamaa, the way he just beat Marvin Vittori, I'll watch it again. Never thought I would say that. But that dude impressed me a lot. but I just don't think I just don't think he's fighting at 170 I just don't

don't see it happening let's go to shaven and then we'll go to Henry Four Corner Sports Matt Viking and we'll get out of here what's up Shaghani Hi Mike here

I just have a question regarding the light weight division in the UFC and the future of it so a lot of people see Amman Sarukin as a future champion after Islam possibly retires but do you see

Usman Nurma Gamerav coming to the UFC and if so who do you think has a better shot of being a long-reaning champion Amman or Usman? That's it Mike, thank you. Jesus, Luis.

That's really tough. That's a great question. I'm probably going to lean Usen on this one. As high as I regard, as I regard, I'm in Surukian. Usman just has, and I'm not saying like Sarukian can't, I think with the skill set Surukin has now, he could win the belt. But where Usman or Magam Adolf was at this point in his career

to where Armin Sarukian was at that point in his career, Usman's ahead of him. Like, he's ahead of him. With the overall skill set, the decision-making, coachability, just adjustments. like it's it's probably Ousman of Markhamatoff. He's so young, he's so talented,

he's so skilled. He's only good, he's just going to get better and better and better. And I'm not saying Surukin can't evolve at the same rate, but Ushman's already just so far, just ahead of him, that I just think Syrucian's going to have to, he's going to be playing catch-up the whole time. But, golly, if we can live in a world

where we get Armand Sarugian versus Usenurama made off sometime in my life that might be like one of the top five fights that I need to see in my lifetime as of right now. That's a dream. That's probably a dream matchup. Man, that's a great question. But I'll probably go Usenuramauga made off.

Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo, great. idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won!

Boarding will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned by your gambling or that if someone close you, call 186653310 or visit comexonterio.ca. With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Henry, hello. Hey, Mike. Yeah, I just wanted to get your thoughts on recently. I've been seeing a lot of posts with this Nina girl. A lot was like Sean Strickland and stuff like that. And I saw Luke

Thomas had a tweet about it just saying like, this is kind of where M.A. Media is going. And it's tough to see, especially the stuff with the Nelp boys and stuff like that. that because I feel like real media just isn't getting this kind of access to the fighters now. It's just, it's all going through the UFC. And they've kind of built it to be this way. And I just, I don't get it. And also, I wanted to ask you about wrestling. I've been, well, I grew up as a huge fan, but I'm 24, so obviously I grew up in, like, the PG era.

So I didn't really get to see much of the attitude era stuff. So I was just wondering at the moment, is it worth taking a look back into wrestling? because I'm seeing a lot of LA night posts and stuff like that. MJF as well. So, yeah, I was just wondering what I should check out wrestling-wise. Thanks, man. I mean, I try to keep up with today's product. Man, it's tough.

WWE has like this blood, the storyline with the bloodline on Fridays, and that is like the best thing that has happened in wrestling in forever. So I love Smackdown. would skip raw if I was you because raw is just a tough watch man it's so long it's three gosh darn hours takes forever and there's like 15 good minutes out of that three hours a w dynamite is terrible it is overbooked it's just on it's just almost unwatchable you get the occasional good match mjf's there if you're going to watch a w i would watch the saturday show the collision.

I have watched both episodes. They're both in really, really good. And if they keep in that direction where it's like a pro wrestling show as opposed to dude just flying around for no apparent reason, I think that show is going to be better. So I would watch SmackDown

and I would watch Collision and then watch the pay-per-views. And then just read up on, you know, cage-side seats. Go cage-side seats. That's what I do. I skip raw. I read the reviews.

Keep up what's going on. I try to watch Smackdown, and then I'll watch Collision, and I'll read reviews on Dynamite, and then I'll watch the pay reviews, or the premium live events. The Nina thing, look, that's what she does. She does, like, spoofy comedic things. I'm not here to shit on her.

That dude, from everything that I've learned about her, she works her fucking ass off, and I will never discredit somebody for working their ass. ass off. And I will not discredit her for getting the actions that she has. This is the direction they're going. This is the direction the UFC is going. And this is the direction of slap fight. This is the direction of all that stuff. Because nobody gives a shit. No combat sports fan gives a flying shit about slap fighting. They don't care. But you bring in the influencers, you bring in the Robbie Foxes, you bring in Nina, you bring in the full Sends and the elk boys and all that,

they will give you an audience. They will give you an audience. They will give you fresh eyeballs. That's what the UFC wants to do. Most people in this room right now who are listening to the sound of my voice, you're in. You have already crossed into the threshold, the abyss that is this crazy sport of ours. So you don't need to watch the bar stool coverage or the full send coverage or any of the other influencer coverage because you're already past that stage. And I think it's fucking brilliant that the UFC is doing it this way. Because once you're in, you are in. It's just getting you over that live. It's not like it was 10 years ago or 15 years ago when you know you're in for a time then life takes over and you skip out for a couple of years

and then you come back like it's not like that now after like the post pandemic once you've crossed over that line like you're watching almost everything and there are some people from the pandemic ever who watch every single fight every single Saturday so you're not watching the full send interviews. You're not watching the neat interviews. You're not watching the bar stool stuff. You're watching our stuff. You're going to junkie. You're listening to morning combat. You're watching the MMA hour. It's almost like you grab. Those sites get you through the door. And then eventually you get so hooked on the sport that you move up to the upper echelot. I'm not saying that is like dogging on them, but they like,

Barcelona is like a fan thing. Like they are fans giving content to newer fans. Like that's what the relationship is. So I don't blame the UFC for this at all. I don't dog Robbie at all. I know a lot of people shit on Robbie. A lot of media people shit on. Why?

Why? He's not a journalist. Like these are not journalists. That's the difference. They're not even reporters. They just, they produce content. and they're doing what they've always done. They just are taking it into this space.

So I have no issue with them at all. I have no issue with Nina. I have no issue with anybody. Do your shit. Do your shit. Do what you do. And if you're busting your ass and you're working your ass off and you're fine success, good for you. Good for you. And it's brilliance what the UFC is doing.

That's what they should be doing. That's who they should be giving access to. And guess what? If we want access, we get it too. we get it too full send bar stool Nina they ain't getting interviews

with Colby they're not getting that stuff they're not getting the stuff that we're putting out they're doing things different and you know what in a weird way it's kind of refreshing I know it ain't for everybody it's not for everybody it ain't for me like I'm not going to sit there and watch all their content it's not for me

but there is an audience for it and I think the UFC is actually really smart doing it this way. And you have to also remember that full send and then outblood, like these are partners. These are partners. They're like, like social media broadcast partners. There's a relationship with Barstool. There's probably some kind of relationship with Nina as well. Like that's what they're doing. They're investing in the influencer side of things to get newer eyeballs on the product. because that's where they make all their money is getting in new people because the people they have are already in and they're going to stay in.

Now it's just how do we get the new people? And it's just the cycle that they want to do. And I think it's actually really smart from a business perspective. So, but yeah, it's kind of, I don't think it's the direction of like all of media. But it's the direction of how do we get newer fans? Because just look at all the fight cards. They ain't great. they ain't great.

289 was 288 was not a good card on paper. 289 was not a good card on paper. No casual appeal. 290 is a hardcore fans delight, but no casual appeal. Very little of it. 291, I think you're going to get a little more casual appeal

because you get Gaichi and Poria on there. But how do we get those eyeballs on the product who are on the fence that are like, man, don't want to spend $80 on Amanda Nunes versus Erini Aldana? And then maybe they will. So I don't blame them. And, you know, if they're finding success doing what they're doing, good on them. I salute you all.

There's enough room for all of us. Four corner sports. Hey, heck, my morning, Mike. So I have a couple things I wanted to say. So I can't remember that the last time a fighter with this much hype being the curtain jerker, which is Alizabeth. Alexander Romano. What happens next for him if he happens to, you know, not get past even of?

Just because, you know, it's pretty much, you know, it's a point where, you know, it seems like the U.S. he's telling him, hey, you're opening up the card because, you know, you lost a lot of hype. And if you lose again, then there's no guarantees that you'll see in the promotion. sort of like when a baseball player struggles and they drop in the order and then they start you know start batting knife and they tell on the next option is you know triple A or something like that that's what I feel like it is for Romano. Next thing I wanted to talk about I thought they were kind of done with the 145 pound division

I know that Santos and Hosa you know they're fighting at 145 but that's not the traditional matchup that it was because I think Santos lost her opponent. But I see for the Holly home Myra Buena Silva fight, Chelsea Chandler and Norman Dumont are fighting at 145

and Dana has said that that division is probably, you know, dead now that Amanda is retired. So I'm wondering why is it that they're fighting unless that he's just trying to make sure that they fulfill their contract obligations. And last,

Lastly, I was listening to New York Sports TalkShort Radio, and I think it was Dave LaGreca from AEW. He had said that Jim Ross is the greatest play-by-play compensator of all time, you know, regarding all sports. And it made me really think, you know, after all the good calls that he has, and how would you think if, like, you did, like, a role's reverse of John Anick, like, in A.E.W. you and Jim Ross, you know, calling a WWE fight, not WWFights, UFC fights. Just want to get your perspective on that. And who do you think is the best play-by-play of Commensator? All right. Thanks, Mike.

A lot to unpack there. So, look, I don't think this Romanov thing is a demotion, really. I think it's more for their audience. And what I say that is that both, because Ivanov is from Bulgaria. and Romanov is from Moldova. And both of those areas and both of their time zones

are seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard time. So if you put those guys out first, let's just say the first fight is, and look, the cards get, the broadcast is going to start a four, but the first fight is probably going to start like 420, Eastern time.

So it's 1120 Eastern time. The Bulgarian audience, it's 1120. they don't probably want to stick around for the entire car. They're not going to watch the fight until 6 a.m. You know what I'm saying? But you want to see Romanov and you want to see even off fight. Well, this is a decent hour for them to fight each other.

It happens. And a lot of people complain about, whoa, why is Tattoo or Tyra fighting in the first fight? A lot of that has to do with that because you want the hometown crowd to watch your guy as they're on the come up. So I kind of get where they're coming from there. there um dude featherweight's done and dumont chandler's probably the final featherweight fight not saying that they'll never be another one but it's only going to be in kind of circumstances like we're seeing tomorrow with the carol hosa stepping in on short notice didn't want to cut to 35

they agreed to fight at 45 macya c's out so i think we'll still see fights at 40 and 45 but mostly just these kinds of situations. Jim Ross, the best play-by-play guy of all time in sports, it's tough. I don't think so. Jim Ross is the best pro wrestling commentator of all time.

There's just no doubt about it. No doubt about it. The way, like, Jim Ross could take a shit moments and make it feel big. That's how good Jim Ross was. I mean, Jim just makes you feel like, Jim always made you feel like you were in the building with him. Like, especially during the attitude era and some of the big moments.

I mean, he just made you feel like you were right there next to him. Like, that's what made him so special. Unfortunately, like, I just feel like he's great. I mean, I think he could, he's called football. He's done radio. Could he have called UFC Fight Sure? Could he do a three-man booth with, like, Rogan and D.C. without blowing his brains out?

I don't think so. I think Anik has the patience of a saint. And I think he might be the only duty he could do that. I think Fitzgerald could hang. But I don't know if he just, I don't know if they would mesh the same. So, I mean,

Anna could call WWE for sure. I think there was a world where he could have done it, if we're being honest. I think Annick's right up there. Doc Emmerich, man. I think that's his name. NHL was so, he's just so good. I mean, there's just a difference

when that man calls basketball games, or hockey games, excuse me. He might be my favorite of all time. I think Sean McDonough does a great job. I mean, some of this is kind of hometown biasey because Sean McDonough has obviously done a lot for E.S. SPN. But he started in Boston.

That's how I remembered him. He's called Red Sox games. Jack Edwards was really good. Jerry Remy was an excellent color commentator. Always was. And he had some national opportunities as well. I would probably put Doc up there. Doc is, Doc's probably my favorite.

It's just so weird watching like a big hockey game, like a big playoff hockey game or Stanley Company. I'm gaming not hearing Doc's voice. It's tough. But it's a good question. I like that. All right. Last caller, Viking.

Take us home, my man. Give me something good. Viking, are you there? Yes, Mike. Really sorry about the background noise. That's not in my hand. I just want to, I just want you to explain me that middle-weighty,

middleweeds for me because I was I was there when Jed Meshu invented that but on the BTL or some other show someone mentioned that A.K. Lee invented that term so please and a few listeners back you just mentioned the most vicious knockout for me that that knockout would be Kevin Lee Kevin Lee and Gregor Gillisbee and then Gerey knocking out Dominic Harris.

So thanks a lot, Mike. Yeah, those are some doozies for sure. Your eye haul spin kick on the ultimate fighter was one of the nastiest ones. Yeah, look, there have been a lot of nasty knockouts. Middleweighty middle weights.

So, I mean, I don't know if Jed created the term, AK and I created the title. There's no, like that we created the belt. It was, it just kind of was this tiny snowball and then just kind of rolled down the hill. And we just kind of gave Christop Jocko the middleweighty, middleweight title. One for, because like he is the, he is like the definition of a middleweight. Plus he was like the 16th ranked middleweight for like five years.

Could never really break into the top 15. He was like just outside. He would get wins. but never in fights, you'd go back and watch again. He's just a solid hand who will fight for your money and will be just outside the top 15. So that was always like the definition of what the middleweighty, middleweight champion was. And then Christop, like once we created the title, quote unquote,

Christoph Jocko just kept winning fights. He kept just winning decisions against people. And then he fought Brendan Allen and Brendan Allen beat him. So we're like, okay, well, I guess Brennan Allen is the new middleweighty, middleweight champion because Brennan goes out there and did Brennan Allen things at least for that time in his career. And we're like, all right, so Brennan has to be

the middleweighty, middleweight champion. And by definition, it kind of made sense. And then Brennan's just been an absolute animal. He chokes out Christoph Chaco, beat him. Like, just look. The Jacob Malkoon fight was like as, middleweighty as it gets. So we're like, all right,

Brennan out, Christopher Jocco is a perfect fight. Then he goes out and taps Christop Chico. We're like, all right, he's the new middleweight, middleweight champion. Then he chokes out on,

then he chokes out, Andre Monez. And we're like, hmm, now we're getting close here. Is he really the middleweighty, middleweight champion? And then he goes and chokes

out Bruno Silva. And he's chucking mitts of them too. So we're like, is he too good to be the middleweighty, middleweight champion? Probably. So that's, that's her at all.

kind of stems from. But I think most fans, when you say like middle weighty, middleweight, I think you kind of know who there's there's just levels to it. There's just levels to middleweighty middleweights. But we had fun with it. It became a

thing. Like when Brennan Allen and Andre Meadis got moved to the main event, like, I can't believe, I can't begin to tell you how many DMs, how many times I got tagged on Twitter, we're like, oh, the middle weighty, middleweight title is not the main event for this UFC Vegas card. It was the best.

It's just one of those moments where you're just so proud. All right, we had a couple more. What's, why not? Ron, hello. Hello. Hello. What up? Okay.

Thank you for your greeting. Brandon. Hey, Mike, are you doing? You pay me? I'm sorry to jump on last minute. I just had two things for you. I wanted to ask if that was an update on Jermaine Durandini. last I heard she was pregnant

and I'm just hoping she comes back soon because I think she can win the title at 135 and be a bad matchup for a lot of the women there and I just wanted to give some praise to one championship not a lot of people talk about their Friday cards that play on YouTube but every week I think they're putting on banger cards

and they're creating stars you know organically I feel like the UFC is getting stale the last few years and they're not really creating stars the way they used to. They're just, you know, marketing the UFC name more than the fighters. And I just want to give you thoughts on those two things. Thank you. Yeah, man.

So GDR had the baby. And she's trying to come back this year. She's trying to get back in this year. She's trading. She's trying to get back. And it kind of sucks. Like the timing really stands. thanks because the last time I spoke to Germain Durandami is right after she tapped

Giuliana Pena and spoke with her and she made something super interesting to me, something that I wanted to see, especially when Amanda Nunes was running out of people to fight. And I know they had fought already and the last fight was not all that compelling. Jermaine Noreami said she would put her career on the line to fight to fight a Man and Nunes one more time. She would put it all on the line. She would literally put her career on the line for one last shot of the title against Amanda Nunes.

And she would put it in the contract. Put it in the contract. If I lose, I'm done. I will never fight again. You don't get a lot of career ending matches in MMA. Like sometimes you know and sometimes you get inklings, but a fighter like basically saying like I'm putting it, I'm literally going to retire if I lose. is a super interesting wrinkle that I wish the UFC explored.

But GDR, you know, had injuries and then she got pregnant, but apparently she wants to come back this year. So hopefully that happens. And we'll see. Maybe she inserts herself into this band-imweighty title mix. And we'll see how that all plays out. One does not get enough credit. They are putting out a really good product right now.

They have two problems. one is if it's on a big card no one knows about it they're not promoting it at all now the prime cards the u.s. debut they promoted the shit out of it you could not go anywhere on social media without seeing it but these one fight night cards the one friday night cards nobody knows unless you're like a diehard one fan you have no idea of these cards are happening. And the one, you can only get so much

word of mouth in MMA. And that's kind of what is happening here, but they're putting on a good product. And the other thing is, Chhatri just drives people bananas. Because he just says such ridiculous things that you're just like,

oh, we cannot take these guys seriously. Like, you do not have three billion people watching your cards right now. Stop it. Put the spotlight on the fighters. Take it up yourself. and stop saying ridiculous things. And people will take your product more seriously

and they will give you more of a chance. But yeah, those are the two things that are really affecting one right now. These are not just things that I'm saying. These are things people are telling me as well. So the product's great, but if nobody wants to watch you, that's a problem.

And we will call it here with KMAC. KMAC sports, what's up? Blake, how's it going, man? I wanted to just kind of get your thoughts. I was looking ahead to the 290 card, and I mean, it's stacked. It looks like it's going to be a really good set of fights, but it made me look at it a little bit differently when I was looking at the betting odds because there are so many of these fights.

I can't recall a card that looked like this one where there are so many that are highly anticipated, but there are so many fights where, like, one guy is super heavily favored. Like, Boone-Nichael, I think, is a minus-1,400, and a lot of betting odds. Robert Whitaker, I saw was, like, a minus-400. Volk, I think, is a minus 4-25. So I'm not sure it's a bad thing because obviously there's the possibility of there being a major upset there. But like it did make me look at a little bit differently seeing the odds. Just wanted to get your thoughts.

Yeah, I mean, let me take a gander at these. This is according to our friends of draft kings. Aguilar minus 210. Vitor Petrino minus 280. Crute meta fields pretty even. Yes, and Yurga. Yurgi is minus 4.25. Look, that is a

showcase fight. Sean Brady, JDM, which doesn't look like it's going to happen is pretty even. Nico Price, big favorite against Robbie Laude doesn't really surprise me. Bo Nickel being minus 1250 doesn't surprise me at all.

Turner is a pretty big favorite, but anything can happen. Whitaker's probably lined where most would expect him. Surprise Moreno is as big of a favorite as he is. I think there's a ton of ton of value on Pantosia plus 165. And let me tell you this, I think there's a ton of value in Yaya Rodriguez at plus 3.30.

I think that fight stylistically is way closer than that. I think that fight's going to be a war. Because that's what Yayao Rodriguez does. That dude just wars. And he usually wins those wars. He might lose a battle. Like, Volk might win a decision, but Yair is going to probably take a piece.

to Bolkadovsky with him. And that's what he does to everybody he fights. He takes a piece of your soul, win, lose, or draw. That's just the kind of animal that man is. So, yeah, the betting lines are pretty interesting. I think a lot of some of these lines are going to close up. I think the Bo Nicanor will probably get wider. I think the Yasun Yerga line will get wider. Whitaker will probably get wider. I think Moreno, Pantosio will get closer. I actually the Yair is going to get closer as well. Yeah, this is one international fight week card should be.

Bangor fights. You put a couple of prospects on there who just got to get squashes, which is exactly what you should be doing. Yeah. Some of these lines are shocking, but some of them aren't. But okay, we're done.

Thank you very much. So No Show Tuesday. It's going to be 4th of July. I'm off. My parents are coming to town on Monday. So we're going to get the hell out of this portion of South Carolina for a few days. So we'll be back Thursday. We'll be back on Thursday.

So no show Tuesday. We'll have a show on Thursday. And we'll do the Thursday Friday thing to get you ready for UFC 290. So enjoy the time off. If you're in the U.S., enjoy your long. weekend, your 4th of July, festivities, if you will, and we'll be back here on Thursday. Yeah, I got to take some time off.

Look, I'm doing this show on my day off. This is my day off. Last two Fridays, doing the show for you all. I don't have to do it, but definitely not working on Tuesday. I'll tell you that right now. So you're all the best. Appreciate you. Preview show later on today.

I believe AK is going to be manning the hosting duties for that. and then we'll have the people's pre-fight show 3.30 p.m. Eastern tomorrow, post-fight show after the card, on to the next one as well on Sunday. And yeah, and that will be that. By the way, I'm not going to reveal it. I know what it's going to be, but expect a very interesting announcement

in the world of combat sports sometime today. hint hint you will react to this I will tell you that right now but I am not here to tell you what it is but somebody will and we will be prepared to release that information into the universe

but some interesting news coming your way later on today so stay tuned to nbatefighting.com for that answer so thank you all very much have a great weekend and have a heck of a more Thank you.