MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC 264

Episode Date: July 11, 2021

On the 50th episode of On To the Next One, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee put on their matchmaker hats following Saturday’s UFC 264 event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Future matchups were discussed for Dustin Poirier following his first-round doctor's stoppage TKO win in the main event, Conor McGregor after suffering a nasty leg break which led to the end of the trilogy fight, Gilbert Burns, Tai Tuivasa, Irene Aldana, Sean O'Malley, 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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The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Welcome to the official 50th edition of On to the Next One. What an event to matchmake for on this historic occasion. UFC 264 is in the books. We had some questions answered. We have questions unanswered. And while some rivalries got some closure, the main rivalry that this fight car was built around may not have gotten that closure.

Following Dustin Porre's TK.O.N. over Connor McGregor. We will discuss that. And a lot more in a matter of moments. First of all, I am Mike Heck. Thank you for being on this road with us for 50 episodes. Plus, I should put that caveat in there. And joining me, as always, is the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend, and the Prince of Positivity, Mr. Alexander Cayley, aka, happy 50, my friend.

Happy 50th to you, to many more, you know, hopefully to many more. I'm in a good mood after that card. I saw a lot of people say, not a lot of people. I saw a few comments. By the way, we should say, guys, anytime we say a lot of people sometimes when we're on these, you know, discussion shows. It's usually like a few comments we read on Twitter. It's just how we talk.

It's just how we talk in the so-called MM media these days. But no, yeah, I definitely saw a few comments because, you know, the Burns Thompson wasn't like a burn burner. And because the main event ended the way it did, some people was like, ah, this card wasn't that good. This was a, I thought top to bottom. This was a really strong card. Good finishes, competitive fights.

I also probably liked the Burns-Thompson fight more than some other people did. So, you know, mileage may vary there. But even if you didn't like that fight, I think everything that preceded it and just the drama around the top two fights. I thought it was a really good card. So, I'm in a good mood, Mike. I am, as usual, we are a little sleep deprived after these mega events, but ready and raring to go. Very excited. Yes, my wife is a saint.

She made breakfast this morning, some half a bagel, some eggs, some bacon. Like the whole upstairs in my house smells like delicious bacon right now. and after I ate that, I like laid back down, fell back asleep, didn't even realize it. I don't know if it was actual sleep or if I was just overly delirious from last night. But I looked at my phone. It was like 9.45. I was like, I don't remember the last time I've ever slept until like 945. And then I caught your DM on Slack.

And I was like, well, we got to do this thing. We got a show to do. I got to get up. What a king you are. What a medieval. What a medieval. This man stays up all night watching Bloodsport, passes out, wakes up to bacon, soaked in bacon grease, probably eating this bacon with no shirt on, just soaked in bacon grease, and then just falls back asleep and then wakes up to do his job whenever he wants. What a king, Mike, you are, Mike Heck.

I know. You're a man amongst men. I got a box this feeling up, AK. As we start with the main event, Dustin Porrier versus. is Connor McGregor 3, aka this was supposed to be the one to put this rivalry to bed forever. Connor looks good early. He had that swag to him. When he came out and made that walk to the cage, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people in the MMA media space.

And I'm not just saying that because it's like 2 p. I'm saying a lot of people are like, man, I think Connor might do it. Like he just has that look in his eyes. So Connor comes out, he throws the leg kicks like I thought he would. Dustin starts to land some big shots. Connor jumps a guillotine, which I didn't see coming. Dustin escapes, lands big punches and elbows on McGregor. He busts up his ear.

Connor gets back to his feet with some alleged tomfoolery with the glove grab, according to Porre. But then they both throw big shots. Connor steps back, the ankle snaps, and the fight is over. So, A.K., let me get your reaction to that five minutes of action to close this card out and then go ahead and state the obvious in terms of. matchmaking for Dustin Porre. Again, super thrilling stuff for as long as it lasted.

Again, it's a shame it didn't last longer. You know, best wishes to McGregor on recovering. It's hard to break this one down to analyze, you know, after the second fight with Porre, after he lost to Porre. It was easy to write a think piece. I did one. You know, I was saying like, oh, he's the man who has everything. Nothing new, you know, just he's become so successful.

How do you regain that edge? How do you possibly regain that hunger that so many, so many of his peers have? Again, pretty obvious take on it. I stand by it. I do think it's difficult. But that, I mean, even if that is still true going into this fight, it doesn't account for the injury. You know, there's no way for us to say, oh, it's just such a freak thing. Credit to Porre, he says he may have checked a kick that might have affected it.

Both guys were landing leg kicks. So sure, there may have been some breaking down of the area. But the actual injury itself was replayed very clearly. It just looked like a very awkward step. I still think those canvases are a menace, Mike. I don't know. I don't think he stepped on an ad that time, but Sean O'Malley said early in the evening, it was hard for him to get his footing to really, like, really, like, load up for, like,

a finishing strike. And, again, excuses, sure, but he's not, he's not the first fire to complain about these canvases. So, uh, this, again, it is a freak thing. I'm throwing out all kinds of many explanations for why this injury happens. So, uh, very unfortunate, but exciting. And as you said at the top of the show, Mike, not, not conclusive. Uh, I don't want to see the.

the fight again. But I will, I, it's, it would be as inign for me to argue that like, oh, this was a definitive win for Porriere. He's, he's clearly the better fighter. I think he's a better fighter. I think I've seen enough. I think a lot of people have seen enough. But I, it's, it's, it's impossible for me to make a definitive statement and say, uh, you know, that the fight couldn't have gone the other way. I think Porreya was on his way to a win. But who's to say in MMA, right? McGregor did look good at certain portions of the first round. So I mean, Mike, go ahead. Like you said, it's pretty obvious. obvious what's next. I'll let you go first.

Yeah. I mean, to kind of build upon what you just said, I'm with you. Like, I didn't think much was going to change, but I would have liked to have seen what the start of the second round would have been like. Like what adjustments could Connor have made in that 60 seconds before the first and second rounds? Like, would he come out and just be super leg kick heavy, like over and over again? And if he was, how much effect would that have four Porreier heading into rounds three, four, and five? Because my thought, like that first round went outside of Connor jumping a guillotine, which I definitely didn't see coming. That first round looked exactly the way I thought I was going to go. Very competitive.

Connor landing the leg kicks, kind of putting money in the bank, so to speak. And it just ended in such a bizarre way. Like, it was a really competitive first round. Poria got all the momentum because Connor was on his back for me. most for like the second half of the round but i just it's just one of those things where you dive down the rabbit hole and you ask all these hypothetical questions like what would have happened in the second round like what if conner had success of the leg kicks in round two like what would poury have done in round three like it puts you in this position where you can

think about this fight in so many different ways for like an hour and a half but we're not going to do that here but listen a k this is just too easy nothing fancy and you're so eloquent in your in your in your your your thoughts about this fight But Datsapori is fighting for the title. He's fighting Charles Olivera. Hopefully see that fight at the end of the year. This is the only fight to make. This is the fight that will happen.

Nothing else will happen. This is it. I wish there was some sort of curbball I could throw a swerve, if you will, but it's not going to happen. So for Connor, AK, this might be a first for this here show because of what you just said, where I choose one fighter for the winner, but the loser, my pick is still the winner of the fight. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the second. seconds, Connor McGregor is cleared to fight again, he's fighting Dustin again. Like, whether he's the champion or not, immediately ASAP, ASAP, that is the fight they're going to book.

Who knows how long it'll take to get to this point? Because it is Sunday morning as you record. Connor is expected to go into surgery sometime this morning. But whenever that is, that will be the fight. I've zero doubts in my mind. I knew Dana White was going to come right on the press room and be like, nope, we're doing it again. That fight's happening for a fourth time.

I don't have much more of an explanation, AK, that's just what's going to happen. Do you agree with me? I can't even complain about it because if you're Porriere, it is still the most lucrative fight you can make. It should be the Charles Olivaire fight. Of course, of course, it should be Pori v. Olivaire. If we're just talking about the sport of it, the sport of MMA, the sporting aspect, Mike, it should be poor of Rosolivar.

I think the best fight you can make at 155 pounds right now. It's just an awesome matchup. I don't want this to become a matchup that they miss out on. I don't want this to become a Habib Ferguson thing where, and again, hard to blame the UFC and the matchmaker's for that. They booked it multiple times and it just fell through. But I think if you have a chance to book it now, you just can't risk anything bad happening to in the future. So should it fall through? Obviously, then you have McGregor rating the wings to fight either guy, but depending on the nature of the injury, of course.

but I just I don't want it I don't want to see I did not enjoy the hype leading up to it I agree it's an awesome matchup of Pore and McGregor it's an awesome matchup anytime they're in there so it's hard to argue against that and again if Porei wants the money he said it himself after he didn't like a lot of the trash that McGregor was talking after so there's still that personal aspect it's not just about the money it is but you can also sell the personal aspect of it It's just escalated so much and it's become so deeply personal that it can certainly happen. But gosh, I don't want it. I do not want that next for McGregor or Porre.

I want Rafael de Saños. I would like to see that fight. It's crazy that Connor loses. And it was an unfortunate ending, but it was a clear, like, I think two of the judges gave Porier 10-8 round in that first round. It's amazing that even after getting 10-8ed in the one round of the fight, you have more options than you had heading into it. Like you still have the Nate fight that's always there. Now you have this Porier fight that's always there.

You could do the RDA fight if you want. You could still do Mazadol. You could still do a million different things. And like, it's fine. Like Connor still has plenty of options and very lucrative options. Mike, can I be unprofessional for a moment? You sure can I. Can we have introduced AK's Unprofessional Minute?

We're just, you know, it's, we don't know if we don't know if I'm make this a permanent segment. Just give me an AK I'm a professional minute starting now. McGregor, all his post by talking. What a petulant ass. What a petulant ass. I mean it, like I, just like for I said, I mean it when I say

I hope he gets home safely to his family and all that and I hope you know, this isn't a, you know, an injury that has too deleterious an effect on his career. But I just again, like I said, I didn't like the stuff you were saying up to it. I had a feeling no matter what happened,

we weren't going to get that sort of post-fight, you know, because McGregor generally immediately after the fight is pretty cordial with most of his opponent, and then all the bad stuff comes out later. This time I was like, I have a feeling no matter what happens, it's going to be bad.

And then when he got injured, I understand he's frustrated in the moment. Blood is running. Joe Rogan's sticking a microphone in his face. So, you know, emotions are high, but man, you got to have a little more. you got to have a little more composure to that. I felt like we saw the real man there. We saw not

someone selling a fight or a future fight, someone who really is just a bad dude. And was saying stuff about, again, still saying stuff about Porriy's wife. And this unprofessional minute has gone on way too long. But I just, all this nastiness, it left a really bitter taste in my mouth. And I don't want to see them fight again, even though I think you're right. It's probably option one on the UFC, UFC matchmaker schedule right now.

Yeah. I mean, let's, let's, let's, let me. me just be clear for those listening who want to like take a shot. Porre's next fight is Olivera. Because I think we're not going to see Connor fight again this year. If we do, it'll be a miracle. And if he does fight again this year, it won't be against Dustin Porier. But we have to just sort of assume just the way he's the bottom of his leg looked in that moment, which is nasty.

And by the way, I blame my older brother Bob, who literally every time he's ordered a UFC pay-per-view or I've watched a UFC pay-per-view with him, a leg snaps. every single one. Like, he's undefeated. He texted me last night. He was like, I cannot believe another leg snapped. Every pay per view he actually goes out and buys, something like that happens. It's just crazy.

So, yeah, I'm with you. I blame McGregor for sure. You are responsible for your own actions. But I blame the UFC just as much. Why even interview him in that moment? Come on now. Like, I understand everything. Like, you got enough sizzle and spice from Porier.

You didn't need interview McGregor. Get his ass out of the cage and bring him to the hospital. Let's just, enough. We don't need a post-fight interview in that moment. Connor will go on social media and say everything he has to say. We did not need to hear from Connor in that moment. But that's just my opinion. We got what we got.

There was an ugly moment. Now we get a promo for the next fight. You know the UFC is going to take that entire promo and build the fourth fight with what Connor said in that octagon. It's crazy. Speaking of social media, Mike, he actually did do a post a few hours ago. you need it was like you need me or something simply yeah simply an image of him on the stretcher outraged looking looking very upset and then saying you need people like me jolly porre is the MVP

of the night though by the way with the uh with the middle finger flipping him off or whoever took the screenshot and put it on social media social media is just on it's undefeated it's unbeatable i know it's on micha kieza's twitter account i think it's everywhere but if you guys haven't seen it at least i think i one place you can definitely find it michael case's a twitter account he definitely has uh put the screenshot out there and called her thug wife thug wife so good uh so that's the main event co-main event and i k you said something that i completely agreed with earlier and maybe i might even take it a step further we saw gilbert burns or as i like to to now call him if we watched the uh the post fight press conference stream last night hilbert burns who in my opinion aka he had an

A plus night on Saturday. Was the fight the most exciting fight ever? Not really. But Gilbert Burns did what he had to do to beat a guy that is very difficult to not only defeat, but to look good at all against. And Gilbert goes in there and gets it done. He yells at the crowd at the final horn.

He's yelling, what, what, rattling everybody, getting everybody fired up. People are emotionally invested in what Gilbert Burns is doing. Then he gets on the microphone and he does like a little baby face thing where he's going to apologize for not getting a finish. And then he turns heel and cuts a heel promo. Boomie, boomie, boomie.

And then he calls out three names that all make at least some sense, A.K. Jorge Mazadol, Nate Diaz, and Leon Edwards. Which of these three names do you like? Or maybe you don't like any of them. And there's somebody else out there. None of them. I went outside the box on this one. Not that I'm saying any of those are bad.

Those are all cool. This is a combination of what I think would be cool to happen slash what I think is also likely to happen. There's just a lot of politics involved when you get with Mazvedal and Nate Diaz. Leon, I also shied away. It's just like, I know every time Leon Edwards comes up, I'm sure I've said this multiple times in other shows, something the effect of like, gosh, does Leon Edwards have to jump through this hoop and jump through this hoop and jump through this hoop? And the fact is, he probably does. He probably does. I don't know how many straight fights he's going to have to win,

but for whatever reason, in the eyes of the matchmakers, and in the eyes of a large segment of the fans, he just hasn't got that signature victory for some reason to put him over the top. I feel he has. I say give him that rematch with Usman, but I get it. So, but so again, that's not for me. I understand people are calling for. I want to see him fight Michael Keza.

If Michael Keizza beats Vicente Luque at UFC 265 on, August 7th. At first I was just thinking, oh, the winner of that fight. But specifically Keza, Luca and Burns are very close friends. They've trained together many, many, many, many times. And I believe Luque has said he probably would never fight Gilbert Burns. I don't even know if he put the claws in there, like, oh, if it's for a title we would fight, it just sounds like he doesn't even want to think about fighting Gilbert Burns. So that's not likely to happen. So if Keza beats him, a little bit of a revenge angle there. Also, Keza would have won five straight, if that's the case, and just needs that again. He deserves a top five opponents. So

I'm going outside the big name. Sorry, Gilbert. I know it'd be cool to fight a Diaz or front of Mazadol. But I think Keza gets that win over Luke A storylines there. It makes a lot of sense. Yeah, there would be just like a fun, like after the negativity and how UFC 264 ended, a fight like Michael Kiesa and Gilbert Burns would be like the complete opposite of that because Kiesa, but the both guys have so much respect for each other.

And Michael Kiyasa told me in an interview last year that he believes when his career ends, Gilbert Burns will be his greatest professional rival. Not from like a trash talking standpoint, but he feels like Burns' style and what Kiesa brings to the table, there'd just be like a professional rivalry where fans would just want to see them fight over and over again because it'd be such an interesting matchup. But I would like to see that.

That's not what I'm going with. I'm going with the more obvious answer. And let me just throw out there that I've given up on this Leon Edwards versus Jorge Mazadol fight. I've officially given up on it. It should have happened already. it should happen next, but I doubt it will happen next because what I think will end up happening is we'll see the rematch between Mazadal and Nate Diaz after the way the made event

of the evening played out last night. That one was a hard sell when they were talking about Mazadal Diaz to last year, but now it makes perfect sense for both guys. So that leaves Leon Edwards, who is, like you said, as unfair as it may seem, he's going to have to get another win before he fights for the title again. It's just the way that it is. And if Colby ends up getting that fight with Usman and wins, and I believe he does, you know they're going to run it back. We'll see Covington Usman 3. And then after that, Burns could get that shot still before Leon Edwards possibly. So let's just do Burns Edwards.

If Edwards wins, he gets the title shot. There's no other hoop he needs to jump through. If Burns wins, he either fights Colby for the belt or he could play. the Walterweight version of Caitlin Chukee again and just knock off every contender you want to fight oosman for the title you're going to get through me and i ain't get to let you so i like to let's you so i like the fight burns edwards is really interesting to me and there's really nothing else that makes sense here although kiesa if he beats luke i would like to see that one too there's always another hoop for edwards has jumped through i'm so sorry leon but it's just this is this is this is the fight this is i shouldn't just say the fight business this is the ufc business

There's always another hooped. And it's a great fight. I'd love to see an average fight Gilbert Burns. But man, that's so tough. That's so tough. Leon, just give Leon the title shot. You know what happened too, right? Like, it would be, like, him and Burns would fight.

Like, in a main event, it would be five rounds. Leon would be, like, Leon would be winning, heading into the fifth, and, like, something weird would happen. And then, like, Leon's cup with, someone's jock strap with a strap would break and fall out of their shorts. And then feel like, oh, he didn't bring an extra. Well, I don't know why. They usually bring it. Somehow he didn't bring an extra. or we can't put an extra on during the middle of a fight.

And we're only at the two minutes into the third round, so we're not halfway through. This is going to have to be a no contest. Yeah, Leon would, it would just be, Leon would win like some controversial split decision where, like, nobody thought he won. And he still doesn't get a title shot. It's just insane.

But, okay, one of the big stars of the night was Ty Tuivasa. He knocks out Greg Hardy. The crowd goes crazy. They were with him the entire time. From the Spice Girls walk out to the final shooy he did, inside the T-Mobile arena. The man gets a bonus. I think he did four Shui's total in celebration,

which is freaking disgusting. But he was a big hero in Las Vegas on Saturday night. He goes out there. He gets cracked by Greg Hardy. Greg Hardy's pointing to the center of the cage. Tie two of Us was like, uh, okay, dude.

Stuvazza gets cracked. He gets angry. And then he landed a ferocious left hand. Hardy goes down in a heap, and that is all she wrote. And AK, I thought a couple of of things. One, Tai Tua Vasa, big moment

for him. And two, mystery solved. Because we've talked about this a lot on not only this program, but other programs since June 5th, when this man was stopped by Martin Tibera. I think you do the Walt Harris fight. Oh, God. Because, but listen to my reasoning, though. I know. Because if there's one guy right now in this division that you wouldn't feel downright awful,

about watching beat Walt Harris, if that were to happen, it's probably tied to Ivasa. And two, this is like the perfect stylistic matchup for Walt's because everyone wants to see Walt Harris like fight wrestlers right now. Like why? Why are we taking Walt Harris in there with guys who are just going to take him down and like try to pound him out? Let's give Walt a fight against a guy. And listen, like whether it's Tai Tuvaas or anybody in this division, it's heavyweight.

one punch, one solid, clean connection can end a fight. So why not give Taito Vasa that shot against a guy who, like a matchup between Walt's and Taito Vasa stylistically is a 50-50 fight. Both guys have one punch, life-changing power. And Walt's not going to get taken down on this fight whatsoever. So those two guys can go in there just swing leather at each other. It's a fair fight for both guys. And no matter what happens, like, even if you feel bad for Walt losing, it's tied to Ivasa.

It's tied to Ivasa. Like, you can't be that upset about it. So that's my pick, AK. That's my pick. We do Tuvaasa versus Walt Harris. I don't think any other fight for Walt makes sense. And it's a good opportunity for Tuvaasa as well. Yeah, sorry, no, that's not that bad.

Sorry, in my mind, I was, for some reason, I was thinking about Hardy and Walt Harris, which will come up later, by the way. This will come up later in the, a little spoiler for people. Let's come up later in the listener discussion. So, yeah, no, no, yeah, Tuivasa and Walt Harris is fine. Again, it's kind of like what I said on Edwards. It's like I could try forever to find the perfect matchup for Walt Harris. There's no such thing.

There's no perfect matchup for Walt Harris. At some point, he just has to go in there and get the job done against somebody. And you're right. Him versus Tai Tuvasa, I think, would be a really super friendly buildup. It would be a fun fight. It's one of those fights that would hope turn to one of those three-round heavyweight slug fest and not like a 45-second knockout because it'd be one of those ones where both guys, you know, in the third round would be just touching gloves all the time,

cracking each other, probably throwing a few hugs in there. So, yeah, by some chance it became one of those extended heavyweight fights, it would be a really good one. It would be fun to watch. So, yeah, I don't know how problem with that. I went with a more boring choice. I just kind of went, like, looking at my rankings, Taui bosses deserve to step up in competition, who's not booked, who hasn't he already fought, who's not too far ahead of him.

And I settled on the always electrifying Augusto Sakai. So to me, that seemed like the obvious pick to me. That was just like, again, I'm like, okay, there's just not, just a process of elimination, Augusto Sakai. So they're kind of trending in opposite direction, Sakai is on a two-fight losing streak. But he is, in my rankings anyway, ahead of Thai to Evasas. So, yeah, this is a clinical matchmaking choice for me, not one of the heart, one of the brain, Mike. Yeah. I'm just going through kind of a spoiler, and I'm not going to read every single one of them, but that seems to be a popular consensus.

amongst the a, the Otno folks. A.K., it was a tremendous performance from Arina Aldana. She absolutely sparked Yana Kuntzkaya. And honestly, this is MMA. This is a vicious sport. Things happen when punches and kicks are thrown. But there are rare certain times in the sport where I just feel bad for fighters, where I legitimately feel bad for them.

And I legitimately felt bad for Yanakutzkaya. last night because Aldana just put the wood to her and she did it in a way where it was almost like too ruthless where it lasted several seconds longer than it could have like I felt like Aldada could have stopped the fight and like put the finishing touches on it at really any point in the fight but she she almost like allowed it to painfully drag on longer than it needed to and it was a great performance I actually felt Avriata Kuditskaya but the one thing that dings did a bit was the weight miss and it was a big weight miss. She took responsibility for it and kudos to her for doing that. But if I know my best friend, AK, I know that there's a high probability that she will not be getting

a title fight next, that she will not get a massive step up for her next fight. Is that how you're feeling, AK? What are your thoughts on the future of Arini Aldana after that performance? I was shaking my head, Mike, in agreement, shaking my head in, you know, as in, you're right. I did not think as highly of that win as I would like to missing weight by 3.5 pounds. You know, she said her reasons. She said her reasons. You can read those in M.Afighting.com. Of course, you know, there's just biological reasons why it was difficult for her.

The timing was just off for her to make weight. And again, listen, for a lot of women fighters, I do think that's a legitimate excuse. But at the same time, you miss. You know, you miss the weight. I'm sure she's not the only one who goes through these things. So it really sucks. Weight cutting in general sucks. So Irene Adana, Aldana, I sympathize with you that you even have to be part of this, you know, ridiculous gamesmanship that is that is part of a high level MMA.

But so it is. So yes, no, but as a penalty, good for her for getting the win. She maintains her spot in our rankings. But she cannot move up, not in my opinion. She cannot get a total shot. In fact, she has to go back and take on a tough opponent, undefeated in the UFC so far. Kera Rosa. I think Kera Rosa.

She's going to fight Bechkoheya on October 2nd. Bechkohei, what is expected to be Bechkoheya's retirement fight, long, highly anticipated retirement fight. And win or lose, actually, I think Rosa is the matchup for Aldana. I was obviously pick her to win, even if she doesn't, even if this turns out to be Petsko Hea's storybook ending to her career,

Rosa would still be 3 and 1 in the UFC. Again, this is a step back for Aldana. I think it's what she has to do after missing weight like that. So definitely no title shot. There's other probably more veteran names she could fight, but I've definitely said on Carl Rosa, who's really the thing is a good test for her. Weight miss, not weight miss.

And I know the ranking say one thing, but the perception speaks something different. I think it's pretty easy. I think she gets the winner of Aspen Ladd versus Macy Chess on no matter what happens. That makes sense. She won't get home again. She won't get GDR. She won't get the loser of the title fight.

She won't get the winner of the title fight coming up on August 7th. I think this is fine. I think that's fine. After a performance like that, she's not going to get what she should probably deserve had she made weight. But she still doesn't take a massive step back. If Asman Ladd goes out there and beats Macy Chess on, I think that's a fine fight. And that's a fine number one contender fight too. I think that's a fine number one contender fight because we don't know what's going on with Holly Holm.

We don't know what's going on in Germain to Renamee. And you know what? When those two are ready, those two are fighting each other. Like, why does it's not happen already after that debacle at UFC 208? So, yeah, no matter who wins that fight, especially if it's Aspen Lad, it's a no-brainer you do Ladd versus Aldana. How do you feel about Raquel Pennington, Paniccanza, winner, September 18th? Or does that not have the same, like, number one contender appeal to it?

I don't know. I think Aspen is probably in a better spot. Panties look great. She has. And we've seen Aldana Pennington before. So there's a story there because most people thought that Aldana beat Pennington and it was kind of a bad decision. It wasn't a great fight.

It was also Aldana's UFC debut of memory surgery correctly. So we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. But I think the winner of that fight is just fine. As we move to the Bannamweight Division, AK Sean O'Malley, gets a third round TKO win over a super durable New Englander and Chris Mutine. First off,

Go ahead. I'm not going to gloat. I'm not going to gloat. Yes, you do it. Why? Because there's the fight of the night, and I was laughed at and chastised from the fans, and all these people are like,

oh, my God, Sean's going to murder this man. And I told you, I told you that Mutineo is going to be in his face the entire time. Did I not say that the second that fight starts, he's going to be right after Shot O'Malley. And he was for 14 minutes and 33 seconds, I think it was, the entire time, Moutini. just got in his face and was getting he just getting crushed.

I mean, 230 strikes is insane to absorb. But like, after getting dropped badly in the first round, he got clipped in the third and things are starting to get hairy again. But Metinia wasn't like crushed. So let me just ask you this. I'm not going to gloat even though I was right. This is the fight of the night. Can I get your take on the actual stoppage of the fight?

Was it the right call from Herb Dean or was it the wrong call from Herb Dean? It was the right call. It maybe was a bit, and here's the screwed up about it. It was somehow, could be perceived as both early, because, I mean, it was, you know, the fight was almost over. So people were like, why even stop it at that point? Just give them the extra 30 seconds. And also late, because I think a lot of us who agreed with the stoppage also agreed,

well, if you're going to stop it because he's, you know, O'Malley's just straight up putting the wood on him, couldn't you have done this in the second round? Was there not a flurry in the second round where this could have happened? Was there not a moment earlier in the third where this could have happened? I watched the fight pretty closely, and I actually think that Moutino did, like, the way, when it was finished, that was the closest O'Malley was to legitimately knocking him out. Like, he was really putting it out. Like, we're talking several unanswered shots. If someone can find, like, isolate another sequence in that fight where Moutino was eating that many unanswered shots within, like, that span of time, I'll absolutely stand corrected again.

I didn't memorize the fight. I could totally be wrong because O'Malley did dominate that whole fight. He was lighting him up the whole time. But Herb Dean, who I've been very critical of in the past, and I still am. I still think he has more off nights than he has good nights, if we're being honest. I will not get on him for this one. It is not his job. It is not Herb Dean's job to call a fight based on the amount of time that's left.

Or sorry, decide when or when not to call a fight based on how much time is left. That's not his job. it's when he thinks the fight is over and one fighter can't continue. Now he's been very wrong about this in the past. Very wrong. Again, we don't need to go down to stuff. I mean, just real fights. They either call to early or called too late and had us scratching your heads.

This one, he gave Mutino a bit of a warning at the beginning of this flurry when O'Malley was putting it on. I'm kind of like, you got to fight back, fight back. And then he waited for a few more shots than he called it. So I thought he actually did a really, really good job. I understand it's almost looked arbitrary. it wasn't Mutino wasn't knocked down It wasn't even in the case where

You know we see most standing TKOs Where the guy's like against the fence And it looks like oh maybe the fence is holding him up So the referee has to get in there Because the guy just can't fall down He was in the middle A standing TKO in the middle of the octagon Which we rarely see

And I know that was strange for people I had no issue with the stoppage So Herbine again, I'm very critical I think you did a great job With that stoppage I know how the optics looked I know it was an unsatisfactory ending 25 more seconds of punishment is not going to change anything, in my opinion.

Okay, so if Herb Dean stopped it after the first round or after the second, like right before the third round, I would have no issue with it whatsoever. In fact, I was actually, I think for a moment, I was actually more upset that he didn't stop it before the second round than when he actually did stop it. because when Mutino, and Moutini didn't even sit on his stool in the first round, which by the way,

I saw some media members like chastising Moutino's corner. Like, do some research on the fighter. Mutino doesn't sit down. Like he doesn't, he doesn't sit down. This is what he does. He stands there,

gets the water pour on his head, gets fired up. That's how he does it. There are fighters who do that all the time. But, and it's funny that a lot of the people who had such, who had no issue with this

or thought that this was a terrible, was a great stoppage, like was okay with Calvin Cater being punched in the face 500 times in January. Like, and not really. I mean, he would throw a shot here and there. But I don't see much of a difference between the two. Like, this, the striking discrepancy was worse in the Calvin Cater Max Holloway fight. But that was okay.

Calvin Cater's okay to quote unquote earn that ass whoopin. When Chris Buccino isn't okay earning that ass one for 27 more seconds. Like, come on. Like, it was getting hairy. He earned the right to try to get to that final horn. And I agree with you. Like, it's not Herb Dean's responsibility to be like, oh, man, I'll give him 27 more seconds. Am I up in arms about the stoppage?

No. But I thought he deserved that much, especially after saving the day on 11 days notice to fight, fight John O'Malley. That's my opinion. I don't care. It's not worth arguing about. But the fact of the matter is the way this fight ended, the headline became. about the stoppage and not the fight and not on Ali's performance. I think Moutinho's toughness was highlighted.

I do, I agree. One of the stories of it was Mattino's toughness. So, you know, I don't think it was totally overshadowed by the stoppage controversy. And did you say this already that Herdeen was the referee for Holloway Cater? Yeah. And he let it go. He let the fight go. Yes.

That's, that is. And this is where, again, like I said, I've been critical. He's just not consistent. I think that's what's so frustrating he's late he's he's late he's early he's again he lets one-sided fights go on he lets one-sided fights not go on

because again as I'm defending him and saying well it's not his you know he's not supposed to do these things in context he's supposed to you know judge everything and avoid it does feel like he lets something like Holloway cater and this is just by the way this is just again guessing on my part I'm not I cannot say exactly what is like how he called this but it does you're right it does feel like because Halloween Cater was a main

event that one was allowed to go won, but because this is a main card fight between O'Malley and a lesser known guy that he stopped it, you know, before that. So that is very damning evidence against him in this case. But again, for me, and avoid, I had no issue with the call. But I understand the controversy. It is not a clear cut case at all. I'm not telling anyone like, oh, you think this is, you think this stopper is controversial, you're crazy. I'm like, no, I saw reasonable arguments on both sides. The media was almost split. I saw a lot of people in the media like, yep. excellent stoppage herb nailed it good job and then i saw a lot of again a lot of people even on

our own site we were we were split on it we were split on like was this a good stop like someone's that excellent stoppage i'm like dumbest stoppage i've seen this year and i'm like there's kind of cases like it's a lot of hyperbole in the moment there's kind of cases for both so um yeah for me okay but yeah controversy definitely warranted yes yeah i mean there's just something to looking at a tapology page and seeing decision next to it oh then third round TKO because a lot of people like will even forget about the context of the actual fight. Sure.

Mike, and Mike, not just that. Excuse me. Not just that. If anyone has a right to be fair, it's betters. Absolutely. This is why I don't gamble on M. Because I don't, those people I really don't blame for being mad. Like if you were financially invested in this fight and had, again, you know, O'Malley by decision

versus O'Malley by TKO, if you're a mallee by TKO, if you're a mallee by a knockout guy, you're through the moon. You were like, you're sweating it. You're like, who the hell is this Moutino guy? How is this fight even allowed? This guy's not human. Why was I even allowed to bet on a knockout? This guy is not going down. And then suddenly miraculously with less than 30s left in the fight,

you're throwing your ticket in the air and then cashing in. And if you're in the other side of it and you're like, oh, yes, I listened to Mike Heck. Mike Heck knew this would go the distance. I put my mortgage on Mutino going the distance. You're shredding your ticket up. You're writing an angry DM at Mike Heck. So yes, if anyone, anyone has a justification for being upset with what happened, with Herb Dean and what happened there, it is betters who said O'Malley by decision. That hurts.

Yeah, I'm trying to see. Faster. Don't bet on MMA. Don't bet on MMA. This is a stupid. You are putting your money in the hands of individuals. There is just completely, it's just chaotic. Do not bet on MMA, please.

I can't find, like I can't find. I would love to see what the odds were of that fight going. going to decision. It had to been the plus four figures. Yes. No doubt about it. Certainly higher than O'Malley by knockout. So moving on to the actual winner of the fight because that is the basis of this program. Shotomalley, shot him out gets the win.

He mentioned a lot of names in his post-fight speech. Ultimately, I think the dude is all over the place. I believe like the actual callouts and even sort of doubled down on this and this post-fight scrum, the callout was Rob Fond officially. Does he get that fight? And if not, who should he get? Did he call him Font Rob by accident? I thought he called him Fabrant.

Fob, Ront. Fob, where are you at? I think that's what he said. Which is totally possible. Because again, it's just like, you know, you're just want to fight. Your adrenaline's still pumping. You're just kind of shouting out names. And, you know, we get words salad in our head sometimes.

So either way, but yes, obviously he met Rob Font. I think that's a little too high for him. But I've been like this with O'Malley every time. I think you could probably isolate in every episode every time we talk about O'Malley. I think this too high for him. I think this too high for him. It's probably a catchphrase at this point. So I'm going with a fight that I thought would have been cool to see as the replacement.

And it will be even better if both guys can have a full camp and can actually take place to bat and wait. I love the Riquet Simone Sean O'Malley matchup. I love it. I think it's the right. I have Simone slightly ahead of O'Malley in my rankings. I think O'Malley, I just don't want to rush him. I don't see the need to rush him into these high fights with more veteran opponents.

So Simone is a more veteran opponent, but in terms of UFC experience, you know, not too different. So give me, give me that O'Malley's Simone fight. I'm into it. I'm waving my magic matchmaker wand here. And whatever needs to be done to make it happen, I think that's the one. So I'm going to bounce around a little bit here because let me just say that I thought the call out of Rob Fon was absolutely perfect. Absolutely perfect. Why?

because Sean O'Malley is a very relaxed guy, very chill. You know, he likes to dabble in the devil's lettuce, so to speak. But the man is very smart. He watches everything. He watches interviews. He knows what fighters are thinking. And there's no doubt on my mind that he watched my interview with Rob Fond after he beat Cody Garbrandt.

And what Rob Fond said when I asked him about, you know, because the interesting spot he's in in this division, what are your thoughts on a fight with Dominic Cruz? He said he wasn't interested in that. He'd be more interested in fighting Shotomalley than fighting Dominic Cruz. Yes, he knows that would be a massive step back in the rankings, but I think Rob understands the amount of buzz that Sean O'Malley brings to the table. So I think he saw that. It was like, hmm, here's an opportunity.

Rob said my name. I'm going to go on and say his name. So good on him. I like the call out. I thought it was a perfect callout. No doubt about it. the fight I like the most that makes the most sense

is the Cody Garbrand fight because it appears the plan is Garbrandt is going to go to 125 but I think this would not only be the best option for O'Malley I think this is the best option for Garbrands like he's not getting a title shut at 125

like even going down there he'll get maybe a top five flyweight but no buzz It's just like, cool. Cody Garbrand's fighting at 125. Like maybe, you know, maybe throw him in there with like a Tyson Nam or something. Like, it's just a fun fight. But a fight with Chottomalley would definitely be the fight that would bring him the most eyeballs right now in his career, right?

Like, so that's what I would do. Like, I think Garbrand is nuts for not jumping on this opportunity because he goes on to 25. Like, cool. You've lost like three or four fights in a row. Like, and none of them were close. Like, what are we doing here? Like, you need to try to get back. And here's the thing.

If you go out there and you beat shot O'Malley, you can go down to 125 and get an immediate title shot. You got your swagger back. You got your stock boosted back up if you beat shot O'Malley. You can go down to 125 and get that title shot, which I didn't think he should have gotten against Figuera to begin with. But at least he's like back in that same position. The graces are back to the good, so to speak.

So I think Garbrand's nuts. He should be on social media right now and be like, dude, I was going to go to 20. I'm going to smack this O'Malley kid in the face. Like that's what you need to say. He won't do that. So I'm with you, A.K. If you can't do a Garbrand, which is the fight that makes more sense than anything else, you do the Ricky Simone fight.

Another fight that was built on what the heck. Because I asked Simone about Sean O'Malley a while back. And he goes, dude, what a silly question. Sean O'Malley would never take that fight. He would never fight me. And then the opportunity rolls along. It doesn't happen. I understand the fight was never offered at 135.

Like Simone was like, I'll take it, but it's got to be 145, which is fine. But yeah, full camp, O'Malley versus Simone, I'm down. Yeah, Garbrand probably would have my second choice. I don't know why. I think I've talked myself into them really being committed to him going to 125, but like you said, they shouldn't be. There's no reason to make a hard decision on this.

You can always reverse course. He can clearly make 135 with that issue, Cody Garbrand. So, yeah, so if this does get a, officially floated their way, the O'Malley fight. Yeah, it makes so much sense for it to happen. But again, in my mind, I'm already sort of thinking for Garbrandt's in my head that he's now going to be part of the Flyweight Division. So probably why I passed on that.

But, yeah, again, a lot of listeners love the Garbrand matchup as well. Let us now head to the Wild Card Round, A.K., where we will select one fighter that competed on Saturday night that we have not match made for yet, and we will do so right now. So, AK, I think I already know where you're going with this. I will tell you that I did not also go with the guy who I think. think you're going with, but who's your wild card pick coming out of U.S. T.64? Listen, obviously, I would have picked Ryan Hall.

Unfortunately, that fight, as we know, did not happen. You know, it was only an 11-fight card on Saturday. The fight, I recall, I took us to play C, picking up an incredible knockout of Trevin Giles in the second round, and then just sort of a blackness, sort of, I think we all all sort of suffered a collective, perhaps went to a collective fugue state. And then what was supposed to be Ryan Hall versus Ily DePurrier, I just, I don't recall it even happening. And then before I knew it, Michelle Pereira and Nico Price were walking out.

So really, again, a shame. It's been so long since we've seen Ryan Hall fight. Hopefully he gets back in there sometime. Ilya, he's a great fighter. It's a shame again. He didn't get to fight yesterday. You know, so best wishes to both guys. Maybe they'd be booked that for another time.

And we can actually talk about Ryan Hall having a fight. because, again, we just didn't get to see it on Saturday. But so my other option is, of course, my favorite, my other favorite MMA iconoclast, Michelle Pereira, de Molodora. We got to get this guy another fight. He's won three straight. He's one three straight. People, look, I get it.

People can say they don't like the kinder, gentler, more reserved, less flippy-dippy-dippie. Michelle Perreta, he's producing results, okay? He gave you a little flip yesterday. He gave you a blatantly illegal flipping kicked. to the face. He was not trying to kick him to the face for the record. He clearly has done this kind of guard pass before. And I'm not being sarcastic, by the way, he has done this kind of guard pass before. And, you know, I think obviously intends to land with the feet, maybe on the chest shoulders, which would also be legal, or probably by the side of his head. So it's an illegal

move. I mean, it's not a move you can control. He shouldn't be allowed to do it because the chances of kicking the downed opponent is like 80%. Like it's really high. It should not be allowed. But a referee, I think it was a referee Mark Smith was watching the replay. Mark Smith, his eyes were almost like bulging like, oh, like I think he was too surprised to even kind of consider like, wait, was that legal? Like it was just so shocking. So look, he's won three straight. I want to give him, he's still not ready for like a top 20, top 25 guy.

That's just not where I have him. He just hasn't had a big enough win yet. I think a win with a fight with Muslim Salakoff, the king of Kung Fu. is in order. Another super exciting fighter. Another guy who I think is, again, sort of just right in that cusp of top 30, top 25, and can really fly up the rankings with a signature win. So I think you put those two together and you can't lose. You get an entertaining fight. You get a guy, you know, getting closer to possibly being a legitimate contender. And yeah, fans would love it. So Michelle Pereira, Muslim Salakoff.

Yes, I do you're going with Perrera. And let me just say, let me just correct the records in social media likes to lie. One person pretty much put it out perfectly. Like this is MMA. This is MMA from like a fan base level. People obviously were all excited for the Pereira versus Nico Price fight.

And I said my hot take was this would not be the all-out circus barn burner that everyone thought it was going to be. You hated this matchup. No, I thought it was going to be great. I said it was going to be a very good fight. Derek Lewis, you said this will be the world to wait version of Derek Lewis

versus Franson Gunner. Yeah, that's what was your. social media, he goes, you guys, yeah, too bad Mike Heck thinks it's going to be in Ghana over this 2.0. I was like, you got. Mike, you implied it. Like, you might not have said it.

You implied it. You implied it. I want you to go back and listen to my words. I said it was going to be a very good fight. I said it was not a lock for fight of the night. And I was right about that because it should have been. It did not win fight of the night. No, it shouldn't have been.

It was still a fun fight. It was, it was very good. I just didn't. People thought it was going to be two, two dudes. It's like drawing a spray painting a little square in the middle of the octagon. The two guys are just going to stand in there and just smash each other for 15 minutes. That's not what happened. I said we're going to see a little bit more of a technical fight, and that's what we got.

Bray had to look good. He had his backflip, super illegal, like you said. And there you go. It was a very good fight. It just wasn't the sloppy madness that a lot of people were hoping for. So I don't know what card you watched last night, but the car. I watch had Iliot Teporea on at AK, the man who may or may not have given you nightmares. Oh, I'm sorry, Mike, my, you know, Mike, my headphones. I think they're going out. But keep going,

keep going, keep going. I'm pretty sure the listeners can hear you. I'm going to fix this. Just go ahead with your, with your wildcard. Yeah, I'll fix this. Yes. He stopped Ryan Hall in the first round. Ryan Hall's tricks were solved by one, Ilya, and this guy's the real deal. I've been telling you, this guy's the real deal for a while. I wanted to throw him right in there with Andre Feely after the win over Damon Jackson, I can't even begin to tell you, A.K., how many people jumped into my DMs after that pick, and they were like, that is a bridge too far, Mike. Why would you throw them in there with Andre Feeley that quickly? So I'm just going to go ahead and not do that this time.

I'm not going to throw him in there with Andre Feeley and said, I'm going to shoot him up even higher, AK. I am ready to give Iliot Teporia a tough 15 fighter, and I want to see him in there with somebody that can do it all. a guy who's big for the weight class, powerful, technical, can strike, can wrestle, can grapple. And it would just be a really interesting fight. I'm all in on Tuporia versus Shane Burgos, AK. That is the fight. That's what I want to see. I know Burgos had a tough stoppage loss to Edson Barbosa.

Things got a little hairy. But, you know, I talked to him not long after that. He was cleared to compete pretty much. So I think we will see Shane Burgos by the end of the year. And I think that is the fight. should do in December final pay-per-view of the year either feature prelim main card opener burgos versus deporia hello oh mike hi oh mike sorry i got my yeah i got my uh i think my headphones are back i caught the last bit of that you said to peria so you're not rebooking the tapurio hall fight that

didn't happen you just want to move on and just give to peria of shame burgos instead yes correct yes that's as you heard that's you obviously watch something different than i did so you obviously listen that makes sense uh to peri again is a great prospect I never thought to Ryan Hall matchup made a lot of sense in the first place. You're right. Maybe we just don't rebook that one. It just, you know, we'll just have to live with that being a lost fight, one that's never happened. And I love the Tuporio-Shane Burgos matchup.

Good call, Mike, good call. Okay. Do we have a check the tapes? Do we have a... No mic checks. No mic checks. Thank God. Mike, you're safe.

Not this week. What do we got? Of course, we have checked. Our listeners are so good in making matchups. So two that were a number of people called great, great matchups. Edson Barbosa versus Giga Chikaze for August 28. And McKenzie Dern versus Marina Rodriguez for October 9. So a lot of listeners, one of those ones.

Guys spot on, absolutely. M.MA heads coming in with a really nice deep cut. I don't recall anyone else saying this one. So I'll give M.M.A. heads Instagram account credit. Anjera-Arlowski. Andre Arlowski versus – I have no idea what happened to me there. Anja Roloski versus Carlos Felipe that is reportedly going down October 16th. Myself, Mike, I don't know how I do these things, but I nailed Bobby Green versus Rafael Fiziv.

I called this one back in December. I think I've heard people mention it since, but again, obviously Fiziv hasn't fought since, so we haven't spoken about much on the show. I think they've maybe thrown out Fizib for some other people, but my initial call was Bobby Green, Raphael Fiziv, and that sounds like it's going to go down on August 7th. And I want to mention one that nobody called, which I find funny because it involves one Mr. Hamza Shemaya, who is apparently going to fight Li Jhing Liang. And I just find it funny because Shamiyev was mentioned like a million times on our shows. I don't think somehow, I don't think he was ever matched up with Li Jing Liang was not one of the names thrown out there. If I'm wrong, if you're a listener out there, by the way, someone, please go ahead, check the tapes yourself.

If you called for this fight and I forgot, let me know. I'll go back and check the DMs. I don't recall it ever coming up. Mike, maybe it came up in your DMs. I'm not sure it doesn't sound familiar to me. So somehow, guys, despite us being, you know, a million chimpanzees on a million typewriters, we did not come up with Li Jing Liang and Hamzaa Shemaya. It's a perfect fight.

It's a really good fight. Because I think everyone was just kind of all on the Neil Magni idea. And it was so nonsensical that this fight wasn't made like a year ago. Yeah. But here we are, okay. and somebody did check the tape us. Honestly, it's so far back on my DMs. I can't find it.

I was going to shut them out. So whoever you are, just DM me again before the show next week. And I will show you what, I promise. I just don't have the time to go to the game. Oh, they're going to be angry. They're going to be angry. Shall we go to the peeps?

Do you want to give the rule set? Stand a disclaimer. I have an extra disclaimer this time, too. Stand and disclaimer, guys. Please, we try to emphasize winners unless they were in the main event or title fight. We're usually try to stick to mention unique matchups just to save time.

please guys if you're making these matchups check of a fighter is already booked sometimes I see it'll just throw a name out there and it sounds like they don't know that the person's booked you may have just made a mistake regarding weight class the guys might have fought recently already someone who's just been injured for a long time etc and of course most importantly the golden rule your pick might just be do do and we do not want to read it I have an extra disclaimer this week Mike because this guy's name came up both for Pareda and Max Griffin

Jeff Neal was a popular name coming up you probably see a lot in your message as well Guys, for now, please, I have to give this warning again later. Please stop making advice for Jeff Neal. He is dealing with a pretty serious health condition. We don't know when he's going to come back. All we want is for Jeff Neal to get healthy. Such a promising guy at 170. He hasn't provided, at least on social media, any updates since his sort of last post where he was very open about sort of the health issues he's dealing with.

So I understand. I understand the excitement guys. I'll wind to see Jeff Neal back in there against some of these guys. but let's just not, you know, any match with Jeff Neal is strictly hypothetical, I guess all of these are, but more so than others, because, again, we just don't know where he might not be backed on next year. We just don't know how much time off he plans to take or needs to take.

So get well, Jeff Neal, but we just, you know, maybe might not mention him on the show for a while. Yes, well said. Well said. I'm going to fire right through these. Instagram DMs. Thank you for all these. Poppy underscore Bryant, Brian Chambers.

Wildcard pick, Toporia versus Alex Casares, Shot Amali versus the loser of Jose Alder versus Pedro Munoz. Ernie Aldana versus GDR. I wouldn't hate it if they made it, but I don't think she deserves that. Taivovua, Taivasa versus Sakai or Oswald. Burns versus Covington. Give Edwards his rematch, let those two fight for their, since they're, they both have losses to Usman, and they were both recent.

There we go. Okay. And then Porier versus Olivera. That seems to the obvious one. Anything Pory versus Oliver or a title shot, I'm just ignoring at this point, because that's obvious. Yeah, yeah. Ronan Murphy, I always like when there's explanations. Sean O'Malley should fight Cody Garbrandt because he's become a big star, but is now deserving of a high-ranked opponent.

If I were the UFC matchmakers, I would want to keep giving him the best fights for him stylistically, and I think Gar-Bant fits that perfectly because he's a chinny boxer. Ooh, Ronan. All right. Spicy. Chris Patino should definitely get another fight. He's earned it, so why not John Cassaneda? Let me just say this. If the one thing I really like about the UFC that they've done over the last few years is built this UFCPI and brought in the correct people to help make this happen and create plans in a healthy way for fighters to, you know, go down a weight class or cut weight comfortably.

Chris Vitino, you know, can compete at 135 if needed. I'd like to see him at 125. He's fought at 125 before. He's clearly, I mean, just, O'Malley's a big 35er, but he just looked like, he was two-way classes down. He looked like a straw weight in there with John O'Malley. So I'd like to see him get to 125 if he could do it healthy.

Ronan Watts, Eldana versus GDR, there we go. To Avasa, what a legend. He should fight Tom Aspinall. In an ideal world, Leon should get the next shot in Covington v. Burns, but it isn't, so that fight won't happen. Leon would probably turn down the birds fight, so maybe Kiesa if he beats Luka. And then he goes, Porre, title shot, I guess. McGregor retire.

I saw some of that. I saw some of that. Brandon Nunez, DG. Brandon, two ends. Teporia versus Mobzar Ev Loyev, Nico Price versus Nicholas Dalby, Perrera versus Tim Means, AK. I think that's, I like that fight. Yeah, I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. Yeah, I love it. O'Malley versus a sunset.

So try to rebook that, I guess. Tuivasa versus Harris. There you go. Wonderboy versus the winner of Leach versus Hamza. That's actually a pretty good idea. That's actually a really good idea. Yes, that's good thinking. That's good thinking.

Who's this? Brandon Nunez. Brandon Nunez. I actually... I actually don't mind Wonderboy versus Michelle Beheader either. I don't mind Michelle Paredo. I don't mind Michelle Pareda versus anyone, really. Burns versus Bala Muhammad.

And then he called them dusty. That's not a bad idea. I don't think it'll have a bit. You know, hashtag Ali Abdulaziz, but. Right. You know, unless it's for a title. And then he said, Diamond Man versus Olive Man.

Evan Rodriguez, Teporia versus Duwado. Great Scrap. Winner gets ranked. Paheda versus Santiago Ponsinibio. Yes. Like that one? Zuma Gula versus Jeff Molina.

That makes sense after the... He called him out, right? He called them out. He called them out. He called out Molina and then he said the guy who fought a Chinese guy in his UFC debut. So it's got to be Jeff Molina. Presumably Jeff Molina. All right, fair enough.

O'Malley versus Jack Shore, AK. O'Malley deserves to fight ranked, but I just like making fun matchups. And this one sure is. That's a really interesting fight right there. Sorry, Mike speak up for a second. What was that? O'Malley versus Jack Shore. Oh, wow.

Again, probably not well known enough for O'Malley to take it. But yeah, I know. Yeah, fun matchup. And stylistically, not one that is aesthetically pleasing for one Sean-on-Malley. Max Griffin versus Tim Means. Each are on three-fight streaks, makes a lot of sense. Oh, we have a check the tapes from Evan. I got Arlovsky-Filipe back when Arlowski beat Sherman.

So, there you go. Okay, all right. So Evan Mayheads. Who's this again? Brennan Nunea. That was Evan Rodriguez. Evan Rodriguez? Evan Rodriguez?

Evan Mayheads? Well done. Our man, Aussie, underscore, dad, underscore bloke, Robbie Ryan, who wished us good afternoon to the MMA podcast Kings. Oh, hello. UFC 264 is done and so is Connor McGregor.

On to the next one. Listen to the... Wow. I didn't even see this. Michelle Paheda versus Tony Ferguson. He'd look... Ferguson's not a small, lightweight.

I get it, and I know we've been talking about him going up to a well-to-wait for a while. Panetta is huge. He looks so much bigger than Tony Ferguson. I don't know how I feel about that. Yeah, I mean, it would just be wild. Just the mere thought of that makes me think, but, yeah. And Ferguson's been taking a lot of damage.

Like, I know people think Pettata's like always become this technical. Pareda can really mess people up. Like, I know he's become more technical and he hasn't had a knock on his last couple of fights. It's not for lack of trying. He is, he hits super, super hard. He also likes O'Malley versus Frankie Edgar. Greg Hardy versus some nobody on a fight pass undercard, title fight. McNugget, Nate 3,

and then he said, Drickus Duplice is a problem at 185. So I would agree. Our friend Francesco, our big fan from Italy, he's only going prelims, AK. Okay. Griffin versus...

He probably passed out to make. Partying hard, getting ready for the World Cup. You know, he had to go to bed early to get ready for the World Cup. He's also smart. Euro Cup, excuse me. I'm sorry.

I'm such a soccer guy. He's also smart because he knows that chances are when his gets red, we probably already used a lot of his a lot of the picks. So,

uh, Max Griffith versus James Krause. Uh, Toporia versus Dan Igay. Mm-hmm. Yep. Uh, Duplessi versus Zach Cummings.

Jennifer Maya versus Andrea Lee. Brad Tavars versus Luke Rockhold. I like that one. Uh, Zuma Gula versus Molina. We already said that one. And then, uh, Price versus Dalby.

Fun fight. Wow. Owen Carroll. comes through matchmaking for everyone. Jerome Rivera, then he used a picture of a pair of scissors. That's just mean. Poor Jerome Rivera. He is getting cut, by the way.

Yeah, I mean, that's the reality of it. He likes Tavares versus the winner of Kevin Holland versus Kyle Dawkins. Wow, he even did all the losers. Egmetov versus Munez. Maya versus Calderwood. I versus Jillian Robertson. Duplasee versus either Christoph Joacho

or Edmund Shabazian. Giles Buckley, Tuporia Casares, Hall Paneda Paheda Salakoff, he's with you on that one. Price Morono, Griffin Chaos Williams is fun. Carlos Condo versus Mike Perry, A.K.

I feel like this has come up on previous shows. I have no interest in that whatsoever, but I feel like this has come up quite a few times. Sean O'Malley versus Rob Font, Matino Cignon Cignones, Aldana Durandami, Kunitskay Avila, Tuvasa Harris,

Hardy Lins, Burns Edwards, Thompson Mazadol, which I actually don't mind that fight either. And then kind of the obvious ones, McGregor Diaz, Porre, Charles Olivera. What else we got? I'll try to rifle through these real quick. Some of you guys, like, just you drop in matchups one at a time. Don't do that.

Are they doing this in your DMs or are they doing this? Yeah, they'll do like, yeah, after every fight, they'll still shoot it. idea, which is, listen, do what you do. I prefer if you do it just like one fell swoop, it's easier. Zuma Gulov versus Sumederji. A lot of Zuma Gulov love. I like to see that after that great submission win. He also, this is Christian Lee, by the way.

Pronounce, pal. Brad Tavaris might have the best take down defense of 185. Tavar versus the Gaslam, Canaano losers. What he would like to see, DuPlessi versus Eric Anders. Connor versus whoever comes out of the most hype out of a hypothetical Gaichi versus Chandler fight. I would love to see McGregor and Gachie still. It's such a money fight.

I just don't know. I feel like we're so far from it right now, though. I would agree. Matt Rovelli, want Toporia versus Dan Igay or the loser of Chikaze versus Barbosa. Max Griffin put out a hell of a performance. I think Max Griffin versus Miguel Baezza

would be a fight that he would like to see. That's not a bad one. Jack Porter, Tuovasa versus Blagoe, Ivanov, Mutino versus Normaga Madoff, Because why not? Come on now. You're going to throw Chris Matineo in there with Nirmagamato? I saw some questionable Mutino matchups.

Yeah, I'll get some of those two. Yeah. I mean, good. Hey, people are talking about them. Yeah. Oh, 100%. 100%. This is the, I mean, you don't want to take 230 punches,

but this is probably like the best case scenario for Chris Patino. 75 G's baby. Hell yeah. Pons. Oh, by the way, if you didn't see it on Twitter, Mutino's good to go, man. cleared all of his scans at the hospital. He was released, went in there, got scanned, all clear, and then went back, and I was told that the 75Gs softens the blow, so to speak, or the 230 of them.

No, I want a second opinion. Another Ponziadibio Pareda and another Teporia Shane Burgos. Where did you go? What happened? We'll try that again in a minute. Mike, what's wrong? I don't know. I opened one, and it's not popping up.

Uh, we'll go to Will. Hey Will. Tovasse Ivanov, Burns Edwards, O'Malley, Stamen. Okay. Uh, also I know this is two fighters on losing streaks, but McGregor versus Ferguson would be fun. Yeah, I don't know. Kyle Thomas, you had a, you had a message.

I know people want to see McGregor and Ferguson for a while. I think the ship has sailed. Again, one of those matchups. If it was booked, certainly I wouldn't complain. Uh, not, not something I, I'm, uh, campaigning for guys. Sorry. I'm not with some of the listeners on that one.

Yeah. Tristan Gordette. Maybe he sent you an email, okay, because for some reason. No, I did, I did, let me check. No, I did not. It's very, yeah, I don't know. It's on vanish mode. Like, I don't know.

For some reason, like, his is the only one that popped up in, like, in, like, night mode. And then, like, the message was there, and then it's, like, gone now. So, Tristan, you're the man. We appreciate you. My apologies. And then we got to go to Patrick Austin. Teporia versus Andre Fielier, Bryce Mitchell, Tavars versus Gassalum, Paheda needs to be a middleweight.

And that kick was illegal. You can't kick it down to Pone in the face regardless if you do a backflip before. That is a sentence in MMA, ladies and gentlemen. And that's it. I believe that is the final selection. Let me just go back in one more time. Yep. That's it.

On to you, A.K. illegal but but fun no Mike I mean are we all agree are we all in agreement that that move was pretty sick can we just say that if that move didn't happen that I'm like a hundred percent correct on all I predicted that way why did I bring it up like how did I bring it up go back and listen to my words and tell me I'm wrong no no no I believe Sean Alshaddy from our site added that jumping stomps to a some of the effect of jumping stops to a down opponent should be legal if you do a back flip into it which I there we go that is the addendum that's the

the addendum that needs to be made in the next rules meeting. Yeah. Hey, look, not a lot of people can do that. All right. So if you can do it, I think you should be rewarded, not punished. Sorry. Yes, all right, Mike. So I've got, again, I'm obviously going to have some overlap here.

Also, I just got some late submissions. Just some people coming in. So I'm going to screen these very quickly. Sorry, guys. He might just be too late. I might not mention you. It happens. We've got to be real here.

Sorry, guys. We have a deadline that we, an indeterminate deadline. So, yes, the most popular matchups, Pore Olivera, McGregor Diaz 3, and McGregor v. D. Zanyos were about neck and neck. So I think people are down for either of those. Burns versus Mosvodal was a more popular pick than Burns versus Edwards. Thompson versus Muhammad, yep, people really like that one. And Tuva Vasa versus Sir Kai was the most popular matchup for Bam Bam. Two, again, about equal the support for them.

Adana versus GDR and Adana versus the... Ladd, Jason winner, as you mentioned. O'Malley versus Cruz was actually the most popular O'Malley's suggestion I saw. I don't know if it's because people aren't as hyped on the Garbrand matchup, which several mentioned. Or if they're like me and they're kind of like, isn't he going to flyweight? I mean, you know, we even match me for him on 135 anymore. Griffin, I saw it thrown out, yeah, Baezza, Nicholas Dalby, Chaos Williams, and Ponziabio was the most popular choice for Michelle Panera. There was some Salakov support as well.

a bunch of people just said just put taveras and duplice in there together they both won on saturday match them up uh to prorio again a lot of support for all three i had none of them stood out uh toporio versus burgos uh sordiucif or danigay a lot of toporia talk for again a guy who didn't even fight on saturday so i mean it's just pretty crazy uh my uh big most popular pick was the uh jessica and andrade cynthia albio winner september 25th and another and another popular pick for tavarez was uh and june for and for Zuma Gulov, a couple of people said him and Bruno Silva, so there we go. So good for Zuma Gulab to get some buzz. All right.

Let's go to the emails first year. I got a couple of doozies, Mike. I got a couple of doozies. First, I'm going to read one from Robert Miller, says he's been a big show of the, big, I'm on fire already. Robert Miller via email says, I'm a big fan of the show since I started, wanted to start so many picks. And he's, he acknowledged the disclaimer. He says, I apologize if any of my picks are doo-doo.

don't want to read them. Robert is your first time. I'm going to read all your things. Tvi Vasa versus Romanov. He says, great fight to get one of these men at Topped Dean. Props for Tua to knocking out Greg Hardy. Romanov is reportedly fighting Jared Vandera on October 9th. I think we're still working to confirm that. So I do believe he will be booked, but certainly could face the winner of that fight, especially if it's Romanov. O'Malley versus Cody Stamen. It seems like the UFC wants to push O'Malley. Might as well give him a top 15 guy. I love the Simone fight. Seems like he's a high-risk. low reward fight. If you want to take the risk,

might as well get a number next to his name. Okay. He likes Toporia versus Mitchell or Alex Gassaris and Duplice versus Julian Marquez. He says, Duplice might be my favorite prospect in the middleweight division along with Makwood Murdof. Give him a guy like

Marquez, who was a popular name, would definitely be a win-will fight. Duplice might be above this fight by now, but I want to see him get one more big win. He said, Mike, you guys are doing a great job. Keep giving me something to listen to at work every Monday. Thank you, Robert. And our pal, Ren Odenheimer, gave us a very well-thought-out email. So, another one I'll read, though I don't like this matchup at all.

This is kind of what I warned about earlier in the show. So he says, wonderful work on the podcast helps him get to the workday. Recently, Danny White said he was surprised Greg Hardy lasted as long as he did, which sounded to me like, I think I'm ready to cut bait on this guy, but I need a reason. Well, with Hardy's lost tonight, if he's not cut right away, then there may be a great way to find out that reason while giving the UFC one more chance to make money off him in the podcast. process. So to stay, he does stay within the rules on the next one. This is a wild card pick. Greg Hardy against another heavyweight coming off some losses who could benefit from a step down in competition to gauge besides the skills to fight the highest level. Greg Hardy says he, I'll abbreviate here a bit. Walt Harris, Greg Hardy, Walt Harris. He says, you know,

an added benefit is that Walt is, oh, sorry, kind of like you said for the Walt to a awesome matchup. Hardy's unlikely to wrestle this intrigue of both men fighting for their jobs. That doesn't appeal to me. And I could see this on the undercard or a pay-per-view or a rare match-up that despite having no championship implications could become a main event on a fight-night card. Ren Odenheimer, thank you for the email. I hate this matchup. I don't want to see Greg Hardy fight anyone anymore, especially in the UFC. If he goes to fight somewhere else, fine. I'm just going to ignore it. I do not want to see him in the UFC anymore. I do understand the thought behind this matchmaking, Mike, I don't know if that idea is a little more palatable to you,

but it could lead to a really a lot of ugliness. And I just, listen, I get it. I get it. This is, I don't think it's more for the style. I think it's more for the Walt Harris rub and how, like, you wouldn't get a more bigger rub at this point in his career than beating Greg Hardy in a fight. I do disagree with one point. I think Greg Hardy would absolutely wrestle Walt Harris. I think he would take him down and he would absolutely try to wrestle Walt, especially after getting ferociously knocked out the way that he did. And he probably should have tried to take tie down in that fight.

Like I thought his game, I thought his strategy was horrendous. The only chance he had would be to wrestle tie. Like that was the only chance I thought he had and it would have been a boring fight. And Greg would have got, I mean, the reaction he would have gotten in Vegas. If he kept trying to take tie to Avazadeau, that would have been glorious. He would have been boot out of the building. It would have been like old Memphis wrestling. dude's jumping the barricade and going in there after the man so i get i mean i get it i don't like

it i don't think the ufc should give greg hardy another shot at this point um like who you get like who you get thrown him in there with chris barnett like that's literally like the only fight that makes sense right now if you're now that rocky martinez is no longer on the roster gregg hardy versus chris barnett is literally the only fight that makes sense at this point for for greg so i think you let him go gregg still wants to compete in combat sports I don't know, Belator even takes a shot of a guy like that. Maybe they would. Maybe it goes to like BKFC or something.

Goes to Gamebred, you know, fighting championships or whatever. But yeah, I think, I, listen, I think at this point, like, you've tried, you've tried this experiment. It's over. Like, it's all over. You've given them favorable matchups. There's been DQs. There's been no contest. There's been inhalers.

There's been inhaler gates. Like, enough is enough. Time to cut bait. That's it. Goodbye. That is the most Greg Hardy talk we've ever had in the show and the most you will ever hear. So again, I appreciate the email, but that's it.

That is all the Greg Hardy chatter for forever. I'm going to go to Instagram next. Michael Conifrey, Mike Connoffrey, always coming in with a funny email. It says, give Ty Marchant-Tabura so you guys can quit talking like he's going to master class steep or something. Look, we have been very supportive. Look, we have just said that Tabara should, the way he's fought competed, is not far off from, like, a top three opponent. He should be fighting the, like, he's almost at the level.

He should be fighting some top three, top four guy. Has he not earned that yet? We're not saying he's going to become a champion. And then he says, hashtag Taibura, T-A-I-B-U-R-A. So excellent work from Michael Connofer. He also added that Bam-Bam, a T-B-B-B-B-B-B-Case. He was going to caches keeping these shooys from random people. Yeah, we're about to settle down.

Settle down. Those shooies were endearing, but my goodness, we are still in the middle of a pandemic. And then he also wants Burns versus Edwards. And it has to be, I think we all agree. That would have to be a five-round fight night main events. 100%. I don't know. Yeah, come on.

These guys deserve the time. Gardner Bailey coming in with Drikas duplice versus Edmund Chabazin. Style-wise, amazing stand-up fight. give Edmund guy on the top of Dean while Drickus gets a name that gives him a rub. And he also likes Tupore versus Yusuf. Again, Tuporea knocking on the top of Dean. And so did he coming off a loss.

And he said high level striking with an exclamation point. It would be great. Matt Bradbury always coming in with like a whole card here. I'll just read some of the best ones. He said Maya versus Viviani Araujo. This was previously scheduled June 27th. Got messed up by COVID a couple of times, actually. So yeah, I'm down for that.

Ryan Hall versus Damon Jackson. Michelle Pereira versus Miguel Baezza. Sean O'Malley versus Haoni Barcellos. He also added, Sean is not going to take this fight. So, you know, I like the wishful thinking. And then Burns versus Edwards and Stephen Thompson versus Willamohman just says, is Doreno the NMF champ now? No. No, I agree.

Not after that promo. What did you call? Heilbert. Heelbert. Burns. No. He turned heel. Yeah.

He won the fight, but what did he lose in? in that full-swight promo you know what i mean he's the m mf champion now he's not the nicest mf he's not the baddest mf he's he's he's like the middle mf after that promo like he's he's a tweeter he's a tweeter he's a tweeter the tmf the tweener the tweeter the tmf yeah he's the tmf he's the tmf he's the tmf he's the tmf he revoked it's a it's the same with it's the same with i mean well i think kamar ouzman is the bmph but you know uh whatever i think mazvnail and his fans are like no he's not the bmph he doesn't fly a little BMF, whatever that means. But yes, yes, Healbert, you did not act like a nice mother effort on Saturday.

That's a very rude, very rude to the crowd in Las Vegas and to some of the other people in your division. JD felt. Oh, sorry, I got a shot at M. M.A. heads again. I love some of these, gosh, M.A. heads always come with some deep cuts. Aldana versus Misha Tate, she beats Renault next weekend? I like that. I like that.

I have to wait and see. Okay, okay. I have to wait and see what kind of performance it is. Like if she go, if Misha goes out there and like eeks out a split decision, there's no way you can do that. Like that, she might kill Misha Tate after the way she fought last night. O'Malley versus Jimmy Rivera, Michelle Panetta versus Gunner Nelson. Gunner Nelson, we have no idea where he's up to. Dracus Duplacey versus Amariak Madov and Zalgas Zumagulov versus David Devorak.

And I'm pretty sure they made this match up just because I keep mixing these two guys up for no good reason. J.D. Feltreier versus Olo, Vera, he was saying he would love if Fore went for a matchup number four, a fight number four with McGregor, go chase that money, but he's going with the title fight first. And then he's also kind of booked some other stuff. Darius versus G., later part of the air, Chandler versus RDA. So kind of sorting out the lightweight situation. And O'Malley versus Cheeto Vera too.

Now, I have been against this rematch for a long time, Mike, but I feel like the timing might be okay for it. I don't hate it. it's it's a back pocket fight if you need it's there yeah you know what I mean I don't think it's necessary because again I think that Cheetos first win was convincing enough but again there's enough controversy there at least from the O'Malley side of things that you can you could absolutely book rematch I you know what and again I thought Sean O'Malley has been kind of playing things perfectly because you know people had asked him during different scrums about his

callouts and feeling like it's too high and they were like he was like, Cheeto fought Joseo Aldo after his win against me. So why can't I jump up and fight guys like that? So I had no issue with that. I mean, if they made it fine, but honestly, I don't I think we will see that fight at some point

and I think by the time we do see it, it'll be much bigger than it is right now. I think both guys will be top five guys at some point and they will meet again. I don't think you need to go to that well now. But if they did, I'm damn sure watching it.

I think you're right. Yeah, it's almost like how we keep bringing up McGregor versus Nate D.S. Though I can think the time now is starting to take away on that one. That might not be as evergreen as it once was. And of course, I have to shout out my fellow GTA, Mark and Buddy, Nevathon, Kuganatham, who's coming in with Connor, he says, if Connor does come back, he likes the RDA fight, O'Malley versus Jim Rivera, Teperea versus Yusuf and Ty. He's with you, tied to your boss of Walt Harris.

He thinks that's the way to go. Now to Twitter, guys, I'm probably not going to read everything here again. It's a long, long list. So I'll do what I can, of course, to get all your guys suggestions in because you guys are the best. I'll let you get organized real quick, AK. I got a shout out one guy on Twitter. Dominic at writing a blank. I think this is the first time he's contributed.

And I'm sorry, I'm just seeing this. But he likes O'Malley Munoz, McGregor Gachie, Tuvasa, Pavlovich, Eldon and Duranemi to Poria. So thank you, Domenic, for contributing. Back to you, AK. All right. So I got a one first timer on Twitter. Kevin Dwyer. He says long time, listener, first time picker. He just moved from Ireland to Vancouver two weeks ago and says now it's an appropriate time to chime in. I assume he means Vancouver, British Columbia. He could mean Vancouver, Washington. If so, you know, shout-outs to Michael Keisa and sick jit-two out there. But I assume meaning British Columbia. Good old Canada. So welcome. Welcome to our country, Kevin Dwyer. He just, he says he likes Duplessi versus the Hall Strickland Loser. That's July 31st. Toporia versus Chad Mendez.

If the rumors of Chad Mendez is, you know, sounds like he's getting a little antsy. He's mentioned an interview, the possibility of a comeback. He hasn't said he's coming back. It's been mentioned. It's been mentioned. Folks, you can Google it. It's been mentioned.

The possibility of Toporia and Mendez. Sorry, I have Mendez coming back. And if he does, I kind of like the idea of using his name to give Tupuria a tough test. Let's put it nicely. Griffin versus Nico Price, which is a fight for some reason. Every time it's mentioned, I feel like I thought it already happened. It does not happen before.

And then Sean O'Malley versus Frankie Edgar, which is a fight I actually love, even though I know it could end in calamity for Frankie Edgar. I do think that's a cool, that would be a cool test for O'Malley. And Ali Abdelaziz was campaigning for it on Saturday night already. Aronski. Aronski. he says Duplice v. Shabazzian serves two purposes

catapult stric us into a major fight with eyes on it gives Edmund someone not likely to wrestle him. Yeah, okay, that's fair. Ben Davidson likes Duplice versus Julian Marquez. Jerry McNulty coming in with Duplice versus Tom Breeze and he had something to say about Diaz and McGregor 3.

Sorry, pardon me, or McGregor Diaz 3. He said horrible ending to the main advantage. It just gives McGregor an excuse in a fight he was going to lose. The only option for him is the Diaz fight or retire, and we won't have to listen to the scumbag again. Delighted for Dustin, hopefully he can win the title now. So again, I don't know if you guys have noticed in our listeners' suggestions so far. There's been a lot of anti-Kona-Megregor sentiment.

Hayes Beth Third, what does some of his fights alike? Griffin versus Jake Matthews, I think it's a fun option. He says Pereira versus Nate Diaz at a fight circus event. in a fight with no time limits, grounded kicks and knees aloud. Now you're talking. Now you're talking my language. Tavares versus Calvin Gasselman

if he loses Canaer on August 21st. I like that one. At Money Magic Mark came in with a lot of suggestions, but one of them he threw out there. McGregor versus Jake Paul. If Jake Paul beats Taran Woodley, I mean, this fight's going to happen eventually. Why not now?

The money's there. Jake Paul, of course, has been needling him all weekend. I've said it in an article we wrote recently that I'd be shocked if this fight never happens. I'll be more surprised if the flight doesn't happen then if it does end up being pulled. Ryan Doherty says, Maya versus Chukagian 2, sure, sure, give her that chance to get past the ultimate gatekeeper.

Duplice versus Mirchart Mirrodov winner. That's been fun to say for a while on August 28th and O'Malley versus Garprandt. So there we go. People like that said, like a lot of people still want that one. J.C. Rodriguez, Aldana versus the Nunez-Pena winner. That's a UFC 265. Tavares versus Marquez, Zuma, Gula, versus Jeff Bolina. Yes, he called for it.

Christian underscore D05 on Twitter. Burns versus Edwards or Cumberton, whoever doesn't get the title shot. Makes sense. Toporia versus Andre Feeley. DePoree. Did you mention that one already, Mike? Toporia Feeley? Yeah, I think we threw that out there at some point.

That was my pick after his last one, too. Very popular one. And he says he's a huge fan of the diamond fan. He wishes to end a bit more definitively. He's the best lightweight in the world, no doubt. Listen, people, if you haven't seen it, check out the MAAfighting.com global rankings that were released this week.

We do have Justin Porre at the top. Some people voted, maybe one person, voted for Charles Olivavera, is this guy. All right, I'll reveal it. If you guys saw the rankings, who voted for Charles Olivera? It's this guy. He's the best lightweight in the world, but Dustin Poiré certainly could be if they fight each other.

Four Corner Sports, NY, with a couple of good ones. Mutino versus Miles Johns. Miles Johns is fighting Anderson Dos Santos next weekend. And then Davy Grant. Why? Why throw up in there with Davey Grant? Come on, guys. Stop it.

And Amali versus Hafelelis and Sadd, who was supposed to fight Amali's buddy, Carla Phillips, but unfortunately that fight is not happening because it's since I got injured. So, yeah, certainly possible. Marcus McGehy has dubbed this on to the next one, the Lafayette edition. He's coming in with I like Pereira

versus Elezu Azaleski. Max Griffin versus Worley Alves sure Zuma Gula versus J.P. Bays and O'Malley, this is another one of my choices I would have had. O'Malley versus Song Yadong if he beats Casey Kenney. So good choices there. I don't think we've mentioned this yet. If we have, I paused if I missed it.

But Thomas Collins likes Toe Vasa versus Bozer. I think that just be ridiculously fun. Topori versus Burgos says Ilya deserves a ranked fighter taking for, oh, no, you know what, sorry, he's talking about a fight that didn't happen. again never mind skipping this skipping this uh he says i'd like to suggest sean o'malley's 10 next fights just have him versus any mhm a fighter that is six and three not currently in the ufc let's just repeat this over and over again see how many uh performs the nights and fight of the

knights the ufc wants to award him let's all right people let's not get carried away here all right listen i get it i get we don't love shot o'malley's matchmaking and uh mike i don't remember thomas collins is the one who's kind of had some dispute over us not crediting him or You not crediting him for a check the tape to pick. Oh, is this, this is Thomas Halfpoint Collins, right? This is, didn't we end up giving him the full point by the end? Didn't we take a half point from someone else and give him the full point? Yeah, I ended up giving him the full point.

Just because it's a well-thought-out argument, but he might lose it now if he has something to say here. He just wants to remind us, Matt Chanel, matchnell versus Alex Bres, did get re-booked, so he's already calling the winner of that to fight Ascar Ascarov. He says, the saga continues. He's not letting go of this thread. semi-casual MMA, first of all, congratulating me for winning back-to-back between the links, winning a singles match, pinning the tag team champion, Jed Mishu, and then taking his and Fernando Pratchez's title.

No, I didn't do it alone. Kristen King, shoutouts the King and I, the tag team champs right now. He likes Tavares versus the Alyn Soriano winner. He says he was not impressed with Tavares' performance, and the winner of that fight is more than deserving of a ranked opponent. DeVaraz needs to do more to get a top 10 middleweight. He's been around forever, but it does feel like he's always just knocking on the door, not quite getting in.

And Duplice v. Anders, both fighters, just in the edge of the rankings, winner would get a top 15 opponent. Liam Perry had a ton, but I loved what he wrote about McGregor Diaz 3 and Burns Edwards. He says, Porre was Oliver's Oliver. And I was always a big McGregor fan since he made it big. And since he made it big, and since he made it big, he's been an idiot.

Tonight he showed what kind of a man he really is. Hard to match for him in the sense, but we don't know how badly he's injured yet. Diaz has to be the fight that makes the most sense, right? It's definitely up there. And for Burns, as well to wait as a minefield at the moment, nobody knows what's happening with Usman Colby.

Is Leon going to wait, risk someone jumping over him? I think Leon versus Burns. Leon wins. Then he's next for certain. Burns may still need one more before a title fight, unless Colby beats Usman. Wonderboy versus Chesa, Keza, Lucke, loser.

So thanks Liam for those well thought out comments. Just a few more to go here, guys. Barry O'Reilly had a ton, which I really liked. I won't read them all. Sorry, Barry, but great suggestions. Jennifer Maya versus Alexa Grasso. I don't know if it's the right fight for Grasso now. I could see it being made.

Ryan Hall versus Cron Gracie. Yes. Yes. This is now we're going in the right direction. Michelle Pereira versus Daniel Rodriguez. assuming Rodriguez wins his fight his fight next week. He is facing a short-notice opponent and Presta newcomer Preston Parsons. So I love that matchup, again, if Rodriguez wins.

Max Griffin versus Shavkat Rakmanov. Just throw him to the Shavkat. Throw him to the Shavkat tank. I don't know. That's scary. Sean O'Malley versus Timor Vallev. Mali's not taking that. But I was wrong.

I did read all these because they're really good. Taito of Vasa versus Tom Ospinal. They're probably going in different directions for now, but it's going to happen down the road, almost for sure. And he says, Conn McGregor to retire. He is done for. His trash talk is pathetic. And this is from an Irishman who was at both of his championship wins.

He also wants to thank us for the shout-out two weeks ago, Mike, when we discussed the Tim Means, Tom Brady, face comparison. So funny. All right. We're down to our top three here, I guess. Well, the last one's for the best one. UFC report. He just says, hey, Alex, have been a vacation. Haven't you going to give him a ton of talk to these matchups.

Enjoy your vacation, U.S. report. He just says he likes Tuvah Vasa Walt Harris and Tavares versus Jack Hermanson, which I hadn't thought of for some reason. I don't know why that didn't occur to me. I think that's a great matchup. Colin Avery, I wanted to read all these. I thought there's some great explanations here. He says, Porre has to fight Oliverinex, no discussion. And he said before on another episode, Darius versus the loser of Porre McGregor.

He stands by it. But Neil versus Connor when he returns. Burns versus Colby, good number one contender fight. give Leon the title shot. I agree. Give Lee on the title shot. I know it's not happening. And he says, Wonderboy to Bellator, so we can see Wonder Boy versus MVP or Wonderboy versus Raymond Daniels, their match at a WCL show. It doesn't count. I would love to see that too in M.MA. I saw, I believe, Nolan King and M.A. junkie saying that Raymond Daniels might be pursuing free agency. So sorry to break your heart, Colin Avery. If Raymond Daniels does end up becoming a free agent,

let's say his contract's not matched, and Wonderboy ends up signing. It'll be like two ships passing, and we'll have missed out on getting to see that fight again. So I like the suggestion, and Wonderboy MVP would definitely be the bomb. Let's end with Brett Mobley, CSUs, Brett Mobley. I thought he had some great comments here. McGregor versus Dos Anios, so RDA can retire him and make it so I never have to hear Conner's name again. He's also down with hashtag Tybrura, Tibera, Pereira versus James Krause, which I really like. He says, Michael arguably, Mike, arguably the best mind in MMA versus, let's say, the most unconventional.

And then here's what he had to say about Ryan Hall. I may read things here that don't make sense, by the way, but I have to read it. He says, Ryan Hall doesn't get a scheduled fight. He instead goes to every UFC pay-per-view and simply chills until fans start booing grappling, at which point any booing fan is offered money to fight Ryan Hall. That should be a good way to see more Ryan Hall and less booing casual fans. It would also kill time instead of me having to listen to Stephen A. Smith. So Brett, you are a prince.

That is my favorite, favorite suggestion of the week. I'm not talking that. He also says in all seriousness, Bryce Mitchell versus Ryan Hall, Ilya, versus Max Holloway. because because Mike and this is where I have to acknowledge something that may or may not have happened Saturday Toporia he says should be given a chance to fight the second best

best feather I hate that I messes up Topuria should be given a chance to fight the second best featherweight in the world since he just beat the best Brett Mowbly go Rams

thank you that is that for me is that's it that is the the listener selections leader right there. Thank you, Brett. You really helped me get over what may or may not have happened on Saturday. Guys, send your suggestions to me via Twitter at Alexander K-Lay-Lee on Instagram at Alexander KK-K-Lee and at email, Alex.Dotley at sbnation.com. Mike? Yes. At Mike Kek underscore J-R on Twitter at M-U-S-K-J-R on Instagram. I literally only had that account for the show because I don't do anything else with it.

I just read DMs on this program and that's pretty much all. So UFC 264 is in the books, the 50th episode in the books. Join us next week for episode 51 as we discuss the aftermath and the fallout of UFC Vegas 31 going down at the apex in Las Vegas.

Main event, Islam Makachev versus Tiago Moises. Pretty interesting fight. Makachev is like probably one of the biggest favorites in a main event in quite some time. We also have the return of Misha Tate taking on the soon-to-be retiring Marion Renault in the co-main event, I believe. Matush Gamrot versus Jeremy Stevens at 155 pounds.

The return of Hadolfo Vietta, taking on Dustin Stoltzvus. Should be a fun fight between Billy Q and Gabriel Benitez. Daniel Rodriguez on this card against newcomer Preston Parsons. Amanda Lamo, she's going to have a very high on at 150. pounds taking on another fighter I've been very high on 115 pounds for a long time and Monster at Ruiz

Khalit Taha versus Sergei Marozoff that's a really good fight and this is an underrated card Anderson DeSantis versus Miles Johns is fun Rodrigo Nazimento versus Alan Bodeau and we see the return of Francisco Figito

against Malcolm Gordon and remember Canada's own we're supposed to see Francisco Figuerito fight Jimmy Flick a while back. And now we, now we're here with Canadian Malcolm Gordon looking for his first UFC win. So that's it. We are done.

Thank you very much for checking out the program this week. We'll see you next time on UFC Vegas 31. Always remember, ladies and gentlemen, don't take this stuff too seriously. MMA is supposed to be fun. We'll have more fun right here next week. On to the next one, the podcast. podcast network.