MMA Fighting - BTL | Final Chase For 2022 Year-End Awards Roundtable

Episode Date: October 6, 2022

The pivotal final stretch for the UFC, Bellator, PFL, and more is vast approaching as the incredible athletes in the sport of MMA look to take home some hardware at the end of 2022. On an all-new edition of Between the Links, it's a special roundtable episode to discuss the frontrunners for MMA Fighting's 2022 year-end awards, and how things can change before the calendar changes to 2023. Topics include male fighter of the year, and if there's any chance Khamzat Chimaev could win the award, female fighter of the year, if that award go to a non-champion, the fight of the year, if the UFC 275 title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira are the clear-cut clubhouse leaders, or if the UFC 273 bout between Chimaev and Gilbert Burns could take the trophy, KO of the year, if Leon Edwards' stunning finish of Kamaru Usman leads Michael Chandler's front-kick KO of Tony Ferguson, submission of the year, and more. Host Mike Heck moderates the discussion that includes MMA Fighting's Damon Martin and Alexander K. Lee. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Damon Martin: @DamonMartin Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, The Downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.

The iconic voice of Esther Lynn welcomes you to a brand new and special edition of Between the Links. Hope you're all having a great week this far. Today on the program, a little bit of a different show. We're going to give you sort of a peek behind the curtain because we are in the final quarter of 2022, which is a very important time in the world of mixed martial arts. We are about to embark on a pivotal stretch for the year-end awards. We have some big fights on the books that we're all looking forward to

and some that could have some serious impact on these awards. And also, honestly, how much more can we talk about freaking Mark Zuckerberg? going to a UFC event. I'm zuckered out, if I'm being honest. There's no UFC this weekend. There's no Bellator, no PFL, no major MMA this weekend. We do have glory. And we got an interesting announcement that Lavian Bell is boxing Uriah Hall on the Jake Paul

Anderson Silva card. But we could talk about some of that stuff next week. So I figured let's have a roundtable, see what some of the crew is thinking in regards to where these awards stand right now heading into these pivotal final couple of months of the air. So let us introduce the panelists on the show this week first. One of the OGs of MMA Media. He's the host of Fighter versus Writer on MAAFighting.com.

And he is not a fan of my rankings more often than not. Let us say hello to Damon Martin. What's up, man? Just starting right off on the old rankings thing. We're just getting the right off the bat. Absolutely. And also from MAAFighting.com, one of the main co-hosts of the ranking show,

the co-host of On to the next one, the Prince of Positivity, and he's the best friend to not just me, but to us all. Mr. Alexander Kay Lee, how are you, my friend? My best friend, I am great. You've got to mention I'm also the only one who knows what's next for Patty Pimbleau in the UFC. The only man who will be correctly predicting his next matchup. I can't wait until he has a next fight book so I can move on from this whole entire conversation, but we're going to get into this.

We're going to get into this all momentarily, but a couple of things off the back. One, I did ask Jed Mishu if you wanted to be a part of this, and he is sticking to his retirement. He's not Kevin Holland in this situation. He's sticking to his retirement. And the second thing, the MMA fighting year-end awards have these specific categories. This is what we did last year. The male and female fighters of the year, the fight of the year, the submission of the year, knockout of the year, and the rookie of the year. So we're going to go through all of these, see what we're all thinking as of now in terms of who is in the least.

lead, how things can change, if there's some potentially controversial picks in the mix. And then we're just going to try to hash things out here. So I want to start with the knockout of the year, gentlemen, if we could, because this award and the submission of the year, you can't really predict the future of these. And we really, I mean, we just really can't honestly. So if we could at least list off the potential nominees as of right now, we can have who is in the lead, et cetera. So Damon, let's start with you. I feel like there's three options here, two of which I feel are going to be vying for the spot overall. And it's probably going to take something truly spectacular to add another one to this

list. But if you had to vote today for the knockout of the year, what is it? It's actually a tougher question to answer because when I look at knockout of the year and I do this with submission of the year as well, it's not just the greatness of the finish. It's also the magnitude. And I'm sorry to say that to me it always comes down to like how good the fight is in terms of like ranking in terms of the level of talent involved in the knockout or the

submission because we see some crazy submissions some crazy knockouts on the regional level which you know they're great but unfortunately they don't have the same kind of impact so for me it comes down to two knockouts it comes down to michael chandler and tony ferguson it comes down to leon edwards and kamar usman and i actually put michael chandler's knockout over tony fergus the top of the list listen i know tony ferguson isn't the same dude that he was a few years ago when he was going to fight Habib, and he was the number two lightweight in the world. But he's still a really good fighter

and a guy that's never been ethered like that before. And for Michael Chandler to go out and front kick him into oblivion, the photo we all know, we've all seen, the horrifying photo and the results of that fight, just the impact of that knockout to me just tops the list. It's hard for me to, even as great as Leon Edwards' knockout was,

and it was incredible, just the impact of watching Michael Chandler's foot go into Tony Ferguson's face, then hitting the canvas. It was just an incredible knockout. And to me, it's going to take something really, really, really crazy to top that for 2022. AK, what's at the top of your list right now? Because I feel like we're all going to be in the same boat here.

It's either going to be Leon Edwards or Michael Chandler at this point. So where are you out at this? Or maybe you have something completely different? No, no. When we did our mid-season awards a few months ago, one month early. This was my fault. I think our headline,

here's our headline. I read it right here. Well, anything top Michael Chandler's insane front kick knockout. And the answer is yes. Definitely. I did change my pick.

I know Damon said he's sticking with the Chandler kick, which, I mean, aesthetically is just outstanding, unforgettable. But I mean,

the Leon Edwards head kick of Usman. I think it's just a notch below that. Very aesthetically pleasing knockout. You got to, cleaning connection, the auditory sensation, the way that Kamaru fell, the way it was a no doubter, he was out of there. It just checks off so many, so many boxes well, not just the visual, but it's a UFC title fight. It's Leon Edwards, you know, both fighters on this huge win-streaks. Leon Edwards, a long-awaited title shot. Maybe people weren't like super hyped

about it, but they know he deserved it. And it felt like he had been passed over for, you know, another shot at fighting Kamaru. He was definitely behind on the cards. He was down three rounds to one. So the important, the necessity of it is a huge point in its favor. And then we'll see the historical. I mean, we'll see how history looks back on it. But boy, I mean, again, beating a guy who was 15 and no untouchable pound for pound,

number one in our rankings, not consensus, but was number one pound-found fighter. Oh, maybe not. I'm sorry, Volcanovsky, I think it had taken the spot, but was still in the top three. And Usman had held the number one spot for the majority. of the time that we've been doing the M.A fighting pound for pound ranking. So there's just all these little things that add up. And we'll see how our rematch goes. I'm sure they'll fight again someday third time to say a trilogy bout.

But for now, boy, what a moment in time for Leon Edwards. What a, I don't want to say hail Mary, because people keep saying it's lucky. It wasn't lucky. But just the perfect strike, it's the perfect time. And given the stakes, I have to put that as the best knockouts so far heading into the last few months of the year here. Yeah, it's always the conversation. I feel like this is going to come up again

where you weigh the finish itself against the stakes that are involved in it. And I think Chandler's knockout was the best actual finish taking the stakes out of it. Like if all fights were treated the same, there were no titles, I think Chandler wins this award.

And I think Molly McCann is probably second to Leon Edwards. And Leon Edwards is probably third. But I just don't know if this outweighs the circumstances behind Leon. knockout of Kamar Usman, less than a minute, not only of the necessity of winning the fight and staying in there, but that was probably his only chance ever to fight for the UFC

welterweight title. So with that said, it's Edwards for me right now just because of the stakes involved in it. But I mean, listen, if you want to throw, if you think Michael Chandler's friend kick KO of Tony Ferguson's number one, I ain't going to argue with you. Are there any other options that you guys are thinking about? The Molly McCann one, I will say that was, that was, the Molly McCammer was pretty incredible. I will, I will give a heads up for that.

That was an incredible knockout. And both of it, by the way, she had two of them, which is kind of crazy in the same year. It's almost like you want to give her credit for two knockouts in one year.

So that was pretty spectacular. And I love, I love a good spinning elbow, spinning back kick. I love a good spinning knockout. You know, as, as Nick Diaz once famously said to Carlos Kond,

we're throwing spin in bleep now. I don't know if we can curse on the show, so I don't want to have a curse. But yeah, we're throwing spin in bleep now. So, yeah, I love the spinning knockouts, but I think Molly McCann's probably against third, in my opinion, like the third runner-up in this one.

Yeah, Molly McCann, yeah, Molly McCann, definitely in there. She was the fronter, that was before the Chandler knockout, right? Yeah, I think that was much. I remember when that happened, and we were like, we were like, oh, the last knockout of the year. I mean, it was the first, first spinning back attack knockout by a female fighter. So it was history-making. It happened in London, which was just the first London card of this year.

So, again, the atmosphere was just incredible. like it amplified the moment like so much. So that was up there. I list to some other honorable mentions. Shine Wei Lee also had a spinning knockout, amazing spinning knockout of Yawanna Yatchaic. I don't know if that was kind of a downer for some people to see Yohanna go out like that.

So maybe that's why it isn't quite getting the attention that Mollies did or also because it came after Mollies. But that was huge. I mean, that knockout was insane. Korskov annihilating chance for encounter, speaking of spinning stuff, just annihilating chance for encounters insides with that spin kick.

That's a good one's. Yeah, and there was a follow-up post after from Chan saying, like, here's what happened to my ribcage. Like, my ribcage no longer exists. So, you know, thank you for that. Thank you for that. Something like that. He didn't say that, but boy, it was bad.

And then a couple more, Goitiyamuchi, also in Bellator. One of my favorites, just him becoming the Terminator all of a sudden on the feet and taking out Neiman Gracie. I don't know what the hell that was. Like, it was hilarious and so fun to watch and just uppercutting Neiman Gracie into another dimension. And then DJ.

like any other year, I feel like the DJ revenge knee would have been number one, like clearly. And now it's like maybe third at best, again, behind the two front kicks and maybe even behind Molly McCann. But like it looked amazing, the poetry of it, the symmetry. It was just so cool. It was a huge, like a huge event for one. Like it really, you really capped off a big event. So, and put him back in our pound for pound back atop the quote unquote flyweight rankings. That's a whole of the discussion we don't need to get into now.

So yeah, a lot of historical value there and it looked amazing. So it's crazy. I almost want to say that's like my favorite knockout of the year, but I can't put it above Edwards or or Chandler. And DJ did it against the lightweight. He did it against the lightweight. And the guy's so much bigger.

Yeah. It's huge. Yeah. DJ's definitely going to be my list. We talk about that London card in March. Iliate Toporia had a, was probably the front runner for knockout of the year before Molly McCann got hers because he deaded Jai Herbert. It was nasty. And Tai Tuvasa is someone I'd like to honorably mention as well for the finish of Derek Lewis.

So let's go to the submission of the year and we can go the stakes route here again. We can go with the uniqueness of the submission. This is always kind of a toss-up here. We can wait pre-lim submissions versus main event submissions. There's a bunch of different ways we can go with this. So, A.K., we'll start with you. What do you have right now? because again, we have stakes versus taste here,

and there's a number of avenues we could travel. What's your go-to right now? Yeah, I am sticking with my mid-season choice here. I'm going to go, or mid-year charge to say, it was Jessica Andrage from April 23rd Apex Event, her standing arm-triangle choke of Amanda LeMosch. It was just so vicious, such a reminder of how Jessica Andraj is one of the best pound-for-pound female fighters of all time.

and not to speak of her in past tense again, she's in the middle of a pound for pound great career. Straw weight, fly weight, it doesn't matter. She just finishes people. Lemosch is a pretty highly rated up-and-coming contender. I know she was certainly behind Androge

the rankings and the underdog going to this fight, but the way that Androz just overpowered her and just slapped on that arm triangle, standing against the fence, nowhere to go. Just the steal images from it are like so disturbing and so powerful. So I'm sticking with that. Yeah, there are definitely some other choices,

fights with bigger stakes, but that to me was like my favorite, and I'm going with Batatshaka for now. I'm going with stakes here. I have to go with Yuri Perashka right now because like Leon Edwards, Yuri was about to lose his title fight to Glover Tashara at UFC 275.

He was a minute away from losing the fight. And then he goes out and submits Glover Tashara winning in a way that nobody ever thought he could. And obviously Androge is up there. with the standing arm triangle. I think all over end camps, buggy choke is something that should probably be looked at. I actually, I watched a lot of submissions

over the last 24 hours. I liked Vanessa Demopoulos' submission over Sylvan Gomez-Hawr's because she got freaking cracked in that fight, overcame it, got the sub, obviously jumping into Joe Rogan's arms is a big deal. And, uh, Saeed Narragamatov, just stunning Cody Stamen real quick.

And that was in January at UFC 270. The list goes on, but Damon, I don't know, At least to me, if anything beats Yuri Perashka with everything else involved, what do you think? It's a weird one because if you said biggest submission of the year, I would say Yuri Pajashka gets it because there's no bigger submission than doing what he did to a high level grappler like Glover Tashara. But again, this is one where I'm kind of torn, kind of like the Michael Chandler Leon Edwards thing. The bigger submission was the Yuri Pajasca. The better submission, in my opinion, was the Jeskandraj against Amanda Lehmotion. That's why it's topping my list.

standing we've only seen it one other time at this level and that was when jessica i did it to zoila frosto back in bellator like 10 years ago the standing arm triangle choke it's such a weird random choke and so hard to get standing i mean it's just the ridiculous move to get and again jesska and dros against a mandolimo she isn't a low level fight it's a really high level fight between two topful fighters and to go out there and do what she did was so incredible so she top for me i have no problem if it's your like I said that's the bigger submission that's the one with more meaning behind it because he tapped out an incredible grappler he did it in a title fight he did in the moment he was losing and he went out there and got the submission so that was huge um also want to shout out rini a de ritter over in one championship pulling off the weird inverted triangle choke to get his submission win that was a big one and then the that weird that weird guillotineish kind of choke we just saw in bellator like recently like again incredible submission i just think when you're talking about like the prelim submission versus the main

card main event kind of submissions again it's harder to it's harder to put that in the same context when you're talking about you know glover to share your prohoshka amanda you're excuse me jesska androsh things like that so incredible submission but i got i still go with jess goddraja number one but but i think yri is a good second pick and i love the rini a de ritter one i thought that inverted triangle is sick yeah that's a great one i want to show

to tami aspin all as well that was just I mean, it's a submission we see all the time, but just the moment behind it was very memorable in that main event in March, UFC London. But AK, any others that stand out to you? Yeah, I'll toss out another inverted triangle. Lazy King, Abdul Abduragima, probably one of the best guys who isn't signed to a major North American promotion

right now. He did it at Ares FC3 early this year. It looked probably just as good as Reiner de Ritters. again a little bit of a lower you know not as well-known show but you know a Arias FC is doing some good stuff he also did it against a UFC veteran Godda Fredo Pepe who had never been submitted before

so this was really big it was actually pretty big when it happened so I'll go with that I thought that deserves mention and again if you guys haven't seen Lazy King he's got a ton of highlight real submissions definitely look him up Claudio Puez's knee bar of Cleguida that was sensational just amazing and then one more from sort of the strange pile Luca Polklet

Who did you submit Dante Shiro at Belator 285 just last month I'd never seen a choke done like that before that was awesome and good for him

for I think that was his Belter debut and making quite an impact so that was a cool one yeah that was the what the hell that I just see submission at the year no doubt about it

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That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. So let's head to the fight of the year. And in most people's eyes, this is a two-horse race. And to me, it's a three-horse race, maybe even a four. But I'll start this one. And look, this is one of those things in regards to how you view this category. Do you favor chaos?

Do you go against AK and favor the mixing of the martial arts? Do you favor stakes? Do you favor one round against three, four, or five rounds? A lot to dissect and think of. And for me, honorable mentions Charles Oliver versus Justin Gachie was incredible. It was an unbelievable fight for those three minutes and change. That's going to make my list. My favorite fight of the year is Armand Sarukian versus Batush Gamrod. I have watched that fight more than any other fight, but it's not in the top two

because it's going to come down to these two fights. It's going to come down to Hamzaa Tchaimaa versus Gilbert Burns. and Yuri Phrashka versus Glover Tashara. And for me, it is the latter because I just, I've never seen a fight just have so many swings, so many momentum changes, so many emotional roller coaster moments, and just so much insanity for the entirety of the fight like that, especially in one that no one thought was going to get out of the first or second round. This thing gets to the final minute and we get Yuri Pajska just walking on the sub at the very end.

To me, I'm going to give Erie as much of a rub as possible because I felt like he got hosed out of two awards last year. But I just don't see anything beating this in my eyes, but I'm willing to listen to arguments for some of the other selections. So, Damon, what say you? What's on your list? What's your number one? Boy, I tell you what, you know, what I really thought about it? This is a lot more difficult question than I thought it would be, to be honestly. I was like, oh, yeah, I know it's going to be Gilbert Burns and Hamzaa Chamaia.

That was my favorite fight of the year. but then I started looking back and oh yeah, that one and oh yeah, that one. Devison, Figuero, Brandon Moreno 3. We forgot, kind of forget about that because that was in January, but that was an incredible fight. And of course, Yeri, Pajka and Gloverter is right there.

The David O'Nama, Nate Landware fight was ridiculous. I loved the surreal gone and tied to Ivasa. That one just going back and forth, kind of wild craziness. Of course, Charles Olivera. Justin Gachy was wild, even though it lasted less than around, but it was an incredible fight

for as long as it did last. But for me, it comes down to Gilbert Burns and Hamsat Chamaio, just because that was such an incredible war for three rounds. Those guys took, I mean, listen, that's one of those fights, kind of like Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condo where it's over. You're like, they both lost a piece of their soul in that fight. Like, they just took something out of each other that they'll never get back. And, you know, that was one of those fights. Like, my biggest regret of that fight is it wasn't five rounds. You know, if it was five rounds, I don't know if either guy would have survived.

We might have seen a finish. But I think, you know, five rounds of that would have been. been insane. So to me, that's number one. Again, I don't have a problem whatsoever with Yuri Pajasca and Glover-Teshire being the other one. It's a title fight. Obviously, a little higher stakes. But I just think about, you know, Hamzaa Chamaia of the hype. He was a massive favorite. I guess a top, legit top three Welterweight. People were just looking past Gilbert Burns like he was some bum. And then Gilbert Burn goes in there and was basically a minute away from beating Hamzot. I mean, you talk about that third round. It was so close. It was just a couple of exchanges

difference between Gilbert Burns winning and losing and then going out there and doing what he did to Hamza Lachamai, who we just saw what he did to Kevin Holland, what he's done to everybody else but Gilbert Burns. It's just, that fight was so ridiculous and that's the one I've rewatched the most this year, so that's why I put it at the top of the list.

Yeah, I don't have any issue with that. A.K., what you got? I picked chaos. I had to go out chaos. I love, God, I love that for Hachka to share a fight. I mean, that is just the best dumbest MMA championship fight I've seen

in so long fundamentally maybe not you know maybe both men have fought better fights all right

let's be honest was this either guy's best fight I don't know I don't know we've both seen them have better finishes we've both seen them

in more technical you know well constructed well executed battles man you want to talk about guys just reaching down deep

and just fighting on instinct man just like throwing stuff out there again make it move and maneuvers, maybe they shouldn't have done. But what a roller coaster.

I just cannot remember the last five-round fight where I was so up and down. And I like both guys. So, like, I was certainly rooting for Tashara. I'd picked, I've been saying Tashara was going to submit Pohashka for months, you know, since before the matchup was even made. And there was times where it looked like it was going to happen. And I thought it was going to be a genius.

And then Pajaska would just either, somehow the position would change. And then Pachashka ended up submitting him, which was complete pandemonium, just bizarre. And I don't know if either. man will ever be the same. So that's for me is my number one choice. Shemaya Burns number two. And then sneaking in there, I loved the figurato

Moreno trilogy boat. It happened in the beginning of the year. So I do feel like a lot of people are maybe going to forget it when the year end comes around. That fight is kind of the opposite of for Hachka-Teshirea. Just technical and athletic and tactical brilliance.

Just both, the two clearly the two best flyweights in the world at their best. again, this is why we want to see it a fourth time. I could watch these guys fight 10 times. They are the two bad. There's a lot of great fly weights out there. And of course, other guys should get their shot.

But if you want to run this back once a year, I would have no problem with it. I want Moreno and Figurator to fight forever. It is their matchup. They're just so, so much fun, so perfectly matched in there. So that was my third. And actually very close second. I actually almost like that more than Shemaya Burns. And a little, a big honorable mention to Chris Barnett and Jake Collier,

USC 279. What a dumb fight. You know what you tell you about dumb fights? I still don't know what the hell happened there, but I just know that it was a great time. Yeah, I will, I add Nate Landware, David Onama to that list as well. That fight was absolutely ridiculous. I don't even know what I watched that that card at UFC San Diego, but that was incredible. So, Damien, let me ask you this. It's going to be very hard to top those two fights. and if we're going to try to predict the future here, there's one that definitely sticks out. Well, Michael Chandler shows up at Madison Square Garden

in a UFC octagon. It's usually in something that could produce some sort of chaos we saw it last year against Justin Gachy. And then anytime Michael Chandler fights in the UFC, some sort of chaos can happen. So I feel like that's the frontrunner in a lot of people's eyes that if any fight on the calendar that's booked right now can get up to any of those spots, it's that one.

But is there anything else in the books right now that you're like, ooh, this one, if it goes the way I think it will, might actually have a chance to get up there with Bern Shemayev and to Shera Perashka. Let me throw out one other contender that I think could kind of sneak under the radar. Listen, I actually think Olivera Makachab is going to be really interesting. I think that could be a really, really interesting fight, the way that Olivera approaches his fights. And I know that Makachev is not known for being in really exciting fights,

but I think that's a really interesting one. but the one I'm going to throw out is a caveat. But Neil Daryush against Matush Gammat, we just saw what Gamrod did in that crazy fight with Arm on Suruki, and that was an incredible fight, an incredible display of real mixed martial arts. But Neil Darius doesn't get nearly the respect he deserves for the run he's on and the exciting fights he's put on during that run,

the knockouts, the crazy finishes, the dominance he had over Tony Ferguson, you know, he's kind of falling out of the wayside because he's been injured and fell out of the Makachev fight, and he's been gone for basically a year now. But I think that, Daryush, Gamrod fight is going to, I think it's going to open a lot of eyes for the winner of that fight. You know, I think that's going to be a really crazy one.

Gameraut's an incredible wrestler, a grinder, really exciting guy. You know, Beniro Darius has huge knockout power, world-class jiu-jitsu. I think that's one that could kind of slip under the radar and steal a few eyes away from some of these other fights potentially. And again, obviously, you know, Pori-Channler is pretty much guaranteed fireworks until one of those guys falls over. But, yeah, I think Gamrod, Daryush is one that's kind of slip under the race. are. AK, what do you think? Is there anything out there that you think could be a contender here?

I mean, while we're on 280, like, I think 280 just looks absolutely beautiful. Please, M.M.A. gods, keep this card as it is. It's fantastic. Because I think Yon v. O'Malley could actually be really good. I'm not sure what people are expecting there, if they're expecting Yon to run through O'Malley, or if you're an O'Malley fan, like maybe he wins by like a surprising knockout. But I actually think they'll bring the best out of each other. I think we will get a good, if not five rounds.

I think it'll go past three and then maybe some, you know, maybe classic yawn he'll pull away in the fourth or something. Or O'Malley, again, O'Malley surprises us and knocks them up. But I think they'll bring out the best in each other. I think it'll be a good tackle battle with some nice, wild, fun moments. So that I have my eye on. And I'm glad you mentioned, I'm glad that Makachev and Alvara was mentioned. Because, yeah, I don't know if it'll be this like barn burner,

but it's so intriguing on paper. And also, I should have mentioned this earlier, I think, because I was kind of, you know, I stuck with the Jessica And Josh for submission of the year, I'm telling you, when Olivera submits Makachev, that will be the new submission year. That would be the new submission.

I love it. I love it. That's why you were on this show, A.K. To just produce hot takes. Jed can't be here. He's retired now, so you're bringing out the hot take guns, and I appreciate that very much.

Let's go into the rookie of the year category, because I think this is kind of interesting. So I don't know if we're going to have internal discussion about this. I know there was talks about maybe changing this to Breakthrough Fighter of the Year, but we introduced the rookie of the year award. I don't know if last year was the first year that we did it. I think it might have been. And Casey O'Neill won that.

Basically the way that we defined it was they had to debut in a major promotion that year from the regional scene or not from another major promotion. So a guy coming from Bella towards the UFC or vice versa doesn't really count. So to me, Damon, I'll start with you here. There's a clear frontrunner, but maybe not the way, you know, you wanted to find this award. So who do you have leading the way right now for this rookie of the year category? I feel like the answer that everyone is going to most commonly give,

and you're probably right, is Jailton Almeida. I mean, that guy is a monster. and what he's done in a couple of fights of the UFC. He's looked incredible. He's got another one coming up, and I think he's going to, you know, that could pretty much submit him as the guy. So that's probably the right answer.

Jalton Almeida is off the charts, and I think he's a contender right now. Like he's a legit contender in his division after a couple of fights of the UFC. But I'm going to go in another direction just to give another option because I do think Jalton Almeida is probably the answer. But I'm actually going to go for Jack Della Madelena

coming out two fights this year, two knockouts this year, two vicious knockouts this year. Coming off to Contender Series out of Australia, I followed his career for a while now, and I really like this kid. And I think he's in a tougher division in terms of overall talent at welterweights. Now you can argue he hasn't fought better talent yet. And that's true because, again, he's not got to those top 15 guys yet. But his, he kind of reminds me a couple years ago when Jeff Neal came in and just started

rocking people and just kind of surprising people with how good he was. I think Jack Delamadela Manalena has that kind of talent. and he is in a better division. Listen, I know Jalton Almeida is light, heavyweight and heavyweight. They're not nearly as deep as Welterweight. Welterweight to me is, you know, right there with Bantewight and lightweight is the, you know, deepest and toughest division in the sport. So I'm going, Jack.

Listen, it's probably not the right answer. I think Jalton Almeid is probably the right answer. And when it's all said and done, that's probably the guy who will even get my vote because he's incredible. And he's a contender and he's a legit threat to become a champion one day. But I just want to throw out a caveat. I want to throw a little wrinkle in the plan here and say, Jack Della Madelena will get my vote right now just based on his two performances.

It both been incredible, incredible knockouts. And again, I think it's just in a better division overall. But again, Almeida is probably the guy, but Jack Della is my guy. I have a 1B in a caveat as well. And but before you get that, AK, who do you have right now? Is it Almeida? Is it Della Madelena? Are we thinking somewhere?

We had, we had very, I think we had very different perspectives on what was the note. like for me the no doubt when we were talking about this a little bit before the show and I thought everyone was going to say this same thing um this kind of shows how like our interpretation of rookie slash breakthrough slash what have you it keeps we're not on the same page we've never been on the same page we don't know so I mean I thought the obvious choice was bow nickel I mean I don't know if we're not counting it because he's on a contender series technically he hasn't you know debuted with the UFC but like it just seemed like he seems like such an easy choice uh he's also a true rookie I mean if we want to go, he made his professional debut

this year. He fought a couple of times amateur last year, super dominant. But he's the most one of, he's gone from again, obviously being a very famous collegiate wrestler, to now being one of the most talked about names in all of MMA. People can say like, oh, you know, whatever, we've given him a lot of pub,

but that's because people are interested. The guy talks, the guy performs. Again, like we said, the guy has an existing fan base from his extraordinary amateur wrestling career, he really looks like he is going to be, he's going to fight for a title within the first, like, year of his career, which sounds completely insane. I just say 18 months, sorry, going back to his pro debut,

when the first 18 months, somehow it feels like he's going to end up in a title fight. And when it happens, I don't know if any of us are going to be that surprised. So, yeah, just based on his sheer dominance, how much we're talking about him. Yes, technically he has not made his debut, but I think he'll be even stronger candidate by the end of the year. when he fights at UFC 282, and apologies to Jamie Pickett probably runs to Jamie Pickett in a round, as he did, has all his other opponents.

So, yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be Bo Nickel for me. It's Jailton Omita for me right now. He's got another fight coming up in 16 days against Shemil Durahimov. He's in the lead right now. But inching close behind him is a man who's also fighting on that card. His name is Mohamed Mahjaf. That dude is just a monster. I think everyone knows how highly I regard him.

I've come out publicly and said, I believe he's not only going to be the flyway champion, but if he keeps on going and keeps on fighting, he will win two titles and two different divisions. I think he's looked impressive. The finish against Cody Darden was ridiculous. The second fight, a lot of people weren't thrilled about, but I think that was even scarier than the first one

because he just wrestled and wrestled and wrestled and wrestled. He had about 879 takedowns. It's going to be so hard to beat this guy. so he's in the mix. Delam Adelaide Lane is in the mix. It's hard to leave Joe Pfeiffer out of this conversation because he is getting pushed real hard. They basically built the whole contender series season early on

behind him and then they gave him a favorable matchup. But Bo, Nichols is the interesting point here, Damon. I want to get your thought on this because like AK said, nobody has made more of an impact in this type of category than he has. but by definition he hasn't had an official UFC fight yet. May have been under contract, but DWCS is its own thing. It's not UFC.

Now he will fight December 10th against Jamie Pickett. If he does what many believe he will do December 10th, does he win this award? I mean, I think it's hard to argue against that. Let me say, Bo Nicol, in my opinion, is the best prospect coming out of wrestling, coming into MMA we've seen, in my opinion, since Daniel Cormier did all those years ago.

I think you know I'm the wrestling guy I follow Bo Nicol at Penn State he's a monster he was a constant pain in the side of my Ohio State Buckeyes Miles Martin was the one guy who beat him early on but then he beat Miles Martin many times after that yeah Bo Nickel listen

and here's why here I totally agree with what AK saying here's my complaint and my problem it's not the pick it's this he should have already made his UFC freaking debut he should not have had that second contender series fight that was a bunch of junk that you had to do the second contender series fight to prove himself.

Come on now. That was ridiculous. You're telling me you couldn't have come in and done that against a UFC fighter and had a bigger impact and now going into a second fight in December in the UFC and that it is a clear-cut answer for Bo Nicol. It's ridiculous. He should not have fought that second contender series fight. It was a joke. That was an utter, utter joke to make him do that.

You knew you were going to sign him. You knew he was going to come in and do what he did. To make him go through that instead of putting him in the UFC right away was ridiculous. So, yeah, Bo Nichols probably the same. the right answer in terms of talent in terms of prospect, because I think that guy's going to be a champion sooner rather than later, 100%. Without a doubt, I believe that. My biggest issue is, like I said, he didn't actually have the UFC fight yet. So, yeah, that's the problem. And also I do want to say, I didn't forget about Muhammad Mikhail. I think Mikhail is an incredible

prospect. And I think he's also got to be in that running if he gets his win over Malcolm Gordon, which is a tough fight. I think he wins that fight, but it's a tough fight. Malcolm Gordon is no joke. So, Mikeaev's got to be in that conversation as well. But yeah, Bo should be looking at 2 and O in the UFC by the end of the year, not 1 and 0. Yeah, he's going to, he's going to be the name. Like, if anyone's going to upend any of those other guys

in our voting, it's going to be Boe, if he beats Jamie Pickett, and a lot of people feel like he's going to do just that. Just to add a little bit of spice to this. Add a female into the conversation. If Yasmin Yurigee beats Estella Nunes, December 3rd, she might be like the number five. She might end up with a couple of votes.

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Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ.

Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence. While Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. explore the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.ca. And that leads us to the female fighter of the year. And this one is really interesting because Valentina Shepchenko had a title defense. She won a very close decision, a decision a lot of people thought she lost.

Amanda Nunes had one title defense against Giuliana Pena. She looked great doing it. And neither will fight again in 2022, it appears. and who knows, there could be someone that comes through later in the year, I don't know, but we have Liz Carmoosh, she's the Bellator Flyway champion, she beat Giuliana Velasquez, they'll run it back in December. I believe that's when that one's happening, but that was kind of contentious because of the stoppage, but A.K., I'm going to start with you, and I'm going to start with this question.

And this person I'm bringing up has a fight coming up in November, but is Molly McCann the female fighter of the year right now? Two wins, two finishes. She's got a nominee for Kio of the year. And I mean, just look at the women's divisions right now in the UFC and Bellator. Is she actually leading the pack right now? She would, if she beats Aaron Blanchfield, she might be my pick. Might be.

But even then, I might not go from my initial choice here, who I think is the fighter of the year through, through, through, recording and the first three fights that she's had. I think people got to show some love to, and this is the answer I'd be giving if I were going for brownie points, if this were a competitive BTL, and trying to go for brownie points from our producer, Casey. Sike Izawa, yeah, Sake Izawa, I think, has to be considered.

There we go. Thank you. I was giving time to cue it up. She beat Ayaka Hamasaki last year, who was considered by, you know, Adam Wake Goat, one of the greatest Adam weights of all time. And then they did an immediate rematch. She won again earlier this year, Unam's decision,

and just just kind of dominated her past two opponents. She's only 24 years old. She's undefeated eight and no. She is in our pound for pound rankings. Unfortunately, you know, it's, I'm sure everyone's like, I want to see her come over to the UFC or I want to see her come over to Belator. It's like those promotions don't have Adam weight divisions. So I would just say, hey, check out these rising fights because she's doing some real damage over there.

So, you know, is the competition, besides from Yakama, Like, has the, you know, her recent competition been as good as she could be facing relative to, you know, straw weights or fly weights in North America? I don't know. I don't know. I can't say that fairly. But I will say she's been super impressive. Again, just 24 years old, extremely dominant. And yeah, and in a year where I feel like it's lacking a clear cut, you know, a dominant women's fighter.

Like we said, Amanda Nunes, great performance against Pena, but just the one fight. Shevchenko, a very tough win over. Tyler Santos. I don't know why that that rematch hasn't been booked yet. I'm going with this. I'm just going with results. And Azawa 3 and O, probably I imagine they might book her again for the year end card.

She could go 4.0 in 2022. And then even if Malian McHen does beat Aaron Blanchfield, it might still be Azawa in the end. But yeah, but the Molly McCann question is really valid. And was the first name that popped to my head before I did some more, you know, did some more digging.

Damien, where are you out with this one? First off, I want to know, did you guys pass out the drugs before the show, and you didn't tell me and didn't join? Because you guys were on something with the Molly McCann pick. Her opponents she beat this year have a combined UFC record of four and six. Okay, let's slow down on Molly McCann's quality opponent here when you talk about two spinning. She beat Hannah Goldie, who's one and three in the UFC, and like the one fight, I'm still shocked she won. Okay, four and six records.

So let's slow down on the Molly McCann. The level of competition matters when you do. talk about knockouts both spectacular four and six opponents okay let's slow down there uh listen it's not an easy answer because the the champions have not been as active amanda nunes has won five valentina chenko has one fight for me right now it's amanda nunes because of the way she came back and beat juliana pania from just from pillar to post in that fight i mean it was a lopsided fight basically should have been a finish juliana pania was just so tough she stuck around for all five rounds. But for Amanda Nunes to lose the way she did the first time and then come back and just

wreck Giuliana Pena for five rounds to reclaim her title. That to me puts her at number one. I'm not super confident in that pick, only because, again, it's only one fight. I think, you know, Kayla Harrison has an argument. I know you say level of competition, but if she goes out and beats Larissa Pacheco's look like a killer this year, you could put her in that conversation a little bit. But I think the one fight is that I know a lot of people are going to completely disagree with me on this. And I know I'm going to get hate. for this one. If Carlos Sparza goes out and beats Zhang Wei Li in November, I think she's the fighter at women's fight of the year because I don't care how ugly the fight was with Rosammy

Unis. The fact that she got the title back like seven years later and actually went out there and became a champion again, which is so rare for a fighter to go that long and then come back and become a champion. And then she's going to go into the fight against Zhang Wei is a massive underdog. No one is picking Carlos Spars to win that fight. If she could go out there and be Zhang Wei Lee, I think Carlos Spars is going to be my pick for the top fighter. Will she beat Zhang Wei Lee? That's a whole other question. But if she does, I think Carlos Pars is the answer. Interesting choice. That's not a bad one. Molly is in the mix right now. I don't care who she fought. Just the way she's went out there and did her job. And she's gotten over probably

more than any other women's fighter on the roster right now for being honest. But I don't think she's going to win this. Even if she beats Aaron Blanchfield, I don't think it's going to happen because damn, I think you're right. I think whoever wins that fight probably is the frontrunner. Even if Zhang Wei Lee wins the title, I think she's probably the front runner to be the fighter of the year because she knocked out and retired Yawani and Jacek and then wins the title in the same year. I think that puts her in a really good spot. I know this name might not be the most popular when it comes to this, but I think Caitlin Chukagian is currently in the conversation right now with two wins if she beats Manon Fioro at UFC 280.

She's had a pretty decent strength of schedule. But yeah, I mean, it's interesting right now because we have to wait for some of these fights to happen, but I feel like Jean-Wey Lee is the best chance to win this award at the moment. A.K., what do you think? What's your future projections telling you? First off, I do want to shout out Gillian DeCorsi, who's had a nice little nice little, not obviously not the women's Friday of the year, but a nice little tidy 2020.

who comes back to Invicta. She's kind of a home, excuse me, she's kind of a homegrown Invicta product, has fought for Invicta and Cage Fury. And so came back to Invicta this year, a little bit of, after some time off, first round finish, Lindsay Van Zant, first round finish of Jessica Del Boni,

who's a really good fighter. And she's Invicta Adam Waite Champ. So a nice little story there. So good for her. I will say, I agree with the Chuggan thing. I mean, I know people, it sounds shocking if she beats Men El Fioro that she would be the fighter of the year,

women's fight of the year, but she's been really successful this year, as she always is every year outside of, you know, winning sort of the big ones. And then I'll just honor roll mention as well for Emily Ducote. Emily Ducote, if she wins, if she beats Angela Hill, that's pretty big. I think, Dakota, I don't know if she's in our rankings

or is afar as she's received votes. But that'll be 3-0, beats Jessica Pena, another veteran. Again, she defended her Invicta Strawweight title earlier this year before making the jump to the UFC, and then obviously getting up. And he's kind of win over Angela Hill would be huge. So don't sleep on that.

We'll see. I find it hard for anyone to get a convincing win over Angela Hill. So if she did pull that off, then that's a huge feather in her cap. But she's in the running. So yeah, definitely, definitely on me to Cody. She's number 14 in our rankings right now. Angel, number 13.

The stakes, the stakes could not be higher. The 13th is 15. Also, I think, I think Aaron Blanchfield is going to end the Molly McCann conversation in November. No offense to Molly McCann. I think Aaron Blanchfield is a huge step up

in competition in my opinion. And I think Molly McAnne is a huge step up in competition for Aaron Blanchfield. I mean, you're not wrong, but Hannah Goldie to Aaron Blanchfield, that seems like a pretty big jump to me. Listen, I'm way on the Aaron Blanchfield

hype train, but I just keep telling people she's super young. And I don't know. I agree. I think she's a future champion someday, but like I'm always, I'm always, you know,

kind of tentative with predicting huge things for these prospects, unless your name is Bo Nicol. But yeah, she's super young and I just need to see a little more. But yeah, I mean, she's great. Let me put this way. Neither outcome would surprise me. I would tell people, if Molly McCann beat her, I wouldn't be super surprised.

And of course, if Blancheville wins, I definitely would not be surprised. So that's going to be fun for the last couple of months of the year. Much like the male fighter of the year category, because a lot can happen between now and the end of the year. but David, it's pretty clear, at least to me, and maybe I'm wrong about this. Alexander Volkovsky is the frontrunner right now, is he not? He actually is my number two. Really? He is my number two.

Listen, my immediate pick was Alexander Volcanowski. You go out there and decimate the Korean zombie and then you beat Max Holloway the way he did. So, I mean, that was unbelievable. That was one of the most unbelievable performances I've ever witnessed. to beat Max Holloway the way he did was unbelievable. But I wasn't shocked that he won. I was shocked at how he won, but I wasn't shocked that he won.

Alexander Volcanowski has been one of the best guys of the world. Leon Edwards, knocking out Kamar Usman, after he was down three rounds to one, looked like he was on his way to a decision loss and probably the only title shot he would have his entire career, to then rocket that head kick up and knock out the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, in my opinion. Again, Volcanowski was number one in our rankings,

my opinion, Usman was still number one. To go out there and do that the way he did, and I know it's one fight, it's not, you know, multiple fights in a year, but we have a lot of one fights this year. We have a lot of champions who only fought one time this year, you know, so it's a little harder, kind of like the women's division with, you know,

Amanda Nunes and Shepchenko and things like that. Leon Edwards going out and doing what he did in a fight that no one was picking him to win. Come on, let's be honest. No one was picking him to win. Everyone was looking at Usman and Chamaev. everyone was looking at Usman and Chamaia was going to be the big fight in 2020. That was the fight we were going to get.

For Leon Edwards to go out there and shock the world and knock out Kamar Usman in that fifth round so definitively. And again, I think that would have been it. If he didn't win that fight, I don't think he'd ever get a title shot again. I really don't. I really don't think he'd ever get back there again because there wasn't a lot of people banging the drum for him to get that title shot. For him to go out and do what he did to the number one pound for pound fighter in the world,

knock him out. The first guy to ever do that's Kamar Usman. it's Leon Edwards. I put him number one. I think he's my choice for fight of the year. Listen, Volcanovsky's incredible. You're never going to find a guy who's going to disagree with putting Volcanovsky number one,

the two fights he had this year. But again, neither fight surprised me. I thought he was a, I thought what he did to Korean zombie is exactly what I expected him to do the Korean zombie. I didn't expect him to walk through Max Holloway in the rematch or their trilogy, but I wasn't shocked he won. I was shocked Leon Edwards did what he did to Kamarosman.

A.K. Where are you at on this? Because to me, anybody who jumps Kamar Uzman in the number one pound-for-pound conversation, even before Ustman lost to Leon Edwards, to me, just the two performances, and I'm not taking it, Leon's going to be on my top five list. There's no doubt about it. But to me, it's got to be Volcanowski. He just, he had two perfect games this year.

He beat the hell out of Korean zombie. It was like, it was like torturous. to watch. I was just waiting for this fight to end. I felt bad for the Korean zombie. And then he puts on a legit masterclass against Max Holloway. A guy, a lot of people thought was going to win that fight when I was in Vegas. It was crazy. So is it Volk right now? Do you, I mean, obviously, Leon, I ain't going to argue with you if you pick him because of the win and the stature of it. But right now, year of Our Lord 2022, October 6th, who is number one for you? It's Volk.

He climbed to the top of the MMA fighting pound for pound rankings, the most illustrious list that a fighter can be, can top. So that's huge. And I don't think it can be understated, or overstated, I don't think he'll be overstated how important it was for him to beat Max Holloway again

and to do it the way he did. Because I don't know if we're already starting to revise the history, but like for the last two years since that second fight, a very close competitive fight. He is still somehow, even as he defended the head of like in Sartiga and another classic, somehow Volcanovsky had still been under the shadow of Holloway.

And it was so unfair. I thought it was so people were saying the first fight was close, which it wasn't. I mean, it was uneventful. But it was first fight, people, anyone go back and watch it, a clear win for Volcanovsky. Not like he dominated and beat the crap out of Max. But if you're going about how fights are scored, I mean, I don't see how you could score the fight for Holloway. So people just kind of forget that fight. And because the second fight was so close,

there's all people going like, oh, both fights were close. No, the second fight was super close. I still scored that one from Volcanovsky. So in my mind, as much as I was open to seeing them fight a third time, I'm glad it took as long as it did. I'm glad it took two years. The only downside to that was everyone who was still on the max train was not going to be satisfied until they saw that third fight no matter what happened.

Because for me, again, I already thought Volcanowski was clearly the better featherweight. The win over Ortega only reinforced that. And if you're Volkanowski, I'm sure in your mind, you know, there was no doubts. But now there's there shouldn't be, there's no doubts in anyone's mind. So it was a big, big, big statement win. It wasn't just, oh, going up three and oh, against the same guy. It was like this was the one, this was like the one that really mattered to people. That shouldn't have been the case, but that is how it was.

Again, people, if anyone thinks I'm crazy, again, just go back and read and watch some of our people on the M. fighting staff who are still pushing that Holloway train and saying that Holloway is, you know, is going to beat, is going to beat Volcanovsky or that Holloway was still the number one. They still still think he was number one after their second fight. This was a real thing. So because he's number one pound for pound for us now, because he closed the door on the Max Holloway fight, because he is on his way. And I can say this because Jay is not here.

He is on his way to be coming with many, many more title defenses, the consensus, the consensus, this number one featherweight of all time, I think he's got to be the best, the male fighter of 2022. So no matter if you have Volcanovsky in that spot, if you have Leon Edwards in that spot, we still have a lot of ways to go here.

There's a lot of big fights. And I'll start with you, Damon, because Leon's not fighting the rest of the year, Volcanovsky's probably not fighting the rest of the year unless something absolutely insane happens. Maybe he does, but not looking likely. We have Algin's, fighting T.J. Dillishot, UF.C. 280. If he wins, that's two successful title defenses for him.

We have Oliver versus Mockachev. Both will have two wins. And I actually think there's one other fight that actually could decide this altogether. So how do you think this all ends up? What's the biggest fights in play for you right now in order to determine who can and will win this award? I think Al Jemaine Sterling deserves more credit than he's getting if he can. goes out and beats T.J. Dillashaw, that's such a huge win after he beat Peter Yon and kind of vanquish the demons from the first fight. So I think he deserves a lot of credit. And I'm actually picking him to beat T.J. Dillishal, so I think he'll be in that conversation. Charles Olivaire, once again, in that conversation, beating Justin Gage, if he goes out and beats

his on Makhachev, huge win, although as much as I like Mokachev, and I think Mokachev's a monster, and I wouldn't be shocked if he wins that fight, Mokachev still has to put together the resume to really, you know, truly deserve the ranking necessary. he's getting right now. He hasn't had those big marquee wins yet, but still a very quality win. But I think the answer is Alex Paheya. If he goes out and beats Israel out of Sanya in like his fourth UFC fight and that's after knocking out Sean Strickland in like, you know, a minute and a half or whatever it was, I think that's the guy. Alex, Alex, you know, is a kickboxer who has like six, who has six, like six, like six much martial arts fights,

seven, whatever it is, very low number. If he can go out and beat Israel out of on you. Now, we all know that's a favorable matchup. It's not him going out there and fighting a bow-nickel wrestler, let's say, or even a Hamza Chamaa wrestler. Okay, sure. But if he can go out there and beat Israel and beat him emphatically like he did in their rematch and kickboxing, knock him out, beat him like that. I think Alex Paheya is probably the answer. I mean, I think that is 100% the guy. And listen, I love Al J. Germain. I think he deserves to be in that conversation, especially if he beats T.J. Dillishal. But if Alex goes out there and beat him, out of Sonia.

That's two big wins. That's a knockout over Strickland. That's a winner over Adasanya. And listen, Otisanya, say what you will about him. He's on one of the best winning streaks in terms of title defenses in terms of champions in the UFC. I think that's the guy. I think he's the guy who could kind of upset the apple cart with a win in November.

Yeah. And to me, I think that fight could actually decide this award altogether. What do you think I can? I mean, I think a prayer wins. It's pretty much a lock for him. But if Izzy win,

wins. That's three title defenses for him. And I know the Vegas faithful were not pleased with his performance against Jared Cannoneer, but he beat Robert Whitaker. And after watching what Robert Whitaker did to Marvin Vittory, that win aged beautifully. Did it not? I feel like this fight could decide this award. Yeah, that was my sort of looking ahead who could steal this. I think no matter what happens in some of the other fights, even if, and I'm a huge Charles Olivera guy, even if Charles Olivera, not, I'm sorry, even when Charles Olivera submits Makachev, I still think Panetta fighting his way back to a third easy fight in MMA and winning the towel is to be so amazing. I don't know if I feel strongly the other way that like if Adisanya

wins that then, you know, he should get the spot. I think it would matter how he did it. certainly a highlight real knockout would go a long way towards, you know, washing out the, the bitter taste of some of the his previous teledefense, which again, I think we're fine, but from an entertainment standpoint, yes, your average viewer was not thrilled. So it's hard to call some of the fighter the year, even if he wins, like in a year where he's taken so much like lambasting from the public, deserved or not. So that would be a weird title to give him. So if Izzy kind of pulls off another methodical win,

I probably would still lean towards Volcanovsky. I just think that the win over zombie so dominant, the second win over, sorry, the third win over Max Holloway. Again, again, dominant in a different way. So I don't mind it. I don't mind a case for Izzy. I can see a lot of people saying it goes three, you know, three tile defenses against top competition, Robert Whitaker, an old kickboxing rival and also Jared Kennedy are thrown in there, even though people aren't really talking about that one for good reasons. But for me, it's, it is a two-fighter race right now. It's Volcanovsky leading the way.

And if Alex Panetta can beat Israel-A-Sania again, boy, he'd be a fun pick for Fighter of the Year, wouldn't he? I have to, Damon mentioned a name, so I have to go back to this one. We're going to play a little hypothetical game and I'll start with you, Damon. Let's just say, because this has been such a crazy year, let's just say that this individual gets back into the Octagon at some point. whether it be at welterweight or at middleweight. Let's just say the UFC finds a way to book Hamzat Shamiyev versus Colby Covington. And what if Hamzat Shemayev goes out there and does to Colby Covington what he did to Kevin Holland? Is Hamzat Shemayev in this conversation, Damon?

I don't think he's in there now. But does the weight miss take him out of the running altogether if he gets a third win this year? Or is he in the mix? No, I think the weight miss and the level of competition in that if I do. I like Kevin Holland very much. Kevin Holland was training to fight Daniel Rodriguez as a boxer. He hadn't trained wrestling a day in his camp, I'm sure. And listen, it's a good win, but you got it because you screwed up being in the main event.

You missed weight by seven and a half pounds. The Gilbert Burns fight incredibly impressive. And if he can go out and if he goes out and beats Colby Covington, which by the way, I don't think that's a sure thing. Kobe Covington, listen, I'm not a fan of the dude, you know, in terms of what he says, but you can't doubt that he's a really, really good fighter. I don't think that Hamasot Chamaev just washes Colby Covington. But yeah, I mean, if he wins, if he gets Kobe Covington and wins, great. It's a big win, and he definitely deserves a lot of credit,

especially for beating him and Gilbert Burns in the same year. But I don't even really, in a weird way, I don't discount the Kevin Holland fight, but I don't really put it that high on my mark as far as what it does for him, because he got it because he screwed up making wait for a main event. And he got a guy who hadn't trade a single day in his entire training camp for a guy like Hamasat Chamey. Nate Dia said after his winner Tony Ferguson, all I did was train grappling. I did nothing but train grappling for this guy.

Kevin Holland didn't do any of that. So, yeah, it's a win, but I mean, come on, is it really that, like, is it really that impressive that he missed weight that badly? I just, I can't do it. I think that's, I think that hurts him more than it helps him in a weird way. Like, beating Kevin Holland doesn't help Hamzaa Chamaev's case at my point. If he had just bought, if he had just beat Gilbert Burns and then if he came back and beat Kobe Covington, I'd probably be more likely to say maybe he is spider the year. But you just beat those two guys

that you throw in the weight miss that Kevin Holland fight doesn't really do much for me. Yeah, Optics is such a big part of this award. Like, can you be the fighter of the year in a year where what people talked about most was you missing weight by 7.5 pounds and putting an entire pay-per-view car in jeopardy?

Like, can you be the fighter of the year then? Can you be the fighter of the year? If, again, with Adisania, where, like, yes, you were winning, but what people most talked about was, wow, I don't want to watch this guy's main events anymore. Like, can you be the fighter of the year in that year? Charles Alvara,

Can you be the fighter of the year in a year where you lost the title on the scale? I don't know. So, you know, when there's this many good fighters, you're kind of like nitpicking. So those are obviously the little nits that I'm throwing out there. That's why I think Alex Podetta has like the clearest path barring something weird happening before the fight or in the fight with Izzy. If he, if he, and same with Volkanowski. It's like, you know, mostly free of controversy. We're just talking about how great his performances were.

Nothing else. No other weirdness. So that's why it's him, him and Poetan. But it, again, Mark. Adisania and Charles Olivera and Macha Jemaya, great fighters. Again, Shamaia maybe fights again before the end of the year, could cement that.

But because of these other things that are part of their story that we cannot separate from their 2020 campaigns, they're just a little bit, a notch below, I think, Volk and Pereira beats Adisania. Well, we will see what happens. I think we've done a good job sort of laying the land

for these awards. And I think we're setting ourselves up for a fun couple of months to wrap up the year. Of course, no UFC, no big time MMA this weekend, but we're off and running next weekend, decent card next weekend, and it's on to UFC 280, and that card is just ridiculous. And then Cater versus Allen, Evloia versus Mitchell, and then on to UFC 281, and on and on we go. And I have a feeling that we could be having a whole new discussion, come to see. December when we do the actual award show when this is all said and done. So, AK, any final thoughts, any final words, anything you missed, the floor is yours. I feel like, I feel like we covered everything.

There's always the thought that we missed something. I've been watching the brilliant YouTube comments closely, of course, and I think we covered all the bases. Of course, guys, if there's any weird sort of moment or a huge moment that we somehow didn't discuss, you know, throw it in there. Throw it in the comments when this goes up on M.A.fighting.com. but yeah but what a great year i think it has been action-wise again we've had a lot of storylines and things that we haven't really wanted to discuss uh you mentioned like we don't want

to talk about mark Zuckerberg anymore blah blah blah and who knows um whatever their um kookiness we've had to deal with but the in cage action has consistently delivered there's been great upsets new champions uh people who are already champions taking it to another level so it's been a lot of fun so far this year and i do like that uh yeah we still have some fun to come i mean Uriah Hall's boxing. What's going on? This is combat sports is wild, man. Combat sports is wild.

So I'm looking forward to the next three ones. Party. Damon, any final thoughts? Fighter of the year, let's not forget Anderson Silva. If he goes out beats Jake Paul. And I'm kind of joking, but not really. The other one, I want to throw out also another fight of the year candidate. I want to throw out Yuri Pahoshka.

If he actually comes back and beats Glover again in December, that's another one I want to mention. But I want to throw this out there because I didn't pick him for rookie the year. And I kind of feel bad about that only because, again, the UFC kind of screwed him out of a second UFC fight this year being Bo Nicol. You will not find a bigger Bo Nicol guy than myself because I'm kind of a wrestling dude. Right now, if they put Bo Nickel, something weird happens. Alex Panetta gets injured and they say, you know what, Bo Nicol, you're getting a title shot against Israel Autasagna on November 11th.

Oh, my God. Bo Nicol beats Israel out of Sonia right now. Right now. He said it. He said it. He said it. beats Israel Adasanya. I think Chimayo's a tougher fight

because Chimaya actually has the wrestling. Proustier did not like that. Bo Nichol beats Israel-A-Sanya right now. He out-wrestles him. Right now, I pick him to beat him. I pick him to beat him. Another name we, and I don't know if he's going to end up fighting or not this year, but another name that I feel

might be a farve in this situation. Because if he gets another fight this year, it's got to be a big one. I feel like Marlon Cruz, or Marlon, Marlon Cruz, Marlon Vera could get a vote or two. But it just depends on what matchup he might be able to get

because he's had a frigging great year too. So beating Rob Fawn decisively. Cheeto Sanhagen. Cheeto Sanhagen. Cheeto Sanhagen. Give me that. Give me that sometime before the end of the year.

And if Marlon wins, he might get a vote or two as well. So a lot to unpack. We'll see how the rest of the year goes. But we are out of here. Casey, you can hit the music. Back to normal BTL programming next week. Jed's retired, so I don't know what the hell we're going to do.

So he's making my job very difficult. But for AK, for Damon Martin, Casey, thank you for your work on the ones and twos. The iconic voice of Esther Lynn takes you home. We'll see you back here next week on BTL. I am Mike Heck. Good night, everybody. This is Jed Nashu. I'm a big quitter.

I can't handle between the links, AK, happy birthday. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.