MMA Fighting - Jon Anik Reacts To Amanda Nunes' Retirement, Talks Oliveira's Star Power, McGregor vs. Chandler

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

UFC play-by-play voice Jon Anik joins MMA Fighting's Mike Heck to react to Amanda Nunes' retirement at UFC 289, talks the moment they shared following Nunes' final fight and win over Irene Aldana, the women's bantamweight division, how he would feel about a Ronda Rousey return, Charles Oliveira's finish of Beneil Dariush, a potential rematch with Islam Makhachev, his current star power, the UFC 290 title fights between Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez, and Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja, the BMF title fight between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, confidence levels in Conor McGregor's return, and more.  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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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. All right, let us say hello once again to the great John Anick, a very busy man back in the States after a fun UFC 289 event in Vancouver, and things are really about to ramp up in the schedule heading into the midsummer months. John, good to see you, man. How are you? I'm good, brother. It's going to be back to stateside, Vancouver and Miami. Incidentally, are very far apart. But a quick turn, right? I mean, I voiced the entire Jacksonville

show this morning. I'm talking to you on a Friday morning. So oftentimes people say, oh, but when you're home, you're just dicking around. No, I'm voicing the Jacksonville show and getting ready for 28 athletes this weekend, or next weekend, I should say, that fight card has undergone some changes even over the last 48 hours. So never a dull moment, as you well know. Yes. And I was hoping we could start things off by discussing a Boston championship or two. But unfortunately, I know, not the case with the season.

The B is coming up short. Well, you and I had spoken, I don't know if it was midseason or three quarters of the way through the winter months. And we sort of suggested out loud, it's not ideal that the Bruins and the Celtics at that point in time we're both betting favorites to win their respective championships. and unfortunately it was a postseason to forget and one that we're going to remember for a long time until one of those two outfits in current form wins a title. So yeah, nothing to celebrate today unless you're in Denver. Yeah, I think the last time we spoke, the Bruins are up 3-1 and you were telling me that if they had lost game 5, you were going to go to game 6 because it was right down the road from you.

So did that end up happening? No. And I'm so thankful that I did not. spend any of my money. Now I can save my money for, uh, for something that's actually worthwhile. So no, I did not go. Oh, good for you. Uh, UFC 289 was a card that I can gladly say exceeded expectations for most. Card was fun. I thought the lineup was really good. A lot of people were like, do I want to spend the 80 bucks on it? And I was telling people, if you spend the 80 bucks on it, I think you're going to enjoy the fact. I think you're going to enjoy the card. And the fights are really

good. And we got some storylines in the aftermath that, that, that sort of put it over the top, one of which came from the main event because Amanda Nunes goes out and dominates Rini Aldana to retain her Bannonway title. And the fight ends and she leaves the octagon. And one of, if not the first people she went to after the win was you, John Anick. And then she came into the octagon and announced her retirement. What did that moment mean to you? And if you could share, what did she say to you? Well, it meant the world to me. She and I are especially close. We both live in South Florida. I was able to go to her new gym, the Linus studio the week before the fight. I went to watch her train, and instead we ended up talking for two and a half hours, and she didn't even break a sweat.

I was there with Nunes and Roger Kroll. And yeah, I felt pretty embedded with her. I'm super close with Francisco Grasso and Arendi Aldana's camp as well. But obviously, that was a special moment for me. And, you know, I don't say this softly, but I almost feel as though I can retire a happy man, because ultimately what is my initiative here, Michael, right? I'm trying to humanize these athletes and I'm charged with providing the soundtrack to their professional lives, something that their family and their friends can be proud of, especially in those big moments of which Amanda had many. So it's almost affirmation or confirmation as to the job that we are doing, not just me, but our entire live production team and our entire staff. You know, I think her kissing me on the

forehead is almost her thanking the staff at large. She sort of motioned me into the octagon and I knew I couldn't do that. So thankfully, we were able to share a moment. But ultimately it's about her. she was pretty deceptive during the last two weeks leading up to the fight as to her intentions. Even Roger Kroll told us on the Antiqufloy podcast Thursday, he only found out Wednesday of Fight Week that she was definitely going to retire when he overheard a conversation between her and Cesar Carnaro, her long time and first time MMA coach there in South Florida. So a whirlwind of a week. And I'm just really happy for Amanda to have gone out, you know, on the note on which she wanted to go. I think for the last couple years during our conversations, you were wondering when that day was going to come for her. And I think a lot of people heading into this fight felt like win, loser draw, this is probably going to be it for her.

Because the fact that she stuck around kind of out of spite because Giuliana Pena was still the champion was really funny. I thought that was a hilarious moment in the aftermath of all that leading into this fight with Arena Aldana. But I felt like she had at least enough respect for Arena and Arena had enough respect for her that if she did lose, she could leave the division at a place that she felt would be okay. And winning as she did, there's just not a ton more left for her to accomplish. So I think the last few fights, you probably felt like, hmm, this might be it. But were you feeling a little more so that way heading into this one that this was probably the last time you were going to call on Amanda Nunes fight?

Yes, absolutely. Now, she has it within her rights to mislead people, right? And certainly she wanted to keep the focus on this fight week and not have it be on retirement. You know, even Tom Brady didn't want all of this pomp and circumstance on his way out. And as such, he didn't, you know, get retirement gifts on every stop because you didn't know it was going to be his final season. But as the fight week went on, it seemed like there were some rumblings that she was going to retire. So the final locker room bump that I wrote, Mike, in my hotel room the night before the fight. All right, coming up next from Vancouver, our final act, and might it be the final act in the decorated career of Amanda Nunes?

because at that point in time, I did have an inklet. But I'll tell you, brother, had she lost to a René Aldana, she'd probably still be fighting. You think so? Yes. Interesting. What was interesting? Oh, yeah, go ahead. Well, no, I just, Roger intimated it as much and knowing her to be the athlete that I know

her to be. If she loses to a Rainey Aldana, however unspectacularly or even by knockout, don't you think, you know, she runs that back in three or four months and then, you know, makes another mill or whatever and goes out, you know, on a better note. I just, it would be impossible for me to believe had she been knocked out by a Rennie Aldana or out pointed by Ranae, even by split. I think she would have been one more, but as such, she has exactly the, uh, the dream ending that she desired.

So I'll leave it at that. Yeah. You mentioned the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the dream moment because you've been around the sport long enough. You've been around the UFC long enough to know that as far as actual retirements go, oftentimes they come too late or not on the athlete's terms. To put it bloody, most MMA retirements are more of a sigh of relief than anything else. And we've had some good ones too.

Like we've had some memorable ones. Habib to Raghamedov retirement comes to mind. But as memorable as that was, it stemmed from something really awful happening in Habib's life with the loss of his father. This one, very positive. She went out on top. One of the best performances of her career, in my opinion. Where do you rank this one, John?

Is this the best, or should I say, is this the most positive retirement in UFC? history? I think right now, I think a lot of us felt like when Henry Sohudo walked away that he was sort of doing so with one foot still in the pool, so to speak, even if that pool was not Usada. Yeah, this tops it for me. I mean, Chris Lytle had a special moment. Mark Munoz and the Philippines had a special moment. But for me, it's absolutely Amanda Nunes. And let us not lose sight of all that she has done. She's 35 years of age, 12 consecutive championship fights and probably 13 or 14 training camps if you think about fight delays and maybe having to pull out

of a fight along the way. And bro, fighter meeting in and fighter meeting out, oftentimes the discourse would be on just that. How do you find the motivation? There's nothing else left to accomplish. And she could always answer the question in terms of the motivation, her appetite for more competitive greatness.

But in terms of what there was left to accomplish at times, there just wasn't that obvious fight or name, right? The Shevchenko trilogy did not appeal to her, even less so after Valentina lost to Alexa Grasso. There's nothing left to do much, right? And I think as such, you're going to probably see them disband one division.

And even when you look at the future of the women's band and weight division, as exciting as this might be for Holly Holm and the rest and Raquel Pennington and Juliana Peña, uh, you know, it's, there's not like an obvious one A to Amanda's one. And, uh, I think she just, it's a dream sequence. She walked away at the perfect time and, uh, it's the greatest capstone at least right now in UFC history. And there's always doubts, right? There's always like a never say never. I feel like the door is closed and locked behind her at this point. I don't know if anything brings her back. Like, do you feel it's, it's almost impossible to say there's a zero percent chance

she comes back? I think you got to put at least a one or a two on there for anybody at this point, but where do you put the percentage that she actually fights again? I would say one percent. And that one percent would be if some 135 pounder that maybe is not even on the roster right now, were to emerge over the next two years into this otherworldly great Banimade, and all of a sudden Amanda Nunes, the ultimate competitor wanted to sort of scratch that itch and come back. I think Nina Nunes, who right now is carrying their second child of probably four that they're going to have, I think she's more likely to come back as a flyweight, and I think she can be one of the best flyweight in the world. People do not realize what a force Nina Nunes is in terms of being the general manager for Team Nunes.

but also just as a fighter in her own right, very naturally gifted fighter and athlete herself. So I think it's more likely that Nina comes back. Now, maybe Nina would put a quick end to that conversation, but I'm with you, man. We're aligned here. I would say 1% chance Amanda Nunes comes back. I just think the risk would far outweigh the financial or competitive reward.

And as you just said, the division's going to move on. And you mentioned a lot of names. There's many directions we can go. It seems like Raquel Pennington and Giuliana Pena, probably at the top of most people's lists. We do have Holly Holm fighting Myra Buono Silva. They're getting ready to headline of fight night in July. Fighters like Aaron Blanchfield has thrown her name into the hat as a potential challenger

because she might have to wait a little while to get a flyway title shot. How do you see this all playing out right now? Do you think it's going to be Pennington Pena or do you think maybe we'll wait and see what happens? I don't see them having Aaron Blanchfield leave the flyweight division to go to Bannam. Wade. I think that's exciting to think about, but I think Blanchefield has a lot of work to do at Flyweight. She's on the cusp of a world title shot. So I just don't know that you want to upset the Apple Card as far as that is concerned. Raquel Pennington was two-faced or Rainey Aldana and she has won five consecutive fight. So to me, I'm not sitting here necessarily calling her the

A-Sai, but she would be impossibly hard to deny. And Giuliana Pena did earn that trilogy with Amanda Nunes on the strength of her first win against her. So to me, in a meritocracy from a competitive standpoint. That is the obvious fight Julianna Pena versus Raquel Pennington for the vacant UFC women's band-and-way title. And the winner of that main event between Holly Holie Holm and Maida, Buenos Silva, going to factor prominently in that equation as well. But I would kind of like to see Blanchefield stay put and see what she can do at 25. But I understand why she's throwing her hat into the ring.

Completely agree. My thought was if they're going to do this fight, instead of doing the tough finale fights on a fight night card, let's do a tough finale event like small venue small venue in Vegas and let's have that fight headline like it goes full circle let's go full circle with this

and have they met on the ultimate fighter Dana White felt those two were going to fight in the finals Raquel Pennington anytime you ask her about Juliana Pena she doesn't say very kind things about her she's wanted this fight for a long time I feel like that'd be a nice little wrinkle to all of this yeah no I stand behind that

and I do believe that you laid out nicely the foundation for that fight my only thing as a general statement just so I can stay consistent. I need championship fights in the 30 foot octagon, Michael, right? Like I don't care what the venue is in Las Vegas, right? I would have an appetite to having that title fight sit atop a UFC fight night, but I need the pageantry for a title fight that comes with the 30 footer. I just don't feel like UFC championships should be settled in 25 foot octagons.

And I'll just never forget DC and Steepa settling their trilogy in that tiny little cage at the UFC apex. It still doesn't sit well with me. It's a great point. I want to bring this up because, as you know, I host a million shows on on May Fighting, and one of the shows we host on Thursdays live is called Between the Links. And we had this conversation about where this division could go. So I asked my colleague Jed Mishu and A.K. Lee, if you had the book, if you had the mighty pencil,

how would you lay this out? And AK suggested, you know what, let's just throw Holman-Mire Buena Silva. Let's just put the title on the line in that fight. doesn't really love that idea. And then Jedmishu threw out a suggestion that absolutely blew my mind because Amanda Nunes is out of the picture. She's retired. She's probably not coming back.

Wouldn't it be an interesting play by the UFC, especially with this new merger and relationship, to take a shot at maybe enticing Rhonda Rousey to come back and give it a shot, her versus Pennington or her versus Pena, that fight's putting butts in seats, John. They'll be pageantry up the wazoo with that fight. It would sell a ton of pay-per-views. And I think that there are a lot of people out there right now, old school fans, that would give Rhonda a pretty good chance against either of those women.

What are your thoughts on that? Do you think that's something the UFC might take a look at here? Well, I love Jed and you guys have absolutely served to open up my mind here on a Friday morning. But in a true meritocracy, that just is not going to sit well with me nor the athletes that have been donating blood, sweat, and tears to mix martial arts over the last several years. if anyone is worthy of that type of opportunity, right? It's probably Rhonda Rousey. And I do believe she would be competitive because she would not enter that setting without the guarantee that she would be competitive. But I didn't like that Henry Sohudo came back and cut the line of a bunch of 35ers, you know, that have been active. So it would be hypocritical of me to sit here and say absolutely, let's elevate Ronda Rousey and have her return.

But if ever there were a time, Jed, you're right. It would be absolutely now. And I'm not going to sit here and suggest you'd be a betting favorite against Juliana Pena or Raquel Pennington. But I can understand why people would be excited at the possibility. But in a true meritocracy, I do think that's a little bit of a tough sell. Because even though we can't settle on two obvious Bantamweight contenders right now, it's not as though there aren't worthy title challengers, right? There are four or five women who I think are deserving right now.

And unfortunately, one of them is not Ronald Rousy, but we'll see. You can never say it. Yeah, look, at Irene Aldana, she had a tough performance. She admitted as much. And a winner, too, she's right back in the mix as well. I just wanted to see this division build some more fighters, John. We need more people because this is kind of the problem with Amanda's final title defenses is that, yeah, Payne is there. The trilogy is there.

She already fought Pennington. She already fought Holly. Meyer Boyna Silva is a newer name. But like Julia Avila just had a kid. She's taking a long time coming back. And we have like three ranked fighters. in this division that don't even have a Bannamweight fight in the UFC yet.

So it's just kind of weird. Like I was just like, we're seeing the UFC sign some fighters outright to fill these divisions up what I like, which I like to see. But I feel like, I don't know, this is going to take a couple of years

to build back up, John. Yeah, I agree. I feel like Maida Bueno Silva. If she can beat Holly Holm, I think that's going to really give her a push. But it's amazing that a talent like Ketland Vietta has never fought for a 135 pound champion. You talk about a fighter that's been on the cusp for years, who has a crowd-pleasing style,

who has some pop exceedingly well coached, but common office split decision loss, right? And it's hard when you got that red stripe on your Wikipedia page to raise your hand and say, let me fight for the championship. I also believe Ketland Vieeta is going to rebuild. And when she's riding a winning streak, she's going to find herself in these conversations. But I think Pennington and Pena can really build a fight. And I guess I'd rather see them probably, as we sort of talk this out, get the UFC countdown shine and be on a co-main event and be on a pay-per-view and get the shine

that comes with that. There's main event shine as well. And I don't know how you quantify one versus the other. But I do believe in terms of your goal over 24 months to rebuild this division, Pennington and Pena could do worse than getting the pay-per-view shine, you know, underneath somebody like Israel out of sun. With MX Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only sat your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex.

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Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Who knew that Mr. Canada during the UFC's return to the Great White North would be Charles Olivera. This guy was a freaking rock star, John, and boy, did he perform like one.

Him and Benile Darius got after it, fun little scrap. And Charles Olivera, despite having all these fights, despite a lot of lot of people betting against him and picking Binaldereus, and I could see that. This man's getting better, John. This man is still evolving. And what a performance he had against Binald Darius. He came out, landed some big shots early. Benile got the takedown.

On the rewatch, he didn't really land much. And Oliver just kind of bided his time. He didn't panic down there. Stayed very cool, got the fight back to the feet. And then it was over shortly thereafter. What a moment it was for Charles Olivera. What did you take away from that performance more than anything? else. Charles Oliver is as beloved right now in

2003 as any fighter in mixed martial arts. He's one of the most accomplished fighters of all time. And when you add a banal-dar-yush victory to all of the wins that he already has, it's just remarkable when you look on paper at the body of work of Charles Olivera. And when you talk about a paper view price point, 7999, what is it worth just to watch Charles Olivera fight? And perhaps it's my boxing background that I think of when I think of maybe paying

for one fight, right? But it's like, you want to talk about a that's worth the price of admission every time in and every time out. It's Charles Dubronk's Oliver. We asked him about his power in the fighter meeting because Justin Gatesy had spoken in these glorifying terms about Charles's power in a very short fight and just how much he felt Charles's power. And of course, Charles ever humble, right, defers to Diego Lima and shoot the box and says that the power is just a byproduct of the technique that he's developed over the years.

But Charles Oliver has some natural power, if I can say that. and he's put it to great use. And sometimes we're in a great rush to make these comparisons. And when you look at his legacy against Habib Nirmagomago Medov's, it's a very interesting conversation because nobody can F with 29 and O, and nobody can really mess with Khabib Nirmagov's domination. But let us be clear about some of the wins that Charles Olavera has that Khabi Nirmagomato doesn't have, even if you want to just look at wins over B'Neil Daryush and Tony Ferguson

and just start right there. Charles O'Levara has stopped 20 fucking men inside that octagon in what I believe has always been the best division in the UFC. I know Bannam weight, you know, is the bell of the ball at times, 155 pounds in 2014, 17, 20, 23. The UFC's lightweight division is the best division, one through 25. And Charles Olavera maybe isn't the best of the bunch right now because of Islamakasha, but he did everything in his power to set up a second meeting. And going into that fight, you sort of referenced. this off the top, you would to look far and wide to find pro fighters, credential pro fighters and handicappers who were picking Charles Olivera. And even though we saw maybe some late

money come in on Charles, Benile Darius was the betting favor all week. And Charles Oliverer continues to mutinayers, right? Doubt him now. I mean, doubt him now. We said that three fights ago. Doubt him now. How big of a star is he right now? Like, he's obviously very popular, but there's tears to this. Like, Conner's in his own private room, right? And then there's tier two and it's like probably John Jones, Israel out of Sanya. I don't know. Charles Olivera. Do you think Charles is that tier two?

It's hard to gauge, right? Canada has an insatiable appetite for mixed martial arts. We hadn't been there in four years, right? I hadn't called fights there in seven or eight years, right? So sometimes it's hard to quantify that particular moment because even the Aussies, as much as they love Jack Delamadelana, they also want to see the American stars, right? they want to see the bona fide MMA superstars.

And when you look at that fight card, with respect to Amanda Nunes and everybody else, Charles Olivera was the biggest star on that fight card. And every room he entered the noise reflected that. I mean, this guy knows how to take a stage like few others, whether it's press conference or ceremonial way. And he's not looking for cheap pops, Mike. I mean, everything about it is organic.

So Charles Olivera is Tier 2. And those in the comments or otherwise who would argue Tier 3, Make a strong case, right? Because without the benefit of the internal metrics, I would suggest to you, he's a top five UFC superstar right now. And before last weekend, I'm not sure that he was there. Maybe top 15, but not top five. Yeah, I think him and Max are like right around the same. You know what I mean?

Because anywhere Max goes, you throw Max in Canada, Kansas City, anywhere in the country, the arena is going to fill for this man and they're going to treat him like a superstar. So I feel like those two are kind of neck and neck. Yeah. And maybe Holloway is a tier two. guy. But yeah, Charles Oliver just very humble in nature. It looks like a rock star. And then he cut the English promo. It's like, this guy gets it. He's incredible. Could you imagine if he had embraced the English language like Junior Dos Santos, for example? But maybe I shouldn't say that,

right? Because maybe part of the mystique is that he hasn't necessarily crossed that bridge, right? Because I always talk about Junior Dos Santos and Amanda Nunes and some of these other Brazilian fighters. is Mateus Nikola, right? Who have really been able to elevate themselves just based upon being bilingual. But I think for Charles Olavera, he's a mystery. Even Benile Daru said in our fighter meeting. Like, there's more tape on this guy

than anybody in UFC history is still a fucking mystery to me. How confident are you that they're going to run this one back with Malkachev? I feel like he's in the driver's. I would throw it back to you. I mean, what else does a man need to do, right? I think that my opinion dovetails with UFC president, Dana White's. Maybe the expectation going in.

wasn't that you were going to rebook Charles Oliver and Islam, Mahashev immediately. But on the strength of this win and the nature of it, Benil Darjus, over five years, winning eight consecutive fights. Sure, you have business between Dustin Porre and Justin Gehche, and that's only about six or so weeks away. But best of luck to those two gentlemen, topping what we saw from Charles Oliver,

I think absolutely unequivocally October, it's Mahashev versus Olivera, too, live from Eddie Hatt Arena in Abu Dhabi. Hope you can join us. Yeah, I feel he's in the driver's seat. The one thing that I think could put a damper on all of this, because we've seen it before, there's talks about it.

Both guys have discussed it. And I don't think this is going to happen, John, because I think this fight is going to be over competitive. If somehow Alexander Volcanowski just runs, Yaya Rodriguez. And like I said, out of all the fights that are booked, I am, and this includes Porre versus Gaichi too, because we know we're going to get. We're going to get a car crash of epic proportions.

It's going to be incredible to watch. But in terms of mixed martial arts bouts and intrigue, Volcanowski versus Yair is the fight I'm looking at the most. I cannot wait to see what's going to happen. A lot of people think Voltcher is going to run him over. I don't think so. Yair may lose fights, but he takes a piece of it with him if he does. And if Volt just runs him and then cuts a scathing promo,

And Carl Zal Makachov, that might be the only hurdle I think Oliver has to go over. But again, I don't think that's going to happen because I think these two guys are going to go to war for five rounds. So I do think Oliver is in the driver's seat. Yeah, I mean, are we swearing here, right? Like, yeah, you're Roger is as the fucking man, right? Dominic Cruz coined him one of one. And I'm not sure that more appropriate words have ever been used to describe an athlete. I have no point of comparison when it comes to I year Roger.

You guys, I absolutely think he's going to be competitive against Alexander Volcanowski. I'm sitting here talking to you mid-June. hugely important two weeks ahead. I don't have to tell you that in terms of both of these athletes staying healthy. I feel like with the Mahasha Volkanovski rematch, you can let that marinate a little bit. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that that bike could materialize even three or four years down the line. I just think with the wealth of talent you have right now at 45 and 55, it's not a strike while the iron is hot situation. And I do believe that it's ambitious to think that Volkanowski is going to get completely through Yaya on skate,

than turn it around in October. Only thing I would say is that when we did sit down with Alex to begin the year, he said he wanted to fight four times in 2003. And I certainly believe, to quote Michael Chandler, that Volcanovsky is here for a good time and not a long time. Like, I really think he's trying to put training camps together and realize these paydays and not be fighting into his 40s. So I think we have to enjoy Volcanovsky while we can.

And I wouldn't be surprised to see him try for a quick turn, even if it's a hard fight in July. But, yeah, I do. do believe that Islam is going to fight a true lightweight next. I appreciate you saying that because I'm with you. If I and my druthers, let Volk fight, Yair, if Ili Tepori beats Josh Emmett, there's another guy. We got guys like Mazzar of Blyev on the way up.

Here's guys for him to fight. And we know that Mokachev's going to have guys to fight. Even if you waited to the end of 2024, these guys run off three consecutive title defenses fighting guys in their division, then we can do it. Like if we need a big headliner for December 2024, cool. Let's run it back then. But to do it again twice in the same year, not really into it. Well, and if Yaya Rodriguez wins, then everything changes.

So. And I'll wait for that fight. And I cannot wait for that card, John Anick. UFC 290 coming up July 8th, the tail end of international flight week. Brandon Moreno, Alexander Pantosia, flying under the radar, John Anick. No one's even talking about this fight. And there's history between these two guys. Pantosia's up two O on them.

If you want to count the ultimate fighter fight, this fight rules. And no one's talking about it. Brandon Moreno is absolutely incredible, right? I mean, what an inspiration to his nation and really to any fighter on this roster as to what hard work, the right work, but hard work and determination can do for a young man. And to see him gain financial freedom for his three daughters, I'm just such a huge Brandon Moreno fan. I'm also a Pantosia fan. You know, his jiu-jitsu coach, Pahumpa, essentially his chief corner is a dear friend of mine and the man who taught me some Brazilian jiu-jitsu back in the day. So as is often the case, I'm conflicted when calling this fight.

But you're right. These two absolutely have a history that will motivate Brandon Moreno to such an extent. And I would also say, you know, when Brandon Moreno won the title fight earlier this year, Pantosia, not that he upstaged his moment, but kind of didn't let him marinate in the win and wanted to immediately spin it forward with him backstage. So I think that's only heightened the tension between these two athletes. Brandon Moreno is not somebody who really needs that heat nor friction to get going. But you're right. Those guys are flying under the radar because of guys like Robert Whitaker and Drake is Duplessi and everything else.

I wanted to ask you about that fight because that seems to be the fight everyone pinpoints when people are asking me questions on the morning show. Why is this fight happening? Because Adasania is likely going to headline that September card. And they put this fight together. And Dana said, winner of this fight is turning around and fighting Adasania in September. Seems like some optimism there,

John with two guys. DDP just brings it. That man is full of chaos. I just have a hard time believe in that whoever comes out of this one is going to be able to turn around so quickly. So are you surprised this fight's happening? Like I get the stakes and I'm in obviously anytime we get to watch Robert Whitaker do what Robert Whitaker does, it's always fun.

DDP's on a roll. But just feel like the timing is a little strange on this one. Yeah. I mean, so much is to be decided that second weekend in July that I almost want to reserve of judgment or opinion when it comes to what exactly is going to happen in Sydney, Australia. But we've seen circumstances in UFC history, and you're seeing it in Boston at UFC 292, where the calendar is sort of being manipulated in favor of Challenger, Sean O'Malley, and against champion Al Jermaine Sterling.

I remember Tyrone Woodley back in the day when Damien Maya was given maybe five weeks to cut down to 170 pounds and fight for the title in Anaheim, nothing ideal about when that title fight materialized for Damien Maya. but as Challenger, oftentimes you've got to take it when you can get it. And if Robert Whitaker is going to get a third meeting against Israel Adasani, maybe it's not going to happen on his terms. Dracus DuPlessi has a fight style that makes it really hard for me to believe that he's going to be able to turn around in seven or eight weeks after what happens at UFC 290.

He's also coming into this fight at UFC 290, having had the deviated septum surgery fairly recently. So, yeah, it sounds ambitious to me, but far be it from me to stand in the way of the ambition of the combat sports leader who has done it time and time again. But yes, it's hard to wrap your head around it as we sit here in mid-June that DuPlessy is going to fight Whitaker and Adasania back to back in a span of nine weeks if he beats Rob. Yeah, 290 looks good. Bo Nicol in the car. I love the Sean Brady, Jack Delam, Madelanah fight. There's a lot to like about 290. 2.91, man. Holy smokes. We got the BMF title fight, which I wasn't really for, honestly, the BMF thing, but if this, if two, if one, these two guys can actually take the belt and

like, this is a thing now. It's not just, we're going to put it in the case and never defend it again, then I'm not really into it. But if this is a thing that like, we just keep defending the title, then sign me the hell up for it. Not only that, we get all these other, like Alex Perey going to 205, fight Janbovich. Paul Ocosta fighting Icrum Alaskaroff. That is mind boggling, but I love that fight so much, John. That was, that was the one that really stood out to me because I think the world of Icaroff. I think this guy's got to fight for a belt sooner rather than later. I didn't love that he had to go on the contender series. I thought he was UFC ready a couple of years even before he got that opportunity. That's an interesting fight.

291 is wild, man. This one, to me, is the most chaotic card of on the books right now for 2023. Yeah, chaotic's a good adjective. I can't wait to talk to McMainerd as to the booking between Ikram Alaskarov and Palo Kost and what led to that. I think certainly the avid fans understand and some of the history with Alaskarov at Hamzaa Chimaya. But it's a cool fight. And Alaskar right now is a slight favorite on drafting sports book. But yeah, I agree with you as far as the BMF belt is concerned. I would love at least once to see that thing get defended, right?

If Justin Gachie beats Dustin Porier and then Max Holloway and Gachi fight for the BMF belt because Islam Akashiv is fighting Charles Oliva every day of the damn week, right? I think sometimes, you know, we have fights that don't necessarily, that can stand alone as pay-per-view headliners without a UFC undisputed championship that don't necessarily need this attachment. And I felt like Porier-Ga-Ga-Ca-Chi was a main event fight.

That even if it was a co-main event on pay-per-view, it should be five rounds. So I don't know that this matchup, one of the best on paper in UFC history as such were running it back. I don't know that it needed the BMF belt, but I'm all for it as long as whoever wins that fight at some point in the not too distant future has the opportunity to defend it.

Because then I think it only heightens the excitement and makes it less cosmetic. Gachie Holloway is like my, the fight I have to see before both guys move on. So I'm, you're speaking my language, John, and you mentioned Boston, going back to Beantown, August 19th, UFC 292. We got Al Jermaine Sterling versus Sean O'Malley. We got some other interesting fights on the book, Zhang Wei Lee, who loves Boston, big Tom Brady fan. She loves Tom Brady. She'll be defending against Amanda Lemos. The card's coming together. I'm hearing rumblings of a couple of other Bannamweight fights on this card. We got Natty Ice fighting Andrea Lee

on this car, which I'm really excited about. It's card shaping up to be a nice little return to Beantown. Well, one little bit of intel I can give you is that there have been opportunities to go to Boston, Massachusetts over the last 12 years. But Dana wanted it to be a massive show when he went back. I don't have to tell your audience that he has a lot of roots in New England and Massachusetts. And as a guy who lived the first 31 years of my life inside the Great Bay State, I'm very excited to be back. I'm going to do most of the show in a Boston accent live from Tini Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, USA? this is UFC 2992.

We're ready to go. But no, it's hugely exciting to have a show of this magnitude, huge Asian population. Jean-Wa-Lee Lee is going to just get showered with love all week. So I'm very excited for her to experience that. A lot of Brazilians there as well, though. So maybe some love for Amanda Lemoche, too. But yeah, I mean, Sean O'Malley is just a massive star. And I'm excited to see him make the walk in front of a great fight crowd like we have in Boston.

And I'm just really interested to see what that fight holds. because for Al Jermaine Sterling to come out of a five-round war, if I can call it that with Henry Sehudo, and fight this particular stylistic challenge on short notice, if I can call it that as champion. It's just a fascinating backdrop to the fight. And as I even think about my pay-per-view open, you know, part of what I think about,

the context of this fight is that circumstance for Al Jameen Sterling. So, yeah, Dana's blown it out, no surprise. And I can't wait to get there. The Red Sox are going to be in New York, unfortunately. So we're not going to be able to see the. socks at Fenway, but very excited to see TD Garden get a card like this. Last thing I want to ask you about before we wrap up here is this has been a big topic as well. We don't need to go into everything, the headlines that are going on right now.

But Ultimate Fighter 31 is going on. We got Connor and Michael Chandler doing the thing. And there's Usada pools and all this stuff going on. People are starting to doubt that this fight is actually going to happen before the end of the year. And the headlines just came out about another incident that happened in Miami with Connor McGregor. The headlines when Connor is involved have not been very good as of late over the last couple of years. As a broadcaster, how confident are you that this fight's going to happen this year? Because it seems to me that every day that goes by, my confidence starts to dwindle.

And I've been pretty positive that something is either set in stone and we just don't know about it, that something's happening. But the more time goes by, the less confident I am. Well, if you would ask me 48 hours ago, right, before all of this Miami allegation came out, maybe I would be more ambitious. You know, I'm still pretty bullish that we're going to see him no later than in first quarter, 2004. Like I still believe competitively, Connor McGregor will be back.

And hopefully that will allow him to get in an active competition cycle. But I got to say, man, like, had this dude not broken his leg in 2021, I do believe in my core that everything would be different, right? I understand that he has more money than he ever thought he would, but he wants to be competing in the UFC, and that broken leg was a significant setback. And say what you want about how he's gone about repairing it, and I think there is a lot of misinformation out there

that we need to sift through. But that was a huge setback, right? And Chris Wyden's still not back. You know what I mean? Thankfully, he's going to come back. But I just think that without that circumstance, we would have seen Connor McGregor a lot sooner. So I'm still holding on to some optimism that we do see him that final pay-per-view of the year.

There are exceptions that can be made, I believe, as far as you sought and expediting that calendar a little bit. But obviously, we're in a news cycle right now, Mike, where we don't know exactly what's going to happen in terms of some of these allegations in Miami. And that casts another shadow over this possible return. Like I think if you're Michael Chandler, even right now sitting here mid-June reading headlines, you're probably a little bit less ambitious than you were even 72 hours ago. but I do believe we'll see Connor back and hopefully not just one time, two or three times in a row. I wonder if Chandler and his team

have already been on the phone saying, look, if Oliver can't fight in October, sign me up, call me up. Because I think they would go that route. If they needed them, I think they would do it if they had to.

But I want to see these two guys fight. It is what it is. We'll see how the rest of this stuff plays out, but just unfortunate stuff. Real quick, we mentioned the last time we spoke, You would, we have Jake Paul Nate Diaz coming up in Dallas. Maybe the Annik Longo show will head to the Lone Star State.

What's the latest on this? Because I'm going to be there, John. I'm going to be there. Is it August 5th? Yes, August 5th. All right. You know where I'm going to be August 5th? Nashville, Tennessee.

Oh, that's right. Walmart or Mago Medov. So, no, I'm very excited. No longer. It's a massive main event for Nashville, Tennessee. Yeah, so we're not going to get to, uh, to see Jake Paul and Nate Diaz lot. but I think we have an even better plan ahead of us. That's a crazy fight.

That is a sick fight. Corey Sanhagen is a G, man. And so is May Rob Dwallis-Willie. He would have taken that fight as well, perhaps against his better judgment, but it was a pretty invasive surgery for May Rob, and he's going to be out for a little while. But yeah, I mean, when you have guys like this within the division, right, Corey Sanhagen sets himself up for a title eliminated by beating Cheeto Varon

and then is willing to fight the boogeyman. right, essentially the number 11 guy in the world, Umar and Romago met up. Hat tip to Corey Sanhagen. And thankfully at 35, you have a few guys who I think are cut from that clock. Absolutely. John, you are the man. I appreciate the time as always. And if I don't talk to you, enjoy all the chaos in July.

And maybe I'll see you in Beantown, my man. Let us hope. We'll shave our heads together. Thank you. Let's go. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Okay. Only 10 more presents to wrap.

You're almost at the finish line. But first, There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.