MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Episode 20 | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 15

Episode Date: November 29, 2020

In the 20th 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 15 event at the UFC APEX. Future fights are discussed for Anthony Smith--who submitted Devin Clark in the first round of the main event--Miguel Baeza, Parker Porter, Bill Algeo, Norma Dumont, Jonathan Pearce, 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

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following Saturday nights UFC Vegas 15 event, capped off by Anthony Smith, getting a quick submission win over Devin Clark to get back in the wind column. And with that, thank you all for listening this week. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. If you're in the United States, a lot of you had a longer vacation week. so to speak from work and school and everything's going to kind of turn tomorrow but it is what it is i am mike heck being joined as always by the co-host co-matchmaker colleague best friend and the prince

positivity himself mr alex k lee who got to enjoy uh enjoy some action in the squared circle last night how are you sir yes i'm good i was i was primarily on uh tyson jones duty uh last night for our website so i was you know i was keeping up with what was going on with the ufc but definitely it was on the back burner. So I'll, so, you know, listeners should know right away. I saw highlights. I can't speak in detail about some of the performances. So, you know, Mike, if that influenced your matchmaking and readers, you know,

it would influence your matchmaking suggestions. You're more knowledgeable than I in the situation. But it was refreshing to, surprisingly, refreshing to cover an event headline by 250-plus-year-old boxers. But it seems to a strange way to call it. But it was an enjoyable show, I think, for anyone who caught a street, you know, a kind of whether

be through legal means or through nefarious means. So, yes, what we're leading out, Jake Paul, Connor, McGregor.

Yeah, that is the first matchup we're making, right, I think. So we're leading off the show? Yeah, should be Jake Paul

versus Connor and Dylan Dennis in a handicap match. I'm getting a Logan in there. Logang for life. Oh, tag team boxing match? Or made a bed comel.

We bring fight circus into this now. Oh, God. All right. We're opening up. We're ripping band-aids off here. Things could get really nasty. But let's just, let's stick with the UFC for the time being.

Maybe they'll be on to the next one, Legends Only League in the future. Let us start with Mr. Anthony Lionheart Smith. Really needed this fight, AK, after dropping two of three, or his last two and three out of four, that's what it was. The fight becomes the main event

on a little over 24 hours notice after Curtis Blades test positive for COVID-19. that led to his fight with Derek Lewis being postponed, probably to January at this point. I'm being told nothing officially yet, but Clark gets a massive opportunity to shine, comes out super aggressive, Smith lands an early takedown, and ultimately, that would be the beginning of the end because the former title challenger was able to slap on a triangle, forced the tap right around the halfway point of the opening round.

So, AK, where does Anthony Smith go from here now that he's back in the wind column? Well, let me say, I picked against Smith. I very badly overestimated him, which I've done before. I'm a big Anthony Smith fan, but I think, I think maybe protecting myself, I had been like, well, maybe this is it for Samantha's going to lose. I think it's been three straight losses, four out of five, maybe he's, we, we after his last fight said we'd like to see him take a longer break. I think we weren't even expecting him to fight again in 2020. But here we go. Here he is with a win over, I think, a really good fighter in Devon Cart.

So Smith himself, I think, said this name after, and I hadn't even thought about it because we matched me for this guy last week, but it's kind of perfect in a way. So I don't mind the Paul Craig callout that he did. There's other names you mentioned, but I'll say, I like the Paul Craig fight. I think last year I said I wanted Craig to fight Johnny Walker, but if that fight were not to happen, it makes a lot of sense for both guys. It's a name for Paul Craig. It's stylistically a workable matchup for Anthony Smith. So I'm on the same page with Lionheart on this one. If Anthony Smith is listening to this right now, I want to say two things to you.

One, I did not pick against you in our picks. The official MMA fighting UFC Vegas 15 picks. I picked Anthony Smith to win the fight. I picked him to get a finish, not by submission, not in the first round, but I did pick Anthony Smith. And second, Anthony, do not try to do our jobs for us, okay? This is what we do. We do the matchmaking. And sometimes the UFC listens.

He did mention Paul Craig, and if that happened, it's fine. Not my first, not my second, probably not even my third option at this point. First option is obvious. It's Luke Rockhold. Like, Luke Rockhold is the fight to make. 100%. If they can make this fight, and Luke Rockhold is ready to come back and throw fists in the Octagon, that is absolutely the fight to do.

There is no other option. If Luke Rockhold is not ready to do that, then we carry over a selection that I've made on this program after his most recent win. Do the fight with Johnny Walker. Both guys want it. Walker called out Smith. Smith responded in kinds and he would beat the F out of Johnny Walker in the Octagon. They publicly stated they both want the fight. That would be option B.

Option C would be the winner of Ryan Spann versus Misha Sarkinoff. Paul Craig, fine option. To me, it's probably like option H. But it's not a bad option. You know what I mean? What else do you got on your list, A.K.? I mean, I think we bring up Johnny Walker who wants, who he wants Anthony Smith's fight. It's funny. And then last week I had said, I wanted to fight Craig.

So now I've suddenly cut, I feel like I've suddenly cut Johnny Walker out of this equation. But one other name that I like, and I don't know if I saw someone else mentioned this, but, Nikita Krilov, I think would be a fun one. Yeah. Still, around the top. I don't know people's rankings might be different. I think he'd at least be no lower than like 11, 12 in those people's rankings. So I think I have them just in there around 10.

So, yeah, Nikita Krawloff is happening. and I think that's a fight that he would want. But yeah, the Luke Rockhold thing has been looming for so long. Whenever this guy decides to come back, Rockhold should want to play Anthony Smith, but we really just don't know what's up with Rockhold these days, unfortunately. Yeah. Co-main event.

Miguel Baezza remain undefeated, also picking up a submission win over to Kashi Sato. Caramel Thunder is a guy we brought up on the show many, many times, one of the more exciting prospects on 170 pounds without a doubt, and there's just so many options. for Bayezza. A lot of fun fights that could be in store for him. He definitely deserves to step

up in competition for sure. And I thought about this on the post-fight show, and I think it's a superb option for a number of reasons, AKA, you're probably going to hate this idea. With so much talent at 170, the excitement for a guy like Baezza, completely

warranted, and I still think he's going to need another winner two before we start talking top 15 opponents or anything like that. Certainly something, he'll need like a statement win of some kind. Matt Brown win was a great name on the resume, but I wouldn't consider that a statement win. I think most people expected the fight to go the way that it did. AK, I kind of want to see Miguel Baezza versus Mike Perry.

I kind of want to see that. The UFC, although very few people on this planet agree with them, they see a lot of value of Mike Perry for some reason. And Baezza could get that Jeff Neal rub if he goes out there and puts Mike Perry away, which I would favor him to do so rather easily. I think that is the best option right now while the cup sort of continues to fill. What do you think, A.K. Hate it.

Why? I know why you hate it, but like... I mean, you know, I'm not interested in matching for Perry in general, but what's Perry now? He's lost, what? He must be on some sort of streak, right? Some sort of minor loser. He won the Mickey Golf fight.

Yeah. But he must be mired in some kind of slump, right? I'm not crazy, right? This is a... Just last two out of three, I think. Two out of three. All right, that's not like terrible. It's not the worst thing.

Three out of four, the Luke eight five people really like, Spite of the Night. Which I thought he'd Perry won, by the way. Really? Okay. And then Jeff Neal, no shame in that. Jeff Neal's a stud. And then he'd be calling listed Timmy's.

Yeah, I don't know. It's weird. I want Bays to move up. So I'm probably aiming a little bit higher in the rankings. And I'm only, and I'm doing this name, because I've refrained from actually using this veteran name, which I think is a very easy one for most readers when they're making matches. I kind of want to see him fight Cowboy.

I think Don't Seroni would be a good one. It's kind of in the Matt Brown vein. I should say I think Serenia has a little bit more left in the tank right now. But yeah, I think Seroni is a tug-in. Kind of the thinking with the Krylov thing for Smith. The top 10 guy, he has a big name. Huge test for Baezza. Again, we've seen a lot of fighters thinking they're going to use

Saroni's name to elevate themselves at the wrecking. Some of them do, some of them don't. But there's definitely no, he's definitely not an automatic win for an up-and-coming guy. So that's a real challenge for Bayez-Eye's, I feel. I remember I wanted Chaos to fight the winner of this Baezza-Sato fight, but chaos got himself booked. And, you know, for the longest time, I want to buy him to fight Shemayev. Obviously, that's not happening.

So, and no matter what happens with Shemayev's next fight, win or lose, I don't think Bayez is going to get that fight. So I'm going cowboy. My other pick was, I like him fighting the Jeff Neal Stephen Thompson winner. That's from December 19th, though more so Wonderboy than Jeff Neal. I think if Jeff Neal beats Wonderboy,

he's looking, he'll deserve a higher ranking opponent than Baezza. So some math that needs to be done. But if keeping things simple, Baezza and Soroni. I'd say maybe the loser. Like if Jeff Neal beats Wonderboy, then you could do Baezza Wonderboy,

and that kind of makes sense. I don't think if Wonderboy beats a guy like Jeff Neal because he's already taking a big step back anyways, a step back he does not want to take. To go back and fight an unranked guy, Miguel Baezza after that, I don't think the NMF will be so MF after that. But I just think, I just think Baez is in kind of,

he's in a good spot, but he's in kind of a tough spot because you've got guys of 170, like guys like Sean Brady, you got Shemai F, obviously, and some others, even whom I think, of. You mention him. I can't even think of it. Jeff Neill, etc. I feel, Chaos Williams as well. I feel like he is like just, just behind those guys, even though he's had

some really good wins under his belt. So I think, I think if he fought a guy like Perry, he'd be an instant favorite. A lot of eyeballs upon him, probably more than any other fight he's ever had, just because Mike Perry brings attention. And if he goes out there, it starts as Mike Perry, he's going to get a lot of love. And I would put by his surprise, a three to one favorite in that fight for being honest. I did you of him knocking Mike Perry out of the UFC. So now you're, now you're speaking my language a little more. There you go.

Let us move to the heavyweight division. A fight nobody saw going three rounds. But on the post fight show, a lot of a lot of love for Parker Porter versus Josh Parisian. It was a fun fight. Porter gets the win. He cashes at a round of two to one underdog, defeats Josh Parisian by unanimous decision, AK.

what do you see next for the Connecticut native? This seems so obvious to me. Don't tell Mace. I think it's got to be Don't know. It's just, I don't know. I don't know. I might ask, why is it obvious? It's like, I don't know.

Again, like I say, if anyone keeps their own rankings, there's a pretty obvious cluster of heavy weights, you know, top tier, mid-tier, low-tier. These guys are up and coming at the low-tier. Similar experience, just, yeah, I don't know. I don't have a lot to say about it. I just looked at it and I'm like, yeah, this is it. the matchup, Don't tell Mays, let's go.

Obvious is probably an understatement, AK. It is Don't tell Mays. There's no other option, really. I mean, neither of these guys can be fighting for world titles anytime soon. That's a fun scrap. One of those guys will take another small step forward, and both these guys came back from some devastating losses, obviously went back to the drawing board, improved their game a little bit, and stepped in the octagon and got their first UFC wins.

So mystery-filled heavyweight division, I think this is a nice fight to sort of fill a gap somewhere on a fight night card or in the apex, maybe even on Fight Island. Maybe we get a little wild and crazy and take those heavyweights to the new stadium out there. As we go from the heavyweight division to the featherweight division, we saw the first UFC win for Bill Algeo. He overcame the interesting style and the constant screaming of Spike Carlisle. And after a really close fight on short notice with Ricardo Lomas and his promotional debut, he gets the Alpha Ginger, wins the unanimous decision,

in a good scrap at 1.45. And I like Bill Elgiah. I think he's a fun fighter. 45 is ridiculously deep right now. I know he called out Giga Chikaze, and I appreciate the call-out. It's just not going to happen. It's just not going to happen.

Giga deserves a bigger step-up in competition, probably a top 15 guy. I like where he's coming from. Gusto, Bill. I appreciate it. So I'm going to throw a fun one out there. How about Bill Elgio versus Ludelio? versus Ludovit Klein.

Oh. Klein had the short notice. Knocko went over Shane Young. He missed weight for the fight, but it was on pretty short notice. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for the time being. I just think that's a fun fight,

and I think both those guys are kind of around the same area right now. I don't know. What do you think? I like that better than all of my suggestions, because let me tell you something. Like, this is where I start to rebel against the UFC's, both the UFC's matchmaking, also the very concept of our show. Because we've discussed this before. Typically, we take

whoever's on the main card and we match them up. And then we have a wild card. That is our format. If you have worked your way to the main card, you are worthy of speculative matchmaking. But again, these cards have become so thin this year that you have some fighters who we normally wouldn't match up. They would normally be on the pre-limb. No disrespect to Bill Algeo, Park Porter, Norman Dumont, Jonathan, some people will discuss later. It's just, there's really kind of possible for us to match these people up in any realistic way. Any of these people could fight, depending on the depth of their division, a dozen other names, probably more for Bill Algeo. This is a random call him later again, by the way. So I just had so many names for him.

I really like the client matchup. But I settled on, I think, like, Jamal Emmer's. And it's just like, again, I don't have a lot to say about it. It's just record-wise, experience-wise, are in a similar place coming off with. The one thing I tried to narrow things down was similar experience level and coming off of wins, which helped a little bit. So Emers would be a really good choice. I like Aljo Derek Miner, but I think Miner has a lot more experience than him. But I mean, if we're just talking UFC experience, things about the same. Julian Orozes is another good name.

And also Sean Woodson, who was supposed to fight. We don't know. Hopefully he's okay. I don't know why he withdrew. But whenever he's ready, I think him and Algeo would be interesting. But Jamal Embers is my top pick, I guess, to use the term loosely. Yeah, I don't mind that one. I still want to see Jamal Amir's fight Charles Rosa, but I mean, I want to match everybody

up against Charles Rosa at this point. Like, if you get in there at 45 and you get an impressive win, I kind of want to throw you in there with Rosa and just see where you're at, but we'll see what's next for him in this featherweight division, which we're going to talk about again in a matter of moments. And you mentioned it heading to the women's Bannemweight Division, and this is an air quote right now. Norma Dumont gets her first UFC win, dominates Ashley Evan Smith in route to a unique

unanimous decision. Dumont tried to make the move from 45 to 35. She missed weight by three and a half pounds. And hopefully that is something that can be fixed because she looked, she looked great against Evan Smith. So what do you, this is a little more complicated, AK, because you could do this potentially in two different divisions. So what do you see next for Norma Dumont? Hold on. Did I mess up my division? See, this is a live podcasting people. I did I miss out Tracy Cortez, is she a, she fought at Bantamweight, right? Yeah, both of her UFC wins are at Bantamweight. She is talking about, yeah, she's talking about moving to 25, but no decision has been made yet.

I don't know what I do with my rankings here. Yeah, so I have Cortez in there. I say that because Cortez would be my pick. Again, we can go in a lot of different directions with women's Bantamweight. It's not the deepest division, so maybe the options aren't quite as spread out as I'm suggesting. But Tracy Cortez would be my number one pick. I think it's just good experience-wise, good test for course. Someone who I think the UFC sees a lot in as a marketable fighter.

But Dumont, I think, really surprised people last night. She beat a solid veteran in Ashley Evan Smith. So someone a little bit closer to Dumont experience, Tracy Cortez. Other names I throw out there, Bay Maliki, Sarah Alpar, Shannon Young against, this is just people again, the lower echelon of the women's band and weight division. And again, I don't know where to go with some of these matchups. But Dumont Cortez, sure. I'm doing it out there. Yeah.

I mean, I'm down for giving her other crack of 135. Hopefully she could figure out the weight thing. I thought about Tracy Cortez, but I'm not going with that. More so for the reasons that you stated, because Cortez is very marketable. I feel like there's some eyeballs on her. And I don't feel like we should reward Dumont with a fight like that. Not saying that Cortez is like the biggest star of the division, but definitely somebody that brings attention to her fights. and I don't think we should reward her for that.

So I think we should keep her at 35, but we put her up against a really gritty, tough matchup that when you see the name on the contract, you're trying to weigh out the risk and the reward, and you're like, man, this fight is going to be grueling. I want to see her fight Julia Stoliorenko, AK. Invictavet, former champ, short notice UFC return against Lena Landsberg,

loss of decision. I'm sure she has grown from that loss. I think you throw in there she makes weight and beats someone like that then you can give her the Cortez's you can get her up there she was impressive last night but as impressive as she was

I don't think we should give her that much of a step because I think right now at 35 Cortez is like right outside the top 15 she's like a win away from probably getting in there you know what I mean yeah and DeMama is bad you're right you're right it definitely affects how you view you know the usual

matchup win loss matchmaking yeah she missed by three and a half pounds right yeah i'm not mistaken that's not good um so yeah i almost dabbling the idea of having her face another fighter who had uh weight issues at a lower weight class and then that moved up former ufc champion nico montaño but montaigne's fighting carol rosa i think so i thought like maybe the winner of that but i think that's not for a few months so uh i don't know again read i i i'll tell you something i don't think we got a lot of readers suggestions on dumont either uh i looked ahead to our reader suggestions so uh i don't think we're getting a lot of help here

But if guys, if you have any, if you're listening to the show now and you have any reading suggestions for Norma Dumont, Women's Ventimweight, please fire them in our direction. DM, let's say to us on Twitter, wherever, just help us up. Yeah, it's just a weird show this week. No disrespect to anybody. It's not their fault to their place where they were a place, and this card was what it was. But that's just what happens in a COVID-2020 catch-up era. As we look ahead to another man who bounce back from defeat in his UFC debut gets his. first UFC win.

How about Jonathan Pierce, aka JSP? First fight in over a year since that quick, devastating loss to Joe Lozahn at UFC Boston. I was there. It was just crazy.

What a moment it was for Joe Lozon. Not the night for JSP, but he puts away late notice replacement Kai Kamaka in the second round via TKO. Press of performance. He looked outstanding. He cashes as a more than two and a half to one underdog

I saw in some betting sites. but you mentioned this name earlier. This one is pretty easy for me. He had already been booked to fight Sean Woodson before Kamaka came in. Woodson said he tore some cartilage, like, in his rib cage area, and it just wasn't in the cards to train, travel, and cut all that weight with an injury like that. It was just grueling and really painful. So he said it was going to be like another two to three weeks at this point

that is going to be on the shelf before he can get back fully at it. So he hopes to be back early, 2021, maybe in January, early February. I say just rebook that fight because good prospect matchup that just makes perfect sense. I think that's where you go. What do you think? Yeah, good on Pierce making the move back down to featherweight. He looked like a new man, you know, as long as he can keep making that cut to 145,

and I used to fight there and then went up to lightweight for a bit, and I was back down at featherweight. Joel was on, that was a tough matchup for him. You know, your first UFC fight, Joel was on. I mean, you know, he didn't look good. I'm sure he'll agree, but really the circumstances were so. up and now facing a really, really good prospect in Kamaka to get that win, put his wasn't right back on track. Yeah, Sean Woodson was my bolded name as well out of several other names.

Again, everyone I mentioned for Al-Gio, you could probably also match up with Pierce. You could, they could go Al-Gio Pierce. That's an option, right? That's something which we didn't discuss, but, you know, if they want, if both guys are on the same track health-wise, as far as we come from this fight, I don't see any reason why they can't be matched up. But I do like the Sean Winston match up for all the reasons you mentioned. And again, hopefully Woodson's okay.

He's such a fascinating proximity proxatives at 1.45. I mean, you just, if anyone's never seen Sean Woodson fight, load up that fight pass. And if you don't remember, look at Woodson, you won't forget him. Let me put it that way. He stands out. He stands out. Woodson and Pierce are humongous 45ers. Yes.

Humongous. So that's what make that fight interesting. It's almost like a lightweight fight between those guys. Oh, love it. I love it too. As we now get ready to head to everyone's favorite segment, and I'm so fascinated to hear what you have to say about this, A.K., This is the wild card round for UFC Vegas 15, where we each will select one fighter that we have not match made for yet, and we will do so right now. So, Mr. A.K., what is your wild card pick coming out of Saturday?

I have to imagine we pick the same person, but I guess I don't know. I don't know why I'm so confident. I picked Gina Mazzani. I thought Mazzani, I liked her chances going into Saturday's card. I think she did end up being favored. I was glancing at the odds before the card. I think she did end up being favorite. I think for good reason.

I think she's a talented fighter. Her last fight before fighting Ostevich was back up at 135, which I don't think is her, I don't know that's her ideal weight class. I think flyweight's a good spot for her. So she looked good. She looked good on Saturday. One name, one name came to me, not a big list. But I think she's a good test now to see what's up with Maria Agapova.

We don't. Agapva is such as, it's so strange because I think we all agree if she had a little more tactics, she probably would have beaten Shana Dobson. But Shana, of course, a little more experienced and just put it on her. I mean, she had last one to put it on her.

And that's great performance by Shana. So I think I got, but I still, I'm a big believer in Agapagabah, but I think she'll learn a lot from that. And I'd like to see her tested against, again, a fighter with another fight

with a little more experience in Gina Mazzani. This is, this is going to be interesting, AK, because I'm going to do something that I don't think I've ever done on this program before.

Oh, what a tease. Yes. And listen, most of you listening right now are probably like, you know what? He's going to pick Nate Manus versus Adrian Yannes or something like that because there were callouts and it was excellent use of the mic time. And Mike loves picking the Bannamweights. I'm not going to do that this week. I'm not doing it. In fact, I'm going the opposite of what you did, AK.

I'm going to book a one more chance fight. A loser leaves town situation. Even though it seems like one of these fighters, if not both, were. in this situation on Saturday already, I still want to see one more out of both of them. Rachel Ostevic has now lost three fights in a row. However,

she showed some heart, some tenacity, some gusto, if you will, in defeat against a relentless Gina Mazzani. I was impressed with Rachel Ostevich. Her buy just gave out, those liver kicks were just nasty. She did all she could. It just wasn't enough.

She also had one of the best moments of the night. turning that north-south choke into this, like, insane backtake. That was wild. Yeah, she didn't do anything with it. But if you go back on, like, the highlights of the night and, like, the quick clips, that was probably like, I would guess that that's probably the most viewed clip of the card. I would say that.

Ashley Evan Smith has had a tough run as of late as well. Instead of just booting both of them out of the UFC, how about we just match them up? Winner sticks around, loser is out. I know they both have the same manager. but I feel like if either wants another fight, this is probably the only fight that makes any kind of sense at all. I kind of want to see it, A.K., I want to see the adversity.

I want to see the stakes oh so high. One more chance. Let's rock and roll. Let's mix things up this holiday season. Rachel Oswitch has a following, which is a reason they certainly want to keep her around. What week class would this take place at, Mike? 125 or one...

Probably 25. Either. either. I mean, I was 25, I think it would be ideal. I just don't know. I know Evan Smith has had trouble cutting down there, so I don't know if she'd want to go back. But you're right. I mean, she clearly has shown she can she can make 125. So I'm not against it. I do think it's funny that you mentioned that they have the same man. It would be a pretty cold-blooded thing to do, I think, but this is the fight game, I guess, right? And I guess if the UFC came along and said, look, this is the right we're thinking of and, you know, can you put this together? I guess if you're

a manager, you don't really have a choice. You kind of want to say, if this is what it takes to keep Ashley Evans for the round or keep Rachel Ostevic around, then I got to do what I got to do. So, yeah, I'm not against it. I do wonder if Ostevic, you don't think she'll, she might be cut or retire. I heard someone say retire.

I don't know. But listen, it's all, it's up to, it's up to them. Like, listen, if you want to, if you want to fight, you want to stay in the UFC, this is your path. If not, do whatever you want. You want to host podcasts? You want to retire? You want to be a model?

Fine. We wish you well on your future endeavors. But if you want to stay here in the UFC, this is the fight and this is the only fight. Winner hangs on, losers gone. That's cold-blooded. You really are. You're looking and sounding like Dana White. I tell you. That is just cold-blooded. I'm giving them another chance. They should both be cut if we're being honest. That's what he always says. That's what he says to fighters all the time when he puts in one of these tough matchups. I'm giving you guys another chance. You want to be a fighter or not? I'm giving you opportunities. This is the land.

End of opportunity, A.K. We did not have... We were a little short on Wild Card offers this week. Let's be honest. So, I'll say, our readers, our readers came into... The only name I didn't see you mention it was Anderson Dos Santos. I didn't see anyone mention him on our readers. We didn't mention them.

And he had a pretty nice win over Martin Day. But anyway, good for him. Normally, I'd like to do a lot of quick hits. But again, there's just... That's just not a lot of names to discuss it. Where are the listeners coming from this week, AK? Oh, hold on. Check the tapes is back.

Oh, God. Check the tape is back. I don't know what's happening on this program. I got rid of the end because I just completely forgot about it. Now I was just back. And I had to bring it back because I called that. I nailed one of these this week. Alonzo Menefield.

He's probably on February 27th. I called for Menefield to face the William Knight Alexa Kamer winner. This is on episode, check the tapes. Episode 8 of onto the next one. This is from the September 5th, U.C. Vegas 9 show. Go back, guys, check the tapes. I called for Menefield versus a Knight Camer winner. and lo and behold, we have Menofield versus Night February 27th.

So I nailed it. I nailed it. You are welcome, Sean Shelby or McMahon, or whichever one who handles that division. I thought I picked that one too. I think we're one. I'll be honest. I only keep track of my own. So, Mike, you might check your own tapes at some point.

I'm just warning. I keep very thorough documentation of my own picks. Tony, two fights that happened that I don't know if we mentioned on the show, but I think we must have mentioned multiple times in passing if not on our own show unlike other emma biting shows that we do

Tony Ferguson versus Charles Olivaara finally got book December 12th that's a matchable I feel like we've been asking for and many people have been asking for for a long time that was one of those like

I don't know if it's going to happen but this is what should happen kind of fights it just made at any point either during Ferguson's long winning streak even after his loss even after he picked up that first loss in a while we were like yeah

well the the bounce back fight is him versus Dobranzi and that's great and that's a fight that the process there. So that's check the tapes for everyone, really, because I think we all wanted the same with this next matchup, and also with Cheeto Vera versus Jose Aldo

is when I think a lot of people discussed and it just made sense and people put together. I don't know if we ever, again, mentioned it specifically on the show. Perhaps you did. I mean, you might have picked it. I can't remember. But yes, for everyone who mentioned that one,

you are certified. That is Cheeto Vera Viz Aldo, December 19. So that's coming soon. There you go. Check the tapes. Okay, always check the tapes. We're on top of these things.

And check the tapes for Mike. by the way, because I don't know, Mike's a busy man. I don't know Mike's time. So if you guys have time to go back to check the tape for him and why don't let him know which ones he nailed, please do. So, yes, our lovely readers, oh, I've got to build up here because, so a lot of our regulars, love hearing from our regulars. We got, of course, always via email, Tristan Gorda.

I'll throw this up quickly, Mike to tell you which one really jumps out at you. He likes Anthony Smith versus Johnny Walker. We all, like I said, we know Johnny wants it. I still don't love it. Miguel Baezza versus Muhammad Lima, Adegel Lima winner, December 19th. I feel like Moham deserves a higher ranked, excuse me, a higher ranked opponent if he wins, though. He's ranked. He's top 15 right now, isn't he?

Yeah, Bahamas. Yeah, absolutely he deserves. He deserves higher out. Yeah, he'd be sure. So a great fight on paper. Don't you mind. Sure. I wouldn't complain.

Yeah, the winner of that fight. Probably Lima would make a little more sense. But Muhammad would be a huge, huge get for Baezza. I just don't see it happening. Bill Algeo Andre Feeley That's too much of a step up Yeah, he can't do that Well

Justin had some question I mean listen He went He was very competitive With Ricardo Llamas So I guess I mean I would say no But if they made it

I'd watch Be fun There's a lot of this by the way There's a lot of this Bill Algeo People wasn't really I guess I missed most of the fights So people were really

I guess in love With Algeo's performance And I do think I do think he's better than he looks more experienced than his record shows. Like he has good experience as it is, but you watch him fighting.

Oh, this is a guy who could be competitive. As you said, we know he can be competitive with top 10 guys because he went to a decision with lungs. He also liked, I'll tell us other because of salt. Sumudairji, and we didn't mention him. Summidaerji versus Amir al-Bazi, who was supposed to fight in a card recently,

but true. So that's solid. That's all. Yeah. On Instagram, oh, first of all, I should have told you, I think this came out after we recorded the show, unfortunately.

Jay Steiner wanted to show you some love for a Tristan, Palatnikov, Tristan Connolly. He said he loves that pick and that Connolly is from his hometown and that he went to school with him. I think he's talking about Connolly and not, no, maybe he's talking about Palatnikov. Oh, I should have read this more clearly. Anyway. Is Jay's from Canada? No, I think Jay's Australian.

Well, Palatacov's from Hong Kong. So I guess it's close, right? Maybe, you know, well, I mean, Hong Kong is close, but are considerably close to Australia. Yeah, yeah, it's true. I don't know. Maybe he's not a platica. Anyway, he was not clear with his pronouns, and he said, he's from a hometown. I actually went to school with him.

I know he's recovering from surgery on his neck. Oh, maybe it's funny. That's Connolly, yeah. Guys, I can read. I really can. He's coming from surgery on his neck. I love that matchup when he's back. So I guess Chase went to, you know, school in Canada.

So that's great. Jacob Best, how do you feel about this one? I saw this occultuous justice. Anthony Smith, Jimmy Crute. Casey suggested that, I think. I'm a post-fight show. I'm torn because it's actually like, it's actually the right fight for Crute.

I don't know. Maybe it's just because Anthony Smith's like such a good dude. I just don't want to see him in that position. Because I feel like, I don't want to under, it's tough. It's a really interesting fight. I just don't know if we're there yet. I kind of want to give Crude the slow burn.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Like give him another win. Like give him to Paul Craig, fight. Like, I think they fought already. No. But give him something like that. Like, you know, I think he's, what, 15 right now? Give him like 14, 13, 12, something in that, like of the woods. And if he wins that fight, Anthony Smith beats a Johnny Walker or whatever, then you can make that match. I want to see, I want to see one more win from Jimmy Krupp before we start

throwing him in there with former title challengers. Yeah, and I, like you said, we like Anthony Smith. I don't think you want to see him like so clearly thrust into that stepping stone role, which is honestly, again, which is what I thought that Devin Clark. fight was and and uh i well i mean i guess i was right the way it was booked but um it was it was a replacement right yes clark i think was supposed to fight somebody else yes i believe so so anyway yeah uh Miguel byza anthony peddicks which i like except that i actually like even more uh that which was suggested to us last week uh by a reader called redwood rebel i'm still on the juban pettist fight but i think you didn't like

like it because I think you said Jubans maybe not big enough name for Anthony Pettus. Does this sound familiar? Yeah, I remember the conversation. I have to go check the tapes. Hey, oh. Yeah, again, talk about check the tapes, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I like that fight too.

Maybe I was grumpy last week if I didn't like it. Also, I think if Juban is not a big enough name for Pettus, by his, there probably wouldn't be either. He might be a hotter name right now, but I think Pettus would still rather fight a veteran as opposed to, again, someone looking to make a name off of him. Yeah, I mean. But I like the matchup. I like either of them.

Joban versus either of those guys, I'm okay with. And then for Algea, again, he threw a Philly as well. Also, Mersad Bechtitch and Darren. I thought about that one. Really? Look, Villagio was good, but guys, slow it down. Merzad's lost three fights in a row. You just got submitted by Damon Jackson.

I still have way higher. Let me, gosh, I have, sorry, Algeo, you're going to say this too low, but it's really, I'm 64th out of about 90-some-odd featherweights. He has one would UFC win. All right, first of all, he has one UFC win. Bechtitch, I still have top 35, okay? I know, three straight losses, but he's got some good wins in there. So I don't drop people that quickly until they lose.

You're right. And maybe it's, maybe it would be a loss to Algeo that would finally send him plummeting down, but they're just not close to my rankings. I don't love it. Aljo is really good. I would not be surprised to see. That Lama's decision loss got him a lot of currency, and I do think we'll see a lot more matching him up.

What about... What about Algeo Charles Jordane? Algeo and Charles Jordane. Yes, yeah, yeah. See, that I think is a little more appropriate. Yeah, I'm with that. I'm with that. Oh, we just... I just...

Are you sure we're not live? Jay Steiner just messes me right now. His ears are ringing. Not the butter. No, yes. Yeah, he knows. He just, I guess he wanted to get in. I think he knows we record before Monday, and I think he just wanted to slip in some

suggestions. He likes Porter Don't tell me. I'm reading this again, people. We're alive. We're live right now. Mazani, Shana Dobson. Yeah, I could see it. Summudairji.

Sumu DiJeri. I'll get it. Versus, Elliot Espinosa winner? Yeah. I don't know. I look He looks really good He does look really good

He does look really Byez of Randy Brown I think Bayez is kind of past him Yeah I don't mind I don't mind it I don't mind it Devin and he matched me for Clark Oh he's something we didn't even do

We didn't match me for Clark He likes Clark versus Yon Kuchelaba Huh Yeah Yeah that's fun I think that's a road One of us would have at least considered

So thank you Chief Steiner For the very late So literally you just got another deadline Jay Steiner Thank you very much And now Twitter DEMs

People sliding into the DMs Well we got a message this morning Both of us from Casual Eve From Eve the Hive the Hardcore Casual on Twitter Who mentioned Of course he does want to see

Anthony Smith's Rockhold I have to think this is the one If people knew that Rockhold was Around a date when Rockhold was coming back I think we'd all say Anthony And a few from our usual readers I'll read them out real quick Aronski

He likes Baiza versus Lyman Good, again, I think Baezza, a bit above for that matchup now. Yes, I would agree. Yeah. Fun, though. Harry Lipsky, Smith versus, I like this one, actually, Circonoff Span winner. They fought on December 19.

I'm kind of into that. Yeah, that's like third on my list. I like that one, too. I like that a lot. And he likes Baezza and Tim Means, which I got confused at first because I have several times this year got Baezza and Daniel Rodriguez confused. just because of the way they've debuted and they both beat veterans they both beat well-to-rate veterans they're both they both went three and oh well i mean but is three and oh now so i can get in the mix-up so i thought that fight it already happens i want to see we're lobbying for robbie for robbie for tim mean so i want to see the lobby for robbie for tim mean still so let's keep that going marcus mcayheye he wants to face the chaos peheda winner yeah that's fun yeah that was was suggested a couple of times in the post-fight show as well.

I mean, fireworks, but he's as exciting. He is. I think he needs one more win, though, before he gets to a fight like that. I mean, that's, I think it would be best for his career to get one more win. Like, build him up just a tinge more. Like, if they threw him in there against the winner of Chaos versus Paheda, damn right, I'm watching that. Yeah, yeah.

But I agree. Yeah, you know, I'm always in favor of slow build, especially for a guy who's this talented. And again, he's 10 and 0, which is great, but 10 pro. 10 pro fights is 10 pro fights guys. That's not a lot in the grand scheme of things. So he's really learning on the job here. And I'd like, like you said, I'd like to see them just take their time a little bit with the build. So he had a big step up for Sumudairji.

But the flyway division is only like 20 people. So it's really hard not to any move up is almost a huge step up. It's like there's no, you know, if you only had two UFC fights, there's really no way to move up without now running into a top 15 guy. Yeah. I kind of, you know what I'd be interested in seeing? And this is just like so outside the box. It's not even funny, but he's been creeping up all over the place. I mean, not creeping, but he's been showing up all over the place on social media. How about you bring back Jared Brooks? The man that everyone thought Davis at Figuedo lost to. Yeah. Why don't we bring in Jared Brooks and see, let's put him to the test. Derrick's has gone out the whole flyweight division. Let's bring Jared Brooks back in and we'll have him fight, Mederji. Jared Brooks never should have been cut. Never.

You know what I mean? Like, yeah, it's just silly. Yeah, I actually really like that match. I think you trumped the readers. I know the readers have blown your mind the last couple of weeks, Mike. I think you trumped the readers this time. I think the readers had good suggestions for Summody Herogy. I think you win this round.

I will unofficially give you, much like the judging at the Tyson Jones by last night, I will give you the celebrity unofficial decision. Yeah. I think I lost. I think I lose, though, because listen, if they're going to bring, Jared Brooks is like a straw weight. Like he's like a natural 25er. If he was going to come back, he'd probably be back by now.

You know what I mean? Like there's been opportunities to bring in 25ers. And they haven't brought him in. I think you win what should be done. I think you win what you know. Is it likely? We don't know. But Jared Brooks, hopefully you're out there and you're listening or your managers

are listening and they're getting on the phone call and saying, hey, right now, I want to take on this white hot prospect like this. I don't think anybody wants to fight this guy right now. I want back in. Give it to me. I'm ready to come in whenever, you know. We got a message from Denmark. Ooh. From Denmark, Michael.

The country that gave us Martin Kampman and, of course, Hans Christian Anderson, every M.M.A fan's favorite fairy tale author. Toke Giridan Jensen at, oh, let me sure I get this right. At Tocke, because he has a podcast and I want people to, you know, check him out. At TocDK. At Toke D.K. on Twitter, Toke Gerdin Jensen. a matchup which I love, and if I had not matched up this other fighter already, I would have probably gone with his

minimum choice. Baezza, Nicholas Dalby. Yeah, that's one I thought of as well. Yes, that to me, I actually liked that more. I think last week, I was like, or whatever Dalby I fought, I wanted him either Jingleang, Grant winner, or Brian Barberina. I like this even more. I think this is the way to go if those don't happen, yeah. and

this one I didn't thought about this Bill Algeo the man of the hour Bill Algeo the good of how much shy of this episode I guess he's almost

ready for featherweight title shot facing that win Bill Algeo versus Doho Choi Oh damn is that not too much

I like it He's like He's on a losing Again kind of like you mentioned with Bechtage is on a losing streak

Fair enough. And Charles D'Artagnan just put him away pretty violently. This is true, yes. I like it. I like it. Oh, they've done it again. The breeders have done it again. Wow, that's real good.

I think that is the reader suggestion of the week. Bill Aljo versus Doho Choi, whenever Doho Choi is ready to come back and fight. So Bill Algeo could have himself a nice, nice name for his next point. Damn, Jay Stein. Well done. Jay Stein had just got hip-checked right out of position one. Don't say that. Our readers, I actually have been getting messages.

I think a couple of our readers have contested who they felt had the best reader pick and they want to, they want to have it between the links-esque debate between each other. So you guys might have just do that, duke it out on social media. But keep bringing in those picks and we'll have sort of an informal. When you guys have a good one, we will say who we thought had the best one. So there we go. Algeo Choi. Wow. Wow, that's real good.

That's a fun fight. Good God. Thank you. Thank you, Denmark. Thank you, Denmark. Denmark crush it in. But listen, keep those suggestions coming. Because if you hear that and you're like, oh, I had better ideas.

Tell us all about it. Do it on the Twitter. All right, prove it. Hit up A.K. at Alexandria Klee. Hit me up. I'm at Mike Eck underscore J.R. Hit us up both at the same time because then we can debate along with you. But join us once again next week as we look ahead following UFC Vegas 16, which now has a new main event, doesn't it, AK?

Wait, I'll have to look this up. Oh, yes. Where do you hear about the stuff? MMA biting.com? I should check. It's a good news site, right? I think they only did boxing. Yes.

In fairness, I forgot this was next week. I actually thought this was, yes, Jack Hermanson, Marvin Vittori. I forgot this. My goodness is already next week. Unfortunately for Kevin Holland that he had to bow to this opportunity. But man, that's a really good, if not. on paper theoretically like better main events. So again,

you see when you got the talent pool this deep, boy, you can just pull out quality main events on a week's notice. Holy cow. Yeah, but look at Kevin Holland. He only has to wait another,

he only has to wait a week. He's going to fight Jacerre Soza. That's crazy. Yeah, I don't know what to say about that. What a game. What a game. Yes. A game in Mays.

Should be an interesting selection of future bouts. If you thought this is interesting, next week might be even more interesting ahead of, as we're on the roads, the go home show, so to speak, ahead of UFC 256 on December 12th. And then we have that ridiculously loaded December 19th card. And I will say this real quick. More on this in the coming weeks,

but I have had people reach out and ask, what are you going to do after December 19th? There's going to be no UFC events for like three or four weeks. AK and I have been discussing. We have some ideas. All we'll say is the show will continue on. That's all we will say. We have some fun, fun things.

in the works for those weeks off. But with that, we are out of time for Alex Kaley. I am Mike Eck. Remember friends, especially during this holiday season, don't take this too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun, and we will see you back here next week. Right here on onto the next one, the podcast.

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.