MMA Fighting - On To the Next One, Episode 17: Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 13

Episode Date: November 8, 2020

In the 17th 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 13 event at the UFC APEX. Future fights were discussed for headliners Glover Teixeira--who earned a third-round submission victory--Thiago Santos, Andrei Arlovski, Raoni Barcelos, Giga Chikadze, Yan Xiaonan, Alexander Romanov, 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. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next one, MMAFighting.com's matchmaking podcast as we attempt to look at the futures for some of the notable names coming out of Saturday nights, UFC Vegas 13 card. And some of you might be thinking to yourselves, whoa, it's Sunday. Is this a mistake? No, it is not a mistake because this is a special gift from us to you, our podcast subscribers.

So some of you may still be hearing this on Monday. and if so, welcome. But for those who subscribe to our channel on Apple Podcasts at your Spotify, Google Play, et cetera, you're getting this bad boy a day early. So if you haven't subscribed, do so right now. It's free and it takes three seconds to do. And this just might be a regular thing from here on out. So make sure you subscribe and don't miss out.

You get this episode before anybody else does. But now that that's out of the way, the housekeeping, so to speak, I am Mike Hacken. I'm being joined by the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend, and the tag team partner in this venture. Mr. Alexander Kaley, how are you, sir? Hello, my Keck, my best friend. Sunday, so this isn't a special case. This isn't because of, when's your, when's fake Thanksgiving again? When's your fake Thanksgiving in the United States?

That's not this weekend? No, no, no, no, no. Not for a few weeks ago. For any listeners who aren't aware, even though I mentioned it frequently, I live in Canada where we have already, we have real Thanksgiving, which we celebrate in October. So we do October, we do Thanksgiving, we do Halloween in the same month. month as God intended. And we saved November for, I can't remember.

We used the same weekend for something else. But yeah, well, anyway, happy fake Thanksgiving to anyone out there celebrating early. That's why. Otherwise, if we're just doing Sunday shows from now on, fantastic. But either way, have to be here. And I had to say, Saturday's show was pretty decent. I know you guys did the post show yesterday. I was not there, but I will say, I think the UFC has found a good formula with having mismatches.

Not, I shouldn't say mismatches, but pretty clear heavy favorites on the prelims. which often leads to finishes, which you've seen in the last two shows, and then having competitive vice on the main card. This is not a bad strategy, I would say, for casual breezy viewership. This is like the old school edition of like Monday Night Raw. That's like there. Like squash matches for some of the up-and-coming names to get them over, and then there's, you know, a pretty good main event to keep the people on board

for the two hours or three hours now. I don't remember anyone's ears getting torn off on, you know, old episodes of like WWF superstars. But again, I didn't see every episode. So I mean, Y'Alma McPoli certainly had his share of injuries. But, yes, I don't recall too many head-hdle, that's a medical term, headl disfigurements happening on my Saturday morning, Rasselin. But we certainly got that yesterday. We sure did.

We got a little bit of everything. But let's go ahead and light this candle, A.K., let us begin with the man who came out victorious in the main event of UFC Vegas 13. Glover Cheshirea, who had 41 years of age, used that granite chin of his. use his outstanding ground game, his heart, his elbows, his fists, and everything else, and submits Tiago Santos in the third round. And come Tuesday, this man should have a number one next to his name in the light heavyweight division.

But as everybody knows by now, the UFC is leaning towards Jan Blahovic defending his title for the first time against Israel, Adesania. And it seems that is still the plan as of right now. So the question is, AK, what does Glover do? Does he wait for the winner and hope that Blahovic does win that fight? Does he hope maybe someone prices themselves out and he can just sort of slide in there? Or does he just say, you know what, I don't want to wait that long, keep me busy. What do you think he does here?

I mean, yeah, look, if Izzy prices himself out of the young Blahovic's fight, then to share us right there. You know, that's the great thing. everyone was kind of downplaying the implications of this fight with that Izzy Blakovich announcement. But again, it's important to be number one, not just on the short list, but to be at the front of that shortlist, which is where to share kept himself with that win yesterday. But yeah, look, I joked about that. I don't remember if I tweeted this or anything, but I joked that all it takes is for Izzy to ask for a few extra dollars

that rubs Dana White in the UFC the wrong way. And then suddenly it's, oh, I never, the Izzy fight was never even close to being finished. It was always going to be, it was always going to be whoever won, you know, the UFC Vegas 13 main event that I was going to put in that pole position to fight Jan Blahovitch. So that can change really quickly. Obviously, that's a cool fight, you know, Blahovic is he, so I don't want to poop on it. But really, Tashira should not have to fight again. He should just wait for the winner of that fight.

He should fight Blahovic. But we do know if Izzy beats him, it probably sets the table for John Jones to come back to light heavy weight and fight him. And that means Tashira would be on the shelf for six months, nine months. We don't know. We don't know how long it takes for all this to unfold. So if he has to fight again, Mike, if he has to fight again, the Dominic Reyes, Yerri for Hachka winner, they're fighting in February 27th, but he shouldn't.

My thing is wait for he should get the Blahovic at this in your winner, especially if it's Blahovic. Yeah. I think he's probably screwed here, honestly. Like, he's probably going to have to fight again. But, you know, if you want to throw him like a little bit of a bone and the UFC should absolutely do this, make him the backup. before the Yon versus Izzy fight in case something happens.

Like, at least he gets an extra paycheck to make weight. So at least you're saying, hey, Glover, we care. We're not giving you the shot. But, you know, we care. You know, something happens. We slide you in there. If not, we'll give you a couple extra shekels. But, you know, if Lohovic wins that fight,

Glover's obviously the guy you slide in there. If I decide he wins, like you said, he's fighting John Jones, more than likely. They would have to make that fight because if you didn't make it then, you're never going to. So, like, and I'm, I mean, I'm completely in agreement with you. You do Glover versus the winner of Dominic Reyes versus Yuri Perashka and the winner gets the next title shot. Or, you know, if Adasania wins, and let's just say he beats John Jones, Glover's right there probably for a vacant title fight or something like that. So we don't know what's going to happen.

Vacant title fight is a very possible thing here. But, you know, how like Dana White said, Adasani's got options. This is great. Glover's got options too, but it's not so great for him. Yeah. It's the only thing else, the one thing I want to add is, you know, it's kind of, you know, it's kind of, like our own Casey Leiden was, he was very frustrated, remember, with the Lauren Murphy, who did Lauren Murphy beat again, that short notice replacement?

Lillia Shakarova. Ah, yes, yes, Lillia Shakarova. Excellent. Thank you. And obviously fighting the Valles-Prahatchka winner would be very different than that. But, I mean, even the Calvillo matchup, I remember Casey wasn't crazy about because he felt that Murphy had done enough to sort of earn a title shot and then having to fight again was, you know, it sucks.

It's, you need to stay busy. you need to get that paycheck. That's how these guys, people earn their living. But it is unfortunate. And you're right. Really, to Sherif finds on that same place. He's the number one contender. He doesn't become more the number one contender with a win over Reyes or Yuri

Prakha. It's only, he only has something to lose. For the fans, great fight, you know, can't complain if that happens. But really, maybe we're just being sentimental. But I would like to see to Cherokee get one more crack at the at the UFC Light Heavyweight title. If Dominic Reyes beats Yuri Parashka, I don't think global. is going to have to fight again. I think that he's good to go.

But if Yuri wins, you best believe they're going to do everything in their power to make that fight. And I like Yuri. And he's getting pushed and deservedly so. But I think Glover probably beats him pretty handily. That's just, just Glover's in that spire now. I think Glover beats Janbojovich right now for being honest. He's just that much on a run.

And he's looking that good. Like, yeah, he got caught a couple of times with Tiago Santos. But he stayed in there both of those times. John's got that Polish power, but we can, it's a pretty fair argument that Santos is the most powerful guy at 205 more than likely. Like, he's got more bricks in his hand than Jan does. Jan's got sneaky power, but Tiago's got that like life-altering one-shot power. And Glover's just like, ooh, I'm still going to take you down and submit you. And that's what he did.

So as we move ahead to Siago Santos, I mean, like we said, certainly had his moments, almost finished the fight twice. and if he didn't chase Glover to the ground in the third round and just let him back up, maybe he would have gotten the finish on the feet. Maybe not, but the chances would have increased one we'd guess. So this one seems kind of easy, AKA Alexander Rockets needs a fight.

He deserves someone in the top five. That works for me. Rockets versus Santos. What say you? Yeah, that was the obvious choice for me. But I didn't love it. I don't love it either. No, it took me a while, yeah,

it took me a while to settle on it. I looked at my rankings. I'm just like, okay, who hasn't he fought? Who's not blah, blah, blah, blah. who needs, as you said, who needs a fight, who deserves a fight still with the top 10 guy, Rockets boom, popped up right away. And I was like, but I was like, is that it?

Like, is that really my only option here? And really nothing else jumped out. The only thing, and I think we've kind of played around with the winners or losers of this matchup fighting, I know I mentioned them in the Johnny Walker. I feel like I've mentioned them in another matchup. But, you know, Shogun Who and Craig are fighting again on November 21st.

Maybe the loser of that fights, fights Santiago Santos. but really the Rockich fight has a lot more juice to it. And again, you know, we both came to this conclusion. I think it makes sense. It's not a sexy matchup. It's not a great matchup for Tiago Santos. But it is a good test to see how serious to Diego Santos is, really is as a contender.

Because I think we've seen his limitations. I think we're aware of his limitations. We've somewhat seen his ceiling. Maybe it was the John Jones fight. Maybe that's the best Tiago Santos will see. But if he gets past a guy like Rockich, he's not, then, you know, that keeps him right up there. He's not far removed from staying in that light heavyweight title picture, which, again, we don't know what it'll look like by mid-20201, the end of 2021. But he'll want to still be in the talks, of course.

Yeah, I think if Dominic Reyes beats Yuri Perashka, maybe you do Reyes versus Santos because there's just really no other way to go or you can do the loser of that fight, he's got options. But I think Rockets just because he deserves something like that, he deserves that. he deserves that fight. I think that's probably the way to go. This is interesting, AK, co-main event. We saw Andre Arlowski play spoiler once again, this time at the expense of Tanner Bojure. Not the greatest fight ever,

but Arlofsky fought a very smart fight. And listen, you can complain about the fight all you want, but the man got the second half of his paycheck, and that is all that matters at the end of the day, AK, so what is next for the former heavyweight champion of the world? I had, Mike, I had the perfect matchup for him in my mind because I was looking over, we were doing, you know, I was doing some writing by Rolovsky for the site. And then I was like, man, he's fought really every name heavyweight, like almost in anime history.

One, he hadn't. I was like, perfect matchup. Junior Dos Santos, perfect. Unfortunately, Dos Santos is for some reason booked against Sidial Gan on December 12th. I hate this matchup. I like it for Sir Algon because I think obviously he's a great prospect. It's a winnable fight for him. good test, though I think it's way too early

for, it's such a weird fight. I feel like at the same time, one, it's way too early for Citilagan, but I also hate it for JDS, because I just don't think he should be in this sort of prospect building position. I just don't think that's where he deserves to be yet. So I think a fight between Arlosky was, him and Arlosky was

perfect. So I would say give him the winner of that fight, but I don't really want to see Arlowski fight in Sidilgan either. So it's really only if if JDS pulls off an upset there, that I would want to see him fight to Arloskey. And you know what, that fight will probably still happen someday, if not next, sometime next year, 2022. These guys are lifers. So if not that, then I kind of just, Shamil Abdur Akeemov.

All right. Age-wise, they're around the same. I think we don't realize that. Abdera Kimov has had nowhere near his length of UFC career, of course. But he's actually 39 years old, so people don't know. So he's right around Arlowski's age. So age-appropriate matchmaking. That's what I'm all about. So Arlowski gets the win. I have no problem with the way he won that fight. because got to make that money, son. And, you know, he did have some things to say after the fight about game plans and how he wants to fight smarter. You know, these are all good things for his career, especially at his age.

But you know how Dana White can be. He'd rather see Arlowski get in there and throw bolos. And I think the UFC wanted to use this fight as a launching pad of sorts for Tanner Bozier and Arlofsky thwarted those plans. And for that, and AK, you are going to hate what I have to say more than likely. He's going to have to pay the price for it. So normally, as you talked about, I think it was last week, maybe two weeks ago, I don't like to check off two boxes in one show, but I'm going to do it here. Arlowski, the man is a legend, former heavyweight champion of the world, in the record books a number of times.

But this is a guy, unfortunately, that for the remainder of his career, he's either going to be putting over up-and-coming talent, or he's just going to spoil parties. and it's a cool moment when he does that. So what I think the UFC is going to do here, and maybe this won't be next for his opponent, but next for Andre, I think he's going to fight Alexander Romanov. Maybe Romanov gets another one in before the end of the year, but if he wins and the way they like to match guys like this up,

he probably will. You do Romanov versus Arlowski after that, or they just get that one in the books February or March or something, but it seems like Romano wants to fight. in December, called out Marcyne Taibora, don't hate that idea. But if he goes out and beats Taibora, get him Marlowski next. That's what I think they'll do, A.K. I'll be honest.

I can't remember the last time Arlowski faced like in a someone with like that kind of wrestling, that kind of aggressive wrestling. Because I was going to say like, oh, I hate this matchup because he'll ragdoller Rolowski. I don't know if that's ever happened to Arlowski before. I'm actually like looking for, but again, but again, has he ever fought someone who could really do that to him? I guess in that sense it's interesting.

But again, like I said, gosh, I just don't want to see. If it's possible, if Romanov can do that, Tim, I don't want to see that. I kind of like Hollander Arlowski, and I don't know if I want to see that. But it does make a lot of sense. Again, if we want to do that,

both guys picked up wins on the card, their timelines probably match up. I'm not against it happening. It's just not my favorite. You were right. You were right. You know me well. Mike, I wasn't happy to hear that.

Yeah, I'm not happy saying it, if we're being honest, but I just think that's what's going to happen. And I think it's like the next logical step because I don't want to see, because the reason I suggest this fight is I don't want the UFC to just throw Romanov into a top 10 fight, which they could, they would do. And I mean, it's something they would absolutely do. They've done it before.

At least with Arlovsky, they're still slow rolling him a little bit. No disrespect to Arlovsky at all because he just got a nice win on Saturday. But still, this is a winnable fight for Romanov, gives him a step up, but it's not like a ridiculous step up where you're like, okay, this guy might get knocked out and look really bad and we thwart his career before it even really gets started in the UFC. But it is the heavyweight division. Anything can happen. So interesting options.

I'm sure the UFC would rather us to be talking about Tanner Boja right now, but it is what it is. Tanner Bojure is a pretty easy pick and we'll talk about that later. But how about Hione Barcellos, aka good lord, this guy is a talent in a very loaded 135 pond division defeats Khalid Tiber. on short notice. He's 5 and 0 in the UFC. 16 and 1 overall. He's got a 9-fight winning streak now, I believe. This man is a problem. And quite frankly, he should absolutely unequivocally be ranked in this division. And if he isn't by Tuesday, he deserves to fight somebody in the top 15 for sure.

And I said this on Twitter. My first choice, if he's ready to turn around next month, give him Marab de Walsh Willie. Marab needs an opponent. Barcelis getting some steam. That's a lot of fun. If they already have somebody in mind for Marab, you give him a guy like Cody Stamen or you give him Song Yidong, regardless, it's somewhat interchangeable in my mind. Barcellos versus X, but that X better have a number next to his name. What is your position on Hione Barcellos and his next move?

Yeah, look, we've been kind of on a downer with our last two picks. We were like, you know, we were kind of resigned to them. That Marab fight is, that's the one I want to. It's the one I want to see. It makes sense December 5th, right? Mara was supposed to face a, you know, a ranked, guy in Cody Stamen. And now, like you said, he would instead get a guy who definitely should be ranked by the time, by next week.

Or at least if not on the fringe. I'll tell you, in my rankings, he's actually just outside, but my rankings are a little screwed up. I probably have some old dudes ahead of Haone. Howony? Hi,oni. Yep. Howony? That he should be ranked over.

But my ranks can be, my rankings be a little studgy. So, yeah, that's awesome fight on paper. Good mix of styles. Oh, you know, someone's streak's going to have to end, but man, that's just a super, super exciting fight. So that'd be it. Otherwise, if we're talking ranked, hat tip to Bloody Elbows, Mookie Alexander here who threw this one out. Some other people mention this as well, but I saw him mention it first. Jimmy Rivera, I think makes a lot of sense.

It does make a lot of sense. I do not want that over the Mirab fight. But Jimmy Rivera, for sure, veteran guy, again, really good test. Rivera, for better for worse, kind of in that band-in-weight gatekeeper role. now. You know, he looked like a title contender before, but the way they've matched him up and the way his results have kind of played out, it does feel like he's that test. He's that test

for some guys, see how close they are to the top five and maybe not necessarily a top five guy himself. The other one is maybe the Ricky Simone, Brian Keller, her winner, January 16th, that could be fun. But again, those guys will we know Kellerher if he wins, who knows when he'll fight the next week, so

impossible to predict, really. Ricky Simone might be looking for a little bit more of a name. Maybe he doesn't want to go, he might view that Barcellos is a step backwards, I'm not sure. But Barcellos, Davalus, really, is the matchup to make, absolutely. We go from a fight of the night bonus winner to one of the performance of the night winners, along with Mr. Romanov. Giga Chikaze approves to 5-0 in the UFC.

And second fighter to get four wins in 2020. Follows up Kevin Hollins the next week. Knoxo Jamie Simmons in the first round, beautiful head kick to the ground and pound. A lot of people excited for Giga Chikaze, K. What do you like next for him? Well, we have to say it's a good thing Giggich-Cudze got on the mic and also there was some social media activity as well because I was this close, Mike, you know this, to banning Giga from our show. Okay, Kevin Holland was already, Kevin Holland, I am telling you right now he was banned. I think we did match for him last time, but that's it.

Because what did he do? He just accepted that short notice fight with my memory is terrible. Who's Kevin Holland fighting now? Jacker Manson. Thank you. Jack Hermanson, people, I, I'm not a smart man. He's fighting Jackermanston now. Again, and anyway, you know what?

That's something we should have seen coming. Okay, as soon as the, as soon as Till dropped out, we should have been. But that happened after the show. So Holland, because he'll fight with two weeks, three weeks, notice, he is banned. I have not co-signed on this. I have the only one who has signed on this. He's banned from the show. Giga was close because Giga's been fighting a lot, too, just taking whatever fights get thrown his way.

So he's almost banned from our show, because we just can't predict these guys, Mike. It's frustrating to me. But thankfully, he called out Jeremy Stevens, who's looking for a fight after losing, missing Arnold Allen for his next booking. Jeremy Stevens responded with nice fight, on Twitter. Nice fight, Gigacete. I accept for December, butt cheeks. Let's go. I thought that was an auto-correct.

I assume it is a reference to Chickadezzi? But cheeks? Well done. Jeremy Stevens, well done. And then Giga responded early this morning, what would have been early this morning. Uh, show up bum December. I'll break your jaw. So 15, 15, 17.

There are two cards. He said 15, 17. I don't know what that means, but. So he goes down. He did our work for us. Uh, I'm into it. Giga Chikaze, Jeremy Stevens. Let's roll.

Yeah, I, I could not have loved the Stevens call out anymore. Like, he did plant the seeds for maybe a future fight with Arnold Allen, but that fight's not going to happen anytime soon. And I think he knows that. And he should understand that as well. Like, I don't. Arnold Allen is on a ridiculous run right now. He's a top 10 guy.

Fighting a guy like Giga, Jakoza does nothing for him. Like, Giga's got some buzz to him, but in terms of ranking and all that stuff, it means it's a very risky fight with very little reward because I'd love to see Arnold Allen fight Edson Barbosa. That works out perfectly for me. So, yeah, give a Jakoza what he wants. Give him Stevens. Top 10 guy.

He's going to stand there right in front of him. Stevens still has some pop even at this point. Like, even though he's on a losing streak, he can still knock dudes out. So this is a good test, a veteran name, a guy who quite honestly fits into Chikaze's fighting style quite well. And I saw people on Twitter saying that that was a bad callout. Like, I could not disagree more. This was a perfect A plus callout in my book. And I am completely on board with this idea, okay, completely.

Yeah. Stevens is still ranked, I think, in the UFC's, again, maybe it's my... He's number nine? Eight or nine. That's what I thought. Is he not still in the top ten? He should be. He was at least like a few days ago unless something drastically changed.

He is tied with Arnold Allen, ranked eighth. So it's a great callout. Unless people think it's too soon, which, again, if you've seen both guys fight, if you've seen Chikaze finally getting his first finish, by the way, you know that he's a top 20 caliber guy. And again, maybe top 10. But that's why the Stevens call is so good. It's a guy who's probably on his way out of the top 10.

Chikaze's looking to slide in there. Style-wise, very good for him. very winnable fight. It's a perfect callout. If people wanted to be a little more rankings appropriate, a guy who I think is a little closer to him in the rankings, and still a veteran, people are going to hate this because it won't shoot him up that much.

I kind of like a Daniel Paneda matchup. Panetta had the chance to capitalize since the Herbert Burns upset. But again, if you want to take it a little bit slower at Giga, Daniel Panetta would be a fun one, veteran, good test for him. And then the other option is, actually, I wrote this down as he should fight the winner of this fight.

But I think it's just as likely that maybe he steps into a place one of these guys. God forbid anything happened. The Nate Landwer, Moser, Evloa fight, which is also happening on December 5th. And you know if someone drops out of the fight, Giga sliding right in. I would love to see Giga versus Nate Landwer. I'm just saying. That would be insane. Yes.

So he's got some options. Big win, stepped in, got a short-notice fight, and did what he needed to do with it. Big, big victory for him. But let's move to the first fight on the main card. Jan Jaunan picks up her biggest win over Claudea Gidella, kick off the ESPN 2 main card, whatever it was, ESPN, earns unanimous decision win. She looked great. Gadalia just had nothing for her after that first round. And you could argue that Gadalia lost that round, too, because the damage she was taken from Zaudan off of her back.

And I think you throw her in there with the top five opponent next. And I know I saw a lot of people suggesting the winner of Michelle Watterson versus Amanda Hebas, because they're going to fight. in January. Carla Spars is sitting right there at number three. I think that is the fight to make. Asparza just keeps knocking off these new up-and-coming faces. Jaunan is probably going to be ranked in the top five by Tuesday. So that fight makes perfect sense to me, A.K., what do you think?

So as far as we know, it hasn't been booked yet, but the matchup that we assume everyone's working on, I think for early next year, I think Dana-Wa has mentioned early next year they're hoping Zhang Wei and Rosenom Junis, right? So everyone else has to wait. I remember, I believe in an earlier show, I had said I liked Asparza to get a title shot at some point, but she would have to wait a really long time now. She does have to fight. So certainly the matchup with Yon made sense to me. Otherwise, the thing is now I think Yon is in a similar position to share her. I don't think she needs to fight again, but she probably is going to. She probably is going to. She also kind of needs that. This was a statement win, but, you know, people like finishes. I'm sure people would want to see her knock somebody out at least, but, you know, a run of decisions isn't always the most attractive thing to fans, unfortunately, but she looked really, really good on Saturday. So that definitely, for me, that was all the statements you need to make. People need to see her during work.

So I would love to see her fight the winner of Zhang Namajunis, but otherwise, there's a lot of other worthy people. If we're going top five, the only tricky thing with this is we don't know when she'll be ready to fight again, and it's another undefeated UFC fighter, so I don't know if they want to go that way. But Tatiana Suarez, I'm kind of interested in that fight. You know, I hate to take the heat off of one of them, but Suarez, because she's been out for so long. I do think needs to fight again and she needs a tough opponent. I don't think she should go

much lower than Yon in the rankings. And again, top five, the only people I have above Yonan right now is a very short list. And Tatyana Suwar is one of them. So I'm willing to, I'm willing to see that if she doesn't wait for the Zhang Namajunas winner. Yeah. Yeah, just, I think she needs like at least another win, maybe two at this point. Like, Dahlia is a good win, but not a great win. I mean, many think that she lost Angel Hill fight. I think Asparza, if she could be Carlos Sparza, I think there's no doubt about it. And on the flip side, if Carlos Sparza beats Shaunan, I think it's, that's it. Like, you have to give Asparza the title shot next. You just have to. People may not want to see it, but that would be, that that's it. That's the win you need

to get you over the top. But as you guys heard earlier, I did somewhat matchmaking for Alexander Romanov. We did want to spotlight him because he's just ridiculous and so fun to watch. And I will say that, like I alluded to earlier, I think they will try to book him in December. He did call out Marcyne Tibera. I think that's what they end up doing. And then all signs of my eyes point to Romanoff versus Arlovsky, as I stated. So, AK, I give you the floor for your Alexander Romanov pick. A sick part of me really wants to see the Tibera match up, just because that has to be the first time anyone's called up Marchant Tibera.

Has to be. I could be wrong. I feel, you know, I'm not people like you say, look, I can't, I clearly can't remember fights that are scheduled to happen like next week. So for me to try and remember if anyone has ever called Marchant-Tuberas is fool's gold, as a fool's errands. But I don't know why. That just blew me away. I'm like, it was very logical. It's very logical.

So, but the matchup doesn't interest me that much style-wise. I don't know. I kind of want to see him face one more guy around his level of experience. So I actually was leaning towards Taito Ivasa, a guy who was coming off a win, who we didn't matchmake last time. because I do like to see these younger guys get like three wins, three UFC wins before I started saying, all right, I'm going to throw them right up the rankings now,

throw him right in there with a veteran, throw him top 15 guy. So I think Tai Tui Vasa makes a lot of sense. So, yeah, but Romanov, man, such an exciting prospect. God, when you have that level of wrestling and aggression, gosh, at the heavy way. And he's only, I think he's what, 29 or 30? Or maybe I'm over aging him.

Let me check real quick. He's 29. He'll be 30 December 11th. 29 is 21 when you're in the heavyweight division compared to every other division. That's really young. Again, if he just needs to look at the list of heavyways that are under the age of 30 in the UFC, it's not a long list. So, yeah, I'm cautious. I think Tai Tuva also be a fun matchup.

It might be, people might look at it as kind of like a Rocky Martinez thing, but I think Tai Tai Tuvus is a step above that. And I'd like to see if he's improved his takedown defense enough to deal with. someone like Romano. Unlikely. But I think Ty says a lot of potential. I am going to do everything in my power to get Alexander Romanoff on what the heck this week. I've already planted some seeds. So we're going to try to make that happen.

I definitely want to get him on. He's just so fun to watch as we head to everybody's favorite segments, the Wild Card round, where we select a fighter. We have not match made for yet. And we will do so right now. So Mr. Alexander K. Lee, we will begin with you. what is your UFC Vegas 13 wildcard selection? Well, first I have to ask, you did the damage, right?

I did not. You did not? You did not do Darren Elkins? Oh, man, Darren Elkins. He was due, as our Casey Leidman likes to say, he snapped. No way he could have lost. Snap to a four-fight losing streak in impressive fashion. In classic the damage fashion, we should say,

because there was several moments in that fight where he was just getting cracked. And frankly, until he took control in the third with his grappling, got the submission win, I actually think that it could have, Garagori could have won that fight by decision. It was maybe one in one on the scorecards, but sure enough, the damage, he did what he does. He found a way to find a win. And now he's tied the UFC record for most UFC feathered wins with Max Holley, which is pretty damn impressive. So I like him, and I think Makwan Amir Khani.

Amirconi just suffered that tough loss to Barbosa. again, he's a guy who we keep saying kind of right on that cusp of stardom, but there's some definite weaknesses there with maybe a little bit in the striking and definitely in the cardio, which is troubling. So, yeah, putting him in there with a machine, like Alkins would be really fun.

I think I'd get another classic Elkins fight. It's got a weather and early storm from Americani, and then as a fight goes on, who knows, maybe Alkins gets himself another win. The other one I would have liked to see was, I think this fight was booked, and then it was canceled for whatever reason. Alex Casaris, maybe,

A little veteran fight. Fun little veteran fight. Fun fight for both guys. But I'm here Connie, I think. I still want to see him getting tested. I think he's at stage now. He needs to keep fighting veterans like Barbosa, like Elkins. And then we'll see if he ever makes it over that hill that we keep thinking he has the potential to do.

There's a part of me watching. I think as the fight was happening, I was like, all right, I'm going to match back for Darren Elkins. And then what I heard his post-fight interview with John Anick, I was like, I don't feel like I have the heart to make another fight for this man. Like, if he wants to keep going, that's great. But just seeing him on camera, just all over the place and face all mangled black eyes and all this other stuff, I just was like, I can't do it. Respect for you for doing that. You are a true journalist. But I have two ready.

One is kind of obvious. So I'm not going to go with it as my official pick. Tanner Bozier versus Mory's Green. That is easy, peasy. That is the fight to make. Storylines already built. There you go. So that's absolutely easy.

But my wild card pick, because we like to dig a little deeper, like to go on a journey. I'm going with the Houston, Texas police officer, Trevin Giles, because this man has had a crazy road, A.K., lost his fight with Kevin Holland, minutes before he's about to begin because he faints backstage, scary situation. Now he's watched Kevin Holland just run off all these wins, and now he's going to get a UFC main event on December 5th. So this guy's like, you know what? I want, give me a little something, something.

Give me an opportunity. He looked good on Saturday. Finishes Bavon Lewis in the third round, so he's got two straight wins. And I have the perfect fight. And I'm going to back away from one of my picks coming out of UFC 254. I was ready to throw this band a different opponent. I still like the idea if the UFC puts this together.

But I am officially changing direction, the fight to make Trevin Giles versus Phil Hawley. Haas. Step up for Phil. Step up for Trevin. I think it's perfect for both guys, A.K. They're right around the same, in my opinion. I probably got them top 35, top 40 guys.

Trevin's a tough out. He's going to test Phil Haas. I think this is the fight to make. Trevin Jowles versus Phil Haas. Yes. My only thing, I like it, Haas, I feel like, I'm sorry, Giles would say, I feel like deserves to fight someone.

You know, me, I'm an experienced guy. I do hinge a lot of my matchmaking on experience. Haas looked great, insanely great in his U.C. debut, but he's only 1-0. I don't know. I don't know if he's earned. I don't know if he's earned that Giles fight yet, even though, as you mentioned, Giles, you know, kind of seduced some building back after, you know, that kind of screwy win over James Krauss and then missing out on the Holland fight.

And I think he's aware, you're right, of kind of the hype around Phil Haas, so maybe this is his chance to kind of steal some of that heat. But I don't know. I don't know if I like Giles facing Haas just yet. But Haas is rising real quick. Now I'm just looking at the guys ahead of Haas, and I'm not sure. Obviously, he's going to end up fighting someone

with more experience than him more likely than not. And Giles, yeah, you can certainly pick worse names than Giles. Yeah, I just, again, my fear is the UFC is just going to throw Haas to a top 15 guy because that's what the UFC likes to do. Oh, yeah, he got an 18-second knockout. Let's throw him right in there. Let's give him somebody ridiculous. Like, no, let's, you know, hit the brakes a little bit, slow it down.

Let's give him Trevin Giles, see what he can do. And if you lose, it's not the end of the world. And if he wins, then, okay, this guy is, this guy is the real deal. So I think that's good. Impa Kassang and I was another name I thought of. But I kind of, I don't know if Giles is going to be too excited about that because Kazaganai was on the wrong end of a posterizing, which, and I is a great guy. But I just, I think Giles probably need something a little bit better.

and I think Phil Haas would get him out of bed. So there you go. I think we've matched me for this guy already, but how do you feel about Trevin Giles and Jerkis DuPlessy? I don't mind it. I don't mind it. But that's a big step up, I think. KSW title shot for Giles.

I think DuPlessie is like right there. I think he's like a win or two away. He might be a win away from the top 15. This guy is legit. Very legit. And I know Phil Haas is only one in the UFC, but DuPlessy is globally renowned. People think that this guy is a top 15 guy already.

So it's kind of, yeah, it's kind of tough. It would be a big get for Giles. Huge. If his team could put that fight together, yeah, that'd be a big get. Absolutely. Listener suggestions. I mean, we're growing like crazy here, AK. Oh, we have so many.

We have some regulars, of course, our good pal, Justin Gordette. He's doing a couple. I've seen other people mention this. He likes Barcelos and Marlon Vera. That's a super tough fight for Vera for Cito. I think Chito is being a little more strategic with his with his booking right now. So I mean, look, he wouldn't say no. I don't think Chito says no to anything.

But I would think he's done the UFC enough favors and taken on enough tough opponents that they would give him someone who's a little more well known, a little more of a name than Howany. So Howony, like, again, we all know who have kept up with him. No, he's a top 10 talent for sure. He's just not a top 10 name yet, I think, as far as recognition. But if that fight was booked, would not be surprised. Yeah, not to cut you off, but it seems. that all signs are pointing towards Cheeto versus Joseo at some point, maybe December or January.

Yes. I think that's the other issue with the match. I think that one makes a lot more sense. And then I think you mentioned this. Romanov and Juana Spino, did you mention this already? I did not mention that. I think I've seen multiple people mention this one. Yeah, again, style-wise, sure, two grapplers, two big, strong burly grapplers.

Again, I think they're both two and O in the UFC. So if you want, again, and go with the experience thing. For some reason, it's just, I just feel like they're going in different directions. I don't know why. Mathematically, they're not. Mathematically makes a lot of sense. But anyway, thank you for those suggestions, Tristan. I'll go to the Instagram DM.

It's my first Jacob Australia to my DMs for plenty of matchups. I'll just read it. I'll read a couple of them. What do you think of Wanaspino and Arlofsky? Old Guy Battle. I don't mind that one either I'm okay with that he also did this one out there

I don't like this for a lofty at all obviously Tom Aspinall no no no no he might get bozard he might get bozard yeah that's not good yeah Tanner bozer Stefan strove that's the weird one I don't know how I feel like that

but I think bozard and greens fight to make or you give or you give Bozer Greg Hardy I didn't like this one because again it's a guy to winning sheepers kind of losing his but it would be a top 10 opponent. Hione and Hafeuila Sun Sao. Hmm. Maybe.

Dangerous fight for a Sunsao. And then we didn't match up Claudia Godelia, so we'll shout out Jacob from Australia for this one. Gadelia versus the winner of McKenzie Dern and Jandaroba. Genjiroba. Yeah, that's pretty good. Makes sense, right? I didn't even thought about that. It makes sense.

Yeah, either way, you're getting a sick like grappling battle. Anyway, he says, love the show and all of the MMA fighting.com cover. So that's definitely for you, Mike. That comment is for you, my friend. I don't know. Now, we had a lot of Twitter activity, a few DMs. So again, some of our old pals, Harry Lipski, he wants to see, he's with us. He says, he says Glover has to get the Adisina-Blobos winner.

So, and he liked the Romanov de Burak Hall. So that Romanov to Burak, referred, is. It's building a lot of steam. It's building a lot of steam. Everyone's talking about it. Aronski brought up a good point of Barcellos versus Sean O'Malley, which I cannot imagine the UFC booking that fight. No chance. And Jack Shore, which seems beneath Barcellus's point, but he did replace Shore against Taha.

So that wouldn't be the first time that the UFC has kind of done something like, oh, well, you replace this guy, so now you fight him? I don't know. It feels he's beyond the Jack Shore fight. but it's not illogical. So thank you, Arvonski. I mean, that's interesting. Just, I feel like they really like Jack Shore, too, and that's a really tough fight to throw him in. Like, I know 35 is so deep, and you kind of, like, there's certain matchups and certain placements that, like, you just can't avoid.

But I think that's a fight you can make, like, down the line. I like the matchup. It would be interesting, but Barcell is a 36 years old, and that's a young man in this sport. It can be, especially with how he's. looking right now but you probably you only got this man for so long probably i don't know i that's a future that's a future fight not that's not a right now fight yeah i can i can agree with that uh ryan dardy ryan dardy thank you for uh at our dardy 797 on twitter thank you for uh reaching out for the first time big fan of the show uh says he loves us do it every monday morning well

now you're welcome ryan you're welcome ryan you're welcome he likes yon and joanna uh There's a lot of good matches from Yuana. We just don't know when Yonna wants to fight again. That's really, that's probably the issue. And I don't know if I want Yon to have to go through that fight to turn a title shot. Not that I don't think she can win it, but that's a lot to ask. Listen, I think she's going to have to win another one. So honestly, like if she fought Yohanna, like, Yowana would probably be my first choice if I had the book.

But again, Yowana has already said, like, I don't know when I'm coming back. I need to have fans. She's saying all these different things. That leads me to believe that she is in no hurry to come back. So the more logical pick is Asparza, but if she goes out there and beats Yohanna, there is no doubt about it. She's getting a title shot. Like, there are a lot of people who think that Yonah should get the fight before Rosenami Unis because that first fight was so good. And if they booked it again, I'd be all right with that.

I would absolutely be all right with that. But Jan's good. I mean, Jan is somebody to keep an eye on. She is a legit prospect, a legit up-and-comber in this division. I still think she needs another win, though. And Straw-Way is a legit division. So good. So good.

So it's really strong weight and and flyweight and women's flyweight man people I hope people recognize how good these divisions have become Credit to the matchmakers credit to the fighters for for how strong these two divisions have become Admittedly the heavier weight classes right now Not that great, but you know what I would say the same about the men's divisions as well. So that's kind of the nature of the sport Apple sorry sorry to tell you Ryan Doherty come on he said on Jarloski versus for Breeshoe for Dome is I guess he hasn't technically signed with anyone else yet, but he's essentially gone from the UFC But uh, hey you know what?

maybe Belator someday. So that's a future's pick. For Ryan, I'll give you credit for a futures pick there. Belator 2022, Arlofski, for Doom, main event at Mohican Sun and glamorous Uncasville, Connecticut. I'm down. I'm so down. I'm sorry, one more verse out of shadow

because they sent me one a couple of weeks ago. I totally forgot to mention them. Marcus McGehy at the Notorious BIV on Twitter. Thank you for sending your suggestions as well. He likes Arlowski Sergei Pavlovich. This matchup, which I looked at, but I don't like it for either guy because they're both trending upwards and just keep them away for each other.

Howney and Casey Kenny. Not right now. Wow. That is someday. Not right now. Sheesh. Someday. Someday.

Plenty of time for both. Those guys are going to be around for a long time. Like I said, How many a little bit older in age. But I think we could see him fight Kenny down the road. God, that's a fun fight. It is. It is. It really is.

That one, that one I have less of an issue with than the Jack Shore one. Because Kenny's proven himself. in my opinion to get a fight like that jack shore hasn't done so just yet and he is uh marcus is down with you on yon asparza and also the alternative uh waterson hebus winners so you you and marcus you guys are on the same label link there so uh good stuff all around thank you guys for the dms i'll run very quickly through some of the twitter oh about i know you frankly mention my usual my usual quick hits for our wild card stuff uh i think i only have one and that's uh oh well no i have two Garagori, man, watch when you throw those knees because, boy, I hate to be a backseat.

I hate to be a backseat coacher, but it really looked like he threw that knee and it's what got him, got him taken down to costing the fight. I'm just saying. Yes. And Ramiz, Brahimi, just got that ear fixed up. Oh, call Jamie Campbell. Sorry. We got us to get that. Johnny Campbell.

Johnny Campbell. We got us out of the support group, Johnny Campbell. Brahimi, guys, you guys got to, because Johnny Campbell had a great attitude about it. So I hope Brahmi is not too down and maybe he can talk to Campbell about how to. to deal with that emotionally because that was no more damaging people's ears. All right. We don't need to see that anymore.

Yeah. So on Twitter, some very amusing responses. So I asked for responses for at Darren Elkins, what's next? And kind of as you suggested, Dan on Twitter said, at Dedge W underscore 99, a doctor.

Yes, fine, I agree. Though someone else throughout Diego Sanchez, which would just be, which I hadn't even thought about, but I'm like in a sick way, I'm kind of like, I guess it'd be at lightweight, or Diego's not going down to that. I don't want Diego to go down to lightweight. I want to see Diego fight like Damien Maya 185 at this point.

Suddenly, I feel like this fight. I wish the fight had happened now when Diego was flirting with featherweight. But anyway, that's just a, that's a sick matchup. Romanov, Alenik was a one people, a lot of people were saying. Someone else said he deserves just get some KFC, which, I mean, look, he's a big guy, but come on. We don't need to make cracks about heavy weights weight. Giga Someone said

Two people Two people At bejuggled and at Combat Sports 10 Both said Edson Barbosa Too soon Too soon Great fight obviously Great fight, great fight, too soon

And Honey man a lot of people like the Sean O'Malley thing I don't know where that's coming from But is there any new At Willie Trooper 2 says Pedro Muno So that's one we hadn't seen before and at Kieran Hill 24 Song Yadong, which again,

I think we'd want to see Song Yadong fight. Kind of haven't seen them since the Cheeto fight. Yeah, but most intriguing. So thank you again, everyone, for all those suggestions. The DMs, the emails, everything is fantastic. I ran a poll, Mike. Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

I ran a poll. Using our work account, I ran a poll. I'm mischievous like that. And I said, look, who would you rather see fight Jan Blahovic for the UFC Light Heavyweight title? Okay. Go over to Chera or Israel. I'm aware of this recency bias running a poll like that right after

DeSherr has an amazing performance like that. It's going to tilt on this favor. But I'm just saying right now, as of today, with almost 10,000 votes in total, DeSherra has 59%, 59.4% Izzy, 40.6%. So. Wow. I'm just saying it's out there. It's out there.

Dana White, check out these polls, matchmakers. I'm just saying. Wow. A lot of support for. That's very surprising to me. Honestly, like, I know this is a... Our fans are smart, Mike. It doesn't surprise me because our fans and our readership are smart, educated people.

Not to insult the people who picked a Disney, because it's a great fight as well. But the 59.4%, thank you for putting more thought into this than Dana White, just throwing out a name out there for a super fight that doesn't need to happen right now. I'm pleasantly surprised. I'll say that. Pleasantly surprised. Great answer. It should be Tashara.

I am a meritocracy-based kind of a guy, not a fighter, kind of a guy. But I'm surprised. I thought Adasani because of his popularity and because of the buzz that he has, I just thought, like, his name would be kind of the automatic winner. I expected it to be close. Like, if you asked this question, like, you know, two weeks ago when this thing was announced and you put all three of those guys, I would expect Adasani to have, like, 75% of the vote. Here, he's losing.

He's on the wrong side of it. That's crazy. I like it, though. I like it. I kind of hope that the UFC just calls an audible here. because the whole thing is messed up, A.K., the whole situation is messed up. Because the problem with not booking a fight with Robert Whitaker was, oh, I don't want to wait until March.

But now they're saying that this fight's going to happen in March. They're saying that this fight is going to happen in March. So just do both title fights on the same card in March. What is the problem? What is the problem? Adasania versus Whitaker for the middleweight title, Bojovic versus Teshera for the light heavyweight title. If both guys win, go ahead and book it.

Go ahead and book it. International Fight Week or whatever they're calling it now. July. Put them on the July card. That's the fight to make. Then you can do title versus title, champion versus champion, whatever. But if the fight's going to happen in March, just give it to Whitaker and give it to Chera. And then we can all be happy and free and we don't have to debate this every week. It's ridiculous. Mike is fired up, people. You can hear it in his voice and I wish you could see him. He's fired up and he's animated. Poor Robert Whitaker. I'm just like, he's just like, what? Are you serious?

I'm waiting until March. I'm waiting until March. and Lojovich comes out and says we're fighting in March. What? What is going on here? Not to mention hopefully sometime in the next two months, like, we actually had, like John Jones actually books a heavyweight fight. Is that too much to ask? That we actually get some update on that? Because is that even, is that still

happening? Is this another tease? We don't know, right? So, yes, like you said, we have two very viable title shots in the light heavyweight division, in the middleweight division. We have John Jones, hopefully actually making that move to heavyweight. There's no reason to cross these storylines right now. There's just no reason to do it. So,

yeah I think you're right I think we're all in agreement us and apparently almost 60 percent of our of our people who vote on this poll are in agreement let's just be sensible let's slow the pump the breaks down in some of this drama and just let's go with go with the fights that are that are right in front of us come on now let me ask you this question who has the who has the bigger chance of getting the big fat hose job to shara or francis and ghanu oh that's a real I still think gunganu I don't know why I just because again I do think it's more likely Jones gets that heavy a wait fight before coming back down to fight either of whoever's there waiting for him at

205 when this all settles and then who knows how long that's going to take it regardless of whether he be steepier or steep it's him who knows how long is going to take to set up another title fight so i think i think in gunn who could get screwed again i hope he doesn't fight again before getting a tell the shot but again like we said for some of the people to several of the people on today's matchmaking show sometimes you have no choice man's got to eat man's got to stay busy and and uh and people want to fight well we appreciate all of your suggestions and we invite you to keep those suggestions coming. So hit us up on the Twitter, aka.

a. Alexander K. Lee. I am at Mike Heck underscore J.R. And join us next week as we recap the fallout of UFC Vegas 14. Headlined by Islam Makachev versus the former world champ returning to 155. Haffield DeSanjos. Kind of a thin card, if we're being honest. We went through it on the post-fight show. It's just not that great, if we're being honest.

but positivity, these are the ones that usually create the most chaos, and we're all here for that as we get closer to the UFC's next pay-per-view extravaganza, UFC 255. So with that said, we're out of time. For Alex Keeley, I am Mike Heck. Thank you for listening. If you got it a day early, tell your friends how that happened, and always remember, don't take this too seriously.

MMA is supposed to be fun. We will see you next time right here on onto the next one, the podcast. to the Vox Media Podcast Network.