MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | 2025 Predictions Recap

Episode Date: December 28, 2025

With 2025 being such a crazy year in the world of mixed martial arts, we felt it was important to look back at the predictions that were made heading into a memorable year for the sport. In part one of our two-part predictions extravaganza, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee look back on some of the responses they had to listener questions in regards to what 2025 was going to bring. Topics include Khamzat Chimaev's championship hopes, whether or not Nate Diaz would return to the UFC, if Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal would compete in a rematch, the UFC's TV deal, if PFL fighters and champions would find homes elsewhere, if the GFL would host any events, UFC champ-champ fights, and much more. In addition, we will need you help for part two: Our 2026 predictions extravaganza episode. Submit your "buy or sell" questions the same way you send your matchmaking suggestions to Mike or AK on Twitter, Instagram, or email by Friday, Jan. 2 — and, please, be as creative as you'd like. The On To the Next One 2026 Predictions Extravaganza goes live on the MMA Fighting YouTube channel on Jan. 4 at Noon ET / 9 a.m. PT. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠@MikeHeck_JR⁠ 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

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of Odd to the next one. fact, it's be the last edition of on to the next one that you hear in 2025. We are wrapping up the year. No, not with any matchmaking. This is part one of our annual two-part predictions extravaganza. And obviously, the main event of the predictions extravaganza will be the live buy-sell prediction show, which will go down.

Mark your, mark your calendars. January 4th, noon Eastern, live on the M. May Fighting YouTube channel. That's where you answer all your by-s-all questions who make our champions' predictions at the end of the year, our Mui Caliente bold predictions for the year. And you'll kind of see a rundown of how this works.

But before we get to the live show, we like to kick things off by going back in time to January of 2025 when we did the live show, predicting what 2025 would look like for not just the UFC but for the sport and some of the major promotions we look back, we reflect, and this is also a learning tool for all of the new onto the next one listeners who joined us in 2025, asking yourselves

what the hell is this Bicel Predictions thing? This will be sort of a learning tool for you guys to understand what that show is all about, the type of questions that we will be asking of you to present to us for that live show. show and then a k and i who can go back and see how we did it's a good time because once we do the show i don't even go back and listen to it until a couple of days before we record this episode so i have no idea what the hell we talked about and what we predicted so this is a good

little experience for us but i and mike heck and joining me i mentioned the nickname a little bit earlier but he is the co-host the co-matchmaker the prince of positivity the best predictor in all the land. My best friend, Alexander Cayley, from The Wonderful, the Great MMA Fighting.com. AK, how are you, sir? Yes, my best friend. It's great to do the show with you every year. My hands are dirty right now. I'm covered in dirt. We've taken the time capsule out of, we've shoveled it. Like you said, we don't, we do the show. We bury, we physically put it onto tape. We bury it in the dirt. And then now we shovel it out and you've got the tape player. I heard you listen. I heard you know already what we're going to talk about, how it went.

So I'm very excited. I think I did amazingly well, but we'll see. We shall see indeed. Let's just get right into this, A.K., so we'll run through all of the Bicels. We'll go through our champ predictions. I'll let you guys all know. And A.K.

We'll probably hear for the first time in almost a year, his bold prediction for the year. And we'll see how he did. And again, take notes if you're new to this. These are the types of questions we're looking for. And you could submit those questions between now and I'll say probably like January 2nd or so. before we do the live show because it takes a lot to kind of organize these and put these all together

and this is the first year we're doing this without Casey kind of surprising us with questions so we're going to have to sort of mix and match how that all works as well but AK are you ready to go through the 2025 predictions in the buy sell questions yeah some are I remember that some were so so so easy

and some were like genuinely like amazing job guys some of the stuff you come up with is great and I can't wait to see how we did all right uh we might have a little controversy on this first one okay oh all right but we have to we have to go through this uh because i think i know where the answer is but i i think i'm gonna ask you and present it anyhow so the first question we got a k that we had to buy or sell was there will be more than one brazilian ufc champion by the end of 2025 uh you sold this okay uh i bought it. We do, of course, at Alex Pereira. He's once again the light heavyweight champion. He

began the years of the light heavyweight champion. Lassa got it back. Does McKenzie Dern count? Absolutely. Yeah. I know. McKinzerne absolutely counts. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Because like, I mean, I guess this is kind of a weird thing to say. Like, I would, let's say I were in the UFC. I would count myself as a Chinese champion, right? I mean, my parents, my line is from Hong Kong. I was not born I was not born in Hong Kong but and I'm you know I'm Canadian everyone knows I'm 100% Canadian

love Canada but yes then again I guess this is a question of like you know difference between ethnicity and nationality and blah blah blah I do consider her as someone who represents Brazil I believe her both her parents are maybe it's just her dad her dad is Brazilian obviously Megaton

she's lived there you know she I do count her all right yeah for sure because we can't we would count Kamar Usman. Oh, no, no, he's from Nigeria and then trying to think. Probably not for sure is Nigerian. What was, uh, is he? We count as from New Zealand, right?

Yeah. You have to, right? And, but he was born in Nigeria. Okay. So I think we'll, this is a controversial one though, Mike, you're right. You're right. I think some people will disagree with us. And, uh, you know, people get all your accent. Oh, we're changing our attention. Okay, I get it. Yes. It's very, very funny. Um, so I'll say, yeah, I missed on that one. I said that did go over. all right cool so i got that one right uh obviously the roundabout way because i don't think any of us expected mackenzie durn to be champion what what do you mean for jett er jett and chihina al shoddy

i thought it'd be perera and and and pantosia and pantosia no longer the champion i thought this is actually an easy buy i didn't think we'd have any controversy but but here we are okay that's how close we were to be in we were so close to be an easy one and then just that man that freakish last paper of the year damn yeah that's right that's right uh okay this one I don't know if this is going to warm your heart or make you laugh or somewhere in the middle. The second buy sell question. And let me just preface this and spoil it by say, we both bought this. You bought this before I could even finish the damn question.

I bought it just because I support you as my best friend. Buy or sell. Ryan Hall books a UFC fight in 2025. We didn't. That one didn't hit. like that one didn't hit it didn't hit he's not retired i don't think he is i was i know is he no i don't think he has quite a few injury i think he's always been dealing with sort of injuries obviously he has a lot of other things to do to make money you know he's he's a he's a

he's a graphing instructor like i just think he has a lot going on he probably doesn't need to do mama he probably doesn't need to fight so yeah that probably should have been a that probably should have been a cell i mean he has i just he hasn't fought since 2021 yeah um i think he's in no hurry to get back I think he's in that stage of his career, like, oh, if a cool opportunity comes along, he'll do it. But also, if he never fights again, he'll just be like, yeah, that's fine. Like, yeah, I'm okay. I'm the go. I'm the go.

I'm nothing. I have nothing to prove. He's in Joe Loz on territory, right? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Maybe Cubs swats the territory. I mean, just good names to be involved with. Did we both buy?

Oh, we both bought this. You bought this. You were like, you did. You're the more sensible one, Mike. Well, I bought it just, just to support you, okay. Oh, thank you. Yeah, just to support your notion that he is the greatest in the most dangerous in the most dangerous fight it ever lived.

The third question, AK, was the UFC will add a women's atomweight division. Maybe not officially have an atomweight fight, but it'll be in the works that sometime in 2025, they will announce the addition of the atomweight division. And very wisely, AK, we both sold this. Oh. And it seemed like a theme for a lot of these answers we had was, we're a year too soon. Although I have officially landed on, the UFC will never add an atom white division. So that's kind of where I'm at if you ever re-ask this question, but we both sold this.

We thought about it, but we both sold this one. Yeah, I'm leaning your way now. I mean, they barely commit to the women's divisions they have already. So, gosh, I mean, starting a whole new one just seems silly. I don't know. They might re-ad the featherweight division before they add an atomweight division. Next question, buy yourself three or more UFC champions by the end of 2025 will have undefeated records. Three or more?

three or more i bought this okay okay you sold it okay and you were correct yeah how many we have we have two ilia and hamzatimaev yeah oh yeah oh because it was close the line whoever said that line that was right i think yeah yeah that was that was a good one so yeah we have we had two in the year i believe i'm trying to think there's anybody else i don't think there was did anyone lose their undefeated no right like there's no one that if they had retained would have finished undefeated right i don't think any of the people who had belts were undefeated if i'm not mistaken yeah i don't know why i bought that oh ankylaif was under was ankle oh no he wasn't undefeated weird one yeah the weird one with uh paul crack oh who why did i buy that that is a terrible buy i'm

just trying to yeah i'm just trying to think who you were projecting to what to become champion uh i don't know it's hard to tell yeah i don't know i don't know that's a weird buy wow i can't like I bought that. Listen, we've all done crazy things when we're doing these prediction shows. Huh. Interesting. I have to go back and like, try. Oh, no, it was Shafcott.

Because I thought Shafcott was going to. Ah, yes. Yes, of course. That's right. That's right. There we go. I think I did sell this. And then you actually mentioned Shafkot.

And I was like, oh, yeah, it's him. And now I'm buying. I have to buy. Maybe Mofsar too. Maybe you had some Mofsar hopes as well. Yes. So there's four. And I thought, okay.

Now I feel better about it. I feel a little bit better about it. this is a this is a funny one uh the next one was buy or sell that the rematch between colby covington and horay mazadol happens in 2025 and dana white will say that the winner of that fight gets a title shot next and we both thought about this we did for a second we both sold it but we're just like no you can't do this you can't this is no way you can do it so we both sold this and we're both absolutely correct so the next question speaking of horay mazadol was buy or sell more than one of these names will win a ufc fight in 2025 mazadol

ferguson nick dyes or donald serroney and we both sold this it had to be a m a fight it had to be yeah it was it was a ufc fight it was yeah this is tony oh Tony won a fight he did he won a spectacular boxing match spectacular it was very fun and he's got a box again uh well by the time of this airs he will have already boxed so maybe he has two wins by the time this happens so next question uh Nate Diaz by herself Nate Diaz has a UFC fight announced this year but it doesn't happen so the UFC advertises that Nate Diaz will compete in a UFC fight in 2025 but for one reason or another it doesn't go down and we both bought this AK we did we both bought it why would I do that now

I feel silly well I mean at the time like it was a contract like we We were like, this is a contract year. They're negotiating their TV rights. They're going to pull out all the stops. Boy, do we read that room wrong. But that's, but we thought like, yeah, you know what? I actually predicted his fight. I was like, you know what?

Nate Diaz, Connor is going to headline MSG in November. That was, that was my prediction for that. And, boy, couldn't have been more wrong. We had some big dreams. I feel like we had, I, I'm very curious what the buy sales will be going to this year, going to 2026, because I feel like you and I are going to be pretty conservative with like some of our predictions. I think we'll do a bold predictions dealy at some point. I get obviously it's part of our show.

So we've got to think of something crazy. But it's hard to like picture big swings in MMA right now. Like regardless of UFC, PFL, you know, one championship, rise, whatever. Like I'm not saying fun stuff that doesn't happen, but like, oh man, like crazy, you know, sort of sports like like predictions that, you know, it's like even mainstream casual fans kind of captures their imagination i don't know if we're getting in a lot of those anytime soon but i we do have white house coming up so i should say maybe we'll have a flurry of big um announcers coming soon but it's outside of that i don't know i think especially because of the white house card that's where a lot of the big announcers will come from and

then the rest of the year i don't know yeah we we will see it's uh quite a time i actually liked our bold predictions this year like they were out there because i think the year before like it was one of those times where there's like nothing you could say that would be like too bold and like I it was just it was just it's just a weird time right now so this one was interesting AK by herself Alex Pereira gets two knockout wins in 2025 and we both sold this and we were right and we were correct we were correct he only got one one big one because we thought he was just got to we thought he'd fight Angoliath and then go right up to heavyweight and then probably would fight john and probably wasn't knocking john out so but who knows maybe that

fight happens maybe it happens to the white house although at this point in time as we record prayer is like maybe maybe the white house thing isn't happening so let's go to the next question by herself francis and ganu has two pfl fights in 2025 and you and i as no way we could we could not sell that fast enough there's no way and we got nothing for it that that's sold for nickels yeah We were telling, we were sending that, okay, does anyone want this? Does anyone, no, just no one's buying. No one was buying that. No one was buying.

Oh, super fun. Yeah. Yeah. That was minus 3,500. That prediction right there. So we got nothing. This holiday season, Instacard is bringing magic to the people who make it magic for others. Whether it's a last minute holiday decor emergency, coverage for the holiday party,

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Ooh, that was a fun one. A.K., you sold this. I bought it. I was correct. Islam Makachev, Ilya, Jonguei Lee. What was the premise? Sorry. Oh, people who are champions by the beginning of the year, we'll fight for a second title.

Yeah. So currently at the time of the live show, two or more current title holders will fight for second belts in 2025, and three of them did. Good line. Good line. That was a great line. Yeah, I should have. Because it was zero the year before. It was zero the year before.

I think we knew by then to be no Ilya was going on or it's still not official no that was uh we didn't announce Miami just yet so that hadn't become official so obviously Islam hadn't become officially or Islam was what was the first domino Islam was the first Islam had not fought yet because he was just getting he was getting ready to fight Arm and Sarukin or at least so we thought

okay and then he he had to be the first domino to fall right he said he was going up or is no ilia said he was going up first so yeah ilia vacated not long after said he was going up yes uh islam waited for he had to wait till like he because member ufc three 15 had added stakes with the belal jdm fight if belal one he wasn't moving up but if jdm one he was the i have zero faith in my friend winning this fight uh sweepstakes yeah but i think i and so i think the actual domino the way we kind of saw it in a prediction world was i think ilia went first but maybe

was jang because after she beat tatiata we were like all right she's never fighting in this weight class again or at least until she fights for the flyweight belt but who knew that she would get that chance and she's getting her ass right back down there more than likely to fight for that she she sure did and uh she was not great that night but valentina shepchenko certainly was let's go to the next one uh buy or sell hamzat shamaia fights for a ufc title in 2025 that's not at middleweight oh what a twist i hope i sold this we both sold it yeah uh because it's a weird time and again contract year was another one of those things like maybe we just chuck homicide in for a weird fight to to save a card but yes we both sold this we

both got this wood correct here's one that i got incorrect okay and you got it correct and we had a great time with this question because of how we felt about this man heading into his second ufc fight riner de rdra ends the year as a top 10 middleweight in the ufc you bought this this. I sold it. And you were right. You didn't believe it. I didn't believe it. I thought he would be a ranked fighter, but I didn't think he'd be a top 10 fighter. I certainly didn't think he'd be fighting four times, as often as he did. But there we go. And you actually like nailed it perfectly. You said he was going to, he was going to get an opportunity against a guy on the come down to get that high ranking. And you were right. He got Robert Whitaker and worked out great for him.

So kudos to you. You got it correct. Yeah, it's close. He's number eight. Close. It's number eight. Could have been higher. Could have been higher if Vancouver had gone a little differently, I think. But I think he was as high.

Obviously, Brendan Allen took a spot. I think he was as high as thing. I think. I could be wrong. But yeah, closes at eight. So just in there, Mike, just in there. Just made it in. The next one was by or sell that PFL seasons are no more.

And we both bought this. And we were correct. Yeah. Writing was on the wall for, for sure. Yeah. Hold on one second. Oh, sorry, yep. Yeah, I'll just say, I think we do.

Yeah, I think we knew. You've had, you've done town halls with Don Davis. I mean, we've had sort of the, I don't say inside scoop because it's not like these are private things. Anyone kind of reading the tea leaves and like paying attention to how PFL has been changing over the last couple of years. Like the seasons are fun, but they were never perfect. You know, it was a good idea. Sometimes you've got some, some divisions deliver some divisions just like, God, they just drag. on and on it's like the seasons made no sense the the standing the two fight standings were just

bizarre um i still think it was a good idea this just we i just think the combat sports industry just doesn't have the infrastructure for that kind of thing right now as far as ms go so you just can't have them fighting this weird schedule and then a semi-finals and a final so um yeah no more seasons and i think they're better off for it because actually i will say this this pfl season was really good i thought overall was really good yeah i thought they had it they had a very good year um you know dakota only fighting once hurt them oh yeah brett's not fighting at all hurt them but that gene came along and it did good things so next question and let me just peel back the curtain everybody let's uh you know okay we're throwing k fay out the window it is currently

december 16th as we're recording this so we actually haven't even completely voted for this yet but i can say confidently um that i'm correct here But who knows, who knows how the rest of the staff will vote, okay? By yourself that the fighter of the year, as of January of this year, or of 2025, will be a fighter currently outside of the top three in the UFC rankings. You bought this, AK. Oh. And I sold it.

Well, now, so if I, if I manipulate my vote and the rest of the voters enough, I could still be right. Potentially. Obviously, I'm thinking of Joshua Van. Like, I don't, I don't think he'll be the fighter of the year on most people's list. It's just, you know, the freakish way to the fight with Pantosia ended, I think it would look a little funny to making the fight of the year. I do think it's a strong case, but to be number one, I don't know. Top three, I think easily.

Yeah, I think he should be on everybody's list. Yeah, but number one is going to be a tough case to make. So, yeah, I'll, I'll say, I said I bought, right, Mike? You bought this, I sold it. I probably, yeah, because it's got to be, what, like an Islam or like even, even marab still has a really strong case i don't know if people want to appear on there valentina and obviously these are all fighters who are ranked like yes three of their divisions yeah absolutely so that would be it yeah josh van would be would be the only one

or waldo cortez costa deserves it he certainly does who do what i mean golly he's the break down the wall fighter in the air that i've had unbelievable sergeant's out there somewhere like did anyone is everyone forget did they forget our fight happens yes because it was that it was that fight it was not good it was not a good right next one this is kind of a weird one i had to do a lot of digging for this but this came at a time where like every three weeks we got a highlight of the latter of this so here was the question presented by the viewers by herself that jack delam adelaida and shopcott rock bot off will have more combined fights in 2025 than gregg hardy suffers knockout losses in

combat sports whoa and that's actually really good because i believe greg hardy boxed what like twice this year? So I looked everywhere and I did not see any official fight on his record. Yes, yes. He's been fighting in like Russia or something, right? He's been fighting like in Russia or it's... I think he had like one super weird like exhibition

fight and he needed the inhaler or something. I don't know. I saw a highlight of that but I looked I looked everywhere. Box wreck tapology looked everywhere to find anything boxing related for Greg Hardy in 2025. Even his like total combat

league or total whatever that was. Those are all in 2024. So we both bought that JDM and Shofcott would have more combined fights than Greg had knockout losses. Exactly, I think we're correct. Are we? So J.D.M. was what, two? Jock got two. And that's it.

I don't know if we're... I swear Greg Hardy got knocked out. Well, you said the inhaler fight. Does that count as a knockout? Does losing by inhaler? Is that... I mean, that's still only be one, though. TKO. I thought there was one earlier this year. I had to look at it. I hope we're right about this. But I think people are like rehashing the old ones maybe they're reclipping the old stuff yeah maybe okay it is weird because these are such it really feels like he's competing these barely legal

boxing bouts my god the true combat sports like underworld okay yeah we'll say we got it i guess because i don't think i don't think i don't think i mean because every time greg hardy gets knocked out in a fight we write it up as an article okay and i don't think we i don't think we wrote a single gregg hardy got knocked out post in 2025 yeah okay okay so i dug deep so okay okay okay so okay uh next question buy or sell kela harrison misses weight or loses a fight in 2025 i bought this i no you did not i bought it and you sold it uh you said that Kayla will make weight and would win all of her fights this year and she did one of them one of one yeah well again the theme is a year too early potentially

Because what were you expecting? You expect, oh, yeah, go ahead, Mike. I'll explain, uh, you'll, you'll see at the end of the program where we're right here. Okay. Oh, a little buildup. Yeah, you'll see why. Okay. Uh, next question, a, at the time, because we were at a weird place, okay, where, uh, nothing, no decision had been made at this point in time.

We were still doing the weird thing where it was like, I think, I think, I think Don Davis did a town hall and said Bellator was no more. like he confirmed like no more bellator however they kept the bellator champions as bellator champions for like most of 2025 so it was like this is the pfl champion series headlined by a bellator title fight and it was the dumbest thing ever and i essentially told don to his virtual face that this makes no sense and they eventually did the right thing and changes so the question was uh a current and i don't even maybe at the time they like they didn't get rid of bellator just yet uh but dodd had teased that it was coming but the question was a current bellator fighter fights for a ufc title in 2025 current bell to our fight oh i have a feeling i definitely bought this you

oh you sure did okay oh my by the way you are the you were big on the ryan baters coming back to the ufc thing uh he's the guy he's the shock he's the shock value fighter you bought this i sold it and i was absolutely correct you were so very much correct you were super correct uh you were mega correct but did you see gosh you were giving me a headache recapping all the belts war champion like did you see like did you see what was going on with the pf lion like the title it was so weird so okay so they had the last time cyborg fought she won a super fight title no was that not a thing she won a super fight title as in francis and gano as did francis and Okay, so this wasn't, this was last October or whatever.

Yes. So those aren't like actual belts. Okay. Well, they announced Cyborg, at least on their graphic, is and still. And still what? Well, but technically wasn't she still the Bellator featherweight champion? I don't know, Mike. I'm confused by all of it.

I'm confused by all of them. Oh, God, I don't know, Mike. Yes, I guess. So I guess she was. That was weird. Okay, so she is and still. Okay, that was stupid. But also, I feel like they were pushing her.

I had to check my emails. like the pflpr emails weren't they kept saying like the inaugural didn't they keep using the word inaugural like featherweight and nemcov was the inaugural heavyweight champion or whatever like did i that well that fight that fight was to crown those yeah okay but so wait is she inaugural or is she and still or she should be inaugural i don't know man i don't so he's and still the belter champion and also the new she's and still and and new i mean do you expect the ring announcer to understand what the hell is going on here i don't no i don't blame them at all i have no clue and then um was announces and new and then their graphics says i honestly don't know this is a typo or if like

ffl trying to make fetch happen hashtag hashtag and now oh no i don't know what this means anymore i i mean technically it's if it's inaugural and now works terrifically i actually i dig it no i'm like no don't get on it's the inaugural you can't be you can't i mean you technically can't be and new right but i mean it is god it's still awkward when it's like a decision i don't know i honestly don't know if this is a typo or that you're right maybe they did coin some new phrase we should be using for inaugural title belts or interim title belts but anyway thank you i need to get off my chest mike i'm glad i'm glad we had a chance that was very disturbing so just so based on my ring announcing prowess uh i ring announced like a bunch of inaugural title fights like early on

because I ring announced, like, this promotion's, like, first three or four events. So I would always say, if it went to a decision, and now the new. So it's like, and now the new. That's good. Yeah. And now the new. Yeah. It was just great.

Pro move. Pro move right there. But we'll see. Next question. PFL releases a current champion. Again, I don't know what this means anymore. Wait, what is the current champion? So is anybody with a Bellator slash.

Well, I don't think anybody really had PFL belts at the time. So basically, like, any of the Bellator champions, uh, we both bought this, by the way. We're both absolutely correct because Patricia got released and Patchy Bix got released. I thought you meant like a PFL tournament winner because even a current like world champion. Because they still, again, we're still in that PFL champion series headlined by Bellator champion Usen Ramagabeda versus whoever. So they actually technically released two champions. What is Usman right now?

he is the pfl lightweight champion which is the lineal like that was the belt he didn't they didn't announce him as oh they did he was the enough okay i'm sorry yeah so he defended the bellator title against hughes and then they fought again for the inaugural pfl title okay and now he's defending the pfl title for the first time against alfie davis okay correct and by that we would have been covered if we were talking pfl tournament because they did sign anti delisia this year who was the 2022 pfl tournament champion so we kind of had all our bases covered we did we did next question we we were laughing pretty hard when uh this question came up on the screen buyer sell a k the global fight league gfl will host at least three events and we both we both sold this so fast

three boy the number was terrible line that's what they had they were doing two they were scheduled to do back-to-back events i don't care like a week and a half later do not care and yeah to your uh to to your to your to your to your credit you were like i don't even think they do one yeah that line there's just been half yeah not three half zero or one that's it i have a feeling this question might come back in some way shape of four please don't because they're they're teasing it we got irons in the fire we got them in the fire okay don't put it on my dms got guys you send those to mike all right mike heck underscore jr on instagram yeah don't send those to me now not my

dms um so we i don't know how to view this one okay i think we both were wrong here but at the time i think there hasn't been like a lot of like seismic shifts in this regard so i think we're probably correct here uh or at least incorrect so basically like the first sunday of january 2025 the question was a current unranked fighter will headline a UFC pay-per-view in 2025. We both bought this, and I don't think that happened this year. Headline, a pay-per-view.

Obviously, meaning main event, too, right? Yeah, not co-names. Yeah, I don't think that happened. I can't, uh, my memory of these things is terrible, but I'm pretty sure. Because Josh Van, like, did not headline a pay-per-view. He fought for a bell, but he did not headline. No, I,

don't see this sorry this is someone who was unranked in 20 24 so at the beginning of the year so someone who is unranked at the beginning of the year as we're doing the show rose through the ranks and then was in the main event of a ufc pay-per-view no i think your closest would be like what dago lopez but he was like definitely top 10 oh yeah he was like probably top five right because he dusted up ortega so yeah interesting question interesting question but yeah no it just just it didn't happen yeah good question though and who knew like where was was patty ranked at this time last year and we're literally a month away from this being accurate so pretty crazy uh this question aka very fun

very very very fun uh and it was happening two weeks before this event took place the the question was by or sell that boston seltics legend and great jason tatum would end the 2024-25 NBA season with more 40-plus-point games than UFC 3-11 had total knockouts. UFC, sorry, UFC, which event? UFC 3-11. All right. Let me, let me, I know you've already done the research here. Let me, let me, I just want to look.

So we got three knockouts only at 3-11. We had three knockouts at 3-11. Yikes. Yikes. I'm guessing that Mr. Tatum had more 40-point games. We both sold this. Tatum at the time, I think I had one at the time of recording. He ended up getting three more during the regular season and actually got four more because he got one in the playoffs as well.

So he had four during the regular season. Technically, he had five with his playoff 40-point game. I believe it was against the next as well. So, yeah, it was worst case, it was four to three, Tatum. But you could also make the argument for five to three to him. Great question. Great question. See, this is the stuff we're looking for.

Like not really set, like they didn't really set a line. Well, I mean, they set a line that would be, you know, a moving line. They said a moving line. It was like the perfect moving line. Yeah, very good. Wow, very good. Great question. Love that.

Next one, buy yourself, PFL books an MMA fight for Jake Paul or Deonté Wilder. So what we're looking for was at some point, they will have announced the mixed martial arts debut with opponent and date for either of these two guys. we both sold this and we were both correct gosh I just I want to like dream big for like PFL and GFL and all these things but we were oh man we just

the signs were just not there for these things happening no the Wilder one was kind of interesting because it was coming off the Francis win over Ferreira we're like well let's just do and well rather than have France go back to boxing let's like bring Wilder up we'll do a mixed rules like MBA cage fight with like no takedoms

or anything and that was like a thing that was the thing that was going on at the time. So, yeah, we both sold this who were both right. At Fandual Casino, you get even more ways to play. Dive into new and exciting games and all of your favorite casino classics, like slots, table games and arcade games. Get more on Fandual Casino. Download the app today. Please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at

1866-531-2-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Uh, this was actually like at the time, a really interesting question considering who the champions were. By yourself that the UFC middleweight title is the only belt to change hands in 2025. We both sold this. Yeah. But we thought about it for a minute with like based on who were, who were actually holding belts at the time. And then everybody started losing them. I was going to say, how many did we actually get? And we tell changes. We just say we actually had this year. So from the beginning of the year, to the end yeah so counting prayer that like counting the light heavy weight twice

i guess right would be like two changes right so we have a new heavyweight champion we have a new light heavyweight champion we have a new welterweight champion we have a new lightweight champion we have a new featherweight champion we have a new band of weight champion we have a new flyweight champion we have a new straw weight champion so all but one division all but the women's flyweight division saw titles change valentin shifchenko is the only fighter who did not lose her belt this show and she fought twice she fought twice damn damn valentine is great that's why she's my fighter of the air oh my gosh she is really good she is really really good next question by herself that dana white significantly decreases his role as the face of the ufc and hunter campbell

will be featured during more press conferences we both sold this we both were kind of correct in regards to like data would be doing less and less of the norm he would be doing less press conferences and stuff like that which you're right uh he's just kind of doing more social media stuff he's still the face no doubt about it uh we all know what hunter campbell's role is he basically runs the company right now dana's just kind of like the face behind the place and one of the things you sold this on with excitement levels aka was hey the more data is not there the more we get the sweet, sweet sounds of Dave Schall.

And boy, we got a whole bunch. Not enough. Not enough. Not enough. Also, I think it was the Hunter Campbell part of that question that we kind of were selling. I just kind of imagine him wanting to step into that role. It's, you know, yeah, we criticize Dana a lot. Like, I don't think he's a great, like, president and figurehead and what have you.

But he's kind of served his purpose. We always say this. whether you liked it or not he served his purpose yeah yeah minus of course like something obvious embarrassing very very embarrassing public controversies of course the incident of his wife and everything like terrible that's stuff is terrible and frankly most commissioners wouldn't survive that but i mean the ufc is its own unique system so yeah that was a terrible thing i'm not saying dana white's a good person

but i am saying like has he functioned very well as the figure here for the most part yeah and he wants to do it like he likes doing it he wants to do it it's not a role everyone wants to do and it's not a role everyone can do i know everyone thinks that they could do it I'm not saying people couldn't do it better than him, but hey, he's done, he's done what they've needed him to do for the most part. So yeah. And I just don't think someone like Hunter Campbell would want to take that that kind of flack and deal with the shit that, um, that Dana does. Yeah. I mean, data did far less press conferences. John Anick was probably more of a, a company face than Dana was this year, if we're being honest. But it's, it's all good. Data's

been checked out of that part of the business for quite some time. because of the power slap stuff. And now he's going to be all over the Zufa boxing thing. So we're probably even going to see less of him in 2026. But he is so important for sponsorship deals for this TV deal, all that stuff. Like you need him for a business sentence. But if Data White decided right, because I see people say this all the time. And most of these are probably newer fans are like, oh, the UFC dies if Data White leaves the company.

Like, are you kidding me? Do you even understand what a machine this is? stop it like it's it's they will be just fine without him like and it's because of him that they will be just fine without him because he has created this like well-oiled machine and a lot of has to do with the incredible staff they have there like they just they're just I mean they just it's a snowball going downhill and every week they everyone knows where they need to be what times they need to be there it is like when you cover these events it's spectacular because you know exactly what's going to happen when and everything is off by at worst like 10 minutes it's just

it's spectacular so shout out to the most of the UFC staff for for keeping the ball rolling but yeah i think some of that is true but yeah hunter's not going to be the dude um no doing any of that stuff so next question buy or sell the UFC stays with ESPN exclusively and the next TV deal uh we both sold this and we were both correct yeah that was we both but we both kind of thought that ESPN would be a part of the next deal in some way. And we thought they'd probably sprinkle the love to multiple platforms. But that didn't happen. Paramow getting the whole shebang here.

Next one, this is really fun, AK. And I think we did this. It was more of our hearts and our brains here. By herself, Jed Michoud completes the climb. We both bought it. Well, you bought it. You were like, yeah, man, I love Jed. We have to do it.

Then I was like, well, I can't be that prick who's, says he can't so you believe it more than i how close he even came this year i feel like he got pretty close man early early in the year wasn't he around like 20 something steps ufc 318 it went away he was at like he got to 18 maybe 20 and daniel zell huber lost to michael johnson and that's when it went away and then he tried to restart it and he put it on kevin hall to start it again against daniel rodriguez and he lost that one too crazy what a time damn he always tells me not to chase things he always tells me not to chase when you're betting and uh he did he did it for the climb he did it for the climb he did it for the

for the laughs but for the clicks and the content right that he was he was not he he will probably never bet on daniels el huber again no that was really upsetting for him yes this is the last one a k the last buy sell question out of these names alex perera islam machochev alexandra One of these fighters will make it to five title defenses in 2025. Close. We both sold this. We sold it. We were both correct.

Pantosia, though, that was, that was it. That was five, right? That would have been five. Pantosia would have been five. He would have done it. Damn. But Pereira didn't. Mokachev left the division at four.

And yeah, there you go. Now, Josh Vennshippin. Pereira would have had to beat Ankeleton. of the first time and then get another tail defense right there been four four and yeah he had hill yury round tree yeah so that would have been four and they would need one more yep you're saying macho macho macho four was moikano and then he just yep and they left so we're very close really close and we both sold we both sold this well we both thought Pereira was going to heavyweight okay uh i was like machete's losing to armin so

that won't matter and we just weren't sure if like pants was going to fight multiple times so we were we weren't really sure so all right let's uh let's get to the champ predictions a k these are our champ predictions we not you know no we're going to do it why could we not we're going to do it uh we're going to do it for 2025 uh women's straw weight a k before you start please please please can i guess uh so wait it was 11 it's 11 divisions right yes let me guess how many i got right i did not look back i know there's the i know i know you you've been looking at this i did not look back i did i even do better than 50 percent yeah you know what i'll say i got six out of 11 well let's find out hey oh gosh let's find out uh for the strawweight

division we both what with john way lee and this is before we we sort of realize that yeah man if you're going to move up and fight for a second belt they're going to make you dump the other belt uh so we thought jang might get that second shot but she would still be the stroway champion so we both picked jang we're both wrong uh and that's that she's still the number one straw weight in the world is ridiculous yes she sure is that should count the women's flyweight division aka who do you think you selected uh natty ice you did uh it's not daddy ice uh i selected to Shropchenko. That was the correct answer. A.K., you're on the board here. Women's bantamweight. You picked Kayla Harrison. And going back, remember, I tease. This is why I sold the

Kayla Harrison thing. I said the women's bandamweight champion would be Amanda Nunes. So we're a month short. We're a month away from this being a thing, potentially. To the men's flyweight division. a k to the men's flyweight division i picked alexandre pantosia who is not the champion i know what i said what did you say i said i said i saw oboeia i stand by it this guy's good this guy's he's fighting uh marino right he's gonna get trounced by brad of this is the beginning of the um oboeia of ascension i was too i was too early i was too early well then he got he got absolutely ethered by manel cop like a couple months later oh man but we're both incorrect there two wins since two and oh two and no so we both have one correct so far out of four we're both

batting 250 but this this a k is my greatest chip prediction of all time men's ban on weight alexander k lee went with umar nirmagamadoff i went with peter yon i don't know Yoder, yeah. How did you even think he was, I mean, he would, he had already gotten, what, two wins in 2024? Like, he had ended the losing skid. I think he was, what, 2 and 0 in 20 or, or all his wins in that went, bounced back after in 2020. It was song. Song broke the losing streak.

Yep. That was in 20, that was the UFC 299. Okay. Then it was Figgy in an awesome fight. And then it was Marcus Begui. And then he won the belt. What a pick. Your prediction was just going off the song and Figgie wins.

He'd bounced back from the losing streak to a very good. Yeah. What I said was going to happen was that the UFC was going to run Jan versus Chatham Alley to start, to start 20, 25, and Jan was just going to cook him. Like in a real bad way where it's like no, no controversy, no splitting, no nothing. Yom was just going to go in there and beat his ass. And then he was going to fight for the belt. win it i at the time was like umar is probably going to beat more i'm picking umar to beat marab but my money is on marab and then we got to fight week and like i started watching footage and i was like

wait a minute why am i picking umar marab is going to win he's going to beat him and then so it's like a weird way to get there but i got there pierre yon was my pick as the band of weight champion and gosh darn it MVP did the thing and i needed that so badly for fantasy because julian robertson didn't fight at ufc Vegas 112 and that would have been a friggin heartbreaker if that's how i lost uh your whole your whole team was team no fight right wasn't that your whole team like you somehow won like more i think half my roster did not fight a single time yeah but like you had waldo a tibagotier uh i mean yeah i'm just winning the bell is unbelievable um yeah just a great year man just a terrific year all around um um

Um, the other thing is, but I think before, even before the Umar fight, hadn't, hadn't, um, Marobans, weren't we mad at Marab because Maraubin's saying stuff like, like, oh, I'd rather fight Peter Yon again or something like that. Like Rob was the turkey of who's by, my Thanksgiving turkey of 2024 for being the worst starting champion in the history of the UFC. But he had already planted the seeds of like wanting to fight yon again, right? Before, even before the Umar fight. So you weren't like totally. Yeah, he was saying Mario Batista should get the title shot over Umar. And I was just like, what are you doing? And then finally and then data like announces that. Marob's fighting Umar. The way he did, it was like, I'm sitting in a meeting on my phone and I've been important conference call.

Maraubovus really drop kicks my door off its hinges and demands to fight Umar and Amalgamate off at UFC 311. And I was like, this is the greatest thing Dana has ever done to put a fighter over. Uh, so it was terrific. And I can't believe it got that right. So shout out to me. 145, AK, the featherweight division. You went with Movesar Ivoev, which is a great pick.

I went with Ilya, we're both wrong. Imagine them both started fought. That would have helped his chances, I feel like. Would have been great. Would have been great if he fought. He would have absolutely annihilated Aaron Pico and would have been getting a title shot. So tough scenes. 155, AK, you went with Islamakachev.

I went with Armin, Sarukian. We're both wrong. It's cool crap. Welterweight. Walter, we both went with Shafcott, Rock Botoff. Again, would have been nice if he fought in 2025. He did not. So he is not the champion.

That would be his Lamakachev. 185, we nailed. Both said Hamzaat Shabaya for the first time all these years, predicting Hamzaa to win belts, finally cashed that ticket. We've done it for five straight years now. So congratulations to Hamzaat Shabaya. 205 pounds, AK. I went with Alex Pereira and still, or once again. You went with a man who did hold the belt.

in 2025 magabed and Goliath and at heavyweight AK we both went with jonathan dwight jones boy did that age like dog poo i i don't think i hit 50 percent like i wasn't keeping i think it was three or four maybe maybe three that's this but this was a this was a chaotic year you know we just said earlier how many how many times the belts changed hands this year very abnormal like this is not how the uc i think even in recent years has been like i know we're we're well past you know gs p a ms and silver like uh to meet just johnson days where the guys held the belts for like two plus years

but you got abnormal you got two correct it stop it stop it you got hath you got kala and hamzad that's it my gosh uh i got chivchenko yan Shemayev and Pereira. So I got four. So I thought I did great and still was not. Yon is worth like two. So I gave us five points.

But this was an unpredictable year. This wasn't an unpredictable year. It was. For better or worse. This was hard to figure out the championship picture. Mackenzie Dern is a holding world title for going to say. Yeah, absolutely. All right.

Now we go to the We Caliente bold predictions that we offered the world in 2020. 25, okay? And boy, the timing of your prediction made me laugh so badly when I, when I went back and listened to this, because there was just days removed from another chapter of this saga being written. Here was the great Alexander Cayley's bold prediction for 2025. Francis and Ghanu will part ways with the PFL. will re-signed with the ultimate fighting championship at the end of 2025

and dana white will officially announce that francis and ghanu will fight john jones in the first quarter of 2026 i i wow if anything it wasn't bold enough i mean we've got stupid we've got stupid frances talking sorry francis we've got frances talking about like oh i want to yeah yeah i want to go out there and fight the white house the way that so I was in I'm way closer than anyone predicting that he was going to fight in the pfl he'll ever fight in the pfl again I'll tell you that much yeah

so there you go uh and then mine was I was gonna say how'd you do Nostradamus let's uh it did terrible okay I did terrible um I said that Sean O'Malley Sugar Shaw and the former UFC Bannamain champion would

lose two fights in 2025. First, he would get absolutely wrecked by Peter Young, and then he would fight again in 2025. He would lose that fight. And then he would say, thanks for the cheese, I'm outy. Sean O'Malley would retire from mixed martial arts competition in 2025 after losing two fights in 2025, after losing three straight.

Did you say who the second one was? Just someone. It would be someone. I said it was going to be like, maybe it's song you dong i'm not really sure who it is but it's gonna be i think montel jackson i'm picturing montel jackson for some reason it's gonna be somebody on the come up yeah uh and there you go so it wasn't that's not unreasonable i mean that was okay and i think like we always tell people your the prediction i think if your prediction uh comes true then it wasn't bold enough that's what i always say like i think the aim for these is for it to be within the realm of reality but not come true So I think we both scored there, Mike.

I think we were both like, you know, we were dabbling in certainly things that could possibly happen. But yeah, it didn't. But that's the point of a bold prediction. I think we were, we nailed it. Yeah, I think we did a great job. And you guys did a great job last year, as you could see with these incredible questions. But that is, that's the framework. That's the type of stuff we're looking for.

So in the same way that. You present your matchmaking suggestions. You can present your buy-sell questions. So you could send them via our IGs. I'm at M underscore HeckJR, AK, you're at. At Alexander K. Lee on Twitter. At Alexander KK.K Lee on Instagram, alex.ly at Espination.com is my email.

I check all those guys. So please hit us up. Yes. You could do Michael.h.heck at Voxmedy.com for emails. I still get emails from people who were a part of this show, even before my time at MMA fighting where we're doing prediction shows like this, the buy sell shows.

So you can leave them in that same email address. I probably have like six or seven of them that gets sprinkled out throughout the year. But yes, till January 2nd. So we're basically giving you a week or so, a little less to get those questions in. But some of you've already been sending some in, which is great.

So we've already been getting some. We'll start putting the spreadsheet together and we'll knock this out. So again, January 4th, noon Eastern, live on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel, part two of the

2026 predictions extravaganza. We go live for about an hour, hour and a half. Sometimes it goes up to two hours because the questions are so darn good. And I can't wait for it. It's one of my favorite shows of all to do throughout the year.

And then I forget all about it, even though it's my favorite show of the year. And then going back and re-listening to them is just one of my favorite things to do. So, uh, A.K. Any final words for the Otno Peeps for 2025? Just kind of what you said, Mike. That's so fun. I love looking back and I love a lot of the optimism.

Like I think so many of the questions are grounded in optimism. So like even though, you know, we kind of sold a lot of the questions you guys asked and kind of laugh like, oh my gosh, where is this person coming from? That's this question. Like these are all coming from a good place of wanting to see something exciting happen in M.A. Something unpredictable. A lot of those, you know, wanting to see chance. champions, you know, hopefully see dominant champions retained that didn't happen a lot this year. So keep sending those those in guys. Keep being optimistic. Keep being positive. Keep sending

those kinds of questions. And more, more cross sports questions. I love that Tatum won so much. So yeah, I'm not saying we're going to read all those guys. Like, you know, if you guys send in a bunch, we'll have to pick and choose for sure. But if we can get more of those, I think those are so fun. Basketball, NFL, even hockey. I don't want people with hockey anymore. But I'm sure I can do some quick statistical, you know, looking stuff up to answer a question like that. uh footy soccer whatever you guys want to call we got the world cup coming up guys so hey some world cup related questions would be great pro wrestling like we could party with some wrestling john sina thank you for your services sir uh yeah pro wrestling would be super fun um so yeah a lot of

cross sports that is great but everything you guys to send in is always fun and uh we're happy here for you yes and signing off in the the tune of john sina we believe here in hustle loyalty and respect here at ma fighting dot com you can't see us anymore in 2025 but you will see us January 4th, live on the YouTube channel for a live edition of On to the Next one, the predictions extravaganza. Do not miss it. Set your calendars, mark it, get ready, subscribe, all the notifications, do all that stuff. We appreciate you.

Have a great rest of the holiday season. Have a great rest of 2025. And we will see you in 2026 for an all new, exciting year of On to the next one, the podcast. Media Podcast Network.