MMA Fighting - On To The Next One: How Close Is Kamaru Usman To A Title Shot After UFC Atlanta?

Episode Date: June 15, 2025

Kamaru Usman reminded everyone why he’s considered one of the greatest welterweights of all time. The UFC Atlanta main event ended with Usman’s hand raised high after a vintage performance against top 10 contender Joaquin Buckley. It had been over 800 days since Usman competed at 170 pounds and it didn’t look like he missed a beat as he grounded Buckley for the better part of five rounds en route to a unanimous decision win. So where does the former champion go from here? On an all-new edition of On To the Next One, join MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee as they discuss whether Usman has any other option besides the most glaringly obvious one for his next fight, and where fellow former champion Rose Namajunas goes after holding onto her spot in the flyweight contender line with an impressive win over the streaking Miranda Maverick. Plus, we make matchups for main card winners Edmen Shahbazyan, Raoni Barcelos, Mansur Abdul-Malik, and Alonzo Menifield. All that and the usual fine collection of listener picks. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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. Well, hello there, everybody. And welcome to a brand new edition of On to the next one. The matchmaking crowns are back following a UFC Atlanta card that I had a double check that it actually ended. And it did. It did. And it ended with Kamara Usman, the former UFC Walterweight champion, returning to the

Octagon for the first time in almost two years and gets a victory. It's been a long time since we have been able to say those words, but Usman went back inside the UFC's Hallad Octagon, a vintage Usman performance, lopsided decision win against Joaquin Buckley in a fight that in all honesty was not all that competitive until the fifth round. And we'll discuss what is next for, Kamar Usman, and some of the other notable names and big winners from the UFC's return to the ATL. I am Mike Heckin joining me to do exactly that.

The co-host, the co-matchmaker, the Prince of Positivity, and my best friend, the sleep-deprived Alexander Kaylee, aka, how are we doing on this Sunday morning? Not better than on Saturday, my best friend, not better. I did not have a moment of waking up and, you know, like, oh, that wasn't so bad. Like, sometimes that happens, right? Sometimes you're, you know, we don't consume the product, like the average fan, right? we're working, we're having to look at things from different angles. We can't always just purely enjoy the spectacle of the game.

And then, you know, sometimes you wake up the next day and you're like, oh, that wasn't so bad and that was better than I remember. And some things are worse. This was like just the same. Like I woke up and I'm like, yeah, this, I know I have to talk about this show again. I hope we don't have to dive too deep into it, guys. If you want our reaction, right, listen, you and I, you and I were on the post-fight show. So I would tell Bill, go, please click on the post-fight show as well. feel free to watch that.

I guess many Casey Lighten in there. Because, yes, nothing has changed. It was an instant reacts, but that is also my day after reacts. This was a unfortunately below average card from an entertainment standpoint. Even from a storyline standpoint, and like we'll get into this, of course, with the matchmaking, I just don't know what we got out of this beyond the main event, which was fantastic, by the story-wise. I think that was a great moment. If you're a fan of Kumar Usman, you're not a fan of Kumar Usman.

I think it's hard to deny that like this this was a really cool moment for like one of the top 20 greatest fighters of all time, certainly one of the top four best welterweights ever. And man, he really got me with the when he's trying to do the post fight speech like right after in cage. I know he was like this to the post fight press conference too. Like his, you know, he had the lip blubber going. Like you see that? He had like the, you know, you get some emotional. That has not happened to me in a long time. I could see it though.

And I, and I've remembered moments like that in my life. And I'm like, man, but he got, he pulled it together, at least at the, on TV, on TV, he pulled it together. He was like, you know, sucked it in, man, and then did a little post-by speech. And then he let the tear, you know, even got even more emotional talking to the media after. But I felt that, Mike, I felt that. So at least the night ended on like a genuine, like I felt something very genuine. It just, it took us a long time to get there. A very long time.

I felt like it was, it's one of those days. And I know some people are like, oh, you all you guys do is complain and stuff. Like, I'm looking, we're looking through this and through multiple lenses, like as fans and as media members, where it's just like, golly, man. Like, it's just, it was just a slog to get to where we were. And yes, the Ousman storyline and the win is, is fun. And the fifth round was great. But the rest of that fight was not all that thrilling.

It was just Ousman easily taking Buckley down, controlling him. And we knew at those moments, like, the round is over. Like Usman wins the round. This is what the rest of the round is going to look like. I still stunned this got fight of the night over Rose and Miranda. Or they just didn't go with like four performance bonuses. Like if they had just, if they had gone with Usman as a performance bonus, I actually would have been okay with that.

But this is not the fight of the night. It's, it's just wild. Like a lopsided beatdown is not is not fight of the night material. And it wasn't even like a Calvin Cater, Max Holloway type. fight or even a Chris Boutinho, Sean O'Malley type where like Buckley got knocked down 10 times, but kept fighting back and like made it to the bell and things of that nature. Like it wasn't that. It was just Buckley got taken down over and over and over again and did nothing about it until the fifth round.

So yeah, I mean, I think this division is obviously more interesting than it was yesterday now that Usman is back in the mix. but where does this all go? And that's where we'll just, we'll just get right into it, A.K., because you mentioned you woke up with the same feeling this morning about last night's card

as you did when we were doing the post-fight show. I woke up with the same feeling that I had doing the post-fight show in regards to Kamar Usman's future. Because I truly believe that maybe in physicality-wise and going through the training, and trying to evolve his game,

I think he is at least moved forward in time. In his head, he has not moved forward in time. His unrealistic view of the welterweight division in 2025 is absolutely bonkers to me because he goes out there and beats Buckley. And he, like, in his heart of hearts, nothing else matters. He is guaranteed.

It is his God-given right. to have a title fight next. Like there is no other option. He doesn't seem interested in anything else. He feels like the UFC has already inserted him into a title fight. I think he's absolutely insane, AK. I think he's absolutely nuts. I think this division has made such strides since he last competed.

It has made leaps and bounds and mile long broad jumps since Usman last won a fight. he goes out there and beats the number seven ranked guy. And now he's just going to jump everybody else to get a title fight. Like I just don't understand his line of thinking. Like do you, bro, and like believe in yourself, but to just shut down every other option like it doesn't matter is crazy. And maybe this is gamesmanship. Maybe he's just trying to play to build storyline or build some sort of rivalry with

the law Muhammad. But this whole who, who is? was this guy. He's got nothing for me mentality. It almost like it makes the win taste worse, AK, in my eyes. Like it really does. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Long story short, it's Kamar Rusen versus Bilal Muhammad. He is not fighting anybody else. He is not fighting for the belt after this. It's just not going to happen. He's going to fight Belal Muhammad next. And if the UFC does not make this fight, shame on them too, because this, we are hankering. We are in the year of our Lord 2025, AK, on this Father's Day, which is a great day, and I love Father's Day so much.

The fact that we are clamoring for a Balaah Muhammad fight that we were like, we have to make this fight for Balaah Muhammad is just a true testament to how he has grown since the JADM fight. It's Usman Bilal and anything else is promotional malpractice. I'm sorry, I had so many thoughts there and then I just blanked out. Yes, it is, it's, we're, you're correct. It's, it's Bilal Muhammad versus Kumar Usman. I mean, this has to happen. Like, to what end is it of Kamaru doing this? Who is this guy fit?

And because I can't, this is the same as the like sort of the Jones Aspinall, you know, ongoing feud. Like, I will say at least with that, there was a point where it felt like, oh, okay, we are now building up this anticipation. John Jones, whether he meant to or not, has become this heel character. And then, like, you could, if they had booked the fight, however, like six, seven months ago,

like, boom, like, that is a money fight. Now you've reached a point where it's dragging on. And of course, people will tune in, but also, like, people just want to get it over with. That's not a fun energy to have going into a fight. And I hope that's not what happens with Uzpun and Bala Muhammad. Because nothing they do is going to make this fight more anticipated than it is now. It just makes so much sense.

Everyone is on the same page with this. Everyone seems to agree, except for Kamar Usman, that this is the fight that has to happen. But, like, I think about the timeline, Mike. He knows he's not next. Like, he knows, like, he's not literally next. He knows that Jack Delam Adelena and Islamaksham are going to fight. We don't even have a date for that fight.

That could be where, I guess we're assuming October, but that's not for sure. That could be November December. We might not get until December, yeah. That's crazy. Like, that could be, so then you have that. And then if it's Islam that wins, the man fights twice a year. You might have to wait another four or five months for Islam gets back in there.

So at that point, you're Ushman, you're shoveling yourself almost for another year. And you're making all these other great, compelling contenders at 170 wait, who knows how long to get their shot. So the thinking is just completely absurd. I cannot think of anything that would kill this division more than the UFC trying to force U.S. one into another title shot over the next 12 months you this division is really good this division has fresh challengers people are talking about welter rate again they have distinct personalities it is one of the three most compelling divisions right now at least at the top at least from a contender standpoint please please my goodness UFC do not do not listen to coriuzwan and try and get him into a tell

the shot you have bala muhammad right there we just saw a clip i think a clip from i think because Balal did a reaction show. And I don't have the full, I haven't watched the full thing yet, but it has been aggregated. And Usman, excuse me, Muhammad said, you can pick the time, pick the place, let's do it. So even though, you know, I think Balal's tweeted like, I'll see you next or something, or good job, see you soon, something like that. It's right there, guys. It's right there.

And Usman, if you are serious, okay, and Talashot, this could be the one. It's still, he shouldn't skip a line, but if he beats Buckley, beats a guy who was just as champion. Get some heat behind him. Yes, Usman, people will want to see you fight for the title in 2026. They will actually want to see it. Let people get behind you. Don't be their adversary when it comes to matchmaking.

Oh my gosh. This has to happen, Mike. Please just, Usman, fight again before the end of 2025. It's not hard. I'm actually baffled by this. And if it turns out that he's just like, because I don't even know how you can come back from this.

I don't even know how you can say, like, if they booked the fight, gotcha, made you look. Like, I just don't see how you can even play that at this point with it just, and here's the thing. He's going to fight below Muhammad. And if he loses to below Muhammad, this, I mean, it is, there's no coming back from the who, who's this guy. This guy's got nothing for me. Like, that is, the internet is undefeated. No one will ever forget you said these things. instead he should have went all in on this fight because ballal is about as over as he will probably

ever be with this fan base coming off the jdm fight this was the time to like make that call out i think people would have loved it i think usman would look more like a hero today in the odds of the ms community if he makes this call out and and makes this fight happen but the fact that he's just completely no selling him i just i just don't get it i'm i'm i'm I'm truly stunned by this. And there's no way that he's jumping over Brady and Gary and all these other guys after they were like, cool, let's let Islam get his shot. They're not going to sit back and be overly thrilled with with Usman jumping the line after winning one fight in the last like three or four years. It's just we got to be a little more real.

This has to be more of a sport at some point. I mean, good Lord. Usen would look great. And I'm not trying to take anything away from the performance because it was great. He did what he needed to do to win. But it's like you said, it's like you said, what he, we shouldn't be talking about this. Like we should be talking about the greatest performance was how great it's going to be when he fights Ballal. What a great story it'll be if he beats Ballal and gets one more title shot before it's all said and done.

Like as he, dude, if he doesn't fight Ballal and wins, he is undeniable in my opinion. I don't care if Sean Brady wins three more fights in the time that it takes to get to Usman versus Bilal. If he fights Bala Muhammad and he does that to Balaal, he jumps over everybody. That's it. Like, I'm cool with it. This is- But beating the seventh ranked guy whose best win was Colby Covington is, and Bucke was great.

Again, we put him over on the on the post-fight show a bunch. But that's the, that win does not get you a title fight after three straight losses. I don't care who the losses are two. We got to be better than this. Mike, this is. salvageable. Camaro, you have a podcast. Just go on the podcast this week and say, yeah, you know, I was just playing around.

Maybe I was joking around too much. I definitely got to fight blah. I definitely would like to play blah, blah, blah. I mean, put it in your own way. Put a little more sauce on it. I think that's extremely boring way for me to put it. But I'm sure he's going to record a podcast with Suita this week. Sell the fight.

Sell the fight. Respond to Mohammed saying, any place, anytime. Say, yep, any place anytime for me too. There you go. Talk to the UFC behind the scenes, have your management work their magic. And let's see this happen, again, before the end of the year. And it's all good. It's all good.

I hope. Hopefully we'll just forget that this, these silly post-white comments ever happened. Okay. There's, there's another way this can be salvaged. Okay. Release the podcast with B'Lall.

That's going to happen. That's going to happen. Like, release it tomorrow. And he needs to kind of hope that Ustman looks like the alpha in all this, that Ustman's going to like went up and slapped Bilal in the face or something like that. Because then he needs to kind of hope that Uspin looks like that. Because then he can be like, dude, why would I fight this guy? I just beat him up on my podcast.

Like, then it's like, okay, that's kind of gangster. But anything other than that, I think he's nuts. I think sitting around and waiting is absolutely bananas. So we'll see what happens. Maybe, I don't know. I'm still a little baffled by all of this. But let's move on to, do we want to talk about Buckley or we just, what you just want to move through? We talked about Buckley on the post-fight show.

Buckley versus Michael Morales book it. Yeah, I'm okay. So, you know, we, we disagreed on how to, where bucket should go forward. Like, I would like to see him go outside the top 15. I know it's hard to do that now that he's built himself up to a certain level. But we kind of, our debate was like, because someone I think in the comments was suggested, like, you know, that they were still behind him. He could fight for the title at some point. And I'm like, yeah.

And I, you were a little more bullish on it. I think, you know, he's has to, if he can somehow beat a couple of top 10 guys. I think he needs to play the long game and just get back in the win column against whoever. Now, from like 10 to 25, it's a lot of tough opponents anyway. So there's no easy path for Buckley to get back there. So maybe he should just try and get top 10 guys. But I'm a believe that again, he just needs to string a few wins together and be ready on call. So if you will if you will, if you will didn't watch the post-fite show,

I think the only way he gets to a title shot is like 18 months, two years from now. He's on, he's on back on a win streak. and they need a short notice opponent or again not even short notice but like they're going to book a well-to-a-to-a-a-tidal fight within two months or something because they at that point the us to be holding 60 events a year and um and yeah and they need a name and like yeah this guy's listen this guy's injured these two guys just fought for the title like six months ago uh buckle you're up i i think that's the only chance i i doubt he uh ever fights his way to true no-man contender status so i'm fine with him just like string together wins but yeah i didn't have a name exactly i don't really know how he does that

I just think mathematically as possible. But Malcolm Morales would be a really, really fun way. Yeah, I think that needs to happen. I did think about this because I'm like, how can you give him somebody outside the Tuff 15? Like, and then I thought about it. There's only one guy that I'm willing to watch Joachim Buckley fight next with a full camp where I'd be like so curious to see how he looks.

And this is like step up city. This might be one of the biggest leaps ever from UFC. debut to second UFC fight that we've ever seen, throw him in there with Andreas Gustafson. And let's see how he survives that pace and a dude just trying to manhandle him with takedowns for 15 straight minutes and won't go away. Give me that.

I'd be intrigued. I'd be intrigued. And if Buckley can overcome all of that and win, that'll show me some things. But other than that, he's kind of, He's just kind of kind of have to fight the Borales of the world. 31, 28 pro fights. It's kind of in that spot.

So great. Again, Buckley, what a run he's had. This is overachieved in my eyes. And again, I don't want to sound like this is Usman hate because it certainly isn't. Like I was blown away by the performance. I'm with you, AK, when he started the lip quiver and started getting emotional, like got me a little bit. I don't know what he's gone through behind the scenes. It seems like he's gone through a lot of personal stuff too

with his daughter who couldn't go to the fight. He said that was a story for another day. So yeah, I mean, good for him, man. It's good to see him back. It's good to see him in the wind calm. This division is more interesting with him involved in him fighting. But go fight below. That's the most interesting thing you can do.

How about Rose Tommy Eunice, AK? Thug Rose, Thug Rose, Thug Rose. Thug Rose. Thug Rose. She wins. She's back over five hundred. as a flyweight. Now three and two in the division since making the move up from 115 pounds. She defeats Miranda Maverick.

M.A. Fighting's official scorecard shared the sediment of two of the judges. 3027 for Rose. It was a fun fight. This to me was the best fight on the card. It was the most entertaining fight on the card. It was the most hard-fought battle, most competitive, fun, entertaining battle on the card. And Rose gets it done.

Miranda Maverick, unfortunately, suffers a torn ACL. in the process, which is a bummer, but good win for Rose. She called for Natty Ice or Alexa Grasso at the post-fight presser. Both of those makes sense. I went with neither of those, AK, neither when we broke this all down in my brain. Macy Barber is choice one, but it's too risky to actually pick. Like if Macy got, yeah, if Macy got the all clear, they figured out exactly what was wrong with her physically. And they're like, yeah, you can resume your career at 100% capacity.

I would 100% make that fight. We got to go with Jass and Jast Hesius. I, although I do. Battle of Lithuania, battle of Lithuania finally. I like this. I think Jasmine kind of deserves it at this point. And I just, I, I, and if it's between. Grasso and Natty Ice, I would prefer

the Grasso fight for Rose. That's just me. These are kind of tough, A.K., honestly, some of these are pretty tough. No, this one, this one, I went to Alexa Grasso almost immediately. Excuse me, guys. Okay.

Joe was very dry out today. I went to Alexa Grasso almost immediately. I just think it makes way too much sense. I think you were on the right track, Mike, during the post-fight show, saying, like, you know, champion versus champion, you know, if she was to call out valentina, which she didn't do, she didn't call out a bunch of anything, unfortunately.

Again, I'm not as enthusiastic about her fighting Valentina anytime soon. Like, again, cool fight. If it got booked, of course, great storyline. I actually think it would be somewhat competitive, too. Like, I don't think Valentina just straight up smashes her. I could be wrong. Maybe it's like a 50-44 fight. I don't know.

But I do like it. I do like that fight. I just think I really don't feel like there's a lot of buzz around it. Maybe if Rosa cut a good promo, maybe. Or done something at the Post-Fite press conference, 0 for 2, just really good. gave us nothing to work with, nothing to sink our teeth into. So I'm going to a former champion, not the current champion, and I think Grasso is the way to go. I'm sure there are Grasso fans out there who are like, ah, what if Grasso loses? Then she's 0-1-3. Sorry, oh in her last three.

Yeah, that would suck. This is the fight game, guys. When you reach these people's level, unfortunately, you're fighting other top 10, top 15 people just all the time. Sometimes you're going to lose two straight fights, three straight fights, and hopefully you can hang in there and, you know, get back on track. But, you know, it's nothing about tough fights. And, and, and, and, and, And I say the same for Rose. Like, yes, you'd like to see her, you know, somehow put together two, three fight windstreet. But she has to fight good fighters. And Alex Grassel is one of them.

So it's unfortunate that one of these very well-liked fighters would have to lose and get pushed very, very, very far in that back in the contender line. But I'd like to see it. I just think it's a good fight. It does, I'm trying to think. Would this make, this could be a main card to fight in a pay-per-view or it could be another co-main or main on a on a fight-night card. I think. I agree. It works for a marketing standpoint.

I need to see a little more from Rose in 125. I need to see a little bit more, and I think a match what Grasso would be great, possibly but beneficial for both fighters. The problem with like, and it's almost like in every division you can make a case for one of the top fights involving the top fighters.

We're in a place right now. We're in such like a stagnant, this is what the UFC is right now, place where it's almost like, you have to do it now or what's, the point. You know what I mean? Because if we wait like a year on like a lot of these suggestions, then it's just like, okay, times passed. We could have got this and then we didn't. You know what I mean? And even with this fight, like I get, again, I'm no, I am not one to advocate for Rose and

I'm a Unis getting a flyweight title shot after losing very recently and only being three and two in the division. But again, like if you're looking at it from the UFC lens, like if Rose just said Valentina's name, I think she had a, she would have a real good chance. chance to get a fight for the belt. But now she's just kind of like back in the mix. And maybe that's okay. Maybe she hears you, AK, she wants to earn it. She wants to earn it the old fashioned way.

And at the end of the day, I do respect that. And we shall see. But if I'm Alexa Grasso, I am jumping on the Twitter machine or having whoever is running her account and accepting this callo from Rosamai Yunus almost immediately. Because if it's a choice in Rosnami Eunice and fighting Jazz and Jasda Vizzias, You take Thug Rose almost immediately. And she may not win that fight, but I think that is a more winnable fight for Alexa Grasso at this point in her career than fighting a absolute maller like Jasmine Jazz DeVizia. So be a good fight.

Absolutely be a good fight. Maybe a maybe Noce UFC AK. Do a little Alexa versus Rose. You see? It's all falling in a place for the UFC. They can only fall upwards. I'm trying to remember who I picked for Jasmine. I think that's why I think I didn't go with Jasmine.

I think I picked Alexa, but I just kind of mixed, I changed things up a little bit because, again, it's almost impossible to book the top of this division without knowing what Zhang Wei Li is doing. Because if Zhang ends up taking this fight and they make it, then it changes everything. I went big with Jasmine last time. I want her to fight Meno. I thought her Menon should fight each other. So I went real big there.

I would be surprised if that happens, but that I thought Jasmine can go even like even further up the rankings than Rose. But yeah, the whole Battle of Lithuania thing is very compelling. I've made that matchup on a previous episode. I think I'm just giving up on it. I just don't know if... And I feel like Jasmine's mentioned it. I think that's why I got it from.

Didn't Jasmine? Isn't it Jasmine who called the Battle of Lithuania? Like, it's not that this is not on their radars, right? This is a thing that has been discussed. So entirely possible. I'm really intrigued to see where Jasmine goes. Like, considering the names that are kind of shaking out now at the top of 125.

She's going to get one of them. She's going to get someone. Certainly. Let's go to perhaps, at least some people are suggesting this as well, maybe the new middle-wady, middle-way champion, Edmund Shabazzian? Like never a guy we even mentioned in this discussion when talking about what this belt means. And perhaps, you know what, I was thinking, even said it on the People's Free Fight show, perhaps we need to take the middle-weighty middle-weight belt out of middle-weight and move it to light heavyweight or move it to heavyweight because those divisions have become much more middle-weighty-weighty,

Until last night where boy, is it back. And Edmund Shabazzian might be the conductor of the train. He goes out, gets a much needed win. The first time I have made some good betting profit on fading Edmund Shabazzian against grueling grapplers. It did not happen for two reasons. One, Edmund has obviously gotten better. two, Edmund decided to fight very mature, which is not all that thrilling for fight fans. And three, Andra Petrovsky is not, I don't know what his game plan was,

but it certainly could not have been what we saw last night. So, but Edmund goes out and wins and gets a decision. What do we do here, okay? This was, I didn't think I'd be dart throwing for Edmund Chabazzian, but I think the dart landed were needed to. But where did you land it on? Uh, firstly, I owe multiple apologies to America. Um, first, first of the middleweight division, because, yes, I had spoken too soon in our Slack channel after the atrocity. That was the main

card opener of Alonzo Menefield and Umar Say, I was like, oh man, like this is the new, like middleweight has, you know, we've made a pretty strong case that middleweight has become one of the better divisions, uh, over the past few years. Certainly at the top, maybe not like, you know, top to bottom, but certainly at the top. It's compelling, compelling division. And I, after, Men of Field Sain, I was like, oh, man, this, I mean, light have weights in the middle way. Like, this, this, it's not, it's not great at the top. The any, anything outside the top eight is just like, like a complete slog to get through. Then we got Shabazzian, Bertrowski, and Abdulmalik and Brundage.

And I was like, oh, man, middleweight is back. Middleweight is back. I spoke way too soon. Middle, I forgot, Mike, I almost forgot why the term middleweighty, middleweight fight had been invented. And then these four gentlemen stepped into the cage in Atlanta and said this is what middleweight looks like and I was like, guys, I'm sorry,

you are still the slog division I spoke too soon. And we really need to apologize to America, Mike, for our maybe over-enthusiasm of Bertroski. I, at the end of Otno, we got a bit excited. I may have broken my rule of telling people never to gamble on MMA. I think I was very strongly prompting people to put down

money on Petrosky, who was the underdog at the time. That was me, by the way. I take, yeah, I mostly take the blame because I actually put, I actually like laid out live the process of placing said bet at the end of the show.

True. We forgot, like, respectfully, Petrosky is not a great 185. I still thought he could have passed Edmund down at some point. I still think he could have done more with his takedown offense, but, but to Edmund's credit, there was some, there was some

takedown attempts and there was some takedown attempts and he stuffed them or I don't know if he got taken down and then quickly got back up, but there was no point in the fight where Petrosky like had him down and was doing any serious damage, just did not happen. So credit to Edmund, credit to Edmund, I don't want to just turn this to like, oh, crap me on Petrosky thing. Like it wasn't a great fight for sure. You can criticize both guys that you want, but Edmund showed real developments, I think, in take down defense. I'm not going to match him up with a wrestler now. I'm not all of a sudden going like, oh, he's an expert grappler.

Like, I still would like to avoid that scenario for the most part. Abis Megamatov? I don't know, Mike. That's where I landed. I can't remember. I think I have Abis right at the border of the top 15, not quite in the top 15. Edmund doesn't need to go there. But I was looking like below, I wanted to actually go back because with Edmund.

And none of the names were jumping out at me. I have like Rizaboyev, Bruno Faheda, I want him to fight Pfeiffer. I thought Gregory Rodriguez, and I don't know why I didn't go with that. He's booked. That's okay, that's why, yeah, he's booked, right? He's fighting Nordia.

Jackramanson. Oh, Jackramanson. Yeah, some of these other guys are booked, too. I think those are other things. So I kept going back and back and back and back. And at some point, like, Dustin Stoltzvist or something or, I don't know. There just wasn't a name that jumped out going backwards.

I almost landed on Cesar Almeida. I know they, I think they might have trained together at Extreme Couture, but I don't think I don't think he's still, I don't think that's like Cesar Almeida's home gym, right? I could be wrong. I don't think it's home gym. So that made a lot of sense, but I just, again, if it is a tricky training situation, did not want to get into that. So I don't know, Mike, I landed on Avis Mega Meta, mainly because he's kind of a bit

ahead of him and not ranked, not books, sorry, not books. But I have no clue. I have no clue. Like, I would love to know where you're dirt. ended. Rizabayev. Okay. Yeah, that's her doing.

Is he, okay, I think I thought he's not booked. He just didn't, I think he just fought. He just, wow, I don't remember this. I thought, this is so bad. Let me, let me, uh, yeah, he just literally, yeah, two weeks ago. Stoltzvus, he fought Stoltzis. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, there you go.

There you go. There you go. You know what? Good matchup. I'm down for it's fine. All right. Oh, Runds of Pibiams booked. He is booked.

He is booked. Boy, he just, like, he just fought a month ago. Oh, I remember this. He's fighting Brian battle at UFC 319. We've not confirmed this, I don't think. Have we? I don't think we've confirmed it. But I did see the reports.

Yeah. Yeah. It's still Roots-Biah. Oh, he's, so this is a, he's going back to Welterweight? Or is battle going up? Battle's a middleweight? This is a middle-of-hate? Okay, now I'm all sorts of confused.

I don't know what we're doing with Edmund. We'll see what happens. Yeah. So I'm not taking. Normally I'm happy to take some do-do. I'm not taking it here because I have so many questions about this fight. We haven't fully confirmed it yet. So, yeah, Edsman versus Rusebibives, the fight today.

To the Bantamweight Division. Hione Barcellos, man is on a mission, AK. Man is just on a mission. Goes out there, beats Cody Garbrand. The heartbreaking career of Cody Garbrand just continues on and on. And the guy's just getting it done. He calls out Rob, want. And I like the gusto. I like the callout. There's, I'm going to say zero chance he gets

that fight. I'll say there's like about a 9% chance he gets that fight. Barcellus is not even ranked right now. And there's just not a lot of full on fanfare for him to be, to be fighting top 10 guys in this division. So I think he's on his way. I think we get. him one more fight to see if he can get a ranking and he's not going to fight a guy who currently has a number next to his name. But I think if he beats this individual, then he's definitely a farve for any sort of rankings panel. And you might want to call this lazy booking. I don't. We do Ricky Simone. Let's do Barcellus. Hione versus Ricky. Wait, wait, wait a second. Do you hear that? Are they? Oh, they plugged it.

I hear an upright base. Someone's some flucking away to an upright base. Maybe if I count to three, we'll be able to hear it. One, two, three. Friends forever. Easy, pizy, AK, easy, easy, easy, easy. That's the way to go. Yeah, I struggled with this for a while, and then I just looked at the card, and I was like, oh, wait, we had two other bandt and weight fights.

It's not Malcolm Wallmaker. Ricky is, congrats to Ricky, rebuilding his reputation. It looked bleak there for a while. I think it was the Mario Bautista. It's always my wife. Batista, where we were like, man, what is, we were like, what is going on with Ricky? Like, he just looked so unmotivated. And again, maybe that's what Tista.

The guy has now, like, has his job. He makes people look bad. This is what he does. But there was something in Ricky's body language. And I'm not saying, like, oh, Ricky was, like, in a better headspace or something. He would have killed Mara Badaista. I don't know. Maybe he loses that fight anyway.

But it looked bad. Then he loses to Loke Dog. No shame in that either. No shame in that. But for a guy who was, like, so solid at 135. Like, even if he's not going to be a future champion. I would never believe that Ricky, at least in his housey right now, 32, he's in his prime, that he would, like, lose three straight fights in the UFC. He's so consistent.

I would have thought he would have won one of those fights in there, even though those are all three good opponents. It was Song Yadong Batista and Loctaw. So that went over Jabred Bashar, it was huge. Like, that's the Ricky we know. And then, yeah, such a smart fighting as Cameron Smotherman. I know people wanted to see, I don't know if you want to see him stand and bang with Smotherman. And like, no, man, this guy, I think he's a veteran. And he mixed the martial arts.

And so does how many Barcellos. So, yeah, both guys are on winning streaks. Both guys are knocking on a ranking. And it's just a good veteran matchup. Like, you put those in any card. There's a fun matchup. So, yeah, easy friends forever. So, yeah.

Easy French forever, moment. Dig it. I love it. Wasn't sure we're going to get one today, but we got it. I'll just rifle through the next one, AK, because I already set this up. This is just a fight that needed to happen. and we already got there. So Mansor, Abdul Malik gets the win over Cody Brunage,

kind of weird, ended up being a tech decision. After Zach Rees' recent victory, I said Zach Rees is going to fight Mansour Abdul Malik after he beats Cody Brundage. That's what happened. So yeah, just continuing the storyline, Mansour versus Zach Reese next.

Yeah, I guess we don't get a friend's forever for this one because, like you said, you kind of, this was a pre-prepared pick and away. Yeah. Yeah, we got, I think, I like to think this was the narrative going into it that like, Menser of Duel Malik is really inexperienced. I know he was a monster favorite going in. And that's fine.

He won, I guess, as fairly comfortably as you can. When it goes to a technical decision, you have kind of that wonky ending. Cody Brunner just tough. His whole deal is like you put him in there with guys like, Bo Nickle didn't have an easy time with them at first. Like that first round it with Bo Niple, like Cody did fine. Cody looked okay, like like competitors. So that's kind of what he does. So for, you know,

Manzor, to even get the win is good. I hope he's, you know, not too insistent about like, oh, it wasn't a headbut that ended the fight. Like, it clearly was. And frankly, probably should have been a no contest, right? More so than the Paul Craig Bellato one, all right? That should have been his qualification. I mean, your mileage may vary on Bellato's, like, reaction.

But that felt like that should have been his qualification. And it felt like Abdul Malik and Brundad should have been a no contest. But anyway, Tech decision. Find no problem with it. We got it. And Abdul Malik 9 and 0 undefeated, a lot of work to do. A lot of work to do. So you keep putting him in there with the Zachary Reese's. We don't go anywhere near the top 30 until like two more wins. Like a Zachary Reese. Then it's another guy outside the top 30. And then we'll revisit this. Let's let's not undercut this prospect. Yeah. Smart booking. Let's take our time. We got plenty of time. And yeah, maybe a guy who can help bring middleweight back to its greatness of the last two years where we weren't talking about middle waiting middle weights uh mansor gets the win speaking of middle lady holy

shit aka alonzo menafield versus umar si is i don't even know if this is hyperbole i think this is one of the 10 worst fights in ufc history like it was that bad it was so so tough to watch The only thing that would have been worse is if this is in the apex. I mean, I just don't know what else to say about it, but Alonzo Menefield wins. What a weird career this guy's having. And this is very important to note right now. Alonzo Menefield is ranked in the UFC right now. He is a ranked UFC fighter, which is wild to me.

So having said that, Alonzo pulls off the big upset, gets the victory in a fight that literally no other human being will ever go back and rewatch. And if you did not watch this card, please, please start your main card watch after this fight or maybe just go right to the co-made event. That might be the best way to go about your day. But Menafield gets it done. Modestis Bukascusis, that's kind of where we're at. I don't know what else to do with this bad because he's fought like a lot of the dudes

ranked above him his last two fights are with umar c and a guy who made his UFC debut on like four days notice and he's still ranked so bucascis like let's give modestus a chance to get a ranking i guess

but yowser uh we almost had a friend's forever moment mike i went with the guy who just lost to modestis i won't you want kuchelaba um yeah i don't know where you go with menofield because You know, at least he p.

I guess this is back-to-back wins over undefeated guys, right? Wasn't Julius Walker also undefeated? Maybe not. No, he was. Listen, this guy's taken zeros, Mike. He had a chance against Mersakhanov. Did not. Did not get Mursa Kahn of zero got knocked out.

And then Julius Walker split decision in like, what was a mostly fun fight? I remember it won a fight of the night, but also I remember thinking it shouldn't have won won five of the night? It was the worst fight on the... It was one of the worst fights in the comments. It was so mad about this. I think they liked... It was one of those sloppy fun fights.

Wasn't it? Was there... Or competitive? What is my recollection? My way off my recollection was... It was 10 minutes of awful. It was 10 minutes of what we kind of just watched, but not like that bad. And then things got fun in like the last three minutes of the fight and it won't fight at the night.

One of those. Okay, I don't remember. I honestly don't remember particularly... I just remember being more competitive than it should have been. I was like, man, like, Alonzo's going to like just kill this guy, right? And then no, it went to a split decision. So not your best moment, Alonzo. And neither was Saturday.

So I don't know, man. He's turning 38 later this year. I just don't know how much more we can get out of this guy. This sounds so mean. Alonzo, you know, again, I hope if you're healthy enough, you can continue to compete and make money. But these performances have been have been lacking. Let's be objective and fair about this. They've been lacking.

Maybe, maybe you want Kuchel. Lobba can bring the beast out of him, Mike. Maybe Modestis can bring the beast out of him. I don't know. It's so funny because I'm looking at UFC Seattle right now and like half of the guys who fought in Atlanta fought at UFC Seattle, including Alonzo Meneffi, Rikyenne, Mansar Abdulamilik.

Mm-hmm. And like a lot of the guys we mentioned on the show, coincidentally enough, Modestis Pukascus and their Sultan Ruudzabayev, just, I don't know, man. Yes. Now I'm remembering UFC. Seattle. Rob Fon Gian Matsumoto was like a billion times more exciting fight than Alonso Meadowfield and Julius Walker and didn't get fighting. And I remember being just not thrilled

about that. But yeah, tough way to start that main car. But hey, at the end of the day, Alonso Meadowfield is cash in checks right now. You know, what can you say? Let's go to the wild card round AK. And we'll select a fighter we have not matched for yet. We'll matchmake for them now. and then we'll go to the peeps and then get the hell out of here. So we could get ready for UFC Baku, which is super fun on paper. But did you go with the young man? Well, not even that young. Did you go with the very exciting Malcolm Wellmaker, A.K.

Or did we go a different route? No, you can have Malcolm Wellmaker. I went with a different bantam weight. He's bantam, right? I'm looking at my looking at. Sorry, I was looking at the Seattle card. I went with one Mr. Chris Mutino. I went with the man that, uh,

Wellmaker annihilated. All right. Hey, I love this so much. I'm so excited. Metino will get another chance. Um, he,

he kind of took this fight on short notice, right? It wasn't a replacement. It's just they wanted to add this car, this card didn't have enough fights apparently. Mike, They were like, no,

we need to hit that magic number 13. Because that's when I think of a fun fight card, I want at least 13 fights on it. Um, several of which we're, we're pretty sure we'll go to a decision, but let's load it up anyway. So yeah, Chris Pertinia will get another chance.

And for me, this was actually really easy to find an opponent for him. I'm not trying to find an easy win for him because I don't think there's such a thing. And I think I heard, like I heard Casey say maybe he should try going down to flyweight because he doesn't look like the biggest guy. But he's never fought there, I don't think. If he has, he hasn't in years. He's fought in featherweight belts, like on the regional scene more recently than he's fought at flyweight.

So I don't know if he has any interest in trying to make that cut, even if it is better for him. He's not short either. It's like five, seven. That's a hard cut. So I kept him at bantam weight. There he's 0.3 in the UFC, Mike. There's one other guy who's owned three in the UFC who I'm pretty sure has not been

roster watched. Simon Olivera. Simon Olivera. Something's got to give, Mike. Something's got to give. Put him in there. Put two hungry MFers in there who know they need a win. Put that on a prelim and you are going to get a bangor.

You are going to get two guys. just straight slung it out. I think so anyway. Hopefully it's not the opposite. We're two guys fighting extremely safe because they want to keep their jobs. But I cannot imagine Chris Matino ever doing that. So I'm looking for a fun fight.

I'm looking for redemption for one of these gentlemen, Moutinho, Simon Oliver. Yeah, man. That was tough. That was tough to watch. Because I was so happy to see Chris back. Sure. He had gotten a bunch of ones in the regional scene.

Like, what a story. to get him back to the UFC and I knew kind of knew about 10 seconds into that fight we're about to get just no defensive soundness at all and I don't know Chris just I don't know he just didn't seem all there all week I don't know but Mike he did his job he did his job he was supposed to come in here and make Malcolm Wellmaker look good and boy did he so that's why I hope he beat Simon Oliver because like that I that I I think that would buy him like two more UFC fights. And you need guys like him.

You need the Chris Bertinios. You need the Czechosaragis. You need, bring Victoria Leonardo back. Victoria Leonardo, come on, come on back. Come on back to the UFC. You need these fighters who are. Connor Matthews. Connor Matthews.

Connor got roster watched, it appears. Okay. Which is unfortunate. Bring them back. You need these fighters. These are the lifeblood of MMA guys. I'm sorry, you need people who can lose fights well. And there's a lot of them out there.

And Chris Vitino is one of them. So I'm not saying I want to see them in there and just getting battered, you know, every four months. I think that's uncomfortable. But are there a few more big moments, a few more like good paychecks for Chris Bertino? I think there could be. But at least like the Connor Matthews is the world. Connor just gets like T.K.O.ed real well. And it's like, okay.

But Chris is getting knocked unconscious in all of these fights. Real scary knockout by Malcolm Wellmaker, who's very exciting. I went with him just because I'm, I just wonder how you matchmake for him. Because you could, you could throw him in there with the Cody Garbrandt, but you almost feel bad for Cody, which is kind of wild to think about.

But then if he beats Cody, then the way the UFC does business is like, we have to chuck him in there with top 15 guys. And I think he loses to probably all of these guys, just because he's so green. He is super talented. but as you've seen in the UFC and we continue to see it like there's levels in this game you have to build your way up at a certain point in the right fashion before we start

sniffing these types of guys so I want to give him a tough fight and it was like I had a hard time like finding one and my first thought was do we just chuck them in there with the young toporia or the uh the the old older tuporia Alexandra Teporea. Alexandra Toporia. And then I was like, no, I don't think you could do that because I think they got something with both these guys. So I ended up landing on for Malcolm Wellmaker. Colby Thickness, the man who Toporia beat in his UFC debut,

who is very, who is tough, green, but talented. Both got like, Wellmaker doesn't have a ton of pro fights. Thickness, I believe, is 7 and 1 as a pro. So like experience wise, pretty similar. and if Malcolm goes out there and just annihilates Colby thickness, that to me, I'm not saying that what he hasn't done is impressive, because it really is.

But Colby, like Colby's pretty well-rounded for a guy who only has eight pro fights. And he's tough as shit. There's a lot of things that I like about him that could be like a really good litmus test for a guy like Malcolm Wellmaker. That's why I love the Teporia matchmaking with thickness so much because we're going to learn a lot about Teporia and who he was as a fighter. like if he doesn't get a first round knockout how will he do and we got to learn a little bit

and i think we can learn a little bit here in a fight like this as well so that's what i went with it's kind of rando but yeah i'd like to see a tougher fight for him but i don't want to elevate malcolm too quickly because i do think they have something with him and fans are gravitating towards him in his fighting style we have to give him some sort of a step up but if they if If they just squash, if they just put Wellmaker in squash matches for the rest of his UFC career, I'd be totally fine with that. If they just find like, find somebody in the bottom five of our internal rankings and just throw them in there with, with these guys every single fight, I would absolutely be okay

with that. Because I don't think Malcolm's going to fight for a belt or anything like that. And that's fine. It's totally okay. But I don't know. Maybe we, we see what he's got. Colby think this. Long story short.

Yeah, he's so tricky to book because he's 31, which is a bit. on the older side for bantam weight. But he's only 10 and 0. And if you look at when he started his career, I think he's only been pro for like six, seven years. So he's young in MMA years. I have almost literally in the middle of my bandit rankings of the 86 UFC bantamweight's I have ranked right now.

He's 42. So almost literally right in that middle spot. And I did not know, yeah, I did not know where to go with them. Probably another reason I didn't pick him. Like ahead of him, I have Roel Roses, like Aletang, Highland, Lee, Mouin Gaffrov, Cody Carpman. I still have him. Thank you, Mike, for not going down that road, by the way.

Anyone out there suggesting him and Cody, you're a sick person. I see, I saw, I think it was on our own Slack, someone suggests like, oh, it'll be good for his career. And I'm like, and my somewhat snarky response was that him, him, him becoming the first person to murder someone in a UFC fight is not good for his career. That would be very bad for his career. So, no, I do not need to see him fight, Cody. Garbrand, please don't do this.

Cody is so hitable. He got tagged quite a few times in the Barcelos fight, so I don't need to see this. And I didn't know where to go backwards either because, yeah, some of the names behind them are like tough but not interesting. So I think you're okay. I think you've landed a good name there, Mike with thickness. I know some people, at some point, like, people will start rolling their eyes at like, oh, you're not giving me a challenge, blah, blah, but we're not there.

This is a challenge. It is a challenge. It is a challenge. But I think record-wise, people are like, oh, isn't this just a guy who lost to not Ilya? You know how I'm just, I'm, I'm being bad, I'm being, I'm being bad MMA fan right now. Like, like, you know, but it hasn't reached that point. And I think you're right, where people are like, oh, I want to see him like have a huge jump up.

So, no, people want to see him do a strut his stuff, right? I'm sure everyone enjoyed the Mutino knockouts, but the most talked about finish of the card. So, yeah, so you can't go wrong with that. I'm sorry, I just mentioned Victoria Leonardo earlier. And I have to go on a Victoria Leonardo tangent, Mike, just real quick. Bring her back on with you. These are her losses since, uh, 2020. 20, some of them.

Aaron Blanchfield just kicked her head off in Invicta. That was incredible. Manolfi Oro smoked her on the feet. Just absolutely bludgeoned her on the feet. Melissa Gatto broke her arm. Natalia Silva smoked her even worse than Mnolfo did. And then the Wangtong 62 second one punch nut like knock out, which is crazy. You need these people in major MAME promotions.

Unfortunately, she is coming off a decision lost in Invictus. I don't think she gets the UFC callback anytime soon, but please. please please bring me back Victoria Leonardo I hate to make it I know people think I'm damning a faint phrase here like oh you just want to see like she's really tough

she's a really tough experience fighter and she loses in spectacular way so please bring these people around yes keep the people people around keep her around Chris Bertino's all these guys they deserve to get paid as long as they want to step in that cage they're very valuable pieces

to this organization much like Dwayne Gill was for the WWF You need them. You need them. Somebody's got to fight IRS on WWF superstars. So I was going to take a pinfall or submission loss. Yeah, that's just what it is. Let's go to the peeps.

I didn't get a ton of these, so I'll rifle through them. We'll start with our good friend John Ray. I didn't think we'd be getting Jamie Lynn Horth matchmaking suggestions, but we did. And John, with a little bit of doo-doo to start. Ariani Lipski-Dissiva is the name he went with, And Ariani is no longer a part of the UFC roster is something we confirmed. And in fact, Ariani, if you look on her social media, has confirmed it as well with a bit of a statement regarding her UFC run.

So not a great start. Very UFC Atlanta-ish start to the program. Phil Roe versus Randy Brown. I think that is like way too much of a step up. What do you mean? He wants JDM. That's not high enough. That's a step back for him, Mike.

He wants, he wants, he wants, he wants, he said that. Isn't that what Jed told us? Didn't, Phil Rowe said that? Am I, am I making things up? I swear Jed said that. Because we should, guys, in case you're, you know, shout it to Jed. He was in Atlanta, of course, his hood for, for this event. He was there asking questions.

I believe he said Phil Rowe said that he wanted, he wanted, he wanted to check the element. Let me, let me, let me, let me double check this. I mean, Anglosa is probably getting his future endeavored letter this week. And I went over Angelo says like, okay, fine. But yeah, I don't know. Maybe he did say that, but. Is this a dream I had?

Randy Brown. I like, dude, Randy Brown. That's, that's, that's wild. That's, that's too crazy. Let's walk before we run, young men. What a comeback window. Mike, what a comeback window. It was.

He's got a bunch of those. Like almost all of these UFC wins have looked exactly like that. Get is that just getting dumped for 10 minutes and then he gets a little momentum at the end of the second round and gets third round finished. It's almost exclusively what his UFC wins look like. According to Jed, I'm sorry, I did not listen to Phil Roe scrum yet. He did call out Jad. He said this is Jed's quote, quoting Jed Michoud, quoting Phil Roe. He said it with a straight face, which I respect.

Quote, I just won. If you asked me, that fight makes sense. Okay. So maybe we do throw them in there, Randy Brown, so we can get a dose of reality. No, but good for Phil. All kidding aside,

the things he said at the Post-Fi Pratt scrum and getting emotional, everything happening with his mom. I'm stunned. He didn't get a bonus, although Jose Cho is nasty and fun and really crazy. But I kind of thought Phil Roche should have got a bonus, but it's okay.

He's with us, Ricky Simone, Hione Barcellos, Ochoa versus Nassimento, Wellmaker versus Charles Jordane. Okay. Don't hate that. That might be a little bit too much of us. That might be a little stepy-upy, but don't hate it. What was Charles Jordane's injury or whatever it was that forced him out of a recent fight?

Nothing serious? I don't recall. I don't think it was anything like crazy. But I don't remember off top of my head. It's okay. Kiesa versus Covington, Menafield versus Zhang. I'm not going to call DUDU on that because, again, we haven't fully confirmed that fight. But if that's not the fight, Zhang versus Johnny Walker in Shanghai, then sure.

But then we're going to get Alonzo Menefield main event. And I don't know if we can live in that world, okay. So I'm going to shut this one down, at least for a couple of months. I thought about it. So I can't shut it down. I also have some more DUDU here. Abdul Malik versus Edmund Shabazzian. Eric Dixick was in the corner

both these gentlemen last night So that's not going to work Just a tough Just tough scenes all around for For Jonathan Ray thus far Garbrand versus Yahya Sure

Rose versus Fioro 2 Rosebroker hands So everyone won't shut up about that excuse So let's just do it again with no excuses Buckley versus the Holland Pratchez winner That's the fight I picked for Kevin last week Usman versus Muhammad of course

Buckley versus Holland makes a lot of sense to me I think that's like the best thing Buckley can kind of hope for right now. He gets to avenge a loss. But it's a tough fight because Kevin now has a sort of roadmap to beating Joaquin Buckley. Again, if he wants it, I think. And Holland approaches is fun. I don't know. We'll see.

But yeah, tough seeing. A lot of do-do for John Ray here. Thank you, Jones. But thank you for submitting. Of course. Jimmy Lloyd, Usman Muhammad, Buckley Holland, 2, Rose versus Grasso, Shabazzian versus Sazar Al-Meda, we will

withhold the doo-do on that because we're not sure. Shabazzian and Mansor are like full-time X-C guys. Sazer Al-Meda, I don't know if he's full-time or if he's a part-timer, but I don't know. TBD on how we vote for that. Barcelos versus Jonathan Martinez. That I do, I like that fight.

I think Barcello's Jonathan Martinez. Good old silence behind the violence. Makes some sense. Don't mind that. Yeah, we'll just happen with Jonathan Martinez, I heard Guy say. It wasn't he didn't he tweet something about he was supposed to fight. He was supposed to be the Peyton Talbot fight or something.

No, he was supposed to not paint out by he was supposed to fight a loke dog, right? And now we've got this weird, we got this weird patent tablet matchup instead. So yeah, I don't know what's up with John Martinez. So but yeah, obviously he's out there. Yeah. Abdulma Langellis for Stoltz, Menafield versus Bukas wellmaker versus Alexander Teporia. All right. Go on.

Well done for it. Well done. I don't know who is this. I didn't actually put the name down on this one. I apologize. Let me just make sure we have it. Oh, this is left lane. Left lane.

More Uspen versus Bilal. By the way, this is unanimous across the board with like literally everything that I saw. It's what the people want. It's what the people want. It's, see, this is, it's a realistic world. Buckley versus Prochis. Sure. Let's see if we have anything new here.

Edmund versus Shara Bullet, win-luser draw against Mark Andre Barreale. Barcellus versus Blackshear. Do we have anything new? Kiesa versus Jacoby Smith after he commits war crimes against Nico Price. Oh boy. Wellmaker versus Garbrandt because the UFC is like that.

No, we don't have to do this. We don't have to do this. Ochoa versus Bruton Silva. Simone versus Martinez, Roe versus Patterson. This is good Phil Roe matchmaking right here. That's solid. Sam Patterson. That's solid.

I like that. Let's go to Trevor. First timer. Welcome to the party. Usen versus Bilal. Rose versus Grasso. No actual name for Malcolm Wellmaker, but this is what he said. Quote, Malcolm Wellmaker needs to be on the MSG card.

ESPN prelims against anyone in the division. Big showcase for him. I don't disagree with that. I would like to see Malcolm Wellmaker. or fight like two more times before November. I want this guy fighting as often as possible with that exact type of matchmaking. Just, I mean, if you want to do a trilogy with Chris Mutino on the bill to MSG, I'm like, I'm okay with that, honestly.

But yes, Malcolm needs to be a guy that needs to be showcased on this many cars as possible right now. So, yeah, that's, that's all I got, okay. Who was that? Who was that? This is Trevor. Trevor. Trevor.

Welcome to the party, pal. Mike, I'm going to give out not know a point. It's been a while. I'm going to give out a point. So I got a newcomer here. This is from at Tree Branch, 2700 on Twitter. This is regarding the MVP Kenanir fight, which kind of came out of nowhere. Mike, do you recall anyone mentioning, like, when this

we saw this fight announcement or a report or whatever, and we were like, this is weird, right? We all thought this was strange, right? What was it? The Cannoneer MVP announcement. Well, now it's announcement, like, is reported. Yeah, it's out of nowhere. Yeah, it was... That's out of nowhere, right?

No, I don't recall anyone mentioning this. Well, Tree has a screenshot from UFC Vegas 102 post show. They got their comment on screen. I just want to make sure... Yes, they got their comment on screen. And they screenshoted it. And yes, it says that they... Canadi Air versus MVP before or at International Fight Week.

So I think the only thing they got wrong is the date. I think that's happening, what, at the... the Chicago card. Let me see. What a strange fight. Yeah, USC 319 Chicago. But either way, Trey, you're the only person I can recall mentioning this. Because I think we all thought, why would you make this matchup?

It's very strange. But it's real. It's announced. It's reported. It's confirmed. It's announced. Whatever you guys want to call it. So Tree, you're getting an outno point.

You are getting a lucrative outno point. And this economy, Mike, maybe more valuable than ever. So I hope, I hope Tree can use it well. Tree, welcome to the party pal. Their picks, Usman. Usman versus Islam. Oh, I don't want it. It's just going to happen.

God, I hope you're wrong, Tree. I hope you're wrong. Rose and Yashabashis, Edmund Chabazin, Mark Andre, Barrio. Bit of doo-do here. Mark Andre is booked, if I'm not mistaken. He is getting put in a fight where I think he's expected to get knocked out. Mark Andre is fighting. Sharra Bullet.

So maybe if not get knocked out, it's supposed to be, I think, a sort of redemption fight for Sharra Bullet, but we'll see. We'll see. So I'm sorry, he is booked. That is June 20, July 26th, excuse me, the return to Abu Dhabi.

Menser versus Abdul Razak al-Hassan. Yeah, I think it happened. Craig versus Balato 2. The world doesn't want this, but we must persist. Yeah, listen, I'm almost calling this Craig versus Bilato 3, because right we had listen we had the herpes postponements we had this very strange and controversial no contest

so it's almost the third but yes tree thank you for thank you for sending those in spisi 32 a lot of the same picks we've got so far edmund versus jacob malcun he might be ready for that he might be again that's another guy who like in the past i would have feared just grind out or just ground a win over edmund but maybe edmund has like short of that takenown defense adam Balato put on an Emmy performance so I won't match him up I will match Paul Craig

Paul Craig versus Yuwan Kuchelaba Has that not happened yet? That seems shocking to me They've never fought Oh boy That's just asking for weirdness Every time you put on Kibon Kewan Kichilaba Excuse me your answer for weirdness

Mike Ricky Simone Patchy Mix Oh Oh, I like it. I like it. And can I say something that might shock people? Okay. I'm picking Ricky Simone in that fight.

Ricky Simone, and I'm still pondering. Wow. I like it. I really like this. If they don't do Montel Jackson, like if Montel Jackson continues to Montel Jackson this, where he fights like once every 14 months, and Ricky's ready to go,

I'm totally fine with that matchmaking. A year ago, Ricky Simone was losing his third straight fight, and everyone except Mike Heck was saying, maybe this patchy mix guy is the best fighter in the world. And now, now they could very realistically end up in the cage together. I think we will learn, like, honestly, we will learn so much in that fight about patchy mix. Like, he could very well be Ricky Simone.

Like, it could happen. but if he doesn't if he goes out there and Ricky Simone just bodies him and just out out athletes him like I mean wow I like it

I like the matchmaking I don't know if that's what we get that's really good Speezy that's really good really good um all right let me go four corner sports what's this four corner sports what's up pal

uh Buckley Holland two yeah a lot of people down with us Kamaro and Shavkot, Kamar will do everything he can to not avoid it, just like not promote that fight. He has no interest in fighting shopcott. If it happened, I'm sure he'd do it.

Like, I'm not saying he's, if they sent the contracts, I think Kamar would sign on, but he and his team are not, like, angling for a shop kind of fight. So I just don't think that's going to happen. Edmund versus the loser of Marco Tullio, Michelle Pereira. That's good thinking. I actually like that. Shout out to the one person who didn't pick Guzman versus Belal.

Yeah. Yeah. Barry O'Reilly. What's up, my friend? Barry O'Reilly. Yes, he's a long time. No fight session. It has been a while. Barry always does top to bottom. So I'll just throw a few easy out here. Jamie Lynn Horth, Juliana Miller. I like that. They didn't fight, right? I remember when I was doing my research for this card. I was like, I had it in my head that they'd fight each other, but I don't think they have. I'm okay with that.

They have not. I'm okay with that. Yeah, I'm fine with that. Is that a tough night for Juliana Miller? I have no idea. I have no idea how good Jamie Lee Horth is. I just can't tell. I don't know what I think of Julianna Miller either. I really don't. Oh, I don't know about this.

Malcolm, Malcolm Wellmaker and Janyes. Too soon. Okay. Hmm. So Adrian Yadas versus Cody Garbrandt was like, remember when Cody was losing and every time Adrian was winning, I was like, just do Adrian.

versus Cody Garbrandt and I was by you, AK, you were like, how dare you? We don't want to see poor Cody Garbrand get sent into the land of winds and ghosts. Again, especially by a young man like Adrian Yanez. I still think Yonnas versus Cody is like a very viable fight. Like if they did that at like Noche, I don't think anybody would have any problem with that, especially in Texas like Adrianian is going to look like a friggin hero. That I'm at, oh man, I love well-making. Baker versus Janice.

Like, I love it. But we're not there yet. So I will say this. No matter who Malcolm fights next, if he wins, then we do Adrian Jannas. I think we're there. I think we can get to that point. Because Malcolm's not 24.

He's in his, he's 30 in. Like, we're going to have to make some move with him. If we decide that we're going to try to get him into contention, he's going to have to fight Adrian at some point. So one win, then Adrian. I love that fight. Like I would love to build to this fight and get there at some point. We're just not there yet.

Mike, are we at Alonzo Menafield versus Navajo Sterling? Boy, if you want the potential for a light heavyweighty, light heavyweight fight, that could be, that could be a terrible fight. That could be, I don't want to say worse than the Umar fight, Umar C fight. Like, I don't think, I don't know. It could be. I don't know. It could be.

Novo's strong as a prospect. Don't you wrong. He's a prospect, but he's so raw. So, so, so raw. It could be real bad. I thought about it. I couldn't do it for the exact reasons you just kind of laid out. So, no.

I'll go, Thomas Collins, Harony Barcellos and Pedro Munoz. I don't know why I thought of this and just dismissed it. I'm not sure why. I guess because I just haven't seen Pedro fight in a while. Like I just find it impossible to predict when he'll fight again, but it's not like crazy. Keiza and Ponzanibio, I feel like I've matched this up before. I do want age-appropriate matchmaking. Yes, it's wonderful.

Malcolm Wellmaker Davy Grant. Oh. That's interesting. Sheesh. Man, well-makers got like a lot of options. Well-Millmaker's fun. That's a tough, dude. That is a tough day at the office for Malcolm.

Very tough. I think he would win, but Davey, He's a, Davey's a demon zombie. Tough out. Matt Kennedy wants Buckley Prakis. Gary versus Usman. I mean, Ian Machado, Gary would love that. I just don't think that's, I don't know if you're going to bother with that right now.

Ian's just so far ahead of, he is. He's just so far ahead of Usman right now, in my opinion. Yeah, it's a good name, I guess. Ochoa versus the tough winner, whomever, whomever. Ochoa, is it, it is flyweights? It is flywates. How do I not remember this? Yeah.

I know. You're the guy. She's embarrassing for me. Petrosky versus someone that'll make me money says, A.K. Lee was wrong. Matt, I have nothing to say. I was so wrong. Don't blame, man.

That's all on me. No, no. I was so into it. I'm the one who brought it up to you. I was so enthusiastic about it. Mark, attack MMA, Buckley versus Burns slash Neil. Tack, you got to pick one. You got to pick one.

I don't know. I'm not sure if either of those makes a ton of sense right now. Gilbert, no, we can't do Gilbert, man. Like, come on. Stop. Stop throwing Gilbert in there with these these young dudes. You're just going to truck them.

Like, do Gilbert versus Michael Kiesa. Like, what are we doing here? Come on. Gilbert's done enough. Like, what does a win over Gilbert Burns do for

Joaquin Buckley at all right now? Like, I understand that Burns has, like, good grappling. And you could say, well, Kamara Usman took him down a bunch.

But like, Burns isn't a guy who just tackles you. He just, he'll find his way to just trip you and get you down and like jiu-jitsu your ass we learn we will learn absolutely nothing from this fight so gilip burns i want to pull up the stat like our own gear my crew is like pulled up the stat that i looked at and i don't like where are we i don't like this just realized it only two of gilbert burns is 15 ufc wins are over guys still on the roster and none in the past four years

that's like let's michael kiesa come on stop sacrificing Gilbert Burns to these young men. He's done his job. Now we're at the point where it's like, okay, let's do some vet stuff. Or Gilbert versus Colby, like, fine. I'm okay with that. But Buckley versus,

especially if you're a guy who thinks Buckley is a guy who could still fight for a belt, like beating Gilbert Burns is not the type of fight that makes us believe that or not. So, no. Sorry. Marcus McGahey. What's up, buddy? He's with us on a lot of fights.

Simone Barcelos, Abdul Malik and Zach Reese. I like Shabazian versus Sharra Bullitt, Andre Barrio winner. Actually, that makes a lot of sense. I'm into that. Thank you, Marcus, great picks. Zach Schulte. What else we got here?

Just don't have to see anything that hasn't already been said. Shabazen versus Abbas. I agree. I'm with you, man. I'm with you. Yes, Abis might be able to do a bit of grappling, but I don't think he's not like a specialist. I'm kind of okay with it. A lot of people want to see Mancern and say, Oh, I'm made it.

I think this. say so I made a thing is confusing people a bit because I was too like I know he trained he's done quite a bit of work at a stream tour I just don't know if it's like his main team so I feel like this is possible wellmaker versus loch dog uh kiler phillips loser wellmaker versus loke dog call maybe maybe too so many fun matchups though yeah that's that's a lot uh instagram gerard bioggan what is up usman rockman oh there you go we have another one uh going a little box here. I just I just don't see it happening. Shabazian Stoltfus,

Menafield Bukascus. I'm saying you've got a lot we've already had. Another Wellmaker Davy Grant. Good picks, guys. A good picks. Joe Martin just wants to say, oh, Chos Kail was the most cinematic sequence I've ever seen from the UFC. Yeah, it was, that was a good one.

It just was overshadowed my wellmaker, but that was like fantastic. Daniel Edwards wants Edmund versus Bo. We know that fight was the nickel sweepstakes for the seat so let's go with the flow or beau also kind of a good style matchup that answers more questions on both sides not my favorite pick mike is it possible would they consider they would okay strongly possible i think so yeah i think like i think if you're going to look at bow and you're going to give

hip because to me i think you just i think you give bow like the worst middle weight in the roster and just rebuild his confidence um the set the fan base at least the the sediment that I get from people who like hit me up on social media and I'm not going to like drop names or anything but um the cue rating on Bo Nickel continues to drop immensely like real like I mean real level I'm done with this dude kind of vibes um and I was feeling this even after the Paul Craig win but more so after the RDR fight and you know Bo's initial reaction to things when he did the interview there. It was like, all right, cool.

Like, I can get behind this. And then it turned into this, well, now on my own podcast, I'm going to say the complete opposite of this. And then delete the video and take the video down. I mean, he's just, he's his curating. He's just getting crumbled up into dust right now. That's bad. So if you can, if you see something in Edmund Shabazzian right now, if you think you

can build him into something if you think that the promotion and the fan base could get behind him, then I think you take a shot here because it's a, it's, you don't lose a ton here because a bow loses, the fans will rejoice and Edmund will sort of get a baby face push because of it. And if Edmund can show like some good defensive grappling chops and like knock bow out, who is going,

and Edmund's going to be the much larger man. in this fight i'm talking myself into it i think this is this is doable fight i think it is an okay fight to make and if the ufc made it i'd be like i'd be pretty interested in it daniel edwards you're on the money big shout out hey that's that's an auto point you're gonna get for sure if that happens uh last couple from email our palatrice and gordette what's going on buddy phil roe timbregrimbo hosea joa don khan choy and malcolm wellmaker muin gaffroves so a little more veteran, probably a little more veteran, I don't mind it. And Lucas Cortes, Phil wrote Nicholas Dalby, banger,

Haronye Rossellos, Yadnez, Chris Mutino, Sean O'Malley, too, obviously. Of course, that's the rematchery all need to see. And Paul Craig versus Gerald Mearshirt should have happened already by now, probably ends with both guys in a 50-50 breaking each other's legs. Yeah, that's... Is that it? Is that it? That is it. That is it. That's the end of the sentence?

Oh, they're trying. training partners? What's going on? Jeremy Shows booked. We just wrote this up. It's on M.A.Fighting.com. Great website. Jerome Mears fighting Mikhail Ouxaichek. Oh, this is 319. I still thought it was a funny gag. I still thought it was a funny gag. But yes, thank you everyone.

Thank you, everyone who sent in picks. Please send them in again next week. We're not back in the preview circuit yet. Hit me up Alexander K.K. Alexander K. Lee on Twitter. Alexander KK Lee on Instagram and Alex Dotley at espion.com slide into my DMs. That's my email. Yes. M underscore heck J.R for me. I'm very excited for next week.

I can't lie to America or the world for multiple reasons. One, UFC Baku slaps. This is a fun card. I'm looking forward to it. 12 fights. Something tells me we'll get a little, probably less. than 12 fights because it is fight week and always something weird happens. This will be on ABC, so that's a big deal.

And it is a noon Eastern prelim, 3 p.m. Eastern main card. It's just, I mean, perfecto. Honestly, this is what every non-paper view card should be. No main card should start after 7 p.m. Eastern. there should be more of these afternoon start times for these UFC events. And look at this card. I mean, this main card is going to be absolutely bananas. Main event is Jamal Hill versus Cleo Roundtree.

Spectacular fight. Raphael Fizzi versus Ignacio Baja Baja Monday is the co-main event. Spectacular fight. Curtis Blades, Rizvon, Kunev. I just, this is the weirdest fight maybe in UFC heavyweight history. I don't even know what's about to happen here. It's been rebooked 11 times, and now we're going to finally get it. Mictabek-Oryl by Tofiyu-Busayev.

Come on, man. Nazim Sadakov versus Nicholas Motta. Lightweight is going to be fully on display on this main card. It opens up with Mohamed Naimov versus Bogdan Grod. And then we got So Keon-Co versus Oban-Elliott, Ismail Nardia versus Jun Young Park, Iron Turtle back in our lives. Women's Bannamweight, back to back. Women's Bannamweight fights, okay.

Daria Zelenekova versus Melissa Mullins, Arena Alexiva versus Claudia Segula, Tagir Ullumbeckov versus Azat Maxim. Good flyway fight that's flying right under the radar. And then the main event of all main events, A.K., the heavyweight over Grand Prix. Muhammad Usban versus Hamdi Abdu Wahab. I don't even know.

It's, AK, it's finally here. We are six days away from Usman Hamdi. Mike, I don't know, man. I'm shaken because I was all in on like I thought Petroski was going to be Edmund. Maybe I'm wrong about this too. I thought this is a lock to go over one and a half. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this ends in a spectacular Hamdi of Del Wahav flying kick knock out.

Mike, what if? I don't know, man. I don't trust myself anymore. Maybe I'm all wrong on this matchup. What is, what do you think the actual, like if you got to take a guess, What do you think the betting line opens up at for over one and a half in this fight? Do you have it in front of you? Do we actually have an answer?

No, I don't think it's dropped yet. The over one and a half, people are smart. People have picked up. This probably won't drop until like Thursday. So it's going to be a fun watch. It's going to be minus. Like I think people know that heavy weights, you know, heavyweight overs is people have caught up to them, caught up to the overhead overs. Particularly with these two gentlemen, it'll be minus.

Over one to half. It's going to be like minus, I think it's got to be at least minus 300. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe people have too much faith in heavyweights. I don't know. I think it's being minus 300. I think over one and a half is going to be like in climb territory, like minus five. Oh, even higher.

Seriously. The over two and a half is probably going to be like minus 250. Yeah. Oh, that's, wow. I'm not even like trying to make a joke here. Like that's what it should be. Yeah. So if I'm,

if I'm Jed, I am climbing with over one and a half in this fight, because I assume we're looking at minus five something. I will tell you this right now. If either of these guys knocks the other guy out, I will give them, I will lock in a spot in my top five knockouts of the year for them, just because of how unlikely it is.

They will be the wild card pick on the show next week, unequivocally. No matter what happens the rest of the way. If either one of these guys get to finish, we will showcase that. them, they will be my wildcard pick. We're making a lot of problems. We're having a lot of problems here that we should not keep.

Yeah. It's, Jesus. We didn't even have, like, do you even have, like, opening odds, like, in general for this fight? We got to sell it to the people here. Yeah, I'm sure. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? I see it. Who do you think is the favorite, AK? I'm looking at it now. I'm looking at it. Can be minus 210?

Come on. Oh, I do see a prop for over two and a half. What is it? You're kind of right. You're right. It's pretty high. Like it's minus $1.50. No, minus 190, which still pretty high.

You're right. Yeah. You're right. All right. Well, it's something to think about. Minus 190. That is going to hit. So I honestly, if that is a, I mean, last time I said, hey, jump on this.

You're going to win money. Andre Petroski fought. So maybe I'm not the best guy to listen to. but I think you're going to get some good value on minus 190, the over two and a half. And something tells me that line is going to get bolstered up into the twos sooner rather than later. So food for thought, but UFC Baku rocks. I'm very, very excited for this card. Mike, before we move on, do you realize we've spent, you and I collectively

has spent like three hours talking about UFC Atlanta almost? I didn't want to talk about this card for like 10 minutes after it was over. And you and I have done it. What people don't understand about this show in particular is that, yes, we do matchmaking, but this is also like a fan therapy session for us. It is. Like all the sort of negativity that happens from the night before, we just kind of let it all out so that we can recharge and refuel the positivity

heading into a card like Baku. And then heading into International Flight Week. and UFC 317 and everything that that could bring from a big perspective. So there's so much going on. And yeah, that's the FCL Atlanta. I don't think we're going to be talking about this card. And outside of maybe Oosman on BTL. But for the most part, I think we're going to be moving pretty quickly forward to the rest of June.

But thank you very much. Matchmaking, following UFC Baku next week right here on onto the next one, the podcast for A.K.I. Mike. Thank you. Happy Father's Day to all the day. out there and we'll see you next week you're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network