MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Episode 16 | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 12

Episode Date: November 2, 2020

In the 16th episode of On to the Next One, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee put on their matchmaker hats following Saturday's UFC Vegas 12 event which was capped off by Uriah Hall stopping Anderson Silva in the fourth round of their middleweight headliner in, what looks to be, Silva's final octagon appearance. Future fights were discussed for Hall, Bryce Mitchell, Greg Hardy, Kevin Holland, Thiago Moises, Alexander Hernandez and more. 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. Go on and welcome to November, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one, MMA Fighting's Matchmaking Podcast. And this week, we take a look at what could be next for some of the notable names coming out of UFC Vegas 12, which went down this past Saturday Halloween night at the UFC Apex, capped off by what looks to be the final UFC fight for Anderson Silva. And unfortunately, it was not a happy ending for the spider as he was. finished by one Uriah Hall in the fourth round. Welcome again. My name is Mike Heck. Hope you're all a little extra refreshed, getting that extra hour of sleep. The clock's going back an hour.

And joining me as always my best friend, my co-host, my fellow matchmaker, the Prince of positivity himself. Mr. Alex K. Lee, how are you, sir? Mike Heck, my favorite, my favorite person in the world. Happy to do the show with you, of course. Yes, I'm still emotional from last night. I think a lot of people are. I think a lot of people will be during the week when they think about again, even if this is only his last UFC appearance, even if it isn't, I think every time Anderson Silva fights now, you know, there might be some diminishing returns

as there is when guys keep kind of waffling when they're going to walk away or not walk away, but we should appreciate these moments. And that was really, again, if that was the last time we see him fighting the UFC or fight at all, what a way to go out. You know, so emotionally with your eye hall and the moment they shared afterwards and it was really, really something.

He stuck around for the post-fight TV interview, which thought was great. You know, that's just something Anderson would do. Yeah, I'm still emotional. But I hope everyone had a good, good Halloween weekend. And their bellies and their children's bellies are filled with candy and their hearts are filled with joy. That is my wish, Reble. Yeah, I mean, there was a small part of me that hoped we could matchmake for Anderson Silva at least once on this show.

But it does look like it's going to happen. Hopefully the UFC just outright releases him if they don't want him around. If Anderson wants to retire, that is his decision to make. If he wants to keep going, that is also his decision to make. If you want to go to Bellator, Risen won, good on him. And I just want to say, you know, Anderson lost. He got finished. Not the Octagon Swan Song we all wanted.

But pretty damn competitive in that fight. And when ain't no sunshine hit, man, I still got those goosebumps, A.K., got me right in the fields. Goosies. Yes, those goosies were rampant. So let's start with the man who got the victory, the man who kind of flew in under the radar because of all the narrative. because of all the narratives and storylines surrounding this fight. Uriah Hall finishes his idol that became rival in the fourth round.

Biggest name on his resume for sure. Yes, he did have the win over Gay God Musassi, but this is definitely the more marquee name on that resume. Rank number 10 right now, A.K., he's won three in a row. What do you like next for? Mr. Prime Time after Saturday night. Mr. Primetime, maybe the best version of Uriah Hall we're seeing, 36 years young, Uriah Hall.

Maybe the best we've seen him yet. Mercurial, I think he's one of those fighters who we use that word to describe him a lot. I mean, from the ultimate fighter, you know, just look like an absolute blue chipper. Has been fighting strong competition forever even before the UFC. He fought Chris Wyden in like his fifth pro fight. So it's actually really fun to match me for him now. I think the most logical thing, I'll just go right to it. The Honoldo Jacques-Jacques Sousa Marvin Vittori winner, which was just booked or just announced,

I think that makes a lot of sense. They're fighting next month. I'm sure Hall is already thinking about fighting against soon. Maybe not before the end of the year, but January, February. So the winner of that fight makes a lot of sense. Hall and Jacquet was supposed to fight a couple of times at UFC 249 when it was originally scheduled in April. The event got canceled. And then it got moved to May.

And the fight also got moved. And then Jacques' day tested positive for COVID. So that's it. That's really the only matchup I'm eyeing, I think, for your eye haul. Yeah, I mean, it's been an interesting year for your eye haul. He said some big fights on the books this year and through no fault of his own, most of them have fallen out. Like you mentioned, Jokore, Yol Romero is another one.

Personally, I'd like to see them try and rebook the Romero fight if they could because that is just a super interesting matchup. I mean, I know Romero is on a losing streak, but Hall's trending upwards. The UFC seems to see a lot in him. So I like that idea. Now, if they don't want to give him that much of a bump up, let's see if he can keep knocking off former champions, maybe negate a previous loss in his career.

How about Uriah Hall versus the aforementioned Chris Widman? Widman had some injuries, says he's going to be ready to fight in January, got the pay-per-view. That one's starting to fill up. That would be a nice addition if Hall can turn around somewhat quickly, plus there's January 16th, January 30th. Both those cards need a main event right now, and that one would work as a fight night main event. I like both those matchups for Mr. Hall, A.K. Yeah, I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. The fight with Wybman was literally a lifetime ago for both.

I think 10 years. I'm looking at seeing here. 10 years. They're very different fighters, very different points of their careers. I'd have no problem with that. Again, and I think Wydman for me is in that range where I would like to see him. You know, we talked about him. We talked about him fighting against Anderson Silva. That's a fight we all wanted to see. I think people will still want to see if Anderson ends up having to fight in the UFC again. That's, I think one of the matchups, people will find palatable. So that's the stage wideman's in. I think there's any rematch that's really off the table of anyone that he fought, you know, not hasn't fought in the last like two years. There's a lot of good options. And I, and I, I I just want to say for Hall, it's really great that I think you can match him up with almost anyone on the top 10 right now, which seems obvious given, you know, three-fight winstreet. He's about beat some good names. But there was a time, but I think a lot of people were afraid he'd be kind of relegated to gatekeeper, you know, that mid, just as maybe hovering around the top of Dean, just aside the top 10 status. He really is ready and has always had the talent, I think, to be a top 10 guy.

He was probably in there briefly after the Musashi win, but has fallen out since. I think he's ready to return. So really anyone in the top 10. but yeah i like the wide an idea for sure co-man event bryce mitchell along with his camo shorts and his thoughts of about covid-19 picked up the biggest win of his career over andre feely he passed the test this guy deserves to be in the top 15 he proved it he deserves a fight against somebody else in the top 15 and if you watch the post-fight

show i had two suggestions keep in mind that bryce mitchell said he broke his hand he'll have to take some time off so one option for me is dan egan and I'm not sure if Ege will want to wait that long to fight, but if he does, I think that's number one. The other, and I'm sure you're in agreement, AK, I wasn't in on Mitchell versus Ryan Hall after UFC 249. I wasn't. I wanted the feely matchup.

We got it. Now I see it. And now I'm ready for that fight to be injected into my veins. Either of those two are excellent choices, in my opinion. I'm sure you're going with Ryan Hall, but do you have anything else on that notepad of yours, sir. I do. I do.

Well, I like EGate. I like EG because I have EGAM ranks higher than Ryan Hall. I think he's higher than the official rankings, too. I have Ege at 10 in my, my, my, mystery rankings. And yeah, I like that match. I think that's the matchup that Mitchell's, honestly, that's the matchup they should be campaigning for. I think it's a favorite, I think, I mean, he's a great fighter, but I do think it's a stylistically, it's a good matchup for Mitchell. And again, I think he's higher ranked than Ryan Hall, even though we all know Ryan Hall is really one A at all time. Regardless of who is champion, regardless who is the number one contender, Hall is just

one A. He's off to the side right at the top of the featherweight charts. So, yes, of course, Ryan Hall, everyone's calling for, everyone's, I've been calling for a while. So I'm totally down with it. That, for me, is number one option. I never know what's keeping Ryan Hall out, sometimes injuries, sometimes opponent getting injured. He just can't seem to fight more than once every, like, 18 months. It's really unfortunate. So hopefully he can get a run going, and hopefully that starts with Bryce Mitchell.

The other name, and I normally don't like to do this. Well, I shouldn't say that. I don't mind doing it. People don't like to match up unbeaten guys. Arnold Allen just lost his fight with Jeremy Stevens. They were supposed to fight this weekend, this coming weekend, actually. And they're both undefeated in the UFC, so I know people will look at that and go, no, you know, let's keep building both guys up separately. But again, if we're talking really fun, stylistic matchups, it's not quite Hall Mitchell, but it'd be up there.

Both guys, really good grapplers, great athletes. And so Arnold Allen's 7 and O in the UFC, Bryce Mitchell now, 5 in the UFC. Someone's O would have to go, but I have no problem with that. So if not Ryan Hall, because we just never know what's going on with that guy, Arnold Allen, he needs a fight. So not obviously this weekend, but maybe in December. Maybe they can move Island to December and take Mitchell with them. Yeah, it's just, it would all depend on whether Bryce's hand is good to go. I feel like we're not going to see him again in 2020.

Now, I'll tell you what, if Arnold Allen was offered a fight with Bryce Mitchell, he would jump on in a heartbeat, I think. He'd be kind of crazy not to. I have spoken to members of Arnold Allen's team over the last couple of days. There were some options presented to him to fight next week. weekend. None of them really made sense. I mean, he was supposed to fight Jeremy Stevens, a top 10 guy loses that fight, and then to fight a guy that isn't ranked, didn't make a whole lot of sense for him. So unless somebody ranked, steps in on short notice, takes that

fight, we won't be seeing Arnold Allen fighting on Saturday. Now, if Stevens can be rebooked or Edson Barbosa wants to dance in December, Arnold Allen has a sights on both of those fights. But if Bryce Mitchell could come back in December, he'd be all about it. I like to see him. Yeah, I'd like seen way from it. Not December, January, however long it takes. Because, man, they could talk to. And then there'd be some chatter. There'd be some pre-fight chatter. Let me put it that way. So now we move to Greg Hardy, who finished Maurice Green in the second round, and look,

he has his past, he'll always have his past. And he stated at the post-fight scrum that he almost pulled out of the fight a couple of hours before it started due to some folks trying to get him in some hot water because of his past. So if you haven't seen it, I do a terrible job of explaining it. So go back to our YouTube page. watch the scrum from more details on that, but it was very interesting. But he does get another win.

He's unbeaten in five of his last six. He did have the Volkov fight that he lost. He won the Ben-Sissoli fight, but it got overturned because of Inhalergate in Boston. But he's on a two-fight winning streak right now, A.K., what do we do with the former NFL Pro Bowler now? Is this actually our first time? This isn't our first time matching him up on the show, is it? Do we match him up after the pasture fight?

I think it is the first time. for our podcast version. Yes, yes, yes. Because this would have been May. It's been May. So like a little before we started doing the podcast. Yeah, so look, our first time having to match him up. I'll say, I'll get this out of the way for any future.

And I'll probably go on a little mini rant every time. I'm not fond of Greg Hardy. His past is very troubling to me. I know people have their own opinions about it, but I always, I would implore people. Read about it. Read about the initial conviction. Read about why it was cleared. Yes, legally, it's not on his record.

Okay. I'm acknowledging that. But I just find it to be an unsavory character. and I do, I think there's a lot of credibility to the allegations that were originally levied against him. So I'll put it that way. So the less I say about his character, the better. I'll say he looked improved in this fight.

I really, I really think so. I think he looked improved into the Castro fight as well. And I would like to see him fight. I think, I don't know if I'm just doing this because I want to see him like a stylistic matchup that foils him. But, uh, Wanda Spino. I think Wanda Spino would be interesting. If not that, then a little more of a favorable matchup and a little more in line with

the kind of guys they've matched him up with. But a tough opponent, Taito Ivasa. Yeah, I'm all in on Taito Uvasa. I mean, listen, there's so many ways you can go with him. You could give him a vet that could, I guess, kind of put him over because the UFC seems to want to push him, regardless of how people feel about him. You know, you give him an up-and-coming prospect, but I think Tua Vasa is, like, the perfect medium. It's like right in the middle.

So put him up against another guy's coming off an impressive knock-o win the week prior. People love them some Mr. Shui, and if he can knock out Greg Hardy, everybody will be taking shoeies out of their disgusting and stinky smelly shoes. So I think that's a good fight. I think it should be next. And I think time frame-wise, it lines up swimmingly, AK. If you look at who they've matched up Greg Hardy with and you kind of like formed an aggregate of those guys style-wise and body-wise and athleticism-wise, you get tied to Ivasa.

That's kind of your, I think the only difference is he's a bit, he's younger, I think, younger than most of the guys they normally throw Greg Hardy in there with, which is why I think it's the next logical step. Speaking of a guy, speaking of a guy with a lot of options, this guy is a ton of them. How about Kevin Holland? This man has become a company guy is on his way to becoming a star for the organization. He treated poor Charlie Anteveros, unfortunately accordingly on short notice. We wish the best to Charlie on Tavares suffered a neck injury in that fight, just got

tossed around. That last slam was just nasty to watch. But another win, another bonus for Mr. Trailblazer, first fighter to go four and in 2020. He wants the Mike Perry fight. I love that idea. I don't think he'll get it. The other option,

and I'm going to steal your idea from earlier, have him ready. This is, well, not really the same idea, but have him ready in case something happens with the Jock Ray versus Marvin Vittori fight.

That is an option. He can slide right in there. You could do Christoph Jocko, maybe, but he's the guy doesn't want to sit around. So it's tough to match him for him. So I guess keep him ready. He can step in.

But if they can book Perry, great. Love to see that. But I'd like to see him get a big fight next if they can do it. But either way, keep him ready if he's needed, but he's in a primo spot right now. What do you think? Yeah, look, it's like he's both very easy to match me for because he will literally fight anyone at 185 or 170. On like, give him an hour's notice. Excuse me.

And if it's someone at 185 or 170, he's in. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll take it. Which is why he ends up fighting guys who are like, you know, budding contenders and also guys who are just making their debut in the UFC. So it's also hard to match him for him because we just cannot predict when he's going to fight next. It could be this weekend.

Honestly, we just don't know with him. Yeah, I think a lot of people want to see him face a top 10 guy. And I'm okay with that. I think it has to be the right top 10 person. I mentioned this on our post-fight show on Saturday night. Calvin Gastelam, I think, is a really, really good option for him. A fun fight.

Also, normally, again, Calvin Gasselm, three-fight losing streak, Holland now on a four-fight, yeah, four-fight losing streak, 4-0 in 2020. I normally hate to match up guys who were, you know, going to go in so much in the directions, but Gaston's going to have to fight somebody at some point. And he's on a three-fight losing streak. It's very hard to find a matchup against someone who's in his range and also isn't

also on a one fight, too, some sort of winning streak. So Calvin Gasland would be my number one option. But again, I also like to Jackaday if we want to tuck a top 10 guy, especially if he gets past Vittori. And then the Vittori thing, there's a lot of heat between him and Holland already. The one other option I was thinking of was maybe Derek Brunson. But I think Brunson's kind of getting tired of being a prospect killer slash gatekeeper type guy. You know, he has that great reputation of only losing the champions.

I think he wants another shot at an elite guy. So it might not be fair to him, but I could see them making that match up. But for me, that's my top choice. Yeah, Brunson's in a weird place right now. So, yeah, he deserves a bigger fight after taking on a couple of names, especially the Shabazzian win. But let's head to the man who kicked off the main card, got a big win over Bobby Green. that is won Tiago Moises close fight a lot of people

scored it for Bobby Green I was one of those people but it was a close fight and I am not here to scream robbery he's now three and two in the UFC two fight winning streak he stopped Michael Johnson now the win over Bobby Green where does the Brazilian go from here I you know

this is always I don't like to go to this well too often the two guys fought in the same card let's just match them up they both won they both look good he mentioned this name after I do like the Alexander Hernandez matchup. I think it makes a lot of sense for both guys right now. Moises mentioned it after he said like Donald Seroni and he mentioned some other names. He mentioned Drew Dober. Drew Dober, I don't know if he knew that fight was off. So I don't mind that either. Drew Dober, that call out because Faheda, I think, arm injury, something like that. We don't know when he'll be back.

So Drew Dober, I think, made sense. Francisco Trinolo kind of throughout there, maybe like a fight island thing, but we don't know, you know, they got to wait until they go back there. So I'm going to maybe kill two birds with one stone in our show here and say Alexander Hernandez. I was thinking about doing the same thing, and I chose not to do that. Okay. But, I mean, as has been the case for a while now, and this is going to be a theme over the next couple of picks, there are no easy fights at 155. There just isn't. And I think he's going to find himself in another tough proving ground fight as he looks

to move closer to the top 15. So he's definitely going to need a couple more wins before he cracks the top 15. So let's give him another stiff test, another grinding kind of a fight. with another really underrated guy in this division. I'm thinking we do Tiago Moises versus Vince Pichel. Pichel coming off the win against Jim Miller. I know I had given Pichel the Sarukian fight back in July. I am changing my mind.

We do Moises versus Pichel. That is my pick. If we're going to see how good Tiago actually is, you got to beat a guy like Vince Pichel who's just going to give you everything he's got and he's going to put you in some really tough spots. I think the only – Pachel was absolutely on my radar for Moises.

I think the only reason I didn't was I believe on previous shows, I feel like I've used Pichel's name. I keep throwing it out there, but only because, again, he's one of those guys, like I said, he's in that, he's that great litmus test for a lot of, a lot of mid-guards, you know, lightweights in the mid-range. So I have no problem with that. I think I wanted to see him fight Bobby Green at some point. But again, Moises just beat Green, so maybe that makes sense for him to get the Pichel fight now.

So, yeah, Moises looks really good. Pichel, Alexander Hernandez. Again, yeah, like I said, go a younger guy, go a more veteran guy. He can't really go wrong. I also, I actually did think that he. He may have edged out the fight. I did an instant robbery review. So people don't look for that.

Don't look for that in the site. I don't think I'll be writing a robbery, a proper, proper robbery review for that. Why do I do these things when I know we're on air? Proper robbery review for that fight. So it is not a robbery. Well, you already gave your pick for one Alexander Hernandez, who is back with a clear-cut victory.

What a performance against Chris Gritzmacher. It was kind of just what the doctor ordered for Alex Hernandez. He looked great, seems to have found himself in a really good place, physically, mentally going to Factory X. A lot of interesting options for Hermanus. And this is no disrespect to Gritzmacher, but this was the play all along. Let's get Hernandez back in the wind column. Let's have him look impressive. And he got a great matchup to do exactly that.

So my thought is, kind of like Moises, we have to see if this is all for real. And it really depends on how much you want to push him towards that top 15. So you have options. One, and this is my first option, Brad Riddell. Three and O in the UFC, not ranked. He has called out Hernandez before. I think that's a really fun scrap, tough fight for both,

and I think a top 15 spot could come out of whoever wins that fight. The other thought I had was give him another guy coming off of a win, and a guy whose last loss, like Hernandez, was to Drew Dober. How about Nazrat Hexpressed? That's a fun matchup. The UFC seems relatively high on Mr. Hackparas. I like that fight. And I'm going to throw one more out there because the UFC,

they like to jump the gun pretty quick on different things. And I know for a fact that this gentleman would take this fight, despite being ranked in the top 10, Diego Fajara would absolutely fight Alex Hernandez if they don't rebook the Drew Dober fight. He thinks he'll be ready in December. Hernandez had a quick fight. So I think December seems right.

Faheda would absolutely take it. Hernandez would too because why not it's a top 10 fight. That's the lower ranked choice of the three, but it is an option nonetheless. I'm intrigued by all of those. I do think Hernandez, I actually have Hernandez ranked just outside the top 15, so quite a bit higher than Hackpressed and Redell. They'll get lightweight from 30 to 16. It's like barely separated by anything.

So I have him, I have my mystery rankings. I have Redell at 30 and Hack Pras at 29. But again, that's not as far back from Alexander Hernandez as it sounds. It's almost like right next to him. So I don't mind either of those. I went a little bit crazy with my other options for Hernandez. Leonardo Santos is a name I just keep throwing out there. But that might have to wait for Island trip.

Don't think, do we know when their next visit to Fight Island is yet, officially? Nothing official, but rumor has it late January, early February. Okay, so that's not too far. It's possible. I think that we could see that if I happen. The other one is, and at first I thought this was crazy, and I just looked up now and I realized they were booked to fight earlier this year. Maybe if you want to go real nuts with Alexander Hernandez,

the Islam Machachev-Hapaya Dos Anos fight that was just re-booked for the 14th. It's a little crazy. I think both, I think obviously Dosanos is like a top five lightweight. He's dropping back down. And Macha-chev has the winning streak. He's not quite in the top five, but I mean, he has the talent for it. He's on the winning streak that merits possibly the top five, top 10 ranking. Maybe.

It's a little too much too soon. But I got Moises, my number one choice. If he waited for the Machachev dos-Aannos winner, I wouldn't hate that. I would do, like, if Machachev beats RDA, Hernandez versus RDA would be five. I don't want to give Hernandez Islam-Machachev. That's just, that's just killer. I mean, no, no offense to RDA.

I feel like Machaaf's just going to put him. down and mini-habib him in a lot of ways. And I think if if Makachchev does win and does so impressively, I mean, here's the guy with Habib gone, I guess depending on who you speak, who you talk to, Machchev's going to be that next guy to get that push and to get that rub. So I don't know. That's a tough one. I hated that matchup for her name, just when they first booked it.

At lightweight, you mean? Yes. Because we all know who's actually getting the next Habibu. Yes. Yes. Well, definitely going to talk about during the reader things if we haven't already found a way to mention it. Yes, yes. So let's head to everyone's favorite segment, the Wild Card round where we matchmake for someone at this past Saturday's event that we haven't booked the future fight for yet.

And we're going to do it right now. So, AK, we've been finding some success with these as of late. So we will begin with you. Yeah. Tell people. Which ones? Tell people. Well, we had Casey Kennedy-Nathaniel Wood.

And I'm just going to ride that wave for as long as we can. I still think you knew. I still think you knew. I really didn't. Mike Heck is a man with his pulse No his I'm sorry his I was gonna say his pulse on the finger Oh man edit that out Pause pause for editing

Mike heck is a man with his finger on the pulse of MMA He talks to he talks to people people like don't look Mike heck I love people people know I love Mike heck all right This is this is this is everyone knows this this don't listen to him when he says when he calls on a matchup When he feels this strongly about a matchup and says oh I'm just I didn't know I didn't know this man talks to people He knows things He tries to play humble sometimes. He knows things.

I still think you had some sort of inside as an adjunct. But that was a hell of a callout, I will say. And everything worked. It was exactly, I think, what you wanted turned a great fight. We're really good outcome for, really for both guys, even for defeat for Wood. Yes, I will let you have that one, Mike. I should. Okay, so Wild Card this week.

You know, I'd like to do a few quick hits. Charlie Adveros, get well soon. We mentioned them earlier. Please, you know, it's good to hear. I think it sounds like, I believe the reports, It was just a neck strain. I say just a next strain, but I think getting slammed in a UFC fight and suffering a neck strain is a pretty scary thing regardless. So, but hopefully that is the extent of the injury, and he just needs to rest and recover, nothing major, no surgery, nothing permanent.

Cole Williams, Cole Williams, get it together. I hate to kick a guy when he's down. Mike, I hate to kick a guy on down. But you cannot miss weight by over four pounds for both your UFC fights and then get dominated in both of UFC fights. You know, I think it's fair to levy a little criticism in his. his direction. So hopefully, but I'll say this, he sorts everything out and we see him back in the UFC someday. He's still very young in his career. This is like, there's less than 15 pro fights. So Cole Williams, whatever's going on, I hope you're all right, buddy, and we'll see you in a big show

again someday. Anderson Silva, like I said, I don't know if he's your wild card pick. He's not mine officially, but a bare-knuckle boxing, that's really all that needs to be said. And then my actual, my actual pick, Mike, this guy, I enjoyed, there's two, there's so many great story on the Saturday, not just the Andrew Silva, Uri Hall stuff, but also Justin Chobie getting a win in his second run with the UFC. His first UFC win, like nine years after making his UC debut and not getting a win his first his first couple of tries. So that was amazing.

But the other great story, Sean Sterling coming back from motorcycle accident, hasn't competed in two years and just looking amazing and just talking some, talking some, we can't swear, some ish, on, talk some itch. Oh my gosh. Goodness me. I need a transcript. everything he said in like the second round onward from his fight with Jack Marshman. And he just looked fantastic.

So he was kind of a welterweight up in, you know, contender before he left. But I think if he wants to keep fighting frequently and with sort of the situation we're now, of course, with the pandemic, I'd like to see him stay at 185. I think it's just easier for everyone. And I think it'd be cool if he fought the Brad Tavares and Antonio Carlos Jr. winner. They're fighting in January 23rd. So a bit of a weight. He'd probably like to get in there sooner. And if that's the case, I'd like to see him go down to one.

I know I just mentioned the weight cut thing, but just ignore me. I'm an idiot. James Krause. James Krause, two guys, not having to cut weight, two veterans, fun fight. I'd love to see him talk crap to cross, see how Krause will put up with that. So I think we've matched up Krause before, but I think that'd be a fun one. And the other one is maybe if he really wants to fight against soon, replace Sean Brady and fight Balala Muhammad and a welterweight bout at, or maybe a catchweight bout if it's easier for them, December 19th. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people were throwing out Strickland versus.

Holland because of what that would sound like. Don't like that for Kevin Holland right now. I think it's a really dangerous fight. It's a high-risk, low-reward matchup for him. I mean, on Twitter, I picked Dustin Jacoby versus William Knight. I said that during the Way-in show as well. That fight should absolutely be made, but not the one I'm going with here. So I had a hard time deciding this morning how I was going to do this,

because I was going to go to the deepest division in the UFC like I typically like to do, the Bannonweight Division. We had Miles Johns get a win. We also had Adrian Yanez get a win. And the journey takes an M-night-Shamele-Anne kind of twist, A.K., because it seems like I'm setting them up to fight each other. So I decided to make a choice. I'm going with Adrian Yanez because I want to see more from him.

Okay? You said pump the brakes on the post-fight show. Let's pump the brakes on these guys. So I want to see him against somebody who will be in his face, throwing hams at him the entire time. A man that is coming off his first UFC win, just like Mr. Yannes. I'm getting pumped just thinking about the tornado of fun this fight could be, A.K. How about Adrian Yannes versus Tony Kelly?

I say to the fight watching world, you are welcome and enjoy the chaos. Those two dudes, good Lord. Good Lord. That is a ton of fun. The only reason I avoided making booking fights for Yanez or Miles Johns because there are no bad matchups of 135. I cannot say that anyone who listens to our shows. I'm sorry, you're going to hear me say this just constantly. There are no bad magic.

I don't want to 30. I also didn't realize how deep this division had become. According to my list, there's at least, I think, 80 contracted bantam weights compared to, if you want to look at fly weights, there's like 20. So there's four times as many. And then up above that, quite a few further weights. But yeah, I would call that a deep division as well. So there was a time when bantam weight was not as stacked. Like the talent was out there

It's not necessarily in the UFC But now the UFC roster is holy crap I'm just looking like even like guys at the bottom Like guys who didn't get wins I'm looking like I remember them having strong performances Even in losses so What a sick division so yeah I like that I have no other suggestions for Yanaz

Like I said he's pretty early in his career Tony Kelly I think is as good as anyone But yeah him like you said Miles Johns that's certainly possible I don't think they go in that direction But easily that's a matchup they could throw in there They both won they both look great And that can happen soon, who knows?

Miles John should fight like Hunter Azure or something like that. Yeah, yeah. Have they not fought before? It feels like one of those fights that happened in the regional scene, right? But no, I guess, no, I guess, now, apparently haven't. No, they have, yeah, they both came off the contender series the same year. Both got contracts. I think that's a great fight to make.

Do we have any, any listener suggestions, AK? So many, so many. Okay, so I'll go, yeah, the one email we got first from our good buddy, Tristan Gordad, who dominates our post-fight show. I'll just look at some of these. I'm just reading this email now, so I should screen these. But he likes Bryce Mitchell and Dawadu. I don't know.

I think they're going in different directions. I think both going upwards, but not parallel. Sorry, they are parallels. So I don't want to see them. Oh, Greg Hardy versus Tom Aspinall. The UFC's not going to do that. No. Because I think Aspinall would smoke Greg Hardy, and that's definitely not going to happen.

Okay, so that's a couple of suggestions from Tristan. I won't read his whole email. So thank you, Tristan, for sending the email. Another regular listener of ours at Mighty Mighty Magic Mart, Martin on Twitter. He mentioned Hall Brunson, which might be where I got that germ of an idea. Though, oh, no, I said Brunson for Holland, right? Yes.

No one of the thing with Hall Brunson is it would be a rematch. I don't think people want to see, though it was four years ago. So if we, you know, if we mentioned kind of Wydenman's a possibility, I guess Brunson would be a possibility. I don't love it. Of course, he's also down. Martin is also down with Mitchell, Ryan Hall, which I think we'll see a lot of. And this one I actually didn't mind, and I'm surprised not ever was mentioned it.

Holland and Amari Akmadov. Ooh. Interesting. Yeah, I thought about it, but I didn't mention it for the show. And then Martin brought it up and I said, yeah, I see it. At Tok D.K. It likes your idea of Uri-Haw, U.L. Romero. So there's a supporter there.

Okay, and then we have our solicitations from our own Twitter account, which I like to send out after some of the fight. I don't do it for everyone because, Mike, you and I are pretty good at matching up, you know, some of the main card guys. I don't know if we need them. also I have to get it so someone said for Strickland Kamsat Shemayev

Rick the Shemayev bell we have that's the obligatory mention well we Holland of course which you brought up Zach Cummings again another guy we're just waiting for him

to get a fight book really he's in that range you could do you want to see him find another veteran does the UFC want to test out you know one of their prospects against them

absolutely you can do that so I like all those options again Sean Strickland just a great great form how do you feel this one for Alexander Hernandez. This is from, sorry, guys, let's you bring out your names here. At 302, Pat McCabe.

Kevin Lee went healthy. Could be a long wait, but what do you think about that? I thought about that. That was on my mind, because I think that's a winnable fight for Hernandez. And a winnable fight for Lee. I mean, I think it's an interesting matchup, but again, it's just so unsure of when Kevin Lee can fight again. So I don't know.

I like it if, like, Lee can come back somewhat relatively soon. I mean, if Hernandez gets another fight booked in like December, January, February, gets another win, and Lee can come back in like June, July. Sure. Yeah, definitely something to keep an eye on. Definitely something they could move towards. Another guy, I'm not sure when he's funny again. Speaking of Kevin Lee, Gregor Gillespie, sure, I'd be okay with that. I don't know if I love it, but I see a couple of people mentioning that one.

At ELX-L-E-O-N-S-L-A-L-S-A-S. That's going to be great. I'm sure. I think he's saying Joel Alvarez? I don't know. I think Alvarez is way behind Hernandez. It'd be an exciting fight,

but I think that's not good for Hernandez. So I appreciate it being mentioned. Don't love it. Kevin Holland. Okay, now I remember why I had to read this one out. From Matt Goya at Gioia Plata, Gia.

I'm not, why am I spawning? At Gio Plata on Twitter. Michelle Pereira. Oh, man. Oh, the reaction from my at 170 I think either Michelle Perey could should really be

185 or sometimes he's huge that would be crazy I don't know why I hadn't thought about that I've really been neglecting by Michelle Panetta matchups I mean Perez Pea's gonna have to win another couple of fights before he can get there but that I mean good Lord if he can win a couple more fights

that's that's fun that's a lot of fun and I also wanted it because Matt Goya he at at Sean Shelby do it no balls I don't know I don't know why

because I think if you brought that up to Sean Shelby I'm sure he'd consider it I don't think that kind of aggression is necessary I think Sean Shelby would be like yeah that's a cool matchup I've never heard him specifically shoot that matchup down but thank you for bringing that Joplaza I had not in Matt Goyer I had not even I had not even thought about that

the fight card was still going on I can hear you. He might have been, he might have been out with his kid's trick-or-treating. Come on, leave the guy alone. I see another Hakeem-Dawadu thing for Bryce Mitchell. I don't know. Did we not put enough thought to that? But again, it just doesn't work for me.

And that is, what did that someone else say? I thought someone else did something funny. Ryan Hall, of course. There's a couple of Ryan Halls out there. So, yeah, I don't know. Who knows? Maybe we see him bash up with me and Hakeem, and we'll be like, man, why didn't we mention that? So good on the readers, I guess, for throwing that one out there?

I think it's because, you know, there are oftentimes where you can't avoid prospect versus prospect, but you can avoid it here. You know what I mean? Like that's a fight you want to see when they're both like in the top five or, you know, in the top ten or up the ladder a little more. You don't want to see them, you know, trying to get it, break into the top ten and have them fight each other to get there. You'd rather see Mitchell fight a hall or veteran or someone who's been in combat sports for a while, a guy that, DiWato just seems, I don't know. I love the fight and I love to see it someday. I just don't think the time is now. I think you're going to have to hold off on that one.

Yeah. Not next. I agree. Not next. Yeah. But thank you readers. Readers are bringing it now. Readers are really bringing it.

I'm glad to see all the suggestions out there. Yes. And you can keep them coming. So hit us up on Twitter with those suggestions. He is at Alexuna K. Lee. I am at Mike Heck underscore J.R. And join us again next week as we discuss future matchups coming out of UFC Vegas 13, which will be headlined by Tiago Santos versus Glover Teshara.

who signed bout agreements, had this fight moved around a couple of different times, in hopes of being the first title challenger for one Jan Blovich, turns out, according to Dana White, that is not the case, because the UFC wants to book Balehovic versus Israel Adasani instead. So what are they actually fighting for, A.K., what are they fighting for? A spot on onto the next one, it appears. But other than that, what are they fighting for? An illustrious spot.

Let's just hope this fight happens. My goodness. When was it first booked? Let's let me tell you. When was this fight first booked? It had to have been, was it a fight island thing? I guess I think, right? Was it always an Apex show?

That's a good question. So I guess that's not that bad. Again, it just feels, it also feels like, even though they weren't in the same weight class for a long time, it does feel like a fight that should have happened. I guess September, not too many, not too much. It's just, I guess all the stops and starts getting in my head. But yeah, look, they're fighting just to get back into action

and, like I said, kind of stay in the light, heavyweight sweepstakes. but it does suck that they probably won't be getting this show show now. Though we should say, though, the Izzy, the Yon fight is nowhere, I think nowhere near being official. So, in a way, good on him for pushing that out. But I think we can still see one of these guys step in and get that shot, depending on everyone's schedules work out. But I'll say all this also. Next week, I think it might be tough. I'm looking at the lineup.

I don't know, nothing's really jumping out of me for future matchups. But we'll see how it unfolds, right? I shouldn't say that. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, Arlovsky, Tanner Bojure is fun. Hione Barcellos versus Kalitaha is a banger, really like that fight. Ian Heinish versus Brennan is finally going down.

Of course, you got Gadalia versus Jan. Chikaze is going to be on the card. He's fighting Jamie Simmons because, I mean, why not? He wants to fight. Let's get him on the card, but... Oh, I didn't know Brahimage was making his debut. Yes.

That guy's good. Oh, that guy's exciting. Yeah, tough Max Griffin his first fight. It's a late replacement. Oh, my goodness. That's a tough, that's a tough guy to debut against. Yeah. Darren Elkins versus Garagori and one of our favorite fighters of 2020, the return of Alexander Romanov.

Take it on, Marcos Ruggiero de Lima. Good God Almighty. That's a lot of man meat in that cage, as I like to say. I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. It's too late. It's out there. I like to say it. I'm not going to lie.

That's a man meat matchup, as we called. Normally in pro wrestling, but sometimes you get those in the MMA 2 and you just got to point it out. So sneaky good card. 11 fights and ESPN plus wire to wire. So we'll break that one down, at least the aftermath of it, next week on the show. I mean, just to Chera versus Santos, great fight. Another sneaky good one, like I said, and we're excited to discuss it with all of you next week.

With that said, we are out of time. Thank you so much for listening for Alexander Cayley. I am Mike Heck. Remember, don't take this too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. And that's what we'd like to do here on onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. You know,

Thank you.