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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ryan Garcia is either a total basketcase or an absolute genius. Either way, he’s got millions more in the bank account because of it.

After spending the last few months making fans, pundits, and most importantly, his opponent think he had suffered a complete and total mental breakdown, Garcia revealed that he had seemingly pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes ahead of his career-best performance against Devin Haney in NYC.

For months, Garcia appeared to be a man on the edge, making some downright disturbing allegations as he was preparing for his title clash with the WBC super lightweight champion. Even the Nevada State Athletic Commission stepped in, ordering a mental health evaluation on the 25-1 fighter before he was allowed to show up at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

By now, we all know that Garcia not only showed up, but he showed out, knocking down Devin Haney three times en route to a stunning majority decision victory. Unfortunately, Garcia went into the bout three-pounds over the 140-pound limit making him ineligible to win the WBC title. However, it appears as though becoming a world champion was never a concern for ‘King Ryan.’ Winning was the only goal, no matter the cost.

During a recent appearance on the PBD Podcast with Patrick Bet-David, Ryan Garcia claimed that his erratic behavior over the last several weeks was nothing more than a work of fiction — a narrative seemingly designed to throw off his opponent and the sportsbooks.

“We have it pre-recorded, months ago,” Garcia said. “What’d I say was gonna happen? I said, ‘I’m about to make sure everybody thinks I’m gonna go crazy. I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that. Watch, it’s gonna be called the great escape. Like, I have it all documented. I was already planning it weeks and months behind. ”

“I don’t know what made me come up with the idea, honestly. One day I just decided to just go all in, and commit to the plan that I had. And I was not gonna budge for nobody. I was acting like, sporadic. Like just crazy. Faces, I would do this (scrunch) with my nose, and then I’d be like, ‘It’s just a tick.’ I did make adjustments, but what was real though is at times I did drink a little bit during camp. Because I like to drink.”

Ryan Garcia Lays it on the sportsbooks

As Ryan Garcia’s behavior became more bizarre with each passing day, his odds of winning the fight dropped drastically on sportsbooks. Seeing an opportunity to capitalize, ‘King Ryan’ reportedly placed a $ 2 million bet on himself to win at +600, meaning he walked away with $ 12 million in addition to his fight purse. All told, Garcia left ‘The Big Apple’ with $ 50 million in his bank account.

“.. It kept unraveling itself,” Garcia said. “If I’m being quite honest, it was more of a — it wasn’t so much my ideas, it was more so just wisdom coming from God. And then I just made adjustments as I went. I would have these strong urges. Like [signs] from the Holy Spirit to do this, do that.

“And then God always cleaned up everything I was doing. I felt like on one side I had the enemy pushing me to do certain things and then I had God and it was just like, no matter what happened, God always made it right.”

With several potential fights at his disposal, Ryan Garcia is already cooking up some ideas on how to hype up his next appearance inside the squared circle.

“Maybe I’ll go into an I’m super disciplined narrative or maybe I just act even crazier,” he concluded. “Maybe I’ll take it a step too far or maybe I make it look like it’s a step too far. Who knows.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

After delivering one of the craziest moments in UFC history against Justin Gaethje at UFC 300, Max Holloway has a lot of options in front of him — whether it be Ilia Topuria and the featherweight title, a shot at the lightweight belt, or even a huge rematch with Conor McGregor depending on what happens at UFC 303. But what is the best option for Holloway following the performance of a lifetime?

On an all-new edition of Heck of a Morning, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck discusses the options ahead for Holloway, and why the fight with Topuria is the way to go over all other options. Additionally, listener topics include the futures for fellow UFC 300 winners Bo Nickal and Diego Lopes, Deiveson Figueiredo’s callout of Dominick Cruz, where Charles Oliveira goes from his loss to Arman Tsarukyan, Dustin Poirier’s chances against Islam Makhachev at UFC 301, Jose Aldo vs. Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301, 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

Akiko Stehrenberger is an award-winning Hollywood artist who has designed poster for countless movies and series over the past two decades, including Oppenheimer, Dune 2, Last Of Us, Uncut Gems, Beef, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Nocturnal Animals, and more. She joins us to react to some of MMA’s most iconic — and controversial — posters of all-time.

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Michael Chandler’s long wait for Conor McGregor to return is almost over.  The two are scheduled to headline the UFC 303 fight card on June 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

McGregor hasn’t fought since July 2021 at UFC 264.  He suffered a broken leg in the final seconds of the opening round in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier.  Chandler last fought in November 2022 at UFC 281, losing to Poirier via submission.  

McGregor and Chandler coached The Ultimate Fighter 31 last summer against one another.  Heading into their June 29 showdown, Chandler doesn’t think McGregor is what he used to be before the injury and layoff.  

“I’d say he’s the better striker from a crisp, longer, more sniping standpoint.  He’s got that great step-back left.  He’s had great success with guys who aggressively fight him who hare a little bit shorter than him.  Stocky wrestlers with an overhand he calls it,” Chandler said on the Shawn Ryan Show.     

“What I need to work on for this fight is continue to be the best version of myself.  Maybe a little bit more tactical realizing that I’ve earned this.  Realize that I am the better fighter.  I am the tougher fighter, and the guy that deserves it more,” Chandler continued.  “I don’t need to getting into a fire fight with a guy who has got a bigger riffle than me.  I think I hit harder than he does.  

“I would venture to say his time out of the cage has lent itself to his timing not being what it used to be.  His movement not being what it used to be.  His reflexes not being what they used to be being out of cage now for, it will be three years by the time we fight.  So I’m just going to, from the first exchange, hit him with big punches, make his second guess himself, keep my hands up a little bit more than I have in the past, pick him up and put him down if I want to, choke him if I want to, go out there and get the finish and just absolutely outclass and dominate him because I deserve this and I’ve earned this.”   

Related: Daniel Cormier wants Conor Mcgregor vs. Michael Chandler to be for the 165-pound title

Chandler plans to ‘drown’ McGregor with a relentless pace and a solid game plan.  In fact, he expects McGregor to ‘look for the exit’ early in the fight.  

“The goal is to suck all of the oxygen out of the octagon.  He’s already ready to down with the lifestyle that he has lived and the work that he has not put in over the last couple of years,” Chandler said.  “I believe we suck the oxygen out of the octagon.  He looks for the exit sign somewhere in the second round and I usher him toward the door.”  

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UFC 303
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UFC

Belal Muhammad’s wait may finally be over.

The mixed martial arts (MMA) world has been anticipating the announcement of the next Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight title tilt. Despite a rematch between the champion, Leon Edwards, and Muhammad as the clear fight to make, the promotion has been patient with its booking.

The match up still isn’t official at the time of publishing. However, Edwards’ coach, Dave Lovell, is about as confident as one can be that the rematch will happen in Manchester, England at UFC 304 on July 27, 2024.

“I think it will be Belal next,” Lovell told talkSport. “It’s not written in stone, but 99.9 percent [of me] thinks it will be Belal. Leon is looking forward to the July bill. He starts his camp next week, for a 12-week camp and we are sharpening up our tools to deal with Mr. Belal.”

Edwards and Muhammad first met inside the Octagon in March 2021. Unfortunately for both, an accidental eye poke forced the end of the contest 18 seconds into round two. Muhammad was the affected fighter, rendered unable to continue.

Since then, both have maintained their winning ways and been confident about how a rematch would go.

“I don’t see him wanting to stand with Leon,” Lovell said. “He’ll be looking to grind Leon against the cage, take him down, maul him when he’s down, and probably steal a decision that way.

“If that eye poke never happened, I think Leon would’ve finished him in the second round,” he continued. “To me, analyzing the fight and looking back on it, Belal was looking for a way out and to steal a decision. That eye poke, and the noise he made, literally screaming and crying, it’s funny that he didn’t have to go to hospital, didn’t have any eye damage, so what does that tell you?

“If the medics clear him after the fight, what does that tell you?” he concluded. “He tried to steal a decision, but payback is a b—ch, we’ll see.”

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