MMA Fighting - HOAM | Win or Lose, Where Does Tony Ferguson Go From UFC 291?

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

With UFC 291 just days away, all eyes are on the main event for the BMF title between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. While there are other very interesting questions and storylines heading into Saturday's event in Salt Lake City, one of the biggest ones relates to Tony Ferguson ahead of his fight with Bobby Green, and where he goes from it. On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck discusses the future of the former interim lightweight champion and what would be next win or lose on Saturday. Additionally, listener topics include the fallout from UFC London, Tom Aspinall's chances to get a future fight with Jon Jones, Molly McCann announcing a move to 115, Paul Craig calling out Bo Nickal, along with UFC 291 storylines such as Poirier vs. Gaethje 2, the co-main event between Jan Blachowicz and Alex Pereira, Stephen Thompson's title hopes with a win over Michel Pereira, 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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Available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Wednesday, July 26th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the envy fighting. I'm still calling it Twitter. I don't care what the hell.

Elon Musk has to say, we're live on the M.A. Fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show at its entirety shortly thereafter on the M.A. Fighting Podcasting Network. Hello, everybody. Welcome to a rare Wednesday show. As we didn't have one yesterday, we're going to go three days in a row. We'll go today. We'll go tomorrow. We'll go Friday to lead you in to UFC 291, which goes down Saturday. What a freaking main card. That's a That is, of course, the main events, the big rematch between Dustin Porre and Justin Gagee for the now vacant BMF title. We got Alex Pereira, Janbovich. We got Stephen Thompson, Michelle Pereira. We got Kevin Holland, Michael Kiesa. We got a whole bunch of good stuff. Derek Lewis is back. Taking on Marco Sergeri to Lima at altitude.

Tony Ferguson fighting Bobby Green and some interesting matchups. It's a nice, tight, 12 fights, just the way we like it. There's a lot going on this weekend. We got Spence Crawford. What a fight that's going to be. And we have Bellator versus Rise and 2, which took a bit of a hit yesterday, if we're being honest.

The timing of that card was really rotten anyways with everything else going on. and the big selling point for it, AJ McKee fighting in the lightweight Grand Prix, no longer happening. AJ McKee injured. He is out of the fight with Patricke Pitbull, and now Satoshi, Roberto D'Souza, is in.

It's going to be 161-pound catchweight bouts. Still going to be the main event. We still have the flyway title. Final fight. We found out Patricia Pipple is going to fight on the

card as well against Chihiro Suzuki. Big hit. That one took a big hit not having a Jamaica on the

card, but still should be fun. Nonetheless, I like when Bellator and Risen come together and do these

co-promotion events. Just the timing of it stinks doing it on the same day as UFC 291 and Spence Crawford

and everything else going on in the world, but tough loss, but I still think the card will be a fun watch. So we're doing a Wednesday show. Yesterday, I had a rare Tuesday off and because my schedule is

about to be absolutely bananas over the next few weeks, obviously going to New York for the watch party, come home Sunday after Sunday evening, then I'm home Monday, and then I'm off to Dallas Tuesday for Nate Diaz versus Jake Paul. Come home

for a week and then I'm off to Boston for 292 fight week. I'll be there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Head out Saturday morning to New York for another watch party. So wanted to spend the day with my son, played a little golf with him, did some cannonballs in the pool. It was a fun day and wanted to make sure I got to spend some time with him before things get truly chaotic. So let's go to you guys.

In gals, let's see what's on your mind on this Wednesday. And Barbarusa, go ahead and kick us off. Jan made a statement yesterday, I think, and he said if he wins, he would like to make a fight with Eerie in Europe. Do you think it's possible that you see does that? It would be great if it's in Poland. I don't know if there was any in Poland already. Do you think it's possible? Thank you, Mark.

Probably not. Because you would think with kind of how things currently look right now, that crowding a new light heavyweight champion before the end of the year is going to be a strong possibility. And Dana's already said that the winner of this fight is going to fight for the title. So I would doubt it unless they're planning something in, I mean, they did Brazil in January. They did Australia in February. Could they try to put something together for the early part of 2024?

Perhaps. I don't feel truly confident in that, especially if McGregor doesn't fight this year. I would assume they're going to try to make that fight for December. So I do think the winner will fight Yuri. but to say it's going to happen in Poland, probably not. If the timing was a little better, maybe. Like if Jan were to fight, like if Jamal Hill was still the champion, if Yom were to fight Jamal Hill and win the title,

and Yuri wasn't ready to come back to like the middle of next year, yeah, I could do it, but I don't think the timing's going to work out. Unfortunately. Let's go to Cole. What's up, Cole? Cole, are you there? Okay. Not hearing you, Cole.

Four quarter sports, hello. Hey, Mike. So I'm very interested. I mean, we kind of have an idea what the main event is going to look like, but I'm interested to see how the coal main event isn't it looked like. Last time we saw Jan Behovic, I mean, it wasn't a fight that we all want to rewatch again against him against Magerman and Kalayev.

But I got to say that I have a feeling that Yomboehovich, might try to replicate the same game plan that he did against Israel-Ad-Sahnia. If that's the case, I mean, I wonder how much of an improvement of Alex Pereira and that he'd get receiving while working with Glover to the Sheriff just because last time we had seen him get wrestled. I think it was the MSG card, and Israel-A-D-Sanai is no wrestler by any means necessary, and he just had him on risk control. and it just looked like

Alice Pereira had a lot of difficulties just trying to get around the wrestling that Adasania ended up displaying at the MSG card. So, I mean, Jan, we saw what he did to Israel, Adasania. We saw what he normally could do. And I'm just curious to see, you know,

how that fight is going to go about. Also, kind of interested in nobody's really talking about it. is the Derek Lewis fight against, what's it called, the Rogerio Lima. What's next for him? I mean, I don't expect you to give up your pick for Adno. But what's next for him if he just doesn't get it done, just because we've seen him in a bad stretch, you know, gets knocked out by Sergey, loses the gun, what's the call,

gets outrussled and smothered by, what's it called, by Sergei Spivak. if he doesn't get it done against the Lima then what you think is next for him and like what do you think the U.S.S. season to end up doing? Because I don't think that Dana would cut him

because he seems like he really likes Derek Lewis but that's just something that just crossed my mind. All right. Thanks, Mike. Yeah, Derek's in kind of a tough spot right now because even if he wins, it doesn't do a ton for him with how this division looks right now. So, yeah, I mean, I don't think he's going to get unless Derek just says like I'm done.

I wouldn't rule it out. It doesn't seem like he's hurting for money right now. I'm sure he will make money outside of the fight game. There's lots of stuff he could do. Like if Derek Lewis had a YouTube channel talking about MMA, it would be incredible. So I'm not really sure. If he loses and wants to keep fighting, he's just going to keep fighting the Marcus Jury de Lema's of the world,

guys who are trying to get into the top 15. Yeah, I'm not really sure. I guess we're going to have to see how it plays out on Saturday before we get to talk about that. Co-made event on Saturday, I'm torn because this could be a really terrible matcher for Alex Pereira. I don't know if we're going to have the exact same game plan as Izzy. I think Belhovic, his best path to victory is just to get takedowns right away and just keep getting them and getting top position and just laying on top of Alex Pereira. the way I see it is if Jan Behovic wins, this is going to be a tough fight to watch.

And if Alex Pereira wins, it's going to be by spectacular knockout. So we shall see. We shall see. I know Jan says he's not afraid to stand there with him. But if he wants to fight for the title, I think he's going to have to try to be a little more fun. Like he gets this opportunity. Anke alive didn't get this opportunity. Bojovic is getting it.

So I still think he's somewhat in the UFC's going to. good graces. So if he lays and prays for 15 minutes, I don't know if Dana's going to go and be like, yeah, he's the dude or if he's going to go, I don't make fights the night of the fight. So I think he's going to have to, I think if he wants to guarantee that shot, he's going to have to try to be a little bit more fun in this game plan. But yeah, Pahovic is going to win. I don't think it's going to be all that compelling, to be honest with you. All right, Cole, do we have you? Mike, can you hear me this time?

I got you. all right just a quick one i missed the days back when we had lines like minus 150 for the over and the bligoy evanon versus alexander romanov fight but uh like what i'm asking like what's your equivalent of that kind of lock for this card if anything's jumping out to you and like over under wise money line wise yeah that's my that's just my question i like gaichi pick is a dog um i mean louis rizzeria delima's one and a half over's plus money it is at altitude both don't aren't here for a long time but that fight gets out of the first round's definitely getting over so wouldn't hate putting a small stab on that one see what else

i don't mean this is disrespect we don't see a ton of finishes in which women's fights. So I kind of feel like Miranda Maverick, Priscilla Catchewa, over two and a half is a pretty safe bet. Minus 120. The under is minus 110. So you're not losing a ton of value there. And Miranda just needs to get a win.

So I don't think she's going to go out there and do anything crazy. I think she's going to go out and try to secure a victory. So takedowns and top control and things of that nature. Yeah. Let me take a gander. Pori Gachis. I kind of think that's going to go a little longer. Poria Gaecchi over two and a half to minus 120.

Oh, literally just moved to minus 130. Like literally, just as I said that. And what's Pereira Boehovic? Over two and a half plus 150? If you feel like Jan Boehovic is going to win that fight, I wouldn't hate taking a little stab a roo at the over two and a half in that fight. But if you feel like Alex Pereira is just going to kill him, that I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole.

So probably Miranda Maverick Priscilla Kachua is the one that sticks out to me the most. CV, hello. Yo, my peck of a morning. He's my voice. My nose is kind of congested. But anyways, I feel like everybody's talking about the co-main event. I think it's like the people's main event. Hopefully the winner fights for the bacon-like heavyweight belt.

Listen to my idea here for December for the last pay-per-view main event. Why not run it back, the winner of the Pereira and Blahovich, versus Magerman Ankalayev. Why not? Actually, no, I'm just joking. I hope it's actually Yere who fights the winner of the co-main event. But yeah, just looking to get your thoughts on that. And like, if it's not the vacant, like, light-heavy belt,

what could be, like, the last pay-per-view main event of the year? And also, one more thing. Tony Ferguson, yeah, where does he go from here? Win or lose against Bobby Green? Thanks. That's another interesting question. Kind of looking at the over-underlines, under two and a half's plus 110 in the Tony Ferguson Bobby Green fight.

I don't hate that either. I don't hate that either. Yeah, dude, Uri's getting the winner of this fight, more than likely. So it's not going to be Ankeliah. They're going to have Ankeliah fight Johnny Walker, would be my guess, just to kind of get one of those guys out of there. I don't think either on great terms with their fighting styles as they would like to be right now, if we're being honest. So, yeah, I kind of think they're going to go that route, and maybe the winner will be the on-deck hitter, if you will.

But, yeah, I think, I mean, it's going to be Erie versus the winner. And I think if, I think the UFC is hoping Alex Pere wins this fight. Then never come out and flat out say it, but I kind of hope. I kind of feel like that's what they're hoping for. Just thinking of the build for that fight. It's got to be absolutely insane. Just the whole Uri tapping Glover and the way Alex Pereira just looked at Uri with that death stare,

you could just build a whole promo on that. And it's got to be awesome. Let's go to, and if Tony loses, I don't know where the hell he goes. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Oh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements.

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That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Billy, hello. I think he's got to look deep inside if he does lose his fight. Billy, are you there? You're muted. You just got to unmute yourself. Okay, nothing there.

Let's go to King Cat. Mike, how's it going? Good, how are you? Pretty good. So I have a hypothetical kind of question here. So we've got Wonderboy on this car fighting Michelle Pereira. And what if Wonderboy finishes Michelle and calls for the title shot next? Do you think that he would get it now that Leon is the champion

and people have kind of wanted to be seeing that fight for a little bit? Or do you think he would have to get one or two more? Do you think he's completely out of the title picture? Or is there a slight chance with Leon being a champion? I know if Colby wins is probably out of the question, but what do you think if he finishes him in, you know, inphatic fashion on Saturday, do you think in Wonderboys like Leon, you know, we were supposed to fight or whatever

and never happened you didn't sign the contract, let's go? Do you think that he would get a title shot? Thanks, Mike. I wouldn't, I'm not going to, well, so I don't think Wonderboys out of the title discussion. I really don't. I think he's hanging on by a thread

but, and he probably should be out of the title picture, but he's not. He has to win on Saturday. He has to. If he wins, he's in a great position where he might be a win away. He might be a win-away.

And by the way, if Colby does beat Leon and wins the title, if Connor's not available to fight him, I would not be stunned at all to see Colby take a stab at Wonderboy. Colby is a, you can say what you want about the man, but Colby is a prize fighter, and Wonderboy is still very, very popular, very popular, and is a very winnable fight for Colby. and sure you can do the Usman fight again if Usman can get a win.

I don't know how Bilal Mohammed factors into this equation, but I don't think Wonder Boy is going to be jumping Bilal because that would be pretty damn unfair, especially since Bilal put the boots to Wonderboy and just annihilated him, just ran him over, and Wonderboy did nothing. Just got frustrated and put on his back. the entire fight.

So I don't think he's out of the title picture, for sure. If he loses, if he loses on Saturday, I'm willing to lock the door at this point. But I don't, look, we live in an anti-meritocratic, storyline-driven world. And we've seen Dan Henderson get title shots, like one last crack at it. We've seen other guys get one last crack at it. and I think the UFC would be open to pushing for Wonderboy getting one last crack at it.

So it's great storytelling. Win or lose. Let's see if he can get there at 40 years old or maybe 41 by the time he gets there. But he probably is going to have to get another win before he does that. And if the UFC is pulling for this, they're going to have to be very meticulous in the matchmaking.

I don't think they're going to match up with Shopcott. Usman would be interesting because they haven't fought each other, but I don't love that matchup for Wonderboy either. So it's going to be tough, man. He's going to have to win one more, and it's not going to be a favorable matchup. But we'll see. That's an interesting fight.

Mikey, hello. Listen, Wonderboy's been to UFC for a hell of 10 years. I mean, tenure matters, you know, tenure and merit matters. The guy has basically fought everyone in division. Of course, he's never out of title contention. He's arguably probably should have beaten Tyron Woodley in Master Square Garden six years ago. Jesus Christ, six years ago, six, seven years ago.

But anyways, point being, his path to the title is simple. If he beats Michelle Pahara, the UFC should sign Venom, Michael Venom page, and have them fight each other at Master Square Garden. And guess what? If not the number one contendership, that's a real, like, might be next up. You know what I mean? That positions the winner in a really good spot. I think Bilal should get his crack at Leon Edwards and Colby.

I think that's what should be. I think the UFC's kind of stretch a couple things out, depending on who's healthy. And as for Tony Ferguson, I think he retires if he loses, especially if he loses bad. And I've got Dustin Poir again. The funny thing is I think what people need to be careful about is assuming that the fight is going to play out exactly the same as their previous one from 2018. And if it does, it'll be for different dynamics. I think Justin's vastly improved and become a little more his fight. He's gotten a little better, obviously.

But I still think Dustin's a better fighter. But we'll see. I'm really pumped for it. Wouldn't be surprised if it goes to distance, to be honest with you. And as for the light heavyweight title picture, I mean, yeah. I mean, we want, I want Erie and Pahara to fight regardless, whether the title's on the line. But obviously, Pahara wins.

I mean, Dana White said on his. preview that if you don't know now you know that the winner's getting a title shot essentially so that's gonna be fine um that's for uncle life ankle life should be at the very minimum of the backup to that title fight if not i mean can we get an apb on freaking rockage is he still hurt i don't know what's going on with that guy so i mean because he's was right there right before he got hurt so hopefully he'll be back soon anyways happy fight week guys talk to you later be kind one on there I kind of would like to see Ferguson retire if he wins too. We don't get a lot of happy endings in the sport.

And Tony going out there and beating Bobby Green, no matter how he does it, be a cool moment. Just go out on top. Go out with the win. I'm not his manager. I'm not the guy gives him advice, but I kind of feel like this could be the last one. Yeah, kind of feel like this would be the last one.

to go with the Dana, if you don't know, now you know, thing that doesn't mean anything. Dana has said many times, oh, the winner of this is getting the next shot. And then what happens? It doesn't happen, depending on how the fight plays out. So I think it Pereira wins. He's definitely getting it.

If Fulhovic wins, yikes. It just depends how he does it. If he goes on and wins a boring decision, I just don't know if I have that same level of confidence, but they just may not have a choice. Because I just don't think they're going to give Ankleyev a shot until he wins another fight and is fun. I, like, again, I don't think that fight is,

the Blahovych Ankeliya fight is as bad as Dana made it out to be. But that's just me. Thompson MVP, I don't know. It may be fun. Like, if Wonderboy loses to Pereira, then you do that fight, I think. And I just don't know if MVP is going to sign out with the UFC. see. I think he was very smart going to the London card, and they

put him on TV. You heard crickets, but that's not his fault. This wasn't the typical London crowd. This was the people who got free tickets or aren't huge fight fans that were there.

You can hear the crowd. It was like the Kansas City crowd was more electric than this London crowd. It just was. So we'll see what happens, MVP. Pori Gage is going to be real good. We did a little primer, a little roundtable, and one of the questions, and I was a part of it,

I haven't done one of those in a while, was this, is that fight a lock for fight of the year? And I say no. Lock is such a strong word. It seems like the top three are set in stone right now, at least to me. It's Volcanowski-Machachach or Mokachachachovsky. Moreno Pantoja and Shafkat Jeff Neal.

Those are the top three fights for me right now. Do I think that Poriagichi 2 could get into that top three? Certainly. Do I think it's going to be better than Volk Machachev? No, I don't. I don't think it's going to be. I think it's going to be really, really good. And it's going to be really good for different reasons than the first one, as Mikey laid out.

but there is more at stake than a fake title. There is an actual title shot on the line here. The winner of this fight is going to fight the winner of the main event in October. That's what's going to happen. And for either Dostiporrii or Justin Gaci with where they're at in their careers, this will be the last time they fight for the belt, barring something insane. They've both gotten their shots. Both have not been able to do it.

both are getting up there, both have been through wars, both don't need to fight at this point. So I feel like we're winding down in some ways for both guys. And I feel like the way they compete on Saturday is going to be incredible theater. But I don't know if we're going to get the car crash, pure chaos start to finish. I think we're going to get chaos. I think we're going to get a bit of veteran savvy, some wiseness, if you will, between both these guys.

It's still going to be compelling as hell. But I just don't know if we're going to, I just don't think we're going to get the same type of fight. I think this is going to be more of two guys who are super fun, who are different guys than they were five years ago, who are going to be a little more cautious, considering what's at stake for the winner of this fight. But I do think it's going to be one of the top five fights at the end of the year.

It's just to say it's a lock is just so hard with some of the fights we've seen this year. So I think it is going to be really, really good. It's going to be on the lists, I'm sure. Gagee Fiziv was great. Is it going to be better than that? It's going to be tough. But it's going to be compelling shit for sure, no matter how it goes. down.

Toe, hello. Good. I am probably the only one that still wants to talk about UFC London. It seems like it anyway. It seems like it went over like your uncle's racist joke at a dinner party. But

I mean, I have a few things. Firstly, I want to say Paul Craig did the best call out that I've heard in years. Like I'm talking I'm talking all the way back to, I don't know he didn't do it in the cage, he did it backstage, whatever, I do not care.

I'm talking, him calling out bone nickel is a stroke of genius because he can steal the cloud of bone nickel, and I actually see a very short way to the title shot if he beats bone nickel, because suddenly he has the hype of bone nickel behind him, and if he just makes the right call then, which could be, you know, Hamza Chimayev, suddenly he's one fight away. And I mean, that is impressive for a guy that was the bottom of the top 15 in light heavyweight, but he looked amazing this weekend, and I got to commend him for that. Secondly, I want you to touch upon Molly's move to straw weight, because for me,

I don't think the weight is the biggest problem. I think the biggest problem is her fight IQ and always has been. Her wins have come against the bottom bottom of the flyweight division. And she, both of them were on spinning elbows. Like, she is, I'm not saying she's, she's gotten here by luck. But I'm saying that the fight IQ has always been in question. and it was just very obvious when she fought Stolierrenko who basically only wins by Armbar. What does Molly lose by Arm Bar?

Like there's one thing you should defend against. Lastly, Tom Aspinall, great stuff. He looked even better than I remembered him and I remember him very fondly. So I actually see one that has the skill set to challenge John Jones. We say that every time. I know. John Jones' deleted tweets were all correct, but I actually see something different here.

I see a different speed than I've seen. I mean, the power where he doesn't even try to knock people out, but actually just knock them down anyway. I mean, Tom Aspinall might be the key, but he still needs that one more win to get there. So just your thoughts on those on the top three fights there on UFC London, which was a snoozer other than that. But your thoughts on that before we had to this week's fight card.

So like I said in the preview show, heading into UFC London, I honestly feel that the only guy that can get John Jones, not to stay, but to come back. Because I do feel like if whatever happens in November, John is going to take a sabbatical. He is going to walk away and see if somebody comes that gives him some sort of interest. And I do feel like Tom Aspinall, more than Sergey Pavlovich, more than Sheltz and Almeida, could be the guy.

I think he's got potential star power, not just in the UK, but outside of it. He's a star in the UK already. I think the personality, everything. I think Tom could be the guy to keep John around a little longer. or at least if he gets a couple more wins, maybe wins a vacant title, whatnot. I think John would be like, oh, this is interesting.

I could make money here. So in that performance, certainly didn't hurt at all. So Tom Aspital is real good. I got to see him beat somebody besides Marching Tibor until I am like all the way in. I liked the Sierra Gons, Sergei Spivak callout.

I think it makes sense. A lot of people want to see him fight Sergei Pavlovich. next if they want to do that cool but I think at this point you give Tommy what he wants and go from there but I do feel like he's got a real good chance

of fighting John Jones at some point I think John will see value in that fight Molly moving to 115 I mean why not why not at this point she's she is nowhere near a title shot at

125 and she's not going to get anywhere near it. I like a lot of people to agree with it. I know Halani hates this, but I loved the Aaron Blanchfield fight. I thought that was perfect matchmaking because we needed to see what we had with Molly. Is Molly going to fight for a belt?

You got to give her the shot. You got to give her the chance to see what she is. And we found out what she was. And we found out what Aaron Blanchfield was in that fight. So why not? Let's go to 115. She could do it healthy. She's probably going to heal up.

I don't know what the exact injury to the arm was. But she'll be a decent size, and we'll see how they match me for her. Maybe she goes out. Maybe it's a breath of fresh air. Maybe it's what happened with Paul Craig. Maybe it's, you know, some fighters go up, some go down. And you talked about Paul Craig. I'm with you.

Love the bone nickel call out. Would I have liked to have seen it done in the cage? yes, did it hurt because the card wasn't spectacular? No, it didn't. And it got people talking. And as I said on onto the next one, and as I said on Twitter, after the post-fight show,

that is the perfect callout. And it is the perfect fight. It is just not the perfect fight right now. It's not the perfect fight right now. I don't want Bo to take that fight right the second. He doesn't seem in any rush. The UFC does not see any rush in him. It does not seem interested in rushing him up the top.

There's no need. There's no need to rush it. Pereira, different story. We rushed him to Adasania. That was the whole entire thing. Let's get him to Izzy. We don't need to do that with Bo. We don't.

He's fine. Let Bo fight get a step up. Let's give him a Punisoriano. And then from there, let's give him a general. Mirchard or RoboCop, someone just outside the top 20, then we'll give him a top 15 guy, and then we give him Paul Craig. Or maybe go to Paul Craig after two wins. Bo's got to fight again.

He's got to fight somebody that's not one of the 10 lowest ranked middleweights or a guy coming in on super short notice that probably isn't UFC ready. So let's give him a step up first. Let's get him a vet. Someone who's going to be the hammer, or at least try to be. If Bo just runs them over, let's get him another step up. And if Paul's still there. And even if he's coming off of a loss, who gives a shit?

Still do that fight. So I love the call out. The seeds are planted. I don't think it happens right now, but maybe like a high school love affair. You come back down the line and you realize you were meant to be after you explored what else is out there let's go to brian what's that brian hey mike how you doing good how are you good thanks i just wanted to touch on a couple things one uh in your opinion what do you think are the real stakes uh when it comes to holland kiesa i love the fight personally i'm just curious like

if it's a fight night main event or maybe um another like big featured pay-per-view about uh i'm just curious on that and then also wanted your opinion on a fight that i've thought about for a while. I kind of have to do a little on to the thing here. But what do you think about UFC 300? If Tony wins, Tony Jim Miller, kind of like both send them out on a high. I feel like that's like

the best fight could open up the pay-per-view, maybe even the prelims, like, main event. But just wanted your opinion on those two things. Can't wait for Salt Lake City's paper view this week. Thanks, Mark. I don't hate that. I don't hate that. I don't hate that if it is a double retirement

fight. Like, if it is a guaranteed double retirement fight, I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Tony goes out, gets a win and says, hey, Jim Miller, UFC 300, you need a guy, I'm the dude. Cool. But if that's the last fight of Tony Ferguson's career and he beats Bobby Green, cool. I'm in.

But outside of that, I don't know. I don't know. I don't hate it, though. If there's one more fight for Tony and he does well on Saturday, That's the one. So I'm with you there. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats.

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If you wanted to make a little money, you could sprinkle on Tony Ferguson, who's a plus 300 right now, and also Derek Lewis is a plus 180. And so, yeah, that's all I got if you, you know, wanted to just sprinkle a little bit. Yeah, I feel like Derek Lewis is more, live than Tony Ferguson.

I mean, Tony looked okay in the Chandler fight early. He did not look great in the Nate Diaz fight. And Bobby Green still looks... He didn't look spectacular in the Jared Gordon fight until the ending. I just don't know.

I mean, if you're somebody who's like, I have to bet on this fight, I feel like plus 310 is a little valuable. Like, I'm not betting Bobby Green minus 410. That's craziness. but if you're just like I have to bet on this fight then I feel like you have to bet Ferguson here but boy I just don't have a lot of confidence it is an altitude though how will Bobby deal with that can Tony hang on I don't know I just hope I just don't want to be sad when that fight's over I want to have a great watch party I want to be positive and upbeat and smile and laugh and have a good time I don't want that fight to like hurt my soul but Derek Lewis plus 185 is not a horrible look.

Is Marcus Ruggisiery DeLean going to stand there and just swing with Derek Lewis? Or is just going to take him down and smush him and tap him? I don't know. I feel like Lewis is the more live dog, but I would understand why people would take a stab of Tony Ferguson. But boy, I just, I would stay the hell away from that fight. Jordan, hello. Hey, Mike, what's going on?

Longtime listener, first time caller. Love the show. I'm making short and sweet. 2.91 is one of my favorite cards of the year. Poirier is my favorite fighter. Justin Gaetje versus Dustin Pori won. Easily my favorite fight ever. I've probably gone back and watched it 20 plus times over the years.

So question one, who do you favor in that fight? It's really tough to call. Obviously, Gaichi has improved quite a bit since their first fight. And then two, just looking at the whole card, I think there's a chance we have a lot of finishes if we set the over-under at two and a half

would you go over or under for the amount of finishes on the main card? Thank you, Mike. I'm leaning Porre in the main event, but I mean, that fight could go either way,

honestly. I liked what I saw from Justin Gagee in the Fizzis fight. I know there were some people who scored it for Fizzis, but I liked what I saw over-under finishes

in the main card. two and a half I'm going to go I'm going to go under under two and a I think the main event's going to go all five I think Kiesa Holland's going to go all three I think Thompson Pereira is going to go all three I think Ferguson Green probably won't go to the cards

and I'll say Pereira Behovic doesn't go to the cards I think Pereira is going to I think Pereira win I don't know my gut's telling me prayer is going to knock them out but I could be wrong. We could have no finishes on this card. It's possible. But I still feel like even if we go to four decisions or five decisions, I still feel like these are going to be fun fights.

Kesa Holland's interesting. Like they still believe in Kevin Holland. They still want to give him a shot. We haven't seen Kiesa fight in a while. I'm interested to see how he looks. Can Kiesa get takedowns? It's got to be an interesting fight. Kevin Holland's a favorite in that one.

that's got to be an interesting one they're all interesting like this whole main card is really interesting I have questions about like every single fight and that's always good that's always good let's go to Viking

this might be the last one my dog's at the groomer and I just got the call that he's ready to be picked up but we'll see maybe we'll go a couple of rats Viking hello I just want to ask you one question about your about your Journalism or about your role in the MNF fighting on the podcast or YouTube networks.

So the post-fight show of the UFC London, I think there was a lot of questions about John Jones and is he ducking up or not. And shout out to Casey Leiden, who just fought with New York Rick at his best to defame John Jones. but thank God there was New York Creek and not gym issue. So how do you stay neutral as you always be in front of your friends who are, who seems so biased around and haters with some fighters? So how do you stay neutral? because I have nothing to say about you.

I can't point a finger on your journalism or a host because another guy, he's a pure human, but what about you? How do you stay neutral while doing your work?

And one more question about the Charles Oliver Ryan Islam fight. So what are the chances if Charles, Charles Olivera pull down, I mean, pull out this fight because I don't

think he's going to win in Abu Dhabi because he just can't read Islam in Abu Dhabi. So do you think that Charles or, if Charles Oliver will pull out so where he should fight he could fight Islam

Machiaio, thanks a lot. I don't think he's going to pull out. I think he's going to fight. I think he's going to give it his best shot. I just don't think this is a great matchup for him. I didn't think it was a good matchup the first time. I ended up picking, I picked Oliver, but mostly because I was like,

I just can't not pick against it. Like, I keep picking against him and I'm wrong. But I think Oliver understands that if he wants to get a title fight, and if he wants to exact revenge on Islamakachap, this is his chance. this is his one and only chance. If he pulls out of this fight,

it's going to be a while before he gets another shot at Islam. And plus, we have this made event on Saturday. The winner that fight's getting the next shot. And O'O'O'Varek can't sit out. He's going to have to fight like Armand Sarukian if he doesn't fight.

Like, he's going to have to fight those dudes. And I just don't think there's any value on that. So I think he fights, win or lose. I think he has a better showing, but I just think it's a nightmare matching for him. As far as the staying neutral stuff, my job is to host. My job, my job in those shows is to drive the train. Do I give a take or two? Sure. But it's my job to set up the people who are on the show with me to give their sides of things. That's how it works. that's how I like to handle. Now, if I think somebody says something ridiculous,

I will certainly clap back. But when you make a competitive, like if you can make a case for something, I'm not going to argue with you. You know, that's your opinion. And that's just how it is. That's just how it is. It's, you can't be all, like, you can't be everything.

You can't be the host and then just be like the lead analyst too. Like it doesn't work that way. Can you give it opinion? Sure. But it is my job to let New York, give his opinion or on BTL, Led Jed and whoever is on that show, give their opinions.

Like, it's their spot. I'm just asking them questions. So it's pretty easy. Honestly, it's stuff that I've learned throughout my broadcasting career. Even before I got to MMA fighting, even when I was on the radio, like,

and you have guests, it's all about the guests. It's all about the colleague. It's all about this. It's not about you. So, yeah, it's actually pretty easy. It's actually pretty easy. All right, we got three waiting.

I'll take you three, and then I gets to go. Blumen, hello. Hello, Mike. Heckful of a morning to you. I have two questions. First one, you said your dogs had the groomer, so what's the breed of your dog and what's his name, or their name?

And how do you prefer your eggs? That's it for me. Heck of a morning. So his name is shot. Shiloh, you've listened to this show or many other shows. He just barks randomly. If he hears like any noise outside, he thinks his mom's home and he freaks out, even though she's not because she's working.

So she won't be home until later. But Shiloh's the best. Adopted him over two years ago, and it was the best decision I ever made. First dog I've ever owned. It will be the last dog I ever own. He's awesome. He's the best. He's probably freaking out right now.

The only issue with Shiloh is that, like, he loves us too much. So, like, leaving him by himself without us, he kind of gets anxious. But other than that, like, he's the best. Like, people are, like, jealous. Like, my neighbors will have their dogs, like, in the screen and porch. My dog will just walk around and he won't go anywhere in the morning. Like, when you wake up in the morning, you know, we're guy, like, the guys here. first thing you do is you go to the bathroom you know what he does goes to the bathroom i open the front

door walks outside does his business in the front yard comes right back in don't need to leash him don't need to walk him you just say you got to go potty and he just runs down goes to the door does this thing doesn't run on the street comes right back she's the best eggs over easy all day uh i'll party with the scramble too but i like the yoke big fan of it let it run it run it run baby let it run. Daniel, hello. Hey Mike, heck of a morning to you and it sounds like a pretty good boy there, Shiloh. You know me, I'll keep my question short. Just had two questions on two fights for that London card.

First is just that Grant Marcos fight. Just curious what you thought of that decision. I personally scored it for Grant thought maybe he might not have been landing all the shots that he was throwing, but shoot, Marcos, I just didn't think through enough and was active enough to win, especially that later round. And then the only other fight was just Nathaniel Wood and Feeley. I mean, I'm a Nathaniel Wood fan. I'm glad to see him up a weight class.

He does look like, you know, he's definitely more filled out at 145, but just curious what you think his future is in that division. Not sure how he's going to fare against some of these higher ranked guys there. But thanks, Mike. Thanks, man. So Nathaniel, who did I match him, Nathaniel Woodwith? He looks good at 45. Like that fight with Andre Feely was great.

That was a really fun, excellent fight. I don't know. I matched him up with the Billy Q Damon Jackson winner because they're fighting next Saturday on the Nashville card. So yeah, I don't think he's ready

for the top 15 just yet. Could they go Lorone Murphy, sure. But if that fight's not in London, then what are we doing? So to me, let Nathaniel fight Billy Q, Damon Jackson winner let

Lorone fight I picked Sudeek Yusuf I don't know what he's outside of the incredible stuff he's doing with his picks on YouTube I don't know what he's up to

he hasn't fought since October and he only fought for like a minute against Don Cheneas so I'd like to see Lorone get a rank guy let's just see how he does and if both guys win

next time you go to London match those two dudes up boom you got it. And the Davy Grant Marcos fight, I scored a 3027 for Davey Grant, but I will admit that I didn't watch that fight like incredibly

close. But I, the live watch has scored a 3027 for Davey Grant, but I'm not married to that. I guess I have to go watch it again, but I didn't think Marcos won. I'm confident I feel pretty good about that

but watching it live was 3027 Grant for me second round was close you want to score you want to give Grant one and three and give Marcos two cool I'm fine with that but yeah I felt Grant kind of got hosed a little bit but I admittedly I have to go probably have to go watch it again before I give like a hundred percent accurate take on that

but yeah I feel like Grant should have won that fight All right, Latino Heat, take us home. You're muted. There we go. Hello, good morning, first thing, and foremost. And my question is, what do you think of them be more competitive about KSI versus Tommy Fury or Jake Paul versus Nate Diaz? Hmm. Probably Paul Diaz will be more competitive.

Yeah. I don't know. I actually think Diaz is going to be more competitive. competitive than people think, honestly. I don't know why. I just think he has a style that can frustrate Jake. Like, Jake's getting him with some good shit and it's probably not going to do anything than Nate and that could probably frustrate some people.

So I do think Nate's going to be competitive. I don't think he's going to win, but I do think he's going to be competitive. And I just don't, I think Tommy Fury beats like any of these guys. Like, I think he beats any of these influencer box. You have to watching him fight Jake Paul. I don't think KSI can, I don't think KSI stands a chance against Tommy Fury. Like, I know Tommy isn't going to be like a world champion boxer. It's not going to happen.

But you throw Tommy in there with these athletic influencer boxers who, good for them, man. Like, good for them. Keep doing your thing and making that money. But Tommy's got actual boxing experience. He's boxed boxers. And you could shit, on the records all you want, but he's boxed boxers. He's a

boxer. True and true. Through and through. May not be a high level boxer, but he is a boxer. So, yeah, I would I think Tommy beats KSI pretty easily. I think Jake beats Nate, but I do think that fight is

a little more competitive. I don't know. I feel like Tommy Fury beats KSI. Pretty, handily, I kind of don't even want to see those two guys fight honestly. Like if we're building to Jake Paul, then

why are we doing KSI, Tommy Fury? I don't know. I don't know. All right, we'll take one more and then I've got to go, for real. I mean, I got to get the namesake in there. Michael, what's up? What's up, dude?

So, I really think, for the Jake Paul versus Nate D.S. fight, I really think that Nate is, just putting on like a ruse for everyone. And I really think that here's my prediction. I think he's going to win.

And then I think he's going to come back to UFC. And then at UFC 200, imagine this. It's going to be Nate Diaz, Connor McGregor 3. How crazy would that be? I don't think it's crazy. I don't think it's crazy for that to happen. Be kind of tougher. Michael Chandler, because if he's being before that and Chandler gets overtaken,

and I mean, it's a business. Gigantically bigger. Then I think it's a 10-round fight. Jake Paul can win the first six rounds, but if Nate wins the last four and, like, lands a big shot in the 10th, even though you know Nate didn't win, Nate will just be like, hey, man, if this is Stockton, I whoop that dude's ass. And people are like, yeah, man, you did. You won.

Look at the Leon Edwards fight. look at the freaking Leon Edwards fight. Leon won like every second of that fight. Nate had some moments in the fourth. He had a couple moments in the fifth, but Leon was about to win, about to sweep the cards. And then what does Nate do? Nate lands a shot.

Leon stumbles a little bit. Nate starts pouring it on. Leon survives. And even though Leon Edwards won 24 minutes of that fight, Nate got the rub and Leon stock somewhat like Leon stock dropped. Nate's went through the roof. Even though that fight wasn't all that competitive, except for the last like 45 seconds of it, Nate just is so good at that.

He's so good at that. Making you believe like even if he loses that he actually won and his stock always seems to go up. So Nate doesn't have to beat Jake Paul in order for that to happen. And if Nate just has moments and Dana's like, yeah, man, I thought Nate won that fight. That's all people need to see and people need to hear. Oh, Dana White thought Nate won. UFC fans will go crazy. And then I do think Nate fights in the UFC again.

I do think they're going to try to make the Conner fight happen. Well, it happened at 300. Not really sure. But I do think as part of like the next 18 months of the UFC's plan that, getting that trilogy fight in the Octagon is one of the top three things they want to do. Because Nate's not there. Connor doesn't it? Connor,

I think he's got two fights left on this deal. I know he loves the UFC and would probably like to resign. But the UFC is well aware of what's going on. Connor and Nate could do the trilogy outside of the UFC. They could promote it themselves and make all the money. and I don't think the UFC wants that to happen. Nor should they. Nor should they.

But I don't think it's that crazy. All right, we're done. Thank you all very much. Rare Wednesday. Thanks for hopping in. We got a very busy day today. Of course, we get the MMA hour at 1 p.m. Eastern. Nice fun lineup there.

We have UFC 291 Media Day, Jose Young's in Salt Lake City, boots on the ground. Tomorrow we'll be back here. We get BTF. press conference for 291, and then Friday it's weigh-ins and all that fun stuff, and then we're knocking on the door. And Saturday is the big fight. And we got the watch party going down, heading to New York Saturday morning. Myself and G.C., we'll do the damn thing again.

We might have a very special guest joining us for the main event. Being worked on, I don't want to reveal too much just yet until I know it's 100% done. We've been down this road before where we have teased a fighter joining us in a pivotal spot and then it kind of falls through last minute. But I would say as of right now, it's like 85, maybe even 8550, maybe 90-10 getting somebody to join us for the main event. So stay tuned for that news. I believe there's going to be some cool news announced on the MMA hour. today as well. So stay tuned for that.

It's got to be a fun week, everybody. It's going to be a very, very fun week. So thank you very much for being here. Back tomorrow, 10 a.m. Easter, we'll do it again. Have a great rest of your Wednesday. And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. To the Vox Media Podcast Network.