MMA Fighting - HOAM | Who Should Henry Cejudo Face In Return Fight? Khabib's Confidence In Makhachev, More

Episode Date: October 13, 2022

Henry Cejudo continues to tease his UFC comeback, and while he feels he should be immediately thrust into a title fight, is that how the UFC views the situation? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses Cejudo's potential comeback after retiring from the sport, what matchups make sense, and why a title fight seems unlikely at this point. Additionally, listener questions include Khabib Nurmagomedov's confidence in his fighter Islam Makhachev ahead of his UFC 280 main event bout against Charles Oliveira, the UFC's bantamweight division vs. Bellator's, the hole in the main event spot on December's UFC 282 card, Julianna Peña's chances in getting the trilogy fight against Amanda Nunes, 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,

but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible.

The Vox Media Podcast Network. October 13th, 2022, and it is indeed a heck of a morning on this Thursday. Thanks for joining us live on the NBA Fighting Twitter Spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety after the first. fact on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. I am Mike Heck. Hope you guys are all having a great week. We're heading into the weekend. We're two days away from UFC Vegas 62, which is headlined by a big one in the women's flyweight division between Alexa Grasso and Viviani Araujo. We have the Bannamweight debut in the UFC of one Cub Swanson, taking on Jonathan

the Martinez, the man I like to deem the silence behind the violence. We have a big one at 1.25 between Asker Askeroff and Brennan Royval. Not a horrible card. It's fine. There's some good fights on this one. Some interesting fighters, some interesting storylines. There's going to be some chaos in some of these matchups. But I think the big thing about Saturday's event is, sure, we're going to get some fights. We're going to get a main event with some stakes. But really what it's all about is that this card is going to set the table. It's going to get us even more fired up for the event that's happening nine days from now. UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi. That's the one everybody has

circled. Everything else is bonus at this point. And I expect a lot of promotional material for UFC 280, a lot of good stuff promoting that card. And it's a great card. It's a tremendous card. And a lot of the fighters, a lot of the big names that are on this card are already in Abu Dhabi. Apparently, Alexander Volcanowski is the backup fighter for the main event. So there's a lot to talk about here. No doubt about that.

Quick programming note, BTL, 1 p.m. Eastern. It's going down. Jen Mishu, still not ready to end his retirement. I don't know if he'll ever be ready to end his retirement, but we're hoping this is an MMA retirement. We were hoping this is maybe a Kevin Holland-esque retirement, but that is not at the moment. So my man, the POP, the Prince of Positivity, my best friend, Alexander Cayley, is going to step in on relatively short notice.

And his opponent today will not be a fellow media member. It will not be a fellow MMA journalist. It will be a fighter. It'll be somebody who will have his eyes on some of the big fights at UFC 280 because he is hoping to get to that level sooner rather than later. He's going to take on a man who has mentioned on onto the next one all the time. He's got to take on Grant Dawson. So it's AK versus Grant Dawson going down at 1 p.m. Eastern.

That should be fun. So we'll open up the lines to talk about whatever you want to talk about. Let's just get into this thing. AA was first in line. So we will begin the festivities with him. this Thursday. What's up, AA?

Good, how are you? Nice. I've got a couple for you. One, I know you like your odds, so just, just your thoughts on Wonderboy and Holland being split

with the initial odds coming out. And Gus is sitting at OSP. Is it, is it, they both retire, regardless of result here, because I don't say them really having like a big future in the USA anymore. All right. Thanks, man. Have a good day.

Thanks, man. Yeah, OSP versus Alexander Gustafson going down. I believe that's in December. And I don't know. Like, I don't really know how to view that one right now. I would assume it's probably like a loser leaves town at worst at this point. but I don't know. I mean, look, I'm not the kind of guy

that's going to go on a show and speak into a live microphone and feel like guys should walk away and call it a career. That is not my decision to make. It is not any of our decisions to make. We can have opinions on certain things, but all I'll say is this.

If this is the final fight for both dudes, it wouldn't break my heart. I just don't know how much Gus has left in the tank at this point. And we've seen him have his highs. You've seen him have his lows. First fight with John Jones is one of the best fights of all time. Second fight with John Jones, not so much. And then it just kind of has been going downhill in a bad way ever since.

And OSP finds himself competitive in some of these fights. and OSP, his career has just been very strange. She's been a part of some weird fights. So to me, I think it's probably like a loser leaves town situation. But if it's the final fight for both guys, I won't be completely crushed by this at all. You mentioned the betting lines for Kevin Holland, Stephen Thompson. I'm looking at two different lines right now.

One site has it completely even, minus 108 on both sides. and another site has Stephen Thompson the minus 125 favorite and the comeback on Kevin Holland at plus 105. So this is going to be a real interesting line to watch heading into December 3rd. It really is. I'm curious to see how it ends up. I feel like Holland will end up being the favorite.

But looking at it now, if Wonderboy straight opens as the favorite and is the favorite for a little while, it wouldn't stun me. I just feel like Wonder Boy's been, in title fights. He's got the experience. He's been fighting a 170.

His whole career, Kevin Holland's been kind of back and forth. Kevin was talking about quote unquote retiring and all of this, so who knows what his head is like. But the fight's going to be great. And I see a lot of people kind of poo-pooing it. I don't know. I don't really understand why. I think it's a fun one.

It's a fun one. And we're kind of on the last hurrah of Wonderboy here. because even though he's had a couple of lopsided losses, he's still a guy that's that's in the mix. He's still sort of in the mix. Everybody likes this guy. Everybody likes Wonderboy. So if he could beat a Kevin Holland and then get another winner two,

he's right back up there. We've seen this a lot at 155 and 170. And the UFC loves a story like a guy like Wonderboy who's been very positive towards the promotion. He doesn't give him any issues really. everybody seems to love the guy. What a story that would be as around a 40-year-old man

fighting for the title. I think the UFC would definitely try to paint that narrative. And if Kevin Holland beats Wonderboy, it's a huge win for him. He's a top 10 guy. So, yeah, I like the fight a lot. We'll talk more about that later on on BTL as well.

Let's go to Kirkland. Hello, Kirkland. Hello, how's it going, Mike? Good, how are you? I'm doing great, man. Thanks for asking. I was reading one of my favorite websites, arguably the best website in the world, MMAfighting.com.

And I came upon a great article that I was wondering if you could touch on. I was just wondering, what's eating Cubs Swanson? Saw how stoic he was at the press conference, not answering any of his own questions, and I was just wondering if you guys could elaborate on that. Thanks, man. Yeah, I have no idea. I have no idea. So I wish I knew nobody seems to have an answer.

I don't know if it's a weight cut thing. Apparently he's trying to save his voice because he was doing other interviews. So I'll be curious to see what those other interviews look like. If they come out on video, if he's actually answering the questions himself. But it worked. People were talking about Cub.

That's for sure. So it was an interesting tactic. I didn't hate it. And he's become a big story tomorrow at the Wayans because of this. And we'll see how this fight with Jonathan Martinez goes. It's an interesting matchup. Martinez is a pretty sizable favorite minus 205,

but let's see if the old dog has something left in him. I like the fight. I think it's a little more competitive than the betting odds suggest. I think plus 175 and Cub Swanson is kind of a tasty line. mostly because Jonathan gets cracked, man. He gets cracked in his fights. Now, I understand Cubs getting up there in age.

I understand he's had some tough fights along the way. I understand Jonathan Martinez is a young hungry whippersnapper. She's trying to make a name for himself. I understand that his striking is great. His leg kick game is incredible. That's what happens when you train with the Chris Gutierrez is the world on a daily basis. but he's proven to be kind of chiny in these fights.

So can Cubs land the big shot? And Cubs has that finishing ability where if he smells blood, he attacks. So it's an interesting, it's definitely an interesting fight. A lot of people just feel like Jonathan's going to roll over him. I don't feel like that's the case. I feel like if I'm picking straight up, like when we do our MA fighting staff picks, I'm probably going to pick Jonathan Martinez to win. but if I'm looking at this from a betting perspective,

I'm taking a, I would look, I would think very hard about taking a dog shot on Cub because the proof is in the pudding. Jonathan's a little bit chinny, leaves his chin open for counters, and a lot of these fighters have taken advantage of that. So Cubs got that power coming down from 145. I like the fight.

I think it's really good matchmaking. And I'm excited to see how it all plays out. in the co-made event on Saturday of UFC Vegas 62. And hopefully Cubs Waycut is good to go. Michelle, what's up, man? I just wanted to get your opinion on the next week's fight between Makashev and Charles Alibaira. I've seen an article earlier that Habib said that Islam will run over Charles,

and I disagree with that. I think everyone would disagree with that, because we all know how Charles Eibir can bounce back from adversity, as we've seen in the last couple of fights. I just think obviously he's going to stick with his boy, but I just think it's very naive of him to kind of downplay all a bit of skills. And it's a fight that everyone's kind of 50-50 on because I keep on changing my mind with what I want to win. So I just want to jump in the opinion of what Habib said about.

But thank you. It's such a great fight. I'm looking forward to it so much. It might, like, to me, there's been three fights that have really struck me as super-duper intriguing. Now, there have been great matchups on paper that I've been very excited about, but there have been three in particular that I'm just super intrigued by because I'm not sure how it's going to play out. What was Glover-Teshire versus John versus Yuri Perashka?

And I think I knew, like deep down, I already played the role. I played the role that Glover is going to take him down and tap him in the first round. And once you make a statement like that, you just got to, you can't veer away from it because the internet always wins and people remember everything you say. say. So that fight in particular, like if Glover couldn't get him out of there in the first round, if he got him down but couldn't finish him, is that mean year he's just going to run him over? And the fight played out to be way different that everybody could have possibly drew it up in their minds. The other one was Armand Sarukyan versus Batush Gamrott. That fight is still one

of my favorite fights of the year. And the third one is this one. I have no idea how it's going to go. I have no idea how it's going to go. Now, the way I I'm looking at it from a picks perspective is I'm done doubting Charles Olivera. I'm done doing it. And until I am proven wrong, I'm going to probably pick him to win. And looking at it from a betting perspective, getting him at plus money, especially at plus 155 right now. And I feel like that line is going to go a little more towards Islam as we get closer to

next Saturday. I think there's, I don't know, it's going to be interesting. But right, to me, it's just, it's just so both guys are just so supremely skilled. Makhachev is saying the right things. He's, he's super confident. Halib's obviously super confident in his guy getting the job done. We've seen some videos of Mokachep training with Usman and both Usman, Kamar Usman, Usman and Maghamedov.

It's a really good fight. Now, the big thing for me is, can Islam hurt Charles Oliva? Vera. Can he hurt him on the feet? Because if he can, then all bets are sort of off. It's just a matter of how he handles that. Because most guys who hurt Charles, they approach it in a different way. Charles is able to overcome and get back up. Islam sees holes and he sees ways he can get in there and finish the fight if he has Oliver in big trouble. I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to see it. And I'm going to see it in a very fun way next. Saturday, and I'm still not ready to tell you what that is. And a little update on that from the reveal. I said we were hoping to get the reveal on Monday. It's probably not going to happen. But from what I understand, this is what my sources are telling me,

Wednesday's edition of the MMA hour, all will be revealed. All will be revealed. And I am very excited about this. So stay tuned for that. Let's go to Mike. They'll go to Max. He'll go to Levi. Mike.

Mike, heck of a morning. Hi, Mike. Long time, no chat. I got a quick question for you. The UFC Orlando card, that's actually going to be right in my backyard. So I'm actually thinking of going. It's going to be my first event.

Is there a specific area or section that is preferred when looking for tickets, like in baseball, you know, along the first baseline. You want to be with like, you know, really good angle. Yeah, man, I mean, it's kind of tough. To me, and I've said this before, if you can go to a UFC event once, I think it's worth going to, for sure. obviously if you want to get as close as possible I think you feel a little bit more you could maybe rub elbows with some celebs

but not a lot of us have that kind of money to spend so there's really like especially these arenas now there's not really a bad seat but what I've noticed about attending UFC events as fans is that you spend you'll still spend a lot of time watching it on the big screen it's just the energy in the building

is something different it's pretty cool to experience. I think this is a fun card. So I definitely think it's worth going to. You got a good main event. We found out Taitui Voss is on the card against Sergei Pavlovich. There's some other really fun fights on the card as well. Yeah, I think it's worth buying tickets for and checking it out,

especially if it's your first event. And I think it's going to be a little more affordable than going to a UFC pay-per-view. I don't really think there's a terrible seat. I don't know if I'd sit up in the nosebleeds. I don't know if I'd sit in like the very last row, but middle of packs fine. And if you can afford to sit close, I would probably recommend to do that closer the better.

But if you're sitting a little bit higher, you don't have to look through the fence. You can just look above everything. But at the same token, I feel like a lot of us will spend a little bit more time watching it on the big screen. But I think it's worth just going and getting that whole experience.

and checking it out. And this is going to be a pretty good one to go to, for sure. Let's go to Max. Hello, Max. Howdy, Mike, heck of a morning, too. I just want, I'm doing well. Thank you so much for asking yourself. I'm great, man.

I'm great. It's beautiful to hear. So first, I just want to start with a comment, and then I'll get into a question. So bear with me for a moment. First off, I just want to come on here and say how excited I am to be on the program. This is by far the best mixed martial arts podcast out there. So I'm so thankful to be here.

And moreover, I want to thank the toks of the world. I want to thank the Tristan Gordettes of the world, the average avenues of the world, all the listeners who come on every single week and even every single time the podcast is on and make the podcast what it is. You guys are awesome. Even a head, you know,

AK Lee, all the ones who hop on all the time. Yeah, this is... Even a hid. I love that. A hit's a legend in his own way. But so my question is getting away from all that. So thank you to all the listeners. But my question for today would be about the UFC 280 and digging down into the weeds on UFC 280.

I want to ask about Mahmoud Muradov versus Kayo-Bohayo. Now, for those of us around here, Machu Murdadov used to be a killer. This guy was on a roll until he ran into the legendary Gerald Murshart. And he's facing Kyle Bahaio, who is the fighting nerd, a very smart individual. I see a lot of people steaming bohio, but, man, Murdov's a dog. You can't bet against our Russians with the IEvs and the Oves. So, yeah, I just wanted to get your thoughts on this matchup.

And yeah, thank you so much for giving me the time. Have a heck of the morning. Thanks, man. I appreciate all the kind words. I'm sure the heck of morning community appreciates the kind of words as well. Mock mood's good, man. But sometimes you just run into a buzzsaw, and that buzzsaw happens to be Gerald Mearshard.

And Gerald, this Murdof isn't the first fighter that Gerald Mearshardt has done this too and he certainly won't be the last. I think it was a good learning experience for him. He's been out for a while. This will be his first fight in what, 14 months, I believe. He withdrew from both of his other matchups. He was matched up with Misha Sarkhanov in February.

He's matched up with Abis Magamatoff in September. And I have to say, that was probably a good thing because Avis is a bad Mammajama. I think it's a good fight. I think this is good matchmaking right now. I'm with you that the betting line seems a little odd. Like, Kyos a good fighter, but I don't think he's minus 225 good. I just, I don't think he's minus 225 good.

The first contender series fight he had with Aaron Jeffrey was a nice win. Obviously, beating Jesse Murray the other time that was kind of set up for him to win. He beat Godzie and then he beat Armin Petrosian. this is this is a good fight for both guys this is this is one that has to happen this is a meritocratic kind of kind of a fight i think caios got a little buzz right now and if he could beat a guy like murdof who the hardcore mbay fans are pretty well aware of it's a very good win for him and if murdof could beat kio then that's a good win for him as well because of the buzz that that kio's getting but i'm with you i think the betting line's a little crazy i think the betting line's a little

crazy. But again, Murdof's more of a striker and Kyos got a very good ground game. So hopefully Murdof has spent the last 14 months learning how to defend off of his back and get back to his feet because if Kyle gets him to the mat and starts wearing him down, it's going to be a long night for him. And I fully expect Kyle to do that and then some if he gets the opportunity. But maybe Murdof can land a big shot early. I just think minus 225 is a little too juicy for a guy like Kyle Barallo.

But we'll see. I like the matchmaking here. The UFC obviously wants to give Kyo a bigger test, and they're certainly doing that on a big card at UFC 280. So it could be a potential star-making performance for Kyle, but Murdof is a tough dude. So it's a very one of the interesting fights. One of the fights that just aren't going to be talked about very much

by the time he gets the next Saturday, but it's a good one. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won!

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Hello, Levi. Hey, Mike. How are you? Good. Good. So I have a question. First of all, I just want to say thank you. I love your show.

second of all my question is for Max about Max Holloway after losing to you know Volcanochi three times where do you think he goes

from here I guess that's a question we get quite a bit and it's a it's pretty loaded because we just don't know I feel like

I don't know it's it all kind of depends on what Volcanovsky's going to do because Volkanovsky is going to do because Volknoffsky doesn't strike me as the guy that's going to vacate the featherweight title in order to fight for the lightweight title. He feels like he'll be able to defend both belts.

Now, if he makes a decision that he's going to vacate, Holloway gets back into the mix a little bit because he's such a big name and he's a big star and he doesn't really need belts attached to him. That's how over he is with the people. But I think for Holloway, I think he's just going to look for fun, competitive matchups at this point. He's such a name outside of the sport right now. He's doing a lot of stuff with the video gaming. He's got the new wife.

He's the dad. He's just living life right now. And I know he's a young guy in terms of years, but he's a little older in terms of fighting years. But the guy still has the skill set. There's no doubt about that. We saw it in the cater fight. We saw it in the Ieer fight.

The dude can still go. I think for him it's not really about belts. I don't think it's about fighting dudes that are trying to get to the next level. I think it's just fun fights. Like, if he wants to go to 55 and fight the Justin Gatchez of the world or fight Tote Ferguson or guys like that,

I think those are the kinds of fights that would get him up in the morning and get him excited. Other than that, I don't know if there's anything at 145 that's going to get him jacked up. Like, I don't know if, like, Arnold Allen would get him fired up. Alan beats Cater end of the month.

I don't know if anybody at one foot. I don't know if like Josh Emmett would excite him at this point. I just think fun fights. Fun fights that get him excited. I think that's kind of what we're looking at right now for Max,

but we haven't really heard from him too much. So not really sure what he's thinking. But to me, he's always been, I want the toughest dudes. I want the fights that are going to make the fans the most happy. And I think after that whitewashing by Volkanowski, there's just not much more for him to do a 145. He doesn't need the belt, doesn't need to be fighting for titles.

Just get in there and have fun scraps. I've been an advocate of Holloway versus Gaichi for the longest time, and I feel like you could do that fight right now, and no one's going to complain about it. Let's go to Viking. Viking. Hi, Viking. Hi.

First thing, first I just want to tell people who are mocking Oliver with the walking lion video. And we still have that one video, Habib wrestles with the bear. And the bear didn't... I mean, the bear didn't come from the jungle out of the blue. Habib just outrested him. They both are trained animals and both of them bear and lion. So that's that. And my question is, which top three bantams would do a great job in the feather if they

decides to move up? And one more thing, I just started watching UFC in 2020. I mean, in the COVID. So I just don't know anything about the beef between Ariel Huluani and UFC. Thank you, Mike. Thanks, man. Let me see. Who would be, which Bannamway would be a good featherweight right now?

I mean, Sterling, 145 would actually be pretty interesting. Yon at 45, I think he's a little too small, but I think he's got the sort of frame to do it. Marab would be interesting at 145. Adrian Yannes is a pretty big dude. I got to meet him in person in July, and I was like, damn, you're bigger than I thought. Jonathan Martinez, I think at some point will be a good name for 45. Yeah, there's a few, there's definitely a few guys.

There's definitely a few guys. I don't know who up the top could do that. I mean, Marlon Vera's been there before. Brian Keller has had success fighting Banimates at 145. So, yeah, that's a really interesting question, honestly. I think Sean O'Malley will eventually have to make the move up because he's a bigger Bannam weight. I think a lot of these top guys,

could have some success up there. And you mentioned the Olivera Walking the Lion video. Yeah, some people were not happy about that. Some people were not happy about that. I thought it was sort of abuse of the animals and stuff. I definitely see both sides of that. I'm not really going to dive into it.

But yeah, I definitely see both sides of it. So welcome to the fence, Mike. It's not comfortable, people. but sometimes you've got to come up here. Hey, what's going on, Mike? So I'm looking at the fight card for this Saturday, and I see that we have the illustrious matchup of Jordan Wright v. Dusko to Dervich. Now, is the winner of this fight going to get the Bo-Nichol sweepstakes?

And because I really do believe Bo-Nich was in a... I'm not going to say he's in a blank. Who's this guy? He's off the top of my head the guy's name. Um, yeah, there you go. I don't think he's going to blank him, but I don't think Jimmy Pickett's in a significant strike. So do you think the winner of this fight is going to get the bone nickel sweepstakes?

And lastly, what's it called? Are we going to, when are we going to get news for the December pay-per-view card? You think we're going to get it on the USC 280, um, fight, fight card? Or you are going to get it maybe like a little bit beforehand? All right. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. Yeah.

So Tadouravit's right. I don't think so. It wouldn't kill me if Bo takes on the winner of that fight if he beat Jamie Pickett, but probably not. I think they'll probably go above both of those guys. That'd be my pick. But if, I mean, if that's what they went, if let's just say like Bo wins quickly and these guys can turn around for a pay-per-view first quarter of the year, then sure. It's not out of the realm of possibility.

But I think they'll, if Bo just. goes out there and just runs over Jamie Pickett, then I think they're going to shoot a little bit higher than these two guys. No disrespect. But it's just they're both kind of up and down at this point. So if they if they started out with one of these

two guys, that would have been fine with me. But that fight's going to be crazy to Dorovich and Jordan Wright. I don't think that gets out of the second round. Might even get out of the first round. Jordan Wright doesn't get out of the first round very often. As far as 282 goes, here's

here's what I can tell you. Here's what I've been sort of told by some people behind the scenes who are kind of privy to all this. I know Ariel talked about it a little bit on the May hour, and I basically am going to repeat what he said, because that's what I was told as well. The UFC is trying. They're giving like one last push to try to get Jones on that card, but it's just, it's not looking likely. It's not looking likely. So, because I just don't think Ingano is going to be able to fight.

And again, it's sort of the risk of reward. Do you want to risk doing the steep A fight? What if John loses, then you lose the Francis fight at this point. So I just think, I think what's going to end up happening is that they'll wait till maybe March, February, to do Jones versus Ingano if they can lock him back up, which I think is possible. I don't know the complete ins and outs of the negotiations, but my gut is telling me that Francis is going to resign. And I think Francis will resign if you can get the John Joe's fight right off the bat.

And I think first quarter of 2023, that's when we're going to see it. Now, we did find out. We confirmed it, I believe it was yesterday officially, that Jan Blahovic is fighting Magam and Ancolaev on December 10th at UFC 282. So the fact to me that that fight is on that card tells me that we are going to get Glover versus Yuri on that card. We're going to get the rematch. I don't know for sure,

but that's what my intuition is telling me because why is this fight on that card? It's a big fight. There's stakes involved. This is the fight to make, but why is it on this card? I feel like it's to be a backup for for Yuri Glover 2. But we'll see.

Hopefully we'll have, I would say by 280, we'll have an official announcement, but if I, if someone gave me 20 bucks and said, put it on where you think the main event for 282 is going to be right now, it's the rematch between Yuri and Glover. That's what I think. I don't think we're going to see John Jones on here unless something crazy happens, but I doubt it. I'd be surprised. I'd be very, very surprised. All right, let's go to Jordan. Then we'll go to Zeke, and then we'll go to my man Brett. Jordan what's up Mike what's happening how you doing man I just wanted to touch base with you on the Bellator 135 division versus the UFC 135ers there's an awful deep division in

Bellator with the 135ers I think they can easily compete in the top 10 in the UFC hmm easily I mean listen there's let me pull up Bellator's Banner's weight rankings. Let's see. Sergio Pettis is the champion. I think Aljo beats him.

Rafion Stats would be interesting. That'd be an interesting fight. Patchy Mix is huge. Archiletta. Archiletta is good, but I think he loses to a lot of the top guys in the UFC. Maga Madoff. Interesting, but I think he loses to a lot of the top guys. Horaguchi is a flyweight. Sabatello, I think he's, can beat a bunch of dudes, but I don't know if he's beating Aljo or Marab or guys like that. And then he goes fine. He goes good.

He could probably beat some top 15 guys. Galaher would not do well. I don't think. Barzola has been there before. And Brett Johns has also been there before. So, I mean, there'd be some interesting matchups. I just feel like, I think the biggest wild cards, the two big wild cards in this conversation, to me from a stylistic perspective are Rafihan Stats.

I think stylistically he would be an interesting matchup for a lot of these guys. And patchy mix is just big. My one question about patchy is, can he make the weight consistently? And that's been a problem that he's had. But yeah, the UFC's band of weight division is better. Let's be clear about this. The UFC's band and weight division is better. Bellator's is good.

it's deep. They got good guys. But if they did like the top 10 in the champion of Bellator against the top 10 in the champion of the UFC, UFC is going to win seven or eight of those fights, more than likely. So, yeah, I mean, there's divisions Bellator has

that you can make a case that they have the best in their division. I think 205 there's a conversation right now for sure. but that's probably it. But yeah, there's some depth there. But to say that, like I said, if we had like a UFC versus Bellator, Bannamweight fight card

and we just matched up like the top 11 guys against each other, UFC's going to win eight of those, I think. But I like the question. Let's go to Zeke. Brett, you're on deck, and then we'll go to Crypto. Let's even get Zeke on the first try. So far not looking. looking great.

Zeke, do we have you? No, we don't. Try again, Zique. We'll get you in. Let's go back to Massachusetts. Brett, unmute. Yo, Mr. Mike, Good morning.

How are you, my friend? What's going on? Hey, nothing. I just want to start off by saying, what the heck is Fazeve thinking, calling out Justin Gage? This guy, I don't know why this guy, I know he's lost three times pretty much

this career to three different three goats of the 155 division but you just don't go headhunting for like justin gaugie i think it's a bad move and a little humility for the guys in order by gachi uh second of all i want to get your thoughts on uh i watch the uh u s b contendous series uh fight uh from a couple weeks ago uh gregory rodriguez that guy took like a mad cut and he just fought back and fought back to a really tough dude and I just want to get your thoughts on that and lastly I want to talk

hear your thoughts on the boy that I can't stand but he's just such a draw to me is Henry Sehudo and just calling out his guys I think he's at that level he does he can call his own shots and and he's like that Sean Michaels

of the UFC when it comes to that weight division with the flash and everything and just lastly if you even have time. I'm starting to think that I don't mind seeing Cosmod if you can't get things going up with Colby to see him fighting. I think he had mentioned in Brazil to see Paul O'Costa. I think that would be a hell of a fight. Mike, have a heck of a moment of my friend. Thanks, buddy. Brad, I love you. I've known you a long time. But there are a couple of things you said there that I could not disagree with more. One of which is the Fiziv thing. Fiziv should be calling out Justin Gage.

That's the fight. That's the fight. That's the fight. that everybody wants to see right now. And I actually think the fight makes a ton of sense. I think it makes a ton of sense. Now, I know there were reports that the UFC was close to finalizing these guys fighting in December. Not true. Not happening.

I know from talking to people, it doesn't seem like Gaetje is all that interested in fighting for Zeev right now, which makes sense because he's just going by the flow of the division. It's like driving on the mass turn. pike. The speed limit might say 65, but if everyone's going 78 to 80, you're just going to go with the flow. You're going to go with the flow of traffic. And that's what Gachie's doing. He's seeing Chandler and Porre getting matched up with each other. He's seeing some of these guys, these veteran guys who have fought for titles or been former interim champions or whatnot,

still fighting each other, trying to get a path back to the belt as quick as possible. Gachie's going to go for those types of fights first. And, I don't blame him for it. But I also don't blame Fiziv for calling out Gachi. And I think that's a very competitive fight. And I think Fizib could win that fight. I think he could win. Now Gaci's going to beat up those legs,

but Fiziv has been training with ridiculous leg kickers his entire run. I think he's ready for a fight like that. And that's the one issue I have with this division right now is that we're not getting these kinds of fights. We should be getting them or not. we're looking at a lot of guys in the top 10 that are just, we like to use the word squatting on their rankings. And I don't blame, again,

I don't blame most of the fighters for doing that because I don't blame Chandler for waiting for Porre. I don't blame Poria for taking this fight with Chandler. I don't blame him at all. But if, like, what are these guys supposed to do? Like, what's Fiziv supposed to do? Who's he supposed to fight? Gamrock got the B'Neil fight.

But what if B'niel got the title shot? Who's Gamrock going to fight? All these guys in this division, like I would pick, I would pick Viziv, Sarukion, and Gamrot to beat a lot of the guys in the top ten right now. A lot of them. But the problem is they're just not getting the chance.

And at some point, these guys are going to have to fight some of these top dudes. It's just going to have to happen. So if I'm Fiziv, I am calling out Gachi all day long. And I think he can win that fight. And even if he loses, it's not the end of the world for him. He can come right back. But I think right now, I think Fiziv has a chance to beat Justin Gagey.

He's just got to weather that early storm. And if he can do that, he can win. So I don't blame him at all for calling him out. I don't blame him at all for calling him out. Greg Rodriguez, I think you're talking about the Cheetah and Jaguani fight, crazy fight. The UFC sees something in him. The dude is an exciting fighter. he's fighting in Brazil UFC 283

against Brad Tavaris I like the matchmaking I think that's exactly what needs to be done like that booking a lot makes sense if you want to do Shemaya cost on that card too I'm with you the other thing that I disagree with you on

is the Henry Sohudo thing to say that Henry Sohudo gets to call any shots is not true he calls none he calls zero shots because we have to remember this guy screwed over the UFC he screwed them UFC puts on this pay-per-view they want to show the sports world I don't care about your pandemic I don't care about COVID we're going to put on fights anyways and so who gets a big spot on that pay-per-view beats dominic cruz in a fight that

he was heavily favored to win and what does he do he screws the UFC out afterwards and says, nope, I'm retiring, pay me more money. And what did the UFC do? Three hours later, they said, okay, he's gone. Piotr Yan's going to fight for the belt. The day didn't even end before the UFC moved on from this. And so, Hudo's coming back. He's jumped in the Usada pool. We're wondering who he's going to fight. And all he keeps saying is I'm going to fight the winner of Aljo versus T.J. And I'm going to fight Volcanowski. No, you're not. No, you're not.

You are going to have to fight somebody else before you get a title shot. When has Dana White been excited about Henry Sehudo coming back? When have you heard that? Not one time. Not once has Dana been like, woohoo, Henry's back. I'll tell you right now. I think the UFC is more excited that Jimmy Flick is back than Henry Sohudo. But Sehudo's got to fight somebody.

he's got to fight somebody fight Marabda Walsh Willie fight Cheeto that's the one that's the fight go fight Cheeto Vera you go out and you beat Cheeto Vera then you I'm still not saying

you can call all the shots but you at least have something to bring to the table hey I beat this surging guy that keeps beating all these other dudes give me my title shot the UFC just wants to see how serious he is

go fight somebody just go fight anybody fight somebody in the top 10 you win get your title shot but you ain't getting you're not just jumping into a title shot what is it going to have if shot ohmalley beats

pejorian at ufc 280 the ufc's going to be like hey that's a great win but we got this dude henry sehuto who screwed us two years ago sitting on the sidelines let's give him the title shot no they're not going to do that they're going to make sure this dude is serious about coming back because it is

a risk to put this guy out there. What if he goes back and wins the belt? What if they put him in a title fight and he wins? And he does the same shit. Oh no. You're still not paying me enough. I'm just going to sit on the sidelines to you pay me. They're not going to take

that risk. They're not going to take that risk. They hate when that happens. They hate when guys come in and fight for titles. They have big plans for them and then they just screw them and put the belt and vacate the title. Well, that's fun for the fans to see how the UFC's going to handle that.

They're never going to do a tournament, but if they did, it would be fun. The UFC hates that. They don't want to risk anybody fighting for a title that could just leave them at a whim. And Suhudo has proven that he will do that. And the problem with Suhudo is, if he just won, if he just won the title against Cruz, fought Jan and fought like one other guy and kept winning, he might have had the pull to do that because he was just getting to a spot where we were talking about whether or not this guy was going to be a star or not. Is he a big star? Is he a draw?

Can Henry Suhudo headline paper views that will do 500,000 plus? And he was just getting there. And then he left. And the UFC didn't miss him at all. The division didn't miss him at all. The flyweight division didn't miss him at all. The flyweight division, while Suhudo deserves a ton of credit, it got way more interesting when he left

because Davis and Figurado got to show what he could do and he started deading guys, started knocking guys out and finishing them. We got this classic feud with Brandon Moreno that's still going on. The Flyweight Division has become one of the can't miss divisions in the company. And it wasn't that way when Suhudo was the champion.

It was fun. He brought some eyeballs because of the promos and the cringe and all that crap. but it never the division wasn't in like a tremendous place after that it's in a much better place now the band of weight division is a much better place now that it was when Sohudo was the champion

so I'm glad he's back okay I have said this a million times I think the way he he botched this retirement so badly it was just so bad it was one of the all time worst retirements all time worst

he screwed it up. He screwed it up from the beginning. And you knew it that same night after he announced his retirement that he screwed it up. Because Dana already moved on. The promotion already moved on. And everybody else has moved on since. So Hudo, the fighter and the human being are wonderful people.

He's a great fighter. He's a nice guy. I've met him a few times. Even before this talk about him coming back. I've met Soudou, he's a good dude. I talked to him for a little while at the, triller card in Florida with Holyfield and Belford.

I got to talk to him and Captain Eric for a little while. He's a nice dude, and he's a great fighter. You cannot mock, knock the resume at all. He's unbelievable. But he's just not as powerful,

he's not as big as a draw as he thinks he is. And that's the problem. It's not a problem. It's a problem. Connor says he's retired. The UFC is like, God, what are we going to do? Let's give him what he needs. If Francis Gano threatens to leave,

or are we going to do whatever we can to keep him. When Henry Sohuda leaves, they're like, okay, we have a new title, we'll have a new champion by the summertime. So I hope, I hope as a fan, he comes back and fights. And I hope he fights Marlon Verra or Maraub de Wallis-Willi or somebody like that. And I hope he competes.

And honestly, I'm not rooting for anything, but if Sohudo wins, it makes things more interesting. But until then, I don't think he's fighting. Until then, I don't think he's fighting. And I don't think he's getting a title fight. Unless it's something that they have something on the books, they're building towards it, and somebody falls out and they need somebody to step in quick,

Sehudo is probably the first call they make. But I just don't see a world where he's just walking into a title fight. And I hope he fights. really hope he comes back and fights a contender in this division or at 145. I don't care and just win that one fight and then go fight for the belt. And then I'm fine. And then I'm fine. But until then, no, I don't believe it. Crypto, what's up? Good, Mike. How are you? I'm good.

Mike, I thought we had a deal. We do not utter his name until he accepts a fight, Mike. Don't talk about him. He's not bad. Mike, this is ridiculous. Come on. Let's not talk about him. Let's not become guilty by association here. I mean, listen, nobody cares. Worst retirement ever. I mean, didn't he actually like announced that he's returning

during the press conference after the fight? Like, yeah, I might return if they pay me more. I think it was like an hour or two hours before he announced he was back. We don't talk about it. We don't mention his name, Mike. Just don't give him the attention. because it's getting ridiculous. He's just asking, basically, he just wants that attention.

He wants us to tell him that he's the greatest and he really deserves this title fight. But no one cares. We have moved on. Accept a fight that you deserve, prove to us that you can fight, and that's it. So until then, Mike, don't say his name. Don't say his name.

Don't give him the attention. Okay, Mike, anyway, I have two questions for you. So the first question, KSW, 75. Is there a specific fight or fighter that you're looking forward to see? Personally, I think that Soldyev is an interesting fighter. I saw his recent or last knockout against Hinson. Just seems to be a very interesting fighter. So I just, I don't know how, I know that you like the KSW, but I don't know if you look at the card and so on. Is there a specific fight or fighter that you are feeling that we should watch this weekend.

And you feel that, yeah, should be given some attention. My second question, Mike, is I saw the article on MMAfighting.com, best website in the world regarding Frank Muir and his daughter that he is thinking about having his retirement fight together with his daughter at the same event where she maybe is the main event. So I just want to ask you, how much do you know about Bella Mir? I've seen that she has had three fights, maybe not against the best opponents, but still she has one-drow's fights. She's very young. What are your thoughts on her?

And just a side story and side note, because you said that the man we do not speak of is a very friendly and nice guy. I have to tell you, if there's one guy that is friendly and nice, that is Frank Muir. I had the opportunity to meet him in Vegas and talk to him for like half an hour, 40 minutes. What a friendly dude. Like really, he's just really open, funny, makes a lot of jokes. And just was my best fighter interaction ever, to be honest with you. But he just took the time to sit down and talk and so on. Had some great stories about different fighters and just life in general.

So I wish him and his daughter the best and so on. But I want your thoughts on Bella and her potential. Thank you, Mike. Thanks, Ann. So the KSW card, I like Jan Liyazi a lot. He's going to be a problem, I think, in the years to come.

It's 8 and 1. He's won four in a row. He's a young dude. Guy's going to be good. And this is like a, this KSW card has a lot of, I don't want to say contender series vibes to it, but kind of. There's a lot of,

a lot of prospects, a lot of up-and-comers. But Liasi's one of those guys that I've had an eye on for a while, and he's fighting Agent Greylock, who is an undefeated dude himself, hasn't fought in a while, goes out there and finish his fights since his first fight in KSW. But I think Liasse is just a little more experienced. And I like what he brings to the table, and I think he's only going to get better.

So if there's one guy that I'm really looking at, Tim, I like this old day I've picked from you as well. but KSW always puts on fun cards. The production value, it's just spectacular. Jed and I talk about it all the time. There's one event outside of the majors in North America that I wish like the UFs,

not the UFC, that our company would like send us to go cover just to experience it once. KSW would probably be, would probably be that. As far as the Frank Meir thing goes, I will agree with you. Every interaction I've had with Frank Meir

has been a delight. I feel like Frank Mir should be utilized more in the space. I think it's a fantastic commentator. Now, I understand that some people have an issue with like some of the political views and beliefs, but I don't care about any of that stuff, really, when it comes to sports,

you could feel how you feel and you are who you are and I'm not going to say here and try to argue politics or whatever. But Frank's a good dude. He's been very nice to be. me. He's very insightful. He knows what's going on. I think Bellator is nuts for not bringing this guy back as a commentator. Like, I think he should be the color guy. I know they love John McCarthy,

but even if you want to do a three-man booth and just throw Frank in there, I mean, how is Frank Mir going to hurt your product from a commentary's perspective? The answer is he won't in any way, shape, or form. As far as his daughter goes, his daughter is going to be a huge problem. Belamir is going to be a huge problem. She will be in the UFC sooner rather than later. I would be stunned if she's not on the contender series in the next couple of years. She's also a collegiate wrestler. So she's trying to balance life as a college student being a wrestler, being an MMA fighter, all of those things. So it's kind of hard to pinpoint timeline on how this is all going to play out. I mean, just the natural abilities that she has.

She's been training for a long time. She's one of the best wrestlers in the country. She's one of the best. I believe she won the national championship for her weight class. She is going to be a huge problem. And you see her confidence grow every time she fights. From the two icon fights, the first one she had, and then she's just going out there and just mauling these women that she's fighting.

And eventually, the scary thing about her is she's nowhere near. how good she's going to be, and she's nowhere near her athletic crime. And I think it would be pretty cool that, it would be pretty cool to see, like, maybe if like Mazadol's promotion or I know Mears with the Freedom Fight Night or whatever, do something like that where Frank fights on a main card and then Bella headlines, I think that would be awesome. That'd be super cool. And I hope we get to see that someday.

Well, we'll see. Bella's going to be a big issue. Big problem. Let's go to Henderson. What's up, Henderson? I've been all over the world. I've been traveling. Me and my wife got married.

So we went on a honeymoon. So we went to Hawaii. We went to Rome. And all that time, I've been listening to your show, just saving this story up. So I think it's a pretty wild one. But I'm excited to get back and call.

Congrats, man. Thanks. So, yeah, so we're in Hawaii and we're going ATV in, you know? You can go like ATV and. through the nature and whatever. And we get to this waterfall and they're like, you can't go over there. I'm like, why? Like the whole thing, it's like called a waterfall tour.

They're like, oh, Zuckerberg bought all the waterfalls on the island. And you can't go there anymore. And nobody can go there anymore. And I'm like, is he even here? Like, no. Okay, he's in California. But the half the island is now owned by Zuckerberg. And when we went to other islands, I said, oh, this billionaire owns this island, right?

This billionaire owns this sound. I'm like, this sucks, right? So the people in why you're pissed, but what can you do? It's like, they just buy everything. So then that we go to Rome and I'm at the Coliseum, right? And they're like saying gladiator fighting is kind of similar to like boxing and MMA how it was now. And sometimes the emperors would just buy out the entire thing and they would just watch

it by themselves, right? And then I'm watching the Dern card and look who it is. is Zuckerberg. He's bought out the entire thing, you know? It's like just like Hawaii, he's buying these islands just so that him and his billionaire friends can just do things away from the public. And it doesn't like, how soon are we going to get until there's a UFC card that only billionaires can watch, you know? Like it already costs like $80 to pay for a pay per view. So it was just really pissing me off. And I was just like, I cannot believe it's Zuckerberg. It's everywhere I go. I can't avoid this guy.

I'm around the world and I can't watch a card without Zuckerberg being the only one in the crowd. So I was just so frustrated, right? But then in my fantasies of a better world, right? Zuckerberg loves to, loves MMA, right? So in a world where let's say the tables were flipped and Zuckerberg had to join the UFC and actually fight, who would you line him up as as the representative of the people? people of the world, you know? So my first choice, I was thinking of Brandon Moreno, since he's like such a working class, like, man of the people kind of guy. But I think he might be a little too

nice. So I think figurato. So figureato versus Zuckerberg fantasy matchup. And let's see how good at him. A hero he is. So all right, just wanted to share that story. I know it's a wild one. But just saying, I love the show. I've been listening the whole time. Thank you, Hendo. So congrats again on the nuptials and the honeymoon and all that. Sorry that the Zuckman. I'm sorry you got zucked on the honeymoon. Sorry you got zucked. But just to kind of clarify because I have, I mean, I know Ariel talked about it.

I talked to a lot of the same people. Zuckerberg didn't just call Dana White and say, hey, I'm going to buy out the apex. It didn't work that way. This was a personal invite from Dana to bring in Mars. and the Facebook team, and apparently they announced today that they're doing some sort of deal. You can watch cards in the metaverse, so to speak, on UFC FightPass in the foreseeable future. So it's probably just something to put a cherry on top of that Sunday. But, I mean, it is what it is.

I don't care. To me, Zuck just, Zuck picked, like, the, just he chose that card. He chose that card of all the cards. He had a good time and whatever. I know Bisbing and Anthony Smith waited on this where they feel like Zuckerberg's presence was actually a good thing for the UFC. And at the same token,

there is an old cliche that bad press is still press. It's better than no press. And even if people and the fighters are dumping on Zuck, it got a lot of attention to the card. More people writing about the UFC on a fight night card that Saturday than anybody else was. It wasn't just MA fighting, it wasn't just MMA sites,

it was everybody was writing about it. So it was a very big deal. It got extra eyeballs on the product. So feel how you feel. UFC, it was a business move and I don't really care at this point anymore. Hopefully this is not something that happens

on the reg. Hopefully this is something that just happens like one time every couple of years. And it's at the apex. It doesn't really matter. It's not like he rented out the Amway Arena or anything like that. So yeah, but I'm sorry that happened to you.

It's kind of sucky. Zuck's just buying up waterfalls so you can't go check them out on your honeymoon. It's so stupid. That's so stupid. I have more problem with that than the UFC situation. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats.

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Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ.

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Yes, I got you. This is awesome. Finally. Been in here the whole time. We'll be short and sweet. got two MMA related things. Then I got a, you know, just kind of a funky question. First thing first, talk about Frankie Edgar. In the Garden booked Chris Gutierrez.

Super excited. Super excited. Actually, I can't stop talking about it for some reason. I know. Doesn't really have a lot of implications on his career. But I'm absolutely excited he gets that Madison Square Garden. Go out on UFC 282. two you're talking about

Corey Anderson I think you're 100% right I think the Bellator I guess the Belator versus UFC the only division I think they would have a shot to take over at least in the current moment would be 280 205 between Nemcoff and Corey which Corey actually took care of Nemcoff besides that insane ruling I'm sure they're going to run that fight back soon I think it's actually matched up I'm not a 100% but yeah 205 is probably the only division

I think could probably cross over and maybe make it interesting, I guess, if they did do a 10-man tournament or whatever you mentioned. And lastly, a lot of traction is getting gained on this Tom Brady, Grunk, Dana White trade. Any comments on, you know, do you think Dana White actually had that lined up? Do you think Tom Brady and Grunk were actually going to come over to the Raiders a little before that endeavor to Tampa? All right, Mike. Have yourself a heck of a week.

Thank you for having it. Thanks, man. I don't know. I think there's some there's certain things where if there's smoke, there's fire. And Patriots fans for the most part and I've been this way myself.

We like to be in denial about certain things. Like I remember when ESPN wrote that in-depth article the year that they won like their last Super Bowl and it was like all about the problems going on in the office and everything like that. And Patriots fans were like,

oh, this is a hit piece. It's bullshit. it's not true and to me where there's smoke there's fire so I don't know how much truth there is to that whole thing but I think there's probably something to that Frankie Edgar

yeah he's getting his fight at MSG I just it's just it's just there he's just there you know he's fighting Chris Goudierrez this I would have rather like good for Chris

it's good to see someone outside the top 15 getting like somewhat of an opportunity but I don't think this does a whole hell of a lot for Chris if we're being honest like I think if Ricky Samo is in the spot I think it does a little bit more for him than it does for Chris

but it is what it is Frankie gets to fight his final one in MSG and it's a fight that he can win it's a winnable fight for Frankie and if he wins then Chris takes a huge step back and probably not going to see him in the rankings for a long, long time.

And if Chris wins, I don't know, maybe gets in the rankings, but I just don't know if it does just a ton for him. But yeah. And then the Bellator stuff, yeah, 205's good. The only other one I think might be interesting. And it's not now, maybe in the future.

I think 155 could be fun. Because I think Usman and Amargameh Adolph is going to be a gigantic problem. And I think he's going to be Petriki Pitbull. and win the Bellator title in November. And then he has a very good chance of winning that entire Grand Prix next year as well. So I'm not really ready to make that distinction right the second,

but a couple of years, I could see Usman and Amaga Madoff being in the conversation for being the best 155 pounder in the world. 100%. We'll go to Octagon blog. They'll go to Anthony and then a Hid's going to send us home, smile and I bet. Octagon, hello.

Good. How are you? cancel with you? No, but I do have my laptop in case there's multiple things. You know, this is very interesting what Ezekiel spoke about. You know, you have a public investment fund that's a group from Saudi Arabia. They invest a lot of money in sports in Newcastle United. That's a soccer club and live golfing, golf, and boxing, the two fights from Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.

What I know is that they are going to buy a MMA promotion or start an own MMA promotion. And that will be, they want to compete with the best in the sport. So in soccer, with Newcastle, with live golf against PGA. And now, of course, also in boxing. And now in MMA, they want to compete against Abu Dhabi against the UFC. So I want to hear your opinion about big money coming in and try to compete with the UFC. Thank you and good luck, Mike. Thank you, sir.

It would be very interesting. We've seen what Liv is done for the golfing world, getting some of the names they've gotten over there, like Dustin Johnson and a lot of the bigger names from the golfing world. and we'll see. Sometimes that works in certain sports. Sometimes it doesn't. I mean, Saudi does a lot of stuff with WWE. They spend a lot of money to get them over there once a year to do their events.

They got money to spend. You mentioned the boxing. We'll see what they do. Maybe they just throw their hat in to host UFC events in the future. Who knows? But if they do start a promotion, it'll be interesting to see what they're going to be able to do with it. It's not like golf where guys from the PGA can just say,

okay, I'm leaving, I'm going over here to make a billion dollars. You can't do that. You can't do that right now. Fighters just can't leave willy-nilly. Now, if they have money to spend it, they're going to start this promotion and do whatever. If they can get some of these free agents involved, they can get Nate Diaz or somebody else to be a co-promote or something like that.

Interesting. But I have to see it to believe it first. because, I mean, how many times have we heard about upstart promotions coming in and trying to make waves and doing different things? Ariel talked. I don't remember what the promotion was at this point. The World Fighting League or something? Was that what it was? The World Fighting League, the WFL.

This is going to be the game changer. Fighter pay was going to change forever. And all these things, we're going to be competitive. We're going to offer things that nobody else can. and then it just sort of fizzled out. We haven't heard a thing about it since. So I guess you need to believe it. It would be interesting,

but with the current state of the sports, contracts, independent contractors, quote, unquote, all of that, I just don't know what kind of a dent they can make. Like what's different between what they're going to do and what like Eagle FC was trying to do when they were having the cards in Miami me and bringing all these big names over and spending all this money that I just don't know where it comes from. So it would be interesting, but I just don't know how it works.

I don't know how they do it. Anthony, hello. Yo, how's it going, bro? Good. Yeah, I just wanted to talk about Dana White answering questions because a lot of people hate on it. They're like, oh, man, he just lies his ass off half the time. But to be honest, man, I fucking appreciate the shit. of it because I'm I played baseball my whole life and I watched that sport too bro and fucking

we see that commissioner literally two times a year and he lies his ass off 100% of the time. So that's just crazy to me. And also some guy was talking earlier about the best seats to buy. You're a media member. So I mean, you've probably been spoiled about some good seats recently. But the best seats to buy for a common man are the first first row in like the 300 levels. So you can just look right down at that shit. it. All right. Have a good one, bro. Have back. Good morning. Chief.

Thank you, sir. So, yeah, I don't disagree with you. First Row Balcany is a good time. It's a good time for any sport, really. I love sitting first row balcony for like WWF events at the Garden. And that's when those tickets are like 20 bucks, but they ain't 20 bucks anymore. So, yeah, I mean, listen, first events, just being there, it's going to be a sold-out arena, fights are going to be good, just going to be a fun experience and the atmosphere is going to be crazy. there'll be lots of events going on throughout the week so that's to be cool hopefully i get to go cover that event because i could just drive to orlando in a few hours my parents live like 45 minutes from orlando so i could stay with them

make a whole thing out of it so it'd be a lot of fun the dana thing it's always like a slippery slippery slope with dana because he i mean he is the face of the company dana white is the face of the ufc so his success is his he's got fans that that because they love the sport so much, the man can do no wrong. And yes, does he lie about things? Of course he does. But you make a decent point, too, that this is sports. And the commissioners lie about certain things.

Or they withhold information. I mean, go watch Ariel's interview with Tony Khan from AEW. I mean, this was a disaster. This was a disaster. And I listened, I went and listened to that interview the day it got dropped. And I remember messaging Ariel about it. like, oh my God. I'm like, I can't wait to hear what you have to say about this.

Like, talk about saying nothing. And Dana doesn't do what Tony Kahn did in that interview at all. Dana will mostly answer questions that he knows or at least try to in a way. And Tony just did nothing. All Tony did was like pump his own tires. I'd never heard a guy in that position pump his own tires the way that Tony Kahn did. It was off. I just, this is awful.

It was awful. And at least Dana will say what's on his mind from time to time. I think some of the issues with Dana is that people take what he says so literally a lot. And oftentimes when Dana goes on and says, take shots of the media and stuff, people just take that and run with it. They take it and run with it. But the media sucks. We're trying to kill the UFC. All we care about is fighter pay and all that stuff.

And let me just say this. There were certain things that Dana has said about the topic and about certain things that were written and certain things that I actually didn't disagree with them on. But there are things that he has said that just aren't true and that were proven to be not true. And sometimes, and this is a problem in MMA to begin with. This is something that I noticed earlier on in my career

and the more that I have relationships with fighters and managers, and different people from promotions and in the sport, you notice this as well. It's just a weird relationship. You can't all be lumped in together. So if some media member comes out and says something about Dana and he has an issue with it, to him it's every media member saying this about him,

which is just not true. Now, here's the issues, here's the biggest issue I've had with Dana. And it's not fighter pay and all that stuff because I've been on the show many times and have said on multiple occasions that this whole fighter pay conversation, sure, the UFC is to blame a little bit. You can put some of that, you could put a little pie chart, a little bit of a sliver goes to Dana.

But it's the fighters. The fighters are the reason for the most part because when the company sold for $4.2 million, excuse me not million, $4.2 billion, that was the time for them to come together and say, all right, they just sold for $4.2 billion. Let's do this thing. Let's come together. Let's make an impact. Let's change the way that we are protected. Let's have a voice. And they didn't do it. And now all these years later, it's a big problem. Like, you had your chances and you didn't do it. They tried to put groups together and they just fizzled out because they put the worst people in charge of it.

Until the fighters come together and do this on their own and they're willing to walk away, nothing's going to change. And it's not day and his fault. Like what when they sold, they were like, okay, the fighters must be happy because they're not coming together now. So what's, why would they change anything? I mean, it's just business. It's just business at the end of the day. And of course you want the fighters to be paid more.

And I'd love to see it, but to blame Dana White and the UFC specifically for that is just short-sighted. It's just short-sighted, in my opinion. Now, the thing I had the biggest issue with, with Dana, was during the pandemic. Because the UFC wanted to keep going. And we were all for that. We all wanted the UFC to keep going. We wanted the fighters to get paid and make money and be able to work. and we of course wanted to in the media have something to talk about.

I had just come on to M.A. fighting when the world shut down. It's like the first week I was there. They canceled the pay-per-view. And then they brought it back. And then it was going to be atachi Palace. And then Disney stepped in and shut it all down. And then it was going to happen in Jacksonville. And all this stuff was happening.

John Jones getting arrested. Like all this stuff was happening, like right when I started. And every day I woke up. up wondering, am I going to have a job tomorrow because of where this world is? Am I, I'm the new branch on the tree. And I was just a very thin branch at the time. Are they just going to cut me down? Are they just going to say, all right, we still have the tree, just we don't need this branch

anymore, which I was like, okay, I would have been okay with at the time because like I would have got it and understood it. but this idea that Dana White still has to this day that the MMA media was hoping for the UFC to fail is the biggest bunch of bullshit in the world. In the world. You think it because like the New York Times and like some of these outside of MMA media places,

these big time publications, wrote these articles about the pandemic. and about some of the protocol and all that stuff, he attached the NBA media to all of that. Then at the end of all of this, my man AK is on here, they put out this hit piece that we shut the media up. The media doubted us and wanted us to fail, and we proved them wrong.

And they put out the stupid hit piece. It was stupid. Dumb and it made no sense then. And then a year later, a little more than a year later, they put it back out. Why? The NBA media never wanted you to fail, ever. Never once we say, we hope this fails and the UFC just crumbles. No, we never said that.

We just had questions about the protocols and no one was giving us answers to it. How is the testing going to work? What is this going to do? How do you have the fighters at the arena that all come to the arena? or you're bringing them two at a time? Like, how is this all going to work? And it took until we had to dig deep and reach out to managers

and different people in the organization who would send us stuff so we understood what the protocol was. We just had questions of what they were doing. We didn't doubt them. We just didn't know we were up against. We didn't know what this pandemic was like. We didn't know what protocol was.

But the UFC said they had the answers. We wanted to know what they were. That's all. No one wanted them to fail. So that is like the biggest issue I have with Dana, is that he lumps the MMA media in with everybody else and that he thought we wanted the company to fail and the sport to fail and all that.

It's bullshit. That's my biggest issue with the guy. Everything else is my, this man, and does he lie and say things that aren't true, sure? Does he do certain things with certain fighters that drive me crazy short? The whole Nate Diaz thing was dumb. It all worked out in the end.

The NBA gods shined upon us. They smiled. it went the way it was supposed to go. But Dane deserves a ton of credit for what this man has done, for what he did in that pandemic. It's gigantic. He set the tone for everybody.

He did. But to say that we in particular, they did that to spite us because we didn't believe in them is just the biggest bunch of bullshit. And that's my biggest issue with the man. That's my biggest issue. A fired up Dana White

when he's fired up about fights is a great thing. It's what made the sport what it was for a long time. Dana getting fired up and getting in that promoter mode was huge for the sport. He was the face of the company. Still is. Not as much as before, but he still is.

But when he's fired up about stuff, he gets everybody fired up. And then when McGregor-Mayweather happened, we saw that guy come out a little bit. Every time he introduced Connor McGregor at a press conference, it was like the greatest thing ever. It was hilarious seeing him yell and get excited for the first time in like three years. It's almost like he forgot how to be excited about stuff.

And sometimes that happens. But he's also very particular now in how he does his media. He doesn't want to get trapped. He's a little more smart about it. And he does the car wash of interviews before fights. with people who know aren't going to really challenge him. And that's fine. And that's fine.

I've been trying to get a Dana White interview for two and a half years. I can't get it. That's okay. But yeah, that was my biggest issue with Dana. He deserves a ton of credit. He's still in the face of the promotion. But to me, that whole narrative that he still paints that the NBA media were a bunch of pussies and we could never fight out of a paper bag.

The biggest wusses in the world cover the manliest, the most adults, the most dangerous sport in the world. Yet we want you to fail. It's just fucking stupid. So that's my issue with him. Other than that, she's killing it. The occasional lie here and there, but like you said, everybody does that. Ahead! Let's go!

Ahead, are you there? Can you hear me? Yes, by the way, Ahead. We had a caller earlier who chimed in and thanked us for the platform and then thanked you for bringing the gusto to this program. Thank you and Tristan and some of the reg regs. But he even said, even ahead, even ahead, gave you a personal shout out. That warms my heart, Mike. You know, that warms my heart.

Always just trying to bring it like. And like my Twitter is just messed up. I'm going to try and there's some weird audio issues, but I'll try and, like, get my points in that, anyway. The two points I've got is, firstly, it's USA 282, right? Like, I talked about it. On Monday, I think I didn't think you had time to address it. Like, the main event, Mike, you're so relaxed about how there's no main event.

I've heard you more aggravated just hearing Henry Suhudo's name. It's crazy. Like, Mike, it's driving me insane. and how they're just leaving this in limbo. Like, it's like in all history of MMA, has there ever been a time where the main event of a pay-per-view has ever been organized on such short notice, where there's no injuries, they haven't organized it?

We know Jan and Anka-Lyat is on 282, right? But as I said on Monday, they need someone else to headline Brazil. Listen, Tiggy and Moreno is good. that they need someone else. They need the big boys. They're Yuri and Dr. Glover. Yuri will go to Brazil.

Trust me. You chuck enough money his way. He will go to Brazil. He's that samurai type thing. So what is going on? I don't know. And like the other thing is I saw Kavidjad just say, Markachev's going to roll over Olivera, right?

And he could do that. I truly believe in combat jiu-jitsu, which is, in my opinion, was the closest thing to, actual MMA grappling, right? Marka Chev would smash Olivera, but it's mixed martial arts, and I was just watching DET sport, Dan Hardy,

who's incredible. He broke down the main event, and it's like, Olivera might get him out of the first round. Olivera might not Markojev out. He might just put it on him, and he might, what's going to happen then? Like he said, like it's going to be bad, really bad.

There's like so much. Well, we just lost a hid. We got a lot out of that. So I think I can, I think I can respond to that. We touched on 282 a little earlier today. I feel like, I feel like we're looking at a Glover, Uri rematch headlining that card. Again, not really sure, but I think the addition of Blahovitch,

Ankolaev kind of puts us past the 50-yard line at this point. From what I understand, they're trying, like, one last big, push to try to get John on that card, but I'd be stunned if it happens. So I would venture to guess we're going to get Yeri Glovera as the main event of that card. Now, I understand that it leaves a hole for 283. I don't know what they're going to do. Probably Amanda Nunes. They could try to get her back a little bit earlier than she would have lights, but I mean, Nunez headlining in Brazil, I'm sure she's not going to have a big problem with that. Not just a matter if we're going to throw in there against.

If they did Nunes, Shavchenko on that card, that's a solid main event right there. And then we have Figgi Moreno, the Tetrology as the co-main event. I'm in. That's fine. But this is just a welcome back to Brazil more than anything. So they're not going to get,

we're not going to see Connor on the card. And who knows, if we can get, if they end up doing Hamzat versus Paulo Costa, then at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. because all eyes are going to be on that flight. So we'll see what happens with 282 and 283, but my gut is telling me by 280, we will know,

and it's probably going to be Yuri Glover. That's my hunch, my guess. That would be my bet at this point in time. But who knows? Maybe that'll change. Maybe that'll change. And we talked about the Habib thing too, and just the confidence of the Makachev camp.

Yeah, it's very bad if they lose. It's very, very bad if they lose, which is why we headlined one of the ones is Islam-Machachach-Jep in must-win territory. And I think he is. I think he has to win this fight. Or else he's going to fade. He's going to fall down the ladder real quick

because there's still people right now, even though people are excited for this fight, there's a chunk of people who feel like Machachev didn't deserve to be in this spot. He's got questions he's got to answer to probably 25, of the MMA community that he deserved this over

Darius or anybody else. So he's got to win. And the confidence, the things that he's been said, that he's been saying that Habib has been saying, he's got to win. He's got to win. But he's going to have a tough one. People keep sleeping on Charles.

I don't get it. All right, two more. Tristan, then the am, we got to go. Tristan, what's up? Just for you, just, Mike, just from what you just said, then my question is, And how does the UFC view market share? Because, again, we saw Michael Chandler.

Michael Chandler fought for the title. He lost, but he didn't drop all the way back, all the way back as far as rankings or the top 10 or top five or anything like that. Right? If he fights Poirier, beats Porier, it's not going to be crazy when they say, hey, Michael Chandler is getting another title shots because the UFC Viewer. use him as a big spotlight for the company. So my question is, how do you think the UFC looks at Makachev?

Does he have the same, like, the same view as they do for Chandler? That's the question I want on that I don't know how they look at. So maybe you could probably answer that question. And then my second question would be about Julia Peña. Peña feels that she deserves a trilogy fight against Nunes. So do you agree what D.C. said because I kind of agree what D.C. says, like, I think Peña needs to fight one more, and then we'll discuss if she could get another trilogy fight. So just your thoughts on those two points that I've just discussed.

Thanks, Mike. Have a heck of a morning. So first question, no. Islam is not in the same boat as Michael Chandler, because Michael Chandler is a star and Islam is not. Now, there are certain parts of the world where Islam is very well known, which is why this fight's happening in Abu Dhabi over New York or Vegas or anything else. Makachev is, I mean, people know who he is, but more people know who Chandler is the draw. Chandler's the exciting fighter that brings it every time. So that's why he's in the mix and then Chandler's come back and, I mean, the way he knocked out Tony

Ferguson is just ridiculous. So, and Chandler cuts the promos after and he's, when these fight cards are over, we talk about Chandler for weeks afterwards, weeks. Mockachachap beat Bobby Green. We talked about it for a day. Should he be the guy that fights for the title? And then we just wait and see if he gets the shot. So no, I don't think he's in the same boat.

I don't think he's in the same boat. Now, there is value to him because of the. the international side of things, but not to where Chandler's at right now. And by the way, if Islam Makachchev fought Michael Chandler tomorrow, Islein Makachov's going to beat him. He's got to beat Michael Chandler,

more than likely, in my opinion. He's probably like a minus 300 favor in that fight. But Chandler brings in more dollars, which is the nature of the beast. And with the pain you thing, I'm, if they gave her the shot, fine, but the fight with Nunes

was, I think Jed put it perfectly, it was the most competitive ass-whipping you'll ever see. This was almost like the female version of, not to the same extent, but it was, it was sort of Holloway cater-esque

in a lot of ways where this fight was never in doubt. There was one moment where Peña looked to possibly lock in an arm bar, but other than that, Nunes beat the shit out of her, the entire fight. I mean, this is a whitewashing. This is a one-sided beatdown. So there's really not a lot that intrigues me about just running this one back. There's not a lot that tells me that this could go any differently.

Now, the first fight is just Nunes wasn't in a right, you could tell. Nunes wasn't there mentally. And Pady took advantage. There's the right time for it. But we saw when they ran it back, there's just, I just don't see enough where a third fight goes any better for Juliana. I don't. So go fight somebody else. Go fight somebody else.

And then get a win and then you're right back in there. If she gets another win and then gets a title fight after that, I'm okay with that. If it's the trilogy or whatnot, cool. go fight Ketland Vieira go fight Irene Aldana beat one of them

you're right back in go fight Raquel Pennington Raquel would take that fight in a heartbeat there's a story there you get enough on the microphone between both of those women do that nothing wrong with that all right

the AM is going to take us home and then I have to go what's up the M good how are you good thank you So this weekend we have Ascarov and Roybal are fighting. They are ranked 4 and 5. Does the winner of them fight Pantorja to be the title eliminator? Or is the flyweight division stuck between Figuero and Brandon at this point? My other point is going to be about Makachiev.

I think the media is also guilty of the narrative that he does not deserve to be in the title fight. Because it's not his fault that a lot of a lot of fighters, ranked fighters, he was trying to fight, kept falling off. Even his team offered $100,000 for Tony Ferguson in 2020, when one of my catchers' opponent fell off, I think it was RDA. So the asked Ferguson to step in, they offered him $100,000 on top of of what the UFC was going to offer him, and he refused. And then his ranked opponent keeps falling off.

So it's not his fault that he did not fight the ranked opponents, and the media keeps going with the casuals, keeps like enforcing this narrative. He did not fight a ranked opponent, so he doesn't deserve to be in the title. And also a lot of fans are crying about his team that they are confident about themselves, that they are confidence saying that they are going to win,

this fight. I haven't seen anyone in a fight saying that their opponents will fight. Their respect, what I hear from them is that they respect his skills, Charles skills, they keep saying his stuff, he is good, but we are going to win. We are going to beat him. We are going to finish him. That's confidence. That's not arrogance. I don't know why people are crying about it. And I don't know why people, all of a sudden they became Charles Oliveras fans. I guarantee as soon as he lose, they are not even going to visit. his social media. They are not his fans, in my opinion,

they are just siding because they want a machetechip to lose. So I think these people should stop crying about a confidence person who is trying to win a fight, who is building up for a fight. That's all I have to say today.

Thank you so much. Thanks, man. Hey, listen, I have no issue with the confidence. I have no issue with the confidence. We've seen fighters be very confident it before. And like Connor McGregor was like the most confident guy we've ever, we've ever seen. But the dude went in there and backed it up. And to that point, we're like, all right, this dude's still backing it up. And even when Connor was winning fights that people thought he couldn't win, there were still a million doubts.

Well, what if you fights this dude? And what if he fights this dude? There's still all these doubts about Connor. So people sort of pick and choose who they back. But I also understand how people are viewing the comments. things that are, and by the way, when you're attached to Habib, and Habib is at the center of all of this as well, that's fine. Like, listen, some fighters thrive on the extra pressure that's put upon them by the media, other fighters, analysts, et cetera. And maybe Islam is that guy.

But all it's doing in the community is just making it so Islam has to win. And that's fine. Like, there's nothing wrong with that. I don't have any complaints about it. and I don't have any complaints about Islam getting the title shot. This is the, like I've said, a million times. It's not his fault that the RDA fights didn't happen. It's not his fault that some of the other ranked fights didn't happen.

He stayed on the card, got a replacement, and treated them accordingly. It's not his fault. But like you said, there are a lot of people out there who doubt the resume. There are a lot of other people who thought that Benille should have got the shot over him. But to me, this is the most, this is one of the

top three most intriguing fights of the year, regardless of resume. Regardless of who is on the resume, how many ranked people you beat if you have top five wins. Stylistically, this is a 50-50 fight in my eyes.

And I can't wait to see it. I can't wait for it. I get it. I get it. I get it. but sometimes you just got to make believers out of them. And if Islam goes out there, it starches Charles and wins the belt and finishes them in the first two rounds, we're going to be like,

damn, this dude's the best lightweight in the world. That's how this sport works. Sometimes you just got to show them. And once you do, you just got to put your hands up and say, all right, dudes of the reels, and we were wrong,

and he was right. But I cannot friggin' wait until that fight happens and I can't wait to see how it plays out and I can't wait to watch it in the way we're watching it and all the fun stuff we're going to do UFC 280 fight week so stay tuned

for all of that information to come in the next week or so it's going to be awesome but we are done BTL 1 p.m. Eastern AK versus Grant Dawson let's go. Until then everybody have a great rest of your Thursday

back here tomorrow at 10 a.m. Eastern. Have a heck of a morning, everybody.