MMA Fighting - On To the Next One: Matches to Make After UFC 267

Episode Date: October 31, 2021

Glover Texieira accomplished something truly special when he captured the light heavyweight title with a submission win over Jan Blachowicz in the main event of UFC 267. While it seems clear that Teixeira’s first title defense will be against Jiri Prochazka, where does Blachowicz go from Saturday night? That question is addressed on this week’s On To the Next One.  In addition, future matchups are also discussed for new interim bantamweight champion Petr Yan, Cory Sandhagen, Islam Makhachev, Alexander Volkov, Khamzat Chimaev, Magomed Ankalaev, and more with MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee.  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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian

in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. And welcome to a brand new and spooky edition of On to the next one. It is Halloween as we record this episode.

And unlike those dopes in Haddonfield, Illinois, trying to avoid. avoid the wrath of Michael Myers. We are not going to run towards the heat and do the bare minimum. We are here to create the heat as we discuss the what's next for the notable names coming out of Saturday's UFC 267 event in Abu Dhabi. We have two brand new champions, some incredible performances to talk about. And this should be a fun one. I am Mike Heck, and joining me on this loaded edition of the program is the co-host,

the co-matchmaker, and he's my best friend, ladies and gentleman, Mr. Alexander Cayley. Happy Halloween. How are you, sir? Happy Halloween, my best friend. People are about to get the wrath of Michael Heck today, I think. Forget the wrath of Michael Myers. That is nothing compared to the wrath of Michael Heck, which it's rarely seen. But I do feel like on this Halloween season, I do think your more sinister side might come back a little bit, especially if some of the listener picks are doo-doo, which we'll see later. We'll get to that.

I feel like we have a lot of talk about, Mike, between even just the two of us and the listeners listening at home. So it'll be a while before we get there. But, yeah, we got our picks coming up, check the tapes, all that good stuff. I'm very excited. I do have some things to say to MMA fans, to people have criticized me over a certain fighter. And I will address that later on in the program with some vigor. But we do have a lot to discuss, a lot to get into. Let's get right into this thing.

Let's first talk about Glover-Teshirea, doing the damn thing, pulling off the big upside. that he dominates, submits Janbovich to become the UFC light heavyweight champion just days after his 42nd birthday. Incredible story. Inspiration to the max. I mean, how can you not love this, AK? And it seems pretty obvious that Tashara will fight Yuri Prakashka next, which is a much more interesting matchup than a lot of people make it out to be at this point.

But A.K., Glover Tashira got a lot of people to wake up a little earlier this morning to go for a run or go to the gym or take one step towards accomplishing their dreams after what he did on Saturday. Did he not? I think Teddy Atlas said it best. I just saw this and just retweet it myself. He said, never underestimate a man's last chance in response as a reaction to Glover winning.

What a, I mean, what a great quote. So true. We've seen a lot of fighters make this sort of quote unquote last run and it doesn't end like this. But man, he's done all the right things. I said last night that this guy was promised nothing After his first UFC title run There was no guarantees from the UFC he would ever get another shot

There was definitely moments where he was matched up Where it looked like they're using his name to build up other people But then he just kept winning He just kept winning and winning and winning and piling up wins Tillow was undeniable he wait He didn't complain when Israel Adesania got the title shot over him I'm sure he he might have made some comments But nothing you know wasn't stomping his feet

He's like okay I'll win another fight and then and then I'll take on the winner of that one and sure enough he got a shot with yon and um I I picked bohovic to win for once and of course was wrong so there you go I just can't pick a fight right with this guy but I said but even in my write-up I said it's almost like a heavyweight fight like whoever gets their game off first is going to win clearly it was Glover to share who got his uh his grappling off first and that was it that was the game so great performance of glover um yeah I don't want to deviate the yori prohashka fight I think we talked about a bit on the post show on Saturday that a lot of stuff could happen depending how

guy how long guys are planning to stay out and all that but if we're doing the matchmaking and if and I think it's reasonable to assume that uh to share might not be he says he wants to be out till may he might come back earlier the UFC can I think can talk them into it so uh let's just go with him and yitty it's the right thing to do I have no problem with him waiting till may either no problem whatsoever so if that's what happens that's what happens and I think that's some good gamesmanship by Glover Tachara because Yerry was probably ready to get in that cage and fight on Saturday, but

Glover's like, nope, and you saw Yeri's face just drop, and I loved every moment of that, whether it was intentional or not. But while Tashara's next fight seems to be in place, Janbovich, no longer the light heavyweight champion of the world. His story is incredible in its own right,

but he will not get an immediate rematch. It appears he'll need to work his way back, and he obviously has the ability in the legendary Polish power to do exactly that. So that road begins now, AK, but what's the first stop for Mr. Janbovich? Mike, I'm putting aside two other thoughts I've had for a while. I've wanted to, so I'm going to go with Jan Belhovic and Tiago Santos rematch. I think it's time.

I'd love to see those two fight again. Santos, of course, won the first time, which is why, you know, people have wanted to see him work his way back to a teloshot. He hasn't quite been able to do that. Now it doesn't matter. Blahovitz is coming off a loss. Tiago Santos, I think you can match them up. I'd love to see that fight again. I have one.

I have been championing Tiago Santos versus Dominic Reyes for a while. I feel like Reyes, he said he's going to be back early 2022, but I also just, it's to rest his brain. And we don't know how long that's going to take. And we've said he should take all the time he needs. So I'm just kind of leaving him out of the picture for now. So I'm moving Tiago Santos onto the Blahovitz matchup. I was this close to just being lazy and saying, well, match up him and Angolaev, both

winners on the same card. I don't quite want to put Jan in that situation yet, where he just is, quote, unquote, like a stepping stone for Ankalyev to get a title shot. I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet with Jan. So let's go for a fun fight. A rematch that, I mean, a fun fight, it might not go Blahovitz's way. Like I said, he lost the first one pretty convincingly.

So him and Santos too. Okay, so I changed my mind with this one. I was quote unquote lazy with this. It was got to go, Ankelaev. But last time I thought about it, I put puzzle pieces together. I took some time. And I think I figured this all out, A.K. I think I put the light heavyweight division together outside of the title fight.

I was going to throw Ankleiv in the spot after that performance because I'd like to see him just get a step up and see how he does. But I pivoted a bit. So I'm basically going to give away two of my picks in one shot here. I went with Ankelyev against Anthony Smith. I think it's a good fight, a good test for Anthony Smith. Good name for Ankiahef. I think timeframes will also match up quite nicely. which means for Boehovic, I'm going with Alexander Rackage.

I think he has earned that fight. Ankleif is only 29 years old. He'll get his number one contender fight in 2022. If he beats Anthony Smith, he's got time. No need to throw him in there with Yon. Now we get a nice little four-man, little mini-turny, sort of a beat-the-clock challenge kind of thing, where everything else gets figured out up the top,

especially if we're not going to see a title fight until May. I think those two matchups work. If you got to line the winners up after that, cool. there's time, if not, whoever has the best performance gets the title shot. I just had this hilarious image of you. The kids are up late Saturday night. Maybe you woke up. Maybe you woke up with a stir.

The family's asleep. You go down to your fancy next to the fireplace and your fancy chair with a glass of wine. Just racking your brain trying to like figure out the, you know, what to do with the light heavyweight division. And then maybe passing out and then waking up at like 630 in the morning today. I've got it. Like you're, I did it. I did it.

205. 205, I figured it out. I think we can talk about Ankleye of now. Yeah, I also went with Anthony Smith. I think we're on the same wavelength there. I think I might have also looked it up at six. I think we like at the same time. It was amazing.

That's how it happened. Yeah, Anthony and Smith, I mean, a lot of us have been saying the Smith Rockets rematch should happen. And guess what? I'm hedging. I'm picking Anthony Smith as my official pick. But since Smith, Rockich is even official yet.

I mean, it's not even reported or anything. If that happens, the winner of that fight, I think should fight Ankolaev. And now I know people will say, Alex, or AK, you, you're hedging. We're not allowed to hedge on the next one. Where are you allowed to hedge? And there's another rule. You know, we'd like to introduce a lot of rules here. This rule is, I'm me, which means I can do whatever I want.

So if either of those, so if Ankoliath ends up getting. Anthony Smith or Smith fights Rackage and he gets the winner of that fight, whether it be Smith or Rackage, I'm getting a point either way. So there you go. Wow. New rule, guys. If you're me, you can do stuff like this. So for anyone that's me, enjoy. It really is Halloween. Halloween. Look at this, A.K., a little bit of a little bit of a heel turn here. I like it. These are rules. It's all within the rules.

And rules rule, after all. Piotr-Yon, AK, looked tremendous against Corey Sanhagan. What a fight that was for the interim Bannonway title, one of the best of the year. We've been treated some good ones over the last couple weeks. Martin Vittori, Paul Costa, one of the best of the year. This was one of the best of the year for sure. Jan, just a couple steps ahead. Landed the bigger shots throughout the fight.

I had him winning the last four rounds along with the judges sitting cage side. Again, it's sort of obvious. Al Jermaine Sterling, Unification bout. We'll love to see that fight in February. Co-made event to Adasanya Whitaker, too. If that ends up being made official, which all signs are, pointing to that being a thing. Anything to add to the great showing from Mr. No Mercy or as Al Jermaine Sterling likes to put

it, his child's great fight last night. Wonderful performance from Peotrion. We'll talk about more of this more on the rankings show later this week, Mike. But I am going to, I think people know by now. I'm one of the people who has been sort of championing Al Jemaine Sterling as the sort of rightful number one. Bantonweight, we are split in the MA fighting rankings, I think four for Aljo, four for Yon. I don't know if anyone's

going to stick with Aljo after this. I know I won't. And I'll explain why, like what's different on Wednesday. So there's a little teaser for our ranking show this week. But I will go with Yon, amazing performance. And Corey Sanhagen, I think our old M.A. fighting colleague, Dave Doyle put it at best saying Corey might be in that Joseph

Benavita's category. It's amazingly skilled fighter. Very good character. Seems like a really good dude. And he just happens to be in the situation where he's maybe not, he's not as good as Peotre, Yan, and he's not as good as Al Jemey and Sterling. So, but we'll see. We'll see. We just talk over to share when the titles, so who knows. So yeah, I'm totally down with that. My only thing was, and I'll pick up on something you talked about in the post-fight show,

if I'm Yon, I don't wait for Sterling. If some other fight comes up, if for some reason Sterling cannot come back as expected, his timeline from injury gets pushed back, take a fight. Take another fight, Yon. That Sterling fight will be there somewhere down the road, fight one of these other guys, Rob Font, Aldo, Marav, even if that comes up, I don't know. Just any of the, again, the Aldo rematch will be fine. He deserves a title shot more if he beats Rob Font than he did the first time.

So no problem, him running it back with Yonso's soon. But yeah, just don't wait. That's really my prediction. Yeah, I don't think he's going to have to wait that long. It just seemed like Sterling just needed a couple more months and he would have been fine to fight. I felt like Sterling was, I'm not going to say forced into October 30th, but I think he was kind of forced into saying yes to October 30th, but it is what it is. Jan Sterling, like I said, if they do that in February, that's fine. That's what four months from right now, less than four

months by the time that card happens. So yeah, I'm in. That's the way to go. Corey Sanhagen, like you said, I mean, he took a huge risk here, in my opinion. That was one of the points I kept trying to make. Like, good for Sanhagen. He gets a title shot, but he's taking a big, big risk here. And of course, the reward worth it, my opinion, had he won, he looked really good. The fight was sensational. He's just so, so good. And I was going to mention the Dave Doyle tweet as well before you mention it, but now he's lost two straight, AK, officially. People say he, everyone seems to have thought he beat T.J. Dillishaw, but in the record book, it's a loss. He's two and three in his last five. And this division continues to get deeper. More contenders are emerging. Juice was worth

the squeeze with the win, tough, tough times with the loss getting back to where he wants to be, regardless of him doing the UFC a favor and saving this fight. So with that, AK, it's got to be Sanhagen versus Marab de Wallis-Willis-Willi. That is my pick. Risk reward, juice worth the squeeze, but with a loss, you take a big step back, regardless of how good you compete and how good you are. Marab de Wallis-Willis-Willi is the number sixth-rank guy in the world right now. A lot of these other guys are already booked.

The highest-ranked guy that is not currently on the books outside of the champion is Marab. You got to do this fight. You got to do it. Yeah. That was a very popular listener pick for sure. We'll touch upon this concept more in a second actually probably with our next matchup we're going to do, but this might be the time to catch Marab. Marab obviously an insane wrestler, maybe the best wrestler at 1.35. Ficking, you know, not refined yet. He definitely has the ability. He's very willing to stand and throw. But in a stand-up fight right now, like if you match them up, My prediction would be if Sanhagen keeps the fight standing, San Hagan wins the fight. A year from now, who knows?

Marab asked that stand-up skill set to complement his wrestling might be a different story. So, yeah, I like that. It wasn't my first choice because I don't know. I just feel like maybe because I think Marab is going to run through this division soon, and I don't want to put Corey through that for such a great fight. But for sure, I could see it happening. I went with the Font-Aldo loser, December 4th. I think that could be a good matchup for Corey.

He'd love to fight Aldo, obviously. Font would love to have a chance to bound back. Should he lose to Aldo? And he could do that very quickly with a fight with Sandhagen. So, you know, just keep all those. Those are two possibly fun fights. Keep him in the mix. So I'll go with that.

I was muted. I'm so excited about Banamway. It's just 135 is so loaded. It's so deep. It's just amazing. We move ahead to Islam Makachev, who made it look easy against Dan Hooker. He took him down.

He smushed him. Locks in the nasty Kimora. and submits the game Dan Hooker just before the halfway point in round one. He wants a title shot, A.K., you seem to think it's a much stronger possibility than I do. I'll explain and react to the critics of my line of thinking in a moment,

but where are you putting your precious Otno point for Islam Makachaf? Are you putting it on a title fight, or you get something else? I can't, I just, I don't feel strongly enough. Too many things have to fall. Not too many things. Two things, just two things have to fall into place.

that I'm not confident about. That Chandler beats G because I don't think that's going to happen. And that Olavera beats Porre, which I'm more confident is going to happen, but is by no means guaranteed. But I do feel like Olavera wins, Chandler wins. They don't run that rematch back right away. The path is clear from Makachab to angle for that Talosha and get it. So that's what I think is possible. And I like where Islam's head is in that regard.

But because, like I just said, I think Chandler loses to Gaithi, I think Chandler fights Makachep instead. Okay. So a lot of people, for some reason, and this is on Twitter, this is on my DMs, this is on YouTube comments, there are people are saying I am hating on Islam Makachev. Completely false. Completely false. Why? I don't know. I tweeted like, I tweeted after Lynn Over Dan Hooker. I said, Islam Makachchev is not getting a title shot next, but his next fight is going to be a big one. That was the tweet that started at all. I just don't think he's going to get a title shot. And let me just, let me explain everything, okay? Because I've got to get this off my chest. I've said many times on this show and on other shows that is on Makhachev very well could be the best lightweight in the world right now.

He might go and fight for the title right now, tomorrow, and win. Very possible. But here's the thing, my friends, as AK can attest you, for now, this is the 65th episode of on to the next one. one of my jobs with this website is to play matchmaker. I can make opinions, which I did. I just made one. Islam might be the best lightweight in the world.

But I approach matchmaking with what I think will happen, how I think the UFC will fill in the blanks. Now go back and watch the post-fight press conference with Dana White, ladies and gentlemen. Did it seem like he was ready to have Islam jump the line and fight for a title in his next fight? It sure didn't seem like it. He didn't jump the gun. He didn't say anything. He was just very blah about it.

Like, Islam's good. He's a great fighter. But he's not ready to make that choice just yet. They want to keep building him up. And I don't blame them. Beating Dan Hooker on short notice, as impressive as that performance was, nobody was surprised by that. This wasn't like a holy moly.

This came out of nowhere. It was a 6 to 1 favorite in that fight. I'm not taking anything away from the performance because it was dominant. And that's what you need to do in these situations if you're Islam Makachev. We got Gachy Chandler coming up this week. If Justin Gachy wins, he's fighting for the belt. Islam kind of knocked down, hook her out in four seconds. It doesn't change that fact at all.

No doubt about it. Gachy wins he's fighting for the title. Chandler wins. You can take him out of the equation all you want. He's in the conversation. Whether Olivera wins or not, in my opinion, Chandler is in the discussion. And if Porier wins, they will absolutely make Poirier Chandler for the title. And speaking of Chandler, here's one point people keep bringing up.

A lot of people saying, well, Michael Chandler beat Dan Hooker and he got a title shot. Let's be clear. Michael Chandler was not the first choice. He might not even been the second or third choice. Dustin Porre was the first choice. He went to fight Connor, wisely, I might add. And they went with Oliver and Chandler because that's what was left. That was left.

Those are the two best options. Gagchi had to have been in that discussion. Apparently he didn't take it. Chandler said yes to a lot of opportunities along the way, including fighting Charles Oliver two weeks after beating Dan Hooker. fight didn't happen. Chandler said, yes, planted seeds, got the title shot. UFC remembered that. Mockachev said, let me fight in December. Number one contender fight if I don't get a title shot.

I completely agree with that. This is what the man said himself. Do Mokachev versus a man who everyone seems to forget about right now? Benile Darius, no one's saying B'Neil's name, who right around the same time he became a father, destroyed Tony Ferguson, who was a top five guy. and at the time, that was a seventh straight win. Guess who else had seven straight wins in the exact same point? Islam Machachev. Now, Islam has gone on to fight Tiago Moises and Dan Hooker.

It was supposed to be RDA both times. And that would have been a nice win on the resume. But what is wrong with giving Islam? One of the things he actually wants. He wants the number one contender fight. Give him Daryush. If you want to fight in December, make that fight happen. Darius has already expressed interest in fighting Islam in December.

It's there. He said the words. Go get a top five win. Then it's a no doubter. It's no longer, well, he needs this guy to win and this guy to lose and this thing is to happen. No matter what happens. If he goes out there and beats Binald-Dereus in his next fight, he is next. How is that hating on Islam Makachev?

I don't get it. I said this man might be the champion. He might be the best 155 pounder in the world. But because I didn't annoy him, the number one contender, I'm hating on him. You people suck sometimes. You people suck sometimes. Okay. All right.

Okay. Like, all right, all right, all right. I'm just kidding. I love you all, but seriously, you do kind of suck sometimes. That was a serious Mike Heck, Mike check, an early mic check. I think we need to clip that. You know, we don't really clip things from our podcast, which we should, because I think we drop just like a sonic gold constantly.

And again, you know, our listeners are smart. Themay fighting readership is smart. They know to just listen to the whole show. But, you know, for people who might not know about the show, I think you got a timestamp. I know you've got your fancy, you know, screen. up there. Time stamp the beginning, this, this, this, this, this Mike, heck, mic check. And, uh, I think we got to put this out there. That was serious. I think of the money. That was a public service announcement. PSA. You help people there. People that, people are like, oh, Mike's just like being

defensive. No, no, no, you helped. You helped those people who, who, who came at you. You just did them a favor. You're welcome, world. Time stamp it. Tweet it. I will tweet it. I will tweet it. I will retweet it. Deep breath. People need to know. I'm good. You made it very clear. No, you made it very clear. I think Islam Akachchev is a terrific fighter. Terrific fighter. He will be a world champion, no doubt about it. But let's build him up a little bit more.

Let's build him up a little bit more. Give him one more win. Get him a top five guy. He doesn't have the sizzle of some of these other guys. He just doesn't. He's so good, but he just doesn't have that sizzle that, oh, I have to watch this guy fight. Like, it's just not quite there yet to the casual viewer. And that's all.

That's all I'm saying. We move ahead to Alexander Volkov, gets back in the wind column, defeated Marcin Tai Bora, the streak is over. It was a fight, like my illustrious co-hosts would say. It's not one we'll be remembering from this card, but A.K. Volkov's in a tough spot right now.

Not a lot of opportunity for movement, no matter what happens. I mean, maybe the winner or loser of Derek Lewis versus Chris Stochas, maybe, but I'm just going to go with Jarzini Rosenstrike. He's there. They're right next to each other in the kind of official rankings, the ones that don't

that matter, but not really. Not like the MA fighting global rankings, but yeah, that's fine. I'll go with that. They are also right next to each other in our rankings. Volkov at six, Tarzino, it's seven. I don't think that's going to change much. We will have new rankings coming out this week. I don't expect.

I think Volkov just held onto his spot by beating Tabura. He was already two spots ahead of Tabura, so I think he just takes, he just holds on to his spot. He's not moving up into the top five or anything with that kind of win. So, yeah, like you said, it was a fight. It was a win. And this is a matchup. Volkov versus Jarazino.

There's not a lot of say about it. And again, this is great. Look, Volkov's a great heavyweight. I mean, it's cool. There's something appealing about seeing a guy just cranking away and just keeps racking up wins. This was win number 34 in his career. And in the UFC, this is win number, where my God?

Number eight, eight and three in the UFC. So this guy's like, he's a good fighter. He may never challenge for the world title. But that's like, again, and the same goes from Martin Dubboar. These guys may never challenge for the world title. But at heavyweight, you can hang around a long time. If you're healthy, you don't get injured. You do get injured a lot.

Alice overreys been knocked out like 10 times. You can have a great career. So tip of the cap to Alexander Volkov. I know we don't mean to diminish like his win, his latest win. But yeah, and maybe not one of the bigger storylines at UFC 267. Yeah, I think Tybor is better than a lot of people thought he was. And Volkov even said the same. Like, he was better on the feet than I thought he was going to be.

It's just amazing watching Volkov because there were some. performances he has or you're just like, damn, this guy could be a world champion. And then there's certain performances or it's just like, okay, you won. Now you're just going to fight the same kind of caliber fighter until you haven't, I mean, it's just heavyweight. Heavyweight being heavyweight. As you head to the main event of the evening, AKA Hamzat Shemiyev. I mean, this was, and I don't know how you feel about this, this was one of the most memorable performances ever in my eyes. Like just everything that happened, the swagger, the wager, the wall, walk up to the octagon, the liftoff, the talking to Dana while he's got the man hoisted in the

air, slams him down, just the one-way traffic of it all. And then just putting Lieging Liang to sleep like that, he goes out and answers all of the questions and then some. The weight cut thing still kind of hangs over him after Friday, but good grief, man. That was, that was incredible. And there's just so many options, so many fun fights, so many interesting steps that this man can take. Where did you land? Where are you going with them? this one. First, let me say, I'm afraid of repeating myself because I feel like what I'm about to say is the exact same thing I said when he knocked out Gerald Mearsherr at last September. And that's that there are fighters who are given these sort of moments. And every time you

step up to, you're able to step up to these moments, it raises your esteem in the eyes of the fans by like an incalculable amount. This is the Connor McGregor story. You know, this is like every time he was given some challenge, love him or hate him, man, he was. He was. He knocked out Chad Mendez. He knocked out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds. He knocks out Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden. Every time he was hyped up, he either matched or surpassed the hype. And that's where Hamzat is right now.

Not on the level of O'Connor McGregor, obviously. But, I mean, you talk about people getting intrigued when it's like, oh, this guy's taking a second fight in 10 days on Fight Island. How good could he be? Smokes that guy. Now he's fighting Gerald Mearshard, a guy with three times much experience he has at middleweight, I probably have some size on him. Maybe not.

I mean, it's pretty big. Knocks him out at what, 17 seconds. And now it comes off a year-long break. He's got about a COVID. He's facing a guy who's ranked in the UFC's top 15. How good, how dominance is he really going to be? This is probably a way slips on the proverbial banana peel, right? Destroyses Li Jing Liang.

Destroyes him. There's no nice way of putting it. He crushed him. So where did I go with this? Gosh. Oh, well, I'll just again. This is something I've been saying. I think he fights Kamara Usman.

I think Usman feeds Colby. I'm just saying, listen, I'm not like you, Mike. I'm afraid of if I say anything else that people are going to be like, why do you hate Shemayev? Oh, you don't think he's ready for a title shot? Why do you hate him? Why are you hating on Kamsat? So I'm just going to avoid all that.

I'm skipping that step. I don't do Mike check. So I am bowing down already to the Shemayev tribe, and I'm just going to say, yes, he should fight Kamar Uzman next. Usman should call him out, as we said before with like Marab, before Shemayev reaches his full strength, before he evolves into his final form, Usma, get him now.

Because I would definitely pick him to beat Shemaya if they fought within the next six months. I'd pick Usma now. Within a year? I don't know, man. Shemayev's scary. Dude, this guy's scary. I mean, here's, and this is the interesting thing about the, like, Islam doing what he did, was great.

Tremendously dominant. It was just, it was an awesome performance. But no one's talking, like, people are talking about it, but everyone's talking about Shamiyaf. Everybody's talking about Shemayev.

Shemai was a bigger favorite. What he did to Li Jing Liang. Like, if I'm Li Jing Liang, I'm questioning my career now. Like, how can you come back from that? Like,

that was a straight up drubbing. That was like, Shemayev went out there to embarrass and humiliate that, man. Like, that was his sole person. I'm going to humiliate this guy.

And he did. Like, how could Li Jing Liang be like, I can't wait to fight again after that? Where's the motivation going to come from? I mean, that is going to make this man question what he does for a living. It just... Mike, he said he would eat him. Like, he said he would eat him in the lead up to the fight multiple times. I'm going to eat him.

And it didn't sound like a mistranslation. It sounded like he's like, oh, no, I know exactly what I'm saying. I'm going to actually go Hannibal Lecter on this guy and eat him. And frankly, let's not forget, Leaching Lang did not tap out. If this was in the streets and there was no referee, Li Jing Lang would just be unconscious and would be susceptible to being consumed by Kamzashemaya. This is something that could have happened in real. 600 years ago, if this happened on the field of battle, he would be eating Li Jing Liang bones, leftovers right now. It's very disturbing.

It is. But it's crazy when you think like he actually did or did everything he could short of eating him. exactly Islam didn't do that it was a great performance but we're talking about Hamzaa all right we talked about this in the post-fad show

I really would be fascinated to see him flip-flop and just keep going back and forth from 85 to 170 back up to 85 and just try to like conquer two divisions I really want to see if he can do it I love the Sean Strickland idea at 185

that fight probably probably has more value to Strickland than Luke Rockhold at this point. Rockhold also be an interesting fight for Shemayev. Rockhold is talked about Shemayev saying that Shemayev turned it down. He's ducking him. I think Kevin Holland would be an interesting matchup. Strickland would be the best possibility at 185 before the end of the year. 170, which is where I think this train goes.

Magny's interesting. Muhammad is interesting. I know Nate Diaz's name is. being thrown out a lot. And why wouldn't it be, okay? So I have an idea. This is what I'm going with. This one checks off all the boxes. You can call this two different ways. You can call this a number one contender fight. You can call this a Nate Diaz contract and a pole fight. Hamzaa Chimaev versus Vicente Lucke. That fight is ridiculous. Even without Diaz, this is a legit number one contender fight at this point. Leon, if he beats Mazadol, probably gets the next title fight. But on deck,

Shamiye of Luke, and if Diaz comes a calling, there you go. You can still make that fight happen. You check off all the boxes. You can't go wrong with anything Shamiyaev at this point. Shamiya against absolutely anybody will get attention, we'll get hype. If you do Shemaya versus Brock Lesnar, I'm watching it, and I'm putting money on Shemayv to win that fight. No doubt about it. Shemaya of Luque is awesome.

I love that fight. He called, apparently, he said Dana White said he was saying he could beat Brock Lesnar. So I think you can be brought closer. Jeez, Louise. Yeah, I love the Luca. I love the Luca idea. I would say, like, oh, please make that fight a fight night main event. You really don't need five rounds.

That fight has about zero. I know we say this all the time, Lewis and Ghano. Make it a one round fight. Just make it a one round fight. Give him five minutes to see what happens. Yeah, let them know. Let them know to like, oh, there's not, don't worry about saving cardio or anything. Just go nuts on each other for five minutes.

Yeah, exactly. That would. But even if you didn't, man. And that would be my next in the line of like, there's no way this goes to a finish fights. Like that's just going to be, that would be insane. So many fun options. And there's a lot of fun options for the wildcard round. We're going to select one fighter we have not match made for yet.

And we'll matchmate for him right now. So AK, kick us off. UFC 267, wildcard selection, who you got. Yeah, there was a lot of great picks from the prelims. Amanda Hebas looked awesome against Brina Janjoba. I know people will be likely they saw from Daryev, Albert Duryev, against Koppelov. Zaleski needs to,

again, it's unfortunate that his performance was overshadowed by the insane officiating of Vyacchislav because it was a very good performance. And I go on it on Loran Murphy. A lot of these people look great. So I will

go away from that. And I'm going to go with one of the losers from the main card, Dan Hooker. He should get a long break. hopefully again he's made a lot of money from fighting this year from doing the UFC favors that he can afford to take time off and I would be fine if Dan Hager didn't fight again until around this time next year take time off get this whole city kickboxing gym situation sorted out if they're going to move to the U.S. or they're not moving to the U.S.

spend time with his family I don't even know how much time he's probably spent in quarantine this year we're talking I bet he spent like two months in total in like a hotel room with the quarantine rules in New Zealand and again having to travel that's like now that I'm saying it that's like insane

that's like you have to be a really a person of a certain mind to be able to deal with that so Dan Hucker don't worry about fighting for a bit and when you come back I think and there's just there's a lot of names you can throw out I think a Drew Dober will be waiting for him

that's the kind of guy I don't know of him exactly that's the name I'll throw out it'll be like a year from now I don't know where Drew Dover will be he might be on a three-fight win streak. He might be like 50-50 in his last two or two to four fights. But this is kind of a long shot prediction, hooker drew Dober sometime late next year. I like it. I'm going with Lorone Murphy, AK.

I think this guy is the real deal. Been saying it for a while now. And I also believe that while the 135 pound division is the Intercontinental Championship division, the featherweight division is like the WCW television title division. So many great fights, so many great contenders, so many interesting matchups, competitive like crazy. And I want to see what these guys have. Like I'm willing to push some of these prospects up into bigger fights quicker in this division than I am, maybe some others. I'm ready to give Lorone Murphy a little bit of a push, if you will.

Give me Lorone Murphy versus the loser of Danny Gay versus Josh Emmett. You want to do the loser of Shane Burgos versus Billy Q? I'm good with that as well. that makes more sense. But Murphy versus Egey or Murphy versus Emmett, that is just awesome. I want to see what this guy has. I really do. And I think, yeah, I think that one works.

Any other night, he gets a $50,000 performance bonus. Certainly. I'm assuming the UFC took care of him, at least in some way. I give him some extra cash, you know, one of those discretionary bonuses. But damn, that knockout was so nasty. I felt so bad for MacWani-Ira-Kani. He was really shaken. And I think not just obviously the damage he took,

I think there's that part of him that's like, like you say with Li Jing Liang, you know, his loss to Shemaya, like even in that moment sort of questioning like, man, what is next for me now? You know, three straight losses, four out of five. Maybe he gets cut by the UFC. And if he doesn't, where does he sit in the, and the, you know, the totem pole right now?

And it's just really been tough for him to get a win lately. And to just be knocked out clean like that, speaking of guys we might not see fight for a year i mean maybe macuan needs to take some time off yeah i i mean it's macone fights are kind of easy to predict at this point you got it he can get rid of you in the first but if you get out of that first round it's it's it's kind of like academic at this point so so that's a wild card pick do we have uh do we have check the tapes do we have any further mic checks because if there are no no no even if there were i would just i would lie to you and tell you that there weren't. I feel like you have you've been no no this week. So we think thank

goodness thank you Mike for getting that giving us that mic check early. We just got some shared listener points everyone and sort of some update on some matchups that I know people have been looking for. Kada versus Chikaze was finally I believe was finally confirmed Mike no more having to and we're having to Mike drop people. Yes. So January 15th we haven't confirmed this one yet but I do believe and I'm pretty sure this will happen. Brian Battle versus Trashions Sean Gore, which was supposed to be the tough 28 finale. It does look like they will meet on February 5th. And Alexander Hernandez is fighting Moikano, right?

Yes. Yes, that's right. UFC 271 February 12. So these are all bouts that people called for as a group. So share your point to everyone. Good job. Good job on sniffing those ones out. There we go.

Shall we head to the peeps? And I'm sure the disclaimer has grown a little bit. It has grown a little bit. Again, I'll add things to take away from things. I mean, I think at some point people get the point. But, guys, for the most part, we're going to mention winners, unless they're in the main event or title fight. So in this case, you're going to hear a lot of names, a lot of Blahubitz, a lot of San Hagan. Scatigory's rule is really what applies for ot-no points.

You're really only going to get a solo point, obviously, if you were the only one to think of that matchup. You may have just made a mistake, guys. They might have fought already recently. They might be injured, release. Fighter could already booked, et cetera. If guys, if you are going to, I need to know, if you don't put like a two or something next to two people who have already fought, I'm going to assume you didn't remember they fought. Generally, generally. Sometimes I'll give some people to ban for the doubt, but please try and remember if it is a rematch that you know it's a rematch.

So I don't think you've just made a mistake. Stop sending him picks for Tim Means for now, guys. Hashtag lobby for Robbie. I'm sorry. There were none this week, but I just want to remind people. Umar no Magamette of guys. He fights in the UFC's Bantamweight division. Usman Nomegamedov is in the Beltaur-Welterweight division.

So let's get that one clear. We had someone apologizing for last week. So I just want to make sure this doesn't happen going forward. I'm going to keep that one in the disclaimer for at least I think a few weeks. Hopefully what people will learn. And then, of course, guys, your pick might just be do-do. And we don't want to read it. So look inward.

If you're like, why didn't my pick get read? Look inward. And you will find the answer. Touje. So before we get into the actual matchmaking from the peeps, I do want to address this because we talked about it on the post-fight show. This is a horrifying memory of yesterday's card. Here's Garrett Trammell, who chimes in from time-time. Sometimes he has some BTL questions and things like that. Will you discuss some kind of fight-stopping button? I think if the head referee is

outraged like Mark Gardard was, he should be able to stop the fight. He should be able to overrule the ref in the cage. I love MMA, but that was brutal, and I see why some people are so turned off by the sport. Of course, he's talking about the fight between Eliza Zolesu Zaleschi dos Santos and Benoit Santini, things got ugly. I thought we saw a 10-7 round yesterday. Poor Benoit Santini just got getting lit up like a Christmas tree, multiple Christmas trees over and over again. The guy could barely stand, walk or breathe, and he's just getting punched over and over again, like 80 times in a row. Referee is just standing there. Not only does he not stop it, but he doesn't even look like he's even close to stopping it. He is ready to watch a body drop in the cage

in just such a savage way and not in a good savage way. This was bad. This is really bad. Fortunately, the UFC pulled him from the rest of the car. The commission said, nope, we're not letting you go on in referee any more fights. But what are your thoughts on this? Maybe a, like America's got talent, Canada's got talent, fight stopping button where like a referee gets in cage side. If he feels like the referee in the cage is not doing his job, you can just go, push the buzzer down. That's a no for, that's a no for me, dog. No, this is, who is this Garrett?

Garrett Trammell, yep. Garrett, I like the idea. I was, I don't think they would do it. I think it would kind of undermine sort of the system that they're trying to do here. But I don't mind the idea. When you mentioned, I wasn't thinking reality show, Mike, I was thinking more like a driving instructor. They had the brake.

They got a break on their side. It's like the special car with the driving instructor break. That'd be crazy. Like, yeah, a Goddard bus. or whatever other veteran referee. Maybe Mark Ratner could be in charge of it too. I don't know. But yeah, they were saying, I think, on the broadcast,

that they could see Mark Goddard. He looked visibly, like, clearly upset. We know later in the evening that I think it was, it wasn't Mark Goddard, but I'm sure he consulted Mark Ratner, and it was Mark Ratner who made the call with the UFC kind of acting as their own commissioner in Abu Dhabi, made the call to take referee Kisolev out of the equation.

was supposed to do, apparently, he was supposed to do the Ankleyev-Uzdemir fight. So he missed out on doing a main card favorite view about, which is a good thing. He clearly, I don't know, clearly just was incompetent on this evening. So, yeah, it would be very funny and possibly helpful if there could be an outside influence that could make these calls when the referee is out of pocket like that. So it's a cool suggestion. Yes. Now we go to the matchmaking.

Poppy underscore Bryant said I had to ref some hockey this week, late nights to make some cash, but could not miss this pay-per-view. Keep up the great work, guys, on this and all the other podcasts. By the way, Mike, can you get Javid Basharat on We Got Next? That would be awesome. He will not be on We Got Next, but that's because our colleague, Damon Martin, has already interviewed him, so look for that coming sometime this week. Wildcard pick Petroski versus Misha Sarkinoff,

Ankleiv versus Jan. Shemaya versus Wonderboy, time for the top five test. Volkov versus the winner of Lewis versus Docis, get revenge or stop a surging star. Mokachev versus Daryush. I feel like lightweight is really tight, and I think there's so many options depending on who wins the next two big lightweight fights.

It'll be Charles versus Jusselor-Channes versus Chandler versus Diamond unless Charles wins and Chandler wins, then maybe Mokachev slides in, so I'll go with this fight for him instead. See? Yep, Jan versus Sterling, Tashar versus the winner of Yuri versus Rackich. J.K., I know that's not going to happen, I wish.

Tickshara versus Yuri. Thank you, Poppy. Brandon Nunez, he wanted to check the tapes. Pretty sure it's a shared point, but the matchup is Tuporio versus Mofsar, Senate July 11th. That is true. Nunez likes Murphy versus Sodeke Yusef. I believe Yusuf has a fight book. Maybe he doesn't. I have to look at that.

I don't think he does. I don't think he does. I don't mind that one. Hebos versus the winner of Lamos versus Nunes. Ankleyev versus Craig 2 If Gus doesn't fight Hamzap versus Gilbert Burns Islam versus Dariusian versus Vulcan

Glover versus Yuri What a juicy fight? Yes That is a very interesting fight What is this? Yousuf is single and very to mingle What did he do? Hold on

Oh forward formatting thing All right M Ruffles Holy cow All right contenders series Oh yes He's your We said this

He's your problem now. And I say, I say problem in the fondness way. Yeah, he sends in these beautiful-looking spreadsheets. And Mike, by all means, go forward. All right, let's go forward. Contenders series, Manuel Torres versus Kevin Krum. Kareem, Kareem, Karin Silva versus Mandy Boeem. Javid, Basurav versus Ziviev, Lazisvili,

Christian Kinyones versus Johnny Munoz. Ghazi, Omar Gadjiav versus Duran win. I think one of my guys also recommended Bascher. Wow, two guys recommending Baschrat versus Lajerat versus Lajer. Laziziavili. How about that? Great minds. Great minds. Great minds. Let's see if there's anything different here. Sanagan versus Davalashvili. Volkov versus Blades. Chimaya versus Muhammad.

Ancalaia versus Gustavsson. Hebas versus Jahnan. Tugov versus Landware. That's a crazy fight. Dariah versus Sarkhanov. Zaleski versus Rachmanov. Yeah, I don't mind that one. I keep forgetting Sarkinov dropped down to 185. That's right. And so. Alex Echuk versus

Mazarov, Murphy versus Sungwu Choi, Petroski versus Kizreyev, uh, Ulan Bakoff versus Bataeus Nikolao. That's a crazy fight. Ooh. Uh,

Con Whizzle 91. Hey, Mike. Well, Glover versus Jiri is the obvious one. I'll say I'd like to see Jan versus Anthony Smith once Smith's staff has cleared up. That's not a bad fight either. I don't mind that at all. Let's go through here.

Volkov versus Jarazino. Hamza versus Neil Magni. Hamza looked for real. Magni seemed to be the only Walter White who wanted to fight Hamza. That's true. Magny is interesting. Magny's been calling for that fight for a while.

He wants it. Yep. Hebas versus Tisha Torres. I don't mind that one. I'm okay with that. Not at all. Not at all. This isn't like a...

I saw a lot of that. It's a legit fight. Like it's on a... You know, it's not a... What's the word I'm looking for? It's not the... What's the word? Man, is what we call Tishthors all the time.

It's just solid. Gaykeeper. It's not a gatekeeper. It's a legit fight. Why am I not thinking of gatekeeper? She's Louise. What's up? Casey Ryan. What's up, Mike and AK? Thanks a lot for the birthday wishes last week. My picks, although it was nice watching those two old men battle for the belt. The obliterating force known as year he is coming.

If Glover is smart, he'll retire before the match is made. I could not disagree at that point anymore. I think Glover's got a really good shot of winning that fight. I've heard people say it. for Islam fight with Daryush but the next shot is the only thing that makes sense what else we got also I think Dan should go to 170

Dan Hooker pronouns pal seems to ceiling is capped at lightweight there's fun fights for him at Walter Wade he's also a tall guy so he wouldn't give up much size maybe Dan Hooker versus D-Rod

remember when he used to fight at featherweight I know I think I saw a suggestion for someone saying he should drop back to featherweight in these pictures well so stay tuned for that. Hamzat, back to Magni, Ankleaif, I'm going with Rackage.

Smith, Rees said, I'm believing me that he tore his knee, head surgery, Uri's likely getting the next shot, so Rackich is the only one left unless you do Ankolaev versus John. So there we go. Kyle Smith, hey guys,

let's have Ankelaif take on Santos. Another Hamzaa versus Matt. Man, a lot of Magny love for this one, which is not surprising. Volkov versus Aspinall from Kyle Smith. Islam to fight the Chandler-Gaichi winner. If they don't give him, Daryush, Jan versus Sandman was such fun.

Glover finally gaining the title. He's got Yuri in his near future. Absolutely. John Ray. I only work four Saturdays a year, and this is one, but I got to catch a couple. Hebas versus Jaunan. Ankelai of V. Reyes.

Another Shemai of Magni. This is Neil Effing Magni. Dan Hooker versus Tony Ferguson. Another Sanhagan Marab. I feel like we're going to go down that road. Koupley. Finally managed to sort my... rankings before the show airs.

Here are the fights I would like to see. Petroski versus Maximoff. I like that fight a lot. That makes perfect sense. Murphy versus Barbosa. Olegze-Chuk versus Mennefield. Don't mind that. Oh, Eliza Zaleski, Dosanza versus Mitchell Paheta, AK.

Yeah, yeah, I saw that one. Tugov versus Bryce Mitchell. Shamaa versus Luke. I'm with you. Jan versus Anthony Smith. Owen Carroll. Jan versus Anthony Smith. Holy moly.

You guys are just bringing the thunder with these books. Got some books here. Ulambakov versus Sumadherjee. Petroski versus Jack Marshman. Olegzecuk versus Ryan Span. Zelowski versus Randy Brown. Everybody flaming this ref. Oh, okay.

Everybody flaming this ref, yet we're applauding when Max killed Calvin or complained when the ref stopped Sugar versus Mutino. No, we didn't. Some people like DC need to make their minds up. He laughs when Cater is dying, but cries when someone else is hurt. Also, the point was a good call. It was Aleski's third foul.

Who was applauding Max Hollow destroyed? Like, we said it was an exciting fight. And for one thing, Cater was much more in that fight than for Benoit Saint-Sandini was. But we did talk a lot. It was, maybe among us, we did talk about it after, like, how brutal that was and how it could have been stopped, right? To the point where he was in, I think it was, I think it was you that interviewed him

about the stoppage. Mike, asking him like if his corner had considered, uh, cater, his corner had considered throwing in the towel and all that, right? I did a 40-minute interview with, with Tyson Chartier about that. Yeah,

it's been talked about. Again, I get, I think when people say these comments, they don't mean you and me. They don't mean I'm fighting necessarily. Maybe just, in this case,

I think he said the commentary, which is, I think, somewhat fair, I guess. The Chris Mutino thing, what did you say that we, criticized Herb Dean for stopping the fight? We criticized. Yeah, we criticized Herb Dean for stopping that one.

I didn't at all. But some people did. So, okay, I get, he's not talking about us specifically. I get the broader media. But I don't know. I think I always tell people when they make these like, oh, why does the media do this? It's like, just maybe take a better account of who you're listening to. Because you'll probably find arguments on both sides.

You might just only be seeing one of them or being like being annoyed by one of them. But usually there's a count almost always a counter to, you know, that perspective. Yeah. Her Dean, at least with the Cater thing, was like, do something. Throw a strike. Defend yourself. And Cater would, like, land a big right hand and would listen to him. This referee was just like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Watching Dos Santos literally hit him 80 straight times unanswered and just dying. Like, literally the cage is holding this man up. It's the only thing holding him up. It's not the same. Yeah, you can't compare the two. It's just not. Like, Cater knew where he was the entire time. And then the eye poke thing was hilarious, too.

Dude gets poked in the eye. Like, it's insidate... I don't mind the point. I mean, I hated the point. I hated the point being taken away because it was like such an incidental, like, it barely grazed him. I didn't even think he landed it low.

But yeah, dude, it's an eye poke. Guy literally, Ben Ossenton, he says, I literally can't see. I can't see. And I'm thinking, I'm like, man, this dude's going to get a DQ win or no contest or something. But it would have just gone to it to the scorecards anyways. but, and then just even let the doctor come in to, like, look at him.

He just goes, oh, okay, can you see it all? Oh, a little. Okay, fight. What an idiot. Yeah, Kissela Lev. When he took the point for the growing check, it was a real like, I'm in control of this fight. Don't worry, guys, this moment. I got this.

I hear you, I hear you guys shouting at that case. I'm fine. I got it. I got it. Idiots. Derai versus Jungian Park. Zabair versus Lorone Murphy, Hebas versus Torres. Enkolaev versus Santos.

who's with you there. Shabaya versus Luque in a main event. Volkov versus Stepe Mietchich, AK. Volkov versus Stee. Yeah, no, I saw people saying like they need to see that fight happen, which is, yeah, I think it'd be, I think that's a very smart fight for Stepey to take. I think I'm sure he'd also look at it like, man,

if I lose to Volkov, like, man, I might be done. But I think it's a very win-will fight for him. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe he doesn't see Volkov being a big name, but for sure, that's a good matchup. Chris London Hooker versus Fiziv but Fiziv fighting Brad Riddell

so maybe afterwards if Fiziv wins you can do that Volkov versus Ramanoff that's a crazy fight that'd be a Hey you just want to fight against like a top 10 guy

so we're going to have you fight the most dangerous guy outside the top 15 Tabor versus Arlofki I don't mind that one Shimeyev Luke again Jingliang versus Salikov Hebas versus Jaskandraj

Wow all right Hebas versus oh right right because yeah right we don't know if Jessica and Drash might return to 1 15

yeah that'd be interesting Wow all right Tugugov versus Sadiqusiv Deraev versus Abdurahimov Lauren Murphy versus Bryce Mitchell I would like to see that

fight I don't think they'll do that so quickly though Drew Hilty good morning of great morning of fights nice to eat breakfast and watching fisticuffs let's see if we get anything new here

Islam jumps everyone everyone gets next title shot have Darius fight Chandler Gachie winner all right Hamzaa versus Kiesa Brady winner, keep building him or if he's feeling wild, going up to take that Strickland fight.

Anklea versus Rackich. Wildcar, Marcy, Murphy, and there with the top 15 guy, Murphy versus Barbosa. I don't even know where we're at. We got a lot here. Holy cow. Turned Ferguson. Yeah.

I'm just going to read a few more, and then I'm going to turn it over to you because I don't want to like. Do what you got to do. Because I got a lot, too. There's so many. If you need to read a ton, read a ton, because I'm going to have a lot as well. So don't stop on my account.

I'll read this one. Turned Ferguson. suggests Glover to share versus the winner of Vadim Nemcov versus Corey Anderson. It's time for some crossover fights. I wish, yeah. I wish we could do that.

Let's see. Ancolaia versus Dominic Reyes. Hamzaa Shimae versus Nico Price. I mean, that's a wild fight, but I think Shemaya probably deserves a top ten guy. It doesn't do a lot for Hamzaa, yeah. I mean, it's just there for a fight.

Dosantis versus Warley Alves. Zubaira versus Nate Landre. McKenzie Dern rematch? I actually wouldn't mind seeing that. And they said specifically rematch. Yeah, I mean, I have to assume. I don't know. I had some people, I had a couple people say, I'm not going to read it out because I'm not going to

shame them. They just said, they said, yeah, wait, wait, does McKinsey? No, she doesn't have a fight. No, she just lost the Marine Haas. Okay, yeah, they mentioned McKenzie Dern and Hebas and did not put a two or rematch next to it. I was just like, Gritted my teeth, Mike.

Gride in my gears. And he likes Olambekov, which I assume the winner of, of Bontorine versus Brandon Royval on January 15th, which is fine. Gerard Biaghan, let's see if we've got anything new here. Are these new people? Are some of these new people? Gerard, I believe, was new last week. Oh, okay.

There's so many. This is unbelievable. He likes Sanhagen versus the Cruz Munoz winner. No problem with that. Hooker versus RDA. Ozimir versus Tiago Santos. Shemaya versus Bilal-Mah. Lee versus the Kiesa Brady loser

Oleg Zaychuk versus Menafield, Lorone Murphy versus the winner of Ryan Hall versus Derek Minner, AK. Yeah, yeah, I saw that come on. I like it. I like it. I just want to read like all the Homsat ones. R.R.P. Minner and

Lorone Murphy, if that happens, sadly. But, yeah, I think sports stakes likes Homsat versus Gilbert Burns. I think at this point it's just kind of the Hamzat sweepstakes, because I think all these matchups have pretty much been said. Francesco, our big fan from Italy,

San Hagan versus the loser of Aldo Font. Machachev needs a top five before to go for the title. Volkov versus Mietchich. Wildcarts Murphy versus Feeley, I don't mind that one. Petroski versus DeGi Chiroiko, Zaleski versus Danny Hot Chocolate Roberts. Matt Ravelli,

and Galaev versus Paulo Costa. I think it would be a great scrap. Perfect fight to see how Paulo stacks up at 205. Damn. That's fun. That'd be so... Oh, gosh. I don't like Costa's chances in that one.

No, I don't either. That's why I like Costa versus Kuchelaba. Robbie Ryan, good day, gentlemen. Don't worry about us down under. Everything is okay. You can't believe what you see on the news. Okay. All right.

Let's see. Glover versus Yeri. Yeri wins. Jones returns to 205 to fight Yeri. I don't see that happening. No. Unless he just starts running marathons tomorrow. I mean, Jones is a monster at this point.

And didn't you hear, Yuri has to win the title and defend it two times before he could even say anything about Jones, apparently, according to Jones's new social media rules. Right. Don't talk about me. Don't talk about me unless you had two title defenses. Robbie Ryan says Jan Belhovic should retire.

He'll need to win another two to three fights to get another shot. That's a big ask. I don't agree with that. No. And even if he doesn't, it's likely if he wants to keep fighting, you should keep fighting.

And he's healthy enough to do it. I mean, come on. Machachev versus Poria Oliver, winner, no other option. Shemaya versus Magni or Bilal. Bilal won't take that fight. It's Magi v. Shamaif, Shemaya wins. I don't care who Volkov, Tebrora,

and Kalaiperos Demir fighting back. Thank you for your honesty. Thank you, no, thank you for your honesty. Yes. Tristan Gordette, here we go. Let's get this in there. Let's see if there's anything new. Hamza v. Neil Magny.

If you remember Neil Magni's tweet responding to Hamzat's Twitter post, make sure you keep that same energy when I see you in person. I'll give you my word that I'm slapping you on site. Yeah, I mean, if they make it fine, I think, I actually think Shamiath is ahead of him at this point, which is kind of weird to say. Hebas versus Michelle Waterson. Amanda needs to prove that she could beat an experienced veteran.

Michelle needs it, where she could start her way back up the rankings to possibly contend for a title, long process, be a good start. I like that. John DeRoba versus Angel Hill rematch. That's where I would have gone for Hebas. If I picked her as my wild card, definitely would have gone Michelle Waterson. Also, I think they were previously scheduled to fight at one point, right? It just just fell through.

And then, of course, we can't have a Tristan Gordat DM session without him mentioning Shafkat Rokmanoff. Mike, no mention of our boy, Rachmanov on the UFC 267 post-fight show that we want to see Hamzat fight? Or did you leave his name out for a reason because you want to see them face each other down the road if Hamzat possibly wins the title a couple of years? I like we did there. Listen, it is what it is. You're not going to match those two guys up right now. It makes absolutely no sense.

Two of your brightest prospects at 170. You just don't do that. Rahmanah, and Shamaev, as good as Rockmanov is, and is intrigued with the career trajectory that this man has, Shemayev is so far ahead of him right now. He's a star. The guy is the next big star of the UFC. You might already be there, A.K.,

so you can't him go back and fight Rachmanov. It makes no sense. My best friend, I don't appreciate people trying to bait you into Mike checks. I feel like, we know Tristan, he's a troll, we know this. But I don't want anyone else to get any ideas that they can just throw out some wild idea just because you want to get this, you know, a classic response from Mike. Mike is not a toy. Mike's not a toy, you wind up.

And then he unloads, you know, some verbiage on you. All right. This man is an intelligent man who's here to give intelligent takes. Stop antagonizing him. That's right. I'm sorry, Mike. I'm sorry, Mike. I'm sorry.

We end with Patrick Austin. Hamzaat versus Nate Diaz. I'll have more later. Okay. I'm working, but that's a fight to make. Or if he really wants to be a badass, Hamzao goes to 185 and fights Strickland. He likes Lorone Murphy versus Dan Hooker.

Okay, so this is the one. Yes, I think Hooker should return to 145. He has money now for a dietitian. Okay. That's a fun fight. I don't see it happening, but that's a fun fight. Olegzechek versus Ryan Span. Dos Santos versus Li Jing Liang 2 on the next card in Brazil.

Leachhead home field advantage last time. Heba's versus McKenzie Dern. It'll be six months before anyone will agree to fight these two guys. So why don't we just have a fun one at 170 on the Poria card? Islam versus Hamzat. At 170? Sure. Patrick's having a day.

I mean, I'd be cool someday, but that's not happening. Does it do anything for you the guy right now, honestly. San Aga needs to eat and go fight Arnold Allen at 145. What is it going on, Patrick? Ozedabeer versus Costa in a fight for the not getting released belt. Honestly, the outcome of the Hamzaa versus Islam fight could bring Habib out of retirement. I mean, can you imagine Javier versus Ha'V? Patrick Austin is all over the ways.

But in the real world, Hamza is probably going to fight Wonderboy. Poor little tink, Tink, Leon Edwards. And then he ends with hashtag smartest listener. Patrick. Patrick. In reference to himself? Yeah. Remember, last week on the show, he was like, why is Tristan Gordette, the guy?

I want to be the guy. Ah, yes, the feud. Yes, or the, the, uh, no card we're building for Otno one. So let me just, and this is, this is tough. This is tough. Before we turned over to AK, 10-9, Tristan Gordat. Oh, wow. Over to you, AK.

Was it different last week? Did Patrick get the 10-9? Patrick just laid down the gauntlet. Okay, okay. I guess this is the first round, and Tristan's got the lead. You've given the fans, you've given the listeners another thing to sink their teeth into. So will Tristan be Makwana-Marcani, or will he be Peot-Oter yet? on let's see will he get better as the fight goes or will he start to fade your move patrick austin

your move on to you a k lock to gone if you're out there do not keep track of the scores fine we can handle it don't add this to anything i'm telling you not to and and uh patrick can we not have hooker dropped down to 145 i don't think the weight cut was the issue i mean i get you're saying he could drop down to 145 and probably be more optimal than he was before but like he's losing decisions to to to like, maximal Blanco and Jason Knight as a featherweight, that to me suggests he wasn't at his best. And no disrespect to those guys.

But Dan Hooker's a better fighter than both those guys in MMA anyway. And if they met him at lightweight, I think he's a different fighter and would have people. So I don't want to see that. Okay, how do I start this? Gosh, that was such a, God, listeners are already on fire. Well, all right, consensus picks. There you go.

This will settle us down. Of course, to Sherivers, Prachka, and Jan versus Sterling, you know, the two, pretty much on everybody's card. Ren Odenheimer had this to say about to Cher versus Phrashka, he said, he says a while back I floated the idea of having potential alternatives booked to fight each other on the same card,

and Glovers to Cheras championship victory has led me to consider this when matching for him. I don't want to wait until May to see him fight again. I figure a great way to entice him to fight earlier would be for the UFC to run a pay-per-view in Brazil and late February to coincide with Carnival. this is my note I don't know what the COVID situation is in Brazil

and if that's even possible but I like the idea Glover headlines against Yer Phrashka's planned and he says Glover needs to be booked to headline in Brazil as champ Jan Blohovic hasn't done enough to earn immediate rematch but his accomplishments are significant enough to make himself the number one

alternate book him on the same card against Rockich if Yeri falls out of the main event then Yon replaces him for a shot the belt excuse me if it's glover that falls out then yon replaces him for an interim belt and then to fight yri and then if both of them fall out then you throw yon and rochich to an interim title fight so that's kind of a cool idea i got i hope things open up more for the ufc and mma in general uh because it would be nice for teshire to get a championship defense in brazil

uh tashara someone else suggested that tashara versus prohachka rochich winner as i did so i'm also sharing my ought-no exemption even though they're not technically me I am sharing this exemption with Liam Perry and Barry O'Reilly. We're going to make this happen. Blockovich versus Ancolae, very popular, Blockovich, Anthony Smith. Sanhagen versus Font-Aldo, winner or loser, some mixture there. And then, yes, the ball is really a very popular choice for him. I think the most popular side for Makachap was definitely Dariush.

Also some combination of either Gathe or Chandler, but Dariush, I think, was the one for like, yes. This is the clear-cut number one contenders fight. Both guys deserve a spot like that. with it. Volkov, the most I saw, yes with us with the Rosenstruck matchup, also the Lewis-Dakus winner or loser, December 18. So some combination of that. So you guys, again, there's a lot of points

to be going around. Mike Shemaivich, Luka was very popular. Michael Kanafri said, Hamzat Smesh. Yep. Hamzat untouched. Definitely. Hamzat undefeated. Of course, Hamzat versus Lucay next. I think so. Shemai versus Magni was a little bit a lot of

that as well. At I.O. It's dad, saying, I don't want to rush Hamza to a top five fight yet this is long overdue. Perfect story built in place and Hayesby Third said about that matchup. Neil Magny has been calling for the fight for a while. He thinks it would be a good test for Hamzat. Also, Neil deserves his big shot at a big prospect as he's a veteran of the sport, has been an active fighter, although he admits that matchmaking for Hamzat will be tough

with how active he has been before. Hopefully was he, Shemaya, fight more now. Oh, or I think he was saying the opposite. He could fight again in two weeks and that changes everything. Ancolaeer versus Rakich, Thomas, And says, my reason for this is I don't think that the UFC is a fan of Rockich. I have a feeling that for next year's Fight Island Card, want a Russian in the main event.

Therefore, I suspect Rockich and Enkolaev fight early next year, with the winner of that fight competing next September against the winner of Glover and Yidi. So some real projecting there. Tiago Santos also popular for Ancolaev. Hibas, Gadalia, Torres, Waterson. Everyone wants to know where the hell Claudia is. I saw a couple of people suggest Tukukov versus Murphy 2

With Ryan Doherty I don't know if this was a typo He called him Thug Kukov I assume it was a typo But now I think it's kind of a cool nickname So Ryan Doherty feel free to clear that one up for me And the whole common thing Yeah

Zaleski versus Price I was a popular pick Alachik Excuse me versus Jacoby Though some also throughout Alachic versus Kujalaba with Barry O'Reilly specifically saying F the Costa fight, sorry, Mike,

let's make this all Eastern European battle. So some people are saying, sorry, no Q to Lama Costa, but I thought that was perfect. And I know we've said Molina versus Jake Hadley would be great, but a lot of people want to see him fight Lombakov. So, again, a lot of great matches.

Some of the time of me, guys, I keep track of these things more. Let's go back to Michael Connerfrey, who liked, this is my, on Instagram. Ulambekov versus Kai Kar, France, if he loses to Cody Garbrandt. What's some other good ones here? Zoleski versus Muhammad, and he just made a note that, wow, that referee, Kisolev, is giving Al-Ginney a run for his money for the worst ref of the year award.

I forgot. Yeah, Mr. Guinea was the one. For Jamal Hill continue with his arm, literally looking like it was going to fall off in his fight with Paul Craig. So, Al-Ginni, you're lucky because everyone's going to be talking about Kislev now, totally forgetting about whatever the hell that was. Matt Bradbury Petroski versus Gilbert Rabina obviously it's a tough 28 reference so I like that

Murphy versus Andre Fili Olexeychuk versus Alonzo Menafield Duraya versus Gregory Rodriguez I think I feel like that one Mike That's pretty cool It's good one Buffalo Gums

I wrote something funny I think So I have to read this Alok Seych versus Shogun Huh Interesting I don't know what kind of fights Shogun's looking for before this point of his career.

Because that to me is a fight he could win. So maybe that's the kind of fight he wants to go out on. But also, isn't he, you know, aren't there legends fights he could go after? I just hadn't thought about matchmaking Shogun in a while. I think he hasn't fought in almost a year. And it's probably just about to be removed from my rankings. Volkov versus, how did you feel about Volkov versus Romanov? I mean, sure.

It just seemed kind of weird. Top five guy gets a win and now has to fight Romanoff. It just, I don't mind it. I'd like to see it. I think Romanov is that good. It would be an interesting fight. It just seems maybe that's just the state of the division right now. And there's just no other options.

What about Volkov versus Espino? Less. Less because Spito's coming off of a quote-unquote loss. So, yeah. I mean, sure. Thank you, Buffalo Gunn, for the suggestions. Someone who specifically asked for me to refer to them as DeWizzle 97. It's twice they've said, please make sure you.

call me D-Wizzle 97. Well, D-Wizzle-97, you've got your wish. One comment from them I want to read, Glover, retire on top, and Yeri and Jan for the vacant light heavyweight title. So I know, Mike, you don't like the idea of Glover retiring, but apparently people are saying, again, hey, maybe this is the best way to go. You and I both disagree, I know. M.M.A. heads, as always, was in great matchups.

Tukugov versus Sungwu Choi, Duraia versus Tikiriko. So Zeleski versus the Neil Ponsenibio loser. That'd be a nice step up, I think. U.S.C. 269, December 11th. Petroski versus recent contender series contract winner, Kayo Barallo, Barallo, Baralio. And Olimbekov versus Jake Hadley, so we'll see a lot. And M. May Head's always throwing out these contender series matchups.

As I said, they also had Basha's Elijah Spilely. Omar Gadsyev, Omar Gadsiav versus Roman Koppelov, Christian Kinonez versus the Randy Costa Tony Kelly loser that's UFC 269 Karin Silva versus the Julian Robertson Priscilla Kachroera loser UFC 269 again and Manuel Torres versus Eric Ghost Pepper Gonzalez

so some interesting matchups there Carlos Torres Buckley Caseres also wrote something I apparently felt like reading if I can find there where are there? Ah yes good matchups here Let's see. Shemaya versus Uriah Hall? Yeah.

What do you think, Mike? I mean, sure. I mean, listen, you can't go wrong. You really cannot go wrong. Uriah would definitely take it. Uriah Hall would definitely do. Because what a way to regain some momentum, right? Yeah, I think he would get, I mean, he,

Shamaa's probably a 9-to-1 favorite in that fight. But, I mean, interesting. One, Hall's got power, man. Makachev versus Ferguson. Mokachev said that ship has sailed, But, I mean, if it came up, I don't know. He might consider it. And Jan versus Devalisvili.

Just give DeWallisville the next title shot. Shush. No. I don't know. Listen. Listen, if Sterling can't make it, they book the fight. Sterling can't make it. Now you could slide Marab in.

Take one for the teammate. My goodness. That would be, yeah, he'd win it for him. He just a great card. Refereeuf Gislov, wanted to see death. Thank goodness they pulled them out. And then he says, happy Halloween to you and Mike.

Thank you. Happy Halloween to you, Carlos. And my man from Markham Nivathan, Kugantham, has a question. First I'll read the one. He had one really good. I like Olaychik versus Enchukwe.

Question. USC8. Not despite any of these more promotion, he says, but is it just me? Or does Gatjee versus Chandler have an underlying coach's beef after Usman switched gyms, right?

Because that Usman went from Sanford and now he's working with Gichi, is that right? He's working Gichi at elevation? Yeah, I don't know if there's I don't know if there's I don't know if there's a coach. If there wasn't a coaching beef really between Burns and Hussman, there certainly isn't going to be

one here. I don't think you need any added storylines for this fight. I just think it's so good. There's so much at stake. The stakes are high. It's a dangerous fight for both guys. It's just an awesome piece of business. This is the best fight on paper for the rest of the year. It was better

than anything on 267 on paper, better than anything on 268 on paper, better than anything else on paper, if we're being honest. Just no one has had a bad thing to say about it. This thing doesn't need anything extra. You don't need to sell it anymore than any additional sizzle. Yeah, I don't think, I don't think that that factors into it. Maybe for Chandler. Maybe there's some added chip on his shoulder. Chandler's that kind of a guy who seems to search those out, but I think he knows what he's, the smoke he's walking into. on Saturday at MSG. I think he's also what Nevathon's suggesting is maybe more like we'll get a scathing

Henry Hooft promo this week or something. How dare you, how dare you leave us for Colorado? You fool. I don't know. Again, this is probably not going to happen. It's probably what is not going to become the story of the week. But thank you, Neepton for the question. Going to emails now, we've got a first timer.

They did not leave their name, just an email address. I'll just read the first part of it. Arne Clemens, 99. Long time listener. First-time responder from the Netherlands. What is up? What is up our people in the Netherlands? They say they have no social media

and they have to find my email through the website. Guys, I've said it on previous episodes, but maybe they'd listen to the one where I didn't say it. And just first-timers, I love to read their other picks. Hamzat, Keiza, if he beat Sean Brady, Islam versus Chandler Gathee loser, Volkov, Rosenstrike, and Glover versus Yudi. This guy says I was a bit annoyed with the card.

It felt like almost every fight was a clear setup Russian guy. I don't like fights like Islam versus Hooker and Kamsaubr's Lee except for making money with betting. And he said lots of media do their best to hype the fight, but don't we all know it will happen? It felt like rock paper scissors were the dominant wrestlers for the scissors against paper. I'll say, and I know if Casey were here to agree with me, I like showcase cards.

I like showcase cards. I like showcase fights. This is how you build up names, man. Belator does this all the time and I get it and they get flacked for it too. People go like, why? The last Belator fight was like, oh, why is Usman, Normago? met of matched up with some guy who's like who he's like a 3,000 to one favorite against and it's like because you want to see I want to see these guys show off I want to see this is old pro wrestling

enhancement enhancement talent style stuff that's doesn't quite the case it's too but this is how you make stars you put them in situations for they have amazing performances so certainly after a while you'll see you know you see through it but that's the business that's the fight game rani it happens in MMA. It happens in professional boxing. It happens in the last real sport, professional wrestling. So, but thank you for the comment. Please keep them coming.

Looking forward to hearing more from you. Casey Carpenter always saying nice things to us compliment the show. And Hamzat versus Vittori, Hamzad, if he wants a title fight before the end of 22, he should go back to middleweight and fight Vittori next. And I think Votora would take the fight. Votorri would definitely take it. If he wins the fight, I don't know about this part, though.

If he wins that fight, he would jump the winner of Brunson and Canoneer. Not fair, but when is the UFC fair? And at Welterweight, I feel he fights probably Wonderboy, Diaz, or Magdi, and I think it's a longer vote for him. I don't see Burns taking a fight with him. And they said, not sure Luka would either. A lot has to play out in that division over the next couple months. Lots of super popular guys. Colby, if he wins, would probably set up a trilogy.

So they say, Casey says Hamzat, super popular right now, and I think they want to push him far. Middleweight makes more sense. So I think that'd be so cool if we fought Vittori. That's a big point to Casey if that one happens. Yeah. If I'm Vittori, I'm calling for that fight. That would be wild. I didn't even thought about that.

And let's not forget, Ali does not manage Homsat Shamaev anymore. So all these Ali guys call for them. And should. And should. And they want to see Machachov versus just straight up. Just get that Oliver Porei, winner. I don't let me see. I don't know if they've added conditions. Oh, Islam should fight the winner of Chandler-Gaichi. I think he's going to,

I think, but I think he is going to get the winner of the title fight. That's the official pick. So, because he's popular. And like Homs not popular, it means something. So thank you, Casey Gardre. I'm going to remember these picks for sure. Ren Odenheimer, of course, our friend and little Andre, his son, Andre, his son, Andrea, appreciate the shoutout, as did his mother and friends and family. So thank you to me and thank you to Mike. Mahachev versus McGregor. An added benefit is that if McGregor surprises us all and somehow obliterates Islam,

this could potentially be the catalyst to draw Habib from retirement. I don't think McGregor has wants to have anything to do with Islam, but boy, that would be fun for that fight to happen. And if you're the UFC, you should be trying to make that fight happen somehow. I don't know how. Maybe it's just a dollar amount. Yeah, I don't think it happens. I'd rather, I mean, if you want to do the Tony Ferguson one, that's a, there's a lot of story there. I don't think it gets as ugly as a McGregor fight would get.

I think we'd feel, we'd feel a little sad after it's over because Macheteer probably destroys Ferguson. He probably destroys McGregor, too, if we're being honest. But at least the build to the fight. would be cheesy, but it wouldn't get ugly. The McGregor one would get real ugly. Yeah, we know how bad it we get. We've seen it. But I get it.

There's still some residual Habib heat there, and I think people want to claim some of that, then that's certainly impossible. And our Melbourne matchmaker, Joe Young, has some picks. One of them was a good one. He says, Brad Riddell to avenge Dan Hooker's loss against Islam. But he says he sees this one maybe sometime next year,

even two years down the road. But I guess that means he sees Radell becoming like a top five, top ten guy and maybe getting a fight with Islam at some point. So avenge a hinderer. He has been his next fight. So we'll see if he beats Raphael Viziv, then yeah, he's on his way.

Yeah. And again, I think what Joe is saying here is even if that doesn't happen somewhere down the road, he gets on a win streak that puts him back in the line. So Denny Caps, just make it under the deadline for picks here. I like Zeletsky versus Roberts. I think that is a, that's a good pick.

Why did I? Oh, okay, I want to say, he broke it down first. He said, Zaleski has entered that Muhammad, James Krause, Alex Marano level, where he's not really considered a telethrep, has a very respectable U.S.U.C. record. So he said, any of those three guys would be great, plus Randy Brown, Tim Means. Damn it. Damn it, Denny. Come on. He said, he said, I know, I know.

He's aware of that hashtag lobby for Robbie. So, okay, Danny, it's fine. Calvoi Lavera, Nico Price, D. Rod, Muslim Salakov, Worley Alvarez, Jake Matthews. But he said for the official pick, he's going in going Danny Roberts. So I like that. I like people, feel free to give other options, but list your official pick. So he is only getting a point if it is Danny Roberts and I lose you, Zaleski. Thank you, Denny.

A lot of thoughtful picks there. Tukagov versus, I think he was saying Tukagov versus Chan Sung-sung-Jung. Just throw him in there with the zombie. Wow. And Blahovitz versus Alonzo Medafield. All right, guys. Let's close out with our Twitter friends who are always so prolific. Adam McDonald, first-timer, he got the welcome to the party pal John McLean gift.

Everyone does when you're a first-time contributor to onto the next one. Started listening to the show. Would love to see Kemp Shemayev do double duty and take on Strickland so Sean can fight this year. If not, 170 burns for him next. Volkov needs to fight Steepay. And my final pick to give you is that I'm feeling good about. Lorone Murphy fighting Bryce Mitchell, get him the grappling time, and says, thank you, Mike, and myself for putting this show together.

So thank you, Adam, for listening and sending it in. I mentioned A.O. Its dad earlier, and he just had a comment I wanted to read as well, as well as some other picks that other people have. I love the early day card. Got to say, it was like the whole day, a lot of good fights. But maybe we capped these events at 10 to 11 fights, not 14. It was originally 15, A.O. And if the roster is so large and needs this amount of fights book to keep up, he'd love some smaller buy fight cards, buy weekly every Tuesday.

Maybe the content series season is over, just a thought. That would be interesting, right? I would love that. Would you? I don't know. That's why I love the contender series. Like, I know. It's lost some steam.

No doubt about it. All you got to do essentially is win and you get a contract now. And we know why, because it's a money saving thing. It's a filter. into the UFC and it saves them a bunch of money to fill these cards that have 15 freaking fights on them. But yeah, if they wanted to do that, like, clash it, like, just once a month. Just do it once a month. WCW to Clash of the Champions. They just do like a sprinkle card on a Wednesday or Thursday night. I have no issue with that.

Five fights. Make it easy. Don't go crazy. Once a month, a little showcase, sprinkle in card. I'm cool with that, AK. I like it. And I don't know. Oh, I think he's back. I think we lost him. We're back. I'm back. Sorry, my internet blew up there. You're back.

I miss all of that. I miss everything you just said. Once a month, clash of the champion style. Five fight card. Sprinkle it in. You know, Saturday night's main event, whatever. Just sprinkle it in. Two-hour card, in and out.

Is there some thought to having contender series cards headlined by a fight with already signed fighters? That'd be weird? Like three contender series fights? or four Contender Series fights and then a co-made event featuring guys already signed. Again, maybe trying to, like, trying to, you know, rebuild their rep and then it's a main event as well. Can you combine the ideas? I have always been someone who would want to see, instead of just straight cutting guys,

if there's two guys in the same division who have lost two or three in a row, you have them fight for their job. That's the main event. Relegated. You're relegated. Listen, you want to stay in this company. I get it. But listen, you've lost three.

in a row, dude. We're going to give you one more shot. You headline this contender series card against his other guys last three in a row. Winner stays in the UFC, gets a new four-fight deal. Loser goes back to the regional scene. That's a tremendous idea. I think that would make the show better. What did you call it again? What did I say? You had a name for it. You had a name for it just like two seconds ago. I don't remember what I said. Okay, we'll have recorded. We got to tweet it. We got it. Must have been brilliant. It was brilliant. It was wonderful. But this is a lot. But this is a little. But this is also where like honestly like you you should also uh experiment with the idea this is where they should

introduce the the outside of the cage buzzer you know the uh the referee outside that right the outside the referee open scoring but try open scoring these cards i know you can't do that because it's a commission to commission thing not a event event thing but saying maybe uh you know again the commission makes certain rules we're like okay for for for certain events you are allowed to do this and it's optional and then that would open the door for like well okay the ufc to say we're going to try it on this this event So I would love it if the USC, you're right, had its own. I know they do a great job promoting the feeder leagues and stuff on Fight Pass on the regionals,

but if they had their own kind of quasi-regional that they just owned and ran and controlled. And they can do all kinds of wild stuff with it. It'd be fun. I like it. And by the way, people normalize. Loser leaves town. I love it. Loser leaves town.

Normalize 10 fight-fight cards. Please. Yes. I know those people there who are just like, no, the more the merrier. I want like seven straight hours. I love seven, eight hours of MMA. That's fine. Paper views, yes.

Guess what? Even then, look, if you like that, you can watch UFC, and you know there's like 50 million free MMA events going on around the world, right? So don't tell me that you need to get all your MMA from the UFC because you can go on YouTube and guess what? And the way it is now, you can find fights that are better than the UFC for free. With the caliber of some of the prelims that we've seen in the UFC, there's great, great fights going all around.

Some you had to pay a little bit for. KSW. Sir, you might to pay a little while. watch, but if you want more MMA, it's out there. Belator's got a good event this weekend too. You don't need the UFC to spoon feed you 15 friggin fights on one card. All right. It just

you can be choosy with this stuff. I mentioned Ryan already before. He says Macachab versus Porre Olivera loser. I think that's very likely. And also was with me Hucker versus Dober. I don't know if you want to see it next but I think he's like me. He wants to see it somewhere down the line. All right. Miles Hutton, which one of these jumped out of me?

Duryev versus Julian Marquez? Sure. Sure. Lorone Murphy versus Damon Jackson. I think Lorone is ahead of, I saw a lot of these kind of matchups. I think Lorone is a little bit higher up in the rankings than people think. I bet he's top 20.

He's top 20 in their eyes. It's a pretty deep division. But even when he fought his first fight, he fought Tukagov to a draw, Tukagov's pretty highly right. I have Loron just outside. I admit at 21. so yeah essentially top 20 and this is a deep cut

uhlun becgov versus the shang uh what's like a juan puerta winner from this this tuesday's upcoming someone's really trying to get ahead on the contender series game uh unleine becgov versus the winner of this fight coming up in on this tuesday's uh contender series shang puerta it's a great fight experience and it makes sense these guys uh i know uh lumbikov's really good and these guys would be making their

yesterday debut after this, but they both have, I think, combined like 60 or 70 pro fights or something. These guys are super experienced. So that's kind of a cool matchup. Miles Hutton, if you get a point for that, I'm going to give you your own tweet. I don't know. I don't really have much to give you. I'll give him a half of my point. He gets a point in a half if this happens.

Well, wait, hold on. Like, our points are more valuable than, oh, should I not have said that? Oh, well, I think people know by now. Our odd no points are more valuable than listener on no points. Of course. You already said that. You'd give half a. Mike Otno point.

If that bite, holy crap. And I'm not in Florida either. Locked a gun on. Good luck adding that to your spreadsheet, buddy. I don't even know. You might need another call. Four Corner Sports, NY. Murphy versus the Woodson, Colin Anglin winner.

That's what I'm really looking forward to. I just find to mention it. It's a good one. Oloxiechuk-Sachukh versus Ed Herman. And he has specific date, Bob Miltich is March 22. So he's like this, he was booking the date. You do not get extra Otno points for that,

but that's, I like the ambition. Seamus law wants Dariyev to fight the other half of the Marquez Wright fight that fell through Jordan Wright. Zoleski versus Carlton Harris, Olexeychuk, versus the Jung and Zichukwu winner

that's coming out. That'd be a good one. And again, Murphy versus Kamala Kirk. I guess they both beat the battle of guys who just beat up Amir Khani, but I think Murphy's ahead of him. McDonald's... Is James a first time?

No, second time. James McDonald, Olokacech versus Usdemier, sure. Zoleski versus Kevin Lee. Sure. And for Shamiya, I think you mentioned this one, Wonder Boy. I think, and I know you said in the show, Wonder Boy, should we try to make this one happen now? Everybody should. Everybody, we should be on Twitter later on today.

Everybody calling out Chimaev. Literally everybody should be calling him out right now. 70, 85. Hell, even if you're at 55er, call him out. Call for this man. Fight him now. They might legitimately be afraid. Fight them now.

There might be that thinking like, should I tweet this? And like, no, because it might actually happen and I don't actually want that to have. Braden, a lot of the Jews. I like Phraski's Abu Azitar. I'm not sure where that guy is, but that's a good one. Hayes-Bethyrr, just match up Zaleski with Li Jing Liang. Pachoski versus the, oh my gosh, feel their deep cuts. Jacob Malkoon,

A.J. Dobson, UFC 271, February 12th. That'd be a long wait for Bertoski. He'd have to wait until February for those guys to fight and then have to wait for them to be matched up. I don't know.

It's a little too long. Thomas Collins, Ancolaev versus Rockich, Lorone Murphy versus Zabit Magomed Sharipov. He should probably be in the band list too, but go ahead, I'll listen.

Hear me out on this one. I think Thomas Collins expected that response. me out on this one. Zabit has been out for a while. We know he's looking for a fight soon. I don't think he's ready for top-ranked fighter, so why not give Lorone a chance? It's a winnable fight for Zabit. But it carries some risk. Gives Lorone a step up in terms

of his opponent. Make this fight UFC. So Thomas Collins feels very passionate about it. Just only three guys left here. Barry O'Reilly Bera-O-Rilly, Petroski versus Park. Jun Young Park. Murphy versus Land-Ware. I think we mentioned that before. Do we mention someone versus

Either way, yeah. Zulair. Zubaira either way. Yeah, get Lamber in the mix with these guys. So much fun. Zoleski versus Drodd. Duryev versus Mark Andre Barrio. Tukugov versus Barbos.

I like this one. I've got to be creative. Anklev versus Paul Craig, too. Run it back because that first fight, Ankalav was well on his way to winning before getting submitted with literally one second left on the clock. So I think that's a very, very good rematch to put together. And Makachab versus Gillespie? No, too far behind right now?

Yeah, way too far behind. He won a Habib. Remember, Gillespie Wada Habib for the longest time. Two fights ago, Gillespie got knocked dead by Kevin Lee. Like, a great win over Fiatta. That was a great fight, but, yeah, come on. This is true. If he'd be a stay busy and a paycheck fight for Makhachev, and he'd have to know that he was guaranteed a title shot off bit.

Otherwise, it's really not worth his time right now. Marcus McKayhi calls us the Old Man and the C in parentheses, as we often indicate for champions. so well done for well done marcus electric versus costa again people are really trying to get away from your Costa Coochalaba match up I'm sorry Mike Duraev versus

Puna Soriano I think it means yes Puna Soriano oh yeah I had to read this one this was suggested by his cat Kaiju he said as he pointed out Soriano hits like a truck as he

pointed out his cat pointed out Marcus I have some questions but as pointed out Soriano hits like a truck Oh, I guess it's Sean Soriano pointed out. I'm sorry. As Punas Suriano, I'm sorry. As Punas Soriano pointed out. Soriano hits like a truck and has never been taken down in his contender series or UFC career.

And he did not appreciate the cat throwing video. What's the cat throwing video? Who's throwing a cat? Not Duryev. Yeah, I probably have to go find Karim's cream. Zidane. What is his name? Our friend from Buddy Elbow?

He knows all about that stuff. Oh, this M. Creamzidon. Yeah, Creamzadon. The brilliant Kareem Zadon. Brilliant. I don't know if he covered this, but I do see it. This is apparently started from a few years ago.

He trains by throwing cats. Yeah, I don't like that either. What a dink. So I asked, by the way, people, you can check my Twitter feed. I tweeted out a picture, retweeted Marcus sharing a picture of the beautiful, beautiful cat, kaiju. People should know this. I hate animals.

Yes, I'm a monster. You can say it. don't care. I'm not fond of them. I love cats. If you have cat pictures, videos, whatever, DM me. If you tweet it at me, I will almost be guaranteed to retweet it. If I miss it, then DM me and tell me to do it. I love cats. Kaiju, I was very happy to meet. So thank you, Marcus McGehy. And yes, I also did not like just learning that about Dariav. So finger of shame to you, finger wag of shame, Dariah. Don't do that. Shimaaya v. Kza Brady winner on November 20th and at Murphy versus

Murphy versus Swanson Elkins winner, Mike, December 18th. Yeah, I'm fine with that, especially if Cub wins. Yeah, yeah, I think it makes more, I agree. It makes more sense of Cub wins. And to close us out, we have a newcomer. Emilio, at Emilio plays with a Zed on Twitter. Again, I gave them the John McLean.

Welcome to the Party, pal. First, let's read this. What are they got very well, well written. Hello, Mr. AK, also to the rest of the NBA fighting crew. You're my go-to MMA media outlet, and I've been a fan for a couple of years. First time I'm writing with some on to the next one suggestions. Fingers crossed, my picks ain't do-do.

Amelio, the only reason I didn't read a bunch of your picks is there's a lot of overlap. People have the same picks. But I read everything you wrote personally, so thank you for that. Willembekov versus Kopp Zumagulov loser, December 4th, great matchup idea. Petroski versus Lungjambula. Lorone Murphy versus the Burgos-Corontillo loser. I like it. U.S. 268.

versus Crute Hill loser, December 4th. Tukugov versus Swanson Elkins winner and then Shemayev I had to end on this now this is a great thank you Emilio great first Happy Halloween young man That is the young Michael Hacks

Michael Hacks child Hang on, hang on, wait a tell you And he had this to say about Shemayev To close out Hamza Shemayev versus Mazvedal Nate and Michelle Paheda in a three to one handicap, no holds barred, hell in a cell match.

The hype is so real. I actually think Hamzat wins that too. For real, though, it's got to be the winner of Brady versus Keiza. I suppose to say if it's Keiza. Don't give me none of that Nate Diaz nonsense. I'm not a Nate Diaz fanatic, but that would just be murder and illegal. Wow. Yes, I tell you, Amelia, you came in, Hunt.

I was at Emilio plays on Twitter people. If you want to send your responses to that, spicy matchmaking, thank you guys. And if, of course, you want to send stuff to me, you can hit me up, guys, DM at Alexander K.K. Lee on Twitter, at Alexander KK Lee on Instagram. And for people who for some reason couldn't find my email, Alex. Dot Lee at SBNation.com. Okay. That was a show. That was quite a show. We had a little bit of everything. UFC 267, at least for the matchmaking, is in the books. And now we get a break, right? We got a break. Yes, huge break. We're off for a month.

Nothing's coming up. Nothing. No big, nothing. Just getting. UFC 268. This Saturday, another huge event on paper view. Two more title fights. Wait, what? Two rematches. Kamar Uzan versus Kobe Covington, the main event.

Rosnami Yunus versus Zhang Wei, Lee, two for the Strawway title, Justin Gagee versus Michael Chandler, Frankie Edgar versus Marlon Vera, Shane Burgos versus Billy Quarantillo. That is the main card, and what a main card it's going to be. Edmund Shibazian is back against Nasrede.

I'mov. ally Quinta versus Bobby Green, Andreas McAlytes versus the debuting, Alex Paheda, Jordan Williams versus the debuting, Ian Gary, C.J. Vergara makes his debut against O'Day-Ozborn. John Valenti versus Chris Barnett.

That is the people's main event right there. That's not a real fight. That's not a real fight. And it's the best fight on the whole card. Alexa Camer. What are you talking about? That's not real. Alexa Kamer versus John Alon, Melsic, Bagdasarian,

versus Bruton-Suzza, and Phil Haas versus Chris Curtis. that is UFC 268 at the Mecca, Madison Square Garden. Jose Young, as we speak, yes, this Saturday, on his way to New York. Are you serious? Right now from Abu Dhabi. I should read this MMA fighting site that Emilio is talking about. Yeah, I feel like I'd be more informed.

Yes. So join us next week. We talk all things UFC 268, the aftermath. You always remember, ladies gentlemen, MMA is supposed to be fun. Do not take this stuff too seriously. on next week on on on on the next one the podcast. Grayson, what do you want to say to the people?

Loud and clear, now it's your cue. Go ahead. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween, everybody. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.