MMA Fighting - HOAM | Where Would Alexander Volkanovski Rank On GOAT List With UFC 284 Win?

Episode Date: February 9, 2023

Alexander Volkanovski is the biggest underdog on the UFC 284 card this Saturday as he heads into the main event against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. Should the current 145-pound king pull off the upset and become a two-division champion, where will he rank on the list of greatest fighters of all-time? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the stakes of Saturday's headliner in Perth, Western Australia, and what a win would do for either guy in terms of legacy. Additionally, listener topics include what's going on with Colby Covington, who Belal Muhammad could fight next, the stakes in the UFC 287 matchup between Gilbert Burns and Jorge Masvidal, a potential Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev fight, Dan Hooker's injury, 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

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I hope everyone's having a fantastic week. We are on the eve of the eve of UFC 284, which goes down. in Perth, Western Australia. We all know what the main event is. It is Zizal Mokachev versus Alexander Volkanowski for the lightweight title. Mokachev looking for his first title defense. Volcanovsky looking to becoming a two-division champion.

A lot of stakes here. A lot can happen, especially if Volcanozky wins. If Volkanowski wins this fight, boy, are we going to have a lot of discussions and debates about his greatness and where he stands? not just right now, but in the history of the sport. It's a lot riding on this one, and it's a fantastic fight, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

Interim featherweight title on the line as well, Josh Emmett versus Iyer Rodriguez, Jack Della Madelena versus Brandy Brown. Of course, the people's main event. Can't forget about the people's main event. Justin Taffa versus Paco Porter. And the list goes on and on. A lot to talk about.

It's a lot going on. on in the news cycle. So let's just get right into it. Let's get right to you guys. It's going to be a very busy next few days. We got BTL coming up at 12.30 p.m. Eastern standard time. Jed Mishu will return and he will take on one of my favorite people in this wonderful space of ours, one of my best friends in the biz.

A fellow Canadian, aka Mr. James Lynch, will make his return to the BTL virtual arena to talk a bunch of UFC 284 McGregor Chandler will recap Bellator 2090 and the weekend that was a lot going on. So let's get after this thing. Anthony, I believe, was first in line. So we'll start with him. What's up, buddy?

Heck of a morning. I just want to talk real quick about the pay-per-view buys. And I remember when I went to England to watch a UFC event, I was talking to the guy next to me. And he was saying that they get like all the pay-per-views on like BT Sport box office for like 25 bucks a month. So how does that affect the pay-per-view buys? But then he also told me like they have to pay for the Connor McGregor ones.

So does that kind of skew the numbers? Also Max Holloway and Arnold Allen at Kansas City, when they pick these cities, do they have to like, is there like the little bid that goes on? Because I know they did that for like the World Cup games. and like I might have heard that for like some UFC events because if that's the case then you know Chicago's fucked man Lori Lifewood's never doing that yeah just those two things today man have a good one uh thanks man so pay-view stuff especially overseas I don't really know much about

um I mean I think most of the pay-per-view bot like when you report pay-per-view buys they're mostly in the United States sometimes there's global ones but depending on where you are in the world yeah there could be deals like BT Sport 1 there's deals like that in other places as well but I think most of the actual pay-per-view buys are

for the U.S. And I think being on ESPN Plus with the deal that they have, that's what they probably care the most about if we're being honest, but they really don't even care especially with that ESPN plus deal because whether one person buys it or 20 million buy it, it's all the same to the UFC

what they care about more than any thing with this new deal is the gate and how many tickets they can sell and can they sell out the arena and obviously 283 was not great you could clearly see that wasn't the sellout uh this one is i believe daniel when he says this one's trending to be one of the biggest gates ever i think it's like a perfect card for the australian audience getting wolkenovsky the opportunity him being in the main event against Mockachev, very big deal. I think that's going to do very, very, very well. I don't know if I buy the, this is, this pay-per-view is trending towards

McGregor Porre. I don't buy that. We don't know what the numbers were for that, but you have to assume with McGregor involved it was over a million. I'll be stunned if this one does close to a million. Because again, you got us. this one just doesn't translate really to the casual audience

and Jedmishu talks about it all the time the mom test are your friends talking about it are you am I getting am I getting texts about this fight from friends who casually watch MMA no I haven't gotten one

did I get a bunch of texts when there were when people were saying maybe we'll get McGregor and Tony Ferguson on the ultimate fighter Yeah, I got a bunch. Did I get a bunch of texts on Saturday when they announced Connor and Chandler on Tuff and then fighting each other? Yeah, my phone was blowing up all day.

But I haven't got one text about this fight from any, like family members, friends. So this, I just don't know if it does those kind of numbers. But again, and also because, you know, Vulcan Islam are great. Like, they're great. and they're both very confident, but they're not, like they're not going to show up at a press conference tonight

and start chucking water balls at each other. It's just not going to happen. There's not going to be a pull apart. I ain't going to be pushing and shoving. None of that. And there's really not like a ton of other appeal to this card to the casual audience. Like Luke Rockhold sold the crap

out of his Paul Acosta fight, and that translated. Tony Ferguson for the Chandler fight stole the show during fight week. and obviously boosted things up in that regard. So, yeah, I don't know. I don't know how that's going to work, really. And then the Kansas City thing,

I know they do have deals with certain places where they bring stuff. I know they had deals with like Jacksonville, but that was more of a, hey, you helped us out when no one else would. So we're going to chuck you some cards. I know they have a deal with Houston. That's been pretty well documented. I think when, and I have to go back and look, but I'm pretty sure that,

before the, of course the landscapes are here now. They usually come in Friday's. I'm pretty sure that before the pandemic shut everything down, Kansas City was kind of on the docket to have a card, much like San Diego was. And I think this is like,

okay, let's make this up to you. We're supposed to give you a card. Now you can have this one. But, yeah, that's kind of what I think. But I don't think Kansas City was like, dear UFC, we'll give you, all this money to bring a fight night card

featuring two fighters that have no ties to Kansas City whatsoever. So I just think it was kind of a we owe you one. I just knew this. It wasn't going to be at the apex. Apologies for the landscaping sounds. They've come a day early.

Cole, we will go to you, my friend, perhaps. I'm going to move to a different spot. This is frigging ridiculous. We'll go to Mikey. Hello. Oh, hold on. Hold on, Mikey. Hold on. I'm going to take re-request. I'll get you in. Cole, what's up, man? Hi, I just have a quick short one for you, Mike. If Volk wins, you think it's the biggest win in UFC history. I'm going to hang up and listen. Thanks.

Biggest win in UFC history? I'll have to think about that one. It's in the conversation. That's for sure. I would say it's top three. It's top three. I don't know if anything's going to beat. McGregor beating Eddie Alvarez. I mean, that was, I mean, everything that led up to that point, the year he had, losing to Nate, beating Nate, and then going back and winning the second title and having the performance like that, that was just ridiculous. The whole fight week, everything about 2016 was just very strange and very memorable, especially for Connor McGregor.

So that one just really sticks out to me. as like one that people are going to remember forever, just everything that led up to it. So I'll go with that, but this is up there. This is definitely up there. It's a great question, though. We're going to have a lot of different conversations if Fulke wins this fight. Mikey, what's up?

Sometimes we have our reason and then a fight week comes up and it just takes us away from everything, which is always welcome. Anyways, so a note about the Kansas City card, I'm uncertain the UFC didn't realize this. Or maybe they did, who knows? But I looked it up. It is going to be the exact date and anniversary of the last time they were in Kansas City. On April 15, 2017, that was the Mighty Mouse Johnson Wilson Hayes card, where he broke the title defense record.

It will literally be six years to the date. I don't know if that's the point. I'm sure it's more coincidence. I think I thought that was a neat little nugget. And so about 20-e-84, I've got to try to keep this rant a little short and sweet, but you know how it goes with me. So I'm getting a little bit irritated about all the complaints about the UFC 284 promotion because I feel a lot of it is very, very disingenuous.

Factual, but, you know, Slate. Okay. You're breaking up like crazy, Mikey. Yeah, I'm like, I got you. There you go. You got me? I can hear you now. Okay.

Okay. All right, did you hear my part about Kansas City card? Yeah, I heard that. I heard that. You were talking about the promotion for this card. It was disingenuous and then you started bringing up. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

So anyway, so first of all, two things can be true. Yes, the UFC could do a lot more to promote, but I also want people to be honest about what it is that they are looking for. What were you looking for Volcanovsky to show up on random American talk shows? Like, what is it? And I get it. I get that's what you want. But also we have to be honest about what it is that you want that to happen for.

Do you think that's going to influence paper view bys any more than you? than it would before. Because at the end of the day, casuals are going to tune in if they want to or not. You could promote something to high hell and they still won't watch it.

Again, it doesn't mean the UFC shouldn't try. I get that. But again, there's a lot of people are conflating some things. They're like,

oh, well, if they did this, it would increase the paper rebides. We don't really know that. But, you know, what I'm saying? Just saying, because then when you figure,

when you factor in things like, it's out of the country. It's in Australia. You know, and it's during school. I was actually, I just don't know, I'm going to tweet about this later.

I was just like, this is the first UFC pay-privary card that's been on the Saturday before the Super Bowl, and it's actually overseas. So I was actually, I actually found that kind of funny. I was like, whoa, that's kind of weird, because they haven't done a Super Bowl weekend card in years. So, you know what I mean? But, yeah, you know, I'll probably get, I'll touch on it more.

Maybe tomorrow if you do another space or in the coming days, just want to keep that street. But be kind of everyone. Take you later. Thanks, man. And I've been saying this, I've been preaching this for a week now. for a couple of different reasons. One, just like you said,

this is not a, this is not a fight card, especially top to bottom, that is going to make the casual audience say, oh, I get to drop $80 on it after taxes. They're just not going to do it. There's just no casual appeal to it. And you can bring up,

you can put Volcanowski in Good Morning America or any other show. And I don't think it does anything. Like it really, I don't think it does, does. So their promotional push is over in Australia, mostly in Perth, because to them, they don't need, like they don't need to sell pay-per-views. They don't need to. It doesn't change a thing for them. Paper-view buys are just like a cherry on top of the Sunday. It's a bragging

point. Doesn't do much for them. Does something for the fighters, sure, because they get a piece of the pie, but they get, they get, they're going to get paid a bunch of money from ESPN for this fight card, whether no, like if nobody buys it, they're still going to get the same amount of money because it's being distributed on ESPN plus and people are going to drop money on it. What they need to do, what they're focused on, and I don't blame them for this, is they know we are all in. They're doing enough to say this fight's awesome, but they, there's, they, there's trying to sell tickets because that's where they make their bank more than anything is the ticket sales. And if they draw like a four or five million dollar gate, that's great for them. And that's

why they're focused on that. There's just no real casual appeal to this fight. And again, I don't know why this has been pointed out for this card in particular because it has been in this way for years. It has been this way for years where I mean, I understand there was no power slap, and the way they're promoting power slap reaffir kind of assures me, and again, I don't know this for a fact, that this is a very similar deal

to the first season of the ultimate fighter, where they're paying for a time slot. Again, I don't know this for fact, but this is what I think. They're paying for this time slot, hoping that it's a success, so that next year, TBS will just be like, all right, we want the show, here's a bunch of money.

That's why they're promoting it so much. And that's why it feels like the cards are being underpromoted because it's a different thing altogether. They're trying to get this thing off the ground. And if it is a cash buy, which I think it is, it's all reading that way. But again, I don't know for sure. I mean, I'm not really surprised by it. But again, this has been like this forever. Go back to 2016.

We just mentioned 2016. Go back to UFC 202. Go back to the week before that fight card happened. We're having the same conversation. What's going on with 202? It feels like it's flying under the radar. You get two of the biggest stars in the sport. And it doesn't seem like anybody's talking about it.

And then you get to fight week. And by the time we got to the weigh-ins and we got to that to 202, we were all jacked to the gills for it. This is how they do it. And they've been doing it for a long time. So it's not a big surprise. I think you'll see more pretty soon. As soon as this card ends,

it's going to be all on John Jones, Cyril gone. Because they need to sell that place out. And John at least has some casual appeal. A lot of sports fans know who John Jones is. Cyril gone, not so much. And then London's going to be kind of similar to this one. It's going to be mostly for the UK crowd. And then Miami, they'll,

Miami, I mean, they got casual appeal of the Miami card because they got Mazadol and they got Adasanaa and Pereira's becoming a star. So it's just different. Different cards are treated differently. But all of us in here, we're all going to watch. They don't need to promote anything to us because we're going to watch already.

And I think they know that. I think they already know that. Let's go to Jordan. What's up, Jordan? Mike, heck of the morning. You too. I just wanted to see you and get your thoughts on, I think a lot of the, like, promotion around this card

was really going to be set up around that Robert Whitaker, Paulo Costa, Paolo and Robert at the press conferences, getting after it, setting it up type of deal. And I just wanted to get your thoughts on if that kind of changed the way the UFC had to promote this card. maybe I don't know that's tough because

I mean Whitaker Whitaker's just a what I'm a fun-loving guy Costa is just Costa so I think like his media day scrum and you know stuff he says

at the press conference would all be clipped off and it would be funny and hilarious but Wittaker's not going to really play that game like he'll play along and like giggle and have fun but it's like I sit there and engage in a big trash talking battle with Paul Costa.

You know, maybe he'll ask for a shot of the secret juice and they'll have a toast or something and that'd be a cool little moment. So, yeah, I would think like it would all depend on what Costa says at Media Day and how he handles himself throughout the fight week to help. But there aren't, as far as a fight goes, it was a weird one. It was just a weird fight. like, Paul is just over with people, but there weren't a lot of people

on this earth, realistically, who were giving cost to much of a chance in that fight after watching the Luke Rockhold fight, and I'm probably one of those people. So I don't know how much promotion and backing they would put behind that fight, but yeah, I don't think it would. It certainly wouldn't hurt the way this card looks right now

because you got the main event, awesome interim title fight good fight not awesome jdm randy brown that's an awesome fight and then the rest is just like it's just there like i'm pacoporta versus justin top is just going to be the people's main event but the rest of the card just it's okay it's just it's an okay card this is a this is a three-fight card No disrespect to the other fighters competing, but this is a three-fight card, and this is a, let's get the locals out there to try and attempt to make their fans happy.

Let's go to James. Tristan's on deck. Hey, good morning to you, Mike. Good morning. I have to say, I am very excited. I live near the Kansas City area, so when that news dropped last night, I was texting all my buddies

see if they want to go watch Max Holloway just do work on Arnold Allen. But the fight coming up this Saturday, do you only see one path of victory for Alexander? Is it just a stand-up game, or do you think he has to go to war in order to go to the decision to win on the cards? But like always, man, thank you for what you do for us in this space. Can't wait for BTL to watch the go, Jed Mishu, do his thing. and have a heck of a morning. Thanks, man. It's such a tricky fight because

you would think that's the case. Like, it's simple where, and there's probably some truth to that too, right? That if Volk can keep this standing, he's going to win. And if Islam gets a bunch of takedons, he's going to win. And there's truth to that for sure. But something I've been thinking about and then I was listening to No Bet's Bart earlier this morning,

what if Volk starts shooting takedowns? What if Volk is the offensive wrestler in this one? What if he starts shooting? And he puts his arm on his back a couple of times, gives him some more things to think about. I don't know if I would advise that per se, but even if Volk just lands a couple of takedowns and then just gets right back up and it's just like,

hey, I took you down, bro. Like, that'd be a really interesting and kind of a gangster move on his part. So I'm just, he's, it's so hard to predict a Volk fight because he's just so good as the fight goes on. He makes adjustments inside of a fight better than anybody in the sport. So the way he's approaching round one might be completely different than the way he approaches round two and three and four and beyond and on we go.

So I would think like the simple narrative plays true in a lot of ways, but Volk is a tricky dude. His fight IQ is through the roof. There's probably multiple ways he can win this fight that we don't even know about. My pick is probably still going to be Islam Makachep, but I have to say, the closer we get to Saturday, I'm leaning a little bit. I'm still on Makachef, but we'll see.

We'll see when we get Saturday. Oops, Four Corner Sports, you're up. Tristan, you're next. Four Corner Sports. Hello. Okay. Boarding for Flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time.

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Tristan, do we have you? Hey, Mike, can you hear me? Yep. Mike, I want to talk about, I'll be quick with this, a couple of points here. I saw the interview with Calvin Cater, he spoke to Karen Hanoon from Eminemie Junkie. It looks like he was promoting his regional promotion that's coming up here. It's going to be part of Dana White's looking for a fight. Do you know exactly the fighters that Dana is?

going to be looking at on the regional scene. You probably might have a little bit insight. And who knows, you probably have an interview queued up for Calvin Cater coming up here. I'm not really sure. So just your thoughts on that. My second thing is Hamzaa Shamaa called out Robert Whitaker. Whitaker looks like he would accept that fight.

I don't know if there's any smoke to that fire. But if that fight does happen, I really can't see Hamza coming back down because if he beats Whitaker, he's going to get a title shot to the Midway Championship. So your thoughts about that. Another thing, too, my third point, the Dan Hooker's out against Jalen Turner.

Who would you like to see to take that short notice fight? There's Morcano, possibly, maybe Drew Dover. I don't know about that. Or maybe Armin Sarukin. So just your thoughts on those three points that I made. Thanks, Mike. So, yes, we reported Dan Hooker out with the broken hand. He confirmed that information on social media

with the giant cast on the sand. I don't know if I've ever seen a cast that big in my life. But a lot of people are saying like he's taking a way out. Like, are you shitting me right now? Stop with that. It drives me insane. Dan Hooker is not afraid to fight Jalen Turner. I can tell you that right now.

Even if the matchup isn't fantastic for him, he's not looking for a way out, I can assure you. As far as a replacement, I know there's conversations going on. Nothing I could really report right now, but there are discussions. in place. I don't know who it's going to be. No idea at this point. But I mean, according to the people, if you look at like what they want to see, it looks like Sirukion's a good one. Gamrod's a good one. A lot of love towards Drew Dober. I saw a bunch of love towards Hanata Moikano, perhaps. I mean, there's, I'm sure there's a lot of names in the mix right now,

but this is also 155 and all those guys are in play for some pretty good opportunities. So I don't know. I don't know what the hell they're going to do with that situation. Whitaker Shamiyaf rules. That is absolutely the fight we should make. If Shamiyaf isn't going to fight Covington at 170, that's plan B. 100%. Didn't seem like they were both really all that interested in fighting each other. They wanted to team up and fight crime together. That was kind of the initial thing, but it seems like both are intrigued by the idea. So yeah, do it. That's huge.

As far as the Combat Zone card, I don't even. even know who's on it. I have no clue. I'm looking at tapology. There's no fights listed. I'm looking at their Instagram page. There's no fights listed. The only thing they've listed is the fact that they're going to be there. So I don't know. I don't know who's going to be on the card. I'll know more once I see them, but not really sure. Not really sure. Let's see if we get four corner sports back in here and then we'll keep on moving. Four corner sports. What up? Hey, what's going on, Mike? What's up?

What's up? What's up? What is like? Two or three things. One, I wanted to get your thoughts on the RDA callout. RDA was trying to, saw Bala was asking for, you know, the usual, Gilbert, Kobe, Mazdo, you know. And RDA comes in, and RDA says, I see you're looking for a fight. What about April?

And Bala backs away. It says something along the notion of. you know, that he's been, he's trying to get a title shot. And it's just like, man, like, Balal, just take, take the fight. You're asking for a fight. You're creating all these memes and stuff like that. Like, I don't, I wouldn't say he's scared of RDA or anything like that. But RDA, I mean, that man is a true gangster.

That man will fight anybody. I mean, he's the same person, I feel like that. If you see him at a pub, he'll fight three people at the same time. And I respect the hell out of that. I mean, what's the call it? I think, me personally, I think, just take the fight in April. I mean, he's asking for a fight, just take the damn fight against RDA and see where it goes from there. As for, um, what's it called, uh, Islam and Vogue?

I don't know. What's your thoughts on, on, uh, Islam saying that he's weighing 167? I mean, he's got, what, 48 hours to really cut down weight. I mean, usually, in my, from what, from what I've seen, uh, if you're cutting down that much weight in such a short period of time, maybe it might affect a fighter. But if Volcanowski does be able to survive into the third round, then we could possibly see, you know, what is Islam made out of? I mean, because we've never really seen him, you know, past, what is it, after like 15 minutes.

So pretty interesting after that. And lastly, I do want to see what's your thoughts if you haven't seen the Pat McAfee interview with Dana White. Thanks, man. I did not see the Pat McAfee interview with Dana White. let me see here the way and thing like I'm trying I'm not 100% sure maybe my best friend can give me a thumbs up on this because she knows better than I I think and I don't know for sure that the ceremonial wayans are the official way ends so it's like we're going old school here aka if I'm right give me a thumbs up so it's not like and it's at 11 a.m. their time. so it's like 6 p.m. Eastern time. So it's not like the typical morning way-ins.

I mean, it is there, but it's different timing. Like if we're looking at it from the East Coast portion of things, and then obviously the fights are, it's not that A.K.? Really? I thought it was. Maybe I'm wrong. I'll have to look in. I'll go look at it real quick. Looking at the release here. Let's see where we're at. Friday press conference. Official, oh, I was wrong.

I was wrong. See, this is why we look. Thank you, A.K. Yeah, so they will have official weigh-ins. And then the ceremonial weigh-ins are not long after that. Official weigh-ins from an Australian time, 630 to 9. And Ceremony weigh-ins, 10-30 to 11-30. So not too long after.

And then they fight. I don't know. We'll see if the hydration for Islam, like that would be more of my concern than him making the weight. He'll make the weight. Will he have enough time to like hydrate like you typically would in a Vegas fight week? That's the other question. So yeah, I'm sure Makachev has to cut a bunch of weight anyways. I'm sure he'll make it. I don't have any, any, I don't have a ton of concern there. That's for sure. I forget your other question. I apologize. Toke, what's up? they got one thing right. They actually got some footage of the spider drill, which I have been mystified by for ages when Israel and Wilkinovsky have talked about it. They actually released some of that footage, which looks insane as a martial arts...

What do you say? I do martial arts myself, and I couldn't even imagine doing that sort of a drill that looks insane. But that's not the main thing. main thing is I want you to explain Subaira Tukukov to me. Because to me, this is a guy that's been in the UFC since 2014, most notably known to, you know, jump the cage in the in the Khabibb Connor fight and then hit Connor in the face. And that's actually when he's looked the best

fighting. He has, honestly, he hasn't put one full fight together other than knocking out Kevin Acular. So he keeps being an insane favorite, odds-wise. I'm a betterer myself. And I just wonder, how can he keep being this big of a favorite when he has two split-decision losses, a draw, split-decision wins on his record as well? How is this even a safe bet?

I don't get it. He's never put a full fight together. I haven't seen 15 good minutes from him at any point. So please, if you can, explain to me why people have this blind trust in them, like the betting community does, because I'm part of that community as well, and I just don't see it. I don't see it. So if you could explain to me, that would be great.

Thanks, Mike, and have a heck of a Thursday. Yeah, I don't know. It's a great question. I mean, to be fair, the split decision losses were to Hanata Moikano, Hakeem Dawadu, which in 2020 felt a little different than it would probably feel now. And then the split draw was to Lorone Murphy, who was an absolute monster. So maybe we give him a little bit of a pass here. But yeah, I understand where you're coming from.

We'll see how he does. I would say he's kind of on his last chance at this point because coming off the win over Ricardo Ramos, that was in late 2021. October 2021. Was supposed to fight Nate Landware? Didn't happen. Supposed to fight Lucas Almeida. Weight cut issues.

And then he's supposed to fight Joel Alvarez on this card. And Alvarez is with Drew. Now he's fighting up his sprinter. So I think he's kind of on his last chance here. He needs to go in there and not only win, but he needs to look impressive and needs to make weight. So I think they're kind of on. I think he's kind of on his last leg. But I get it, man.

And you want it the only one that asks. those kinds of questions, but we'll see. This is his opportunity to set the table for his teammates and see if he can get back on track. Lone Wolf, what's up? Lone Wolf. You're muted. All right, try again. Try again because I couldn't get you in.

Always curious what the world is like for Viking MMA. What's up, Viking? Good. How are you? I just want to talk about Hamza than Islam that people, if people are dreaming about that fight, that's not going to happen. The main reason of that fight is Muslim brothers, we are not fight for, we don't fight for, you know, a strap. Islam is all about brother and that fight is not going to happen. I think in the UFC, that fight is not going to happen.

The other thing I just want to talk about is Islam, because I used to hate that guy, but if he wins against Volkanowski, then there is no argument that he is going to face a lot of elite guys in the welteret and light reds. So if he wins, then there is no denial that he's the best fighter. Or maybe the second best fighter after Hamzachimaev. And one more thing about the BTL,

is JED is going to be there in the BTL on the BTL? You good? I'm too curious about that. Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. Thanks, man. Yes, Jed will be there. He'll be taking on Mr. James Lynch, which will be a lot of fun.

I like James a lot. It's one of my favorite people in the industry. So it'll be good to have him back. So that is happening. Yeah, look, Islam becomes the number one fighter. Pound for pound if he beats Volkinovsky. No doubt about that. I understand why people are kind of trepidacious about the timing of this fight

since neither guy has cleaned out their division in any way, shape, or form. So I get, I get some pause and hesitation for this. Like, maybe it's too soon. But here we are. And I ain't going to complain about it. But I get why some people think that way, because Volk's still got plenty of guys to fight.

The problem for Volk is just no one has, like, he's got guys. And I saw some people say, like, I don't know why Mike always says that Volk has nobody to fight. It's not that he has nobody to fight. It's that no one has emerged as like the dude. And no one has for a while. Like pretty much you just need one win to get a title shot right now. Like Korean zombie got a title shot.

I know it's a different circumstance because Max Hollow was injured. Involk wanted to fight in April. But like since then, like Emmett was coming off of a very controversial win over Calvin Cater. Yaira Rodriguez was coming off of an injury. TKO. I would say he caused some of that, but, but no one had, like, outside of Max Holloway over the last couple of years, like, no one has been the dude. No one has been the dude. And at least we have an interim title fight, which is basically a number one contender fight. At least we have this. So Volk, like, doesn't beat Makachev. Like, at least we know who he's fighting next.

He's fighting either Josh Emmett or Yahir Rodriguez, who becomes the number one contender. We haven't had a clear-cut number-one contender at 145 since Volk won the belt outside of Max Holloway. That's why, like, when they announced the Allen fight, I was like, eh, love the fight, it's great,

but if Max wins, then you're just, you're killing off another contender. And it's just, and this is what has continued to happen. The fight's great, but that's like by one cause for pause. is we're trying to build this division up.

We're trying to get new contenders to emerge and it seems like that person that they want ends up fighting Max and Max ends up beating him. So maybe Arnold Allen's the dude who can emerge. And it's going to be a tough spot for him because if he goes out and beats Max Holloway, is he going to fight somebody else? Is he going to wait for Volk versus whoever?

And what a Volk wins the lightweight title? I feel like he's not going to go back down because what's the frigging points? Why would you go back down? Like I get it. You want to be active and you want to keep both divisions busy and you have that mindset. But why would Josh Emmett even care about fighting Josh Emmett or Yaya Rodriguez if he wins a lightweight title when he can fight like the Conners of the world and the Chandlers of the world and guys who are big, the poriades of the world, guys who are big stars and he can make a lot more money.

So, yeah, it's an interesting spot for the man and for Islam. All right, Lone Wolf, do we have you? You're still muted. Yes, my mic was muted. Thank you for giving me a chance. Yeah, this is really interesting to me, to be honest. I think UFC have never made such a big fight before, like this, like two of the most scariest guy in front of each other and fighting for legacies. One is champion and one is also champion.

Both are champions and one pound for pound on the line and lightweight belt on the line. I think it is the biggest fight ever to happen in UFC. And it will further cement the status of both the fighters who are fighting this fight. Because if Volcanozky pulled this off, then he will surely be considered one of the five goats of UFC. And for Islam, I think it's a start to become great. He will be considered the current goats of the UFC, current on the roster. But Islam is on the way to become the lightweight goat. Surely, I think he will surpass Habib's record even.

Yeah. Yeah, he is surely going to surpass Habib. Like, he will have like five or six defense, to be honest, in lightbed division. if he is consistent with his, like, his ground is very strong and it is his strength. And he can have, like, five or six defense. And he can have it like in three years or two years. And by then he can clear the division and he can go to the welterweight. And by then he can fight in welterweight and like he can be double champion.

Yeah, he can be double champion. He surely can be double champion because I think I've never seen the power Islam possessed in lightweight. Even he's very well-rounded. Even his strikes are well-accurated. And even I think Habib's accuracy wasn't that good like Islam. Islam's accuracy is just different level. I've never seen before. Islam's accuracy is just on another level.

His only loss is like he was not. knocked out. And I think it's kind of accident, accidentally like it was seven or eight years before. And he is well on his way to become the lightweight goat of all time or well on is where to surpass Habib. And he is going to win this fight. My bet is on Islam. He's surely beating Volcanozky. I respect Volcanovsky. He's a great fighter. He's a challenger. It's going to be a tough fight for Islam. But no doubt Islam is winning it. Totally. Thank you, lone wolf. Listen, look, you ain't lying.

You ain't lying. We'll see what happens. Like, to me, I mean, it's, I don't know if it's cut and dry, but because Bokachev's striking is underrated. There's no doubt about it. But if you threw those two dudes in there to have, like, a non-grappling stand-up fight, like stand-up only, I'm picking Volk to win that fight. Like, if they just have a kickboxing match, Volk's going to win that one.

nine out of ten times. But it's not kickboxing. This is, sorry, A.K., the mixing of the martial arts. And both guys mix the martial arts very well. Volk's got his skills. He's very good everywhere. Well, Makachchev is like really, really good at. And Mokchev's good everywhere, too.

But Mokachev has that sort of one skill set that is just terrifying. He gets you down. We'll see. I mean, Volk's been taking down before. Chad Mendez had success. Holloway took him down. Ortega got a little tricky when Volt makes mistakes. The thing is of this one, and I know this is super cliche when it comes to sports,

but Volk can win, but he's got to be perfect. I mean, he really has to be perfect on Saturday. And if he is, he's got a shot. He's got a real chance. but it is very difficult to be perfect against Islam Makachev. And I'm not saying that for Volk. That's for anybody. You've got to have a perfect night against this guy.

You got to have a Shevchenko versus Androge performance. You got to have a Connor versus Eddie Alvarez performance where you just, you wake up, the birds are singing outside of your hotel room, but in Islam's room, it's raining and pouring, and it's thunder and lightning. everything it you just have to have that and we've seen in the sport there are days where you just wake up and you're like

there ain't anybody in the world that's going to beat me and then they go in the octagon they show it and then there's other days where fighters wake up and I know Brendan Shops talked about this before not that we like to bring him up all that often on this program but where he said like he wakes up and he's just like oh this is going to be a bad night I just know it's going to be a bad night

So folks got to be perfect to win. And he's been perfect in his last two fights. So we shall see. What a great fight this is going to be. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to Lux Beauty and Fragrant Sets, our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com.

It's hockey season and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber. EADs. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice, yes, we deliver those. Goldenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Ebz Wali, hello. Can you hear me? Yes, sir.

Hello? Yep, I got you. I got you. I'm here. Yeah, I don't know what's going on. I hear him. Try again. Let's go to Riley.

Riley, what's up? Riley, there you go. You okay? Yep, what's up, man? Okay. I got two quick things for you. First, in the main event this weekend, the longer the fight goes,

who do you think that favors cardio-wise? And then second, if Islam just runs through Volkanovsky, what do you think should be next for him at 155? Because, I mean, it's not like he's going to have much bigger, like he's not going to have defenses against higher caliber opponents than 13 win streak, Charles Alibera, and whatever win streak, Alex, Volk is on. so if he's just going to defend the title after against other people like i don't know porre or chanler some of the up-and-comers i feel like a defense like that is a lot less uh significant than say beating volker charles that's all i got yeah but i want to see him fight benny der euse i want to see that fight i don't know i mean there's guys there i mean

Just remember his path to getting to the belt. He's good. And none of this is his fault. But it's not like, like Volk had to fight a murderer's row to get to the title. He had to fight Mendez and Jose Aldo and guys like that. Machchif really didn't have to do that. And again, not his fault because he agreed to fight a lot of these guys. And the fights fell out.

And he was just like, well, I'll just fight whoever. And he smushed him. So there are a lot of matchups. that we have not seen from Islam Makachov. We haven't seen him fight Gaichi or Daryu Shor. We saw the Olvera fight. We haven't seen Porier. We haven't seen Chandler, Connor.

I mean, there's a lot of guys there. There's a lot of guys, guys who are big or box office draws. So, yeah. I mean, if the Daryish-Lavara fight happens, if Dary-Sholyra, it's undeniable. He'd fight him. And I feel like Stuyleriore. Stylistically, Daryush and Armand Saurukian are his toughest tests to me, stylistically.

Now, again, a fighter could wake up, have a perfect night and beat him. But to me, those are the two guys that I feel match up the best with him at 155. All right. Absoli, do we have you? Give me? Yes. Hi. So I have two questions I would like to ask.

My first question is, how would a matchup between Dustin Porrier versus Gamrod sound? And my second thing is regarding the championship fight this Saturday, if Alexander wins and he were to permanently move up to Lightway, what's the next best possible matchup he could face? Thanks, man, have a good day. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, did you say Porier versus Gamron? Is that what you said? Yeah, Poria versus Gamron.

How old that fight? Yeah, it's a good one. It's a good one. I mean, I think they train together anyways, so I'm sure they've had many, many rounds together. So, yeah, it'd be fun as hell. I don't know. I've got to think about that one. Both those guys know each other pretty well.

But Porre is obviously the better striker. He's a little more crafty. I mean, Gamrod could wrestle his ass off, but Pori's been in there with dudes, he could freaking wrestle too. So, I mean, he fought, he's been in there with Habib. So I would, uh, it's, it's close. It's a close one. I like, I like that idea.

For Volk, if he wins, layway tight, I mean, there's so many options. Golly. Just big, big fights, big money fights for him. Uh, he can kind of choose. If he beats, if he beats Islam, I mean, he becomes a star. Like, it's a star making night because that place is going to explode

and he's going to look like the king of the world. And that translates. Look at Stepe. Look at Stepe. Look at what Steepa did in Cleveland. I mean, Stepe is not the most personable dude in the world. It's not the most edgy guy.

Doesn't have a ton of casual appeal. Great dude. Firefighter, family man. All things you want to see out of a human being. but in the fight game it's a little bit different but in cleveland man that dude just looks like the guy and vocal look like that times 10 if he beats his on mokachev so the world is kind of his oyster if he beats mokachev on saturday mackachev doesn't mokachev will not get the same rub. That's for sure. And if I know this space well enough, not this space, but the MMA community, there will be people

who will be like, well, you beat a featherway, no big deal, still hasn't beat a top lightweight yet. I guarantee you I'm going to hear, see that and hear that. And it's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. But that's going to happen. And a Vulcuin is going to be a whole different conversation. And that's not really fair. but Machinjev wins he doesn't I don't think he becomes

like a big massive star but if Volk does he will for sure so there's a lot riding on it from that aspect as well why VMZ what up hi I had two questions for you

if Al Jermaine moves up to 145 would he be a clear contender for Volk and secondly the winner of Gilbert and Mosvedol, should they be the next

title contender for the Walter Bout? Thank you. Ooh. All right. So, I mean, if Sterling's going to go up to 45, like if he goes out there and looks like him and Suhudo will fight in May now, at least that's what they're targeting, depending on how

everything goes in Columbia for Sterling, if he beats Henry Sehudo whenever they fight and he goes up to 1.45, like if he has a clean win and it's not like you know sterling's just had kind of just a run of bad luck where yon gets dekewed he wins the belt people just ripped him to shreds and then everyone said well just lean into it al joe be the heel he's like okay i'll do that and then he did it and everyone hated him even more and then he goes

and beat yon close fight split decision oh it's a robbery and then he goes and fights tj who fought with one arm oh you only beat him because you had one arm if he goes out there and just cleanly beats Henry Sehudo. It's going to be tough to deny him a title shot as soon as he goes on. And that could suck for certain people in that division. But I don't think Sterling's going to move to 45 to fight Brian Ortega. I just don't see it. Sterling's getting up there a little bit.

It's been doing this a long time. So, yeah, I think he'll be right in the mix. would be my guess. And then Mazadol Burns, all depends. It all depends on who wins the fight March 18th. If Mazadol beats Gilbert Burns and Leon Edwards beats Kamar Usman, they are going to make that fight. 1,000% that is the fight they are going to make.

If Burns wins, it's interesting. I don't know. I don't know. Balaah Muhammad is just in such a strange, place right now because I feel like if Burns wins he's going to have to fight Bilal to get back to a title shot

I don't think Bilal is just going to straight get one unless Usman just destroys Leon Edwards but like I said before if if I'm Belal Mohammed I'm booking a flight to London

I'm going to get myself on the backup train and I'm going to be sitting cage side watching that fight unfold and really hoping that Kamar Usman wins that fight. But other than that, oh, now I remember what Fort Corner Sports said.

He should fight RDA. No, he shouldn't. Why should Belal Mohamed fight fight fight fight fight fight fight literally does nothing for Belah Mohamaamax? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And if we are to believe his manager

that the UFC wants to book him in Colby, that's fine. Like that's a sensible fight for him. But fighting RDA does nothing for Bala Muhammad. Absolutely nothing. Does everything for RDA, but nothing for Bala. So I don't agree with you there.

But yeah, if Leon wins, Mazadol wins, he gets title shot, Burns will have a strong case depending on how he wins. Like it burns just don't. truck's Mazadol and like knocks him out.

Yeah, he probably will get a title shot. But I don't know. Ask me on March 21st when we're on this space and we'll have a little more clarity. We'll take a few more. Whoever's in line. We'll go Siverham, Barbarusa, Medi, and J.D. Felt. And then we are, we're going to get out of here. Siverham, hello.

Good. How are you? Question for you, Mike. regarding the who's going to are you going to support a world car you know a matchahawk

like what does your heart say and mindset after hearing all this talk about the World Coast's Maccham I get what kind of feeling you had now my question changes to

what do you think either loss or win for both of them could bring out the repercussions on their respective divisions. That's what my question is. And is there any news about the Colby versus any fight in Welterweight division? That's it, Mike. No news at all on Colby. It was brought, like the Yali thing came up, but we saw just social.

And this is, I made sort of a, because we talked about it and we talked. And we talked about it on BTL, like right when those things were put out. And I probably should have, like, read and, like, listened to the interview before I responded to it. It was kind of like the... Basically, he said, hey, this is what the UFC wanted to do, but now we can't find Colby. So now we don't know what's going to happen as opposed to these guys could be coaching the ultimate fighter and then fighting each other. So the context of what people were saying on social media was not exactly what Ali was saying. But I don't know.

Because as soon as I saw that, of course, you know, doing my job, I hit up Colby and was like, is there any truth to this? And nothing back. So I don't know. I mean, literally he's a giant mystery right now. He's a giant mystery. As far as this main event, I wouldn't say I'm supporting anybody. I would say right now my head and heart are both saying Islam-Machachem wins.

But I feel like by the time I get to New York, I don't know. It's trending towards Volk as the days go by, just because it would just be such a massive moment. And I feel the more I like watch tape of Volk, the more of a chance I think he has in this fight. But my pick, at least today, is going to be a Zamakachev. maybe a late finish maybe a decision I don't know folks tough to finish

so is Islam I don't know but I'm leaning Islam right now for sure Barbara so what's up you too I have a question about

Makashif I'm a little bit worried I'm an Islam fan but I heard him more than four or five times saying that He is going to knock Alexander out. And with that being said, I get these vibes from the Usman and Leon fight because Leon wasn't finishing people.

And Usman was falling in love with his hands and he was loving the striking and then he got slipped. The second thing, do you know if Brinnell and Olivera fight is official? Because I don't think it makes sense, especially if it happens like what we all think that Islam wins and win decisively. And I've heard a couple of times saying he wants to be active fighting three or four times say because if not benaille, then you don't have any other option. And that means he's going to fight only one more time at the end of the year. Thank you, Mike.

Yeah, I think, I don't know. I don't really believe Islam. He says I'm going to go in there and have a kickboxing match and knock out Volcanovsky. I don't believe him. Do I think he's going to stand there and have some fun, trade a little bit? Sure. but Volk doesn't like Volk's a tremendous striker but he's also not

I don't know he's not he's not one hit kill you striker he's not that kind of dude he's more of a guy who accumulates points if you will so yeah maybe Makachov feels like you can get in there and

and try to earn some respect in that regard I don't know but I don't think that's the strategy he's going to take in this fight by the time we get to Saturday is Darius Oliver official it's not an M.Afighting.com so it's not official Medi and then J.D. and then

we're done. What's up, Madi? Hi, Mike. How are you? Good, how are you? Good, good. So I just wanted to know so there was a report in one of your sites that Bellator 290 he had like under a million viewers. So is this good, bad, terrible?

I remember Coker telling Ariel that he was looking at three million or something. So yeah, I just wanted to know your thoughts on that. So I believe what they were hoping for was like $1.5 million. That was kind of like if we hit $1.5, we've won the day. We've exceeded expectations. So weekend ratings are a little different because, you get like preliminary numbers. So the preliminary numbers

said it was like right around 930,000. And I know some people reported those as the numbers, but you have to take into fact how Nielsen does the ratings and things like that and you have to catch up. So when those numbers actually came in, they did over a million. They did over a million.

Not much over a million. Let me see what the actual number was. It was over a million. million though. Let me see what it was. There we go. From our own Dave and Martin, average 1.068 million viewers. Good enough for a 0.18 rating in the 18 to 49 demo ahead of college basketball, well behind the NBA, but that's not surprising. Yeah, I would say anything over a million is a win, especially nowadays. Like, it's not TV and how it's consumed and all that.

It's much different now than it was when Strike Force is on CBS. So you can't really compare the numbers. I mean, just look at the pro wrestling numbers. Like, Raw was getting like 10 million viewers, certain weeks, and they ain't getting close to that now. They're getting like two, two and a half at best. So just a different world. but I think if we did like below 950, I think that would have been tough.

That would have been tough. 1.5 would have been excellent. Anything over a million was was good. And they did over a million. 1.068. So almost 1.1. We rounded up almost 1.1 million. So pretty good.

Pretty good. All right, Jady. Take us home because I got to go. Busy, busy day. Maybe. JD. Yes. Excellent.

Excellent. So I got a couple questions for you. First, if Jack Delamandelina is able to continue his streak and look as impressive as he has, how high is he going to get catapulted up in the Welterweight division for his next fight? And then you're currently living around Charleston. Is that right? I'm like 90 minutes to two hours from Charleston. Okay. So I'm a chef, and so I got in from the southeast, so I got to ask you, I'll get a jump on free for all Friday by saying, what is the one southern food that is completely won you over that you were not exposed to before you moved to the south? Anyway, thanks, man.

So I don't know. I'm pretty boring in that, in that regard. So I don't think there's anything. I don't think there's anything here that I haven't had before. I will say, I don't know. Like, I've had the barbecue here. It's friggin awesome. Most of the stuff here I've had before, and it's fine. One thing I had, like, last week that was different was, like, if you're a New Englander, if you're a New Englander or even, like, a northeasterner in some way, we love our

roast beef love our roast beef sandwiches and especially in the boston area the roast beef places in the boston area are the best like kelly's roast beef when i was a kid right on revere beach it's like the og roast beef place the best just the best and nice and a little bit rare you go and they cut up fresh for you and you put it in the sandwich and they put all the sauce and oh it's the best it's the best and they don't have any of that stuff down here but there was a place that we went to that had roast beef sandwiches so I was like, all right, I'll try it.

It's roast beef with a southern twist and it just roast beef cooked a little differently, seasoned a little differently, a little darker. The sauces on it were awesome. So I was impressed. It was the first non-New England roast beef that I've had that I thought was pretty good.

So kind of a boring answer, but a lot of the stuff that they offer here, I've had before. So nothing really has been new. Like I've had everything from Gator to everything else in the past. So plus I don't go out to eat all that much. I'm more of a let's just cook food at the house kind of a guy. Once in a while, like maybe once a week we'll get takeout or go out to eat or something.

But for the most part, we just eat at home. Keep it simple. I like to cook stuff. So, yeah. Give me a little while and maybe I'll have a different answer. But, yeah, I haven't really, like my area, it's not a lot of crazy food. We're like in between Savannah and Hilton Head. So that's kind of where we're at.

All right, I got to go. Thank you all very much. We'll be back tomorrow. 10 a.m. Eastern, we'll do it again. It's going to be a busy day. Wayans, ceremonial weigh-ins. We got press conference like in the overnight tonight. and we'll have that on mafutting.com's YouTube channel.

Btl, 12.30 p.m. Eastern time. Join us there. We'll be live, Jedmishu versus James Lynch. A lot to discuss there. Tomorrow we'll do this show here. We'll have a preview show, I believe, at 3 p.m. Eastern. But once you get the podcast version of this show tomorrow, we'll have an interview speaking with Amanda Gera later on today.

She's in Phoenix for the Super Bowl, but she's going to give me some time later on this afternoon. We're going to talk about her journey into the world of MMA. Of course, she does a tremendous job. On the desk for Bellator. She's been doing it for a little while now.

And I'm a broadcast nerd. So I love hearing about the broadcast game and people's journeys in the broadcasting world. So very excited to talk to Amanda. So you'll hear that conversation on the tail end of the podcast version of the show once it drops tomorrow. So appreciate it.

all of you. You're the best. See you later on. Have a heck of a day and a heck of a morning. Fox Media Podcast Network. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.