MMA Fighting - HOAM | Yair Rodriguez's Upset Chances, Bold Predictions For UFC 290

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

UFC 290 might not be the most star-studded International Fight Week card in UFC history, but there the two title fights seem incredibly competitive on paper, and there are a lot of interesting storylines in play. Although there are some big favorites on the card, could there be a big underdog who could shock the MMA community on Saturday night in Las Vegas? On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck responds to listener bold predictions for UFC 290, along with Yair Rodriguez's chances against Alexander Volkanovski in the featherweight championship main event. Additionally, listener topics include where Robbie Lawler ranks in the all-time welterweight list ahead of his final fight this weekend, Bo Nickal and Jack Della Maddalena's debuting opponents, the stakes in the Dan Hooker vs. Jalin Turner fight, past and present fighters on the UFC commentary desk, and much more. You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

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

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

The Vox Media Podcast Network. It is Thursday, July 6th, 2023, and it is indeed a heck of a morning. We are live on the MMA fighting Twitter spaces. You can hear the show in its entirety, shortly thereafter, on the MMA Fighters. podcasting network. Hello, everybody.

I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a fantastic week. Hope all my Canadian friends had a great Canada day. Hope all of my fellow American friends had a great Fourth of July. And I missed you all. It's been six days since we've been here on the Twitter spaces. We do not do a show on Tuesday because it was the Fourth of July. I had a great time with my family.

Played some golf with my dad early in the morning on Tuesday, and then we headed on over to Hilton Head Island. It was hot as shit. We went to the beach, went to the pool, got to watch some fireworks. My parents came down. It was very cool. Had the whole fan together. It took a few days off. It was awesome.

It was awesome. It was a great time. I got a ton of color. I am like golden right now. and you can see for yourself on BTL, 1230 p.m. Eastern should be a fun one. Talk a lot about 290 and more. It'll be Jedmishu and Morning Combat's Brian Campbell back on BTL this week. So this should be a very fun episode with lots of hot takes and chicanery.

It should be a blast. So 12.30 p.m. Eastern Time, join us for a brand new edition of BTL. but it is international fight week. We are just rocking and rolling. We had Media Day yesterday. Press conference today. Way-ins tomorrow. And then Saturday at the big events.

UFC 290, two really good title fights, both flying completely under the radar, my opinion. I love the Volkadovsky-Rodriguez fight. You all know my feelings on it. I think it's the best fight on the books right now. includes the BMF title fight. Brandon Moreno, Alexander Pantosia, getting no love at all.

That fight is incredible. We get Robert Whitaker DDP. Stakes could be very high there. Dan Hooker, Jalen Turner, Bo Nickel, kind of a wacky week for him, loses his opponent. And then a few hours later, gets a new opponent. He'll fight Val Woodburn, who will be making his promotional debut. We'll have the final fight of Robbie Lawler's career against Nico Prun. price. It was an interesting week for Jack Delamadelana. He was supposed to fight Sean Brady.

Sean Brady with an arm infection. He is out. He was hospitalized. He's still healing up. He will now fight Josiah Harel, who I spoke to a couple of weeks ago. Coming off that big win at LFA, drove his opponent through the friggin cage door, viral moments. And guys are real good. Tough day. but he's real solid. He's a guy that has been on the UFC's radar for a little while now. And at worst, I expected him to find himself a spot on the contender series this summer,

but he gets fast-tracked. He gets himself on a huge card for his debut. We got Yasun Yergi versus Denisi Gomez. That's a great fight. Jimmy crude Alonzo Medafield will settle the score. Edgar Chires, who was part. of one of the most horrific finishing sequences and the history of our great sports against Gianni Vasquez for Fury FC a couple of months ago.

He was scheduled to be on the contender series. He now fights Tatsuro Tira on this card, 130-pound catchweight. Vitor Petrino, Marching Pratchie. We got Cameron Simon back against Terence Mitchell, Shannon Ross, Jesus Aguilar, and Camoella Kirk versus Esteban Riebovich. That is your international fight week card. Pretty solid 14 fights.

The top two are incredible. Should be a really fun watch. And of course, we'll have the watch party on Saturday as well. Off to New York on Saturday. Myself and G.C. Join us on the YouTube channel. We'll have fun whether you're ordering the pay-per-view and want to watch along with us

or if you don't want to spend $80 on it. We'll tell you everything that's going to happen. So let's get into this thing. Let's hear from you all. It's been a minute. Very excited to hear what you all have to say. Cole, get us started, my man. Good morning, Mike.

Morning. Thanks for that absolute lock of the century and that Romanov-Lago-Evenov fight over one and a half. I appreciate it. I mean, just there was no other way that fight was ever going to go. I'm curious in those top three fights this weekend,

And do you see any angle of betting any overs in those? I personally think the main event is more likely to go longer than the co-main. I'm wondering if you kind of feel the same way on that. That's all I got. Thank you, Cole. Yeah, dude, minus 205 for over one and a half on Romanov, Blagoi, Evenoff, was the steel of the century. It was the steel of the century.

Stund. Stunned. that it was minus 205. So much value. So if you took that, you were very smart. And congratulations. Let me see here. Whitaker DDP under two and a half is minus 165.

That's kind of surprising. I kind of feel like that one's going to go to the cards. I feel like that one just screams 3026 Whitaker to me. So that might be something to look at. let's see what the main event is under four and a half minus 125 over four and a half minus 105 i think that one's going to go to the cards as well merino pantosia i mean flyweight under nation i kind of feel like under three and a half a plus 140 is very possible here yeah i have to take kind of a deeper look at these but i kind of feel like there's value plus money for whittaker dDP

I know DDP is kind of chaotic, but dude's got nothing to lose here. He's got to fight smart if he wants to beat Robert Whitaker. I kind of feel like that one's going to the cards. So maybe you take a plus money shot at Whitaker DDP over two and a half. Because DDP, you know, is not the most technical fighter, but he is durable as shit. And Whitaker can finish, but he's not a prolific.

finisher these days. He just goes out there and does the job over time. Plus money on that kind of seems like a good one. So I wouldn't go crazy on it, but I think there's value at plus 135 there. I definitely do. But none of these scream have to slam it like the minus 205 Romanoff, even off one. But I think there's a little bit of value on the Whitaker, DDP going over two and a half. Let's go to CV. So, Mike, glad to have you back. Hope you had a great long weekend.

It's hot of shit here, too, here in Canada, so, but whatever. July's the best month of the year. So just two quick questions for me. First off, I know you've been harping on this for a while, and I was actually just listening to your interview you had with John Anick

a couple weeks ago. Moreno, Pantoja 3. Let's talk about it. I know you're probably doing the preview show tomorrow and DTL, but can you just give us your early thoughts on this fight. I think Moreno is going to finish Panthosia emphatically, so we'll see if that happens.

And second question, where do you rank Robbie Lawler all time among all the welterweights in UFC history? Thanks. Good question. So I'll start with Moreno Pantosia. I think it's going to be a really good fight. I think it's going to be competitive. I can see a world where it gets stopped,

maybe in the fourth round. But one thing Brandon Moreno said to Ariel Hawati that I completely agree with is that although Pantosia has two wins over Brandon Moreno, he has not faced the best Brandon Moreno yet or even close to it. And I feel like right now we're in the middle of prime Brandon Moreno, one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world right now. So I do believe him there.

But as we've seen in the sport, sometimes the fighter just has your number. And maybe Pantosia just has Brandon Moreno's number. I don't know. Allie Pants has looked really, really good over his last three fights. and really for a lot of his career. His losses are since what, 2019, since he got on this title run, his losses are to Figgie Smalls in July 2019, which is a very respectable loss,

came back, knocked out Matt Chanel, one of the craziest fights I've ever seen, loses to Asker Askeroff, which wasn't a big surprise, considering what Asker off was in 2020. and then he beat Menel Cop, which is a great win. Finish Brandon Royval, which is a superb win. And then submitted Alex Perez in the first round.

This guy's real good. But to me, I feel like Moreno is just smack dab in the middle of greatness when it comes to 125. So emphatic finish, I don't know if we're going to see that, but I feel like this kind of has, although I think the fight's going to be a little bit longer. Moreno Kai Kar-France vibes to it where Pintosia gets out to an early lead. And Moreno kind of figures things out and then gets cooking.

And then once that snowball starts rolling downhill, it's very tough to stop. So I do think Moreno will finish him. I think he gets him out of there. But I do think it's a super competitive fight until that point. Robbie Lawler, where do I rank him all-time welterweights? top five? It's probably top five. He's not above GSP. He's not above Woodley. He's not above Usman. But he's probably nestled away in that top five for sure. Yeah, top five, top six, which is a pretty damn good place to be. Matt Hughes, obviously, is up there as well. Yeah, five or six.

I think you can make a case for both of those. It was interesting hearing Robbie Lawler at Meaday yesterday. He spoke more than he's ever spoken at his life. I've interviewed Robbie Lawler a couple of times. He is not an easy cat to interview. Short answers. He never talks trash.

It's all about, and it's wholesome shit. I love talking to Robbie. He's all about family and watching the office with his kids and all of that. If fights don't get him excited, he's just not going to fight.

He's just going to spend time with his family. family and train. So I think, yeah, I think we'll look, I can't wait. I'm going to definitely be part of the damn they were good on Robbie Lawler. Hopefully it's something we put together in the next couple of weeks after this fight. And like we've talked about many times before, my favorite fight of all time is Robbie Loller versus Carlos Condit. I believe that fight is better than the Roy McDonald's fight.

I will happily die on that hill. I know the Roy McDonald fight is going into the Hall of Fame, but to me, the Condit fight is better. And I will say that until the day I die. Let's go to Toke. Then we'll go to Mikey. And then Eric and J-Stat. Toke, what's up, buddy?

Talked about me being a sports better. I didn't tell you that I was D-Gen, though. So what I did, I did the best thing I could, because I picked the Romanov the Romanov even off fight to go to the distance which I said all week

was going to happen Kramer the show said it was going to happen and then I made a boo-boo because I parlayed it with Guram Kutatsalazzi which it's such little juice such little juice

but I was just like I can get a better price if I just parlayed Guram so what I want to talk to you about now is just this is a weird, this is a weird run for Gurum because we all see how good he is. But now if we go according to how he ranks his career, he's 0 and 3 in the UFC because he told us all, yeah, I think I lost the military's gambrot fight. We've seen his talent be immense in his three fights. He looks incredible.

And if we believe himself, which I actually do, I also scored it from Magister's Gamrod, but that's not how we do rankings, but never mind. He's 0 and 3, which places him in a weird, weird place where we know exactly how good he is, but he's never, or not never, but he's not going to get the fights that makes sense. Like the record and the skills don't match up at all. can you talk a bit about that and where you see him going forward? Because this is weird to me, very weird to me. But have a good, have a good Thursday, Mike. You too, man. Look,

let me just pull up his page here. I mean, look at the run of guys he's had to fight since he got to the UFC. He debuts against Gamrod, wins that fight, very close. even he says he thought he lost it, but it was a very close fight with Batush Kamrod. Then he fights Demir's Magulov, loses a splitie, there's a good amount of people who thought he won that fight,

and then he takes on, he was supposed to fight Tiago Moises, which is another tough fight. Then he's supposed to fight Jamie Malarki, another tough fight, and he gets Elvis Brenner, who just completely flew under the radar. And Guram was just a massive favorite,

I actually thought there was a little bit of value on Elvis Brenner. I just didn't think that. What was that? He was a minus 670 favorite. I just did not see that. I just did not see that. And Brenner is just durable as hell. As you saw in that flight,

the dude has just been in there with just high risk, medium reward guys. It's really interesting. But I still think he's a top 25 lightweight. despite his record. Now it's just a matter of where you go from here. And I honestly don't know. Activity is going to be huge for him.

Because that's been really a big hamper in all of this. Fights Gamrot, he got a lot of buzz from that fight. He was booked to fight. Don match two different times in 2021. Both those fights fell through due to withdrawals and injury. And then we didn't get to see him again until mid-June of last year, and he fights Isma Gulov, book twice in 2023. Both those fights are canceled.

And then he takes this Brenner fight on short notice and loses again. It's just a very strange run for him. But I still think he's one of the 25 best lateweights in the world right now. I'll tell you what would actually be like a really compelling fight. I think the patty fight would actually make a. lot of sense for Gurum. Because I think it's a fight that he can win, but I also think it's a fight that Patty can win

because of his durability. Patty can take an ass whoop him. He can get cracked and keep on going. So I actually don't think that's a bad one. They could put, they could kind of just give Patty somebody to work and just walk over. They could certainly do that.

But if Guram's like healthy enough end of the year, early 2024, I think that's kind of like an interesting test for Patty. It just really depends on what the UFC is trying to do with it. If we're keeping him in this, let's just get Patty on cards and get him wins type of road. Maybe he don't do that. But if we're like, let's keep giving him little steps up in competition, to go from Jared Gordon to Guram, I think actually makes a lot of sense. But other than that, he's going to be fighting like the Joe Seleckis of the world.

And this is like no respect to Joe Slecki dude's really good. the Claudio Puezes, the Rafa Garcia's, like guys who are fringe top 25, top 30 guys. It's kind of where he's at right now. And in this division, that road is just not going to get any easier for him. So, yeah, very strange UFC run for him that's far. But I still think he's one of the best, one of the 25 best 55ers, despite one in two or 0 and 3, depending on how you look at it.

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powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Mikey, hello. I am not. I am not in this. Man, what are you doing with your life? I'm just kidding. You're having a good one, Ben. Sorry, your vacation makes. I'm glad you had a good 4th of July. Anyways, just to touch on the

couple of things. We don't have to worry too much about. Robbie Lawler is going to make another trip to the Hall of Fame because that Condit fight is going to be in the Hall of Fame. And if it isn't, it's a joke. That institution's a joke if it's not in there, just like Frank Shamrock not being in it. But that's still the better fight than Rory versus Rob from this perspective alone, other than the fact that I was there to

witness it live, is that I felt Condit Lawler was way more competitive round per round. Roy was winning, I think, about three to four rounds. I think I had him up three rounds going to hit into the fifth of that fight. If Robbie didn't finish him, he was going to lose. So, and as for Boe-Nichol, I know that there's been some just smile chatter

about him getting Val Woodburn on Schroen-Nus, but I think, you know, people were just like, oh, why in the UFC just pay someone up? You know, they should have paid Chris Curtis and all these guys. I need people to choose their lane. The kid is about to have, what, third, fourth fight in MMA overall, and you guys want him to get like a top 20 guy with like 30 fights or, you know, Kevin

Holland. I mean, you guys need to let things breathe. Because you know what's funny? If he gets a Chris Curtis or Kevin Holland and beats him, then you have to start progressing him. Well, not have to, but at minimum he's going to have to start fighting rank guys. And then if he loses to one of them, M.A. like see he's a bust which is ridiculous he's 27 he has time you know clearly the ufc wanted him to be

on this card and it's just it's just smart business to keep him on the biggest card of the year you know and besides worst case scenario and even if he loses to vall woodburn which would be good per se he's young enough to where he can recover from it i think it's fine you know yeah we can talk about paid disparity whether they should have gotten just paid someone more to fight him we can talk about all the time But at the end of day, you know, the irony about everyone doubting Val Woodburn is like, I know it's not the same caliber fight. It's not the same scenario. But Landauvinata's been the UFC ever since he fought Tony Ferguson.

And he took that fight on like three days notice and almost beat him. Like he still got his butt kicked. But because of how good he looked against Tony Ferguson, how he almost knocked him out, basically kept him in the UFC. So food for thought for all those enemy fans are always so quick to, you know, begrudge. certain matchups and late notice fights and all this stuff. You never know when your new fave pops up out of nowhere, you know? Just saying, anyways, happy International Fight Week guys.

It's going to be a big day today. Don't forget to tune to the pressure today. I'll be head down there. Be kind to one another. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, no Vegas for me. I am getting International Fight Week FOMO. That is for damn sure.

I wanted to be there. We just couldn't make it happen. But hopefully next year and the future years. I will go there with Jose again and we'll tag team it like we did last year. I enjoyed it very much. That was my first time ever in Vegas was covering International Flight Week last year. So I was hoping to get back out there again. The plan was to go out on the fourth and then take a red eye out of there Friday night after the ceremonials,

go to New York, do the watch party and then go home Sunday. But wasn't in the cards and it is what it is. the i mean a lot of the names you mentioned like holland and and curtis and guys like that um i didn't see a lot of like fan hankering for those guys to fight bow i did see a lot of it especially from the fighters to fight jdm when jdm needed a new opponent like chris curtis was like yeah let's go holland said the same and i think what was so enticing about that opportunity was that that Madelena, Delamadalina was willing to go to 185 to fight. So Curtis and Holland made a lot of sense.

The one name that I really saw pushing for, for Bo was Kyle Barallio. And if I'm Bo Nickel, I ain't touching that fight with a 10 foot pole right now. Like what's the risk reward is just not worth it. Like, Kyo's good and he's winning fights. But what does he really? gain from beating kio it doesn't really gain a whole lot hardcores would be like wow it's a pretty good win for a guy who's only four and oh as a pro but in the overall landscape of things for his overall development i don't think that fight does a lot for him so yeah this is kind of where he landed

vows a fun dude is very explosive undefeated he's going to have to cut a lot of weight so we'll see how he looks on the scale tomorrow morning but yeah this is this is this is we're trying to get Bo over. Now, if he goes out there and just melts Woodburn, which he is heavily favored to do, he's the biggest favorite in UFC history as of right now at minus 2,400, you know, and then we kind of go from there.

I think he's beyond the, I think he goes beyond the Janie Pickett, Trashon Gore, tier, and kind of moves on up to, then this is where it gets kind of interesting. Do we go to like the Julian Mark? Arquez, Eric Anders route. Do we go a little higher?

Do we go to the Brad Tavares types? Gerald Mearsart types? What comes from this performance is going to be really interesting. Now, I think it is imperative for Bo Neckle, whoever he fights, to go out there and just get a clean win. No controversy, no. Was there a need of the balls? Was there not a need of the balls?

did the referee not call a stop to the action? Did he make a mistake? He needs to just go out there and have a clean win. I don't even care if he finishes Val Woodburn. He needs to go out there and just have a clean win, no controversy, go out there and get it done. And then from there, it's, you know, sky's kind of the limit here.

So, yeah, I'm glad he's still fighting. But there is a part of me. And normally I don't really complain about card placement when it comes to pay-per-views. Robbie Lawler, Nico Price, being the featured prelim is going to get more eyeballs than Robbie Loller versus Nico Price

being on the main card. But for Christ's sake, what are we doing here? That fight should be the main card opener. Bo Nichael should go to the featured prelim. What are we doing? What are we doing? Come on. The special moment,

one of the most exciting fighters' final appearances, that should be kicking off the main card. That's a great way to do it. Him and Nico Price is going to be the shit out of each other. Let's go. Maybe they'll change it. Maybe they'll be enough fan outrage before then, but probably not.

But that should be the first fight on the main card. Eric, what's up, ma'am? That other guy, that fight is going to, yeah. Yeah, I really forgetting that fight. And I think Rabelaw and Carlos kind of was a great of fight then, Warwick McDonald's, yeah, we're at McDonald's fight. So if that's not going to be in the Hall of Fame, We got it.

We're going to get back to the Hall of Fame this year. Thanks, guys. Yeah, dude, that fight should definitely be in the Hall of Fame. Like, I understand that was the, that was just an aesthetically, like, just the timing of everything that happened when Lawler McDonald happened was just gigantic. Like, it was, it was everything. That was like the perfect fight for that card. You know what I mean? we're about to get Connor Mendez.

It's like a ravenous group of fans. Like the fans are red hot. They were in everything. And those two guys just delivered. They had that moment at the end of the fourth round where they're staring each other down. Both guys are just absolutely destroyed. And then Robbie goes out there and just hits his nose and gets him out of there in the fifth. I'm not here to shit on the fight.

It's a great fight. But the kind of fight is just way better. it's just a way better fight and it has the and it has maybe the best round of all time with that fifth round. That fifth round is so ridiculous. It is so ridiculous.

There is not one round in the Robbie Lawler-Rour-McDonnell fight that holds a candle to the fifth round of Lawlercondit. And the worst part about Lawler-Condit is like to me that has the Rocky One vibes where it's just like, when you watch Rocky One and you see Rocky and Apollo

Creed beat the hell out of each other and it gets to the end and you hear Apollo say like, there ain't going to be no rematch. There ain't going to be no rematch. And the music's playing. Like you almost forget that Apollo Creed won. It wasn't a draw. Apollo wins the fight. And you almost like forget about it. So it's like both guys won. And that's kind of how it felt just watching that fight in a vacuum, you're just like, holy shit, that fight was great. You almost forget about the winner and the loser. But if you really sit there and you watch that fight

and you look back on Carlos Condit's career and you're like, damn, dude, like this guy was never, this guy should have undisputed welterweight champion on his resume. And he doesn't because he kind of got the big fat hose job that night. I thought he won that fight. Carlos Condit should be,

should have UFC Welterweight champion on his resume. undisputed champion, but he doesn't. And that is like the worst part about that fight is that we look back on Condit's career and he's not the undisputed champion. But other than that, that fight just absolutely rules. And it should be in the Hall of Fame. And I don't care if you put Robbie Lawler

in the Hall of Fame two years in a row. In fact, I don't care if you put Robbie in individually and the fight at the same time over the next couple of years. But the next three to four international fight weeks, Robbie Lawler should have Hall of Fame something to do with the Hall of Fame and at least two of them.

One for himself just going in and one for that fight going in. 1,000%. Let's go to J-Stats. What up, J-Stat? You too. What is your bold prediction for this Saturday's card?

That'll be all. Bold prediction. Hmm. By the way, as I'm working this out in my brain. The fact that The last caller goes Hey, is everyone forgetting about the Dan Hooker fight Against who's he who's he fighting?

It's just incredible. It's Jalen Turner, by the way, And that fight's really good. I don't really have anything bold in the main events Other than the fight's going to be awesome. I don't really have anything bold in the co-main events. I think a lot of us are on the same page with the featured bout.

Hooker Turner's going to be real good. There's nothing really bold there. I know Turner's a big favorite, but I could see Dan winning that fight. This is not really a bold card, unless you're going to go, like, Yairair just kills Volk, but I think Yaya should be way more competitive

than the betting line. I'll tell you what. I will go, and this isn't like incredibly bold, but I will tell, tell you this. I think Josiah Harrell is going to give Jack Delam Adela Madalina the business. I don't think he's going to

beat JDM, but I think he's going to give J.D.M a tough ass fight. I think we're going to end. I think we're going to get out of that fight with people being like, damn, can't wait for Josiah to go back to 155 because he's going to be a problem.

I think he's going to give J.D.M. I think it's a really tough fight for Jadem. On short notice, Josiah has a Gas tank, that dude can go forever. And he is, he's tough, man. He can crack, really good wrestler, puts on a pace and a half. But on top of that, very calculated fighter.

So I'm not going to go bold and say, like, Josiah is going to win. But if you take like a splash on him, I think Josiah is going to fight for your money, man. I think he's going to fight for your money. And you want to talk about like over underlines that that could be profitable? Over one and a half in that fight is plus 215. Josiah is really good, man. I know he's a little undersized, but he's fought at Welterweight before. I think he's going to show you some stuff.

I could be dead wrong, but I feel like he's going to give JDM much more of a fight than the betting odds and maybe some other people suggest. He's a he's a very talented guy. Anderson, hello. Mike, heck of a more morning to you, man. I'm really excited for this card. I'm a huge Volk fan. I've called in to talk about rugby and Volk in the past. I'm a huge Moreno fan too,

especially like I'm a Hispanic American and like Moreno is one of the, even though there's now multiple Mexican champions, Moreno is one that's really crossed over into America, which is awesome to see. And then Lawler is one of my greatest all-time I'm like fighter heroes, you know. He's like a fucking hero, man.

And I think what's so unique about his style, too, is that he just turned the brawling style while still having at least enough parrying defense to like survive, you know? He could brawl for five rounds, which is really incredible. And wrestle with the best. Like, he slammed Asker and people forget about that too. So anyway, I also just wanted to talk about one thing I've been thinking about. card's kind of a perfect example of this. But like I've watched the UFC for a long time.

There used to be a couple different ways you could get into the UFC. Mostly you would either get signed as a free agent from another big organization or you'd get like some basic low level contract. And nowadays, the low level basic entry level contract, like that Tatsura Taira got or like even Patty Pimblit, that's like a huge achievement because there's even worse ways to get into the UFC now, right? So other than those two main ways, I would say Chandler was a big free agent, and there's people who come in on normal contracts,

but mainly people either get in through the contender series, through doing well on tough and like getting a contract from that, or getting these last second fights way above their head, like this Woodburn guy. Like that guy would be way better served just having normal matchmaking, and like coming into the UFC but he's willing to take this fight over his head to get that UFC contract and the promise of another fight right so of those three ways tough contender or these like last second last chance fights what do you think's the best way to come into the

UFC and what do you think's the way that leaves you with like really a lot of baggage you know all right great show keep it up hopefully we have a great fight weekend man um that's tough man i would say it like honestly at this point i would say like just getting a short notice call is probably the easiest thing because you're just kind of doing the ufc a favor and that's always good and if you could deliver a somewhat competitive fight like that goes a long way with the ufc kind of does you some favors i mean we just talked about grum kutatsal latsay goes in there with batush gamrod on on pretty short notice and gave that dude fits and got over in a big way because that fight. So I think it's probably the best way to do it. I used to think it was the

contender series, but after the first two seasons, when it became like, well, all you have to do is win and get in, it's just, it's just not the same show anymore. It's lost a lot of its luster because now it's because of the business side of it. It's the business side of it. You get to sign these guys on entry-level deals. You fulfill some cool things on the ESPN So they're making money hand over fist putting on these contender series cards. And then they're paying these fighters 12 and 12 for entry level deals. And if it works out, if they win a couple of fights, they get the next tier up. And if they lose two, they can just cut their ass.

So, I mean, for the UFC, it's clearly contender series is the best way to do it. But for the fighters, I mean, it's probably just getting the short notice call. Contender series is just a lot. Because, I mean, what happens if you show up in the contender series? Your fighter misses weight. Then you worked your ass off that whole time. You don't even get to fight. It's not like you just pull somebody in.

You have to be rebooked. And then you have to do this thing all over again. Tough is just whatever at this point. Like, just look at the ratings for tough. They are just tanking left and right. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. They had the opportunity to do something fun here.

they're not doing really anything. They just got Connor in there, and I think people are sick of it already. They just want to see Connor get in there and fight at this point. So had the chance to mix things up and make things different, and you really didn't do it.

So I would say right now, short notice, money's going to be pretty much all the same. Tough, you probably get a nice little cash reward at the end, but do you want to leave your family for two months or however long it is and be stuck in a house, a bunch of people and cameras, on you, it's tough. I mean,

no pun intended, it's tough. So short notice, get in there. Nothing to lose. As long as you have, if you go in there and have a competitive fight, you're good. If you go get washed, you'll get another chance. But, yeah, I don't think either of those ways are great,

but I would say short notice is probably the best. Let's go to Mike Minded. What's that, Mike? Sorry about that. You can hear me? Yes, sir. Yeah, hey, how's it going? I'm excited for this week.

Dang, I lost my question a little bit. But what I was going to think, what I was thinking about was, you think, how do you feel about the UFC given? Like, who gave the belt to Yairair? Because I keep seeing this back and forth between, it was Dana's deal with the, on the complex shoes, Yaya's management. I'm pretty sure the UFC was involved or the guy reached out to the UFC

and then kind of just gave it to the management. and do you think that Dana's finally taking in some input from like the fan complaints of like not having the Mexican Independence Day or syncing the mild cards and you got three champs? And do you see this as a good turn and hopefully going into the next year, try actually seeing like cultural identity given us some of these guys? And then I'm feeling Yair might be the best dog on the card. Volk is about to be 35. He's strong. He's explosive. He has that good head kick.

You know, I know there's that stat that goes around. That's like 2 and 28, 2 and 29 with champions over 35. Do you think that's going to be a factor? You think, yeah, you're as young and just peeking at the right time, or what do you feel about that? I mean, Volk's already the champions, so I don't really put that statistic really in play. It's usually that stat really goes to fighters of that age,

like fighting for the belt and trying to. either win it or regain it. So I don't think it's going to be a big factor for Volk, honestly. I mean, shit, Volk could be 28 right now, and I think this fight is going to be exactly the same. Yes, I do feel like Yai'er is peaking right now. And what's interesting about Yair is he might lose fights, but he wins like 99% of the wars he's in.

He might lose the battle in the octagon, but in the long scheme of things Yayir takes a piece of everybody he fights. He just doesn't. Ask Max Holloway would have like spending 25 minutes with Yahir Rodriguez. Max may have gotten the judge's nod, but Yahir took a piece of Max that night.

And that's just what Yahir does. From a striking perspective, Yaya is going to present things to Volk that he hasn't really seen before, at least in a fight. but the thing that Volt does very well is his preparation is just top-notch. He brings in the right people, the right styles. He just knows what he's doing. He and his team, they bring in the right types of training partners to at least attempt

to mimic some of the styles and some of the movements that his opponents bring to the table. Did a great job preparing for Isl Makhachev. He's doing the same here. and that stuff helps. And what's maybe the best quality of Volcanovsky, and we really haven't had to see it, we really haven't had to see it too much recently, is that Volk adjusting within a fight,

he might be the best to ever do it. I don't think any, just go back and watch that second Max Holloway fight. Dude is losing the first two rounds. He is losing the first two rounds. is losing the first two rounds and then makes one little adjustment heading into the third round and changed everything. To me, he won the last three rounds, won that fight.

I know it's one of the most contentious fights in the last 10 years. I never got more shit on social media in my entire life than when I said Volcanowski winning that fight was not a robbery. but people just annihilated me that night. Just annihilated me. But go back and watch that fight. The adjustments Volcanovsky was able to make, despite Holloway coming in a completely different fighter than he was ready for,

was fucking spectacular. And those in-fight adjustments are going to be super interesting in this fight. Because Volk's going to win rounds. Yair's going to have moments where things get real hairy for Volk. I just can't wait for this fight. I know everyone's like, oh, I can't wait for the BMF title fight. Justin Gaci Desiporia has got to be great. Yeah, it is going to be great.

It's going to be absolute chaos. We are fully aware of what that fight's going to look like. It's going to be a car crash. I have no idea what's going to happen in this fight. I have no clue. I'm picking Volk because it's hard to pick against him at this point. But that fight is going to be incredible. To your other question, when Yaiir showed off that belt,

belt. He said it was a gift from his management, and the management reached out to the artists. I believe it's, let me pull it up. Jacobo and Maria Anhellis created the belt for him. And that's a cool ass belt. Just a cool ass belt. I don't know if they needed like some sort of permission from the UFC to do it, or I'm not really sure, but did a damn good job. And to answer your other question is this Dana saying,

oh, we're going to loosen up and have more fun. God no. Zero chance that happens. We already know the answer to that question. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice, yes, we deliver those.

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I'm like, so when I look at the Yair-Volkanowski fight on paper, I just can't help to think If Yaiyar tries a lot of that, like, leaving his feet crap that he does, I just feel like it's going to look like the Ortega fight where Volk just has him in guard and just, just raining bombs on him. Maybe, like, the way Yaiyar looked against,

like, Frankie Edgar or something like that. But I also just want to say, I love you, Mike. I have a Twitter account just for this show. But I think you're overstating a little bit like the piece Yair takes from people. Like, I remember after the Max fight, wasn't Yair like being hauled off to the hospital, and Max walked up to him and said, like, hey, you dog, we just won 50 grand. Like, I just don't see the piece that he's taking.

Like, he fought Emmett. Emmett just went five hard rounds with Tuporio. He was just outclassed. And then Ortega was hurt. Zombie, he fought him hard. But then zombie just got old. I don't know. I just don't feel like he really.

is the guy who takes that piece. I don't know. He's an exciting fighter to finish him, but I don't know. Thanks, Mike. Love you. Thanks, buddy. Well, let's just go through the resume, shall we? The Frankie fight was the Frankie fight.

Korean zombie has not been the same guy since they fought. And I know the ending of that fight was pretty fucked up, but he's not the same guy. Jeremy Stevens was never the same guy after he went three rounds with with Yaya Rodriguez, was never the same guy. Ever. And Jeremy was kind of like an up and down guy, but Jeremy was on like a pretty good run at the time. Like he was in there doing,

he had three good wins, his loss was to Jose Aldo, he gave us to beat everything he could handle. And then he goes in with Yair. And Yairir just, he was never the same. He was just never the same. Yer just beat his ass for,

the first round was pretty tight and pretty, pretty competitive, but Yayae just kind of took him. And then from there was Calvin Cater just annihilated him. Gamrock got him out of there in a minute. Clay collard pieced his ass up. Beat Miles Price, but a lot of people didn't think he won that fight. And then the Tant Schultz got him out of there in 90s, like a little over six minutes. So yeah, yeah, dude, Yair just takes pieces, man. He takes pieces. Brian Ortega got hurt. And that was a lot to do with Yair. I'm sure Max went to the hospital after that fight too.

So don't, I wouldn't take that into account. No, I don't think I'm overstating that at all. I don't think I'm overstating that at all. And to me, I feel like you're right when it comes to this fight. If Yai'er comes out and he's doing all sorts of crazy shit, you can't do that with Volk. But the fight to me that opened up everybody's eyes was the Emmett fight. he looked like a different dude

he looked like a different guy in that fight it looked like he took that chaos and was able to bottle it up into something a little more calculated but still chaotic at the same time and he just beat the hell out of Josh Emmett and Josh is a durable son of a gun but Ilya

beat Josh Emmett up for 25 minutes and couldn't get him out of there Yair got him out of there in nine minutes and 19 seconds it's a different guy he's a different striker and he's a more mature guy now more calculated fighter 30 years old he's like right smack in the middle of his athletic prime right now this is the time this is when we're going to see the best yeah here this is it so i love this fight so much galley panda hello take two mike how are we yeah good panda ah you're killing me. You're muted now.

Wasn't meant to be, Panda. We tried. Terrence, hello. Mike. So, buddy. So I agree with the last person we talked about you all year. I know you said that he took pieces

away from you or what have you. But I totally agree that he his last, like, few fights that kind of like been like questionable. But I also think that it doesn't matter because when you talk about fights, they're individual. And we saw what happened with Amanda Nunes versus Pena.

Pena was up and down and she had got submitted by somebody who has never submitted somebody. And then she turns around and then submit the greatest of all time. So anything can happen. And that's the argument. He's always been like the anything can happen type person. but in a vacuum seal if you want to put everything together I personally think that

his resume is kind of like questionable because it has like those like oh well he was losing until like the last second if only Korean zombie didn't do this whole thing or oh if Ortega would have just left his arm in there and just wait out the rounds towards the round type things like that but all that doesn't matter

because of the fact that he is a questionable fighter when it comes to what to expect from him. You never know what to expect from him. And you can't game plan for anything like that. Because I think Yajir

don't even know what he's going to do half the time. He's just in the flow state. But the main thing that I wanted to talk to you about is when it comes to the hooker fight, I think that he either retires after this fight. If he loses, it would be like a,

what's his Brad Riddell? type situation because he said he's only in it for to be a champion if he thinks that he can't be a champion anymore than he he's done or i think he'll not cut as much weight and move up to 170 for fun fights because money does talk if this fight isn't won he'll more or less just be like done and just like being it for the money or like completely retire and do his own thing over in new zealand um what are your thoughts on that that's all thank you maybe I don't know I don't think he's going to retire I'd be sure I would actually be surprised like really surprised if he retires just for the fun fights and and all of that but and then to

your other point about you know and you're right it doesn't really matter um you could sit there and you could pinpoint anybody's losses or weird wins and be like well what if this happened or what if that happened? Like, you can do that to everything. You can needle everything if you really want to. But no, I don't think Dan Hook's going to retire. All right, we got about seven or eight minutes left. We have both seven or eight of you in line.

So we're going to go rapid fire. So fire out your questions, 30 seconds, and then I'll respond to as many as I can. Daniel, hello. Hey, Mike. Top of the morning to you. Just got a quick five-minute breakdown question here. No. Totally joking.

You know, last week I came in and we just spoke quickly about a boost and Strickland just feeling like, hey, you know, kind of this matchup came out of nowhere. I understand they want to push a boost. But, man, after seeing, you know, the results of that fight, I mean, just in your opinion, what do you think the UFC is going to do with the boost? Like, do you think they personally are saying, hey, I think we made a mistake? I think we pushed a little too hard. I mean, do you think a boost even comes back, you know, soon?

I don't even know if you think he fights before the end of this year. I'm just kind of curious what you think the UFC is thinking after taking a shot on a boost here. Thanks, Mike. To me, this wasn't about a boost. This is about Strickland. This is about getting him in the mix

for this middleweight title thing. This is about getting somebody in there just a headline, but making it purposeful. While the fight made no sense from a rankings perspective, it did everything it needed to do for Sean Strickland.

And I think anybody who broke this fight down, all nailed it. A boost had five minutes to finish Sean Strickland. And if you couldn't get him out of there, he was going to lose the fight. And it wasn't going to be pretty. And that's exactly what happened. Now, did I think Sean Strick was going to go out there and just run his ass over in the second round? No, I didn't see that coming. Could we have seen a championship rounds finish?

Yeah, I thought that was in play. But I thought we were going to see a clear 49-46 for Sean Strickland. this is exactly this is the best case scenario for the UFC Strickland got a main event spot they had the highlight reel of him getting a quick finish in his debut and now if DDP and Whitaker beat the hell out of each other and neither of those guys are available to fight Israel out of Sanya

they will just throw Sean Strickland in the mix he's good to go worst case Strickland's the backup there you go so I don't think this is about pushing a booze they would kind of play that hand if it was dealt to them. But the fight went the way pretty much everybody thought of one.

And what's next for Abus? He's going to get run over by Ruzabov, who knocked out Bruno Faheda in a minute and 17 seconds. So that's kind of where they're going to go. They're going to use Abuse's main event stature to get over somebody else.

And I feel like they'll just chuck them in there with Rudesboff and 6'5 Rudesabob. She's going to go in there and kill him. Let's go to four-ounce sniper. Let's fire through the years. What's that for on cyber? You too. Yep.

So I remember you've been saying for the past couple months that you've got vibes, and it turns out I've got those same vibes about I, Jaya Rodriguez. I'm actually a bold prediction. I'm going to pick him to win by decision. I'm stuck between betting on split or just straight up decision, but I feel like he's going to have the big moments in this fight. He's going to rock, not Yair,

Yairair is going to rock Alex a few times, and I believe he's going to steal a decision. So I guess we're going on Ann New with that one. How do you feel about that, Mike? It's possible. It's possible. Jed Michoud Michoud has been on the Yaird Tray and ever since his fight was booked. Probably ever since Yair beat Josh Emmett.

He was like flirting with that line and not long after that he's been well over it on the Yair side. So we'll hear more from Jed on BTF coming up a little bit later on. But I don't think you're alone in that. copper to chloride hello hello i just wanted to know if you ever text the commentators specifically dominic cruz when he makes a weird comment about the rules or whatnot because i know he always harps about a ref calling toes in the cage but it's in clause 15 of the unified rules found on the abc boxing website just wanted to know if you ever say anything to them about that so i don't text dominic cruz um

but I think a lot of us are in agreement that the color commentators specifically, outside of Laura Sanko, because she does a tremendous job with this, they need to understand the rules better. And I know they, some of them have been taking classes with the ABC and doing different seminars and stuff,

but they ain't doing it. They ain't learning shit. We got Dominic Cruz coming out there and just talking his nonsense. D.C. doesn't know anything about the rules. Michael Bisbing thinks points like you should be rewarded for defending takedowns. Like some of the shit that they say

is unbelievable. John Anick has a good grasp on it. He's always trying to learn. Laura Sanko does a great job. She was incredible on Saturday talking about different things. Don't, especially with the stats numbers because that's what fucks people up

more than anything. When you look at the decision. Like if you go to a decision and people think it's a robbery. They're like, well, look at the significant stats number, the significant strike numbers. This dude landed way more than this guy. That's not how it works.

First of all, those numbers are unofficial. Second, it doesn't tell the whole story. And if you need an example of that, Rob Fott versus Jose Aldo, Rob Fott versus Marlon Vera. That's everything you need to know. That's the difference between statistics and damage and how fights actually are playing out.

Those are the two prime examples. Rob Font's significant strike numbers were like triple both Marlon Veron, Josie Aldo, but Fon lost the fight rightfully because he got blasted in both of those fights. So, yeah, they just got to do a better job of understanding the rules. It ain't two, it's not 2016 anymore. It's not 2016 anymore. Be better. Be better.

All right, let's keep the rapid fire going. All right. Hey, Mike. So what's the quote? One can say that you might be responsible if Strickland and Audasania happened because I believe you were the person that asked those questions at the press conference. And I would feel like it would only be fair if enemy fighting flies you out to Sydney if that is the main event, you know, for you to ask those same questions again at the press conference. Also, you made a good point about Frankie Edgar versus the Iyer. Frankie was never the same, and I feel like the same proponent was, I can say, about Dan Hooker. Never was the same against after the Dustin for a fight. And I really wonder how we're going to look at Dan Hooker if he loses to Jalen Turner, which I'm picking Jalen Turner to win by submission. And what do you think Dan Hooker is in line for afterwards? I don't think either of these guys are going to like it.

And Frankie Edgar didn't really take a piece of Frankie, just Frankie beat that ass in that fight. but Yair made zombie not the same fighter Jeremy Stevens is never the same fighter we kind of have to go from there that's what I mean about

taking a piece with you more than anything I think the winner of that fight's going to fight Grant Dawson next I mean there's just nothing else that makes sense none of those guys are getting any significant steps up

maybe if Dan Hooker wins maybe they chuck them in there with Arm and Sarukian but I think Syrukean deserves way better than that at this point no disrespect to Dan Hooker but I kind of feel like Grant Dawson's awaiting the winner. And that's sort of how it should be, if we're being honest.

Black Belt's MMA. Have at it. What's up? How are you? Everything is good. Good. Everything's good, man. What you got?

I just want to talk about Sean Strikeland. I feel his star, I like him first. And I like his tweet. It's so, so funny. But I think his style in fighting is not that good. And his last win about against Abbas was because Abbas have no stamina. And that's it. Thank you.

Yeah. That's why this matchup was so good for Sean. Because Sean's super durable. Sean is super durable. but he has been knocked out like Alex Pereira knocked him up but Alex Pereer knocks out anybody at 185 this is a tailor-made matcher for Sean like a lot of people like well

you know they're pushing a boost no I didn't think they were pushing a boost I think they were just giving Sean Strickland's a chance to shine I think the UFC loves Sean Strickland I think they love everything that he stands for they don't mind that he says ridiculous shit all the time

they don't care they in fact love that so this was a Sean Strickland showcase and that's exactly it would happen here. So Sean's style isn't like, this is not what you teach people. It's not what you teach people in the gym, but it works for him.

And he's really good at it. And he wins a lot of fights with that style. So it's not the most aesthetically pleasing at times, but it is frustrating as hell. When you hit that dude with everything you have and he just keeps marching forward, it works for him. It works for him. It's not going to work for everybody, but it certainly works for him. All right, we'll take

a couple more and then I really have to go. Let's fire through these real quick. Ani, hello. Yes, buddy. What's up? No, you did not miss me. Don't lie. Anyway, I'm just, you know, it has reached, I didn't believe I'm going to, I don't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm just sad that I have to go through another Tony Ferguson fight week.

Oh, that's not now. That's next. But I don't know. I just brought it up. I think the actual fight was supposed to be Tony Ferguson versus Robbie Lawler. Do you remember hashtag Lobby for Robbie? I still stand by that, Mike. But that would have been nice. I mean, we keep getting robbed off of these really nice legacy fights. That's all I have to say. And I'm excited for International Fight Week.

And I have loads to talk about on Free For All Friday. I don't have any MMA stuff, just regular stuff. Speak to you on Friday, Mike. Okay. All right, we will see you tomorrow. Yeah, if they did Lala Ferguson, I would have been fine with that. I would have been fine with that. Nico's just a fun name.

Most of you are just going to have at it. They're just going to fight and beat the hell of each other. Like, it should be a fun last fight for Robbie. So, yeah, Ferguson would have made sense. But this is fine. This is fine. And Tony gets Bobby Green, and that's fine. too.

Jason, hello. Jason, are you there? All right. Panda, real quick. Let's try one last time.

Can we get you in? Hello, Mike. Yes. Finally, three for a dollar. How are we doing? So I'm not going to lie while I was sitting here. My Dan Hooker question kind of got taken up and vanished. So I'll just ask you a quick question.

Thoughts on blonde Dan Hooker? Could that be the difference he's been, you know, looking for? Secondly, I want to make a comment about Dominic Cruz. I don't know if it was brought up or not. The end of that, Joachim Silva fight, he literally went for Keith Pearson's job. He was like, you know, at least he gave him a shot to keep fighting while Yolkeem Silva's literally getting flattered, flattened by Armand Sauruqi.

I don't know. I feel like Dominic Cruz takes those subtle jabs and shots and makes it more about him on the broadcast when it's not. It's about the people that are fighting in there. All right, Mike. Thank you for having me. Yeah, that's why Jed and I have been on. the same hill for a while that

Dominic Cruz should not be in the booth. Dominic Cruz should be at the desk. And he could say all that stuff. If you're on the desk in those spots with Karen Bryan or Dan Helly, like you can say those things. You can sit there and shit on the referee and tell little jokes and take little shots.

Like you can do that all day. And no one bats an eye. Like that is, that's what you're doing. You're an analyst. You're analyzing the competitors. The referees, the judges, you can analyze anything you want. But when it comes to commentary, in color commentary, you are trying to explain to people what is happening.

Do you think that anybody fucking knows over the last couple of years with Dominic, like let's just say you were a fan a year ago? Let's just say you found MMA a year ago. Do you think any of those people have a fucking clue what Dominic Cruz is talking about when it comes to Keith Peterson? do you think they understand these subtle jabs that Dominic Cruz is saying? No. They're like, what the hell is he talking about?

What is he saying? I don't understand why he hates this referee so much. And you don't have time to give context and you can't go through the whole story. That's why, like, do the desk. Do the desks. Do the pre-shows. Do UFC live. Then you can be on the day.

You can talk all that shit. And it makes more sense. But doing it in the fight and talking about her. how the referee is single-handedly costing these people money and all that stuff when it's just not true. Come on, man. Come on. Be better. Be more like Laura Sanko because she gets it.

She gets it. And she makes it simple and easy to understand. Oh, we got to be better. But Dominic cruises the name. And when Dominic is on and he's not taking things personally and he's with the right crew, if it's like him and Annick, just the two of them. He's really good. Like he's really good.

Like Anna can keep him on course. But when you mix in another voice, when you throw in a Bisbang or you throw in a DC and they just have to like battle it out for time. Like it's tough, man. It's just so tough. When you get those personalities all mesh in, it's very difficult to put some of those personalities together. It doesn't fit.

It doesn't fit. Sometimes it does. Like people give Rogan and DC a bunch of crap. And there are cards where those two are really bad together, like really bad. And there are certain cards where they are really good together. And they're just on one. It just flows good. But it's not always like that.

So yeah, hopefully the commentary gets better. Hopefully Sanko gets more opportunities to be on these cards. I'd love to see her. Well, when they go to Sydney, they're going to Sydney. What? In September, give Sanko a shot. You know Rogan's not going to be there. Give Sanko a chance.

put her on the broadcast and see what she does let's see how she handles it and i think she'd be just fine but all right everybody thank you all very much we'll be back on tomorrow yeah i feel like today's tuesday this is the first show of the week but tomorrow 10 a misha will do it again we'll talk 290 we'll do all that fun stuff it's free for all friday we'll talk about other stuff as well and then we'll get you ready for ufc 290 preview show tomorrow 3 p m ea Eastern live on the YouTube channel. Watch party Saturday. People's Pre-Flight Show,

way in show tomorrow as well. BTL, 12.30 p.m. Eastern, a little over an hour from right now, Jed versus B.C. You're listening on the podcast network. You could hear that a little bit later on today as well. Thank you all very much. Have a great rest of your Thursday.

And as always, have a heck of a morning, everybody. The Vox Media Podcast Network.