The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Daniel Cormier TV - Ben Askren & Daniel Cormier REACT to Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill DRAMA + Holloway KOs Gaethje

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Jamahal Hill and Alex Pereira gave us an incredible knockout finish in the main event at UFC 300, and Ben Askren is BACK with another episode of Funky and the Champ to discuss it with Daniel Cormier. DC and Ben break down the end of the fight, and discuss why Herb Dean could have stopped that fight after the illegal kick. Plus, Cormier and Askren react to the "fight of the year" between Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje. And don't miss their thoughts on Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler getting an OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! 2:30 - DC's conversation with Jamahal Hill8:00 - Theatrics of Alex Pereira and Hill9:30 - Should Herb Dean have intervened?14:45 - Anyone that can beat Pereira?!16:30 - BMF Title fight - Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje22:00 - DC binged GOT after Jon Jones knockout29:00 - Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler FINALLY announced (Timestamps may vary based on ads) #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Welcome to another episode of Funkin' the champ. It's been a while since we got Ben asking on. Ben, what's up, baby? How you been, man? Guys, let me tell you something. The negotiations were very, very difficult. The next thing, the negotiations got very difficult for Funky Ben. What's up, Ben?

It's wrestling season It's busy You know we had the NCAAs We had the last chance Qualifer we had the P&L We got Olympic trials this weekend We got the U.S. Open next weekend It is a very busy time of year

I feel like a jinxkey You know too I kept calling them pound for palm I kept boasting And then now he's not wrestling The Olympic trials Like I mean, dang dog That kind of sucks

Kind of sucks You know he Him and David Carr They had a really good match Even when he beat him at conference since like David Carr is really, really good. And then, you know, Mitchell, David Carr is kind of our kryptonite at this point because he beat Mitchell in the finals and also a very competitive match.

You know, David Carr finishes college career as really kind of an all-time great. Two titles, a second and a third. Yeah, he was good. He was really good. Yeah, so, but it was fun. NCAA tournament. They, uh, it was fun. The fan were great.

It was awesome. But Ben, UFC 300 was last weekend. Yeah. Now, I want to talk to you about something that happened in the fight that no one has kind of spoken about. So I know Jamal Hill, right? Jamal Hill and I are buddies. Jamal Hill is never going to make an excuse for losing a fight or anything that happened in the fight. Yes.

Jamal Hill and I had a conversation yesterday. Okay. And we're talking about the fight and how it played out. Jamal says to me What did you see, OG? I told him what I thought And then we kind of went back And we watched the fight a little bit

And kind of talked through it And I saw some things a little differently After watching it with him He spoke about foot placement As a Southpaw fighting a conventional fighter The range and everything else Here's where the issue And I thought

Okay, I don't know You know, Jamal's going through the process of losing let's see what happens. But then I run it by my cousins and my nephews, and my nephew had the same idea. They thought that Herb Dean made a mistake, Ben, because while we are all lost in the idea of Herb goes to step in, Alex puts his hand out, Herb steps back.

When you have a, when you have an illegal strike, they are saying that they should have been separated and then they come back together. as a fresh restart. It didn't happen. Very short time later, Alex landed the shot that put Jamal down. Seconds.

And knocked him out. I mean, seconds after what should have been a restart. I don't hate it not being a restart. It wasn't like Jamal was the one that got illegally kicked. Alex was. And that was one of the arguments. It was like,

well, Jamal wasn't the one that took the illegal blow. It was Alex that took the illegal blow. I'm not taking aside in this deal. I'm just asking you. you what you make of that the idea of generally when an illegal strike happens, they separate the athletes, they come back together and then the fight restarts wherein in that moment, it felt like Alex had said, I've got my time and I've got my foot placement. He went and landed, but they feel like they were much closer than they should have been. Oh, man, I feel like that's

something where, you know, one of the first things that tell you when you step in the cage, Janiels protect yourself at all times. And that's what he said. Protect yourself at all times. And if the fight is happening, the fight is happening, I don't know. I thought Herb never got that close to being in between them.

Like, he made a motion and then Pereira wades him off and he stepped back, which was, that was sick, right? That was crazy stuff, man. Yeah. And I guess just,

my general feeling on, on that fight was that, I thought Jamal Hill was a little too confident, you know, saying he was going to stand with him. And I actually, I think science should study Pereira, because how did this man hit that hard?

I want some more info on, you saw the clip all week where he's hitting the punching device that Inganu hit, and he breaks his record by like 30% or something preposterous. So I want to, I want to see like multiple people hit that multiple times. Like, you know, it's like, can they get the same number like 10 times in a row or something? Or, you know, like, have you hit it?

Like, what was your number compared to him? I never hit it. If I hit it, it would be embarrassing. I mean, why, why? if Inganu was the other highest bunch of why is Pereira able to hit this hard? Why is he 30% above Angano? Is it like a one-time thing? Because that feels like it doesn't make sense,

but then also you see him. And when he hits people, they fall down. And that's what Jamal Hill should have been a little more worried about. I feel like he was too confident. I feel like he disregarded how hard that prayer hits. Do you think that there may be some underlying reasons why Jamal was not willing to or unwilling to wrestle.

I mean, he did come off in the Achilles surgery. So maybe he wasn't capable, maybe he wasn't able to employ that as a strategy. So he was essentially stuck in there doing all he was able to do. I feel, I feel that honestly, hopefully your buddy doesn't get too mad at you for this. My feeling, ego, ego, right?

Ego gets involved with those fighters. And he thought everyone's saying, everyone is saying, hey, Jamal, Pereira is a better, better stand-up fighter. He's going to put you down. And he said, no, no, it's not going to happen. And he saw you, we talked about when he like caught the air and broke it, you know, he's kind of nice. Was it not theater?

Did you not love that? I mean, it was funny. It was fun. Ferreira's walking to the ring doing this thing. Jamal is standing at the entrance. Pierre, Pereira, I cannot say Pierre, because that's how Chale says it. Pereira gives him the bowl. Jamal catches it, breaks it, and tells him to come on.

I mean, it was theater. been it was theater but can I ask you this though? Sure yeah was it too much wasn't Jamal doing so much to try to show he wasn't afraid of him like I'm not scared of you and I'm gonna let everybody know through my actions before the fight starts that I'm not afraid of you

yeah yeah uh yeah that that's ego right that's ego speaking so yeah I did think that kind of maybe put him in harm's way the one video that was funny out of there was some fan taunting there was some fan taunting there was some fan taunting Jamal doing the Perrera thing, you know. Dude, that was crazy. And Jamal goes, bang. I thought that was kind of funny.

Jamal goes, you've been doing this shit for days, bro. Like, I see you every day. And you're doing the same shit to me. Like, what is that? Listen, I'm going to give, I'm going to give the fighters advice. And this is not legal advice. But if some of these kids at tournaments, if they come up to me and start talking trash, I just put them down, Daniel.

What do you mean? I don't hurt them. I don't hurt them. I'll just grab him a foot sweep and throw him on the ground and say, man, you can't hit children. Yes. I don't hurt them. I don't hurt them.

but I let them know. I let them know I'm the boss. Don't combat me with that nonsense. So you think Jamal should have won't got to do. The dude that's the thing. I think you should put him down very, very gently. He doesn't hurt him. He should have put him down and he should have said,

listen, if you keep following me, there's more where that came from. I'm not going to hurt you too bad. I'm going to hurt you a little bit, just a tiny bit. Just so we know, just so we know this behavior that you're putting out here is totally unacceptable.

Ben, so, but why though, Ben? Why is more? Because you've got to keep people in check in life. Yeah, you can't do that. You can't throw children down. No, not hard. You don't hurt them. You don't hurt them.

You just let them know. You know some of these high school kids. Bro, you hang out. You coach high school wrestling. You know, they're a little crazy. You know, so they come up. Yeah, like the Marasola twins about to get their asses kicked if they keep sending me videos. They would deserve that.

They don't know. They keep sending me videos. Marasola twins either leave me a lot. I might cause that. That might be my fault. But, you know, with Daniel, I'll give you a one. I'll give you a good one. you can do it. They say something quick.

Just give them a little snap down and then just put your hand on their chin and just choke them a little bit. So they know, just so they know, keep it up and there will be consequences. Could you imagine if Jamal Hill went to that guy on the biggest fight weekend in UFC history because he's annoyed by him. He's cutting weight. Jamal's cutting weight. He's been hurt. Put him down. He's got the biggest fight of his life. And this dude's just in his face doing this little step and dance thing. Like he would have been within his right, but he can't. But I got to, I got to Definitely do it. If you don't hurt him.

If you don't hurt him. Don't hurt him. They pretend. Yeah, Armand put that dude out. That's what I'm saying. Like, that guy would pretend to be hurt. That guy would have pretended to be hurt, man. He would have pretended to be hurt to get Jamal's money.

But let me ask you this, though. Yeah. Why is more not being made of that, though? Like, look, we have seen this. Look, I love Her Dean. I think he's the best in the best. business. But we have seen this, right? You remember one time, Kane Velasquez was beating on Junior Dos Santos. Herb went in there and touched

Kane and then backed up. Kane was like finishing me. He thought Junior was done, but Junior wasn't done. He touched him. He backed up. There's been many instances where officials kind of get themselves involved and then they kind of change their mind. They're all human. They're all. They're also not perfect. Especially when it, and guys, Alex and I are, I like Alex Pereira. I think his story is tremendous. I think this man is the guy. But why is more not being made, Ben, about the fact that five seconds later, Ben? I don't see the issue here.

I mean, but Jamal, but like Jamal, so Jamal thinks, and again, he's working through losing the fight and everything else. Yeah. But when I rewatched and South Paul conventional, it's very important that the foot, right? It stays on the outside. Always. Yes. For the most part,

Jamal was controlling the outside with his foot. Yeah. When they broke, Alex took position. Yes. When you rewatch it, left-hand lands, knocks him down,

so I mean, I'm not trying to play conspiracy theory here. I think you are. I think you're trying, you're trying to get this rule like a no contest or something. I have no horse in the race.

No, you might buy Jamal's lawyer and get it in Vegas, no contest. It should not be a no contest. It should not. Pereira won the fight. But I'm just saying like,

there's got to be something to it, right? This dude is not this good. I don't know. No, I say, defend yourself at all times. And what I would say to defend the referees on this is they're not perfect. They see something that looks like it,

you know, like so it looks like you hit him in the nuts. Well, you can hear it. Yeah, but also sometimes those, a lot of those cups are hard. And sometimes it just doesn't hit in the right way.

It's, you know, there's times where it can't hurt. And there's also times where it just like, it just like clips off the side, you know? it doesn't hurt that bad. So, you know, like, it didn't hurt.

It doesn't hit the nuts. Then it's like, well, let's keep fighting. You know, and there was, I think there's another instance with an eye poke. I'm trying to remember which fight. It was an eye poke where, you know, he said, no, I'm fine. I want to keep going. Oh, you know, it was. It was Aramon Olivera where he wanted to continue fighting on the ground and they made him stop.

And it's like, I don't feel like they should have done that. He should have said like, oh, no, no, no, it was, you know, what is an ipok. It was, he kicked him. He kicked him. He kicked the down opponent. That's what it was. Kicked it down the opponent. But the ref still went in.

The ref went in. But I don't think he should have. Really? Yeah. I mean, Armand is the one that got fouled, right? He got fouled. He should have said, I, he did say, I'm fine. I want to keep fighting.

And if he says, I'm fine, I want to keep fighting. Let him keep fighting. I'm not saying that they should. I'm not, look, dude, I swear to God, I don't want this to come off the wrong way. Like, I'm not saying that anything should be done in retrospect. I'm just saying this man really believes that, this man really believes that in those instances,

that's what should happen. When I see other people saying the same thing, I'm like, oh, but we just kind of, we kind of just skimmed over because we were lost in the fact that Alex did some cool shit. He just went, nope, wait, I got this. I think I would see your argument

if Jamal was the one that could hit low. Yes, and that's what I would see an argument. But if it's Alex, it's not an argument. Ben, I'm not making an argument. I don't know. It sounds like you are. I'm not making an argument.

I'm stating something that, honestly, Jamal can't say it. Because if he says it's sour grapes, right? Of course. He can't say it. But someone else can raise the question, is this something we should have paid more attention to in that moment? Willa. Do you feel, though, watching it that it would have changed the outcome?

I don't know. I don't know. I bet on my verdict app, you guys can go. Fact check me here. I bet Pereira first round TK.O. K.O. I thought Jamal was too confident, overconfident,

because, and I say this in wrestling and fighting, when your opponent has a level of danger, you need to respect that level of danger. And if you don't, then bad things can happen. And so I just thought, I thought that was the case with Jamal.

Alex is very dangerous. There's probably specific ways you should fight him, and he was kind of, and maybe it was the ego that got involved that said, no, I can go beat this guy up on our feet, and then it wasn't going to work out, I don't think. Isn't it nuts that Pereira is doing this? And Ben, I told us to chill yesterday.

He can't wrestle. How in the world can you be this? And you can't wrestle. I love the guy. He always does interviews with me. He's so cool. We have a great relationship. But it's like, he can't wrestle.

Well, there's no wrestlers there anymore. What? There's no wrestlers at UFC. Uncle I of is. He's all right. Uncle I of is a wrestler. But you know what, you know what's scary is that? and Chale said this, he goes,

his best days are still ahead of him because he can only be better in the areas that he isn't good at. It's not like he's a complete fighter. Am I wrong on that? What? How old is it? 36.

Yeah, but he's older. He's older. But I'm saying he still has to get better in those areas. Imagine when he continues to improve. He's not even like a full. Yeah. Mixed martial arts shit.

I mean, Izzy took him. No. There's not one, there's not one what I would call you're saying, you say, on Kalliv, I say fair. You can have him. But besides that, there's not one elite wrestler in the top 15 at White Heavyweight right now. There's not one. So you're telling me there's no wrestlers in the top 15. Not. I don't know where Louis. No, no. I mean, listen, they may have wrestled a little bit. I'm not certain. There's none of these guys who have elite. And I don't think on Kallive has elite credentials in wrestling. No, no. He's a Sommbo guy. And you and I both know that Sambal lends itself very well. world of mixed martial arts and wrestling in mixed martial arts. So it's not something that I will take for granted. But UFC 300 was more than just that, been like Justin Gage and Max Holloway had the best fight of the year. I got to be honest with you.

I don't know if it was the best fight of the year. Yeah. Because it felt like Max was winning the vast majority of the fight. I think the lasting memory is the fact that they fought like. that for the last 10 seconds. Yeah. But what did you make of that one? And what was your reaction?

Because I got a lot of shit for me kind of putting my hand on my head like this. But it kind of to me was like when that little boy from home alone realized his parents were gone and he was like yelled and he screamed and he grabbed his head because I had a real, oh shit moment. What was your reaction when you saw that happen? Yeah. I mean, that was a tremendous ending. What a legendary finish.

I thought Gachi, I picked Gachi in this one. I just thought he was going to kind of be too big, too strong. But you know what it was was, Max was just too long and too fast. He was moving. He was quick. He stuck him. I don't want to say he was unhittable,

but Justin was not connecting a lot on him. He was letting leg kicks, but as far as his punches, they weren't connecting a lot. So Max had an incredibly impressive performance. Max fought as good as I've ever seen him fight. Yes. And it feels like he opened the world up for himself afterwards.

So they panned the in, I'm Elia Teporia. And my phone's flooded with messages of Ilius scared. Did you see his face when they went to Tuporia after Max Holloway got that victory? Yeah, I don't know if fear is the emotion that registers with me. I don't know. How did you feel? What the are you guys talking about?

He's not afraid of anybody. He's a fucking killer. Yeah, but that's how I feel. Exactly, right? But like, I don't understand why. Why do people search for these words that make no sense? Like Ilya, but he's the UFC world champion and he's undefeated.

What in the world scares that man, Ben? Does anything? I mean, I think everyone has fear, but I didn't see it in that moment. I think that's the fight I would make. If I was Dana, I would make Holloway and Tapuria, put in a big stadium somewhere in...

The Santiago Bernabelle. Yeah. I don't know. They said it's huge. I think it'd be a lot of fun. I think they should do it. You want to go watch a soccer game there? You and I?

I don't like soccer. I'll go hang out with you, Daniel, but I don't want to watch soccer. Can we watch a match? Why? It's boring. It's kicked the ball around. I don't give it damn.

Let's fight or watch some wrestling or something. You're so stupid. Bull fight. Let's watch a bullfight. How about that? No, dude. We got to go watch Real Madrid play in the burn of bail and then we'd be like on it you would fall in love with the sport if you did that i

promise you you might think you like it more than wrestling no no you're crazy how big of how big of a how big of a how big of a moment was that back kick that broke gachie's nose like do you think that really did change the way the fight looked yeah so i want to say it was impactful but then the other thing i think is but max looked really really really good in round one right and like He was kind of, he, he just, it felt like too long and too fast. His punches were just coming very quickly and Gagee wasn't able to evade them. And so it kind of feels like it was what happened almost the rest of the fight. And so I don't, maybe it had an impact because it was a hard shot.

It did hurt Justin's nose, but I feel like it was similar performances before and after. You know, when you watch a guy like Justin Gachie give you all those fights that he's given. Yeah. And he goes down like that. Like, the thought that crosses your mind. is you know that at some point it has to happen, right? Like when you, it's almost like touching the fire, touching the fire, touching the fire,

and eventually you're going to get burned. But it is kind of like jarring to watch that guy that has done that to so many, so many times, get it done to him. When you know, you honestly know it'll happen. Even when Charles Oliver was the champion and he would get dropped every time you're like, this dude's going to eventually get knocked out or lose,

but we better enjoy it why it's happening because it's going to be fun. Does Justin Gachie ever remember? look like himself going back from this? Because when you get knocked out in that manner, it really can't change you. Yeah, and I want to say he's getting, I'm going to look it up, but I want to say he is getting older also.

35, so that's not super old, but, you know, there is the obviously statistic about ages 35 and over, middle, what's it, well to wait and under, I think, where they just don't have as much success. They're fast and good. Yeah, I think he's still going to be effective for a few more years.

I think this does kind of ruin his title shot. So he would have to work his way back into a title shot maybe, you know, one or two more wins. It's possible. I don't know if I would say it's likely at this point. You know, let me ask you this. And I was speaking about this about Jamal and Justin. When someone told me, they said, when I said, when I got knocked out, I was so happy that I was on my stump. right? Because you can't see your face.

Justin was like on his stomach. Like, Justin was on his stomach. Jamal was on his back. So you get the whole face. Like, that shit is bad. But when you get knocked out, right, you lose a little part of yourself in the octagon. For you personally, when you got knocked out,

yes, do you feel like you had the same confidence and belief in your toughness after the knockout or were you a little worried that maybe the chin had been dinged and you lose some of that durability. Well, I only had one more mixed martial arts fight, and that was Damien Maya, and he obviously doesn't have a lot of power. And so I was not concerned about getting T-K-O'd.

I don't think, I did not land with my face down. But, you know, I'm really good-looking. So it doesn't matter. And, you know, Mazvedal, he took two shots, I was unconscious, but, you know, he doesn't hit very hard. So I didn't even feel those when I woke up. Well, you didn't feel it because you don't feel nothing when you're, you know.

but, you know, it wasn't even a bruise or nothing. I didn't feel anything. I just felt my body not responding. And my mind saying, get the fuck up. But like my body wouldn't do it. It's like I was trying to push up off the ground. But it's like my body wasn't like responding. So I was almost like out, but not out like out sleeping.

Like but I could like see myself like get up and I could feel him over me hitting me. Yeah. But I just. body would just not respond. Yeah. What I was telling it to do. So I don't know. I mean, I understand what you're saying

because obviously for a lot of fighters, that's kind of the beginning and the end, if they get T-Koed or it, that first time and then it's a downhill. But we've also seen other people. Who am I thinking of? There's a heavyweight. Who was?

He got knocked out a few times. Then he kind of like came back and had like a really good portion of his career. You remember Olofski used to get knocked out all the time. That's what he was. And now he's like doing good. He's like in his 40s. But even Bobby Green, right?

Last weekend, Bobby Green, he got knocked out bad by Jalen Turner and Austin. But then last weekend, he fought one of the best fights. But it's like, I think that you have to be of a certain mentality. Yes. For that to, like, be your reality when you come back. And I think that Justin Gachie is of that mentality. Yeah. I don't know that it will be lasting, uh, yeah, lasting, uh, memories are lasting effects on.

I spoke to him. the day after. And he told me he's in good spirits. And the way that these athletes look at the fight game, nuts, because they just go, hey, man, it's the game we play. You win some. You lose some.

I used to actually just like almost like lock myself away when I would lose. Black curtains, crying all day long in my room, never come out. I, I actually. How many days? A month, bro. A month. Stop. A month.

Swear it. And bro, I actually was able to bend. Watch Game of Thrones season one through four after I got beat by John Joltz the second time. I was so sad, bro. But I think I did it because I wanted to make sure that I never put myself in that position again. I was like, I'm going to make this hurt so badly that I don't want to come back to this place because it's the only place that I know how to recover from it.

And then by the time I was back, I was more motivated, I was refreshed. I was like ready to like turn the page. but I always mourn the loss. I think to me personally, man, when a fighter loses and goes back to the back and they immediately start posting the social media, I don't necessarily like that. I think that they're looking for people to tell them

that you're the champion, we love you still, and they want to feel better. When in reality, you shouldn't want to feel better right now, you should actually go and deal with the hurt of something so big happening. Yeah, I think that's two, one of those things where everyone, I would say grieves.

I don't know if that's the right terminology. That's the word. Are you telling me it's not grief when you lost men? Yeah, yeah, sure. That's fair. That's fair. Grief is a fair word then. Everyone does it a little differently.

And yes, there's, I think to your point, there's some people who do what you do. And, you know, they say they want people to make them feel better. That's for sure. But who knows? Maybe that's their way to get over it. I'm not really sure. What was your process?

Well, You know, I think, let's see, like the, my most devastating was probably the Olympics, right? Because that was something I'd wanted to do my whole life, and I lost, and I wasn't really expecting it. I don't know,

probably went and cried for a while, and then I think I went out to eat lunch or something with my, it was girlfriend and now wife. And, yeah, I think that was it. I didn't really want to be around any of the wrestling people

because I didn't know, I still want to talk about it, I think. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. That was it? That was it. I mean, to my,

Yeah, that's my memory. That's it. I remember when I lost the Olympics in my finals in 2004, and I went back to the room or to this house that we all had rented. And Jackson and then were like, you just got to reset the phone because you got to get ready, go get that bronze medal. And I'm like, I don't come here for bronze. Fuck that bronze medal.

I don't want that shit. And I went wrestling and I lost. And now I'm thinking to myself, I wanted that bronze medal, bro. Like, I wanted it. Oh, my God. And I wanted it. Of course you wanted it. It's a fucking Olympic medal, Daniel.

I know I wanted it. But in that moment, I was like, I don't want them last. I came to win gold. Nothing else mattered. It didn't been. They started like testing dudes and everybody was testing positive for steroids. And they went all the way back to 2005. Wait, did you get moved up to bronze or no?

No, because they went to 2005. I was like one more year. I got moved up two spots in, in, in 08, because two people above me tested positive. Dude, I was like, if they could just go back to four, and just mail me my Olympic medal I would have taken it and worn it proudly dude out of it who finished above you because it was Gzalov

Hey Darry and a uh Hey Darry would have tested for sure it was good Salaf Hey Darry and this was back of stand dude that just came out of nowhere Oh he probably he was probably using it also Hey what if I would have got silver

I could have been a silver medalist All things considered but I will stay as I am the guy that got fourth place because it's on brand for me right you don't win first get second or you get fourth so i just kind of want to stay on brand all right before i let you go ben a lot of fights got announced your boy chanler finally gets this fight finally hey bro but then i heard something that said the contract is still not signed oh my goodness they said there's no deal in place but we're hoping it's june 29th yeah that i mean right

that that's been you said something earlier about theater that that has been theater that has drama of getting that about scheduled and on the calendar. It appears to be on the calendar. You're saying maybe not taking it long enough. Hope it happens. It'll be a big fight. And, you know, but it did honestly, it does make me nervous. It's only two and a half months away.

But it's like, you know, an injury or a city. Like, I feel like a lot can still happen in two and a half months. Like it's almost always what you don't want to believe it until they're actually like walking to the cage or maybe after that way in and you're like, okay, now we got it. Ben, do you think that Michael Chandler has overvalued this fight a little bit? Because now he makes a lot of money, right? He could have fought two to three times by the time this fight takes place. Is he going to make three times the money for this fight?

Or is he essentially going to just break even now? Because he's been sitting on the shelf for so long that he was missing money. well I don't know I don't know his contract so I can't comment on that but I also think it's highly dependent on the outcome you know if if he loses and honestly the loser this fight is going to get knocked out right this is not going to a decision that is not happening

so if you lose this it's probably not all that great decision you know Conner's not ranked right now he goes down and to your point he could have fought more and made more money if he wins then I think that could propel him to you know, a bigger contract in the future, more money, et cetera, et cetera. But he's another one. I think he actually turns 38 next week.

So, yeah, I mean, you know, does he get pay-per-view points? That, you know, that's one. That's the question. Dana doesn't like giving that out. So maybe not. Maybe. Maybe that's why he's waiting so long. I don't know.

So, man, I think it's too hard to say there's too many variables at this point. I don't know why you would give pay-per-view points to someone that's not going to drive the sales. Like, and this is not me, Hayden on Mike. Mike's not going to. He is exciting, but I see your point that. He's not driving the sales on this one. Right? When you fight Connor McGregor,

Connor's driving the sales. He's obviously going to be a part of the pay-per-view and part of the business. But very rarely. Can I push back here real quick on you? It would, uh, and I feel like I'd make people mad at me. But I feel like Michael is a very compelling opponent for, for Connor right now. And we know that someone's likely getting knocked out as opposed like,

remember when he fought Serroney and everyone's like, uh, They just want to give them an easy one kind of thing. Like, I feel like the compelling opponent is relevant. Yes, because Mike still ranked in the top five or six in the world. So, yeah, of course, he's compelling. But ultimately, this one feels like it's about McGregor. And part of that reason is because Connor continues to tell you how he's making all these decisions. And essentially telling Mike, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this.

Would you make the fight being at 170, though? Mike said he did it because he wants Conner at his best. Yeah. I don't see any problem with 170. I think they're both. If they're both, you said most competitive weights, I think they're most competitive weights, both 155. And if they both don't want to cut a lot of weight

and they want to feel good and do a lot of promotion, then 170 is probably best. That's probably going to be the biggest fight card outside of UFC 300. Yeah. And I kind of want to jump back there for a second. when talking about Connor McGregor, we have seen him at times do things that are so outstanding.

But when he hurt someone, right? When he hurt Jose Aldo and knocked him forward, he jumped on him and he finished. Yeah. When he hurt Chad Mendez, he never searches for the big moment and most don't. Bro, the other day, Jalen Turner

is fighting against Sanato Moikano. You remember that fight? Did you watch the prelims? I did not. not watch that one. Except we love McConnell. Maconle loves Bitcoin and he loves hard money and he loves Austrian economics. What a hero?

You love Moycano. He's like, his rebirth has been the craziest thing ever. He goes, I have my new podcast on Monday. You know who my guess is? Joe Rogan. He didn't have Rogan to go on his podcast. He made Rogan go on his podcast. But

Jayland Turner drops him. Yeah. First round. Fight looks like it's over. 10 seconds left $300,000 bonuses No way to really guarantee that But having that great oh shit moment He doesn't jump on him to finish Ben

And Anato Mikeano gets up and ultimately submits him What do you think of these kids Trying to create those types of things Because you remember Mark Hunt used to do it all the time And we always talk about how Mark Hunt Would just hit a dude and walk past him And the dude like on the ground What do you think of these kids trying to

Make these moments opposed to to just fighting, man. You got to just fight, right? Yeah, yeah. I would say just fight. Yeah, yes, if you do not take the, if you don't take that, if you don't take that what is there,

then it may not be there again. And, you know, then the fight might go the other way to your point. And that's exactly what happened. Take it. How do you live with that? That you live with, the regret of that for a long time.

You know, when somebody was talking to me about yesterday was Ben Ashton, was that the first time been lost to Mazvedal? only lost two MMA fights, huh? Yeah, that's it. That boy had a fucking record. You were a bad boy,

weren't you been? I wish I would have got my opportunity to fight the better guys while I was younger and healthier. That would have been really ideal. Yeah. You did good, though. You did good. You did good.

My man. All right, guys. Let me let Ben Asker and go. Next week in Vegas. I will see you. Yes, yes. How many kids do you take it? Old team?

Like 50. I don't know. You're taking 50 kids to I don't know how many, well, I don't have many count. It's just like, good ones? All you good ones? Of course. Yeah.

Marisolas? Yeah, of course. Wow. I'm not taking Merrill. Why not? I don't know, man. He got hurt a little bit in the season and he hasn't really been. You know how some kids just decide his time for college?

That's where he's at. That's where he's at. When I really feel like he should be wrestling. Yeah. It is. I'll be there, though. Ben, thank you, man, again for joining. We appreciate it.

Guys, that's been. I'm Daniel Cormier. Until next time. Peace. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

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