MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Ask Mike & AK Anything Part 3

Episode Date: August 28, 2022

On a rare weekend off for the UFC, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee reunite for a special 'Ask Us Anything' edition of On To the Next One. This week, topics include Nick Diaz's future and predict if the popular fighter will return to the UFC by the end of 2023, the UFC heavyweight title picture, which is the actual No. 2 MMA promotion, what the undercard might be for the UFC's return to London headlined by a potential trilogy fight between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman, fighters who fell short of their hype, the UFC releasing their media hit video, building a fighter from scratch, and other non-MMA related questions as well. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee 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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to luxe beauty and fragrance sets. Our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holt's holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com. Fox Media Podcast Network. And welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next One. Thank you for joining us. I am Mike Heck. And you're probably wondering to yourself, self, why is there a show this week?

There's no UFC event. Well, my friends, we didn't want to leave you hanging. So we decided to put together a short notice, ask us anything type of program. And yes, we are recording on Friday. It's going to be released on Sunday. So if something is asked and answered between now and then and things happen to change, in that period of time. Tough noggis.

I don't know what to tell you. But anyways, another reason I'm very excited to do this. My best friends back and we're gonna be in trouble. Hey now, hey now, my best friend's back. Mr. Alexander Kaylee, hello sir. Welcome back to the crazy and wonderful world of M.M.A. That's the best rendition of that song I have ever heard. That was so beautiful.

Thank you, Mike. Thanks for welcoming you back. Yeah, I'm back from a quick little vacay. little vacay, quick little jaunt out to the land of Paul Craig out to Scotland. And, oh, and I wasn't going to do a Joanne Wood impression, but that's a lot tougher. So, yeah, I'm well-rested. I am more enlightened globally. And this is like the perfect time to do and ask me anything because my mind is just going in all kinds of different directions, man.

So I think this is a great idea. And I saw, I've screened some of the questions. A lot of them, a few don't have to do with MMA, which is great. We'll see if we can touch upon some of those. And then, of course, there's plenty of combat sports-related questions. Well, the beauty of this as well is that a lot has happened since you've been gone. Luke Rockhold and Paul Costa didn't have a first round fight. They had a 15-minute war.

Luke Rockhold retires. Tony Ferguson is fighting in two weeks at Welterweight against Li-Jing Liang. Mike Perry beat MVP in bare-knuckle boxing. But the big one since you've been gone. Leon Edwards has become the freaking man and people just can't get enough of this victory the event in general UFC 278 knocks out Kamara who's been in the final minute

and he's the damn champ and his life has changed overnight so I'm curious since I don't think you've made this public at all what was your reaction when you found out what happened and what have you made of this explosion that he has been a part of ever since I didn't find out till like the next day I was at a wedding

there's a bit of a time difference Scotland's five hours ahead. So I was at a wedding. I don't remember if I got the notification during, probably after, I probably went to sleep or something and got it in the morning. And at first I thought I read it wrong. At first I was confused. I was like, I was like Edwards, K.O.

Oosmond. I'm like, I'm like, that can't be right. And I was going to message you guys on Slack. I'm like, you guys messed up, you guys messed up this headline or something. I don't know what's going on because I did not see it live. I was only getting notifications. And I thought, someone in an MMA fighting messing up. And then, of course, I went onto Twitter, saw the clip.

And I was like, wow, that was. I had, I will say, I, uh, I met our, our MMA colleague, Nick Baldwin while I was in Scotland. We visited Sterling Castle together. He's a, the young man, the, the MMA prodigy is on a, currently on a trip of Europe. He's, he's exploring and enjoying his youth. And, um, and we happened to be in Scotland at the same time. So we went to Sterling Castle. And we talked about MMA a bit, of course.

And we said, we thought, we both thought Leon had a very good chance to win. Um, neither of us, like, we're saying like, oh, we had to make official predictions that we would have necessarily picked. Edwards, but like, we thought Edwards by decision is not unreasonable at all. It's like he has really good take down defense and he's a good striker. I mean, what else? What else is that not the most basic formula to deal with someone like Kumar Usma? Neither of us would have predicted a head kick knockout. I mean, even late in the fight, even saying like, oh, it'll go to the fifth round and like maybe Leon's worn him down and, you know, can score knockout in that way.

I still wouldn't have thought that Leon Edwards would knock on much less in a come from behind, less than a minute remaining in the fight fashion. So, yeah, completely mind-blowing. Again, I saw it a different way because I didn't catch it live. In a way, I'm still kind of processing it because I actually still haven't watched the entire event. So it's just this kind of weird, isolated moment. But yeah, great for Leon. It's amazing that you mentioned, you know, people can't get enough bit. We're actually dealing with legitimate Leon mania.

And, you know, it's well deserved, well deserved for sure. And I think Camaro has also handled the loss very, very, very well from what we've seen so far. So in your wonderful. legendary ought-no matchmaking brain. We're doing the trilogy fight, right? Like, there's no other options here? I mean, there are options, but this is the best one. Well, I think as you and Jed talked about on onto the next one,

like, if Usman wants to take time off, that opens all about kinds of possibilities for Edwards, you would hope no matter what the next title fight is in England, is, you know, London anywhere. Jed did point out he does not think it would be a good idea for Leon to fight Hamzat. But I don't know. Listen, I don't think like Hamzat necessarily is going to run through Leon.

Gilbert Burns gave Hamza out a tough fight. Why can't Leon Edwards do the same? I don't understand. Unless we think Gilbert Burns is that much better than Leon Edwards or something, or it's a stylistic thing, which fine. I can understand they're not the same kind of fighter, so it wouldn't necessarily, excuse me, be the same kind of fight. But I'm fine with him fighting Hamzat. And this actually may tie into a question later if I get a chance to read. This is a little teaser for you.

But if it were up to me, yeah, you run it back. It would be cool if Leon could fit in a title defense in between and Kamaro could get some time off to sort of rest, relax, recover after being so active over the last three or four years. But if he is ready to go, man, you just run that one back. Well, let's get into this. We have asked you to submit questions. We didn't give you a lot of time. I got some. I saw that someone got posted on Twitter.

Yeah. Yeah, not sure. already, how many others you got in your other forms, but we'll get to as many as we can here. We asked for your questions about MMA, non-MMA, whatever you want. So I think we just flip-flop here. And since you're back, why don't you go first? Oh, I was not expecting to lead up. All right.

You know, I'll go to our pal Kenichi on Twitter. Because I think he was probably the, I want to say Kenichi was the first person. Kenichi has a statement, which I'll read. I'm sending him a question now, before I forget, my question is, and you know what we were just talking about, Leon? If I am Mazvedol and his team, and I want that Leon tell the shot, shouldn't I be doing whatever I can to make the McGregor fight? I know there's been banter and tweets back and forth,

but I just heard Leon say, if Jorge can get a win, he'd give him a shot, and I think Jorge would prefer Connor over a Colby Covington rematch, or Hamza or Balal, Sean Brady, Shabot. I mean, I think he loses to all those guys. I know McGregor may have that Olivera shot, but Charles needs to get past his zone first and Connor's so big, I think you prefer 170 to 155 now. And I feel like he would probably favor Mazvedol over all those guys that listed earlier, too.

Plus, that's why we totally headlined a pair of you, do big numbers. So, UFC would be down. They can even label it number one contender fight, even though by merit it wouldn't be. So sorry for the long organization. But to summarize, if I had Mazvedal and team, I would do whatever it took to make that McGregor fight if I want a title shot again. So not really a question, more of a statement, Mike, I guess get your thoughts on that. I think you talked about it. This is a little bit on a heck of a warning earlier this week.

I believe there's some Mazvedol, Leon Chatter. Yeah, I don't think Mazadol necessarily needs to target Connor. I think he's done that. I talked to him a couple of weeks ago, and he said Connor's the one he preferred. He called him some things I'm not going to say for, I'm lazy. I don't want to put the explicit tag on this, but it was, it's clear what Mazadal wants. Gilbert Burns is an option as well. I didn't see that name mentioned at all.

Gilbert's been lobbying for that fight. Mazadol said he's down. It's just a matter of when, because Mazadol is about to go to travel. for this alleged Colby Covington attack in Miami Beach. So I think Mazadol just needs to fight somebody and win. I don't think it really matters. It's got to be somebody with a name. Like even earlier today, it's Friday.

Hoffield Osangio said, my title hopes are essentially done. I want just fights with big names and legends, just things that get me excited. RDA versus Mazdal, that would be fine. Like, Mazdao fight RDA in one. Then he's getting a title fight.

Like, he's just got to fight somebody with. some sort of name and look good. And I think he would get a title fight. Now, that is if Leon beats Usman in the rematch. Then he sets himself up nicely. And who knows, Mazadol could sit out. And if Leon beats Usen again, Leon could just say, all right, Mazel, we're going.

And that's probably what they're going to do. But I mean, I know Hamzot's in the discussion too, but Hamzot's got options too. He could go fight Colby. That would make sense if he beats Nate. He could go fight on a sanya. And the UFC ain't going to disregard that idea in any way. So it's kind of a wait and see. But if I'm Mazadol, I'm just trying to get back in there ASAP against somebody that I can look good against, but somebody who has somewhat of a name.

Yeah. No, I like where Kanichi's coming from here. I mean, obviously anyone should want to fight Connor McGregor if you think he's a beatable opponent. That is always where like all the big money is going to be. But I'm also with you, Mike, in that a win over RDA would be, I didn't even thought about that, would definitely be interesting. He could say he beat a former UFC champion. Of course, you know, in a different weight class. But, and also, you know, RDA, I think I would consider to be a more winnable fight than Gilbert Burns.

Though I wonder if both fighters would be favored over Mazzal. RDA would be pretty close, maybe more closer to pick them. I don't know. Yeah. And then, but Burns would definitely be favored. So, yeah. But I like the idea of him beating Burns, too. Because if he beat Burns, then that's definitely no one would question.

I mean, you just suddenly take that top. three spot from him and guess what you deserve a title shot so yeah he really needs to beat somebody at least fairly credible um and i think mcgregor would be a great choice but um yeah i'm with you though just just just fight someone please yeah i mean if you get if you can get the red panty night go get it but there's just it's too much time between now and then so many things can happen that to put all your eggs in that basket i think would be a disservice to mazadol so uh let me pull this up dan on the IG. Oh, all right. Non-MMA. Hey, guys, what do you

like to do when you're not covering MMA or if you have a rare day off or have any free time at all? I am such a basketball fanatic. I love to play basketball. I love to watch basketball. Most of my days off when I don't have any M.A. fighting related responsibilities,

I'll just go down to the park. I will shoot around and, you know, play pickup for like four hours. Like I will just, I'm doing it now while my knees are still intact. Any minute now, I know, I know, whatever. Something's going to happen, I'm sure, and I won't be able to play. So while I still have most of my health, I just play as much as possible.

I started playing indoors again recently. So yeah, I'm a huge, huge basketball guy. And I got that old man game, Mike. I got that old man. I don't jump at all. I'm preserving that cartilage. I jump. I literally jump maybe if I play for like, let's say I play three pickup games in those pickup games,

I might jump six times in total. If I'm getting a rebound, Mike, I'm just boxing out. You know, I'm just boxing out. I rebound with position, Mike. Not athleticism. I'm about positioning and toughness. But yeah, no more jumping for this man, barely any jumping. And I got that old man.

You know, I'm an old man. I'm a set shooter. Hit me, I'm open. I'll get hit to that mid-range jump shot. But I do love the game. Yeah, and once the season starts, I mean, forget it. That takes up. It's half my life is on May.

Half my life is watching basketball. It's just, it's it. Yeah, me, it's just normal stuff, spending time with the fam. I like to hit the weights as much as possible. I like to play golf. If pick up game of basketball comes available, I will go. I like to play softball in the spring and fall. Yeah.

Once a week, enjoy that very much. And, you know, just the family time is the most important. But, yeah, I just like to be active and not think about MMA when I don't have to think about MMA. Like, I didn't watch the contender series on Tuesday. It's probably the first one I've missed in a while. And I was okay with it. I was okay with it, AK. Yeah, and we love MMA.

I also know, of course, we love MMA. But, you know, anything that becomes work, you've got to learn to sort of compartmentalize it, even if it's something you're so passionate about and, you know, so very lucky to cover. When I was in Scotland, like, I barely, I don't think I messaged our Slack channel once. I don't, I was, I kept up.

I would check in and see whatever one was saying, just see if anyone was talking crap about me behind my back, obviously. That's really. But yeah, I barely kept it with the news outside of notifications that would pop on my phone. So I said everything that went up on MMA fighting, But other than that, no, I tried to stay out of it.

Even when Tuesday, if people go to my Twitter, they can see for a whole week I did not retweet or comment on anything I may related just threw up random pictures from my trips. So, yeah, it's nice to, you know, that's a good question because we are more. I like to think, Mike, that we are a little more than just our MMA selves. Agreed. You're up. All right. Stalen Massingill, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, wants to know. my question for you and Mike is whose bold prediction is most likely to come true as of now.

I feel like you mentioned this recently. I remember you guys did a prediction show back from the year. I want to see where you guys currently stood, love the content so much. So I think we did, we did one bold prediction each or something? Yes.

Do you remember? I had to go back. I don't remember what it was. I don't remember what I was. I thought you mentioned, okay, or I thought it was something for you like you predicted someone who would like be champion,

maybe it wasn't you. I thought you said in a show recently that like something happened. that really helped one of your predictions. But I apparently wrote, Hamza Shemayev will lose and not to Kamar Usman. So this could still come true. One, it could be to Nate Diaz.

Yeah. I laugh, but I mean, really, he could lose Nate Diaz. You really just don't know what's going to happen. I know he's, I can't remember what the odds were when that came out. I'm sure he's a 10 to 1 or something favorite. But, and also he could, hey, maybe he fights Leon Edwards and loses. That's possible, too. You know, so my prediction is still in play.

How close is it to coming true? I don't know if I'd say it's super close to coming true, but it is very much in play. And actually more likely now, I would say that Usman no longer has the title. So technically, I'm still in there somewhere. I have to go back and listen to that. I'm going to have to listen to it anyways because I'm going to have to take notes from when we do our wrap-up show. But I usually, like, I'll record it and then I don't listen to it again until like a week. before we do it just so I get it's fresh in my mind and I like I don't go back

and listen to like a lot of the stuff I do but I listen to that start to finish and I'm just like oh you're really smart oh what an idiot and just go through everything we also that some mid year but we also had some mid year predictions I'll go through these really quickly these were done by myself Stephen Morocco and Dan Martin and Jed Jem Michu Damon and Francis and Ghanu who was this was just only a couple months ago Francis Nganii Rezao Rezao Sucs sets up a special rules fight against Tyson Fury Technically still in play I guess seems unlikely as the time ticks away, but we got three months left in 2022

I said Beltaur would hold an event with open scoring I they're holding less events now so that seems less likely Jed Valenzhenna Shepchenko wins the UFC Bantamweight title Not looking great She's not going to fight for that before the end of the year No I think if she fights she's fighting a 125 And then this is pretty much dead. Stephen said Nick Diaz fights Kamar Usman,

who then holds out for a new contract that includes boxing. I don't think Usman has any interest in that right now. He wants to get back. He wants to rest. He wants to get back his title. So we may have, and these are just two months ago, so we may have already gone over for on those. All right.

Let's go to this question. This is from Josh MMA question. Who, in your opinion, is the actual number two promotion behind the UFC? Many claim to have that spot, Bellator, PFL, et cetera. But who actually has it? Is it Belator, PFL1? Does BKFC have a claim?

Wow. BKFC has a great claim as far as social media goes. I mean, they just really know how to create Buzzy fights. But the Mike Perry MVP thing, that was a stroke of brilliance. And I hate Mike Perry. People know this. I do not like Mike Perry. And it's not just a personal thing.

I mean, you know, there's all these outside of the cage issues he's had. So I characterize me, not a fan of the man. Let me be completely honest about that. But I will say, putting together a fight with him and MVP, you know, just taking that chance, going to Belator and going to MVP and saying, hey, would you guys mind if we borrow this guy who's still under contract with you to do a bare-knuckle fight? It's beneficial for everyone. And it worked out.

I mean, I wasn't, again, I wasn't around the weekend, Mike. I don't know what kind of traffic it did, but I assume probably did decent. It did really well. Probably, yeah, probably popped off a bit. Way better than BFL. Yeah, yeah, well, there you go. It looked like it was an eventful fight. So they got, it wasn't like it wasn't a dud.

You know, it looked like it was an eventful. fight. So social media-wise, man, if they held more, actually, they hold probably as many events to Belator now per year. I wouldn't say BKFC. I've got to think about this. Let me have a minute. Let me have a minute.

Mike, what is your, what is your pick for the quote unquote official number two promotion? It's Bellator. Yeah, it's still Bellator. PFL, like, PFL, just when I think they might get closer, they shoot themselves in the foot. And they could say whatever they want, but they screwed over a few fighters with this, let's go do an international playoff system. Like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Like, it's so stupid.

It makes no sense. It's just, it's just, I understand like you're going to that market and you're creating like a PFL Europe or whatever and like you want to have a presence there. But not in the playoffs. Come on. Like, you just hold it like an end of the year event there. Like have a December card there and just put all those fighters on. It's just so silly. It's so silly.

And I just think what Bellator's doing with the Grand Prix, and I just, I don't know, they have Kayla Harrison and they have some other fighters. But if we're looking like division for division, fighter for fighter, Bellator's roster, I think, is better and deeper. Like, PFL has some names, but Bellator are some names too. And they have the opportunity to create some new stars. It's a, like, Bellator to me is number two, but they're so far number two away from the UFC. Like they used to have, I mean, they were never really close, but at least they were like, hmm, maybe like in 10 years, Belator could get there.

But now I feel like they can't. I don't feel like anybody can. But to me, it's still Bellator. PFL just needs to be consistent and figure this thing out. Their broadcast are still 800 hours long. It's just so rough. And like one is okay. Like they have some names and they, like by the time this drops AJAMarias versus DJ2 is going to be over.

but that's like a really interesting fight. But in terms of like 100%, in terms of interest and site traffic, like if Bellator, PFL won and BKFC all had an event on the same day, BKFC traffic is going to quadruple whoever the second best is. That's true. It's not even close.

But Bellator, but BKFC, I just have so many questions. I don't know how this Triller thing is going to play out because you've seen all these stories about Triller just losing so much money, hand over fist. so I'm not sure how the business aspect works, but to me it's probably Bellator, but I'm not like, it's like which cousin you,

like you fight with like your family like all hates each other and like you and your cousins don't get along. It's like which cousin do you dislike more or like the best, but you don't really like any of them? I guess. I don't know. It's a weird comparison,

but none of them like these are, this is minor league stuff compared to the UFC. Like the UFC is just so far ahead of everybody. but yeah I think Bellator is number two Mike are you in your extended family okay is there are there some no we're good we're good okay we're good I've just I don't know why that popped into my mind but here we are but it's Bellator for me you

you really raised a good point with the BKFC thing that they all held an event the same day we definitely know what it would look like traffic wise but we should we should say social media traffic and attention does not always necessarily translate into real dollars so yeah real dollars real viewership so that is a bit more difficult to track So I do wonder, yeah, as far as just like how How successful they are from a financial standpoint

How do they stack up to a PFL to a Bell tour? Even to a one championship, though, if anyone has kept up with a lot of the writing about one championship And how it's the investors surrounding and things like that. There's still definitely some question marks there too But it's still kind of tempting like to call one number two. They definitely have some sort of foothold in Asia there's no question.

Some of it, the story is likely exaggerated for sure. You know, there's always been jokes about, oh, how many billions and billions of viewers watch all their events. And, okay, it's a joke. We get it. But there is some foothold there. There is some foothold there. So if someone wants to make the case that one, and this is timely this weekend, they're

holding two events. So this is definitely the time that someone can make an argument for it, that they are the number two in the world. I'd entertain it. But as you said with Bellator, it's still a distant number two. Even if you want to call one the number two motion, it is distant to the UFC. The UFC is such a Goliath, not just in North America, but all over the world. It's really hard to even consider anything being close to them.

So it's like number two, really, number two, three, four promotions, whatever order you want to put them in, probably clustered together pretty tightly. Yeah, one's in a weird spot where you can make the argument you just put out there. But you could also make a weird, compelling case that KSW is better than one. as well because they're so massive in that area and no one talks about them like they're starting to get more of a global presence in north america because people are starting to like figure out that their shows are awesome and yeah but it's bell at tour for me and that's it it's really doing much to separate themselves really so this is it's actually a really good question right now where like four years ago it probably wasn't a really good question

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Oh, I'm next. Okay. I'll go to Instagram for a second here. This is from at Tim Hustle the Great. All right. They said, this is for you and Mike? Is there a fighter you had high hopes for? but didn't meet expectations.

The example they gave is George Sauteropoulos, a guy who I think once had like a six or seven fight win streak to start his UFC career. Or after he, he was like the runner-up in the ultimate fighter? No, he bowed out in the second round. From the otherwise horrible, I think sixth season of the ultimate fighter, I want to say. He did not, yeah, he didn't.

I don't think he even made the finals. But, yeah, once he made it to the UFC, I think he won his first six or seven fights and then lost a couple and then I think was like done. So that's a good example. Mike, I don't know if there's any name that immediately jumps to your mind. Hmm. Justin Lawrence, I think, might be one.

Yeah, another ultimate fighter guy. I thought he was like, when I watched him fight on the ultimate fighter, I was like, this dude is going to be a murderer. And by the time he got to the UFC, it didn't really turn out that great. But the one I think that always kind of stands out, like the high hopes we had for this guy and it just never happened. Brandon Thatch. Oh, man. I think that's the, I think that's the correct answer. He lost a Hendo and who else he lose to?

I'm looking at him now. He lost a lot down the stretch. But I remember like he won, he got on a little bit of a run and then it just like just stopped. Yeah. It just stopped and he hasn't fought what since his last fight. Yeah. So he beat, came into the UFC, won his first two fights, finished them quickly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then he got stopped by Benson Henderson, Gunner Nelson, Bahadur-Radsda, and Nico Price, four finish loss. in a row and he never fought again. All submissions. Four straight submissions. Wow. One of them was a main event. That's right. He headlined with the Benson Housewives the main event.

I don't. What? Broomfield, Colorado, February 14th, 2015. Henderson versus Thatch. Main event on Fox Sports One. See? That's what happens. And we've seen just weird, crazy bookings that may have thwarted careers.

Like the Johnny Walker, Corey Anderson one always comes to mind. This one was another one, and he just never recovered from that loss. It's just crazy. But I think that might be, that's got to be my pick. I would not have believed you if you had told me Brandon Thatch main event at a UFC card. Crazy. Would not have believed you. I don't, I remember the fight.

I distinctly remember the fight. I guess I didn't remember it going to the fourth round. So I went to the fourth round. So obviously it had to be a main event. I did not remember. I thought it was like second round or something that Henderson. I remember him being so much bigger than Henderson. I mean, that was like he was, he was huge.

Brandon That was a huge, it was Welterweight, yeah. And was this fight at Welterway? Why did this fight happen? We've gone down a real rabbit hole here, but I'm, yeah, it was that welterweight. Why? I don't know. I think Benson was maybe thinking about it and that's just what happened. I don't know.

What a bizarre, yeah, what a bizarre thing. Anyway, yeah, he was, he was like twice. I feel like you can find that in Fight Pass. He was like twice Henderson's size, but once, once Bendo got the rest of him going. Yeah, just a minute of. That's a really good one. I totally forgot about Brandon Thatch. My pick, well, first of all, you can run through any number of Ultimate Fighter winners.

I had so much faith in the show for the longest time. Mac Donzig, who did win season six, I thought it was any good. And he was, like, solid, but he was clearly just like so much better than everyone in that house that it skewed my opinion of what he would do in the UFC. F. Brannis Goddaro, Diego Brando, and, of course, Chris Holdsworth, who will never know. One of the great questions, you know, just got injured in training, the concussion, and it's never gone away, and he just is pretty much retired. So, but I'll throw a name out for you, Mike.

Do you remember Paul Sass? Oh, my God. I haven't heard that name. It's so long. The Sessangle. Sass angle? The Sass angle? That's the same. Just submit people left and right to start his UFC career.

Again, I had to look. He lost two fights. He lost to Matt Wyman and Danny Castillo, fought one time for Bellator after in 2013 and just never fought again. Retired 14 and 2. He won his lone Bellator fight, retired off a wind. I don't know if he's a real. I guess he's retired.

There was never any official announcement. And I just found out, I thought he was older. He just turned 34. He was in his early 20s when he debuted with the UFC. He just turned 34 in August, the first week of August. So he's out there somewhere, probably in decent health, or not, maybe that's why he retired. And I just thought he was so unique. I thought a guy who had, anybody who had a signature move in MMA, you're not.

You're immediately going to like, like, peak my interest. Like just jump to the top of my, oh, I got to, can this person ride this one move all the way to like a top five ranking, all the way to a title? And we just really never got the chance to find out. So he retired in 2013. He was only 25, if I'm doing my math correctly. The last time he filed was 25. I don't know if it was an injury.

I don't know if maybe he wasn't, maybe he went to do something to make more money. I may have to find Paul Sasse to interview him because I am so curious of what happened to this guy now. And I really thought he'd be something. But whatever he's doing, you know what Paul says? I hope you're having a good time and I hope you're happy. Because, yeah, just really straight. He's only 34 years old.

He just turned 34. Wow. That's crazy. That's a great name drop. You could also throw like, I mean, this is a guy who lived up to his potential in Bellator, didn't in the U.F. Will Brooks is an interesting one. Right. You can even throw your Riah Hall into that conversation.

You could. And this is the guy the UFC gave a lot of operations. opportunities too. And sometimes he came through. Other times he didn't. So that's a guy probably didn't live up to the expectations either. But yeah, I think thatch and Sass are great picks. Yeah. Let's see. Sammy. Yes, that's who it is. Sammy. Big fan of the show really enjoy getting an almost immediate matchmaking perspective right after the stove gets turned off. That's great. My question is a little out of the box, but because you said, ask anything, my curiosity peaked. I appreciate how honest and normal you all are during your shows. You respect and appreciate the people who bring

positivity and intelligence to the table, but you're also not afraid to call up the trolls or the folks who are negative. I'm curious, what are some of your triggers that get you upset when it comes to the small group of MMA fans whose sole purpose is to try to turn a good time into a bad time? Like you mentioned three earlier this week on Huck of a Morning. Yes. Fluk? That Leon Edwards headkick. What a fluke. What a fluke. fluke. Fluk robbery and yeah, fluke robbery, clickbait, and then you added one to the mix as well. I don't love can't crusher slash nitpicking people's resume.

Like if you're doing like a goat debate, if you're like, oh, who's the greatest while time and like that kind of thing? Or doing ranking? Then yeah, I understand. But if you're just like you're trying to discredit some fighter because like, yeah, this. It's like, you know, Houghbee was pretty good. But, you know, look at this like, oh, he, you know, this went over like, like, goes in Tebow. And this went over, you know, I don't know. This guy is like, it doesn't mean that much.

This person would have lost this person. Anybody could have beaten this guy. It's like you could do that with anyone's resume anyway. So we touched upon that. What are the triggers you got, Mike, besides just certain words? I'll tell you one thing that kind of grinded my gears. It's stupid, because I never really go and look at comments on interviews and stuff. But for some reason, the Taylor-Styling interview had a lot of comments.

And I'm like, well, okay, this is cool. Like, what are the comments about? And the one thing that I saw that, like, drove me crazy is like, Mike Heck, because we talked about her having a fan site, like one of those exclusive fan sites. And people kept saying, they were timestamping me asking her the question. And they're like, look at Mike Heck who has no idea what only fans is. He's trying to pretend like he has no idea what only fans is. First of all, of course, no shit I know what only fans is. And it's not because I like subscribe to people's pages, but because he's trying to,

it's so prevalent in the MMA world. I also, before interviews, like, I don't, like, write questions down, but I do a little research. Like, I looked up, like, if this was an only fan site or not, and it wasn't. So I didn't know how to categorize it. In fact, I have a receipt of me DMing my manager saying, how should I headline this because it's like an only fans, but it's not an only fans. And we came up with fan site.

That's what we went with. So that's why it's titled that way. That's why I asked it in that way, because it's not. not OnlyFans. It's like it, but it's not the same thing. And people are just like, oh, like, there's no idea about it. Of course I know what OnlyFans is. I know Beck Rawlings made a great business with it.

And I know Page Vansant makes great money with those kinds of sites. And I know other fighters have done the same as well. Of course, I know what it is. But it's not the same. And that's why I looked it up and realized it wasn't OnlyFans. And I asked, like, how should I phrase this? Because I'm not really into that world that much. I, of course, know what OnlyFan.

Freaking Kevin Holland is an OnlyFans for Christ's sake. But that, I don't know why that got me. I was just like, I'm not pretending anything. This is just how, like, I don't want to misrepresent her site either. You know what I mean? So, yeah, that kind of annoyed me. No, and you have to be accurate. Only fans is to these kind of new personalized fan sites that have popped up as like Kleenex is to tissues.

Like there are other tissue brands, but you say Kleenex. Yeah. It's the UFC. What's the other example. Yeah, UFC is to MMA. People will say, we'll say UFC, but we know there's. dozens and dozens of M.M.A organizations out there. So just like, yes, only fans the biggest name,

and that's kind of what we use, synonymous with this boom of personalized fan sites that has come up. But there are literally all these now, you know, after OnlyFans popped off, all these other kind of, you know, fan site hosts that came up that serve a very similar purpose, that look very similar as far as, I think as far as it kind of lay out the information,

I'm pretty sure they look the same. And I'll also say to add to this, I'll say that of this, people who chastise fighters for going that route, shame on you. Because even Taylor, her response to it all is like, I used to work like three jobs and try to train and try to fit in time for my kids. This is lucrative and I don't have to do that. And I can spend more time with my family and pay my bills and feed my children.

And I can train full time. I could focus on MMA full time because I don't have to work three jobs and work seven days a week. So good for her. And the big thing, her purpose for this whole thing, sure, the content can be a little racy at times, and she admits that. But the main purpose of the site is because there's a lot of fans that like don't go and subscribe to it to look at her in scantily clad outfits. They want to have a personal connection with her.

They want to ask her questions and get a response from her. When if you DM her on social media, she probably has a million of them and can't get to them all. This one, she can have more of a personal relationship with their fans. And I even said, like, if you win the belts and you start making the page van Zamp money, are you going to keep doing it? And she said, yeah, but mostly because I could talk to the fans because they're the ones that are part of the journey. And they're the ones that support my journey because without them, I would have to get another job.

And they're paying money to support me and my goal to become a world champion and become a star. So she wants to give back to them. And that's it. She said she would tone it down a little bit. But it's not easy. Like people think if you become a professional. fighter on an organization that people can watch, like, you're just rich. It's not true. We talk about fighter pay all the time. And it's, especially in like BKFC where they're just trying to get

off the ground, like their big stars make big money, but the ones that are on the come up aren't making big money. So they have to find a way to supplement their income, but still train and be successful in the ring. So I have so much respect for her for doing what she's doing. Yeah, listen, one of my life mottos, a man or woman has got to eat. That's it. That's what I say. You want a simple explanation for why someone does something that's kind of like, oh, why are they doing that as a job or doing that for work or doing that? It's like a man's got to eat or a woman's got to eat, however you want to put it. Yeah. Again, and as long as what you're doing, it's not, it's not hurting anybody.

Then what's the harm in it? It's not hurting. It's not hurting yourself. It's not hurting anybody else. Why do we judge? Why do we care? So, yeah, more power to Taylor Starling and anyone else finding other methods to supplement their income. Go for it and just do, too, too, you got to do.

All right. What you got? Oh, right. Tom Fitcher. Tom Fitcher wants to know. Question. Does a possible Wembley card, okay, I got to phrase it. So if they have a card in Wembley anytime soon, oh no, before the year, okay. Does a possible Wembley card increase the chance of Molly McCann or Arnold Allen getting a title fight on the Komen, if either can get a win before the year end? So if McCann beats like Aaron Blanchfield, Arnold Allen not booked, I don't think. right? No.

Okay. If Aaron Allen gets a big fight and gets a win, do you think that puts in a position to get a title fight if the UFC is planning to go to Wembley before the end of the year? Before the end of the year? Before the end of the year. Well, they're not going to go before the end of the year. If they go to Wembley.

Oh, sorry. You know what? No, no, no. This question, sorry. This question, sorry. It's a big jumble of where. Okay. So if they win before the end of the year.

Okay. And then there's a Wembley card sometime in the future. Yes, does it increase the, yeah, yeah. So either of them gets a big win for the end of the year. Molly, I don't think. I think the answer is no to both, but Molly has a better chance than Arnold Allen because of Volkadovsky, potentially moving up to 155. Now, could they do some sort of interim title thing, perhaps? But yeah, I don't, I don't know.

Arnold's got to get a win over a bit. Calvin Cater's been calling for Arnold Allen for like 18 months now. I feel like that's the perfect fight to make for him. So, and for some reason, they just haven't put it together, mostly from the Arnold side because of the injuries that he's sustained over the last couple of years. But, I mean, just if Cater's willing to wait until early next year, just do Arnold versus Cater on that card.

Cater's not going to fucking London. He fought some beat in Russia, for God's sake. Of course he'll go to London and fight Arnold Allen at Wembley Stadium. Yeah, listen, there's a hard yes for me, though. You're right, not so much, maybe the Arnold Allen side. if Molly McCann beats her in Blanchefield and takes away some of that hype surrounding against a young lady who we all think

will compete, will at least compete for a UFC title someday if not win it. If Molly can get a convincing win against her or take that steam, she will get a title fight against Valentina Shepchenko in Wembley. I am with Tom, you will get a special

Otno point if this happens. I am with you on this one. I like the idea. I would love to see it. I'm definitely behind the, I'm definitely on the Molly McCann bandwagon. And I think she has a very good, I actually think she has a very good chance of beating Aaron Blanchfield. So, yeah, I'm down for it. I think highly likely. Wow.

Could you imagine if Manon Fioro won her reaction to that booking or Tyler Santos won, or Tyler Santos's reaction to that booking? If Molly McHen just jumped up like 13 spots to fight for the belt. Like, I would definitely see the UFC doing it. Yeah, maybe there's a chance there. I don't know. What are rankings? Besides the global rankings, what are rankings, really?

I mean, who else is there? I mean, there's really nobody immediate for Valentina. But, like, if Manifioro goes out there and just head kickos, Caitlin Chukagan, it's got to be hard to ignore that. You know what I mean? Yeah. Even in Wembley, like, it doesn't matter. Like, Molly can fight anybody. And it's okay.

It can just be on the card. Yeah. Just have a fight anybody. Title fight, though. It'll be pretty exciting. It's true, though. Do you want to see her? You're right.

Get a winnable fight in Wembley and then send the crowd. Again, and really, win or lose against Aaron Blanchfield, you should be putting Mal and McKeown on a Wembley card anyway. Yeah, so it doesn't matter, right? If anything, it might be better to have that than how for getting 50-40 ford by Shepchenko in front of him. And even if, same with Patty. If he fights in December and loses, like, you still throw them on that card.

It doesn't matter. It's all good. That's good. Oh, I love this. question, A.K. I think you will as well. This is from Rebecca. Guys, I love all the programs almost equally, but I have to say, I really love

the heated debates that happen on the ranking shows. My question is simple. Since Leon Edwards knocked up Kamara Usman, and as you have said on heck of a morning, it wasn't a fluke, does that mean Leon Edwards will be ranked higher than Kamara Usman in your welterweight rankings and pound for pound rankings? Wow.

Well, one part of that's easy to answer. I mean, yeah, he's definitely ahead of him in the welterweight rankings. I mean, there's no, there's no there's no reason. Leon is on what? 10 fight? 11 fight unbeaten street. 11 fight unbeat.

And if you're like me, you don't count no contests, I just, I don't count no contests. So technically to me, he's on a 10-fight win streak. Like, that's how I view it. But both, I mean, both sound impressive. 11 fight unbeaten, 10-fight win streak, however you want to put it. I think it'd be a bit slightly to say he's only on a two-fight win streak. I just don't think that's true. So I say 10-fight win streak.

And he was only behind Usman. So he beat the only guy who had a bit. streak than him. Clearly he'll be number one. And Edwards obviously hasn't been as active, but there's some good wins on there. RDA. I think the NADES win was fine. I don't know it's not like an amazing win.

Yeah, he doesn't have the strength of resume of Kamarwo. That's fine. Pound for pound will be interesting. I think people know our most recent pound for pound rankings had already had Volkanowski number one. Yep. even though Usman received

the most first place votes, he had four first place votes out of our eight panelists, the accumulated counting second place votes and other

number three, number four, all those votes, counting all those, Volcanowski ended up on top and he also had two first place votes. So,

sorry, I'm trying to find our ranking. Will Edwards be higher than him pound for pound? Personally, for me, yes.

I will probably drop Usman down a couple of spots. I've got to take a look how my rank is laid out now and then and then give edwards a spot and really when you look at edward's resume again just how how successful he's been since that first oobun fight he probably should have been ranked anyway he probably should have been ranked anyway so uh so he should have been somewhere in the top 20 probably undervalued him and now at least in my rankings he's going to make a huge jump from

unranked to probably somewhere at least in the top six yeah but i have not done the ranking yet but That's a great question. That is a great question. Yeah, I think Usman will probably drop in the Welterweight rankings. Edwards will be one. I still think I'm going to have Usman above Leon pound for pound. But they're going to be right next to each other. It'll be like five, six one way or the other.

So I haven't decided yet, but it's a great question. Sorry, I'm just bringing up with our pattern. I'm having some. There we go. So in our rankings right now, I believe Uzman, yeah, Usman number two, Volcanops. ski number one. So Usman is currently ahead of

Israel Adisina. I think gosh, I think so that means I think I'll drop Usman below him. Charles Olivera, I think I'll drop Usman below him. And this is where it gets tricky. Francis Inganu. I don't know if I can drop Usman below him. But that means I

will have to raise Leon all the way up to the number five spot. That sounds so strange. Isn't that crazy? It sounds strange. Yeah. And again, we should say everyone's definition of pound for pound can be very different.

It can be, you know, the classic of how would these fighters fare against one another if they're, if, you know, if they were somehow in the same weight class but had the same skill set, which is probably why Volcanowski is doing so well right now. Everyone kind of sees him like, man, imagine a heavyweight version of him, light heavyweight version, middleweight version. Be amazing, right? So that points to him. Some people consider it overall strength of resume, you know what I mean, which is what Usman has. This is why he's been up there. Winning streaks go a long way. Usman was unbeat up 15 and 0 before Saturday night.

And, you know, as great as Leon Edwards's resume is, it definitely is not as strong as Usman. So I think pound for pound, generally people view it less head-to-head-wise. And if you beat someone, you don't necessarily take their spot. I traditionally have given fighters their spot. But this is a weird case. Again, we've really never had an upset. We've really never had an upset like this before.

This is Bisbing, Rockhold-esque, in a way. in some ways because it just was so not saying Leon winning was improbable but just the moment itself is just one of those iconic moments and just the way the fight went like I still have questions if Leon's a better fighter he was the better fighter in that moment landed the perfect shot won the fight but you've even seen the opening bet my oosman's a minus 350 favorite in the rematch which is higher than he was before when the line closed at UFC 278 before they fought. So that's for the better.

I mean, the sharps out there, so to speak, the line mate, the odds makers, think Guzman's going to go out there and just get the job done this time. But we'll see. That's why the fight's so interesting. That's a good question. God, because the people really delivered with these questions, I got to say. Yeah. There's some good ones.

I don't know. I'm looking at mine. Here's a fun one. This is from Helios on Twitter. Hey, with Taito of Vasa fighting next week, UFC Paris, a man who's made. an absolute killing for himself with his beer, merch, the whole Shui Vasa gimmick. What other fighter do you think should create their own product and what should they sell? Wow.

That's a great question. Yeah, I read this ahead of time and I still kind of struggled. So I don't really have a great answer. I don't know if you have something that's... It's hard in today's UFC to, like, create a gimmick for yourself, right? And some people already have like Patty Pimblatt. He's already got his own merchandise and everything. So that's, you know, obviously.

Nate Diaz, his own... Enshott of Malia doing that. the Ghana thing. Oh, Shana, Mal, is an amazing job at monetizing his whole brand and his persona. Yeah, the Diaz brothers, Diaz army has been going strong for years, many, many, many, many years. So, yeah, it'd have to be someone like a little, a little lesser known, I guess, who hasn't quite capitalized on their buzz. Like Mazadol's into a bunch of stuff. I would like, you know, I don't know why this popped into my mind, but I think it would be hilarious.

Valentina Shifchenko creating a line of martial arts weapons. Oh. Nunchucks, swords, like all that stuff. Yeah, maybe some exotic ones we don't know about. Yeah, just like her own line, her own designs. Something tells me, like, in her downtime, when she's bored, she just draws a bunch of, like, crazy martial arts weapons that haven't been made, but could be designed and created someday.

So there you go. That's the one I'm going with. The Valatina Shipchenko brand of luxury, luxury weaponry. Bullet, yeah, bullet luxury weaponry. Yeah. This is top class, this top class, like, weaponry. This isn't like something you just go, you go to the, like, hobby store and like, oh, I want to, I want to, no, no, these are, these are like rare, you know, limited edition. 10 of each.

Yeah, you are classy if you own one of these weapons. I think I settled on Ryan Hall. Price is an excuse to talk about Ryan Hall. I feel like his whole 50-50 gimmick, he's why, he's the wizard. He's certainly one of the most unique personalities in an MMA, both outside and inside the cage. There's just nobody like him. He's kind of got big ears. Maybe you could do something with that.

I just feel like they're, sorry, sorry, Ryan Hall, but I'm just, you know, I'm just trying to, I'm just spitballing here. This is your marketing team doing some spitballing. And the 50-50 thing, I really think there's something that could be done there. So I don't know if he has released his own brand of instructional videos yet. I'm sure he's done a lot of teaching. But I think if he could do his own brand of instructional videos, something like that, I think it could be, there's a lot of potential there. So I am hoping that the goat can capitalize on his excellence beyond just the fact that he is undefeated in M.A. And the greatest fighter I've ever seen.

I think he is missing some dollars there. So I'll save Ryan Hall, but I'm sure there's better answers. I like it. Let's see. Shane, what has been your favorite event to cover on location? What was your least favorite? Oh, I mean, listen, I've covered very few. I've been to maybe a handful of events.

But probably the first one I ever got due for M.A. It was crazy because I went to Detroit. This was for UFC. I'm not Jose Young, so I have to look these things out because my memory is terrible. This was for UFC. Where are we? 218. This was the second Jose Aldo fight.

So it was my first event with MFA. I'd been to a couple events before when I was working. working with the score. But this time, this is when, this was a crazy day for me, Mike, because I got to work directly with Ariel, Aero Hawani, who up to that point, I kind of knew, but had never, you know, had never really worked with directly. So that was mind blowing. Just as mind blowing, getting to work for the first time with E. Casey Leiden and Esther Lynn. I mean, my God, imagine being those, imagine being me still pretty new to the industry and getting to work with Esther, Casey, Ariel. It was crazy.

And it was really fun. And look, Max Holloway fought. Francis and Ghana nearly knocked Alastair O'Reams head off. The Little Siegers Arena. I don't know how recently it had been renovated, but it felt very fresh and new. The arena was just beautiful. The area around it was beautiful. So yeah, great.

It was a great, great time. So, yeah, my first and I've covered a few in Canada since, but it's going to be a while before that happens again, I think. So, yeah, good times at USC 218. You've got a much longer list. Yeah. Favorite event cover on location. I think it's all happened in the last year and a half, I think. Favorite events cover on location was BKFC 19.

That was the page Vanzat, Rachel Ossovich card. That was just so much fun. I love that. It was insanity the whole week. But the BKFC people were great. The access was spectacular. They treated us really, really well. And just everything that happened from the media day to or the press conference,

to the way-ins to the actual fights, people jumping in the ring, attacking blue face and everything about it. It was just like anywhere you turned, like Hector Lombard and Tyrone, and Woodley are almost getting fights in the crowd. Like, it was just nuts. It was just insane.

I will say 1B is probably July International Fight Week this year. Just doing the radio roast off and just flying from the seat of my pants all week was just awesome and I love that stuff. Least favorite. Oh, I know.

This is an easy thing. It's Jake Paul tired Willey too. It's not even close. It's not even close. That was a tough week. I tried, I did my best. I met some cool people that I never met before. And that was fun.

Drake Riggs was there. So I got to hang out with him again for the first time, like in person for the first time since UFC 244. So yeah. But definitely like in terms of like what I could get. The week itself. The fight between Paul and Woody is horrible. until the knockout. The bill to it was just weird.

Just everything about it was strange. And most of the boxing media was not very fun to be around because they thought we were just like, we were just like outsiders and had no idea about combat sports. And they're just like, they're just way more aggressive than MMA media

when it comes to like scrums and stuff. Like we're all getting the same stuff. Like I had to physically like push a guy to the right of me because I was, like, what are you doing? Like, I'm trying to get a shot of like Woodley Scrum. And this dude's like hand and microphone continuously get in my shot. And I'm like, dude, you got to move.

You got to move. And finally I like, I took my hand and like push his arm down. And I'm like, you have to stop. And he looked at me. I'm like, dude, I'm trying to get a shot. Like, don't like get your mic down a little bit. Like, we're all trying to get the same thing here. I hated that.

I will say the Triller Fight Week for the, what was the Anderson Silva Tito Ortiz. The Belfort Holyfield card was kind of. tough just get it. I thought that's what you're going to say. I thought for sure you're going to say Holyfield before. It was a good week. Oh, okay. For the most part, like the fight broke my heart. But the event itself was like really cool. Like getting to interview of Ander Holyfield was really cool.

Although it was kind of frightening at the same time because that interview blew up some of the clips from it because he just didn't seem there. So that was a little scary. But the week was so refreshing because they moved the entire event from California to Florida. Yeah. And like a day. It was crazy.

So the amount of media that was there, there was like a dozen people all week. And then like Oscar Willis showed up on the second to last day. So I got to like hang out with him a little bit. But it was it was great. Like the access was great. I got to do a one-on-one with Anderson Silva. Even though it was like for five minutes was right after the whole way in debacle with Tito. But it was cool.

Like the end was heartbreaking. But the rest of it was cool. But yeah, it's definitely Jake Paul tired will be. It's not even close. Okay, all right. Yeah, I don't really have a worse. I've enjoyed all my, with a few times that I've been on site. So, go ahead.

Oh, yeah, right. Wait, that was a you question? That was a me question. Oh, okay. Eve of the hardcore casual wants to know. If you could make a, I'm sorry, my throat's wet to go, but so if I cough, I apologize. If you could make a, for lack of a better term, a loser leaves town entire main card.

We'll just pick one. I don't know if we can do a main card. Whether that be fighters who are or should be retiring, end of contract or on a losing streak, which fights would you make? And I'll read one of their examples, and then I'll read the others after we give our choices. For example, like, you know,

McGregor versus Nate Diaz 3, you know, and then the loser has to is gone from the UFC. So Mike, what kind of, what kind of fight would you pick for that sort of thing? Wait, say that one more time? I'm sorry. If you had to pick a loser Eve's the hardcore casual on Twitter is asking for a loser leaves town

Like a whole main card I don't know if I have enough I thoughts for a main card But what's a loser leaves town Fight that you mean for whatever reason Whether it's because the guys are retiring Or they've been trying to get out of their contracts Or just you know

It just makes sense that whoever lost this fight Would no longer be in the UFC Frankie Edgar versus Jose Aldo Yeah I think that's the best one Yeah Because it's not heartbreaking It's not heartbreaking

We know it's Frankie's last fight. He gets to do it in New York. I mean, yeah, I'll go with that one. That seems to be the main event. My throat's really going to go. It happens. Excuse me. Eve suggested Cruz versus Edgar.

I don't know if you've got more or less than Aldo, seeing Aldo and Edgar again. I'm down for it. I'd certainly be down for it. But I just feel like Aldo, especially with, and we, we don't know if this is true, but this is what Mara was saying on the M.A. hour that Aldo said that essentially that was his last fight, but we don't know that for sure. I just feel like with Aldo being completely out of the title picture at this point, it just makes sense. I don't know how much time Aldo has left.

Maybe he has like a fight or two. Cruz, I could see fighting like six more times just because he's a competitor and I just don't think he wants to slow down, really. So yeah, I'll go with that one, but both of those are fine. Something with Edgar involved against a cruiser and Aldo. Mix a match. I'm good with that. Eve also suggested if Rockhold fights again, you do the, you do the Wydenman rematch.

I agree that. I like that one. And Nick Diaz versus Damien, what's up with Damien Meyer? What's up with Damien Meyer? He's, I think he's, from what I understand, and I don't know this,

I don't want to look it up right now, but from, I think he's, his UFC contract is done, but he wants one more fight in the UFC. So the UFC would have bring back for a one fight deal. So he's kind of a free agent, but it doesn't sound like he wants to fight for another, an MMA for another promotion. Yeah, he just wants, if he's going to fight again, it would be in the UFC one more time.

That would be, I mean, that'd be cool if they could bring him back for one more. Yeah, I think I could see him doing like grappling stuff for other promotions, but yeah, fighting, I think only, probably only Ossie. I came up with, this might sound harsh, but this is a fight we've wanted to talk. We've talked about many times on the next one and wanted to see Korean zombie Edson Barbosa. I say harsh because I don't know if Edson is anywhere close to being retired It's not like he's super old But he has 36 with a ton of mileage on him It's not exactly like he's been like tearing

He's I think two and four in his past six fights I know he's lost his last two And I think he's two and four in his past six fights Zombie definitely feels like he has one foot out the door After a pretty disheartening loss to Volkanowski He really kind of was very frank about like oh I don't know I don't know if this is the end for me. Like, I don't know.

Maybe this is the last time. Like, it was just such it. So, one-sided. So I think that makes a lot of sense, too. And I just want to see him fight Barbosa. And I think Barbosa has to be close to retirement. Now that I've said that, he'll probably fight for another five years.

But, and the other one was this, like, how do you know about this? Listen, I want to see this fight again as much as anybody. But I think we can spice it up. Because these guys have fought three times already. What about Davidson Figurato, Fran Marino, the tetrology. This time, yeah, the winner gets settled, the loser. You get traded to one for Reiner to Ritter.

Wow. How about that? That's crazy. That's just a gimmick. That's not a Lise Leavesville. I mean, it technically is. Loser gets, yes, Leaves Town via trade. That's wild.

Yeah. Favorite fighter, RDR, the Dutch Knight. That's super pro wrestling right there. It's funny you mention Nick Diaz, AK. Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on amazing gifts, so you don't have to. They've bagged this season's Italian leather handbags. Designer.

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Bike in A.K. Hello. I'll make the short and sweet. True or false, Nick Diaz will fight in the UFC before the end of 2023. Before the end of next year.

Yes. True. Yeah. I'll say true. I'll say true. Because I think Rob, I don't know. Damn it.

I don't know what you do. I don't, I just, there's like very few people I want to say Nick Diaz fight. Yeah. It's not a long list. And like the ones I would want to see him fight, don't fight.

anymore. Like, Carl's Condit, I would have, I would have watched. What if Tony Ferguson beats Li Jing Liang and we get him and Nick Diaz? I wouldn't hate that one. If it's at 170. I wouldn't love it, but I wouldn't hate it. Because I think Tony would win that fight. But I don't know.

I mean, that would be fine. Like something like that. Him and Wonderboy would be okay. Although I think Wonderboy would win that fight. But those are the types of matchups. Like, if you dare throw. Nick Diaz in there with like Shamaa for something like that, I will throw my monitor across the room.

Just got to be very picky. It's got to be a vet. Matt Brown would be okay. Michelle Padetta? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Veteran fights, that's it. I will say, I do think he will fight because I thought he was never going to fight again after the Anderson Silva fight.

Like, I never thought the Robbie Lawler fight would happen. Even after it was announced, I think up until the week of UFC 266, I was like, yeah, this is going to fall through. I was like, this is going to fall through. And I remember, and I kind of like almost did, they changed the weights that week, right? It was during the week that he was like, oh, there's a middleweight fight now or whatever, right? Yeah. Yeah.

So I was like, I was like, oh, here we go. Classic like, you know, just Nick Diaz, like, drama and like, it's just going to fall through. But, I mean, somehow it happened for better or for worse, whether it should have or not, it happened. And now that I've seen, now that I know, like, that he's still, I just didn't think he wanted to fight again, at least not for whatever he was getting paid. But the fact that he stepped into the cage last year, I mean, less than a year ago now, I'm convinced. So yeah, normally I would have said any other year if that fight had not happened, I would have said he's not

fighting in 2021, 2021, 2022, 23. You could ask me a million times. I would have said I don't think Nick Diaz is fighting again. But after, hey, listen, he got back in the cage. I think there is some part of him that still wants to fight and it could very likely happen in 2023. All right. All right.

Let's go non-MMA here for a second. Graham McCullough says, I hope you enjoyed your trip to Scotland. Thank you, Graham. I did. I have a question for both of you. Who do you see winning the NBA title next season? I'm a Boston Celtics fan, Barf, as well as an MMA fan from the UK. So I don't have many early nights when the NBA season is in full swing.

And MMA never stops. Also, so two questions here. Also, who would benefit more from my Kevin Durant trade, Toronto or Boston? That's why he's coming to us. I personally don't want KD, as I think he's a toxic asset at this point. And I'm happy with Boston's depth and talent. Many things for all you guys do. Hope you both have a pleasant weekend.

I mean Boston's going to be in the finals we're going to see Boston Golden State in the finals again and I think Golden State I would favor Golden State but we'll see we'll see what kind of moves they make at the deadline are the Southwicks going to be healthy

at that point of the season because they clearly weren't in the finals I'm glad Kevin Durant didn't go to Boston this week is really listen Kevin Durant's great he's a great player But he's a liability, he's an injury liability.

He can't stay healthy. And there was a part of me that hoped he went to Golden State and they dealt the types of names that were being thrown out there because then I would have picked the Celtics. The Celtics would have been my pick to beat Golden State. So I think Golden State as is, they have the potential to win like multiple championships in a row. The way that they're structured right now. And I think Kevin Durant would have crippled that a little bit,

no matter how good he is. So I think we're going to have the same finals. I'm going to pick Golden's Day right now. But who knows? Maybe the Celtics make some big moves. Maybe they're super healthy all year. And they have a run like they did at the end of last year, but are not really hurt throughout the entirety of it.

Like all the stars were essentially. So I think we're going to have the same exact finals. Yeah. And the way the question was phrased is who would benefit more? I think clearly Toronto would benefit more. 100%. I mean, Boston just made the finals. I don't know how much more you can improve.

other than winning the title, right? So they have a finals level squad already. Toronto is not there yet. I will say, though, of course, I don't want him, and I would not want to trade Scotty Barnes for him. Obviously, that's what Brooklyn would want, as they should. I think they shouldn't trade Durant for anything less than Scotty Barnes.

We love him in Toronto. We love the core we have. So yes, but would, like a Kevin Durant would make the team better immediately? Of course, of course. They'd win more games this season they did last season. They'd be much closer to be a contender, but in the long run would definitely hurt the teams.

So, yeah, would make Toronto better than he would Boston, but I think you heard from Mike and I, neither of us is super crazy about blowing up our teams to get this guy. A top 15, top 20, all-time player. That's how strange the dynamics of this whole Kevin Durant saga is. I will say that Mike, I think, and I'm not just saying this because I hate Boston, the Boston Celtics, which I do. I think Milwaukee, if they were healthy, would have made the final of last year,

and I think they would have beaten Golden State. So I think a healthy Milwaukee team beats everybody. I do, and I think Giannis will, because I think they have the best player in the world. And I think when you have the best player, as long as you give him a respectable and healthy supporting cast, you're probably going to make the finals. You're probably going to have a one in five chance of winning the NBA title. They didn't have Middleton the whole playoffs. So I'll go with Milwaukee, Milwaukee Golden State.

I'll go with Milwaukee beating them. That's my pick. And I don't have, I don't love either of these teams. And Boston's very likely too. They got to Brogden, right? They got Brogden. I like the Golanaro move, low risk, high reward potential there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's good, playmaker, shock creator.

Yeah, I like that. I like it. Yeah, it's good. I just hate Boston, so I'm not going to, you know, I can't agree with you. But I will go Milwaukee over Golden State. From Mark, Mike, I know you've talked in the past on a heck of a morning about being a pro wrestling fan back in the day. Are you and AK fans of the current

pro wrestling product? Also, who are your favorite wrestlers of all? Who is each of your favorite wrestlers of all time? Oh, I mean, you guys know, I'm a huge fan. I just got tickets to AEW's first show coming up in October. A.A.W. Dynamite, I got tickets to

both shows. Look up for me on the screen, hopefully. I'll be streaming along's out. Yeah, a big AEW guy. I haven't kept up with WWW as much. The product just doesn't, like the way the product is produced, doesn't interest me and a lot of the behind the scene stuff kind of like turn me off to it. I think as people saw now what's going on with Miss McMahon, but I have heard, I have heard the show has gotten much better now the Triple H's back in charge and I totally believe it. I just don't have so much wrestling. I watch a lot of wrestling as it is and MMA. So I just don't have time for W.E, but I have nothing like I don't tell people like, oh, you're, you're watching the wrong product. If you're watching W.E. instead of AWE, it's like, no, it's whatever you have time for. Right. So, and some of the talents in W.E.E. is just effing amazing. So I wish I had time to watch.

all this pro wrestling but I've kind of just picked one company and I go with that and I watch you know occasional matches from Doughery here and there when when I hear they're good so yeah and most other question all time favorite who's your favorite wrestler of all time yeah I mean I'm a stone cold guy I mean Brett hard of course Canadian but I'm a stone cold guy I love stone cold I love his bro which is weird because I'm normally like I like technical I like more high flying style and he was like the opposite of that so everything about him I love the attitude era I don't think we need to go back to it but certainly as a young man growing up in the late 90s, early 2000s.

Love the Agenda era. Eighted all up. Love Stone Cold. The Rock to blage that whole deal. But Stone Cold is my guy. Love the promos. He can be funny, serious. And just, man, could have a great match with anyone.

So big Stone Cold Steve Austin, Penn. It's the Rock for me. I will say, and I feel confident in this. I mean, I may not be the first, but I think I was the first fan of the Rock pro wrestler. I saw it coming from a mile away. Did I think he'd become the biggest movie star of all time? No.

No one, no one could have predicted that. But I knew he was going to be a star and people made fun of me for it. And even when I'd go back home and like see some of my high school friends are like, every time I see the rock, I think of you because you were the only, you were the first one to be like, this dude's going to be the guy. And it's just crazy to see like how big he got. Like even when the rock, everyone's booing him. I was like, this guy's got something.

Like let him talk. Let him go. And then he finally like, join the nation of domination. He started to talk a little bit. And I'm like, this dude's going to be. the dude and he was. Current product, I will say I've watched

Ron Smackdown a little bit more. They are better shows now. I think I am the AEW jinks because every time I tune into dynamite because something big is happening, the show stinks and it makes me regret watching it.

I've watched two in maybe the last I did watch the Daniel Brian, Daniel Garcia match or the Brian Danes of Daniel Garcia match the 2 out of 3 falls it was really good so I will say that was good I watched the events

the dynamite with Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston when they had their like barbed wire everywhere match and it made me want to puke because Jericho won I hated it I hated it made no sense and then I watched Wednesday show I will say go on yeah if Eddie Kingston it won yeah if any Kingston at one I've been like

okay this is cool like I haven't even watched this week's show don't it sucks It's horrible. Oh, it's terrible. Oh, it's so bad. I hated the squash. I mean, we'll see where it goes. But the rest of the show was horrible.

It was really bad. Just bad. Like, I don't want to see Brian Daniels and Chris Jericho wrestle again. Like, I don't want to see it. Like, the whole, it's just off. Like, if Triple H was booking AEW, it'd be the best promotion of the world. Tony Kahn is a stinky, stinky booker. Wow.

He's not good. He's not good. I don't agree. Oh, he's so terrible. Strong disagree. I will say, I will say, though, your criticism is accurate because A.EW definitely is based on you have to, you pretty much have to watch every week. So there is no real, like, dropping in. And that's one of the criticism of it is that, like, it does not translate well to a more casual or, like, passive viewing.

Like, you do have to kind of be keyed in every week. And I agree. And I think, like, that's because they pride themselves in the sort of long-term storytelling. And sometimes it lands, even some of those, you know, plots, sometimes they land. Sometimes they don't. Like, mileage may vary, right? But if you're only, like, tuning into random episodes, it would be very easy to catch, like, a random episode of, like, a random episode of, like, what the hell is going on? This makes no sense.

Or I'm not enjoying myself. I do think WWE lends itself a little bit better to if you, if you watch, like, one episode and then came back two weeks later and watched another episode, you'd kind of be okay. You kind of, like, you're still, you're not losing your footing. You kind of know who everyone is. A.W. Has some issues with that. It's trying to appeal to a very, very specific subset of fans. And that can be very alienating to a larger subset of fans.

So I understand where you're coming from, Mike. I disagree about the booking completely. I think AW is amazingly well booked. But it does require a certain level of attention and dedication that they shouldn't necessarily assume all the everyone has. So I actually kind of understand what you're saying. There's too many cooks in the kitchen. Chris Jericho has way too much involvement in that promotion.

You could see Chris Jericho's ideas all over that show. But all his stuff he does is good, though. All the Jericho's, the Jericho appreciating society, stuff's hilarious. The, oh, no, no, no. The Jericho stuff is great. The Jericho MJF feud was great for like a little while. And then, of course, they have to give Jericho the win on the way out, which is just horrendously bad booking.

Well, I mean, he's a baby face. Jericho Eddie the baby faces win feuds Listen Jericho Like Jericho's a leech Like oh he's over I'll go Would wrestle him

Because he's over right now And I can get the rub He also well I just agree with that He also elevates up This is a whole other debate No he doesn't Come on Elevates so

Oh my He's just elevated all these guys In the Jericho Appreciation Society Did he though? Did he? The guy Yes His previous table

With friggin Ortiz and Santana Who were like amazing guys Who a lot of people You know weren't that familiar with They joined Jericho He elevates a lot of people We are not in agreement on this one. And I'm not the biggest Chris Jericho fan, but I think they use him really well.

Yeah. Jericho Hater. Go ahead. I think I have three more questions. Yeah, Jericho Hayter. I've got a few more, but obviously, I don't think we can get to them all, but we'll try and hit some of these quicker. This one should be pretty quick. So, Mike, you may have seen that the Dana White UFC versus the media video was re-uploaded this week for some strange. So now I have two questions to go. Okay. Is this tight, right? Is this tied? Maybe they sent to both of them. I got multiple inquiries about this. Well, yeah, yeah. So let's see it. Well, let's tie this all together. So this, uh, this person

sent to me wasn't aware that they had actually been uploaded before. They actually sent to me asking, like, oh, have you seen this? And like, what do you think of it? And I told them like, oh, that's actually from, you know, like last summer. Um, it's old. We don't know why they reuploaded it. Um, so that's kind of what I want to discuss. I think, you know, they're asking for our thoughts. I kind of want to know, like, I think we can talk about why we might have been reuploaded. I'm not sure. But like, what were your questions regarding them? Most of it was just about that, but the one quote, the one that I actually chose was why did the UFC release the hit video again? It seems very random and weird.

I don't, I have no idea. We should say we don't know, first of all, why it was originally taken down. We have our ideas, you know, the people he's working with at ESPN, obviously, and other other people, you know, above the UFC might have said, hey, you guys can't release a video like this. Like, this is very unprofessional. This is a very strange, weird, unprofessional thing to do, take it down. We also thought they used a lot of content from other outlets to make the video. We thought that was the reason. There might have been copyright infringement things because it grabs from all kinds of sources.

And I guess technically it does credit. There's a lot of like so-and-so via MMA fighting, for example. But yeah, we weren't sure why. We weren't sure if it was Dana White and the UFC got a call from someone saying take it down or if there was a rights issue with some of the footage and imagery they were using or something else entirely. I don't know why they took it down and I certainly don't know why it's back. This is, I mean, I don't know. Maybe there's something going on in the media.

And this is a Dana White call in my eyes. And I don't know if this for a fact, but this has to be a Dana White call. Sure. And solely a Dana White call. Maybe it's just, I don't know. Maybe he's hearing that people in the media think 279 sucks as an entire card. And he's trying to discredit us a little bit and be like, hey, listen, we're the brands. Like, they might cover us, but they're not as important as we are.

I have no idea. It's stupid and it makes no sense And I'll just go back to what I said earlier Because people asked about this I had one person like not defend the video But I don't think he understood the context But if you go back and listen And I did not for all of them

But if you go back and listen to most of those clips And then you go find the original creations Of these videos and these podcasts or whatnot And you actually go back like five minutes before that clip And then like five minutes after You look at those comments and those quotes in a totally different way. There are compliment sandwiches. This is cool.

I hope it works. I have questions about this. But ultimately, I hope it works out. Like, that's basically how it worked out. And to me, this whole narrative that Dana White against the media, the media, those P words that cover our sport that know nothing about fighting, they were actively rooting for us to fail. that are actively rooting for our demise. That is the biggest bunch of horse shit I have ever heard in my life. Why would we do that?

Why? Why would we do that? Why? We would not have jobs, first of all. And second of all, I don't give a shit if Dana White makes another dollar at this point. But I do care that the fighters make money. And without fights, they don't make money. So why would we want it to fail?

Did we have questions about how the COVID regulations would work and what they were doing to ensure safety for not only the fighters, but for people like myself, who would go and cover these events potentially. Of course we did. But did we actively want them to fail and, like, suffer and demise as a company? Absolutely not. And this narrative that Dana and the UFC have created that we wanted them to fail

is just bullshit. And the newer casual fans that have come on board, which, by the way, We helped during that whole thing. We brought fans over to you guys. We helped. People watched a UFC card and then they found our content. I can't begin to tell you how many people have said

I wasn't a fan of MMA until you guys are putting out so much content during the pandemic and then I got more interested. At the end of the day, we're putting more eyeballs on your product. Even if we think a card stinks and we don't have, like we're ain't afraid to say it. If a card on paper looks awful, we're going to say it. But we are also going to find diamonds in the rough.

We're going to find the needle in the haystack. We're going to find the things that you should watch and that you will enjoy. And we are trying to be positive with the situation. So that whole narrative of, oh, the media wanted us to fail as a company. They wanted us to go under. They didn't want us to continue to, they didn't care about the fighters. Bullshit. It's not true.

It's absolutely wrong. And I have no idea why this video got released again. But most people wanted your reaction on this because, you are actually featured in this video, okay? Oh, am I? Am I? I was not, I wasn't aware. Yes, I am prominently featured,

and I am made to look like some sort of psychopathic killer. My Twitter profile picture, just grayed out. Yeah, really. And I think my clip in it is something like, something to the effect is like, man, the UFC needs to be careful. And that's it. Like, that's literally what I say. And I guess that's why they picked me,

because I'm not like a super famous member of the media. I may be beloved. I'm beloved by those who know me, but I'm not like one of the most famous media names out there. So I guess they thought this is a guy who he at least works for a major site. So there's some, you know, we can sort of, this is our way. We can kind of go after M.A. fighting. And he also looks like a pretty harmless guy.

So I don't think it's going to cause much of us. And guess what? They were right. I've joked about it ever since. Ever since that video came out. I've shared the, the great out image of my great out visage everywhere. as a response, as a joke. So, you know, yeah, whatever, no harm done.

Again, and through all this, first of all, Mike, that was fantastic. Mike check for Dana White, the UFC and whoever it is that supports this dumbass narrative. But yeah, we still kind of really don't have an answer. Like you said, maybe they're trying to get ahead of some criticism they're expecting. Maybe it's because Fighter Pay, again, has sort of come up. He did that GQ interview and he got really salty that I believe it was our Powell, Mark Romandi at ESPN, who kind of turned that into an article, you know, kind of turned comments from that video into an article and he got really, really, really mad about that. And let's not forget, Mark was the

original, it's a legitimate question asking about COVID. I'm still, I don't think that's in this video. I didn't watch the whole thing again, but so yeah, it's a narrative needs to die. This video is not going to help things, but you know, you know how the newsweek is. Hopefully it comes and goes and we're not talking about this again for a while. But yeah, just a strange thing to see it pop up again. So long after it came out and was deleted. Like it's not even like we're, we're not like completely on the other side of COVID, but we're pretty much living normal lives now.

So like it doesn't even like timeline wise, it doesn't even like match up. It's just it's just so random and bizarre. But I don't know. I don't give a shit. You guys want to be salty and you want to be like that. Go right ahead. Mike, let's move on. You guys, you know what?

I shouldn't have brought it out. Let's move on. So this is my second and last question from Scott. I just finished watching BTL with Brian Campbell and Jed, and it was one of the best pieces of MMA programming I've ever watched. Oh my goodness. It didn't seem like it was over an hour, and I was laughing historically throughout.

I have two questions. How do you guys keep things so effortless during these shows, especially in the BTL role when things can go off the rails? My other question for both of you, because I assume AK keeps up, what would be your dream BTL matchup with current members of the MMA media? Oh, I got one of those too. Okay, interesting. Dream BTL.

Oh, so just one-on-one. One-on-one. I'm going, it's Jed versus Halani. I mean, I think Ariel has to be on it. I think that would be such a fun, just a fun thing for him to do. And he loves a good debate. You know, everyone knows. He's a potter, you know?

Ariel is number one in many things in the NBA MediaSphere. And let me tell you something. He is the number one potster. This man, this man loves to get in that stew and swish it around and cause trouble for the fighters, for us in the media. and for the fan. You know, he loves it. He's a disturber. He's a line stepper.

And that's why he's one of the best to ever do it. So for sure, Ariel, yeah, I guess Jed makes a lot of sense. Jed is arguably the goat of BTL. He's made so many appearances. He fought the best of the best. He never got that elusive W over Phoenix. But fingers crossed, that could still happen someday. I know he's chasing that.

Yeah, I think I think Jed versus Ariel is an excellent choice. Yes. I would agree. I think that's the one. Because I think if this if this Healwani persona is actually real, Jed will bring it out of him like nobody else. There's nobody else that can bring it out of him. Maybe, maybe Dana or Ali or something. But I feel like Jed in a live in live time could could really do it.

And then the effortless thing, I don't, I mean, for us doing all these shows, we just go. We just hit record and talk. Sometimes you read questions. Sometimes you read your thoughts. And we just converse. I say it all the time. People ask about interviews and about doing shows and all these different things. And I just say, I'm just me.

Like if we were all sitting at a bar with no camera on and no microphones in our face, we would say the same things. There's nothing different at all. So that's just how I handle it. And sometimes you have to take control. Sometimes things get out the rails. BC and Jed got into some yelling battles. But I had a, I let it go for as far as I could.

And then I realize I'm like, oh boy, this is going far too long and I have to rein it back. But it's just something you just got to feel and just hope you're right. So there you go. Yeah, talking about pot stirs and at Brian Campbell, I'll say. That's great stuff. Great stuff. I will say. And a key to it is also not just like, I guess this is professional.

You know, I don't know if you got some. I got a lot of questions. I'm not going to read them all out. Asked for like professional advice. How did we? And we've talked with some previous shows, how we got to we're going. So I'll just give another tip here is like, man, just listen to people. Like, listen to people.

obviously listen to people whose shows you like to watch listen to how they talk to people but also if you get the chance to be on one of these shows or even just just have conversations with your friends or with other people about MMA listen to them listen to how they express themselves listen to how they react to things you say

because there's a lot to learn whether it is your on a debate show with like a Mike Heck or a Jen Micheemeshue or like a Craig Allen Davidson Baker for example you know just just going back to our roots going back to some of the shows we did in the past Keith Schiller Good Lord. He's chilling, right?

There's just, there's little things you can take from people. And also you can learn how people react to the things you say. And it's not like you're going to actively be thinking about these things when you're, when you, but as you keep, you know, doing them more and having more conversations, yeah, it just kind of becomes natural. You learn where to breathe, where to let other people get their stuff in, when to pay attention to what someone says so that you can shut them down later and just slam their take. That's a big one. But yeah, it is just having a conversation. and it just takes a little bit of repetitions in practice to have those conversations in a professional setting

and to not just become a, you know, a rambling guy in a pub, which can be entertaining in its own way, but not always something you want for like a podcast. Yeah, 100%. All right. Go ahead. Pick your best one, and then I'll end with my last one. All right, I like this one.

So sorry for everyone else. A lot of great questions got sent in. Please send them in the future. We'll definitely touch upon them. One of the people from the replies, is my favorite one from the people who replied to our, call for tweets at watch talk fights or Mikey fights on Twitter. If you were to create a fighter, would you put 75 points in skill and 25 in athleticism

or 75 points in athleticism and 25 in skill? They'll say is there also a perfect split between the two, but no, no, I don't want to split. I want to have a choice here. Do you go three quarters, athleticism, one quarter skill, Mike, or the other way around? If I'm creating a fighter from scratch, essentially. Yeah, I think division matters, but go ahead. I think what division we're talking about matters, but yeah.

it's athleticism by a mile. It's not even close because you can learn you can learn skill. You can become and you can work to become a better athlete, but those who are just natural athletes that are just freaks that where athleticism overcome skill be those are those are some of the best fighters in the world. Like look at John Jones. Like John Jones is very skillful, but he was so successful because it's a freak athlete. And there are other examples of that as well.

like I know we don't like to mention Greg Hardy, but the fact that Greg Hardy had any success at all in MMA, it's because he's a freak athlete. He is, he, again, yes, again, strongly dislike Greg Hardy, but he is one of the most athletic heavyweights I've probably, like I've seen in the last like 15 years. That's not an exaggeration. That's not exaggeration.

You take a high level, a defense, a guy who was athletic enough to play a premium defensive position and be a pro bowler at that level in the NFL, and you put him into MMA, he is again I don't I'm looking at the the heavyweight roster now in the OC I don't think there's anyone who I would say I'm looking like the top 15 I don't think there's anyone I would say is more athletic than Greg Hardy like no maybe John Jones when he when he actually fights a heavy way actually fight yeah there you go I put John Jones in there me but other than that like that kind of athleticism is rare and again I think the further you go down maybe the lesson matters

but I mean heavyweight like heavyweight middleweight even like welter weight if you have an athleticism or advantage over your opponent It's going to take you a long way. We'll take you all the way to a title. I don't know, but could it take you to like a top 15 ranking? Hells, yeah, it could. Hells, yeah. It is such an asset to be more athletic than the first year. And just to bring it back, we had some NBA talk earlier.

I would say, here's some example. Look at guys like Russell Westbrook, LeBron James. Look at the upper, upper upper tier. Amazingly skilled guys, super skilled. But Giannis, I mentioned Giannis, I think the best player in the NBA. when you take their skill and add it with their athletic package, sometimes it looks like they're not playing the same game. Russell Westbrook, not one of my favorite players,

but in his primed, in his MVP season and some of the years there, he's just so much faster and can jump so much higher and so relentlessly fast. It really looked like he was just outworking people for like 48 minutes or however long he was on the court. And like that's the kind of gap. And then you can watch whatever. If you got hockey, football, pick another sport, soccer. there are some superior athletes in these sports

and they're not necessarily the best of the best but they almost always stand out they almost always have success there are exceptions there are plenty of busts out there but definitely in MMA man having what Jen and I always say plus athleticism it can take you so so far you would just be amazed

yeah the difference between like a highly skilled veteran fighter and then someone with like seven pro fights who's a great athlete who's at some decent training can absolutely just go in there and bolt them Yeah, I would go with that athleticism all day Because you can teach skill If you give me a guy who is 75% athleticism, 75 points Yeah, man, crazy, absolutely insane

Last one, I got about three or four of these But I'm going to try to mix it up There's one that added a little juice to it So I will do that So the question I keep getting is Who will John Jones fight when he returns We'll beat Stebe or Francis And he said one

This one in particular Germain I lean more towards Stepe because I don't think the UFC and Francis will come to terms and they'll fight for the actual belt. Then he actually adds, if you could pick one of the heavyweight title contenders right now to fight Jones, Steve A or Francis, whoever has the title at the end of this chaos, who would you pick? I feel like John Jones will have the title when the dust settles, but who would you like to see his first title defense against if by premonition is true?

Say that again. If you could pick any heavyweight to fight... Any contend... If I could pick one of the heavyweight title contenders outside of Jones, Steve A, or Francis, it appears. because one of those guys is going to have the belt at the end of all of this. So whoever the undisputed champion is, if these guys aren't in play, who would be the guy to defend the title against first? I mean, I think this is super easy.

I think it is too, but I have another option because I think this man is going to win by explosive knockout in next weekend's main event. That's the easy pick. Oh, that is your easy pick. Ty to Voss is the answer. Really? Tye's the answer. If Ty to Ivasa If he knocks out Satoa

If Ty Tuvasa beats Cyril Ghan I don't care if he 4847 split decisions him Tye's next fight has to be for the belt Enough is enough He's the guy After he knocked out Derek Lois I said Ty Tuivasa's next fight should be for the belt

Because you have to do it now He's going to lose eventually And once he does like it's done So you have to do it now You have to get this bit He's so hot right now If he beats Cyril Gahn in Paris in a fight

that no one thinks he's going to win except for maybe you and a couple of others you have to give him the title fight like give him his chance give him this man his chance he'll be the ultimate baby phase against any of these guys this is like Alex Panetta

right after he beats Strickland it's like don't overthink this don't think it would just get it's like the time is now and the UFC did it right they gave him his title shot yeah two of us would be the same I thought you were going to say the obvious answer was Curtis Blades

it's not the obvious answer Skill for skill, yes, but in terms of like what fans are clamoring for, what the UFC's all about besides shitting on the media, that's it. Like you got a baby face guy that if he beat Cyril gone, he is, I'm not going to say he's a superstar, but he is a star in this division. He probably already is. He's just, he's on fire right now. He turned baby face in Houston after knocking out Derek Lewis for God's sake. This guy is a baby face and he's a stud. He's a star in your.

company. But this is only going to last for so long because Ty is not the most skillful human human being on the planet, but he can punch like a mofo and he is durable as hell because Derek Lewis put the boots to him and he overcame it. The ref let the fight continue. And then Ty Tuva went out there and bolted Derek Lewis in the second round. He got over so big. And now he's fighting Cyril Gan. Nightmare matchup. I remember onto the next one, so many people suggest to I'm like, I hate this fight. I hate it stylistically. But if he wins, you push this man to the moon.

And I feel bad for Curtis Blades because he has a definitely, he definitely is more of a meritocratic case to be made to fight for the belt after what this man has done in his career. But Taito Ivasa is getting it over Curtis Blades, especially in the UFC. This is Bellator. Curtis Blades would have already fought for the title. But this is a whole different ball game.

And Francis and Gano or John Jones or Stepey Meitchitcher versus Taito Ivasa is the best. and I have to watch it. That's it. Listen, this is, I got nothing to add to that. This is the perfect lead-in to the upcoming fight week. Again, UFC Paris Fight Week, Tuvasa and Ganu. There's a little advanced. And Ganu.

I'm sorry, gone, gone, not Inganu, Ghanu, Gond, Tvasa and Stidiel Gond. We'll get Tuvasa and Ghana eventually. We'll see about that. But, yes, September 3rd, main event, UFC Paris. There you go, guys. There's a little teaser, a little preview for you, because we're going to be talking about this a lot in the the coming week on all our various programming.

So thank you everyone who sent in questions. So many, so many good ones. And again, apologize to everyone who we didn't get to. There was, again, there were a lot of good ones that I think that we could have read. But just, yeah, but, you know, another time. Send them in. Keep those in mind. Send them in another time because we will do this again.

I love this event for a number of reasons. One, because the top two fights are really good. There's a couple of other bangers in here, but it's an early start time. Noon Eastern prelims. 3 p.m. Eastern Main Card. Wow. Very excited about this. Seraghan, Taitouyevasa, Robert Whitaker, Marvin Vittori.

The most maybe overlooked fight for the rest of the year. Like no one's talking about this fight, which is blasphemy because it's really interesting. Lesia de Kierico, Roman Kapilov, Nazarant Hakperas, John McDessie, Charles Freakinjordane versus Nathaniel Wood. That's going to be a banger. Khalid Taha Christian Kinyones. The return of Nasardine Imov against Joaquin. I'm a big opportunity.

That's a great fight. Wow. That's a great great. Dustin Stoltzvus versus Abu Supion Magamadoff. Benoit Santadie welcomes Gabriel Miranda, Perez Zaym, back in the UFC.

All right. Back in France. He should be on this card against Michelle Fieglack, Alan Perez, Stephanie Egger, and William Gomez takes on Jarno Erins. I'd probably mispronounce a bunch of those names,

but... I wouldn't know if you did. Well, probably not going to match me for most of them anyways. No offense, but that's just how the show works. but we are done. Thank you very much. We'll see you next week after an all-new edition,

or for an all-new edition of Onsen X for the matchmaking has to turn after UFC Paris. Until then, don't take the stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun, and we will have more fun next week. On to the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.