MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC 271

Episode Date: February 13, 2022

While it seems like all signs are pointing towards a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier following their victories on Saturday night in Houston, where does Robert Whittaker go after dropping to 0-2 against the current champion? This week on On To the Next One, that question is answered from a matchmaking perspective following a memorable UFC 271 event. In addition, future matchups are discussed for Tai Tuivasa following the biggest win of his career in the co-main event, along with Derrick Lewis, Renato Moicano after stopping Alexander Hernandez, Bobby Green — who kicked off the main card with a unanimous decision over Nasrat Haqparast — 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

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Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to Aero Pembers on equipped flights, Sponsored by Bell. Conditions apply. See Air Canada.com. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. And welcome to a brand new and oh so live edition. On to the next one on the Sunday, February 13th, 2020. And for those who watch the wonderful game of American football, yes, it is Super Bowl Sunday.

The big game goes down later on today between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. Of course, as a unit here at M-Bay fighting, we are rooting for the Cincinnati bangles for our good pal and colleague Damon Martin. But we are here to do some matchmaking for some of the notable names coming out of UFC 271 last night in Houston, Texas. And we appreciate all of you wonderful people joining us this morning. So I'm sure a lot of you are sleep deprived after a memorable evening in Houston. I am Mike Hack. And as you can see, joining me as always, the co-host, the co-matchmaker, the best friend in the Prince of Positivity, Mr. Alexander Cayley. Good morning, AK. How are you, sir? Good morning. Mr. Michael

my best friend uh i'm like man i'm excited i'm in a good mood i thought that saturday show was fantastic uh like you said we're pumped up super bowl sunday uh we're very pumped up for our boy damon martin go bangles hashtag eternal flame why did this eternal flame does no one care does no one make this bengles bengles connection am i the only one making this joke i should check on twitter someone has to be else has to be doing this but uh yes hopefully apologies for all our west coast rams fans out there but uh we had a may fighting most of us rooting for the bengals which was be absolutely freaking insane and also a very good time for David Martin. But we're not here to talk about the Super Bowl entirely, are we, Mike?

Because we got a hell of a show. Yes, we have a lot to get to. There are so many submissions, I'm sure we're going to get a bunch more in the comment section. So if you have matchmaking ideas, leave them in here. We'll try to get to as many as we can. I have a feeling this is going to be just a crazy show because there's just a lot going on. So let's get right into this thing.

And let's talk about, aka Israel Adasania's successful title defense over Robert Whitaker. close fight right much more competitive this time around Whitaker fought well just not enough out of him to sway any of the judges in his favor although I certainly thought and I predicted this from Jump Street we were going to take a trip to split decision city

we're going to see something weird and crazy considering they were in Texas and we did see some very weird scorecards throughout the night good win for Izzy a lot of people may not have been super high on the performance I was because it's just so difficult to defend these titles over and over again against these fighters who are

going to bring their absolute best to them. But Adasani gets title defense number four. He says it's number five because of the interim title thing. I don't think that argument would ever hold up in court. But this seems easy, right, AK, Jared Cannonier viciously knocks out Derek Brunson earlier in the night. We're knocking two names off of the board right away. Are we not?

Yeah, that's an easy one. It's definitely malpractice if they do anything but that. Jared Caneer has been a good company guy. Other than shouting out on live television, I'm broke as F or whatever he said after one of his wins. I'm sure, yeah, he didn't get punished for that. I'm sure UFC didn't love the optics of that situation. But he's an exciting fighter.

He gets knockouts. I don't know. I know everyone's saying, oh, whatever. He's just going to be the next one to get knocked down by Izzy. But look, this is how champions are made. This is how championship runs are made. And if people want to see him someday, I know a lot of people are talking about it, you know, reach the legacy of an Andrew Silva, come close to that 10 straight title defenses.

Again, even if you do the Adisanya math, he's only halfway there. Five more championship wins is a long way to go. I'm skeptical that he makes it, but if he is going to make it, he needs fresh challengers. That's exactly what Jared Canaaner is. So I think Jerichannier is a legitimate threat. Of course, I would pick Addisina. I think he'd probably be pretty heavy favorite opening, probably like minus 250, maybe minus 300 by Fight Night. I don't know.

I just don't know if there's a lot of faith in Kenoneer, which is strange because I think he's done a great job and everything you can do to earn that. So, yeah, easy work for us. Easy work for the listeners, I think for the most part. Pretty sure that's the direction everyone was heading in other than a few odd suggestions. We'll get to you later. But Addisina versus Jared Kennineer, whenever they're ready to go, UFC just put it together. Yeah, I mean, is this fight going to get everybody fired up? Is this going to be the casual fight fans kind of a middleweight title fight?

probably not but when you have the type of performance that canaenaeer had last night the promo he cut after the fact you just don't need to be too cute or creative with this one since it's it fell in your lap it's easy peasy so you just go ahead and book this fight adasani's wanted it for a while he just signed a new deal you want to make the man happy you go ahead and give him this fight it adasani wants this fight to happen in june that's four months away and we've seen canaanair maybe a time or two make that kind of turnaround but normally it's like five six six months, even more, before he turns around and gets back in there. But a lot of times he's dealing with different injuries and trying to heal up.

But I don't know if he'll, I don't know if he'll want to turn around that quick, because he might only get one shot at this thing. Does he want to just turn right around in June? I don't really know. But June, August, whenever, that fight is likely going to happen, barring anything absolutely insane. But on the flip side, a little more, a little more of a difficult matchmaking decision, AK, because we have Robert Whitaker, who, even though he lost, I still think he's the second

best middleweight on planet Earth. He's kind of in that Colby Covington-esque position, where if the champion wasn't in the picture, he'd probably have the belt right now. And I've said it many times before, it's Izzy, a couple of notches down from there is Whitaker, and then like several notches down from there. With all due respect, you got the Vittorries, you got the cannoneers, etc. So this is more of a selfish pick for Whitaker. I really want to see the fight between him and Marvin Vittoria. I think it makes sense right now. This can easily headline a fight night. Yeah, you could do the Brunson rematch. Sure. Both guys are coming off of losses. Seemingly Brunson's final fight if what he says is actually true. You could do the Strickland

fight. I see a lot of comments for that. There's a lot of options, but I just, I really want to see that battle for the number two spot. between Whitaker and Vittori. What say you? Yeah, I mean, and look, you're right about the notches, and you're not speaking in hypotheticals, because Whitaker was the champion when Israel Adesignor wasn't in the picture, right?

Before Israel, before Izzy came to the UFC, Whitaker was a champion. So we know this. Colby Covington, unfortunately, did not have that luxury. Him and Usman have been in the UFC pretty much for the same time for the most part, and Usman got to the belt first,

making sure that Covington would never actually get his hands on it, despite some really strong performances in championship fights. And we also know Whitaker is, like you said, Whitaker and Izzy are leagues above because Whitaker fought Ken and Ir and has beaten him. So again, it's not a hypothetical to say like, oh, well, how much better is Whitaker than Kennear? Well, we know.

They fought and Whitaker won. So, yes, the clear one A and one B or even one and two, he is pretty clearly above Whitaker. And again, I keep telling people, like, that, I don't think that main event was, like, deserves to be that criticized or a dissonia's strategy because, like we said, Whitaker is so clearly a stuff above everyone else, and that is like one of the, maybe the best or like the 90% version of Robert Whitaker that we got. And it's still, and, and at this and yes, controlled the fight. So that's how good he is. That's how good Whitaker is. That's how high quality that main event was, even if it was light on like thrilling moments and the highlights and things

like that. So I understand that. I understand why people, you know, didn't love it. I did go with the Brunson rematch only because I've been pushing for Vittori Strickland pretty hard. I think I've probably mentioned it on more than one show. They are friends, but I think they put that aside if it was like a good main event opportunity, a title shot was promised. It would be promised to Strickland, not to Vittori. But I don't think it'd be unreasonable to see in the fight. So I've been pushing for that hard.

I can't go back on it yet. Yeah, I think a Whitaker v. Vittor v. Vittori or a Strickland fight would be pretty fun, but because I've kind of, I have that still out there in the Otno universe, I will have to go with a Brunson rematch. The first fight was a while ago. I just want to see, want to see where both guys are. I want to see where Brunson is after taking a loss like this

because his confidence was through the roof. Very tough loss to take. I wonder how he would look and how motivated he would be to avenge a previous loss. I think he'd love to get the way to go fight back. So I'm happy going in that direction. Man, Liam, you are just on another level today. What is going on here?

Smile, it's Sunday. The day of freedom. The day of the Lord is his brother. I let's relax here. Liam, he is correct. The coming to comparison, work. But he has an interim champ. That's true. He wasn't. Right. I didn't say he never won the title. I said he that Whitaker is in a similar. Whitaker was the freaking world champion. Yes. But I'm saying right now they're in similar positions because if Usman wasn't the Walterway champion, Covington would probably be the welterweight champion. Much like if Adasanya wasn't the middleweight champion, Whitaker would probably be the middleweight champion. And I think saying, I think most people would understand we mean undisputed. As undisputed as you can be in combat support. It's undisputed. Because, I mean, I don't think anyone, you know, back then would say like, oh, well, Carlos Condo was a champ at the same time as GSB. I mean, no, he was the interim champ, which is a great, a great achievement. But we don't, we don't go around and say, you know, praising him for being like an all-time great champ. He held a belt. Same with Dustin Pelt. He held a belt. There's a reason these guys, you know, quote-unquote, not winning the big one, which is always a kind of a bullcraft thing to say in sports. But that is kind of how we measure success, right? The undisputed, you know, the undisputed title. So that's what we mean when we say champ. We're not going to clarify interim champ every time. Come on.

Yeah, a lot of, I mean, just, just a lot of different ideas here. And that's not, that's a pretty good position for Rob to be in. It's pretty good position for the UFC to be in because people still want to see Robert fight and there's options for him. So let's move ahead to the MVP of the night and maybe the MVP of our hearts, AK Tai Taito Ivasa never has the heartbreak of a collective group of MMA fans led to so many smiles because as much as we love Derek Lewis and it really hurt a lot, of us and it sucked to see him getting knocked out the way that he got knocked out. If there is

anybody to do it, it's Tai Tuivasa and what a showing it was for him. What a performance. What a chin that man has. Overcomes the early storm, took some bombs from Derek Lewis in that first round and then lands that Helbo to put the Black Beast out. Huge win for Tai Tuvaa. Absolutely massive, who is now a major player in the UFC's heavyweight division. If I said that to you a year ago, I don't think you would have believed me, AK. So now where do we go from the just absolutely surging Tai Tuivasa right now? I just want to say there's a comment from No Mas Porpher saying, I knew Derek was getting destroyed. Guys, that's not called getting destroyed. I saw a lot of, I saw a lot of like Lewis crapped the bed again. I'm like, Lewis was beating Tuivasa's ass. I mean, there's

no, I don't know how you explain toi Vasa surviving those flurries. I mean, there's a lot been said about him being like more mature, obviously being more focused, which I believe, which I do think is a key to his recent win streak. But there's no explaining, you know, how you survive those. Because he was T-K-O'd or caoed by Jr. Dos Santos before. So he's lost. He's been finished by strikes. It's not like he's like invincible. So we've seen him get knocked out. I almost, I don't know how Lewis, again, couldn't quite land that kill shot. I think it's a credit again to Tuvoss's toughness. I think his awareness on defense. I think that's a reason why the referee was very smart, you know, and didn't even, I don't even came close to stepping in.

Tuvaasa was always intelligently defending himself. He was rocked. He was hurt, but he was, you know, but he was always intelligently defending himself. So again, just an amazing, a really, really amazing outcome for him. But he took a lot of damage in there. So it was super, super tough. I struggled with this one because there's this cluster at the top with Sidil Gan and Francis and Ghanu and Steve Miochich.

Of course, John Jones, presumably stepping in at some point. So I had to play it safe here and give Tuivasa the Curtis Blasey Blades, Chris Stacus winner. That's happening March 26th, so fairly soon. And then either of those guys presumably becomes the number one contender. Chris Dacus would be weird, but I don't know. Maybe if he beats both those guys, he'll deserve it. Number one contender for the interim or what could soon be the undisputed title,

depending how they handle the Francis situation. To answer Tristan's question here, Derek Lewis is two and two. In the UFC, just probably fought in Houston a million times in his come-up. But in the UFC's two and two, he's got a knockout win, uh, Victor Pesta. Knocked out win over Victor Pesta. Wow. There's a name. He's got the decision went over a Lear, Tifi.

And then he's lost, he's gotten finished in his last two to Cyril Ghan in Tai Tui Vasa. So, I mean, I was telling you about this off air, okay? If this, if we were living in the Bellator world, we would be getting ready for Tai Taitou Evasa versus Cyril Gond. That's what we'd be preparing for. Good. That's what they would do because it would be the meritocratic way, right, AK, rules, rule, meritocracy, all that stuff. I have no problem with it.

That's what Bellator does. So when people complain about Bellator's matchmaking and then they complain about the UFC's matchmaking when they say this guy deserves this and this guy deserves this, this is Belator matchmaking. This is how we got Bader versus Congo too. Exactly. But the UFC understands that from a business perspective, that would be a horrendous idea. because you have a potential star in your hands. And while, yes, Taitou Ivasa could, could beat Cyril Gan because it's a fight, you probably have to land a big shot.

Chances are stylistically, they'd be an absolute nightmare. And let's be honest, it probably wouldn't be that fun to watch. It just wouldn't. So I'm going to stay away from that one. Although it would make sense, on paper, I hate the idea of matching Tai Tui Vasa versus Seril Gond. I couldn't dislike that anymore. And I'm kind of with you.

Like this is just so tough because we really have to wait and see what happens with this division before we can actually matchmake. Because France Angano is about to have surgery next month. Who knows what the future looks like? Who knows if he's even going to fight in the UFC again, although it seems like Dana White in the UFC, they're trying to get something done here. But with Ngano out, they'll probably go the interim title route. They'll likely go John Jones versus Stipe Amy Hitch's should they can make it happen. But as history tells us, AK, we are dealing with two gentlemen who if the terms are not what they want, they will just walk away from all of it and not care one iota about it.

They just will not care. They'll just like, peace out. I'm done. So we have to wait and see, unfortunately, but Ty kind of wants to take some time off, which is probably a good thing for him right now. So my answer is his next fight will be for the interim heavyweight title, whether he gets thrown right in there or he gets the winner of a potential John Jones-Stepe fight.

He's fighting next because we don't know what's going to happen with Francis. So the interim title, probably be put on the line. We'll have probably an interim title fight. We'll probably see there's a chance we see an interim title defense. Taito Ivasa will get one of those two fights because I think you have to do that. You get to ride this tie to Avasa train until the wheels fall off. And a loss doesn't really hurt him that bad as long as it's somewhat fun and somewhat intriguing. And Cyril Gan, great fighter, future world champion, in my opinion, that one just doesn't seem all that entertaining to me right now. Now for Derek Lewis,

you can throw him in a fight night main event against anybody and people will get excited, they'll watch it. I think they'll probably go with the winner of the UFC London main event between Alexander Volkov and Tom Aspinall. But you can throw him in there with anybody and it works. But my official, I will say this, because we're talking out no points, my official Otno point pick changes

if Greg Hardy beats Sergei Spivak. Because if that happens, you do Derek Lewis versus Greg Hardy one trillion percent, right? Yeah, I saw a lot of people throw that one out there. Again, I'm assuming and hoping Greg Hardy loses, and we just never have to mention this POS again. But, yeah, I obviously would be a very easy fight for the UFC to market. Derek Lewis has wanted it for a long time ever since, of course.

Ever since Greg Hardy, I think debuted with the UFC, he's been saying, like, you know, I think people are aware, of course, of Greg Hardy's history. Derek Lewis is not a fan of it. And it sounds like it would be a pleasure for him to pummel Greg Hardy in the cage. I know a lot of people want to see that. I'm against it. I don't care. I don't think Greg Hardy deserves to even step.

into the cage with someone like Derek Lewis with a fighter of Derek Lewis's caliber. But you can't argue, again, you can't argue with what would sell. It would definitely get, it would be if it happened, one of the most 10, for better or for worse, probably one of the 10 most talked about fights of the year. So again, it's not for me. It's not for me. But I understand the will of the people. So I'm waving my magic wand on this one.

I don't think it's very unlikely it's going to happen, but I do want to see Lewis fights. Deepi Miochich. This has come up on Otno, many, many. many times. The timing is just never right. It doesn't feel like Steepa has any interest in wanting to fight Derek Lewis, but it's a fresh matchup. I would love to see that. Because I just think Stevey should have to, I do feel like he should have to maybe earn his way back to a title shot. I know he's quote unquote the greatest heavyweight in U.S. history. I know he's done more than enough to demand only title fights going forward. But I think a fight with Derek Lewis would be really good. And you

could have that main event something or five round round co-main events, not that it would go five rounds, but a five-round co-main event of a pay-per-view, pay them what they deserve and make that fight happen. I think it'd be cool. So this is a magic wand pick, not really necessarily what I expect to happen. Hack the holidays with the PC holiday insiders report. Try this PC porquetta.

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Okay, so we already talked about Jared Cannon here. There's so much going on with the UFC 271. So let's just jump down to the lightweight division. Huge win for Hanato Moikano in a fight that was really, really easy to break down, but hard to predict. because this is going to go one of two ways, right? Alexander Hernandez was just going to go out there and bolt Hanato Moikano in the first round. Or Hanato Moikano would weather the storm and probably win the fight if it got to round two. What happened was Moikato had a pretty darn good first round and then just annihilated Hernandez

in the second round. And I know to the delight of a lot of MFA fans out there because people just don't like this guy. But he submits Hernandez on paper view. you in the second round. So in a way, Hanata Moikano probably owes Alexander Hernandez a little bit of a debt of gratitude because he got to fight on a main card. And if Hernandez didn't say what he said, probably doesn't happen.

But great win from Oikano, two straight finishes, three and one over his last four, finishing all these wins. He looks great at 155. AK, I'm going to jump the line here because people are going to say this is lazy booking. I don't care. I'm geeking out overseeing what this fight would look like. I want to see Hanata Moikano versus Bobby Green.

That fight is freaking awesome, and that's the fight to me, AK. What do you want to see next from Moikato? What do you want to see for Bobby Green, my next friend? Because Bobby Green in Houston was treated like a freaking star during that win over Nazar at Hackbarrest. Yeah, look, I know we're kind of cheating again. We just did a Disney versus Canaaner, which is the obvious pick. I think we all had to make that one. I couldn't think of a better option than Bobby Green and Hanata Moikano.

It's so good. In my personal rankings, I have Bobby Green 22nd. I have Moikano 23rd. So they're right next to each other. They're both on two-fight win streaks. They're both veterans. Obviously, Bobby Green, a little more experience at 1505, but that doesn't really matter. They're both veterans, super exciting in there.

Boycano, a little bit more of a nose for the finish, but that's not for lack of trying for Bobby Green. I think if anyone looks at Bobby Green, sort of opponents that he's fought, there's a lot of guys in there that are tough to finish. So you don't really blame Bobby Green for not having more knockouts on his resume. He's been in some just amazing striking battles. And if he was facing lower-ranked competition, I guarantee he'd be putting a ton of people away. Yeah, look, I can tell you now, I can tell you now ahead of time, the listeners were with us on this one.

I think it was maybe the most popular pick I saw. There was maybe a couple others besides, of course, Ezra Edisonia and Jared Cannoneer. Those are the two most obvious picks. I feel like they're going to, I feel like this isn't likely to happen, though, because there's also a lot of directions you go with both guys. Again, both veterans, super versatile, super tough. They can go up in the rankings. They can be used, again, as still as litmus test for. You know, up-and-coming guys.

The UFC wants to feel good there. They are really, really good. Right now, utility guys. And I mean, that is a compliment for the UFC matchmakers because you can put them in there with almost anyone. But in terms of entertainment, as far as what I think they deserve, and a fight that would set up either guy for a top 20, top 15 opponent. I would love to see Green and Moycano just matched up.

Just this week to say the matchmakers go like they're both. Once the medical suspensions come up, both guys are healthy. Send them back out there against each other. There's a lot of picks for both of these guys. A lot of very popular choices. These are probably the two most match made fighters on the entire card. A lot of good of the comments too, by the way. A ton of them.

And I'm not pulling them all up just because. No, we can't pull them all up. But great job. Yeah, we're going to talk about them. There's no doubt about it. Very good picks. Let us head to the wild card round. And for those who are joining us for the very first time, the wild card round is we

will now is we will now select one fighter that we have not match made for yet. And we're going to do it right now. So it could be someone on the main card who is not victorious that we haven't discussed. Could be a fighter on the prelims who did get a win. Maybe they did not get a win. Who knows? The sky is the limit, AK. There's a lot of names to choose from.

Who is your UFC 271 wild card selection? Mike, I can tell you, my pick would have been Sergey Morozov, a guy that I've been pumping his tires for a while. I'm a big fan of the guy of his work before the UFC. I think his fights in the UCC have actually been good. he's just, again, faced super tough competition. And in this case, came out great early, but facing a veteran guy who's not shaken by a bad first round,

excellent performance by Douglas Silva de Andrade, who now will be my wildcard pick. Morozov would have been. So, Andrade wins the, Silva de Andrade, excuse me, wins the illustrious Otno, A.K. Lee, wildcard pick this week. Bantamweight is just effing ridiculous. Like, again, just like I said,

Bobby Green, Moycano, So, De Silva Dandrage, a veteran. There's just so many guys that can match them up with. I like, so I'm going veteran versus veteran here. I've been pushing for sort of this weird dream fight with Ryan Hall and Hanyaya. I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think Hany has any plans to move up to 145 for that fight. It just would be super cool.

And Ryan Hall has fought since I suggested that matchup. So that's kind of clearly off the table now. So there we go. I'm going to Hani Yaya and De Silva. I think I think that's again would just be an awesome clash of styles. I have no idea who would win like any Hanayaya fight probably gets to the ground. He wins, but De Silva, very strong down there. So Brazilian versus Brazilian, veteran versus veteran, Hanayaya and Silva, DeAndroche.

That is a fun fight. You could throw Ronnie Lawrence in there with Anyaaya and I would watch the crap out of that too. No surprise here. I'm sure you knew who I was going to go with. I'm going to go with Casey O'Neill with the full-fledged heel. turn in a lot of people's eyes on Saturday. She beats Roxanne Mataferi, calls out the Houston crowd. She wants to take some time off, but there is a fight with some heat on it that is just

too damn easy to make right now. Chuck B, I'm with you. I'm with you. You got to do Casey O'Neill versus Joe N. Wood. Those two do not like each other. And look, AK, I know what you're thinking. She's already fighting somebody. Yes.

That's fine. She's fighting March 26. March 26. However, I favor Alexa Grasso in that fight right now. But I don't care. win or lose, I think you have to make that fight next. It's right there for you. You could build it up.

They don't like each other. Casey needs time to heal up. That gives time for Joanne to fight. Heal up herself. You can take a break. Late summer, early fall. Boom, book this fight. And it's a good one.

I think you do it. And I'm ready for it. Pass that Scottish torch, Scottish start. Because Casey Neal is from a native of Scotland, right? But she's fighting out of Australia or the other way around? She's native of Australia fighting out of. Scotland. Which one is it? Native of Scotland. Who?

O'Neill? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, she's all over the place. Yeah. She's lived in like, yeah. But she's born in Scotland. Is that, I'm not, okay, born. So she's a native of Scotland, much like in Australia. But fights out of Australia. Yeah, she essentially, that is her home base now. So, uh, yeah, Daniel Edwards says,

Scottish flag on a pole match. Uh, yes, classic, uh, classic Vince Russo set up. Uh, yeah, no, I like it. I like it. I agree. Uh, I agree that, um, uh, uh, uh, It doesn't really necessarily matter what happens with the Grasseau matchup on March 26. Yeah, it's the Columbus card. Of course. Again, I don't know where I'd go with it. I think I intentionally did not make a pick.

I think she is. I'm not sure how quickly to push her. Again, our listeners are all over the place with this one. So I'm kind of looking forward to reading out what they had to say. And I'm kind of dodging this question myself. I don't know. That does make a lot of says, though. She's clearly ready, I think, for someone on the top 10, especially, again, with respect to Joanne Wood.

someone who's kind of sliding out of the top 10 and that spot might be right for the taking so it's a business it's tough business yeah i mean my my initial thought was case o'neal versus cynthia calvio because you can cases i mean cynthia's i mean cynthia's gonna need some time as well after that andria lee fight so give her time to to try to get her mind right get her her body right after that tough fight what is going on here nothing i get my lap I hit my laptop. I was so excited about what you were saying, Mike. I was just like, yes.

Mike Big. Oh, no. How about Casey O'Neill versus the crazy judge, AK? What a rough hour for that. Robert Alexander, as our colleague, Aaron Bronsteader correctly pointed out in Twitter, an actual rocket scientist, a man who's an actual rocket scientist. Aaron pulled up his credentials somewhere, I guess, from his, maybe the Texas Commission website or something like that. So clearly a very bright individual, but I think most people would know, you can be a very smart,

person and not necessarily know what you're seeing in an MMA in an MMA fight that has to be the case with Robert Alexander, which one, it was that one in the Arlowski-Vandera fight where he was the dissenting score. And I was joking on our work chat that he was one of the breakout names of UFC 271 because I had never, I was not familiar with Robert Alexander, but he was so bad that the always affable John Anick, who also keeps it real, we should say, is also keeps real all the time. He called this man out in the broadcast. You will rarely, I shouldn't say rarely. I do think John is inclined to do that when it happens. He mentioned that Robert Alexander had only judged, I think, four UFC fights prior to this event. And you could see

that that was the case. So we went into UFC 271 worrying about how the Texas judges might go. And boy, one of them really stood out like a sore thumb. So a tip of the cap, I guess. A shameful one to Robert Alexander. That was bad. Really, really bad. The laptop one, HyperinF, the laptop one. Apparently, Calvio's going to try to go back to 115. I don't like that idea at all.

I mean, if she could do it super healthy. I mean, we do have the PI. She is in Vegas now, so she could do it. Just don't rush into it. Take your time if you think you can get down there. But that's a tough cut, man. I've talked to her many times. She hated that cut.

And I don't know. We'll see what happens. I don't like that. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. Do we have any check the tapes? Do we have any bonus features? Do we have a mic check? Anything like that?

Let me hydrate here. Sorry, guys, this is live. This is live. Normally, we edit out my drinking water. This is live. This is, I mean, this is what people came for. Normally, we edit out my knocking over my laptop. So again, you guys are seeing live.

No movie magic today. So, right quick, if you want to take another sip, AK, we'll answer this question. We got Colby versus Mazadol coming up on March 5th. Does Mazadol's power scare at all that he can knock Colby outshore? But, I mean, I think, I don't know what the betting lines are. I'm sure they're very heavily in the Covington side. I mean, this is outside of a vicious knockout or a one shot or a flying knee or something crazy from Mazadol. This just has a Colby 4946 decision written all over it.

But you never know. someone is seasoned as a Mazadol. But go ahead, A.K., back to you. Oh, yes. All right. What was the question? Can Mazbado knock him out? What is it?

Who do we have in Colby versus Mazdaon? Does Mazadol power scare at all that he can knock Kobe out? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the second part of the question, for sure. Of course. Of course.

I think, and I think companies aware of that. I think he's been in there with guys who at any moment can knock him out. But he's got a great chin and endless cardio and great wrestling. That goes a long way to preventing you from getting, getting caught square on the jaw. I mean, again, I know Usman did it. It took them, what, four minutes and, sorry, 24 minutes and like 55 seconds to do it. So, very hard to do.

Okay. Yes, I want to give a half point to our boy, regular contributor, Marcus McGehy for the Jessica Penne versus Luana Pinero rebooking April 30th. He's one of the people who called, apparently one of the people who called for that, and he just reminded me. I'm not giving him a full point. I mean, again, it's a rebooking. What do you want a cookie?

I mean, but thank you, Marcus, as always. and you'll get some more love later in the show, as you always do. I've got a new segment, Mike. A new segment to commemorate our second live pay-review show. I know I should have run this by you, but do you mind if I, do you mind if I break this up? Yeah, well, that hell not. All right, to quote a famous line from Happy Gilmore,

this is my new segment I call, where are you on that one, dipshit? Because I think so, I think so, not you. Not you. This is for the listeners. This is directed at the innocent listeners. Because sometimes there's, there's like, there's fights that happen.

And I'm always like, and I go back and check our notes because I want to give out out no points. And somehow no one got them. So this is my finger of shame to our legion of listeners who you would think, Mike, you would think the collective brain trust would never miss anything. Like especially if it's like a compelling and seemingly obvious pick. But you guys, and don't blame us. Mike and I are only responsible for two picks.

We can only handle two picks per fighter an episode. You guys are literally like 9,000, 100 people out there. 9,000, 900,000? I don't know how numbers were. I'm not Robert. I'm not Robert Alexander, okay? So there's two picks that I wish you guys should have been able to sniff out.

And if you did, please feel free to correct me through DMs or what have you. Brian Kelleher versus Umar, Normangomatov, UFC 272 March 5th. You guys have sent hundreds of Keller picks. None of you picked Umar, Norma, Metaub, nice one. And then Angela Hill versus Vierna Jandrova, May 14th. Again, I could be wrong,

maybe because she lost in the last card, her last fight, I didn't write down Angela Hill picks. So if I'm mistaken on this one, but this seems like something that, again, should have already happened or you guys should have picked. And that's going down May 14th. Mike, our listeners are brilliant, but sometimes

make mistakes. So that was the first edition of where were you on that one, dipshit. And hopefully the last. Hopefully I never have to say this again. All right. We will go to the listener picks, but I want to throw this question out because I don't know if we really discuss this that much.

Michael Bisbing made his pay-per-view debut, replacing Joe Rogan, who, by the way, Wednesday afternoon was scheduled to be on the broadcast, and he was not on the broadcast. So let me just say that one more time for you. So the question here from Stone Zebra 666 is, was the backlash to Bisbing's commentary warranted, in your opinions? People were very mad at him on the bird app.

What do you think, AK? What was the criticism exactly? Was he not reading the action, right? was he kind of roganing it a little bit? I don't know, maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. I will say it was not my favorite commentary performance from the team as a whole. I'm very excited for Bissman to get his shot. I did think it was just a little flat.

I felt like the Cormier Bisping dynamic wasn't particularly strong. I think neither got, it helps when, you know, for one thing, three-person teams are never great. I know the UFC's committed to it. They're not going anywhere. So there's no point, like just completely shooting that down. but you like people to be able to slot into roles. John Anick has his obvious role. And even when it's Rogan and Cormier, again, a combination I don't like,

I understand why, you know, there's so many fans of that team. Rogan is, again, the veteran color commentator. He has his catchphrase that people are used to. And he kind of brings this frat boy out of Cormier, which, again, annoys me, but which I know many, many, many viewers enjoy. So there's a dynamic there. Biss me and Cormier, I don't know if they knew what to do. I don't know if they knew which guy should sort of be like a straight man,

which guy should be funny. They didn't want to step in each other's toes. They were kind of almost too respectful of each other. So, and I did see people criticizing, I think, again, Bistfing saying maybe he was too biased towards Addis in the main event not calling out enough of Rob Whitaker stuff. And that might have been the case with other fights. So criticism certainly warranted as much as you should, you know, as anyone who's doing something like that in the public should be criticized.

But I didn't think he did like a particularly terrible job. It's not like, oh, I never want to see Bistfing do a pay-per-view again. it wasn't a memorable performance and I don't think it was his best night but it wasn't just him I didn't didn't corn me it was great either uh props to Liam Mahoney for getting that correct I forgot about UFC 251

oh thank you he tagged in Paul Felder was supposed to be on and then he remember he got he tested positive for COVID and was supposed to call it so they so BISBing tagged it just kind of like this one short notice tagged in and uh yeah there we go

yeah it was it was I thought early on it was kind of tough But I get it. It's tough doing those broadcasts, especially in Bisbings' position where he probably wasn't at any of the fighter meetings. He's doing the research on his own. So Anick and D.C. have such a big leg up on him.

And he shows up, does the commentary, just kind of out of the blue, and it was what it was. I thought early on you just have two A personalities along with John Anick. It's tough. I think eventually things got a little bit better. Not great.

I just wasn't a fan of the tandem. I think Bisbing and Paul Felder works so much better together because Bisbing's more of that, you know, A level personality, more of the leadership role, if you will. And Felder is so good at filling in the gaps. I feel like Dominic Cruz in a lot of ways is really good at filling the gaps. I know a lot of people don't love Cruz on commentary, but I feel like Cruz and Felder are like the perfect kind of third seat. And then DC, Rogan, whatever, Bisbing, those A level personalities.

It's kind of hard when you have all those guys just kind of talking. over each other and stuff like that. So I didn't think he did a hard job. I give Bisbing a lot of props for having the testicular fortitude, if you will, to just say yes and jump in on a day's notice without knowing half of these fighters and just compiling all this research to do the best he could. So I give him a lot of credit. That is not an easy job to do, especially when you're doing it on a day's notice.

That's pretty freaking crazy. So good on him. But overall, yes, that was not the best. I would like see Michael Kiesa get a shot. if her being honest. I think he'd be really good in that. And as we said, of course, Laura Sanko, she's ready to go. Trust me.

If they called her 10 minutes before the show and said, oh, someone's car broke down and they didn't make it to the end. Could you hop in on 10 minutes? Laura Sanko has like, is ready. She has been ready. She's going to jump on that opportunity. I think we agree. She's definitely going to get a fight night opportunity sometime this year.

But paper review should not be out of the question. She's done a lot of commentary work for Contender Series. And Victa, she's just excellent. She does her research. She has fought before. So people really, really like her. It's just such an obvious choice. So hopefully sooner rather than later, we do see Laura Sank.

You'll get a pay-per-view opportunity. One specific criticism I did see Mike, the commentary team, which I agree with. I see it a bit in the comments here, and I saw it on Twitter. Maybe less judging talk from Cormier and Bisping. Bisping, I will say, of some of the fighters, commentators, has been trying really hard to educate himself on judging. If you see his commentary from like a year ago to now, you can see him like either at least second guessing himself. He doesn't speak in absolute.

Like, oh, I think I'm pretty sure like in the unified rules is how this is and this is, he is definitely studying it. And when you're calling fights live, look, you're not going to remember every aspect of the unified rules. Okay. So that's, you really can't blame him. Sometimes he says, oh, I think that that's this won this fight. And then Cormier is like not even close. Cormier, I think has zero understanding of the unified rules. I'm sorry.

I get it. I know people like him. We like him. We like his personality. But anytime Korme I will say if you're listening to Korme to talk about judging and scoring, take everything with a grain of salt. He does not, he is not up to date on the unified rules, like the current scoring system. And the problem is when him and Bissom we were going back and forth on it on Saturday, it may as well have just been dead air. And I think that's a lot of things people didn't like.

And then when I doubt that's like I think any time they were discussing judging, scoring, I was just like, this is not a conversation that's helping this fight. You know, focus on what they're good at, technique and what does a fighter feel when they're in there. they are telling their stories, you know, if they had more time to do the research in Bispin's case. So, yeah, a lot of criticisms to be made. But, again, it wasn't like the worst thing ever. And I'm sure they'll be better eventually. Yeah. I mean, I wish the judging wasn't so terrible because then we would have avoided it altogether, probably.

But although we heard a lot of it in the main event. It was pretty wild. So do we have anything else? Or are we going right to the peeps? I think we can go right to the peeps. But again, a lot of comments come. Guys, amazing. By the way, keep the comments coming in.

We love how active you guys are. I see a lot of debate. over the Edisena Whitaker fight, and that's great. But yes, Mike, we can move on to the listeners. You may have heard of the sex cult nexium and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack. But she's never told her side of the story until now. People assume that I'm like, this pervert.

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Workday, moving business forever forward. Okay, why don't you disclaim that while I try not to giggle at that? All right. Marcus McGahey, by the way, dubbed the See Happy Warrior Edition. Of course, guys, we'll have some more Roxanne Modifery talk. We had a lot of Roxanne Metafari talk during the week, talked about our ton on the post-fight show,

and we're going to talk about her a little bit more today because, again, this might be the last time. We really, really get to talk about Roxanne, at least as an active fighter as she was on Saturday for the final time. So happy trails to the Happy Warrior Edition. Thank you, Marcus, for that title. Guys, we'd like to emphasize mostly talking about winners, unless they're in the main adventure title fight,

then of course we'll talk a lot about, you know, Robert Whitaker and Derek Lewis in this case. Scattergories rule, guys, if you were somehow the only person to pick a fight, at least in my picks, I'm going to give you a full out and a point, which as of today, I think, was equivalent to 13,000 Ethereum and 40,000 Bitcoin.

So it's crazy. It just keeps going up. But, you know, there's a lot of fluctuation. Don't bet your life on it. Guys, please pay attention that you have the right weight class. The people fight already recently. has someone, does someone have a notable injury that's going to keep them out for a long time? As someone, people not in the UFC anymore that you're trying to match me for,

or they could already book and you seem to not know that. So please avoid sending those in. I just ignore them. Most importantly, golden rule, your pick could just be do-do. If that's the case, we're just going to skip over it. And my additional rule for this week, people, I don't know how long this guy's going to be in the UFC. That debut certainly was lacking.

But it's blood diamond. Okay, it is blood diamond. I know it's a cool name. and if people were maybe disappointed that Blood Diamond did not live up to it, but he's not Mike Mathita. He's not Mike Diamond. It's Blood Diamond. And as long as he's in the UFC, we will continue to use that name.

All right. Let's go to the peeps. I'll try not to repeat. And try not to say Mike Mathita, whatever the hell that nonsense is, Mike. I know you go through your picks pretty quick sometimes. Blood Diamond, please self-edit, Blood Diamond. I will. I'll, dude.

Don't worry about it. Matt Rovelli, freaking great night of fights. I want Hanata Moycano versus the winner of Drew. Dover versus Ricky Glenn. I think that fight would be a blast. Then the obvious choice, I feel like Bobby Green versus Brad Redell would be insane. I feel like that's a very popular pick. Oh, yeah.

Robbie Ryan, Gooday, Mike, and AK. O'Neill versus the Jojo Grasso winner. Bobby Green versus Diego Fajara. That's a popular one. Moikano versus the winner of Surukian Joel Alvarez. Man, that's a tough ass. Runson versus Hermanson. Lewis versus the Rosenstrike, Tybora winner.

Tuivasa versus Stepe or Gone, whoever doesn't fight. Jones. Whitaker. I'm not sure what his contract situation is, but it's a real uphill battle to get a third fight unless you're Max Holloway. Retirement could be an option. If he's not motivated to keep going, a new start and other promotion could give him some fire in his belly

or if he continues in the UFC. Sean Strickland is the fight to make. In between the first and second round, that did look like a man who was second-guessing things. 100%. Yeah, we all thought like, wow, that doesn't look good. Yeah. But he worked it out.

He sure did. Magic Mighty 67 on IG Hi Mike, Hope all as well A few suggestions this week. Green versus Redell, Oikana versus Gamrodot. Don't think that fight can happen because they're both ATT guys.

Oh. I mean, maybe it could because it's a massive team. Yeah, it's really big, yeah. Casey O'Neill versus Jennifer Maya, I think that's a little too soon. At least right, this, you don't need to rush Casey O'Neill.

And then Phillips versus the winner of Jack Shore versus Timor Valley of Holy Moly, that's fun. Both those options are great. I didn't see that one. I didn't get one of those. That's a good one. I like it. Yeah, it's good.

Jack Porter, Tuvasa versus Stepe, because we know John Jones is never going to fight again. Is that Jedmishu? Hey, that's a reasonable. Listen, until we see John Jones booked again, that's a perfectly reasonable take. Yes. Lewis versus Tom Aspinall, winner lose. Brunson versus Rockhold in his final fight? I always forget to factor in Rockhold in the match.

I don't think I've thrown Rockhold into a pick, I think, forever. I just, I don't know. I almost have no confidence. and him coming back anytime soon. I think the UFC, he's teasing. Luke Rockhold apparently is teasing a fight with Paul Costa in June, at least on Instagram, saying it's Wine Night in June.

Who the hell knows? But I kind of want to see Rockhold, I kind of want to see them rebook the Rockhold Strickland fight because I think that's a good spot for Strickland. It's a good spot for Rockhold. It's a big fight. People will care. Sure.

Boycana versus the loser of Syruke-on-Alvarez, Kyler Phillips versus Ricky Simone. Holy moly. Yeah. This is an interesting one. Jack Porter suggests Robert Whitaker versus Kamar Usman, AK. Usman come up to 185. And fight Whitaker.

Yeah. This kind of goes with what we were discussing on the post-fight show a bit. Remember we were saying like, man, we wish they did that thing when, you know, dominant champions wanted to fight up a weight class instead of just throwing them immediately into a title shot. Give them, give them a, you know, another, like maybe a name at Light Heavyweight. Now, Whitaker is more than a name at Middleweight. excuse me, like we said, he is the, he is the second, clearly the second best middleweight in the world.

So this wouldn't be like an Anderson Silva situation where he went up to beat Forrest Griffin, who was, you know, a UFC champion. But it's, I think was still, I remember the time, Anderson was still favoring that fight. And then, sorry, before Forrest Griffin, he fought James Irvin at Light Heavyweight. So that was definitely a, we're giving you a fun fight at 205. So they don't really do that. This would kind of be in between. It would be both a fun fight and also one that would, you know, set him up to fight for the title if, if I'd assign you himself were to leave.

Because I do think, as, as Usman has said, unless they both could pay like $10 million each, they really don't want to fight each other. But yeah, fun idea, fun idea. Poppy underscore Bryant, wildcar pick Kyler Phillips versus Victor Henry 2. Sure, I'm in for that. Hinau Kana versus Magamem Mustafa, if that post-fight interview had me so hyped. and he suggests Ty Tuovasa versus the winner of Curtis Blades versus Chris Dachas. Sorry, but I'm thinking realistic. And unless there's some crazy interim title again, I don't see Ty getting gone, John, Francis, or Stipe.

I don't, I disagree with you, but we'll see what happens. John Ray, Lawrence versus Hakrimonoff, Ulberg versus William. I don't, I don't mind that one. Yeah, but I don't love it either. It could be the worst fight ever. Yeah, I don't love it. I could be the worst fight ever. Yeah, I'm going my initial gut instinct that I hate that idea.

I mean, I love that you're submitting picks, but I mean, on paper it makes sense, but that's just a horrible fight. Thank you, John Ray. Kyler Phyllis versus Sayy and Amaga Madoff. That's fun. O'Neill versus Kalvillo, Arlowski versus Olinick, winner lose, Toevasa versus the Rosenstrike-Tibura winner, Whitaker versus Vittori. Cool. Yeah, it could be really. bad.

It could be like a super bad. Yeah, please no. He wants to be. Marcus, we know what Marcus does. Let me go through these and try not to repeat anything.

The spreadsheet. The spreadsheet. Yeah, I got the full spreadsheet. Derek Lewis versus the winner of Speedback versus Hardy. Arlowski versus Wanis Spino, sure.

Ronnie Lawrence versus Fernie Garcia. Who is that? I don't, it must be a contender series. Contender series? I'll look it up. Carlos Ulberg versus is Jelton Almeida? Come on, Marcus. What are you doing? Are you trying to get this man killed?

This, why would you book this fight? You wasted, Marcus, you wasted a spreadsheet on this? What are you doing? That's a bad pick. I'm sorry. That's just bad. I mean, let you experience. No, did you see Jelton Almeida's last fight? Are you crazy? Good Lord. We need to build Carlos Oldberg up with guys who are like four and O, three and two. We need to do Bellator booking for Carlos Albaugh. Jelton Almeida, good Lord. I could, Jelton Almeida could fight top 15 guys and win. This is insane. He should not be fighting in the UFC, Carls Lulberger, for being honest. It's probably not fighting in there. Fernie Garcia is a contender series, most recent season.

Jacob Alcun versus Disco Tadorovich, interesting. Douglas Silva Dan Drogh versus Miles Johns, love it. Jeremiah Wells versus Jack Della Madalina. Wow. I like that fight. That's good. You're redeeming yourself. That's really good. Maxime Grishon versus Marcheon Prachio main event main event I'm sorry Maxim Grishin you said yes yeah

but I'm sorry I was distracted by a comment Vendetta Shin in the comment says give Oberg Alex Beheada people stop it Stop it Alex Behead is about to fight Brito Silva for the love of Pete How about this thing day?

Albert was Alvi there we go now we're thinking I don't mind that idea Like that's If we're going to book a horrible fight That's the kind of horrible fight I want Yes let's yeah Let's be a little more sensitive shall we Oh,

Carol Maxim Grishin versus Daun Jung Jeremiah Wells versus Alex Marano He did call for that fight Douglas Silva Dan Drods versus John Castaneda Wow, that's super fun Jacob Alcun versus mock Andre Barrio Ronnie Lawrence versus Tony Kelly

Whoa that's fun This okay This is Carlos Allberg Matchmaking the way it should be Oh, Carlos Ulberg versus Alexa camera. I knew you were going to say that. Yeah, that's the right one. That's the one I saw.

That's the sweet spot. That's the sweet spot. Kyler Phillips versus Frankie Edgar, AK. Hold on. Hold on, hold on. First of all, nope, sorry, Mike. My sound went out there for a second. I thought you said Carla Phillips, and then I just heard a scramble noise and a faint buzzing.

Listen, I'll, okay, I don't want to, someone, I do want to read my dear, my dear friend, I think it was Stephen Breiter who suggested that in a, oh, sorry, Haysby Third, excuse me, Hayesby Third, who suggests that in a much more diplomatic way that didn't break my heart. He said, oh gosh, how did he write this down? Sorry, Mike, go on. I'll go on. I'll go back to it. Okay.

Kyler Fos versus Frankie Edgar. Casey O'Neill versus the Macy Barber, Montana de la Rosa, I assume winner. Andreelowski versus Alexander Romanov. That's probably the fight that they're going to make. I've been saying that's the fight they should have made 500 times now. So we'll see what happens. Bobby Green versus Diego Paheda. That's fun.

Although I think Bobby Green's ahead of him at this point, but still fun. I'd watch Bobby Green fight anybody. Turned Ferguson. I will say I left a lot of these out. Andrea Olavski versus the winner of Shamil Bdorahimov, Sergey Pavlovich. Ronnie Lawrence versus Miles Johns. That's fun. Jacob Balcun versus Brian Battle.

That's fun. Jeremiah Wells versus Cort McGee. Yish. And Maxim Grish versus the winner of Olegzeek, Jacobi. although Jacoby already beat Grishin and Grishin missed wait for that fight. So maybe if Olegs, Czech wins. I don't really love that one.

But I appreciate you sticking in. Drew Hilty. Izzy is far and away, the best middleweight in the world. And the drop from Whitaker to the next guy is massive. Cannon Air will basically fill the role of mandatory challenger. And then he suggests Whitaker versus Polo Costa Vittori. Don't really know where he goes from here. Dylan.

Hey, Mike, Mike Lovacard. Here's my picks. Adasani versus Usman. Once Usman heals up. And you know, but you know, hold on, there's a hear me out. And you know when there's a hear me out that we're going to say something,

they've listened to the show many times. I know they're both friends, but at this point, they're seeking legacy. Canon Air is a great option, but legitimately, I think Usman is the only one out there who could beat Izzy at 185. Well,

aside from Hamzat. It's just not going to happen, guys. It's not going to happen. It's going to be one of those, you know, what if this ever happened kind of fight? It's just never going to happen. They're too close.

The money's just not going to be there. It's just not going to happen. It's not. Sorry. And again, you have a challenger in Canaaner ready. I think we have people coming up at Welterweight. Again, Hamza Shemayev is someone who's been mentioned. So, Mike, you don't like this one.

Elberg versus Chidi Enjokwani. I'm pretty sure Chidi Enjikwani would F him up right now. Come on. Come on. I mean, come on. We can't do that. Listen, people. I know we love talking about Carlos Ulberg.

He's got the cool city kickboxing connection. You know, he's pals with Izzy. And, all right, let's just say it. We're live. It's a Sunday, Sunday afternoon, Sunday whatever, pre-before noon. He's not bad to look at. He's not bad to look at, all right? If you're the UFC, you want to put this guy on posters, I understand.

All right, that's fine. He makes all of us men watching feel inadequate about ourselves. I get it. But let's just, again, let's bring him along as slowly as we can. Let's be reasonable with some of these. these matchups. Again, he might, we don't know. Albuhr could be out of the UFC in two fights.

We don't know. Or he might show these great leaps and bounds and improvements. And we could be talking about him on onto the next one a year from now. That's my hope for him. But people, come on. Cheetah and Jukwani. Stop trolling. Whitaker versus Brunsett, too.

Brandon Nudiaz. Whitaker versus Strickland, Wiccano versus Dawson. Although Grant Dawson, from what I understand, just moved to ATT. He's leaving Glory MMA, at least for now. and is moving to Coconut Creek, Florida, and is going to be at ATT. So they'll be training together. That's right.

How about that? And then Bobby Green versus Tony Ferguson, which is actually a pretty popular pick. We've got a bunch of those. And I saw a bunch of those in the comments as well. Max Sherman, Arlowski versus the loser of Dawkins Blades, Phillips versus Edgar, sorry, AK,

Casey versus the winner of Grasse of Wood, Grisham versus Devin Clark. Oh, my Lord. Blood Diamond. versus Andre Fialo. Come on. What? You're going to,

you're going to throw him in there with Fialo? Come on. Did this person at least write blood diamond and not his, he did, they at least throw, thank you, all right. Jeez.

Come on. By the way, Mike, I want to address a comment. I shouldn't even mention this, but Matthew Richardson in the comments, talking about the main event of 271. Imagine getting four takedowns

and better significant strike accuracy and not winning. Matthew, congratulations. You picked the two of the worst criteria. for judging a fight. Take downs that don't lead to offense are meaningless, and significant strike accuracy means literally nothing. If someone lands, you know, whatever, 25 out of 30,

you know, whatever, 35 strikes, and the other person lands like 75 out of 200, guess what? The guy who landed 75 strikes probably won. So, well done. Terrible, terrible, terrible, criteria. I'm sorry, I've got to call that out. It's horrible.

Yeah, I mean, Sean Sheehan from Severe MAA, He's a great job. Watch his videos. He does a great job. Watch Sean Sheen's videos on YouTube about judging. You don't have to agree with everything he says, but he presents pretty clearly there are criteria that the judges and you guys should be following.

And now Matt says he's trolling. Damn it, Matthew, you got me. Funky bits. I can't wait until Kyler Phillips gets ranked so him and Shugger Shoke gets scrapped. That would be sweet. It would be sweet. And you can go to the MMA lab probably once or twice a week and watch that.

Guys, they're pals. Because they do train together. Unless it's for a title fight, I just don't think they're good. They don't even want to talk about it. Even this I don't like. Come on. All right.

Mike, Mike, we got to put it. We got to go. We got to go. Kevin and Carlos Olberg picks. Just put a pause. Just put a pause. They're hilarious and we love them. This one has when we go live.

We got another Elberg pick coming up. Gerard Bioggan. Lewis, long rest, then Rosenstrike, winner lose. Okay. That's not bad. Ulberg versus Shamiel Gamzatov and Kyler Philis versus Douglas Silva Day and Drogh. Daniel Markoulis, Wells versus Matthews, just rebook it.

And saying, after seeing a photo of Blood Diamond next to Dan Hooker, I think you might want to consider a drop to lightweight, not that the competition gets any easier, but he seems a bit undersized for Walter Wade. Sure. If he's comfortable. Yes, there we go. That's what we're looking at.

That's the blood diamond level. Thank you. Mike Jackson is actually booked to fight Dean Barry. Oh, that's right. I think this is like the fourth or fifth time. This is the Alex Perez-Met. Matt Schnell of the lightweight division. That's a little curse.

Or the Weld's weight division, I think this one is. He likes DeSillev versus Yaya as well. Our Ulberg versus Menefield. Come on. However, I'd love to see Carlos and Jimmy Kruke go at it. Come on. What are we doing here? Carlos Ulberg.

You all want to see Carlos Olberg. Just take a bunch of L's. He looks like a star. He looks like a star. I get it. I get it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Sorry, Fabio Chirons, that fight was there for Fabio Chirot. That fight was there for Carlos Ulberg, his style, and he just didn't do anything. Come real bad. No, you can't do that. Ulberg versus Jorgen, right now. Kyle Fyllis versus the winner of Yadong, Marias, or Syed Marga Madoff, no Frankie Edgar, for the sake of A.K.'s hard. So someone who actually appreciates you, AK.

O'Neill versus the winner, a Fioro versus Jessica. I really want to see Fioro, O'Neill, frankly. I think we will see that fight at some point. I don't think we'll see that right now. I think the UFC will be very careful with those two. and he says, please give me Bobby Green versus Gregor Gillespie. That's wow.

Clash of styles. I like it. That's super fun. Yeah. Tye Tuvasa versus the winner of Aspinel Volkov. I truly think with the emergence of swift big guys like Tom and Cyril and the insane marketable persona of Tua. The UFC is more to work with that heavyweight.

I agree. Who was hating on it on the show? Oh, Jedmishu was like, oh, heavy weights or whatever. I'm like, oh, it is fun. Relatively speaking to how it's been in recent years, heavyweight has had a slight resurgence as far as fresh contenders go. It's fun. Yeah, it is fun.

I think so. I think so. And he says, plus, I don't see a world right now where the UFC will put tie in a ring with the rest of the blades. Yeah, you gotta be careful with the booking. Ride this train to the wheels of all off, like I said. Francesco, our fan from Italy, two of us, versus Mietchitz for the interim title. He's not buying John Jones.

O'Neill versus Gillian Robertson, interesting. I'm almost too slow, though. I feel like O'Neill has maybe jumped leap. I really like Gillian Robertson. I just think I think O'Neill might have kind of jumped over her past that matchup. That would be the kind of matchup where it's, she's just like, I want to want to fight. Okay, Julian Robertson's here if you want to fight in a couple weeks.

Okay. And then Jeremiah Wells versus Nicholas Dalby. That's fun too. We just want to see Nicholas Dolby, again, we still know what the status is of him. Could be a visa thing. We don't know. But yeah, we just haven't seen Nicholas Dollar for a while. He's such a good matchup for so many guys at 170.

Casey Ryan, do Strickland versus Rob. And if Strickland can beat Rob, then give him the title shot. Yeah. If you want to be lazy, if you want to be lazy, you can match up Greenfuss's boycato because they're on similar trajectory. I think Green deserves a top 15 opponent. Moikano does too. So I'm going with Redell.

That is a guaranteed banger, much like Green versus Fiziv was, make it a fight of the night headliner or pay-per-view co-main, even a prelim headliner, and that one delivers. Listen, there have been worse main events, worst main events on UFC cards over the last year, than Bobby Green versus Hanata Moikano. So if you want to headline a random card at the apex with those two guys, you will never get a complaint out of me.

I would love to see five rounds of that. And he goes, oh, and before I go, Izzy four rounds to one, people have got to stop scoring empty takedown so high. Izzy controlled every round. He did more damage. Had the Octagon control and Land and more strikes. If Rod had fought every round like he did the fifth, he would have won the fight. Yeah, hard to argue that.

I gave Whitaker four and five. I thought the judges were going to be screwy, which would have been just wild. We'd be talking about a lot of different things. And then Tristan Gordet had a lot of the similar picks, but he also suggested Jacob Malcun versus Andre Petroski, which would be a fun fight. Okay, go for it, my friend. I want to shout out Brian G underscore 216 first, live comments.

He says, hear me out. Bobby Green would need another win, but why not Green versus Connor McGregor when he comes back? Bobby got a bigger pop at USC 271 than everyone besides Lewis, which sells fights and a fight that Connor can win. Again, on paper, I think that's an amazing pick. I wish we lived in a world where Connor McGregor was obviously,

well, not injured. And two, just a more active fighter, you know, where he did, you know, have the compulsion and he was compensated well enough to fight three times a year. Like, you know, I think, again, he's strategic. He knows how much he makes per fight. He doesn't need to fight three times per year. But I wish they paid him even more so he would step into the cage as much times than they need him. Because I think a fight with Connor and Bobby Green would be so much fun. I think the buildup would be fun.

The in-cage antics would just be amazing. Bobby Green deserves a big fight like that. So Brian G, I like the suggestion. Again, pretty much not zero, but I'd say 2% chance that happens. But I would, again, magic wand pick. That's right up there for me. I would love that. All right, let me go to Twitter here.

We've got a few first timers, guys. So it's always, so guys, thank you. Your first time will be on one of our live shows. Cal at Caesar underscore Caled. I guess Caesar Callid on Twitter. He said, what do you have to say here? I had a bunch of picks that others had made. Moikano versus the Dober Glenn winner, March 12th, Drew Dober and Ricky Glenn.

And Robert Whitaker, so this is interesting. He wants to see, I just say, see, I should say, I don't know. This is Whitaker versus the Cuffington Mosvidal winner at Welchewa. Of course, Whitaker used to be a welterweight. He has spoken how much he hated those weight cuts and did not feel he was his best at that weight class, but he has fought at 170 before. So here's what Cal had to say about that. This is my big hot take for the night. Really don't think there's much for Whitaker at middleweight,

and I think he can make the welterweight limit. Don't think he can get Uzman right away, but this makes a lot of sense. I take him against either of these guys. Covington would be really tough. Covington would be really tough, especially if the weight cut had a deleterious effect on Whitaker's performance. So I like the thinking.

I do think it's cool. And Whitaker clearly is not as big as some of the guys at middleweight, especially Addisonia who's just such a range and height advantage over him but sometimes you don't like you just have the frame that it's hard to make 170 that 15 pound difference in weight classes sucks and I do wish there were more weight classes

so we could see fights like that that is not the case but I like the thinking council thank you thank you for sending that in they said they're a big fan and we've been waiting a long time to send in some picks so thank you very much Rudy Gaywood on Twitter also a first timer they said hopefully their picks

are not doo-doo. I'll read a couple of these, which I liked. Silva de Andrage versus Cody Stamen. Yeah, that might be, I mean, that's a do-or-die-fight for Stamen. I don't mind it. Ronnie Lawrence versus Miles Johns, Bobby Green versus Gamrod, you kind of shot. Oh, no, but you said Moikano versus Gamrott.

Probably wouldn't happen. Bobby Green versus Gamrott. That could happen. There we go. And then Moikana versus Redell. And our last first timer, clearest values. They sent me a message before for another show.

I think it was just a little late, so I didn't have a chance to read it. So thank you clearest values on Twitter Who came in with a few good ones They mentioned also the O'Neill-Robinson pick And Arlowski versus Walt Harris I brought that up in the post-fight show What were your thoughts on that one again?

Arlowski-Wall-Harris? Yeah I mean they fought before so it's kind of tricky And we saw it a while ago I was like I think the 2015 or something right But I like I like And it sucked but Yeah I mean

Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. There are worst matchups that have been suggested for both guys, so I'd be okay with that. Yeah, I don't want it. Chris at Dragon's Layer 2 is with me on Silva Day Andrage versus Hanna-Yaya. At Ayo, it's dad. A regular contributor had a very nice message for us. I mean, just write these down and stuff. My favorite, excuse me, one of the things I look forward to most during podcast these days

is hearing what may come next with you guys the following day. That includes you, Mike. That's me and you. So thank you, AEO, it's Dan. We love, again, it's one of, Mike, I always love me. It's one of my favorite parts of the show. So, sorry, my favorite parts of the week, excuse me, my favorite parts of working at MMA fighting is just doing this show.

So I love it. By Green versus Gillespie, Carla Phillips, Ricky Simone. How do you like this? How do you like this, Mike? Carlos Olberg versus Ed Herman. Ed Harmon would beat his ass. I'm sorry. I know Ed Herman is probably smaller than him.

I know he's much older. I know he's got a lot of mileage. He's so much more experienced in MMA. I mean, he'd probably just, I know he's become a bit of a brawler at light heavyweight. He'd probably just take him down. I don't know how it's been a while since we've seen like prime jujitsu at Herman, but it's definitely still there.

He just hasn't had to use it or hasn't been able to use it at light heavyweight, but I think he would be able to against Charles Alberg. No, we got to get, you got to bring guys in to fight Carlisleberg. Or what we do is we just, we haven't seen a guy go from, get a UFC contract on the contender series and then just get demoted to a, to one of those developmental deals. I kind of wish they would do that with Oldberg and give him a developmental deal. And just let him fight whenever he wants, wherever he wants, as long as the UFC approves it, and just let him get some seasoning.

You could probably do the same with Blood Diamond and just fight guys at his skill level and build up confidence. and they don't get thrown in there with with murderers. I just, or, I mean, again, Carlos Olberg was matched up with Fabio Chirot for a reason, and that was a really bad fight, like a really bad fight. Yeah, and it shouldn't have even been seen on ESPN Plus. I mean, I just think that's bad for business when people see a fight like that. I think it's, I don't want to say it's bad for Ulberg's confidence, because, again,

you know, you're going to have ugly fights early in your career. This was only a fourth pro bout, so that's fine. but this would have been nicer if it happened on a smaller show. The UFC has so many unofficial sort of like feeder leagues. I do wish they would start taking more advantage of those relationships, especially with stuff that's, you know, maybe bolster the UFC Fight Pass program. I don't know. Can you send, again, can you do sort of, you know, you keep paying them on a,

whatever their UFC contract is. So maybe not a great investment for the UFC in that sense, but good for the fighters and good for their development. So you could put like, why can't he be on an LFA card or Eagle FC? Habib has said he wants Eagle FC to be. Francis Marshall, no. By the way, I think any of the bantam wins in this card would have beaten the crap out of either Carlis Oldberg or Fabio Chirot. But yeah, Eagle F.C., could you have a relationship there?

Could you send a Carlos Oldberg to fight for them? I don't know. I don't know if these are options, but we'd always like to see the UFC be more flexible. And I just think it'd be cool if they actually use those, quote-unquote, unofficial feeder leagues as actual feeder leagues. Right. Hazabeth, third. Some good picks here. O'Neill versus Andrea Lee, Viviani Arrojo, L.

Loser, you could probably even give her the... I like loser. I like loser. Again, I'm kind of bringing her along slow. So that fight's going on May 14th. And yes, it was Hayes who wanted to spare my feelings with this Kyler Phillips pick versus someone you mentioned earlier, Mike. This is how they explained it. I just want to say, I'm sorry. I think you know what my answer, or the answer is, I should say, for this Phillips matchup. The fight doesn't have to happen. It could just be booked and canceled like you've suggested

before. So, yes, for anyone who's just tuning in for the first time, I'm a huge Frankie Edgar van and I don't want him to retire but I also don't want him to ever fight again. So when people send in Edgar fights, it's always like, yeah, I hope it gets made, but I also hope it gets and then for some reason it doesn't happen. And we just do this for the next 10 years until he quietly retires and we just, we never speak about sort of the some of the vicious knockouts he suffered during the end of his career. So thank you, Hayes for for sparing my feelings. I have to deal with this. And Silva D. And D. And Montel Jackson, Bat, Garee, winner, March 26. I like it.

Sorry, I should have read off some of the popular, some of the consensus picks first as well. Moikano versus Dawson, very popular, Edisania versus Canaaner, Whitaker versus Vittori, Tuvasa versus the Blades, Chris Dawkes winner, and one of my contributors, Dax at Pike Putt on Twitter. Mike, what do you think about the winner of that fight, if this cluster of the top doesn't get resolved? Tuvasa versus Blades or Doccus for an interim belt. Oh, wow. Yeah. Can you imagine Tui Vasa versus Chris Dachis for the interim heavyweight time?

Not that I think he's going to beat Blades, but if he did, I mean. Not into it. I mean, that just went. Of all the possibilities, I feel like that would be the worst. When you have the names that you have up there, it just would not be great. No disrespect to those guys because they're right there. But yeah, like, Taitoivasa versus Curtis Blades does not. appeal to me at all. Not in any way.

Docus would be interesting, but I mean, you definitely can't do that for an interim title. Like you just, again, I believe you have to just run to a two of us until the wheels fall off. You've got something here. You don't know how long it's going to last. Push him to the moon and give him all the opportunities. Because that guy becomes a world champion. If he becomes the UFC heavyweight champion, he's a star. And you can do a lot with that guy. So you got to, you got to make the run now. have to. Hey, listen, Taitouivasa, you're not looking at the MMA math here, Mike.

Derek Lewis beat Curtis Blades and Taito Vasa just beat Derek Lewis. Hence, Tadu Vasa would clearly beat Curtis Blades. So I don't know why you don't want to see that matchup. I think it's a very, I think it's more compelling than you're suggesting. I'm fine with seeing it and I would not count out Tadu Taua Vasa's chances. MMA math, it never fails. Tuvasa was gone. Yeah, I mean, look, I'll go back to Hayesby 3rd here for a second.

He kind of lays it out, you know, he just says the title picture at heavyweight is a bit weird right now. With France out for a bit, the cloud of Jones looming, I'd like for them to do Jones versus Sipe for interim title. And Ty or gone could get the next title fight after that. However, if you ask me what I think will happen, I strongly suspect, Ty's next fight will be for a belt of some sort, as Francis very well could lead the O.C. Jones could be asking for more money than Dana wants to give or could get himself into trouble again. Yes. I still remember you saying I would get a point if he fought for a belt next. Okay, I shouldn't have to read that part.

All right, Hayes. Stop point climbing, okay. Arlowski versus Romanov and Arlowski versus Sakai rematch were both the most popular picks I saw for him. O'Neill versus Cavio, you mentioned that a bunch of times. Peelly read to that. I saw O'Neill versus Tila Santos, Mike. This came from Sam Hancock and Dustin Gedcoe.

And Dustin Gedcoe, I know a lot of people don't want this because it looks like they're both. Again, they're both kind of trending upwards. Dustin Getco says, time to humble this big mouth chick. Oh, my goodness. Let's see if she is a striker still. And Blanchfield would torture as well.

Wow. Wow. Dustin. Gold proclations there. Going in. Kate. So because you don't like Casey O'Neill, you feel the UFC should just throw in there with Tylos Santos, who, by the way, could very well be fighting for the title in her next

fight against Valencia Chienko. There's a very strong possibility. That's the director. the UFC goes, maybe in a co-main event or in a three-title fight card, throwing Chivchenko in there to fight Tilos Santos because there's nobody else there. Tyler's like, no, you know what? I'm going to forego the title shot, and I'm going to fight Casey O'Neill because I got to humble. I got to humble this big mouth.

Listen, I think Casey O'Neill is doing the right thing right now. She, beating Roxy in the final fight and whatnot, like, yeah, it stinks. It was a bad position for her to be in, but she played it off perfectly. she played it off perfectly and by the time, if she keeps winning and she gets to Valentina and she keeps this heel persona

and you guys feel the same way you feel about her and you give her that Alex Hernandez treatment, it's a big fight. It's a big fight and you will watch for the exact same reason

that you want her to fight Talas Santos right now. Listen, Dustin came in this with hating his heart, Mike, and I respect it. The other, if we're going to end the other side of it, all right, Stephen Breiter

wants the Casey O'Neill, there was a lot of people suggesting in Casey Neal versus some combination of Joanne Wood, Alexe Grasso, winner, loser. So Stephen Breitner was one of those people. He said, O'Neill is the real deal and will fight for the title before the end of 2023. I think that's a pretty safe estimate before the end of next year. Yeah. It's possible. I hope they don't rush her, frankly.

I mean, I hope she does go 3 and 0 or 4 in O this year. But it's going to be hard because she's going to jump up real quick in the rankings. And at some point, Valentina, she just wants to stay busy and get fights. I hope it's later rather than sooner because I just want Casey Nail to really have time to develop. But honestly, you might see that by the end of this year. I don't want that. The UFC might not have a choice that Valentino wants to fight. Yeah, I don't know.

I don't think that goes on. Yeah, no, she goes up to 130. She'll fight Tyler Santos and then she's going to go up to 135 and fight whoever wins the rematch between Pena and Nunes. I hope so. You have to do that. You have to. I don't know if that third Nuneas fight ever happened. They keep talking about it, but I think Pena is going to be.

Nunez in the rematch anyways, and then you just do Pena called for it. So let Pena try to get exact that revenge and let Chifchenko try to get that second title. I mean, Pena, definitely. If Pena beats Nunez again, if you're Founders-Gentgenko, you've got to go up there. I mean, it's just such a fight you've already won once and is really favorite. She would be like a three-to-one favorite as the challenger, which is pretty messed up. But I think that's, and I might be wrong, I might be underselling it, if we're being honest. She'd be a huge favorite over Julianna Pena.

Nunes would be a bit closer, but like we said, we don't know if Nunez can get past Pena. Pena might have a number. I don't know if you mentioned this, Mike. What did you think of Bobby Green, Tony Ferguson? That was a popular one. I know it was very high suggestion in the comments. Sure.

Listen, Bobby Green, again, kind of like Taito Yvasa, you got to run them to the wheels fall off. I think you got to run him to the wheels fall off. He's very popular. He's super over. Let's go. If you want to throw him in there with Ferguson, fine. I'm okay with that.

you want to give him Moikano, fine. Even the Connor idea, I'm not opposed to. It probably won't happen, but I'm not opposed to it. Like, give this guy a step up.

I would love to see him in a main event in his next fight. Absolutely. I'd love to see him in a headline spot. Yeah, no, I love that matchup. Again,

for some, it gets, it's just really hard to predict what the UFC's going to do with Ferguson and what Ferguson wants to do. So that one's always tricky. And then another really popular one was the

Matt, the Wells Matthews, rebooking, or as we call it in the MMA media, the Matthew Wells rebooking. Shoutouts to Matt Wells of M.A. Junkie. It's a shame that one fell through because we just really want to see that on screen. All right. Sorry, let me give back a few individual picks here.

I'll run through these. This, I think, was a perfect matchup for Erlowski from Samus Law. Arlowski versus Hoaguerio de Lima, Blago Ivanov winner, U.C. 274 and May 7th. It's a bit farther down the road. So Rolovsky wants to stay busy. I mean, that just he's going to have to wait. But it just, it'd be such a 20-22 Arlowski fight. for him to fight Ivanov or DeLima.

It's just this weird mucky fight. I'm into it. I really enjoy the way that, like, I hope every person on earth can once in their lives experience the way that Andre Arlofsky opponents look at him when they step in the octagon with him. Because they're just mesmerized by him.

Tanner Bozier was mesmerized by him. Jared Van dera is mesmerized by him. They're just like, wow. They hear Dreamweaver by Gary Wright in the background, like Wayne's World, like I said on the Twitter's faces. Like they look at this guy like he's a hero. And the more they book these kinds of fights, Arlofsky's going to keep winning him.

Because it's a real thing. Like it is a real thing. All these guys are falling into that trap because most of the heavyweights have been fans of the sport for so long. And they remember Arlowski's early days. They remember him as UFC champion. And then they get the chance to step inside the octagon with him. And it's just like, wow.

Like that thing is real. and we're seeing it with every time our Olavski fights. So, yeah, I mean, that would probably happen again here. But yeah, maybe we throw him in there with the vet and see, it's see. Mike, they remember his hair. They certainly remember his hair back in the day. My goodness, a magnificent. The man had a magnificent mane.

He had a few great hair styles. So people, yeah, if for some reason you're not familiar with just how legendary Ander Alavsky is, just Google Aronjer-Ovsky hair. And I'm sure Google images will provide. U.S.C. should sign Fador and make Arloskey versus Fadour, too. Yes. Shout us to Affliction. Rematch from the Affliction Days, the infamous Arlowski jumping right into a Fador punch. We'll never know what he was thinking there.

I'll keep going here, guys. Yeah, keep the comments coming. Very much appreciated. We also had, from Seamus Law, Malcun versus the Alex Paheda Bruno Silva winner. Man, if Alex Paheta wins, they're going to fast track him to a title. so I just don't see it happening. Silva Day And Andrade versus Adrian Yanez. And Jeremiah Wells versus Phil Row.

I like that one. Four Corner Sports, NY. Brunson versus Hermanson. I know Mike mentioned this one. I do think that's one of the best possible matchups for Brunson. So I like that one. Tuivasa versus John Jones for the interim title. I don't know how you guys feel about that one.

Lewis versus Miochich. Again, it's just a fresh matchup we all want to see. And then O'Neill versus Jessica I, if she loses to Menon-Fer-Roe at UFC 27. on March 5th. At UFC MMA Newsnet, like Lawrence versus Randy Costa, and Bobby Green versus Diego Fajeda.

You can file the Faheda matchup under, like, a fight that I swear had been booked. Apparently, it never has. I assume they had at least been booked and fell through, but somehow they've never crossed paths. Man, Lawrence versus Costa. That's a tough one for Costa. It's a real tough one for Costa.

Yeah, I think Randy Costa, I think obviously is a super talented guy, and I think someone at the UFC you know what would want to get behind in the future but I do wish I think they need to be a little more delicate with this matchmaking again it's hard it's 135 there's so many killers I don't know how much you can protect someone

but again he's pretty he's cost of how many fights is he like 10, 11 something like that yeah he came in a 4 and O yeah and a very talented guy but you know I I wish they could find a way to sort of build him up properly but it's hard it is hard at 135 just you can bring in new people and those guys are I mean, it's just such a strong division right now, not just in the UFC, but around the world.

So, Braden O'Neill, Sylva de Andjohn-Jarge versus Paiva, Wells versus Baeza, Grecian versus Prachniao, Derek Brunson versus Uriah Hall-Munez winner. That fight's going on April 16th, Mike. It would be a rematch with Uriah Hall and, of course, a fresh matchup with Muniz. Yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense. Again, Hall would want to get that win back, and Munez wants someone to hire a above him in the rankings, which Brunson currently is. Regardless of if he beats Uriah Hall,

I think Brunson will still be ranked higher. So definitely one with contender thoughts. Thank you for that one, Braden O'Neill. Marcus McHaghy, I've given him plenty of love, but I will say, Mike, he was an advocate for the Casey O'Neill, Jennifer Maya matchup. I know you think it's too soon, but I think we could see that this year, but I do think next is not, is probably not where they're going.

I'm not against the fight, but I'm with you to the point where we don't need to, rush Casey too too quickly. And that's one of those, that could be a trap fight for her, although I would kind of favor Casey to win that fight, but that could be a trap fight based on the experience levels between the two of them. Yes, definitely. Again, that's, it's just it's a high, it's a high, it's a high reward fight. We shouldn't say it's a high risk, low reward fight. That's a high risk, high reward fight. But again, it is a sort of thing where even if she won, I don't think people should be trying to get her into the cage with Valentina Shochenko

anytime soon. And I'm like, you've outlined why I'm going to happen anyway, but I'm just worried that they might be left without a choice. She's just going to beat the right people and end up there. By the way, I'm sorry, I wanted to read a comment from earlier, Mike. I don't know who said it. They said, me versus you for the BMF title. Guys, that would be for the BFF title. And that's a title that we actually share together.

It's a tag team championship. And would never fight over, would never fight over. Not to be confused with the BTL championship that I have with Christi King. Shout us, Kristen King out there. That's true. My BTL partner. We will team up soon on the show. The timing just doesn't have been right.

He also, Blood, Diamond versus Pete Rodriguez. Sure. Why not? Loser leaves time. Why not? Right? Poor Pete Rodriguez got thrown into a hell of a matchup with the Jack Della

Medalena on short notice. Good on you, Pete. I know it's an opportunity. You got to take any opportunity you can to get into the UFC. But that was a horrible matchup for Pete Rodriguez. Blood Diamond, probably a little more history. That's a great. That's the exact matchup.

Well done. That's the actual pick right there. Marcus McGahy. He don't miss. Guys, he don't miss. Liam Perry, another, of course, of our favorites. Lawrence versus Tony Kelly, DeAndan Jod versus Cascadio, again, a lot of people want that.

And Wells versus Nico Price. And he just had this to say about Roxy, a really nice comment. Sad to see Roxy retire, but she's doing it for the right reasons. Many fighters don't listen to their bodies and carry on way past due. Roxy for the 2022 UFC Hall of Fame for what she has done for women's MMA and the sport in general. I would love to see that. I don't know if that happens anytime soon, but she lives in Vegas.

I think she has a good relationship with Dana Wayne, the UFC. I could certainly see her being inducted sometime in the future. Maybe even 22, 2022. I'm not sure what they're getting. I don't think U.S. he has an official sort of policy where like, oh, you have to have been an active for five years. I think they pretty much just played by years.

So that would be very cool. So thank you, Liam Perry for that suggestion. Only a few people on Twitter left. Barry O'Reilly. Mike Barry O'Reilly wants to applaud you for how you handled his mic check last week. He mic checked you on. He said you criticized cop versus Sumer. and he just the class and a plumb with which you handle these situations he's just like well

well done he's he's uh he's proud i think bear raleigh is proud of you he caught me on a good day he got you're lucky you're lucky again you know uh south carolina mike is uh is a different guy i still i don't know how many bodies there would be in the chat and and in our dms if uh you if you had not left uh the hell hole that is new england um my wife's going back there today actually oh i feel so sorry for her god bless her uh jeremiah well versus Karamagelmedov from Eagle FC. I was like, I don't know if we can match people up with like that, but I don't mind people going outside the box,

but I don't know if Keramagamatov is leaving Eagle FC anytime soon. But again, maybe they have some work in relationship with the UFC in the near future. Silva de Andrage versus Chito Vera, too. That would be pretty sick. I'm kind of into that. Arlowski versus Chris Barnett, win-lose-dra, against Martin Boudet. on April 16th.

What do you think of that? No, I don't like it. You don't like it? No, and listen, I said this about Chris Barnett after he beat John Valante. You just throw him in there with like top 70 guys. Like that's who you batch Chris Barnett because if you just want to see him style and win,

this guy's not going to fight for titles. He knows he's probably not going to fight for titles. Maybe someday, who knows? What a story that would be if freaking Chris Barnett fought for a UFC title. But we kind of saw what happens when he faces these bigger vet guys doesn't really go that well yeah the rothball fight i know a short notice but still like i i feel like we would see a lot of that in those situations but you just throw barnet in there with like you do the wakene buckley build with chris bart with chris barne with chris

bar net we just throw them in there with fun strikers and to a point where we're just expecting a knocko we are just expecting a k-o those are the kinds of matchups you you book chris barnett i like the i like the boudet fight i think that's one of those types of fights where someone's getting finished and we're going to see a Chris Barnett walk out and they better show the whole thing and he dances all the way to the octagon. Yeah. And it's fun stuff. I agree.

Just to have him do fun stuff. And if he happens to flip, flip ass backwards into a title fight someday like Mark Hunt did once upon a time, then you book it. But you don't, yeah, you don't book fights for Chris Barnett thinking like, oh, how does this get him to the top 20? Just get a top of 10. It's like, nah, let's just let him kick ass and do crazy stuff. and Barry

Barry also Barra Riley says this is he says Izzy moves to 205 obviously not crazy we saw him compete for the title he has said he's not done chasing the light heavyweight championship

Barry Riley says I know crazy things have happened but let's say he beats Kenanier and he would beat Strickland as well the only ones that might cause him problems are Hamza or Muniz but they are a long way from a title shot I don't know if he needs that far

so it would just hold the division now Izzy moves up vacates the title Canaaner fights the winner of Whitaker versus Strickland. Oh, we're making Canineer wait again? No, come on. Canineer would be one half of that interim title fight if they, or vacant title fight.

They do something like that. I'd like creativity, but yeah. You can't wait. Yeah. What you do like, yeah, you do Canaanerre gets a title shot. You do Strickland versus a rock hold or something like that. Just start Strickland in there with anybody. Like give him one more fight.

Whoever, if he wins, he's next. Andre Munez is interesting because if he beat your eye a haul. and wants to turn around relatively quickly, I think you give him the Derek Brunson fight. You give it to Munez. Okay, yeah, I agree. The passing of the torch kind of fight potentially. And Mines beats Derek Brunson and stops him,

which there's a very good chance he would if that fight ever, it gets to the ground. Then you got your next guy. And then we got to remember Alex Paheda too, because you know the OSE's going to try to do whatever they can to try to get that fight done before Izzy goes to 205. So we'll see. Rashad John in the comment says,

Arrow Helwani versus Jed Mishu in a heel versus heel matchup. I mean, I really think that has to come to BTL someday. You know, fingers crossed, we can make that happen. You know Jed Mishu wants all of that smoke. He's wanted a piece of Helwani for a long time. No, you know what, Mike, that's inaccurate. He doesn't want a piece of Helwani.

He wants the whole damn thing. So whether that happens on your show, perhaps some other piece of M.A. Fighting programming, fingers crossed. We make that happen. But I've seen a lot of people want to see something like that. Yeah. A couple more from Twitter. Timmy O's show. I like his suggestion of Moikano versus Damir is Magulov. And our man in Denmark, so Gertin Jensen. Our first time hearing from you, sir, in 2022. So welcome back.

Also likes Collar Phillips versus Randy Costa. I didn't mention that before, I think, did I say, or did I say De Silva? DeAndan Drive. Anyway, Collar Phillips was Randy Costa and Oldberg versus Marchin Prachneo. Sure. Just a handful you can go through here, guys. We got a few, a few emails I want to read and a few, we're almost done here. And a few, we're almost done here. and a few Instagrams. Thank you, everyone who has tuned in, by the way, to this live edition. Again,

we're not going to do this all the time for big shows. And of course, Jake Paul fights. You probably will be seeing our lovely faces on a Sunday morning

or Sunday word time, whatever it is you are. Jay Donagy coming in, and I just want to, he said, O'Neill versus Blanchfield and called it Mike Hex nightmare. You would hate that fight.

I don't know. I wouldn't hate it. I would hate it right the second, but I wouldn't hate it like ever. But not next. No. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Our pal Casey Carpenter, I wanted to read. I read it before the show, Mike, but I wanted people to know about this. They said, great work this week. Happy birthday to Mike. It was Mike's birthday on Saturday. And he should do a shooey. Mike, pretty adamantly against it. I'm not a fan either.

Mike, I would not make you do that. But people do an honor. If you people in vibe, if you indulge in shooies, please do one for Mike during this rule. Also to help get over the fact that New England didn't make this year. They didn't have a great chance, but it would have been cool to see again. And I'm sure they're not far away from it. They also like Arlowski versus Lewis. I don't mind that.

That's fine. It feels like it's time. It feels like they've been dodging each other for too long. It feels like it's time. And Joe Young, our last email, he says, You're Melbourne matchmaker here. I think it was Joe who corrected me before and said, even though Melbourne is the correct way to say it,

if you're not from, you know, If you don't have an Australian accent, you're not from Australia. Like Melbourne, or Melbourne is perfectly acceptable. Mike, what do you think of this one? Yet one of these names has a fight book, but Casey O'Neill versus Lauren Murphy. Now, Joe says, I know Murphy is scheduled to fight Misha Tate. Win or lose? I feel like she will not fight Valentina.

Yes, that's true. Yes, obviously. Murphy has a decent name to give O'Neill the rub. Rankings-wise, Murphy would be a big step up in the rankings. But I feel like betting-wise, O'Neill, would be the favorite. So I do think, regardless of what happens

with Misha Tate, we could see Lauren Murphy be next in line for Casey O'Neal. Yeah, it's possible. But again, I don't know. We'll see. I kind of like it.

I kind of like the idea. I like the thinking there because, again, Lauren Murphy probably is not close to another title shot, but man, I do think they find that she's, I don't think she's anywhere near retiring.

And I think they've got to find creative ways to use her. So that might be the way to do it. And let's close out with our Instagram. Gosh, our wild boys. These guys are, I don't even know where to begin with these guys. Okay, first let's start with a newcomer. Perth Sports Guy.

And I'm going to, guys, I'm going to shout out his blog. I checked it. That doesn't see anything offensive. So Perth Sports Guy. Perth, by the way, guys, obviously in Australia, P-E-R-T-H, Perth Sportsgui. So show the man some love, give the man some clicks. Thank you for sending it. He didn't know how to, he wasn't trying to send in questions.

Well, now you'll know from now on Perth Sports Guide for listening. And if you've listened before, we say it at the end of every. show. Anyway, Barry Green versus either McGregor or Diaz, winnable for all and would be a straight boxing fest. The bill would be nuts. Green would be cheap. QFC likes that relative unknown. So Nate and Connor would get paid.

I would hope that Baria Green would get paid as well. Nioia Anui, bitch. They said they changed their obscene username. This is still obscene. Okay. What was it before? Maybe there was an F word in there? I don't remember. Oh, God.

Casey O'Neill, Grasseau Woodwinner, tied to Abasa Aspinal walkoff winner Hanata Moikano, Drew Dober, Ricky Glenn winner. All right, I don't want to read out all these. Dad Jackson always coming up with some wild stuff. Also likes Bobby Green versus Nate Diaz. And Mike asked, could Lewis win the title

in the PFL? Did Derek Lewis? Yes. I don't know who's in it this year. I mean, depends. I don't think they've announced the roster yet for the 2022 season, if I'm not mistaken. Verdume would presume it would be in there.

He'd do well. I think he'd make it at least to the finals. You might win it. Who knows? For Doom, Bruno Capolosa, I think he won, right? I think he was last year's champion. Yeah, he did well against a lot of these guys. There are quite, there are a lot of guys who could kind of muck things that you kind of make fights ugly.

But I think Derek Lewis is better than those that I'm giving him credit for. So, no, yeah, Nui bitch is watching live and just yend me. And it's, oh, I tried to change it. I'm sorry. Well, you just made me swear again. And I already did that earlier, no, yes. So you should feel terrible. Tune coming in with Moikano versus Gillespie, Matt Bradbury.

Also, someone else trying to keep the Wells versus Means fight alive and that Wells matchup. And I want to close out. Matt Brewery had a lot of other good picks. He always does. But I want to close out with. Oh, sorry, I should show some love. Sorry, Daniel Markulis, a first-timer says Wells v. Matthews, re-book it.

I already read Daniel Markulis. Come on. Oh, that was, oh, you got the, Daniel McCullis doubling up? Yeah. Oh, no. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Was he a first timer for you as well?

No. Why would he send it to, why would he send it to me also? I don't know, because he wants maybe the guarantee. Don't do that. Should I block him? No, don't block him. We've already said his name. We've said his picture.

Thank you. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you, Daniel. I will remember now that you're a doubling upper. All right. Then let's get to our pal. Michael Conifrey, who runs the wonderful Otno and MMA fighting memes page. People, please follow that page, describe.

Like it, like all the stuff on there. It's hilarious. He had some great comments. They said, first Michael says, I think Kavib's soul left his body and entered Jeremiah Wells. I don't know what that means. Now that Jed is a full-time member of M.A. fighting. I think it's time he has his own show, my idea.

Jed and an outside guest have a chat on an upcoming fight card, and it's called The Assholes Guide to UFC 271, for example. I sent the idea to Jed. He didn't seem against it. I think I told him, I suppose it's a compliment. Jeds just laughed and said, I'm a truth teller. So he didn't say no. He didn't say no.

Malkoon versus Hedolfo Valletta. And Michael calls this dad bod versus Chad bod. Ouch. Still wants to quote unquote Gemini man match up between Victor Henry and Kyler Phillips. I don't think they look that much alike. And finally, is there anybody that looks more like an actual boxer in the the octagon than bobby green i don't think so he's earned a big fight give him michael chanler sure that was a yeah i've seen a few of those i love that i love that that make that happen that would be one of

maybe my number one if my magic wand picks other than fixing the heavyweight division uh the top of it i love buyer green versus uh michael chanler yeah i mean it looks like the uc's trying to do Chandler versus Ferguson, maybe the loser of that fight gets Bobby Green. I'm fine with either of that. I mean, either of those two guys, so sure. I see Wes S asking in the comments, where did we send the Otno Picks? Well, it's funny. This is where we mentioned it.

So, Wes S. And anyone watching who hasn't sent in picks before, you can hit me up, guys, on Instagram. All my DMs are open on all my social media. Hit me up on Instagram at Alexander KK Lee on Twitter at Alexander KK on Twitter. Or email me. So, guys, you can hit me in my work email, Alex. Dotley at sbnation.com. Hit me up on any of those. Mike, where can they reach you?

We can do Instagram. M underscore, heck, J.R. That's where you send the picks. And then we'll go from there. Twitter, you can find us. AK's very organized of that stuff. I just do the Instagram DMs and we appreciate everybody. And please try not to hit up both of us, all right?

Yeah, no double dipping. No double. You don't double dip the chip. You don't do it. Marcus on Instagram, I see your spreadsheets in my DMs too. You're not fully, you're not getting that one, be 100% okay okay so live edition is coming is has ended we'll be back live again march 6th after ufc 272 headlined by mazadao versus covington but this show continues on on the

m-may fighting podcasting network because there is a ufc event next week it is ufc Vegas 48 it was supposed to be headlined by hafiel losangos versus raphael fazeve that is now the co-main event of ufc 272 new main event is Johnny Walker versus Jamal Hill. Then we got Kyle Daucus versus Jamie Pickett. Jim Miller is back against Nicholas Motta, Joaquin Buckley versus Abdul Razaka Hassan,

Parker Porter, Alan Bodeau, Jesse Strader, Chad and Ellinger, Chas Skelly, Mark Streigal, Mario Batista Kalitae-Taha. No, actually, I believe Taha's out of that fight. So, oh, no. Maybe an opponent to be announced.

Diana Belbita versus Gloria DePaula. Jessica Rose Clark is back at Stephanie Eger. And a name that comes up very often on onto the next one is back for his second UFC fight. It is normal weight class at 145. David Onama versus Gabriel Benitez. It's an absolute banger. Good match up on that card. So that's the card as of right now.

And we will see you next week. And just an important lesson for our Otno fans, old and new. Always remember, don't take this stuff so seriously. M.A. is supposed to be fun. We'll have fun once again on the M.A. Podcasting Network talking U.S. Vegas 48 right here on onto the next one. The podcast. Have a great day, everybody.

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