MMA Fighting - HOAM | Who Is Israel Adesanya Going To Fight At UFC 293?
Episode Date: May 23, 2023Israel Adesanya is expected to headline the UFC's return to Sydney in September, but with so many fights booked in the middleweight division, along with quick turnaround times being a factor, it seems... up in the air as to who Adesanya will face on that card. Will there be a shuffling of the deck, so to speak, or will the UFC give Adesanya a second opportunity to become a two-division champion against Jamahal Hill? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck gives his thoughts on who Adesanya could fight next, the issue with booking Robert Whittaker vs. Dricus Du Plessis two months prior at UFC 290, and making the case for a new lineup of fights at 185 — which includes moving Du Plessis to the title fight with Adesanya in September. Additionally, topics include Dana White's reaction to Francis Ngannou signing with the UFC, White's comments about UFC bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling, Alex Pereira's move up to 205, when Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington could happen in 2023, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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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?
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The Vox Media Podcast Network.
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2020.
Eat a heck of a morning.
We are live on the NBA Fighting Twitter Spaces.
You can hear the show in its entirety
shortly thereafter on the MMA Fighting Podcasting Network.
Hope everyone's having a great start to their week.
Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.
UFC Vegas 73 is in the books.
What a performance from McKenzie Dern.
She opened up a lot of eyes with that absolute thrashing of a very tough Angela Hill.
Great performance.
Called out Rose Namibunis.
Love the callout.
Just don't think it's going to happen, unfortunately, for her.
Because we don't know what the hell is going on with the Rosnamu Yud is.
great win for mackenzie durr and i think she needed that not only for her career and for her
title aspirations but for herself as well because she's been through a lot a lot going on
outside of the octagon for her and she needed that win for more than just a win she needed that for
probably her life as well so congratulations to her well deserved and a fantastic performance
nonetheless.
Great performance from Anthony Hernandez on that card as well.
There were a lot of good performances.
Look, this card on paper was not very good, but there were a lot of competitive fights.
There just wasn't like a lot of stakes involved in them, which kind of can turn some people
off.
So it's okay to criticize a card on paper and then watch it on Saturday and be like, oh,
that was pretty fun.
And I kind of felt like this one was a pretty fun card all in all.
Lupi Godinez gets a nice win on short notice.
Joaquin Buckley gets a knockout of Andre Fialio.
What a return to the Octagon for CDF.
Diego Faheda just brutally knocked out Michael Johnson.
Slava Claus with a nice knockout.
Caroline Okovacavich just continues this incredible resurgence.
What a return to the cage for Gilbert Urbina.
Knocks out Orion Kosi with a nasty kick to the body.
We had some heavyweighty,
heavy weights getting after it.
Rodrigo Nassimento beats Alir Latifi.
Chase Hooper wins his UFC lightweight debut.
Temba Garimbo, what a story he has become and just has been his entire career.
Gets a victory over Takashi Sato and he needed that for his bank account because
seven bucks.
I think a little over $7 in his bank account as he was making his walk to the cage.
So good for him.
And then Natty Ice, Natalia Silva, just can't.
continues to impress
just starches
Victoria Leonardo in just under three minutes.
What a performance from her.
So we had UFC Vegas 73.
Dana White had a lot to say
at the post-fight press conference.
We could talk about that.
Reacted to Francis and Gano
signing with the PFL.
Had some choice words
for Al Jermaine Sterling as well.
We had Katie Taylor,
Chantelle Cameron
go down in Dublin.
It was not the
homecoming
that the Irish boxing
fans were hoping for.
Cameron gets the victory.
Right Fighter 1.
Nothing wrong with the scoring there.
A lot of people up in arms about the Haney Lomachenko scoring.
I scored it for Loma as well, but it was a very close fight.
It's very difficult.
And I remember I was talking to Angelo Reyes about this.
He's a boxing coach.
He's trained a lot of M.M.A. fighters.
You worked with Frank Meier a lot.
and I forget which fight we're talking about in the aftermath.
There's one fight that was very similar to this one,
where we talked about the scoring and was it a quote-unquote robbery,
and Angelo had some, like, interesting takes on judging fights
because he's judged some boxing fights too.
And he's like, it's just really hard to judge boxing fights
because you only have that one angle,
and you just kind of have to go by what you see.
and they don't have the monitors and they don't get to watch what we get to watch.
You don't have the commentary or anything like that.
MMA is kind of similar, but a little bit different,
but boxing is very difficult to judge.
And with a fight like that, you can score it however you want.
Most people seem to have scored it for Loma.
It's tough to call it a robbery when it's such a close fight.
But if you had money on Lomachenko, I feel for you, my heart goes out to you.
and that's all I can say really.
But no UFC this week.
So enjoy it, especially in the United States.
We've got the long weekend Memorial Day coming up on Monday.
Let us not forget what that day is all about.
And then there will be no break from the UFC for a long, long time.
I believe it's like 13 straight weeks with cards, a whole bunch of pay-per-views.
And I don't think they have a weekend off until the next long weekend in the U.S.,
which is Labor Day weekend.
So enjoy this weekend off because you're not going to get another one for a while.
So we can talk about all the stuff I just premised.
I'm sure I will have a diatri about some of these things.
But let's just get right after it.
Let's go to you all and see what you have to say.
CV, kick us off.
What's up, Mike?
Heck of a morning.
Yeah, I just want to lead it off with a couple questions.
First question.
I was watching the aerial interview with Jan Blahovic yesterday.
And yeah, I want to ask the same question.
Do you think Pereira's coming back too early for his 205 debut?
I mean, it's going to be about three months since he last fought.
And, you know, he got brutally, got knocked out cold.
So do you think that's enough time for him to recover?
And especially with 205, you know, like their Janbovich definitely hits harder than Adisania.
And just a couple comments.
Yeah, people are probably going to say this a lot as the event comes closer,
but the elevation factor in Utah is going to be another chaotic factor, you know, for all the fighters involved,
like especially with the heavier guys.
So, I mean, just my hot take and my prediction, we're probably going to see some sloppy fights.
And yeah, and one more comment.
I can't help would agree with you with what you said a couple months ago.
last month when, yeah, they should have just done Alex and Izzy, the trilogy.
Because right now, like you said, it's kind of like a mess right now with Izzy fighting in
September and, yeah, Whitaker, DDP, and July and the whole other random middleweight fights
in June and July.
And, like, how are they going to have, like, that much time to, like, set up a proper
contender fight for Izzy?
So that's it for me.
Thanks.
Yeah, I mean, Dana.
talked about that at the press conference as well. He said
an announcement was forthcoming
about who is he is going to fight. So I wonder
if they're going to do a
Jamal Hill fight. I
kind of hope that doesn't happen.
But
we'll see. Maybe they just
to me, just pull DDP
from the Whitaker fight,
throw Whitaker to
Sean Strickland on that card,
have, because I don't
think Alice Garoff and Paul
Koss is going to happen. Like I'd be shocked at
that fight happens at this point.
Paula Costa already called cap on that whole situation.
So just reshuffle the deck.
I mean, the dates aren't that far apart.
So just do, just put Costa against Hamzaa
Hamzaa Chamaif in October.
Just do that because that's the fight everybody wanted to begin with.
So just go ahead and do that.
Pull DDP from the Whitaker fight,
give him the title fight, do Whitaker versus Strickland,
and do Abis Magamatov versus Alaskarov.
Boom.
There you go.
Just do that.
Then there's, we don't have to worry about anything.
And then if Whitaker and Strickland have a fight and whoever comes out of that,
if they're relatively unscayed, they can be the backup to the title fight or they could slide in if they're ready.
But just do that.
Like we're just, we're hoping for too much if everything just stands the way that it is right now.
Because you have this big, big event in Sydney.
you're going to put out of Sanya on there
and have him be the dude to carry the weight.
But if he doesn't have an opponent,
then what the hell are we doing here?
Not really sure.
Utah, yeah, man,
and Utah gave them a bunch of money to come back,
so they're going to go back.
I mean, there were some sloppy fights
the last time they were there,
but we also got one of the best moments
in the history of the sport
the last time they're in Utah
with the knockout, Leon Edwards,
against Kamara Usman.
we got a sloppy but tremendous battle between paula costa and luke rockhold the only thing the only thing that really like kind of hurts my soul about that whole card was matchmaking and doing it an altitude between marab and jos a aldo because that was just horrific in hindsight and i've talked about that enough but we'll see how it plays out we'll see how it plays out we'll see how porier and gaichi fair and
all the other matchups.
Hopefully some of the fighters can get acclimated to it.
I know Dustin Porreier talked about it on the MA hour yesterday.
He's going to try to get some stuff kind of sent to him
so he can sleep in elevation.
There's different kinds of things you can buy
where these little tent things,
these little blanket things where it's almost like you're sleeping at elevation.
He'll go out a little bit early.
And it'll make that fight a little more interesting.
So I'm optimistic.
The Derek Lewis,
Marcos Ruggieri to Lima fight could get real sloppy.
But yeah, I mean,
UFC's on fire right now, everybody.
I mean, just absolutely on fire.
So cities will just call them and be like,
hey, we'll give you a whole bunch of money
to come to our city and they're going to do it.
So I'm hoping for the best.
That card's really good.
So I don't think all the fights that they announced are going to happen,
but I think the fights that do happen will be interesting and fun.
Let's try to get Tristan in here.
Tristan, do we have you?
Yes.
Mike, can you hear me?
Yes.
I can't hear this guy.
Mike, can you hear me?
Yep.
Yeah, I think we're having some connection issues with Tristan.
Let's go to Absualia, and then we'll go to Four Corner Sports, and then we'll go to Mikey.
Good.
So my question.
is who do you have winning the Marvel Victorian Jericho NioFi that's happening next month?
And also, what would your thoughts be on a potential future card, maybe in places like
Malaysia or Saudi Arabia?
Do you think you see if the stadiums in those countries were to pay the money, right?
Do you reckon they could host events in those countries?
That's all I have.
Have a good day, man.
Sure.
If they come a call and say we have money, come to our stadium, they'll go.
I don't know if Malaysia or some of those other countries in that area are like necessarily on their wish list as of right now.
Not saying that it's not in their like future plans.
But yeah, they call and say come do a card here.
they're going to figure out a way to do it.
So.
And then Vittori can in the air.
I'm going Vittori, but that will be,
that will be a middleweighty, middleweight fight.
That's for sure.
I think Vittoria will win.
Four Corners Sports.
Hey, a heck of a morning, Mike.
So the last caller had me thinking just right now.
I wonder how, what must be like their starting price
that the UFC wants for like a city to,
for them having like a pay-per-view or a fight night because we've all been on this chat
talking about how the UFC should have gone to Mexico this year and they're saying there's
no possible way.
So is there a possibility that Mexico just isn't going to budge and they're going to, they're
not going to try to match whatever demands that the UFC wants when it comes to them trying
to get them to pay for them to come to Mexico?
You think that might be a possibility?
because that's something that I really did think about as the caller was speaking.
I did want to talk about McKenzie Dern.
I know I wrote to A.K.
that many you guys read it on Otno, that McKenzie Dern should go to shoot boxing
and train with Charles Olivera.
Just because I feel like, you know, female-wise, she might be the closest that can rival,
what's it called, Olivera, when it comes to the –
the grappling and the jiu-jitsu.
But I think that personally, and I sold AK, that, you know,
she should, you know, fight Michelle Waterson-Gomez because I don't think she
Roses on the fight anytime soon.
My prediction maybe might be towards the last quarter of the year.
So why don't she, if possible, if Dern is up for it, because it looks like she didn't
take so much damage from Angela Hill to fight somebody like Wartison Gomez, get a victory,
you know, now you're on a two-fight winning streak,
And then from there, you know, maybe you can bid for Andrage or Rosamma Unis because, I mean, Andrage got dropped by Yao Janan, and I don't think that she's going to be able to, you know, pull us together that quickly.
And also, Androj, she usually likes to flip-flop back and forth with 115 and 125.
So there's no, you know, what's it called, you know, concrete thing where she's going to want to fight at 115, you know, in her next bout.
So that was the reason I picked Bordersson Gomez.
So I wanted to get your opinions on that.
And then I believe, what's the quote, it's for the Utah card,
I think we are going to get some sloppy fights.
I mean, we saw with Luke Rockhold.
I'm kind of bummed out that Costa does not want to fight Alaskarov.
I know that's a huge risk, but do you think that USC just might put him on ice,
you know, and just not, you know, all for him bullshit fights
until he finally accepts one?
because that's what it really seems to happen.
I know he wants to get paid more,
but he's not a star,
and he wants to get paid like a star,
but he is putting out high demands.
And the times that he has fought,
I mean, you know, against like high-level competition,
he has come up short.
Adasania, loses to his story.
So I don't know.
What's your opinion?
Do you think that, you know,
he's not going to take any fight this year coming up,
just because, I mean,
it looks like he's not going to fight Alice Garoff.
Thanks, Mike.
So the Dern thing, I mean, look, if they do Waterson fine, it is what it is.
I love the Androge fight.
I think that makes all the sense in the world.
I would pick McKenzie Dern to win that fight.
I would pick her to win that fight.
It's just a matter of how it all plays out.
Is she going to go in there and just be the super duper aggressor?
Is she just going to take her down?
We saw pieces of her game get better.
The one thing we were hoping for, if she gets Angel Hill down, will she be able to
flick damage and she did that. Now,
we have to figure out
how to improve her entries
on takedowns, where
it's not just the trips or doing it in the
clinch. Can she get in there and shoot a single,
shoot a double? Like, she could probably learn a lot
from
the Aaron Blanchfield fight.
I know it wasn't a long one, and I know Aaron
didn't shoot for a lot of takedown. She got
the first time she shot in the
second round, she got it, and then put her
away. And I think the same thing would happen if McKenzie
got her down. So I think
Jessica Andrade's a winnable fight for her.
So go get it.
I don't think she's going to entertain a Waterson fight.
I don't think she's going to take that one.
So let's say give her a main event and a bunch of money.
But I don't know.
We'll see what happens.
But I'm not too worried about Androge coming back.
She got taken out, but a lot of people even questioned that stoppage.
They were like, that was way too soon.
So maybe she didn't take as much damage as it may have looked on television.
or whatever.
And I know earlier on from CV,
he asked if it's too soon for Pereira to come back.
We asked that same question about Izzy
when he fought Pereira the second time.
Ah, is it too soon?
He got knocked out, five months.
Is it too soon?
And then he goes out there and has the performance
that he had.
So the fighters know better than we do.
There are certain, like Sam Alvey's a different case
or somebody who just gets blasted out
like three or four fights in a row
and then they're already back in there.
That's when we question it.
But Pereira,
where, yeah, he got knocked out
and it was a one-shot thing.
And it's not like he took 15 follow-ups after that
and just got destroyed.
It was one big shot.
And he seems to be all right.
So we'll see how it plays out.
And then as far as like the price tag goes,
I don't know.
I'm sure it's in the millions that these cities are paying the UFC.
They're not going to be like, hey, we'll give you $100,000 to come with us.
No, I'm sure it's in the million.
and a lot of these deals are like multi-event deals.
So it's probably like tens of millions that they're getting.
So the UFC, I mean, they're just printing money right now.
Just printing it.
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Let's go to Mikey.
Mikey.
Lakers got swept yesterday and Boston's about to be.
Isn't that terrible?
God.
Anyways.
Yeah, man.
I think, you know, it's funny, like, can we just appreciate McKenzie
during performance for what it is without trying to, you know,
overstate or even downplay it?
It's like, yes, Angela Hill might not have been the highest caliber
opponent that she needed to face.
But if you watch that fight and thought she wasn't going to be able to do that to
whoever stepped in the cage with her that night,
I don't know what to tell you, man.
Like,
M.
M.
May fans do this thing where they,
like,
they can't just be impressed
for the sake of being impressed.
It's like,
well,
you know,
we can't be like,
yo,
she looked like a world champ that day,
but she fought Angela Hill.
Okay.
So she has to fight
the perfect opponent
for you to be impressed.
Like,
that's the fucking point.
I'm so sorry for questioning,
but like,
I get annoyed of it
because it's like,
I get it.
Angela Hill's not
Jessica Androjjjj or Rose Nama
Eunice. But are we going to look at that performance and go, yeah, she's never going to do that again.
Like, listen, and the way Rose has been performing the last couple of months or years,
she might be plateauing. I mean, they're similar. They're around the same age, if I'm not mistaken,
but Rose just seems to, you know, both mentally, or physically Rose seems fine, but mentally
she seems to be tuned out sometimes. And you know what? Sometimes timing is everything. And why are we
pretending like McKenzie Dern doesn't have the one ace in her sleeve that that entire division
is terrified of.
And that that's the thing.
Even people keep admitting it.
It's like you guys know if she gets people down, everyone's screwed.
And the only thing that we're critical for her is, well, she needs to be a better wrestler.
I'm like, so basically she just needs to learn how to take people down more effectively than she does already.
So like, I don't get it, man.
Like, the cynicism sometimes with M.
M.M.A. fans is astonishing because it's like you watch that girl do what she did.
after basically watching her grow for the last nine years,
nine years, seven, seven years since she's been funny.
She's debuted 2015, something like that.
And you've seen progressive steps from her game.
She's a totally different fighter from the first time we saw her in LFA.
LFA?
Yeah.
And if you don't think she should be entitled to that.
Oh, but she's two and two in her last four fights.
And she's never been finished, never been submitted, never been knocked out.
All of her losses are decisions in fights where she had moments where you're like,
yeah, she could have won it.
I mean, look at Yon.
I mean, I think she would beat Yon in a rematch.
So what are we doing?
You know, so anyways, that'll be off for me.
I've seen you guys.
Be finding one other.
Yeah, it's, it's kind of strange,
considering how many people are actually on Angela Hill to win that fight.
Me being one of them.
And it wasn't because,
it wasn't because that I was, like,
disrespecting McKenzie's game.
It was just those pieces of her game that are so important.
to her being successful, we just hadn't seen it.
And in that first round, we saw it.
Got on top, landed a nice elbow early,
and then she got on and just started putting the wood on Angela on the ground.
And I'm like, there you go.
We've been waiting for this.
And that was probably the difference.
If that version of McKenzie Dern fought Jan John-on in that previous fight,
she would have won.
She probably would have finished her, if we're being honest.
That was just something we've been waiting for.
Like, if you can't get the submission, deliver damage.
And boy, did she.
Angel Hill didn't even look like the same human being when that fight was over.
And I think when I talk about, you know, the wrestling entries and stuff,
this is the difference for her being a top five fighter and someone who could win the title.
Because you have to have it all.
You have to have it all.
If she's going to beat John Wei Lee, could she beat her on a, like, could she take her down and submit her on like a great day? Sure. But if you're not having a great day, you have to have, you have to be great everywhere. And that's just a piece of the game that's missing right now. She's going to beat a Jesk Androge. She's got to be able to mix things up a little bit. And seeing her deliver ground upon the way that she did was huge. And you can talk about Angela Hill all you want.
If it was the same McKenzie Dern that fought Janjohn, I think Angela would have won that fight.
But McKenzie came out on fire, just throwing bombs, landing.
Kind of threw Angela off right off the bat.
And then the fight got to the ground and she just inflicted punishment the entire time.
It was impressive.
It was impressive.
Am I ready to say McKenzie Dern is going to be a UFC champion?
No.
but I definitely would I would pick her right now to be Jessica Andrage.
I think she's trending up.
Androge as good as she is and as good as she has been in her career,
trending downwards a little bit,
but still very tough.
Still a very dangerous fight.
So, yeah, McKenzie deserves a ton of credit for that.
100%.
There's a ton of credit for that performance.
That was outstanding.
Outstanding stuff.
And someone asked earlier about Paula Costa and like,
what the hell he's going to do.
I don't know.
That's why I said.
What are we doing here?
Just give him the fucking hums on Shamiya fight and let's move on.
He's not going to get a million dollars to fight.
Just give him a deal that's good and let's go.
And just give him the Shemaya fight.
What are we doing at the Alaskara fight?
It's an interesting fight.
I saw it.
I was like, holy smokes.
That's interesting.
But if Paul Kost is not going to fight Robert Whitaker on the contract that he's,
on you think he's going to fight an unranked murderer in altitude again you think he's just
going to be like sure i'll do that no of course why would he do that just switch things up
just switch everything up switch these fights up the timeframes are right just switch them all up
what are we doing i'll be stunned at paula costa fights at grandma oscaroff it's not because
he's afraid to fight him it's just that like what's the point
What does he gain from beating Akram al-Ascaroff?
Gains nothing.
Gains nothing from that.
Let's see if we can get Tristan in here now.
Tristan, don't have him.
Must be riding around in his automobile.
That's usually what happens.
Yes, four-on-sniper.
Hey, how are you?
Good.
Hey, heck of a morning.
So I hadn't listened to Adnaa yet.
I'm going to listen to it as soon as we shut down this space.
Just curious, your thoughts on Anthony Hernandez.
That's four in a row, three of his last four by finish.
Is he ready for the top 15?
And if so, who's next for him?
How do we get them into the top 15?
Thanks, Mike.
So it's funny you brought up Alaskaroff,
because I said just give him Abis Magamatoff,
which I think they might do.
But if they don't, I think Anthony Hernandez would be a great,
fight for Alaskaroff.
That'd be a great step up.
So I would be down for that.
There's lots of ways you can go.
I mean, I'd like to see him.
I mean, give him like the Brad Tavares test or something like that.
That's usually like kind of the litmus, if you will.
We got Nasredini Mava fighting Chris Curtis coming up in a couple of weeks.
So maybe the winner of that fight.
Kyle Barallio is an interesting name.
you can give him the Gerald Mearsart test.
I mean, there's lots of ways you can go,
but he's just quietly putting together these wins,
and dude's real good.
Dude's real good, and that pace he puts on is just a problem.
He's a big problem.
And I like Anthony Hernandez, too.
He's a great personality.
He is who he is, cusses every sentence.
Dude's real good.
That was an impressive performance.
He weathered the early Shabazzian storm,
and kind of laughed it off
and just beat the hell out of him,
got the finish.
So Fluffy's a problem.
Good fighter, Wain 85.
I really,
he's a guy I'm going to be watching
for the next couple of years,
that's for sure.
Barbarusa.
Hi, Mike.
How are you doing?
Good.
How are you?
I'm good, I'm good.
Mike, do you think the UFC made a mistake
by postponing the fight
between Edwards and Kobe
because when are you going to make it?
Edward said that he wants to be on the Abu Dhabi car.
Do you think he can be the main event above of Islam
and what leverage does he have there?
And even Kobe is not popular among the population there.
And I don't know why a lot of main events should be held
in the end of this.
there and you also have the December card for Connor so there can't be a title fight and
November for Jones. I don't know where do you think this title fight fits in. And my second
question about Jan Blahovic saying that if he beats what's his name for the next fight,
he's going to have a shot at the title.
Do you think that makes sense?
Thank you, Mike.
Yeah, I do.
I definitely think it makes sense.
I mean, it all depends on Yuri Perashka right now.
It all depends on that.
And it depends on whether or not Jabal Hill fights at some point.
Because that's another name.
Like, what the hell is going on with that?
When is Jamal Hill going to fight?
I want the Uri fight so badly.
It's one of the fights I just have to see at some point this year.
but Yuri had a nasty shoulder injury.
It takes a long time to recover from that.
Some people don't recover from that fully.
So I definitely want to see that.
I love to see Jamal.
And it could be, and if Jamal ain't get a fight,
or if Yuri's not going to fight this year,
that's probably a number one contender fight,
the Janbovich Alex Pereira fight.
Maybe not number one contender,
but the winner gets Jamal,
and then Yuri gets the winner of that.
that I guess because Yuri's getting a title shot the second he comes back.
So yeah, I think there's definitely a chance that the winner of that fight gets a title shot.
And I would assume that they're going to want to turn that around relatively soon.
So we'll see how that plays out.
As far as Leon Colby goes, yeah, I loved the Boston idea.
I loved August.
I think that would have been a great fight to headline.
And then you could have done Sterling O'Malley and the Colman.
But it's not what they did.
September, it's probably not going to happen
because Izzy, it's going to be an Izzy card
and I don't know if they're going to want to be a co-main event to Izzy.
I don't think it's not going to happen in Abu Dhabi.
Like, you're not going to,
you're not going to have Islam fight on that card
and not have him headline in Abu Dhabi.
That would make no sense.
So you could, you think November would make a lot of sense.
You could do it as the co-main.
event to the John Jones Steepay fight?
Why not?
Do you think either of those guys are going to complain about being the co-main event to that?
I don't think so.
Absolutely not.
They're going to get a big bag of money and they're going to get a ton of eyeballs on them.
Or you think they're going to be mad to Colmate event, Connor versus Chandler in December?
Hell no.
Hell no.
They're going to be like, let's go.
That thing's going to do like a million and a half pay-per-views.
Of course they're going to jump on that.
So I would say November, December at this point, Abu Dhabi, I would be stunned if that's the case.
I would be stunned if that fight happens at Abu Dhabi.
But MSG certainly could happen.
That's a damn good one-two punch right there, Jones, Sipe, and Colby Edwards, or Edwards Colby.
Let's go.
Let's go to Daniel.
What's up, Daniel?
Daniel, are you there?
Yeah, this is Dan.
Bomberro, Barreira.
I'm a little deaf because I'm a common veteran.
You guys know that.
But I've been out of the game for a while.
I had some injuries, and my father just died.
I just wanted to comment on the PFL with Francis Nagano's contract.
And I'm really excited for the PFL to acquire Bellator.
And to make that happen, he's working with Randy Couture.
And Randy really groomed him up.
I'm sure Dana didn't like that.
You know, Dana, you know, he's about the WWE week.
You know, that's where his guys are going.
The WWFranchen Nagano made a lucrative, lucrative deal,
and he's bringing PFL to Africa,
and I'm working with Cassius Clay out here.
Cassius Clay is fighting Stevie Ray with Ches,
and we're out here in the middle of the mountains out here in Idaho.
So look out for Cassie's Clay.
But I'm really excited that Francis Nagano made that deal
because, I mean, it's good for all of us.
Dana used me up on the Ultimate Fighter.
I fought with a broken hand, and I fought Ben Saunders,
and Matt Hughes, and he used Matt Hughes too.
After Matt Hughes got hit by a train, he has him walk out,
and he looks like he's paralyzed, you know.
It's just, I've seen some real dirty things that people don't know about,
and I really don't like the UFC and what they stand for.
You know, I mean, I love the guys that are competing worldwide and internationally,
but, you know, I think that the PFL and the acquisition of coming to Bellator
and going worldwide is really going to stand up to them.
and I, you know, I grew up in the late 80s, so, you know, WWF was like
macho man Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, and, you know,
seeing these fighters like King Velazquez and Ronnie Rousey and others,
go in there and act and have to play around.
It's, you know, it's a joke, it's a joke.
But they bought, the UFC bought, acquired the WWE,
because the WWE is paying their guys based on their,
their their population and the ufc is is not paying guys get you know still paying 10 and 10
10 to show up 10 to win that's pennies you know UFC guys are living at gyms i know guys i know
fighters that didn't plan and they got cTE and they're used up it's yeah it's um just uh
i'm fighting for the veterans and to stop combat suicide you know to end all the combat
suicides i'm more on the training aspect of helping helping guys out that are up and
You know, Cassius Clay lost a couple brothers recently.
I lost my father and I told him I was going to help him.
You know, so I'm not doing it for money or anything.
I'm doing it for love of the game, you know.
I don't know how many of you guys trained martial arts.
But just look out for Cassius Clay.
He's coming up.
He's coming up.
And Chez Clay, good guys, really good family.
Just good guys.
I'm proud to be working with them.
Awesome, man.
Thank you, Dan.
I appreciate it.
former tough six competitor.
So a lot to sort of unpack there.
A couple things I wanted to clarify.
One,
the UFC didn't buy WWE.
Endeavour,
who is the parent company of the UFC,
worked out a deal with WWE,
so they merged together as one big company.
So it's not like Dana was like,
let's go buy the WWE.
It didn't work like that.
Ari Emanuel Endeavor,
they're the ones that made
that deal.
Dana just kind of went along with it.
I mean,
it helped their valuation
tremendously when it came to
how much they were worth.
I think they were up to like $12 billion
or something insane like that
after selling for $4.4.00,
seven years ago.
So, yeah, just
one thing to kind of clarify there.
Another thing,
PFL and Bellator,
I mean, Ariel talked about it
on the MA hour.
there are rumors about that.
There were conversations being had about that.
As far as who like the front runners are to buy Vellator,
it doesn't seem like PFL is one of them at the moment
and who the hell knows, things can change.
The sport moves very, very quickly.
I mean, just go to the Fox UFC deal.
They kind of came in out of nowhere last second
and got the TV rights to the UFC
and kind of snuck in and got it.
So, I mean, things happen very quickly
in this space.
So if it happens, it would be super interesting.
But as of right the seconds,
doesn't seem like PFL or one or anybody like that.
So some people tweeting out
there's rumors circulating, yada, yada, yada.
Were their conversation, sure.
Are they front runners to buy them now?
No.
but doesn't mean it won't happen.
And you kind of talked about the Francis thing,
so I might as well just chime in on that right now
because Dana went to the UFC Vegas 73 presser
and was asked about Francis.
And just the things this man says is just unbelievable to me.
I mean, it really is.
Ariel and the crew did a great job on the M.A.
are just kind of like breaking it all down
and like piece by piece.
and then going back and showing receipts of how Dana reacted to Francis after he beat Stepe
and all that and telling John Jones should go to middleweight and all that.
It's just so crazy.
It's just unbelievable the way he reacts to certain things.
He starts off by saying he doesn't know anything about the deal,
but then that throws out all these different things that, oh, Bellator is going to buy PFL.
They're raising all this money.
And yeah, there's some fundraising going on.
And we talked about that on some of the shows
when we're reacting to the Francis deal
because this is a very risky move for the PFL.
It's great for France and Gano.
For all those people who are saying,
this is a game-changing moment,
I think it's a little too soon to say that.
I think we have to wait to see how this all plays out
before we can call this a game-changing moment.
But the potential is certainly there.
There's no doubt about that.
The potential is there,
what Francis has done,
and how he structured this deal,
he deserves a lot of credit for that.
There's not a ton of downside for Francis and Gano.
There is a ton of potential downside for the PFL because where the hell is his money coming from?
We know they are fundraising.
We know they have investors, but this is a very lucrative and expensive deal for them.
And it needs to sort of work to kind of figure out if this is going to be a game changer.
And then Dana is just burying Francis.
Oh, he doesn't want to take risk.
He doesn't want to do this.
I'm not saying he's scared to fight John Jones,
but he doesn't want to take risk.
What the fuck are you talking about?
Like, what are you talking about?
The mayor had been calling out John Jones for years, years.
Ever since he won the belt,
John Jones was the fight he wanted.
All he talked about, that's the fight.
And it just never happened.
And then we didn't even,
John just kept saying,
I'm going to come back and fight.
And then we didn't even know John was going to fight until he was put on the T-Mobile Titan-Tron outside of the T-Mobile arena, say he's fighting Cyril Gun.
We didn't know what the hell was going on with John Jones.
And just so happened that the UFC went to the press conference after that event and said the T-Mobile screen was accurate.
Francis is out.
And John Jones is fighting serial gun.
Now, John would have fought anybody.
John would have fought anybody.
he just wanted a fight.
We signed him to a new deal.
He's making all the money in the world
and he would have fought anybody,
which I don't believe.
I think there was a part of John
that was disappointed
to fight Cyril Gana for being honest.
And I think deep down
he wanted the Francis fight as well,
but he wanted to make sure
he's ready 100% for it.
But you snooze, you lose.
And this whole talk
that the UFC released Francis in Gano
is fucking bullshit
because that didn't happen.
Francis left on his own.
It was his choice to leave.
And as Ariel said on the MA hour yesterday,
the only thing the UFC did to make that exit easier for him
was that they waives the matching rights.
That's it.
They just cut bait and said,
all right, we're just not even going to negotiate with Francis.
Like, we're just going to cut bait and let him go.
But it was his choice to leave.
He was a free agent.
He had fought out his deal.
He had the Champions Clause and all that.
Francis laid it out.
December, he made the decision that he wasn't going back.
They tried one more time to get him on board.
It didn't work.
He was gone.
But it's not like the UFC was like, we're cutting you.
No.
Francis, on his own, made the choice to leave.
And that's it.
And then this whole burying of the man on the way out and saying that,
oh, he doesn't want to take risks, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It's just so stupid.
And I think he's the same thing with Al Jermaine Sterling.
Then he buried his own champion right after that.
Like, what are we doing?
here. What are we doing here? Al Jermaine Sterling has said, I agreed to fight this man. I'm going to do
everything in my power to fight Sean O'Malley August 19th. It's not ideal because I just fought
two weeks ago, but I'm going to be there. If I say I'm going to be there, I'm going to be there.
I do have to get my hand checked out. I do have to look at this and that. And as long as I can start
training next week, like it's not going to be an issue. And what does Dana go to the
press coppersons say oh aljermaine sterling just he's the kind of guy just can't get out of his own way
what the fuck are we doing why are we doing this you can feel however you want about al jane
sterling and you can feel about the title reign however you want about and i get it like it's a weird
title reign he's had how he won the belt the split decision with peter yon in jacksonville which
i don't know why that's such a debated fight it was pretty
clear that Al Jemaine won, even on all the rewatches.
The T.J. fights really weird, but that's not Al J. Stirling's fault.
That's T.J. Dillashaw's fault. That's the UFC's fault for allowing T.J.
Dillashaw to fight. It's the fans who got screwed on that whole thing.
Not Al Jemaine Sterling. Al J. kind of got screwed in the back end, but it's not his fault.
He went in there. T.J. fought him. One arm or not. And Al Jem beat the shit out of him.
Finished him. And now he doesn't get credit for that because the U.
allowed him to fight and that TJ was like, eh, I can beat this dude with one arm.
What? What? Come on. And then he goes out there and he beats Henry Sehudo. And even then,
it's like, well, it was a split decision. Oh, well, this judge scored the fifth round wrong.
Henry Sehudo could be the champion. Yeah, there's some truth to that. But it's been a weird
run of title fights for Al Jemaine Sterling. We can't deny that. But to just discredit his run
and to call him out and make him look like an asshole,
every chance you get is just ridiculous.
It's just ridiculous.
And I know there's some people out there.
Oh, there we go.
We're hating on Dane again.
This is not how you promote a champion.
This is not how you promote, period.
It's not how you promote, period.
You're supposed to put your champions over in some way.
You're supposed to say good things about them.
That's how this works.
You're supposed to promote.
Eddie Hearn was on the MA hour yesterday,
and I was like,
would you ever announce a fight before it was done?
Which the UFC did in response to the Francis thing.
And Eddie Hearn, being the professional man that he is,
didn't throw the UFC under the bus.
But he basically said,
nah, I really wouldn't do that,
but there's contracts and this, that, and the other thing.
But have you ever heard another promoter just shit
on their champions like this?
it's insane.
Like, it's just nuts.
It's just nuts.
And I know it's Dana being Dana and all that, but like,
I actually, like, I had to write up Al Jermaine Sterling's response from his podcast,
and I completely agree with what he's saying.
I completely agree with everything he said.
And I know he even said, like, oh, my manager's going to be pissed to me for responding
and saying what I said, but he went out and said it.
And I have no issue with what he said.
I want to pull up the quote.
All right, here we go.
When I look at all that, I'm like,
what else could you possibly want from a champion
who is active competing, doing the stuff that you ask of him,
promoting the fight, and I'm out here in these streets working.
My thing with Dana's damn, dog,
why can't you give credit where credit is due?
Even if you feel I can't get out of my own way,
which there is no context behind that,
because I've literally done everything you have asked.
What does that mean, Dana?
I'm pretty sure you couldn't give you a straight answer of what that means.
Why is it so hard for Dana to go,
absolutely, the fight is done.
We spoke to him.
The kid's always shown up to the fights.
He always makes weight, always does the media stuff.
We know he's going to show up.
Yeah, he just fought two weeks ago.
He's a little banged up.
But he gave us his word.
He's going to show up for this fight.
The kid's a killer.
The kid's a stud.
The same way he does for Connor.
If Connor does something, wow, isn't he awesome?
Can I be awesome too, Dana?
I'm not asking for much.
If you want me to give you the Carfax,
I'll give you the motherfucking Carfax.
Don't play with my name, bro.
If we're going to do this together,
let's get on the same page
and let's do this shit the right way.
I said I'm fighting.
What else do you want me to do?
I'm fucking fighting.
Just fuck, let's figure this shit out.
I completely side with Al Jermaine Sterling on this one.
Why can't you just put it out like that?
Be like, look, I talked to Aljo.
He just fought.
He's a little dinged up.
just wants to go and see a doctor or two
to make sure he's 100% ready to go
but he feels he's going to be there
that fight's happening
Aljo has
tied for the most Banimate title defenses
he's the only fighter in the history of this division
to defend the title three consecutive times
he's on the precipice of making UFC history here
could be his last fight at Bannamweight
so if you enjoy Al Jermaine Sterling the Bannamweight
this might be the last time you see that
and he's fighting this murderer and shot O'Malley
you just beat Piotr-Yon.
And like, that's promoting.
That is promoting.
Not, well, this fucking guy can't get out of his own way.
Blah, blah, blah.
Like, shut the, like, what are we doing?
This is not promoting.
This is not promoting.
And now you're giving the Boston fans pause.
Like, well, I guess he's going to show up to fight.
But like, who cares?
It just drives me insane, man.
It just drives me insane.
And then he's, and then Dan just loves to say, like,
all this negativity is put out by the media.
Are you kidding me?
Just go back and listen to what you say
and you say it's the media and putting it out there.
He loves to just blame the media.
And then he picks out one person that said something
and he says like all the media is saying this and saying that.
Like it's a bunch of bullshit.
It's a bunch of bullshit.
Drives me nuts.
Just put the guy over a little bit.
I'm not saying you have to say,
Oh, this is the greatest fighter we've ever seen.
Put the guy over a little bit.
He's your champion, for God's sake.
He's one half of the main event in the return to your city.
You should be firing this thing up.
Firing this thing up.
You're going back to Boston.
I know how much this means to Dana.
I know how much going back to Boston means to him.
Let's fire this thing up a little bit.
Let's promote it as a big-time Banimway title fight.
not with oh shan o'malley's 100% in but aljo just can't get out of his own way like what are we doing
that's not how you promote drives me absolutely nuts i don't know what else to say about it but yeah that
that that presser was it was a head shaker i was like what what is happening here the whole thing
was weird dana's flies down and it's just it was just so weird all of it was just so bizarre
And just like the way he ended the whole thing with the Francis thing.
Like you went on for like eight minutes about Francis and then he says,
I don't talk shit about the PFL.
But then he says the PFL doesn't draw any money.
And they get no viewers, even though they're on the same platform as yours.
Nobody watches them and nobody pays to see them.
But I wish them the best.
And I wish Francis the best too.
It's just so weird.
Just be better.
Just be better at promoting.
Like you promote.
There are some things you do well.
you can get people fired up.
Just use that talent for good.
Use it for good.
Use it for good.
Let's promote this fight.
Let's talk about Al Jermaine Sterling being a win away from making history
and not, well, he can't get out of his own way.
Miss me with that.
Come on.
Come on now.
We got lines open here.
So if you want to talk about this or respond to this, please jump on in.
Love to hear from you.
And of course, you know, Francis responded to Dana Lloyd as well, as he should have.
And I didn't think it was that bad, honestly.
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I'll get to Coop in a second.
Let me just pull it up real quick and then I'll get to Coop.
What is your problem with me?
Asked Inganu.
I completed my contract, was a free agent and chose to walk away.
You didn't release me.
risk. That's why I defended my title to fulfill my contract with no ACL or MCL.
The reason I fought three times in three years is because you wanted to control my deal
and sign a new one and freeze me out. I owe these guys three fights a year, quote unquote.
Isn't that what you say? What happened? I always asked for and never said no to any fight in
three years, which by the way, receipts were shown on the M. May hour with Dana saying the
exact opposite of that, saying that, oh yeah, the dude will fight anybody. And then Francis
ended with, I'm finally getting paid and respected and have a deal that's fair and equal for
all parties. Why are you so against me being free and happy? And then he responded to John Jones
by saying, if you really want that John Jones fight to happen, reach out to Peter Marry, PFL whenever,
wherever. And then Francis posted the clip of saying, who is really scared? John, me, or you,
make up your mind with Dana saying, oh, if I'm John Jones, I'm going down to middleweight after
Francis knocked out steep. So the whole thing is just so weird.
say like, look, you can say the whole thing.
Like Hunter went to a million dinners with this guy.
We just couldn't get on the same page.
Francis couldn't get it done.
We wish him the best.
Like, why can't you just do that?
You saw what they did with Nate Diaz.
They wanted to put that dude out to pasture.
They wanted an old yeller Nate Diaz and feed him to Hamzah Tzumaya.
But after Hamzat missed weight by a million pounds,
and they did Nate Diaz versus Tony Ferguson.
Nate handled himself really well in that situation.
You saw how quickly the narrative changed after that.
Did you not?
Nate took the fight, still headlined, beat Tony Ferguson,
and the whole narrative was like, we love Nate,
he's welcome back anytime.
But when they booked that Hamza Atchamaya fight
and other interviews you had seen with Dana talking about the Diaz brothers,
that wasn't the narrative.
So that's just another example.
Coupe, hello.
Hey, Mike, can you hear me?
Sweet.
Yeah, not to bring the mood down,
but I just like to touch on the whole Elginemine
Sterling thing.
I was listening to the MMA hour yesterday.
I was listening to Ariel cut back to clips of Dana talk,
and it's like, I don't know, I'm a big Sean O'Malley fan.
I want him to win the belt for sure, but like,
I don't know, something about it, like, happening now doesn't feel right.
I mean, the guy's a champion who just fought two weeks ago.
We already know all this, but it's like,
I don't know.
Why do people want to keep coming here?
I know it's the best talent in the UFC,
and it's the best competition,
but it's like the guy running it is just a bully,
and it seems like,
and I don't know,
I've been an MMA fan for a while now,
but I've got more,
I guess within the last year,
I've really gotten into it,
and I don't know.
Has Dana always been this big of a jerk?
I know, I don't know.
It just bugs me seeing it.
I don't want to see Elderman loses belt
when he just could be injured going into a fight.
It's like,
let the guy fight.
He's just fought a bunch of,
of killers and beat them all.
Like, he's your champion.
Like, you've got to be treating that guy with respect, I think.
Like, no one's given Jamal Hill crap calling him a, you know, a pus or this and
that for not fighting.
Like, I don't know, give the guy some time, let him, you know, gather himself together.
And he's going to be ready to fight.
I know Sterling wants to fight.
It's not that he doesn't want to.
And he never said, no, I don't know.
I'm just so irritated and frustrated and sick of hearing Dana talk at these press conferences
after, I don't know.
Just wanted to, I guess,
a little bit. So thanks.
Have a great day.
Yeah, I mean,
he hasn't really,
I mean, he's always had hints
of this attitude. And I think that's what
kind of endeared people to him
at the beginning, right?
Because the sport was just growing
and Dana was the face
of it and still is in a lot of respects.
And Dana
told it like it was.
If Anderson Silva
had a
bad fight with Damian Maya and it was awful and fans were pissed off about it and Dana was
pissed off about it. He would come and be like, all right, that was awful.
Worst thing I've ever seen. Like, cool. If something happens like that, you want to react to it,
whatever. That's, that's cool. But this whole thing of just shitting on all the talents,
any chance they get, it's just insane to me. It's, it's just nuts. It's gotten worse. There's no doubt
about that.
And David, look, and I'm not here, and I've never discredited Dana White.
If he does something that deserves to be called out, I will do it.
If someone asks me about something they did, I don't agree with it.
I'll do it.
But I've given Dana his due as well.
Even the whole New Year's Eve situation, I gave Dana credit with the way he handled it in a lot of respects.
I did.
I go back and listen.
that whole situation was not about Dana.
It was about how the company reacted to it.
It wasn't about Dana.
But now this whole thing of just burying your champions,
like whatever something is not exactly the way you wanted it.
And believe me, as a stubborn Boston born and raised guy,
I understand it.
Like they're not to that extent.
but like if A.K. Lee was sick and we're going to do on to the next one.
And like I had a tag in Jed and I started the show with like, well, A.K's a big wimp because
he didn't battle through the sickness and do the show. Like, I would never do that.
And I would never do that to my best friend anyways. But that's like essentially the same thing.
That's like me just shitting on a staff member because they misspelled a headline or didn't put
the comma were supposed to be.
Like, I would never do that.
I would never do that.
But I wish AK the best.
AK's a win for not showing up to Otno,
but you know what?
I wish him the best.
It doesn't always work like that.
And yeah, as far as the fight goes,
I think Aljo's going to be ready.
I think Aljoa kind of understands
this is his best opportunity at a payday.
because this is the biggest fight he yet right now.
It's 100% the Volcanowski fight or fighting at 1.45.
Don't know how that happens or even if it happens, even if he beats O'Malley and even
he wants to move up to 45.
Like, do you think the way the UFC talks about Al Jemaine Sterling, they're just going to
chuck him in there with Volcanowski or Yaya Rodriguez?
No, no chance it's going to happen.
So this is his opportunity at getting some kind of bag.
think that the promotion would promote it.
Like, it's a big deal.
And I think even with the short turnaround,
I'm still favoring Al Jermaine Sterling to win the fight.
But there is a very real world that Sean O'Malley wins.
And I don't think the UFC would be too unhappy with that result if we're being honest.
But that's how he is.
That's just how he is.
Omer.
Hello.
Hey Mike, how you doing?
Good, how are you?
Good.
So I was, I know a lot of fans were sort of,
didn't really like how there's been a little bit more of, like,
random matchups with, like, Sean Strickland fighting obese, or I don't know how to say his name,
A, B, U.S.
And, um...
Abus, yeah.
Yeah, and then Echrome fighting Paulo.
I sort of like those type of matchups because I feel like a lot of, like, the top of team.
if there's like a really up-and-coming prospect that has like a lot of upside a lot of the top 15 is sort of like reluctant of taking fights and I think like those up-and-comers if they like do get the win they're a lot more likely to stay active and I think some of the problems with like the main divisions like around lightweight and even featherweight is like some of those like top contenders fight like once or twice a year so what are your thoughts on like those prospects like I think a lot of the reason why the UFC wants them is they'll like
their contracts are a lot less too, so they'll be fighting for cheaper, too,
which I don't really think it's fair, but I think that's why they, like, throw them in there.
And also, like, the likelihood of them staying a lot more active if they do get the win.
Have a nice day, and thanks for taking me, taking my call.
Sure.
So a couple things.
About, like, both opponents, for both of these guys,
Abis Magamatov and Akramal-Skarov, this will be their second UFC fights.
Number two, Abis is 1 and 0 in the UFC, Iqram is 1 and 0 in the UFC.
It's a big step up.
It's a big step up.
And I don't hate, by the way, I'm intrigued by both of these fights.
I was super intrigued by the, and I still am, about the idea of Alaskarov versus Paul O'Costa.
I was stunned by it because it was Paul O'Costa.
If this was Iqram Alaskarov versus Marvin Vittori, I'd be.
be like, all right, like, Marvin would take this fight because Marvin just fights.
Paul is a different story because he's got the contract deal. He's supposed to fight Robert
Whitaker. The fight never happened. It was just a stunner that, oh, Paul is fighting,
even though all signs seem to be pointing to him fighting Hamza Tchamai, the fight that everybody
seems to want. But now he's fighting Ikramal-Skarov. It just seemed kind of random and weird.
and I know the story could still tie its way to Hamzot
because if Costa wins, the feud's still there.
And if Alaskarov wins, that's a rematch.
The only guy to beat Hamzat Shemayev was.
I mean, the only guy to beat Iqram Alaskarraf was Hamzat Shemayev.
And Shemayev has been saying since he got to the UFC,
when he's asked who the toughest opponent he's ever had was,
it was Iqqaram Alaskarov.
So I guess the story kind of ties up there.
I think more people are puzzled with the Strickland fight,
because of the fight, but because it's a main event.
It's just a random, I mean, we've had random main events since the pandemic.
But this is a super random main event.
Sean Strickland versus, like nobody knows who Abis Maghavadoff is.
Hardcores know who he is.
But to go from Dustin's beating Dustin Stoltzvus in your UFC
debut to getting a main event
with John Strickland
in your second UFC fight is wild.
And for Alaskaroff to go from Phil Haas
to Paulo Costa in your second UFC fight,
that's insane.
That's insane.
I am incredibly intrigued by both of these fights
in their own ways,
but I think the Strickland Maga made off one
stands out a little more just because it's a main event.
And it's the main event
that's leading you into the biggest
week of your year
International Fight Week.
So I have no issue with the matchmaking
of either.
And Sean Strickland doesn't care. The dude
will just fight whoever.
There were talks about
Strickland maybe fighting
at 288
when we lost the Charles Olivera,
Benil Darayush fight.
There were some different conversations going on about maybe
getting Sean in there, but it just didn't really work out.
But this is it. This is like with all the booking
like this was the only name that was really presented to him at 185,
and this is the fight we're getting.
It just seems strange that it's the main event.
That card is actually pretty interesting right now.
I'm looking at Stricklandogamadoff.
Demir is Wagulov versus Grant Dawson is on that card.
Kevin Lee versus Bernad Falkritinoff.
What else is on here?
Joy Anderson Brito is back against Hussein Ashgobov.
Max Griffin, Michael Morales.
Interesting fight.
But yeah, just weird main event.
UFC Fight Night Strickland versus Maga Madoff.
Wasn't a main event people had on their bingo cards.
That's for sure.
But I just don't know how much faith I have that Paul Koss is going to fight
I'm Alaskarraf July 29th.
It just seems like some conversations need to be had before that fight can happen.
all right we are done
we're done thank you all very much back thursday we'll do it again 10 a.m.
eastern uh we'll have btl on thursday as well
and i was going to say we'll have a preview show on friday but guess what we won't
because we have nothing to preview so but
AK and i my best friend uh we're going to do a little bonus
edition of on to the next one that we're going to record
on Friday uh it's going to be
one of those AMA type things
that we like to do on these off weeks
so we will event
maybe later on today maybe tomorrow
we will solicit
for questions that you can ask
AK and I
and then sometime on Friday
we will record that program
and it'll drop Sunday morning
like onto the next one typically does
so we'll give you a little something something
little bonus addition of the program
and then AK and I
are going to have the matchmaking hats on
for like every Sunday for the next three or so months.
So I figure we'll do something a little bit different here and we'll have some fun.
So back here Thursday on this show, 10 a.m. Eastern, we'll do it again on Friday.
And bonus edition of Otno and we'll have some fun stuff for the long weekend as well over on
at Mayfightfiting.com.
So thank you very much, everybody.
Have a great rest of your day.
And as always, have a heck of a morning.
