MMA Fighting - HOAM | Win or Lose, Where Does Kamaru Usman Go From UFC 286?

Episode Date: March 14, 2023

Kamaru Usman will look to avenge his stunning loss to Leon Edwards this Saturday at UFC 286. With an already Hall of Fame worthy career on his resume, what would be next for Usman should he regain the welterweight title? Or, where would he go if he loses for the second straight fight? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses those questions ahead of Saturday's pay-per-view event in London, and what options could be in play for Usman depending on the result. Additionally, lister questions include the UFC 286 co-main event between Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev, the title implications for both guys, Marvin Vettori's future, Merab Dvalishvili's impressive performance against Petr Yan at UFC Las Vegas, Aljamain Sterling's title fight with Henry Cejudo, where Usman Nurmagomedov currently sits in the global lightweight rankings after quickly dispatching Benson Henderson at Bellator 292, and more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to another week of the show. It is UFC 286 Fight Week, the trilogy fight week for the Welterweight title. coming up Saturday between Leon Edwards and Kamara Usman. We got the absolute banger between Justin Gaichie and Raphael Fiziv. We got Casey O'Neill coming back against Jennifer Maya. We got Gunner Nelson versus Brian Barberina. We have Martin Vittori versus Roman DeLizzi. Look, this card does not have all the star power in the world.

This is not UFC 285. I get that. But there are some damn good matchups on this card. There's a lot to like, and it should be a fun watch. And looking forward to heading back to New York Saturday morning for the watch party, and it's going to be a lot of fun. We will have special guests, including I am working on one massive special guest to hop in at some point during the watch party.

So stay tuned for that. There'll be a lot of, obviously, UFC 286 talk throughout the week. today we'll probably talk about that with you guys but also this past weekend a lot went down in the world of mixed martial arts Saturday the UFC was in Las Vegas they were at the theater at the Virgin hotels which I enjoyed that setting and that scene very much a lot of old school vibes I dug it I thought it was great and in the end Barab de Wallis really showed up and he beat the hell out of Piota Yan for 25 minutes. That fight was not close at all.

And Marab gets it done. And a lot of talk on the post-fight show about maybe Marab being disrespected. I know Jed had some things to say. I had some things to say, not about, I didn't call him like boring or anything like that. But I just feel, while a lot of people feel like he's the number one contender and his next fight will be for the belt, that is 100%, what should be happening. but it's probably not going to happen because just listen to how Dana talks about him and just the UFC in general. They just don't seem all that interested in them.

And I don't really understand why, because he's a pretty interesting guy. Dude's trying to jump through ice ponds and do all this crazy shit. And he's a damn good fighter. And I've been saying for a long time, there is not a Banimate on this planet that is going to be excited to see Marabon. to wash willie on the other side of a contract his name like you're just going to have to be like oh damn it really i'd fight this dude that's just how he is and that's how he's been for a long time but now he's putting himself in a position to where he is undeniable but he kind of is

deniable in some ways because of just the weirdness of this division we got aljermaine sterling getting ready to fight henry suhudo a fight that is happening intrigued by the matchup i don't i you've heard me talk about sehudo for a long time on the show not the fight i would make aljimate sterling kind of blew it on that one he should have went all in on o'malley after he beat t j dillishaw it should have been all focus on o'malley from jump street it was not that way he left an opening for the ufc to kind of do what they wanted to do and they have put henry sehuto in the spot and now we're in a weird place because shot O'Malley is probably going to get the next title shot whether you feel like he deserves it or not he's the biggest star in the division and that includes the champion and he's the guy I mean he's the guy who's going to get the next title fight whether we like it or not we also have Cheetos Cheeto Verifying Corey Sanhagen in about 12 days which is a big fight and I just don't know where Marab's going to end up in this whole situation because Aljo is probably

probably get a, if he beats the Huto, he's probably going to stick around, ban him waiting and fight O'Malley, because why would you not get the bag? It's the biggest fight he can get at 135 right now. And it's a very winnable fight for Al Jemaine Sterling from a stylistic perspective. So I think Baraz will be waiting for quite a while to get his title shot. I know he said he's happy to sit out and wait and see how this thing plays out. But we know how the UFC reacts to that kind of thing. And this is a division where there are just so.

many contenders right now. There's so many guys that are right there. So it's going to be really interesting to see where Marab ends up in all this, but I think he's going to have to fight once, maybe twice more before he gets a title shot. And that is not fair, but that is probably what's going to end up happening. And kind of stinks. But what can you do? We're seeing in multiple divisions. We saw it. We're seeing it a lightweight right now. Benile Der Ush has to fight Charles Olivera, even though he's clearly the guy who should be fighting for the belt, now he has to fight Charles Oliver to get that shot. I feel like Marab is kind of in that same position right now where he's just going to have to win one or two more before he's even in that spot. Fair or not,

that's just how I see this all playing out. Unless Aljo just says, screw it, I'm going right up to 45. But even then, if Cheetah Vera beats Corey Sanhagan and Aljo wins and moves up to 45, you really think they're going to throw Marab in a title fight when they can, could do Cheeto versus Shot O'Malley for the vacant title, they're going to do that fight in five seconds. There is no hesitation. That will be the vacant title fight. If Cheeto wins and Aljo wins and Aljo vacates and moves up to 145.

So that's the UFC. Bellator, we have another exciting guy to talk about Usman or Magamatov. Holy cow, this guy, I've been telling you about him for a long time. And now he's coming. I mean, he's not coming. He's here. That dude is here. Just runs over Benson Henderson,

lived up to the minus 2000 price tag that was on him, kicked him in the face, got on his back, submitted him, not an easy feat, and he barely broke a sweat. Incredible stuff. And now the big conversation is,

is Usman-Omaga made off a top five lightweight in the world right now? I'll say this. You can make that case, and I will listen to you. I'm just not ready to pull that trigger just yet. I'm not there just yet. And the problem for Usman, and it's the same problem that a lot of the Bellator champions have in this conversation,

is they're just not going to get the bodies to fight that are going to put you over the edge to jump above some of the top five guys, especially in our rankings. He's just not going to have the level of competition. So right now beating Benson Henderson, who basically had a, foot out the door anyways and Benson's a tough fight that's not enough for me to to pull the trigger

and say that's a top five lightweight I can't say it yet but if he goes on and fights Alexander shawley it beats him and then if he goes on and fights a j mckee and beats him he will be in my top five that is for sure but can he get any higher than that I'm not really sure but that guy is a freaking problem man he is a problem the shawbley fight was weird but he won I actually after watching the ending and the kick and how Jason Herzog handled that whole situation. I don't have a real problem with it. I think you probably handled it the best that he could. So Shabli's going to move on.

We'll see what happens to Tophik Mosaif. Maybe he'll stick around as an alternate or something like that. Lytton Vassel is, that was an impressive showing against Valentin Moldovsky. Just took him out of there quick. And MVP with one of the nastiest, grossest. finishes to a fight that I've seen, just kicking poor Goichi Amoichi in the knee and just wrecking his knee with one kick. That was just nasty stuff.

So it's good, good card for Bellator, good card for the UFC, and now we're on to UFC 286. A lot to like right now in the world of mixed martial arts. So let's turn it over to you guys. I'm done rantin. Let's go. Tristan, you were first. Have at it. How you doing, Mike? In regards to Marab, I mean, it was unbelievable with the slander that he was getting. I was seen from the MMA community, whether it was on Twitter or YouTube.

It was just unbelievable. I think his fight with Piotrion was amazing. It was incredible. The pace, the grappling. Yeah, he didn't secure positions on his takedowns, but Piotrion has a good takedown defense. And most of the time, Marabwe, was utilizing his striking, which he's getting better at.

So all this mess about, well, Rob is boring. He can't secure a takedown. He can't get finished finishes and things like that. I'm like, please, you can miss me with all that. He was just incredible. I've never seen anybody have that type of pace, maybe Habib. But like he said, nobody's going to want to fight this guy. And good luck to that division.

Maybe the only person that would be able to keep up with that pace is Umar, Umar to Megamatov, but, you know, we'll have to wait and see. And maybe that's the guy that he's going to have to fight. But it looks like Marab doesn't care. You know, he's accepted it. The thing is, you know, what are those conversations that he's having with Aljo? Have they already planned this out? And like you said, everything you said is right about Marab of what's going to happen.

I think the only key, only positive that Mara is, Rob has to look towards to is what happened to Leon Edwards, right? Leon Edwards couldn't get a title fight. He was on this crazy win straight, but then pretty much UFC had no choice. And he fought for the title and looked at him now. He's a champ and he's going to fight to defend his title this weekend against Usman. So, you know, that's the only kind of thing that he has to look forward to. We'll see.

But I just really think that Marab has accepted it. and he's going to just play it out and see what happens. That's all he can do for now. Maybe it won't go towards his favor. Maybe it will, but we'll see. I just enjoyed his performance. I think he's incredible. So my second question, my question I have for you,

I think I wanted to ask you this question, but I don't think I did. In regards to Hassan Magamette Sharpov, he said after his Belator fight about I think a week ago or two weeks ago that he has one fight left on his Bellator deal

do you think he does make the jump to the UFC where the UFC even want him I mean because that featherweight division needs help and he would pretty much be replacing his brother's beat into that fold so do you think he makes the jump to the UFC because he does want to go to the UFC

I think he admitted that, but he said, we'll see if he either resigns with Belator or makes the jump to the UFC. What are your thoughts about that, Mike? Thanks for everything. Thanks, man. He already resigned with Bellator, so he is not going anywhere. Belator heard what he had to say, and they locked him up like two days later. So I think it was like the Tuesday or Wednesday after that fight, the Bellator PR announced that they locked him up to a to an extension so

yeah he ain't going anywhere I think Bellator is probably the best place for him right now he look he's really good but you can't he can develop in Bellator he's only going to get better and if you just chuck him in there in the UFC right now especially in the UFC's featherweight division with how deep and how talents it is

he's just not going to be able to develop the way you would want him to and I think Bellator is the best place for him. They could just pull fighters from anywhere to fight him. It's not that simple in the UFC. So, yep, they were smart. Belitzer resigned him. He ain't going anywhere. There you go. And then again, with Marab, how, like, he's not a big finisher. I get that. But this was not the Jose Aldo performance. This is far from it. This was, this is incredible stuff. He beat Yan everywhere. beat Jan everywhere.

The only moments like Jan had in this fight was he was landing some good shots to the body, but as soon as he would land one, Marab would answer with like 20. Dude is just a savage. That pace is incredible. I just don't know, like, he's just in such a weird place.

It's just strange. Like, it's not even like the Leon place. The Leon place is just like, oh, do we have to give this kind of title fight? Like, that's how the UFC approach it. That's why they kept throwing Usman back in there with Mazadol again. They threw him back in there with Colby again.

They were doing like everything to avoid it. And 170 like didn't have a lot of guys that were on the come up. Like Hamzat was on the way up but he didn't really have that big win to give him a title fight. So they were just recycling opponents for Usman. And then they just did like you said, they just didn't really have a choice. Right now Bannamway is just so loaded right now. You can make a case for like three or four guys to get a title shot right now. And all of them make sense.

all of them make sense. It's just a weird spot, especially with the champion being a buddy that he's not going to fight. I got to tell you, like I respect both of those guys for not wanting to fight each other, but there is a part of me.

Maybe it's a little bit evil. I want to see those two guys fight. I'm super, super fascinated on how that one would go. It's never going to happen, I know, but I would love to see it. That's an interesting fight. Let's see if we can get Mikey.

The luck has not been great lately. Mikey's connection has just not been great. So let's see if we can get them in now. And so far, not looking good. That wheel is spinning. All right, try again, Mikey. Let's go to Brian. Brian, hello.

Hey, Mike, sorry about that. Hey, there we go. What's up, man? How you doing? I just wanted to touch on Jonathan, Martinez. That was one of my favorite performances I've seen and his emotion after the win was like amazing because this is a guy. He had some weight cutting issues a couple of years ago. I remember against the Frankie Saints fight. Just kind of had like a rough patch against Davy Grant too. And

seeing a kid like that working really hard is really nice. So you just kind of wanted your opinion on him and how far do you really see him going? I love the skills and I think his camp is really something that can maximize his ability. I really think he's Chris Gutierrez, almost 2.0, just the lefty and longer. So just wanted your opinions on that. I was super excited about him this weekend. Thanks, Mike. Yeah, he's good.

I picked him. I picked him to win that fight. I thought he was a super live dog. I thought those odds were a little too wide. Dude's good. And he should really contact me about changing his nickname to the silence behind the violence.

That's the nickname. It's not the dragon. No, no, no, no, no. It is the silence behind the violence. TSB TV. That's a nickname for Jonathan Martinez. He's just such an awkward guy, like when it comes to public speaking and stuff. He's coming into his own a little more, but he's just so quiet.

And I know this sport, especially when it comes to the UFC, the closed mouths don't get fed. But I don't want to see Jonathan Martinez become like a big trash talk or anything like that. I like the silence behind the violence. I like him letting his fighting do the talking. I liked his callouts, and I like the way he did it. It's probably not going to happen, but Dominic Cruiser, Davis of Figuerado. Cool. I like those calls.

I don't think he gets either of those fights, but I still dig it. What I would do if I was him, I would get right on the Umar train and start calling that man out because he probably won't win that fight, but he, If he just calls out Umar for a fight, immense respect he will get just for calling him out would be incredible. And if he lost that fight, it's not the end of the world. I don't think Jonathan Martinez is going to be a guy that's going to fight for the belt or anything like that. But he is a serviceable guy.

He's a good hand at 135. It just shows you how deep that division is right now. He's a good test for a lot of these guys. I just don't know if he's going to be like a top five type of 35er. but he could be a top 15 guy for a while. Go be the Normaga Madoff Slayer, man. That'd be pretty sweet. Goes in there and fights Umar.

What if he beats him? What if he beats him? That's massive. Then he's like, then he can kind of strap the rockets to him a little bit. But I just don't think he gets the Cruz fight. I don't think he gets the figgy fight. But I like the calls.

I don't think there were, like, unrealistic. I just don't say either happening. But if he went on, he goes out and just starts calling him, out. Oh, man. I would watch the hell out on a flight. You look great. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time.

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So I was kind of pissed off that I ended up parlaying, what's it called, Span, Volkov, and Marab. And, man, I really thought Span was in a win. But Volkov, what's the quote, I noticed that, like, he saw something very early in the fight, which he's very conservative, I guess, and like the way that he takes his approach in the octagon.

And I don't know what it is with Romanov, but maybe that loss really did affect him against Marcy and Tibera. But one, he looked like what Jose Young said, like a giant bag of soup. When I saw him, I was like, whoa, this man lost a lot of weight in his previous fights to fight Tibera

and him changing camps. I mean, him going heavier, I don't think was the best approach either. I think that he definitely needs to work with a striking coach. I think that him just trying to grapple people and take him down isn't going to be the way you try to get your way into the top five in the heavyweight division. Mike, if you have any recommendations, like, what would you try to, like, if you try to consult Romanov, like, what would he need to address? I didn't realize when the broadcast was bringing it up.

I didn't know that Marab fought Rafian Stats. I wanted to know from your perspective How would you think Rafihan Stats would do In the UFC's Bannonweight Division If he was like inside the top five You think you'd be able to hang with with the majority of them And lastly, I know we have Usman versus Edwards

Well Edwards versus Usman this week I have a strong feeling That head kick took a lot from Usman, Usman, what is he, 36, 37 or about to be 37. I think that Ousman is at the very point, like, you know, he was probably very distracted. I don't think he has much fights left in him.

And I believe the fact that Oussman, I mean, Edwards, not only did take him down for the first time, and he was also the first person to knock him out, I won't be surprised he takes him down again in this fight and chokes him out. I mean, that's just what I'm thinking that's going to end up happening. is it more than likely going to happen?

I have no idea, but I just think that Leon is pretty live, just like he was pretty live in that previous fight. And I wouldn't be surprised if Leon walks out of the O2, you know, with his bow. All right, thanks, Mike. So the Romanov thing, I don't know, it's kind of hard to say. I would probably go back to the weight you were when you fought Marching Tibora and just keep working on that cardio and get your confidence up and just try to learn how to pace yourself a little bit.

maybe consult with Justin Gache. Justin was able to take his chaos and somewhat control it, but still be very effective with it. So, I mean, it's not the same because Romanov's more of a grappler, but something to that effect. I don't know. It's tough to kind of figure him out. I wonder if there was an injury,

if there was something that was hampering him that maybe he probably shouldn't even have fought, but he just needed to. I don't know. I really have no idea. We haven't heard really much from him, but less is more when it comes to the weight for for romanov there's there's no doubt about that how would stats do in the ufcc's 135 division he'd hang he would hang i honestly like

i don't think stats and patchy mix is like a great fight but i think patchy's gonna i think patchy's got to run him over like i i think patchy is is on one right now and stats has been great Stats is a very good fighter, been high on him for a long time. But Mix just looks like he's on another level right now. That last performance against Magamad, Maghamed Maghavadoff, like he sold me. I was never really sold on him.

That performance sold me. So I actually would, I think right now, and maybe when they fight April 22nd, Stats will go in there and just beat him. Who the hell knows? But as of right now, I would actually be more interested to see how Patchy Mix would do

in that division overrunner. Rafi on Stats. I think Patch is going to have a massive year. I really think he's, I really think he's about to do, going to have himself a special year. I think we're going to be talking a lot more about him this year. But I think both those guys could hang. I don't know, I think Mix could probably win the belts. Not sure if Stats could win the belt, but he'd be in play, he'd be in play and he could compete with all those guys for sure. And then we'll see with Usman. I'm picking Usman right now, but again, anything could happen in that fight. We had a we had a little roundtable on M.A. fighting today. Who has more pressure to win? Is it Usman or

Gaichi? Gachie is obviously fighting Raphael Beziv. And three out of our four panelists picked Justin Gaichie as the guy with the most pressure. And I believe Damon was the only one who picked Usman. I think Usen is the clear answer here. Usman's the clear answer. Because Gaichi, like,

I don't think either has a lot left in the tank. I think Gaichi probably has like three or four more fights left in him, if that. Usman may be less. But if, like, Gajie loses to Fiziv, it's going to sting. Like, he's not

going to fight for the belt anymore. I wouldn't say he's, like, gone altogether, but the chances of him getting back to a title shot in that division are going to be very tough. But it doesn't matter. Gachie is just a fun dude and people just want to see him fight. They, a lot of people don't feel the same way about Oussman. If you put, if you put out like graphics of like, Gachi's fighting so and so and Ousman's fighting so and so, the Gachi one is going to get a lot more play and a lot more excitement behind it. So there are, fights for Gachie, some big fights,

definitely can headline, fight night cards, homemade event on big fight cards, big pay-per-views, no problem. I don't think Usman's the same way. I don't think Usman's the same way. What else can he do? What else can he do?

If he loses, once he's going to go to 185? I mean, he could, but then he's going to have to win a bunch of fights. It's not like he's going to walk right into a title fight at 185. and if he stays at 170 and keeps fighting, he's going to have to fight

freaking Shafka-Rachmanoff, and that ain't fun. So I think the answer is clearly Kamara Usman has more pressure on him to win. And I think he can win. But we'll see how much the knockout affects him

and we'll see how Leon performs at home in his first title defense. It's one thing to win the belt. We talk about all the time. It's another thing altogether. to continuously defend that bad boy and Leon's gonna find out what that's like on Saturday. Four-ounce sniper, hello.

All right, try again. Don't hear you. Let's go to Edward. Edward, hello. Hey, what's up, Mike? Hope you're doing good. I just have a question for 286. I see a lot of people like,

while I watch guru and stuff, they talk about the glove grabbing in round one to prevent the rear naked choke from Leon and like the fake nut shots against Colby and, you know, the one in round five that, you know, separated them. And I see him say, like, Leon won on his best night, and, like, Usman couldn't win against, like, all odds, like, with elevation and all that. And I was just wondering, who do you favor?

And did the elevation play a factor? I'm sure I played a factor for both guys, but I don't think he played that much of a factor. I think Usman just took his, I think Usman was just cruising. He was cruising and he got kicked in the face. I mean, he got kicked to the face. He took his foot off the gas for one second and he got kicked in the face and knocked unconscious. So it's not a fluke.

It's just a well-timed kick. It happened at a perfect point. And Leon beat him fair and square. That's it. It was great first round for Leon. Look, Usman, we talk about it all the time. cheat go ahead and cheat no one's going to call it no one's going to call it i mean davy grant got a point taking away for a fence grab but what was the last time you saw a point take it away for a fence

grab glove grabs all that shit they don't call anything they don't call anything the referees have come out in public and said we don't want to determine the outcome of a fight by making a call i mean it gets to a point where it becomes too egregious but they ain't calling anything so just do what you got to do to win a fight i mean It's so strange. But that's any other sport, all those things are penalized. There's repercussions for all this shit. Not an MMA because the referees don't want to be responsible for changing the outcome.

Oh, one point in a fight can change everything. Well, well, what's the answer then? What's the answer? It's an intriguing fight. I mean, honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen. Like I said, I'm picking Ustman. I'm not all that. that confident in it. But yeah, it's an interesting one. Let's go to JD. Yes, sir. How are you doing

on this beautiful southern morning? Doing good. It was a little chilly this morning, but I ain't complaining. It is a little chilly. Yeah, it is a little chilly, but the sky is pretty pretty. All right, so pretty sure his name is Edward, he already kind of touched on what I was going to ask about. I personally think that the elevation could have played a factor into the Leon Usband fight. I personally think that Leon is going to be able to come out and look a little bit more like he did in round one in this weekend. So I'd like to talk about Raphael Fiziev against Justin Gage. Fizier, I think he's going to take it. I know Gagey hits like a Mack truck and he's got a great chin.

but Zeev, dude, he looks like a Mack truck that has been distilled into a 155-pound body. It just looks insane. So I would like to see, if he wins in a stunning fashion, where do you think he goes? Do you think it could be the winner of Chandler McGregor? Do you say, where do you think he could go? Thanks, bud. Appreciate everything. Bye.

It's a tough one. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of up in the air because we don't know what Islam's going to do yet. Oliver is fighting Benile Darius, maybe the loser that fight. The best case scenario for him is that if he goes out there and just melts Justin Gagey, that gets Dustin Porey excited and he could fight Dustin Porey. but I also believe that Dustin Porre is still in play for a title shot, which may not make a lot of sense from a meritocratic perspective. But he's in play.

I'm telling you, he's definitely in play for a title fight. Yeah, I don't know. He's in a weird spot too. It'd be Porre, maybe the loser of Oliver versus Darius. I don't think he's going to fight like Gamrod or anybody like that. And I don't think it'll be Chandler Connor because, We don't know when that fight's going to happen. It might not be to like the end of, like, November, December when that fight actually happens.

And I don't think Fizizu wants it on the sidelines for that long. But, man, this fight's great. This fight is great. Fizadee is a huge favorite. I didn't think he'd be that big of a favorite. It'll be interesting to see how Fizib approaches this. If this is going to be just a stand-up fight, if Fizizizade try to take him down a bunch, I can't wait to see it. I would say probably the loser of Oliver Adair,

are you sure. Best case of Derry gets Dustin Porier. But it's just so these divisions are all a mess right now. They're all a mess. But he's in a great place if he wins this fight, that's for sure. Who knows? Maybe they give him the title shot. I don't think they will, but they could.

King, hello. Good. How are you? Comes back from a head kick of Kio like that. Do you think the championship mindset plays a factor in this one? like after getting knocked out unconscious like that in the fifth round let's be honest here it was a hail merry do you think

Usman bounces back and even if he doesn't where does Usman go from there and the same question for Justin Geichi because I truly feel that he's one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC to never win a bet and this truly is his last chance if he loses this he truly him and Dustin together they never gonna they are never gonna win a jersey lightweight belt. So what are your thoughts on that?

Yeah, it's tough to pick both of those fights. Let me pull up the odds. Let's see. Like I said, I'm picking Oosman to win a decision that at the end, I don't think people are going to be all that compelled with. It's just going to be like

an Ousman decision. But I could be wrong. I think I think Edwards winning is probably the best case in for the division and for the company right now because of they want to keep going back to London. They want to keep going back to the UK. Usman was getting over, but he wasn't really a megastar by any stretch of the imagination. Edwards has the moments. If he beats Usman again,

that's a step forward to becoming a star. So, and plus it creates a lot of fresh matchups. If Usman wins, he's got to fight like Belaw Muhammad or something. because he's not going to fight Hamzot. I mean, I would love to see that fight, but, and I don't think they're going to run this back again. So who's been probably below? I don't know. If he loses, I don't know what the hell to do.

If he sticks their eyes fighting Shafgar Akmanov. That's what is about to happen. But if Leon wins, holy moly, this can go a number of different ways. Because we got Mazadol fighting Gilbert Burns, April 8th, and I'm telling you right now, folks, folks, if Mazadol wins that fight and Leon wins on Saturday, the UFC is going to make that fight. They're going to make it. We're going to get Mazdaal fighting for the title again.

It's going to happen. But I'm picking Usen by decision. Not happy about it. Not confident in it. I think he's probably learned from his mistakes. But I think stylistically, Edwards has a good chance to do it again. Unless he gets the home crab behind him. He doesn't have to travel all the miles this time. He wasn't the one he got kicked in the face and knocked out. There's a lot of questions for Usman. I think if Usman shows up and he should win.

But again, I'm not all that confident. And then for Zeev Gehche, I have to figure that out a little bit more. But from like a betting perspective, you're giving me Justin Gehie at plus 175 against almost anybody. probably going to take a look at that number, but I would probably lean physique right now, but again, not all that confident in that fight either. That's just a sick fight.

That fight should be lined closer to me, but who am I? Yo, what's up, AA? Good. What do you got? I want to talk about Marvin Vittori, because I think if he wins and he loses, I think he's kind of stuck in both senses, because if he loses, well, he just lost to the number nine ranked guy. And that sort of hurt his relevance in the division a bit.

But if he wins, he's nowhere near a title shot. And he's lost to Izzy twice already. He just got his face destroyed by Robert Whitaker. What the heck do you do with Marvin Vittori? Okay, that's all I've got. Everyone, have a great day. Cheers. I mean, he's ranked number four in the UFC rankings,

so I don't think he's like that far removed. But if he wins, probably fights like Drickus Duplase or something. Or Brendan Allen, one of those two guys. I mean, there's Cannon Air there, but I think Cannon Air would... So Cannon Air is going to fight either Brendan Allen or DDP, in my opinion. And then Vittori will probably fight the other if he wins. And if he loses, I don't know.

I kind of want to see Vittory go up to 205. I said that after the Whitaker fight. I want to see him go up to 205. I think he beats a lot of those guys. I think he competes in his probably beats a lot of those guys at 205. So maybe that's the move if he loses. If you lose to Roman, like what do you get fight? Chris Curtis, Imovov.

Like those are the fights he has to get. Maybe he has to, maybe he's the tester for, Hamzaat at 185 on this new journey he's taking at middleweight. I don't know. But I think, I mean, I still think Vittori has some blikes to him. He's in a weird spot. He's probably

going to have to win another one, another couple of fights, but if Pereira beats Izzy, he'll probably have to fight Whitaker. And if he beats Whitaker, then if Votori beats DeLi and gets one more win, he's right there. He's not out of it. Middleweight's

middleweight's a little more interesting now because we have guys on good runs like delides a like alan like ddip but other than that it's not a great division so yeah there's there's there's a path back he needs perera to keep winning but there's a path back i think but he should be i have i think he's going to be roman deletes a i don't think it's going to be a fight of the night by any stretch but i think he's just just going to do what he typically does to most guys. And I think he'll win a decision. Yeah, yeah. Hello.

What's up, Big Mike? How you doing, man? Good. How are you? Good. So one thing about this fight for this weekend, I think the one thing that's getting overlooked for Camaro is his mental determination and his 42. Last time he got finished, you know, we saw how dominant he was and he put the whole 170 on notice. So I think that's going to play a huge factor. I mean, I'm given his age, I know, you know, there's a lot of questions, but, you know, I feel like he's in a, his mental determination is going to pull through this whole, this fight. Now, if he wins, what do you think happens?

Do you think he takes one more fight and he retires? Or, you know, is he just kind of just going to keep going until he, you know, eventually just retires? Thanks, Mike. Yeah, I mean, if he, if he retired either way, it wouldn't shock me. Because I just don't know what else is there for him. I mean, he might just want to give Bilal a title shot. Because I really think that's the only way Ballal gets the next shot is if Usman calls for it.

And they are both managed by the same guy. And maybe Usen is aware of that. He's like, you know, let's just give my boy Balal his chance. Him moving up and fighting in a different weight class and trying to become a two-division champion, I think that's probably off the table now. But I don't think there's a lot left. There's just not a lot of things left for him to do at this point.

Yeah, and the mental fortitude is there. But this is, he got knocked out. He didn't even get knocked out. He got submitted in his second fight by Jose Casares. And then he went on and won every fight since then. And obviously he bounced back from that finished loss and won a bunch of fights. But this was not after being a long-reigning champion. This is not after being less than a minute away from.

defending the title again. This was him being on the wrong end of maybe the greatest highlight in the history of the promotion. Him getting brutally ca-oed for the first time in his career. Losing the belt, trying to get it back. There's a lot of questions. And he does have great mental fortitude. And he does carry himself like a champion and has a great mindset. but he's never been knocked out like that before.

So I do have, I definitely still have questions. I do think skill for skill, Leon presents a lot of problems for him. We said that heading into that fight, but the fight was going exactly the way I thought it was going to go until he got kicked in the face. But I mean,

I'm intrigued by it. I'm intrigued. I don't think the fight's going to be all that compelling. Either way. I mean, if Leon wins, he's going to just run over Kamarro. I don't think Leon's just going to like outlast him and win a decision. He's going to finish Kamar Usman if he wins. But if Usman wins, it's going to be a typical Uspen-like performance.

At least the way I see it on paper, but we'll find out on Saturday. Early start time, too, which I'm very excited about. Gustavo, hello. Hey, good morning, Mike. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. How are you? I was going to ask you, what do you think? about this. I saw that Dana said that

Connor and Chandler was not official for after they're done with the ultimate fighter. You think there's any chance that if Leon wins, they just kind of slide Connor into the 170 title shot. I mean, after all, he is the cash cow of the UFC. And I think that'd probably

be a good promotion for them, personally. That's all I got to say. Wait, when did he say that? I just saw reports yesterday. I mean, they could have been fake, but I'm pretty sure that's what I saw that it wasn't, like, official that they were going to fight after they're done

with the ultimate fighter. Oh, yeah. I could be misinformed, too. I could also be misinformed. You know how Twitter is. Yeah, I don't think that's true. I'd be shocked if that's the case. I mean, the way they presented this whole thing was

these two are going to coach and then they're going to fight. Like, it's not even about the coaching. It's about the fight. So, yeah, I think those two guys will fight. I don't think, I don't think Connor's sneaking in there. I mean, we're already at a weird place that if Mazadol beats Burns and Edwards wins, they're going to give Mazadol a title shot after losing his last three fights.

So, yeah, I don't think that happens. And I think he will end up fighting Chandler because, I mean, why would Chandler, why would Chandler sign on to do this if he wasn't going to fight Connor? So I'd be pissed if I were Michael Chandler if that were the case. I mean, go through that whole thing, be away from your family for all that time. And then you miss out on the big bag to fight Connor. Yeah, that fight's going to happen. That fight's going to happen for multiple reasons.

Because then you don't even have to, like you can headline a pay-per-view without having to waste a title fight to do it, which is the dream. then we can load up other cards with multiple title fights. So, yeah, I don't, I don't see either of those things happening. Now, if Connor goes out there and beats Chandler and calls out whoever the champion is, that's a different story. But to skip Chandler and give him a welterweight title fight after all that time away, I just don't see that happening. Even though it's Connor and anything's possible, I just don't think that is right now.

I mean, people would be in an uproar if that happened. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes.

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

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Just real quick, I wanted to speak on the Davey Grant performance. So I didn't see the fight as a whole, but I did see round three. And it looked to be at worst. It was going to be a 9-9 round after he got the point deducted. After that, Davy just went for the kill, and he actually ended up getting the kill. I just wanted to ask you, why don't we see fighters whenever they are down in the whole fight or down a certain round? why don't they go for the kill like that? Because, you know, it turned out well for Davey,

but other guys, you see him roll over and just take the loss. I mean, maybe he thought, maybe he thought he was winning. Maybe he thought he was winning and didn't want to take a big risk. Asunsa had an answer for a lot of the stuff he was doing. And I think two of the judges gave a Sunsao the first two rounds. And I think one judge had it won one head.

into the third. So maybe his team is telling like, hey, you're doing the right things. You're, it worse, you're down. It worse, it's 1-1. So just keep kind of doing what you're doing. And I don't know. I don't know what was going on in his mind. But maybe he thought he was winning the fight.

I don't know. But when you get to that point where, I mean, that point being taken away, put you in a position where it's like, all right, you're definitely losing now. Like, you can't win unless you finish. Opened up his eyes a little bit. But that whole sequence is just really weird. Taking the point and then the position and not giving a suns out of the spot the position back.

All of that was just all really weird. I really just wish that Keith Peterson just took the point while the action was still happening. Then all of this would be avoided, perhaps? I don't know. But we did get probably a submission of the year candidate out of it. with that triangle, that was friggin' insane. What a wild ending to that fight. Got a feel for Jafiel Sunsoe in some ways went on to retire.

And I had heard heading in that there was a chance that was his final fight either way. So I wasn't really surprised when he put the gloves in the center. But yeah, that was just a weird one. That was a weird one. Davey usually is a guy that gets after and goes for the finish most time. so maybe he had flashbacks from the Yanez fight because he took some damage in that fight, as he jane is.

Yeah, I'd love to see what was going on in that man's brain. But that was a crazy-ass finish. Barbarusa, hello. Barbarusa, you're muted. Barbarusa. All right. Let's go to Emilio. What's good, Mike?

How you doing? I'm doing could be better got a whole moving situation going on and living a living among boxes is not that fun

but anyways that's why I'm here to cheer myself up yeah anyways so I wanted to talk about the UFC

Las Vegas card I thought it was a decent card but I I just don't know what I'm going to do

after Marab just in his last two fights, single-handedly has killed my entire vibe. First, he beats, quotation marks, Joseo Aldo, retires him, essentially. And then he goes on and beats Peter Young, my favorite fighter. And he's just like, no, Aljo, I love you. You're the best. I'm just going to be your bodyguard. and I'm going to keep beating contenders,

but I'm not going to fight you. It's like, I don't know, man. I'm obviously, it's an impressive performance in the sense that he's got good cardio. But this is not the cardio, like ultimate cardio championship. This is fighting. I don't know if there needs to be some sort of revamp, rebamp concerning the scoring system or what?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to argue that Peoria won that fight. He didn't, for sure. You can just see it on his face. The guy was growing a second head. Credit to Marab on that, but that was so frustrating to see. That was just, I can't, man. It was one of the most frustrating performances that I've ever seen.

And honestly, I don't think I would have a huge problem with it. It is impressive. It's just at the end, he goes on it. It's like, no, Aljo, I love you, man. I'm never going to fight you. I'm just thankful that Dana at least called him out on that. It's like, hey, dude, probably not the smartest thing to do. Anyways, I just wanted to get your thoughts on that whole dynamic,

not necessarily the performance in itself because it's like, Yeah, great cardio, arguably the best cardio in the history of the UFC. And that's saying something. But, man, was that, it just wasn't a good fight. It wasn't a good fight. It was a great performance, not a good fight in my opinion. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on the whole, like, Aljo, Marab dynamic. Yeah, that's it.

Thanks again, Mike. Have a heck of a morning. Thanks, man. I don't necessarily agree with you. I mean, he beat the shit out of Pieter-Yon. This was not the Aldo fight. The Aldo fight, I had a big problem with. I don't think he, I think he actually lost momentum on the Aldo fight.

But how can you not? He's got tons of it now. I mean, that was like one of my biggest concerns with this fight. I was like, well, he's going to just try to beat him up against the fence for 25 minutes. But he beat the shit. out of Peodor Yan. Like everywhere. Yeah, the cardio was great.

The pace is unbelievable. Yeah, he attempted 50 take-down attempts. Yeah, he only got 11 or 12 of them. But he beat up Peyotr-Yon on the feet, too. Yon would land, but Rob would counter with like eight more. It was just crazy the pace he put on. He beat his ass. He beat Peyot-Yon's ass.

You can't take anything away from that. And now if you're a Jan fan and you're like, damn it, like I wanted to see Jan do better. Yeah, I bet it's frustrating. But to say like that was a bad, like, I didn't, I know you didn't say it was a bad performance, but I think we expected a much more competitive fight. So I get it from that aspect. But this was not the Aldo fight. And you saw it from Jump Street. I tweeted out after the first round.

That first round, what he did in that first round of Pieter Jan was more impressive than any single single. seconds of the Jose Aldo fight. Any second of it. The Aldo fight did him no favors. You get an opportunity like that, you got to go in there and make a statement. He did not. He did not.

That was an awful fight. It's not really his fault. The matchmaking socks in that whole situation. Marab Jose Aldo did not deserve that to fight Maraub de Wallis really and he certainly didn't deserve to fight Maraub de Wallis really in Salt Lake City.

At altitude, no. That was piss poor matchmaking. And I usually keep praise upon the matchmakers. I think for the most part, they do an excellent job. This was one of the all-time biggest botches in the history of the sport. This was bad. Jose, especially in hindsight after watching the TJ Dillishaw title fight, Jose Aldo should have gotten that title fight.

Morab could have fought TJ. Boom. Would have been all set. Good to go. even if Marab exposed the shoulder injury, like that's fine. We're in a much better position they were in right now. But Jose Aldo had to retire

after just a lackluster stink fest in that fight. It was just a bad fight. It was not good. It was not good. But Maraub needed a make-up for it, and I thought he did in a big way. He beat Piotriand's ass.

Killer to post, almost every second of the fight. lots of praise for rob lots of praise for that performance and i understand like some people are like well marab's not a big finisher he doesn't try to finish yeah there's probably some truth to that but this was this was not a boring performance this is not a marab just took pierter down and laid on him for 25 minutes performance this is marab beating that ass and i didn't see that coming i picked yon to win i thought it would be a very close fight i thought John would do enough. I knew the takedown defense would hold up,

but I didn't think Marab would just out hustle him on the feet like that. So that was surprising. And plus Marab is very hitable. I mean, he is very hitable, which is why I picked Jose Aldo to beat him, because as good as Marab's pace is, as much improve as just striking has been, he is very hitable, very hitable.

And Jan just couldn't get to him. And that was impressive too. I was successful to the body. When he went to the body, he was landing, and he was landing some rib roasters, but just he was getting answered by multiple shots. So, God, that was impressive. What could he say?

Incredibly impressive stuff. And the Aljo thing, this isn't new. This isn't new. They've been saying this for years. They're not going to fight each other. That's fine. Aljo's got one, maybe two more fights at 35. and then he's bouncing up anyways.

He's going to fight Suhudo. If he beats Suhuda, he'll go get the bag against O'Malley, and then he'll move up, and then Marab and get his shot. Or maybe Aljo will move up after the Suhudo fight. Who knows? Taryn, hello. What's up, Mike? Yo.

Just to continue on what you were just talking about in regards to the whole cardio situation. I've never seen or heard anybody, like, complain about people's cardio and being weaponized against other fighters. Like, you have Kobe, you have have Mets Holloway, you have a ton of people that outlasts people.

Like, Pidon does it as well. Like, a lot of times people say, oh, he's just collecting data, whatever. You can also say that he's just waiting for people to tire himself out. One thing that the Dakhistani Rastler say is that I'm going to keep wrestling, taking them down, keep taking them down,

until they get tired, and then I'm going to tap them out. Nobody has a problem with it until now. And I think a lot of it has to do with the last fight that Maraub was in. And people being bitter about that, like, oh, you just can't just keep spending the tape downs. And like you said, he's doing more than that. Like, same thing with Kobe. Like, as much as I dislike him, he weaponizes his cardio.

And he more or less just goes in, just keep repeatedly putting something in your face, take me down. Put something in your face taking you down. And it's not like peon in his scroll. of when it comes to take down the fence. So it's going to take all those takes down to make it effective. And had Mara gas himself out, pretty young,

what took advantage of it. So I don't see where the disconnect is in regards to that. I think it's just people being hypocrites. And I don't know what to say. But that kind of goes along with what Jeb was saying when I was like, this is what your favorite fighter confused,

just as passionate about it. This is what your favorite fighter does. He goes in. he takes people down relentlessly, and he says that I'm trying to make them tired, and then I'm going to tack them out. So I don't see any difference. And his comments the other day is like,

oh, you need to watch more fights. It's almost like call somebody a casual. Like, okay, like, you are a former lawyer. Like, you can have a better argument than that, but whatever. And I just want to hear your thoughts on that. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, this is not, again, this is not the, people have a bad taste in their mouth.

both the Al-Lo thing. And I don't think it's necessarily Marab's fault. He's just the guy that beat him. And it was not good. Like, it was not a good showing. It was not a good win. Marab gained nothing from that win. Nothing.

And it was frustrating to watch. It was very frustrating to watch. Because I did agree with Jed in a lot of senses when it came to that fight. Marab won because he just held Jose Aldo against the fence. and that like you can call it weaponizing cardio I just think he held them against the fence like it was not a good performance it was not good

this is different this is different and I think Marab knew that I think Marab understood the assignment this couldn't just be I'm going to hold Peerrean against the fence for 25 minutes he beat his ass he beat Peerrean up this is not the all

if he did if Maraub did what he did to Pieterian to Josealdo we're not having this conversation right now now. People aren't looking at Marab with that kind of bitter taste in their mouths. And it was mostly because the nostalgia in most fans

wanted to see Jose Aldo get what he rightfully deserved, which was a freaking title shot. And instead, they feed him to Marab in Salt Lake City in altitude, and that's the fight we got. And I actually thought it was a really, like I thought it was a good stylistic matchup for Aldo.

It's just the fact that they did it in Salt Lake City and Aldo couldn't be it best. It was just tough. And then Marab wins and it just wasn't a great win. People had questions. They left a sour taste in their mouths. And it's not necessarily his fault. It's just because he fought Aldo. Now, if he fought anybody else, I don't think it would have been the same backlash. But he, he shut a lot of people up with that performance. Like, I don't necessarily disagree with Jed when it comes to, like, Habib would weaponize cardio to choke you out. like he went in there with the the sense of like

I'm going in there to finish you and I know Habib had a bunch of decisions along the way and then down the stretch he just was running over everybody and finishing everybody and if you want to say that Habib had more of a killer instinct than Marab

I don't think you can argue that I don't think you can argue that but did I necessarily agree with everything Jed said on post-fight show? No. I try to reel him in a little bit. But I think it's just because mostly he just, the respect he has for Jose Alto, I think that bitter taste just kind of carried over a little bit to me. But yeah. And unfortunately, that that win does a lot for him in terms of,

like, I know some people still say he's boring, whatever, but who cares? But in terms of the people that matter, that win's going to be good. But I don't think. it's going to get him where he probably deserves to go coming out of it. This division is just such a mess. The whole situation is a mess. The fact that Al Jemaine Sterling is fighting Henry Sehudo is just so silly. It's so silly. And I blame you, Aljo.

It's your fault. It's your fault this is happening. We tried to tell you on this show how to handle all of this. And you didn't listen. And now you got to fight Zahudo instead of getting the bag. against Sean O'Malley. If you just went for the bag right away, you'd be getting the bag right now.

And now you're fighting Henry Sehudo. There you go. And now poor Mara has to wait like until two more defenses before you can get a title shot. It's crazy. Brent, take us home. You can hear me, right, Mike? Yes, sir.

I absolutely agree when it comes to Al Joe not picking O'Malley. Just like, what a bag fumble if you lose to Henry. My question is about a term that you like to use, a go home show. What does that mean exactly? Where did you first hear that term? Thanks, Mike.

Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I use go home show a lot. It's a per wrestling term. It's per wrestling term. So let's just say, WrestleMania is coming up on Sunday, and they have an addition of a Monday Night Raw last night. It's the go home show for WrestleMania.

It's the last show on, it's the last Monday Night Raw before WrestleMania. It's the go home show. We're on our way home. We're on our way to WrestleMania. So I look at fight nights as kind of like episodic television. The pay-per-views of what matter. That's where the bigger fights are for the most part. Now, sometimes you get a fight night that's not quite a pay-per-view quality, but damn good.

And then sometimes you get the apex cards. And I think this Las Vegas card is kind of like in between the two. But it's on, like these shows, as you watch them, there's a lot of promotion for the upcoming pay-per-view. It's a lot of packages for the pay-per-view, the lineups, here's what's happening on Saturday, here's the promo for this. It's their last chance, it's not their last chance, but it is an opportunity for them to put on fights, but also sell the pay-per-view.

So that's why I use Go-Home show for that stuff. It's just, it's a per-restling term, and that's why I use it. All right, we'll take these last two, real quick. Abs Walia, what you got? Hey, Mike, what's up? How you doing? Hello, good. So I've got a question regarding Peter Young.

Where does he go next from here? Is it wise if he moves up to featherweight, you know, possibly have a few fights there or still try to hang it out and do his best to make a title shot again down the line? Because the way I see it, either he loses his confidence. confidence. You know, this is taking a hard loss of him and he probably goes down the hill at like a Kelvin Gaslin or he could maybe take some time or build some confidence and maybe in the future have a rematch with the guys he's lost to. What are your thoughts on this? Yeah, I'm not ready to give up up Peter Yan just yet. This was Marab showed up and I mean,

that was the best, that was the best performance of Marab's career. And Yon didn't seem, I'm not trying take anything away from Marab, but Jan didn't seem completely there. But maybe it's just because Marab put the boots to him so quickly that Jan just wasn't ready for it and it frustrated him. But I'm not ready to give up on him yet. I'm not ready to give up on him yet. A lot of people still feel like you won the O'Malley fight. I think the knee, even O'Malley came on and said, like, I took something from him.

I don't think that's true. I think the, there may be like a smidget of truth to this. that. Maybe there's frustration from the judges not giving him that nod. And most people scored that fight for Pieter Jan. A lot of people threw out the R word. I did not. I did not think it was a robbery. After going back and watching, I was stunned watching it live. Go back to the watch party. I was stunned that Jan didn't get that decision. But when you go back and watch it again, you can make a case. I mean, you can make a case that O'Malley won. Not a great one, but wasn't a robbery. I've seen far more egregious

decisions than that. But I think that probably had something to do with it. I'm sure Jan at the position he was in was like, damn it, I got to fight this dude, which isn't fun for anybody. So I'm not ready to give up on him yet. I would not give him a pacey type of wrestler next. I'm not chucking him in there with Umar and Amaga Madameh next. But I think there is a fight coming up April 8th. That I think is perfect. You either, it's either Rob Fott or Adrian Yannis. Whoever wins that fight?

Perfect. Get in there, have a scrap, box your faces off. That's going to be fun as hell. I think that one makes perfect sense. We don't need to give him too big of a step back. But yeah, I think the font Yanna's winner or even the loser. One of those two guys, I think is perfect. And we go that route.

I don't think he needs to go up to 45. I saw some people saying he should go to 125. I don't want to see that. I feel like he's way too big for 125. I think he's fine. This game is full of swings. And we've seen fighters far less talented than Peyotr Yan, get on the Schneide and come back

and come out of it a better fighter. And I'm not ready to just give up on him just yet. That was just a tremendous, performance from Marab de Walsh, really. And I think that version of Marab probably beats anybody in that division right now. So, I just think Jan just drew the short straw and had to

fight that dude. That ain't fun. Dan, Daniel Fitz, let's go to you and then we're going to get out of here. What's up, man? Hey, my kick of a morning, Tia. I know, you know, just to kind of voice off what you're kind of saying about Peter Yon, you know, the UFC is just

tough to get wins, just to use an example of like, let's just say someone like Gamrot. You know, Gamrod had a close fight with Armin where I think some people thought maybe Armine won. He then goes on to lose against Benil, and then he just goes to a split decision against Jalen, which there's maybe an alternate universe where, you know, Gamrod loses the Armin fight,

and he loses the Jalen fight. Now he's on a three-fight losing streak. Like, it's just hard to win fights in the UFC. So I completely agree with you about Peter Jan. You know, this feels like his first big real loss. So I'm not putting too much against him on it, especially for one of the best cardio performances we've ever seen from Marab. But all I got for question, Mike, I talked to you about it last week just before the car

just asking, hey, what do you think the implications of Crylov versus Span is? Made pretty good points just saying, hey, you know, Span probably could rock it a little bit more with a knockout. But now that Crylov's won, I guess I'm more just going to put you on the spot. Like, who do you think is the next title challenger? Where do you think this belt is at the end of the year? Like, do you think they're just going to wait and see if Yuri comes to? back.

Do you think they're going to see what they can do with the winner of Anthony Smith and Walker? Just kind of curious, where do you think this next matchup for Jamal goes and if the bell leaves his hands soon? Thanks, Mike. This division is just a slop fest. I mean, just all over the place. Yeah, I think, I mean, at this point, you might just wait for Yuri.

I mean, if Yuri isn't going to be able to fight until, like, December. than if Jamal wants to get back in there. Cool, but I don't I don't want to see Jamal Hill fight Magamana Goliath. I don't want to see that fight. Not right now. For a couple of reasons.

One, I think I Goliath just beats them and it's not all that fun. And two, I just, like, Jamal Hill versus Yeripraschka just, it rules. Like, that fight is, just pure chaos and I'm here for it. I don't think Igloif's pure chaos.

I think Igloif just is who he is. He's a good fighter who isn't all that exciting when he fights. But he might be the best light heavyweight in the world. I don't know. So I think they will just wait on Erie to a certain extent because they don't, I mean, we've already, we had the light heavyweight titled headline two paper views in a row. So it's not like we're in a huge rush to get Hill back in there because you've already seen two 205 pound title fights in December and January.

It's already March. It's only been two months since he'll won the belt. So I think you wait for Yuri and as long as the timeline is manageable, we just wait for that fight. If it can happen this year, we wait for that fight. If it can't happen this year, if there's a setback, Jamal Hill probably fights Ankleif. Maybe he fights Janbovich.

I don't know. I know Anthony Smith's fighting Johnny Walker. Who knows? It's just weird. The probable answer is probably going to have to wait to see how that Smith Walker fight goes and then see how it plays out. But you could do Anthony Smith v. John Behovic. I just feel like Ankylaif's the guy in wait.

If Yeri can't go, they'll probably get Ankylai if the title shot. but I don't really care about that fight all that much I just feel like Angoliath will win and it won't be all that fun but this, I mean, all these divisions are a mess

in certain ways, a lot of which because of immediate rematches are new champions and contenders emerging, but there is no division less messy than 205. 205 is a frigging disaster

with your out. It's crazy. And the Yon thing is just so insane. Like if Yon doesn't throw that illegal knee, he's probably still the champion right now, which is wild to think about. This fight with Marab probably doesn't even happen.

It's so crazy. A one decision can just change everything. It's crazy. All right, we'll take MJ and then I really have to go. I know I say this all the time, and I keep bringing other people in. but if we can get MJ in, we'll get to him. If not, I got to go.

The wheel is spinning. Can we get him? Can we get him? No. How about Benny? I have a question. I don't know if you talked about it already, but if Sehudo wins against Aljo,

would Marab get the next title shot? I just didn't know because he jumped O'Malley in the ranking, so I was just wondering. Put your thoughts on that. No, he won't. Sean O'Malley is the biggest star in the division. He's going to get the title fight. He's going to get the title fight.

And Sehudo's not an idiot. Now, Suhudo's saying like, oh, Marab, you can be the backup. I understand. Like, we know what he's trying to do. He's trying to create a little drama, a little controversy, all that stuff. But Sohudo's not a moron. He retires worse than anybody in the history of sports, but he's not an idiot. a fight with Sean O'Malley favors him greatly and it's the biggest fight for him in this division.

So why would Suhudo fight Barab when he can fight, which is a tougher fight for less money, where do you can fight Sean O'Malley in a main event spot and make more money? And it's a much favorable matchup for him. So yeah, I think Suhudo will, if he wins, he'll fight. He'll fight O'Malley. And then I don't, I'll even say this. I don't think Henry Suhudo fights Marab ever. I don't think he ever fights Marab.

If Suhudo wins the belt, he'll fight Sean O'Malley. If he beat Sean O'Malley, which I would favor him to do, he's out of here. Like, he's not, he's done at 135. He's going to say, I ain't defending anything until I fight Volcanowski. So you can get that, that third belt. That's what I think's going to happen. And guess what? In the prize fighting world, that's what he should do.

And it's going to, I'm telling you, folks, this is what's going to happen. Beats Aljo, let's go Sugar-Shon, beats O'Malley. I'm going up Volkovsky where you're at. And if he doesn't fight Volki, he ain't fighting anybody. Just be prepared for it. And then who knows? Maybe Marab gets an interim title fight, or he vacates to go to 45 and then Marab can fight. I think the best case scenario for Marab de Wells really right now,

is that Aljo beats Ceuto and he just forfeits the O'Malley fight and just says, nope, I'm moving up now. Then maybe you do Marab and also Corey Sanhagan needs to beat

Marlon Verro. That's the best case scenario for Maraub. That's the best case scenario. Aljo beats Sohudo, vacates, moves up to 45. Sohudo ain't fighting for the belt again because he lost. Sanhagan wins against Cheeto.

You could do Mara... Maybe O'Malley will take the Marab fight for the vacant title. But if Cheeto wins, if that all that happens and Cheeto beats Corey Sanhagen, they're going to do Cheeto versus Sean O'Malley for the vacant title because that's a gigantic fight. Gigantic fight. It's a fight everybody wants anyways. But now you strap a vacant title on the line? Holy shit.

That's a massive fight. So Maraub's just in a really weird spot right now. And I don't think Zahudo takes that fight. I think he goes for the bag, as he should, as Aljo should have done. Alger should have went for the bag. He should be fighting Sean O'Malley at UFC 288, not Henry Sehudo. But now he's going to fight Tahudo. And we'll see how that goes.

All right, we're done. Thank you very much. We'll be back on Thursday. We'll do it again. Thursday, of course, one of the busiest days for us. We got this show. We got B-TL. And then Friday, we'll be back again.

We'll have weigh-ins. We'll have preview show, and then it's off to New York on Saturday for the watch party. And UFC 286, early start time, 1 p.m. Eastern for the prelims, 5 p.m. Eastern for the main card. Music to my freaking ears. Love when that happens. And love doing the show with all of you. So we'll see you on Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern. Have a great rest of the day.

And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody.