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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Sean Strickland may have lost the fight and the UFC middleweight title this past weekend at UFC 297, but in Nate Diaz like fashion, he still came out of the event in the court of public opinion as a winner. If the UFC goes ahead and books a fight between new champ Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya at UFC 300, should Strickland vs. Khamzat Chimaev in a title eliminator also be added to the lineup?

On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck reacts to UFC 297, the razor close main event between du Plessis and Strickland, and discusses why Strickland vs. Chimaev makes all the sense in the world. Additionally, listener questions include the somewhat lackluster 2024 opener for the UFC pay-per-view year, Raquel Pennington’s bantamweight title win, the possibility of an Amanda Nunes return to the UFC, how the UFC has changed over the last decade-plus, if the WWE’s deal with Netflix could impact the UFC in their next TV deal, and much more.

You can listen live to Heck of a Morning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10 a.m. ET on the MMA Fighting Twitter Spaces.

If you miss it live, audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

According to Khamzat Chimaev, if he doesn’t get the first crack at Dricus du Plessis following the new champ’s title win at UFC 297 this past Saturday, the UFC CEO will have some explaining to so.

“Who else is going to fight him,” Chimaev told ESPN. “Israel is out [he said] until 2027. All of these guys fought each other. It’s only me who is undefeated and undisputed, so I don’t know. They promised me after the Usman fight that [I] will for sure fight for the title, and I won that fight. I don’t know what’s going on.

“I heard Dana White said that, ‘I don’t think Khamzat is next for the title,’ that’s the bulls***, man.”

Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland in a razor close middleweight title fight at the promotion’s first pay-per-view event of 2024. Following the event, White as mum on plans for du Plessis, and whether or not he could turn around for UFC 300 in April against Chimaev, and former two-time champ and heated rival Israel Adesanya.

Chimaev revealed recently that he had a health scare following his UFC 294 win over Kamaru Usman and was “very sick,” along with the hand injury suffered in the October fight. At the UFC 297 post-fight press conference, White was asked about Chimaev’s health status, and while he seemingly didn’t rule out Chimaev getting a title shot, the UFC CEO didn’t seem to believe “Borz” would be ready for UFC 300.

“I know he was very, very sick, and I know he’s getting better, but I don’t know if he’s fight-at-300 better,” White said. “We’ll see.”

Chimaev says that if the opportunity arises to fight at the historic April 13 event in Las Vegas, he will be ready to go, and if that phone doesn’t ring, he’ll be plenty surprised.

“If you promised me something, you have to answer for your words, and I’m the guy who always answers for my words,” Chimaev explained. “I don’t care if it’s some president, or a king, if you give me [your] word, you have to answer for that.

“I will be surprised if that happens — if somebody fights [for the title] next, and not me. We’ll see, I didn’t talk with Dana, and I don’t know what he’s thinking. He knows better than me.

“In my mind, it should be me,” Chimaev continued. “I asked Hunter [Campbell] to let me fight at UFC 300, so we’ll see what they say.

“[I asked him] before [UFC 297]. I was sick before, and they were asking me during that time and [I told my] manager to let me be healthy first. When I felt my health was good, and I was in the gym training, it was the right time. So I will be ready [for UFC 300] if they give me the fight.”

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Do you agree?
| BJPenn.com

Chael Sonnen felt like he was watching a different fight after judges scored Strickland vs. Du Plessis a split, with Du Plessis winning by one point on one scorecard.

There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding the Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis split decision at UFC 297. Fans are out there complaining about Du Plessis winning on various fronts. There’s the ‘gotta take it decisively from the champ’ crowd. The ‘look at the stats’ crowd. The ‘headbutt’ posse is pumping that up. And then Strickland’s own coach saying they lost the optics battle.

As for Chael P. Sonnen, he’s going crazy wondering what everyone is talking about. As far as he’s concerned, he watched a one-sided win from Dricus Du Plessis. And he’s a self-proclaimed Strickland-stan!

“What did I see here between Du Plessis and Strickland?” Sonnen said in a new video on his YouTube channel. “I cheer for Sean, right? … We lost every round. We lost every round of the fight. … In my heart, I think it was 5-0. With a real bias to Strickland, with upset stomach and sweaty palms, it was 5-0 and at absolute best-case, 4-1.”

“I think that the crowd, for the most part, agreed with me,” he continued. “The live audience is a tremendous focus group for how the rest of the world is feeling. They’re educated and they’re hardcore and even if they’re drunk and it’s the end of the night, it’s the one they came for and they’re invested. And it seemed like they had no problem with the scores. I was stunned when it was a split decision.”

“So when one [judge] came in for Strickland, I was really surprised. Now, my bigger surprise was when all was said and done, Joe Rogan — who definitely qualifies as an expert in this space — and Dana White — who definitely qualifies as an expert in this space — both had Strickland. Did we watch the same thing?”

Sonnen tried to figure out what may have happened and came to a conclusion.

“I heard the commentary and they didn’t,” he said. “And I’m just wondering if I got influenced?”

For what it’s worth, I watched the fight with the volume down low on account of it happening at 2 in the morning. I could hear the buzz of the crowd and just the slightest muffled hint of Cormier and Cruz in the background. And I saw the fight 1, 2, and 5 for Strickland. 2, 3, and 5 were all close rounds, so not a robbery by any means. But Strickland’s jab was low-key busting Du Plessis up. In his own words, the South African looked like ‘a cauliflower’ after the bout.

This may be where optics come into play. Du Plessis certainly looked more active. He was moving forward, swinging big, and landing takedowns. Strickland had little other than a mean backfoot jab and the ability to get right back up after being taken down. Once the blood started flowing down his face it was practically game over. No one seemed to care about the colony of mice around Dricus’ eyes.

Just bleed!

With Strickland’s new popularity, we doubt the flow of outrage over his loss will lessen as time goes on. Will it earn him an immediate rematch? UFC CEO Dana White implied it would not, but with UFC 300 still sitting there needing more juice, anything is possible.

A lot of new fans seemed to think Strickland vs. Du Plessis was an all-time great. Maybe we should run it back, especially if Adesanya is injured and Chimaev still unable to travel to America.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Tom Aspinall appears to be out of luck when it comes to a potential matchup against Jon Jones.

UFC 295 took place this past November and turned the page to the next chapter of the heavyweight division. Well, sort of. That was the intention going in anyway, and the promotion tentatively mapped things out to work as such, but then the landscape got messy… for almost no reason.

The undisputed UFC heavyweight champion Jones was forced out of the event’s original main event opposite former two-time titlist Stipe Miocic after he tore his pectoral muscle in the weeks leading up to fight night. Therefore, the UFC created an interim title since Jones had already been out since March 2023. Aspinall reaped the rewards of the crown and knocked out his fellow top heavyweight Sergei Pavlovich in 69 seconds.

An interim title is typically all that’s needed to set up a guaranteed unification title tilt no matter the MMA promotion. Crazy, right? Instead, Aspinall has to wait for the UFC to rebook an eventually healthy Jones vs. the three-year absent Miocic, as both fighters and UFC CEO Dana White desire.

It doesn’t make sense, and the interim UFC heavyweight title looks like nothing more than a temporary promotional tool with its holder forced to deal with it.

“It’s quite simple, I want to fight Jones but Jones wants to fight Miocic and that’s it,” Aspinall told OLBG. “Jones is great at deflecting the truth; he’s like a politician. When I start talking about wanting to fight him he starts talking about resumes and history and the things that he’s done that’s better than me. I have no qualms whatsoever about saying that his resume is better than mine. What I say in return is — it doesn’t matter about resumes. I just want to fight him and beat him right now and he doesn’t want to do that.

“There’s not one interview, one post, one clip anywhere online where Jon Jones says he wants to fight me. I don’t know why. I don’t want to be the guy that says he’s scared to fight me because the guy had a million fights and fought millions of good people, but I know one thing for sure, he is not keen on fighting me right now.”

As excellent as Jones, 36, has been throughout his legendary 29-fight 16-year career, he’s only fought once since February 2020, which was with his heavyweight debut when he submitted Ciryl Gane via first-round guillotine. Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Aspinall’s entire UFC career has come in that stretch, seeing him win seven of his eight bouts (14-3 overall) with the lone loss coming from a 15-second ACL tear against Curtis Blaydes in July 2022. All but one of Aspinall’s UFC wins have been knockouts with that one as a first-round submission of Alexander Volkov.

The 42-year-old Miocic, on the other hand, has also only fought minimally since Aspinall’s arrival in UFC. Miocic won a unanimous decision over Daniel Cormier in their August 2020 trilogy bout before he rematched Francis Ngannou in March 2021 and lost his title by second-round knockout.

“Jon Jones is smart and he’s taking the easier fight for more money,” Aspinall said. “If the shoe was on the other foot, I’d do exactly the same thing. The guy is going to get a lot more money for fighting Stipe, probably, and it’s going be way easier of a fight as well. Jones doesn’t feel he needs to jump in with a young dangerous guy with no miles on the clock. He’d rather jump in with 40-year-old Stipe who hasn’t fought for four years. It’s obvious that’s what he’s doing, anybody with a brain would do that.

“The UFC do not want [us to fight]. I don’t know why this is happening. Money, I guess. I don’t know what’s going on. It’s completely unheard of that when you’ve got a healthy champion — and I know Jon Jones isn’t healthy at the moment, but he will become healthy — and when he returns it’s completely unheard of [to not make the fight between champions].

“It’s strange,” he continued. “People say, ‘I knew it was going to happen this way when I took the interim fight.’ I didn’t. I thought that the interim fight meant I’d get the next shot and I’m quite disappointed that I’ve been put to the side, so I’m stuck and I don’t really like it.”

Jones and Aspinall have had a few back-and-forths verbally online since the latter’s reign began. It’s become a classic love triangle … just in the form of fist-fighting. Who would have thought?

Solidifying his legacy further is the primary focus for Jones in 2024. With a win over an all-time great heavyweight — and arguably the all-time heavyweight — Miocic, he would do just that in his mind, and has reminded fans that he’s been there and done that when it comes to the young superstar challengers. However, that was mostly at light heavyweight as Jones is only one fight into his career as a heavyweight. Most believe that run won’t go on much longer than two or three fights though, especially if “Bones’” words are any indication.

“I definitely don’t have as many miles on the clock as Jon Jones,” Aspinall said. “I’m younger and I’m fresher, bigger, and faster. I’m a nightmare for Jon Jones and we both know it. But Jones is a smart guy and it’s not about putting Jon down at all, it’s actually doing the opposite, but fair play that he’s sticking to the road he wants to stick to, he’s got the UFC on board with it, which is the important thing.

“I think he will retire before he fights me. He’s already said as much. He’s a smart guy and a politician the way he deflects questions and sneakily says he’s the guy that’s going to retire and not stick around longer than he should.

“The guy is trying to give everyone a history lesson every time he speaks, and I respect what he’s done so much, but we’re talking about right now, we are not talking five years ago, so will I add to his legacy?” he continued. “Probably not as much as Stipe, to be honest. I do understand his side of things but I’d wish he’d come out and say, ‘Tom, I’m not fighting you and these are the reasons why.’ The ones we’ve just talked about, but he won’t.”

TOP STORIES

Critique. Julianna Pena lambasts UFC 297 co-headliner ‘snooze fest’: ‘Nobody won, the fans lost’

Harsh. Chris Curtis blasts Dominick Cruz for ‘stupid f****** commentary’ at UFC 297

Questions. Monday Mailbag: Can Dricus du Plessis bring stability to the UFC middleweight division?

Rivals. Israel Adesanya reacts to Dricus du Plessis beating Sean Strickland: ‘I’m still going to test that ass’

Movers. MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Dricus du Plessis, Raquel Pennington rocket up the list

Business. Dana White reveals timeline for UFC and ESPN negotiations on new TV deal to start

VIDEO STEW

The MMA Hour.

UFC 298 Trailer.

MORNING MUSIC

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Champ.

Hmm.

Well…

Update.

Lightweights.

StillKnocks.

Complaints.

Hard pass.

Amazing.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Jason Jackson (17-4) vs. Ray Cooper III (25-9-1); PFL vs. Bellator, Feb. 24

Tyson Pedro (10-4) vs. Vitor Petrino (10-0); UFC Vegas 87, March 2

FINAL THOUGHTS

I mean, Tom has just been on point throughout this entire saga. Their matchup will be just another at heavyweight that escaped us as fans.

Thanks for reading!

EXIT POLL

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.

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Former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has teased a potential return to the Octagon in the near future, amid links to a championship grudge fight with newly-minted gold holder, Dricus du Plessis at UFC 300 in April.

Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, has been sidelined since he took main event honors at UFC 293 back in September of last year, suffering a stunning title fight loss to Sean Strickland in the pair’s short-notice clash, in a massive upset unanimous decision defeat.

As for du Plessis, the Pretoria native headlined UFC 297 over the course of the weekend in Canada, landing the undisputed middleweight title with a close, debated split decision win over common-foe, Strickland in ‘The Great White North’. 

And welcoming the opportunity to potentially settle his long-standing score with City Kickboxing staple, Adesanya off the back of his title victory, du Plessis appeared to be all ears to a stunning UFC 300 clash in April, however, is likely facing a race against time to make the event, with a medical suspension likely to be enforced amid facial damage suffered against Strickland.

Himself only set to return to training in a full-time capacity at the end of February, Nigerian-Kiwi striker, Adesanya claimed his path with du Plessis was “destined” to cross once more in the future – following a tense face-off in the Octagon in July of last year, before a failed fight between the duo.

Israel Adesanya teases UFC 300 comeback

However, on social media overnight, former champion, Israel Adesanya appeared to hint at an impending return to action, posting, “Ah sh*t, here we go again,” on his official Instagram Stories. 

A title fight victory for Adesanya over du Plessis would also see the ex-titleholder become the first three-time champion in the history of the promotion’s middleweight division. 

Who wins in a future title fight: Dricus du Plessis or Israel Adesanya?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts