MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Episode 18 | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 14

Episode Date: November 15, 2020

In the 18th 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 14 event at the UFC APEX. Future fights were discussed for headliners Rafael dos Anjos --who earned a decision win--and Paul Felder, Khaos Williams, Ashley Yoder, Sean Strickland, Cory McKenna, 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, MMA Fighting's matchmaking extravaganza of a podcast, as we attempt to make sense of and predict the futures for some of the notable names coming out of Saturday nights. UFC Vegas 14 event, it was an interesting card to say the least. Main event was quite entertaining. Co-main event provided a knockout of the year candidate,

and there was some, definitely some creative post-event match. making in store for us today. With that, I am Mike Heck, and joining me as always in this venture, the co-host, co-matchmaker, the best friend in the Prince of Positivity, Canada's own, Alex Cayley, AK, good to see you, man, and to hear you as always, my friend. Yes, my best friend, Mike Heck, thank you for that. Always, always lovely introduction. It was, for us in the matchmaking world, an interesting card just today, because in one sense,

I think this is going to be a pretty free and breezy episode because some lesser known fighters. So it's pretty much a wide open book for a lot of these fighters that we're going to talk about as far as who we can match them up with. On the other hand, is also a little difficult

because, again, they're so in the thick of the mid-tier or lower part of the rankings, there's maybe two dozen possibilities for a lot of these fighters who we're going to have to talk about. But look, we take our jobs as fake professional matchmakers

very, very seriously. And while normally, you know, some of these fighters would be on the prelims and we wouldn't really mention them. A lot of them were cast into the main card spotlight this time and thus must be discussed as is our duty. So very much looking forward to people hearing our ideas for these fighters. Yes. And I saw a lot of ideas from the peeps. We'll get to those in a little while. But as always

here in this program, let us begin with the main event. Hoffield Osangos, former UFC lightweight champion of the world, returns to 155 for the first time in four so years. He had the lightweight title. lost it to Eddie Alvarez, then lost to Tony Ferguson, and then had a pretty successful bump up to 170. That included wins over great fighters like Neil Magny, like Robbie Lawler, and earned himself an interim welterweight title fight and lost to Colby Covington in said title fight, lost to Kamar Usman, finished Kevin Lee,

and then he dropped decisions to Leon Edwards and Michael Kiesa. The guy has fought, like we talked about on the post-fight show, you said it yourself, he's fought Murderers Row in both divisions, but decided, you know what, now is the time to make the move back to 155. And as everybody knows right now, he's supposed to fight Islam Makachev. And on five days notice, it became Paul Felder. And RDA looked pretty damn good on Saturday night.

I believe he closed as a two-to-one favorite and it proved to be a pretty accurate line as he picked up a... I'm going to say this as lightly as possible, a split decision win because a judge out there somehow, some way scored this fight for Paul Felder, which is absolutely absurd. but after the win, AK, he calls out Connor McGregor. He shoots for the stars. That obviously caught McGregor's attention. We all know that all signs are pointing towards McGregor versus Dustin Porier in January. That fight is pretty much a done deal for UFC 257.

McGregor said he'll fight RDA after. But I think we can all agree that McGregor will very likely not be Dosanjas' his next fight. So what do you think will be RDA's next fight following his win over Paul Felder? Yeah, I think it won't be McGregor who said. I don't think it'll be his next next. to fight either. I think McGregor is very quick to respond to people's challenges. He loves saying on Twitter how he'll fight anyone, uh, and when someone calls him out and then it never

actually materializes anything. So, so it was great for him to acknowledge it because that's still fight. I'd like to see some day. Of course, we all know, you know, that, that should have happened before. It became the Nadeez fight, which is fine. And it changed the course. That fight not happening, maybe changed the course of the MMA history of forever. So I still want to see it happen, one of those great unanswered questions. But I, I feel like we brought this up on the show, the Saturday's post-fight show, but I don't remember why, I don't remember if it was shut down, so tell me if I'm crazy with this.

I kind of want to see RDA fight Justin Gagee. I don't know if people think it's too high right now, because you know, whether Habib might be retired or not, but either way, Gage is kind of still the number one contender. Yeah, he lost a pretty definitive fashion, but not so much that I would drop

him behind the rankings and, you know, some of the people he beat. Again, maybe the Poria McGregor winner, of course, Leaprox him. But I still see Gathees' number of contender. So, and I think RDA is worthy of that. I know it's his first win at lightweight in so long, over four years. And it would look, you know, like, oh, well, he lost four of his last five fights before that. A welterweight fine.

I think it's a great style matchup. I think it's a fight those años can win. I think he has the Porreille-Alvarez technique to actually beat G at the same time. I think he could absolutely knock his block up. So just from a stylistic matchup and one that I think that have a major impact on the rankings. Yeah, I like to see RDA Gave Gat Gatier. I think it would be interesting. RDA looked good

he made weight had the gas tank put on a grueling pace for 25 minutes against a really tough guy and Paul Feldar and I don't want to take anything

away from the win because he did look good he did take a new fight on five days notice which should be commended but he also beat a guy who hadn't been in an MMA gym in four months

it just is what it is and still Fowder was game as hell RDA got a win over the number seven ranked guy in the division regardless of training camp and all that

he's still the number seven rank guy in the division. Paul Feld to put pen to paper. It has to count for something. Now, he deserves a fight with somebody in that top six range for sure. He wants Connor. I think unfortunately, like you said, unless something that is not supposed to happen happens, I don't see that fight taking place anytime soon. And you mentioned Justin Gachie. I've seen that name thrown out a lot. I don't think that fight happens anytime soon either because my hunch is that Gauchy's going to get the winner of McGregor-Poria, especially if Connor McGregor wins. That seems to be like a dream matchup that the UFC is looking at to book those two guys together,

especially with Habib's future so up in the air. So I think there are two options here. One, Dan Hooker is a lot of fun. Yes, he's coming off to Lost to Porier in a super fun fight, but I mean, he's a top five guy. That's a good step up for RDA. I could definitely see that happening maybe on Fight Island. The other option, which would also probably take place on the island, Charles Olivera deserves

a big fight, man. This would be that. and then some taking on a former champion. The guys won seven fights in a row. He should get an opportunity to face somebody like an RDA. And RDA deserves an opportunity to fight a guy that's in the top six. So all of error to me would be option A, hooker would be option B. And if they booked the Gagie fight, I certainly watch it.

I just don't see that happening anytime soon. But all those are good options. RDA's got a plethora of options that would all be equally as fun and interesting at the same time. Yeah, for some reason, I think of all the names we both mentioned, I feel like hooker is the most likely. I don't know why. I've just got this weird feeling Hooker's going to at some point maybe call for the fight this week and kind of get those gears in motion.

I think it makes a lot of sense for Hooker for sure. RDA maybe might view it as a little bit of a step back depending again where you view him. I now have him firmly back in the top five of the rankings. But I also like the Olivera matchup because the guy he leaped frog to get in the top five for me was the Bronx. So I'd like to see that settled.

Olivera, yes, would love to face a former champion. But I don't know, yeah, I'm getting a weird feeling about the Hooker thing. Like I said, I think I forget I think you picked, you picked Olivera, but I think Hooker, I think Hooker's going to get it. My like first choice would be Michael Chandler, but that's not going to happen. Like everything is pointing towards Chandler versus Tony Ferguson. I think the U.S. he's going to do everything that they can to make that fight happen, December, January, or whatever.

But, yeah, I think Hooker's got a really good shot again that fight. But on the flip, RDA should be ready to step into any of these matchups, by the way. He seems like a guy who's always in shape. So as we're matchmaking, just get ready to hear RDA. steps in on one week, two weeks notice for any of these possible top 10 lightweight fights. Yeah, especially now. In this day and age, he's got to be ready if he wants to get those opportunities.

But on the flip side, we have one Paul Felder, who was galliant in his effort, still has that Irish dragon fire inside of that belly of his. He's not done yet. Took a risk with this one. He knew he was taking a risk. It didn't pay off. But I think he gained a little bit of popularity, a lot of new fans, despite the loss. So for me, I think a fight with Ally Quintas is the way to go. By Tuesday, they'll probably be ranked 8 and 9.

RDA is going to probably jump in there. Diego Fahedo will probably take over the number 7 spot. Feldor will probably drop to 8. Iaquint is there at 9. He's ready to come back in 2021. That's a fight that U.S.C. is interested in. They did offer it to Felder earlier this year, and he turned it down because he wasn't sure if he would ever even fight again.

But now you could do it. I think we'd all enjoy it. You know, Iaquinta's fun. Felder's fun. I think it's a great fight. What's a U.A.K. Yeah, I think we figured this one out. I think we figured something out for two guys, two veterans who are looking for obviously a fight that makes sense for them at this point in their career, one that's marketable, one that stylistically would be fun for both of them. I don't think Feltner would have to worry about getting out-restled and sort of held down as he was on Saturday. Eichwinter, I don't think would utilize that strategy. And rankings-wise, I have them around the same area. Again, I don't know how people will do their rankings, but I imagine most people have Feldner and Eichwinter somewhere in the 8 to 15 range, unless they've removed.

I had Quintifra activity, in activity, which I don't think. I think it's too early to do that. So, yeah, I don't know if people need to overthink this one. I think both guys would want it. I think Felder would want it now that he's in a little bit of a mini slump. I mean, the hooker fight was really close. You could say he won that one, but technically two straight losses. And I can test definitely, I was also mentioned Felder before.

And I'm sure he'd be down for that, but probably sometime next year. As we go to the Star of the Night in most people's opinions, one, Chaos Williams, who in his second UFC fight gets a co-made event opportunity and man, did that guy ever deliver? Knocking out Abdul Razak al-Hassin in just 30 seconds, a one-punch, stellar knockout, one of the best chaos of the year. The man is 2-0 in the UFC, two knockouts,

57 seconds total of Octagon time. This is a very dangerous individual and a very interesting player now at 170 pounds. What is next for the man, AK, with not one, but two nicknames following that ridiculous knockout? Okay, this guy, along with, This guy, I think, might have been the hardest person to matchmaking, which sounds weird, because it should be easy. It's so much fun, you know, when you see a guy make such a statement like that.

His second straight statement, by the way. But again, it's, I have him like, you know, in the middle of the rankings where he belongs because I know when people see a knockout like this or a Joaquin Buckley, you know, a walking bucket thing. It's like, oh, I want to see them face a top 20 guy right away. I want to see them do this to like a name that I actually like really know. And I just think it's too soon. So I struggled. I struggled. I think one name that made a lot of sense, which was brought up, uh, uh,

on YouTube during our post-fight show, Nico Price would just be fun. Nico Price versus anyone is fun. So Nico Price versus chaos would be absolute chaos. But I settled on, there's a lot of names, and I'm sure you'll bring some up, so I don't want to step on your toes. I settled on a fight that's happening in a couple of weeks,

the winner of Miguel Baezza, Takashi Sato. I know neither guy is a name that people are necessarily household right now that have a lot of heat behind them. I think Baezza is a great prospect. I think people are really, really sleeping on him. But I think the winner of that fight, preferably Baezza, we'll see. would be a really good matchup for chaos.

I think you'd see another highlight real knockout one way or the other. And again, I want to bring chaos long slowly. You know me, my rule is almost always 3 and 0 in the UFC. Then we talk about moving up top 30, top 20, and higher than that. So I want to see him get one more win against another tough guy. There's a part of me that kind of wishes that his fights were reversed. Like he fought Al-Hassan first and then fought Morano. Because beating Alex Marano, when he did, I think Marano was on like a five-fight winning streak at the time.

he was like just outside the top 15. He was right there on the cusp. And Chaos Williams knocked him out in 27 seconds. So like that should have put him kind of in that position. And then he's been off for, you know, nine, you know, eight, nine months since that knockout. You know, people kind of forgot about him. But he reminded people very quickly and very emphatically just who the hell he is,

AK. That was impressive. Knock that guy stiff. I hope Alassan is okay after all of that because that was a pretty scary knockout. He wasn't even there for the decision. being read afterwards. But I made my pick on Twitter. I'd like to see him get the Blah Muhammad fight. Sean Brady was supposed to fight him on December 19th. Chaos has a lot of buzz to him right now. He knocked out Alex Marano in his debut, like we said, in 27 seconds. And this knockout, these are

legit fighters that he put away very, very quickly. And obviously, this is a super risky fight for Bala Muhammad, no doubt about it. But 170 is just loaded right now. And I think this would be a suitable replacement for a guy like Sean Brady, another interesting prospect. If not, I don't know, maybe a Randy Brown. Lyman Good would be fun. Nico Price, like you said, that would be fun too, because Nico against anybody would just be awesome and then throwing a guy like Chaos in there.

I mean, that's his name after all. Muhammad for me, top choice, fill him in. If he could flip for December 19th, let's see if chaos is for real, for real. If not, I think people just want to see him again, give him fun fights. And if he goes in there on short notice and fights Bilal Muhammad and loses, they'll really think it hurts the stock too much, AK. Remember the name versus Remember the Man with two nicknames. Chaos Williams, aka Oxfighter.

Oxfighter? The Oxfighter? Fantastic. Both fantastic. Muhammad's really in a difficult spot because he's fought himself to the level where he wants to call out big names, but a lot of them don't want to fight him. And he has enough of a name that a lot of fighters below him are now calling him out and calling him fights. So he's in a really, really tough spot. And like on paper, I don't love the chaos match.

I love it from an in-case standpoint, but as far like for his career, I don't love it. But again, it's like at some point he has to fight someone. You don't want to get Leon Edwards did, as they say, and just be too picky. And then suddenly you find yourself magically unranked. So, yeah, I have no problem with that magic. Like I said, it wouldn't be my pick. I'd love to see Muhammad get a top 20, top 30 guy. It just doesn't seem like anyone's jumping into sign him or they keep finding other fights for themselves.

Because it's a very deep division, right? So they have other options outside of him. And he's a very dangerous guy to fight. So I have no problem with that. One name I think we also mentioned was Munir Lazez. Yeah. I feel like because the two guys who just beat Al-Hassan, I think Lazaz, I want to see him fights again.

I want to see him fights again. I kind of put them right next to each other in the rankings just because of who they've beaten. So I have chaos above him, of course. But yeah, a lot of options for chaos, as I said. And I think we'll be saying that for a few of the other names that we're about to discuss. For sure. Poor Bilal Mohammed, just guy. That Brady fight was great.

He gets ranked in the top 15. for like an hour and a half just until Leon Edwards decided to fight Hansa Jemayev. And then he was taking out of the rankings like an hour and a half later. It's just crazy. No man's land. He's in no man's land right now. But I think after that knockup, Blal would get like a lot of credit for taking that fight too. So who knows.

I mean, again, tough spot for him to be in. I think that makes a lot of sense. I mean, it's a step up, not a giant step up. I would say compared to Alex Marano, but a really good test for both guys. So I like that one. But let us move ahead to Ashley Yoder, who picked up a unanimous decision win over Miranda Granger. Yoder, I was a little bit excited because she showed some spunk, some aggression in that third round. And especially in the final few minutes, nearly got our first UFC finish.

And had she had another five to ten seconds, she would have gotten that finish. And she snaps at two-fight losing streak. So I was kind of going through Twitter and people were complaining about the fight and the placement, which is nobody's fault. by the way. I mean, there were injuries, there were illnesses, there were weight cutting mishap, so there were a lot of fights that fell off this card. Ashley Oder is not three and five in the UFC, but if you really go back and look at her work and her resume, the record isn't indicative of what she's shown overall. I was there for her UFC debut on super short notice. I think it was like a week's notice. She fought Justine Kish in Albany, New York, and I thought Yoder got the big fat

hose job from the judges. I thought she won that fight. pretty handily, but the decision went against her. Then she had a really close fight with Angela Hill. But she lost that one, but it was competitive. She goes to a split decision with McKenzie Dern, another one that was super close. And then doing my research last night, AK, you scored that one for Ashley Oter on MMA decisions. You were the only journalist. I'm the only one.

You're the only one. But it was a really close fight. I scored it for Dern, but it was a really close fight. And it was like the first time McKenzie Dern was really tested. Then she beats Amanda Cooper. another close fight. Then she 30-24s Sayiri Kondo and then loses a close split decision to Ranamarkos and then lost a pretty clear decision to Levina Suza.

So look, I know the fight wasn't great, but it was good to see her show something in that final round. I think she has a lot of natural ability. I think she's a really great athlete, but she's got to access that darkness a little bit, AK. She needs to turn that switch on and be a little. little scarier in there. And if she does, I think she's going to find herself at a better spot winning more of these decisions. So one thing I do know is the UFC likes Ashiyodor. They resigned her prior to the Sousa fight. They think there's some potential there. I think there's

some potential there as well. But she needs to fight somebody who will help access that aggressive side. Like Angela Hill sort of brought that out of her. Like she punched her in the face a few times. Ashiota's like, oh man, I got to I got to start throwing punches back. And I I guess start being aggressive if I would to win this fight. So I absolutely in no way, shape, or form. I do not want to launch her anywhere near the top 15, especially in this division. So I would to give her someone who will punch her in the face and sort of bring that aggression out of her. So I have two options. One, Hannah Seifers. Yes, I know Hannah has had a very, very tough 2020, but let's let Hannah take some time, let her hit the refresh button into

to 2021, Cyphers will punch her right in the mush. And if Yoder's not ready for it, she could be in for a very long night. So I don't mind that matchup at all. I think that's kind of like a good step. Especially if the UFC is invested in Yoder and they like her, that's a good test for her to see if she'll open up that aggression a little bit. The other is, I like Jinn U Fry. I like Jinn U. Fri.

I think that's a good matchup because former Invicta champ, Jim needs a win badly. Jinn's got great standup. I think we keep Yoder sort of in that same. spot for this next fight. That's my long-winded history and matchmaking idea for the Spider-Monkey. What do you think? It's kind of tough to matchmake for her right now.

I do not think people expect to hear what's going to become a combined 10 minutes about Ashley Yoder this week. But guess what, you're getting it. All right? She's on the main card. She's on the main card. She got a win.

She deserves it. Not always, look, I'll, I'm just going to extend this Yoder chat even further. Not always the most exciting fights. Okay, fine. But I think she's a grinder in like the best, And I mean that in the most positive way. She again, you're like I said, thrown right into the fire.

Five fights into her career thrown right into the first, and one in Victor fight, where she'd be Amber Brown. It's very good, by the way. And then, yeah, thrown into some crazy names which you listed. So I would look more at her last five fights, three and two reckon her last five fights. If you want to cast in a little bit of a more positive way. Because I do feel like you can split it between, there's like two errors for her right now. Her first three fights, which of course were tough and losses. And then her last five UFC fights, three and two, not terrible.

At first 3024, as you mentioned, in UFC stradweight history, and then almost got a 2726, which was then, unfortunately, corrected yesterday. She did not get it 2726 because that made no sense. But it was announced on the broadcast originally. So, yeah, I like those. Hannah Seifers has got to be released, though, right? I mean, if she's going to get seasoning, can it not be back in the regional scene? Can it not be, you know, can she not get some?

I think she's still around, man. I don't think she's not seen her name. No, she has not been a fishery release, but I assume. we can't throw this poor woman in the octagon again it's just she's lost her last four fights i don't know well don't put her in there with like these wild and crazy i know crazy submission artists like don't be putting her in there with mackenzie durn i know i like verda janderoba put her with her with actually yod her that's that's okay i like fry actually hadn't really thought of without one for some reason but i i'll go with another uh maybe not the most exciting matchup but

i like i think mazuki would be a good test musuki annui uh she's i just have her a little bit higher in the rankings. I think it's a matchup. It would probably be more, well, you know, look, Mazuki's coming off a loss. Yoder's coming off a win. So, Mizuki would probably be pretty heavily favored in that matchup. But if we're going, someone who's coming off a loss,

coming off a win, I think you can do a lot worse than that. And like we said, if Yoder can tap into just a little different side of her. Who knows? Who knows? She might be able to win that fight. And that would be a big statement. If she could beat someone's experienced in Mzuki, that'd be huge. So a lot of good options for Yoder, I think that, you know,

Once you, anyone outside the top 20, some pretty decent options. And good for her. Good for her for scraping out that win on the main card, you know. She's just such a nice person that's like hard for her. She's got like, I mean, she's just got like natural ability and she goes off of that. And she knows that she's still kind of green in the sport. And she's like she said on the post by learning on the job as with each of these fights. But eventually you just got to, you know, you just got to open that up.

So you shot like when she gets angry and she gets fired up, she can fight. a little bit. I mean, she could definitely fight, but just accessing that side, it seems to be your biggest problem. But we'll see what happens there as we move ahead to a man that was out of the sport for two years plus after a gnarly motorcycle accident. And in a two-week stretch, he has two victories, including a second round finish of Brendan Allen on Saturday, which is super impressive. Sean Strickland, this man is on a roll looking better than ever. He's up a weight class. This one was like up a weight class and a half at 195 pounds. But Brendan is no joke, man.

I had him probably ranked like 16 or 17. He had won eight in a row. He finished. This is a guy who finished put away Kevin Holland a little over a year ago in Boston. And now Holland's looking to go 5 in 0 in 2020. He's about to main event a fight night card against Jack Hermanson. So Brennan Allen's been super impressive. This win was phenomenal for Sean Strickland.

What do you see being his next move with all this momentum right now? Yeah, Strickland's a wicked talent. Even when he was competing at 170, his losses are two. Usman, Pancio, and Zelisky dos Santos. So two top 10, UFC champion, a top 10 guy, and a guy who's probably top 15, top 20.

So no shame in that. He's absurd talent. Now they doesn't have to worry about a weight cut, assuming he stays at 185. I mean, this might be the best form we see him. This might be a real contender. I did have a little bit of trouble with this one, if only because I think we always do with

when we're trying to match up with top 15 middleweight. There's just so many veterans in there. Veterans, high-ranked guys coming off of loss. So it's kind of a weird thing. So I got creative. I kind of want to see him rematch Tom Breeze. They fought at UFC 199 in June 2016. Strickland won by split decision.

And I do recall being a fairly close fight. Not like super conjurial, but definitely a close fight. Definitely one that if it had gone the other way, wouldn't have caused much of an uproar. So now they're both at middleweight. So no weight cut and worry about both guys looking good, looking good after a long layoff. So there's a little storyline similarity there as well.

I'd like to see those two run it back. I'd like to see Breed and Strickland run it back. Yeah, he's on my list. Popular answer I saw on Twitter was Omari Akhmedov, ranked number 12 at middleweight. I actually love that idea. I think that's my top choice. You know, Akh Madoff's coming off the really close loss to Chris Widman. It was even going into the third round, and then Wyman used that championship gusto and was able to win that third round.

That's a great fight. The problem is kind of like you said, he's just tough to match me for it because beating Brennan earned you a top 15 matchup since I had Brennan where I had him in my own mental rankings, but I think O'Meuf is a great option. If not, if you want to give him someone like a Tom Breeze, that rematch, I like that one.

Andrew Sanchez is a fun idea as well. I mean, it's a little bit of a stepback for being honest, but in terms of entertaining matchups and keeping him relevant and giving him some fun, I like all of those ideas, but if they can book him Ak-Madoff and he can beat him, now we're cooking with fire here, and you can start

throwing him into these, you know, Wydman matchups and guys like that because, you know, when you're active and you're winning fights and you're running them off, bang, bang, bang, like he seems to be doing right now, that boost your popularity up pretty quickly. So what a return for

Sean Strickland. Any other names on your list, A.K.? No, the only I wanted to mention was, do we know, we still don't know exactly why Akamadov withdrew, right? It was just withdraw, undisclosed reasons, I think, right? We don't know if it's an injury or illness or. Yeah, I don't know, right? Yeah, I'm not sure.

Okay. So that's the only thing is we don't know when he'll be back. Again, if it's just an illness, who knows, could be ready to be booked this week, who knows. But if it's an injury, it could be longer. But yeah, I mean, that's a sensible name. What's the fun and sensible, though? Yeah. We don't do sensible here.

I mean, Strickland said he wants to take a little bit of time off, actually get a full trading camp. I think after two wins in two weeks, he probably deserves something like that. So even if you booked that in like January, February, that's fine that that would work. here's an interesting one. Corey McKenna, successful UFC debut, really fun fight with Kay Hansen. There's some folks out there

who think that both of these ladies should have got the fight of the night over Felder and RDA, and I'm not going to sit here and argue with you if you feel that way, because that was a super fun fight. Both of them were. I thought Kay Hansen won.

I gave her all three rounds, honestly. But when you look at 3027 on Twitter, you immediately just think, like, oh, this is a blowout. You won all three rounds. but these were super, super close rounds. This is not a robbery. I actually went back and watched the fight again this morning.

I did think K-1, even on the second viewing. Either way, McKenna impressed me a lot. Even if she lost that fight, even if the judge just scored it against her, I was walking away from that being like, damn, Cory McKenna is legit. She showed me something, AK, and you probably will not agree with this pick, but I want to see where she is at. I could see the looking at all right already.

I'm bracing myself. And to do so, A.K., I'd like to see her go up against a veteran. Someone who competed on Saturday night in a losing effort. I don't think the UFC is out of the random Marcos business just yet, A.K., she has done them a lot of favors recently. She fought McKenzie Dern, stepped in as a short-notice replacement for Paige Van Zandt and March against Amanda Hebas, stepped in on super short notice, less about a week's notice, traveled all the way to Singapore to fight Ashley Yoder,

won that fight. I think she's going to get another shot because she has been so giving to the UFC. There's a short notice fight needs to be had. Doesn't matter who it is. She says yes. So let's see where Corey McKenna is, okay? Let's see where she's at. McKenna versus Marcos, I think that is the perfect matchup to make at this point.

What do you think? I hate it. I'm allowed to say, look, Mike, we're best friends. I'm going to change that, all right? But sometimes best friends have to be real with another. I hate it. I just don't know what else to do. I don't know what else to do with her.

Oh, see, I agree. I had to get creative. I'm not going to lie. I hit a wall here. I hit a wall, but once I figured out the solution, it was like a breath of fresh air, and it seemed so obvious to me. But first I'll say, Marcos, by the way, her next fight will be her 17th U.S. Foyne of C fight.

McKenna has one UFC fight. Why are you doing this to McKenna? Why are you doing this to poor round of Marcos, possibly having to take a loss to a 1-0? A 14-year-old, first of all, being thrown into the cage. That was illegal. But apparently, my goodness, baby, the new assassin baby, Corey McKenna, you can give her that nickname. She's The Hobbit. She's Poppins, according to Uriah Faber.

And I'll call her now the women's version of the assassin baby because, yeah, man, she looked like a kid. And I guess she is a kid. She's 21 years old. I don't like it. So I had to, but you're right. It's difficult. Straw weight is not the deepest division. So you essentially have a lot of veterans mixed in with.

with newcomers. That's it. There's almost no middle ground of like kind of mid-tier people as veterans and people who are just getting or want to know two and oh. So we have to go to the contender series. And I'm going to go, there's probably a bunch of names you can pick, but I'm going to go with someone who just won just had an impressive knockout. Luana Pinheiro, who just had a win, I think it was the most recent episode. So it's been last week. That's what I'm thinking for McKenna. Emily Whitmire was another name and considered if you want to go a little more experienced. But she's coming off two straight losses. She might need some. Someone, maybe she should fight Hanesey versus Cyphers. I don't know.

But yeah, I'm going Contender Series. Got to get creative Brazilian fighter. Luana Pinero. Why? Let's take it slow. Let's take it slow. Boy, that's a tough matchup for McKenna. Maybe I thought Hansen was too.

And so did the odds makers. We said in the preview show, it was crazy. The Hansen was like, I think almost a two to one favorite. Like minus one. We said that was crazy. Hanson's really good. But at this stage, when you're talking about two 21-year-old fighters with, I would say similar levels.

experience, Hanson has fought better names. I thought that was so crazy that she was almost two to one favorite. That was too much. Yeah. I mean, I like the Panera idea. I think, I think, ugh, I don't know. I think they're going to throw Pinera closer to the top 15 right off of that. I've got a tease for you.

There's a reader suggestion. I know you're really going to like for McKenna, but that's just a tease. All right. Okay. I think it's better than both. Honestly, when I saw it, I'm like, I think it's better than both. Now that I think it's better than both of our picks. Yeah, it's funny because like, you almost forgot that she fought Kay Hansen because you're immediately, I immediately was like, oh, she could fight Kay Hansen. I'm like, oh, crap, she just beat Kay Hansen. She adjusted. I'm like, she can't fight Juni Frye because Juni Frye is coming off back-to-back losses. You have to give her some

sort of a step up. You have to give her something. I don't know if throwing her, I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do, honestly. That's why I liked the Marcos idea, because let's be honest, I know it's McKenna's second UFC fight and Marcos has been in the UFC for so long and doing all that stuff. I think McKenna beats Brandon Marcos right now. I think she beats her. Yeah, I don't want to see that. Yeah, I think she beats her. I don't want to see that, Mike.

But you have to, like, but what are you going to do with Rana Marcos? Like, you have to give her something. You got to give her some kind of a fight. If you're going to keep her around, you get her, she's got, that's her position. You have to use her to put other fighters over at this point. Or, you know, we'll see, Marcos can, Marcos can surprise some people too. So that's why I kind of, I think it's intriguing. I know, I'm not happy about it.

I'm not happy with the pick. Marina Rodriguez rematch. I don't know. Oh, God. You're your free wildcard pick. Bonus wildcard pick. I don't know. Marina Rodriguez.

Oh, my gosh. I got nothing. You're sad about having your fight Corey McKenna, but you're going to throw her in there with Marino Rodriguez. Are you insane? I didn't say, I had all the answers. I didn't say had all the answers. That was a draw. They fought to a draw.

Let me run that one back. So let us head to everyone's favorite segment. I think we segue into this perfectly. The wild card round. We choose a fighter. We have not matched made for yet from Saturday's card, and we will do it right now. And Mr. A.K. Lee, kind of slim pickings from this card, is it not? What is your UFC Vegas 14 wildcard pick?

Listen to him with the quick hits first. Of course, first I want to say to Llea, Eric Anders, guys who missed weight, and then it seems fell ill. Anders was hospitalized. Get well soon, guys. I don't know what the issue was, but I know a lot of people want to pile on them for missing weight, and they should be embarrassed and it is disappointing, but health comes first, right? So hopefully you guys get that sorted out.

Haraldo DeFratis. Hey, maybe less grappling next door. Maybe don't initiate the grappling when you're, being out wrestled by Tony Gravely. That's a little bit of an odd strategy. And Reese McKee, look, you know, we don't encourage extreme, I just said, I just said to smoke on Anders about weight cutting. We don't encourage extreme weight cutting, but McKee has fought a 155 before.

I'm just saying if it's possible, maybe look into it. Maybe look back into going down to 155, though he looks, he looks really big. I was actually surprised he fought at 155 before, but it wasn't that long ago. So my pick is Brendan Allen. I do want to see, I was trying to figure out what's next for Brendan Allen. Because as we said, he was ranked, you know, And then suddenly he had the fight he wanted in Ian Hynish, right? A fight that a perfect matchup for him.

It would have kept him cruising up the rankings. And it just keeps falling true. You know, so I think, unfortunately, the ship may have sailed on that one. I think it could happen in the future. But I think you kind of give it that. Let's wait and see. Let's get Hinesh's COVID-19 situation sorted out, whatever it is that keeps happening with him and his team. So I think we mentioned this guy, but not from Brennan Allen on the post-fight show.

Shabazzian. Edmund Shabazian. They're both coming off losses. They're both prospects. That's not a fight that a lot of people like to see. Two prospects coming off losses getting face put up against each other. I normally say, oh, prospect of a loss, kind of gave him a winnable fight to get back on track. But screw that.

Screw that. Both think that's super talented. I think they get a four to two-fight losing streak. It's not going to be the end of their careers. And I'd like to see them lockhorns. Shabazian, like we said, is kind of occupied with some political things, I think, some social concerns that he's prioritizing. So that's fine. But whenever he's ready to fight again,

Brennan Allen, let's give it a go. Interesting. I feel like I always go with Bannam weights in these situations, and gosh darned, AK. Let's stick with 135. You mentioned Tony Gravely, set a nice start to his UFC career. I mean, he fought freaking Brett Johns in his UFC debut and gave that man some problems. He did get submitted in the third round, but it was a great fight, got a fight in a night, bonus. And then, you know, that's just a really tough debut fight.

and he had a pretty good showing and a losing effort. And on Saturday, takes on a really difficult test in Gerald de Freitas, and he did it on the ground. Seven takedowns. Wasn't scared of the submissions of DeFraid Us. Wasn't scared of anything. And that is a quality win right there at 135 pounds. So I would like to see how he stacks up against another really good wrestler,

a guy who could bang on the feet, a man coming off his first finish in the UFC, a battle between two of the best gyms in the sport. ATT versus Fortis, M. M.A. Get me Tony Graveley versus Miles Johns. That sounds like the kind of fight where the pace would just be ridiculous. And I would like to see how that plays out. That is my wildcard picket AK. That feels like one of those fights that we should have seen already on the regional scene, doesn't it? Like I feel like Gravely, right? It's just, it's such a core curve of a fight. Yeah, I love Graveley's performance. I, the only reason I pick him is again, he's in that range where it's just there's, I feel like there's 20 guys. We say this every week. I'm going to keep saying it. There's just no bad matchups at 135. And Gravely could matchup the number of guys in his range. But Miles John's a good one. Yeah, I love it. Love it. Let us go to our wonderful listeners and readers.

Actually, I'm actually, Mike, I've introduced, I've just introduced a new segment to our show. Oh. It's a new segment I call Check the Tapes for to give our, to give ourselves. I thought it's very unfreshable than me. I did not, because I wanted to surprise Mike. I did not spring this on him before. So this first edition to be a little, a little rough. But I wanted to give ourselves a little pat in the back for, I think, some of the matchups that we have at least mentioned on the show. I don't know if we necessarily picked them is our number one choice, but I feel like we mentioned some of these. Okay.

I'm just looking back through some of the fights announced this week. This one I wish, well, the first I'm going to start with one, I wish I'd picked. Nate Land where I'm Mulsar Evluev. That's on December 5th. Sorry, that does not count. I'm going to find one. Hold on. Give me a second here.

This is Oktu, a great start. No, no, two, I know we definitely did. Overeem and Alexander Volkov. I'm sure we mentioned it. I'm sure a lot of people mentioned it. Yeah. I don't know how much credit we can give us. for that but one that and another one I guess I don't know how much we can

give credit we can give ourselves for this one either because it kind of was supposed to happen a long time ago but I know it's one we definitely definitely called out as his best choice Carlos Condit Matt Brown finally fingers crossed January 30th this fight will happen so guys sometimes we know what we're talking about okay sometimes we know what we're talking about so there we go not the most thrilling first check the tapes ever but I'm just like go look a some previous episodes I probably missed some matchups that we mentioned and that were announced so I'm probably not giving us

Enough credit, Mike. You are missing them. How about... Go ahead. How about Marab de Walsh Willie versus Hione Barcellos? Ah, yes. Yes.

Yes, I'm sorry. I was only looking at ones announced in the last few days. That must have been last weekend. That was Friday. That was Friday. That was Friday. That was Friday.

Yeah, we got announced on Friday. We confirmed it on Friday. Oh, okay. I got it. Oh, okay. I know why. I'm looking at the morning report, and there's no morning report Saturday for,

so to recap Friday's flight announcements. So, my bad. I'll be a little more better pair next time. But yes, that is our crown jewel, the Barcellos-Devalish-Fili fight. That fight is going to be amazing, and people you can sprinkle a little credit in our direction, because I feel like we may have made that happen.

Let me just think. We have two light heavyweight fights that have been announced over the last few weeks that were both suggestions on the show. Diago Santos versus Alexander Rackich was one of them. That was kind of obvious. But the other one, I'm taking all the credit for, A.K., and you hate it. Dominic Reyes versus Yuri Perashka.

That was on to the next one. Mike Heck exclusive. And now it's headlining. That's a perfect fight. Perfect. So check the tapes, people. He did call for that fight. Check the tapes.

Our new segment. A little rocky to start, but I'll, again, like I said, I'll have a little more organized next time. All right. Sounds good. But what are the, what are the listeners and readers have to suggest this week? Oh, I just said, Mike, it's a little bit slim picking. So even when we solicited for choices from the NBA fighting accounts,

not a lot of, not a huge swell of interest on this card, but some very good suggestions. So one of them I want to know what was next. for Kanaka Marata, a fighter who we haven't even mentioned yet on the show. Very good UFC debut. And from Rizzo at Rizard, Rzard IP on Twitter, he likes the winner of Angela Hill Tisha Torres, which is something that came to me as well, mainly because I think we said,

we talked about Marada's just jacked. I mean, we're talking about physiques. So if Tisha Torres gets past Angela Hill, we're talking about two of the best physiques in the UFC going at, I think they're really competitive fight. And I know Maradas only want to know in the UFC, but she has experience high level experience before coming to the show.

So I have no problem with that. For Sean Strickland, a number of good suggestions. Sorry, let me draw these up real quick. Some of which I think we've kind of discussed, but he's generating some buzz. His fights have been exciting. People like his story.

Our boy, Big Marcel 24 on Twitter, Armarie McGreeze, Ekmedov. Andrew Nally, who I think is someone who tunes into our shows as well, the loser of Kevin Holland, Jack Hermanson. I think that one. I think if Holland loses, I like that matchup. If Hermanson loses, I don't know.

Interesting. I think if Holland loses, that's a great matchup. At box your ears off on Twitter, I don't know where this coming from, but I guess it has to be mentioned. Yuel Romero? I saw that one. No way, right? That's insane. Oh, yeah, this is coming off your tweet.

And then a matchup I like this guy's book, but I do think this would have made. made a lot of sense if he wasn't someone else from at perplexed by that on Twitter. Brad Tavares, who's fighting fellow gatekeeper, shoeface, Antonio Carlos Jr. That's right. I think in January. So, but yeah, Brad Tavarres, I think would have also been a good choice. I think the winner of that is going to get. And actually, the winner or loser of that, I actually also kind of like for Brendan Allen.

So we'll see. I think we'll see one of those guys, Brad Tavarez or Shoeface matched up soon. Some good, good options there. Chaos's knockout did not draw a lot of. picks so we only had one person at megawatt mayhem who suggested no one is going to want to fight him next after that knockouts kind of kind of the walking buckley problem so yeah some some good twitter suggestions there uh so we've got emails we got email we've got twitter uh some dms which i'll go back to twitter in a second and then uh a new and a new viewer sliding into uh sliding into the dms on

instagram so yeah so let's let me get your thoughts on some of these mike i think one of these we shut down. So Tristan Gordat, regular viewer, regular viewer, regular listener. The one of them, his that jumped out to me, he liked chaos. He mentioned us the show. I think we were against chaos and Rachmanov. But we didn't like that, did we? I don't like that at all. It's an interesting fight. That is like, that is a fight between two guys. I mean, that is a prospect killer kind of a fight. Like, you know, only one guy is going to propel themselves from that. Like, it's not one of those fights where, like, they're just going to beat the knot out of each other and they're going to have a fight of the night and have this great war and

both guys' stocks are going to rise despite who wins or loses. Either chaos is getting submitted or Rachmanov's getting knocked out very quickly. That's how that fight goes. And one of these guys is just going to get the momentum halted very quickly. I want to see what would happen there. And by the way, why is Rachmanov not getting a lot of hype right now? Like of chaos, Hamzat Shemayev, like, Rachmanov isn't even talked about it all. Like, I'm glad that Tristan Gordet mentioned the name, just so we can talk about him.

But the guy goes out there and his UFC debut on short notice and submits Alex Oliver in the first round. That is the most impressive win out of any of these guys. And nobody's talking about Rachmanov. So I would like to see Rachmanov get an opportunity like that because Chaos has some buzz. And Rachmanov would have the opportunity to steal some of that buzz so people can actually talk about him. But I don't want to do that right now. I would give Rachmanov somebody else, like somebody close to the top 50. I would put him in a better position.

then I would put Chaos Williams right now. Yeah, absolutely. 26 years old, 13 and 0. Like you said, just be Brazilian cowboy and set of around. So for me, he has more, and this is a phrase I want to introduce in the Lexicon, more matchup currency than Chaos Williams has right now. And yes, should be lobbying for a top 20, top 15 fight. So thank you, Tristan.

Let me check my DMs here. I just got a DM regarding something else. So a couple of other regular lists is Harry Lipsky. he likes he likes RDA Olivera Strickland versus Heinish or Gastellum

Yes well they are fighting So the winner of that Or the loser of that maybe Yeah yeah And I think like Gasselin we keep saying That'd be crazy if Gasselm lost Is on a five fight losing streak Because he definitely's not getting cut

You know he just because he keeps getting tough fights Sean Strickland should be fighting Chris Wyden Like he should be fighting him Like that is the absolute fight to make But nobody can't can't like, Wyman just is just in this position. I mean, he makes so much money. He's a former champion.

It's hard to justify that fight. But again, you put Wyman in there with Omariyak Madoff. Why not throw him in there with Sean Strickland? Wyman wants more. But if you're, if you're doing this like the right way, that's the fight to make. But I unfortunately just, I don't know. I don't think that jazzes people up enough. I think some people like hardcoreers would be like, ooh, like I like that one.

That's interesting. But I don't know if Wydenin's going to see that name on the contract and be like, oh, let me get my pen, you know? Yeah, another reader Marcus McGahey suggested Strickland Jocko, but I don't know, Jocko's kind of a weird guy. He's kind of one of those veteran names who I think when you're coming off a couple of wins, he's just not, he's kind of, you want to skip over, fair or not, because he's a really tough matchup, and he's the kind of guy, he's a spoiler.

You know, he's definitely a spoiler in the division, so I don't know about that. So this again, from Marcus McGaheyey. He likes Chaos Williams. He also liked the Baezza Sato winner. Also, Daniel Rodriguez-Dalby winner, which was one of my choices, also something I considered. I would friggin love that. That fight, by the way, is going to be sick. Yes.

McGahey also likes McKenna Yoder. He likes matching up winners with winners. And he says, how about Maratha Levina? And I'm like, yeah, I think that's logical. Former Invicta champions. I think Levina is fighting Mallory Martin. Oh, you're correct. Yes, she is.

Yeah, that's another reason I couldn't pick. I think because Mallory Martin, I think I wanted for McKenna. It was one of the things I wanted for McKenna. And then you're right. She's already booked. So thank you, Marcus McGahey. And then on the Instagram, what's short, what do the kids say short? Insta.

You have a kid. Your kid's on Instagram all the time, right? The IG. The IG. Oh, of course, the IG's so obvious. Jacob Best on, he's the second time contributing to the show. He likes Felder. Oh, no.

No, he suggested Felder versus Anthony Pettis. That's not going to happen. They're buddies. That's no. Their buddies, training partners. That's not going to happen. And he likes Strickland Wideman. So yes, the Strickland Wydenman is out there.

The people are talking about it, Mike. The people are talking about it. I don't know if that's, pardon me, I don't know if that's the fight he gets, but if that fight, it gets booked, don't think we'd be too surprised. I think we can, yeah, it's reasonable and people are thinking about it. And lastly, I think this is my last one, yes, from, oh, sorry, let me have Twitter for a second. I want to mention another one of our long time listeners. I at Mighty Magic Mart.

Strickland versus either Vittori or Jackereray loser. Is that fight still happening? Yes. Okay. Oh, yeah. What do you think about that? It's good option. Would you prefer one of the other, Vittoria or Jacaree for him?

I don't know. I mean, it's interesting because, like, Jokari is the bigger name than Marvin Vittori, but not as big as you would think. Like, if this is, like, two or three years ago, like, Strickland getting a Jokkeri fight would just be, like, massive. It would be huge for him. Now, I don't know.

Not so much. I mean, if Jockery goes out there and beats Marvin Vittori and does it handily, that's something to look forward to. But, yeah, I think I think that's fine. I'll go back to the IG DMs. Jay Steiner coming in with their first entry.

Coming in hot. Okay, brother. Some good suggestions we've already been mentioned. And McKenna, this is the one I'm actually told us put in you that you didn't think of this. McKenna versus Cheyenne Bayes. Is Bayes of 115 or a 25er? Oh, crap. That's that, that, that, I think a good question.

Oh, I thought, I was, I thought Chase had the end. Hold on guys. We're all, we're all, we're in the Google. machine here looking this up real quick that's a good one she is she is a straw weight okay so okay i feel like we've been crap i've stumped that's the one that's the fight right i i i had not thought of that she had she had a great interview on on what the heck recently of course uh yeah and i think experience wise like you said is he is a little bit closer than piniero you're i think piniero is a killer and i don't you know that might be a little too much too soon for mckenna and if we're going

again away from a veteran like marcos bays how did we not think of that shine base so i thought she was a 25 or for some reason. I don't know. Because I thought, Bays is like one of the first names that popped in my head. And I'm like, I don't think she's a straw weight though,

but turns out I'm wrong. And you know what? Who is this? What is this gentleman's name? Jace Steiner. Jayce Steiner, you have changed my mind completely. Random Marcos off the table.

Chey and Bays in. McKenna v. Bays. Let's do it. Can we do that? I'm doing it. I'm doing it. You know what?

I'm introducing new segments on the show live. But that's definitely the reader pick of the week. Very solid. Very, very solid pick. And he also had another funny one. He said he wants to see Rocky Martinez cut to light heavy weight. No, let the man eat. Stop it.

Let the man eat. But thank you, Jay Steiner. Yeah, so there you go. Great reader picks this week, guys. Awesome, awesome contributions. Always great to listen to. Yes, keep them coming. That's like half the show now.

So keep bringing them in and we'll keep talking about him. And listen, if you're listening to this on Sunday or Monday or whenever during the week, keep those suggestions coming, all right? Hit us up on the Twitter, aka is at Alexander K. I am at Mike Heck underscore J.R. Join us once again next week as we discuss the fallout regarding the notable names coming out of UFC 255. The November pay-per-view is going down. Really fun card.

I know it's not the biggest, sexiest names in the world, but there are some good freaking fights on this card. Of course, both flyway titles are on the line. Davis of Figito makes his first title defense against Alex Perez in the main event. Valencia Chico defends her title against Jennifer Maya. Main card also has Mike Perry v. Tim Means, Shogun Whoa versus Paul Craig, Cynthia Calvia versus Caitlin Jukagan. Prelims has freaking Brandon on Brandon.

Moreno versus Roy Vell. In my opinion, this is the best fight on the entire card. It is a really solid event. Don't be that negative Nancy. Don't let the fact that Connor and John Jones under this card sway you. This will be a lot of fun. You know what?

This will be a UFC 199-esque. I'm making a prediction right now. This is one of those cards where you might skip it. You might sit there and skip it. But if you do, you're going to regret. It's going to be one of those cards that whoever bought it, whoever bought it is going to be happy they did and those who did and he'd be like, damn it, damn it, I should have bought this card. I always love Mike when we end our shows on a threat. That's always the note I want to go out on.

It's the kindest threat, though. I didn't say it was like, go to your house. It's a helpful threat. I'm trying to help you, yeah. Don't be that guy that's like, oh, crap, I should have bought this pay-per-view. I knew I should have. I was on the fence. Don't be that person.

It's got to be really good. it'll be a fun one. We'll talk all about it next week with all of you guys. For now, we are out of time. For Alex Kaley, I am Mike Keck. Always remember, don't take this too seriously. Even my idle threats. MMA is supposed to be fun. We will see you next week right here on onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.