MMA Fighting - HOAM | Will We Finally Get Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler This Summer?

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

Conor McGregor seems quite confident his return to the octagon will happen this summer against Michael Chandler, but it's certainly fair for fans to be hesitant about getting too excited since this fight has been teased for quite some time now. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to McGregor's interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and if the confidence levels have risen in regards to a McGregor return happening in the next few months. Additionally, listener topics include what happens if McGregor goes into free agency and what type of impact it could make, what PFL should do if that happens, the future of UFC fighter contracts after the antitrust lawsuits were settled, if fighter pay will change any time soon, how the proposd PFL pay-per-view event featuring Francis Ngannou's promotional debut will do in terms of how many buys it could do, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe 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 Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

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

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine,

available now, only from Audible. It is Friday, March 22nd, 2024, and it is indeed a heck of the morning. We are live on the MMA-fighting Twitter space. You can hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter. On the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. What's going on, everybody?

I am Mike Kek. Hope you're all having just the best day. It is Friday. About to head into the weekend, and there's a lot of mixed martial arts this weekend, including coming up in just a couple of hours, the newly rebranded debut of Bellator, now known as the Bellator Champions Series. They're in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

We got two title fights. Corey Anderson versus Carl Moore, the main event for the vacant light heavyweight title. Patricio Pitbull puts the Bellator Featherweight Championship on the line against Jeremy Kennedy. We get Fabian Edwards versus Aaron Jeffrey, Tim Wilde versus Manuel Soza, James Galaher's back against Leandro Higo.

And then just sort of a mix, bag of sort of what you would expect from a Bellator card and even to some degree a PFL card because we have amateur fights mixed in there as well. So I do think this card is better than the UFC card. I like that it's an earlier start time. It's only 11 fights. The UFC could take a little bit of note here. We got the two title fights. Yes, it's a Corey Anderson main event, but we'll see what happens when he fights Carl Moore. You know the crowd's going to be crazy for that. And there's some pretty interesting fights on this one.

And then tomorrow we got the UFC 13 big fights headlines by Amanda Hebas versus Rosenomai Yunis. As AK likes to put it, we have a penultimate fights between Carl Williams and Justin Taffa. Edmund Chabazzian is back against A.J. Dobson. We got Luis Paolo, Fernando Padilla, opening up the main card. Then we go into Billy Q versus. Yusuf Salal who returns to the UFC. The highly anticipated

Battle of Bannamweight prospects. Also the main card, Peyton Taller versus Cameron Simon, and then Edmund Shabazian versus AJ Dobso, which I think I've already said anyway. So that's a 7 p.m. prelim, 10 p.m. main card. Yowser. That's going to be

certainly some fights happening. And, yeah, I mean, what else can we say? We will have a preview show at 1 p.m. Easter, we'll talk a little bit more about it. It's been kind of a weird week where even on BTL yesterday, we didn't mention either of these cards until like the very end, because there's just so much other stuff happening. It's pretty wild. And then if you miss BTL, we got some fun things happening. I'll reiterate them. Tuesday, 8 p.m. Eastern on the YouTube channel, we're going to do a

UFC 100 watch party. We're going to go back in time to UFC 100. We're going to watch the main card together. We'll make sure we sync up together. It's going to be a good time on the road to UFC 300. And then the following Tuesday, 8 p.m. Eastern on the YouTube channel, a UFC 200 watch party, more of a rewatch party. And it's going to be super fun.

We'll have some folks who were actually covering that event joining us. Stephen Morocco was at UFC 100, so we'll try to make sure he makes at least an appearance. And then UFC 200, Jose was on the ground. Shaheen Al-Shadi was on the ground for that one as well. Damon was on the ground as well, going through one of the most chaotic fight weeks of all time. And yeah, we can all watch the yellow mat violence together. It'll be a good time. So 8 p.m. Eastern this Tuesday for UFC 100, 8 p.m. Eastern next Tuesday.

day, April 2nd for UFC 200. And I'm very excited for this. So let's go to you. We could talk about it. Maybe talk about whatever the hell you want. It's one of those days, my friends. We will kick things off with the superhero among us. Let us say hello to Super Gringo.

Are you there, Super Gringo? Yeah, man. How's it going? Good. How are you, man? Pretty good. Hey, I was wanting to know what you guys think about Vitor Belfort and how he would fare against Jake Paul after what he did to Holyfield. And also what you guys think about the Tyson, how Tyson is going to fare with Jake Paul. Oh, boy. Thanks, man.

I don't know about Vitor. I mean, sure, it could be done. Here's the thing. I was one of the few people. So I'll start with the Jake Paul Mike Tyson stuff because we talked about this before. and now that like people I work out with and people like in my community like know what I do I get asked about this shit all the time so got done with like a hard-ass workout and then like the nine o'clock group came in and it was just like a few it was like three or four guys and it

turned into like 10 guys all asking about Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson and basically it's like an incomplete thought because I just don't know what it's going to look like yet. We don't know if it's like a three-round fight, a five-round fight, ten rounds. We don't know if it's going to be an exhibition or a real fight. We don't know if it's going to be two-minute rounds or three-minute rounds. We don't know what the rules are going to be. We don't know anything. I actually thought Tim Welch made a great point on the MMA hour.

And if they do this, I think it would be absolutely brilliant. I'm curious what the drug testing policy is going to be. be and I think they should waive all drug testing on Mike Tyson. I think they should let Mike Tyson, and I'm stealing this from Tim, Mike Tyson should be on all the sauce, like all of the steroids, all the testosterone, all of it, because he's going to be 58 years old. And I kind of agree with Ariel, because I know he's been talking about it, where he says, you know, most of the people who react to any Jake Paul fight, say he sucks at fighting. That he's not good. He's overrated. It's unbelievable. He's doing this. It's a circus. It's a side show. And he's terrible at boxing.

But then they booked this fight with Mike Tyson and all of a sudden, this guy that everybody says sucks at boxing is going to murder Mike Tyson in a boxing ring in front of 85,000 people on Netflix. And I just don't understand that line of thinking. Like, you have to choose a side, it can't be both. Either he sucks or he's going to kill Mike Tyson. It just doesn't, you can't have both things, is what I'm trying to say. So I'm sure we've all seen the video of Mike hitting pads and obviously he looks good. My big issue with the fight is that, you know, could Mike land a big shot and knock out Jake even at 58? Sure he could. But if this fight gets into like round three, Mike's done. Like he's going to be, he's going to be gassed out. He's going to be

breathing heavy. He's not going to be able to move as well. And then Jake's just going to box him. Just outbox him for a while because he's younger and he can do 10 rounds or 12 and not really have a problem. Mike's going to have problems down the stretch. So I guess we kind of have to like wait and see on that. The Vitor thing is, man. So for those who aren't aware of this or if you're newer to the combat space. This was, I'm trying to think of like the actual timing on this. Let me pull it up.

So this was September 2021. And if this was a, a triller boxing event, supposed to take place on the same date. It was supposed to take place in California. And the main event was slated to be Vitor Belfort versus Oscar Delahoya in a boxing match. And they had these other fights,

Anderson Silla versus Tito Ortiz and some other just kind of random fights. And Oscar Delahoeia ends up getting COVID, maybe a week, eight days before the card is scheduled to take place. And you started seeing the reports. It looks like a Bander Holyfield's going to be tagged in. But of course, California,

Andy Foster and crew, they are not going to sanction this. Like there's just no freaking way. They're going to let a Vanderholyfield box v. Orr-Veufo Belfort in California. So they move the whole event to Florida. The whole thing to the seminal hard rock in Hollywood, Florida, because it's Florida, and they will literally commission anything and sanction anything

and allow literally anything to happen in Florida. So they put this fight together, and I, because I live in South Carolina, I am reached out to saying, hey, you want to go to Hollywood, Florida, and cover this fight? And I was like, sure, I'll go do that because I'm needed. Here I am. And I go and cover this event. I fly in on the Tuesday, I believe. And Wednesday is the open workouts. So we go to the open workouts. I get there way earlier than everybody else, because that's just how I roll. if you're on time, you're late, if you're 15 minutes earlier on time.

But for this one, I was pretty early because I didn't know what the frig is going on. And I never covered a boxing event before. So I have a good relationship with the guy who's doing PR. He does some stuff with BKFC. And he was very excited to see me. And it was like, hey, you want to talk to a Vanderholyfield? And I was like, sure, I'll go talk to him. what other chance am I going to have to do an interview with the Vanderholyfield?

So we go in this back room and we sit in these chairs and I do this interview with the Vander Holyfield. And I during this interview am tremendously concerned about what is happening here. Because Evander can't really put sentences together. He's kind of rough. He's kind of stumbling. He's sort of all over the place. The man has just taken a lot of hits in the head.

And I remember we released this interview, and we just put out a couple of clips, and they went frigging crazy because of like how awkward it was to watch Avanderholyfield do this interview. So we get through it in a van, and I ask him about obviously the concern people have for him. And he's just like, look, this is an MMA fight. He's an MMA fighter. I'm a boxer. I'm just going to go up there and I'm going to box this dude. This is a different sport than MMA. Vitor is going to come out and try to kill me.

I'm just going to box them. And there was a part of that. I was just like, okay, that kind of makes sense. Like, even though he's been bagged up a little bit, he's still Evander Holyfield. He knows how to box. So I'm like, all right, whatever. I'm still concerned, but I understand that line of thinking.

Then we have the open workout. And Evander goes in and does his workout. And I was on the freaking ring apron. Watching this all unfold. I'm filming it for the website. and man, is he looking terrible? He's looking slow. He's looking rough.

I mean, look at him in tremendous shape. He's ripped. He's shredded. Looks fantastic. But he's hitting the pads and it's looking bad. So I'm like talking to some of the boxing media. I'm like, is this real? And they're like, well, it could be.

But, you know, oftentimes in these things, they're just kind of moving around. They're not doing much. Like, they don't want to show their opponent, like, what they're going to see in the fight and all that. And I'm like, all right, I guess I'll take you for your word. And then Vitor goes in and he does his thing and it's just hitting things very, very hard. And I remember I get an interview with Vitor Belfort after. And this is not long.

I want to say it's like two or three weeks after Jake Paul beat Tyron Woodley in their first fight. The decision, the one that went the distance. and I remember asking him about this and Vitor Belfort literally stopped me mid-sentence and was offended by the question because he did not want to be compared to Jake Paul he wanted nothing to do with Jake Paul this is a real fight that was a bullshit fight

all of this and I'll never forget this for as long as I live. I'm like all right cool I get it so no interest in fighting Jake no it's not real it's bullshit fight week continues on then the fight happens and Vitor just wrecks Evander Holyfield, just kills them.

And it was just one of the saddest things I had ever seen live at a fight. I'm just like, oh, my God, this shit should have never happened. And what does Vitor Belfort freaking do when he's doing his post-fight interview? He calls out Jake Paul after being offended that I asked him about Jake Paul versus Tyra Woodley. At that point, I was just like, what the fuck, man? like all of this to be like this isn't real this is bullshit and then you call out Jake Paul for a fight that no one wants to see if we're being honest nobody wants to see it and the way I gotta be honest with you especially after seeing Avander actually get in the ring and move around and then how he looked in the fight itself Vitor celebrated like he just won the UFC heavyweight title like he just beat Francis and Ganu like he just beat John Jones and won the belt and I'm like watching him like celebrate this win like it's the greatest thing that's ever happened and then he

calls out jake paul and i was like i went right to the PR guy and i was like please tell me please i'm begging you that when you do the post-fight press conference we get to ask questions and he goes i think we're supposed to because i was going to call him on this uh i was going to ask him about this in particular turns out it wasn't like that so i didn't get the chance and subsequently weeks after that i reached out and tried to get this interview with Vitor Belfort so I could lay this on him and ask him to explain himself. And I never got the chance to do it.

So I just kind of forgot about it at that point. So much time had gone by. But that whole week was just super weird. I thought the way Vitor kind of handled himself that week, I think it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. And then him just calling out Jake Paul after all that. I was just like, come on, man. I was like, this is just ridiculous.

at that point, if they weren't going to put that fight together, it's never going to happen. I have no interest in watching Vitor Belfort fight Jake Paul. Absolutely none. You know, Vitor wants to go box, like, you know, do the misfits boxing type of thing. And that's fine, cool, whatever, but no interest in any of that. I don't know. Has he even fought since then?

Is that the last time he's fought? I'm trying to remember. But yeah, I thought it was tough scenes all around. Evander had no business being in the ring with anybody, let alone Vitor Belfort. And I just thought the way Vitor kind of went through that week, it wasn't good. It just wasn't good. And we talked about this a few times in the past, but long story short. Those are my memories of covering that fight week.

What a friggin' week it was. Anderson Silva just annihilates Tito Ortiz, Tito misses weight. all that. Donald Trump shows up to be a freaking special guest color commentator on the broadcast. Jorge Mazadol's there. Like, it was just, it was a circus in the best way. I enjoyed covering that week, but it was just such a strange one. It really was. So, again, no, I don't want to see that fight.

No, no interest whatsoever. And I don't think Jake even gives two, like two shits about Vitor Bellfort. Old Pat's, hello. Really? It was, it was brilliant but terrible. Yeah, look, when I say it was the best of circuses, what I mean by that is like the fight week itself was kind of fun. The Holyfield interviews were tough. But, you know, getting, dude, how many people, like, how many people, like, how many people?

People who cover this sport over the last five years have had the chance to, like, speak one-on-one with Anderson Silva. And I was able to do that twice, multiple times, being able to have, like, one-on-ones with Anderson Silva. I got to do it in every with Tito Ortiz. And, of course, that's everything you sort of expected it to be. But, yeah, it was just a crazy fight week. It's just why, I'll never forget it.

The card itself was what it was. There was these random, like, musical performances. The stage was all set up. There was like maybe 600 people who showed up to this event. And then freaking Donald Trump shows up. And it was just like, what the fuck is happening here? It was wild. It was pretty crazy.

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Hey, Mike. I hope you can hear me. I'm in and out of sales service at work and want to make sure I pop in here. I was looking back at some of the Connor McGregor versus Michael Chandler. I know we've talked like crazy about it. I don't know Jed hates Michael Chandler. Don't understand why. But when we talk about his contract coming to an end with his two fights left,

why is there no conversations about like the Francis and the Nate Diaz situation, where you have to be offered a fight. What is it once a year for your contract to continue running? Had they even offered a fight to him to be under contract? I know he's a little bit of a special situation, but is that not in his contract where they have to offer a fight? Second question, which one of the videos was more cringy between Kobe Covington and Ian Kerry?

Happy Friday, everybody. I mean, I don't know, honestly, about the Connor thing. He's also recovering from, I mean, just an awful injury and all of that. So I don't know how much that plays into contracts and negotiations or whatever. So I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure. It's got to be super interesting what happens with Connor moving forward. Because, like, if you go through the Connor car wash of these interviews he was doing,

whether with like the Hollywood media who just sort of left some of these important questions you could continue to ask Connor on the table the talk sport interview where Connor just seemed like pretty angry and then the aerial interview which was probably the best of all of them

where he got to ask follow-ups and he had 30 minutes instead of 10 you know I just learned a lot you just learned a lot and there's little nuggets there that are super interesting you know the whole hey if this were the day

where Lorenzo was a part of this, I would have already gotten like a sweet offer something to consider, and the UFC ain't doing it. They're just not doing it. Dana continues to do whatever you say. I'm like, you know, there's no miscommunication. Connor was scheduled to do this, this, and this. Which is just, it just seems ridiculous

because Connor's not saying any of that. And one thing Ariel said this week that I completely agree with is that Connor should not be getting the call at all. Like the UFC shouldn't be calling him being like, hey, we have something for you. The UFC should be sitting by the phone waiting for Connor to call.

And when he does, they should be like, bet, you're in. Tell me when and who and we'll make it happen. And they don't do that. And we think mostly it's because of this contract. I want to see this play out. I truly want to see this play out. I do not want to live in a world or Conner fights Michael Chandler, and then he signs a new eight-fight deal before he fights out his last

fight. I don't want to see that because I'm going to feel the same way that I felt when I saw that this antitrust lawsuit thing was settled for $335 million. Been like, okay, fine, like, good news, but it would have been far more interesting if this had gone the distance. And a free agent Connor McGregor, holy smokes. What a story that's. going to be. That's gigantic. Free agent Connor? Oh my God. Like, I want to live in that world. I want to see how it all plays out. Now, of course, whatever Connor wants to do, whatever makes him happy is fine. But I kind of want to see, honestly, changing the industry is not going to happen. Like the lawsuit, we were close. We thought we could get there. It's not going to happen.

We're not going to get a union or an association. Like, fighter pay is never going to change. Like, this is where we're at. If we want to make some changes, if we want something pretty radical to happen that can change the game a little bit, the only thing that we can all hope for in terms of fighter pay is that some other organization comes along that at least gets in the discussion with the UFC. Because right now, nobody is there. PFL and Don Davis can say whatever he wants.

Nobody gives a shit. about the PFL right now. Nobody. Nobody cares about Bellator. They are so far away from the UFC, it's not even funny. It's not funny. Don't, it's,

whatever Don't say, it's just not true. They could not be further away at this point. But if Connor becomes a free agent and Don Davis somehow, with all these investors, give Connor McGregor like a billion dollars to come fight for them,

that's going to change some shit. will it not. Holy shit, PFL is offering the biggest star in the history of the sport a billion dollars to go fight for them. And you know what? If you're the PFL, you should do that. You should do that.

That's a game changer. That changes everything. That forces the UFC's hand a little bit. For future free agents, that's how we change fighter pay. Something like that happens. But if Connor just signs a new eight-fight deal before he fights Chandler or

when he still has one fight left in his deal, then none of this. shit's going to matter. And we're just going to be in the same position. So I really hope this all plays out. Who's cringier between Kobe and Gary? Oh, I don't know, man. I think the fight makes perfect sense. I think it's the fight they should make. But man, the more, the more of these videos come out, the less I want to see it because we're just going to get more of it. And it's going to be awful. It's just going to be awful. It really, it's going to be horrendous. One of the worst builds you've ever seen.

And not because of the heinous things that are probably going to be said. It's just going to be bad. Like, just bad stuff. So I kind of almost want the MVP fight now for Ian because I kind of think Ian needs to get away from that shit. Like at the same time, you know what I mean? Like Ian might talk a little trash about MVP, but MVP is not going to like get personal and take digs and talk about his wife. and stuff like that. I almost feel like Ian needs that right now,

but you know the UFC. They're probably good looking at these videos and it's like licking their lips, rubbing their hands together, like, oh, we got something here. Free speech, baby, it's going to be the best. So we'll see how it plays, though. I don't know who's worse, but it's making me

far less interested in the fight. That's for sure. Let's go to Lee. Hi, Lee. What's going on, Mike? It's going on, brother. Nothing much. I wanted to take you back to UFC 265.

You were just getting started with the Twitter spaces. Jose Otto was fighting Pedro Munio's. And I remember he was shutting down the leg kick game. And I just want to get your opinion on if you think that's what he's going to do against Jonathan Martinez, whenever they fight. And then the second thing, I don't know which is worse. Dana White disrespecting GSP's legacy or allowing to

Kamar Ruzman. Yeah, that's pretty much it might have a good one. Yeah, I can't watch these Dana interviews anymore because it's literally the same thing over and over again. Like we literally,

there's like no new developments in that conversation. So I assume he told Kamari's the greatest wealth to wait of all time, which just is objectively false. Like, it could not be a more wrong statement.

No discused. Vex-Kbar-Uzman, he's probably number, he's probably number two. But he ain't number one. He's like not even close. He needed, he needed to meet Leon Edwards and then maybe get one more. And then we could have been like, okay, now we can at least start talking about this. But man, nothing annoys me more, except for maybe like the double champ bullshit. than a fighter who's so far away from being the divisional goat,

being anointed the divisional goat. It's just so stupid. It really is dumb, and it drives me nuts. Like, we just forget what GSP did. We forget what Jose Aldo did. We forget what Anderson Silva did. Like, we forget all of this stuff. We forget what BJ Penn did.

although I still think Habib is probably the greatest lightweight of all time but we forget about all this shit we forget about all of it we forget about what Demetius Johnson did oh Davis and Figuer is the greatest flyweight of all time one of the worst takes I've ever heard but

Kamara is not the greatest wealth of weight of all time he just isn't he just isn't someone sent me something the other day and like I looked at it for like a brief second and I didn't really dive into him more, but it was something to the effect of GSP, like if GSP and his prime fought for the UFC right now,

he wouldn't even get a title shot, or he would never win the belt. Are you fucking kidding me right now? Like that, that has to be one of the all-time worst takes I've ever heard in my life. Are you kidding me with this? Like if 25-year-old GSP fought right now, you don't think he'd be,

you don't think he'd be a champion? I'll tell you right now, and I'm not saying this to be an asshole. If you gave GSP a 16-week camp right now and to go fight Leon Edwards, he has a real good chance of winning now, let alone in his prime. That's how good this guy was. But just the blatant disrespect for what has happened before this generation of fighters is fucking ridiculous, man.

It's crazy. And I don't want to say this to be distrable. respectful to Usman, at least Usman was like somewhat in the conversation. But to say he's the greatest wealth rate of all time, it's objectively false. And then going back to 265, Josie Aldo, Pedro,

Munoz, yeah, we did do two-ter spaces for some of those fights. I think we did it for that fight. Yeah, we did. Now that I remember. That was after a ring announced an event in New England, and I was in the hotel and we were watching 265, and we did it for Josie Alder

versus Pedro Munoz. I mean, sure. I'm sure he's prepared for Jonathan Martinez's leg kicks. But we'll see. I mean, Aldo hasn't... When was his last time of a fight? 2022, so it'll be, what? 18 months or so, 19, almost...

19, 20 months? Since his last time of a fight? I think he's a good matcher for Jose. Like, I think he's probably going to win that fight. Jonathan's good. Jonathan's good. He's pretty well-rounded. His best weapon is obviously the light kick,

which is not going to work against Jose Al, though, I don't think. So I think Jonathan's going to have to mix things up a little bit. I just don't know. I mean, although he loses, like, the best dudes. And as much as I like Jonathan Martinez, I don't consider him as, like, he's not a top five guy. Like, look at all those losses. Look at them.

outside of like his jungle fight in like 2005 or something Connor McGregor Max Holloway Max Holloway Volcanovsky Marl Morais was still think Josie Aldo won in his Bannamweight debut Piotr Jan and Marab

those are his losses I think he's gonna be a good good night at the office for Josie Aldo I really do no disrespect Jonathan Martinez I just think it's a really tough matchup for him tough stylistic we shall see on May 4th.

Terrence, go ahead. Going through. Terrence, bounce out, bounce back in. Yes, four out sniper. Hello. Hey, how are you? Good. Hey, heck of a morning. Just real quick, I just got in,

got in a little late, so sorry if this question was already asked. But I just wanted to know if you had any bets this weekend or what would your favorite bets be? I'm scrambling at the last moment, you know, trying to make some quick bets. And I'm struggling real bad. So if you can help me out, that would be amazing. That's all I got for you.

Heck of the morning. God, I really truly hope I don't have any bets this weekend. I made a dumb bet last week, and then I doubled down on the dumb bet, and that was really stupid. So I would be, I don't think there's really much that sticks out here that I'm, like, overly excited for. I can see a world where Uspin Parkin goes over two and a half. That's at minus 175. I think Juliana Rose is a pretty live dog at plus 145 What's the Rose fight at?

Rose minus 25? I think Rose is going to win. I mean, I think Rose is going to win this fight. Let's see what Rose by like method. Which rose by knockout? I kind of see this, I kind of see Rose winning with like a late stoppage. Rose by K.O or TKO plus 140. I thought that line would be a little spicier.

Yeah, I don't know, man. There's not a lot here that I love. I'm glad, like, I'm not on no-bets bar. Billy Q, I kind of like Billy Q as well. That fight is way closely lined, way more close than I thought it would be. Billy Q is only a minus 112 favorite. It's basically a, like, it's a legit 50-50 fight. I feel like Billy Q's got to win.

I just feel stylistically. It's a really good fight for him. Yusuf's not really a big knockout guy. At least he hasn't been in the last several years. Certainly hasn't been that guy in the UFC. I think it's to be a fun-ass fight. But he's also taking this fight on relatively short notice. So, yeah, Billy Q, Rose.

I think there's maybe some dog, some dog value in Cameron Simon being the underdog against Peyton Talbot. I think Peyton knows this. We've talked about Peyton on onto the next one a few times. I think they really, I think they have something with him, but he is incredibly green, incredibly green. And I really wish they like, and I can, look, this could age poorly when I say this. I really wish they slow rolled him a little bit more because Cameron's pretty damn good. I mean, he's not like a top 15 guy or anything right now, but he's still really good.

This is a big step up compared to the guys who he's fought before. I kind of wish they would slow roll him a little bit but I kind of like Simon at dog odds but no I'm not I ain't touching this freaking card I'm not even covering it I'm not even working it tomorrow I can't remember the last like Saturday night fight card unless I was like on vacation

that I didn't work but I get this one off so pretty excited about that I will be watching the main card as a fan for his last as long as I can. But yeah, I'm very grateful that I'm not covering this one because

yowser! It's going to be a long one. It's going to be a tough one. RZ, go ahead. Hey, can you hear me? Yep, I got you, man. Hey, man. I have a bit of a wacky question. So obviously, for Connor McGregor's

contract, the UFC are kind of only interested in like super fights that it obviously sell like a lot a lot so what would your hypothetical reaction be if for the last fight on McGregor's contract he got a rematch booked with Jose Alco. I mean it would be interesting I'd watch it because I mean we I just as iconic of a moment as that was. I felt short-changed and still feel short-changed by the result because we didn't get to see, we didn't get to see them fight each other.

Connor just mental warfare, just 10-3-dim in the mental game, Jose looked rattled all week, looked rattled right before the fight, and then Connor just iced him and just called a shot and iced him in 13 seconds. So that fight really never got going. Aldo never really got comfortable, never got going. And as we know, watching Connor McGregor fights outside of the day Diaz one, especially with him cutting all that weight, if Jose Aldo made it to like round three, I mean, boy, that's an interesting fight.

So if you're Connor, I don't think there's any interest there because how, like, if you're Connor McGregor, you can't do it any better. So there's really no, there's really nothing. Nothing he gains from fighting Joseo although. Although is everything to gain, Conner's nothing to gain. Because even if he knocks out Jose Alho in 20 seconds, you know how the new MMA fan community is? Oh, well, you didn't do it in 13. He's washed.

He's cooked that Connor. So, I mean, I'd be interested in it. But if I'm Connor, I'd no interest in that fight. Absolutely done. So you go fight Chandler. I think he would try to go get. I don't know if he tries to go get Nate. If I'm in my ain't going near Nate,

I'm waiting until you fight out that deal and then you go fight Nate outside of the UFC and make all the monies. Him and Gaitch you would be in shape. I am curious to see how the UFC does eventually book him because I think they're going to put him on ice for a hot minute. I don't think I'd be stunned if he fights twice this year unless he resigns because you know how they do it.

They did with Nate. They kept him on ice. They offered him shit he knew he wouldn't take. On dates, they knew he wasn't available. And they were like, hey, we offered him fights. That's all we can do. And then Dana would go out there and be like, hey, we offered Nate fights. Nate didn't want to take him.

You either want to fight or you don't. All that shit. I'm curious to see what they do with Connor. And I'm curious to see if Connor isn't willing to play ball. And then they get to the point where they have to throw them out there. who they throw him in there with. Do they just chuck him in there with Islam in hopes that Islam just buries him?

Do they throw him in there with like freaking Hamzachamayev? Like they try to do it Nate? Like this is going to be super interesting. I can't wait to see how this all plays out. And I really hope Connor does resign. At least not yet. Get through these two fights.

Enter free agency. I want to see what that looks like. I want to see what Turkey is going to offer him because you know he's going to pay Conner a shit ton. I want to see what Don Davis has to say. I just want to see what he can get in the market and how the UFC reacts to it.

Because make no mistake about it, my friends. Even if Connor leaves, it does not... I'm not going to say it doesn't make it dense, because I think it does, depending on where he goes. If he just becomes like, you know, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, like just puts together an MMA promotion out there, I think we all understand what that is. But if like connor signs with PFL for the biggest contract in the history of the sport,

be willing to see how the UFC reacts to all that. Could be a very interesting time. So I kind of hope we get to get over the goal line with this whole situation. 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.

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Perfect. Can you hear me? Yeah. All right. Awesome. So a few questions. In regards to, I was listening to Luke Thomas, and it's something that I thought about as well. He said something about anti-competitive nature and maybe like someday somebody will sue them. Do you think that one day we'll see that happened? and are they a little bit too late. I think if Bellator or somebody like that

at the time 10 years ago would have sued for the anti-competitive nature and even if it took 10 years from now or what have you, then we would be still having like a Bellator and we'll have somebody bigger movement weight, quote unquote, or would it take for somebody who has money who actually did care about like the fighters

and didn't like just want to use them as a prop. Like, for example, like, Mark is friends with a lot of the top-level fighters. However, he's also friends with Dana. But if somebody who can stand Dana and they love the fighters, if somebody with that much money, they didn't care necessarily about the money, but changing the laws and stuff like that, would that be something that we would need in order for something to happen. And then in regards to my other question, Cruz was said to,

have been offered this fight versus Jose. And he turned it down. He always needs to turn down fights and just like, oh, I didn't turn down this person that just turned down the date of this person. And he always used that excuse. Is it time that we take Dominic Cruz out of the rankings? And that way he can just go on about his life and do whatever he wants. And if he fights again, that's fine. But he's not holding back to division.

And then the last one is kind of like a personal, I guess, kind of question. We live in a society where people love to talk, like you have, like, Ian Gary and Kobe and a whole bunch of slew of different things. In regards to your own personal life, like when your kids are being bullied or if they've been bullied or what have you, if you had this conversation, and let's say, for example, they're talking about their mom or something like that, do you tell them to defend their family or what have you? Or do you tell them like, oh, no, use your words or whatever. Because it seems like people use their words now and then it doesn't help. And people just keep poking. It's almost like when you're a relative, like, I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you.

And they're like hands like close to your face. And they're just egging you on to elicit some kind of reaction. And they're not getting any consequences. So I'm wondering if you tell your kids to like defend themselves or hit back or what have you. I know that's random, but I'm just curious. So a couple things. I'll try to remember all of those. We'll start with, I'm going to start with the Dominic Cruz thing,

because as I've talked about, you got to remember the golden rule, guys. If we didn't print it or we didn't put that out there, it ain't true. So let's make sure we keep that on track. From what I understand, and I don't know if Cruz is off in this fight or not, I don't fully know this from what I was told by people who would know conversations I've had. The Dominic Cruz rumor was more of a rumor that got more steam on Twitter and became sort of larger than life, if that makes sense. But again, I don't know if he was off at the fight or not. you know some people were reporting that you know Cruz said yes and then they found I was in

Brazil and he was like no um again I don't know think doesn't seem like that's the case it didn't really seem like Cruz was like the favorite to be the opponent anyways if that makes sense just based on conversations I've had again I don't know the full context of it all but just throwing that out there so I don't I don't want people to be like oh Dominic's this big wuss, he turned it down and not going to Brazil because based on what the conversations I've had, this was a thing that kind of took on a life of its own.

And there's been some kind of bad reporting as well for being honest. And then on top of that, like do you take him out of the rankings? I mean, he probably should have been out of the rankings anyways. He hasn't fought and forever. But like Dominic Cruz isn't holding up the division.

Like he's kind of doing what you suggested anyway. is when he wants to fight, he'll fight. And if he doesn't, he won't. And he can pick and choose what he wants to do. Like, he's earned that, right? He's not holding up the division. And even if he thought Jose Aldo, he's not holding up the division.

Because Jose Aldo, by all it counts, got one fight left in his deal, and it looks like he just wants to get it done so he could go be free and do whatever the hell he wants. So if we're being honest here, Joseo's kind of holding up the division much more than Dominic Cruz is, because Jose doesn't, he could just keep boxing and doing whatever he's been doing.

And the UFC has obviously allowed that to happen. But now he's coming back to fight Jonathan Martinez just so he can be free. I mean, I don't blame him for it. But if we're going to say that about Cruz, we kind of have to say that about Aldo as well. There are other matchups for Jonathan Martinez that make more sense than freaking Jose Aldo. More suitable matchups for him. matchups that he could probably fare pretty decent in.

Cruz would be one of them. But he's getting Aldo and good for him. What else? What else? What else? Oh, should somebody else sue the UFC? I mean, they could. But you have to, you know how impossible it's going to be for like PFL to sue or won the sue and be like, yeah, they have a monopoly. Look at all this

proof we have. Like, how are they going to do that? at least the fighters like lived it they could do it and it's it's a whole different thing like the ufc they were trying to prove the ufc was like a monopsy they can't do that they can try to sue that the ufc is a monopoly and you can try but there's just not a lot of precedent that they would even come close to winning that and they look like absolute morons if they lose just look like idiots. So I don't think it's really worth the risk. Bjorn Redney, I think there were talks that he was going to try, and then he realized that it would be a losing battle. So I mean, could it happen? Sure. Will it? I'd be stunned

if it does. And I feel like at this point, we need to live in a world where we need to understand that. We need to stop. I mean, we can talk about fighter pay and say like, yeah, we love these fighters and they deserve more. And they do. no doubt about it. But if they don't want it to be changed, why should we fight? Why should we go crazy for it? You know what I'm saying?

At this point, they've had countless opportunities to come together and make a change, and they're not doing it. And the more time that goes by, the more years of contender series we have, where they can sign 40, 50 new guys to contracts, and they can accomplish their dream

of being UFC fighters, the chance of that happening is slimmer and slimmer. I think the nail is in the coffin. I think the nail is in the coffin. And I don't think it's ever going to change, unfortunately. So we just have to kind of live with that. We need a competitor to come along and change the industry. Be competitive.

Be in the same conversation. Get stars. PFL ain't going to do it. Even if they put together this mega car that Don Davis is teaching, with Francis in the main event, Chris Cyborg versus Larissa Pacheco, and that's a whole other conversation. Cedric Dumebe, et cetera, that is going to do 50,000 buys. Like, at best, and they're doing 100,000.

It's just not going to, because nobody cares about PFL. They're not going to spend $50 to watch PFL card when they can wait a week and spend 80 on a much better UFC card. It's just the way that it is. Oh, and I'll touch it. on the other thing in the second. Tyson, go ahead. Hey, Mike, can you hear me?

Yep. Happy Friday, happy Friday. I got two quick questions for you. My first question, I'm sorry, I'm kind of bouncing in and out. I don't know if you already spoke on it, but the Pantosia fight that was just announced recently, I want to hear your take about,

you know, a lot of the people that are bishing about, oh, Pantoges defending against the number 10 gotten division, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, most of those people that are bishing and complaining about it are the same. ones that wouldn't hesitate to say to the flyway division was only four people, you know, between Moreno, Figgy, you know, Figgy's gone, Roy Val, Pantosa, they want the division to move along, and now that, you know, I'm not jumping out of my chair about this fight with Steve

Erick, but, you know, we're getting some different, some new blood in there, you know, they can't seem to understand that a lot of the top contenders are either, you know, dealing with injury, have some sort of issue or missing weight, et cetera. So what are your thoughts on that? And then the second question would be Corey Sanhagen. I'm a big fan of Corey's. What's next for him? That's all I got.

Thanks, Mike. Sanhagen's got to be Umar. I think that makes all the sense in the world. You do it on the International Flight Week card. I think that's perfect. That's perfect. I love it. I hope that's what they do.

Both guys seem to want it. Let's just do it. Totally with that altogether. The ERISA thing I talked about Tuesday, look, we don't, we can't blame Pantosia. We can't blame Versaig. If you have a problem with this, you have to blame the UFC for this. It's 1,000% on them because they just had to put Alex Pereira

versus Jamal Hill is the main event at UFC 300. And while it's a great fight, it makes far more. more sense to be the main event of this card. I mean, far more sense. And let's be clear, if that was the main event and we got this as the co-made event, no one's complaining about it. Nobody. I mean, there'll be some because there are people out there who complain about everything,

but no one's making a big deal out of this. There are people who feel like this, and there's a very, there's a very solid chance this headlines UFC 301. and it's one of the weirdest main events in terms of star power maybe one of the worst ever just in terms of star power maybe the UFC has ever done on pay-per-view

like it's it just is what it is but it's still an interesting fight it's a fight that Steve can win it's a fight he can win if he if he shores up his takedown defense and can keep his fight on the feet, he can, he could be Pantosia, for sure.

He is excellent stand-up. He's great. He could do it. And what a world that would be. Goes into Brazil, nobody wants to see him, and he goes to wins the freaking belt. Oh my God. Becomes a champion within 11 months of being in the company, it's wild. But if this is the co-main event, no one cares.

No one cares. If Jelton Almeida beat Curtis Blades in the first round, and they did Tom Aspinall versus Jelton Almeida is the main event for the interim heavyweight title. And then this is the co-main event, no one's complaining about it. Prayer Hill should be the main event of this card. So if you want to pass the buck, pass it where it needs to go. Also, if you're complaining about this as a pay-per-view purchaser,

fine, but the people who really should be complaining about this are the people of Rio who want the best possible pay-per-view brought to them to make it worth the tickets that they're going to buy, which by the way is going to be much more expensive than you buying this card on pay-per-view.

They have more of a gripe than we do. You've got $2.99, which is stacked. You got $300, which is ridiculous. There's got to be a shitty one mixed in there, guys. It just is what it is. If you want to buy it, cool. If you don't, so what. It doesn't affect the UFC either way because they're still getting eight figures from ESPN to put this card on regardless.

So it's all good. It's all good. They overbooked themselves. The UFC has done this before. The only other alternative was they just don't do it or they cancel it because the UFC has done this before where they have overbooked themselves, didn't have anything to go for their January pay-per-view. And then it turned out like they just canceled it all together. I remember like 206, 207, 208. 206 happened, or this is the end of 2016.

We get UFC 205, they booked the three title fights. Connor has the big moment. 206 happens. And then we're left to like, okay, well, what's going to headline the next card? What's going to headline this one? And the answer was, we don't have anything. So we cancel it. And then they go into 208 in Brooklyn, and they have nothing.

They have nothing. So they create a new title because Chris Cyborg had just signed with them and they did Holly Holm versus Jermaine Durandami for the vacant women's featherweight title because that's all they had left. And that card happened, guys. That card happened.

And yeah, this isn't the first time it's happened. It's not going to be the last. It just goes to show you. If you want to buy it, you want to watch Steve Ersig battle for the flyway title, you can do that. If you don't, you don't have to. If you want to just watch the watch party, we'll tell you what happens, and that's free. You're good. We will have you covered, my friends.

Don't you worry. I do think the irony in all of this that Steve Erseg didn't ask for a title fight, didn't demand a title fight, didn't even mention a title fight. didn't even mention a title fight. He called out Brandon Moreno after he knocked out match now. Which is a fine callout. Made a lot of sense. Moreno had lost two straight.

Just lost a Royval. Makes sense. You coming off a big win, your 3 and O in the UFC, rank guy on the come-up, call Brandon Moreno, it's a big name. It's a good call-out. Realistic, he didn't talk shit,

didn't talk trash, none of it. None of it. He gets a title fight. he made his debut in the UFC a month after Bilal Muhammad fought Gilbert Burns. And all Bala Muhammad has been doing since then and even before then, to anybody he's talking to, give me a title fight. Give me a title fight. I deserve a title fight.

And Steve Erseng gets booked in a title fight without even asking for one before Bala Muhammad gets one. It's just, it's insane. The UFC believes in merit one time at the last like 100, fights and it's not Belal getting the title shot. It's Steve Ursa getting the title shot. It's freaking crazy. Absolutely insane.

Holding hands. Go ahead. Two quick questions about UFC 300. So first one, do you have any insider information about the color of the canvas? And then the second one. My wife and I need a little bit of advice about UFC 300, right? So we watch all the cards and the watch parties and everything and all the post fights all together.

And we don't go to bars or anything. anything, we're always just like watching it and pretty private about it. But now our friends, because of UFC 300, we're kind of, you know, casuals, really want to watch 300 with us. So we don't know if we want to invite them over or not because it's going to be distracting for us. But it's also the one time that we have the opportunity to have a party with our friends. Any advice? Good question. I guess it kind of just like depends on who it is. If it's like positive people who are willing to give it a chance, then have them over

because maybe you create new fans and then maybe you have such a good time that you guys want to do this all the time. And on top of that, they may like it so much that they split the difference with you guys in the future. So instead of paying $80 every pay-per-view, you're paying like 40.

So it could be a little financial savvy move on top of that. But if it's people who would just get easily distracted and like want you to change their chance, I'll, oh, put this on, put this on, or, oh, they're going to be really judgy. Oh, if I was in this fight, I killed Alex Pereira. These guys are awful. If you're going to have that kind of attitude, then just be like, nah, man, they're just going to watch it by ourselves. You know what I mean?

Because you can still watch the other stuff. I mean, you can still do the watch party stuff. You can introduce people to watch party. You still watch all the post fight stuff together. Tell them to beat feet after the main event. event, I guess. So you and your wife can still enjoy something together. But I guess for three, like if you're going to do it for one event, maybe 300 is the one.

It's a big one. Do it. Do it. Plus you purchase it. And if it's not the vibes that you're at hope for, you just go back and watch it again. You know, you just go back and rewatch it. You guys can, that can be your Sunday night. You can watch UFC 300 again together.

But if there's one car, you're going to do it to make sure, do it for 300 and then make sure it's the right people. And to answer Terrence's other question, I'm old school guys. I'm an old school dude. Would I love to live in a world where my kid went his whole life without running into problems? Yeah, be awesome. But that's just not the world we live in. And even when I was his age, that's not how it worked. You're going to probably have to throw some fists at some point.

Growing up where I grew up, I threw fists a lot. So basically my advice to him is like, you know, try to talk your way out of it, I guess. Like if someone's just like being a pain in the ass but not physically touching you, then do what you can. But if you feel like they're putting hands on you in any, way, you have every right to defend yourself. And I've always told him that I would never be upset with him for it, even if he gets in trouble at school. I don't want him just walking up to people that are walking down the hall and like punching the face. That's not good. But if someone's pushing him or like, you know, punching him in the arm or trying to like be that guy, I told him,

even though it's weird when you've never done it, go right ahead. have at it. But make sure it's worth it and make sure it's in your defending yourself. Don't just go up and start cheap shot in people. So yeah, that's basically the same advice my dad always told me. His is a little different. His is always don't throw the first punch, throw the last punch. But today's society is a little bit different where it's just if you feel like it's, if you feel deep down that it's unavoidable, get in there and do it. And whatever happens, happens. And usually those assholes who pick on you are probably not going to pick on you anymore.

Cole, go ahead, and then we'll go to Absoua, and then we're going to go. All right. Good morning, Mike. I'm just going to preface what I'm going to say here is going to be coming from a fans' perspective and not any kind of, like, journalism perspective. I'm a good sucker. I'm a sucker for Connor interviews. I've been watching them all.

And we watched Connor interviews for a while. and it doesn't take a genius to know that this guy just isn't the same guy as maybe he was during the pandemic. Like one thing that I wish these people would ask him in his interviews is just like, how are you? Like, how is the guy? I feel like we're not really getting to him on a deep level. And every Instagram post he has, the recent ones that aren't really related to Roadhouse and are just of him or of his son and him, the most liked comment by thousands of likes on every post. has something to do with him being ruined by cocaine, cocaine this, cocaine that.

And it really sucks to see our guy, like the number one guy in our sport in this kind of spot. And I know this isn't MMA fighting style to kind of talk about this stuff and linger on this topic. But the guy just isn't the same guy. And it's sad to see. But yeah, do you kind of feel this? same way that we're getting we're getting info out of connor but he's kind of just saying stuff and it's not it's not really him i don't know what do you think about that i mean look

it's fair you obviously aren't the only one that feels this way um you know you watch a connor interview and it's like even though with ariel it's like eerily specific where it's just like you know aerial asked him about like oh you know what's this been like how's the build been like and it turns into like yeah we're doing this and then i went to you know this place and i saw the ducks and you know one duck ate a piece of bread from somebody and he's like getting eerily specific about stuff uh which is fine but i'll the man needs to fight like he just needs to fight at this point um that conversation with ariel what to me was a guy that's like just put me in the freaking cage let's go

Like, he needs to fight. That's it. I think he's getting great opportunities, obviously, like being on Roadhouse. I don't know if you guys watch a Roadhouse. It's not good. It's kind of what you expect it to be. Although Connor is great in it. Like, he's really good.

He ain't winning no Academy Awards. That's for damn sure. But he is the most fun thing in this movie by a long shot. it's just not good. It's not a good film, but he's fucking great. He's like what he needs to be. So I can assure you there's more of these opportunities are going to come his way.

There's just no doubt about it. He plays a perfect villain for a movie that isn't going to head to theaters. You know what I'm saying? So there are going to be these other opportunities. And good for him for taking him. He's going to make a ton of money. He's got the business ventures.

He's doing very well for himself. But the happiest you'll see Connor is when he is in the fold. He's in the mix. He's getting ready for fights. That's when he's at his best. Not talking about fights, not talking about when he hopes he fights, about getting phone calls about potentially fighting. When he has a fight and he's ready to go,

that is when you find Connor at his happiest. At the same time, you also can find Connor at his most miserable during those times. Daysan point, the Habib fight. He was fucking miserable that whole time. There's a lot going on, obviously, if you watch the newest doc on him on Netflix, where he certainly should not have been fighting, probably should not have fought Habib that day,

but he wanted to go through with it because he needed to fight. I would say the third Porre fight, he was pretty miserable as well, but he was happy as shit for the Soroni fight, happy a shift for the second Porre fight and there are a lot of times where when Conner's just in his flow, he's just incredibly happy

and I think that's where he is his best. So, yeah, I get it. I think it's a fair question to ask. You know, I'm not going to talk about any other things people say about him, but yeah, he's kind of all over the place. It looks like there's just a piece of his brain that is missing the thing that got him to this position, in the first place, which is getting ready to fight somebody.

And I don't know how many more fights he got left at this point. Father time catches up to all of us. So I just don't know what we're waiting for. Like, what are we waiting for? He should have been fighting at 300. This is all getting ridiculous. And if he doesn't fight this year, like, it's just fucking ridiculous. But I get what you're saying.

I absolia real quick and then I got to go. Yes, so, Mark, a heck of a morning. Firstly, I'll make this quick. One question about the NBA, what about UFC? My question about the NBA is throwing the whole MVP race and, you know, based off the recent ladder that just got uploaded about a few hours ago, who do you see winning by the end of the season and why?

And what, you know, and what would it mean for, I guess, the impact of, like, the league itself? And just a UFC question to touch on quickly about the whole Connor and all this stuff. Like, you know, it just kind of sucks that Connor is wasting his twilight years as an athlete. You know, it's weird that Dana kind of says the whole thing about money, money. Like, we don't see LeBron James and Ronaldo who are fucking billionaires still playing, still passion and stuff. Like, Conner is still very passionate. I also kind of blame a lot of U.C. fans for this because they think, oh, just because he made all this

money with Floyd and Khabib and whatnot. He doesn't care about fire. He very much does. And I still think even up to the point when he fought Dustin Pori and the second fight, he actually looked like a very good fight, like a fight who was still, you know, legit, top five, you know,

number one contented material. I'll be curiously where he goes. If he does be Chandler, I wonder where he'll go next. That's why I have a great day. I mean, that's where things get real interesting, right? we're not even thinking about what happens if Connor goes in there and just rinses Michael Chandler. If he goes in there and knocks Michael Chandler out in like 90 seconds and just annihilates him,

like what is the sport going to look like then? How will people react to that? What will Connor say? I mean, I think we know what he's going to say. He's either going to call, he's going to call for a freaking title fight. He's going to call it. He's going to call on Islam. Or he's going to call it Leon if he beats Michael Chandler.

But man, like, can you imagine the sort of seismic shift in things? If Connor just goes out there and just absolutely rinses Michael Chandler. Like, no one's even talking about that. The conversations are all just like, and I understand why, is he ever going to fight again? If so, when? When are we getting him back? We're not even thinking past that at this point, but I think we could, at this point, especially after hearing his conversation with Ariel,

like we could probably start having these conversations. Like, what if he just goes in there and does to Michael Chandler what he did to Seroni? Places, like, everyone's going to lose their minds. They're going to lose their minds. And then you got Conner with one fight left on his deal after just putting on a performance and a half and finishing Chandler.

Like, that's, boy, this has got to be a real interesting time. It's going to be a real interesting time. Now, if he goes out and, you know, does the Connor thing where he hurts Chandler in the first round, but can't get him out of there and gets tired and Chandler finishes him in round two, could get weird. Could get a little weird. There's still obviously going to be fights for Connor because he's freaking Connor, but I just don't understand why this is taking so long.

The guy just clearly wanted to fight for months. I don't understand why we're messing around here. I think we, I mean, I think we know why. and it has nothing to do with Connor McGregor, but it is what it is. But all right, everybody, we are done. Preview show 1 p.m. Eastern on the YouTube channel. We'll get you ready for UFC Vegas 89.

I don't expect it to be supremely long preview show because there's not a whole hell of lots to talk about there for being honest. So join us at 1 p.m. Eastern. We'll still have a good time. We'll still chat with you all. And then tomorrow, People's Free Fight Show, I believe it's going to be Jed, stepping in, doing the People's Pre-Fight Show, Post-Fite Show, all that fun stuff. Bellator, Belfast kicking off relatively soon.

And I think it's going to be, I'm curious to see what it all looks like. I think there's some good fights on there. It should be a nice little Friday afternoon watch. And so I hope you all enjoy it. Thank you. We'll see you at 1 p.m. Eastern. Have a heck of a rest of your Friday, everybody.