MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Episode 21 | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 16

Episode Date: December 6, 2020

In the 21st 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 16 event at the UFC APEX. Future fights are discussed for Marvin Vettori--who defeated Jack Hermansson in a classic middleweight main event--Jamahal Hill, Gabriel Benitez, Roman Dolidze, Jordan Leavitt, Louis Smolka, 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. Everybody and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next one, MMA Fighting's Matchmaking Podcasts, as we try to figure out what could be next for some of the notable names coming out of UFC Vegas 16 this past Saturday night at the apex. And the night was capped off by Marvin Vittori, picking up a massive win over Jack Hermanson in the main event.

First off, I am Mike Heck. And joining me, as always, in this venture, is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend and most importantly the prince of positivity himself mr alex caley how are you buddy mike heck my best friend uh coming off of a feeling great coming off of a eight fight eight hour card that was some super you know what's weird though is is i i don't i mean the pacing was obviously bad maybe i'm just getting used to it um but it's it feels like they the there was you know there's a lot of uh v foundation stuff of course the jv foundation a great cause and some great a lot of great

stories there. So it's weird. I almost didn't have a problem with the pacing, even though, yes, it sounds crazy that we had an eight, sorry, eight fight show that went about what? Less than a little under six hours. About five and a half, right? Which is normal, which is normal. So, so I don't know.

Maybe I'm just getting used to it. But I did not think the pacing was egregiously bad. I agree. I thought it was pretty good. I don't know why. I wish, I just wish they started the card at seven and just did like, one. one card. I don't, I don't know. I don't know.

You know what? We're not in the TV business, so we don't know what they got to do to feed the bulldog. I got to answer advertisers and all that. So, you know, you got to do what you got to do. But yeah, whoever, if there's some way they can start these earlier, it would be nice. You're real nice. I agree. It was not to be, not to be pessimistic or a negative Nancy. But just throwing that out there. It's all good. Someone on Twitter called a cynical. I saw that. I was like, how dare you?

Well, first of what, I don't remember. us saying anything cynical? Probably so we usually say the game shows that it is, we need a lot of cards to cover every week. But I think the rest of the show, that might have been like a five minute, opening five minutes. The rest of the show,

I feel like we complimented everyone. We complimented fighters. We complimented referees. We commented the broadcast team. I don't. I shouldn't care what these, I shouldn't let these random Twitter comments get to me, but I've never been called cynical before.

That was shocking. Yeah, I saw that one myself. I was like, what show? Was this person watching? Because even if we like, even if we come off and say things like that, we're like mostly joking. Like we're not, we're not sitting there just cutting promos on how poorly the card was shaped

up and stuff like that. In fact, I think we're very complimentary of how the card played out. Yeah, given what they had to work with, I think we're pretty nice. And we're critical. Sure, we're critical. Critical, I've been called critical many times. Overly critical, sure, even. But cynical, no.

Critical, I mean, that just shows, I think, that we care about the product a lot. But again, random Twitter user, a finger of shame to you. We do not agree with your assertion, sir. Yes, it is the holiday season after all. Let's have some freshness, some positivity out there. And let's get to business. Let's get to business, indeed. Let's discuss the man of the hour, the Italian dream.

Mr. Marvin Vittori took this fight on a week's notice. He was preparing to fight Jacaray Soza. this Saturday, UFC 256. So he was getting ready for a fight already, but still took a big risk, big opportunity, shuffled things up, and by doing so, he picked up the biggest win of his career

against Jack or Manson. So 2021 is looking very bright for Marvin Vittori, A.K., calls out Paulo Costa. What do you think should be next for Marmavittory? I think his 2020 was pretty bright. He had about as bright of 2020 as you can have with only two fights

because the Roberson, the little Robeson kind of mini-few, that had some heat behind it. You know, with Roberson, you know, having the issues that bumped him out of the first fight, and they get that hotel altercation. Then Roberson misses weight badly for the rebooking, and Vittori beats him by first round of his mission. So even there, there was like a nice little storyline. It's a shame because, of course, he couldn't fight more.

Then he has this big win over her man. I think his initial call was spot on. You know, he kind of walked it back at the post-fight press conference in favor of some Israel Addisonia talk, which again, we know that that's. He's always going to talk about it, which is fine. But the initial call-out he made on the actual broadcast of Paulo Costa. That's the right one. That's the way to go.

Good stylistic matchup. A guy who's in the top three of their rankings right now. I think a lot of people want to see these two face off. Let's not overthink this UFC. I know Costa's making a lot of demands. Of course, he wants the instant rematch. That's just not going to happen. So let's send him that contract for Vittori and see what he says.

I liked the call-out. I thought it was a good call-out. He did walk it back, and he did. like exactly what you suggested he did he should do on the post-fight show. Like, just call it Adasania at every opportunity. And that's what he did. He must have been watching before he went up to the podium. And he goes, you know what?

That Alex K. Lee, that cynical AK, he was spot on. I'm just going to back it off at Paulo Costa. I want Israel Adisania. But seeing how this ended last night and just kind of seeing the attention Martin Vittori has been getting, middleweight has gotten pretty darn interesting. hasn't it? Like Israel Adasani is a star in the May is almost at the head table for superstardom right now. But the whole division has gotten really interesting heading into 2021. You have Vittori, you have Kevin Holland, who has the chance to go 5 in 0 this year if he beat Chacaree this

Saturday. Vittori's going to end the year. Top five, top seven or eight guy at worst, once the ranking comes out. Holland might be able to get into the top 15 on Saturday. I'm very tempted to match those guys up if Holland wins on Saturday because of the heat and the rivalry. Holland in every interview likes to take shots at Martin Vittory. And I think people would like to see that one. But you know what? I don't think the cost of one's going to happen. So I'm going to go right in the middle of those two, okay?

I'm going to go with the winner of Chris Wyden versus Uriah Hall, especially if Chris Weidman wins. I think that could be the biggest. possibility name value-wise that I think he can get right now. I just don't think he's going to get the cost of fight right now

because I think everybody in this division wants that fight. I just don't know if Vitori gets it right now. You know what I mean? Like, I just don't know. So I think if Chris Widman beats your eye haul, I think it's a no-brainer.

And if your eye-haul beats Chris Widman, I don't mind that matchup either. So, I mean, yeah, I just don't know if he gets the cost of fight. I don't know. I'll go with that one. I love it. Mike, I love it.

Actually, I do think at your final inclusion, it was very strong. That's UFC 258, February 13th. So my only sticking point would be it is a little bit far in the future. Between now and then, I imagine Vittari will be hunting for a booking. But maybe if they kind of promised him the winner of that fight, but he has mentioned wanting to fight Chris Wyman before. Like I said, he's a kind of guy. He's planted a lot of seeds for potential feud.

So I think if the Wyman matchup came up, I think he'd still be interested. It's probably not number one on his list anymore. but I do think he recognized the name value of Wybman, former UFC champion, and would jump at that if Wybman were to beat Uriah Hall again. So it's a little bit too far in the future which is probably why I didn't go with that.

I do like that. But Holland's Jacaree, of course, I will say you know I've said before, I think Holland's name should be banned from the show because we this guy will fight at any time and thus make it essentially impossible for us to pick his matchmaking. If he beats Jacare next week, there's a good chance he'll say, I want to fight Marvin Vittori

and I want to fight on December 19th. Let's close up the year with one more fight. I want to go six and oh what do you go yeah is he going holy cow so hollins should be banned because he will definitely a good chance he wins says martin batore seven days from now let's go you're not yeah you look pretty cut up but you'll be fine those those will heal fast let's make it happen so i i like to see that match of what happened but gosh i i'm scared of what holland will do if it's even a possibility he even called out humzat shamaia if you said i'm gonna fight i'm gonna go Alligator hunting on December 12th.

I'm going to take Jacari out. And then I want to fight Humza-Hamaif on December 19th. The guy is an animal. He's banned from the show. I agree. But I have other ideas because as far as Jackermanson goes, this is where I'll insert Kevin Holland if he beats Jacqueray. Rebook that fight.

If Holland doesn't win, then maybe do the loser of Wyden versus Hall. I know Edmund Shabazzian has been a very popular answer. I'm just not that interested in that fight until Shabazian gets back in there and gets another win. I don't know. Do you have any quick thoughts on Hermanson? In general, I'm a Shabazian, Holland, sorry, or Shabazzian and Hermanson? Hermanson. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yes, I've seen that floating around as well. I'll save it for later. The Hermanson does for later.

There were some reader suggestions, which are worth shining a light on. So, yeah, for myself, I, yeah, for me, I think Chbazian is the first name that jump out as well, but I'll leave this one to the readers this week. Fair enough. Co-made of that. We saw Jamal Hill get a massive win in his own right against Ovin-Saint-Prew, put some way in the second round and proves to 8 and 0. Well, let's be clear, he should be 9 and 0, 3 and O in the UFC with two finishes. The devil's lettuce, as you said on the post-fight show. It's just ridiculous.

But the man is on the rise, AK. He is on the rise. What do you like next for him? This one is a little bit tricky. Because OSP, you know, I think we always say he's sort of in that gatekeeper role. And maybe for me, maybe I'm having a little bit of trouble of letting go of him as a top 10 contender. Maybe Ovin St. Peru is not a top 10 contender. anymore. He certainly had some struggles

recently. I still view him that way, but big win for Jamal Hill and again, that may have proven me wrong. Maybe OSP's best days are behind him. So, I think I settled on, this isn't the sexiest pick, but the Misha Sarkanov, Ryan

Span winner. That fight needs to be rebooked. It has been postponed. We don't know when it's actually going to happen, but I imagine, theoretically not too far. It could happen in January, maybe. So I'll go with that. I like that for the winner. My other option, this would be following kind of the Dominic Reyes blueprint a bit, we've talked about some of the comparisons Hill has gotten. Now he is that

win over OSP, which is also what Reyes did to kind of start establishing himself as a contender. Following that, maybe he gets Volka and Oostomere. That's my pick. Tough Matt. Really? Go ahead elaborate. I wasn't as high on it side. Yeah, I'd love to hear you elaborate on it. First off, and I mentioned this in the Post-Fite show, because there's a lot of love for Jamal Hill versus Anthony Smith. And if they booked that fight, I'm cool with it. And I said I'm going to pick somebody right around there. Let's throw him in there with Oseemir and see what he can do.

Like, Ozdemair just got knocked out pretty viciously by Yuri Prohashka. He wants to bounce back. I think he was supposed to fight Alexander Rackich, but then that rackage went on to other things. So Volkan needs an opponent. He's ready to fight. He called Othago Santos after the loss of Glover-Teshera. The man wants to fight.

Let's see what he does against a riot. contender looking to make a further name from himself in Jamal Hill. I say, especially at a division like 205, let's see what Jamal Hill can do, man. Let's throw him in there and just see what happens. Ouzdemeur is such a good test for a lot of these light heavyweights coming up. He's just, he's really tough. He's really smart and well-rounded.

You have to be on top of your game, I think, to get by a guy like him. Like if Hill lost to him, there's no shame in that. You know, there's no, it's not like, oh, Hill's not a prospect because he lost the Volkan Usdemeer. It just kind of tells, okay, this is a little bit of a better. gauge of where Hill is as a potential future contender. So there'd be no shame. And it's definitely I think a high, high, high, meaty risk, high reward fight for Hill and a chance for Usdemir again to kind of reestablish itself and remind people, hey, I'm not, I'm still potentially a top five guy,

especially if I beat a guy like Hill. Some interesting options. I mean, 205 just, you know, I feel like this has been a year where it's gotten a little bit of a, a little bit of a boost. Jamal Hill makes it even better. And if he goes on, beats Gali Volcano Osmir. 205 gets a little bit more of a push. But let us move to Gabriel Benitez, an impressive finish of Justin Janes.

That step-in knee right to the chest just led to the beginning of the end. He looked great. Got an extra 50 Gs for his efforts. I'm ready to give him another fun fight. A step up, but nothing too, too crazy. And I just, I got the whiff of bonus money, A.K. So much bonus.

this money. Benitez versus the death star, comma worthy, AK. That is the fight to make. It's good. It's good. No, it's, there's a lot of names of Benitez's range. He's, he's kind of, I mean, he's a real veteran now, right? So he's kind of in that range where do you want to match from up, like I said, newer guys, so you know we're going to be exciting matchups. Do you want to match them up with veterans? So I was all over the place on this one. I kind of went in between. I went with a guy who is new to the UFC, but it certainly has a lot of experience. experience is coming off a loss. Matus Gamrot.

Ooh. Gamrod. Yeah, I think, I think Gamrod, you know, he looked okay in his first fight. I mean, he lost, but it was a good fight. I think I want to see how, I want to see how good he is, though. Again, I think anyone who follows career knows he is a good fighter, but, you know, there is always that barrier. You make it to the UFC and people start to question you.

So Benitez is the kind of veteran UFC guy who certainly competitive. looks great on Saturday night, you know, one of the best performances really he's ever put on. And a huge one for him because there's his first win at 155 pounds. So kind of new life for him. And I think giving him a former KSW champion in Gamrot would be a bit of a reward. And again, also kind of let us know where both guys are and how much they can separate themselves sort of the middle of the lightweight pack right now. That is an interesting selection.

Interesting. I like it. There are a lot of options. But I think Gamrod's the one that jumped out. to me. Let's head back to 205, AK, as we saw Roman DeLideze get in air quotes, split decision, a split decision when Chris Lee strikes again over John Allen, he remains undefeated, goes the distance for the first time in his career. Like we talked about, Jamal Hill, there's a lot of fun options at 205 for a guy like Roman DeLizze. Where does the proverbial dart land for you?

By the way, MMA Decisions.com, I think there was 18 to 20, some of that media members pulled. Not one. Getting scored it for Allen. So Chris Lee, well done. I'm going to go with, I think this is pretty obvious. I'm going to go with. Actually, there's two I liked. Should I change it now? Should I change it now at the last second? Live show? Just change it. No, I'll stick with the, Ancolaev. I think Magumann Ancolaev is one a lot of people saw. I think some people might want to see Ankelyev get a top 15 guy. So that's probably the one reason why this couldn't happen. But Delitzis looked really good.

And more so it looks really fun to watch. He talks, you know, he was like in the middle of the fight last night. He was like, you want me to submit him in round one? And then it just immediately dives down for a heel hook, which is really not something I would recommend to most fighters to say you're going to do something and then just try and do it, especially against a quality opponent, John Allen, who's better than his record looks. But he did it.

He likes to throw spinning stuff. He likes he's comfortable on the ground. He's comfortable striking. I feel like we don't talk about him enough. I mean, obviously Hill's performance kind of overshadowed him as far as the unbeaten light heavy weights go oh hell's not unbeaten is he oh he is they both are okay so

I yeah I'll just go with Ankelyev I should be I'll say I'll go for a second pick was it maybe I should have gone with at first and I said this Saturday night after the card

I thought OSP made a lot of sense and it still does but kind of thinking about it further I still want to give him a guy who's had some moments in the octagon, a guy with a decent name, a guy who headlined a card recently. What about Devin Clark, AK?

I think Deleizze versus Devin Clark makes a lot of sense. And if Deleizze wins, then we can really start looking at the top 20, latter end of the top 15. I just, with a guy like DeLi because it's exciting and he's really good, and I know this sounds different because Jamal Hill,

I'm just ready to throw him to the wolves, but, you know, he's got a signature win. DeLiezee doesn't have that yet, but he's somebody that I think could be, a very interesting player at 205. So I'm more, I would rather not rush to Leeds A as much as I would rush Hill

if that makes any sense. Although this is still a good step up. Yeah, I'm surprised to see Devin Clark, I'm just looking at this now, 11 fights in the UFC, is that right? Yeah, something like that. Does he competing at two weight classes? I don't, he,

he wasn't a middleweight before? I don't think so. I mean, I could be wrong. memory with this stuff is brutal. Has he really fought? Man, he's was through, because he hasn't been fighting for that long. He really was thrown to the wolves here. Dang.

Yeah, okay, seven years in his career. Yeah, he's got a lot of UFC fights on his belt. Well, anyway, good for him. Yeah, no, I think that's a reasonable challenge for delete save for sure. It wasn't a name that came up. I went with, when you, I thought you were loading up for the one that, my other option, which was Khalil Round Tree. Interesting.

Yeah, kind of guy who's unpredictable who's flirting with retirement. So maybe he's hoping that he'd be hoping to get a bigger name than Deleitze. But Deleu is quickly making a name for himself. And I think actually that'd be a really nice feather in Rantree's cap if he had a win over Deleuze. Again, you know, knock off an undefeated guy. So I actually just said that instead of Anka lie. I think that'd be a fun one. But it's a little bit hard to match up for Roundtree because, again, I don't know what his intentions are with sort of the last few flights in score. I know he just, he actually did sign a new contract, kind of walk back some retirement talk. But now that it's out there, I do wonder if he is, you know, one or two losses

away from just saying, you know what, I'm done. So hard to match me for him. So Anklea of a roundtree, I think would be my picks. Yeah, I think they were trying to, and I know reports came out that Khalil Roundtree is going to fight Greg Hardy at some point this year. And he went on this like Instagram post where he just kind of poo-poot all over the MMA media

because that report came out. Yes, we didn't report that. No, we did not. We would never do such a thing. Back to 155. main card opens up with Jordan Levitt, the Monkey King, in a 22-second octagon debut, first knockout of his career via a vicious slam,

knocks Matt Wyman out cold. This guy just gets it, A.K., he is who he is. He's a very unique individual, a ton of potential, and he's only going to get better. If I was going to buy stock in anybody at 155, I'd buy some Jordan Levitt stock, and I'd probably load up on it, But there's, and the reason why is there's just absolutely no need to rush him whatsoever.

You don't have to really do much. I saw some people suggest Jamie Malarkey, and I'm not opposed to that. You know what? I mean, I'm kind of struggled with this one because we have this conundrum like with all these fight night cards, especially with fights dropping out and such that you could just throw them in there with like anybody in the same range and it makes sense. But I kind of like this one that I think about it. And I know they're managed by the same manager, but I think it's a fun, sensical match between two guys who made big impacts in their promotional debuts this year. I know Jordan wants to wait until his wife gives birth to their first child in February before he fights again.

And this would line up nicely because the opponent I have in mind is under a weed suspension until early 2021. Let's do Jordan Levitt versus Kevin K. I'd be very interested to see how that would play out. Excellent. Excellent choice. Definitely on my list. Is he, what we say early? Like, we didn't mean like January, right? Because it was September, September, and he got like a four and a half month suspension.

You got a weird one, right? Like reduced. Yeah. So I feel like end of December. Yeah, I know what you're saying. But yes, yes. If you're right, 2021, he'll be ready. And yeah, we'll probably be willing to wait a couple months of you right for a good match.

I love it. Definitely on my list. Like I said, so many people in his range. I was like Claudio Pueyes, Joe Selecki. Again, it's so early. so ready to say again. These are guys, we talk about this struggle at the time.

Leavitt, no, oh, he wasn't, he wasn't supposed to be on the main car. This was bumped up to the opener after we had

all those unfortunate, you know, withdrawals, our cancellation, I should say. So I just threw another name out there, Guram Kutatze. I say,

Gouram Kutalazzi. That's my topic. Why? I don't know. Oh, boy. Well, they're both both. One and O in the UFC.

I went with the algorithm, all right? I punched, I punched the numbers into my mystery rankings. This is what I can, came up with two guys on winning, well, I mean, Levin undefeated, Kutuzalatezay on a nine fight win streak, one and O in the UFC.

I'm just like a bit cool matchup. Let's go for it. I'm thinking Fight Island here. So maybe Jordan Lovick gets a trip. Yeah. I mean, I thought Jordan, I thought Joe Selecki was a bridge too far. Oh. I definitely think Guram Kutatilatze is a bridge too far at this point.

You're so high on him. I'm just trying to. I am. I'm trying to impress Mike. I'm like, Mike, this guy's a big deal. I got to aim a bit higher. I just, no, I'm buying stock because he deserves the quintessential slow roll. Like, he's, I mean, he's a guy that's going to basically grow up in the UFC at this point.

Like, what's he, seven and oh, eight and no? Still super young. Still green in a lot of ways, but he's getting better. I definitely don't want to see him anywhere near like the top 30 right now. Frank Camacho, it is. That works. That works. That works for me.

Lastly, before we head to my favorite segment, the Wild Card round, let's matchmake for The Last Samurai, Lewis Smolka, picked up his eighth straight finish in fights. He has won. So not his eighth straight win, but in his last eight victories, he finished all of those. And he has set himself, AK, and I thought this is a very honest assessment last on Saturday night. He's essentially the definition of inconsistency. Got a great finish of Jose Cignonese in the second round of the feature prelim. What do you think makes sense for Lewis Smolka coming out of Saturday night?

If you took like the four best highlights of Louis Smok's career and show them to people, they would just be like, oh, this guy's a frigging world title contender, right? Like this guy looks amazing. He finishes people. He's creating the ground. He's got good stand-up. And if you took the four like worst fights of his career, you'd have people like, why is this guy in the UFC? He's always been such an intriguing guy.

I like Louis Smokka a lot. You know, I mentioned this a possibility a while ago. and I'm sticking to it. I still think he's the guy to welcome back Sean O'Malley after O'Malley's lost to Cheeto Vera. I mentioned before when we match made for O'Malley following that loss,

of course, with sort of the weird injury and then Vera finishing him. And I still think it's a good choice. I think Smoka deserves that fight. I think he's a veteran. I think he's a good matchup. Similar in a lot of ways, Chito Vera, if I'm being honest,

you skill-wise. And I think it's a fight that O'Malley should welcome. I know I'm sure he'd like to maybe face someone with a little bit of a hotter name, but Smoke is a veteran. You can do a lot worse than that. So I'm going to go, Amali Smoke. I'm sticking to it.

Interesting. I just, smoke is just so scary right now. Like, there's just not a lot of faith in him that he could step on the scale and make it. Like, he looked fine. He got 134 and a half. He seemed like a different guy,

but it's like a tale of two people, like you said, because he has the ability to be a top 15 guy. His worst enemy is himself. he's just got to keep his head on straight and just kind of like give himself to the sport because he's so talented, he's so skillful, and he's just been his own worst enemy in this fight game.

I really, I do want to see where he's at, and I'm looking in a similar place in the rankings, in my opinion, and I'm willing to test that against a prospect in this division who is looking to get back on track, much like Shot-O-Malley. 135 is just so low, and we've talked about this a lot. You can sort of mix and match anybody here. But I want to see how he fares not against a prospect, but the prospect.

Smolka versus Nathaniel Wood in 2021, AK. I think it's similar to O'Malley. I just think, I mean, O'Malley is, I mean, that's a money fight right now. I just don't know if you can have enough faith in Smolka at this point to put him in that situation, make sure he makes weight, and then make sure he's at like his highest level of preparation. You know what I mean? It's just kind of, I don't know. I like, I mean, if they booked Smolko O'Malley, I'm watching.

It's interesting. Yeah, I mean, talk about another guy who, you're right, he's the, they call him the talent because we know how good Nathaniel Wood is. But he's the kind of guy. I could see him having a Smolka-esque career. Not because I'm aware of, I don't know of any focus issues necessarily, but I think we've already seen some consistency issues in the cage. But obviously he's a great fighter.

So, yeah, that would be interesting, almost like here, here's your future. Here's your future, Nathaniel Wood, Louis Smoka, which for better for worse, again, is what could happen if you don't, you know, if you don't find a way to kind of start really stringing it together and really stringing these wins together. So yeah, I like that too. No, I got no issue with that. But Louis Smokka, by the way, he's only 29 years old. It's crazy, right? He doesn't turn 34 a while, not until next summer. So he's got a lot. He's already had so much experience. He's been through a line as 29 years, both in the cage and personally. So, Yeah, you're right, really difficult guy to gauge. I like the wood matchup. Yeah, no, I'm definitely into that. With Instacart, you get groceries that over-deliver, so you can over-share your preferences.

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So download the app today and get zero delivery fees on your first three-weigh. orders, Instacart, groceries that over deliver. Service-based exclusions and terms apply. And now we head to the wild card round, AK, where we will each choose a fighter that we have not matched made for yet, and we will do so right now. And only eight fights.

We've already talked about, what, six of them already? So the pickets are kind of slim here. Who is your wild card selection from UFC Vegas 16? You know, I could not leave out Ilya to Poria. I was thinking of finding a fight for one of the, you know, one of the fighters who didn't win on Saturday because, you know, that's not something, that's not something we always do. It's good use of the wild card spot. I was trying to figure out what to do with Matt Wyman, though I realized Matt Wyman probably just needs to have a talk with his family and friends and kind of figure out what's next in his life. So we don't know.

I don't even know if he'll fight again. So, yeah, I'll, oh, and Jake Collier, I'll say I would like to see him drop all the way to. down to welterweight and become the first fire to win fights in four weight classes because he did heavyweight he's done heavyweight light heavyweight middle weight you know i think he could cut uh what 70 or 80 pounds and and go for that record jake collier so i think let's take a serious look at that he's a he's a real he's an actual heavyweight i really think that welter weights his future um but no i'll go to puria and i'll say i struggled with this one a little bit because the quality of his wins is so high so far

uh zalal and now damon jackson um that it's kind of weird. It puts them in a weird place. I have them in top three five, so the upper half of my rankings, which some people might think is low, but when you consider that there's about 90 feather weights, to be in the top half after just two fights is really, really, really, really impressive.

So I am high on him as a prospect, absolutely. So I settled on Ricardo Hamos. I think that's a good match-up style-wise. I think Ricardo's a talented guy who's coming off a loss. And then the other option is he is coming off a loss is maybe maybe Tuporia gets the

instead the Loran Murphy Douglas Silva de Androge winner which is happening in January 20th Murphy of course beat Hamos so if he

maybe either way maybe even if Murphy loses you give him Tuporria but yeah I'm not I'm not pushing Tupori up that quickly I know you of course

had a choice for him which I think a lot of people were into but I'm you know me I'm pumping those brakes I'm pumping those brakes I'm always open those breaks.

I could just cheat and go with that pick that you mentioned and go to Poria versus Andre Feely. Right. And I stand with both feet dug in on that choice. I think it's absolutely perfect. I think that's the way to go. Honestly, I don't think there's any other option that makes sense unless you throw him right into the top 15 because he's that good.

But I got to tell you, A.K., I am all in on Jay Collier opening up cards every single time. he fights. And I hope he does it again soon because that fight with John Valante was so fun. I loved it. I could watch a fight like that open up every single one of these cards until the end of time. So let's do it again. Let's match him up against a guy who had a bit of a hot start to his UFC run. He slipped in his last couple of fights. But, you know, let's give him another shot in there and see what happens. How about a card headlines by whoever, but it's opened up by Jake Collier versus your gun

de Castro Alex Cayley Oh that's a fun one It is fun I mean Oh okay Why not

I mean let's just Let's just That's a perfect way To jerk the old curtain So to speak That's how you do it Yeah no I like it Yeah no we want

Look as as Sean Shee And so eloquently Put it on Twitter This is That was that opener Was just man meat slapping You know

And you love it. It was a really, honestly, for heavy weights. I mean, you could tell us to guys who are not natural heavy weights who are just not cutting weight and thus are not, have no stress over weight cut, are fat and happy going in there and have a lot of energy because it was a high, it was a high-paced fight till the very end. I mean, to the third round, those guys were throwing, just in the pocket, just throwing, and it was really fun to see. So, yeah, hey, more fun match for Jake Collier, yes, York and DeCastro, sign me up. That sounds good. By the way, and I guess this might be a good segue, unless you have more to say about that matchup, Mike.

No, I'm good. Your toporiofeely devotion could make for an epic check the tapes. If that's like no other reasonable matchup, that sounds crazy to me. There's so many options of featherweight. But you are on the record saying that you are standing your ground and saying that that is the fight that must happen. So if that fight happens, I don't need to make a note. I will remember this. That would be an epic, epic check the tapes.

But to move on to this week's Check the Tapes, Mike. Not too much to talk about. I did, I don't know how you felt with this one. Benil Darioch, Diego Faheda. I know it was discussed. I was big on it. I think I'm pretty sure you were as well. I think I was into it.

I don't know if that was my first choice, but I was into it. Yeah, yeah. It was a very logical matchup. That's February 6th. So there's one we got right. I'm going to use the rest of this check the tapes time, Mike, to pick a few matchups that we did not see coming. and I don't see how we could have.

One of the fights booked this week, Anthony Pettis versus Alex Marano, December 19th. Mike, where did this come from? Where did this matchup come from? This was Anthony Pettis to say, and you know what? I'm ready to fight. And maybe he looked into the future. Maybe he had a little crystal ball and he said, you know what? After this December 5th card, Dana White's going to get up on the podium.

He's going to say, we're going to cut 60 fighters from the roster. I got to get my. My former champion took us into the octagon and fight somebody. And Alex Marano was ready to be his Huckleberry. I had not even thought about that because Anthony Pettis is a big ticket item for the UFC. Let's put it that way. He's definitely making well over six figures probably, yeah, I would imagine per fights. And well deserved and well deserved.

So yeah, I didn't even think about that. This could be a matchup of necessity. But we've matched up Anthony Pettus, I think, several times on this show, either for himself coming off a win or other fighters who would make sense for him. Alex Marano never came up. Love the fight, though. I really like the matchup. I do, you know, I do like it now.

I do like it now that we've talked about it more. But yeah, I did not see that one coming. And a couple more, a couple more veteran versus sort of lesser, lower ranked. Sabina and Mazo, Alexis Davis, did not see that one coming. especially with Mazzo doing so well at 125 she's bumping up to 35 for this one I mean I like the matchup I was just kind of surprising that's at 35 that's a 35 first first fight at 35 for Mazzo

I I don't like this for her at all it is a name it is a name it's a former UFC title contender I don't know how to feel about this one but I also think it's a very tough matchup I I know Alexis Davis isn't always viewed is like the, I don't know, but as just another also ran, I guess because she lost to Rousey. She's super tough.

I don't know if I like this one for Mazzo. And another strange one, not as strange, but one we definitely didn't see coming. Joseph Benavita is Ascarov. That is great matchmaking right there. Yes. I'll give them credit.

I almost wish we'd predicted it, but I think we thought, we had a lot of choices for Ascarob. I don't know if it was ever came up. Yeah, I don't know. I thought, like, I mean, I thought Menel Cape was kind of the obvious one. And I believe that was like the initial plan for UFC 255 was to book those two guys. For some reason, it didn't happen.

Manel Cave went to December 19th. Now he's the backup for December 12th. And Asker Ascar, Asker, I need something. I thought maybe Brandon Roy Val would be an option. That apparently is not the case. I know Roy Val had the shoulder injury. So, or you did Roy Val Benavitas made a lot of sense to me. But, I mean, it's just kind of process of elimination here.

If Joe B wants to stick around and still confident he could be a world champion, you got to beat an Asker-A-Ask. That's a tough match-up. I like the booking. I was a little surprised by it. I thought maybe Benavitas would get a little bit of a step back. But again, we're in a very interesting time right now. We had a chaotic 2020.

The UFC roster is just filled with guys in gals. There's like 600 fighters on the roster. We've got to trim some of that fat. unfortunately. So these are the kinds of matchups that some of these vets are going to have to go through if they want to, I hate to say, remain employed, remain with the name on a locker. Man, there are no steps back for Benavides. I mean, you're right. He essentially said, give me the toughest guy that is not, that is free. That's it. Someone who, again, if I beat them, sure, it'll look good, but who has just so much to gain from taking my name, you know,

from adding my name to their resume. But that's why we love Jopi. You know, I think, again, I'll always I think one of the most unappreciated fighters of the last like 10 years. Just a perennial contender. All the title shots he's got, he's deserved. Frankly, I think there probably could have been maybe one or two more in there. So I'm really looking. Yeah, it is a great piece of matchmaking.

So people check your tapes, by the night. So this might be check it. If you have a tweet or something that says you predicted something like Anthony Pettus versus Alex Marano, let us know, you know, please. And I will, I will like, we will acknowledge you on this show. I did not see that one coming. But yeah, I'm not saying any of those matches are

bad and don't love the Mazzo Alexis Davis one, but yeah, did not see that coming. How dare you, AK? You forgot to check one other tape. Oh, one of the matchup. One of these exact matchups. Stop it. That you called? No, just going on the road that we've been going on.

Okay. What do I, when I forget? Casey Kenney versus Dominic Cruz. Oh, right. I got to stop. So, it was in baseball. I just scroll through our morning reports because our own, Jen Michoud. Our own Jen Michoud is a great job of compiling the fights that are announced this week.

So I'm lazy. And I keep bringing it, there is no morning report on Saturday. And thus, yes, the Cruz, a big oversight on my part. Yes, Cruz of Casey Ganey. Yeah, we did not predict that one, Mike. Nobody did. Dang. But I like it a lot.

We were two matchups that we were just hard on the whole time. Cruz Sanhagen, of course, and Cruz Edgar. We all thought Cruz Edgar is fait accompli. This is, this fight is just going to happen. It's just a matter of getting the date right, you know, whichever date works best for both guys. Instead, taking on a cruise. Taking out a blue chipper.

I still think he knows something we don't. I think he, I mean, obviously, every fighter thinks they can win every fight. But I think he sees something in the Casey matchup that he thinks he can, that he thinks this will be not an easy win, but definitely a winnable fight for him. I don't know. But I mean, how can you bet against Kenny? I love it. Young explodes up in common.

He's got to be the favorite in this. We'll see. We'll see when the line comes out. There might be one already, but I'm very interested to see who people see as a favor in this one. The, anyway, betting wise, anyway. I love how John Anna calls him Mr. October. I think that is a great nickname.

It is a good nickname. All right. So the tapes have been checked. Some very interesting matchups. I have a feeling we're going to be seeing a lot more of these types of matchups over the next several months being booked. But let's see what the peeps are thinking in terms of booking fights coming out of UFC Vegas, 16 AK. Okay. We've got a lot to cover here.

So I'll fire off some of these quickly. Alia Teporea, this was asking on our site, who was next asking on through our MA fighting Twitter account. Teddy Duchamp at MMA Jared on Twitter He likes Ludovit Klein That's a name I thought about But I didn't go with it. I'm sure you thought about it too, right? Yeah, but I booked Klein against

Who the hell did I book him against last week? Yeah, we've definitely discussed Klein On multiple occasions. Trying to remember who it was. That's right, yeah, you mentioned him as recently as last week. No, you're right. Yeah, so probably a reason for us not to just toss that out there. I think I like that after,

I think that I like that one for Tupure after he won his first fight. Now I almost feel like he should move beyond that, but it's certainly on paper a good matchup. And at Jack Attack T.O. By the other people, I'll try to read your ads if they're legible. Otherwise, I'm just going to say the names. Jack Morris Levy. Ryan Hall, always a good choice for anyone.

But I like Ily it's a Puria and I don't want to see him die yet. So I don't know. I also suggested Giga, a little Georgia on Georgia action. No, I don't think they would. I don't think any of these. Look, there's a lot of talent coming out of Georgia at some point. These guys are going to have to get matched up. I don't think these two need to get matched up just yet.

No, that's two very interesting prospects who have very bright futures coming from the same country. I'm not ready to see that. By the way, I suggested Bill Algeo against Ludovic Klein. Yes, you did. Yes, you did. That's right. Here's a question for you, though, Mike, coming off that tweet. Who do you rank higher right now, Giga or Ilya?

I mean, I would have to put Jekadze up a little higher. I would say Tuporia has the higher ceiling, at least in my opinion. Because I think both guys are, I think Chakaze's next fight should be with somebody in the top 15. I'm not ready to put Tuporia in there just yet. But should they do that, I think he would do very well against a lot of those guys. Right now I put Chikaze higher than Tuporia. But if I'm banking on the future of one of these guys, it's tough to choose. but Tepore is my guy at this point.

I do think Tupori's two wins are against higher competition than Jekhazza has beaten. Perhaps. Yeah. 5 and O is hard to arguments. 5 and O in the OC is hard to arguments. I don't know. I'm telling you, my rankings, which do utilize the, of course, always a sketchy MMA math. I do have to pourier a bit higher because he kind of gets a bonus because Jackson beat Bechtich.

So he almost gets like a nod over Bechtich just based on. now he's beating Jackson, he's kind of taking that steam. So it's weird. It's very difficult for me where to rank Tupuria. And you'll see some of the readers' suggestions later that the ideas for him are all over the place. Someone which I don't agree with, but again, based on how he's performed and where you might put him in the rankings, I don't know. I don't know how to argue against it. So, yeah, Tuporia, a lot of Tupori talk for sure.

Jamal Hill, we got it once just from Casual Eve, or Eve the Hardcore Casual. I also likes Ankleev. So I think there's, wait, did we say Ancalaev for Hill? We did, right? Oh, no, I said it for the Leitzing. Yes, you said everything. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

I think Ancolaev has earned a little bit of a higher ranking fighter. Though, again, Jamal Hill, I guess now is taking Ovenstein proof spot. So maybe he jumped over Ankeliab. That's an interesting one. Could you see, I don't know if you want it. Could you see that happening? Could you see that being blue? Not now.

Because I think these, if we're looking at guys in the latter half of the top 15 or just outside of it that you're looking to like sort of invest in is the future of a division that really needs help. I think both of those guys are probably at the top of the UFC's list right now. So mashing them up right now eliminates one of them from that conversation. So I think it's a little soon for that. I'd like to see the fight and see how it played out. But maybe give maybe another win or two for each guy, probably two wins preferably. And then you match those guys up, you know, as they're sniff in the top five or maybe even a win away from fighting for the belt. Yeah, Eve the Hardcore Casual also suggested Shabazzian for Hermanson.

Again, like I said, that seems to be going around. Not a terrible choice, but yeah, I don't know if that's necessarily the automatic pick. Also for, and then for Vittori, we have this recommendation from TMC at Smittyer on Twitter. Robert Whitaker. It hasn't come up. I bring it out because I have not seen a lot of people mention that. But it's not like a – obviously, Whitaker would have no part of that if it were up to him. He's not interested in fighting Vittory.

But again, we don't know how things are shaking out with the top of the middle-light title picture and what people are going to be what the middle-weights are going to be fighting for, you know, six months from now could be an interim belt and line or something. So a Whitaker-Vatory fight, it's possible. It's certainly not out of the conversation. That fight works under one condition if it's for an interim title. Yeah. And I know we hate interim titles and all that stuff,

but we just don't know what's going to happen with Izzy. And Dana White is all in on Adasani, moving up 205 and fighting out of the hovich. We don't know when that fight's going to happen. And I don't have a problem slapping an interim title on a fight like that. Just, I mean, it's still, it's a number one, technically it's a number one contender fight. But if you put an interim title on the line and throw a little extra money at these guys, it makes more sense. You know what I mean?

Most importantly, you do Whitaker right. You pay him what he deserves. He'll take that Vatory matchup. Yeah, this is not a fight-night main event kind of a fight. This is not a co-main event for a pay-per-view kind of a fight. The only way this fight works is if it's headlines or co-headlines of pay-per-view, and it's for a title, an interim title. Fingers crossed, possibly in Australia or New Zealand, right?

That's, you know, well, hopefully they could work that out. And again, we still think that would be possible if they did a show like the, even during this pandemic times, if they did a show where the card was primarily, was all, I shouldn't even say primarily, It was all fighters from New Zealand and from Australia. And I would say, again, don't worry about making it a 10-fight, 12-fight card. You go with like eight fights. Even if it falls down to six fights, the important thing would be getting Robert Whitaker back in front of a live crowd. That's really what matters.

It would be a one-fight card. And again, you have got – if you can get like a Brad Vodell in there and it's exciting guys like that, oh, man, I mean, it's going to be a good card no matter what. So, I mean, look, you're right, interim title fight, Vittori, out in Australia or out New Zealand. Man, that would be... You could sell me on that. You can sell me on that. So I kind of think it's cool that was thrown out there. At a mighty Magic Mart, Martin, I don't like this,

but he wants to see to purify Grant Dawson. I saw that suggestion, actually. I just... I don't think Dawson's going to fight at 45 again anytime soon. Oh, right. You've said this multiple times. You've stuck to this on this show multiple times. Yeah, I just...

I mean, unless you give him, like, 15 weeks to prepare for a cut to 45. I just don't see a world where Dawson... Doss is a big dude. He's a huge 45. He missed weight in his last fight and basically said, listen, I'm not gonna... I'm just not gonna do it, especially in this time.

Like, I want a fight. Give me short notice fights, but I'm gonna do it at 55. I'd like to see the fight at some point, but we're just not in a position in today's landscape with this pandemic to say, Hey, Grant, here's a four-month training camp to get ready for Ilya. I just don't see it happening. I like the matchup, though.

I think that would be a really good test for both guys. If Dawson could be comfortable to make the weight, absolutely. But I'm fascinated to see how he looks at 155 because he's a killer at 145. Dawson is like, we're talking like a future top five guy title contender at 145. 155, hopefully not much of a difference, but you never know. You never know that 10 pound difference was me. But yeah, always one to watch for sure, Dawson. I'll run quickly on these Twitter DMs from Ryan Doherty.

Mowgli versus Jakeasy. I like that one. I like that. I'd like to see, again, two kind of veteran guys. You know, do probably a good stand-up battle. Versus who? Mark Chikisi. Oh, okay, okay, okay.

Yeah. I like that. Harry Lipski wants to see Jamal. By the way, these guys, of course, who send in, they have a long list of matchup. They match up everyone in the card. So, guys, sorry, I'm just picking out the best ones here. Jamal Hill, Paul Craig.

We've watched up Craig a bunch of times, of course, coming off that big win now. I'm not against it. I don't mind that one. I don't mind that one at all. Big stylistic challenge for Hill, that's for sure. Aronski, these are all regular guys. Thank you guys, always, of course, for your contributions.

Tuporia, man, people really, they're kind of like you throwing Tepurorri up there. Teporea Herbert Burns. I think Teporee's above him. Wow. Whoa. I think Tepore is above him. Dang.

I do. I would like, I mean, honestly, here's the thing. if something happens, and I hate to say this, if something happens between the Cub Swanson, Daniel Paneda fight, I have no problem slapping Tuporia right in there. I agree. And I think if you're his management, that's the kind of fight you're eyeing,

a fight that you might, you're right. You might not originally get, but you're eyeing those veteran fights. And if they drop out, this is a chance to very, very quickly get a known name on there. So yeah, I like that. I agree. Marcus McGahey, I kind of missed to see you before the show.

So Collier versus Todd Duffy, that would be interesting. Todd Duffy is a, is an impressive, has an impressive physique, I would say. Is that fair to say? It's not bad, not bad. Okay. Jake Collier is a heavyweight officially. Again, he is a guy who is essentially probably naturally a lightweight. He was, again, made the wise decision to toss weight cutting out the window and compete in the 265.

pound range weight class. So it would be a contrast when they stepped into the cage. I'd watch that fight. That'd be bananas. And you know it's going to end in like some sort of crazy chaotic, what the hell just happened kind of way. So thank you, Marcus McGehy for putting that image in our minds. And new contributor, Andrew Nally, at Big Nally, 23 on Twitter. Thank you for sending in. Here's two months out. One, I think he's, you mentioned this earlier, the uh mowgli and comma worthy right yeah he's down with that so so you have you guys are on the same wavelength there and i and i agree now that i'm not you've mentioned it he's mentioned that that's great matchup uh and what he threw out there i'm not sure why we didn't enter this one uh say

and uh you on kuchelaba huh yeah god that'd be wild i hadn't thought of it it would be it would be wild yeah that's probably the best way to describe that you there'd be some shenanigans it'd be right up there with the whole Kuchelava and Goliah feud. Something crazy would happen. I don't think he'd be asking his coaches if he wants to submit Iwan Kutalaba, because I think those two are just going to stand in a phone booth and just throw hams at each other. God, yeah, I'm in.

I'm in for that one. Going to emails, Tristan Gorda. Always sends an email. He really wants a slow roll, Levitt. Mike Davis? I almost didn't even remember. Oh, I saw, I thought of him. Yeah.

But then you think about what Mike Davis did, poor Thomas Gifford, and you're just like, Oh, gosh. You don't want to see that. I think Mike, I think it's unfortunate that Mike Davis hasn't fought since then. Yeah. Because he's had a lot of hype behind him. And that dude, I mean, he's got so much power. He's a legit prospect.

I don't know why he hasn't fought since then. Yeah, that scares me. Well, Chesson Grottet's throwing it out there. He also likes Vittori Till, and he likes Brunson for Hermanson, which I think, again, I think all that's reasonable. Yeah. On Instagram, our two, I apologize. I got these guys mixed up last time. Chase Steiner and Jacob Best.

It is Jacob Best, who lives in Australia, and it is Chase Steiner who went to high school with Tristan Connolly. I apologize. I got you guys mixed up. So I'll tell you this out quick. He likes for Jay Steiner, Jamal Hill versus Jimmy Crute. OSP versus Devin Clark, Levitt versus Jai Herbert. And I think you, oh, this one I think you'll like. Jake Collier versus Parker Porter.

Packer. But Packa and Donnell Mays is already the fight. It is, yeah. I don't mind it, though. And Chase actually admitted he picked Don't Till Mays last week. So he, but Collier, those are the kind of fights I think we see for Collier and Parker Porter in the future is them being matched up with each other for sure. A lot of Jay Collier talk this week. I'm surprised that we did not see this coming in,

that there would be so much Jake Collier talk. Levitt versus Jai Jai Herbert. Is that what it was? Yeah. I will say I will put the kibosh on that one because Jai Herbert already has a fight booked. Oh. I'm not going to say it because I haven't.

I don't have all the eyes dotted in the T's crossed. I like the tease, though. Jai is fighting in February as of right now. Okay, so people stay tuned to Mike Hex's Twitter feed and MMA fighting. You could see that. You could see that story broken on our very site. So that's, and then Jacob Best, he likes Tuporia versus Alex Kassaris, obviously sort of litmus test matchup.

You know, that's kind of what Kassaris surround for. I agree. Not necessarily the sexiest matchup, but I don't mind it. Jamal Hill versus Johnny Walker. Sure. That's fun. Sure. Mowgli, I actually really like this one.

This might be one of my favorite reader. I don't know if it's my favorite, but this is up there. Mowgli and Jim Miller. Ooh. Yeah. Veterans. Veterans, you know you're getting a professional and exciting fight. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't mind it. Jim Miller doesn't say no. Jim Miller doesn't say no. Do you throw him Mowgli's name? Jim Miller or fight Jake Collier next week. And this is kind of a wild one too. Levitt and Lando Vanada. Who?

That is mayam. I would say it couldn't happen, but again, Vanada is in that range where he could be matched up with a veteran. He matched up with a newcomer. There's just, there's no surprises with him when it, when a Vanada fight, like, a science guy, okay, that's who he's fighting next. There's no real predictions you made. So just a name I hadn't thought of in a while for some reason. That is a, that is a dating a girl in college kind of a fight, like freshman, you know. air, like the first week year at school, where it sounds awesome.

And there's a future there, but it's just not right now. Like, there's just, there's so many, there's so many, there's so many other fish in the sea right now. Then you need to build that experience up before we get to something like that. And eventually, I'd like to get to a world where Jordan Levitt and Lando Vanada step into the octagon and make sweet magic together in there and just see and have all this chaos unfold in one magical moment, but it's just not the time. It's just not the time.

You can't see because this is a podcast, but Mike had a look in his eyes. He had almost a Richard Gear acting moment, if you guys watch this. Where there was a memory. Like that wasn't a, that wasn't a hypothetical. That was a, he drew upon something there for that story. And he, I hope you appreciate that. He just, he made himself vulnerable for all of us. They're right there.

Oh, he's, he's still looking back on it. So there was a memory there. but yes i don't know if we have an official reader pick of the week uh this week mike there was a lot of good ones if one stood out to that you remember please mention i know i threw a lot of names out there but uh i'll just say uh you guys again are killing it with these reader suggestions please please please keep sending them in um don't know if we have a best of this week but there was many many good ones many worthy candidates so thank you readers uh great stuff well done and uh your role does not end here for our great listeners of of the podcast if you haven't thrown anything out there

yet. You can right now. Hit us up on the Twitter. He is at Alexander K. Lee. I am at Mike Heck underscore J.R. Join us next week for our second to last matchmaking edition of On to the next one in 2020. And it'll be the last one we do

matchmaking wise for around a month or so. But we do have things planned for those weeks that there is no event. So do not worry about that. We have a lot of fun and interesting things we're going to do. So the the show will not stop.

But next week, it is the aftermath of UFC 256. Flyway title is on the line between Davis and Figuato and Brandon Moreno in the main event. Tony Ferguson is back against Charles Oliver and the co-made event. The card is really, really good, AK. I think it's, I think the excitement is starting to percolate a little bit more. But still, this is better than 255, in my opinion, is it not? Yeah, which, which I still don't think was a bad car.

Oh, on paper, I thought it was a great card. I don't know if it was the most exciting card But I thought 255 was good I saw some people saying like oh you know I still think this is that anti-flyweight bias She tries to be crazy Yes no this card looks very good My khanov is I goodness me

I'm looking at it right now De Santos still gone So fingers crossed We don't have what happened You know of course what happened this past weekend With it's MMA You never know We could see two or three withdrawals

Hopefully not Everyone's healthy and we get a full fat, what looks to do, 13 fights, 12 fights? 12 fights, 12 fight card. Where are we at? 13, because we lost Anjali and Julian Robertson. We lost, but got, did we add something? I don't know.

No, it's a, yeah, so just, just think about this for a second. As of right now, the second fight on the entire card is Dwight Grant versus Lee Jing-Lang. That's crazy. Yes. Yeah, it should, okay. Hopefully nothing happens. Wow, Cubs do right. The Swanson Panetta fights next week.

Mackenzie Duren's fighting. It's really good. We're gonna, Billy Q versus Gavin Tucker is on the prelims. You know that fight's gonna be wild. We're gonna have some matchmaking to do next week. I'm excited. We're gonna ask,

there's like enough names on here for like two matchmaking shows. If we're being honest, like that's a lot of fighters who win or lose. People probably want to know what we think is next for them. So we'll, okay, we'll see,

we'll see how we handle it. Yes, I am very much looking forward to this card and I'm very much looking forward to talking all about it. Maybe we'll do like a mega show since the last pay-per-view of the year and just match rate for everybody. We'll see. But until then, we are out of time. For AK, I am Mike Keck.

Thank you for listening. Remember everybody, don't take this too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. We'll see you right back here next week on onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.