MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Episode 7 | Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 8

Episode Date: August 31, 2020

In the seventh episode of On to the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alex K. Lee put on their matchmaker hats following Saturday night’s UFC Vegas 8 event at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. Future fights were discussed for headliners Aleksandar Rakic—who earned a unanimous decision win—and Anthony Smith, co-main eventers Neil Magny and Robbie Lawler, Alexa Grasso, Ricardo Lamas, Sean Brady, 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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As we take a look back on UFC Vegas 8 and a look ahead for some of the notable names who competed on Saturday Night's card at the UFC Apex. I am Mike Heck being joined as always by the Prince of Positivity himself, my matchmaking partner in crime. Mr. Alex K. Lee, how are you, sir? Mike, I'm really excited for today's show, more so than usual for some reason. But I will say this has quickly become my favorite part of the week, not just because it's kind of a fun thought or experiment, which, you know, nerds like us enjoy.

But I get to spend 30, 40 quality minutes with my best friend, my best friend in the world, Mike and I have never actually met in person, I don't think. I don't think we've ever been to it before, if I think we'd ever been the same event. But I feel comfortable saying that you're my best friend. I'm just throwing it out there. Fair enough. You don't have to respond. You don't have to respond.

In fact, I'd rather you didn't. Let's not make this awkward. So I'm just going to... It's on podcast now. It is legally binding on my end. And let's just leave it there. You know, Skype, Skype handshake, AK. I'm in.

I'm in. Oh, they can't even see it. Yeah, they can't even see it. But just know that it's happening here. But what an amazing way to start this show. But let's get right into the matchmaking. Let's talk about the main event. Let's talk about Alexander Rockich,

defeating Anthony Smith in the main event. I mean, he did what he had to do, got a unanimous decision win. But it wasn't one of those game-changing performances where people are on Twitter begging for him to fight for the title or fight the winner of Dominic Reyes and Jan Blahovic or anything like that. I mean, he certainly wants it. He called for it. I would be absolutely shocked if he gets it after that performance.

I mean, it was a good win, but not the win that you need to fight for the belt. Where does he go from here, AK? I'm glad he called for the title shot. Again, I don't think he's going to get it, barring other fighters dropping out, other, you know, potential contenders dropping out. But I'm glad he did it. That's what fighters should do. At least his name is, you know, he's at least slightly planted it in the minds of the matchmakers and of Dana White, even if they were probably not super in love with how he won on Saturday. I was just talking to someone on Twitter and I said he's probably, if Dana had been in Vegas or I don't know if he's not in Vegas, but had been at the press conference last night,

He probably would have given him the Curtis Blaze treatment. We probably would have heard something similar. And fair or not, it wouldn't not have been a good look for Rockich and his title hopes. But I think, I saw a lot of people throwing this name out there. I can't disagree with it. This is someone who probably leapfrogged a lot of contenders, including Rockich, with his incredible performance against Volkan Usdemir. And that is one, Yiri Prohatska, who is the white-hot name at 205 pounds right now.

I thought the hype was a little crazy, but that went over. his mirror was awesome and again yeah rock has definitely left the door open for uh for a guy like yida who's so intriguing to to slip in there and take a spot yeah i mean i said this on the preview show it was going to be yerry whether he got an unanimous decision or he completely blasted anthony out in a minute i just don't see with the way that the things are scheduled right now that there was any other fight that made sense uh but this seems to be the likely choice and really the only choice if he's going to move up and fight somebody ranked higher than him i mean is do you have i don't even know if there's like any extra names you could throw into this discussion right now, unless like

somebody gets hurt in one of these top, top four matchups. I have an alternative and I have a question. I'll do the question first. Okay. Does Rockich, do you think he needs to do, do have, and he mentioned this himself, does he need to have a five-round fight in the UFC to kind of prove that he is a, a world championship quality fighter? Or do you think it's better that he's like the co-main on a paper view for his next

fight? So there's that, I don't necessarily more exposure, but that kind of extra. level of prestige that comes with being the co-headliner pay-per-view. So what do you think, co-headlining three-round pay-per-view fight or another fight night headliner? I think for him to get to that title shot, he's going to have to do a five-rounder at some point. Like, it's the same thing.

Like, look at Zabit, Magamud Sharifov right now. Like, most people think that this is a guy that's going to fight for the belt, and a lot of those people think he's going to become the champion someday. But some of those people are hesitant to put him in a time. title shot because he hasn't had that fight yet. Yeah, he's had a made event with Calvin Cater, but that was a three-rounder. He hasn't had a five-round fight yet. This was supposed to be, Zabit in Yair was supposed to be the main event for this card. And now it looks like it's going to happen sometime in October. That's not official yet, but it's looking likely at this

point. So I think Rackage is kind of in the same spot that he is. But I have to say, after what Yuri did to Volcott-Ozdem, you can make that a main event. Like the hype behind Yuri is so real right now, and that division just got more interesting. That's a fight night made event. Let's be honest, that's a better fight night made event than some of the fight night made events we've gotten over the last couple of months. So I think you could make it, you could headline that one. I mean, if you want to make it a co-main event, sure. I think if Rackage beats Yuri, and unless he goes out there and does something super duper impressive, he's probably going to have to win another fight anyway. So either way. Yeah, you think, you know, because look at it, I mean,

I mean, you got Reyes and you got Bulovovich, right? Then you get to share fighting Tiago Santos. The winner of that fight is still going to fight for the title anyways after that. And then, you know, let's just say like Dominic Reyes beat John Bolovich and Jan gets another fight and gets a first round finish. He might get another shot or vice versa. I mean, when you have guys like sort of intertwined like that, that's just kind of what happens. I think if Phrasca beats, but you would agree with me that if Prakashka beat Rocket,

let's say he knocked him out, especially. then Brahashka probably wouldn't need another fight. He'd probably just get hot-shotted right to the year. It is-100%. He's the A-side right now. But you, man, is he that big already? Again, I don't have my finger on the pulse of the casualty fans. So I do not know.

I do wonder how much that win, like how many people are talking about that win outside of the amaze fear. I mean, they should be. That's the kind of a finish and even the whole performance, all his style and everything. Hopefully that got a lot of splash on ESPN. I'm up in Canada. We don't have that. So, you know, I don't even know what ESPN is. But yeah, that would be.

If I'm ESPN of the UFC, I was putting that performance all over a sports center. And yeah, you're right, getting that name in people's heads. But it's funny you mentioned Deshaer and Santos, though. I will say if Santos beats Tashara, I do think he would get a tell the shot right away. To Chera should, I just don't know if they would. I think to share if he beat Santos would also be a possible opponent for Rockich. Interesting. Yeah, I think that's a note.

I think overwin's that fight has to be next, unless it's like some sort of crazy controversial split decision. that happens in the Reyes-Belhovic fight and they have to run that one back. I mean, look at like the run Glover-Teshire has been on right now. With John Jones out of the discussion, we talked to some of the two, on between the links. Glover-Teshire could be the best 205-pounder in the world right now. Like, he's in the discussion. I don't think he is. Like, Reyes probably has to have that top spot.

But Tashar is like in that discussion. Yeah, no, you're right. I keep, it's something, there's that part of me that keeps forgetting. That's right. We are discussing this with no John Jones. John Jones out of the picture. So it's not, oh, well, do people want to see to share a fight John Jones again? That doesn't matter anymore.

It's do people want to see to share a fight for a title again? And certainly it's possible. Yes. Now for Anthony Smith, he's lost two straight for the first time since 2013. And much like it was for Alexander Rackich, to me, this seems like an easy choice. Luke Rockhold said he's sticking around. There's some big time animosity there. There's some heat, as the kids say.

Considering where they're both at in their careers right now, this is the fight I want to see at the end of the year at the absolute earliest if not early to mid-2020. I'd like to see Anthony Smith take some time off, spend it with his family, relax a little bit, do some broadcast work. He's really good at that. And then go and fight your rival, Luke Rockhold, and see where we go from there. What say you? Yeah, as much as we enjoy watching Anthony Smith's fight, I do think taking breaks is good for him. I mean, again, I'm sure people point to, you know, after he beat Gustaf, then he said he's going to take a break, and he did, and he stuck to it.

And then he had a rough performance against a Gloved Sheriff. So I'm sure that people say, okay, well, maybe he shouldn't be taking this amount of time off. But, you know, he's only 32. I would like to see. I do agree. I would, he should be the kind of guy that's only fighting once or twice a year. He has other opportunities. As you mentioned, I don't, I, you know, I can't speak exactly, of course, but I would

assume he's not, he's not strapped financially. So, yeah, as long as he can keep in his other opportunities, like in broadcasting other things. And then he should be all right. And, yeah, this is, that was a very. flat performance. You know, I'm sure, I'm sure he would agree. I'm sure his coaches would agree. I'm sure they'll look back in the footage and have all kinds of critiques to make about it. And the Rockhold fight just makes sense. And like you said, whenever this happens, we don't know when Rockhold exactly wants to compete again. We do know he is going to fight again. It should be at 205. I know Smith kind of suggested like he's not sure if he wants to stay at 205 anymore, but he's also said many times the cut to 185 is like impossible. So even if he is playing to drop to 185 in the future to return. And if Rockhold is, this fight should take place at 205. They can work. about proper weight classes later. The only other suggestions I had, maybe Johnny Walker versus Ryan Span,

the winner of that fight, more so Johnny Walker than Ryan Span, I feel, but really, whoever comes out of that does deserve probably a higher ranking opponent. And then here's a random one, again, another former 185er. Ed Herman. Whoa.

I mean, he's, wow. I'm just going to let that, I'm just going to let it simmer. Anthony Smith versus Ed. How they do you? never fought before like for another promotion so no it's no ed herman's been with the ufc for like 20 years um wow ed herman interesting i'm just saying i'm just saying i'm just saying i mean that makes that makes that makes that i mean if ed herman beats john allen that makes sense

is that the fight that's definitely happening or is that the one that's up in the air depending on how john allen's other fight go i know john how this one's happening that one's definitely happening and then john allen has another fight scheduled after right if he's okay with another murderer in that division. But that one might not happen. That depends how the Ed Herman fight goes. I'm pretty sure. And I still want to see Herman fight Gerald Mearshard at some point.

But I don't, I don't, I like that idea. That's pretty good. Yes. That's pretty good. Wow, that is simmering. Simmering something, something fresh smell. And that's for sure. I like it.

I like it a lot. But there's options. And I would actually like see Anthony Smith get a shot at the desk too. Like not the broadcast. Like, like do some, do some color. Put them on the contender. series, do something like that. I was going to say, maybe let him step in for Paul Felder for him.

Paul Felder is amazing. I think a lot of the sentiment yesterday, though, was that he was a little loosey-goosey last night. He's definitely, I think like a lot of us, maybe it's just a little burnt out from, look, we all love fight night. But when you do, when you're doing seven or eight fight nights, covering seven or eight fight nights in a week, or ten fight nights in 11 weeks, whatever have you, it can get you exhausted. And I love Felder's commentary last night. But he was definitely a little less professional than usual. I think there were some moments where he might have left Brandon Fitzgerald hanging. And it was funny, but it was funny.

Like I thought it was a good change of pace. But it also struck me as maybe Felder needs to give him another week off every three weeks or something. He's great at his job and I don't want him to get burnt out. So yeah, I think Icey Smith would be great in that role. Yeah, he would be awesome. I mean, he's still doing all the contender series cards. I think my favorite Paul Filder line of the night last night was after the first round of the Alexa Grasso fight, Bradfordra was like, anything in the corner that stuck out to?

He goes, no, not really. Yeah, that was the one that had Twitter go like, all right, Paul. Okay. That was so great. Telling it like it is. Let's talk about the co-main event because we saw Neil Magny defeat Robbie Lawler via unanimous decision. Magny looked great. He actually made it look easy out there.

I mean, obviously it wasn't easy, but he made it look easy. He's now 3 in 2020. He's moving up the ladder in this loaded 177. Pond Division. Magny is an interesting one because there's a lot of different ways you can go. I think the first two are pretty easy. These next up-and-coming picks are going to be a little more difficult. We can get a little more creative with these.

I think I know where you're going with this AK, but I want to hear it anyways. What's next for Neil Magny? First of all, it's with a heavy heart. I have to apologize to America because I'm about to say something that nobody wants to hear, but after that win last night, I think we have to move on from this. I don't know if we need to see Neil on Neil. Whoa. Not right.

Not next. Not next for Neil Magny. Okay. Robbie Lawler is not really, I mean, I get it. He's not necessarily a top 15 welterweight anymore. But he, you know, he has the name. He sounds probably one of the name recognition wise. So I feel like you have to move Neil Magny up.

So I'm putting a pause. Not, I'm not saying don't do it. I'm putting a pause on Neil on Neil for now. I don't want to do it. We all want to see Neil on Neil. That's what we all paid our hard earned money for. but that will have to wait for now. Jeff Neal can work his way back up to that match.

That is not off the table completely. I like the Michael Cheza thing. I feel like Magny has been calling for this fight every friggin time he wins. I don't know if he wants it now. Now I feel like maybe he feels he beat a bigger name than Chesa, but Keza's higher in the rankings. He's in the top 10. It just feels like it's time to make this one happen.

Style-wise, it's good. I think when the guys are in the career is good. Yeah, I think it bumps both guys up as far as the steam goes. So, yeah, I say Magny Keza. I'm shocked. I'm shocked coming out of the whole thing. I am so sorry. I am so sorry.

All right. So it's funny, AK, because when we talked about doing this for the very first time, we looked at how we were going to present ourselves in like these different ways. And you sort of presented it as like,

here's what I want. And then I was going to come in and sort of be like the heel and be like, well, I like what you're doing. But here's what the UFC's actually going to do. And I'm just going to basically like put holes through every single pick. It didn't turn. out to be that way. I think we turn out to be like the people's duo here. But for this particular one,

I'm going to base it on what I think ends up happening. And honestly, something that is fair and makes sense for both guys I'm going to say. All right. Of course we want to see Neil on Neal. I want to see it too. I'm with you on this. I just don't know if we're going to see it right now. I mean, Jeff Neal and what he went through and hearing that story, like we don't know when this guy's going to be back to fight anyway. So Jeff dealt with a lot. There's no need to rush back. Kiesa had surgery not long ago, not sure when he's back. I'd like to see that fight if he is healthy and ready to come back relatively soon because Neil Maggi's not a guy that's going to want to sit on the sidelines here. So to me, I think a fair matchup and what I didn't

really think about until probably like 15 minutes before he hit record, how about we do Neil Maggi versus Vicente Lucke? I mean, Lucke is a rank guy. Maggi said, I want a guy in the top 10. Luke A just happens to be in the top 10. This fight works on many levels. I like it. I think I actually have them. I will now, hold on, I will now refer to my mysterious, publicly inaccessible rankings.

After last night, I have Neil Magny at 15, and I actually have Lucke at 16. So by my math, that is exactly the match of ship that should happen. I can't remember why I didn't mention it. I think I just like making my life more difficult for myself. But I have two veteran options. as well. Okay.

To more veteran options, I just to say. Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. I think we mentioned this on the post-fight show as a possibility. And one which I don't, I know people really don't want, probably won't want to see because the first one was pretty definitive. But I kind of want to see this rematch. Damien Maya, I feel like Magnet might want to get another crack at that. Because I do still have Maya ranked fairly highly.

He's in my, he's in my top 10. He's in there still. And that fight happened, actually, as of this. month five years ago I think Magny has improved enough that I could see him beating Maya you never know with Maya he's the ultimate stylistic nightmare and and you know I I don't think Neil would use the same strategy he used against Robbie Lawler last night but I'm I wouldn't mind Neil getting a chance to run that one back and and and get another win get a really long running top 10 guy on his resume it's a

dangerous fight for sure but I think he'd agree with it It's funny you mentioned Damien Maya because, yeah, guess what's he? Oh. Because for Robbie Lawler, I'm not going to mince words. He's just not the same guy anymore. It's not me being a jerk or us being jerks. It's just the way it is. And personally, for Robbie Lawler, I want to see fun matchups with other fighters in this same position.

Like, I mentioned Diego Sanchez on the post-fight show. He's fighting Jake Matthews. That would be cool. Anthony Pettis is a good one. but Robbie Loller versus Damian Maya I don't know that makes me that gets me a little excited like the styles there like I like looking at that

fight on paper I have no idea what will happen there like literally no clue like will Robbie land that get aggressive and land that shot and and drop Meyer or is Maya going to take him to the ground and and Loller does is really good defending off of his back and and on the ground like Neil Magny tried like hell to try to get submissions and couldn't get it done last night I think that's the kind of fight that

Damien would be looking on the way out as well, as opposed to fighting a Neil Magni, who would probably give him all sorts of problems right now. Yeah, it's funny you mentioned the, like, the ground game, because other than the questionable Ben Ascran submission, which I think we can all agree, was not, whatever side of the fence you're on, it was not definitive, whether that was that finished, that Bulldog Shoeh actually finished Robert Lawler when they fought. He had not been officially submitted since 2011, Hanaldo Jacques-Decuze. And getting submitted by Jacques Cade is not an indictment of your submission defense skills at all. So he's, yes, you know, the most of his, I think he has, I'm just looking now, he has five submission losses. But that does not speak to, like, that speaks more to the quality of his opponents than kind of if he has any deficiencies on the ground game. So, man, I don't even think of that. I love it.

I love it. I would love to see him by Damien Maya. I think that's so cool. I had some weak ass Anthony Pettis thing lined up, which I think would be fine, but it didn't intrigue me. I did, the other, the matchup that did, did intrigue me. I think that's realistic. One that's a little more

out there and contingent on the result is and I'm going rematch. I'm going down rematch road again. Like,

Carlos Condit, if he beats Court McGee on October 3rd, run it back. Run it back. The first fight was a classic. Some would say

the greatest fight in UFC history. And I mean, I'd love to see a five-round main event for sure, fight night main event, but if not,

then, you know, even three rounds on a paper view or something would be fine. But I think that needs to be a fight-night main event. Condit,

Lawler, too. Give him five more rounds, and I think they bring out the best in each other. I don't know if I want to see five more rounds, but I wouldn't mind seeing three more rounds. That was one of those controversial fights, because a lot of people scored that for Condit. I did it as well at the time. That's interesting. I mean, he's got to be Cortman Gee first. Yeah.

Carlos, that is, pronounced, pal. But that's tough matchup. Because court's a gamer. He's a dog. I like it. I'm down for either of those. but Lola versus Maya kind of scratches me right where I'm intrigued by that one. But moving ahead, a pretty darn good debut at 125 for Alexa Grasso picks up an impressive decision win over Gian Kim, who was a top 15 fighter.

Grasso coming from a division where she was a top 15 fighter. So one would assume she'll be a top 15 fighter again in a new division. She looked really good. What should be next for Alexa Grasso and those pretty feet of hers? that got a lucky IG fan pretty pretty excited the other day anyone listen to this stop asking for pictures of celebrities all right i don't care about the male celebrities film with celebrities uh uh stop asking for pictures people's feet come on man it's weird guys i'm not i'm not i'm not i'm not kink shaming anyone by the i'm not king shaming if that's your thing god bless you we all have our

our weird things okay but stop asking people publicly celebrities for for this stuff all right me you know i know it's the internet you can do whatever you want but this is just my this is my request I'm not telling you how to live your life. Okay, I'm just asking nicely. Bring up my rankings again. By doing the math, the algorithm suggests that the perfect next matchup for Alex Grasso would be Montana de la Rosa, who's four and one in the UFC. She won her last fight.

But there's not a lot of cachet there. So I'm going to go with a suggestion, a reader suggestion from one of the comments sections. our member Ted Bear said Macy Barber I kind of like it and we're talking about two fighters who had a Grasso had a ton of hype behind her

before she kind of had some struggles at some inconsistent results at straw weight of course we all know Macy's had a lot of ton of hype behind her as well and also she lost her last fight to Montefari but both have a lot of potential a lot of promise both pretty young and I think style

style-wise solid matchup i like it so ted bear uh from the may the may fighting common section well done i'd like macy barber Alexa grotto hmm i like that one that's a good one although i still like macy barber versus joan called the word first sure uh that's good i i actually am in agreement with montana dela rosa if she beats vivian arauzzo on september I don't know, it's next weekend. They're fighting next weekend. De La Rosa versus Arugio is next weekend. I say the winner of that fight takes on Alexa Grasso.

In fairness to me, forgetting that fight was happening, if you go to UFC.com, I believe the only fight that's actually listed on their schedule is the main event. I could be wrong. Oh, that's right. She was supposed to fight Marina Morouse and then she's fighting Vianna Ruggios. This is correct. But according to the UFC, it's not official. So according to the UFC, nothing's official.

for next Saturday except one fight. But yes, you're right. It is contingent on that. But you're right. But Arusha also would be a good opponent for Grasso, I believe. Yeah, she looked good. So I think anybody in that, you know, 8 to 15 range, I'm cool with, but those kind of stick out to be. Macy's an interesting one.

Now, when it comes to Ricardo Lomas, AK, this comes with a little bit of discretion, I guess, because he said he may retire after his fight of the night win over Bill Algeo. So it's kind of tough to matchweek for him, but we'll do it like he's sticking around here. If he is sticking around, to me, we'll just rebook the Ryan Hall fight, gives him some time with the family, gives Ryan Hall time to heal up and get to 100% or as close as you can get to that number as a fighter. Go right back to that well. And I'm sorry to say Ryan Hall's name before you, AK. What do you think?

I'm glad you did because I actually This is a shock fuel There's a second shocker the day Not only am I moving on from Neil on Neal I was not going to mention Ryan Hall I agree it makes sense just to rebook it But for some reason I feel like they're not going to Maybe it's because of the Lamas retirement talk

That it might just kind of remove him From the matchmaker's equation for now And by the way retirement sounds good for Ricardo Lomas He looked great It was an awesome fight Fight of the Night This would be a great way to go out fight of the night, go out on a win as so few fighters get to do.

But he said it himself, though, and I think we've all had this experience on a smaller skill, if anyone's ever played like a video game or something, play like call duty. It's always like one more rounds. You always say one more round. And then you win, and you're like, well, I'm flowing right now. I got to play another. And then you lose and you go like, well, I can't go on a loss. And it's this vicious cycle.

And again, I'm not saying I can understand the mindset of a high level professional fighter. But that's kind of what Lomas is saying is it's easy to say you want to go out to win. but once you win, you're like, wait, why should I leave? I've obviously still got it. So I would not have any, and I don't think anyone would object if he chose to hang up the gloves. He's had a really, really, really good career, including a shot at a UFC title. So he has nothing left to prove, in my opinion, other than wanting to make another run.

And that's really the question is, does he still see himself as a contender if he does choose to compete or is he one of those guys? He's like, I just want to take fun fights. If he wants to still kind of move up in the rankings, I like Dan Ike. I think Dan Ige is a solid matchup for him. If he's just kind of like, well, match me up with whoever, let's have fun fights, then Shane Burgos, I think is another option. That'd be a banger.

Otherwise, I think if he does want to still contend, it's kind of just wait for the results of some of the upcoming top 10 matchups that are coming. But again, like we said, it's very much all dependent on where his head at if he even wants to fight again before the end of the year or if he wants to fight again at all. Yeah. It's kind of tough to matchmake for that one. but Bill Algeo, nicely done, man. That was a great debut on short notice,

and Brandon Lachnain was all sorts of fired up about it. Mm-hmm. It is what it is. Nice debut. Like, I feel like if Lama's fought Shane Burgos, it'd be like fighting the same guy, but just two notches above. Because, I mean, between the length and the size and the style,

it's very similar. I'm all for that. Shane's bad, man. Another fight of the night, let's go. Yes, yes, absolutely. Maybe another fight of the year candidate. it, who knows. But there were some great prelim performances on Saturday night.

But one fighter who I think everyone seemed to be talking about on Saturday night was Sean Brady, remains undefeated, put Christian Aguilera to sleep with a nasty, nasty guillotine choke. Clearly this man has a ton of potential championship aspirations and deserves a step up at a big way. What do you think for the Philly native here, AK? How can you not be excited about it? about Sean Brady. If you've seen him fight

even a little bit before the UFC and then if you've seen his three UFC performances, he really seems like he's cut from that George St. Pierre Habib mold as far as how great his how great his MMA wrestling

in particular is, by the way. We talk about great wrestlers, but there's definitely a big difference. You can see someone who's a great wrestler and someone who has the MMA style of wrestling. Boy, he's got it. And also is well-rounded. Like you can see kind of,

you know, maybe he prefers to wrestle, but you can kind of see the strength and the strike and you see the solid defense. you can see the mentality, the movement, he had great movement. Sorry, I know this is not a gush over Sean Brady podcast, but it could be.

It could be in the future because this kid is really, really something else. I liked, you know, I think, again, we discussed in Saturday. I'm a little bit hesitant to match him up with other prospects, but one that I would consider is Daniel Rodriguez, who's a 3 and O in the UFC this year, if only because I'm not sure how the matchmaker's view Rodriguez, for whatever reason, even though he has a win over like Tim Means,

which is huge. I just don't know if they see him. as someone that's going to be pushed as a contender. We'll see if he finishes the year four and oh, maybe he fights someone else besides Brady. But that's a match if I can see happening. Otherwise, for those on the, you know, let's push this Brady kid up as quickly as possible, I've got, I would like, I do have a veteran in mind. I would like to see him maybe fight Anthony Rocco Martin.

Ooh. Maybe. That's a huge test for him. But I think a reasonable one. Yes. Rocco's going through some health issues right now. So it all depends on how that all heals up. I think he had Mercer and staff.

And it was just some of the worst stuff ever. He's in the hospital for a while. So all the best to our good friend, Anthony Rocco Martin. But this is no secret to anyone to listen to the post-fight show. There was one name that I kept coming back to when I thought of Sean Brady, and that was Elizu Zaleski. I think that's a great step up. I think it's a guy who has a lot of UFC experience that someone fans still get excited about.

and if I got to report Sean Brady versus Elizo Zaleski for UFC event on November whenever, I'm going to be really excited to type up those words. I mean, this gives Brady a big boost if he wins, especially if he puts a guy like Capoeira away, man. Like, I think this is one that I should get a bonus check for, AK. I think this is my bonus.

I love that fight. I think that's perfect. I'm all surprised. You suggest that instead of me because once again, I do not think I've shared my rankings with you, but it feels like you have access to them because in my rankings, I have, I have Capuayada at 34 in the welterweight rankings, and Sean Brady at 38 after last night's performance.

So the right, the right day, which is almost right extra. I am very concerned about the security, my cybersecurity right now. Mike, I do want to go to the fans a little again. This is a fan. I wanted to have, man, I hope we have more fan interaction in the future. That's definitely something I think should be a big part of onto the next one. So I did throw out a poll on our account because Sean Brady afterwards was like, I want a big name. I want a bigger name.

Give me a big name. Of course, without actually naming anyone in the classic fighter style. So I said, let's help this guy out. We threw it. We threw it not a poll, but a little bit of a, hey, reply, let us know. I'll just give you a quick rundown of some of the names that were thrown out there from Sean Denny. He says, Usman, very reasonable. Sam Brown, Shemayev.

There was a few, I think, Shemayev suggestions, if you want to see, comes out. Brady versus Ponsinibio when he comes back from question mark kick. Interesting. That's really higher up. That's higher up than Rocco Martin. So I don't know about that. Morales at Ronaldo Zeal 7. Give him pedest then.

Dominic Cruz's chest suggested Hannah Seifers. Guys, leave Hannah Seifers alone. God. All right. I see Gunner Nelson, which I think someone else brought up. Was that Jose? Might have brought that up? Yeah, that was, I want to say that was a comment.

on Twitter or it was a comment last night, I'm not sure, but I like that idea too. Someone threw out Henry's Huto, why not? I'm sure Henry would go for it. Vicente Lucke is also, again, I think that's a little bit higher up than I want Brady to go right now. And loser of Saturday's co-made event, Magnir Lawler.

Listen, if you want to see Sean Brady wrestle Robbie Lawler to death, you're a poor person. I'm just going to say it. You're a poor person. And I know that sounds rude. to Robbie to say like he's not a charity case obviously he's a great fighter I don't think he'd be an easy fight for anyone but I do think that's how most of what is us would expect the fight to go I mean we

just saw him controlled by Magni I think Brady would be able to do the same thing I have no interest in seeing that but thank you H-C-K-Y-J-O-C yeah I think like top 30 top 35 is where you put Sean Brady but some it's some interesting picks there so hoodo and a cybers come on that's just mean Before we move, I assume we're going to move on to our wild card section. Hannah Seifers was not my pick. I don't know if you're going to. I just think she needs a break. Frankly, she needs a break from the UFC.

I think she needs a seasoning outside of it. And a new team. And by the way, if she does get a new team and ends up working with Angela Hill, for example, she owes you credit, Mike Heck. That's right. Because you did tweet last night that you think she's definitely has talent, but she just maybe needs a change the scenery, maybe needs a fresh perspective on things. And Angela Hill is one of the fighters who chimed in and said,

we would love a fan i think suggested and as the hill said we would love to have uh hannah sefer's come and train with that so she owes you owes you credit if this happens like i hate making those suggestions because she does have a team that like worked very hard with her and i don't mean to be like a prick at all when it comes to that but sometimes you just need to get out of your comfort zone like shana dobson i mentioned shana dobson in that tweet and someone said well she went to elevation she got murked in her first fight it's a terrible comparison i'm like well she got caught with like a short uppercut and she got knocked out like she got caught it wasn't like she got absolutely annihilated for every second of that fight she just got caught and she got knocked

out and shana knows it like she was pissed not because of the loss but she couldn't show like how much she's grown but we got to see it in the agap of a fight a little bit more so the change of scenery has done wonders for shana like she's she's still a similar fighter but just having the mindset and those individuals around her to push her to make her the fighter that she wants to be sometimes you just need that. And Hannah, I got to be honest, if Chris Tione was not the referee last night, she probably would have got a stoppage in that first round.

Like that was so close to being stopped. And if it did get stopped, no one would have complained about it. We have seen fight stopped for less. Yes. And Chris has had an interesting couple of weeks because he did this twice the week before. Right.

And then all you do is like blow air on the opposing, on the fighter who almost finished the, fight and Tione was jumping in to stop it. This time, Mallory stepped in, gave Hannah a chance, and he stopped at the right time. Chris Tione, that was a professional referee job last night in that fight. That was very impressive. But Hannah Seifers, definitely want to see more from her. I like to see her, like not fight again in 2020, and then, you know, kind of figure that out. But speaking of fighters we haven't match made for yet, it's wild card time. A.K.'s got the Mr. thing going on with the fingers. He's excited to unleash his pick. If we, if we share the same one,

I'm just, I'm going to be completely shocked here. But for the wild card round, we pick a fighter that we have not match made for yet from this card could be anybody, a loser from the main card, winner from the prelims, loser from the prelims, doesn't matter. And we do it right now. So, AK, who is your wild card selection coming off of UFC Vegas 8? Do you want my selection for us or do you want me to throw out our last reader submission of the week. How do you want to add? Let's throw out the. Oh, is it like a wild card submission pick or? Someone that we didn't mention before. Oh, okay. Interesting. You want that, you want the reader first. Let's go with the reader first. This is from at ALL underscore I.S underscore AIL. At all is

Ali on Twitter. He said, uh, this guy he mentioned is coming off two losses. But what about Darren Wynn or Impa Kisangana? Oh, that's a good one. I like that. That is a really good one. So Thank you, Ali. I agree when I saw it. And I once again went to my rankings. I have win at 34 and I have Kisanganae at 36 after last night's card. So mathematically it works out style-wise. Good. I think it's a good test for Kassanaganai who showed a lot. But again, we don't, you know, it's a kind of fight. You show a lot of potential. Want to see him fight again. How good is he? We don't know. Darren would be a great test. So excellent, excellent reader submission, Ali. Thank you. I agree. And Duran is in a must-win situation. And he's going to have to fight a guy like him.

But he cannot be selective here. He has to take over the UFC throws at him. I think that's perfect. That's an excellent one. And quite frankly, Ali, I'm mad. I didn't think of that one myself. So there you go. You might have won the wild card around yourself this one.

I think we should stop here. You know, we made a mistake. We made a mistake, which I shouldn't have given you the offer. I should have just made sure that was last time. No, I am very proud of my wild card pick because I was struggling. I was struggling with some of the names. I thought it was a little too early to do any specific match baking for like Pollyanna or Mallory and Martin,

who both had good performances, but who knows, it's really, there's probably 10, 15 names in front of them that they could be matched up with. Zach Cummings, who I love, great veteran. I think he needs a good matchup. But I'm going to go with another veteran. I'm going to go with Alice Casares. Okay, now hold on.

Oh, man, this could be interesting. I have a feeling that we did not, by that laugh, I assume it means you also picked Casares. Yes. Okay, I bet we did not pick the same name. Or if we did, this is scary. I'm actually nervous right now. I'm going with a veteran.

Oh, okay. All right, I feel better. Yeah, you didn't get it. I think it's time for Alex Casares to fight Cubb Swanson. Ooh, that's a good pick. Cub, of course, is I think still recovering from an injury, but this was last year, but it was a pretty scary injury. He suffered at a quintet while rolling with Jake Shields. So hopefully he's all right.

Again, he's at the stage of his career. He should be picky with his fights. But Casares is in that weird state where it feels like he should be ranked higher than he is, but he's just always been missing that signature win. And we said he's kind of become this gatekeeper. He's kind of become this guy that the UFC wants to just throw young talents against him and see, you know, sort of to evaluate them more than evaluating him, which I think is a little unfair. I think, yes, he has a lot of UFC fights, but I still, I'm not closing the door on him as someone who could be a ranked guy.

So I think another veteran would be good. I'd like to see him fight Cubs Swanson. I think it'd just be, again, style-wise, a really good match-up. And if he wins, that'd be four straight for Casaris. And then I think you really strongly consider him really giving him a top-fifteen ranked opponent after that. So this is for you, Bruce Leroy. I like it.

I also am going with Bruce Leroy, a man who had a crazy week, three different opponents, didn't complain, stayed on the card, got a quick submission win, got 30% of Austin Springer's purse. So all in all, it was a good week. more important than anything, he had a victory and a short night at the office. So, here's what I'm thinking. Alex Kazaris, maybe he wants to put a stamp on the old passport, AK. Maybe he wants a quick turnaround, you know, that money doesn't make itself. Maybe he wants to take a trip to fight island all over to Abu Dhabi. Get on the charter plane, get on embedded, enjoy the nice flight

and take on a young up-and-comer who shined on the first trip to Fight Island in July, a guy that a lot of people are excited about, a guy who wants a big test, let's give him a big test in Alex Casares. So my wildcard pick in October, on Fight Island at 145 pounds, Alex Casares versus Lorone Murphy. Boom.

Wow. Boom. Wow. You just dropped it out. You just dropped it like that. That's it. Damn. That's a fight.

Those two guys? And this is not like, that's not like even a litmus test fight. Because like a lot of times when you see someone who's been in the UFC like a Casares, taking on a guy like Lerone who's looked really, really good and has had a pretty tough slate of fights, you look at it's like, well, this is the lip mistest test against Alex. I don't think so at all. I think this is like a legit like who's the next guy that could be into that tough. 15 kind of a fight. This is like a legit, here's where we are, meritocracy wise. Let's match

these two guys up. And that's a banger. Like those two guys, that's an exciting fight. It's a, it's a shame that Lorone Murphy, I mean, he's been the B side in both of his UFC fight so far, has not gotten a little more publicity because he fought Zubaira Tukagov to a split draw. Like Tukagov is legit. And again, you know, draws aren't always the sexiest thing for fans, so they might have just disregarded that result. But I mean, I don't for me. That gets you up there in the rankings. If you fight a guy like that to a draw.

And then first round finish of Hikardo Hamos. So it's crazy. He's actually, in my ranking, he's actually higher ranked than Casares, which sounds crazy because he's two fights in. And Caseras is 20, it was 23 fights in after Saturday. But just facing the guys they've beaten, I have, I have Murphy higher. So it makes a lot of sense. You're right for both guys.

Caseras is certainly the more well-known name. So there's the benefit for Murphy. And then if you're Caceres, it moves you up just a little bit more in the rankings. Not as much as against a veteran name I mentioned, but certainly he takes some of that thunder that Lauren Murphy has has. And yeah, I can't even thought of that, but I like it. Yeah, I like it too. I'm good.

I think Cacaris, I'm just, I'm just happy for him. They've got the three straight wins, you know, a long winning streak after, you know, he had one in 2012, 2014 kind of erased because of this, no, was stupid no contest in there because of for marijuana. but now he's got three straight wins. Still very young. He's only 32 years old. And man, I really think he's trending in the right direction.

Don't write off Bruce Leroy, just yet, people. No, you shouldn't. He's on a nice little streak right now. So I'm a man of my word. Let me just pull these up. I suggested last week, how about you, you know, leave a review, leave some kind words about the program. We'll read it on the show.

We got one. Redwood Rebel 707. It's a nice insight and good content. Really digging Mike Heck these days. And A.K. A.k.a. the Prince of positivity brings a much-needed breath of niceness in the MMA world. Keep it up, fellas. That's all I want to do.

How about that? That's all I want to do. The best friends. The best friends making the movie. Best friends ever. This is my favorite part of the week. This is my favorite part of the M.A. week. Yeah, I enjoy it as well.

And then, like, the next thing I have to do is between the links where all hell is going to break loose. It's the exact opposite. This is like, 10. tea time. And then over there is like, that's my least favorite part of the M.A. Whenever I have to be on. Not listen. Listen to it is great. Listening to it, fantastic show. When I'm actually on it, my least favorite part of the MMA, my least favorite part of the MMA month when I'm on

that show. But listen, we appreciate the kind words. You do the same. We'll shout you out on the show. I love all the picks that we've made so far. And we want to hear your match making suggestions as well. So hit us up on Twitter, AK is at Alexander Keeley. I am at Mike K. We'll be back at it again next week. as we look ahead for some of the big winners of this coming Saturday night, headlined by Alistair Overeem and Augusto Sakai. That's such a fascinating fight in the heavyweight division.

And again, apparently the only fight on the card. Again, you go to the U.S. That's a one-fight card. It's just going to be sensational. I mean, it works for me. I mean, that... You have you on Fox 1 over here. I love it.

I absolutely love that idea. But as you put a bow on another edition of the show, for A.K.I. Mike Hack, thank you for listening. Listen, don't take it too serious. We're trying to have some fun, make some fights, and make some dreams come true for fight fans around the world. More specifically ourselves, because we want to get some of these right. I can't wait for these fights to be books.

We can brag about them. We just haven't gone there yet. Year and review. Wait, wait, at the end of the year. They'll see. The roto is coming full circle. But we'll see you next time right here on onto the next one, the podcast. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.