MMA Fighting - HOAM | Will Khamzat Chimaev Fight For UFC Title In 2023?

Episode Date: December 30, 2022

Whether Khamzat Chimaev stays at welterweight, or makes the permanent move to middleweight, most would believe that one more victory would set Chimaev up for a title fight in either division. But will the timing work out for "Borz" to get his shot in 2023? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses Chimaev's title prospects in 2023, and answers whether or not he'll get a crack at UFC gold before featherweight Ilia Topuria. Additionally, listener questions include Bellator vs. RIZIN and which promotion has the better chance to sweep, Jamahal Hill's chances against Glover Teixeria, fights to look forward to in 2023, some of the best moments of this year, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco 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 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. 30th, 2020, and it is indeed a heck of a morning

live on the MMA fighting. Twitter spaces, you can hear the show shortly. After, on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network, I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a final, a great final week of 2022. I can't believe 2023 is knocking. We're knocking on the door. They're right there.

And the MMA world is going to be capped off by the Bellator versus Risen card, which goes down a little less than 12 hours from now. Like by the time, this time rolls tomorrow, it'll probably be over live. but you guys in the U.S. can watch it at 8 p.m. Eastern on Showtime, or you can join me here tomorrow, around 5 a.m., and we can watch it together, or I can watch it and tell you what's happening. But I think that's what we're going to do. Myself and Damon Martin will be covering the card for M.AFighting.com. And on this show, right now, we could potentially have some breaking news for you.

So stay tuned for that, waiting to get some final calls. confirmation on something. And if we get it, I will break it right here on the program. And if it comes to fruition, I think you guys are going to like this bit of news that I'm going to drop on you. So no time to waste. It is a free-for-all Friday, the final free-for-all Friday of 2022 on the final heck of a morning of 2022.

And before we go to the calls, a lot of great feedback from the BTL festival. episode that myself and Jed Mishu did. It was a promotional festibist where we gave each promotion a grade, the four majors in most people's eyes, the UFC Bellator, PFL, and won championship. And it was a lot of fun. It's never, I mean, it's fun to a point, but it's always tough to do those shows

because you're not going to make everybody happy. And it is what it is. You say some nice things, but then you have to be brutally honest a little bit. And I never feel good after all those shows, but I felt like it was a good listen. The feedback was great. People had to say, people had good things to say about it. So Jed and I just kind of hit record and get after these things, and those shows are always fun. But excited to get back to normal BTL and normal stuff next week on the program,

on all of our programs here for M.A. fighting. But let's do this free for all Friday. Tristan, I believe, was first in line. So we will kick off with him. Tristan, hello. Hey, Mike. How's everything going? Good, man.

How are you? So the question I have, it was reported, obviously, also on your website, that Tantianosaurus will be making a return in February. Now, obviously, we still don't know who the opponent would be. the only two opponents I could think of because she'll be making her return at flyweight would make sense would be her facing Casey O'Neill because I think Casey O'Neill has probably might have recovered from her ACL injury

and she's ready to get back in there to fight at Perth or the other option would be Antonina Shepchenko because it looks like she's ready to return as well so what do you think or what would I mean not who do you think What do you think would be ideal for her in our first fight back after four years later? Thanks, Mike. It's a good question.

It is a question that I get a lot. I have no idea who she's fighting. I have no idea who she's fighting. I have a lot of people. I mean, so I get, I was talking to somebody about this earlier today or earlier this week. I get more questions about Tatiana Suarez than John Jones versus Franzenganu. It's crazy. But I honestly don't, I have no clue.

I have no clue who she's fighting. She's a mystery. That's for sure. I don't think they'll do Casey O'Neill. I get why you say that because you could do it on Perth or whatever. I just, I don't like that at all. I think you have something with Casey O'Neill. I think she got a ton of momentum before she got hurt.

And I think throwing her in there with Tatiana Suarez is just, I don't like it. I mean, if she wins, she gets a great rub, but at the same token, Tatiana Suarez has been out for four years. That's, she hasn't fought since the pandemic started. So a lot of the newer fans have no clue who Tatiana Suarez even is. So I don't know if that's the right one. Maybe you do like a Jennifer Maya.

I think that's like a pretty good matchup for her. I think it's one that Tatiana can kind of shine in. maybe do like a Cynthia Calvio, somebody like that, I don't know. I'm looking at the rankings right now. It won't be Fioro. Santos is booked against Blanchfield. Maybe Chikagan? That wouldn't be a bad one.

Because if you watch the man in Fioro fight, I think you know that the Suarez fight would probably be a tough hang for Caitlin. Murphy's booked. Grasso won't be her. Andrade's booked. Aro Ojo's booked. Lee's book, Blanchefield's booked. Yeah, Maya or Calvio would be my

would be my picks. But I honestly have no idea. It's going to be one of those things that year if she's just going to like blanket announce and we're going to be like, oh, okay, that makes sense. That makes sense. So we'll see what happens with that. Double A and then Tok, you're on deck, my man.

Hello. Good, how are you? let's say the Bellator versus Verizon event who do you think is most likely to get a clean sleep out of the two promotions

either Bellator versus or Risen and thoughts on the Sarah McMann signing with Bellator everyone have a oh sorry I'm sure you're saying have a good day you stopped talking so I figured you were done but AA is always

wishing all of you a wonderful day because that's just the kind of guy he is let me see I'm trying to find the betting lines for this card and I cannot find them for some reason let me find them

I would that's a great question I mean I'll start with I'll start with the Sarah McMahon question great there's great signing great signing Sarah was

Sarah's probably I just don't know how much more she could have done in the UFC and I feel like Bellator is a really good spot for her because her versus Chris Cyborg is a pretty intriguing matchup. But the problem, like the problem is like that's just that the vision. The vision just doesn't exist at 145.

And I know that Liz Kamush has been saying, let's do a 135 pound division. She's kind of going after that. So maybe that's like something to possibly boost that, but yeah, I like this idea. You can throw in there with Cyborg. You can do a 135-pound division

and includes Sarah in there. Sarah still got some legs to her. She still gets some gas lift in the tank, even though she's a little bit up there in age. She's still winning fights. Still a great athlete. Good signing. Good signing.

People know who she is. And that's always good. And any chance you could have to boost your roster with somebody that fans know who you are, that's a very good thing. As far as the Belator versus Reisengarde, who is the best chance of a sweep? It's probably Bellator.

Probably Belator. Because the first fight, the Rabadonov-Takeda fight, I think Robidonov's going to win that fight. So right there, you've got, you're kind of off to the races. I love the Warnat-Chilat-Chilat fight. That's just going to be mayhem. There's no real technical breakdown to that fight. Those two are just going to get after it, and it's going to be a lot of fun. Poor Gucci is going to win.

against Hiramosa or Hiramasa, or Hiramasa, excuse me. I just think that's a really good stylistic matcher for him. Quiki, Patricia Pitbull is interesting, but I think Patricia wins that one. And the main events, it's, the correct answer is Bellator. I just don't see Ryzen. I think Ryzen is going to be down 01 right out, right out the gate. I think Archelaide ends up winning his fight.

Horgoochie's going to win his. So it could be, at worst, I think after the Horoguchi fight, it's going to be 2-1, Belator. I think Patricia is a, I think Patricia is probably going to win the co-main. The main event's kind of tough to call, but I think AJ can win it if he just fights smart. I'm not saying he has to fight boring, although that's probably his best chance to win. I just think he has to somehow, he has to do, he has to be like Justin Gaichi was after Gaichi lost two in a row.

What I mean by that is, like, Gachi was just all out chaos for the Michael Johnson fight, and then the two losses that he had, DePorey and Eddie Alvarez. And then he's still kind of chaotic, but he was able to control a little bit more when he went on that win streak and got the title fights and all. If Vaki can kind of take that chaos and just box up some of it and just use it in a calculated way, I think he beats Satoshi. but if he gets all reckless out there, I could see a world where

Satoshi finishes him, taps him. You can't mess around with that guy. You definitely cannot mess around with Roberta D'Souza. So yeah, I'll say Bellator. I feel pretty confident in saying Bellator if we're calling Sweet for Sweet for Sweet,

but it should be fun. Like the fights should be like fun and chaotic and interesting, but I just feel like Belator's lineup is better. I just think they're better. Not dogging on the Risen lineup at all, but I think Archeletta, Sue Cholkham is probably to be the best fight on the whole slate.

Let's go to Toke. Hi, Toke. I wanted to come on here and bring some holiday chair with some nice, you know, quaint question. And then my Instagram algorithm, chose to show me the way-ins of the Cage Warriors card that's, I guess, tonight. Yeah, I think it's tonight, yeah.

And I then saw Wilson Hayes fighting at 145 against some guy called Thomas Grunwald. So when does the... And the question here is, this is more of a random. done anything. When does the elderly abuse stop? He has not been himself for years, literal years. And now we have to bring him in to give Thomas Grunwell a win. He, Wilson Hayes, I know he has some wins on the regional circuit, which happens, but he also has a loss against a journeyman where he lost in 14 seconds of the first round against again a journeyman. What is he doing?

Firstly, at all fighting. Secondly, at featherweight in Britain of all places. Like, I know that you want to get a name that's known on the poster. I guess that's the kind of person you are, Graham Boylan. I'm not going to, and he has, he also has the tough guy. I forget Jesse, Jesse Davis. I don't remember his exact name. Jesse Taylor, sorry, Jason Taylor.

There it is. Jay Taylor, yeah. Yeah. This is just, okay, this card is just built up to, you know, it's UK against USA. That in concept, or Americas, is in concept a fine idea, but they're only doing it to prop up the UK. That's the only reason they're doing it.

They're bringing in old guys that are done, and I'm sick of it, and it's too transparent. Like, get someone that isn't that transparent. So I'm sorry that I couldn't bring the holiday cheer, but I hope you could elaborate a bit on the Cage Warriors cards here. Thank you, Mike. I'm looking at the betting lines right now. I don't know much about the Cage Warriors cards.

There are certain ones that I watch. Most of them, like, don't. I'll be honest. And it's not because, you know, it's for no reason. I just, there's just so much MMA, man. I can't watch them all. Like, obviously, Modestis Poccus is on this card. I believe it's a title fight.

Let's see. What are the betting? Wilson Hayes and Tuamus Granvall is, it's like a pickam. Gromval's minus 115 Wilson race is minus 105 So the betting community It's basically a 50-50 fight And I'm looking at the rest of them

Most of them are kind of pickums There's a couple of that are wide lines Chasing Blair Hylio Hernandez Blair's a minus 300 Nathan Fletcher Alessandro Gerdano Fletcher's a minus 500 Samuel Bark

Orlando Wilson Prince Bark minus 500. O'Mel Brown, Jr. Ogulio, minus 410 for Brown. Jesse Taylor's the biggest dog on the card, plus 450 against Christian Duncan, minus 600. I don't know, man. Like, I don't know why Wilson Hay is still fighting.

I mean, apparently feels like he still got something. Let's see. What is he? Two and two since he left the UFC? Yeah, got a submission win. Then he got knocked down 16 seconds. loss of decision to Taylor Lapilus and then got a win

in his in Cage Warriors in March so I mean maybe it's change maybe change the scenery to the Cage Warriors atmosphere is going to do well wonders for him I don't know I don't know much about Thomas

Gromval honestly three wins in a row I'm pulling them up decision decision decision it's not really a huge finisher so yeah I mean as long as he's not out there just getting bolted every time he fights. I'm all right with that.

He's coming off a win, a decision loss. He did get bolted in 16 seconds. But then he got out finish against an 11 and one guy prior to that. So, yeah, I get where you're coming from. But if he still feels like, how old is he now? He's 37. He'll be 38 next week, I think. I'd say the leash has to be short here for certain.

But I get where you're coming from. I get the concern. I get the concern. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games

and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Boarding will begin when passenger fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly concerned by your gambling or that if someone close. You call 1-8665331-2-6000 or visit Comex-Ontario.ca. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you.

From festive and cozy fashion to lux beauty and fragrance sets, our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com. Let's go to Jordan. Hi, Jordan. Mike, heck of a morning. you too all right so obviously my hot take yesterday on bellator being a clear cut number two was a little

misconstrued here um i meant talent wise clearly you know obviously showtime they freaking stink i don't know almost any of my mma friends who watch a single bellator card other than to watch our buddy who's on a youtube version of it um otherwise i just wanted to get a feel before how you thought the way and went for bellator versus rison this morning it felt like bellator felt like rison's little brother even out in japan unfortunately um yeah it's a different situation for the bellator guys to go over to rison um it's a whole different type of way and structure i would assume a lot of the rising guys would if they came over here and just did like a normal Bellator Ceremony away and it wouldn't be the same.

It would just feel different and it was fun. Like it was it was fun. There was some theatrics to it. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. It's kind of what I expected it to be. And I get where you come from it. Maybe I was a little, a little too, I would say, I don't think Belator is like a clear

cut number two. Like I think they're number two. It's probably a little clear than I gave it credit for yesterday. but I just think the PFL just came out with so much momentum. So, yeah, I'm not really sure. But the roster for Bellator is way better for Belator, 100%. So, yeah, I'm with you on that. Like, if we're talking roster and things like that,

Belator just needs to do, like, the area, like the area of grievances yesterday, Like some people are like, oh, you're just, you guys are rough on Bellator. I don't think we were that rough on Bellator, honestly. Like, I've been very clear on this show and others. I want Bellator to do well. Like, I root for them to do well because I know they can do well. They have the bones to do well.

They have a solid roster. They got the bones. It's there. They just need, like, I don't know what it is. need like a fresh coat of paint. They need, and it's tough. Like, you even mentioned the Showtime thing. The Showtime thing, right?

We want them to leave Showtime. I'm not saying, like, leave the whole platform, right? What I'm saying is, you are under an umbrella with multiple networks and multiple streaming platforms. So just take them off Showtime and put them on Paramount Plus. Like, just put all those cards on Paramount Plus. I guarantee you you will get more viewership

if you just put them on Paramount Plus. Now I know in my household because, and I don't know if the deal is still there, but I got a, I had Showtime for a while just by itself so I could watch Bellator. But what they did was

there was a deal where you could get Paramount Plus and Showtime combined under like one umbrella for like $3 cheaper than just getting showtime. So you can go to Paramount Plus and you can find Bellator and watch it live. It's not it's not like super easy to find. Like for what like if you watch one championship on Amazon Prime, the day of that card, if you go on Amazon Prime, the first thing you see is watch one championship

right now, right here. It's like right at the top. You have to look for Bellator. But if you just put it on Paramount Plus, like I just think it's more easily accessible. You know what I mean? I just, it's 2022. It's about to be 2023. I just think that's the way to go.

The CBS thing, I think, is fantastic. And they have to take advantage of that a little bit more. Three to four shows a year on CBS, but also simulcast on Paramount Plus. And then every other card should be on Paramount Plus.

I think their viewership will rise. I think it'll be much easier. Now, I get it. The one issue with that is, well, now you're asking them to change television platforms and change the accessibility of the product in the North America, as most notably in the United States for like the third or fourth time in like a five-year stretch. And I get where you're coming from. But it's just tough, man.

Like, Showtime is just a tough place. And they have a lot of stuff they need to work on. Like they have good. good roster. There's a lot I like about them, but there's a lot that needs to be changed. Like, it just kind of watered down, like, the production of it all. I actually thought, and I'll just kind of going into some of the stuff,

I thought John McCarthy, who I was pretty hard on in the Festivist episode a year ago, I think John had a really good year. I know John's color commentary is not for everybody. I enjoyed listening to Big John this year. I thought he was great. I thought he did a really good job. I think his post-fight interviews are better. I love the Danny Sabatelo one where he was counting the F-words.

Like, John is coming into his own. And I think Bellator did listen to me on one thing, because the issue I had with John was not his work, but I just felt like Bellator likes him and Josh Thompson so much that they feel like those two guys can just carry everything. Like they had John doing all the voices, They had John going on location for a lot of the countdown shows that they were doing. Like, no, don't do that.

Like put John in a position where he could do what he does best, which is talk about rules and talk about fighting and talking about what's actually happening in the fights. And that's where he shines. And we got to see a lot of that this year. And again, I know John's not for everybody. I thought he was great. I thought he worked great with Grady.

he worked great with Morrow. I thought he worked great with whoever he was doing the calls with throughout the year. And I thought the post-fight stuff was great too. I actually thought my old pal Josh Thompson was a little bit better this year as well. And I give a lot of credit for that to Amanda Gera. I think she is a gem for them. And I give, I have so much respect for her because she came from, you know, I know she does

a lot of different sports. She's on CBS sports. She does a lot of desk shows. But to thrust her into MMA just like out of nowhere. And to see how well she's done with it is just, it's just so cool. Because she's loose as a goose. And you can tell like Josh loosens up and he's a little more fun, a little more vibrant when he's with her.

And how good you not be? She's such a pro and she just seems like she's in a good mood and she gets it. she's realistic about it she doesn't try to do too much she lets Josh sort of handle the stuff that she can't she's so good she's so good like they did things better

in 2022 than they did in 2021 100% but they just got to do more they have to promote better they have to let people know these cards are happening more these are things they can do like all these things are fixable

Like I think If Bellator Can fix their issues Then this is a not a conversation It's not a conversation They are better than PFL They are better than one championship But it's just these

And all these things are fixable These aren't impossible things Like the UFC's biggest problem Is that There's two issues with the UFC One they need to actually care more Because it just seems like they don't care anymore They're just like

We're getting this big bag of money every single Saturday, we don't need to do anything more. And they have earned that right. They have worked their asses off to get there. But you got to show us something. You got to show us that you care. And two, you got to pay the fighters more. It's a domino effect.

It's a domino effect. And I know there's a lot of talk about the Ali Act possibly coming back. And I know there are some people out there like, well, why is no one in the MMA media talk about the Ali Act? Trust me what I tell you, we want, when something actually has, happens, we will talk about it. But how many times have we been in this situation? Well, here comes the Ali Act potentially back on the table again. And then we have to wait months and months and months and months and months and months until something happens. And then they present it and

put it on the table. Then it's like another months and months and months and months and months until something potentially happens. Then it gets shelved and we don't talk about it for two more years. Like you fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. When something actually happens, when that actually gets presented to Congress and is actually discussed and is actually on the table, we will talk about it. But you know what? If the UFC just pays their fighters more,

if they just up the percentage, we may not even need the Ali Act because it's a domino effect that goes down on everybody else. I don't know. But I really want Bellator to do well, the long and the short of it. I really do. I love the people that work.

work there for the most part. Just be more engaged. Make the product easier to find. Promote the hell out of it. Keep doing cool stuff. Like, they've been doing cool stuff at the end of the year. I love the Liver King. Paul Costa, Patrici Pitbull, liver eating contest.

Like, that's a good thing to do. You get the Dust Commander in there doing some stuff. Like, they're trying. This Belitovers Riser thing's pretty cool. You got to figure out a way. and I know this isn't Belitzer's fault, but you've got to figure it away if you're going to keep doing this

for the United States fans to be able to watch it freaking live. Because it's silly. It's silly that they can't watch it live. It's crazy. But yeah, I went on a rant there. Probably didn't mean to, but it is where it is. Let's go to Joe.

Hi, Joe. Hey, Mike. What's up, man? Who do you think is going to win a title first? Chimayev or Taboria. Ooh. Boy, oh boy, that's a great question. Man, it's just, it's a matter of, like, who gets there first.

I'll say, I mean, I'll say Shamiyev. It's a great question, though. I'll say Shamiya, but I'll say Shemaya. I just don't know which, which title it's going to be. Because I think if he's going to fight at 170 again, and they're going to give him that shot, he's got to get a big fight next. they're either going to give him Colby or

they'll do Boulal Mohammed or something like that and if he wins that he's getting a title fight next no matter what if he fights at 185 he's probably going to have to fight a Costa maybe a Whitaker

something like that and if he wins either of those fights he's getting a shot at the 185 pound title so it's a matter when he can get back and what weight class and what's going on at the rest of the division because what if he does 170 and if let's just say

Usman wins like a unanimous decision you think they try to run him and Edwards back again I don't know if it's like a close fight do they try to run that one back one more time does it hold that division up what if Adasadi beats Pereira a second time you know they're going to go back and do it a third time

so in Toporia it's it all kind of depends on what's next for him And you pick two really tough divisions Because we don't know what's going on with Volcanovsky at 145 He's about to fight his on Mokachev I've been saying since day one if Volkinovsky wins the title It beats Mokachev

There is no Conceivable reason why he would stay at 145 It makes no sense It would literally make no sense for him to stay at 145 Because yeah he gets instantly boosted up In the Star status but the biggest fights he can get for the biggest amounts of money are at 155. They're not at 1.45.

If he beats Makachev, he's eliminated probably his toughest fight. And then he can just go and get a bunch of bags by fighting Porre and Connor and Chandler and Gaichie and guys like that. Like those are much bigger fights than Josh Emmett and Yaya Rodriguez and Arlnallon and Ilya Teporia. So I think for Tuporia's sake, the quickest path to a title for him is if Volcanowski beats his on Makachev because then the Josh Emmett, Yaya Rodriguez fight is for the actual belt. And then if they booked Tuporia versus Arnold Down, which I think is the fight they should make. And he wins that fight, then he gets the next shot. So great question.

I just, I feel like if Shamiya gets there soon and no matter who he fights, he's going, he's probably going to win. It's just a matter of when, not if. Tuporia is more of an if than a when. Because I know Tupori's going to fight for the belt. If he, I don't know if right now he, like, if he fights Volkadovsky right now, I'm not picking him to be Volkadovsky. If he fights Josh Emmett right now, I might pick him to be Josh Emmett. If he fights Yaya, I might pick him to be Yair.

Fights Arnold Allen, boy, that's a close fight. But Shami, if I have a hard time picking against him against literally anybody right now. So, yeah, I'll go with Homsup. timing is going to be everything here. Let's go to Ani, then we'll go to Max, and then we'll get Agro and Double K in here. Ani, hello. Hello.

So my two things. So yesterday I was just scrolling on Twitter, and I see this image of Kamaru Smad. He was addressing the crowd in his hometown, I believe, after some local fight show, and he was wearing something on his wrist, something like a caste as if he's

still nursing his hand. Do you know anything about Usman versus Edwards 3? Ian Edwards should be on the London paper view. But do you think it's still against Usman if it seems that he is a bit

injured? That was one thing. And the second thing, in the past year which commentary lineup do you think was the best as an eye personally for me I don't know I'm not digging the Joe Roggan and Daniel called me a commentary a lot

and I'm not saying that they're biased or something it just I just don't know I don't like that commentary for some reason I mean it's good but it's not my cup of tea I actually enjoy a bit of Dominic Cruz Michael Bisping and Paul Felder. So I like John Anick as well.

So anything with Dominic Cruz and Michael Bisping, that works for me. So what is your choice? Who do you think has the best commentary lineup in the UFC, of course, that I'm asking? Yes, that's all I had for today. And happy new year in advance. Thanks, man. Well, Anick is definitely going to be up there for me. I think he's, I mean, some people, it's kind of a controversial take on my end,

but I think John Anick is one of the five best play-by-play guys in all of sports, not just MMA. He might even be top three. Because I think what makes John so special is, like, if John Anick was calling, let's just say John Anick's in Perth calling UFC 284, right? And then they call, like, this doesn't make sense. This would never happen, but let's just say that. Let's just say John Eddick's calling UFC 284 in Perth, and he's calling the main event.

And he gets a text message from his agent saying, hey, whoever it is just fell out of calling the Super Bowl. Could you fly in after that event and call the Super Bowl tomorrow? And it could be like, okay, and he would go in there and just kill it. That's what makes him so special. Some of the other broadcasters can't do that. Like John Anna could go and call a hockey game tomorrow, and be fine. He can go call an NBA game tomorrow and be fine.

That's just who he is. So Anick would definitely have to be the guy. I think he's great. I really like Paul Felder a lot. I feel like he doesn't get enough credit for what he does. I think he's great. I think his post-fight interviews are fantastic. So I'd probably throw him there as well.

Felder and Cruz have like a good chemistry. but I'm going to cheat a little bit and go a little bit off the off the radar a little bit. I would love to see a UFC card with Annick, Felder, and Lora Sanko as the third. That's what I would like to see. I think Sanko, I'm hoping 2023 is the year Sanko gets a shot on a fight night or something like that. I think it's, I just want to see, like her and Feldar do, like they mesh really well

in the contender series. So I'd like to see that combat. together again when Sanko does make her debut on television for the UFC so I think her and Felder like I think there's a comfort level there and then Annick's just such a pro he'll guide both of them in the right direction so if I had to pick one pair like one trio for a card

that is just bond and different and I think would go over really well it's that one um some people don't like Cruz's commentary I like it Bisbing has his days, his good and his bad. DC's hit or miss, but when DC's really good, he's good. Like, he's really good. I thought, 281? I thought 281 was great.

I thought Annick, Rogan, D.C., I thought they were on fire at 281. I thought they mesh really well together. And knowing that Anick was like super, duper sick the whole time. It just makes it even more impressive. But yeah. They got a good crew.

I'd like to see them mix in some other names too. Not even on the commentary, but just like on the desk. I was saying that Chris Barnett should be on every single broadcast. Like if he's not on the desk, like Chris Barnett should be coming out doing a dance before the main card and like introducing the event on television. Then they hit the promo. Oh, here comes Huggy Bear. Here comes Chris Barnett.

And he's dancing to the cage and gets. in the cage, he says, hey, welcome to UFC Orlando. Woo-hoo! Gets everybody fired up. He does a freaking bat. Does a somersault. Then they cut to the promo. People are all fired up. In the arena, out of the arena.

Let's just have some fun. Shall we? Let's do some fun stuff. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice. Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no.

But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.

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. Built for breakthroughs with personal. workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross-Training Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca.

Let's go to Max. Hello, Mike. What's up, Max? I'm a good morning, too. Yes, I'm still under the weather, unfortunately. So unfortunately, not doing too well here, but I'm very happy to be on the show. I'll have a little bright on my morning a little bit. So I'd like to dive into 283, if that's all right.

Just go straight into the next pay-per-view here. I'd like to ask about two fights in particular, so bear with me here for a moment. To Chera versus Hill, I remember last time you had broken down this fight, I believe it was the round one to share a submission train, which, you know, if anyone going to that fight, I would have easily believed that given Deere had no submissions, and Glover was on a role. But, man, I don't know what it is about this fight.

Hill in his interview with Ariel Hawani was very motivating, very, very concise. I don't know what it is about his demeanor right now, but I feel he might just go in there and I don't want to say a role, but obviously Glover is such a dog, but I don't know, I feel he might go into Brazil and take this title. I haven't heard anyone really saying it, but somewhere in my MMA, I don't know, instinctual heart, I have a feeling that Hill might go in there and beat him by strikes. So, yeah, I'd be really curious to hear about maybe there's a small breakdown of how you think this fight might play out, because I'm very curious.

Also, digging deep into this card, I'd also like to ask about Tiago Moises versus Guhram, Guram Kutateladez. I have a feeling this fight's going to be a total banger, like sleeper by any means. Like Moises is so technically sound very, doesn't throw a lot of strikes in terms of volume, but it's very particular, very concise in his game of what he wants to do, whereas Kutateladze is just hammers, hammers, hammer. So, yeah, I'd like you to discuss that fight as well, because I think that's a very, intriguing fight. So thank you for taking my call this morning, Mike.

I'll give him a morning to you. And thanks for always giving us fans the time. Cheers. Thanks, man. Yeah, I mean, look, Jamal Hill is a dangerous, dangerous guy. He hits like a truck. He's really good. But if you can find sort of holes in his game, it's that it's something that Paul Craig sort of exposed, a UFC 263. And a Paul Craig can expose something like that. that Glover Tashara certainly can. Tiago Santos, even though it's not sort of the same Tiago Santos,

Tiago is able to kind of take Jamal Hill down and hold him down a little bit. Wasn't able to do like a ton with it, but if Glover can get, if Glover can get Jamal Hill down, he's not, he's going to be down there for a minute. Like it's going to be a tough night for him. So, yeah, could Jamal just land a big shot?

and knock him out, of course. I mean, he's a dangerous cat. And Jamal Hill, in my opinion, has nothing to lose here. This dude has got nothing to lose. Because if he loses his fight, yeah, it stinks, but you get another winner too.

Glover ain't going to be the champion forever. I don't think he fights beyond 2023. No matter what happens, Jamal's going to get another shot. Like, there's no doubt about it. So he's going in there with house money. There's pressure, sure. Like, of course he wants to go in there

win the belt because it's a long journey to Brazil. I just think Glover's style is going to be a little too much, man. Like, I just think it's a really tough fight for Jamal. I'm not saying he can't win because it's just a powerhouse. So give me Glover to win that fight, probably by submission. It'll be a cool moment, but Jamal could certainly play spoiler. Yeah, the Boise's Kutat-il-Latte fight is great. It's great.

I love everything about it. a dog. Tiago, like you said, technically sound his defense is frigging awesome. If you're looking for a fight, like, if you're looking for a fight to go back and watch and just, and I know defense doesn't necessarily

lead to points or anything like that, but it leads to other things. And I, like, even to this day, to this day, Alexander Hernandez, like, and not just saying, he's not just saying that as like competitive. He's saying, like, because he truly believes this.

Alexander Hernandez still feels he got robbed against Tiago Moises. And like he means it. It's not just like a talk shit kind of thing. Like he truly believes this. But I implore you to go back and watch Tiago Moises versus Alexander Hernandez. Because it's a fun fight. Like it's a really good fight. They get after it a bit.

But you really get to learn how good Tiago Moises is by watching that fight in particular. His defense is so good. he just he makes you miss man and even if you hit him like you barely you barely graze him because he's just so defensively sound and he returns with such technique he's really good and is super underrated he just runs into some tough tough guys like there are certain guys like he's just needed to be a little more aggressive with like he looked good against jagos islam makachev I mean come on that's just a crazy fight and then the joel alvarez fight yeah he got tk oed jol alvarez was kind of just trucked everybody at that point.

And to be fair, Alvarez missed wait for that fight as well. But Tiago's good, man. He's one of the more underrated guys in this division. And Guram, I think he beat Demir Izvigulov in that fight earlier this year. And yeah, I think this guy's a, he's a legit lightweight. It's really good. So love that fight. I hope when they put this car together, it's not like buried on the fight past prelims or

anything like that. It's a doozy. It's a good one. Let's go to Agro. What's up, Agro? You're just muted. Agro. We'll move on. Let's go to Crypto. Crypto, are you there? What's up, buddy? Good. How are you? I'm good. Yes, so first of all, Mike, I want to thank you and the entire team for all the great work. you have been doing this this past year bringing us a lot of content and yeah it's it's truly appreciated so a big thank you to you and your colleagues but mike there is one thing we need to we need to bring up from yesterday's show uh btl and i just i just need to ask you mike is jett mishu trolling us giving one championship the a grade uh the best

Great, possible. Was that a troll job? Because to me, I mean, I don't know if I see it the same way, but one championship, in essence, they have a CEO that doesn't know how many people are living on planet Earth, claiming billions and billions of people. Well, actually, Mike, I don't know, maybe we have inhabited other planets that I don't know off, but just the numbers, they just don't add up. Secondly, speaking about numbers, looking at their financial state,

I mean, I kind of get like Lehman Brothers vibes, something like that. I mean, it just seems to be very sketchy. And also, I think most, even hardcore MMA fans, if you would ask them, name your top five one championship fights during the year. Excluding, excluding DJ, I think that most people wouldn't even be able to name five fights and explain why they enjoy them. So I'm just asking you, is, is Jed trolling us? Does he really feel that the Amazon deal is enough to give one championship the top grade? Or, yeah, what's your take on that? And once again, Mike, thank you and a happy new year in advance.

Looking forward to all the great content that I'm sure you will produce during the next year. Thank you. Yeah, so I was stunned by that. And Jed did preface it that he said he had one grade that was going to stun a lot of us. And he gave one championship in A for 2022. And I wholeheartedly disagreed. I gave him a D. But the reason why he gave him an A was because of the Amazon, the Amazon Prime deal.

He said that they, because of that deal, they are set up better than most promotions right now. Because if you watch a Thursday night football game on the same week as a fight or even before that, you have the Thursday night football commentator saying, check out one championships one on prime video five this and that's like a pretty big deal since everybody has freaking amazon prime uh especially during the NFL season for thursday night football now they have the exclusivity on that uh so it is a big deal like they're positioned great because of this deal and i agree with everything you say and i thought everything that led into that that first prime card with DJ and Marias was A plus, A plus.

They promoted it. They pushed it everywhere. And then you get to the card and it just delivered. It was fun to watch. The production value was excellent. Like everything about it was great. And then that event ended and it was just like, up, back to the same old one. We don't tell anybody anything.

We don't promote anything. Like Roberto Sol Deach is making his debut. and a lot of people found out about that on this show the day of the fight. Like, that's foolish. Foolish. And Chhatri is like a big reason why, man. Like you just, you got to be realistic about stuff. Like, you just got to be open and honest.

Like this whole, we are one a, the UFC and us were one A one B. Like, just stop with that. Just stop with that. Enough is enough. And like I said on BTL should I, if I'm Chatri, And someone asked me about co-promoting a card with Bellator, I'm jumping all over that. Like, jump all over that. That's a co-promote, like, a lot of people would get behind.

I'm not saying, like, Bellator versus Rising is super, is super cool, and I'm excited to watch it at 5 a.m. Tomorrow morning, like, I'm jacked up. Like, I'm ready to go to bed early and wake up and watch that tomorrow. But, like, what are you doing one? Like, you just got to be realistic about stuff. You're not 1B. you're so far behind the UFC. It's not even funny.

Like, just stop with that. And they got to boost their roster as well. They made some good signings. The Solis sounding was great. DJ was big for them. But they need more. Like, Jedmishu didn't even know that Jared Brooks was their flyway champion or their strawway champion.

Like, he had no idea that Jared Brooks won a title for them. And, like, it happened earlier this month. That's a problem. That's a problem. Yeah. I don't agree with the A. I get where he's coming from from a business perspective,

but they're not an A promotion. They did not have an A year. Bellator had a better year than one, in my opinion. PFL had a better year than one, in my opinion. But, yeah. Yeah, it's tough, man. It's tough. The UFC betting boss.

What's up? UFC betting boss. Are you there? All right. I hear nothing. Uh, let's go to Pella. Pella are you there?

Um, yeah, I'm here. What's up? I'm fine. Are you? Um, I want to ask, why is Whitaker not still fighting at Pets? And I think Glover is going to win Jemayo, because Jemayo doesn't have any stamina.

And I think Glover has a lot of IQ. Glover. Glover's IQ is very, very high. And I also think Brandon Moore is going to win this fight. That's all. You think Glover's going to win? Yeah, definitely. He has a good IQ and he has a good experience, for sure.

Yeah. It's a tough matcher for Jamal. Like I said, if I'm Jamal Hill, this is a house money fight. You got to spend the time just, you got to stay on your feet, man. You got to stand your feet. And by the way, Glover could knock out Jamal Hill too. Like Glover can crack as well. He hurt Yuri Perashka multiple times in the feed.

This just seems like a tailor-made fight for Glover. But Jamal is dangerous, man. When he hits you, you go to sleep. He had some crazy knockouts. So crazy finishes. All that guy needs is one. And I just feel like stylistically, this is Glover's fight to lose. But there's nothing more dangerous than a guy who's just,

fighting with house money with the stakes very high. And that's what Jamal Hill is doing. But it's just, everything just seems to line up with Glover. Fighting at home, he kind of beat the UFC at their own game to get this opportunity. It all worked out in his favor. Gets a much more compelling matchup,

a much more winnable fight that he would have gotten. Had he fought Jan Bolhovic at 282 or fought Nankalai at 283. Like this just all worked out spectacular. hackerly for Glover Tashara, and let's just see if he can make something happen with it. All right, do we have the betting boss here? Yeah, what's going on, man. How you doing? Doing good, brother.

I just wanted to come in here today. First off, shed a little light on the MMA-LOTN situation. I'm not sure if you're aware of what happened with that. I'd seen something about it where there's some sort of, I don't. I don't know a ton about it, but I've seen some rumbling. Somebody told me about it where there's a contest and the payments couldn't be made, something to that effect? Yeah, so a pretty prominent, you know, leader here on the MMA Twitter space.

You know, he's been running this contest for years. All of a sudden now he can't pay out over $36,000 in total winnings. he owes people money a lot of people are affected I wouldn't be surprised as somebody in here was so I just wanted to shed light onto that and I also did have

a couple of fights highlighted here so we got Brad Tavares who's he fighting again let me pull that up Gregory Rodriguez yeah Gregory Rodriguez so I really do like Tavares in that

spot. Another one I had highlighted was Priscilla Cachewara versus Sejari-Ubanks. I really like Cachewa in that spot. Her by knockout. And then Damon Jackson versus Dan Iege. I really I really like Damon Jackson there. I think those are a couple of fights that I had highlighted. Obviously, figurato Moreno, you know, their fourth fight. I know you're talking about Izzy, I think he will reclaim the title next year. You know, then they're going to run that back. The trilogy with Perea. But, yeah, another one, Charles Johnson, Jimmy Flick.

I think Johnson's going to clip him first round knockout. Curious to see what that line comes out at. Just some fights I had highlighted in the beginning of the year. You know, none of these lines are out, so it's always interesting looking at them. And hearing people's takes. So thanks for your time and thanks for having me today. All right. UFC betting,

but yeah, all those good fights. Flick Johnson's interesting. Flick just had, Flick had so much momentum when he were tired and then he came back and he's supposed to fight Jeff Molina.

I don't know, man. That's a good fight. Like, Jimmy, I'm curious to see what Jimmy looks like in the layoff. I'm sure he wasn't like sitting on his ass the entire time. So, yeah, that's an intriguing one.

More so on the Flick to see, like, what he looks like. And Charles Johnson's good, man. Like, he's super good. He's solid. He had some moments against, uh, Mohamed Mahjahev. Definitely did.

Uh, you got to take you down a lot, but, I mean, he didn't get finished or anything like that. Like, he tried. It's just a tough fight for anybody. So, yeah, that'll be a good one. Damon Jackson, Deney, it's awesome. That's a, that's a really fun fight. a lot of the ones you mentioned.

Cachua, it's Zajara. I would kind of favor Cachua in that one as well. I think she's got a little bit more momentum. Again, Cachewara is just one of those fighters where just get her out of the first round and then she starts to cook. And unless Sajara could just whitewash her early, yeah, I can see why you're picking Cacchewara in that one.

Moreno, Figgies, I could watch those guys fight a thousand times. So no wrong answers there. Let's go to Khaled? Are you there? Okay. Well, I think we're done here, folks. I appreciate it.

Last call. Last call. I'll open it up for a last call here. Anybody else? Anybody else? Anybody else? I feel like one of those auctioneers. Anybody else?

Anybody else? Going once. Going twice. Sold. All right. Well, thank you very much, everybody. This has been fun. This has been a fun year doing the show.

It just came out of a whim. I think we started in March. And it's been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of fun hoping to do some more at this. I would love to get this more in a, like a video format somehow down the road. But we'll figure it out. We'll figure all these things out. And, yeah, you guys are the best.

Back next week, we're either going to do the usual Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. We might even do Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday next week. So stay tuned for that. We will let you know what the deal is for that. But everything else, back to normal. We will have your live up-to-date coverage of the Bellator MMA versus Risen card on MMA fighting. So we'll have the Risen 40 slash Belator versus Risen prelim results early on. I'll be hopping on with Damon around 5 a.m. Eastern.

we will have you for the the main card, the results, a recap. I think I'm going to hop on here tomorrow as well. And like if you're watching it from around the globe, we can watch it together. If you're not watching it and you want to know what's happening, I will tell you what's happening to the best of my ability. So we'll do that around 5 a.m. as well.

I'm not going to like promote it. It's just something we're just going to go, boom. We're live. Here we go. So if you want to wake up early and join me for that, I'll tell you what's happening, especially if you're in the U.S. and you can't watch it until 8 p.m. tomorrow night.

I got you covered. But you guys are the best. What a year it has been. And if we don't hear from you until then or next week, have a happy new year, a heck of a new year, and a heck of a morning as always. Thank you very much. You're the best.

The Vox Media Podcast Network.