Nassourdine Imavov

No, he didn't say Amisov.

Imavov.

Imavov.

Because he's coming off a win, two wins.

Yeah, I agree with him.

Uh, he agreed to a new six-fight deal before that May fight against the then champion Khamzat Chimaev.

He beat Chimaev in somewhat of an upset in most people's eyes, and, uh, is pretty quiet, and then we start to hear some rumblings that they wanted to book him versus the number one contender, Nassourdine Imavov, in December.

They can't come to terms, and now all of a sudden he goes online and says essentially, "I'm not happy with my pay." Here's what he has to say: "I gotta be honest, unless things change with the UFC, I'm kinda over it.

McGregor makes 30 million to fight for 30 seconds, and they don't want to pay us a fraction of it.

It, it kind of feels like much ado about nothing at this point.

Now, knowing what the contract status is, ultimately, I think cooler heads will prevail.

I think it'll be a, a moment where Sean Strickland turns around and is like, "Ah, I was in my feelings, guys," and then we get back to status quo, and I think he defends his title against Nassourdine Imavov.

Uh, Petey, you know how this game works.

But unfortunately, uh, you know, I wanted this fight too, so [laughs] I think, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm better everywhere.

Yeah, you s- 'cause you're sitting, I mean, you're sitting at a clean number four in the rankings right now, and then you see everything going on with Nassourdine Imavov, and then you see everything going on with Sean Strickland.

What's your initial thoughts on, on that kinda stuff going on with Sean Strickland saying he wants to, he wants to wait? And he, and he really aired it out with how the injuries he's dealing with and how hard this sport is, and it seemed like he was serious that he's not gonna fight Imavov.

It sounded like it.

I, I respect it.

I agree.

I understand.

Um, and I also understand Imavov.

It's a big fight.

And then now have it be against a guy like Nassourdine Imavov that has created this awareness, and you're right, Nassourdine just wants to be the best in the world, just wants to be recognized as the best in the world.

He wants to be the champion.

So he's waiting, and he's been waiting and waiting on...

If not DDP, we do have Robocop out there, Gregory Rodriguez, who just took a- care of Fluffy Hernandez, so there's another matchup potentially.

But yes, I, I have no problem with that.

And then obviously Nassourdine Imavov versus Sean Strickland, that needs to happen.

And hey, we'll see.

Uh, there was a pretty good boxing event over in Chicago, so there's definitely a lot to talk about, but there's a lot of news.

Sean Strickland and Colby Covington and Jon Jones and all that stuff, middleweight division, Nassourdine Imavov.

We're gonna get into all of that and more throughout today's program, so have no fear.

Back end of the show, Andre "Touchy" Feely, what a win for him over Kai Kamaka on Saturday at the Apex.

... because I think it turned everyone on Sean.

Chael Sonnen always likes to say, "I don't like when fighters get an opportunity from the UFC and then the fighter turns the gun on the UFC." And in my opinion, you can make a strong case, DJ, that Sean didn't deserve the title shot against Khamzat.

There was a guy named Nassourdine Imavov-

Yeah, 100%

All fighters should get more." Uh, he...

You know, it was debatable whether he should get the title shot over Nassourdine, but I thought they made the right call by giving him the, the fight against Khamzat Chimaev in May.

I knew he wouldn't see all of that stuff.

I knew he would rage when he saw my criticism of his stance, which essentially was, "Hey, uh, it came out after you took to social media to complain about your contract, um, after you went online and vented about the state of things," that, you know, Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie then comes on and says, "Hey, it's actually a six-fight deal that he signed before the Khamzat fight.

You know why? Because they dr- they, they, they, they put that little shiny toy in front of you and you signed a six-fight deal, and now you're freaking out because you realized that you can't go to Zuffa Boxing, you can't go box, you won't fight Jake Paul, that's for damn sure.

They're not gonna give you that payday.

Are you crazy? And you're gonna have to fight Nassourdine Imavov in February or March on Paramount Plus and make, you know, pretty good money for today, but certainly not the generational wealth that the likes of Conor Ben and Conor McGregor are making.

We'll continue with tweets from Sean Strickland.