MMA Fighting - REACTION | Ilia Topuria VACATES, Volkanovski vs. Lopes Headlines UFC 314 & MUCH MORE

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

UFC CEO Dana White promised big announcements, and he delivered. Following White announcing Ilia Topuria will vacate the featherweight title, and that Alexander Volkanovski faces Diego Lopes for the vacant belt at UFC 314 in April, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Damon Martin react to the big news, along with Michael Chandler vs. Paddy Pimblett being officially announced as the five-round co-main event, Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena headlining UFC 315 in May, and much more.  Follow Mike Heck: @m_heckjr Follow Damon Martin: @DamonMartin 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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Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.com slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. You know, when you hear that music, big things are, they're not brewing. They are fully brewed. And UFC CEO, Dana White, it's not often that he says he's going to do something. And then when he actually does it, he comes through in a big way. But boy, did he come through in a big way tonight?

UFC 314 is coming together. We have a main event. and there's a lot going on with that. UFC 315 as a main event. There's a lot going on with that. We have fight announcements. We have main event shifting in all sorts of different directions. And the big news, as you can see on the top,

we're going to have a brand new featherweight champion at UFC 314 because the first thing Dana White announced during his Instagram live is that Iliot Toporia, the featherweight champ, who knocked out Alexander Volcanowski a year ago at UFC 2, 298 and then went on to become the first fighter to stop Max Holloway via strikes in his first title defense at UFC 308 back in October. The man is dead serious about going up to lightweight. He is no longer the featherweight champion.

He is vacating the title. And the main event for UFC 314 is former featherweight champion, Alexander Volcanovsky, facing the surging Diego Lopez, who enters this fight on a five-fight win streak, including a lopsided win over Brian Ortega at UFC 306 in September. That is your main event for the vacant featherweight championship. We also found out on that card, the five-round co-made event will be Michael Chandler versus Patty the Batty Pimbled. Also, Patricio Pitbull is officially a member of the UFC roster.

He will face Yahir Rodriguez on that card. And there's some other fights that were announced on that as well. on top of that UFC 315 we have two title fights the main event bala Muhammad will put his welterweight championship on the line for the first time and it will not be against shopcott rock bonoff the number one contender it will be against jack della madelena who was supposed to face leon edwards in the main event of ufc london on march 22nd and now you think yourself who's leon edwards going to fight Leon Edwards is now fighting Sean Brady.

Jack Delam Adelaidellana is now going to challenge Belaw Muhammad for the Welterweight title. And in the co-main event, Valentina Schochenko will put her newly regained flyweight title on the line. No, she's not fighting Zhang Wei in a champ versus champ fight. UFC doing the right thing. Manon Fioro is going to get her day in court. She will challenge Valentina Shvchenko for that championship in the co-main event of UFC 315,

which goes down in May. In Montreal, Quebec, Canada. So we got two big title fights and Canada has been kind of gotten the big fat hose job the last two pay-per-views. This one's shaping up to be pretty darn good.

But thank you for joining us. I hope I was laid out as much of this news as I possibly could. And I can't do this by myself. So joining me, I am Mike Heck if I didn't say who I was earlier.

My friend Damon Martin is here. Fighter versus Rider. This is just so much shit, Damon. I don't even know what to say. I expected, hey, maybe we'll get a main event. Maybe we'll get one. fight. I didn't expect all of this. What was your reaction to all of this?

I definitely didn't see all this coming. I mean, a couple of things, sure, but Ilya did, you know, Ilya vacating the title, new featherweight champion, Patty Pimble, getting Michael Chandler. Now, that one we kind of heard rumors about, but still, the reality of it is still kind of shocking. Patricio Pitbull officially signing with the UFC, a Bellator legend, maybe the Bellator goat now fighting in the UFC and getting Yaya Rodriguez. as Shabkat Rechmanoff not getting the title fight because he's injured. I mean, good Lord. I feel like the breaking the breaking news, uh, music wasn't enough.

It almost feels like we needed like the stone cold Steve Austin glass break at the beginning of the show because I did not see all. It was just like it was just like so much coming at you at one time. And it was so nonchalant the way that he announced it. It was just he's doing the IG live thing. It's not your typical pre-recorded video with B roll in the back. background and yelling and screaming. It was just,

it was such a roller coaster ride of emotions with Dana, just very calmly. And then it was like, and then the main event. And it was just all over the place. By the way, in case you guys miss it, there were other fights announced for UFC 314 as well.

Jeff Neal versus Carlos Prochis is official. And Dan Igay versus Sean Woodson. Also for UFC 314. That card is coming along nicely. But Iliot Toporia, vacating the featherweight title, Damon. He was a champion for, a year. And then he's just like, nah, I've accomplished everything I needed to accomplish here. I'm going up to lightweight. I will say this, Damon, I give this man all the credit in the world. Because as you probably know, and as most of our viewers know, you know how I feel about champ versus champ fights and champions who haven't cleaned out their divisions, calling for title fights and other divisions. Because I always feel like there's not a huge risk involved because you can just be like, yeah, I'm going to do this. But then I can just go back down and, and,

defend my other belt, Ilya doing it the way that it should be done. If you're going to take this risk, if you're going to make the move up to lightweight, or move it down or however you want to do it, and then you vacate the belt, that's a man doing it correctly. So are you surprised, Damon, that Ilya has vacated the belt? We don't know what he's doing. We know he's going to make a quest towards the lightweight belt. Dana didn't announce exactly what's going on for Ilya, but it is kind of refreshing,

is it not that a champion is going to make the move and challenge himself, but he is vacating his other belts in order to do so. So let me just say first of all. I never loved the move for Ilya to go to 155 because I do think he's going to be undersized. You remember the fight he had up there a couple years ago. It was a little rough going. Now again, he's obviously gotten better since then.

And, you know, Jai Herbert is a gigantic guy for a lightweight division. But it was a little scary because he got he got some hammers dropped on him in that fight, Turned it around in one, but Jai Herbert, no offense, Jai Herbert is not a top 15 lightweight in the world. So I never loved to move, but I also understand he has a really rough weight cut and he wants to challenge himself, so good for him. But the key here, what you said is exactly right. He vacated the belt.

Didn't see that coming. The fact that he's doing that tells me he's deadly serious about going to lightweight. Also, I think you've got to pay very close attention to the fact that Dana White said during that live stream, we're working on what's next for Ilya, but we don't have it done yet. and and I say that I don't I'm not I'm not I'm just speculating here I'm not saying I have a lot of inside info on this but the fact that they didn't just immediately announce him versus uh Islam machacha for the title makes me think that he's not going to just slide right into a title fight they're going to make him earn it so maybe we're going to get somebody on

Twitter already suggested Ilya versus arm and sarukyan what a tremendous fight that would be oh and I and I mean if you think about it because listen Islam's got a point you know, he already beat Volcanowski twice. He's like, I don't want to keep beating up these smaller guys. It's not doing anything for my legacy. He's not wrong, you know? Like, he doesn't get as much credit. If Alex or Ilya comes up and beats him, they get all the credit in the world.

You know, we don't remember that Jan Blahovitch beat Israel Adasanya. Like, he just beat a quote unquote smaller guy. So I understand Islam not really being interested in that. But if Ilya goes out and beats Arm and Sarukian, there's no doubt he deserves it. So I wouldn't jump into like it's immediately going to be a title five. Maybe it will be. I don't know. But the fact that he's vacating the belt, you're 100% right.

He's doing the right thing. He's not holding up the division. And also he's risking the biscuit because he's not going up there saying I got you. I can always fall back and defend my featherweight title. He's not playing that game. I appreciate that. I'll tell you what, man. If Ilya Toporia is going to 55, he vacates the title, all of this money that he now earns as being champion.

And he's becoming a big, big. star to fight Armand Sarukian to earn a title fight and then beats Armin and then goes up and fights Islam? Like that would be ridiculous. I can't remember somebody just vacating a belt and being like, I'm so bored. I'm just going to move up to 55. I'm going to fight the most dangerous guy in this division before fighting the best pound for pound fighter in the world.

So let me ask you, Damon. What are the chances that Iliotip vacates, but then his next fight is at 55, but it's not against Islam Makachev. In your opinion, do you feel like he's not going to get a title fight and that he's going to have to risk it for the biscuit, as you said, and fight a Saruket or maybe fight a Dustin Porre first? Or do you think the UFC, because it's a contract year, the TV deal, yada, yada, yada, they're just going to put the biggest fight they could possibly put together here.

Right now, if you're forcing me to say, I would lean towards a non-title fight because Islam has been so strong about that. And listen, something Henry Suhudo said to me when I talked to him about a week ago. He said, when you're a champion, like it or not, you do have a little bit more leeway in terms of picking and choosing your fights. The UFC listens to you a little bit more. Now, maybe not every champion, but, you know, the marquee stars, Islam is that. He's the number one pound for pound guy in the world. And we know, I mean, Dana put the quote up in the UFC, you know, champion, whatever that quote is about, you know, champions defend and just give me a name,

whatever it was. I think Islam's got enough goodwill built up in the UFC. He says, I don't want to fight this guy on his first day at lightweight. They'll respect that. And, you know, Islam did just fight in January. He usually fights twice a year. He's got Ramadan coming up in March, and that's the entire month. And typically speaking, if you remember, Khabib and a lot of the other great fighters from that part of the world, they typically did turn around. I know Islam did fight in June last year, but he fought in January. I think it's probably more realistic for him to fight, maybe October when they go back to Abu Dhabi. That's always a big headline spot for him. In the meantime, I mean, who's going to complain about Ilya Tuporia and Armistaruk?

And if that's what we get, what I mean, good God, what an amazing fight that would be. So I'm leaning non-title fight only because Islam's already fought once this year. He's got Ramadan in March. And you think about the end of the year, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, you know, those are massive landing spots for Islam. So I'm leaning non-title fights. It's going to be wild to see how this all plays out. we'll see what Dana say about that. But Alexander Volcanowski first fight back since losing to Ilya to Poria,

getting brutally knocked out, suffered back-to-back, brutal knockout losses to Islam Makachev in the short-notice rematch. Then he loses the belt to Ilya to Poria. We haven't seen him since. And I think absence makes the heart grow fonder, not only for the fans, but just for him, too. I feel like he's getting over and over. But now he's fighting one of the most popular guys in the sport. this dude is just rising up the ranks in so many different ways in Diego Lopez.

And then we find out Patricia Putbulls fighting, Yaya, Rodriguez. Damon, first of all, your reaction to Volcanov versus Lopez being official. And the other thing I will say, agree or disagree, the biggest loser in all these announcements, Bob Zaravloev. So two things. One, and I actually, I'm glad you brought up Bose, sorry, because somebody just asked me that. somebody on Twitter responded to my tweet about it and said Movesar has just left a chat. It's a funny comment.

But the reality is Mobsar has Ramadan in March. He wasn't going to fight in April anyways. So he wasn't a viable candidate to get either of those fights. So before everyone just jumps on and says Mobsar is getting screwed, Movstar wouldn't fight in April. He wanted to fight earlier than that. When I spoke to him after his last fight with Al Jermaine Sterling, he said he'd like to fight in January and February.

But March is the beginning, the entire month of March is Ramadan. coming back in fighting was it is April 10th or April 12th that's the date for UFC 314 that would just be too early he just wouldn't have it yeah so I think I so before everyone jumps on I said man Mobsar's getting screwed I don't think most I was available first off I think that's it's unfortunate but I don't think he was available um am I wrong I think it's kind of weird for me to say this but if Ilya hadn't vacated and this was just an interim title I'd be kind of so-so on the whole Alexander Volcanowski Diego Lopez thing. But the fact that he vacated, I'm actually kind of weirdly more excited for this

matchup because I don't know that I loved Alex going back in there and fighting just an absolute murderer in Ilya Tepori again. But now we get a fresh matchup and you get a young, hungry guy like Diego Lopez in there. Diego goes out there and wipes out Alexander Volcanowski, which absolutely could happen. You get a whole new start to the division. And then on the flip side of that, Alex can go out there and beat a young gun like, you know, Diego Lopez. We kind of like, okay, well, maybe he really is the goat. So I actually weirdly liked this better because I didn't love him fight I lily again.

So I kind of actually like this better. And what's also kind of weird about this is not long after Max Holloway made his commitment to lightweight. Here comes the boogeyman, the guy who just knocked about. He's moving up as well. So he's just cutting the line and getting in front of him. But it doesn't really affect Max because he could maybe fight a Dustin Poirier. We could do that sort of four-man BMF lightweight tournament

that people are kind of throwing out. We can still do get everything we want. And then Ilya moving up to one to the fact. God, this Ilya versus Arm and Sarukin idea just scratches me right where I itch, Damon. I can't lie to you. That would be absolutely compelling. UFC 314 is just getting completely compelling. Patty Pimblit getting Michael Chandler, five-round co-main event here.

Obviously, a lot to gain here for Patty Pimble. This is a very big deal for him, getting a big spot, getting a huge name in Michael Chandler. Connor McGregor were supposed to get Michael Chandler, and now Patty swoops right in there and gets this opportunity. What are the stakes for both guys? Because a win for Patty puts him, boy, in a really interesting spot. But if Michael Chandler goes out there and beats Patty Pimbled, what does he gain from this?

I think Michael Chandler is kind of in fun fight territory right now. What I mean by that is I don't think anyone was going to see Chandler getting back into title contention maybe ever again. I think the Charles Oliver rematch that really didn't make a, I mean, it didn't make a ton of sense when it happened, but it happened and it wasn't a particularly close fight. I think that was kind of like his last run at getting into, you know, let's not forget, Michael Chandler's not a young guy.

He's, what, 37, 38? This is fun fight territory for Chandler. This is, and again, let's not forget, he already fought, you know, Gachie, already fought Porier. He had a lot of fun fights already. So now I think he's looking at the Patty Pimbleds, the Hanato Moikano's. the guys who can have these really fun fights and still go out there and be entertaining.

So I weirdly love it for Chandler. It's something new. You know, something different. I mean, don't get me wrong. And I don't want to not, don't want to sound like I'm knocking the guy, but I don't know that we would have gotten like just Uber excited to see Chandler versus Matouche Gamrod. Like, would it be a good fight? Could it be a fun fight? Sure.

But there's something just so different and interesting about throwing Patty Pimblein in there. And for Patty, I mean, this is a chance for him to take his superstardom and rock it to the next level because he's, already a star. If he can go out there and meet Michael Chandler, who is like it or not, a star, huge for him. It puts him right in the thick of things.

It puts him in to where maybe he gets the winner of Gauchy and Hooker. Or maybe he does, depending on timing, maybe he gets Dustyporey, or maybe he gets, you know, Ilya to Portia, that fight that they've talked about forever.

There's all kinds of possibilities for Paddy. But there's also a real possibility. He goes out there, gets sparked in the first 30 seconds by a very angry Michael Chandler. So this is a really, I actually weirdly love this matchup as odd as it is. Yeah, I love like every fight they have on here.

It's sick. It's just a really, really strong card. Patricia Pimble. Patricia Pimble and Michael Chandler are sharing the same card in 2025 in the UFC. This is unbelievable. It's always these Miami cards that just gets super weird. And we get all these, excuse me, different names and all that. that's going to end.

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on your first three orders. Instacard, groceries that over deliver. Service fees exclusions in terms apply. And then UFC 315 comes along and we get Bilal Muhammad versus Jack Del and Adelana, not Shafcott Rockmanoff. Dana mentioned the injury. Shafcott tweeted out about a half an hour ago as we speak,

quote, big thanks to the UFC for offering me the shot at the belt first. Unfortunately, due to injury, I won't be ready for May. I'll be facing the winner later this year. So top spot for Shofcott. This is a division where there's a lot of talent coming up, Carlos Pratchez, a guy we mentioned, Michael Morales is fighting Gilbert Burns on this card.

So absence could be tougher at 170, but you kind of feel like Shofcott will get the winner. But JDM, Jack Della Madelena, first fight since the Gilbert Burns win. He's dealt with the litany of injuries. And now he returns, it'll be 13 months after the Burns fight, and he's fighting for the title. Your thoughts on this matchup, were you surprised that this was the announcement? I mean, I'm a little surprised only because obviously I don't think anyone knew about Shavkat being injured.

I think that's first and foremost. But I like the UFC just said, hey, who's the next guy in line? And it is legit legitimately should be Jack Del and Madeline. I mean, if he had beaten Leon Edwards, he would have been there anyways. And again, you could say, well, you know, he'd be Gilbert Burns. Gilbert's not the same guy he was, but he's on a seven-fight win streak, a lot of finishes. Again, I appreciate just next man up. I mean, there really isn't another number one contender.

I mean, you know, you can even argue like they could have thrown in Ian Machado, Gary, and I don't think people would have, like, totally freaked out considering how he did against Shafkat. But I don't mind this. And it's funny, I think the narrative for this fight is going to shift dramatically because when Below was fighting Shavkat, everyone's like, well, Shabkat's the new champ. Let's just go ahead and shine up the belt and get him ready to be crowned. I think the narrative is going to shift in this where Below should be a pretty heavy favorite to win here. I think Jack's tremendous, but we've seen Jack struggle with wrestling in the UFC a couple times.

And, you know, Gilbert Burns kind of ran out of gas and then got caught in that third round. One thing we know for sure, Bilal Bahamah does not run out of gas. So it's an uphill battle for Jack. I'm not going to lie. But I'm glad they just said, hey, next man up. And Jack legitimately is the next man up. Yeah, it's an interesting fight. the Gilbert Burns fight gives

he a little bit of cause for pause because he was losing that fight up until he wasn't. It was just one of those crazy situations. He was seconds, he was less than a minute away from losing that fight. And then comes out of nowhere, hurts Gilbert, gets him out of there, and now he fights for a belt. And

what a story would be after that long layoff and all the injuries, he goes in there and wins the belts in his first opportunity and Blah Muhammad gets his opportunity. He's going to headline in Montreal, Quebec, Canada hosting this fight of all places. but hey, you got to get title fights on the books and there you have it. But the good news for Men and Fioro, it was a little scary for,

especially after Zhang Wei Li beating Tatiana Swar as the way that she did it. She wanted the fight against Valentina Shivchenko. Dana White seemed enthused and interested in that. We were all concerned what's going to happen with Manon Fioreau. Is she going to get her shot? Is she going to get overlooked? The UFC is going to skip over her in order to make the superfight? The answer is no.

she is getting her opportunity to fight Valentina Shivchenko. And as much as I want to see Zhang Wei Li try to make history, Damon, I feel like we have to do this fight first. Am I correct in saying that? I mean, listen, based on meritocracy, you're not wrong. I mean, Manofiore has earned it. She beat Aaron Blanchfield. She beat Rosnami Unis.

She's undefeated in the UFC. She absolutely has deserved it. But you know my old phrase about deserves. Never just strike that word for your vocabulary if you're a meme fan. I think I had the entire country of France coming from my throat. after UFC 311 when I said I wanted to see Zhang Wei Lee versus Valentina Shepchino. I said, I tweeted. I said, I'm sorry, Beno Fior, but I want to see Zhang Wei Lee against Valentina and Shepchenko. And I do, but I think this is just, I say it all the time. It's always a matter

of timing. You know, they want to stack a pay-per-view. Listen, don't get me wrong. I think, you know, the right fight. You do Bilau and Shavkat. That's actually a really interesting fight. I think you could headline that and just have a pretty good co-main event. But Jack's not a huge name. And I think Bilau is going to be a pretty heavy favorite. So they got to put another title fight on here. Who's available? What works out timing wise? Well, Valentina Shropchenko and

Zhang Wei just fought. So you put in Mendo Fiore. So you kind of get what you want. But if the UFC had their do you see their druthers, I think we'd probably be seeing Zhang Wei Lee against Valentina Shupchenko. But again,

meritocracy works out this time. Amendo's getting a shot. All right. Let's play a fun game. I have not seen betting lines for Valentina Shof Chivchenko versus Amanda Fiora yet. But let's play a

fun little game, Damon. Let's play guess who's the favorite? All right. Let's start with Michael Chandler versus Patty Pimblit. Who is the favorite? Michael Chandler should be the favorite, I would hope. He is a slight favorite minus 125 in the opening

odds. Patty Pimlet plus 105, basically a coin flip. Alexander Volcanowski. A little closer than I thought. I'd be a little a little further apart, okay. Alexander Volkinovsky versus Diego Lopez. Who's the favorite? I'm going to say Volk for respect, but I won't be shocked at all if Lopez ends up being the favorite by fight time.

You're really similar to the Chandler-Pimblit line, bulk minus 130, Lopez plus 110, very, very close. You know Bilal Muhammad's going to be the favorite. How big of the favorite do you think he is against Jack Del and Madelana right now in the opening odds? If I was guessing, I would say minus 250 to minus 300, two to one, three-to-one odds will be my guess. A little more respect. Minus 205 for Ballal, the comeback on JDM plus 170, some other interesting lines.

Michael Morales, a minus 395 favorite against Gilbert Burns, who opens as a plus 310 underdog, which is pretty wild. And those are sort of the opening odds for those fights. And then we found out Sean Brady stepping in against Leon Edwards. And Sean Brady gets his wish.

This is the fight he wanted. He wanted to be the guy getting that call. and it's a roundabout way of getting there, Damon, but Sean Brady is getting his chance. He's going to O2 Arena. He's going to be hated, but this is the kind of thing Sean Brady likes and huge opportunity for him.

So opportunity is the word of the day for a lot of these athletes. And boy, are they going to get him and there's so much news to digest and I still can't get Ilya to Porea versus Armin Serrukeen out of my mind. So at this point, let's go to the peeps. Let's see what they're saying about all

this because I'm sure they have had lots of reaction to this news as well. And Casey has no sleeves on. So you know he's excited. I had sleeves on, but then the news came out and it was boom. It just flew off. It was amazing. Same shirt. Same shirt.

Yeah. He nearly went full whole whole coat and he just ripped the whole shirt off, but he only got the sleeves. But he did it so slowly and gingerly. You want to make sure the rips are perfect right on the crease lines. I respect it. All right. Yeah,

I see what people are saying. I got some super chats. RS 40. Mozar, Alan Lopez, Zalalal, again, Yair,

Murphy. So many matchups that we will lose. How would Ilya match up against Porre, Armin, or Charles?

What do you think? So Ilya versus Porre certainly an option. I don't think that's the UFC's first choice. I don't think that's going to be Dustin Porreye's first choice for his retirement fight.

Ilya Armin, rocks. And then, Iliate, to Porto versus Charles Olivera, Damon? That's not a bad shout either. Although that'd be kind of a tough one for freaking Charles Olivera, right? How many number one contender fights does this guy have to friggin win before he gets another

title fight? Yeah, I mean, listen, Ilya versus Armin or Ilya versus Charles, sign me up right now. I'm in, like, take all my money. I want either one of those. I don't think it's going to be Porier because I think he said he wants kind of like a legend fight. I mean, do we just want to go ahead and sign him against Max Holloway for a, for, for a third time.

It just seems like that's where we're going in New Orleans for his retirement fight. So, I mean, I think it would be a fun fight. Don't get me wrong. But I just don't think that's going to be the fight. But Armine or Charles, dude, take my money right now. I will watch either one of those, and it would be a tremendous. Love him. Did you all see what Mr. Helwani, former colleague, tweeted just about a few minutes ago?

About the market judge to fight? Yeah, the market jade fight. about um will we be disappointed now because i know i'm i'm actually excited for tuporia fighting in number one contender i think that's awesome but uh hawani's kind of crushing that for me but we are we kind of i don't know are we can be disappointed if he gets a title fight or do we i personally would love him to fight armin's like seems like the perfect fight but um sucks for armin but um but maybe it's good for armin who knows um but we're we kind of disappointed or it's just as long as long as tporia vacated we're

kind of happy of anything. Here's what I'll say. And this is no insider information. I'm, Damon said it best. The fact that Dana White did not just flat out announce this fight tells me something that no one's 100% sure yet. And as much as I respect Ariel Hawani, I'm still going to play the golden rule card at this point.

Until it is on our website, I don't buy it. And that means like we've confirmed with everybody. involved. It has been announced all of that because information like this, I'm not saying he's he's not getting some side of the conversation saying that this is what is being planned or whatnot. But this is a Machachev is managed by Ali Abdulaziz. That's all I'll say. I have a hard time believing that we're getting that side like locked down here. You know what I'm saying? But he's I don't know if he's like completely wrong. I just it's a little sensitive right now and Dana not announcing the fight to me speaks volumes to some extent.

I mean, we may still end up getting it. And if it happens, like, it's still a fascinating fight. But man, if we can, I would just, it would just be so wild to see Ilya vacate a belt and then fight a Charles Oliverer and Armand Sarukin before challenging for the lightweight belt. Like that is angster shit right there. You don't see that ever. And Ilya could be that guy. As it happened, as a champion vacated, gone up in weight class or down in a weight class and not fight for the title next. Am I forgetting like an obvious one?

John vacated 205, but he immediately got a title shot when he went to heavyweight. Am I missing? I can't think of anyone vacating totally. I mean, I know BJ Penn went up, but he was still lightweight champ at the time and he fought when he fought George. Yeah, yeah. But did he vacate when he went up and fought? I can't remember. I can't remember he wasn't championed at that point, so never mind. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think so. This might be the first time.

And to Mike's point, like, I don't, I'm not going to hate it if he gets Islam. I'm not going to hate that five, that ends up happening. I just, I don't like to play conspiracy theory here. We are living in a conspiracy theory world. But, but the fact that, you know, listen, I know they had to announce that he's vacating because they're announcing Volcanowski versus Lopez. But you've got to know the UFC if they're announcing he's vacating, they would like to announce what ill. is doing, right? Like, you've got to imagine they want to announce that because, like, he's just vacating the belt and we don't know what he's doing. The fact that they didn't, just it gives me pause.

I don't want to just jump on and say it's definitely Islam Acacha because if it was done, I think they would have announced it. And you got to think about, like, it's not like Islam cares what, like, the world thinks, but he is a competitive guy. And there's probably a part of him that, kind of hears the critics of his reign saying like, okay, you beat featherweights the entire time. And the only non featherweight you beat in this run is Hanato Moikano, who took the fight on a day's notice and Dustin Porrier, who, you know, timing is everything for Dustin Porre.

Like he wasn't the number one contender. He just was in the right place at the right time and came off a big win. And yeah, like there hasn't been a time that Islam has defended the belt against the number. number one contender in a division. And to my point earlier, Charles Olivera has won like 17 number one contender fights. You know what I mean? He just won one against frigging Michael Chandler in November. Dana said the winner of this fight is fighting for the lightweight title. And Charles has won two of him. He'd beat B'Neil Daryush and then he beat Michael Chandler. So maybe he gets the shot. I don't know, but maybe Islam does put his foot down. Just say like, hey, man, like, I want to fight the number one

contender. Like I know I already beat Charles, but he's done enough to earn his opportunity. Like he did lose to Armin, but then he got another number one contender fight. So I'm, it's, it's this is so, and this is great. And if I'm, if I'm Islam, like in that case, like, even though Armin got injured and it kind of messed up what happened back in January, if I'm if I'm Islam, I'm like, just give me Armin again. Like, go ahead and give me that final. Yeah. No one's really going to complain about Armin getting back in there. Dana was really the only one saying, oh, no, he's going to get back in line. No one really would care.

So, I mean, if I'm Islam, I'm like, give me Armin. Like, he's actually the number one contender, and he's earned it. Like, let's do that fight. The fight that everyone says is the toughest fight for me in the division. Because I like, listen, I think I'm elite to poor is incredible. He's an amazing fighter. But, again, I don't know that I love him at light. We'll see.

Maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe he'll balk up and it looked bigger and he'll be great. But I just, I always go back to that Jai Herbert fight. And that was a rough night at the office for Iliad before he ended up winning that fight. That's why I'm like maybe one warm-up fight. I'm not saying Charles Oliver, Armist, just be a warm-up fight, but I'm saying like maybe, I mean, it's like jumping, it's like jumping into deep red with like tiger sharks,

and then you have to go against the Great White and Islam. Like, neither one's fun, but, you know, maybe you get a little warm up before you get to Islam. Yeah, I mean, the whole featherweight thing is kind of just fun to talk about, but these guys are quality, quality lightweight. It's just being like Moikano former featherweight, Olivera former featherweight, poirier former featherweight. Once you go once you're they both up.

They're they're they're lightweights. But man. Yeah. So many. Woo. What a crazy. It's just crazy. It's just crazy.

All right. Anything else on this question? No, I think we're good. All right. Cool. Not getting the Moves. Not getting Ilya versus Mobsar like hurts my heart.

But I might be the only heart hurt by that in this conversation. But I always felt. like Mozar stylistically had the best chance at 145 of beating Iliate's for you but and and just to throw it out there again just so if people didn't hear at the beginning mobsar's got Ramadan in March he wasn't fighting in April so it isn't that mozars getting screwed or they're like we don't want mobsar in there mobsar wouldn't fight that quickly after Ramadan so he was already not in this conversation unfortunately I think he'll probably be you know June July probably is when we'll see most are back and

unfortunately it's just really bad timing with all this going on And I'm sure Yusuf Sala will love hearing his name in such a positive light with this question after. Exactly. So there you go. Thank you, RS 40. Thank you, RS 40. All right. Super chat from K03K.

Thank you. I wonder how Hunter slash Maynard pulled this off. Deporia vacating his belt and pay-per-view points is wild. Hopefully his manager earned his paycheck. Yeah, does, I'm never going to know the answer to this question. I wonder if Teporia, Like, because I can't, I think because a couple people comments like, oh, Topor is a clown. I can't be vacated.

I assuming for the, he's going to lose money. But I would assume Toporias, he vacated in a sense that he made a deal of the UFC. Like, I'm getting championship, not challenger money when he fights for a title or if he's fighting for a title. Who knows? Like, is this crazy to vacate? Because that's a big money. He's losing a lot of, he's leaving a lot of money on the table, right? I mean, potentially, yeah.

I mean, yeah. Listen, the way pay-per-view points, typically you're only getting pay-per-view points if you're a champion and you're in a championship fight. There are rare exceptions, you know, Brock Lesnar back in the day, guys like that. But it's not, they're not just handing them out. And Ilya, while Ilya has huge star potential,

he's not a huge star yet. Like we haven't, he hasn't, like the Max Holloway fight was great. But I didn't hear anyone coming out of that saying, man, that sold 800,000 pay-per-views. I know we don't really get a lot of numbers now since it's on ESPN, but when they do those kind of numbers, Dana goes wild, or ESPN will go wild, talk about the numbers.

They didn't do that. So while I think Ilya has star potential, he's not a superstar yet, he's a star, he's not a superstar. He's not Connor. He's not, you know, he's not John Jones. He's not those guys quite yet. So I don't know that he's in a position where he could demand pay-per-view points. I think he's just, he's serious about pursuing lightweight.

And I think, and again, to Mike's credit, Mike, you're absolutely right. Give you 100% kudos for this. I think he's just saying, hey, I want to be a lightweight. I'll do whatever it takes. And that means vacating my belt and taking on Arm and Saruki or taking on Charles Oliva. I'll do it.

I love that. What a legend. And I will say this. I'm sure Ilya Teporia makes plenty of money outside of the UFC. He's not a global superstar. But in his home, in Spain, that dude is a superstar. And he's probably making millions outside of fighting right now. Just with sponsorship deals and all sorts of things like he's doing just fine.

Yeah. Thank you, K03K. A couple more super chats. J. Fish, April and May are set. What is the main event for international fight week? I mean, I see, look, through all this, I actually do think that we will get Islam versus Ilia. I think they will get everybody on board. Because it ain't going to be

it's going to be Sean Jones versus Tom Aspinall. That I can tell you, even though data is holding on to that dream, oh, so tight, yelling at some people being like, relax, it's going to happen. The announcement coming soon. I don't believe it.

So I do, I think ultimately, like, whatever Islam is going to need for him to say yes to this, he will. But I don't know. I'm not saying it today. I don't think this fight signs, sealed and delivered right now,

but I do think this is what ends up happening, and it's going to take some time, but I do think this is what's actually going to happen. I think Ilya and Islam is still, even though I'm saying, like, I'm not 100% confident, it's still the one that makes the most sense because it's the easiest one to put together based on timing. Islam fought in January,

Ilya's healthy and moving to 155. Makes a lot of sense. But again, I still put caution on that because I really do think Islam is serious about saying, hey, I don't want to just keep fighting feather weights. Now, I know Islam has never been the guy to say I'm all about money, but, you know, listen, you know, see tax on a couple extra zeros. It's hard to turn that down life-changing money

or huge life-changing money for your family, so maybe it happens. But I'll throw in a wrinkle here. I think the other one is possible based on timing, and now we know, you know, getting into the country may not be nearly as much of a deterrent. How about Drickus Duplice v. versus Hamzat Chimayev headlining. I'm not saying it's going to happen.

I'm saying it could happen. Would love that. And I'll give my bronze medalist, John Jones versus Alex Pereira if he beats Manga Van de Goliath. Because I think John would fight Alex. I think he will rush, I think he will sprint to that opportunity.

Not sure if he does that for Tom. Not because he's scared. I'm not saying that. He just knows he'll beat Alex and it's prize fighting. That is the prize-fightiest fight that John can get right now. All right.

One more Super chat. Sleo, yo Mike, Mitch Raposo is back. How stoked are you? Very stoked. Sumedairji should be a nice little fun scrap at 125. And hopefully Sue Medergy makes weight. Because Mitch Raposo just seems to fight dudes who miss weight every time he fights him. And Mitch took that fight on like a week's notice and still made weight.

And his opponent didn't. So we'll see. Mitch gets a full camp. Hopefully a fighter that makes weight. Should be fun. All right, gentlemen. I think we're good. After all the talk to that Mitch Riposa is like the happiest guy in the world.

He got to mention at the end of the show, man. Come on, Mitch Raposna. Way to go, buddy. That's when we finish the show off. Mitch Raposa talk, you know. I mean, no Parker Porter question, which always disappoints me. But listen. I'm sure.

Parker, Porter, being the man that he is, is probably extremely excited that his fellow New England or Mitch Raposo getting a shout. So there you go. Tomorrow, BTL, 12.30 p.m. Eastern time. For those of you in the chat, and I'm sure there's some of you,

I'm not looking at it right now. Like, oh, man, only the Super Cheddar's got questions. I didn't get a question asked. We'll talk. It's going to be a whole show of your questions tomorrow, right? We have plenty of shit to talk about. Jed will join me. You know the takes will be spicy.

He gets to react to all of this. Yes, I can't wait. But, but, Ilya Tuporia did vacate the lightweight title. So I kind of feel like Jed is going to put him over in a big way after his, the amount of DMs I got for Jed's screaming rants last week is just unbelievable. So something to look forward to tomorrow about about 12 hours from right now. So thank you for joining us.

A lot of news to digest. Hopefully we're able to do this up the seat of our pants for Casey for Damon. I am Mike Heck. Appreciate you. We'll see you tomorrow. get some sleep. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you.

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