MMA Fighting - On To the Next One | Matches To Make After UFC 278

Episode Date: August 21, 2022

Where do new UFC champ Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman go following the shocking conclusion of their UFC 278 main event title fight? How about Paulo Costa following his gritty co-main event win over Luke Rockhold, who announced his retirement after the bout, as well as Merab Dvalishvili and José Aldo following their 15-minute bout that saw "The Machine" pick up the biggest win of his career? MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew attempt to answer those questions from a matchmaking perspective on a brand new episode of On To the Next One. In addition, future matchups are discussed for Lucie Pudilova following her TKO win over Wu Yanan, Tyson Pedro after his 65 second KO of Harry Hunsucker in the main card opener, and much more following a wild night in Salt Lake City. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed K. Meshew: @JedKMeshew 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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You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody. We are live, and we are back with a brand new edition of On to the next one. The Matchmaking Hats are back on following a wild. UFC 270 event last night, Saturday, perhaps, if you're hearing this in the podcast network, in Salt Lake City, Utah. We have a brand new UFC Walterweight champion.

We have a lot of questions in the middleweight division. We have another bannam weight in the championship conversation, a lot to unpack from a matchmaking perspective. Thank you for joining us after a crazy night. I am Mike Heck, and as you can see, my best friend, A.K. Lee, is not here. So joining me in his play. this week, a very special guest, Mr. No Gray area, Mr. Hot Take. He's my friend and yours and probably

just as tired as we all are who are a part of the show right now. Mr. Jen Michue, how are you, sir? I'm doing great, Mike, you know, I gotta say, I'm showing up on this show a lot these days. And I think I'm getting better at it, but I'm not very good for this one. I don't respect to you N-A-K. I have no idea how you guys do this every pay-per-view. Because it's both difficult and I went to bed like two hours ago. So it is, you know, but we're going to have some fun. I don't think I have any good answers today, which is unfortunate. But hopefully you guys are bringing better ones than I have.

Well, we're going to have some fun with this, as always. and for those watching live with us, if you want to throw some matchmaking ideas at us in terms of specific fights that we're talking about, feel free. Otherwise, at the end, we'll get to all of your suggestions. We'll open it up. We'll just throw all your suggestions up here.

We'll react to them. And we'll react to some of the DMs that some of you may have sent as well. Not all, but we'll get to as many as we can. And we'll have some fun for the next hour or so. So let's start with the main event, Jed. This one is a bit easier than we thought it might be halfway through the fifth round of this fight. But Leon Edwards knocks out Kamara Usman in the final minute.

It was one of those, hey, why do you watch MMA? That's why, Mofo moments. And less than 60 seconds away from losing a 49, 46 unanimous decision, Edwards lands a kick to the head of Kamar Usman, knocks him stiff right there and then in the middle of the cage, a walk-off K-O for the ages. And the man who has paid his dues for nearly eight years of the UFC. And quite frankly, his whole life out of the cage, unbeaten for 70 years since Ustman beat him the first time they fought on the way up.

Rocky Edwards is a UFC world champion. We talked a lot about this on the post-fight show. It seems like the trilogy fight is next, that it has to be in London. Seems like the obvious choice. But quite frankly, if Ousman decides to take some time off or needs to reflect on anything, It's not the only choice. So is it the trilogy in your eyes or are you pinpointing something else here? It's a trilogy, Mike.

I mean, as long as Usman wants it. And you know me, I hate immediate rematches. I am staunchly opposed to them, but this is a trilogy, which I feel a little bit better about doing an immediate rematch when it's a trilogy. I mean, Ustman is, he's, I guess it's one of those things. It maybe wouldn't be the choice I had if I had full control. But it's certainly the thing that is going to happen. And I think makes a ton of sense to do it, especially, like you said, it has to happen in London.

Like there's just no two ways about it. The UFC has lately not been, you know, COVID took some took some of this, right? but a lot of times champions haven't been given the opportunity to defend in front of a home crowd. Charles Olavera jumps to mind. But you got to go to London for Leon. Like you just have to do that. The only person who can prevent this from happening probably in the next six to seven months is Kamar Usman if he decides to take a break. And let's let's be clear and put this out there because this doesn't get talked about enough.

this man has fought double the amount of fights of Leon Edwards since the first Colby Covington fight. He's been the most active champion over the last two years and change. And if he wants to take some more time to spend with his daughter, his family and do whatever, he has absolutely earned that right. And the second he is ready to come back, he will get a title fight. I don't think he will do that. So ultimately, first quarter, 2023, we get the rematch for the belt in London. Hopefully they could do it at Wembley.

And apparently throughout all the talk last night, there's apparently a retractable roof on Wembley Stadium these days. So there you go. And this is just a really fascinating fight now. But let me ask you this before we move on, because if Hamzat Shemayev beats Nate Diaz in a little less than three weeks time, and Ushman does take time off, maybe he doesn't fight until like the middle or end of next year, what do you think the UFC is going to do?

Do you think they'll go with Edward Shemayev or, and I know I might get some eye rolls here, but this is a very strong possibility of Usman takes time off. Leon Edwards versus Jorge Mazda, which by the way, for a guy that hadn't earned a ton of hype from fans outside of the UK, really at all during this run, and you've been sort of driving the train here when it comes to no one really is all that interested in Leon Edwards.

He's in a pretty damn good spot right now, isn't it? Because his next fight, no matter what happens, is going to be massive any way you look at it. Well, it's always a good spot to win the Walterweight Championship. of the world. So yes, I would say this is a very good spot. Yeah, man. I think if Camaro

wants to take an extended time off, I think the UFC is probably just going to hold anyway, even with Homs. I was a bit surprised they didn't just let Hamzot leapfrog Leon. Now he's fighting Nate ostensibly to set him up for

a title fight, but I kind of think they're just going to they're going to ice him, if that's the case. like just, just hang tight unless Leon is like, because here's the thing, if, if it's, it's all down to Leon, right? Because if Usman wants to take some time to recover, et cetera, Leon is then has the choice, does he want to fight again or not? And if he comes to the Ossians, like, I want to fight, I just don't think that they, I spent

some time thinking about it last night. I don't think they pull the trigger on the Mastopol fight. It's such a, it's a fight that makes sense from a narrative perspective. It's really tough to sell Masadol getting having lost three in a row in getting a title fight even with the narrative here

especially with Hamzot looming. So if Leon says, I want to fight before then I think he has to fight Hamzot. So I think if Oosman wants to sit out, Leon's going to sit out right there with him and do a Wimbly show against

Usman, which would be enormous. And he should. Like, that's what he should do. Yep, I completely agree. We talked about, I know some people are asking who we think wins the rematch. I think right now we're both kind of on the Leon Edwards side of things, but the builds of the fight could change minds, who knows? But I want to ask you from a betting perspective,

what do you think the opening betting line is? I don't know if it's dropped yet, but do you think Oosman opens as a pretty sizable favorite? I think he opens as a favorite, but it's pretty close. Just because this line was relatively close. I mean, I got Edwards last night right. at close at like plus 315 or something like that. He stayed pretty steady around plus 285-ish all week,

and then fight night a little more money came in on Usman. So Usman would have closed around minus 400 for in change. I think he's probably minus 200, just because of the tenor of that fight, right? Usman was winning the fight very comfortably until he wasn't. So I think Usman would still be the favorite. But I think it is closer. Minus minus 220, maybe minus 250.

I'm trying to see here because it does look like a line has dropped. Really? Bet MGM dropped a line. Usen a minus 375 favorite right now. That can't possibly be right. That's what the futures. I'm looking at best fight odds right now. That's what the futures are saying.

So, I don't know. We'll figure that out. I'm sure we'll have some more. we'll have other lines dropping at this point. But we'll see, man. That was quite a performance. And Leon Edwards, what a difference, a freaking kick to the face makes,

because now he's in a really good spot. So that's the main event. Let's go to the co-made event. Paul Acosta defeats Luke Rockhold in a fight that, no matter how you look at it, it's likely going to be on our fight of the year list at the end of the year. What a crazy ass way that was. But these next two, I guess,

selections are going to be kind of interesting, Jed. So let's start with Paul Koss. Let's start with the eraser because he said on Wednesday that this is the last fight on his deal. And then at the post-fight press conference last night, he sort of walked that back a little bit and said maybe he has another fight. So not really sure what's going to go on here. But I would say if you had your druthers, you're not giving him a UFC opponent next,

are you? For the sake of it, I wrote one down just because I didn't really know how we're supposed to handle that on the show. But no, my number one opponent for Paula Costa is Antonio Carlos Jr., who listeners may recognize is in the PFL, because I think assuming Paula Costa is, in fact, no longer under contract, I think you should go to the PFL. I think you should go to the PFL's light heavyweight division.

I think he should win $1 million American dollars because Shane Burgos is going to do it. great choice for him. I don't remember who is in the light heavyweight tournament for them right now. But Mark Medov maybe is still going. But, you know, I said it on BTL this week. I've said it a lot lately. The heavyweight, I mean, Bollicross could do it a heavyweight if he wants to do that

because Ante DeLaj is fighting Matea Sheffel for $1 million in the heavyweight tournament. and I think Paul O'Crosser should do that because a million dollars is a lot of money. Yeah, I see this comments a lot. Why would you ever tell us I'm going to leave the UFC? That's like someone playing in the NFL wants to go to the minors. That's absolutely false. What is I mean, listen, is the PFL as big as the UFC?

Yeah, I mean, listen, is the PFL as big as the UFC? Absolutely not. But do they have a lot of money to throw around? I mean, look at Shane Burgos. Shane Burgos is making way more. money than he would be in the UFC. And by the way, the path to a million dollars on top of the I'm sure six-figured plus deal he would get signing with the PFL for each fight, it's hard to turn that down. So I don't understand why that's such a bad thing when your path to a title

and you're a path to a lot of money. I'm not going to, I mean, it's fighting. So it's not like it's, quote unquote, easier, but it's a much better situation for him and for a lot of people in his situation. He's not fighting for a title in the UFC unless Alex Pereira bolts Israel, Adasadia twice, and Costa wins like another couple of fights because it's not easy to erase, no pun intended, what happened in the title fight with Adasadia. So it's still a long road for him to get to a title fight. So I don't know, man, like him being a free agent, which is not 100% done yet. It's an interesting, fun story. I mean, it is just because he's no disrespect to shame burgos.

Paulo Cost is the best free agent. And look, you know, if people, look, if you're just going to be one of those guys who's standing everything the UFC does, cool. But I don't know, Gilbert Rehn has got like a shitload of money to go play basketball in China. And he could have hung around the league and was like, no, I'm going to go get this paycheck instead of ride the bench over here because you should. For the gentleman who made the comment, I don't remember your name.

I don't know what you do for a living, but if somebody out there is willing to pay you substantially more monies to do that or something similar, you should do that because that's the point of jobs is get the most money you can for your skills and services. And Paula Costa can get the most money possible, not in the UFC. That's just where he's at right now.

completely great now for i'm going to make a ufc fight if he does have one more fight i like the the winner of the sean strickland jared canadae fight that makes sense but if he is a free agent right now i don't think his next fight is going to be the ufc because he's talked about wanting to box like triller does weird wacky things so i could see trill just throwing him a bunch of money to do weird wacky things maybe he's on a jake paul card or something like maybe he doesn't fight jake paul right away but maybe he gets on an undercard or something but he could also go to belator I'm sure Bellator would pay him. PFL would definitely pay him.

And like you said, and like we've been talking about, if I'm Ray Cepho and company, the seconds they can communicate with Paul Acosta, I'm picking up the telephone with his girlfriend, and calling his girlfriend and extending a big money offer because he could fight at 85, he could fight at 205.

He could just be on the pay-per-view card. So if I'm Paul Acosta and I'm a free agent, PFL is definitely an option. It's probably up top. So now here's where things get real interesting because if we have Luke Rockhold at the end, end of the fight. He takes his gloves off, says he's retiring. It certainly seems like he retired, but we've heard this song before, and he said he's effing old, and it appears that he's done.

So are you willing to matchmake for him here? Oh, yeah. I have a name down. I will also say that if, just to put a bow in Rockhold, if Rockhold does stay in the UFC for whatever reason, I thought about, you know, the Shickland one, the winner of that fight, like you said. but I just went with Andre Munez because Andre Monez deserves a chance to fight up in the rankings and everybody else is busy. So I was like, yeah, make him fight Andre Munez. But yeah, I'm totally happy to matchmake for Rockhold. I think it's probably close to 50-50.

We see him again just because we talked about on the post show. That was very, that was the strangest possible outcome, I think, for that fight. In our pre-show talks, I certainly believed, and I think a lot of people did, or maybe the majority of humans, I would guess thought that if Rockhold won, okay, Rockhold won he's back. But if he loses, it's going to be the same way he's been losing, which is he's going to get punched in the face with the left hook and he's going to fold up like a lawn chair. But he didn't. He showed a lot of grit, a lot of heart. Two characteristics that frankly Rockhold has never really been known for in his career. And, It was the very strange situation where I don't think he needs to retire off that, right? Like he didn't go, it was not a, Luke just doesn't have anymore. He came in off a three-year layoff in a weird situation at altitude and a style matchup that probably wasn't the best form anyway. And really held his own.

Like, I'm not saying he won any round of that fight, but he was very competitive at moments and I don't think that that is not a performance that makes me go, man, Luke Rockhold, just wash needs to hang it up. So I think there's a real world where a lot of that was the emotion in the moment. He's been through a bunch. He took another loss in a really hard fought battle that he obviously looked at times like he just wanted to leave because he couldn't breathe. But I think there's a real chance he goes home.

he talks to DC later and kind of realizes, oh, I lost, but I have more to give and I would like to do it. And if that happens, I think there's only one fight, and it's Chris Weidman. There was a time when everyone thought those two dudes were going to have a trilogy of incredible middleweight title fights. And that obviously didn't happen. But Weidman coming off the big horrific injury should be ready to go. by next year. And I think that fight makes way too much sense for both guys. So on the post-fight show, I teased the only thing in my eyes that I think would get Luke

Rockold back in there. I honestly got the feeling he was done, like, that he really didn't have much more to prove. But the only thing that gets him out of there, I said this is 95% he's done. but there's 5%, which is a little higher than it should be. And you might look at me and you might attack me in these comments, and I don't give a shit. But here's the thing. I think he's done unless they offer him a title fight,

which I still don't think is out of the realm of possibility. If Adasania beats Pereira and he wants to fight Luke Rockhold, if he comes on and says, hey, Luke, I enjoyed the fight, I need this name on the resume. And he has mentioned Luke Rockhold's name. before. I am not slamming the door on this idea at all because Yo Romero got a title fight after losing two straight and three out of four. And I know you don't feel like he lost those two fights, but in the record books, those are losses. And the fight after he lost Apollo Costa,

he got a title fight in a ridiculously fun fight. So some of you might think I'm absolutely insane, but look at this damn division. Like who else is there? Maybe if Sean Strickland beats Jared Kenanier, he could talk himself into a title fight. That's a tough matchup for him. I'm just saying this is, I'm just saying it is not completely outrageous that this could happen. But I think he's done unless that's an option. Like that's, in my eyes, that's the only thing they gets him back. And it's all up to Adisanya to say, hey, I want to fight you, Luke Rockold. Like, I can't have my resume complete without your name on it as a former champion, which he's done before. And he's, he's done before. And He's gotten his wish, so it's not crazy.

I don't think it's crazy. I don't think it's likely. I don't either. There's definitely, I 100% agree. Luke Rockhold for sure absolutely accepts that, should that somehow come down the pipe for him. But I think it's very unlikely. I just think that it's,

I think Rockhold absolutely last night felt that he was retired. I am not sure how he will feel in a month. or two months because he's done similar, he has had similar vibes before, and then life comes at you. A good rule of thumb for everybody watching is that if a fighter retires, don't believe them, because this is MMA and they never stay retired.

Like ever, ever, ever. Chuck Lowe came back after 10 years because that's how this sport is. So I am just going to assume we see him back at some point, or at least that it's a 50-50 proposition. We'll see it happens. We'll see. Time heals all wounds and maybe he does come back and fight Chris Wyman, which I'd be down, absolutely down to watch, especially with Wyman. We want to come back at the end of the year, early next year. But we'll see. When I got a great deal on a great gift at winners, I started wondering, could I get fabulous

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and mini, regrouped for a better quality price. On link on Cifara.com or in magazine. I know you don't want to talk about this, but we have to. Marab Duolishuli gets the

win over Joseo. The fight, let's be honest, it didn't live up to the hype. I'm not being a hater. I'm just being a realist. I thought Aldo clearly won the first round. The 3027 scorecard was junk. The second was real close.

I usually go back and watch things if I have questions, but I didn't have time this morning. But, I mean, I could see it both ways. I know you and Casey both believe that Jose won the second round. There wasn't much to really score there. But I could definitely see it both ways. And Barab just did it all in the third. It was a clear third round for him.

Huge win from a Rob. Like I said, I'm sure this one hurts your soul to talk about, but do you have a pick here or which I would understand the latter? Is this a wait and see for you? I have a pick. I will say that I did rewatch it just because I believe that the correct true score to that fight is a 28, 28 draw or right? Yeah, 29, 29.

I don't remember however it is. Round two should have been. a draw. Because the same stuff I said in the post fight. Like, you're right, there's not a ton to score. It's not like Aldo did a lot. But I don't believe, I fundamentally do not believe we should reward wall install. And watch that fight and look at the differences between rounds two and three.

And that is the difference between effective aggression and wall install. Because in round three, Robb absolutely, who's using the same overall, like strategy, but his tactics are very different, and he actively, like, attempted to do stuff. Also, I previously stated, I don't, who did Chris Curtis fight the time before last? Adolfo Vieira. Yeah. I made a rule during that fight that if once you fail on 10 takedown attempts in a row, you automatically lose the fight because we shouldn't reward,

spaming takedowns infinitely into the wind because you don't have an effective strategy outside of doing this one thing and the other guy's not allowing it. And so by that metric, Aldo certainly wins because Marab failed infinitely in his takedown attempts. But I think that fight should just be a draw. I think we should be much more comfortable scoring rounds where nothing definitive happened in favor of a tie because it's very stupid that Marab wins the second round for holding. And it's similarly, it would be dumb for Aldo to win that fight for being held, like, that round.

So, but that's just me and my sour grapes. I think Marab is a, it's an either or. I don't know how that is treated here, frankly, but if Piotrion beats Sean O'Malley, you do Piotrion versus Marab Valles-Svili. If he does not, then you do. do Marab to Australia versus Chito Vera because if Yon loses, then O'Malley's getting the title fight. And so then Marab gets to fight Cheeto because O'Malley's going to be held up either with Sterling or Dilleshaw. So yeah, it's mostly wait and see, but I think that's the fight largely just depends on what happens with, with Peerty on Sean O'Malley.

Yeah, I'm pretty much with you there. why Ashley Ashley's saying Take down sure do take effort so does swinging and missing I don't like why does that why are we rewarding things that take effort like we

it's effective offense and holding a man against the cage and conversely being held against the cage neither of those are effective by any realistic measure I said it last night again I understand why people scored it for him

and I don't have, I don't take issue with it. I'm not like, this is a robbery. But it's just fundamentally stupid for the sport to think that that matters. And for those wondering what the actual numbers were, according to UFC stats, Marab de Walliswili was 0 for 16 officially on takedowns. Oh, for 16. So, I mean, we knew that the takedown defense would hold up. But, listen, I mean, you were really good defending takedowns.

That was. Yeah. Yeah. To me, and I said this in the post of a show, Marlon Vera is the biggest winner in this whole thing. He is the top guy right now. And I'm, and I'm with you.

If Peodor Yan beat Sean O'Malley, Cheeto is getting a title shot. So I'm going to try and predict the future here and say that Peodor Yan does beat Sean O'Malley. I think it's a more interesting fight and it's a closer fight than a lot of people think it's going to be, especially the first five minutes of it. But I think Jan will ultimately win the fight,

and then he will fight Marab because there's no way O'Malley. is fighting Marab no matter what happens in that fight. So that's my pick. I'll just try to predict the future and there you go. Now, for Josealdo, this is one of those things where it just depends on if he's got a really bad taste in his mouth that he wants to get rid of very quickly and just how long he wants to take off. But I mean, at this point, I have to go with Dominic Cruz because timelines match up more

than likely. Like if they did Dominic Cruz versus Frankie Edgar and MSG, I would have no. no complaints about that. That's a fight I really want to see. And if we can only get one, I'm going to go with Cruz Aldo because I just think that I just think that's a consistent fight on everybody's list where it's like we have to see these two fight each other before one or both move on with their fighting career. So I'll go with Dominic Cruz.

I don't know if we'll get it at the end of the year, but maybe early next year. But I think that's the fight that will ultimately happen. That's the low-hanging fruit. It's not the one I went for because I know. that I know that this is me being a hater. So feel free to flame me in the comments. I would not mind seeing that fight. I have never and will never feel that that is a fight that I needed to see that we would have missed out if it didn't happen.

Because at no point during their respective title runs was I like, Dominic Cruz, he's going to be an interesting dude if he moves up to 145. is like Jose Aldo will absolutely demolish that weird dancing guy. And so it's just never a fight that is sung to me. Whereas I am genuinely interested in Cruz Edgar. And with Edgar on his way out, like, this is his last fight. Like, that is the fight I want. I think the last time I was on this show, that is the fight I called for. And so because of that, as AK often says, I've already predicted one.

I'm going to stick to my guns there. And the other part is Aldo's number three in the UFC ban and white rankings. That'll change with Dalish Feeley, but it'll probably drop to four. Like Cruz is not in the same realm after his loss. I wouldn't at least put him. And so give me Aldo versus the loser of Corey Sandhagan's song yodong coming up. I think that that's a fair rebound fight. But I wouldn't have an issue with the Dom Cruz fight.

I would just rather see Cruz fight, fight Frankie. Yeah, I mean, also the Cruz Aldo fight, like, there is literally one moment in time for the Frankie Cruz fight. It is right now,

because Frankie is retiring. So you got, if whatever the last fight you want for Frankie has to happen right now. And I don't care about Frankie fighting Ricky Simone or whoever the hell they might put on that. Like,

that's the only fight that makes sense for Frankie at all, as far as I'm concerned. is Cruz and we can do if Aldo loses his next one, then we can do Aldo Cruz. Like if Aldo fights the loser of Sandhagen Song Yadong and loses, Aldo Cruz is still in your back pocket.

You can go to that whenever you want. So that's why I chose that. Hey, maybe Cody Garbrandt, if he beats Ronnie Ayah, who knows? It's the span of weight division's crazy. You get through Aldo in there with a lot of different guys and it makes sense. So let's move on to the first two fights of the main car.

Lucy Pudilova told the naysayas of this fight with Wu Yan being on the Maycard. Hey, I'm going to get you the top three fights a little bit quicker than you expected. Don't worry about it. It took her a little over nine minutes, but vicious ground and pound gets it done. So I'm going to go with the timeline pick, someone who got a finish earlier this month. Myra Bluelo Silvajad just sounds like, like, I mean, who else is it going to be really? I mean, there's only like 20 active fighters in this division right now. I don't want to make sure I get this right.

Yeah, let's go, baby. Yeah, I'm not sure that it was that difficult just because, like you said, there's not a huge number of other options. But this seems very low-hanging for, I mean, there aren't that many fighters. She is coming off a recent win to the timelines matchup. They both recently defeated Oweanan. it just seems to line up pretty well. So, yep, I'm with you.

Tyson Pajou had probably the least surprising result of the evening's festivities. He takes out Harry Hunsucker in 65 seconds. He's 2-0 since coming back. What's next for the city kickboxing standout at 205? This is really difficult for me, just because I don't know. it's hard for me to do like non-ranked light heavyweights because I can't think of any of them because it's mostly a sad morass of humanity. But I ultimately, I have a name and I don't know that I even feel good about it if we're being honest.

So I hope you've brought something better. I'm taking Kennedy in Chuck Wu. He's coming off the TK of Carl Roberson. I don't know, he also seems to be in that middle distance of heavyweight, and they can, you know, hit people real hard. That's kind of, you know, watch two action figures smash together. Let's do it. This might be a little high on the totem pole, but I feel like,

and I like this guy a lot, I feel like he's ranked way too highly in my eyes, but he's just super fun. And I feel like no matter how this fight plays out and where it goes, it's going to be super fun. If it goes to the ground, it's going to be crazy. And if it stays standing, we're going to, we're going to find ourselves a highlight really either way. But we've seen him fight the Ike villainowavas and the Harry Hunsuckers of the world. I just want to see him fight.

I just want to see him fight Paul Craig. I just think that's a fun-ass fight. Those two guys is just fun. Mike, he's fought Paul Craig before. Right. But I'm talking like 2022, Paul Craig. Okay. I just want to make sure, because, you know, you tell the listeners, they have.

have to stipulate. Yeah. So I want to be clear. Paul Craig, I was one of the first guys I looked at just for the rematch. And then I was like, I somewhat agree that he's a little too highly ranked. But then I was like, that still seems unfair to Paul Craig. So even though it's a, you know, Paul Craig has a chance to get his revenge, I don't know. Let's let Paul Craig let him have a day in his day in the sun just a little bit longer.

Yeah, I mean, let's, I don't, I mean, Tyson Pedro against anybody's fun. Tyson is a personality. Put them over. No, no real wrong answer. Give me a shot, you know. It's the first one was like five years ago and Paul like finished up with strikes, but I don't know. I kind of would like to see it again. So let us move on to the wild card pick where we will select one fighter from the card

that we have not matched for yet. And we'll do so right now. It could be somebody from the prelims, win or lose, someone who was not Victoria. in the first two main card fights. The options are endless, Jed. Who you got? I don't love this, if I'm being honest, just because this should have been very easy

because it should have been Alexander Romanov versus take your pick of top seven heavyweights. My personal answer probably would have been Derek Lewis because that's Derek Lewis's job now is to just be the stepping stone to the top of the division. And then Romanov went and lost. Granted, it would be extremely clear. He's robbed.

But he wasn't robbed. We talked about it a lot in the post show. Like, there's no reasonable world where Romanov doesn't get a 10-8 for the first round. So that should fight should have been a draw. But spiritually, we should punish fighters who have five minutes of cardio. So it puts me a weird position. I ultimately, I did pick Romanov to be my wild card even coming off the loss because I just can't possibly care about what Marcin Tibera does next, so I'm not going to matchmake for that.

So I ultimately was like, you know, F it, let's do two heavyweight grapplers. I know it maybe doesn't make sense from how like, you know, the other one's on a big win streak and Romanov now coming off a loss. But give me Spivak Romanov. Let's see, both dudes can mix it up a little bit on the feet. Spivak certainly has a cardio advantage. Romanov maybe a better grappler. you know it's a fight i wouldn't have done because i don't want to kill off a rising prospect i had romanov won but since he lost eff it let's just do it i thought we were going to have a rare friends forever wild card moment i'm going with romanoff as well and look i this is not going to be a popular pick but after last night i'm uniquely intrigued by this fight because oh my god you're not

doing it i'm doing it oh you absolute monster sign me up for Alexander Romano versus Derek Lewis, Jed. And here's why. I love it. I love it. We know how that first round could go. It could go really, really bad for Derek. However,

however, Derek Lewis is really good at somehow with very little technique, like actual mixed martial arts technique, and getting back to his feet when he's taken out against pretty much anybody. Did it with Curtis Blades. And if this fight stays standing, yeah, Romanov might actually, might crack him a little bit in the first five. but Lewis would have the striking advantage for sure. And if this gets out of the first round, this fight is heading for a place.

That could be really interesting, kind of hilarious, and a lot of fun. So give me that one. Third round, Derek Lewis. Yeah. Mythical third round, third round, Derek Lewis versus a man who apparently gasses out when he's in control for five full minutes. I'm doing it. It makes sense. It's a fight Derek Lewis could definitely win after watching what I watched last night.

and it's a fight Romanov can win after watching what I've watched in the past. I will say, I will give an honorable mention that Jared Gordon, Patty Pimblit choice, gets that because it's not the callout. It's just I want to give some shine to Jared because of what it means in his eyes after his win trying to use the fight to promote mental health advocacy. And I'm sure in the back of his mind, he wants the rub to, although that doesn't seem to be the most important thing. but give me Ramanov, Lewis,

give me all that smoke so we can get a few more answers about both guys, Romanov specifically. You know what's sad is I had hoped you would have been the bad person and done the thing that I thought about doing for Ramanov. Because I think it's actually the fight that happens. They're going to do Shemil Abderakamov, and it's just going to be awful. It's going to be the worst heavyweight fight of all time.

That's for sure what's going to happen, but I love your answer better. I hope they do it. Screw it. Fail upwards. I think Judge Aldo should get a title fight. Like, I said it, I said it last night. I was like, you know, they gave him a title fight off a quote unquote loss before. F it, do it again.

Who cares? I'm pro everyone failing upwards on this card. Yeah, so it'll be fun. It'll be crazy. Welcome aboard Air Canada. Rocky's vacation here we come. Whoa, is this economy? Free beer, wine, and snacks.

Sweet. Fast free Wi-Fi means I can make dinner reservations before we land. And with live TV, I'm not missing the game. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation. Nice. Air Canada. Nice travels. Wi-Fi available to AeroPan members on equip flights sponsored by Bell.

Conditions apply. See Air Canada.com. We'll get to some listener picks. I'll get to some DMs real quick. We'll react to those. And yeah, to react to the Shamil, Derahimov pick. If he beat Shamil, he's going to fight Derek Lewis anyway. So we'll just skip the middleman and just get to Derek Lewis because that's usually what

happened. So let me just run through these. We'll react. And then we're going to take just nothing but your comments of matching suggestions rest of the way. So Gareth Reingold gave a pre-fight pick and only one pick altogether. And he suggests that Paul Acosta signed with one championship to fight Roberto Soldeach, which who the hell is not going to watch the hell out of that fight. I mean, okay. Why is he fighting Roberto Soldich? Because why not? Roberto signed with one. He's going to fight 78, 85. Are we just disrespecting to God, any aid to hit her? Number one is a contender fight. I mean, I mean, I guess, sure if you want, but it seems Soldage is like a welterweight middleweight versus RDR is a middleweight.

like heavyweight, which is like, that fight just makes way more sense to me to do that one. I mean, fundamentally, I guess, don't have like a huge issue with it, but I would rather see RDR Costa than Saldage Costa. All right, let's go to Dad Jackson, Losa versus Mickey Gall, Woodson versus Landware, Tibera versus Pavlovich, Pedro versus Craig, Barab versus Ahudo, Gordon versus D1 Jacasi. And then he responded. mind that fight.

Yeah. And then he responded with that was effing nuts dude from the main event. Leon. And then he goes with Leon versus Connor live from the O2 Arena. And then Tom Asmanal versus Muhammad Usman for the co-main. I'm sure he's joking about both of those selections. And then he said, imagine if Mazadol gets a big win sometime soon. And him and Leon finally settle the beef with the title involved.

I know it's not even close to happening. I would disagree with that too, but still be a fun buildup and a fun fight for sure. And then go Usman versus Shafkat. I don't even know this shit is bananas. is. Okay. Tristan Gordette, Paul Costa versus Darren Till, Cheeto versus Barab, Pudolova, Jocelyn Edwards. Darren Till was my

backup for if he stayed in the UFC. I was going to do Darren Till behind Andre Muniz, but. Yeah. Tyson Pedro versus Azamat, Mirzacana. By the way, it's category rules. And if your picks are crap, we're going to call you out on them. Canadian Brian. Good morning,

Mike and AK. Hope you both doing great this morning. I'm sure he met you, Jed. Wildcard, Jose Alder versus Dominic Cruz. Tyson-Pager versus the winner. Yes, the winner of Iwan Kuchelaba versus Johnny Walker, Pudolova versus Eger, Costa versus the winner of Strickland-Canon-Eer, Leon Edwards versus Kamar, O'Sman, oh my God, I was half asleep and now I'm awake. Sorry, Hamzat, you could fight Colby, I guess.

Okay. John Ray. I think most of those are okay. Yeah. I don't think Kobe will fight Hamzat, but I can be wrong. I also just don't think Kobe's fighting because he's, had suffered brain trauma in an outside-the-cage incident, allegedly. So it feels difficult if you're making that claim to then go get in a professional

punchy, sporty combat thing. Yes. John Ray, with the most popular pick for Amir Al-Bazi, which is Tim Elliott. Gordon versus Michelle. Oh, that's really good. I like that one. Gordon versus Vince Pichel. Pichel's injured.

That's why he's not fighting October 1st, so we'll see what he can come back. Tybora versus Derek Lewis calling for the rematch, although he didn't specify if AK was here. He'd probably call you out. I'm trying not to be a grump today. Pedro versus Inchukui, DeWallishouille versus Dillishaw, win or lose. Hayesby third.

Pedro looks like he's being built slowly. Hold on Marcheon Prachio. Go ahead. Let's take a tea. I just want to ask you, how do you feel about Volfioli versus Dillishaw, win or lose? because certainly if Dillishaw wins, I can see,

it seems unlikely just because if Dillishar wins, he's just fighting the winner of Yon O'Malley, because if Yon wins and Dillishaw wins, they will absolutely put that dude back in a title fight. But how do you feel if otherwise? If Dillishaw loses, do you think that fight makes sense for Dillard Shealy? I think that's probably, honestly, if Dillishaw loses,

I think an Aldo fight maybe makes a lot more sense there. The Cruz fight makes sense. There's lots of fights that make sense. I don't hate it. I don't think... Sub-Rab could get a title shot if Yon win. It's close. The issue is what the hell do you do with Marab?

It's why the Aldo booking was stupid as hell in the first place. Yeah. Because one, Aldo should have been fighting for the title. Two, even if Maraub wins, he was going to win like this. So it's not going to be a win that puts him over. And especially even if... somehow it is a win that puts him over, he's not going to fight for the belt

because he flat out will not fight the guy who has the belt. So there's just, it's a very weird situation, and I don't know what you do with Marab realistically. Like I picked the Cheeto Yon thing, but I don't even feel good about that. I just don't know what the hell you do with Mara,

given the situation. Hayes but third. Pedro looks like he's being, he likes marching Pratch Neo. Tibera thought it was a draw, but I do think Tibera clearly took the last two rounds, so I can't hate on the decision too hard. I'll go with the Dawkins Rosenstrike winner.

Romanov, I'll go with the winner of Tanner Bozer, Nassamento, Jared Gordon versus Joel Alvarez, Woodson, Saldania, hashtag, run back all draws, or just learn from the extremely innovative organization that is BKFC and do an overtime round. The scoring for that fight was shit too, but we're trying not to be grumpy.

Run back all draws. Losa versus Brahimage, Albaazi. I said the winner of this fight should get Alex Perez before, and I'll stick with it. Ehrichy Lang, Vince Morales, Alta Marano, Jay Cadley, uh, Edward Usman, Costa,

what a weird but awesome fight. I feel like the Canada of Strickland winner is an obvious choice. Rock Holden, a 100% sold he's done, but I think they're ranked dudes he could beat Marab. I really want to see him in a five-rounder. It's tough to make definitive calls at the moment. With not knowing how everything else will play out,

I'll go with the Sanhagen song winner, although this is definitely tough to watch. I don't know if it would have helped, but it looks bad in hindsight that his coach didn't just tell him he was behind. Which is an interesting point because I believe they told him he was up two rounds heading into the third. And he said, let's do the Dominic Cruz fight for it's too late. And then he wants a ought no point. He said, this is after 276, I believe.

For Brad Radell after the jail and Turner loss, I just want to have another opportunity for a fun fight. So I'll go with Hanna-Moycano and that is happening at UFC 281. So you know what? I'll give you the damn Otno point. Nice to lead on. Kevin from Duval, Pedro versus Enchichu, Richie Lang versus. Ronnie Lawrence. Jard, Biaghan, Edwards.

Dude, I love it. Inzachu, that picks coming around. People are on board. Yes. In Chuku, in Chuku in Chuku in Chukui, are very positive ones. Let's see.

Leon Edwards will defend first against Shemayef in Europe. Usman will come back next year at get an immediate title shot. Covington can be on standby for all these fights. Costa resigns the fights Whitaker, win, or lose at UFC Paris.

Although versus a, Pudo in his comeback fight. Big name will entice a Hudo can even be done at 145. Don't do it, Mike. Don't do it. Don't talk about, don't even read listener picks. I know you love your fans and you should. They're great people.

I won't call them the best fans of the world, but they're very, very good fans, great fans. Don't indulge them. I'm not doing it. Because Henry Suhudo isn't fist fighting anybody until we see him in the cage actually fist fighting somebody. Pudilova, Myra Buena Silva, Ramanov, Yvanov, Jared Gordon, CDF,

Woodson versus Saldanya 2. Drew Hilty. Leon got that dog. Carlos Diego Faheda. Oh, okay. That's not an abbreviation I'm accustomed to using. Now you have it, so you're welcome. Leon got that dog and I'm Costa.

This is, who is this? This is Drew Hilty. Costa man is a wild card, but if you stays in the UFC, do Costa versus Strickland winner lose, the build will be silly. Marab versus Jan, winner, lose. I guess so. Barab versus Jan, win or lose. I guess he's hoping to be Aljo's bodyguard from now on.

There you go. Oh, God. And then you said Tyson Pedro versus Ed Herman. I'm pretty sure he's still in the UFC. Tibura speedback two. It's mean. And Amir al-Bazi, David Devorak. And then he goes, he has a rant.

All right. Jesus, there needs to be some sort of standardized black and white for enforcing fouls. I'm sick of the refs picking and choosing one to enforce the rules. You get one verbal warning if you commit a foul. And the next time you commit a foul. file, whether it was what you were worn for originally or something different, a point should be taken. Jed, go ahead and wax poetically about rules and cheating and fence grabs because you say this

all the time. People are, people hated on this at first, but now a lot of you are jumping on board, and you should be jumping on board, but just say we have to say, I agree. If you're hating on it, you're just wrong. It's just all it is. Like, I can't, I don't, I don't know how it was to make the argument. It is cheating is legal, so you shouldn't do it. It's very, very simple.

And there shouldn't be any verbal warnings because they all get verbal warnings. It happens before the fight in the back room. It's literally a fighters get a warning back there. It's like, hey, let's go over the rules to make sure you, a professional fist fighter, don't do a bad thing and they go out. And then if you're in the main event, you get another one. because they bring you into the center, and it's like, hey, you know, do you guys, do you have any questions? Do you have any questions?

Fight clean, fight hard, fight fair. Go after it. You get all the warnings in the world. And I guess what? You don't need them because in the NFL, the refs don't go back in the locker and we're like, all right, does anyone know what a face mask is? Let's talk about it. You can't do that. And then if you do it, they don't slap your hand away from the face mask.

And like, don't you do that again? They penalize you because it's illegal. Every fistfighter should be illegal all the time, 100,000 percent. Kamar Usman cheated a bunch in their fight. Leon Edwards cheated a bunch in their fight. I think Usman did a lot more than Edwards, but, you know, it happens. I fundamentally believe that if you are a mixed martial arts coach and you are not teaching your fighters to cheat, it's not cheating.

If they don't penalize you, it's not cheating. It is playing within the bounds of the established criteria because if they don't, if they allow it to happen, it is legal by definition. So especially if Herb Dean's roughing you, because who the hell knows what that dude will ever take a point in his entire career. So cheat, cheat all the time, cheat every time. If you are, it's funny to say that Salada should have cheated because he did cheat really, really aggressively. but like when he was in that buggy choke you're just if you're in a buggy choke you're not getting out of a buggy choke

but if he just you know poked a dude in the eye for a little bit probably gets a break probably like hey don't do it and then he's out like it's just cheat just cheat all the time cheat every time uh kamar oosman blatantly grabbed the fence and held held himself up

as a result of that in the middle of that fight like cheat cheat it's never going to hurt you it's only going to positively benefit you yep Until things change, grab the fence, do whatever you got to do, because they're not going to call you. They're just not going to call it. It's insane. There's no reason.

I genuinely don't understand why the referees and people, whoa, it's taking a point is harsh. Cool, don't cheat. Like, it's just that. It's not, I agree. It is harsh. Habib Nirmigamedov never cheated in the entire career. I believe, I've watched his entire career and I believe he at one point in time was warned for holding shorts. And that is the only verbal warning you got in his entire career.

Because you don't have to. Cheating is a choice. It just is. Like, if every fighter came in knowing that if I cheat, this will really, really adversely affect me, probably wouldn't happen nearly to the extent that it does.

Yeah. And I'm not even asking, like, for the first fence grab or two to take a point away. What I'm asking for is to stop action. And if it's on like a Taitian attempt and he doesn't get take down. The ref should stop the fight and it should be an automatic takedown and give him, at least put him in full guard, 100%. But it's not happening. So grab the fence, grab the glove,

poke the eyes, kick him in the ding ding. It ain't going to matter because it ain't going to get called. It might get called for a for a pause, but no points are being taken away. It's just, it's stupid. But that's the world we live in. Let's move on to probably driving people around. Costa Darin-Till. I feel like Costa didn't gain that much from beating. a guy like Rockhold, who was definitely a legend in his own right, but I hadn't fought in three years. It was aging. I think a fight with Till would be a great matcher for both of them. They haven't fought each other with produce fireworks. Rockhold, thanks for a great career. Kind of a do-do pick here. Tyson, Pedro, Mikhail, Olegzechuk, because Olegzecich is now

185er, so can't really do that there. Tibera versus Pavlovich, I feel like there's not much else for him to do. Jarsino is going against Daucus. He just lost to Volkov. Aspinal has hurt. It feels like Pavlovich is the only place for him to go at this point. Romanov versus Spivak. I think this is another good test for Romanoff, someone who is lighter than Tiborah, but fights in the same manner in a fight that would test him, but I'd favor him in. Gordon versus Guaram Kutatsal Ladez. I feel

like Gordon has a lot of hype after detaining someone with a bat video. Step up in competition in Guram would be a good fight, and Gordon's pressure makes any fight enjoyable. Losa versus Brian Battle would be fun and he likes Amir al-Bazi versus Manel Cop. If you want a black belt, go face him. Marcus,

can we just recognize that flyweight freaking rules. Yeah, fireway. Like every, Albazi's gotten like 10 different dudes thrown out

and all of them are fire. Like Alex Perez, hell yeah, sign me up. Mano cop, hell yeah, sign me up. Yep.

And betting the under on any of these fights, hell yeah, sign me up. Let's see what Marcus has. Does he have anything difference? Ritchie Lang,

Douglas Silva, DeAndrej, Tyson Pedro versus Ehor, Potaria, Pudolova, Jessica Rose Clark. interesting

paolo costa what about paolo costa versus drichus duplice or is that too soon for drickus i don't think it's too soon um i don't hate it

if he's gonna stay around and it's i think if you're doing that i still just would prefer muniz because muniz deserves the launch up the rankings a lot more but i don't hate that fight if that's it's odd

I just sometimes forget about DDP. Yeah. And I don't really know how good he actually is, but I don't hate that fight if you make it. That fight is just insanity. So I would watch the hell out of it. Well, every, every DDP fight is insanity. That would be a really fun fight.

That's probably the most fun fight you can do with Paula Costa right now. I would be willing to say that that would be the most fun matchup for him. So good. Good choice. I like that, whoever came up with that one. Like Darren, like, Darren Till and Sean Strickland would be fun, like, in the build. But the best, like, action fight would be DDP. Yeah.

Sean Strickland fight would be hilarious in the build. I like that pick. Dylan, hey, Mike, hoping you in AK slash jet are having nice summers end. My picks Edwards versus Covington. I mean, why not? UFC gives fighters coming off the losses, title fights all the time, give Usman time to a group. I don't like, I just don't. Also, why do you say coming off the loss?

losses. Because Covington came off a loss. It's coming off a loss. Didn't he just beat Horam Hospital? Oh, you're right. I forgot about that. I'm saying, am I taking crazy pills? You're right.

You're really convinced Covington is coming off a win. I totally forgot that fight happens outside of what happened. Yeah, because everything else happened. Yeah. Yeah, true that. My bad. See? There you go.

Costa versus the loser of Adasanya Perjara. DeWalsh Rili versus the winner of Song Sandhagan. see him dominate strikers that have not even close to the level of takedown defensive Aldo. And then he says, Aldo versus Cruz, now is the time Dana just effing do it. Four quarter sports. Barab versus Ahudor or Tjah Dilloshaf. He loses the Sterling.

Aldo versus Sanhagan, Yadong loser. Pedro Fabio Chirant. Doodoo pick. Chirond has to be released at this point. I'm 99.9% sure he is. Tibera versus the winner of Christakis Jarzino, Romana, versus Sakai, Saldania, David Onama. Woodson versus Charlie on Tavares.

I don't, I mean, maybe he's still in the UFC. I doubt it, but I think Altaveris is a lightweight anyways, unless Woodson wants to go to 155. I don't know. That's just a bad knockout loss waiting to happen for Anaveros, I think. Losa versus Witt, Arrici Lang versus Miles Johns, that's fun. Alta Marano versus O'Day Osborne, that is also fun. So I like that.

Thomas Collins. It does. Thomas Collins. In Alexander's absence, I'm sending my matchmaking suggestions here. unfortunately I'm probably not going to make the live show. Firstly, as it's a bread. I'm proud to see Leon win the belt. It's amazing to see him achieve this.

Let's get onto the matchmaking. Leon Edwards versus the, whoa. Leon Edwards versus the winner of Balal Muhammad versus Sean Brady, though we all know it will be the trilogy. I think Usman will take a while off and we can have a fresh title fight with either a rematch of a controversial mode contest or an undefeated Walterway contender.

All are amazing fights, but please can we do it in the UK next February? Boy, oh boy. That's a tough. hang. Where is this gentleman from? I don't know. He's a Brit. He said that. I would bet my life he's from the UK

because while I respect it, this is a please do not throw Leon into a title fight at home against Tom Zachamaya. That is, please don't do that to us. We find, Mama, we did it. We got our second champion ever.

Let him defend at home in a fight that is winnable. And Hamzad, I do not believe, is winnable for Leon. Yeah. So I respect it. I would love it because I think Sean Brady's awesome. I don't think there's, I am confident saying there's a zero percent chance that that fight happens next. Yeah, I'm one with you.

Marab versus Pantosia at Flyweight. I think Sterling will beat T.J. And therefore, won't be fighting Marab anytime soon. I think you will drop down to flyweight. And given that Figy v. Berato is unlikely to happen to early next year. So it's going to be a while. before he can fight, giving him a number one contender fight versus Pantosia to see whether he gets the flyway title shot.

Now, Marab has talked about moving down to 125. I don't think I buy that he can do that. Yeah, I don't know. He's not a small human being. Yeah, he's not. He is very thick. He was, yeah, he was thicker than Jose. And I didn't think Jose would be able to make 135, frankly.

So I don't, I mean, Rob knows his body better than I do, but I think that's awful. He super should not do that. And I, yeah, I hate that. I hope that doesn't happen. Let's certainly move up if that's the blocker. That's a much better choice. Not a great start. I don't hate this next one, though.

I actually think this is very well what could happen. Marching Taiboira versus Jelton Almeida, who I assume beat Shemila, Dura Himath at UFC 279. Gives him a new test. I also think Marcy needs one more win before fighting up again. I could definitely see the UFC putting that fight together

because I think Jeltsin Almeida is a freaking problem. Finally, Alexander never gave me a shout out for some check the tapes and I'd be grateful if you give it to me for Maraub versus Aldo, which I called after UFC 266 and Mara was winning against Marlon

and Tybora versus Romanoff, which I called after Romanov's last win. I mean, I'll leave that to AK. I think this is the last one. This is, I think it's an anonymous picker. It's a user account with a whole bunch of numbers and I'm not going to read. It was me.

This is you. Leon Ousson 3 in Birmingham, Costa versus Vittori Rob. That would be awesome. If they did it in Birmingham, that would be sick. That would rule. It won't happen. They will do it in London, but it would rule if they did it in Birmingham. Ooh, I like this one.

Do it at MSG, Pedro versus Negamiriano. That's a fun, nice fight. Yeah. That's a good one. do we have anything new here romana versus alexio lennox is alexio linic still going to fight people i think so you just got a submission win in jacksville yeah but that's that was his like what was his 60th career win or whatever or 50th still doing the damn thing he might yeah he he he should have retired with that win because he's 107 and you can't ezekiel jokes people at some point in time

and I mean if he still wants to fight sure I actually think that's as good an option as you can do for Romanov but let's come on man just retire that one's okay you're in your hundred and seven years old go out on a win nobody goes out on top in the sport and you did it Lexi you did it leave uh... Saldania versus Melsic Woodson versus Ocho Peterson

do we have anything else Erici Lang versus Brian Kelleher that's a fun fight. And I think we're good. And then I guess the name is Toby Kinsella because he screenshotsed Helwani's tweet. Name one result that'll happen today. They'll be considered a shock surprise.

And he said Leon Edwards, K.O. left high kick. So there you go. Nice receipt. Nicely done. All right. So if you got picks of the chat, let's go. We're going to go for like 10 more minutes.

I'm going to try to scroll up a little bit and I'll get to as amazing as they can. But if you put them in earlier, spam them now and we'll get after it. Taibora versus Evenop because it's probably what will happen. Mara versus Song Yudong from Philis Joe Banzai. Is that doo-doo? Because Song has a fight. I know. But maybe this is a problem.

I know. I'm just trying to represent AK. I get you. I get you. Little Groom, Gouloum Edwards versus Mazadol. Let's see. Where are we at? Let's see.

Rockhold's not coming back because he won't get another marquee fight anytime soon. I don't know if that's true or not. Well, I think if he comes back, he gets a marquee fight. It's a freaking Rockhold. Look at the numbers this guy put up this week. Everyone always cared about what he was doing. Robert O'Malley, there's just no way that fight happens, at least unless it's for a belt.

Three pieces of the soda versus fish and chips in London. Okay? I mean, listen, I see there is a very real possibility that fight happens if Oostman takes time off. Yes, Tony. Ferguson versus Lee Jing Liang was booked for UFC 279, Jed. Your response? I think this is an awful booking, but what do I care? I think Tony's washed, so it's fine.

But it says, when a surprise booking happens, you want to go, that's weird, kind of into it. I just go, that's weird. I don't have the second thought for this. Like, what does this do for who? why is this happening what's to build up this feels entirely like they just didn't know what to do and the timelines matched up so they said screw it like i think you could have used tony first in a hundred different ways i don't think this one is a particularly good one but like when he tweeted

out the picture of the bat signal like that's exactly what it was they're like this card really stinks yeah we need a star on it and yeah i was like let's let's put a dude that people like on it And then I guess the leach was the only one around who was ready to go in a shortish time frame. It's just a super weird fight, and it's not even one that I think is particularly fun. Don't mind it all, Tony, going up to Walterweight. I think that that's very, very viable, you know, to try and breathe new life into his career. But it's just a super weird fight. I'm not into it.

Yeah, especially after the brutal knockout lost to Michael Chandler, this could be, it could be really rough night. because Lee could freaking crack. Mazdal don't deserve a title shot. When is that mattered in the UFC? It doesn't matter. It's a big money fight. It'll do well on pay-per-view. It will sell out.

If they do it in the UK, no doubt about it. Leon Mazadol in March. Did Leon Steele knockout of the year? I think so. Oh, that's not even a question. Yeah. He has it, and there's no one who will take it from him.

I there's no I struggle to see a war unless Nate Diaz knocks out Hamzaa Chimayov with a flying knee or something like that and even then I don't there's just ain't no way the context of that is that's one of that has a very legitimate case to being the greatest chaos in the history of the UFC like a very legit case for that there ain't no way and he was taking care of the year from that Connor don't deserve a title shot same freaking point Connor does it, but I think that one's a lot funnier than Mossvedol. That is funnier. It's a way funnier thing to just be like, hey, Leon, England versus Ireland. Let's do it. It's way funnier. Yeah. And I do think there's a very good chance that if Charles Oliver beats Islam

Kachap, that he's got to fight Connor anyways. So I think Connor could very well get a title shot. Because, again, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's what sells. Connor can fight. Yeah, can fight Islam too.

About this, Jed. I mean, this is one that I called for on the rise of Romanov and it just never got put together. Ramanov versus Arlowski. Arlowski, I believe, is booked. I forget who he's booked against.

I'm almost certain you're right because he booked some fight that I think is, I remember not liking. He is fighting at, he's fighting Marcos Rochera de Lima on October 29th. I would

Let's see If something falls apart there I'd be okay with that Matt Schnell is also booked Albazzi versus Schnell would be fun if that actually happens Who is Schnell fighting? It's a fun

I remember Romano versus elevation Somebody posts in the chat Oh that's hilarious Aronov My guy He's fighting Matthias Nicolao in December

Which is a fun Yeah It was a fight he called for Got the quick turnaround So why you call for fights, fighters, close mouth, don't get fed. No, he doesn't deserve a title fight, but Edwards Oz him with three pieces of the soda. It's criminal to book Tony in the spot against the leech. A lot of Marab picks, a lot of them pretty much the same.

Pedro versus Menafield. Menafield, I believe, is booked as well. I believe he just got booked. Like, it just recently happened. Oh, Tony Fury, you, as a man who has so much. About Marab. You, sir, you're a salty, salty, man. Yes. Metafields fighting Misha Serkenoff, October 15th. Tyborra versus Tuva, if he loses to Gan.

I mean, it would make sense, but I just want to see Ty Tuvasa just fight, like, hammer and tongs, sorts of strikers. Yeah, don't do that fight. Let's have fun with Ty. Tye's fun. Let's not. And you know who isn't fun? Marcine Tabarro. He's just never has men.

It's just what that is. I was thinking it would be Kevin Holland, I guess, for Tony, but maybe they get him on 279. See, no, that fight makes way more sense. Like, that is actually matchmaking. Whoever that is, you're a substantially better person than whoever the hell put this Tony fight together. Tony, Kevin Holland, that is a fight that exactly did the thing I said. I would have never thought about it. It was never like, oh, this should happen.

But as soon as you say, I'm like, oh, weird. But okay, I'm kind of into that. Like, let's see. let's see what that's about that's a way better fight yes i thought maybe they'd get holland versus wonder boy on this card or something because that would make sense to there's two names that that are draws and tony versus wonder boy better there's so many better folks i just i mean listen tony it's tony's on this card for two reasons one to just boost the stock of the card in some way because he's a star and two we have two guys who it's got to be tough to i mean it's i think both guys

will fight September 10th, but let's just say like something happens and Hamza can't make it over. They'll sell the shit out of Tony Ferguson versus Nate Diaz as the new main event. Yeah. So this is a backup. He's the backup. Tony versus Hamzot, please don't allow that to happen. But Tony versus Nate, I'd be fine with. And you could sell that as a pay-review, especially at this point.

Let's see what we're asked here. I got to ask you, stoke for House of Dragons tonight. Not my thing. Are you a Game of Thrones guy? Yeah. It's supposed to be really good. Fire and Blood, which is the book that the show is going to be based off of. It was decent. It was very odd. It'll be a really, it's not like a direct one-to-one thing to make. Just because of the way that book is structured, it's kind of written like a history book.

It's different. But the reviews early on are that it's very good. I have hoped that it will be good because the problem with Game of Thrones, was that while they had source text, Game of Thrones was really good. But the Spinoff and Homeboy aren't good at writing. Like they are just not good at it. And as soon as they lost source text, they lost the ability to write a good television show.

This has source text, and I have a lot of faith that it will be pretty entertaining. Winner of Connor versus Mazadol for the welterweight belt. I mean, I don't think that the Connor Mossdol fight would happen, but if it does, the winner of that for sure gets to fight for Walter Wade Tadliff they want to. Wild two champs lost their belts in the last minute in the fifth round in the last couple months. Fights there are both winning, by the way. Like, yeah, Glover-Sachara, same sort of thing, although that fight was a lot more fun.

Very different, but yes, very wild. What about Michael Chandler? Chandler's fighting Porier. either November or December. The date is the only thing being worked on at this point. But yeah. Mazadol will have to wait. Maybe.

Again, the only one that can make, the only one that can change the course of a trilogy fight is Kamar Usman. But if Ushman's like, listen, I need like nine months. I just want to take some time away. Mazadol is in the conversation. There's no doubt about it. I don't know if he gets it. If Hamzat just rolls Nate, but we'll see.

Uschman doesn't need to fight again. He can wait for a rematch. I agree. We're going that route. That's the route we go, unless Camaro wants to do something else. Abazi Vichita is good. Colby,

if they booked, somehow booked Colby versus Leon, who wins? I think I think Colby wins. Yeah. But I'd be interested. Certainly the way that fight happened, I think it's Colby,

but it's a good fight. I would watch it. Nate by sub Woodson versus the Jordan Woodwinner and Aldania versus the loser I mean Saldania probably won that fight but

I don't know it was just it was a weird fight I actually like the idea of them just running running that one back because like it's not they're not like vying for titles or anything they're not holding up anybody else like if you want to run that one back and do it right like I'm cool with that

bigger upset Holly Holie K-O's Ronda Rousey by head or Leon Kho's Usen by head kick? I mean, it's very clearly Usman by head kick, just because a lot of people picked Roussey, and I know a lot of people actually pick Leon in this, but

so Holly's head kick came after beating the brakes off Rousey into a point that it was like very clear what the outcome was going to be. Leon's came after not getting the brakes beat off him, but losing convincingly. I think that certainly the home KO is more significant historically in terms of what that meant for the sport. But, yeah, I would say it's very clearly the Leon's come back to.

Chanel got booked that fast, yes. But the fight's in December. So it's not like they're fighting in September. So he's got a lot of time to kind of clear the cobwebs from that insane fight. Mike Perry versus Jake Paul. I mean, we'll see what Jake's going to do because he said, he's saying he's fighting in October

against a boxer. I have no frigate idea. Shafka v. the winner of Bilal v. Brady. Maybe the loser. I think it's very likely that I agree with Jabba. I think that's the fight that happens because

the winner of Bilal Brady is at least won away and I think Shavkat just kind of makes sense in that report. Tony versus Redoam, long overdue. Let's see. I think we got a a couple more. I'm just scrolling through here. Do Verdoom Rockhold?

Remember, remember when that was a thing? Yeah, Jesus Christ. Let's see. A lot of Tony talk. I know I'm not Ariel. I don't claim to be Ariel. I'm my own man. I'm not Ariel either, guys.

Yeah, Sarah TKO, GSP, or is, that's definitely Sarah. Come on. Yeah. come on Sarah beating George St. Pierre is one or two in the greatest upsets of all time. It's probably almost certainly one, but I'm willing to hear the argument for Giuliana Paine over, uh, over Maneu Nas. Mara misses moment per Dana. I agree.

It wasn't one that it's just like, oh, we have to get Mara a title fight. I mean, the whole thing with Aljo kind of like screwed the pooch on that anyways. It ruins it. Good for him. I mean, good for him. He wants to be a good teammate. Oh, yeah. I'm not saying call out Aljo.

It's just like, what can he do? He can't, if he had flying triangle arm bar Jose, he can't call for a title fight because his friend has the belt. It's one of those situations that happens. It's really tough to navigate. There's one other comment I want to see, but it's too high up. But it got a lot of chatter here. Connor versus Gachy.

I know how highly you think of that fight, and I would love to see that someday. I don't know if that's what happens. Things would have to like, dominoes would have to fall in certain ways for that to happen. I could see a very strong world where Justin Gachi fights Raphael Fiziv next

because I just think the timelines will line up, similar surgeries. I just think it's a fun fight. Makes sense to give Fiziv a little bit of a bump up and a rub and who's going to complain about that fight. But I know how highly you regard a potential Connor McGregor versus just a Gagee fight. And for those who have not heard this rant of yours

about how much you adored the idea of this fight, waxed poetically before we get out of here. I don't think it's a rant. It's just the obvious fight to make. I'm okay if it doesn't happen because it's a fight you can make at any point in time. Both men would take it. It will be great.

It's the best fight. It is the most entertaining fight on paper in the history of the sport, bar none. I fundamentally do not think you can show me a fight on paper. and be like, this is better than that. Their styles clash in such a fun way. Both of them are bonus machines. Gachy, I don't know what it's at right now based on the Olaver fight, you know,

but at one point, Gagy's first like seven fights, he had nine bonuses in the UFC. Connor's exactly the same way. They're in-cage product, whatever you think of Connor McGregor. He is undeniably a three. grilling fighter to watch and justin gaiti is the most exciting fighter in the history of the sport to watch you put those two dudes together and you make you make magic happen because it would be awesome if we don't ever get that before one or both men retire it will be a travesty and so i would love them to do it right now but if you do gaiji fazeve and then that just comes down the line

i'm okay with it but those guys got to go at it they just have to we'd love to see you see it. All right. We are getting out of here at this point. Thank you all for joining us. We went hour and 15. I said we'd go an hour. We gave you a little extra bonus time. Let me just respond to a guy named Brandon who said Connor gets a bonus for being Connor. No. That's just wrong, dude. Like, you hate him all you want. I have no big love for him. But you just can't pretend that that dude is anything less than magic inside the cage. Like, he's point to me a boring Connor fight. The only answer is, Max Holloway when he blew out his knee.

And also, he managed to beat Max Holloway with the blown out knee. That win is aged by far the bets of all of Conner's wins, save the Aldo one. You do not like the dude, but you can't disrespect the entertainment value he brings when he steps in the cage. It's through the roof. Yep. There you go. Well said.

I think that's a good way to go out. UFC 278 is going to give us lots to talk about for the next several days, maybe even longer because for the first time at a long time, we don't have a UFC event this coming Saturday. The UFC is off next Saturday. I don't know what this feels like. What do I do with my hands, Mike? I don't know.

I don't know. You might have to drop another Dan. They were good this week. No, no, no bets barred. I don't know. There's lots we could do. We will have the MMA hour tomorrow line up to be announced tomorrow morning

and may are on Wednesday. Lots going on right here on the MAA Fighting YouTube channel. So thank you very much. Much appreciate for those listening after the fact of the podcast network. We love you guys. You're the best. For Jedbushu, I am Mike Heck.

We'll see you in a couple weeks after UFC Paris right here. And on to the next one. Godspeed, everybody. Love you guys. To the Vox Media Podcast Network.