MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches To Make After UFC 265

Episode Date: August 8, 2021

On the 54th 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 265 event, which took place at the Toyota Center in Houston. Future matchups were discussed for the brand new interim heavyweight champion Cyril Gane after earning a dominant third-round TKO in the main event, Derrick Lewis, Jose Aldo, Vicente Luque, Tecia Torres, Song Yadong, and more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of On to the Next one as we discuss the What's Next coming out of UFC 265 this past Saturday night at a just ruckus-filled Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. We have a brand-new interim heavyweight champion. We have a bantamweight legend who refuses to lose to father time in any way, and we officially have a new player in the title picture at 170 pounds. I feel like some of these picks will be easy.

Others not so much, but that is matchmaking for you. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for joining us once again. And let me just throw out this quick disclaimer. I have very little voice. I don't know if I'm going to make it through the whole show. So if there's certain things that get cut a little bit short, you guys are the best.

The amount of suggestions that you guys send our way is, it warms my heart. I'm just going to say that. It warms my heart. But unfortunately, at least on my end, I'm not going to be able to get to all of them. I'm going to get to as many as I can, but I've got to be able to save my voice for something. You know what I mean? After ring announcing and yelling and screaming, talking for nine hours yesterday,

but no one wants to hear about that. They want to hear from this man, the man who joins me every single week on this program. My fellow warrior, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend, and the Prince of Positivity. He's your best friend, too. Mr. Alex Kaley. Hello once again on this

lovely Sunday morning. My best friend, I hope you and the rest of our best friends know, this show could literally end at any moment. You could just, you could lose, you could lose the ability to speak. If anyone knows, we did a very, very late post-fight show yesterday.

Anytime we have someone on site live, you know, we need to gather all the troops. We've got a lot of post-fight work to do. We don't always get to go on right after. So the show probably ended around, maybe like 1245 1 a.m. which is normal. It takes us a few hours.

There's a reason when our lovely listeners and fans and readers and viewers when they wake up there's a fresh slate of content waiting for them on a fine crispy Sunday morning. And sometimes a Post-Fite show, you know, it happens a little bit late. But guys, it's up there. We did it live yesterday at like 3.30, 4 in the morning. It is up there on the YouTube's for you to consume now. And this will be, I guess, available also on Sunday for people to consume at some point. Yes.

And the Postby Show, if you're in an audio mood only, and is right here on the podcast network as well. Perfect. We just got you covered across the board. They may have already listened to it, Mike. This could be out of order. This could be, I hope you guys enjoyed the Postbyte show, I should say. Yes. You know what, AK, let's just knock out the most obvious answer, right?

Because Cyril Gone is the real deal. This was one of the most, if not, I mean, I don't know if it's number one, but it's definitely in the top three of the most dominant performances in, I know we groaned at the interim title talk, but in UFC history, it's definitely, this is an all-timer in terms of one-way action. This is all Cyril Ghan, he's fighting France and Gano next for sure. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. And I'll tell you, A.K., after that performance, I am 1,000% here for that fight. Yeah, Francis got it. That's, I mean, that's it. Moving on, man, this shouldn't be a fast show. This is great. I love it. No, no, yeah, yeah.

I mean, the dominance is crazy. I think everyone marveled at the stats of how many, just how, how badly Derek Loolew was outlanded. It had never been, I think, in any heavyweight fight in UFC history, no one had ever, there'd been this kind of deficit, or maybe it was in championship history. Either an enormous deficit, he outstruck him like nine to one. Now, you can say, well, you know, we don't see that deficit

because normally when someone's getting outstruck that badly, they would have gotten knocked out a lot sooner, which is fair, which is fair. I think gone has that kind of one-punch knockout power, maybe not that tier A heavyweight knockout power, but like a solid tier B, and he's just going to frustrate a lot of guys going for in the future with picking them apart, and then again, either finishing or just winning these lopsided 50-45, 49-46 decisions. So Saturday it looked like he was probably headed to a 50-45 if he didn't finish in the fight, which he did. Yeah, and he's such an interesting stylistic matchup with Francis Ngano. There's the history of them being training partners.

It's if the UFC can get the card to Paris, how amazing would that be? Of course, Agon is from there and Ngano lived there and is very much a Frenchman as well as a Cameroonian. So there's all the makings of a great, great, great matchup. Hopefully we see that one made sometime soon if we never get, if that Engano-Jones flight is on indefinite hiatus. And Ganu, Gone is not a bad consolation price. Perfect hashtag too. N. Hashtag N.

Oh. I mean, it's just right there. We can work on that. Sure. There's a foundation. There's a foundation for a fun hashtag somewhere. Now here's where things get interesting, AKA, Derek Lewis, because that was a tough loss for him. He has to take a pretty big step back from the title picture for right now.

And I wish Alistair Overeem is still around because this would be the easiest pick of all time. But you can just go a million different directions with this. Can you not like, what do you think is next for Derek Lewis after Saturday night? Gosh, why did you bring up the Overeem matchup? We were calling for that for so long. I don't know which episodes, but at least, I think at least three different episodes. We called for after Overeem's fights, after Derek Lewis's fights. It just made a lot of sense.

It was, ah, now you made me sad that. It's not going to happen anytime soon and very likely never going to happen in the UFC. It would have to happen somewhere else, I think, if it were to happen. Stipey Miochich. Stipe, I think it's a good matter. This is what I would do if I could just make, excuse me, if I could make the fight happen. I don't think Stipe has any interest in this fight. I think he only wants a title fight.

Again, this would not be, they're not going to create another interim title. So I don't know how much of a boost Stipa was getting from being champion, but it was probably considerable. So I think if you're steeped, you're just waiting to see how the Ghan, Jones, Francis and Ghanu, trifecta kind of shakes out,

and you want one of those guys. The only fight he would probably get, a non-title fight, I would get a massive payday for is if they'd match them up with Jones. I think they'd be able to work something out to essentially treat that like a title fight and everyone would be rewarded handsomely.

But a fight with Lewis, I know he's not going to take it. This is just if I had 100% matching power. Just two really exciting, fun veterans. never they've never uh they've never ever pop before uh right i'm not i'm not crazy right it's very early it's very early it's one of those fights where i keep thinking they have i feel like i've written so many articles where i'm listing like stepe's wins and i'm like derrick loosen

i'm like oh no it's not i just i just like backspace it just didn't happen um so yeah so for everyone else who suffer from that same like issue as i am like didn't they fight let's just make it happen so it's a reality and we don't have this confusion anymore i'll tell you if i'm stepey mitch i'm jumping to the highest amount and I'm shouting Derek Lewis's name as loud as possible. Like, everything you said is 100% true. But I believe for Steve A to actually be in this mix as Dana White says he is, especially with seemingly everyone on the same page that John Jones is coming back in 2022.

Dana White keeps saying 2022. There's got to be irons in the fire if he keeps saying 2022. Like, there's been conversations that have been had. had there not he would have said john jones wants a fight he'll call me 2022 22 22 stepey needs to take a fight and derrick lewis would be a name that would put him over the hump at least at least getting the best graces the best of graces that he can be in with dana and the brass and he would be heavily favored to win that fight on top of it so that's what i would do if i was stepe and if i was derrick lewis i'd probably call for that fight too

But that's not the pick I'm going with. And I tease this on the post-fight show. We're going on a journey already? Yes. This is strange. It's way out of left field. But I'm telling you, I think this is the fight that probably makes the most sense. Why not just do the damn Greg Hardy fight, AK?

There's beef there. Lewis will probably knock him stiff in the first two minutes, gives him the hero rub again. It settles a rivalry before Hardy. finally moves on from the UFC and moves on to other things of athletic nature. I think there's something there. I think you could build that fight up. And I know people won't want to see Greg Hardy in a main event,

but for Derek Lewis and Greg Hardy in a main event, people will watch. People will watch that fight, and Derek Lewis would probably beat the brakes off of him. So why not? Just do it. Send Greg Hardy out with a bad L and give Derek Lewis that hero rub that he so wanted in front of his home crowd in Houston. Hashtag no. I'm just, I'm just, no against, look, people know I can't stand Greg Hardy. If it were to me, he wouldn't even get another fight in the UFC.

But I've seen no indication that he is going to get cut. It does sound like he's probably getting one more chance. You could do a lot worse than the Derek Lewis match up. Derek Lewis would very, very much like to have that fight. And again, unlike the steep a fight, unlike a lot of the fights Derek Lewis is in, actually how I think about it, Derek Lewis would be favorite, because he was definitely the underdog against gone. He was heavy underdog against gone.

He was the underdog against Blades. Pretty sure he was favored against Olinick and Latifie. Not sure what Evanov. And then Cormier was definitely an underdog. I'm pretty sure Junior he said. So, Cyracluse is an underdog against most people against Hardy. He'd probably be like a four to one favorite. So, and that's the odds he has not seen in a long, long time.

I think he probably maybe since before the UFC. I don't know. He hasn't seen four to one odds in his favor. So Mike, I don't love it. In fact, I hate it. But you're my best friend and your logic is sound. And I could see the UFC doing it. Yes.

I just, I don't know what else is there. It's Steve A or bust. Like, we're going to fight Alexander Romanov? No, nobody wants to see that. Let's put Derek over. Just give him a fight that people be emotionally invested in for good or for bad. And that's what we do. A.K. Joseo Alto just continues to get better with no signs of slowing down.

He put on a master's. class against Pedro Munoz, which is something that is not easy to do at all, a sensational performance. Bannamway is just so, so good and there's options for him. And this was to me, probably the next one too. This may have been the toughest one for me because you have to weigh out what we want to see happen against what reasonably could happen. And I would love to see the fight that Jose Alta called for. Call for T. G. Dillajah, once in December. I don't think it happens, I'd love to see Aldo versus Sanhagen or Aldo versus Font or Font versus Sanhagen. One of these guys is going to be the odd manned out.

If you sort of that triple threat notion. If I'm Dominic Cruz, I mean, do I want to fight this guy sitting cage eye and watching what he did after that performance? I don't know, man. So I actually haven't made a decision yet. You know what? I'm going to check the tapes. I'm trying to get a point.

I think they'll do Aldo versus Cruz because I would guess. that Fott and Sanhagen will be ready to go sooner than Aldo. Maybe we see them fight in November. Maybe Aldo gets the winner or loser of that fight if he wants to wait even longer. Because I think Dillusha is going to get the winner of Sterling v. Jan. No matter what happens, I think I think Dillashaw is going to get that fight. So I think he's off the table. But if he can't get Sanhagen or Jan, which I don't think he will be able to,

because I don't know if the timelines are going to line up properly for him. I think Cruz is probably the most realistic option because he has named value. He is considered in a lot of people's eyes the greatest band-of-weight of all time, former champion, and it would just be a nostalgic, fun, legends fight. And I feel like if you don't do it now, you're not going to ever get it. You know what I mean? What do you think? I really want Aldo and Cruz.

I still haven't given up on Dillishaw versus Font. So that's sort of why I didn't pick him for Aldo. I really want Aldo versus Dominic Cruz. I don't think Dominor Cruz I mean, everyone should be afraid of fighting Joe Zaldo. He's frigging Jose Aldo. But I think the fact that he saw him up close, I would think the competitor in Cruz would make him more inclined.

I saw a lot of comments on social media yesterday. It's kind of saying, you know what? I want to see Alder Cruz before this, but now I think Aldo would destroy Cruz. I think that's so, I really want to see it. Not Cruz get destroyed. I want to see how they would try and solve each other. I still think Cruz is one of the toughest outs ever at 135.

I don't even mean just winning, just like finding a way to look good against him. You know, he revolutionized this whole style, this fighting style of his. So I'm all in. Nothing I saw. It made me, I think there was a time when I thought Cruz would have had the betting edge. Now I think obviously it's all, though, after that performance. But either way, I still think it's kind of a pick-em fight. I'm not counting Dominion Cruz out of that fight at all.

I still want to see it. Like you said, Dillishaw either gets the title shot, but for me, I want to see him fight Fon. I know there's the Fon-San-Hagan, of course, idea as well, but I think, I want Fonaut to get that Dillishaw fight. I want it for him. And then I would like Aldo to fight, to fight Dominicruz. We got to get some sort of Aldo Cruz or Dillishaw Faber or Aldo...

I'm sorry, Cruz, Edgar. There's all these legends at 135. somehow we haven't been able to make one of these cool legends fights happen at bantamates one of them has to materialize right at some point it does and if they can't make all the crews they got to do cruise edgar like enough is enough we keep saying that we keep saying that i know they get i mean we've been talking about this since either guy moved to 135 but here they are still talking about it do they have to do it because they're not doing it yeah they don't care what we think or or what the fans think they don't you know they don't make the fight the fans want to see you know Jose Young's, credit to him. Now we move ahead to another interesting name coming out of this card in terms of matchmaking

and just overall placement in a very loaded division. Facente Lucke goes out there against Michael Kiesa, and Kiesa is looking sharp on the feet. Nobody really saw that come in. Lans some good combination. Luka lands the big right hand. Kiesa sort of slipped, but then Luka hit him again, stung him a little bit.

Kiesa times a beautiful, take down, and Kiesa is a tough guy to get off of you. Luka somehow gives him his back. He has Luka in bad trouble in a rear naked choke. He is cranking. He looks like he's done. He's hand-to-hand. It looks ugly.

Luka stays patient, turns it around. He slaps out of dars. Kiesa's no choice but to frustratingly tap. And Luka gets a huge win. What a finish for him. The guy has gone in the casual eye as a, you know, a fun top 10 guy with violent intentions, to now a top five guy come Tuesday knocking on the door of a title fight.

In fact, you can make the argument. He could fight for the belt right now. He's not going to, but you could make that argument, and no one's going to say you're wrong. So, AK, just looking at this divisional landscape, there's not a ton of options currently in front of him. There's one, but he also has a teammate and friend vying for that fight as well. What do we do with Vicente Lucke after the biggest win of his career?

I said this on the post-fight show, Mike. Shoot for the moon, land among the stars. Shoot for the Jorge Mazvedol and land among the Nate Diaz. Or say, sorry, shoot for that. I messed it up. Shoot for the Kamara Usman, land on the Nate Diaz. I think Jorge Mazbado will also be a great fight. I just think Nate Diaz is a little more realistic.

It's a fight that Luke is called for before. I'm glad he pivoted on Saturday and went for Uzman instead. I do think that is the more savory matchup for Vicente Lucay. But obviously, Nate Diaz is still an enormous name. If he wanted to sign up for what would be an all-action fight against someone he would have to respect. You know, Nate Diaz is always dissing people for not being real fighters, not being real finishers.

Nobody at 170 finishes fights more than Vicente Luque. I think 12 out of his 13 U.O.C. appearances are finished. Maybe 13 out of 14 now. I have to do a count again. But either way, all but one. All but one of his wins have come by way of finish. So, Nate Diaz just make it happen. I think it could be a great pay-per-view five-round, pay-per-view co-main event,

or even if there's a strong main car, you put him on a fight with two title fights. Throw that, throw another five, Nate Diaz five-round on there. Excellent, great ESPN headliner. There's just a lot of ways you can go with that I think Luque has earned it. If he's not going to get that title shot, he does deserve a big name. And who can complain about Lucay and Nate Diaz? Yeah, I mean, look, Leon's there. that would make sense if they made it.

Burns, I think makes more sense for Leon right now. Like, if Leon wants to get that title shot, you've got to get through Gilbert Burns. I mean, you could do the Wonderboy rematch. You could try to avenge that loss against someone ranked in front of you because Wonderboy is ranked number four right now in the UFC rankings, not the real rankings. But, I mean, honestly, I think the best thing he can do is hope he can land either the Mazdaal or Diaz fight. And the one thing that I think holds him back is if the UFC decides to run it back

between Mazadol and Diaz. That would be the one hurdle. Yeah. But I think that win, I think that victory makes Nate much more interested in that fight. I think he sees an interesting puzzle to try to solve.

I think he sees a really fun challenge. So if I'm throwing a dart in this weird division right now, it's Nate. I think he's got a really good shot of getting that fight. So we're on the same page, my best friend. Yep.

UFC, just do it. Just do it. Send the offer to Nate. Don't even think about it. I mean, whatever, whatever it costs you to make it happen. Nate Diaz is still worth it at this point. And Vigentee Luque is a guy who is never going to sell himself. So you have to help him.

You need to throw him in a matchup with a guy like a Nate Diaz to build his profile. So this is the only way to do it is by beating guys with a bigger name than him. So it works out for everyone. And it's not going to hurt Nate Diaz if he loses. He's Nate Diaz. Tisha Torres looked phenomenal on Saturday. Okay, she defeats Angela Hill, fun fight, great performance from Tisha. She was throwing hands.

That rivalry officially gets put to bed. And after losing four in a row to some of the big names in this division, people had just given up on Tisha Torres. She was in gatekeeper status. And, you know, I don't know if she's completely gone past that. But gatekeeper isn't always a bad thing. Like Tisha is the litmus test for all the up-and-coming fighters at 115 pounds. And normally we see, like, if you are a legit title contender, you have to prove it.

by beating Tisha Torres. And if you're not or not just, you're not quite there just yet, Tisha's going to beat you. She's going to piece you up. And that's what she did on Saturday. And now she's won three fights in a row in the best women's division in the sport of mixed martial arts. So, AK, I'm interested to see where you're going with this. I'll start with you. It's time clearly to give her a step back up in competition to see how she does.

She's beating prospects. Now she beat a vet. What do we do with the tiny tornado now? I had a little bit of trouble with this one at first, but then I realized, how is this fight not happened before? Her and Claudia, Claudia Gadalia. I mean, it's right there. It's right. Two fighters who have been around forever, have fought everyone, again, in their division, somehow not fight each other. Great stylistic matchup. Claudia is a powerful striker with really, obviously elite grappling. Tisha has rarely let anyone with strong grappling, like control her.

She's just so fast, so speedy, such a great athlete. So I like her. So I like how she matched it with Claudia. And Claudia, I have ranked higher than Tisha. So this would be sort of something to inch Tisha up the top ten. So, yeah, again, this is from the house. It's not happened before department. And I think, again, this would be a great main card fight somewhere. This could be on a pay-per-view, or ESPN preliminary headliner,

if you, you know, however you want to schedule those things. So I like Torres and Gidele. I think it needs to happen at some point. Yeah, shouts to Fall Riva, Mass, born, and bred. Tisha Torres. Yeah, I'm with you, man. Like, how could it be anything else? Like, for a while now, between you, myself, and all the listening suggestions,

suggestors out there, we've been trying to fill a spot for several months now. Who should fight Collegiaia? We have our answer. These two have never fought each other. Not only that, they never even been bumped against each other. Somehow. Somehow, it's crazy. Yeah.

Yeah, I was looking back on my notes. And I had Goodelia as like my second choice for so many people. But this is my first time. This is my first time using Goodelia as an official Otno pick. And I feel very, very good about it, Mike. I think I'm with you on that. And according to the real rankings that matter, Tisha Torres is number 10. Claudea Goodellia, number eight.

There you go. Problem solved. Gadele's going to fight. Torres got to fight inside the top 10. She gets what she wants. Inches closer to that title shot that she hopes to get someday. And onwards and upwards for the tiny tornado. As we move ahead to Song Yadong, who gets back on track, defeats Casey Kenny via split decision.

Let me just say this, A.K., because I saw, for some reason, and I looked at M.A. Decisions, because I will admit, I did not watch this fight. This is the one fight I did not watch. I heard it was close. I heard it was good. I've seen everything from 3027 Yadong to 29, 28, Casey. M.A. Decisions, I think, only two media members scored it for Casey. everybody else scored it for Song Yudong.

Was this correct? You probably watched it pretty indebtly. Song Yadong won this fight clearly? Yeah, yeah. I had it definitely a pretty clear 29, 28, Song Yadong. It was a little bit frustrating if you're someone who kind of sees Casey Kinney as, as a top 10 guy, as a top five guy with sort of with his skill set. Because, yes, Song is a good grappler, but he hasn't really had to show it in the UFC.

so I would have loved to have seen Casey Kennedy test that more. I don't know if there's something that Casey Kennedy's team saw. Again, like I said, a song has the reputation of a good grappler, so maybe they know more than we do. But I thought Casey Kenny would have had the advantage in the wrestling and in the submission game. I really would have wanted to see him change levels a little bit, change up his strategy, but he was very content to just strike it out with him.

And on the feat, while he's an improving striker, he doesn't have the power of Song Yodong. And this was very apparent in a lot of the exchanges. So it was a puzzling strategy. Again, this is very, you know, Sunday morning corner man, as it were. And I'm sure, I'm sure Kenny and his team know better than we do. But as sort of an observer, someone from the outside looking in, it was a little befuddling. Because I say this as someone who had picked Kenny to win.

So maybe I'm just overlooking song too much. I don't know. Maybe there is no scenario where Kenny beats song. But two straight split decision losses now for Kenny. So he's such a great talent, obviously. Something has to be tweaked to get him over that hump. Yeah. No, I didn't watch this fight, but just judging by what I've read and what you just said,

there's two things that really stuck out to me when it comes to Casey Kenney. One, he's got to get his weight cut on track because there's been like three or four straight fights where he comes to the scale. He looks awful. He looks bad. And I ask him about it every time I interview him about the way, Kenny. said it's not a problem, but he doesn't look good when he gets up there. I don't know, like, if he's just not cutting soon enough, if he's not utilizing the UFCPI, he doesn't look

that healthy stepping on the scale for a Banimate fight. And this guy used to make 1.25, which is insane. I was going to ask, do you think there's no chance? He, what hell is he in it? Like 30, right? He's like 30. He's around there. Yeah, I would say late 20. It's maybe 30. There's no, is there no chance he can, if he, if he, like, got a really strong. strict diet and everything was right. Do you think he could go back down to 125? He was giving up, he was giving up something to song to song. Size-wise, he was definitely giving up something. Yeah, I think, I think his days of 25 were over. He's sort of said it. He hated that cut. And getting to 135 doesn't seem to be much funny either. And the other thing I sort of thought

of is that Casey Kennedy and his team just tried to be a little too cutesy-wutsy with this whole thing. Because Kyler Phillips used a lot of wrestling when he beat Song-Yodong. So maybe like Song-E-Dong. So maybe, like, Song was like, oh, I got to work on my wrestling the entire time because if Kyler Phillips try to take me down, Casey Kenny, sure is hell is going to try to take me down. And maybe John Crouch and the crew over there is like, you know what, dude, don't even try to take him down. Just try to beat him up on the feet. And maybe song was ready for that. Who knows? But you know what's crazy is Casey got a take down in the last, like, 15 seconds of the fight.

And he got it so easily. He got it so. Now, again, this could be because the fight was already over. Songs kind of relaxed, I think, may have been known that he had the fight in hand. So, you know, no point in exerting too much effort to stop a takedown. It could have been that earlier in the fight, that takedown wouldn't have been there. But it looked very easy. Song did stuff, I will say.

I think he did stuff one take down during the actual, like the meat of the fight. But again, hindsight 2020, who knows if Kenny could have done something differently and won the fight. But, again, two straight losses now. And I think Casey needs to sort of get off the bonus train a little bit. I mean, you listen to the interview that I did with him. The way he viewed this fight is I'm either getting a knockout in 75,000, or 50,000, as it were, or this is going to be fight of the night. Like, those are his two options. So he's going in there to sling, and, you know, sometimes you just got to worry about that second paycheck.

And who knows, maybe Casey Kenny is just rolling in the sponsorship dough, and we don't know it. You know, Kenny, submissions get performance bonuses, too. That's right. I mean, don't tell that to Johnny Munoz who didn't get a bonus last day. Like, every other finisher got a bonus last day. Come on, look at him. Both got submissions and got bonuses. So I'm just saying, again, I'm not Kenny.

I'm not his team. But please don't go away from your strengths. Like we've just seen so many young fighters do. Don't forget your strengths. Who know we would spend the most amount of time on this fight. But here we are. We didn't get to talk about it really on the post-week-show. But here's the thing about Song-e-dong.

He's only 23. He's even 24 in December. There's so much room to grow and improve. It is absolutely insane. And unfortunately, for one song you don't, the road does not get any easier for him. And to me, this is a good bounceback win for him, but I need to see more. I still need to see more. Yes.

I'm going to go with Hione Barcelos, AK. A lot of people, myself included, I don't consider Hione Barsellos's last outing a loss. It should have been a draw at worst against Timor Valleyev because there was a 10-8 round that the judge is just didn't give him a 10-8 round for it. It's asinine that this keeps happening. I think Timor is very good. He has a very bright future. And because he got that win,

he's a little higher up in the pecking order, in my opinion. If they want to do the Timor fight, I'm fine with that. But, yeah, I'm going with Song Yidong versus Hironi Barsals. That is a damn good fight. Man, Carla Phillips also didn't get that 10-8 against Paiva. They really, uh... It's insane. Is there something about Bantam weights?

Can Bantam weights not get 10-8s? I'm confused. Are they underestimating how much damage these guys are doing to each other in some of these rounds? That's crazy. Or are they too tough that some of these guys are so tough that it looks like, oh, they're still in it. That's not a 10-8, excuse me. Yeah, I went a little bit higher, but the song is so difficult to match me for, as you mentioned, 23 years old, six one-in-one in the UFC.

So it just looks at the wins and losses. That is the record of a top 15 guy. I have him just outside of it. He's coming three-bytes, which, I don't. I think this fight was particularly controversial, but it was a split, so it's on paper was close. A loss to Kyler Phillips, sorry to say four straight fights. A loss to Kyler Phillips, very definitive. Very close, controversial win over Marlon Vera.

Many people thought it was a robbery. I didn't agree, but very strong contingent of people thought that it was. And then a majority draw with Cody Stamen, which he could have lost. He had an point deducted. I think the draw made sense. I'd have to go back and watch it. But obviously, Cody Stamen would argue differently. So that's four straight fights where he hasn't quite, hasn't quite put that exclamation point on.

And again, I think the Kenny fight is the most convincing of the four performances, but still went to a split. So aside from judging incompetence, like you said, you need to see a little bit more. So I didn't know. I have him, I have him, like, right outside the top 15. I have a lot of experienced veterans behind him. I have some, and I don't think, and there's a lot of guys in the top, like, 12, 13, who I think would, like, kill him at this point in his career. But I landed on, I think, the perfect name. I'm going to go Jimmy Rivera.

I'm going to go, El Terror, because Jimmy is a good fighter, a veteran. He's in my top 12. He's someone, I think Song would have a chance to beat, but also someone that if he lost to, I don't think it would be super discouraging. I think he could learn a lot from a fight with Jimmy Rivera, win or lose. So I am going to try and bump song up here in the rankings a bit, and I'm going to give him Jimmy Rivera. I thought about that one myself, but I'm thinking.

still I'm still in on the Cheeto Vera of Jimmy Rivera fight to be made. I just couldn't get past it. But now it's time for the wild card round where we're going to select one fighter that competed at UFC 265 that we have not match made for yet. And we're going to do it right now. So AK lead us off, B.R. Kenny Lofton. Who is your wild card pick for UFC 265? Well, first of all, now you made me forget that I also wanted Vera to Fire a Vera.

Well, you know what? I am now lost. That is no longer my honor. It's locked in. It's lot. Well, no, Song Rivera is now logged in. I have lost the rights to my ought-no point. If Rivera Chito Vera gets made, it is now on the record.

I cannot score a point for that. Okay. I have now moved on. Okay. Miles Johns. Miles John's, my wild card pick. This guy, gosh, where is he? Like, I'm just trying to look at my personal rankings here.

So he's very low, obviously, just because there's so many good bad. He's barely scraping my top 50. But Miles Johns absolutely is the talent. of a top 30 bantam weight. This guy's so good. I was really excited for the Anderson Dos Santos fight. I thought it would be a little more competitive. I did think John's going to win.

But what a performance by this guy, again, this division is so ridiculous. Honestly, again, you could throw them in there with someone in the top 30, top 20, and I wouldn't be like, oh, Miles Johnson get blown out. I'd be like, whoever he got matched up with is probably really, it's really not going to want to take this fight.

So, but I went moderate with my pick here. I'm going to go with the Brian Kelleher, Domingo Polarte winner, August 21st. I really would like to same fight Kelleher. That's really my preference. So, you know, I really had Kelleher in mind with this one. But Palate would make a lot of sense, too, especially if he beats Brian Kelleher. That would tell us a lot about him as a prospect as well. So Val Jones is ready, honestly, ready to climb up the rankings.

He's two fights away probably from a top 20 opponent. And I think Brian Kelleher should he win, would just be a super fun matchup. I hate to do it to our boy. you know, our boy friend of the show, Brian Kelloggher, but I think he'd love to fight Miles Johns as well, and we'd get a fun result either way and someone moving up the charts. AK, I think one of the things that sticks out about the show is that people feel that you and I just, we know where each other is going with different things. Like, we know where a wild car picks are going to start, we know where they're going to go, and we know who, like,

each of us might go with and who we might not go with, and boy, I read this one wrong. I thought you were jumping right on the Fiziv train because I'm also going with Miles Johns A.K. I'm also going to Miles Johns. What happened? We got to plan these things out, Mike. I know. I didn't think. I thought I was like, I was like, you're going to pick Fiziv.

I'll dig deeper. Here we are. But listen, I'll just say Fizier versus anybody, sign me up. I mean, there's really no like perfect matchup for Fiziv. So you can just throw them in there with anybody and people are going to watch. But I'm going with John's second straight, brutal knock. when this is a guy that I've been hearing about and been paying attention to since he turned pro.

He's so good. His wrestling is unbelievable. And we don't even really get to see it that much because he just is so powerful of the striking. He's only going to get better. The relationship he has with Safe Sayyud and everyone over at Fort SMA, he just believes in everything around him.

And I will say I called that finish perfect, by the way. Third round, nailed it. He's only 27? It's insane, man. I thought he was 30 for some reason. Not that 30 is old, but I thought he had like a few more years on him. 27. He's not even near his athletic prime yet.

He's still like two or three years away from it. It's crazy. Holy crap. If anyone didn't watch that, it was like the second fight. Watch that fight. You guys would be like, holy crap, this guy's going to contend some day. Yeah, he's really good. And he looked phenomenal on the contender series, too.

I guess Ritchie Santiago. Just, I mean, if Santiago wasn't just that New England zombie guy, he would have put him away. but my first initial thought was, I want to see the rematch with Adrian Yannas, but I think Adrian is just a little bit too far ahead of him at this point. But this matchup just popped in my head, and maybe it's too high.

Maybe I'm shooting a little bit too high here, but I just couldn't shake the feeling, A.K., and I still couldn't shake it after two hours of sleep. Miles Johns versus Davy Grant scratches all my inches. That's so good. Fire. That's so good. That's so good.

I do like John's, yeah. For anyone who's wondering, that was, I believe that was John's last fight before. That wasn't both their last fights before the UFC, was it? LFA title fight, right? Yanez fought again, I believe, and then he was on the contender series.

Yeah, and then John's was a contender series right after that fight. Yeah, I think, yeah, because Yonnas didn't go on the contender series at the following year. And John's won by split. Split decision? LFA, is Elefatia? Yeah, so that'd be a great.

We'd love to be amazing to see how far the guys have come since then. And, oh, that's such a sick fight. But Miles Johns is really no bad matchups for him at 135 right now. That was awesome. Do we have a check the tapes or anything? Plenty. Plenty. Mostly consensus.

But I'll go first. Special shout out to at Noah Preskell on Twitter, who he called Garbrand versus Kai Kar-France. I think a lot of us had matchups for Gar-Brand at Flyweight, but he specifically said Kai Kar-Franz. I can't remember if anyone else called for it, but Noah Pressco, that is, you are getting your flowers right now.

That is supposed to be happening on December 11th. Listeners, a lot of people, of course. Good job, guys. Nailing Costa versus Vittori, October 23rd. Machachev versus Hafeldosanos. UFC 27, October 30th. Mike, you were very insistent on this matchup last week, as was email listener, Robert Miller,

and Twitter listener, Thomas Collins, for Sean Strickland versus Luke Rockhold UFC 28 November 6th I was never against it I always thought it was a cool idea I thought there was other ways to go with Strickland but it just made way way way too much sense for him to be the guy to welcome Rockhold back to competition

so yeah good job good job checking the tapes everyone if I missed one please guys let me know you know you know I'll always give you credit another time but overall everyone pretty on point pretty on point how did none of us predict Fador and Tim Johnson come on guy Come on. I was looking back on like, surely someone must have predicted this matchup.

Not a one, guys. Not a one. We're asleep at the wheel here. Come on. That reminds me, if you have not listened to Between the Links yet, because it's the only way you can actually check out the show this week. It was not on video. Go back and check that out.

The final question of Between the Links was both A.K. and Spencer had to talk to me like I was Scott Coker and sort of react to Fador versus Tim Johnson and like what you would want to say to me in reaction to it and there's two differing opinions on this and we're asking you guys to decide who wins the game so go ahead and listen to both arguments they're both very compelling, they both made sense and let us know who you think, just DM me like you do for this

but a lot of suggestions, a lot of DMs. I'm not going through all these, I'm probably only going to go through a very small percentage of these just to save my voice. I'm going to go from like three or four from the right column, three or four from the left column, and just go. Standard disclaimer, Mike. Yes, go ahead.

Guys, we're going to try and emphasize winners, though this week it's probably a little all over the place. The fighter could already book. Guys, I specifically did not mention matchups. This happened a bunch of times this week. Check your checktapology.com, all right? They're the best at collecting reports, official bookings, rumors, and see if someone's booked.

I don't want to hear it if you put them against someone who already has a fight. You may have just made a mistake, wrong weight class. The guys have bought already. You probably didn't remember. Someone's injured. We don't have talking about them. And then you prick might just be doo-do and we don't want to read it. So go ahead, Mike.

Like you said, it'll be a little bit shorter this week. But please, you love all suggestions. Please keep sending them in. If you don't get mentioned this week, you will definitely get mentioned another episode. Yes. And I've just immediately, I've just literally thought of an idea how to make it up to you. So we'll go to that in a moment. Mike, don't make promises we can't keep.

I think we can keep. Don't make promises we can keep this one. I think we can keep this one. This is pretty easy. All right. Kyle Smith. Hey guys, love the show. Fiziv and Green I had for Fight of the Night.

What a hell of it back and forth. Loved see Fiziv facing off with Brad Riddell in the near future. I like that fight too. For the main card, Yadong versus Kenny fight was real close. I liked to see Song Yudan go against Cody Stamen. They are rematch, controversial draw in that fight. I wouldn't mind seeing that one again myself or maybe Ricky Simone. He's with us.

Tisha Torres against Degadalia or maybe Nina Nunes, Fecente Luque. could see him getting the loser of Covington and Usman, maybe the Wonderboy rematch. Aldo look great tonight. Maybe see him up against Rob Font or have a legend's fight against Cruz. Derek Lewis didn't really look like he showed up tonight.

Zero gone looked pretty decent tonight. I think that's not given. Is I. Yeah, I think that's... Come see, come see, come so, come see, come so. As you would say in his performance. Come see, come so. Our man, Con Whizzle 91.

Sean, great car tonight. Francis Gone. Matchup goes to those things. I'll go Aldo versus Font, with TG having the long suspension. Uh, let's see if there's anything different here. Manel K versus Sumerji, if we can overlook the weight miss. I think that's an okay fight.

I think that one makes sense because I have Summadaergy ranked behind Menel Kopp, and Menel Kopp should not be... Again, when you miss weight like that, you should not be rewarded with a higher fight. Chris London, he goes, first of all, glad you got a chuckle out of Roe versus Wade last week. I mean, obviously, Ghanmerzegano. He's Aldo, triple threat. sort of thing. Lukai versus Mazadol.

Okay. Or the title. Torres versus Amanda Lamosh. I don't mind it. I don't mind it. Walee's going on the warpaths saying what like everyone's afraid of Amanda Lamos now or something like that. And it's like, I don't think Torres would be afraid of her at all.

Torres would be very happy to take that matchup. I hate that fight for Tisha Torres so much. I think Amanda Lamos could fight a top five contender right now and has a good chance of winning that fight. But, listen, I don't mind the matchup. It makes sense. But right now, you've got to give Tisha a fight with somebody ranked above her. She's earned that right at this point.

Like, sink or swim, give it to her. The Dahlia fights perfect. Let her fight quadia. If she wins, she keeps moving up. If she loses, go fight Lemosch. If she got booked against Lamos, it would give you a pretty clear indication of what the matchmakers think of Tisha Torres at the stage of her career. Yeah. Chris is with you.

Yudong versus Rivera. Fizzi versus Redell Hooker or Tiago Moises. Alonzo Menafield versus Misha Sarkinoff. There you go. We'll do one more. He said Menafield versus Circonoff? Yeah. Yeah, I saw a lot of that.

Keegan Elliott. Once again, hope you enjoy the fights. Had a great weekend. Think you got to set up Luke A versus Edwards as the title eliminator matchup. Does that have a rematch, right? A rematche. Yes. Edwards.

Edwards beat him. Yeah, it was a long time. It was a long time. Long time ago. I'm okay with that. Michael Kiesa versus Bilal Muhammad. I think that's a fine fight. Yeah.

That's a fine fight. And they would do such a good job of selling that, I think, in a cordial way. I think both guys would get along, but they're both really good. Well, Balaw's really good on social media. Pretty good in interviews, too. And then, and M. K's obviously very media season. So really, that'd be an awesome. I think it would be a great fight night made events.

I don't know if it has enough star power for some people. For that to me, it's like screams, like an apex main event. on ESPN, it'd be so much fun. Yeah, we'll see how KSA sort of bounces back mentally from that loss. He took it pretty hard, and he's a competitor deep down. He saw gold in his sights, and now he takes a step back. You can't take a step back in this division. It's unfortunate.

He likes Fizziv versus Drew Dober as well, and then he can move on to other things. Where are we at? Robbie Ryan. Let's see if there's anything new here. well not it won't be Burns for Lucke Fizzy versus Suruki

now that ain't gonna happen both management the same guy Menafield versus Jimmy Crude AK K Yeah he is fighting Jamal Hill So I did see a lot of

Menafield versus either Either the winner Slash loser of that fight Just just one Which I think makes sense Yeah either one Would be a logical matchup Regarups of the outcome

Yeah I don't know I think that's way too high I have a step up for him right now For Menefield? Yeah I wouldn't put Jamal Hill that far ahead of him. Maybe Jimmy Crute. I think Jamal Hill, even if he won, wouldn't be that far ahead of.

I mean, he would take Crude's spot, I guess. I mean, I'll give me. I mean, Menafield went three good rounds and beat Ed Herman in every round, so good on him. My fight prediction did not go, according to plan, with Ed Herman pulling out a miracle in the third round. But you were waiting for it at any moment. Skaldugger, yes, sir was. Because a lot of us pick first round, knockout. And then once it went to the third round, I'm like, Mike is just waiting for.

for that spinning back fist from Ed Herman to just drop Meadowfield. He's somewhere just cackling right now. I'm waiting for Herman to drop the kick to the ding-ding. You had it's like ready with the screenshot of your topology picks and just like waiting, just waiting. If he landed a low blow and the ref missed it and then Herman finished the fight, I mean, that's it. I would retire from making picks at that point.

Mace Bro 21. He wrote Aldo twice. Maybe two ideas. Dillishaw and Sean O'Malley. I don't know if you meant Pedro Munoz versus John O'Malley, but you put Josealdo twice, but I'll read it as it says. Confusing. Lucay versus Leon. Casey Kenny versus Cheeto Vera.

Metafield versus Brennan Allen. No, unless Brennan Allen goes to 205, maybe. I don't know. Minel Kopp versus Pantosia. Fizzi versus Diego Fajara. That is, of course, Fiaira can beat Grant Dawson. That fight is coming up soon. No guarantees there.

Yeah, that's a crazy fight. I really like that fight. And then he likes Kiesa versus Muhammad. Christian Lee, where are we at here? Fizzi versus Redell, Udong versus O'Malley, Torres versus Zhang Wei Li. Torres versus, they fought already. They fought, yeah, it wasn't close. I mean, yeah, I don't know.

And it wasn't super long ago, I don't think. That would have been, I'm just looking here. That would have been over two years ago, but I don't know. I just not seeing a lot of calls for a rematch yet. And then we'll end with our friend Tristan Gordette, see if there's anything new. He's got a couple of wildcards. Miles Johns versus Adrian Yannes. Time for the rematch.

Yannes would probably want to run that one back. He also likes Johnny Munoz versus John Castaneda. I think my dream fight of Johnny Munoz, not a dream fight, but I think the fight that the U.S. should have booked right away because of the storyline. But Johnny Munoz versus Draco Rodriguez, I think that fight is probably not happening now. I just don't know if Dr. Rodriguez. I don't know if he gets another shot, honestly, after losing last night. But we'll say, I couldn't be wrong.

I think he might, but I was surprised he lost to Vincent Morales. He was a good fighter. I just thought that Draco would have been favored there. And let me just real quick. I mean, if I didn't say, if I didn't, I'm not going to. Listen, if I didn't say your pick or say your name, just know that we love you, okay? And it's not your fault. It's not you. It's not you.

It's a guy. It's a wacky week. It's been a wacky week. It's a wacky week. A.K., on to you, my friend. Yeah, all right, I'm going to try to not read everyone's name this week, but I usually can't avoid it. Let's start with the emails. Joe Young from Australia.

He's telling me, how should we now, should we pronounce Melbourne? He says Melbourne is the way to go. Didn't another Australian reader tell me, a listener tell me last week or a couple weeks ago to go with Melbourne? That's what I was always told. Yeah, if I'm, guys, if you're from Australia, please let me know which way you'd like to hear it. I'm pretty sure I just got one vote in Melbourne. And I got one vote, Melbourne, which is, I would imagine how you would say it with a North American accent. But, again, I don't know which is preferred.

But so far I'm hearing. So this week, it's Melbourne. This week is Melbourne. He just says, Aldo versus Font. But he remembers, he says, he's like me. He picked font for TJ. That's right. Joe Young, don't give up on that.

So he says, he'll go Aldo versus Aljo, assuming he loses to Jan. Harsh. Harsh. Hashtag Aldo Aljo. I like that joke. I like the idea. But come on, people. Let's not count out Al Jermaine Sterling just yet.

I know a lot of people don't agree with him getting half of the votes in our MMA fighting global rankings. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. And I mention this to Casey. He didn't think that it was like this, but I could not have disagreed more. Oh, boy. Isn't Jose Alito like the biggest Al Jermaine Sterling fan on the planet right now?

Like his, the only way he probably gets to a title shot anytime soon is if Aljo just disposes of John, right? Correct, correct. We won't see that Yonbury match. We could see it someday, but not anytime soon. Much more allowed me that. He'll have two wins over him. If Aljo won't. Yeah.

It's over. But in this scenario, I guess they're saying if he loses, Aljo loses, then Aldo would not be his fan. It would have to beat him up. Okay, fair enough. He says, Luke Gay is tough to match up. No to making Leon Edwards fight again. It's like he predicted what you're going to say this episode.

He said, shame on Mike Heck if he makes that fight. Leon Edwards and Vicente Lucke. He's surrounded by friends, and this is very poetic. He's surrounded by friends and past foes, but we can't have him sitting on the sideline. I know it's not the best, but Luque versus Magni. He beat him already, I think, did he not fight?

Did he not beat up? Oh, no, that never had that fight. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Keza and Magna. I'm sorry, Keiza just fought Magne, not Luque. So, sure? Yeah, okay. Or Colby if slash when he loses to Usman. Colby versus Brazil storyline can be reignited.

He wants Ferguson versus Fizzi. if Redell versus Ferguson doesn't happen. Sure. I saw that from a few people as well. Song versus Hafeel, Asson Sao, and Torres versus Jan. And Menafield versus Zirconab. Like I said, Medafield, I'll try to avoid repeating that. Metafield versus Serconab was by far the most popular matchup I saw for Alonzo Meadowfield.

Casey Carpenter, first timer, says, first they want to say they hope, this is just inaccurate, but the goat of between the links, Jed is feeling better. Yes, everyone. Jed was absent from BTF. He was a little bit under the weather earlier in the week. I filled in for him on the morning report, but he was back by Friday, and he was back and kicking with some hot tweets and some terrible takes for the weekend. So don't want to not work yet.

It's doing just fine. Casey Carpenter says they love all of the MA fighting podcasts and the site. First time messaging you guys. Thank you, Casey. So welcome. And they had to send an email for the last week's show. So it's going to sound crazy, but they want to see a 2008 situation here with Gone Defending Against Jones, Francis versus Steep A3.

By the 2008 situation, I believe they're referring to Antonio Rodrigo Nogera was interim champion, and he fought Frank Mier, and then Brock Lesnar was the undisputed champion. Shane Carman was also in there. Either way, at some point there was almost like this mini four-person tournament involving both the interim title and the undisputed heavyweight title. I think that's what Casey is talking about here. Yeah. So they say, I know this won't happen, but I just love the Gone versus Jones fight. Aldo versus Font for sure, Torres versus Yan, and I think Sondi.

versus O'Malley would be good both top prospects that will probably won't happen I agree I think they're going in different directions and I dread the trash talk that would come out of the O'Malley capture that fight you made and cop versus Benavides would be a banger hey if he made weight I wouldn't be okay with that but he didn't make weight so you can't you can't do that finger of shame finger of shame oh by and I say as much I don't like the song O'Malley matchup that was probably the most popular match of my soft or song let me take a quick look at my notes here yeah

Song-O-Malley by far was the one people threw out there. And Casey also wanted to add, Lukai should also potentially be a backup for the Colby-Cohsman fight. Yeah, I like that. I agree. Yeah, yeah, I'm into that. Poor Leon. Why do we keep forgetting him?

The Wren, okay, I want to realize. Torres, this is a rematch with Carla Esparza. Carla does deserve the title shot. I think we all agree. But, oh, and then the Wren here is saying, sorry, this is Ren Odenheimer. It says that perception could be lost if she doesn't remain active. I just, that's hard. Oh, how dare you?

Poor Carl Sparza. I'm saying, Rand is not wrong, though. Carla Sparza does not have an evergreen name where they can just say, oh, Carla's on a five-fight win streak. She's very much, unfortunately, in that what have you done for me lately, realm of fighters? And she shouldn't be. She should have gotten this title fight like one fight ago. But straw weight, at the top of the straw weight's a little bit convoluted at times. The top of straw weight does not move very quickly.

Unfortunately, it's somewhat glacial. No, but you can't, she can't go back and fight Tisha. That's absolutely insane. But listen, I will say this. She should get the title shot. 1,000%. I have a feeling that Zhang Wei will get the rematch. Maybe they do it in November.

The only other fight that I would be okay with for Congress. For Carla Esparza is the rematch with Yanni and Jacek. Anything else, I have no interest in. It makes no sense. It feels like it's time for it, too. And then I got a last email here from Zachary Leff, who wants to see, among some of the other popular picks. Lou Ge versus Thompson, too. I don't know why I just...

It just doesn't feel long ago enough. It is a long time ago, the 18 months it looks like. 18 months, five fights ago. I just don't know if anything. different at this point of their careers. And I get it. Then it's like we're saying, well, why should Lucke skip over him if he can't beat him? But I mean, that's the fight game.

You know, you don't need to beat everyone ahead of you. Let Luque go up. Like I said, either get his shot at Usman or get some really big high-profile fight with a Diaz or Mazmodal, whoever. And if he loses, he can always go back. That rematch with Wonderboy is always there in the future, as long as Wonderboy stays active. So I just don't see the need for that now. Song versus Chito rematch was also the one that I saw a lot.

And I agree with that. That fight is long ago enough and was controversial enough that you can run it back. Also entertaining. Menfield versus Marchin Prakneau. And Zachary also just wants to say, Cidal Gan for Fighter of the Year so far, 3 and O. And of him and Francis fight for the end of the year possibly going for... If he beats Francis, he's clearly the fighter of the year. I mean, that is...

It's not even close. If he fights someone else or doesn't fight again before the end of the year, he'll probably be... He'll be in the top five for sure, right? Yeah, I would say so. If Usman goes out, if Usman finished this Covington, there's, I'm sorry, Seo Ogonne, you had a great year, but you're not the fighter of the year. You're not. But if, but if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, he would, if,

that, and the Usman thing happened, I think gone would jump over him, right? You think so? It'd be a, it'd be, it'd be, it'd be, it'd be, it'd be, it'd be, it'd be, I'd be, I'd be, I just, Usman, three title defenses, three knockouts. I mean, it's not, he might, Usman might be the breakout fighter of the year and the fighter of the year. Oh, right, that whole, that whole discussion. And same with God.

I don't know if people would consider gone a breakout. I wouldn't. I wouldn't consider gone a breakout. But I'm sure there are a lot of people who, he was not on their radar. And really, even the junior fight was late 2020, right? So it's like, I'm sure people are thinking of that as part of 2021. It's not, I mean, it shouldn't be. But, uh, I think the Rosa Strike fight, I think the Rosa Strike fight,

kind of hurts him. I think it hurts him more. But it was his first main event, though. I know, right? As far as, like, his relevance in the division, like, I think people really woke up to it this year. The breakout fighters is always controversial because of the criteria is different and I don't know. He's in the mix. He's in the mix. He's in the mix. He's in the mix. He's in the mix. Thank you, Dana. He's in the mix. Very non-committal. Let me go to the Twitter now. God, there's so many. Okay, again, I'm not going to read all these. Sorry, guys, but shout-outs to everyone. If I skip you over you, it's just because you have way too many picks and they're not all not necessarily all unique so uh micha peregini thank you for coming in i'm just going to read some random ones here gotto and gana mazani

gana mizani is uh bantam wait isn't she now she's been at 25 her last couple of places 25 her okay michael peregini good pick there i think gato would make very short work for her but he's one of many he also suggested torres and nina nunez which uh yeah i think i like that match up a lot I know they're friends, but so were Amanda and Raquel Pennington. They were also friends. And really, you know, they can be chummy and still fight. So I definitely see that as being a possibility. I think they'd like to avoid that.

But I did see a lot of people suggest it. Let me go out to notes here. It's just probably easier. First timers at A.O. It's Dad on Twitter. Aldo versus Fond, incredible technical duel between two of the best boxers in MMA. Song versus O'Malley. He said, you know, Casey and O'Malley trained together.

And so there's a little bit of our event. Factor there and just an outstanding matchup on the feet. Yes, of course. And Torres versus Michelle Waterson. Is this another of the, it's never happened before? No, they fought. Waterson beat her. It did fight.

Oh, no, she'd be Waterson. She beat, yeah, it was her last win before, like, she won on this big losing streak. But yes, very long ago, December 2017. So certainly doable. Again, a lot of these strawweight veterans are probably going to find themselves in rematch Tori, like a territory. We just saw it, of course, Tisha Torres and Angela Hill. Angela Hill the same way.

Don't be surprised if she has one or two rematches in her near future. They're just kind of clustered together. It's a pretty strong division. Miles Hutton, first timer. Gone and Kanu. Aldo versus Font, and I wanted to read their message because they had a great use of Wilsst. Aldo versus Fond, whilst we wait for Sterling v. Jan to play a number one contender fight. He still has the skills, Aldo, to become champion, and he's proven that yet again.

P.S. F. Dillasha. Miles Hutton, not a Dillashaw fan. Did not enjoy seeing him come back probably. And by the way, at number three in our global rankings, coming against Hatt, this despite some of the panels still ranking Sanhagen above Dill Shah, because the fight was very close. Torres versus the Hibas Genjiroba winner. That's UFC 27, October 30th.

Fisiv versus Hasbola. Mike, I know I'm old. I didn't understand the hot. Did you see that? The Hasbola call out? I loved it. I didn't guys I'll obviously I missed the whole Hasbullah thing when it went viral I don't I I just didn't care for that for it I didn't understand what it was I get it this is that

young man who is does impressions of fighters right and he's kind of a he's a funny he's a funny character yes very funny okay so I'm sorry I missed that so Miles says Fizzis should fight him uh Fiziv called him out after his his win against Bobby Green which was uh it was hard to hear over the crowd the Houston craft and then uh or maybe Maybe the Faheda-Dossin winner. Need to see him versus a true grappler before he enters death row, the test row of the 105-pound division. Yeah, that's fine. Vincent Morales versus Sergei Morozov.

Love that matchup. I think Morozov is, I would like favor him heavily. But after Morales' performance, I think he deserves a solid fight. Pene versus Junu Frye. I wish this fight could just happen at 105. They're both former Invicta Adam-Way champions. both them are happy to not have to cut down to 105 anymore, but it just seems so silly to have this at 115. But yeah, I don't mind it.

Miles Sutton, cop versus his nutritionist. Well, let's not point fingers now. We don't know who's to blame for this. Three, friggin' three-pound weightness. But I agree, Cop does need to make weight. And Johns versus Kyeongho Kang. And then Miles says, can I just mention, I would love to see a body shots only fight between Jose Aaldo and Aaron Pico, catch weight of 140, make it happen. Yes, this is the cross-emotional fight.

Forget McKee and Holloway or McKee and Volcanowski. Aldo versus Pico in a fight circus-esque body shots-only fight would be amazing. Those rib-roasters that Aldo has, I mean, they've always been a weapon, but now that he's like replaced his leg kicks with these rib-roasting body shots, it's just nasty. Just a nasty, nasty, man. Jake Selke, he reached out his before. I don't know if he got his picks in late, maybe if I didn't mention him,

but again, I want another first. He loves the show, Mike, and he says, your guys' commentary on the sport really helps educate listeners on the ins and out. So thank you, Jake Salkey. Moises versus Fiziv. He says, just a great chance for Ziv to get someone in the top of Dean. Song versus Sunsau or Jim Rivera. Salke, you've got some great picks here, my man.

You don't need us. Miles Johns versus Khalit Taha. I think Johns is above him now. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Luka versus Usman after he smacks Colby, so there you go. and then Aldo versus San Hagan give San Hagan the chance to fight a legend, get back on the telepature

as well as give Aldo another chance. Yeah, I mean, I understand the call for that. Also, he says Marab if Maraub beats Marlon and Moni. So, man, Aldo, really, he's right back in there than think of things. I think in our global rankings, what I'd seen it? It was a pleasure, by the way, adjusting my own rankings and getting to really just bump Josie Aldo up there

because I was pretty, I had him pretty low, I'm not going to lie. I was kind of, you know, I put a lot of weight in the losses. I didn't like some people had a ranked above Marlon Marais I didn't because I thought whatever I thought the result was fair now he is Sixth Josie Aldo six going into Sorry in our global rankings Might not actually move but in my rankings he did

Okay and Timmy Oshow another new newcomer who I definitely want to get to Always ask me great questions Timmy I apologize I don't always get to them He just says he hopes Carolina gets one more shot against a contender series fighter I don't know if that's gonna happen And he says we never really got to see what she improved on, but it is what it is. And he says, please read that in his best Max Holloway voice. So just imagine that.

What about Carolina versus Cheyenne Bayes? At this point, yes, yes. Normally I would say, like, oh, Carolina's way to experience for her or way to, like, higher up in this team. But she can't be, not after five straight losses. Five straight losses, you are not above anybody in the rankings, frankly. You could easily be, again, dropped all the way to the bottom. So, yeah, Mike, I like it. I like it.

And if it happens, let's keep this in mind. If I don't write this down, if I get to write this down, you remember that internally. Oh, you know, you know, I'll remember that.

You're getting a point for that. You're getting a point for that, if it happens. Munoz versus Haniayaya. I get it. They're both grapplers. Timmy says, he's not sure if Munoz on that level,

but the grappling battle will be beautiful. It would be, I don't think he's anywhere near ready for Hanya, yeah, yeah. But an amazing grappler, so maybe if it was a grappling-only fight, maybe he has a better chance than I thought.

But I think, I think, uh, Honeyyaya is like Damian Maya level of MMA grappler. So, uh, Miles John, Saedner Megamette, Keh Hansen, Fiziv versus Dober. That's again, probably the most popular pick I saw for Fiziv. Song versus Barcelos, there you go. And, uh, Hill versus Angela Hill versus Amanda Lamos. Oh, no, boys. Torres versus Gen Jiroba. Like I said, Jadobo has a fight.

And then, um, King Aldo versus Ron Font. Name recognition for font. And I think San Hagan will only. fight the other top three in the division. All right, guys, I'm going to skim over some of these. Ben Davison, Keza versus Ponzanibio, another popular pick I saw, which I think makes a lot of sense. I like that one.

Ben Davidson also wants to say, Kaysa wasn't obvious. Cyril Gahn versus literally any human on planet Earth. So while the rest of them are kind of hoping for Angano or maybe a Steep Bay or John Jones sneak in there, he just wants to see Gond fighting. Thank you. I appreciate him.

I know he's, again, he's not a swangin and banging. Everyweight, all right? but he's, I love watching, I find his fighting mesmerizing. I'm a boring person, fine, I get it, I'm a boring person, I find him mesmerizing. Four Corner Sports, NY wants that John versus Johns versus Yanez-LFA rematch. Copp versus David Dorac. Yes, I like that. Lewis versus Volkov 2.

Lewis might be in rematch territory here. He might be in rematch territory at his point. And Gone versus everyone in Houston. Yeah, hopefully Gone made it out of Houston alive because I know that crowd certainly was not happy with what they saw. Ryan Doherty, I just won, I would have had this pick, which I think we haven't mentioned. Lewis also possibly versus Rosenstrike, whether he wins or loses against Curtis Blades. I actually really, really like that matchup.

We've probably talked about on the show before, but I'm down for it. Braden O'Neill, Aldo versus Cruz or Aldo versus Edgar Trilogy. No, I don't want to see Aldo Edgar again. Not great for the Aldo side. Edgar, I think, would jump at that chance. I think I had to go with. I loved the crack in Aldo. Certainly Aldo Camp, I'm less interested.

Melissa Gottover's Casey O'Neill. Sure, I like that. Prospect, Prospect. I'm never against it. And Munoz versus Journey Newson. She's the name I had not. Nuson? Newsom?

Newsom. This is Esther's fault because it's the first time Journey Newsom on the UFC. She's like, I see Journey Newsom and I see Joanna Newsom. And I'm like, it's not the same person. Barry O'Reilly wants to check the tapes. He says, accused one of many to call for RDA Makhachev. And he says he calls, he wants extra credit for Vittori Costa. He says, I called for this before the Izzy fight.

I assume he means the Vittori Kosso. Izzy's second fight. I'm not sure. Either way, he wants extra credit. And I'm not going to give it to him. No, and you shouldn't. You can't just throw out a pick four years ago and it comes up finally. No.

Well, no, he might have. I think it's more recent than that, but I shouldn't have even mentioned it. I shouldn't even mention it. He's pushing Munoz versus Johnny Munoz, Pedro Munoz, just for the hashtag hilarious, but come on. I was like, Johnny Moon just like three fights away from that. Stop it. No, I will not, I'm not, no, I will not acknowledge Bearerrata, you're rascal. Gatto versus Joshua, Casey winner.

Johns versus Umar, Nomagomeda-Ov. So some sort of Nomegometov could be in John's future. Peney versus Loma Lopunmi, gone versus John Jones. Okay. Last one before I move on Instagram. Liam Perry always coming to him some great picks. He says Song versus Edgar. That would hurt my heart.

I mean... And I think Edgar would actually, in my mind, would be like a two-to-one favorite. I mean, if they made it, it'd be... I'd watch. I'd be very fascinated by that fight. Good, great opportunity for Song and not one that would crush him if he lost. I don't know if he's ready for that yet. I think Rivera is a little bit closer.

Then again, maybe most people would pick Jimmy Rivera. to beat Frankie Edgar at this point. I don't know. It's hard to say. It's hard to say after seeing Frank. It's hard to shake that image of the Edgar standing in the fight. Peney versus Nina Nunez.

So Nina Nuneo is in play here somewhere either for Jessica Penne or for T. Stores. Johns, I just wanted to mention this because I didn't know this fight was happening. Johns versus the Alejandro Perez Johnny Eduardo winner, October 2nd, news to me. And Gato versus Pollyanna Battaglio,

a good fight. I think they might be friends, but not necessarily training partners. I'm not saying that can happen. I think they might be friends, though, so I'm not sure it would. And shout-outs. Mike, I have to say their names. I can't help it.

Brett Mobley, Marcus McGahey, Chris at Dragon's Ler 2, Hayes-Bittard, Stephen Breiter, U.S.EV.C. Rydrake's The Hercore Casual Guys. I'm sorry. It's not quite enough time this week. Mike's voice is ready to go at any moment. And he still has more shows to do this week, by the way. So I apologize, guys, if I didn't get to your exact picks. Though I will say, Marcus, thank you for your title.

As always, he called this the... Gone in 851 seconds edition. It's a little bit of a stress. His originally was gone with the win, but he says he had done that already. So thank you, Marcus. Mark, thank you for not repeating yourself because I wouldn't have noticed. So gone in 851 seconds. Rolls right off the time.

I love it. It's a great name for this opposite of Otna. Thank you. Thank you, Marcus, for grazing us. And then let's end with Instagram. Boy, we've got some wild ones here, as usual. First of all, no, you know, I'll end with this. I'll end with this because it's a happy story.

You know, we'll talk about your Saturday. I love the, we'll circle back to your Saturday, Mike. Eli, oh boy, I got to read this name. Eli, I'll just go to Eli, Hemproff. I'm sorry, it was the name was merged together. Eli Hemproof, first timer, man, thank you for chiming at Aldo Domina Cruz, Lukia Edwards 2, Song O'Malley, Torres-Gadalia.

Again, very sensible matchups. Fiziv is Magulov, and he's also on the Menafield-Serkhanov. Man, Menafield, Serkanov. You see, get on this train now. This is like apparently a shoeing. Michael Conifrey, thank you for all of your suggestions as always, always coming in early. Vicente versus Jorge is the only, is all caps, the only way to go. Or he says, to put it more rhythmic in more rhythmic terms, and possibly hashtagable.

Jorge is the only way. Jorge is the only way. Mike, join in with Jorge is the only, but you don't agree that. No, it's not that I don't agree. I feel like it's Mazadol or Diaz. Like, that's it. Like, that's the best case scenario for Luccair right now. So Jorge is one of the ways.

One of the ways. Yes. Michael Conifer also wants to say, how dare, how dare Sidil gone not play into Lewis's game like that? What a coward. But on the real, Cedill, Cedill, Bars, just made this division intriguing. Oh, more rhyming. On the real, Cedil just made this division intriguing for me. more years to come.

Him, Francis, John Bones, Jones, Dibay, all will be the four kings of our time, mark my words. Lewis should fight in Girozino if he beats Blades. And if Aspinall, Tom Aspinall gets another dub, he would also be a good fight for Lewis. Ooh, that would be so, you want to fast track Tom Aspinall of the rankings? There you go. There's your, there's your option. Tai Tzu would be good, too. Yes.

Though we said maybe him and, oh, well, wait. He's fighting Wall Harris, but if he beat Walt Harris. Yeah, that actually got book. That's right. M. May had a lot of great picks here. I'm just going to try and read ones we haven't. Oh, he's also mentioned Vince Marleson, Journey Newsome. So they go, two for that matchup. Menafield versus Maxim Gretchen, Penae versus Luana Pinero.

Cop versus Amir Albaazi. Is Amir Albaazi? Yes, I think he's so with the question. Miles Johns versus Andre Yule. Munoz versus Kalita. So M. Mayheads, you got a lot of great picks there. I'll keep track of those for sure. Don't worry about that.

The tapes will be checked. Matt Bradbury, again, another guy always coming in with a lot of fire. Cot versus Tyson NAM was one that really came up a lot. We've suggested this before. I would love to see that fight. I still really, really, really want to see it. I think Tyson's dealing with some injuries right now, which is why I didn't go with that. Okay.

Carolina Colvalkavich versus Hannah, Hannah, Hannah Cyphers in a true loser-leaves-town match. And I don't, that would be a little macabre for me. Pazee v. Dan Hooker. Oh my God, that would be insane. Just insane. Song versus Statement 2. Yeah, you know, they went to a trial the first time. I'm not against it.

I'm not against it. I feel like both guys can go in different directions. Aldo versus Cruz, gone versus gone. And Luke A versus Mazbado. So there go. A lot more Luke A versus Mazvedol than Luke Avers Diaz from what I saw. All right. So my second last one, I'm going to just call me Bob,

who is one of our most verbose listeners. I'm sure you guys are used to hearing this name by now. I try to screen his comments before, just to make sure he doesn't say anything too wild. But I'll give him a platform here. Lucke gets Leon. The UFC hates both of them. They don't hate Vicente Lucay.

They might hate Leon Edwards. They hate that he will have to put forth more than the slightest effort to promote. And it's a win that he can spin as less significant than it is to continue screwing over the winner. Ouch, all right. Just calling Bob. That's too real.

Pizzi versus Bradfordell. Not sure if UFC leave. will want to go with this because they'll have to deal with the legal ramifications of hundreds of thousands of faces being blown off by the action. But I think legal can be convinced. And he says, Carolina Colvalkne says, I want to see KK get an effing hug. He says, yes, my heck, he censored himself for you. Like, I want her next fight to end in a double DQ by timidity because they just sit down and put their arms around each other and just chat. He said, I want to see Carolina on an infomercial for pillows or snugies of promoting a pop.

puppy adoption drive or have her do a bully beat down on Ellen DeGeneres. So there you go. There's your next big celebrity fight, Carolina Colvacavich versus Ellen. But yes, I agree. I think there's a lot of fans of Carolina Colvo Kavitz out there. It was really tough to see her lose a fifth straight fight. And really in such a lopsided way too, and all the credits just a plan on for taking control of that fight and taking care of business.

Mike, can we tell people about your Saturday? And our list, I want to let people know if anyone, you know, listen to a previous episode, we had a listener named Tripp Harper chime in with their picks and just saying, what a fan they have of the show. And then you issued a formal invitation to come to see the ammo, ammo, MMA. Ammo Fight League, yep. Ammo Fight League show that you did in Western Mass? It was the world famous Big E, the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds. Of course, of course.

And I believe Tripp came with his son, right? Trip did show up with his son. And he sent me these lovely pictures. I should send them to you to tweet out, or I'll ask Tripp if I can tweet them out, of him and his son with Glover Tashara and, oh, Nick Newell. And I'll read out his message. He just said, I can't mess with, he said, Mike, he's not going to mess with you. He says, I can't mess with Mike, Alex. He came through big, totally geeking out.

My son is in disbelief. All this because of comments on your podcast. are the best clapping emojis, multiple clapping emojis. So well done, Mike, for hooking him up. And I'm glad to see that everything worked out. And you got you got to meet actual on to the next one listener in real life. Yeah, came up. Very nice guy.

Sun was there. And they both just sat back and enjoyed the show. I kept like, I mean, Tripp probably saw it. I was like a madman in there. Just trying to get everything in order, making sure like everybody was on the right page, when we're going to start and the fighter's right. DJ ready with the songs. It was like DJing a wedding all over again.

Like I am running all over that damn building making sure everyone's ready to go. It's the commission set. There's a doctor here. The judges here. Like it was just chaos. And then there were grappling matches. Oh, is a girl ready for the national anthem?

Like, it was like, I wanted to sit there and like talk to Tripp for like 20 more minutes, but I just couldn't. Like, it was just, it was nuts. I'm glad Tripp had a great time. He told me that he saw Glover to Chera right when he pulled in Nick Glover was very nice and took a picture with him and Nick Newell as well. Nick Newell called me his best, he goes, you and I are like best friends now, Mike, because his,

well, I put his, you know, I talked about these fights on the interview that'll drop on Monday, so that'll be kind of like post-dated, but Nick Newell went two and O as a coach. Globe's chair, went three and I was a coach last night. It was crazy. Good times. Hey, Nick Newell, back off, buddy. I know. He's got a best friend. And you're listening to him right now. That's right. I like Nick Newell. I got a lot of respect for Nick Newell.

One of the most inspiring fighters. I still, I still think one of most inspiring stories in sports that I've ever seen. But back off, all right. Mike Haq has a best friend. That's right. And go watch this new movie,

Notorious Nick on demand right now. Sure. And there you go. Yeah, it was a good time. Ammo Fight League. I mean, there's like 2,000 people there was crazy. It's awesome. So if you want to meet me or Mike Heck, guys,

reach out to us on social. No, please don't. Let's respect social distancing. And I'm sure we'll, when this is madness is all over, I can see all you guys out there in the wild someday, but please do continue sending in your picks. Alexander KK Lee on Instagram.

Alexander K. Lee, just 1K, on Twitter. Alastotley at espionation.com. Mike? Mike, Kek, underscore, J.R. Twitter, Instagram, M underscore, heck, J.R. You guys know where to find us by now. It's insane. You guys just keep delivering.

And listen, there's no UFC card next weekend. But because we kind of cut it short this week, maybe AK and I will do something. Maybe we'll do like a quick Bellator thing. I mean, Bumi Masasi's fighting Salter. There's a really good Bannam fight between Rafian Stats and Magamah Mada Madoff. So we can match me a couple of these. And, you know, maybe on top of that, you guys can just send in fun general matchmaking questions of like fights you want to see. Just a general, just fights you want to see.

Be and A.K. will just run through them and buy or sell them. I don't know. for like we're not going to do an hour and 15 minutes i could guarantee you that but maybe we'll we'll hop on for like 30 minutes and do something something for everybody i think that's fair right i i i'm i'm ready i'm ready to fill some time all right well i'm getting ready to hop in the car and drive back home to the beautiful berkshires a k thank you for uh adjusting your schedule and doing this earlier than usual i appreciate it very much uh thank you for watching or not watching god i'm done. Thank you for listening to the show. UFC-2-65 is in the books. No UFC next week. We'll have

something for you. The following week, we'll figure that out. It'll drop on Sunday. But always remember, folks, the golden rule on to the next one. Don't take the stuff too seriously. Mn M&A is supposed to be fun. We will find some way to have fun next week right here on onto the next one, the podcast.