MMA Fighting - HOAM | Will Sean O'Malley Be Next Fighter To Crossover To Boxing?

Episode Date: November 2, 2023

Sean O'Malley has expressed interest in crossing over to the boxing world since capturing the UFC bantamweight title, and other big named boxers have reciprocated that interest in wanting to welcome him to the sport. While "Sugar" isn't there quite yet, could a win in his first title defense get him over the hump? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck attempts to answer that question, and gives his thoughts about how close O'Malley could be to getting his big money opportunity. Additionally, listener topics include the UFC anti-trust case and the promotion's appeal getting denied, Francis Ngannou's next move, how the PFL needs to capitalize on Ngannou's performance against Tyson Fury, promotional rankings, 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 to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter 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 reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster,

the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine, available now, only from Audible.

To the Vox Media Podcast Network. For seconds, 2023. Wow, we're only going to be able to say 2023 for a couple more months. Cheers, just flying by. Nevertheless, it is indeed. a heck of a more morning. We are live on the NBA fighting Twitter space. You can hear the show and it's entirely shortly thereafter on the MMA fighting podcasting network. What's going on everybody? I am Mike Heck. Hope you're all having just the best week ever. Halloween is behind us.

If you go to any store, the Christmas trees are already out. We haven't even gotten a freaking Thanksgiving yet. We haven't gotten to election day yet. And we're already got the Christmas trees out. But regardless of that, a lot going on in the combat sports world. We are still hung over, if you will, by what France and Ghanu did this past Saturday, the questions surrounding it, where Francis goes, the whole debunking of the bag fumble, all of that. We've had some fight announcements. We have events that don't have a main event yet in the UFC,

and we have the UFC returning this Saturday to South Polo. Brazil. Second time in Brazil this year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. That one will be headlined by Jelton Almeida versus Derek Lewis. A lot obviously going on in Derek Lewis's life. As you may have seen in M.A.Fighting.com and other outlets, Derek Lewis arrested recently for reckless driving. He discussed that during his media day and gave the most Derek Lewis-esque answer to it. And I mean, that's kind of how you have to handle these things.

really if you're Derek Lewis but be that as a may we could talk about all that we could talk about other stuff in the wonderful world of combat sports so without further ado let's hear from you all

real quick BTL 1230 no jed this week he is on vacation I gave him a bunch of crap for not being here he's finally over he got so over on Thursday with the cannonball and everything and then he's no showing but luckily we have a tremendous matchup we have sheen al shoddy who's going to be i'm sure quite angry that his diamond backs got the doors blown off them in the world series by the new baseball champions the texas rangers

taking on canada's own prince of positivity a man who is in this room as we speak the wonderful Alexander Kaylee. That's going out of 1230. I have a feeling it's going to get a little spicy. I got a feel it's going to get a little spicy. On top of all this, I don't even know why I didn't even think about this. The antitrust lawsuit, that thing's going to get spicy. UFC's appeal got denied. There's so much

going on with that. Stephen Morocco from a MA fight and doing a great job looking into that. I've been actually looking at it a little bit more, but there's just so much shit going on that you kind of forget about it. But let's go. Man of my word, four-corner sports. Kick us off.

All right, Mike. So first things I wanted to talk about is so Paul Felder is officially enrolled in Usada. I don't remember your ought-no pick, you know, for who you think Paul Felder should come back, you know, and fight. a little bit surprising that he came back, but then again, I mean, he probably got that itch

after seeing everybody fight and him being on commentary side. So I wonder, you know, if you think he's in a fight in the first quarter of 2024. And I'm intrigued on the main event, main event mainly because we don't know what is Jelsohn Almeida, how he's going to react, if he ever gets punched by Derek Lewis.

I actually have a prop for Derek Lewis by knockout in round two. I feel like Derek Lewis might be able to weather the storm in round one just because he doesn't believe in Jiu-Jitsu. And I think that he's just going to find a way of holding off Al-Meda. But how do you think there's main events going to play out? I hedged a little bit with Al-Meda by submission, but, you know, I just got to, you know, have that for insurance purposes, but let me know what you think. All right, thanks, Mike. Thank you, sir.

Like I said on Tuesday, I think there's value on Derek Lewis. I really do. I'm very high on Gielton-Lamberta. I've been very high on him. It's just a weird fight. Like, I don't know what to think of it. I don't know what to think of it. I wanted the Curtis Blades fight so badly.

Because even if Jelton-L-L-M-A-da just smushes Derek Lewis like he does everybody else, like it's a good. good win, but it's not the win that answers really any more questions. We just saw Derek Lewis gets pushed by somebody else earlier this year by Sergei Spivak. I understand that Derek had some health issues going into that fight and didn't want to pull out again. So that's why I end up taking the fight. He just got his ass beat. And he'll be the first one to tell you that. He's obviously taken his conditioning very seriously. Looks tremendous. Had abs for the Marcus Rejuri to Lima fight.

What a performance there. I just, I don't know. I don't know. To me, I look at this line and I think it's too wide. Like, Jelts and Almeida should be a big favorite, but minus 45, I think it's, I think it's too much. I think it's too wide. Now, I could be dead wrong. Elmada could just do what he's going to do.

He's going to front kick. He's going to shoot a double leg and he's got to take Derek Lewis down. It's going to happen. But if Derek Lewis can get back up, things are going to get really. interesting and Derek hits really really hard we haven't seen Jailton really cracked yet so to me I think there's value on Derek Lewis I think he's a plus 370 dog right now I think that a Derek Lewis by K.O. is plus 400 if Derek Lewis is going to win he's going to get a knockout I think there's some value there I wouldn't bet the farm on it but if we're looking for a money

line pick I don't think you could take Almaty five unless you're parlaying it up with a bunch like my pick is probably going to be Almey but if I'm betting on this fight, if I get the magical $20 genie, I'm probably taking a shot at Derek Lewis here. I think there is value. I do think there's value, especially on the K.O. prop. I mean, it's not much different than the plus 370, but take the extra 30 points of juice.

Why the hell not? But I don't know what to think of the fight. It's going to be interesting. Brent, go ahead. I got you. First and foremost, I just got a shout out my Texas Rangers. I'm still just so happy, just so high from last night. Sorry, Sean.

But yeah, this is just a question about the anti-trust lawsuit news. To your knowledge, what does this denied appeal mean for the lawsuit? And that's all I got. Thank you. What does it mean? It means a lot more shits coming out. It means there's going to be a lot more stuff coming out. We've already seen contracts leaked.

We saw Habib's contract leaked. You saw Leota Machito's contract leak while he was the champion. And we're going to see a whole lot more. We are going to see a whole lot more from this. Shout out to John Nash and everybody on that end who have been covering this. Stephen, Morocco has done a great job with it as well. He's our guy when it comes to all of this. but the UFC can appeal this again based on the final result.

There is one more, apparently there's one more thing that's going to happen before this trial happens. I believe it's April 8th. Let me see what Stephen wrote here. The UFC has the option to appeal the first case is final result, which currently faces one more hurdle before going to trial in April, person with knowledge of the case told M.A. Fighting promotion has moved to reopen discovery in the first. case against it, which is filed in 2014, arguing that more recent changes to its business practices are relevant to the charges that stemmed from the 2010 to 2017 time period.

So it appears like this, it appears like this is going the full way here. And this is when things are really going to get crazy. Because like I said, we've already seen the contracts. We're going to see more public stuff come out of this. We're going to see conversations between the UFC and managers. We're going to see all sorts of stuff that are going to be here. And I feel like, I feel like fans are going to get to see more of the darker side of the sport if this goes to trial. Because I mean, I've talked about it in this show.

Like, this sport's great. You know, you get media, you get everything that happens on a fight week. You get the occasional drama that we talk. about and things of that nature and people think we're just a bunch of salty media members that hate the UFC. But in reality, most of us who cover the sport, we have conversations with people who are within it. And we know about some of these, I know about some of these darker things that happen. I know about some of the weirdness that goes on in the sport. I know about some of the backstabbing that happens within the community. And it's kind of, it kind of sucks to think about

sometimes. But, and fans just be like, oh, you guys hate your job and you're so negative and all this shit, you're going to see. If this thing goes to trial, you're going to see the darker side of this industry. This is a baby. This sport is great to watch. But the business side, the behind the scenes, the things that happen, it ain't pretty. It ain't all pretty.

It ain't all sunshine roses. I understand that's probably like that. in every sport. But every other sport, there's associations, there's unions, fighters have a voice, there's collective bargaining, the agents, all of them across the board are trying to get their players the best deal possible. You're not seeing that a whole hell of a lot in this sport, especially in the UFC. There's going to be a lot that's going to come out here.

And I think people are going to look at things a little. differently here. So it's something that I haven't really paid enough attention to, if I'm being honest. I, uh, not really my role, but I have made it a point to make sure that I follow along a little more closely, at least, at least try to get a little bit more insight. But this is going to be crazy. Yeah, I mean, just think about what this could all mean. Potential legal damages to the UFC have been estimated between 800 million. and $1.6 billion with 1,200 potential plaintiffs in the period between 2010 to 2017. And then there's a second lawsuit that covers the period between after 2017.

That's in discovery at this point. That was led by Cajun Johnson. And the first one is Cungley, John Fitch, Kyle Kingsbury, and countless others. So it's going to get real and real fast if this thing goes to trial. and April's not that far away. J-Mack. Go ahead. J-Mack, bounce out, and then try again.

We'll go to Cole, and then we'll go to Phantom next. Cole, are you there? Yeah, Mike, I just got a quick one for you. Are you going to have the pleasure to sit down and talk to Colby before his fight? That's all I got. I don't know. You know me. You know I've tried.

but I don't know Colby and I's Colby and his relationship is kind of weird like Colby likes me but sometimes like people at our site will say things about him and I have

at times I've said things about Colby like that's my job and some of the things that have been said about Colby I brought up to him in interviews as well and sometimes Colby will just be like nah

he'll play the whole I'm not going to give you guys the views because, you know, some of that stuff. And Aeros talked about that stuff as well. But I've always been pretty good with Colby. I've never, I mean, like I said, I've been talking to Colby since he was like a fight deep into the UFC. But yeah, I've tried.

I've tried. I've tried, uh, even trying to set up a swing rounds with Colby. Just nothing. Nothing. And then there'll be a time like, I could wait like three months and just hit them up and be like, yeah, here's it going. It's weird. So I'm going to try, but we'll see what happens.

We'll see what happens. And by the way, Brent, who asked earlier, congratulations to your Texas Rangers. Now, there was a part of me a ways back that wasn't rooting for you guys. I've spent some time in Dallas. I've seen the Ranger fans. Most of them are just the worst. They don't care until they make the playoffs. But there are certain ones who are very passionate and are there for the good and the bad.

My cousin, who I'm very close to, same age as I, both grew up in the Boston area. He moved to Dallas in like 2000-ish, 99-2000. Been there ever since. Married to a woman who is a die-hard ranger fan. She's been there through the good, the bad, the ugly. ugly, the ups, the downs, and she is beside herself right now. And I congratulate her and all of those fans for a job well done, because you barely even had to sweat through this series.

It was a straight ass weapon. Let's go to Phantom. Phantom, hello. Hey, how you doing? So the one thing I actually wanted to talk about today was, you know, I just heard Sean O'Malley, I guess he's saying that he's in talks with like a boxing fight. coming up or something in the future. I don't know your take on most of these fighters trying to follow in like the

Connor of footsteps when it comes to like boxing. But what Sean, the guy isn't, he hasn't even defended his title yet. So I don't know what, what is your opinion on some of these fighters trying to follow in the footsteps of what Connor did going into the boxing room when some of them haven't even cemented the legacy yet. I get where you're coming from. And that's like, Maybe the one downside to all this Francis stuff is that like now everyone's going to want to do it.

But hopefully there's like a little more of a realistic view of it. Do I think Shot O'Malley could cross over and create a big fight with the boxer? Yeah. Do I think it's now? No, I don't. I don't. It is, it is imperative. I mean, there is, it is imperative for Shot O'Malley to,

beat Cheeto Vera when that fight actually happens. If he loses that fight, he ain't going to boxing. It ain't happening. It is not happening. Maybe Cheeto can go to boxing. Who knows? Because if he goes out there and just whoops Sean O'Malley's ass, he is going to be a massive star.

But Sean needs to win. What he did at Al Jermaine Sterling, the rub he got from it, that's great. But you got to do it again. He's got to win his next fight because he's not there yet. He's not at that level where the UFC is like, yeah, we'll back you. You go box, Ryan Garcia, or whoever, Shakur, Stevenson, whoever are all these guys. Because you know from the boxing media, they're all going to call it the MMA fighters at this point because they saw what Francis did. They want to try to get that cloak back.

This is a win for MMA. In the boxing community, he hates that. They hate it. But it is, I mean, it is so important for Sean O'Malley to win his next fight. He has to win. If he loses the Cheeto, there ain't no boxing match. But if he wins his next fight, it does it impressively, gets another knockout. Wouldn't be shocked if it happened.

I really wouldn't. Sean will be a made man if he wins his next fight. He's close to that now. I don't think he's there just yet. But he gets a seat at the head table if he wins his next fight in spectacular fashion. And then I think the UFC would probably... would probably be a part of that one. But I don't know who else could do it.

I actually think Sean might be the only guy in the UFC. Like, I don't think Isll Maka Chep's that guy. I don't think Volk's that guy. I mean, maybe they could do with John Jones, but I'm not all that interested in that. Francis is obviously a better kickboxer than John is. I don't know. We'll see. But there's more on the line for Sean O'Malley than defending his title

when he actually fights Cheeto, whenever that fight actually goes down. Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on amazing gifts. So you don't have to. They've bagged this season's Italian leather handbags. Designer. Handpicked the finest sweaters from the rest. Ooh, cashmere.

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these formats, standard and mini, regrouped for a better quality of price. On link on Ceyf.com, or in magazine. Jay Mack, do we have you now? Yes, can you hear Mike? Yeah. Okay, cool.

Yeah, so I just wanted to say there's two guys I'm thinking about putting in a parlay, and I just want to get your thoughts on it. One is the Brazilian killer, and that's Nicholas Dolby. He's like a plus 450. And then, of course, you already talked about Derek Lewis.

Well, if you put like $100 on that parlay, you can win $2,500. which is pretty crazy considering the, uh, the talent level of both Dalby and, um, Lewis. And, uh, I just wanted to also say, I watched the, um, MMA hour yesterday and Chale, stunned him. Is he on steroids again or something?

He just seems like he's angry and bitter and just, and he like actually hung up on Ariel. It just seemed like a big baby and I just wanted to get your opinion on that. All right. Thanks, Mike. Yeah, I watched, uh, I didn't watch it all because 53 minutes is a lot. for your boy, especially on a day off. But I watched a lot of it,

and I was like, Jesus. I didn't think it would get to the point that it got. It was pretty intense, the back and forth. But Chale, I mean, Chale was just, try that he may. It didn't go well for him. It didn't go well for him.

But I respect the passion. Chale is the man and good stuff, entertaining stuff. for sure uh the dalby lewis parley i know don't even think about it i mean if you're going to do it like put a buck on it it's just like you don't look first of all asking me for gambling advice is just not good i have not done very well the biggest bet that i cashed was that jake paul and i'm not jake paul and dylan dylan danis would actually start that fight and because of that play i'm i'm actually up units, like not a lot.

I'm up like maybe a unit and a half because I'm just getting crushed everywhere else outside the prethums. But one thing that I have learned throughout this journey is that you never parlay favorites, unless this is just like a gimmick thing or you joke it around or you're not that serious about it. Now, would you take a small shot on the singles? Sure.

If you're going to make a parlay, do the Bonfiend Brothers Parlay. I actually, like, I think Dalby's got some juice at plus 455. Like, I think he's, I think that's, that lines too wide, so I think you're getting value there.

But I don't think, like, Nicholas Dolby is like the Brazilian monster. It's beaten every Brazilian he's fought. He's won every fight he's had in Brazil. It's beaten every Brazilian he's fought in Brazil. I understand that. But play the Bonfemes.

Just do the Bonfeme parlay. That's a nice little gimmick for you. That's a nice little gimmick. But hey, if you want to do it, just don't go crazy on it. If you want to do the big dog parlay, have that it. Just bat like a cup of coffee on it. Because I, it could cash it. And I could come in here looking like an idiot, but just don't, don't parley big underdogs.

Parley the big favorites. Don't parlay the big underdogs. recipe for for losing your money. Let's try to get Australian talk in here. Go ahead Australian talk. Yeah, good-day, Mike. I think fighting is almost the rarest form of transparency, right?

Because you can't hide in the octagon. So I think for far too long, fans have been robbed of dozens of fights we all wanted to see over the years. Typically, Dana's reason why we don't see them is because fighters refuse to fight certain opponents when they offer the fight. Dana says that the UFC gives fighters three fights a year,

but most rank fighters don't fight 15 fights over five years. I'd like to see the UFC be extremely transparent. I think they've got a responsibility to demonstrate to fans what those three fight offers are and to reveal to the fans when fighters turn down fights. I think short of injuries, the fighters who refuse a fight should be dropped down in their ranking position. So my question is, will the UFC start to publicly publish the three fight offers made to fighters each year?

And is that something that the antitrust would possibly reveal? Thanks, mate. Maybe the suit will if they, like, go that deep into it. I would say probably not. Now, will they, if they have an issue with the fighter, will they come out and publicly kind of rouse the fighter a little bit and take a shot? Certainly. We've seen that time and time again. But, I mean, look, there are certain fighters who are making so much money and then are on the back end of their careers that I'm trying to think of like a good example. Dustin Porre, like Dustin Porier.

Dustin Porier is on the back now. He's making big money. He's a star. The Connor wins are huge. He is in an interesting spot right now. maybe he like with another couple of wins because of how the uipsy operates maybe he finds himself at a title fight like one more title fight what's like him fighting arm and sarukian does like it'd be an interesting fight but it does nothing for dustin right now like if you're

gonna fight then fight who you want like that's the thing here because there are certain guys Dustin Poirier never fought again. Like, he'd be fine. He's good. There's no, there's no incentive to take those fights because he's fine. He doesn't need to fight anymore. He's already over the top. The Connor fights made him a ton of money.

All his fights since then made him a ton of money. He's got tons of deals going on. He's got sponsorships up the wazoo. The dude is rolling in it. He's fine. Not everybody's like that. not everybody's like that so you can't be as picky and as choosy like i don't think benile der euse is making i'm sure he's doing fun but benile der euse ain't making that poor he ain't making that

poory money there's no way there's no way so he has to fight surruchian like those are the fights he has to have especially after getting washed by charles olivaara like he has to if he ever wants like dustin's had his title fights he had the bmf title fight the dude is fine Darayush hasn't had a shot at any belt. Nothing. So in order for him to actually get there, he's got to fight these guys. He has to.

And if you're Justin Gagee right now, he got Charles Olivera right there. Maybe they offer him the Makachef fight. Maybe they don't. But if they offer him, if they offer Oliver to Mokachev and do the fight they originally planned, does that mean Justin Gajee has to fight Matush Gamrod? No.

Of course not. Why would he? Would they offer that fight to Gachia? Of course. Probably. Why would he say yes to that? That makes, like he's literally, he could just wait and he gets a title shot. So there are certain cases where you're absolutely right.

Lightweight has been just a mess. It's just been a mess because of this. Because you have multiple fighters who are on probably the last leg of their careers. And they're over and they're making good money. They want to get to the belt one last time. Pori, Gaget, Gachy, they want one last shot at the belt. And honestly, I don't really blame them for that, but it is frustrating as a fan,

as someone who wants to see the best division in the sport, give opportunities to these guys who deserve it. But at the same token, it's not like, you're not seeing, I don't think you're really seeing that at Bannamweight. You're not really seeing that at Bannem White, right? Like, Corey Sannhagen was going to fight Umar and Maka Madoff. there's just it all it just depends on stature and star power and where you're at how close to a title fight you are and where you're at in your career so i can't where you're coming from i'd love to i'd love to know that but i don't think the ufc will will actually do that unless they have an issue with somebody that's how they roll so yeah it's an interesting question though uh i am the frog on the floor go ahead you're muted are you there i am the frog on the floor try again

let's go to abswalia good what's up what's up just got two questions first question is just regarding this whole UFC lawsuit

I won't get much into it but I'm definitely curious to see if they do end up going to try how much we may actually get to learn about not only the business side of things but I guess even how the managers

actually handle some of their fighters deals for them and how they actually treat the fighters because I've heard many fighters such as Sean O'Malley Kobe Cobey Cormickton they've talked about how managers are kind of very conniving, very

sneaky people. They don't treat the fires like a human or like a proper athlete. I'm also curious to see from a very sponsorship perspective because the older fighters used to actually make money of the sponsorships and even like the stars like John Jones, Ansel and Silver, you know, George St. Pierre, they actually had very big endorse, proper endorsement deals that you see, you know, the LeBron James, James Hardens, the Marcus Rashford, the Tom Brady's used to have, you know, all these big company deal sponsorships.

And, you know, John Jones had it with Nike, you know, Anson Silver had it with Burger King's stuff. So I'm curious to see if, you know, the UFC had any involvement there, are they making money off the current stars in? endorsement like, you know, Artisani's thing with steak or Conner McGregor's own endorsements, Kabibs in the past, you know, because it's a very interesting case. It's definitely a whole mind foggle. I would definitely, fingers crossed in our turn if well, we can get a union ship for these five, but it's really up to them because I have noticed a lot of these guys just don't care for it. And, you know, I've heard fans say, oh, if the fighters do get money, union ship, they're going to start being lazy.

They're not going to give a fuck. They're going to do what boxing does, just ditch the tough best fights and go for the easy cans or money fights, which might be true, but I don't agree because the UFC has a better management at handling that stuff. So, yeah, I'm curious to see what happens there. And I just want to ask one more thing. Is there a reason why the UFC likes to stack up that fight night cut in December,

the one that's happening in December, every early December, because they always bring up great parts as always, but it's just very interesting. See, that seems to be the one card they've really focused in shift and time on. That's all I have. Have a great day. Yeah, I'm not really sure. Because, I mean, with this car, I mean, there's only,

there's only going to be three cards in December. It's going to be that card, the Shanghai card, which you don't even have a main event for. So that one's just going to be more of a local, card for the most part and then the pay-per-view so this is their last chance on the road to sell some tickets and really get after it so last year i think was a little different i think they did the pay-per-view and then they had one i think one more fight night after that if memory serves me correctly so and then with uh the lawsuit thing and managers and in all of that and

the there's a lot to really unpack there yeah we're going to find out a lot like i said Fans who don't understand the dark side of the industry are going to see the dark side of the industry. You're going to see it if this goes to trial. We're already seeing pieces of it. We're seeing what Leoto Machita made his champion. It wasn't a much. It wasn't much. So that's going to be interesting.

And it's going to be a whole lot more. There are managers out there. Look, this is not a secret. Just go watch shows. You understand. Go to YouTube. You can kind of understand how. the business works at certain extent.

There are managers who have great relationships to the UFC. And there are managers out there who care more about the relationship than the UFC than getting the fighter the best deal. That's out there. I'm not saying anything that you probably haven't heard before. But now we're going to see it. Not all managers are like that. They're not all like that.

There are some who really care. Do I think the UFC gets a piece of the fighters' sponsorships? No. They fucking better not. if that comes out in the lawsuit, that is just wrong. Because you already took the sponsors away anyways. The ones that they're making on their own, which the UFC gave them permission to do,

they just can't wear them on the shorts or anything like that. They better to keep 100% of that money. I mean, I would legitimately be stunned if the UFC took any piece of that. So I don't think that's the case at all. I don't think that's the case at all. And then the, honestly, I've never heard anybody say, well, if you did a union or an association, the fighters would get lazy. Never heard that once. Why? Why would they get lazy? Why? See, here's a thing. Like, here's, there's certain things the fighters could use the unionization for. One, the USADA thing. They had no say in USADA at all. They had no say in this new deal. They had no say in the Reebok deal. They had no say in the Reebok deal. They had no say in the reboc deal. They had no say. say in the venom deal. None. Absolutely not. But if you have an association, if you have a union where the fighters can come together and actually have a seat at the table with the UFC and these

businesses that are trying to put these deals together, then they could say, yeah, that's cool. Or they could say, no, we don't want that. They have a say. Right now they have none. And on top of that, I don't think it's a whole, you know, 12 and 12 is too little. It's part of it. We'd like to see all fighters make more. The big thing is the television deals and what they make off of the TV deals. That's where the NBA players, that's where all these major sports athletes are making a lot of their money because they're getting a 50-50 split. You have C-fighters, the athletes who compete and get in a cage and beat the fuck out of each other, they're only getting like 18 to 20% of that.

If that's, at most, that's what they're getting. And we know how much money the UFC is making off this deal with the SBM. We know. And there's going to be a new TV rights deal that comes up. Will they stay with the SBA? Will they go elsewhere? It remains to be seen. But this is where the fighters come into play.

This is what the fighters need to have a seat at the table for. Exactly that. Maybe that leads to bigger fighter. I don't know. But the UFC is rolling in money right now. They're just printing it themselves. but the unfortunate thing is, and I've said this a million times, out of all the things that would surprise me in this sport,

the fighters actually coming together would be the most shocking thing that has ever happened. Because I just don't see it. I just don't see it. They've had so many chances to do it, and they didn't do it. The sale of the company, what is like the perfect time to do it? 2016 when the company sold for over $4 billion, that was the time to do it. And there were talks about it.

And then every one of those associations and unions just went away so quickly. There were media calls and press conferences and all the stuff about it. Big names are involved. And then it was just gone. There was two or three. I think the MMAFA is like the one thing that still remains and they're sort of part of like this lawsuit and everything going on. But I just don't see a world where it happens. You have to get too many people.

You have to get too many people on board. You need to get the stars on board who are making great money. And then you have to get the fighters who, whose dream as a 13-year-old kid to get to the UFC, they finally made it and they don't want to stir the pot. It's going to be impossible. And Joe Lozan, who I've talked about before on the show, has said for years, it's never going to happen.

It's just never going to happen. it's not going to and he took a lot of shit for that but he's not wrong he's not wrong it's never going to happen it would honestly to me it would be the most surprising thing i've ever seen there's nothing else that this sport could provide me that would be more shocking than the fighters actually coming together and say hey we're not we're coming together you get us a seat of the table we renegotiate all these other things or we're not fighting which means you don't have cards, which means you don't have 47 events or 42 or wherever the fuck it is. You don't get pay-per-views. You don't do these fights of the apex. No. Not happening.

I just don't see it. I don't see a world where that happens. I really don't. And part of it has to do with the managers and stinks of that nature. Do we have I am the frog here? Doesn't look like it. Oh, wait a minute. How about now? I'm the frog. Oh, here we go, here you go. Is Oregon? We're in. We did it. Hey, I got two questions. All right. I love how one FC is set up with one Muay Thai, one BJJ, one MMA. And I saw some shit about the UFC is wanting to do, is interested in doing Shigashon versus that one boxer.

So my question is, do you want to see that with MMA fighters crossing over to boxing? and who would you like to see a crossover from the UFC that is an active fighter? And two, I saw Paul Feldor entered the testing pool. Are you excited to see him back? And what do you think about that? That's it. Thank you, Frog on the floor, because there's one question that was mind-boggling. I knew somebody asked it and I knew I didn't answer if I couldn't remember what it was.

And that was it, the Paul Feldner question. Paul Feldner is back in Usada. I would assume he's going to fight at UFC 300. I would assume it'll be his final fight. I'm happy to see him get after it one more time. I don't think it's going to be him, you know, trying to make a title run or anything. I think he's just going to get in there and do it one more time.

I think he's got the it and I don't feel like he fully scratched it. There's only like, because someone asked like who my Ottoeot pick was. Like, I don't know. I don't know what my Otno pick was because he was done. he announces retirement on the on one of the broadcasts but now that he's back there is honestly there's only one fight that makes there's two fights that make sense three one let's just do him and max holloway like those two would just throw bombs at each other it's just super fun i don't think it's going to happen but that's just really fun that just kind of like a throwbacky and i know max

is still fighting but it's just a fun fight it's just a fun fight it's just a fun fight. Like Paul Felder, Dan Hooker, is one of the more underrated fights that you will ever watch. It's so good. It's so freaking good. But realistically, the fight that I would, if I were to guess, and I have no insight to this whatsoever, because obviously I don't, it's November, and this would happen in April, it seems like Jim Miller or Joe Lozahn, like one of those two guys. But Jim Miller seems to make the most sense. You throw Jim Miller on 300, So he fights at 100, 200, 300. Him and Paul Felder's just fun.

It doesn't disrupt anything. It doesn't stunt the potential growth of an up-and-coming fighter in this division. If Jim happens to beat him with the veteran savvy, Felder Miller is the fight. That's what I would make. So that is my odd no pick for Paul Felder. It's Jim Miller. There's so many different ways you go with Jim.

I wouldn't even let Jim fight again. Just save him for 300 and do him in Felder. Like that's awesome. Who's going to complain about that? That's a great fight. That rules. So that would be my choice. I like that.

The crossover thing, I don't want to see any of them do it. Really? I mean, Francis, God bless him. But that's not going to happen with everybody. It just isn't. I can see a world where Sean O'Malley does it. But he has to win his next fight.

It's not going to happen now. No one cares now. The boxing community is not going to be sold on him fighting like Shakur Stevenson or anybody like that. They don't care. They don't care. They care about Francis now. But they don't care about any other fighter coming over at this point.

Like, most of them don't even know who Sean O'Malley is. But if Sean fights Cheetah, let's just say January, February, March, whenever that happens, and Sean just obliterates Cheeto and knock him. them out. Lance a head kick. I think we might have something. I think that could work if the UFC just really pushes the knockout like you did with the

Sterling one. But he has to win his next fight. And I think, honestly, I think the UFC's kind of missing an opportunity here. And I'm not saying, like, directly steal what one is doing. But remember all the talk about, like, Zoufa boxing

in on this shit? Like, can you imagine a world where we got like you just do like a random card like you don't do it all the time let's just say like hey December 16th the last UFC event of the year

let's do something like December 30th at the apex let's just do a boxing event there and we just put UFC fighters in there and they just box each other like Rob Font Adrian Yannas in a boxing match would be the best

like that's what I want to see that's what I want to see maybe they work like hand in hand with Mazadol or something because they're putting on the boxing events and they're able to secure some of these big names MMA fighters to do this thing.

Maybe they, like, collab and put on an event. Like, I'd rather see that. I'd rather see the M.A fighters box each other than cross over and fight boxing because what Francis did on Saturday is a unicorn. It's a unicorn. We're not going to see that again. But look, if they do it and you have to see back Sean and he makes a big bag of money, like, great.

Good for him. But we'll see. I honestly think O'Malley's probably the only one they would do it with. I mean, could they do it with Connor again, maybe, but I mean, we've already seen it. Who the hell is Connor going to box? Do they do Pacquiao? I don't really care to see it. I don't know.

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See out for details. Panda gets, I think, the final word, but we'll see. Panda, go ahead. My man, Mike, how are you? Good. Yeah, so, I mean, you kind of went into it already, but, you know, take my hand and give me a pick for this card on Saturday

that I will be telling, of course, we are one and two in our relationship right now currently with my units, but that's okay. Secondly, can you give me an update on Corey Sanhagen? Is he going to fight him, or is he not? What's the situation with him? I feel like he does have a booked fight, and I'm just blanking, which is why you're so good at what you do.

Thank you, my man, Mike. Have yourself a heck of a day. No booked fight. He's going to be out for a minute. I don't even think he's training right now. I mean, I haven't, like, looked his Instagram or anything, but that shoulder injury he had was pretty nasty. So he's going to be out for a hot minute.

We may not see him again until, like, the middle of next year. Let me just, let me look it up real quick. let me see what we're looking at here because we did talk to him in Boston and he was I mean he tore his tricep that's every time varies but it usually

takes approximately four to six months to return to normal activities with some physician standing may take up to one year to regain full range of motion so that was what August July? What was it? it was the end of July because that was the

San Hagen fought Rob Font the same day Jake Paul fought Nate Diaz so what 6th January February March

then he's got to like get back into the feel of everything I'd say maybe like April May we would see San Hagen back I don't know if he fights Umar or not and I thought honestly I think he

I think his injury actually came at like the perfect time. I really do. I think you can't like, you know, you never want to see a fighter get injured. And like he just, the Rob Font win wasn't great,

but he was also, I mean, he fought with the fully torn triceps. So I mean, Jesus, that's a lot. And dominated Rob Font. Wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing fight.

That's for sure. And then this happened like right before the title fight. And at first, I'm like, maybe this isn't a good thing. And then Sean knocks out Aljo and you're thinking to yourself like, hmm, maybe this is a good thing for Corey. I don't know. We'll see what happens with Marab and Henry Sehudo and all of that.

But again, if Sean wins, if Sean O'Malley beats Cheeto, because you know that's the fight they're going to make, they're not going to do Marab. They're not going to do Sehudo. They're certainly not going to do the Aljo rematch. What is Sean going to do? from there. Is he going to go box? Is he going to fight again? And Sean will have a say in this. And if Sean has the choice of fighting Sandhagen or Marab or Suhudo, maybe he takes Suhudo if he

beats Marab. And Marab beats Zahudo, I don't think we, I don't think Sean's going to be jumping at that chance. I could see him picking Sanhagen. I really do. But all kind of depends. Umar's banged up too. Umar had a shoulder injury heading into that fight that's why I didn't fight so yeah Banimate's crazy right now

we need O'Malley and Cheeto to happen and then we can kind of figure out the rest but there are there is rumor and innuendo about possibly doing Marab versus Oudo in Toronto January 20th for what I'm told that fight is not done

yet it is being discussed but too early for us to report it at this point. I know others have. But we're, again, remember the golden rule, everybody. It's on M.A.fighting.com. It's not fully real. Not fully real. And if I'm Rob Suhudo is like the perfect fight, that's, that, that's it. That's the one. That's the one. Because he ain't getting a title shot. This is going to be a weird end of the year. So one of the

questions, and I thought about this a little bit more, uh, if you guys listened to the on to the next one show that AK and I did. Someone asked a really good question about, because we've all seen 2023 and how crazy it's been and how weird it's been. And you add what Francis did to Tyson Fury and that whole fight onto everything else that's happened between Francis making the decision to leave the UFC and vacate the UFC heavyweight title, signing with the PFL, all of this, the UFC merging with WWE, all the title changes, all the cancellations, Sean Strzsche. Rickland, everything that has happened this year. And one of the questions was, is there any way that 2023 could surpass 2016 is the most memorable year in UFC history?

And it's going to take a lot. I mean, 2016, if you guys are newer fans and you have no idea what happened in 2016, go look it up or go listen to onto the next one because we run through like most of it. But just it was one of those years where it was just a ripple effect. RDA getting injured before the Connor McGregor fight in March, which ended up being an ATS fight, that was the ripple effect that sent everything into just this insane spiral.

Everything that happened was based on that moment. It was just so much. It was just crazy. But I'm starting to think 2023 is closer than I think it is. I don't know if it surpasses 2016. But there is still time for weirdness. I think if Alex Pereira beats Yuri Perashkin becomes a two-division champion that adds to it.

I think if Tom Aspinall just runs Sergei Pavlovich after what he had to deal with last year, that would be a great, that'd be a really chaotic moment. If Colby wins the welterweight title and the final fight of the year, that would be insane. If Tony Ferguson beats Patty Pimblet, like if Tony Ferguson finishes Patty Pimblech, on top of all of the things that have happened, we're going to have a conversation about this.

the problem with 2016 is there were just way bigger fights because Connor fought three times and all those fights are massive the Nate fight Nate again Eddie Alvarez one of the best all-time performances by a title challenger ever and then that parlayed into the Floyd fight

Brock Lesnar, John Jones getting popped and the UFC 200 main event being canceled with him in D.C. Just so much happened in 2016. The fights were just way bigger. 2016 started off with Robbie Lawler versus Carlos Condit. That was the first made event of 2016,

which is my favorite fight of all time. They canceled the February pay-per-view. February was supposed to be UFC 196. It was supposed to be headlined by Fabricio Verdume versus Kane Velasquez. Velazquez gets hurt. Steepay was going to be. going to step in on short notice and fight for the heavyweight title against Verdoom. And then Verdoom gets hurt.

And now you have no main event. So they cancel the pay-per-view and they put the card on FS1 for free like days before. And it was headline by Wonderboy Thompson and Johnny Hendricks. And Wonderboy just ran Hendricks over in like two minutes. And then March we get Connor Nate at 196. I think April was, Tyre Woodley became the champion. at that point. He knocked out Robbie Lawler.

And then we got to UFC 199. That's what Michael Bisbing stepped in on short notice. And he became the middle-A champion, knocking out Luke Rockhold. UFC 199, like, I know it's attached to all the drama that happened with Ariel and Dana and everybody else at our website. And it was a, you know, kind of a dark day for the site. But that card was incredible. That's when we found out Brock Lester was coming back. That's when we found out that Connor and Nate 2 was signed.

And then everything that happened with UFC 200. And after being told countless times by Dana and the brass, all those sale talks are bullshit. It ain't true. Right after UFC 200, company is sold to endeavor. Company is sold to endeavor. Steve A becomes the champion. C.M. Punk makes his UFC debut in 2016.

Loses to Mickey Gall. Mike Jackson, debut. Belal Muhammad debuted. Curtis Blades, Tatiana Swares, so many fighters debuted in 2016. Rhonda Rousey came back for the final pay-per-view of the year after she lost the belt to Holly Holm.

Holly Holmes's first title offense. She fights Misha Tate in one of the craziest women's fights you'll ever see. And Misha Tate gets a last round, like a late finish to become the Bannamate champion. Made it happen.

She, of course, lost the belt to Amanda Nunes. at UFC 200. Steepa had his moment of superstard him. After winning the belt, he did win the belt, knocked off Rishi over Doom when that card actually happened. I bet he defended against Alastor Over him and looked like a friggin superstar on that card

because they had it in Cleveland. They never went back for a steepe fight, which I still don't understand why. We got Michael Bisbing fighting Dan Henderson. We had UFC 205. UFC 206 was the Cub Swanson-Du Ho-Choi card. That's a Max Holley. away became a champion for the first time

beat Anthony Pettis, I think it was for the interim belt. Because Aldo was hurt. Just so much happened that year. And then just the final pay for you mentioned Nunes Rousie. That was the night Cody Garbrand and Dominic Cruz won the band-and-wake

title that year on a fight night card against T.J. Dillishaw in Boston. Defends against Faber at 199 and he fights Cody Gar-Brand at UFC 206. And Cody Gar-Brand looked like the best fighter in the world in that fight. Just danced around

Dominic Cruz. He beat his ass. It was crazy. That one did not age gracefully. But yeah, to my point, 2016, as wild as 20203 has been, that's just like the tip of the iceberg for 2016.

Ariel said it a few times, so have I. The UFC, there needs to be a 30 for 30 about 2016, the moment RDA got injured ahead of the Connor McGregor fight to the rest of 2016. From that time, late February, early March, 2016 to the end of UFC 207. There needs to be at 30 for 30 about that year.

I would watch the shit out of it. 2016 is wild. If you're a new fan, just go back and just go on Fight Pass or ESPN Plus and just watch. watch everything. And you'll be like, damn, this is wild. Tom, go ahead. We'll take you and then I've got to go. Thank you, Mike. I've been working on my intro. And give me one second. My curse, Hekimos, Maximus. Today's question for you, my friend, is this. It's been one hell of a year, 2023, for the UFC. Isn't it quite poignant and telling in your opinion? And I

apologize if you've addressed this already, that perhaps the face of fighting is no longer contracted in boxing or UFC, but with the PFL and Francis Ngarnu. What a man, what a legend, and he will go down in the fables of history. My question to you, Micahumus, Hechemus Maximus, is this. Is there, in your opinion, a route back to the UFC for? Francis to face bones at some point in the summer of next year, or am I talking fairy tales? And with that, I will wish you one heck of a day. Wow.

First of all, I've never been sung to on the show, so you're making history. You are right about a lot of things that Francis is the dude right now, and he does represent the Professional Fighters League, yet he has never actually stepped in their cage and competed in a fight. And it doesn't look like he's going to anytime soon unless they do a weird mixed rules fight with Deonté Wilder or somebody else, which, by the way, sign me up for that. And I'll get into PFL at a moment. Is there a world where Francis ends up back with the UFC in fights John Jones?

Absolutely unequivocally not. There will be zero chance Francis ever steps back foot as a UFC fighter. However, as many others have said since this fight happened, there is legitimately nothing, nothing stopping the UFC from making this fight outside of availability because John is obviously injured. There's nothing stopping them. They could do it. They could, they could do it. And it wouldn't be a UFC card per se. It would be a co-promotion with PFL who is obviously very open to the idea.

they could there's literally nothing stopping them from making that fight they could just do it a co-promotional battle between john jones and frances ingano it would be literally for like the lineal like for the undisputed mMA heavyweight title like that is there is no bigger fight the ufc could make there is no bigger fight the ufc could be a part of right now than that and it's never going to happen because the ufc doesn't need to do it they don't need to do it they don't to. It's going to be real interesting to see how the UFC reacts to what Francis

did. It'll be real interesting to hear what Dana White has to say about it. Will Dana put Francis over? It'll be interesting to see. Will he say that Tyson Fury didn't give a shit? I kind of feel like he's going to say that.

But it'll be really interesting. Like if he puts Francis over and says, look, man, we were wrong. Dude's real good. we kind of fucked that one up. I would be incredibly impressed. I will be incredibly impressed. But no, unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever see that fight, and it sucks.

It sucks. I talked to John Anick the other day. That interview would be dropping, I think, early next week. Francis is a legend. He's an M. May legend now because of what happened. He's there. there ain't a lot of like certified unanimous legends but he's one of them now

he has to be because of what he did on Saturday now when it comes to PFL this is where things get real interesting because I have said a lot of things about Don Davis I don't think he's very good at this he has a great personality talks says what's on his mind and like there's I do respect that from him

but he has said just some ridiculous things and I actually was we're having a conversation in our Slack channel about Don's interview and I'm just waiting for him to just say dumb things and for a minute like he really didn't and then he started talking about Nate Diaz being scared to fight Jake Paul and I was like

all right there he is there's the Don Davis we all know in love because we all know that that's not true Nate we have a you know $10.50 million fight on the table to fight Jake Paul and they can make more than that? Like he probably did make more than that to fight Jake Paul in boxing. So I don't know.

But the whole thing that he's scared and all this, like that's just like, stop it. But when asked like what he's going to do next, to hear Don Davis just come out and tell the truth is not something you really see. Because he said, look, there is, even on our own roster right now, there's nobody compelling enough to fight Francis right now.

And he's not wrong. He's not wrong at all. And he said basically there's one and a half fights that would actually make sense for Francis in MMA. It's John Jones, which could happen at any time once John is healthy if everyone puts their egos aside. And then he gave a half point to steepa,

which would also be interesting. But other than that, even the PFL is like, we got nothing for this guy. and nothing after what he did on Saturday. And he's completely right. I respected it. I know a lot of people who work for our site was like, wow, that is just like not great promoter work.

You should probably find somebody to put him over to get the Francis fight or at least raise the stakes of the heavyweight million dollar fight. But Duns, I actually respected that from him. Honestly, like, I don't think Francis ever needs to fight a straight mixed martial arts fight ever again unless it's john jones if i'm francis i ain't doing it there's nothing compelling about it and the pfl has basically said like look man you're going to represent our brand go do what you got to do go box go box wilder go box joshua go make that money

and then just be on the board do that maybe we'll try we'll try to get this wilder mixed rules fight together. That's pretty cool. Like, that's honestly pretty cool. But it's going to be so, this next year for PFL is going to be so interesting. If this Bellator thing actually happens, and for Molokons, I know some people are reporting it,

that it's done. I can tell you it's not done just yet. They get those extra fighters, or they keep Bellator separate. I don't know. But they need this Francis thing to work. And Saturday, like, I know a lot of people are like, this is a great night for the PFL.

I don't know if that's true. It's a better night for them than the UFC, like, in a more medium term. But I don't know, like, what this does for them at all. Because even, even their co-founder is saying, we have no MMA fights for him that anyone's going to want to watch. So I don't know, like, what this does. And I don't know if, like, the cat, like, how many casual people who now know who, who Francis is, they're going to be like, oh, yeah, that's the PFL heavyweight.

No, they're going to say like, oh, yeah, that's the former UFC heavyweight champion who did that. Even like things that I write. Like, I don't even, like, I know he's signed with the PFL. He's contractually obligated to them. But I don't say like the Dow PFL heavyweights. It's the former UFC heavyweight champion. Like, that's just what he's attached to.

You know what I mean? So I don't know. But the PFL needs to capitalize on this. They need to make this work. I kind of like the direction Don's going. And if they can book this Deontze Wilder fight in a mixed rules thing in Africa, like that is going to be frigging gigantic.

And that'll be awesome. And then I'll be like, all right, PFL, we got something here. I will start to fully believe in them if they can pull this off. I will start to believe in them that they can pull that off. I don't fully believe in them now. they have a cool concept. They just have no stars.

And their business model has just been suspect and questionable to say the least. Them going on pay-per-view is legitimately the silliest thing any MMA promotion has probably ever done from a business since. Who the hell is going to spend $50 on this pay-per-view? I really hope that they mark this baby down to like $20. because while they got a lot of good street cred for their pay-per-view in November, most of it's because Kayla Harrison suffered her first loss. And that was kind of surprising.

And the rest of the fights were kind of fun to watch because there were a bunch of finishes. Like, nobody bought that pay-per-view. Nobody bought it. And probably less people are going to buy this one. Like, just put it on ESPN. Like, what the hell are we doing here? Why are they going to pay-per-view?

I don't know. obviously Inganu and Fury Not Fury Inganu and Wilder Maybe you do a Jake Paul fight Like put those on pay per view People are going to buy it They'll buy that

Who's going to buy it? I love OAM I love Clay Collard They're fun Who on Good Friday Is going to spend $50 To watch them fight for the PFL lightweight million dollars

Outside of like Some hardcore fans That thing's going to get like 8000 pay per views If they're lucky if they're lucky. I hope they pivot. I hope they pivot

and put it on ESVM Plus for free. That would be smart. We have to get the branding up. People have to know who they are. And even Dom was saying that on the interview with Ariel. Yeah, people just don't know who we are yet. Okay.

So why are you going on paper if nobody knows who you are? At least like Mazadol and them, like, they've learned from the game bread boxing. and maybe their next boxing event will be on pay-per-view, but they learn, like, a lot of people aren't going to buy it. So let's just put it on YouTube for free. And they did, like, they did so many views for that bare-knuckle card with JDS of Verdume because they put it up for free.

I really hope PFL does that with this card. I really do. I want them to do well. Same way I always wanted Bellator to do well. Just do the thing. Just do the thing. We want competition. I want somebody to give the UFC a run

because that's good for everybody but no one's close and the attitude that we are close is the wrong one. That's what drives me nuts about one. This whole thing that like, oh, it's also the UFC and nobody else is close to us.

You're not the UFC. To compare yourself to the one to the UFC is dumb. Why? You're your own thing. People are starting to understand that you're not the UFC, that you're different. you're your own thing you're putting on events with multiple disciplines you're doing the cool

ass boy tie fights you're doing mixed rule fights you're doing like moitai legends against mhm a legend where one round is this and the next round is this like you're doing really cool shit you're doing really cool shit stop comparing yourself to the rest of these promotions because you're not them you are you i don't know i don't know why i just went on my soapbox there but I don't know. rant over, show over. Thank you all very much. BTL coming up as you're listening live in about an hour's time,

lots to discuss. We will talk more about Francis's performance and what this means and what could be next. We'll talk about UFC South Paulo. We'll talk about Derek Lewis and Jeltsin Al-Meda. We'll talk about the latest on Hamzat Shamiyev's hands and what this could mean from middleweight. And yes, UFC Austin gets the way the UFC is presenting it almost like two main events.

Both at lightweight, the best division in the sport. So we have a lot to discuss. It'll be AK versus Shaheen, 12.30 p.m. Eastern. We will see you then. Back on this show tomorrow, free for all Friday. We can talk about whatever the hell you want. But until then, everybody, have a great rest of your Thursday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.

Thank you.