MMA Fighting - Reaction: UFC 273 Press Conference | Khamzat Chimaev And Gilbert Burns Get Heated

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

Things got pretty intense between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev, as well as Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan at the UFC 273 press conference. MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jose Youngs react to the UFC's latest pre-event press conference, if the back and forths between the co-main event and featured bout made the bouts more anticipated, Alexander Volkanovski getting a face-off going with Chan Sung Jung without Dana White in attendance, and more from Jacksonville, Fla. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Jose Youngs: @JoseYoungs 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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Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to Aero Pembers on equipped flights, sponsored by Bound. Conditions apply. Caircanada.com. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Mike Heck here for MMAfighting.com in Jacksonville, Florida, coming off of the UFC 273 press conference

where things got a little interesting. I'm being joined by Jose Young's. We had no Dana White, Jose, we had no Mick Maynard, we had no Sean Shelby, we had John Annick, dressed to the nines, by the way, holding you know putting down with the with the MC duties we had no face-offs at least scheduled and then Alexander Volcanovsky at the end of the press conference said you know what we're gonna do a face off him and zombie did one

Peter Young and Aljimae and Sterling tried to do one didn't happen so that was a memorable moment for me all said and done with this presser what was the thing that stood out to you the most the thing that stood out to me the most was I would say Hamza Shamiya didn't really care for any question that was asked of him I thought some of them were like genuinely interesting. Like, what do you see? Like, someone goes, what do you see from Gilbert Burns that warrants your prediction of a quick night?

What do you expect from Gilbert, this and that? His answer was literally just like, I don't care, I'm going to smash this guy, kill him in round one. That seems to be his answer for everything. And I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Because, like, obviously we want, as media members,

we always say we want these characters to, like, cut these promos and this and that and everything. But it reminds me of I had, I had, what's his name? I believe it was, Hurricane was on the A side, like Hurricane Helms, the former W. W. W. wrestling, I asked him about these, like, characters. And he said that there's not enough characters in MMA anymore, like the rampages and the Ice Man, the Huntington Beach Bad Boys. And I asked him, I'm like, well, what about a guy like Fador, where he just doesn't say anything? And he goes, honestly, that's, that gimmick is the best.

Just say the same thing over and over and make it just terrifying. And I think that's what Hamza's doing. He's just saying, like, I don't care about any of this. I'm just going to go in there on Saturday and decapitate a human being inside of round one. And I did hate it. I loved his response to everything. Gilbert Burns kind of laughed at and asked for translator even though Hamzaa was speaking English. So didn't mind the quote-unquote trash talk because I don't think it was really trash talk.

Yeah, I was actually surprised to hear Gilbert sort of fire back at him because that's not usually what he does. If he's looking for a big fight, like when he was trying to get the fights with Tyron Woodley and trying to get fights with Colby, he played the game a little bit. but he's even admitted in the past, that's not really who he is. Were you surprised to see Gilbert get a little fired up up there? I think he caught, I was surprised in the sense, I was surprised that Hamza was so aggressive, I guess, considering we saw the video of them shaking hands in the sauna,

and he goes, show me the power, and Gilbert said, I will, and they both kind of left smiling, and maybe Hamza just turned it on for the press cards, because at the end of the day, I do think he gets it. Like, Darren Till's in his corner, and he's building the fight, he's cutting away, he's probably miserable, so he just doesn't want to do any of this. He gets it, though.

And I think Gilbert was trying to be respectful, and Hamzaa was not having it. So Gilbert was just like, okay, F you, I'm just going to play, I can play this game too. So I think Gilbert, the Gilbert we saw, because we all know Gilbert's family man, it's a very nice guy. Like, if you talk to almost any fighter, there's very few people that have bad things to say about Gilbert Burns. Hamza just happens to be fighting him. So I think I was a little more surprised in the fact that Hamzaa kind of flipped a story. switch, but I was pleasantly surprised that Gilbert played along with it. He wasn't just like, oh, all right, guy, say what you want to say. He got to snap back a little bit too.

Yeah, it was fun, those two guys. Did the press conference, those two guys, I didn't think, I don't think he could really build this fight up anymore. No, definitely not. I actually think it worked a little bit here. Like, I think we got to see a little more of Hamzad in that scene. I know he's being pushed very heavily in this card, and rightfully so, but he was, he was the star of the press. In a way, he got Gilbert to kind of fire back after him, like, he's Like you said, I'm actually even more interested in the fight now after that press conference, which was the UFC in these press conferences, this doesn't happen all that often, but for this fight in particular, and another one we're going to talk about, it worked.

Yeah, I'm very excited. Even Gilbert Burns said, like, no disrespect to the champions on stage, but we're the main event, and you can't disagree with that. People, Hansa got the biggest pop outside of Alarmine and Sterling getting booed. But yeah, I think you can't, like we said, it's hard for us to get more interested in this fight and I'm much more interested in watching a terrifying angry Hamzaat Shamaa than a Hamzaat that shakes hands in the song. I'll say that much. The other fight we're talking about is the co-main events between Al Jemaine Sterling and Piotr Yan. Of course, Al Jemad Sierling just eating

this all up. Piotr Yon getting the heroes welcome in Jacksonville, Al Jamein, the American fighter, getting booed out of the building. He shows up with a bag full of He's got the rulebook for dummies that he created. He's got the Jacksonville Jaguars football helmet. Great fiery start to this press conference because Piotr was mad, but even at the same time, he's like, all right, that was pretty good, man, from afar. But then those two guys got after it and it was a lot of fun. Did that, does this fight seem more intriguing now?

Because I actually feel like these two guys, especially after this press conference, they have done a tremendous job building this fight. I mean, I'm always, I've said this thousand times. I think I am very interested in watching. best do anything. Like that's all I care about. I don't need storylines or rivalries or bad blood. Like if John Jones fights, George St. Pierre fights, if Habib never methammeda fights, I just want to see that to you fight. I don't care what the stakes are. And I'm on record a few times saying, I think Peerreryon could be just the best fighter on planet Earth, regardless of white class.

Like I understand like in my pound for panelists, I take accolades into account. So like you can't not have Kamara number one just for what he's done. And he's just been doing it in the have seen longer than Puriter. But I think when it's all set and done, talent-wise, I think Pura could be the most talented fighter in the entire world outside of one of the two men in the main event on Saturday. So I was very interested in that. And like we've said a million times, 135 is like never been better in the history of MMA. Like I think the lightweight division is much more stacked, but the top five, the Bannamweight could all be championed. And that, and they could play hot potato with that. We have guys like O'Malley and Yannes coming up that create even more

interest. So is there really an argument that these aren't the two best bantamones in the world? Like Al Jermaine and Pearyon are 1A, 1B. This is Israel out of sign of Rob Whitaker. Like they can fight a thousand times and I would be entertained every time. It just happens to be these guys like talking trash. And I think Al Jermaine's did the right thing at the press conference because he got booed. But the second he took out that Jacksonville Jaguars comment, they all started to clap. So I think Al-Germaine was the MVP, I think Al-Ramein did a damn fine job of getting the

crown back on the side and drumming up interest and then Peter Young can't really speak English, but his way of Trash Talk is fantastic. And I think that their styles of quote-unquote promos and trash talk are perfect for one another. And like, I love everything about this fight so much.

There's certain rivalries in MMA where you just can't wait for it to be over. Oh. I don't want this one to be. I hope something happens that we see a third or fourth fight. When it's all of a sudden done, I think we will. Especially if Yon win.

I mean, if other men wins, because like the first fight didn't there was a winner, but it was murky. There was controversy. It's, there, like Yon was, what, a round away from winning. I think even Al Jermaine Sterling said that, so I don't think that's not any,

that's not some hot take. If Sterling wins, I don't think they'll do an immediate rematch. I don't think that would be quite fair to the rest of the division, especially after sitting out so long. But if Yon wins, same thing. Maybe Al Jaljman has to get one back under his belt. But, like, would you say no to, like, Alamemines, Stirling, Josie Aldo? Would you say no to Peirion v. Dominicruz?

Sean O'Malley, like, Adrian Yanez, Corey, like, oh, fuck. Watch, I'm not going to say no to San Haken rematch and either guy. T.J. Dillishaw has kind of come back at some point. Cody Garbrank, always going back to 1-35. I want to see these guys fight again, but I don't think it's going to be the same thing as like Moreno Figurano. What does it? Back to, back, back, back, back.

because I want to see these guys fight everybody. I don't care. But, I think 135 is so good. It's just so deep. It's the 2000, it's the Boston Celtics big three team. Not only does Bannemite have some of the best in the world, but it's so deep, you got guys coming out the best that can just play. I kind of knock the microphone over, so if you hear that, it's my fault.

But that's, I mean, that's just how good this division is. It may not be as star level as lightweight and others, but in terms of just overall depth, you can't beat Bannamweight. And we talked about MVP's and most improved players. I was wrong. The MVP of this press conference was actually Alexander Volcanovsky. For the ending? Yes.

He comes out, he does the right thing, gets the face-off started. I loved every second of that. Obviously, a much more respectful build between these two guys. There's a ton of respect. Volkadovsky actually feels a little bit older now because of how long he's been watching zombie compete. It's actually a really fascinating fight. And talking to zombies team, and this is a...

not just a, hey, we're coming in here to shock the world and you just kind of rub it up. They truly believe that Chan Sung's going to go in there and stop this rain. They are that confident. And I've talked to Eddie Chaw many times about confidence levels heading into fights. I've never seen Eddie Chow this confidence. So what have

you made of, what did you make of zombie at the presser today? Because he was funny. He was loose. He's crapping on monster energy drinks and putting over his own. I thought he was tremendous today. Yeah, and he said something very interesting where, like, unrelated to the promos and energy mix and everything, that promo he cut about how Asian men don't really get the same opportunities that some other ethnicities or

gentlemen would, simply because they're viewed as weak. And he hopes that him winning the title will influence more young age, not Korean men, Asian men in general, to pursue mixed martial arts. Like, can you say anything better at a fresh conference then? I want to influence an entire continent that we aren't weak men. Like, come on. Like, it's just two baby faces, you know, like, who do you hate? You got a guy who wants to, like, create, who wants to be the wave of MMA for an entire continent, not just his own country.

And then on the other side, you got Volcanowski, who, I said Yon could be the best ever. Volcanowski's right there. And, oh, by the way, he also writes children's books for fun. Like, this is, this is every. This is two baby faces of pro wrestling. You know, made the best man win at the end of the day. We'll still be friends. This is Brett Hart, Roddy Piper, WrestleMania 8 kind of thing,

because even Volcanowski talked about it at Media Day. He had a sort of fight with himself to tone back the trash talk because he knew that wasn't him and all that really stressed him out. And it reminds me at the very end of that match because Piper was going to hit Brett Hart with the ring bell. And then he decided, you know what, it ain't me. He puts the bell down and goes back to baby-faced Piper. So I feel like we're seeing a lot of that here. Two great guys.

You almost don't want to see either of these guys lose. But it could be very interesting. And we've got to think about this because I know zombies talked about this before. This could be the last fight. If he goes out and loses the Volcanowski, this could be the final time we see TKZ fight, man. Yeah, he's very, very honest. That's refreshing. Even Al Jermaine Sterling, if you're talking honesty, like the fact that he was like, yeah, I was about to lose that fight.

It's refreshing in MMA because we've always heard those things where, Some fighters, they have to be delusional with their careers. They have to hype themselves up. So when you have two gentlemen that aren't like that, it is refreshing. I'm not going to say it will be his last fight, title fight ever, because he wasn't supposed to have this title fight to begin with. Circumstances happen in the year 2022 where you might get thrown in last minute. We're about to talk about Max Holloway having a third fight against Volcanowski possibly,

and he's already 0-2. If Korean Zombie wins, like, the president is there. You lose to Volcanowski. You can always fight for the title again if he's the champion. When's the last time? When is the last time Korean Zombie was in a fight that wasn't excited? Literally never. If they came up to you and they're like,

regardless of who wins, Korean Zombie's next fight will be a rematch with any of the people of his last six years. Like, I'll think, yeah, okay, why not? Like, Korean Zombie can fight like, I don't know, a blow-up doll. I'll be excited to watch that fight. So I think he's a fan favorite. UFC loves him. Obviously, has the, if they're going to try to, like,

they're obviously going to see the poor, if they want to break into that Asian market, again, they need superstars, which I think people need to take account. It might be his last for a while, but I'm not ready to write off Grand Zombie Day. If he loses, that is. He's left to fight first.

He'll fight again, I think. I want to give a shout out to McKenzie Dernan T. Chitores. Kind of a tough spot to be in if we're being honest, but I thought they did well. They actually built their fight up a little bit. They had a little back and forth, which I thought was really good, and they're asking each other questions,

which I thought it was good. They had their moment for about, 60 seconds there, a little tit-a-tot, if you will. Last thing, because a lot of these times we come out of these press conferences that we're just like, what a dump. Like what a dumpster fire. How awful is this? I can't believe we just watch this.

This is like bizarreo Colby Mazadol. This is like the opposite of it. I actually like, I felt better about things. And maybe it's just because you talk about sometimes like maybe watching it on your computer screen is not the same as being in the arena. And if we're being honest, there weren't a lot of people. people in the arena so you didn't really get the buzz there but the ones that were there were into it and they were excited this wasn't a bad press conference what do you grade it

what was a what what your press conference grade here ooh press conference grade seven and a half eight it what I do wish like and there are something like I wish there were more fans I wish there were the face-offs yeah probably seven and a half eight it was I actually enjoyed the Colby Jorge press conference but I was there yeah And, like, the crowd reactions to everything happening there was a lot of, was funny to me. Same thing for, like, that, that God has signed in Vittori fight. That press commerce in Phoenix was freaking awesome, man. I don't care what anyone says.

If you were there, you understand. That was a raucous crowd. And I think the only thing missing was a few more fans here. But so, seven and a half, eight, but it was all around. It was, like, I've used this word a few times. It was refreshing not to just have two people just go, like, into each other's faces. It was, I didn't hate it.

It was a good time. And Gilbert kind of did that, but it actually didn't hurt myself. No, I agree. I could do with the other thing. It was funny. Yeah, I think a B is a good grade, and it would be higher. If Dana was there, and if we got the face-offs and got all that stuff, this ended, this played out like a normal press conference.

I think Dana would have had fun, especially with the Sterling-Yon thing. I think he would have enjoyed it. His reactions are always fun. So outside, I mean, it was outside of the fighter's control, but still, enjoyable press conference. solid B, and it was nice to be back in the fold at a pre-event press conference. First time in a long time that I've been able to experience that. I don't remember the last one I was acting because I wasn't there. This was your first time asking a question at a press conference?

At a pre-fight press conference, yeah. How do you think you did? I don't know. I think the fans are into it, so I mean, but maybe it's just because they were just into it. Yeah, I think you did a good job. Yeah, I tried. You did a good job. I went in there.

It was very nice having the second hand on, so I don't have to do camera work, ask questions. No one cares about behind the scenes stuff. Oh, yeah. It's very nice to have a second hand. Yes. But all the hands will be working tomorrow morning because we'll have the morning weigh-ins, 9 a.m. Eastern.

This is AK's Christmas time. He's got the date circled. He's got his alarm set for like 3.30 a.m. ready to crack some Captain Crunch and host the Way-in show. 9 a.m. Eastern. M.A.fighting.com YouTube page. We'll have a heck of a morning tomorrow before that. So it's going to be like a free show for the Way-in show.

And then we get Ceremony Wayne. It's going to be a very busy day. We've got some fun stuff coming up as well tomorrow, some different interviews and some out-of-the-box things that we haven't done before in the main fighting. So stay tuned for that. Until then, everybody, for Jose Young's, I am Mike Heck. Hope you enjoyed the press conference. We'll see you tomorrow.